Jack Spicer
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Batman
Second by second, breath by breath, blink by blink, heartbeat by heartbeat....life was escaping Richard "D;ck" Grayson. *A typical scouting of the city went all to hell when Harley Quinn tricked Grayson, thus leading him into a horrid beat down by The Joker. Cackling laughs echoed through his mind as the monitor began beeping uncontrollably.
"What's goin on, Doc? What's wrong?!" D;ck's orange haired friend , Wally West, *barked at the doctor who was scrambling to the IV.
"He's hallucinating, possibly re-imagining the accident. These drugs should calm him down for now." the doctor said while filling the IV with painkillers. "I'll be back soon. We should receiving tests results anytime now.
"We better." Wally snickered, his eyes following the nervous doctor out the door.
"Wally." Barbara "Babs" Gordon grabbed his sweating hand. "I know what you're thinking and it's not your fault. It's nobody's." His hand shimmered as he sighed.*
"How is it not my fault, Barbara? I let him go out when I could've easy went with him or I could've even went alone." He turned around, looking down at Babs, her eyes nearing tears, her pupils shaking. "I just hate knowing I couldn't help someone so important to me! "
"How do you think I feel everyday?" Barbara gripped her legs with her free hand, tightening the grip every second she realized this was real life and not some nightmare. "I can't help anybody anymore like I used too, but-"
"But what, Babs?" Tim stood up in the corner, his arm bandaged. "Whether we can run or we can't , we're all to blame. We know the territory and we knew that Joker was in town. We underestimated him and now we're paying for it."*
"Tim, you couldn't be more farther from the truth. Instead of blaming the people who could have prevented it, let's blame the one who actually pulled the trigger." Cassandra chimed in, standing on the opposite side of the room. Her lips were drenched with blood stains, as she was the one who found D;ck laying on the cold streets of Bludhaven. Wiping her hand through he short black hair, her fingers attempting to settle the stressful mess somehow, she looked at D;ck's dying face. "Joker was the monster who did this, not us."
"It doesn't matter who's responsible guys. It all matters about D;ck. We're a family. We need to stop focusing on revenge, for now anyways." the bruised blonde, Stephanie, muttered, haulting the argument.
Tim and Cassandra locked eyes as their slight haste boiled down back into worries for their comrade, their friend, their brother. Both sat down, but the grip Barbara held on Wally's hand didn't dwindle. It only strengthened as Wally tightened it with anger and guilt as tears began to escape from his heart out of his eyes. *Barbara had the job of not being able to show emotion. She was ordered not to, she was ordered to control the group and be strong by him.
"Wally, don't..."She couldn't provoke herself to spit out the rest of the words. Who is she to prevent emotion? Emotion makes us human. "Wally, look at me." The tone of her voice was stern and strong, exactly what the room needed. As the speedster lowered his eyes, Barbara let go of his hand and smiled, her lips doing what she was ordered to do, not as Oracle, but as a friend. "It'll be okay. Trust me."
With those words, Wally looked back at D;ck's lifeless face. His heart beating, but no other light of emotion emitted from him. "I hope so. I really do." Wally bent down and hugged Barbara as she wiped his tears away for him, her hand gently wasting away his pain, as well as her own.*
With that one hug, a loud sound emitted from the doorway as the door slammed, shaking both the wall and everyone within the room. The tension raised through the roof of the crowded room as the silent figure of the group left the room with the loudest impact.
Alone in Wayne manner, *Bruce sat by the fire place simply staring at the Bat symbol in the sky. It emulated from the police station, flickering every five seconds or so, like the fire surrounding The Dark Knight. *Even with these distractions, Bruce could feel the figure behind him and the anger it had carried with him.
"You could've knocked, Jason." Bruce turned around to the soaked man known as the Red Hood. His intense eyes clearly stated why he was here.
"Not even in the bat cave? I can understand the police department and maybe, just maybe, the hospital, but you're not even in your safe little cafe? You're hiding from this, aren't you?" Jason snarled at his, basically, father with rage enriching every word. *"What kind of man are you? Everyone is crying, worrying, and even blaming people because of what happened tonight and here you are just sitting here not doing a damn thing about anything. I know you're not a killer, but you're not even a fu€king man anymore."
"What do you want Jason? Get to the point."*
His eyes widening, Jason exhaled his anger and began yelling at Gotham's hero.
"What do I want? I want an answer! Who's fault is it that D;ck's dying? Wally thinks its his, Tim blames us, Cassandra blames The Joker, and Barbara and Stephanie don't want to blame anyone. Who's to blame for all of this?" *Jason said, the rain dropping from his hair and marking the floor. Wrinkling his jacket, he crossed his arms, expecting some half assed answer.
"Who do you blame?" the emotionless smart and certainly controlled Bruce Wayne responded, angering Jason off even more.
"I asked the question, Bruce, but if you want to know....I blame you. I blame you for the blood on Cass's face, the bandage on Tim's arm, the tears on West's face, the scars on Steph's body, Barbara being your tool, and for D;ck's accident! I blame you for Barbara being paralyzed and nearly dying! I blame you for me dying! I blame you for everything! For once in your life end the pain! You made Joker and Joker did all of this simply because you won't kill him. You save a mad man who has killed thousands! It's people like you who let people like Joe Chill kill your parents!!! It's all your because-"*
"Jason!" and with one word, the words of Jason Todd that cut deep into any man's heart came to a sudden stop. "Get out." Bruce followed up, turning his back to watch the fire once more.
"You're just proving me right. Some hero you are." Jason's words echoed and filled the room as he walked down the hallway, into the darkness.*
"Some here you are." Bruce thought. Jason's face repeated those words over and over in Bruce's head. The city beckoned Bruce, no Batman, as their hero, but was he even one? A hero doesn't let people die, especially those close to him, but we have to live by a code. Killers just create killers. Is that true anymore? Even with the most precise moments, there are damned ones. All are seemingly caused by the same monster, but who is the monster? Joker or....me?
Bruce looked up back at the signal, but the light flickered no more as the signal no longer lit up. The city has given up on Batman. Mirroring the signal, the fire began to dampen, but the light was bright enough to shine upon the picture of Bruce's parents.*
"Have I truly let you down? Am I responsible for this?" Bruce's eyes asked his parents. "All of this..."
"Everything?" Just then, memories elapsed in Bruce's heart.
(Harvey Dent's fall from grace.
Ace's, a girl with a broken heart, death.
Stephanie being manhandled by the Joker.
Gordon loosing his family.
Cassandra being tortured.
Tim loosing his friends in the Titans.
Alfred dying.
Barbara getting shot.
Jason dying.
The birth of the Joker.
His parents death.
And now, D;ck's death.)
"Everything was caused by me because I let Joker live. I couldn't end a life and now I've lost so many. Heroes are supposed to make sacrificed. Barry did for Wally, Conner and J'onn did for M'gann, Dianna did for her race, Clark did for the world, and my parent did for me. They are heroes, but what am I?"
I'm the cause of everything.*
Everything.
His heart, full of these thoughts for years, finally escaped their restraint and a waterfall of agony fell from Bruce's eyes. They closed out of the pain, his eyebrows pressuring against his face and his teeth grinding against the pain. They fell and they fall. Memories of everybody flashed over and over. The gunshots and the blood rushed through the falling tears.
It's all my fault. I'm so sorry.
The little boy who never left the bed out of tears returned for one moment, just hiding and crying. Nobody was there to save him from this mess. This time, they boy would finally grow up and be a hero his parents needed. One who erased evil and saved kids, parents, families, and people forever, not just a day. Decisions had to be made. They had too and they were.
The door cracks and squeaked as Batman kicked it open, staring at the clown, with the Bat signal behind him no longer flickering, but shining in anew.
"Joker, we need to talk."
And the door slammed, echoing into the night.
*I literally just wrote this on my iPod just now, so don't expect God level awesomeness. Just a unique one shot. I love the idea of Batman crying. It's weird, but I'd put that in my comic/film. Just let this surreal moment kick in. Hope you enjoyed the short fanfic.*
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