Disclaimer: I don't own DC or any of its characters. Each character belongs to their rightful owner.
This was written for my best friend, Arrowverse Fan 217
Cast :
Firass Dirani as Jason Todd/ Red Hood
Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Matt Ryan as John Constantine
Matthew Nable as Ra's.
Note : all credit for the edits goes to The Defender of the Faith while the start of the story is thanks to 2 authors from Archive of Our Own called ArtemisMay and RyuuKage5400.
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The leaves crunched under his feet as he made his way to a body laying on the ground; the tree leaves shook under the cool of night while the water sizzled in the forest at Nanba Panbat, it would be a beautiful sight if the circumstance was not so tragic. A figure stood brooding - dressed in a black cape waving melancholically; his black armored suit melting with the shadows. Only the yellow bat insignia on his chest rising up and down in tandem with the man's breathing differentiates from a statue. The mask with its dots that looked like bat ears hid his true feelings; the bones of the hands crunched as they clenched - reflecting his escalating anger the more he looked at the body of his second son on the green that was now stained with red. His eyes burned with an insatiable rage at having to see Jason's so youthful face laying inert on the ground. The boy's face lay looking up at the sky with eyes that are now completely empty and lifeless.
Anger coursed threw his veins. Ra's needed to pay. Yes. Yes, Ra's was instigator of all this. And make him pay, Bruce would.
Numb with pain, he couldn't take his eyes off the deep cut on Jason's now unmoving chest. Blood leaked from his open wound. His chest was sickeningly still.
"A father should not bury a son, it is unnatural." Indeed loss of spouses makes one a widow/widower; loss of parents makes one an orphan - and yet there remains no classification of a circumstance where a parent loses a child. Perhaps there truly are no words worthy to describe such a fate.
Enough was enough!
If Ra's wanted it broken his rule of not killing so Batman could be the successor Ra's wanted, then Bruce would give him exactly what he wanted - and deserved, though Bruce silently inside the sanctuary of his mind! For too long he had refrained from killing criminals - even those he knows to be beyond redemption, and thus indirectly letting hundreds of innocent people die simply because he wanted to stay true to his principles.
When he decided to put on the mask to become Batman, he did it so that others would not suffer the way he did when he was 10 years old and his parents were murdered in front of him. But, perhaps, he should take a page from the Punisher's book and show no more mercy to criminals of any kind. His way of keeping Gotham safe had left too many innocent people to die from the Joker or the Scarecrow's toxins.
He would both avenge Jason andd save Gotham from Ra's plan to unleash his army on the city.
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Ra's stood patiently, with his hands behind his back, waiting. A table full of swords lays sitting beside him; its contents ready to be used by two of the deadliest men in the world.
"So, you came, Detective!" Ra's said, not turning around, knowing when his adversary had arrived. "I hope you will be a challenge for me… or the alternative will be your death in the same way as your adopted son - by my sword!"
"You wanted me to snap so badly that you killed my son to get to me? Congratulations… it didn't work. Today, you will bleed, Ra's! But don't think for a second that I will give up on my principles even when you killed my son!" said Batman coldly, his usual grim look on his face looking more severe than ever - in reality though, a mask to simply hide the fact that he was no longer shackled by his creed to never kill.
"I see! Then let's waste no more time and start this, Detective!" Ra's said, going towards the table with his flawless grace, wherein both he and Batman armed themselves with two swords in their hands.
Both stared hard at each other for one minute, before rushing towards each other. RaRentrectly for the head, but as expected, Batmachoosesse to dodge inwardly smirking at how easy it was to fool him that he would not kill content for the legs. Ra's jumped to avoid it and come down with the swords out to cut into Batman, only to discover that Batman had dodged before he went into a roundhouse kick that was blocked by both of Ra's swords. Ra's tried to kick him, but as Batman planned he dodged.
Ra went on the offensive, trying to slash with his swords, but Batman choose to duck out of the way knowing that Ra would taunt him about killing Alfred.
"I see you are serious about not killing me! Maybe I should kill the old butler to get you to finally snap!" said Ra's, with a vicious smile on his face, which Batman took as a signal to jump at him with both swords poised to strike, which Ra's was prepared for his move with both swords poised to counter. Batman smirked at him surprising him, which he took advantage of by trying to swipe his feet from under him, which he dodged by rolling out of the way.
Amused, Ra's went for a roundhouse kick, but Batman was prepared as he used his swords to block it, before dropkicking Ra's to the ground, and going for a spinning kick, which was dodged by him rolling out of the way before jumping with both of his swords toward Batman, who blocked with his swords, producing a loud noise as the weapons clashed.
Batman shifted his weight, catching one of Ra's swords with his legs before spinning and throwing the sword to the ground. He went for a kick which Ra's jumped backward to avoid. Ra's went for a kick at Batman, only for his leg to get caught by two legs around it.
Batman then went on the offensive, hitting him with an elbow that Ra's tried to slash, only to be blocked by Batman's sword, followed by Batman's elbow smashing into his chin.
A sword made its way into Ra's heart and through the other side, blood dripping from it. Ra's smiled while blood was dripping from his mouth - he had fulfilled his mission. Ra had made Batman kill at the cost of his own life.
Coughing blood, Ra's looked at Batman with pride in his eyes.
"To think, Detective, you succeed in killing me! You surprised me! You will make a good successor! Killing your son was a good idea to get you to unleash-"
A head suddenly fell to Earth, Batman watching with fury in his eyes. Jason was his son in everything but blood, and blood didn't matter to him. Memories rose of when he first met Jason trying to steal the hubcaps off the Batmobile, memories of kidnapping him and giving him a home - filling the hole left by Dick by gaining a second son. Tears came from his eyes at the thought of yet another precious person he would never see again.
But. There was a way. One wrong, but the tempting way he could get his son back. One wrong way… but he was willing to do anything to get Jason back.
Thankfully, he did contact Superman in finding Constantine to help him bring Jason to life along with his soul.
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It had been about 6 months later, and Jason still felt terrible. If he had just listened to Bruce about not going out alone, he would not have been killed by Ra's.
He did not have had to endure one month in a cell after being resurrected by his father with the help of the Pit, but he felt he deserved it for his arrogance in thinking that he could take on Ra's alone in Bosnia - only for him to be swiftly defeated, kidnapped and killed for the simple purpose of making his father snapped.
Thankfully for him, Bruce had made sure to have John Constantine over and paid the man to get Jason's soul back after he revived him.
In the last six months, Gotham had undergone an extreme and radical change. Why? Because Batman was eliminating criminals left right and center - whether they were muggers, rapists, or pedophiles - usually working alone, but sometimes he had the help of Batwoman - Kate Kane, his cousin.
He helped her kill the Wonderland gang, capture her sister Alice, and help her by keeping her in a cage with a shower, toilet, and bed. He was making progress, somewhat, but could not help feeling guilty for allowing her to be captured and turned into a criminal by the Crime Syndicate.
Batman killed Black Mask, Harvey Dent, Scarecrow, and Bane in quite gruesome ways as well. People were always intimidated at the way that Batman acted - only now they have a real reason to be scared. Black Mask decapitated, Harvey Dent cut in two pieces, Scarecrow assassinated with a look of horror on his face, and Bane (without the drugs) in five pieces recovered from a random alleyway.
He even spread his reach to Star City to confront Deathstroke, who was going after the Teen Titans, but more importantly, his son, Dick Grayson. While he felt bad for what had happened to Deathstroke's son, Jericho, that did not excuse his actions toward the city and Bruce's son. He will put a stop to it without holding back.
Meanwhile, in Gotham City, the two vigilantes called The Red Hood - Jason, and Batwoman - Kate, was on the duty of keeping Gotham safe. Only this time, they would have to face The Joker and Pennywise!
-TBC...