#Bruce is heartbroken

[tiredwriter2003]

They had dealt with the villain group six times in the past three weeks. Six times. They kept escaping and gathering more and more information on the heroes and their wekanesses whilst they were at it. They had managed to get hold of kryptonite the first escape attempt. Then they figured out how to catch the flash. They realised distracting Green Lantern made it easier to take his ring and that Martian Manhunter was weak to fire. They froze plastic man and managed to knock out Black Canary before she could scream. By the sixth escape they had managed to find out about weaknesses for almost all of them. The only advantage they had was Batman. He had long since figured out all of these weaknesses and had countermeasures for if they were used against them. The worst part was the fact they still didn't know their goals, other than rampant destruction. However this time they seemed to be targeting the big bat but none of them knew what this ritual they were performing was supposed to do.

What they didn't know was that one of the Villians had enhanced hearing. He heard about Batmans missing son, one biologically related to him he had not been able to meet. Heard the attachment and grief in his voice as he spoke of him. If he didn't know better he would have thought the Gothamite had been talking about a dead relative but there was no way someone as competent as Batman would let anyone kill one of his kids. This gave them the perfect plan. Everyone knew how protective Batman was of his flock. Even Red Hood, crime lord extrordanaire, was under his protection simply for the fact he considered him one of his. The other members of his family were much to well trained, well defended, for them to be able to use them as a hostage. This one however, was free game.

He had never met them, meaning he hadn't set up protections for them let alone trained them. He was blood related to the child, meaning his blood could be used as a conduit to bring him to the circle. It would be better if they had the mothers blood to work with as well but they could still go through with the ritual with just the fathers. Luckily enough one of their compatriots had managed to slice the bat in their last confrontation and had stored the bloody blade. It had been simple to gather the rest of the materials and draw out the ritual circle, then lure the heroes to the location. Now they simply had to keep them distracted until they had called the missing child and blackmail Batman. Not a simple task but definitely possible.

The circle began to glow as the chanting grew in volume. When the ritual circle changed colours the leader knew it was successful and began to taunt Batman.

"So what will you do now oh great Batman. The son you never got to meet is being summoned. Will you allow Danyal's first impression to be of you failing him. Of you sacrificing him to bring us in once again. Or will you comply. Will you let us go ahead with our plans and keep him safe or will you fight us and our compatriots kill him. The ritual has succeeded. He will be here soon, depending on the distance. It cannot be stopped now. The circle has latched on to his essence and is bringing him to us. Your blood and his bound name is plenty to call him. You should really be more careful what you talk about in the presence of others, who knows who'll use them against you. So much for being always prepared. Make your choice Batman, who knows how long it will be unti-" His monologue was cut off by Robin sneaking behind him and knocking him out. His actions seemed to be a signal, as all the other bats seemingly melted out of the shadows and targeted the other villains. Within moments they were all on the ground, ready to be taken back for containment once again, hopefully for good this time.

"B, you okay?" Nightwing walked towards his father figure, avoiding the blue glowing circle as he did.

"They said they were summoning Danyal. The ritual succeeded. How can they summon a dead child?"Batman looked towards his eldest with grief on his face.

"Simple mate, he ain't dead." The voice of John Constantine echoed through the area. Once it became clear the ritual was of mystical persuasion the flash left to retrieve the magical members to counter it. "This particular ritual only works on those who are alive in some sense, wrong symbols for it to be necromatic, meaning your kid's alive somewhere."

"He died Constantine. He was dumped into the pits in an attempt to revive him and it failed. They resorted to making another heir after their failure. He's dead." Batmans voice was cold. He didn't want the false hope, he'd already lost Danyal once before he even knew him. Losing him again would kill him.

"The ritual succeeded Bats. It's blue. It found his lifeforce. The dead don't have lifeforce. Believe me, you've met Deadman. Even ghosts don't have any. Sure his is weak, hence why this is taking so long, but it's bloody working. Whoever told you your son died was wrong. Now we have who knows how long till he stops fighting and gets pulled through. Prepare yourself, he's likely hurting from fighting the tug for so long." Constantine's words seemed to shock Bruce until Damian broke him out of it.

"I could meet him? My original? He's alive?" The boys soft words broke through the fog surrounding Bruce's mind. Damian had been raised knowing the perfection of his original and he always regretted his death. It may have led to his existence but he had always wished to know the one he was created from. But would his father rather Danyal than himself, the replacement? He was a mix of excited and nervous.

"Robin-" Bruce was cut off by the circle. The light grew in intensity and the surrounding heroes could feel the atmosphere of power that began radiating from it. They tensed up, waiting for whatever came next. A portal opened and a shape fell out of it, plummeting towards to ground. Before any of them could get their senses back and catch them they flipped, righting themselves and landing in their feet.

It was a boy, around 15, who was identical to Damian. Same size, same face, same height. They even had the same glare as he looked at them suspiciously. There was only one difference. Damian's eyes were green, tainted by the Lazuras water which had been used in his creation, the only point of difference between the two. The boy looked around the area, taking in the heroes. Nightwing stepped forward, taking in the boy before him, identical to his brother.

"Danyal?" He asked, hoping he was right and this wasn't another clone made by Talia. They would all be devestated.

"Who's asking?" Even his voice was similar, perhaps slightly raspier but otherwise identical.

"Danyal al Ghul, the trueborn heir?" Damian stepped forward. He knew his mother would allow no clone that title, it was the easist was to confirm. The boy tensed, preparing for a fight, which was as good as confirmation. Nightwing stepped forward once again, his eyes covered but meeting the others.

Bruce's eyes in another face stared back at him.

Demian is a clone of Bruce and Talia son whom died thanks to his grandfather actions. The pit failed to bring him back. Well back to them the timing of him being placed in the pit was the second time Jack and Maddie Fenton got their Portal to open just long enough to spit out a very hurt boy.

"I do not see why the Superboy being a clone is such a problem, Kent," Damian grunts, cutting off Clark mid-vent of Conner. He had come to part take in his first ever Sleep Over with Jon.

While the boys have gone upstairs to set up Damian's sleeping place Bruce once again tries to speak about mentoring Conner. It's not as bad as when Conner was first found but things were still strained between them.

It didn't help that whenever Clark fought against Lex's newest scheme, he would fall back to his mistrust of Conner. Tim's mood continually worsened around that time, too, since his boyfriend always returned to him slightly more broken by Clark's inability to trust him.

"You can not tell me the man of steel is so close-minded?"

"Damian," Bruce warns, but his son only raises a brow. He crosses the room to stand before the man of steel, crossing his arms over his chest to copy Alfred's disappointed stance.

"I'm not close-minded for being weary of a clone." Clark starts, face shifting into a defensive scowl.

"I am a clone, and you do not seem to mind my presence. Why is Superboy so different? Surely not the fact he has a boyfriend. I remind you said boyfriend is my brother-"

"What do you mean you are a clone?" Clark cuts in, voice laced with shock. Even Bruce seems baffled by his words when Damian glances at his father.

He squints at both men, trying to figure out what they are playing at.. "I am a clone. You are aware of this."

"No, I certainly am not aware," Bruce grunts, taking a threatening step forward. "What happened to Damian?

"Nothing happened to me, Father. I am standing right before you," Damian gestures to his healthy body. Jon chooses to fly down the stairs with a cheer, and he gives him a look that has the super son pausing. "Our fathers are behaving strangely."

Jon doesn't hesitate to blast his laser eyes at Clark with a quick "Sorry, Dad!"

"Johnathan Samuel Kent!" Clark snaps, having dodged the surprise attack but only barely. The boy freezes in the air, staring wide eyes at his parent, but Damian snaps out his arms and moves to lift his friend into the air with a quick

"I'm sorry! You can ground me when I get you free of mind control!" He shouts, flying right out the window. Bruce tries to stop them by flinging a net at them but Damian counters with his own batarang. The two are dots on the horizon as Damian's voice fades.

"We shall free you soon, Father!"

Bruce narrows his eyes at them but holds up his arm when Clark plants his feet in a position he usually makes when he's about to take flight. It speaks of the trust and years of friendship that the other man stays rooted to the kitchen tile instead of chasing his child.

"What is it, Bruce?" The man asks with slight impatience.

In quick motion, he pulls out his phone and places a call. Placing the speaker on, despite the fact Clark could have easily heard every word without it, Bruce holds the phone between them as Tim cheerfully answers.

"They seem convinced we knew of Damian's status." Bruce holds up a hand again when Clark opens his mouth to argue. "Let me check something."

" 'Sup B."

"Chum, is Damian a clone?"

".....ugh yeah? You know that."

"I do?"

"Yeah, you do. He said so when he first showed up. I mean word per word, "I am not like the rest. I am a copy of perfection, made from the DNA of Father and Mother in an artificial womb." Tim says mockingly, repeating what Damian had said the first night Bruce and the rest met him.

"He meant a literal copy. " Bruce repeats, mystified. "Does that mean I have another son out there?"

Tim goes silent, as his boy tends to do when he knows something but is unsure how to say it. Bruce barely refrains from snapping at him to tell him everything. Tim has a bad reaction to what he sees as disapproval. They talked about it plenty together and with Dinah on what triggers his issues stemming from his upbringing.

"B......Damian was made because Ra's killed the original. In a mock duel when he was nine." Tim's voice is gentle, but it does nothing to soften the devastating blow his words cause. "They tried to save him in the Lazarus, but he never rose. They had enough of his DNA around to make Damian two years later and forced him to match the original's age. Ra's had everything in his files, and Damian has talked about his original plenty of times. I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

Clark places a firm hand on Bruce's shoulder, speaking softly, but he can't hear him. All he can hear is the ringing in his own ears as he realizes that, once again, he has lost a part of his family. Distantly, he knows Clark has helped him into a chair, but he can't really understand his surroundings.

It's like he's watching himself from outside his body as Clark takes the phone out of his slack hold to speak to a distressed Tim, who frantically asks if he's alright.

"What-" he chocks after a moment. "What was his name?"

"Oh, Bruce," Clark whispers in a sympathetic tone as Tim answers.

"Danyal. His name was Danyal."

It's a lovely name. He weeps into his hands for the boy it belongs to as his best friend holds him through grief. They tell Tim to find Jon and Damian so he can break down in private.

A few states over, Danny Fenton sneezes violently three times. His friend Tucker gives him a teasing smile.

"Oh, some girl is crying over you!"

"As if" He laughs punching the other in the arm "Who would cry over little old me?"

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason is terrified of Damian al Ghul-Wayne.

Talia dipped him in the Pit, fed him lies, put him through the worst kinds of pain possible for the sake of training and turned him into a monster that went to heel when called. A monster even Ra’s was wary of.

He’s terrified of Damian, because if his mother managed to manipulate and play him like a fiddle, then she must have taught the same to her son.

Damian, who only has memories of a catatonic Jason cooing at him, cuddling him and protecting him, is becoming progressively more distressed by Jason’s perpetual cold shoulder and skittish behavior whenever Jason sees him.

[bruciemilf]

the batkids bet on which bruce ship will be endgame. they have a whole ass file for it that only babs and tim can see and write in.

dick knows for a fact that bruce and clark having something going on. there’s no way they haven’t at least thought about it.

jason would bet his heart and soul on diana. he doubts bruce could bag wonderwoman out of everyone but he still hopes to have her as his official step mom.

tim is 100% on harvey’s side. have you seen the way those two look at each other? classic “exes who still long for each other” troupe.

damien insists that talia is bruce’s true spouse. he’s their son for goodness sake!

cass doesn’t really care but if she were to chose, ghostbat would be her top pick.

steph throws riddler into the mix as a joke at first, but now she’s diving deeper into the rabbit hole that is his and bruce’s relationship.

similarly to cass, duke isn’t too interested. but between you and me, he swears up and down that hal has made bedroom eyes at bruce before.

Okay but how funny would it be if Bruce dated and broke up with all of them without even realizing

[ohlooh]

Bruce Wayne feared death more than anything else. It had not always been that way. He did not particularly think about it when he was a child, until a particular night and a robber. And then death was all he could think of.

Death followed him after that too. It brought him his first son and took away his second. That loss almost broke him and were it not for Tim he would have completely lost himself.

And of course who could forget his own " death" that tore his family apart, again to be saved by Tim.

But Bruce refused to let death define him and even more vehemently he refused to ever cause it. And now it was easier than ever.

It was all because of Danny. Danny was bright, cheerful and funny. He was laid back and calm under any circimstance, but also passionate and hard working and clever. He was so alive.

It was no wonder Bruce fell so fast for the brilliant inventor. And best of all, his children liked Danny too. Even Damian had warmed up to him.

For the first time in years Bruce didn't feel like death followed him everywhere. Danny was just so full of life it was imposible to not feel it too.

[daydreamerwonderkid]

Tbh I'm still so mentally and emotionally checked out from Bruce forcing a pseudo-"fix it" drug on his own fucking son that I feel completely numb to Jason dying again.

[danaclese]

The klyntar should be chill, only venom and carnage are supposed to be mean.

Venom was originally only supposed to be violent and malicious because of the trauma of being forcibly abandoned by its first host peter in its infancy and then bonded to someone with untreated depression who hated peter obsessively.

Carnage was bonded to a severely imbalanced, psychopathic serial killer, at birth. a klyntar imprints its personality from its earliest hosts. It is incapable of creativity it merely enhances the host.

There has since been a lot of retcon to make them more evil but i miss them being just like any other species, mostly just people. Remember when the species wasnt a synthetic living abyss necrosword created by the dark godthing "Knull The King In Black" in the void between the 6th an 7th dimension?

It was just a bunch of slimy little dudes who wanted a friend and in turn the friend's natural traits and impulses would be enhanced?

Gwen stacy has one you know.

I miss the possibility of cool klyntar who just eat chocolate and do heroic shit and arent killing anybody or doing any monster shit because KLYNTAR ARENT PREDATORS the HUMAN HOST IS.

their powers are well suited to nonlethal protection, they can do all the green lantern stuff with smaller range.

A young klyntar has one original input to the relationship "yes. lets do more"

[littlefankingdom]

Hot take, but I'm happy Bruce gave Batman to Jean-Paul during Knightfall instead of Dick.

Why? Well, Bruce is physically and mentally in an awful state. If Dick had seen him like this, no way he would have listen to the "don't approach Bane" order (he never does), and he could have got badly hurt!

And, yeah, Jean-Paul didn't listen either but, as much as I like him, I care less about his ass getting beaten by Bane than Dick, and he also wore a fucking huge armor.

Anyway, Bruce was not made aware by Tim how badly Jean-Paul was doing as Batman or he would have give it to Dick AND ALSO, he immediately said to Tim he didn't want to call Dick because he knows Dick would hate to be Batman. Like, he preferred to give Gotham to someone he barely trust than to make his boy do something he would hate, he is trying!

[an-android-child]

Just watched this episode of btas for the first time in my life and. I'm devastated I'll never see more of this kid again

[batbabydaily]

batman #20 (1943): bruce wayne loses the guardianship of dick grayson

[leethepiper]

Deathstroke, thinks he made Renegade,

but he, didn’t make Renegade.

You did.

[riddlebanshee]

Officially a page into my longcon BTAS fanfic (fortnite dances)

[spicy-apple-pie]

Damian gets de aged to baby age and Bruce is absolutely delighted.

Like, he’s concerned, because he loves his 10 year old Damian. He would be heartbroken if it was permanent, it would be like Damian died.

But as soon as they confirm that it’s all temporary, he’s relieved, but down plays his excitement. A whole week with his (now literal) baby boy.

One of his biggest regrets in life was not being able to see Damian as a baby. It’s different with his other kids because they had parents and he repeated that he could never replace them. Damian on the other hand, he should’ve been there. He would’ve been, had he’d known. So he really feels like he missed out on that aspect.

When Dick insists that he holds and plays with Damian, he gets all pouty and quiet. Because how ridiculous is it to be jealous over a babies attention. Until he notices Damian keeps looking back at Bruce, as if making sure he’s still there. And he realizes that Damian, even though he’s happily playing with Dick, wants him around. And he’s so proud of himself. He’s getting a good grade in Dad.

It’s all fun and games until it’s time for bedtime and turns out, Damian is a clingy baby. Bruce basically has to sleep with one hand in the crib for Damian to hold for him to even consider sleeping.

[wondersinwaynemanor]

that time when Bruce suggested to his sons to invite Wally, Roy, Conner and Jonathan for dinner in the Manor, he saw how happy his sons were. sure, the table was a bit choaitc as different kinds of energy filled the room, but he didn't mind.

when he saw Dick's radiant smile and Damian's blushing face, and heard Jason's hearty laugh and Tim's soft giggle, he knew he didn't want his sons to be heartbroken ever again.

so he had an idea.

---

when The Justice League ends their meeting at the Watchtower, Batman asks for The Flash, Green Arrow and Superman to stay behind.

Superman: Something wrong, Batman?

Batman narrowed his eyes on the three League members as if he is analyzing them deeply.

Flash, gulps: Um, Bats. I know we've been a Team for years now, but your stare still kinda scares me....

Green Arrow, snorts: Oh dear, old, Spooky. Tell us-

Batman: You do know that I have contingency plans for each of you, right?

Flahs gulps again, Superman nods and Green Arrow rolls his eyes, although they remain silent.

Flash, horrified: Oh no, what did we do wrong? What did I do, Bats?

Superman starts to touch Batman by the shoulder, but Batman steps back.

Batman: They're great, so I know you're raising those kids right.

Batman, walks towards the exit: Because if my sons get hurt, I'm taking the actions to you.

and they finally understood.

Green Arrow: Oh.

Superman, smiles: Aw, don't worry, Batman. My boys are well-raised and behaved. They got it from their mama.

Green Arrow: Spooky, Roy is a father now. He and Jason are taking care of Lian, so they're locked for life. Plus, he knows he doesn't want to get on The Red Hood and Batman's bad sides.

Flash: Wally would never hurt Dick. He's got a crush on him since they were kids.

Batman, pats his utility belt: Contingency plans. Never forget.

he finally leaves the room.

the room is quiet, you can hear a pin drop on the floor even if you're not a super.

Green Arrow, speaks first: Doesn't he just use those plans when we've gone off the rails, or something like that?

Superman: Well, it's his sons' happiness we are talking about here.

Flash, releases a shaky breath: Damn it. I'm calling Wally.

Green Arrow: Oh fu- I barely know where Roy is these days.

Superman, already ahead of the two: See you both!

he's already flying out the room, already concentrating on finding both of his sons.