Raven's black wings slid silently across the bay. The rest of the Titans were no longer standing on their rock in the middle of the bay, but were now up on the cliffside, standing on the road by the broken metal railings and searching the dark for some sign of them.
Raven followed her empathic senses towards them.
A shadowy black raven stopped before them, dropping Jason out of it's hold and sinking back into Raven's body.
Jason's teeth chattered and shivers ran up and down his spine. That was by far the creepiest thing he had ever experienced. Never again did he want to step into that shadowy thing Raven traveled around in. No, no, no. Never again. He tried his best not to let it show, though.
The last thing he needed was people seeing him unnerved and skittish.
"Well…" Dick muttered. "Did…is…?"
Jason made no response. Not only was he still on edge from flying with Raven, but he didn't want to talk to them. Any of them. Self righteous, good-for-nothing heroes. He was still angry, deep down. And, even farther down, he was beginning to regret leaving Joker alive.
He'll escape, said a voice in his head. He'll live, and he'll kill and torture some more. You should have killed him. Secured his death. Torturing him was vengeance, killing him was justice.
And Jason hadn't given the world justice.
"No," he barked at last, startling them all.
No one said anything at first, too stunned by his sudden outburst to know what he said. As the word turned over in their minds, they were still too stunned to believe it. Jason had left the Joker alive?
Dick's mouth felt dry. "No?" he asked incredulously. "But–"
"Just let it go," Jason snapped at him. He glared at his brother, his eyes seeming to burn holes straight through him. "I did what I did."
"I'm glad you're not a killer, Jason," Dick said.
Jason shoved Dick to the ground, and raised his foot to kick him when Starfire caught it in her fist. He turned on her, teeth bared and eyes blazing.
She looked back, the same feral look on her face. "You will not harm him," she growled, and there was a savagery in her voice that subdued him.
Dick picked himself up from the ground and brushed himself off, glaring at Jason the whole time. "That was unnecessary," he said. Jason growled again, deep in his throat. "Don't growl at me," Dick snapped back. Under his breath, he added, "Jackass."
Despite Starfire still floating next to him, Jason's fist shot forward and landed on Dick's eye. He shouted in pain and stumbled back. In an instant, Starfire had struck him with one of her starbolts, searing the skin on his arm and burning away any fabric that covered him.
Jason was about to turn on her too when Cyborg cut in, grabbing them both with his mechanical hands. "Enough! All of you! We will not fight amongst ourselves." His voice was stern, and it made them obey.
"So what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked in a small voice.
Everyone glanced at him, thinking the same thing.
"I guess we head back," Dick replied. Now all eyes were on him. He didn't seem to care anymore, not about the glares and vacant stares, not about Joker and whether he was dead or alive, or even about the cold night air that bit at his body. It was just that he didn't know what else to do.
Jason had done what he had planned on doing.
That was that.
It should be over.
If Jason was planning on going back and finishing the job, he never said so. Never let on that that's what he wanted to do. So what else? All that was left to do was either go back home and pretend that things were normal again, or stand out on the cold, empty highway with an eerie dread filling all of them.
They silently all came to that agreement. There was nothing else to do but go back. They couldn't stay there forever, wondering and waiting. Time wasn't standing still. Life goes on. What was left of it, anyway.
"No!" Jason suddenly said. "I'm not going back. Not yet. I'm staying here."
"Why?" Dick asked.
Jason walked back over to the broken metal railing, and sat down on the edge of the cliff. "Because I need to know," he muttered. "I need to know if he dies. I need to know if he suffers. If I hear that laugh one more time, then I know that he's alive."
"But Jason…" Dick said, the anger rising up in him again.
"What? What is it now? Can't you just leave me be?"
Dick was so agitated with him that he was ready to give up. "Fine," he snapped at him. "Fine. Do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care. I don't care anymore. I keep offering you help and you don't ever fucking want it."
Jason sat silently on the cliff's edge.
Dick grit his teeth at the silence. "Fine!" he shouted again. "I don't care what happens to you!"
"But I do," said a voice in the dark.
Deep and gravelly, making all the Titans back away from the two brothers and the newcomer. Out of the shadows he came, cape trailing behind him, eye slits in his mask narrowed, a scowl deep on his face.
Batman.
Dick was too stunned to say anything, and Jason just didn't care to. His focus was out to sea, listening and waiting. When the sun rose the next morning, he would search for a body, and hopefully he would know. He clenched his jaw and strained his eyes, trying to ignore everything else around him.
"Both of you are coming with me," Batman growled at them.
Still, neither of them said anything.
The Titans had all but shrunk away, leaving the family drama just that: family drama. They sure as hell weren't ready to get involved.
"Now," Batman added.
Still there was silence.
When neither Dick nor Jason moved, Batman grabbed Dick's arm in his fist, meaning to drag him along the pavement if that's what it took.
"Hey!" Dick said, trying to yank his arm away. Batman held tight to him, not letting him go. His grip was tight enough to bruise him, and Dick just kept trying to pull away.
"I'm disappointed in both of you," Batman said to them, addressing Jason as well. Batman took a few steps forward, standing right behind Jason. "Theft, torture, intent to murder, reckless endangerment…"
"Oh, like you're one to talk," Jason snapped back at him, finally having found his voice. "Reckless endangerment? That's rich, coming from the man who takes children out with him at night to fight some of the world's most dangerous criminals. Reckless endangerment? If there was any justice in the world, you would have gone to prison for making me a Robin."
Batman grabbed Jason's collar and yanked him up to his feet. Jason didn't turn to look at him, but instead just stared out at sea, watching and waiting.
"You have me arrested for giving the Joker what he deserves, I'll have you arrested for all the crimes you've committed," Jason told him.
Batman's grip on Jason's collar tightened, and it was starting to choke him. Jason didn't care. He'd been strangled plenty of times before, so this was nothing.
"And what crimes have I committed?" Batman growled at him.
"Reckless endangerment, child endangerment, tampering with evidence, torture of criminals, use of enhanced interrogation methods, break ins, breaking and entering, spying on government agencies, spying on civilians, private use of military grade weaponry and spy equipment, harboring military secrets, the list goes on and on…" Jason said. Finally, he turned to face Batman. "Which ones do you think the court would convict you on?" he asked.
Batman's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. Dick thought he heard his teeth scrape up against each other.
"Oh, and let's not forget about the time you teamed up with Ra's Al Ghul. Conspiring with an international terrorist. You think they'll let you off the hook for that one?"
"Jason," Batman growled, "everything I've ever done is to keep the world a safer place to live. If that means taking you off the streets, I'll do just that. Even if it means you'll try to have me arrested. I'll do what I know is right."
"Is indoctrinating children into crime fighting right?" Jason demanded.
Batman only said, "You wanted justice, it was better that I could keep an eye on you while you went out and patrolled the streets."
"And what about Barbara?" Jason asked him.
Dick's eyes got wide and he looked around at the Titans. They didn't know who Barbara was, and he was sure that Barbara didn't want them to know. They still had their thing about secret identities.
"Jason!" Dick hissed. "Careful."
"What about her?" Batman asked.
"Does Gordon know about her? About her 'after school activities?' I'm sure he'd love to know that you're risking her life at least twice a night," Jason said.
"Enough of this," Batman said, dragging both Dick and Jason with him. "We're going to the police. Now."
Batman marched off towards the South, his fists closed around both of his sons, dragging them back towards the mess of police cars that was about a mile down the road. Dick and Jason didn't put up much resistance, but followed him anyway, feeling like two leashed children.
"Wait!"
Cyborg stepped in front of Batman, and said, "If everything he said is true-" Cyborg pointed to Jason "-then there should be no reason for you to turn him in. He's done nothing that you haven't. Why bother?"
"I've never tortured someone to death," Batman said. "Now get out of my way."
"Not until I get some answers."
Batman glared at Cyborg. Cyborg glared right back.
"Jason said he didn't kill the Joker, so clearly he didn't torture someone to death. You can't turn him in for that, especially if you're guilty of 'enhanced interrogation methods.'" Cyborg took a step forward, and crossed him arms. "I've heard of you dangling criminals over the edge of a sixty-story skyscraper just to get some answers. How's that legal?"
"Get out of my way," Batman repeated again. His voice had taken on an almost feral tone.
"I've told you before, not until I get some answers."
Dick had mixed emotions about this. On one hand, he was ashamed that Cyborg should see him like this, standing behind Batman and being handled like some naughty child. He wanted Batman to let him go and to just leave. Not even leave him alone, but leave this place and never even talk to him again. On the other hand, he was proud of Cyborg...if you could call it pride. He was glad to see Cyborg vouching for him, for his adopted brother, and for standing up to Batman.
"What answers?" Batman asked. "Do you think that they should just go free, after potentially murdering someone?"
Cyborg was quiet for a minute. Then, "Why not? If you've tortured someone before, and you haven't turned yourself in, then why should you turn them in? And before you say anything about intent to kill, I'm going to remind you, that the only person who's ever died here is him." Cyborg pointed to Jason again.
"You don't even know what you're talking about," Batman said. "All you're doing is taking shots in the dark. Going off of what you heard Jason say. You're wrong on many different accounts."
"Am I?" Cyborg asked. "So you've never tortured someone for information? You've never stolen anything? You've never endangered anyone's life unnecessarily before."
Silence.
"All I'm saying," Cyborg continued, "is that if you go free for those crimes, they should go free. I don't know what kind of justice you deal out, or what kind of justice you think you deal out, but I know that this is only fair. Not just, but fair." He left it at that.
Batman was quiet for a long time. Jason doubted that Cyborg had convinced him. No one could ever convince Batman of anything. It would be easier to convince a brick wall of something. So, when Batman dropped both of their arms, letting him and Dick go, shock coursed through him.
Dick and Jason stared wide-eyed at Batman, wondering if he had actually changed his mind, or if he was letting go of their arms for a different reason. They waited for their answer.
"So long as no one dies, I can let this go," Batman said at last.
Before anyone could do anything, Batman jumped from the cliff, diving down into the water of the bay. Jason ran to the edge, looking out over the water. With a pang in his gut, more painful than any bullet, he realized that Batman was going after the Joker.
"He's going to save him!" Jason shouted. Tears sprung up into his eyes. Hot, angry tears coupled with a feral scream. "He's going to save him!" Without thinking, Jason whipped out his gun and started firing randomly into the water. "He's going to save him!" he said again. Bullet after bullet rang out. Dick and Cyborg grabbed his arm, trying to wrench the gun out of his hand, but he kept pulling the trigger. Bullets were fired off into the air, and soon the wail of a single police siren was heard.
"They must think the Joker is firing the gun," Starfire said to Raven. "They are coming after us."
"Then we need to go," Raven replied.
Raven let her soul self escape her body, a black shadow entering Jason's body, rendering him unconscious and making him drop the gun. Dick caught him before he could hit the ground, and Cyborg kicked the gun far, far away from them. In a split second, Raven's shadow had swept over all of them, capturing them all in her dark powers, and she flew them all away quickly just as the police car rounded the corner.