[Made a few edits. Really, just a tiny bit of angst! Guess who the unlucky bastard is?]
This was a trap the Joker had designed specifically for Robin to shatter Batman's convictions.
A master at manipulating people, the Joker had anticipated everyone's reactions and painstakingly prepared this "best gift ever" for Batman.
Faced with the Joker's threats and his birth mother's pleas, Jason could only discard the equipment he depended on to survive. What followed was a beating inflicted with pure malice.
That rusty crowbar became the Joker's perfect instrument of torture. Mad laughter, merciless mockery, the dull thuds of blows striking flesh, and the stench of blood filled the Old Warehouse.
There, the Joker's abuse went on for a long time.
The Joker deliberately avoided fatal blows to the chest and head, targeting bones instead, all while taunting and jeering with words that cut straight to the heart. Every rise and fall of the crowbar brought a whimper of agony from the teenage Robin.
Jason's bones shattered piece by piece. He nearly crushed his own teeth from clenching them so hard, losing consciousness countless times under the endless beating, only to wake again to the next wave of pain.
Hell was here on earth.
Even so, even when the torture left him barely conscious, Jason never begged for mercy.
One thought kept him going-
Batman will avenge me.
Jason firmly believed that his Batman, his father, would come to save him. Even if he arrived too late, even if the Joker beat Jason to death, Batman would surely avenge him and kill the Joker.
Until the very last moment of his life...
Batman arrived too late.
The Joker had carefully calculated how long Batman would take to arrive. He rigged the Old Warehouse with explosives, waited until the final