#batman doesnt kill

Rolling slowly to his side, he stared, trying to understand what he was looking at. The large window was broken, a mix of shatter damage and melt damage, grenade no that isn't it, who could throw one that high, rocket propelled something... that twigged something in his memory, his head hurt, he just needed to remember, sharp shooting pain... rocket... rocket... The Rocket!?!

He remembers now, one of the board members talking, something, something, mistress, whatever it was wasnt important, he looked out the window, catching a glint on a roof. An out of place glint, he looks out these windows often during board meetings, he knows what flints are where, focusing he sees the face of a clown mask grining up at him, and... that's a rocket launcher being fired, he turns, 'Rocket!' He barks out, Tim looking up at him, then down at his coffee then up at him before eyes widen, Good his Tim knows what to do, Tim covers his laptop with his body, dammit Tim, he sees Damian in the corner standing up, scanning the room, and then diving for the corner covering his head, board members looking up in surprise, but not moving, 'get down' he yells, probably closer to Batman than Bruce, not now he'll worry about that later, he picks Tim up, chairs and all and throws him to the other corner away from the window, that's all he had time for before sound explodes behind him.

He tries to start moving, his body isn't reacting the way he expects it too, slow, pain, he waits a sec, trying to listen to what is happening around him...

As the ringing starts to leave, it is replaced by laughing, a high reedy laugh, a wheezing laugh, he knows that laugh, Joker is here. He tries to get to his feet, but finds his body only manages a half flop the other direction, changing his point of view. He looks up to the noise he hears under the laughing, Damian standing against a team of clowns, half of them already down, bleeding from multiple cuts, 'i thought Alfred took those' he wonders... the clowns armed with what appear to be tools, hammers, saws, hand scythe used to collect grain, oh those are the 'tools of the working class' its a joke. Bruce wonders if it should be funny. Hey Damian is doing pretty good, maybe Bruce should get him ice cream... No wait, vegetarian, they make vegetarian ice cream, right? Wait focus, joke, was it funny? Would Tim find it funny? Where is Tim by the way?

His eyes roamed, centering in on the cackling, to find Tim?!? No the cackling is coming from the person holding Tim, Tim looks tired, Tim should really start sleeping more, that person isn't holding right, he is holding him up by the hair, that isn't how you hold a Tim! Bruce tries to get up again to show that person how to hold a Tim correctly, he manages a sort of lift, but gets stopped on a knee. This is hard, this assists to be a bad day, maybe he should go back to sleep, hey sleep, Tim needs sleep, he looks up looking for Tim again to put him to bed, he sees Tim blinking fast, like he is fighting to stay awake, like he is fighting a concussion. Oh Tim is concussed, that means he shouldn't sleep, even if he looks so tired... oh that strange man is helping Tim to not sleep, he doesn't need to be so rough about it though, he is holding something up to Tim's back, what is that he knows it's a thing, he is sure he remembers what it is... he remembers Barbara.

He remembers Barbara and Tim trying to teach Damian how to play a game while he read the paper. He remembers Damian's roar of outrage, as he launching himself off the back of the couch, knife first, aimed at Tim, he had lept to his feet to catch Damian, mid leap to stop the fratricide. Tim had looked up, mildly alarmed, "oh, were you trying to stab me again? I was trying to teach you how to beat him though, i was showing you the move I'm gonna teach you..." Tim looked so tired. Barbara watched the interaction with glee. Damian had calmed down much faster than usual, "Apologies Drake, I thought you meant to compound my humiliation by showing my powerlessness and bright Barbara as a witness to my failings. Yeah me this move to make my enemy powerless to my skill." Bruce had set Damian back down, no longer needing to intervene. As he sat, he didn't pick up the newspaper. Barbara started to explain, " The trick is, you need to get your enemy airborne, we'll go over different ways to do it, but once they are in the air, you have to keep them there, they are mostly powerless, only a few ways to escape which we will go over as well." "Ttch, the physics of this game leaves much to be desired" "Actually," Tim interjected, " I have seen both Kid Flash and older Superboy pull this off during fights against stronger enemies." "Really?" Damian asked leaning forward, "I'll tell you later, let's get back to the game for now. Now this move set is called 'The Perfect Combo'" Damian frowned "But shouldn't a perfect combo be the same every time?" "No Damian, it's called perfect because it is so hard to break. You can beat someone to knockout, and watch, Tim do the thing!" He watched as one character upper cutted the other into the air, and proceeded to punch them over and over, as the character spun and spun, before finally being released and falling, the game announcing "Perfect!" Across the screen. "Perfect Combo" Damian whispered...

The cackling interrupted the memory, he focused to find he had managed to get to his feet, looking down he had his hands on his knees, he looked up at the god awful noise that interrupted his memory of his kids, his best kids, all his kids were his best kids he should get them something, that laughing interrupted again, he looked over when he heard a gasp of pain, Damian was holding one shoulder, knifes still locked in hand, there were less clowns standing now, but it looked like one had hurt his kids, he reached for his belt, for a Batarang to throw, Batarang what a silly name, that Dick came up with. Oh there are no Batarangs, huh people that hurt kids get things thrown at them, that's the rule, Bruce didn't make that up... or maybe he did... he couldn't remember right now. He felt around for something to throw, he felt wood, looking down someone left a pile of wood here, wow same cookie as that desk in the meeting room, what a coincidence, he heard another gasp from Damian, right, throw things at bad people, bad clowns especially, he liked over then down to find he had lifted the wood without noticing, right throw, throw, he remembers Superman throwing a car at a alien once, he remembers the form, bend knees, dip and lift, and follow through with the bend on the release... a loud noise startles him, and refocusing, all the bad clowns scaring Damian are gone. Damian looks at him in surprise, why is Damian surprised he got rid of the scary clowns. Bruce loves his kids...

Interupted by laughing again, That damned, insufferable laughing, he looks over at the clown holding His Tim, by the hair, pointing something at the board members who were seated near the broken windows more clowns near them, the clown continues speaking, Bruce finally able to start understanding him, "As I was saying, Brucie here installed all this accessibility stuff, wheel chair access, braille, and what not, and barely anyone uses it, so i was thinking i could help his kids show their appreciation for Daddy dearest by using all that special stuff he put in this place, and since the boys and I were coming to unionize the place and seize the means of production anyway, it wasn't our of our way to be so helping, you know the boys right?" he motions to the side, and then not hearing a response, turns and looks, "where are my guys?!?" Bruce turns to look for them too, wait, did he mean the clowns, Bruce remembers and tries to get it out "they... they... " " what Brucie, they what?" The clown demands. "They scared my kid, so i made them go away..." the Joker looks back to Damian, who points at the hole in the wall some feet and legs sticking out of it, "God, who gave Brucie venom?" The Joker chokes out before laughing. Bruce tries to remember, venom is something, a bad something, he knows he remembers, it's a drug, "no clown, drugs are bad!" Bruce says with emphasis. Bruce has to be a good example to his kids... "oh shit, Brucie here has a concusion and doesn't even know what's going on..." the clown wheezed again "I think this might be the best joke I've ever told!" He broke down into cackling again. Bruce felt himself smile, he likes jokes, the clown was talking again, Bruce tried to understand "... see children, he barely knows what's going on, I can do whatever I want, and he won't know until after, it does take some of the fun out of it, but the punchline will be killer!" he holds that piece of metal against Tim's back, wait Bruce knows what that is, it's a gun!!

A Loud noise brings Bruce to awareness again, he is holding something up in his hand if feels like another hand and something metal, as he is looking at it, his vision follows the other arm down to a weird face. It looks pinched and loose in the wrong places, a big smile, but a strange pinched one, "you have a funny face funny man..." Bruce hears from his own mouth, how strange? The face smooths out and pinches in another strange way, Bruce finds himself laughing... wait, this clown tried to hurt his Tim, he looks around and sees Tim, "My Tim! Hi Tim!" Tim looks up at him in shock, when did Tim sit down?

The laugh interupts again, "this is comedy gold, Bruce Wayne with a concussion, what's wrong Brucie boy, don't want your boy in a wheelchair? I thought you liked kids in wheelchairs?"

Bruce was still looking down at Tim, "Tim, you can get a wheelchair if you want, but just talk to me first. I'll make sure we get you the best wheelchair, just like Barbara, whatever wheelchair you want. " Barbara, Barbara, who was that again, wheelchair? Oh, he remembers, a woman's familiar voice "Now Damian, the easiest way to start is to grab your enemy, and throw them upwards" he feels himself grabbing the clown with his other hand, "bad clown, no scaring my kids, they are my kids, not yours, mine" he lifts the clown up with the hand not holding the gun. He remembers the voice again, "now Damian, timing is critical, you have to punch just as the person starts to fall, weight hasn't reasserted again, so it is lower, and a punch can keep them up... you 8have to be fast, fast and strong" Bruce starts to punch upwards, like a machine, perfect timing, thoughts slipping away, just like punching a bag, he felt the bag start to slip away, the woman's voice returns, "Now Damian, if they break out of the punch combo, like we showed you, then you switch to the kick combo, it gets harder, but it is still possible, we will show you that next, and if you time it right, you can switch right back to the punch combo..." Bruce felt himself line up his legs and kicked out and up, stepping forward and punch the bag up again, punch after punch, punch after punch, once more he hears the voice, "now Damian, if the manage to escape the kick combo, or you are worried they will, you just regrab them. Then you can do what you want with them." Bruce started to come to, looking at that word face again, it was different colors now, not that weird white, red, and green, it was before, now they're are purples and blue, like a rainbow, Bruce heard himself giggle at the joke, "rainbows..."

"The Perfect Combo, it is real" he hears a quiet voice from behind him.

Another memory comes to him, playing video games with Dick and Barbara, he kept losing, both would just throw energy attacks at him across the screen, and he couldn't get closer. He rememberes telling them, "you know, I met a Tibetan monk who could do that." "Sure Bruce" "No really, I tried to learn it, but he said I needed a query mind to do it, and I just couldn't quiet it enough" His kids didn't believe him then. He'd show his kids it was possible, he took a deep breathe in, feeling the energy fill his core, breathe the air out, hold the energy, breathe more energy in, hold, air out,

What a loud screaching sound, Bruce opens his eyes to see a very disheveled Joker, bruised face, torn suit, barely standing, holding a metal stick with red on top, what was Bruce doing again, if yeah, showing his kids, what was the name of the move from Dick's game again, "Hadouken!!!" He felt the energy leave his body, suddenly feeling very tired. He fell to his knees just as he watched the Joker flying backwards into the doors of the boardroom.

The doors had barely been opened before, just open enough to let people in. He remembers standing next to his father looking down at those doors before they were hung. "Solid," his father told him, "completely solid, good foundation, these doors are made to be as solid as our morals Bruce. When someone comes to negotiate against us, they have to fight to open these doors the same way you will make them fight to move your morals. Remember Bruce, if your foundation is strong enough, you don't have to move, the world will move to your strength" Bruce remembers his father smiling at him after trying to get him to pull the doors open after they were hung. Bruce watched as Joker hit one door with enough momentum to bounce sideways into the frame of the other partially opened door, being stopped very suddenly on the other door, eventually falling to land between the doors...

As he watched Joker collapse, he felt darkness closing in on him, calls of "Father" and "dad" helping him to perk up, "doors," he mumbles, giggling a little, "funny joke dad" he gets out before gravity finally wins.

_______________

Bruce comes too, to whistling, a song he hasn't heard in years, not since... he freezes... "Jaylad?!?" He is afraid to open his eyes in case it isn't true. "Oh hey pops, i was just bringing you another get well gift from me." Bruce finally opens his eyes to find himself in the Batcave medbay, Jason trying to make room for a teddy bear the same size as he is, and considering his SIZE he doesn't know how he got it in. The teddy bear is wearing something similar to the Red Hood suit. There are flowers on almost every other surface around the room, get well cards, and framed pictures, "Wait, what, Jaylad, why are we here?!?" Jason huffs, starts to say something, then freeze, "what's the last you remember?" Bruce tries to think back, "Patrol?"

Jason sets down the bear and starts picking out the frames from the flowers, "Bruce, your last patrol was a week ago. You have been unconscious for days. Doc was afraid this might happen." Jason hands over the frames.

Bruce looks down to find clipped and framed headlines, and starts to sorry through them.

'Bruce Wayne pulls Perfect Combo IRL',

'Bruce Wayne throws real Hadouken!',

'Drs estimate Joker punched and kicked over 300 times in less than a single minute',

'Joker expected to require years for recovery, Drs says near every bone fractured, even worse than when Batman beat Joker!',

'Is Bruce Wayne a Video Game Meta, and does than make us all NPCs?'

'Who would win, Bruce Wayne or Batman, experts say toss up!',

'Is Bruce Wayne Dangerous? "What kind of dumbass question is that?" Reponds Commissioner Gordon!'

'Where is Bruce now? Co-ceo Tim Drake-Wayne says still recovering, Tim himself showing up still in bandages'

Bruce looks up to Jason Grinning at him, a grin he hasn't seen in a long time, "And this pile is my favorite memes I printed out for you!"

Bruce looks at Jay questioningly, but finally looks down, at his face pasted over the kid from 'a Christmas Story' in the scene where he beats the bully, who has Joker's face.

Next his face again over that of a knight of some kind "i used to be an adventure like you, until i took a rocket launcher to the knee, then i got back up and beat the face paint off that clown!"