#DC Titans | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lothirielswandc · 2 days ago

Link

— G O T H A M —

Please don't be dead. Raven’s nails etched crescent moons into the Batmobile’s dashboard. Please don't be dead. Please.

The engine revved as Harley pressed down on the gas, speeding through an intersection. Only one car horn blared, quickly fading. Night traffic in Gotham was particularly scarce.

“We’ll get him back. Everything will be fine. I think.” Harley gnawed on her bottom lip, gloved fingers tightening on the wheel.

Raven tucked her knees to her chest. Her legs wouldn't stop shaking. White strands of hair trickled down her shoulders, bright against her black see-through tights and jean shorts.

Life without Raven’s powers had been amazing, unlike Clark’s. The little tight ball of tension, ever present in her chest during social interactions, had faded to a shadow. People weren't nearly as irksome. Raven could smile, or raise her voice, or kick a rock — and nothing would happen. It was exhilarating, the feeling of being fully human.

And now her miracle was a curse.

“You look constipated,” said Harley.

Raven glared at her.

“I mean, you look like you’re going to explode,” said Harley. “Take deep breaths. Breathe. Sitting like that prevents yourself from getting as much air.”

Raven ignored her. It was futile to ignore her body’s instinct to curl around itself. It was easier to endure the pain. “How close are we?”

“Three more blocks.” Harley’s eyes always had a dim, ghost-like pallor to them. They scanned the street signs. “Two…one…here.”

The Batmobile screeched to a stop. The inside throttled around them, lurching them against the seatbelts. Raven’s elbow slammed into the door. An uncomfortable flash of searing heat crawled across her skin.

Raven ignored the pain as she threw the door open. Her boots slapped the puddle-splattered cobblestone as she broke out into a run.

They were in one of the older, Victorian districts of Gotham. Dead leaves skittered across a small, hidden square. A cracked fountain was at the center. Angel statues, stained with graffiti, watched her with soulless eyes as she passed.

Raven didn't know where she was going. The violet neon sign for a hair salon — the only sign of life — was an educated guess.

Harley caught up with her, red and black pom-poms dancing atop her converse as she sped forward. Even the metal bat clutched in her fist didn't slow her down.

They stopped at the entrance. Raven flexed her fingers, leaning towards the door, but Harley’s bat blocked her.

The ex-clown peered into the darkened windows. “It’s been awhile since Professor Pyg terrorized the populace. I don't have a clue what to expect.”

“Let’s go.”

Harley’s bat didn't move. She glanced at Raven, ghostly eyes unblinking. “Hold up. Let’s go over the ground rules first: you’re not a Supe right now. You’re a civilian. There’s a huge difference, even if Pyg doesn't have powers.”

“ Harley.” Raven gritted her teeth as the seconds trickled by. Damian was close. What condition would he be in when she found him…?

“I’m not a civilian. I know how to fight,” said Raaven. “Damian’s family members express themselves with their fists. I’ll be fine.”

“But you haven't been mastering your emotions like you did with your powers. It’s hard to think straight and be rational…I know you hate that Raven, but you have to be on guard,” said Harley.

Raven nodded. She stared forward.

Harley lowered her bat. “Let me go first. Fists or not, I’m the big guns right now.”

Harley stepped in front of Raven. She pointed her bat at the door as she clasped the doorknob and squeezed.

The door creaked open without a fight, inviting them into the shadows.

Blood pulsed in Raven’s ears as they entered. Her eyes studied the empty barber chairs. Their reflections shot worried glances at them from the dusty mirrors. For the first time, Raven missed her powers. Her ability to sense the life forms around her, to feel what they felt — a sure way of sensing a hidden presence.

Harley continued to stalk forward bat first. Her fingers flexed at the base.

“It looks empty,” Raven whispered.

“ Shh !” Harley’s pigtails bounced as she turned and scowled at her.

Raven pressed her lips together. Harley prowled to a door at the end, marked for employees only. The darkness thickened around them as they moved deeper in. Raven’s mortal eyes strained to catch movement.

Harley threw the door open. The facade ended. A metal stairway descended before them. Fluorescent lights flickered.

Harley and Raven exchanged a look. The gymnast’s lips barely moved. “Assume they know we’re here. I don't know what kind of security this place has. No cameras in the front. If they have motion sensors, they’re hidden well. This has trap written all over it.”

As they descended the steps, faint music crescendoed, rising up to meet them. Opera music. Hairs rose along Raven’s arms as a male soprano sang in Italian. She wrapped her arms around herself, holding Damian’s hoodie closer, inhaling the scent of pine.

“Why are all of us Gotham villains so fucking dramatic? It’s like we’re walking thespians,” Harley rolled her eyes.

Raven’s ears started to ring, tuning out the music. Her hands shook. She had felt less fear facing near-infinitely powerful beings than what lay ahead.

Are we enough? Are we too late?

They turned a corner. A dome-like room stretched out along the end, but there was a wall of glass that stood between them. Like those hospital rooms where doctors performed operations on the other side.

A shadow glided across the glass.

Harley pressed up against the wall. Raven mirrored her, her heart wild and sporadic compared to the hard stillness at her back.

They crept forward, opera music growing louder.

The shadow on the other side of the glass became more distinct as they inched forward. It had wrinkled ears with sharp points. A lab coat with dark stains covered bulking shoulders.

Raven’s stomach convulsed as she studied the face. He wore a pig’s mask — no, a pig’s face: pink flesh, stout nose and all. I should’ve seen that coming. But it’s still gross. And ruins Charlotte’s Web for me.

Professor Pyg waved a meat cleaver in his hand like a conductor before an orchestra. He hovered over an operation table, peering at the naked, unmoving form before him.

Raven’s mouth fell open. Damian.

Raven rushed forward. He was there. His limbs were limp at his sides, strapped to the table. His beautiful bronze skin was bleached white beneath the fluorescents.

“Hold it!”

Harley wrapped her arms around Raven from behind. Completely forgetting she was her ally, Raven elbowed her in the gut as she broke free.

“STOP!”

Professor Pyg paused. The cleaver was inches away from Damian’s bare chest.

Raven slammed into the glassy wall between her and the nightmare at play. She searched for a door handle, following the curved wall. Harley was muttering curses behind her.

Raven stumbled into the metal panels of the door. More pain, white-hot needles assaulting her skin from the impact.

They nearly fell through the entrance as they entered the room. Harley’s bat was aimed at Pyg.

“Hand Robin and his incredibly endowed package over, and no one gets smothered in honey barbecue and slapped on a grill for Labor Day!” Harley peeked around Pyg at the operation table, her wide eyes focused between Damian’s legs.

“Harley, stop staring!” Raven hissed.

“What? Oh, yeah! Good for you, sweetie!” Harley yelped as Pyg threw a cleaver at her face.

Raven and Harley scattered. Raven ducked down, bolting for Damian. The door groaned open wider behind them.

“Finish them, my failures!” Pyg cried, drawing another cleaver from the depths of his lab coat.

Bodies stumbled forward in patient dressing gowns. They were unrecognizable beneath layers of thick, white gauze.

“What kind of unlicensed, plastic surgery office are you running down here —? Think you can take a crack at my knees?” Harley flipped back to the door, launching herself at the bodies.

Two escaped Harley’s lunge. They staggered towards Raven.

Raven pulled her arm back and let her fist fly forward (a Batfamily favorite). Her punch landed square in their bandaged face. But there was no scream. No muffled grunt of pain.

Do they feel anything — ? Physically, emotionally…? Raven raised her fists again, suddenly relieved not to have powers. Her eyes prickled as they lumbered toward her without the slightest human hesitation.

Arms wrapped around her. Raven kicked the one before her in the groin, and threw her head back into the other. The room blurred for a minute.

Raven shook herself free. The room teetered as she backed away, watching their swirling shapes. There was a dull ache in the back of her head.

Pyg’s victims paddled forward, puppet-like punching bags made of flesh.

Raven stumbled into a sharp metal surface. The operation table. Her fingers clasped the hard, icy edge as she spared a glance at Damian’s face.

Up close, Raven didn't see any new cuts. What few scars Damian had, she knew by heart: a stab wound from Slade, a long line down his torso from Ra’s, no doubt one too many scratch marks on his back from too-heated nights together.

Damian’s eyes were closed. Raven leaned over him. Her fingers caressed his cheek. Slivers of white strands slipped down to mix with his black locks.

“Damian…?” her voice cracked.

His eyelids fluttered.

A glint of metal flashed across the room.

Raven ducked as the air whistled by. The cleaver stung her cheek.

She planted herself at the end of the table, guarding Damian’s head. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, riddled with goosebumps.

Professor Pyg leered over the opposite side, brandishing another cleaver.

“Where the hell does he keep those things — ACK!” Harley was buried beneath a pile of mummified victims.

“You mustn’t take him from me! He is the closest I’ve ever come to perfection —! All he needs are a few…modifications.” Pyg’s eyes trickled down Damian’s bare body.

Raven’s grip on Damian tightened. Even without demonic urges to own and dominate everything, Damian was hers. Her vision blurred red.

“Although,” Pyg’s voice turned from full of inhuman greed to conversational, gesturing at her with the cleaver, “You have incredibly flawless bone structure. That face, those eyes…! I would be a fool to let such an opportunity go!”

Damian’s foot slammed into Pyg’s chest. A sickening crunch filled the room. Pyg screeched as he stumbled backwards.

20 notes · View notes

cipheress-to-k-pop · 7 months ago

Text

bluetooth j.t.

Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader

Warnings: A little suggestive if you squint

Word Count: 1.2k words

You don't know how you allowed yourself to get manipulated into being a girlboss and moving out of your childhood home to live in your own apartment. While it was nice to have your own privacy and decorate your home however you liked, you realized just how many privileges you lost now that you weren't in the care of your parents.

There was no one there to make sure you woke up on time in the few cases where you slept through your alarm, no one that you could call on your way back from work to ask to switch on the water heater so you could take a steamy shower immediately.

You didn't have your mother's homecooked meals and you didn't have your father to pick you up snacks from the grocery store.

And one of the biggest thorns in your side was the reason you were dreading the entire day. Car maintenance. The auto shop was one of the most daunting places in your life as a girl who knew nothing about cars. Never once had you regretted not learning how to take care of your car or even the procedure required when you eventually take your car down to the auto shop.

But now standing in the hot and dusty garage, you were seriously rethinking your life choices. You should've scheduled these things for when your dad was visiting so you could ask him to take it instead. Or, even better, you should've gotten a boyfriend.

You were complaining in your head, dragging your feet about having to be here in the first place and whined about handing your car keys, with a bunch of adorable keychains attached to some rando.

But when Jason Todd, 6'2 man with biceps that were larger than your own head and a body that looked like he was shaped out of marble by Michelangelo himself walked out with a form for you to fill out, you were all too happy to be there.

Perhaps you'd be leaving here with a boyfriend after all.

"I have to admit, I don't really know much about cars so please don't scam me."

Jason chuckled, a deep, hoarse laugh that made you a little weak in the knees honestly and the boy-crazed fraction of your brain began to imagine how he would sound as soon as he woke up next to you, after a night of—

"A bit of advice, you probably don't want to let scammers know that you have no idea what they're talking about."

You giggled, scolding yourself mentally for finding that funny.

'Come on, (Y/N), pull yourself together it wasn't even that funny. His face is just great delivery.'

"Or I could keep coming here and have you check my car, since you're so trustworthy." You mused, sparing him a teasing smile.

Jason was completely picking up what you were putting down, giving you a coy smile of his own before responding, "Or perhaps this is just a tactic to get you to keep coming back."

You narrowed your eyes playfully, "Devious."

Looking back at his little clipboard, a thin metal rod of some kind tucked behind his ear instead of a pen, Jason asked, "When was the last time you got your car checked out? If your battery and brake pad was replaced recently, we could probably skip that and just do a routine check to make sure everything's running smoothly."

You winced, "I couldn't tell you, honestly. My dad usually handles this kinda stuff for me, I'm still kind of a new lamb when it comes to taking care of my car."

Jason raised his eyes from the clipboard for a second, "Your boyfriend can't do this kinda stuff for you instead?"

"I don't have a boyfriend."

He perked up immediately and you ducked your head to hide your smile, "I'm sure you probably have a record of it in your glovebox or something. Most places keep a little sticker with the date of your last service under the dash. I'll check it out for you, do you have somewhere to be, or do you have a couple minutes so I can make sure?"

You shook your head, shrugging your shoulders with a carefree smile, "It's my day off so I'm free as a bird."

He grinned, "Noted. Just give me a second."

You watched his back receding as he walked toward your car, shoulders looking like they could span the entire ocean and it was only when he was sat in the car and had turned on the engine did you whip out your phone at lightspeed.

"Ohmygosh Julie, I think I just met my future husband. Holy shit. He's so cute—gorgeous actually. He's working on my car right now and God, those arms, wow. And those eyes? God, I feel blessed just by looking at his face." The end of your message was interrupted by another mechanic running the engine.

You waited patiently for the sound of the engine to die before replaying the voice message so you could re-record the part that got cut off. Only you couldn't hear a thing.

Confused, you increased the volume, taking a sip from your coffee to soothe the inhumane squeal that you had let out while sending Julie the voice message. Once again you heard nothing.

You bit your lip at this, swiping down at the corner of your phone at access your control center and realizing the reason you couldn't hear anything was because it was connected to the Bluetooth on your car.

Wait.

THE CAR?!

You whipped around in horror only to find Jason smirking at you from the front seat of your car. If the world were fair, you'd be struck down with lightning right then and there. Or, since you were at an auto shop, a sentient car might run you over.

Alas, you continued to stand there in horror, completely unharmed no matter how badly you wished to be reduced to a puddle on the ground.

You called him your future husband. The ground should've swallowed you then and there. Instead, you just stood there in complete mortification and embarrassment while you stared at his amused expression.

Something startled him out of his gaze for a second and he pointed at your console, making a gesture like he was taking a call. Confused, you glanced at your phone.

'Incoming call: Julie'

Ah, saved by the bell.

"How much do I owe you?" You asked, quickly popping open your purse to fish out your credit card. You had stretched out the conversation with Julie as long as possible, begging her not to hang up and only interrupting her tangent when Jason finally came up to you, saying that your car was good to go.

"It's on the house." He gave you a charming grin, leaning an arm against the counter, "Can't have my future wife paying for anything, can I?"

Your cheeks flared red, still holding out your card for him to take, "O-Oh, I couldn't, really."

"If you insist, then you can always repay me with dinner. Today's your day off, right? Think you can pencil me in for 7?"

A shy smile grew on your face, your body so warm you had to resist fanning your burning cheeks, "Sounds like a plan."

Forever Taglist:

@simonsbluee

@notslaybabes

@superheroesaremyjam113263

@writers-whirlwind

DC Taglist:

@emmacata

@p--e--a--c--h--e--s

@sometimeseverythingsucks

@sokkas-honour

@unstable1902

@lostgirlheart

@missdisapear

@tadpole-san

@isawachickeninatree

@uxavity

@battlenix

@capricorn-stark

@evermoore580

@dumbbitchgalore

@fuckingjinkies

@some-lovely-day

2K notes · View notes