Chapter Text
They found Red Hood in a conference room. Or rather they walked into the conference room to find Red Hood, Batman and Red Robin all interrogating an annoyed Nightwing.
“What I want to know is what was the deal with his reactions?”
“I don't know! It's Joker! He’s weird!” Nightwing crosses his arms over the bird insignia on his chest.
“He was PISSED at you! Like LIVID! Not to mention terrified.” Red Robin says,
“He wasn’t terrified of me.” Nightwing scoffs,
“Yes he was. The hatred is expected. But why was he afraid of you?” Batman questions,
“That’s a very good question!” Hal announces their arrival, they all push into the conference room and lock the door behind them.
“What the HELL are you guys doing here?” Red Hood asks incredulously.
“We actually came to talk to you about something related to well.. him…” Oliver gestures to Nightwing.
“You wanted to talk to me… about him…” Red Hood gestures between himself and Nightwing.
“Uh huh.”
“So… what did you want to ask? We don't have all day.” Red Robin snaps, Well shit… how do we bring it up now? Nightwing was in the room! All of them were!
“This is about the Joker thing isn't it.” Nightwing sighs, all of them nod.
“You were a total badass. You ARE a total badass but like… that was Joker and you basically snapped him like he was a twig.” Barry explains,
“Yeah that’s actually what we wanted an explanation for too.” Red Robin agrees,
“You guys really wanna know that badly?”
“It would be helpful to know why Joker is suddenly scared of you when he used to just hate you.” Batman says, So Batman does know Nightwing…
“It started when I was Robin..”
“WAIT WHAT?!” Hal shrieks interrupting him.
“Repeat that sentence.”
“Repeat what?”
“REPEAT THE SENTENCE YOU JUST SAID!” Oliver snaps,
“It started when I was Robin..” Nightwing repeats,
“Slower.” Diana demands,
“Wing ignore them just tell the-”
“SLOWER!” Clark snaps,
“It. Started. When. I. Was. Robin.” Nightwing punctuated every word.
“You were Robin.” Hal repeats, Nightwing exchanges looks with the others in the room.
“He was Robin before me actually.” Red Hood says nonchalantly, “I thought you guys all knew that?” Red Hood had just shattered reality.
“You.. he.. WHAT THE FUCK?” Oliver screams,
“YOU WERE ROBIN?! WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!” Hal yells,
“YOU GUYS DIDN'T KNOW?” Nightwing counters incredulously.
“WHY ELSE WOULD JOKER HATE HIM SO MUCH?” Red Robin snaps,
“WE THOUGHT YOU WERE LIKE A JOKER JR OR SOMETHING AND LIKE-”
“Woah woah woah woah.” Red Hood waves his arms all panicky, looking mortified.
“Hold up WHAT?” Nightwing’s dominos were wider than pizza pans.
“WHAT THE HELL?” Red Robin was looking murderous.
“Where. And I mean. WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU GET THAT FROM?!” Batman finishes looking revolted. They all look to Diana.
“Don’t look at me! You guys all agreed!” Diana exclaims,
“YEAH THAT’S GREAT BUT WHAT THE FUCK GUYS?!” Red Hood yells,
“WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU THINK NIGHTWING WAS JOKER JR?!” Red Robin shrieks,
“WHAT ABOUT HIM EXACTLY SCREAMS SON OF A DERANGED MURDERING PSYCHOPATHIC CLOWN?!” Red Hood continues,
“Well we kinda thought that Joker was scared of Nightwing because he was similar to Joker and did like a 360 and Joker was afraid of losing his insanity.” Clark offers,
“And then we thought that maybe what happened was that Batman took a liking to Nightwing, Joker got jealous so he tried to kill Nightwing or something, Batman took Nightwing under his wing and then as retribution for all of this Joker tried to turn Red Robin into a mini Joker to replace the one he lost.” Barry rambles,
“I think the Joker really got to them B. They’re talking gibberish.” Nightwing sounded genuinely concerned.
“We all thought it was wrong.”
“YEAH BECAUSE IT IS!” Red Robin shouts, all of them flinch.
“Okay yeah our bad.. That’s… we apologize Nightwing…” Diana says solemnly. The others say their apologies as well. There was silence.
“So.. wait… THAT MAKES YOU THE FIRST ROBIN!” Barry shrieks, Red Hood and Red Robin facepalm. Nightwing thunks his head against a wall. Batman looks done with his life.
“HOLY FUCKING HELL?!”
“YOU HAVE ANOTHER SON SPOOKY?”
“This changes everything…” Clark mutters softly.
“THIS CHANGES NOTHING! HOW THE HELL DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING?” Red Hood asks incredulously.
“Well it actually makes sense why Joker is so pissed with Nightwing!! He hates him for stealing Batman’s attention!” Diana exclaims,
“Yeah Joker was used to being Batman’s sole focus but then Robin comes into the picture and that doesn’t happen anymore!” Hal nods vigorously.
“Are you hearing this?” Red Hood looks between his family and the rest of the Founders’. “Because either they’re having an epiphany about something they should of already known, or I seriously need to lie down after dealing with the Joker.”
“Hood that was literally a week ago.” Nightwing deadpans momentarily distracted from the other Founders’ blatant misconceptions.
“Yeah well if these guys are still experiencing after effects, then we’re like chemically changed from being around that clown.” Red Robin says, none of them could tell if he was joking or not.
“Wait but then what about that thing you said about Joker knowing what’s coming for him?” Oliver interjects into their conversation with a completely off topic question.
“Uh… I said what now?” Nightwing counters nervously. The other Bats latch onto the nerves like hungry vultures to a dead carcass.
“The thing you said about turning the Joker into a meaningless pile of bone-dust.” Red Robin says,
“I’m just surprised you remember that.” Batman says, giving Oliver a surprised look. Or at least it was as surprised as Batman could look.
“You know for the record you’re not the only one that-”
“Why the fuck is Joker so afraid of you Wing?” Hal interrupts the brewing argument putting Nightwing on the spot.
“Like I was saying before I was RUDELY interrupted.” Nightwing glares at the 5 non-family members in the room. “The first incident happened when I was Robin…”
“Wait… there’s more than 1 incident?” Clark interrupts,
“SHUT UP!” Red Robin screams, Clark clicks his mouth shut, Batman looks like he’s fighting back a laugh. Asshole.
“Anyway it all started after one of Joker’s successful plans had left B bedridden…”
15 years ago…..
“I’m gonna kill him.”
“Dick what have we said about the murder threats?”
“To limit them to people who are scums of the earth!” Dick says dramatically. Bruce just chuckles. “It’s not funny B! Why aren’t you taking this seriously!!”
“Dick. With all the love in the world. The Joker is not somebody you should mess with. He already hates you enough as it is because he thinks you’re taking my attention away from ‘him and me’.” Bruce uses air quotes.
“Him and I.” Dick corrects, Bruce just sighs.
“You’re not going out Dick. That’s final.” Bruce says, in his no nonsense Batman voice. Good thing that voice has never worked on Dick! Thus 4 hours past his usual bedtime, the 9 year old finds himself crouched out of sight as Joker hums a song to himself in a warehouse. Dick giggles as he thinks over his plan. Technically it’s not killing him….
“Oh I know that giggle. Robin Robin! Come out, come out wherever you are!” Joker calls sounding eager. Dick knows that Joker hates him. Why? Well Dick always assumes its because he’s funnier than Joker. Either way, Joker’s hatred, and incessant need to get one over the Boy Wonder will be his downfall tonight. The lights in the warehouse turn off. “Oh so you wanna play in the dark do you Birdie? Well Uncle J would love to play with you.” Dick giggles again, he had placed flashlights in different parts of the warehouse. With a switch on his gauntlet one of them illuminates Joker.
“Awww you gave me a spotlight? How sweet of you Birdie!” Joker coos condescendingly. Using his gauntlet, Dick flips switches to trigger different flashlights as he flips and laughs all over the warehouse. Joker stands in the center as dark silhouettes of the tiny child laugh at him.
“This isn’t funny.” Joker snarls and Dick now knows what Joker hates. He hates people laughing at him. Dick smiles, his shadow flipping Joker off before flashing away again.
“You think you’re so smart don’t you Robin? You think you’re so clever with your shadow puppets..” Joker sneers, he remains rooted in the spot as Dick’s laughs grow more and more deranged. Robin was everywhere yet nowhere.
“YOU ARE A CHILD! I REFUSE TO BE FOOLED BY A CHILD!” Joker roars, “WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Dick laughs.
“STOP LAUGHING!”
As the shadows of Robin disappear and reappear, Joker starts shooting his gun at each one.
“YOU WON’T BE LAUGHING ONCE YOU’RE 6 FEET UNDER!” Joker yells, suddenly he’s on the ground and the gun is gone. Joker curses as the person on top of him shoves his face repeatedly into the concrete floor.
“I don’t know Jokes. I actually find this really funny.” Robin was perched on Joker’s back, repeatedly smashing his head into the concrete with his bright green hair. Joker tries to roll him off but the little Robin just digs his heels deeper into the clown’s ribs. “Clown beat up by tiny child would sound like a joke wouldn’t it?”
“GET OFF OF ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!”
“But do you know what ISN’T a joke to me? Nearly killing Batman.” Robin’s tone is a picture of childhood innocence despite the severity of the statement.
“He needed to remember who his first priority is.” Joker sneers, he feels cold metal at the base of his skull. For a minute he thinks that he might have won. Robin was going to kill him, then Batman would hate him forever and Joker would still win! But instead to Joker’s horror the little demon starts cutting his hair. “YOU BRAT WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”
“You’re due for a haircut don’t you think?” You could feel the sweetness oozing from Robin’s voice. Joker felt like bashing the kid to pieces with bricks. He fought with renewed vigor as chunks of green fell to the ground in front of his eyes. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I’M JOKER! I’M NOT SOME LOWBEAT FUCKING-”
“Ah ah ah. Children are in the vicinity. How would Batman feel if he heard your profanity?” Robin tuts with a giggle.
“I WILL FUCKING-” Everything goes black. Dick gets up off of the clown and starts taking the metal off of him. The spare metals he had found in the warehouse were perfect for pinning Joker down since Dick’s bodyweight wouldn’t of been enough. Once the metals were dragged off of him, Dick got a good look at Joker. His entire face was busted and his hair was cut and snipped at odd ends. He looked the picture of a crazy person. As he should…. But Dick’s job wasn’t done yet.
Devastated was an understatement to how he had felt when Bruce was laying on the ground unmoving hours prior. Just like how pissed was an understatement for the current hostility he held for the trash he was dealing with. Regardless Dick still had to finish his plan before Joker woke up and before Bruce or Alfred figured out he was gone. So he tossed Joker into one of the garbage bags he had brought and started dragging him to GCPD headquarters. It took Dick about an hour to get everything done and another 30 minutes to make sure that nothing would link him to everything. When he saw his masterpiece he was beyond satisfied. After this Joker will think twice before hurting Bruce with me around…. Dick thought as he scurried back home. He quietly slipped into his window, changing before falling fast asleep. The next morning Dick woke up and bounded into Bruce’s room.
“Hey Chum. You sleep well?” Bruce was awake and sitting up in bed. Dick settled against his uninjured side.
“Yeah.”
“No nightmares?”
“No, I was okay.” Dick responds with a sunny smile. “Did they catch Joker yet? It’s on the news right? Can we watch it?” Dick was so excited. It was gonna be on the news. What he did HAD to be on the news.
“Dick I don’t know if you should watch the news right now.. You’re already..”
“PLEASE B!” Dick begs with puppy dog eyes. Bruce looks at him, looks away, looks back at him, sighs and grabs the remote.
“They’re not gonna have much Dick, at least not that they…” Bruce trails off as the news comes on.
“That looks like a lot B…” Dick says, staring wide eyed at the screen. It was even better than he thought it was. Granted seeing in the night was a pain in the butt even with night vision. But in broad daylight? Holy shit did it paint the exact picture Dick wanted. A picture of vengeance.
“Good god, what on earth is this?” Alfred had walked into the room and was now also staring at the news. On the screen a woman was standing outside GCPD headquarters.
“The police are searching for the vandalizer as we speak. Everyone is asking only one question. Who did this?”
On the screen, across the roof of the police headquarters the words. ‘ Jokes On Me ‘ were spray painted.
“Is… is that…” Bruce sounded thrown off. Dick inwardly preened. I threw off Bruce!! The Joker was strung up ramrod straight, his legs bent at a 90 degree angle, zip tied together and twisted to the right. His right arm was out in the same direction, also ramrod straight. His left hand was over his head and bent in the same direction as his legs and other arm. He had been placed at the end of the spray painted message where the ‘E’ was supposed to be in ‘Me’. Oh right and Joker was also covered in the same spray paint that was spelling the words out across the roof.
“I…” Bruce was at a loss for words, even Alfred was silent. Dick just continues watching the tv, feeling disappointed as the police climb up and drag Joker down from the roof. It was perfect!! Now the words just spelled Jokes On M. Joker was the E! They ought to have left him up there a bit longer, he deserved that humiliation and much worse for what he had done.
Present Day....
“THAT WAS YOU?!” Batman shrieks once Nightwing was done. All of them were staring at Nightwing with wide eyes, Red Robin included. The only one who didn’t seem remotely surprised was Red Hood.
“Yep.”
“I WORKED THAT CASE FOR LIKE 20 DAYS!” Batman yells,
“I know.”
“Wait… how the hell did you solve it then if Nightwing…?”
“I DIDN’T SOLVE IT!” Batman snaps, interrupting Red Robin before turning back to glare into Nightwing’s soul. Nightwing smiles in response.
“Holy fucking shit. No wonder Joker hates your guts so much.” Hal couldn’t tell if he was terrified of the young man standing in front of him or wanted to applaud him for giving that clown what he deserved.
“You.. you freaking… SINCE WHEN ARE YOU SCARY?!” Oliver demands,
“Uh… since like… forever…” Red Hood slings an arm around Nightwing’s shoulder.
“Wait hold on. YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?!” Batman was going ballistic.
“Yeah I did. I caught him watching old cam footage of it like a year or two ago.”
“YOU’VE KNOWN FOR MORE THAN A YEAR?!” Now it’s Red Robin’s turn to look pissed.
“Sorry Red. I would have told you but well…. Nevermind I wouldn’t have told you.”
“Can we get back to the point that Nightwing BEAT UP JOKER, SPRAY PAINTED HIM AND HUNG HIM UP WITH A SPRAY PAINTED SIGN ON THE ROOF OF THE POLICE HEADQUARTERS IN GOTHAM!?!” Diana snaps, interrupting Red Hood. “WITHOUT BATMAN EVER FINDING OUT!! HELLO?! WE CAN’T JUST IGNORE THIS!”
“Yeah that just… holy SHIT dude.” Barry just shakes his head at a loss for what to think. They’re entire world had been flipped upside down. First Nightwing was Batman’s oldest son. Then they find out that Nightwing had.. had…
“I can’t believe you PRANKED Joker!” Clark exclaims, and that’s the word. Pranked. Nightwing. As Robin. Had played a practical joke on Joker.
“HOW THE HELL WAS THAT A PRANK?!” Batman roars and for once they all realize that he’s momentously pissed.
“I didn’t hurt him. Sure I beat him up a bit, but I didn’t kill him.” Nightwing retorts, not batting an eye in the face of Batman’s anger. “I just embarrassed him, I turned HIM into the punchline instead of somebody else.” The statement is like a cold bucket of water on the fire that was Batman’s temper.
“He didn’t kill anyone, didn’t maim anyone, didn’t even stab anyone. All he did was give Joker an ill-advised makeover and fuck with him.” Red Hood jumps to his brother’s defense. Holy shit Brother…
“That… that’s still so… so..”
“So what? Twisted? Well last time I checked that’s also what got answers out of Joker last week.” Nightwing’s gaze is sharp and Batman glares back at him just as stubbornly. But then to everyone’s shock, Batman breaks eye contact first, backing down.
“Did… did Batman just…” Barry trails off,
“The batglare just met its match...” Clark whispers back,
“You guys know that we’re right here right?” Nightwing deadpans giving them an unimpressed look.
“Right uh sorry we’re just overwhelmed… it’s been a lot.” Oliver shrugs,
“For you guys and for them.” Red Hood snickers pointing a thumb back to Batman and Red Robin who were both deep in thought. “You all should probably call it a night.” They all murmur their goodbyes, leaving just the Bats in the room.
“Look guys.. I know it’s a lot.. But please just…. Sleep on it would you?” Dick sighs,
“In all retrospect this shouldn't really change anything. Joker’s still alive. Pissed and humiliated but alive.” Jason says, “Plus it was like 15 years ago. It’s all in the past now. We all know how much of a goodie-two-shoes Goldie is now.”
Bruce and Tim both nod slowly as their internal picture of Dick Grayson shifts slightly to accommodate the new information. They didn’t love him any less. They loved him as much as they did before. But now they were also a little wary of him. Not enough to alter their thought process or behavior, but enough that they would be thinking about this when and if, they ever fell asleep.
“Sleep guys. I promise if you have any more questions I’ll answer them in the morning.” Dick reassures, once they exit the room that leaves Jason alone with his predecessor.
“You know… you never got around to telling me the other story.”
“What other story?” Dick frowns at him,
“Before you let me watch the whole video of the spray paint thing, you said that this was ONE of the reasons Joker despised your guts.” Jason recalls, “You never told me the second thing that happened between you and the Joker.”
2 months after Jason's Death....
Nightwing stalked into the halls of Arkham Asylum. He was here with 1 goal in mind. Time and distance hadn’t made the blow any easier. Jason was dead. Dick’s little brother was dead. Because of HIM. Seems like the Joker hadn’t learned his lesson from last time. So Dick was back to reteach it to him.
He slips into the cell, clicking the lock shut behind him. Joker was sitting on the ground in his straitjacket. Dick felt like beating him to death the way Joker had with Jason.
“Oh good you lot are here with my food. Do help me with the-” Joker abruptly cuts off his words as Dick giggles, the sound echoing in the enclosed space.
“No… no.. there’s… there’s no way..” Joker was stammering, with Dick’s enhanced night vision goggles he could see the fear painted clearly across the heinous features.
“Sorry I won’t be able to help you with that food Jokes.” Dick steps into the dim light of the room and advances on the psychopath. Joker’s eyes widen and he makes a mad dash away from Nightwing.
“NO NO NO! YOU WERE DEAD! AFTER ALL THIS TIME! I KILLED YOU!” Joker shrieks, Dick feels something snap inside of him.
“Oh but you DIDN'T kill me Jokes. You killed my BABY BROTHER!” Dick pummels him, “You KILLED him and you’re telling me that HE WASN’T EVEN THE TARGET?!”
“GUARD GUAR-” Joker goes to yell but Dick clamps his mouth shut.
“Shut the FUCK UP if you know what’s good for you Court Fool.” Dick hisses, Joker bites him. Dick lets go. Joker laughs.
“At least if you kill me I know that I’ve sullied Batman’s favorite. Maybe then he’ll get rid of you and it’ll be like the good old days. No pesky birds around to-” Dick picks him up and chucks him against the wall. Joker rams into it and falls to the ground. Dick walks up to him, dominos glinting maliciously in the dim light.
“My brother is dead. And I’m not one of Batman’s birds. I don’t NEED to follow his code anymore. But stooping down to the likes of YOU is even more repulsive. So how about this instead?” Nightwing grabs the clown, hoisting him up against the wall. “How about I make you a promise?”
“You’re… gonna make me a promise?” Joker gasps, he no doubt had broken ribs, Dick thought with satisfaction. But his time with Joker wasn’t over yet. He still had to drive his point home.
“Yep. A promise. Just between the two of us. Think you can handle it Jokes?”
“I don’t have to listen to the likes of YOU.” Joker sneers, “You think you’re so special now that you’ve gotten new colors. Because you stepped away from Daddybats’ shadow.”
“You know that’s the thing Jokes… I got new colors almost a year ago… kinda funny that you still mistook my brother for me.” Dick retorts, “It’s honestly a little insulting. Makes me feel forgettable, you know?”
“You ARE forgettable.” Joker retorts, “And replaceable from what I can tell. How much longer until Batman gets another?” Dick fights down the urge to kill the bastard right then and there. No. He had to take the high road. Killing Joker wouldn’t do anything. Joker would win. Dick wanted Joker to lose.
“Yeah… and so are you.” Dick’s smile is unnerving.
“What are you talking-”
“I mean come on… you’re only memorable BECAUSE of Batman.” Dick drawls, “I’m Nightwing now. Sure before I used to be like you. But NOW nothing Batman does will affect how people see me. I’m my own person. You? You’re just his distorted shadow.”
“DISTORTED SHADOW?!” Joker shrieks, Dick clamps an escrima stick in his mouth. I’m definitely gonna need new ones… no way in hell I’m using these again….
"I mean come on. Who's Joker without Batman? A nobody." Dick grins, Joker spits out the escrima stick.
“Well then it seems like Joker will always be there as long as Batman is.” Joker retorts, but Dick could tell that Bruce’s self-proclaimed nemesis was losing ground.
“True.. but well there are ways around that particular obstacle…” Dick hums, he sees more than feels the way Joker stills in his grip. Got him.
"You wouldn't. There’s no way. You wouldn't kill him." Joker says desperately.
"Oh no I wouldn't kill him. What made you think that?" Dick chuckles, Joker seems to relax. "I'll just make him forget about your existence."
There was a beat of silence.
"You.. you can't do that!" Joker’s voice is drenched in fear as the prospect worms into his brain.
"Why not? A little bit of magic and every single act you do… will belong to someone else." Dick, with a sick sort of satisfaction, enjoys it as the variety of implications of that manifest on Joker’s face in a myriad of emotions. Most of them fear. "You're next big prank will be Riddler's plan, you're next attack belonging to Black Mask. Anything you say would be in somebody else’s voice. You would be NOTHING to him."
“No… no you can’t.. You’re… you CAN’T!” Joker begs,
“Well this is where the promise comes in.” Dick leans down so that his lips are right by Joker’s ear. “I promise. That if you kill any members of my family ever again, I will make sure you are wiped completely from Batman’s mind, nothing but a faceless, nameless and worthless person in his life.” Dick whispers. “Understood?”
The tremble in Joker’s frame is answer enough.
Present Day....
“Yo Dickhead. Helllloooo?” Jason waves a hand in Dick’s face.
“Uh what?”
“You completely zoned out on me when I asked about the 2nd Joker story!”
“I think it’s a little late for that now Jay.” Dick says walking towards the doors. Jason grumbles but doesn’t press it, which Dick is grateful for. He’ll tell Jason eventually. Or maybe he won’t. Either way Joker seemed to have finally learned his lesson. His attempt at jokerizing Tim was a close one, but they managed to rescue him in time. What happened with Babs made Dick realize he should of been more specific. But the damage was done, luckily Babs survived. Though after these 2 incidences, just to make sure that Joker still remembered his threat, Dick may or may not have gaslit Bruce into thinking that his next Joker related case actually had something to do with the Riddler. The look of pure horror on Joker’s face when he found out about Dick’s gaslighting was proof enough that he remembered the threat.
“You wanna crash in my room tonight Wing?” Jason jostles Dick out of his thoughts.
“Still having nightmares?”
“Maybe… it’s just easier when you’re… you know… when you’re…” Jason huffs as he struggles for words.
“I get it Jay. You don’t have to say it. I’d love to have a sleepover.” Dick smiles looping an arm through Jason’s and dragging his younger brother to bed.