#Cass knows Maps potential!

[pcr-alice]

DPxDC - Subtle Signs

also on AO3

Danny slipped through the shadows quickly, trusting the alarms to cover the noise of his footsteps. He still wasn’t fully used to having his wakizashi hooked to his back again after all this time. It was throwing off his balance. Subtly, but enough to matter. He had considered leaving it behind when he had to run (again). But seeing as he couldn’t exactly get rid of the...gift...his time with the Fentons had given him, he might as well keep the one from his time with the League of Assassins, too. Who would have guessed a sword from a literal death cult would end up being one of his least death-touched possessions.

He reached what remained of the entrance to the now fully crippled GIW facility and paused. There was something wrong. The smallest pressure in his ears, the faintest blur through the sky, the slightest feeling that someone – multiple someones – had entered his space. He crouched further into the shadows and mentally mapped out several escape routes.

What he wasn’t expecting was for one of those someones to drop from the sky. Nor for them to be dressed in bright colors, nor for them to be masked, nor for them to –

“Damian?”

The name was out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Directly between two blares of the alarm. Clearly loud enough for that someone to have heard, judging by the way they jerked into a fighting stance and stared directly at his hiding place. They drew a katana that Danny would recognize anywhere and leveled it at him aggressively.

“Show yourself!”

Two green slits appeared from the darkness next to the collapsed entryway. Damian tensed, shifting into a more agile stance and subtly tapping his wrist comm for backup. The glowing eyes shifted, as if the head they were attached to was moving. They inched forward toward the light but didn’t cross the threshold. A single hand extended from the darkness, clenching a long, thin sheathed blade. A wakizashi, judging by the length and curve, with minimal decoration on the mounting save for...

“Danyal?”

Damian dropped his guard, katana dipping to point at the ground in front of him. A figure crept into the light, taking up their own relaxed stance, sheathed blade still held in their off hand. Their eyes were bright Lazarus green, and their hair was subtly glowing white, barely visible under a hood. Their foot was slightly out of position, arm just barely low of where it should be, all still ingrained in muscle memory to perfectly complement their mismatched heights and Damian’s own style while fighting at his side. There was no doubt. That face was etched into his memory, his very being. He would recognize it anywhere. This was Danyal.

Then the wakizashi was drawn. Danyal’s green eyes flicked to Damian’s right in panic just as he heard the smallest crunch of dirt. He tilted his katana up in front of his face and raised his other hand to his side firmly, signaling Father and Grayson to stay back.

They did. But they spread out to better form a perimeter around this unknown (to them) armed (more than he seemed) potential threat (if he wanted to be). And they watched intently, ready to pick up on even the smallest detail. He would have to be cautious. His subtle head shift let the others know he knew Cain and Brown just landed on his other side. Danyal’s eye flick meant he saw them, too.

“How are you here, Danyal? You died.”

“You should know better than most, Damian. Death is not always final.”

Damian was off. Cass noticed it immediately. His stance was different. He was tense in a way she’d never seen him before. His words were hesitant, and when he did speak, his fingers twitched around his katana’s grip. He gave them a small flick with his hand, signaling for them to stay back, then took a step forward. The other boy – Danyal, she presumed – followed his lead step for step, never dropping his guard, even if his stance was slightly imperfect. His hands twitched even more than Damian’s.

Then he flinched and took a step back, eyes snapping to where Batman had taken a step forward. Damian scowled angrily.

“Stay back, Father!”

Cass hadn’t heard that much venom in his voice for many years. Nor had he ever broken codename protocol while they were in costume. Nor had he ever fidgeted or been this nervous. His emotions were strong, barely restrained, confused and angry and somehow eager. He wanted to charge forward, but for what she didn’t know. He was barely holding himself back.

The other boy was unfamiliar, so she had no reference. She couldn’t even see his full face. But he had to be even more nervous than Damian with the way his whole body squirmed minutely when his hands twitched. His anger was colder, deeper, an undercurrent compared to Damian’s storm. There was no confusion, not even at ‘Father’, but there was fear, a suffocating amount of it. He was unsure of himself. Wanting to charge like Damian, but wanting to run perhaps even more. The indecision left him rooted to the spot.

“Why are you here, Danyal?”

“Tying up some loose ends. You?”

“Investigating the destruction of government facilities on behalf of the League.”

Danyal tensed at that.

“The Justice League,” Damian was quick to clarify.

Danyal took that even worse. He curled into himself, the fear overwhelming all his other emotions, his eyes going narrow and glowing a brighter, somehow harsher green. Cass spared a glance back to Damian, whose twitching had spread to his non-sword hand now. Worry was breaking through both his anger and confusion. Movement out of the corner of her eye made her look back to Danyal, who had begun to slide back towards the shadows.

“Danyal, wait!” Damian stepped forward, and to her surprise Danyal did in fact stop moving. “Why are you running?”

He stopped twitching entirely and stared Damian down.

“I will not be taken by either of your Leagues.”

That was confirmation that he was familiar with the League of Assassins, perhaps a former member like Damian.

“The League of Assassins has been dismantled. I can guarantee the Justice League will not harm you.”

“Yet you are here on their behalf.”

“I do not understand, Danyal.”

He wasn’t alone in that. Cass risked a glance to the others. Steph was firmly at her side, waiting for a signal to get involved. Bruce was tense, confused but calculating, processing the apparent familiarity not just with the League, but with Damian and his identity. Dick was clearly confused too, but the concerned for his little brother was even clearer.

“There is much you don’t understand, Damian.”

“Then tell me.”

Damian’s hand gave the smallest of twitches before he charged forward at Danyal, who charged back as if he were expecting it. But this wasn’t one of his normal attack patterns. He was slower and more rigid. This wasn’t right. She raised her arm to Spoiler’s chest, stopping her from joining the battle, her fist clenched to signal the others to hold. Spoiler glanced at her, confused, but stayed at her side. Batman and Nightwing heeded her signal as well after taking a few steps forward.

Their blades clashed as they pressed together, faces nearly touching. Cass swore she saw Danyal’s lips move briefly before they pushed each other back, both already angling for their next attack. What followed was a set of perfect strikes and parries, one for one, back and forth, all much below what she knew Damian’s speed and strength to be. All telegraphed well in advance. Until Danyal pivoted unexpectedly, twisting directly into the path of Damian’s katana.

She saw Damian’s shock, his fear, saw him try to pull back his strike, but it was too late. Danyal raised an arm to shield himself from the blow that was about to cleave into his flesh, but he wasn’t worried. Wasn’t surprised or scared, just...sad?

The katana didn’t hit. A bright green armor plate flashed into existence on Danyal’s arm, and Damian’s blade bounced off it with a clang, vibrating through his arm and tipping him off balance. Danyal dropped his weight and kicked forward, hitting Damian in the chest and knocking him backwards much farther than expected.

Damian twisted in the air and rolled as he hit the ground, leaping back into a defensive stance. Cass saw no anger, just surprise and worry and more confusion. She stomped her foot and shook her fist, insisting that everyone keep holding back. This brought Danyal’s attention to her.

His eyes flicked over to pierce into her. She felt seen, and she couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through her spine. He didn’t look at her with any emotion she expected, merely annoyance. He flicked his eyes back to Damian after sparing her a second at most, and then he was empty. No emotion at all. Nothing. Cass gasped. She felt Steph press against her arm gently, a question. She pressed back in response, still holding her fist. Steph placed a hand on her back, silently grounding her.

With Danyal not giving her anything, she shifted her focus back to Damian. He tilted his katana to look at the blade, which she could tell even from a distance had been greatly dulled where it had made contact with the phantom armor. When he pulled his hand away from his ribs, she could see small drops of frost fall to the ground.

“Danyal...when did –”

“I have never set foot in the Lazarus Pits.”

Damian dropped his arms to his side. Cass could see more shock on him now than any emotion she’d read on him ever before. He’d never left himself so open and unguarded at any time she could remember. Despite all that – or perhaps because of it – his hands kept twitching.

“How…”

“I told you, Damian. You don’t even understand just how little you don’t understand.”

Despite not reading any nervousness from Danyal – no emotions at all – his hands kept twitching.

“Then tell me.”

Damian’s voice was soft, more vulnerable than it had ever been. His off hand kept twitching in the same pattern, over and over.

“I can’t.”

Danyal took a step backwards toward the shadows. Damian stepped forward and yelled.

“Danyal, please! I want to understand!”

But he took another step backward, his own off hand twitching in the same pattern as Damian’s.

“Goodbye, Damian.”

Damian took another step forward and raised his hands to his side in a peaceful gesture.

“I will understand, Danyal.”

He switched to his first language, the one he had spoken as a child, and pleaded.

“I swear it on the first star’s light, on the first bird’s song.”

Danyal flinched mid-step. And his facade shattered. Emotions burst through stronger than before. Scared and exhausted and angry, but the tiniest sliver of hope pushing past the wariness. His head tilted up, letting the light pierce the shadow of his hood to reveal bright white hair that somehow shifted under its cloth covering. And his face looked nearly identical to Damian’s.

His flurry of emotions slowly, excruciatingly slowly, steadied as the tension in his body loosened. She watched him take a deep breath and let it out, emotions shifting into pure determination. His off hand twitched again and – no, not a twitch!

They had been signaling to each other.

And then they were charging again. Cass dropped her arm and wrapped it around Steph’s, who tensed at the two boys’ movement, but relaxed as Cass leaned against her. Batman and Nightwing did charge. It was clear they wouldn’t make it in time, even if Danyal’s speed weren’t obviously enhanced.

The boys flipped their swords to hold them backhand and twisted them such that the dull end faced forward. They collided harshly, sword arms clasping around each others shoulders. Danyal knocked Damian back a step, but they held each other tightly, neither allowing the other to fall. Batman and Nightwing stuttered to a stop several feet away and stared in surprised confusion as the boys raised their off hands to cradle each others necks and press their foreheads together.

“I missed you, Brother.”

[theloneotaku158]

As of Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, local precious-gremlin-who-I-would-die-for, Maps Mizoguchi, is now officially(?) the sixth Robin. Or at the very least, she's now "in" on The Secret™.

If this isn’t a set up for her taking up the Robin mantle officially then I genuinely don’t know what is.

As one of the twelve Gotham Academy enjoyers in existence, I am having the extremely normal reaction of "FUCKING FINALLY! LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO--!"

In all honesty, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen this coming from miles away. Like, Maps has appeared in a number of seemingly random cameo roles recently, including Batgirls (2021), and even technically as Robin in the backup issues of Batman (2016) #119-121, and in a short story in Batman Black & White. And most of those got collected in a standalone titled "Maps of Mystery", which specifically gathered all her appearances as Robin (and the Gotham Academy Belle Reve story).

And then, of course, her recent time-travelling Future-Trunks-esque appearance in Birds of Prey (2023), as the tech-based Meridian, from a potential future timeline where she apparently makes it as a superhero using gadgets she apparently designed, proving that she's hero material.

That's not something you do for a character for no reason. That's the sort of thing you do when you want to keep a character in the conscience of your readers for whatever reason, because you have bigger plans for them.

Also interesting to consider that, in the "Mother's Day" story where this took place, Alfred is standing right there and not lying down six feet under wood, dirt and a stone slab, and that Bruce is in the old Batcave under the manor so he still has Money™. So we must assume this was some nebulous time in the past (after GA: Second Semester(?), but before City of Bane)... which I won't bother to analyse the exact timeframe of because DC doesn't care about the post-Flashpoint / New 52 / Rebirth / Prime Earth / idfk / Dawn of DC timeline, so neither should I.

But I think it's really funny that this presumably means Maps has known The Secret™ for a long time relative to present-day comics, but always acted like she didn't.

But if all her appearances are in chronological order, that means Bruce is only the fourth Bat whose identity she discovered.

Like, she discovered Cass' identity almost by accident on a trip to the zoo, Damian showed off his grapple gun and gave her an actual Batarang during the three hours he was enrolled in the school (as if she wouldn't immediately put two-and-two together even back then), and she even found out Terry fucking McGuinness would become Batman in a future via a time-travelling grandfather clock.

No I did not make that last part up. Read Gotham Academy istg.

Did Cass know that Maps had been acting as a Robin when she met her, both at the zoo in Batgirls and her future version in Birds of Prey?

Does Damian know the one (1) friend(?) he made in Gotham Academy is potentially in the running for his job?

Is Bruce himself aware that she knows as much about their identities as she currently does?

How is DC going to retcon this so it all makes sense in the barely-functioning canon of the modern DC universe?

I'm digressing. Where was I going with this?

Point is, she's destined to become a Robin, and I'm glad DC finally pulled their fingers out their asses and capitalised on that destiny.

Let's just hope it doesn't take another year for them to follow up on this plotline again.

Bonus: Jason Todd, after learning of Bruce taking yet another happy kid under his wing as yet another Robin, giving her some advice:

[thedeviltohisangel]

All The Things I Did (4): The Only Thing That I See

a/n: ok this is the one i warned you guys was horny but i'm sure its actually to our benefit. this is setting up the next couple big plot pieces: harding's arrival and his past with cass, john demoting himself to fly again, cass' next mission and a whole lot more. happy to chat about any of it//we had a great little sleepover in my inbox and i saved a couple to answer over the next few days. more interludes in the chute, submissions still open, and a new masterpost pinned to my blog. happy reading!

When Mary knocked on Cass’ door before the sun was out and warned her it was pancakes for breakfast, it meant the men were flying today. She was looking forward to this raid in particular as the coordinates for the U-boat pens had been passed to her by a new potential source during a previous trip to Belgium. Surveillance planes had confirmed their location but it meant that Colonel Huglin would want her to brief prior to wheels up. John wasn’t flying but he would be watching. She wanted to impress him. Offer him a little bit of insight into the work that she did. Show him the bumps and bruises were worth it if it brought the war to an end even a moment sooner.

He wasn’t outside waiting for her to get breakfast and her heart fell but she knew he was busy. A piece of her was curious what John Egan, Air Exec behaved like. She imagined he was more stoic and held quite the presence. Or maybe he was exactly the same and more of a pain in the Colonel’s side than anything else. Cass smiled to herself as she walked toward the HQ offices. Yeah, that definitely seemed more like her John.

----

He was rifling through papers when she entered the bullpen, calling out headings to the navigators and dodging orderlies delivering cups of coffee. She dropped her jacket off at her desk without anyone noticing and approached the map with small airplanes meant to simulate the raid. 

“A few degrees to the east, gentleman. Otherwise, you’ll miss the last loading dock.” Her fingers nudged the group of planes in the correct direction then she stepped back and let the stares wash over her. Deep breaths, Cass. You know you’re right.

“Gentlemen, surely you’ve all at least heard of Lieutenant Cooper. She is the one responsible for locating these pens for today’s raid.” Some of them nodded with respect, others rolled their eyes or scoffed. Most of them seemed ambivalent. 

“I’ll be at my desk should any questions arise, Colonel.” Yet all of them could agree on staring at her backside as she walked away. 

“You make a habit out of embarrassing the brass the morning of a raid?” She paused her typing with a smile and walked around her desk to meet him in the doorway. There were wildflowers behind his back and she gripped his chin to pull him down for a kiss. 

“Good morning, Major.” John hummed with pleasure before going back in for one, two, three more kisses. 

“Morning, doll.” His voice was huskier at this hour than she was used to. It sparked right between her legs. “You thought I forgot?” He produced the flowers from behind his back and handed them to her. As she did every morning, she brought them to her nose and blushed like a schoolgirl. 

“First mission as Air Exec. Wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.” John stepped deeper into her office, closing the door behind him, as she tucked the latest bouquet into a vase on her desk that was already filled with his previous gifts. 

“Would feel better if I was going up as a squadron commander.” 

“You would say that.” Cass jumped up onto her desk, welcoming John between her legs with some light scratches on the back of his neck. “I, for one, am happy you’ve got two feet on the ground today.”

“That’s very selfish of you, Lieutenant Cooper.” He stepped closer and kissed her slow. Deliberate. Decisive. Dangerous. He kissed her like he flew. “I’ll stop flying when you stop spooking.”

“But then I wouldn’t get to see you all hot and bothered over my well being again.” John licked his lips as she fiddled with the knot of his tie. Cass wasn’t sure what was coming over her if not, just simply, the allure of John Egan. They had claimed each other publicly. All that was left was privately. 

“Did that turn you on, Cass?” She nodded, pressing her chest against his as her tongue slipped between his lips and stirred an ache within him. “Do you like that they could walk in on us at any time?”

“Fuck, John.” Her lips moved to the column of his throat and he groaned at the nipping of her teeth. She was tempted to have him take her right there on the desk. He was tempted too. Wanted to rip those thin, tantalizing panty hose from her legs and hike her skirt around her waist. Had fantasized how soft the skin of her thighs would be. What she would taste like. How she would sound as he worked her over the edge again and again and again. 

“Cass, baby, I want you so bad.” She was intoxicating. A siren at sea. At this moment, he was powerless to deny her anything. 

“Then take me, sir.” God, he could die a happy man. He was pushing her skirt up her legs, Cass spreading them wider as she leaned back onto the desk and pulled John down with her when there was a knock on the door. 

“Major Egan? Lieutenant Cooper?” Cass collapsed onto her back, panting with pent up tension, John catching himself with his hands on either side of her head. 

“Just a minute,” John called. He dropped his sweaty forehead to her shoulder in defeat before standing to his full height. His mouth ran dry with a tease of lace, Cass tugging her skirt down to hide it from his starving eyes. 

“You like lace. Noted.”

“I think I’d like anything that was on you.” He grabbed her hands and tugged her closer. “Or off you.” No longer able to control herself around John Egan, she stood on his toes and pressed up into his lips once more. 

“Major Egan-”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” John stormed to the door and threw it open. “Private, I said we needed a minute.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” Cass chuckled as he scurried away, adjusting her jacket and grabbing her briefing materials from the drawer. 

“Don’t go scaring them, John. We need young men to want to stay in.” 

“He’ll be fine. I’ll apologize when your spell has worn off a bit.” 

“Oh? There you go with that witch motif again.” He followed her out of the office, out of the building and into the daylight. 

“Has to be some kind of explanation for the way you’ve got me wrapped your finger like this.” She stopped and turned to face him.

“Maybe it’s love, Major.” His retort went right back down his throat. How the fuck did she know? He had tried to say it the other night but had since thought better of it. He couldn’t risk scaring her off. 

“Maybe.” She read the yes behind his maybe. 

“Maybe,” she repeated, whispering. “We should go inside.” John nodded, stepping closer and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I just need one more minute.” It was a moment John had never really thought about. The moment you realize the woman you love, loves you right back. He wanted to engrave it in his mind, heart and soul. Never forget this feeling with her. Carry it with him until he didn’t have to be afraid of losing it anymore. “Cass? You mean a lot to me, you know that?” 

“We’ll make it through this, John. Together.” He kissed her one last time before heading, because how could he help himself, the sound of together silencing all the doubt in his mind. If only for a little while.

----

Cass sat quietly along the side of the room as Colonel Huglin unveiled the target for today’s mission and the unfortunate low-low position that the 100th would take. She looked around and tried to read if any of the men seemed nervous or had any understanding of what was about to happen to them. They were doing a good job of keeping it all at bay. 

Eventually her eyes landed on John as they always did. He had recovered from their earlier tryst remarkably quickly. Cass was nearly positive she would need to replace her undergarments at the first available instance. Looking at him now only added to her need to shift and adjust in her seat. Back home, men were either ruggedly handsome and good with their hands or politely coiffed and intellectually impressive. For John Egan to somehow embody both was a figment of all her desires. 

He caught her staring out of the corner of his eyes. Offered her a smirk and would have blown a kiss if he wasn’t sitting in the front row. As if she could read his mind, she blew a kiss of her own. John pretended to catch it and slip it into his pocket. 

“Our intelligence officer, Lieutenant Cooper, will take it from here before Captain Becker delivers the weather.” Cass stood to the sound of whistles and cheers, a low chant of ‘Spook’ spreading throughout the room. John smiled but kept his decorum. Though that blush on her cheeks was going to make him go mad.

“Thank you for the warm welcome, gentlemen. Lights please.” The room plunged into darkness save for the screen she was using to deliver her brief. “Please note there are both naval and ground based anti-aircraft assets located along the Frisian Islands. Towards the mainland, you can expect concentrated flak from here all the way down to Bremen. Sources tell me they are radar enabled so they will have the capability to track you.” A hand shot up in the crowd.

“Ma’am? What kind of artillery are we looking at?” 

“88 and 105.” She paused to see if there was follow up before continuing. “The most important aspect is your target to the northwest of Bremen if I could have the target map, please.”

There were no further questions, John standing to the side while she presented the bombardiers and navigators with supplemental files for the run. She didn’t offer them luck or tell them to fly safe. Just told them to remember their training and stick to the headings she had given them. Anything else would be empty words.

“I think they were very thoroughly briefed, don’t you?” Cass laughed as she gathered her maps and placed them back in her folder. 

“Surprised I do more than run around Europe and get shot?” John looked at his shoes sheepishly but his jovial tone seemed to have slipped away.

“Shouldn’t joke about getting shot, Cass. Kind of scared me when that happened.” She touched his cheek gently. 

“Once they all take off and you’re done being a leader of men, you can sit and read my report if you like. I’m positive your imagination is worse than the truth.” At least, she hoped it was. “You should go talk to Buck. Give him some parting thoughts.”

“You’re the one who told me there are no words to describe it.”

“Not to warn him or guide him. Just remind him why he’s going up there today and why he will again every time after.” His smile was tight lipped. Her words were very carefully chosen to not reflect the truly dire nature of their circumstances. He appreciated her for it. She held onto that quality as long as she could. Beyond the German surrender and the atomic bomb and the curiosity with what came next. But one day she would have to break. And she knew John would be there. He’d always be there. Had to.

----

It was a couple hours later when he found her again. She looked like she was fighting sleep from behind her typewriter. John couldn’t help but admire the sight, almost regretting the gentle rap of his knuckles on her door. 

“Leader of men here for Lieutenant Cooper.” She acknowledged his presence with a smile but kept her chin in her hand. “One plane back with mechanical issues. Just a waiting game.” 

“You’re not good at patiently waiting, are you?” 

“I think I’m being pretty patient with you. With us,” he added as he motioned around them. “An impatient man would have taken advantage of your offer this morning.” Cass scoffed and sat up. Good. John liked when she was at her full capacity to spar with him. Sometimes, he said something just to get her to banter. 

“You only didn’t because of that poor man that knocked on the door!”

“Well, he’s not here now.” 

“So, what’s stopping you?” She looked at him expectantly. As if she was actually curious if he would just sweep her desk clean and take her right then and there. She would let him. 

“Time. Need to make sure there’s no limit to how long I can take.” Cass liked the sound of that. John taking his time to work her up and up then over. Not just once. Maybe not even twice. She knew what she would be thinking about all night.

“A consolation prize then?” There was a red folder dangling from her fingertips. “It can’t leave this room.” John took it, taking a seat with enough distance from her to keep his head clear of sinful thoughts. 

She typed away quietly as he read, something domestic about the whole thing that made them both incandescently happy, only the occasional grunt of concern or impressed hum slipping from his mouth. 

“They teach you how to do all this at spook school?” 

“Most of it. Some just has to be instinctual. Kind of like your piloting. There is only so much to learn in a training environment before the real thing has to take place.” He looked down and reread the lines about the information she had received. How she had written the tangible impact these identifiers would have on the war. Wanted to skip over the part where the local police followed her after her meeting. How they turned her in and she took a beating but convinced the interrogators she was just lost. How she made her tourniquet out of ripped cotton and a stick. 

“Cass, you’re fucking incredible, you know that?” 

“It’s always nice to have a handsome man tell me.” Their thoughts matching, she met him on the other side of her desk and accepted his kiss eagerly. 

“We always find ourselves here,” he said with a sigh, her cheek fitting in his palm and his thumb resting on the top of her cheekbone. 

“Are you complaining?” 

“Never.” He leaned back in, ready to seal the world off once more, when the sirens ran off. The planes were back. And with them, the real world.

[dccomicsbracket]

Motivations:

Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) & Jason Todd (Red Hood)

their moral codes directly oppose each other and are formed by extremely traumatic situations they were put in when they were children. jason sees himself in every victim and cass sees herself in every killer and i think they should beat each other up about it. cass's refusal to let anyone kill and her insistence that everyone can change if she can convince them has been explored multiple times but I think bruce's closeness with jason would add another interesting layer to her thought process. all that being said, I don't trust dc to actually pull it off

Duke Thomas (The Signal)

he's been in 2 anthology comics & alt universe him was in outsiders i believe in him this can be his year!! he's got lots of story potential if dc would let him have even just one full-length arc!!! I know, another Bat book, but listen this doesn't even need to be a particularly long running solo, in fact I'd say it should be 24 issues (without crossovers), no annuals max. Duke as a character has been around for over a decade at this point and still feels incoherent. With each new appearance there seems to be some kind of retooling involved: he has been a meta with a secret cosmic backstory and ambiguous immortal heritage (infinite blood???); he has been Gotham's Robin, but not Batman's (as he would prefer it, given his healthy mistrust for adults who position themselves as helpful and then don't do anything); he's been Gotham's day time hero (with no reference to how it would affect his full time education), and he's been an Outsider (in a book that somehow managed to focus on everything except the team at its core). Every new appearance has seemed to throw something new onto him, often contradicting what has come before, but the foundations are shaky. It seems he is perpetually being set up for his next great arc without ever receiving any payoff. His most consistent appearance has been in Wayne Family Adventures where his character has been simplified down to New Guy with occasional flashes of, insecure and also The Normal One™. I maintain that a single contiguous run with a stable creative team, could be his Giffen & Rogers Blue Beetle. One run to clearly lay out who he is and provide a road map to his comfortable future as occasional backup in Tec. This run would: reassemble the We Are Robins crew (themselves an interesting and diverse set of characters who have been poorly utilised in everything afterrwards); focus largely on street level crime, distinguishing itself from other current Bat books; allow time to build out Duke's relationships with the other Bats (particularly Cass, Bruce, Damian, Stephanie, and Harper), and provide a coherent resolution to the matter of Duke's parents (including Gnomon) and of his powers.

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: angst

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

a fun add-on that asten comes with is that to avoid vulnerability, every emotion turns into violent rage over time :) buy one get a nico free!

part twelve

❝ TARGETED ❞

SATURDAY — AUGUST 8 — 2:15AM

BENTLEY WOKE UP TUCKED INTO THE HOSPITAL BED WITH DICK. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he did vaguely recall Damian excusing himself from the medbay soon after Bentley started crying. (Which would have been humiliating, given that most of the family was down there, if he could remember any of it without a thick layer of brain fog.)

He was still being held in a patented Dick-Grayson-death-grip, similar to the aftermath of Dick’s nightmare. Everything felt a little bit lighter now. Different. Like Bentley wasn’t one verbal display of affection away from losing all self control and crumbling into a bunch of weepy pieces on the nearest available Wayne. He felt… pretty okay, at least right now, being held by someone who loved him for real.

The medbay had been emptied of it's inhabitants, all except for Bruce, who was still next to the hospital bed in a chair but… asleep? At least he looked asleep. It didn’t look very comfortable, actually, his head was down on his chest and his arms were crossed, but Bentley didn’t dare wake him. After all, Bruce had taken it upon himself to stay awake with Bentley ever since sleeping got hard, thanks to the Secret Keeper. And he probably needed it just as badly as Bentley did.

He wasn’t sure what time it was, but given the nap in the library earlier and however long he’d spent in the cave’s medbay, this was probably the most sleep he’d gotten since the whole nightmare incident. (Who knew all he needed was Jason and Dick to make it happen?)

It was probably past midnight, if Bentley had to guess. Some things in the cave looked moved around, and the Batcomputer was on, and he could see a few trackers bouncing around on it. Barbara wasn’t there, though. Bruce had called off patrol since Dick fell unconscious, but now it looked like he’d okayed it again. (Or maybe he didn’t know. Which was a good possibility, given the two trackers Bentley could see were gray and orange, which meant Tim and Cass. They were pretty sneaky when it came down to it, and Bruce had been caught up with Dick, but then again… Bruce was literally Batman.)

He didn’t think about it much, because then came the bane of his current existence, the reason he woke up in the first place. 

He had to pee.

It took a few minutes, but Bentley wiggled himself out of Dick’s grip and off of the hospital bed with a big stretch, without waking him or Bruce. Dick was still attached to a few machines, but a couple of the wires and tubes had been taken off, and he looked… peaceful. It had been a while since he looked that way.

Bentley padded quietly across the cave, gazing at the batcomputer as he went by. The map looked different, like they weren’t exactly in Gotham. He furrowed his brows and stepped up to the desk, and scanning the aerial view map, he suddenly knew exactly where they were.

Why were Tim and Cass in Drew?

In an attempt to get closer, to see what buildings they were near and if he could remember them from his limited time outside of Whittaker Estate, he bumped the panel and the screen changed.

Instead of the map, several tabs came up, the largest of which looked like some sort of spreadsheet lined with names. At the top, it read: Case File 107A9, Potential Targets.

Beneath that was a list of forty-one names. (Bentley only knew that because they were numbered.) They were each highlighted with different colors, either green, yellow, or red. The key in the top corner said that green meant alive, yellow meant missing, and red meant dead.

Twenty-two of them were red. Seventeen of them were yellow. Two were green.

The only two names highlighted in green were Dick Grayson and Bentley Whittaker.

Out of all the people who’d seen the Secret Keeper, he and Dick were the only two left?

Each name on the list had an arrow beside it, and just out of curiosity, Bentley navigated down to his own and tapped it.

Night terror about the Secret Keeper — details not yet shared, no secondary sighting or dream. No concerning adverse effects.

He tapped on the name above his own for reference: Olivia Wright. It was yellow.

Dream of the Secret Keeper in different places around her home. Recorded sighting of the Secret Keeper in her yard the next morning. Olivia went missing as of eight pm that night — has yet to be found dead or alive.

He moved from hers to Dick’s.

Three days of unconsciousness following a face to face visual with the Secret Keeper. Unconsciousness was accompanied by hyper-realistic dreams; mostly regarding Bentley Whittaker and his previous homelife. All the events he experienced while unconscious have been confirmed to have happened in the same consecutive manner as his dreams. Grayson stated first-hand that it was “like being able to see someone else’s memories.” More research and interviews are to be done regarding that statement.

Bentley frowned. There was no telling what he’d seen if he had really been shown some of Bentley’s memories. Dick’s reaction when he came downstairs made a little more sense now, though.

He didn’t even try to make the tabs go away, in fear of screwing something up, instead he just left the computer as it was and ventured back up to the Manor. (Yeah, there was a bathroom in the cave, but he wanted to get his phone and answer Asten and Nico before they thought he was missing.)

So he went through the entryway, up the stairs, and into his room. The Manor was quiet. He guessed at least Damian and Duke were home and in bed, and Tim and Cass were gone. Maybe that meant Jason was upstairs, too? He wasn’t sure.

He had eighty-one unread messages. 

He sent a quick im okay message to the group (they had indeed been talking about Bentley going missing.) and almost immediately, he got a text back from Asten. Which was confusing, given it was two-twenty-one am.

Bentley was all it said. 

Yeah? Was what he texted back.

A few seconds later, his phone started ringing with Asten’s caller ID. He answered it and brought it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Dude,” Asten sighed. It sounded like his breathing was a little off, like he was running or something.

“Are you okay?”

“I think I’m about to die,”

A surge of panic stabbed through Bentley’s chest. “What?”

“I’m walking to Nico’s and…” Bentley heard him curse under his breath, and the wind blew in the microphone and made a loud noise. “She’s staring at me.”

“Who?”

“The Secret Keeper,”

Bentley chewed on his lip. Well crap.

“How far are you? From Nico’s?” He tried, turning on his heel and retracing his steps back through the Manor.

“Like, an hour. I’m just getting to the edge of downtown,” Asten replied. “I had a dream. About her. I don’t… I guess leaving my apartment was dumb but… Nico wouldn’t pick up, and I didn’t…”

Bentley ran a hand through his hair, jogging into Bruce’s office and through the door hidden behind the grandfather clock.

“Oh-oh my God. She’s coming,”

“I’m getting Bruce. Is… there somewhere you can go? A restaurant?” 

The muffled sound of wind and heavy footfalls echoed from the other end. “Everythings closed,” He responded, panic evident in his tone. “Bentley, she’s following me.”

Bentley pushed the close door button on the elevator and begged it to move faster. Asten muttered something in Portuguese. He couldn’t tell exactly, but it sounded like merda, merda,  merda.

“Oh my God,”

“I’m getting Bruce,” Bentley replied, as if that would be very much help. The elevator let him out and he double-timed it down the stairs, skipping a few and nearly falling flat on his face before he made it into the cave. He jogged into the medbay, careful not to be too loud. Dick and Bruce were still asleep, but it didn't matter, his footfalls woke Bruce when he got near anyways.

“Bentley,” He glanced around with a few blinks. “What’s going on?”

“Asten, the Secret Keepers chasing him,” Bentley replied in a rush, holding the phone toward Bruce. “He’s on the phone.”

Bruce took the little device without hesitation, rising from his chair and walking out of the medbay. “Asten? This is Bruce. Can you tell me where you are?”

Heavy breaths came from the other side. “I-I’m on the edge of downtown, uh… there’s… there’s a library.”

Bruce made his way to the batcomputer and made the tabs disappear in an instant. The map expanded and as he typed, pins appeared on all the libraries. “Gotham Library? Whitehouse Library?”

“Whitehouse,” Asten replied with a shaky exhale. “Mr. Wayne, I had a dream about her. I-I think she’s going to kill me.”

“I’m coming to get you, okay? Go inside a public place if you can,” Bruce ordered. He typed a few more buttons and a red, flashing tracker appeared on the map near the Whitehouse library pin. He muted the call so Asten couldn’t hear what he was saying and put Bentley’s phone on the desk. 

“Everything’s closed!” Asten replied. Bruce said nothing, but opened a drawer and pulled out an earpiece, shoving it in his ear. “Red Robin, Orphan, can you hear me? Facial recognition has picked up the Secret Keeper south of you, and she’s pursuing a child.”

A silent moment passed, and Bentley crossed his fingers.

“I hear you, B! Send coordinates!” Tim’s voice came back almost immediately.

Bentley watched Bruce unmute Asten’s call. “I’m on my way, just keep moving, and look for a place to go inside of or a person you can tell.” Then he muted it again. “Sending coordinates.”

A ding erupted from the computer. “Got them! Going now. You meeting us there?”

“Yes, but I’ll be in my civilian clothes. The boy being pursued is Bentley’s friend, and I’m going to pick him up from you.”

“Don’t hang up!” Asten shouted.

“Okay. We’re on our way,” Tim clarified.

“Leaving the computer, keeping my comm,” Bruce stated. He un-muted the call again. “We’re not hanging up, I’m on my way, okay?”

Bentley glanced up at the screen, watching the gray and orange trackers moving at a steady, quick pace toward the flashing red one.

“Please hurry,”

Bruce made for the stairs and Bentley stayed on his heels, following him up and into the elevator. As soon as the doors opened, Alfred was entering the office.

Bentley’s nerves were buzzing like bees in his veins. How many more people was the Secret Keeper going to take?

“Is something amiss, Master Bruce? I swore I heard someone running through the house,”

“Yes,” Bruce replied, muting the call again. “The Secret Keeper is chasing down one of Bentley’s friends. Red Robin and Orphan are already on their way. Would you mind taking Bentley and going back downstairs with Dick?”

“Of course,” Alfred replied. Bentley furrowed his brow, jogging behind Bruce as he made for the door of the office.

“But I want to go with you!” He exclaimed. He wasn’t really sure why he wanted to go with him. The Secret Keeper was terrifying, and he never wanted to see her in his life. But something about Asten, the same fiery-eyed Brazilian that had knocked out the school's worst bully with a textbook not twelve hours ago, being so scared and hopeless on the phone made him feel like he should go.

Bruce glanced back at him momentarily, and his eyes flicked to Alfred, too. “It’s too dangerous, bud. I can't risk getting you near her.”

Bentley deflated. “But I… want to go, Bruce. Please let me come. I won’t get out of the car.”

“Bentley-“

“Please?”

For a solid five seconds, they stared at each other.

“She’s getting closer,” Asten said from the phone. “She’s coming.”

“Tim and Cass will already be there, it’ll be fine, he’ll be expecting me to come,” Bentley reasoned. 

“I’m coming, Asten,” Bruce said into the phone, only unmuting it long enough to say that. Then he muted it again. “Bentley.”

They stared at each other again, long and hard, and finally, something inside of Bruce caved. He huffed lightly and turned on his heel toward the front door. “Fine. But you’re not getting out of the car, period.”

“Okay,” Bentley replied, jogging behind him. (He suddenly walked really fast.)

They made for the garage and got in the car in mere seconds (Bentley wasn’t even wearing shoes.), and they left the Manor immediately. Bentley had hardly finished buckling himself into the passenger's seat before they were pulling out.

“Where are you now, Asten?” Bruce questioned, putting Bentley’s phone in a little holder on his dash.

“Going around the library,”

He muted it again, and brought a hand up to his earpiece. “Red Robin, how far are you from the location?”

“Four minutes!” Bentley vaguely heard Tim’s voice from the little speaker in Bruce’s ear. He put the library on the car’s GPS, and they were fifteen minutes out.

The drive passed in a flash. Bentley’s brain was spinning, spinning, and Bruce was talking to Tim and then talking to Asten and somehow making sure Asten never heard him talking to Tim, while driving at the same time, and it was kind of blowing his mind. (But what else should he have expected from Batman?)

He only came back to reality when the call with Asten suddenly ended, and Tim’s voice came: “I’ve got the kid. He’s shaken up, but uninjured. Secret Keeper is nowhere to be found.”

“Keep him with you until I get there,” Bruce responded. Bentley watched the streetlights pass in blurs as they drove, anxiously tapping his legs until they finally pulled up in front of Whitehouse Library. 

Bruce pulled Bentley’s phone from the holder and navigated to the contacts. He tapped on Asten’s and hit the call button. It rang once, twice.

“Mr. Wayne?”

“Asten? We're at the library.”

“Okay, I… I’m coming. Uh, Red Robins here, so… he’s coming, too.” Asten replied.

Bentley saw them round the corner of the big white library. Asten had his phone pressed to his ear (Bentley pretended he couldn’t see it shaking from the car.) and Red Robin was next to him, with an arm around his shoulders.

“Alright. I see you,” Bruce replied, and the call ended.

The pair approached the vehicle, and Bentley couldn’t really tell what anyone was saying, but Tim talked to Bruce for a moment. Bentley unbuckled and climbed over the center console into the backseat. 

It wasn’t a moment later and Bruce took Asten by the shoulder and brought him around to the backseat on the left, popping the door open so he could climb in. He was shaking, and breathing really hard. It was nearly freezing outside, but given that he’d just been chased by a supervillain and kidnapper, Bentley assumed the trembling wasn’t just from the cold. He was crying, too — only a little bit. Every ounce of confidence and carefree calmness he normally carried with him was gone. 

Bruce closed his door, and turned to speak to Tim. 

Bentley just watched Asten closely, debating on whether he should say something or not. After a few moments of contemplation, he settled on resting a hand on his right shoulder. He flinched.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” He muttered quietly. Asten shook his head no, bringing his hands up to wipe at his eyes with the sleeves of his jacket.

Bruce popped his door open and climbed back in the car, turning to look at them both. His grayish eyes flicked between them for a few moments before he questioned:

“You’re okay, Asten? Not hurt at all?” 

“I’m fine,” Asten sniffed. His voice was shaking just like his breaths had been. “Once Red Robin showed up she just kind of disappeared, I...”

Bentley watched with terrible pity as Asten scrubbed at his face, trying to wipe off the tears that were still rapidly falling. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe now. I’m just glad you’re not hurt,” Bruce stated, turning and buckling up. “Why were you out walking this late, bud?”

Asten sniffled, staring down at his jeans. “Just… uh… I had a dream. About her. And my uncle is out of town working and I… didn’t want to be by myself. I was going to Nico’s.”

Bruce nodded in sympathy. “You’ve been home alone?”

Asten nodded.

“Alright. In that case, how would you feel if I took you back to the Manor with us? Or would you rather me take you to Nico’s house?”

A moment of silence passed. “Manors fine.” Asten said, probably because he didn’t want to wake up Nico’s whole family in the middle of the night, too.

“Alright,”

The vehicle fell quiet, all except Asten’s occasional little hiccups and sniffles. Bentley wished he could make it all go away — he hated when people cried.

“Do you want a hug?” He whispered. (What? He didn’t know much else that he could provide.)

It took a moment of consideration, but after a few seconds, Asten’s head came to rest on his left shoulder.

It wasn’t really a hug, but it was what Asten wanted, and that was fine. He saw Bruce’s eyes flick to them in the rearview mirror.

Bentley sucked in a breath. “I had a dream about her, too. That’s why I didn’t come to school.” He admitted quietly.

He felt Asten’s head move slightly. “Have you seen her since?”

Bentley shook his head. “No.”

A moment of silence passed.

“I hate her,” Asten hissed. “I want my face to be the last thing she ever sees.”

Bentley drew in a breath.

Taking down the Secret Keeper would pretty much be a one-way-ticket into deserving to be a Wayne.

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @cademygod

[blorbologist]

i wanna know about kyssandra kith........also more mew 🥺🥺

okokokokok

so

I used to be clinically neutral on all Cassandra ships. Cass and Kaylie, Cass and Desmond, Cass and Kynan, Cass too aroace for this shit.

And then I started writing Two for joy, and Kynan. Would not. Stop. Swooning. He has such a huge fucking crush on her it makes him stupid and gods forbid Percy notices (please notice it'll be funny as shit).

And then I remembered that, per Tal'Dorei reborn, Cass never has a spouse mentioned, and in Campaign 3 a spouse is never mentioned then either, and Kynan is still around.

And I decided Cass fucking deserves nice things, right?

Enter, this complete dork.

Both of them have been through absolute hell, and of similar sorts. Kynan's family and most people he knew are likely dead. Emon burned. I mean, his dad was a shitfuck, but he must have lost friends, too, other relatives, so much. He's trusted by both Percy and Vax, to the degree that he's made the head of the Riflemen. What this kid means, as far as Percy ending the cycle of vengeance ("I forgive you, but I cannot let you leave", Kynan allied with Ripley, Kynan played a part in killing Percy, and he's forgiven, too.) and Vax's legacy (Vax specifically requests he guard Cassandra... and then Vax dies) just... holds him up v gently.

Despite all he's been through, Kynan still fumbles, and can't handle his drink (makes sense with an alcoholic father), and just wants to try his best. He's young.

Cass shed her youth like a skin, wears maturity like armor. She lost almost everyone, too.

I think, with Kynan, they could catch up on those lost years. Be blushing, awkward teenagers. Walk around all moon-eyed. Try to sneak around without Percy noticing (Vex would spot them in an INSTANT tho). Kynan wasn't here for the Briarwoods. He doesn't know the Cassandra that she hates, he just knows a strong leader who gags at her brother's antics.

They're also both Rogue/Fighter multiclasses. Think of the POTENTIAL: sneaking around the castle together! Kynan explaining to her how Percy's guns work because gods forbid he talk about it. Cass showing him how to wield a rapier, that stance is revolting, keep your back straight.

It's bodyguard/royal romance!!! With rediscovery of childhood wonder!!! And overlapping trauma!!

Clears throat

anyways.

The premise of the fic itself is that Cassandra keeps slipping her guard to go hide. Partially out of habit - she knows the secret passages well, it's how she initially survived the attack and got Percy out, and she could slip away when the Briarwoods became too much. Partially because she's just fucking overwhelmed, and rankled Vax thinks she needs a bodyguard, and after years around undead and a vampire and a necromancer and their few living lackeys, this much noise and life is too much. She needs alone time.

Kynan is also a rogue. He can find her, pretty easily, most of the time.

It eventually leads to them talking and being honest once Cass blows up at him for finding her somewhere she was sure he couldn't follow... and eventually it becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse. And Kynan makes himself a little map to keep track. Maybe they start leaving little notes and gifts for eachother.

And then Cass is gone.

Kynan checks every secret spot, every stash, every nook, every cranny.

Vecna took her.

Vecna took her, and Vex'ahlia, her sister in law, shot her down with arrows (arrows in the snow, Percy running) and she died.

He's not her friend. He's not - no. He's her bodyguard. It was his job to protect her. Keep her safe.

He failed.

This is his fault.

(And Vax'ildan is dead, and Percival and Vex are expecting a whole ass kid, and Cass is in a depressive spiral, and what the fuck can he do about it?)

[thearchivistsjournal]

Day 303,

Lin and Vernon stopped by the library today as school was ending to see what it was we wanted to show them.  And so we showed them.  Our framework for trying to associate syllable counts from the cathedral chant to word lengths in Iole’s book.  Our theory that the book’s text is written right-to-left.  The spots where we seemed to have a partial match.  Our hypothesis that if the chant does indeed correlate to the book, then it’s jumbled and jumps around.

Vernon seemed sold on the idea and found it terribly exciting.  Lin was more critical of our process and conclusions, but conceded that it was more solid and likely than anything else we had, low bar though that is.  But the point she raised after that was perhaps even more important.  Even if we can correlate the cathedral chant to the book, then what?  All we’ve done then is match a bunch of indecipherable sounds to a bunch of indecipherable text.

That had occurred to me as well, and there was one potential solution that had occurred to me, but it would be unpleasant to implement so I’d not brought it up or even spent much time dwelling on it before now.  When I had that flash to the Catacomb Depths while in the cathedral’s catacomb, I’d been able to understand a few words.  If we could fully map the chant to the book first, then we could follow along with the chant transcript to know which part of it is being said and translated when I have my episode.  Then we could take that verbal translation and correlate it to the text.  Over time we would eventually build up a dictionary of words in that language that one day would be enough to translate that text.  Or maybe even the text in the cathedral.  Or the old castle.

Cass found the plan exciting.  Vernon expressed concern for me.  Lin was aghast.

She’d seen what those Catacomb flashes had done to me the first time around.  How could I even consider doing that to myself again intentionally?  And for what?  A handful of words out of a book I might never finish?  It took me and Cass over a week to transcribe the book the first time around.  With the method I just described I’d be lucky to get half a dozen words in a day.  It would take years.  Decades.  I might not even finish in my lifetime.  And am I just going to stop teaching during the rainy season so I can drag Cass with me out to the cathedral in the rain every day?  If not then that leaves evenings (when I may or may not even have an episode on a given day), market days, and a couple of weeks at the start and end of each rainy season.  Is it worth tormenting myself and everyone that cares about me for that?

While I had expected there to be objection to that plan (and I wasn’t exactly keen on it myself) I wasn’t prepared for that vehement of a reaction.  I don’t think I’ve seen her that expressive since she got back, and I’m not sure I even have heard her raise her voice in that manner before.  Past concern and into anger even.  No, that’s not right, concern was still the root.  Or maybe fear.

I said that the Catacomb flashes aren’t as bad now that I know what they are and now that my dream self’s body is healed (that still feels silly to say), but she’s right.  And besides, I wouldn’t even try it once until the chant/book correlation was fully mapped out, and that might take the rest of the rainy season in and of itself.  Plenty of time to come up with a better idea.  I did my best to try to thank her for her concern and put her at ease without sounding like I was condescending or brushing her off.  Fortunately, Vernon, being Vernon, was able to step in and defuse things before I could dig my hole deeper by saying that if the translation takes the rest of my life it’s not like I have anything but time.

And then Cass brought up the idea of going to Cloud Tower when the dry season comes and everyone got worked up all over again.

As expected, neither Lin nor Vernon were big on the idea.  There wasn’t the note of concern underlying their objections this time - save for Lin asking if I put Cass up to this - but they had that same “tower fear” wariness about the prospect that most everyone seems to.  Less outright objection and more “are you sure that’s a good idea.”  Honestly, the sudden shift in mood when the topic was brought up was unnerving.  Once again I found myself wondering if there was more than just cultural taboo at play here, but I thought better of bringing up that notion.

Instead, I let Cass take the lead with explaining her reasoning and saying that she didn’t care too much about actually going up, she just wanted to go inside and see it up close.  I added that I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything they weren’t comfortable with, and if we do end up going and they do end up coming with us, I wouldn’t try to push for going any higher or deeper than everyone is one hundred percent okay with.  The same goes for interacting with unknown mechanisms and devices.  I’m acutely aware that people have gone missing in there, but I’m also aware that those who go in return safely more often than not, especially if they’re not intending to ascend.

Even with such assurances, and further back and forth discussion, I don’t think that either of them were sold on the idea by the time they left.  But we aren’t even a third of the way through the season, so there’s plenty of time to change minds or come up with a better plan on how to spend the next dry season.

And besides, Maiko’s not here yet to give her opinion.

<==Previous          Next==>

[leahkenobi]

need him

cassian x fem!reader

word count: 4.7k

summary: while on a mission with azriel, you get captured. when it’s said and done, all you want is cassian.

warnings: hazing/drugging, capturing, torturing, blood, mention of nausea, pain, screaming, crying, reader and cassian are mates, please let me know if i missed anything!

a/n: hey everybody! this fic was a request from the lovely @decadentpalaceshoeknight ! i had so much fun writing this fic, so thank you again for sending in the request. i am open to taking requests for cassian and azriel, so if you have any ideas you want to see, i’d be more than happy to write them. also, if you would like to be added to a cassian tag list, let me know. finally, another shout out to @oliviajdjarin for talking through this with me. plz go check out her work! this gif is not mine, all credit to owner. i hope you all enjoy :)

you were already slightly worried about the mission because cassian was not going to be with you when you heard the banging fists on the library door.

cassian had been away on business with rhys in the illyrian war camps. while he was away, azriel always kept watch over you. not that you particularly needed it, you were more than capable of taking care of yourself, but cassian was protective over his sweet girl, his mate, and he knew that az would keep you safe if push came to shove.

while cassian was away, rhys had assigned you and azriel a “small” task. he had asked that you pay the autumn court a visit, break into the palace, and search the library and war room for potential maps or strategy pages that could be used against the night court.

eager as always, you couldn’t wait to go on the mission with azriel. he was you best friend and he was always fun to be around. that didn’t mean you didn’t have your doubts about the security of this mission.

as you were sheathing a sword to your back, you felt a tug on the bond you shared with cassian.

“baby,” you felt him saying, “i’m finishing up in illyria. rhys told me about your mission, so i’m going to meet you on the winter court border.”

you smiled, feeling the comfort of knowing that as soon as the mission was over, you could see cassian for the first time in over two weeks.

“i can’t wait,” you responded back.

you could feel his warm smile through the bond. “but be careful, y/n. beron is the last guy you want to get involved with, he’s ruthless. stay close to az, okay?” he said. you could feel his concern and dislike of you being sent on the mission.

“of course, cass. i’ll see you soon,” you said through the bond and felt something comparable to a hug in return.

————————————

just two hours later, you winnowed with azriel to the outside of palace. az quickly snuck you in with his shadows. you lingered in the dark with him until you came across the library, where rhys had asked you to start your search.

you were in the library, joking with azriel about all of the stupid manuals the high lord of the autumn court owned when you heard the pounding on the door.

immediately your heart was racing, unsure of how this was possible. had the shadows set off some sort of alarm when you passed through the wards around the palace? after all, it was obscenely easy to get in.

“y/n, will you step behind me?” azriel asked as the locked door started to splinter and bend to the will of the knockers. you didn’t fight his request as you noticed this, moving behind him as he spread his wings to protect your form.

moments later, the impact on the door was too much and it caved under the pressure. the door was off its hinges as over a dozen guards came tumbling in, weapons readied to harm their intruders.

behind all the ruckus, beron waltzed in. “well, if it isn’t the shadowsinger himself,” beron said.

azriel looked to him, not responding to his comment. “it seems you have some company behind those obnoxious wings of yours. care to tell me how you thought you could hide precious y/n from me?” beron egged azriel on.

“leave her alone,” az said firmly, siphons gleaming with power to remind the guards that they stood no match against him.

“release it,” beron said, absolutely disregarding what azriel said. instead, his men all pulled out a purple vial, which perplexed you. however, you only had moments to ponder what it was. the next thing you knew, you were crumbling to the ground with unconsciousness.

————————————

when you woke, you were disoriented. you were in a room, somewhere dark and dirty and it took you moments to remember what had happened to you. you were drugged by whatever was in those vials, you concluded.

just as you were beginning to remember, you heard azriel’s voice. “y/n!” he said, “stay calm, i’m going to be right there.”

you didn’t understand what he meant until you attempted to move to him and were stopped by the ropes tying you to a chair. panic surged through your veins as you attempted to wiggle yourself free of the bonds, but to no avail.

your breathing became heavier every second as your mind started spinning, imagining every awful outcome. “snap out of it y/n/n,” azriel called again, “it’s going to be okay, i’m going to get out and i’m going to help you. relax, you can’t help yourself if you don’t think straight.”

you tried to hear his advice, tried to breath deeply and stay calm to think of a logical way out. the only issue was that the moment you were starting to calm yourself, beron walked in, accompanied by his guards.

your stomach flipped at the sight, nerves revealing themselves once more.

“lady y/n,” beron spoke, “a pleasure to meet again.”

“what do you wa-“ beron tutted, “not so fast, dear, are you not the one bound to a chair here? hm? i would watch that tone, or else you won’t be happy with what happens because of it,” he spat.

“hey! you leave her alone!” az shouted from behind the bars in the corner of the room, desperately trying to protect you, even from a distance.

“shadowsinger… i was just going to get to you. you, sir, are the whole reason precious y/n is tied up right now,” beron spat, “the quicker you talk, the more you tell me about what you think you are doing here, the faster that little ray of sunshine can be released.”

you couldn’t help but whimper. you felt awful for azriel, this was an incredibly difficult position to be in. he was supposed to be loyal to the night court, so of course he wasn’t going to betray the reason behind the mission, which meant he had to see what was to come next.

and you would have to feel it. you were strong, yes, but that didn’t mean you wanted to feel a blade against your skin. a healthy fear settled in your stomach as you knew what was coming next.

“don’t fucking touch her,” azriel spat, “leave her out of this. talk to me, leave her alone.”

beron chuckled darkly, “if only it was that easy.” his guards closed in on you and you squirmed in the chair, letting out soft cries as you tried to free yourself.

“gag her, i don’t want to hear her cry,” beron said, only malice in his voice. quickly his guards were on you, holding your thrashing head still as you attempted to free yourself from their grip.

“stop! stop touching her!” azriel screamed, but beron only laughed at your struggle and the way azriel was banging against the bars he was stuck behind, hopelessly watching the scene unfold.

just before they were able to quiet your voice, you shouted to azriel, “don’t tell them anything, i’ll be okay!”

“now, now shadowsinger, just answer my questions, and nothing will happen to her,” beron said. he gave his guards a nod, and they pulled out a blade that rivaled azriel’s “truth teller.”

the horror was written on his face when he saw their intentions. he was in a full panic, and his mind drifted to rhys, what he would think if he caved to protect you. but he wouldn’t, not when his court was on the line. then he thought about cassian, and wondered if his brother would ever forgive him for the pain he was about to cause his mate.

“now… why would rhysand send you to do his dirty work hmm? tell me his location,” beron demanded.

azriel looked to you with sympathetic eyes, and you knew then that his decision was made. not that you had wanted him to cave, but the reality smacked you in the face.

you thought of cassian, hoping to the gods you would make it out of this and see him again. you thought about how you were supposed to meet this afternoon, how excited you were to kiss him again, feel him again.

when azriel refused the first question, the blade was held to your collar bone. you felt the pressure, then you felt blood softly trickle down your skin as you released a muffled scream.

at that moment, as cassian was flying through the air on his way to the winter and autumn court border, he felt something pulling on his bond. something so faint, but something that felt too close to pain.

————————————

the third time beron had asked azriel a question and he refused to respond, his guards pressed the blade to your cheek. he begged, “please! please stop hurting her,” as you screamed a loud cry of pain. when the pain didn’t cease, azriel felt himself start to cry too. he couldn’t stand seeing this happen to you, but he knew he couldn’t break completely.

after that, all sense of time was lost to you. it felt like you had been tied to that chair, mouth forcibly prevented from speaking for days.

you were exhausted, more than likely due to the fight you had put up every time a blade or hand was thrashed in your direction. you screamed, bucked, and moved as far as you could from the punishment being given to you because az wouldn’t give up the information.

eventually, when you no longer had the energy to lift your head, beron called it. “well shadowsinger, your loyalty to rhysand and his court is impressive. lucky for y/n here, i’m going to give you a break. she’s useless when you can’t hear her screams anymore,” he said, “i’ll be back within the hours of the evening, hopefully you will reassess how deep your loyalties lie, because i’m not sure she can take much more of this.”

his guards left, and he followed them. before he exited the room, he added, “and azriel, i’ll do whatever it takes to get you to talk. anything that happens to her is on you. her death, which is inevitable if you keep up this bullshit, is on you. so think wisely as you let her be abused and tortured, she won’t last forever.”

the door slammed closed and azriel began weeping again. he couldn’t help it, this situation was impossible. he needed to think, to find a way out. but with the wards, without the ability to reach rhys, he was helpless.

then, it dawned on him. he had to get you up, had to get you talking and thinking. “y/n,” he said, softly, “cmon y/n/n, get up. we need to find a way out.”

you groaned as you opened your eyes, immediately feeling a wave of nausea roll through you. “good job, y/n, i need you to do something. i know it’s hard, but this will help us get a way out, okay?”

all you could answer back was a muffled cry of pain. azriel spoke again, “i need you to send a message to cassian with your bond. the wards weaken it, but mating bonds are too strong to be stopped. tell him to reach rhys. rhys will be able to shatter these wards.”

you did all that you could in your state of slipping consciousness. you summoned every ounce of strength in your gut, sending it to him as a broken cry for help.

when cassian felt that faint nagging again, like a pull on his heart, he got this urge. he didn’t know how to explain it, it wasn’t quite coherent, but he knew something was very wrong. he followed his instinct that told him to contact rhys.

“rhys,” he said, through the shared line of communication between their minds. “i think there is something wrong, can you check on az and y/n?”

moments later, he received feedback from rhys, saying, “on it.”

————————————

a short number of minutes later, azriel felt the wards surrounding the bars he was trapped in flicker. he took advantage of it, blasting his siphons at full force.

he did it, he broke free. he knew rhys was behind the dulling of the wards, for that he would thank him later, but for now, he had to get you out.

the loud noise of az breaking free was what brought you back. you could hear the crackling of his power, the metal bars clanging to the floor. but you didn’t really register what the noise was, your mind too hazy to know much except for that you needed your mate.

azriel’s foot steps grew louder, his voice calling out your name. you cried, closing your eyes once more to avoid the pain you feared was coming. you didn’t understand that he wasn’t one of the guards, he wasn’t there to hurt you.

“y/n, hey it’s az, open your eyes,” he rushed out, but you refused. he decided to remove the piece of cloth stuffed in your mouth before doing anything else, and as he reached for your face you squealed.

when he removed it, you took in multiple deep breaths, and started crying hysterical sobs. “shhh, shhh y/n, you need to stop. please, you’re gonna alert the guards,” azriel tried to say calmly. you finally looked to him and cowered back when he reached for the ropes that bound you to the chair.

“no stop! stop!” you said.

“cassian,” you cried out, “need cassian.”

azriel nodded, though you were still recoiling from his touch. “okay, y/n, we will find cassian but we need to go, now. you’ve lost a lot of blood, and we need to get out before they can come back,” he said.

“go p-please, go, i need him, get cassian,” you kept insisting, crying to az that you needed him.

the absolute last thing azriel wanted to do was leave you, but he knew cassian meant to meet you on the border, which wasn’t far from the palace at all. he knew that he would spend more time fighting you on this than it would take to go find cassian, so he made a tough decision.

“okay, okay, i’ll go get him, can i untie you first please?” he asked, desperate to free you, to help you at all. he felt so much guilt for letting this happen to you.

“n-no! you’re gonna hurt me. cass won’t, i need cassian,” you whined again, mind still too hazy to realize that azriel was the last person who would intentionally harm you.

“alright, i’m going to go, and i’ll bring cassian back, he will get you out,” azriel said, feeling worthless and awful for having to leave you.

you continued to cry in pain, blubbering for cassian, going on about how you needed him.

az snuck out of the room quietly, clothing himself in shadows as not to disturb any potential guards. there were none to be seen, so he continued through the halls until he found a window which he snuck out of.

he ran out of the palace, disoriented and blinded by the daylight. as soon as he was past the wards, he took to the sky to search for cassian.

he spotted him close to the palace, hovering in the air just as he was. rhys had informed cassian that he felt strong wards that azriel and his mate were stuck in, saying he shattered them temporarily, but cassian still had a bad feeling.

they flew to each other with urgent speed, but as cassian approached closer to his brother and didn’t see his y/n wrapped up in azriel’s arms, fear flooded his mind.

“cass!” az called, still a good distance away.

“where is she, azriel?” cassian demanded, not caring about anything except for you in that moment.

“i- i… she’s in the palace, she needs you,” azriel said, not sure how to explain the whole story in the short amount of time he knew they had before the guards realized something was wrong.

“take me to her now,” cassian said without another question. he would find out when he got there what had happened to you, but you needed him now, and that was his priority.

azriel snuck cassian in the way he had exited, miraculously dodging guards who hadn’t sensed a thing apparently. he led him through the halls and back to the grim room where you had been captured with azriel.

upon getting closer to the room, cassian could hear you crying, crying out for him and in pain. he broke into a run down the hall, charging through the door.

what he saw before him terrified him. it wasn’t enough to be heartbroken for you, no he was scared. scared to know of the horrors that caused you to appear so lifeless. scared to think about what would happen if he didn’t get you out of there soon.

he walked in to see you still bound to the chair because you wouldn’t let azriel release you. you had cuts littering your exposed skin and your clothes had been slashed through in multiple places. bruises bloomed all over your body, along with visible handprints on your neck and face.

cassian saw the cloth that had been in your mouth as he observed the blood that pooled around you on the floor. you were so out of it, so foggy that you hadn’t even seen cassian, though you did here him and believe that it was the guards again, so you wriggled in your place.

cassian was scared to even approach you, and when he turned back to look at azriel, he saw the shame clear as day in his eyes. he didn’t bring it up, not yet, because he knew he needed to get you out as quickly as he could.

you were still moaning and whining in pain when he slowly approached you.

“y/n, baby, hey it’s me, it’s cassian,” he told you in the most tender voice he could because your eyes were closed.

your cries got louder. “cass, cass help me,” you said eyes shooting open, trying to get closer to him, but failing and causing yourself more pain than necessary.

“y/n, i need you to stay still, can you do that for me? you are only going to make it worse,” he said as he noticed more blood spilling from your gut. he wanted to throw up at the sight of it, not from the gruesomeness, but because it was you, his mate, who was bleeding.

“mhm,” you said weakly.

“i’m going to get you out of here, i promise. but first i’ve got to untie this, are you ready?” he said.

you nodded softly as he moved to untie the ropes binding you to the chair. as soon as you were loose, you fell right into his arms, unable to hold up your own weight.

he caught you, and you leaned into his embrace. “cass,” you whimpered.

your blood soaked through his shirt, but that was the last thing he was thinking about. “i’ve got you now, baby, it’s okay. we’re going home,” he said.

he scooped you up, and within moments of the movement, your were passed out again, limp as a noodle in his arms.

azriel stared at cassian, who pulled you all the closer into his chest, like the closer you were to him, the further you were from the pain you were in. he stretched his wings to full capacity, slowly curling them a bit around the two of you protecting you from behind, and protecting your head from any potential guard that would threaten you.

“lead us out,” cassian demanded azriel, on edge because of the state you were in. not only did you seem to physically be in pain, but he could tell you were psychologically in trouble, too.

for the third time that day, azriel snuck out the window, this time with you and cassian in tow. as soon as he had hit the ground outside the palace, he was taking to the sky with you in his arms.

rhys reached out to cassian, speaking into his mind. “found them yet?” he asked.

cassian replied, “yes. have feyre ready, y/n is coming in. she’s down, rhys, and it’s bad.”

“feyre will be ready to help,” rhys replied.

————————————

you must have been dreaming, because it felt like you were flying.

but then, you felt a searing pain throughout your body and opened your eyes.

you saw cassian, who must have sensed you were awake. you couldn’t help but let out a scream, the feeling of the wind hitting your open wounds painful.

“shh, y/n, stay still. stay calm, i need you to breathe,” he said as your sobs became hysterical. as awful as it sounded, he wished you would pass out again. he couldn’t imagine the pain you were in, and he knew it would be a grace to be unconscious and not feeling any of this.

you cried out as you felt the altitude dropping, meaning you were arriving home. cassian wiped those tears from your eyes, shushing you.

he felt his own tears fall as he cradled you to his chest, his heart cracking at the sight of you in this much pain.

“y/n, i know. i know it hurts,” he said, pushing hair from your face as he landed and pushed through the door to the townhouse.

“in the kitchen,” rhys said referencing feyre’s location as he stood by the door, awaiting your arrival.

cassian was already taking broad steps through the house and into the kitchen as azriel was bursting through the door, hot on his heels.

rhys grabbed azriel’s shoulders to prevent him from going any further.

“feyre needs space, az. it’s already enough that she has to heal y/n, she needs to be left alone, to focus,” rhysand said firmly.

“but i-i… i’m the reason,” azriel muttered out.

“i know that’s not true, azriel, but even if it is, you crowding feyre while she attempts to heal her best friend will not do any good,” rhysand said, pushing him to the couch and getting him to sit while you were tended to.

inside the kitchen, feyre gasped as she saw your figure clutching to cassian for dear life. she felt her heart constrict at the sounds of pain you released.

“on the table, please,” she told cassian, trying to put on a brave face to mask the world of fear she felt.

as cassian went to lower you to the table, you wrapped your arms around his neck tighter. “no, cassian no!” you yelled as he attempted to get you situated so feyre could work.

“i’m sorry, y/n, but i have to put you down. i’m not leaving, i’m right here, i promise,” he said, lowering you to the table once more.

this time, you allowed him too. he was immediately sitting on a chair as close to the table as he could, squeezing your hand.

you weren’t happy that he had let you go, but at least you still had his hand to grip to.

“i’m sorry, y/n. this may sting,” you heard feyre say before you felt a pain so strong you couldn’t help but thrash away from it. cassian held tight to your hand, rubbing his thumb against it as feyre attempted to heal you.

feyre kept her hands and mind steady and focused, but it was hard to effectively heal with your movements.

“cassian,” feyre said, attempting to remain calm, “hold her down please.”

with that, cassian was standing over your form. his heart shattered looking at your face. tears streamed down it as you shook your head back and forth due to the unbearable pain.

he pushed your shoulders to the table, trying not to be too forceful. “please, y/n. i know it hurts now, baby, but i need you to hold still for feyre. can you do that for me? let her heal you,” he said gently begging you.

at cassian’s request, you stopped thrashing and let the pain take over you. you didn’t move and you allowed feyre to finished healing you. by the time she was done, your body was so exhausted that you fell asleep on the kitchen table.

cassian scooped you into his arms and turned his face to meet feyre’s tear-stricken appearance.

“thank you,” he said, “thank you so much feyre, you are the reason she’s alive. you saved her.”

she nodded slowly and let out a long sigh as cassian left the kitchen, walking through the living room where az and rhys waited, and up the stairs to your shared room.

he tucked you in, careful to avoid the new scars on your body. he leaned in to give you a kiss on the forehead, then gently closed the door as he went to the living room to see what the hell had happened.

————————————

he met azriel, rhys, and feyre all talking in the living room, hushed tones being used as not to wake you.

“what in the mothers name happened to her?” cassian said, directing his question to azriel. there was a bit of anger in his voice, more than likely a product of concern for your health.

azriel told him the whole story of your capture, how you asked azriel not to tell anything to beron, how you bravely handled every mark on your body that was given to you.

cassian wanted to be angry, hell azriel expected him to be. but he knew that had he been in the same situation, the outcome more than likely would not have been different.

“i’m so sorry,” azriel said to cassian, guilt being the only emotion he had felt through the course of the day.

“don’t be,” cassian said, “you did the right thing. and she’ll be okay, feyre did a wonderful job healing her.”

rhysand looked over at his mate proudly, seeing how far she had progressed in using her powers.

“i’m not mad at you, az. if anything, i’m glad you were there with her,” cassian said.

azriel could only manage a nod and a small “thank you.”

just as rhys was about to continue the conversation, cassian felt you stir through the bond.

“i’ll be right back, i’m going to check on y/n,” he said as he bounded up the steps to your room.

as he pushed open the door, he was met with your eyes opening, the sleep still prominent on your face.

“hi,” you said softly, voice raw.

“hey,” cassian said, grabbing the cup of water from the night stand.

he sat on the edge of the bed and immediately, you were scrambling into his arms. he cradled you so closely to him, trying to never take advantage of your warm body against his ever again.

“you did so good, baby, so good,” he whispered softly to you, rocking you in his arms.

“i- i’m glad you’re here,” you said to him, quiet tears steaming down your face as you remembered how alone you had felt without him.

“i won’t leave you again,” he said, pulling your face away from where it was burrowed in his chest.

he kissed the top of your forehead and said, “today was the scariest day of my life, y/n. i thought i was losing you. i could feel your blood leaving you, y/n, i was panicking because i can’t lose you. this life, it’s fucking pointless without you. and when the thought crossed my mind, when i considered it for a moment, i couldn’t breathe because you are it for me. i can’t be here without you, it won’t work. so i need you, and i need you to be safe,” he said, staring into your eyes.

you nodded. “all i need is you cassian. you’re all i wanted today,” you said, “and i don’t want to be here without you either.”

he brushed the hair from your face and locked your lips in a soft, gentle kiss.

he said it one more time, absorbing the feeling of you in his arms.

“i need you.”

taglist:

@oliviajdjarin

@dora-herondale

@a-court-of-milkandhoney

@a-mexican-waffle

@readingwithshelley

@acourtofbooksandfantasy

@minnie-mitzel

@bubbbllee

@yakoxshadow

@eerievixen

[miscellaneous-obsession]

hi!! can I request the Dimitrescus and maybe Donna reacting the first time they see us wearing a dinosaur/unicorn onesie? this just came into my mind LMAO! THANKYOU :')

I had far too many ideas when it came to this ask, thank you Anon, writing this brought a big smile to my face :)

Apologies for not posting for a week, I wasn’t very well but now I’m back and writing!!

Donna:

Poor Donna has suffered enough in life, both of fear and frights, so a unicorn onesie would be a safe bet.

As Donna potentially is a seamstress, creating delicate, ornate outfits for her friends dotted about her home, it is safe to say she would be thrilled to try making the one-piece for you, given that she has prior knowledge regarding the fabled creature.

However, if the animal is beyond her comprehension or materials are more difficult than initially thought to acquire, she will turn to the Duke’s services to procure the item with her own money, despite your protests.

With either instance, Donna will feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and pride seeing your frame enclosed in the onesie. Her smile behind the veil widens, reaching her eye as you radiate pure joy.

She will find herself bundled into a hug instantly, possibly one with a spin if comfortable. A huff of breath will escape her mouth when set down, choosing to hold your hand as you utter praises and thanks continuously.

And we can’t forget Angie; she will have no idea as to what a onesie is nor a unicorn, but boy, once she sees you in your own, she all but demands a matching set.

Alcina:

Finding her significant other encompassed by the soft green material, deemed to resemble a dinosaur, didn't fail to bring a smile to red-painted lips.

Lady Dimitrescu quite frankly oozes composure, refraining herself from expressing her initial reaction of a scoff or laugh, knowing how it could be misconstrued or upsetting.

Favouring her grin and need to admire your beaming expression, the lady cups your cherub cheeks in her palms. Only when you mimicked a "Rawr," typically heard when her middle child tormented staff for pleasure, did Alcina chuckle, the moment calling for joviality. 

She herself would not desire a matching outfit, but she would be more than happy to purchase an abundance for you if needs must.

She is sure her daughters will catch wind of this new item of clothing, the certainty so high she has the Duke on standby with orders waiting.

Bela:

Confusion and curiosity. Both will be evident by her frozen stance as she rounds the corner.

Her response, albeit delayed, will come in the form of widened eyes and cautious steps, hands mapping the cotton-like fabric with care.

A verbal response is out of the question at first, until realisation dawns upon her that you are mimicking a dinosaur in this unique ensemble.

It is then that appreciation, particularly for the warmth it retains, is made known. Bela will not hesitate to whisk you off elsewhere, preferably a sofa or her bed, to cuddle and leech off of the heat she desperately desires.

The blonde will begrudgingly agree to have one purchased, a match to your own. Being coordinated with you, something commonplace to share with her sisters is thrilling.

Cassandra:

Cassandra will find it endearing, humorous, almost as she comes across you in a dinosaur onesie, acting fierce and ferocious.

The brunette laughs in delight as you pounce forward, making half-hearted attempts to bite her neck. Keeping you close, she holds and supports your frame in her arms, not wishing for the fun to end prematurely.

With minimal taunting and teasing, Cassandra takes your bait, seeing the creation of a challenge, a game of tag. Promised a thirty-second head start, you bound as fast as possible out of the room, struggling to accommodate your onesie with every step.

However, those spare seconds amount to nothing as Cassandra’s pace is unmatched. Rounding the corner, her giggles follow as she observes your altered gait and lack of balance, brought on by the new appendage of a tail that you subsequently stumble over.

Before colliding with the ground, Cass lurched forward, bearing the brunt of the fall. You watch as the brunette’s lips turn upward into a smile, teeth catching the light, proud to have won, “Hmmm, I think I am owed my reward, iubi.”

Daniela:

Dani squeals, rushing over instantly as she lays her eyes upon you in a unicorn onesie. Blood free hands come to caress the clothing, fingers raking through the multicoloured mane in awe.

In that very moment, Daniela will plead to hear of the fables in which unicorns exist and prevail, mirroring the spike in her curiosity and enthusiasm.

If cold, she has no qualms in attempting to share the space of your own onesie, choosing to cram her hands into the pockets or partially disperse into her swarm, a small proportion of which flit into the outfit, nestling comfortably in gaps of material. 

You can bet this redhead will demand an abundance of hugs while you wear the item and will even go as far as to commission one for herself to ensure that you both are a matching pair.

After getting her own onesie, she will parade the two of you around, flouting your relationship unashamedly before the castle’s staff, grinning like the Cheshire cat with every gaze cast your way. 

[its-karma-bitches-00]

ENDGAME

Chapter 4: Back to you.

Description: So... I know many Daminette fans don't like Damian being younger than Marinette so 🚨SPoiler AleRT 🚨 Damian is gonna be younger for a while but an event happens that gets their ages exchanged. (Sort of)

Warning; swearing, angst, fluff.

Summary: Where the world reunites with their loved ones..

Previously

"They're back!, They're back!, They're back!" Maps yelled excitedly, almost jumping at him

"Who's back?!"

"The people who disappeared 5 years ago!"

Damian blinked at the short girl in front of him before narrowing his eyes at her "this is no time to play games Mizoguchi."

"I'm not!" Mia huffed "ask anyone else."

Damian looked at her and he knew she wasn't lying, he gave her a small nod before heading back towards the washrooms.

"Wait!" Mia yelled, holding his wrist "Can you drop me to Olive house?"

"No." Damian deadpanned

"Can I at least have your grapple gun?"

"No" Damian sighed "Sorry Maps, I've gotta go"

Mia nodded "fine. you owe me a waffle bar!"

Damian rolled his eyes at her before running back, wasting no time. "Plagg! Claws out!"

"Aw come on!" Plagg hissed, before disappearing into the ring.

***

Damian ran across roof tops, he felt sick. Where they really there? how did they disappear? What if he went home and found out nobody was actually there? what was he going to to say? So many Questions jumped around his head, but he kept moving either way. He jumped over the large compound of his house calling out "Plagg claws in!" His black and green suit dissolved and was replaced with his uniform. He landed on the soft grass smoothly Before running around large fountain in front of his destination.

Damian panted, looking around. Jason's new bike was spread on the ground carelessly, and the car was literally half-hazardously parked.

He ran towards the large doors shoving it open...

to meet his family laughing and crying in Joy.

They were here. They were all here. Dick, Cass, Steph, Alfred, Selina, Kate, Chloe and Marinette.

Damian could only stare, They looked like they never aged a day, except Alfred who seemed to look younger.

"Damian?" Dick asked, a shocked look on his face which quickly dissolved into a bright smile "Oh my god you look so big!" He yelled, tackling him to the ground "Did you miss me?"

"TT, of course not."

"Liar" Tim laughed with tear stained cheeks "he cried everyday for two years."

"I didn't!" Damian hissed, still in the embrace of his older brother. "Uh-huh, sure." Bruce smiled his arms around Selina

"Father!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Chloe interrupted "what do you mean two years? We've just been gone for like, five minutes"

"Yeah! What's with that?" Steph asked in confusion

"You guys have been Gone for 5 years" Tikki said slowly while the others were nodding in agreement

"That's impossible, I was definitely there for 15 hours"

"It felt like five minutes for me" Chloe said as Cass nodded

"You guys sure you didn't hit your heads on your way back?" Jason joked

"Do you remember where you guys were?" Bruce asked

"Yes" Marinette nodded "It was-It was beautiful, it felt like you were in the middle of the universe without any care and so many different colors were there. Just like stars and galaxies"

"The quantum realm!" Fluff exclaimed "of course! Why didn't I think of that?!"

"What's a quantum realm?"

"The Quantum Zone, the realm where all the energy of the universe come from, and the Microverse, which consists of many different sub-atomic dimensions all accessible through the same means as they are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Fluff thought out loud

Jason blinked in confusion "I didn't understand a single shit."

"Language" Alfred warned.

"The Quantum Realm is a dimension that can be entered from Earth by compressing a human's mass to a certain point. Entering the Quantum Realm could potentially cause the person who enters it to shrink forever. Due to the nature of the realm, time passes differently and is more fluid. As a result, with the right equipment, the Quantum Realm can be used for time travel though its impossible to change one's own timeline when traveling into the past in such a manner." Fluff continued

"Still don't get it" Jason shrugged

"You would if you were smarter." Damian snorted

"In a simpler way...A person needs to be really tiny to enter the quantum realm and time passes differently for each person" Tim explained

"Ohhhhh, I get it now!"

"So you're telling we've been stuck in time?" Kate asked

Fluff nodded "except for Alfred, who seemed to travel back in time." which made chaos rise.

"You're telling me we've been missing for five years?!"

"Wait so technically I'm the oldest" Jason laughed evilly

"No you're not! I'm still a year older than you!" Dick smirked

Damian almost gave out a smile, until he noticed Marinette sitting silently on the ground staring at her hands. He crawled towards her, out of Dicks grip and sat next to the girl muttering a small "hey"

"Hi" Marinette mumbled back, glancing at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I-it just seems so unreal, five years? That's like my teenage life. Tim's all grown up! How old is he? 22? and-"

"Hey! hey! Calm down, it's fine. if it helps you feel better, You can always taunt them on how young you are."

"-And you've grown up all tall and muscular and pretty-"

"Pretty?" Damian asked, his face turning red.

"The world has obviously changed! I don't know how you lived without Alfred or Me and Selina because you guys don't know a shit about cooking, and why didn't our miraculouses fade away with us? I could've done something to come back earlier"

"Stop it!" He said grabbing her shoulders "you've done the best you could And what really matters is that you're home"

"Oh and you've gotten soft." She gave him a teary smile before Pouncing on him, giving him a bear hug.

He wrapped his arms around her small body, rocking her back and forth questioning "Do you really think I'm Muscular and pretty"

"No!" Marinette squeaked quickly as she pulled away from their hug "I'm just really tired, and floating in space is really exhausting"

"Mm-hmm, sure" he smiled pecking her cheek, which made Marinette melt on the insides "you hungry?"

"Do you even know how to cook?" Marinette asked

"Hey, we learnt a thing or two when you guys disappeared." Damian chuckled, pulling Marinette to her feet while looking at his brothers questioningly, who were busy wrestling on the couch "You idiots need anything from the kitchen?"

"Yesss" Dick grinned "I want cereal."

"Noodles please!"

"Same here!"

                                                           ...

So how was the it ?....

Okkkk, I know it was pretty lame and all, The only reason I posted this was because I've had this draft for some time and I didn't have the heart to delete it because that would mean I only wasted my time. Soooooo I posted it. Kill me. My dignity is dead, I've got nothin to lose.

But if you guys want another chap... just ask 😉... and please comment and vote!

😊✨♥️

Byeeeeeeeeeee

This was taken from my Wattpad account

@Aquaqueen2020

[fantastic-nonsense]

Your list of potential Batfam fics sound so interesting— especially the Bruce, Harvey, and Dick one! If you’d like, I’d love to hear what else is in your miscellaneous ideas doc…

[Referencing this post]

Okay so the thing about the miscellaneous ideas doc is that it's a bullet point-based collection of titles and one sentence thoughts; there's a bunch of stuff in there that will probably never get written, and there's very little substance to literally anything in it.

With that being said, here's a snapshot of a few things in the doc, with a tiny bit of explanation for where I would probably go with them if I ever fleshed them out.

a Cass-focused oneshot that’s basically just me trying to build out her motivations for running off to Hong Kong

League of Batgirls: starring Babs, Cass, and Steph w/secondary stars Nell Little, Tiffany Fox, & Maps Mizoguchi. Yes yes "Maps identifies with the Robins more than the Batgirls" I know, but consider: Cass training Maps on the rooftops of Gotham.

Stephanie comes back to Gotham a bit sooner post-War Games and gets to drop right into the mess that is the immediate aftermath of Under the Red Hood/Infinite Crisis.

Kind of connected to that one was an idea where Bruce leaves Babs and Cass (and by extension the Birds of Prey) in charge of Gotham while he, Dick, and Tim run off on their One Year Later globetrotting trip, completely re-routing the 'Evil!Cass' arc. I had a thought about Steph coming back to Gotham during that year (about halfway through 52)

a Dick-Donna platonic soulmates fic

"the New 52 reboot happened because a villain accidentally stuck the majority of the DCU into a universe-wide collective induced coma (aka, the majority of the DCU is all sharing one very big dream), except some heroes never got put under and when you die in the dream, you wake up in reality." Starring Wally West and Damian Wayne. This idea goes back to this post that I made literally years ago, before Rebirth & Death Metal/Infinite Frontier happened and lowkey stole my thunder. The details of how I would structure the fic have changed a bit since then (hence why it's in the misc ideas folder and not in its own doc), but the basic concept is still the same.

I have several more, but that's a bit of taste into what that doc looks like!

[bullyingbatman]

the night market

wrote a weird cass-centric urban fantasy au snippet & it wasn't complete enough to post on ao3 so here y'all can have whatever this is

///

Cass slips down the side of the brick wall into the alley below, her presence no more than a rustle of the wind. One end of the alley is a dead end, and in the back of her mind she logs it as a potential escape route, while beyond the other is the hustle and bustle of the Night Market. Behind her, Stephanie emerges from the shadows, hovering at her elbow. Her fingers brush against Cass’ hoodie, a silent I’ve got your back. Cass appreciates it. She checks to make sure her mask– black, expressionless, featureless except for the glowing white eyes– is fixed firmly on her face, pulls up her hood, and steps out into the light.

The Night Market is bright, full of red and gold lantern-light, and packed with figures. It’s hard to distinguish anything about anyone here at first glance, all of them draped in formless, oversized clothing, hoodies and cloaks and coats, obscuring any identifying details. Then there are the masks– horrid wooden things, each one painted with its own unique design. Over there, a black-and-white mask grins, its owner leering wherever they turn; manning a stall, a yellow face weeps bloody tears, mouth open in an eternal scream. The Night Market, for most, is a confusing and disorienting experience.

For Cass, it is anything but.

She recognises people by their gaits, the ways they twist and turn; a man dressed in monochrome with a mask painted with cawing ravens is Mr Porter from the library, the young woman dressed in green-yellow-red, mask painted with thick goggles, is her brother’s drama teacher. She weaves in and out of the crowd, finding herself assured as she brushes off calls from vendors. There are no secrets from Cass, not in the Night; she’s one of the few people here who can see through the masquerade.

As she approaches the edge of the Market, the stalls give way to buildings, seedy bars and ramshackle dives. She spins around and finds the one she’s looking for– a single doorway on a stone wall not even three feet wide between two wooden buildings, covered by a ragged red curtain. She beelines towards it, Stephanie hot on her heels as she ducks inside.

The inside, as expected, is much larger than the doorway implies, stretching out into an average-sized bar. It’s relatively busy, tables filled with masked individuals sharing drinks or playing games or having hushed discussions. She ignores all of them and heads to the bar.

“Well, if it isn’t Spooky Girl!” the bartender says. His mask is red-and-white polkadots, like a pale face covered in raw poxes. “You’re back again?” Cass doesn’t reply, simply fixing him with her mask’s blank expression. “Lemme guess, you wanna see the boss.” She remains silent; he sighs. “I’ll let him know you’re here.”

Cass is waiting for five minutes, during which time the bartender– Cass has never met him in the day, doesn’t know his name, and knows better than to ask– gives her a coke to sip on. Finally, from the stairs at the back, the man she came to see emerges, glares at her from behind red wood, and gestures harshly with his head.

Cass gets to her feet and follows him upstairs.

The upstairs room is smaller than the bar below, a bare-bones bedroom with a bed in one corner, set of drawers, a desk, and a window-seat. Jason sits down on the window-seat and folds his arms, scowling at her from behind his mask.

“Did you have to bring her with you?” he asks, pointing at Steph.

Steph scowls back. “Well, nice to see you too,” she mutters.

“Creep,” Jason shoots back.

“Stop,” Cass says, and they do. “Spoiler is a friend,” she says to Jason.

Jason ignores her, changing the topic. “Why are you here? And it better not be because he sent you.” Cass doesn’t reply, and he groans. “Seriously, Orphan? You’re still doing his bidding?”

Cass doesn’t like his tone. “I do what I want,” she shoots back. Then, more softly, “He is worried.”

Jason snorts disbelievingly. Cass almost can’t blame him. Almost.

“Yeah? I want to hear that from him.”

“You know he can’t come here.”

That makes Jason pause. “Wait, seriously? That wasn’t some kind of trick?” Cass shakes her head, and he lets out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s stupid, even for him.”

Cass sighs. “Please,” she says. “He wants to talk.”

Jason stares at her for a long moment. “I’ll think about it,” he finally relents. Cass can see, with some surprise, that he actually will. Something about the bent of his shoulders. “Is that all?”

Cass considers for a moment. “Be careful,” she says. “Some people downstairs… they’re up to no good.”

A snort. “Yeah, I dunno if you noticed, but this place ain’t exactly the Ritz.”

She glares. “Serious.”

He sobers at that. “I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks, Orphan.”

She nods in farewell, and turns back down the stairs. She slips out of the bar without a stir, and Steph says, “That went surprisingly well.”

Cass nods thoughtfully. “I think he’ll come.”

“You do?” Steph seems surprised. “Damn. Then again, I guess B really messed up this time, huh?”

He really had, Cass thinks, as she heads back through the market to the alleyway she’d passed through on the way here. “Things are in the air,” she says, after a moment, gesturing with one hand. “It will be… interesting. Where dust settles.”

“Remind me to get the popcorn,” Steph jokes. They arrive at the dead-end wall Cass had noticed before, and sure enough, she feels the familiar prickle of an exit. This one isn’t on their maps; she’ll have to get Tim or Barbara to update them. She glances up at Stephanie, who grins at her, clicking her tongue and doing some kind of half-salute, half-finger guns gesture. Cass smiles back at her best friend, despite knowing that she won’t see it through the mask, and passes through the gateway.

Gotham at night is much quieter than Gotham at Night, and Cass knows she has to be careful; she doesn’t want to be caught breaking curfew, after all. Hiding in the alley, she carefully takes off her mask, wrapping it with cloth before fixing it on her belt. She can feel Stephanie’s presence at her heels, even if she can no longer see her, and so indicates her path before she takes it, looking up before she begins to scale the fire escape.

At this point in her life, Cass thinks could cross Gotham at night in her sleep. She makes it back to the Clocktower just as the sky is beginning to grey with pre-dawn light, and is halfway to her room when she hears a pointed cough and freezes in places. She feels a phantom tap on her wrist, and can practically hear Stephanie whispering, “Busted.”

She turns to see Barbara sat in the high-backed chair by the computer, one eyebrow raised. “What time do you call this, young lady?” she asks.

(Cass thinks that Barbara is not that much older than her, but she holds her tongue; she knows better than to try her older sister-slash-adoptive mother’s patience.)

“Early,” says Cass, who doesn’t actually know what time it is.

Babs does not look amused. “I told you I didn’t want you going out after curfew,” she says sharply. “Especially after all the disappearances lately.” Her eyes land on the mask on Cass’ hip, and her expression sours further. “Seriously, Cass? You know what I said–”

“I just went to the Market,” Cass says. “I saw Jason.”

Babs pauses. “Jason?”

Cass nods. “Bruce… wanted to see him.”

Barbara’s eye twitches. “And he sent you?”

“I offered.”

Barbara sighs. “You don’t owe him anything, Cass.”

She does, but she can’t expect Babs to understand. “I know,” she says instead. “I wanted to.”

Barbara shakes her head. “Go get some sleep,” she says.

Cass nods. She pads to her bedroom door, pausing outside and turning back to her mentor. “Am I in trouble?” she asks.

“I’ll think about it,” Babs says. Probably not, Cass concludes. “I meant it. Sleep.”

Cass nods. “I will. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

She shuts the door behind her and leans against it with a sigh. She feels Steph’s presence at her side, exasperated and comforting and sheepish all at once, and she smiles at the space where her friend stands. Then, she pulls herself together, taking the mask from her hip and stashing it away again at the bottom of her drawer.

It’s brighter, outside, now, the faintest glimmer of gold on the horizon. Cass pauses by the window to take it in, feeling exhaustion creeping up on her. Even if she doesn't agree with Barbara’s other arguments against her nighttime excursions, she can at least agree that it leaves her spent. Well, she’ll do what she’s told for now. She yawns, turning away and pulling the curtains closed before collapsing into bed.

She’s asleep before her head even hits the pillow.

[pl-panda]

To Marry a Vigialnte: Part 16

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 16

-----------

Chloé couldn’t believe it! They forced her to stay in Gotham Academy’s girls’ dorms. That witch Lila managed to talk Madame Bustier into stopping her from leaving. Marinette had her mother’s permission to stay elsewhere, but apparently, the change in accommodation plans invalidated Chloé’s father’s permission. She would resolve it with a single phone call if someone didn’t steal her phone . She of course tried to report it to Madame Bustier, but her teacher declared that she must’ve lost it somewhere and she shouldn’t be shifting the blame on others. 

That woman’s picture should be in every dictionary, right next to the definition of a hypocrite.

She turned the corridor. She could sleep one evening there and tomorrow Marinette would let her borrow the phone. She could try with one of the girls, but it’s not like she remembered every phone number in existence! She regretted that the akuma attack ruined their plans for the afternoon, but Damian had sword-fighting practice tomorrow and she would have her friend all to herself. 

“You’re Chloé, right?” A blonde cheerleader asked. The Parisian immediately recognized her as Erica and narrowed her eyes. There were five of them and one of her. 

“And you’re the Queen B. of this school. For now .” 

The Gothamite princess had the guts to actually laugh. “You can’t even touch me. You’re just some foreign student that came here on a whim of the Ice Prince.”

“Oh, right. You’re the golden princess of this school.” Chloé mocked her. “Lemme tell you something, Erica. I’ll offer you an escape deal. You leave Damienette alone and you can keep your position on top.”

“Yeah. Like you could be a threat.” A new voice joined. From behind the cheerleaders, a new girl walked. Lila now wore the cheerleader uniform too. “You’re just a walking akuma factory. It’s really no wonder that people avoid you. You caused more possessions in Paris than everyone else combined.”

“And you hold the record for times being akumatized.” The Parisian blonde retorted. “Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! You think you can take the Chloé Bourgeois?”

“Oh! We don’t think…” Erica started.

“We know.” Lila finished. 

“The deal is simple. You will stop your friendship with Maribrat and we will let you keep some dignity.” 

“Or we will make you a social outcast. Not only at school, but in the whole of Gotham.”

Inside, Chloé was raging. She wished she could show them what Cass taught her, but she quelled the idea quickly. I definitely spend too much time with Sabine and the Waynes… She thought to herself. Instead, she grinned. “You know the difference between a threat and a warning?”

“What are you babbling about?” One of the cheerleaders snorted. 

“A warning is a threat that will actually come to pass. And I warn you. You’re messing with fire here. Damian was raised very old-fashioned. He will draw blood to defend the honor of his angel.” She decided that they could receive a warning. It’s not like they would listen. “And Marinette’s aunt is very well connected.” Then, she decided to drive the nail deeper. “Plus, MDC’s client list is quite long and none would appreciate that you try to bully their favorite designer.”

“Like that doormat…” Lila started, but Chloé tested the glare Cass taught her. It worked well enough. 

“You’re not dealing with Maribear. You’re dealing with me. And I’m not going to lose.” 

“What’s going on here?” Allegra walked toward them and stood next to Chloé. 

“Scatter.” Lila snapped at her. 

“Funny. I was about to say the same thing,” she retorted. Now she stood side by side with Chloé and both stared at them. Allegra had an aura of confidence around her. 

“Be careful who you stick with, Kane. You’ll do well not to antagonize me.”

“Just because your mother married a famous baseball player doesn’t make me respect you more, Boyle.” 

“It’s Layton ,”The angry cheerleader corrected. 

“Right. I must’ve forgotten. She does change her last name a lot…” Allegra smiled. 

“You’re in over your head, Kane. You’ll do better to stay with your little outcast club.”

“Nah. I’m good. Also, don’t you have practice in five minutes? I heard the coach is in a mood today.” The mayor’s daughter smirked. “It would be a shame if he made you run around with the players.” 

This made all the girls quickly scatter to get to the practice, leaving Lila and Erica alone. “You’ve just made an enemy, Kane.” 

“You’re an inconvenience at best…” She dismissed the threat. Lila decided to cut their losses and dragged the fuming Erica away, sending the two blondes a murderous glare.

“Thanks for the backup,” Chloé started. “Of course I didn’t need any, but still.”

“No problem. I always hated that self-appointed princess.” 

“And have you seen her hair?” The Parisian huffed. “Utterly Ridiculous!”

“And I’m pretty sure her dress is too short by the school standards.”

Chloé smirked. “I think we’ll get along just fine.”

-----------

After Bruce returned, they tried to figure out what was taken from the inside of the vault. Out of various precious weapons, documents, several property deeds, the only thing that was missing turned out to be the content of the wall safe. 

During the night patrol, Marinette and Damian scoured the city for potential akumas. While he dealt with criminals, she often stopped by the victims to calm them and gave some support. After serious butt-kicking for the criminals. It just wouldn’t do for Damian to get all the fun. The superhero/vigilante duo (nobody was sure which one, not even them) made a positive first impression on the city. Citizens seemed to like them, both for their efficiency and how they always stopped to talk. 

After, Marinette noted that their transformations could hold for much longer now since they were together in this. When asked, Tikki explained that now that she had Chat Noir that was mature and they were technically both adults as far as magic was concerned, she could start developing her full potential. 

After the short report to Alfred, the teens left the Batcave to change into pajamas. Marinette fell asleep almost immediately, but Damian stayed awake for a bit. He swore he would protect his Habibti. No matter how far he would have to go. 

-----------

Marinette and Damian had roughly half of their classes together. Sadly, she didn’t share too much with her best friend, since Chloé was more into business management than arts and fashion. It was mostly the problem of the level. Classes that Marinette had at beginner, the Parisian blonde had at a higher level and vice-versa.

When she arrived at her class, Claude and Jon were saving her a place between them, which would help to protect her from the classmates that ended in the same group. There were also several GA students that she would rather not sit close to (Erica’s bunch). Generally speaking, the first part of her day went well. 

The same couldn’t have been said about Damian. He, Chloé, and Allegra were saddled with the class. And to his utter dread, there were no free places next to each other. They tried to ask some students to move. Well, Damian tried to threaten them, which worked, but too late. The teacher entered and decided to put Damian between Alya and Lila. It was as if the universe was punishing him for something. He suspected that Mister Scarlet did that on purpose to egg him. With this one, he had no idea what he did to make him dislike the Wayne heir. But the way he acted toward him made it clear that he took pleasure in the situation Damian was put in: Between Alya’s nagging to leave Marinette and ‘return’ to Lila, and the Liar who kept whispering stories about their common past. 

Finally, after they got to go for lunch, Damian stormed out of the class. Everyone in the corridor made way for him. His scowl was enough to deter anyone from trying to approach him. Well, anyone but Maps.

“Damian! You’re back!” She leaped at him and it took all of his willpower not to draw a sword. 

“Tt. Mizoguchi. It’s not the best moment.” He growled. 

“But you’re back! Did the headmaster cancel your expulsion!?”

“No. He just forgot to file the expulsion files within the week of the offense. Ergo, I was never expelled. I just joined the exchange program.” He explained. 

Her eyes practically shined. “Coooool.” 

“Tt. Can you let go of my arm?” He was really hoping it would work. 

“Nope. I just met you again. We’re glued.” 

“Sup Dames?” Claude chose that moment to appear.

“Tt. I’ve got a parasite.”

“That I can see!” The other boy laughed. Most people were still steering clear from Wayne and whoever was with him. They valued their health for the most part. 

“I’m not a parasite. I’m Maps!” The girl greeted Claude, who in turn made an exaggerated bow. 

“And I’m Claudius Chase. But please call me Claude.” He made a mock fighting stance. “Like Jean-Claude Van Damme.” 

“More like Jack Clown van Lame,” Damian muttered. “Your stance is all wrong. I could take you out in seconds.”

“Of course you could. You’re b…” The Wayne heir covered her mouth with his hand. 

“Tt. Not here. Now if you would let go of my hand, you parasite, I’m sure Habibti is waiting for me.” 

“Habibti?” She asked after letting go.

“His girlfriend.”

You could actually see Maps’ eyes form into twin stars. “Can I meet her? Can I meet her?”

“Since when are you into fashion?”

“Huh? Who said anything about fashion. She’s your girlfriend though, which means she must be sooo cooool!” Maps was practically vibrating. 

“Hero worship much?” Claude joked.

“Tt. Fine. Let’s go.”

The three arrived at the Cafeteria, where Allegra, Chloé, Jon, and Felix were already eating. They had lasagna that day. Quite a lot of people were whispering when Damian appeared, more so than usual, but nobody dared to look at him. When he sat at the table next to Marinette, they did their best not to stare.

“Grumpy Cat?” She asked, a bit worried. “You’re… tense.” 

“Tt. Because of that socially-inept, talentless, petty bookworm,” he seethed, “I had to sit between Rossi and Cesaire.” 

Immediately, Marinette pulled him into a tight hug. “Oh, my poor Kitty.”

This caused some of the gathered, who knew Damian from the previous year, to immediately tense. Some of the students sitting nearby (mostly females) even grinned, thinking that here died the relationship. There was no way that Ice Prince would allow anyone to refer to him as Kitty. Getting him on the first-name basis was considered a privilege allowed only to the family (and strangely Claude). 

To their immeasurable surprise, Damian didn’t explode. Instead, he melted slightly into the hug and some of the anger left him. It wasn’t a long hug, but after it, he was now acting less like a walking grenade looking for its pin. At least three people awwed at them. It was just too pure.

“Whoah!” And then there was Maps, who had the subtlety of a steam-train speeding through the Wild West. “You’re so cute together!” She zoomed next to Marinette to get a better look.

“And you’re…” Marinette eyed the overly energetic girl. She was short, with hair that reached barely below her ears. 

“Mia Mizoguchi. But you can call me Maps. I’m Damian’s friend.” 

“Tt. More like a stray.”

“Damian! Don’t be a Grumpy Cat.”

“Besides, isn’t collecting strays kinda a Wayne Tradition at this point.” Felix deadpanned. Everyone started laughing. Damian gave a dignified smirk. The blond proved to be able to match him in intellectual discussion, which gave some basis for mutual respect between them. 

The group talked a bit more about their classes. Marinette and Chloé compared every detail of their experience in the States with what it was like back in Paris. Maps was a fountain of questions, even if some of them were a bit… strange. But Marinette still felt she would like the little girl. That she was in the same class as her surprised her. 

After lunch came time for more classes. When they finished, Damian was supposed to stay for training while Marinette and Chloé would go shopping. They were already outside the gates when three rather packed teens from the year ahead stepped in their way. 

“You think you can steal Erica’s man and then threaten her?” The one in the middle asked. It was clear he was angry and not exactly thinking clearly. “Gotham Academy Grackles stay together. If you think you can just prance here and take over, you have another thing coming.”

“Um… Sure.” Mari just nodded. “Now excuse me while I go away.” She tried to move past them, but one decided to make a fatal mistake of trying to grab the front of her shirt. She raised her left arm under the grip, lifting his hand slightly. It exposed his stomach for the moment, which she took full advantage of and delivered a knee-kick to his liver. When he folded in half from the pain, as much as he could with her still supporting his hand, she then used her right arm to deliver a cutter toward the back of his head.

The boy was out cold in less than five seconds. 

Seeing their friend attacked, the other two charged at her. Marinette ducked under the punch from the first one and headbutted him in the stomach. She then wrapped her arms around his left legs and lifted him up. He fell on the ground and tripped the slower one. When they both were down, Marinette stomped on the hand of the one on top. There was an audible crack that signaled she managed to damage the bones. He would not be fighting. The one under tossed his pained friend away and jumped on his feet. He managed to get Marinette in a chokehold, but she pushed her arms between his extended arms and spread them apart. When he was exposed, she jumped up and kicked him with both legs. While she landed without any injury, the bigger player crashed into his two friends. 

“The police are on their way,” Chloé informed, putting away the phone that mysteriously found itself in her possession earlier that morning, giving more credence to the theory that she simply misplaced it. 

“What’s going on here!” A harsh voice boomed behind them. Hammerhead was standing there in all his glory. “To my office. All five.” 

“Maman’s going to be here in just five minutes,” Mari informed him. She was still full of adrenaline. 

“I don’t care.” He seethed in response. 

The only conscious boy helped his friends stand up. First the one with a broken hand, then they lifted the unconscious one together. They limped through the campus toward where the office was located. Behind them, Marinette and Chloé walked with heads held high. Tomorrow, the school would be full of gossip, but the bluenette was all too used to it by now and the blonde would run her PR magic to change it into something positive. Chloé loved playing the crowd. 

--------

“I’m here.” Sabine practically stormed inside the office. “Now could you explain, sir, what is it about?”

“Your daughter got into an… altercation with older students today. Right in front of the school.” Headmaster Hammer started.

“Ah. And you’re curious if we’ll be pressing charges?” The woman asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“Charges?” She managed to baffle the man. 

“Attempted assault?”

“Madame. You misunderstood me. Your daughter…”

“Defended herself. Yes.” Sabine cut in, her eyes filled with cold fury. “Unless I’m mistaken, Self-defence is not a crime.”

“You can’t call self-defense stomping on…”

“To prevent further fighting? Debatable. She is smaller, physically weaker, and was outnumbered. A good lawyer would argue that it was necessary for her to act that way for her safety and to avoid further fighting.” She stared down at the headmaster. “As for the charges…”

At that, two officers walked in. Hammer recognized the first one as Renee Montoya. The other was a blonde officer wearing a tactical vest.

“Sorry, it took so long. We’ve been a little short-staffed since the mess with akumas started.”

“Don’t worry. Luckily, my daughter managed to defend herself. Now, officer, what must we do if we wish to press charges?” Sabine asked with a cold voice, never breaking eye-contact with the headmaster. 

“That…”

“I’ll explain everything while officer Sawyer takes the attackers into custody.” 

“Thank you so much.” The older woman finally broke the eye-contact and turned toward Montoya. She smiled with her usual peaceful smile, but the fire was still in her eyes. “My daughter is part of the exchange program while I’m visiting my niece.”

Marinette was stunned by how well her mother could take control of the situation. She wasn’t sure what precisely she was doing, but it was definitely effective. 

“Foreigners?” The officer asked, surprised. “I could hardly hear the accent. France?”

“Yes. Paris.” Sabine smiled. “Neither I nor any of my charges are really familiar with the procedures here.”

“I will walk you through it. Headmaster?” The policewoman finally acknowledged the elderly man in the room. “Were the parents of the culprits notified yet?”

“Not. Yet.” He muttered through clenched teeth.

“We will take it from here.” She smirked at the headmaster. “You will be notified if any further input is needed, sir.” She started to walk away and motioned for the three women to follow her. 

Outside, Damian was waiting with a sword. Luckily, there was no blood on it. Yet .

“Hello, Kitty. Don’t worry. I’ve managed it.” 

“Tt. I’ll still challenge them to an honor duel.” He scoffed. 

“You will probably have to wait a bit. I don’t think…” The officer took a glance at Sabine, who even with her smile looked like she was ready to fight God on equal footing. “They probably won’t be coming back to school this year.” 

“They won’t.” Chloé, Sabine, and Damian said at the same time. But they probably had different things in mind. Or maybe just Chloé…

------------

  Masterlist // Next

[0zzysaurus]

I really loved your tags on that Alonzo GIFset, and I'd love to hear more of your headcanons about Macavity's hideout! :)

I'm actually in the midst of writing a massive outline for my fanfiction, so I'm going to give you what I have so far up to Part 4!!

Part 1:

Munkustrap and Macavity are currently involved in the first ever Jellicle Leader coalition. Macavity has been preaching and proselytising that Munkustrap isn't fit to lead and will destroy the tribe, and has convinced Old Deuteronomy to allow him to co-lead. He claims that the contorting of traditional Jellicle law will bring the wrath of the Everlasting Cat, though this is just fearmongering that he's using to try and persuade tribe members to put their faith in him as Leader. Munkustrap can see right through it, and knows Macavity is just bitter for not ever even being considered for Jellicle Leader, and is hungry for control and power. Coricopat advises him not to censor Macavity's preaching because it could convince more tribe members into thinking what Macavity is saying - that Munk has the potential to be tyranical if left to lead alone - could be true. Munk takes this advice, but does his best to assure those close to him that Macavity is talking out of his ass.

Meanwhile, Macavity has known since the beginning that the coalition is unstable and will most likely break down, so he's been establishing his own clan in Aldwych station. Any strays, or rehabilitated ferals are brought in and convinced to join through promises of shelter, food, leadership, and the protection of a tribe. Grizabella is Macavity's biological mother, but not Munkustrap or Tuggers. She personally believes Old D refused to consider him for leader because he is her son. She sympathises with Macavity and helps to establish and run the Aldwych Clan when he is away. As far as the other cats are aware, Grizabella simply abandoned the Jellicle Tribe.

The next Jellicle Ball will be Tugger's first, and he's due to perform his coming of age dance. While he is performing, Macavity begins to feel spiteful, and starts an argument with Munkustrap over how poorly Tugger has been trained. It escalates into a shouting match and eventually a physical fight - ultimately this is the final breakdown of the coalition. Tugger will blame himself for this split in the coming months. The coalition split causes a dramatic shift within the tribe itself. Sympathisers and followers of Macavity propose an exodus, and Mac encourages them - while Munkustrap maintains that no one should leave. Mac uses Munk's desperate feelings over this to further convince his followers that the Jellicle tribe is a cult, and they should go. Demeter and Rumpleteazer are both convinced to leave - Demeter being Mac's mate at the time, and Teazer being sympathetic to the idea of being an older sibling who has been neglected over the younger (Etcetera is her younger sister, and seems to get a lot more attention from Skimble than he gives to her. Clearly, Teazer is the most naive of the followers.)

Part 2:

Ultimately, Mac's followers leave and are surprised to find that they've been brought to a pre-established clan. They're brought to the main platform and sorted into toms and queens, that are then led to different sections of the station. Teazer and Demeter are brought to the harem, where both react with significant disgust and reject the proposal immediately. Bomba steps in to defend Demeter when Mac threatens her physically, and Macavity decides he'll leave them to talk - he expects Demeter and Rumpleteazer to comply by the time he gets back. Bomba reassures Demeter and says that she's safe - but Rumpleteazer refuses to stay, and leaves.

Unsure of where she should go, and being utterly lost in the tunnels, Teazer follows the sound of fighting and discovers a henchcat den where a gang of cats are harassing and bullying a smaller tom around her age. Still feeling heated from before, she doesn't stop to consider the danger and steps in to defend the tom. Her feisty nature and confidence actually works in intimidating the harassers, and they leave. She introduces herself, only to be completely rejected by the tom. She's surprised, calls him ungrateful - which she regrets later - and leaves. Teazer takes note of a map pinned on the wall that was once used by Underground workers to navigate maintenance tunnels. Now abandoned, the tunnels are now only home to the clan, and patrolling hench cats who are capturing and disposing of deserters. She takes note of where the den she just exited is before exploring. She ducks into a vent when she smells Macavity approaching down the hall.

Demeter explains to Bomba what happened at the tribe, and Bomba is equally as confused - not knowing that another tribe even existed in the area. She tells Demeter why the queens are here, and that Macavity has been trying to get kittens from them for months, only not to succeed. Either the queens simply are not getting pregnant, or those who do mysteriously disappear. Demeter is nervous, but is positive that her mate won't hurt her. The other queens give her unsure looks, but no one questions her.

Teazer hides in the vent until she is sure Macavity has left the hall, but as she's about to come out, she falls through a weak sheet of metal into another den. She lands right on a sleeping Alonzo - the Deputy of the henchcats, and almost has to fight for her life, until Alonzo realises that she's just a young moggie. He dismisses her, only to be met with fervent assurances that she can handle herself and could take him out if she really wanted to. Alonzo calls her reckless, and that her fighting skills are lacking. After some deliberation, he decides that he will train her as a henchcat. He lets her sleep the night in his den since it's late and curfew is already enacted.

Part 3:

The next morning, Demeter wakes up early to find Grizabella in the Queen's den - tidying an empty nest. Before she can say anything, the older cat slips away, and she falls back asleep - convinced it was a dream. Macavity makes an announcement on the intercom. He welcomes all new members, vaguely noting that those who have complied and remained have integrity and strength beyond their cowardly peers. Alonzo brings Rumpleteazer to the Morning role call, and when Macavity questions her presence, Alonzo simply assures him that she is his latest apprentice. Macavity scoffs at the idea, and tells Alonzo to return her to the harem when he finally gives up on her. The other henchcats laugh at this, but the tom from before stands nervously, watching her. She turns away from him and he leaves with a group of other cats. Teazer is about to follow them, but feels Alonzo's paw on her shoulder, and is reminded that she has training to do.

Demeter wakes up again and overhears Bomba and Cassandra talking with each other. Cassandra expresses concern for Demeter - that she has the "most potential" out of them all - presumably but not explicitly said to be the next to bear a litter. Demeter gets up and interjects with a morning greeting, and Cass slips away back to her nest. Bomba apologises on her behalf, explaining that she is a clairvoyant and can predict events, as well as read auras. Before she can explain more, Macavity enters the den and calls away one of the queens. She goes without objection, but looks back at Bomba with anxious eyes. Demeter asks what is going to happen to her, and Bomba reiterates that Macavity is trying to have as many kittens as he can - presumably to boost the clan's population as well as grow his bloodline. So far he hasn't been successful.

Meanwhile, at the Jellicle tribe, Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy discuss the upheaval of their tribe. Munkustrap is concerned that the tribe will not be able to recover from this loss, and is quick to blame Coricopat for failing to advise him of this future. Old D firmly corrects him that it's not within Cori's powers to predict the future - and also reminds Munkustrap that the tribe - now more than ever - requires a strong, steadfast leader who can keep them together. Munk laments that he is not fit for this role, but Old Deuteronomy points out the cluster of cats in the clearing waiting for him to lead them. Old D also reminds him that he will not be around forever to lead the tribe, and that Munk must work with his advisers and community to restore order. Skimbleshanks is distraught at his daughter's absence, and begs Old Deuteronomy to bring her back. Old D explains that he can't force her to return, and she has to make her own way - but Skimble is adamant that she is in danger. Munkustrap assures him in confidence that he will do his best to bring her back for him.

Part 4:

Back at the Clan, Alonzo and Teazer have begun their training. Alonzo is quick to point out that Teazer is quick to enter fights that she may be unable to finish - and explains that not getting into fights at all should be a priority. Mediation bores her, and Teazer complains that there will surely be times that this decision is not within her hands - and that there will be times that she must fight. Alonzo agrees, and acknowledges her impatience, and they begin to practice defensive techniques. Teazer finds it difficult to defend against heavy blows, and is knocked on her ass a few times. Alonzo explains to her that she can't just stand there and take the hits when her body type isn't build for handling it. Instead he encourages her to use evasive tactics, noting that she was quick to slip out of his angry grip when they initially met. After practising this for a while, she becomes impatient again that she hasn't had the chance to deal any damage. Alonzo is about to lecture her on how wearing out an opponent with dodging could allow her to knock them down with weaker attacks - until the intercom blares, and Macavity calls all henchcats to his den. Alonzo postpones their training.

Macavity's den is like a large meeting room, with a side cupboard that contains his nest. In the meeting room, all the hench cats congregate. Beside him, the tom Teazer defended stands anxiously. The other hench cats he had left with prior also seem to be extremely nervous. Macavity is clearly holding back anger. Macavity begins lecturing the room that failure isn't something that can be brushed off as a simple mistake. It is an active threat upon the future of the clan and must be punished with significant force. Teazer is afraid, and whispers to Alonzo - asking what's going on. Alonzo explains that Macavity will often send cats out on missions for him - spying, reconnaissance, theft, etc. Anything that provides useful resources or information. Whenever a group fail to retrieve anything of worth - or worse, compromise his plans, Macavity becomes enraged, and often kills whoever is at fault. Teazer becomes terrified for the safety of the tom and asks Alonzo if he will be okay. He tells her that the cat is called Jerrie - and he usually takes the blame for anything that goes wrong in any expedition he goes out on. Teazer asks why, and Alonzo explains that Macavity - while seemingly not giving a single shit about the rest of their wellbeing, has allowed Jerrie to get away with allsorts - and hasn't killed him yet. Because of this, everyone pins their mistakes on him - knowing he won't be killed, and knowing it will save their own hides. He notes that the only downside is that public executions and beatings are, well... public, and they're all forced to witness it. He advises Teazer to think of a happy time in her life, close her eyes, and try her best not to listen too much.

Back in the Queen's den. Bomba and Demeter are talking about their childhood. Bomba tells her about life as a street cat, but explains that she hadn't always been alone. After the recession, her humans had abandoned her, and she ended up here - lured in with promises of somewhere safe to sleep. She'd been under Macavity's control ever since, and her scars are from fighting back against him. At this point, Mac has given up on her, but keeps her around as a bodyguard for the harem - acknowledging her strength. Bomba says she'd almost feel flattered if she didn't hate Mac's guts so much. Demeter tells her that she had always been part of the Jellicle tribe, and that her mother had passed away only recently. Macavity had been there for her after her mothers death, which led to them developing romantic feelings for each other. Bomba is surprised - claiming she'd never seen Mac express a genuine emotion in his life. At this point, the queen who had left before returns. Her fur is ruffled and she refuses to look any of the other queens in the eye. Cassandra approaches her at her nest, and holds her paws over her for a moment before shaking her head. Bomba dismisses herself from the conversation with Demeter and brings the queen water and food.

Once all the henchcats have finally filtered out from Macavity's den, Teazer waits at the doorway to try and catch Jerrie in a conversation, but the tom doesn't seem to be leaving. When she spies in through a crack in the door, she sees Macavity tending to the tom's wounds and fixing his fur. Jerrie doesn't recoil from the clan leader. Utterly confused - Teazer is about to enter again, but is distracted by Alonzo's voice calling to her from the hall. She quickly returns to his side and asks why Macavity is bothering with Jerrie at all. Alonzo expresses his own confusion. He tells her that Jerrie had been there the longest out of all of them, and has spent most of his life in the clan. He notes that the tom is good at what he does - exceedingly good. He's an excellent thief, and incredible escape artist, and one of the few cats in the clan who can actually read written English. Rumpleteazer suggests that this must be why Macavity doesn't kill him - but Alonzo rejects this, noting that Macavity has killed off much better spies and thieves than Jerrie for much smaller mistakes. Regardless, they head back to the henchcat den for food and a mental and physical rest.

After taking a short nap, Teazer wakes up to find the den mostly empty. She finds a catscratch note from Alonzo explaining that he'd gone out on an expedition and would be back after curfew. She sighs in frustration that they wouldn't be able to spend the afternoon training, and alerts the attention of Jerrie, who is quietly sifting through the pantry for something to eat. Teazer offers him the rest of her tin of tuna, and he shakes his head. Growing more frustrated, she yells at him that she isn't bad like the others, and that he needs to accept that she wants to be his friend. He expresses to her that he doesn't think she's a bad cat, but that he doesn't want her to be targeted for being an ally of his. She laughs, and assures him that she can take care of herself, explaining that Alonzo is training her. Jerrie laughs that Alonzo always picks the strangest cats to train, and the two of them share the remainder of the tin. Teazer apologises for her brash and rude behaviour when they first met, and Jerrie also apologises for being dismissive of her. Teazer also expresses guilt at abandoning Demeter in the harem and says she wants to visit her to ensure that she is safe. Jerrie agrees to escort her there once they have finished eating, as he is a regular visitor to the queens, and is one of the few toms that Macavity allows inside their den.

Part 5 and onwards of my outline will come at a later date!!

[batfamfucker]

I need a batfam Onward AU right now where all the batsiblings pile into Jason's shitty truck so that babey Damian can meet their dad for the first time properly. Bruce is the deaceased parent who loves his kids so much that when he founds out he was sick, he looked for every solution he could find to spend even one more day with his kids and he did and is so excited to meet and see his babies again. Alfred was the parental figure left behind to protect the others and is a badass who would trail all over the country to protect his dumbass grandkids who go on spontaneous adventures. Dick was the one who actively had to be a father figure to his siblings, missing out on much of his own childhood so he could fill the mantle Bruce left behind because even if Alfred was the best, there's only so much he too can do alone. Jason is the punk with the truck who makes 'bad life choices' and advocates to protect historical monuments and such, who doesn't mind getting into trouble with cops if it means protecting things he cares about, especially his family. Tim is the D&D fanatic and he's good at finding clues even in the tiniest of details, who fights with his baby brother all the time, but satan be damned if he didn't think he'd risk eveything to help his baby brother meet their dad. Cass doesn't have many memories of Bruce and was only newly adopted when he passed. But she's passionate, good with a sword, maps, and, similar to Tim, has an eye for pointing out details, espcially when her brothers are too busy fighting to see what's in front of them. Damian is only young, so unsure of who he is and who he's meant to be. He knows his family is there to support him, but it'd still be nice to get advice from his father. Yet, he's full of unexplored potential and is destined to be both a great man and great wizard some day, he just needs to believe in himself the way his siblings do.

Bonus: Tim does actually canonly play D&D

[kimberly-spirits13]

For Wandering Dreamers (Pt 1)

Pairing: Damian Wayne x reader

Synopsis: After hearing your parents argue about something for what feels like the zillionth time that night, you escape to your books and comics for some escaping of reality. Just as the argument ends with slamming doors, a note and locket landed on your bed. Inscribed on the note was a promise of new adventures and a better life awaiting you.

Warnings: Mentions of fighting and terrible parents, attempted rape on random person (not character or anyone significant), language

Word Count: 2482

You shut the door of your bedroom after hearing your parents arguing about something for what felt like the billionth time that night. Just for precaution, you locked it hoping that they wouldn’t come in to get you to settle an argument. Oh, how you hated life. It was a terrible, worthless, annoying piece of garbage that eventually fucked everyone over. The only thing that you had to distract yourself was your books, and your comics. It was a world of escape that was so simple, yet so complex and distant. The objects were for any lost soul, bound to a place and reality where they could not help the need to float away from at times. Seeing the problems of the characters play out on the pages and eventually be solved was a comfort for some. It was to you at least. You sat down at your bed with one of your books. Tonight, you would be embarking on the adventures of Batman in your graphic novel.

           It didn’t take long before you were totally and completely engulfed in the book. The action of it all and the keen problem solving of the world’s greatest detective was enough to pull anyone in. You almost didn’t notice the strange piece of paper and pendent drop onto your bed. You wouldn’t have if you didn’t hear a door slam in the background. You looked down seeing the gold piece of paper. It looked like it had fallen from the heavens the way the color was so untarnished. The pendant looked that out of a fairy tale, gems of all sorts outlining it and a silver base. You saw that in elegant white lettering was inscribed a message. It read as so,

           “Pack your things and leave your cares for new adventure awaits everywhere. To and froe, here and there, the words inscribed will take you erase all cares. Reality will sleep and dreams come to play but you may return any day. No time will change and life you may live but for a lovely vacation, at your service this pendant is. Take the pendent and repeat the top, for awaiting you are worlds of unmatched beauty and action. Made for lost souls and wandering dreamers, here you may leave this place of pain- stricken fever.”

           “This is a joke.” You mumbled aloud. And then again why not test it to find out, “Fine.” “If this really is some magical pendant or something to take me away, I’m ready to go, 100%.”

           You noticed that it was a locket, large enough to store the little note. So, with this, you folded gently the piece of golden paper and tucked it ever so neatly into the locket. You then decided that you would take your most valuable asset. Books. It was important that you took ones that you might find most important and then a few that you hadn’t read. There should be food on the worlds. I mean, there always is. But then again... You grabbed your hidden food stash and notebook plus a few pens.

           “Well how do I know where I am going?” You asked to the paper.

           Another piece dropped on your bed and you look up. This one wasn’t in rhyme so you assumed that whoever was making it just got tired of having to make up weird quest like pieces to please the book worms.

           “To assure your location think of the place you would like to go as you repeat the verse.”            

           “Thanks.” You said half expecting to see another piece float down with a, “You’re welcome.” scribbled on it.

           You thought of where you wanted to go and then looked down at your Batman book.

           “I want to meet the people that raised me.” You stated grabbing that book and your entire DC character guide.

           You had learned from all of your studying how to solve mysteries. You had decided at a young age that the only way to not end up like those around you was to do better than everyone else around you. That wasn’t a hard thing to do, however, it meant long hours studying and working to be the best.  You had however thought that if nothing else worked, bringing this to the cave would be a sure- fire great way to make Batman take you in. You also took your knife that your Karate teacher had gifted you once you joined the adult league at the youngest age there. They knew that it was something that you might need even though a few months of boxing and years of Karate was already under your belt.

           You stuffed all of this in your bag including some hygiene things and a few sets of new clothes. Man, your bag was stuffed, however the duffle would just have to carry all of this. The back of your book had a map of the DC World. In it, was a map of the Batcave and from different shows that you had seen you had noted the best ways to get inside. I mean sure, you could just go get yourself into trouble or go just knock on the front door, but, this sounded more fun. You started to read the note before thinking about something, you had better take your phone and charger just in case.

           “Okay here we go.” You read the top part of the note aloud thinking of where you wanted to go.

           Without any more notice, a bright purple mist was spiraling up your legs, and then torso, and then you were completely wrapped around in it before it suddenly disappeared. You looked around seeing that you were in an alley way and your bag was on your back.

           “Oh, thank God.” You sighed in relief glad that your things came through, “Okay first order of business.” You got your knife out of the side pocket of your bag and then locked it so that no small potential Robins could pick pocket you. The knife was for extra protection. You knew that the street life in Gotham was wild so it was better to be possibly over cautious than sorry.

           “Alright, next I need to get to a roof top.” You mumbled looking around for a fire escape or something to aid you.

           “Watcha doin on a night like this pretty?” You heard from a small distance away.

           “Please, l-leave me alone. I have kids to get back to.” There was a woman’s voice along with the other.

           “Come here sweetheart, if you play nicely I might just let you go.” He said before you heard a slap and then him becoming visibly angry, “Why you little bitc...”

           “Great Gotham! Didn’t your mother ever teach you how to treat a lady?” You asked the man throwing an empty beer bottle at his head. “Oh, thank Gotham for having the drunks.” You thought.

           He looked at you and dropped the woman before running at you.

           “Aye mate!” You said in a funny accent, “I guess she never did.” You stabbed him in the shoulder causing him to holler out in pain before you drop kicked him and knocked him out with the base of the other bottle that you found.

           “Ms., please call the police. I suggest that you find somewhere safe. I can walk with you if you’d like. I’m a black belt.” You remarked to the terrified woman, “Hey, you’re alright now, and your kids will still have a mamma to come home to.” You helped her up and then pointed to an open drug store, “I know that this is Gotham and it sucks at night, but it might be your best chance.” “I’ll stay here and make sure that he doesn’t get away.”

           “T-thank you.” She said, “Do you need any help, a young lady shouldn’t be out here at night.”

           “Oh, no thank you. I am just fine.” You answered, “Now please, I don’t really know how efficient the GCDP is after 9 so if you don’t mind, my cell is dead.”

           She nodded and crossed the street to the Gotham Drugstore.

           “Well, I guess B will have to wait for a few minutes.” You said.

           You stopped suddenly when you heard someone drop behind you.

           “Supervillain or Bat?” You asked.

           “Robin actually.” You heard in response, “That was impressive from someone just off the streets. Is it true that you are a black belt? Karate I presume?” He asked just as you turned around.

           “Omg you’re Dam...” You stopped yourself, “I can’t say that with him here never mind.” “Oh, I’m Y/N to answer your question, and yes I am a blackbelt in Karate. Glad that you noticed.”

           “Wait... you know my name?” He asked, “How?” He took out his swords and you took a nope step backwards.

           “Woah, calm down there. I’m from a different universe where you and this entire universe are in comics.” “Cliché I know. I just discovered I could travel here 10 minutes ago.” “I have proof too.”

           “Fine. Come with me.” He said as he grabbed your waist and shot the grapple up making the two of you fly to the top of the building.

           You blushed for a quick second almost noticing that he did the same.

           “Show me your evidence.” He demanded.

           “Very well.” You plopped your bag onto the rooftop and pulled out the Batman comic and character guide.

           “Damian Wayne?” You looked up at him as he sat down.

           “C-correct.”

           “And Nightwing is Dick, Hood is Jason, Red is Tim, Batgirl is Steph, or is she Cass right now?” You asked.

           “No, Brown is Batgirl.” He affirmed.

           “Okay so that means Black Bat is Cass, B is Bruce, Batwoman is Kate, Oracle is Babs...” You were about to go on before he stopped you.

           “Okay, okay, I believe you please don’t share this to the entire city.” He smirked some.

           “Oh, trust me, I won’t.” You put your hands up and showed him the pendant, “I came here because this necklace thing and a note on how to use it landed on my bed in the said different universe.” “It’s addressed to lost souls and wandering dreamers but my first thought was to come here and meet the heroes that raised me as a kid.”

           “Excuse me for being so brash but, do you not have parents?” Robin asked.

           “Poor excuses for them.” You answered, “But yes, I do.” “However, I was never raised by them at all. It was always books and comics that did. I learned to solve mysteries and started homeschooling on top of regular school at a young age (I actually do this with a friend of mine it isn’t easy but we have big dreams lol). Wonder Woman and Batman taught me a lot so I just wanted to come and meet them.”

           “And you thought saving a civilian was the way to do it?” He asked interested in your story.

           “No actually, I know where the cave is and figured I would go there as a start, but you know Gotham is weird like that.” You answered laughing some.

           “You know where the cave is?” He asked floored at the statement.

           “Duh, there’s a map in the back.” You smiled some flipping it to the very back of the book, “There’s also the Fortress of Solitude.”

           “Impressive. Wait... do you know who the Joker is?” Damian questioned as you packed the bag up.

           “Give me a place to stay and I might just help with that.” You replied standing up and giving a hand for him.

           “Deal.” He then stopped, “If you really know where the cave is, show me.”

           “Okay.” You shrugged, “What building is this?”

           “We’re near the bank, it’s this way.” He took you to the bank top and you smiled looking over what you knew as Gotham.

           “Alrighty. Let’s go.”

           The two of you made it to the cave in what was almost record time, though he wouldn’t admit it, he was very much impressed by you in multiple ways. The two of you walked in talking some before you were stopped.

           “Robin who is this?” A stern voice came.

           “Batman this is...” You cut Damian off.

           “Mr. Wayne, I’m Y/N. I came from a different universe where you guys are all in comics and books and basically are fictional.” You said, “And it is totally normal that I know who you are so you can stop internally freaking out.” “Also, the famous Batman “I am the night” monologue is fabulous and I recommend you do it more often.” You laughed some at the last part as Bruce was shocked to see that you knew all of this and that his son of all people was okay with you.

           “Show him the books Y/N.” Damian suggested.

           “Oh yes. Good idea.” You said opening the bag, “It isn’t every day you get to meet your childhood hero so I’m over here internally freaking out to be honest.” You smiled flipping to the page that had Batman plastered all over it before passing it to Bruce who now saw no point in keeping his mask on since now he knew that you knew who everyone is.

           “So, “The Adventures of Batman”?” He asked giving the famous bat-smirk.

           “Not only that, but you have a ton of animated series, movies, and even appearances in things like “Justice Leauge Unlimited” and a bunch of other forms of entertainment. The others do as well.” “You guys, well Wonder Woman, not really Clark, yourself, and a bunch of others were better parents then the ones I have at home. I practically dedicated my life to learning everything that I could and solving cases because of you all.” You took the book back, “I figured that bringing this book would help solve even more and maybe get Timothy to sleep.” You smiled some packing it away.

           “Father, Y/N took down someone that was 2 times larger than her and was going to rape a young woman.” “Apparently she’s a black belt in Karate which is believable with the form that I witnessed.”

           “Well, Y/N. Do you have anywhere to go?” Bruce asked, “I trust that my son knows what he’s doing and don’t entirely doubt your story.”

           “I mean I have no where besides home in the different universe. Trust me when I tell you that I do not want to go home.” You said in a serious tone throwing Bruce off some since you had been so kind and upbeat, “It’s not pretty there.”

           “Very well, I will have Alfred show you to your bedroom.”

           “I GET TO MEET ALFRED?” You almost blew up in excitement, “Sorry, Alfred is just awesome.” You laughed awkwardly some.

           That was the most eventful night of your life, and unbeknownst to you, life was only going to get wilder.

Note: I have been wanting to write this for a minute. I know that it is a bit cliché, however, I wanted to put a spin on it with the book and mad detective skills. I remember back when my family was going through some pretty shitty times, music and books were my go to escape when sleep stopped working. Also, as stated in the story, my friend and I do actually do homeschool on top of actual school. He wants to go to Harvard and I Oxford so we’re working hard lol. Anyways, I hope you’re having a wonderful week. If you have any requests, please feel free to send them in. If you pick up on anything you’d like to correct me on, please go right ahead and message me, I love fixing mistakes and being better at writing. I hope that you have a lovely week and stay safe and healthy. 😊

(PS: Thank you so much for all of the sweet messages! They make my day when I read them.)