His presence felt even more intimidating in the dark.
"I don't want to fight. I know what happened. Let me help you."
I let out a bitter laugh.
"You met Ra's, didn't you? Would it be easier to understand if I said I went into the Lazarus Pit and went crazy? Or should I tell you this is the real me?"
I pulled out a small explosive device from my pocket and kicked the red helmet at my feet. Chaos erupted with the kick, and Batman and I instinctively started fighting. We shoved each other, threw punches, and smashed through walls.
"I know I let you down. But... I want to save you."
"You think this is about that? About you letting me die? I don't know which clouds your judgment more—the guilt or that outdated moral code of yours."
Batman barely dodged my punch as he spoke. There was sincerity in his voice, but I didn't want to accept it.
"Yeah, I forgave you for not saving me. But why the hell is he still alive? Why didn't you kill him? The guy who took my life! Why...!"
My voice was shaking with rage. I felt like tears were about to burst out.
"Hahahaha! So that's why you came back from the dead—for this party. Shouldn't we take a commemorative photo? It's such a glorious day!!"
"Shut your damn mouth, Joker. Or I'll smash your face in!"
The Joker was lying on the ground, but he still wouldn't stop that creepy laugh.
"We have to maintain the line."
Those words made me sick to my stomach.
'...That damn principle again.'
Even after I'd been through death and come back, this man was still trying to stick to that principle. I stared at him with wide eyes.
"That's how you always are. Keeping that damn line, refusing to kill him."
Batman was always like that. He believed he was the one who upheld justice, and that justice had one principle.
'Don't kill.'
That was Batman's philosophy and the most important standard separating him from criminals.
"Look, Batman! He wants to kill me! Ooh~ Isn't that just adorable? Honestly, I find this whole thing hilarious. Watching you two tear each other apart."
Tear each other apart...
Sadly, that was the right way to put it.
"You know how many more people will die if you let him live? You know it! But you'll stick to that principle. In the end, while you're keeping your principle, someone has to die!"
"If we cross that line, we become no different from them. I won't choose that path. Not under any circumstances."
"...I thought you'd protect me no matter what."
My voice was trembling. My eyes, full of rage, were mixed with resentment, sadness, and betrayal. I really had admired Bruce Wayne. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a guardian of Gotham just like him.
"If he had turned you into a bloody mess, or if it was you he'd taken from this world!! I would've searched the entire earth to find this disgusting demon bastard, and I would've thrown this death-worshipping piece of garbage... straight into the depths of hell."
Even if my limbs got torn to shreds, Bruce Wayne—for him, I would've ended the Joker.
Just like the Joker did to me... no, even more brutally.
"But you... you're just a coward. You're scared that the moment you cross that line, everything you've fought for... will all come crashing down."
I was realizing that the hero I once believed in wasn't the same person as me anymore.
"But I'm different. I'm gonna kill him. Just like that damn son of a bitch took my life, I'm gonna take his."
I'd already made my decision. There was nowhere left to back down. I had to take down that demon called the Joker.
"You don't understand. You'll never understand."
Batman's voice echoed, calm but heavy. It held deep anguish. A moment of silence followed, and he looked like he was reflecting on some weighty decision he had to make.
"What? That your morals won't allow it? That 'crossing that line' is too fucked up?"
"No. God... that would be dirt easy. I'm furious too. I want to kill him right now. For years, I've imagined it every single day. Grabbing him and torturing him for a whole month with the most horrible, unspeakable things."
"Then just do it!!"
As he continued, the rage and hatred buried inside Batman started to surface. Bruce Wayne—Jason could clearly feel how much he hated the Joker, how much he wanted to kill him.
"Every time, he'd be broken, mutilated, crippled. He'd beg, scream in absolute agony until he met a horrific death."
The torture he imagined almost became reality.
"I wanted him dead. Maybe more than anything else in the world. But if I killed him, if I fell into that abyss... there'd be no coming back."
Bruce's resolve pushed me deeper into despair. I was a fool for holding onto even a shred of hope.