Hey people! GLEVIRIC05602 here! Sorry for delaying this for so long, but as the character Riven was not my character I felt it disrespectful to use her in this story. However I do know that this story would be something highly requested (not necessarily requested from me) but I think Jason Todd needs to be included in Young Justice, whether it be as Robin or Red Hood. Enjoy!
It was a cold and gloomy night, in an unknown location. The date was December 25th 2014, Christmas day. But that didn't matter, at least not to Jason Todd, the second Robin. The boy wonder laid on the ground of an unknown warehouse, bruised and bloody with his arms tied behind his back and his legs tied together. But even without the restraints he wouldn't be able to move as he was too weak from the torcher inflicted on him, by the Joker.
'Rise and shine boy blunder!' An almost demonic voice echoed through the warehouse, and Robin weakly turned his head. The white face, the green hair, the orange, purple and green suit, and the smile. That corrupted, evil smile. It was him, the Joker. 'You look a little dehydrated. Need some water?' The crown prince of crime offered, pushing a glass towards the Boy Wonder, and he went to drink from the glass. But as the Joker began laughing he instantly regretted his decision, as the clown pulled the glass back and smashed it on the ground before using what was left of it to cut Robin's cheek, 'You really are an idiot. At least the first boy wonder had his happy-go-lucky tone. You're just a sad sack of shit, twerp.' He insulted, leading the young boy to mumble something.
'Drink this.' He stated, and Joker raised an eyebrow. Robin raised his head towards his enemy and spat a mouthful of blood on his face.
'Now that, was just rude!' Joker shouted as he slammed Robin's head into the concrete ground, breaking his nose with ease. The clown then stood up, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, and wiping the blood from his face.
'Joker! We do not have much time. They will be here soon.' A male voice called out, as Psimon revealed himself leading the Joker to groan and roll his eyes.
'Let me have my fun, Brainy!' He shouted at the psychic, who gritted his teeth at the annoying nickname.
'You would be wise to not call Psimon that, clown. Now finish up, the teenagers are less than ten miles away.' He ordered, before walking away from the sociopath.
'Well, bird boy. Looks like our little fun session has come to an end.' Joker said sadly as he stared Robin dead in the eye, a saddened look on his face, 'Oh well.' He commented, his demonic smile returning as he pulled out one of his signature pocket knives and lodged it right in Robin's side. The boy wonder's screams of pain echoed through the building, and outside in the snow stood Psimon, Count Vertigo, The Riddler, Devastation and Queen Bee, who heard the teen's screams.
'How long until the children arrive?' Queen Bee questioned, attempting to drown out the screaming with her voice, and for a moment Psimon stayed quiet.
'Psimon can sense a strong psychic being coming this way, fast. Psimon says we have a few minutes left.' He concluded, and Queen Bee gave a simple nod in response.
'Where is Joker? We must leave this place now.' Queen bee questioned her followers, just as the door to the warehouse swung open and out stepped the clown.
'Right here!' He said confidently as he walked over to the group, 'What's say we blow this joint? We'll go out for beers! First round's on me.'
'As much as I'd love to sit down and have a cold one, we don't have time.' Devastation responded to the clown's suggestion, and he pouted to the answer he received.
'Come, my friends, we must leave.' Queen Bee ordered the group as the sound of a turbine filled the air as the helicopter behind them began to activate.
'So, Jokester, did you kill the kid?' Riddler asked as he and Joker took their seats in the helicopter.
'Oh no, not yet, I've got something much bigger planned for his death. Plus a couple of the other sidekicks.' The clown confirmed, leading Riddler to smile at the comment from the clown.
'I've got a fix on Robin's location.' Miss Martian confirmed as she held a hand to the side of her head, causing her eyes to glow green. Each of the heroes in the bio-ship looked to her for her explanation; Superboy, Nightwing, Kid Flash, Artemis, Rocket, Zatanna, Aqualad, Batgirl and Bumblebee.
'Where?' Nightwing demanded to know as he stared bluntly at Miss Martian, who looked in slight fear of the emotional outburst from Nightwing, but then again, someone he considered his little brother was kidnapped.
'A warehouse. It's in sight.' She stated, and everyone turned to the window to see themselves coming up on what looked to be an old abandoned warehouse.
'Not how I expected Christmas to go.' Kid Flash stated with a glum look on his face, leading Artemis to grip his hand. Nightwing and Batgirl stood up and walked towards the ramp of the bio-ship, where their mentor; Batman stood quiet.
'Joker couldn't have done this alone. My sources indicate that he was hired by Ra's al Ghul to steel those experimental drugs from Ace Chemicals.' Batman explained to his protégés.
'Meaning Ra's is behind all of this? Doesn't seem like his style.' Batgirl stated to the Dark Knight, who shook his head.
'I confronted Ra's and he claims that after things got out of hand with Joker he was simply tossed aside, and someone else took over.' He confirmed leading Nightwing and Batgirl to turn to each other, then back to Batman.
'Did he say who?' Nightwing asked, although Batman shook his head in response.
'I was ambushed before the conversation could go any further. But he also told me the country where Jason is being held. Which brings us here.' Batman concluded and the two gave a singular nod in response.
'We've arrived.' Miss Martian said through the psychic link she enabled with everyone. The three heroes returned to the bridge of the bio-ship as it landed just next to the old warehouse, allowing them to see Queen Bee's helicopter fly away at top speed.
'Robin's inside, I'm adding him to the link now.' Miss Martian explained as she used her powers to search for her ally's mind, eventually locating it.
'Robin, can you hear us?' She thought, and for a moment there was nothing but silence over the link.
'What took you guys so long? I've been rotting in here for days.' Robin's voice rang through their heads, and the group all let out sighs of relief.
'Follow the chopper, Nightwing, Batgirl, the two of you and I will-' Batman was cut off, as the warehouse erupted into a ball of flames knocking the bio-ship back a few dozen meters, and rattling everyone around it in the process. The ship eventually stopped tumbling and the team all stumbled to their feet.
'Is everyone alright?' Aqualad asked as he walked over the now upside-down bio-ship.
'That hurt.' Kid Flash groaned as he rubbed the back of his head, and Aqualad let out a sigh of relief to see everyone in one piece.
'You can say that again.' Bumblebee confirmed the speedster as she rubbed her side.
'Miss Martian, what happened to Robin?!' Batman asked in a fearful tone as he got on his knee in front of the Martian, while Superboy helped her up.
'The connection…it was severed.' She stated, and even under his mask, she could see Batman's eyes widen. The dark knight quickly ran to the back of the ship and climbed out the broken ramp.
'Batman wait!' Nightwing called as he and Batgirl followed their mentor. The caped crusader raced into the rubble of the warehouse without any regard for the fires around him, looking around for a sign of Robin's survival. Then he saw it, a torn piece of fabric with Robin's signature R on it.
'No.' Batman denied as he raced over and began removing all the rubble from the area next to the symbol, eventually finding something. Robin's body. 'Robin.' Batman stated, as he picked up the bruised, bloody and burnt body of his former protégé just as Nightwing and Batgirl caught up.
'Oh my god.' Batgirl said in shock as she covered her mouth.
'Jason…' Nightwing was almost lost for words from the shock. Batman stood up, cradling Robin in his arms and began walking back to the Bio-ship. Miss Martian used her telekinesis to flip the Bio-ship back upright as everyone else recovered from the tumbling, there being minimal casualties apart from Artemis cutting the side of her head.
'Wally, I'm fine.' Artemis said to her boyfriend as he cleaned up her wound with a spare first aid kit that Zatanna had brought along with them.
'You won't be if you keep squirming. Relax babe.' Kid flash requested, before the group spotted Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl walking back from the now burning warehouse.
'Is Robin-' Rocket began but cut herself off at the sight of Robins body in Batman's arms. Nightwing dragged himself to follow his mentor, but stopped as they arrived at the Bio-ship. Zatanna noticed his sudden stop, and walked over to him.
'Nightwing?' She questioned him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
'He's gone.' He concluded and everyone looked to him with eyes wide, 'Robin's dead.'
'Dick…' Zatanna whispered his name, before embracing him in a hug in an attempt to comfort him. Batman laid Robin's body on a small platform that the Bio-ship had formed, and simply stared at him.
'I'm sorry Jason. I failed you.' Batman mumbled as he grasped his former protégé's hand.
'Bruce, we did the best we could.' Batgirl tried to encourage her mentor as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
'Sometimes, our best isn't good enough.' He commented, not even turning to look at her. Without another word Batgirl retreated to the bridge of the ship, allowing Batman to mourn in silence.
Ra's al Ghul stood in a room made of almost total metal if not for the large computer monitors in front of him, his green cloak brushing slightly against the cold metal floor beneath his feet. The screens in front his him suddenly came to life and showed the faces of six individuals; Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, The Brain, Ocean Master, Klarion and Vandal Savage.
'We have successfully secured the needed supplements from the Joker's raid of ACE chemicals. Although His kidnapping of Robin was unplanned, messy, random, useless.' Ra's Al Ghul stated to the individuals before him, hoping to win over their judgement.
'Agreed. Ra's did not want this blood on his hands so I offered to take over that half of the operation. However I believed he would have left Robin alive, and not blown him up.' Queen Bee agreed with her ally.
'The Joker is a loose cannon, incapable of following the simplest orders, proof that he unworthy of the Light.' Luthor placed his opinion on the matter.
'I agree. Robin's place amongst the children was a valuable asset, and one that we could have exploited if he lived. Although it seems that asset has been eliminated.' Vandal explained to his comrades leading into a long silence from the group.
'Perhaps not.' Ra's stated, and in response Vandal merely raised an eyebrow, 'As you all know I have walked this world for decades thanks to the Lazarus Pit.' He continued, leading the Light to listen to his proposition, intriguingly 'While its abilities involve healing wounds and reverse aging, it has also been known to restore the dead.' He concluded.
'Are you proposing we restore Robin's life?' Black Manta questioned.
'Resurrecting what we have tried so hard to kill for years?' Lex added.
'While Robin's death causes us no trouble, his death will cause problems.' Vandal came to his conclusion, 'I vote on Robin's restoration.'
'Any objections?' Ra's asked his teammates, and the group stayed silent for a few moments.
'I believe we have come to our conclusion.' Klarion stated, 'Let's bring back the boy wonder!' He said demonically.