Chapter 17

Tim's POV

Jason! Don't!

I strained against the ropes, until they finally gave away. Pulling the tape off of my mouth, I ran towards him.

"Jason!" I screamed as a figure appeared and lifted me up.

A black cape cloaked my vision as I was swiftly carried out and away from Jason. I squirmed and kicked as I was carried out of the warehouse.

"Stop! Let me go! Jason!" I cried as I pushed underneath my savior.

Tears stung my eyes as the warehouse exploded. Jason. I cried as I was crushed against Batman's chest. Why didn't he save Jason?

My eyes widened as a figure emerged from the flames… A second Batman… Bruce? I could see him carrying someone in his arms.

The flames danced off of his Kevlar as the bat on his chest became stained with Jason's blood.

********Break*******

"Hold still, Timmy. You're injured and you've lost a lot of blood." Dick softly ordered as he tends to my wounds.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" I ask, staring at the curtain, concealing where Alfred and Leslie are trying to save his life. Bruce was also behind the curtain, waiting.

"I don't know… It's partially up to Jason. It depends on rather he has the will to live or die. There's no telling what's going on in his head right now." Dick replies, looking at the curtain.

********Break*******

Jason's POV

The Replacement. I can see him as clear as day as he struts around Titan Tower. He's wearing my costume. He's stolen my mantle. Robin belongs to me and no one else.

I watch as he enters a room in Titan Tower. The replacement is in the Hall of the Fallen Titans. I don't have a statue and I was one of them. I was never honored.

Carefully and silently, I move through the hallways until I'm standing directly behind him. I watched as his body tensed before spinning around to face me. As I moved closer, he took a step back.

"You're the Red Hood! You've been cleaning up Gotham the easy way!" he stated, drawing his staff.

"Easy? What do you know about easy, Tim? You had a father that looked after you! You went to a private school! You slept in a bed… I slept on the streets. I lived in the alleyways of Gotham. Trying to survive, until Bruce took me in. I trained as I hard as I could. I did whatever he asked, but it didn't matter. They said I was never good enough to be Robin… But, today they say you are."

That was when I launched my first attack against him, which he dodged with ease.

"You spent weeks tracking the Dark Knight. Solving a mystery no one else could! You discovered who he was behind that mask. Millionaire Bruce Wayne!" I yelled, throwing knives at his evading form. "You were so pleased with yourself. I'm sure that you forgot who you were really dealing with.

"What do you want? Do you want to be Robin again? Is that it? You want… to take it away from me?" he asked as I laughed darkly.

"Why in the Hell would I ever want that? Don't you get it? When I died, no one cared! No one remembered me."

"Are you completely insane? No one could ever forget you! I've spent my entire career wearing this mask under your shadow! I had to convince Batman to let me try. All because he'll never stop blaming himself for what happened to you. That's why he hasn't taken you down! He's holding back… But me? No freaking way!" he yelled, bringing down his staff and leaving me with a bloodied lip and bruised shoulder.

"That's the Robin I wanted to see!" I replied, spitting out a mouth full of blood before throwing a smoke bomb. "Still, the whole idea of training a teenager to fight against something he'll never eradicate is a mistake. It didn't surprise anyone when I died. When I failed." I said as I landed blow after blow.

"I failed. But, I'm still beating you!" I screamed before throwing him against the wall. "Do you think you're that good now? Do you Tim?" I growled at the crumpled form on the ground.

"Yes." He weakly replied before blacking out.

I studied the crumpled form on the ground. It'd be so easy to kill him. Too easy. I reached down and ripped the Robin symbol from his chest.

"We'll see, Tim. We'll see just how good you are." I growled before walking out the door.

Walking out of the door, my mouth nearly fell open. I could see myself holding the Joker in a chokehold with Batman in front of us… What's going on? Am I dreaming?

"You. I'll be you. The you you're supposed to be. If you had killed Joker…years ago…beyond what happened to me…you know what hell you would have saved this world. But no. His murder is a long list of sane acts you refuse to commit. You never cross that line. But I will. Death will come to those who deserve death. And death may come to those who stand in my way of doing what's right. All of your adult life you've fought to save Gotham from herself. But you never, ever have understood her. She's evil. And you have to fight her where she lives. I live there. I'll be the one who finally brings peace." My double growled as Batman just stared at them.

I watched as the double drew a gun and it pushed it against the Joker's temple.

"I'm not talking about killing Cobblepot, Scarecrow, Riddler, Clayface or Dent… I'm just talking about him. Just him. And doing it because… he took me away from you." The double stated as a single tear fell from his eyes.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I just can't." Batman replied.

"Well, you don't have a choice. If you won't kill this psychotic piece of filth…I will. You want to stop me? You're going to have to kill me." the double, stated kicking a gun over to Batman.

"Stop this. Enough. You know I won't-" Batman began.

"All you've got is a head-shot. I'm going to blow his addled, deranged brains out and if you want to stop it…you're going to have to shoot me. Right in my face." the double whispered, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Stop this." Batman pleaded.

"It's him or me. You have to decide."

Tears fell from my own eyes as I witnessed the exchange. Any second now, Batman was going to make a choice and it wasn't going to be me. Any second the Joker would trigger a bomb and escape while Batman sliced open my own throat with his Batarang. He chose that fucking clown over me.

I look up to find my double already on the ground nearly bleeding out from the wound "Daddy" inflicted. He'll never choose me.

I turned away from them to find myself standing in the Batcave. What the fuck is happening to me?

"Jason-"

I look up to find Batman on the floor, with another double hovering over him. The double's boot is pinning him to the ground and he has a gun trained on him.

"You- You left me! You left me with the Joker! You let him kill me! You failed Batman! You failed me, Batman! You never cared! You never loved me! You never avenged me! And now that I'm back, you still chose the clown over me!"

"Jason." He whispered as the double cocked the trigger.

"Just tell me one thing, Bruce… What if it had been Dick instead of me? You would have crossed the line, wouldn't you?" He asked as his finger slowly pulled back on the trigger.

"No!" a voice behind me screamed as I watched Nightwing race forward and bury his boot against the double's skull.

The worst part was that I was actually going to kill him. I was going to murder the man I once considered my father.

Turning away from the scene, I found myself in a new one. But, this is a nightmare.

I found myself surrounded by Tim, Damian, Dick, Alfred, Barbara, Kori, Roy and several others that I cared about. I was attached to wires. It was almost as if I was a puppet on a string… Wait, I quickly looked up to see the Joker smiling down at me.

The madman pulled on a string and I drew my gun. I watched in horror as my finger squeezed the trigger. Shot after shot was fired until everyone around me lay dying on the ground.

The madman pulled me towards his laughing face.

"You won't stop until they're all dead. You and I, we're the same. We're cut from the same dirty cloth. We belong together." The voice cackled before pulling out a knife.

I fell to the ground as he cut the strings. I screamed as the bodies around me started crawling towards me. I am going to die.

Hands clawed at my flesh as they pulled me down. I screamed and cried a they held me down.

"Jason!"

I looked back up to see that the Joker had vanished and Bruce was in his place. He had his hand stretched out to me. I reached out and grabbed his hand as he dragged me out of the swarming mass of corpses.

********Break*******

Bruce's POV

I looked at the body on the bed. Jason. This is the second time this has happened. I was almost too late.

My heart nearly stopped as the heart monitor suddenly flat lined. I grabbed his hand and softly squeezed it.

"Jason!"