Asphyxiated.
Jason knew it was more than that. His lungs were probably barely keeping him breathing at this point. He gasped in pain. Everything hurt. Why couldn't he just die yet?
"-be a good boy, finish your homework, and be in bed by nine. And hey!" The Joker paused slightly."Tell the big man I said," another pause."Hello."
Then the mad clown cackled and left into the cold, european night. Jason gasped on the floor for breath, his chest heaving. That crowbar sure had done a number on him.
I just have to- he fell to the floor. Get to...the door...then Batman will...come and find me.
He dug his nails into the concrete. Jason slowly crawled his way across the rough floor. His fingers were raw and bleeding before he was at the door.
It was locked from the outside.
He'll come and save me. Just wait, the...the door will-
Jason saw the five seconds left on the explosives. It ticked down, nearly at slow motion.
4...
It was the decider, his fate in a neat little package.
3...
Batman, where are you?
2...
Just a second before the bomb shattered every bone in his nearly destroyed body he felt a calm. Despair dropped on him like a heavy, suffocating brick and gave up the sliver of faith he had left. It would burn him and bruise him and...end him.
Batman can't make it in time...
1...
I'm sorry Bruce...
Then the bomb exploded, the promise of pain being fulfilled before Jason saw white, and it all melted away into a painless oblivion.
Batman dug through the debris of the explosion.
No! He thought, determined. He's Robin! He'll still be alive. I'll find him and he'll give me a snide comment and then...and then we can go back! I can fix him, and we can continue as a family...we can...we can...oh, God, no...No! Bruce saw a flash of red in the pile.
No! No! No! Robin, no! No...
He took Robin, no, his son in his arms. He was so limp, so...lifeless. Bruce just stood there, shocked into silence. Jason was dead. He was bruised and beaten and...broken beyond repair.
I...I can't fix dead.
Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. They threatened to spill as he held Robin in the unforgiving chill of the wind.
He had failed.