Chapter 1: Jason Todd: Vigilante at Law

Chapter Text

"And That!" The man said as he adjusted his tie, causing everyone in the courtroom to cringe and flinch away. "Is why these men are too dangerous to be kept alive!"

Bruce watched and felt his mouth go dry. He was going to do it. He was going to kill Joker, and there was nothing he could do to stop it this time.

The jury looked at the three men at the defense table and at the man who was adjusting his tie again, causing them to flinch again.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, NoBi's; I ask you to make the right decision. These men are too dangerous to be kept alive. They have killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of people among the three of them. How many people have they tortured and murdered? How many people can we save from the same fate? There is no other way. These men have no fear of death, they have no fear of the police, they have no fear of Arkham Asylum, they have no fear of the Batman and his sidekicks! When they have no fear of anything there is no other option! They must be killed in order to keep others safe. I rest my case."

The man adjusted his tie again, causing the courtroom, with the exception of Bruce, to flinch.

The judge looked at the defense. "Counselor? Do you have any closing statements?"

The first year public defender, Calvin Montgomery, stood up. "These men are not mentally well. They should not be killed because of something they have no control over. Thank you."

The judge and jury looked at the defense. It wasn't much of a defense.

The jury walked out to make their vote and were out in under five minutes. "We the Jury..." the foreperson said. "Find the defendants..."

The courtroom sat with bated breath.

"...guilty."

The man smiled and looked at Bruce.

Bruce looked into the prosecutors eyes. Eyes so cold that they could freeze the blood in a person's veins.

The man adjusted his tie and the courtroom cringed.

"Jack Napier, Jack Oswald White, Arthur Fleck..." the Judge began. "...you are hereby sentenced to death for the murder of countless individuals, torture of countless others..."

It took hours for the judge to list all of the Joker's crimes, but eventually he finished.

"...you will be given the death penalty, death by inoculation, for your various crimes." The Judge tapped his gavel ending the court session.

The man turned to face Bruce and adjusted his tie causing the courtroom to flinch. "Well Bruce. I did it. I killed the Joker, and I used your system to do it. What better revenge is there than to get your way by following someone else's rules."

"Jason." Bruce said.

"Don't!" Jason snapped. "You had your chance! I did what you never could!" He pointed at Bruce. "I did what you couldn't and followed your rules! That's why your mad! I stayed within your rules and still won! Goodbye Bruce! I'll see you at home. Alfred is cooking a feast. Everyone is coming. You don't want to be late." Jason patted Bruce's shoulder and left the courtroom into a horde of reporters.

Bruce watched Jason leave and had no words he could say.

Wayne Manor: That Night.

Bruce walked into Wayne Manor to the sound of laughter.

Walking into the kitchen, he saw Alfred, Jim, Diana, Clark, Kate, Montoya, Selina, Harley, Ivy, Helena, Barbara, Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Harper, Cassandra, Duke, Cullen, and Damian were in the kitchen, laughing and enjoying the night.

"...Bruce wouldn't let me kill Joker, so I had the state do it." Jason said, to the mirth of the others.

"You should never revel in taking a life." Alfred said. "That being said, it's good that a monster like that was taken off the streets, hopefully that means the crime will go down."

"Not likely." Jim said. "There's a power vacuum waiting to be filled."

"We'll be there to stop it." Dick said.

"Yeah." The group agreed in unison.

All at once their phones went off and they looked at them to see the Bat Wave going off.

"Crime Never sleeps." Kate said Making her way for the door while Jim and Montoya followed her.

Everyone left, leaving Jason, Bruce, and Alfred in the kitchen.

"Bruce." Jason said.

"Jason." Bruce replied.

They stared at each other for what felt like minutes but was only seconds.

"Got something to say?" Jason asked defiantly.

"Jason, I..."

"We are of course proud of you for completing college, Master Jason." Alfred interrupted.

"I..." Bruce began again.

"With honors."

"I..."

"And Valedictorian."

"I..."

"As well as taking up many extracurricular activities such as football..."

"I..."

"...wrestling..."

"Jason..."

"...cooking..."

"Alfred..."

"...baking..."

"Alfred I..."

"...theatre..."

"Alfred stop..."

"...classical literature..."

"Alfred!"

"...all while studying Law..."

"Alfred!"

"You didn't even use your fathers wealth, you relied on your own resources from when you were a mercenary and in training."

"Alfred!"

"Funding that had someone used, could have gotten himself a respectable profession."

"ALFRED!" Bruce shouted. "We're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about Jason."

"I am talking about Master Jason, Master Bruce. He put himself through college, isn't that exciting?"

"Yes, but..."

"I followed your rules, Bruce." Jason smirked, adjusting his tie. "I followed your rules and got my revenge. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Villains to chase down and prosecute. See ya Al." Jason waved at Alfred and ran out the door.

Bruce looked at Alfred. "Where did I go wrong?"

"I think the first time you put on the cowl Master Bruce. Had you not brought them into your war, you could have done so much good as a doctor, see how Master Jason has risen above what he was and done more than he could have. The only thing that could have been better is if you had never put on the cowl or picked him up off the streets. Just imagine what he could have done had that not happened?"

Bruce thought about that. He would have to apologize to his children. He'd messed up so many things.

With that thought coursing through his brain he ran to the Bat Cave to suit up. Tonight was going to be a long night.

Notes:

I am sorry to say that this fic will not be updated regularly. If you have an idea you would like to see, please let me know and I will try and get to it, so long as I have enough information to work with. Chapter lengths will vary, some will be this length, others will be shorter than this, others will be longer than this, and some may have more than one chapter, but spread out throughout the fic. I hope you enjoy this fic as it's just a way to write some ideas that refuse to leave me alone until I write them, but don't have enough material for full length Fics.