#Alleytown Strays

[nerdytextileartist]

Roy Meets Lian's Friends

Lian: Are you sure you're ready to meet my friends? Roy: Sure as I'll ever be. I mean, what did you tell them? Lian: Oh, the usual stuff- you and Ollie, the Titans, (mumbles) stuffwithredhood. Roy: Don't worry. It'll be fine, kiddo. Roy and Lian approach Billy and Skidmark. Lian: Guys, this is my dad. Uh, Billy and Skidmark-Skids. Roy: Hi. Skidmark, lukewarm: Hey. Billy just glares at Roy. Roy: So, just so you know, everything you heard about me, especially the bad stuff, is true. There is a long pause. Skidmark: So, you really did drugs? Roy: Yep. Skidmark: And became a narc? Roy: Not immediately but yeah. Skidmark: Wore trucker hats with your super suit? Roy, sighing: Yup. Billy, coldly: You worked with Red Hood? Beat Roy: I did. Not anymore. Billy: Good. Awkward silence as Lian nudges Skidmark Skidmark: Um, er, did you really have a stamp collection like a nerd? Roy looks stunned, prompting a snort from Billy and a laugh from Lian. Roy: Lian? Lian: I might have saw the stamps sitting right next to your old Speedy costumes in the Arrow Cave. Didn't know that Woody Guthrie got a stamp. Skidmark: Who's Woody Guthrie? Beat Roy: Oh, this is gonna be fun on a bun.

[inamindfarfaraway]

Selina: Don’t ever talk to me or my sister or my other sister or my daughter or my semi-daughter or my street gang of semi-children or my husband or my stepchildren or my cats or my family’s pets ever again.

[nfcomics]

CATWOMAN no.35 • cover art • Kael Ngu (FEAR STATE) [Sept 2021]

The Strays disable the Magistrate’s communication around Alleytown and replace it with their own ramshackle network. Harley Quinn believes Ivy is the key to helping the city, so she and the Gardener start heading to Alleytown to track down Catwoman and retrieve Ivy. [$4.99 card stock]

(W) Ram V (A) Nina Vakueva (CA) Kael Ngu

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

alley cats

by okeatingmycaptain There's a new crime syndicate in Gotham - one that's using kids to sell drops across the city. Velma is one of those kids. She's been working with the family for three years, finding out their inner workings and making her way up through the ranks. Teo is the syndicate's next target. They want him to do their dirty work - but what they don't know is that Teo has a couple of not-quite heroes on his side that are willing to do anything to keep him out of the family. Selina Kyle has returned to Gotham, and taken on a new name. Catwoman is Batman's on-again-off-again partner, both as vigilantes and as people. She's taken over Gotham's East Side, running her operation and getting kids off the streets. Jason Todd never became the Red Hood. At least, not in the way everyone thinks. Since returning from the dead, he's worked with Catwoman as the vigilante duo tries to keep Crime Alley kids out of trouble and protected. He's also managed to keep himself a secret from everyone who knew him before his death, but when one of Batman's child soldiers gets kidnapped by the syndicate, he finds himself closer to his almost-father than he's comfortable with. Words: 1072, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: The Batman (Movie 2022), Batman - All Media Types, Catwoman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Jason Todd, Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Relationships: Selina Kyle & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle & Bruce Wayne, Crime Alley | Park Row Residents & Jason Todd, Gotham City Residents & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Selina Kyle, Batfamily Members & Tim Drake, Selina Kyle & Original Character(s), Selina Kyle & Original Male Character(s), Selina Kyle & Original Female Character(s), Jason Todd & Original Male Character(s), Jason Todd & Original Female Character(s), Bruce Wayne & Original Character(s) Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Alternate Universe, Post-Canon Fix-It, There's a lot of backstory to this one, I', Don't worry I'll explain it all, Batman Played by Robert Pattinson, Battinson, Minor BatCat, Jason Todd is Red Hood, but with a twist this time, Tim Drake is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, NOT a Catwoman/Red Hood slash fic, like literally not at all, Post-The Batman (Movie 2022), trigger warnings for:, Drug Use, Drug Addiction, drops, Canon-Typical Violence, Possible Character Death, Major Character Injury, Past Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Gotham's Red Light District, and all that implies, Alleytown (DC), Crime Alley (DCU), Jason Todd Takes Care of Crime Alley | Park Row, Selina Kyle takes care of alleytown, alleytown kids, alleytown strays, Implied/Referenced Underage, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Trauma, Hurt/Comfort, there will be comfort i promise, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Batfamily (DCU), Protective Jason Todd, Protective Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne is Batman via https://ift.tt/Mn3mW0I

[inamindfarfaraway]

There's Selina Kyle and Holly Robinson as well, if you want a character with that trauma in Gotham! They've both been protective mentors, protectors and gang leaders to the homeless children of the East End (the area containing Crime Alley) at different times in canon, running the Alleytown Kids/Strays, while Jason has never done anything of the sort to Crime Alley kids in canon.

im also at a point where if someone tries to derail criticism about how male characters are often gifted trauma in fandom from the female characters with actual trauma in canon with “not my fault those female characters aren’t popular/interesting” instead of. reflecting about why they’d rather make up shit for a dude than care about a woman. with just. straight violence.

[lacrimosathedark]

I don’t think I ever actually put this out into the world, So Imma do it now.

I love that so many JayRoy stories focus on Lian. I love Lian so freaking much. But no one seems to recognize the potential hurt-comfort angst that her current status as Shoes of the Alleytown Strays holds.

So, I have an idea. I hope to write one myself, but if anyone else wants to run with this idea, please let me know. I’d love to read it.

So, I’m not fully up to date on Catwoman, but after defending Alleytown in Fear State, she decided to leave the Strays and move uptown. But she cares about these kids, and just ditching them feels wrong to me.

But there’s another local vigilante who knows what living on the street is like.

He also just happens to be her would-be son-in-law.

So, before fully moving, Catwoman goes to Red Hood and asks him a favor: just check in on these kids every now and then, make sure they’re doing okay. Oh, and there’s also this teenage girl trying to be a vigilante who could do with some more training.

And Jason, bleeding heart that he is, reluctantly accepts. And he meets these kids and they all like him and he becomes their unofficial protector.

He meets Shoes and starts actually training her. He’s impressed by her hacker skills, as well as how agile and fast she is, and just how clever she is. She’s brilliant. He does not like that he is reminded of Roy, who recently came back to life and has not reached out to Jason. (she also sometimes wears a red baseball hat backwards which, y’know, doesn’t help in that regard) When she shows him her mask, he brushes the niggling feeling of “that looks a bit too much like Cheshire, literal assassin” off at first, until she opens up and tells him about her first memory/recurring dream, where she’s saved from a woman in a similar mask before being left on the steps of a Gotham church. And Jason starts connecting dots he’s not happy with.

Maybe he tricks her into giving him a DNA sample, or maybe he asks her as an offer to help her figure out who she is. And, as it turns out, Jason has found Lian Harper! What the fuck does he do with that?

Jason tells her he knows her parents and maybe he gives her the choice to know. Maybe she decides she doesn’t want to know; her family is Selina and Jason and the Strays now, and she still has no memories of her old family. They sort of settle on Jason telling her her first name and telling her vaguely about her family. He doesn’t talk about them much because talking about Roy, even without naming him, still hurts, and he doesn’t want to tell Lian that her mom is, like, evil.

Jason basically just tells her that her name is Lian, both of her parents loved her more than anything in the world, and her dad has probably been looking for her (he may not know for sure because who would tell him? Roy’s not talking to him yet, on page anyway. Would Kory call him? Would Dick tell him in passing? Would Babs tell him because she knows everything?).

Then Task Force Z shit starts and Jason is basically MIA and Cheshire Cat is left to her own devices.

Maybe Jason has to duck out of his Task Force shit for a bit to try to save Lian who tried to do a case by herself and got in over her head and Jason gets to be the overprotective big brother/father he was always meant to be and beats the shit out of anyone who touched her and patches her up while scolding her for not having a backup (and she snarks that he was the back-up plan, and it worked, didn’t it? and he’s fuckin fuming because she’s a smartass and I love her) and just--caretaker Jason is my jam.

Maybe Lian finds out that “her new friend Jade”, also known as Cheshire, who she met in the wake of Fear State, tried to kill Jason and has apparently wanted him dead for a while. And she is angry. Imagine when she finds out/remembers that that’s her mom.

Maybe Roy hears about Cheshire being in Gotham, or maybe he hears that Jason’s been basically off the grid, or maybe Babs gives him a heads-up that Lian might be in Gotham, so he decides to swing by Gotham to look for any or all of them. And what do you know, turns out Cheshire knew where Lian was this whole time and never said a word to Roy. And Roy is pissed.

This could lead to a whole-ass drama. The complicated relationship between Roy and Cheshire is decidedly sour now, but it’s still complicated. What could happen between Jason and Roy after they’ve been out of contact for so long (and Roy basically chose Dick over Jason like everyone else in his life seems to)? What about Lian and her amnesia and her complicated feelings for her parents? What about Lian’s new family with the Strays? How can her new world meld with the one she initially grew up and supposedly died in with numerous superhero “uncles and aunties”? How can Dick fit into all of this to make things better and/or worse (because if I remember right, he was Lian’s godfather, and he absolutely adored that little girl)?

(How can I shoehorn all the other Batkids into this story?)

Bonus points if you bring up Bao Phan, Duela Dent, or Tyler. Especially if they meet Lian. Because give Jason all the kids! Make him worse than Bruce about adopting stray orphans.

More bonus points if you bring in other hero’s kids like Jai and Irey West!

Just, someone please use Stray Lian more. I honestly really love her and would love for her to be used more and actually know her family again.

[nerdytextileartist]

I feel like if he met the Alleytown Strays, he'd immediately embrace them as Lian's siblings, whether they want him to or not.

Very fun to me that if you were to combine all the adoption headcanons, Roy Harper could be a father of at least seven.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Catwoman #37 by Ram V, Nina Vakueva and Jordie Bellaire. Variant cover by Jenny Frison. Out in November.

“Catwoman’s attempts to keep Alleytown, and those around her, safe from collateral damage have failed. Simon Saint, the Wight Witch, Father Valley, and the Magistrate have all compromised her newly founded kingdom and brought her entire life to the brink. But despite Selina’s dreams of queenhood crashing down around her, there is still hope in the form of the Alleytown Strays. Could these children, trained by Selina, be her salvation? Or will they, too, pay for their involvement with Catwoman with their lives? And with Queen Ivy and Ivy aware of each other now, will they destroy the city or become one again?”

[redjaybathood]

Selina actually does want kids and likes kids. It's a weird fanon thing she doesn't and its annoying. But across multiple solos she said several times she does want to settle down and have a family. Helena was the first bio kid of bruce ever and selina loved her and enjoyed being a mum. Selina enjoys taking care of her alleytown stray kids, she likes taking take of holly robinson, kitrina falcone, and lian harper. She likes helping train steph and duke and she has and always was protective of the batkids in canon when they were younger. I understand you dont read catwoman or know her character but Please stop perpetuating a false narrative.

You come into my inbox to accuse me for perpetuating false narratives but you come without panels from comics that support your opinion.

I mean, I could be 1000% wrong but, being so purposefully rude that you go anon and you expect me to do heavy lifting for you? 😂👌

[nerdytextileartist]

The Origin of "Shoes"

Roy:...and that's why I was called "Speedy".

Skidmark: Huh.

Roy: So, Lian, what's the story with them calling you "Shoes"?

Lian, flustered: Uh, it's not important, not much of a story there-

Billy: We were at the same foster home about three, four years ago. It was my second home in about a year after I ended up in the system. One night after lights out, I get up out of bed, getting ready to leave. The windows had bars on them, so I had to go through the hallway to the front door. Halfway down the hall, I hear this "creeeeeeak" and I'm thinking "I'm caught" and I look and this little girl (points to Lian, looking miffed) is just standing like a deer in a headlights. I tell her to go back to bed but the lady who ran the home shows up and dragged us back to bed, but the whole time, your feet (directed at Lian again) were squeaking.

Lian, grumbling: That house's floorboards were stupid old.

Billy: The lady ripped at us the next morning and me and "Squeaky Shoes" here had to do dishes and couldn't watch TV or use the computer for a week.

Lian: Well, I'm still stealthier than you guys or the Orghams' or Saint's or even Waller's goons.

Roy: I know, you're still a badass. You just had a bad stealth roll.

Billy: Yeah, nothing you can't deal with, unless it's pigeons. Then you're peeing your pants.

Lian: Shut up! That's a donut I'm never getting back!

Billy and Lian continue to bicker as Roy turns to Skidmark.

Roy: So why they call you "Skidmark"?

Skidmark: I make these sick skids on the street with my bike like in that anime.

Roy: Oh, an "Akira slide". Yeah, those are sweet, rough on your bike though.

[inamindfarfaraway]

So I love this

Someone: The whole point of Batman’s character is that he’s always alone and miserable and can’t form any real, lasting relationships.

Reality: Alfred Pennyworth, Jim Gordon, Clark Kent, Diana Prince, Selina Kyle, Talia al Ghul, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne, Duke Thomas…

But I would also like more of

Someone: The whole point of Catwoman’s character is that she’s always alone and miserable and can’t form any real, lasting relationships.

Reality: Maggie Kyle, Holly Robinson, Bruce Wayne, Karon, Slam Bradley, Stephanie Brown, Kitrina Falcone, Leslie Thompkins, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, the Alleytown Strays…

[geekcavepodcast]

Catwoman Returns to Gotham City in “Catwoman #39″

Catwoman’s new creative team of Tini Howard, Nico Leon, and Jordie Bellaire are bringing Selina Kyle back to Gotham City.

Selina returns to “world of glamour and crime in which she thrives. Declaring war on Gotham’s powerful mob bosses, Selina seeks out help from an old—and potentially dangerous—flame, while finding herself entwined with a charismatic masked man named Valmont, who claims to represent a collective of thieves. Of course, after leaving her Strays in Alleytown, Selina would prefer to fly solo, but is it possible the key to winning her war against the crime families may be found within Valmont’s intriguing offer?” (DC Comics)

Catwoman #39 goes on sale on January 18, 2022.

(Image via DC Comics - Cover of Catwoman #39)

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

alley cats

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Mn3mW0I by okeatingmycaptain There's a new crime syndicate in Gotham - one that's using kids to sell drops across the city. Velma is one of those kids. She's been working with the family for three years, finding out their inner workings and making her way up through the ranks. Teo is the syndicate's next target. They want him to do their dirty work - but what they don't know is that Teo has a couple of not-quite heroes on his side that are willing to do anything to keep him out of the family. Selina Kyle has returned to Gotham, and taken on a new name. Catwoman is Batman's on-again-off-again partner, both as vigilantes and as people. She's taken over Gotham's East Side, running her operation and getting kids off the streets. Jason Todd never became the Red Hood. At least, not in the way everyone thinks. Since returning from the dead, he's worked with Catwoman as the vigilante duo tries to keep Crime Alley kids out of trouble and protected. He's also managed to keep himself a secret from everyone who knew him before his death, but when one of Batman's child soldiers gets kidnapped by the syndicate, he finds himself closer to his almost-father than he's comfortable with. Words: 1072, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: The Batman (Movie 2022), Batman - All Media Types, Catwoman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Jason Todd, Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Relationships: Selina Kyle & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle & Bruce Wayne, Crime Alley | Park Row Residents & Jason Todd, Gotham City Residents & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Selina Kyle, Batfamily Members & Tim Drake, Selina Kyle & Original Character(s), Selina Kyle & Original Male Character(s), Selina Kyle & Original Female Character(s), Jason Todd & Original Male Character(s), Jason Todd & Original Female Character(s), Bruce Wayne & Original Character(s) Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Alternate Universe, Post-Canon Fix-It, There's a lot of backstory to this one, I', Don't worry I'll explain it all, Batman Played by Robert Pattinson, Battinson, Minor BatCat, Jason Todd is Red Hood, but with a twist this time, Tim Drake is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, NOT a Catwoman/Red Hood slash fic, like literally not at all, Post-The Batman (Movie 2022), trigger warnings for:, Drug Use, Drug Addiction, drops, Canon-Typical Violence, Possible Character Death, Major Character Injury, Past Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Gotham's Red Light District, and all that implies, Alleytown (DC), Crime Alley (DCU), Jason Todd Takes Care of Crime Alley | Park Row, Selina Kyle takes care of alleytown, alleytown kids, alleytown strays, Implied/Referenced Underage, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Trauma, Hurt/Comfort, there will be comfort i promise, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Batfamily (DCU), Protective Jason Todd, Protective Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne is Batman read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Mn3mW0I

[ofbattleshoes]

Have you ever noticed that ( LIAN HARPER ) from the ( DC UNIVERSE ) looks a lot like ( LANA CONDOR )? But ( SHE ) also go/goes by ( SHOES ). Having the ability to/of ( ACROBATICS, HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT, BATONS PROFICIENCY ) sure makes them a force to be reckoned with. They’re known to be ( RESOURCEFUL ) but also ( REBELLIOUS) and they’re ( 25 ) years old.

BASIC INFO:

Name: Lian “Shoes” Harper

Age: 24

Occupation: Vigilante, Thief

Alias: Shoes; Cheshire Cat

Powers and Abilities: Acrobatics, Hand-To-Hand Combat, Batons Proficiency 

Canon: Comics

BACKGROUND:

As a child, Lian was apparently killed by The Electrocutioner. Her father and the world at large believed she was dead.

In reality Lian had somehow survived, but had lost her memory. She would have recurring dreams of being rescued from a band of ninjas by a masked woman and abandoned on the steps of a church. It took most of her life to slowly piece together who her father and mother were given how much she’d lost while dead for a bit of time.

Years later, now known as "Shoes", she joined the Alleytown Strays, a group of street kids in Gotham's Alleytown area. They survived as thieves and muggers living in "The Nest", a building which had once been the headquarters of Mama Fortuna. One day she and her friends attempted to rob a wealthy woman who wandered into Alleytown. Shoes stole the woman's watch only to find that it was fake and in the process the woman had pick pocketed her Gamekid. Later that day back at The Nest, Catwoman arrived and announced that she had bought The Nest and intended to turn the Strays into a gang of thieves under her leadership. The Strays helped Catwoman to bring down the organized crime groups operating in Alleytown and become the "Queen" of Alleytown.

Shoes later became an amateur vigilante in Alleytown as Cheshire Cat wearing a homemade mask based on the one from her dream. Her first attempt at heroics went poorly as she was outnumbered and overpowered by her larger opponents. Catwoman arrived to save her and accepted her as a protégé.

Future Status:

Lian had no idea why she allowed Mar’i and the gang to talk her into returning to the past maybe it was some part of her that longed to change the outcome of her death and how she struggled without a family for so long but she agreed and ended up here in a very crazy past. She blames her friends completely for this but it does give her a chance to see her parents in a way she’d never had the chance to before.

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Catwoman #35

Catwoman #35 preview. Harley Quinn believes Ivy is the key to helping the city, so she and the Gardener start heading to Alleytown to track down Catwoman and retrieve Ivy. #Comics #ComicBooks

Catwoman #35 Written by: Ram V.Art by: Nina Vakueva The Strays disable the Magistrate’s communication around Alleytown and replace it with their own ramshackle network. Harley Quinn believes Ivy is the key to helping the city, so she and the Gardener start heading to Alleytown to track down Catwoman and retrieve Ivy.

[lacrimosathedark]

I am sick of DC killing off their heroes

I'm also sick of them keeping the same heroes and having them in like stasis age. It's annoying, especially as new characters are created.

You know what I want instead?

Let them retire.

Let Bruce hang up his cowl and hand the mantle to Cassandra, and maybe Terry later. His boys are already taking after him in other ways; Dick's become a wealthy philanthropist, Jason's probably gonna be the one to adopt 50 kids just by who he is as a person (Tyler, Bao, my personal headcanon for Shoes/Lian), and Tim is the world's greatest detective. Damian is...Damian. But he's finding his way. Let Bruce's children take an aspect of his and surpass him in it. Let him grow old with Selina!!! Also GIVE THEM HELENA!!!!

Speaking of Selina, let one of the Strays or eventually Helena take up her mantle. Maybe Lian can take her mantle, considering Emiko is Red Arrow and Roy is active...sorta. Just more cool cat ladies who aren't freakin Jade Nguyen please (no offense to any fans I just don't like her).

Let Clark be a guide and a guardian for Kon and Jon but sit back and be a person with a family unless there's a crisis. Let him just be a dorky reporter/farmboy with a loving wife looking after his aging parent(s? Is his dad alive? Continuity is weird) and being with his son and actually treating his other son like a son. Because Kon deserves it.

Let Diana stay in Themyscira or make a home on Earth. Or both! Let Donna take up the Wonder Woman mantle! Heck, let there be more than one! Nubia is a cool WW. And imagine Artemis! Maybe Cassie one day!

Fucking retire Hal Jordan. There are like 10 other earthbound Green Lanterns. John Stewart and Guy Gardner and even Kyle Rayner have had a shine in the limelight (heh limelight). Let people like Jessica Cruz and Jo Mullein and Keli Quintela get a little spotlight!

Let Arthur be a fucking king-dad. Let him just live a happy, mostly peaceful life with Mera. Let him have weird father-son bonding with Garth and Jackson. Let him raise Andy! Let him have Jr.!

Ollie will be a stubborn bitch until he fuckin dies, but put him on grandpa duty once this whole "Shoes has amnesia" thing is sorted out! He loved that when Lian was little and it was so fuckin cute. Imagine him teaching her how to shoot and she continually one-ups him because she's definitely Jade and Roy's kid, well-trained by Selina, and constantly reminds Ollie he's getting old. Once Connor's shit gets sorted, let him take up the mantle of Green Arrow again! Heck, he could do it just to prove he's better than Ollie and it'd be great.

Let. Dinah. Have. A. CHILD. She is such a good mom to Roy and to Connor even when she and Ollie are at odds, let her have her own child, even just by weird science! Give her a kiddo that can scream just like her, BAM new Canary. Bonus points if it's a boy or otherwise generally masculine kid and they still wear the fishnets as an adult. Power move.

Can Barry Allen have a break? Please? Heck, give Wally a break too, just for a bit! They've been through so much, let them chill with their wives (and maybe a boyfriend in Wally's case, I see those Nightwing crossovers) and kids and have normal-ish lives. There's so many cool speedsters! Don and Dawn Allen! Bart Allen! Wallace West! Jai and Irey West! Our enby Jesse Chambers! And that's not even all of them, there are so many fuckin speedsters.

I admittedly know next to nothing about J'onn J'onzz, but like, he's been through some shit too. M'gann can take over she seems pretty badass.

Like, just let the old heroes grow old. They don't even have to die, they can be weird wizened mentors with a running gag of 'how the fuck are you still alive?' and they just yknow, stick around. Like Alfred. (Fuck you he'll be back)

The new blood can shine without obliterating what came before.