Tim scoffed.

"Dude, we live here," he said. Jason shrugged.

"Yeah, I know…"

"So… what do we do?" Damian asked. Jason shrugged again.

"Fight to the death?" he suggested.

"Sounds fun," Damian said. Tim sighed.

"But alas, we cannot. Dick wouldn't like that," he said. All three boys went silent. Yeah, Dick would catch wind of whatever they got up to. Should they go out and get revenge on their enemies instead? No, then they'd have both Dick AND Bruce breathing down their necks.

Actually, speaking of revenge…

"Hey, Tim," Jason said. Tim hummed to let him know he was listening. "Did you really kill the Joker?"

Tim coughed a little bit with a wry smile on his face.

"Yeah, sorry, I beat you to it," he said. "If I'd known you had come back to life at the time and wanted revenge on him- "

Jason shrugged again.

"Nah, it's cool," he said. He held up his hands in surrender. "As long as he's dead, Gotham is a little bit safer."

"Why DID you kill the Joker?" Damian asked. Tim shrugged.

"Honestly? I don't know," he said. Jason nudged his arm playfully.

"Ah, come on, Timmy, don't be modest," he said. "There had to be a reason."

Tim's face turned a little red and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Actually, I'm not being modest," he said. "I genuinely don't know."

Damian and Jason shared a look. Tim sighed.

"I don't even remember shooting him," he admitted. "All I know is what Barbara told me… and as far as I know, Dick wasn't there when I shot the Joker."

"What did Barbara tell you?" Jason asked. Tim shrugged, his face a little more red.

"Not much… that the Joker held me hostage, I shot and killed him…"

"Not even why you don't remember any of it?" Jason asked. Tim shook his head.

"No… not even that," he said. Jason frowned. Ok, there was definitely some nightmare fuel hiding there somewhere. Dickie and Babs (and most likely Bruce, too) were just trying to keep it from him.

Jason had to admit, he was torn. He wanted to keep prying- maybe he could revive some of Tim's memories about the incident. Sure, it might leave him scarred and terrified, but at least he'd know what he wanted to know.

The part of him that had spent too much time with Dick stabbed him in the gut three times then punched him in the jaw, knocking him to the ground then kicked him repeatedly. He should NOT scar Tim like that.

So he bit his tongue and shook his head slightly. He glanced at the clock. He hoped Dick was just tired, or that he just wanted a little bit of extra sleep before heading out tonight…

"Did you guys notice Dick's breathing earlier?" he asked. Damian nodded silently and Tim sighed.

"I hope he's alright… that kind of freaked me out," he admitted. Jason nodded.

"I'm sure Grayson is fine," Damian said sternly. "Remember the time he got stabbed and hid it from us for a week?"

"Yeah, and the only way we managed to figure it out was when he passed out, pale, sweating, and shaking from a fever. The dude was at, like, 107 degrees or something," Tim said. Damian almost sunk into himself a little bit. That wasn't what he'd been going for.

"My point is that Grayson is stubborn and strong," he said. "Whatever that breathing thing was, I'm sure he's alright."

"Or maybe he's just seen so much shit that it's taking its toll on him," Jason said. This time, Damian and Tim were the ones to exchange an unreadable glance.

"What do you mean?" Damian asked. Jason cursed inwardly at himself for mentioning it and tried to write it off as nothing. Tim frowned at him and moved to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jay, you aren't talking ab- "

There was a knock at the door, startling all of them. Jason reached underneath the couch cushion and pulled out a knife that he had stored there. Damian grabbed a pillow, and Tim shifted his feet towards the stairs. If it came down to it, he could run up and get Dick, maybe call the GCPD.

Jason walked forward as casually as he could, hiding the knife behind his back. He opened the door, forcing a friendly smile on his face.

"Hello there. Can I help you?" he asked. A dark-skinned boy smiled at him and held up a happy meal. Behind him was a woman with blonde hair and red streaks woven into it, and another darker-skinned boy.

"I got a request for a happy meal," Duke said with a smile. "And don't worry, I made sure to get the chicken nuggets and apple slices."


Damian munched down on the chicken nuggets and Tim nibbled on his apple slices. Jason chose to take the cheeseburger. McDonald's burgers were pathetic, but they were still edible.

Jason eyed the woman in front of him. She looked almost nothing like Bruce, but with her attitude, they were definitely cousins. It came as no surprise to him that she took on the mantle of 'Batwoman.' It made him glad that Barbara had gone by 'Batgirl' instead. It made things a heck of a lot easier to remember.

"So… did we interrupt anything?" Luke asked. Jason shook his head before Damian and Tim could say anything.

"Nah, you didn't," he said. "We were just talking about Dick."

"Where is Dick, anyway?" Kate asked. Jason almost rolled his eyes. If Selena weren't in the picture, Kate would be the mom. Thankfully, she was more of the drunken aunt who only visited when she needed something. Like, I don't know, money to pay for her vigilante needs.

"He's upstairs," Jason said. "My guess is he wanted to hit the sack early so that he had plenty of rest to face Gotham's finest."

"Gala?" Kate asked disdainfully. Jason smirked at her.

"No, Bruce wouldn't abandon him to such a terrible fate," he said. "He gets to put on the suit."

"I bet he hates that," Duke said sympathetically. Luke looked around in curiosity.

"Where's Bruce?" he asked.

"Off-world," Tim said. "We're not expecting him back for another five months."

Kate's eyes widened at this.

"Must be serious," she said. "I bet he's having fun busting alien heads up there."

"My money is on it being another golf argument," Tim said. Damian scoffed.

"I do NOT need to listen to ANOTHER rant about that," he said. Tim nodded in agreement. Jason cleared his throat.

"So… why'd you guys stop by?" he asked. Duke shrugged.

"We just finished up a mission," he said. "We decided to stop by and see what you were doing… then we ran into Luke, who's taken up a part-time job at McDonald's."

"It pays," he said. He pointed at the happy meal. "Free food."

"Seriously?" Jason asked, eyebrows raised. He reached into the box and pulled out a fry, shoving it in his mouth. "Dude, I'm gonna stop by on the regular."

"Please don't," Luke said. "They might fire me."

Jason smirked at him.

"Would they fire you if Red Hood stopped by for a bit?" he asked. Luke thought about it for a second before shrugging.

"I… have no idea," he admitted. Jason smiled at him and took another fry out of the box, handing it to Luke.

"Loophole found," he said. He held up his burger. "Cheers."

He took another bite. Kate rolled her eyes while Luke scoffed and ate his fry. Duke started playing with the hem of his shirt.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" he asked. Tim shrugged one shoulder.

"Not much," he said. "Dick said he was bored a few days ago, so we dared him to tell 100 different stories."

"What does telling stories have to do with boredom?" Luke asked.

"Nothing, really," Damian said. "But we said that we would sit and listen to them if Grayson didn't pull any pranks."

Kate shivered.

"I've heard stories of Dick's pranks," she said. "I once had a nightmare about his glitter prank…"

Damian's eyes widened in horror and he scooted further into the couch. Tim and Jason shared an incredulous look. How bad was it? They decided they'd pass on giving Damian a hard time about being afraid of glitter.

"Anyway, that's what we've been up to," Jason said. "The stories have been… interesting…"

"How so?" Duke asked. Jason smirked at him.

"Talking oatmeal pots, gold-spitting goats, cannibalism, something about fairy cows and magic cheese…"

"Where did he even get magic cheese from?" Damian asked. "That wasn't in the story…"

"I'm mostly still concerned about the 'Farmer Bruce' thing," Tim said. "I mean, we turned that into a cult…"

Duke, Kate, and Luke all shared a glance. Yeah, that definitely sounded interesting.

"How many has he told so far?" Kate asked. Jason counted it out on his fingers.

"Only 29," he said. He frowned at Tim and Damian.

"You don't think he'll try and repeat any of the stories we've told without him, do you?" he asked.

"If that's the case, then he won't be able to fill up all 100," Tim said.

"Does he really NEED to tell all of them?" Damian asked. "I mean, I won't say anything against him walking away from the dare."

"A challenge was issued," Jason said. "If I know Dick, and I DO know Dick, he'll do everything in his power to tell us 100 different stories."

"Maybe even start reciting whole movie scripts from memory," Tim said, face pale. Jason had to admit, the thought freaked him out, too. But he decided not to worry about that. It was a big world out there, filled with all sorts of different stories. Dick would be fine. He had a lot of material to work with.

Jason glanced at the clock. They had been talking for an hour. In his opinion, this was much too early to go to bed.

Then again…

Dick had gone out three nights in a row. Jason had not. He figured that he could probably go out and do some work of his own.

But first, he wanted to know what Barbara, Bruce, and Dick were hiding from Tim. But how?

Hang on… he vaguely remembered a camera being trained on him when he was captured by the Joker.

Right before he was killed…

Jason shook his head slightly. The Joker recorded what he did to Jason… maybe he also recorded what he did to Tim. If Jason could sneak into the cave and hack into those files, he'd probably be able to find out what they were hiding.

Ok, so, now he had a plan. He just needed to execute it.

"Guys, I don't want Dick going on patrol alone tonight," he said. Tim and Damian gave him shocked looks. Kate and Duke raised their eyebrows at him in disbelief. Luke looked between everyone, confused.

Jason glared at all of them.

"What? I can care about someone, can't I?"

"The problem with that statement is that you usually don't," Tim said. Jason rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Dickie has been going out for three nights in a row now," he said. "Tonight being the third night. He went to bed EARLY. I think I have a right to be concerned."

Tim and Damian frowned at each other.

"I… think he's making sense?" Damian said, though it sounded like more of a question. Jason glanced back at the clock. An hour and thirty minutes. Most likely, Dick would get out of bed to start his night shift at 9. That gave him another hour and a half to get what he wanted and go.

"While you guys stay up here bickering and wondering about my sudden good nature, which I have and choose to not show," Jason said pointedly, "I'm gonna head downstairs and get ready. Good day, gents. Lady."

He bowed to everyone and walked towards the grandfather clock.


"I'll begin with how I peeled back the layers of the boy's mind. Oh, he bravely tried to fight it at first. You would've been proud to see him so strong – but all too soon, the serums and the shocks took their toll…"

Jason clenched his fists. He breathed deeply.

"You guys don't get it! You wouldn't! I'm related to a MURDERER. No, scratch that, I'm related to the MUDERER of murders! I'm related to their FUCKING leader! How do I know I'm not like THEM?! That I'm not going to wake up one day and see YOU as my ENEMY? That I won't HURT you and feel GOOD about it?! That I won't KILL you?!"

He scrunched his eyes shut, grit his teeth.

"My mother created me as a test tube experiment… I am not related to any of you in any way. I was genetically modified to be PERFECT. So why is it that Father treats me as though I am disgusting? Some kind of… FREAK against nature…? It goes against logical reasoning and any sense whatsoever."

Jason slowly opened his eyes.

"Say hello to the big guy for me."

'See him so STRONG… how do I know I'm not like THEM… genetically modified to be PERFECT… the BIG GUY.' Jason almost burst into laughter there. Yes, one big, happy family, weren't they?

He sighed and closed out everything on the batcomputer, wiping out any trace that he was there. He turned around and walked towards the exit to the batcave, getting angry at the Joker, the Court of Owls, Deathstroke, Talia…

They were only human. There was only so much they could take. And Jason got even angrier when he realized that Dick fucking Grayson had seen it ALL. He had heard Damian's rants about being 'perfect' and still not fully accepted by Bruce, at the time, anyway. He knew about Jason's death, was keeping what happened to Tim a secret, was somehow related to the FREAKING TALON…

Dick had watched his best friend die, had blamed himself, was forced to work for his worst enemy... not that the others had lived an easy life, but seriously, give the guy a break! There was only so much he could handle before he totally lost it...

Jason shoved his helmet on his head, hopped on his motorcycle, and drove out of the batcave. He needed to blow off some steam. DESPERATELY. Maybe Dick was on the brink of having a panic attack earlier… it would explain his heavy breathing, maybe a sign that he was trying not to lose control. Maybe he didn't go to bed because he wanted to be ready. What if he wasn't even asleep? What if he was just laying there, silently panicking and worrying himself and having an episode of some kind?

Jason turned the throttle and went faster. He was ready to beat some people up tonight.


Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Batman: Under the Red Hood

The other two could potentially not be very canon, but I did my best with them.