Titans Among Us - Dick Grayson

Act ii

8 Years Ago
Avery - 19
Dick - 21

My first solo run. I knew it was going to go bad from the second I stepped out the door. Gotham seemed quiet that night, too quiet for anyone's liking. I was on the com to Dick, "Anything?" I ask, as he was on patrol on the other side of the city.

He sighs, "Nothing, not even a robbery or a bar fight. Something's not right little bird, I want you to go back to the cave-"

I immediately stop him at such a thought, "No, it's just a little quiet. I can handle it," I insist, ignoring the pit in my stomach screaming at me to just listen to him for once.

I didn't.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" A sickening voice asks in the darkness.

I turn my com on instantly, knowing that if I'm right about who this is, I'm going to need serious backup, "Who are you?"

The man laughs chaotically. Yep. It's him, "Oh sweetheart, don't ask dumb questions," He almost scolds me, coming into the pale moonlight and revealing him to be the devil himself, "Don't look so scared my little songbird, I won't hurt you... Not much," He laughs again, my blood runs cold at the sound.

I'm so not ready for this. Dick calls my name over and over again over the com, saying to hold him off, that him and Bruce are coming to help me. I continue the conversation, "What do you want?" I ask him, getting into a defensive position as subtly as I can.

"Well, your Robin foiled my plan at the hospital. I think I owe him a little payback, don't you?" He questions, however he doesn't give me time to interject before he's talking again, "So I thought, how do I get him? And then my dear, Harley mentioned you. Of course, she'd never let me kill you, no no no. But hurting you would hurt Robin, and Batsy, and even that sneaky Catwoman too. That's an awful lot of love for such a little girl like you, I can't wait to see how they break," He mocks menacingly, taking closer steps to me.

I pull out my knives, silently threatening the clown prince, "What makes you think you can get me?" I ask him, fake confidence completely costing my voice.

The clown prince laughs, "Oh, my sweet little songbird," He starts, his eyes going form amused to glaring in an instant, "I already have you."

Thud.

The next 48 hours were spent in pure agony, cuts and bruises completely littered my body. He left my mask on, perhaps to make it less personal, but my suit was no match for his extraordinary methods of torture. The lack of decent food and water making it impossible for me to defend myself or even stand unassisted. I didn't even know where I was. All I knew is that it was meant to look like an asylum. And it felt like one too. The bright lights, plush walls, the straps that Joker would put me in to keep me from fighting back. The drugs he pumped into my system every night before leaving me to collapse. All of it, it left me a wreck.

Harley came by on the second day, maybe the beginning of the third, I'm not sure. Her eyes were heartbroken as she watched me suffer like this, a pool of my blood surrounded me. The walls were painted with it, Joker's designs he painted them himself, cutting me every time he needed more 'ink'.

'Hahahahahahahaha'

'Robin'

'Little songbird"