Catgirl: Young Justice BOOK 2 (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 22

|The Batcave
|November 24 2013, 07:20

Jason followed the staircase for what seemed like forever before finally he reached the top. It led to an old elevator, where Katherine was sitting inside, hiding her head in her knees and...crying?

Jason couldn't remember the last time she cried; he didn't even know if she had- at least not infront of him.

"Don't come any closer." She sniffed, lifting her head to look up at him, "I don't wanna hurt you..."

Jason swallowed. He was nervous to be around her when she was like this, but nodded and sat where he was, making sure there was a few meters between them.

From what he knew, she fed off others' emotions. If her own emotions were strong, mixing them with his could be dangerous, so he knew to keep his distance.

"Batman told me..." Jason struggled to say it out loud. Looking at Katherine's watering eyes, he doubted he should say it. She already seemed to know anyway, superhearing and all..

"I told him I'd talk to you first." He assured, "I'm not doing anything you don't think is good for me."

Katherine weakly smiled, wiping her teary eyes. "That's the thing. I don't think it's good. I-I've lost too many people to it to think it's good."

"But?" Jason felt there was more.

She took a shaky breath, "I...I can't make the decision for you, Jason, just like I couldn't make it for Dick, or Wally, or Artemis."

Jason didn't know who Wally or Artemis were, but he knew who Dick was- at least he seemed to now.

He was starting to put the pieces together.

"Dick..." He frowned at her, "Your friend from Gotham Academy, he's...right?"

It felt wrong for him to say it out loud.

Jason had only met Dick and Robin briefly- not enough to be able to tell prior to this, but the way Katherine looked at him, he knew it was true.

That made Batman-

Jason suddenly got why Katherine wasn't against the idea of Batman taking him away; if he did, he'd live a life that street kids like them could only dream of.

Katherine bit her lip and nodded, trying not to break down.

It was an opportunity he couldn't pass on.

"I don't care." Jason grit his teeth , "I don't care who the fuck he is. He's not separating us. Never."

It was up to him what he could and couldn't do. Bruce Wayne or not, he wasn't there, Katherine was.

She hid her head back in her knees, sniffling as Jason got back up and sat next to her. He didn't about her feral side anymore, this was his mom. She needed him.

"I promise." Jason held her close, feeling himself get upset from seeing her cry, "No matter what happens, I'll never leave you. I promise."

**********

Jason held Katherine's hand as they made their way back down the steps to The Batcave.

After she calmed down they talked it over, and they'd come up with a plan that allowed them to stay together.

Batman wasn't going to split them up.

They stopped at The Batcomputer, standing behind Batman who was looking at files of-

"Me?"

Jason immediately recognised the long list of crimes that filled up his criminal record.

Batman didn't turn around in his chair but confirmed, "This is your criminal record. Regardless of what you choose, I have to put you into The Justice League database as an associate of Catgirl-"

"Well I have made my choice." Jason didn't allow himself to focus on anything but staying with Katherine.

"But we have conditions." Katherine added.

"Naturally." Batman turned around to look at them both, his expression softening ever so slightly when he noticed Katherine had been crying. "What did you decide?" He asked Jason, "And under what conditions?"

"Well...uh.." Jason broke eye contact, "I talked to Katherine and I- we-"

"He's becoming Robin." Katherine spoke for him, letting go of his hand as she crossed her arms and glared at Batman, "You win, Bruce."

Batman pulled off his cowl to reveal his face.

Jason immediately diverted his eyes again, feeling as if looking at The Dark Knight unmasked was worse than any crime he'd ever committed.

He knew Batman was Bruce Wayne.

Now it was confirmed.

"And your conditions?" Batman asked Katherine directly, knowing she was the one who really had the power here.

Jason trusted her to have as much, and didn't have an issue with it at all.

Batman could use that quality.

"Well, you're going to need to change that Robin contract first of all, then once that's done I'll see what I feel like." Katherine replied, confident Bruce wouldn't win anything when it came to what happened with Jason Todd.

Jason couldn't help but smile at this. With Katherine he was safe- even if he was about to take on the world's most dangerous after-school job, she'd always keep him safe.

Word Count: 832

A/N: So Jason is becoming Robin...yay.