IC Contact

[batmansphoenix]

Speak.
Or not. Free country.

Comments

[jesses]

It was supposed to be empty.

[ well clearly they had the same idea of breaking into empty apartments and establishing caches or safehouses. ]

[batmansphoenix]

Technically it is. I'd explain what I was doing here but something tells me you were going to do the same.

[A beat.] How are you?

[jesses]

[ um. ]

...what?

[batmansphoenix]

Lost track of you. Asked B, asked Loki, even Clark. No one would give me a fucking straight answer.

Guess they don't want to black sheep to corrupt you.

[jesses]

[ wary, ]

I didn't know you'd appointed yourself my babysitter.

If anything, they ought to be worried that I'll corrupt you.

[batmansphoenix]

I'm not your babysitter. I'm you. Of course I'll keep an eye on you.

[He reaches to rub his forehead with the hand that isn't holding a knife. He just really hopes he doesn't need to use it because last time it was... honestly unsettling, to see himself so evenly matched. He's lost, he's won, but it's different when you're fighting against yourself. So even if the need to talk about what this Jason did to Barbara burns in his tongue he holds back. He has to check on him first.]

Come in? If it were a trap I wouldn't have fucking opened the door like a loser.

[jesses]

If it were a trap you'd need a lot more guys.

[ big talk, but he's favoring his shoulder as he moves into the apartment. ]

[batmansphoenix]

[Jason rolls his eyes, like he usually does with dealing with Twin. If he really sounds like that it's no wonder he gets on people's nerves, what a tool.]

Sure thing bro. Wanna spill what happened between you and B? Got his version of the events but we both know he sees things his own particular way when it comes to us.

[jesses]

You went to him? [ cue sudden irrational jealousy. ]

He's not your Batman. What the hell gives you the right to stick your nose into our business? And don't say it's because you're me, you're not me.

[batmansphoenix]

[Jason turns around, actively giving Twin his back as he looks for something in one of the drawers. Eventually he hands him a black pendrive.]

The entire conversation I had with him is in here. But you're right, it's not just that. It's just fun to push his buttons, no matter the universe and I couldn't stay away. [He'd lost Bruce once, only recently gotten him back. It was... complicated, dealing with all the contradictory feelings. But he isn't going to tell that to him.]

And I'm not technically you, but it's close enough that I wanted to try to help. One of us should get a fucking chance at fixing things before it's too late and God knows it's not going to be me.

Doesn't matter anyway, it went to shit and I'm done trying with him.

[jesses]

I'm not trying to fix things with him. [ he says, but that's less true than he wants it to be. he'd been serious about surrendering to bruce... if it was really bruce. they'd had their battle and he lost.

that doesn't stop him from snatching up that pendrive, though. ]

You don't know what happened to him. He's not-- it's not safe.

Don't you ever put yourself alone with him again.

[batmansphoenix]

[He points at the pendrive.] I know what he told me. I also know that while he usually tells the truth it's never the whole truth.

Why don't you tell me your side of the story?

[jesses]

[ jason folds his arms defensively. ]

So you can also decide that I'm insane and that every word out of my mouth is either a lie or a delusion?

[batmansphoenix]

[He points at his own head.] Pits, remember? I'm the one who's actually insane, certified and everything.

What I think doesn't really matter.

[jesses]

[ that first part might be true, but the second part is not. he gives his twin a long, distrusting look. this shit was all so much easier when he was surrounded by mercenaries that he was paying, and never had to justify himself to. he'd legitimately never given a shit what they thought. ]

I was away from Gotham from a long time, after... after. I was a fucked up mess. In no shape to kill the Joker or confront Batman. I left so I could make myself stronger, build up a power base.

And I needed to be away from him. Both of them. I was so fucking mad I could hardly think straight some days. It was all I could do not to walk into Wayne Tower and just--

[ well, you know. his fingers twitch with the remembered impulse of pulling a trigger, and he clenches his hands into fists. ]

I couldn't trust myself. I had to leave.

[batmansphoenix]

[Jason nods. That part he's aware of. Not because no one told him, but because he's lived it himself. Even after Talia, even after he begun to find his own way away from everyone else's plans he still couldn't face Bruce right away. Still couldn't take care of the Joker of his own. So he trained, got ready, made the contacts needed for the plan in his head until he was ready to make his move.

He figured Twin would have done something similar.]

And during that time Joker died and B got infected?

[jesses]

[ w e l p

that jerks his head up. ]

...who told you. Loki? Did he fucking-- of course he did. After all that bullshit he spouted to me about how it was so impossible for the infection to be active here.

[batmansphoenix]

Loki's a meddling little fucker that needs to back the hell of, but no. B himself told me. And for the record it's not bullshit, it goes against everything the Eudites stand for- but I'm not trying to convince you. We'll find a way to make sure he's not infected.

But I need the whole story for that.

[jesses]

You'd have to ask Drake for that. I was halfway around the world when I heard Joker was dead, I didn't know there there was any kind of infection until I came back to Gotham and discovered a lab full of Joker clones that Batman had been keeping locked up. He had Drake busy running experiments on them.

[batmansphoenix]

Well that must have been a party. [He mentions Drake, not 'replacement'. That's something to pay attention to. He wonders if he was ok with someone else taking his job, or if he just grew to like Tim.]

D'ya know what the infection is, exactly?

[jesses]

[ he's definitely not, but he'd known tim before he'd ever been made robin. bruce hadn't picked him out, batgirl had. ]

It really wasn't.

I took a glance at the notes from the experiments, but I didn't have a lot of time. I know it attacks the brain, rewrites the personality. The copies were starting to show outward physical characteristics before the end.

[ he shuts his eyes briefly, remembering. ]

...his eyes were green. He had started to see things. Fight enemies that didn't exist. Hallucinations.

[batmansphoenix]

[Well, fuck. At least when Bruce died Jason wasn't there, wasn't even made aware until weeks later. He didn't have to witness his falling. He wants to say he's sorry, but if someone told him that he'd punch them. He figures Twin's the same.]

Is it viral? bacterial? How do you even get infected?

[jesses]

[ clipped, ]

It's a variation of Bane's Venom compound. Far as I know it's blood-born. Joker sent it out to the hospitals, but B caught most of them in time before anyone was given the infected blood.

[ most of them. ]

He missed four. And he was the fifth victim. Joker got him during their last fight-- and he didn't tell anyone. For a whole fucking year, he didn't tell anyone.

[batmansphoenix]

[He reaches to rub his forehead. He isn't even surprised.]

Yeah. That sounds like something he'd do. And why do you think he's still infected?

[jesses]

Because there's no cure. And because one of the victims seemed to be completely immune, seemed to still be himself, right up until he murdered the others.

[ his shoulders hunch up unconsciously. ]

It hid. Joker hid inside him, under his skin, and then jumped out like a punchline. I saw the footage. The guy put a gun to his own head and blew his brains out after he'd killed the others. He wanted there to be only one. A worthy copy.

[ it's possible some of this is pure speculation, honestly, as jason's voice gets increasingly upset and unsteady the longer he talks. he bursts into motion to pace, raking a hand through his hair like a nervous tic. ]

You get it, right? There's only one left. Only one surviving copy. And nobody wants to believe it, nobody wants to think it could be possible but I saw it. I didn't know what it was at first, I thought it was just the fear toxin affecting him, but I saw his eyes. I didn't want it to be true.

[ he sucks in a breath, facing away from jason and staring at the wall. ]

I didn't want it.

[ and after a moment of silence, ]

I saw him throw Drake in a containment cell. He put Robin in a cell and then Scarecrow found him, trapped, and took him.

[ and that definitely doesn't resonate horrifically to jason nope not at all. ]