#I DUNNO SORRY THIS TURNED INTO A BIT OF A COMPLAINT ABOUT MY GRIPES WITH WILDS AHGFHD

[mintglacier]

I'm not an old head by any means since my first game was World, but i did play a tiny bit of mhgu and I completely agree about the visuals of the environments i did come across (even if that one isn't too old.)

Like my first impression of it was that Rise looked leagues better?? Sure it runs on inferior hardware (i guess) but there isn't this weird filter over EVERYTHING. It's even on the food cutscenes 😭

There's also certainly something missing in Wilds that i wanna say both World and Rise had (and probably the older gen games) but it's hard to say what it is exactly.

monster hunter wilds (2025)

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 38

Jump City. June 3rd, 2018. 1:34 AM.

Something wasn’t right.

Don’t misunderstand, Jump City had always been more peaceful than Gotham. That much is easy to assume, and Damian already knew full well. But something just felt off about tonight… maybe it was the anticipation of Mara’s next appearance. Not knowing what she had planned made everything more nerve-wracking, and knowing just what she was capable of only made things worse. Or maybe it was the fact that he was out on patrol with both of his parents. Talia had proven to be a bit more renegade as Phantasm than Damian or Bruce would have hoped, but Damian still felt the pressure of being observed by two of his greatest and closest teachers rather intently. Or perhaps it was the fact that Nashton was still at large… although not likely. Damian wasn’t particularly concerned about him getting away; Riddler was far too stubborn to skip town in the middle of his convoluted trials. Whatever it was, Damian did not like it. Not one bit…

“Hey. You alright, D?”

Damian jerked back to reality to see the masked face of Jaime Reyes looking back at him. Jaime was a good man; the second-oldest of the Titans after Garfield (excluding Kori, of course), the Blue Beetle spent most of his downtime performing community service as a civilian. Volunteering at the local homeless shelter, cleaning up litter on the roadside, even joining up as a volunteer firefighter. (He just barely scraped past the age restriction, but he got in.) Even when he wasn’t in the uniform, Jaime proved himself time and again to have the heart of a real hero.

“Yeah, sorry…” Damian ran a hand through his hair as he attempted to clear his head. “Just a lot going on tonight. I didn’t exactly think my first mission back in the field would involve hunting down my long-lost cousin. Y'know?”

“Try to relax, ‘mano,” Jaime replied, placing a hand on the younger Titan’s shoulder. “Everything will be fine, promise. You got us here, we got your back.” Damian nodded with a smile. That meant a lot coming from Reyes; after his initial hostility, Damian had come to admire the older Titan in an almost fraternal sense.

"Dame! You there, man?” Jonathan’s voice crackled over the comlink. “You guys got anything yet?”

“Nothing yet, Superboy… and come on. We’re on patrol right now. At least ACT like you know how being a superhero works.” Damian grinned as he replied.

“Yeah, yeah. So sorry, RED X,” the farmboy snickered. “Just… does it seem quieter than usual to y'all, or is that just me?”

“I know what you mean…” Jaime chimed in. “Usually we get at least a few cabrónes tryin’ to knock over the 7-11 here on Gomez, right? What gives?”

“I dunno, but I’m not sure I like it…” Damian continued solemnly. “I mean, yay, there’s no crooks out tonight, but everything just feels uneasy…”

“I agree.” Damian looked over his shoulder to see his father standing behind him, his cape flowing back with the wind. “Something doesn’t feel right about tonight. I’m not sure why, but it’s almost like… like something is keeping everyone inside. Out of sight. Like…”

Damian squinted his eyes as he peered out over the street below. “Like they know we’re coming for her.”

“Dios mío…” Beetle muttered under his breath. “Wait a second. You said she was part of that Assassin’s Creed thing right?”

“League of Assassins,” Damian corrected, “but yes. Why?”

“Well what happened to everyone she was in charge of?”

Damian stopped to think, and his eyes went wide as the realization dawned on him. The entire Gibraltar chapter of the League was under Mara’s command. If she had been in hiding all this time…

“… Hundreds… no, thousands of the world’s most dangerous killers… and they all just dropped under the radar with Mara… and now that Mara’s coming out of hiding…”

A loud crack of explosives and a fireball rising into the night sky from the Wayne Enterprises building uptown cut off the Titan’s musing.

Bruce let out a heavy growl as he pulled out his grapnel gun. “… great.”

Wayne Enterprises, Jump City Headquarters. June 3rd, 2018. 1:43 AM.

Tara and Raven flew into the smoldering hole in the top of the building, immediately equipping their breathers as they entered the smoke-filled conference room. Tara, upon looking around the room to find a television mounted to the wall to be the only piece of furnishing present, noted to herself that there was a suspicious lack of tables and chairs, considering how much work got done here every day. Damian made sure of that; even if he was only fifteen, Damian inherited his father’s work ethic. Every now and then he popped in to ensure things were still running smoothly, and every time the boy visited, things were running like a well-oiled machine. This was because of one single incident where  Damian had half the Board of Directors fired, calling them a “hindrance to his company”. Bruce later called, fuming, demanding to know why Damian made this decision without consulting him first. As it turns out, Damian had been investigating everyone in the Jump branch. The members of the Board he’d fired were embezzling from the company. Millions lost without anyone the wiser until Damian noticed. From then on, nobody dared to cross the boy whenever he made his rounds about the place.

Of course, none of this was relevant at the moment, because there was no board meeting going on tonight. The building was practically deserted… Except for one unwanted visitor in the middle of the room, surrounded in flames: the false Red X. She stared back at the pair of heroines as they made their way into the room, her stare penetrating their nerves underneath the opaque lenses in her mask.

“Hmm…” the fake Titan’s voice was finally clear, without the concealment of her voice filter. “You’re not who I was hoping to see.”

“You’re not exactly my first choice of dance partner either, dude,” Terra quipped in response. “Heck, I had a date tonight.”

“Cute,” the false X hissed beneath her mask. “I almost like you, blondie. If it weren’t for the fact that both of you will be dead soon, I’d almost say I would keep you around just for your wit.”

“That’s enough,” Raven interjected. “You need to end this, Mara. We know who you are, and we know you’re here for Damian.”

The fake X said nothing, staring back at Raven for a moment before slowly reaching up and pulling off her mask. As her black hair fell down to her shoulders around her face, a lock of red drooping down between her eyes, Raven grimaced as Damian’s suspicions were confirmed: this was definitely Mara al Ghul. She matched his description perfectly… and she had the same intense look in her eyes as Damian did when he was angry. They were family, alright.

“And you must be Raven…” Mara said with a smirk. “… Damian’s blushing bride-to-be. Tell me, how exactly could you hate yourself enough to fall for a monster like him?”

“Damian’s not half the monster you claim him to be,” the witch-girl answered. “And he’s hardly half the monster I am.”

“Oh, so I’ve heard!” Mara shot back, her smirk stretched into a grin. “Daughter of Satan, and all that! It’s a wonder how you have any friends at all, isn’t it?”

“Really? That’s your best comeback?” Tara cocked an eyebrow as she chimed in. “Get with it, kid. That was just sad.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Okay, I think that’s enough.” The false X snapped her fingers, and the TV switched on. Terra froze when the screen displayed Garfield’s unconscious body, a dark figure holding a single sai against his throat.

“He really should learn to mind his surroundings, wouldn’t you say?” Mara crossed her arms as she stared Terra down.

The three of them remained silent for several seconds as Terra clenched her fists, her whole body trembling with anger and fear. She finally turned back to the false X.

“What do you want?”

Wayne Enterprises, Jump City Headquarters. June 3rd, 2018. 2:02 AM.

Damian lighted on the ground in the empty conference room quiet as a mouse. As his eyes darted back and forth across the room, he felt himself becoming more and more uneasy when nothing notable revealed itself. The fire from the explosion had died out in the time it took to get here (which would have been considerably sooner if Damian’s father hadn’t been so insistent on coming with him), which meant the culprit may very well have disappeared as well. Either way, at least Damian had something to do now; this patrol was shaping up to be a complete bust. Thank Azar he’d been able to convince Batman to start searching from the first floor, because he didn’t know how much more of the old man’s growled complaints he could stand tonight. And boy, would he be griping right now; the conference room was practically cleared out. All that was left was a TV set…

… with a webcam. Come on Damian, duh.

As if on cue, the television switched on. Damian was greeted to the face of his cousin Mara, her heterochromic eyes boring into him even from the other side of the screen. This was NOT an encounter he was looking forward to.

"Mara.” Damian clenched his teeth as the name rumbled out of his chest.

“Damian.” The girl on the screen responded. “I’m glad to see you’re in good health, cousin.”

“Cut the crap,” Red X barked back. “Tell me why you’re here so we can be done with each other.”

“Snippy as always, I see!” Mara smirked. “Fine. Let’s get right down to business.” The assassin swiveled the camera around the empty room she was in to reveal Raven, Tara, and an unconscious Garfield, all bound and gagged, each with an assassin of their own holding a blade to their throat. “I have your friends here, Damian. I’m in the basement of this building. If I see your father, they die. If I see the robot-man, they die. If I see the aliens, they die. In case you still don’t get what I’m saying…”

“Come alone, yeah. I got it,” Damian replied roughly. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Good. I look forward to seeing you soon, cousin.” Mara smirked into the camera.

Damian sneered. “Screw off, Scarface.”

…

It wasn’t easy to slip past his father without him noticing, but Damian finally made his way into the basement. He couldn’t help but grumble as he made his way slowly through the maze of wooden pallets and crates. In his head, Damian made a note that this place needed to be organized as soon as possible. He’d let the idiots know later, once Mara was in custody.

As Damian rounded the corner around an unnecessarily tall crate (maybe it was necessary, Damian didn’t know what was inside… he didn’t really care either way, he was just irritated), he froze when he saw Beast Boy’s unmoving body splayed across the ground. Tossing his gaze quickly around the room, he rushed to the Changeling’s side, feeling for a pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when he found it.

“Wake up, Logan,” he whispered, gently slapping Beast Boy’s face as he did so. The older Titan winced as he slowly stirred awake. His forest-green eyes locked with Damian’s, and he let out a quiet groan.

“Hey, X…” Garfield hissed groggily. “How long have I been out…?”

“I have no idea,” Damian replied, helping Gar to his feet. “You got kidnapped by my cousin. We’re gonna get you out of here, but first I need you to help me find Tara and Raven. Alright?”

Garfield’s eyes widened. “They got Tara??”

“BB, calm down.” Damian grabbed Gar’s shoulders, trying to keep his attention. “I know, you’re angry. She has Raven too, I know how you’re feeling right now. But I need you to stay with me, okay? We’re doing this together.”

Beast Boy nodded slowly. “Yeah… yeah, okay. I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Alright,” Damian handed Gar a spare earpiece. “Try to keep quiet.” Gar nodded, and quickly snuck off in one direction as he slipped the earpiece into place, Damian going the other way. This wasn’t how he was hoping this would go; he was hoping Mara would just make her demands up front. He could probably talk her into letting his friends go, then take her in a straight fight, even without his weapons. But of course it couldn’t be that simple. This was Mara they were dealing with. Mara has always been awful.

Damian came around another corner to see Tara, still bound and gagged. He rushed to help her up, quickly cutting her bonds away with an X-star and pulling her to her feet. He held a finger up to his lips, silently telling her to keep her voice down, then beckoned her to follow. After searching for another minute or so, Garfield’s hushed voice sounded over the earpiece; he’d found Raven. Damian sighed with relief, smiling as he thanked Azar for her safety, and gave the order to move for the exit. Retracing their way out was simple enough, and for a moment as they regrouped it seemed as if everyone would be getting out just fine.

“Has anyone seen her?” Damian asked quietly as the four Titans made their way towards the exit.

“Not yet, but I’m sure she’s still around,” Raven replied, her voice hushed. “She made it pretty clear this was all about you. She wants you dead.”

“Kinda figured she wanted us all dead…” the Son of Batman mused as he reached for the elevator button. “Look, can you take everyone up to my father? He’s probably looping back down to the bottom floor by now.”

“Damian, I’m not leaving you down here with her by yourself,” Raven insisted.

“Yes you are,” Damian grunted. “I need you to. You have to get these two out of here.”

“Damian, we can handle ourselves,” Garfield interjected. “Y'know I’m a grown man, right?”

“Yes. You also have one arm and probably a concussion,” Red X replied as the elevator door began to open. “Just get going before Mara–”

Before Damian could finish his thought, he was interrupted by the crack of a steel boot heel to his chest that sent him flying back down the stairs as Mara leapt out of the elevator at him. Before any of the Titans could react, the girl whipped out a pair of pistols and aimed directly for Damian’s head.

“The three of you get into the elevator. Now. If anyone tries anything, he dies.” Mara pulled back the hammer on both guns, the clicks acting as a grim period establishing her point. After a moment of hesitation, the three Titans boarded the elevator.

“Damian…” Raven called out, “be careful.”

“I will,” the boy replied as the elevator doors closed. “I love you.”

As the elevator carried the other Titans away to the main building, Mara lifted her weapons away from their target, slowly making her way down the stairs as Damian rose to his feet. Once he had stood up properly, Mara tossed a pistol his way.

“What the…” Damian looked down with disgust as he tossed the gun aside. “No way. I don’t do guns.”

“I know,” Mara sighed as she cocked an eyebrow. “I know all about your precious rules. I’ve been keeping my eye on you ever since Grandfather died. And honestly, I’m disappointed. You could have been so much more than what you are, cousin.”

“What? A murderer? A danger to society? Don’t start, Mara.” Damian scowled back at his cousin, crossing his arms as he did so. “I got out when I could because Ra’s was wrong.”

“You dishonor your family by spitting his name!” Mara shrieked as she cracked her pistol across Damian’s face, causing him to drop to his knees as she aimed the gun between his eyes. “Have you forgotten what you were born to do? Who you were born to be?! You are Ibn al Xu'ffasch! You are an al Ghul!!”

Damian glared back up at Mara for a moment. “No, Mara… I’m not an al Ghul. Not anymore…” Letting out a sigh, the boy pressed his forehead against the tip of the weapon as his eyes closed. “Do it if you must. But I’m not an al Ghul… I’m a Wayne. I’ll always be a Wayne.”

Time seemed to stop for a moment.

They say when you face your death, your life flashes before your eyes… As it turns out, that’s not entirely true. Damian knows from personal experience, having died twice already. You don’t see your whole life; all you see is the important parts. The things that mattered most. The people you loved more than anything else. And in this moment, it all started to happen again… his parents, Grayson, Alfred, his team, Titus, Jonathan. All his fondest memories rushed to the forefront of his mind, and finally, one last time, he saw his Raven, dressed all in white, smiling back at him with her hand outstretched. He smiled, and in his mind he reached out to take hold of her hand…

The gun clattered to the floor.

Damian opened his eyes to see Mara staring down at him, wide-eyed and trembling. A single tear ran down the length of her face.

“I don’t understand…” the girl whispered. “Why? Why did… why did he choose you? Why did he always choose you?”

Damian sighed as he rose to his feet once more. “Ra’s al Ghul was a vile man. He chose me only because I was male. He wanted a man to lead this world. That’s why he chose me over you or my mother. Nothing more than that.”

“I gave him everything… I was his tool, an extension of him.” Mara’s hands clenched into shaking fists as she fought back her tears. “And... and for everything I gave…”

Damian put his arms around the girl. “I know, Mara… I’m sorry. I let him control me too, for years. But it’s over now… Let us help you find yourself. Let us help you decide who to be, so you can move forward.”

After a moment, Mara’s hands slowly came up around Damian’s back, and the two of them pulled each other in tightly. Two sides of the same coin, the last two of the al Ghul bloodline. After years of hatred, it was clear now that they were not so different after all. It would take time, but Mara would heal. And Damian owed it to her to be–

Damian’s eyes crashed back open as he felt the sting of Mara’s X-blades dig into his back.

“I can't believe you fell for that!” Mara snickered as she pulled her blades out of Damian’s back, kicking him back down. The boy cursed himself for dropping his defenses like that; what did he expect Mara to do? This was practically the same stunt Wilson had pulled on him before. Fortunately she hadn’t pierced his heart, so he knew he wasn’t quite dying yet, but he still had to act fast. Shoving off with his arms and biting back the pain, Damian launched upwards, locking his legs around Mara’s neck and throwing the two of them in a wide circle as they fell to the ground, Damian now sitting on Mara’s chest. Having snagged the upper hand away, Damian began throwing his fists across Mara’s face again and again, hoping to put her down before things got anymore out of hand. But before he could cross her again, the true Red X let out a howl as he felt Mara’s fingers digging into the open wounds in his back, instinctively throwing himself off of her to escape the stinging pain. As the girl scrambled to her feet, Damian equipped his own X-blades and threw himself at her, unleashing a fearsome roar as he took back the offensive. The twannng of blades clashing rang out again and again as the two X’s tore through the maze of crates, swiping at one another like lions battling for dominance over their pride.

“You think you can seriously do this, Titan?!” Mara jabbed as she leapt towards Damian. “You’re already bleeding out! You’re only alive right now because I want to enjoy this kill!”

“Shut up.” Damian kept his words short as he fought back at the girl. She was right, though; he was losing blood fast, and he couldn’t keep up the fight much longer. He had to put Mara down fast. Reaching into his belt, he began slinging tranq-stars in her direction as quickly as he could. Unfortunately the weakness from his blood loss hindered his judgment, and he couldn’t quite get his aim right. Mara grinned as she saw her cousin slipping up, and pulled out a handful of her own X-stars, flinging them all around the labyrinth of boxes. As soon as they made contact, the shuriken all burst into flames, creating a haze of smoke and fire all around, dizzying Damian even further. Hacking and coughing, his eyes stinging from the smoke in the air, Damian struggled to keep his footing. Before he could react, he felt Mara’s X-blades plunge into his stomach, driving the breath from his lungs. Slowly he found himself unable to stand, and dropped to his knees, Mara’s blades now crossed at his throat. The young Titan looked up to see his cousin grinning wildly down at him.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this day…” Mara began. “Your mother thought she’d dealt with us when she disbanded the rest of the League, but by then my chapter had sworn their fealty to me. Now with your death, and her heinous discarding of our family’s legacy, I am the only one left to lead our people to glory. I am Mara, the Demon’s Head, and I will take this world as my grandfather saw fit!”

Damian’s vision began to blur, and colors began to fade. His heart dropped into his stomach as Mara spoke; after everything, after years of fighting back against his heritage, his world came crashing down around him. There was nothing left he could do… he’d lost.

“Ohhhh, I’ve dreamt about this for years, dear cousin,” the girl continued. “You have no idea how badly I wanted this. How long I’ve relished the ides of cutting your head clean off…” the false X sucked in a hissed breath and began to giggle. “Oh gods, this is it! This is my moment! After all these years I can finally look into your eyes and watch you die!!” Damian felt a tear well up in his eyes as he heard the blades slide across one another, closing in on his neck…

But the hiss of steel scraping steel stopped as a large blade burst through Mara’s chest.

Damian watched in horror as Mara’s hands fell to her sides, and the girl was hoisted up helpless into the air on the massive blade, a figure looking like death itself emerging from the flames behind her. Without another word, the figure pulled Mara back into the fire, seemingly vanishing altogether.

Damian fell back, his vision almost gone, as a familiar cloak descended around him…

Titans Tower. June 5th, 2018. 2:30 PM.

Damian’s vision was still blurry as he stirred back to consciousness. As he looked around the room, he made out the shape of two people, about his own age, seated beside him. As his vision cleared, the Son of Batman easily identified them as Raven and Jonathan.

“Guys…?” he croaked. His lips couldn’t help but twitch into a smile as he saw the pair lift their heads and smile at him.

“Dame!” Jon shouted, practically jumping onto him. “Man, I didn’t think you were gonna make it for a while there!” It was lucky Damian was already healed, or the shock alone of being jolted so much may have killed him. The boy’s wrapped their arms around one another and laughed.

“Ah, c'mon Jonno, you know me…” Damian said with a grin. “I can’t just leave you guys to fend for yourselves, you’d be lost without me.”

“Maybe so,” Jon replied, pulling back and grinning down at the Wayne. “But I think you’d just miss me too much!”

Damian chuckled. “Maybe so, farmboy. Maybe so…” Slowly, Damian turned to look at Raven, who had a look of gratitude in her eyes as she smiled back at him. “You came back for me, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Raven replied. “We’re a team. We’re better together.”

Damian smiled as he took Raven’s hand in his. “So… what happened to Mara?”

“Your mom happened, man…” Jon answered as he crawled off the bed back to Raven’s side. “Killed the crap out of her.”

“Christ…” Damian moaned. “Where is my mother now?”

“We’re not sure,” Raven replied, putting her other hand over Damian’s. “But she told us to tell you she’s sorry she had to break the rule… and that she loves you.”

“Man…” Damian pouted for a moment. “Well, that’s what she does, I guess. Nothing we can really do about it. Any word on Riddler?”

“Oh yeah!” Jon grinned as he chimed in. “Turns out, he was hidin’ under the Tower the whole time! Still had all the gold and everything! What a moron, right?” Damian cracked just for a moment, letting out a chuckle as Raven shook her head smiling.

“Oh, uhh…” Jon slowly backed out of the infirmary. “I should give y'all a minute. I'll see y'all around!” Damian nodded with a smile, and the hybrid stepped out of the room.

A moment of silence sat between the two Titans. Damian looked up at Raven, not knowing what to say…

“… Thank you for saving my life. Again.” Damian smiled as the words came out of his mouth.

“No problem,” Raven let her lips curl into a shy smile as she met his eyes again.

“How is everyone doing?” Damian sat up as he asked, and Raven gently sat down in front of him, both of them cross-legged on the infirmary bed facing one another.

“Actually, I kind of need to talk to you about that…” Raven’s voice was low. “… we’ve made the decision to go our separate ways for awhile.”

“What?” Damian was visibly taken aback by this. “Why? Did something happen while I was out?”

“No, we just… everyone needs some time. Time to figure out who they are outside of the Titans.” Raven leaned forward, her fingers gently tracing over Damian’s knuckles as she spoke. “Gar and Tara are going on a trip across the country, Jon is going back to high school, Jaime got a job back in El Paso, Kori went back to Tamaran…”

“Tamaran? Seriously?” Damian looked back at the half-demon puzzled. “What about her sister?”

“She brought along some of the League to help her work things out…” Raven looked away for a moment blushing before she looked back at Damian. “And I was thinking… maybe I could come back to Gotham with you? If that’s okay?”

Damian could feel his cheeks burning as his smile spread. “Why not? We might as well get started on planning.”

Raven’s smile spread into a grin as she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Damian’s neck as they both tumbled out of the hospital bed. Damian laughed as he put his arms around Raven’s waist and held her tight before helping her to her feet. As the two of them left the infirmary, they stopped by the window and looked out over the river, where they could see Jon hovering outside. The hybrid waved back at the two of them, then took off into the sky. Damian smiled; Jon would be around plenty enough, and Wayne Manor would be open to him day or night. He turned and looked at Raven, who kept on staring out at the river below them. He slowly put his arm around her, and pulled her in to press his lips to her cheek.

“Y'know, Raven…” he whispered. “I really don’t know what I would do without you.”