I do not own Batman or any other DC characters.

A Quick Smoke

"My family is my strength and my weakness." ~Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Jason Todd's feet danged over the gargoyle, light sparkled over the city's best and worst parts and dark alleyways dripped wet from leaky gutters while smoke rose up from the cigarette that hung lose between his lips. His eyes were hidden behind his mask and damp black hair tickled his neck, some pieces clinging to the back of his neck. His leather jacket was tucked under his leg and his black tank top that clung to all his muscles with his signature symbol across the shirt. His black gloves clammed up on his hands and he pants wore low on his hips, showing off some the label of his underwear.

He grabbed his cigarette out of his mouth, the tangy taste remaining on his taste buds before blowing smoke up to the sky. His blue eyes narrowed under the mask and stared at the frowning face of Red Robin before smirking at him.

"What's a Birdy doing out this late at night?" he questioned the vigilante who sighed at him and looked over the cityscape.

"It was my turn to patrol over this area tonight." He replied and he glanced back down to his hands, "Plus I didn't want to be near people today."

Jason raised an eyebrow at this and placed his cigarette back in his mouth before asking, "How come?" Red Robin sighed and rubbed between his eyebrows, sorrow drowning on his face. Jason moved over a little and let his replacement seat down next to him. Red Robin scowled and ran his gloves hand through his long black hair.

"Today…is the day I became broken."

Jason's eyebrows shot up at his comment and opened his mouth to say something but Red Robin held his hand out.

"You mind if I have a cigarette?" he asked and Jason shrugged, pulling the package out from his jacket and held it open to the previous Robin.

"Since when did you smoke, Baby Bird?" Jason inquired and Red Robin smirked at him before pulling out a lighter from a hidden pocket in his black boot, flicking it open and a small flame burst open.

"Since I lost everything." Red Robin responded and placed the cigarette under the flame, the end peeling off and he clamped the lighter shut. He stuck the cigarette in his mouth and drew in a deep breath of the poison, releasing it through his nose.

"What do you mean?" Jason said and pointed his joint to his replacement, "What have you lost? I think I lost more than you, Timbo. I had to stare at my mother's dead body for weeks until I tried to steal the Bats tires; then I could never live to Dick as Robin with Bruce always criticizing me and saying I was wrong; I had to fight to survive on the streets. I went through beatings from the Joker; I died by a bomb where I was still alive until the very end where I felt my skin melt away and pain never ending!

"Then I was forced back to life, and it fucking kills to be brought back to life, and when I did I went insane, going a rampage through most of my time before I was finally placed in Arkham! Do you know what they had tried to do with my mind?! They tried to break me back down then build me back up through shock therapy and all the different drugs tested on me! Once I broke out, we guys hunted me down like I was a wild animal until I finally proved to you all that I am a good guy!"

Tim frowned at this and then looked down to his cigarette before taking a long drag of it, some smoke escaping his lips. Jason's face was lit bright red in anger and Tim waited for him to punch him but it didn't come. Jason spat out his cigarette which slowly fell to the ground as if a bird was falling from losing its wings.

"Tell me how you lost everything." He hissed and Tim blinked at this before nodding at this, removing his cigarette and stubbed it with his boot.

"I had begun to lose everything since my parents abandoned me to just myself and the house, no one ever to greet me or say hello. I was just by myself and no one was there to support me; I had to do everything by myself in order to get something done. I lived like that for most of my life until I tried to conceive Dick to returning being Robin after you died yet he refused to take the handle so he set up for becoming the third Robin. I was pushed to edge and limit and finally Bruce accepted me as the third Robin.

"Then he flew me around the world to learn of new styles and become something even greater so I would not end up dead like you. I traveled to Paris where learned to fight with lady Shiva and other great masters but I refused to kill when she asked me to, so I was sent back to deal with crime. I was able to fight off crime but Bruce refused to let me fight known killers without assistance, treating me like a child. When Bane broke Bruce's back, I wanted to take up the mantle so someone could still protect Gotham. I missed the time where my father was turned up paralyzed because some bastards held him and my mother died while off in the Caribbean.

"After a while, I meant Steph on a mission to catch Cluemaster and a couple of third-rate villains and with that Bruce and Alfred found my dad. The Apocalypse virus was the next big thing and so many innocent people died through the time that I still bare the weight of their deaths on my shoulders. My girlfriend at the time tried to sleep with me when Spoiler started appearing in my life and got me grounded, so I couldn't fight crime during that time and leaving many in line of danger. My father started to complain about me disappearing from time to time because my duties as Robin and the Young Justice members no longer held my trust in their hands.

"My father found out about me being Robin and told me to quit or he would tell everyone I was Robin. So I listened until a Gang War broke out, but shortly after Steph died and then my dad died leaving me alone yet again back when I was a child. And you were revived and we battled for the first time…that left me a little depressed due to the fact that you managed to beat me. After that, the Society blew up Bludhaven and Conner died also during the fight against Superboy-Prime, my best had died like so many others. Everything starts to blur together now as more and more deaths to build up and pile around me." He pauses and Jason stares at the kid with no expression across his face as Tim thinks for a moment and looks down to his hands, a grim look appearing on his face.

"After being put through tests, it was when I got caught by the Joker; I realized that I would die. But that didn't happen. No, he put me through electroshock therapy so I would spill everything yet he didn't manage to get anything out from me besides my screams of agony. He drugged me with everything he had: sometimes I was high, sometimes I got really depressed, sometimes got really anger, most of the times though I went insane. I'm surprised I actually got of there with any sanity enacted after I shot the Joker!" He laughed at the last part and Jason's eyes went large at the end of his speech, his mouth agape. Tim stood up and opened his arms to the wind, his expression something of insanity and happiness.

"I had been transformed from the Joker's toxin! I was to be 'Joker Junior', the product of the Joker's insanity and Harley Quinn's psyche! I was to be the perfect cause of destruction to Gotham, where the citizens would fall to their knees and cry and beg for salvation from the power I held, the police force would obey every statement I made, the villains would no longer hid in the shadows but face my wrath! No one could tell me what to do or why I should fight!" he exclaimed and Jason bore worry onto his face, standing up next to him with his jacket in hand and Tim turned to him. His face now pale with grief and sadness before looking down to see a couple of girls walking together, chatting.

"Bruce had found me before I had fallen off the edge of humanity yet I am still dangling over the cliff every day of my life. The blood on my hands to forever grow as I grow wiser and older as I try to save but another dies in its place." He told his older brother before turning to him, "You understand what I mean, correct, Jason?"

Jason couldn't help but frown and reply back, "Why did you not tell me this, Baby Bird?"

Tim smiled before opening the wings out from his new suit and replied, "Because I was waiting for the right moment. Thanks for the quick smoke, Jason; hopefully we can be on the same page now." Then without another word, Tim dove off the building to find some crime to help fight against. Jason swore silently under his breath before pulling another cigarette out and stuffing it between his teeth, anger bright under his eyes.

"Damn it, Tim, if I knew he had done with to you also I would have never halted on killing the Joker." He whispered and almost bit through his cigarette before lighting it back up, watching as Red Robin flew off in the distance to save the lives of many while Jason would fight evil-doers who want to ruin the innocent's lives.