Bruce sat in the dark for a long time, staring at the note. Alfred brought him tea and said nothing. Outside, the rain began to fall again, washing the blood from Gotham’s streets.

But some stains never come out.

He pressed the detonator. But Batman was already moving. He didn’t go for Jason. He went for the Joker—not to save him, but to throw him through a window into the river below. The crate exploded, sending a shockwave that knocked Jason off his feet.

"I saved you," Batman said. "From becoming a murderer."

That night, Batman ran a spectral analysis on the Hood’s voice patterns. The computer took three hours. When it finished, the results were so impossible that Bruce Wayne poured himself a glass of water with trembling hands.