Notes:

This chapter is not yet beta read, but I wanted to change the previous chapters to the current story line.

Please notice, that Chapter II. / III. / IV. are at the moment read by my beta and will be updated soon.

After the chapters are updated, I will continue with the V. chapter.

IV. No Way Out

To be beta-read (update note will follow)

This is wrong. So totally and utterly wrong. This just can't be right. Nightwing takes a shaky step forward, not even blinking as he does so in fear that all of this is just some kind of bad joke from the gods. Or perhaps this is some kind of hallucination and if he blinks the person before him will be gone the next time he blinks. Next to him Batman stands still, frozen to the spot. Were it not for the cape, one would say that he almost passes as a statue.

He looks at the face of the other man, a face that he had doubted he would ever see again, at least until he himself would be six feet under. The black hair – besides the fact that it is soaked by the water by now and stuck to the forehead – is a bit longer than usual and is that a white streak? Nightwing does a double take and yes that is really his hair. Probably dyed? Anyway, he would recognize that face everywhere, every nook and every angle is stuck in his mind as if it were yesterday.

The man looks to be in his early twenties, which would fit if the Jason he once knew were still alive. But those eyes… The once kind and glittering eyes that were full of mischief are now staring furiously and dull at the two of them. Where once a bright blue was shining is now a sharp gold with a vibrant green hue.

Nightwing takes another step further and would have taken another if the man in front of him wouldn't have reached to the second dagger from his belt. Immediately, he stops in his tracks just as Batman holds out his hand in front of him to hinder him to move any further. Dick looks up to his mentor and sees the firm line his lips had build while they watched the young man before them.

Turning back to the other person, Nightwing notices his stance that tells them to not move any further, but beneath that he can also read the uncertainty and the hesitation. Most people would probably have missed that if they would not pay a lot of attention, but he did.

"Is… Is that really you, Jason?" he asks carefully and notices the other looking at him. Just how much would he give if this man is really the man he wishes him to be… how much he wishes to see that mischievous smirk on that face instead of the glare every time he turns to look at Bruce in his Batman attire or Dick himself.

"Finally it clicked in your birdbrain it seems," Now, without the hood, the voice just sounds right. It's the voice he had heard all those years ago, even though now its more mature and colder than before. "Took you long enough, Dickface" Jason says and his voice is as cold as ice, but his voice nonetheless.

This time, Batman takes a step closer, but then the man bolts. He jumps over the edge of the building as Nightwing shouts 'Wait!' and Batman runs after him with his partner hot on his heels. Grappling around a building, he outruns his mentor and follows the Ta- Jason, that just must be him! At least he wishes it to be him…

Jason crashes through a window of another building next to him, rolls on the ground and uses the momentum to stand up and continues to run inside. Nightwing follows him inside, jumping over furniture that stands in his way.

Dick almost caught up with the younger man as he suddenly turns on the spot to the left and through yet again another window. Nightwing shouts after him to stop, but Jason just pushes away from the windowsill and jumps between two buildings, both arms outstretches to the front. He jumps after him, a bit panicked that the man does not use something like a grappling hook to steer or dampen the fall, though is then relieved as well as perplexed as Jason uses the gauntlets to claw his way up to the roof. Following him, he wonders where Batman is now or if they are just too fast for the other man to catch up.

"Jason, please wait!" he calls after the younger man as they jump over a gap between two buildings, though Jason does not seem to listen at all.

They chase around the city, jumping over buildings like a kind of big parkour. By now, they reached the northern docks and are running over the crates and towards a bridge in the distance. On their way, Jason has many times tried to stop him, be it by throwing knifes or by really reckless stunts that any normal person would never consider doing. Nightwing tried many times to get him to stop running, but all attempts were up until now futile.

Suddenly, Jason turns around in the middle of jumping over some crates, a gun in his hand that had been seconds before still been in the belt – when had he taken it? - and is aiming at him. Nightwing just barely avoids being shot by hiding behind a container.

Dick narrows his eyes and bites on his lower lip as he thinks what he should do now that Jason has finally stopped running. He needs a plan and fast, before the younger man tries to continue this insane chase. The only and probably the best way would be to knock the man out and get him to the cave, but how is he supposed to render the man unconscious? Nightwing resents the way he suddenly thinks and grits his teeth in anger as he activates the electricity in his escrima-sticks. The other man won't be pleased at all by this – that he is sure of. But on the other hand, it's the best way he can think about right now in this circumstances.

Turning away from his hiding spot, he dodges a bullet that flies at his head – the other still want to kill him apparently. This does not make it easier, not at all. The lack of expression on the other man's face unsettles him a bit, but right now is not the time to worry about that.

In the meantime, he notices that Jason has already holstered his weapon and holds his remaining dagger in the left hand in a reverse grip, the other bare except for the gauntlet.

Jumping to his right as he charges at Jason, Nightwing uses the crate next to him as a launch pad and jumps at the other man, his weapons ready to strike. The weapon connects with a clawed hand, the impact pushing the other man a bit back, but Nightwing notices a bit to late that – apparently – the suit of the other man is insulated as the electricity does not seem to affect him.

Eyes widening, he jumps back, but is quickly followed by Jason, who swipes with his clawed gauntlet at him. The weapon connects with his chest, ripping the kevlar and the skin beneath it. Nightwing flips back, his chest flaring angrily in pain as he moves faster away than before. He needs to end this soon. Not only is he getting tired, but the wound on his shoulder hinders his movements a bit and the one on his chest bleeds profoundly. In short, it's not a good combination.

Nightwing looks at the other man. From what he can see, the only unprotected areas are the neck and the head. The only other way to get his plan to work would be to hit him with wing-dings and hopes that they would hit and then he can attack that area with his escrima-sticks, but the idea to injure the man before him makes him sick. Only doing that if there is really no other way…

Taking and throwing several wing-dings as decoy, he charges. Nightwing sticks the two escrima-sticks together and with a 'click' it turns into a staff, great for ranged attacks but also still good for melee attacks. Jason knocks the wing-dings away and notices the change of the weapon of Nightwing, who thereupon strikes at his shoulder. The attack is countered by the dagger and Nightwing brings down the other end to the man's side. He can see his opponent's eyes twitch upon impact, but then needs to click on the button on the handle to separate the staff again as the gauntlet strikes at him. Stopping the attack in the last second, he jumps over the man and turns around. Nightwing swings one of his weapons at the man's neck and Jason shouts as he can't avoid the attack fast enough and the electricity discharges. Nightwing mentally apologizes, but his eyes widen as the man moves. Jumping back, he notices the state Jason is in; the man pants heavily and glares at him with hatred, and his neck looks red and angry from where it had been in direct contact with the weapon. How can he still stand?

Just as the man wants to charge at him again, Nightwing sees something red behind the other man. Recognizing the man, he mentally thanks him as the other shoots something at Jason, but the other man probably heard Red Robin as Jason flips away and on the place he stood just moments before is now a little dart embedded in the ground. Tranquilizer, Dick notices. The man turns around angry, one hand falling towards his belt and do his pouches.

"See you again, Dickie-bird." Jason hisses and throws a little device at the ground. "Try not to die while I am gone, because…," his eye glint dangerously in the pale light of the moon. "...only I have the right kill you." Suddenly, the area fills with smoke around him and Dick holds his hand in front of his mouth to not breath in the smoke. Running into the middle, he tries to find the younger man, but as the smoke disappears, the area is void of another human being. He's gone. He takes a deep breath, which he regrets right afterwards as his chests flares in pain and he winces.

Looking up, he sees that Red Robin jumps down from the crate, quickly followed by Robin and – of course – Batman. Red Robin takes a look at Nightwing as he gets closer, eyes wide and confused.

"...Was that…?" he starts, but stops once he takes a look at Nightwing's pale face

Nightwing shakes his head and lets out a shaky breath. "I don't know, little bird." he says quietly. "I really don't know."

Robin looks firmly at the two of them, arms crossed and slightly annoyed. "Grayson, I demand to know who this person was." he says. "Why is this murderer so important?" Ah, apparently had Batman already explained that they needed to get this man, but not why they want him. Sure, he is a murderer, but Damian is intelligent enough to notice that this is not the only reason why they are after this man.

"We need to go now." Behind all of them, Batman steps up, his expression unreadable. He looks at Dick for a moment, then deals something at his communication system on his arm. In the distance they all hear screeching of tires on the streets that indicates that the batmobil is on its way. After said car arrives, Batman enters it and drives away, leaving Robin, Red Robin and Nightwing at the docks.

"Come," Nightwing looks up at Red Robin, who holds out a hand towards him. "We need to go and fix you up." says the younger man and Nightwing sighs. He takes the offered hand and hisses as he gets up and strains his injuries.

"Tt," Damian looks at both of them, a scowl on his face. "Let's go, Grayson. We don't have the whole night."

Nightwing smirks a bit. "Nice as always, little D." he says and winces a bit as he starts to move.

Dick sits on the gurney in the medical bay as Alfred tends to his wounds. So far the butler has sewn his shoulder wound shut and looks at the one on his chest. Wincing from time to time as the older man cleans and disinfects the wound, Dick glances at Bruce, who sits in front of the computer, elbows on the desk and hands folded in front of his head while he frowns and looks to deep in thoughts.

"Do you really think that it's him?" Tim says quietly as he stands next to Dick and Alfred. Damian is perching on top the dinosaur inside the cave and is overlooking everything. So far, the youngest Robin said nothing, but he looks like he would explode soon if he can't ask what this commotion is all about soon.

Dick looks at Tim and shakes his head. "To say the truth," he says. "I don't know what I should believe right now." He winces as Alfred begins to sew shut the wound with a needle and twine.

"But how is that possible?" Tim asks and looks towards him. "We both know that Jason is..." he stops, noticing the pained look on the older man's face, which this time does not come from his physical wounds.

Dick takes a look at Bruce, who stands up from his chair. The man paces around again for a moment, then stops immediately and looks at a recording that he took during his short encounter with the assassin. A sudden look crosses Bruce's face and Dick knows that look. Normally it means that the other has some kind of idea that others do not find very appealing. "Bruce?"

"Meet me at the cemetery after you are done here." And that is when he get Bruce's idea.

Dick's eyes widens. "You can't be serious..." he whispers and gets up from his chair, much to Alfred's dismay.

Tim looks from Dick to Bruce. "Do you think he might be one of Luthor's…?" he asks.

"Even Luthor can't clone someone to 100%." Bruce says as he ascends the stairs to the manor.

Dick follows him quickly, ignoring Alfred's angry protest and shouts for him to sit down and let him finish his task. "Bruce, wait!" he calls after his mentor, but the other man just continues to walk away. Getting a bit angry, he goes faster and stops his foster father in his track by holding him at the shoulder. "Just wait a damn minute!" he hisses.

After he is sure that he's got Bruce's attention, his expression softens. "I know what you are going to do Bruce, but is this really right?" he says.

"The only way to make sure that the man we've met is not some kind of clone or something else," says Bruce, though he sounds pained to talk about it. "...is to make sure that he is still were he is supposed to be right now." he finishes.

Dick bites his lower lip. "But… is this really the right thing to do?" he asks, unsure about what to say.

Bruce's eyes narrow, though he does not look angry. "I don't like the idea either." he says as a matter of fact. "But I need to make sure."

Dick nods, understanding how the other man feels about all of this. "What.. if it really is him..?" he asks hesitantly after a moment.

Closing his eyes, Bruce lets out a breath. "We will see about that when the time comes." he declares finally, and continues to walk upstairs to the manor.

Dick turns back around and descents the stairs back down to Tim and Alfred. The latter of the two glances at him disapprovingly, arms crossed and his foot tapping on the ground impatiently. Dick gives the older man a sheepish smile and sits down on the gurney where he sat previously. Alfred continues his work after grabbing new twine.

Damian's eyes narrow after Bruce left the cave and jumps down from the dinosaur. He moves towards the remaining people inside the cave and stands in front of Dick. "What did father mean, Grayson?" he asks his older brother. "What is at the cemetery?"

Dick shakes his head. "Not what, Damian." answers Dick. "But rather who."

Raising an eyebrow, Damian looks at Tim, but the other man looks away uncomfortably. Turning his attention back to his oldest brother, he looks at him expectantly. "Elaborate, Grayson. Who do you mean?"

"It might be better to rest the questions for now, Master Damian." says Alfred and looks at the child.

Again, Damian's eyes narrow. He clicks his tongue, but stops the questions for now, which Dick is grateful for at the moment, and leaves the cave as well. Alfred finishes his work soon after and retreats for the time being to make some tea.

Dick glances at the recording on one of the many displays on the computer and lets out a sigh. Internally, he hopes that this really is who he seems to be, but it just seems to be so surreal. Nobody comes back from the dead just like it would be some kind of decease that someone can overcome… But...But what if the man really is him..? How did he manage to come back and what would this mean? Would he get his brother back? Or… how will Bruce react? As far as Dick knows, Bruce still griefs and gives himself the fault about what happened.

Putting his head in his hand, he sighs. Did this so called Court do this to him? If yes, then how? Did they do this to more than just one person? If not, who else could have been taken by them? For how long did they had Jason already in their grasp?

"Lets hope that I am wrong about what I am thinking..." he says and gets up from his chair.

Next to him, Tim nods. "I am not a mind reader," he says and looks at him. "But if you say something like that, then it can't be good."

"No, it certainly is not good." he agrees. "Not good at all."

It's still night when Dick arrives at the cemetery and Bruce stands in front of a certain grave. The rain has yet to stop and thunder rolls over their heads. He remains silent for a moment as he stands next to the other man and looks at the grave in front of him. The last time Dick had been here was in August for Jason's birthday. Crestfallen, he looks away from the grave. Better get over with it sooner than later.

"You've got the shovels?" Dick asks quietly to his mentor.

Bruce looks grim, but nods anyway. He turns away and comes back with two shovels. Throwing one at his partner, he begins to dig.

The whole ordeal takes almost an hour before Dick hits something that resembles a coffin.

"Bruce," he says and looks up, his face is by now wet from the rain and sweat, just like his shirt and pants. The older man looks up from his digging and moves towards him. Looking down at where Dick had been digging, he crouches and examines the ground. His eyes narrows and Dick crouches down as well and notices the splinters. Shoveling the dirt carefully away, he sees that the lid of the coffin has been broken open.

"Do you think someone broke in?" Dick asks, but Bruce shakes his head.

"No," he says and moves the lid carefully. Opening it, he examines the coffin from inside. Bruce traces the marks that he finds on the inside and looks at the ripped satin and the blood that covers covers some of the inside of the coffin. "Someone broke out." he declares.

Dick recoils. "Y-you don't think that…?!" he says, eyes wide, but the narrowed eyes and silence answers his question. "Oh god..." He turns away, unable to look at the grave any longer. Climbing out, he walks around a bit, then takes a deep breath and blinks while putting his hands on his knees.

Taking another deep breath, he tries to ease the nausea that threatens to overcome him. Oh god… oh god, oh god, oh god… The same words repeat itself in his mind over and over again. Jason had been alive for some reason – or came back – and clawed his way out of his own grave. How long…? How long had he been … back? Why did nobody notice what had happened?

Behind him, he can hear Bruce climbing out as well. The man still shows no expression besides the grim look on his face. Oh how much Dick wishes that he could hit the man and gain a real expression. But that won't do anything, not now.

Dick gulps and straightens his back. He turns to Bruce and looks at him disbelievingly. "Then it's… it really is him?" he whispers, but in his ear it could have likely been a yell.

"I don't know how," Bruce says and begins to shovel the dirt back into the hole. "But it seems to be the way."

Dick stays next to the grave for a bit, still trying to collect his thoughts and get everything together."He gave me the fault for what happened to him," says Dick after a while, voice thick with emotions. He turns around, facing his mentor and looks at the other man. "He said that I was supposed to take his place. God Bruce, he sounded so angry and pained!"

The other man glances at Dick for a moment, then his eyes narrow. "We will find out about what happened." he says, voice firm, and continues to fill the hole with dirt. "We will get him back…"

"I hope you are right…," mutters Dick and helps Bruce.

He finds himself in a sea of green, not moving, not blinking… not breathing. But that doesn't matter, at least not here. Time doesn't matter in this place. He can hear shouting, crying, screaming. He can hear metal clashing with objects he can not see, bones breaking and maddening, hysterical laughter all around him. He feels broken beyond repair, a fire licking at his skin and burning his flesh. He wants to scream, to run, to flee. Suddenly, there is a loud crash or explosion and pain spikes, then fades completely. The laughter stops. He doesn't feel the pain anymore and is relieved. No...not just the pain. Everything. He does feel nothing anymore. He feels dead, yet alive. It doesn't make sense and he knows that this is wrong, but true. Then there is a bright light and he wonders why it does not hurt, but then there is this maddening pain from before again, just stronger. He feels rather than sees his fingers bleeding and his nails ripping. He wants this to end, wants someone to just put him out of his misery and then, all of a sudden it all stops. He would have taken a relieved breath, finally that it is over, but then the vibrant green of his surroundings envelopes him and the pain flares up, the same agony that he has experienced before. The thickness of the sea around him swallows him whole and he just begs that it would finally end…

Jason wakes up all of a sudden, breathing hard. He jumps up into a sitting position in a rush and winces as he aggravates his wounds on his back and chest. 'Wounds...?' He blinks as he tries to figure out how he got said injuries and looks down at himself. He is bandaged up, the gauze, which is slightly red from his blood, wrapped around his whole torso, his left tight and both his upper arms. How...? Ah yes, he remembers.

He had gone back to the Court even though knowing that his Master will be furious with him. Not only did he fail to kill the stupid idiot called Dick, but he has also let his identity slip towards Batman. Jason sneers. As if this would be enough for him, to let him know that his biggest failure came back to haunt him. No, it is not enough yet.

After Jason heard that the Joker - his murderer - is still alive and not six feet under like he himself had been, he had been livid. His Master had been pleased by his anger and rage towards the whole Bat-family and fueled his hatred further with cruel words. 'They do not care, Jason. Never have and never will. They threw you away like a broken doll and replaced you...' He blocks the cruel voice out. But it still hurts...

Jason groans as he stands up, the pain from his wounds protesting from his movements. They had whipped him, carved him open like some kind of disobedient and rabid animal while he had been chained. He couldn't run, couldn't escape. He winces at the memory of the time he had been tortured. Jason knows though that the injuries will be gone soon though, just like always after he got here.

Sometimes he feels like the others, like the Talons around this place. Not human... Not anymore at least. While Jason realizes that he is not like the other Talon – undead – he knows that, what he has done time and time again, should have killed other people – normal people – multiple times by now.

He does not know if he really is alive, if this is some sort of sick dream or if this is just how reality is from now on. Whatever they did to him while he had been cut off from the world in these tanks, it had stripped him off of his humanity. Jason takes a deep breath as he steadies himself on the wall next to his bed. Beneath the bandages, he feels his flesh beginning to knit together, beginning to heal what normally would take weeks for normal humans. But he is not human anymore… hasn't been for a long time.

He growls at his situation. He cant be put out of this misery, cant die unless the Court allows it… Jason sneers at that. Yeah, sure. As if they would just let their trophy go. He feels sick at the thought to serve this bastards into eternity. Multiple times he tried to end his life, to end all his and escape this hell hole. A cut throat, poison, strangulation, a bullet in the head… Afterwards, he always wakes up in his tank, hooked up on the tubes and wires and god, his body hurts as if one fire… The punishment afterwards isn't pleasant at all as well.

He shakes his head, trying to clear his mind off of the images as his body trembles in fear from the memory. Jason does not know how they do it, how they can keep reviving him without the Lazarus Pit that had originally restored him his mind or whatever else had granted him his resurrection. While he had been kept inside the tank, he sometimes could hear what the others, the scientists outside of his glass prison, were talking about, though the voices were muffled by the water and made understanding them difficult.

From what he could understand, it has something to do with the Lazarus Pit and the act that Talia had dumped him into it. Apparently, they took samples of his blood and tried to restore the ability that it gained from the bath in the pit, something like regeneration, though it does only work with Jason himself. Everyone else gets rejected and dies mere minutes after the injection as the blood turns against the foreign body and destroys the cells. Not a nice way to go, that's for sure. There was more to it, but he had been to weak to listen more closely to the discussion and slipped into unconsciousness a few seconds after.

Moving away from the wall he was leaning against, he moves towards the table and sits on the lone chair in front of it. Carefully sitting down, he lets out a sigh once he is seated, though immediately winces as the back of the chair rubs against his wounds. He ignores the stinging in his back and chest as he opens the drawer on his desk and takes out a pair of scissors and new gauze, and cuts open the used and bloody bandages. One he got them off, he throws them into a bin at the other end of the table to dispose them later on.

Looking down on himself, he notices the autopsy scar on his chest that reminds him strangely of an 'Y' and he huffs in annoyance. The pit healed every wound he had at the time, but all the scars he got before he died remained. Every wound he got after though… they heal without leaving a trace.

Turning to his current wounds, he takes a note of the shredded and swelled skin that the straps of the whip had left. If someone would look very close, they would see an almost invisible green shine in the blood that is at the edges of the torn skin and a few minutes later the injury is covered in a thin and fragile part of new skin. Well, at least one positive aspect that lingered from their experiments, not that he would thank them though. Huh, no way that will happen, he muses.

After successfully changing his bandages, he leaves the room and walks towards the main hall in which his so called Master will surely be right now. Or the man will be in the Hall of Talons, where most of the promising Talons are kept asleep for generations, waiting to be awakened and to fulfill the orders of the Court.

His Master is in the Hall of Talons, inspecting the coffins in which the Talons are sleeping. Jason waits till the other addresses him, which is only a few minutes after he arrived. He thinks his Master wants to let him think over his actions and to feel some remorse about what he did. As if that would happen, he mentally sneers. He would do it time after time again if it means that he would be fr-.

"Talon," The voice of his Master snaps him back from his thoughts and he realizes that he hadn't noticed that the other had already talked to him. "I can hear you thinking."

'You're a mind reader or what?' is what he would normally say, but he refrains from talking towards the other man in such a way in fear of resentment. Instead, he looks down towards the ground and says; "My deepest apology, Master."

The other seems to take the apology, even though his posture indicates that he has not been forgiven yet. "Your mission was a great failure it seems." His Master turns around, walking around and in between the rows of coffins and Jason follows with a respectful distance between them. "Why is that?" It's difficult to say if his Master is angry, amused or if he does care at all that he had failed, as his voice does not let Jason indicate anything at all. At those moments it is extremely difficult to talk to the other man, as Jason never knows what mood the other is in and what he should say and what he should rather keep to himself.

"I didn't took Batman and his pests into account as I took care of my prey, Master." he replies and, well, what else should he say, it is the truth. He had been too occupied with Goldie, that he totally forgot about the other man. "It won't happen again." he concludes and both of them stop in front of one of the coffins, and Jason knows which one that is. Carved into a golden sign on top of the coffin stands William Cobb. Goldie's great grandfather. He refrains from narrowing his eyes in front of his Master.

"I truly hope you follow your own words," says the other man and walks closer towards Jason, who gets down to his knees. "It is for you own good after all." his master says and stands in front of him.

"You are getting reckless, Talon." Jason can hear the disdain in the other's voice. "Do something about it, or we will." A cold shiver runs down Jason's spine as he listens to the threat. He bows his head further down, eyes fixed to the ground as his heart pounds against his rip cage in fear. He gets the message; they are displeased. His Master turns around and continues to walk alongside the coffins while Jason stands up.

Walking out of the room, Jason walks towards his quarters. Supporting himself with his arms against a wall once he is inside, he clenches his jaw that it almost hurts. He loathes this, all of it. He loathes the Court for taking him, loathes Talia for not being able to take care of him when he had been out of his mind and he loathes Bruce for not saving him back then when he died. But most of all he hates the golden boy, Dick Grayson. If he would just have turned out to be Talon he was supposed to become and not Robin, then Jason would be the first boy wonder and would have never gotten told by Bruce to be more like his predecessor Dick and would also not be stuck here in this place.

In his anger, Jason hits the wall and watches as spidery cracks appear in the dented wall. His hand hurts, but its a small pain compared to the ones he had to endure all this years.

If he just hadn't met Dick in Blüdhaven, then he would still be in his Master's remotely good grace and would not fear that he will probably loose his life again just when he returned and will be turned into a mindless puppet like the other Talons.

But of course Dickface needed to show up at Jason's mission and not at someone else's little crime scene. He ruins just about everything for Jason. Richard Dick Grayson, golden boy of the family and then there is Jason, the black sheep.

Jason slips down at the wall, his knees hitting the ground that he knows is cold but he doesn't notice it anymore. He rests his head against the wall and closes his eyes.

Just why?

Why can't life be fair to him just once?