Joker was tied up and thrown into an abandoned flat, but even then his maniacal laughter hadn't died down. Red Hood's demeanor hadn't changed from the threateningly calm outlook earlier but still the Joker seemed to be in no way intimidated.

"Okay... So what's the plan?" He sat up, hands tied tightly behind his back but eyes burning menacingly, "slumber party? Charades? A little truth or dare? Yes... I'll start with dare." 

Jason paid no heed to him as he threw the duffel bag he was holding on the floor then bent down to unzip it, taking out a crowbar.

"Or maybe I'll just go with truth," Joker's voice had lowered and the grin was no longer playing upon his lips as he saw the Red Hood advance towards him, crowbar resting threateningly in his hands.

That night in the warehouse of Bosnia five years ago was flashing in front of Jay's eyes as his grip on the crowbar tightened and he whacked it with all his strength at the tied up maniac lying at his feet.

Joker gasped out in pain for the metal struck hard against his old bones but Jason took another swing then another and another, almost as if he couldn't hear his winces and gasps. Just like the Joker had mercilessly taken apart hi bones one swing after another, he did the same to him.

At last he stopped and asked, "tell me, how does that feel?"

"Uh you know, it only hurts when I laugh... But hey, I gotta know, who are you?" Joker turned over to face him, blood red lips widening into the ominous smirk that Jason so hated, "you said we had met before and you do seem awfully familiar. Did we blow up a school bus together?"

"No," Jay's eyes narrowed though concealed by the scarlet helmet, "I'm just something you helped to make."

"That's pretty cryptic but interesting. Tell me more."

"Sure," he bent down grabbing him by the collar, "listen up."

And with that the clashes of the crowbar broke the silence as he took one hit after another, venting out the years of smoke and rage locked up inside him.

***

The Batcopter landed at Crime Alley and Batman stepped out, his cape majestically sweeping the ground after him. Crime Alley was the place where he had met Jason Todd for the first time, the place where it had all started. And apparently the very place Jason had chosen for it all to end as well.

Memories of a young Jason stealing off the tyres from the Batmobile surfaced and Bruce had an almost negligible smile on his face that vanished shortly afterwards, as he sensed a presence behind him.

"So glad you could make it."

He turned to face Red Hood standing at the other end of the alley. "This ends tonight. All of it."

"Nobody knows that better than me." He released around five sharp shuriken commonly known as the ninja star made of metal with sharp blades all around. Batman dodged and sent a dumpster his way by fixing tiny jets to it. Red Hood jumped over the dumpster but his feet got caught in the rope Batman had thrown via a Batarang.

"You and your gadgets..." However, he knew exactly how to slice through it using his dagger and mildly electrocuted Batman by setting a shock on to the rope, "turns out you're not the only one with toys."

But just as Batman regained his balance, he threw a handful of tiny grenades at Red Hood's feet that exploded however he managed to dodge the explosion, scaling the facade of the bricked building using his dagger to dig in the grooves and have a better grip.

Batman followed him to the top of the roof, the fight between them not ceasing for even a second. Red Hood took advantage by jamming his dagger into the Kevlar of Batman's cape, landing blow after blow until the Dark Knight was able to break his cape free from the dagger.

Jason dodged the hits, gaining back his dagger and the fight resumed, both of them lunging at each other furiously until Batman grabbed hold of him and pushed him off the roof to fall onto the roof of yet another building with enormous statues and pointed spires.

The fall seemed to have hurt as Red Hood did not immediately get back on his feet but it was merely a ploy for when Batman was about to lift him up, his hand resting on his shoulder, Jason spun around and grabbed the cowl unmasking him.

 The unforgettable face of Bruce Wayne stared back at him, blue eyes burning in guilt. Red Hood had grabbed hold of his dagger and stood up, facing him.

"I guess we should keep it even," he remarked, pulling off the helmet from his head and leaving it on the ground. Bruce was looking at his formerly dead son after five long years, and yet it only reminded him of how much he had changed, how he wasn't the boy he had known anymore.

"Jason," the name escaped him at last, a wave of guilt and sorrow flashing on his otherwise emotionless face. "I don't want to fight you."

"All evidence to the contrary."

"Please... I can help you," Bruce tried one more time to convince him though deep down he knew it was futile, "I know what happened."

"Oh, so you got to talking with Ras, huh? Does it make it easier for you to think that my little dip in the Lazarus Pit turned me rabid? Or is this just the real me..." The bitterness seeped through each word as he spoke and kicked his helmet towards Bruce who stopped it, placing his foot above.

His eyes locked with Jason's who had pulled out a trigger and pressed it. The helmet glowed and Bruce backed off immediately realizing that it had a bomb fitted in that would explode. And soon enough, the helmet exploded throwing Bruce afar.

He had readjusted the cowl over his face when Jason seized him in a headlock, the dagger placed threateningly close to his throat, "tell me what bothers you more; that your greatest failure has returned from the grave or that I am better at stopping crime than you?"

Batman flipped him over his back, hands locked onto his wrists tightly, holding the dagger away from striking him, "you're ruling through intimidation and murder. You're just another criminal."

The fight continued but Red Hood had realized the time had come for him to lead him to the place where Joker was kept so that all of it could end. He made his escape, knowing Batman would follow and leaped from the building, crashing in through the glass window of another, Batman chasing close behind.

"Enough, it's over!" The Dark Knight loomed in front of Jason in a clear commanding stance but the words seemed to have no effect on him.

Jason lunged forward to strike but each blow he aimed was blocked, instead he received a rather heavy beating for Batman was angered to see him thus; his own former ally using all he had taught against him.

Soon enough the bathroom they had crashed into was reduced to a warzone, the tiles coming off due to the strength of their punches, the glass shattering as Jay's face was smashed against it. 

Blood trickled down his forehead but he wasn't ready to surrender just yet. His skin and bones had been hardened due to the Lazarus Pit, he knew he could sustain twice more damage.

"You say you want to be better than me?" Bruce held him by the throat, pinning him against the wall, "but it won't happen. Not like this!"

And with that, he threw him such that he crashed through the wall, landing in the other room and clearly worn down by the sheer force of it. Jason was bent down over his forearms, trying to regain his breath as he tried even harder to ignore the pain shooting up in his body.

He was still human after all, being resurrected hadn't stripped him of the ability to feel pain.

"I know I failed you," Bruce spoke up, voice softer and ridden with guilt, "but I tried to save you Jason. I... I'm trying to save you even now."

Jason straightened, the gun in his hand pointed straight towards him, "is that what you think this is about? That you let me die?"

Bruce backed off noticing the tremor in his voice; the clear trace of anger and grief tainting each word.

Jason stood up, gun still pointing towards him, "I don't know what clouds your judgement worse; your guilt or your antiquated sense of morality. Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me. But why... Why on God's Earth..." He crashed open the door beside him with his leg, revealing the Joker beaten up and tied to a chair, "is he still alive?"

Joker took in the scene playing out in front of him and laughed, "gotta give the boy points. He came back all the way from the dead to make this little shindig happen. Now who's got a camera? Get one picture of me and the kid first, then you and me, then the three of us! Then one with the crowbar..."

But he couldn't complete the sentence as Jason kicked him right in the head, sending him spiralling to the ground. The gun he had pointed at Bruce was now held against Joker's temple, "you'll be as quiet as possible, or I'll put one in your lap first."

Joker rolled his eyes mockingly, "party pooper... No cake for you."

Jason ignored him and stood up facing Batman again, "ignoring what he has done in the past blindly, stupidly... Disregarding the entire graveyards he has filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he has crippled..." His voice broke recalling Barbara Gordon and how she had been subjected to a wheelchair all due to the Joker. "You know, I thought... I thought I'd be the last person you'd ever let him hurt."

Bruce didn't say a word but deep down he knew Jason too was right in a sense.

He lowered his gun, "if it had been you that he'd beaten to a bloody pulp, if he had taken you from this world... I would have done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil, death worshipping garbage and sent him off to hell!"

Jay's voice had risen to an alarming pitch, shaken from the intensity of the words he had uttered.

"You don't understand," Bruce spoke up at last in a calm tone, "I don't think you ever understood."

"What? That your moral code won't allow for that? It's too hard to cross that line?"

"No!" Bruce thundered, "no! It would be too damned easy."

Jason wasn't expecting that reaction as he stood silent, waiting from him to resume.

"Not a day goes by when I don't think about subjecting him to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others. And then... End him."

Joker too seemed to be in awe, "oh so you do think about me?"

"But if I do that... If I allow myself to go down into that place, I'll never come back."

"Why? I'm not talking about killing Penguin or Scarecrow or Dent, I'm talking about him. Just him. And do it because... Because he took me away from you," his tone was broken yet still resolved enough for it to show that he had spent years thinking about it, wallowing in the pain and sorrow that came with it.

"I can't, I'm sorry," Bruce's tone was firm and decisive.

"That is so sweet," Joker mumbled, "dear old Batsy can't bring himself to kill me...? Even after all I have done? At this rate, I might be tempted to believe you do have a soft spot for me."

"Well you won't have a choice," Jason took out the other gun from his holster and threw it towards Bruce who caught it in his hands but was looking at it as if it was of no use to him.

"I won't," his reply was adamant.

"This is what this all has been about," Jason concluded, "you, me and him! Now is the time you decide." His foot landed on Joker springing him up and he caught him in a headlock, "if you won't kill this psychotic piece of filth, then I will! If you're going to stop me, you will have to kill me."

"You know I won't."

Jason had placed the gun directly on Joker's temple, "I'm going to blow his deranged brains out and if you want to stop it, you're gonna have to shoot me. Right in my face!"

Joker seemed to be enjoying the whole scenario, "this is turning out even better than I'd hoped!"

Batman's eyes narrowed into slits and he dropped the gun, turning his back on to the two of them as he started to walk away.

Disappointment crossed Jay's features and he yelled, "it's him or me, you have to decide. Decide now! Him or me, decide!"

Batman kept walking but a batarang had slid into his hand, prepared for what was going to happen next. He knew Jay had now pointed the gun towards him and pressed the trigger. But he steered out of the way, dodging the bullet.

The batarang whizzed through the air and got caught in the muzzle of the gun, making it explode to pieces. He dropped both the gun and Joker, clutching his bleeding hand.

Nevertheless, the Joker was rolling on the floor with laughter, his maniacal voice raging wildly, "I can't believe you got him! You expert eagle eyed marksman! I love it... You managed to find a way to win and everybody still loses!"

His laughter seemed to have turned into hysterical fits but Jason stood up, a detonator in his hand that he pressed. It activated all the bombs placed in that room with a twenty second time limit.

00:19

"No, don't spoil it. This is better," Joker grabbed Batman and pulled him back, holding him to the ground with his hands around his throat and eyes sparking madly, "I'm the only one who's gonna get what he wants tonight! Yes! Big Bang... Boom! We all go out together. Don't you just love a happy ending?"

00:14

Batman looked over at Jason who was sitting across from him with a very resigned look on his face, showing no intent of escaping whatsoever. Bruce knew he had to take a decision then and there, Jason had brought them to the same situation of five years ago and he couldn't afford to make the same mistake.

00:09

So he kicked Joker in the face and threw him off, standing up immediately as he approached Jason.

00:05

Jason looked up at him in disbelief as his hand reached out and lifted him up by the scruff of his neck.

00:02

Batman made a run for the open window, his arm firm around Jason while he knew full well that the seconds were running out and if they survived it would be a miracle. But he had to take the risk, he couldn't abandon his son to the fire once again.

00:00

And the whole building exploded into bright orange flames, the echo of the blast could be heard for miles and all that was left at the end was smoke, ashes and the faint sound of Joker's manic laughter.

***