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“Sir, telephone call for you upstairs” announced Alfred walking into the cave. Without looking up Bruce replied, “I’m a little busy at the moment Alfred, please could you reschedule”. Alfred continued walking until he reached the edge of the Batcomputer “normally I would sir but it’s Commissioner Gordon on the line” he drawled. Bruce looked up raising an eyebrow “why is the commissioner calling Bruce Wayne?” he asked. “Well sir, that may be what you want to ask him, I’ve taken the liberty of patching him through, he’s on line one when your ready” Alfred replied.
Bruce turned back to the computer picking up the line “Commissioner Gordon, what can I do for you? I’m actually in the middle of a pile of end of quarter reports so it’ll have to be quick”. Commissioner Gordon cleared his throat “I uh, I think this might just take priority Mr Wayne. How quickly can you get down to GCPD?” Jim asked. Bruce chuckled lightly sounding every bit the airhead billionaire “as I said Commissioner Gordon, I am in the middle of something right now but I’d be happy to attend tomorrow in the afternoon” he replied. “I’m afraid that won’t do Mr Wayne, this pertains to your son you see so I’d appreciate if you could come down sooner rather than later” Jim responded. Bruce’s features hardened as he immediately tried to locate Dick’s tracker on the other screen. “What happened to Dick commissioner?” strange, Dick’s tracker showed he was still in Bludhaven and on the move. The commissioner cleared his throat again “ah well, it’s not about Dick actually Mr Wayne, it’s about Jason Todd, we found him you see”.
Bruce looked stricken, Alfred’s hand had flown to his mouth. “Commissioner I think your reports may be out of date; Jason died in Ethiopia in a terrorist attack while he was volunteering as a junior aid worker two years ago. So, you see it can’t be my Jason” Bruce choked. Jim hesitated “Of course Mr Wayne, I apologise for any pain this may have caused but we actually checked his prints against his juvenile detention records and they match. So I really do think you should come to the station if possible”. Bruce stood up “I’ll be there in 20 minutes” he said as Alfred was already walking away towards the garage.
As Bruce changed out of his suit and cowl in a daze he thought back to that night in Ethiopia. Was there any way Jason could have survived? No of course not, he check multiple times and an autopsy was done. No it must be a shapeshifter of some kind, maybe Clayface, or a Martian like Jon. Either way he’d get to the bottom of it and make them regret taking Jason’s image.
The 20-minute drive to the GCPD went by in a blur, neither Alfred or Bruce breaking the silence. Bruce walked into the main lobby with Alfred trailing a step behind. Commissioner Gordon greeted them there shaking both their hands. “I’m sorry for calling you out of the blue but I honestly didn’t know what to do. I have a catatonic boy who’s finger prints match your believed to be deceased son and don’t even start me on the other one” he trailed off. Bruce looked around noting how happy the police appeared to be, a completely uncommon sight at the GCPD. “Why are they all smiling and celebrating?” he asked the commissioner. Jim looked away sheepishly “ah yes about that, Joker escaped Arkham again about an hour ago and-” Bruce cut him off “does Batman know? Are we in danger?” he asked. Jim continued “well no, you see, between you and I the Joker has been found. He’s no longer our worry considering he’s no longer breathing.”
Bruce stopped so abruptly Alfred walked into the back of him “sir, are you quite alright?” Alfred asked having not heard what Jim had said. “The Joker’s dead?” Bruce asked uncertainly. Jim nodded and prompted Bruce to carry on walking. “Yes so as you can imagine most of us are celebrating. Follow me please” Jim gestured for Bruce to continue. As they reached the doorway of Jim’s office Bruce reached for the handle but was stopped by Jim. “I’m not sure if you heard me earlier but Jason appears to be catatonic, he’s just quivering silently, he’s barely spoken a word since we picked them up” Jim stated.
Bruce’s brow furrowed “them?” he asked. Jim loosened his tie “well yes, Jason was unresponsive at the scene but he had a child with him, clinging to him actually. This child is the one who gave us Jason’s name and told us to call you, of course we weren’t going to do that until we checked the prints but when they came back as a match it seemed like the right thing to do. He’s a little… prickly” Jim said opening the door.
As Bruce walked in he could see a young man huddled in the corner with his hands on his head and back against the wall. Jim was right, he was quivering. He couldn’t see much more as the young boy was in front of the man with his hand over his chest, right where his heart was murmuring. Bruce approached slowly taking in all the details. Black hair with two white streaks at the front, the same scar on the eyebrow Jason got all those years ago when he’d forgotten to close the cupboard and walked into the open door. He was big, bigger than Bruce ever expected Jason to be given how malnourished he’d been when he arrived. No matter how much Alfred fed him he never seemed to catch up to the normal expected weight or height.
Taking his eyes off the man he leaned closer to the young boy to hear was he was saying. “That’s it Akhi, breathe with me, in for 5, hold for 4 and out for 5. It’s okay, feel my hand on your heart” the young boy said. Bruce cleared his throat and the young man flinched causing the boy to turn around and give him the filthiest look he’d ever received. Bruce inhaled sharply. Holy shit that child looked exactly like him.
The boy sniffed before standing in front of the young man who no longer feeling the boys hand on his chest grabbed the back of the robe he was wearing. “It’s about time you arrived! I asked these imbeciles to fetch you as soon as they found us but they refused” he spoke clearly and confidently before looking at Commissioner Gordon “you may leave us”. Jim looked at Bruce then Alfred “I’ll give you the room” he said before leaving and closing the door.
The boy looked Bruce up and down “I expected you’d be taller given how tall Akhi is. My name is Damian Wayne Al Guhl, I am heir to the Demon’s Head and the Bat” he said holding out his hand. Bruce had barely taken a breath since seeing his face, Al Guhl, Talia’s doing then. Bruce looked behind the boy, no Damian, back at the quivering young man. Damian followed his sight line “surely you remember Todd, it has only been two years since you saw him last” Damian’s brow furrowed.
Bruce cleared his throat “Damian, I’m not sure who that it behind you but I need you to walk to me slowly” he said lowly. Damian looked confused “what do you mean you don’t know who it is, I just told you it is Todd, your son”. Bruce edged forward again “Damian listen to me, Jason Todd died two years ago, whatever that thing is it’s using his image and I don’t know why” Bruce said getting within reaching distance and grabbing Damian sharply pulling him out of the way and behind him. On losing contact the young man’s breathing became progressively worse to the point of hyperventilating, he whimpered and curled in on himself repeating “Habibi” and “no no no not him”. Damian struggled against Bruce “let me go, he’s having a panic attack! I need to help him! If you do not unhand me I swear I will cut you” Damian threatened wiggling out of Bruce’s grasp.
Damian knelt in front of the young man “I’m here Akhi, Habibi is here, he didn’t get me, breathe with me it’s okay”. Bruce started forward only to stop when Damian’s head whipped back around “I vow to you now father, if you try to remove me from Akhi I will injure you.” Alfred stepped forward slowly “Master Jason, is that you?” he asked tentatively. The young man appeared to stop shaking slightly and looked over at Alfred showing green eyes rather than the expected blue eyes. “Oh my, Master Bruce, it’s him. I don’t know how but it is.” Damian stiffened slightly as Alfred approached and placed a gentle hand on Jasons, no wait the boys. “Alfred we don’t know that-” Bruce started only to be cut off by a quiet “Alfie?” Jason asked gently. Alfred leaned forward engulfing his grandson in a hug “Master Jason, I never thought I’d see you again” he cried.
Bruce approached again lightly, Damian shifting when he got too close “if you harm him you will regret it father” he warned. “Jaylad? Is it you?” Bruce asked optimistically. Jason looked up at him, green eyes shining with tears “dad” he cried. Bruce leaned in hugging Jason as Alfred stepped away. The quivering had stopped completely and his breathing had returned to normal. Bruce stood helping Jason up “lets get back to the manor and run some tests” he said ushering Alfred out of the office. Damian walked next to Jason who had regained his grip on the younger boy’s robes.
“Mr Wayne, don’t forget this” Jim said as he caught up to them handing Bruce a katana. Bruce stood for a second perplexed. “The kid had it when we found both of them, looks to be a replica sword, you know given his cosplay appearance” he said eyes shifting to the side slightly. “Hnn… what did you say the joker died of again Commissioner Gordon?” he asked looking at the barely standing Jason and the proudly confident Damian. “Ah I didn’t, Mr Wayne, cause of death hasn’t been officially determined yet but it appears something mighty sharp beheaded him, maybe an axe or a cleaver” he said staring pointedly at the sword in Bruce’s hands. “Hnn” Bruce replied. Alfred cleared his throat “well Commissioner, thank you for calling us, enjoy the rest of your evening celebrating, we must be off” he said gesturing for Jason, Damian and Bruce to leave.