Unpleasant Revelations - DPxDC Ficlet Idea for the Stillborn Au
"Have you met my youngest, Damian, Mr. Masters?"
Its only from twenty years of long, hard experience and practice that Vlad doesn't increase the room temperature from 'borderline uncomfortably cool' to 'unbearably hot' the moment Bruce Wayne pulls his youngest and "only" biological son out in front of him.
He puts only in quotations because twelve year old Damian Wayne looks scarily, uncannily like one Daniel Brown. Jack and Maddie's foster son, second victim of their foolishness, and only other halfa in existence. Second only to him.
It's nauseating how similar they look. From the scowl and terrible glare on the young boy's face, to his brown skin -- which was only a few shades lighter than Daniel's, the shape of his nose, and even the strange winged edge of his eyebrow. Something that Vlad has long since come to find endearing on the child he considered a son of his own. The only difference was that Damian had dark, sharp green eyes.
Daniel's eyes were blue. The same glacier shade as his father's, who stood behind Damian with a proud, oafish smile on his visage.
It was infuriating how similar they look. Vlad might not have rapidly swung the room temperature from one extreme to the other, but he can't stop himself from letting the fury burning within his core from slipping out and raising the temperature up a few degrees.
Because it really only meant one thing.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were related.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were brothers.
Standing in front of him, it was clear as day. He can already picture a phantom image of Daniel standing beside Damian, the same scowl written on his face, the same glare carved into his eyes. The only difference being the dark, exhausted circles beneath them that seemed to be permanently painted onto his skin. The only thing missing being the permanent loneliness and vigilance permeating his being like a scar.
This, if revealed, would be enough to ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation. Or, at the very least, darken it quite a bit. The great philanthropist Bruce Wayne with another secret blood child? One related to his youngest? One that had been put into foster care? Seemingly thrown away?
It would be a firestorm.
One that Vlad is not keen on starting.
It would ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation, yes. But it would hurt Daniel in the process -- the harassment he would face alone might just be enough to break that fragile child completely. That was just not something he could allow. Or, even worse, bring him into his biological father's care and custody -- something Vlad was even less willing to allow.
It's not out of kindness to Wayne that Vlad will keep mum about this.
His grip on his champagne flute tightens, just a bit. He's still aware enough of the world around him to not let it shatter in his hands. His plastered, pleasant smile tightens around the corners, and he forces his focus to slide from Damian to Wayne.
"The resemblance is uncanny, Mister Wayne." He says, slanting his smile to the side slyly. Although he's not talking about the resemblance between Wayne and his son. Rage simmers beneath his skin, burning coal and embers in the core of his chest, nestled between his lungs, as he meets the man's eyes.
Wayne swaggles his head proudly, his ditzy smile widening as he squeezes his son's shoulder affectionately. Bastard, Vlad wants to spit.
He breathes in through his nose, and exhales out through his mouth. The champagne in his hand cools, and stops its unusual bubbling.
The Damian boy scoffs under his breath, his mouth still coiled upward into a scowl. With the revelation of his blood relation to Daniel evident, Vlad's not sure if he should find it endearing or not.
He is not Daniel, so he decides that it's just simply irritating. He decides to ignore it.
"And you said he was your only biological son?" He asks, voice lilting and head tilting. He knows its a suspicious question at worst, insulting at best. But considering Wayne's past proclivities, he can hardly call it an unexpected question.
Damian puffs in great offense, face twisting angrily. It reminds him of Daniel when Vlad insisted that he was wrong about something or other, and for a moment his heart swells, fond.
But this is not his child, and so the feeling quickly crashes and burns, simmering back into rage. This was not Daniel -- this was his replacement. A replacement that Wayne was free to keep.
Wayne chuckles, idiotically, as if he'd said some funny joke. Vlad's other hand, the one gripping his cane -- something he's required ever since he was dispatched from the hospital all those lonely years ago -- tightens instead. He grinds his teeth -- him and Jack Fenton would get along like a house on fire, he hates it.
"I can understand why you'd ask that, Mister Masters," Wayne says, squeezing Damian's shoulder again, "but yes, Damian is my only biological son. Although that doesn't mean I don't love my other children any less."
Bastard.
For all his posturing and flouncing about caring for his city and his children, Vlad never would have thought the Prince of Gotham capable of abandoning one of them.
But, well.
They all have their dark secrets.
And what one man throws away, another man picks up. If Bruce Wayne didn't want the treasure child that was Daniel Brown, then Vlad Masters was more than happy to take him instead.
"I see."
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I'm not much for naming things but: Danny's associated with green and M'gann's a White Martian, so... Spearmint (like the green and white mint candies)? Just a thought.
Prompt: Magic removed Amity Park from the map. JL didn't notice, but in an Alderaan type moment (Star Wars ref. yay!) The martian on Watchtower monitoring duty heard the residents get silent unanimously.
Of course they need to be investigated! So M'gann gets her watch partner to take over and flies there, discovering an odd green rift of death energy doing a black hole effect and it sucks her in. Danny gets landed on/ flown into when she tumbles through the rift. She tried getting a message through to JL when she felt herself getting sucked in, but the message was not received due to ectoplasmic interference.
So Danny has to figure out how to get her AND Amity Park back home!
(Just a thought. I'm curious how you flesh it out if you do!)
This is such an interesting idea, and it definitely deserves much more story than I can write in single prompt, so this here is just a beginning and I will continue. I hope it's up to your expectations
Also, I really love the Spearmint idea
*****
M’gann understood the importance of monitor duty in Watchtower, she really did. She also understood why they were taught it while still in this gray area between fully dependent sidekicks and fully independent heroes, that was the main reason the Young Justice Team even existed.
It didn’t make it any less boring. Even when she had a decent duty partner. Don't get her wrong, Green Arrow was a much better option than Batman or Superman, it was just awkward. At least he seemed equally done with it and didn't scold her for jumping between satellite cameras just a bit too fast to actually ‘monitor’ anything.
And it was only twenty minutes into the two hour shift.
One of the sixty (or so) screens, the one directly in front of her, blinked to the view of the American Midwest. She was about to skip further, when a sudden movement caught her attention. She clicked a few keys to review the footage and asked, still unsure if her eyes weren't deceiving her.
“Did the entire city… just disappear?“
Green Arrow nodded, equally stunned.
“I'm going to check this out” she spluttered, already flying out of the room and doing her best to get Zeta to send her as close as possible. It was a bit tricky when she couldn't see the keyboard. She managed though, so before the adult hero even finished yelling that it was above her skill level, she was out.
From there, getting to the disappeared city was a piece of cake.
She stopped right in tracks when the thing came in view. M'gann had no idea how to describe it. It was a green and white and black storm but not, glass, see-through dome but not, deep space but also decidedly not. It made her want to run away but also come closer, almost like it was tugging at her. Like some pseudo, mental in nature, gravitation.
Oh, wait, no. It was an actual, physical force that after a quick test turned out to be inescapable for her.
Green Arrow, perhaps, maybe probably was kinda right. It was so high above her skill level that a balled napkin from this height would cause serious damage. Thank Batman for comms that she could use to call a backup!
The comms, that, of course, didn't work the one time she needed them.
She sent the message anyway, describing everything to the best of her ability, even though it was only a tip of the iceberg. Just in case, if the magical storm thing just made her comm one way communication only. It was highly unlikely, but who was she, if not an optimist.
She barely closed her mouth, when she was jerked sideways before the whole world became blurred.
She later would have a hard time telling anyone how it felt, to be inside the thing. She was basically powerless, thrown around randomly despite clearly keeping all of her abilities. She couldn't see, couldn't tell which way was up and down, couldn't change direction even a little bit. The rumble of the thing was so loud she couldn't hear her thoughts, throwing her brain so off the loop she forgot what her name was. She was crying probably, almost puking, her limbs hitting any and every part of her body.
At first, she didn't even realize she was out, so dazed from the ride. She didn't even see the flying boy until a while after she crashed into him, throwing them both off the sky. Neither of them caught them before they slammed into the ground. Somehow she ended up cushioning the boy's fall. M’gann couldn’t breathe for a moment. She kinda deserved it for ramming into him in the first place though.
By the time she could use her lungs and behave like a social creature again, the boy scrambled off her and just crouched, intensely staring, anxious and awestruck at the same time. She sat up and gave him once over herself.
He was around her physical age, but much skinnier than her or anybofnher teammates, build like a twig. He had fluffy, white, almost glowing hair, caucasian complexion, and wore a black and white jumpsuit with a tool belt. Big ‘P’ on his chest indicated he was someone from a hero/villain scene, and from general vibes she got, M’gann was leaning towards a hero. He was kinda cute. She coughed awkwardly when she realized how long they just sat in silence.
“Hi?”
Apparently it was enough to release an incoherent babbling from the boy.
“Hi, um… Miss Martian, ma'am? I'm Phantom. What are you doing here? Is the rest of your Team going to fall off the sky too? Justice League?”
“Not right now probably”
She was ignored. Phantom just kept panicking.
“Is this some of your villain's schemes? Are you alright? You crashed pretty hard, sorry I landed on top of you by the way, do you–?”
“I'm fine, don't worry I got worse”
“Sure…”
“Sorry I threw you off the sky”
“Not your fault, really, it's fi–”
“You asked what I'm doing here. I went on my own to investigate when I saw the city blink out of existence and got sucked in. I'm not sure if my report from site made it through, but they know where I went, so they'll soon come to help, don't worry”
Phantom did not stop worrying.
“Alright, cool, cool” he ran his hand through his hair, tugging at them “The Justice League knows you mysteriously disappeared along with an entire city. This is fine, totally fine, absolutely–”
“You're panicking”
“No shit Sherlock. Someone kidnapped my city again and I have no idea how to fix it because my usual tactic is ‘punch the cause of the problem into submission’ and this time I can't punch the storm. Now you're here so if something happens, I’ll have pissed of Justice League to worry about because, of course, it will be my fault. You could be overshadowed and I have no clue what's going on but I have to fix it as soon as–”
“Breathe Phantom“ she interrupted again, projecting what the Team called ‘calming vibes’. Since it didn't involve outright entering someone's brain and humans almost didn't react to it, it was an okay thing to do without asking even on non-villains. “Remember, I'm a hero, not a damsel in the distress you have to protect non stop”
“Of course, you're not. You're Miss Martian. You're amazing, but it doesn't give me any more of an idea on what's going on nor what to do with Justice League when they come, obviously furious because everyone in Amity and their mother will testify that it was somehow my fault, especially if–”
“Hey, hey, none of that. I know you're a good guy and they’ll too. I will vouch for you if for some reason they get misled”
Phantom looked her in the eyes as if he was trying to read her mind himself without even an ounce of psychic powers. She could tell if he used it.
“I could be a bad guy,” he said seriously after a moment of silence.
“I know you're not”
“You don't know me”
“You spent almost all of our interaction agonizing over how to save your city. It's not typical bad guy behavior”
“I could be acting”
M’gann didn't even dignify it with her response other than an incredulous stare.
“ Alright, if I've been acting, I would be a lot cooler but still… I could be acting!”
“I'm a literal psychic, remember? I didn't read your thoughts, don't worry, I know it's invasive for humans. But I got a general overview of who you are, and your vibes matched pretty well with the vibes of good guys”
“Sure, of course, why not,” he muttered, taking a moment to reboot “Why is this my life now?”
M’gann decided it wasn't to her and well… Phantom wasn't wrong, she didn't know him, so however she'd try to answer it was pretty much hit or miss. But from what she'd seen of him, she was curious to learn more.
“Nevermind, let's get you a Specter Deflector before anyone tries to use you as a meatsuit” he said, catching her wrist to drag her somewhere.
She let him lead her. He still didn’t have any nefarious reasoning, and hey! Maybe she'll finish this adventure with a new teammate!
[Sure M’gann. Just a teammate. Don't worry, Danny won't be a panicked mess all of the time here]
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Ficlet: Cookies
Stolas stared at Blitz’s door for what felt like ages. There had been a few other residents who walked by as he awkwardly stood there and although they gave him an odd look (he had to crouch to not bump his head on the ceiling) they simply shrugged and continued on.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to knock (he always wanted to see Blitz), but he was…apprehensive. He was doing something he had never done before and that small voice in the back of his mind that he had been working on silencing was making him doubt. He knew Blitz would be nothing but supportive and caring but…what if this time was different?
His hands tightened around the soft tulle of the delicately wrapped bag and he looked down.
He had made cookies.
Not just any cookies, but horse shaped sugar cookies.
It was the first time he had ever baked and with Via's help (both with the baking and the decorating) they hadn’t turned out half bad. Well not half bad for a first try…
Stolas had wanted to make them for Blitz because he could. Because he liked the idea of doing something unexpected and getting Blitz to smile at him. A soft smile, one that assured him that he was enough, that he made Blitz just as happy as the imp made him.
He huffed and took a step back.
He couldn’t do this. Not face to face.
With his heart pounding he dropped the cookies onto the floor right in front of the door and knocked gently.
He heard movement from the other side and quickly portaled himself back to his bedroom.
Taking out his phone he opened up the messaging app and found Blitz.
Hello dear! Just wanted to let you know I left you a treat outside your door. They are cookies, in the shape of horses! I found the cutter rummaging through some old boxes and knew I had to make them for you! It was my first time baking so if you don’t want to eat them you don’t have to. I also added some walnuts for texture but they got a bit burnt. We tried a few and it didn’t seem to mess with the flavor! Most of them are lopsided though and the frosting got a bit messy on some of them…You know what they probably aren’t any good. I’m sorry for bringing them over. You can just throw then away or give them to a neighbor. Don’t worry about it at all!
Stolas hit send and sat heavily on the couch in his room, smacking his forehead lightly with how ridiculous he was being. Why would Blitz want cookies from him? Horribly misshaped monstrosities. He will probably hate them for that alone, destroying one of favorite animals with his attempts at decoration.
His placed his phone on his nightstand and made his way to the greenhouse to focus on something else.
—o—
A few hours later Stolas walked back into his room, clothes covered in soil and water stains, feeling a bit better.
He was about to make his way over to take a bath when he heard his text alert.
A chill ran down his spine but he found himself moving to pick it up.
There were 6 messages. All from Blitz.
Taking a breath he opened his phone and went back to the first few texts, time stamped about an hour ago.
Im sure ther fine Stols. getin grosherries tho. Looney got tem
I hav named tem all
looney ate 4, i hav had 7
The last three messages were images. The first one was all the horses placed onto a large piece of paper. Written next to each horse in Blitz's handwriting was a name and a little blurb about them. Stolas zoomed in and read all of them, chuckling at some of the ridiculous names. What in hell's name was a dilf?
The next picture was one of Loona biting into a cookie while flipping off the camera. He smiled wide at that too.
The last text Blitz had sent just a moment ago and seeing it made Stolas's heart go all aflutter. On the paper, beneath two cookies, Blitz had drawn a tail and horns on one and a top hat and tail feathers on the other. He had moved the horses close so it looked like they were kissing and had drawn hearts around them.
His phone pinged and a new message appeared: look ther in love
He checks ached with how wide he was smiling and he held the phone to his chest. Oh Blitzy…for someone who has scoffed at romance you sure know how to make me swoon.
Stolas was about to reply back when another message popped up.
we have eten all the kookees. They wer good
Stolas felt his cheeks warm and he smiled softly.
I’m so glad you both liked them! Maybe next time you can come over and we can make them together. ;)
iz a date
Stolas hooted happily and began to search up all the different things they could bake together, wondering idly if he should invite Via and Loona too.
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