Magdala Valley, Ethiopia - A Red Cross Relief Center
The air smelled of dry earth and antiseptic. It was blistering hot.
Jason parked his dusty motorcycle outside the medical tent. He wasn't wearing his Robin suit. Just jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. He looked like any other traveler, except for the desperate hope in his eyes.
He walked into the tent. A woman with tired blonde hair and a stethoscope around her neck was inventorying boxes of medicine.
Dr. Sheila Haywood.
"Can I help you?" she asked, not looking up.
"Sheila?" Jason's voice cracked.
She stopped. She turned slowly. She looked at his blue eyes—her eyes.
"Jason?" she whispered. "Is that... my God. You're so big."
She walked toward him, trembling. Jason stood frozen. He had imagined this moment a thousand times in his foster homes, in the alleyways, even in the Batcave.
She reached out and touched his face.
"My baby boy," she cried. "I thought you were gone. I thought your father..."
"He's dead," Jason said. "Catherine is dead too."
"Oh, Jason. I'm so sorry. I should never have left you. I was young, I was stupid, I was hooked on..."
She pulled him into a hug.
Jason stiffened, then melted. For the first time since Bruce found him stealing tires, the anger evaporated. He wasn't Robin. He wasn't a soldier. He was just a kid hugging his mom.
"It's okay," Jason murmured into her shoulder. "I found you. It's okay now."
Twenty Minutes Later
They sat at a small folding table, drinking lukewarm water. Jason didn't tell her about Batman. He just said he was adopted by a rich guy in Gotham.
"Why are you here, Sheila?" Jason asked, looking around the sparse tent. "Joker said you were an aid worker."
Sheila flinched at the name. "How... how do you know that name?"
"It doesn't matter. Why are you here?"
"I'm trying to make amends, Jason. Doing good work. Helping people."
Jason looked at the boxes she had been counting. They were marked 'Medical Supplies - Urgent.' He noticed something odd. One of the boxes was slightly open. Inside, it wasn't medicine.
It was cash. Rubber-banded stacks of American bills.
Jason's stomach dropped. The detective training kicked in, overriding the emotion.
"Sheila," Jason stood up slowly. "What's in the boxes?"
"Medicine, Jason. Sit down."
"That's not medicine. That's money. A lot of money."
Sheila's face went pale. The loving mother mask slipped, revealing terrified eyes.
"Jason, listen to me. It's complicated. The local warlords, they demand tribute..."
"You're embezzling aid money," Jason realized, horror washing over him. "You're stealing medicine from sick people and selling it on the black market."
"I had no choice! I owed people money back in Gotham! Dangerous people!"
"What people?" Jason demanded.
A slow, terrifying clap echoed from the back of the tent.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Bravo! The prodigal son is also a detective! Doesn't the apple fall far from the tree!"
The back flap of the tent pushed open. The Joker stepped inside. He was wearing a safari outfit, complete with a pith helmet, holding a long, rusted crowbar.
"Hello, Jason!" Joker grinned. "Did you have a nice reunion? Did you exchange awkward stories? Did she tell you how much she missed you?"
Jason lunged for Sheila, putting himself between her and the Joker.
"Don't touch her!" Jason snarled, sliding into a fighting stance. He didn't have his suit, but he had his rage.
Joker just laughed. He leaned casually against a stack of stolen money.
"Oh, kiddo. You don't get it, do you? I didn't find her. She works for me."
Jason froze. He looked back at his mother.
Sheila couldn't meet his eyes. She was shaking, looking at the Joker with abject terror.
"Tell him, Dr. Haywood!" Joker twirled the crowbar. "Tell him who supplied the capital for your little side hustle! Tell him who owns your debt!"
"Sheila?" Jason whispered. "Tell me he's lying."
Sheila looked up. Tears were streaming down her face, but they weren't tears of love anymore. They were tears of cowardice.
"I'm sorry, Jason," she sobbed. "He... he said he'd kill me if I didn't cooperate. He knew you were coming. He set it all up."
Jason felt like he'd been punched in the gut. The reunion, the hug, the tears... it was all a performance to keep him there until Joker arrived.
"You sold me," Jason's voice was hollow. "Again."
"Now then!" Joker stepped forward. "Business time!"
He looked at Sheila.
"I'll make you a deal, Doc. You want your debt cleared? You want to walk out of here alive?"
Joker pointed the crowbar at Jason.
"He's the payment. Give him to me. You walk away. He stays for the... festivities."
Jason looked at his mother. He was Robin. He could take Joker. But he needed to know.
"Sheila," Jason said. "Don't do it. We can fight him."
Sheila looked at the Joker, then at the exit flap of the tent. She looked at Jason—the son she abandoned, the son who was now standing between her and freedom.
Self-preservation won.
"Take him," Sheila whispered to the Joker. "Just let me go. I don't know him. He's just a stranger."
The words hit Jason harder than any fist. He lowered his guard. He stared at her, totally broken.
"Awwww!" Joker cackled. "Isn't motherly love beautiful?!"
WHACK.
Joker swung the crowbar. It caught Jason square in the ribs.
Jason gasped, crumbling to the dirt floor. The pain was searing, but it was nothing compared to the hole in his chest where his heart used to be.
"Let's begin the lesson!" Joker shouted, standing over him.
WHACK. The crowbar came down on his shoulder. CRACK.
Jason gritted his teeth. He refused to scream. He remembered Sebastian's lessons on pain tolerance. Breathe. Compartmentalize. It's just nerve signals.
WHACK. Across the spine.
"Why aren't you screaming?!" Joker yelled, frustrated. "The other one screamed! Scream for me, bird boy!"
Jason looked up, blood pouring from his nose. He spat at Joker's boots.
"Go to hell."
Joker's eyes went dark. The fun was over.
"Have it your way."
He began to beat Jason in earnest. Brutal, sickening blows.
Sheila stood in the corner, watching her son being beaten to death, too cowardly to move, too cowardly to look away.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Joker stopped, panting.
Jason was lying in a pool of blood. He couldn't move his legs. His arm was shattered. He was barely conscious.
"Whew! Cardio!" Joker wiped sweat from his forehead. He dropped the bloody crowbar next to Jason's head.
Joker walked over to the exit. He picked up a briefcase.
"Well, Sheila, a deal's a deal! Your debt is cleared!"
Sheila sobbed in relief, taking a step toward the door.
Joker pulled a small remote detonator from his pocket.
"Oops! Almost forgot! I hate leaving loose ends. And witnesses are such a drag."
He pushed a button.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A red light began flashing on a crate of "medical supplies" near the center of the tent. A time bomb. 00:60 seconds.
"You cheated!" Sheila screamed.
"I'm a villain, darling! It's what I do!" Joker laughed. He threw smoke pellets down and vanished out the back flap.
Sheila ran to the door. It was locked from the outside. She ran to the windows. Barred.
She was trapped.
She turned and looked at Jason, broken on the floor.
"Jason!" she screamed, running to him. "Jason, get up! We have to get out!"
Jason opened his eyes. One was swollen shut. He looked at the woman who had betrayed him twice.
"Now... you want... me?" Jason choked out blood.
"Jason, please! I don't want to die!"
Jason tried to move. His body screamed in agony. He couldn't stand.
He looked at the bomb. 00:15 seconds.
He knew he wasn't going to make it.
He reached into his boot. With trembling, bloody fingers, he pulled out the small silver transponder Sebastian had given him.
He pressed the button.
"Sebastian," Jason whispered, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry."
00:03... 00:02... 00:01...
Outside - The Sky
The Batwing screamed across the Ethiopian desert at Mach 3.
"Transponder signal detected," I announced from the co-pilot seat. "It's weak. He's close."
"There," Batman pointed. "The aid station."
We saw the tent.
And then, we saw the flash.
KA-BOOM.
The desert night lit up with a massive fireball. The tent, the medical supplies, the stolen money... it was all instantly vaporized in a cloud of fire and dust.
"JASON!" Batman roared.
He shoved the throttle forward, diving the jet toward the inferno.
I sat silently in the cockpit. My demon eyes watched the explosion. I saw the souls depart.
One was small, gray, and terrified. Sheila.
The other...
I didn't see the other one.
I clutched the dashboard, my knuckles turning white, my fingernails digging into the metal console.
We were too late. The bird had fallen.
Then... we hunt the Clown."
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