I find the fact that the confrontation at the end of UTRH is often summarized as Jason asking Bruce to kill the Joker for him fascinating.
Because that's not what happened.
Jason holds a gun up to Joker's head, gives Bruce another, and tells him that if Bruce doesn't do something (shoot Jason), he will kill Joker.
Jason doesn't give the gun to Bruce so that he would shoot Joker. He isn't expecting Bruce to pull the trigger on the clown. He's asking Bruce to do nothing. To be inactive. Because that will still be a choice, and despite having done nothing, everybody clearly agrees that Bruce would still, at least in part, be responsible for Joker's death.
...And to me, this moment is a kind of- microcosm, of the rest of Jason's point. Because after being captured and carted off to Arkham, the villain will escape again, and will kill more people. The only way to truly prevent that from happening would be to kill them; Bruce refuses to do so, and I respect his right to choose such a thing for himself, but it is still a choice, and if we agree that Bruce's inaction during the confrontation would leave him at least partly responsible for the Joker's death, then we must also agree that his inaction in permanently preventing the Rogues from killing more people means he is also, partly, responsible for all of those deaths.
Jason froze when a camera flashed, Bruce, Alfred, Dick, and Barbara cheering. He had just walked into the dining room for breakfast when he was startled by the four. A birthday banner and balloons decorated the room. A bounty of confectioneries and breakfast foods flooded the table. In the middle was a beautiful white cake, candles numbered '13' lit up.
Before Jason could even fully process what happened, they started singing 'Happy Birthday,' Bruce leading Jason up to the cake.
"Go on, Jaylad, make a wish!" Bruce was absolutely beaming. Jason inhaled to blow, but his breath hitched. He started to tear up, trying to take a deep breath to calm down, only to start crying, turning and running into Bruce right as a camera flashed. Jason hugged him tightly, crying against his expensive sweater. Bruce held him back, petting his hair.
"What's wrong, Jason? I'm sorry, I should have asked before-"
"I-I've- I've never had a birthday party before!" Jason cried, his breath stuttering. "Mom never could... cakes are expensive, and... I'm- I'm really happy!" Dick heard another sniff and looked over to Barb.
"Not you too," Dick teased. She just punched his shoulder, handing Alfred back his handkerchief for his own watering eyes.
"You're not upset?" Bruce asked, pulling back to kneel to Jason's height. He was so glad that over the last several months Jason had put on so much weight, even grown a bit. Still, the boy was tiny.
"I- I don't know," Jason sniffed, wiping his eyes. "I'm happy! I'm really happy," he had to wipe his eyes again.
"Well," Bruce smiled, "You still have a whole birthday to enjoy! We're going to make your first birthday the best it can be." Jason smiled through his tears, his lips still wobbling a little from crying.
"Hey, Jay," Dick smiled, "you still have to do your first birthday wish!" The boy suddenly looked excited, looking to the cake. The poor candles had half melted into the cake, but no one minded.
"Go on, lad, make it a good one!" Bruce nodded.
He took a big breath, glee filling him as he blew out the candles.
stormborns
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
2087
