Disclaimer: Not my character, nor have they ever been. They belong to their respective creators and DC.

Jason stayed on his feet as long as he could. He didn't want to give the Joker the satisfaction of seeing him collapse (not again) and the longer he could drag this out the farther away Tim could get. Besides he needed to keep the Joker's attention focused on him until the explosives went off. He wasn't going to let the madman beat him within an inch of his life and then walk out the door leaving Jason to die alone. (not again.)

Jason split blood, hoping he'd managed to get it in the clown's face. He doubted his aim was that good though. Five more minutes Jason told himself. He missed his guns. Joker's men had confiscated those almost instantly.

"You're losing your touch," Jason mumbled, trying to enunciate with with a broken jaw and a split lip.

"You wound me, really you do." Joker took another swing with the crowbar, aiming for Jason's knee.

Jason choked back a scream and tried to tell himself he'd never been fond of that knee cap and forced himself to focus on counting the Joker's goons. There were only three of them still in the room. The rest had disappeared, likely searching for Tim and the three that were left were all trying to avoid looking at Jason. As the Joker swung the crowbar again, eager to show off his backhand, Jason used the split second to pull a knife from his pocket. Just a simple switchblade, but good enough for his purposes. Joker wasn't even looking at Jason's hand, too busy putting all his weight into the blow with the crowbar. Jason barely even had to move as the clown impaled himself on the blade.

Jason grabbed his tormentor and pulled him close, using him as a shield. "Get lost," he yelled hoarsely at the guards who had finally turned their attention back to him. "You have maybe 2 minutes. Get lost."

They were out the window in seconds.

Jason collapsed to the floor, pulling Joker down with him. "Now we just wait."

"This...this isn't a very fun game at all," gasped his captive.

"Games need to end. I'm ending it," Jason said. He'd never have admitted it, but he was glad he wasn't alone. Killer clowns weren't the best company, but

Jason didn't want to die alone again. He didn't want to die alone and he didn't want anyone he actually cared about to die with him. This was the best solution. The only one. The plan since Tim had come to him a week ago.

Tim was about to repel down from the roof, when he saw three of Joker's minions leap out the window. He raised his eyebrow and waited a few more seconds. They hit the ground and struggled to drag themselves away from the warehouse. Tim nodded and resumed his climb.

Tim pulled himself in the window and froze at the scene before him. Jason was on the floor, his arms around Joker in both a hug and and a pin. A pool of blood surrounded them. Tim was afraid to find out whose it was.

"Hood," Tim asked.

No response.

"Jay?" Tim approached cautiously.

Jason groaned, not releasing his hold on Joker.

"We've got to get out of here," Tim insisted. 45 seconds left, if he was lucky. Not enough time to try to disarm the explosives even if he wanted to.

"Now," Tim said, trying to pull Jason to his feet.

"G'out of here Timmy, before you get yourself killed."

Tim shook his head. "I'm not leaving you. We had a plan and we're sticking to it."

"Had my own plan," Jason admitted.

Tim grabbed his brother's arm and tried to pull him away from the Joker. "Jay, please…. I mean it. If you don't go, I don't go. Is that what you want?"

Jason finally turned to properly look at his brother. "Why can't you see that I belong here? With him? It'll finally be over."

"It'll be over anyway," Tim said pulling Jason away from the Joker and towards the window. How many more seconds, he wondered, 30?

Jason stopped fighting him, but he wasn't helping either, and the descent down the building with far slower than Tim would have liked.

"Can you walk at all?" Tim asked, dragging his brother towards the cover of the trees. He realized that he was wasting his time and Jason had lost consciousness.

They barely passed the tree line when the explosion hit.

I think there's maybe one more chapter to go. Thanks for reading. Feedback is always appreciated.