conversations overheard through the batkid com lines pt 65 (masterpost here)
Jason: *absently* to be fair, i- we never claimed to be good people,
Jason: like- we don't call ourselves heroes. we call ourselves vigilantes. vigilantes aren't always good, we never claimed we were ethically good,
Jason: -i mean i'm a literal crime lord. i deal drugs, i carry a gun; i've never presented myself as a good person, so if people expect that from me then that's on them,
Jason: you might be false advertising,
Jason: -but then that's still an assumption. you never said that Red Robin was gonna be a good person, they just decided to look at you that way,
Jason: -and anyway, none of us have the responsibility of living up to people's ethical expectations of us. we could be bad people, it's not like we signed a contract saying we'd be nice to people.
Jason: any disappointment civilians go through about us and our actions is... it's on them, really.
Dick, chipper: yoooo~ saw you two were online. how's it goin' tonight?
*shuffling of fabric, scraping of gravel, light wrestling noises*
Dick: uh- ....hi? are you ok? are you two together?
Jason: just- one of the warehouses along the waterfront in Crime Alley.
Dick: ok... well i joined because i was swinging through the alley and wanted to see if you guys were hungry, so i'm close by, i'll track you.
Dick, suspicious: the fuck're you acting so weird for? what'd you do?
Tim: it's not like we ever said we were good people, right, Dick?
Dick: ...what? hold on, i'm literally only a few streets over, gimmie a sec.
Tim, voice empty: nobody can be disappointed in us. we never set expectations of morality.
Dick: Jason the fuck is he on about?
Jason, equally empty: i literally deal drugs.
Dick: *noise of intense confusion*
Dick: oh i see you guys- holy fuck.
Dick: ...that guy isn't alive, is he?
Tim: well he can't be alive, he has no limbs. it's just a torso.
Jason: no i've seen people on tiktok that live just as torsos, it can happen.
Tim: yeah but not like this-
Dick: *aghast* there's so much blood- Tim you're fucking covered. who did this?!?!
Jason, instant: no it was not.
Tim, matter of fact: you have to take responsibility for the fact that you a hundred percent had the time to slow down the truck before you drove it into him.
Jason: -and i will do so, as soon as you accept that you were stood right next to him and saw him in the path of the truck and fully had the opportunity and skills to remove him from the area before the truck pushed him into the machine. only you didn't, because you wanted to see what would happen.
Tim: you sped up that truck after you knocked the driver unconcious.
Jason: you said it looked 'cool, like a wet firework'.
Dick: what the hell is wrong with you both.
Jason: we never signed a contract to be morally acceptable.
Tim: -but if it makes you feel better the guy did come here so he could try and sell his disabled son to a gang.
Dick: you're both so lucky Batman's off-world tonight, i swear to god.