Batman: The Result (picking up from Batman #427).
Written by: Andrew J. Robertson November 2010
Jason awoke, his mother had tried to get out, but the door was locked and she saw a bomb. She saw Jason stir and screamed, "Jason! Diffuse the bomb!" "I'm in... no shape... for that... right now" he said. He fumbled through his belt and found a mini-laser. "If I can just focus..." he said as he aimed through the keyhole at the lock. He depressed the button and the small laser cut the tumblers inside the lock and it fell off. "Did it..." he said. His mother ran to the door, "Let's get out of here!" She ripped the door open at last and pushed her son forward to get him out. At that moment the bomb ticked "0:00" and went off.
KAAAAAAAAA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Batman arrived at the scene and saw the inferno. Metal was already melting under the intense heat. "JASON!" He yelled and searched for the boy. He remembered how he had found him, highjacking the wheels off the Batmobile. The years of training and other memories rushed through his mind as he looked for his young partner.
The fire had started to settle and he looked through the smoke and saw the form of Jason's mother. He knelt to see if there was a pulse. Gone. He looked for Jason. Suddenly he saw some green material from Jason's gloves, it led to a pile of rubble from which he saw an arm sticking out. "JASON!" He ran over and cleared the debris away. "Jason?" He checked for a pulse, and found nothing. He tried CPR to help his boy. After a few attempts, finally, a weak pulse and a shallow breath. Bruce drew in a breath as he scooped Jason up in his arms. "He's alive..." he whispered. He gathered up any tattered clothing of Jason's from the scene and got him out of there. He left the scene and Jason's mother behind. He took him to a secure location and changed Robin to Jason in attire and after he changed rushed Jason to hospital. He told the staff there about the fire that caused a warehouse to explode, and took Catherine's life. Bruce told them about how he had found Jason alive, barely. They rushed him into emergency immediately.
Later they came out and approached Bruce. They told him Jason was stable. He would recover, but it would be a long process. Bruce thanked them and asked if it was possible to transfer Jason home to the USA. They said, "Yes, but very carefully." "I've got the money to make sure that happens," says Bruce in a blank tone.
Back in the USA, Joker had managed to make his connections to the Iranian government, and would soon make an announcement. When Bruce came back, he had a full medical unit set up in the mansion and Jason was on all the support and fully staffed with medical personnel that only Bruce could afford. He stared at Jason who was sleeping because he was heavily medicated with morphine. "Take care of him," he said to the nurses and doctors. "We will Mr. Wayne," they said.
Bruce went down to the study with Alfred behind him. "I'm going after the Joker," said Bruce as he went down to the cave. "I expected that, sir," said Alfred.
Later Batman had followed a lead to the UN building in New York. When there, he heard the wind pick up and a voice, "Batman." "Superman?" "We need to talk," said Superman as he landed. "The President asked me to stop by." "Why?" asked Batman. "They wanted to make sure you didn't interfere with the speech from the newest UN Representative from Iran." "Who is it?" asked Batman. "Listen Bruce, he has full diplomatic immunity..." "Who...?" "We can't touch him for anything he has done..." "WHO...?" "If you go after him it will make an international incident..." "WHO?" THWAM! Bruce hit Clark across the jaw. "Must have broken some knuckles..." said Bruce. "No," said Clark, "but badly bruised. I can't believe you did that Batman..." A car pulls up, a limo to be exact, "Here he is..." said Clark. "NO! NO! NO!" yells Bruce. "It's true boys," says Joker, "I'm the new ambassador to the UN! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
At the manor, it's night and the medical staff have left for the evening all except for one nurse to monitor Jason's condition. Alfred is there too and suddenly Jason stirs, "A-Alfred?" The nurse and Alfred look up, "Master Jason!" exclaimed Alfred. "I'm... home?" "Yes young master." He sees the nurse and says, "Can she leave us? I need to ask you a question..." Startled, Alfred says, "Um, yes Master Jason. Nurse?" Not impressed, the nurse heads down to the kitchen to get a snack. When gone, Jason says, "Alfred... what happened?" "Master Bruce found you in the remnants of the blast that left you and..." "Mom! Where is she?" "She didn't make it young sir..." said Alfred with a saddened face. Jason wept. After a moment, he says, "The Joker did this, beat me with a crow bar, tried to cover it up with a bomb. I got the lock open, but mom took the brunt of the blast..." Jason's expression suddenly changed to anger. "Where's Bruce?" "Gone after the Joker." "Does he realize it was Joker who did this?" "He suspected it young sir, that's why he's gone after him." Jason smiled, "I hope he wipes the floor with him!" He rolled over and attempted sleep again. Alfred decided to place a call...
In a secure location, Batman, Superman, and a general sat. Suddenly, Bruce received an urgent call on a secure line. BZZZ! BZZZ! "Excuse me..." says Bruce. He steps out to the hallway and says, "Alfred? This had better be important..." "It is sir," said Alfred, "young Jason has awakened and told me what happened. It was the Joker sir. He attempted to kill Jason. When he asked where you were I told him you were after the Joker, to which Jason said – I hope he wipes the floor with him!" Bruce allowed himself a smile when he heard the comment, "I will. Thank you Alfred." He hangs up and goes back into the meeting room, "Sorry." He sits down and the general says, "Now Batman, the President has sent this man..." motioning to Superman, "...to slap you down if you step out of line. If you go after the Joker it will spark an international incident." "He's most likely there to kill the members!" Yells out Bruce. "Maybe," said the general, "but if you try – Superman is to stop you." "Is that how it is?" says Bruce to Clark. The two stare at each other. The general says, "Try not to kill each other..." as he leaves the room. Once alone, Superman says, "Batman... Bruce... I heard about the explosion and how your young ward, Jason, was severely injured in the blast. He is Robin isn't he?" "Yes," said Bruce, "he's the best. The Joker tried to kill him, and Jason's mother was killed in the process!" Superman says, "But he's protected by law!" "That's the law, not justice." "Bruce, don't do anything that would cause an international incident. You can't put your personal feelings ahead of your patriotic duty..." "SPARE ME your boyscout sentimentality Kent! Stay out of my way and hopefully we won't find each other at cross purposes..." Batman leaves into the darkness. Clark thinks to himself, "Why do I always get the feeling that he knows something that I don't?"
A while later, Bruce is at his hotel room. He is thinking over what has happened. Can he really just sit by while that maniac gets the royal treatment? Maybe Clark is right, maybe he is acting too irrationally. He looks at his Batman suit on the bed, then shakes his fist in the mirror, "BUT HE TRIED TO KILL JASON!" suddenly his business suit is on the bed, and the room is empty...
At the UN, Joker gives his speech, how both he and the government of Iran have been bossed around by the west for too long. "We're not going to take it anymore!" He rips off his outer robes to reveal a vest with small tanks attached. Bruce is disguised as a guard, "Like lambs to the slaughter..." he says. Joker starts to shoot out the gas into the audience, when suddenly another guard reaches out and crushes the gun. "What?" screams out Joker. Then the guard starts to inhale the gas. Bruce says to himself, "It's an impressive sight to see him take it all in. I knew I wouldn't have to lift a finger – the old boyscout came through after all..." The effort causes the shirt and coat to rip off the guard to reveal... "Superham!" yells out Joker. "Batman... he's all yours!" He flies off and Joker says, "No fair! Good thing I have a back up!" He pulls out a remote and presses the button. Explosions rock the inside of the chamber and smoke fills the room. Bruce goes around the corner, he rips open the shirt he's wearing to reveal the large bat in the yellow oval on his Batman suit. In the middle of the smoke, he suddenly appears and yells out, "JOKER!" The dark form of the Batman leaps out at Joker and starts to punch him and throw him around. Joker staggers and pulls a gun off a guard and says, "He's out of his mind!" On the rooftop, he is suddenly confronted by Batman. "So Batsy! Upset about your little partner? I'd have loved to have seen your face when you found what was left of him!" Batman smiles, "Funny thing... he survived and told the story of what you did. The crow bar and everything! He had a message for you..." Surprised, the Joker says, "For me? What?" "He told me to wipe the floor with you!" Joker gulps and runs.
Joker heads for the roof to where a helicopter is. He shoots some guards on the way up. "More to add to his death toll," thinks Bruce, "no more! It ends tonight!" Joker hijacks the helicopter about to lift off, and flies away. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Suddenly the helicopter jolts with an impact. The side explodes off and in lunges Batman, "JOKER!" A guard on the ground who had been knocked out by Joker awakens to see both Batman and Joker in the seating area fighting. He raises his gun and Batman holds the Joker in place as if to say "shoot him", and the Joker screams, "NOOOOOOOOOO!" The gunman is still groggy and stumbles, shooting both Batman in the shoulder, and Joker in the chest. Batman knocks out the guard, and grabs him. He sees the bullets that had been fired had also hit the gas tanks and the helicopter was about to go up. Batman is about to leap out but takes a moment, "Goodbye..." he dryly says to the Joker and leaps out with the guard. The Joker laughs while sputtering in pain. The parachute opens and the two head downwards. The helicopter explodes above and the wreckage hits the water. Pieces fly outwards and head toward Batman. Superman swoops in and grabs the two, he drops them off on the docks. Batman yells out, "Find his body!" But deep down he knows he won't. It's how it always remains between the two of them, unresolved...
The End.