[ it's hardly clark's fault, he's not a mindreader. everything jason had convinced himself that he wanted in the years after the Incident are just that, things he'd built up in his mind as solutions. go back to gotham as a villain. defeat batman. kill batman. take batman's place. save batman from the joker. brick upon brick of walls he's built to give himself something to hide behind, things to get angry about. the very, very last thing he'd actually and truly wanted was to be rescued, but he'll never have that. everything afterward is... fluid. he'd wanted to beat bruce in flat out combat. he'd wanted to surrender. he'd wanted to get killed trying. he'd wanted the possession to be real so he could have his revenge. he'd wanted the possession to not be true because it would kill bruce and let the joker win. he'd wanted a million contradictory things.
what he does want is to stop hurting, and for things to stop hurting him. even clark asking that question is painful, because he doesn't know. he'd told batman in the heat of combat that there was no help for him, and he'd meant. there is nothing he can conceive of in his own tunnel-vision view of the situation that would help. ]
If I came home... [ he says softly, ]
If I surrendered, would he not do it? Would that make him change his mind?
[ it's. a child's viewpoint, actually. bargaining. ]
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what he does want is to stop hurting, and for things to stop hurting him. even clark asking that question is painful, because he doesn't know. he'd told batman in the heat of combat that there was no help for him, and he'd meant. there is nothing he can conceive of in his own tunnel-vision view of the situation that would help. ]
If I came home... [ he says softly, ]
If I surrendered, would he not do it? Would that make him change his mind?
[ it's. a child's viewpoint, actually. bargaining. ]