Prompt:
Jason insists on being the bait for a joint mission with the Bats. But the moment he starts “screaming” during the interrogation process, Batman calls the whole thing off and smashes right through the window and into the first thug.
Absolutely nobody is surprised by this development. Except Jason.
@matikura *slaps table* these gems are a CRIME to hide in the tags!!
Jason sounds all of eighteen years at most the second he starts screaming. And, look, it’s not even good torture. Tim is actively regulating the electric output on the torture device. At most it’s a tight pinch. Definitely less painful than the punches in between. But hooo boy is Jason going to sell it to them that he’s suffering™️
And the thing is— they all expected this. For Jason to scream, to pretend it really hurts. They need to get those thugs feeling safe and comfortable to start blabbing their plans blindly and become careless with the high of having caught a bat.
But they expected for him to scream the way he talks. All roughened and deep and resentful—
Instead they all suddenly have the voice of a terrified teen ringing in their ears. Shrill and agonized and- and-
Look, I’m not saying Dick nearly drops his binoculars but that sound does something horrible to his poor stomach and the urge to just storm in there and start hitting people is almost overwhelming. But he stops himself because- because this was the plan. And Jason hasn’t said the phrase that signals a need for immediate extraction, so that means— that means he’s still acting, right? That the screams aren’t real? It‘s gotta be fine. He just- he just has to trust Jason will tell them if it gets too bad. He will tell them, right.???
Bruce drops from tense anticipation straight down into a bottomless pit of his worst nightmare. And logically he knows that this isn’t Ethiopia. That the warehouse looks different. That Joker is locked up tight in Arkham. That he’s not listening to the last agonized seconds of Jason’s life before the bomb detonated but—- but—…
He makes it five whole minutes before the next anguished scream breaks his resolve. Five whole minutes, because the audio feed of Robin’s domino he managed to pull from the rubble ran six minutes before the timer ran down to zero. And Bruce can’t breathe because one minute, he has one minute-
(I’m not saying Dick is relieved when Bruce break cover to dive in for the (very unnecessary) rescue, but—- he’s totally relieved. Because that means he can dive in right after Bruce)