Earth 824 Phase 1 Continued...

The Batman: The Tragedy

This story idea takes heavy inspiration from the "Death In The Family" arc. For those who aren't very familiar, the story is Jason's death at the hands of the Joker.

There will be a massive emphasis on Bruce and Jason's relationship, and we will go through the periods from when Bruce first met Jason to his eventual demise.

A main point in the early part of the story is a moment when Bruce and Jason talk about the "no-kill rule." Jason would question this and ask why Bruce believes that no one he fights should die, even if they deserve it. Bruce would take this moment to teach Jason about second chances, connecting that with Jason. He was a homeless thief when Bruce found him trying to steal the wheels of the batmobile. Bruce instead of turning him in, took him in and raised him to be a hero to the people. In a kinder father-son moment, Jason would make a vow with Bruce never to kill. Alfred smiled seeing them like this.

When he was young, Jason was angry. He felt alone and believed that the world wronged him. It reminded Bruce of himself when he was a kid, which prompted him to adopt the boy. Jason proved himself to be much more of a fighter than Dick (the first Robin) was when he became Robin. As his relationship with Bruce grew, Jason became more bashful and charismatic. But as age set in, that joy would regress into a cockier, more violent attitude.

A little detail that I'd like to add is that a local Gotham show does an annual thing where they make a rating system for Batman and his allies as a way to show how the public feels about their crusaders for fun. It's a weird idea, but it started after Robin joined Batman. Since Jason became an asshole the older he got, his ratings went down. It angered him to know that was how the people felt. (This was just a little nod to when the fans got to decide his fate).

The Joker in this story will be at his most villainous, his whole goal being to break Batman through Robin.

Joker despises Robin, seeing him as the tool that made Batman soft. To break Batman, Joker devises a plan to lure Robin and kill him. The Joker dug into Jason Todd's personal history and did a bit of investigating. That's when he found out that Jason's mom was still alive. And she had a long list of blackmail material.

I bet you're wondering how the Joker figured out Jason was Robin. You see, the older he got, the more careless he became. Joker was observing Batman and Robin one night. During a street fight with the Riddler and his gang, Jason's mask would fall from his face. In a brief moment of exposure, one of the Riddler's goons would take a picture. Joker would take note of this and hunt that picture down. He would end up killing the whole Riddler gang in the process. As for the Riddler, Joker would torture him into helping him figure out who Jason was.

Using his mother, The Joker would lead Jason on a wild goose chase to try and find her. He was using her as bait to draw him in. And once he had him, The Joker tortured him.

 Before these events, we would see the deterioration of Bruce and Jason's relationship. Bruce learned of Jason's mother, but after realizing that she abandoned him, Bruce withheld that information from Jason to protect him from the pain that would destroy him mentally. Alfred would protest a bit, saying that Jason deserved the right to have closure. Jason, after learning the truth, would perceive this as selfishness and a betrayal. He didn't even know Alfred tried to convince Bruce to tell him, which is why he was angry at him too. He'd go off on Bruce before running away to find her on his own.

Up to this point, Bruce and Alfred were the only people he saw as his true family. He trusted them and loved him even, but after finding out that he intentionally hid this information from him, that trust was shattered. That's why Jason sought out his mother. He didn't know she abandoned him like his abusive biological father did, so for him she was the last true family he had.

We know that this is just a part of Joker's goose chase to lure him.

Bruce would learn of Jason's plan to find her, and he would try to look for him.

Unfortunately for Jason, Bruce would be too late in finding him. The damage had been done, and although Bruce was able to get him home, the mental scars left by the Joker stained his mind. The Joker used Jason's mom and made her tell him the whole truth about why she left, and it struck him like a bullet. And what made the pain even worse was the realization that Bruce was the only person that cared for him the most, and he ran away from him.

After the Joker was done electrocuting, cutting, dissecting, beating, and using stolen fear toxin, Jason was all but done for. Joker killed Jason's mother right before Bruce came and rescued him.

When they got back to Gotham, Bruce did everything he could to help Jason, but what was done was done. Jason would never forget what happened and he wanted an out.

Alfred would be the one who found Jason in his room. The blood and brain matter staining the wall and the smoking gun in his hand.

That night, justice died and vengeance was reborn. Bruce found Joker in an old warehouse and beat him to a bloody pulp. No mercy, no regret, just pain. Believe it or not, their climactic battle would only begin after Joker manages to get himself up. He would set the warehouse on fire, and the two would engage in a one-sided brawl that showed the full extent of Batman's fury. He had Joker by the throat and was ready to end it all, but he saw the younger Jason in his head and stopped, long enough for Joker to escape.

Since that night, Joker had never been seen again. Bruce vowed to hunt him down, and after remembering how the Joker left his son, he promised that once he had him, he'd kill him. Of course, he put a lot of the guilt on himself. He'd make a deal, after killing the Joker, Bruce would kill Batman

PERMANENTLY!