4 Chapter 4 - Lazarus

Time skip: A couple of days

Jason's POV

Talia was able to extract me from the clinic without much trouble. We didn't talk much when traveling. There was nothing really to talk about between us. I took in the silence to think while traveling. Sitting in the plane with Talia as we headed to her base. I need to really organize my planning and thoughts of the future.

Once I'm healed, I need to train. Something more than the Robin training that I received. I need to be lethal and prepared to live my life without having to worry about being beaten down if I ever encounter someone more skilled than my current training. Aside from training the only real objective that I have is to kill the Joker and maybe clean up Gotham my home city before settling down somewhere quiet.

Aside from that I'm not entirely sure. I've spent so much time trying to survive in my past life I never really grew any ambitions. Even before I died as Robin, I didn't really have a clear sight other than being Robin.

'Was never enough time to think'

That's true. While also really the first time my other part has really thought something. Feels like the other part of me just went quiet ever since leaving Gotham. A little worrying, but hopefully it's nothing.

Both of us before death never really had the time to think about things like that. Should I just take a job and set myself up a life after head hunting a couple of people on my kill list. Try to go to school and then college to live the typical young adult lifestyle. No, that doesn't sound right. I'm not even sure I can conform to regular society anymore. I've killed people in my past life and in this life, I was a sidekick for a key member of the Justice League.

'Partner not sidekick'

Whatever.

How do you go back to normal things after living a life like that? The answer is you can't, not completely at least. A good example would be Bruce. He barely lives his life as Bruce Wayne playboy billionaire and spends most of himself being The Batman. The face he puts on while being Bruce to the outside world is mostly fake. Only really being himself at the manor or in the Batcave.

I can't imagine him in the future giving up the cowl without death being the cause.

I'll have to think about this more. Don't want my life to just be killing folks all the time. Would be a waste of a second life on both parts of me. I'm brought out of my thinking by being wheeled out of the plane. I look around and see that it is nighttime. The sky being an almost pitch black, with the clouds covering any stars that would show.

A quick look around shows a private landing strip that I'm being wheeled on towards a car. I stay silent the whole time. I don't really have any words to say to any of these people. I'm entirely focused on preparing myself for that deep dive into green insanity.

I'm loaded into a car with Talia and some of her men. I just close my eyes and wait it out. Talia just sits there in the silence too. The scenery of the calm sandy desert all around us reflecting the current mood in the car.

The car comes to stop. I'm wheeled out and brough to a structure that just looks plane in design. Nothing special other than blending in with the surroundings. Sounds like something the league would do with their bases.

Talia leads the way into the structure with the doors opening in welcoming to her. People standing along the walls in wait for orders, but Talia just ignores them and keeps walking down turning and twisting halls. Me be being pushed along behind her.

She comes to a stop at some thick black doors. Shut and noticeably locked.

"Nice doors," I say breaking the silence. They really are some nice doors, probably made from some sturdy material capable of keeping most things out or in.

"It's the only way in and out when traveling to this pit," Talia responds with a quick look back at me before pulling out a key to unlock the door. I hear the lock shifting as she pulls the door. The hall behind the door only being lit with torches.

We travel further in before coming to an opening from the hallway. Upon entering the room there is a green luminescent light shining all on the walls. Giving a pretty eerie vibe about the place.

I take a look at the pit and see just a green liquid. It looks thick and bubbles from time to time. Mist rising out of the pit into the air. Really upping the supernatural theme of it. The only other people in the cavern/room than me is Talia and two bodyguards. I guess Ra's isn't around or just doesn't care enough to come watch. Or maybe this is one of Talia's personal bases.

'Looks pleasant'

Talia comes over and places a hand on my shoulder. Leaning down towards my ear. But I'm just focusing on the Lazarus pit. Really just steals all the attention from anything else.

"Prepare yourself mentally Jason," She advices. I think I've done enough mental preparation for this the whole trip. My body is buzzing with nervousness and anticipation. I've only heard about this from Bruce in one of his lessons.

"I'm already ready, let's get this show on the road," I reply. The men pick me up and set me down onto a lift, strapping me in. I feel myself be lifted in the air over the pit. I'm slowly lowered into the pit.

It touches my feet first and feels strange. Like pin and needles across my skin. I focus on the sensation as the green liquids slowly rise to encompass my entire lower half. Already at the halfway point.

The sensation continues to grow stronger as it rises up to my chest now. I start to feel a nagging in the back of my mind now. Like something is slowly making its way in. Not a good sign.

'That would probably be the insanity'

Thanks for the input.

I can feel it's power coursing through me as it repairs my body back to peak condition. But it feels likes it doing even more than that. It reaches my neck now and I take my final breath as it encompasses me completely. I open my eyes under the water and can only see green before shutting them again. The nagging feeling now at its height.

I start to hear whispers in my head. Not those of my two different thoughts, but a new one. Whispering promises of insanity and madness. I resist those and focus on myself as I stay under. I don't know how long I've been under here, but it feels like forever. The green glow from the water breaking past my eyelids like when someone looks at a light with closed eyes and knows there is light in front of them.

That's when I feel an extreme pain in my head like the time I burst out of the grave, but this is way worse. It's so unbearable I release the breath I've been holding. The time keeps on going as I have no more oxygen in my body. My conscious slowly starts slipping. This would be the time to raise me up Talia!

I open my eyes, but everything is black. Just one huge expanse of black every direction I look. Am I dreaming? I choose a direction and start walking. I walk and walk, but nothing shows up. I keep my calm amongst the black void that is most likely my mind.

Eventually I do see a figure just sitting there in the vast expanse. I start running towards the person and upon a closer look I realize who it is.

It's Jason Todd. He is in his Robin suit, but it has tears and burn marks all around it. Blood stains all over his body, with a domino mask donned on his face. It's him in his final moments of living.

"What are you doing here," I ask. Better to always be direct about confronting someone, who is also kind of me.

"What am I doing here. This is my mind or our mind if we are being technical," Jason responds with a bored tone. Finally looking over at me. The mask covering his eyes.

"Oh, do you know what's happening? Why am I here exactly?" I question. I'm already used to basically thinking two ways, so this isn't too unexpected for us to both be here. Not a lot of things can faze me at this point.

"I have an idea. The Lazarus's waters repair things right, so it probably is trying to fix our mental state. Thinks something is wrong with our mind," Jason proposes. Not all too alarmed about anything.

If it is trying to repair my mind, then I guess it could only mean one thing. No more separate thoughts. Strange to imagine myself completely as one person, when I'm already used to thinking with two different thought processes. This is probably for the best though. Just being one person mentally. What I had before was probably not entirely healthy for a person.

It probably worked for someone like firestorm because they were two separate bodies coming together. For us it's different. We're like two souls and minds trying to share one body. I'm not entirely sure on the supernatural, but if the Lazarus is trying to fix it than I guess something bad would have happened with our continued sharing and mixing.

Jason probably came to the same conclusion. We do have similar thinking. Guess we get to be together in body, soul, and mind.

"So, this is it," I say while going to lie down and wait for anything to happen.

"Yep, no more being dorm buddies anymore," Jason remarks. I chuckle a little bit and look up into the blackness. Slowly the mental world starts to light up into green. Until it becomes too blinding. I feel myself and Jason truly start to merge as one. Like mixing two flavors and getting an entirely new one.

I'm brought back to the real world and can already tell I'm different. My mind doesn't feel separate anymore. Just one whole mind now. I go through Jason... no, my memories and everything feels right. My previous life's memories also being easily accessible. I miss my two thought processes a little. Was like having a friend in my mind, with said friend being also me.

I wonder if this is what Two-Face feels like. Definitely get that expression now of walking in someone else's shoe before judging them now. I'll still put a bullet in his head though, whenever I get back to Gotham. Or maybe I should burn another part of his face. Make him Three-Face then. Would he roll a three-sided object then? Now that is food for thought.

I go back to focusing back on myself and definitely feel the most content I have in a while for either life. Yet, there is still a little nagging in my head. The pit definitely didn't give me a healthy body and mind for free. The madness has followed me.

I've been brought out of the pit and feel the water dripping off me. I don't feel any more pain either. So, that is definitely a huge step up. My body feels like it can take on all of Bruce's training again, but without a sweat. The men pull me out of the lift once I reach the solid ground and set me on my feet.

I stand without any pain and feel better than ever. Ah, the wonders of an insanity pool can really just relax the body. Who would have known?

Talia approaches me with a bit of wariness in her eyes. The rest of her face still set in that calm mask of hers. Most likely making sure I am not going to go ballistic on people.

"How are you feeling Jason?" Talia asks. I rip the bandages off of my head and arms to feel the cavern air more. No scars are present on my arms, not even the ones I had from my Gotham street rat days.

"Feeling great, would definitely rate it an 8/10 experience. Would not recommend again though if you know what I mean," I respond cheekily. I do a couple of jumps and cartwheels with the space I have. God, it feels good to be able to move again so freely.

"I can see that you are doing well, though there are some noticeable effects," Talia says while handing me a mirror that she was handed to by one of her men. Do these guys just carry mirrors around or something?

I take the mirror and hold it up to my face. Everything looks about the same and wait a minute. My eye color is different. No longer the blue they were before, but now the same color as the Lazarus. A toxic green sort of color that could look like it glows almost. Talk about freaky.

Hold on a sec... my hair has a patch of white in the front. Hopefully that can be dyed over because I'm too young to be having some white hair.

"Well aside from still looking handsome as can be, it wasn't too bad of a change," I tell truthfully. That earns an eyebrow raise from Talia before she takes the mirror out of my hand and gives it back to one of her men.

"Hey, I was using that," I tell half-heartedly. I let my hands fall to my hips and just kind of stand there waiting for whatever she has to say.

"Now, that you are healed, I want to propose one more offer to you," Talia says. I look over at her in expectant waiting for her to continue. She doesn't look like she will till I verbally respond.

"Well just lay it on me already and I'll see if I accept," I respond with an eyeroll. Seriously these people with their dramatic pauses. Just get to the damn point already.

"I can offer you the training you want and need before returning back home," She offers. Training from Talia sure doesn't sound that bad. The league has some pretty big monsters than can even give Bruce a run for his money too. And the resources to hire someone outside the league.

"Is this going to cost me anything?" I question. Last thing I need is to owe her another big favor. If I have to, I'll just find someone else to train me around the world.

"Not this time, I just want you to be more reliable should I call on you for a favor," She explains. I'm sure this is more to it than that, but I won't push for information when I know she won't give anything. Sometimes it's better to just go with the flow. Even though I still don't trust her or barely anybody in this world.

"Awesome, I'm sure I'll be able to take anything you throw at me," I tell her with a boasting manner. My life has been a serious hell both times before death, so I honestly doubt there is much that can really make me give up. The Lazarus madness is barely even affecting me. My will power from both lives was already at an insane level but combined is really basically inhuman at this point.

"We'll see whether that is true or not. Now let us leave while I prepare your schedule for the next couple of years," She responds before leaving out the way we came.

I follow her out and think over what she said. A few years, huh. That is plenty time to think of what I want to do with my life after cleaning up Gotham a little. I'm only fifteen and the Pit might have even de-aged me with how long I was in there. So, I could be fourteen or even younger again, not entirely sure. Plenty of time to mold myself to the perfection needed to compete with the Bats.

Author's Note: Hope you guys liked the chapter. For those sad to see the separate thoughts gone, sorry. This is what I intended in the first place the whole time to remedy that. Anyway, make sure to leave a comment and any ideas you may want to see in the future. I'll try to have the next chapter out today since the time I've released this is already the next day early in the night.

Thank you for reading and see you next chapter.