Sup peeps! So I know I have a gazillion other things I should be doing, like updating other stories that haven't been updated in like a year, *cough* but I dunno, I've always liked Little Jay and thought that I'd have a go at re-writing it.
Like before, its based of the movie Batman:Return of the Joker, where Tim Drake gets turned into.. well I guess you'll have to watch the movie or read my story to find out! Except here, I've replaced Tim with Dick.
I changed things up abit, especially since I added the team in and took out Batgirl, so hopefully it wouldn't be too boring xD Anyways, I still hope you guys enjoy it! :D
Disclaimer: DC owns the characters and I guess this time, part of the story as well :P
It had been a whole month since Robin went missing..
Batman and him were on one of their routine night patrols; going their separate ways at some areas to scour different parts of the city. But when Robin failed to meet up with him at one of their rendezvous points, the Dark Night started to worry. Trying to contact Robin via their communicators resulted in static in his ear. And when he tried to trace his partner's whereabouts with his tracer, it only brought Batman to an alleyway where he found Robin's utility belt and gloves, dumped into a trash bin.
There were no other clues. Not a fingerprint other than Robin's on his gloves and belt. Not a drop of blood any where on the cement floor or walls. Nothing. The Dark Night searched the entire alleyway, and not a single trace of his bird could be found.
Batman eventually grew desperate after days of sleepless nights, and finally informed The League and Young justice team. Most of the members, and every one of the team spent every day they could looking for him. But without any clues to his whereabouts, though they hated to admit it, they were beginning to feel hopeless.
Batman grew more ruthless with every night that passed. Henchmen and villains alike, ended up with more bruises and broken limbs than usual. Bloody noses, concussions, and dislocations were becoming common occurrences. Crime even seemed to slow down, as more and more bad guys grew more fearful of the Bat than ever before. Never had anyone realized just how much of an impact the little bird had on the Batman's life till now.
Bruce Wayne on the other hand, had no choice but to report his ward as a missing person. Dick's school was eventually going to question his absence, and Bruce just couldn't keep lying that he and Dick were on vacation. With his and Dick's popularity, people were eventually going to realize that Dick hadn't been seen for sometime, and question him. He announced it at a press conference on live television. Pleading, begging with anyone to come forward with any information regarding Richard's whereabouts. No matter how much the ransom, he would pay it just to see his son safely home.
Even now after 2 months, no one, not the police, not the heroes, not even the Batman himself, knew who, where or what took Robin. All that they really knew.. was that he was gone.
… ….. …
That is.. until one fateful dark, and stormy Saturday night.
It had 10 months since the little bird's disappearance and now, even though he wouldn't admit it to himself, both Batman.. and Bruce were starting to lose hope.
However, today while on another one of his patrols of the city in search for his young protege, he stumbled upon something unusual. While flitting across the all too familiar rooftops of downtown Gotham, something caught the Batman's keen eyes of observation. Landing silently on the rooftop, Batman cautiously approached the strange object; a large, multi-colored box. Taking out a Batarang for protection, he inspected the object closer. It seemed harmless until the Dark Knight brushed his gloved hands against its surface, activating the mechanism inside. Suddenly, an enormous toy clown on a spring popped out of the box, swaying back and forth in the air not unlike a Jack in a box. This clown however, came with a special feature- a grenade taped messily on one of its gloved hands.
Batman leapt out of the way just as it exploded, spewing out rainbow colored confetti and streamers that fell softly around him almost like multi-coloured snow. The dark knight crept out from his cover and began scanning the area for clues, his eyes eventually resting upon a tattered piece of white fabric. As he held it up in the moonlight, he noticed a familiar text on the dirtied cloth and gripped it tightly in his hands.
It was a straight-jacket.
"Arkham.." he growled out before ripping the cloth in half.
As much as Bruce hated to admit it, he needed help taking down the Joker as well as rescuing Robin. With his current mental state, he knew it was going to be tough handling the mission alone, and he absolutely could not risk losing his son again. Not when they were finally given some clue to his whereabouts. Most of the League was unfortunately away on a mission, so instead he called in the Young Justice team for back up. They arrived on the rooftop just a few minutes after Batman contacted them, eager to finally find their missing friend. Kid Flash was practically vibrating in his boots as Batman strode up the ship's ramp and sat down into a seat.
He directed Miss Martian to the location- the old Arkham Asylum, located in the Upper East Side of Gotham. It had been abandoned and partially demolished when the new Arkham facility was built and was uninhabited. Well, at least everyone had thought it was.
The team, consisting of Kid Flash, Artemis, Miss Martian, Superboy, Aqualad, and Zatanna were anxious, but determined and ready to fight whoever and whatever came their way. Practically jumping off the ship, the team and Batman ran towards the large metal doors of the facility.
Batman ordered the team to stay quiet as they entered the building, which was silent until they heard someone singing. It was the mocking bird song. A song everyone was familiar with and had heard it many times before. However.. this time it was sung in such a creepy and chilling tone that it made the team feel numb and cold. No one thought they'd ever think of the song in the same way again.
Batman instructed the team to split up with him halfway, directing them to head upstairs and stay hidden as he walked towards the end of the dark, dusty hallway, towards the room the voice was coming from. He burst through the doors with a kick, coming to stand in a brightly lit room.
And there, in the center of the creepily decorated room, was Harley Quinn. The Joker's infamous girlfriend. She stopped her singing and smiled widely at the masked hero.
She giggled and tilted her head upward, "Puddin! Company!"
Batman looked up and saw none other than the Joker, one of Gotham city's most notorious villains, the Clown prince himself, reading the newspaper that he had now begun to put down to greet his 'unexpected' guest.
"Hello there! Welcome to our happy home!" exclaimed Joker as he flaunted down the stairs from the loft above; stopping next to Harley to wrap an arm around her shoulder.
Batman squinted his eyes and glared at them. "Where is Robin." he growled menacingly.
"Robin?" Joker asked, a confused look on his face as he turned to look at Harley. She returned his confused gaze and shrugged her shoulders. "There's no Robin here." He continued.
"Maybe he means our little Jay?" Harley replied.
From the corner of his eyes, Batman noticed the team sneak into the room from the platform above. They spread out and hid behind the railing, blocking themselves from the view of the two deranged clowns.
"Of course!" Joker snapped his fingers. "That's it!"
It was now Batman's turn to look confused, though it hardly showed on his face. The Joker turned his head to stare at a blue curtain off to the side of the room. Batman followed his gaze and roughly pushed Harley aside as he approached the covering.
"Nu uh! No peeking!" Harley said playfully as she brought out a bazooka from under a table and aimed it at the bat. Batman swiveled around just as she pulled the trigger, and found himself wrapped tightly in pink ribbons that covered his body from just above his knees to his shoulders; exposing only his feet, hands and head.
The team saw what had occurred, and were about to leap into action when they noticed Batman glare at them, signaling them to stay put. They nodded in understanding and slid back into the shadows soundlessly.
"Mommy's little helper." Harley commented, patting her weapon proudly. The Joker kissed her slightly on the cheek, making her blush, before turning back to Batman.
"You know Bats, we've been doing this little run around of ours for years and it's been loads of laughs! But the sad fact is, none of us are getting any younger."
"That old clocks a ticking." Said Harley as she patted her stomach.
"Quite right poo! And Harley and I were thinking it was time to start a family. Add a Joker junior to our merry brew."
"But rather than go through all the joy of child birth,' Harley moaned while rolling her eyes, 'we decided to adopt."
Joker and Harley held each other's hands and skipped happily towards the blue curtain. As they passed him, Batman brought out a small Bat-a-rang and secretly began cutting through the ribbons.
The two villains stopped in front of the curtain and looked down at their captive.
"Couldn't do it legally" the Joker began again. "but then we remembered you always had that kid hanging around.. So we borrowed him."
The Joker smiled sinisterly as he and Harley slid open the curtain revealing a room enshrouded in darkness. In the middle of the room… stood an operating table. Batman and the team's eyes widened in horror as they noticed a figure lying motionless on it. Though the rest of it's body was hidden from view, they could make out some feet and shoes.
"No." Batman gasped out in shock.
Megan and Artemis held onto each other. The Martian on the verge of tears, pressed a hand against her mouth to keep her from gasping out and giving away their cover. Artemis tried to calm her down, though her own heart was beating out of control. She glared down at the Joker, wishing she could break the hero code just this once and shoot an arrow through his head for harming their friend. Conner took a step backwards and clenched his fists tightly, struggling to hold himself back from just jumping down there and punching the Joker into a wall. Kaldur was just as mad, staring in anger and silently cursed in Atlantean. Zatanna clasped her hands over her mouth, preventing her from letting out the scream she was desperately holding in. Wally was shaking. Not only from shock, but from anger, hatred, sadness, agony. He didn't want to believe it, but he, the team and even Batman.. knew exactly who was on that table.
Joker pulled out a remote and pointed it at the table. He pressed a button and table started to move out of the shadows and closer toward Batman and the team. Slowly revealing more and more of the figure.
"He needed a little molding of course. What kid doesn't? But in time we came to love him as our own." The maniacal clown bent down and smiled at his 'son'. "Say hello Jay jay."
The figure jumped off the table, and was now exposed fully in the light. And there, to the team's and Bruce's horror stood their lost teammate, friend and son. 'Robin' tilted his head upwards, his face as white as the Joker's, and a similar creepy smile etched on his face. He was also wearing a purple suit and his hair was now a murky green, much like the Joker's. The heroes eyes widened. Robin's cocky stance and smile, his costume, his mask, his messy hair, it was all.. gone.. the person that now stood before them.. They just couldn't believe it was him. Robin.. What, what had these monsters done to him?
Suddenly shocking the team and Batman, the boy began to laugh. It wasn't anything like the mischievous, playful ones his teammates and mentor were used to. His laugh now sounded.. as maniacal as Gotham's clown prince himself, and it sent chills down their spines.
Batman finally had enough of it, with a yell, he ripped apart the ribbons that had bound him after he cut through them enough. He threw his Bat-a-rang at the Joker, straight at his head. But the clown merely tilted his head to the side and let the weapon fly harmlessly pass his head.
The Joker started laughing now, wiggling a finger at the Dark knight, taunting him. Batman lunged at the Joker, who pressed a button and leapt onto the operating table. Using the remote, the Joker controlled the operating table like he would a toy car and sped through the doors and out of the room. Batman chased after crazed clown, throwing open the doors and sprinted down the hallway. The door swung shut behind them.
Harley, now left alone, twirled towards her little Jay and pulled him into a hug. It was then that the team finally took action; jumping down from their cover, they landed in front of the female clown startling her. Before the villain could even move, Artemis ran up to her and with gritted teeth, delivered a roundhouse kick straight to her head, rendering her unconscious. Her arms loosened around Robin before she fell to the floor with a loud thud.
The team rushed to Robin, who was staring at Harley's body on the floor; his creepy smile still stretched across his pasty face. Wally rushed up to his best friend and gripped his shoulders, shaking him in desperation.
"Rob! Rob!" Kid Flash yelled. His eyes bore into Dick's, praying that maybe a bit of the old Robin was still trapped within. Instead, the young clown slowly tilted his head back and started laughing again. "Dick! It's me, Wally! Can you hear me, dude?"
Suddenly, a yellow colored gas burst through the air vents and quickly filled the entirety of the room. In seconds, the team felt nauseous and dizzy, falling to floor. Robin stood over them, smiling at his former team before turning to leave the room. He continued to laugh, the sound echoing around the room and hallway as he walked through the doors. Superboy struggled to lift himself off the floors, but it seemed even he had trouble coping with the gas. He held out an arm, reaching out towards Robin as the doors swung close behind him.
"Ro-Robin.." he gasped out, before falling unconscious like the rest of his teammates.
If anyone here has read the pervious version, you would notice a few things have changed.
1) Rocket was taken out of the story. Once again because I don't like writing about characters I'm not too familiar with.
2) I added in extra reactions from the team. I felt like it really needed it.
3) And some extra details and paragraphs were added as well.
I do hope you've enjoyed reading so far! see you all soon! And Remember, Stay Asterous! :D