After a little more than an hour, (Y/N) woke up to being tied in ropes to a chair. She felt the rope burning her wrists the more she struggled to get her hands out. Once she stopped, she took a good look at her surroundings, recognizing the dark place.
It was one of Joker's abandoned warehouses. He ended up not wanting it anymore because the roof wasn't stable enough, and he didn't plan on wasting any money to fix it since he had other secret locations to choose from.
CREEAAK
She heard a door open from behind her. Footsteps began getting louder and closer with every sound. "Val...?" She called under her breath. Truth be told, she didn't actually know what to say to him. He injected her, but for what reason?
Thanks to the few dim lights that were on, she could see that a chair was placed in front of her with a small bang as it hit the floor. Val sat on it and buried his face in his hands.
"What the hell am I doing..." he grumbled, fighting internally with his thoughts.
"Val... are Batman and Red Hood alright?"
"I don't know. I don't even know if my father is still alive"
"Your father?" (Y/N) couldn't understand what he meant. What did his father have anything to do with this? She remembered him telling her that his parents were killed by the Joker, which is how he was taken in by force in order to become one of her friends. But that was not revelant to this situation at all.
Val lowered his hands, revealing his downhearted look with puffy eyes. Unlike when they were on the roof, his hair was now all messy. Some hair strands blocking his sight. It was a state even Val wouldn't have liked to see his hair in.
"Listen, before... I tell you everything. I just want to get this off my chest" his eyes never connected with hers and always kept them at the ground. "I like you. You know I hated you when we first met but, you grew on me as time passed and you changed the way I felt about you"
"I realized that every time I wanted to annoy you, it was just an excuse for me to get your attention" his chuckled sank in melancholy. A forced smile soon formed on his mouth, "You don't need to give me an answer. I'm not even suitable for a relationship. I don't even know who I am"
(Y/N) couldn't help but wonder why he was stuck with that question. He's been saying it a bunch of times. Why was he having an identity crisis now?
"Val, I'm already aware of your feelings. But I think you already knew that too, didn't you?" She tried to lower her head to meet his eyes, however he only turned away more. "You knew I didn't like speaking about love, which is why you never confessed" She sighed, "It's my fault. I should've confronted you about it"
His brows raised and he instantly met her gaze. "No, no, none of this is your fault!" His shaking hands came to a stop in mid-air. "Though... it doesn't matter now" he dropped them.
She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering what he meant before attempting to break out of the rope again. "So, why did you tie me up?"
"I didn't- well, I did but I-" he facepalmed and sighed. "Joker is my father, and Harley is my mother"
"Val, you know they aren-"
"(Y/N) please believe me, they're my real parents. Biological parents" he pinched in between his eyebrows. "Just recently, I've been acting strange. There's this uncontrollable feeling inside me that makes me want to kill people. Makes me bloodthirsty. Like I want Batman dead or maybe torture him... emotionally?" his tone of voice began to change, "Better yet, kill or torture his friends and show-" he quickly covered his mouth, realizing that he was spouting stuff he didn't want to again. (Y/N) was in disbelief. Val, her friend, was actually Joker's kid...
"See what I mean?" His shaky voice muffled by his hand. All of a sudden, he groaned and grabbed his head as he fell to the floor on his knees, "ARGH!" She heard a sniffle come out of him.
"I don't... I don't want to hurt you or Lina. I know someday I'm going to do something I'll regret, and I don't want either of you to be involved in it" he rose his head to her, letting her see a tear slipping down his cheek.
"I'm scared"
He was like a little kid who didn't want to be separated from the family he loved so dearly, but in the end, was forced to anyways.
Val wasn't the only one filled with sadness at the moment. (Y/N)'s face softened as she finally understood his situation.
"At first, I thought I felt this way because of my jealousy towards Red Hood" he exhaled nervously. "(Y/N), I'm sorry I lied to you. In fact, I knew Red Hood was Jason long ago. I discovered it when you told me to research him. After finding out his real identity, I remembered you telling me about your childhood friend. You only told me the story and his name once, but I never forgot it. The reason I kept that away from you was because I was jealous... and also because I didn't want you to leave Lina and I"
As soon as he finished talking, he began muttering to himself, "Damn. I'm not a man... I'm such a weakling" he held one side of his head with teary eyes.
He instantly grabbed (Y/N)'s shoulders, and as he stared into her eyes, she noticed something about his eyes change and she knew, this wasn't Val talking. "I know... you can come and stay with me. I don't want to hurt you. Why in the world would I? I love you-"
CRASH
The roof above broke down as someone fell through it and landed perfectly on the ground.
"Take your hands off her, Val" a voice said.
(Y/N) was surprised to see the familiar red headgear.
Val turned, "Red Hood? How did..." he tried to process the fact that he fell from the roof and still nailed his landing. "And the men outside..."
"Cash is taking care of it"
That snapped Val out of his trance, releasing (Y/N) from his grip. A glare was soon plastered on his face, "You left her on her own?!"
"Relax, she's got it. I helped her with half of your men, which is 9" Red Hood showed the number with his fingers.
"By the way, those aren't my men. Those are Joker's" Val spun the other way. "My father"
Red Hood kept quiet, trying to think who in the world would have a kid with- but he immediately got the answer.
"B-But Val has been fighting against the Joker his whole life. He's not a bad person!" (Y/N) spoke.
"Huh" Red Hood huffed and crossed his arms, "Not a bad person? Then what the hell did he do to you right now? Or is that a friend thing? Is it normal to inject someone? You can't possibly still trust him after that. How do you know he didn't secretly spoil your plans all this time?"
"Because we've alway-" though before she could try defending him, Val intercepted,
"He's right (Y/N)" he used her first name, assuming Red Hood already knew her identity based on what Lina told him. "I did speak to Joker several times... I just never realized what I've done until the call ended"
He sat back on his chair, his thoughts blinded him and didn't even let him focus on how Red Hood was untying (Y/N) from the chair. He clenched his hands into fists as hard as he could before releasing them and sighing. "I didn't know whose side to be on at the time... Should I be the good obeying child to my psychotic parents? Or do I leave them in the dust and go with my friends"
He rotated his glance to his best friend with a small smile, "but I do now"
"I'm on my best friends' side" His eyes locked with (Y/N)'s as he said that.
Then his eyes became green and moved them up to see Red Hood who was behind him, "Hey you party pooper, what're you doing here? Trying to ruin the fun again?" His voice changed as he finished with a grin.
Red Hood instantly slapped the back of his head, "Yeah, you're definitely your father's son" Nevertheless, Jason now understood what was going on and why (Y/N) kept trying to defend him even after what he did.
Val widened his eyes, realizing he'd done it again. "Urgh..." he was full of frustration, almost wanted to pull his hair out– the hair he used to always take care of.
"I thought so..." (Y/N) broke out of her silence and softly slammed the bottom of her fist against her other palm, "I get it now" she looked at Val. "Val, your eyes change green when you go all crazy"
A huge smile grew on her face, "See Val? With a little research, we can find an antidote to Joker's blood"
Val didn't have any hope left to believe in her. He chuckled hopelessly, "And how long will that take? 2 years? 4? Or maybe 10? (Y/N), I can feel myself fading– losing control. I don't have much time. Sooner or later, I'll become him– the new Joker, and I hate the idea of that happening"
(Y/N) began to realize that this was what Joker was talking about. The successor wasn't her, it was Val. He was using her to help Val open more or probably to play the role of a brother so he could continue obeying his orders like a 'family.' Like an older sibling would.
Val furthered, not letting anyone else say another word, "You should go out and help Cash. Harley will send more men anytime soon"
"Harley? She's at the warehouse though?" (Y/N) lifted a brow.
"I ruined that too. I'm sorry, I helped her infiltrate our place" Val kept his constant depressing tone. "She wanted to blow the place up, and she's after you. She was the one who asked me to do this to you– to put you to sleep and take you here"
Red Hood chimed in, "You should've knocked her out cold when you had the chance"
"Val supposedly did, but now I see that was all a skit" She was a bit upset now.
"I'm sorry..."
She sighed, "You're slowly losing control of yourself, so I get that it's not you. It's not your fault you were born as his son" she recalled the many times he's apologized ever since she woke up here. "Val, we'll find a cure in time, I promise. Cash will understand too"
"Okay..." Val gave a huff before lifting his index finger, "Let me just try something first. But... I'm going to need a man for this" his eyes slowly shifted to the man beside her– Red Hood.
Feeling the pressure from both Val and (Y/N), Red Hood reluctantly nodded, almost scoffing out loud, "Fine"
This put a smile on her face, "Thank you, Red" He didn't say anything back as he stared at her.
She turned, "Val, let me know how it goes. We'll wait for you both outside" He nodded silently with a smile.
The two of them stayed quiet even after she left the place to help Lina. The silence seemed eternal until Jason cut in.
"Just letting you know, I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for her"
Val's smile became a bit bigger, and real...
"I know. That's why I needed you to stay"
"Can you promise me you'll protect her and Cash?"
"Whose name is Lina Aldaine" He added.
Jason narrowed his eyes, becoming skeptical about what he was planning, "What is this about?"
Val's smile slowly faded as he demonstrated the small object in his hand– a detonator. "See, there's only one way out for me in order to protect them. So can you promise me?"
"You're planning to blow yourself up without saying your goodbyes?" Jason crossed his arms, almost finding the guy in front of him very interesting.
He pursed his lips, "If I were to tell them, they wouldn't let me do this. And if I survive any longer, I'm bound to kill one of them. Joker has this anger towards them, and if I lose all sanity and become him-" he paused, but he didn't need to say anything else in order for Jason to understand. "I, Val, am just this pathetic weak person who has only been relying on the only 2 best friends I have"
"Being a leader is not my thing. It's theirs. Until recently, I've gained this sudden courage to take action. Which sometimes ended in a blood bath when people didn't listen to me. I just never did this in front of (Y/N) and Lina. But I know that what I did during those moments, was not me. On the contrary," he stared at the detonator he held, "this decision right here is mine"
His blue-gray irises returned back to Jason's white lenses, "So please, can you promise me, you'll stick by their side?"
. . .
Jason exhaled briefly, "I don't keeping promises I can't keep but...
-I know I can keep this one"
"Okay. I promise I'll protect them"
This brought a huge smile to Val's face again, feeling relieved that his worries lessened.
"Don't hurt (Y/N) or I will come back from the dead to kill you"
"Hmph" Jason smirked under his mask, "Goodluck with that. Take it from me, it's not as easy coming back from the dead as you think"
Val returned to his despondent mood, knowing what he was referring to, "I... apologize for what my father did to you. I found out not too long ago that you're the second Robin who-"
Jason interrupted and corrected him, "Was" he continued, "You sure blame yourself for a lot of things that aren't in your control"
Exhaling from the nose deeply, Val replied, "Sometimes, when people blame themselves for something they didn't do, it's because they don't know their identity. They don't know who they are"
"You sure you won't regret it?" Jason dodged his statement. To an outsider, it might've seemed like he was ignoring him on purpose. Though in reality, Jason took every word from him in mind. It was definitely something to think about– just not something he thought was of any relevance to him.
The hand Val was using to hold the detonator was shaking, trembling in fear when thinking about what was about happen next. Going alone, leaving his best friends behind...
He carefully stopped his hand before giving an answer.
"No. Even though we basically just met, even though I'm so jealous...
-I trust you"
"You can be wrong about it" Jason replied bluntly, remembering the many times he felt he disappointed Bruce.
"I'm sure I'm not"
"You promised, and I know you'll do anything to make (Y/N) happy"
Jason lowered his gaze to the floor.
"So, do you love her?"
Jason tensed at the question. He felt an uncomfortable emotion or feeling in his heart. What was it? It was like he couldn't answer the question no matter how hard he tried.
"You don't know?" Val chuckled at his quietness. "Fine, you can tell me your answer telepathically as I'm sleeping in my grave. Though honestly, as long as you're clear on your feelings for her, then I'll know from the other side"
He gave out a nervous breath, "Okay... y-you can go now" his heart beating quicker as he said that.
Jason placed a hand on his shoulder, "By the way, making a choice like this, isn't something a pathetic weak person would make. It's brave to this for them, Val"
Who knows if this was some sort of comfort. Jason didn't even know himself about what he was doing. He was just being reminded of what it felt like to be so close to bombs. He knew Val's current fear.
On the other hand, for Val, Jason saying his first name didn't feel annoying to him. His conversation with him actually managed to calm down his nerves a bit. He accepted the fact that maybe Jason and (Y/N) were meant to be for one another.
Jason then walked away towards the exit. He heard Val's voice change once again, "Hey!! Where are you going? The fun was just gettin-"
"Goodbye, Joker's son!" Jason shouted back and broke Val out of his 'Joker' trance with his words. Val blinked a few times before displaying a soft honest smile.
"I'm not the bastard's son! I'm Valerian Kane!" he yelled proudly, smiling as he released all the tensions in his body.
'Not Quinn' he told himself.
Outside the warehouse, Jason had demanded the girls to move away. They both were confused as to why he was pulling them away and why Val was nowhere to be seen.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Three explosions inside the warehouse went off. Pieces of the structure began to fall down as it was being consumed by fire. The air had blown them away and made them fall on the grass. The fire crackled and popped as Lina and (Y/N) watched the event in horror.
Lina whispered, not being able to keep her eyes away,
"...wasn't... Val... in there...?"
But the fire continued to crackle as no one gave an answer during that sorrowful moment.
[End of Chapter 16]
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Word Count: 2,966
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