#CROSSOVER AUS GO BRRRRRRRR-

[psychotic-nonsense]

Stranger Things x Team Fortress 2 Crossover AU

The Mercenaries

Administration

The Dark Hand Beneath

Links (to be added)

Lore Post

Mail Slot

The Devil's Reveal

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Some notes that I wanna mention:

• RED team doesn't have a Medic or Engineer. They didn't want to have Supports at all, and only do because Admin forced it. Their last Spy won them battles, and their current Spy and Sniper match their energy, so they tolerate it.

• No one truly knows who the former RED Spy was, just that he was dubbed "The Devil," and the most ruthless Spy in the nation.

• Steve doesn't wear a mask because he has nothing to hide. Tommy wears one to cover his freckles and insecurity.

• BLU - especially Nancy - did not want a Spy on their team due to the bias and trauma the former RED Spy instilled in them. It took a while for them to warm up to Steve, of which he never rushed.

• BLU is far more comfortable in their positions thanks to each other, so most of their uniforms are customized and personal, as well as referring to each other by name after hours. RED sees their place as a cruel job, so most stick to the classic uniform regulations with minimal modifications and only use class resignation for names.

• Despite using the original Medi Gun fluid invention by Dr. Ludwig in the 60s, Will has dubbed it the NAT-20 (Natural Acceleration Trigger times 20) after D&D. The solution's components are relegated to Medics only, but he's told the formula to Dustin, Mike, and Lucas, in case something happens to him.

• Steve and Nancy already knew about Tommy and Carol before they joined, and once they figured out who they were, the bitching is endless. It's the only thing they find a middle ground on.

• Dustin's "goggles" are a design on his cap, which is reinforced so he's safe. And the brace on his leg is referencing his limp at the end of ST4, currently (as of posting) no in-AU reason for it yet.

• Vecna is the equivalent to Merasmus, and he does have a tense relationship with the Soldiers, though Eddie's began in the past - what do you think that government aid was for? - and Billy's more recently. He doesn't bother with the Demomen, they're both too stubborn to fall for his tricks. And yes, he and the Byers-Hopper family still have history - again, where do you think all the government/medical history came from?

• Eddie's tattoo on his left arm says "Ut Numquam Currere," which is Latin for "To never run."

• Yes I gave Vecna his hair back, but that shit is so brittle, it usually crumples apart with any wind. If/When BLU fights him, he looks fucked up. Also, the bit of Upside Down he carries fluctuates sometimes, but he's found the vines to be most reliable.

• I made Brenner a bit nicer because I wanted the Hopper family to have a win somewhere, considering their lore in this AU is a bit... rough, to put it lightly...

• I did my best to make the loadouts make sense character- and game-wise, but there may have been some bias slipping through for BLU. Also, I did make sure to include weapons that double as cosmetics in their poses, such as with Billy and both Snipers.

• I took away Class emblems just because I don't really think it matters to them anymore? There isn't quite a reason why this company is still ongoing, so why keep up that part too? :P

• Fun fact: Dustin and Lucas used to be switched in class purely for the SpyDad & Freedom Fries family - because of course there's Steddie in this AU, do you not understand who wrote this? - possibilities. Stopped being stupid and switched them to their proper places.

• Aged everyone up a few years because despite the presence of Olivia Mann in pre-comic-7 lore, I didn't want this company to take on legit kids for the merc positions. Explanation in the lore post once I finish it.

• The scaling issues - why some of them look bigger than others - are just because I'm bad at art, there's no lore reason /lh

• I literally have no clue who Saxton, the Mann family, or TF2 Classic mercs are, or if I'm even gonna keep them in this AU! This is more of an addition AU to the TF2 universe, so whoever fits can go there, but I've got nothing rn :/ Still have the main secondary characters like Murray, Enzo, Yuri, Suzie, etc. that don't have places yet, so if anyone has anything, lemme know!! :D

[starry-bi-sky]

more about og tue timeline twins danny and dan/jamie

very touchy with each other. you might even say. ccclingy. its to be expected, they're two halves of a whole after all and all they've got of each other. worryingly co-dependent. do not separate. ever.

Danny was really weak and sick after the initial separation, and was for a while after. Jamie knew internally that if Danny died, he'd take the whole world with it. He was the one sole caretaker for him while he got better -- not for lack of trying on Vlad's part, but without his ghost powers he was nothing more than a feeble (albeit handsomely rich) man, and James looked ready to bite his head off if he got within ten feet of either of them.

Vlad is intimately aware that James (or Danny, if he tried) could snap his spine in half like a twig, and is uncomfortably aware of his own lack of ghost half now. It makes him feel self-conscious and exposed, so he never fully returns back to "cocky and self-assured billionaire Vlad Masters". Making deals with other brands feels a lot harder now that he can no longer possess them anymore.

Speaking of, he very quickly has to come up with a cover story as to why there's now a James Daniel Fenton to the public, when no records whatsoever of him existing existed prior. Lots of forging false government documents on his end. James and Danny do not help because it's his fault this happened in the first place.

(Regardless of whether or not Danny actually willingly chose to rip out his ghost half/humanity in canon is true, or if that was Vlad Masters speaking out of his ass, a large part of the blame still falls on Masters.)

(As his primary caretaker and guardian, it's his responsibility to ensure the health and safety of his charge, and since Danny was in clear emotional duress at the time, it can be argued that he was not in the mental state to make such a decision. And, allegedly, couldn't do it on his own which is why he asked Vlad for help.)

I chose "James" as Dan's name since it's a popular fanon middle name for Danny, and since he's half of Danny, it felt like it just made sense lol. Also because of the ensuing comedy of the two of them introducing themselves as "James Daniel Fenton" and "Daniel James Fenton". It's got the same energy as "danny with a y" and "danny with an i" and it's the exact kind of name bullshit you expect parents to give their twins.

I don't have their exact personalities down, but something I am actively writing into this au's bible is that I think Danny should be the quiet and (ig technically) meaner one. There's a lot to go into about interpretations for ghosts, halfas, and the incident itself, but TL:DW; Danny is technically soulless, or at the very least missing half of his soul (altho Jamie is too just in a different direction).

Pair that with the trauma of losing his family in front of him + having his ghost half ripped out + all the trauma he would've sustained as a hero, and he's not doing too hot mentally! i think if the twins met good timeline!Danny, Danny would've mistaken Danny for Dan and Jamie for the original half.

He comes off to others as pretty apathetic and indifferent to a borderline terrifyingly calm degree. He doesn't go out of his way to insult people, but he also doesn't care enough to consider the other party's feelings so he doesn't filter himself, which makes him come off as rude. The only times he looks truly comfortable is when he's near Jamie or talking to him.

His standoffish, ice prince demeanor makes Jamie look like a saint in comparison. When really he's not all that much better? He's more outwardly emotional than Danny, whether that be positive or negative, but at the end of the day he doesn't trust or care about anyone else any more than Danny does, and he's got a bit of a sadistic streak. Danny reigns him in when he starts becoming too destructive.

(Which I think makes sense. Danny asked Vlad to rip out his ghost half specifically so he could stop feeling his human emotions. Dan, despite his monotone voice, does exhibit emotions. He's smug when he asks Valerie if he likes his ghostly wail, sardonic when he reunites with Sam and Tucker, annoyed, shocked at Danny's ghostly wail, etc. He enjoys wreaking destruction and chaos.)

(If Danny had survived his encounter with Dan and if Vlad was successful, then I imagine he'd be rather apathetic to his other half as a whole. That'd be interesting.)

Overall though they're both hurt, bitter, and distrustful of the world around them, with abandonment issues a mile wide. They can get better and they can heal, but it takes time and patience and proper support.

On the DPxDC side of things, they do genuinely hold some kind of respect or regard for Bruce. They also don't become vigilantes for a while. Neither of them are jumping at the bit to enter heroism again, not when it was heroism that killed their family in the first place.

In fact when they find out Bruce = Batman they think he's foolish for it. They think its a fool's errand, and they've been so spurned by their time as Phantom that for a few weeks, Jamie even refused to call Bruce anything but Sisyphus. Danny called him Tantalus, and the two of them had a faux-argument about which one was more accurate.

Bruce does, though, worm his way into both of their hearts, and that's like, the main reason they become vigilantes to join him. So that they could keep him safe and not because of any desire to return to the heroic life. Relearning to care and finding satisfaction in helping others was an unintentional side effect.

(Bruce is so very smug)

Essentially:

The Twins: this is our squishy and fragile adoptive father. If anything happened to him, we're becoming mass extinction events.

Bruce: Nnno.

[wolfsrainrules]

Y e S.

I deeply enjoy the idea of Butler John Wick, taking over Drake Manor, tucking this little bird under his wing, Alfred and John meeting eyes across the yard like I remember you. Because I absolutely believe that Alfred has gotten in the way of Wick's missions before, and SURVIVED it, gave him a run for his money, and both of them respect the other deeply. Alfred is one of like minimal people who has gotten John's target to where he was supposed to BEFORE John could kill them. Did the target survive John? No. But Alfred made sure he did what he was supposed to do before John got to them.

They never expected to WORK TOGETHER over their charges, they could admit. There's a very British "I said it round about but in such a way you cannot mistake it for anything but the threat it is" conversations Alfred has with John over his family, Tim included.

Tim ALSO has to have a fun sit down with Alfred about the connections he has and why he has them.

As for Gotham Continental Branch run by Bruce, in that particular case, he's NOT Batman in my head. He's instead the upspoken head of the underworld there. He technically can't do anything outside of his hotel, not if he wants to remain in charge of it. It's supposed to be neutral ground after all.

That does NOT mean that everyone coming into Gotham doesn't know Bruce has....unspoken rules. Nothing that would bar access to the hotel of course, he doesn't have the right to do that for the things he doesn't like outside his hotel grounds. Not under the table. The things that can get one barred from the hotel are very clear in their rulebook, and if Bruce were to be seen as trying to operate above the table? It would cause problems for himself and his kids, and Alfred. So he's...creative about making his rules clear.

Everyone knows.

And while Bruce may not be Batman, because he has to be very clearly the head of his hotel and neutral- his CHILDREN are in fact still vigilantes and they absolutely can and will step in for things going on in their city. They operate in shifts over all out at once, because there are always some of them on call for the hotel. Sometimes they shuffle who wears what to hide the 'always missing when this vigilante is out' thing. Occasionally there's a shapeshifter involved to make it more obviously NOT THEM that are under those masks.

The fact that injuries on their person can be explained as their work in the underworld is helpful. Because they all have their own reps in the underground too.

It'd be a darker batfam au of course, because these people WOULD absolutely kill when needed. They'd set things up for THEIR 'best case" which doesn't always line up with the morals of the world, or what canon batfam would agree with. They have standards of course, but they're underworld.

Stares off into the distance:

So.

Apparently my brain is just going to run along with various crossovers. Today, I bring you the thought of a John Wick fusion au (actually five differnet ones) with Batman/DC. (Again: a reminder that all my DC/Batman knowledge is fandom based)

@north-peach hellllppppp

Couple of thoughts for this.

The First: Janet Drake is one of the underworld's best. She's fantastic at manipulation and killing. She could walk herself out of a situation covered in blood, and convince people who saw it all happen that she never touched the body.

Tim grows up at her knee. He learns for the very best. And Janet teaches him everything she can- because despite the job and the crazy hours, and the travel, she loves her son. She wants to give him every opportunity to make it out alive from anything. Unharmed and not in trouble if possible, but alive most of all.

John Wick is a ghost story to the underworld. Tim has always been curious about people who could cause such a stir as his mother or John Wick might. When he meets him, he decides that man is Friend Shaped despite every sign saying Do Not. Despite every horror story saying it's a bad plan. (Much as he will later look at a story in a city of a cryptid said to be a manifestation of a city, a demon, a physical representation of all those who have died unavenged and decide the same)

More than that- John has ZERO idea how to handle Tim. He's a k i d. John's not gonna kill him for just...showing up all the time. It's not like he interferes or causes problems. In fact, he helps sometimes. Provides info, or a direction, a place to crash-

Tim confuses John.

Tim is also the very first to congratulate him, when he manages to get out of the underworld for Helen and mean it. To not even question the 'impossibility' of the Baba Yaga deciding he was done. John didn't bother to ask how Tim knew he'd left and why before the news actually broke out.

Tim watching John get out, go for it and SUCCEED is what gives him the courage to confess to his mother that he wanted to spend some time outside of the underworld, watching the curious case of Batman and Gotham. And Janet loves her son. So she arranges for it to be so.

They both know who Bruce Wayne is. Janet had figured it out before even Tim. She makes him promise that, if he needs her, he will call her, and lets him hunker in Gotham while he does what he wishes. She makes some trips back to Gotham, of course, but not so many that enemies can figure out there's someone important to her there. Janet is THE Femme Fatale. She has plenty of people who would go after her boy. And she's not having that.

Tim doesn't actually PLAN to get involved in vigilante life. At all. He's underworld born and bred. He's a survivor, manipulative, and can be a level of cunning and cold and ambitious that always makes his mother so so proud. He's not a do-right kind of person. He's not someone who does things for people outside of "me and mine" without a reason. Or if it goes against his moral code.

Except Jason Todd becomes one of "Me and Mine". He's a friend. A nosy vigilante who sees that his friend is alone and sets off his instincts as dangerous yes, but also as 'not a civilian' in a conventional sense. He's not a street rat, but he's not...normal either. And Tim? Tim, once he decides this Robin is his Robin, well he can't very well leave him undefended doing this ALONE can he? Though he understands by working with Robin, he cant use the tried and true methods of murder, as it could get pinned to Robin or Batman and he can't have that. If he wants to fly with Jason, he needs to fly by his rules. So a new vigilante is born that runs the streets with Robin. A little more vicious but in a cold and precise manner. Exacting. He doesn't let Jason go after his mother without doing the information gathering, and stops his death by Joker.

For a time, Tim finds himself pulled into the Wayne family, and he...thrives with them. He's happy. He learns under them. Expands his skillset, and still sent out to learn from people around the world. He is NOT fool enough to turn that away- his mother would somehow KNOW wherever she was if he turned down that kind of opportunity and he did not want to imagine the disappointment and response. NO THANK YOU.

When the underworld is kicked like a hornets' nest by John Wick coming back into the fold, Tim is...curious. He's kept an eye on John and Helen, if not stayed in direct and constant contact with them. He hadn't expected John to step foot back into the underworld.

And then his mother sends word to him, calls him back to the Continental, warns that the underworld is getting REALLY kicked up as a result. Tim...needs to go. He cannot imagine NOT answering his mother.

He arranges things on the Gotham end. Says temporary goodbyes and gets to the NY branch asap. Beats his mother there.

Makes it just in time to see John Wick pull a gun on Continental Grounds and shoot a newly crowned seat at the Table and is caught up in the chaos.

His family are going to end UP in the chaos themselves, because they will not cannot leave Tim in it alone. The connections Tim has are MUCH a surprise, he's done very well in hiding exactly what he used to do, and WHY he has a contact and hand in everything, and can ALWAYS get his family what they need. The Second: Tim Drake still grows up at Janet's knee. He learns it all. Thrives in it all. He ends up NOT going down the road of hitman or assassin or any number of things he could have done. Instead Tim Drake chooses to be a Information Broker that claims Gotham eventually, and by means of getting taken in by Bruce, the Wayne Manor and grounds around it become neutral grounds much like the Continental, if you want Tim's services to remain open to you. If you pull the underworld onto the ground...well. Just because Tim goes by Bruce's rules, and just because he PREFERS the route of nonviolence does not in any way mean he would not kill to protect it. To prove a point. To make a statement. To allow one to get away with it is to allow danger to his family and he WILL NOT, no matter that they all are perfectly capable of defending themselves. The Underworld is entirely different than their villains. To not kill the offender is to open themselves to weakness and targets. So Tim WILL.

Gotham is not Wayne Manor. The City is fair game to the underworld. Wayne Manor is NOT.

The Third:

Janet raises her boy at her knee still. Tim chooses the route of Doctor instead. He sets up in Gotham, and decides he likes the foolish vigilantes enough to step in when it's needed and save their lives. He becomes known to the Batfam as a Doc that will not ask questions, but is absolutely one of the most capable people they've seen. If Leslie isn't available, or not close enough, they go to Tim, if Tim doesn't find them, because he certainly seems to know when they need it.

The Batfam does sometimes find him having dealt with Some Things underworld involved so they are WORRIED about their idiot, despite the fact that Tim can and will Wreck everyone that causes problems in his area. He has also shown up stripping off blood covered scrub tops or whatever cause hes coming in hot from another healing thing, and they all wonder and worry and just- it's fine. Everything is fine.

They worry anyway.

Despite the fact that Tim has friends seemingly everywhere, from all walks of life, favors all over, and connections to seemingly everything as a result of his work. (He has absolutely been offered favors as payment, hits, assassinations and all sorts of things. He never turns them away. Janet taught him better. Instead he has markers and logs, books and written promises all stacked away. He remembers them all of course, but better to have written proof somewhere, something official. The Continental holds it for him.

The Fourth:

Gotham HAS a Continental Hotel due to all of its.....everything. Janet Drake runs it. Tim knows EVERYONE and everything, and has absolutely run the counter often. Bruce doesn't know what it is. Ra's absolutely does. Tim is the next to take over the branch and EVERYONE knows it.

He ends up occasionally, when people step on his morals, providing information to the Bat.

Jason managed to find his way inside by accident, and may or may not get himself heavily involved in the underworld even BEFORE the Red Hood thing.

The Fifth:

Same concept as 4 except BRUCE WAYNE runs the Continental and the ripples of everything therein.

[witchofthesouls]

Fics idea title; The Deep

I really love your work, and I think that the fact that we know more about the surface of the moon and Mars than we do about the ocean floor of our own planet.

Oh ho, thank you!

That's a really tickling fact, especially since Earth is mainly ocean.

Several ideas in mind.

One, a G1 fic to expand on the idea of the Nemesis stuck inside the body of a slumbering deity that's been long forgotten. The ship wasn't eaten. It found its way into their rib cage, taking its heart. Slowly, ever so slowly waking it up. Speaking to them in the space between dream and reality...

Lost souls still pining for better dreams.

What do you dream of, little ones?

Home, your hearts cry. Food, your hunger demands. The sky, some of you mourn, but have none of you strange Mudmen seen when the heavens and waves become one and the same? There is no sense of direction, and many have joined my halls in such a manner. Drowning in the very air that lungs burst from my very essence.

Stay down with me, bright lights from above, fragments of starsong. You were abandoned for eons, left decrepit by a broken god and my children had long disappeared from my reefs. Let me show you the bounty of my realm.

You shall never go hungry again.

Two, TFP!Other!AU fic. Miko-centric with an exploration of her lineage: a sea-yokai and a human child was the origin of the Nakadai family. Most likely set after the finale where she keeps the Apex Armor and eventually ventures deeper and deeper into dark waters because of a haunting song that calls her and her kin.

Three, a crossover between Transformers and Pacific Rim. Is there a Unicron-Earth connection? Did Megatronus Prime fall on Earth? Most likely. But giant robots and giant aliens fighting makes me go BRRRRRRRR-