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RedH

CoffeeFiction · Anime & Comics
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5 Chs

Chapter 7 - J

After pillaging every valuable and resource he could find inside Yoshihiro's apartment, Jason grappled away from the balcony, making sure there were no traces of his stay before leaving.

He landed on the sidewalk of the street silently before storing the grapple gun. It was still late at night, clouds covered the moon from view.

[What are your plans now, Jason?]

"For now, I need to find a place to sleep. I'm really fucking tired. It's li—" A loud yawn escaped his mouth. "—like I could close my eyes and immediately fall asleep right now."

He could normally go for days without sleep with almost no problems, so it was strange to feel like just wanting to get knocked out for a day or two, even though he's only been awake for a few hours at most.

Jas hummed inquisitively.

[Ah, I see. This is a side-effect of your body adapting and improving because of your now more powerful soul. The process itself requires your soul to reconstruct your body so that it wouldn't crumble like paper under the power of the soul inhabiting it.]

Jason suppressed another yawn that threatened to come out. "Hmmm. That soul stuff Joe did, huh? Now that I think about it, he said he *created* the perfect physical vessel capable of housing my soul. Ignoring the fact that it looks like he combined Bruce's, Dick's, and my genes, is there anything else I need to know?"

[Not at all. For now, I suggest letting your body rest since forcing yourself to stay awake will only further prolong the process.]

Jason agreed. He already felt like passing out without caring if he slept in a random building's roof, but he preferred a place with a better environment.

For now, he needed to find a place to stay. Preferably a pleasant apartment with enough room for him, but that seemed unlikely at the moment. And his new body's size would make things inconvenient. It turns out, there was no need to find a ruler to measure himself because Jas was connected to him and knew the state of his body down to the subatomic level.

Jas told him he was now approximately six feet and six inches tall. A whole six inches taller than his previous height, and he was now even taller than Bruce by about four inches. That meant small apartments were excluded from his criteria since his larger than normal body wouldn't fit. He'd rather sleep in one of the nice-looking parks Tokyo had than stay in a cramped apartment where the potential to hit his head on the ceiling is constant.

With his destination in mind, Jason started free-running the fastest he could on rooftops, avoiding obstacles in his path, becoming a dark blur across the rooftops.

Moments later, he reached one of Tokyo's western-style parks, Hibiya Park. Blooming trees and flowers filled his vision, which was complimented by the moon's soft glow casting a soft blanket of moonlight. The pleasant and relaxing scent of the flowers and nature pervaded his sense of smell.

When he arrived near the lake, the image of the moon's reflection along with the falling leaves created a picturesque scene that made his hand twitch. The urge to draw or paint such a sight sparked despite never having such an urge before. He ignored it, making a mental note to investigate it later.

Despite it being late into the night, quite a few people were in the area as well. Most of them were couples who took strolls around the park or sat on the benches which had a view of the lake.

Sighing, Jason rested his back on a tree's trunk nearby the lake.

"This spot is nice. I have a beautiful view of the lake, a refreshing, cool breeze," Jason groaned, stretching his arms and placing them behind his head, "And I even have this perfect angle to sleep on."

[I agree. It is quite a view.]

Only the sound of crickets and rustling of leaves could be heard.

Moments later, he was already asleep. Eyes shut, his stomach rose and fell steadily.

[Goodnight, Jason.]

Unfortunately, his sleep would not be ones filled with pleasant dreams, but horrid nightmares.

-===-

3rd Person POV:

In a sealed-off and isolated room in Arkham Asylum, the bloody and bruised figure of Jason in his Robin suit hung, his arms tied with a rope hanging from a hook, and his mouth covered by a piece of cloth.

Sensing the Joker nearby, he woke up, startled and immediately trying to unbind the rope, but to no avail. His body was too *tired* and too *bruised*. It's been a year since he had been captured by the Joker. A year of *constant* physical and mental torture only the bastard could think of.

In the end, as it had always been, there was nothing he could do, so he gave up.

With a lifeless look in his eyes, Jason's head dangled as if he was asleep.

The Joker stepped in from the side, dressed in a purple suit. He looked at Jason's figure with a maniacal grin, holding a rod of metal that had its end shaped into the letter 'J'. The letter glowed a soft orange in the dim room.

"Wakey, wakey~."

Jason kept his head down.

"What's wrong? Do you think I'm going to hurt you?" The Joker asked, brandishing the metal rod in his hand and tapping the heated end with his gloved hand. It sizzled with every tap. "Why? I'm not the bad one here. Oh, no, no, no, no."

Turning around, he pointed at Jason. "It's Batman. He's abandoned you… like an unwanted puppy."

Jason's jaw clenched.

Spotting the clenched jaw, the Joker's grin widened. 'Oh, how *lovely*.'

The Joker crouched and looked up as if a taller person stood in front of him, and spoke while imitating a child's voice. "Can I have him, daddy? Oh please, please, please, please, I'll take real good care of him."

Jason still refused to look at the Joker. He didn't know what the hell the Joker planned on doing, but his sense of foreboding grew.

The Joker stepped forward and turned around, standing at his full height. He looked down at his previous position, taking the role of the parent, and spoke gently in his normal rough and raspy voice. "Anything to make you happy, princess. Just make sure people know he's yours."

The Joker abruptly snapped his fingers, and Jason fell to the ground, the rope that tied him to the hook having been cut.

"We don't want him to end up back here, do we?" The Joker stepped closer, the look he gave Jason and his grin becoming more sadistic with each step.

Jason flinched when he spotted the glowing end of the metal rod. Fearfully, he crawled away from the Joker as quickly as he could, even though every movement he made produced great gasps of pain.

The Joker leaned down at Jason, speaking in a poor imitation of a child's voice. "No, we don't, daddy. I want to keep him forever!"

"No! No Please! Please, no! No!" Jason begged, fear and desperation in his voice.

But the Joker ignored it. 'This… this made life worth living! Oh, how I wish to see the look on Batman's face when he sees it!'

With a gleeful cackle, the Joker lunged towards Jason.

"NOOOOOO!"

-===-

Author's Note: I have returned! School is finished, and that means I can devote more time to writing without having to stress about extra workloads!

In this chapter, I wanted to depict the depths of pain Jason suffered. The Arkham Knight game helped in this case since it has a lot of material for me to use. I'm pretty sure I nailed it, but if you think it can be improved, tell me how in the comments.