Robin's Shadow (Batman OC)

Chapter 40: Nightingale Revealed, Part 2

~ Jason POV one hour before Batman calls Ana ~

"You want me, Bruce. Come and get me. I'm in Crime Alley, you know where." I say into the radio before destroying it, not wanting to make it easy for him and let him trace it. He needs to think about where to find me, about where it means the most. I'm in the alley where Ana and I stole his tires, where he took us in, promising a better future for us. 

He lied in this alley, and now he'll pay for that. 

I watch as his plane lands exactly where it was supposed to, and I go to greet him to begin our long overdue fight.

"Hello." I say casually to him, jumping down to the end of the alley while he stares dully at the exact spot where he had met us. He spins to face me when I spoke, and I can see regret on his masked face. Good. "So glad you could make it."

"This ends tonight. All of it." Batman says to me firmly.

"Nobody knows that better than me." I say darkly, then throw my League of Assassins shuriken at him, all of which he dodges. It was always Ana who was better at the blades than me, but they serve their purpose now. 

We fight each other, both of us using all of our gadgets to our maximum, me taunting him as he go. We are deadly against each other, each of us landing hard blows as we jump across roofs until we crash into the top of a church. I cut his utility belt off, limiting his advantages as much as I can. 

As we fight, I manage to grab his cowl and rip it off of him, revealing him for what he is, just an aging man who's washed up and tired.

"Well look at that, so easily exposed, aren't you Bruce?." I chuckle out to him as we pause, his fists raised and a glare on his face. "I guess we should keep it even." I add coyly, and reach up and take off my helmet, revealing myself fully to him, minus my old domino mask. He can look into the familiar face of me in my Robin mask as I defeat him, knowing I am his greatest failure. 

I throw my helmet at him then, letting him catch it, not knowing it's a bomb.

"Jason." He says in defeat, looking at my face. I smirk and confirm it before he continues. "I don't want to fight you."

"All evidence to the contrary." I say cockily, indicating around at us fighting to the death already.

"Please, I can help you." He says honestly, "I know what happened."

"Oh, you got to talking to Ra's, huh?" I say casually. "Does it make it easier for you to think that my dip in his fountain of youth turned me rabid?" I ask with an edge, glaring at him challengingly. "Or is this just the real me?" I ask, and he looks sadly at me. 

I activate the bomb in the helmet then, and it blows up the gargoyles and a chunk of the church when he throws it, catching him in the explosion as well even though he threw the helmet away in time.

"Tell me, what bothers you more?" I taunt him angrily as I come up behind him in his blind spot and hold a knife to his neck. "That your greatest failure has returned from the grave? Or that I've become a better Batman than you?" He manages to flip me over his shoulder, and we fight against each other some more.

"You're ruling through intimidation and murder. You're just another criminal, just like your little Nightingale." He says angrily to me as we struggle.

"We're what this city needs!" I yell at him, and we continue our fight. 

He eventually catches my jacket on fire, and then we are both without most of our gadgets as I'm forced to rip it off myself. I lead him on another chase, leading him into the apartment in the condemned building that Ana and I lived in when we were homeless orphans. This was our final place of freedom before he took us in and turned us into his expendable soldiers.