Chapter Text
When his two boys emerged from under amusement mile, Bruce felt overwhelming relief. But beneath that relief was also worry. Worry that Jason would leave him again, that Jay would be right back where he started, the headache he would have with dealing with this and the rest of the family. The fact that Jay and Jason were two different people wasn’t exactly something he was open about. He never really lied about it, but he never stressed the truth either. Whatever this was, it would not be easy to deal with the fallout.
It had been a very tense and quiet drive back to the manor. Typically that only happened if something was very wrong, a fact that set Bruce very much on edge. More on edge than he already was. Jay was completely silent, Jason at least made some remarks and protested at the idea of getting in the batmobile. But Jay was not doing well at all and Jason had very reluctantly agreed to come with to keep an eye on him. They both agreed Jason was far more equipped to deal with a joker victim than Bruce.
Jason didn’t know how bad it was, but the kid was smart, he likely already figured out that things were worse than he made out. Also he seemed to be keeping the argument to a minimum for Jay’s case. Otherwise it would be so much more volatile. He didn’t know what was worse, the screaming and insults, or the silence.
They pulled into the cave to find Anderson and Alfred waiting for them. Jason immediately drew a gun, pointing it at Anderson as he climbed out.
“Fuck is this Bruce? You just let anyone in here?” Jason demanded. Anderson didn’t look phased by the weapon. Bruce really should have taken the guns off of him, but they seemed to make him feel safe and he wasn’t about to interfere in that. Not when emotions were so high already. And it wasn’t his place to take weapons off of adults unless they were actively hurting people. Which Jason hadn’t done quite yet, but he might. He was currently praying Anderson didn’t say something stupid.
“Nah. Had to fight my way down when I heard about the kid. Come on boss, you can get out now.” Anderson said, gesturing for Jay to get out of the car.
Jay was silent as he did, climbing out and looking around. “Where’s the rest of the troops?” He asked. His first words since they left amusement mile. That… did not bode well.
Anderson’s face fell but he quickly covered it up. “They’re back at base but the place was compromised. We can’t go back. Rich bastard offered his place so I’m taking all his money.” He said, motioning with his head towards Bruce.
Jason made eye contact with Alfred and mouthed ‘troops?’ As soon as he saw Alfred he refused to even look at Bruce which hurt. It cracked his soul a little, but he always knew Alfred was the favourite.
“It would not do well to gossip or make plans to rob a man in his own home. I made biscuits.” Alfred stated in his own, overly collected way, holding out a tray.
It was like a silent stalemate, waiting for the shootout. No one willing to move first in case something erupted.
Anderson shrugged and reached for a biscuit. “Never could say no to free food. Come on boss, let’s go grab a post op shower. Bet you’re fucking desperate to wash that shit off ya.” He said, grabbing two and holding one out to Jay.
Jay hesitantly took it and silently followed Anderson upstairs.
As soon as they left, Jason turned on him.
“What the fuck Bruce?! You always got on at me to be careful about secret identities and shit then you bring some kid, who I haven’t forgotten has my fucking face, and his fucking what, employee? Caretaker? What is this?!” Jason yelled, rather predictably.
He knew this was coming. It had been coming for a long time.
“Lieutenant Anderson was hired by the Arkham Knight to serve in his private militia. The Knight was a vicious and dangerous mercenary rumoured to have been trained by Deathstroke in his own universe. Both the Knight and Anderson were involved in an incident involving universal travel. They’ve been staying here since while Wayne Industries works on a way to send them back.” Bruce said in his Batman voice. Facts only. Report what matters and nothing else.
Maybe that was the wrong choice. Jason seemed even more pissed off by that.
“What the fuck?! Are you insane?! You just let a genocidal maniac with a fucking army live in your house with kids around? Are you actually crazy?!” Jason yelled again, gesticulating with his weapons as he paced back and forth.
“Jason.” Bruce said. Jason gritted his teeth when he heard his name. “He has been living here and not caused an issue. There were some incidents, but those were mental breakdowns. You saw the kid. He doesn’t have a concept of reality, Joker <em>broke</em> that for him. He needs help and I know he will not get that in Arkham.”
Jason snorted and put his guns away, crossing his arms. “You’re right about that. Arkham doesn’t do shit. But how are you gonna help him? You’re not a fucking psychiatrist. I mean you can’t save anyone, you couldn’t even save me.”
The remark cut Bruce to his core. Because he was right. He couldn’t save anyone, he couldn’t save his own children. He had always failed everyone he loved and now he was failing a kid that wasn’t even really his. He had his Jason back but he couldn’t give up on Jay. Maybe fixing would be too much for him to do, he just wanted to stop making things worse.
“Jay is not in any position to see a therapist. It’s his story to tell, not mine, but I can tell you he is Jason Todd from another universe that also had his own incident with the Joker. He is skilled and trained with PTSD amongst others. A civilian psychiatrist would not be safe.” Bruce explained again, trying to press to Jason how serious the situation was.
But Jason just rolled his eyes. “And those kids are? You’re a fucking hypocrite. I see nothing’s changed.” He snapped and turned on his heels, marching towards the exit. Not the one into the manor, but the garage door they normally took vehicles out on for patrol. Jason stopped and got on a bike. “I’m taking this as payment. Your kid is saved or whatever. That’s what I was here for, right?” He said.
Bruce wanted to stop him. Make him stay. But what could he say?
Instead he watched Jason drive away and tear off into the night, like the coward Bruce was. He just wanted all his kids safe and at home. Why couldn’t he tell them that?
——
Anderson guided Jay, no, the Knight to his room. The poor kid still seemed really spaced out, like he wasn’t aware of what was happening or even where he was. Which, was kind of fair. They were on a completely different earth, which was absolutely insane by the way, why did everyone act like this was normal? Anyway, they were on a different earth. Of course he didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know much about the kids personal life, he didn’t even know he was a kid until at most a couple months ago, but there might have been differences between this world and theirs. After all, the other Jason, or whatever his name was, seemed nothing like the Knight.
Sure there was that same anger but nothing like the Knight’s. When the Knight was angry he was <em>angry.</em> He once watched him take out a man’s eye with a spoon because he said Batman would be an easy fight. Apparently the Knight wanted to prove a point but Anderson still wasn’t sure what point he was proving.
He opened the door and sat the Knight on his king size bed with red sheets. A fucking king. Anderson was used to sleeping on a cot, these rich people and their bullshit commodities. It was nuts.
He refers to him as Knight, but really this guy feels different. He’s not the kid he had gotten to know during their time here. But he’s also not the Arkham Knight, he doesn’t have that anger, that obsession and madness that the Knight had. Right now he’s just a lost little kid doing whatever an adult asked. Which, why was he the one in charge? Like hell should he ever be put in charge of a kid. Actually, why the fuck did these people keep trusting their kids to him?! He’s a merc who took a bit of a sabbatical cause he no longer needs the money, got kicked out of the army, been to prison a few times, fuck is he doing here, with children? And one of them being his own boss?! Anderson was not a trustworthy type in the slightest. Life he lived, how could he be?
The knight lay down on the bed obediently, as if waiting for something. Instead of whatever it was, Anderson tucked him in.
“What? The fuck you doing?” The knight asked, that oh so familiar spark of anger and growl surging forwards. There it was. Better this than an empty shell. Anger he could work with. Emptiness and blind obedience? Nope. Not a clue.
Anderson snorted and stepped back, arms crossed. “Fuck it look like? Been a long day, boss. Earlier you go to bed, earlier I can fuck off and do my own thing.” He said.
The knight glared at him, crossing his arms underneath the blanket. It took constant repetition in Anderson’s mind of the fact that this was a dangerous and highly unstable killer not to laugh.
“Look. You wanna sulk, be my guest. Fact is, some shit went down, I weren’t around for it, so I figured you’d need some rest.” Anderson stated, sitting on the edge of the bed.
The knight rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Some shit went down, and you fucks did nothing!” He snapped suddenly, grabbing the nearest thing, a lamp, and throwing it at Anderson’s head.
Anderson ducked, avoiding it easily. Clearly the Knight wasn’t that pissed off, otherwise there would’ve been no avoiding it. He missed on purpose.
That was the thing that people didn’t realise, the Boss had different moods. They all looked like anger, but they weren’t, anger just happened to be the most prominent. He seemed to be in his emotionally needy mood, the one where he snapped and threw stuff and lashed out because he wanted someone close but didn’t know how to ask for it. Or at least, that’s what Jay did. He didn’t actually know anything much about the Knight. The knight never let anyone get close or see his face, so the fact that Anderson wasn’t currently a corpse meant one part of the Knight wanted him here.
“Tried to boss, but I ain’t cut out for that hero shit, woulda been a corpse if I went after him. Sides, somebody needed to hold down the fort and make sure nobody did something stupid, and it sure as shit ain’t gonna be one of these chucklefucks.” Anderson said gesturing towards the door with his head.
The knight shrugged and nodded slightly. Seemed he conceded, Anderson was right after all. Nobody in this manor was exactly trustworthy with, well, any situation that needed a delicate touch. Sides from that butler, he had a good head on his shoulders. The rest? Eh, that was heavily up for debate. Specially considering only two were adults and one was just barely old enough to be an adult that was never around. The other adult definitely should not have any form of responsibility or decision making capabilities. Despite his reputation, Batman was a fucking moron. Not that he would ever say that out loud. Why had he ended up with the dumbest and scariest family on any earth? Oh yeah, cause he followed his scary dumbass boss.
“Definitely not my place but do you wanna, like, talk about it?” Anderson asked, already wincing in anticipation for the blow that was going to come. Probably a stab wound knowing the Knight.
Instead, nothing came, the Knight just sighed and turned over, staring at the wall. “Am I doing the right thing? I just want him to be safe but the moron went and got himself kidnapped again. Then some new old kid pops up, a perfect replacement. I mean my goal is to kill Batman, and Joker, but that didn’t go so well last time.” He sat up, locking eyes with Anderson. “I know what I need to do. I need to kill the replacement.” He said with a growl, that oh so familiar determination and madness lurking behind his eyes.
And, yikes. Anderson was all for violence as a solution, but killing more people didn’t seem to be the answer here. Not that he could ever tell the Knight that. He still didn’t want to be a corpse.
“Hey, killing Batman didn’t work, but you didn’t really try killing Joker. Like, you haven’t been actively hunting him. So maybe we take care of the clown fucker first, then see if something needs to be done about the replacement? It’s not like he’s been an issue. He’s the one that got you out. Maybe you could team up?” Anderson suggested, internally wincing with every word. Saying literally anything to the Knight normally ended badly.
There was a very tense moment of silence. Had Anderson just seriously fucked up?
Instead, the Knight leaned forwards, snatching a tablet off of the side table. “Get the fuck out, Lieutenant, I need to plan.” He snapped at him, that cold voice coming through.
Anderson did not need to be told twice. He was fucking out of there as fast as he could be. It would be good to know what the boss was planning, but again, he enjoyed being stab free. If boss was going after the replacement, that was the kids problem to deal with. Not his.