Looking back on this now, it almost looks like I have created two stories in one. Meh, oh well… This chapter was pretty fun for me. Hope you like it.
-Tim's POV-
"Well there goes Croc, but no sighting of Poison Ivy." Tim said as the he and Batman watched Killer Croc charge into a bank.
"I will go into the premises and neutralize Killer Croc. I need you to stay here and keep watch; make sure nobody suspicious follows after me." Batman instructed.
"Why is Croc robbing a bank anyway? What does an oversized lizard need with money?" Robin let his legs dangle over the skyscraper they were perched on top of.
"That is why I need you to keep watch. Croc is smarter and stronger than usual so I'm predicting he is working with or for someone."
"Still sticking with your Poison Ivy theory?" Robin asked.
Batman gave a quick, "yes." Before he swang into the bank.
Tim sighed as he watched the stream of screaming people run from the bank doors; probably trying to avoid being in the crossfire of Killer Croc and Batman.
"Of course you're already here." A low muffled voice came from Robin; making him jolt forwards. Jason grabbed Tim's shoulder before he could fall of the building, "Relax, it's me."
Robin shook his head, "And how exactly are you supposed to be relaxing? And how the hell did you found out where we were?"
"Placed a tracker on you; knew the dynamic duo would find Croc eventually. How long has the Bat been in there?"
"You bugged me?" Tim stood in quiet disbelief for a few seconds before he answered, "He's been in there for about two minutes." This was the Red Hood after all.
"That's too long." Jason stated.
Their conversation was interrupted by the sight of Poison Ivy strolling towards the now abandoned Bank. Tim shut Red Hood out for a minute while he tried to contact Batman.
"Batman you've got company…" No response. In fact all Robin could hear in his ear piece was static, "Batman do you read me? Batman?" Nothing.
Tim grabbed for his grappling hook and aimed for the bank.
"Kid wait, you don't know what's in ther…" But before Jason could finish Robin was gone. Crap… Wasn't being rash and charging in guns blazing his job?
-Jason POV-
Jason really wanted to avoid having to save another member of his family in the space of two nights. He didn't want his enemies thinking he was going soft after all. No; this wasn't a rescue. This was revenge. This thought made Jason feel considerably better about going into the same room as the Bat and Croc. He used the fire escape to reach the ground then headed towards the Bank. He instinctively reached for his knife and pressed it to the throat to the shadow he had felt following him. "Whoa, easy there Jay."
Red Hood pulled the figure into the light and grumbled as he dropped his knife, "Goddammit Grayson. What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Helping?" Nightwing flashed a smile and before Jason could ask he said, "I placed a tracker on you… Are you coming?" What was with this family and keeping tabs on each other?
Jason shook his head as they strolled into the Bank not really sure what to expecting. "This is a brilliant plan," Jason groaned sarcastically, "Let's just walk on in on Batman and Robin and Poison Ivy and Killer Croc and see how things pan out."
"Isn't that how you usual do things?" Nightwing smirked.
"Shut up." Quietly Red Hood and Nightwing pushed open the door and slipped into the shadows of the unlit Bank. There had obviously been a fight as bits of ceiling dangled from the roof, fist sized cracks dug into the wall and blood was splayed beautifully across the floor.
"I see you've met my pet," a woman's voice cut into the silence of the room; Poison Ivy.
She wandered over to Batman who was being held to the ground by Croc. Looking across from them Jason could see Robin held to a wall by Ivy's vines, she slowly ran her hand over Killer Croc's scales then purred, "Do you like the pheromones I've been giving him? They're highly affective."
When she received no answer Ivy decided to stroll over to the boy wonder. He struggled more and more with each step she took towards him, "Now, now don't you have a handsome little Robin," Ivy hissed and pulled Tim's chin up with delicate hands, Robin looked into her eyes with hatred while trying to wriggle his way out of the thick vine's grip, "wouldn't it be a shame to see something happen to this righteous little bird."
Her mouth curled into a smile when she received a small grunt of protest from the Bat who was being crushed under Croc's weight, "Well daddy bats doesn't seem to mind very much so I guess you can be my newest volunteer for my latest experiment; unfortunately for now I'll have to use a needle which isn't really my style but I'm working on it."
Jason didn't know why he did it; but he couldn't stop himself. Maybe it was because of some weird shitty protective instinct or possibly because he was still suffering the effects of the drugs he had been given earlier but as soon as Ivy thrust the needle toward Tim the Red Hood jumped in front of him.
Slightly confused by what happened Ivy stumbled backwards and watched as Nightwing somersaulted into Killer Croc; kicking him right through his jaw. Jason took advantage of her current state and smashed his fist against a pressure point in her forehead. She groaned and fell to the floor and Jason kicked her away from Robin and him. "Classy." Tim smirked.
"Shut up, I just saved your sorry arse." Jason reached for his knife and cut the Vines holding Robin up, "It's not like I killed her," Which usually would be his normal retaliation to these circumstances. Looking over at Batman and Nightwing he saw that they were easily handling the situation as Ivy's effects on Croc had begun to wear off. Suddenly Red Hood caught Tim staring at his torso.
"What?" Jason looked down and found the needle that Ivy had previously meant for Tim still stuck in his chest; the contents already pushed into his system; he fucking hated needles. Jason yanked it from his body and examined it before Nightwing and Batman knocked Croc unconscious.
"Robin what is it?" Nightwing grabbed Tim's shoulder but he refused to transfer his concerned look from Red Hood. Suddenly Jason dropped to the ground and let the injection needle roll away from him grasping his head in pain. Batman slowly picked up the injection needle to inspect it while Dick rushed to Jason's side.
"Everyone back to the cave now," Bruce ordered trying to gain some control over the situation.
-Break line-
Jason didn't retaliate when Dick told him it was best for him for them to both go on his bike. His head hurt like a bitch and he guessed that even if he had gone on his bike, he would have probably fallen off in the first three seconds. But to be honest; he didn't actually feel anything on the way to the Manor other than that. What did the drug actually do? It was never great to get injected with unnamed fluids but it didn't seem like it was having any effect on him. Jason was almost disappointed with this, because now he looked like an idiot; holding on to Grayson. Rage boiled in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't even able to lay a hit on Croc, stupid family; always having to get themselves into shit. Jason had now saved two of his brothers now and he decided that if they were going to try and lock him down again, he was going to shoot someone.
-Dick's POV-
Jason didn't seem to be showing any signs of effects from Ivy's poison until they reached the cave and Dick went to quickly check on Tim. Jason had frozen as soon as he took off his helmet and domino mask. "Jay are you alright?" Dick asked as Bruce quickly paced over to his lab to start running tests, "Keep him away from Tim," Batman ordered, "if it's Ivy's pollen then I don't want him getting… Grabby."
Dick nodded and he and Tim watched Jason from a few feet away. He was now breathing faster than normal and his eyes darted around the cave, "I think… I think the poison has something to do with scarecrow." His muscles were all tensed and for the first time in a while Dick could see what was flowing through Jason's body; pure fear.
"Bruce, I think Poison Ivy might have gotten some venom from Scarecrow!" Dick shouted over to Batman.
After a few minutes, Jason's condition was going extremely quickly from bad to worse as he was now on the floor hyperventilating and sweat beads ran down his forehead; he was obviously hallucinating, "No, no, no, no." Jason shook his head and crawled into a ball. To hell with it; Dick couldn't watch this anymore. He rushed over to Jason and put a hand to his neck to feel his pulse; which as he expected was beating irregularly quickly. Carefully he pulled Jason into a hug, "Wha… What the hell Dick?"
Suddenly Jason snapped back into reality and his breaths slowly return to normal. Curious, and just to check, Dick pulled away from Jason again to see if there was any change, "What the fuck Grayson?" Jason spat angrily but interestingly as soon as Dick backed away, Jason became frantic and scared again.
"Tim, come here." Dick murmured.
"What's wrong with him?"
"It's just a theory, but would you mind hugging him?" Dick watched Jason's quickening breaths.
Jason growled, "Touch me again and I'll kill you." But despite his frightening demeanour, Dick could see he was scared shitless. He had never seen him like this before.
"Are you crazy?" Tim backed away.
"I think the venom has something to do with physical contact."
"Like hell it is!" Jason shouted. He was shaking now; starting to go into another hallucination.
"Tim please; just once, I need to check."
Tim shook his head but awkwardly leant down to hug Jason.
Jay had his eyes closed as his stomach churned in fear, "I swear to god Drake; if you even try…"
But it was too late, once Tim's arms were wrapped around Jason, his shaking began to stop and he was able to grumpily sit back up into a normal position. Realising that Dick was right, Jason swore. "I am going to end Ivy when this is over." Tim tried to detach himself from Jay but surprisingly Jason gripped onto him tighter, "Can you guys stop fucking me over and actually stay still for a minute?"
Dick tried to hold in his laughter. Neither of the boys were comfortable with this at all. Tim sat awkwardly in Jay's lap and Jason seemed infuriated by the whole situation, "Why does something crap happen every time I choose to save one of you." It was more of a statement than a question.
"I personally, am actually finding this hilarious, can you guys wait a minute while I get a camera." Dick smirked at them.
Jason quickly got up pushing Tim aside and punched Dick in the face, "Yeah I agree, hilarious." He growled as Dick grabbed his jaw in pain, but then dropped to the ground beginning to breathe heavily and shiver. It was interesting how quickly Jason was influenced by not being in physical contact with someone.
Dick crossed his arms and shook his head at Jason, "Do you want our help or not?"
Jason grit his teeth then yelled to Batman, "You found a cure yet old man?"
"No."
Jason's eyes widened, "wha… what?"
Dick turned to Batman, "Care to elaborate?"
Bruce turned in his chair to face the boys then began explaining, "The stuff Jason has been injected with is a mix of both Scarecrow's fear-gas and Poison Ivy's pheromones. As you may have already noticed it seems that in Jason's case, each time he is not in physical contact with someone he is influenced by a high dosage of Scarecrow's venom. When he is in physical contact with someone though, Poison Ivy's pheromones are able to counteract Scarecrow's fear-gas."
"That's Bullshit! How does that even work? Why would Ivy make her pheromones the cure?" Jason looked like he was trying extremely hard to try and fight Scarecrow's venom, replacing fear with anger.
Tim who was now back on his feet shrugged, "She did say she was working on it; and she used a needle instead of pollen; which isn't really her style."
"When exactly will this end?" Dick asked while Bruce resumed his research.
"It should wear off in about 24 hours but until then unless Jason is in physical contact with someone he will be having hallucinations like the one he is having now."
Suddenly Dick realised that they had left Jason unattended, who now had his hands clenched into the ground. His eyes wide with horror he was now trying to back away from the boys.
"Is it bad that I'm kind of enjoying this?" Tim asked freely as he sat on a bench.
Dick put his hands up and shrugged, "Meh, he did almost kill you a few times." But then walked over to Jason and pulled him into a tight hug.
Dick could hear Jason's breaths slow and his feel his heart beat return to a normal pace. Jason blinked a few times as his hallucination stopped and he realised what was happening again.
"How you doing little wing?" Dick smirked.
Jason's muscles tensed, "Dying of fear is starting not to look so bad compared to this shit."
"Well, alright then." Dick started to pull away but Jason quickly grabbed him.
"Don't fuck with me Circus guy, I will kill you. I will kill of you if you idiots tell anybody about this." Jason warned.
Tim laughed, "I'm sorry but it's a little hard to be intimidating when you're in Dick's arms."
Jason glared at him and Tim flinched. In his current state Jason was even better at the Bat glare than Batman was, "I'm not kidding replacement."
Bruce sighed; this was going to be a long night.
Yep that's chapter 5; hugs. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm finding this idea mentally hilarious. Leave a review of what you think and thanks for reading.