Jason never thought in his life that he would come to fear someone for their morality being too high.
Admittedly, to most people, if a child runs away from home without taking a phone and gets kidnapped, the parents and the child share roughly equal responsibility, with the parents taking slightly more blame, depending on their usual behavior.
Batman and Jason were both rather unimpressive on a regular basis, not acting like a father and son should, having squabbles every few days, so if this were to be discussed, both sides would bear some responsibility.
But Jason had to admit to himself that more than anything, he resented the fact that Batman, who controlled all of Gotham, hadn't found him in a year.
This made it hard for people not to doubt whether Batman had ever tried to find him at all.
Jason thought the same. You've installed surveillance on every street and corner of Gotham, every single time you're able to track a criminal with crystal clear precision, but this once you couldn't find me, how could it just be a coincidence?
What made it even more infuriating was that, not long after he disappeared, a new Robin emerged. Didn't this confirm that Batman never bothered looking for him?
When dwelling on a matter, people tend to get stuck in their own thoughts. Pain leads the mind to obsess, and when a problem is thought about over and over, there's no room for rational solutions, hence the birth of the Arkham Knight.
But after that prolonged night, and an even longer one at Shiller's, Jason's rationality had returned, and he naturally found more solutions to the problem.
For example, the one who kidnapped him wasn't just any criminal, it was the Joker. All the Robins agree that the person who understands Batman best in this world is the Joker. Being so acquainted, he would have countless ways to keep Batman from finding something forever.
If you think about it positively, maybe it was because Batman was busy fighting crime while trying to find him that he sought new help.
Perhaps one could consider that the guy named Tim Drake isn't easy to handle, and would have squeezed his way in even if he hadn't been kidnapped.
Before all this, Jason wasn't sure if these thoughts were just self-consoling, but after seeing the deep, long wound on Batman's arm, clearly inflicted by himself, Jason had no choice but to believe it.
At the very least, this proved that Batman had indeed tried to find him and even found it more inconceivable than Jason that he failed. Even more so, what happened might have nothing to do with Jason anymore; Batman, always prepared and planned, could be doubting his own abilities.
Thus, Jason began to waver, but transitioning emotions require a buffer period. It's not like he just found out about Batman's self-harm and immediately forgave him. The fact that they had no disagreements on this matter didn't mean their long-standing conflict didn't exist anymore.
Now it's fine, Jason knew he had to speak up, because by the looks of it, if he didn't say anything, Clark wouldn't let him go. Given what he'd seen of Clark's strength just now, escaping was a dead end too.
"Help me out, "he said to the Symbiote in his mind. "Don't let him read my brainwaves and heartbeat, you can help me control them, right?"
"Really? Are you sure you want to do this?"
The Symbiote's question made Jason hesitate for a moment, but he quickly understood what the Symbiote meant.
If this strange alien organism was really completely devoted to its host, then it might indeed object, because Jason's resentment towards Batman was real.
In a way, the situation was as Clark described. Compared to Batman, Jason could be considered the weaker party. He couldn't do anything to Batman. Even when he donned the Arkham Knight's armor, didn't he still fail to harm Batman?
If that's the case, telling a fair and powerful being about his situation might be the way to attain the justice he wanted, which was in line with Jason's long-standing demands.
But it was obvious that Jason didn't want to do it.
Then he started wondering why he didn't want to. The man in front of him wasn't going to kill Batman, wouldn't it be a good thing to scare him a bit?
Jason pondered and pondered, and the only thing left in his sharp little brain was—I do not want to.
But his hesitation and silence made Clark's expression grow heavier and heavier. In the end, even his fists clenched tightly, as if he were suffering worse than Jason.
"I'm going to ask you one more question." Clark took a deep breath and said, "You just need to answer yes or no, Jason Todd, you know you have to answer."
"Ask." Jason answered absentmindedly, as long as he wasn't asked about his relationship with Batman in front of a lie detector.
"Have you received any threats to keep quiet about your relationship or similar topics with Batman?"
Smart as he was, Jason had learned his lesson. He told the Symbiote in advance: "Quick, quick, adjust my heart rate and brainwaves, as well as anything else needing adjustment. Hurry up!"
The Symbiote agreed and did as told. Jason cleared his throat and said: "Of course not."
Just as Clark was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he seemed to sense something and stared at Jason in disbelief.
As the surprise on his face slowly turned into disbelief, Clark jumped to his feet, looking intently at Jason's face, exclaiming, " Has he implanted some kind of device to resist lie detection inside of you?!!"
Jason was somewhat lost.
Clark still maintained his incredulous stance, standing in place in a daze, as if repeatedly confirming something.
But Jason didn't know what he was confirming, or how he did it, so he couldn't instruct the symbiote on how to combat this confirmation.
Clark's face got colder and colder. He took a deep breath, sat down again, and said to Jason, "I know that humans can't notice the changes in their brain waves and heart rate, but it's through these changes I confirm whether they are telling the truth."
"In fact, I can directly see how your heart and brain are working. Not the slightest subtle change can escape my eyes."
"But do you know? Jason, when I asked this question, and you gave a negative answer, your heart rate and brain waves did not show the slightest fluctuation. It was as if they were some precise machine, but the human body doesn't work like that."
Damn, Jason realized immediately, his cleverness backfired. In fact, he could probably say no without control and still make Clark believe it.
After all, Batman expressed his reluctance to let outsiders know about the Batman Family affairs, but he indeed never stressed to any of the Robins that they could not talk about their relationship with Batman.
So, if Jason denied it, he would be telling the truth. If the lie detector could judge that, then he'd have passed this test.
But he didn't. His previous pondering disrupted his rational judgment, or maybe he inherited some of Batman's suspicious nature. He disliked being subject to a lie detector test, so recklessly, without understanding the principles of Clark's lie detection, he had the symbiont adjust his physiological state.
It was indeed unnatural, thought Jason. Unlike before, in the basement of the cabin on the deserted island, Jason had felt a living beating heart with his own hands. Human heart rates are not an average Casio Bugle, there will be some irregularities. It would be strange if making it regular didn't get caught.
Jason did not appreciate one truth, and that was when a matter progressed to the stage of "you don't need to explain," then do not attempt to explain any further. Once it escalated to the "we all understand" stage, don't say a word, playing dead is the best choice.
Alas, he didn't often experience such situations, and he thought that the reporter opposite him was quite empathetic, so he opened his mouth and said, "It's not what you think. There was indeed an accident before, but that…"
"Do you know what the party avoidance system is?" Clark interjected and asked.
Jason shook his head blankly. He was a born-and-bred Gotham local. His relationship with the law was like the most familiar stranger -- familiar in that he prowled around the fringes of the law every day, unknown because he didn't understand the law at all.
Clark stretched out his two hands, comparing them, and said, "In many kidnapping cases, judges and jurors do not believe the victim's testimony because the victims may, under long-term mental torture or brainwashing, not have a clear understanding of the crimes committed against them, thereby subjectively minimizing their descriptions of the harm."
"Of course, I know if I let you continue, you'd probably say, 'We just had an argument.'"
Jason opened his mouth. He wanted to say exactly that, but even if his reaction time for talking was exceptionally short in the Batman Family, he still didn't have the ability to cut off someone else's words, let alone a reporter, and a Metropolis reporter at that.
"Yes, you guys probably just had an argument. So how did the injury on your eye happen? Are you going to say, 'fights are normal, who hasn't had a fight?'"
Clark was disconsolate as he said, "This is a manifestation of subjectively minimizing the perception of harm, normalizing certain acts of bullying, even abusive behaviors."
"Indeed, people have conflicts with others to a greater or lesser extent during the growing process. Some of these conflicts turn physical, but they often occur between peers or those of the same strength."
"For instance, if you have an argument with a classmate and it eventually turns into a fight, I don't think it requires legal judgment, because your physiological and psychological development, actual age, and social status are relatively equal."
"You two bear almost the same consequences for the act of hitting someone. You might get hurt, be scolded by the teacher, or even be expelled."
"But if the above conditions are unequal and the consequences of the fight are different — he won't suffer physical or psychological harm because of it, he can receive better care after being injured, his reputation won't suffer any damage, and only you unilaterally bear the harm, then it's abuse."
Jason opened his mouth, realizing he couldn't retort.
Upon reflection, when it came to arguing with Batman, he did bear more consequences than Batman, the most recent being his kidnapping by the Joker.
Sure, he was kidnapped because he ran away, but their place of argument was the Batcave, Batman's territory, so if he didn't leave, was he supposed to just linger there indefinitely?
Jason felt somewhat melancholic but couldn't pinpoint where it came from. It was possibly due to a slight recovery of his mental state, allowing some emotions to surface.
At that moment, a hand was placed on his shoulder. Jason looked up to find Clark watching him attentively.
"Don't be upset, Jason, I'm not here to reprimand you. The one at fault is someone else. I just hope you can realize that perhaps for a long time, some things you've considered to be true are unreasonable and abnormal."
"Or at least after my reminder, you will start to think more about whether certain things are normal or not, instead of numbly letting them happen and then passively accepting them... that will hurt you a lot."
Jason turned his head away, not looking into Clark's deep blue eyes. He definitely said "help" in his mind.
Damn it, the sun is shining before dawn. This was Jason's last thought before being knocked out.