Ficlet: A Promise Kept | DCU | Jason Todd, the Joker | R | 1/1
Title: A Promise Kept
Fandom: DCU
Characters: Jason Todd, the Joker
Rating: R
Word Count: 715
Prompt: For comicdrabbles: #008: Very Bad Ideas; For dcu_freeforall: Laughter
Summary: Jason's whole world was on fire.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes/Warnings: Everyone has their version/headcanon of how this happened. This is just one of mine, and is attached to a Comics/Movieverse fusion series that I'm working on with kalalanekent and anissa7118. Big warnings for violence, torture, blood, and a helluva lot of pain.
A Promise Kept
The yellowed light of the warehouse glinted off the blade as the weapon was brought down again, and Jason couldn’t help a gasp, choking on his own breath as he found himself unable to scream anymore, his throat raw. His ear, it was…. A vain attempt to reach for the side of his head, his wrists swollen within the ropes he’d been tied up with, and he finally saw the pink of flesh lying on the blood-soaked concrete next to his shattered knee. His ear was gone. Or at least, most of it; he couldn’t be sure. Warmth flowed down Jay’s neck, blood soaking into what was left of his uniform, the tattered remnants barely clinging around his shoulders.
At least the knife wasn’t the crowbar again. Every part of him roared in thunderous pain, the Joker’s handiwork leaving him starting to go delirious from shock, so many bones broken now that he’d lost track, and Jay didn’t think he could live through another strike. It was only a matter of time. Pain management only went so far.
Another cut, and warmth trickled down his chest. Another, and Jason might as well have been standing on the surface of the sun, his senses overwhelmed by what could only be pure fire. He tried to blink, to see what else had been taken from him, but blood ran into his eyes, hot and stinging, his face shattered from the last blow of the crowbar and his left eye starting to swell shut anyway. He couldn’t see the knife as it came at him again, only felt the cool of metal on his tongue, before the fire-no, not fire, but pain, agony-consumed him, his skin flayed open. Searing, slicing, screaming agony.
His mouth … holy fuck, his mouth! Blood flooded over Jason’s tongue as the knife disappeared, the flow sharp and sweet and warm. All his, all Jason’s.
“Would ya’ look at that?” the Clown taunted, his reeking breath close enough that Jay managed to taste it even through the curtain of his own blood. “Kid’s got a grin to die for. If he wasn’t a Bat Brat, I’d take him in as my own. A chip off the old block.” And there was that cackle. That screeching, grinding, bone rattling cackle.
Trying to kick out blindly, Jay just wanted it to stop. Anything to get it to stop!
But there was no give. So much blood, the ropes were soaked and sticky with it. He couldn’t scream. Couldn’t even spit-not with his mouth, his whole face, sliced from ear to ear, his jaw hanging, nearly detached.
“Aw….” This time the Joker’s taunt was a mock pout, Jay could tell, all sarcasm and sadistic glee. “Why so glum, chum? I promised you I’d show you how I got these scars, and didn’t I? Huh?”
A gloved hand cupped Jay’s chin, the Joker’s fingers tightening as they shoved his jaw up, and Jay couldn’t help wanting-needing-to choke, to … to puke, anything, just to get free and get his goddamn breath back, all his pain receding into numbness as stars danced across his vision, his body starting to lose its battle against a lack of oxygen. Struggling against the ropes and that grip, all he managed was a weak gurgle, and he was sure that there must’ve been tears mixed in with the blood now. Fuck, he didn’t want to turn into a goddamn baby, not even through all this. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. He was Robin.
The Joker cackled again, but cut himself off abruptly. “You know, boys, I think we’ve had enough fun here tonight. Let’s light up the night sky, shall we?”
A round of laughter. Scuffling and scurrying as the Clown’s henchmen went to work, preparing … whatever else they had planned. Then Jason was released, dropped into the pool of his own blood that was already starting to cool on the concrete floor, and there was the sound of something whizzing through the air, the crunch of bone and shock of lightning as his skull gave way to the blunt force of the crowbar, and Jay knew he was as good as dead. Fuck, why the hell had he come here?
Mother….
Nothing.
~*~*~*~
Fandom: DCU
Characters: Jason Todd, the Joker
Rating: R
Word Count: 715
Prompt: For comicdrabbles: #008: Very Bad Ideas; For dcu_freeforall: Laughter
Summary: Jason's whole world was on fire.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes/Warnings: Everyone has their version/headcanon of how this happened. This is just one of mine, and is attached to a Comics/Movieverse fusion series that I'm working on with kalalanekent and anissa7118. Big warnings for violence, torture, blood, and a helluva lot of pain.
A Promise Kept
The yellowed light of the warehouse glinted off the blade as the weapon was brought down again, and Jason couldn’t help a gasp, choking on his own breath as he found himself unable to scream anymore, his throat raw. His ear, it was…. A vain attempt to reach for the side of his head, his wrists swollen within the ropes he’d been tied up with, and he finally saw the pink of flesh lying on the blood-soaked concrete next to his shattered knee. His ear was gone. Or at least, most of it; he couldn’t be sure. Warmth flowed down Jay’s neck, blood soaking into what was left of his uniform, the tattered remnants barely clinging around his shoulders.
At least the knife wasn’t the crowbar again. Every part of him roared in thunderous pain, the Joker’s handiwork leaving him starting to go delirious from shock, so many bones broken now that he’d lost track, and Jay didn’t think he could live through another strike. It was only a matter of time. Pain management only went so far.
Another cut, and warmth trickled down his chest. Another, and Jason might as well have been standing on the surface of the sun, his senses overwhelmed by what could only be pure fire. He tried to blink, to see what else had been taken from him, but blood ran into his eyes, hot and stinging, his face shattered from the last blow of the crowbar and his left eye starting to swell shut anyway. He couldn’t see the knife as it came at him again, only felt the cool of metal on his tongue, before the fire-no, not fire, but pain, agony-consumed him, his skin flayed open. Searing, slicing, screaming agony.
His mouth … holy fuck, his mouth! Blood flooded over Jason’s tongue as the knife disappeared, the flow sharp and sweet and warm. All his, all Jason’s.
“Would ya’ look at that?” the Clown taunted, his reeking breath close enough that Jay managed to taste it even through the curtain of his own blood. “Kid’s got a grin to die for. If he wasn’t a Bat Brat, I’d take him in as my own. A chip off the old block.” And there was that cackle. That screeching, grinding, bone rattling cackle.
Trying to kick out blindly, Jay just wanted it to stop. Anything to get it to stop!
But there was no give. So much blood, the ropes were soaked and sticky with it. He couldn’t scream. Couldn’t even spit-not with his mouth, his whole face, sliced from ear to ear, his jaw hanging, nearly detached.
“Aw….” This time the Joker’s taunt was a mock pout, Jay could tell, all sarcasm and sadistic glee. “Why so glum, chum? I promised you I’d show you how I got these scars, and didn’t I? Huh?”
A gloved hand cupped Jay’s chin, the Joker’s fingers tightening as they shoved his jaw up, and Jay couldn’t help wanting-needing-to choke, to … to puke, anything, just to get free and get his goddamn breath back, all his pain receding into numbness as stars danced across his vision, his body starting to lose its battle against a lack of oxygen. Struggling against the ropes and that grip, all he managed was a weak gurgle, and he was sure that there must’ve been tears mixed in with the blood now. Fuck, he didn’t want to turn into a goddamn baby, not even through all this. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. He was Robin.
The Joker cackled again, but cut himself off abruptly. “You know, boys, I think we’ve had enough fun here tonight. Let’s light up the night sky, shall we?”
A round of laughter. Scuffling and scurrying as the Clown’s henchmen went to work, preparing … whatever else they had planned. Then Jason was released, dropped into the pool of his own blood that was already starting to cool on the concrete floor, and there was the sound of something whizzing through the air, the crunch of bone and shock of lightning as his skull gave way to the blunt force of the crowbar, and Jay knew he was as good as dead. Fuck, why the hell had he come here?
Mother….
Nothing.
~*~*~*~