#IF JASON EVER KILLS THE JOKER ITS NOT JUST FOR HIMSELF HES DOING IT FOR HER TOO! BC THEY WERE BOTH HURT BY HIM

[dankovskaya]

I feel like I talk about this a lot but it just annoys me so much because I do not and have never hated the Joker as a character but I understand entirely why so many people do because they turned what was ultimately a very simple and easy to understand campy villain with a gimmick into a million different stupid gritty attempts at "hard pill to swallow" nihilistic enlightenment and repetitive genuinely meaningless shock value violence and gore in a desperate attempt to affirm that he is Batman's Greatest Villain or whatever by proving over and over again that his ultimate point is that there is no point (which we are expected to find compelling no matter how many times they throw it down in front of us) in increasingly drastic ways to the point where even among the most annoying average brain-off dudebro comic readership there is a significant contingent of people who groan in annoyance whenever an issue ends with an obvious hint that the true mastermind behind this week's horrible senseless evil plot is once again... THE JOKESTER😱😱😱

[house-on-sand]

@misunderstoodthebeatles

barbara & jason as a batgirl & robin who share a family, mission, and murderer. as a sister & brother.

“the lady, or the tigress?” (young justice) // batman: gotham knights (#44) // soirée fantastique (natalie diaz) // batman: gotham knights (#43) // “barbara gordon” (titans) // antigonick (anne carson) // batman: turning points (#3) // the fall of the house of usher (steven berkoff) // batman: under the red hood (2010) // batman: arkham knight // a brother named gethsemane (natalie diaz) // task force z (#8) // batman: arkham knight // batman: urban legends (#3) // antigone (jean anouilh) // gotham knights // libation bearers (ian johnston) // gotham knights // batman: wayne family adventures (#53) // batman (vol. 2) (#17)

[littlefankingdom]

Things I NEED y'all to stop putting in Jason fics:

"Since Red Hood arrived, he cleaned up Crime Alley better than Batman ever has" First of all, this is not even the case in the comics, so y'all are making this up to make Jason's way "the right way". Second of all, if murdering criminals violently worked better, then that's what the cops would be doing, because, new flash, but the gov used to be way more violent, and crimes were worse, and the gov had to lower its violence, because we know it doesn't work and the gov didn't have enough good excuses to continue. If you think they are not waiting for an excuse to violently kill people, you are wrong. So, stop writing that shit, it's borderline fascist propaganda (violence is the only way to keep power/peace, so free real estate for us to kill anyone we label as criminals) You do not need to find excuses for Jason.

"Crime Alley is Jason's territory and the Bats cannot enter it without his permission" Also, not canon, never was. Are you all forgetting that Bruce's parents died in Crime Alley? That's how it got its name. It's where Batman was born. It's where Bruce goes to mourn his parents during patrols. It's an important location for the Batfam as a whole. It's where Dick thinks his siblings are not authorized to fight when Bruce is "dead"/gone because it is insulting Bruce's memory. It's the meeting points the Bats use multiple times. Batman's first night was probably in Crime Alley. Crime Alley is the mission, to make it a better place for its inhabitants is Bruce's goal. He is shown multiple times to be very protective of its people, especially in front of powerful figures (politicians/rich). As much as Bruce loves Jason, he would not give up Crime Alley. Yes, Jason grew up in Crime Alley, but Crime Alley was Bruce's before Jason was even born.

"Crime Alley hates the bats, except for Red Hood" Again, Batman has been protecting the people of Crime Alley since he started. He was the only one who fought for them against the people that hurt them, the cops not giving a fuck about the poor. Like, stop trying to paint Bruce as a rich guy disconnected from the people, that's not who he is and who he ever was (except for some storylines, but like, fuck these storylines). He has not live their struggles, but he has studied it, he cares about it. And, I can understand that not everyone in Gotham and Crime Alley likes Batman, of course. But to make children dislike Robin or NIGHTWING??? Dick's whole thing is how he is always everyone's favorite. He's an acrobat, he is flying with grace in the sky without powers, he is all smile and gentleness with children, no fucking way children don't like him.

"Dick killed the Joker for Jason." No, he killed the Joker in an act of rage and fear when he had Tim and threatened to kill him like the last one. BUT ALSO, and this is really important, DICK WAS HORRIFIED about what he had done. He hated himself and self-isolated, refused to listen to Bruce and Barbara when they tried to comfort him. This is not something he is proud of. Dick wouldn't be like "Yeah, I killed the Joker, but you know Bruce... I don't regret it." He does regret it. Bruce forgave him way faster than Dick forgave himself for killing the Joker. He would not do it again if he could, that's why it only happened once.

"Jason is mad at Bruce for being too late to save him." Nope. In Under The Red Hood, Jason literally tells Bruce he forgives him for not saving him. Jason was NEVER angry at Bruce for not saving him. Jason is mad because he thinks Bruce doesn't care about him. If Tim hadn't taken the Robin's mantle, Jason probably would have gone home, because that's what hurt him the most, the possibility that he was replaced in Bruce's eyes.

"Jason ran away because Bruce believed he killed someone" It was never explicit if Bruce did believe Jason pushed the rapist. But also, no. When Jason ran away, Bruce just benched him as Robin because he saw that Jason was hurting and needed help, and being a vigilante wasn't helping. Pls, read Death In The Family, Bruce was trying his best to support Jason and help him. Jason being violent at times is a sign, for Bruce, that Jason is hurting. He doesn't villanize Jason's actions. Don't be like DC writers and forget that Bruce knows that violence and aggression come from pain.

"The memorial is Bruce's making and Alfred hates it" WRONG, it's the contrary. Alfred made the memorial, Bruce was against it. Please, stop putting all the blame on Bruce and making Alfred perfect. Bruce hates the memorials, he hates his sons being remembered as soldiers. He put up with the memorials because it's Alfred. (I am so tired from y'all blaming Bruce for this one, omg) Also, while we are it, Alfred doesn't put up with Jason's bs. Jason can criticize Bruce, but there's a limit for Alfred.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

I don’t think Jason has ever hated Tim

I recently revived my Jason Todd hyperfixation from its torpor and realized I had... Means and Ways of reading as many comics as I want for free, so I made the transition from Fanon Only to having read Lost Days, Under the Red Hood, Teen Titans #29 (where Jason fights and beats the tar out of Tim), Hush, Red Hood and the Outlaws (the majority of both runs), Red Robin: The Grail, Batman and Robin: Streets Run Red, Green Arrow #70 - #73 (where Jason kidnaps Mia), Battle for the Cowl, and a smattering of other bits and bobs, all within the last month.

I have come to the conclusion that the idea that Jason hated Tim before slowly learning to be okay with him is completely backwards.

Jason starts respecting Tim as a fellow combatant after basically their first meeting, and was sympathizing with him even before. Fandom talks a lot about how Jason repeatedly tried to kill Tim, but I think there’s a good argument to be made that actually Jason has never tried to kill Tim, and there’s a better argument that Jason has never tried to hurt Tim out of a dislike for him.

Tim is the one who feels viciously betrayed by Jason, hates his guts, and depending on if you blend in the New 52 either learns to begrudgingly like him or just stays hatin.

Obviously I need some proof here, since this goes completely against the grain of every relationship interpretation I’ve ever seen for them, so approximately seven miles of character analysis under the cut lmao

I’m gonna try to go in chronological order of the characters’ history here, which means we’re starting with Lost Days, and Jason’s first reaction to finding out there’s a new Robin:

This does not look like anger to me.

Lost Days is only six issues long, and this is the entirety of the pages devoted to Jason’s feelings on Tim. Jason succeeds in a plan that would have almost certainly killed Batman if Jason had gone through with it. Jason undeniably has Joker dead to rights at one point, but lets him go. Jason at no point in this story attempts to harm Tim at all.

Now for Hush.

Context for fanon only folks: this is where the “throat slitting” bit happens.

Context for a lot of confusion: I don’t know if Jason is the one who holds Tim hostage or not.

In the original Hush plot line this is only Clayface; Jason isn’t here at all. It was later retconned in Under the Red Hood that Jason was actually in this fight for... some amount of time. It’s highly unclear to me when they swap out. Probably because originally, they didn’t swap out. Oh well! In either case, it’s now canon that Jason coached Clayface on his acting, so for the purposes of this essay, Imma hold Jason responsible for the throat damages and the words said regardless of who did what!

Right off the bat: this is a hostage taking, not a murder. Yes, Clayson Jayface does nick Tim’s neck and absolutely makes the threat of murdering him to Batman, but it’s clearly a threat. Like, look at this panel:

He is talking a lot. This isn’t an attempt to kill Tim, it’s an attempt to screw with Batman. No matter who this is, they have every reason to expect that Batman will stop them before they do any permanent damage. Can you see that little, blurry, half-hidden line of red? Lets look at what the damage was later on:

The bleeding was stopped by a bit of cloth, some pressure, and he’ll need stitches eventually, but they can clearly wait, and Tim doesn’t seem alarmed. That’s enough to scar, and enough that it is perfectly reasonable for Tim to assume that he would have died if he hadn’t been rescued.

However, Jason being deeply protective of kids is a reasonably consistent character trait. “You really think I’m gonna bring the pain to a ten year old?” Even at Jason’s most villainous, he is willing to put himself in danger in order to protect his own sidekick Scarlet. I think it would be very out of character for him to have gone through with it. Combined with Jason’s later actions and the general fact that a hostage is pretty useless dead, I come to the conclusion that Jason was bluffing.

It is ambiguous though, and I admit that this is probably the weakest link in the “Jason never tried to kill him” chain.

But enough of that, was he angry with him? Is the hate there?

I argue no, and that really there’s no emotional investment in Tim at all. In terms of hard numbers the pages Jalay Toddface spends holding Tim hostage is 3 and the number he spends fighting Batman is 13 and the number of times he even so much as LOOKS at Tim is ZERO, like actually, literally ZERO TIMES. He does not spare poor Timmy a SINGLE GLANCE.

Now make a special note here because those three pages of no eye contact from someone who might not even be Jason are the ONLY times that Tim is called Pretender or Imposter.

I’m relying on this research done by Kiragecko: https://kiragecko.tumblr.com/post/128411908944/bat-sibling-interaction It only goes up to Battle for the Cowl, (as does this essay it turns out, I just don’t know how to bridge between that and the New 52) so it isn’t every interaction ever, but it’s still excellent research, go leave a like.

According to them: “Comments: Tim thinks about Jason a lot while he’s first training. He imagines the former Robins giving him pep talks, and uses them to fight off fear gas. When Jason comes back, though, Tim’s really nasty, especially in his head. Jason, however, is somewhat respectful. He usually calls Tim ‘Tim’, and seems to kind of like him. ‘Pretender’ and ‘Imposter’ are things that CLAYFACE said, not Jason.“

How many times are those said? Once. Each. That’s it. As a comment under the Jason and Tim post done by Kiragecko points out, “Replacement” doesn’t even get used.

Under the Red Hood is basically THE Jason Todd comic. To my memory he doesn’t interact with Tim in it. However, it does contain that aforementioned reconning! So we get to see his reasoning during this encounter.

And it very very clearly isn’t at all about Tim.

Moving on to Titans Tower, which is indisputably focused on Tim: When he fights Tim, he is absolutely violent and over the line, but he’s NOT out of his head. Jason is clearly very lucid and careful about what he’s doing.

Is he angry? Of course! He’s angry at the Titans who in his mind cared about him way less than their other members, and accepted a replacement robin as though his life, his whole flesh and blood self, was something that could be so easily forgotten and swapped out.

But I think it would be a mistake to assume that Jason’s at all mad that he isn’t Robin anymore.

A very interesting direct parallel to this fight is when Jason kidnaps Mia, Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy, fights her, appeals to their commonalities and encourages her to solve crime his way rather than Green Arrow’s way.

In both scenarios Jason engineers a way to isolate a sidekick and attempts to teach them something through combat. He makes a direct appeal to them against their mentors, and seems genuine about what he’s saying. He also lets both of them live, and with Mia is honestly pretty damned polite about it all. At least, as polite as a guy can be about kidnapping you and encouraging you to try to kill him in your high school gym that he definitely should not know about.

The plain fact of the matter is that Jason knocked Tim out, had time to paint his whole ass name way up high on a wall, and did not kill him. This is the same Jason who just prior to that took out all of Tim’s allies non-lethally. The same Jason who kept Mia’s protector’s busy non-lethally. The same Jason who cuts Mia free and gives her weapons back and starts slow in their fighting to make sure he doesn’t hurt her too badly. The same Jason who seems to feel very strongly that killing, trafficking, or selling drugs to kids is an unforgivable offense and very clearly sees Tim as a kid.

Quite frankly, this reads not like a murder, and not like a jealous beatdown, but an attempt to convince Tim that he’s going to get himself killed and needs to get out while he still can. In Jason’s mind before they meet, Tim is purely A Robin, a kid who deserves better than to be put into danger against the same monsters over and over again until he finally slips up and dies.

Is this a hairbrained and back asswards way of doing that? Yes! But it does track for someone who tries to do all of his talking through his actions, which do speak louder than words, but unfortunately C-4 loudness is not actually a significant boon to nuanced communication.

If you want to put it in a less charitable way (and maybe we should, this is a bonkers asshole move on Jason’s part no matter how you slice it) then we can say Jason is testing Tim, trying to see if this one has what it takes to be better than he was, to survive where he couldn’t. Personally I think it’s a mix of both, and for this end of that emotional mess: Tim passes the test.

Jason leaves while talking about Tim in present tense, showing that he has every expectation of Tim being alive, and praises him in the process:

Did you know that the fun panel of Tim kicking Jason in the nuts is actually from the same comic run, about twenty or so issues later?

Did you know that the argument they were having starts with Dick and Tim wrestling with Jason and accusing him of a murder he did not commit, and in fact tried to save the victim from?

Did I mention yet that the death in question was of Duela Dent, aka the JOKER’S DAUGHTER, whom Jason caught attempting to hold a young woman hostage for ransom? And that Jason repeatedly shot her getaway balloon instead of her and then tried to save her life immediately afterwards despite the fact that she was going to let the hostage plummet to their death? And it is implied that part of the reason he’s so easy on her is because of “Once a Titan always a Titan” loyalty, with this being our first clue that Jason isn’t the one shooting at her anymore?

Did I also mention that he comes to her funeral in part to be around Donna (the starry leotard lady whose statue he smashed) because it’s nice to be around people who understand being displaced by their own death? And that the one who sticks up for him in this scene is Donna?

At risk of negating my own thesus here, I’d say it’s reasonable to think that maybe Jason feels rage-hate for Tim in this “kicked in the dick while Dick grins smugly” moment.

Lets go now to Robin #177 at the tail end of the 1993 to 2003 run - Bruce has “died” and Tim hasn’t yet gone on his epic quest to find him. Tim finds Jason unifying street gangs with the intent to bring them under control and solve the current crisis. He appeals to Tim for help with this, in fact he comes off as almost puppy dog eager to work with him, and seems really sad when he says fuck no.

This is one of the first fights in which Tim really holds his own against Jason, and I am very proud of him, yes :3

This gets Jason arrested. Then Tim actually goes through with a heavily modified, less violent version of Jason’s plan that Jason didn’t think could work. A few issues later, when Tim decides that he’s going to try to honor what Bruce would have wanted by springing Jason out of jail, Jason makes note of that.

Jason is pretty damned civil at their next meeting, even though Tim makes it pretty damned clear he doesn’t want him around.

And now... we have to talk about Battle for the Cowl.

I’ve seen it described as a masterclass in how NOT to write Jason Todd, due to it portraying him as being an absolutely off his rocker anger murder violence man. I am inclined to agree.

In this three issue comic Jason Todd has been dRiVeN mAd (in the most bullshit comic sense of that word) by Bruce’s will... telling him to go to therapy. Yeah. So uh, he dons a Batman suit to shoot people in AND pretends to be Black Mask so he can enslave a bunch of villains Amanda Waller style, and like it gets weird from there. It is an extremely jarring transition from that last scene to GUNS BAT HATE MAN.

He still does not hate Tim in it. I really, seriously thought I was going to have to make a lot of excuses for this portion but then the more I read of it the more vindicated I was cause let me repeat: One of the most unhinged with Bat hate and crazy juice versions of Jason ever put to print does not hate Tim at all.

Hell, he likes Tim! He compliments him!

And on top of that, even though he is MUCH more lethal against his fellow robins when they attack him - Jason straight up shoots a ten year old Damian in the chest. It’s fucked. - There is still evidence to suggest that Jason deliberately didn’t kill Tim when he had ample opportunity.

Jason first of all never hunts Tim down. I’ve heard Battle for the Cowl described as Jason tracking Tim down or kidnapping him or going after him to force him to Be His Robin, but that’s just not how it goes.

Instead he waits for Tim to come find his Batcave, disorients him, and goes for a ton of surface cuts. He only actually goes for a real body blow after Tim picks up a crowbar and beats Jason across the face with it a few times.

(Again, proud of you Timmy)

After the stabbing, Jason doesn’t just leave Tim there; this isn’t a matter of hurrying on before he could check. He’s seen dragging Tim off. When Nightwing later comes to rescue him, Dick is downright certain Jason is lying to him about Tim being dead because Jason is refusing to show him the body and Dick figures it’s because he knows there’s no body to show (if in part because he can’t let himself believe Tim is dead without hard proof).

Tim himself wonders about this, noting that the batterang was rusted and shattered on his armor.

Sure, Tim used playing possum to make his pulse slow to a near stop for a while, maybe that fooled Jason, but keep in mind that BRUCE taught Tim that skill, and if there’s one thing these comics have established, it’s that Jason is dangerous precisely because he is so intimately familiar with the techniques of the Bat. Jason even makes specific note of the fact that Tim being trained like Bruce and fighting like Bruce would be his downfall at the beginning of their fight.

The whole comic leaves me wondering just how much of what happened went completely according to Jason’s plan. I really would not put it passed him to engineer a ‘death in the family’ recreation for the next Batman in line! As much as I agree that this is garbage characterization for him in many many ways, I do think Jason makes a fantastic villain. I love to see him run rings around the Bats in some places, and make lemonade out of getting his ass kicked in others.

No matter how we interpret the stabbing here though, what does seem very clear to me is that Jason makes the Be My Robin offer to Tim first and foremost because he thinks pretty highly of Tim! He’s been rejected by Tim at least three times over but keeps holding a hand out for him. This does not seem like Tim hater reaction hours here!

Also that whole thing about kids being dragged into this vigilante life irresponsibly? Yeah that’s still there!

I have TRIED to find evidence that Jason hates Tim at like literally any point here. I have gone through the shit people point to. I have looked at the context around those and dug up more obscure interactions for second and third views. Everywhere I look I just see more instances of Jason complimenting Tim!! It’s driving me nuts!

The only conclusion that I can come to is that people read this stuff and just trust that Tim is right about Jason. Tim’s internal view waaay more closely resembles fandom interpretation. Tim assumes that Clayson Toddface would absolutely have killed him in cold blood, that Jason beat the shit out of him purely to prove he was stronger, that he’s a brute, a moron, an active danger to society, and that every bit of leniency given to him will result in betrayal and death.

I don’t have clearer proof for it, but I also don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Tim probably believes Jason has it out for him and holds him responsible for his replacement.

So yeah. As a fascinating reversal of my expectations going in: I don’t think Jason has ever hated Tim, but boy fuckin howdy has Tim HATED Jason.

[naomikozura]

Playing With Fire: Chapter 11

Jason Todd (Red Hood) x Fem!Reader (Criminal)

Trope: Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Romance

Warnings: strong language, mention of decapitation, mentions of bombs, murder, gun usage, emotional turmoil (not too many this chapter)

WC: 6.1K

Summary: As everything falls into place, Joker's plan unfolds, filled with calculative measures in order to bring the Red Hood out of hiding. Gotham goes from its usual dark ambiance, to a city filled with chaos, every moment escalating the tension and setting the stage for the final stages of Joker's grand plan.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 10 || Chapter 12

There was a tension that filled your bones when you stood next to Sionis’ desk, the sound of his fist cracking the jaw of one of his men ringing out as he took his anger out on them. It wasn’t uncommon for Sionis to have his tantrums, but he’d been having them a lot more recently since Joker started working with him. You stared blankly out the window as a grunt of pain came from one of the guards, the blood dripping on the floor as the guard forced himself upright as he held his mouth, the blood overflowing in his hand. 

Sionis needed to grow up. 

“Now, go find that maniac.”, Sionis spit out. 

Joker had gone missing last night, leaving without a trace and giving Sionis more stress than necessary. You found it humorous how his trump card had gone missing and this was how he was reacting. You wondered if Joker called it quits or if he was doing something to benefit his plan against Jason. The logical answer would be the former, but the obvious answer was the latter. Joker liked toying with people, enjoyed the torture that came with making people uneasy and psychologically pushing them to the edge, he wouldn’t call it quits before getting a shot at Jason. 

A tug in your gut made you unfocused, the memory of everything Jason had told you about his encounter with Joker six years ago burned into your thoughts. His retelling seemed twisted, you couldn’t imagine what that felt or looked like, let alone dealing with the torture of knowing you wouldn’t have time to escape. The thought of him laying in broken bones and bloody, bruised flesh while watching the countdown to his life seemed like a level of psychological torture only Joker would be maniacal enough to pull off. 

You clenched your jaw at the thought. If you played your cards right, you could dismantle Joker’s plan and let Jason have his direct hit at taking him down, making Joker weak and his plan look like child’s play. You needed to stay unsuspected long enough to be in the field, send a signal to Jason indicating Joker’s location, and give him a fair shot to exact his revenge. You’d killed enough people to know that there were deaths that were for the greater advantage of your missions and other deaths that were to equal the playing field. The deaths you felt were more justified than others were those that people caused that brought the cycle of karma to come back tenfold. Deaths from revenge were one of the only forms of killing the wicked that you could justify. 

Joker’s karma was resurrected in the form of Red Hood, just like Sionis’ karma was manifested in you. You brought all the hatred, the anger, the bitterness and built it up into something that you could use to eliminate him from ever having existed. It was one of the reasons you trained for the majority of your teenage years to get stronger, training under Penguin was a means to an end. Not something you considered a necessity. If you wanted to avoid this life you would’ve stayed with the family that had taken you in six years ago, but that would’ve forced you into a life you would’ve resented. A part of you was convinced the idea of living as a vigilante was embedded when Jason was killed, a part of you jealous of the freedom he had when he was Robin. 

Now, you stood in the high ranks next to the Kingpins of the city, solidifying your place next to them and their trust in you misplaced as your objective had shifted from survival to escaping. Your goals had changed completely after your week with Jason, after hearing and understanding his plan to dismantle Sionis’ empire and kill Joker. After all this, you would leave this life, leave and go with Jason. 

Live a simple life, just like he promised. 

“Y/n.”, your head moved back towards Sionis, meeting his gaze as he cleaned the blood off his hands with a rag. “Find the maniac.”

Right as you stepped forward, the door creaked open, the silence echoing in the room as the door slammed against the wall. You narrowed your eyes at him, your annoyance growing at the sight of the mad man.

“I’m here!”, he exclaimed, Joker’s tone laced with an upbeat sound while the room filled with palpable tension. “I bring gifts.”, he motioned towards the dark bag in his hands as he stopped in his tracks and drank from the cup in his hand.

You could practically feel the anger radiating off of Sionis as he walked up to Joker, towering over him as he spit his words out. “Where the hell have you been, clown?!”

“I’ve been taking care of some business, I brought souvenirs.”, he smiled widely. His lifted the bag in his hands, a dark black color as he spilled the contents on the floor. You felt your gut drop. 

What the hell?

You stared at the ground, the floor covered in blood splatter and a severed head rolling towards Sionis’ feet. What the hell did Joker do?

“I found one of Hood's main informants.”, Joker tilted his head, “Seems like he won’t be informing anyone anymore.”

You watched in slight shock and a hint of fascination as he kicked the head like it was some type of ball, rolling to the other side of the room as he sat on the couch and threw his legs on the cushions, his laugh coming out as a deep giggle. 

How the hell did he manage to kill an informant without anyone catching on to it? And how was he connected back to Jason? What role did he have to play in all of this?

“I have everything ready.”, Joker said with a smile. “I have set everything up perfectly so that we can get the Bat’s attention and bring out the Red Head son of a bitch out of hiding.”

Joker brought a hand to his chin like he was thinking, his eyes gleaming in a maniacal manner. “Now that everything is done, we just wait for the Bats to come out then Hood will follow but… We need the rust incentive for him to come out.”, Joker's eyes flicked to you for a split second, his hand covering his mouth as if he just got the best idea known to man. “It’s just finding the right bait to bring him out” 

There was a hint of twisted humor in his smile, it was like you could physically see the layers of his manipulation and craziness in his tone. The informant wasn’t just one of Jason’s workers, he had to be someone deeper within the circle, probably one acting undercover within Gotham’s law enforcement or even one of the king pins if Jason was cocky enough to give him that job. Joker had to know he was connected deeper than just a basic informant. 

“If this doesn’t work, you’re paying me back what it cost to get you out of that psycho house”, Sionis spit at Joker, his hand clenching almost as though he was ready to land a blow on Joner’s jaw. It was obvious his patience was wearing thin, though Sionis had little patience to begin with. 

“Oh, where’s your sense of fun? The suspense is my favorite part of any grand event. Besides, once the Byas gets involved it’ll be a show worth watching. As for Hood, well.. he’s more connected to this whole thing than you realize. I swear the wait will be worth it” 

You stayed quiet by Sionis’ desk, not letting your indifference show through as you watched his grin spread and Sionis’ patience wear thin. Maybe this was all for the grand scheme of his plan, but you needed to get enough intel about the whole thing to relay the message back to Jason. A deep tug in your gut made you realize this whole thing might be worse than Joker was letting on. You just needed to know where Joker was planning to exactly carry this whole thing out then somehow find a way to communicate that to Jason. Keep him out of Joker’s grasp so he wouldn’t get hurt but he could still make the hit that would give him the closure he needed. 

Your eyes snapped back to attention when you watched Joker lean towards Sionis, his guards reaching for their guns as they observed Joker’s movements.Joker didn’t say anything, just stayed making deep eye contact with Sionis in a strange way. God, if you weren’t used to the creeps of the underground, Joker would make you uneasy. It wasn’t like he was close to being a normal human being, he was too far gone to be anywhere close to a normal person. Hell, even other murderers and criminals feared him. Maybe that’s why Sionis wanted him specifically. His lack of remorse would make it easy for him to kill the Red Hood. 

Another kick in your gut made you nauseated, the idea of Jason going through that again… even going through it once was barely enough to stomach. 

“Anyway, I have the room ready with all the cameras I planted around the city, I want to make sure we are live streaming and keeping every corner under watch! Oh, it’ll be fun.”, Joker jumped to his feet, his head snapping over to you. “You.”

Your eyes moved over to look at him with a blank stare but internally you wanted to know what he had planned. 

“I have the perfect job for you. You’re going to be our eye in the sky. You’re going to watch every possible angle and tell us via comms of any… interruptions or suspicious activity.”, Joker rubbed his hands together. “I hear you’re smart so this will be fun.”

“Where is the camera room?”, you raised a brow at him.

“It’s the room over from this one, I had it renovated.”, he shrugged and Sionis placed a hand on his forehead to rub away his frustration. “You get to watch too, Mask. You should enjoy the show while I have my fun.”

“When are you starting with this?”, Sionis’ deep voice sounded out. 

“24 hours.”, Joker rubbed his neck, looking at Sionis with a strange glint in his eyes, probably trying to gauge his reaction. He was already one bad idea away from getting his neck snapped. 

24 hours. 

That was enough time to catch up to Jason, tell him about the plan, and make it back in time to help him navigate the situation. You heard the door open and your eyes snap over, one of Joker’s men, rather a regular criminal who’d been forced to take laughing gas, walked through with a box of equipment. He placed it on the ground in front of Joker, the box filled with cameras, mics, and a variety of other surveillance devices. The man handed Joker a tablet, Joker messing with it before passing it over to Sionis. 

“See? Everything is set up, we have eyes all over the city. Batman’s movements will be tracked and Hood won’t have anywhere to hide once we start the show. If he runs, we’ll be able to find him.”

Sionis listened to the rest of Joker’s rambling, the tension of tomorrow slowly growing. It was obvious that every detail had been meticulously planned, Joker covering all the bases necessary to ensure there was no way out, at least not an easy way out. Every corner of Gotham where Joker laid out his trap was closely monitored, even the surrounding areas. Jason’s absence only added to the anticipation, his unknown whereabouts leaving you uneasy. 

Joker had finished his showcase, Sionis’ men led him back to his room. You watched as the door closed, the click echoing in the empty room. Sionis was quiet, his figure standing as he walked over to the window and stared down at the city. You watched him carefully, narrowing your eyes as he turned towards you. His eyes were dark, his jaw tense. 

“Keep an eye on him.”, his voice sounded out. “I don’t trust the son of a bitch”

“So why did you hire him?”, you said flatly. 

“You weren’t making progress with our pest, so I needed someone more effective.”, he watched the cars as they passed down through the streets. “Once Joker has done his part and kills the Hood, then everything can go back to normal.”

“Back to normal?”, you cocked an eyebrow, watching as he walked over to you and towered over you due to the height difference. 

“Red Hood will be dead, Batman continues in his childish schemes, you go back to working with that fat bird back at that shitty, rundown club. And I…”, his hand grabbed your chin, lifting it up to meet his gaze as you glared at him with disgust. “Will return to the top of Gotham’s food chain. Just like it should have always been.”

Your expression remained neutral, but internally, your mind raced. You had been gathering intel the past week to relay back to Jason, and even with your desire to kill Sionis, you needed to remain focused. Jason kills Joker, he gets you out of this hell hole you considered the means to survival, and everything changes for the better. You’d be getting life outside of the chains you’d been in the past six years. 

Sionis’s eyes narrowed slightly, and for a moment, you felt the weight of his scrutiny. “Let’s hope you’re prepared for what comes next. If the mad clown actually manages to pull this off, then we will see a darker side to Gotham than there has ever been. Too bad you won’t be at my side to bask in the glory.”

“I don’t need glory.”

“What a waste.”, his tone was dismissive, as if you were a waste of space despite his incessant pursuit of you. The hint of menace in his tone reminded you that his selfish ambitions were not to be underestimated, that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. 

“I’m here to help kill the Red Hood. I’ll keep to my position and make sure Joker’s plan follows through.”, Sionis’ expression hardened, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Good.”, he let go of your chin, walking back to his desk. “His fate is sealed whether Joker’s plan works or not. He will be killed regardless of the method.”

With each word, his voice got colder and his gaze more calculative, your own mind racing with the possibility that he knew about your infiltration. You hadn’t raised any red flags over the past few months, the last time Sionis suspected you was before the Gala you’d attended with Calvi. You shook your thoughts, walking towards the door and trying to get ready for the night to come. 

You pulled the door back, stepping out and leaving Sionis behind. The corridor was dimly lit, and the echo of your footsteps seemed unnaturally loud in the oppressive silence that followed. You took a deep breath, the cool air doing little to soothe the anxiety gnawing at you.

As you made your way down the hallway, your thoughts were consumed by concerns for Jason. What was he doing now? Was he safe? How close was he to making his move? Every moment felt crucial, every piece of information you had gathered a potential key to his success or failure. You needed to get the intel on Joker’s plan to him sooner than later, the risk of him getting lured into a trap were low, especially if Batman would be with him. They’d be able to cover each other if they chose to work together. 

But with the reality of what Jason told you about Batman stopping him from killing Joker because of his humanity, it seemed like Batman would resist Jason’s suggestion to an alliance. The odds of help and denial were exactly 50/50.

Your mind was a whirl of different possibilities and strategies, a tug in your gut making you feel uneasy. With Joker’s plan in place, Sionis’ ambition and motive to kill Jason, you needed to find a way to get into the field and give Jason the highest possibility of success. 

As you left the building, you glanced back one last time, the looming threat of Sionis and Joker's combined malevolence hanging heavy over the city. Your resolve hardened. Despite the danger you were walking into, you knew that every effort was worth it if it meant helping Jason and ultimately stopping Sionis from his greed. It was worth it if you could exact your own hits on Sionis. 

FLASHBACK 

The apartment was dimly lit, the curtains drawn tight against the encroaching night. The soft hum of the city outside was a distant sound, muffled by the walls and the weight of the conversation you and Jason were stuck in. The both of you sat on the floor in the living room, the room heavy with unspoken tension. His expression mixed with concern and determination, his eyes filled with an unspoken emotion as he prepared to leave.

Your apartment had become a sanctuary for the both of you, spending the past week making up for lost time. He’d shared parts of his past, his training with a man named Raj A Ghul, his return to Gotham, all while you shared your upbringing after he’d died. He’d found himself content with the week of silence the two of you had, wanting to pause that moment in time and keep the rest of your time together that way forever but the looming Jason's confrontation with Joker was approaching fast, forcing his time with you to end. 

Jason spread out a series of documents and maps on the coffee table. His meticulous planning was evident, and you could see the careful thought that had gone into every detail. “Alright, let’s go over this one last time.”, his tone serious but laced with reassurance. “We need to cover all the bases.”

You nodded, leaning to look over the map he had laid out with circled points indicating his points of attack, his point to grab Joker and remove him from the scene. “What if they figure out I’m undercover? What’s the contingency plan?”

Jason looked at you, his gaze steady. “If they catch on, they’ll probably try to get you out of the way, either by forcing you to stay with Sionis while Joker gets his hands dirty or try and kill you. I’ll make sure the worst that happens is they send you back to Penguin”

“What about if they find where you’re going?”, you followed up, your finger tracing over the pathway on the map. 

“That’s why I’ve been working on different routes of action. If they get too close, I’ll create a diversion, lead them away from my real location, and regroup at a secondary location.”

“You have a rendezvous?”

“A safe house just outside of the city. It isn’t too far but I have a motorcycle planted in case I need to make a quick getaway.”

You absorbed his words, feeling a bit more reassured. “And what if something goes wrong with the diversion or they see through the diversion?”

Jason nodded, acknowledging the potential risk. “I’ve accounted for that too. If they manage to see through the deception, I’ll use the pre-planned safe houses to stay hidden and reassess the situation. I’ve also arranged for a way to contact you discreetly if things get really dire, though I hope we won’t need it.”

You glanced at the maps, noting the different locations and routes Jason had marked. “What about Batman? You mentioned you had a plan.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Batman operates in order to have as minimal damage and casualties as possible, he’ll work strategically to ensure that no one dies, and Joker gets caught. Even if it means keeping me from killing him. But I think Joker’s whole plan gives me an opening, a blind spot to really go in and get Joker before Batman even has a chance to stop me.”

You cocked an eyebrow at him, “I thought You wanted to get him on board, get his attention.”

“Joker is planning a robbery at a nearby bank, I’ll be able to leave information planted discreetly while he’s there, signals that I used to use when we trained in the field together back when I was Robin. It’ll be something only he would understand, so he’ll know it’s me. After that I can only hope he’s either in or out.”

“If anything happens, I’ll make sure I can get everything to you as soon as possible.”, he said after pausing. 

You felt a surge of relief mixed with lingering apprehension. “What about not getting caught in the crossfire? How do I avoid getting caught up in their plans?”

Jason reached over and took your hand, his touch warm and reassuring. His eyes hardened with his resolve, deep emotion embedded into the hues of his eyes. He wanted to pull this off but he also wanted you to be safe. 

“Knowing Sionis, he might find a way to keep you out of the way entirely. He probably wants to ensure you aren’t the person leaking information out, so having eyes on you will be the way he can see if you’ve slipped any information past him.”, he muttered. “I have measures in place that when everything finishes, I can get you out of there for good.”

You squeezed his hand, feeling a mixture of gratitude and worry. “I trust you, Jason. I’ll do everything I can to keep up with them and stay out of danger. I just want you to come back safe.”

He nodded, moving closer to you and leaning his head against yours, breathing you in as his grip on your hand tightened. “I’ll come back to you. We’ll get out of this, together. I promise.”

You lifted your arms, hugging him slightly, his body heat warming your body up from his touch. He needed to leave, as much as you didn’t want him to, you would’ve done anything to just have another day together without everything happening around you. He turned towards you, lifting his hand to cup your cheek as his green eyes met yours, leaning in and kissing you for what felt like the last time. You breathed him in, his touch electrifying your skin as he pulled away before raising to his feet. You watched him quietly as he gathered most of his things. He turned towards you for a final glance, his voice low and serious. 

“I need you to understand something, okay?”, he met your gaze with hardened eyes. “Just because I’m going off grid for a while, doesn’t mean I’m leaving you. I know the last time it… it was different but I will do everything to come back. As long as they can’t trace me back to you or track my movements, everything will go as planned.”

You nodded softly, “How long?”, you tried to keep your voice steady as you swallowed the lump in your throat. Your heart was pounding in your chest, the anxiety eating at you. You were reliving him leaving and promising coming back, your fear gripping at you. What if it was like it was six years ago? What if he didn’t come back again?

“A few days, enough to get the intel I need.”, he replied, running a hand through his messy hair. It flopped over his forehead and you smiled at him. You didn’t think you could love the way messy hair looked but on him it was a sight you’d never get tired of. It made him look so mundane, human, normal. “Y/n, please try and be safe.”, his words filled with the emotion of a command and plea at the same time, his eyes flickering with conflict. He wanted to protect you, but needed you to be strong in his absence at the same time.The gravity of the situation was almost too much to bear, but you knew that your role was crucial.

Jason reached out and cupped your face gently with his hands, his touch both comforting and intense. “Promise me you’ll be careful. Don’t do anything reckless. I need you to stay safe.”

Before you could respond, Jason leaned in and kissed you softly. The kiss was tender and full of unspoken promises, a moment of connection in the midst of uncertainty. It was a reminder of the trust between you, even as the danger had grown over the weeks.

You felt a lump in your throat as you pulled back slightly, meeting his gaze with a mixture of fear and certainty. “I’ll do my best to stay safe. But you have to promise me you’ll come back.”

Jason’s eyes softened, and he gave you a small, reassuring smile. “I promise. Just make sure you don’t get yourself killed while I’m gone. I need you to be here, I need you with me.”

As he prepared to leave, the finality of the moment was almost overwhelming. The reality of his absence was hitting you hard, but you knew that his safety—and the success of his mission—depended on you being strong and vigilant. When the time came for him to go, you held him close for a moment longer, trying to memorize the feeling of his embrace. The apartment seemed emptier as he walked out the door, leaving you behind to navigate the rest of your plan and the uncertainty of Gotham’s underground alone.

As you closed the door behind him and leaned against it, you delta  rush of emotion, the burning behind your eyes overwhelming as you forced yourself to focus. You needed to do this, you wanted to help him get his life back and yours in turn. You needed to get more of Joker’s intel and send it to Jason, making sure he had the highest chance of success possible. If he took down Joker, Sionis was an easy target. Jason gets his revenge, you get yours. Two birds, one stone. 

You took a deep breath, letting yourself bask in the quiet of the apartment, walking over to the living room and gathering the plans Jason had left for you. This entire mission needed to succeed, the efforts would not be in vain. All that remained was for everything to go haywire. 

The sound of Joker’s laugh echoed through the security room he had set up, making you irritated as you pushed through the door. The room was big, filled with different monitors, each one with a variety of cameras displayed, quite literally showing every possible angle in the proximity Joker had mapped out. Your heart pounded in your chest as you walked inside, soaking in the reality of this entire shit show about to happen in a couple of hours. 

“You’re here! Goodie, come come.”, he sprang to his feet, his demeanor animated and almost childlike in its enthusiasm. His grin stretched across his face, looking every bit the unhinged mastermind, his eyes gleaming with a cruel excitement. “Let’s get you set up to have VIP seats to the show.”

You hesitated, his hands gripping yours as you flinched slightly. You tried to remain neutral despite the unease churning inside of you due to his sudden touch. You pulled your hands back, walking past him and towards the screens, “What’s the status of everything? What should I expect while I sit here like a waiting duck?”

You were anxious. 

You had sent Jason the information last night via morse code through a transmitter that was entirely off grid, something that couldn’t be traced and although communication had ceased, you hoped the transmission had reached him somehow and he knew what to expect. 

“Oh, you’ll be watching everything, not to mention giving real time updates of every possible angle. Gotham will be engulfed in chaos and it’ll be magnificent. You see, I’ve got everything in motion to force our dear Red Hood out of hiding. The city's about to become a symphony of anarchy.”

He paused for dramatic effect, enjoying the tension he was creating. “First, I’ll start with a series of factory explosions. Nothing too big at first—just enough to grab attention and cause some initial panic. Those explosions will be strategically placed to maximize disruption and ensure the news media is all over it.”

Joker’s eyes danced with malice as he continued, “Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we’ll have a bank robbery. That’ll really get the Bats involved. He loves stopping a good bank heist. Once he’s out, we just wait for the Hood to show. It’ll be a chaotic dance of crime, with every news outlet scrambling to cover the mayhem.”

You tried to keep your face impassive, but inside, you were already calculating the potential fallout. Each event was designed to create a crescendo of chaos, and the timing was crucial. “And what comes next?” you asked, your voice steady despite the urgency of the situation.

Joker’s grin morphed into a sinister smile as he leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “And then, the real fun begins. Once the city is reeling from the initial chaos, I’ll unveil my pièce de résistance—a carefully orchestrated event that will make everything else look like child’s play. Trust me, it will be a spectacle unlike anything Gotham has ever seen.”

He straightened up, reveling in the terror of the moment. “All this is to flush Red Hood out of his little hiding spot. With the city in disarray, he’ll have no choice but to make an appearance. And when he does, that’s when we’ll have our grand finale.”

You felt a chill run down your spine. Joker’s plan was as intricate as it was malevolent, and the series of events he had outlined would indeed force Jason into the open. You needed to act quickly to mitigate the damage and ensure Jason was prepared for the inevitable confrontation.

Joker had already set the wheels in motion. His goons were strategically positioned at major points across the city, ready to execute his orders. The security cameras throughout Gotham, which Joker had set up, were placed to monitor and record every significant event. These cameras would not only broadcast the chaos in real-time but also provide Joker with the perfect vantage point to track Batman’s movements.

“I see,” you said, trying to maintain your composure. “Is there anything else I should be aware of? Any final details or contingencies?”

Joker’s eyes gleamed with a manic light. “Just be ready. Gotham is about to become a stage for the greatest show of chaos ever conceived. Make sure you’re in position to see it all unfold. Once the show starts, there’s no turning back.”

He gave you a final, eerie smile before turning away, rummaging through the drawer in the desk. You watched him for a moment, the weight of his words sinking in. The clock was ticking, your heart pounding in your chest as he placed a device on the desk. “We will communicate through this, everything you see, anything you hear, comes back to me. You are here to give me every possible in you can find.”

You watched him with steady eyes, trying to even out your breathing as you took in the slight seriousness in his tone. 

“I have to go make my grand entrance. Can’t wait for you to see all the fun.”, he grinned. “Just… sit back and enjoy the show.”

His words sent a chill down your spine, watching as he left the room and closed the door behind him. You focused back on the screens, clicking through them to see where all of them were. Everything in the city was calm, unknowing, almost like nothing bad would happen and it was all just another day in the city. The silence was eerie, like the start of a horror movie before the first jump scare. 

Everything seemed to drag on, the quiet filling the room as you brought up Gotham City News on one of the monitors, clicking through the different channels on the radio to see if anything had been seen or reported in the past two hours. Everything had been dragging on, though it was barely getting late enough for everything to happen, maybe Joker was waiting on a specific time. Even Sionis had been out of communication the past few hours, the wonder whirling around in your head as you looked down, focusing on the communicator on the desk. 

Then, just as you relaxed, the sound of a loud explosion and the night sky being lit up with the fiery glow of red blurred all over the camera screen, your head snapped up, looking at the camera as factories across the city erupted in plumes of smoke and debris. Sirens wailed as emergency responders scrambled to contain the damage. You switched through the radio channel, listening to the call of the first responders being told the location of the fire, various ambulances, fire trucks, and GPD cars speeding down the streets as caught on the cameras. 

You clicked through the channels, watching civilians running away from the scene, cars running off the road, and different groups stopping to watch the scene. You pulled up the GCN, watching as the Breaking News headline appeared in a bold red font across the top of the screen. Just as anticipated, the news broadcasts were filled with footage of the destruction, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. 

As you watched the news, the chaotic scenes flashed across the screen—flames, crumbling buildings, and the relentless efforts of firefighters and paramedics. The city was already in disarray, just as Joker had intended. You listened in on the radio, hearing about a stray semi truck speeding down the street headed towards Gotham Central Bank. It was the biggest bank in the city, it definitely would bring out Batman if the factory explosions hadn’t already. 

You clicked through the cameras, searching for the semi Truck, watching cut through a gas station and followed it as it swerved through the roads, knocking over signs and other cars around it. You switched through the cameras at a fast speed, trying to keep your eyes focused on it as it got closer to the bank. It was just down the street, your eyes watching intently as you stood to your feet in shock. 

The radio was flooding with different codes spoken between officers and first responders, the chaos intensifying as you watched the semi truck go full speed into the bank, smashing into the wall and watched as the front of the vehicle smashed in like a soda can. The sound of sirens through the city made the entire thing worse, adding to the chaos in the city. Gotham was now in the grips of widespread panic, with both the public and the authorities struggling to keep up.

The tension in the city was palpable. The chaos created by the explosions and the semi crashing into the bank had successfully created the chaos needed to call Batman’s attention and now the stage was set for Joker’s game. Joker’s goons were likely poised to execute the final phase of his plan.

As you moved through the city on the cameras, staying alert to the unfolding events and trying to keep your cover intact, your mind raced with thoughts of Jason. The city was a ticking time bomb, and every decision made now would have far-reaching consequences.

You watched the camera, watching as Joker stood tall on the semi truck as it burned with flames, a clown mask on and his men around him. The bombs had gone off and you felt your heart pound in your chest. You messed with the keys on the computer, shifting the view to another point in the city as the radio static rang out, the Commissioner's voice instantly recognizable as your eyes focused on one specific screen. 

The light was on, the bat signal illuminating the sky. 

The sirens had begun sounding out and when you saw another explosion happen just a few blocks away and saw Batman launch himself from the roof, you knew. 

It had begun.

A/N

Hey guys!

Sorry for the short chapter this week, I really needed to set the tone for the upcoming and final chapters. I think this series will end at 15 chapters since it is wrapping up. I do leave in a week for vacation so I will try to have Chapter 12 up before I leave! I will be writing during my free time but most likely there will be a week hiatus between next week's chapter and Chapter 13.

Hope you guys enjoy! I know this is more of a filler chapter but I feel that it helps transition into the final part of this series!

See you next week!

xx.

[patchiko]

You’ve been given AK Jason so much love thx ☺️ if it’s not too much… what are some of AK Jason’s comforts? Does he have comfort foods? 🥘 Does he like the sound of the rain? 🌧️ Naps on the couch ? 🛋️

Thx 🥰

ill give this man love anytime💟

and its never too much anon, i love writing for him and yall!

Comforting Ak!Jay

(IM SO PROUD OF THIS I 💟 MY AUTISM)

(ngl this also just turned into my character analysis of Ak!Jay’s psychological gymnastics from Comics ((AK Genesis & Batman: AK)) and games) (still wrote the comfort shit tho)

hc, but i dont think any jason todds like the rain. it reminds them too much of the time he was a kid, didnt have a place to stay and went to sleep cold and wet

or when he was still young and with his family, his apartment would get flooded.

BUT ANYWAYS—

alone, i dont think jason can comfort himself very well.

beats himself for it when its over, drops him back into a spiral

just very much not healthy

HOWEVEER with someone is very different ,,

I Ramble Abt Jason Todd

post writing this, i feel like that one tweet thats like, ‘i never realized she was holding a plate of corn in this scene.’

Ak!Jays spirals or episodes come from two things, his self-esteem or self-worth, along with his lack of self-identity

Ak!Jason (Post/During AK) has a very hard time with his self worth, it solely stems from wanting to prove people wrong about himself. he obviously doesn’t like being perceived in the wrong way.

Ak!Jason (Post/During AK) says he’s move pasts his traumas, yet his identity and reasoning is constantly rooted in them, leading to so much contradictory dialogue and mental FUCKING GYMNASTICS.

ak!jay juggling if he wants to be loved by batman/batfam or wants to end it

i think he often ponders if he was better off being killed by the joker, or if he can really be redeemed from his actions as Arkham Knight by helping Gotham as Red Hood.

and if it’s enough for the people around him or someone to accept him.

if he can truly ever be loved

he has a lot of crisises about his identity and purpose more often then not b/c he cant find a reason for either besides his own anger and approval addiction.

, his biggest fear is losing, being worthless, and unwanted.

his constant drive is winning and proving himself as the best.

it causes his always feeling the need to prove himself, just so that hes wanted.

full pic is him on hid knees begging alfred for help,, my baby—-

the first introduction of his internalized self-deprecation is with his father, other then the Arkham Knight Annual

though he rejects this “truth” in the Annual, showing his determination to prove himself more then what Bruce and the Joker idealizes him to be, I think its a good mirror into Jasons mind and what really makes him start cracking

Ex. , his biological father canonically telling him he was a loser growing up, and his mom seems to personify/objectify Jason as gothams gravitation keeping them in gotham.

another example is the way he is talked to throughout scarecrows psychotropic

throughout the comic and game he goes between or showing a desire for a connection with bruce and praising joker for his upbringing, then chastising them.

its very clear jason has an identity issue, with him isolating himself because he believes he is too broken (game dialogues), his need for validation stemming from his childhood, his fear of abandonment, and overall internal dilemmas of wanting a connection or not. obviously hes not good with working out his emotions on his own without doing considerably impulsive things.

jason wanting to be his own person v jason wanting to be a better person for the people in his life

He see’s the place he was tortured as a rebirth for him, along with his plan to destroy Gotham and Bruce.(AK: Genesis)

This only comes from his desire to want his own separate identity, by ending these cycles of Bruces actions and Gothams nightmares he also believes that he will be truly free.

his only true identification with himself is anger and resentment, being built, gravitated, and broken by anger. feeling like hes always losing or lost, and his desire to just win something and therefore be wanted

okay to stop a fuckton of more rambling jason todd, abandoment issues, jealousy/obsession issues, need for connection, validation, relationships, self-destructive isolation, brainwashing induced perception issue, intense mood swings which also cause perception issues.

i guess it could try to be argued that Jason doesn’t actually want validation bc he got over the psychotropic; but i disagree with the way he constantly talks about being underestimated and feeling like he has to prove himself throughout the comics and his dialogue with Barbra in game.

i also want to make it clear that throughout the ak!comics he does help civilians so it does really have morality for other people. He does separate Gothams Gravity from the people, and claims the worst of the worst (villains and such) are the people who succumb to gotham.

(im only stopping bc im on mobile and couldn’t put anymore pictures)

im so upset.

theres so much i didnt get to talk abt

Ok Actually Comforting

so its pretty god damn hard to comfort this dude, he’s a chronic over analyzer, could probably turn anything and everything you say against himself or you, and yet would crave validation and intimacy.

which makes him a bit of a trip,, but i love him. so.

a lot of the time you’ll have to go with his flow

if its really bad he’ll isolate himself, he feels like he’s letting you down by breaking in front of you. He can’t let you see him as weak because to him its a liability for your relationship.

as well as the fact that his perception becomes very extreme/warped when very emotional. he’ll can range from believe your lying to him, to he’s not worth that kind of comfort and he’s wasting your time.

it takes a lot of patience for him to accept that he isnt an inconvenience to you and you do actually care

overtime, a lot of fucking time, he’ll slowly come around to this. instead of leaving for days or weeks at a time, Jason will leave for at most a day or two, but around midnight he’ll be home craving your presence.

he cant be alone again, he really doesn’t wanna be alone again, he needs to make sure you don’t wanna leave him.

probably just goes to sleep facing you, or holding your hand if hes feeling especially mushy.

he’d be so quiet, having the internal battle of leaving you or letting him feed into his desire of just having you around him.

In his words, needing a home. feeling safe, and warm. (I LIED I DELETED TWO PICS TO SHOW THIS)

jason thinking of alfred as home>>

Jason needs that in a partner! Someone who is warm to him! someone who makes him feel wanted or needed! Someone who makes him feel safe!

I think if you catch him just as he gets triggered/begins to spiral, you can help him not crash out.

Being over the top mushy with him isnt gonna work, he needs someone to ground him and be 100% with him.

sometimes he doesn’t need to talk or just doesn’t want to, again presence.

but acknowledging him every now and then to make sure he knows your not brushing him off or forgot about him.

when you’re in a closer relationship he definitely just wants you in his arms, needs to hold you close.

Home-cooked meals with him, justing going about your life with him, making him feel wanted, making him feel acknowledged.

i think he’d open up every now and then, but i think he’s also still a self-assured person who needs guidance at the right time. to just be sure he’s on the right path and youre with him.

one of his triggers is his own jealousy, accidentally making him feel like he’s replaceable or him believing you’ll get tired of him.

he needs so much reassurance.

just be there with him, guide him, love him, make sure he’s on the right path.

he needs a lot of things, sometimes its naps, sometimes its food, sometimes just to be in your arms, sometimes to help you cook, sometimes watching you work, sometimes he’ll have you lay your back on his chest and read with him, sometimes he just wants to fall asleep with you, sometimes he wants to cry in your arms, JUSDHRIDJDJDISO JASON TODD COME HOME WE MISS YOUUUU

HES MY HIGH MAINTENANCE GF

this was so satisfying to write i <3 jason todd

rq/inbox is open !! if you just wanna yap or wanna request somethin’ go ahead!

[pinkiemachine]

GOTHAM FILES: SEASON 7

SO, to start off, Jason has begun to form the Outlaws in a mini series going on in the background. His new team consists of himself, Roy Harper (Arsenal), Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (Amazon warrior), and Bizarro, (botched Superman clone).

BUT FORGET ALL THAT—SEASON 7.

The opening arc issssssssssss 🥁 🥁 🥁

THE KILLING JOKE.

Joker is back, he’s out of Arkham, and this time… his scheme is particularly diabolical. He’s discovered Batgirl’s secret identity. By the end of this harrowing tale, after many ups and downs, Joker escapes… after having shot Barbara in the back and paralysing her from the waste down. This shatters Barbara’s world. So not only has her identity been leaked (eventually making its way to the public) but now she’s lost the ability to walk and she’s lost the ability to be Batgirl. Basically, everything she ever wanted to do for Gotham, for her friends and family, feels completely out of reach now, and she doesn’t know what to do.

I mean, first of all, she needs to go underground to keep her and her father safe, but after that… she needs to do some serious soul searching. The conclusion of which is this: she may not be able to use her body to its fullest extent anymore, but she still has her sharp mind. She can still help. She can be the BatFam’s “Guy in the chair.” Or in this case, “Gal in the chair.” She takes the new Codename “Oracle” and sets up her headquarters in an old, abandoned clock tower. (She can’t be seen at Wayne Manor, ever. They’d link her (Batgirl) back to Bruce and then the secret would be out.) But now she’s kinda starting to feel like she’s found her groove again. She has a purpose again.

Damian continues his training under Bruce, Dick and Star navigate married life, Jason is gallivanting off with the Outlaws, Tim has actually been chosen by Bruce to kind of become Bruce Wayne’s apprentice in a way—Bruce thinks that one day, maybe he could run Wayne Enterprises—Stephanie and Tim continue to work on their relationship, Batwoman makes another appearance, Batman and Catwoman start to date a little more seriously (much to Damian’s chagrin), things move forward, and then we meet Cassandra Cain.

Specifically, Barbara meets Cass. See, this girl is very similar to Damian in that she was raised to be an assassin. However, her twisted father’s approach was to prohibit her from speaking ever, so that she had to rely solely on body language and facial expressions. This allows her to read people exceptionally well. She can tell if someone’s going to attack her, how they’re going to attack her, and when they’re going to attack her, all before they can even blink. Thing is, she’s not a natural-born killer. After she took her first life at just eight years old, she freaked out and tired to run away. She managed to escape a few years later. Now she had popped up on Oracle’s radar, and she sent in the BatFam to sort out the kerfuffle. When Bruce meets her, he can tell that she’s not like the deranged lunatics of Gotham, she’s just a kid. A kid with no clear direction in life and a dark past. He lets her crash at the Manor until she can get a few things sorted. They also need her help to bring down her father, another known criminal. Barbara, though, recognises something within Cass that she sees in herself. A feeling… that you believe you’re broken… like something’s wrong with you. Cass has been trying to learn to speak since running away, but she’s really bad at it. The only thing she’s good for is knowing how to kill people. Even her friends. She feels like she’s a broken human being. Barbara for a while felt literally broken, due to her legs. Like she wasn’t good for anything. And even now, she sometimes feels like she’s only good for one thing: sitting behind a screen. She takes Cass under her wing and she begins to teach her all the things she learned as Batgirl. Together, they both heal and learn to move past what they both thought they were. In the end, Babs becomes much for comfortable and confident in her new role as Oracle, and Cass redeems herself by becoming the new Batgirl. Steph also adopts her as her best friend/Batsister immediately.

After that, Barbara gets the idea to start the Birds of Prey (an elite squad of girl superheroes which she manages from her chair) and everything’s going pretty well for a while.

We get introduced to Luke Fox, aka Batwing, (I need to research his story more, soorrryyy…… there’s a lot of charactersssss)

Harley Quinn has just begun her redemption arc! Well, I mean, I will have been hinting at this for several seasons, but now it’s official. Now she’s coming back to the sane side.

Damian is finally allowed to go to school at Gotham Academy (though he insists that he always arrive via helicopter. He accepts no substitutions), and while we’re talking about Damian, let’s see how he’s doing with the whole “murder” thing. He’s, uh… not as bad as he was when he first arrived… so that’s good. But at the same time… he, uh… he still has some room for improvement. He’s got a little bit of a temper, he’s still stuck-up, and although he’s able to follow Batman’s no killing rule, he does still plan to go back to his old ways as soon as his time with Bruce is over. His destiny is still to become the new Demon’s Head and rule the New World, remember? BUT THEN…

The grande finale of season 7. His name is Heretic… and he’s a bad dude. So bad, in fact, that he manages to kill Damian. HOWEVER… that is not where the finale ends… it’s only just started… no cliffhangers this time. Bruce, naturally, does not take this death well, but he’s also not going to crumble this time. This time, he knows it’s possible to bring Damian back, and he will go to the ends of the Earth to make that happen. He pursues every single conceivable avenue available to him, and he Does. Not. Rest. until he brings his son back to life! The other Batkids are there too, helping, and together, they manage to save their little brother. (I forget how they do that in the comics just now, I’ll come back and edit this later XD) Anyway, this is the second most crucial moment in Damian’s life. Now, he has experienced what it’s like to die… to be on the other end of a sword… and he’s moved by the fact that not only his father, but his entire adoptive family (who’ve famously hated him), all came together to save him. It completely redefines his definition of love and it opens up an entirely new feeling for him: empathy. From this moment on, he doesn’t even try to take another life. He’s starting to think that maybe he doesn’t want to.

Oh, and also, Starfire’s pregnant! 🎉

Part 8 👇

Part 6 👇

[sokoneedsagun]

Let’s talk about “replacement”

If you’ve been in the dc fandom for longer than maybe a week, you’ve probably seen it before. It’s present in fanfics, tumblr posts, role plays, and fanart. On the off chance that you somehow don’t know about it, “replacement” is a sort of nickname often used for Tim Drake by Jason Todd

This post is going to be cut, I’m going to leave the explanation out but there should be two other sections under it as well

Where did it come from?

There are two possible places that the use of it came from

The first is from a Batman comic series from 2002 called “hush” and I’ll spare you most spoilers about the comic but the part of it that’s important to this conversation has to do with Bruce, Jason, Tim, Selina, and Clayface

While catwoman is fighting huntress (Helena Bertanelli) who is currently drugged by poison ivy, Bruce is worried that Helena is going to force Selina to kill her so he tells Tim (who is Robin at the time) to stay where is and look for someone

Before Bruce can tell him who he’s looking for a figure appears behind Tim and says he’s the one they’re looking for, before hitting Tim and calling him “pretender”

When Bruce finds Tim he’s being held at knifepoint by “Jason” who begins lashing out and then fighting Bruce. Eventually he melts in the rain and is shown to be only made out of clay, and the real Jason Todd is still dead.

The important thing about this, is that Jason never called Tim “pretender,” he never held Tim at knifepoint point (if you ever see anything about Jason “slitting Tim’s throat” that’s where it’s from, Tim was fine all he needed was a bandage), all of it was done by Clayface who was mimicking Dick Graysons movements and using what he knew about Jason to manipulate Bruce.

As to where “replacement” specifically came from, the only time I’ve ever heard about its origin was in a TikTok where the person who made the video said it came from a fanfic (which is very likely true), in the comics Jason has never called Tim by that name

Why does the nickname not make sense?

The nickname doesn’t make sense because if anyone would be a pretender or replacement, it’s Jason. Jason Todd is one of the original robins but he isn’t the original Robin. That title will always belong to DIck Grayson.

And in brining up something like this you have to acknowledge the origins of the moniker in the first place. The name “Robin” came from a nickname that Mary Grayson had for her son, I’m fairly sure the original reasoning was because he was born in the early spring. The reason DIck chose to go by Robin is because the name was important to him, it let him feel closer to his late mother, similarly to how the original Robin costume is based on his flying Grayson’s outfit.

But when Dick was 17 or 18 he was shot in the shoulder by the joker, and Bruce tells him that he can’t keep risking his life as Robin, so he fires him. Dick moves out to Blüdhaven, starts working almost solely with the teen titans, and gets a new moniker (nightwing) given to him by Superman.

And then Bruce adopts Jason, and he gives him Dick’s name and uniform, putting a new child in the way of harm. And yes, Jason did make Robin his own but it was not his, he would have no right to put a claim over the name.

Why does any of this matter?

In short, it doesn’t. There is nothing inherently wrong with writing Jason using the term but in my opinion for their relationship, it just dosen’t make sense.

In the comics Jason has a complicated relationship with everyone in the batfamily, he’s grappling with coming back to life and trying to find a place for himself while also working through his own grief and anger

When you read comics though, when they’re together they often work well together and even hang out a few times, there’s one panel where Jason is trying to take tim out to get a drink (underage drinking is bad don’t do it/lh), and they have a fairly normal sibling dynamic with each other

Which is why I don’t understand where the concept of all the hate and resentment came from in the fandom, I’m genuinely curious as to know why it’s so prominent everywhere

[haveihitanerve]

But in a world where everything goes to shit Tim is willing to go back in time and kill a woman to prevent it. I’ve never thought of Tim’s no kill as “as strong as Bruce’s” because literally the only person Bruce has every tried to kill ((in a situation where he didn’t have the safety net of other people around to stop him, people take scenarios where other people stop Bruce as “he would’ve done it if not for them” but imo it’s like Bruce was venting his emotions, if they weren’t there he would’ve stopped himself, then stopping him is like a gift to him bc stopping yourself from going too far when you’re angry is hard)) is darksied. Tim’s moral code is iron or diamond, incredibly strong and principled, but it comes to him as his choice and because he knows it what’s right and it’s what’s been taught. In horrible conditions he could change his mind. Dicks no kill is emotional and I’m not a huge dick fan but I think both he and Tim are better more principled people and have better internal reasons for their no kill code than Bruce, for whom it is a compulsion

The thing about Tim is he is almost as emotionally ready to drain himself for those around him as Bruce is. Tim does have a super strong moral code imo, but I do agree that he is willing to relent it- but only for the greater good. Only in the most dire circumstances. The world has to be going up in flames for him to even consider the possibility of going through with it- and murder is a common theme in Tim's mind only because he's very analytical from what I've seen and is checking all angles, murder would be a useful tool in certain cases and I do think Tim would be willing to do it in extreme cases with no other options, even at the cost of his own mental stability because I do still think while he would go through with it, its mental strain would be too great and he would snap internally.

(Same with Dick, when Dick killed the Joker Bruce brought him back to life solely because he knew it would actually kill Dick on the inside if he ever actually took a life, anyone else and he probs would've left him dead)

Bruce, on the other hand, that's an interesting take i've never seen before- I agree with others on this, Bruce would have gone through with murder multiple times if someone else hadn't stepped in- theres an entire comic dedicated how it took Superman beating him up for Bruce to not go after Joker and kill him after Jason's death, otherwise Bruce probably would've gone through with it. Also, Tim's more earlier Robin comics are brutal, Bruce would have done it a hundred times over imo if he hadn't been there, but at the end of the day these are just my opinions and quite honestly we'll never know for sure because they will never permanently kill off Joker or make any of the bats kill unless they go really dark or smth and... yeah idk I don't think they ever will but I love your opinion on it... maybe I should explore this in some of my other writing... should be an interesting challenge :P

Thanks for the ask! 💗

[navree]

this is dc twitter discourse at the moment so i thought i'd ask your thoughts on it do you think red hood jason hurting children is ooc/a bad writing choice???

And this ladies and gents is why I avoid DC Twitter because I don't think I've seen any good takes there ever, no matter where you are. Sometimes people post panel compilations that hurt my heart, that's the like the only good thing to come out of it, I don't even click on the MAWS hashtag if it trends while the show is airing because last time I did it was people bitching that 25 year old Slade did not look or act the same way that current in his forties Slade does (not to mention, how can you complain about MAWS Slade? he's the best part about the show how did anyone not just fall over laughing with delight the second he showed up and proclaimed himself to be literal Slade Wilson?).

With that said, yeah I would consider that to be a bad writing choice. Talking about characterization for comics is hard because, as I've mentioned, comics is an incredibly decentralized creative medium in a way none others are. Movies, TV shows, novels, they all tend to have a main core group of people or even just one solitary person in charge of the creative direction, and for a lot of them, a very finite "this is where we start and this is where we end" mentality that comics do not. These characters have had constantly changing creative heads, with new directions and ideas for characterization attached, since their inception, and they've all been around for a very long time. This is why comics are kind of the only medium where you can, in fact, really pick and choose your canon, because the canon has changed so much depending on who is in charge at a giant company. Like, canonical eighties Batman characterization would be considered super OOC for someone writing canonical modern Batman, and vice versa. So talking about characterization is hard, especially with Jason when nobody has had any idea what to fucking do with him for decades at this point. But, when it comes to Red Hood Jason, there is something I consider gospel canon, which is the Under the Red Hood arc, since that is what nearly all subsequent canon imaginings of Jason take from. That is our gold standard here. And based on UTRH, yeah, Jason harming children is out of character and it is bad writing.

When Jason comes back, he has two very clear goals. Goal one: the Joker's gotta die, preferably Batman kills him so Jason gets concrete proof that he was loved and mourned (Jason is not mentally healthy so his thought process doesn't make sense just roll with it), but Jason is fine killing the man himself, so long as he dies. Goal two: essentially fulfill Batman's mission in a way where it actually accomplishes his goals. Jason outlines this pretty specifically in Batman #641, he tells Bruce "You. I'll be you. The you you're supposed to be." Jason's goal as the Red Hood is to make Gotham better (in his head), safer, and cleaner, but unlike Batman he is willing to take that goal as far as he can and will kill if necessary. What he wants is to just take Batman's mission to its logical extreme. Eradicate the various elements that have caused suffering in Gotham throughout the years, just with more permanence than Batman does, and less of a focus on rehabilitation, because you can't rehabilitate a dead person. And as part of this, Jason does not act unnecessarily. When he kills, it is people who (arguably) deserve it, and it is never innocents. It is always the criminal element, and people he believes are past the point of no return, as well as those who might be trying to stop him in that. His mission statement is literally "Death will come to those who deserve death, and death may come to those who stand in my way of doing what's right." and he means that. This is not a character you've created to then go out and harm children, because kids have not done anything to deserve it, and they are not the cause of the issues that he is trying to eliminate.

There's also the fact that Jason, even in his early Red Hood days where editorial just decided that he's a straight villain now, was never someone who went after kids, but in fact actively tried to help them. He makes it a point to tell his people that they do not sell drugs to kids and that if they do, he'll kill them (along with telling them not to get previously clean people hooked and only sell to repeats, which also paints him as someone who isn't just hurting others willy-nilly). The first person Jason ever kills, as seen in Red Hood: Lost Days, is a man who was involved in child trafficking, and he does it specifically because he wants to save those kids and future victims from him, and considers him scum of the Earth as a result (I think his name was Egan? Egon? idfk I don't reread Lost Days because I find their whole "look at fully adult Talia fucking the mentally ill sixteen year old under her care who is reliant on her for everything, how sexy" shtick abhorrent, and using Talia as their child rapist doubly so). So Jason, even at his most villainous, at his most "this is a bad dude" characterized, is someone who deliberately avoids harming innocents because it's not compatible with his mission or his personal code, and includes children very specifically in that.

It is also out of character and a bad writing choice because of Jason's own childhood. You might think a rebuttal to this is "Jason wants to kill/hurt criminals, what if kids are criminals" well guess what Jason was a kid criminal! It is actually illegal to steal parts off of people's cars, even if that person can afford it because he's Batman (to say nothing of the multiple very heavy handed hints dropped that Jason solicited as a prostitute during his time being homeless, which is also a crime, it is illegal and he would have been picked up by the cops for it if found out). Unless you want to argue that Jason thinks he himself should have been taken out with a Glock at the big of age of eleven for doing illegal things in the name of survival, you can't say that Jason's philosophy would allow him to harm children and remain in character or decently written, you just can't. Like, your other gospel for Jason's characterization should be his original Robin run from the 80s, since that's literally what introduced him to this world in the first fucking place, so duh. And there's nothing in that characterization to suggest that he would harm anyone unnecessarily, especially kids. Like, Robin Jason spares Two-Face's life, after having found out days ago that Two-Face murdered Willis Todd in cold blood; he tries to save Sheila Haywood's life after she straight up helps murder him; this isn't someone whose characterization allows for him to hurt children later in life. Especially once you factor in his struggles as a child, and how that most likely just breeds empathy for other children, especially children who are having a hard time.

Now, I can guess that some of this comes up in discussions of one of my most loathed subjects, the stupid bad stupid dumb stupid attack on fucking Titan's Tower. Now, even beyond the fact that the stupid attack on stupid Titan's Tower is less about Jason wanting to beat up children and more his specific issues with Bruce and the concept of Robin that can't be transplanted to other people, the attack itself is bad writing. It is out of character for Jason. It does not jive at all with his stated characterization and motivations that he himself outlined (also the only other closest thing to that is his fight with Mia Dearden, where he's pretty tame in just warning her to leave vigilantism and straight up beats her twice before letting her go relatively unscathed of his own free will, just saying) and it makes no sense. His issues are that the Joker is alive and Batman didn't do anything about it. Why the fuck would he care about Tim? Tim means nothing to him, he never even met the little dude, he doesn't have an issue with him. He doesn't even have an issue with the idea of Robin being passed down because Jason literally said he was perfectly content to not be Robin and just be Jason, and his problems don't arise from Robin! The issues at the heart of Jason's conflict with Bruce hinge on the Bruce and Jason relationship of father and son, not Batman and Robin! And not fucking Tim! Tim means nothing, he is a nonentity. The only reason this fuckass plot exists is because DC didn't know what to do with Jason and threw shit at the wall to see what would stick, similar to what we saw with that dumb plot with Nightwing from this time that also has similar issues, in that why would Jason care enough to cause problems for Dick, he doesn't have an issue with Dick, he legit interacts with Dick in UTRH and he's fine! (a better writing decision would have been post-UTRH Jason immediately writing the entire Batfam off and treating them as hostiles whenever they wander into Crime Alley and them having to regain his trust back/him agreeing to let down more and more barriers as time goes on and they all reconnect, but I was like seven when all this was being written so DC didn't seek my input) The fucking dumb Titan's Tower thing that people are gonna use to prove that Jason hurting kids isn't bad writing isn't even about Jason, the only reason this shit gets trotted out again and again is because Tim Drake has a lot of fans who are absolutely convinced their poor uwu baby has suffered more than Jesus when the only person in the Batfam who's suffered less than him is, like, Alfred (although I can make the argument that Alfred has still suffered more by having had to put up with Bruce Wayne almost singlehandedly for most of his adult life). It exists in people's minds even tho it is objectively bad writing and out of character for one of the main players because fanon Tim has to be the most special boy ever (and also because these people wanna use it to make Tim interesting which is impossible because nothing can make Tim interesting).

Jason hurting children deliberately is, indeed, bad writing. It is, in fact, incredibly out of character. It does not compute to his explicit motivations and how he was characterized in the stories that have since been used as a jumping off point for his characterization ever since. And ultimately, the thing is this: if Red Hood Jason is just trying to do Batman's job better than Batman, who is he doing it for if not children? Who is he trying to clean up Gotham for, make Gotham a better place for, if not her children? And if that's the case, as it obviously is, why on Earth would him then harming her children be any kind of good character writing or coherent characterization?

TL;DR, yes it is.

[we-ezer]

STAR WARS X BATMAN

Anakin is reborn as the biological son of Bruce Wayne. He is born before Dick comes the Manor so it is just Bruce, Alfred, and him. Because his memories are intact, he forms an obsession with keeping his little family safe. His obsessive personality is very similar to Bruce's but he makes sure to hide how far it really goes. He won't have another parent dying on him, so when he finds out Bruce is Batman he becomes Batman's first sidekick. Bruce and Anakin are very close by the time Dick comes to live with them. At first, Anakin rebels at sharing his dad with someone else then becomes even more upset when Dick wants to go out and fight crime too and Bruce insists he go with them (Anakin didn't care if he went out alone). Anakin believes Dick will only distract Bruce and get him hurt.

Then Harvey Dent almost kills Dick and Bruce yells at him. Anakin is smug and hopes this is the last of it but then he hears Dick yelling about avenging his parents. Anakin realizes how similar they are. Bruce leaves the room and Anakin slips inside. He apologizes to Dick and Dick says he understands. Then Anakin promises to help Dick find his parent's killer.

Anakin starts helping Dick train. Bruce is bewildered by the change but doesn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Then Anakin invites Dick to start patrolling together, just the two of them. Now Bruce is suspicious. One night he follows them and discovers they've been tracking the Grayson's killer. He meets them back at the cave and tells Dick he's looking into it and it's too dangerous. Dick gets angry again and leaves. Anakin tries explaining to his dad that Dick will only ever want to take down his parent's killer himself but Bruce won't hear it. He's already letting two kids out on the streets he doesn't need them any more involved. Bruce leaves too and Anakin is in the cave alone. He decides that he will be the compromise between them and settles down at the computer to keep investigating.

Anakin starts letting Batman and Robin patrol alone. Bruce, Dick, and Alfred are wary of this behavior change but Anakin isn't talking. One night Alfred goes to check on Anakin and he's gone. He calls Batman and Robin on patrol to alert them and they go looking for him. Turns out Anakin found the killer: Tony Zucco. When they find them, Anakin has Zucco tied to a trapeze at the site where Haly's Circus used to be. He laughs when he sees them and gestures to Zucco, offering Dick the chance to take his revenge. Bruce attempts to intervene but Anakin uses the Force to hold him down, an ability he's been hiding since he was born. He urges Dick to do it like Palpatine did him. It seems like Dick will until he looks into Anakin's eyes and sees their golden, crazed look. This isn't his brother anymore. Instead he tases Anakin to unconsciousness.

Anakin is sent to Arkham (this is before it became totally corrupted and a revolving door for criminals) into a part of the Asylum for patients who are violent but not criminals. At first. Bruce and Dick visit him weekly to check on his progress, but he refuses to speak to them. Eventually, he starts working with various Rogues against Batman that he meets in the Asylum (through low-level gang members) and is transferred to their section when he gets older. He noticeably always "accidentally" sabotages the Rogues when they're getting close to actually harming Batman but he has no such compunction against Robin.

He only meets Jason once but it leaves its impact on him long after when he is staring into a mirror with his own unnaturally angry eyes. The catalyst to Anakin rejoining the family is Tim, who goes to him after Dick rejects him to help Batman after Jason's death. Anakin agrees and they help him together.

Then, when Red Hood makes his dramatic return and Jason tries to make Bruce choose between him and the Joker, Anakin knows he has to be better this time. He is the one to knock Jason out and free Bruce. Finally, he goes to Bludhaven and knocks on Dick's door and apologizes. Dick smiles and tells him his eyes are blue again. They hug.

[distort-opia]

I assume you have read half way across, I definitely did and I always kept wondering would this scenario be possible? Would that play along similar way if ever happened in canon?

Definitely read Half Way Across. It's an iconic Batjokes story, incredibly well-written and in-character. And yes, I'd say that at least to me, it's pretty much exactly how I'd imagine this scenario unfolding in canon. A bit of spoilers for HWA incoming, for anyone who hasn't read the fic.

I think I talked about it somewhere else before, about how time and context are a huge factor to me when it comes to Batjokes-- and how The Killing Joke is a massive turning point in their dynamic. At that point in time, Joker hadn't killed Jason. He hadn't killed Sarah Essen-Gordon, he hadn't become so monstrous as to appear entirely irredeemable. Not to mention, Bruce hadn't accrued such an extensive Family by that time, which Joker hurt in different ways and which would make any current rehabilitation attempt led by Bruce personally so difficult. It follows that Bruce offering to help and Joker accepting that help would not have been such an impossibility then as it is today, in more ways than one. Besides, Joker would undoubtedly demand Bruce's involvement in his rehabilitation, if Bruce himself wouldn't take over with barely any prompting; after all, his offer to Joker in TKJ is not just "I could help you", it's also "we could work together". It shows that Bruce has thought about it extensively, has imagined a future with a Joker who's by his side.

But well... then there's the issue of the power imbalance. To be honest, it's been a while since I read HWA, but the reason why I never felt the need to write a story like that myself is because HWA tackled the major issue with any Batjokes rehabilitation story so well-- which is, put simply, Bruce getting to have too much control over Joker. Bruce's need for control is almost all-encompassing, and the reason why Joker is his nemesis is Joker's utter defiance of it. Bruce cannot fully understand Joker, hence he cannot predict or control Joker, and that's... unique. To differing degrees, Bruce controls everyone around him; he has back-up plans for his back-up plans in case someone goes rogue, in case he needs to take down close friends and allies. He knows exactly what emotional buttons to push to get the people around him to do what he thinks is best. But Joker isn't like that, and it's crucial to them being equals that Joker stays like that. However, if Joker is in Bruce's power as Bruce tries to "fix him" the way he thinks is best... the power balance becomes massively skewed. And Bruce's need for control would rear its ugly head in so many ways, while for Joker this would mean constant doubt and resentment about having to be who Bruce wants him to be-- otherwise, Bruce would turn off the flashlight half way across. HWA feels like an accurate way the story could go in canon because it deals with this, precisely. With the trust issues that would arise for both Bruce and Joker, with Bruce's need for control and ideas of normality. No matter how a rehabilitation scenario played out for Batjokes, if Bruce is personally involved in it, I do think this will always happen similarly.

Now, HWA isn't finished, and I don't know what Dracze has in store for it so I won't speculate, but I'm very much looking forward to how this tension between them would break. (And I want to make the point that it doesn't matter that it's a WIP, or if/when it gets updated-- this is an amazing story and we're lucky it's being shared with us.)

[rotten7rat]

Jason Todd Playlist Analysis

PART 12

Like That by Bea Miller

Jason keeps going despite Bruce’s and Batman’s disapproval in his methods, even when he’s not killing. Bruce’s mistrust and distain only harden his resolve. It makes it easier for him to be on his own, to operate outside the Bats. At least that’s what he tells himself. Mostly its true.

Can see it from the way you looking at me

You don't think I'm worth your time

Don't care about the person that I might be

Offended that I walk the line

Bruce looks at Jason with contempt. He’s made no effort to get to know Jason for who he is now, still so hung up on who he was before Ethiopia. He’s not willing to give him a chance because of their different views and methods. Jason walks the line between hero and villain in Bruce’s eyes.

So what if I'm not

So what if I'm not everything you wanted me to be?

So what if I am

So what if I am more than you can see?

Jason isn’t Bruce’s perfect little soldier, his Robin, his dead son. He’s not what Bruce planned for him, he’s his own person and he doesn’t need Bruce’s approval, but his recognition wouldn’t hurt. He does good, even if it’s sometimes accompanied by bad. He’s using Bruce’s training, and his own training. He’s calculating and intelligent, he saves lives, even if he’s taken them too. He’s more than a fallen soldier, he’s here, he’s alive, and he’s making a difference, even if Bruce only sees his sins.

When you treat me like that, when you treat me like that

It's pushin' me harder, it's pushin' me harder

When you breakin' my back, when you breakin' my back

I only get stronger, I only get stronger

I should've walked away one year ago

When you said I wouldn't make it out alive

Bruce’s disapproval just solidifies his decision to remain on the outside. He doesn’t need his family if they don’t want him. He’ll keep protecting the alley, he’ll keep doing things his way. He should have known not to bother after that night with the Joker and the Batarang, he should have known he wasn’t wanted or welcome.

As far as I can tell, it's kinda crazy

That you even care at all

Convincing everybody you can save me

But you're the one who made me fall

In Jason’s eyes, he is the way he is because of Bruce, in a way. For all the preaching of his independence, he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Bruce’s shortcomings. When he does reach out to Jason its for that fifteen-year-old that ran away from home, but he only ran away from home because Bruce didn’t trust him. And when he died he didn’t avenge him.

Why you wanna see me bleed?

Why you wanna watch me fall apart?

Try to find the worst in me

But I won't follow you into the dark

Batman doesn’t want Red Hood in Gotham as long as he’s using deadly force, and even when Jason stops Bruce refuses to see the good Jason does, he only ever sees the worst in him.

[bestangelofall]

Firstly: I went through the lyrics to Wonderful Nothing by Glass Animals and it feels like *such* a brujay song!

Secondly: a selection of possibilities for Jason lovingly murdering Bruce

Werewolf transformation type thing. The cure has failed or whatever and it's down to just preventing Bruce from hurting anyone else and Jason's either the one with the guts to do it (if the others are involved at all) or simply the only one around

Bruce extracts a promise, an absolute *vow*, from Jason to kill him if he ever becomes a killer himself. Jason, of course, is the only person Bruce has ever killed (going with the UtRH throat slice being lethal here) and therefore he knows what he has to do

The Gotham War terror chip + Joker gas combo had a more lasting impact and at some point in his recovery/getting worse he goes through all the shit Bruce has pulled and gets it in his head that Bruce Needs To Go. Doesn't mean he can't get Real Weird with it tho

Old age. Bruce is just... very old. Whoever was going to take up the mantel next did so years ago, and Bruce has been living out the retirement none of them thought he'd ever get to see. He can tell that his time is coming soon though and asks Jason to help him go out on their own terms, perhaps with some idea about Jason being the one who deserves to get to do it or something like that.

I hope you enjoy the ideas and have fun writing whether you use em or not :3

-redhoodinternaldialectical writing in from the "main" blog

You are so correct about that song. It was an instant addition to my Brujay playlist! (I also really liked the song on its own too, not only for the ship vibes).

Thank you so much for suggesting it and for the ideas for Jason lovingly killing Bruce... I love all of them and want to write all of them. I thought about this ask the whole time I was working yesterday xD (lol I wrote this on the day after you sent this ask, but I've still been thinking about Jason lovingly killing Bruce for all these days).

I'll start commenting on the last one: Bruce ageing and deciding that he'll ask for Jason's help to go on their own terms is sooooo bittersweet. For this one, I'm thinking that Jason and Bruce found an understanding at some point, and developed a better relationship (one that's not rooted on just Jason making concessions). Jason feels honored for the request, and works to make it painless and quick. I think that with this one I'd go with Jason being, well, less creepy about it all, despite the morbidity of the scenario. Btw, if we consider the immortal Jason headcanon in this situation, this gets even more interesting, because then Jason will have to live with the burden of having killed Bruce for the rest of his life. And who knows how long that will last... Depending on how things went and what kind of understanding they reached, I think Jason would feel motivated to "keep Bruce's memory alive" or something like that. Bittersweet as hell, but strangely more sweet, at least for me :)

Werewolf type transformation: this one can be sooooo rough, because depending on the situation, it could be very violent, and you know... Violence as a form of intimacy and all :) Jason *would* be the one (or at least, the first one) to have the guts to do it, and I don't think he would regret it afterwards, but it would be a burden, and he might blame himself for not finding a third option when he needed one (but that's Jason entire point in UTRH - sometimes there are no third options, so I think that exploring his mental state after the killing could be super interesting). ANYWAY, Jason cradling Bruce against his chest while Bruce dies, and he's trying to be quick about it, but Jason, well, he's a hopeful person despite it all, so he watches Bruce dying, looking for any signs that Bruce's still there (but it would be too late to save him anyway, not that it matters). Maybe Jason tries to off himself afterwards 😬

The vow: Jason is not letting that man go in peace! Do you know why? Because Jason knows that Bruce already killed someone before this vow was made, and he resents the hell out of the request, because Bruce never even noticed that he killed Jason on that fateful night. That, or Bruce knew what he did and didn't care, which would be even worse. I think that for this one, Jason would use a Batarang :3 for the irony (I won't say it's *the* Batarang because as much as I love that idea (for bloodplay) I can't really justify how Jason would have had kept it, since he was too occupied bleeding out, and the building exploded afterwards, possibly destroying the batarang). Just Jason, making Bruce lay against him, and saying sweet things in his ear (for this one, I think it would be interesting if Jason never expressed his feelings for Bruce before but now there's nothing left to lose, so why not?) and being physically affectionate, and Bruce is just. Completely weirded out by it. And then Jason tells him about Bruce having killed him at the end of UTH 🥰 before cutting his throat. Jason holding Bruce while he bleeds out, telling him that it won't take long, and then he'll be at peace, that it won't be so bad etc, kissing Bruce's forehead and telling Bruce he loves him (and those are the last words Bruce ever hears)... Er. This was what I was thinking about when I made the post 🫣

Gotham War one: yeah this one is so cool too, because I feel that Jason deciding that Bruce needs to go after Gotham War would be even believable if DC were not writing Jason in his ear pray love phase. Obviously, he wouldn't actually kill Bruce there, but in fic?? It could be so delicious. Jason still suffering through the effects of the fear chip/joker gas and something going wrong/right. Would he have moments of fear and euphoria while he was planning/doing it? That could be super terrifying to experience for Bruce. Especially nice if this happens after the conclusion of dark prisons, so Bruce thinks he's out of the woods with Jason, and then bam! Murder suicide rendezvous 2.0 (because I think this one also might end in a suicide after Jason kills Bruce...)

Also, separated from the above Gotham War situation, I think an interesting alternative for Jason killing Bruce would be if Bruce used the entire situation with the fear chip to take advantage of Jason (Brujay or platonic), and Jason striking when Bruce thinks he has Jason completely under control.

Anyway, thank you so much for the ask, the scenarios™️ are living rent-free in my head lol. I am currently so unwell about this ship 🙃🙃

[evilwickedme]

some fan attitudes about jason todd's morality are insane. no I don't condone murder in real life. but he's not??? a real person???? most importantly he's operating in a fictional reality where rehabilitation is proven impossible, imprisonment has proven impossible, and single individuals are responsible for more deaths than anybody since the fucking nazis. obviously he's in the right. if anything, bruce, who I should agree with since I think murder is wrong, gives the weakest fucking argument in utrh against murder. like utrh told this truly incredible story about a boy's irreparably damaged relationship with his father and positioned us to make a truly gorgeous point where the villain is both right and wrong and the hero both is right and wrong and then it fucked up bc batman isn't right!!! it isn't about his own personal inability to control himself, or at least it shouldn't be!!! but that's how it was positioned so it came across as jason todd is obviously right and honestly yeah the joker should die. there is no other in-universe option bc the joker cannot get better and he cannot be kept away from harming people. jason's been through a lot of writers since then and at first he's an outright ultra-violent villain who hates the batfam and later he's a tortured anti-hero with complicated familial relationships and idk whatever like. I'm not examining him through the lens of my actual real life opinions on whether or not you should kill people or whether or not I support the death penalty, and neither should you. he's a character in one of the most convoluted stories ever told and he needs to be treated as such, both in a doylist fashion (he's been written by real people who have differing opinions on what's morally correct and what makes someone a villain and who might not necessarily have the best grip on what makes murder wrong in a philosophical argument) and in a watsonian fashion (his worldview is shaped by extreme violence that is a cycle with no end in sight and that cycle has more to do with bruce and jason's relationship than it does the joker) and a combined fashion (the cycle will never end bc comic books need to keep using the same tensions over and over again and if bruce and jason resolve their differences jason's character will no longer serve its current narrative purpose and besides even if he did change another writer will just bring him back to whatever's most familiar and convenient for them and their story so meanwhile jason has to make the same exact choice to leave the joker alive and hate bruce for it and bruce can't truly communicate with jason bc the writers need to keep the story going in perpetual limbo). anyway none of this is readable but basically what I'm saying is that when I say I think jason's right for killing people yeah I mean it in that I think it's hot but also I mean it in that narratively it makes sense for him to see the world this way and it makes sense in universe for him to believe there is no better option for villains other than death. like. irl obviously a vigilante running around killing people would be bad (nevermind that jason isn't using guns rn specifically to avoid killing people accidentally or impulsively) but this isn't irl, it's a story, and I'm judging it on the merits of what kind of story it's trying to tell. and also I think jason killing people is hot.

[heavysighing-dreamyeyes]

HELLO rae it is me again !!!💞💞💞

Theres something that gets me thinking when im reading about Jason which is the differences between Jason and AK!Jason

Its kinda similar to that post you made a while ago about how they are different people and therefore will act differently and that is sooo true

Like first of all, the part of his death

I like how its that thing that completely changes Jason because while Jason's rage was [intensified] from the Lazarus Pit — hallucinations, physical and mental modification and just an overall change in youre whole being, he never really changed being the way he is

But AK!Jason is driven completely by emotions, its ten times more raw and fragile since he never died in the first place, so there was no mysterious magic soup that changed his brain chemistry, he got instead (by his words) filled with rage and pain that he cant take it out of him, since basically he grew up with all the torture from his teens to adult life basically (When the human brain is developing!! How nice!!)

AND THEN MY DEAR I SAY HOW whilst Jason did die, he came back to life, he was given a second chance to live again, whereas AK!Jason cant, because he never died, yet he was killed in the most brutal way known to man, so he was killed and left like that, like something hollow sent out to the world to survive.

Jason chose his path by himself, although it'd be hard, he could (and did in a way) go back to his family, but he doesnt agree with Bruce's methods of doing things so he decided to do it the way he deems effective.

On the other hand, AK!Jason never wanted to be in that cell confined for years knowing nothing else but pain, and no one knew that AK!Jason was alive either but he believed people just thought so because they abandoned him. He was completely on his own and saw no other choice but to do what he had to do.

I guess its also why i like AK!Jason x reader fanfics a lot, i think its interesting how people insert a character into the life of someone who feels so beyond help. Thats also why youre my fav AK!jason writter honestly

ANYWAY THATS JUST RAMBLES BEFORE BED BYE RAE TAKE CARE OF URSELF 🥰🥰💋💋💋

Hello, nonnie! I always love seeing your thoughts! oo, okay, I'll have to do a whole other post on my thoughts on pit madness and fandom vs canon, cause I could go on for ages. But that's besides the point. (idk if it'll be an popular opinion so I'll just keep that to myself for now lol)

I could talk about AK vs Jason for hours too. (I have and will again) I looove what you said about how AK never got to live again, because he never really died!! It's so visceral.

Here's this boy who everyone thinks is dead. They moved on, found ways to cope and 'honor' his memory. But he's not dead. He's not dead and every piece of vile trash Gotham has ever spit it out is taking out their aggression on him for months and months.

Even with all the awful and the abuse and things that make you sick to think about, he has hope. He believes Batman is going to come from him, that if he's brave enough and holds out for long enough, he'll be saved. Until he doesn't. Until there's a new Robin.

And if Jason isn't Robin? If he isn't struggling and fighting to withstand torture as Robin? Then what is he doing? What's the point? Is he even anything now other than what Joker says he is?

Both Jasons had hope. But AK is the one that had it wrenched away from his hands one broken finger after another. Truly, he was broken down until he had nothing left and all there was what Joker made of him.

Except that's not quite true. He still had the strength to escape, still was able to make a deal with Deathstroke, still was able to claw and scratch and turn himself into something new.

It's why I adore him. There's something about the indominable human spirit he portrays and continues to portray. He could have won, during Arkham Knight, he could have let Scarecrow torment Batman on live TV and he could have used every skill and coin and connection he had to take over Gotham. But at the core of who he is, Jason Todd is good.

So, he helps, both Jasons do. It doesn't matter if you agree if what he does is right or how he does it is moral. He saves people, he cleans up the streets, and he does it all from the view of a victim who doesn't want anyone to be able to commit the horrors that were committed to them.

And now if you add the reader into the mix of all of that? Someone he loves? Somewhere between that cell in Arkham and him donning the suit, I think those feelings are going to get twisted. It's not that he loves you any less, it's just that it feels different. Love turns into a desire to possess, and not out of a need to stifle who you are, but out of a need to keep you safe.

He's seen the worst of Gotham, god forbid that ever comes near you. He's going to do whatever it takes to ensure you remain untouched, and untainted, even by him.