Batman and Spider-Man

Chapter 14

Batman and Spider-Man

Chapter 14

After the incident with the Lizard, Jason was back in the manor and it was as if nothing had changed. That was bullshit of course but as Alfred always said, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Peter still came over to the manor in the afternoon to train, this time Barbabra joined spending half of her time in the Batcave and the other half watching Peter train. Alfred still walked over, handing over refreshments to Jason, Bruce and Peter in between their training sessions. The only major difference was that on occasion Mr. Murdock would join in, updating them on the Lizard case, their meeting regularly carried out in the dining room.

"James's family agreed to let him stand as witness," Matthew said. "If all goes well and the prosecutor takes the deal, he'll be looking at Blackgate."

"Gotham prosecutors almost never take deals," Barbara said. "That's why we have Arkham. Understaffed and overworked."

Mr. Murdock knew that. Jason could tell by the specks of white stubble on his chin.

"We still have the Otto problem," Peter said. "Otto still hasn't showed his face and unfortunately all his goons are loyal."

"Any word of him?" Bruce asked Matt.

"Other than his tiny joint in Crime Alley," Matt said. "No."

The team let out a sigh of defeat.

"What about Billy?"

Bruce's team of vigilantes stared at him in astonishment. Besides the usual affirmations, it had been a while since Jason had talked to any of them properly.

"He'll be fine," Mr. Murdock said. "We're trying our best to get him the best care he deserves."

Jason scoffed. "Funny that's exactly what I heard before I ended up on the streets."

"Right now, our priority is Otto," Bruce said.

"You know, you're the guy who put my dad in Blackgate," Jason said. "Was it your priority for my mum to die of an overdose and end up in the streets after that?"

"Jason," Barbara and Peter called out to him but Jason ignored their calls and left them alone. It was raining, like it always did in Gotham so he put his red hoodie on and started roaming Bruce's Garden, the rain making the red on his hoodie look like blood.

...

They didn't talk about their falling out. Bruce was never one to talk but the silence between them was overbearing on Jason. He didn't know if it was the same for Bruce. Despite the hassle the paparazzi gave him after Bruce's 'big secret' (the secret being Jason himself) was revealed, Bruce's paranoia didn't explode in a fit of rage. It seemed after revealing the whole leg thing, a tiny part of him had healed. The paparazzi didn't leave any stone unturned, exposing his 'rotten' past as if it were a long-abandoned corpse but Bruce and the newspapers he owned had protected him from the major fallout that would bring on a child, the story being that Bruce took sympathy on him and was sorting out the adoption process.

Admittedly, Jason didn't know enough about adulthood but he was glad that within the weeks after Curt's capture, Bruce did everything he could to protect him from the media shitshow that came with a past like his. Despite the weight of Bruce's silence weighing on him, Bruce didn't mind when he snuck out. If it were up to Jason, he'd leave that manor and Bruce behind but after working with him for so long and absorbing some of Peter and Bruce's self-righteous ways, he always found himself coming back to that godforsaken manor on a hill through the sewage tunnels that he had a mental map off thanks to all of Bruce's training.