DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman or any related DC characters. They belong to DC.
Night falls on a quiet, dark Gotham City. A once thriving factory is now deserted and often overlooked. Today, this factory will hold one of the most tragic moments of Gotham.
"Bring it on, kiddies!" yelled The Joker, maniacally eager about Batman and Robin pursuing him through the deserted factory's corridors.
The Joker had big plans for Robin and his mother tonight. Her treachery would be her downfall. The Joker looked back at the running couple and saw a Robin quite different from his memories. There was a fire erupting from the young hero, dressed in red spandex pants accompanied by similar spandex black boots, black mask and green Robin insignia on his chest. The fire that The Joker saw in Robin's eyes could diminish a thousand seas in a crimson blaze or light a thousand matches with the ferocity of a hurricane.
For the first time in his life The Joker was scared of one of Batman's lackeys.
"I'll bring the little birdie and all of his hopes and dreams to a screeching halt. There's gonna be a fire in Gotham tonight," The Joker said as he cackled loudly enough that his laughter's echo even made the Dark Knight wince.
Batman had one objective in mind- to catch The Joker. He ran at an incredible pace. With each step, his black spandex boots hit the pavement sharply, making a low click despite his quick pace. Robin followed quickly behind him and seemed to have the same objective as Batman, but for all of the wrong reasons. Batman noticed something in Robin's eyes that made him fear for the life of The Joker and regret a decision that he had earlier made.
{Hours earlier on the same night...}
The Batcave is a dark place, normally quiet and void of life. Tonight was an exception, as the sound of arguing echoed the dark corridors for the miles that it stretched on.
"But Bruce, I can go! There is absolutely nothing preventing me from making sound decisions or being level headed." After Robin uttered these words he threw his hands up
in exasperation and asked himself why Batman couldn't ever fully trust him- he had, after all, been trained by the greatest.
"Jason, WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? He has your mother and, because of this, I cannot let you go. Your emotions are getting the best of you and I will not tolerate that type of behavior on my team."
Jason looked on at the man he admired most in life, saddened for a brief few seconds, and thought, "No matter what I do I won't ever be good enough for Bruce." Then aloud he said, "Bruce, I understand your concerns, but I haven't let you down thus far in all of the years we have been a team."
"…" Was the silent reply.
"Bruce… if you don't let me help you, then who will? Batgirl wrapped around in her own issues and Nightwing's gallivanting around Bludhaven. I am your greatest asset right now. The Joker isn't going to give my mother up without a fight! And the way I see it there will be at least 40 Joker thugs to make things difficult for us. Can you honestly say you won't need my help?"
"Fine. You can come. But since I
don't want you there- you're on your own. Don't interfere with my
plans. I know it's harsh, but I'm doing what needs to be done."
---
Bruce snapped out of his memory and looked at his accomplice, both
pounding their feet against the hard floor. Hardly even breaking a
sweat as he ran after The Joker, with each step Robin took Batman noted
the rage slowly building up inside of him. Batman thought, "I knew it
was a mistake bringing him here: a mistake that I'm going to have to
pay for."
"Come on Batsie Watsie! I'm waitin' for ya' and da' little birdie too!" shrieked The Joker manically.
Batman and Robin immediately sped up their pace, trying to subdue The Joker before he could do any real damage to them or the factory.
While Robin ran, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind. Robin continuously thought of his main objective- to catch the Joker and make him pay for hurting his mother. Batman was his next train of thought- Robin had to prove to him that all of years of training had actually paid off, and that he could handle himself even in personal situations. To add onto all of Robin's troubles, he had a bad feeling about that night. Though he couldn't put his finger on it, he knew that lives could be lost if he was not careful. Lives, yes, and possibly something more...
Robin snapped out of his trance and noticed a cube glimmering on the ground. It wasn't heavy, he estimated quickly. The object was only about 3 pounds and it bore The Joker's insignia.
"Batman!" yelled Robin. Immediately Robin reached behind his back and grabbed his cable. He was nervous about if he could pull off what he was about to do, but he had no other choice. Batman didn't hear him over The Joker's cackling. Robin thought, "This is it. All my training comes down to this. Batman's life, no, both of our lives depend on it."
With that Robin launched the cable he had pulled from his back, and launched it through the air, spanning the room a distance 30 feet. Robin inwardly congratulated himself, then grabbed Batman and hoisted them both across the room. It wasn't a second too soon- the cube exploded and debris flew across the room. When Robin glanced back, much to his dismay, a 15-pound piece of debris was heading towards the jump cable.
"Great. All of the work gone, down the drain."
When the piece of debris impacted, Batman flipped away from the cable and perched neatly on the ground. Robin was nowhere near as fortunate, and due to his nervousness he flipped seconds too late and crashed heavily into a crate. Pieces of his suit were ripped.
Batman saw a tall man on a stairwell directly above Robin. The man sported sunglasses, and wore tight fitting blue denim jeans and a loose fit purple t-shirt with the word "Bruno" neatly printed on it. Bruno carried a box emblazoned with the word "BANG!" etched in humongous white font with gold etched around each letter.
Batman reached behind his back and pulled out a Batarang, and without wasting a second he arched his hand back and released with such rage that only a blur could be seen as the Batarang flew across the room. With each vertical flip, a hum could be heard.
Seconds later, Bruno let out a loud "OW!" and dropped the box over the stairwell, his own crumpled form following it. Only a second after the box hits the ground it exploded, burying Robin under pounds of rubble.
Batman looked at the debris that covered his fallen comrade and began to run towards it: he had to save Robin, no matter what he said earlier. Seconds after Batman picked up the first piece, he felt a cable tightly wrap around him. Harley Quinn could be heard: "Mista J is gonna be very happy with me." Harley pulled on the cable that held Batman and flung him across the room towards her.
When Batman landed near her, she took 2
cubes identical to the ones that detonated earlier and threw them at
Batman. Batman quickly flipped back on his right hand and kicked the
first device into a wall. On impact, the device exploded. When Batman
landed, he quickly batted the other device away, causing it to explode
in mid-air. After the commotion settled down, Harley was nowhere to be
seen, but a quarter hundred Joker thugs, carrying assorted knives,
chains and poles, greeted Batman.
"Ugh. What happened to me?"
Robin awakened buried under pounds of rubble.
"The last thing I remember... Oh!"
He immediately became nervous, unsure of whether or not he could make it from under the heavy pounds of rubble.
"I bet Batman left me here willingly; He didn't want me to come anyway. I'll just have to make my way out myself, and prove to him that all my years of training are worth something."
Robin struggled for half a minute moving rubble, and was rewarded for his efforts. As Robin freed himself, he heard something coming from above. He looked at a cement stairwell, brought himself to his feet, and ran up it, only to be greeted by a smirking Harley Quinn. Almost absent-mindedly, she tossed two cubes at Robin nearly identical to the ones that blew up earlier, the only differentiation is the fact this cube is much heavier.
The cube flipped out the way and left him with these words, cheerfully spoken in Harley's voice: "Bye, bye birdie."
Less than 5 seconds later the device clicked loudly, and a wave of fire rushed towards Robin. Robin turned to his right and prepared to flip out of the way, but his plan to move was faltered by a second explosion coming from inches away, and he is hurtled into the air.