Birdflash Week (Day 4)
Villain AU
@birdflashweek
Wally watched as Batman pulled up a profile on the screen at the front of the Watchtower’s conference room. According to the Bat’s reports, there was a new Rogue on the loose that knew the Justice League’s secret identities. So far they hadn’t gone to the media, luckily, but in the meantime they had built up quite the reputation in Gotham (along with a pile of bodies).
The profile showed a masked man, likely about Wally’s age, in a black and blue suit. There was a symbol on his chest, and two stripes of color down his arms and gloves. That was all he could tell from the extremely blurry photo, though. Apparently he went by the alias ‘Shadow’ and had been traveling the world quite a bit before settling in Gotham.
“Do we know how he find out our identities?” Superman asked, tone grave.
To any normal person it would look like Batman replied with a simple “No,” but with his superspeed Wally was able to catch the briefest hint of hesitation before the man responded. Which was… unsettling. Batman never hesitated, ever. Something was definitely up with this Rogue.
Batman continued to brief them all on the situation, but seemed fairly confident the masked man wouldn’t reveal their identities to the public. That, at least, was comforting. The rest, not so much. It seemed like this Rogue was taking more of an anti-hero approach at least, only killing criminals that were repeat offenders or the worst of the worst. Of course, killing was always bad, but at least this guy wasn’t harming civilians or heroes.
As the meeting dispersed and Wally zeta’d back to Keystone, he couldn’t help but wonder about the new Rogue, and how exactly he knew the League’s identities- which was one of the most carefully kept secrets in the entire world- and why he (however thankfully) hadn’t just released them to the media.
His thoughts about the man kept him distracted enough that he didn’t notice someone else was in his apartment until he was already in it with them. And, because he had shit luck, it was the Rogue he had just been wondering about. Eh, he was never one for subtlety anyway.
“Hey, why didn’t you release our identities to the public?” he asked the man, who cocked his head and studied him before replying.
“I don’t actually want villains to hurt you or your loved ones. I was just proving a point to B, telling him something only I would know,” he explained, much to Wally’s surprise.
“…Oh. Um. What?” Wally asked, beyond confused.
“Plus I wanted to mess with the League a bit I suppose. Not you though, Wally,” he smiled warmly at the speedster and Wally felt a rush of familiarity at the sight.
“Have we… met? Before?” the redhead asked somewhat desperately. There was something about the man before him that Wally just recognized on a bone-deep level. The man’s kind smile turned into a delighted grin and he pulled a stunned Wally into a hug.
“I knew you would remember me! I told Dami but he didn’t believe me. We were best friends for almost a decade, of course you’d remember me,” he rambled excitedly. The speedster froze in his arms and sucked in a sharp breath, pulling away to face the man once more.
“…‘Wing?” he asked, voice breaking at the end.
Nightwing nodded enthusiastically and was pulled back into a crushing hug.
“I thought… everyone assumed you were dead but I refused to believe it, but then so many years passed and Batman never said anything… I’m so sorry,” Wally whispered.
“Hey, hey no it’s not your fault. I should have told you all that I was leaving after Jay died, I’m sorry. I wasn’t in a good headspace and it only got worse and then… after everything I’ve done… I didn’t think you would want me back,” Dick admitted softly.
“Of course we would, dumbass. Of course I would,” he emphasized, leaning his forehead against the shorter man’s.
“I’m sorry I left,” Dick replied, holding him tighter.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re back now, and nothing is going to come between us again,” Wally promised, and leaned down to press a kiss to the other man’s lips, which was eagerly returned.
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What would Philip and Marilu be like as parents
This is a really divisive question for me for some reason? Part of me says they’d be awful and part of me says they’d be… ok.
This turned into a huge character study so skip to the end for a straightforward answer :)
Marilu is an orphan (she’d lost both her parents by the age of four), and she spent her childhood with her aunt Allegra (who was kind but distant towards her children, following the aristocratic examples of the time) as a mother figure, and then her teenage-hood with her other aunt, Isabel, as a mother figure, who was definitely closer to Marilu than Allegra by the end of their development together. Marilu also heavily romanticizes that idea of idyllic motherhood that she views (see: projects) on the other women around her and thinks herself incapable of achieving. Let me explain: she is raised by a woman (Isabel) who, although happy in that current time, has unresolved trauma that influences her choices on child rearing. Isabel was mocked because of her poor education and exploited because of her naïveté as a teen, so she does the most to protect Marilu from a similar situation. But since this is the 1700s and women were treated like shit, this ends up backfiring and makes Marilu resentful of her “masculine” education because she feels it alienates her from other girls.
While all of this is very important, remember Marilu is rich, and women of her aristocratic background were not expected to be involved in their children’s life as caretakers. She rejects that position, but she cannot reject the privilege of her money. So even if she and Philip got elbow deep in enlightenment philosophy together they would still be very wealthy (get that bag pip).
Philip now. I’m very careful to delimitate the real Philip Hamilton from the fictional one I’ve created since I really don’t want to be disrespectful. Here is written how I view him as a character, not as a real person.
Philip’s dad put all his highest expectations on him, and he rejects that, which is in a way what makes him approach Marilu (resentment of their parent figures’ treatment of them, even if unconsciously). They become increasingly detached of reality together and then… well, he dies. And Marilu goes off the rails.
Now Philip and Marilu AS parents. They’d be good parents in the sense that their children would never want for anything because of their mother’s inherited wealth, but poor parents in the sense that they would try their most to love their children but would be unable to let go of their inherited insecurities. When they were grown, their children would be put in that uncomfortable position where they couldn’t exactly complain about their parents and their childhood but they felt something was Off. Or, maybe Philip and Marilu would be able to break the cycle. Who knows.
Thank you so much for the ask, anon! <3
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Thinking about when me and Mal (@wolfdivined) were talking about Artorias getting really mad at Lucette and the one time she has gotten into deep dangerous trouble.
It only happened once, because once was all Lucette needed to know that she had reached her father’s limit and that she never wants to see him like that again.
He had been so angry, that he didn’t even shout. He did not raise his voice. He was cold. That’s when she realized that this was not her Papa, but the Wolf Knight.
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