Chapter Three – Hysteria

Bruce

Bruce grappled down from the rooftop, careful not to drop the unconscious Nightwing he held in his free arm. He hadn't punched the boy too hard, only enough to knock him out long enough to get him to the car. Still, he needed to be quick. The last thing he needed was for his first son to wake up in an even more panicked state.

He made it to the Batmobile in record time, and managed to gently lay the man down in the back seat. He hoped Dick would stay unconscious long enough for him to get them to the manor, but he doubted that would happen. He was too damn stubborn to stay down for long.

He got into the driver's seat, and was relieved to see that Jason was asleep, or at least pretending to be. With both of them quiet, he could focus on getting them to safety and get back to Tim, to get him out of that cell and back to the manor where he belonged, where he should have stayed. God it had been so much easier when he only had to worry about one of them, or at least only worry about one of them at a time.

'And won't it be just wonderful when little Jason sees his replacement?' Joker laughed and studied the sleeping boy. 'My, I did have so much fun showing him that little picture of the two of you. He really believed you were coming for him until he saw that, you know?'

Bruce shook his head, trying to clear it and focused on the road ahead. He knew it was going to be ugly when Jason finally met Tim face to face, but he could deal with that when the time came.

He flinched when he heard Jason whimper in his sleep, as the boy tried to curl up despite being restrained. God he hoped Dick would stay unconscious. He couldn't handle both of them losing their minds at the same time. He could barely handle it separately.

"Alfred," he reached out through the comms once he got closer to the manor. "Change of plans. I need you to keep a close eye on Jason and Dick. We're headed to the manor now."

"Master Grayson is well, then?" Alfred asked, and Bruce had to smile slightly at the tone of relief he heard in the man's voice. No doubt he had been just as worried as Bruce had been, if not more.

"I don't know that I'd say he's well," Bruce responded carefully, not wanting to go into specifics. That could wait until they were face to face, until he could get to work on a new antidote for Scarecrow's fear toxin. "I need you to make sure they don't kill each other. Or themselves."

He killed the transmission before Alfred could respond, not wanting to risk one of his passengers screaming and being overheard. Alfred had gone through enough stress in his life. He didn't need this added onto it.

Bruce sighed when he saw Jason becoming more and more distressed. "No, please!" he begged, his voice reminding the man of just how young his second Robin was, how young all his Robins were. "Please," he whimpered, still not waking. "Please, I'll tell you everything. Please just stop!"

Despite his years of training, Bruce was unable to keep himself from flinching when Jason screamed in his sleep. It had been something horrible, something inhuman.

The Joker hallucination smirked and leaned back, looking Jason over once more. "My, he was such a fun toy."

He was about to snap at the madman, not caring about the passengers in the car, but before he could open his mouth, he heard a scream coming from the backseat. God dammit, Dick, he sighed in frustration.

"Stop!" the newly conscious Nightwing screamed. "You have to stop them! He messed with the ropes. Stop them!"

One thing was for sure. It was going to be a long drive home.

Jason

"Can I have him, Daddy? Oh please, please, please, please?" Joker taunted, waving the brand in his hand in front of Jason's face. "I'll take real good care of him." He felt his heart sink down to his stomach. "Anything to make you happy, Princess," the madman continued, changing his voice to something deeper, more sinister. "Just make sure people know he's yours." He fell to the ground with a sickening thud. "We don't want him to end up back here do we?"

Jason woke up screaming, and it took him several long minutes to realize where he was. You aren't back there, he told himself. You aren't back there. No, you're stuck in here. Stuck with him. And that, he thought, was almost just as bad. It had hurt, realizing Batman didn't give a damn about him, realizing he wasn't going to be rescued. And now here he was, stuck in the damn Batmobile with the damn Batman and his precious little Nightwing. Bruce hadn't missed a beat going to save him from whatever the hell had happened.

No, even after all that time, he was still playing second fiddle to Dick motherfucking Grayson.

"You have to stop them!" Jason flinched when he heard Dick scream. He had never known the older man to lose control, not even once, and he would have been lying if he said it didn't unnerve him. Still, he couldn't help but smirk when he saw Batman flinch.

He would have come for Dick, the voice in the back of his head told him, the voice he had tried to shut up so, so many times. He would have found him the same day he disappeared. But not you. No, he let you rot there. He let him have you.

Jason flinched again when he heard Dick whimper pathetically, like a kicked puppy. 'Can I have him, Daddy?' He heard Joker's maniacal laughter once more. 'Please, please, please, please?'

He laughed when he saw Batman flinch again. No doubt the man was worried sick about the first Robin, the favorite, the Golden Boy Wonder. You've been doing this all wrong, Jason, the voice in his head said, and for a moment he was unsure if it was his own, or the Joker's. You've been going after him. He doesn't give a damn what happens to him. You need to hit him where it hurts.'

He wasn't quite sure when the laughing had started. He wasn't quite sure when it had turned hysterical. And he definitely was not sure when the hysterical laugh changed into violent, uncontrollable sobbing.