[Comprehensive British and American] Family Matters

Why did things turn out like this?

It's not that Jason didn't think about what his own death would be like.When he was young, when Willis Todd was not in jail, and Catherine was not yet thrown into drugs, his home was not a warm and happy advertising model, but it was Jason At first, he was not dissatisfied with the concept of home. At that time, his imagination of death was probably the most ordinary kind - getting old, lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by wives and children , and maybe a pet dog.There will be no touching epitaph on his tombstone (it costs money to engrave it!), It is the most common: "Jason Peter Todd is buried here".

When Jason was wandering alone on the street, death gradually escaped his imagination. When he was so hungry that he could only hold his stomach and wait for the pain in his stomach to subside; The chill that came in; when he was caught stealing and the owner chased him and beat him up, death was a cold alley to him, perhaps waiting for him at the next corner.There is no tombstone, no family members, only a corpse that stinks in a corner and was taken away by the police. I don't know where it will be stuffed in the cemetery.

The time with Bruce (father, mentor, Batman) can be said to be the most dangerous day in Jason's life. What Jason had to do was to keep his head down and live a low-key life, trying not to get himself involved in trouble inside.But now he is dressed as a bright target almost every night, guarding Gotham with Batman under the knives of gangsters and the guns of gangsters.He dances on the line between life and death all the time - a sudden bullet, a knife wound on an artery, a malfunctioning hook gun, an antidote that comes too late... His life is always at any time. May draw a period.

But during this time, Jason rarely thought of death.

He has never told anyone that this is actually the day when he feels the safest.From the night when he put on the Robin uniform on the first day, and the hand holding the hook gun was still shaking because of tension, to when he and Batman quarreled at the crime scene, their faces were red and their necks were thick, and each other wanted to strangle each other's neck The night of hitting the wall.

Before meeting Bruce, Jason never believed that the parents in the movies stood in front of the gangsters and shouted "Overmy deadbody!" Such things would happen in reality.It was Bruce who made him believe that there would be someone in the world who was willing to use his flesh and blood to build a city wall for himself, willing to let all the harm fall on him, and not let Jason suffer the slightest.

As long as he's by Bruce's side, he's not afraid of anything.

Why on earth did he take pains to fly halfway around the world to find a woman who had never appeared in his life except by name?Then I naively believed that what greeted him would be tears, hugs and unspeakable difficulties.So the child forgave the mother, and from then on, the mother and child went hand in hand to a happy ending?

He hasn't said thank you to Bruce, hasn't let Alfred taste his organ potatoes, hasn't apologized to Dick for messing with the Titans, hasn't responded to Sam's emails, hasn't invited Tim over to make them His stargazing report, from his room can see a very beautiful starry sky...

God, he still has so much to do, and now he's going to die at the hands of this madman.

"Hey, my lord, you have to pay attention when you are in class. Didn't the teacher teach you manners at school?" The clown patted the bloody crowbar on the palm of his hand, with a disappointed expression on his face like Jason handed in a blank paper, "Look, no one will teach you the importance of manners so kindly except dear Uncle J. You have to cheer up and study hard, you know?"

"First of all, adults have to respond when they talk to you—"

The clown raised the crowbar high and swung it in a golfing posture. The sharp metal end pierced Jason's flesh, forcing him to howl.

"Very good! Very good! Don't you think you can do it?" The clown turned around and showed his masterpiece to his followers, "Look, is it very effective? Uncle J's education is nothing People teach it casually!"

"But look, which one of us is with whom? No one can forget his dear bird if Uncle J misses it!" The clown laughed loudly, and raised the crowbar again to hit the struggling boy on the ground. , "Don't worry about poor study results, let's hurry up and review - forehand, backhand, forehand, remember?"

The woman, Sheila Heywood, chose to interject at this point.But it wasn't from her inner secrets or motherhood, she just wanted to get out of this mess as soon as possible.

"If you continue to fight and get caught by Batman, he will go crazy." Sheila glanced at Jason on the ground from the corner of her eyes, wrinkled her nose and turned her head away in disgust, "I'm not like you, I don't want to face you." To Angry Batman."

The clown stopped what he was doing, stroked his chin and made a dramatic thinking movement, and even pretended to be panicked and shouted: "Oh, it's true! What should I do?"

Jason tried to open his eyelids and looked at the impatient Sheila. This poor woman didn't know that getting involved with the clown would not end well.As if echoing Jason's thoughts, the clown clapped his hands together, and pulled out a bundle of ** from inside his vulgar purple suit like a magic trick: "Fortunately, Uncle J is very careful about his affairs. Look, as long as there is trouble, C4 It can solve everything! Be a good boy and remember to say hello to your father for me!"

Jason watched coldly as the clown led his followers out of the warehouse laughing wildly.

This is his final end.

Sheila Heywood didn't seem to understand what was going on until she looked down at the rope wrapped around her body and the clock ticking down next to her.

"What...?" She began to struggle uncontrollably, twisting her body and trying to break free, but it was useless except for rubbing red bloodstains on the rope, "No! No! I don't want to die here! No That's how it should be! We agreed, clown!"

Jason lay on his side and let the cold ground take away the hot swelling on his face, looking at the woman's face covered with tears and snot - this is his mother?

Sending her own son to the clown, watching herself being beaten into a puddle of flesh, she can still smoke without having anything to do with herself.Even when death was imminent, what she thought of was still herself, not the bloody living person in front of her eyes, who was made into such a person by her.

Trembling and exhaling, Jason tried to adjust his breathing, controlled the pain and slowly got up from the ground until he could reach the rope that bound Sheila, and loosen the not very delicate knot with his teeth.

"Let's go."

Untying the knot had exhausted Jason's last strength. All his bones were protesting, refusing to continue to support this body. It was impossible for him to get out, but she still had a chance.

"I... Let's run away together." Probably because her conscience hadn't been completely wiped out, Sheila dragged Jason to the warehouse door and turned the handle.

"No, it's locked. The damn clown locked the door!" Sheila slammed her body heavily on the door, but the iron door still didn't move. "Help! Help!"

"Batman will come to save us." Jason wriggled his lips hard and spit out the words, "Batman will come, we will be fine."

Sheila looked down at Jason, and only then did Jason have the opportunity to observe the female doctor in front of him without any emotion.She was beautiful, blond and blue-eyed and Caucasian, but she didn't look like Jason at all.There was no similarity in their face shapes, skin tones, and proportions of facial features. They only had blue eyes, but Jason's had a tinge of green, which looked more like green eyes from a certain angle.

really weird.

Jason knew he didn't look like Willis except for his black hair (thank God), and he thought his sallow complexion was due to Catherine's Latin roots, but that didn't seem to be the case anymore.

Perhaps atavism?

"I'm sorry, kid. I'm really sorry." Sheila wiped the blood off Jason's face with her sleeve tremblingly, saying sorry over and over again.

"It's okay, Batman will come." Jason felt that Sheila's apology gradually drifted away from him. He watched the countdown to the clock and told himself again and again, "Batman will come."

Vaguely, Jason felt as if he heard something like "I'm sorry for your mother", but the only ones occupying his mind now were Bruce, Alfred and Dick.Dick taught him how to roll in the air, Afu's afternoon tea and reading time, and Bruce... Bruce who accompanied him to do science exhibition works; Bruce who stopped night patrol and watched old movies with him who had a cold; Bruce rubbing his head with a smile and saying "nice job" after the training program.

五

(What did he end up talking to Bruce about?)

four

(Can not remember.)

three

(Yelling, accusing. How long?)

two

(It shouldn't be like this, the last memory should be happy.)

一

"Sorry, Bruce."

***

Bruce watched Dr. Sheila Heywood's mouth open and close, and the words sounded like distant echoes, buzzing and buzzing.

"Jason saved me, he blocked the explosion with his body."

——Of course he would, that was his son, Jason who could never sit back and watch others get hurt.

"He's a good boy and must have loved his mum."

—Oh, you have no idea how strong Jason's emotions are, how much he loves.And you trampled on this love so easily.

"I'm sorry for her, tell her I'm sorry I killed her boy...I'm so scared...I'm sorry..."

Sheila Haywood stopped breathing in a country eight thousand miles away from home.

On the same day, the second son of Bruce Wayne, the richest man in Gotham, was involved in a serious traffic accident during an overseas trip and unfortunately died.Except for specific relatives and friends, the media and casual people are prohibited from attending the funeral. Jason Todd-Wayne was buried in the Wayne family cemetery with his grandparents.Got to be 15 years old.

This is Jason's rest.

But not Batman's.

Although Batman has disappeared from the night sky of Gotham for a week, a small group of daring criminals even started to create rumors that "Batman is dead".The darkness of Gotham is about to move, until the news broadcasts that at the United Nations General Assembly, a clown attending as an ambassador of a certain country wreaks havoc, poison gas and guns, and bullets flying all over the sky.And Batman stopped him as usual, but this time the clown was not brought back to Arkham, but in the footage of the news broadcast, he followed his helicopter and exploded into fireworks on the river.

The death of Gotham's craziest criminal (although no body was found), effectively made the various overlords of the underground society temporarily put aside their opposition to Batman and turn around to carve up the power left by the Joker.No one cares about the disappearing little red, yellow and green follower, and no one knows what fate awaits them.

Bruce hadn't felt so out of place since that night in Crime Alley.

He felt like he was a kid again, not knowing how to deal with the death of his parents, everyone kept telling him "I'm sorry", but Bruce felt nothing but the hollowness in his heart.Now he stands next to his parents' tombstone, where he should have been, but here lies his son, 15, not even old enough to legally drive.

"Master Bruce, it's time for us to go back, it's going to rain." Alfred quietly came behind Bruce, with a solemn expression without a hint of anger.

"I know, Ah Fu. Just...for a while..." Bruce froze in place, his whole body was like a cold black stone sculpture.

"If I could have talked to him more - real conversations, not those emotional fights, he'd probably be alive right now, worrying about exams, AP credits...that's my fault, aff. I'm doing alright Not enough, that's why Jason wants to find his biological mother." Bruce clenched his fists and squatted in front of Jason's tombstone, tracing every letter of Jason's name with trembling hands.

"It's not your fault, Master Bruce. Fathers and mothers are different after all. He didn't mention them before because Master Jason thought his mother was dead, so when he found out that his biological mother was someone else, It's normal for a child to seek a mother." Alfred stepped forward and put his hand on Bruce's shoulder, "At least...at least Master Jason has fulfilled his wish, he is now with his mother Together."

Alfred originally hoped that saying this would make Bruce feel better. There is no such thing as a peaceful death in the world called a white-haired man sending a black-haired man.Parents should never be the ones who send their children away.But even if it was a little relief, Alfred really couldn't bear to see Bruce fall into the abyss of depression that he had been years ago again. He was old and really didn't have the confidence that he could help Bruce get back up this time.

"No!" Bruce vehemently refuted Ah Fu's words of relief, and the knuckles of his fingers on the tombstone turned white from the force, "That woman is not Jason's mother! Even if she was, she doesn't deserve Jason to be her son!"

Dr. Sheila Heywood's behavior shocked Alfred's three views.

The surveillance cameras in the warehouse are very old, and the pictures are extremely rough.But at least they could see how Sheila led Jason into the warehouse and handed it over to the clown, and how she smoked a cigarette indifferently in the face of the beaten Jason.

"Oh, my God." Alfred watched Jason's blurry figure struggling to untie the rope that bound Sheila. After what she had done, Jason still wanted to save this cruel woman.

This is the child they are proud of, with a heart of gold beneath that tantrum and raging rage.

"She told me that she wasn't Jason's mother." Bruce spoke to the video full of snowflakes. Every word seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. He didn't know how he did it. Before the police started the investigation, they retrieved the videos, cooperated with the autopsy to issue a death certificate, transported Jason’s body back home, the funeral, the UN General Assembly, and the clown... He felt like a programmed machine, ignorantly following the schedule complete to-do items.

"She is a doctor herself, and it is very likely that she forged Jason's birth certificate." The screen on the bat computer is full of Sheila Heywood's life. The medical malpractice caused her to face the suspension of her license. Police records show that she had brought her children to the door and had many disputes with Willis. In the end, she left Gotham for England without warning. Willis and Catherine married. And adopted Sheila's child—that is, Jason. These are all recorded, but careful scrutiny will reveal that there are many details in the middle that cannot stand the test."

"Why did the person who desperately hoped to save Willis with her child suddenly and simply give up her fiancé and her newborn son? Why did her medical dispute suddenly go nowhere as soon as she left Gotham, while she herself was Re-climbed to the pinnacle of his career, with a prominent reputation, and participated in the actions of Doctors Without Borders everywhere." Bruce's eyes were bloodshot, and he completed the investigation of Sheila Heywood in such a short period of time. Thought support:

Jason's wish before death was to find his biological mother. This black-hearted woman is not worthy of being a mother, so he will fulfill Jason's wish. Even if he has to search the whole world, he will find this woman and let her know that he once had What a perfect son.

"A certain woman gave her son to Sheila, and Sheila gave up the child to Catherine, perhaps because she found that her fiancé could not be saved by parent-child relationship. The medical disputes that ended without a disease and the capital to rebuild her reputation abroad are very likely It was the price paid by this mysterious woman for Sheila to raise a child. With such influence, this woman is not an ordinary person. I have already compared all the DNA in the database, hoping to find a match..."

Alfred sighed, pulling Bruce away from the computer like guiding a child: "Come on, master, this process takes time, doesn't it, let's go upstairs and have a rest first."

"No, it won't be long. The procedure has been going on for half a day, and there will be results soon. If it is not in the database, then I have to continue to investigate the people who have been in contact with Sheila. I have no time to waste." Bruce Stubbornly competing with Alfred, just like the young Bruce who strongly resisted leaving the room after the incident with his parents, "Ah Fu, please, I have to investigate!"

Even the bat computer seemed to be on Bruce's side, and a clear beep sounded, indicating that the result had been found.

Alfred and Bruce looked up at the bat computer together, the first thing that caught their eyes was the bright red "Find a match", followed by two portraits, one was undoubtedly Jason, and the other was the problem.

She is beautiful.It's just a photo, and it's shockingly beautiful at first glance. You will attribute this to the mysterious Middle Eastern style and deep and three-dimensional facial features on her body.But when you observe her more carefully, you will feel the danger. Those emerald green eyes are full of predators' cunning and calculation. The explosive power to easily break your neck.

"Daughter of the devil, Thalia Ogu." Bruce looked at the woman in front of him. He once thought that he and Thalia would have a result, even though he and Thalia's father, Ras Ogu, had different ideas.

Bruce never denied loving this woman, and when she told himself that she had had a miscarriage, Bruce sincerely mourned for the unborn child, and the two of them drifted apart.

But what if she never had a miscarriage in the first place?

The thought hit Bruce head-on like a boulder, and he had to bend down and try to prop up his hands on the console, trying not to kneel down.

— Don't let emotions get to you, it's a case, yes, it's a case.You have to objectively consider all possibilities and test them.Isn't that what you taught Jason?You get to set an example for him, cheer up, Bruce!

The DNA records of Batman and related personnel do not exist in any database in the world.He has to personally take out the file he wants from the encrypted file, and then...

Alfred wept silently and exited the Batcave.

He's got to get a spare medical kit from the mansion, he'll need medical attention after his Master Bruce finishes smashing the Batcave.

"God, if you could hear." Alfred was holding the first aid kit, and his ears were filled with the cries of a remorseful man and the sound of frantic beatings.

"Please take pity on the Wayne family."