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"So what was so fucking important that you've blown up my phone with approximately, I don't know, a thousand texts?"
Jason stomps into the Cave and only doesn't throw his helmet across the room because a) he's too mature to do such a thing, regardless of how much he wants to and b) they're a bitch and a half to replace. There's too much tech in there to just casually dispose of, no matter how much he wants to vent his frustration. He doesn't appreciate getting summoned back to the Cave like a teen that's stayed out past curfew, especially since he's been a good, neutered little boy and stuck to the ridiculous rules as Bruce so desires.
"Jay--thank God you're here." Dick grabs his forearm and starts to drag him somewhere.
Jason is having absolutely none of that. He digs in his heels, braces himself, pulls Dick up short. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain exactly what the fuck you got me here for!"
Tim ducks out of the hallway that leads to the reinforced cells, which only deepens Jason's confusion. He looks fucked up, suit half off, hair a mess, and even from over here, Jason can see bruises beginning to form on his torso. "Jason? About time, come on."
Jason looks over at Dick for an explanation, and it's only now that Jason notices how Dick also looks like he's been through the wringer. His costume is intact, but there's visible scuffs and mud all up his forearms. Jason's confusion grows strong enough that he stops concentrating on pulling away from Dick, and Dick starts to force him over in the direction of the cells.
"We ran into Ivy tonight."
Jason's starting to get a bad feeling about this. "Yeah, she's been out for a while, laying low though. I thought she was with Harley. What did you do?"
"That's not important. What matters is that she got Bruce."
"And?"
"This pollen's different, Jay. We only barely got him back to the Cave."
"I'm really failing to see how this is my problem."
"The antidote isn't working. He's pretty much completely feral."
"Again, how-"
"Jay. Jason." Dick stops pulling and sighs in frustration. They're close enough to the cells that Jason can hear a low, almost constant growl. It's making his teeth almost itchy, he wants to snarl and posture, protect his...
Stupid.
"What?" he snaps.
"We need you. You're the only one who can do this."
"Do what?"
"Calm Bruce down. It won't be long, just give us time to synthesise a new antidote."
"You've got to be fucking-" Jason breaks off, doesn't finish the sentence. Dick's forced them round the corner, taking advantage of Jason's mounting annoyance to shove them further along, and now he can see Bruce.
He looks fucked up. If Jason thought that Tim looked bad...
Tim, at least, isn't bleeding.
"Is that his blood, or one of yours? Tell me that he didn't bite Ivy."
"It's his," Tim confirms, which isn't half as reassuring as it should be. "He keeps biting, but only himself so far, we're pretty sure he's trying to stop himself from attacking us? But also, you know, biting reflex and alphas."
"I'm not getting in there if he's going to fucking bite me," Jason hisses.
"No, he shouldn't--I mean, you'll have to take off your scent blockers, but he shouldn't bite you."
"Probably," Tim cuts in.
Jason is about to tell them to go fuck themselves, leave them to reap what they've sowed, when Bruce slams against the reinforced glass--Superman rated glass, more than strong enough to hold back an unenhanced human--with so much forced that it shudders. His gauntlet snaps with a whip-crack of sound.
His cowl is off, jagged edges visible on the rest of his armour from where he must have torn it off his head. His mouth isn't the only bloody thing, there's faint scratches on his neck, up along his jaw, like he's been clawing at himself. They're not actively bleeding but there is blood beading along the cuts, it would pretty clearly only take a little more pressure for them to split open properly.
He looks...
"Fuck. Fuck." Jason sighs and tugs his arm out of Dick's grasp, but he doesn't turn on his heel and leave like he should, by all rights. Instead he shrugs out of his jacket, unlatches his torso armour and drops it at his feet. Unencumbered, he pulls his under armour over his head.
"Thank you." Dick sounds almost insultingly relieved.
"Yeah, well, I'm not doing it for you all. If Bruce makes it out of here, you are going down in like, five seconds, and I don't want to think about how much damage a feral Batman could unleash on Gotham. It doesn't deserve that."
"Come on, Jay, we'd last at least ten seconds, there's two of us!"
Jason snorts, unamused. His scent patches itch when he peels them off; he uses the heavy duty kind, the kind that can withstand sweat and blood and complete immersion without falling off. He should use the remover, but they don't have enough time for him to go back to his nearest safehouse, and none of the other Bats are omegas so he doubts they have what he needs here. He's going to blame the resulting rawness on Bruce as well.
How hard is it not to antagonise Ivy, honestly? Her points are solid, everyone knows it. Besides, Bruce fucked an environmental terrorist before, they've got Damian as proof of that, of all of them he should be the most sympathetic to Ivy's position.
"The controls are the usual ones, do you remember-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I've got this." Jason waves them off. Tim ducks past them with a quick, relieved look.
Dick squeezes Jason's shoulder. "Are you sure? I know we kind of sprung this on you-"
"Don't pretend like you gave me a choice just so you don't have to feel guilty." Jason brushes Dick's hand off and walks over to the cell, carefully not stomping no matter how much he wants to.
Behind the glass, Bruce has stilled, his head tracks Jason with all the anticipation of a wolf spotting a juicy sheep.
"Jay-"
"Don't. Just go and help Tim, whatever, I don't care."
He plugs in the code to unlock the cell and braces for Bruce to move.
Bruce, naturally, the frustrating bastard, continues to track Jason. The only sign of his mounting tension is the fact that his growl deepens, somehow.
Jason sighs. "I must be out of my mind."
He opens the cell door and steps inside. It hisses closed automatically after him and the lock engages with a dull clunk.
Bruce pounces.