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theodorecanaryhood · 2 years ago

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Outlaws: Battle to the Death

Part 13 in the series,

Trevor Signorino as Jason Todd, Jacob Rott as Tim Drake and Mitchell Slaggert as Roy Harper.

Jason Todd x Male! Reader (Silver Canary)

The rain hit hard as Red Hood ran through the alleyway chasing down the newest criminal, he hadn’t seen anything but the rage flowing as he charged at the man, knocking him to the floor.

Arsenal back flipped over a knife that was thrown at him as he then swung out and punched the other man, knocking him off his feet.

‘Switch’ Arsenal said as he rolled over Red Hoods back, the two men getting into the swing of takeouts.

As the last man fell to the ground Red Hood sighed, hearing an explosion in the distance. Arsenal gasped as his eyes widened.

The two ran towards the fire that was billowing in the air, witnessing as people ran screaming. It was a war of enemies, from all over and every direction.

Arsenal stood face to face with a Red Lantern, Atrocitus, while Jason faced off with Scarecrow.

There was criminals, villains, everything you could think. They were everywhere. Red Robin showed up to give a hand, along with Superboy.

Mr Freeze, Riddler, Two Face, too many and too well manned. The enemies were winning due to there being more of them, and not enough heroes.

‘Robin, look out’ Red Hood shouted as Red Robin got knocked down on his back. Rolling on the floor to dodge slams and getting Impaled by Javelin.

Red Hood began shooting up the place while Arsenal used his arrows, the two were now aiming for heads or any vital organ that would take someone out.

It was breaking news as you sat quietly watching TV, the twins playing together in the play pen. You gasped as you saw the small amount of heroes going hard. Outnumbered and exhausted.

You pulled out your phone as you panicked, dialling numbers of heroes you knew to help. While also looking for someone who could look after the kids while you helped.

Jason was in over his head as he tried to take out Bane and Sinestro at the same time, though Clay Face made sure Jason didn’t get far enough.

As many more villains cornered the heroes of four, Red Hood reloaded his guns, Arsenal got his arrows ready. Standing back to back, Red Robin and Superboy held up their staff and fists ready for more action.

There was a sudden vibration that shattered nearby windows, the heroes covered their ears. Witnessing as Black and Silver Canary stood both releasing their Canary cry.

Green Lantern, Flash and Cyborg then showed up and began to help with fighting. Now more help on their side, the villains were getting knocked down successfully.

Red Hood ran over to you as he grabbed your face as he spoke, ‘what the hell are you doing here? Where are the kids?’ Breathless voice as he spoke.

‘They’re with Dick, I’m helping you guys. Otherwise you’re all going to die’ you explained.

A strike of lighting grabbed everyone’s attention as Black Adam appeared, the Flash running towards him to knock him over before he could shoot Lightning to anyone.

‘Barry Allen’ was all Black Adam screamed as Cyborg took Black Adam on one to one.

There wasn’t much else to do at this point except for everyone to either pair up, or take someone their own size on.

As Red Robin knocked out Penguin, you knocked out Scarecrow with a hard punch in the face.

There was a sudden drop as it fell silent as a few hours of fighting was suddenly over. Crumbled parts of buildings fell around everyone’s bodies.

There was stillness in breathing for a few seconds as everyone prepared. Alas, that was it. Villains fell after hours of tireless effort. Heroes stood tall against one another as people started looking around.

Red Hood looked at you as he wrapped an arm around your waist, whispering how much he loves you in your ear.

…

You all walked to the street as the sun seemed to be coming up strong, a beam of light was visible as Dr Fate stepped forward.

‘Heroes of Gotham, you’re fate has changed’ was all he said, grabbing everyone’s attention.

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ Arsenal asked, he said nothing else as he disappeared.

There was suddenly an earthquake that caused the ground to split apart, you held Jason’s hand but got separated when the rumbling got stronger. The ground between you lifting as you both fell apart.

‘Y/n’ Jason called out as you rolled down a hill, letting out a grunt as you hit the rocky floor below.

Not much else happened after to your recollection as you blacked out, but when you woke up the sun was still up.

You sat up as there was distant gunfire and explosions from behind, getting up on your feet you rushed over to where the sounds were coming from.

‘Shit’ you sighed as you saw Red Hood and Arsenal fighting, again.

There was Bane, Scarecrow and other villains back on their feet.

‘Tim’ someone shouted as Red Robin fell to the floor, Impaled. He wasn’t breathing.

‘Fuck no, Timmy’ Red Hood called as he nearly sobbed out. His younger brother was on the ground dead.

You stood and watched as the Heroes fell one by one. Arsenal got shot in the head, Dinah got electrocuted by Black Adam.

You began to cry as you saw yourself being lifted off the ground to a height by Zod. Dropped and killed on impact of hitting the ground.

Red Hood got cornered as he then got trampled by a bunch of other villains. You had to be dreaming at this point.

As all the Heroes lay on the floor still and lifeless you watched as Dr Fate appeared, however, he turned and looked at you.

‘The fate can change, but you cannot change everything’ he said, that’s when another earthquake happened and you again fell from the ground splitting.

You woke up once again, to just when you were at home.

‘Am I dead?’ You asked as Dick knocked on your front door.

‘Babysitting service from Uncle Dick’ he smiled as he walked in. He noticed you looked on edge, picking up on your flushed face.

‘You ok y/n?’ He asked, you nodded as he walked to the twins.

There wasn’t time to sit and think about what just happened, you must’ve fallen asleep and had a strange dream.

That’s all it had to be of course, a dream, but you couldn’t sit on it too long as you bounded into action.

You knew everyone lived as you saw them walking away victorious, but Dr Fate must’ve somehow shown you a possible future.

‘What are you doing here? Where are the kids?’ Red Hood asked you, you smiled softly to your husband.

‘With Dick’ you replied as you stood and watched, there must’ve been a moment where something changed causing a problem with your apparent future.

As the fight went on for what seemed like forever you then realised there was a sign that had fallen. As you looked at it, it had pieces broken off but you could just read the word ‘sky’ on it.

That’s when it hit you as mental flashbacks of what you saw came to mind, everyone died from something that happened above.

‘Superboy, up high, take them out. Tim, stay on the left side, Arsenal keep low and Hood, go red’ you called out, no one asked questions as to how you knew what to do to take everyone down.

‘What about me?’ Dinah asked you, you winked as you stood beside her.

‘Scream’ you smiled as Dinah and yourself both let you canary cries out. Dinah hitting who was in front as you hit upwards.

The fight needed quicker than the first time it did, but you were still scared in case Dr Fate showed you something else.

All of you walked away together as you went along the street, but you weren’t alone as you turned around to see Dr Fate again.

‘No, not again’ you spoke with panic in your voice, everyone looking at you.

‘The final battle will come, but for now Canary, the fate has been sealed’ he said as he then teleported away.

‘What did you mean by not again?’ Arsenal asked you, but you didn’t answer.

‘Y/n?’ Tim said softly as he placed a hand on your shoulder.

‘We did this before, but Fate showed me different ways it ended, including us all dying. I can’t explain, that’s how I knew where to hit. Dr Fate must’ve known that it wasn’t over yet’ you said.

…

Back at home Jason was going through some Bat tech to find if there were anymore hits. Gotham was a hotspot for criminal activity lately but nothing like what had happened.

‘Black Adam teaming up with Riddler and Bane, just doesn’t seem right’ Dick said as he held Joey up and played with her.

‘No it doesn’t, but there must be something else. Dr Fate mentioned a final battle’ Jason said, not looking away from his screen.

‘It’s tomorrows problem Jay, I think we should maybe get the kids out and try and have a seemingly normal day’ you said, holding yours and Jason’s son.

Jason smiled and nodded as he walked over and kissed you, taking your son into his arms.

‘I like that idea, there’s a fair not too far from here’ Dick chirped as he swung Joey playfully as she giggled.

You all left and walked around together as a family, having a normal day together for the first time in a while.

Something may not have been sitting right with either of the adults, but it was a problem to deal with later.

#red hood #gotham #red hood fanfiction #red hood x reader #red hood x you #jason todd fanfiction #jason todd x reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #jason todd #trevor signorino #red hood x male reader #jason todd x male reader #silver canary

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calciumcryptid · 1 year ago

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I don't talk enough about my Duke Thomas love interest enough, so here are some facts about Diamond Otieno!

She is a professional teen actress, and her little stint as a lantern was seen as her taking a break from the acting world after reports broke she stormed off set. (The press did not capture the moment a red ring flew at her.)

When she returns to Earth, she goes right back to acting. Her fans are wondering what the fuck happened because after being gone news breaks she is going to return on a singular episode of some obscure drama.

Then news breaks she is dating the newest Wayne boy, and everyone is so surprised because of the absolute icon behavior to have a good career, dip, return, and bag one of the richest men in the world.

When she is older, Diamond becomes quite fond of wine and buys her own winery because she loves the drink so much. She is definitely the wine aunt at family gatherings, ready to indulge the younger members in the latest gossip.

Diamond is pansexual, but she never mentions this. In fact, Duke didn't know she was pan until he came to her panicking about their relationship because he is a he but he is also a they (agender Duke supremacy) and Diamond just goes 'It is fine, I don't have a preference either way go be gender non-conforming'.

She has gotten into a legal dispute with Spectrum the company over her team's name also being Spectrum. She won.

Her favorite Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner because they are both artists, and he sometimes helps her escape the other corps because he understands deadlines. It helps that he reminds her of one of her teammates.

Despite not liking the other lanterns besides her team, she does deeply admire Carol Ferris and feels more at home with the Star Sapphires than with the Red Lanterns.

Diamond is older than Duke, but only by one year. It is kind of agreed his canonical age is sixteen, so she would be seventeen.

I imagine she was fifteen when she got her ring.

While Diamond gets along alright with the general Batfam, she gets along best with Cassandra, Stephanie, and Harper.

Diamond was so nervous to meet the We Are Robin gang, because she knew how important they were to Duke and wanted to make a good first impression.

Diamond definitely had one of those temporary pop careers companies try to stick onto child actors, and she gets embarrassed anytime anyone brings it up because she finds the songs she recorded to be bad and her voice average.

I am still working on her teammates, but one is an orange/blue lantern who is an artist and another is a green/yellow lantern who is basically if Sinestro and Hal had a child.

I have no clue what her suit would look like due to her being a teenager so I can't go back wild with the sapphire influences, but I think it looks kind of like the Brave & Bold animated design mixed with Yrra Cynril's outfit with more armor.

She'll probably make it into the Classverse as a Zodian under the Virgo designation.

@insomniac-jay

#dc #dc oc #oc: diamond otieno

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originaltyphoonkryptonite · 1 month ago

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Chapter 8: Mission Part 2(Finale): Rescued Bird

Zella pov

I'm standing behind the curtain with Artemis and Barbara next to me. The dress I was wearing was a sparkly purple dress with a large slit on the right leg and a sweetheart neckline. It was higher then I liked on my thigh. I had black gloves and black heels. My hair was done in a long ponytail but it covered my left eye.

"I look like Jessica Rabbit.", I think to myself.

I glare at Artemis with the one visible eye. "Just for the record, I hate this plan.", I said.

"Hey, we're the distraction right? So this will definitely distract them.", she answers with a wink.

Barbara just rolled her eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Bella, Diana, and Debra!", the owner announces as the crowd claps their hands. The curtains open and the spotlight hits me first.

"Hit it.", I said as I walked forward a little bit. The band starts and so does the show.

"Good evening all you gentlemen, mobsters, creeps and crooks.", I sang as I made a sweeping motion with my hand towards the crowd.

"Men in tights come after you, and still you're off the hook.", 'Debra' sings as she was next to be shined on by the light.

"For those who scare and terrorize, it's the dawn of a brand new day.", 'Diana' sings as the light hits her last.

"You scum can simply call us, the one and only Birds of Prey.", we sang together.

"Green Lantern has his special ring.", I sang as I made my hand look like I was wearing a ring.

"Pretty strong that little thing.", Artemis and Barbara sing as they point to my ring finger.

"Robin's deeds are really better then the rest.", Babs sings as she waves her hand.

"But who will bring him out of his nest.", me and Arty sang standing close to each otherand holding hands.

"Flash's foes, they finish last," was sung by said hero's girlfriend with a large smile on her lips.

"Too bad sometimes he's just too fast."

"While all the boys can always save the day, no one does it better than the Birds of Prey."

(The one and only Birds of Prey)

"While all the boys can always save the day, no one does it better, no one does it better than the Birds of Prey."

"Nightwing has heroic traits, that is when you have him standing up straight."

"Hey!", I said with a one-eyed glare to Artemis.

"I'm just saying.", she says with a shrug and a slight smile at my pout.

"Red Hood's always courageous.", I sang as I walked past her with a small smile.

"His little bullets, less outrageous.", Barbara sings with a roll of her eyes.

"Red Robin who can do the task's crazy demands.", I sang as as I raised my hands into the air.

"Becomes putty in our hands.", we sang as the girls appeared on either side of meas they raise their hands too.

"While all the boys can keep you punks at bay, no one does it better than the Birds of Prey

(The one and only Birds of Prey)

"While all the boys can always save the day, no one does it better, no one does it better than the Birds of Prey."

Just as the instrumental part was starting we left the stage and stand by a sitting handsome guy.

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Nightwing pov

I was struggling to get out of the ropes when I hear the guards grunting. I hear one get slammed into the wall and then there was silence. I hear the lock being picked as I was about to do something when the door swings open. In the doorway was Huntress and Black Canary.

"I am so glad to see you guys.", I said with a smile.

Huntress walks over to me and starts to free me. My torso was the first to be untied. Once my wrists were free, I start to rub them to get the blood flowing again. I did the same with my ankles. I then stand up and stretch.

"Come on. We better go before Phantasma has a heart attack.", Canary says from the doorway where she kept watch with a slight smirk. From the open doorway, I could hear music?

"What? Why? Is something wrong?", I asked slightly panicked.

"You'd have to see it to believe it.", Huntress says with a smirk.

They lead the way and we find ourselves in the backstage area. We made just as the instruments were doing their part without the singers to get ready for the big finish. I quickly looked around for Zell when I looked at the stage.

My jaw just drops. "OK, wasn't expecting that."

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Zella pov

"Nightwing throws his bird-a-rang, what a weapon, what a bang.", I sang to the guy who I was standing next to as I place my hand on his shoulder and lean into his ear.

"Check out those escrima sticks, sure can make a girl's heart tick.", Barbara sings with a hand on her left cheekwith the other hand holding her elbow.

"He's always right there for the save, I'd like to see his secret cave.", Artemis sings with a hand on the right cheek in the same pose.

"While Nightwing does things in his special ways, he'll do it better with the Birds of Prey.", we sing as we head back onto the stage.

(The one and only Birds of Prey)

"While Nightwing always seems to save the day, no one does it better, no one does it better than the Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey." we sang the finale notes as we each struck a pose.

The band stops playing and suddenly the crowd goes crazy. We all bow then head to the backstage area to go to the dressing room. Artemis and Barbra go inside the dressing room. I noticed someone standing behind me in the backstage area we were alone in.

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Nightwing pov

I noticed the Mob Boss following them so I head there as well. I get there and to my surprise, he's knocked out cold and Zell is the one standing over him. The others must be in the dressing room. She sees me and smiles but frowns quickly when the guards come rushing at us. We took them down then I looked back to Zell. I walk up to her, lift her into my arms, find a window, and use my grapple gun.

"Tell Bats to not wait up.", I said to the others who show up as I take us into the air.

I had us land on a roof and just look at her.

"What?", she asks.

"Nothing. You just look great.", I said with a smile.

"I hate it. That creepy guy ran his hand up my leg.", she says with crossed arms and a pout.

"So you knocked him out?", I said trying to fight back a smile.

"Yes."

I burst out laughing before kissing her forehead. "You're too cute, you know that?"

"I'm not cute.", she mutters.

She suddenly starts to shiver so I quickly wrap my arms around her. I decided it was time to head home.

"By the way, did you really mean that?", I asked as we flew through the sky and onto our roof.

"Mean what?"

"About 'what a weapon, what a bang?'", I ask with a large smirk.

"Sh-shut up!", she says with a large blush as she heads to the door that leads to the hallway where our apartments are. She opens the door and starts to head inside.

"Keep the dress!", I call out to her.

"GRAYSON!", she yells as she throws a shadow ball at me.

I dodge it and she's already inside.

"Worth it", I said with a goofy smile as I hurried after her.

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((Zella's outfit during the 'mission'. I think I can see why Dick thought it was worth it to tell her to keep the dress.)

#oc #nightwing

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doctormead · 1 year ago

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Constantine: Fuck it…we…we need to get in contact with that protector bloke to apologize. And then start fixing this clusterfuck.

Batman: *texts a question to Tim and scowls at the answer* Well we’re in “luck”. It seems the being on Red Robin’s boat IS this protector.

Constantine: The panicking ghost kid?

Batman: *affirmative grunt*

Constantine: A fucking protector spirit who could take down Pariah Fucking Dark is on the run in a panic from the US government under threat of experimentation and obliteration?!!!

Batman: *deeper scowl as he nods*

Constantine: Fuck! Better get as many Green Lanterns down here as you can, Bats. We’re gonna need political muscle was well as physical and magical to limit the splash zone when this shit hits the fan!

With the GIW hot on his heels, Danny decides the best course of action is to take to the water. Only one problem, he's fresh out of money. Guess it's time to resort to theft. He finds a nice little house boat that doesn't look like anyone's currently living in it and sets to work untethering it. Only to be immediately caught by the presumed owner.

"I was gonna give it back!" He blurted. "....Eventually."

Tim Drake was having such a long night that for once, all he wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately for him, life has other plans as he gets back just in time to see a boy trying to steal his boat.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #danny phantom #tim drake #john constantine #batman #constantine is lucky that batman has a no-kill policy

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fruitdragon · 2 years ago

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Scrolling through my fanfiction and I came across this gem I wrote like 3 years ago, when I was convinced that the movies weren't doing Bat-dad justice.

A button on Batman’s belt started flashing and beeping during the middle of a Justice League meeting. Superman stopped mid-sentence to look at him as the Dark Knight stood and pressed the button. The screen that they kept in the front of the room for communication purposes switched on. On the screen was a man with a domino mask and a blue and black suit with a bird on it. He seemed stressed, but excited, and lit up when he saw Batman.

“B!” he called, “I’m so glad I could reach you.”

“B?” Flash murmured to Green Lantern, they were all confused, they hadn’t known that Batman was somewhat close to anyone but them, but he obviously was.

“What is it Nightwing? You know this is the emergency line, is everyone alright?” He sounded concerned which made both Wonderwoman and Superman nervous, if Batman was concerned something was wrong. The man on the screen, Nightwing, broke into a giant, beaming smile.

“Oracle went into labour!” The justice league exchanged glances, someone that Batman was close to based on names was pregnant, was that why he had been late to a handful of meetings. Batman straightened even more, on alert.

“What are the others doing?” Others? The League was starting to murmure confused to themselves.

“Agent A and Doctor L are with Oracle in the medical section of the Cave,because there's no way we’re taking her to a hospital in this town.” Batman nodded. “Red Hood’s panicking about being an Uncle with his issues so he went to talk to Aunt Harley and Aunt Ivy how they manage to be Aunts to us even though they're technically villians.” Some of Batman’s Rogues were this guys Aunt, how does he have such a close relationship with Batman then? “Robin’s making the baby a small sword so I left him with Black Bat and Spoilers freaking the fuck out with Red Robin, who’s on his 7th cup of coffee for the day F.Y.I.”

Who were all these people? Nightwing, Agent A, Doctor L, Red Hood, Robin, Black Bat, Spoiler, Red Robin? How many people did Batman know?

“What about Bluebird and Signal?” The man on the screen seemed to be getting tired of Batman’s interrogation.

“I don’t know! Dad get yourself back to the cave for the birth of your first grandchild!” The league was stunned, this was Batman’s son? Batman has a family? Who were viligates based on the names that some of them had heard before, and their Aunts Were villains, Batman was related to his Rogues?!?

“Batman?” Wonderwoman asked and he finally seemed to realize that he had revealed more than he ever had about his life outside of the Justice League. He grunted. And glared at each of them.

“This doesn’t leave the room.” he demanded before turning back to his son.

“Is Catwoman there?” he was related to even more of his Rogues based on the way he was talking.

“Yes Mom’s here, but Oracle has threatened to let Robin name the baby if you’re not here too.” His son’s Mother was Catwoman, he was in a relationship or had been with one of his villains? Is that why she’s almost never caught and hasn’t seemed to get out as much more recently? Is that why his son calls other Villains Aunt? The League looked at Diana who had a hurt look in her eyes before masking it, her feelings for Batman were well known to everyone but him.

“You know I never expected grandchildren.” the comment seemed offhanded but Nightwing seemed to realize he was teasing him.

“Should have thought about that before having 11 kids, B.” The man teased back. Eleven kids?! What kind of family did ‘I work alone’ Batman have?

“I would like to point out that almost none of you were planned. I just couldn’t help myself.” Nightwing snorted and shook his head.

“I would like to say that with the eight of us you adopted, you might have a problem. Now get down here.” Some of his kids were adopted? How did he end up taking them in?

“I’m on my way.” Batman swept out of the room leaving the League and the still on screen behind him. Nightwing looked them over and grinned.

“Next time there’s a meeting ask him how he took in Red Hood.” he suggests “If you’re curious about us.” he nods “Well I would stay and chat about your shocking revelations, but i’m about to become a Dad!” he was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Nightwing out.” The screen went dark.

“Well,” Superman said slowly, “That was something.”

The room erupted into confusion and conversation.

#batdad #batman #dc comics #broose wayne #nightwing #oracle #fanfic #fanfiction

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foeofcolor · 2 years ago

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I posted 15,256 times in 2022

That's 6,850 more posts than 2021!

585 posts created (4%)

14,671 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/ tonysopranobignaturals

@/ nyxqueen97

@/ foeofcolor

@/ milfzatannaz

@/ bobbimorses

I tagged 2,781 of my posts in 2022

#reblog - 629 posts

#personal shit tm - 530 posts

#616 verse - 121 posts

#ace attorney - 113 posts

#616 clint - 113 posts

#goncharov - 78 posts

#asks - 59 posts

#dc - 54 posts

#superman - 45 posts

#clark kent - 41 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#" you are unhinged but you are free. go put that dirt in your mouth! go eat that bug! go roll around in that mud! go press that bright shiny

My Top Posts in 2022:

3,122 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

3,151 notes - Posted April 1, 2022

if i had to pick a vilgante city to be in, i'd rather it be star city over gotham because not only do the bats have awful villians, the entire damn city gets involved in their family drama. imagine ur trying to sleep and fucking batman and red hood are screaming on the roof about the joker. or like one of the robins is having temper tantrum. or fucking batman is making out with a rogue. the arrows at least arent completely nocturnal.

7,955 notes - Posted June 26, 2022

Metropolis, on average, is likely to have much higher than average rent than Gotham. Reporters, non tv ones esp., don’t get paid that much these days with the gradual decline of print media. Probably lower than average for someone aiming to keep a low profile.

My point is, that rent in metropolis sucks ass and Clark just starting at the daily planet and running off to be superman all the time, is just. having an awful fucking time, because to be superman he can’t have roommates. He probably ends up doing some part time jobs with odd hours to keep his secret.

And most people also don’t know that superman HAS a secret identity in the early days and think he just. full time lives at the north pole.

So when the jla starts, no one KNOWS he has secret identity and Clark isn’t particularly keen on exposing it so he just. keeps coming up with bullshit ass excuses why he is randomly offline sometimes.

FLASH : Hey supes, why weren’t you at the meeting yesterday-

GREEN LANTERN : Got a hot date?

CLARK : I was, uh. Preparing for my hibernation.

AQUAMAN : Your fucking WHAT

MARTIAN MANHUNTER, FULLY AWARE THAT CLARK IS MAKING BULLSHIT UP : Many species do such things-

FLASH : Alien species??

WONDER WOMAN, ASLO AWARE THAT HE’S LYING : Flash, Kal is also an alien, no matter how similar to humans he may look.

WONDER WOMAN : Kal, If there is anything we can do to assist-

CLARK : No, No, No it’s, it’s fine, it’s not a big deal-

BATMAN, AWARE OF HIS SECRET IDENTITY : It IS a big deal, superman. If one of our strongest is to be out of commission for an extended period of time-

CLARK : Oh, I won’t- We, we do it in shifts.

WONDER WOMAN : Is that so, Kal?

CLARK : Yeah, h. haha.

Smash cut to a few years later-

KARA : YOU TOLD THEM WE DO WHAT

CLARK : I PANICKED OK?

Diana and Bruce never let him live this down btw.

10,048 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

the spn guy being bi is great because it means he was playing one of the biggest queerbait ship of the decade while, actually, being queer. funniest shit ever i hope hes THRIVING

EDIT : HES NOT EVEN BI, HE RLLY JUST SAID ONLY LAST QUEERBAIT GKFMFJDLDN???? IS THIS WHAT ITS LIKE TO WATCH SPN

14,194 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false #I'm pretty sure that like that longest tag ain't even mine fjfjfj #personal shit tm

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peppersonironi · 4 years ago

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12, 21, 19

(Is this late? Oops. Sorry!)

12: Favourite character to write about this year

Stephanie Brown, easy. She's my spirit animal, so I might be doing a touch of projecting, but I honestly don't care. She's just pure chaos in the best way. Some of my favourite lines that I've written are for her. Such as:

"What's up bitches? I brought donuts!"

"My waffles await!"

"FEAR ME!"

"Welcome to Steph’s Glitter Bomb Palace, Where Snitches get Stitches™! So don’t tell Bruce or I’ll sic Jason on you."

She's also the character I've gotten the most comments on. People really seen to enjoy how I write her!

A close second would be Duke Thomas. Bliss, a fic I wrote for the 2020 Duke Week, was one of my favourites! Or maybe Damian? His dialogue just comes easy to me.

21: Most memorable comment/review

the batfamily exist:

everyone: is,,is that allowed?

On Code Orange (Batfam/Young Justice Crossover)

*Or*

I have wanted to read a DCU/MCU crossover for a VERY long time. This story is such a delight. Your characterisation (and for me an introduction to The Signal) was fascinating in the extreme. I loved the game playing and the fact that I could watch (open-mouthed) as Bruce Wayne enjoyed childlike fun with his children and Alfred(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) was the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake. I look forward to your updates in a way that you wouldn't believe.

On Batfam/Avengers Crossover

19: Any new fics to start next year

Oh boy. So many. You know what? Here's a list. It'll be good to get these ideas out. Plus, you guys can tell me what you'd rather see first!

Gen/just Batfam

Crack fic based off this piece of dialogue (came from a convo between my sister and I): Tim reached forward and poked Duke's face. "You're right!" He exclaimed. "You really *do* squish like a block of wood!" Duke Centric.

Based on THIS Incorrect Quotes. Talia moves into the Manor because she's sick of Ra's. Featuring a bunch of good mom!Talia.

Based off THIS Incorrect Quotes. Jason runs for President as Red Hood. I have so many ideas! This'll be really fun.

Loosely based on THIS post. It explores Jason and Cassandra's relationship, and how it evolves.

Duke Thomas Big Bang Fic (can't say much, but it'll be great!)

Platonic (need to be certain you understand that. There were some misconceptions w/ my Discord server) Slow Burn between Tim and Damian. At the beginning the absolutely despise each other. But over time they realise their own insecurities, and how they don't actually hate the other. And by the end they fully admit and embrace their being brothers.

Reverse Robins with Damian as the oldest (I made THIS post talking about it a while back. But I've highly revised it.)

Reverse Robins with Duke as the oldest (I wrote THIS fic, but I think I want to change this into a series!)

Cassandra as Batman. Stephanie as Catwoman. Carrie Kelley as Robin.

5 Times Bette Kane was the mastermind behind the batkids' pranks without Bruce's knowledge, and 1 Time her brilliance was brought to light.

5 Times Duke thought that he couldn't possibly get any more siblings and 1 Time he met the cousins (AKA: Duke meets the extended family)

Birdflash

Birdflash in the JL/JLU universe (based off that one hexagon by @novaviis ! Super fun!). The league is inviting potential members to the Watchtower one day. Except Wally wasn't there during the choosing of said members. So he's completely shocked when his husband Nightwing shows up. They have to act like they don't know each other, which basically involves Dick flirting his butt off with Wally, Wally trying desperately to remain professional, Bruce digging in the corner, the rest of the League in varying degrees of disapproval and confusion (at least a couple have seen Wally's wedding ring. So that adds a while 'nother layer).

Young Justice soulmate au. Dick, and eventually everyone else, knows that Wally is his soulmate. Wally is oblivious. Lots of pining and angst in this one. Slow burn to an extent (depends on how long I make it). But definitely a happy fluffy ending in sight!

Batfam Meets Young Justice

THIS fic.

Duke gets yeeted into the YJ universe, and promptly passes out. He wakes up in the Watchtower, and breaks out of the confinement the Team has set up for him. Pulls shenanigans (some unwittingly) and used his powers. The Team and JL are confused, and panicking. Because this guy keeps muttering things about the Batfam. And he has a bat on his chest.

The Team break into some ancient temple after getting info on a new Supervillian plot. They find purple clothed woman draped across a throne. She talks, and they panic, as she knows all their secret identities. The only one who isn't, is Tim. He looks bored. Alternatively: Steph needs Tim's credit card to take his sister out on a date, and absolutely refuses to text.

While the Team is on a mission to stop Lady Shiva, a dimensional portal opens up and spits out a strange Robin (Damian) and what seemed to be a female Batman (Cass as Black Bat). This new dynamic due promptly defeats Lady Shiva and all the goons. The Team is freaked out, and 'apprehends' the dimensional anomalies, bringing them back to the Watchtower. Where the due promptly break and and start chaos. Featuring "Toxic" by Britney Spears. I will not explain why.

The Watchtower gets a sudden emergency message from the Batcave. They accept, to find a stranger calling himself Signal panicking about Robin being missing. They all look at Tim, who ignores them, and says that he doesn't know where Robin is. Some naming shenanigans occur.

(Not sure if this fits here, oh well) Set in Season One, Bruce is tired of Clark's attitude towards Superboy, and adopts the clone himself. Not sure how far this'll go, but at least goes through Dick's time as Robin. (Based on THIS Tumblr post)

(Also iffy on placement) a continuation of one (not sure which? Probably Damian as older) Reverse Robins fics. It's a retelling of Season One of YJ, with Dick as Robin. Nightwing (Damian) feels protective of his brother, and so takes on the role Black Canary had in the show, training the Team. But as time goes on, he ends up being more of a big brother to the group. Cameos from the rest of the Batfam as well! And an Identity Reveal (including finding out Dick and Dami are brothers) at the end!

Batfam Meets the Justice League

Cass takes over being Batman for a bit, because Bruce was an idiot and broke his leg. This happens to line up with when the Justice League reach out to the Dark Knight, in order to extend an invitation to the league. They eventually meet Bruce as Batman, and are confused as to why he is so tall. And male.

Joyfire

Lian accidentally reveals her three parents' relationship by calling Bruce 'grandpa' over dinner.

Museum Heist

THIS fic

Operation: Seduce Nightwing. Based on a post for an ATLA ot3, Wally and Artemis realise silumaneously “Hey, we kinda have the hots for Dick” and decide together to see if he likes them back. Which involves a heck ton of over the top flirting, and shenanigans. The Team is sighing on the sidelines at their idiocy. Dick is internally combusting and thinking “Do they like me back? I’’m not sure.”

5 times Dick and Wally fought over being the middle spoon, and one time Artemis had had enough.

Set in Season 3 (but ignores some canon), Bart is kidnapped by some mad scientist obsessed with the Speed Force. The Team mobilizes, and gets Bart back from the evil base. But when they get there, they find Wally West freed from the Speed Force. He and Artemis reunite, and everyone is happy. They prepare to leave. Then the Pick-up Squad arrive in the bioship, and Dick gets out. Everyone is expecting Dick to give Wally a hug, because hey, he's his best friend! What they weren't expecting was him to run forward and pull the speedster into a passionate kiss. They go back to the Watchtower, and some more stuff happens.

Soulmate AU where the first thing your soulmate says to you after they fall in love with you is tattooed on your body.

Post Season Two Get Together. Starts with Artemis living with Dick as opposed to Will. Might be Slow Burn? (They come pretty close to kissing) Eventually Wally comes back. Arty and Wally are back together. They both live in the same house as Dick, for convenience. Then some more Slow Burn happens. Maybe some Birdflash moments. Arty tells Wally she kinda had a thing for Dick. Wally admits the same. Maybe a touch more Slow Burn. They Eventually get together.

Batlantern

AU where Bruce met Hal back when he first came back to Gotham. Fic goes through how their relationship evolves over the years (up until current time, when Damian is 13). I'm considering a relationship reveal with the Justice League.

Hal's interactions with Bruce's kids.

Green Lantern Corp acting protective of Hal when Bruce comes to Oa. This was an ask that I got, and I'm holding off on writing it till I get as much into on the GL's as possible, as all I know if their characterization comes from that animated series, and Guy Gardener's (Hilarious!) parts on Young Justice.

Marvel

Like 3 different versions of the Peter Parker Field Trip to Stark Tower Trope.

2-part Crossover with the Batfam (they exist in the same universe), where the Avengers go to a Wayne Gala, and interact with the family. The second chapter involves them heading out the next night to try and contact Batman.

THIS fic.

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dessarious · 5 years ago

Text

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt78

Sorry this is a couple days late. I was all excited to get this story finished in the next couple installments... and then the mother of all plot bunnies hit. That gave me three options: 1) Ignore it and try to finish it out the way I’d originally thought. 2) Throw it in and have a built in reason to do a sequel. 3) Throw it in and just keep this story going indefinitely.

I’m still debating between options two and three so we’ll see what happens. Also the plot twist will be in the next part. Sorry for the wait but I need to get a few more things in order.

Inspired by @ozmav Maribat AU

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

Chloe was trying not to stare at the window as they waited but she couldn’t help it. If Ladybug didn’t come back soon they were going to be late to the meeting with the Justice League and who knew what kind of hell that would cause. She wasn’t the only one either. Damian was suited up as Robin and straight up glaring at the empty balcony.

“She knows how important this is, she’s not going to be late.” Luka’s assurance was calm, and it was obvious he believed it. Chloe would too if not for the fact that Mari had been gone two hours longer than she said she would already, not that she’d told the boys that.

“Given that punctuality isn’t one of her strong suits I’m surprised we got to the other one’s on time.” Damian was even more on edge than normal and it was starting to make her skin crawl. She had to wonder what he knew that they didn’t. She told herself that it didn’t matter, that they could handle whatever was thrown at them. It didn’t really help. She let out a relieved sigh when she saw movement and quickly went outside to scold Marinette. The words died in her throat when she actually got a good look at her though.

“Why have you been crying?” She couldn’t help the threat in her tone. Mari had gone to see the Guardian claiming she needed to discuss what they should and shouldn’t tell the justice league, that absolutely shouldn’t have caused this.

“We’ll have to talk about it later or we’re going to be late. I’d like to get this over with as quickly as possible and getting a lecture from anyone on manners is just going to delay things.” Her tone was wrong and her body language was sadness and grief. What the hell had happened?

“But we will talk later?” Chloe couldn’t help the question. Anything to do with the Guardian tended to be off limits so she wasn’t even sure it was something she was allowed to know. She tried hard to respect that, but she couldn’t help being annoyed by it as well.

“Yes we will. I have so much I need to tell you.” Well that didn’t sound good. “Come on, we need to get moving.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discorde could tell, as soon as they stepped through the portal, that this meeting was going to go as bad or worse than the last one. Half the members were glaring at them, not even trying to conceal their anger. Great.

“Care to explain why you’re still using your lackey to keep real heroes out of Paris when Hawkmoth is no longer a threat?” Green Lantern’s hostile tone was bad enough, but the actual words had her seconds from doing something rash. Ladybug could obviously tell if the restraining hand on her shoulder was any indication.

“Care to explain why you all felt the need to come to Paris, especially without contacting me to confirm that it was in fact Hawkmoth who was arrested?” Ladybug just sounded done and that honestly worried her. “Because I wouldn’t have thought real heroes would endanger innocent people like that.”

“Are you claiming that it wasn’t Hawkmoth then?” She really hated Superman’s superior tone but she was starting to wonder if he even had another one.

“No I’m not. That doesn’t change the fact that you all decided to believe the first news report you saw and then somehow decided it would be a good idea to have a bunch of foreign heroes descended on Paris while it’s citizens are still reeling from the shock. Did you even stop to consider the type of panic having all of you show up would cause?” Some of them looked thoughtful which was something at least. The Bats and Wonder Woman were studying the others as well, though she wasn’t certain what they were looking for.

“I would think it would be reassuring for them to see capable heroes for once.” Discorde couldn’t stop the growl that came out, not that she tried that hard. These idiots were so close to death and they didn’t even see it.

“Heroes only show up when there’s a villain. You all suddenly arriving in Paris would start a mass panic that either Hawkmoth isn’t actually in custody or that some new threat is out there. Either way I can’t risk it, especially with how fragile everyone's mental state is right now. The damage you did might very well not be fixable.” Ladybug was trying to not sound like she was lecturing them, but Discorde knew that’s exactly what she was doing. Why was another matter entirely. It was just a waste of time judging by the glares she was getting.

“Don’t pretend you know how things actually work. You’re just children playing at being heroes. You have no idea what it actually takes, let alone the sacrifices it requires.” Superman’s words caused the room to erupt. All the Bats were yelling at him while Wonder Woman seemed content with trying to glare at him until he shut up. Discorde only noticed on a subconscious level as her blood pounded in her ears and she felt the destruction inside calling out to her. How dare this pompous bastard call Mari’s sacrifices nothing. How dare he act like she didn’t know pain just because of her age. How dare he.

She felt hands on her face and was forced to focus on Ladybug who had a firm grip on her head, refusing to let her look at the targets of her rage. She could tell the other girl was speaking but she still couldn’t hear anything but her own pounding heartbeat and a mantra in her head telling her to end the people who dared insult her Bug. It wasn’t until a shrill beeping noise started that she came back to herself. She saw Ladybug’s earrings flashing between red and black and saw the panicked look on Mari’s face as she detransformed, her arms going around Discordes neck automatically as her legs gave out.

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

Ko-Fi

Tag List

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#maribat #marinette dupen chang #Damian Wayne #bffmaridami

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soulmate-game · 5 years ago

Text

Oneshot #2

What if Marinette had never won the Wayne Enterprises competition?

Well, her and Damian’s meeting would have probably went something like this.

—*—*—*—*—*

The asian-French hero looked down at her palm, where a plain silver ring sat at the center of the long silver chain around her neck. They had done it. Seven years, lots of reversed deaths, way too many close calls, and Adrien was in a wheelchair for the next few months at least. If he ever got back on his legs at all.

That wasn’t even brushing over the painful fact that he was now an orphan by all rights, his mother finally buried and his father rotting in prison. It was the epitome of a bittersweet victory, and Marinette couldn’t stand to stay in the same city as where it had happened anymore.

It wasn’t like she had a choice, anyway. Marinette was the Guardian now, and the fallout of the last fight led to her parents figuring out her identity. That couldn’t be allowed to stick, so she had asked Plagg to erase their memory of the discovery. She knew Plagg didn’t have the best restraint with his powers, but the effects would never wear off and could never be reversed.

Sure enough, they didn’t just forget that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. They forgot that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had ever been born.

So the Guardian, for she had held that title since her eighteenth birthday, gathered up all her belongings. She emptied her bedroom as if it had never held a child to begin with, sold everything she didn’t need and packed away what she did. She took the Miracle Box with her, of course. And Chat’s ring. He could wear it anymore anyway, and Marinette didn’t have anyone she could trust it to.

Kagami and Luka gave back their Miraculous, too. As did Chloè. They didn’t need to fight HawkMoth anymore, and they deserved normal lives now that the war was over. Marinette was not about to take from them the very thing she couldn’t have.

So she found herself in Gotham City, her hair cut into a long pixie in an attempt to change up her look. She didn’t need people recognizing her, especially since she had no intention of giving up her hero work. She set up a boutique, she already had more than enough of a clientele and solid reputation to keep her in business for at least a few years. She was twenty years old, and the world saw her as a rising star instead of the crashed meteor she felt like.

The Kwamis saw it. Every time they left the Box (and Marinette liked giving them all at least a day or two every week to stretch their legs, so to say), they would see her darkening bags under her eyes and the almost permanent slump to her shoulders. Her bed almost looked brand new even after several months in Gotham.

She closed her hand around the ring for a moment, before slipping it onto her right thumb. The now-familiar coursing energy of Destruction ran over her body like a current of electricity, promising a fatal shock at even the slightest mistake.

Good thing she was a manic perfectionist.

“Plagg, merge.”

The cat Kwami was sucked into the ring, dying it black and giving birth to the green paw on the flat top. Marinette’s already darkened and Gotham-ized Ladybug costume gaining a few spikes, a black leather jacket, her utility belt holding her yo-yo darkened into charcoal gray with green accents and a red-and-Black extendable bo staff. Instead of a domino mask, stylized black ski goggles covered her eyes, the magical glass tinting maroon in the right lighting. The tips of Marinette’s short hair dyed into a dark mossy green.

“Let’s show these Gotham villains that they can’t just toss us around,” she said to the empty air, as if promising to herself that her half-year absence from the hero scene hadn’t filled her skills at all.

(And it probably hadn’t, since she had kept up with her own training regiment during the hours she really should have been using to sleep, but she wouldn’t be Marinette if she didn’t doubt her own skills every now and then.)

With a soft whisper of “cataclysm,” she laid her hand on the metal door that had been slammed shut. It rusted and crumbled away into dust immediately. She wouldn’t let Scarecrow hold her charity gala hostage. Sure, it hadn’t been as extravagant as something thrown by the Waynes, but it was her first gala and had had a surprisingly large turnout. People had fallen in love with their new Gotham celebrity philanthropist.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t alone. Right then, the windows in the rented building shattered, allowing three very familiar masked men to drop in at the three other corners of the room. With Marinette, they made a full square of heroes surrounding the Gotham villain and his screaming hostages.

“Separate,” she whispered, her Plagg-induced accessories fading away to reveal her in just her Ladybug outfit. Her domino mask was replaced by a maroon and black-polka dotted motorcycle helmet with a rose-red visor covering the upper half of her face. She had on matching fitted cargo pants in the same pattern, and a long-sleeved black turtleneck with two large, hot rod red half-circles over both sides of her waist. Calf-High black combat boots with red soles and maroon stripes up the outer edges completed the new Ladybug look. Not including the ever-familiar yo-yo sitting on a thin red utility belt on her hips, anyway.

The three Gotham-native vigilantes observed everything, including the unfamiliar figure in red and black that seemed to be on their side, at least for now.

“Robin,” Batman spoke up. “Red Robin and I will engage Scarecrow. Get the hostages out and administer the antidote for the fear toxin. If we haven’t wrapped things up by the time you're done, come back here.”

The colorful vigilante let out a tsk at being left out of the combat, but knew he would be the fastest at evacuating the victims. They were all under fear toxin and several were having very violent reactions to it, so his no-nonsense approach would be the best match up with wrangling the civilians out of the building.

“I’ll help you,” an unfamiliar female voice crackled over their coms, making the three vigilantes stiffen. “Relax, my suit’s magic patched me in to your frequency. You can call me Ladybird. I won’t get in your way, but I’m not gonna just sit back and watch either.”

“If you slow me down, I’m hogtying you and leaving you for the Commissioner,” Robin warned, her gaze flashing over to the unfamiliar hero right as her ruby-red lips curled up into a secretive smirk.

“Fair enough.”

Batman and Rex Robin rushed into the fight then, seeing as Nightwing couldn’t distract Scarecrow forever. The blue vigilante used their sudden take over of the fight to turn his attention to Scarecrow’s rented goons, and knock guns out of hands.

Ladybird and Robin took over the rest. Working like a surprisingly well-oiled machine, they seemed to know exactly which victim to grab next to avoid getting in the other’s way. Robin noted that Ladybird seemed surprisingly well-versed in handling panicking victims that fought back, easily trapping their limbs to their bodies and carrying them out forcibly yet efficiently. She was also surprisingly quiet, whispering to the more coherent victims and doing her best to keep the evacuation as subtle as possible.

She was equally quick in administering the antidotes that Robin handed out to her, her hands clothed in black motorcycle gloves easily sliding the needles of the syringes into the right arteries without a second of hesitation.

Luckily, they hadn’t had to go back into the fight after getting all the victims rounded up and cured. Ladybird has just finished handing out shock blankets when Robin’s team filed out of the building with an unconscious Scarecrow held limply between them. A few statements and evacuated victims later, and the three met up with Ladybird in a nearby alley.

“Who are you, and why are you in Gotham?”

“Ladybird,” she said calmly, ignoring the beeping in her helmet. She had used her cure discreetly to reverse any physical damage the vigilantes and victims had taken, and hoped they wouldn’t notice until the next day. It had taken her a while to learn how to make the magical ladybugs invisible, but it was a useful skill. “I used to be Ladybug, back in Paris, but Paris doesn’t need heroes anymore. I came here for a new start, that’s it. I don’t plan to get in your way, but don’t expect me to stay out of it when bad things happen.”

“Oh, so we’re just supposed to accept a new vigilante with magic popping up and sticking their noses in our business, are we?” Robin challenged, stepping forward with hostility in every muscle of his body. Ladybird, to her credit, did not even flinch. In fact, even though she was over a foot shorter than Robin, she just straightened up to make the most of every inch of height she had. It was shockingly effective. She petit female could apparently make a very intimidating presence when she wanted to.

“I don’t plan on leaving, so you either play nice or get the nice beat into you,” she said with a falsely cheerful voice. A growl pulled itself from the back of Robin’s throat.

The rest of the BatFam watched with barely restrained tension. None of them were happy about a new, unknown vigilante in town, sure. But Robin was by far the last person they would have chosen to confront the new person.

“I’d like to see you try, shorty,” Robin purred menacingly, a sharp grin overtaking Ladybird’s mouth at the challenge.

“Gladly, little birdy,” She chimed right back. They lunged at the same moment, Ladybird’s hand gripping Robin’s bicep to try and throw him over her shoulder at the same moment that the man’s fist made contact with one of the large spots on her waist.

But before any real damage could be done, a flash of green light erupted around them, surrounding both heroes and separating them with business-like speed. They blinked at each other as they were forced to separate, wondering if Green Lantern had made a surprise visit to Gotham.

But that was not it, they realized, the green was much too dark a shade and proceeded to sink into the skin around their wrists. A mechanical voice sounded in the air.

“WARNING: GAME FOUL. ATTACKS BETWEEN SOULMATES OUTSIDE OF FRIENDLY SPAR ARE PROHIBITED.”

“What the hell—“

“INITIATING GAME START.”

Both heroes’ vision split in half, just as Marinette’s one-hour timer ran out and her transformation dissolved.

“Well. I’m Marinette, I guess. Your soulmate.”

She watched from two different perspectives as Robin’s eyes widened behind his mask and her own star-struck face contrasted starkly with her unaffected tone of voice. Apparently exhaustion saps the emotion from someone’s tone.

“Holy plot point, Batman.”

“I thought we agreed you would never say something like that again, Nightwing.”

—*—*—*—*—*

#mlb x dc #maribat #daminette

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years ago

Text

The Untold Story

LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS FEBRUARY 1999 BY MARV WOLFMAN, PAUL RYAN, BOB MCLEOD AND TOM MCCRAW

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Numerous earths of alternate realities are destroyed by a wave of anti-matter controlled by the Anti-Monitor. From his station in the Antimatter Universe, The Anti-Monitor and the Psycho Pirate watch as Pariah rescues Lady Quark from destruction on Earth-Six.

Elsewhere, in the 30th Century, Barry Allen lives happily with his wife Iris, having somewhat reluctantly retired from superheroism and moved to the future to be with her. However, a sudden change in the weather makes him suspicious, and he decides to don his costume, and investigate. He soon discovers that the world is being consumed by the wave of anti-matter. Without thinking, he slows his body down so that it will travel back to the present, and he can warn the Justice League. He manages it just as the wave passes over him.

He finds himself not in the present of Earth-One, but on an alternate earth known as Earth-D, where Tanaka Rei is the current Flash. Without being seen, Barry follows Tanaka home, and watches him meet with his own wife, and embrace happily. The scene reminds Barry that he left Iris to die back in the 30th Century, and he despairs.

In Earth-D's New York City, the Justice Alliance of America fights with a giant squid controlled by Medulla. The tone of the Alliance is significantly more positive and family-oriented than their Earth-One counterpart's. Meanwhile, Pariah and Lady Quark are transported there, and they watch from afar as the Alliance takes care of things. Seeing the Alliance handle Medulla in a somewhat lenient fashion, Lady Quark becomes angry, and blasts him with energy. The Alliance is outraged, and confronts her. With their attention, Pariah takes the opportunity to warn them that Earth-D is soon to be destroyed by Antimatter.

Back in Central City, Barry knocks on Tanaka's door, and introduces himself. Tanaka realizes that Barry Allen is the same Flash that he read about in his earth's comic books. Barry explains his situation, and begs Tanaka for help getting back to Earth-One. Tanaka offers his help, and when a gets a signal from the Alliance he decides to take Barry to ask the rest of the team for help.

In the Alliance's underwater headquarters, Pariah explains to the assembled that the red skies and aberrant weather are the first signs of the coming wave of antimatter, and that the wave erases anything it touches from existence. He admits that his presence there is signal enough that Earth-D will soon be destroyed. Just moments later, an earthquake damages the integrity of the structure, and the HQ is flooded. Aquaman aids everyone's escape to the surface with the help of some dolphins.

They travel to the Fortress of Solitude, where Flash convinces Pariah to go to Earth-One, and beg the Justice League for help. The return shortly, but seeing their attempt to band together, the Anti-Monitor sends his Shadow Demons to distract them. The heroes battle valiantly, but their powers are ineffective against the shadows.

Earth-D's Hawkgirl is crushed under a pillar, and in his grief, Hawkman is murdered by the shadows. In trying to save his wife Kara, Earth-D's Superman is zapped by the shadows, as he desperately cries out for them all to escape, and use the Phantom Zone Projector to get rid of the shadows. He is not killed instantly, but the projector is destroyed along with the rest of the Fortress, and he dies not long after. The heroes hold a funeral for him on a nearby mountain. Following the funeral, most of Earth-D's heroes return to their homes to make peace with their own families.

Elsewhere, in Brazil, José Hernandez discovers the crashed ship of Green Lantern Tagin Sur. As the alien dies, he gives José a Green Lantern Ring, which briefs him on the situation. He rushes off to join the Justice Alliance.

In New York, the Alliance and the League attempt to keep the citizens from panicking, despite their own inability to do anything about the coming wave of antimatter. In the process of saving an elderly woman, Earth-D's Robin is erased before his father's eyes. Wonder Woman is erased while saving a young boy. Green Lantern John Stewart nearly loses a child to the antimatter wave, but a last second save by José serves as their introduction.

Tanaka decides that they should create a new Cosmic Treadmill, one large enough to take much of the remaining population of Earth-D to Earth-One. All of those with some form of super-speed board the treadmill, while the remainder fights off the oncoming shadow demons. The heroes open a portal which allows the citizens of Earth-D to travel to Earth-One, where they will presumably merge with their alternate universe counterparts.

Watching the heroes' efforts, the Anti-Monitor decides that he has a use for Barry Allen, and at great cost to the heroes on the Cosmic Treadmill, he teleports Barry to him, depriving the heroes of their fastest runner. Without Barry to help them, and with the other heroes quickly tiring, Tanaka takes it upon himself to take on the whole effort alone, while the other heroes fight off the shadows.

José is killed by shadows, saving Kara from the shadows. John Stewart is outraged, knowing that it was only José's first day as a Lantern. As Tanaka gets more and more exhausted, there is little time left, and he begs the Justice League to return to Earth-One and save their people, rather than staying behind and dying with Earth-D. The League leaves through the portal, and soon after, Tanaka collapses, closing it behind them. Earth-D's remaining heroes choose to go down fighting.

Meanwhile the JLA finds themselves aboard the Monitor's Satellite. There, Alexander Luthor briefs them on the scenario, alongside Harbinger. The Crisis on Infinite Earths is well underway.

NOTORIOUS DEATHS IN THIS ISSUE

Earth-D

REVIEW

As a rarity, it is an ok issue. As a Crisis Tie-In, it doesn’t fit correctly into that story (as some characters should forget about this story once they go back to Earth-1).

For Barry Allen, the inconsistencies are more obvious. Both, he and Iris had different faces in the future, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to look like they used to. This is acceptable post-crisis (even though the trial happened, everyone forgot about this little bit of information), but it is not acceptable for Crisis continuity.

The other piece of information that doesn’t sound right is Flash’s affirmation that genetic doppelgangers will merge with their counterparts on Earth-1. This didn’t happen before. The only way for this to happen is if one of them die (like it happened to Julius Schwartz).

Tanaka mentions comic books getting darker for a while, this is a meta-reference to the modern age (or how many called it back then, the dark age of comics).

It’s a nice tribute to Barry Allen more than a Crisis tie-in. Have in mind that in 1999, Barry Allen stories were only flashbacks and many writers missed him.

I give the issue a score of 7

#glen orbik #dc comics #comics #review #1999 #modern age #crisis on infinite earths #pariah #barry allen #the flash #anti-monitor

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eternallyyoungjustice · 6 years ago

Text

Wherever the Winds Take You: Chapter 9

Mount Justice

July 18

11:16

“Recognized: Robin-B01, Kid Flash-B03.”

As the two young boys ran out from the Zeta-Tubes and into the main cavern of Mount Justice, their faces were lit up with excitement

Their energies were practically bouncing off the walls, and their grins only seemed to grow as they neared their three teammates who were standing in the center of the cavern and observing a holographic map.

Upon hearing the boys’ footsteps, the others turned. All were dressed in civilian attire, and the excited energy seemed to twirl around all of them in different ways.

“Did you ask him?” Robin asked once they had joined the others.

“What’d he say?” Wally jumped in.

“He’s arriving now.” Kaldur smiled, obviously also feeling the excitement but hiding it, although poorly, as he tried to act maturely.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Wally exclaimed, and he zipped over to the hangar door nearby. The slanted metal of the ceiling descended upon command, revealing the grassy outside terrain. The others followed quickly behind, lastly of which were Miss Martian and Superboy who glanced at each other briefly before following.

It was less than a moment later that a familiar red robotic man and a small brunette girl descended from the sky just outside of the hangar. The other teens ran up to greet them.

“Zeph’! Red Tornado!” Wally yelled over the sound of the rushing winds that the air-manipulating duo used to fly.

“Bonjour Mon Chers!” Lina greeted as her feet made contact with the ground. “Lovely weather here today, no?”

“Greetings.” Red Tornado also replied. “Is there a reason you intercept us in front of the cave?”

“We’d hoped you had a mission for us.” Kaldur explained.

“I told you they would be asking soon…” Lina muttered in a sing-song voice, smirking at her mentor as she went to stand beside her teammates.

“Missions assignments are The Batman’s responsibility.” Red Tornado replied automatically, without even missing a beat.

“But it’s been over a week and-“”You will be tested soon enough.” Red Tornado cut Robin off, raising his hand to stop the young boy. “For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company.”

“This team is not a social club.” Kaldur said, suddenly much more serious.

Lina turned to him, looking slightly surprised. “I mean, it kind of is...”

She didn’t get a response.

“No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise.” Red Tornado replied, just as stoically as ever. “Perhaps you can…’keep busy’ by familiarizing yourselves with the cave.”

As Red Tornado walked away, the teenagers watched him. Very put out. The moment he was out of earshot, Wally punched Robin’s arm.

“‘Keep busy’.” Wally mocked.

“Does he think we’re falling for this?” Robin exclaimed, shoulders tensing like an angry cat.

“Ooh!” Miss M suddenly popped up, whirling around to focus on Red Tornado. “I’ll find out!”

After her little t-shirt trick upon first meeting the team, the Martian girl had barely shown off any of her powers, so it surprised the lot of them a little that she was suddenly using her telepathy.

But alas, after a moment, her shoulders slumped.

“I’m sorry...I forgot he’s a machine, inorganic.” The girl explained. “I cannot read his mind.”

“It’s alright Miss M, I believe Robin was simply being sarcastic.” Lina smiled.

“Nice try though.” Wally smirked as he stepped toward the Martian girl, leaning in towards her as he dug his hands into his pockets. “So...you know what I’m thinking right now?”

Robin elbowed his best friend, scoffing. “We all know what we’re thinking right now.”

There was a pause, and then Kaldur broke the silence with an irritated tone. “And now we tour the clubhouse.”

Lina raised an eyebrow up at the Atlantean, surprise and worry coating her gaze.

"Well…" Miss Martian piped in, trying to ease the tension. "Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guide."

"Don't look at me." Superboy grumbled, shrugging.

"We won't." Wally cut in, leaning in to focus intently on Miss M. "A private tour sounds much more fun."

"She never said private!" Robin interjected, voice cracking a little.

"A tour would be good for team building, we should all go together." Lina said, covering her concern for the anxious tension with a cheerful smile. To emphasize her point, she wrapped her arm around Kaldur's, who looked down at her but thought little of the action.

And then the Martian girl began leading the way back inside, explaining that the area they were in was technically the front entryway, even though it was hard to find the 'front' of a mountain. As the others walked away Kaldur, however, was stopped by Lina's suddenly-firmed hold on his arm. He halted and looked back, seeing that the girl's gaze was suddenly returned to being one of concern.

"Don't let Roy get to your head." She said, not breaking eye-contact. "We're not a 'junior justice league', and we're not being shoved aside. Plus, social interaction and friendship is very important in a team. I know you know all of this."

Kaldur remained silent for a moment, studying the girl latched onto him. After that moment, he let out a large sigh and some of the tension in his shoulders released.

"Apologies. You're correct." He gave the girl a small smile. "Thank you."

"I'm starting to feel like the, what's his name…'Jiminy Cricket', between you two boys." Lina laughed.

Kaldur looked amused as he watched the giggling girl, but said nothing.

"Are you guys coming or what?" The two teens heard Robin's voice calling from inside.

"Oui!" Lina called back. "We're coming!"

The two teens looked at each other for just another moment before Lina detached and dashed over to where her teammates had gone. Kaldur remained for a moment, smiling, and then followed as well.

Throughout the tour, Miss Martian had to endure with Wally and Robin's shenanigans, but surprisingly seemed unphased by them. Although whether that was because she had the patience of a saint, or she just didn't realize they were flirting was anybody's guess. The same boys, as well as Kaldur, would pipe in with little tidbits of information every so often, obviously being very knowledgeable in their years of being proteges. Lina, not knowing anything about the cave that wasn't common knowledge, was restricted to simple giggles and the odd comment about how big/cool the place was. Superboy however, remained silent throughout the entirety of the tour.

"...and this is our back door!" Miss Martian concluded. "The cave is actually comprised of the whole mountain."

"It was hollowed out by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." Wally explained.

"So why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.

"The cave's secret location was... compromised." Kaldur explained.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" Superboy scoffed. "Yea, that makes sense."

The four 'original proteges' exchanged glances, but said nothing.

"If the villains know of the cave's location...we must be on constant alert!" Miss Martian exclaimed, panicked.

"The bad guys know we know that they know about the cave, so they'll never think to look here." Robin said, taking the girl's hand in his to 'soothe' her. This only seemed to confuse the alien more however.

"What he means is that we're hiding in plain sight." Wally cut in, pushing their hands apart.

M'gann scratched her head, obviously still confused. "Ah, yes. That makes...much more sense…"

Lina couldn't help but shake her head at the boys. Their attempts at 'flirting' were abysmal.

"What they're trying to say, Cheri, is that we are okay." The air-manipulating girl stepped up, placing a hand on Miss Martian's arm. "There's no need to be worried. And even if there was, we've got each other's backs."

The alien seemed less confused and the frown between her brows decreased as she nodded. "Thank you, that's really nice to hear!"

Lina glanced at the two younger boys, who looked both mildly put out and intrigued. The girl gave them a small smirk, conveying a clear message.

"That's how it's done"

The moment was cut off however, by Superboy sniffing the air and remarking, "I smell smoke".

"My cookies!" M'gann exclaimed, and promtly flew off in the direction of the kitchen.

Confused but intrigued, the others followed.

The cave's kitchen was open concept, leading into a small living areas with a green plush coach, some chairs, a coffee table, and a TV. The kitchen itself was just as simple, stainless steel appliances, white counters, and wooden cabinets.

With her powers, Miss Martian opened the oven and took out a baking sheet of blackened disks.

“I was trying out Granny Jones’ recipe from episodes seventeen of-“ Suddenly, the green girl cut herself off. “Uh...nevermind.”

Everyone picked up one of the pieces of charcoal, examining it.

“May I suggest a lower heat next time Petite?” Lina asked, breaking the cookie in half. “Both the interior and the exterior shouldn’t have burnt like this."

The alien girl perked up, smiling and nodding at the advice as she made a mental note. "Ah, okay! Thank you Zephyr!"

“I bet they would’ve tasted great.” Robin smirked as he leaned against the counter, then nodded towards Wally. “He doesn’t seem to mind."

Everyone turned to see Wally, ever the walking stomach, scarfing down the blackened baked goods two at a time. Stopping once he had been spotted however, the speedster swallowed the remnants in his mouth and then spoke.

"I...have a serious...metabolism."

Lina couldn't help but snort in laughter, earning her a look from both Kaldur and the ginger.

"I'll...make more." Miss M replied, although it sounded more like a question.

"It was sweet of you to make any." Kaldur nodded.

Miss Martian exhaled in relief and returned the kind smile. "Thanks Aqualad."

"We're off-duty, call me Kaldur'ahm." The Atlantean corrected. "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"Evangélina Dubois." The small girl introduced, giving a little curtsey to the girl with green skin. "Or just 'Lina'."

"I'm Wally." The ginger speedster piped in, putting his head in his hand. "See, I already trust you with my secret ID...unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." Wally gestured to Robin. "Batman's forbidden 'Boy-Wonder' from telling anyone his real name."

"Mine's no secret!" Miss M grinned, brushing off the exchange and placing her hands on her hips. "It's M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan! It's an Earth name...and I'm on Earth now…"

Her happiness about being on present on the planet Earth was clear, and it seemed to hit everyone-except Superboy who remained slouched in a corner. As he turned to walk away however, he caught Megan's eye. The Martian focused her dark amber eyes on him, so subtly that nobody else noticed.

But everyone else did notice when Superboy tensed, then whirled around to seeth at M'gann.

"Get out of my head!"

As the four 'Earth-dwellers' focused their attention on M'gann, they were suddenly hit with an unfamiliar and sudden stinging.

"What's wrong? I don't understand." M'gann's voice rang through each of their heads. "Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."

As the voice ran through her mind, Lina could feel the serum running through her system suddenly slow and almost flicker in and out of existence. As her senses heightened and her mind shifted gears, the noise bouncing around in her skull suddenly felt akin to a jackhammer digging into her brain and down her spine. She let out a cry in pain, her muscles tensing and knees shaking as she cupped her hands over her ears.

The voice was all she could hear.

The pain was all she could focus on.

"M'gann, stop." Kaldur's voice cut through everything, and the voice-and then the pain-slowed to a stop. As the medicine in her bloodstream began to correct itself and normalize, Lina could feel a warm, webbed hand carefully touching her upper back. She took deep breaths, and tried to focus on her heartbeat, the warmth of the comforting hand, and the familiar smell of saltwater and sandalwood that wafted around her.

"Things are different here on Earth." Kaldur went on to say. "Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little g-gnomes left a bad taste in Supey's brain." Wally motioned towards the clone."

M'gann looked humiliated. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Just stay out!" Superboy growled loudly, then huffed over to the seating area.

"Lin', you alright?" Robin muttered, stepping closer to the crouching girl.

Still breathing deeply, Lina nodded. "Oui...yes. Je ne sais-" Lina cleared her throat. "I suppose my medication does not react well with telepathy."

"I'm so sorry…" M'gann whimpered, giving her fellow female a terrified look. She expected the air-manipulating to yell at her, like Superboy had, but instead Lina simply gave her a small smile.

"No, no. It's okay M'gann." She nodded. "You meant no ill will. Goodness knows everyone makes mistakes with their powers from time to time."

Looking relieved, M'gann eased up. The alien tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, mentally running through her recent actions in her head and making mental notes in her head. Only her first real interaction with the team and she was already facing culture shock…

Meanwhile, Lina looked up at Kaldur who was already looking back at her with concern in his eyes. Lina gave him the same smile, and nodded.

"Thank you." She said, and after a moment Kaldur smiled back and removed his hand as Lina straightened up again.

The moment and any residual tension was shattered when Megan suddenly cried out, "Hello Megan!" and slapped her forehead. "I know what we can do!"

As the alien girl zipped through the air and into the nearest corridor, the remaining four teens turned to glance at each other, shrugged, and then followed.

M'gann however, paused in the corridor, then floated back to peer into the seating area.

"Superboy." She called to the Kryptonian who was brooding quietly on a plush chair. "Please?"

"Don't talk to me." He growled back.

There was a moment when M'gann simply looked down in disappointment and guilt, then the Clone looked at her. Seeing her saddened expression, the boy let out a sigh and stood up.

A short while later, all six of them walked into a hangar, a large open space with sleek metallic floors and giant pipes running along the walls. There was a large pool of water washing in from the sea that framed the lifted metal floors. Even if it was cold and grey, the room itself was quite peaceful.

And in the center, the only real thing with colour in the proximity, was a red, egg-shaped, thing about the size of a small car hovering in the air.

"It's my Martian Bio-ship." M'gann announced.

To no surprise, Lina heard a couple voices surround her.

"A flying machine? How primitive."

"This girl can fly, why would she need such a thing?"

"Machines that use and abuse us...a staple of the human scum."

Lina shook her head a little, getting rid of most of the louder voices.

"So jealous…" The girl thought, keeping her head tilted to one side as she scanned the red dome. "Although it would be cool to rely on a machine to fly...I wonder what it's like. How does it work?"

"Uh...cute." Wally observed. "Not very aerodynamic, but cute."

"It's at rest silly. I'll wake it." M'gann waved her hand, and suddenly the egg began to morph. It flattened, the front extended and sharpened into tips and long wings protruded from the sides. As the airship took its final form, the entire team stood wide-eyed in surprise.

And then they all ran in, eager to see the interior.

The inside of the ship was dark, lit by dim blue lighting. There was a back section with a shelving unit and a bed that could be used for medical reasons, and a main hull with a captain's chair in the back with two orbs that were presumably used to drive the machine.

"Strap on for launch." M'gann spoke as six chairs emerged from the ground, living the ship's walls.

"Woah!" Robin cried as he sat down and cross-seatbelts wrapped themselves around his chest. Wally ran to the chair directly across from his best friend, Superboy cautiously sat in the chair at the direct front, and Kaldur and Lina took the seats on either side of him and in front of Wally and Robin respectively.

As she watched her new teammates' wonder, M'gann took her seat at the captain's chair, her own large grin stretching across her face.

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." The Martian spoke, placing her hands on the orbs on either of her sides.

As commanded, the giant hangar doors began to slide open and everyone inside the airship braced themselves as the craft lifted off the ground and took off.

Lina suddenly found herself grasping onto the wall beside her and onto her chair for dear life. When the sight of the town's titular harbor came into sight, zooming towards them, the French girl jammed her eyes shut.

"This was a mistake! Big mistake!" Lina could feel her mind reeling. "Merde, I'm going to die! Where the hell is the support?"

Superboy turned his head, eyebrow lifted.

"I can hear your heartbeat, it's quickened."

"Yea no shit!"

"I'm just...really not used to flying in a machine...apparently." Lina whispered, her body temporarily forgetting how to breathe. "But I'm fine! Totally okay…"

There was a moment of silence, then Lina felt a pressure on the hand that had a white-knuckled grip on her seat. Opening her eyes slowly, Lina looked down to see the clone beside her with his hand over hers. Out of pure surprise, her gaze speeded to Superboy's who looked back, emotionless.

"Physical contact is supposed to be comforting to people with anxiety." Conner explained without Lina even having to ask.

Lina blinked and her mouth gaped, wondering if this was the same boy who had just tore into M'gann for simply using her powers.

Superboy tilted his head to the side, listening more for Lina's heartbeat. It had slowed down to an almost normal pace, so he removed his hand and sat back up right.

Surprised, but not put out, Lina slowly straightened her back and began to focus on the scenery outside the large windshield in front of her. She was so shocked that she didn't even feel panicked at speed in which the landscapes were flying past.

"Incredible." Robin spoke as his face was practically glued to his window.

"She sure is." Wally looked, awestruck, at the captaining Martian. But when Robin turned to give him an accusatory look, the ginger snapped out of his gaze. "The ship is, I mean...which, like all ships is a...she…"

"Fast with his feet." Robin smirked up to M'gann. "Not so much with his mouth."

"Dude!" Wally cried.

The two male team members in the front of the helm however, weren't paying attention to their younger comrades as Kaldur leaned in closer to Superboy.

"I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted and you don't know how to apologize." Kaldur spoke in a low voice as to not alert the others. "Just say sorry."

Superboy looked away, not replying. But the Atlantean soldier knew he had been heard.

The girl they were referring to however, took Superboy's mostly silent demeanor to heart. She had witnessed the boy's compassion to Lina, and how differently that interaction had been as opposed to her own with him. As she thought it over, a pit grew in her stomach and a small frown grew between her brows.

"He'll come around, don't worry." Robin whispered, leaning over.

"He doesn't seem to like me very much…" The Martian girl observed, and upon seeing where her eyes were; Robin noticed the slight glances she was sending to Lina's way.

"Trust me," Robin chuckled, "you have nothing to worry about there."

"You guys know Supey can hear you, right?" Wally interjected.

M'gann cheeks darkened to an almost forest green, before Robin heightened the volume of his voice.

"Hey, how about showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?" Robin asked, a little too loudly.

M'gann slowly stood up with a giddy smile and everyone turned to watch. Slowly, the alien's skin and clothes began to melt away, almost seeming to be covered by a black liquid of some kind, only to be replaced with a yellow red and black colour; until standing where M'gann had been was an older, female Robin in-uniform. Domino mask and all.

With a small twirl, the 'Girl Wonder' morphed into a female Kid Flash. Yellow uniform, yellow mask, insignia, and even the shortly trimmed ginger hair. The only difference between her, and the real KF was the endowed chest.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" The real Wally West asked, his voice almost sounding dazed. Lina let out a loud snort in laughter, which caught the yellow-clad female's attention.

Twirling once more, yellow and red faded to white and gold, then short ginger became long brown locks.

And suddenly Lina Dubois was looking at a realistic-looking Zephyr. In response, the original girl's laughter increased tenfold as she began to clap, amazed.

Robin joined in the applause. "Very impressive, but y'know you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those first two."

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder…" M'gann admitted, turning back to her original green form.

"And your clothes?" Kaldur asked.

"They're organic, like the ship." M'gann explained, listing the lapels of her pink cardigan to show that they stuck to her like some kind of clay. "They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones." Superboy growled. This seemed to hit M'gann deeply, and her body subtly curled into itself.

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that 'Manhunter does?" Wally piped up, anxious not to let the tension from Superboy's comment linger.

"Density shifting?" M'gann asked. "No...it's a very advanced technique."

Robin was more than happy to try and cheer M'gann up…at his friends expense.

"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall. When he tries it," Robin motioned to Wally who began making a clear 'please no' expression with his eyes, "bloody nose."

"Dude!"

"Here's something I can do!" M'gann exclaimed, and suddenly from outside the windows, the wings and the body of the ship began to disappear.

Lina suddenly became much more physically attached to her seat as she spouted out curse words in languages that nobody understood.

"Don't worry!" M'gann comforted, extending a hand towards the petrified girl. "It's only camouflage mode!"

"I'm sorry M'gann, this is really very lovely of you and a great experience." Lina stated with eyes as wide as saucers. "But your flying death machine is going to kill me."

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian." Red Tornado's voice appeared through the walls of the Bio-ship. "An emergency alert was triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. Sending coordinates."

"Received. Adjusting course." M'gann acknowledged.

"Tornado's keeping us busy again." Wally grumbled as the Bio-ship turned slightly and headed for its new destination.

"If there's anything we should learn from Cadmus." Lina said, forcing her fear down enough to turn to the boy. "Is that we shouldn't ever underestimate a mission."

"We should at least find out what caused the alert." M'gann agreed.

"I think I know the cause." Superboy alerted, pointing forward. Everyone focused their attention to see a tornado.

A tornado headed straight for them.

The winds quickly swept the small aircraft into its clutches, and Lina swore she saw her life flash before her eyes.

M'gann grunted as she tried to gain control of the ship, but it was no use. The tornado was stronger, and sharply spun the craft round and round in a vortex. Finally, after a long moment, the ship was able to wrench free. It hovered over the ground and all the proteges' jumped ship.

Lina, the first to speed out from the ship's confinement, anxiously breathed in the fresh air in an attempt to quell her sickened stomach. However, the Winds around her were loud in complaints.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Robin," Kaldur called as he tried to ease his own stomach, "are tornadoes common to New England?"

But the only response he received was the sound of Robin's distant laughter. Everyone turned to see the Boy Wonder had disappeared.

"He was just here!" M'gann exclaimed.

Lina shook her head, "He does that."

Suddenly a small explosion drew their attention to a nearby factory, and the group of young heroes sprinted towards it. Heading the charge, Superboy and Lina soared through the air to enter through a hole in the ceiling. The duo quickly spotted Robin, lying on the ground as he had apparently been blown back by the explosion.

As the others ran in, Superboy and Lina turned to face what Robin was glaring at. They were met with the sight of a large, hulking robot floating just above the ground. His exterior was dark red with neon tubes attaching his arms and torso, and slanted eyes that made his look angry. The majority of his face was blocked by a long, tattered scarf that flapped behind him like a cape.

The similar make to a certain other robot didn't escape Lina's eye.

"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked.

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough." Robin informed.

"My apologies," the scarfed figure cut in, "you may address me as...Mister Twister."

"Oh mon dieu, that's a bad name." Lina muttered under her breath.

As 'Mister Twister' raised his hands, the Winds around him began to contort and form into whip-like tornados which the robot aimed at a charging Superboy. The vortexes picked him up and sent him flying straight into a nearby wall, crashing hard enough to make a dent.

Once Lina blasted off the ground, she swerved down and attempted to deliver a full-bodied attack to the robot. However, she was quickly countered by Mister Twister flinging his tornado-whips into her direction. Steeling the Winds around her, Lina took hold of the tornados to stop them but with another surge from her opponent the girl was overwhelmed and sent flying back, her back crashing into a nearby support beam.

Upon seeing their two teammates so easily beaten; M'gann, Kaldur, and Wally all glanced to one another before facing off, the last of whom dug his hand into his pocket to take out his red goggles and slipped them onto his face. Once Robin groggily stood back up again, Kaldur made eye-contact with the others and nodded; signaling them.

As Mister Twister sent an attack their way, Wally ran ahead and leapt. Turning his body to try and do a double-leg springboard kick, the boy was quickly blocked by a large gust enveloping him and sending him up and through the roof. Kaldur and M'gann tried to run up while the robot was distracted, but with a single wave of his hand the two were sent flying out of the factory.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero." The robot chortled. "I was not, however, expecting children."

As Lina lifted herself back into the air, she found herself frowning. She could hear the cries of the Winds he was abusing, controlling without a care for the element itself. The girl used her own powers, summoning more and more Winds with her gentle calling as she faced Twister dead-on. "How about this superhero gives you a taste of your own medicine?"

And with that, Lina released her Winds. The gusts of air seized forward, blasting straight into the robot's chest to knock him off-balance before curving around his torso to encapsulate him. Fisting her hands, Lina tightened her hold, and the robot's limbs were forced into his torso: compacted.

"Do not pretend you're on my level, girl." The robot growled, and ripped his arms away from his body; sending the Winds away. Her own Winds were turned onto Lina, and she was sent straight into the ground. Able to catch herself, Lina pulled a breeze to wrap around her and she rolled back up; flying closer to the robot and swiftly extending her leg. Her Winds rolled with her body, moving up from lifting her and hurtling off her leg and aiming for Mister Twister’s head.

It was just like sparring with her mentor.

However, almost effortlessly, Twister’s hand extended straight through her air attack and latched onto the girl’s foot. Before she had time to register, Lina was thrown up and through a hole in the ceiling.

As Lina was thrown into the air, she tried her best to gain some sort of grip on any Winds that would respond to her. But all summons were short and sloppy, her mind too focused on how fast the world was spinning and how quickly the ground below her was approaching. Her rookie attempts managed to catch the attention of some weak Winds, and Lina’s fall was softened, but she still nonetheless hit the ground hard enough to knock all air out of her system.

“Zeph’!” Lina heard, and she opened her eyes too see Wally with his goggles looking down at her. “Are you alright?”

Groaning for just a moment, Lina nodded and the ginger helped her stand.

“C’est bien?” Lina asked, voice groggy but her mind quickly clearing. "Are you okay?"

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” Wally nodded.

They were cut off however by the sound of mechanical whirring. They both turned around to see Mister Twister floating out from the factory.

The rest of the team were nowhere to be seen.

The two immediately snapped to action, rushing over to the robot. “What have you done with our team?” Wally asked.

“Embarrassed them largely.” The robot said nonchalantly, and both felt a small sense of ease. But that was promptly ended as the robot sent a tornado into Wally. Before even thinking, Lina blasted off towards the boy; catching him and ripping him from out of the tornado's grasp.

“I have you.” Lina eased, and she could feel the speedster ease as she made her way back down. Both of them were happy to see that the others had joined them outside, looking a little bruised and wind-swept but perfectly fine.

"I thought you all would have learned your lesson by now." Twister exclaimed, facing the children.

"What do you want?" Kaldur thundered angrily.

"Isn't it obvious?" The robot asked, rising up into the air. "I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Read his mind!" Kaldur spoke to M'gann. "Find a weakness."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?" M'gann exclaimed out of confusion.

"It's okay with the bad guys!" Robin yelled back, anxious.

The Martian girl focused for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Nothing, I'm getting nothing!"

"He must just be a robot, like Red." Lina shrugged.

M'gann slapped her forehead, like she had done in the cave's kitchen. "Hello Megan! Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android! How many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"

Lina frowned, then shook her head. "No way. Red would never put so many people in harm's way."

"Red Tornado did send us here." Kaldur muttered. This took Lina by surprise. Had he not heard her?

"Right after he said we'd be 'tested soon enough'!" Robin barked.

"Guys!" Lina exclaimed, growing desperate and jutting a finger out towards Mister Twister. "I know my mentor, that's not him."

"Speedy called it, we're a joke." Wally growled. "This game, so over."

Very few things could make Lina Dubois actually angry. People at school making fun of her disability, the dangerous French extremists that were severely damaging her mother land, the evil that she and her comrades fought everyday.

Those same comrades completely ignoring her.

But by the time she went to speak out again, it was too late. The three boys had already walked over to the robot flying high above them.

"We know who you are and what you want." Robin cried out.

"So let's finish this." Kaldur added.

"Consider it ended." The android answered, and he raised his arms high up and summoned two tornados. The funnel winds rose up into the atmosphere, collecting clouds to the center and turning the sky above dark.

Lina could hear the Winds crying in her ears, running wild.

"Oh….merde." The girl muttered.

"An impressive show." Kaldur called. "But we will not indulge you! We will not engage!"

His calls fell on deaf ears as the clouds above the teens began to crack with lightning. Sharp bolts reigned down, almost striking the Earth.

"Uh...can Tornado do that?" Wally asked.

"No!" Lina yelled back. "He can't!"

"You think I'm Tornado?" Twister asked. "Ironic."

And just then, a bolt of lightning struck the Earth. The force of the electrical attack caused all the teen's to fly back and hit the ground, save for Superboy who simply ripped off his newly destroyed denim jacket and leapt at the robot. His attack was short-lived however as he was directly stuck by another bolt, and the boy was sent plowing into the Earth; joining his teammates.

The robot approached the group, then stopped.

"Fine then." He growled. "I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide and seek won't help me achieve my objective. So stay hidden, and if you confront me again...I will show you no mercy."

And just like that, he was gone.

"What...just happened?" Wally asked.

"I put the Bio-ship between us." M’gann explained.

Everyone’s attention was suddenly snapped to the clone as he demolished a nearby boulder with his fist.

“And that’s supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado.”

Lina was quick to put herself between the two aliens. “That isn’t fair.” She spoke calmly and steadily, being careful not to anger the boy even more while still getting her point across. “She was just following a hunch, we all do it. And I did try to tell you all.”

Robin sighed, sounding distraught. “We should have listened to you Lin, not M’gann. It was a rookie mistake.”

Lina’s eyes flew open. “That is not-””You are pretty inexperienced.” Wally said, addressing M’gann as he shoved his hands inside his pockets.

“Stay out of our way.” Superboy growled as he stomped past everyone in the direction Mister Twister had escaped from. Not long after, Wally sped off behind him, then Robin.

“Am I speaking English right now?” Lina wondered to herself. “I think I am but clearly nobody can understand me.”

“I just…” M’gann lowered her head, as her body began to shake slightly, “wanted to be part of the team…”

Kaldur and Lina looked at one another, then down at the ground; the former rubbing the back of his head, and the latter fiddling with a strand of hair. “To be honest,” Kaldur sighed, “I’m not sure we really have a team.”

Kaldur began to walk away, but Lina stalled for a moment; kneeling down to Megan’s level.

“I’m sorry.” The older girl muttered, and placed a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder. When she didn’t get a response Lina exhaled deeply, stood up, and flew in the direction her comrades had left.

Happy Harbor

July 18

16:50

To say that the harbour was in chaos would be an understatement. The town was in utter shambles. Destroyed buildings were splintered beyond recognition from having tornadoes blown through them, boats from the nearby docks were strewn about the beach or ripped apart, and civilians were running and screaming as they tried to avoid being swept up in any of the spinning cyclones.

This destruction was not helped in any way however by the battle waging between the giant air-manipulating robot, and the teenage heroes that had finally caught up with him. But with the injuries still recently sustained by their past fight, and their short-fused attitude from their conflict with one another; it was becoming obvious that none of the teens were in a good enough state to take down the hulking metal figure in a regular fire-fight.

And that’s when Red Tornado intervened.

“Hit the showers boy,” The caped android commanded, “I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot.”

“Come on, we have a plan now!” Robin cried, but it proved useless.

“The subject is not up for debate.” The hero said strictly. And with that, the heroes sadly skulked away. But what Twister failed to see were the hope-filled glances the teens were sending one another and the smirks itching at their lips.

“I was beginning to think you’d never show up.” Twister mocked.

“I’m here now.”

As Tornado extended his arm, palm facing the ground, the air around the two androids began to pick up and the ground rumbled as a cyclone began to emerge. The funnel wind blew straight for the darker shaded robot, but he easily dodged. Twister made a tornado of his own, this one quite a bit larger, and sent it towards his opponent who swept his hand away. On cue, the vortex dissipated.

"We are evenly matched Twister!" RT called as another tornado appeared behind him, picking rocks and pieces of debris in the process before shooting towards Twister.

"No Tornado, we are not." The other android thundered as he punched the ground, which on command lifted all the air around it and shielded him against the oncoming projectiles. When it was safe, Twister summoned his lightning yet again. In an effort to protect himself, Tornado flew behind a wrecked boat but it proved in vain as the lightning struck the makeshift shelter and RT was struck by the electrical force.

As the darker coloured android looked over Red Tornado, snake-like chords emitted from his hand.

"Remain still, Android." Twister spoke lowly. "Reprogramming won't take long."

The chords were stopped however, by a thick red hand grasping them as the Android's head turned to reveal a female, green-skinned face.

"Longer than you might think." M'gann grinned.

As Twister let out a loud 'no', the wind and Earth seemed to quell to reveal a smiling Wally, and Lina lowered to the ground; a grin on her lips and her hands still moving as she controlled the formerly-debris filled cyclone. While Twister was frozen in shock, Superboy reigned down and landed a few strong hits which sent the android straight into the water.

He didn't remain there for long however, as he was soon shot back out with a few new fist-sized dents, and was followed by a victorious Kaldur. Not a moment later, M'gann picked up the villain with her powers and tore off his arms just as Robin shot a handful of exploding birdarangs to finish the job.

As the android's broken body crashed down onto its knees, and the team regrouped in front of it, a panel on its torso gave way to reveal a hidden hatch with a lean, long-haired, long-nosed man inside. Gravity claimed the man's body as he tumbled out of the machine.

"Foul!" The man warbled. "I call foul!"

What shook everyone to the core however, was M'gann stepping forward, telekinetically picking up a large boulder,

and dropping it right on the man.

"M'gann! No!" Kaldur exclaimed, but it was too late and the rock smashed down onto Mister Twister's driver.

Everyone was frozen, eyes widened out of a sudden paralyzing fear.

"What the f-""I don't know how things are done on Mars!" Robin screamed, narrowly cutting Lina off as he took an angry step towards M'gann. "But on Earth we don't execute our captives."

M'gann smiled, satisfied with her payback. "You all said you'd trust me." As she lifted the boulder once more, she revealed the crushed remains of mechanical parts.

The man had been another android.

"That's why I couldn't read his thoughts." M'gann said snuggly.

A collective sigh of pure relief blew through the group of heroes.

"Wow M'gann, first you come up with the idea to pretend to be Red, now this…" Lina gestured to the crumpled collection of parts, "you're really trying to show us all up, aren't you?"

Her smirking remark caused the Martian's smile to grow tenfold.

"Cool.” Wally stepped up to the crushed parts and picked up one of the only remaining intact pieces: a mechanical eyeball that had detached from its socket. “Souvenir.”

“We should have trusted you.” Kaldur spoke, placing a hand on M’gann shoulder.

“Yeah, you really rocked this mission.” Wally grinned. “Get it? Rocked?”

Everyone rolled their eyes at that one.

“Ignore him, we’re all just turbed you’re on the team.” Robin explained.

“This ‘turbed’ word you keep saying…” Lina squinted, “is it actually a part of the English language?”

Robin only smirked as he walked away, followed by a laughing Wally, and Lina felt a twinge of annoyance.

“Damn Anglophones” she thought.

As M’gann and Superboy joined the two mischief-making boys in their walk towards the Bio-ship, Kaldur remained where he stood and turned to face his female comrade.

“We also should have listened to you about the Red Tornado theory.”

Lina felt an ache in her chest lighten as she smirked back at the Atlantean, then nudged Kaldur’s shoulder. “You’re damn right you should have.” But as she pulled away from nudging her friend, she noticed for the first time how bare his chest was.

Suddenly distracted, Lina let her eyes trail down the well-defined muscles that were no doubt formed from the years of military training he had done in Atlantis. Broad shoulders lead to sharply dipping collarbones, and sculpted abdominal muscles were framed by a defined waist.

Stopping before she got too low, Lina’s eyes snapped back up to the boy’s grey/green eyes. Her cheeks were suddenly warm and a loose knot formed in her stomach, but a strong smirk pulled across her face as she faced her friend.

“And I suppose you just had to do your part without a shirt on?”

Kaldur’s cheeks darkened, but a matching smile pulled at his lips when he had seen Lina’s eyes tracing up and down his figure.

“Are you complaining about my work methods?” He asked smugly.

The knot in Lina’s stomach tightened, but she brushed it off as a delayed reaction to seeing M’gann crush what she had thought was a human body. “Not at all.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and stepped back, heading towards the Bio-ship and the others. “Now come on, you have to join the others in the Bio-ship.”

“And you don’t?” Kaldur asked, raising an eyebrow as he joined Lina.

A shiver ran through Lina’s spine. “Are you kidding? I am not getting back in that...machine for such a short flight.”

Mount Justice

July 18

17:40

By the time the team had gotten back to the cave, night had already fallen. But everyone remained as to debrief with their pseudo-den-mother about the attack that had taken place. Throughout their story, Red Tornado remained silent and listened intently to the tale they told as he stood over Mister Twister’s deactive body. Robin and Wally joined him over the mechanical parts, but instead of silently analyzing them they were playing with them, the young scientists fascinated by the technology.

“It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you.” Kaldur concluded.

“Agreed.” Red Tornado nodded.

“Is that why you wouldn’t help us?” M’gann asked.

“No.” The robot replied. “This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me.”

This seemed to take M’gann aback. “But if you’re in trouble-“ She was cut off by another robotic retort by the great master of tornados.

“Consider the matter closed.

And with that, Red Tornado began to walk away.

“Are...you sure he’s your mentor?” Robin asked Lina, causing her to smirk.

“Trust me,” the girl responded as she gazed at her exiting mentor with a look of warm fondness, “he can get even more emotionally distant when he wants to.”

“Batman, Aquaman, Flash...they’d have jumped right in to fix things.” Wally muttered, almost in awe.

“Guess if we’re going to have a babysitter,” Robin shrugged, “a heartless machine is exactly what we need.”

Lina snapped her head to glare a the raven-haired boy. “Quoi?” She exclaimed.

“Yea dude, harsh!” Wally claimed, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

“Also inaccurate; I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy.” Red Tornado’s voice cut through the room. “I also have excellent hearing.”

“Right…” Robin fumbled. “Sorry-I’ll...strive to be more accurate.”

“And more respectful.” Kaldur smiled as he placed a hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder. Robin gave a sheepish smile in return.

“Speedy was so wrong.” Wally sighed, a happy smile wrinkling his freckled face.

Robin grinned, and nodded. “This team thing…”

“Might just work out.” Kaldur added.

Lina smirked, and joined the boys as they began to walk away towards the Zeta-tubes. “Was there ever any doubt?”

9 notes · View notes

iatethepomegranate · 6 years ago

Text

Blue is the New Red Chapter 47

Masterlist (including AO3 and FFNet links)

Rated: M for torture, flashbacks, trauma reactions, PTSD, sexual assault of minors, consensual sexual content and related freaking out about it, drug references, non-consensual drug use, possibly underage drinking, homophobia and biphobia, references to self-harm, suicidal ideation and attempt. Chapter warnings: animal cruelty, hints of PTSD, agoraphobia-liked symptoms related to PTSD

Main Pairing: Birdflash

Status: Multiple chapters, in progress

Overall summary: Nightwing has finally made his return to the Team, but he finds the events of the past two years aren’t quite done with him yet.

Chapter notes: The Team have a few surprises to contend with, and Nightwing encounters something he never wanted to see again.

Additional notes: I borrowed Sitka from Batman: The Animated Series

Chapter 47: A Bonus Mission

“Everybody stay calm,” Nightwing said.

“We’ve got at least one animal down here,” Superboy relayed to the rest of the team. “Be quick.”

A panicked chatter swept through the dozen-or-so scientists.

“We will hurry,” said Aqualad. “Be prepared to hold the animal off to allow the scientists’ escape. Superboy can break into the elevator shaft afterwards if you need to escape. Zatanna spotted a hatch on the bottom of the elevator you can access from outside.”

“Everyone stay close to the elevator,” Nightwing instructed. “As soon as it opens, hurry inside. We’ll keep this thing off you.”

“These things are super predators!” said their female scientist friend from earlier. “We made them to hunt humans.”

“We’re humans,” said one of the others.

“My two friends here are metahumans,” Nightwing replied. “And I was trained by Batman, which is just as good. We’ll keep you safe. Do you have access to the control signal?”

“No,” another scientist replied. “The soldiers took our devices.”

Great.

“No matter,” said Kid Flash. “We got this. Any tips?”

“The current on their robotic parts can be sensitive,” said one of the scientists they freed from the room.

Nightwing grabbed one of his electrified escrima; they were still having trouble maintaining a power supply for a whole night of patrol, so he used them sparingly. “Thanks. I can work with that.”

The nearest door flew off its hinges and slammed to the floor. An enormous jaguar prowled over the metal. It drew back its lips and snarled, revealing sharp yellow teeth. Light glinted off his metal rear legs.

“Superboy, keep its front busy,” Nightwing said. “KF, get me to those legs when it’s distracted.”

Superboy rushed to engage the jaguar, jumping backwards as it lunged. Kid Flash scooped Nightwing up and, in a rush of air, deposited him behind the animal. Nightwing turned on his escrima. The jaguar spun so quickly that Kid Flash only had a moment to drag Nightwing out of the way of its jaws. Ooh, wow. Its eyes had been replaced by fake glowing ones. That wasn’t freaky at all.

“Hey!” Superboy yelled. He kicked one of the metal legs. The jaguar rounded on him and clamped its jaws on his arm. He grunted but only made a token attempt to break its grip.

“This might get you, too,” Nightwing warned him over the link, and jammed the stick into the mechanised hip joint. There was a loud zap and the jaguar convulsed and collapsed. Superboy gritted his teeth and shook his arms out.

“Ow,” he said, glaring at Nightwing.

“Sorry.”

Kid Flash crouched beside the fallen jaguar. “Maybe we can take it for testing.”

Superboy sighed. “That’s going to be my job, isn’t it?”

“Aqualad,” said Nightwing, “we took down a partially-mechanised jaguar. KF wants to take it for tests. Thoughts?”

“Bad thoughts,” said Superboy. “Damn thing bit me.”

“Are you okay?” asked Miss Martian.

“I’m fine. Can’t even see anything. Nightwing’s electricity hurt more.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Leave it where it is,” said Aqualad. “The League can collect it themselves if they wish. I will inform Batman. We are coming back down. Be ready to board.”

Nightwing had to admit he was relieved they weren’t taking the thing with them.

“Okay, we’ll leave it,” Nightwing said aloud, mostly for the scientists’ benefit. “It’s the League’s problem now.”

The elevator doors slid open and everyone piled inside. Nightwing didn’t appreciate being jammed against other people’s bodies, but now was not the time to be precious about it… even if he was feeling a little sick. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The scientists were too busy worrying about getting out to think about him, and Kid Flash and Superboy knew better than to bother him.

The doors slid open and Nightwing made a valiant attempt not to look like he was rushing to get out. The two groups of scientists merged into one again and the team escorted them to the front of the facility. The two Green Lanterns were already there, along with Wonder Woman and her invisible plane.

“There’s a specimen downstairs,” Nightwing told them. “You can get in, but not out on your own unless you break the elevator.”

“Batman’s on his way to secure it,” said Wonder Woman. “We’ll see about getting these people somewhere safe. Get back to the bioship. Unless you hear otherwise, return to base.”

The Lanterns and Wonder Woman divvied up the scientists. Wonder Woman could only take two, but that was two the Lanterns didn’t have to carry on their hard-light platforms.

They flew off and the team trudged through the snow towards the bioship.

Miss Martian probed Superboy’s arm. “You were right. No marks.”

Superboy rolled his eyes, but he was almost smirking under the attention. “I told you.”

Nightwing pulled Kid Flash’s arm over his shoulders. “Thank you for gallantly saving me, good sir.”

“Ah, you know saving damsels and kicking ass… all in a day’s work.”

“I am not a damsel.”

Kid Flash snickered, pressing a kiss to his temple. “Oh, I am very aware of that. Doing okay?”

“All good now. Not a fan of being a sardine, but there are worse things in the world.”

“You were kinda weird about the elephants in the system, too. And those tapes.”

“I’m over it now,” Nightwing replied. His nose was cooling in the icy air. “We had elephants in the circus. Guess I’m still nostalgic after yesterday.”

Sometimes he missed the circus terribly, especially the elephant he’d grown up with. Sitka. She’d almost been like a sister to him, in a way. He used to pester the elephant trainer to let him learn tricks with her. She was still with the circus last he heard, but she didn’t do as many tricks these days. Animals in circuses were no longer fashionable given the animal rights issues involved. Nightwing had never known Sitka to be mistreated, but he supposed her accommodations couldn’t have been as good as she needed given they were part of a travelling circus. It was his understanding most of the animals didn’t travel with the circus on tours at all anymore. They were only brought over when the circus was setting up shop in one place for a long period of time.

He ended up telling the team about the time he’d broken his leg as a kid near the elephant enclosure and Sitka had broken down the fences to get to him and carry him back to his parents. The adults had been both grateful and horrified. It was just as well Sitka was such a nanny, and not given to aggression. She wasn’t the only elephant in the circus, but she’d been the one he was closest to.

That story held them over until they reached the bioship and strapped themselves in.

“How’d you like your first mission?” Miss Martian asked Batgirl as she brought the ship into the air.

“I missed all the excitement downstairs,” Batgirl replied.

“Most of us did,” Zatanna replied. “Maybe you’ll get to check out the animal when Batman brings it back to base.”

“Where do you think he’ll take it?” asked Kid Flash. “Mount Justice? Watchtower? Batcave?”

“Or a safehouse in Gotham,” Nightwing added. “He might not want to risk taking it anywhere sensitive until we know what it’s capable of.”

“He won’t want it in Gotham, either,” said Robin.

“Maybe somewhere remote, then.”

As if he heard his name, Batman’s voice crackled through their earpieces. “Batman to team. Do you read?”

“We read you,” Aqualad replied.

“I have another mission for you,” said Batman. “I’m picking up some strange signals from a warehouse just south of your location. Check it out. Rescue any hostages if you can do so safely. You’ll have backup as soon as it’s available.”

“Understood,” said Aqualad. Batman closed the link.

Nightwing was starting to feel warm. “Hey, Miss M, have you turned the heat up in here?”

“No,” Miss Martian replied, sending the ship into a gentle dive. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I… think so. Just feeling kinda warm.”

“Maybe you should stay on the ship,” Kid Flash suggested.

“Like hell.”

“Keep us updated on your condition,” said Aqualad, because he was both responsible and reasonable. “If you begin to feel ill, we’ll send you back.”

“Yes, boss.”

The ship touched down and the team disembarked. Nightwing’s skin flashed even hotter than before. He wasn’t burning up, exactly, but it wasn’t the most comfortable sensation. He didn’t feel weak. No joint aches or other flu-like symptoms. Just random hot flushes. He didn’t know what to do with that. The jaguar hadn’t bitten him or anything.

Kid Flash stuck close to his side as they left the ship. There were laser turrets on top of the warehouse. What the fuck?

Artemis took one out with an arrow while everyone else scattered. Kid Flash zoomed up and punched out another. Superboy took out the next. Zatanna exploded two with a spell. Nightwing and Robin teamed up with their batarangs/wing-dings to take out the last one.

Rocket put a shield up around the group once they’d come back together. “Just in case.”

They headed for the warehouse, and heat flashed over Nightwing’s skin again, even more intense this time. He tried to keep his reaction off his face, but Kid Flash was giving him worried looks anyway.

Nightwing let Robin take out the biometric scanner that barred the way. Hastily-installed, it went down without a fuss and the large garage doors rolled out of the way.

The team entered, almost on tiptoe. The factory floor was deserted, but for a set of metal stairs leading underground.

“Miss Martian, scout ahead,” said Aqualad. She headed off. “Nightwing, are you well?”

“Yeah, all that’s happening is this weird temperature thing,” Nightwing replied. “I’m not about to keel over. I promise I’ll tell you if it changes.”

“This is probably another Ra’s al Ghul base,” said Zatanna. “Could you be reacting to a Lazarus Pit?”

“I have no idea.” The thought hadn’t occurred to him. He hadn’t encountered a Pit since the one that brought him back to life. Could there be a Lazarus Pit in such a cold area? They certainly generated their own heat, Nightwing remembered with an unpleasant lurch in his gut.

“Let’s hope not,” Kid Flash said. “We’ve got enough to deal with.”

“Batman to team.”

“We read you,” said Aqualad. “We have reached the warehouse and have found stairs leading underground. Miss Martian is scouting ahead.”

“Superman is heading to your location as soon as he can,” Batman said. “Let me know what you find. Batman out.”

Superboy had a weird look on his face. Nightwing was under the impression they’d been working on their relationship, but maybe things were still awkward.

“I found more scientists,” said Miss Martian. “They’re trapped in a lab. There may be gas valves inside.”

“We’re on our way,” said Aqualad. “Nightwing, Superboy, Kid Flash, Zatanna… get below. Batgirl, Robin, explore that office over there. Rocket, go with them. Artemis, find a vantage point in case we have company. I will wait for Superman.”

Nightwing rushed down the stairs with his squadmates. The stairs were metal mesh, which met a walkway made of the same stuff. Nightwing glanced below, and there was a green glow that made him want to vomit. God damn, why did Zatanna have to be right about this?

Kid Flash steadied him with a hand to the elbow and they forged ahead down another set of stairs and another. Miss Martian was floating in the leftward section of a fork in the walkway. She led them to a door set into rock. The door was secured with a traditional lock, so Nightwing grabbed his picks and got to work.

“Flash figured out how to unlock doors by vibrating at the right frequency,” said Kid Flash. “God, I need to learn how to do that.”

“I’m concentrating, KF.”

“Right, sorry.”

Nightwing got the tumblers right and the lock clicked open. The scientists spilled out, coughing, and Kid Flash led them up the stairs. In the absence of a task, Nightwing could feel the heat across his skin again, and a strange buzzing sensation in his head. Fuck, he didn’t need this.

“We released the scientists,” said Miss Martian. “Kid Flash is bringing them to you. The rest of us will keep exploring.”

“Zee, I think you might’ve been right about the Pit,” said Nightwing.

“What can we do about it?” asked Zatanna as the squad returned to the fork and then down another set of stairs.

“Not much. They’re unstable. Lots of potential energy. Ra’s has tried to use them as bombs before.”

There was another room on this level, packed full of scientists beating against the door. Nightwing picked that lock open, too. The scientists spilled out, more than one vomiting over the railing as they went. Miss Martian led them up to safety and Kid Flash replaced her.

They kept going down. There were more rooms of scientists, more locks to pick. Each group looked worse than the one before.

“Aqualad, we’ve got a problem,” said Nightwing. “There are more rooms of scientists, and it looks like they’re being gassed. I’m picking locks as fast as I can, but we need more options.”

“I can break down some doors,” said Superboy.

“Do it,” said Aqualad. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll magic some locks,” said Zatanna.

“I’m good with locks,” said Robin, “and we’re not finding much down here. Batgirl can handle the computer stuff.”

“Good. Everyone get moving. Bring survivors up as you find them.”

They hurried down more and more steps, people peeling off as they found rooms. The heat against Nightwing’s skin was almost painful now, the buzzing in his head damn near drowning out everything else. But he still had his balance and could pick a lock in his sleep. That was enough. These people were counting on him.

Kid Flash couldn’t get the locks open, so he escorted Nightwing’s scientists for him. The floor was visible from the platforms now, and the final steps led to a glowing green Pit Nightwing had hoped to never see again. There was some strange machinery around it, and wires. Lots of wires.

“I found a Lazarus Pit,” Nightwing said. “Something’s not right. There’s wiring. I need to check it out.”

“Be careful,” said Aqualad. “Superman is here now. I’ll send him down to help you. Everyone else, how many more rooms?”

“Maybe three,” said Kid Flash. “They’re not looking so good. We have to get them out now or we could have some bodies.”

“Do I need to—”

“We have enough people to get them out, Nightwing,” said Aqualad. “Check out that Pit. We need to know if it is a bomb.”

Nightwing slid down that last staircase, almost landing on his face. The buzzing was unbearable, and it took everything in him not to claw his ears open. The heat on his skin was awful, but it was nothing compared to the heat the Pit blasted in his direction.

“Block it out,” he muttered. “Focus.”

The wires were coiled together and fed into a large metal tube sitting in the Pit. The other end connected to a tablet computer resting on a nearby rock. Rushed, but possibly premeditated. Maybe Ra’s knew people were coming and had enough notice to set up a bomb, but not enough to make it as sophisticated as he would’ve liked.

“Nightwing.” Superman swooped down beside him. “What are we looking at?”

“Bomb.” Nightwing gestured unhelpfully to the whole setup. “Can you see into the tube?”

Superman focused on it and nodded. “There are spots of lead, but not enough to impede my view.”

Nightwing looked at the tablet screen. There was no countdown. However, there was a big red stop button. He didn’t trust it, and without a countdown he had no idea how much time they had. This explosion could take out at least a mile of land, possibly more.

“What’s going on down there?” said Kid Flash.

“Got a bomb,” Nightwing replied. “Superman can help me find the right wires to cut. Focus on getting everyone else to safety. He can get me out if he has to.”

“But—”

“Make that an order,” Aqualad said. “Keep moving. Good luck, Nightwing.”

“Superman,” said Nightwing, “I need you to find the wires I can cut. Can you find the blasting cap?”

He squinted. “Got it.”

“Which wires do I cut?”

“The black one, to start.”

Nightwing produced a set of wire clippers and cut the black wire from the tablet.

“There’s also another power source.” Superman nodded to the humming generator beside the Pit. The buzzing in Nightwing’s head had drowned it out. “Cut the blue.”

Nightwing cut the blue wire. His hands were shaking. Adrenaline? Fear? PTSD? Who knew?

“Is that all the wires?”

“The blasting cap and the power source, yes.”

“I need you to fly me over to the cap. I’ll take it out, so we don’t have any accidents.”

Superman scooped him up and carried him over to the metal tube. Nightwing pulled out a pocket knife and found the cap. He had to go carefully, or he’d blow both of them up, along with all the scientists and the Team.

He took a deep, shaky breath and carefully slipped the blade into the compartment. The lid opened, revealing the cap. He tugged it out and clasped it in his hands. His skin felt like fire, and the buzzing would’ve deafened him if it hadn’t been coming from inside his own head.

Superman set him back on solid ground. Nightwing took a gasp of air in, mostly relief that the buzzing had died down a touch. He pulled a vacuum tube from his belt and slid the cap in there, activating the tube. It couldn’t go off without oxygen.

“I’ll take the bomb into space,” Superman said. “Is it safe to move?”

Nightwing nodded. Even with his head stuffed full of bees, he knew his bombs.

“Okay. Can you make your own way out?”

“I’ll be fine. Deal with the bomb.”

Superman floated over to the bomb and tugged it from the Pit, green acidic water dripping from the bottom.

“Don’t let that stuff touch you,” Nightwing warned. “It heals the sick and hurts the healthy. I have no idea what it’ll do to you.”

“I’ll be careful.” Superman flew backwards along the stairs so the water wouldn’t drip on him.

“Superman’s taking the bomb out to space,” Nightwing told the team, painfully aware that even his brain-voice was shaking. “I’m on my way up.”

“Need help?” asked Kid Flash. “It’s a long walk.”

“I’ll manage.” Nightwing needed to compose himself. The buzzing and the heat were bad enough, but the adrenaline was flowing thick and fast through his veins. His heart was beating in his head. He shook out his hands, letting shaky breaths fly in and out of his body until he could think straight.

There was an invisible tether between him and the Pit. The green burned into his eyes, the acidic bubbles bursting in the water and his soul. The buzzing almost felt like words, like it was beckoning to him. Fuck that. He shook his head like a wet dog and started up the steps. Kid Flash met him a few levels up anyway and helped him the rest of the way. He didn’t ask questions. Yet.

#birdflash #dick grayson #young justice #fanfiction #my fics #nutrh2

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comicteaparty · 6 years ago

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April 25th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on April 25th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Castoff by Star Prichard.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Castoff by Star Prichard~! (https://castoff-comic.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

im probably going to go with frankie's introduction. this scene fulfilled several things for me. first, it explored more of the world in a super natural way that makes complete sense to the story and gives you a better picture. second, i super love frankie. he is a great character deserving of hugs. third, i enjoy how frankie joining the party works out. it felt like so logical how everything played out despite the difficulty in getting another person to join the party naturally.

just overall though i love frankie's addition. i think his personality is a great balance to vector and arianna's personalities since both are not the friendliest of sorts since one is super shy and the other super grumpy. and i feel like frankie perfectly fits the triforce

keii4ii

That triforce analogy is great and I agree

RebelVampire

another scene i really enjoy is the one where arianna captures vector. i love the lighting on the pages because it is so ungodly ominous and really sets the mood. plus, its the first major time we get to see magic and it looks amazing (edited)

but on the frankie train, i also enjoy how he offers vector something that arianna cannot. which is knowing what its like to be feared and kind of one-of-a-kind. cause i think this makes for a beautiful friendship between the two that offers vector more emotional support in a way than arianna can't. not to mention, one of my other fave scenes is the one where vector stands up for frankie against arianna and says nah my dude, hes coming with us. that was such a significant character growth for vector that hit me right in the feels. and i think it works cause of how vector clearly empathizes with frankie, so it all ties together

mathtans

Little one seems calm in her crib now. Hiyo, and awesome to have another creator who's a teacher. ^^

RebelVampire

hi math

mathtans

I made it through 5 of the chapters. My favourites in general through that is probably the "Wait, What" moments, just because I tend to use them myself... there was the one with Zera, about Arianna's full name, and then with Arianna, who did it about Frankie coming along with them. (Also, a hint that they're related? Hmmmm.)

Zera and Arianna that is, not Arianna and Frankie.

Good point about the Frankie and Vector similarities, incidentally. I wonder if the "Frankie" name is a riff on "Frankenstein"?

There's also the fact that "Vectors" can refer to small organisms like mosquitoes that carry diseases. I feel like there's stuff going on with names.

RebelVampire

nope arianna and frankie are related now. new head canon

arianna was also a robot this whole time

mathtans

It would explain how she died.

RebelVampire

you know what, i didnt draw the connection between frankie and frankenstein

thats a good catch math

and very fitting for the character

mathtans

Though I admit my own feelings about that are Arianna's got amnesia or something, which is why she can't be tracked.

Just kinda occurred after the dramatic reveal.

Also, since I teach math, I was already suspicious of the name "vector".

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. The comic’s central character, Vector, has many mysteries surrounding him. What exactly do you think Vector is? Why is Vector seemingly able to do powerful magic beyond any mage? Why does Vector make everyone become almost possessed and panicked, and why are Arianna and Frankie exceptions? Why do you think Vector is wanted for treason? Is Arianna right that it’s a trumped up charge to get rid of him? If so, why would Alveria want him silenced? How do you think Vector wound up with Ms. Robins? Last but not least, what might all this have to do with the prologue’s opening scene?

mathtans

I got this. Vector's the guy who was tied up in the prologue, they were trying to use him to do crazy magics... and he wasn't the first, since it's implied there's others. But with him it went wrong and the magic ended up inside him. Arianna was that girl peeking at the door when it happened, so she's okay with the crazy eye thing, and it's why they thought she died. They want Vector back to undo the magic stuff, hence "treason" in order to get everyone interested.

Also, for Vector... coo coo kachew, Ms. Robins' son, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

RebelVampire

math no XD

i also agree at least that vector is the guy from the prologue

and he got all the magic trapped inside him

and is now super magic baby

he is the living essence of magic

and the voice hes been hearing is the soul of magic

RumSoakedChicken

^^^

mathtans

Maybe it was a big plan to try to bring magic to the other parts of the world that went very bad.

RumSoakedChicken

but perhaps the yellow eyed one recieved a part of the magic

since i bleieve there was a lot of light paths coming off

and he was the first one we meet

mathtans

Speaking of which, massive props to starting things out with the failed radio-like device at the start. To put us into the frame of mind of magic. Sets the scene real well and acts as a misdirect later when you realize it's not worldwide.

There was actually a bunch of sneaky stuff then, like the mention of "Feron" ages and ages before it came up again. (Honestly, if the creator hadn't pointed that out, I'd have missed it.)

RebelVampire

i really need to go back and examine the prologue closely.

mathtans

I meant this part: https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-1-page-8/

RebelVampire

ah. that is smart. good catch in details!

actually i take my theory back. reexamining the prologue, i dont think vector was the guy tied to the chair. but i do think hes basically an aspect of pure magic. and i agree that given all the light balls coming off the event, there are probably more of vector's kind out there(edited)

but since vector is an aspect of magic, thats why he has the effect he does. like maybe yellow magic is the magic of fear

vector was a yellow lantern all along

mathtans

Oh, that's an interesting idea. I like that. Since magic is colour based in this world.

(Zera is Green Lantern?)

RebelVampire

yeah see this is just an origin of the lantern corps story.

but i think vector being an essence of magic ties in all the dots. but rather than the voice being the soul of magic, maybe its the guy who probably got killed during that event.

mathtans

So how is Arianna red if zombies are supposed to be black lanterns...

RebelVampire

though if there are more vector's, youd think theres be more wanted posters. unless vector is the only one they never found

cause shes not a zombie probably

mathtans

There was no picture of Vector since he was just a wee one at the time. And I think it was said he was the only one with no image. The others they had pictures for. So if they weren't found, they're probably in hiding.

Probably amnesia. Zombie is a fun thought though.

RebelVampire

i mean its not impossible for her to be a zombie.

mathtans

An amnesiac zombie?

RebelVampire

another point for why i love vector and frankie's relationship though, if we go through this vector is magic theory, it means he and frankie are polar opposites. making their friendship more beautiful

best of both worlds i see

i can respect that

mathtans

That's pretty cool, actually. Do you ship them?

RebelVampire

i dont think i ship vector with anyone yet cause vector has to do some character growth first.

mathtans

Fair. (I think all I can ship is Arianna and Sonja. And the latter seems to have a thing for Zera.)

I do like Arianna's nickname habit.

kayotics

Popping in late to say Arianna is my fav because I’m a sucker for angry girls

mathtans

Hi kay. Cool. She seems to have had a harsh childhood.

RebelVampire

i wonder what her nickname for zera would be

maybe raccoon

cause of the dark circles

mathtans

She seemed to know him, from Zera's mental flashback. She was saying things were his fault. So maybe "jerkface".

RebelVampire

that is also plausible

actually tbf, double plausible

cause i doubt shes gonna be happy to know hes the reason shes wanted

whereas if he had just left it alone everything would be fine

and only vector would be the wanted man

mathtans

Yeah, puts a wrench into her plans. Whatever those are.

Maybe she's trying to find out her true identity. What with the amnesia.

(I should fix this broken record.)

RebelVampire

the plot twist is zera was what she wanted to steal back all along

QUESTION 3. Besides Vector, Arianna herself has some mysteries surrounding her. Who exactly is Arianna? Is she the real Arianna Marcel, or did she steal the name? If the latter, why would she steal it? Who is the real Arianna Marcel to Zera? What do you think will happen when Zera catches up with Arianna in his quest for truth? How do you think Arianna wound up on the streets as she mentions regarding her past? What do you think Arianna is after in the capital, and why was it taken from her? Ultimately, how do you think Arianna’s quest to retrieve her stolen property will interfere with her taking care of Vector and getting him home?

arianna is probably that person whose name got covered up by the speech bubble on that one page. and i think arianna took the name out of sorrow for missing who im just gonna assume is her sister. cause she desperately wished she was the one who was dead

mathtans

All you other Arianna's are just imitating so won't the real Arianna please stand up, please stand up...

I'm not sure which name coverup you mean, but I think it is clever how the art does faded bubbles for when someone's half unconscious or when someone's talking over someone else.

I do feel like Arianna's the real one though. And that she was the one spying in the prologue, as I said.

RebelVampire

i will try to find the page im talking about

the alternate is that she is the real arianna and the one who dies was her sister. i dont discount that

given the same last name i assume siblings tho?

in regards to the relationship between zera and her

mathtans

Tempting. Could be cousins.

RebelVampire

https://castoff-comic.com/comic/chapter-5-page-11/

that page bottom right

so there is clearly someone else with the marcel named that exists or once existed

mathtans

Ahhhh! So that's the mystery sister.

(Incidentally, been reading Chapter 6 in the background here. Elves are colour-coded too... makes me wonder if it's personality based or what.)

RebelVampire

i think when zera catches up to arianna hes gonna have a my life is a lie conflict and realize that whether shes the real one or not, he was never told everything about the death. cause the death of the real or fake arianna i think has a lot to do with why she was on the streets

i did get the impression the auras were based on personality

like arianna is super angry therefore gets the red magic

i feel somewhere it was mentioned real arianna's aura was pink?

which is why i do think this arianna is the sister of the real arianna. that apparently zera didnt care about at all. for shame zera. especially cause if i knew there was another marcel id be searching for that one to make sure there were no shenanigans

mathtans

Yeah, Zera said pink. Which is close, which is why I think she was just mentally tweaked a bit. Also, Arianna's eyes do the red glow thing, and I don't think that's necessarily true of others doing casting?

Starfish

Okay I’m back from class Will have to leave again in a bit but I just caught up reading everything and I’m enjoying all the theories

mathtans

Yay class! Next comes the grading. What a life. ^.^

Starfish

Ehehe, I’m technically an assistant teacher so no grading for me~

I’m an assistant ESL teacher in Japan- my part of teaching is mostly “get the kids to practice their English” via games and stuff

mathtans

Fair enough. Didn't mean to vector us off track. ^.^ Incidentally, I originally thought that maybe Vector's power didn't work on Frankie because he only had the one eye, so the eyepatch was saving him. Until the whole metal revelation.

biab

RebelVampire

ya know tbf that was a decent theory before the metal reveal.

im sticking with our arianna being fake and think shes after something of the real arianna's. like a magic gem or something. i do think down the line arianna is gonna have to pick which is more important: the thing she was trying to get or vector. and i think shell be a good person and pick vector cause shes growing and learning its not cool to sacrifice ppl for your aims

on a side note i hope we get to meet her merc company

im interested to see them(edited)

mathtans

Maybe they have gem boasting nights out. "Mine's bigger" and all that.

RebelVampire

i hope thats true somewhere in the comic's world XD

mathtans

It might be why people are annoyed at the elves.

Heh, "Best Friends plus Arianna", nice one. Made it to Chapter 7.

RebelVampire

i found it interesting that even the elves freaked out at vector. cause the minute they appeared that was the largest question on my mind. if theyd be effected or not

QUESTION 4. Of course, there are a few other mysteries present within the story. Do you think there is any story related reason only some continents in the world have magic? Why do you think Frankie, a machine, was created? Further, what is Frankie doing in Kardia in the first place? How do you think Frankie might help or hinder Vector and Arianna getting back to Alveria, especially since he’ll be aiding criminals? Back in Alveria, why do you think General Brisse was so critical of Zera? Do you think he might know something the others don’t? Overall, what do you think will happen once the characters are back in Alveria? Who will side with who on this matter?

i do think the lack of magic might be related. but i kind of think maybe its the opposite to what was already stated. and that the ppl in the prologue were trying to monopolize magic so they could be the superior country

mathtans

I think Frankie coming to Kardia is related to his injuries. Like he escaped from his creators or something. That's why they couldn't fix him and he had to do it himself.

Hmmm, maybe there's some big magic/tech war going on in the background and only the General is in on it. The magic people are temporarily undefended what with Vector having most of the magic bottled away, hence why their shield is only around their castle and not the whole capitol, and why they want Vector back - or dead, if that would spread the magic around.

RebelVampire

i considered that as a possibility. cause usually magic and tech are at war. and weve already seen evidence that magic users think tech is dumb cause how silly of ppl to want things that magic can already do.

but also math how dare you suggest frankie has such a tragic past

hes too innocent for that

and i have to go weep in the corner for him now

frankie was probably created with not good intentions. i mean i could pretend he was meant to test the legs of tech and see how far they could go. more likely they just wanted a robot assassin

am i the only one who things brisse has something to do with arianna's death? cause he seemed really critical of what is actually a good lead to finding a criminal he super wants. and i mean it could just be the last name thing, but i still get the impression he knows something

mathtans

Aw. I feel like all the characters have tragic pasts though. And when Frankie told his story, I did wonder why he had to fix himself up... like, did he maybe even kill his creator? And repressed the memory along with the defense personality?

I think Brisse is just pretty focussed and has probably read Zera's files. I could be wrong. Though it reminds me of Terran. I like him as a secondary character. Good puns, and good plans for circumventing things that aren't technically against the rules.

RebelVampire

yes i appreciate him having a loose interpretion of what he should and shouldnt do

i hope the creator isnt dead just for the story potential tbh

for frankie

cause thats just what they need

frankie's creator showing up to say "hey frankie what up"

and frankie can be like "oh noooooo"

mathtans

Twist, Frankie's creator is a zombie.

Still thinking about side characters actually, the scene between the bookstore woman and the priest was nice. Kind of superfluous at first glance, but it gave Vector more backstory and added more to the world.

Also confirmed not-dead.

RebelVampire

yeah i was intrigued by that scene. but tbf as a character ms robins is useful cause she can give us insight into whats going on in the capital outside of the royal guard

cause surely shell see the wanted poster at some point

and go wtf

maybe even try talking to someone

get thrown in jail

tell vector if he doesnt show up theyll assume she did the treason

i took that from happy to sad

very quickly

mathtans

That's a very good point. I hadn't considered that.

Maybe she'll meet them as they're approaching the city.

RebelVampire

yeah she could also be a key ally in helping them

cause for sure i think itll be obvious to the guards at a point theyre heading back to the capital

mathtans

She does seem very overprotective. I wondered about her reaction initially, as Arianna didn't seem so bad. Then, of course, she proved to be self-serving.

RebelVampire

after they get frankie his own wanted poster

mathtans

Wanted... for cuddling.

RebelVampire

wanted for being a great dude

mathtans

One other thing I want to mention before we wrap up is I dig the art style on the characters. I'm not quite sure what it is, the larger eyes or the hairstyles or some mix? But I like it.

Just don't get Frankie wet. He's like a gremlin.

RebelVampire

yeah i really love the art style as well. although what sells it for me is the magic. that magic circle in the prologue was beautiful with how it glowed and made me eager to see more of the magic.

but i might just be a sucker for magic circles

before we close out i do want to say i think zera will join forces with the main trio at some point

mathtans

Oh, I dig magic circles too. Big Nanoha junkie over here.

RebelVampire

cause zera does not seem like someone whod look at shady stuff going on and be like "im ok with this"

mathtans

Zera does seem to have a conscience. I think they'll butt heads first though.

RebelVampire

oh for sure

i hope terran finds something interesting in zera's file

like zera has a side career as a juggler once

mathtans

He finds... a magic square!

(Hey, if colours can vary, why not shapes. )

RebelVampire

ya know what, despite that being a joke thatd be very interesting

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Star Prichard, as well, for making Castoff. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Star Prichard’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://castoff-comic.com/

Star’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/castoff

Castoff’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/CastoffComic

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #castoff #star prichard

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