Batman #428: The Process (picking up from Batman: The Result alternate ending for Jason Todd).
Written by: Andrew J. Robertson January 2011
Jason awoke a few days later to see Alfred changing some of the bandages on his body. He was still groggy from the beating Joker had given him. It nearly took his life, and he barely survived the explosion set to finish him off. He looks over and sees Bruce, asleep in the chair. It looked like he had been there for a while, like a father watching over his son. Jason allowed himself a smile. Bruce finally looked up from his sleep and saw Jason, "Jason?" "Hey Bruce…" came the weak voice, "did you get… the Joker…?" Bruce's smile at Jason waking turned into a frown at the question, "No, but I'm not giving up until I find him." Jason looked disappointed that Bruce hadn't gotten the man who did this to him, but he knew when Bruce said he would not give up that he meant it, and that was good enough for him, "It's good to… see you again… Bruce…" Bruce allowed himself a slight smile and a tear formed in his eye as he said, "It's good to see you again too, Jason."
A cold current swept ashore in Gotham harbour. The figure crawled up onto shore and managed to sneak aboard the back of a truck. No laughs, just pain. Joker knew he was lucky to be alive. He also knew that Batman wouldn't rest until he made him pay for almost killing his sidekick. Sentimental idiot… he thought to himself. But he knew this made Batman all the more dangerous now. Would Batman ever cross the line with him? He wondered, it seemed like Batman had held him in place to be shot in the helicopter, it was lucky the guard was a terrible shot… although he did still wound him with the misplaced bullet. He looked down at his side, blood still oozing out, then grimaced in pain as the filth of Gotham harbour water did its' best to add insult to injury by infecting the wound. "Must get… away…" he said with a slight chuckle, "the show… must go… on! HA-HA-HAAAUGHK!" He hunched over in pain as laughing had irritated the wound. It was in his abdomen. He needed medical aid, and he knew just the person to do it for him…
The next night, Bruce took to the night air as Batman again. To match his now even grimmer mood, he had changed his outfit a little bit. No more blue, it was now pure black. The gray suit was still there but slightly darker, the oval bat was still on his chest, a more functional utility belt was now on his waist, and no outer shorts could be seen. As he cast his line, Bruce's attitude was noticeably different in how he handled himself. Every punk he came across that night he took them down harder than ever, he shattered bones, caused internal bleeding, and more. He was like a bull in a China shop… unstoppable. He was on a mission… he was out to find out about the Joker. He knew he had survived. No body had been found, so that meant he was alive somewhere, and he promised Jason he would get him… no matter what it took! He listened to the scanners and heard about another old foe of his causing trouble in the Gotham Museum, it was the Riddler… He arrived to see the Riddler and his henchmen looting the museum. He stormed in and took out the henchmen without thinking, and did so brutally! Bones could be heard breaking, cries of pain went up from the men. When Riddler saw the new look and the new attitude of Batman, it stunned even him for a moment, "Riddle me this… when is Batman not like Batman?" He knew he needed to get out of there as fast as he could. Suddenly there was Batman right in front of him! He was definitely darker in appearance and attitude. For the first time in a long time, Riddler almost had an accident in his pants…
The next day, the papers had an image of a beaten Riddler and his gang hanging upside-down from lampposts in front of the Gotham Museum. Jason saw the paper when he awoke and realized something had changed within Bruce. The style of how he had tied up these men was darker. Usually he had just left a note attached to the men tied up against a pole or something, but the cuts and bruises on Riddler's face and of the henchmen tied up and hanging from the pole showed the story that Bruce was in a foul mood. The paper reported that some of the men had internal bleeding and lacerations from the beating Bruce had given them. Jason was surprised. I only wanted him to go after Joker with no remorse… but he's gone after EVERYONE like this! Alfred came into the room, "Ah, Master Jason, you've awakened." "Alfred," said Jason, "what's wrong with Bruce? Look what HE did to these men!" Alfred looked at the picture. "Yes, well his costume is also changed young sir. It's darker. Black where it was blue, a darker gray suit, not outer shorts, a 'more functional' utility belt he said, and he was indeed more threatening than I have ever seen him." Jason thought for a moment, "Why?" "Young sir, for all intense purposes, you are his adopted son. The Joker has tainted his family long enough, and it has affected everything. He is doing this all as a way of coping with what happened to you. It's his way of going through the process of what happened." Jason looked at the picture again, then back at Alfred, "He needs Robin now more than ever to keep him in check…" "I agree," said Alfred, "but you're in no physical shape to do it. Perhaps just talk to him when he see you next?" Jason nodded. Alfred set the breakfast tray down for Jason to eat. Jason looked at the scrambled eggs, the Jell-o, the yogurt, and the juice – all things that should go down fairly easily. He began to eat when Bruce suddenly appeared from the shadows in full Batman attire. "Jason…" Jason was startled with the unexpected approach. Even after having been Robin for some time now, Bruce managed to surprise him. The new look was indeed darker. "Bruce? What's happened to you?" "Seeing what the Joker did to you showed me that what we do needs to be taken to the next level. Zero tolerance. I will make all crime fear me now more than ever!" The darkness in his voice even frightened Jason a little, yet he also seemed to get chills from it? "So what about me?" Bruce stared at Jason, "When you are healed, THEN we'll talk. For right now, your only mission is to get better…" Bruce took off the mask and his grim face lightened a little, but not much.
A while later Bruce was in the cave working out, going through the martial arts exercises, and then took a moment to go over the information he had managed to get out of the thugs he had beaten about the Joker's whereabouts. He looked down at his bruised knuckles, and just pondered for a moment before Alfred snapped him out of it, "Tending to your new bruises sir?" "What is it Alfred?" "It just seems sir that you have just taken the approach of simply brutalizing those who do crime…" "Those who do crime must be punished!" "Y-yes sir," said Alfred, "but it seems like your methods as of late seem more like you're doing your thinking with your fists rather than your head. You used to dance your way around those you sought to capture, now it seems you would just rather brutalize them…" Bruce looked at Alfred, "Alfred… Joker nearly killed Jason. It woke me up as to how dangerous this has become. I am not resting until I have found him and…" "And what sir?" The almost authoritative question from Alfred caused Bruce to stop what he was saying. He looked blankly at Alfred. Alfred walked away and went to do some cleaning elsewhere. As soon as he left, Bruce looked at his knuckles again. Battered and bruised, his knuckles told the story, he had indeed been thinking with his fists, not his brains. He got his answers from the thugs, but he got them through sheer brute force. He remembered back to his time of training with Henri Ducard and how the two had stopped some thugs in France some years back and how the level of brutality Henri had used had cause the two to argue. Bruce had said to him, "If we stoop to their level, we're nothing more than brutalizers! We're no better than they are!" Their argument had turned into a silence, and Bruce had left the next morning. Now years later, his own words came back to haunt him, and he cursed himself for stooping to being just a brutalizing force and not the great detective that he was known to be.
Near the Canadian-US border at Niagara Falls, Joker stumbled to where an old ally of his was, a doctor that had performed unnecessary surgeries to "promote science" and had been disbarred from the college of physicians. "Doctor Gus Scarri…" said Joker as he stumbled in, blood still oozing from his side and now obviously infected, "do I need an appointment to see you?" "Joker!" said the startled voice, "that looks nasty!" "No kidding… Sherlock!" retorted Joker with a cough. Doctor Scarri helped Joker into an examination room with an operating table and equipment. "Lie down and let me look at that," said the doctor. He peeled away the torn suit from around the bullet wound, the smell of the infected blood was sickening now. "You might want to be out for this…" "NO! Just do what… you need to do…" said Joker.
The End.