Of Birds and Jokers

Prolouge

    The shadow moved fast, jumping and flying between skyscrapers in its own graceful way. The bustling city below whirled past as the apparition made its way to the more grim parts of the unforgiving land he claimed as his own.
With his cape fluttering behind him in the crisp autumn breeze, Batman stopped atop a building, perched precariously on a Victorian gargoyle.
He scanned the street below for any danger, before whipping out his grappling gun and shooting it off to the next building. A clink was heard, and after an experimental tug Batman was once again sailing through Gotham.
The man had chosen to forgo the use of the Bat-mobile after twenty minutes of mindless driving. He could not find any crime in that sector of Gotham anyway, and the Bat could always use some more conditioning. And he sure wasn't going to keep patrolling in the car, especially since he had no one to keep him company.
That thought sent little shots of guilt through his gut. He hadn't let Robin patrol with him for almost a month now, and he knew it was killing the boy in the inside.
    Granted, he was still allowed to go on missions with his Team, but what he was allowed to do was, again, very limited. Since his teammates knew the impending danger of the bounty on the little birds head, they were under strict orders to never let him in the line of fire, or out of their sight.
    Batman sighed lightly as the Bat signal suddenly lit up the sky, his mind still roaming on his little bird, hopefully tucked into bed at home.
    Batman immidietly stiffened at this thought. Since when did Robin follow orders so well? In the field, he continuisly disobeyed him if it wasn't a life-or-death situation. And the man knew his ward was getting antsy, he was able to see it in his very demeanour.
    With a growing sense of unease Batman pressed a finger to his comm. and waiting until the static stopped before launching into the direction of the Bat signal.
    "What may be the problem, Master Bruce?" his loyal Butler and father figure, Alfred, asked when the slight interference cleared. Batman made a mental note to try and fix that when he had the time.
    "Is Richard still in the house?" he gruffly asked, watching as the distance to the GCPD decreased with every shot from his grappling gun.
    Batman could practically see the eyebrow that was raised. "May I ask why you would want to know?"
    "As far as I am aware, he had been following my order for almost a month." was the only reply the elder Englishman got, but he understood perfectly what he meant, and couldn't help but inwardly chuckle. A small smile graced his lips as he replied.
    "I agree that it is quite usual, but to answer your question, yes, he is still in the Manor."
    "Are you sure?" Batman urged, the slightly uneasy feeling in his stomach still not going away.
    Alfred sighed, but decided to indulge the man's paranoia. "Yes, I checked up on him just twenty minutes ago, as I had the same feeling you seem to have right now."
    Batman gave a slight sigh of relief, and against his better judgement, ignored the feeling for the moment. The bat signal now loomed almost directly overhead, and the man could see the small shape of Commisioner Gordon, holding what looked like several folders in his hand.
    "Alright, thank you." he said simply to the Butler before starting the final leg of his treck towards the Commisioner.
    "It is no problem, Master Bruce. But, do remember that Master Dick has arranged to go to the Mountain early, so please do not be too alarmed when you do not see him for breakfast. I will also be out shopping before the normal crowd attacks the stores."
    Batman gave a huff of acknowledgement, and promptly turned off his communicator.
    He approached the aging man from the shadows, and mentally prepared himself for whatever horrors lay in those folders that Batman needed to solve.

OoOoOoO

    Everything seemed to simply be a blur. Everything he could see was a blob, and his mind couldn't focus on anything except the pain.
   The pain was everywhere. In his arms, chest, head, legs; every part of his body seemed to have some sort of scratch or bruise. It didn't help that the cold, cement floor he was confined to seemed to be seeping into his wounds, stealing at the teen's body heat.
    Robin shivered, and tried desperately to curl into himself to try and retain some warmth. But all that resulted was needles digging into his skin, and a soft whimper escaping his lips as he reverted back to lying on his right side.
    The Joker's maniacal laughter still rang around his head, even though it had been a while since he had actually seen the madman. After their little 'Bonding Time' they had spent together, the green haired man simply walked away with a chuckle, leaving the bird to wallow in his own blood and misery.
    Robin remembered passing out at one point, and therefore had no idea how much time had actually passed. All he knew was that when he once again gained consciousness, he couldn't move at all unless he wanted to increase the burning pain.
    He hoped against hope that someone knew he was missing by now. If not, he knew that he was going to perish by the clowns hand.
It was with a growing sense of grief that the ebony realized there was a very real chance of him not being able to come back room this. He could die here, and unless The Joker wanted to boast about his victory over Batman (which, in all honesty, pretty likely), no one would ever know what happened to him besides his murderer.
He would never get to taste Alfred's amazing cooking, or get one of those rare Bruce hugs, ever again. Wally and Roy would be down one best friend and brother, and the Team would be without a hacker.
But, maybe it was just as well. In the last couple weeks, it seemed as though Robin was useless anyway. It might even be a burden off of their souls to be ride or the useless partner and teammate.
Robin immidietly berated himself. Why was he thinking like this? He knew, deep down, that this may very well be where he dies, and he could except that. It wasn't the lamest way to go, after all. But the ebony also knew that the people he cares about care about him, too, and wouldn't stop searching for him until they find dead body.
Or, hopefully, just a very damaged living one.
Really, it could end a lot worse. He could have been killed in a kidnapping as Dick Grayson, or he could have simply choked on his food.
At least getting murdered by a homicidal, crazy death clown wasn't boring. But it would be better if The Joker didn't torture him before hand, and just made it a faster death, as bleeding out on a concrete floor wasn't very exciting.
Maybe an explosion would be next, and then The Joker would have Batman dig his body out of the rubble, hoping that his little bird survived, only to come up with a dead body that he cradled in his arms.
Sometimes, Robin wonders how exactly he can be considered a hero with mental images such as that.
The ebony shivered once again, and they continued until his teeth chattered. He weakly tried to pick up the scarce scraps of what used to be his red T-shirt, but eventually gave up and accepted that he would just sit there a freeze.
He had no idea where he was exactly, but he knew it wasn't in Gotham. He knew all the buildings there, and none of them matched this old and withering cathedral type of architecture. If he had to guess he would say that he might be in Central City or even Keystone, but he honestly couldn't trust his own judgement with an almost certain concussion.
After the Joker was done having his fun he didn't bother to move Robin out of that large, domed room either, and the ebony was almost grateful for that. He didn't know if he could have handled being manhandled into a different room with all his injuries.
Judging by the cold atmosphere, and taking a guess that this building wasn't at all insulated, he was somewhere that was either experiencing winter, just coming out of it, or the snowy season was right around the corner. That didn't help his situation much, though, as it sucked away his much needed body heat.
The minutes seemed to tick by in hours, with Robin in tense waiting as he waited for his torturer to come back. Every breath he took shook his lungs, and he hated the wet sound that came out. He knew that he had broken ribs and probably a punctured lung, but he couldn't help but wince every time the sound came.
There was a small vibration to the floor, and Robin immidietly tensed.
He knew it wasn't The Joker. The bird was lying on concrete floor, and in order for the vibrations to be felt something big would have had to made an impact. Robin briefly had a hopeful flutter at the thought that maybe Superman had come, but dismissed that idea quickly.
If Batman hadn't found him yet, than how could Superman? He may be a pretty good reporter, but he wasn't that good at getting needed information.
Whatever it was, it only made one impact, and all was once again silent. Well, besides the birds labored breathing and occasional moans of pain.
Robin started to relax again, or as much as he could, and his eyelids started to droop shut. That's when he started to hear footsteps. His heart fluttered again for a moment, in hope of a rescue, but it then was replaced by fear and dread.
What if that really was The Joker? Was the madman going to put him out if his misery, or was he going to prolong his almost certain death? His brain almost shut down as he heard the footsteps get increasingly closer to where he was sprawled on his side.
The sounds were coming from behind him, and he desperately wanted to flip around so he wasn't completely blind, and could at least see an attack coming.
Then his training picked up, and he started straining his ears as much as he could in the direction of the sound. His eyes slightly widening, he could now distinguish two different sets of footsteps.
One was large and uncalculated, with long pauses between each step. They were loud, obviously the person not caring for stealth, and almost drowned out the other pair.
The second was small and quiet, as if the person wished to stay as quiet as possible. They were significantly lighter than whoever they were walking with, and if Robin had to guess, probably female.
He had a brief panic attack at the thought of The Joker bringing in Harley to join in on the 'fun', but it quickly went away. Robin knew that The Joker was more on the lean side, and wouldn't be able to made that big of a sound simply by walking.
That was when hope for a rescue once again resurfaced, and Robin waited as patiently as he could for the people to come into the room. As their footsteps became more pronounced, the ebony was able to make out hushed voices. He so desperately wanted to scream out, to be heard, rescued, but he still had no idea who these people might be.
His heart stopped at soon as he was able to distinguish the voices.
"I'm telling you, I heard something weird in here, and the people living around here have also said they have been hearing weird sounds." Billy Batson, A.K.A Captain Marvel.
"I believe you, but we do not know if it is a threat, and must be cautious." Diana Prince, A. K.A Wonder Woman.
His breath faltered as he realized the League was here, maybe not because they knew about him, but they were here.
Somehow, though, Robin couldn't find the strength to call out to them, and simply counted every wheeze as he heard them coming closer, their conversation continuing. His hope for rescue increasing with every step they took towards the room he was stranded in.
"Have the people described these 'sounds' that they have been hearing?" Diana asked softly, obviously trying not to be irritated. She must have been pulled along because no one else wanted to go with Captain Marvel.
"They say they hear this buzzing sound, then they said they heard some weird laughter and soon some people said they could hear screams." Billy seemed almost giddy about it, like it was something that deserved all of the world's attention.
Wonder Woman apparently didn't think so, and neither did the League apparently, as Robin could tell Diana was getting somewhat irritated.
"Let's just take a sweep of this room and see if anything is unusual, and if not we are going back to the Watchtower." she bit out as politely as she could, and Robin heard the door a couple yards behind him open with a very loud creek.
"Okay! Sounds like a pl-" Billy's excited tone turned to a horrified gasp, followed by Wonder Woman's, and to Robins relief the two heros were running in his direction.
He could blearily see the two imposing figures hovering above him, their shadows enveloping him in further darkness. But just knowing that they were there, he was going to be safe soon, was enough for him.
"Oh, Hera..." Diana trailed, and behind his mask Robin saw the woman fall on knees by his head. Her slender fingers came to rest on his neck, no doubt checking for a pulse, but the slight touch made Robin suck in a quick breath of air at the pain. Wonder Woman quickly snatched back her fingers and instead wove her hand beneath his head, making him moan in pain.
    "H-he's ali-alive, right?" Billy asked quietly, not used to seeing this much blood and injury. And on a child no less.
    "Shush, child. We will not harm you." Diana stated, completely ignoring Captain Marvels question. Robin, however, was confused.
    Why would she call him child? She knew who he was inside and outside of the mask since he was nine. And of course he knew that they wouldn't hurt him, he worked along side them at some points.
    But the only way to convey his confusion was a muffled grunt and pained gasp as the woman tried her best to lift him up to alleviate some pain. It failed miserably however, and Robin could see spots dot his vision as he gave another groan.
    "It is alright, you are safe now, little one. Whoever did this to you will not be able to do it again, I promise." Wonder Woman whispered when she carefully adjusted the teen in her grip  as she slowly lifted off of the ground. Billy was slow to follow, but soon fell in line beside the two ebony's, all the while his gaze never broke from the body his teammate held.
    But Robins body and mind couldn't take anymore. He knew that the people he was with were safe, and he was out of The Joker's hands.
    As he saw Captain Marvel hover up closer, a black void over can his vision and he was left to the darkness.
   

Well? Whatcha think? Is it okay? Hope all of you like it, and please comment your thoughts below! I would love to hear some feedback now that I have finally got this up and running!

~A very excited BluePinetree