Archive of Our Own

Jason was battling the haze of green coating his brain like a gelatinous ooze and leaking out his eyes and ears. It fought him, pushed him, begging him to rip, tear and kill the new robin morals and plans aside. It whispered sweetly to him pulling the gentle memories of Talia brushing her hands through his hair and crooning promises of sweet vengeance into his ear.

Jason wasn't stupid, the pit has definitely scrambled his brain, forcing him to first work around his brand new murderous tendancies before he could come up with feasible plans, but even freshly resurrected Jason had smelt the creepy disingenuous vibe Talia radiated, although that may have been left over from Ra's or even the natural atmosphere of the lazerus pit cave or maybe it was something that al Ghuls inherited but it had made Jason weary none the less.

He'd taken his time writing down his plan to keep himself focussed and to ensure he didn't get distracted with his beating and get caught by Batman.

That would be unbelievably embarrassing.

To get caught so early into his crime spree.

Jason shrugged his shoulders testing the straps of his backpack for security. He'd had to dye it the same crimson as his suit so he didn't look stupid. Carrying some multicoloured thing while beating up drug dealers wasn't conducive to the brand. He'd had to spend hours meditating to get the memories of his sewing lessons with Alfred back so he could reinforce the thing himself as well. It would do him no good if a bullet hit it and his stuff got destroyed, irritatingly his plan for the new Robin required enough shit that he'd needed the backpack at all so the kid was already pissing him off.

His plan for Robin was pretty basic. He'd test the Replacement's moxie and give the Bat a right scare with some elaborate staging. That not to say he liked the Pretender just that he wasn't planning on killing him, light torture maybe, a couple of bullets and a broken bone or two would do the kid some good but he wasn't really the target of today's business.

Armed with his backpack filled with bottles of his own blood, a crowbar, some spare bullet cartridges, knockout gas, a code breaker courtesy of the League and a couple of days worth of cold, long lasting food for the disappearing act he would have to do once Batman found his gift, he set off.

The code breaker had been unnecessary. He'd assumed since everyone had moved from Robin two to Robin three with so little fanfare that his legacy would have been scrubbed from the annals but his code had gotten him into the teen titans tower just fine.

Jason bounced on the balls of his feet, the stories on the street told tale after tale of how good this new Robin was, more attentive than the first, smarter than the second, finishing Batman's sentences and his cases. Batman's true partner.

He was raring to go and ready for a good fight. Parking his backpack in the zeta cube he pulled out the knockout gas canisters. He stalked the halls silently, thanking his newfound assassin training, and entered the security room of the tower. Navigating the familiar bat style security system he flicker through videos of sleeping baby heros in their stupid baby hero beds and teenage typical dumpster rooms.

All of them except Robin were fast asleep. Replacement was curled up on the couch, back hunched like some eldritch monster over a far too bright laptop screen. He was typing at a speed Jason wasn't sure was humanly possible with one hand and shoving some sort of dry cracker into his mouth with the other not at all caring about the waterfall of crumbs that were pouring out of his mouth and onto his oversized clothes and worn out couch.

He was expertly navigated his way through the security protocol of the tower, disabling the zetas and emergency signals immediately and putting the lights and doors on a timer.

Jason tore away from the room and let a sinister grin stretch itself onto his face as he pulled the tabs out of the knockout gas canisters and rolled them one by one into Wonder Girl's, Superboy's and Impulse's rooms. Once he'd shut the doors of the rooms behind him to the tell tale sound of hissing he made his way back to the now disabled zeta tube and his supplies. He slid the crowbar and bullets out of his back spinning the crowbar in his hand a few times just to get a feel for it, the solid weight of the smooth metal in his hand made his mind fuzzy with green as his own screams echoed in his ears. He wondered if the Replacement's bones would sound the same as his did when they broke.

He slid the crowbar in his belt for later and pulled out a gun to reload instead. The methodical movement brought some focus back to the task at hand and like clockwork the lights shut off. Jason tiptoed and listened with his lazerus enhanced hearing to the kid scramble and seemingly fall of the sofa when the tower went dark.

"Kon? Cassie?" The kid didn't seem on high alert yet.

"Kon? Kon? This isn't funny! Security is important!" The little shit was starting to sound panicked and Jason could feel the glee vibrate his bones.

"Bart? Bart? Turn on the light guys!" Replacement was starting to get on the defensive and Jason couldn't have that. He burst into the room, the slam of the door echoing in the silence of Robin's surprise.

"Expecting me, kid?"

"I wasn't expecting a gun toting maniac today but I can make myself available. How about setting up an appointment with my assistant? I'm free between never and the day after." The kid was funny Jason had to give him that. He'd even checked an imaginary watch.

Jason stalked into the room, taking care to make his footsteps eerily silent and his movements unnaturally smooth as he backed the Replacement into the couch. They were stood just a foot from eachother. Nothing in Jason's hands. His presence a threat by itself.

"How did you get in here, Redhood?" The Replacements hands clenched, seeming to suppress shaking.

"The Bats are looking for you you know." Jason just tilted his head at him, pushing the angle just a bit to far to look human and felt a shiver of satisfaction when the other gulped and leaned away from him.

"Well," Jason snapped his head back up and slipped his fully loaded gun out of his belt, enjoying the haze of green that layed over his thoughts and senses like a camera filter. "I'm not looking for a bat today. I was hoping to hunt a little birdie. A cuckoo in a robin's nest. You seen one?"

There was a moment of complete stillness between them as the air went thick with tension before Robin burst into action, vaulting over the couch and fainting right, towards the kitchen, before throwing himself left towards the bedroom corridor. Smart. But not fast enough.

Robin was good, but he was tiny and they hadn't been far enough apart for that move to work. Even with his head start it only took Jason a couple of steps to block the kids path and have him scrambling back. He'd clearly not been expecting Jason to jump from his spot and land on the other side of him but people generally didn't expect something unenhansed humans couldn't do.

Replacement tripped on his own heals with the force at which he stopped himself and landed in a backbend he must have learnt from Dickie, masterfully using the momentum to twist himself around and into a runners stance that he used to launch himself in the opposite direction.

Jason was almost impressed, he'd not had nearly as much flexibility at that age and he'd been training for a while longer for it. The benefits of getting your acrobatics training first hand he guessed, instead of second hand from a man clearly not made to bend that way.

He laughed openly and meanly at the scrambling little bird on the floor his mouth tugging at the corners as a look of hope melted it's way on to the Replacement's face as he dove for the kitchen in search of a weapon. The pit in Jason's mind rattled with mirth at the way that face contorted into pain when Jason shot out the back of the kids knee.

Jason let his footsteps land heavily on the wooden floor as he approached the body splayed on the floor. It wasn't quite the same as the metallic tap of the Joker's fancy polished steel toes against the unforgiving concrete of the warehouse but he liked to imagine the Replacement's heart was jack rabbiting in the same way. He circled around the prone form for a bit.

"Well that wasn't much of a fight was it birdie?"

"Fuck you man." Jason dragged the toe of his boot through the little pool of blood growing under the Replacement's knee.

"Nothing smart to say?" Jason was going to enjoy taunting this bird, he was much funnier than Nightwing or Batman.

"I've got plenty to say dude." The kid tilted his head pressing his temple into the floor and licking his bleeding lips. "Nothing that you would understand though, you don't seem like the high school type." Scratch that, Jason was going to enjoy beating this kid to within an inch of his life.

Jason yanked the crowbar out of his belt and fisted it tightly in one hand, he could feel the tight skin around his knuckles protest, and used it to flip the kid onto his back. He placed the crest of the curve under his chin like a cane to tilt his little head back so Jason could look him in the eye. The little Robin's eyes flickered erratically between Jason's eyes and the crowbar and with his head tilted back Jason could revel in the violent swallows that were making their way clearly down his throat.

"Why?"

"Why what Replacement?" Jason narrowed his eyes at the calculating look in the kids eyes. Even pinned to the ground the so called Smart Robin was processing information like a computer. God, did Bruce have this kid made in a lab somewhere?

"Why are you doing this to me? We've been studying your movements for weeks. Rapists, drug suppliers, abusers, pimps. You tackle the worst of the worst of Crime Alley, the people that won't change. What have I got to do with this?"

"Is that your opinion birdy, that I'm doing what's best for the Alley?" Jason sneered, he wanted to beat the calculating look of the kid's face post haste but he needed to get the message across properly. At least that's what he had to say to sooth the rage monster rearing up inside him.

"Mhm." The kids tried to nod but found resistance from the metal curve still resting on the hollow of his throat. "Do what you need to do man. I'm not- well - I can't exactly stop you can I?" The kids eyes went big and round and pleading and Jason almost snorted at the blatant manipulation tactic.

"Na kid, this is bigger than you. I've got a message for the big bat and you're the perfect person to send it." Jason slammed the crowbar against Robin's chin, making his teeth rattle and his head hit the floor with a resounding crack.

"A message. There are better ways than this though. Have you ever heard of an answering machine, I could give you Batman's number." Did this kid ever shut up? Jason flipped the crowbar onto it's side and brought the hard edge down onto his shoulder feeling the pit anger rise and fall like a wave in his stomach and chest at the resounding crack.

"A letter? I could do a letter." Replacement took a few heaving breaths and clenched his teeth to push away the pain. "That's if you can write." That was a no to shutting up then.

Jason lifted the crowbar up double handed to break a couple of the kids ribs, hopefully a pierced lung would teach him when to shut up and listen but it seems he underestimated the little shit cause in one smooth movement the kid pushed himself up onto his elbows, kicked up into a circle to flip backwards onto his feet catching Jason's hands and the crowbar along the way.

With his weapon on the other side of the room and the knock off boy wonder on his feet Jason had no choice but to just launch himself at the fucker.

The kid was fast, Jason had to give him that, but he was having the last laugh. It was smart to try the zeta tube instead of his friends like he'd originally planned, the kid had clearly figured out that the little metas must be incapacitated if the gunshot hadn't dragged them out of bed but Jason had long since disabled the zetas and was leaning smugly against the opposite wall as the Replacement shook the useless tubes, glaring at the key pad as if it was personally at fault for the problem. Like a victory emblem his backpack sat primly in the middle of the tube's floor as he watched the kid lean clutch more tightly at the Zeta's door frame for support.

Robin spun round to confront him but Jason had shot him in his dominant leg and the twist of the knee had the boy plummeting to the ground with a pained yelp, his floppy hair making the puppy resemblance uncanny. Jason waved as the angry heap with his gun, rolling out his shoulders and ankles like he had all the time in the world just to be annoying.

"You got anything else before I get on with it kid?" Jason was smug, the lazerus pit was smug, somewhere in the middle east he's sure Talia al Ghul was smug, the Replacement was honest to god pouting.

Jason watched icy blue eyes dart around the hall only to find the area depressingly bereft of potential weapons before grabby hands snatched Jason's backpack and pulled it onto his lap. The kid looked between Jason and the bag only to be met with a single raised eyebrow. The little shit grinned in victory and emptied the bag onto the floor, bottles of blood rolling down the hall and the sealed tupperwares hitting the ground uselessly.

That's when the air changed.

Big blue eyes didn't even glance at the sloshing bottles of red liquid that Jason was sure would scare the kid shitless but instead zeroed in on the airtight container of chicken salad that had fallen upside down between them.

Jason stomped his foot to get the kids attention but he couldn't make the eyes budge from their position. He watched as wiry muscles clenched and knees shifted, readying himself for another bout of fighting with the kid, looking forward to another opportunity to assert his dominance but the kid didn't even make it half way to him. Instead it seemed like he curled his entire upper body around the box and cradled it to his chest.

He watched the Replacement seemingly forget he was here all together as he tore the lid of the box tossing it carelessly to the side and fist salad into his mouth with the fervour of a starved animal.

Mayonnaise and dressing seeped between bloody fingers and bits of spinach fell through his fingers but the kid didn't care, scooping them back up and stuffing them into his overfull mouth. Teeth knashed against croutons and the kid let out an audible moan as he came into contact with well seasoned chicken that Jason had roasted yesterday.

Jason wasn't sure if it was the moan or the eerily familiar movements that brought his vision back to startling clarity but he wished immediately for the knowledge it gave him to go away.

Jason had known the new Robin was tiny, he'd originally thought Bruce had just gotten a younger model in but was surprised to find this one was actually a teenager, rich, and supposedly provided for by previously living, now dead parents. Robins had to be orphans one way or the other after all but he was starting to rethink that last part.

His eyes studied the feral thing in front of him, cataloguing shoulders that made far too sharp an angle with a dangerously slim neck, muscles that stretched skin without any fat to pad them out, elbows and knees that should have lost their sharp angles after puberty. Jason couldn't see much else of Tim under the oversized hoodie and sweatpants that was rolled several times around the hips but he could infer that his ribs were probably similarly visible and from what he could see of his ankles

Jason could probably wrap his hand around one in its entirety. That just wasn't healthy.

Tim had his face deep in the tupperware licking remnants of salad dressing of the surfaces of it and it felt like a stone in Jason's gut. He reminded Jason so much of the kids in the Alley, this sort of behaviour didn't come from a missed meal or two, this was consistent starvation. No one had fed his Replacement in a long time and given the amount of crime fighting he'd watched him do over the past couple of weeks, it was a wonder he could stand.

The kid was out nearly every night, sticking as close to Batman without getting in the way as possible, Jason hasn't been allowed out on school nights. He'd thought it was a slight against him, that he couldn't be trusted but the new kid could, that Jason wasn't good enough but now he was starting to wonder if the kid went out every night because no one cared what he did. Even with the three nights a week Jason was crime fighting as Robin the amount of food Alfred had pushed his way had been shocking to the newly housed Jason. Every person in his life from Wonder Woman to Nightwing had been on his ass about eating enough to function. Clearly no one cared about kid if he ate if he'd ended up like this.

Tim had graduated from licking the plastic to sucking on his fingers and Jason sighed in sympathy. He remembered vividly what it had felt like to be that hungry. To scrutinize dumpsters and weigh their cleanliness against your own dignity.

He re-evaluated his choices and completely disregarded his original plan, looking regretfully at the painfully gained bottles of blood. He pressed a button on the base of his helmet and waited for the short pattern of clicks of his helmet bomb disengaging to take it off. He briefly considered taking the whole Redhood suit off but flushed with embarrassment when he remembered the badly made, incredibly tight robin suit he was wearing underneath it. It didn't have any pants and he definitely had a wedge. He didn't have enough control of the lazerus pit inside him if he'd thought that was a half way decent idea but there was no use regretting it now.

Jason shoved his helmet into his now empty backpack and leaned it against a wall before catching Tim under the arms as he lunged for another box.

"No! No! Give it back!" Jason hauled Tim up into the air and carried him into the kitchen. He was glad he kept the armoured suit on or he would have been facing some incredible bruises tomorrow.

"Hold your horses kid." Tim wrinkled his nose and finally focussed his eyes on Jason's bare face.

"Jason Todd." The kid was kind of cute with his face scrunched like a confused kitten.

"Jason Todd."

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Jason said jauntily as he plonked the kids ass on a bar stool in the kitchen.

"Dead Robin Jason Todd?"

"Ok maybe don't phase it like that." Jason's eyes flashed green.

"Sorry?" Tim wheezed

"Don't sweat it kiddo." He ruffled Tim's hair as he brushed past back into the hall and started collecting the other food filled boxes in the hall. He brought them back to the kitchen and could practically hear the kids mouth salivating as he shoved a lasagne he'd been planning to eat cold into a preheating oven.

"So kid," Jason started casually, "when's the last time you ate." He watched in the reflection in the microwave as eyes down turned and shifting and fidgeting began. He surveyed his options and shook a box of fruit.

"In exchange for the truth. The whole truth." Jason demanded sternly. He received an eager nod in response. Jason pulled his hand back just before he set the box down on the island in front of Tim, using the kids look of betrayal and heartbreak to look him directly in the eyes. "I mean it. No ifs ands buts or maybes. You answer every question to the best and most honest of your abilities." When he got a single harsh nod he pealed off the lid of the box and watched sadly as Tim stuffed them into his cheeks like a squirrel saving nuts for the winter, one arm guarding the box from Jason's reach at all times.

"When was the last time you ate?" Jason started

"This morning." Tim said nonchalantly but refusing to meet Jason's disbelieving look.

"The truth kid."

"That is the truth!"

"You expect me to believe you ate today and are this hungry now."

"I didn't say it was a lot of food." The begrudging statement was muffled by the chewing of fruit. Jason dragged an hand down his face with an exasperated sign and felt an unwilling twinge of guilt at the tears that gathered in the corners of Tim's eyes.

"I know you have money, I know you know that I know that Bruce has money.So tell me again why you're not eating. Is it a disorder thing or what?"

"I do not have an eating disorder!"

"Then what kid cause you've got to explain yourself somehow."

"Ok, you want the truth?" Tim swallowed the last of his fruit and became painfully still in his seat.

"That's all I'm asking for." Jason put on the most sincere expression he could and relaxed his entire body to seem welcoming and sympathetic.

"And you promise to believe me?" He whispered and Jason nodded.

"My parents aren't in the country ten months out of the year so they have a house keeper provide the food, or they used to until I got kidnapped one too many times and they sent me to boarding school at 6."

Jason kept a distinctly neutral expression on his face, twitching at the corners of his mouth when he heard 'ten months' and '6'. He made sure that the only signal of his disapproval was his shifting jaw. Tim took a deep breath.

"Since I was at boarding school for a few years the housekeeper was fired and they only kept the cleaning crew and gardeners in place but boarding school is expensive, especially the good ones that my parents would have to send me to to keep appearances, and they decided when I was 10 that the money could be much better spent elsewhere so they sent me home and re-enrolled me at Gotham academy." Tim said in a rush of one breath.

He peered up at Jason through his fringe studying his expressions and Jason knew the next part was going to be bad.

"I think they forgot they fired the housekeeper cause she doesn't deliver meals anymore." Jason paused waiting for the rest of it.

"And you can't buy groceries?"

Tim snorted "With what money?"

"Your allowance." He got a look that was so condescending it nearly made him go green again.

"I don't have an allowance." It was Jason's turn to look incredulous.

"You, Bristol Brat extraordinaire, don't have an allowance."

"The bills are on auto-pay, the cleaners and the gardeners are on contract, my bus card is refilled weekly and everything else has to be submitted via form to my parents' assistant for review before their approval." Jason felt like breaking something.

"So submit groceries for their approval. Simple."

"I told you. They forgot they've fired the housekeeper. They refuse to believe I'm not being delivered food and that the grocery money isn't some ploy to buy drugs or something. It wouldn't matter anyway."

"And why not?" Was this kid always so irritatingly cryptic. If this was him being honest to the best of his abilities Jason was going to strangle him the first unbribed conversation they have.

"The kitchens just for show." The kid was rubbing his belly and slouching. If a side salad and some fruit got the kid full Jason was going to have more problems than he thought.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means what it means. The oven, the stove, the dishwasher, none of its connected to anything. Not even the tap in the kitchen is connected to the plumbing. It's meant to be looked at not used. I have to drink water from the bathroom sink." Jason just threw his hands into the air. What even were rich people. Then he furrowed his brows.

"Ignoring that you're apparently drinking unfiltered Gotham tap water. What do your parents do when they come home then?"

"Business lunches, tea parties and galas."

Ah, Jason understood. All events where food were served and children weren't welcome which meant his parents were eating out and eating well not at all considering little Timmy stuck at home in his own personal food desert.

As he took the lasagne out of the oven and set it on the countertop, slapping Tim's hands with an oven mit to keep the idiot from burning himself, he realised he'd gotten very derailed.

"Hold on, what about Bruce and Alfred? Nightwing?"

"What about them?" If the kids face wasn't so painfully sincere Jason might have actually strangled him this time.

"Why aren't the bats feeding you your weight in protein?"

"You didn't tell me you were allowed in the house Rob, good for you!" A yawning Superboy slumped into the chair beside Tim, rubbing at his crusty eyes instead of acknowledging Jason's slack jaw or presence.

Jason wasn't sure what to address first. He opened his mouth aimlessly a few times before on impulse he caught a hand before it could touch the burning metal of the oven tray. The speedster seemed fully awake and had his nose inches from the food, his mouth already running a million miles an hour.

"Good morning everyone! What is this? Is it lasagne? I love lasagne! How are you Rob? You don't look like you got any sleep, you promise us you would sleep! Why is your knee bleeding? Why does your shoulder look like that? You have salad on your shirt. Where did you get salad? I want some! You never told us the bat let you out of the cave, are they feeding you? Can I have some?"

Jason was saved from his growing migraine when Wonder Girl slapped a hand over Impulse's mouth, silencing him.

"We can have a nice group chat when there isn't a stranger in our kitchen hurting our Robin. Even if he does bring delicious smelling food." Thank God for Wonder Girl, the voice of reason, Jason thought. Even if the way she was eyeing the lasagne was concerning.

"My name's Jason, I'm currently the Redhood but I used to be Robin." The girl studied him with her eyes for a moment.

"Your not Nightwing and the other ones dead."

"Sometimes death doesn't stick." Jason said innocently and the girl just shrugged and sat next to Superboy with concerningly desperate eyes watching his lasagne like it might disappear on them.

So much for his voice of reason. He wasn't sure he would be reasonable either if he was as hungry as she looked, he could count her ribs through the imprints of her tank top. It wasn't normal.

Now that he had all of them in front of him, they were all worryingly gaunt, except Impulse who looked only just healthy if you discounted the rabid gleam in his eyes and the way he was constantly gulping down saliva.

Jason decided to cut the thing into quarters and serve it before they pounced, each serving too big for a single portion but he had a feeling that they'd be able to finish it.

"How are any of you awake. The knock out gas should have kept you sleeping well into tomorrow."

"I smelled food."

"Hungry."

"Lasagne"

Wonder Girl, Superboy and Impulse answered in turn. He couldn't- scratch that, looking at them he could, imagine that they were hungry enough to override knockout gas. 

"What is this about you and the house, Tim?"

"Not allowed in it."

"Stop eating and answer me properly." Jason was not having it. It was one thing for the kids parents to neglect him but Jason remembered Bruce as his dad. The way he'd spent months convincing Jason that all the food was his to eat or keep or throw away as he pleased. That he didn't have to do anything to earn it. Part of Jason was still childishly attached to the memories of his dad, a dad he'd loved.

Bruce had also 100% been Jason's solution to the kids neglect problem and now it was sounding like Bruce was the bigger problem in this equation. Tim looked sadly at the steaming pasta before putting down his fork.

"I am not allowed in the manor. What more do you want from me?"

"What do you mean you're not allowed in the manor? You parents are dead, Bruce adopted you."

"No, my uncle Eddie took me in." Jason was begining to feel light headed from the frustration.

" I know you don't have an uncle Eddie, you know you don't have an uncle Eddie, there's no way B believes you have a brand new, previously non existent uncle Eddie, so who the fuck is uncle Eddie?"

" The uncle I made up to stay out of foster care."

"And you couldn't go to Batman and get adopted like the rest of us because?"

"Batman wasn't going to adopt me and I didn't want to go into foster care. My other idea was to bribe city officials into emancipating me but I would need access to my trust fund for that and I don't get it until I'm 18." Tim had started playing with the fork, tapping the tines to make little clinking noises and giving Jason puppy eyes.

"Yea, yea, go ahead and eat kid." The sunny smile that lit up his face was worth the disaster of a conversation they were having.

" And the rest of you, someone explain the rest of you."

"I eat." Impulse said from the sink behind him, holding a now empty glass of water and wiping his wet mouth of his sleeve. The speedster has already finished eating and was now rummaging around the cupboards for more.

"Not food, judging from your reaction to lasagne."

"It's technically nutritionally complete and calorically sufficient for his metabolism." Tim piped up with his mouth full. Jason just glared until Tim ducked his head.

"And where are you getting this magical space food kid?" Jason turned his glare to Impulse who looked at him with a deer in headlights expression.

"Star labs?" He replied sheepishly. "And, tell me why, are you getting all your food from Star Labs?" Jason could feel the tension in his abdomen from the dread that was oozing into him.

"Because I live at Star Labs." And there is was. Jason was going to have to kill someone and it was going to be Barry Allen.

"You're telling me," Jason felt the ash of the words dry his mouth, "that there's at least 2 adults out there that could take you in and they choose not to? So you live at Star labs eating over engineered calorie goop and what, teen heroing?"

"Basically yea, if I need clothes they normally give me some lab stuff and I can't really do anything in the real world cause I don't technically exist so yea."

Somehow the kid looked fine, like that wasn't an insanely concerning thing to say. At least Tim and Wonder Girl had the decency to look awkward about it and superboy looked angry more than anything else but Impulse acted like being handed to scientists and ignored was the only logical course of action and it boiled something deep in Jason's gut.

It reminded Jason, agonisingly, about women and kids that logicked their way into deserving abuse to avoid facing the reality of the situation and it so grated on Jason that these were the teenage heros he was planning on destroying tonight. Four starving to death little brats.

These kids were rescuing themselves and being left behind all at the same time. At least Jason had gotten rescued first. He can't imagine how agonising it must be for them to watch their mentors care for, sympathise with, save people in their exact same position and just turn their back to them and walk away.

"Alright Girl Wonder you're up." Jason said taking a deep breath. He had to figure out who to kill before he could adopt them all. Hold up. Jason wasn't adopting anyone, he was just making sure no one was killing Robin before he could.

"I'm pretty basic compared to the guys. My mom can't afford to feed a demi god. I need like three peoples worth of food and she's barely affording to feed herself so I tell her that the JL are feeding me plenty so she doesn't feel so bad about it." God help Jason if he wasn't keeping these kids now.

"And you can call me Cassie you know." Jason nodded and turned to Superboy and just stared at the steely eyes that looked like they were going to burn a hole into the lasagne, literally.

"Kon."

"Alright Kon."

"Superman." Kon said through gritted teeth and Jason could swear he could hear them squeaking.

"Superman took them from me."

"Superman is taking your food from you?" Jason said in horror, incredulity seeping into his tone and disbelief pouring out of wide eyes. His uncle Clark, Dick's hero was deliberately starving a child. Even if it was a Lex Luthor clone he deserved to eat, that was a human right! All the energy seemed to seep out of Kon at Jason's clear rejection of the idea.

"Not exactly. Ma and Pa Kent, he warned me to stay away from them since he didn't trust me and they were going to fall out with Clark if the arguments got any worse so I volunteered to move out. I just don't think he thought about what I would do after. It's not like I have any money and I'm certainly not taking anything from Lex." Jason let out a deep breath, that wasn't worse but it wasn't much better.

Should Jason just kill the Justice League, Jason couldn't kill the Justice League. He tried to do more breathing exercises when he felt the counter groan beneath his fingertips.

"Don't think I forgot about you Robin." Jason whirled in on a frowning bird. "You owe me an explanation."

"About what." The kid actually huffed and crossed his arms.

"What you mean about not being allowed in the manor."

"There's nothing to explain. I needed to be Robin, if I wanted to stay Robin I had to follow the rules. Meet for patrol on a specific rooftop at a specific time every day, get escorted to the cave after patrol for training, fill out my reports, solve some case files, go home. I've been in the manor once to demand Batman make me Robin but otherwise that's it." Tim stated it like it was fact, like that was how Robin functioned. Like Dick and Jason hasn't gotten piggyback rides and mid patrol cookies. Like Jason hadn't been carried home from more stakeouts than not and gotten ice-cream as a reward for good crime fighting. Jason had been eager for busy days at his dad's side, it was starting to seem like Tim was punished for them.

"So you've met Alfred and he didn't immediately try to feed you?" The kid flinched at Alfred name, what could Alfred have possibly done for that? Jason wasn't painting any pretty pictures. That flinch was violent and directly corresponding with Alfred's name. He'd had heard enough stories about the so called Dark Knight to not be caught unawares if the man became abusive but Alfred? A man who had a catch and release policy for spiders?

"Hey! What about Wonder Woman?" Jason would not be able to stay calm if his personal hero was as bad as every other adult in these kids lives.

"What about Wonder Woman?" Cassie responded despondent.

"Your mentor isn't helping you and your mom?"

"Wonder Woman isn't my mentor." Jason was really struggling to manage his anger. He could feel the begining of the negative feedback loop that fueled his pit rage begin but if these kids thought their talking got him angry they'd never speak to him again. No. He had to approach them as calmly as possible, he could explain how neglected they were once they were at a healthy weight.

Really though, Did everyone really just put four 16 year olds in a tower and proceed to not think of them beyond that at all. Jason had heard some of what Dick's titans had gone up to when he was trying to bond with the man as Robin and that was with copious overbearing adult supervision. Jason practically shuddered at the idea of the adventures these kids might have under their belts.

Someone needed to take care of these kids and it was apparently going to be him. He was already the protector if Crime Alley, how hard could four teenagers be?

"Alright." Four faces turned to him, did the kids always have such sparkly eyes? "Tim I give you unilateral permission to hack into your trust fund and use it. If the Bat has a problem, I'll handle it. I've got a guy for Bart's papers just give me a couple weeks to sort it. I'm giving Cassie my address because I don't trust you guys not to lose it and I'm giving Kon permission to punch Superman in the face."

"I don't need permission for that." Glowered Kon

"I shouldn't listen to you." Tim whispered.

"You probably shouldn't kiddo but some rules are worth breaking. Take it from me." Jason said back kindly placing a hand on Tim's, letting his excess of body heat soak into his unnaturally cold hand.

"I could afford enough food for all of us. Clothes that fit. We could go out and do things."

"You can't do that for us Tim, we won't let you." Cassie said meeting Tim's eyes just as sheepishly.

Jason could see her ruthlessly squashing the hope in her eyes and it squeezed Jason's heart uncomfortably.

"Yea man." Kon said more steadily. "We can't let you waste all your parents money on us like that."

"Well..." Tim's face flushed with embarrassment, the back of his neck growing red. "You wouldn't use all of my trust fund, you wouldn't actually use much of it at all."

"We'll be the judge of that. How much is in your trust fund?" Cassie asked uncompromisingly.

"A couple hundred -"

"That won't feed Bart for a week Rob."

"- Thousand."

Bart was choking. Hell, Jason was choking.

"And before dad died he sold our company... For 3 million dollars."

"God kid."

"I don't get access to the trust fund until I'm 18 though and none of my parents money until I'm 25! It was in their wills!"

"You've already altered their wills to add an uncle, changing the age restrictions is the least harm you could do." Jason told him bluntly, endlessly relieved when he got a sigh of defeat.

Jason clapped his hands ready to set them to task and teach them the wonders of grocery shopping but the sound made them all jump and Jason was suddenly aware that he'd woken them all up due to knocking them out and them waking up from that and that Tim had been slowly losing blood the whole time from his knee and blanched.

"Oh my god your knees! Your shoulder! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was eating!" Tim said defensively.

"You should have said something, I would have fixed you up as you ate."

"So the food wasn't in exchange for the beating?" Jason was inexplicably sad again for these kids but the idea that a half decent lasagne was somehow equal to a bullet to the knee and a broken shoulder was like taking a hammer to Jason's chest. What else would Tim take for scraps? He was starting to wonder if Tim had taken beating to get a 'good job' or a pat on the head from Bruce as well. 

"No I fed you because you needed it." He tried to pour all his sincerity into his voice and convey a million messages with his eyes. He needed Tim to know that some things didn't need to be earned.

"Oh."

Jason picked Tim up in a bridal carry to the surprisingly well stocked med bay. He easily found all the necessary supplies to fix a bullet wound and reset a broken shoulder blade which was worrying in ways he was choosing not to think about and was trying not to address.

Once he was sure that no one else was silently suffering or still hungry he sent them all to bed. They had stood rather awkwardly in a semicircle around him for a while as he sat in the wheeled doctor's chair of the med bay and was briefly concerned that he'd put himself in an ambush. Then, in a flash, he'd had a lap full of speedster silently leaking tears into the crease of his neck. He silently wrapped his arms around Bart and rubbed circles into his spine until the tears had petered out. 

The kid had slipped out of his lap for a second before he had Cassie's face in his chest, her hair doing little to hid the reddening cheeks as she thanked him for the food, for being nice, for the hug, and if that didn't break his heart he didn't know what would.

He stood opposite Kon for a minute. The teenager doing his best and failing to look nonchalant with his hands in his pocket and casually leaning. Jason sighed and pulled the kid to his chest by his shoulders, giving him just a few thumps on the balcony to make him feel like a man and ignoring the way his head burrowed into his chest.

Jason didn't waste any time scooping Tim into a soft hug, going so far as to press his lips and then his cheek into the mop of hair. He took comfort in the way his new baby brother practically vibrate with pleasure at the contact and tried to impart as much warmth on the cold body as he could.

As they wandered sleepily down the hall, leaning on eachother as they went, he pretended that he couldn't see them all wander into the same bedroom, one that was none of theirs if he remembered correctly. A dog pile was probably the comfort that they all needed he thought as he made his way back to the security room.

He remembered the bone deep joy he'd felt disabling all the security, the eagerness with which he'd gone to beat up the new Robin. As he turned all of the security protocols back on, the lights flickered back on, the zeta tube powered up, the fire doors unlatched, he made a list of all of the things he needed to yell at each individual hero.

As he snapped his helmet back into place and took his place standing imposingly in the window he prepared a speech. Starting with implying harm, weaving in their individual neglects, Tim's parents, Cassie's support system, Bart's living situation, Kon's everything. Then attacking the supposed mentors, Wonder Woman's distance, Flash's abandonment, Superman's misplaced anger, Batman's everything. Jason actually didn't want to know what Batman's. He didn't want to think about what Bruce could have done to a teenager that made him flinch reflexively in a way that facing a murderer with a gun didn't.

Once he'd finished the speeches in his head he started pacing, thirty minutes, forty, an hour. Had no one noticed the titans tower go offline? These kids could be long dead and no one would have noticed. They hadn't seemed alarmed when they woke up, they hadn't been looking out for the zeta tubes or their phones and Jason had thought it was rightful vigilance at the crime lord in their kitchen but it was because they didn't expect anything. Not a single one of the kids that had dutifully obeyed his imposed bedtime had expected the adults in their life to notice if they lived or died

Jason sat heavily on the couch in the same place Tim had been working on his laptop. Jason picked up the abandoned laptop. Case files. These kids worked themselves to the bone and their mentors couldn't even be bothered to feed them.

If Bruce had treated Jason the way he treated Tim Jason wondered if his body would have made it out of the warehouse at all or if would still be there. If he would have had to claw his way out of concrete and rebar instead of mahogany and wet dirt. It made him feel grateful in a twisted way, that it he him who died and came back and not Tim.

Jason put his helmeted head in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees.

Yesterday he was the rising crime lord of Crime Alley

Today he was a teen father of four.

Groaning, Jason opened a new search tab on his phone.

'How to feed super powered children?'