Yo! Hello peoples. So, I've dived head first into the Young Justice fandom and fell completely in love with the Robin character. He's just so awesome! But, being the horrible, horrible creature that I am I wrote this. This idea came to me when I was scrolling through YJ fanfictions and listening to Circus Monster (by VocaCircus, at least I think so. Not mine!), however, it has really taken on a life of its own. After Artemis, before Zatanna. Enjoy! Characters might be a little OOC. Small involvement of an OC I have created for this world, that I haven't had a chance to really use yet. On with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own YJ, only this story, which I am making no money off of.
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Robin groaned as he woke up, head pounding. His eyes cracked open and he looked around a dungeon-esque room, he moved a little bit and white hot pain shot through his neck, wrists and ankles. He looked down at himself and saw that his cape, boots and utility belt were missing, and that his hands, feet and neck were shackled to the wall. How long have I been here? The Boy Wonder wondered (couldn't resist).
"Are you sure mama?" Dick Grayson asked his mother, and she nodded.
"Yes, the show must go on after all. We don't have another act for a week, so I'll have plenty of time to rest up." The little boy's mother assured him as she carried him toward the trapeze.
"I agree with our Little Bird. Are you sure you're ok darling?" The boy's father asked, and his wife nodded exasperatedly.
"I'll be fine, you worry to much. It's almost show time, let's get ready." She assured the two boys.
"And our finale act of the night ladies and gentlemen…The Flying Graysons!" The Ringleader, Jack Haley, announced cheerfully. The audience cheered loudly as the family, minus the little boy who was watching from the back, ascended the ladders.
Mama always said I was born to fly, that I looked so at home in the air. The Team can't say the same, I'm not allowed to show them how good I am. But Wally has seen, he says I'm great. Mama says I'll make a great acrobat like her one day, that I'm a really fast learner.
"Looks like the Little Birdie finally woke up!" The Joker, Clown Prince of Gotham, laughed as he strolled into the room, and Robin turned his head to look at his kidnapper. The Joker cackled, and Robin was struck once again, as he was every time the Joker 'borrowed' him from Batman, with how similar it sounded to his.
"What do you want, Bozo?" Robin spat out, blood coming up with his words.
The wire holding the trapeze up snapped. The boy watching from backstage watched as his parents, aunt, uncle and cousin plummeted to the ground. His eyes went wide, and the crowd screamed. Dick rushed forward, falling to his knees in front of the broken bodies. He sobbed as the curtain closed and the circus descended into chaos.
"Bozo! I'm offended, I think very highly of you Little Birdie, I feel you should extend me the same courtesy." The clown said, walking over and crouching down in front of the chained bird. Robin glared as and Joker spoke. "What I want is for us to have a chat. It's been such a long time since I've seen you, ever since you've joined that little team of sidekicks, Bats has been taking me on himself. He's not nearly as much fun as you. Too brooding, you'd think he forgot how to laugh!" The Joker giggled as Robin continued to glare. "You, though, you laugh. You laugh just like me." Robin twitched only slightly, and it would have gone unnoticed if it wasn't what the Joker was looking for.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to be like your Uncle J?"
Megan knows. Of course she does, she's a telepath, and she sometimes forgets to stop herself from reading our minds. She did accidentally on that day and I had to tell her. I had to re-live it all over again on that day.
Blood pooled around the broken bodies, staining the blue and gold leotard and pale skin of the only surviver. The little boy cried as the audience was cleared out, he kept crying as the local police arrived. He started to scream when they tried to take him away.
Did you know Conner almost killed me? We were training and he couldn't get a hit in (he was fighting Wally), so he got really pissed and charged at Wally, who ducked out of the way, and ended up hitting me head on. Cracked skull, three weeks of bedrest and no Robin for two months. I clocked him in the jaw when I got back.
Robin glared at the Joker, and said nothing. The Joker laughed, and grinned at the black haired boy.
"So, Birdie, do you know what I want to chat about?" The crazy clown asked, and Robin didn't move. This, apparently, wasn't what the Joker was looking for, because he walked up to Robin and punched him in the back of the head.
"Answer me, Little Birdie." He said, and Robin still didn't say a thing. The Joker slammed his crowbar into Robin's back this time, making the acrobat wince.
"I said, ANSWER ME!" He ordered, and finally Robin shook his head.
"Hmm, I suppose I shouldn't expect you too, considering you don't know why today is special." The Joker mused, and shrugged.
"Well then, I'll explain. Today is my darling daughter's birthday!" The Clown Prince laughed.
Those moments kept replaying in his head. Watching them fall, break. Over and over he saw it, and he heard their screams in his head. He finally fell asleep, but it only continued in his dreams. The fall would change heights, and sometimes the wire wouldn't break and they would finish the show, only to melt into pools of blood as they made their way backstage.
"So, now, I thought to myself 'what would my little Babydoll like for her present?' and then, I remembered! She's fascinated with you! So I thought 'what better present than her favorite thing in the world!'" He cackled, and Robin stayed stone faced.
"Oh, don't look so sad Little Birdie! She's nicer than I am, you'll be returned to Bats. I'm just hoping she can break you of your heroism. Then maybe we won't have to!" The Joker laughed.
Everyone thinks I'm fearless. Thinks I never worry, that I've got everything all planned out. Sometimes, yeah, I do. And it's not ever the villains I'm really scared of. Well, not anywhere but Gotham. But I'm scared of failing, of being a disappointment, not living up to everyone's expectations.
"Are you done, Daddy? I want my new dolly!" Came in a girlish shriek came from outside the door. A little girl, about Robin's age barged in, took one glance at the chained up bird, and twisted the Joker's arm out of his socket.
"I TOLD you not to damage him! My dolls need to be perfect, and I still don't know what I'm going to do with this one! I can't have marks on their skin!" She said, unlocking the chains with the keys she had swiped from Joker's belt.
"Who-" The girl cut Robin off.
"We'll have plenty of time to talk later. Let's get you cleaned up. If I decide I want another doll I need a blank canvas, not one covered in red and purple paint!" She said cheerfully. Her blonde hair, up in a high ponytail, swung as she practically skipped down the hall. Her costume was brighter even than Robin's, all pink and mint green. Her smile was wide, and her icy blue eyes were big and sparkling as she stopped and turned to him.
"Now Robin. This is my factory, where I make my toys. It's a very delicate process, so please don't touch anything." Her tone was friendly, but this was apparently the Joker's daughter, she seemed even crazier than her father, and Robin was alone with no equipment. So he nodded, and she grinned wider and opened the door.
"We're going to spend a lot of time here together, I can already tell."
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Did you enjoy? I had to rewrite this thing so I hope you did. This is going to be the first in series of one-shots leading up to a longer story, bit and pieces of it's history. Also, I'm writing a story with a friend of mine (first collab!) and since they don't have an account it's going on mine, it's called Fandom Hunger Games! and is a Divergent/Hunger Games crossover. Sorry if I butchered the Joker, I'm not a very big fan of 'traditional' superheroes, so I'm not well versed in their lore, but I love the YJ show, so I'm just going off what little I know about Gotham's resident crazy clown. Sorry if he's completely OOC. Sorry if ANY of the characters or OOC, it's been a while since I've seen the show. The skull fracture I refer to is a linear, closed fracture, so yes, that is a reasonable amount of time to take off, as by then it would be mostly healed and the pain would be gone.