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[theknightshift]

WHO: Bruce and pals
WHEN: Mission Time; After this and this
WHERE: Earth 2
WHAT: Bruce continues to spiral.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Paranoia, manipulation, violence

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Jason Todd (leastdramatic)

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce doesn't give himself time to lie in the alley. Minutes after Bruce and Jason have vanished, he's already on his feet, testing his bearings. When he can finally move without tripping over his own haze, it's his turn to disappear into the night.

For days, he doesn't leave the garage he's broken into, holed up among the idle cars and the faint scent of motor oil. Dick calls, repeatedly. Bruce doesn't answer. Not until something inside of him snaps and he tells him to stop. That he's fine. His head hurts and there are bruises on his chest and cuts on his hands. But he's fine.

He doesn't expect any of them to find him here. He thinks he's picked a place where they'd never think to look. But one of them does and when he looks out to see who it is, he regrets losing that crowbar. He'd have liked to make them earn this intrusion. ]

What do you want?

[leastdramatic]

[Jason knows this Bruce isn't the same as his adoptive father back home. This Bruce is more guarded, more serious, and more cold. Jason was fine working with that. But something has shifted with this mission and Jason doesn't like it. The problem with being in a family full of vigilante detectives is that every minute change someone does is one that might be worth nothing to everyone else. As the days pass, Jason's old resentments on how sanctimonious Bruce can be are reawaken.

Bruce yelling at Dick pushes Jason to investigate further. Besides, beating the hell out of two-bit goons gets boring. Bruce is always the more thrilling challenge.

Jason takes pride that he's as capable of a detective as the rest of the family. It doesn't take him long to track down Bruce's safehouse. He comes out of his hiding place, full dressed and armed with his Red Hood gear. Just in case]

Oh, you know how it is. Bolt-holes are just so hard to come by these days.

[Jason's keeping it light for now. Or maybe he's just in a smartass mood just to annoy Bruce some more]

[theknightshift]

[ That's the trouble with training other people to be like you. They end up like you in all of the worst ways. Like showing up when they're not wanted.

In all the ways his fractured thinking let him be, Bruce is thorough in covering his tracks. He never took the same route back to his safehouse, never used the same entrance. Always doubled back to ensure he hadn't been followed.

Tonight it hadn't done him any good.

Because he has a Jason shaped problem standing in the dimly lit garage like Bruce owed him money and he'd come to collect. There's no mistaking him for Sam either, not with that bright red helmet staring him in the face.

This won't end without a fight. The fever inside of him won't let it. ]

Go home, Jason. Before Barbara and Dick notice you're missing.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason watches Bruce closely and watches for more minute changes that have developed since this mission started. Something's definitely up with Batman and he's going to get to the bottom of this. It pisses off Jason how Bruce likes to get into everyone's business while he tries to shut out the rest of the family when they want to do the same to him. Hypocritical of Bruce as always]

It's fine. Not like they can't track me down. You seem extra sneaky tonight.

[theknightshift]

[ Sneaky implies Bruce has something to hide. Sneaky implies Bruce is running. He isn't running. Not from this. ]

Do as you're told.

[ He doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't need to. The command cuts all the same. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason barks out a laugh. It's not a good-natured one that would be shared amongst family and friends. It's something tinged with sinister and mocking]

Now we know that's never consistently worked with me.

[theknightshift]

[ Jason's laugh echoes, vibrates down his spine, feels like sandpaper in his ears. It makes his teeth ache to grind - and worse, it makes him want to grind Jason's face under the heel of his boot. ]

Then maybe it's time you learned how.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason shrugs in a flippant matter]

Maybe some day. What's eating you tonight?

[theknightshift]

[ It doesn't take much to close the distance. Just a few strides of his long legs and Bruce is in Jason's space. In Jason's face, missing the weight of the crowbar he used on the other one. ]

You are.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason doesn't flinch as Bruce walks over almost like an angry bull. They've been in this position before. Bruce has a nastier temper than he would like to think]

What's been going on? Normally you don't chew out the Golden Boy like you did few days ago.

[theknightshift]

[ Nastier than usual these days. ]

None of you can follow orders.

[ He jabs a finger into Hood's chest, like he's trying to drive the point into his bones. ]

I don't want your help, Jason. I don't need it. Not yours, not Dick's, and not Sam's.

[leastdramatic]

[Okay, that took an unexpected turn. Hidden by his helmet is a genuinely bemused expression. The confusion comes out in his tone too]

Who's Sam?

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce is startled. Or as close to it as someone like he can be. It's a break in his composure, a crack in the armor. For a moment, the mask slips just long enough to be noticeable to anyone who knows him. Then the wall slams back into place and Bruce looks almost offended Jason's even bothered to ask. ]

No one. Go home, Jason.

Damian Wayne (brat)

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce is being followed. He's felt it for weeks. Under his skin and nails and in his teeth. Threaded through every nerve, like an itch he can never reach to scratch. It's worse when he sleeps, so he stopped doing that for longer than a few minutes at a time. Just enough that he can convince himself he's not losing his mind. He knows it's a lie. But he's content to pretend the edges aren't fraying. That's his grip is still firm.

So he works. Not because Crane needs it – Bruce has already handed over two working prototypes. But because stopping isn't an option. This one isn't for Crane at all. This one is for him. So he doesn't have time to sit alone with his thoughts. So the repetition and the clink of the tools keep his head clear. No time to focus on Joker or Sam or that dark, lurking presence pressing in from every corner. No room to dwell on anything but the work.

Tonight is much the same. He pours what little energy he has into the device – the dispersal mechanism sticks and it's grating that he can't figure out why. And then he stills, for once his focus shifting to glare at the shadows of the garage he's broken into. He's being watched. He's felt that for weeks too. Frustration bubbles up and he reaches for a wrench and hurls it into the shadows. ]

Come out!

[ It's not an invitation. His voice is raised, barely contained, echoing in the darkness around him and above him. The wrench clatters somewhere in the darkness and its echo feels like it's coming from inside of Bruce's own head. He doesn't bother looking back at his half-finished work. Whoever is hiding in the shadows isn't a ghost. But if they are? He's ready to drag them into the light. ]

[brat]

( damian wayne is not a ghost, but he often feels as if he might as well be, here. everything is different than it should be, older and younger in equal parts and not at all what he expects. stories he's heard from richard back home about his father has left him with an image of the man much different than the one his mother had painted, but neither match the man in front of him.

especially given his treatment of todd. taking him down when he's being irrational would make sense, but damian doubts his father would use his adopted children's trauma against them if he could find any other solution. damian could see several solutions in which it would be rational, but if the tales richard has told him have anything to say about the kind of man bruce is, it wouldn't be that.

the younger version of his father told him to stay away, but damian had decided to ignore it. something had to be done about the man going out of control, and he wasn't going to put that on richard.

the device bruce is working on is equally concerning. damian has been watching from a distance, listening, trying to discern what, exactly, it is, he's building. if he's only working on it as a way to trick his partner in crime into thinking he's helping. if this is all an act.

the longer he watches, the more he becomes certain it isn't.

bruce yells, and damian responds moments after he hears his voice. doesn't give bruce any time to finish his sentence or tack on an additional one; no, he knows time is precious especially when facing a warrior as powerful as batman. damian raises a few batarangs from his belt, throwing them at the man's chest as a diversion for when he lurches forward to try and knock him down onto the ground. )

[theknightshift]

[ He sees those colors – bright and warm – and knows immediately who his unwanted guest is. There is some part of him, buried deep under the chaos coming to this Earth has poured into him that demands order. That demands he stop and reassess and remember: Robin is not his enemy. Even if that dream wants him to think otherwise.

But the clarity is a whisper and the noise is a roar rushing in his ears and filling up all the space in his head. Your fault. My fault. Your fault. Your fault, Bruce. Over and over and over like a hammer and his skull feels ready to crack open with them.

The quiet strain of trying to hold himself together leaves him blind to the obvious. Too focused on the noise inside to hear the one outside. Not until the batarangs hit, metal on armor, the sound of it enough to drag him back. He sees Damian as he hurtles toward him and reaches for him to catch him by the arm and use his momentum to send him into the table behind him. ]

[brat]

( robin is not his enemy, except robin is angry. jason todd isn't anyone he has ever been concerned over, except the man is one of bruce's children. his adopted sons, even if he'd been responsible for damian being temporarily paralyzed previously. and batman may be willing to tear down his children when necessary, but despite his limited knowledge of his father, he knows what he did to todd was much further than his father would take it.

batman grabs hold of his arms and flips him forward and damian can't defend himself in time from it, slamming into the table hard enough he's certain it'll bruise later, if it isn't worse. yet he doesn't let that stop him, raising the crowbar in his other arm to violently swing it forward into the side of bruce's leg to try and knock him off his feet. )

[theknightshift]

[ It's been several weeks since his last sangraal treatment. Enough time between his last injection and this moment for his body to return to something more natural. Enough time that he doesn't react as fast as he should have. The crowbar cracks against his knee and pain flares up through him like a warning shot. The sangraal had mended that wound essentially overnight, but he felt the work of it unravel in the span of seconds, until it's raw again.

There's no time to process the pain, process what's happening to him. Damian is here and now and Bruce has to stop the next swing. He forces himself to stay upright, forces himself to reach for the crowbar. Forces calm through the storm in his head. ]

Sa- [ It dies on his tongue. Wrong. This isn't Sam. This isn't a dream. Joker isn't lurking around a corner to strangle him. ] Damian, enough!

[brat]

( it's an order. a very firm one at that. one that would usually have damian dropping his weapon of choice and staying put until given further directives, because he may not be a child that bruce had wanted, but he is a good soldier. except this? this isn't for damian. isn't about him. )

Enough was before you had beaten Todd senseless.

( it's low, the same tone bruce often uses when he's trying to hold his temper in check. and the only warning his father gets before damian's raising a leg up to shove the hell of his foot straight into bruce's sternum, yanking the crowbar back and out of his reach in the same movement. )

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce's knee wobbles, nearly gives under the strain of the way he's pushed away. The pain beats in time with his heart and the rush of adrenaline in his blood. It keeps him upright. So does that stubborn refusal to bend. That keeps him up on his unsteady feet too.

And finally, his focus narrows, no longer trying to track that ever present shadow he can only seem to see in his peripherals. He puts Sam and the Joker and all that misery and pain into a box and slams the lid shut on it. He slides into his stance and beckons the boy toward him. If Damian wants a fight, he'd get it. ]

[brat]

( he understands the fight. violence is one of the few languages damian does understand fully, and when bruce prepares himself for the battle to come, damian, too, gets himself back up to his feet and wraps the fingers of both hands around the crowbar, raising it up as if it was a sword rather than the blunt object it is. )

You realize what you have done, don't you? You understand why this is happening.

( if he doesn't, then damian will make sure he does before this moves forward. )

[theknightshift]

[ He eyes the crowbar and remembers the satisfying crunch of bone when it struck Jason across the face. At the time, it had only fueled his anger like dry kindling on an open flame. Now it only wrestles down the revulsion and shame and guilt. ]

What I had to do.

[ He understands what he's done. He understands why he's facing down his son, pointing a crowbar at him like he wants to run him through with it. But Jason was in the way. Bruce had to pull him out by the roots. ]

[brat]

( it's answer enough. bruce knows exactly why damian is facing him down like this. he knows what he's done, how wrong he was, even if he's insisting currently that he had to do it. there is no circumstance in which bruce wayne, the batman, would treat those under his care like that.

damian expects that from the other half of his family, but not this one. dick had told him how bruce had allowed a family of thieves to escape as they had been stealing chemotherapy medications in order to keep the father alive longer. he's heard stories from alfred. read case files. batman may keep himself encased in armor but he is no demon.

there's a jerk of damian's head - a motion of a nod, but not quite one. his mouth twists down into something close to a scowl, but it looks more - hurt than that. when damian had told the younger bruce someone had to take care of this, he had meant it. sedating batman will be difficult, he has built up a tolerance to most drugs. getting him down will be hard, but someone has to, and he isn't going to ask grayson to take that onto his shoulders. which leaves - this.

damian.

bruce beckoned him forward, so damian gives him what he was asking for: he steps forward quickly, adjusting the crowbar in his hold so he can make an attempt to swing it into the man's ribcage. )

[theknightshift]

[ There's some part of Bruce that doesn't want to do this. It's aware enough to realize how far off the rails this thing has gotten and all he's got to do is stop. Somewhere in his head it collides with that sense of being watched, and it itches under his skin and twists inside him like something dark and sticky and he can't rub it off no matter how hard he tries. Is Damian the one watching him? Is he that shadow he can never quite pull into focus? It's an answer, but it doesn't feel like the right one.

So what does he do? The fever tells him to fight. Then he can stop. Then he can rest.

He can see the arc of Damian's swing, can follow the trajectory and that makes it easy to catch before it can connect with his ribs. It didn't have to be this way. But it only pitches the fever higher, seizing on the clash like this is what its been waiting for all along. He reaches for the crowbar when its in range and uses it in an attempt to drag Damian in close enough for his fist to find its mark. ]

[brat]

( bruce pulls him in, because he isn't willing to give up his weapon of choice so early into their battle - but damian clocks the trajectory of that fist and manages to drop his weight down enough that when it swings for him, it clips a shoulder, rather than managing to hit him straight through. still hurts, but it doesn't wind him to the extent a hit dead-center would have.

with his legs no longer holding him up - intentionally so - damian drops down to the floor to wrap a calf around bruce's ankle, pulling it forward as he tries to roll up onto his knees and duck himself under the larger man, pulling the crowbar along with him so he either has to put more focus onto removing it from damian's grip, let it bend him forward, or - release it entirely.

regardless of which three occurs, damian still gets what he wants, which is what matters. )