"Hood, do you read?" Talia hissed over the comms, "Bats is on the scene already. Your brother looks a little sick."

Jason skidded to a halt, looking up to the night and gulping in a deep breath of air.

"Shit yeah," He panted, knowing he should be far enough from danger now. "I copy."

"You did an excellent job," Talia said. "Head to the hideout, I have something for you."

He paused, catching his breath as the line went dead, Talia was never one for goodbyes. He cracked his neck to both sides before turning around and looking backward, almost as if he would catch a glimpse of the Bat. Being in Gotham felt weird to him. It wasn't how he remembered, and there was so much trauma wrapped up in his mind, he couldn't quite discern what was real or not.

Even so, he could feel his heart beat inside his chest, adrenaline still coursing through his body. He hadn't felt a thrill like this in a while. He could feel the end getting closer, he was almost ready to best the Bats at his own game. He had an image in his mind, of him standing over a broken and battered Batman, ready to be the true king of Gotham. That was something Batman never understood, that sometimes people didn't deserve a second change. He was so hell bent on keeping to his moral code, and he would sacrifice anyone who came in the way. Jason knew that first hand.

He shivered under the night sky, it was darker than he remembered. The blood had seeped through his tunic, and he looked a mess. His hair was tamped down to his face and neck under the hood, and there was blood still dripping from his fingers.

He looked like an assassin.

Only a moment later, he heard the sound of footfall behind him, and he wasted no time jumping to action.

He took off running, bounding quickly across the rooftops. The crunch of gravel behind let him know that he was now being followed. He didn't stop to look, somewhat fearing that no one was behind him at all. He could trust his senses, most days. Night were another matter entirely.

As he hopped across a clearing to the adjacent bank of storefronts, he could hear his follower quickly gaining behind him. He didn't understand, the footfalls were irregular. This wasn't an adult following him.

He paused long enough to spin around, catching the stalker mid-jump. As he landed, Jason unsheathed his sword, still covered in blood from the last man he killed.

"You," Jason shot venomously, seeing red. He couldn't be sure he was even seeing correctly, but he knew that uniform anywhere. "You don't even know what a big mistake you just made."

Robin stood, swaying on his feet slightly, feeling strange. He didn't expect this kind of reaction from a shadow. He raised his hand up slowly, placing his hand to the communicator in his ear.

"You are in Gotham, you can't pretend you weren't expecting this." Tim smiled under his domino, unaware of the amount of danger he was actually in. But, the shadow didn't know that Tim's communicator was on and broadcasting their conversation straight to the Cave.

"You should have died!" Jason screamed, not fully in control of himself. He lunged forward, mad with rage. Robin easily slid out of the way, but shook himself. Shadows weren't known for being sloppy. This was different.

Jason lunged again, slicing his sword through the air as Robin flung himself backward. He held the sword to the side, like a dagger. He could feel himself losing it, all of his training. The rage was bubbling up and consuming him. He sliced through the air again, forcing Robin to jump back again. "Fuck you!"

"Woah man," Robin blinked under his domino, confused. "What did I ever do to you?"

Jason's eyes flashed with red fury again as he faked left and sliced right, catching Robins bicep with his blade. As blood ran down his sword, he became even more feral. Robin yelped in surprise before ducking down and rolling to the side. He hunched over, looking over the cut. It wasn't too deep, but he'd probably need some stitches.

"Fuck you!" Jason cried again, smiling like an animal. He paused, just watching Robin for a moment, like how a cat would stalk their prey. "You are nothing. You're a goddamn imposter. You're a liar. You're a fake. You stole everything from me."

"Are you serious?" Robin quipped, crouching. He was really getting annoyed of this. "I don't even know you. Who even are you?"

Jason's eyes flashed with red again before he saw the figure behind Robin. There was something moving, just across the skyline. It was coming closer. It was blue.

Jason blinked, trying to compose himself for another emotional encounter. He took a few steps forward, not looking at Robin at all, before he flipped the blade outward letting a splatter of blood hit the cement rooftop.

Robin blinked, jumping to his feet, noticing that the shadow was distracted. However, the shadow was waiting. As Robin hopped to his feet, the shadow moved as quick as lightning behind. Jason grabbed a hold of Robin's neck with his arm, pinning the teen across his chest. He raised the sword, pressing it lightly to Robin's neck, as they faced the darkness.

"I am you," Jason said cryptically.

Nightwing jumped to the rooftop, looking unconcerned by this. He had been listening to Robin's communicator and had zeroed in on them. But at first glance, the shadow looked familiar.

"Oh, it's you!" Nightwing laughed, "I swear I was just thinking about you the other day. How did everything go on Infinity Island after we left? Cleanup go okay?"

Jason blinked, still holding Robin tightly to his chest. His mind was spinning. What was happening?

"You know," Nightwing paused a few feet from the two of them, "I don't know who you think you are, beheading a guy in Gotham and thinking you won't get caught."

Jason blinked again, under the mask. He was confused. His mind was spinning and he couldn't keep up with it. Everything was too crisp now, it had to be a hallucination. He was sitting in the safehouse, dreaming about killing the new Robin. This couldn't all be real.

Nightwing kept talking, "See, I also know that you had to have hacked our servers. Or you're working for someone, but I don't think the League has that kind of insider knowledge of the way we run this town."

"We," Jason couldn't help but laugh. The blade slipped an inch from Robin's neck. "You don't run anything. You are a lackey. You both are. You mean nothing to him."

"That's another thing," Dick flicked his gaze to Tim, noticing the cut on his arm. "The shadows usually hire crazy people."

Jason's grip tightened on the sword, drawing blood from Robin's neck.

"I'm not a shadow," Jason said curtly.

"Which then begs the question," Nightwing crouched down, ready to grab for his escrima sticks. "Who are you?"

Jason shook his head, this couldn't be real. The blood from Robin's neck started dripping down his uniform, and Jason could feel him trying to control his breathing under his arm.

"Okay yes, that's perfect. Focus on the diaphragm." Bruce's face looked stern. Jason closed his eyes, trying to visualize not moving, being perfectly still. He could feel the book starting to fall. A few seconds later, it fell and hit the floor and Jason exhaled, annoyed with himself.

"That was the longest one yet, but still. This will save your life someday, you have to focus on your breath. Being still will follow. If you focus on the breath, the book won't fall." Bruce reached down as Jason rolled his eyes. He would have so much rather been on patrol, actually doing something useful.

"Okay ready?" Bruce stood up, holding the book up, handing it to Jason. Jason rolled his eyes again before putting the book back on top of his head, keeping it balanced. "I saw that. Time starts now; breathe."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jason grumbled, pushing the memory away. He pushed the blade again, drawing another few drips of blood. Robin made no sound.

They all stood like that, for a while. No one dared make a move, no one dared make a sound. The wheels in Jason's head were turning, this wasn't how he planned this. He wasn't ready. It sounded silly, but he wasn't strong enough. He couldn't be strong enough yet. He didn't want the day to be today, he needed more time.

Abruptly, he flicked the blade out, and pushed Robin with all of his might down to the pavement below. As the blade was lifted, Robin let himself be pushed, using the force to scatter farther from the shadow.

Jason pointed the bloody sword at Nightwing, across from him.

"I am going to kill you. All of you. I am going to kill every last one of you." Jason paused, seeing red spots at the sides of his vision. "And when you are gone, I will be left to bury Bruce and I will save this goddamn city the way he never could."