Protecting the Batbrothers

Chapter sixteen

Bruce dropped the gun. The unused gun. He felt like he couldn't breath as panic swelled up inside him.

Joker's eyes were wide and starting to glaze over. His hands gingerly touched the steadily growing red circle on his chest. His breath got ragged and he started coughing. A red drop appeard on his lips, then another and another.

Jason couldn't breath. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened. His mouth was opened in a shocked 'O'.

Joker's legs gave away and he fell with a surprised sound, a laugh and scream at the same time. This was not what he had expected, but a win either way he looked at it, maybe even better.

Dick shook. What had he done. His hands trembled and he felt cold, so cold.

Bruce's eyes found Dick's.

Jason fixed his gaze on the gun that slowly fell out of Dick's grip.
The gun Batman had thrown away earlier.

The doors were pushed open and the Young Justice team, Batgirl, Red Robin and Robin, who had heard the gunshot, entered, looking slightly beaten up. "Scarecrow is down."

Then eight eyes landed on the bleeding man on the ground.

Silence.

"What happened?"

There were three guns. One next to Batman, one next to Dick and one next to Jason, dropped from Joker's still warm hand.

"Who..."

"I did it."

Everyone snapped their heads in Batman's direction. "I killed him."

The words sounded muffled in Dick's ears. He had killed. Dick had killed someone. He had crossed that line. His breath quickened and he began to panic.
What would everyone think of him, what would Bruce think?

Warm hands were on his arm. "It's okay, Dicky-bird." Only a whisper. "Bruce took the blame." Jason's voice sounded far away.

He began to tremble harder, eyes unfocused. "No." Barely loud enough for Jason to hear. A whimper. "I didn't aim for... I didn't want to... That's not..."

Then everything went black and Dick slumped against Jason, who winced at the extra pressure on his chest, but put his arms around his brother nevertheless, pulling him as close as possible.

Jason knew that things would change now, Dick would change. But he would be there for every step of the way.

Thirty minutes earlier with the team:

The team met a few minutes after Artemis had warned them that the Joker was advancing on their location and were now discussing what to do. Red Robin, Batgirl and Robin- it was still weird for Artemis to call anyone but their Robin Robin- wanted to follow Joker and Batman, so they would lead them straight to Dick and Jason, not caring about possible consequences, but Aqualad was reasoning against them.

"It's too dangerous. None of us are bullet proof, except for Superboy, and he and Kid Flash are also the only ones who would be fast enough to dodge a bullet." Damian crossed his arms and growled, "We are very much capable of dodging bullets. I was trained by the League of Assassins and by the Batman himself, so do not underestimate me."

Aqualad didn't flinch at the mini bat-glare directed his way. "Robin got shot, too and he trained longer than you." Damian's glare intensified. "If you do not intend to find my br- Grayson and Todd, then step out of the way, because I will not hesitate to hurt you if you try to stop me."

Tim rolled his eyes, shifting his weight slightly as he laid a hand on Damian's shoulder, who shrugged it off. "Don't touch me," he hissed, teeth bared. Tim wasn't fazed. "Could you stop fighting. The Demon Spawn and I will go, whether you like it or not. You can either help us, or turn a blind eye and do nothing as your teammate gets killed." There was a clear warning in his tone. He would stop at nothing to get to his brothers and if the team stood in his way, then he'd take them down, too.