A/N: The Super Power Beat Down between Red Hood and Punisher is a well-choreographed fight (It should be on YouTube if you are interested, though I warn you that the ending is quite bloody). With a little luck, however, that fight would have ended very differently...
Being dead sucked.
Jason Todd knew this from experience. He knew the cold, the insanity, the awful pain of memory and resurrection combined, and he'd sworn that he would do anything, anything, to keep it from happening again.
So no way in hell was he going to die here, lying on a concrete floor under some idiot bruiser with a knife.
But even Jason could feel the panic beginning to set in. His arms trembled from the effort of keeping the point away from his throat. He couldn't reach any items on his belt without letting go of the knife, and kicking upward while someone straddled you only worked in the movies. The other guy was stronger, and he had gravity on his side.
Jason lost another inch, and the panic was in his guts now, gnawing at him. Dammit, I don't want to die!
The knife touched his throat... Ohgodohgodohgod...
And then, without warning, the weight was gone.
Jason just lay there for a minute, breathing hard.
At first, he'd only taken in the obvious: one thug straddling the other, the struggle for the knife, and how the smaller man was slowly losing the battle. And then, as he strode forward to interfere, Bruce had caught sight of that man's face.
Jason.
The surge of panic and anger that followed nearly wiped away all conscious thought. He was barely aware of yanking the thug away, barely aware of the flurry of blows that followed. He did remember the satisfying popping noise that came when he dislocated the thug's elbow though, and the crunching as he shattered the man's kneecap. Something else broke, the other arm, maybe, and then he found himself kneeling atop the thug, hammering blow after blow into his face. Jason had been covered in blood. Had Bruce been too late? Had be been too late again?
"Batman! He's out! Batman!"
Red Robin's frantic voice finally penetrated, and he stopped. Jason's attacker was definitely unconscious. In urgent need of an ambulance, actually, but Bruce didn't trust himself to dial the number. Instead, he rose unsteadily and turned back to Jason. The sight of the former Robin leaning against a tool bench, still bloody but inarguably alive, finally loosened the knot in his stomach.
"How badly are you hurt?" Bruce demanded gruffly.
"Like you care." Jason's eyes were slightly too wide for Bruce's liking, and were his hands trembling slightly?
"Batman?"
Reluctantly, Bruce turned to listen to Tim. When he looked back, Jason was gone.
At least he's alive.