Disclaimer: Do I really need these every chapter? Whatever, I own nothing.

Headstrong
Trapt

Gotham City
February 19, 2011

Robin just stares at the wall. He woke up not long ago, quick to realize he is chained to a wall. The chains seem to be made for him, with no lock on them and he couldn't break them or pull them out of the wall. Now his wrists are bleeding from pulling too much and he couldn't care less. He just wants out.

His eyes flick to the door as he hears three pairs of footsteps heading his way, with what sounds like something dragging behind them. The sounds all stop right behind the door, and Robin has a moment of panic. What will they do to me? The moment passes when he hears keys rattling on the other side. Looking around the room again, he takes a deep breath to calm himself. There's a single white, wooden chair in the middle and a long table off to the side opposite of him. The chair has a chain on each arm and the table is mostly covered by what looks like a tarp, but Robin can still see a few knives and blades.

His eyes snap back to the door as it swings open, and the Joker sweeps in carrying a... plate?

"You sure took your sweet time waking up. I brought breakfast! I'll let you eat once your other surprise gets in here. Do you know that you slept through the entire night with no nightmares? I hear that that hasn't happened in years. How do you like the room?" The clown says, somehow managing to talk the same rate as an energetic speedster. Luckily, he was talking to Robin, who spends enough time around Wally that he could understand perfectly.

Robin smirked. "Well if you want to impress me so much, you could move me to a room with a window. I dislike staring at walls, heave on the dis." He doesn't pay attention to the response he gets, instead he watches as the other two men he heard drag an unconscious man towards the chair. The boy wonder frowns. He knows that man, but where from? Suddenly it clicks into place. "He's a murderer. Killed three children, two men, and one woman. We just put him into jail, why and how is he here?"

"Ah, let's not dwell on the how. But the why! I will tell you that as soon as we ARE ALONE!" The enemy says, raising his voice at the end. His two men quickly tie the man up and scamper out of the room. As they close the door behind them, the Jokers smile got bigger. He leaned down near the young bats face and continued. "Boy, do you wanna play a game? You see, this man is about to wake up. Then you will choose how he will die."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "And if I don't play along?"

"Well then, my dear boy, I will make a choice and whatever I choose will happen to both of you." As if he knew he was being talked about, Darris Locke stirred, lifting his head and grumbling something about food. Robin watches as Locke opens his eyes, looking straight at the table. He tries to jump up, only to find his arms were locked up with the chains. Eyes never leaving the table, he begins to yell. "Get me out of here! I swear to god if this is a fucking punishment I didn't start that fight yesterday! That other idiot was asking to be killed! NOW LET ME GO!" His voice raised in pitch until in the end when it sounded like a young girls whine. Despite everything, it made Robin chuckle.

The Joker glanced over at Robin with his twisted smile before looking over the trapped criminal.

"What do you think, Robbie, should I cut into his chest or cut into his face?" he mused, strolling over to the case of weapons. He opened it up, revealing a display of unique knives. His fingers brush over the edges before selecting one of the smaller, simpler weapons and waving it over the doomed man.

Robin shook his head. There is no way I am going to play his sick game. He thought bitterly, not allowing himself to speak. He watches as the deranged clown walks over to him, placing a hand on Rob's shoulder while twirling the knife around with the other. His mouth moves on its own, disobeying his mind. He tries not to grimace as he hears himself speak. "What do I think? I think you wear a bit too much makeup. Tone it down a little or you will start looking like those popular teenage girls."

He could tell the Jokers smile was more forced than usual. "Seems like you won't choose. Fine I have already made my choice." He pauses, smiling with less force as he looked between the boy and the man before him. "And I choose both."

Robin remains still, glaring the madman down as he watched him approach with the knife.
He braced himself to feel a quick jab tearing into his chest, but it never came. Robin kept his eyes locked on the Joker's until the mental clown broke eye contact and held the knife up to the boy's chin. He felt the cold blade trail down his neck and chest tenderly, not making a single scratch on his fair skin. It stopped suddenly, and the Joker glanced up at him for a moment before slipping the knife lightly into his upper left rib cage. Robin forced himself to remain calm, using the skills he was taught while the knife edged its way up and down, forward and back, making tiny marks in the one area as it tore the top layer of muscles. It was a small cut, but The Joker somehow managed to make it seem more than that.

The knife pulls out from the skin and slowly moved up to greet Robin's face. The flat end brushed against his cheek playfully, traveling up to his bottom eyelid.

"I wasn't planning on making your pretty face as thrilling as my own, but I did make a deal… where to cut, where to cut… any ideas?" the Joker teased, moving in closer to Robin.

Robin held his tongue for a moment, thinking over the situation. He knew if he didn't choose an area, the Joker would. If he said eye, there would be a bigger possibility of damage. If he chose cheek, the deep cut could break through and into his mouth. He began to ponder about the lips. That would sting. An idea suddenly sparked, but before he could cry out 'ear' the Joker grabbed his dark hair and pulled it up, making the little bird choke. "Can't decide? I don't have all day." he snarled with that wicked smile before plunging the knife sideways into the edge of his lips. Robin's eyes flew open in sudden shock, sure that the Joker was going to carve in a smile. The knife sawed gently back and forth for a moment, not even making a millimeter of a cut before it turned. Robin instinctively opened his mouth while the Joker's blade cut down into his lip. The sting hurt like madness and he fought to hold back tears.

It moved slowly down, almost reaching the top of his gums before being taken out. Blood swelled up in his mouth, making him sick. The Joker chuckled and brushed the knife back against his cheek, painting it with the little blood it had on it.

The Joker swings around and moves over to Locke. "Are you watching, little bat? I suspect you'll enjoy this…"

Dick keeps his head up, carefully slowing his breath to keep from panicking. He kept his eyes fixed on the Joker, trying to look away from the knife doing the same tortures to the criminal. He hated the feeling of blood seeping through his chest, but he was used to this and trained for it. The lip cut was what bothered him most. He pushed his tongue up against the wound, trying to stop the flow. It was disgusting and stung so terribly. It would only get worse if he didn't choose the next few tortures.

Locke cried out as the knife stuck into him, thrashing like a child. The idiot should have known that would make things worse.

When it was over, the man whimpered and leaned his head to the side, trying to spill the blood out of his mouth.

"What next… what next…" the Joker taunted, waving the bloodied knife between his fingers.
"You don't like the cuts, do you? Do you want to try something else?"

"Wait!" Dick called, blood spilling from his lips again, "I'll choose! I'll choose!" The Joker seemed a little surprised by this.

The Joker laughed "Shall we cut off a limb or cut out an organ?"

"Do the… the limb." Dick stammered, knowing the man's life was in his hands now,

The man cried out in shock. "You woun-wouldn't-w…"

Robin swallowed, not wanting to be responsible for a man's death. The Joker, however, smiled larger and grabbed a large dagger before sliding to the right side of Darris. In one slightly sloppy motion, the dagger cuts through the skin up to the bone of the criminal's wrist. With too much enthusiasm, in Robin's opinion anyway, the clown cuts back and forth across the wrist as Locke screams louder and louder.

The wrist falls to the floor after a few minutes, separated from the arm completely. The man in the chair cry's and screams for another thirty seconds before he passes out from blood loss. With a sinking feeling, Robin realizes the man before him will die from blood loss.

This discovery was apparently not shared by the Joker, because he dances around the chair in the middle of the room containing his prisoner. "Now kiddo, how should we kill him?"

"He's already dying!" Robin argues. He already knows he is responsible for this, there is no reason he should dictate the final move. "You don't have to kill him."

"Why so serious? I'm just having a little fun." The clown pouts, crossing his arms. If he stomped his foot, Robin thinks, he would be a perfect teenage girl. Joker continues speaking. "Fine. If you are not going to appreciate me, I'm done. Have fun in here, Boy Blunder."

Rolling his eyes, Robin watches as the door opens and the two men come back in and grab Darris and take him out. Following them, the Joker grabs the hand off of the floor. He turns and waves at Robin with it just before the door shuts.

Robin doesn't know how long he sat there before he heard the chain move out of the wall. It could be for just a few seconds, could be for a few hours. All he knew was that the chain had given him enough room to move. Why? He looks around for a possible answer, eyes stopping when they reached the forgotten plate of food. They want him to eat? It was still the only thing within his reach, and if he was going to be 'helping' next time, they would need him to keep his strength up.

Showing he was just as stubborn as his mentor, Robin sat down against the wall away from the food. He would simply not eat. Besides, his friends would be here to save him soon. And the thought of food made him sick after what he had just been through. As if annoyed that he wasn't going to eat, the chains slide back into the wall, maybe a little further than before, jerking Robin with them. He rubs his wrists absently as he stares at the wall. His friends. He lets his mind wander to them, thinking of all the stupid pranks he and Wally would play on everyone at the cave. He went over the past year in his mind, from beginning the team to M'gann's cooking to their last mission.

Robin drifted off, a smile on his face. Of course his friends would save him. That's what they did. They save people.

His dreams weren't as pleasant.

He is flying, part of the Flying Graysons. His family is with him, smiling and laughing as they tumble through the air. Dick lands one of the more difficult tricks he knows, nearing the end of the performance. They don't have a net- They never need one. But as the youngest Grayson turns, he wishes for a moment they did. He can't do anything as the cords snap, sending both their parents hundreds of feet down, where they crumple. He tries not to cry as he begins to climb down to him parents, watching the blood come from them. He breaks down as the blood becomes to come out faster, somehow covering the floor completely. It begins to fill up the room, and he thinks for sure he was going to drown in his own parent's blood.

He can't help but gasp as a dark figure scoops down and flies away with the young acrobat. Safe from the blood, he looks up and is shocked to see to heads instead of one. The first head was of Batman, while the second was of a billionaire name Bruce. For some reason Dick feels completely safe with this strange man, so he curls into him, gasping again when he is let go of.

He falls through the air, only to be caught right before hitting the ground by another man, this one wearing makeup like the clowns Dick has always known. This man smiles at Dick, asking "Can I call you Robin?" Dick opens his mouth to respond, but the second he does there is a knife in his hands and the ocean of blood was coming near him again. He looks up to the man in the makeup again, who in return speaks to him. "The only way to stop the blood is to feed it. Now, feed it this man. Come on, Robin. Kill him."

And yet another man appears before him, strapped to a simple white chair and pleading with his eyes. Dick hesitates for a second, before quickly striking the man across the throat with the knife. The blood stopped rushing at him. He smiled in relief and turned around, only to walk into a group of teenagers.

Suddenly Dick remembers his life with the team and with Bruce, yet he holds no regrets. He killed a man to save himself. Yet his team was still yelling at him, calling him by both Robin and Dick. He looks at his mentors face, hoping to find some sort of love or recognition. Instead he finds hatred. He keeps his voice steady yet loud as he speaks to the team. "I am not Robin. And you know nothing about me. So shut up and leave me alone."

This strikes a nerve with his best friend. Dick ducks as Wally runs towards him and attempts to punch him. The rest of the team attacks soon after, followed by the Justice League. They were all trying to kill the young bat. Somewhere from behind him, someone stabs him with a long knife. It goes straight through his heart, and all he knows is pain..

Robin wakes up with a gasp. The dream had been so real... He is sweaty and for a moment contemplates his options for a shower. Very not likely. He groans as the door opens and the same two men as before walk in carrying a chair with a woman already strapped to it. They were followed by the Joker, who grins at Robin. "It's a new day, Robbie. Let's see what you choose today."