Bruce saw Jason again on the top suite balcony of a hotel in Washington D.C.
He wasn't dressed in his Arkham Knight armor, not even any masks or headgear, just a jacket. He opened the balcony door of Batman's hotel suite and came in with a gust of cold air.
At this point, Bruce had just taken off his suit jacket and unbuckled his shirt buttons, preparing to change into sleepwear. He needed plenty of rest, as tomorrow would be a hard-fought battle.
Jason was standing at the window looking at him, and then with downcast eyes, he tossed a stack of documents onto the nearby couch.
Bruce had a sharp urge to go over, but he restrained himself, standing by the clothes rack and observing Jason.
Jason lowered his head and spoke, "I told you I wasn't sick."
But Bruce didn't ask anything like "Was the treatment not effective?" because even without using Batman's powers to observe, it was clear that Jason was much better.
The youth placed his jacket on the back of the side couch, threw himself into the soft cushions, and with his arm dangling over the back of the couch, turned his head to Bruce and asked, "How much did you pay that Shiller guy?"
"It was well worth it," Bruce commented.
Jason caught Bruce's evasion but continued to stare at him intently. Bruce paused in undoing his sleeve buttons and headed towards the adjacent restroom saying, "I need some rest, my assistant will arrange a room for you next door."
As an unceremonious gesture to leave, Jason unusually did not become irritable. He sat silently on the sofa, watching Bruce's movements until he disappeared behind the screen of the restroom entrance.
Bruce approached the washbasin, finished undoing his sleeve buttons, and noticed a trace of blood on the edge of the bandage wrapped around his arm.
Bruce took out a medical kit from the drawer below. As he slid open the zipper, he saw a shadow cast over the floor in front of him. Turning his head, he found Jason standing in the doorway, looking at him.
Not a good sign, Bruce thought, he even preferred the explosive alarm clock of the past. Why did Shiller teach him this silent walking trick?
Jason coldly stared at Bruce's arms, both of them. His left arm was injured, but it looked like it was healing fast. The wound on his right arm, however, was fresh.
According to the surgical knowledge Jason had just learned, the wound did not appear to be accidental or caused by someone else. The direction and force of the cut indicated that Bruce had inflicted the wound on himself.
"Next time, I'll remember to always have a syringe." Bruce's mind kept leaping. He turned his head back, turned on the faucet and began to wash his hands.
As Jason walked up, he extended his hand to grab Bruce's arm, but Bruce stepped back and dodged, "No, Jason, there's nothing to see here. I need to change the dressing."
"You gave him your blood." Jason kept his cold gaze on Bruce and said, "He's studying the Joker virus, so he needs to analyze the components of your blood."
"I wasn't aware you had medical knowledge of such magnitude." More ambiguity. Bruce seemed like he wanted to brush it off.
"You weren't unprepared with a syringe." Jason's voice resonated with anger. "You did it on purpose. You wanted to hurt yourself and bleed in this way. Batman, why?"
Bruce's Adam's apple bobbed.
The muscles in his lips moved in a way that was hard to describe. It's difficult to describe because when a person's mouth muscles move like that, they usually spit out some words, but Bruce didn't.
He completed all the 'pre-move' motions for speaking with an exceedingly long time, but in the end, he said nothing.
Jason was relentless. Bruce was thus left with only one option - to exhibit Batman's deterrence power.
"This is none of your business, Jason. Leave." He said, with the muscles in his face swiftly transforming from a cunning businessman look to the formidable Dark Knight who could instill terror in everyone.
At this moment, Batman suddenly realized that Jason had become immune to his deterrence.
"Seriously, Batman, is that your only strategy?" he even had the energy to ridicule, "Mask your face, put on a serious expression, rudely ask people to leave…pathetic."
Batman realized he had been insulted.
Of course, it's not like he hasn't been insulted before. Too many people have insulted him - every wall in Arkham Psychiatric Hospital could be inscribed with a doctoral thesis based on those insults.
But if he is not mistaken, or perhaps, more or less, this might be the first time he has been scolded by his own Robin.
Batman admitted that his brain short-circuited for a moment.
"It's you who's being rude now, Jason. Get out."
"No."
Good, once their arguments escalated to this point, one of them always left - usually Jason Todd, because after all, they argued in the Batcave, not the Robin's Nest.
But this time Jason showed no intention of leaving. He leaned against the restroom door with his arms crossed, coldly staring at Bruce.
While Bruce decided to leave, the problem now was that the hotel restroom door was too narrow for two two-hundred-pound men to move in and out parallelly, even if Bruce turned sideways. This buffest Robin bird he had raised was blocking the door completely.
Firstly, it was impossible for him to pick a fight with Jason here because he could bet that the entire hallway outside was full of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. The conversation he had just had with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation wasn't exactly pleasant; Bruce wouldn't choose to hand the agents a case on a plate.
Secondly, recalling his emotion while heading towards the restroom earlier, he was undoubtedly somewhat irritated. As such, he didn't bring the Batman-dart with electric shock and anesthesia functions, thus he was unable to take down Jason in an instant.
So, that left him with only one option, to somehow convince Jason to let him pass.
But Batman never starts the remaining fights.
He never even considered how the conversation would proceed after losing his deterrent power in front of Robin. He really wasn't good at this.
"You must be thinking, how to get out of here." Jason said coldly, "But I won't let you go unless you answer my question. You don't expect me to believe that there's a question in this world that Batman can't answer, do you?"
For the first time, Batman found the squawking of his bird rather grating. You're being too hard to listen to, Jason.
But he only thought these words in his heart, for he knew if he said them out loud, Jason would show him what being hard to listen to really meant.
The bullies of Gotham were never good at being sarcastic, Batman thought Jason was trying hard to hold back, and so he shouldn't give him a chance to swear.
He suddenly realized that he couldn't bear to hear his Robin swear at him from the bottom of his heart, not even in words or tones.
So, for once, Batman adopted an aggressive stance.
But Jason just laughed, "You're resorting to violence, Batman, I knew you'd do this someday."
In response, Batman threw a punch at Jason.
Three minutes later, Jason was squatting in front of the hotel suite's TV, using the screen's reflection to apply medicine to his cheekbones and eye sockets, while Bruce was sitting on the couch, bandaging his arm.
"I'm going to tell Alfred about all this, Jason," said Bruce. "Your behavior today will cause you to lose your last snack exemption."
"And Alfred will firmly stand by my side," Jason replied without turning his head. "I'll tell him the reason the Joker captured and locked me up was because we were quarreling and you didn't want to give in to me at all."
"Don't talk nonsense, Jason."
"Are you scared, huh?" Jason knelt on the ground, turning to look at Bruce and said, "I'll also tell him that we had another quarrel today and you punched me."
"My hand is injured."
"Yes, so I'll apply more iodine to make it look more serious. Who's going to lose the snack exemption?"
Bruce was pursing his lips, to the point where his mouth was nearly invisible.
Jason turned his entire body around. When he knelt on the ground, his strong physique wasn't prominent, this made Batman recall Jason's youth when he was still Robin.
Back then, he was a nimble and robust bird, not famous for being muscular, but kids always grow up quickly, and judging by the punch he threw just now, Jason was probably becoming heavier than him.
Bruce could feel a strange emotion lingering around his heart, so he stopped what he was doing and looked at Jason.
"You just don't want to give me an answer, do you?"
"Don't be like this, Jason."
This was the last refusal Bruce felt he could utter. He could angrily stand up as usual, leave abruptly, and come up with some excuse, even beating up the FBI agent waiting outside would be fine.
Bruce would allow it; he would even allow him to knock them all down, hang them outside the building. If they fell, it would be their own bad luck. This was the 18th floor anyway...
Not good, Jason Todd didn't react.
Bruce found that Jason seemed not to be as temperamental as usual, making all their current experiences utterly new.
And Batman never wins encounters.
"You cut a longer, deeper wound on your arm with a Batman dart than from the fight, why, Batman?"
He's really ready to leave the nest, this giant cuckoo bird. Bruce found himself very angry. Not only did Jason want to kick all the other chicks out of the nest, but he also wanted to give him a kick and send him away tomorrow.
But Jason kept staring at him, repeating his question.
"Tell me why, Batman."
Enough already. Bruce took a deep breath.
What the hell did that damned psychologist treat?
He wanted his Robin back, even the Northern Cardinal, but not this... eagle, or some other bird of prey that looks like it could eat bats.
Peter Parker's internship salary is gone.
This was the greatest resistance Bruce could make.
Then the unsettled emotion that was lingering in his heart ended up in his throat. His voice trembled as he finally spoke.
"...I couldn't find you, Jason."