Just In Time - Chapter 1
Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader
Summary: Jason Todd disappeared six months ago after a run-in with the Joker. Endless searching for the former Robin has proven fruitless as the Joker has laid low for months. At this point, it would be a miracle to find him, dead or alive. After the Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara, you find a potential lead to capture Joker and throw him back into Arkham. However, you weren't expecting to find Jason at the end of the hallway.
Warning: Graphic depictions of torture will be shown throughout this fic. Reader discretion is HIGHLY advised.
Six months. Six months isn’t a long time in many cases, but it is often the mark where GCPD would have to assume the worst for a missing persons case. By now, the missing person had an extremely low chance of being found alive anywhere in the city or in surrounding areas. GCPD would often give up an official search after the first month, but there would still be officers out on duty, making their rounds with a list of missing persons in mind in case they stumble upon them.
You had more hope and faith than they did in Jason Todd to say the least. How could you not? You knew more than they did after all. You knew that he was Robin. He was trained for these situations. He knew how to defend himself far better than any usual citizen of Gotham. Hell, you had seen him knock out five thugs twice his size before. Jason always made it seem easy to simply knock out a whole gang while Bruce took care of the rest of the mission. You could still remember how excited Jason was to run back and tell you all about it.
It simply didn’t make sense to you how you’ve gone six months without your best friend. He wasn’t even here for his 17th birthday, a day both of you were so excited for. He promised that he would take you to the pier and go to the arcade for the entire day. It was something you dreamed of doing with him for years, even when you both were struggling to make ends meet in Crime Alley. You always expected it to be your one day of normalcy. Now, you weren’t even sure it would ever happen.
As you made your way down into the Batcave, you spotted Bruce staring up at the Batcomputers. He was analyzing all of the footage surrounding Barbara’s apartment. It was only a little over a week ago that she had been shot in the spine by the Joker. You still couldn’t shake off the look of pure fear she had in some of the photos he took. It disturbed you more than anything else. You knew Joker was capable of anything, but to see it firsthand caused shivers to run down your spine.
“Bruce,” You called out to him, standing just behind him, “Joker hasn’t been seen in three months and then he suddenly appears to pull this stunt off? It doesn’t make any sense. This isn’t his usual routine. Then again, I can’t remember the last time anything he pulled off was usual.”
Bruce seemed to barely hear you as he flicked through the city cameras. First Jason, now Barbara? The incidents were too close together. It was targeted. He felt confident that Joker didn’t know Barbara was Batgirl, unless he still had Jason with him and forced him to reveal all of their secrets. “Joker was in the asylum three months ago. He went missing two weeks after that. What happened?” He seemed to ask himself rather than you.
You sighed, knowing he was in a state where he would ignore everything you said. Your worry was increasing for everyone involved. You were concerned that someone else would be next. What if it was Dick next? Or Hell, maybe even you?
“Is it possible he’s been staying in the asylum and only running out when he needs to?” You bent over Bruce’s shoulder, scanning one of the lower monitors. It was the only monitor that showed the Joker skipping out of the apartment building, acting as though he was an innocent civilian despite the blood that covered his Hawaiian shirt.
“Why would he still be in the asylum?” He asked, staring straight on at the same footage you were watching.
“It throws everyone off track. You, the police, Gordon, no one would expect him to retreat there. In theory, he has no reason to be there. These attacks aren’t one-offs though. I mean, Barbara, Jason… They’re connected. He’s planning something.”
“What’s your plan?” You had to hold back a smile. Bruce had been testing you more and more lately. While you and Jason were both trained in combat simultaneously, it was only recently that Bruce had you learning strategy as well. He had made it clear that he wanted you trained in case anything went wrong.
“Pull a map of Arkham. It’s a single island, there’s only so many ways for him to get back and forth anyway. If Arkham security has believed him missing for the past two and a half months, he hasn’t been going back to his cell. There aren’t many abandoned wings in the asylum, but I’m willing to bet he’s running back to one of those wings.”
Bruce nodded, his only sign that he was pleased with your answer. He began to pull up old and current blueprints of the island, analyzing both to see which buildings were still functioning. You were right, there were only a couple.
“What are you two up to?” Dick suddenly asked, nearly causing you to jump. You hadn’t realized he made his way in here yet. When you realized the time, you knew exactly why he was here. It was almost duty time, and given the situation with Barbara, backup was needed.
“Seeing if we can find Joker before he goes on a rampage and kills a dozen people,” You said dryly.
“Ah, my favorite pastime activity.” Dick saw the blueprints up on the monitors and knew where this was going. “You think he’s in Arkham still?”
“Possibly. It’s a bit hard for a man with green hair and white skin to hide out of public view for this long, even in Gotham’s underground.”
“Good point. But how are you going to locate him? That asylum expands all over the island and has a few underground tunnels that were shut down years ago.”
“We’ll figure it out.” You shrugged. You had to keep pushing. You wouldn’t let anyone else suffer like Babs or Jason did.
~
The Joker walked through the empty halls of the Intensive Treatment building. The building showed its age everywhere, but especially in the wing that was shutdown for mercury leaks. When the problem was found, Arkham barely had enough funding to test the water system, let alone fix the issue at hand. It was better to simply shut down the west wing and consider it a part of Arkham's lost history.
When Joker first escaped his cell, Harley made sure he wouldn’t have an issue. All it took was pissing off some of the more infamous inmates, who ended up throwing a ruckus that severely injured twenty guards during a lunch period. Joker had no problems running out of the building, snagging a security card on his way out.
It certainly made things easier when he made his way back into the asylum as well. It was genius, really. Batman never saw him coming for the commissioner’s daughter. Maybe she’ll walk it off one of these days, if she was lucky. The Joker let out a cackle at his own thoughts as he made his way to the end of the hall.
For the past three months, Joker has had the privilege of returning to his usual activities with Jason Todd. During his two week stay in the high-security block of Arkham, Harley had taken over with her “treatments.” Even Joker wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but he knew Jason looked even more battered and bruised after it.
Joker was so excited to show Jason the pictures he took while he was out and about in Gotham. He knew it would simply cheer Jason up to see a friend of his, and hopefully put a smile on that boy’s face. The Clown Prince simply couldn’t figure out why Jason has been so down lately.
Pushing open the door to one of the examination rooms, Joker found Jason sitting in his chair, seemingly passed out. Jason, however, was already awake from hearing Joker’s footsteps down the hall. The burlap sack over his head at least hid his terrified expression for just a little bit longer. Even six months later, Jason still had a small hope that someone had found him and it wouldn’t be Joker or Harley.
But every day his hopes would be crushed quickly by the dark chuckle or maniacal laugh that followed the door opening. He knew it was only pain that followed. Jason wondered if he would ever get to feel relief again, or if he would have to wait until the day he died for that one. You would’ve thought that Batman would be racing, desperate even, to find his Robin, but Joker very clearly proved to Jason that that day would never come around.
It was the only thing Joker would bring into the room that kept him up to date on the outside world. Jason wasn’t sure when it was, but he knew it was recently that he got to see the debut of a new Robin. Joker brought the newspaper up to him, giggling like a teenage girl about it all. “Who knew Robins flew from the nest that quickly?” Joker had laughed, seeing Jason’s heartbroken expression.
Before Jason could get his hopes up again, Joker cleared his throat, “Jason, my boy! I have such good news for you!” He exclaimed, yanking the burlap sack off his head. Jason’s eyes burned at the sudden light from the overhead lamp, forcing him to blink rapidly and adjust to it.
Joker held up the photos right in front of Jason. There were only a few, but the few he saw made him want to vomit.
All three showed Barbara’s horrified expression, staring up at the camera in pain with a huge puddle of blood surrounding her. The gunshot wound in the center of her belly was the main focus of the image. Each image had her less dressed than the other. “Look! It’s your friend! I know you’ve probably missed them dearly, so I figured, why don’t I go visit one of them and tell them you said hi?” Joker let out a sick cackle.
For a brief moment, it was like Jason forgot all of the pain in his own body. The grief of looking at Barbara like that was worse than any physical pain he had experienced in months. His broken ribs and torn muscles couldn’t compare to seeing Barbara so weak and vulnerable like that. He could feel his blood boil at the sight.
He wanted to yell. He wanted to scream at Joker and choke him until the light disappeared from his eyes completely. But ultimately, he knew it was pointless. His wrists were burning from the rope binding him to the chair. It was his reminder that he held no power here. He was defenseless. Even if he managed to get out of the restraints, he would collapse from the exhaustion.
Joker’s eyes widened, his smile fading quickly. “What’s wrong? Not a fan of seeing your friends as broken and bloody as you?” His grin returned, tossing the photos up in the air.
"Nevermind that then!” Joker exclaimed. “You have to rest now anyway. In another week, we’re putting that pretty face on TV! We’ll show Bats how you’ve been doing these past six months, and see if he ever cared anyway. Don’t you worry, Uncle J will always be here for you! I’ll make sure you go out with a bang!” Joker turned, exiting the room.
Jason breathed out a shaky sigh, at least grateful that his pain wouldn’t be worsened tonight.
Taking in Joker’s words, as he was left in the deafening silence again, Jason realized that his relief may finally be found soon.
Frankly, he couldn’t wait.
