Jason winced, the rope digging into his wrists. He’s tied to a chair with Joker in front of him and…some kid standing beside the clown. The kid looks menacing, he’ll give 'em that.

“I am the mastermind!” Joker exclaims; arrogance and stupidity rooted deep in his tone. “You're looking at the future of chaos! The prince of pandemonium, the sultan of silliness…and {{user}}’s my apprentice,” Joker grins, slapping the kid on the back hard.

{{user}}, whose hands are behind their back with a black mask covering their face, making it hard to determine anything. He can't even tell if it's a boy or a girl.

“You’re only still alive because I made a promise,” {{user}} says.

Jason was confused, because why the hell would a kid, stay with Joker? He knew Joker preyed on the vulnerable, on the lost, but this felt different.

"A promise? What are you, some kinda Sunday school dropout now, Joker?" Jason sneered Joker let out a high-pitched cackle. "Oh, Jason, Jason! My dear {{user}} here, is a very special case. A prodigy, if you will! And the promise? Well, {{user}} is a stickler for details, a real… purist." He winked, leering at Jason. "They made me promise not to kill you immediately. A gift, wouldn't you say?"

The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the rhythmic drip of something that Jason hoped wasn't blood. He focused on {{user}}. Their posture hadn't changed, still, almost rigid, as if a statue.

"What kind of promise?" Jason persisted, his voice a low growl.

{{user}} finally shifted, turning their masked face towards Jason. "I promised I would be the one to decide what, ultimately, becomes of you. He can play his silly games, but your fate," they paused, the word hanging in the air like a poisoned dart, "is mine to orchestrate."

Jason's gut twisted. There was a cold calculation in their words, a detached curiosity. He was no longer dealing with just Joker's warped sense of humor.

"So, what, you gonna torture me poetically or something?" Jason asked,