dontvotemeout (
dontvotemeout) wrote2010-09-13 02:32 am
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Gotham, Daytime and Nighttime (oh, time issues)
The day after Jason's first encounter with Two-Face, two major events happened: Bruce gave a crapload of money to Gotham Memorial Hospital, and Two-Face robbed the Second Bank of Gotham.
Jason was aware of neither of these things, because he'd never made it out of bed.
After looking at Two-Face's file, and finding everything he could about his father's murder, Jason had gone to to his room and crawled into bed. He hadn't slept at all, too shocked by the revelation of what had happened to his dad, and too distraught by how he'd found out.
When his father had disappeared, Jason and his mother had assumed he'd deserted them, not wanting to deal with his wife's illness and their mounting debts. They hadn't even filed a missing persons report with the police - it wasn't like cops cared about anyone from Crime Alley, and what would they do if they found Jason's dad? Drag him back to their apartment so he could run out on them again? Now, Jason knew the truth - his dad had gone to Two-Face to work for him, screwed up, and paid the ultimate price.
But even with all of that new information, Jason still didn't know as much as he wanted to. What did his dad do that was so terrible? How had he died? Had it been quick, or had Two-Face made him suffer? And, more importantly, how long had Bruce known the truth? Did he figure it out when he first picked Jason up? Had he known this whole time that Jason's father was really dead?
After spending so much time convincing himself that he didn't care about where his dad was, Jason was surprised by how upset he felt at knowing his dad was really gone, and it felt even worse to not have anyone to talk to about everything. He certainly couldn't tell Bruce that he knew the truth, and there was no one in Fandom who he wanted to give this burden. With the image of his father's face on the computer screen etched into his memory, sleep wasn't an option, no matter how tired he was, but Jason couldn't bring himself to get out of bed either. He hadn't realized how long he'd been in his room until he heard Bruce's voice coming from downstairs.
"He's been sleeping all day?" Bruce asked sharply.
"Yes, sir," came Alfred's reply. "Or, at least, he's stayed in bed all day."
Jason braced himself to be disturbed, and when Bruce opened the door to the bedroom, Jason kept his back to the door, not sure what he'd do if he actually looked at Bruce right now.
"Jason, are you awake?" Bruce asked.
"Yes," Jason said quietly, offering nothing more than that.
Bruce sighed. "I know you had a rough night out in the field," he said, and Jason had to bite his tongue to not tell Bruce how much he was barking up the wrong tree. "Playing Robin to my Batman is demanding, tiring...at any rate, I'm about to go out on patrol. If you're interested, our two-faced friend from last night is at it again."
The mention of Two-Face got Jason to sit up, although he still couldn't look at the doorway. "Again?" he asked.
"A daylight bank robbery this time," Bruce said. "If you're coming, I'll meet you at the car."
As much as Jason didn't want to be around Bruce right now, he wasn't going to turn down the chance to patrol with Batman, especially with the possibility that they might run into Two-Face again. So, he did as Bruce asked, and suited up and waited by the car.
"Do you think he'll strike again tonight?" Jason asked as they got into the Batmobile.
"It's unlikely. Two hits in one day would be too much, even for him," Batman said. "I think we have until tomorrow to figure out where he'll hit next. It'll be something that has to do with the number two, like the Second National Bank today."
"How do you explain the Lucky Dollar Casino heist then?" Jason asked. He let his mind race to try to answer his own question, driving himself to well-needed distraction. "Where's the two in that? Besides the playing cards we got?"
They didn't manage to answer the question while on patrol, too busy clearing the streets of petty criminals, but the next night, Bruce had a hunch on where Two-Face might strike again. One of the baseball stadiums was hosting a doubleheader between the Gotham Mammoths and the Metropolis Twins - two twos right there, and that was bound to be too much for Two-Face to ignore.
Sure enough, at the bottom of the second inning, Two-Face and yet another matching pair of goons arrived to relieve the stadium box office of its money, not realizing that Batman and Robin were already inside, laying in wait.
"Batman!" Two-Face cried, as he and Jason took out the goons.
"Your third score in three days. Ambitious, but such an obvious target," Batman said, with something as close to amusement as he ever reached.
"Sometimes I am too predictable," Two-Face admitted. "But I couldn't resist a baseball score."
"Well, strike three, Two-Face. You're out," Batman said, punching him and knocking him out. With that bit of dramatics done, he turned to the goons who were getting up and approaching them again. "Watch him, Robin! But be careful, and don't get too close to him!"
By this point in his training, following Batman's order would have come naturally, but things were different for Jason now. Looking down at Two-Face brought back the memory of everything from his file, everything Jason had been repressing for two nights, and he just couldn't hold himself back anymore. In an instant, he was on top of Two-Face, with his hands wrapped around the dirtbag's neck.
"You bastard!" he screamed. "You low-life slimeball, you murdering--I'll kill you!" He was so caught up in his rage that he saw Two-Face regain consciousness, but failed to notice the criminal's knee come up until he'd hit Jason in the gut. Jason tried to fight back, but Two-Face, for all his terrible criminal skills, was still a grown man. He shoved Jason off of him and punched him for good measure before taking off into the stadium.
"Robin!" Jason heard Batman yell. He was still seeing stars when he felt Batman's hand on his shoulder.
"Get him," Jason said weakly, trying to keep himself steady enough to stand. He'd screwed up. He'd totally screwed up, and all he could do now was wait for the fallout. By the time Jason managed to get up and into the stadium, Two-Face was gone, having escaped up a ladder at the end of the field. "He got away?" he asked, running up to Batman.
"Yes, a car was waiting," Batman said, glaring at Jason sternly. "We have to talk, but not here."
The drive back to the manor was silent, and it wasn't until they were in the cave that Bruce finally turned to Jason. "All right, it's time you explained yourself," he said. "You blew it back there! Everything I taught you went out the window! You completely lost your cool. When I tell you to do something, I need to trust that you'll do it, and I don't know if I can now."
"Trust?!" Jason said sharply. He'd wanted to try to stay calm, to make sure Bruce understood everything he wanted to say, but he was still just too angry. "You want to talk about trust? When were you gonna tell me Two-Face murdered my father?"
Bruce sighed, and looked far less angry now. "Jason--"
"What?! What excuse could you possibly have? I had a right to know and you kept that from me!" Jason yelled.
"I was trying to protect you," Bruce said, seemingly getting calmer the more angry Jason became.
"Protect me from what? You teach me to fight, you take me out into open combat in the middle of the city - what the hell are you trying to protect me from?"
"This is harder than combat. Fighting comes easily to the young - learning how to temper revenge into justice is a different story. That's harder, even for an adult," Bruce said.
Jason was tempted to tell Bruce exactly where he could stick his platitudes about revenge, but he found his anger waning as Bruce kept being calm at him. "Are you mad at me?" he finally asked. "I shouldn't have attacked him, I know. I just--I wish I'd known before about what happened to my dad."
"I know you do, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was wrong of me to keep that from you," Bruce said. "I'm not mad at you. Two-Face beat me tonight too, getting away like that. Next time we see him, we'll both have to keep our heads."
Jason nodded mutely before glancing up at Bruce. "Hey, that reminds me," he said, trying to push everything away again. Repressing his anger might not have been the healthiest idea, but the lesson he was learning tonight was that it kept him out of trouble in the long run. "I think I figured out where we can find Two-Face tomorrow night."
The next evening, Batman and Robin headed back to the Lucky Dollar Casino. It was kind of a long shot, but it was one that paid off - they got to the casino just as Two-Face was trying to escape with carts full of money.
"How did you know?" Two-Face asked, like he was surprised by Batman foiling his plans.
"That you'd pull your first robbery a second time?" Batman said, glancing to Jason with a hint of a smile.
"It was the only way the casino heist could fit into your pattern," Jason explained. He'd shared that idea with Bruce the night before, and Bruce agreed that it made sense - as much sense as any of Two-Face's plans ever did, at least. After promising that he wouldn't go after Two-Face alone again, Bruce had agreed to let Jason come with him to check out the casino. It was still hard to look at Two-Face now, but the promise he'd made to Bruce was enough to keep him in place at Batman's side.
"Impressive!" Two-Face said, shoving one of the carts at Batman. "But now I simply must run."
As Two-Face took off, Batman followed behind him, with Jason hot on his trail. They followed Two-Face all the way to the World's Largest Roulette Wheel, and watched him climb into the wheel's ring. Batman stayed on the platform, so Jason stopped too, and Two-Face pulled out his gun and pointed it at them both. "You're like two sitting ducks!" he yelled, looking pleased with himself.
Batman looked over at the casino employee manning the wheel's controls. "Hit the switch!" he said.
"Okay," the man said slowly, like he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. Jason didn't know what Batman was planning either, until the wheel started to spin and Two-Face, caught off-balance, fell down onto all fours. That was a perfect trap to hold him for a while, Jason thought, right up until the oversized metal ball that went with the roulette wheel came out.
"Batman, look!" Jason said, pointing to where the ball was headed for the wheel.
"I didn't think about that," Batman replied. "It's going to crush him."
As much as he'd tried to push his anger away, Jason still wanted to let Two-Face die. Death by crushing in the middle of a casino seemed like a fitting end for a criminal madman. Honestly, his dad might have wanted that too. He was the kind of guy who thought revenge should be taken to its absolute end, just like Jason. But the fact was, his dad was gone, and all because he'd made the wrong choices. Bruce was all Jason had now, and that meant that what Bruce wanted was almost as important as what Jason wanted. Bruce wanted Two-Face alive, so, pushing his own desires aside, Jason swung out and spun himself around the center pole of the wheel. The ball was inches away from Two-Face now, and Jason kicked it just in the knick of time, sending the ball flying away as he swung back and landed on the platform.
Batman let the wheel spin a few more times before getting the casino employee to stop it, because really, it was kind of entertaining to watch Two-Face spin around and yell at them. "Ooh, so dizzy," he whined weakly, as the police carted him off, and Jason almost found himself laughing.
"You did well tonight," Bruce said, once they'd gotten back to the manor. "You more than made up for your mistakes from yesterday."
"Mistakes I wouldn't have made if you'd been honest with me," Jason pointed out, before he could stop himself. Bruce might have been all he had right now, but that didn't mean he was going to let him off the hook easily. It wasn't like he couldn't go back to taking care of himself if he needed to.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Bruce said, putting his hand on Jason's shoulder to look him in the eyes. "From now on, I won't keep things from you, if you'll do the same for me."
It seemed like a pretty fair deal, overall. At this point, Jason wasn't really sure what more he could ask for from a guardian.
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay! Dialogue and action adapted from Batman #411. Warnings: more comic violence and discussion of character death. But no shortpants this time.]
Jason was aware of neither of these things, because he'd never made it out of bed.
After looking at Two-Face's file, and finding everything he could about his father's murder, Jason had gone to to his room and crawled into bed. He hadn't slept at all, too shocked by the revelation of what had happened to his dad, and too distraught by how he'd found out.
When his father had disappeared, Jason and his mother had assumed he'd deserted them, not wanting to deal with his wife's illness and their mounting debts. They hadn't even filed a missing persons report with the police - it wasn't like cops cared about anyone from Crime Alley, and what would they do if they found Jason's dad? Drag him back to their apartment so he could run out on them again? Now, Jason knew the truth - his dad had gone to Two-Face to work for him, screwed up, and paid the ultimate price.
But even with all of that new information, Jason still didn't know as much as he wanted to. What did his dad do that was so terrible? How had he died? Had it been quick, or had Two-Face made him suffer? And, more importantly, how long had Bruce known the truth? Did he figure it out when he first picked Jason up? Had he known this whole time that Jason's father was really dead?
After spending so much time convincing himself that he didn't care about where his dad was, Jason was surprised by how upset he felt at knowing his dad was really gone, and it felt even worse to not have anyone to talk to about everything. He certainly couldn't tell Bruce that he knew the truth, and there was no one in Fandom who he wanted to give this burden. With the image of his father's face on the computer screen etched into his memory, sleep wasn't an option, no matter how tired he was, but Jason couldn't bring himself to get out of bed either. He hadn't realized how long he'd been in his room until he heard Bruce's voice coming from downstairs.
"He's been sleeping all day?" Bruce asked sharply.
"Yes, sir," came Alfred's reply. "Or, at least, he's stayed in bed all day."
Jason braced himself to be disturbed, and when Bruce opened the door to the bedroom, Jason kept his back to the door, not sure what he'd do if he actually looked at Bruce right now.
"Jason, are you awake?" Bruce asked.
"Yes," Jason said quietly, offering nothing more than that.
Bruce sighed. "I know you had a rough night out in the field," he said, and Jason had to bite his tongue to not tell Bruce how much he was barking up the wrong tree. "Playing Robin to my Batman is demanding, tiring...at any rate, I'm about to go out on patrol. If you're interested, our two-faced friend from last night is at it again."
The mention of Two-Face got Jason to sit up, although he still couldn't look at the doorway. "Again?" he asked.
"A daylight bank robbery this time," Bruce said. "If you're coming, I'll meet you at the car."
As much as Jason didn't want to be around Bruce right now, he wasn't going to turn down the chance to patrol with Batman, especially with the possibility that they might run into Two-Face again. So, he did as Bruce asked, and suited up and waited by the car.
"Do you think he'll strike again tonight?" Jason asked as they got into the Batmobile.
"It's unlikely. Two hits in one day would be too much, even for him," Batman said. "I think we have until tomorrow to figure out where he'll hit next. It'll be something that has to do with the number two, like the Second National Bank today."
"How do you explain the Lucky Dollar Casino heist then?" Jason asked. He let his mind race to try to answer his own question, driving himself to well-needed distraction. "Where's the two in that? Besides the playing cards we got?"
They didn't manage to answer the question while on patrol, too busy clearing the streets of petty criminals, but the next night, Bruce had a hunch on where Two-Face might strike again. One of the baseball stadiums was hosting a doubleheader between the Gotham Mammoths and the Metropolis Twins - two twos right there, and that was bound to be too much for Two-Face to ignore.
Sure enough, at the bottom of the second inning, Two-Face and yet another matching pair of goons arrived to relieve the stadium box office of its money, not realizing that Batman and Robin were already inside, laying in wait.
"Batman!" Two-Face cried, as he and Jason took out the goons.
"Your third score in three days. Ambitious, but such an obvious target," Batman said, with something as close to amusement as he ever reached.
"Sometimes I am too predictable," Two-Face admitted. "But I couldn't resist a baseball score."
"Well, strike three, Two-Face. You're out," Batman said, punching him and knocking him out. With that bit of dramatics done, he turned to the goons who were getting up and approaching them again. "Watch him, Robin! But be careful, and don't get too close to him!"
By this point in his training, following Batman's order would have come naturally, but things were different for Jason now. Looking down at Two-Face brought back the memory of everything from his file, everything Jason had been repressing for two nights, and he just couldn't hold himself back anymore. In an instant, he was on top of Two-Face, with his hands wrapped around the dirtbag's neck.
"You bastard!" he screamed. "You low-life slimeball, you murdering--I'll kill you!" He was so caught up in his rage that he saw Two-Face regain consciousness, but failed to notice the criminal's knee come up until he'd hit Jason in the gut. Jason tried to fight back, but Two-Face, for all his terrible criminal skills, was still a grown man. He shoved Jason off of him and punched him for good measure before taking off into the stadium.
"Robin!" Jason heard Batman yell. He was still seeing stars when he felt Batman's hand on his shoulder.
"Get him," Jason said weakly, trying to keep himself steady enough to stand. He'd screwed up. He'd totally screwed up, and all he could do now was wait for the fallout. By the time Jason managed to get up and into the stadium, Two-Face was gone, having escaped up a ladder at the end of the field. "He got away?" he asked, running up to Batman.
"Yes, a car was waiting," Batman said, glaring at Jason sternly. "We have to talk, but not here."
The drive back to the manor was silent, and it wasn't until they were in the cave that Bruce finally turned to Jason. "All right, it's time you explained yourself," he said. "You blew it back there! Everything I taught you went out the window! You completely lost your cool. When I tell you to do something, I need to trust that you'll do it, and I don't know if I can now."
"Trust?!" Jason said sharply. He'd wanted to try to stay calm, to make sure Bruce understood everything he wanted to say, but he was still just too angry. "You want to talk about trust? When were you gonna tell me Two-Face murdered my father?"
Bruce sighed, and looked far less angry now. "Jason--"
"What?! What excuse could you possibly have? I had a right to know and you kept that from me!" Jason yelled.
"I was trying to protect you," Bruce said, seemingly getting calmer the more angry Jason became.
"Protect me from what? You teach me to fight, you take me out into open combat in the middle of the city - what the hell are you trying to protect me from?"
"This is harder than combat. Fighting comes easily to the young - learning how to temper revenge into justice is a different story. That's harder, even for an adult," Bruce said.
Jason was tempted to tell Bruce exactly where he could stick his platitudes about revenge, but he found his anger waning as Bruce kept being calm at him. "Are you mad at me?" he finally asked. "I shouldn't have attacked him, I know. I just--I wish I'd known before about what happened to my dad."
"I know you do, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was wrong of me to keep that from you," Bruce said. "I'm not mad at you. Two-Face beat me tonight too, getting away like that. Next time we see him, we'll both have to keep our heads."
Jason nodded mutely before glancing up at Bruce. "Hey, that reminds me," he said, trying to push everything away again. Repressing his anger might not have been the healthiest idea, but the lesson he was learning tonight was that it kept him out of trouble in the long run. "I think I figured out where we can find Two-Face tomorrow night."
The next evening, Batman and Robin headed back to the Lucky Dollar Casino. It was kind of a long shot, but it was one that paid off - they got to the casino just as Two-Face was trying to escape with carts full of money.
"How did you know?" Two-Face asked, like he was surprised by Batman foiling his plans.
"That you'd pull your first robbery a second time?" Batman said, glancing to Jason with a hint of a smile.
"It was the only way the casino heist could fit into your pattern," Jason explained. He'd shared that idea with Bruce the night before, and Bruce agreed that it made sense - as much sense as any of Two-Face's plans ever did, at least. After promising that he wouldn't go after Two-Face alone again, Bruce had agreed to let Jason come with him to check out the casino. It was still hard to look at Two-Face now, but the promise he'd made to Bruce was enough to keep him in place at Batman's side.
"Impressive!" Two-Face said, shoving one of the carts at Batman. "But now I simply must run."
As Two-Face took off, Batman followed behind him, with Jason hot on his trail. They followed Two-Face all the way to the World's Largest Roulette Wheel, and watched him climb into the wheel's ring. Batman stayed on the platform, so Jason stopped too, and Two-Face pulled out his gun and pointed it at them both. "You're like two sitting ducks!" he yelled, looking pleased with himself.
Batman looked over at the casino employee manning the wheel's controls. "Hit the switch!" he said.
"Okay," the man said slowly, like he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. Jason didn't know what Batman was planning either, until the wheel started to spin and Two-Face, caught off-balance, fell down onto all fours. That was a perfect trap to hold him for a while, Jason thought, right up until the oversized metal ball that went with the roulette wheel came out.
"Batman, look!" Jason said, pointing to where the ball was headed for the wheel.
"I didn't think about that," Batman replied. "It's going to crush him."
As much as he'd tried to push his anger away, Jason still wanted to let Two-Face die. Death by crushing in the middle of a casino seemed like a fitting end for a criminal madman. Honestly, his dad might have wanted that too. He was the kind of guy who thought revenge should be taken to its absolute end, just like Jason. But the fact was, his dad was gone, and all because he'd made the wrong choices. Bruce was all Jason had now, and that meant that what Bruce wanted was almost as important as what Jason wanted. Bruce wanted Two-Face alive, so, pushing his own desires aside, Jason swung out and spun himself around the center pole of the wheel. The ball was inches away from Two-Face now, and Jason kicked it just in the knick of time, sending the ball flying away as he swung back and landed on the platform.
Batman let the wheel spin a few more times before getting the casino employee to stop it, because really, it was kind of entertaining to watch Two-Face spin around and yell at them. "Ooh, so dizzy," he whined weakly, as the police carted him off, and Jason almost found himself laughing.
"You did well tonight," Bruce said, once they'd gotten back to the manor. "You more than made up for your mistakes from yesterday."
"Mistakes I wouldn't have made if you'd been honest with me," Jason pointed out, before he could stop himself. Bruce might have been all he had right now, but that didn't mean he was going to let him off the hook easily. It wasn't like he couldn't go back to taking care of himself if he needed to.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Bruce said, putting his hand on Jason's shoulder to look him in the eyes. "From now on, I won't keep things from you, if you'll do the same for me."
It seemed like a pretty fair deal, overall. At this point, Jason wasn't really sure what more he could ask for from a guardian.
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay! Dialogue and action adapted from Batman #411. Warnings: more comic violence and discussion of character death. But no shortpants this time.]