Jason couldn't help feeling like a condemned man as he was lead into the labs. When they finally arrived, it was almost deserted - Frosty and Steve were in the lab itself but none of the usual soldiers or medics were around, and there was a strange atmosphere that made the hair on the back of Jason's neck stand up. Frosty did not look impressed with his nude state, and despite not being particularly thrilled about being so exposed in front of people he despised, Jason forced himself to give her a wide, obnoxious smile. Surprisingly she just scowled at the bruises on his body.

She turned on Cold Eyes. "You are lucky the asset didn't die. If he had, it would not be well for you."

Cold Eyes looked uncomfortable, but Steve came to his rescue. "You get ahead of yourself. So far I have nothing but your suspicions to suggest he is an asset. And you will only have these scant hours to give me proof." He turned his imposing stare back on Cold Eyes. "You keep silent and collect these," he waved a hand at Dick and Jason, "at the given time and we will consider your debt for this disorder clear."

Cold Eyes bowed his head.

Jason considered fighting but the ache in his testicles pulled him short. And besides, any ruckus would just bring the guards and possibly the whip back in. This had to be better than a lashing. He allowed Frosty to strap him to the chair, and turned his eyes to Dick. His brother and Steve were staring at each other, Steve with a slight upward twist to his lips, while Dick looked like he was imagining what it would be like to pull Steve's lungs out through his nose.

"Come here." Steve indicated the table. The straps on it looked ominous and Dick refused, stubbornly holding his ground. Steve's mouth turned down and his eyes narrowed at the disobedience. Frosty tutted quietly to herself. To Jason, it looked like she was more scornful of Steve and his lack of control than she was of Dick.

Steve advanced and spoke a string of syllables that made Jason feel almost queasy to listen to. Dick grunted and fell to his knees. That did not strike Jason as a good development, and he didn't like the satisfied, predatory expression on Steve's face either. In fact, it was downright frightening, and despite himself he began struggling uselessly against his bonds, dislodging a couple of electrodes in the process. Frosty made another frustrated noise, the chip in his neck warmed and she sent him under.

Except not.

There was a confusing feeling of vertigo, and he could see his memories playing out like a movie in his mind. He wasn't living them, wasn't experiencing them, he was just an observer. He struggled to look away - his own murder was happening in Technicolor right in front of him.

His eyes were open, so he tried to look outward, away from the breaking of his bones and the vivid red of the Joker's smile. With an effort, the lab swam into view behind the grizzly replay of his greatest hits.

"You will not regret this opportunity." Frosty was saying, "I will prove he is an asset, and we will be the ones to make a breakthrough and travel back to 6J5. They others will just try to take the prize from us if they discover it." She sounded more animated and excited than she usually did.

Clearly there was some internal Anathema power plays and politics at work here.

The Joker laughed in his face, and then touched his shattered cheek tenderly, like a lover would.

Ugh, Jason blinked back to what was passing for reality. Straining his vision further he saw Dick was strapped to the table, Steve was staring down at him with that same vaguely predatory expression.

"Prove it or don't." He was saying to Frosty "I have wasted time using my project as a guard dog for your supposed asset. If it doesn't pay off, this one comes back with me and that," he flicked a glance at Jason, "goes back in the holdings."

"Your project has done little to assist." Frosty jabbed at her computer in irritation. "You would do better with a different one. This one has broken training time and time again."

He was in his coffin, watching his own hands scrabbling at the satin above his head.

Jason blinked away the image; the overlay of the past and present was making him feel nauseous.

"Remarkable isn't it?" Steve said, "I have never had such a difficult project, one that resists and even breaks commands."

"Then why keep it?"

"Because when it is done, it will be perfect." Steve ran a finger down the bridge of Dick's nose, coming to rest against his lips, a motion disturbingly reminiscent of both a lover's caress and the petting of an animal. Dick didn't react - Jason couldn't see his eyes, but he appeared to be unconscious.

There were so many things he was learning here, things that made alarm bells jangle in his head, but he couldn't hold onto his thoughts. The mix of speech and images was muddling his mind. He vaguely realized the strange distortions must have been caused when he had knocked off the electrodes in his struggle.

"You are dulled by your affection for it." Frosty said at last, and her voice was laced with contempt.

"Is that what it is?" Steve said, he sounded thoughtful, as he dragged his fingers through Dick's tangled hair, and petted his face like he was a kitten. All sorts of bad things were running through Jason's head as he watched, half in a stupor. He wanted to kill Steve, he really wanted to kill him.

"This one is worth so much more than a guard dog." Steve continued, before shooting Frosty a steely look. "So you best hurry up. Last chance to take control before the higher ups seize it and wring your asset dry."

That didn't sound fun.

Apparently taking the veiled threat seriously Frosty went straight for the good stuff –

Bright, white, burning, white…. Yadda, yadda. Jason knew how this went.

But this time he wasn't experiencing something that happened in his fugue state – he was watching it.

And as he watched he realized exactly what it was.

The Lazarus pit.

He really should have thought of that.

And with that knowledge came a flood of memories, everything he had known, and everything he had seen; Ra's, Talia, Damian, all the lore and stories from his past. The details of his own dip in the stuff came clear to him for the first time. He was carried away with the flow, there was so much data moving though him. He suspected he might be drooling, his face felt slack and strange and he could vaguely hear Frosty saying something, she sounded really happy. He hoped she choked.

Eventually he came back to himself. He felt like he had been run over by a truck, his limbs were heavy and his mind was fuzzy. Although he was amazed he knew so much about bloody Lazarus pits.

Frosty and Steve were looking intently at the computer. Jason grunted and then wished he hadn't as both sets of eyes swung towards him.

"So, you were right," Steve said, "he was holding back. Interesting."

"Wassn'!" Jason managed to slur around his slack muscles.

Steve ignored him. "How do you wish to proceed?" Steve asked Frosty, "Do you wish to wait until morning, or ship him now?"

Frosty pondered for a moment, flicking through the information on the screen. "Tonight. If we leave it longer, our ruse will be discovered, and we may lose control of the data and the asset."

Steve nodded, pleased, and Jason felt his stomach drop with a feeling of dread. They were going to send him away, away from the tunnel, away from Dick. They were going to take Dick back to where ever he had escaped from and there was fuck all he could do. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, goddamn it!

Even when he shut his eyes trying to think, he could still hear them talking, casually discussing his 'shipment'.

"The contract between us will continue, and you will send me information on your progress." Steve was telling her "I will take my project to 4T7 - it needs further training, this side venture has set it back considerably." He sounded as pleased as she did. Jason tested his bonds, but he was strapped fast. They were fucked, after everything this had to go and fucking happen.

He wanted to cry.

But he wouldn't, he was going to fight the whole goddamn way, as soon as they unstrapped him, it was on.

"This has turned out successfully." Steve was saying, they were back to looking at the screen "I anticipate this could -"

He never got to finish his sentence. Dick, somehow free from the table, flew into Jason's field of vision and crashed what looked like a round laptop computer into the back of Steve's head. Steve went down like a sack of shit, and Dick screamed like he was being tortured but he threw himself towards Frosty as she reached for her computer, her face made a crunching noise as Dick's fist impacted it. She went down, blood pouring from her nose.

There was a long moment of silence. Jason couldn't quite believe that had just happened.

But assuming it just had happened, and some deity was looking over them after all, then there was no time to lose.

Dick was panting as though he was in terrible pain. Jason couldn't see any injury, but there was agony etched on his brother's face.

"Dick! Dick, where are you hurt?" He tugged against his bonds, "Untie me, let me help!"

Dick took a few very long minutes to collect himself. "Not wounded." he gasped. "Not supposed to attack him, mustn't touch without permission. Hurts me." He struggled to untie the straps holding Jason to the chair.

Finally free Jason stood on shaky legs. He was still naked, they probably didn't have long until Cold Eyes returned and they had two bodies to dispose of.

Awesome.

"Come on Dickie, fight through it and get your head in the game. This is going to be our only chance."

"They were going to take you away." Dick said, "They were going to take me back."

"Well, now there not, they wont if we figure out a plan." Not waiting for his response Jason started looking about the room for something that might be helpful.

"We will never get out through the gates." Dick said. "Trust me, we'll be caught. The tunnel is still our best bet." He sounded better, less dazed.

"And if we cant get through the stupid tunnel? We're worse than dead."

Dick rubbed at his face, smearing Frosty's blood across his nose. Jason didn't mention it.

"Do we have a choice?"

He was right, damn it. The likelihood of them getting out any other way was slimmer than that of getting out via the tunnel.

"Then we are going to have to make it count. I haven't been down the tunnel in a while," he never went down if he could avoid it, and he was not looking forward to their journey through it. "How close do you think we are?"

"Honestly? I don't know." Dick said. His fear seemed to be evaporating before Jason's eyes, replaced with determination. "We will make it through, we have to. I wont let them take me back."

"Right" Jason was already moving towards Frosty's computer. "So lets limit the damage if we can. We need to erase the data, get rid of them." He pointed towards where the two Anathema were bleeding on the floor. "And then find anything else that can help."

The computer was different, confusing. Every button he pushed was a potential risk. So he unplugged it and started hunting in its innards for parts that needed killing.

Dick meanwhile was binding their prisoners. They couldn't kill them, in case hurting Steve hurt Dick, and wasn't that something to think on later. It had a lot of very uncomfortable associations – some sort of sci-fi, brainwashing, MK-Ultra shit. Not Good.

But that was a worry for another day – when they were out of here.

"Hey Dickie?" Jason called quietly.

"Yeah?"

"You know how they get the chips in and out? They got a gizmo or what?"

Dick nodded and having finished shoving Frosty into a cupboard, he started rooting through drawers.

"I haven't forgiven you, Jason." Dick said out of the blue, as he hunted through papers.

"Don't care, as long as we get out." Jason replied. He was still all fucked up about everything that had gone down between them, but damn, he wasn't going to even think about that shit until they were out of here. Even if Dick being so Dick about things made him feel weird, like there was a cold pressure on his diaphragm. He had to get over this fixation.

Later. When they were free.

Eventually Jason was done destroying the computer, the prisoners were bound and concealed and Dick was waving a small metal object that looked like a stapler.

"This is it," Dick said, "But we can only take them out, we can't deactivate them with out the computer."

"That's ok, I got a plan to deal with that when we get back to our cell – the main problem is how to get that de-chipper thing back with us. I'm not really dressed for hiding stuff." He gestured at his nude body "unless I get really creative." He waggled his eyebrows and was rewarded by a huff of a laugh from Dick.

"It might be a bit difficult to conceal, even for you." Dick smirked at him, "Unless you have some hidden talents you've been hiding from me?"

"You got any ideas?"

"As a matter fact I do."

There was a knock on the door. Showtime.

Dick tucked the chip device under one arm and fell against Jason's chest. The action hid what he was carrying nicely. Dick whined and moaned, totally over the top as usual. Taking his really unsubtle cue, Jason half lifted him and pressed the button to open the door. Cold Eyes was standing there, the red and purple bruise on his face an interesting contrast to the gray of his uniform.

"Can we get on with it?" Jason asked, "I'm not feeling up to much right now."

Cold Eyes seemed to deliberate over whether he needed to go in the lab or if he should just take them back. Dick flopped about helpfully and Jason put on his most obnoxious face.

"If we could? This son of a bitch is heavy. Unless you want to carry him?"

Cold Eyes looked disgusted with the idea. "Come, then." he said. Turning to lead them back towards the cells.

Jason met Dick's eyes for a split second - first hurdle jumped. He half carried Dick back to their cell. Frosty's paranoia and desire to keep him for herself had worked in their favor – they had not been permanently moved, and she had arranged for them to be returned to their own cell, hidden in plain sight.

Jason had never been so pleased to hear the cell door shut behind him. The next problem should have been getting the chips out, but instead it looked like he was going to have to reassert his dominance over the inmates again.

There were people fucking in his bunk. He found that really offensive, it wasn't just a challenge, it was blatant disrespect. He snarled and stalked forward, he was vaguely aware of Dick moving threateningly towards the other inmates – who very smartly backed down and slid into their own bunks. It was after lights out so visibility was poor, although it was never dark in the prison, Jason didn't even know who the couple in his bed were before dragging them apart and onto the floor. Baxter and Little Pete. Baxter roared at him, furious and Pete looked like he was going to crap himself. Baxter gained his feet, he was taller than Jason, lean and muscled.

"Your time is done Foxx!" he snarled. Jason couldn't help the smirk that sped across his face, of all fucked up shit the last 24 hours had thrown at him this had to be the stupidest. Here they were, two naked men, posturing and about to fight over possession of a bunk. He couldn't hold back a snigger and Baxter leaned towards him.

"You think this is funny? Its over Foxx, I'm gonna - "

Jason didn't really care what he was 'gonna' and he slammed the heal of his hand into Baxter's nose with as much force as he could manage, it was a blow that might have killed him on impact, but just to be sure Jason caught him as he went over backwards and twisted his head as hard as he could, the snap of his neck was satisfying.

There was silence, except for Pete's panicky breathing. The other inmates sensibly kept to their bunks.

Jason turned his attention to Little Pete. He was an old time inmate, one who had been sentenced to life here by people, not by Anathema - burglary and first-degree murder. Despite that Jason didn't hate Pete, he was just some stupid kid who had gotten mixed up in shit he couldn't control. He wouldn't have chosen him, but the opportunity was to good to pass up.

"Sorry, Jason.. uh.. Foxx." Pete said, eyes on the floor.

"Get back in the bunk, Pete." Jason said, his voice cool and controlled.

Pete swallowed hard, he looked terrified and Jason felt a flush of pleasure followed by a rush of shame. He liked having this control over others; it made him feel in control of himself. But he realized what Pete thought he might do to him as punishment, remembered that as far as the other inmates knew he had violently raped Dick for weeks, had broken him and remade him as an enforcer. And he felt sick.

There was no going back though.

"I said, get back in the bunk, Pete. I wont ask again."

Pete nodded shakily and climbed onto the bunk. Jason turned his attention to Fahim who was watching intently from his own bunk. He opened his hand twice and motioned towards the bunk. Ten minutes. Fahim's eyes widened and Jason nodded, tonight.

He left Dick to dispose of Baxter's body, and climbed in beside Pete, shutting the privacy curtain behind him. He found he couldn't lie and promise not to hurt him, but the fear etched into Pete's face made Jason want to get this over with quickly.

"Turn over," he said thickly, and watched as Pete did as he was told, his muscles trembling. Jason straddled him, holding him still with the weight of his body, he slid an arm across his throat. "Sorry Pete." he said as he tightened the hold. Pete struggled uselessly for a long, painful moment, then went limp. Jason checked his pulse; strong and steady. He tied him securely and prepared the bed – sliding away the middle mattress and board to reveal the entrance to the tunnel.

Dick came in first, he was fully clothed – probably Little Pete's stuff and was holding clean shorts and Baxter's jumpsuit which Jason slid into gratefully. Dick raised an eyebrow at Pete.

"For the microchips." Jason said in answer to the unasked question.

Dick looked pained, but didn't argue. He took hold of their one tiny flash light, and lowered himself in to the hole. Crunch time.

Fahim snuck into the bunk a moment later, his scraggly beard twitching anxiously.

"Right then, you're first." Jason told him, motioning for him to turn around. First he made a small incision in Pete's upper arm, then he used the device to get the microchip out of Fahim's neck. The old man grunted and cussed quietly as it drew the thing from his skin, Jason ignored him and slid the chip, no bigger than a grain of rice, into Pete's body. It was sensitive to heat and minute electrical impulses, Dick's escape had proven that as long as it was transferred to a living body quickly, the alarm would not be activated.

"My turn" he said, he handed the device to Fahim and bared his neck.

By the time Dick surfaced, dumping rubble onto the bed they were both chip free.

"One more go round and we're through!" Dick whispered excitedly, "We're fucking through!"

Things were going too well, Jason couldn't help feeling disaster was going to strike at any minute, his life so far had gifted him with a healthily dose of pessimism. But he took a deep breath and pushed it aside. There was no turning back, whatever happened.

"Let me de-chipify you first, and then lets get this show on the road," he said, looking them both in the eye. Fahim nodded, serious, although his eyes were bright with sudden anticipation. Dick grinned at him, too caught up in the excitement of the moment to remember he was still angry. Jason grinned back.

"Let's do this."

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Authors Note: I keep meaning to say thank you to all the people who have reviewed - I appreciate every single one! Thank you so much!