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To .73: I hope you'll enjoy this chapter because this chapter when everything will go down an even darker path after this. Thanks for the previous comment also! I appreciate it! So enjoy!

I do not own Batman orang other DC character.

Gotham Ghoul

Chapter VI

CaPtIvItY

"I've become a captive of my own ambitions." -Patsy Cline

Jason was shoved down to his knees and a scowl written cross his features as Dick forced the cowl off his face. He blinked at the light and stared at the faces of Dick, Cass, Steph, and Bruce who all held anger in their eyes.

"Well, hello." he stated and then Dick smacked him across the face, grabbed the uniform in his fists tight.

"Where the hell is Damian?!" he snarled and Jason smirked at this, not knowing he carried more about the kid than Tim.

"Oh? You care about the Bat Brat more than the Replacement? Now that's a development." Jason said and Dick's eyes grew large at his statement, opening his mouth to protest it but Bruce asked something else, "Why are you in the Red Robin uniform, Jason?"

"There ya go! That's the big question I've been waiting to hear." Jason said and spat out a chunk of blood from his clash with Tim, "Because I decided to piss the Replacement off more than usual this week."

Bruce narrowed his eyes at this and said, "Jason stop lying to us. Tell me what exactly happened. You did this for a reason. You let the monster run free."

Jason rolled his eyes at this, ignoring the Bats question and Cass then said, "I know…something…"

They all turned to her voice and Jason's eyes grew wide at the fact that she may have been the one that Tim was planning on eating first. She gulped and looked down to the ground, anxiety growing on her. Bruce placed his hands on her shoulders and she looked up to him, seeing that she wasn't going to put the blame on him.

"What is it, Cassandra?" he asked her gently and she glanced at Jason's nervous blue eyes before licking her lips.

"The monster…it doesn't…mean to hurt others." she answered and they all blinked her response. Jason breathed in silently that she hadn't given away Tim's secret as she opened her mouth to explain but the sound of a cell phone broke the silence. Jason swore as he realized that was one of his many cell phones, probably getting a call from Tim saying that he had made it back to his safe house. Dick moved towards Jason and began to dig through his many pockets, pulling apart and scattering his many objects.

Then he grabbed the flip phone from the pocket and flipped it open. He placed it to his ear and answered, "Hello?"

"Jason?" the voice questioned and Dick's eyes grew wide at the voice, "Where is the Gantai? I need to speak with him."

"Talia?" Dick questioned and Bruce's eyes grew large at the fact that the call was from Talia.

"Richard?" the voice questioned back and Dick scowled before tossing the phone to Bruce who caught it in his hands, bringing it up to his ears.

"What to do you want with Jason, Talia?" Bruce asked and there was silence before a dial tone answered him back. He scowled and narrowed his eyes at this, looking towards Jason who held no emotion on his face from the fact that it wasn't Tim.

"Would you like to explain yourself Jason?" Bruce questioned Jason who smirked at this and spat at Batman's feet. Dick's thoughts began to run wild at the sound of Talia's voice and Damian's disappearance before putting two and two together.

"Bruce, what if Jason gave Damian to Talia?" Dick suggested and Bruce's eyes grew wide at the suggestion, all of the Bat family then moved towards Jason at the input.

"You think I would let Talia take the Bat Brat then you're more stupid than the kid's anger issues." Jason stated and rolled his eyes at their belief.

Then, out of nowhere the roar of a motorcycle echoed the Bat Cave and one rolled through the Bat Cave, quickly parking next to the Bat Mobile. The figure wore all black besides his helmet that was crimson red and he pulled it right off. Jason's eyes widen at the sight of Tim staring at Bruce with worry written across his face along with his eyepatch not appearing over his normally mutated eye. Instead of black and red, baby blues greeted the them all as he walked towards them, asking, "What did I miss out?"

"Where the hell have you been?" Bruce questioned the late teen and Tim sighed at this, running his fingers through his hair.

"I've been running through security cameras to find footage of where the monster was previous to the fight. I'm also searching for where Jason hid Damian." he replied and the others besides Cass and Jason bought his lie.

"Did you find anything?" Dick asked and Tim shook his head no at this, a frown appearing across his face.

"Someone had messed with the camera I normally use and took them down, as if it knew that I had camera around the ring." Tim stated before kneeling down to Jason and narrowed his eyes at the sight of the Red Robin costume being worn by his adoptive brother, "Did you enjoy your time as a hero again Jason?"

"The fuck are ya talking about?" he said, understanding that Tim was trying to fool with the Bat family, and Tim rolled his eyes at this.

"Come on, the only reason you would steal my suit would be to pretend to be me is to become a hero again. You miss the glory of saving others. Not having the blood spilled on your hands and the smoke of your gun rise up from the shots you make." Tim stated and then forced Jason to look him in the eye, grabbing him by his hair, "Just admit it. It'll help you cope."

Jason growled at this and narrowed his eyes, quickly realizing something was going on in Tim's head that was now causing him to react more angry than normal.

He's acting more brutal, Jason thought and clenched his jaw tight, Is he not under control?

"Are you ok, Tim?" Jason whispered and Tim narrowed his eyes at this, angry written across his face.

"I'm fine. You, though, are not in a good spot. Look at you, trying so hard to be something that you're no longer a part of. How pathetic." Tim spat at him and Jason sighed at this.

"Tim," Bruce began and moved towards the late teen then he grasped his left eye as if he were pain, swearing loudly.

"FUCK!" he cursed and Steph slowly walked towards him, concern now light in her face and emotions bubbling up inside her again.

"Are you-?" she began until he removed his hand from his eye where his hair covered his eye and saw Jason trying to process what he was going to do.

"Get them…" Tim struggled to say the words, "Out of here…"

"Whatever you say, asshat." Jason mumbled before kicking the late teen in the stomach with his feet, facing the boy to the ground. The Bat Family advanced towards Jason besides Cass who looked at Tim in horror as something red started bubbling from his back. Her chocolate eyes growing wide and turned to the family before biting her lip then charged at them as they held no idea that she would be going after them. She brought her hand up, aiming for the next to Bruce's temple for a quick knock out. She swung with all her might, her hips twisting in action as the force of her punch aimed correctly at Bruce's head.

He didn't even see it coming as his brain rattled against his skull, knocking him out as Nightwing and Batgirl went to turn at this but Cass was already in action. He attempted to move in time but her next had her arms wrapped around his throat and pulled tight enough to make him slowly lose his breath. He gagged and struggled to get her off while Steph attempted to help out but she was prove worthless as Cass used her legs to aim below her jaw, causing Steph's eyes to roll to the back of her head and knocking her out. Dick grabbed Cass' her to pull her over him but now she wrapped her legs around his waist, only making it harder for the young man to win.

"Why…?" he gagged out as he finally gave up, his mind going blank and she heaved for breath as he fell on top of Bruce's unmoving body.

She heaved for breath as her noir hair fell onto her face and turned to Jason who held a look of empress on his face. He smirked at this before saying, "Now you untie me and I'll go deal with the kid. Go and hide the others while also keeping Alfred safe too. We don't need the kid to find him with no defense."

She nodded at this before quickly undoing the ropes around his wrists and legs with a switchblade. She then rushed to grab them all and began hauling them towards the elevator. Jason rubbed his wrists before looking to Tim who continued to spasm as the red tentacles developed.

"Did they leave?" Tim manage to gag out and clutched his face hard in his hand, a sadistic glee appearing on his face but he tried to get ride of it.

"Yeah…now, why did you come here when you know that you're not in the best health to be here?" Jason asked and walked where the Bat Family had left the only weapon to fight Tim on equal par. He gripped it tight in his hand and Tim glanced at him, his one eye twitching from the transformation that was going on.

"I didn't want to hide anymore…" he gagged out and then swore as the tentacles began to whip around him.

"You weren't so sure about that last time." Jason stated and frowned as Tim slowly brought himself back to his feet. He swayed side to side and pointed a finger towards him.

"You have something that belongs to me…" Tim spat out as the tentacles eased up and pointed at Jason, "I need that to be Red Robin, I need to protect the people of Gotham." Jason scowled at Tim's speech and realized he was slowly losing his mind.

The kid needs something to focus on as he gets hungry. If the suit is driving him to go that far just to claim it back then I should just return it. It could easily balance out his sanity.

"I'll give ya suit back, kid. Just hold on a moment." Jason said before Tim slowly nodded at this, a blank expression painted across his face.

"Please…I need the suit…" Tim panted before the tentacles swirled around him and moved over his head, as if to shield him. Jason quickly pulled the suit down, exposing his multiple scars and wounds to the late teen. Plus the familiar outline of a Y- autopsy scar was placed across his body. It had stretched up to his shoulder joint on each side to meet at mid-chest and ran far down his stomach, right near the top of his underwear. The scar was jagged and seen up well but it didn't hide the fact that he had been killed and brought back to life not as long as originally thought.

That was the autopsy scar Jason had gotten when he was brought in to the hospital after he was killed. Tim quickly realized and the tentacles began to disappear from his back, fading into nothing as Jason had gotten worse treatment than he by a land slide.

"You've been through hell and back more than me." Tim whispered out loud and Jason's narrowed his eyes at this while grinding his teeth at the fact. He continued to hold out the uniform and snarked back, "Are you going to take it or not, kid?

Tim glanced back down to the uniform before grabbing it out of Jason's hand and could feel himself relax mentally at the fact it was still his. Jason rummaged through the Bat Cave as he dug for something to cover himself before deciding on a black hoodie and cargo pants with sneakers.

"What happened to the others?" Tim asked and Jason smirked at this, pointing to the elevator.

"The chick took care of them for ya. She took them all out with barely a second thought. I'm impressed with her, wish I had someone like that with me." he replied and Tim narrowed his eyes at this before glancing down at his suit. He stared at it before saying, "Jason…do you think I can hide the truth much longer? With my reality distorting everything around me, I'm becoming a monster. I won't be able to hold a facade anymore. My resolve is cracking and my will is breaking. I wouldn't be surprised that I become one of the villains soon enough."

"There's no such things called villains or monsters, kid." Jason began and walked towards him, his feet treaded across the ground, "There's only people who fight against other people. There is no such thing called a hero. Look at me, I was a 'hero' but that term was reduced to 'fallen hero', once I died. Is a 'fallen hero' not the same as a villain? So, would I be considered a 'villain' now that I'm alive again or a 'hero' since I am no longer 'fallen'?"

Tim froze at his words and opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't figure out what.

"Villains are just 'heroes' who have 'fallen' from their grace. But what is grace then? Is it something attained or something born from birth? Villains are not born evil. The just 'fall' from trying to be the hero so long." Jason said and Tim took notice of the dull and blank look on Jason's face, realizing he must have some sort of form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"Look at Dick for an example, he was fading from being Robin as someone viewed as a hero. That's why he had given up Robin, he traded it for becoming a new 'hero' called Nightwing. But that facade won't last for much more as you witnessed his brutality towards finding the Bat Brat.

"Look at me, I was losing my grip of being a 'hero' faster than Dick. I had started picking up the ways of the 'fallen heroes'. Then as my last act as a hero, I attempted to save my mother but look where that got me. Dead. A 'fallen hero'. A villain as I was awaken from Hell, pulling back to this Hell called Earth and I killed men because I could handle being back as 'hero'. I was brought back broken, a man with that lost all his heroism.

"Look at Bruce, he's fading away because his will is so strong that one day he may actually slip up. He's beaten so many 'villains' that he will either die a hero or live long enough to become the 'villain'." Jason said in monotone voice and sighed, pushing his hair back with his hand.

"Jason, we should get going and go to your safe house. I fear something bad is going down." Tim stated as to snap Jason of his trance who simply nodded at this statement, bending down to where his phone got dropped.

"Ok. I'll go call Talia back first. She wanted to talk with you." Jason said and pressed a couple buttons then held it up to his ear.

"Taaaaaalllllll~~~iiiiiiaaaa. It's me. Why did you want to talk to the Replacement? He's here with me right now." Jason spoke into the phone as it continued to dial but he didn't seem to take any acknowledgement to this. " Did you tell him about Project G yet? I'm sure he's curious as hell about the origins of the guy he ran into. I would love to know also since I know very little of it."

Tim's eyes grew large at the mention of the man that cursed him to this fate but moved to him before Talia had finally picked up.

"Jason, listen to me carefully. I need Gantai to meet up with me at Gotham Harbor in fifteen minutes. Do not come with him. This is just between me and him." she told into the phone and Jason frowned at this.

"What? Why just him? I deserve to know what is going on." Jason complained and Talia paused on the other side of the line.

"…Are you drunk. Jason?" she questioned the anti-hero and he narrowed his eyes at this, anger lighting up like a match in his eyes.

"What the fuck are you implying Talia?" he snarled back in a different attitude and Tim's eyes narrowed to slits before snatching the phone away in break neck speed.

"Hello, Talia. Would you explain what is going?" He asked as Jason cursed at him but Tim completely ignored him.

"Meet me up at Gotham Harbor in fifteen minutes. I'll explain what exactly happened to you and how my father is involved in this." Talia answered from the other line before hanging up and Tim dropped the phone as ran to his motorcycle and started it up.

"Kid! Where the fuck are you going?!" Jason asked and Tim glared at him before putting his helmet back on.

"I'm going to find out what exactly caused this to happen to me." He stated then fired up his engine, speeding away.

Cass shot up from her position once Batman blinked awake and looked around at the area was he was presented. It being the graveyard which his parents and Jason Todd had been buried in. He groaned wanted to rub his head at the aching pain but something held his hands back while Cass sat down next to him.

"I sorry." she apologized and he blinked at this then quickly remembered that she had been the one to attack him.

"Why, Cassandra?" he asked in a harsh tone as she avoided his gaze before standing back up.

"I can not explain. I am sworn to secrecy. I do not wish any harm on both you and the secrecy. I want only peace." She replied and then pulled out a piece of something wrapped in aluminum, placing it gently on the floor.

"I go and check now. This should keep it away if it comes." she stated then walked towards the elevator to the Bat Cave but it opened up before she had even called it. Jason came out, swearing and a cigarette in his mouth, walking right past Cass and moving to the door.

"Fucking brat! I swear to god that brat is going to make me regret ever helping him!" Jason snarled then stopped when he noticed Bruce awake, staring at him. He swore again and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Well, fuck." he said and turned to Cass, "Why didn't you knock him out again?"

"Did not know. He just awoke." she replied and he crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his foot in impatience before swearing again at this.

"Whatever. I need to go find out what Talia wants with Gantai. I have a bad feeling thats something will go down and I won't be there to at least stop it." Jason stated and released a steam of smoke from his nose, his cigarette bobbing up and down from the stress.

"Do you want help?" Cass asked and Jason raised an eyebrow at this.

"Not that I don't mind someone else to be dragged into this mess but what I want from you is to keep watch over these guys and make sure they don't get in my way. God knows what would happen, but if they do," Jason began at this and then pointed to aluminum foiled package near there feet, "Swore on that package that you won't tell them anything."

She stared at the package before nodding at this and turned back to him, promising, "I promise to not tell if they escape on that package." Jason nodded at this and continued to the exit as Batman struggled to break free of the bonds.

"Hopefully I'll be back with the brat." Jason said and left Batman to question what the hell had caused this and what was in the package that she swore on.

Tim casually walked to the edge of the Harbor wearing his Red Robin uniform, as he felt more relaxed in that than his Gantai outfit. He took a deep breath to relax himself even more and glanced around the area, trying to spot anything suspicious.

"So you did decided to come."

He turned to face Talia as she walked out from the shadows and held a stoic expression across her face, arms crossed over chest. He narrowed his eyes at her statement and sighed, asking, "What was your reason for me to be here, Talia?" Tim asked her and she looked away.

"The being in which you crossed unfortunate paths with is something that my father had created." She began and Tim gulped as she began to tell her tale, "That being was created as one of the twelve that had been scientifically engineered with the Lazarus Pits and other influential drugs and chemicals. This being had been the only successful one to live and breath like a normal human being but the amount of the Pits in its blood caused to be nearly impossible to harm the being. This also creates the blood to compose and emerge from the skin when feeling threatened, angered, depressed, and another emotions that mainly cause stress. This is a weapon that fights to increase battle morality rates by three hundred percent."

Tim walked towards her and watched as she then pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of her coat. She started to unfold it before holding it out to him and said, "This is all that is known about Project G, or Ghouls, as you know." Tim couldn't help but snatch the papers right out of her hand and scan through the many pages of documentation.

This…he thought as his eyes grew large at the many calculations across the page, is everything about Ghouls. This could even help me understand why Ghouls were even created.

Tim then paused and looked to Talia again, asking, "Then how did the organs even get out of-?"

Then before he was able to finish his sentence the next thing he knew something dropped on top of him, with it being a car. He gasped out in pain by the weight and the papers flew everywhere as he clawed at the ground to push himself out from the car.

"How interesting! So the Gantai is actually one of the Batman's little birds. I would have thought otherwise but that explains so much."

Tim's eyes grew wide at hearing the Scarecrow's raspy voice and tried to turn and face him but the Scarecrow instead walked from behind the shadows Talia had came from. His gas masked face sported a grin with it barely being able to hold for so long. He also held the body of Damian Wayne in one hand, tied up and asleep, and dropped the young boy in front of Tim.

"Now that I have what I want, you can take that brat of yours Talia." Scarecrow said and placed his fingers, which had needles filled with Fear Toxin, under Tim's neck, turning his head to the side as he tried to find a point to inject the Toxin in.

"Where on his body am I able to penetrate him without my needles breaking?" the Scarecrow asked Talia who quickly grabbed Damian from off the ground and held him tight to her body.

Tim's eyes grew wide as the needle approached his neck and waited for it to stab him but Scarecrow was hesitate to waste his Toxin if it didn't get in him.

"The only vulnerable spot when you don't have the weapon to harm him with is the lacrimal caruncle." She stated and Tim froze at this, not knowing where that was on the human body. The Scarecrow's grin grew larger at this and then grabbed the bottom of Tim's cowl, pulling it up. Tim's eye glanced to needle approaching his eye and his iris and pupil shook as it grew closer to him.

"Stop! Stop it!" He cried out as the needle came mere centimeters away from his eye, his breath hitched in his throat.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare, little bird." The Scarecrow stated then plunged the tip of the needle to corner of his eye, hitting right above his tear duct. And with that Tim's screams of agony echoed the empty alleyways of Gotham and how even more unfortunate his life would change from this act of curiosity and innocence.