#Concerned vigilantes: We just want to help these meta kids :(

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 305

So. Uh. Danny feels like laughing hysterically, because? Ghostwriter was doing a thing, and one of Pandora’s curses escaped and erm, well, now the six of them are in a whole other dimension. At least this place has a lot of abandoned warehouses but still. And well, he guesses he’s no longer the only ‘monster’ now? 

But seriously they all need to find a way back home sooner rather than later, even if they might now be stuck in this world… Fuck.

[alumbianchronicler]

Part 7

Sam and Tucker were reluctant to leave Danny's side. This place, the Watchtower, was supposed to be safe, but that didn't mean they trusted the adults that ran it.

After all, the Anti-Ecto Acts had yet to be fully repealed, even if they were apparently "under review." Honestly, they expected the "review" to be swept away under the rug and nothing to come from it, leaving the Acts in place.

And the Justice League was a government-related agency, right? Or at least, it felt too much like the Guys in White for their comfort.

Telling Batman and the others as much as they had was only because there was no other choice. And that "Constantine" guy was... kind of a dick, and definitely knew too much about ghosts to be trusted.

So they wanted to keep an eye on Danny.

But the doctors had nearly forced them out of the waiting room by threatening to lock them out if they didn't go get something to eat, so they had slipped down to the cafeteria to see whether there was anything actually edible.

Surprisingly, they did, for both of their tastes, so the two sat at one of the tables, exuding as much "don't fuck with us" energy as they could.

Apparently it wasn't enough, since after a few minutes Red Robin came over and sat down near them.

"What are the Anti-Ecto Acts and why haven't we heard about them before?"

Sam and Tucker both had their plastic silverware in hand and ready to stab the vigilante before he even finished his question.

"Why do you want to know?" Tucker asked.

Red Robin raised his hands in surrender, but kept his gaze on them. "There's basically no information about Phantom and Ecto-entities that's easily searchable. I looked a little deeper, based on what Constantine's said, and it's... bad. Why doesn't anyone know about this?"

Sam's glare deepened, but Tucker frowned. "The Justice League doesn't know?"

Red Robin shook his head, lowering his hands to the table but keeping them visible. He wanted to know what these teenagers knew, because it was obvious they knew more than even the Fenton parents did. "Not a whisper."

There was silence for a long moment as Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. Sam was not keen on trusting anyone. Honestly, she thought they should continue handling everything on their own, as they had been. After all, if the Justice League didn't know so far, then they hadn't cared enough to look hard enough.

Tucker thought they should let them help. Give them the information needed, and get Danny some actual allies.

Ones who could actually do more about the situation than they could, especially because the GiW were going to go nuts with the destruction Danny caused in Gotham...

"Give me an upload link, I'll send you our files," Tucker finally said, looking back. He ignored how Sam's glare turned to him. "But if you use them against ghosts, against Phantom, I will find every single computer you've ever used, and fill them so full of viruses they'll be studied in ultra-secret Russian research facilities."

Red Robin nodded seriously, pulled out a piece of paper and pen, and noted down the information needed. "I promise," he said, handing over the piece of paper, "that we'll do everything we can to make sure these laws are repealed. They're directly violating Meta-Human Rights Laws."

"Apparently Ecto-entities haven't been considered "human enough" to count," Sam countered, tone vitriolic as she looked back at RR.

The look she got in return was clearly concerned, even through the mask. "We'll do everything we can to make sure that changes. In the meantime... you make sure Phantom's ok. Joker venom exposure is... not pretty."

The two kids looked back at each other and nodded, suddenly looking so much more tired than indignant, their worry for their friend coming through clearly.

As they were leaving the cafeteria, Red Robin was already pulling up the rest of the Bats on his coms. "Hey everyone, we need to do something for that kid that just killed the Joker. Who's in?"

Turns out it was everyone. Everyone was in.

Short DPXDC Prompts #772

Danny kills the Joker, not knowing of the kill switch set to release Joker gas the moment Jokers heart stops beating.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Sunday Cleaning

We need more prompts with the Batfam and Alfred and I won't stand this Alfred erasure no more. (Side note, I didn't mean to write this much. It was suppose to be like bullet point fluff prompts like my last submission damn it.)

Alfred loves Bruce as his own child and Bruce's kids as his own grandchildren. Do not get him wrong he loves them all. It is just that as an old man growing older, he is not as fit as he used to be. Can he still get a bullseye with his guns? Yes. Will he still be able to shoot at people threatening his kid, his grandkids? He can and will, but it won't always remain that way. Just an old man growing fear of not being as helpful in saving his vigilante family from criminals to sometimes each other. Luckily he is still fit for his age, and while his worsening health is a concern, it is a concern for the far future. And he has plans in place for when his body fails him, after all, Batman having plans for his plans for his plans was partly a learned behavior from him. In the mean time, he is still the sole butler maintaining a mansion with secret nooks, crannies, and a hidden Batcave.

His newest grandkid, Danny, seems so unsure of his place in the household despite his attitude. Sure he gets along well with his brothers and sisters and his father (costume or not), but it is the little actions of double checking if he can do something by side-glancing his siblings that hurts Alfred. The sheer insecurity of even sitting on expensive furniture when Alfred knows he was the one who personally told Master Danny stories of a young Master Dick regularly swinging on the chandeliers since he was eight, Master Jason's vandalism of the Batcar, and even being told of how Master Damien ruined the shrubbery by using them as target practice with his swords. Danny is acting a lot like how Duke used to be. Careful of himself and his powers because of knowledge of Batman's stance on metas in Gotham, and how fragile their own family seems because of their abilities. They all know they are still learning, and occasionally causing mistakes or having fritz, but they are still children scared of accidentally hurting their family. 

It is only Sunday evening and the vacuuming must be done. However, he will bring up his concerns to Bruce when he returns from Wayne Towers. But speaking of the devil ghost, there he is. 

"Hello, Master Danny. What seems to be the concern?" While Bruce is a self-proclaimed detective, Alfred does not need to be one to see when his grandkid has an issue they want to discuss but is unsure how. 

"Umm nothing, but since I'm here, do you need help? Like I can lift stuff or turn it intangible if it helps?" Alfred lifts a brow. Not an answer, but it appears Danny is not ready to talk. Maybe some cocoa later will help.

"Your assistance will be appreciated, young Master. I will provide hot cocoa and some finger food afterwords." He has raised and helped raised several growing children. The only difference between Danny and the rest is only an increase in appetite due to his powers. The vigilantism is practically a genetic trait in his hodge-podge family. (And practically no one in this family stays dead for long.)

He has been both the sole servant since the passing of the Mister and Misses Wayne and sole caretaker of Master Bruce. He has taken care of this home and the residents single-handily since. Despite never needing help for chores, he still does not need help just yet. He can and will still deny Master Bruce desire to help. Don not get him wrong. His child is a great hero, but his life ban of cooking in his kitchen (despite it technically being Bruce's kitchen) still stands. But if his grandson wants to spend time with his calm grandfather before he is ready to talk about his problem, then who is he to deny? (And having a grandchild who can lift and turn objects intangible will finally make cleaning those dusty corners a breeze.)

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Into The Unknown, Part 8

First

Previous

Marinette had never thought that living in another world would be this hard.

Sure, she had known that she would have issues when it came to the whole ‘she wasn’t technically supposed to be here and therefore needed a new identity’ thing. That was kind of obvious. The story they’d come up with had been simple enough -- she had grown up in Gotham with her parents, was highschool sweethearts with Tim, they had gotten married, he’d moved in with her, and her parents had died so she’d gotten custody of Damian. She was pretty sure Tim had a tragic backstory, but she didn’t really have that memorized yet. She wasn’t all that worried about it, though, she spent quite a lot of time dodging answering questions about her private life as Ladybug. Marinette probably wouldn’t even need to memorize his backstory (she would, of course, because she was nothing if not an overachiever, but she was well aware of the fact that it wasn’t quite necessary).

But, no, it was the small things that made it difficult.

Like affection.

Marinette was Parisian, she was used to greeting people with kisses on both cheeks. Hugs were something reserved for people you were close to.

But, no, Americans just insisted on being backward in everything that they do. And, supposedly, Marinette was American. She could get away with her accent because Gotham had a bunch of different people and it was easy to claim she came from the French part of town, but when it came to customs? No, she had to at least try and act like someone who had lived in America for her entire life.

So, when she was greeted with a hug from the most affectionate of her fellow interns, Marinette suppressed a cringe and patted her on the back awkwardly.

“Hi, Paige,” she said.

Paige beamed. “Ready for work?”

Marinette squinted up at the building. The WE in this universe was even taller than in her usual one.

… or maybe it just looked like that because she dreaded going inside. Ugh. Being an intern was going to suck.

“No.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

“Thanks…”

But, despite Paige’s assurances, it did not go fine.

And it wasn’t even the job thing that wasn’t going well. That, at least, she could handle. No, it was this world’s meme culture that sent her spiraling.

She’d been holding exactly nine cups of coffee, seven mugs of tea, and one energy drink can. Marinette didn’t know if it was her time working in a bakery or some sort of latent Ladybug skills or what but it wasn’t even all that difficult to hold them all.

Paige raised her eyebrows at her, looking vaguely concerned. “Do you need help?” She asked, hands already out as if expecting her to say yes.

Marinette cracked a grin. “No. I’m fine. It’s not even that hard. I could probably carry another two drinks, even.”

“Freaky flexing, but fine.”

“... the fuck did you just say to me?”

~

Tim hummed lightly as he bounced on the balls of his feet, baby sleeping soundly on his shoulder. Marinette fumbled the keys to their new apartment, mumbling curses.

She’d outright told him that she didn’t really care, that she’d lived above a bakery for most of her life so it wasn’t like she would mind as long as the place had counter space…

So why was he nervous?

He felt the tiny hand in his shirt grip him tighter and he looked down. Damian was still fast asleep, sucking on his pacifier peacefully. Tim wondered, idly, how that worked. Was it a reflex that humans lose as they age like the grasping reflex or was it a learned behavior that went away when it wasn’t reinforced anymore?

Marinette managed to open the door, her cheeks tinged red at how difficult it had been, and she swung it open.

He stopped bobbing up and down to watch her face.

But she just shrugged to herself and bent down to grab the box she’d brought up.

He tried not to look too relieved as he followed her inside and watched her set the box down on the kitchen island.

She glanced back at him. “I call cleaning and setting up the apartment!” She said brightly.

“Okay…?” He said, confused as to why she was so excited to clean up…

But then Damian started to stir.

Oh. If she had cleanup duty… then he had…

Baby duty.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Shit, Mari, wait --!”

“Too late! You already said okay!” She said, already heading to the door.

Damian spat out his pacifier and took that one long, deep breath he always took before he was about to scream.

“Mari!”

She stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared around the doorframe just as the baby started to cry.

Tim heaved a sigh and pressed a kiss to the top of the kid’s head. The wailing quieted a little, but didn’t stop. Tim would take it, he hadn’t even been expecting Damian to quiet himself. This was an absolute win in his book.

He glanced at the box that had been brought up but, unfortunately, they hadn’t had enough foresight to bring the baby supplies.

He poked his head out the door and yelled for Marinette to bring up the box with the baby stuff first. She yelled ‘fuck you’ in response but when she came back she handed him the box regardless.

He smiled -- or, at least, he smiled as much as it was possible to smile when a baby was screaming at you -- and went to work figuring out what was wrong.

~

There was good news and bad news.

Good news was that Damian was starting to learn that crying was okay.

Bad news was that Damian was starting to learn that crying was okay.

And, listen, Marinette obviously preferred that. She wanted to know when the kid was hurt or hungry or even just craving affection… but ugh.

She twisted around in the bed to squint at the clock.

Three o’clock. Great.

She groaned softly and buried her face in Damian’s hair again. “Dami, please, I have work tomorrow. Shhhhhhhhh,” she pleaded. As if she didn’t have to go to work every day.

Damian, of course, didn’t stop crying.

Marinette thought she was going to cry.

Tim pulled his arm from around them so he could cover his ears with his pillow.

She reluctantly sat up. Damian banged his little fists against her shoulder in an attempt to tell her… something. Probably that he wasn’t happy. As if the entire apartment complex couldn’t hear just how unhappy he was.

She changed his diaper and then got him Cow. Hopefully that would sate him for the rest of the night.

She clambered back into bed and sent Tim a weak smile when he wrapped an arm around them.

She scooted toward him, because Damian was reaching for him and his eyes were closed, and tucked her head under his chin. He tensed just slightly before relaxing and tangling his legs with hers.

Damian seemed to like being cocooned between them, because he made a vague happy sound and settled down to sleep without much (more) fussing.

Tim hummed lightly. His voice was terrible, but it seemed to calm Damian so Marinette wasn’t about to complain.

It took a while for Damian to go back to sleep but, eventually, he did. Unfortunately, he fell asleep while biting the crinkly ears of his plush and it was hard to sleep with the steady crkcrkcrkcrk sound right next to her.

From the way Tim’s breathing had yet to slow, he wasn’t asleep either.

Well, at least that was something to do.

“I’m beginning to think the reason babies are so cute is that otherwise we would kill them,” she joked, her voice soft so as not to wake the kid again.

Not that it would matter all that much. She could, unfortunately, not see herself going back to sleep before her alarm went off.

He chuckled and nodded as much as he could with her head beneath his. “Right? I just want one night of good sleep --.”

He stopped suddenly.

She drew back a little to check that he was fine, only to see him looking mildly horrified.

“We need to go back home soon. I’m going to get used to sleeping like a normal person. I can’t do that,” he said.

She grinned. “Oh no. The horror.”

“No, you don’t get it. If I do that then I’ll be giving into my family’s wishes. I can’t let them think they’re right about something!”

She giggled, shaking her head. “Here, I’ll make it easier for you: I don’t want you to sleep. As Dami and I are your only family -- legally -- for the next fifteen years, you must not do what we want. Therefore, you have to sleep.”

“Ah. Reverse psychology.”

“Well, I am a psych major.” Some of the amusement faded. “Was a psych major.”

“... really?”

“Yeah. I dunno. I’d figured it was the closest I could get to being Ladybug again.”

“You’re still Ladybug.”

She shrugged just slightly. “Yeah. I dunno,” she said again. She tried for a grin. “Doesn’t feel the same when there’s no emotional terrorism involved.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to do the same thing over and over again for a million years.”

“There’s some comfort in things staying the same.”

“Oh? Maybe we should trade.”

“That’s an amazing plan that I see no problems with. You get to go around beating up the Meta Of The Week and I’ll stay in Gotham dealing with all the idiots in spandex.”

“Are we switching outfits, too?”

“Oh yeah. Obviously. Gotta commit to the whole ‘switching’ thing. I bet I’ll look cuter in your outfit, too.”

“Ah, yes, because cuteness is the most important part of vigilante costumes.”

“We end up in papers all the time, being cute is totally important.”

He chuckled lightly and she felt the arm around her give her a tiny squeeze. She buried her face in his chest.

“You should try and sleep.”

“Hypocrite,” she teased, but she could already feel her eyelids drooping.

He hummed. She thought that, maybe, it didn’t sound so bad as to make him stop.

~

Tim had been in the middle of bathing Damian as he always did before bed when he’d accidentally splashed water on his face.

Perfectly fine and normal.

What wasn’t perfectly fine and normal was that the baby responded by saying: “Oh shit!”

Tim’s eyes narrowed.

“MARINETTE,” he yelled.

Marinette was there in seconds. There was some kind of green paste on her face. She’d been in the middle of her usual skincare routine. He thought it was kind of weird that near-immortals needed skincare routines but that wasn’t the point here.

She looked around frantically. “What?! What’s wrong?!”

“Damian just said sh --... he said the s-word.”

Marinette relaxed at that and sent Tim a glare. “Don’t blame this one on me. You’re the one that says that.”

Tim frowned. Because, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure she was right.

“Now, if he’d said ‘fuck’, that would have been on me, but he didn’t, so --.”

“FUCK,” Damian said brightly.

Tim glared at Marinette again, this time rightfully so.

She looked a little sheepish. “... okay, yeah, that one’s on me.”

~~~~~

Next

@nathleigh @peachmuses @unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff

[miss-choco-chips]

North star

Core disaster week Day 1: Bart’s Birthday// First kiss

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Cassie smiled, sitting down in the picnic blanket. There was so much fucking food- it was awesome.

But not as awesome as being together, all of them. It’d been a while since they managed to meet like this. Kon, particularly, had been hard to pin down and convince to come; but exceptions had to be made on certain days, and Bart’s birthday was the height of special occasions.

Tim, too. She risked a glance at him, stony and silent, and smiled sadly. It truly had been too long.

Sitting each on one end of the blanket, like a flesh and blood compass rose, she smiled again at the unintended philosophy of it all. Bart to the east, bringing the sun into their lives, his energy and warmth a hope for the new day; Kon to the south, lost in memories of the past but a steady, firm ground beneath them; She herself to the west, holding the weight of it all on her shoulders like the sky held the heaviness of sunset; And Tim, sweet, depedable Tim, was undoubtedly their north.

“Cassie? Wonder-honey-baby-dearest girl?”

Snapping out of her reverie, Cassie waved Bart’s concerned face off.

“Don’t worry, just lost in thought. C’mon dude, it’s your day, we can’t start eating until you do!”

A little unsure, Bart sits back on his spot, glancing to his right at Tim. He hesitated a bit, something extremely unusual for a speedster presented with a widely varied menu (Kon and her had flown all over the world picking and choosing his favorites from every possible country- there was a lot).

“He doesn’t mind”, interrupts Kon softly, before anything else can be said.

Taking his word as the gospel it is, Bart’s face broke into the biggest smile and cleaned up his first plate of ‘a little bit of everything’ in less than a blink, already reaching out for more. Without even pausing his chewing, he started babbling out at Tim, who for once didn’t reprimand him on his table manners, nor tried to use a napkin to clean his chocolate-stained cheek. Cassie tried very hard to hide the pang that surprise-attacked her heart.

Desperate for a distraction, she turned to her right, to Conner. He was looking at the other two fondly, a small smile breaking through his face of steel like it was butter.

She remembered back when they were younger, just children, before all the tragedies and the losses; he had smiled easier, then. Wider, unprompted, freely. Giving that handsome smirk like it was candy on halloween.

“It was a good idea to come here”, he acknowledged, once again making her snap out of her head.

“One day, you’ll just accept that all my ideas are good.”

“Do I need to remind you about the deal with the beet demon?”

“That wasn’t that bad.”

“Cassie. We had to eat borsch for every meal. For a month. I don’t think Bart ever forgave you about that.”

They both waited for a second to see if the speedster was about to interject, but he seemed to have missed their conversation, regaling Tim with a tale of his latest training session with Wally.

“Anyway”, Kon coughed, drawing her back to their moment, “it really was. I… I know I wasn’t the easiest person to convince, so..”

“‘The easiest person’? I had to track you down across an entire hemisphere, lasso you like a wild animal and drag you here kicking and screaming. Literally. My bruises have bruises.”

“Anyway, thanks. I… needed to see you all again. I never thought we’d be able to just… sit here and enjoy ourselves, without… you know, all the…”

“Angst?”

“... yeah. How did you even manage to secure us this spot?”

Cassie smiled, leaning back against her arms, enjoying the sun on her face.

“You can thank Tim’s brother for that. I made him promise to make sure no one interrupted us today.”

The other meta snorted.

“It’d be a cold day in hell before I thank Nightwing for anything.”

She winced a bit, but refused to let the implications ruin her good mood. “Come on, you know he’s not my favorite person in the world, but he’s really doing his best to be here for” -a quick glance, Bart still talking his heart out to Tim- “the new Robin. If you can bury the battle axe...he’s not so bad, nowadays.”

Unsure, he shrugged.

“I don’t really care if he discovers the cure to cancer and spends the rest of his life in seclusion as a monk. If I see him on fire and I have a big water bottle, I might help him put it out- after taking a few drinks, first. But that’s as far as I’d be willing to go for him.”

Considering the numerous times Kon had tried to outright attack the older vigilante, Cassie was going to take it.

“How's Jon?” she asked, subject change as unsubtle as a kick to the chest, taking a delicious french pastry between thumb and forefinger and examining it.

He copied her, selecting something brown and salty-looking from the assorted items

“Nothing new. He’s still a better mentor than Supes, though his choice in friends leaves much to be desired. Still, like I told you, I’m… better? I think?”

A pause, as he washed down whatever he ate with a raspberry slushie. Bart’s incessant chatter, once annoying, was now a beautiful background noise. He was just so damn happy, Cassie felt more accomplished even than the time Diana first told her ‘good job’ after a spar. All he’d asked her for his birthday, soft and broken among his tears, had been this; just the four of them, together.

And she’d done her best to make it happen, securing this place and guilting Kon into accepting. She’d done it, and the memory of Bart’s genuine laugh as he told Tim about his last caught villain would -hopefully- be enough to deter the nightmares sure to come with sunfall.

“Anyway, he’s good. What about Donna?”

Cassie let her head fall back between her shoulder blades with a groan, closing her eyes against the glaring midday sun.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I love her to pieces, but honestly? I can see why my mom has so many grey hairs. Diana is lucky she’s perpetually young and perfect and thus doesn’t need to deal with stress lines. If this is what I was like when she trained me, I have a lot to apologize for. Starting, but not limited to, our days in Young Justice. We did so many stupid things back then.”

“So, the Titans are a riot?”

“They are a bad influence, and I hate how they taught Donna to disobey when I tell her to go to safety and let me do the fighting, but honestly, it’s so much like looking at our past, I can’t help but want to wrap them up in a blanket and wish them luck.”

“I wish you luck. This is why I refuse to take a younger hero under my wing. Too much responsibility.”

“You are a weak bitch. Even Bart is mentoring someone. We have to nourish the younger generation, Kon. Think of the children.”

“You are nineteen, stop talking like you just turned seventy.”

“Well, Cissie is retired. It’s not such a stretch.”

“I’ll tell her you said she’s old.”

“Don’t you dare.”

After those first few hiccups, the rest of the afternoon went smoothly. Uncharacteristically restrained of them, no food fight ensued, but even so it was a pretty fun day. They caught up with each other, teased about past exes and questionable fashion choices, and every silent, solemn moment was endured with joined hands and hearts, a united front against the grief.

Bart’s wet eyes shone, filled with gratitude, when he blew the candles. Cassie caught the exact moment on camera, having learnt the value of getting those precious seconds immortalized forever somewhere other than her own mind.

He kept his wish to himself, but it wasn’t really a mystery. Just by the way he glanced at Tim, they could harnett a pretty solid guess.

Heartache was a familiar, almost comforting feeling to her now, but the wave of raw emotion that almost washed her away at Kon’s crystalized eyes and Bart’s trembling hands gave her pause. Cassie looked away from them for just a second, giving herself this moment of weakness, and in the fleeting light of sunset, she could have sworn she saw a familiar face, looking over them from the shadow of a tree, smiling fondly.

But it was missing with her next blink, so she just shook her head to dispel any traces of wistfulness and turned back to her boys.

It was in silence that they picked up their stuff. Super speed would have made it a chore of just a millisecond, but none felt the urge to run away, so they took their time, hands brushing and then clutching while they cleaned up this sacred place they had borrowed for the day.

Cassie really needed to thank Damian for coming through for her on this. As much as she had despised the other vigilante in the past, a leftover feeling from Tim’s own feud with his older brother, she had learned to forgive and forget. It was, she’d come to accept, the only way she could move on.

Basket finally full with the blanket, empty plates and chocolate stained napkins (Kon’s hand had trembled as he cleaned Bart’s cheek in their leader’s stead), they stood together, arms around each other with the birthday boy in the middle. One by one, they said their goodbyes. It hurted a little less than the last time they could manage to do this, perhaps helped by the fact Kon hadn’t stormed off midway this time.

Cassie smiled. It was sad, it was raw, it was heavy. But it wasn’t broken. She-they- weren’t broken. A puzzle with a missing piece was incomplete, not shattered.

The hand not around Bart’s shoulders stretched, as Cassie’s finger traced the poem they had Bruce engrave in Tim’s tombstone.

“He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

The kids that had chosen that poem as immortalization of their grief had been drowning in it, she knew. Had needed a way to let the world know “we are not okay, we’ll never be okay again”. It was, maybe, what saved them back then.

But she wished she could crouch down in front of those lost, overwhelmed kids and tell them ‘you never stop missing him, but you learn to be happy again; and he brings you all together, just like the first time’.

So Cassandra Sandsmark, former Wonder Girl (now something more), lets her head fall back, looks at the setting sun and smiles. Because she can. Because she’s alive, and she’s gonna fucking smile for him, if its the last thing that she does.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The shadows of the coming night hide him, embrace him, want to keep him; he puts a stop to that, let’s himself be kept from wandering eyes but avoids the eternal retaking. He’s seen that side of the road and is under no hurry to visit it again.

Instead, he watches the young heroes, bathed in light and laughter, sitting around a dead bird’s grave.

He yearns. He wants, more than anything, to go to them. To join them in the warmth, in happiness. To go back to the only home that never felt anything else than welcoming.

But he has work to do; there’s a new Robin in the streets, and he needs to ensure that what happened to him doesn’t happen to this frail, rough around the edges and full of life bird.

He waits until they pick up and leave, before donning his suit and walking in the opposite direction. Hopefully, a time will soon come when he can smile with them again.

But, for now, the Red Hood has a clown to hunt and a criminal underbelly to conquer.

[listentothelittlebird]

Today I bring you: an alternate Super Sons meeting! (This is a scrapped scene from my Code Bat series on ao3, but I think this is still enjoyable without context!)

The rewrite of this is here!

“I told you, coming with me would be boring.”

“Tt. Whatever, Drake.”

The nickname had long lost its malicious tinge. Tim rolled his eyes, trying to quell the fond smile that was twitching at his lips by ducking his face back down towards the paperwork on his table.

He was in a usually vacant office, at the Wayne Enterprises building of New York. Damian was playing a video game of some sort on his phone. Tim leaned over to peer at the boy’s screen. Damian tried to jerk away from his view, but Tim had already caught sight of the display.

Tim snorted, “Is that Dragonvale?”

“Shut up,” Damian snapped, his emotions betrayed by the reddening of his cheeks. Tim laughed lightly before returning to his work, the office descending into companionable silence, the only sounds coming from Tim shifting around the papers and clicking and unclicking his pen.

Damian had insisted on coming along for Tim’s business trip to New York. Not because he wanted to have a hand at the business, no, but because the young artist was interested in sketching the streets of the city - especially from the more illegal perches they could find on the tall buildings.

A ping from Tim’s phone caught his attention. He frowned minutely, enough of a change for Damian to raise an eyebrow from where he had positioned himself in the corner of the office, right next to the window overlooking the street below. Damian had already grown bored of the same view, having sketched the same perpsective for three days straight.

“So much for a peaceful business trip,” Tim murmured, signing quickly to Damian from behind his desk, where the camera in the room was unable to see, “K-O-N is in town. Pursuing T-O-Y-M-A-N.”

Damian tilted his head to the side, a silent question of “How?”, because New York was not exactly a neighbour to Metropolis. Tim shrugged with a disgruntled look, “Let’s go. I’m pretty much done with what I have to do right now. The rest can wait until later.”

Damian kept pace with Tim as he made a quick detour to access his spare costume before exiting the building. They were becoming more and more like real brothers each day - just the fact that Damian was here with Tim, without any of their other family members, already spoke volumes on their improving relationship. “What do I do?” Damian wondered curiously, “I know you’re intending on meeting up with him. Would my presence be distracting?”

Tim pursed his lips in thought. He had to admit, Damian’s new costume - the robe dyed with faint colourings - was pretty neat, but also very easily located. Damian would definitely stand out, if he did suit up. Not to mention that Damian had little to no exposure to any metas besides Duke, and would struggle to hide from Kon’s super senses.

“If you’re ready to make your debut, then I’ll see you at the destruction zone,” Tim clasped his hand briefly on Damian’s shoulder before ducking into the nearest alleyway. Damian would take more time to make it to where Toyman was currently wreaking havoc, since he had left his robe in their hotel room.

Sure enough, when Red Robin swooped down from the nearest rooftop to land a direct hit on Toyman’s newest creation, the flash of Damian’s white costume was still nowhere to be seen.

There was, however, another tween present. It did not take a genius to realise from the boy’s red cape and blue Superman tunic that this was Kon’s younger brother, Jon.

“How did Toyman get all the way to New York?” Red Robin aimed the question at his teammate, electing to ignore the presence of the younger boy for the time being.

Superboy huffed, visibly annoyed. “He let loose a ton of smaller toy robots, miniatures of the one he’s currently on,” Kon pointed to the UFO-like contraption that was zipping about the skies. He then directed a glare at his younger brother, “And somebody decided to ditch homeland, so that their Pa has to do all the work taking the robots down himself.”

“Pa can take care of the robots just fine!” Jon yelled, angry tone still dangerously close to a whine, “And I can help you! It all works out!”

Kon looked ready to argue back, so Tim cut in with a quick, “Less talk, more work. We can deal with family squabbles later.” Both Superboys instantly fell silent.

Toyman was rather irritable, Tim realised. Particularly so for him, since he was unable to fly and was restricted to the rooftops or fire escapes along the sides of the buildings. It was one of the few times that he wished he had incorporated his gliding wings into his Red Robin suit instead of his Gotham suit.

The villain also seemed to have a shield around his robot, preventing them from inflicting much damage on the UFO he was in. Tim was also constantly weary of the civilians - they were unable to properly clear out of the way, since Toyman kept switching streets and running off in different directions.

Jon tried to punch straight through the shield, but the shield deflected the force of his blow right back at him with a displacing wave of energy, sending the boy hurtling into a nearby building. The boy growled and got back to his feet, aiming to punch the shield a second time. The buildings around them were already unstable from the force of the first blast.

“Kid, don’t!” Red Robin called, but Jon had already flown straight into the shield, forcefully flinging his fist into the barrier.

-

Damian arrived on scene just as the buildings began to crumble. He stayed crouched a distance away, just shy of the main impact zone of the concussive wave.

Damian first noted the failing infrastructures of the buildings nearest to the blast. He was moving before his thoughts had fully formed, diving quickly through the sizable hole in the building and sprinting towards the unlucky civilians that were caught up in the chaos. He had to clear the building fast, before they were crushed under it.

He lowered the last person to the ground with his grappling hook, only to look up and note the presence of not one, but two Superboys. The smaller one looked to be around his own age, which was both intriguing and concerning.

The second Superboy now looked down at him from where he was holding up the upper half of the building he had just exited. “Who are you?” the boy asked in bewilderment. Damian backed away before ducking into the alley beside him, making his way onto the rooftop of a stable building.

“I could use some help!” Red Robin yelled from one street over, where Toyman had retreated to. Red Robin was using what looked to be electrified bird-a-rangs, which were just barely able to get through the shield, but were not doing much in terms of damage.

Damian slipped a small throwing knife into his hand, aiming his shot carefully. Toyman was facing away from him, and his control panel was on full display from where Damian was crouched. He waited until Red Robin readied another bird-a-rang, before throwing his knife in sync with him.

The shield malfunctioned for a split second once more, and it was all that was needed for the knife to slip through at the same time as the bird-a-rang, planting itself neatly into the controls. The wiring fizzled for a brief moment as Toyman cried out, whipping his head back to meet Damian’s blank mask.

The shield disappeared, and then Superboy - Kon-El - was delivering a sharp punch that crunched through the robot’s metallic body easily. The younger Superboy came soon after, hanging back as Red Robin and his older brother subdued Toyman properly.

The boy wrinkled his nose briefly, before looking directly at Damian, his expression brightening. Damian took a cautious step away from the edge of his rooftop even as Superboy flew up to him, landing heavily enough to crack the concrete slightly.

“You’re the guy from earlier!” Superboy enthused, and extended a hand, “Hi! I’m Superboy!”

Damian gazed warily at the boy’s hand. “Will you crush my hand if I shake yours?” Damian blurted out. This was his first time holding a conversation with one of the Kryptonians, he realised.

Superboy froze, and his face fell as he retracted his hand, “Ah, maybe. Sorry, I- I’m new to the hero gig,” he smiled hesitantly, glancing around him, “This is the first time I’ve been Superboy in any city other than Metropolis, actually. It’s… different.”

“I can imagine,” Damian commented, shifting tensely on his feet. Superboy frowned at him, “Your heartbeat’s going kinda fast. You know you don’t need to be afraid of me, right?”

Damian huffed, wondering belatedly how his brothers dealt with their own teammates. “I’m not afraid,” he clarified, “But it isn’t every day you meet an alien.”

“I’m not- okay, fair,” Superboy paused abruptly to glance down at the street. Kon-El and Red Robin appeared over the rooftop’s edge.

“Who are you?” Kon-El questioned, more forcefully than his younger brother’s harmless query. Damian shrugged. “Canvas,” he offered, “That’s what I would prefer to be called.”

The older Kent’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t exactly explain who you are very well,” he stated slowly, “What were you doing in the area?”

“Passing through,” Damian quipped easily. Kon-El’s frown deepened, but lifted as Red Robin pulled up several news articles on his holo-glove.

“His appearance matches reports of a white-robed traveller in numerous countries,” Red Robin summarised, and Damian knew immediately that the older boy had planned this statement, “Reports say that he was always found returning something, like an artefact or valued possession, to the communities he visited. He was also reported fighting off supernatural beings and protecting civilians from them.”

When the two Superboys looked back at Damian again, their expressions were contemplative. “So you’re a solo vigilante who’s even more nomadic than Red Robin,” Kon-El concluded, earning a disgruntled noise from the aforementioned person.

The younger Superboy suddenly lit up in an excited grin.

“Bro!” the punch that he gave his older brother made Damian wince slightly, “Teen Titans! Let me join!”

“I’ve already said no, countless times,” Kon-El stated in exasperation, “I’ll only let you on if-”

“If I’m ready, I know, but what if I go through like, a trial period, you know? Just in case I really am ready,” Superboy pointed towards Damian, “And Canva can accompany me, because he’s experienced already, then he’ll be able to tell if I am ready!”

“It’s Canvas,” Damian snapped, before the boy’s words sunk in. Teen Titans?

“You need to ask him for permission,” Kon-El scolded, before turning towards him, “Well? Are you interested in joining a team?”

“I…” Damian was at a loss as to how to respond. This was not what he was expecting.

“How about this,” Red Robin suggested, pulling a communicator from one of his pouches and tossing it over. Damian caught it on instinct.

“Contact us if you’re interested. The offer is open.”

Damian pursed his lips under his mask and nodded mutely, pocketing the device before taking off.

[yconic]

this is meta I've thought about a lot. Because there's a lot of talk on "Bruce is responsible for all the crimes Joker does because he doesn't kill him" ok but wait a minute :

Call me crazy but, I don't think the others want Joker dead either, because?? Joker is smart, extremely so, and could probably get out of any situation at any given time, but he's got to be caught slipping. So why not kill him when he does? Why not take the opportunity to do the work yourself? Why haven't other heroes tried to kill him?

Sure, maybe Bruce would be there to try and stop them, but not all the time, so why? I always wondered, why did it have to be BRUCE specifically? Another aspect of why killing just isn't in his quota is because Bruce is, at the end of the day, only human, and a lot of people tend to forget that because of the cawl.

Batman is a symbol of justice, yeah, but a symbol with a dark weight. Keeping humanity intact is rotten work for a normal person, let alone someone with Bruce's baggage.

I understand thinking eliminating the problem from the core seems logical, but you have to think about the outside stuff as well. Creating villains like Joker isn't the problem as there were and always will be bad, If not worse, guys like him.

For example, killing one, two, three, countless murderers, rapists, etc, would lower the statics, but they would ryke up effective immediately because it's not a one-man problem, but a system problem and no one can help that, as sad as it sounds, it's the truth.

The world is always going to be composed of bad people, but what keeps it in equilibrium is the amount of people who fight to raise above them everyday, knowing there's little chance to abolish the issue but to still FIGHT the issue.

That's what matters at the end of the day, to me. I do understand why it may be concerning to see villains and Batman be rehabilitated just to be villains again, but?? I actually don't think that's true, and I really appreciate the way DC lets us know that.

They DO get better, they do mend their ways, both on how they are and how they treat people, but at the end, someone has to be a villain so the heroes aren't out of job.

Few of Gotham's villains are actually BAD people if you look at them, into their stories, but no one ever said Gotham was as merciful of a city as it's Knight. I think the best way DC ever showed us that we as a society don't let people get better is how they treated Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series. After reforming, Penguin is alienated from society both for his looks, and for the actions he has amended with.

Of course they're not obligated to forgive him, but it did show us why some villains stay villains even after being helped. More so, I think it's really a narrative issue that appears in all long-running SCI-FI/Fantasy.

They can be developed, there can be development, there can even be happy endings, there can be "getting better" but never really staying better, because it is a comic book series, a comic book WORLD. Staying good means the story ends, and no one can really have that because that's not the point, you know?

This code he has, this wish to value life, that's never a BAD thing. It'll never be a bad thing to help people, that's what superheroes ARE. What happens if Bruce does kill the Joker, and becomes like the man who took his parents away? What does that make him?

Sure, it may not seem that way to US, far from it, but with Bruce, who's been exposed to the fragile equilibrium between morality and duty, that could be the line that just pushed him too far, and without heroes like Batman, what then? Killing Joker would be easier path, but 'easy' doesn't mean right.

Bruce's care for other people always made me feel close to him, his faith in humanity was always touching and his selflessness is just 👌👌👌 Like, just looking at how many people he helped and IS helping despite the person he wants the world to see him as is something that I admired even when I was a kid lol, and! Maybe this is an unpopular decision, but I do think Batman knows Joker is a lost cause, beyond rehabilitation, but at the same time, I can say that he's not something special to Bruce as he helps EVERY villain that way, and he doesn't have control over what Joker does.

I feel like, Bruce can sympathize with the fact his mental illness and feels guilty for letting him live, but... I never understood why everyone desperately wanted to see Bruce turned into a killing machine.

Batman is, first and foremost, a VIGILANTE. Aka not someone that works with law or applies law in the force of what he believes in.

He's not a judge, jury, and he's not an executioner, he's not an otherworldly power that decides who should die and who has the right to live. Batman was ALWAYS just a man, and no man should have that amount of power to him, because so many people use that everyday for their own gains to provoke more and more pain, and it's not fair to him that everyone disrespects his moral compass and his code.

I always thought that people always forget Bruce's trauma when they scream for him to kill Joker, - I'm sorry but it's? Kinda dehumanizing to expect an orphan who lost his parents in an act of cold-blooded murder to kill someone else without missing a blink.

Sure, maybe other characters would, but Bruce is NOT other characters and I think his creators wanted us to never forget that.

You don't ask a person like Bruce to kill someone for the same reason you don't ask a burn victim to be a fireman. It's his job to protect the city, yeah, but it's not his job to KILL. He never signed up for that.

[aliynavenus]

DamiRae Fanfic: “Vulnerable”

part one || part 2 : “Frustrated” || word count 2K+

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

“You guys look like death.”  Dick couldn’t believe what he was seeing, Jon and Beast Boy with their uncontrollable hair following with stains of god knows what on their clothes, and might add the clear view of dry drool on their cheek with huge bags under their eyes.

“Sorry, we didn’t have time to get cleaned before this conference.” Jon rubs his eyes giving a sound of guilt. 

Kori shakes her head in disbelief that they had barely woken up from their little party. Before another word could come out of either of them she spoke, 

“Now that everyone is here let me begin with the standard mission I mentioned.” automatically a rather large screen appears before her, “We have had an increasing number of meta-humans encounters but what’s strange is that these past meta-humans we’ve faced have turned into ash once we defeat them. What’s even stranger is that all reports show that these meta humans never even showed a record of powers before meets with them.” 

“These are criminals. What should it matter to us what happens to them.” Damian cuts in tauntingly knowing that this didn't sound like another skirmish mission to fight them. 

Of course Kori knew where Damian was going with this, “Actually, Damian this concerns us now. Firstly with the question of why they are turning into ash towards the end. It has come to our attention that recently every meta-human that we have faced have all been in this exact location, ‘21 and over,’ 2 days prior before we encountered them. As well as witnesses claiming that they never saw them leave or make it to a cab home.” 

Raven raises an eyebrow, “Could it be coincidence?. It’s a nightclub what's so threatening there than the reek of alcohol.” She had to admit she was more persuading Kori that it was a coincidence considering she wanted nothing to do with this mission.

“Which is why this place needs to be investigated. The league and I have concluded that these vigilantes designate more as victims. We believe something is going on inside this club that could be making them act out considering their clean criminal record.” Kori nodded to her team for reassurance. “The mission tomorrow is simple. You four will go in under cover to this club to find any insights that could help us understand the increase in these attacks. Terra, Beast Boy you will go on patrol tomorrow instead implying that since it’s the first day of this mission we just need to make sure something is genuinely going on, we will alert you until further notice. You all are dismissed.” the teammates nodded in agreement knowing their roles for the next day as they strayed away from the couch. 

Damian knew this mission wasn’t going to test his abilities in the slightest; it made him almost groan in disgrace by how unimpressed he was by it.  He couldn’t help but notice as Raven still settled across from him on the couch picking up the book beside her. His heart began to race faintly as he watched her delicate fingers wrap around the story. Her radiant violet eyes wandering each word she read with her soft lips in a small pout. Any little thing she did could make him weak, staring at her like she was art. Art that he wanted. 

His thought began to drift imagining her on this mission. Being able to see her in something he’s never witnessed her in. A tight hugging dress that would display her magnificent figure before him. He sunk his teeth into his lower lip absorbing the image that he wanted to burn into his mind forever. Fingers lingering down her body savoring every part he caressed, needing to do every little thing to make her feel cherished. The need of wanting to claim her could nearly destroy him, wanting to be able to satisfy her. Not with words but with pleasure and admiration.

No…! Shaking his head deliberately, feeling a sinful pleasure coming from below his navel. Dammit. Like a hormonal wreck of a teenager. It was frustrating. He lifted his body from the couch careful to not bring the attention towards him and his -- now -- guilty pleasurable sin that was arousing in his pants. 

Gods he really needed to train himself better at keeping his hormonal thoughts restrained. 

~~

In its final hours of the day when the sky became an empty nightfall the titans prepared to go to sleep, except the young empath in the amazon’s room. 

Raven rolled her eyes watching Donna destroy her closet looking for the perfect outfit for their night of clubbing tomorrow. “It’s only a day we’re going we might not find any hard evidence to stay another day.” 

Donna whips her head back scoffing at Raven’s nonchalant words, “One day Raven? That’s exactly the point, it's only one day we’re able to dress all cute yet still be badass heroes we are. Besides can you actually see this is a great opportunity for Damian to see....your body.” she smirks, eyeing raven seeing color ride up her skin. 

Dropped her body back into the bed running a hand over her face biting back a groan. That was exactly her point; she didn’t want Damian to see her like that. She felt pathetic. A hero who has literally dealt with a demon is scared what a boy would think of her all dressed up. It was humiliating. 

“Here you can wear this.” Raven’s sight replaced with black as a piece of clothing was thrown on her face. She raises her back from the bed pulling the item away to get a full sight of what it is.Her lips part forming a small ‘o’ Are you kidding? She couldn't believe what she was seeing. 

The low too low V of the sold wine colored dress attached with spaghetti strap gold chains that later cross one another revealing an open back. The dress naturally shaped in an hourglass form just by holding it up with her fingers. Would this dress even pass her behind just by looking how incredibly short it was. She had to admit it was a stunning dress but it also pulled all her miseries and feasted it in front of her eyes. It was like looking at a goddess mess that she oddly felt dare she say….intrigued. 

“How’d you get this” her head questioning every aspect as to why Donna had this in her closet. 

“Diane led me her credit card to buy it when I had to go to one of her banquets that she was hosting” 

Gods what kind of banquet was this. 

She feels the soft fabric beneath her fingers, it felt comfortable and breathable at least.

“Thanks Donna. I’ll give it back after” 

“Anytime! Now i gotta find what I’m going to wear.” her voice in a mufle with her head deep in her closet, legs dangling outside as if she was swallowed by the depths of it. 

Looking at the clock next to Donna’s nightstand, 11:43. She knew that was cue to leave, “Goodnight, Donna.” 

Beginning to walk to her proper room her eyes widened when she saw Damian. Standing in front of her door with a hesitant knuckle close to the frame. It was unusual, rare even to see him at her door at this hour. A memory hit when the last time he was here this late at night was when those nightmares would take over her that he would come barging into her room.  

“Um, hey. You need something?” His attention was brought to her voice that was nearing him, seeing a piece of clothing neatly folded in her arms. 

Crap. How long has she been standing there? Embarrassment filled his body. He bit the inside of his cheek narrowing his eyes, truth be told he didn’t know how to respond to her question, considering she caught him in the midst of his thoughts on what to say to her when he did get the guts to knock on her door. Not like he could simply just say, I couldn’t sleep. But I miss being with you. Holding you. I wanted to keep you company, can i stay for the night?  

God he needed to act quick, how stupid could he be. 

“I wanted to, to borrow a book of yours. I was wondering if you had it.” he cursed at how indecisive he sounded but only prayed that she brought it. 

Raven’s eyebrow raised, that's what he wanted? A book? For some reason she wished he wasn’t there just for that. “Uh yea, what book.” She walked to his front, opening her door entering inside to head towards her bookshelves she had in the corner of her room.

“Macbeth.” his voice far as she noticed he didn't step foot in her room. 

‘You can come in, you know.” 

In an instinct it was like his body pulled him inside, taking a full view of her familiar room that has always been on his mind. The warm comfort that this room brought to him. Looking towards the bed remembering the one place where he had her in his embrace. The only person he allowed to touch him. But dammit He wanted to touch her skin again. So fucking bad. 

The dim lighting coming from the street lights luminating her lavender theme room. He watched her knees land on the carpet looking for the stupid book. His tongue traced his bottom lip seeing her in that position fuck his sexual thoughts always overriding his mind. Her clothes were changed into a small denim skirt that did her well with an off the shoulder black top. 

“I know i have it, it should be back here.” His eyes widen seeing her body lean forward lifting her hips off from her heel to now being in the air. Holy shit his cock twitched by the sight. This was torture for him. The small clear view of her white panties, that he wanted to rip off and burn his fingers deep into her hips. Damian was already thinking of the countless ways he could take her. He wondered how long it’ll take to make her scream -- fairly not long -- with this lingering tongue deep inside her making her feel good, making her beg for mo-

“I found it here you go” his view now gone and thoughts vanished into thin air. As she rose from the ground holding the book in front of her. 

That damn book, the only thing separating them from his wanting touch. His eyes gazing at hers worshipping them as he always would. Automatically he placed his hand on the book, lifting it up to shorten the distance between them, as her grasp was still on it. 

His jaw tightening as he leant forward, “I didn’t come here for a book” his words were sharp inhaling the clinging scent of her chamomile with vanilla fragrance. 

“W-what did you--” 

Stars bursted when Damian grabbed the back of her head luring his lips onto hers in a rough desperate kiss. His mouth moving slowly against hers savoring every part. Hearing the book fall to the floor, he felt gracious when he sensed Raven lean forward, gripping the front of his shirt vigorously. Her knees becoming weak, when she felt his hand relocate from the back of her head to her cheek. Fingers tangled into her hair gripping her soft skin tenderly into their hot messy kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance feeling the lost of control each time they touched.

Her breath hitched when she felt his teeth sink into her bottom lip. Her winced caused him to run his tongue smoothing down her plump lip, he caused pleasurable pain to. Breathlessly sighing, tipping forward matching the rhyme of their lips to be in sink once again. He took that as a sign and gripped her velvety thigh pulling it towards his hips.

 This felt like possession. 

He didn’t care anymore. He didn’t need an advantage or the perfect moment. If he wanted her then so be it. He wanted her more than ever, before she could go out tomorrow where everyone could see her beauty. 

The loss of contact was given when the need for air came in. Raven loosened her grip from him as her stare fell to the ground. She was flustered, sexually, not wanting to look up at him, feeling bashful about what she just experienced. her fantasy- a dream come true. 

“Raven'' his voice low yet gentle, desperately wanting her eyes to meet his. Yet she couldn't. She was too embarrassed even if she enjoyed it. 

Shit. Worry started to consume him when she didn’t look up after a few moments. Did he make pathetic mistake? Thoughts being filled with negativity, being a fool who threw his lustful wants onto her. Putting the women he cherished the most in an experience that he wanted to fulfill unknowingly knowing how’d she react. A stupid child he was. 

He released his grip on her body feeling utter emptiness from his fingertips. Her head finally lifting to see his expression only to be left with Damian turning his back reverting to the door, “My apologizes. We’re teammates. I shouldn’t be here.” 

with that the room became absent of his being. 

Raven brushed her fingertips onto her throbbing lips still yet shocked that Damian Wayne, her best friend. The person she felt most vulnerable with. Her entire body shut down when he took a sudden action to do so and he just left, like that? Perhaps she did something wrong to cause him to leave, did he not enjoy it as much as she did. She was so overwhelmed that when she tried to identify his feelings with her abilities that she was only able to detect hers. 

“We’re teammates.” 

It felt like a sharp needle piercing through her heart when he referred to her as that. Making her feel like that and leaving, what kind of game was Damian playing, toying with her emotions. 

How dare he kiss her, making her feel frustrated…..it hurts her. It doesn’t just hurt, it breaks her. 

[jasontoddiefor]

Title: In the dark blue sky you keep Summary: Martha Wayne, the Bat of Gotham, wakes up in a world where here son never died. The difference is startling. AN: Based on an anon prompt in which Flashpoint Thomas and a Batman!Martha meet my happy imaginary canon verse.

Her son had green eyes.

Her son was dead.

Reflexively, Martha grabbed the imposter, clone, hallucination, Fear Toxin. Had someone finally figured out her identity? Was it Crane? No, he wasn’t smart enough on his own, maybe Two-Face had helped or Black Mask. He had been pretty annoyed she and that upstart with Joker’s old moniker had been decimating his empire-

“Grandmother! You’re hurting me!”

Bruce was struggling against her grip, cursing in Arabic under his breath, and Martha finally remembered. Shocked, she let go of Damian, who was quick to take a few steps back.

“Damian. I- I apologize.”

The teenager just sighed, feigning calmness, while still staring at her hand. He looked a lot like Talia wearing that expression. In her homeworld – dimension traveling was a concept Martha still wasn’t comfortable with – Talia had been a girl just as stubborn and proud as Damian. After her death, Martha had often wondered who she could have become, hadn’t the world wanted to get back at Ra’s al Ghul. It was strange to see a world where she had a son.

Where Martha’s son was a father himself.

“It’s fine,” Damian said. “I’ll tell the others to wake you with a broom or a ruler like we do with Baba. And breakfast is ready. Alfred said you can eat upstairs if you want to.”

She had eaten breakfast with everybody else for the past five days, even if it had been uncomfortable to sit next to Thomas again. This other world’s version of him was rough, broken. He didn’t resemble the sweet man Martha recalled. But she supposed she wasn’t much like his wife either. That Martha Wayne had fallen into despair and madness, thriving in the blood splatters of the Joker.

She hadn’t locked down her emotions like a Kane, taken off her wedding ring and traded it for a knife to become someone, something different.

This Bruce probably recognized neither of his parents in these killers wearing their faces.

“Do you have guests today?”

Damian shook his head. “No, just a full house. Everybody’s home again for the first time in weeks, so we’re all eating together. It’s become somewhat of a tradition. Baba wasn’t sure whether you or Grandfather would be up for that.”

Martha was the Bat.

Her life had never been a question of if she wanted to do something. She had to.

“Of course, I’m coming. I’d like to meet the rest of your siblings.”

“I’ll tell Alfred.”

Damian rushed out of her room – a guest room outside of the family wing of the manor – on silent feed. None of the people in Bruce’s family made a sound unless they wanted to. Martha hadn’t been able to stop herself from imagining what assets they must be on the battlefield.

Martha had never taken on a side-kick, or a hero in training, as the Justice League liked to call their junior members. Not that Martha was much of a hero or a vigilante with her poisons, syringes, knives and the League of Assassins on speed dial. She had worked together with the Justice League a few times when the whole world had been threatened by outside forces, but their methods didn’t agree with each other. She thought children were too young for Gotham, any city at all, and they hadn’t approved of the blood trail she left behind.

Martha got dressed. Alfred had rushed to a store after the first day so she could wear clothes that didn’t belong to her grandson’s ex-girlfriend. He had returned with a full batch of outfits, all similar in cut and style to what she used to wear.

Martha hadn’t had the heart to tell him she hadn’t worn a skirt in two decades.

After making sure she was presentable, she left to go to the dining room. Martha had gathered that they usually ate in the kitchen when only four members of the family were in the manor, but since her and Thomas’s arrival, they’d taken to eating in the dining room. With so many people attending – she’d heard a few names being dropped over the past days – they needed the space.

On her way across the manor, she encountered Thomas. He was finally clean-shaven and, wearing Bruce’s shirts, he appeared much younger than he had when they had first arrived.

They both mustered each other, but none of them really knew what to say.

“My room has a mural,” Thomas spoke up. “It’s a mix of spray painting and acrylics.”

Martha had seen a couple rooms decorated like that.

“I think that’s Damian and Duke’s work.”

“The meta?”

Her Thomas used to love giving speeches. He could talk for hours about what fascinated him without taking a break. When Bruce had been- He used to give Bruce biology lectures to fall asleep to.

This Thomas was talkative if he said more than ten words.

“Damian mentioned boding with Duke over art,” Martha continued. “Bruce allowed them free reign of the guest wing as long as they don’t make Alfred disapprove.”

“The manor’s messy enough by his standards already.”

Martha wouldn’t necessarily call the manor messy. It was just more lived-in than what the two of them were used to. There was a distinct lack of breakable vases, and many paintings had been taken down to be replaced by family portraits or paintings done by Damian.

The rugs on the ground weren’t as bright and clean as they used to, but Bruce had said that multiple of his children were friends with speedsters. She’d also found rations of non-perishable food hidden in different corners, an immeasurable amount of cats, a skateboard, toys, instruments, posters, stickers and everything else that belonged in a good home with happy children.

The closer the two got to the dining room, the louder did the voices become.

“And I’m standing there, baby vomit all over my uniform, still holding the kiddo and go ‘Sir, you just violated 34 laws and-‘”

“Timothy, I saw your schematic for a hoverboard, and I was wondering if you would-“

“-too much to ask for one mixed productions where a guy plays a female lead? If you don’t have enough men to cover all male roles, just mix it up completely, why can’t they-“

“Don’t even think of stealing my chocolate, I dare you.”

“-and the kid won’t stop crying. The guy is crying too. And I still had a date to go to.”

“I have multiple degrees and I’m ‘not qualified enough’. Just say you don’t want to hire a woman in a wheelchair and be done, but don’t waste my time.”

“-I’m a broke bitch these student loans can’t kill me-“

“You’re literally putting caviar on your eggs right now, Steph. I know Bruce gave you a credit card, what student loans-“

“Anyway, so I’m running an illegal betting pool at school-“

“Lively, aren’t they?”

Bruce was smiling, looking at his kids discussing heatedly at the table behind Thomas and Martha. Helena, who had been resting in his arms, was now wide awake and squirming. Bruce sat the toddler down and she rushed over to the rest of her siblings.

“The one picking Helena up is Jason, my second son and third eldest. You already met Duke and Damian and heard Tim when he checked the portals you arrived through for abnormalities. He’s the one falling asleep over his cereals. Steph is the blonde one talking to him, gesturing at her food. She was the one to lend you her clothes. The girl beside her is Cassandra, my first daughter and actually second eldest. You know Kate and Bette, I assume? Dick’s my oldest, and he’s the one reenacting the chokehold with the banana. The one who kept the water bottle from falling over next to him is Barbara.”

That had surprised Martha.

“The Commissioner’s daughter?”

Bruce nodded. “Yes. Jim pretends he doesn’t know and we give him space for plausible deniability. It makes holidays very interesting.”

The children kept talking, exchanging stories and snacks, and the tiny toddler in-between them. There was a warmth to their interaction Martha hadn’t felt in years.

“They are strong,” Thomas said.

“They are beautiful,” Martha added, though the term was a poor substitute for what she actually wanted to say.

They’re alive.

She hoped Bruce wouldn’t catch on, but his eyes were already narrowing in concern.

It was easy to forget she wasn’t the only Bat in Gotham anymore.

[aspoonofsugar]

The Umbrella Academy: What Society is Like

Let’s start by considering Reginald’s words in episode 1:

As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for it won’t come to you of its own accord, you must also remember that there is no individual stronger than the collective.

This speech seems oxymoric since it says that the children must compete with each other to fully become capable individuals, but also that a group is stronger than an individual.

However, this is not the case and this scene underlines two of the central ideas of the series.

1) How society works and its contradictions. As a matter of fact society is both an institution which makes so that its members have to compete to emerge (and those who don’t or can’t are left behind) and a reality born because humans are generally stronger when they work together and help each other.

2) The idea that the Umbrella Academy (aka a family) is representative of society as a whole. This means that the dynamics within the family are, on a smaller scale, the same we see in wider groups of people.

This meta will try to explore these two points by analyzing each one of the six alive siblings (Ben will be given some space in Klaus’s section). As a matter of fact each one of them represents a specific kind of person you can find in modern societies and each one of them is either too much detached from society (and the family) or too much adherent to its flawed ideals.

LUTHER

Luther is a person who abides to authority and who wants to become an authority figure himself, but who fails to do so precisely because he has never entered into a conflict with the major authority figure in his life aka his father.

In other words, he is an interesting paradox in the sense that he wants to be a  leader and so to have an important social role, but he never truly became an adult member of society:

Diego: “Because that’s what you do when you’re 17. You move out. Become your own person. Grow up.”

This contradiction is highlighted also by the fact that he ended up as a leader without a group to lead:

Moreover, it is telling that, even when Reginald sent Luther away, he ended up on the Moon i.e. an isolated place where there are not other people around and where there are not social institutions with which interact.

Luther’s paradoxical nature is highlighted also by the fact that, despite him being physically bigger than his siblings, he is the most child-like among them since he can’t separate himself from his parent and so he can’t really grow up.

This is something which is made clear by other characters (both Allison and Five tell Luther to grow up) and especially by Diego:

Luther: “I stayed because the world needed me”.

Diego: “You stayed because you couldn’t let go of how things used to be.”

Episodes 6 and 7 seem to support this reading as well.

As a matter of fact in both episodes Luther discovers that his father sent him away for no real reason and for the first time ever shows disappointment and anger towards the man.

Because of the structure of the series we have two different reactions to this discovery and two different outcomes for Luther’s character:

What is important is that these two outcomes are nothing more than two different adolescent behaviours.

As a matter of fact in both cases Luther experiences things he never did, being them a prom-like dance with Allison or getting drunk and having sex with a stranger.

The two situations might seem opposite, but they are actually representative of two stereotypical ideas of adolescence (crushing on your first love and trying things which are unwise and irresponsible).

In other words, by finally getting angry at Reginald, Luther can enter his puberty, not physically of course, but psychologically.

Moreover, by doing so, he also admits this:

Fighting with a parent is the first step into growing up because it means that the child is starting to see things in his own way which is independent from the parent’s one and doesn’t necessarily overlap with it.

However, when Allison is hurt and Luther discovers the fact that Vanya has powers, he immediately regresses and keeps facing problems the same way his father would have This is shown by the fact that he locks Vanya up like Reginald used to and refuses to listen to his siblings’ protests.

This choice leads to Luther’s house being destroyed and to the deaths of Grace and Pogo who are the siblings’ parental substitudes.

Pogo’s death is especially important as far as Luther is concerned and this is proven also by him directly witnessing it.

This is because Pogo is literally who Luther could become if he doesn’t grow up and overcomes his character flaw. This is shown symbolically by the fact that Luther is already physically more similar to Pogo than to a human, but this is true also on a deeper level.

As a matter of fact Pogo, despite the fact that he clearly cared for the children and felt sadness over some of the things Reginald put them through, never stood up to the man and obeyed him even when it would have been wiser to disobey.

Ironically Luther calls Pogo out on this:

Pogo: “It was your father’s dying wish, Master Luther. I.... I had no choice.”

Luther: “There is always a choice”.

However, some episodes later Luther himself uses Pogo’s same line (”I have no choice”) and is immediately called out by Diego in the same way:

Luther: “We might not have a choice, Allison”.

Diego: “Bullshit. There’s always options”.

This underlines how Luther has yet to truly grow up since he is quick to call others out, but then he acts in similar ways to the ones he condemns them for.

That said, Luther has the potential to grow up and to overcome his flaw and we are shown it in episode 6 when he reaches a happy ending with Allison. As a matter of fact episode 6 shows that every character has the potential to reach their objective if only they were to commit to it and it is important how the majority of the characters keep developing positively despite the difficulties they meet in the alternative version of that day. For example, Klaus still manages to avoid drugs, Allison still tries her best to connect and communicate with her family and Diego still tries to take care of the people around him. The major exceptions are Luther and Grace who don’t manage to properly develop in episode 7 as they do in episode 6. Despite this, they have both shown to have the potential to do so.

When it comes to Luther especially the narrative makes clear that his relationship with Allison is what may lead him to become a better person. This is not simply because Allison is Luther’s love interest, but also because Allison is the one who says this:

“You are an adult now, Vanya. You don’t get to blame your problems on anyone, but yourself.”

Allison is a character who is actively trying to become an adult and to take responsibility for her past mistakes concerning her daughter and Vanya. She accepts that being a grown up means mostly this, whereas Luther has yet to show this degree of maturity.

DIEGO

Diego is the opposite of Luther and this is shown in several ways. For example, he is extremely close to his mother and protective towards her, whereas Luther’s loyalty is for Reginald. At the same time, Luther specializes in close range combat because of his super strength, while Diego reaches his maximum potential when he fights from a distance with his daggers. However, the two foil each other on a much deeper level.

Diego, thus, is a person who refuses authority, but he does so mostly because he can’t really overcome what he was taught:

Patch: “You are still trying to prove that, when you were kids, running around in those stupid uniforms. that it wasn’t for nothing.”

This unsolved issue with his father leads him to have problems also as an adult. As a matter of fact he dropped out from the police for his inability to follow rules, so for his inability to act within a system.

Basically, despite the fact Diego tells Luther off because he has never truly tried to fit into society, he himself is unable to fit and keeps criticizing any form of rules and authority even the ones which are necessary and useful.

This leads him to foil Luther also when it comes to their respective problems with their love interests. As a matter of fact Luther has never been able to be together with Allison because he never left the Academy to stay with her and has always made of his mission the reason of his life, whereas Diego is unable to truly set in. This is why he never became a detective and keeps entering into conflicts with Patch.

Ironically, he keeps saying how rules and burocracy go in the way of his role as a vigilante and don’t let him help people, but if anything it is the other way around. It is his stubborness in acting outside the law the reason why he is unable to help the police and later on his siblings as much as he could. For example, if he had worked with the police since the beginning he could have easily understood that Five was involved in their current case. What is more, Patch unofficially calling him for help makes so that he is the primary suspect in her murder and this takes him away from his family when they need him the most.

Diego’s flawed philosophy is also among the reasons why Patch dies.

Let us consider this exchange:

Diego: “You know, maybe for once just try things my way.”

Patch: “I can’t.”

Diego challenges Pacth to try his way of doing things and when she does she dies.

Patch’s death has two consequences.

1) Diego becomes determined to avenge her.

2) Diego becomes more willing to work with his siblings.

1) Diego’s quest for revenge and its conclusion is interesting.

First of all, it mirrors Diego’s tendency to act outside the rules in order to obtain justice. This is what his persona as a vigilante was all about in the first place, so him choosing to act on his own to kill Cha Cha and Hazel makes sense and it represents a continuation of this philosophy. However, in the end he makes a different choice and embraces Patch’s vision of the world.

DIego: “She believed in people. No matter how much shit and filth she saw on the streets. She Always saw the good inside.”

Patch’s prospective is one which could be significant for the series as a whole. As a matter of fact she was integrated in society, but never forgot, according to Diego, of the people who were left behind and kept believing in them. So, Diego finally embracing this idea might be important in his future interactions with his siblings.

Moreover, him letting Cha Cha go is the result of a specific choice and as he himself said:

“There’s always options.”

In other words Diego’s merciful action is the last choice he makes in the series and it happens in the finale, so I think it should determine a transformation of the character which should hold in future seasons as well. This prospective fits with Diego’s desire to protect the weaks like for example their mother and contrasts him even more with Luther who is animated by the desire to be strong and capable in order to make their father proud.

2) The fact that he starts working with the others makes him understand that they need to organize, to act according to specific plans and to have a leader. Basically, he accepts that some rules and authority are necessary.

This leads Diego to admit this:

So, while Luther admits that he should have left in order to grow, Diego admits that their leaving the academy was nothing more than them escaping from their issues.

Finally, Diego as a character has the potential, given his relationship with the police department, to explore themes related to justice and how it works. From this prospective him not killing Cha Cha could also be seen as him starting to develop a more complex vision of this concept which is also rooted in empathy. This is interesting because he has shown to be ready to go against the rules for the people he loves (for example he steals Reginald’s monocle from Grace’s things in order to avoid her being suspected of his death), but also to sacrifice the people he loves for a common good as he does when he “kills” Grace or when he is ready to fight Vanya despite not wanting to hurt her. All in all, how these things will play out later on is unknown and it is impossible to say.

ALLISON

Allison is a person who has obtained great success in her line of work, but has lost her loved ones.

Allison’s powers are highly symbolic of her major issues:

Allison is said to have always used her powers to obtain what she wanted and this led her to build a life which was apparently perfect, but actually empty and pretty frail because founded on a series of relationships which were superficial since literally grounded in “rumors”.

Finally, Allison’s powers are representative of a specific way to communicate with others which is the opposite of Vanya’s and which makes the two sisters foils.

As a matter of fact Allison has always been able to impose her point of view on others thanks to her power, whereas Vanya has always repressed her feelings without truly sharing them:

Vanya: “Maybe I will”.

Of course Allison and Vanya are opposites also when it comes to other aspects of their characters. Allison is one of the most famous people on Earth, whereas Vanya’s name keeps being forgotten by the people she has been playing with for several time. Moreover, while Vanya’s arc lies in her discovering to have powers and having to learn how to control them, Allison’s is about trying to live without relying on her abilities.

It is also interesting to notice how both Allison and Vanya’s careers are linked to performative arts (Allison being an actress and Vanya being a violin player). All in all both acting and music are ways people use to express themselves and this seems to strengthen the idea that Allison and Vanya’s arcs are about communication.

In short, the two sisters mirror each other and this is also why their relationship is extremely rich thematically.

That said, Allison has already started her transformation when we meet her and this is because she has already received consequences for the misuse of her “rumors”. As a matter of fact, Allison’s main motivation to change is the willingness to see her daughter Claire again.

Her relationship with Claire plays a role also in how Allison starts to rethink her relationship with her siblings and with Vanya especially:

Claire: “Mommy, why isn’t Auntie Vanya ever in your stories?”

Moreover, the fact that she has already a daughter makes her more willing to accept that she has responsibilities as an adult:

Pogo: “You were a child, Miss Allison”.

Allison: ”Yeah, but I am not one anymore. And neither is she”.

All in all Allison is trying to change and in order to do so she is trying to find different ways to communicate with her family and most importantly to listen to them.

She is trying to reforge her bonds in a more genuine way. Of course this is difficult and she makes some missteps:

Allison: “I think what he’s trying to say is that this kind of stuff is Dangerous. You’re just…”

Vanya: “Not like you”.

Vanya: “Hey, what’s going on?”

Allison: “It’s a family matter”.

However, the worst mistake she makes is to try to use her powers on Vanya. This choice, even if understandable given the situation, is nothing more than Allison regressing when it comes to how she deals with others’ feelings. In that scene she is facing Vanya who is furious and who is manifesting all the rage she has been repressing. In front of such an outburst Allison tries to calm her down using “the rumors”, but Vanya being manipulated by Allison’s powers is what created the whole situation to begin with. What is more, Allison shows that she is still not able to take on a person’s emotional outburst, just like when Claire was the one having them.

In short, using her powers is the worst possible thing Allison can do in that situation and this is why she has her vocal cords damaged as a consequence.

This handicap, thus, is extremely fitting for her character and makes so that not only she can’t use her powers in the finale, but also that her own “voice” and perspective is constantly ignored by her siblings and that she has to struggle to communicate and to make herself heard.

Despite this, her insights end up being very useful to the whole group. For example, she thinks about how to escape from the bowling and she understands the importance of the violin for Vanya’s powers.

However, the most important thing is that, in the end, she manages to save both Vanya and the others by using the way Vanya’s powers work against her.

This is a fitting ending to the sisters’ relationship in the first season, especially when one considers how their powers are metaphorical of communicative issues. Under this prospective Allison creating a strong noise in order to disturb Vanya’s powers can be seen as her finding a way to reach her sister and to make herself heard despite being unable to speak. All in all Allison’s actions in the finale show how she doesn’t really need her powers or her voice to effectively communicate with others and to make a difference.

Finally her finding an alternative solution when it counted shows once again that what both Luther and Diego said is true: “There is always a choice”.

Allison is given a choice, but she refuses it and finds a third option.

KLAUS

Klaus is a person who excludes himself from society because of fear:

What is Klaus scared of?

I think that there are two answers.

a) He is scared of not being good enough.

b) He is scared of what his powers represent.

a) Throughout the series Klaus has been dismissed by his siblings as useless and treated as a clown.

Despite him apparently not caring it is made clear throughout the season that Klaus wants to be respected by others, but he initially does nothing to make it happen and hides behind a childish and clownish facade.

The scene of the fight between Hazel and Cha Cha and the Academy which ends up with Klaus’ kidnapping underlines this nicely.

On one hand it is true what Klaus says here:

“I am the one person in that house nobody will even notice is gone”.

On the other hand while his siblings are fighting for their lives Klaus is doing this:

Klaus ignoring his siblings’ predicament and them ignoring his kidnapping are not things which happen for a lack of love, but rather they do for a lack of perceptiveness on both parts.

On one hand his siblings don’t manage to understand from where Klaus is coming from and why he has adopted this specific coping mechanism. On the other hand Klaus himself hides in his own world and uses drugs and other things (like music in the scene above) to avoid facing reality and others.

b) Klaus’s powers are linked to death and so it is safe to say that Klaus is scared of it.

This is a pretty common and normal fear which Klaus experiences in an amplified way because of him being constantly surrounded by the spirits of the deads.

Moreover, we know that Klaus (and the others) have had to cope with the loss of a person they all cared about:

The fact that Klaus is constantly followed around by Ben’s ghost is the representation of his (and the whole family’s) inability to overcome his death:

Klaus is literally haunted by a grown up version of Ben, by whom Ben would have become if he had not died.

What is interesting is that Klaus, despite having the possibility to make Ben communicate with his other siblings, doesn’t do so. This is both because the others don’t believe him and because Klaus himself fails to do so:

Klaus: “And if Ben were here, he’d agree with me”.

Ben: “No, I don’t”.

In short, Klaus’ powers are a double-edged sword. On one hand they are linked to an idea which naturally scares humans, but on the other hand they have the potential to let humans better understand and accept death. So, Klaus can either use them to stay stuck in the pain of his losses or to grieve more healthily.

Both fears come up and are faced when Klaus is Cha Cha and Hazel’s prisoner:

Ben: “You know what the worst part of being dead is? You’re stuck. Nowhere to go. No way to change. That’s the real torture if you gotta know. Watching your brother take for granted everything you lost and pissing it all away”.

Klaus, just like what Ben says about death, can’t escape and he is forced to face the situation alone and to use his powers as best as he can. It is meaningful that he manages to put the two killers in distress by communicating with the souls of their victims because it shows that Klaus has much to gain by facing what he is scared of and what he finds difficult. As a matter of fact once he faces the dead people instead of ignoring them he starts obtaining results.

However, this is not enough to motivate Klaus to develop further and this is why he loses Dave.

It is meaningful that what motivates Klaus to train himself more in using his powers is the death of an important person because it shows once again how Klaus’s powers can help with grief:

Diego: “Well, you are luckier than most. When you lose someone, at least you can see them whenever you want”.

Thanks to episode 6 we are shown that Klaus has within himself the ability to reach his objective and he will probably do so in the end.

However, in the main timeline he ends up meeting not Dave, but his father.

This is important because so far Klaus has been the only one who could have a confrontation with Reginald even if the man needs closure with all the siblings.

Klaus and Reginald’s conversation doesn’t exactly offer closure, but at least lets Klaus mention the unfair treatment the father put his children through.

When it comes to Klaus specifically it is interesting to note how Reginald treated him in a way which is almost the opposite of how he treated Vanya.

As a matter of fact Reginald tried to suppress Vanya’s powers, but to draw out Klaus’s. Interestingly, in order to do so, he locked both children up in places they hated and were scared of. Moreover he gave Vanya drugs to inhibit her powers and emotions, whereas Klaus ended up starting to drug himself to inhibit his.

If to these similarities we add that both Klaus and Vanya are ignored by their siblings it is obvious how they parallel each other. This is also made clear by how both have to become more familiar with their powers throughout the season. However, Klaus manages to do so in a positive way, while Vanya in a destructive one. This is because of multiple reasons. For example, Klaus starts developing his powers motivated by a romantic relationship which we are bound to believe was healthy, while Vanya does so because manipulated by an abuser.

Another difference is that Vanya doesn’t get to have a confrontation with his father, while Klaus does and he ends up gaining something from it:

Reginald: “You only scratched the surface of what you were truly capable of. If only you had focused”.

Klaus: “Wait, wait, wait. What...What potential?”

Klaus succeeding in talking with Reginald and later on him being able to have Ben manifest himself make so that he becomes more invested in proving his worth to the others as well.

And finally he succeeds:

This scene is a synthesis of the major ideas present in Klaus’s arc. On one hand he manages to prove to his siblings his talent. On the other hand he manages to have them see Ben once again and this can lead the family to address his loss.

When it comes to Ben it is also worth to underline how he too seems not to have been eager to use his powers just like Klaus is in the series:

Ben: “Do we really have to do this?”

Luther: “Come on, Ben. There’s more guys in the vault.”

Ben: “I didn’t sign up for this”.

Klaus’s powers are linked to death, while Ben’s seem to have been linked to monsters and to the unknown.

Even what is written under his statue suggests it:

May the darkness within you find peace in the light.

This might be used to explore repressed parts within one-self which are clearly present in several characters.

NUMBER FIVE

Number Five is a person who has grown up alone in a post-apocalyptic world and who has been re-integrated back into society thanks to the Commission.

The Commission can be easily seen as a critic to capitalism. After all it is nothing more than a company which, in order to further their own objectives, completely dismisses individuals and is even ready to provoke the apocalypse:

Five: “That’s insane. The end of everything?”

Handler: “Not everything. Just the end of something.”

This utilitaristic approach is shown both in how the Commission treats its employers and in what the Commission literally does which is killing random people despite them not having done anything wrong in order to ensure a specific succession of events. What is more, the way relationships work inside of it is something which partly satirizes extremely competitive workplaces. This is evident in how people act in an amicable way with each other, but they are also ready to kill who goes against the rules or is an obstacle.

What is more, the fact that the company deals with time makes the saying “time is money” come to mind. I think this saying perfectly describes the mentality behind this organization.

“Time” is also, together with “Space”, what Five’s powers are about. This has a series of symbolic meanings which will be now underlined.

a) First of all, one could apply the philosophy behind the words “time is money” to Five as wel, in the sense that he is a character whose identity is strongly tied to his job. Let’s consider these two scenes:

They are parallels since they have the same characters having similar exchanges. In both one of them calls the other out and claims to recognize specific symptoms in the other’s behaviour. What is interesting is that Klaus listing a series of symptoms of drug-addiction is compared to Five listing a series of symptoms of time-travelling.

One explanation is that the two characters are opposite and these two exchanges show how they should learn from each other.

On one hand Klaus should become more serious about how to deal with things and “grow up” and this might be why he is the one who time-travels and spends a year away. During that span of time he develops and learns something important about life:

Five: “Time changes everything”.

On the other hand Five takes himself too seriously and thinks that he is the only one who can stop the apocalypse.

In other words, the narrative underlines how Klaus’s obsession over drugs which he uses to limit his abilities and Five’s one over his job where he can show his talent are extremely similar phenomenons which end up damaging the characters.

When it comes to Five specifically, his behaviour is easily understandable if we consider that he has lived an extremely emotionally deprived life.

Let us consider this scene between him and Klaus:

It is very ironic that this exchange happens between them. As a matter of fact, Klaus will end up developing an important relationship with Dave which will be the catalyst of his development, whereas we will soon discover that Dolores is nothing more than a Mannequine and that for all that time Five was, in fact, alone.

Moreover, the first person Five meets after years is the Handler:

This scene is interesting because here Five passes from a post-apocalyptic world to an alienating society. Both environments are ones where he can not really form close bonds and this is why, despite him being older than his siblings he is one of the most underdeveloped emotionally and this is perfectly shown by how the Handler calls him at one point:

Handler: “You’re a distinguished professional in...schoolboy shorts”.

b) As stated above, Five is the oldest, but also one of the characters who needs to grow the most and this is symbolically shown by him being stuck in the body of a teenager.

This is obviously linked to his powers as well. As a matter of fact he is the way he is because he travelled in time when he was thirteen. The fact that he left for the future alone can be metaphorically seen as him growing up too soon and so not having the chance to properly develop into an adult.

This makes him a foil to Luther with whom he has several important exchanges:

Five: “I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind.”

Luther: “Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It’s the being alone that breaks you”.

As a matter of fact, while Luther has not grown because he refused to leave his home, Five has not properly grown because he left too early. Luther was left behind by his siblings, whereas Five left his siblings behind.

Let us now consider what Luther tells Five here:

This is interesting and it leads us to both the third meaning behind Five’s powers and to him foiling another character aka Vanya:

c) Five’s powers let him move around in space and he often uses them to go away from his siblings.

Basically, Five cuts himself off and, as Allison states above, Vanya does the same. However, the reasons why they do so are opposite since Five does so because he feels superior, whereas Vanya because she feels inferior. This opposite and yet extremely similar behaviours make so that Five and Vanya have also inversed roles within the narrative.

For example, Five is the one who wants to stop the apocalypse more than anyone else, whereas Vanya is the one who initially does not believe (or does not want to believe) it. However, in the end Five was never the one who could avoid the apocalypse, but Vanya was. Moreover, in order to stop this event. Five should not have given that much importance to the big picture and should not have faced the whole matter with the methods he learnt during his job. He should have simply interacted normally with his family, instead. What is more,  he should have showed them and especially Vanya how much he cared.

After all, the fact that Five alone can’t change things is made clear when he tells Luther his story and we discover that him not having killed Kennedy did not prevent the president from dying.

So, Five comes back in order to avoid the apocalypse, but in the end the ruckus his return provokes is among the reasons why Vanya is left isolated and neglected leading her to be manipulated by Harold.

What is more, Vanya’s relationship with Harold can be compared to Five’s one with the Handler. This is becuse both Harold and the Handler are who respectively Vanya and Five could become if they were to completely cut themselves off from their family.

Speaking of the Handler specifically, she, just like Five, has no name if not one which denotes her role and which underlines how she sees herself in an utilitaristic way. She is her work, nothing more and nothing less.

Handler: “I’ll just be replaced. I’m but a...small cog in a machine” .

This is also why she dies. She feels so protected by her role that she doesn’t stop to consider that Hazel might act in a way which completely disregards her position and status and shoot her without as much as a word.

Handler’s role in the narrative is to try to transform Five in someone like her. This is why she tempts him tackling his pride in his abilities and also promising him happiness:

Handler: “I mean, I mean you...you can’t be happy like this”.

Five: “I’m not looking for happy”.

Handler: “We’re all looking for happy. We can make that happen. We can make you yourself again”.

Five: “What do you want?”

Handler: “To be happy. To have a simple... unfettered life, to do the work my superiors require.”

However, Five will never find happiness through his job at the Commission, no matter how much high he climbs:

Five: “You know, I never enjoyed it.”

Luther: “What?”

Five: “The killing. I mean, I was...I was good at my work and I...I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure.

This phrase perfectly synthesizes Five’s character. As a matter of fact he is proud of himself, but this applies only to what he can do, rather than the value he gives himself as a person. As a matter of fact there are several instances where it is shown how Five has not such a high opinion of himself given that he became an assassin:

Five: “I don’t belong anywhere, thanks to you. You made me a killer.”

Either way, it is clear that Five is conflicted between the utilitaristic way of thinking the Commission embodies:

Five: “Vanya is not important”.

Diego: “Hey, that’s your sister. A little heartless even for you, Five.”

And his love for his family:

Luther: “I know you are still a good person, Five. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have risked everything coming back here to save us all.

It is pretty obvious that Five’s growth lies in the second one rather than in the first and in episode 9 we are shown that Five has the potential to develop in the right direction:

Hazel: “Now you can grow up.”

Let us underline that Hazel is a Five’s foil as well since he too used to work for the Commission, but he realizes that what he truly wants is to connect with another person.

It is probable that, deep down, Five wants this as well:

The lines of Vanya’s book associated to each sibling underline specific issues that character has. So, it must be the same for Five as well. The quote associated with him talks about craving love and it is meaningful that while Five is reading the book Dolores is visible in the background. As a matter of fact Dolores symbolizes Five’s contradictory nature in the sense that on one hand he wants to have someone close to him, but on the other hand this someone is a mannequine because he can’t bring himself to healthily deal with others. For example, a mannequine will listen to his ramblings without really answering or challenging him, but this makes so that Five can’t really be enriched by it as he could by real people.

This is why it is important that Five says goodbye to Dolores. It is something he must do if he wants to truly go on.

That said, the fact that the threath of the apocalypse is not truly over makes so that Five quickly goes back to his flawed ways. However, he too, like Allison, is given a choice in the last episode:

Handler: “You can abandon your family and skip ahead to the apocalypse (…), or you can stay here with your family, and...die a horrible death”.

And he, just like his sister, chooses a third option:

The result of Five’s final choice is extremely interesting for the whole series. This is because the whole family time-travelling and possibly going back to when they were children has several possibilities both plot-wise and when it comes to the themes of the series. As a matter of fact, since the story is clearly about a dysfunctional family which tries to fix its dynamics it is meaningful that they go back to a time and a form which symbolize these unresolved issues.

VANYA

Vanya represents two kinds of people. At first glance she represents a person who is ordinary and who, because of this, is not able to emerge from the mass. However, it is later revealed that she has within herself a power much stronger than the others and which she can’t control. This power and the way it works make her similar to a person who suffers of some kind of mental illness or at least make her character mentally ill-coded.

This is also evident when one considers her story again after knowing the truth about her powers:

Vanya: “If the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you are not?”

The problem with Vanya’s childhood was not really that she was ordinary, but that she was different from the others. Her lacking some kind of special ability did not make her normal, but rather “special” in a negative way. In a family full of people with super-powers her not having one is perceived as some sort of handicap by the others who, encouraged by Reginald, ended up exluding Vanya even when their missions were not involved.

Let us now consider how Vanya’s powers work.

She concentrates on a sound and lets it grow louder and louder until she can hear only that. At that point her power manifests itself in an explosive way. If you take this process and try to interpret it symbolically, it is obvious that it describes the way Vanya deals with others and herself.

As a matter of fact, she is a person who listens to others, but who rarely expresses herself. As a result she ends up repressing her emotions which then explode in an ugly way hurting others and making so that they are not really able to understand her.

The book Vanya writes before the beginning of the series is nothing more than a hint that this is her modus operandi when it comes to her negative feelings. She has been repressing her anger since she was a child and so she chooses to express it in a book in order to make her voice known and to gain attention. However, by doing so she ends up compromising the relationship with her siblings even more. As a matter of fact they are all too wrapped up in their own issues to truly understand what Vanya really wanted to convey through her book and what they take from it is simply that their sister has hurt them. What is more, they can not believe that Vanya would do something like that:

Ben: “She wrote that? I can’t believe she would do that,”

This is exactly the same reaction they have when she manifests her powers and goes on a rampage:

Luther: “Vanya killed him”.

Diego: “But Vanya wouldn’t”.

Another interesting thing about the book is that it manages to give Vanya some temporary fame, but once it ends she is left even more lonely than before. This fits with the idea that talents and accomplishments can give you only that much without deep personal relationships and so, even if it is right to cultivate one’s talent (as Klaus’s arc shows), one should never let one’s accomplishments become an obsession (as Five and partly Allison and Luther demonstrate).

In short, Vanya’s abilities symbolize her sensitivity (she has an enhanced hearing) and the damage her repressing how she felt did (her powers exploding as she can’t control neither them nor her emotions). This together with other info about her character makes clear how what Vanya needs is a healthy way to express herself and this is underlined also by her pursuing a career in music. Music and writing are two activitites linked to some form of art and Vanya pursues them in an attempt to make herself heard.

The concert she invites her siblings to is precisely this for her. It is a way to convey her feelings to them and to make them proud of her. However, her siblings, except Allison, all fail to understand this because too concentrated on their mission and the bigger picture.

On the other hand Vanya is too caught up in her own issues and personal accomplishments to care about the bigger picture. To be more precise she doesn’t think she can do anything to change it or rather she uses her being “normal” in order to avoid thinking too much about it. This is not something which is admittedly much visible in the season because she is mostly excluded by the main action, but one can catch glimpses of this during her confrontation with Five in the first couple of episodes.

I think this confrontation nicely shows both characters’ problems when it comes to communication.

On one hand Five wants someone to listen to him, but he can’t deal with the questions every normal person would obviously ask him when confronted with the news he brings. He has no patience and doesn’t explain himself. He pretends that the others would immediately be on his same wavelength even if they lack many of his own experiences. In other words, he treats others a little as if they were Dolores and gets frustrated when they are obviously not.

On the other hand Vanya uses the fact that she is supposedly normal to avoid dealing with what Five is telling her and so fails to support him. She even uses her own routine in order to postpone their conversation:

Vanya: “You know what, it’s getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I’m sure you do, too.”

Vanya avoids having to really confront the truth and deal with Five’s problems being them either the fact that he is traumatized and is hallucinating or the fact that the apocalypse is actually coming. As Vanya herself admits to him:

Vanya: “I guess I didn’t know how to process what you were saying. And I still can’t, to be honest.”

So, she prefers not to really face the problem.

Let us underline that she also uses her routine as an excuse to avoid thinking about her powers:

Vanya: “You know, what I really need to do is practice”.

Harold: “Right, should we pick up where we left off?”

Vanya: “No, the violin. The concert’s tomorrow”.

Once again this coping mechanism has both a positive side and a negative one. On one hand Vanya is right in not wanting to give up the ordinary things which are important to her especially considering what it has been established about her playing the violin in order to express herself. On the other hand she is clearly trying not to face the fact that her life is changing and that there is a part of her she did not know about which is extremely powerful and dangerous.

Finally, let us consider her foiling with Harold.

Handler tries to manipulate Five into leaving behind his positive emotions towards his siblings, whereas Harold tries to manipulate Vanya into giving in to her negative ones towards them.

In other words, Handler as a character explores the dangers of a life too focused on accomplishments and personal success where, in order to obtain them, one has to give up their emotions, whereas Harold explores the dangers of letting one-self caught up in negative feelings to the point of losing sight of everyone else except yourself.

Harold has been so obsessed with his revenge that he chooses to ignore that Vanya’s powers are dangerous and even when he overhears the members of the Academy talking about an apocalypse he could be connected to, he does not stop. This is also why he dies since his arrogance and selfishness led him to treat Vanya as an extension of himself without considering her feelings and the fact that she actually really cares about her family despite it all. Something similar risks to happen to Vanya as well if she keeps going the way she has by the end of the season. 

As a matter of fact, despite Vanya loving her family and her family loving her, they all end up failing each other when it counts the most and Vanya especially is let down one time too much. This is what makes her go on a rampage and ends up giving her character a symbolic meaning, especially considering what Five says at the end of the series:

Five: “The apocalypse will always happen and Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her” ,

This line summarizes what the series is about and I think this is how things will be solved in the end even if before that I can see the siblings still screwing up when it comes to Vanya and interpreting the word “to fix” in a way they should not.

That said, I think they will arrive there eventually and at the end of the first season they have all grown.

This is evident when comparing two choices they make respectively at the beginning and at the end of the season.

The first choice is about killing Grace, whereas the second one is about killing Vanya.

By comparing each sibling’s stance at the beginning with the one at the end you can see their development or their lack of it.

Luther is the one who has grown the least since he starts the series wanting to switch Grace off and he ends it wanting to stop Vanya at all costs.

Diego starts the series against the idea of switching off Grace, but he is also the one who ends up doing it secretly without respecting the outcome of the vote. In the end he has doubts about stopping Vanya, but he accepts what the group decides and works with the others.

Allison is the one whose stance completely changes at the end of the series compared to the one she had in the beginning. As a matter of fact she starts the series standing with Luther, but she ends it by directly opposing him.

Klaus does not change his stance since he does not want to kill neither Grace nor Vanya, but he goes from giving selfish reasons for his choice (like wanting to spite Luther) to actually offering more serious arguments. What is more, at the beginning he tries to cheat manipulating Ben’s vote (which nobody is counting anyway), whereas in the end he conveys Ben’s true feelings when it comes to Five’s idea of travelling in time. Moreover, him siding with Diego at the beginning since he is the only one who tries to help and to look after Klaus suggests how important being helpful towards a person can help in obtaining their understanding and cooperation and this idea will be explored to the fullest with Vanya and Allison’s relationship.

Five in the end sides with Luther and shows that he is still reasoning according to the Commission’s principles, but in his case the development is in the fact that he is actually present when they are voting while he was not when they had to decide what to do about Grace.

Finally, Vanya obviously does not get to vote in the end and this underlines how she has grown distant from her family. That said, her voting against switching Grace off underlines that she cares about individuals more than she does about a common good and so it is probable that her love for people will be what will motivate her in the future.

[ravensroundofrobins]

Since most of y'all Don't seem to Know her.... Let’s DO THIS BRIEF HISTORY OF ROBIN!STEPH BUCKLE TF UP BITCHES

(Note: For the most part, Steph’s time as Robin is included in the War Games TPB, especially because it serves as a catalyst for said event. Highly recommended the read, but mind, like, everything about it) ((also also tumblr only allows 10 pics, so I'm cherry picking my fav panels/most important ones. + offering a bit of meta. take this with a grain of salt and Please read War Games and draw your own conclusions blah blah))

So to start with, a little Context to Steph’s Start as Robin:

Tim’s dad found out about his Robining & made him hang up the cape+mask. As any Concerned and Reasonable parent would. Steph is still operating as Spoiler at the time, despite many attempts by many members of the batfam (but especially Batman) to dissuade her from crime-fighting.

Due to a gross misunderstanding (as these things tend go in comics *sigh*) Steph, who is dating Tim at the time, sees a girl who was interested in him make a move & thinks that Tim is cheating on her. She channels this grief/mourning/anger into making her own homemade Robin costume and convinces Batman to take her under his wing (he sets the conditions that she must follow every order, with a ‘one strike, you’re out’ kind of policy). She undergoes an unspecified training period to get in Proper Shape For Crime Fighting and Batman starts taking her on various patrols and investigations.

During this time, she also teams up with Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) on more than one occasion (one of my fav panels below, just bc its so stylized lmao. its Cute)

During this time, in true Robin Tradition, Steph builds up quite the rapport with Batman, providing a lighter/comedic side and being a general breath of fresh air and foil to the Dark Knight. (just LOOK at this banter & Bargaining for the batmobile!!! a TRUE ROBIN)

There’s a couple cases that I won't get too far into (but one i want to briefly mention involves Zsasz and Steph going almost a bit too far when trying to subdue him. its a very clear parallel to Jason & serves as foreshadowing for how War Games will play out i.e., Steph’s fate) 

Now during this time, there’s an assassin/merc who is killing off teens who were suspected to be Robin (Tim Drake), which Batman catches wind of and the Dynamic Duo moves in to put an End to. (look at this smug lil robin, catching the Bad Guy™ off guard. ADORABLE)

Another thing to note now, is how Eager Robin is to jump onto the case and into the fray. and how carefully she toes the line when following/questioning batman’s orders. this is touched on many times often either with her able to juuuuust reason with the caped crusader enough to Bend his own orders or even to change his mind on occasion.

(a thing i want to note here with this panel and with this particular time in Steph’s career as Robin is that the writer had her referring to Batman as ‘Boss’. whether this was intentional or not, it most closely resembles, to me, Carrie Kelley’s mannerisms as Robin. i.e. another Robin that the writers may have been using as inspo/to parallel. Carrie’s time as Robin is also defined by Batman’s grief from losing Jason, and is given a very similar probationary status that Steph is given during her time as Robin. coincidence? maybe. but i think not.)

While they lose track of the villain initially, Steph’s quick thinking to place trackers on her is what saves the mission. at the Moment at least. Batman makes a decision to bring Robin along when tracking their prey, but orders her to stay behind in the batplane & ‘not touch anything’ unless ordered to do so. which is where we get the Defining Moment:

When Steph, against orders, jumps into the fray. its something to be admired, and very Typical Robin Behavior (bc where would they be if they weren't impulsive and, well, KIDS, amirite?) but unfortunately, her decision costs them the chance of apprehending the villain, and Batman stays true to his word...

and she's Fired (g o d I'm not the biggest fan of damion scott’s art but this look BROKE MY HEART. i can practically HEAR those choked back tears and see that quivering lip like... G O D BRUCE NO. GIVE HER ANOTHER CHANCE. ANYTHING ELSE THAN WHATS GONNA HAPPEN)

here’s where I'm gonna TL;DR War Games for y’all bc.... holy shit its a LOT. and Steph’s involvement really only begins it, and essentially ends it. (literally lmao. she's featured a little throughout but like. its a Crossover Event™ for a reason. everyone gets a little bit of the spotlight, which means a bit of shuffling around ofc) but Anyways

tl;dr - steph takes one of Batman’s contingency plans on her way out of the cave & implements it w/out being aware of a few Key Details. all out War breaks amongst the different gangs of gotham, with Batman & company trying to regain control of the city & maintain order. Black Mask resurfaces, catches and tortures Steph to learn details about the plan and makes his own grab for power (fun fact, for those of you paying attention to the Big Picture: this essentially sets up for his position later on in Under The (Red) Hood when Jason starts wrestling that control away from him) Steph manages to escape, Batman takes her to Dr. Thompkins clinic, and Leslie reveals that her condition is critical. bruce makes it back in time to be by steph’s side for this:

and then she dies ;-;

BUT THIS IS COMICS- so its revealed initially that Leslie withheld treatment to save Steph’s life to Make A Point and try to dissuade Gotham Youth from following Steph’s path. BUT-BUT WAIT THERES MORE BC THIS IS ~*C O M I C S*~ so its ALSO revealed later on that steph DIDNT die. Leslie helped fake her death and blah blah blah, Steph comes back, gets to be spoiler again, then batgirl and the rest as they say is history

anyways. STRAIGHT FROM THE BAT’S MOUTH THANKS. Steph WAS really™ a Robin™ and as much as DC wants to pry that from my gay goblin hands they WONT be able to. and anyways... She Earned It. okay. give this girl the Respect she deserves. 

(now since I'm a Shipping Blog™, ima add some thoughts regarding her parallel to other robins and how Theoretically a relationship with raven might work out)

Again, the biggest parallel that DEFINES War Games and Steph’s time as Robin, is that to Jason Todd. (fun fact/sidenote: they’re both Leos, so like. Another Connection btwn the two lmao) They’re both impulsive and eager to prove themselves, and follow Batman with unwavering faith and loyalty (up to a Certain Breaking Point that is). They’ve got especially cheeky attitude and flair for drama, and hey. Narratively speaking, writers seem to have a penchant for drawing a few connecting lines between them (again, by starting the WG TPB off with Bruce mourning on Jason’s bday & setting a Tone for the overall event. and then again, by having a major character for UtRH be the very same villain that killed our former girl wonder) 

Now with those lines drawn, and with an understanding of how Jason has interacted with Raven in-canon (with mostly cordial interactions and for the most part respectful analysis of each other’s abilities & strengths), & no known connection between Steph & Rae as of yet, we can really only assume a few things:

-like most of the batboys, Raven is very likely to get along with Steph and to respect her abilities given that Steph respects her in turn.

-Steph’s bright, extroverted personality could again work as a good foil/compliment to Raven’s more introverted/muted one.

-theyve got what i like to call the Bad Dad™ connection (with Steph’s being a former Gotham Rogue™, and Raven’s... well.. y'all Know) Steph’s already shown great Morbid Humor regarding this part of her life (shown in her interactions with Cass) and is very willing to bond with others over Sucky Parents

-while stephanie has a canonical Love™ of Waffles, and raven (at least in regards to her Most Popular fanon from the 03 cartoon) has a fanonical love of them as well. Hence, they ARE the Waffle Queens (embrace the ridiculousness, guys. DO IT)

-Since steph is not an Adopted member of Bruce’s family (& again, more often than not they have attempted to dissuade her from vigilantism) and similarly, due to Batmans Dislike of meta-humans/outsiders messing with Affairs in His City, as well as some of his canonical Distrust™ for Raven due to her mysterious background/nature. this could be another minor/potential bonding point between the two

-likely more??? its getting late, and not much else I can think of off the top of my head, but i might add more to this later. 

as a ship StephRae has as much potential as any other, and since there’s not a lot of canon to really go off, fans can really take it.... wherever and i think thats beautiful

[reallyautomaticvoid]

Calling It: Where's the Beer, Replacement?

Character: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Bart Allen

Summary: Jason stops by to have a beer. Tim is not prepared for this.

Warning: some angst, swearing, reference to alcohol

Thump.

Tim groans and nestles deeper into his pillow.  His bed is warm.  The world is cold.  He’s not getting up unless there is an alien invasion.  Even that is a coin toss.

“Normal,” an overly chipper voice bore into Tim’s skull, “I’m all for you sleeping.  Especially when you’ve been up for a week straight and don’t think we don’t know about that, dumbass.”  A being leans close to Tim’s ear, “we have eyes everywhere.”  

Tim snarls, pulling a pillow over his head.  “Fuck off, Bart.”

“Any other day, I would, fuck knows you need the sleep, but unfortunately, today isn’t your lucky day.” 

Bart pulls Tim’s blanket off of him before stealing his pillow.  Tim blinks at the sudden bright light and cold air.  

Glaring at Bart, Tim shivers.  “What?”

“Okay, so, you know how you love me and stuff?”

“Not at the moment, no.”  Tim tries to snatch his cooling blankets from Bart, but speedsters.

“Okay, great.  You know how you want the Tower to stay standing?”

Tim’s eye’s narrow.  “What?”

Instead of answering Tim’s question, Bart took the opportunity to pick Tim up (Bridal style because Bart’s an ass sometimes) and speeding them from Tim’s room to the kitchen.

“Get him out of my kitchen, or I’m calling Con,” Bart mutters in Tim’s ear before running off.  Probably to call Con.

Tim blinks at the back of a person, in a leather jacket, who was digging through the fridge.  The only two people in the Tower are him and Bart.  

So, who the hell is digging through their fridge?

And why the hell didn’t any of the Tower’s security go off?

Clearing his throat, Tim watches, as the person—man—didn’t jump.  Or flinch.  Or stop his search of the fridge.  

Instead, the man turns to arch a brow at Tim.

Jason—Jason fucking Todd— was digging through his fridge.

“Replacement.”  Jason turns back to the fridge.  “Where the hell is your beer?”

“Beer?  What are you talking about?  How the hell did you get passed security?”  

 “Dont’ worry about it and yeah, beer.  You know, the stuff ya drink.”  Jason pulls out a container of what was Thai food.  Popping the lid before sniffing it, Jason jerks back his head.  “Whoo, what the fuck is this?”

“Pad Thai. Jason, what the hell are you doing here?”

Wrinkling his nose, Jason says, “This is not Pad Thai.  This is a new life.”  Turing, Jason dumps the Pad Thai in the trash.  “I’m lookin’ for a beer.”

Sighing, Tim says, “you came to Titans Tower to look for a beer?  Jason, there are liquor stores in Gotham.  So, really, what are you doing here?”

This time when Jason turns to face Tim, he closes the refrigerator. “I’m here checking on ya, Replacement.”

Tim stares at Jason who stares right back.  

Fifteen seconds.  Jason blinks.

Thirty seconds.  Tim twitches.

One minute.  Jason scratches his nose.

“No, seriously, Jason.  Why are you here?”

“What?  You think I can’t worry aboutcha and that I’d come by and check on ya?”

“I think it’s more likely your here for the beer.  Do you need intel or something?  Because I’m busy.”

Jason snorts.  “Yeah, I can tell.  Nice boxers by the way.  I like the little hearts.”

Blushing, Tim looks down because, yeah, he is in his boxer shorts.  Just his boxer shorts.  The ones with the little hearts all over them with little cuties sayings all over like XOXOXO and BEE mine written all over them.  

He’s going to kill Bart.

Slowly.

“No, asshat.  I don’t need anything.  Ya missed your last two call-ins and haven’t answer any my emails.”  Jason looks Tim up and down.  “You don’t look dead so what the fuck?”

“I’m almost nineteen, Jason.  I don’t check-in anymore.”

“I’m twenty-one.  What the fuck does our age have ta do with checken’ in?”

“I don’t check-in with the Bats anymore.  I’m not their responsibility.”

Jason stares at Tim for a moment before cackling. “Oh, please, please let me be there when you tell Bruce this.  Or, better yet, Dick, let me be there when you tell Dick.”

Tim controls the flinch that threats to overtake him when Jason says this.

“Jason.  I haven’t check because they don’t care anymore.  I’m just the IT guy or an extra body for when the apocalyptic is threatening to blow shit up.  They don’t care anymore.”

The more Tim says, the more Jason looked pissed.  

Great.

“Since when has dis been a thing, Replacement?”  Jason’s voice was low and dangerous and all Red Hood.  Fan-fucking-tastic.

Since Dick kicked me out as Robin without so much as a good job kid, we’ll be seeing you around.  Since Damian had come out in his Robin uniform without Tim getting so much as a ‘hey, heads up, this thing is happening now’.  Since Damian had made it clear that there wasn’t any room at the Manor for him anymore.  Since I brought Bruce back and I didn’t get so much as thanks for the assist, kid.

Since he was flying without a net. 

“Since I became Red Robin.”

Jason sucks at his teeth, sizing Tim up.  

Tim’s muscles began to tense.  Tim took a half step back, subtly trying to get into a fighting position just in case.

Jason clicks his tongue at Tim.  “No need for that, Replace—Tim.  Really,” Jason rolls his eyes at Tim’s cocked eyebrow, “we’re not gonna fight.”

“Really?” Disbelief dripping from every pore in Tim’s body.

“Really, Tim.”  Jason’s voice is warm and soft; the tone normally reveres for hurt young children.  Not one of Red Hood (Jason’s) normal tones.  Not a tone for Tim.  “I’m not gunna hurtcha, kid.”

Right.

“I’m not,” Jason repeats causing Tim to jump, wondering if he said it out loud.  “Nah, kid, yer just easy to read.  Remember, I did quite a bit of time studying you.”

“You were trying to kill me.”

“Semantics.  Besides, that’s how I show I care.”  Jason cracks a grin and Tim, to his great surprise, is suppressing one himself.

“Next time, I’m fine with flowers.”

“Not chocolate too?”

“Nah, I cut sweets out of my diet last year.  It’s not good for you, you know.”

Jason snorts.  “Nether is vigilantism.  Gunna give dat up too?”

“Never,” Red replies.

“Cool dat.  Now, listen, Tim: I wantcha to check in with me every now and then.”

“I don’t need—” Tim starts, but Jason cuts him off.

“I know you don’t need to, Replacement, but I wantcha to.  I’ll take a ‘not dead’ every month or so, ‘cause really, I know ya can handle your own business but since ya help me out last month with pit visit,” Tim flinches at the memory of trying (and somehow succeeding) in talking Jason off that very murdery ledge.  Nobody (including Jay) wanted a revisit from that Red Hood; the one that would shoot you as soon as help you.

Jason clears his throat.  “Anyways, I’m…concerned about your welling being now.”  Jason wouldn’t meet Tim’s calculating gaze now.

He could mean it.  Jason could really be holding out this olive branch.  Tim wants to believe in him.  Wants to believe in his Robin.  Wants to believe in that.  But his gut on the other hand—

“Are we going to hug now?” Tim lightly asks, trying to breaking the tension. “Because, I gotta warn you, I’m not much a hugger.”

Jason snorts.  “Hell, no, Replacement.  I’d say we should drink beer, but you don’t have any.”

“Jason, I’m eighteen.”

“So?”

“It’s not legal for me to drink in California at eighteen.”

“Again, so?”

“Or to own alcohol.”

“Didn’t Bruce teach ya to make fake IDs?”

“Not for buying alcohol.”

“Aren’t Garth and Raven over twenty-one anyways?”

Tim splutters.  “I mean, yes, technically.”

By this point, Jason has a massive shit-eating grin that Tim has ever seen on his face.  Or anybody else's face.

“Replacement, I’ve seen the movies.  I know what eighteen-year-olds get up ta.  And do you honestly expect me ta believe that a much of Metas—who regularly fight to prevent the end of the world can’t get their hands on some booze?”

And Jason—Jason fucking Todd—just stares at Tim.

And—fuck.

Sighing, Tim finally relents. “There’s some PVR in the meat drawer.” 

"PVR?  Shit, Replacement, I thought you had class."

Thanks for reading!

AO3 link here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18140963

[dccomicsnews]

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Director: Hanelle M. Culpepper

Writers: Jonathan Butler and Gabriel Garza

Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanaugh, Jesse L. Martin, Hartley Sawyer, Neil Sandilands, Kim Engelbrecht, Miranda McDougall, Arturo de Puerto, Bethany Brown, Leonardo Nam, Morena Baccarin (voice)

  Summary

As Team Flash attempts to track down the last Bus Meta, Ralph contemplates a final solution for DeVoe while Joe grows concerned over Harry’s erratic behavior.

Positives

This episode hit all the right high notes, focusing specifically on the main threat as well as internal problems on Team Flash. Surprisingly, the only duo that were working in tandem for once were Caitlin and Killer Frost. But more on them later. For now, once again, we focus on Ralph Dibny’s education as a superhero. While his self-serving, opportunistic nature as a slimeball P.I. has slowly eroded, there still remains the parts that fail to understand the line between hero and vigilante. Yes, the easy answer to the Thinker is to kill him, but how does that make Ralph any different than the guy who has been body snatching just to live? The writers pulled off a great move by establishing that it’s an altruistic motive as opposed to self-preservation. Ralph has a real family in Team Flash, and, unlike the deterioration of his parents’ marriage as a boy, he can and is willing to go the extra mile to keep them safe. This puts him in direct conflict with Barry, who has gone down that path before with both Thawne and Zolomon with abysmal collateral. Once again they butt heads, but this time it’s a difference in ideology rather than their past animosity. Great CGI in this standoff, by the way.

Another subplot that deserved resolution is Harry’s new addiction to his Thinking Cap, which Joe can recognize from his own experiences with his late wife’s alchoholism. An addict doesn’t know they are an addict until they hit rock bottom. Harry has developed a dependency on the very technology that turned a history professor into a psychotic madman and has lost confidence in his own brilliant mind. Tom portrays the actions of an addict perfectly. The scene in which his desperation to find his missing Cap escalates into his willingness to harm Cisco to get it shows the depth of his obsession with it. What also works is that when the S.T.A.R. Labs raid happens, Wells caves in to his addiction as opposed to fighting it off. It’s too soon a revelation, and based on his brain being jumbled by exceeding the power output despite warnings from Gideon, he hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. His addiction even gives their adversary the upper hand, both during the raid and in the epilogue. Now, like the title suggests, Harry is losing himself to this Thinking Cap much like DeVoe has.

The raid is perfectly written, as DeVoe demonstrates both his mastery at misdirection and his ruthlessness in claiming both Null’s and Folded Man’s powers and bodies before taking Ralph’s. The brawl between Marlize and Iris was good, and feels tragic considering Marlize is not in control of her faculties. The loss of Ralph Dibny is a shocker, given the character isn’t a throwaway like the other schlubs on the bus. He has a real history in the comics with Barry, and an amazing story arc in Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis. His last words give the feels; Barry had done his job and had saved his soul when he would’ve gone lower without his help. The taking of Dibny’s body for DeVoe allows him to morph into his original form, thus bringing Neil Sandilands back to the stage. What is also surprising in the climax is the depowering – or De-Frosting – of Caitlin Snow. From last season till now, she has had an amazing character arc learning to accept her darker personality. Now that it’s gone, Danielle’s performance conveys a genuine sense of loss. She believes that Killer Frost has redeeming qualities, but is similar to a child trying to figure out how to convey them. DeVoe essentially raped her and robbed her of that opportunity. Her reaction shows how far she’s come, whereas before she would have seen this as a mercy.

Barry’s reaction is also very realistic and poignant. Grant’s restrained sorrow and guilt is felt. For once, he doesn’t want to rely on “We are The Flash” with Iris to get him through this. He’s playing it from strength. He’s the rock of the team and has to act like it. The final scene in Ralph’s office and that shot of Gingold feels very noir-like and remorseful. Like Killer Frost did with Caitlin, Ralph left his mark on Barry. A character who started as the bane of Allen’s existence had become a student and close friend, and he feels like he failed to protect him.    

Negatives

Speaking of schlubs from the bus, the only weak point is The Folding Man and the hippie angle. I think I was with everyone that shared the same reaction to the first shot of him: “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Maybe that was the point. Besides Melting Point, he was a meta not out to cash in on his powers like Roulette or Null or the others this past season. I think he was the highest throwaway this year because outside of being a low-level version of Vibe or Breacher, where was the use for him? Although de Puerto delivered a great performance as a DeVoe-possessed Edwin, the characterization was a man out of time. He was way too “far out.”

Also, I really wish that Barry would put a halt on the idea of revealing his secret to new metahumans. There’s no reason why he can’t just let on The Flash is working with S.T.A.R. Labs on this case. Eventually, the case will be closed, and these people will know the true face of The Fastest Man Alive. Also, Marlize as a martial arts assassin isn’t believable, although this is the wife-to-wife throwdown that some fans have been waiting for since the trial. This episode should have shown further brainwashing; the fans know she is being victimized by her husband for his own ends, but throwing in a scene of her being drugged prior to this would have made the tragedy more evident.

  Verdict

Flaws aside, this was a game-changer. Two members of Team Flash are down for the count, The Thinker has nearly all of the bus metas and has stabilized his condition, and Wells’ mind is unknowingly jumbled. I look forward to how this will resolve itself in the coming final episodes this year.

  Review: The Flash 4×18 “Lose Yourself” Director: Hanelle M. Culpepper Writers: Jonathan Butler and Gabriel Garza Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanaugh, Jesse L.

[avengerdragoness]

The New Kid in Town [Tim Drake x Reader]

Requested by @books-netflix-and-pizza: “Maybe one with Tim? Where he meets someone at school and they really hit it off, and later he meets a new vigilante and they also really hit it off, and he's torn between the two people, only to find out that they're the same person?”

A/n: This is a bit long but I honestly loved writing it. I hope you love it sweetie! I’d love to hear if you like it! <33

_____

The day felt about as normal as any day could get. Tim sat in his first period history class, waiting for the first bell to ring to signal the beginning of the day. Chin resting in his hand as he stared up at the white board. He examined the notes his teacher had written up, from the looks of it, today seems to be a lecture day.

He watched as his classmates filed into their respective seats before the bell rang. However, Tim along with his classmates were confused. Usually their teacher was in class before anyone else, but not today. A girl next to him leaned over, “Hey Tim, do you know where Mr. Rickson is? You’ve been in here the longest.” Tim shook his head, “No, he was gone when I got here too.”

“Sorry class” the voice of their teacher interrupted their confusion. Tim looked to the front of the room to see a girl with stunning [e/c] eyes and gorgeous [h/c] hair. He stared at the girl, wondering who she is and why she’s here. “Everyone, I’d like you all to meet your new classmate, [F/n] [L/n]. She comes to us all the way from Central City so make her feel welcome please.” A small, unsure smile on your face. “Miss [L/n], please take the seat in front of Mr. Carter please” Tim noticed him gesture to the seat diagonally ahead of him.

Watching as you nodded before taking your seat, a few of the students smiling at you as you passed. Tim being one of them when you locked eyes with him before sitting down.

“Alright everyone, please take out your notebooks as we continue our lecture about the Great Depression. Miss [L/n] I have the notes up to this point printed out for you.” Mr. Rickson said shuffling through the papers on his desk before delivering them to your desk. Smiling you thanked him before looking to see where the class was. Tim was captivated by you, unable to tear his eyes away. That was until he was called out for not paying attention to the lesson.

During class he would occasionally glance at you, multiple times finding you with your eyebrows furrowed. As if you’re contemplating something. His suspicions weren’t confirmed until he witnessed you hesitantly raise your hand after Mr. Rickson made a remark about reform in during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency.

“Yes Miss [L/n]?” Mr. Rickson questioned as all eyes turned to you.

“I uh. It’s just that you said President Roosevelt was an active supporter of reform. While I know he did support some reforms, wasn’t it his wife Eleanor Roosevelt that was the true ‘voice of reform’ during his presidency? She is considered the most active first lady, no?” You questioned, waving your pencil as you spoke.

Mr. Rickson stood there thinking for a moment, “It appears I stand corrected. Yes, Eleanor Roosevelt is considered one of the if not the most active first lady to date. She is often referred to as the ‘voice of reform’ during the presidency. Taking on rights for women, immigrants, and so on. Nice catch Miss [L/n].” He complimented, making you smile and Tim that much more smitten.

Beautiful and smart? He has to get to know you better.

After class ended Tim made it his mission to get to know you. He was packing up his things, noticing you still sitting at your desk. Studying what he assumed is your schedule. Taking a deep breath and putting on an air of confidence he approached you.

“You look lost.” Tim spoke up, his hand resting on the strap of his bag. Chuckling you answered “That obvious?” He shrugged, “I have good instincts.” Smiling in the process.

He looked over your shoulder, “Where are you going?” Scanning the paper. “Umm, Physics. Room 507.” You trailed your finger down to the class. “Oh, that’s where I’m going. Here let me show you.” Nodding his head toward the door. Tim felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw you grin at him, a joyful ‘thank you’ escaping your lips.

On the way to the class Tim asked many questions, as did you. He asked why you moved, and what it was like in Central City. You asked him what life is like in Gotham and at Gotham Academy. Turns out you both have a lot in common, and were hitting it off quite nicely. Ending up sitting together at lunch, and having nearly all of your classes together. He learned a lot about you that first day.

And he learned even more as the days followed. You turned best friends within the week. Tim wanted to be more than friends though, their was just something or more someone holding him back from asking you out.

Tim had met this new hero while on patrol about three weeks ago, two weeks before your first day. Both becoming rather close as well, working on patrols together since they appeared. The new hero is a meta, having super speed like the Flash and Kid Flash. Being close to the Flash as well, that’s who trained them.

Little did he know about you being that speedster. Not that you were aware of the fact that Tim is Red Robin. This went on like this for about two more weeks, working together both during classes and on the streets.

Tonight you both were on a particularly treacherous mission. Taking down Scarecrow who is said to have a new fear toxin in the works. Tim is supposed to go in covert to check things out before you speed in to take out the goons.

Tim dropped down behind some crates, seeing the thugs along with Scarecrow himself holding a vial of the serum as a liquid adaptation. “[S/h/n] I have eyes on the serum” he spoke into his coms. “Alright. Waiting for your signal” you answered.

“I’m going to try and get closer.” He said before ducking behind another set of crates. “Be careful.” Tim crept closer and closer to the men. He thought he was going unnoticed until he peered up to see a cloud of the fear toxin being released. Eyes widening in panic he pulled his cape over his face and made a break to get out of there. Only to get knocked off his feet by one of the men.

He was hacking and coughing as the toxin began to take effect. “[S/h/n]” he managed to say before coughing again and losing consciousness.

When you heard the desperation in his voice you said ‘to hell’ with the plan, needing to get Red Robin out of there. Taking a deep breath, you sped into the building. Knocking all of the goons off their feet before speeding Red Robin out of the warehouse.

Once a safe distance away you checked his vitals, his heart rate was spiking and his breathing labored. Obviously suffering from the effects of the toxin. Not knowing what to do before remembering the computer type communicator on his wrist. Grabbing his arm you sent a distress signal to batman.

“Come on Red Robin, hang in there” Your voice dripping with panic. He groaned in pain from the nightmare, his heart rate spiking again. “Where the hell is batman?” you growled, surveying your surroundings

If only you knew where the batcave was, you could have him there by now. Or you could speed to get the antidote. But what’s the point in having superspeed if you have no idea where you’re going. Turning when hearing someone land behind you, “Batman” breathing a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” He walked up to you, seeing Red Robin. “It was Scarecrow, he ambushed Red Robin with fear toxin.” you explained. “He’s fading, we need to get him to the batcave.” Batman kneeled beside him. “I can get him there faster than anyone. Please trust me, I won’t tell anyone where it’s located. I swear.” You pleaded, concerned for Red Robin’s safety.

Even though having conflicted feelings Batman knew you were right. “Fine.” he said before telling you where to take him. Upon hearing the location you were gone before he could blink, getting to the batcave in seconds. Your eyes widened when seeing Alfred standing there, “Get him to the medical table” he ordered and you did so. Turning away when he went to remove his mask.

Though you have an idea about who Red Robin is now. Is Red Robin, Tim?

“[S/h/n]” A gruff voice called at you. Looking up to see Batman standing in front of you. “Or should I say [F/n]” his tone softened a bit as your eyes widening at the sound of your name. “H-how’d?” the stutter taking over your words.

“I have known for a while. I put pieces together, just like how you’re putting them together now.” Batman explained, crossing his arms.

“You can look.” Only growing more shocked before he gestured behind you. Turning you saw Red Robin, his cowl pulled back to reveal Tim Drake himself as Alfred was administering the antidote. Walking over to the bed you took his hand, “Tim” you whispered.

Facing Batman you asked, “So you’re..?” trailing off before Batman nodded. “I trust you with keeping this a secret [F/n], I’ve been wanting to ask you to help us clean up Gotham for awhile now. Though, that can be discussed later. You’re welcome to stay until he wakes up.” Bruce told you before he went to go back on patrol with the others. Knowing Tim is in good hands with Alfred and you.

Alfred brought you a chair. Sitting at Tim’s bedside, waiting for him to wake up.

Tim was out for a few hours after being given the antidote. Though when he began to stir he felt strange and in pain. Trying to sit up he felt an ache shoot through his head, groaning when it pierced through his temples.

“Whoa, hey take it easy. You need to lay down.” He heard a soft voice say while feeling two hands push him back by his shoulders. Opening his eyes, he saw your face just in front of his. “[F/n]?” he questioned, confusion blatantly on his face. His feeling of confusion turned to shock when he saw the clothes you were wearing and where he was at. Hand shooting to his face to find his mask missing.

“Tim.. Bruce told me. You breathed in a lot of the fear toxin. You scared the living shit out of me, I thought I had gotten some in my system too.” Smiling at him, your worry at the forefront.

“[F/n] I didn’t know you’re [S/h/n].” Sighing you answered “And I didn’t know you’re Red Robin. I guess I should’ve realized when I found the red feathers all over your room.” Letting out a laugh while not tearing your eyes away from his blue hues. “And I should’ve put the Central City and speedster together.” Tim returned your smile.

He let out a sigh, staring into your eyes. Feeling truly comfortable in your presence. “This makes things a lot easier for me.” He chuckled, leaving you in a state of confusion. “I mean that because, I’ve been wanting to ask you if you’d like to go to a movie? On a date?” Nervousness in his tone, anxious as he bit his lip.

Giggling you answered, “I’d love to, but let’s wait until you’re not on bedrest anymore.” He nodded, “I suppose that’s fair.” You grinned before pulling away from him, saying you were going to get him some water.

“[F/n], wait!” He stopped you at the door. When you turned around he continued, “Thank you. You saved me tonight.” After the initial shock you smiled sheepishly before nodding and heading to get his water. Leaving him with a feeling of giddiness in his heart.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Canary, Part 5

First

Previous

Tim tipped his head to the side as he considered the woman in front of him.

She had a slightly nervous smile as she pulled one of her earbuds out of her ears. “Hi.”

Her eyes flicked past him and, after quickly glancing back to make sure no one was about to attack him, he realized she was feeling cornered.

… probably because she was currently being cornered.

He hesitantly took a few steps to the side until he could lean against the wall. “I’m not here to hurt you or anything, I just want to talk,” he promised.

Her hand slipped out of her pocket. He was willing to bet that she had some kind of weapon in there.

Which was good, honestly. Gotham was a dangerous place for newcomers like her.

“... so, what’re you here for?” She asked when he didn’t say anything for a while.

He bit his lip as he considered her.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, 27.

The first time they’d spotted her following them around, they’d assumed she was just another alias of Canary… but the fourteen aliases they had found for Canary so far had always had one thing in common: despite how far back it may have gone or how many connections she may have had, there was never anyone alive to corroborate her story.

She would have definitely done that this time since there was a 100% chance that the bats would notice her. Canary would have made sure that, no matter what, they couldn’t pop on over to anyone’s house and ask about her.

But Marinette had two parents. They were back in Paris, of course, but they still existed. Babs had spotted them walking to the grocery store just yesterday. They had a consistent call history with them dating back years.

He had entertained the idea that they could be paid actors… but Canary worked alone. She had informants and sponsors, sure, but partners? No. It had been nine years, if she was going to start working with people she probably would have done that already.

Marinette checked out.

… or, at least, she checked out in all ways but two.

“How did you get here?” Asked Tim.

Marinette frowned a little. “... plane?”

He shook his head. “We have footage of you at Roissy Airport, but you never arrived in Gotham.”

Her skin paled. “Must be a glitch.”

Okay. That’s definitely not suspicious at all, no way.

He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think so, no.”

“Maybe you missed me.”

“With our facial recognition scanners? And three people checking it over?”

Her hand was back in her pocket and her eyes were flicking to the exit nervously.

“I’m not going to deport you or anything,” he added quickly. “Lots of people here aren’t documented and that’s totally fine, the immigration system is totally messed up… I’ll shut up about that now, that’s not helping... I just… want to know. Curious.”

“Paranoid,” she corrected with a hesitant grin.

“... cautious,” he said after a few seconds.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to call it.”

“It’s much nicer than paranoid, that’s for sure,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

She rolled her eyes and he smiled as some of the tension in her shoulders disappeared.

“The horse miraculous,” she said after a few seconds. “That’s how I got here.”

He sighed internally. Metas in Gotham. Not good. There was a reason that rule was in place. If metas -- even good ones -- started coming then there was nothing stopping the huge, otherworldly threats from following them over. They’d stick with their overdramatic fucks that need therapy, thanks, their gadgets didn’t exactly hold up against literal gods.

And then Marinette giggled. “You don’t need to look so scared. The weird old guy who holds onto all the miraculous… he doesn’t really use them, he just keeps them locked in a weird box thing. I just…” She shrugged. “I had something on him and he was more than happy to get rid of me.”

… well, that’s a little concerning, thought Tim.

Not exactly unexpected, though. She’d very publicly gotten a restraining order by Chat Noir around ten years prior and, while none of the other miraculous holders had come out against her, many of the ones that had revealed themselves as holders had already denounced her. Tim wouldn’t have been surprised if she had stalked more of them -- hell, she was stalking him and his family, clearly she hadn’t limited herself to Chat Noir.

But this raised his second question: “Why now?”

She cringed. “Well, I’d thought about moving a long time ago. No place in France was going to hire me with the whole ‘stalking one of their beloved superheroes’ thing… but I decided to stay for a while. I didn’t want it to seem like I was running away, y’know?”

He nodded his understanding slowly. That made sense. It wasn’t a decision based on logic, but not all decisions are.

She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Also, I kind of missed having superheroes, to be honest.”

Tim raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t going to correct her use of the word ‘superheroes’ instead of ‘vigilantes’, English was at least her second language and that would be rude, so he went down a different route: “I thought they still had their miraculous. It’d be stupid if they didn’t. Mayura is still out there and all.”

“As far as I know, everyone but Ladybug and Chat Noir gave up their miraculous. Everyone knows Mayura is just Adrien Agreste even if we can’t prove it. Nothing else makes sense,” she said with a shrug.

He bit his lip. “I thought that the secretary disappeared that day, though. Wasn’t it her?”

“Nathalie Sancoeur? I heard she moved to America,” Marinette said with a shrug. “But America hasn’t had any attacks, so no one in Paris thinks it was her. Adrien is probably just waiting until the miraculous holders drop their guards.”

He nodded slowly. He didn’t realize he was going to be gossiping and discussing conspiracy theories with a person who stalked heroes but, he had to admit, it was kind of fun. Reminded him of the good old days when he was just a kid who followed the bats around for fun.

… but that wasn’t how things were anymore. He had responsibilities now. Which he was currently not doing. Oops.

“I should get back to work.”

“I should get back to watching you work,” she half-joked.

He hesitated. “Is there any way I can convince you not to do that? Gotham isn’t Paris, it’s dangerous here.”

She grinned. “I stalked a guy who had a literal god at his beck and call. I can handle a few odd goons,” she said.

He bit his lip but nodded. “Call for help if you ever need it.”

“Fine. Fine.”

He got the distinct feeling that she wasn’t going to but he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt just for now.

He pulled his grapple gun from his belt and hooked it around the rooftop.

“See you later.”

“Well, you will see me later, I’ll --,” she began, only to cut herself off with a gasp: “NO!”

He quickly checked over his shoulder but he didn’t see anything. He turned back to her, questioning look on his face, only to see her devastated expression.

“Cedric died,” she said sadly, pointing at the ear with the earbud still in it.

…?

~

Marinette sat in a coffee shop, sipping at a drink as she worked on her computer.

Tim Drake had five coffee shops that he enjoyed. The tiny tweet she’d sent out a little over a week ago ensured that he wasn’t going to be allowed coffee at his place of work. So, he was likely to go and get coffee somewhere else. She was currently sitting at the one closest to WE.

… it was very expensive. She needed to drink her coffee slower.

She squinted at her resume with a frown.

She was pretty sure it was good enough to get in, but…

Marinette sighed lightly and let her head hit the table. Fuck. She hated this stupid job so much.

She heard the chair across from her scrape against the wooden floors and slowly lifted her head. She squinted at the guy in front of her for a minute.

“Hello,” she said carefully.

The brown-haired man smiled at her.

She glanced him up and down. He was clean in a slimy kind of way. He was too nice. His hair was coiffed perfectly, his suit neatly pressed, his face clean-shaven. People who had the guts to dress like that in Gotham were always the worst of the worst.

“Hi!” he said cheerfully.

She sighed. “You weren’t even going to ask if you could sit here?”

“You’ve been alone for a while. Figured it was safe to assume you didn’t have anyone.”

Cool. Cool cool cool. Her hand slipped to the dagger hidden in her hoodie pocket. She may not know what kind of bad he was, but he was definitely bad news.

“No, actually, I was just waiting for my friend to get off work so they could join me.”

“Oh! I’ll keep you company until they show up!”

Damn. She hated when people called her bluff.

She forced her most pleasant smile to her face. “No thanks. I have work to do, actually.”

“Applying for jobs, right?”

She paled.

“Sorry, but I was curious so I just peeked over your shoulder a little bit. I actually had a couple of openings at my job, and you seem like a good candidate, if you’d like --.”

“No!” She said quickly.

His smile didn’t waver, but his eyes narrowed just a little. “I was just offering you a job.”

“I don’t want to get a job this way. I prefer the formal interview process and everything,” she lied.

“Oh, well, my company is having interviews tomorrow and there should be an open spot around --.”

A hand came to rest on the man’s shoulder.

“Hey, bud, she said no.”

~~~

TheBetterCanary: @/BrucieWayne give me a hundred million dollars and ill stop doing crime

BrucieWayne: Done.

TheBetterCanary: i take it back five hundred million

BrucieWayne: Sure.

TheBetterCanary: a billion

BrucieWayne: Alright.

TheBetterCanary: what the fuck

~~~~~

Next

Perma taglist: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Canary taglist: @jayjayspixiepop @unoriginalmess @miraculousfanfic127 @probably-a-hologram

[redrobin-detective]

Prompt: What about a story where it's the first time Tim and Kon get close. Like around late Young Justice, or in the break between Young Justice and Teen Titans or something. It can be anything ya want but if you need something more specific it can be Tim having doubts he's a good Robin in secret and Kon happens to hear him.

This is the last ask! I saved this one for last because I was intrigued by the prompt as something I’d kind of played around as an idea about early Tim/Kon. This is earlier than you had listed, more like early YJ, I hope that’s ok! I was just excited for an excuse to write this idea on how Tim and Kon first started becoming friends (with maybe the opportunity to become more later)

Superboy, newly dubbed Kon-El, examined the note he’d found taped to his new room at Mount Justice where he’d been crashing since, well, he had no other place to go. The Gym, 3pm, Be ready to fight. Seeing as only him, Impulse and the new Robin came to the old headquarters they sort of commandeered for themselves and Imp had illegible chicken scratch, you didn’t have to be the World’s Greatest Detective to figure out who was challenging him. He tucked the note into his pocket and kept walking, determined to see what their little group’s resident human was up to.

He honestly didn’t know what to make of the Boy Wonder. I mean, yeah, Superman had gone on before about how impressive Batman was but his kid sidekick didn’t do anything for Kon. He was tiny for one, smaller than even Imp who was just a skinny beanpole himself. Rob was kind of annoying and naggy too, trying to direct and boss around the two metas like he was the leader or something. And who ever thought it was a good idea to put some random dude, a teenager even, in charge of a bunch of superheroes? So maybe that’s why he finds himself walking down to the Mountain’s gym at 10 to 3. He’s curious what the human thinks he can do to someone as strong (nearly) as Superman. Kon probably should be more worried about accidently hurting the kid, they were like maybe sorta friends after all, but right now he really wanted to punch something. Supes let him use the name and the symbol but no matter how much Kon tried, the man wouldn’t give him the time of day. All Kon had was his costume, a rundown secondhand base, a crazy speedster kid and an annoying prep.

He pushes open the gym doors and finds Robin is already there, stretching and working out. He doesn’t even look up as Kon enters, just keeps swinging that dumb staff around. Kon notes that the kid is out of his usual uniform, down to a faded band shirt and workout pants. Rob’s even got a thin sheen of sweat over his body and Kon has to wonder how long he’s been here, not that a few push-ups will help him against the Boy of Steel.

“I got your note,” Kon says lightly just to add some sound to the eerily quiet gym. With a final grunt, Rob stops his workout and grabs a towel to wash himself off for a second.

“Obviously or else you wouldn’t be here,” Robin levels him with an intense look. “I’m also assuming your presence here means you’ve accepted the challenge.” Kon snorted at the kid’s prim attitude and pushed himself down onto the bench by the door.

“Look, I can imagine it’s pretty weird, maybe emasculating, to be just a normal guy surrounded by a bunch of metas but you gotta see this is crazy. I could like, break every bone in your body with my pinky finger.” Kon shrugs with a brazen smile. “So you should stick to purse snatchers and muggers, Me and Imp can handle the big stuff.” Rob’s face turns sour so Kon holds up his hands in a placating manner. “Look ok, just chill. Come on, lets go watch some TV or something, I really don’t want to hurt you.” Instead, Robin puts his stupid staff out, as if it could have any effect on Kon. His face is dark with determination.

“I appreciate your concern but if you’re that confident in yours skills then why don’t you come over and show me? Or do I need to tell Superman that you were too afraid to fight the boring human on your new team?” Kon’s shoulder tense at Robin’s tone and before he knows it, Kon is shrugging off his jacket and walking to the center of the ring. Maybe Rob knows his situation with Big Blue, maybe he doesn’t, but Kon can’t let that slight go either way. Maybe beating up Batman’s kid will get him a little cred with the League.

“Are there any rules to this?” He grounds out and Robin just smiles.

“We go by Batman’s rules: do anything you can to take down your opponent without causing any permanent damage. You’re free to use your environment as you see fit.” Rob responds, giving his staff a twirl before settling into a solid stance.

“Fine, but don’t come crying to me when this is over in three seconds.” Kon grumbles readying himself before launching himself at the other boy. He isn’t overly surprised when Rob dodges his admittedly clumsy attack but he is taken off guard when the kid grabs him and redirects him so Kon crashes face first into the floor. Ok, that was uncomfortable.

“You need to work on not leaving yourself so open.” Rob says just a little smugly and Kon growls and gets back to his feet and goes again for Rob. This time, he’s fully concentrating on the vigilante, intent on grabbing his stupid staff and breaking it in half. Again though, Robin moves gracefully, sidestepping Kon’s attack and smacking him so hard and precisely in the gut that Kon feels a bit out of breath. How the hell did he even do that? “Come on Superboy, I’m not even breaking a sweat. I know you can do better than that.”

But Kon is seeing red at this point. Who is this punk kid to mock him like this. Rob, who’s got a scary but pretty attentive mentor. Rob, who looks like he’s nine and talks like he’s forty and probably has never kissed a girl in his life. This human who probably had everything in life handed to him and thinks he’ll score more brownie points by taking down a meta. Well Kon’s had enough people laughing at him in his pitifully short life and he’s not gonna take anymore of it. With a growl, Kon flies forward, probably faster than Rob can see. He grabs onto the small wrist and squeezes, he hears a hiss but before he can let up, Rob has slipped from his grasp. He does some freaky bat trick but Kon is able to reach out and grab the brat by his tee-shirt and drag him back. He lifts Rob up until they’re eye to mask, the kid’s feet dangling off the ground. 

 "You think you’re so cool cause Batman’s your dad or whatever?“ Kon says, Rob gets in a few good hits but he��s willing to bet they hurt the other kid more than him. “Well I have had it with other heroes thinking they can walk all over me cause I’m a clone or whatever. I’m in this hero game too so you all can take your pretentious crap and shove it up your-” Rob is squirming some more and soon, the lights above him turn a funny red color. Kon doesn’t have much time to contemplate the change in scenery when he finds he can’t hold the other boy up anymore, in fact, it feels like all his strength has just left him. Robin is deposited back onto the floor and brings his knee up into Kon’s gut. Unlike the last hit which left the clone feeling a tad winded, this completely knocks the breath out of his lungs. He staggers back, curling protectively over his stomach but Rob continues his attack. He uses his bo as a sort of pole vault and launches himself as Kon, he tries to move but the other hero is too fast and Kon is pushed forcefully backwards. It’s all he can do to maintain his balance.

He lets go of his stomach to try grabbing at the other boy but Rob swiftly blocks any attempts and wraps one leg around Kon’s, flipping him upwards. Kon hits the mat hard and a second later, the staff is at his throat and Rob is hovering over him with a neutral expression on his face as he grips Kon’s wrists and tangles his legs, preventing the clone from moving.

“You’re out of options, the match goes to me.” Robin says plainly. And Kon deflates because, damn, he can’t move at all and what the hell are these lights doing to him that a 115 lb kid is pinning him down. He squeezes his eyes shut in shame, so much for him hitting the big leagues.

“Yeah, ok I give.” He says quietly and Robin loosens his hold on him and the two of them sit up. Rob is kneeling beside him, extending a hand out to help to help him up and he’s overwhelmed with a sense of rage and, before he can think, brings his head forward and headbutts the other hero. Both of yelp at the sudden pain and grip their heads.

“What the hell?” Rob asks, glaring at the clone while holding onto his aching head. “You called it, the match was over.” But Kon is too mad to even think about that so still lying down, he roughly shoves the kid beside him.

“The hell did you do to me?” He demands and Rob is still gripping his head but reaches over for his staff and clicks a button causing the lights to return to their normal color. Kon takes in a deep, grateful breath as his strength and powers return to him. Even the pain from all the blows he gave and took vanishes.

“Red solar radiation is a weakness of Superman’s,” Rob winces, rubbing what’s sure to end up a brilliant bruise on his forehead. “He and all Kryptonians get their powers from Earth’s yellow sun. Red solar energy, like in the lights I put in 2 hours ago, cancel out the yellow sun and leave you powerless.” Kon blinks and squints up at the lights.

“I uh didn’t know that.” He admits finally cause what else can he say? Rob gives him a wry little smirk as Kon clamors so he’s partially sitting up.

“You really should know the limitations of your powers. If we run into a place without a yellow sun, you’d be useless.” Kon frowns at the implications. “Similarly, I’m not totally useless either. I was able to hold my own against you for a while and then when I switched on the lights I whipped your butt.”

“Yeah but you can’t do that every time you fight a bad guy,” Kon argues back even as he’s starting to see the point his friend was trying to make. Rob ceases rubbing his head in order to cross his arms.

“No but I am a pretty decent detective and I’m getting better at planning and solving problems. With time and information, I can manipulate events in my favor to make up for my lack of powers and be just as valuable to the team as a meta.” Rob looks away shyly. “I need to be able to stay on this team Kon. Batman’s not exactly thrilled to have me as his Robin and he keeps threatening to bench me for good. I know I can be useful, more useful than I am sitting alone in Gotham, but I keep having to prove to people that I’m strong enough.” And Kon well, he doesn’t know how to answer it because Rob just voiced the exact same fears he’d been having.

“What the hell man, why would Batman bench you? You rock dude, you kick major ass for a little guy. You are so overqualified. We are like, so lucky to have you on this stupid team.” Rob smiles a little at the compliment before a frown once again overtakes his face.

“I wasn’t exactly chosen as Robin, I kind of forced my way in after um the last guy died. Batman’s not happy that I took his dead son’s name and uniform but I thought I was doing the right thing at the time. Now I’m not so sure, but I have these skills and want to be of use to somebody, anyone who’ll take me really.”

“You and me both buddy,” and Rob’s looking at him now and, well shit, the guy did just confess his feelings so what the hell. “Superman ain’t exactly rolling out the welcome wagon for me either. Guess it makes sense he’d be spooked about some teenage clone made from DNA stolen from his dead body but, yeah, I’m looking for somewhere to hang too, people to roll with and help save the world.” Robin smiles suddenly, it’s warm and welcoming and Conner feels his heart speed up a little bit at the sight. Okay wow, he so does not need that but the feeling doesn’t exactly go away. Robin gets to his knees and extends out his hand and helps Superboy to his feet.

“Well then, I guess we’re just going to have to make due with each other, at least until we’ve earned their respect.” Rob says with that open smile, he lets go of Kon to rub at the back of his neck. “Sorry about the red lights and all, I imagine that must have been pretty freaky. I can go over what I know of Kryptonian physiology so you’ll be prepared next time. We can train you to work through it.” Kon, slightly upset when Rob releases his hand, shrugs.

“That sounds good and it’s all good man, sorry for headbutting you. That was pretty uncool of me.” Rob gives him a light punch in the arm.

“So we’re even then. You treat me with respect and stop making fun of me because I’m human and I’ll respect you and try and help you get better. Sound good?” Kon grins, really grins for the first time since this whole Young Justice thing happened, he’s been through an awful lot but he thinks he’s just made his first friend. He doesn’t know where the future will take him but right now he thinks he could handle anything is Robin is there to help and support him.

“Yeah man, but seriously, can we take a break? Let’s go watch Wendy together, you haven’t lived til you’ve seen Wendy the Werewolf Hunter.”