Brothers To The Bitter End

5

Jason collapsed on his bed. He had been with the League for 5 months now and had finally completed their training course. This meant that, like Dick and Damian, he had gotten the League symbol branded on his right shoulder blade. It hurt, but the thing that hurt more was the fact that he was now part of something that he didn't believe in. Maybe in another life he would have gladly slaughtered people. But right now, the thought made him sick. He rubbed the back of his head where Talia had implanted a GPS tracker that doubled as a control mechanism months prior, right after he had first joined the League. Jason had found out the hard way that any insubordination resulted in Talia tasing him through the little chip. This made his brain feel like it was on fire, but after a few minutes the feeling would fade.

A soft knock sounded on the door and Dick poked his head in. "How you doing?"

"Not so hot. I feel like every part of me aches."

"You'll get used to that eventually." Dick sat down on his bed and stared off into the distance. Jason was struck by how much Dick looked like himself, the normal joking person who had a huge heart and adored his family more than anything else. And yet in the four years he had be part of the League, Dick had developed a hard edge that Jason had never seen prior to this. He had never personally seen Dick kill someone, but he knew that Renegade, Dick's assassin name, was a top notch assassin, second only to Ra's al Ghul and Damian.

"Will I?" When Dick looked at his brother in surprise, Jason barreled on. "The killing, the destruction, I just . . . I don't know about it all. You always seemed to follow the "justice not vengence" so closely. Why the change?"

Dick ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. "Nothing is easy anymore, Jay. I joined the League to protect Damian but now I . . ." Dick broke off and walked over to the window. He stared at the assassins down there. "There's no way out, Jay. Not for me at least. I've been here four years. I've become their most accomplished assassin, and the one of the only ones who still has their identity totally in tact. That makes me an asset. Short of Ra's al Ghul dying, which won't happen any time soon, I'm here for life."

"And you're ok with that?"

"No. But I've made my bed. Now I have to sleep in it."

"Why did you give it all up? I know for the Demon Spawn, but what's the real reason?"

"You didn't see him. He was only three years old and Ra's treated him like a servant instead of a child. But I could tell that the kid was meant for more. He's not like the rest of them, not yet. I had to try to protect him. And if that meant giving up my life at home, so be it."

"But you had friends, family at home."

"Friends? Yeah, Wally and you. Family? I had Alfred and you and sometimes Bruce. But not really anyone else. I quit the team, Babs and I had a bad falling out . . . I didn't really have anything keeping me at home. I knew you would be better off if I wasn't there to have someone for Bruce to compare you to. Wally was wrapped up with Artemis and the team."

"We mourned you. Even when I knew you were still alive, I still mourned. I missed you, Dick."

"But I bet you stopped having problems with Bruce, didn't you?"

Jason sighed. The truth was that once Dick was gone, he had stopped acting out for attention because Bruce did spend more time with him. He had finally gotten a sense of why Dick was so loyal to Bruce. Bruce had spent more time with him and as a result Jason had finally adopted his "Justice, not Vengeance," motto. And seeing Dick breaking the rule that Jason had so recently adopted, it was difficult.

"We missed you." Jason finally settled on saying.

"I'm not saying you didn't. I'm just saying that I understand that it wasn't necessarily for the worst that I came here."

Jason didn't say anything. How could he? He didn't even know what to say to that. Dick had basically thrown his life away to protect Damian, but now it seemed to be even more than that. Dick really believed that he had done what was best for everyone. That was ridiculous.

But is it? A voice taunted in his head. Life did seem to get better after Dick left.

Dick sighed and gave Jason a weary smile. "I don't expect you to understand right now. But I think you will in time."

"I doubt that."

"So do I," a high pitched voice piped up from the doorway. "But that's more because you're an even bigger idiot that Gray is, Todd." Damian walked in and glared at Jason. Though not even quite eight yet, Damian had developed a fierce loyalty to Dick. Damian wasn't allowed to show affection, but when they were alone, Damian showed an awkward sort of affection towards Dick that he never showed to anyone else.

"Thanks, Dami." Dick smiled wearily at his younger brother and casually ruffled his hair. If anyone else had done that, Damian would have hissed and cut them. But he accepted it with a smile when Dick did it.

"Grandfather wants you in the main hall, Gray. He says there's another mission he has in mind for you."

"All right. I'll be there in five. You gonna be ok here by yourself, Jay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Dick." Jason gave his brother a tired smile. As soon as Dick and Damian had left, Jay flopped face down on his bed a sighed. This mess was only going to get more tangled from here.