A Tale Of Clowns

Chapter 24- Come Home

Hood had parted ways to with Harley and Frank to go ahead and get some take out for them, he didn't think he could cook right now, you know, covered in blood and all.

As soon as he heard the whir of a grappling hook he had his guns out, it could be Nightwing, It could be Batman. He jumped forward onto another building and took cover behind the rooftop entrance, the whoosh of the cape gave him away, Jason had been Robin for five years he knew that sound.

He waited until Batman was around the corner, he wouldn't jump out to attack him, no. He'd be knocked out in a second, he slowly backed up with his gun still raised. Batman looked straight at him and he felt the pit rise.

"Here to take me to Arkham now are we?" Jadon said, his voice dripping with malice. Bruce shook his head and took his cowl off, strangely enough he looked like he was.....crying?

"Jason....." his voice wavered. Oh god he had been crying? It wasn't supposed to be like this! He slowly walked towards him, Jason glared at him and raised his gun "Don't fall for it! It's a trap! Shoot him! He slit mom's throat!" The pit whispered but seeing Bruce like this didn't feel right, he had never seen his da- Bruce cry like this.

His hand holding the gun shivered and Bruce took the opportunity to close the distance, gripping the hand holding the gun and wrapping his other arm around Jason. He let go of the hand holding the gun to wrap it around Jason too.

Whilst Jason was having an internal battle, Bruce was just relishing the feeling of holding his child again, he had dreams, nightmares, where he met Jason again, some where he was alive and healthy and some where his corpse cursed him for not saving him. But now he was here, he wasn't well but that didn't matter, he was back.

Jason thought differently however. He tried to shove Bruce away but it didn't work, his arms were like steel. "Get-ugh-off of me! What the fuck is this trick? Gonna suffocate me so you can drag me to Arkham?" Jason snarled, Bruce just shook his head and yelled in the most broken voice, "NO!" Jason stopped struggling at once.

"Please! No! Just, just come home! I can't- We'll help you Jay, just come back...." Bruce stammered. Jason remained in shock for a few moments before he snarled, and succeeded in pushing Bruce away from him, he regretted it right after seeing the look on his father's face but he shook his head. "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU? YOU SLIT MOM'S THROAT! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ACCUSED ME OF KILLING FELIPE WHEN YOU HAD THE EVIDENCE OF ME BEING INNOCENT! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO REPLACED ME WITH A SHINY NEW RICH KID AS SOON AS YOU HAD THE CHANCE! YOU LET STEPHANIE DIE! I HAD TO COME BACK TO DEAL WITH BLACK MASK! BARBARA WAS PARALYZED BECAUSE YOU PROTECTED THEE JOKER!"

Jason's words seemed to have broke Bruce, completely, His lip wobbled as tears fell from his eyes, he opened his mouth to speak but only a sob came out. Jason's green eyes instantly turned blue. "I-I'm sorry. I know what I did to Natalia was horrible, I wanted to kill Joker I did! Superman stopped me, said that you wouldn't want me to do this" He let out a broken laugh "I could've tried again, God there isn't a day that goes by where I didn't want to kill him but I knew if I killed him I'd never be able to stop killing, petty criminals or supervillains." Jason sighed.

"Fine, Boy scout brainwashed you, it happens, it doesn't change the fact that not only did you replace me with a stuck up kid who told anyone he could that I was naive and reckless- And I'm not making this up Eddie heard him say this! No, he also insulted Stephanie! And I saw that memorial, 'A Good Soldier' That was all I ever was to you! So just stop with this bullshit, we know you're only trying to 'help' me so you don't have anymore guilt on your conscience from your greatest failure!" His eyes turned to green again, realization hit Bruce like a truck.

"I'm sorry! I know Tim and I made mistakes but we'll work it out! We'll help you with the pit!Please come home now-"
 "There will be no need for that." Jason and Bruce looked towards the source of the voice, standing to their left was none other than Nocturna. "Jason has been with his family and friends for months." She teleported besides Jason to put a hand on his shoulder. Bruce glared daggers at her, "Natalia." He spat her name venomously, "I see you found a lazarus pit to put MY son in so you could fully turn him against me." He growled, Natalia rolled her eyes "Actually Mr Wayne you'll find that MY son crawled out of his grave six months after he died and YOUR ex Talia Al Ghul put him in the lazarus pit." Jason flinched, they always did the "MY son" thing whenever they fought, it was just as annoying every time.

Bruce turned pale at the mention of Talia's name but his expression remained the same, he turned to Jason and said "Jason please, just come back to the Manor to see Alfred! Kate will be thrilled to see you're alive!" Jason raised his eyebrows, now that was a tempting offer, maybe he and Kate could go back to the shooting range again. Natalia scowled and took Jason's hand "NO! He'll be coming back home with me!" Bruce took Jason's other hand, he had put the gun away when Bruce had started crying, "Absolutely not! Jason come on, we'll talk about this in the manor." he said pulling Jason towards him, Natalia however held on to Jason with surprising strength. "Uhm, do I get a say in this?" "NO!" Bruce and Natalia yelled at the same time.

Jason sighed as his two adoptive parents played tug of war over him like they did when he was eleven, somethings never change huh? "ALRIGHT ENOUGH!" He said shaking his parents off, "Bruce I need time before talking about all this alright? And mom, Me and Harley have plans for tonight, Yes I'll remember to text you every hour okay?" he said backing away towards the edge of the roof, his parents reached out to him but before they could say anything he turned his back on them and jumped, they gasped, the gap between this roof and the one across the other rooftop was too big!

But then he landed on thin air, on a bright green circular platform then jumped again, a bright green energy propelling him in the air. Bruce watched in shock as his son used the lazarus pit to leave him, again. Whilst Natalia was proud of the fact that Jason had learned enough control over the pit to use it to his advantage. Either way Talia was about to deal with two very angry people obsessed with the night.