Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, they belong to DC. The story concept is also theirs. Only the words are mine. Kat checked this over for me to make sure I didn’t screw up royally. Thanks Kat!
I remember when I first met Jason. He was pulling the tires off of the Batmobile. Poor kid looked like he was going to have a heart failure on the spot when I demanded to know what he thought he was doing. Jay was living on his own, avoiding juvenile authorities. Since his parents were dead, I, idiot that I am, took him in and trained him to be my new Robin. He was a bright kid who learned fast. I ignored the rebelliousness, telling myself that it would go away in time.
Later, while I was investigating into what happened to Jay’s father I found out that he worked for Two-Face. I also found out the he had apparently been killed for botching a job. When Jason found that bit of information on the computer he was... upset. Furious was more like it. Of course, we had to go put Two-Face out of business after that. At some point during the fight I was afraid that he would kill him. Instead, Jason walked away and let the law deal with him. I was proud of him for that decision. Why haven’t I told him that? Because I didn’t know how, that’s why.
Jump ahead a couple of years. He was more unmanageable than before, taking dangerous risks. It was like he was trying to get himself killed. When I talked to Alfred he said that he had seen Jason looking at a picture of his parents and crying several times. Apparently, I had gotten him started as Robin before he had time to adjust to his parents’ deaths. When I told Alfred that I was putting Jay off active duty, Jay heard me and stormed off after we had an argument.
While wandering around Gotham, he came across the apartment building where he had once lived with his parents. A friend of his mother’s called Mrs. Walker gave him a box of personal stuff of his parents she managed to save. While looking at them in his room he discovered that Catherine Todd wasn’t his real mother. He then put the detective skills I taught him to work. He found three possibilities: Sharmin Rosen, Shiva Woosan, and Dr. Sheila Haywood. He decided not to come to me for help in finding out which one was his mother and used the credit cards I had given him to make his journey.
While he was in Israel, Jason found out the Sharmin Rosen was out of the country in Beirut. I found him staked out at the hotel Rosen was supposed to be staying at. He told me why he was there in short order. I hated seeing the disappointed look on his face when I told him that I was there to catch the Joker, not help him. As it turned out, the people we were after were together.
We followed them to a camp near the Israeli border. There, the Joker sold a cruise missile to some Arabian terrorists. Robin and I attacked and fought the terrorists. Rosen showed her true colors by shooting a sniper that was going to shoot me. Unfortunately, Brando saw her and would have killed her had Robin not distracted him. Brando then would have killed him had Rosen not used martial arts on Brando.
Then the missile blew up on its launcher. After we puzzled out what happened, we went onto a more important subject. Whether Rosen ever had a baby in Gotham City. She said no and we took her back to Beirut. There, Robin and I discussed out next course of action. It was decided that we would look for Shiva Woosan next.
I called my CIA contact, Ralph Bundy, to save time. He gave me Woosan's location within a few hours. But when we asked for her at the reception desk, we found out that she had been kidnapped! I had a pretty good idea about where to look for her though.
We "questioned" some criminals until one said Woosan was at Pashar Pass in the Bekaa Valley. When we got there, we ambushed two guards and stole their clothing for disguises. We then systematically took out all of the terrorists in the camp. We got the last one to tell us where Woosan could be found before knocking him out too. Jason was rendered unconscious by Woosan after we left her tent. She then started a fight. Fortunately, Jason woke up and helped defeat her before things got out of hand.
I threw all of the Shi ites into a ditch before setting a timed charge in the weapons hut. After we got about two miles away from the camp, I decided that it was time to interrogate Woosan. When asked if she had a baby, Woosan lied. I had to use truth serum. She said no. Jason and I went to Ethiopia next.
We went to an Ethiopian refugee camp. Jason and I asked around for Haywood until we found out which tent we could find her in. Jason ran ahead to find her while I was thanking the man who gave us directions. I suppose I can’t blame him for being impatient. If I were in his place, I wouldn’t have been very patient either. Haywood recognized me right away. When I told her Jason’s name, she realized who he was almost right away. I left so they could have some time to themselves.
Haywood told Jason about how she met his father. When she got done, she had him go help give out food because she had a meeting. When he looked over at the people entering her tent, he recognized the Joker. Jason went to the tent and eavesdropped on his mother’s and Joker’s conversation.
He found out that the Joker was blackmailing his mother and decided to follow them when they left. Once he found out where they went and that the Joker was replacing the medical supplies with his laughing gas, he returned to the camp and got me.
We drove to within a mile of the warehouse before stopping the jeep. Jason used a pair of binoculars and saw that some relief workers were taking the boxes of laughing gas back to the camp, thinking they were medical supplies. I got into costume. Jason then helped me set up the mini-copter I had brought with us. I told Jason to wait for me to get back, that the Joker was too dangerous for him to handle alone. Why didn’t he listen to me?
He went to the warehouse and told his mother that he was Robin. She led him into a trap. Joker proceeded to beat him. I wish I was there to prevent it.
Eventually, the Joker ordered his men to tie Dr. Haywood to a supporting pillar and left behind a bomb. Jason managed to drag himself over to where his mother was and untied her. She helped him to the door and put him down to open it. But it was locked. She just finished telling Jason this when the bomb went off. I got there just in time to see the explosion. Too late to save Jason or his mother.
I searched the wreckage and found Dr. Haywood. She told me that Jason jumped in front of her to save her and took the main brunt of the blast. She died a few minutes later.
I looked around some more and found Jason’s body. I knew that he had to be dead. I checked anyway.
I answered questions about what happened to the best of Bruce Wayne’s ability and made arrangements to have Jason and his mother shipped back to Gotham.
Once the funeral was over, I began the hunt for the Joker and tracked him down to the UN. The next day we fought. But it ended without him paying for what he did.
That was a few years ago. Jason, I miss you.