Alive But Caged
Robin knelt on the cold floor of a wearhouse. His hands and feet were cuffed. His boots and gloves had been taken from him. His mask was ripped, but that didn't matter not to his capturer. Joker's crowbar slammed into his across his jaw, cracking bones.
"Wow, that looked like it really hurt," Joker said seriously, before a wild grin spread across his white face. He brought the crowbar down again making Jason gasp in pain. He was trying to keep his reactions to a minimum. It would only encourage the insane clown. A third strike made a sickening sound and it was quickly followed up by a fourth. Jason's head bounced against the concret painfully. He bit his tongue, desperate to stay quiet. He had to survive. He had to make it through this.
"Woah now, hang on. That looked like it hurt a lot more. So let's try to clear this up, okay, Pumpkin." As he spoke, Joker drummed the crowbar into his open palm. "What hurts more?" Jason braced himself for the strike. "A? Or B?" Each letter was mattered with an increasingly harder blow with the piece of metal. "Forehand?" That one slapped across Robin's face. He could feel the blood vessels in his eye explode with the force of it. "Or backhand?" The glee in Joker's voice was thick. Robin's toes curled in pain and a grunt escaped him. The beating stopped for a moment as Joker lost himself to a fit of laughter. At that point Robin had rolled onto his chest to protect his exposed organs, but now he turned onto his side. He mumbled incoherently. Instantly Joker's face was down by his own, the man's hot breath on his skin.
Joker made a few choking sounds, mocking Robin's attempt to speak. "A little louder, Lambchop," the clown said. A fist tangled into Jason's thick hair and rubbed harshly. "I think you may have a collapsed lung and that always impeeds the oratory."
Jason took his chance and spit a mouth full of blood into the Joker's face. The man reeled back in surprise. The grip in his hair tightened and Jason's head was slammed down into the concrete with such force it left him spinning.
Joker got to his feet and pulled a handkerchief out of his breast coat pocket. "Now, that was rude." His eyes squinted with disgust. "The first Boy Blunder had some manners." He tried to wipe the blood away, but it mostly just smeared across his face.
Robin turned and flashed a bloody grin up at the insane man. If the Joker was going to get some joy out of this, he wasn't going to be the only one. Besides, Jason had always been a little shit and he would go out being one. He had smiled in the face of everything that had ever happened to him and his death would be no different.
Joker's eyebrows went up slightly. "I suppose I'm going to have to teach you a lesson so you can better follow in his footsteps." He seemed to consider that thought for a moment. "Nah!" His smile returned. "I'm just going to keep beating you with this crowbar." Joker raised the pry bar over his head and planted a shoe into Jason's back to keep him in place. As laughter filled the warehouse, Robin closed his eyes. He wasn't going to make it. Batman wasn't going to get there. No one could save him. He let himself drift away so the pain was only a dull ache in the background.
Jason didn't know how long it lasted, but he was dragged back to that place but Joker's voice.
"Okay, Kiddo." He was on the other side of the warehouse, standing in the doorway. Joker's back was to Jason. He was done. He'd lost interest in this game. "I've got to go. It's been fun though. Right?" The clown was silent for a moment, waiting for an answer. Jason didn't respond. He was pretty sure his jaw was broken. "Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me than you. I'm just guessing, since you're being awfully quiet." Joker was pulling on a coat and Jason could feel the cold air from outside blowing into the building. "Anyway, be a good boy, finish your homework and be in bed by nine," the clown ordered in a lighter tone of voice. It turned sinister suddenly. "And hey, please tell the Big man, I said 'Hello'." A wild laugh filled the warehouse and was cut off by the door being slammed shut.
Jason waited for a moment, before his teal eyes opened lazily. He knew he had a concussion. It was the only way to explain ringing in his ears and his slow responses. Grunting in pain, Robin turned onto his back and pulled his knees up to his chest. He rolled back, pulling his arms around his crunched up body. Every inch of him screamed in protest, but his hands were in front of him now. Jason pulled himself up to his feet, staggered and fell to the ground with a wet cough.
Robin crawled forward desperate to get out of that place before Joker decided to come back and finish what he started. He was halfway to the door when he heard it. Ticking. He looked to his right and found himself at eye level with a bomb. Ten seconds. Jason lay still, watching the timer. Suddenly the door was kicked open. It had to be Batman. He'd made it! He was there, but he didn't know.
"Bomb," Robin slurred, desperate for his guardian to get to safety. He couldn't let Bruce die because of him, never because of him. A set of boats went straight for the bomb, but the boats weren't Batman's. The sound wasn't right. Jason forced himself to focus on the figure. He was an older man with a heavy build. He was dressed in a long red cloak. It took him a moment to realize it was a member of the League of Assassins, but that didn't make sense. Why would Ra's Al Ghul's people be here? The ticking stopped and the man turned. It was 'The Sensei' a.k.a Keone Young, one of Al Ghul's most trusted men.
"Hello, Little Bird," the man said shortly. "I'm surprised to see you are alive, but I'm sure the Demon's Head will be most pleased." He picked up Robin and Jason almost screamed in pain as bones shifted against each other.
"Joker," Jason choked.
"He's quite dead," Young answered. "Al Ghul is waiting to see you."
Jason wanted to scream for Batman- for his dad to come save him but the pain was too much and he lost the battle with consciousness.