#Lex wants the high ground on Superman in EVERY WAY imaginable

[madametamma]

Everyone has been talking about "When will Lex loose his hair", and yeah, of course, I want that too, but I'm more excited to see him try and get ripped because Superman's physique makes him so damn self conscious.

[thevindicativevordan]

On Supergirl

Figured I should put up my thoughts about Kara in the wake of her first film appearance being announced, and the final season of her TV show fast approaching. Short version is: Kara is very cool and DC needs to stop messing with her. 

My Introduction to Kara

I was introduced to Kara the way most millennials/Gen Zers were I imagine, via the Loeb Superman/Batman arc which brought the traditional Kara Zor-El Supergirl take into Post-Crisis continuity, after years of DC attempting to have a “Supergirl” without violating the editorial mandate that Kal needed to be the literal “Last Son of Krypton” (an example of one of the dumb ways DC fucked Kara over). Story goes that one day Dan Didio was in line at the Superman ride at Six Flags (I love that ride even though it’s stolen my glasses every time I’ve ridden it, even when I left them in a locker!). The ride had signs that talked about various Superman characters. Didio was reading the entry for Supergirl where it talked about her not being Clark’s cousin but instead some weird merge of alien shapeshifter, angel, and human girl, and he realized how fucking stupid that was, and he went back to the office and told Loeb to bring Kara back. 

Years later I would also be standing in line at the Six Flags Superman ride (probably at a different park location but who knows?) as a youngster and would read the new Supergirl sign that trumpeted that Superman had a cousin who shared all his powers, an update reflecting the new Loeb origin. I thought she sounded pretty cool, made a note to see if my library had any Supergirl stories next time I visited, then got on the Superman ride and promptly lost my glasses like an idiot because I wanted to take them off while I was riding and pretend I was changing from my “disguise” into Superman mid flight. My dad grounded me for this afterwards, but it gave me a funny story to tell at family get togethers and isn’t that what Six Flags is all about?

A month later (and with spiffy new glasses), my mom dropped me off at a new library next to where she worked, and they had one of the best Superman collections I’ve ever seen to this day. I was in heaven and while reading every Superman book I could find (I couldn’t check them out because I didn’t have a card, my mom’s card didn’t cover the area the library was in, and my mom wouldn’t have checked them out anyway since comics were “too violent”), I found the trade collecting Kara’s new origin. I read it and I thought both she and Superman were really cool, and Batman was a  punk who had to beat Darkseid by cheating, the loser. Turner’s art to my young eyes was the best I had ever seen, and the panels got engraved into my brain. 

I still get downright nostalgic whenever I see Turner Superman or Supergirl stuff. I also got my parents to rent the animated movie adaption of the Superman/Batman arc from Blockbuster (remember those?), and that sealed the deal. Seeing Kara hold her own against Darkseid convinced me she was as cool as her cousin. Next time my mom dropped me off at the library next to her workplace, I went looking for Supergirl stuff to read. I found the first volume of her new volume by Joe Kelly taking place after the Loeb arc and dove in.

It was... weird. 5 years later I might have enjoyed it but at the time I was majorly put off. Kara took a secret identity for a day and then ditched it because it was “stupid” and the kids bullied her. She was always getting into fights with Kal, and there was this weird plot that I couldn’t follow about how her dad had sent her to kill Kal, maybe or maybe not? Also she could grow crystals which I thought was dumb, and said she was stronger than her cousin which I couldn’t buy for a second given he looked like he was carved out of marble, and she looked like she relied on sunlight instead of food. I put the volume back on the shelf and kinda gave up on reading the character after that for a while. 

I followed her via the DC wiki updates just like I did Superman, and everything I read seemed dumb and convoluted. She was split in two, moped around a lot, made out with an alternate version of her cousin, and basically just flopped about the same way the rest of the Superfamily did during the 00s. Nothing made me think I had made a mistake dropping Kara until I read the latest update to her wiki page.

I was super into what I was reading about the Busiek/Johns era of Superman online. Lex was back and making a big revenge scheme that involved all the other Rogues! Old Superman Rogues were getting revamped and made cool again! Johns reintroduced Brainiac and made him a big threat, with Kal and Kara teaming up to fight him! Busiek was revamping Prankster and telling big ambitious Superman stories! For the first time in a long while, the consensus on the Internet was that Superman was good again. My “home” library had zero Marvel books and no Superman or Batman books, all their DC stuff was Flash or Green Lantern, mainly written by Johns. Insane to think back on now. My hopes that because Johns was involved with Superman, Superman books would show up at my library were fulfilled. They started bringing in Busiek and Johns collections, and someone there also ordered Sterling Gates’ first volume of Supergirl, and I checked everything out since I was old enough to have my own library card, and my parents were worried more about the violent video games I was playing rather than comics.

I read everything and loved it. I also really liked Gates’ take on Kara. She was still an imperfect teenager but she wasn’t insufferably angsty or constantly fighting with Kal. She was going to give the secret identity another try and Lana had “adopted” her. It’s funny remembering how I enjoyed all that given my current thoughts on how Kara should work, but it was great at the time. I liked Gates introducing new foes for Kara, some classic Superman Rogues adapted for her like Bizzarogirl, others crafted specifically for her like Reactron. Gates’ basically rekindled my enjoyment of Kara the same way Busiek & Johns rekindled my enjoyment of Superman.

Of course it ended terribly like everything Superman-related seems to.

I’ve got a whole post I want to do about New Krypton and what came after. In short that is the most blatant example of “hitting the reset button” that I’ve ever seen. All the potential got wasted, and afterwards everything except Lex’s Action Comics stuff just didn’t appeal to me. Gates got booted off Kara for Nick Spencer who ended up leaving himself later, a promising Teen Titans line-up with Kara on it didn’t happen, and the last proper Pre-Flashpoint Superfamily story was a crappy team-up with Doomsday against Bigger Doomsday (thank God for Cornell’s final Luthor/Superman confrontation at least). When news of the reboot arrived, I was honestly happy. The Superline needed an enema.

Controversial opinion time: I liked New 52 Supergirl. It’s weird because a lot of the stuff I hated about Kelly’s run was here, and a lot of the stuff I loved about the Gates’ run was not. This was angry, moody, emotional Kara again, fighting with Kal and not fond of Earth. But I was in my teens at this point, and I didn’t want happy go-lucky Superman or Supergirl. I wanted my heroes angry, scared of the future, ready to go out there and smash some cars. Morrison’s Action Comics was 100% my jam (still is once I really understood the deeper meaning beneath the work) and this Kara felt like a natural fit for this universe. Plus we got Asrar on art and that guy made it damn pretty to look at, lots of cool science fiction stuff going on, even with the dumb H’el storyline.

I loved all the new Rogues Kara got. I loved her new Fortress under the ocean. I loved how traumatized she was by the loss of Krypton, that she wanted more than anything to go home, that her cousin was like a stranger to her since they had been apart for so long. I found all of that incredibly relatable. A lot of the New 52 Supergirl stories might have been schlock but it was my type of schlock damnit, and I enjoyed it!

I kept with her New 52 series all the way through the Red Daughter Saga (which I loved). As someone who grew up on Johns GL (since that was the only comics my home library had), seeing a Supercharacter join a Lantern Corp was the hypest thing ever. I loved the finale about Kara finally letting go of her anger and losing the ring while smashing her foe into the sun, it was incredibly cathartic for me as an angry teen myself. I finally stopped following her series sometime after since I was no longer enjoying the Superline or really DC as a whole. It wasn’t until I heard that New 52 Superman died and the “old” Superman was back, that I checked back into DC.

DC Rebirth & How I Think Kara Should Work

I did not enjoy Supergirl Rebirth, and I think I’ll talk about my problems with it alongside how I think Kara as a character should work since the two are related. A pet peeve of mine that has formed over the years is this: I don’t like it when Superfamily members get turned into Clark clones. Kon wearing glasses and going to Smallville High. Kara going to high school and being involved in journalism. Jon more or less being written as a copy of his dad personality-wise. I hate that kind of stuff because it’s boring. What’s the point of a Superfamily if everyone is just copying Clark? It also doesn’t fit the characters especially in Kara’s case. Why the hell does she want to be a journalist? Were there journalists on Krypton? I don’t remember ever seeing one! Shouldn’t she want to be, I dunno, a scientist? That seems to have been the El family tradition, wouldn’t she have been groomed for that?

This one-off by Shea is honestly the only acceptable outcome for Kara going into journalism for me. She realizes she’s just copying her cousin and switches to something she wants to do. So Orlando copying the show, which already basically turned Kara into an expy of her cousin, just did not appeal to me at all. What had worked for me under Gates way back when was not clicking for me this time. I wanted to see Kara embody the principles of the S-shield in a different way than her cousin did. So I really enjoyed when Rebirth ended and we moved into the Bendis era with Andrekyo relaunching the title as Kara in space.

Kara in space has always felt like a good fit for me. Unlike Kal I’ve come to believe that Kara really shouldn’t be all that fond of Earth. For him it’s home, but for her it’s just where she ended up after her real home got destroyed. I think Kara works well as a sort of nomad, occasionally making stops back home to Earth to check on her cousin, but otherwise? She’s more comfortable out in space than she could ever be on Earth. Out in space she can be Kryptonian (which is what she should think of herself as in contrast to Clark being torn between his Kryptonian biology and human upbringing, and Jon/Kon identifying as human), be her true self, not have to pretend to be human to fit in. Kara founding a moon refuge was one of the best ideas for her that I’ve seen, I would love if DC made her Future State refugee center on the moon canon. I’m excited for more Kara adventures in space with the upcoming Tom King story.

Also love that her and Krypto are getting tied together, if they don’t want to use Krypto in Superman’s stuff, let her have him! Bring on cosmic adventurer Supergirl!

Personality & Other Traits

Kara to me should be more hot-tempered than her cousin. All the Superfamily members should have a temper in my opinion, I see that as the “Deadly Sin” of Superman and his family. But while Kal is like a simmering pot that will explode if it’s left cooking for too long, Kara is like dynamite. Light her fuse at your own peril because she will go off on you.

I also like the idea of Kara being rash. Kal’s got a maturity that came from over a decade of having to live with Lex Luthor constantly getting away with all his evil schemes. He’s patient because he’s been forced to be. Kara? If you ask for her help she’ll give it, but beware because she doesn’t really care about the long term impacts of her decisions. She’s an invulnerable teenager after all.

Really liked that Venditti Annual where Kara got tutored in history by a reincarnation of Hawkman. Kara having a passion for history is a neat trait, would be nice to see her teach Kal or Jon some Kryptonian lore, or have her lead a Kryptonian holiday celebration for the Superfamily because she’s the only one who remembers how to do it. 

Sexuality wise I know a lot of people ship Kara and Lena on account of the chemistry between the two in the show. I haven’t watched the show myself but I’m fine with making Kara bisexual, the Superfamily could use some LGBT+ rep, and Lena hasn’t done anything of worth as a villain, so undo that and throw the two together. If we’re letting Harley and Ivy get away with murder I think we can let Lena off the hook too, undo the Ultrawoman weirdness and put the two together. Could be fun seeing the two building that moon refuge together.

All in all I think Kara is a great character who is a stronger embodiment of the immigrant experience than even her cousin in some ways. I hope King does a good job with her, she’s treated better than her cousin on the film side, and that overall the 20s are a better decade for Supergirl than the 10s were.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Reflecting on Superman and Lois season 1

Now that the season is over, its interesting to look back at a very stop start season. Its very difficult for a show to hold your interest with the type of scheduling problems this show had, and in its very first season. When the show was announced, I wasn't terribly surprised but I was also not overly excited. There has been a lot of Superman and Superman adjacent material that has come out before and after the announcement so I did wonder about what they could do new. In addition, while I certainly liked Tyler in his guest appearances in Supergirl, in Elseworlds, and in Crisis, he did feel like the inferior Superman in Crisis when he was opposite Brandon Routh's Superman who really looked and felt like Superman, even better than he did in Superman Returns. However, once the trailer dropped, I was sold. It was clear that the show was going for something a lot more cinematic and a lot more grounded than the previous Arrowverse shows. I did have some apprehensiveness over the teenage boys angle because teenagers can become very stereotypically irritating in shows and given that a good chunk of time was going to be dedicated to them, it was going to be vital for them not be so.

Having finished the season, I have to say that the execs and the writers have pulled off an excellent first season. I don't think I would call it the best season 1 in the Arrowverse. I still love The Flash season 1 over any other Arrowverse season and while I haven't seen it in a while, I love Arrow season 1 as well. This may come at 2nd or 3rd place based on further reflection. I do think its has some issues when it comes to the villain storyline and with the big action set pieces, but the film's heart is set at the right place and the characters are all very likable and you want to see conversations between the characters. That's when you know that the writers are doing a good job when you almost feel that the show should go back to the character moments.

Firstly, the idea of a matured Superman is what works wonderfully well. There is something wonderful about seeing Clark and Lois as a couple who have known and loved each other for over a decade. Closer to two decades I guess. Characters don't quite look their age tbh. Lois would have to be in her early 40's at least. But I can honestly overlook that. Bitsie and Tyler were already a very likable couple in Elseworlds and the show has just used that natural chemistry to brilliant effect. But the big relief was that Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin are excellent as Jonathan and Jordan. I was initially a little worried that Jordan could be a little much, but both of them were excellent and one of the highlights of the season was the bond between the two brothers. Jordan and Jonathan have conflicts but they are brothers and they love and support each other unconditionally.

Jonathan could have so easily been the douchey, jealous brother but Elsass is honestly one of the mvp's of the season. You really care for Jonathan, even though he arguably has a slightly less meaty role in the story. I think Bitsie Tulloch is outstanding all season. She has shot up very high among all my favorite Lois Lanes. She's very different from the other versions and that makes her stand out. One of my favorite episodes was episode 8, which deals with Lois dealing with memories of her miscarriage along with almost losing Jonathan. She is excellent in that episode as is Elsass. Tyler is wonderful throughout. He's a strong Superman but his Clark is even more endearing. Little things like him being so psyched for the Harvest Festival, how he plays young Clark in flashbacks as someone distinctly different, him meeting Lois and working with her for the first time, the adorable "my mom made it" moment when Superman first saves a kid etc... He just embodies everything you know and love from the character. Wole Parks is another terrific addition. Initially you think he's an alternate version of Lex Luthor but it was genius idea to have him actually be John Henry Irons. There was something innately likable about him even when he was fighting Superman and we thought he was Lex. I loved how they handled the dynamic of being Lois' husband in another world and having a daughter. It makes for an interesting dynamic but it never gets into problematic territory because he is mature enough to know that this Lois isn't his Lois, but they also show his difficulty in dealing with that. I liked the bond he seemed to be forming with Jonathan. And I liked how he came along to be an ally with Superman.

The Cushings are ok. They play an important part in the season with Sarah Cushing being Jordan's love interest and Kyle being a big part of the how the villain story begins, with Lana also being a major character in the story. All three actors are excellent but Kyle does have the stereotypical doucheyness which was a little annoying for the first 10 episodes, however he does redeem himself in the final arc. I hope Lana gets to be a bit more active in the show because she does feel like a bit passive as a character. However, I did find that Sarah and Jordan romance actually pretty cute. Both actors did a nice job making them feel like awkward teenagers, dancing around their feelings for each other. Sam Lane is another character who starts out pretty unlikable but I warmed up to him by the end.

Where I think the show doesn't really work at full strength is the superheroic aspect of the show. The character drama in the show is great. I think it works gangbusters. The superhero plot of it all is a little meh. While Adam Rayner is perfectly fine as Edge/Tal-Rho, as a character he's just not that interesting. There is an interesting perspective there that he's sort of a mirror image to Clark where he got mistreated by people when he landed on Earth and that is how his worldview shaped that way, and he longed for family, but there isn't enough done on a character level with him. As a result, the last third of the season was a little iffy. The whole, build Krypton on Earth felt like a variation of Zod's plot in Man of Steel. The method is different but the eventual outcome is the same. I also don't know why all Kryptonians, apart from Lara, are homicidal maniacs, when they are said to be a peaceful race. The arc also becomes repetitive because there are like three climaxes. And I feel the finale was the weakest climax of the lot. Episode 10 or 12 would have served as better finales with a little tweaking. If I remember correctly, the original order was for 13 episodes and it got extended to 15, so this might be an explanation to why it feels this way. The action is fairly by the numbers. While it looks like there is clearly more money on display here than say for Supergirl or The Flash, the action scenes aren't particularly exciting or inventive.

While I am not super high on the finale, I am mostly happy with how things wrapped up. I think they should have had Tal-Rho die tragically because I really don't think he's interesting enough to be brought back again. The arrival of Natalie Irons will surely be a source of some emotionally charged scenes. i hope there is some character bonding between the her and the brothers. Jonathan seemed pretty interested in meeting her when he saw videos of her. I do wonder how the show will continue to incorporate Smallville as a setting. Season 1 obviously had a very specific plot based reason to be in Smallville, given Edge's plot was based in Smallville. But I can't imagine every big bad will have Smallville based plot. But the characters are all settled in Smallville, with the Cushings and Lois buy half the Gazette and running it with Christy. So that's going to be an interesting balancing act that they have to do. I hope they can bring in some traditional superheroics as well because Superman rogues gallery is rich enough. Out of the episodes, I think 6-8 were my favorites, and the flashbacks in episode 11 were incredibly charming. While the season is not flawless I don't think it completely nailed the superheroic heights that it was aiming for, it was a really entertaining season of tv. An 8/10 for me.

[memories-are-mine]

We Survived The Crisis, Babe

You want to know what happened to Hannah and Ethan, you say? Give Ethan some medical attention, you say?

Well, I’m terrible, so no. But here’s some Lex to make up for it. 

Some handy links:  Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 

ao3

As always, let me know if you wanna be on the taglist!! 

TW:  References to child abuse, near-death experiences - stay safe kids

Chapter 4 - Lex 

This is not how I wanted it to end. 

That was all Lex Foster could think as she knelt on the floor of the Toy Zone stockroom, Sherman Young’s arm wrapped tightly around her neck, constricting her breathing. It was not how she imagined that she was going to die. 

Fighting her mother, maybe. Defending Hannah from her drunken wrath. Or saving a small child from the middle of the road. Something heroic, something she would be remembered for. Or, after a nice, long life in California, she would die peacefully in bed with Hannah and Ethan by her side. Instead, it was this. 

Dying in the stockroom of a shitty toy store, in a town she had sworn that her life would not end in. A town where the only two people who loved her were likely dead already. She was alone. No one would save her. California would die with her. That’s what she got for wishing. 

Only her ashes would ever see the sea. 

It was a nice dream while it lasted. 

The edges of Lex’s vision began to go black as Sherman squeezed harder. She was strangely calm. It didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. It was almost like falling asleep with her eyes open. She refused to close them. She wanted to look death straight in the face. 

It was serene in a way, almost beautiful. There was no noise, and Lex could vaguely hear the sounds of seagulls and wind through trees, how the beaches were in the movies. Maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad. Then Lex’s oxygen-deprived mind went to her two last regrets. 

Her biggest regret, of course, was Hannah. She would never see her little sunshine sister again. Never get to hold her again - God, she’d miss holding Hannah. Hannah had been the only thing worth living for, for such a long time. They needed each other. Lex hoped that she could go on alone. She was strong. And Lex was leaving. And her sister was going to be murdered by the psychotic, toy-worshipping cult that Linda Monroe was leading out in Toy Zone. Hannah wouldn’t be shown any mercy. 

Sorry, I couldn’t save you, Banana. 

Her other regret was Ethan Green. Funny, dumb, loyal, brave, incredible Ethan Green. Ethan Green, who let her cry on his shoulder and cried on hers. Ethan Green who was really good with anything mechanical. Ethan Green, who, on a day that Lex had a big test, cut school to take care of Hannah when she was sick and Lex’s mom was too drunk to be bothered, knowing full well he would earn a beating for skipping. Ethan Green, who she kissed and smoked and dreamed with. Ethan Green, whom she loved. She’d never had the courage to actually tell him that.  

Now, I’ll never get the chance. 

If he had stayed with Hannah, as Lex knew he had, the cult would kill him too. There would only be ashes in California. 

Suddenly, it hurt a lot more to die. Lex gave up the “facing-death-with-my-eyes-open” shtick and allowed her vision to go dark. She didn’t want to look anymore. 

“You aren’t dead yet,” a new voice said. Lex managed to open her eyes and look to her right. A man, with shoulder-length hair and a scruffy beard, dressed in black combat fatigues and what looked like one of those weird floppy artist hats, floated a few feet off the ground. Sherman wasn’t reacting to this intrusion, so Lex figured this was some sort of near-death hallucination. 

“Alexandra Foster,” Lex’s near-death hallucination said in an authoritative tone. “My name is General John MacNamara and I’m going to help you through this.” 

“Wh-what?” Lex managed to gasp out.

“First, you need to subdue your assailant,” General John MacNamara said, efficiently removing a gun from a holster at his belt. He flipped it around and offered it to Lex, handle first. “I’m authorizing you to use my firearm.” 

This was cruelty - Someone offering to save her, to give her a fighting chance to save her family. And it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. And yet Lex found herself raising her arm, desperately stretching for the weapon. 

“I can’t reach it,” she choked. 

“Yes, you can.” General MacNamara looked Lex directly in the eye. “Your sister has always had the power. Something tells me your friend has it too now. You have it.” 

Lex barely had time to process that. Power? What the fuck was this guy talking about. 

“Reach into the Black and White. You must manifest this weapon into your reality.” 

The Black and White. That was the thing that Hannah always talked about. 

Okay, so this definitely was a hallucination. Lex could barely manifest the will to get up in the morning. She could not manifest things from other dimensions. She felt like she would have known that about herself. So why did that statement set every single one of her cells jumping, and not because she was being strangled. 

“Look me in the eye, now, Lex,” the general barked. “Become your best self. If Wiggly’s been born, then who knows what will happen. But people are depending on you. It’s time to lead.” General MacNamara’s image began to flicker. “Time is running out. It’s time to make your choice.” 

Lex somehow stretched her arm a little farther. Her mind was clear. She could not give up. She would not give up. For Hannah. For Ethan. For herself. 

“I’m gonna kill you,” Sherman hissed in her ear. 

No the fuck he was not. 

Adrenaline rushed through her. Before Lex even knew what she was doing, she dislodged Sherman, twisted and pulled the trigger. 

Direct hit. 

Sherman stumbled back. “Where did that come from?” 

Then he collapsed. Dead. 

Lex gasped. The gravity of what she had done began to sink in. She had killed someone. Sure, she had done it in self-defense but she had still killed someone, and she felt horribly guilty. 

“Nice shot, Lex.” General MacNamara’s image was definitely beginning to fade now. Still there, but less substantial. Apparently, Lex wasn’t hallucinating. Hallucinations didn’t give people guns. “But we aren’t through yet. The leaders of your world are lost and helpless. You’ve been called to serve.” He spoke louder, now, as if afraid Lex wouldn’t be able to hear.  “If you can defeat Wiggly here in Hatchetfield, then he can be defeated anywhere.” 

That seemed like a tall order for Superman. But here, it was wildly hopeless. She was Lex Foster - a high school dropout with no prospects and a drug addiction and who was positively not Superman, no matter what weird-ass power she had just discovered. She was being called upon to save the world. What could she possibly do? 

Then, she thought of Hannah. Of Ethan, and her resolve hardened. 

“What do I have to do?” 

“Gather your forces,” General MacNamara said. His image was so faint now that he was almost impossible to see. “There is a warrior of light trapped in a deep sleep. Wake the warrior. Kill the prophet. Save the world.” 

Oh, was that all. 

General MacNamara gave Lex a salute, then faded into nothingness, leaving her alone in darkness. 

Lex stayed on her knees for a few moments, trying to catch her breath and process what had just happened. 

Okay. First, a man had appeared while Lex was being strangled in a toy store stockroom and had told her she could manifest things from other dimensions. Then she had actually done that, and shot Sherman Young with an actual bullet. And now she had to gather some forces, kill the prophet, and save the world. 

Awesome and totally doable. Except for literally all of that. 

First, Lex did not have any forces. The only possible ally that she would have had in Toy Zone was Frank. And he was dead. 

Second, the prophet, presumably Linda, had an entire goon squad of crazy people surrounding her, and, going back to problem one, Lex was by herself. 

She could have kept going, but this already seemed impossible. 

She glanced out the stockroom window to the loading lot at the back. Was it possible that just this morning she was there, with Ethan and Hannah, laughing and dreaming about California. It seemed like a million years ago.  She saw Mr. Houston’s car, still in the loading dock, with a bright pink ticket on the windshield and laughed, despite herself. God, had really been this morning that she’d seen…

Holy shit, Mr. Houston. 

Maybe Lex wasn’t entirely alone in this mall. Maybe, possibly, in a one-in-a-bazillion chance, she could find Mr. Houston, and he wouldn’t be corrupted by Wiggly. And if she found Mr. Houston, maybe she could find Hannah and Ethan and get out of this mall. Maybe she could save the world. Maybe she’d even make it to California. Maybe she’d just die, but damn if Lex wasn’t going to die fighting. 

Lex got to her feet and cocked her new pistol. 

General MacNamara had told her to gather her forces. So that was what Lex was going to do. 

“Stay alive, you two,” she said to empty air. “I’m coming.”

Taglist: 

@hurricanehellion, @asshole-gay-797, @ethngreen, @just-a-side-kick, @theirishhufflepuff, @somegeekychic, @curse-brekker, @unusual-ly, @softotacoo, @believeinasmilinggodtoday, @scorpiotrash468

[mrsluthordanvers]

Field trip

Lena and Kara have been dating awhile. Lena knows Kara is Supergirl, but feels like she’s hiding something when she disappear every third Saturday. So, one day she confronted her about it. Kara gives a look and tells her to dress warm. Then, Kara fly’s them to the Fortress of Solitude.

I really really hope you like this!!

Two times doesn’t make a pattern, Lena knows, but it doesn’t stop her all consuming curiosity. More then one afternoon has already passed sitting at her desk, chewing on the end of her pen wondering where Kara felt the need to sneak off too once a month.

Four more months had passed and Lena had to admit that Kara had improved at slipping out of their bed un-noticed but this morning was not one of them. She woke when Kara brushed her lips against her forehead before going in search of her suit, muttering when she couldn’t find it right away, hidden away in the dryer when Lena did laundry after Kara fell asleep the night before.

Now she pulled herself to sit up, leaning her chest against her knees as she wrapped her arms around them, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she waited for Kara to step out of the closet.

“Where are you going?” Lena winced at the crack in her voice, still rusty from sleep.

Kara stood for a moment, head titled, as she took in her girlfriend wrapped up in white sheets, skin visible in spots where it bunched up and fell away. Her lips twitching at the sight of messy waves, and sleepy green eyes, still bright and shining as they watched her.

“Do you want to come with me?”

Lena lifted an eyebrow at the offer, still waiting for her own answer. When none came she slowly nodded, removing herself from their bed and stepping into Kara’s embrace as she shivered at the cold air.

“I’ll get coffee, dress warm.”

Finding the warmest clothes she owned, Lena made her way into the kitchen taking in the scent of coffee and donuts from her favourite cafe. Lena wrapped both hands around the paper cup Kara held out to her and crowded into Kara’s front as she closed her eyes and hummed in appreciation of the first sip. The warmth running through her body before she opened her eyes again, noticing for the first time the high end, knee length, feather filled jacket that sat hung off a chair at the kitchen island.

“You know the last time I wore a coat like that, I was checking in on an L-Corp project in the arctic.”

“It’s Alex’s. She said you could borrow it, I didn’t know you had one.”

“I don’t anymore. I think I donated it after the project finished.” Lena turned to Kara, “That’s DEO issued. Why does Alex need a DEO issued coat for the Arctic?”

“Ummm…” Kara moved to adjust her glasses, remembering she was in her suit and they were tucked away on her beside table.

“Right.” Lena nodded looking over her clothes a second time to make sure she really would be warm enough before layering on the coat and pulling up the hood as she made a face at Kara from under the fur trim. Laughing Kara pulled it down over Lena’s face receiving a surprised squeak that quickly turned into a gasp as she realized Kara used the distraction to fly them above National City.

“I hate flying.” Lena choked as she burrowed her face back into Kara’s chest.

“I know. I got you.”

When Kara’s feet hit the ground again, Lena let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Instantly noticing the white cloud in front of her face seconds before the rapid temperature change as Kara set her down and moved away to pick up a giant yellow brick with the same insignia on it as Kara’s chest. Slotting it into a marked stone panel on the side of the mountain.

“Tad obvious isn’t it?” Lena teased as she clapped her hands together, thankful for the mittens she had found stored in the pockets.

“It’s made of dwarf star, only Kal and I can lift it.” Kara shrugged casually as the door opened and she dropped the key back into a pile of snow and let Lena lead the way into the ice cavern that opened before them.

“The fortress of solitude.” Lena breathed as she stood staring up at the never ending ceiling above them.

“You know?”

“I mean, I’d heard… but I try not to base the facts I know about Superman off the ravings of a mad man.”

The response wasn’t bitter, but Kara still wrapped an arm around Lena’s waist in comfort before tugging her further inside.

“Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Introducing Lena to Kalex went smoother than Kara ever imagined. Grinning as Lena prowled around the robot quizzing the two of them about its functions and science, her jaw almost dropping a couple of times as she listened, before lining up another question.

“I knew you said science on Krypton was advanced, and we talked about the science guild, but I never imagined…” Lena gestured to Kalex, still entranced. “I mean, I did imagine, but actually seeing it- Do you know what L-Corp could accomplish with this kind of technology? If I could build something like Kalex, I could-“

“Lena.”

Whipping around Lena took a deep breath as she felt Kara brush along her jawline, before sliding inside her coat to cup the back of her neck, gently stroking her thumb pulse point.

“We’ll have to talk to Kal-El.”

“Right.” Lena deflated, suddenly reminded that they were standing in Superman’s fortress. “Of course.”

“He doesn’t blame you, you know?” Kara whispered as she noticed the way Lena straightened her shoulders, trying to keep her face from falling. “For the things Lex did. He wouldn’t let me bring you here if he did.”

“Why are we here?” Lena lifted an eyebrow, her tone teasing as she grasped at the opportunity to change the subject.

Not answering, Kara turned to the hovering robot, “Kalex, can we start at the beginning again?”

Before Lena could ask what she was talking about, a man’s voice started to play throughout the fortress.

Kal-El, my future grandson. This is the story of the House of El. Our ending is yet to be written, but this is how we began. Ours is a story of sacrifice and triumph. How the house of El led a revolution against tyranny.

“Kal found a recording our grandfather left him.” Kara whispered into Lena’s ear as her eyes closed. “My father and uncle used to tell me the story on Krypton…but” Kara’s voice caught as she pressed her nose into Lena’s hair, taking a deep breath. “I just needed to hear it again.”

Lena squeezed Kara’s hand, turning awkwardly to press a kiss to Kara’s shoulder in understanding. Tightening Kara’s grip around her waist, Lena settled into Kara’s arms. “Let’s listen to your story.”

The story of your family isn’t about how we died, but about how we lived.

[yarnzipangirl]

And now, from the rewatch of Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition because I love myself):

-I am reasonably certain that Clark’s emotional state during 98% of this movie is just ‘WHY THIS?’ with a dash of ‘CAN YOU NOT?’

-I can understand people who are annoyed we had to watch the Waynes die AGAIN, and yet, I cannot imagine this movie without this scene in it.  Because this movie is the very first time I feel like a Batman-having movie actually made Bruce’s motivation have any true meaning outside of kind of excusing why a man with that kind of resources would be Batman.  It makes it clear that the equation isn’t “boy loses parents, decides to fight crime”; it’s “boy loses his whole world, decides to fight LOSS” and that is a vital VITAL difference, especially for this movie.  

-also this is the most beautifully shot thing, and again I applaud Snyder’s tendency to reintroduce the importance of the mother in this situation.  Also that shell casing hitting the ground gets mirrored later and it kills me.

-and that Bruce’s father dies after curling his fist, dies in anger when he was a doctor, sworn to do no harm, feels like foreshadowing, like a warning; when a good man breaks his vows, goes darker, nothing good comes of it.  (And yes, I understand he was defending his family, totally reasonable, but we’re talking about this moment as metaphor, as how Bruce REMEMBERS it).

-oh god, I forgot Jimmy Olsen was Grant Gabriel on Smallville.  *FACEPALMS FOREVER*

-hey Bruce, when TEENAGE GIRLS are afraid of you, perhaps time to reconsider your life decisions.  The fact that he doesn’t even try to take care of them or comfort them says SO MUCH about where his head is.

-I feel like if there was justice in the world, every time someone described DCEU Superman as an ‘unfeeling god’ they would have to watch the 10 seconds where Clark comes in to see Lois bathing with his goobery little glasses and his grinny face like she hung the moon and his little bag of groceries to make her dinner and the flowers just for her and how he’s literally just so in love with her he can’t stand not stepping into the tub to kiss her Right Then.  Still didn’t get it?  Again.  Nope, you don’t get the abs.  You don’t DESERVE the abs.

-Alfred deserves all the scotch.  All of it.  And a raise, if only for dealing with this betta fish of a human being we call Batman.  I feel like Clark should have been able to hear Alfred screaming ‘fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck’ the entire movie at registers too high for others to hear because that is definitely how he feels.

-I will defend this Lex Luthor to my dying breath because this motherfucker scares me.  And he scares me because unlike the other kind, I’ve MET this motherfucker.  This motherfucker ran a company I worked for.  All douchbro and open door policy and casual workplace until you don’t give him what he wants and then the knives come out.  And I think the reason why he doesn’t work for a lot of people is that we’re still in the era where this kind of businessman villain hasn’t been villainized properly yet.  We have the mental templates for the oil tycoon or the 90s environmentally disastrous CEO, the 00s real estate-stealing asshole, and now the 10′s Wall Street wolf, but THIS kind of monster is the one we’re still getting a feel for.  The (I hate to make this comparison) Mark Zuckerbergs, the tech moguls who are increasing human suffering in less direct, less easy to define ways while always pretending to help us.  In ways that to some degree people still admire.  Lex Luthor as a competent-Donald-Trump analogy is easy and familiar in comparison.  This is one step forward and while I wouldn’t say it’s without it’s faults, it’s brave as hell and real as hell.  This is OUR monster, folks.  

-Following up on the ‘Perry totally knows’, I’m pretty sure Perry gave him the sports piece to try and take his mind off of All The Terrible and was fighting him because goddammit, son, you can’t take on the world, it is KILLING YOU.

-I was absolutely livid with the original cut, I’m gonna be honest, and the reason boils down to (well, the parts where the plot literally doesn’t make sense re: blaming Superman but mostly) the fact that without Clark investigating the Batman, meeting people who are scared, who feel cornered, who have lost a husband and a father to that brand... Clark would never actually fight him.  Clark doesn’t GET angry at personal slights or personal threats.  He gets angry because Innocent People Are Living In Fear From This Asshole, that innocent people are dying either because the Batman hasn’t noticed that his brand victims die or DOESN’T CARE.  Without these pieces, Clark’s rage makes literally no sense and even his ‘civil liberties’ argument makes so little sense since ‘how would he know?’

-Clark’s little smile as Lois is Lois at him, basically going ‘why yes, I’m going to throw myself into this pit of snakes to find a needle in the haystack UNDER these snakes’ mixed up with his concern and just UGH these two UGH

-the little sound clips of the world engine at various points, like when Bruce is going to the grave in his dream.  *SHAKES FIST TO THE SKY* AAAAAART

-and the angel in the stained glass with a blue tunic and a red cape.

-Okay, Bruce? Comparing Superman to the Joker is like... just flat unfair.

-Lex and Bruce both leave that little threeway meeting with purpose while Clark is just so clearly like ‘...what the fuck just happened?  What the- WHY ARE RICH PEOPLE LIKE THIS?”

-The amount of loathing Bruce has for the Bruce Wayne act conveyed purely through face acting is FABULOUS.  Bathroom excuse bathroom excuse OH MY GOD KILL ME I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS JACKASS I APPARENTLY AM.

-*insert me crying about How Unhappy Clark is re: all the people around him treating him like a savior and the whole reference to the skulls thing and just Clark, honey-*

-Clark needs to watch some cartoons.  Someone should just like... set his dial permanently to happy joyful things because the news is just Not Good.

-Once again, those people with the ‘unfeeling god’ nonsense, what with this unfeeling god calling his mother because he’s feeling lost and confused and he doesn’t know what’s the right thing to do.

-Bruce trying that Selina and Talia line on Diana: LOL.  Diana’s response: ALSO LOL.

-ngl, after certain things happened in GoT, I cannot imagine Clark standing in the flames at the capitol building without the subtitle of ‘...dammit Cersei’

-I will never understand how they ever thought cutting Clark bringing bodies/survivors out of the Capital Building was a scene they could cut.  It is So Vastly Important.  

-Alfred’s just... gonna stand here and watch Bruce become literally everything he hates, yup, up, this is great, this is Scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch and I Don’t Blame Him.

-Back to the ‘Perry White Totally Knows’ comment, that look at Lois while Lois begs for a helicopter?  Right after referencing that Superman is CLEARLY at the ship?  Hell yeah, Perry knows.  Also Perry is the man.

-I will also defend this fight to my dying goddamn day because Snyder knows how to do some beautiful things with cinematography and this is the ugliest, most brutal, painful fight to watch and it GODDAMN SHOULD BE.  Because heroes fighting heroes is ugly, because Bruce is ugly at this point, Clark is so lost and there is nothing really noble or ‘good’ in this fight.  Even Clark who’s fighting to try and save his mother is giving in to his frustration at everything, at the world, at this GUY who’s a giant douche to him in person and hurts people to make them do what he wants and doesn’t care when they die.  And I feel that’s a huge portion of this fight, that both of them feel the other one is apathetic to suffering and it makes them ANGRY.  

-...though I snerk every time at Bruce realizing the Kryptonite’s worn off.  Yeah.  Yeah, buddy.

-Also this most recent rewatch honestly completely changed my view on the Martha line.  I have, since the beginning, thought it was a good, meaningful scene that worked in the context of the movie, but I always thought it was clumsy.  It’s only now, watching it again, really taking in everything around it that I realize it DOES in fact make absolute sense, and it works perfectly.  Because Bruce has just been TALKING about Clark’s parents.  He doesn’t CARE that Clark has parents, doesn’t care that he has a mother and father.  Clark doesn’t say ‘save my mother’ because Bruce is That Far Gone.  But Clark called Bruce by name, KNOWS who he is: he doesn’t just say ‘Martha’ to save his own mother, he says ‘Martha’ because this is literally Clark’s last ditch effort to appeal to the human being named Bruce Wayne inside that batsuit.  He is trying to snap him out of this.  And he is trying to make his mother into a random bystander for Bruce to save so he WILL save her.  He is pointedly disassociating himself from his mother to try and save her; he is saying ‘fine, kill me, but you have to save this innocent woman’.  And it’s only the combination of these things that actually breaks through the 18 months of obsessive hatred.  Honestly, Lois telling him it’s his mother’s name is just icing on the cake, a quicker end.  Clark might have been on his back, with a spear in his face, but Clark Wins That Goddamn Fight because he pulled the play that made Batman into Batman again.

-you know, I’ve been looking forward to Clark coming back and seeing Martha see him and Lois and Bruce but DAMN if I can’t wait for Lex Luthor to see Clark returned to life.  *insert gif of Jason Momoa with the folding chair* 

-Martha waves to the Batwing flying away and that is adorable.

-You’d think the US government was dating Superman considering how many times they decide to fuck him.  FFS, guys.  Let him throw the monster into space without shooting him in the back just ONCE.

-Best. Enter. Player. 2. Moment. Ever.

-Watching Batman play ‘hoooooly shit, dodge dodge dodge dodge’ with Doomsday feels like a kind of karmic return like.  Look, asshole, THIS is what a Kryptonian monster who wants to raze the entire Earth is like and you are SO not even remotely prepared for that fight.

-...I forgot he actually pulls the spike in deeper so that he can stab Doomsday properly because I needed that heart, you know?

-Bruce trying to cover that hole in the suit as he bundles Clark up, totally not thinking about another suit in a glass case in his house, not thinking about the woman he just saved so she can bury her son.  Nope, nope, nope, Bruce Wayne is JUST FINE, thanks for asking.

-The Worst (read most painful) Look Ever between Lois and Diana and you know there’s a part of Diana that’s like ‘at least you get to bury him’.

-AND THERE GO THOSE SHELLS HITTING THE CONCRETE AGAIN, thanks symbolic things that hurt me down to my soul.

-you know, in the comics, Bruce REALLY REALLY hates Lex, like enough to be all right with helping to murder him (yeah, legit) but imagine, if you will, how much he’s gonna hate him NOW.

-Still a goddamn hopeful ending even if it breaks my heart.  ‘Men are still good’.  UGH.  UGH THIS UNIVERSE.

[astrologista]

The Utopia (wip)

Summary : Driven by a benevolent protector... what could go wrong?

Universe : DCAU (Justice Lords verse)

Warning : Contains a domestic situation which could be classed as abusive.

[I started this several years ago. I am posting it at the humble bequest of @starspatter. I dunno if I’ll pad it up to finish it. You should be familiar with the DCAU and the Justice Lords to fully enjoy this fic. I mostly wrote this because I like protective Bruce and wanted to see what might become of the sidekicks in the Justice Lords universe.]

---

It was a perfect world. With heroes to defend the right, the true, and the just, protection was always close at hand. There was still sin and vice in the world, but as long as it could not corrupt the light, nothing in particular was wrong. The heroes created a coalition to combine their powers. Nothing was impossible, and the world was theirs, theirs to shape into a paragon of "right". (They knew exactly what was right. How else could they judge the criminals from the good folk, like the chaff from the wheat? And the rewards of the harvest... those were thrillingly yet to come.) It was a perfect world. Before Lex Luthor destroyed it.

Like the cogs of an intricate machine, the inner mechanisms of the Justice Lords were not to be messed with, particularly by someone with a set of particular and vicious goals. But Luthor knew nothing of the powers with which he was dealing. For him, the Flash was a simple thorn in his side, an insignificant speck of dust, a young buffoon with no future of any note. Wally West was in the way, and Luthor was not a man to work around obstacles. He simply destroyed them. It was that tenacity that brought him to the highest office of the United States of America... It could have been a perfect world. Two bullets disrupted the quiet fabric of the Lords. Where restraint was, was now a hole, eight millimeters wide. Where conscience was, a second hole, of the same size. The absence of an element fundamentally changes a compound - it becomes something completely different, with no memory of what it once was, and no conception of what it could become. Without the suppressor, the rage boils over, frothing and spitting angrily, like a cancer cell mutated by some catastrophic event. Superman, the most powerful guardian the world had ever known, became a figure of vengeance. He would not rest until justice was served, until the scales were once more balanced. When the Bat and the Amazon encountered the smoking corpse of the guiltiest man alive - the final president to be assassinated - there was but a moment of self-reflection, before they turned away from the light entirely. There was a new way now, and that was what they would follow. Superman was always a visionary - this was his way now. So it would be for all of them. "Never again." they promised. No one took that oath more gravely than the Bat. It would be a perfect world. --- [Insert scenes here] --- "Spontaneous inter-dimensional shearing, I think they call it." "...wuh...Bruce?..." Tim Drake cracks one eye open, but he can see nothing save the near-blinding fluorescent situated over the cot. He's in the Cave, he can tell that much. The muted whirr of machines; water dripping at regular intervals; bats are stirring, whispering from somewhere far away. It's a familiar noise, a comforting symphony of home. He's glad to hear Bruce's voice. "You were lucky. If the exit portal had opened any higher off the ground, you could have broken something or worse." Now Tim seems to remember something Ray Palmer had once mentioned... spontaneous portals opening to other dimensions. They weren't a common occurrence, the chance of a human encountering one, much less falling into one, was less than 1 in five hundred thousand every fifty years... like tectonic plates, the seams of the multiverse were continually shifting and slipping, and random shearing was one of the products. You could never predict where in the multiverse a portal was going to open up, but due to some manner of quantum particles that interfaced with neurons, you could subconsciously gain some degree of control of where you were going to land. Tim had done decently well. The Cave was the only decently safe place he knew of. It made sense to want to be there, even if he'd had to fall a few feet from his exit point and black out deep within the Cave... ...Something was off about Bruce. He had almost forgotten the inter-dimensional part... "...You're..." /Words, Drake./ "Yes." That monosyllabic word told him most of what he needed to know, even if he'd already deduced most of it just from being in the Cave. Yes, the man above him was Batman in this universe, and yes, he was Bruce Wayne by day, and yes, he was still a master conversationalist. Tim allowed himself to relax, if only a fraction. He was glad he hadn't landed in some freakish dimension where Bruce was Two-Face and Harvey Dent was Batman, or something weird or creepy like that. He would be safe here, at least until he could find a way to get home. --- This version of Bruce was no carbon copy of the one he knew. That, he figured out quickly. He'd taken a spatial hop - not a temporal one - yet this Bruce had significantly more gray in his hair than his counterpart. What's more, something about him was desperate... afraid in a way that Bruce typically wasn't. As if something beyond his oath were constantly troubling him, making it almost impossible for him to get any work of value done. Actually, nothing he had done so far had been troubling to Tim persay, but it was obvious Tim wasn't allowed to leave the Batcave, and no answers were forthcoming when he tried to ask why. This Batman rarely left the Cave all night in any case (what were the criminals of Gotham doing, he wondered?), but when he did, the familiar face of Alfred was there, watching over him as if he were some kind of criminal. Yes... he was definitely in unfamiliar territory. --- Dick's voice was steady, but tense across the vid link. "Bruce, you've given me everything I could ask for, and in return I gave you my loyalty. So I'm asking you... don't do this. And can't he hear you right now?" Bruce switched his view to the camera over the medical cot, Tim was peacefully resting... "He's asleep. We can talk." "You mean you drugged him." Dick murmured. He wasn't surprised. At this point, he was rarely surprised at how far his mentor would go for safety and stability. And how much farther... he needed to know. "You going to introduce them? Are you sure it's a good idea?" he asked. Dick remembered then why he'd walked out of the Cave and never looked back, the day he was fired. He couldn't question Bruce's actions - the time for that had long past. But it wasn't right to leave him to his own devices like this, not when other people were involved. "It'll be fine." the Justice Lord whispered, with the certainty of a man who found some notions of morality to be futile jokes in the face of fate. "In fact, I think it's just what Tim needs." --- "What happened to them?!" Tim couldn't understand the glass cases lined in a neat row in front of him. They were much like the one back home that held Dick's old Robin costume, but these were much more... sterile. One held the familiar black and blue Nightwing suit... the next, Barbara's Batgirl costume. The final one gave the eerie sensation of looking in a mirror - it was his Robin suit, looking like it had been placed there yesterday. One terrifying thought immediately surfaced and settled in his mind, and it was more disturbing than he wanted to imagine. But it would explain why he hadn't seen them around the Cave, and why Bruce and Alfred acted so strange... no, they couldn't all be... The Lords had lived without compunction for the past few years, but Bruce was a man of logic and reason, and could see moral decay. He knew what it was and why his compatriots had been admonished by Superman Prime and the rest of the League. He could see consequences. What he couldn't foresee were his own fears. "They're all alive. Retired." "Retired..." Tim whispered, as if it were a fate not quite as bad as death, but just as close. "I need you to follow me." His tone brooked no arguments, and Tim did as he was bid. The elevator was something Tim had found infinite joy in, his first days in the Cave - everything about the place was magical. Other kids dreamed of Disney World, Tim dreamed of the Batcave. Somehow he knew it would have something utilitarian enough to be there, but still close enough to an amusement ride to be fun and amazing, like a figment of his dreams. That was where the man led him. The floor code he entered, though - it was unknown to Tim, and required two extra passcodes and a fingerprint besides. Tim couldn't help getting chills - what unknown secret of the Batcave was he about to be shown? It could be where Bruce kept experimental weapons or the next generation of the Batmobile or even some kind of tunnel system that ran under Gotham, which Tim was certain Bruce was hiding somewhere. Tim counted no less than eight levels passing by before the elevator stopped at what he presumed must be one of the lowest sub-basements the Cave had to offer. /Keep it together, Drake.../ To open the door at this level, of course, required a 20-digit code (without which the elevator would no doubt ascend to the main Cave with alarms blaring), but before entering it, Bruce spoke without turning to face Tim. "You should know that I have a dimensional transporter of my own design that will get you home." It must be down here, Tim deduced. Only something that precious to Batman would have such high security around it. Good 'ol Bruce... always had a solution, even when things seemed to be at an impass. It was an exhilarating relief - with no answers, Tim had spent the past days questioning how in the world he was going to get home, when he wasn't sleeping deeply... "All right! Thank God. ...Bruce must miss me by now. My Bruce, I mean." The man turned and granted him a soft smile, the kind Tim wasn't used to seeing from Bruce. There was something in it... something like pity. "Just... wait, Tim." Bruce keyed in a 20-digit code that he obviously knew by heart and the doors parted on what looked like a short promenade, leading up to an impenetrable-looking door. Tim was reminded of a panic room. This was something he could see Bruce building, a safe bunker some three miles underground with a dimensional door to escape without a trace. He could practically burst with the James Bond coolness of the whole thing... An advanced-looking biometrics scanner verified the biorhythmic signatures and DNA of two humans known to the Batcave's system, likely to thwart androids, aliens (the villainous kind), and Clayface, thought Tim. This was going to a lot of trouble, even for something like a dimensional transporter. Which you wouldn't want in the wrong hands, but still, Tim thought. Bruce punched in a final code that seemed considerably longer than the others. The door buzzed quietly, unlocking for its verified visitors, and rolling back like the door to some advanced bank safe. It really looked a lot like a bank safe, Tim thought, the entire door was some four feet thick and composed of some alloy that was most likely fireproof, bulletproof, bombproof... anything-proof. Not only that, but a series of complex mechanisms on the opposite side of the door seemed to imply that not only were the contents of the chamber protected from unauthorized access, but that there was no way to open the door from inside... What was on the other side of it, though, was not what Tim was expecting to see. He'd prepared himself for some futuristic vault, centered around this awesome-looking portal that could access any dimension in the multiverse. Instead, the room he was met with had a relatively low ceiling, recessed lighting including an area that looked like some sort of artificial sunlight, and thick but aesthetically pleasing walls all around. It looked like a strange apartment suite, with an open sort of floor plan. There was a small but well-stocked workout area off to the right, and nearby, some sort of workbench with what looked like circuits spread all over it and tools placed here and there. A very, very large flat screen television graced a significant part of a wall, the shelves around it littered with DVDs and video games of all kinds, from the retro to the cutting-edge. Discrete cameras and sensors were integrated into the entire space, likely providing full video and audio to the Cave's computers. The place was minimalist and Spartan, but wide and spacious in its own way; Tim felt a strange sense of belonging in the place, as it seemed to contain most creature comforts he could ask for, and though it was quiet and homey enough, one thought flashed into Tim's puzzled mind. /"Someone actually /lives/ here?"/ Who would Batman keep locked up under the Batcave? Would it be a dangerous criminal? Maybe this was his only way to keep a positive eye on someone so dangerous. But to go to all this trouble for one person? Before he could think any further, the obviously lone occupant of this strange domicile emerged from an alcove on the left, a soda in his hand, a seemingly shocked look on his face at the sight of his visitor. Tim didn't have time to be shocked, something pricked into his arm and everything shortly went black. --- The drugs wore off him like a heavy fog. Consciousness eventually surfaced, but his head was still swimming. He had to convince himself that what he had seen was real. But it couldn't be. Oh, yes it could. Tim desperately didn't want to open his eyes to it, but he needed to know the truth. /Up-and-at-em, huh.../ Forcing heavy eyelids open, he stared up at the solid-looking ceiling despondently. Sitting near him... "Oh my god." Tim croaked. Yes. Now he really was face to face with himself. It was too strange. Maybe this was all some horrible, nightmare-induced hallucination. Bruce was nowhere in sight. His... counterpart... had seated himself on a small ottoman near him, but not too near. Tim realized he was lying on a soft couch, likely the spot where Bruce had placed him before /leaving/ him down here. No explanation. Nothing. Then he'd have to simply fill /himself/ in on what was going on. At least his host seemed mentally stable. But Tim remained wary. This version of himself could be dangerous - locked away, where he couldn't hurt anyone. The idea gave him uncomfortable thoughts and chills... "Hey." the doppelganger greeted shyly, and Tim immediately rejected the fact that he sounded that way. No way was he that quiet or tentative, either. (Right?) "You... y-you're me." Tim mentally slapped himself for the ridiculously cliche words that had just fallen from his mouth. What else do people say when they meet their counterpart from another dimension? The boy snorted softly and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I should be so lucky." At that point, as he had with this strange version of Bruce, Tim felt he could relax. His double at least had a sense of humor, and that he could work with. Silence reigned over the two, but Tim was bursting with questions. He just couldn't decide what to ask first. The doppelganger then took the initiative to ask him something. "You want a soda? 'Cause... I can get you one..." Still racked with questions, it took only that much to get Tim to fall suddenly into helpless giggles at the absurdity of the whole thing. /I passed out in the bunker-safe-thing of my double from another dimension and when I woke up he offered me a soda.../ Once he was able to breathe again, Tim felt he was able to look at him truly now, eye contact, no fear. "Um, no. Thanks. I don't need a soda right now. But I do need to know what the heck's going on." Immediately, the figure opposite him tensed and fidgeted, suddenly defensive, withdrawn. Then he shook his head as if clearing it. Tim suddenly became concerned as to the relationship between Bruce and Tim in this world. Were they enemies? But he was Robin. Or used to be. Had he made some horrible mistake? Was this his punishment? "I-I guess it doesn't matter now. You might as well know. I'm guessing he didn't tell you anything about... this." "Good guess." "He told me you're from Earth Prime. That there was a freak accident. Is that true? Or did he pull you from somewhere?" Tim blinked. "No, that's all true. I'm here by accident." As far as I know, Tim thought. The double looked somewhat surprised that he hadn't been lied to, and Tim could understand. Bruce wasn't always honest, here or at home. It wasn't all that surprising. "Huh. Well... from what little he told me, you're here for the same reason as I am." Now that was just too cryptic. "Wait." he blurted. "You're retired from being Robin. Is this your retirement? Aside from other concerns, these are some sweet digs! Is this supposed to be like your sanctuary?" The look on the doppelganger's face was too grim for that to be true, and Tim felt a sudden chill of what was unknown and unspoken about this room. "No." the boy said slowly. "No. This isn't Robin's sanctuary. It's a gilded cage." --- Upon close inspection, Tim found that his double had not only every NES game worth playing, but every SNES game, too. "This must be what takes up most of your time." The kid shrugged. "A little of this, a little of that, and I get by. He doesn't want me to get... bored." The words were said bitterly, and slowly Tim began to understand their implications. If there was more to know, he decided it would be better to simply know it. "You didn't retire." he said slowly. "He fired you. And Dick, and Barb too." "Yeah. And Green Arrow fired Red Arrow, and Superman fired Supergirl, too." Tim started. "What?? You're telling me everyone fired their sidekicks - er, partners?" "All the ones under 25, anyway." "But... why?" The boy frowned deeply, averting his eyes. He mumbled a tense response. "Because of the Flash." "Um... what does Wally have to do with any of this?" "That's right..." Those haunted eyes widened for a second. "You don't even know..." "Then back up. Tell me how it got to this point." The double's eyes seemed to look right through him, far away to some past time. "It was... two years ago. I guess our world used to be a whole lot like your world. Steven Drake was my dad, Bruce took me in after dad skipped town, and I was 13 then. I remember fighting the Scarecrow, Klarion, Clayface, the Creeper, the Joker, Poison Ivy and... well, the rest. Those were the halcyon days... but, nothing good can last. Things really started to sour when Luthor was elected president..." "Wait, /Lex/ Luthor? /The/ Lex Luthor?" "One and the same, unfortunately. The Justice Lords worked behind the scenes, trying to keep him from taking things too far. Superman believed he could be reasoned with, but in the end, it was a losing battle, and Luthor was mad with power. When the Flash foiled one of his plans, Luthor decided to personally shut him down. For good." The Justice Lords. Bruce had told Tim about them, that they were an alternate version of the Justice League, but he had withheld all these details. That was the dimension he had landed in, the same one that the League had visited. "And after that..." "After that, Superman... repaid Lex in kind." The doppelganger's voice wavered. Superman was his friend, one of the world's greatest heroes. Tim couldn't imagine the Clark he knew killing anyone, even if it was Luthor. "That's how the Justice Lords were able to take everything to the next level. Instead of killing most of the supervillains, though, Superman... lobotimized them." "Please." Tim said quietly. "Just... I'd rather not hear any more about Superman." The double seemed relieved. "Tell me about Bruce." "Batman was the only one of the team who believed that they weren't necessarily doing what was right. But he changed, too. After what happened to Wally West, he recanted all previous beliefs in having younger partners."

Tim knew what was coming, and to spare his alter self pain, decided to finish the tale of woe for him. "So he fired you, Nightwing, and Batgirl." Beyond one nod of the head and misty eyes, the alter Tim could not answer. "To... to keep anything from happening to us. And that's the purpose of this room, too. If you think this entire room is one big vault, you're right. No one can get in..." a look of defeat, misery, "...and no one can get out. I think he intended on having three total of them down here, a personal "utopia" for Dick, and one for Barbara. But... they won't go anywhere near him now, so I guess they're free from him for now. He could bring them down here if he really wanted to, though. Trust me, he's serious about this. This entire room is custom made. It's not supposed to be a cell, though it functions as one. Bruce does everything he's supposed to do to make sure I don't get bored or go insane down here." "D-does it work?" Tim found himself afraid to hear the answer. The double swallows, eyes downcast. "I hope so." They desperately needed a subject change, so Tim asked "Doesn't he worry about your health?" "Yeah. A little too much. I'm supposed to be safe from bacteria down here, but my immune system isn't what it used to be since I haven't had exposure to crowds or germs in general. Bruce didn't know he was carrying a pneumonia germ... but, it was enough. I got sick. I was sure I was going to die... that was the only time he let me upstairs, so he and Alfred and Leslie could care for me. When I recovered, she recommended I get some fresh air. That was the last time I've been outside. But..." "What'd he do, tie you to a post or something?" Tim still had hope that this was some cruel joke. "Worse than that. He carried me..." A strange expression, somewhere between fondness and vulnerability. "Wouldn't even let my feet touch the ground. Bruce is different now. He knows what he can lose. He'll never let it happen to me, not as long as there's still a breath in his body." "...You've gotta leave." Tim said with finality. The doppelganger smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I don't even think about it any more." "But your Bruce has taken things way past protecting you. This is practically abusive!" "I have everything I need here, and I'm absolutely safe. Look, I didn't think Heaven would be this far underground, but... for Bruce, I'd live and die here, if that's what he wants from me. He gave me the best years of my life, and I owe him peace of mind in return. It’s a loyalty issue. For me, it's a small price to pay - " "Oh, is that what he calls it? Dude, it's the ultimate price to pay. Sounds like he's been gaslighting you pretty bad. Maybe he's not all as sane as you think!" "You do know about the cameras, right?" "Who cares." --- [Scene not written yet - but prime!tim convinces lordsverse!tim to escape, probably by getting Bruce to open the door and then getting past him by distracting him somehow. They escape and have some adventure finding another dimensional transporter - possibly Superman's? lordsverse!tim gets injured by guards or something and decides not to go to prime!verse with Tim. They have a tearful goodbye of sorts. Bruce turns up to recover the injured doppelganger.] --- Almost. Just a few more seconds, and it would have been... another tragedy. Like Mom and Dad. Like Flash... He ties another stitch off and steadies his shaking hands over Tim's side. No more blood, and no more bleeding. The Flash. So damn young when he... Children, they were all children... no place in this mad game. He'd promised himself, never again. He'd promised. Ties the last stitch off, and bandages the wound. Tim's unconscious from the drug again, and he should stay that way... for now. Why couldn't he put them all in stasis? Find some way to seal them in glass cases. Guarantee their safety and happiness... Bruce gently rests his hand over Tim's hand. "Nothing's going to hurt you." he whispers. ---

[Insert ending here... probably involving prime!tim assuring batman that he'll always play it safe]

[tragicbooks]

9 things all Americans can agree on in 2017.

<br>

Before 2017 follows too closely in the footsteps of 2016 as yet another year of divisiveness, filled with Twitter wars and men on TV yelling about "hateful this" and "PC culture that," let's take stock of some things we can all agree on.

An accurate visualization of America right now. Photo via iStock.

From the special-est snowflake liberals to the don't tread on me-est conservatives, these are a bunch of plain and simple agreements that most, if not all, Americans can come to. We're probably not going to hug and sing "Kumbaya" after this, but maybe we can tear down a little bit of that wall that's dividing us. (Then part of it can be a fence!) (See, we're already laughing together.)

Things like...

1. Freedom is good.

That's right: freedom. You love it, I love it. People have fought and died for it. Alexander Hamilton and Beyoncé have both written hip-hop songs about it.

Some people who love freedom.  Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images.

Freedom is the reason you can leave a nasty comment on this article (I can't wait, by the way) and it's the reason I walk past two mosques and a Catholic school every time I go to my local Jewish deli here in New York City (true story).

Freedom makes this country an eclectic and exciting place to live, and none of us want it to go anywhere.

2. "Batman v Superman" sucked, but the director's cut made it suck less.

Yeah, lets talk about that. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" was a hot mess. The tone, the pacing, the story, it was all completely off. Lex Luther's plan made no sense, and he was acting all weird the whole time. Just terrible.

They all know it, too. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bai Superteas.

Thing is, Zack Snyder's nearly three-hour director's cut was way better. Not "great," not even "good" really, but thoroughly watchable. It was, at the very least, an original take on the characters instead of a cookie-cutter action movie with no personality, right?

Boom, look at that. You. Me. Same page.

3. Going to the doctor shouldn't cost like a crap ton of money.

Hang on! No, this isn't me using a young, hip platform to shoehorn in an advertisement for the Affordable Care Act. (Who do you think I am, President Obama? Zing!) (See? We can do this.)

Photo by Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images.

I'm just saying: No one should have to go to the doctor and be horrified at the bill. Did you know that nearly half of American households are one emergency away from entering poverty? Imagine if you had to worry about your health while simultaneously worrying about being able to put food on the table. That's a position no one should have to be in.

Whatever becomes of health care in the future, let's agree to agree: No one wants to (or should) go into massive debt because of a health crisis.

4. Billy Joel.

Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images.

I mean, right? Come on. Piano Man? He's great.

5. We need more jobs.

Jobs are good! Unemployment is bad. More jobs means a stronger economy, more opportunity, and more money for you and yours. Who doesn't want that?

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

I'll go you one further! We need more American jobs. We need jobs to be created right here in the homeland, making American stuff and building American industries that we can pass down to future generations.

The fact that we've steadily added jobs over the last eight years is great, but it's not enough. Now, we may disagree on what those new jobs should be and how best to create them, but at our core we're all chanting the same mantra: Mo' jobs, fewer problems.

6. This is a weird picture.

Photo by Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images.

What are these people doing? Why does that one guy have an umbrella? Did they survive a pink kayak disaster or is this some kind of ritual sea-bath in Northern France? The world may never know, but you and I and the rest of America can rest assured that we agree — there are no two ways about it — this is a bizarre picture.

7. People should be able to afford their educations, regardless of income.

More people being able to pursue their education beyond high school is pretty much always a good idea. It helps us foster innovation and create those jobs and opportunities we were just agreeing on a few minutes ago.

Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images.

The massive student debt crisis is hurting all of us. Millions of young people are spending the best years of their lives buried under mountains of loan debt while trying and failing to get one of those jobs that there aren't enough of. Pursuing education should give people more opportunities, not hold them back, and, in turn, hold the whole country back.

That's just not cool.

8.  Brendan Fraser is the only actor who should star in "The Mummy."

Can't faze the Frase! Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

We're all thinking it. What's Tom Cruise doing in that new "Mummy" movie? Does the world need more Tom Cruise? Does Tom Cruise really need another franchise? Are movie-goers really that thirsty for more Tom-Cruise-runs-away-from-things summer blockbusters?

Get Fraser back in there! This is his fight.

And finally...

9. Too many toddlers are shooting people.

Yep, this is a thing that is happening.

In 2015, there were 58 shootings committed by toddlers. Which is too many by about 58. There were over 50 in 2016 as well. Here's a chart from the Washington Post with a terrifying title:

A toddler has now shot a person every week in America for two years straight. Yes, you read that correctly. https://t.co/q4mZav7Nl7 http://pic.twitter.com/SpoH2Mm7d9

— States United (@SUPGVNetwork) January 3, 2017

So yeah, we can probably agree that we should do something to keep guns out of toddlers' hands. I know this is a divisive issue. I don't expect us all to suddenly agree on the need for more gun control laws (although most people agree on that too) because we all saw what happened after Sandy Hook and after the Pulse shooting. (You know — nothing.) I'm not talking about taking anyone's guns away, either. I'm talking about agreeing that we should all practice enough personal gun safety to protect ourselves from toddlers with guns.

Many of the stories in that Washington Post report involve gun owners who weren't practicing proper gun safety protocol. If we can't agree on more gun control laws and regulations, I'm pretty sure we can all come together and agree that anyone who has a gun should be keeping it far away from where any kid could reach it.

Making 2017 a year with substantially less toddler-shootings shouldn't be too controversial, right?

Honestly, the list doesn't end there. It's on all of us to keep it going.

There's a lot more that we can agree on. Pie, Nutella, campfires, funny hats. The list of things that unite us has always been longer than the list of things that divide us. That's good to keep in mind.

So yes, we're probably going to keep yelling at each other in 2017. We're going to openly disagree, debate, stumble, and evolve, and we should be truly thankful to live in a place where we have the freedom to do so.

In a world of Twitter, talking heads, and fake news, it's too easy for us to lose our common ground and lose sight of our shared humanity. We forget that we all love this beautiful, messy country of ours and want it to be better, and that we want to make it better through hard work and good ideas*.

*If you consider "good ideas" ones that strip away the rights of already marginalized groups, please see above: "Freedom is good."

OK now. Back to it.

<br>

[socialviralnews]

9 things all Americans can agree on in 2017.

<br>

Before 2017 follows too closely in the footsteps of 2016 as yet another year of divisiveness, filled with Twitter wars and men on TV yelling about "hateful this" and "PC culture that," let's take stock of some things we can all agree on.

An accurate visualization of America right now. Photo via iStock.

From the special-est snowflake liberals to the don't tread on me-est conservatives, these are a bunch of plain and simple agreements that most, if not all, Americans can come to. We're probably not going to hug and sing "Kumbaya" after this, but maybe we can tear down a little bit of that wall that's dividing us. (Then part of it can be a fence!) (See, we're already laughing together.)

Things like...

1. Freedom is good.

That's right: freedom. You love it, I love it. People have fought and died for it. Alexander Hamilton and Beyoncé have both written hip-hop songs about it.

Some people who love freedom.  Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images.

Freedom is the reason you can leave a nasty comment on this article (I can't wait, by the way) and it's the reason I walk past two mosques and a Catholic school every time I go to my local Jewish deli here in New York City (true story).

Freedom makes this country an eclectic and exciting place to live, and none of us want it to go anywhere.

2. "Batman v Superman" sucked, but the director's cut made it suck less.

Yeah, lets talk about that. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" was a hot mess. The tone, the pacing, the story, it was all completely off. Lex Luther's plan made no sense, and he was acting all weird the whole time. Just terrible.

They all know it, too. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bai Superteas.

Thing is, Zack Snyder's nearly three-hour director's cut was way better. Not "great," not even "good" really, but thoroughly watchable. It was, at the very least, an original take on the characters instead of a cookie-cutter action movie with no personality, right?

Boom, look at that. You. Me. Same page.

3. Going to the doctor shouldn't cost like a crap ton of money.

Hang on! No, this isn't me using a young, hip platform to shoehorn in an advertisement for the Affordable Care Act. (Who do you think I am, President Obama? Zing!) (See? We can do this.)

Photo by Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images.

I'm just saying: No one should have to go to the doctor and be horrified at the bill. Did you know that nearly half of American households are one emergency away from entering poverty? Imagine if you had to worry about your health while simultaneously worrying about being able to put food on the table. That's a position no one should have to be in.

Whatever becomes of health care in the future, let's agree to agree: No one wants to (or should) go into massive debt because of a health crisis.

4. Billy Joel.

Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images.

I mean, right? Come on. Piano Man? He's great.

5. We need more jobs.

Jobs are good! Unemployment is bad. More jobs means a stronger economy, more opportunity, and more money for you and yours. Who doesn't want that?

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

I'll go you one further! We need more American jobs. We need jobs to be created right here in the homeland, making American stuff and building American industries that we can pass down to future generations.

The fact that we've steadily added jobs over the last eight years is great, but it's not enough. Now, we may disagree on what those new jobs should be and how best to create them, but at our core we're all chanting the same mantra: Mo' jobs, fewer problems.

6. This is a weird picture.

Photo by Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images.

What are these people doing? Why does that one guy have an umbrella? Did they survive a pink kayak disaster or is this some kind of ritual sea-bath in Northern France? The world may never know, but you and I and the rest of America can rest assured that we agree — there are no two ways about it — this is a bizarre picture.

7. People should be able to afford their educations, regardless of income.

More people being able to pursue their education beyond high school is pretty much always a good idea. It helps us foster innovation and create those jobs and opportunities we were just agreeing on a few minutes ago.

Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images.

The massive student debt crisis is hurting all of us. Millions of young people are spending the best years of their lives buried under mountains of loan debt while trying and failing to get one of those jobs that there aren't enough of. Pursuing education should give people more opportunities, not hold them back, and, in turn, hold the whole country back.

That's just not cool.

8.  Brendan Fraser is the only actor who should star in "The Mummy."

Can't faze the Frase! Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

We're all thinking it. What's Tom Cruise doing in that new "Mummy" movie? Does the world need more Tom Cruise? Does Tom Cruise really need another franchise? Are movie-goers really that thirsty for more Tom-Cruise-runs-away-from-things summer blockbusters?

Get Fraser back in there! This is his fight.

And finally...

9. Too many toddlers are shooting people.

Yep, this is a thing that is happening.

In 2015, there were 58 shootings committed by toddlers. Which is too many by about 58. There were over 50 in 2016 as well. Here's a chart from the Washington Post with a terrifying title:

A toddler has now shot a person every week in America for two years straight. Yes, you read that correctly. https://t.co/q4mZav7Nl7 http://pic.twitter.com/SpoH2Mm7d9

— States United (@SUPGVNetwork) January 3, 2017

So yeah, we can probably agree that we should do something to keep guns out of toddlers' hands. I know this is a divisive issue. I don't expect us all to suddenly agree on the need for more gun control laws (although most people agree on that too) because we all saw what happened after Sandy Hook and after the Pulse shooting. (You know — nothing.) I'm not talking about taking anyone's guns away, either. I'm talking about agreeing that we should all practice enough personal gun safety to protect ourselves from toddlers with guns.

Many of the stories in that Washington Post report involve gun owners who weren't practicing proper gun safety protocol. If we can't agree on more gun control laws and regulations, I'm pretty sure we can all come together and agree that anyone who has a gun should be keeping it far away from where any kid could reach it.

Making 2017 a year with substantially less toddler-shootings shouldn't be too controversial, right?

Honestly, the list doesn't end there. It's on all of us to keep it going.

There's a lot more that we can agree on. Pie, Nutella, campfires, funny hats. The list of things that unite us has always been longer than the list of things that divide us. That's good to keep in mind.

So yes, we're probably going to keep yelling at each other in 2017. We're going to openly disagree, debate, stumble, and evolve, and we should be truly thankful to live in a place where we have the freedom to do so.

In a world of Twitter, talking heads, and fake news, it's too easy for us to lose our common ground and lose sight of our shared humanity. We forget that we all love this beautiful, messy country of ours and want it to be better, and that we want to make it better through hard work and good ideas*.

*If you consider "good ideas" ones that strip away the rights of already marginalized groups, please see above: "Freedom is good."

OK now. Back to it.

<br> from Upworthy http://ift.tt/2hZRtKp via cheap web hosting