"It wasn't punishment!" Bruce insisted. "It was a gift! He can live a normal life now, away from all that violence!"

He didn't want to fight, least of all a longtime ally. First his sons had turned on him, now this. Truly he had nobody left. No one understood why he'd added the failsafe to Jason's mind, why that was the optimal course of action. It was that, or jail. Either way Jason couldn't be allowed to remain on the same path. He was a danger, to himself and others. He had to be stopped. All Bruce had done was make sure he could never harm anyone else again.

But everyone else thought he'd destroyed his son's life. That "messing with his mind" was going too far. It didn't matter that he'd set up another identity for Jason in Metropolis. It didn't matter that Jason would be able to find peace, find love, and finally move on from the demons that plagued him. No, Bruce had gone too far, they'd all told him.

"I saved Jason from himself! He's a murderer, a criminal—" Bruce's attempt at an explanation was cut off when a punch connected with his jaw, sending a jolt of pain through his face and his body tumbling to the ground.

Had he gone too far? It felt like a few years ago, he would have reeled at the thought of altering his son's brain chemistry like that. What had changed? Bruce couldn't bear the thought that he'd ruined his son's life. He had to believe he'd done the right thing.

"I don't want to fight you!"