Okay so this story is angsty as all hell but there's a lil fluff there

There's some coincidental shit going on but I think it's cute so fight me...with words

TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD AND INJURY WILL BE DESCRIBED IN DETAIL

Edited 07/02/2024: format change and small additions

They say it takes one bad day to turn a hero into a villain yet people scoffed at the thought of Robin turning to a life of evil. After all, he'd always been the spritely child running around Gotham fighting criminals. He had a pure heart untouched by the villainy of the world. Joker wanted to prove that wrong. What else showed his merciless nature than turning the youngest hero against justice itself? A plan was hatched and no one was prepared for what would follow.

Robin often did lone patrols of Gotham on slow nights. He'd turned thirteen not long ago and was granted a new sense of freedom along with it. He jumped from building to building, looking down alleyways for any sort of trouble and listening out for the frightened yells from average citizens trying to make their way home. He didn't find much. After four hours of being out in the cold, he'd only stopped two muggings. He needed something to stimulate his ever-wandering attention or all he was going to focus on was how cold he felt. Soon, his eyes fell upon a building that was supposed to be closed down due to health and safety issues. 

"Small blessings," he muttered to himself. Robin flipped down to one of the skylights and took a look inside. Instead of seeing some sort of gang meeting or drug deal, he found what looked like a giant present. He pulled out his radio and contacted Batman. 

"Found something interesting?" a gruff voice asked.

"You could say that." He gave his position to his mentor before looking for a discrete way in.

"Be careful."

"Always."

Robin got down from the roof and found a hole in the side of the metal wall. He smiled at his luck and crawled through it. There was nobody inside, not even a few incompetent criminals protecting whatever this giant present really was. He shrugged at the oddness of it. Maybe they were out on a smoke break, he thought. He strolled up to the giant present and looked around it, finding a computer terminal on one side. 

"This just gets weirder and weirder," he muttered. He turned on the computer and found that this present was a bomb Joker was going to use. Robin couldn't believe his luck. Batman was sure to reward him for finding it before anyone else. Before even a ransom or ultimatum had been released. He began to disarm the bomb and then looked to see if it was connected to any others like it. If it was then he would've stopped a mass bombing. Pretty good for a kid, not to brag. As he worked, he rubbed his chin. It helped him concentrate. That and humming. He would be humming now but his ears were strained to hear any potential threat so rubbing his chin would have to do.

Just as he began looking for other bombs he heard the infamous cackle. He whipped around and into a fighting stance to find the clown prince of crime himself. 

"Well if it isn't my favourite little bird," Joker announced. "It's been an eternity since I've seen you. How are those cuts healing?" Robin gritted his teeth together, trying to not allow Joker's comment to get under his skin. It's just what he wants. 

"They're healing great thanks. Would've been better if they weren't there in the first place but what can you do?"

"Precisely." He cracked his knuckles. "As much as I enjoy our conversations, I'm afraid time is ticking and we have places to be." The boy raised an eyebrow. What was the clown thinking of? 

"We?" he repeated.

"Of course! What kind of uncle would I be if I didn't take you on a trip?" Robin was even more confused but then again, Joker was one confusing person. He was about to make a quip when everything went black.

Groaning, Robin came back to consciousness with a thumping headache. 

"Fabulous," he mumbled when he tried to move his hands finding them to be tied behind his back. He looked up and found his mentor sitting in a similar position to him. Though he wasn't Batman, he was Bruce. He must've been captured before he could change. 

Beside him were other heroes close to Robin, all in their civvies. Wally was struggling against his bonds. Roy was asking why he was there. Diana and Clark were crying. Barry was in terrified silence. Bruce looked like he was about to throw up. Robin knew they couldn't do anything as their civilian selves but why were they so scared? Why were Diana and Clark crying when they could easily stop all this? Behind them, there was an everyday thug with a large sharp knife. 

"One bad day is all it takes to follow in my footsteps," Joker announced, emerging from the darkness. Robin's eyes narrowed at the sight of him whilst the others took in sharp breaths of air. They were scared to death of the villain. Robin didn't dwindle on why they were acting like that. He had bigger fish to fry. 

"Oh really? I very much doubt that," Robin argued.

"Then I'll just have to prove it then, won't I?"

A snap of the fingers and the thug was now holding his knife against Barry's throat. 

"Let's see if you really believe that," Joker whispered into Robin's ear. He moved to stand behind the boy and held his eyes open before giving the man a nod. The iron slid effortlessly against the skin. Skin separated to let loose a river of gushing crimson. Its side became stained with the rich red blood flowing from the hero's neck. Splashes of red stained Wally's shirt and wetted his cheek making him scream. Robin fell into complete shocked silence. He couldn't even scream he was so shocked. He felt his eyes give way to floods of tears. The gloved fingers of the Joker pressed into his skin. Barry let out a single wet cough before sinking back into his chair. His eyes were wide yet vacant of any life. 

He was gone. 

He was dead.

The man moves onto Wally. His knife drips droplets of blood onto the concrete floor. He raised it to Wally's neck. His strong hand grips the boy's hair and drags his head back to give him a better look at the skin he would be slicing into. Everyone is screaming. 

"Do something," Robin quietly begs. He was drowned out by the screams. The deed is done before he can even think to repeat the words. Blood stains Wally's shirt. His hands unclench as he sits limply. Roy's next. "Stop it," Robin demanded as harshly as his shaking voice could manage. Joker chuckled. 

"That wouldn't make your day half as bad as I want it to be, now would it?" he reasoned. His reasoning was sick. Everything about this was sick. Robin's stomach churned at the sight. 

Roy struggled. Then he didn't. The murderer was getting into the flow of things now. 

He did Diana's and Clark's seamlessly, not even giving them the chance to get their begs out without gagging on their own thick blood. 

They walk to stand behind Bruce. Robin begged for him to spare one life. Spare the last person Robin had. He struggled against the thick ropes keeping him from saving Bruce. He did everything he could to get them to stop. The murderer glanced at Joker who shook his head.

Everything is painfully slow. The knife rises to meet the white of Bruce's neck. He gulps, making the knife bob slightly. Steel moves against the skin. Blood pours out at any chance it can get to escape the confines of the body. An unbridled fury filled Robin's heart as he saw the last of his family die at the hands of this man. Joker untied his hands and Robin shot up from his seat only to find guns being pointed at him. They had anticipated his blind rage and they were right to do so. He was seething, his blood felt piping hot. 

"How does it feel to have everything taken from you?" Joker teased. He handed Robin a gun and then turned the boy to face the murderer of those he held dearly. He snapped his fingers and two men restrained the criminal, forcing him onto his knees in front of the scarred hero. "Now, you have a gun and the man who did this restrained. You have everything to kill them and avenge them. Take the chance whilst you can," Joker persuaded. "He deserves it." 

Robin couldn't help but agree. He deserved this. He needed to die for taking everything he held dear. Robin wanted him to die with all his might. Bruce wasn't here anymore, why keep his word if there was no one to hold it to him? The family he loved was gone. He pointed the gun at the man's head and was almost startled by how accurately he could line up his aim with the spot between their eyes. They were sweating profusely, scared as his family had been. This hadn't been in their plan. Joker hadn't told them.

Upon noticing that, Robin lowered the gun and threw it as far as he could. 

"I'm not going to stoop to your or his level! I have a legacy to uphold and that starts with sparing a bastard's life and kicking your ass into next year!" Robin yelled, a burning passion replacing the intense anger he felt not moments ago. He wouldn't disappoint them. He wouldn't allow the Joker to manipulate how he thought and how he worked. He wouldn't be some pawn in his game to prove to everybody that anybody could be him. "One bad day is all it takes for someone to justify the actions they know are wrong. You could've got help when you fell into that vat of acid. You didn't have to turn into this but you did because you just needed the excuse." Joker's smile faltered. His expression changed to disgusted disappointment. "Awful things will always happen to me but that doesn't mean I get to cause them to someone else!"

"Looks like today wasn't bad enough. Boys, get rid of the evidence of tonight. Perhaps we can create an awful day for Batsy instead." Robin opened his mouth to point out that Batman was dead. That man had killed him. He looked back at the body. It wasn't Bruce. Why wasn't it Bruce?

Gunshots rang through Robin's head but bullets didn't rip through his body. The taste of blood didn't fill his mouth. Something red and fast picked him up before the metal could even reach him. 

"Flash?" he asked.

"The one and only," the older replied. Robin grinned, beginning to cry tears of happiness instead. 

"You're not going to believe the night I had," he muttered, relieved to hear the hero's confident voice. Flash held him tightly, keeping him flush against his body as he escaped the barrage of bullets. Once safe from the gunfire, Flash put him on the ground outside of the warehouse. "Take care of him, boys." Robin looked around in confusion to find Speedy and Kid Flash standing behind him. 

"Did he hurt you?" Kid Flash inquired as he zipped around him looking for injuries. 

"No, no, I'm fine. Better than the others in there with me," he replied solemnly. The older pair glanced at one another, silently worrying over him. "Can I have a hug?" he asked. They were quick to give him one. They felt the younger bury his head into their shoulders, whimpering quietly. 

"Hey, everything's going to be okay," Speedy reassured him. Robin pulled away to rub his eyes. 

"I know. Tonight's just been...weird. I thought I saw something but I'm either going crazy or it didn't really happen."

"Robin, what did you see? Do you still see it now?" Kid Flash asked rather seriously. He nodded.

"I thought...I thought the people in there were you guys. A guy looked so much like Bruce but then I didn't recognise them. It was like whatever made them look identical got washed away or like a mask had been taken away."

"The poison must've worn off," Speedy stated, Kid Flash nodding in agreement. Robin was once again left confused. He was confused most of the night he supposed. 

"What poison?"

"We found a psychoactive poison on the keyboard connected to the bomb that can be taken through the skin. We know you have gloves on but you do that thing where you rub your chin. It changes your perception of things under stress. After an hour, it must wear off." Robin didn't know he'd been gone for just an hour. He thought he was trapped in that chair for hours on end but at least he was safe now.

Suddenly, he was pulled into a hug by his extremely worried mentor. 

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Batman apologized, referring to the civilians.

"I hate to say it but I'm happy it was them and not you." Batman looked to the boys Flash put Robin in the care of for answers. Speedy explained what Robin must've seen whilst under the poison. "Do you think we could patrol together for a while? Just so there's backup if something like this happens again, not because I'm scared or something." Batman agreed, never wanting to leave Robin's side again.