Protect The Batboys

oh brother

Talia Al Ghul is standing five feet away from me.

Are you neglecting the fact she said 'ghosting'?

Focus, Wally!

Relax, its just my mother.

Yeah, who happens to be Talia Al Ghul, a known and very deadly assassin!

Talia ran her fingers along the bookcase full of movies, turning to the team and Wayne boys with a quirked brow. "Are you quite finished being shocked that I am here?" The team swallowed thickly but nodded dutifully. "Good, now let us get to business."

"You decide to show up at my home - after abandoning me here - because I won't answer your calls?" Damian sneered at his mother, shaking his head with disgust. "Mother, I expect better from you."

"I admit the whole thing reeks of...desperation." Talia rolled her eyes, narrowing them at her son. "But I assure you, I have come with only the best intentions."

Damian snorted. "Of course you have. Let us get this over with. Why are you here?"

"I have come because of your brother."

"Which one?" Damian gestured to Dick and Tim with an exasperated tone. "As you can see, I have two."

Awe, I knew you cared demon spawn.

Shut it, Drake.

"Three, actually." Damian's eyes immediately went to his mother's abdomen. "No, I am not with child. I am talking about your brother who has risen from the dead."

Dick snarled, instantly at Talia's throat. "You better not be talking about who I think you are."

"I am. Jason Todd is very much alive, bu-"

Dick cut off Talia with a scream. "After everything he has been through, why could you not let him rest in peace?"

"He was never dead in the first place." That shut everyone in the room up, a tense and confused silence falling upon the teens as they tried to process what Talia said, nobody able to come up with an explanation. Talia sighed before launching into her story. "The night your brother Jason supposedly died, the League was there. We were ready. When the Joker left the warehouse and Jason within an inch of death, we struck. We replaced his body with an exact copy, taking the real Jason back to our headquarters where we dunked him in the Lazarus pits."

"But that begs the question of why you where there with a body double of Jason?" Artemis asked, finally finding her voice in the presence of the assassin.

"Unless you were planning on faking his death all along." Tim muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. All eyes snapped back to Talia.

"Its true, we were planning on faking his death that night. The Joker just made our job easier." Talia shrugged unapologetically.

"Why? Why fake his death and put us through all this only to tell us years later that he is actually alive?" Dick snapped.

"We were recruiting him for the League, but due to the brain damage the Joker inflicted on him there were...complications." Damian made a 'continue' gesture with his hands impatiently. "He was an amnesiac for the first year of his return, so he spent much of his time shut away at one of our remote locations where he inevitably got his memories back, however, they were distorted."

"How so?"

"We tried our best to keep outside influences away from him but somehow he found a Gotham newspaper that told of my beloved adopting you, Timothy, and that kickstarted his memories. He became consumed with vengeance, so much so that I had no choice but to send my own son away to live with his father so I could dedicate my time to trying to heal the broken mind of Jason."

"Wait, Todd is the reason I was sent to live here?"

"Yes, it was safer for you here. When Jason regained his memories, he became blood thirsty. He began to slaughter our teachers and soldiers during his trainings, his rage never dulling for a moment. When he wasn't training, he was studying every bit of news on Bruce Wayne and his sons. He became obsessed."

"Where is he now?" Kaldur asked, ignoring the sense of dread that was worming its way into the pit of his stomach.

"He snuck off our island and killed the soldiers we sent after him. Nobody has seen him in weeks."

"You're telling me you lost my brother after training him to be a killing machine, letting him loose on the world?" Dick looked five seconds away from throttling Talia. "You must have some idea where he is."

"If I did, I wouldn't have been so adamant about warning you three and your father about his inevitable arrival."

"Wait, what?" Wally gulped, not liking the idea of probably having to fight his not-so-dead-dead teammate.

Talia let out a long drawn out sigh. "Weren't you listening? He is fueled by revenge and rage, of course he is coming here!"

"Try here." Everyone froze, turning in what felt like slow motion to the door where Talia made her entrance not too long ago to see Jason Todd standing there with a lazy smirk. He was armed to the teeth with an assortment of knives and shuriken, two swords strapped to his back with a slightly crazed expression to his tinted green eyes. He pushed himself off the doorway he was leaning on, dusting himself off as he made eye contact with everyone in the room individually before speaking. "Sorry I'm late, I was admiring the changes dear old daddy made to the place since I went and died. I like it, but I would make some changes, maybe get rid of some unnecessary additions and outdated décor." He narrowed his eyes at the three brothers, his smirk becoming more twisted and malicious. "Starting with you three."