Shakespearean - JayTim - Camp NaNoWriMo - July 2017

Chapter 23 - Plan

Jason wasn't sure what to think about Tim, so he tried not to think about him at all as he walked the short distance to the Manor's library. He knocked on the closed door, and Bruce's voice told him to enter. He did so and found Bruce sitting in a high-backed chair behind a large desk, Clark standing just behind and to the right of him. Dick was leaning against another desk on the left side of the room, his arms crossed and expression serious, a completely foreign thing to Jason, who had only ever seen Dick smiling, joking, and just generally being a little shit.

He swallowed as he took in the somber mood of the room and the tense body language of the three men. He gave them a weak smile. "I thought about making a joke to try and lighten the mood, but I figured it wouldn't work."

Clark gave a quiet snort, which sounded very loud in the large, quiet room. Bruce remained serious. The billionaire took a deep breath. "What happened, Jason?"

"Um," Jason stalled, shifting his weight. Even after summing it all up for Tim, Jason still didn't know how best to describe what had happened. He figured he should probably go about it a little slower than before, as rushing through it hadn't really helped him with Tim. "My mentor, Ra's Al Ghul..." He huffed. "Well, more like my ex-mentor. Anyway, that asshole is Damian's grandfather, yeah?"

Bruce nodded. "Yes, my ex-wife, Talia, was his only child."

"And now she's dead."

"Yes."

"And you have sole custody of Damian, right?"

Bruce sighed. "Yes, Jason. Where are you going with this?"

"Ra's was never friendly. He was my mentor, yeah, but he always either used a second party to communicate or simply avoided me altogether. When we did talk, he was blunt, to the point, and not very pleasant. I owed him a lot for helping me, but I never liked the guy." Bruce was still looking at him like he was taking forever, so he decided to just get to the juicy part. "Ra's called me today, asking for a meeting. A car was already waiting outside of my dorm building to take me to him. I went."

"And?" That was Clark, and his tone of voice was far less impatient than Bruce's, and far more concerned.

"He started out with just asking questions. How was school going, did I like my journalism class, had I had a chance to thank Mr. Bruce for the scholarship, and so on. Then he started asking about Damian."

Dick raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

Jason straightened his back. It was about right then that Jason realized that Bruce and Dick both probably thought he had actually complied with Ra's' demands. "I said he was a smart kid with a big vocabulary," he said, his tone and stance defensive. "I wouldn't answer any other questions." Dick uncrossed his arms and leaned back, his expression borderline guilty. "Of course, that was when he started threatening me."

"What did he threaten you with?" Bruce was sounding less impatient and more worried. "It must have been something important. Ra's is too smart to overestimate his leverage."

"He told me that he gave me everything I had and he could take it away just as easily. My job, my enrollment at GCU, my scholarship," Jason swallowed past the lump in his throat, but it could still be heard in the rest of his sentence, "my relationship with Tim. He said if I didn't give him the information he wanted I would lose everything I cared about."

Bruce narrowed his eyes, but from confusion, not distrust. "But you said no."

"He wanted me to keep earning your trust and get closer to your family so that I could provide him with any information he needed. He wouldn't tell me what for, but I could tell that it was bad. My education is great, but not worth the guilt I'd feel if I turned on you guys like that. And," he paused, clearing his throat, "I'm not worthy of Tim if I betray his family. I'm not sure I'm worthy of him anyway."

There was a bit of an awkward silence for a moment before Bruce stood up and walked over to Jason and put a hand on his shoulder. "You are, Jason. You never asked for it and you don't really need it, and Tim would probably be mortified if he was here right now, but you have my approval, my blessing, my support - whatever the hell you want to call it."

Jason forced himself to make eye contact with Bruce and not look as horrifyingly touched as he actually was. "Thank you, sir."

Bruce gave him a quick nod before moving on. "Jason, we need to go to the police about this, but they won't be able to do anything without some kind of proof. Do you have any?"

For the first time during that conversation, Jason grinned. It could almost be called an evil grin, so mischievous it was. He pulled out his phone from his pocket. "I recorded the conversation on my phone. And I'm pretty sure he had no idea that I was doing it. Also, he's already followed through on a couple of the threats he made in that recording, so I guess that counts as proof."

Bruce's eyes widened. "What? I-" He blinked. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering this is Ra's we're talking about. But you seemed so calm..." Bruce trailed off, a new respect in his eyes as he realized that Jason had put the Wayne family before himself. "What did he do?" There was a new steel in Bruce's voice, a tone that Jason wasn't entirely sure where it came from but figured it meant Bruce was a little more protective of Jason. And a little more angry.

"When I got back to my room, it was trashed, and there was an eviction notice on my door. On the way here, I checked my email. I didn't tell Tim because I wasn't really all that disappointed about it, but I was also fired from my job at the library. I'm not sure how much of that can be traced back to him, but it's something."

Bruce nodded, but he still didn't look any more calm. "This is very helpful," he acknowledged, taking the phone and, with a nod from Jason, pulling up the voice recording app. "But, realistically, all it proves is that he threatened you. For a true case to be made against him, we need more evidence. Enough for a warrant. Otherwise, we'll have no way to figure out what he's doing or planning. A threat isn't enough to merit legal action, nor is it enough to prove criminal intent."

Jason sighed. "I figured you'd say that." He grinned again. "Good thing I have a plan."

A/N OOooOOOHhhh what's gunna happen next????