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Scarecrow has all the bats in town held hostage, all except for- him.
And them being held hostage is as good as holding him hostage too, so.
Scarecrow says “Now, why don't you hold still, and let me test this on you.”
Jason says quietly, “Or?”
There's always an ‘or’.
Scarecrow grins, as much as he can behind that mask, “Or I test it on all of them.”
Well, shit. It's a new toxin. Jason does not want to see what it would do to his brothers. Especially when they don't have an antidote for it.
He says, “So I let you inject me with it, then. And what does it do, Doctor?”
“Gets you right back to instincts. No higher brain power. Then it makes you scared. Should be interesting!”
It should be, alright. Talia had told him what he was like when he was catatonic. And the Pit will probably treat the toxin as a poison - those don't work all too well on him anymore.
He thinks this won't go the way Scarecrow expects.
And he's working with the Bats now, and he's on their business, not his, so he warns him, “This might not go well for you, Crane.”
Scarecrow just laughs.
On his head be it, then.
There's a few ways this could go. Instincts say fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Scarecrow’s used to flight or freeze. Fight, maybe - but not normally against him.
But as long as his siblings aren't stupid enough to trigger his fight instincts, they should be fine - he shouldn't go after them just because they're standing next to him. And Scarecrow clearly doesn't see him as a threat right now -which is especially stupid, because his goons didn't pat him down enough to take his knife away from him- and probably will trigger his fight instincts just by standing next to him. Scarecrow's never meant anything good, and Jason's never trusted him.
Maybe he thinks that the relationship between Hood and the bats is still rough enough that he'd go after them? Which, Jason can see that working - but why wouldn't he go after Scarecrow first?
Then Scarecrow is pulling his head to the side and stabbing a needle deep into his neck.
Dick is looking absolutely terrified, and absolutely furious, both at the same time.
If this is gonna play out the way Jason thinks, neither of those emotions will help Jason trust him, not if he can't think or reason.
He makes eye contact and says firmly, “Be calm,” and just hopes his brother understands the instructions.
And then he's gone.
***
No no no no no.
Dick can't do anything, and Jason's just letting it happen.
His baby brother makes eye contact with him, his head yanked to one side with Scarecrow looming behind him, needle in his neck, and says “Be calm.”
How can Dick possibly be calm.
Scarecrow’s got a plan, though he doesn't know what it is yet, and they're all being forced to watch Jason get fear toxin -a new fear toxin, to make things worse- injected straight into his bloodstream.
Jason's face falls slack, and everything that makes Jason Jason disappears from his eyes. Dick watches it go, helplessly.
Scarecrow backs away, puts his hands up in a mockery of fear, which Dick just does not understand.
Then the cuffs holding them all down clank open.
They step free, cautiously.
Scarecrow says “Come on, won't you arrest me?”
Damian moves fast towards him, body language aggressive, and Scarecrow mock-flinches back.
Jason steps between them.
Oh shit.
Scarecrow is playing the frightened civilian, playing as someone who's not a threat, and if they try to take him down with as much violence as he deserves for doing this, or as much force as is needed to subdue him without getting themselves hit with fear toxin-. They'll come off as the aggressors, as people who are threatening.
And that won't go well with someone who's already frightened, or with someone who doesn't know, and can't understand why they're being aggressive towards Scarecrow.
Fuck.
Jason's tracking each of them, making sure they can't get to ‘the frightened civilian’.
That's actually clever, damn it.
Especially because Dick wants to beat his face in for making Jason do this, making him defend Scarecrow, who he hates, and he's not hiding it very well.
But-. It's easily solved by not coming off as aggressive. Jason seems to be going off body language, because he's not tracking Tim's movements - who is hanging back, focused on his wrist computer, so as long as Jason doesn't see them as a threat-.
Oh.
That's what he meant by ‘be calm’?
How did he know-?
-Not the time.
So he says in Arabic, because he's pretty sure Scarecrow won't understand it, and all of them will, “Hood's going by body language, I think. So don't have aggressive body language.”
They all forcibly relax, and Jason stops tracking all of them, and relaxes a bit himself. Good, that's good.
Dick slides closer to Scarecrow, keeping his body language calm, and Jason lets him.
Oh, it's actually working.
Scarecrow snarls “What did you just say?”
Jason whips round to look at him, at the angry person behind him.
There's still startled fury on Scarecrow’s face as he watches his plan get thwarted in seconds.
Jason tenses up.
Scarecrow says “No, you're supposed to-”, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder and yanking in irritation.
Jason tips his head, almost in recognition.
And then Jason's hand blurs in motion and there's a spray of blood.
Dick flinches back. It's on his face.
And Jason relaxes once more, face slack, empty behind the eyes.
Dick looks over at Scarecrow's crumpled body-. Corpse.
That's a corpse now. His throat is gone.
Oh shit .
Tim says from behind him, “Oh dammit.”
Damian tuts, then says, unhelpfully, “If he didn't want to be killed, he shouldn't have reduced a trained killer to instincts alone.”
Dick croaks, “What?”
Damian shrugs. “Hood is trained lethally. Anyone who's not a fool knows it. That Crane expected not to be savaged was his mistake. Especially since Hood has reason to trust us, and none to trust him. If he didn't want to be killed, he should have prepared for that eventuality.”
Dick murmurs, almost a rote response, “But Hood knows not to kill when he's working with us.”
Damian shrugs again. “Yes. But that's when he's compos mentis. He clearly isn't right now, just look at him.”
Dick does.
Damian continues “Quite clever, I suppose. If it ever goes to court, which is exceedingly unlikely, he already has a good legal defence.”
Okay, Dick can't with that right now.
He turns to look at Jason again.
Jason's still not there, still not himself, and he's looking a little more wound up.
He remembers what he'd said, to be calm, so he focuses on Jason, putting aside Jason the Red Hood, Jason who just killed someone, and tries to just see Jason his baby brother, Jason who's on fear toxin, Jason his little wing.
Jason drifts forward, and slowly, tentatively, drapes himself over Dick like a pushy cat wanting cuddles.
Dick leans into his weight, and Jason leans back.
Everything can be dealt with, later.
This, here, is enough.