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Dick was laughing like a maniac and Jason growled, "This isn't funny."
"But look at them! They're cute!"
"They're not cute! They want to get killed!"
There were three children in costumes in the Batcave. Three.
Jason supposed that they were lucky that Damian was still too young to participate in his siblings' ideas.
Stephanie had painted an old Jason costume purple, Cass was wearing a Barbara costume that was too big for her, and he really didn't want to know where Tim got his Robin costume. Sorry, Red Robin.
He rubbed his eyes, "I already told you kids, you can't come on patrol!"
It had become a frequent discussion since Tim turned nine.
We're ready to go on patrol, they said.
Dick was younger than Tim when he became Robin.
It was true, but those were different times, and in the meantime a child had died wearing Robin's cloak.
It wasn't something Jason wanted to easily forget.
"Why? We are trained!"
Faced with their skeptical gaze, Stephanie corrected the point, "Okay, Cass can fight. But Tim and I can learn in action!"
"I have some batarangs of my own too," Tim said, showing them off proudly.
"You can't just throw batarangs at the Rouge," Dick choked out, after he finally stopped laughing.
"What if Scarecrow hits you with his fear toxin?"
"We have the antidotes."
"For all three?"
"Duh, I'm not stupid Jason," Tim replied, looking at him as if the child between them was Jason.
Hey, he and Dick were totally right! Gotham was dangerous, they barely got by every night.
They won't throw children into the mix.
Not with Joker still on the loose.
At least there were Rouges who had some semblance of a moral code. Joker had no morals, he was a fucking monster that sooner or later Jason will kill, to hell with Bruce.
The Joker killed children and if he had found those three in front of him, he would not have hesitated.
The thought of him made Jason's stomach churn.
Pain…he heard the sound of broken bones…the hits…the laughter…that fucking laughter…
"Jason?"
Tim's voice brought him back to reality.
It took Jason a minute to realize that he wasn't in a warehouse and there were no killer clowns here.
Dick looked at him with pity, and damn, he hated it.
He didn't want to be looked at like he was broken.
"I'm fine," Jason lied.
"Only bad memories."
"You're not fine," Cass said, and wow, Jason really hated whatever training Cain had given her. She was literally a lie detector.
Jason sighed, "No, I'm not okay. But that's what happens to people like us. We see so much disgust that we dream about it at night. We see things that haunt us. You are children, and it would be worse for you."
"We are strong," Stephanie insisted, though there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.
Dick spoke up, "We know you are. But that's never a good thing. We want you to grow up safe, away from this life."
"We can't," Cass said.
"We're in this together. We're like you. Not normal."
"Let us fool ourselves into thinking we can have any sense of normality in this family," Jason retorted.
"We want you to reach sixteen years alive. Sending you out on the streets now would make that rather ineffective."
"We want to help!" Tim exclaimed.
"You are always in danger! You need a backup."
"There are protocols..."
"You can't be everywhere," Stephanie retorted.
"You need help! Even if it's small!"
"No, no more children on the streets!"
"We're going out anyway," the blonde said stubbornly, while the other two nodded in agreement.
If Dick had been like this before he became Robin, he was starting to understand why Bruce had given in.
Nothing worse than an angry, murderous child who thought he was doing the right thing.
Jason had been no better.
Really, all of this was just karma coming back to bite them both.
Finally, Bruce descended into the cave. He looked at Jason, looked at the kids, and it took him a second to say, "Not until you're thirteen and have real training. And that goes for you too, Cassandra."
"Oh, come on old man!" Stephanie was the first to complain.
"Fourteen."
Tim tried to object, "What? You can't do that! It's unfair, we…"
"Fifteen," Bruce continued.
“If you still object, I will raise the age.”
"You can't stop us!" Stephanie exclaimed.
"I can try. If you two sneak out, I'll know, I'll pick you up and take you home. Plus…sixteen."
The children groaned in unison, but didn't even dream of arguing again. Oh, sure they had some plan in mind to outwit Bruce, but Bruce had experience with troubled children and no desire to see any more children die.
"So when we're thirteen we can go out?" Tim asked hopefully.
"We'll see," Bruce said laconically.
“We will force you.”
"Steph, you won't force anyone," Dick scolded her.
"Watch us."
Jason was afraid of what they will be when they are fifteen.