#Damian did not get unalived

[pinkiemachine]

GOTHAM FILES: SEASON 6

Okay, so right off the BAT, there’s a lot of stuff going on. Everyone is very interested in this new kid, this “Damian Wayne.” He just shows up outta nowhere and—holy cow—he’s ANNOYING. He treats everyone he meets poorly, even Alfred—he thinks that he’s above them all (he is super skilled and super mart, but BOY does he have a bragging problem)—he’s spoiled, he’s selfish—HE TRIED TO KILL TIM AND TAKE THE MANTLE OF ROBIN BECAUSE HE THINKS IT’S HIS BIRTHRIGHT—everyone is ticked at this little punk and the only one keeping them from trying to strangle Damian is Bruce. Damian is his responsibility. It’s up to him to try and get Ra’s’s brainwashing out of his head. And no, Damian, you can’t just show up and steal the title of Robin—that’s not how this works! *Damian angry face.* Unfortunately, though, Damian inherited Bruce’s stubbornness and Talia’s craftiness, so he finds ways to barge into the crime-fighting field, which Bruce isn’t all too thrilled about because Damian has a tendency to stabby-stab his enemies. A lot. And on top of all of this, Dick is just trying to plan his wedding in the background, which is a huge undertaking because Starfire is Tamaranean Royalty, so there’s going to be two ceremonies, one on Tamaran, one on Earth, and everything’s happening all at once, and everyone just wants to take a nap.

But wait, it gets better!

So, after the season premier, Damian is starting to acclimate. He and Tim came to an arrangement. Tim agrees to temporarily hand over the title of Robin to him so that he can try and go sort things out with his father, and now Damian can receive Bruce’s full attention… and full discipline. Bruce isn’t gonna stand for anymore stabbing, choking, or other such unaliving, which Damian is having a really, really hard time with. He thinks Bruce is a weak coward, but Bruce stands his ground, just like he did with Jason. If Damian can’t follow this one simple rule, then he has no real self control at all.

Then he has a crucial moment. Damian goes it alone on a mission, thinking he’s got everything under control, and Bruce frantically goes after him, getting Jason flashbacks. Damian does, in fact, get in over his head, and Bruce swoops in, saving his life before it gets brutally taken from him. It’s this moment, where Bruce shows so much fear and care and love for his son, that Damian has to take a pause. Talia… had never been like this. She cared about Damian A LOT, but her methods usually involved letting Damian get hurt to teach him a lesson. Same with Ra’s. They’d been brutal with him since the moment he drew his first breath. That was the only way Damian knew how to love. But this… this was totally different. Bruce was… asking if he was okay. He was hugging him. He was scolding him for going out alone—for scaring him half to death. Damian thought he was overreacting and being a bit melodramatic, but… he secretly also felt… touched. He just didn’t understand it, though. Why was Bruce getting so worked up?

One day, Dick has an idea. The whole point here is to get him to realise the value of life, right? Dick knows someone who knows someone who owns a horse ranch out in the country, and one of their mares is expected to go into labour soon. In the middle of the night, Dick wakes Damian up and they go together to the ranch and he’s asked to help deliver the foal. Damian doesn’t see the point in this at all, but he goes along. During the labour, the baby almost dies, but thanks to Damian’s quick thinking, he saves its life. A few hours later, the little guy is up on wobbly legs, licking Damian’s face and trying to figure out how to run. Damian actually can’t help but smile. (Not that he lets Dick see, of course.) But Dick knows. He’s just found a chink in Damian’s armour. He reports back to Bruce and he comes up with a new strategy. As a welcome home gift, he buys Damian a dog: a Great Dane which Damian names Titus. It will be his responsibility to raise him, train him, feed him, and care for him. And, thankfully, this does begin to help a little. The edge on Damian is starting to soften. HOWEVER, little does Bruce know, but he’s inadvertently set in motion a new problem, because on the next mission, Damian rescues a cat and asks if they can keep him. Bruce sighs, but says yes. Damian names him after their butler, Alfred. THEN, he manages to rescue a COW from a slaughter house and he brings it home saying he wants to keep it. (She has a mark on her face that looks like a bat mask, and Damian named her Bat-Cow.) Bruce is… beside himself. He’s created a whole new kind of monster. After a lot—and I mean A LOT—of convincing and pleading, Bruce finally caves and says, “Okay, fine, but this is the last animal, Damian! I mean it!” They already have Ace, and now there’s Titus and Alfred the Cat and Bat-Cow.

A lot of other smaller things happen along the way, too. I mean, these are all meant to be 26 episode full seasons, so there are a lot of mini adventures. We check up on how things are going with Tim (eeeeh, it could be better, it could be worse), we check in on Jason, who’s making a name for himself in the Gotham underground, taking out gangs and stuff. Batgirl’s been busy with her new relationship and taking care of her dad as he starts to get older. Dick and Star are still planning the wedding, of course (the Teen Titans couldn’t be happier for him!) We meet Harper this season, though she’s a very minor character here (can you blame me? There’s SO MANY CHARACTERS to juggle already…) and there’s more supervillains to fight.

Then, something big happens. It starts out simple. Bruce goes away on a mission with the Justice League, and Alfred’s in charge. No going out on missions until he gets back. So naturally, Damian has to go and do something while Bruce is away. It’s a fun, shenanigan-based episode… until word gets back that Bruce… is gone. During his mission with the Justice League, something happened. They’re not sure what yet, but Bruce just… vanished. Poof. No body. Just gone. Damian and the rest of the BatFam don’t know what to do… but they gotta get their stuff together fast. Gotham’s criminals are getting wise to the fact that the Bat’s no longer in town. Enter the Battle for the Cowl storyline, where Dick steps up to be the thing he secretly hoped he never would become: Batman. With Damian as his Robin, they go to try and take control of the city, and hopefully find out where Bruce went. But, they’re not the only ones. Jason also joins in the battle for the cowl, and he tries to be Batman too, though he has a hard time finding a Robin. Not to mention, now there’s Batwoman?! Huh?! Is everyone in Gotham gonna just throw on a cowl and try to take Bruce’s place??

Long story short, Tim’s the one who ultimately figures out what happened to Bruce. He got taken for a time travel ride. After much techno babble, yada yada, science fiction nonsense, McGuffin here, goober there, etc etc, (and after pulling out a few hairs) Dick manages to lead the mission to get Bruce back. He’s more than happy to give the cowl back too, (“don’t ever leave again.”) though this adventure did lead to one good thing: He got to spend a lot of time with Damian. The two have grown rather close over the course of this adventure.

We conclude by Tim coming back into the Bat Family fold, having mostly reconciled with his father. (Mr. Drake doesn’t really approve, but… he can’t deny that now Tim is basically his own man and can do what he wants. It’s uneasy, but it’s something.) So Tim dons the Red Robin persona (though, to be honest, I’m desperately searching for a different name, because I can’t take him seriously while he’s named after a fast food restaurant—help. I want to use Redwing so bad, but it’s a Marvel character and another DC character already, apparently! 😭) and Tim and Steph are also officially an item! ❤️

And we ALSO CONCLUDE…

With Dick and Starfire’s wedding. Finally. Everyone’s there. The Justice League, Young Justice, the Teen Titans, the BatFam, and half the population of Tamaran. And this wedding is very important… because it starts to get Bruce thinking… about a certain someone…

He and Selina have been very on-again off-again. They both like each other, but they both have so many issues and there’s always been so much work going on that Bruce didn’t really think it was possible for the two of them to really have a full blown, proper relationship, but now… now that Dick has proven that you can make it work as a vigilante… Bruce starts looking at rings… it’s just a thought, but… still…

Part 7 👇

Part 5 👇

[frostbittenbucky]

Talia: “your father is of high intelligence”

Bruce: [reading an instruction manual to the tv remote] “Damian, how do I turn the volume down?”

Talia: “he’s a fierce and resilient fighter”

Batman: [getting his ass beat by a grandma swinging her handbag] “ma’am! I am not— ma’am!”

Talia: “even your grandfather was impressed with his detective skills”

Bruce: [staring at Jason who’s covered in blood]

Jason: “I got hit by a car and had a major nose bleed”

Bruce: [shrugs] “glad you’re ok now”

Talia: “always 10 steps ahead”

Bruce: “wait I forgot to add sugar” [looks at the cake he just baked]

Talia: “he understands there’s a time and place for emotions, he won’t let it compromise him”

Bruce: [sobbing through a Disney movie]

Talia: “broken bones, gun shots, debilitating injuries, he pushes through”

Bruce: [holding a hand to his back as he walks]

Dick: “did you slip a disc again?”

Bruce: [grunts]

Talia: “he’s graceful with everything he does”

Bruce: [snorts wine out his nose at a gala]

Talia: “he has strong morals. He cannot and will not go against them”

Batman: [standing over a man that Red Hood just unalived]

Red Hood: “I’m sorry?”

Batman: “are you really, Jay?”

Talia: “your father is well respected, Damian. He’s defeated your grandfather on many occasions, he’s not an average man”

Bruce: [drinking tea]

Jason: [walking by] “fuck you, bitch”

Talia: “you’re father is a strict and disciplined man, he will not tolerate childish behavior, do you understand?”

Damian: “I understand mother, but what if I’m not what he expects? What if I’m not…”

Talia: [strokes Damian’s cheek] “don’t you worry. You’re perfect”

Bruce: “dammit Damian, who’s cat is this?”

Damian: “he’s ours now”

Bruce: “absolutely not, I told you no more animals Damian”

Damian: “but baba…” [wipes his eyes]

Bruce: “He can stay only for the night…”