Note: So I had this idea and I had to write it. Divergence – set instead of Battle for the cowl, obviously.
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Truce for the cowl
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Jason hit the button to shut down the message before it reached its end, gasping for a breath. He gripped the console to get a hold on reality – and also because his knees were trembling.
Fuck. Fuck.
He had been surprised to be called back to the Cave, but he'd come. He had been hurting, and had been mad about it because, damnit, it should have been a familiar feeling by now – or, rather, he should have been strong enough to beat the emo out of himself instead of feeling like the dark hero of some epic movie. Hell, he should have felt satisfied. Batman was dead. Bruce – was dead. Wasn't it what he'd wanted?
Yet, instead, he'd felt sick.
So he'd come. That Bruce had left a message for him – even for him – even for his biggest failure of a son – had been… Jason's stomach twisted. It had felt like hope. Bruce was dead, but maybe, maybe Jason had still meant something. A few words from a dead man would never make up for the lack of action, but…
But he'd thought that, maybe, they could give him closure.
Why had he been so foolish?
Failure. Taking responsibility. Self-destructive. Broken.
Fuck him. Fuck him.
It hurt. If so fucking hurt. Bruce being dead was bad enough – but he had to say this with his metaphorical last breath? To call him a failure? Fuck.
Jason's grip tightened, his joint blanching under the strain. He needed this. To snap out of it. He could feel the pressure, the rage, the need to lash out. Bruce wasn't there anymore to take it – but there were others. Dick Perfect Grayson. The replacement. The demon brat. They were strong, they would do.
No – no. Jason forced himself to breathe in, then wait, then exhale. Once again. Then again. Just one more breath. Alright. He could do this. He could – try to be sane.
Bruce was dead. But it also meant than Batman was dead. And perhaps Batman wasn't enough – hadn't ever been enough for Gotham – but… But he still was necessary. Red Hood, by itself, was useless. Both were needed, exactly like Jim Gordon was needed: someone on the right side of the law, a vigilante with iron-strong principles to second him and give the city hope – and the avenger who would stop those who were too far gone to be handled normally.
Without Batman, it was all wrong.
Jason breathed in. Then out. Then, slowly, let go of the console. He had to try, and to pray whatever god willing to listen, if there was any – to help him stay calm enough to talk Dick, Tim and Damian into working together to keep Gotham safe.
Into making a truce for the cowl.
###
"Of course Mister Perfect would say that! Excuse-me, princess, to have my own opinions!"
"It's not about opinions! You murder people!"
Tim ducked to dodge the knife Jason had thrown at Dick – with more rage than precision, thankfully – without taking his eyes from his computer's screen. He had work to do, for God's sake. Work that badly needed doing, considering… He stopped his thoughts right there.
The shouting kept going on the lower platform where his older brothers were standing. Jason had another knife in his hand and looked ready to throw it.
Tim and Jason had some kind of cease-fire ongoing. Unfortunately, it didn't mean Jason was actually safe to be around. He not trying to kill Tim anymore was a start but they certainly weren't allies.
However, since Dick had called Jason back so he would listen to Bruce's message, Tim had assumed that he hadn't been the only one to reach out to Jason lately. That Bruce not being… there, anymore, would bring them together.
He had been wrong. Obviously.
"You can't expect us to just forget what you did!" Dick argued with more temper than discernment.
"It's not about me and what I've done!" Jason yelled. "It's about Gotham."
"We can't just throw away everything Bruce stood for because he died!"
"I'm not asking you to!"
"You want me to forget how you work!"
Tim pinched the bridge of his nose, aggravated. On the training platform above, the sound of Damian's punches had slowed, then stopped entirely. One could safely assume that the kid was spying on the ex-Robins – and they said he was giving the brat a bad example to follow. That Bruce had been…
Bruce would never be an example for anyone ever again.
Tim stood. Neither Jason nor Dick noticed; they were too busy arguing at each other. Tim grit his teeth, walking toward them. He had to physically come between them for them to realize he was there.
"Replacement…"
"Tim…"
"Silence. Both of you. Do you hear yourselves?"
Jason glared; Dick gaped, apparently surprised at his cold anger. Tim cast them his darkest look.
"Bruce is dead," he declared flatly. "If you want to fight each other, get out of the damn city. We have enough work to do as it is."
Dick frowned. Jason, on the other hand, looked more startled than angry. That would be a first.
Then Jason actually nodded.
"The replacement is right." Tim blinked. Now that was a first. "We need to work together. And before you start protesting again, Dick, yes, I will follow the rules. As long as needed. Satisfied?"
Tim felt a warm feeling grow in his chest. He had aimed at calming them, but… Jason was actually suggesting… would it even be possible?
"It doesn't change the past, Jason," Dick said, though in a less aggressive tone than before.
"Shall we go after Selina to lock her up then?" Jason commented sarcastically.
Maybe it would. If they made it work. Or maybe just thinking about it made him as insane as Jason.
"We need all hands on deck for this," Tim interrupted. "We shouldn't forget what Jason did, but we could settle this later. When things are back to normal."
Jason cast him a glance. Things would never go back to normal and he knew it. They both did. However, it might be enough of an excuse for Dick to agree. It was like their eldest felt the need to be even more rigid about their rules now that Bruce wasn't there anymore to enforce them.
Tim could understand that need. Bending the rules now might cause a breach they could never repair. However… They needed to be flexible enough to make this work. 'For Gotham,' Jason's voice echoed in his mind.
Dick took the time to weigh pros and cons. Then, with a sigh, he nodded.
"Very well."
Jason didn't quite relax but took a marginally less belligerent stance. Tim allowed himself to breathe.
Then of course Damian landed in the middle of the triangle they were forming. He directed his challenging smirk to Tim.
"All hands on deck, you said. I demand to be part of it."
Rage bubbled on the surface of Tim stormy mood. He squared his shoulders, ready to snap him out of his delusion – but the sound of Jason's laugh startled him out of it. It was the first time he heard it for real, as opposed to on tape; and only in surveillance feeds prior to Jason's death.
"If Golden boy and I can work together, kid, then you can work with the brat."
Damian protested vehemently at this denomination. To be fair, Dick seemed ruffled as well.
Tim wasn't sure he looked better.
He was so doomed.
###
This was going to get out of hand so quickly. Dick didn't think he had it in him to handle both his brothers, and Damian. Tim should have been the easy one, but ever since Damian had arrived, it was like he was trying to compensate the relatively quiet adolescence he'd had until now by making every stupid teenage decision he hadn't made in the previous years.
Dick felt tired already. How had Bruce handled this? Right. He had not.
He couldn't do this. Especially not now.
Yet someonehad to.
"Jason, stop provoking Tim. Tim, he's right, Damian should be included in this as well. Damian – you know the rules."
The child, who had straightened with a smirk when Tim was rebuked, frowned at the last sentence.
"We should cleanse scum from the surface of…"
"You. Know. The rules," Dick interrupted, a familiar growl settling in his throat, which shouldn't have been there, really shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jason and Tim tense. He ignored them. "I won't even let you argue on this. The rules apply to all of us, to all people who work on Batman's name. If you want in – you're in all the way."
Dick had managed not to glance at Jason despite the small speech being directed at him as well. He didn't protest.
Then to his surprise, Damian nodded, lips pursed notwithstanding. Dick suppressed the need to take a deep breath. They were agreeing to all work together? Now? Now that they didn't have – that they didn't have someone to turn to anymore, someone to whom they'd all listened?
Or was Bruce's death the reason why they felt the need to regroup? To form a family again – or, in Damian's case, to form a family at all?
Would this lessen the emptiness growing in Dick's chest?
"Thank you," Dick said, keeping his face blank. Then he frowned. "This also includes the 'no-killing-Robin 'rule, you know?"
Damian gaped in protest. Before he could voice it, Dick turned to Jason.
"It applies to you too."
"I never tried to kill the replacement!" Jason protested. "If I had, he would be dead. No offense, kid."
"None taken," Tim sighed. "I must admit I am grateful for you not having tried to beat the hell out of me those last few months, though," he added, pointedly not looking at Dick.
See? Compensating. Dick maturely didn't point out that letting a murderer out of prison possibly hadn't been Tim's smartest move. After all, it might have played in Jason showing up to hear Bruce's message. Dick hadn't thought he'd come.
How were there going to manage this? This was insane.
Like a Wednesday in Gotham, laughed a little voice in his head. It sounded a lot like Babs.
"If Robin isn't able to defend himself, maybe he isn't as useful as he should!" Damian finally managed.
"Those who need to be monitored to make sure they follow the rule are the useless ones," Dick declared with force. "We need to do this? Fine. But we won't do it Jason's way, or the League's way, or even my way. We do it Batman's way. Those who don't agree can get out now and stop wasting our time."
"Scum has to pay!" Damian insisted, turning to Jason for support – surprising Dick once again in the process.
"Sure, kid," Jason agreed. Dick would have strangled him. "But this isn't about justice. This is about Batman."
Damian wrinkled his nose.
"Isn't Batman supposed to be about justice?"
Jason actually laughed at that.
"Either you say Batman is about justice, or that justice is about killing criminals. It can't be both. So. Do you want in Batman's brand of justice?"
Dick held his breath. Then Damian nodded, thoughtful.
"Alright. No killing." He smirked. "No killing Robin, either. Though I honestly don't see how he is useful in the greater scheme of things."
"You don't go to war without a general, brat," Jason rolled his eyes. "Even if the general is 60 and got a limp."
"Thank you for comparing me to a 60-year-old maimed general," Tim commented sarcastically.
"I can see the similitude," Damian agreed.
Dick blinked. Then smiled. Because maybe they were antagonistic but – this sounded familiar. He had heard this kind of group dynamic numerous times at Titan Tower. Or even here, in the Cave.
This sounded like it would actually work.
###
Todd was tense and miserable. Grayson was tense and miserable. Drake was tense and miserable – so at least there was one good side to all this. Damian had had to promise not to kill him, but maybe it was for the best. After all, once dead, Drake would never have been able to admit Damian's superiority, nor to resign Robin's name to him.
Of course it was all pointless now. He couldn't be Batman's Robin without Batman.
Then again, the situation gave him the opportunity to prove he was Batman's rightful heir and should be offered the name and cape. He could have taken them, but he was willing to give Grayson and Todd some time to reach this realization by themselves instead. After all, one should be magnanimous toward one's allies.
And both of them made good allies. Better than he had first thought. A pity that Todd's mind was flawed. Despite his display of good behavior, he was barely refraining from lashing out, his hands twitching for a gun. His fighting skills were exceptional though, even by league's standards. No wonder Damian's mother had given him the opportunity to learn from her. As for Grayson… Damian hadn't made up his mind yet, but he could see how Batman's training had shaped him.
Damian forbad himself to be envious. It was not befitting of a prince.
He observed them from the upper platform on which he had climbed back, allegedly to resume his training. Drake was back at the computer. Grayson and Todd were whispering at one another, regularly casting looks toward Drake and himself, as if to make sure they wouldn't hear.
Which was stupid; Damian was perfectly able to read lips. Grayson was talking about Todd still having a room at the manor, and Todd retorting that he liked to breathe some air from time to time, thank you very much. In other words, they were being difficult.
This so-called truce would work. Damian would make sure of it. He couldn't accept anything less than learning from all Batman's former protégées, since the man himself was now… unavailable.
Except for Drake, of course. After all, Damian already knew how to use a keyboard and Drake was otherwise inept.
Todd's hands twitched enough for it to become visible. The man closed them into fists and spat something at Grayson before doing his exist.
"Think about it!" Grayson called after him while Todd made his bike roar.
Damian snorted, going back to the mats to practice some kata.
He should have stayed, after what had happened with his grandfather. He should have stayed in Gotham rather than waiting for a bad feeling to come back. Then he would have been able to train with Batman, with his father. To learn from him. To learn to know him.
Damian accelerated his rhythm, making his movements sharper. Bruce Wayne wasn't there anymore. His ex-protégées would have to do. And himself, of course.
Batman was dead – long live the Batman.
###
Notes: Hope you liked it :)
References:
Damian tries to kill Tim (and makes a lousy job of it, but then he was only 8 at the time) in Batman #657, hence the "not-killing-Robin" rule.
Tim gives Jason the override code of the prison so he can break out in Robin #182.
I realized a bit late that the scene when Jason listens to the testament actually existed, in Robin #183. In any case, I think maybe the different setting here helped Jason to react differently.
And then of course the whole fic is an alternate verse of the whole "Battle for the Cowl" debacle, so timeline-wise this happens instead of that arc.