The Red Hood spied upon the gang leaders from the cat walk above. He had called one final meeting.

Tonight, everything would come together. He didn't know how it would end, and that made his heart race. He was itchy from failing to kill Sionis the night before.

He had fused every door shut except for the front. As soon as they had entered the warehouse he parked a forklift in front of the door and entered the building from the rooftop. Hidden in the crates throughout the warehouse were tanks of gasoline strapped with explosive. This was going to be quite the explosion, sure to get Batman's attention. The entire port of Gotham would light up like a Christmas tree.

The leaders sat in silence.

The Red Hood cleared his throat. "Thank you for meeting me here. The scene where it all began. I have to admit I'm quite pleased with everything you've done. Unfortunately, you are no longer useful to me. So, I'm sending you all off to hell where you belong in one big fiery explosion!"

He grappled out of the skylight as they started pulling out their weapons. He had to put some distance between himself and the building before he set the charges off. As he landed on the ground he could hear them pounding on the metal doors, then eventual gunshots.

He rounded the corner of another building and pulled out the detonator.

His hands were shaking.

Was it excitement?

No.

This needs to happen.

Jason slammed his fist into his chest. Get it together!

He flipped a switch, but before he could push the button a batarang knocked it from his hands. He dove to the side, narrowly escaping an attack from Batman.

"No! You can't stop this! They need to die!"

The Hood rushed Batman, all rage. His technique was sloppy but he was deceptively quick and strong. They stood at a standstill, hands clasped, trying to outmuscle the other.

"Stand down Robin." Bruce kept his voice calm.

"Don't call me that!" Jason's voice was breaking.

He's slipping, thought Bruce. He had to be careful. If he pushed too hard too quickly he could easily lose Jason to his psychosis.

Jason kneed Bruce in his stomach giving him enough space to push him away and lunged for the remote on the ground. He pushed the button, causing a huge explosion lighting the entire night sky. Batman used his cape to cover his eyes.

The fire from the explosion revealed all the gang leaders escaping. Batman had knocked down a wall with the batmobile.

Jason screamed in frustration. "You've only delayed their deaths. I'll take care of them when we're finished."

With that he released several smoke grenades. "Meet me where it all began Bruce. We end this tonight."

Batman reached his vehicle and contacted Alfred. "The gang leaders are secure. I'm meeting Jason at Crime Alley shortly."

"Bring him home Master Bruce."

Batman cut the line and sped off to Crime Alley. A place with so much history. A place that was rife with new beginnings and somber ends. How would tonight end? Would he be able to bring Jason back from the edge? In all his life Batman had met few who could rival his stubbornness. Jason was one of those people. Losing him again was out of the question.

It wasn't long before Batman stood in the very alley where he met Jason, all those years ago. Except instead of a boy with a tire iron in hand, it was a man standing before him. A confused, angry young man. Dark clouds loomed overhead blocking out the moonlight. Lightning flashed in the distance and thunder rumbled low and hostile. He felt a drop of rain fall on his face.

"Nice of you to come Bruce." He flipped his knife in hand, over and over.

"Jason, it's time to end this."

The Hood laughed. "Ain't that the truth."

The fight started with Batman throwing a barrage of batarangs at the Hood. They were easily dodged, but they were meant as a distraction. He fired off his grappling gun, wrapping up the Hoods legs and making him crash to the ground. He retaliated by cutting the cord and placing a stun gun to the metal cord, shocking Batman in the process. The Red Hood took off, up a fire escape. Batman followed closely behind. When Batman reached the rooftop, the Hood was nowhere to be seen. Batman ducked in time, the throwing knife narrowly missing his neck. However, the dark knight missed the concussion grenade that the Red Hood slid beneath him. A wave of kinetic energy exploded, throwing Batman across the roof.

It took a moment for him to get to his feet.

The Red Hood pounced and launched a barrage of attacks, managing a shallow cut on his enemy's neck. "That's where the armor is weakest right Bruce! Gotta be able to turn that neck."

Batman managed to stand his ground, but the Hood ducked under him and cut off his utility belt, grabbed his cowl and flipped backwards.

Stupid. I can't keep holding back, thought Bruce.

"Oh look at you. I guess we should make it even." The Red Hood reached up and removed his helmet.

Bruce's heart sank when he laid eyes on his old trainee. Even though he knew it was Jason, deep down he hoped, he prayed that it wasn't. Jason was looking worn down. Like the Commissioner, he too looked like he wasn't getting much sleep.

"You're getting old Bruce." Jason threw his utility belt over the side of the rooftop.

"Enough Jason. Come home with me. I know what happened to you. I can help."

"Been talking to Ra's have we? Tell me, is it easier for you to think that Ra's pit twisted me this way, or that I've always been rabid?"

Jason kicked over the red helmet. It rolled to Bruce's feet, looking up at him. "Your greatest failure, back from the dead!"

He tossed his cowl next. "Here, the great Batman should never be without his cowl."

Bruce replaced his mask. "What is this about Jason?"

The rain started to pour now. "It's about all of us Bruce! And what I'll become when this is all over."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"You. What you should have been all these years. I'm what this city needs! I'm here to save Gotham from you Bruce. If you had just killed the Joker, do you know how much suffering you would have prevented? But no, killing him is one of the countless sane decisions you refused to make! You'll never cross that line Bruce…but I will."

Jason pressed something on his wrist.

The mask at Bruce's feet began to hum. He kicked it away from him, it exploded causing the roof to give out from beneath them. They both tumbled amongst the rubble, Jason getting up first.

"Keep up if you can old man, we're on a tight schedule."

Jason used his grappling hook to jettison out of the debris. Bruce did the same only to see the young man take off at a sprint, once he landed.

He was leading him somewhere.

They ran from rooftop to rooftop passing by the graffiti stained buildings and the homeless huddled around burning barrels.

Suddenly Jason stopped in his tracks and faced Bruce. He raised his hands to the pouring rain. "Isn't this so exciting!" The sound of his voice almost drowned out by the thunder.

Bruce pleaded. "Jason…stop this. This isn't you. I taught you better than this."

Jason slipped out of his jacket, letting it fall to the ground, ignoring Bruce in the process. "I figured we should keep this even. Since I took away your belt, I'll lose the jacket and my toys."

Bruce noticed a steady stream of blood flowing from Jason's right arm. He wasn't wearing any armor, simply a black t-shirt. "You're hurt."

The young man laughed bitterly. "Your concern is noted."

The dark knight shook his head. "I don't want to fight you Jason."

Jason scowled. "You don't have a choice."

He faced off with his former mentor.

Teacher.

Friend.

Fath-

A crack of thunder signaled Batman's assault. He may have been twice Jason's age, but still moved with ferocity and speed. Jason relished the challenge. His greatest test yet. They traded heavy blows spanning numerous martial arts. Strikes that would have killed any normal man, maimed any common warrior. These were not normal men however; nor were they to be considered common in any sense of the word.

Bruce knew this fight would be difficult. Jason knew all his moves, and it seemed that he picked up new ones since being brought back from the dead.

Jason broke off the exchange and they proceeded to circle one another. The cold rain was a relief on his wounds, but made it difficult to see. Bruce knew his hands would be getting numb.

Good, more difficult for him to hold a blade or a firearm.

Jason sneered. "You know when I first came back I was practically an animal. Surviving on pure instinct alone. It was a good week before any semblance of humanity started surfacing. Then it took me a little while longer to remember who I was. That's when I decided to come for you. But I wasn't ready. There was no way Robin would be able to take out the Bat. So I followed the same trail you did to become Batman…more or less. Boy you should have been there to see the things I've done."

He's trying to distract me, thought Bruce. He needed to flip the script on Jason.

He needed to push Jason. Make him angry. "A part of you wanted to die tonight, didn't you? You wore no armor. Gave up your weapons freely."

"Trying to analyze me Bruce? You don't know a goddamn thing about me. Not anymore!"

Bruce continued to prod him. All while keeping the offensive. Bruce pushed forward, knowing the injury would slow Jason down. He continuously feinted and attacked the right side of his enemy. "I know that you failed to kill the gang leaders. Failed to kill Black Mask."

Jason was getting frustrated. He stopped talking, focused solely on fighting.

"You've been nothing, but a failure since you've returned."

Bruce was focused now. Every attack blocked and countered. No matter what Jason did he could not break down his defenses.

The dark knight pressed his attack. "You think you can replace me. You think you can rule with a bloody iron fist. You would be a disgrace to the cowl. You'll never rule Gotham! Not like this!"

With one last brutal attack, Bruce caught Jason's right fist shoving it back at him at an awkward angle, then tearing the arm downwards; effectively dislocating the shoulder.

Jason screamed in pain and shoved Bruce away, running toward the edge of the rooftop. He threw his body into the night air, suspended for a moment before crashing through a window.

Batman crashed through the second window. Immediately he noticed several cameras positioned around the well-lit room. They were in a small living room with a matching kitchen behind Jason.

Jason slammed his shoulder against the wall with a grunt of pain, popping it back into place. He was breathing heavily as he held his pistol aimed squarely at Bruce. "Like the setup? This…this right here is it. No more running. No more fighting."

Bruce looked somber. "I know I failed you Jason. I failed to save you. I'm trying to save you now."

Jason laughed and shook his head. "I guess fathers are just destined to disappoint their sons and sons their fathers. You still think this is all about the night I died. I forgive you for not saving me, but why…" Jason walked over to the closet and threw the door open and dragged out a tied-up Joker. "Why is he still alive!"

The mad clown looked between Jason and the dark knight. He tried to laugh through the pain. He spoke, but it barely came out in a whisper. "You gotta give the kid points Bat's, he came all the way back from the dead to make this reunion happen."

Jason placed the pistol on Jokers temple. "You don't get to talk right now."

Joker pouted. "Party pooper."

"This psychotic piece of shit has filled entire graveyards, crippled friends, terrorized millions. And you ignored all of it! I thought…I thought I'd be the last person you ever let him hurt. If it had been you that he took away from me? I wouldn't have stopped until he was dead ten times over."

Jason was starting to crack. Tears welled in his eyes and the gun shook in his hand.

Bruce tried to remain stoic. "You never learned Jason, and part of that is my fault."

"Learned what? That your rigid moral code won't allow for it? That it'd be too hard to kill someone in cold blood?"

Bruce looked away. "No…God no. It'd be too easy. Don't you understand, all I've even wanted was to kill him. To make him experience every heinous act he's ever committed. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it." He tried to keep his voice calm. "But I can't cross that line Jason. If I do; if I go down that path, I'll never come back."

"Why?" Jason pleaded. "I'm not talking about killing Scarecrow, or Kroc. I'm talking about him. Just him. Killing him…ending him, because he took me away from you." Silent tears fell from his face. "I thought that I meant more to you. That I wasn't just another soldier in your war. You were the only family I've ever known, and for you to just ignore what he did to me…"

All the hurt came rushing back to Bruce. The night he found Jason tied to that chair. Joker had been long gone. Evidence of what he'd done strewn all around Jason's body, the maniac had taken polaroid's throughout the process. He shook with rage, with grief, and he cried softly as he gently rocked the body of the boy he failed.

Bruce shook his head. "Of all my failures, you were my greatest. I thought I could fix you Jason. Fix you like I could never be, to make you whole. Instead of helping you deal with that darkness, I gave you an outlet for that rage, and for that I'm sorry."

Jason spoke, bringing Bruce back to the present. "Well tonight you get to redeem yourself." He brought a second gun from behind his back and tossed it to Bruce. He picked Joker up and made him stand on his feet and dug the gun into the clown's face. "Him or me."

The Joker laughed loudly, even with the broken bones and excruciating pain. "This is getting fun! Bats you raised a real crazy over here ha!"

Bruce could see the flood of emotions play out on Jason's face. Shame, anger, and a complete and utter sadness.

Jason's voice was slowly getting louder. "I'm going to splatter his brains all over this room! And if you want to stop me, you're going to have to shoot me!"

The dark knight stood for a long moment. Bruce let the gun slip through his fingers. He slowly turned and walked towards the shattered window.

Jason's eyes blazed. "Him or me Batman! You don't get to walk away from this!"

Bruce took several more steps, his cape concealed his movements as he slipped his last batarang from his glove.

"You have to choose! Him or me! Decide!"

Bruce kept an eye on Jason in the reflection of the broken window. Jason pointed the gun at Bruce. Time slowed as several things happened at once, Jason fired the gun, Bruce ducked and turned, throwing the batarang and dodging the bullet by inches. The batarang flew and struck Jason in the shoulder forcing him to drop the gun and Joker.

Jason fell back into the kitchen countertop, batarang still lodged in his shoulder. He slid to the ground.

"You actually did it!" screamed the Joker. "You beautiful bullseye hittin' buckaroo!"

Jason placed a hand on the chair beside him and tipped it back, revealing the bottom. Duck taped beneath the seat was a block of C4, enough to kill everyone in the room. Jason pushed a button that set it to 20 seconds.

"Did you think I wouldn't have a backup plan? You taught me better than that…" Jason let his head fall back.

Bruce ran to grab Jason, but was tackled by the Joker, now free from his ropes thanks to the broken glass on the floor. "No don't stop it! This is perfect! I'll finally get everything I wanted! One great big stunning ending for the two of us!"

Bruce struggled with Joker. His mania giving him newfound strength.

15 seconds.

He finally threw Joker off, slamming his face to the ground knocking him out cold.

10 seconds.

Jason looked him in the eye, resigned to his fate.

The bomb was never meant for Bruce. That's why it was on a timer, to give him a chance to escape the blast. Jason gave him a sad smile as he saw the realization dawn on the dark knight.

"Goodbye Bruce."

5 seconds.

"No." he growled. He would not fail again. Jason was his responsibility, his If he couldn't save Jason, then he would die trying. He grabbed the young man by the collar and scooped him up, running towards the window.

The last thing he remembered was a flash of bright light and a tremendous pressure.