Maribat March 2021

Last Time

A continuation of First Time. 

For Maribat March: Day 5 Theme: Last Time

Related to First Time

Bruce 38

Dick 20

Jason 15

Tim 13

Marinette 12

April 27th is the day that ruined Nettie's life and destroyed any chance of a good life she may have had. It sent her down a path she would never recover from. And she dragged everyone down with her.

A cry of pain, hurt, and frustration was heard from Tim Drake's room that evening at family dinner. Tim's parents were home and rushed up the stairs to investigate. Tim was rushing behind them trying to slow them down knowing who they would find. When they reached his room there was a small girl crying watching a report on the death of the Wayne boy. They yelled at the girl for breaking and entering and ordered to have her removed from their home. Her eyes didn't leave the screen until she was dragged from the room only to catch Tim mouthing, 'meet at our spot'.

Later that night she was at their spot, to Tim's surprise. He gave her a big hug that she wouldn't be able to escape no matter how hard she tried.

"I'm sorry Nettie," he whispered into her ear.

Nettie knew Tim was hugging her and had said something, but everything was numb. Everything had been numb since the news turned on and a funeral for Jason was being talked about on live TV. She knew she should have screamed, but she couldn't control it. She had a hard time getting to their spot. She was just lucky she had developed some built-in self-preservation skills over the years.

She broke down in Tim's embrace and Tim just held on to her.

By the time the numbness faded she had shed every tear possible and was dry sobbing. It was a painful sound for Tim to listen to and one that strained her vocal cords.

"Jason Todd is dead and Robin is dead. Robin was killed by the Joker," Nettie whispered.

Tim said, "Bruce is probably covering." Bruce was definitely covering.

"Do you think Joker is still alive?"

Nettie knew Bruce wouldn't kill. But she also knew he cared for Jason. Maybe there would be an exception. After all, Joker was a waste of space before and now he was just a waste of space who took the person Marinette cared most about from the world. He was someone Marinette didn't think deserved to live. And that scared her. Throughout her terrible life, she had never wanted anyone dead before him.

"Bruce doesn't kill, no matter how much someone deserves it. Joker's probably alive, he'll probably end up in Arkham in a few days, probably badly injured, but not dead," Tim said in a very monotone voice.

Nettie snorted, "Jason's dead and that psycho is still breathing. The world sure is fair," her voice cracked. "Jason is dead. And Joker is clearly a free man. It's not fair. I wonder if Jason yelled while he died or if he cried. And what would Joker do? Would he cry or scream? Maybe he'll do that maniac laugh. Is it bad I want to know?" She looked at Tim, "I could probably do it. I have nothing left to lose anyway."

"You want to kill him?" Tim asked, when he got no answer he continued, "Joker took away your family, I think wanting to kill him is normal. I want to kill him just from knowing how much he took from you."

"If I did it you can't help me, Tim."

"Of course I can-"

"NO. You have something to lose. I don't, I have nothing. He killed my family, not sure what your parents were screaming about but I'm pretty sure I was kicked out. You have a family and a company to inherit. I have nothing."

"So we don't get caught, we kill him, he's gone and that's it, no one loses anything."

Wait they were actually considering killing the Joker. She thought it was a hypothetical. Or 5 thoughts ago she thought it was a hypothetical. Now they were considering making that a reality. Was it crazy? Maybe.

"We can't get caught."

...

Three weeks later Joker was found dead beaten to death with a crowbar. And across town, Marinette was crying in Tim's arm at their spot because it was too easy. It was too easy to let it all go and kill Joker. And she was stuck with that truth. Killing Joker was easy, but it didn't bring back Jason, instead, it just dragged her and Tim down a one-way street.

And Tim, Tim didn't care because all he wanted was to see the girl in his arms be happy again. He wanted her to smile and if this is what he had to do for the rest of his life he would do it because he was so hopelessly in love with the girl. Within the last three weeks alone he had left home to live on the streets with her, pickpocketed countless people, and killed an insane clown. To be fair, Tim believed the clown deserved death for all the things he did before Nettie suggested homicide.

Now they knew why Bruce didn't kill, it was too easy. But they suppressed the urge to cause more damage than they already had. And the world went on.

...

The following year on April 27th a mob boss was found dead in the same place Joker was. He had been beaten to death with a crowbar. The year after two dead. And the one after that three. It wasn't until the third year that Batman put them together. Someone was avenging Jason Todd the second Robin. This pattern would continue for five years until the eventual young couple was approached by Jason Todd themselves.

That night they would kill one more person and it would be the last time. The only good was the two never killed an innocent.

Words: 997