#Talia loves her new life. the one without her father or Bruce trying to control or changer her. She wishes for Damian though still.

[wpdarlingpan]

Hello! I recently follow you and read your writing of DC. I love it, your writing are really good! For a request, i have this idea...

Platonic yandere Damian wayne with twin sister reader. Maybe, when they were kids, he used to be hated her because she was excelent in everything and have a little care and love from Talia. But she really care for his brother and then Ra al-ghul put them to fight among themselves on a cliff to see who was going to be the future leader and in a bad move, they ended up hanging up in the cliff. Then his sister, not wanting to see his brother die, brings him back to the surface and she ends up falling. Damian didn't know how to react and only receive a slap from his mother .

How about, after Damian goes to live with Bruce and being the new Robin, in one of the fights with Slade and his partner, this partner decides to let himself be trapped so that Slade can escape. In the Batcave, they take off the mask to discover that it is their sister, but someone very different, with another personality, cold, somewhat insane, hostile and very intelligent like that, because she was submerged in the Lazarus pit by Slade, who consider as a parent. Maybe Damian will try to reason with her and apologize for what he did to her. She tells him that it is too late and a smoke bomb explodes to reveal that Slade came for his daughter. She, determined, goes with him, but Damian tries to stop her, but is defeated and tells him that he should never have saved him, to see how Damian tears up and before leaving, he laughs and says "I didn't know that demons cry "

it could be possible? Thanks!!

Ukht: Sister in Arabic

Title: Not Again

Talia was surprised when she gave birth to twins. The boy a few minutes sooner than the girl. She was glad as well as they had two lethal weapons instead of one.

Two children with the blood of Talia Al Ghul and The Batman.

There was a boy she named Damian and she name the girl Y/N. She cared for them a short time after they were born then they were cared for mostly by maids.

As they grew older Damian began to despise his younger sister. She was perfect at everything and he was always second best. He believed she got all the love of their mother and grandfather and left him with none.

They were 10 when they were dropped at the top of the tallest mountain on their land and told to fight to determine the next Leader of the League Of Assassins. They were equals. They fought for hours as they each met each attack with one of equal force same with defense. They were bloody and bruised and Y/N couldn’t bare to hurt her brother anymore. But we she was about to give, she didn’t notice how close to the edge they were. The stood facing each other with their feet barely not over the edge but as Damian attack he knocked himself over the edge because he lost balance as he grew angry and let his emotions over ride his training. But as he fell he grabbed onto his sisters leg and she was pulled down with him. The didn’t fall far as they ended hanging onto a small ledge not to far from the top of the mountain.

Y/N knew what she had to do, but did she have the strength to do it is what she was questioning to herself.

She grabbed the rope she had attached to her belt and used one hand to toss it up and luckily for her it landed around a tall rock while the other end flew back down. The two ends of the rope were next to her and she leaned over and attached the rope to Damians belt as he struggled to hold on. He looked over once he felt the weight on his belt and he looked back at her questioningly.

“I love you Damian.” She said as she grabbed onto one end of the rope, pulling Damian up to the top as she used as much of the weight she could to work as a pulley system. She didn’t want him to bed up falling back down so as soon as she saw he was safely to the top, or as safe as you could be on the top of the mountain. She let go.

Damian screamed as he saw his sister fall beneath the clouds to her death, and he couldn’t do anything. He hated her all of his life for reasons she could not control and he didn’t realize that he never triplet hated her until he realized he never had been without her. She patched him up after fights in the middle of the night so he couldn’t protest, gave his pieces of food, tried to show him love but he wouldn’t accept it, not from her. 

He regretted it now.

A assassin flew a helicopter up to the mountain with Talia in the back going to collect Damian. Once she arrived and Damian had fought the pain and walked onto the helicopter, Talia slapped him sending him to the floor with a red hand print on his cheek. He wouldn’t cry, never.

They arrived back at the compound and Talia led him to Ra’s. Of course they talked about everything he did wrong then made him practice for 5 hours until it was perfect. After they sent him away to sleep he had nightmares of his sisters death, and how he hated her all those years.

The next day he was sent to live with his father after the league was attacked and Ra’s was killed. His mother handed him off and later on he decided to stay with his father even after he was to be brought back to the league. It had been a few months since then and Batman and Robin were in the middle of a fight with Slade otherwise known as deathstroke. He was a powerful force to be reckoned with. But even worse now, as he had a sidekick.

A fully masked figure wearing fighting gear and knifes strapped to their thigh, not to mention the very sharp Katana they were wielding, it was a difficult task for them both. But Batman dodged a stroke from the blade and the blade hit a gas pipe, as it was about to explode Slade ran off and Batman was about to go follow before she tackled him to the ground. They fought for a good couple seconds before Robin joined the fight and she was knocked out.

Batman and Robin swung out of the warehouse with Batman holding the masked figure as the pipe exploded leaving behind a burning building.

They put her in handcuffs and put her in the back of the batmobile as they drove home.

“Who do you think she is Batman?”

“I’m not sure.”

They drove home in silence, when did Slade get a partner?

Once in the bat cave they tied her to a chair before Alfred fixed up their cuts. The figure began to slowly wake up and she struggled in the chair before settling while staring at the duo.

“Why were you with Slade? A partner? Sidekick? Apprentice?” She doesn’t respond and continued to glare. The Bat stared right back and couldn’t help but think she was very short, just a inch or two below Damian. Her eyes seemed young as well but didn’t hold any innocence.

“You heard him, who are you?!” Damian demanded by Robin put a hand on his shoulder

They still didn’t respond. But, an idea came to mind. If she gave away her identity it would distract them enough for her to initiate a plan.

“Take off my mask Damian and see.” She spoke ominously while they both looked in shock that she knew his identity. He got over it and quickly ripped off her mask and he was staring into eyes alike to his own.

“Y-Y/N?”

“Miss me? I’m sure you didn’t.”

“Who is she Damian?”

“He never told you about me?” She asked with a fake point then proceeded to smirk.

“Damian?” Batman questioned further but all domain could do was stare.

“I’m his twin sister.” If there was a time the bat had showed that he was shocked it would have been when he found out about Damian, but this one rivaled it.

“W-What?”

He looked over to Damian but Damian turned away.

“Yep, his little sister only by a few minutes.”

Damian and Bruce took off the masks looked at her. Bruce saw the resemblances, between Damian and her, between her and himself.

Damian knelt in front of her and stared into her eyes.

“Forgive me ukht, please forgive me.” Tears gathered in his eyes surprising y/n. Damian crying? That’s not possible.

“Forgive you for what Damian?” Bruce questioned staring at his children.

Y/N had her lips pursed so Damian responded.

“Our mother and grandfather put us against each other in a mountain… it was a fight to the death to determine who would be the heir to the league. We fought for hours before I let me emotions lead and I fell. I grabbed onto y/n and she came down with me. We felt onto a ledge with barely enough room for us to hold on.” Bruce’s eyes are wide and slightly teary. “She grabbed her rope and made a pulley system. I was slipping, she tied it to my belt and jumped, telling me she loved me. Pulling me to the top as she Plummeted down. She fell, or rather let go so I could live.”

“And yet here we are.” She spoke snarky glaring at Damian.

“How are you here then?” Bruce questioned feeling as if he knew the answer. Jason was a standing example.

“You already know Bruce. The Lazarus Pit. Just like how it brought back Robin #2.” She smirked as he glared slightly. Damian glared back at their father as he needed to calm down.

“But did you know something Batman?” 

“What is it Y/N?”

“We always have a back up plan.”

With that the wall bursted open and Y/N shook of the robes she had been working away with a small knife. She held up a small tracker she had on her and smirked at their surprise faces. The duo threw on their masks even though their identity’s were already known.

Slade walked in with swords at the ready and he threw one to Y/N.

“Nice to see you.” Slade smirked at her.

“To you as well.”

“Ready to go?” He questioned her ignoring the bat and the bird.

“Ready when you are.” They nodded slightly and

Slade attacked Batman while she got Damian. With the help of a smoke Bomb and their disorientation from the information that she was alive, they were fairly easy to take down. They knocked the duo down to the floor and tied their legs together, just to give them enough time to escape.

“You can’t go! Not again.” Damian yelled with tears streaming down his face. He couldn’t lose her, not again.

“Wow look at that Slade.”

“What is it Y/N?” He played along as they turns towards the whole in the wall.

“I didn’t know Demons could cry. You learn something new everyday.”

Slade tossed another smoke Bomb into the cave as the last dispersed, distracting Damian and Bruce since they had almost gotten out of the rope, and got far away from the duo.

Damian stared at the hole in the wall in a mix of anger and sadness. Bruce in shock still.

Damian sobbed and fell to the floor in tears.

“Not again.”

~*~

Hopefully you liked it! Sorry it wasn’t too Yandere, I wasn’t sure how to make him a Yandere with this. But I how it was still good. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day! ♡

[catxsnow]

MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW BEST D.W.

Request: Would it be possible to request a Damian one shot abt him protecting you from Talia? Like she dosent like you at all so she tries to either kill you or manipulate you into breaking up with Damian.

Warning: Violence, angst, Talia being a b i t c h, mentions of blood. 

A/N: Take two people. Never trusting mobile to post ever again. Anyways, I hope you enjoy rather than getting just the title lol

Word Count: 4.1k 

Damian didn't like Gotham at first. It was cold, gross, the city was filled with those who didn't understand the greatness outside of the city walls. He hated being away from his mother and grandfather, as well as the strict rule that his father had given him. He was no prince there, he was nothing but a rich man's son.

It seemed at first that Bruce was doing everything in his power to suppress everything that Damian grew up with. No killing, no servants, even hiding him in the shadows with the assumption that his mother was going to take him back. It made Damian feel like this was never meant to be his home.

Even when moving to the Titan Tower, he still didn't feel at home. The people there were childish, irresponsible, he didn't fit in there as well. He didn't fit in anywhere until he met you.

You had joined the Teen Titans just a week after Damian had arrived. A broken upbringing with nothing but your mentors trying to get you to succeed where they never could. You had skills, too many not to put them to use. So, when Kori found you, she welcomed you with open arms - a home that would treat you right.

Much like Damian, you were cold and cut off. Maybe that was what attracted him to you, or maybe it was your skills that put him up for a challenge. Either way, Damian felt flustered around you and he hated it. Lucky for him, you were much the same way.

One long night of sparring with him - an endless battle that neither of you would admit defeat - you had finally broke him down. Damian had you pinned, and as much as he didn't want to let his guard down, he couldn't stop himself from leaning in to kiss you. He never acted like this, like a hormonal teenage boy.

Late night patrols, early morning training, as many hours throughout the day you would spend together. Your teammates - Beast Boy in particular - continuously felt left out whenever you and Damian were together. Only Dick was happy to see that the two of you were spending so much time together.

You were good for Damian. He was less harsh, more willing to accept others, hell he even said thank you more often. It wasn't like you had meant to change him - he just thrived to be a better person because of you. You were everything to him.

When years passed and it was time came for him to move back to Gotham, you had come with him. Damian wouldn't dare to leave you again. Not when he swore that he found - as many would say - his soulmate. You loved Damian, more than anyone ever had his whole life. The feeling for him was new, but he couldn't get enough of it.

It was the first time you were in Gotham. Just like the rumors, the city was horrifying. Crime was everywhere, people dying in the streets, you didn't know how Damian lived there for so long. This wasn't your home, but Damian was. Wherever he wanted to go, you were there with him.

Damian grabbed your hand from across the seat. He was you worried as you looked out the windows. Bruce's home was far nicer than anything you had seen so far, but the drive was still far enough away. You smiled as Damian kissed the back of your hand, a small gesture that made your heart flutter every time.

"You could have stayed, I would have come visit you often," Damian offered to you. A joking smile was on his face. He knew damn well that you weren't going to just stay with the Titans when he was across the country. You loved him too much to have that distance.

"Damian Wayne, if you think I'm gonna let you out of my sight you're mistaken," you half joked. Of course you trusted him with every fiber of your being, but you also knew how damn reckless he was. Bruce would have his back, but he needed a partner, not a leader. "Besides I know you don't sleep well at night."

Damian rolled his eyes. He had told you once that he slept better with you in his arms and you hadn't let him live it down since. You meant this in the best way, you loved to be the reason that Damian felt at peace. However, being in this city, you weren't sure how much peace you would have.

The gates of the Manor finally pulled into sight. You couldn't get over how massive his home was. Damian squeezed your hand as your mouth dropped in shock. You knew how rich Bruce Wayne was, but this? This was crazy. His home was larger than any home that you had ever seen.

Damian's excitement for you quickly changed. Instead of the empty drive way that he had expected, a singular person stood by the door. You watched as his nerves grew tense. It was a woman, dark skin and long hair. She stood as if she expected the world to bow at her feet.

"What's wrong?"

"My mother." You suddenly understood why he was so worried. Damian's mother was cruel, unloving, and only craved power. It had been years since she had dropped Damian off in Gotham and the same amount of time since he had seen her last. Whatever Talia was here for, it couldn't have been good.

The car barely stopped before Damian jumped out. His fists were tight at his sides as he approached his mother. Although you were sure he wished for you to stay in the car, you couldn't just wait. Talia looked less than pleased to see you stepping out of the same vehicle as her son.

Damian joined his mother's gaze. The grim look on his face softened as he saw you. As much as he didn't want you meeting his mother, he was glad that you were there to support him. Unlike usual, he didn't grab your hand, nor did you make the move to. Talia was not the kind of lady you wanted to make a bad first impression on.

It didn't seem to matter though. You hadn't said, or done anything, and she was already glaring at you. To her surprise, you only shot her the same look back. Bad impression or not, you were going to stand up for yourself. Damian would keep you safe, even if it was against his own mother.

"Who is this, Damian?" She asked. Talia acted as if you weren't even there. Damian had told you about her, but you never expected her to be this bad within the first five minutes of meeting her. Moving to Gotham, you were worried enough about meeting Bruce without his cape and cowl, you didn't think you would have to see her as well.

"This is (Y/N)," Damian told her. "A valued teammate, as well as... my beloved," he confessed while grabbing onto your hand for the first time since leaving the car. Talia's eyes narrowed at you - of course she had known everything about you. She kept eyes on Damian, and when you popped up, she learned everything there was to know.

Which meant that she already knew of your relationship. And, if you were to guess correctly, she knew of your departure to Gotham alongside her son. The whole reason she was in Gotham was to see you, or more so to analyze you. Damian should have been with royal blood, not a street scum like you.

"I want you to come home, Damian," Talia suddenly announced. While you only looked up in shock, Damian's face hardened. This was so like her - the second that he was happy and finally feeling at home she had to come in and ruin it. This time, he wouldn't allow it. She didn't control him anymore, no one did. Not even Bruce.

"No," he disagreed. His grip on your hand tightened - whether in frustration or a reminder that you were there - you weren't sure. "I am home. Gotham, the Titans, with (Y/N), this is my home now. I'm not leaving here, not now, not ever. Father is my legal guardian now, not you. You made sure of that when you left me stranded here."

"Damian you belong with me, you belong in the League," Talia's voice was tight. She was obviously trying not to take him by force, not while you were there. Damian was her son, and she would get him back by any means necessary. "Take your grandfather's place, this was what you were meant to do."

"I meant to be Robin," Damian argued. He had done great things under his new alias. So many lives saved, he had learned so much from being there. He learned from Bruce, Dick, his friends, you. He learned so much from you - he learned to love, not to fight. "I'm staying."

"I think it's time for you to go," You spoke up for the first time. If Talia's looks could kill, you would have been dead ten times over. No one ever talked back to her like that, and for someone as lowly as you? She couldn't accept it. If it wasn't for Damian stepping between the two of you, you swore that she would have made an attempt on your life right there.

Without another word, Talia left the Manor. You didn't realize how tight your grip on Damian was until he placed his other hand over yours. You loosened your hold, and as soon as his mother was out of sight, collapsed into his arms. Damian held you tight, though he wasn't sure if it was for your assurance or his.

"It's okay, my love," Damian whispered. He kissed the top of your head, your forehead, and finally your lips. "She won't be an issue for us, not while we're with my father."

"I trust you, Damian. Always."

><

It had been weeks since you were in Gotham. Bruce had taken you under his wing for the time being. Damian was protective of you as always, he wouldn't let you leave without him. To be honest you were happy that he was at you side. Gotham wasn't the kind of place you wanted to venture on your own.

It was different without your teammates watching you back. You only had Damian to have your six and sometimes that lead to some close calls. In the end, he always kept you safe. No matter the situation, he would protect you at all costs.

On that cold night, Damian had gone out with his father, leaving you home alone. Your wrist ached from your previous night, and although you promised that you were fine to go out, Damian insisted that you stayed in. So, with your wrist wrapped and a movie playing, you felt more relaxed than you had in weeks.

Damian left you that evening with a firm kiss and a promise that he would be back before you knew it. As always, you melted into his hold, never wanting to let him leave you. He left with promises to you of making up for it in anyway he could. Damian just wanted you happy while he was home.

He thrived every day to see you smile. Seeing you happy was the only thing that he cared about anymore. So, seeing your pout as he hopped into the Batmobile beside his father nearly convinced him to stay with you. Alfred was gone for the night which meant that you would be truly alone for the first time since you had joined the Titans. The silence would be tranquil.

Unfortunately for you, that peace didn't last long.

After training to be a hero your whole life, you could feel when someone was sneaking up on you. At first, you assumed it to be a robbery; Bruce was rich. But as Batman? His security was near impossible to get into. Whoever this was, they were good. Really good. Your phone buzzed beside you, but you didn't have the time to check what it was.

The blade of a sword sliced through the air, narrowly missing you. You had been just quick enough to roll out of the way. The intruder wore a mask covering the lower half of their face, but you had known instantly who this was. Talia Al Ghul.

You assumed she had come alone. If she saw you as nothing but a low-life hero from the streets, then she assumed that she could handle you by herself. Truth be told, you had never gone against someone as skilled as her, she could easily handle you on your own, especially with your weakened wrist.

You ran through the room and towards the kitchen. It was far closer than the entrance of the cave - and you were sure that she knew where it was as well. Talia ran after you. She ducked the second she ran into the kitchen - you had thrown the closest frying pan towards her head. Thankfully it distracted her enough to grab some sort of weapon - a knife.

It was much shorter than her sword and it felt awkward in your opposite hand. You hoped that Damian and Bruce were already on their way back, that it was him texting you earlier, but you knew not to get your hopes up. Alfred was gone for the night and you were truly alone in the house.

Talia twirled the blade around before lunging at you. She did attack after attack, each one barely being blocked by your knife. You needed to get to the cave, at least then you stood a chance with some actual weapons. Unfortunately, you weren't quick enough to block her next shot.

Talia's sword sliced through your shirt and into your arm. Blood soaked your skin as you cried out in pain. You knew that she didn't like you, but to go as far as to assassinate you within her son's home? That was pushing far past being a terrible mother.

Glass shattered as you ducked from her next shot. The lights above you sparked as she broke though them. The room had become pitch black and you only hoped to use that as an advantage. You knew this house far better than she did.

As long as you could get a head start to the cave, you would be fine. Silently, you slipped past her, hoping to avoid the crunch of broken glass on the floor. Talia was a trained assassin, sneaking around her would be impossible - and it was. The second she heard your footsteps, she had blindly attacked.

The tip of her sword nicked your cheek, but it was enough to let her know exactly where you were. Without caution anymore, you ran full speed to the entrance of the cave. Thankfully, you had made it before her.

You grabbed the first weapon you could see - Damian's backup sword. It felt heavy in your opposite hand, but as soon as you tried to hold it in your dominant, you nearly cried out in pain. Damian was right, you were too hurt to go out that night; then again maybe it would have been safer if you had. Talia must have been waiting for the opportunity that you were alone.

Talia stood before you, her mask still up. "What's wrong, Talia?" You asked, her eyes narrowed as you said her name. "Jealous that your son loves me more than you? Or maybe that Bruce cares for me more than he did you? This isn't about Damian not coming home, this is more personal than that, isn't it?"

"Damian belongs with royalty," Talia ripped off her mask. You knew that you were riling her up, but you only hoped that it would waste enough time for Damian to come, if he was coming. This was a fight you could not win alone, you knew that. "You're nothing but filth off the streets."

"So what, you're gonna kill me?" You backed away from her. Your heart rate was erratic from fear. Damian was a damn good fighter, but his mother? She was deadly. "How're you going to explain that one to him? How do you think he's going to react when he finds out that you killed the person he loves? He'll never want to see you again."

"He's never going to know it was me!" Talia raised her voice. She charged towards you, bringing her weapon down towards you. You just barely blocked it. The sword was extremely uncomfortable in your hold but you it was far better than a measly kitchen knife. She could tell you were weak from it.

Talia pushed down harder, the edge of her sword coming dangerously close to your face. In the blink of an eye, she pulled away and grabbed your weakened wrist. Talia slammed it into her knee, making you scream in agony. You dropped your weapon to grab your now broken wrist, falling right into her palm of her hands.

A forceful kick was placed against your ribs, knocking you down and making you completely at her mercy. Your body screamed in unbearable pain. Blood soaked your clothes, your bones broken or cracked. Talia had taken you down in a mere matter of minutes. You never stood a chance against someone like her.

To your surprise, Talia dropped her sword as well. There was no way that she had suddenly changed her mind or decided to give up, she had you right where she wanted you. The smirk on her face, knowing that she had defeated you so easily, was etched into your brain. Whatever she was planning, she had already won.

Talia pulled out the gun strapped to her thigh. You hadn't even noticed it until this moment. There was no way that you would ever dodge a bullet, not at this range. With a last chance of hope, you reached out for you sword once more - but she was too quick. A bullet shot rang out as it bounced off the floor inched from your hand.

You retracted back to your place, looking up at her with a grim look. There was no chance you were about to plead for you life. Talia had the gun pointed directly at your forehead. "You'll never have my son."

"Neither will you." Blood dripped down your face. You gripped onto your wrist, and tried to steady your breathing. You refused to look away from Talia's murderous eyes. Death awaited you - that was something you had to accept. Talia had no mercy.

Suddenly, a light blinded Talia's face. Her gaze was averted, but that wasn't what caused you to falter. A loud shot echoed through the cave, followed by a searing pain. In her brief moment of loss of attention, Talia had pulled the trigger. She had missed her hopeful target, instead the bullet and pierced your shoulder, creating a sickening crack as it went through bone.

"NO!" You knew this to be Damian's voice. He hovered above you, panic written all over. His hands pressed into your wounds to try and stop the bleeding. He could hear the battle of his mother and father but all that mattered was you. He was petrified for you. Your eyes wavered, wanting so desperately to fall asleep.

"You're going to be okay. I promise, stay with me. Beloved, you're gonna be fine. Stay awake, please. Please I need you. I need you to stay with me." He was the last thing you saw as darkness clouded over you.

><

Talia had done a lot of damage to you. The cut on your arm, and your cheek needed stitched. Your collar bone practically shattered and you would need to wear a brace for months before it was healed. The wrist she had snapped would heal like any other broken wrist would. Cracked ribs and a broken ego. You were benched for a long time to come.

Damian wouldn't leave you side. He was there if you needed anything or if you were in pain. Guilt clouded him, he should have known that his mother would do something like this. He was a fool to leave you alone like that. Never again.

"Be careful, beloved."

You liked the attention from him. Damian was at your side more than he ever was before. In private, he was constantly covering you in kisses. He showed a side of himself that you or anyone else had never seen before. It was nice to see him so... normal.

Damian spent every spare moment with you. Whether it was helping you with simple tasks that you were yet to be able to accomplish or be there to give you a kiss when you were feeling down. The last thing he wanted to see was for you to fall into a funk because of his mother. He tried his best to keep your spirits up but this was hard. Harder than anything you had done.

Years of being the one to save people and now you were the one that needed to be saved. It was unbearable. You hated the feeling of constantly needing help. Damian made sure to not suffocate you, he knew what it was like to hate feeling pitied.

Evenings were spent trying to get you back on your feet. Nights spent with Alfred, watching of your boyfriend and his father. Damian coming home to smoother you with attention the second that you were alone in his room. That was your favourite part of the days.

Everyone hoped your recovery to be speedy - even your teammates went out of their way to visit you. It was nice to see all your friends together again, as well as the rest of Damian's family that you had finally met. It seemed that everyone had gained a vendetta against Talia that night.

"Damian, I can do this, you just have to give me some space."

When you finally got the cast on your wrist off, you had gone straight back into training. Much to Damian's dismay - as well as your doctor's. The sling was still on your shoulder, and would be for several more weeks. However, you were tired of sitting around like this. You felt weak from the lack of training.

Damian watched as you stood under the pull up bar. You eyed it, curious as to if you really could do this or not. In one swift motion, you jumped up and grabbed the bar with your single hand. Holding yourself up wasn't the issue, it was a matter of if you could pull yourself up with only one hand like you used to.

With all the strength you could muster, you attempted to do a chin up. You had almost made it before your arm gave out on you. Your hand slipped from the bar and you barely landed on both feet. Damian was by your side in a second, though he could see how frustrated you were at this. He understood not being able to achieve what he wanted most.

"You don't have to prove your strength to me, beloved," Damian assured. He cupped your cheeks with both hands, pulling you in for a quick kiss. However, as the pad of this thumb swiped across the scar that his mother left he frowned. Even after all this time he still blamed himself of this.

"And you don't have to feel guilty for what happened," You countered. You placed your palm over top of his a small smile on your lips. "You came and saved me, that's what matters. Like you, Bruce, everyone, said, I'll get back to where I was eventually. Things like this happen, I can't let it stop me."

"You're too brave," Damian shook his head. Always pushing your limits, defying your odds. As much as he admired it, he wished that you wouldn't. Damian wanted you safe, and sometimes he questioned if that was ever going to be found while you were with him. However, he wasn't willing to lose you to test it. You were by his side, always.

"I learned it from you, my love."

[dessarious]

What Makes a Family? Pt8

AO3   Beginning   Previous   Next

“How exactly is a billionaire businessman connected to the al Ghuls, and what does that have to do with my birth mother?” Marinette decided to take advantage of Alfred’s shock. She knew better than to think he’d just answer her question but she’d be able to get a lot of information from his reaction while he was off balance.

“How does a teenager from Paris even know who they are?” Deflection. Fairly standard move.

“I asked first.” She had to hide a smile at the eyeroll that produced. Finding his buttons was proving to be quite amusing.

“Master Bruce has business interests all over the world.” She just gave him a flat look. More deflection.

“No, that’s not it.” Alfred blinked at her for a moment. She’d admit he was very good at half truths, but not enough to fool her.

“I assure you Miss, Wayne Enterprises has ventures all over the world.”

“That may be true but it’s not how he’s connected to the League. Wait… Taila can’t be my mother. There’s no way she could have written that note given that the woman has no empathy.” After what happened that would be a literal nightmare. But there was also no reason for Talia to want to protect her from the League so it couldn’t be her… right?

“No, Talia isn’t your mother.” There was a slight emphasis on the word ‘your’ that most people would have missed. He wasn’t kidding when he said things were complicated.As far as she knew Talia only had one child. A child she claimed was fathered by some American superhero. What was his name? Dixon? No, Daren? No that wasn’t it. She’d gone on and on about her precious…

“Damian.” She didn’t mean to say it out loud but seeing Alfred’s expression she was glad she did. But if Bruce was Damian’s father as well, and Talia wasn’t just being grandiose, that meant he was a hero? “Where exactly does my father live?” She’d done her homework on other heroes in case she needed help or one of them ended up in Paris. Maybe she could narrow down the possibilities by location.

“Gotham, Miss.” Marinette heard a sound leave her throat that she couldn’t identify. Judging by Alfred’s expression he hadn’t heard anything like it before either.

“My father is Batman?” Alfred wasn’t able to hide his shock, but she wasn’t certain it was because she was right. At the same time all the pieces fit. Not to mention Tikki had told her that as a true chosen, fate and chance were always working overtime around her.

“Marinette, that is an interesting fancy. Just because a man lives in the same city as a notable vigilante doesn’t mean they’re the same person.” Alfred’s tone was a bit huffy and Marinette laughed out loud, earning her a glare.

“You have tells Grandpa Alfie. Using my name without prompting is definitely one of them. Don’t worry, the secret is safe with me.” She suddenly found herself on the receiving end of an extremely intense stare. It was a lot like the look her Maman gave her that made it feel like she could see everything Marinette had ever done wrong. When she was younger that stare made her start confessing to everything, even things she hadn’t done. By the time she became Ladybug she was able to hold it in though she couldn’t control her expressions. She honestly didn't know how she’d kept it secret for so long. Now though, she could simply sit there calmly and wait as Alfred seemed to weigh and measure every aspect of her life. She felt sorry for all her siblings who must be on the receiving end of this inspection on a regular basis.

“I would like to know how you came to that conclusion, why you think you can be trusted with such information if it were in fact true, and how you know about the League of Assassins.” The poor man sounded so tired. She could only imagine what he went through on a daily basis if she was right about her father. The only solid thought that went through her head was ‘give to get’ and as she examined her instincts she knew he could be trusted. Not to mention that at this point she’d had too many slip ups to avoid at least a partial explanation. Fate and chance once again conspiring to set her on a certain path. As much as she hated her hand being forced like this it wasn’t fair to take it out on her new found family.

“It’s complicated.” She giggled at the flat look he shot her as she echoed his own words back at him. “I have a lot more pieces of the puzzle than you’re aware of for starters so nothing you said or did would have outed him by itself. My conclusion is actually tied to how I know about the League of Assassins and that is a story that I need you to promise not to share, with anyone, unless you ask me first. No one knows the whole of it besides me because I don’t want to risk any Akuma’s or worse. But I trust you to keep it to yourself, given that you’re obviously experienced at keeping secrets.”

“I have a feeling you are as well.” She could only offer him a tired smile at that observation. If only he knew. His look softened considerably. “You have my word that nothing you say will be shared without your permission. Unless it’s a matter of life and death.” She let out a thoughtful hum before replying.

“That’s fair I suppose. Granted the whole life or death thing can be a bit subjective. I suppose I should start at the beginning, though I’m not sure I know where that is anymore. Remember how I said our heroes and villains are using Magical Artifacts to get their powers?”

“I do Miss.” She rolled her eyes, more in annoyance at herself than anything.

“You’re just going to refuse to use my name at all now that I called you on your tell aren’t you?” There was that almost smile again.

“I don’t know what you mean Miss.”

“Of course you don’t. Anyway, those Artifacts are highly coveted by certain groups. One of those groups is the League of Assassins. Given how little information gets out of Paris intact I’m still not sure how they found out the Miraculous were in circulation, but Ra’s and Talia came to Paris, about two years ago I believe, to try and take them.” That had started the worst week of her life, even if some of the lasting effects were some of the best things in her life currently. That week she’d found out that Adrien was Chat. That was the week Paris had been destroyed over a dozen times as she fought and Akumatized Ra’s al Ghul almost by herself. That was the week she’d given Chloe, Luka, and Kagami their Miraculous permanently. That was the week she’d seen everyone and everything she’d ever loved ripped apart. She still had nightmares that featured the lifeless stares of everyone she cared about. Yes she’d fixed it in the end, just like always, but unlike everyone else she didn’t have the luxury of forgetting. Suddenly she felt gentle hands on her own.

“You remind me so much of your father. You both carry burdens and refuse to share them. You both seem to think that the world is on your shoulders, and yours alone. You both have people all around you who would help, if only you’d let them.” His tone was an odd mixture of concern and censure.

“You’d be a good match for Wayzz. A calm and steadying presence full of wisdom yet willing to do whatever is necessary to protect those you care about.” She was just as surprised by the words as he was but she knew she was right. “But that is another complicated matter and I still owe you a proper explanation for the first round of confusion I sprang on you.”

AO3   Beginning   Previous    Next

Ko-Fi

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[marisandini-chu-blog]

Bruce Wayne is a Simp for Bad Bitch

OmG I can’t believe I’m writing the obvious but the idea is in my head and I need a place to word vomit. 

Okay, so it occurred to me that Bruce has a more serious and intense relationship canonically with three women, as far as I know; Andrea Beaumont, Talia Al’ghul, and Selina Kyle. All of whom are the epitome of Bad Bitch with the capital B. (Yes, I’m ignoring Rachel Dawes from Nolanverse. The only thing I like about it is the Iconic Joker. No batman movie is good enough without the Batfam.) 

Why do I raise this point, you might ask? Well, that’s because I want to rant that Bruce, my boy, my man, my childhood comfort character is actually a SIMP?!?!

Like... I’m just... urgh.... okay... I am very vocal for a healthy relationship with commitment and based on mutual love and respect. So the fact that Bruce has only bad, iffy, or casual relationships really want to tear my hair out. And why my heart don’t want to ship with any of them, even though BatCat is one of my favorite pairing! 

I am a WonderBat shipper because I love watching them in JLAU as a kid and even though I’m not slash shipper unless it’s canon, SuperBat made much more sense to me. Heck even a threesome with the Trinity would have been healthier relationship rather than whatever Bruce had with the three of them and here’s why: 

You might not have heard of Andrea, but she’s canon from the Timmverse movie called Batman and the Mask of Phantasm which is A REALLY GREAT MOVIE. Totally recommend. One of the best Batman movie at all times (Yes, I say Batman movies not Batman Animated movies). Has great plot twist and good pacing. so Spoiler Alert! Andrea was Bruce’s fiancé, making her possibly Bruce’s first love, before his journey and possibly could have stop him from becoming Batman (I would say he’s a simp in this case, but he would have had a much more happier, healthy household so it’s not bad thing) if she hadn’t disappear for being a Mob Boss’ Daughter!!! 

I repeat, a mob boss’ daughter. 

And she came back only to be a mask avenging assassin that went toe-to-toe with Batman.

And she could have choose to stay with Bruce but she didn’t because she choose vengeance over him. Like.... Bats, you should stop with the “I am Vengeance” routine you’ve got going on because she does it better than you ngl. 

So she left and I cried at the end of that movie because trauma wasn’t enough, you put heartbreak after heartbreak to my boy. Thanks DC. 

Then there’s Fucking Talia Al’ghul which is a no brainer why she’s not Bad but BAD. Like, Talia groom Jason, supervise Damian’s harsh, brutal, and abusive training, control Damian through the implant spine to kill Dick, orders Damian execution before regretting it, DRUG BRUCE when CONCEIVING DAMIAN!!! And that’s only the top of my head. 

And if you want to blame it on Morrison’s writing, THAT’S FINE. We’ve bitched about Tom King’s writing enough to know it’s valid. 

But, BUT, bUt... it needs to be address that even before Morrison, Talia CHOOSE to stay in the League of Assassin. People can tell me that she’s a complex character that’s loyal to her father but love Bruce and that her upbringing makes her complicated or whatever. Nuh-uh. You don’t get to make Talia helpless when it suited you. Talia is a fucking Bad Bitch (TM). She’s been taught to do whatever the fuck she wants according to her belief and ideal. At some point, Talia knew she wanted to be in position of power in the League rather than staying with Bruce. 

But it’s canon that Talia, if I remember correctly, doesn’t like Gotham or Bruce’s mission. She thinks being a hero is beneath them or whatever. And doesn’t understand why Gotham is special to Bruce. So yeah, you might not agree how Morrisons write her. But do not fucking tell me she’s not a character who will not be willing to do what she thinks it’s necessary to get what she wants, including training her son as an assassin. I mean, she likes being the Demon’s Daughter in the league. She may not agree with her father but Talia wants to give Damien what she wants. Power.  

Talia loves Bruce. That’s a fact. He’s probably the only person that makes her feel like she’s a person instead of the Demon’s Daughter. Bruce has a knack for that. To make people want to be better, even just a little. Talia could have chosen him, if she wanted to. The fact that she helps him so much when fighting against her father numerous times is proof enough. 

I'm highly suspecting the reason she stays is because she knows Bruce would always forgive her (SIMP ALERT) unlike her father who would straight up stab her if she ever betrays him.

I’m not saying there’s no love for her son, I’m just saying if she even looks at the batfam funny than I will raise my flamethrower on that bitch’s face. Because you can’t rely on Bruce on that. That man would give bullshit excuse for her or want to handle her himself because your “history” with her makes you entitled.  

Aaaah, don’t you just love it when there’s a great villain you can hate on so much?

I'm not saying she can't be a good person. Pre-morisson made Talia more of an anti-hero. But I do like Talia "I'mma cut a bitch" al'ghul. It's just... I like ruthless Bad Bitch like her. Though preferably she could have balance it with more of her maternal side through Damian.

Okay, I’m getting off tangent. Now comes to my favorite girl. Catwoman. Selina Kyle. The famous ship of all Bruce’s relationship sans SuperBat. 

I... am conflicted the most about this. 

See, Selina is one of the few people who understands Bruce. Who was there when he needed a shoulder to rely on. Someone who doesn’t take Bruce’s shit, and one of the constant person in Bruce’s life. 

But not... constant enough. Which is a theme of her, even in her fursona... I, I mean PERSONA, PERSONA!!! 

Anyway, I love seeing these two broken people. One handles it with violence and vigilantism, the other through thieving with a Robinhood-esque thing going on. So of course they get each other. It always helps that they try to make each other better. Selina taught Bruce to be okay of being selfish of wanting to be happy, and Bruce believed there’s good in her that makes her feel she’s not a hopeless case, y’know? It’s even canon that in one universe, they’re married and have daughter, Helena Wayne. So... yeah? Happy end! (Until they died but that’s non issue here at the moment.) 

Then Tom King (Urgh, him again) wrote Bat proposing to Cat, and by the time they’re about to be married. Selina left him at the altar. 

So yeah. 

But then they get metaphysically? Figuratively? married after the Flashpoint which they turn Thomas Wayne into a villain (At least make him from alternate universe instead of timeline!!!) and kill Alfred (WhYYYYYY?! Bruce suffered enough why do you go kill both his fathers dammit!!! Let the goddamn butler rest in peace). And basically Selina and Bruce promise each other forever. Which is sweet. BatCat Forever, am I right??? 

Yeah, here’s the problem. (And I’m just nitpicking here, okay). For all Tom King’s character assassination of Bruce, he did Selina right in one thing. Which is the fact she doesn’t like being tied down by anything.

If Talia puts importance in power. Selina puts importance in freedom and her self-independence. 

I remember as a kid watching BTAS, that Selina didn’t want a relationship with batman if it meant changing who she is. So when Selina left the altar, I wasn’t surprise at the news. Then she actually agreed to marry him, only this time, she didn’t need a judge or a paper to make the marriage legit, y’know. And I thought, yeah that’s so her. 

But the thing is Bruce. Accepts. Her. Every. Single. Time. 

Without a single thought. She asked, “Do you still want to get married?” and he asked “When?” 

Even though it’s not the first that Cat leaves him hanging. 

Tell me he’s not a simp for that. 

It’s great that he accepts her for everything she is. But I’m conflicted because Selina stays static. She stays with the cat theme in the fact she doesn’t want to held back by anything. She takes what she wants. She loves who she loves. And no one was gonna change her. But then where’s the character growth? 

Is it regressive of me to think Selina should be ‘tied down’ or express commitment when she never has been tied down before even though she loves Bruce? 

Is it not-feminist of me to think Selina has to change herself for a man? 

I just don’t like the fact Bruce and Selina enables their masked persona. Their relationship is strongly base on their cat-and-mouse chase. They nicknamed each other “Bat” and “Cat” for God’s sake. Even though yes, it’s canon that “Batman” and “Catwoman” is their real selves and their civilian life is their masks. Heck, she didn’t go for the altar because she believed (though manipulated) that making Bruce happy would make Batman insufficient, or losing him entirely (Thank Tom King for that). 

That would be true, and stay true if not for one thing. Which is some thing what Bruce has that Selina doesn’t: 

The Batfam.

Bruce’s real identity isn’t just the Batman anymore. He has to be a single father with growing children he never plan to adopt but did anyway because they needed each other. He can’t use his batman persona to be a father at his house, but he will when training them to be his partner. His family became the strength to Bruce’s fight for Justice. 

Bruce is the Batman, but he’s not everything who he is. Selina is supposed to be part of the batfamily yet sadly, I haven’t read or watch anything that has her interact with them in a positive way or actually bond with them. Heck, when Alfred inform the proposal to the batfam they were shocked and thought it was a bad idea even (And they’ve known her for almost half their life by the way.) 

The fact that Tom King implied Bruce was never happy or wasn’t happy enough without marrying Cat when his Batfam should be the source of his pride and joy?! Apparently family means nothing to Batman. Woah DC, what a great message you’re sending here. 

I guess that’s why, I was a bit iffy when Selina “marriage” with Bruce isn’t official. Because she commits to the man but she doesn’t say she’ll commit to the family (though I suppose it could be imply or I just forget stuff). The batkids are grown up enough that they don’t really need a maternal figure, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need more emotionally available people in the family. And that I haven’t seen much of her taking effort to bond with the people that’s the most important to Bruce. 

It just makes her want to commit to Batman instead of Bruce Wayne, in my eyes I guess. 

So yeah, that’s why Wonderbat and Superbat makes more sense to me. Because they’ll make an effort to be THERE for the family and they’ll be just generally be a healthier relationships because, again, emotionally available so they might talk when they have a problem instead of running off the altar when you think a Happy Batman is Bad Batman. But no, DC have to make Bruce is a simp and his life edgy. 

Anyway, I might be wrong in some things because, you know. Canon becomes a blur to me after a while. 

[ravenclaw-questions-gone-writing]

Ven’s Idea Outline #1 (Maribat)

Remember that MariDamiJon fic that I mentioned I was going to do for the gift exchange? It’s still bouncing around in my head and Luka decided to join in so I’ve decided to at least make an outline in (assuredly vain) hopes that it will leave me alone for a bit.

Ao3

Part 1

Typical Daminette but Hanahaki style bc I can’t find any Maribat hanahaki fics and I need one and I can’t find any.

Dick and Damian sent to scope out Paris for Hawkmoth related reasons

Jon goes with bc he’s Damian’s emotional support kryptonian but he might arrive later This idea has been removed but I like it so I will share it.

Damian is getting familiar with the new battlegrounds  taking a walk in the park when a girl falls from a tree and lands on top of him

The girl apologizes profusely before explaining that she’s really clumsy and she was just trying to help a kitten stuck in the tree

It’s not love at first sight but Damian appreciates an animal lover and is slightly less of an ass than he would usually be

Might mix this with my Blossom Soulmate AU that I never got around to finishing and posting, now that I think about it

Anyway, Damian helps her get the cat down from the tree

He latches onto this potential information source who is not as annoying as most other people and sticks with her

They become friends friendly acquaintances and he drops by her school to pick up her up after she agreed to show him around Paris.

Debating Lila salt...

Debating Class salt...

If yes: Damian walks into a scene where Marinette  and sweeps Marinette away without a word to the rest of her class

If no: Damian arrives and proceeds to wait for her outside by his motorcycle

Either way, his appearance makes waves in Dupont’s rumor mills

They do not know he’s Damian Wayne, just that there’s a dude who attractive enough to be model with a motorcycle waiting for the schools (tragic, if salt) sunshine fashion princess.

Robin and Nightwing meet up with Ladybug and Chat Noir to offer their help in figuring out who Hawkmoth is, as well as fighting and training.

Full Miraculous court meeting with Ryuko, Viperion, Queen Bee, Carapace, Rena Rouge, Pegasus, Bunnyx, and Monkey king. (Rena Rouge is removed if Class salt. Replaced with Fox!Nath or Fox!Julieka)

Ladybug and Robin get along

About two weeks in Adrien starts officially dating Kagami.

Another week passes and Damian finds out Marinette has been coughing flower petals and her unrequited love is her classmate Adrien Agreste.

She refuses to remove the hanahaki - this version is the standard they can’t fall in love ever again if they remove it.

This revelation makes him oddly uneasy, it isn’t until his own Hanahaki shows up later that night that realizes he understands why.

Damian does a pretty good job of hiding it.

Dick knows something is up but he’s trying to give Damian more space so he doesn’t look into it and trusts Damian would ask him if it’s life threatening

Ladybug notices his discomfort on patrol and they talk

He is surprised to learn Ladybug also has it and Robin comes up with the brilliant idea that they should fall in love with each other.

There is precedent that if you fall out of love with the person, the Hanahaki will go away. But falling out of love is difficult and not easily done. There must be no lingering romantic feelings at all.

Ladybug encourages Robin to chase his crush first, because he at least has a chance if the girl he likes also has it.

Cue the debates

If Ladybug wins: Enter Damian going all out in flirty assassin seduction techniques from his mother - Good Talia that kills rapists, none of that she raped Bruce bs, she actually had a good relationship with Bruce and a mutual breakup because of differing views on killing people - that he’s barely used since his lessons on it in the league and romantic advice from Dick.

He goes full on Bitch-sensei from assassination classroom.

He’s commissioned a shirt from Marinette. She gets to design it however she wants.

It is a long sleeved button up, specifically made to accentuate his muscles without being too revealing.

That’s the shirt he wears when he asks her out with flowers and a stuffed kitten holding a stuffed wood board that says “please date me” He has his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, top button undone. Collar and hair ruffled up for maximum sensuality. He’s got a lot of references between all the people he knows (Bruce, Talia, Selina, Dick, and really his whole family is full of objectively attractive, seductive people he can reference. Just as long as he avoids mimicking their failing romantic habits, he should be fine.)

He tries to be suave about it but is a little too nervous to completely pull it off. It doesn’t matter because Marinette finds it endearing.

On the date, he’s more confident and is able to pull off suave bastard much better but only at the end. He’s a gentleman until the very end, when he leaves her in the bakery

He goes in, and twirls her admittedly short hair around his finger, maintaining eye contact as he presses his lips against her hair - it’s admittedly harder than he expected given how short it is but being so close made it more intimate and the blush on her face was definitely worth it

He leaves in the bakery slightly dazed and counts the date as a success.

Marinette’s mind shut down bc damn that boy is fine and smooth af is flustered and confused as heck but she’s willing to give him a shot

Alternatively: Marinette’s not sure about dating Damian because she feels like she’s just using him to get rid of her hanahaki bc of the idea that Robin had proposed.

Dick is ecstatic that Damian was acting weird because he had a crush and loved helping his brother out with this date planning in the city of love

He doesn’t report it back to the batfam yet because they had a small argument about it and Damian pulled away with the small victory of Dick has to wait until after the first date to tell them.

Damian is glad he Marinette’s willing to give him a chance but he’s worried about Ladybug

he wonders if he should set her up with Tim or Duke, it’d be a shame to lose a friend and hero like her.

Robin brings up his success to Ladybug and asks if there’s anything he can do to help her.

She notes that a friend had actually confessed to her and she’s giving them a chance.

They accidentally compare notes on their dates and that’s their reveal.

If Robin wins: An awkward start that smooths into moonlit dates on the Eiffel tower, dancing on rooftops, an increase in flirting but only after battles, never before it bc they have a professional reputation to keep, increasingly physical training routines, stolen kisses but not on lips until they’re more comfortable with each other.

Fast tracked mutual slow burn which kinda defeats the purpose of a slow burn but whatever

I have realized these ideas are not mutually exclusive.

Maybe Ladybug wins first but Damian fails to seduce Marinette because she has the doubts so they go with plan B and date each other. Ladybug is more comfortable with the idea of dating Robin because they both have Hanahaki and are knowingly using each other to get rid of it?

There is no identity reveal in this version

Complaint Break time: I was writing this to get it out but it keeps growing, wtf.  This is so long and I haven’t even gotten to the main part.

It was supposed to be an established Daminette but I wanted to show how they got together, this was supposed to be like 5 bullet points, 10 tops.

At some point, I’m going to have to mention the rumor that people with Hanahaki are being kidnapped because the flowers that bloom after their death make great medicine but that cures most illnesses and are good potions ingredient whatever, something along those lines. It’s not the ones they cough up but the flowers that grow on the vines constricting their lungs after until they die and only blossom after death. Those flowers that spread the pollen into the air that makes the Hanahaki disease possible.

That’s why people keep it a secret unless they’re going to get the surgery as there’s not other way to treat it.

But that’s a plot point for part 2.

I feel like this is already longer than anything I’ve put out at this point in time.

Back to the story:

Even though they’re dating, the Hanahaki doesn’t go away immediately. It slows and becomes less frequent but there are times when they think of how their love doesn’t return their feelings and the flowers come back with a vengeance and they’re down for the day, possibly the entire week, hacking up flower petals and buds.

(Ladybug Wins version until otherwise stated) It’s during one of these fits that Dick finds out and is angry at this girl playing with his brother’s feelings.

Damian is too busy hacking up bloody flower petals to correct him

The entire batfam and subsequently Superfam now know the batfam’s youngest has hanahaki

Jon is called in and flies in to help keep an eye on his best friend

Bruce, Jason, Tim, and Duke are shocked but they pack up and are ready to go in guns blazing to have a talk with this girl bc the boys might not be on the best terms but that’s their baby brother. The girls stay behind to hold down the fort (because I need more time to get familiar with them before I can confidently write their characters. I’m not too confident about Duke either but I already mentioned him and it’s too late to back out now.)

So, Damian’s brothers and his father track her down to a different park in Paris where Marinette’s hanging out with her friends

They’re incised to find their brother’s girlfriend with another guy’s arm around her, leading her away from the main group of friends

It’s Luka, he’s helping her hide her hanahaki because she assures him that she has it under control and will go with him to the hospital if it becomes too much

They confront the couple

There’s a lot of intimidating posturing and accusations

Batfam is absolutely not prepared for the bloody flowers that spill from her lips - her hanahaki is even worse than Damian’s

Detective bats (correctly or incorrectly, depending on which version happens) put the pieces together and figure they’re dating to get rid of the hanahaki, that is something Damian would absolutely propose

and oh shit, this time it’s not just Bruce that’s adopting someone. They have a little sister now.

Luka explains what he knows about the situation and basically confirms what they’d deduced.

Welp, since they’re here, Hawkmoth has become top priority.

Hawkmoth takes one look at the Miraculous circle and the new set of bats and just- nopes out plus super boy and just nopes out.

Like, he tries but he has no expectation of winning and tries to run instead. It doesn’t work, they have all grounds covered.

I should probably make use of Mayura if I ever do write everything out but she didn’t really leave much of an impression on me tbh and I don’t have a lot of ideas. Maybe if I ever go back and watch it.

Celebratory, on-the-spot kiss between Robin and Ladybug where they do “oh“ and realize the pressure in their chest is finally gone and the Hanahaki is no more.

(Robin Wins) Dick is obliviously happy about little Robin leaving the nest and finding a mate until he finds out both the little heroes coughing up flower petals on their date

then he goes in and mother hens them both, before demanding answers

He’s also less happy about this whole dating thing

Dick can’t do much about Ladybug without revealing her identity but Damian isn’t getting out of it so easily

Dick figures out who Damian’s crushing on and goes to do a little investigating. He is very surprised to see it’s a bubbly, energetic designer girl and not someone... calmer. But then he thinks of Jon and it makes a little more sense

He talks to her, asks about what she thinks of Damian and is pleasantly surprised by her positive view of his brother. He asks if she would go out with him and she coughs up some petals

Now, Dick’s freaking out and why are there so many children with Hanahaki? This is the third one in two days!

fast forward because I’m finally out of ideas for this part

Ladybug knows she’s fallen for Robin, which was the entire point of them dating but she not sure he actually reciprocates or is still trying to forget that other girl.

Or if you went the other way, Robin’s still chasing Marinette but Ladybug now likes Robin and is aware that he’s trying to woo her. So, out of the frying pan and into another for her.

Robin is absolutely having regrets bc he is an emotional wreck and crushing on two girls and this was not supposed to happen, damnit.

A meta gets akumatized and takes out half the miraculous court but turns out the meta’s psychic ability can help track Hawkmoth so its all cool, now that they know what Hawkmoth feels like

Ladybug, Chat Noir, Ryuko, and Robin vs Hawkmoth and Mayura

Nightwing stayed behind to watch the other heroes are no longer brain dead from the battle but boy are they out of it and he has to make sure they get home safe

that does not mean he’s not extremely put out and worried about it since he knows half the team has hanahaki and it may interfere with the fight

Even if the Ladybug suit lessens the hanahaki attacks, they still happen from time to time

For two people who don’t  show up to fight often Hawkmoth and Mayura put up a good fight

Ladybug has an hanahaki attack and Hawkmoth tried to take advantage of it, only to get knocked out by Chat Noir who’s still pissed at his dad for causing this whole thing

Chat Noir and Ryuko are pretty shocked Ladybug has hanahaki, even more her timer runs out and she choses to present it to Robin

Robin is shook

He gets it together and pulls her into a kiss that cures their hanahaki and makes their brains melt

Now Marinette’s kinda confused bc what the other girl

Damian, slightly shifting his mask so she can see who he is: That other girl was YOU

Now Marinette’s the one who’s shook

Note: Chat Noir and Ryuko have both de-transformed at this point and are watching with wide eyes but they do not see who is under that mask. Also, no cameras in this section of the manor bc that would be proof.

They have a lot to talk about but it works out in the end.

the outline above was written out of order bc I had to go back everytime a new idea hit and I cannot be bothered to go back and dodeca-check this thing again just to make sure everything makes sense.

Part 2 (that was supposed to be the main story- finally made it, the starting point. I cry.)

Ok, so, now that Daminette is established and the evil is defeated

Damian returns to Gotham with his girlfriend in tow to introduce her to the rest of his family, despite his better judgement

Jon is happy that Damian is in happy, loving relationship but he’s a bit sad that it’s not him and oop, sunshine kryptonian boy got hanahaki’d.

Same for Luka. (Yes, Jagged will be his dad and a Gothamite.)

Jagged and his kids join them in Gotham bc he has to be there to show his favorite designer niece around to all the best places of his hometown.

Luka finds out Jon has Hanahaki and they bond over the experience

They make a pact to cover each other and get the other to the hospital when it gets to that point

Pining/Simping meetings over their best friends that for some unknown reason seem to lessen the flower coughing over time even though these meetings probably make things worse but they also need vent before it increases again.

Luka and Jon beginning to fall for each other but they think the other is still in love with Marinette/Damian and it’s true that they still hold feelings for their best friends that aren’t diminishing in the sleightest and it’s all very confusing.

It’s even more confusing when we add the new hero in Gotham, Viperion who’s there to continue training with the bats since he’s visiting the area, rescues and lightly flirts with Jon who ended up developing a small crush and Jon realizes he has a type.

So, poor Jon’s now crushing on Damian, Luka, and Viperion

Viperion meets Superboy and the kryptonian doesn’t seem to like him?

Luka’s crushing on Marinette, Jon - still doesn’t know that Damian is Robin. And is kinda curious and a little hurt that the Robin’s oddly familiar kryptonian is actively and obviously avoiding him and that heart song is kind of familiar but different.

Viperion also gains a crush on Robin after watching him take down a thug in a very graceful way - the bird was showing off for his bug and decided to make it a little showier, he accidentally also caught a snake

Ladybug and Robin still flirt but the court - aside from Ryuko and Chat, depending on which version - think that’s just their dynamic, though they do pull Robin aside for a bit to tell him she has a boyfriend now. He assured them it’s fine and he knows, oddly amused at their attempt.

man, I am not original with this identity porn thing

It isn’t until Luka sees Jon again that he puts it together.

Marinette suspiciously notes Luka and Jon been hanging out an awful lot she’s making connections to the time she had hanahaki and Luka covered for her

The pains of befriending deductive genii.

Cue the panic and they accidentally claim they’re dating but it throws Marinette off for now, so it kinda worked?

Hanahaki fic with a fake dating AU. Oops.

Mari decides since she and Damian don’t know this, they must have been neglecting their best friends and double dates are the way to go.

Cue more panic

Unlike Marinette who is willing to trust their word, Damian’s a suspicious bastard who’s kind of dubious and a little salty that Jon didn’t tell him earlier if they’re telling the truth but Mari’s all gung ho about it so he lets it go for now

They go on the date and it is an emotional mess for everyone involved

It starts out fine

Jon and Luka act a bit weird because they have to cover for each other randomly coughing up petals, not to mention they’re on a date with their original crushes without actually dating their original crushes not even mentioning their new crushes and the secret identity reveal that Luka still hasn’t confronted Jon on and Jon’s guiltily thinking about Viperion half the time he thinks about Luka and shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Yeah, so they’re a mess

Damian’s watching them like he’s trying to figure them out and it is not helping but thank god Mari’s distracting him totally on accident

Marinette? She found a random lost kid in Gotham looking for their parents

So now the double date’s been temporarily derailed to help the lost kid

While Damian’s watching Marinette try pass the crying kid off to Jon for a  moment so she can make a phone call to report a lost child but the kid’s clinging onto Marinette, and they exchange looks so Jon calls in the lost kid instead and he’s just struck with the idea of a family with the three of them and some kids

Cue panic time (again)

Ignoring the thought of children, why was Jon in his fantasy?

Luka’s just watching a smitten boy go into panic mode over the trio and while doesn’t quite know what’s going on in Damian’s head, but that was really cute and oh not again

They find the kid’s parents, and the date moves on

Jon’s more comfortable, Marinette wasn’t really bothered in the first place. Luka and Damian are now having crises

Luka makes a joke under his breath in an attempt to calm down before his Hanahaki acts up

It did not help bc Damian overhears and gives a small amused snort that made his heart stutter but hey positive interaction!

Both Marinette and Jon but end up having feelings very similar to the one Damian had earlier when they look over at Damian and Luka’s little interaction - Damian’s giving Luka a small smirk and Luka is entirely embarassed at being heard when he wasn’t hadn’t meant to be.

But then Luka gives Jon a small sign before he excuses himself to the restroom so Luka can run off and cough up his flower petals

You remember that whole thing about the kidnapping people with hanahaki so they die and medicine and things can be collected from the flowers springing up from their corpse thing? Yeah, the kids are in Gotham and there is definitely a group there that has dealings with the trade and someone saw Luka hacking up flowers

but they mark him and pull back to plan instead of kidnapping him then and there bc drama and Jon followed him to the restroom to check on him

Date ends ok and everyone’s kind of an emotional wreck

Damian has surprisingly learned his lesson on miscommunication and guiltily confides his fantasy to her like a parishioner to his priest

Marinette basically goes same and confesses about the moment she and Jon saw his interaction with Luka.

“So, We’re together, and they’re together...and I might be in love with Jon, you think you might be in love with Luka... What now?“ Damian asked, trying to make sense of it all

“We could...” Marinette swallows, “um, all four of us? together?“ she offered meekly. Seeing that Damian seemed to like the idea, she continued. “Y’know, feel out how receptive they are to the idea and then just seduce them?”

Ok, so the temporary communication skills were nice.

Because instead of talking it out with their best friends, they decide to seduce them but to be fair, there’s at least one version of this where Damian got where he did because of seduction.

Between both Damian and Marinette’s phsyical attractiveness, their combined determination and stubbornness, Damian’s assassin seduction knowledge, and Marinette’s fashion ability and tactical knowledge of where to accentuate what, Jon and Luka have no chance of leaving pining hell for the foreseeable future.

Marinette doubles down on the “double dates” aka, seduction plans in action and group hang outs, aka much more softer, subtle seduction plans

Marinette and Damian do not do much seeing how receptive they are and really just jump right into the seduction, except they adjust the plans so Luka and Jon don’t catch on so Daminette couple thinks it’s ok to go all out.

Cue seduction and pining hijinks, and a whole lot of bloodly flowers and plenty of internal screaming

Damian learns that Luka might not be too bad in the group and Jon is panicking because oh shit he’s got another crush and it’s his best friend’s girlfriend.

the quartet’s love issues are really full circle... or whatever this shape is supposed to be. Because there’s still the whole Viperion/superboy thing and - i just... I’m not going to keep analyzing this.

Somewhere during this, Jon confesses his feelings this particular friend group to Con, leaving out the whole Hanahaki thing. Con tells Tim for advice on being a big brother and things happen but I’m not sure what. I just want TimCon and the Superboys bonding

So a couple weeks pass by the Hanahaki’s getting pretty bad and Luka suddenly goes missing

Ladybug and the bats are on it as soon as they realize he’s gone

Except they are missing one, very important piece of information

Luka’s hanahaki

So, for the next few days, they don’t get anywhere until Jon slips up and ends up coughing up a shitton of bloody flowers which leads to panic, confusion and explanation, bc wtf Jon, you’re supposed to be dating Luka and that’s definitely not unrequited

So everyone gets the full explanation, the final piece of the puzzle snaps into place and the bats are on it.

Marinette and Damian have to put aside that whole revelation in order to track and save Luka before he dies of Hanahaki

They both make sure to kiss Jon first so he doesn’t get handicapped by his hanahaki like Ladybug did but he and Luka will be on thin ice once they get Luka back

So it’s pretty much a race against time bc they don’t know how bad Luka’s hanahaki is

Tracking, beat up bad guys, possible magic related villain(s) searching for potion ingredients that may take harm Superboy more than than if they weren’t there

They rescue Luka or Luka and Ssass break out as Viperion and meet them halfway.

Hey, the identity reveals!

 Either way, at the end of it, Luka ends up with Ladybug and the unconscious and they have to wait until he wakes up to administer the kiss/cure bc it doesn’t work if one party is unconscious

which sparks an interesting idea of a sleeping beauty-cinderella style hanahaki fic where it would work if they’re unconscious, and the patient has to find go out to find who cured them and I’ll have to adjust some other rules of the hanahaki disease such as who can cure it but goddamn it

So while Luka’s out, Marinette and Damian confront the possibly injured but very much awake Jon

Once Luka wakes up and is brought up to speed, they take care of his hanahaki and work out the new boundaries of their new relationship

Part one is longer and I’m a bit put out by that. This made much more sense in my head but if you got this far, my rambling must have made some sort of sense.

[ellana-ravenwood]

An AU in which Bruce Wayne raises Damian since birth - Ficlets

I wrote a small post about this not long ago (click here to take a look at it), and it made me wanna write more about this alternate universe...So here we are. It’s not a very original AU, but eh, there’s a reason people wanna write about it because damn <3. This is more like, a collection of little scenes and moments than a real story, but ya know. I just wanted to expand. I hope you will like it : 

PART 2

My master list : @ella-ravenwood-archives​

_________________________________________________

                                                  ******

The Beginning.

Bruce was most certainly not ready to have a child. 

He wasn’t even sure he ever wanted one, given the path he decided to follow. 

But the decision was taken out of his hand the day Talia decided to do what she did. 

Bruce was most certainly not ready to have a child. 

But he would never leave a kid in the hands of the Al’Ghuls. The gods only knew what they would do to him. What they could turn him into !

What if the kid grew up, and came to Gotham to defy his father ? Would Bruce be ready to fight his own child ? 

If he had to, he told himself. 

And maybe that’s what would’ve happened if he never heard of it. If he never knew...

But he knew. He knew that what Talia mentioned to him once, she actually did. 

And there was no way he would ever let that boy be raised by the Al’Ghuls, now that he knew he existed. Wether he was ready to have a child or not. 

Never, never, armed with the knowledge she did go ahead and made that baby, would he not do anything. It wasn’t like him, to leave untied knots. Or to leave someone he knew was in need...

There was no way that boy would have a good childhood, with the Al Ghuls. Particularly with Ras’ around. Not that Bruce was sure the child could have a good life with him...But between the pest and cholera ? 

It if was only Talia. If it was just her love. If she hadn’t told him why she wanted a child with him...Maybe he would’ve left the boy behind. 

But his informant was adamant. The talks going on amongst the League were all the same. 

Ras Al’Ghul’s heir was brought to this world only for one purpose. 

And maybe what Talia felt for Bruce was genuine love. Maybe what he felt for her at the time was too. But she told him the real reason why she chose him, and why she wanted his child. 

“He’ll be a new Alexander.” 

She said...And although Bruce was most definitely not ready to have a kid, he would never let that happen. He would never let his own child grow up in such an environment. 

Maybe if he never knew...Maybe if he never knew things would’ve been completely different. Maybe it’d avoid him a lot of trouble, too. 

But he knew. And he wasn’t about to let that kid...His kid, suffer a childhood he knew was not going to be happy. After all, Talia told him what Ras used to force her to do when she was younger...

************

Sneaking into the Shadow League’s headquarter was ridiculously easy. Which made him suspicious. Maybe they were expecting him ? 

Oh but they couldn’t...They couldn’t know he knew. They couldn’t know he left behind a friend, the only one he made in the league of assassin. A fellow apprentice. A friend who spied on the Al Ghuls unbeknownst to them (or he would be dead since a long time). 

Bruce silently entered what he knew to be the baby’s room, and looked around. He was right, his informant was right. The crib was in the middle of the richly decorated room. Bruce, with light steps, walked towards it. 

And...

And...

It was like being faced with a portrait of himself at that age. Except the boy’s skin was darker, his eyes shaped more like almonds, and Bruce could guess that if he just opened said eyes...they would be olive green like his mother’s. 

And he was right. 

The soft rustling sound Bruce made as he bended over the crib to pick the  little one up woke him. And he opened his eyes wide immediately.  

He did not cry, instead, he looked up at this stranger that was picking him up with curiosity, and Bruce felt his heart...Do something. 

He couldn’t quite describe it, the feeling. His heart skipped multiple beats, while going faster at the same time. And he wanted to smile. 

It was an urge too hard to resist, something he couldn’t control while he learned to control his own emotions, and he smiled at the little one in his arms, taking a gloved fingers to his cheek to caress it lightly, as if it was natural. 

The baby...he...he...

He smiled in return. A cute, unsure and untrained smile, as if it was his-

“That is his first smile.” 

Talia. She was there, at the entrance of the room, casually walking in in as if nothing was happening. 

“Hello, detective.” 

She took Bruce by surprise, and he turned around quickly, taking a fighting stance while holding his son against his chest protectively. His hands naturally held him, one supporting his back, the other his head, even as his legs spread apart, ready to fight. 

Bruce had fought only with lower body before. He trained to be able to do so. He knew he could have a chance against Talia. That he had no chance of taking her down, but could at least escape her. Fight if need be. But he’d rather avoid it...Not in front of their child. 

Wasn’t Bruce here to take the boy away from violence and pain ? He couldn’t fight his own mother in front of him, even if of course, the baby would most likely not remember. 

Maybe he was an unwanted child on Bruce’s end, and one Talia created only for a specific purpose...but he was still a child.

His child. 

“I will not let you raise him, Talia. And if you want to stop me I will have to-”

“I don’t.” 

There was something odd, in Talia’s eyes, that Bruce had a hard time to discern in the dark room, only lit by the moon. 

Was it...Sadness ? Regrets, perhaps ?

“His name is Damian. From the Greek word Damianos, which means “to tame.” He is upposed to be the tamer of the World. At least, that’s what my father wants.”

“I won’t let you-”

“Redundant, detective. Even more so since I told you I will not stop you. I think the fact I let your little friend, the one who told you about Damian’s existence, live, should be proof enough. I let him go, if you’re wondering where he is. I told him to disappear, and if he’s smart enough, he will. I knew since the beginning, he was your friend. Even as he acted like he tried to kill you during your escape. I knew because I know you. I watched you close enough...” 

There was a small silence, during which neither of them moved. Damian, still in his father’s arms, cooed happily as he was trying to grab at the Batman’s armor. 

Finally, Bruce spoke : 

“...Why ?” 

Another silence. Talia did not look at Bruce, but at the tiny being slowly moving in his arms. After what seemed an eternity, punctuated by Damian’s little happy and unaware sounds, she said : 

“Because I do not wish for him to become me. Or my father.” 

“But, that is why you created him ?” 

“That is why I-...When it happened, I imagined you would be around, detective.” 

“You couldn’t seriously think I would stay after knowing what you and your father were up to ? You know me better than that, no ?” 

“I do. I guess it was all wishful thinking.”

Another silence. Heavy. 

“When you left I was angry. And lonely. So...I made him. Our plan was to raise him to become even better than us, and then send him to you. Because if he destroyed you, then he could destroy everything - bitter laugh - I say “our”, but I truly mean my father’s plan. Twisted and nonsensical, I see it now.” 

Bruce felt uneasy, and nostalgic. The boy was getting used to being held by this odd man, and now was sucking at his foot thoughtfully (as thoughtfully as a 3 months old baby can). 

“I did love you, Detective. And I would’ve gladly govern the world with you, and our son. But you leaving, you telling me all those things...It made me realize. I have never truly been loved before. This is why I was so angry when you left. No one, no one loved me before you. My father...I serve a purpose to him. When I was with you, I felt love, and loved. But before...Before I was just another instrument in my father’s grand schemes of things. Has he ever loved my mother ? He said he did. Maybe he did. But he did not keep her with him. And I became what I am today. Now, I am no fool, detective. I unfortunately know I cannot change. But Damian...Damian has a chance, with you.” 

Bruce didn’t know what to say. His heart and throat felt tight, and his hold on the boy became stronger and surer. 

“Please, let me say goodbye ?” 

Of course, Bruce agreed. 

He watched Talia slowly walking to him, and looking at the boy. 

Her boy. 

The boy she knew she had to let go, because she loved him enough to want him to not become her. Or his grandfather. 

Talia never loved anyone before. Except for her “detective”, and for her son...

“One day, my heart. One day, I hope we can meet again. Goodbye, Damian.” 

She told the little one, and the baby looked at her, smiling widely as he recognized the voice of his mother. She laid a kiss on his forehead, took a last glance at him, and left the room without turning back. 

Bruce left the headquarter with his crying son in his arm, sure now, that if it had been that easy to get into it...it was because Talia herself, lowered the security. 

************

Damian Wayne, son of Batman. Occupation : Baby. 

Bruce was right. He was NOT ready to be a father. He never even held a baby, in his short twenty three years of life ! Why would he anyway ?!

Thanks god for a certain man called Alfred Pennyworth. 

The butler, whom Bruce considered a second father know, slowly showed him the ropes and tricks to take care of a baby, trying to involve his young master in everything as much as he could because...What was the point in saving that little boy from a world of pain and violence, if it was to not take care of him ? 

And so there were times Alfred told him to take care of things on his own. Which Bruce wasn’t sure he liked, so far... 

But he was trying. He was really trying. 

The arrival of Damian in his life put so many plans he had in shamble, but Bruce learned how to adapt fast. 

Of course, the news of Bruce Wayne having a “secret son” spread like a wild fire all across Gotham. And he knew there was no hiding such a thing. What was the point of hiding the boy anyway, he couldn’t raise him and keep him shut in the Manor all his life !! 

The public was quick to believe the story he told. Of course, no one had trouble to picture playboy Bruce Wayne who was known to sleep around, having a “secret” son. In fact, many talked about bets going all around the city as to when a scandal of the sort would happen. 

Bruce had been back home for about a year, and in that short year, he made sure to assure his “Brucie Wayne” persona, that he knew would help him keep Batman a secret. 

He most definitely did not expect Damian, but was quick to find a plan. His explanation about him satisfied everyone. A story about how Damian’s mother could not take care of him, and he wanted to take his responsibilities...

Which technically wasn’t a lie. 

The story stayed at the front of every newspapers for a long time, and Bruce decided to play on it and, although he felt a little ashamed, use his son for a publicity stunt, and therefor have even more cover for his Batman activity. 

He was often shown in public, with a baby carrier, or exiting an important meeting early to go see his boy. Which he did. And he couldn’t help but have a feeling that this little boy, his little boy...sort of saved him. 

Bruce felt that without Damian, he would’ve jump heart and soul into this Batman thing. And he did, he promised his parents he would...So of course, he did. But there was always this little piece of reality holding him back. 

His little boy cooing at him, and smiling at him, and laughing and having this second chance at life. Which gave him, too, a second chance at life.

Of course, Bruce could not forget the years of pain he dragged behind, the trauma of losing his parents. But he felt that Damian, and his presence so early on in his life ? Most definitely changed him. 

For the better. 

************

The first dirty diaper. 

“Alfred ? ALFRED ? Alllllfreeeeeeeeeed ?!” 

Bruce screamed, while running around the manor, panicked, holding baby Damian against him. The boy was giggling happily, liking how his father’s running steps made him rock as he held him against his chest, a terrible smell following them around…

Bruce took a break from work today, giving his favorite excuse : “He had to take care of his son.”, but of course, babies being babies...Bruce really thought his boy was focusing on the pictures he was showing him, certain his son was a genius, up until the odor coming from the kid’s diaper informed him that no; Damian was not focusing on the pictures his father was showing him. 

When Bruce entered the kitchen, in which Alfred was preparing dinner, the foul smell told the butler instantly what the problem was. Turning around to face Bruce, he says, with his infamous English phlegm : 

“I think it’s time for you to learn how to change a diaper, Master Bruce. I have done it for the first few weeks, because you had very few sleep, but you cannot escape this anymore. Come on, master Bruce, I will show you.”

Bruce’s face fell, and Alfred gave him a rather sneaky smile. Well. It really was time his master learned how to change a diaper. After all, Bruce did say he would take care of this child so he could have a good life... 

************

The hair incident. 

The first time Bruce tried to put clothes on his son all alone, without the help of Alfred, it ended in a disaster. 

The fearless Batman was most definitely not prepared for how squirmy babies really are. He had been fighting for a good ten minutes with his son’s legs before he started to mutter : 

“I’d rather be fighting every single goons in Gotham right now, ah Damian please just -Damian kicked one of his leg up while the other one went down- no wait -The boy did the same thing, but changing leg this time- just stay still a second -this time, he put both his legs up, trying to grab one of his foot to put it in his mouth - oh my god..” 

As soon as he was able to slide one of the baby’s leg into his pants, and trying to put the other on...Damian would squirm his little legs around and undo everything. Cooing at his father continuously, as if talking to him. Taunting him that he was doing it wrong !

He decided to try another approach, and moved on the side of the kid, holding his legs down and bending above him to try to block the boy’s legs long enough, without hurting him, to...Oh, but he bended forward a little too much and...The kid got a hand on his hair. 

Unhappy of the sudden restraint, Damian let a loud “HA !” out, but before starting to cry got distracted by his father’s head being close and...Right there, in reach. What were those funny wiggly thing on his head ? 

“ALFREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

The butler rushed in, afraid something bad happened to the baby...Only to find his young master Bruce, his body bend in an awkward position as he tried as gently as possible to untie his son’s hands from his hair...not succeeding very much. 

After this, Bruce started to wear his hair shorter, and neatly brushed back, and left behind any stylish haircut he thought would be good for his public persona.

************

Damian Wayne, Son of Batman AND little brother to Robin. Occupation : Baby AND little brother.

Damian was home with Alfred, when Bruce first met Dick. (IMPORTANT AUTHOR’S NOTE : I took an age “canon” diverging from my personal preference so it would fit the story. I usually like the pre-crisis version the best, where Dick is 8 years old when Bruce takes him as his ward, because it calls back to Bruce’s own age when he lost his parents...But for the sake of this story, and to fit closer the “actual” ages of the boys even if it won’t be perfect (then again AU), I’ll go with post-crisis “official” age which is around 12 years old. Not 15 though, like in the New 52, that’s too old...anyway it seems like Rebirth went back to around 9/10 when Bruce takes him in but yeah, ya know...12, so it fits better. But my personal preference is little baby 8 years old Dick coming in. Haha thought it was worthy of mentioning, and also anticipating any age question :), more explanation about ages in my AN at the end of this fic). 

It was about three months in since Bruce brought Damian back with him, it seemed like...A good idea ? To adopt a twelve years old child who just went through the same trauma he did, while being a 23 years old still struggling to know how to be a father. 

But a twelve years old would be easier to handle than a baby, right ? 

Wrong. 

Dick had some hard days, at the beginning, in Wayne Manor. The media had put in his head that he was a publicity stunt, that Bruce didn’t really care, and he would suddenly lash out at times, the pain too grand. 

Bruce understood more than anyone else. 

He too, lashed out at Alfred a lot when he was younger. It is normal, when you’re so young and already felt so much pain... 

Oddly enough, it’s Damian, that ended up calming Dick. 

The baby, now about six months old, was starting to crawl all around, and took a grand interest in that newcomer. 

Dick would try to isolate himself somewhere at times, playing his game boy in a corner of the main living room...Only for a little six months old to laboriously crawl to him and try to climb on him. 

Thanks to Damian’s presence, Dick opened up surprisingly fast. Bruce suspected the boy’s personality was already quite cheery, but he also clearly had a little dark side to him...However, only because the media were spreading lies about Bruce. And his reasons to take the boy in. 

As Dick saw how Bruce took care of his baby son, he slowly opened up and trusted that the man truly wanted to give him a home. 

Of course, Bruce would never replace his parents...But he still could be his new dad. The two weren’t inclusive. Dick would never forget his beloved parents, but was lucky to still have people who loved him around. 

And that baby ? He was clearly very much set on bonding with him anyway. Wherever Dick seemed to go, the little cooing noises Damian did and the sound of him crawling on the floor would follow. 

And it warmed Dick’s heart. He’d let the baby fall asleep in his arms, or come and sit next to him, watching what he was doing with great curiosity. 

Damian even took the bad habit of crying, just so that Dick would come and take care of him (he also did that to his father and Alfred, to be fair). And it worked every time. As soon as Damian would make a sound, Dick would be here. 

The rare times Bruce scolded Dick for something bad he did, Damian would become mad and scream at his father. In fact, his very first words, right after his first birthday, was “no dada”, as he scolded his father for telling Dick he needed to focus more in school. 

The little twelve months old would hug his older brother tight against his heart, and tell his father off. 

“No dada no !” 

Sometimes, it would make Bruce laugh. Sometimes, it would infuriate him...How dare, his authority, undermined by a one year old ! Then again, he never really minded. All he ever wanted, was for his sons to be happy. 

And to be fair, ever since Dick truly decided to settle for this new life, he rarely made mistakes worthy of scolding. Dick was a really sweet boy. And Bruce  didn’t believe in being angry at his children anyway, he understood very fast that this was doing the opposite of what he wished it’d do. 

It didn’t take long enough to Bruce to realize that giving love to his children meant receiving it back. Being angry with them without explaining anything meant frustration on all side. So of course, he wouldn’t let them do bad things. But Bruce found that they’d actually rarely act out, when he was trying to be understanding and make them see what they did wrong...

Bonding with Damian, and becoming real brothers. Becoming very close, is what gave Dick a new hope. Of course, Bruce’s unconditional love and care did too, but the first thing that made him open up, the first thing that made him want to have a new family...It was this little baby, who decided himself that he was his big brother now. 

************

The Solid Food incident. 

Damian was starting to eat solid food. 

Well. Solid food. More like mushed food, but still a step forward from the formula milk and baby bottle. 

But right now, Damian was having a fit. 

He absolutely refused to eat his mushed pees and chicken that Alfred made in the “baby cook”. And it was getting late. Bruce was about to leave for the Batcave, and it was getting close to Damian’s bed time. 

But the boy wasn’t having it. Any of the techniques Bruce used failed, including the infamous “the airplane is coming”. 

“I don’t think he likes it, B.” 

Dick said, smiling a little too widely as he looked at Bruce struggling with his boy. Which gave a sudden idea to the man. His last idea, really. 

What monkey sees, monkey does, right ? 

“Look Damian, look here. Daddy loooooves the food, see.” 

And he gulped down the spoon of mushed food. And oh god, it was probably the most disgusting thing Bruce ever ate in his life. What was this ? Why would anyone expect someone to eat this monstrosity ?! Was this really baby food ? 

The face Bruce made didn’t fool Dick, nor did it Damian. The little toddler gave a look to his father that clearly meant, “see ?!”, and Dick bursted out laughing and almost choked on his own dinner. 

That night, Bruce relented and just gave Damian his favorite food : apple sauce. As much as he wanted. Telling both his boys to “not tell Alfred about this”. 

************

The day Superman changed his opinion on Batman... But he didn’t know it was Batman. 

At the time, Clark still had a rather poor opinion of Bruce Wayne, whom he didn’t know yet was Batman. 

And it was totally not because he shortly dated Lois Lane ! Nope, not at all ! He just couldn’t stand Bruce’s guts and smug face.

But he had to admit his actions were praiseworthy. In fact, today, he came from Metropolis to this godforsaken city that Gotham was, for an interview about a recent charity Bruce started. A charity that did some good all across the USA, and was worthy of reporting in the Daily Planet. 

The journalist was ready to act fake and smile a lot, while really wanting to punch the billionaire in the face. He really didn't like how this Bruce Wayne acted always so sure of himself and...grr...If only he knew he was Superman ! He wouldn’t act the same, for sure. 

So it’s with a huge surprise, that he came into the man’s office, and surprised him as he was playing with his young son. 

Right there, on the floor, he saw THE Bruce Wayne, a grown ass man, acting absolutely silly to make his baby laugh. 

The little boy was giggling loudly as his father was making funny faces at him, and Bruce wasn’t noticing the newcomers at all, as he kept going, too enthralled in the moment, too focused on playing with his boy. After all, he had a rather busy week and barely any time to spend quality time with his children, lately, so this was the perfect occasion for him...

If only he didn’t forget about Clark Kent’s interview. 

“I’m so sorry Mr. Wayne, I thought you weren’t busy !”

Bruce jumps a little, out of surprise, and turns around, his face livid as he realizes what just happened. He stands up straight quickly, and turns toward Clark and his secretary. 

But the little boy on the floor whines a little and make grabby hands at him, giving him the most adorable puppy eyes Clark ever saw. The man relent, and picks his son up, turning to Clark and the secretary again. 

She is visibly very embarrassed, but “Mr. Wayne” just smiles charmingly at her (why was this guy so cool ?!) and says : 

“No worries Charlotte. Mistakes happen. You can go back to your office. And apologies, Mr. Kent, I did not know you were already here. Clearly.” 

In a few seconds, Bruce had turned around an embarrassing situation for him and was acting all smug and arrogant again. But this time, Clark felt that there were much more to Bruce Wayne that the public image he was showing. 

Flashforward to a few years later, Clark finally discovers Batman is Bruce Wayne, and he is utterly SHOOK. 

************

The Family Portrait debacle.

One day, about a year after bringing Damian back, Bruce decided to have a family portrait made. Of both his sons.

He bought very fancy and cute clothes for his boys, and tried as best as he could to make Dick and Damian presentable.

Dick’s hair were unruly and there was always a little cow lick that refused to go in rank with the other hair, but it was still fine.

Damian was really unhappy to have his first haircut ever, and it had been a nightmare to try and get him into his fancy clothes.

It wasn't helping, that Dick was clearly agreeing, and talking about how itchy the clothes were. But Bruce seemed excited about this, and so he did it.

But Damian ? Oh the little boy still didn’t understand this sort of things, and as everyone already could figure out, he seemed very independent and hated to do things he didn’t wanna do.

And so, even for the Batman himself, getting his one year old son to stay still for a family picture was no easy task. Dick almost dropped his little brother many times, and they decided to sit the boys on the floor instead of a high armchair like their original ideas.

Damian wouldn’t stop squirming, and the picture ended up being a rather hilarious image on which it was very obvious Dick was struggling to keep his brother in place, and Damian was half-crying half-mad.

Later in the day however, both in cute little pajamas, the two boys fell asleep together as Dick, as he took the habit of doing, read his little brother a bed time stories and fell asleep while doing so.

Those two pictures, the “ugly” yet very funny one, and the absolutely cutest one, have a prized place on the “Wayne family” picture wall.

************

The day Dick joined the Teen Titans. 

Bruce encouraged him to do so, if he truly wanted to. 

Dick was sixteen now, and Bruce could see he was looking for more meaning, for more than just being his shadow. 

Bruce could see the boy he came to see as his own son, as much as he saw Damian as his, needed to find more sense to it all. Needed to help more than just Gotham and its people, at least for now. 

Joining and creating his own team ? With friends that had similar backgrounds to him, that felt out of place too ? Figuring things out on his own for a while ? The Batman was convinced it could only do him good. 

Now many would’ve called him a bad father for letting his 16 years old son go off on his own...But many did not understand what Dick went through. Bruce did. And it would be highly hypocritical to not let Dick go for a while, when Bruce himself left Gotham around the age of 17 to go travel the world ? To train, and find meaning in it all ? 

Plus, who said he wouldn’t keep an eye on his boy ? As if he was gonna let his son completely on his own. Of course, Dick didn’t need to know Bruce was totally spying on him, but...Well, Bruce couldn’t completely let go. 

So yes. Bruce was behind Dick as his teen of a son had a harsh decision to make. Because it wasn't just about finding himself...There was also Damian. 

Could he leave his baby brother behind ? Would the little boy understand ? 

Would Dick be strong enough to go away from his family, even if he knew he needed it and it wasn’t permanent ? 

Bruce knew Dick needed to go. Needed time to find himself, understand who he truly was, and move on.  But Bruce also knew that he was held back by the love he had for his brother, adopted father, and adopted grandfather...

He also knew that it became vital for his boy, as he saw him more and more get lost in thoughts. Just like it was vital for him, as a seventeen years old boy, to leave Gotham to train. 

And so he sat with Dick, and talked about it, keeping Damian away for a little while so that cute little toddler wouldn’t change Dick’s decision. 

They wrote a pros and cons list, and the pros outweighs the cons by a little. Bruce tells his son that he has to take care of himself first, especially in regards of his mental health...

It was just for a little while anyway, and he could come back if he felt too homesick, right ? The Wayne fortune came in handy, for that. There was also the possibility of video conferences. 

And so Dick joined the Teen Titans, with a heavy heart, but knowing it was for the best at that time for him. 

Damian seemed quite sad at first, since he was so used to have his brother around at all time ! But as every kid, he adapted rather fast and although he asked often about “Dick”, a video conference with him was enough, as the little boy knew his brother would never abandon him and surely come back. 

(---> In many stories but not in all of them (canon man...What a mess), Dick and Bruce do not see eye to eye as to which methods they should use while out there in the street, Dick thinking Bruce is much too violent etc etc...It’s sort of unclear wether Dick left or Bruce “fired” him really, but they have a pretty bad fall out and Dick leaves, leaving a Bruce that finds himself in a very dark lonely place, up until Jason comes in his life...but in this version, raising a baby and finding the light earlier in his life, I think Bruce wouldn’t be as violent, and share Dick’s views as to how they should proceed as Batman and Robin. Of course, they still beat villains’ asses. That their schtick, HOWEVER, they don’t beat them near to death ? They incapacitate them in many ways. I think if Baby Damian had been in Bruce’s life since the beginning, his Batman would’ve been much different...I mean, it’s Dick’s departure that made him change his method slightly and be less violent ? That made him question himself and reconsider ? So if he already had a child in his life before that ? One that came from his union with a certain Talia Al’Ghul ? If the all point is to save him from violence and such ? Then I think Bruce’s Batman would be different...If any of this makes sense ? Just explaining this scene for those who know the comics and are like : “wtf Ella that’s not how it went ?!” haha, AU).

************

The boy who stole the Batmobile’s tyres. 

Jason was barely even twelve, when Bruce brought him back with him to the bat cave. He was a frail and wary little boy, and Bruce could only imagine what he went through...

No one just dares to steal from the Batman’s himself without a reason. And in Jason’s case, that reason was clearly survival.

He had a few scratches on his face, and bruises on his arms. Bruce didn’t want to re-open whatever trauma he went through, or ask too many questions that would make the boy uncomfortable...So he simply offered help. 

A warm meal, and a place to sleep for the night. Little did he know at the time, that the boy would stay much longer than the night...

And oddly enough, the boy instantly accepted. Because someone being nice to him while he caught him stealing from him must be nice right ? Also, he heard of the Batman. He knew the good he did. 

And so it all started. A simple night and a warm meal turned into official adoption papers, and the rest is history...

************

The more the merrier. 

Bruce wasn't sure how Damian would take the fact that Jason was staying for good. After all, he was so close from Dick...Was Jason going to be able to find his place in his new family ? 

When Bruce introduced Jason officially to Damian, the boy didn’t really react, just thinking he wouldn’t say. They played together, but Bruce wasn’t sure it stuck in his little four years old that Jason was here to stay. 

So he officially stated it. Jason was adopted now, for good and...his worst fear happened. Damian took a good look at Jay, up and down, then turned around and ran away. 

The poor little boy (Jason) looked absolutely crushed. He really was excited to finally have a home, his time at the Manor was the best he ever had ! And he really liked little Damian, but if he didn’t like him in return and didn’t want him in the family ? It was painful. 

But then a few minutes later Damian came back, holding his two favorite toys ever, and walked straight to Jason, in a determined way, gave him the toys and said : 

“Fo’ you. Zayson.” 

And Jason Todd, barely twelve years old, almost cried as this little boy who was facing him did that small act of kindness. Did something that no one ever really did for him before. 

Jason Todd had a new bother. And so did Damian. 

************

A new brother. 

Damian and Jason bonded even further once the official adoption papers went through. This made Bruce realize how strong his little boy was because... Damian clearly missed having an older brother.

He wasn’t quite acting with Jason how he acted with Dick, however. With Dick, Damian would shadow him all around, and just sit in his lap, looking at what he did. 

Sometimes Dick needed to be on his own, and Damian would just wait for him, not seeking him too much, understanding ? Dick and Damian had quite a lot of years of difference. 

When Dick was 12, Damian was a baby. 

Jason and Damian still had quite a bit of difference, but now, Damian was four. He could play, and talk, and invent new games. 

That boy was very imaginative. 

And Jason ? His dream had always been to have a little brother, so he played along with everything. Where Dick enjoyed being a mature older brother who would console Damian and be there when he needed...Jason was an active older brother, who loved to play and have fun. 

His childhood was clearly stunted by drama that happened in his early life, and with Damian, it was like he could live some of the years he lost again. 

Not that he was acting childish, oh no, on the contrary. But he would just play along, something that Dick rarely did. Dick had other game and interest, Jason was very happy to play pretend. 

Dick was the comforting, reassuring older brother. 

Jason was the fun one that you could always count on and that had the best game ideas. 

Maybe the fact Jason and Damian were a little closer in age played for a lot ? Probably. Or maybe Jason, who always dreamt of a brother, would just do anything to be liked by Damian. 

Not that he had to try hard. Damian adored both his older brothers equally. For different reasons. Yet the love was there all the same. 

More often than not, Damian would escape his bed and room, to go sneak into Jason’s bed at night, and wait for his brother to come home from patrol. 

Both Jason and Bruce let him, of course, it was very cute. And Jason felt oddly safe, there, with his little brother curled up beside him ? 

It was like little Damian, his precious little brother, meant home. 

Bruce did too, for sure. Jason never had a dad, and he was so happy to have one that was as cool as Bruce ! But his little brother represented something he never thought he could have. 

In which world would Jason Todd, little orphan living in the streets, ever have such a great little brother ? Or a chance to have a family ? 

************

The good years. 

Dick would often come by, while still being with the Titans. It was his eighteen birthday soon, and he wanted to show everyone his new costume...After all, he couldn’t be Robin anymore ! 

Jason got along really well with his older brother, and found a place in this world he never thought he would. 

Bruce...Well his children eased the pain in his heart. The pain his parents’ death left behind, and that he thought would never go away. Was it bad, that every year it hurt a little less ? But seeing his children grow...

Damian was almost six now, and growing into such an intelligent little boy. Bruce couldn’t even imagine, what he would’ve gone through, if he had stayed with the Al’Ghuls. 

What kind of little six years old he would be, if it happened that way...

************

Where did Jason go ?

Yes. Jason and Damian were very close. Jason instantly discovered his big brother instincts, and Damian just liked being around him. Because Jay ? He was so funny ! And always willing to play with him !! Even if know he was a big person, fifteen years old, an old man !! 

And so one morning, when Damian woke up and as usual, ran from his room to Jason’s to wake him up by jumping on him...The boy found an empty room, and a bed still made.

Did Jason not come home tonight ? Odd. The first thought that crossed Damian’s mind was to then go find his dad, who would surely know where Jason was ! 

“Daddy ! Daddy !!” 

Bruce wasn’t in bed either, which was odd but also reassuring ? It meant they probably were  both downstairs, having breakfast. 

But when Damian went downstairs, going down the stairs as fast as his little legs could without falling, he only found Alfred, sitting behind the kitchen counter, holding his head in his hands. 

“Fafred ?” 

Damian asked. He never could quite pronounce “Alfred” properly, and everyone just went along with “Fafred”, and it stuck...It was cute. 

The butler jumped up in surprise, and looked at the boy sadly. Why were his eyes wet ? 

“You’re hurt Fafred ?” 

Damian asked, clearly very concerned. Oh. Oh sweet little boy. Alfred wasn’t sure he could handle it. Not right now. He picked the little one up, and sat him in front of him, on the counter. 

Five years old little Damian, almost six ! ; Put his palm on Alfred’s forehead, and said : 

“You’re not hot Fafred, what is it ? Did you fall ? Where does it hurt ? Do you want a magic kiss ? Do you need the hospital ?”

It was adorable, how worried the little one was. It was also unbearable, in this instant. How was he supposed to...What was he supposed to...??

“No, Master Damian, I did not fell.” 

“You okay ? What happened ?” 

“Yes, I am okay.”

“You don’t look okay. What happened ?”

“Old people problems, you know.” 

Alfred couldn’t. He couldn’t say anything. 

Damian looked around, and realized the kitchen was empty. No cereal bowls out, nothing. Which was odd. If Bruce and Jason weren’t in their bed, then they should be down here having breakfast ! That’s how it always was !

“Fafred, where is daddy ?” 

Please Master Damian, please do not ask him this question, do not...

“Where is Zayson ?” 

************

WHERE DID JASON GO ??????

Damian didn’t understand where his big brother Jason went, and why his daddy was so sad all the time now. Of course, he was happy his big brother Dick came back and seem to want to stay for good, but him too, seemed sad whenever he looked at him. 

Why ? Why was Dick always on the verge of crying when his eyes fell on his little brother ? Was it...because he reminded him of Jason’s absence ? 

Damian didn’t understand why everyone was sad, but it was starting to make him very sad too. His little five years old self didn’t understand why was this happening ? 

He wanted Jason. 

Jason always knew for sure how to make him laugh. 

But nobody would tell him where Jason went, and Damian had no idea where to look first !! Maybe in the garden ? No, he went there already, and he didn’t find Jason in their tree house. Neither did he find him at their secret spot, or near the sandbox. Jason would never go near the pond, he knew it was dangerous because he always told Damian not to go. 

Maybe he was in school ? Very busy so he didn’t came back yet ? Oh that was an idea ! Damian suddenly felt excited. Yes. That’s it. Jason must be still at school ! And if Damian went to wait for him at the bus stop, then he would surely appear, right ?!

Enthusiastically, Damian ran at the front door. Everyone around was too out of it to even notice what he was doing. The boy put his shoes on (on the right feet this time), and went to take the chair in the corner of the corridor, dragging it as best he could to the front door so he could hop on it and turn the knob. 

He finally managed it, got down from the chair and opened the door to find...A boy about to ring the doorbell ? 

“Hi there ! I’m Tim ! Is your daddy around ?” 

To be continued...  ---> Part 2 :) clickclickclick

__________________________________________________

Here we go. This is part 1/2, I hope you liked it and will want more...Next part will contain more about what changed in Bruce compared to the canon timeline(s) like in more details (sorry I’m writing this very tired and slightly drunk) and more baby Damian, and the arrival, of course, of Tim, Cass, Steph, Duke etc etc...Everyone who has not appeared yet, basically :). I really hope you liked this haha, I’m so nervous...I didn’t talk about the actual BATMAN things yet because this all comes from the view of a kid who is still just 5 so far so ya know :) As usual, feedbacks and reblogs are always much appreciated!

AGES IN THIS TIMELINE (in case you are wondering) : We all know that ages in comics are a mess, especially when it comes to the Batfam. Most canon aging actually make little sense when you try to make up an ACTUAL timeline. So I guess we all have our own preferences and headcanons, which is fine again, given the state of “canon” hints and downright claims (which often contradicts each others btw). I mentioned during the story that I used a post-crisis canon for Dick that puts him around the age of 12 when he’s taken in by Bruce (but again, personal preference = 8). Which means he’s about 12 years older than Damian. He leaves for the Titans age 15/16. So it would make the age difference between him and Jay about 4 years (which is almost canon by a year less), Jay and Damian would then be 8 years apart (same, pretty close but not quite, by two years really :/ then again it depends the canon), Jay and Tim about 3 years apart (pretty much canon), so Damian and Tim about 5 years (again a little less than canon...but then you see what I mean when I say it makes little sense at times ? Hehe). Cass and Damian would be 4 years apart, Duke and Damian 2 years apart (Duke = older), Steph and Damian about 4/3 years like between Tim and Cass I guess, and well Babs is supposedly a little older than Dick so let’s say 13/14 years. Here. Hope that cleared up their age in this ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. No need to tell me what the canon age are are, we actually aren’t really sure because it changes CONSTANTLY (Damian seems to be the only one that grow up haha and only so he could join the TEEN Titans...But then he’s somehow thrown back in his age so he becomes much younger than aged 17 years old Jon ?! Really, canon age makes no sense and in the end don’t really exist hahahahahahahaha), every head canon is open :). Especially in an AU. 

Also : Let’s give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s ! Thanks to @arianatheangelworld, for the many baby!Damian “imagine” asks you send that fueled my inspiration ! ^^. 

[heartless-error]

Broken, not perfect, but together. - Chapter 13

Fandom: DC comics, Batman

Pairings: Jonathan Kent x Damian Wayne (JonDami) & Jason Todd x Timothy Drake (JayTim)

Rating/Tags: Family feels, hurt/comfort, mental health issues, running away, brotherly love, adopted children, fatherhood

Other(s) links: AO3

Broken.

The Batfamily was broken.

It was six years ago, and they had barely stood together since then, trying to stand up despite guilt and regret.

Damian  was sure there was nothing to save, not after losing something that he didn’t know he cared about. But when a new opportunity to get back what they had lost appeared, he cannot help to doubt as his past decisions haunt him again.

If you love somebody, set them free. But you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Chapter Summary: He knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Tim and Jason six years ago. But at the same time, he didn’t. No one was prepared to let them go the way they did, not even him. And now, after dealing with the consequences all this time, his heart was about to explode, he couldn't breathe. Because they were there, they were right there. His brothers were in front of him, and he couldn't move, couldn't do anything, because, once again, the weight of truth was about to crush him mercilessly.

Chapter 13

 Now

 Silence.

 The batplane was completely silent.

 Technically not entirely, since like the many trips and flights that had been made with it, could be heard perfectly the ambient sound of the wind brushing and surrounding the plane as it advanced on its way, also the noise of the engines accelerating to reach their destination as quickly as possible, as well of the machines and the control panel echoing at the front of the cabin, with all the breaths and movements of those inside.

However, it was they, the bats in there, who were precisely in silence, without having uttered hardly any unnecessary words since they occupied their seats on the plane and taking extreme care of each of their movements, of their postures. The tension in the place and between them was such that they had the impression that any movement or whispering would unleash a true storm among all, although this was already occurring within each of them, it was preferable to keep it hidden and sheltered for the moment, covered and hidden in nobody’s eyes while they were in a clearly confined space and knowing what was about to happen.

 Bruce was at the front of the batplane, paying attention to the control panel, and gripping the steering wheel with more force than necessary. It was curious to see him like this, tense, inflexible and dressed in civilian clothes, especially when they had already been used to see the figure of The Dark Knight handling that transport with his gloves, the hood and the cloak tangled in the seat, not his father, not Bruce.

Cassandra, curled up in the passenger seat, was the only one who had deigned to sit next to him. Her gaze insistently alternated between the screen of the GPS that was indicating their current position, and in front, where she could contemplate the sky and the clouds that passed through them. But she seemed too impatient and agitated to appreciate anything.

Stephanie was right behind her, but at a safe distance from the control panel and the driver, also curled up on herself and quieter than they’d ever seen her be. Dick, on the other hand, was at the other end of the cabin, away from everyone and lost in his thoughts as he stared at nothing.

 Like him, Damian was there. Farther still, almost to the end of the cabin, sitting awkwardly and with his arms crossed, thoughtful, absorbed in his head and in everything that occupied and prowled around it without stopping.

Sometimes he looked up to capture the blue of the sky and the landscape below his feet, but he couldn’t concentrate to observe it better. He settled into his seat as best he could, trying to find a comfortable position that wouldn’t bother his injuries, something difficult after everything that had happened that morning. He also met Dick’s uneasy gaze several times, Stephanie’s too, but no one said anything, no one moved, they just turned away their eyes to continue silently and in the spiral of their thoughts, allowing the tension to build and the journey to become longer, more harrowing.

 Damian knew the distance from Gotham to Florida was not that much, or at least not that much compared to all the places where he assumed that Tim and Jason could be hiding. After all, it was almost eighteen hours by car, and only about three by plane, less on the batplane. Still, he had the impression that this journey was going on for days, weeks. It was endless, exhausting, and every time he glanced at the clock on the control panel, he suppressed a sigh as he realized that only a few minutes had passed when he thought it had been an hour, even longer.

 The fact that the whole situation felt like a countdown against him, calculating how much was left to ruin all his life and efforts these last six years, didn’t help.

 Damian knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Tim and Jason six years ago. But at the same time, he didn’t.

 Contrary to what some people on the plane were thinking, the idea to run away was not Timothy’s, nor Jason’s. No. The idea was his, all his. 100% Damian’s credit. What’s more, they even doubted at first, they were very surprised when he explained the idea to them, and they partially refused. It seemed crazy when after all at that moment they were being watched strictly by a family who didn’t believe in their relationship and Jason was still recovering from an unwarranted aggression that had meant a total rupture between both sides. Although in the end they ended up agreeing, obviously, which he didn’t regret at all.

He was sure that if the others found out about this, that he had not only been an accomplice, but the leader of the entire operation, they would be much more upset than they had already been, maybe he would even receive another punch. And he would probably start to receive the same questions that had already been asked before and had tried to answer ambiguously: How? Why?

 The “how” was pretty easy.

 At first, a simple call to his best contact was enough: Talia. She didn’t welcome the son she now called failure with open arms, but she did like everything that would benefit her and help her obtain the power she was after. His mother was a woman very aware of her own interests and recognized something that favored them at the time, she knew how to choose her battles well. Erase Tim and Jason from the map, make them disappear, it was one that was definitely worth it, so he didn’t have to convince her to agree.

 Jason was a well-known failed project of Talia, a boy who she revived in the waters of Lazarus’ pit, brainwashed, trained and commanded into battle to cause damage to Bruce and all of Gotham under the poisonous ideas that she had implanted in his damaged and resurrected mind, to later see how he not only reformed and fought again on the side of the bats, but fell in love with the one she most wanted to eliminate.

Timothy, no doubt, had always been a clear obstacle to Talia, even from his Robin days. Something she had been waiting to get rid of and get out of the way as soon as possible at any cost. She manipulated Jason and manipulated him to hate him, to break him, to kill him, because she was conscious of the obsession that his father, his grandfather, had with Timothy. Ra wanted Drake for himself, it was a fact. He wanted him, craved him, chased him, for him he was his perfect detective, the only worthy being who could challenge him, confront him. He wanted him to be his successor, his right hand, wanted him at his mercy and wanted to hand over his empire to him. Empire for which Talia had fought all her life and could lose to the third Robin.

Then, hiding the couple meant making her mistakes and her greatest threat disappear. Talia would gain respect and a big advantage with both vigilantes disappearing, she knew that, and she didn’t hesitate to take it all in immediately. Damian and the others didn’t have to wait a single full day before receiving instructions to get it all started.

 After that, only the most difficult thing remained: the metas. Because no matter how much Tim and Jason changed identities, went to another continent, or avoided cameras, they had been friends of metahumans who could easily find them at any time. Any Super could identify their heartbeats wherever they were, and any Speedster could run around the world for them in seconds. They wouldn’t get very far if Superboy, Impulse, or even Starfire were involved in their search.

 But he didn’t have to do much to fix that problem either because Jonathan volunteered. He didn’t even ask him, he didn’t even know that he was aware of what he was trying to do, but apparently, he was inside from the first moment, even before any plans were formulated. He simply appeared before them with a Kryptonian device sneakily pulled from the fortress of solitude and handed it over to them, assuring the red team that as long as they kept it close, it would block the metas and hide them from everyone without problem. It clearly worked, and too well seeing as how absolutely no one had been able to find them despite the many efforts made.

 So, getting it all done was not as difficult as anyone might think. Especially when nobody suspected them or paid attention. Everyone was too busy focusing on all of Tim and Jason’s movements back then, and he and Jonathan were sixteen and thirteen, respectively. No one knew what was happening until it was too late, until they had been at the airport and left that damn note in the cave.

 Regarding why they did it, he already explained how he was allowed that morning.

 His brothers were tearing apart, little by little. Gotham were taking away a lot of things from them and continued to do so every day. Their vigilante lives began to overwhelm them more and more and the family didn’t help but make it worse with their indifference and their way of dealing with problems, including him.

Damian was sure that if they had not run away, if they had stayed in Gotham and continued with the rhythm they were taking, they would have ended up finally breaking and, with them, their relationship.

 He just knows, he knows that’s what would have happened if he wouldn’t have intervened.

As much as Todd insisted over and over that he didn’t need the attention of the bats around him, that he didn’t want anything to do with the family, his actions indicated how badly he needed approval and apologies from Bruce. Like Tim, who had always depended on that kind of acceptance ever since he was a child and had driven him to seek it wherever he could obtain it. And it didn’t matter how much they both fought for each other, for themselves and their relationship, the rejection of the family, of Bruce, hurt, hurt them, made them suffer despite knowing what could happen, despite having hiding it for years to avoid the problem. They wanted to solve it, they wanted to fix it. But besides all of that, both were also rooted to Gotham and its people in a way that Damian could never empathize, sacrificing and fighting tirelessly for the city until they reached that point of no return where they were, where they sacrificed their lives and his whole being.

Their loyalty and sacrifice for the city, for the bats, was too big, it meant too much to both of them and if they didn’t let them go, if they kept tying up that way, eventually everything would have split them in two, it would have separated them, and they would have allowed it in order to keep the place standing and the bat happy. As always, they were able to consecrate their own happiness for someone else even without wanting to, without realizing it.

 But Damian did it, and he couldn’t allow it. He just couldn’t, much less at that time.

 Damian could lie to others and himself all he wanted, but the need for his brothers to be happy was there. The perspective of them losing what they had because the other bats couldn’t see it, sacrificing their happiness for them again, was too much for him. He thought it was too unfair.

He knew he had been an insufferable brat for years, that he had caused too much trouble, done too much hurt, and could have ruined their lives with his mere presence, but whether they wanted it or not he grew up, they all did, and his relationship with them had improved considerably over the years, too much to let what was happening happen in front of his eyes and stand with arms crossed. Damian’s appreciation for his brothers had grown in a way that he never imagined at first, feeling something that never thought what could feel towards no one, because he and Jason shared a similar past that made them lean on the other without words, and Tim… It was Tim, just like that. Both were patient and annoying until the end, but one day he realized that he loved them and couldn’t see how they were about to collapse.

 They were a weakness, he knew.

 But Damian knew too that he had been a participant in inflicting their suffering, and that moment was the best time to fix it, he could fix it. Because the best way to prevent Gotham, the family, and the vigilante lifestyle from destroying their brothers, was for them to leave everything behind, including everyone, including him. They couldn’t hurt them if they weren’t there. It was that simple.

And that was without doubt his best way to earn their forgiveness, to make amends with them: Give them freedom from all the chains that imprisoned them.

 Jonathan felt the same, he knew it. He owed the red team nothing, not in the same way that Damian did, he didn’t need to feel deserving of their affections or forgiven for his past actions, but Jason and he were friends, and Tim practically raised him with Conner. He was also too fond of them to do anything, and most importantly: he wanted them to stay happy together.

 Anyone would say that he and Jonathan, beyond the brotherly love they felt for the other two, helped them because they reflected too much their own relationship in the elders’. And they would be right.

They didn’t have the same story as them, and they weren’t the same people either, but unintentionally and without knowing they had turned in their greatest reference in terms of relationships, their support to carry theirs forward and, without a doubt, the push they needed to start dating. Their parents seemed not want to see what happened between them back then, as if it didn’t exist and everything followed its normal course, they kept doing it even today. They were both young, had not discussed their sexuality with anyone else and the indifference of their guardians stopped them from doing so. Nor did they know how to cross beyond the line of friendship with the one who was their greatest confidant and puberty is the worst time for human beings. They both felt trapped, confused, and the longest and closest healthy homosexual relationship they ever knew was Tim and Jason, who were in hiding and Damian didn’t even find out about them until the end, but they always seemed to understand and accept their situation more than their own parents.

 Then, when everything exploded, both didn’t hesitate when choosing sides, and not when they helped them escape too. The rejection of Tim and Jason may have affected them as if it had been directed at them, their relationship with their parents was almost irreparable, but they turned that pain into stubbornness and courage to confess  their feelings and help them to leave. Because they wanted them to stay together, they needed them to stay together, since that was their way of showing everyone, themselves, that they could be happy, that they were not in danger. Both Tim and Jason, and them.

 So, yes, they did. They helped them, planned, and carried it out, being fully aware of what they were doing.

 However, it was what came after that they didn’t consider.

 They became so focused on helping those two to escape, that at any moment they didn’t stop to think what would become of them and their surroundings once they left.

 They should have.

 The nightmares, the anxiety, the secrets, and the paranoia became his new normality. The enormous guilt that came with their actions hit them too hard and fast, without giving them time to even assimilate or change it, because once it was done there was no going back.

They both thought they were ready to let Tim and Jason go, but they weren’t. Not them, not their families, not their friends, not even the hero community. No one. The huge gap that their absence left in their teams and families was too big, but they had already disappeared and all that remained was that stupid note along with the consequences it produced.

 The batfamily fell apart like a house of cards in a matter of days, and it could have been in hours if they had not been focused on the search, but the fights continued without rest and the resentment along with the tension didn’t do more than increase over time. The Titans and all the metas who knew the missing ones contributed to the search, but there was no clue, making the situation worse if possible. They were all trying to find a common culprit, or a valid and less painful reason than the one they had to leave because they were unhappy, they even hoped to find them, but they weren’t going to get anything.

And as the days, the weeks, the months went by, the tension increased, everything got worse and both Damian and Jon had to get away from those whose presence could no longer bear, either due to a total loss of confidence after what happened, or because they found themselves seeing themselves as those traitors who had brought suffering to their family and friends.

 Damian couldn’t trust anyone, not anymore, not his father, not Grayson either. He felt like everyone had fallen too high from the pedestal on which he had them and had to watch Bruce fall into another self-destructive spiral where no Robin was going to get him out this time. The betrayal and rejection he had felt from them didn’t allow him to have a civil conversation with none until eleven months after what happened at least, and even with Grayson he needed more time without wanting to yell at him until he was hoarse. Yet, he had to endure seeing how Brown, Batgirl, walked away increasingly because she couldn’t bear to see their faces, and how Cassandra came back from his mission in China to find her lost and broken family, how Alfred completed his tasks silently and not daring to say a word of it too, afraid to bring up the subject and cause again all those discussions both new and old that originated after the disaster.

Jonathan also felt deeply betrayed by his father and his lack of response to what happened, for his inflexible opinion in agreement with Bruce’s and his indifference to what his son felt. Damian knew they had a fight much stronger than Jon had wanted to admit, that he threw more things in his face than he said, but he decided not to pressure him on the subject and respect if at any time he wanted to give more details. Besides that, his boyfriend saw how Conner Kent crumbled at the loss of his Robin, how he looked for him without a break over and over again to the point of even neglecting his responsibilities with his team and his own health.

 All that pain, all that loss, all the tears, the screams, the fights, and the problems, they caused it. All of them. Without hesitation. And the best thing is that they weren’t planning to fix it. No. They would take the secret to the grave if possible, because if there was one thing they couldn’t regret or back down, it was to make Tim and Jason happy, despite the enormous price they had to pay.

 In their poor defense, they didn’t know that everything was going to fall apart like that. They didn’t come to think that the reaction would be so strong, nor the chain of disasters that followed. But it wasn’t until they saw everyone suffering and tearing apart that they realized what they had done, and that everyone would get very angry if they found out about their actions.

 So, they had no choice but to keep quiet and move on, because what else could they do? They hid it all, they studied, went together to prom, moved into their apartment in Metropolis, Damian got a job, Jon is in college, and despite the difficult family situation and missing the red team a lot, they looked for their own happiness and normality where they knew they could find it, where they taught them they could get it.

 And they were fine, really.

 They were together and fine. The weight of guilt was not so big if you shared it, and they both learned to lie fairly well together at an early age, also to continue side by side no matter what. They didn’t even have to lie that much, just pretend, because they never had a clue where Todd and Drake were, the best was not knowing it and the moment they saw them go through the airport gate, they too disappeared for them completely.

Mostly, they couldn’t talk normally with their parents, sometimes they had to be too on guard or alert in case someone discovered something, every now and then everything became too much and they lost control of their emotions, but they always ended up overlapping. They had nightmares in which everyone surrounded them and yelled that it was their fault, in which they saw flashbacks of happy moments turned into true horrors, where they heard resentment, poison towards them and pure hatred. But despite waking up screaming, crying, begging for forgiveness, they didn’t forget the most important thing: they did it for a reason, and they weren’t responsible for everything.

 If you love something you have to let it go, and that’s just what Tim and Jason chose to do. As much as they had been the ones to give them the option, it’s what they chose and they had to respect it, they had to deal with it. They couldn’t tie them to a life of misfortune, nor force them to return when they weren’t even part of the real problem there.

 Damian was determined to do that for as long as possible, to protect their new lives with everything he had, during all of his if necessary, because that decision was the only selfish decision that his brothers had made in a long time, the only one they had made thinking of themselves, and he felt they deserved it, he knew they deserved it. He was going to fight to preserve that.

 For that, maybe he should have tried a lot harder in Zodome to avoid this disaster.

 He had to hold back himself not to curse and fall prey to his anger when Gordon revealed in the batcave that the reason they had found his brothers had been because of the explosion in which he had been involved. He had felt so helpless, because he hadn’t found out what had caused the disaster until that meeting, and it didn’t make it better.

The whole time he thought that the terrorist cell he was chasing was on the island because of its black market and its easy access, didn’t come to imagine that they were going after a hidden supercomputer of the league that they wanted to sabotage and that they would also fail in their attempt, almost killing him and uncovering his lies.

 If he had been faster, if he had been more focused, if he hadn’t been regretting and missing his brothers again, if he had been better, none of this would have happened. They definitely wouldn’t be on their way to Florida.

 He could have prevented so many things. And yet he had failed, failed them, again.

No matter how hard he had fought for them, how long he had resisted, in the end everything had fallen apart because he couldn’t fulfill a simple mission or control his temper.

 It was very frustrating.

 Damian dug his nails into his forearms, squirming in his seat. His back hurt, also the side of his face where Grayson had hit him before. His fingers itched a lot, he wanted his phone back, his comms, something. He wanted to call Jonathan and make sure he was okay, safe, at least hear his voice to be able to calm down. But they had both been isolated from each other and from everyone by the time Damian made his confession.

As they thought it would happen, just when the others learned the truth took all forms of communication and kept them under surveillance. Jon was surely under the strict and impassive gaze of Clark after a warning from his father. As if any of them could jump in at any moment and alert Tim and Jason that they had been caught and they were going for them, when in fact they didn’t know how to contact them or where they were.

 He sighed, felt Grayson’s gaze on him again but completely ignored it. He was tired, angry, and resentful. He felt like an animal on the way to the slaughterhouse, his heart pounding and his mistakes hounding him, reminding him of everything he could have done to prevent this. He didn’t want to talk to anyone, he didn’t want to see anyone. All he wanted to do was scream, get mad, scream more, fight and beg for them to turn around, to stop the plane and all this madness, to go back to Gotham and forget everything they knew so they could get on with their lives like until now.

 But that was already impossible, everything had changed, and they were not going to forget it, they couldn’t.

 Looking straight ahead, Damian remembered Barbara Gordon’s soft grip on his arm before getting on batplane, he remembered the way she leaned, whispered an apology and with an indecipherable look said it.

 “Even if you don’t know it or want to admit it, you need this Damian. You need to see it.”

 He considered his answer, but he just gave her a cold look and got on the plane. He sat in his place, waited for takeoff, and hadn’t moved since, still quiet and waiting for this journey to end and see the destruction of what his life had been until now.

 Everything was still silent; everyone was still quiet.

 Damian didn’t care. After all, he had been six years without speaking, what mattered a little more?

 ~0.0~

 They landed before lunchtime, outside the city, about a thirty-minute walk from the town. They were not detected, and their objective was not to attract the attention to alert the former vigilantes of the place.

 Even after landing, for a few seconds, no one dared to move or say anything at all, even though some of them seemed to be about to get off the plane and begin the search immediately. They all stood still as if they could break a fragile peace that had never existed. The tension seemed to reach its peak just as Bruce got up and began to give directions of the procedure to be followed. Without having Oracle’s help this time to track them down immediately, they had to break up into groups to explore the area and check out the places they already knew Tim and Jason had been seen, hoping to meet them.

 Dick and Cass would go to the local electronics store and its surroundings, where Tim might appear. It was obvious why Grayson chose to search for Drake first, and why Cass was with him, since there was no doubt that Timothy could attack him as soon as he sees him. He didn’t blame him; he would do it too.

Brown would take care of the library, where they saw Jason. She was not in much danger with him if she found him, at least not entirely. Stephanie was not so involved in the conflict and her relationship with Jason had always been neutral, they had a mutual respect that they could use to their advantage this time.

 Damian was evidently forced to go with his father, who was clearly not going to leave him alone on the plane and was watching and controlling him like he was still ten years old and was planning to do something stupid. Much to his regret, he planned to check out the downtown area and where the other two had been seen crossing a pedestrian crossing that morning, having to cover a less specific and greater terrain.

 Great.

 Damian had assumed his complaints would not be heard at all, no matter what he felt, how angry he was or how bad what they were doing was. So, he decided to apply the total ice tactic and be silent all the way to the small town, analyzing the route, the place, thinking how easy it would be to run and alert his brothers before disaster struck. He didn’t, and he didn’t say a word as they all parted, and the search began. Just kept going next to his father, rigid, tense. He felt as if he were outside his own body, in another place, everything seemed out of focus and his nerves were on the surface. It was difficult to breathe, his chest contracted more and more, and he didn’t want to look at the streets, at the people. He feared so much meeting Drake and Todd. Standing next to Bruce looking for them, he felt like the most twisted of the traitors, again.

 The traitor betraying again, what a surprise.

 At least the place wasn’t too bad, for what little he deigned to see. As reported, the town was small and cozy, smelled of the sea and clean air. It was close to the beach and it was a sunny and lively place, very neat and beautiful with a close community made up of families and locals from there along with some tourists. They all seemed quite close and upper-middle class, from what could be seen.

 It was very different from Gotham.

 Laughter, lively conversations and happy sounds of children and adults, accompanied by the sound of the waves in the distance and life in general in the city were heard. It was refreshing, something new, different. There was no fog, no dark alleys, trash, rats, or the constant threat that a madman dressed as a clown would brutally murder you and your children for fun.

 Damian had stopped for a second to look at a lady who was walking his dog -a white chihuahua very ugly, but funny and whose face of sorrow in this life alleviated his anguish a little- when his father’s voice made him turn to him in annoyance.

 “I have brought your phone and comms.” He said to him as he continued walking, urging him to follow him and quite attentive to the area in case he saw any sign of those he had come looking for.

 Damian didn’t answer, he just kept walking beside him.

He knew he wasn’t going to return any of this or stop watching him until he was sure he couldn’t interfere with his plans, but he was informing him of it to gain ground with him. It was always his way of trying to score points, it was a kind of punishment veiled with concern and the usual parental explanation for not looking so bad. The typical “I have punished you with this, but I’m being good, I hope you understand and forgive me because this is your fault for misbehaving, not mine.”

 It won’t work.

 “I’ll give them back to you as soon all of this ends.” He continued saying when seeing that he didn’t obtain an answer.

 Damian rolled his eyes and continued in silence, walking briskly. It hadn’t worked, mostly because he wasn’t thirteen anymore and knew the trick, so he was still angry, a lot.

Bruce had to realize that hadn’t gone as expected, because he heard him sigh and call him again, in a slight tone of reproach.

 “Damian.”

 No answer.

 “Damian Wayne.” He called him again in a severe tone. “Can you speak to me, please?”

 He didn’t speak. What’s more, he looked at a couple that passed right by them as they walked to a black Lab, who seemed very happy to be there. Reminded him a bit of Titus, he missed him, his friend had a good life.

 “You are no longer a child, and I hope you understand that in these situations you are required not to behave as such.”

 He frowned. Really? The trick of maturity wasn’t going to work either right now, much less when the first to treat him like a child it was precisely him, invalidating his opinions and keeping an eye on him. He couldn’t be serious.

 He snorted and kept walking, not wanting his temper to get the better of him again and crossing the crosswalk that he recognized as the one from the photo he had seen on the batcomputer. His heart clenched for a second, he lowered his head holding his breath, because he was stepping on the same ground that his brothers had passed, they had been here and now he was crossing it with his father while they were looking for them.

The chances that they were getting closer to them were more and more real, the option of being found head-on were many and his hands had started to sweat. He didn’t know what he would do if that happened, he didn’t know how he would react if it was Bruce and he who ended up finding them before anyone else.

 “Giving me the silent treatment will not solve anything of this, son.” Bruce ended up saying again, crossing the street in  a tired tone and ignoring the internal struggle that Damian had at that moment.

 At that, the last Robin looked at him angrily, because of what had said in itself, and because he had called him “son”. He had no right to play that trick at the moment, at all. He refused, and he was too upset right now to that.

 “What we’re doing either, but we’re doing it anyway, right?” He finally reproached him with coldness and aversion.

 He listened to Bruce sigh again and kept walking, stepping forward to leave him a little behind and still without looking closely around. He continued going down the street after crossing the pedestrian crossing, staring at the ground and with his heart beating faster and faster. He didn’t want to walk, he didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to continue arguing, he wanted to go home and hold Jonathan until they couldn’t make out where one began and the other ended.

 “You have to understand that this is necessary.” Bruce justified himself behind him, still in that serious and exhausted tone.

 Damian felt anger wash over him once more, almost rising up his throat and burning it to start screaming and throw words sharp like knives. But they were in public, the goal was not to attract attention and nothing good would come of losing control now.

 They came to an intersection with an avenue, but Damian continued without looking back, hoping to lose sight of his father for as long as possible.

 “For whom?” He asked with annoyance. “Tt.”

 Clearly solely for them. He, Grayson, or whoever couldn’t live with what they had done. But that wasn’t his problem, nor was it anyone’s. They didn’t have to do this, it was unnecessary, but after all Damian was the selfish one for not having said a word about what he did for years.

 Of course.

 He hoped to hear an answer behind him, knowing that his father would try to lecture him, scold him, or make him understand his point of view, but curiously he got nothing. When Damian took a couple of steps across the intersection, he realized that he didn’t listen either the unmistakable Bruce’s steps behind or beside him, they had disappeared.

 He frowned and snorted exasperated.

 “What? Now is it you who’s going to give me the silence treatment?” He complained in annoyance and stopped on his own steps to turn around and look at him, the disgust inside him urged him to start another discussion.

 However, when he caught a glimpse of his father and realized that he was completely still, rigid, standing and watching in awe to his right, fixing his gaze in something, in someone, which was far down the avenue, that disgust quickly transformed into a mixture of anxiety and emotion so strong that Damian could have passed out if he hadn’t been so on guard.

 Slowly, fearfully but curious, he turned his head and followed his father’s stunned gaze to where it had been frozen.

 And he wanted to scream.

 He wanted to scream, cry, laugh, he wanted to run there, wanted to flee, wanted to do many things but felt completely incapable of doing none because like Bruce he froze, was petrified and was unable to react, unable to decide.

 Because they were right there.

 Timothy Drake and Jason Todd were right there. A few meters from them.

 His hands started to tremble, to sweat, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t, his throat was closed, his lungs could barely function well, his heart was beating so hard he couldn’t hear anything else, his head was in chaos, everything turned and stirred.

 But it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter at all, because they were there, they were just there.

 Damian couldn’t look away, couldn’t do anything but stare intensely, trying to assimilate that it was true, that it was them, in front of him. They were alive, they were fine, they were there, and they still hadn’t realized that they were near, observing them and about to run towards them.

 They were on the sidewalk, talking lively with two women, who seemed to really enjoy their company. Their postures and smiles were relaxed, open. They were side by side and chatting with each other as if there was no other problem in the world, and if he paid enough attention, if he tuned his ears enough, he could hear Jason’s deep voice and Drake’s light laugh in the distance. And they had definitely changed, they had grown. They were more mature, more adults plus attractive if that was possible. Jason still kept his white lock in his hair and his leather jacket, but his posture was less threatening, calmer, it seemed more centered and stable than ever. Tim had cut his hair, and looked shorter if possible, but he kept that soft and genuine smile he never wore while he was in one of the expensive suits he wore at WE.

In the eyes of both there was light, there was life, a shine that he had never seen in them. They carried an aura that he never thought he would witness in them.

 His eyes itched, he could cry, he didn’t know if he had already started to cry. His instincts screamed at him, screamed so much, so many different things and with such force that he didn’t know which ones to follow. One part told him to pick up his father, get away from that street, not alert others and leave in order to keep that light in them forever. But the another yelled at him to run towards them, to approach them suddenly, hug them hard and never let go, because he had missed them so much, and was glad that they were still together and so calm.

 The instincts to go to them seemed to win definitively when Jason’s bigger figure leaned closer to Timothy’s to put his arm around his shoulders, causing the smaller to smile at him and intertwine their hands together without hesitation, where -for a second- an unusual shine on the fingers of both hands caught his eye.

 Rings. That were rings. They wore rings. Wedding rings. Alliances.

 His resolve broke, his mind went blank. Without realizing it, Damian took a step, then another, another. Tentative, automatic, unconscious steps. He still couldn’t barely breathe and now his gaze was focused on their clasped hands, on their posture, in that hug, at their smiles while they were still talking without realizing they were there.

 Just as he was about to start running, a firm and powerful hand grabbed his forearm hard and pulled him back, making him complain and stumble in surprise on his steps. He hadn’t seen that coming, and he turned astonished to see how his father, surprised too, had clung to his arm, and held him in place, shaking his head.

 He looked at him in startled, almost panicked, breathing hard and with a million questions going through his mind, but discarding them all quickly at the fact that he was stopping him from going to his brothers.

 A shrill chime that was too familiar rang out somewhere, but that wasn’t important to him right now.

 Damian shook his arm hard, flustered, grabbed Bruce’s hand, and tried to pull it away from him, shaking his head. But he couldn’t push him away, his father didn’t let him go, he tried to take a step towards his brothers and was pushed back again. He was breathing faster his heart was going to explode.

 “No.” His father said, his voice also broken with nervousness. “Wait. No.”

 He didn’t want to wait. He couldn’t. But the fact that it was precisely Bruce who wanted to wait now, who was stopping him right now, turned his alarms back on and in his agitation, Damian realized that something was wrong, that he was missing something.

 Shaking his head hard and trying to regulate his breathing, he turned his gaze back to the ex-robins to realize that the scene in front of him had changed, that indeed, in his surprise for having them close again and his focus to watching them, he had been missing an important detail.

 A very important detail.

 The women his brothers were talking to were not the only ones on this street, there were more people there, it was full of adults, more groups talking to each other, men and women waiting for something in front of a building. A big one, well-kept, with traffic signs specific that he knew and with a gate of colors, childish. It was now open and from which children were coming out, who were screaming, shouting, laughing, and running to the adults who welcomed them with open arms.

 Wait.

 The adults were parents. This was a fucking school.

 “Dad!”

 “Daddy!”

 Two voices, shrill and childish, repeated those words with genuine joy as they quickly approached Tim and Jason, whose smiles grew up, and they looked fondly at each other.

 A boy and a girl, small, smiling, and excited, entered the scene. Holding hands and running as fast as their short legs allowed them, they finished throwing themselves towards Jason and Tim, laughing happily, with squeals of excitement and a warm welcome.

Jason caught the girl in mid-jump, hugging her tightly and not taking long to cover her face with kisses as she squirmed and laughed out loud, happy in his grip. Tim bent down to extend his arms and receive an effusive hug from the boy, separating shortly to leave the most tender and gentle kiss that Damian had never seen on his cheek while the child allowed himself to be picked up carefully to be hold. After that, they both ended up with smiling children in their arms as they talked, greeted the other and laughed with them.

 “I haven’t said everything.” Barbara said. “You have to see it, Damian.” Barbara said.

 Well.

 Shit.

[bigskydreaming]

Part of the reason I lean so hard into the juvie origin for Dick in particular, as well as why his cop storyline pisses me off so much in light of that (given they were both the work of the same writer and wtf, why would a kid who got screwed so massively by the system ever grow up wanting to become PART of it? even to ‘fix it’ given that would require still working in service to it at least part of the time, in order to move up the ladder to positions of power within it in the first place? BUT I DIGRESS).

Where was I? Oh yeah. So part of the reason for that is because I view each of the Batkids as having their own specific metaphorical niche, based on their origins.

What I mean by that is like: the true villain of Jason’s origin and backstory is poverty as a whole. The impoverished status of his parents and his surrounding community are definitive stressors that lead directly into all the most critical elements of Jason’s origin: his father working as a henchman for various crime lords, which pretty directly loops back and into his alcoholism and abuse of his wife and son....his mother’s spiral into addiction after turning to drugs as a means of self-medicating for all the stress and shit in her own life which she needed an escape from....Jason’s own lack of options as a child seeking to support himself on the street and with petty crimes, as well as his unwillingness to put his faith in foster care or any adults in general, given how they as a whole tended to look at him, specifically due to his impoverished background and thus making assumptions about his intellect, potential, and overall ‘value’ to society.....

Jason is who he is as a character for a variety of reasons, but none moreso or more directly than the poverty that acts as a direct anthropomorphized antagonist for him....and thus, is the focal point of where Jason directs his attention and his own antagonism as an adult. When Jason seeks to take control of crime in Gotham, when he targets drug dealers, etc....its really the deliberately inflicted and perpetuated impoverished state of Gotham’s lower class that he’s combating. And that works perfectly for Jason as a metaphor and a character direction, and gives him a clearly defined niche in the Batfamily.

Then we have Tim, who I would argue has an origin and backstory defined by the apathy of the upper class as an antagonist, and thus, the perfect metaphor for him and his character direction. The self-centered tendencies of his parents, his history of neglect and the necessitated self-reliance and independence it instilled in him from a very early age - which could have very easily turned him into a copy of his parents, with that self-sufficiency turning into a mirror of their self-centeredness and repeating the cycle if he hadn’t actively broken the mold with his actions by seeking out Batman and picking him as someone, ANYONE to try and help, rather than focus entirely on himself and his own needs....and in near adulthood, Tim has become someone whose chosen focus tends to be on trying to repurpose his wealth and resources for the good of all of Gotham...essentially, the very people that for so long his parents and fellow upper class ignored and exploited.

Of course, Tim is still a product of his background as much as he’s aware of the flaws in it, much like Bruce himself, so similar to Bruce, Tim will always look at his wealth/resources in terms of the good he feels he can do with it, which he sees as more than any good that would come from just directly giving it away. In contrast to Jason and Dick, who come from entirely different backgrounds and have always prioritized their own more modest or otherwise-gained means of income or resources, even when investing in projects intended to help others - they look at things in terms of the good they feel they can do WITHOUT needing money, or as much money. Its the result of coming into resources from entirely different directions....which are sustained even as they then continue their trajectories in those opposite directions but now with added resources under their belts.

Cass and Damian are the two Batkids I would love to see explored more in juxtaposition and contrast to each other, because I feel they occupy very similar but opposite niches, the same as Jason and Tim represent the stresses of poverty vs the apathy of excess. Because Cass and Damian represent the two flip sides of parental expectations....BUT in their case, they start out on the same page. What I mean by that is the metaphorical antagonist of both of their origins and backstories IS the bogeyman of parental expectations taken to the absolute extreme. They both exist in at least one of their parents’ eyes to essentially be what their parent wants or expects them to be. An end result of carefully planned and executed molding of a next generation, with no real consideration for what that next generation wants for themselves.

They simply diverge in how they both break free of those expectations and the limitations built into them, and where they go from there. Damian finds his niche (or comes closest to it IMO, since I feel a lot of writers, at least lately, have regressed him from the considerable progress he made in this regard, and where and when he was his most fully...DAMIAN).....essentially, Damian is most fundamentally Damian, I feel, when he’s able to put aside what he thinks Talia and Bruce want or expect him to be...and instead simply prioritizes figuring out what HE wants to be and what that looks like, even if it ends up having no connection to the League or even Batman at all. Or at least not in the ways he always expected those connections to look like, as a result of the expectations that were drilled into him from an early age. Damian’s metaphor is pushing back against selfish parental expectations by saying I no longer care what your expectations are, they have nothing to do with me.

In contrast, Cassandra finds her niche in the fulfillment of not the expectations precisely, but the HOPES of a NEW parental figure, aka Bruce. Cassandra, out of all the Batkids, most fully CHOSE Bruce and everything he represented and offered, as much as Bruce chose her. She was the oldest of all the Batkids - except for perhaps Duke - when she met Bruce in the various continuities, and she had the maturity and life experiences to at least be able to recognize the different life path Bruce stood for and offered, as a contrast to the one David Cain had laid out for her and forced upon her from birth. So Cassandra differs from Damian in that while Damian grows the more he breaks away from the mold of Batman, Cassandra finds herself the closer she gets to what Bruce has always wanted Batman TO be, in the example he puts forth and holds up to show her that there’s more to life, to her, to what she can be, than simply what David told her existed.

Its no coincidence that she’s so often cited both in universe and out of it as one of the, if not the, ideal successor to the cowl.....not just because of how much she embodies the specific ideals and yes, expectations, that the cowl holds....but because she CHOSE that, with INTENT. Unlike even Dick, who Bruce has at times said is what he always wanted Batman to be....Cass is this as well, but Cass is this deliberately, because Bruce found her, and then he held up these ideals and convictions and said ‘this is what I prioritize, this is what I think is important’ and Cass looked at those and said yes, good, I like those, I like what they stand for, I want to BE those.....and she found fulfillment in fulfilling Bruce’s hopes for a next generation even without either of them FORCING that fulfillment on her, unlike what David did or tried to do. And that’s what makes all the difference in the world in Cassandra’s situation and in her and Bruce’s dynamic....and is a large part of the reason, IMO, that they have one of the strongest and healthiest dynamics of any that exist between Bruce and one of his kids.

Duke is a very unique niche as well. In short, the true villain of Duke’s origin is an ACTUAL supervillain....which coincides thematically with the direction of Duke’s character as a meta with superpowers himself, something that historically is pretty unprecedented within the Bat franchise, at least as far as Batman’s allies and direct family go. Bruce’s distrust of meta’s, or at least discomfort with them, is well established and longterm, so Duke represents an extreme break in tradition for Bruce, as well as having hallmarks to the sphere of thought that Batman and other vigilantes, by their very existence, bring about the existence of supervillains like the Joker and the Riddler. I’m still working out the kinks in this metaphor, tbh, in part because of how relatively new Duke is, he doesn’t have even the decade worth of content and story direction that Damian has by this point, to point to how some directions serve a character better than others....but overall, I see the most potential in Duke as a metaphor and niche in the Batfamily as like....as the Signal, he’s the embodiment of potential, once allowed to be REALIZED, rather than shied away from because of pre-existing beliefs or perspectives. Of course, the fact that Duke is black can’t be disconnected from this, which is part of things here as well....I’m not at all the best person to explore this particular metaphor to its fullest, so anyone who wants to take it and run with it more thoroughly if they see any validity in it at all, I’d very much like to see your thoughts if you ever write them out.

Which brings me back to Dick’s metaphor and niche in the Batfamily and franchise, and why the juvie origin works best for him IMO.....because the specter of Dick’s origin and backstory, the true villain even moreso than Tony Zucco himself, is the system as a whole. The way it is built and structured to exploit less advantaged members of society to the benefit of the upper class...such as the Court of Owls. Everything about Dick’s individual character direction falls pretty neatly into this chain of thinking, IMO....Tony Zucco murdered Dick’s parents, yes, but it was the system that took Dick away from his extended family, his planned life direction as an entertainer, everything he was familiar and comfortable with...and said it was for his own good, they knew best, he was better off this way. It was the system that ‘lost’ him in juvie when it was just more convenient than figuring out what to do with him, or just plain didn’t care, or due to the actions of a single racist case worker perhaps, or maybe even done at the behest of the Court of Owls in an attempt to wear away at the morality and resistance their future Talon might have to their plans for him. Bottom line is, everything about how Dick ended up where he was and on the course he ended up taking through life, is a direct result of the system’s manipulations of him in service not to HIM and what was best for him, as a member of society himself, but entirely at the whims or discretion of others.

Which is why Dick’s choice to become a cop both works and doesn’t work....I can see how at eighteen he might have briefly entertained the idea of trying to change the system from the inside...BUT it only works if the stories that result from that make no attempt to glorify or romanticize the work or character of any of his colleagues, and instead simply make him realize that he can’t change the system by becoming a cog in its flawed machinery, no matter his intentions...and that’s why he’s best served operating outside of it, as a vigilante. Bruce is a vigilante because he feels he exists to pick up the slack where the system fails, or is broken, because Bruce is someone who the system actually is meant to work FOR, and thus the times it doesn’t work that way, such as with the deaths of his parents....IS a result of a failure on the system’s part. In contrast, Dick, for all the superficial similarities in their origins, is someone who the system was never meant to work for, and IMO, Dick is best served as a character at the times and points when he’s allowed to RECOGNIZE this....and thus Dick is a vigilante for the sole reason that he’s someone who puts his faith in individuals rather than institutions. He’d much rather trust in the morality of singular people that he KNOWS and VALUES, rather than the morality of an uncaring system of bureaucracies and red tape.

And again, IMO Dick works best as both a metaphor and a character with a clearly defined niche and purpose when he targets the system directly with his actions. Whether its fighting their embodiment as the Court of Owls and their attempts to exploit him, or pouring his own time, energy and resources into trying to buy and renovate the former entertainment district of Gotham and turn it into a sanctuary for impoverished Gothamites to visit cheaply as a break from their stressors (I’ve talked a lot about how similar I view Jason and Dick being, at their core, so its no surprise that I see their metaphors and niches as being so closely linked, even if not entirely the same). And of course, even if you hate Dick as a cop as much as I do, his focus there still fits what I’m laying out here, for the same reasons, its just the actuality of it that doesn’t work as intended, for the reasons I already mentioned.

So yeah. That’s my post. That was a post. This post is concluded. Man I suck at denoument.

[nxrthmizu]

-Lordbug, Robin and Kitty Noir- Chapter Five: In Which Marinette Makes New Friends!

/Part One//Part Two//Part Three//Part Four//Part Five//Part Six//Part Seven//Part Eight//Part Nine//Part Ten//Part Eleven/

Description: It’s the weekend! Marinette needs to get over Lila drama (Damian is furious), so they go and hang out with other people! Luka! Kagami! 

Warnings: Curses, as usual, and Damian being a lil’ shit. Also, mentions of depression, self-harm (My poor baby Mari :( 

---

Marinette was terrified of Lila.

The girl had the entire class wrapped around her little pinky, and there was nothing that Marinette could do about that. Lila had shown her what she could be. Lila had shown her that she could destroy her entire life in a day. She was manipulative as hell, and Lila had proved it. She had turned Marinette’s entire life upside down just with a few little believable lies. Then it became more than just a few.

It had been a month now.

Lila was still constantly attacking Marinette like that. In fact, it was a miracle that Marinette hadn’t been akumatised- Hawkmoth had been quiet since his first attack.

Damian… Damian hated Lila with a fiery passion. And since Lila still didn’t know that he was a Wayne, Damian intended to use every figment of the Wayne name to destroy Lila. But he had one chance at it, and he wanted to spend the one chance wisely- To bring down the girl and protect his angel.

And one day, when Damian was in the toilet (Once again talking to Tikki because he needed to control himself- He couldn’t reveal himself until the time was right), a certain blonde got to Marinette. A certain blonde by the name of Adrien Agreste.

“Marinette,” He had called after her, seeing her sob after Lila made another lie about her being the one who threatened her to stay away from Adrien. Of course, everyone believed Lila. Every. Single. One. It was a miracle that Damian hadn’t murdered all his classmates yet, but he spent every extra second he had between doing his homework, his Robin patrols, his nightly balcony talks with his precious angel, and once in a while, after he’d forgiven them for sending to Paris (Because hey, he got to meet his angel, the girl he hoped to spend the rest of his life with) he’d text his father, along with Grayson- Plotting contingency plans (His father’s influence) on how to murder his classmates. And for each of them, he had a detailed summary of how to torture each of them to the very highest degree. He also had a mental list of every insult and assumption they each made that was absolutely wrong that they made about his angel. And how many times she had cried because of them. Due to the fact he talked to her as Damian and Robin, he had a pretty good idea of who messed up her day. And he was keeping tally. One day, he would get his revenge. He was just being really, really patient.

Alright. Back to Agreste.

The blonde had chased after his precious angel when he wasn’t looking. He had given her false hope. He’d told his angel that he believed in her (Anyone was an idiot for not doing so), and told her that he was on her side. But when she asked him if he was going to reveal Lila, he said no (What a coward).

Of course, while it wasn't really progressing at all, it lifted up Marinette’s mood. And Damian had to admit, he was jealous. How dare Agreste give his angel false hope like that? How dare Agreste, who’d stayed quiet all that time, not even defending his angel, dare talk to her? Hmm?

When he got back to class, Marinette had just entered before him. And the situation was horrible.

“Marinette! Don’t be such a jealous bitch!” Alya had screamed at her.

“Yeah, Marinette! You’re just jealous of Lila! Because she took your seat! How petty can you be, to threaten her, and ask her to stay away from Adrien?” Adrien, at that point, had shied away from the conflict, trying to talk everyone out of it. Right. The peace-maker. The very unsuccessful peace-maker.

Damian had scowled because he had heard them from outside. Marinette stood frozen in the middle of the class, taking in all the insults they were throwing at her. His eyes widened- He recognized what she was undergoing. Another panic attack.

---

Everything was just so loud. Insults from every direction. Her ears couldn’t take it. Perhaps it was because of her cat senses. The ones that wore off Plagg, onto her. It had occurred to her before- Plagg was the Kwami of destruction, after all. He was also the Kwami of bad luck. Maybe the ‘bad luck’ had passed onto her. The second she fully constructed that thought, she immediately pushed it away. Without Plagg, she’d never have become Kitty Noir. She’d never have a chance to escape from her dreary, lonely (With the exception of Damian) life, onto the life of running from rooftop to rooftop, the thrill of the wind blowing past your ears… Yes, that was the only thing she lived for, now. Along with Robin, Damian, Plagg, and her parents. Those were the only things that stopped her from killing herself.

And yeah, she’d considered it before. There was a reason that she’d suddenly started wearing large sweaters instead of her old cherry-blossom shirt and the black jacket over. It was because the sleeves were long enough to cover the cut-marks on her entire arm. Plagg would stop her, every single time. But it was only a matter of time before it got too far for the Kwami to convince her to stop, right? Then it would all be over, and the pain would all be gone.

---

When Marinette was downstairs, eating with her parents, Plagg stole his chance.

He used her phone, and immediately contacted Damian. The Kwami had memorized the boy’s number on reflex- Just in case there was one day, when Marinette got too far. Just in case there was one day, he couldn’t stop her. Just in case there was one day, when he’d have to lose his most precious cat.

“Marinette?”

Shit.

He couldn’t tell Damian that Marinette was Kitty, right?

He hung up. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!

But Tikki would’ve known right? Tikki would’ve seen Marinette’s phone call Damian, and his sugar cube would realize that it was him, right?

He got called back in five minutes.

“Plagg! Is it an emergency? Is it the angel?”

“It’s my kitty, sugar.” He responded mournfully. “Your holder has to do something. Whether as Robin, or as Lordbug, or as his civilian name, I don’t care! He has to do something! He has to save her! I… I can’t afford to lose another kitty, sugar. Not after Felix.”

Tikki was silent. Of course. Felix… Felix was not one to mind other’s opinions, unlike Marinette, but when he eventually fell in love with Bridgette… He cared for one person’s opinion. Hers. And when Bridgette died- As the previous Ladybug- Felix couldn’t take it. His one true love, the one he planned to ask out once his mess with Ladybug was finished- His one true love, was Ladybug, the girl he’d been lying to all that time. It was too much for him, and just like Marinette wanted to, he slit his wrists- Until Plagg couldn’t stop him. Until Plagg failed to convince him to live on. Felix went too far, and then there was no getting him back.

“What happened to Felix won’t happen again, Plagg. I promise you.” Tikki’s soft voice comforted him, and the cat Kwami- For the first time in eons, broke down in tears.

He couldn’t afford to lose another kitten.

---

“Damian! You have to do something!” Tikki insisted. She had been nagging him about it all night long, and honestly, although he didn’t want to admit it, he was a coward. What if he failed to cheer her up, with whatever he did? What if he made things worse?

Originally, he wasn’t planning to do anything. He was just going to keep supporting her as Damian, talk to her as Robin, and go on as usual. But it was when he saw her that he changed his mind. When he saw her slumped against her table, expressionless, face a void of expression- He almost saw himself. Just… Without the anger, the murder intent.

She’d lost all hope. Even whatever Agreste gave her didn’t last long.

“She’s heartbroken.” Damian sighed, slumping down against the toilet stall. His precious angel. What did she do to deserve that, anyway? 

“Maybe you should take her out tomorrow,” Tikki suggested. “It’s the weekend, and Master Fu only needs you to get groceries, and then you’re free for the entire weekend.” 

Damian nodded. He had known Marinette for about a month- But she was his angel now, and he would do anything to be her knight. 

---

“Marinette.” He called just as she was packing her things to leave for the day. This gained quite the reaction. It was the first actual time he’d called her by her name, and not her surname. 

“Um, yes?” She said looking up, feeling nostalgia because damn, those green eyes looked very familiar. 

"Do... Do you want to... Hang out for the weekend? We could discuss our homework, and then we could... Just go out and about.” He waved his hands around awkwardly as he spoke, because no, Talia did not teach him how to remain composed in front of the special angel in his life. Neither did Bruce, and growing up with three other brothers who were absolutely hopeless with their love lives did not help, either. 

She smiled at the comment, and it made his entire life suddenly worth it. She had smiled! Perhaps she was starting to feel better, and Damian swore that he would make her so happy through the weekend she'd forget all about that- Bitch- And she'd smile as brightly as she did before. 

---

“Good morning, Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng. I’m... Damian. Damian... Fu...?” His introduction ended with a little question. He didn’t really want anyone to know that he was a Wayne, and since Marinette had probably forgotten about his surname... Well, there was no need to tell her, either. 

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, Damian!” Sabine cheerily responded, and Damian immediately thought: That’s angel’s mother alright. “Marinette’s already getting ready upstairs.

In truth, Marinette didn’t want to get up. It was the weekend, and though she admitted that she felt a little guilty about not helping her parents with the bakery, she just... Couldn’t get the will to get up, to do things. 

But Plagg wouldn’t let it go. He’d nagged her until she got up, and he had tried to prep her up, commenting on what she should wear- (He had gotten a rough idea of what clothes Damian seemed to like to see Marinette wearing after getting Tikki to inquire the boy). In the end, Marinette was dressed in a cute white sweater with a smiley face- And a cute, plaited dark blue skirt. She sighed tiredly, a little reluctant to leave, but seeing Plagg get so excited about her going out did encourage her a little bit, and so she went downstairs to meet Damian. 

He had definitely made an effort. He had decked out in some casual clothes- A black sweater went over whatever shirt he was wearing under, and he had paired that up with some dark jeans and black-and-green running shoes. it was late autumn by then, and Damian had already brought a spare sweater and a spare jacket for his angel inside his backpack. 

When he saw her, he immediately smiled. There was his beautiful angel, blushing, looking simply adorable in her sweater. 

“Ready?” He smiled, watching as her hesitant eyes looked him up and down until they stopped at his outstretched hand. 

She took his hand. 

---

They were strolling by the riverside, her hand still in his. 

Her hand still in his. 

Damian was having a mental breakdown inside however much he tried to remain calm and stoic on the outside. He had no intentions of letting go of that hand, and Marinette didn’t seem to mind much, either. It was the first time since Lila came that she’d left from her house, with the exception of going to school. 

“They’re so many new shops.” She marveled quietly, looking at the shop lots littering down the river street. 

“Don’t you want to check them out? Let’s go.” He smiled, dragging her along, Tikki- Hidden in his sweater to give emergency advice- Nodding approvingly. She blushed, nodding, letting him pull her along. 

---

 “What boat is that?” Marinette had murmured, staring at a very-out-of-place ship resting in the harbor. “It looks... Very artistic.” She commented amusedly, smiling to herself. 

“Want to check it out?” Damian hummed, already pulling her in the direction. Today, he thought, he would bring her anywhere she wanted to go, let her see everything she wanted to see. 

“It’s so pretty.” Marinette breathed, staring at the ship dressed in fairy lights, decorated in the most explicit way there was. “Do you think we can go down?” She asked, turning to him, her bluebell eyes shining in excitement. 

Of course it’d be impossible to say no to his angel. 

“Hey, who are you?” 

When Damian turned around, he bristled like a cat. A boy with dyed turquoise hair was pointing suspiciously at them, and Damian had a large urge to snap ‘Do you know who I am?’, but he decided against it. 

“I’m Damian Fu, and this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” He said neutrally, realizing in his mind that if the boy was heading into the harbor, there was a high chance he could get the two of them onto the ship. 

“Luka, who’s that?” A girl with a hair color similar to Marinette’s came over, her face as neutrally cold as Damian’s. 

“This is Damian and... Was it Marinette?” Luka smiled at the dark-haired girl behind Damian, watching as she responded with a shy nod and smile. Damian immediately hissed again, only stopping himself when Luka gave him a strange look. “Well, I’m Luka Couffaine, and this is Kagami Tsurugi.” 

“Right.” Damian cleared his throat. “We were wondering if we could take a look around the ship?” 

Luka shrugged. “Sure. I mean, I could take you onboard. Come on.” 

---

The moment Kagami set her eyes on Marinette, she felt the urge to protect her. Marinette was small, and shy, but Kagami knew there was a lot of energy trapped underneath deep within. She just knew. 

“And this is Luka’s room. He shares it with his sister.” Kagami told her, watching as the girl marveled at the turquoise boy’s pick collection. Chuckling as Marinette looked over each one, Kagami smiled. “Yeah, he really treasures all his picks. Once, when he brought me in here, he told me the stories of how he got everyone of those picks.” 

“Wow.” Marinette awwed. “He sounds like a great guy.” 

Kagami sighed dreamily. “Yeah, he is.” 

---

While Kagami was busy taking Marinette on a tour of the ship, Luka pulled Damian aside. “Is she... Okay?” Luka struggled with his words. When he looked into her eyes, he could see the hurt, and wariness inside them when he first saw her on the harbor. “There’s this something in her eyes, like-” 

“I know.” Damian cut him off, his own eyes sorrowful. “It’s why I’m taking her out today. In hopes she’ll cheer up.” 

Luka nodded in understanding. “She looks like she needs friends.” At this, Damian immediately understood what the boy was hinting at. Feeling threatened, Damian hissed again, but not before Luka raised his hands in surrender. “Whoa. Chill out, man. I like another girl. No one’s touching your girlfriend.” 

Damian calmed down slightly, still feeling tense. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a friend.” 

Pause. 

“For now.” 

“So... She’s not your girlfriend?” Luka asked in disbelief. 

Damian smirked, eyes alight. “Yet.” 

---

“Oh, I’ve heard about you.” Kagami suddenly remembered as they were sipping on some ice chocolate on the ship deck. “Adrien’s mentioned you before.” 

Damian immediately tensed up on the name, but not only he tensed up. So did Luka. 

“You know Adrien?” Marinette asked softly, her head tilted slightly in curiousity. 

“He’s in my fencing class.” Kagami explained, then lowering her voice so that the boys wouldn’t hear. “He’s pretty cute... I have a crush on him.” Damian had heard it despite the low volume that the girl spoke in, and he knew Luka heard it too. Ahh, he realized. Luka liked Kagami... But Kagami liked Adrien. 

---

“Thanks a lot for today!” Marinette beamed, having regained a little of her energy, hopping a little. 

“Please come back soon!” Luka grinned, waving. 

“See you, Luka.” Kagami smiled at the boy. “I’ve got to get home before my mom kills me.” 

“See you, Kagami!” Luka waved, a blush climbing up his cheeks. 

On the way home, Damian could feel like that the day had been worth it. Taking her hand into his abrubtly, he ignored her stare on him, and only held her hand tighter. 

“Damian?” 

He hummed in reply. 

“Thanks for today.” She blushed, fiddling with the end of her sweater with her other hand. “It was really nice of you to do so,” She continued. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at him. “You’re a really nice friend, Damian. I’m so lucky to have you.” 

---

Right. So Marinette didn’t like Damian, but she liked Robin. 

Those were the thoughts running through Robin’s head as he scampered through the city in his familiar route to his angel’s balcony. 

He smiled, pleased when he saw her, cuddled up against the balcony, waiting ever so patiently for him. 

“Angel?” He queried softly, dropping in front of her. Noticing her smile, he couldn’t help but ask: “What’s got you looking so happy today, hmm?” 

She blushed. “My friend took me out today, and I made new friends!” She told him excitedly. 

“Oh, really?” 

---

She was so much happier the day after. It showed. She was smiling, constantly giggling to herself, even when she took her seat next to him. 

“Well, you look happy.” Damian smiled, taking out his books. 

She giggled, like she had a little secret in her heart. “You want to know why?” 

He nodded. 

“A little robin came to visit me, that’s why.” She mused, blushing to herself and giggling again. 

That’s when it hit him. 

Holy shit, he was truly in love with her. 

---

I have to visit my grandparents later today, so I didn’t have the time to check this draft. Sowy :( Contact me if any mistakes are found~

I’ve hidden a lot of parallels in the series- And of course, there’s the really obvious one in this chapter- The ‘She’s just a friend’. Marinette is kind of like Adrien to Ladybug but with Robin.

(Tag list! @yin-390 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @constancetruggle @the-navistar-carol @never-neverland @rayray384 @mystery-5-5 @black-streak @bluerosette23 @seraphichan @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @mikantsume @graduatedmelon @thebookwormfairy @crazylittlemunchkin @shizukiryuu @screamingtofillthevoid @serenacross200 @zestyzealot @redscarlet95 @roseinbloom02 @beautym3 @resignedcatservant @sizzling-fairy-oil @tinybrie @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry )

There we go! Hope you enjoyed! 

[becausewerebatfam]

Mother Knows Best

Damian Wayne x Reader

After finally gaining your father’s approval to date Damian a new problem arises. His mother, Talia, also finds out and she is not pleased.

Warning: Violence & Suggestive Content, Damian’s age is 18+

[ Master List ]

“What is this I hear about my son?” Talia may not be involved in her son’s life but every so often she had people watching him and reporting back to her. She lost it when she heard of his romantic involvement with another of Bruce’s live-in charity cases. Damian was a very serious person who did everything properly. He was now of marrying age and if he had started to court someone she felt obligated to asses the woman. From what she had gathered, using the League, you were no match for her son.

Her son deserved someone better.

Bruce ignored her question and asked her to leave but it only fueled her anger.

“Who is this woman that has poisoned my perfect son?” She had yet to see you and was more than eager to confront you.

You and Damian arrived at the Batcave in time to hear Talia’s question. It hurt, but from what you had heard about Damian’s mother it was no surprise. Not being one to fear confrontation you acted before Damian could stop you. “That would be me.”

“Y/N don’t-” Damian called out to you but it was too late. You had left his side and gone to face his mother. He knew it was only a matter of time before she showed up after that run-in with the League earlier in the week.

Talia scowled at you making you question whether Damian got his scowling abilities from his father or mother. She wasn’t surprised at all to see you were also wearing a bat on your chest but she was still sure you weren’t worthy of being the wife of the Al’Ghul heir.

“This is unacceptable-” she pointed at you.

“This,” you repeated with resent.

She had dehumanized you with only one word.

“I don’t need your approval to court her.” Damian stood behind you urging you to let it go, “Don’t listen to her Beloved.”

Bruce stood behind Talia knowing very well that she was looking for a fight. Similarly, Damian stood beside you putting a hand on your shoulder as a reminder to mind your temper.

Talia’s eyes showed a flash of disappointment at the term of endearment. Her son would never show such weakness. “How could you have gotten so weak Damian? Is she to blame, because I can fix that.” Her voice lowered and her weight shifted showing she was ready to attack.

“Are you threatening me,” you ask taking a step forward.

Damian knew his mother had a gun on her while you only had a pair of katanas strapped to your back. “Stand down Y/N you can’t win.”

His lack of confidence hurt but not as much as his mother’s comments. You knew it was hypocritical to fight her when you had tried to avoid having your father and Damian fight. But this was different, your honor was being attacked. You were being dehumanized just like when you were in the lab. The thoughts took over your senses making you see red.

“Listen to Damian,” Bruce sternly warned. 

He couldn’t see your eyes but he was sure you were starting to get fired up. He didn’t like how close you two were in distance and in skill. It would end badly if you fought Talia as you were now. He was mostly afraid you would lose your temper forcing him to take you down.

“Fine,” you breathed out unclenching your fists. 

You turned walking straight past Damian shooting him a glare, and into the manor where you took your mask off and tossed it aside. In a huff of rage, you punched the nearest wall only to regret it immediately after. The consecutive whispers of apologies that accompanied your failed efforts to cover up the damage evoked laughter from behind you.

“Woah, bad night?” Dick asked after silently witnessing you lose control.

The last thing you wanted was to alarm anyone with your temper. Flashes of memories blinded you. Memories where your hands were bathed in blood. “Please don’t tell anyone,” you pleaded. Bruce would definitely lecture you and take you out of the field if you started showing signs of aggression.

Dick knew you were trying your best to live up to Bruce’s standards just like the rest of them. You had your own demons to overcome. “Only if you tell me what’s got you so worked up.”

You sighed, “Where do I begin...”

“At the beginning of course.”

You giggled at his lame attempt to make you laugh. Guess it wasn't so lame in the end if it worked.

Damian came up to the Manor after getting rid of his mother. He expected you to be mad about what had just happened but instead, he found you smiling in the kitchen as you ate some sugary breakfast cereal with Dick.

That only worried him further.

“Oh, Dami you’re just in time. We’re about to have seconds!” Dick opened the second box of Lucky Charms and poured its mix of marshmallows and cereal into his bowl. Just as you scooped your last bits of little brown cereal pieces.

He turned down Dick’s invitation instead, focusing on you. “Beloved,” he reached out to hold your free hand but you moved it. You avoided him altogether by getting up and walking away.

“Dami wait,” Dick stopped him when he tried going after you. “Before you go after her you have to be sure of what you are going to say or it will only make it worse.”

Damian’s brow furrowed, “What did she tell you?”

“Not much but something Talia said triggered her memories and nearly made her lose control.”

With that in mind Damian went up to his bedroom where you would most likely run off to. He sighed heavily upon entering knowing he would have to admit to a few things. “I understand your anger towards me.”

“Do you,” you asked cross-armed. Damian could be thick-headed when it came to emotions. He loved to mask or deny his emotions just like his father. 

You had spoken to him about the lab but it was one thing to hear about it than it was to live it. You did not expect him to completely understand what you felt when his mother dehumanized you. 

He closed the gap between you and reached out, holding onto either side of you. “Instead of standing up for you I put my efforts into driving her away. But I had a good reason for that.”

Your arms loosened as you waited for his response.

Damian’s hands slid from your arms to your hips. “I could not risk you getting hurt. I’ve foughten mother- she would not hesitate."

“You think I would lose?”

It was hard to say. “Your rage is unpredictable.”

You sighed, disappointed by the small amount of trust your boyfriend had in you. “Dami-” you tried prying his hands off of you but he would not let go.

“Beloved I know you have come a long way since then. Despite all the provocation, you have managed to control your actions but I know Talia.” 

A hint of sadness could be seen in his eyes making you less reluctant to pull away. Instead, your hand went to his cheek, “Sometimes I forget you too had a less than normal childhood.” Your other hand went to the back of his neck where you clung to him.

Damian held you by the waist now, wrapping his arms fully around you. "I do not doubt your skills.” He chuckled remembering the scar on his right pectoral that had remained a souvenir from his first encounter with Y/N Wilson. “I have the scar to prove it.”

Your hand slid from his cheek to said muscle on his chest with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that...” At the time he had stopped you from a political hit job you had been sent on. The job was long forgotten but you still recalled the wrath of Robin. “But I do think it’s incredibly sexy to see my handiwork on you.”

He knew the feeling. It was comparable to when he would see the markings on your neck the following morning after having spent the night with you. 

The hand on his neck pulled down on him so you could reach his lips. All your previous anger had been forgotten as you nipped and sucked his bottom lip. The kiss was being led by you until Damian dipped down and scooped you up holding onto your thighs. 

His actions caught you unaware making you open your eyes and mouth, an opportunity he took to explore your tongue with his.

He sat down at the edge of the bed with you straddling his lap. “Promise me that if Talia ever tries to contact you or you run into her, that you will let me know.”

You hesitated for a moment but ultimately nodded. “I promise.”

He gave you a sweet longing peck keeping his forehead against yours after. “I love you Y/N.”

“I love you too Damian.”

With that, you began taking each other’s suits off. Being on his lap, Damian had managed to fully unclothe you fairly quickly while you had only managed to slip off the top half.

He watched you trace his scar with your fingers for a moment before replacing them with your lips.

You stopped when you heard the door slam open behind you.

“It’s too quiet, did you kill each-” Dick quickly regretted bursting in without knocking.

“Grayson!” 

Dick covered his eyes and quickly began to apologize to you. “Sorry the door was unlocked and it was so quiet I thought you two killed each other.”

Damian picked up his cape and draped it over you before chasing out his older brother. Even if it was an accident he had seen too much.

When Damian came back he was sporting a scowl. That was the second time one of his brothers had walked in on him. “He got away.”

“At least he apologized, unlike Tim.” You tried to make light of the situation. After all your back had been to the door so he hadn’t seen much. “At this rate, Jason will be next.”

“I’ll kill him again.”

+++

Unfortunately, you were unable to keep your promise when Talia took your prized katanas, specially made for you by your father, and only offered to give them back if you went to Infinity Island which is where you currently were. Although your father would understand the circumstances of their loss it had become more of a matter of principle. 

You would not allow Talia to taunt you now or in the future. 

“I’m not good enough for your son? You think less of me because I can’t take a life,” you ask incredulously. There is a moment of silence as you try to think of a response that wouldn’t offend her but sometimes people needed to be told their truths. “Bruce warned me about coming here...” He had tried to stop you. “Damian also-”

Talia’s eyes narrowed at you as her chest rose to show her confidence the same way Damian did. “There is nothing you can say or do that will hurt me. I am not weak like you, my son requires someone who will encourage him to achieve greater things.”

“I do that!” You were starting to yell and that wasn’t good. 

Talia didn’t know you had blood on your hands. In what felt like a lifetime ago you were once a mercenary like your father. At one point you were driven by anger like the one you felt now but thanks to your father you had learned to control it.

Unfortunately, he never taught you how to deal with someone like Talia. She was a smart, educated woman but her views were too extreme. Logic was beyond her.

“If I could speak freely I would tell you of all your weaknesses but I’d probably only need to point out one to get a reaction out of you.”

“Speak girl!”

Your hands balled into fists ready to embrace the consequences of your words. Oh, how you wished you would have taken a weapon from the cave. “Your greatest weakness Talia is your lack of maternal instincts. I don’t doubt you love your son but it is a twisted conventional love. You only show him favor when he is doing your bidding and when he isn’t you are more than willing to dispose of him-”

“Insolent girl!” Talia threw a knife at you but you dodged it just in time.

“My name is Y/N,” you replied from your newfound ground. The rage had taken over and all you could see was red. The gun strapped to her thigh was your target.

Talia threw a few more daggers your way. 

Each one of them missed and lodged into the wall behind you except the last. That one you caught in your hand and threw it back at her with a bit of laughter. She had tried to catch it just as you had but the speed was far greater than she had calculated.

She grunted in agony as the dagger impaled her hand, striking a nerve that made her unable to even feel the whole arm.

You laughed as you approached her with a smirk. Crimson red trails ran down her forearm fueling your blood lust. “Is this what you wanted?”

Talia’s brow furrowed in confusion as you removed your domino mask. She could see your eyes had literally become red.

“Taking a life is easy, there is nothing praiseworthy about that.”

When you got close enough Talia threw a few kicks your way and fended you off with her one good hand as she waited for the League to hear her and come to her rescue. 

You were quick, only allowing her to land a few hits while you reached for the dagger again.

“Ah!” Talia screamed loudly when you tore it out.

This time you did not throw it. Instead, you held it at her throat. “Is this what you want for Damian?”

The League of Assassins entered throwing shuriken at you from all sides. 

You let go of Talia and used the dagger to deflect the shuriken sending them off into multiple directions.

Talia used the opportunity to get away. Once she was safely out of your reach she used her non-dominant hand to reach for her gun. “Wha-” she nearly cursed when she found her holster empty.

Bang.

A satisfied smile appeared on your face when you saw the dark figure slump to the ground like a rag doll.  You could literally hear the bullet break through their ribs before it hit his heart. This was your first lethal shot in years and it felt so good. 

The rush of adrenaline, the ringing in your ears... you had to do it again.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Click, click... “Empty,” you sighed disappointedly as you discarded the gun.

Talia was shocked to see you had killed everyone. 

Her face spoke of horror which made you tilt your head in question. “Was this not what you wanted, what you expected for your son?" You smiled once more feeling light and airy after your first killing spree since leaving your mercenary life. “Surprised by the fact that your son actually chose an ex-merc as his girlfriend?” You laughed at the irony. “My name is Y/N Wilson, daughter of Slade Wilson.”

“Y/N!” Damian called out.

You turned towards the sound of his voice. “Dami,” you muttered as soon as you saw the horror on his face. Suddenly the red had left your eyes but not your hands. You could see Talia’s blood on your gloves and an overwhelming urge to wipe off a wet substance from your face- no doubt blood.

Damian looked around to see the many bodies, neither belonging to his mother. 

The smell of iron filled your nostrils and welled your eyes with tears of regret.

He rushed over to catch you as you lost all the strength in your legs. The emotional turmoil was crashing down on you like the unforgiving waves of the ocean during a storm. “What did you do,” he rhetorically asked with a mix of anger and compassion for his beloved.

For a moment you silently clutched onto him. Finding your voice was difficult when you were surrounded by your wrongdoings. “I- I lost it,” you managed to say in a low trembling voice. “I wanted to but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t control myself.”

Damian wiped your tears unable to see you suffering like this.

But the more he did for you, the more tears would slip. Eventually, the mix of blood and tears were too much for him to clear. “I’m sorry.”

Damian swallowed the non-existant lump in his throat. He knew what you were going through, he had felt similar after his year of blood. All he could do was hold you in his arms and stroke your hair lovingly. For he knew, as soon as his father heard about this you would surely be taken from him.

Distracted and withdrawn Talia managed to come up behind you two. She pushed Damian away before driving your own katanas through your abdomen and chest. “You are weak,” were the last words she spoke to you before pulling them out.

You dropped to your knees with blank eyes. The impact had hurt but now you felt nothing. You fell to the side looking down at your wounds. All you could do was stare at the blood as it seeped out.

“NO!” Damian did not know what to do. He could see the life leaving your body as your skin turned pale and your eyes struggled to remain open. His hands went to your wounds but the blades had gone through and through. You were bleeding from the front and back.

“Damian, Y/N,” Batman finally arrived.

“You’re too late Beloved,” Talia threw your katanas aside. “For a moment I thought perhaps I had underestimated her. She managed to do this much only to let her guard down in the end. Our son can do better.”

While his father dealt with his mother Damian tended to you. He ripped his cape and tied bands of it around your torso applying pressure to both the front and back of the wounds. “Everything is going to be alright Y/N.”

You shook your head too drained to speak but wishing he would give up and leave you there. You couldn’t imagine facing him after what you did. 

“It’s not your fault.”

How you wished you could believe that. A tear rolled down the side of your eyes before you completely blacked out.

+++

Three Months Later

“Y/N you have a visitor.”

You sat up on your bed as the guard opened your cell. Instantly your heart dropped when you saw Damian. He was dressed as Robin keeping his identity safe from the other inmates of Arkham Asylum.

Even with your private room he had to pass the cells of other villains like Harley and Ivy.

You turned away not wanting to see him. “I told you not to come here again.” Most of your memory from the when you encountered Talia was hazy. You recalled your initial attack of her and the moment she stabbed you with your own swords. The rest came in flashes. But, the moment you woke up to find yourself in Arkham you knew your life would never be the same again.

Damian nodded, “I know.” It was hard to see you dressed in the all-white uniform, your ankle chained to the bed. Your once long hair had been cut up to your shoulder to make it easier to manage.

“Then what are you doing here?” Your voice wavered a bit from the stern tone you wished to give off. When you turned to him your brow was furrowed but your eyes were too sad to truly scowl at him.

Although you rejected him since the day you regained consciousness Damian continued to return. He visited you every two weeks in between your treatments- like they allowed him. “Beloved please understand I did this for you.”

“For me?” You finally let your feet touch the cold floor. The sound of the metal chain banging against the bedpost echoed your small cell. “You locked me up in the very place I fear most.” Your chest rose and fell with every shaky breath you took. The doctors and scientists that overlooked you were far too familiar a sight. “I’m surrounded by the white coats again.”

Damian’s jaw clenched unable to refute your claims. In the past three months, he could see the fear growing inside you. His eyes went to your neck where a white ring began to beep. It was the collar that monitored your heart rate, aka your rage. “Beloved you have to calm down.”

“Don’t call me that!”

The beeping grew louder drawing the attention of a passing doctor. “Is everything okay here?”

“No, get him out!” you ordered.

The doctor went to look for a guard with the keys.

“Beloved this is for your own good.” Damian tried reasoning with you. He held you by the shoulders but you pushed him off. 

“Leave,” you breathed out. 

He shook his head, “I love you.”

Those three words triggered your tears. The strong facade you had been playing for the past three months broke down with you. “You shouldn’t,” you cried out.

Just as he was about to embrace you the guard came along with the doctor. 

You wiped your tears away not wanting anyone else to see you like this. “Sorry,” you mouthed to him. 

You wanted them to keep him away from you for good. 

The only way to do that was to convince them he had to be kept away.

The beeping started back up as your heart raced. It was a completely inaccurate tool. It hardly was able to map your rage. The memories of being with Damian were all you needed to trigger it. 

“No Y/N-”

The doctor pushed past Damian, “Sorry you have to leave the patient is becoming unstable.” He called for other doctors while Damian struggled against the guard.

As the small cell filled with white coats, your fear took over and you became hysterical. You fought them off not allowing them near you. “Leave me alone!”

Damian watched as they forced a needle into your neck that immediately stopped the beeping. You fell limp into one of the doctor's arms as they laid you back into the bed.

“Increase the dosage and bring her in for more tests. We must scan the brain again.”

The head doctor approached Damian with remorse. “I’m sorry Robin but the patient only reacts negatively when you come around. She’s usually pretty well behaved.” He has resigned to the fact that Robin was the cause for your issues. “I have to ask you to refrain from visiting until we run more tests.”

“Tt,” Damian turned away. He knew what you were doing and it was working. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“I understand but-”

“She was fine, there is nothing wrong with her.”

“If you believe that then why did you bring her here?”

He didn’t want to. His father made him. Now he could see it was a mistake listening to him. If he had kept you out of here you would be fine as long as he kept you away from his mother.

Damian didn’t respond. He looked to your cell where you were fast asleep and walked off.

“Boy wonder you really are just as cruel as the bat,” Ivy taunted him. “Sending your girlfriend to Arkham in chains...”

Damian ignored her and continued walking.

“Poor baby Y/N was let down by her birdie,” Harley chimed in. “If I were you I’d watch out for her Daddy.”

Damian stopped to look over at Harley.

“Oh, didn’t you know? Her Daddy knows what you did to her.”

-end-

A/N: Which did you like more: Father Knows Best or Mother Knows Best?

[wesavegotham]

(Probably incomplete) list of awful things that have happened to Damian Wayne as of February 2019

To test @writingtheworks theory that DC can’t stop hurting Damian for five minutes I tried to make a little list.

Disclaimer: I certainly haven’t read everything yet or it has been some months since I last read some stories, so feel free to correct me or add more things if you like. This is just from what I can remember off the top of my head. Also English isn’t my first language, sorry.

1. Damian was abused, trained to fight and kill for the first ten years of his life and had high expectations set on him from day one because he’s the grandson of Ra’s al-Ghul and the son of Batman.

2. Had to see his family kill pretty much every mentor/teacher he had after he completed his studies.

3. Was introduced to his father when he was ten as a distraction and Bruce kinda gave up on parenting him after a day and seemed mostly fine that his child would be raised by the league of assassins when Damian left with Talia. I know that Damian was awful back then, but that’s basically begging for a disaster.

4. When Damian finally did return to Gotham (some time after his grandfather tried to posess his body) Bruce died/got lost in time.

5. Got shot by Jason.

6. Was paralyzed from the waist down and needed a new spine. His new spine was later used by Talia to control his body to try to kill Dick.

7. Had to fight a resurrected clone of his father (with Bruce’s memories) who tried to kill him and told him he regarded him as his biggest mistake.

8. Was declared an enemy of the Al-Ghul family by his own mother, who also cloned him to show him how replaceable he is to them.

9. Was afraid that Bruce would take Robin away from him when he came back to Gotham. It was only after Damian spend months searching for Martha Wayne’s pearls in the sewers of Gotham and gifted one to his father that Bruce truly started to believe that Damian was capable of caring for others and could work as Robin to his Batman.

10. Was afraid of losing Dick Grayson, the one person (besides maybe Alfred) he knew cared about him when Bruce came back.

11. Was tortured by Morgan Ducard.

12. Lost a lot of faith in Bruce after the death of the family storyline. The Joker made him fight someone he believed to be his father in this story and Damian surrendered because he would rather be killed by Bruce than kill him.

13. Talia put a massive bounty on her son’s head and forced Bruce to choose between Damian and Gotham. Bruce seriously considered sending Damian back to his mother. Also I’m pretty sure Bruce believed some weird dream he had that Damian would grow up and burn Gotham (or the world?) to the ground.

14. Was brutally murdered by the Heretic/his own clone while he tried to protect Nightwing and Gotham. Talia did nothing to stop the Heretic and only got angry afterwards. Bruce tried to save him, but he was too late. He was still only ten in that story.

15. Possibly landed in DC’s version of hell.

16. Had his body robbed from his grave which started a weird chase after his wordly remains.

17. Was ressurrected and happily reunited with his family only for Bruce to lose all his memories of being Batman and the Batfamily shortly after. Had to hide from his father and began a one year journey of redemption for the year of blood. He was on his own for a significant portion of his journey and was nearly killed several times. Had to watch his father build a new, happier life without him or his siblings in it. Plus he thought Dick was dead at the time.

18. Turned himself in to the court of owls to save Dick and the other Robins. Had a bomb placed in his head without his knowledge.

19. Bruce completely forgot Damian’s birthday and apparently assumes that no such thing as a birthday was involved in his son being 13 now. Ra’s gave him a dead robin as a gift and a death threat. Lovely stuff.

20. Look, I love Supersons and we get some really nice Bruce and Damian moments in it, but it also highlights how different Jon’s happy family life is from Damian’s day to day life with Batman.

21. Had to hear from his butler that his dad was getting married to a woman Damian barely knew. Said woman did more to make sure Damian would be okay with this development than his own father.

22. Feared that Dick would forget about him if he had a child.

23. Feared that he could be replaced by a child Bruce could have with Selina.

24. Thought his father was dead during DC Metal.

25. Had to fight against the Robin of the Batman who laughs aka himself. Damian really has to fight a lot of evil versions of himself or his father.

26. Was told again that he would grow up to doom the world and betray his best friend Jon during the Supersons of tomorrow storyline.

27. Had to contemplate that Slade Wilson/Deathstroke could be his biological father and not Bruce.

28. Had to witness the Justice League fail to save the entire planet and population of Colu during No Justice. Had an offscreen fight with Bruce after this. It doesn’t look like Bruce did much to resolve their issues, he just let his 13 year old son go off on his own.

29. Couldn’t stop some repeated offenders from blowing up his favorite restaurant and the owner of said place.

30. Dick got shot in the head and refuses to talk to anyone from his old life.

31. Thought that Jason Todd betrayed him and his team.

32. Jon went to space for some time and came back as a 17 year old. Yikes.

33. Started a fight with Jason and got brutally beaten up. The preview of Teen Titans #27 indicates that his injuries are quite severe and possibly life threatening if he doesn’t get help from Djinn or a doctor.

34. Damian will probably get beaten up a lot again by the Arkham Knight in Detective comics 1002 and 1003.

35. Adam Glass might also make Damian break Batman’s no kill rule in the upcoming Teen Titans vs Deathstroke storyline.

To summarize my list...a lot of pain in the past, a lot of pain in the present, probably a lot of pain in the future. Lovely stuff.

I know that Damian is a difficult character and that he makes really bad decisions sometimes that led to some points on the list above. I’m also aware that suffering incredible amounts of pain is part of being in a Batman comic, but I thinks it’s still remarkable how hard it is to find storylines in which DC doesn’t hurt this child character.

________________________________________________________________

After writing all of this down I realise that it might look like I think that Bruce doesn’t love Damian. I have no doubt that Bruce loves Damian and all his other children:

To show only some more recent examples. One thing all of them have in common though is that Damian isn’t there to hear any of it and I think that might be a big (but not a new) problem.

[nothingofnotereally]

Unpacking Rebirth!Talia’s Upbringing

Okay so…. Can we talk about Rebirth Talia al Ghul? People who aren’t familiar with her history, her almost 50 year history at this point, and more importantly aren’t familiar with it in depth often have no idea why it is that Talia fans think that her treatment post Morrison, but even moreso post-Rebirth, is a radical rebranding of the character they’ve known for so long.   And I could talk about that, and maybe one day I will, but today I’m going to talk about something different, but related.

I’m going to talk about Talia’s background in Rebirth, how it accounts for her being a dramatically different character than she was in her classic form and whether she’s still salvageable as anything other than a mustache-twirler.

I. The Demon’s Daughter

Let’s be clear: the little we know of Talia’s rebirth childhood is absolutely horrific.  Pure nightmare fuel.  While their traditional dynamic was troubling and problematic, it was also loving in its way, and Ra’s was controlling of her, while also protective of her.  Now, instead, we have this:

This issue has been out for a while, but I haven’t seen anyone really unpack what it is Talia is saying here, because we’re all focused on the stupid swordfight with Selina. But look at what it is Talia is saying and what it means about her upbringing.

Talia is saying that, basically since she was a toddler, she has been physically abused, and forced to fight, by her centuries old swordmaster father.  In fact, her very first memory is bleeding from wounds caused by her father.  From then on, her life is a fight to survive against her own father, which I’m guessing was pretty damn difficult especially when she was an actual child.  And often, when she loses?

She dies.  Or rather, she is murdered.  Repeatedly.  By her father.  

And then he resurrects her and starts over.  

And about those resurrections?  It’s not like he just picks her newly killed body and immediately brings her back - check out that first panel on the second row.   Not only is she killed and revived countless times, he lets her corpse at least partially rot before resurrecting her, so that when she returns to life, she is treated to the sight  of her skin regrowing over her rotted flesh.  And as soon as Ra’s notices she’s alive again… they start again.

How long did that go on? Unclear, but she’s still fighting him as a grown woman in the equivalent of this time period in The Gift...

...so I’m guessing the answer is “it didn’t stop until she left him.”

To be honest, I’m not really sure what the Rebirth version of Ra’s and Talia’s dynamic even was.  The classic relationship doesn’t work at all with this backstory, and we’ve never really seen a lot of what the new paradigm might be since they’ve been out of contact since well before Rebirth.  But what we do know is, she was an active assassin from a young age.

Unlike Classic Talia who was actually never an active assassin at all:

We can also glean bits and pieces of information regarding her Rebirth upbringing from other appearances. Over in Silencer, we find out that despite her brilliance, the fact that she was carrying out assassinations for him, and the fact that she could defeat her ancient swordmaster father even as a child, she was never good enough for him: 

He was dissatisfied with her, and so he created metahumans using his genes to replace her.  Ultimately, this drives her to plot against Ra’s because... who wouldn’t?

It’s not entirely clear what her ambitions were, specifically but judging from this bit of Batman and Robin (New52, but seemingly still canon for Damian’s backstory):

It involved winning Batman over to her side and ruling the world through Damian.  This is further confirmed by her comment to Honor in Silencer Annual #1 here:

Where she indicates that Bruce is family to her, and still features in her future plans. What’s strange here is that she also says later that she intends to kill him personally, which is.  Weird and out of nowhere, but what else is new.  As a sidenote, Silencer is just strange because it ignores everything about Talia’s history not just in terms of changing her personality but in terms of ignoring the timeline of events, but... moving along...

Talia intends to form Leviathan to break free of him and pursue her own agenda.  But, while apparently finding her insufficient, Ra’s cannot let her go.  Not only that, he actively works to destroy everything she is trying to accomplish, including trying to kill Batman just because she desires him.  In fact, he also tries to have Talia herself assassinated:

Another thing is, Rebirth Talia is rather older than she looks, as evidenced by her having been an adult when she met Honor. 

Which means, in the end, we have a woman who was abused and repeatedly killed by her father, then thrown in a Lazarus Pit (but only after her body has lain around long enough to partially decompose!) and forced to repeat the cycle for who knows how long, but apparently quite a long time - decades, maybe centuries. Who even knows.  She’s been working as an assassin since her teens.  Despite her excelling and even surpassing him in various ways, he considers her inferior, and begins seeking to replace her with artificially created metahuman heirs.  Eventually, Talia decides she wants to break with him, and he responds by first trying to destroy everything she cares about and then trying to have her killed. 

OKAY, SO.  Nightmare fuel.  I genuinely can’t begin to imagine what it would be like growing up in that environment, and under the circumstances it’s certainly no shock that Rebirth Talia is warped.  

Even so, what stands out to me in the B&R issue is that, initially, even her wildest ambitions required her to exercise power through a man – it’s just her son instead of her father or her potential husband.  This says a good deal about how her upbringing, as well as her father’s fixation on marrying her off, has affected her self-image.  And for those who say Talia evidences arrogance and self-importance… yes she does.  Which is often a symptom of low self-esteem.  In fact even Narcissistic Personality Disorder typically stems from overcompensation for a feeling of worthlessness.

The traditional/original Ra’s/Talia dynamic had some elements of this story, but not all and not nearly to the same extent.  Furthermore, Classic Talia had something else - someone else - to love and look to for hope. Rebirth Talia does not.  Because as far as I can tell, in Rebirth, Talia and Batman’s relationship has very little in common with the conflicted romance they shared in their original stories.  And that’s how we transition to...

II. Beloved of the Bat?

So, Bruce Wayne.  

Again, the extent of their relationship in Rebirth is unclear, but it definitely isn’t what it was pre-Rebirth.  

The original Bruce/Talia story is basically as such:  Talia meets him when she’s kidnapped by Dr. Daark, and falls in love with him.  Bruce is also drawn and attracted to her.  This results in Ra’s deciding to test Bruce for suitability as Talia’s husband and his own heir.  Bruce passes, but unsurprisingly has no interest in running a criminal empire, though he does fall in love with Talia.  This leads to a rather intense on/off romance that ultimately results in Damian Wayne, and continues until Tower of Babylon when Talia finally tires of being stuck between her father and her lover and breaks away from both of them. With Bruce and Talia’s relationship having been called to an end (by her, mind you – one day I may do a writeup on Bruce/Talia and how often what happened between them is misremembered by writers and readers alike), Bruce becomes involved with Catwoman in Hush.  Even so, we see in Death and the Maidens that Bruce does still love Talia.

Meanwhile, Talia’s previously unknown sister Nyssa kidnaps and repeatedly murders and resurrects her (sound familiar?) until she more or less goes mad.  By the end of the ordeal, she can barely speak, and she willing to do anything for Nyssa to avoid being killed again.  This results in Talia disavowing her love for Bruce, which seems to be the catalyst for him to finally move on from her, though not without considerable pain.

Okay this is important to run down, because the Rebirth story has changed everything about their relationship.

Gotta love those evil expressions.  It helps us remember that she’s a heartless monster.

Anyway so, In Silencer Annual #1, Silencer does note that Talia had previously said she was in love with Batman, so we know that she loved him, okay.  But what does love mean to Rebirth Talia?  We can find the answer to that if we go back to Roles of Engagement:

She “loved” him because she considered him a potential equal.  That’s not really a bad basis for loving someone initially – and even Classic Talia’s love for Bruce was initially sparked from a place of admiration.  But while Classic Talia eventually grew into a more complete love for him, it seems like Rebirth Talia is still stuck on objective: seek worthy mate.  In fact, once it’s clear that she and Bruce are not coming back together, she just goes ahead and propositions Slade Wilson because she figures he can give her strong children, too:

Notably, this obsession with strong offspring sort of comes out of nowhere when Morrison takes over, but anyway, from that perspective it’s not hard to understand why Bruce’s feelings for her would also be somewhat muted in Rebirth:

Because while Classic Bruce/Talia was a love story that stretched for over 30 years in our time, and most of their adult lives in canon… Rebirth Bruce/Talia is repeatedly presented as a short infatuation on his end, and a dangerous obsession with genetics on hers. The above panel is from Batman #66, and is part of the Knightmares arc, which is important because while it appears to be Selina saying it… it’s actually Bruce’s thoughts about the women in his life coming out through his imagined version of Selina.  And to him, those women amount to nothing much – none of them even warrant a direct callout.  Everyone besides Selina is a “whoever.”

Interlude and Sum I

So... Classic Ra’s was controlling, possessive and dismissive of her at times, but he was also devoted, protective and genuinely loving.  The relationship was complicated and problematic but affectionate. 

Rebirth Ra’s is an abusive tyrant who repeatedly murders and belittles his daughter and, when she decides to break from him, attempts to systematically destroy everything she cares about and then have her killed.

Classic Bruce/Talia was a complicated romance between two people who genuinely loved each other, but were always separated by circumstances.  He loved her for years, and she loved him unconditionally, and they struggled over that from the day they met until they permanently separated as a result of her being brainwashed.   

Rebirth!Talia went in search of someone she considered worthy of her so they could have a genetically perfect child to conquer the world with.  Bruce briefly had feelings for her in a moment between romantic rounds with Catwoman.

My point is this:  Rebirth Talia has never experienced genuine love or support from anyone in her life, or for anyone in her life. Her relationship with the two men she traditionally loved, and whose love for her has imprisoned, empowered and defined her for much of her existence as a character, was utterly gutted in Rebirth, leaving Rebirth Talia’s life as a prolonged emotional void.  Which makes what comes next remarkable in some ways… and predictable in others.

Because this is where we talk about Damian.

III. Olympias to his Alexander

Now, I’m not going to get into the circumstances behind Damian’s conception because what the whole hell, there is absolutely no consistency there.  Various people are very invested in one or another of the myriad versions of his conception that DC has repeatedly retconned and revised, generally leaning to whichever one fits their preferred personal narrative, and that’s fine but objectively?  Absolutely no consistency, situation unclear.  So let’s just go with “Damian resulted from this mess.”

In Batman and Robin #0 we see that Talia basically raised him the way Ra’s raised her… with some major deviations.  She used his desire to know his heritage and know his father’s name as the carrot to motivate him to succeed, rather than the fear of death and pain as a stick to punish him  for failure. 

Talia does not kill her son, whom she duels with wooden blades rather than steel.  And she is not shown to physically abuse him… aside from the swordfights, which of course is already bad.  

Mind you, I’m not denying that his upbringing is still brutal.  What I’m saying is, placed in the context of her own upbringing we can see that she was trying to raise him with more kindness and greater love than her father had her – an improved parental style, but still reflective of the only style she, herself, has ever known.  

So it’s predictable that he’s essentially mistreated… because she literally has never encountered an emotionally healthy relationship and wouldn’t know how to raise him any differently even if she wanted to.  

But it’s also remarkable because despite that, you can see she is trying to be a better mother than Ra’s was a father, and not let Damian grow up feeling unwanted and unworthy the way she did, herself.

Unlike Ra’s, she never tells Damian he is insufficient – on the contrary, she holds him up as the chosen, a conqueror, and dreams of a future when he will lead with both parents at his back.  Remember, this is a woman who was never seen as worthy of inheriting Ra’s al Ghul’s organization, and she wants to make sure Damian knows the world is his to hold.  The bit about having both parents is important, too, because per Batman Inc, Talia felt deprived of her mother, whom Ra’s had discarded as soon as she was no longer useful to him.

In short, she does for Damian everything she wished Ra’s had done for her.  

But, in so doing, she falls into many of the same traps that Ra’s had fallen into: she doesn’t provide what Damian wants, or even what he actually needs.  Instead, she gives him what he asks for, and what she thinks he needs.  But for someone who grew up without love, trying to understand how to provide it is complicated, and difficult.  

Anyway, when Damian finally defeats her, she fulfills her promise and brings him to meet Bruce.  This involves a last ditch effort to unite their family: she offers to reform.  

But not only does Bruce reject her, ultimately Damian does, as well.   This is, from Damian’s perspective, completely understandable.  Who wants to live that kind of life?  But from Talia’s perspective she has now been rejected by her own child, in addition to her father and the man she hoped to spend her life with.  You can see the raw hurt this causes her clearly, as a woman who had always yearned for family starts having exchanges like this:

And while we’re at it, count Honor as another person who left her.

And to be clear here, I’m not saying they were wrong to leave her.  Rebirth Talia is not a good person, not a kind person, not really anyone I’d want to willingly hang around.  And yes, she’s clearly manipulating Honor with her affectionate words, although I’d argue this is largely because manipulation is all she's ever experienced and all she knows how to do. 

So, what am I saying?

Interlude and Sum II - Why Is She Like That?

Just to catch it all up, we have a woman who was abused by her father, including being repeatedly murdered and resurrected, treated as inferior and insufficient despite being Ra’s’ equal or superior in many ways, who spent her young life performing assassinations and otherwise conforming her behavior to her father’s demands only to discover he was creating alternate heirs because she’s somehow still not enough for him.  She has never experienced love, seemingly has no real understanding of what it is.

When she settles on someone she believes that she loves, she is ultimately nothing to him but a “whoever” - a temporary respite from the yo-yo relationship he has with another woman.  

Then Damian happens and, from her perspective, she raises him with all the love, pride and approval that she herself never had.  In an effort to unite the family, she also attempts to do what would please Ra’s - conform her behavior to Bruce’s preferences - but he still rejects her.  

Meanwhile, she has “adopted” Honor Guest, whom she also shows favor to, but who also wants to leave her, and ultimately does just that, without even saying goodbye.   

And then we have some.  Quirks in her story - some specifics that really bear looking at in greater detail.

Repeated murder and resurrection:  So how bad is that?  It’s bad.  The first time Talia experiences this kind of thing is in Death and the Maidens, which is probably no longer canon.  But okay this was Classic Talia and for comparison, this breaks Talia’s spirit so completely that she essentially becomes Nyssa’s puppet.  

She is literally never the same again, even after Nyssa is killed.  In fact, it’s this that turned her into the monstrous Talia that we meet in Morrison’s run to begin with, so we already know she can be broken by this kind of treatment… but let’s use another example.  

Let’s use… Batman.  

He’s got one of the strongest wills in DC, right?  Well, lets rewind to a story called Emperor Joker, where the Joker attained Mr. Mxyzpltck’s omnipotent powers which he uses to repeatedly torture and murder Batman and resurrect him every day.  

This completely destroys Bruce to the point where the Spectre has to erase his memory of it in order to make Bruce functional as a person again.

So imagine that happening to Talia, as a child, at her own father’s hands.  And not for days, for years. And that’s without even considering the method of resurrection, which brings us to…

Lazarus Madness: Let’s talk about the Lazarus Pit.  It’s a magical mystical ley line-powered bath that resurrects and heals.  We all know that.  But the thing is, that’s not all it does: it also drives the one bathed or healed mad. For a short time, they become superhumanly strong, and also overtaken with violent bloodlust.  The first Lazarus pit was used to resurrect a sultan’s son, who promptly murdered Ra’s al Ghul’s wife Sora.  Since then, Ra’s himself has been the primary beneficiary of its benefits, with interesting results… namely that Ra’s has been slowly going mad for centuries.  

Because even though the intensity of the bloodlust and madness fades, it never completely disappears, and cumulative effect eventually twists a person’s nature beyond recognition.  In his first life, Ra’s was a good-natured doctor, but over the many exposures he has found himself becoming progressively worse. 

A quote from Denny O’Neil, Ra’s’s creator:

“...we gave Ra’s a benevolent motivation.  You can certainly quarrel with his methods ... But Ra's is a loony bird.  He’s been alive for 400 years and he’s become a maniacal sociopath.”

Dick Grayson concurs, and acknowledges its cause:

Even Ra’s himself is aware of it – this is why he didn’t want Jason bathed in the Lazarus Pit, because he is all too aware of the demons it stirs in a person.

So, what is the impact on Talia, who is quickly and repeatedly tortured and killed, and then resurrected using a method that is known to drive people insane?  I’m going with “not the best.”  It’s frankly astounding that she still resembles a human, psychologically.  

Assassin work at a young age: While there has been a long-standing debate about the effects of exposure to violence on all people and children in particular, in general the consensus is, yes, exposure does cause desensitization.  Obviously this doesn’t mean people are going to generally become serial killers because they played a violent video game, but it does have a numbing effect – just think about how people who watch enough horror films are harder to scare with horror films.  

Now imagine that, instead of watching people murder and commit violent acts on television or on film, a child is instead expected to perform said acts themselves.  How desensitizing would that be?  

Frankly, to see all we need to do is look at Damian, who grew up under similar circumstances and, as a result, initially exhibits what I can only call red flag behavior.

The thing is, Damian isn’t so dissimilar from his mother in this regard.  Like Talia, he becomes morally twisted, emotionally empty and ultimately tethered not to his own sense of morality or self but to other people’s perceptions and demands of him and who he should be.  Before he meets Bruce, he adheres to the League’s expectations, and when he meets Bruce, he instead aligns himself with Bruce’s code of behavior, even though he does not actually believe in it.  It takes a good deal of time and work for him to begin developing his own beliefs and boundaries.  The difference between Damian and Talia is that he had Bruce and Bruce, despite his flaws, loved Damian enough to try for his sake.

Arguably, this is a defining difference between Classic and Rebirth Talia, as well.  Classic Talia also viewed Bruce as her beacon and her path to salvation and hope.

But if, in Rebirth, Bruce never really loved her, and in fact she barely loved him, then there is no catalyst for her to begin seeking another path.  Rebirth Talia didn’t have anything but the League, and even Ra’s barely cared for her.  As a result, she was boxed into her role by fate, which she acknowledges in Teen Titans, as she wishes better for her son than she had herself.

Anyway, obviously, there are no studies on the effect of taking assassin work as a child, but my general guess here is that she has a twisted understanding of the value of life and the significance of death.  Which brings me to another massive issue that permeates the character and may even help explain her choice to put a hit on Damian at one point.

Death as Optional: Death is an inevitability, right? Like taxes. Nothing you do can prevent it, or reverse it, so all you can do is live with it, and make the most of what you have. It’s said that the existence of death is what lends meaning to life, and while I’m not sure I’m quite on board with that, the fact that death is permanent certainly does lend a certain gravitas to it.  It’s also the reason we fear death and what lies beyond it.

Unless you’re an al Ghul.

For an al Ghul, death is opt in.  Because Ra’s is essentially immortal (which is also a new thing, by the way) and because Talia herself has been repeatedly resurrected, as has her brother Dusan (assuming he’s still in continuity post-Rebirth), to Talia death has no weight to it.  No gravitas.  It is easily doled out, and just as easily forced into retreat.  

Given that, it becomes exceptionally easy to threaten death, even to those she loves, because there’s nothing to say she can’t change her mind and take it back.  

Now to be clear, my argument is not that she had the intention of taking it back – she didn’t really intend for Damian to die to begin with for one thing.  It’s just that, because of who she is and what she has experienced, Talia would always act with the knowledge that she can choose to endanger someone’s life and think about whether she’s comfortable with the result (their being dead) later.

This is evident in both Ra’s and Talia, each of whom are willing to use death and resurrection as a tool to restructure people they don’t even want dead, as Ra’s attempts to do with Damian and Talia, and as Talia does with Honor Guest.

…as a sidenote can I just say that the Lazarus Pit’s effects are so weird.  In some stories it can’t resurrect at all, and in others it can resurrect after decades without a problem.  In some it just reduces age, and in some it also heals memories.  Here it’s being used to erase memories, which makes no sense since a Pit his how Jason Todd got his memories back. Also, this is the first I’ve ever heard of al Ghuls having especially strong resistance to the Pit’s corrosive effects on personality.  Considering it’s just a bunch of chemicals on a ley line, I’m not sure how that would work, but now I’m just imagining Ra’s with a book of Lazarus recipes like, Well, I’m needing one that restores memories today so Ima add an extra pinch of ginko.

ANYWAY.

V. “R” Stands for Redemption

There was a time, a few years back, when Damian had his own series, Robin: Son of Batman.  And therein, you see one of the few efforts to explain and redeem Talia’s character.  There, while she was still presented as colder and more aggressive than her Classic counterpart, she was still capable of compassion, protectiveness and love.

It was essentially explained as a result of her being cleansed of the toxin that was Ra’s al Ghul’s influence, via having darkness physically removed from her body.

Now, to be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about that particular route – I feel like it would have been more honest to have her resurrection heal the Lazarus damage, for example, but it’s a start.  And, in the end, Damian left her with the chance to redeem herself and earn back his and Bruce’s trust.

Aaaand she has failed. Or more precisely, writers have failed to follow up on this thread, and have instead doubled down on her as the evil Dragon Mother.  I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what’s going on with DC’s fixation on evil Asian ninja moms but I’m just going to… pretend that isn’t a thing in order to suggest some paths that could salvage her character.

I’ve seen it said that she’s been too evil for too long to be redeemed, but honestly that’s pretty silly. First of all these are comic books, anyone can be redeemed.  The same writer who wreaked havoc on Talia also had Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, going full Nazi on humans, which was incredibly out of character, and Marvel basically fixed it by saying “guess who that wasn’t? Magneto.  It wasn’t Magneto.”  Technically DC could just Hal Jordan her, or let the rumored upcoming continuity shuffle bring her previous history back.  As for the “been this way too long” argument, I mean she was Original Flavor Talia for more than twice as long and that wasn’t too long for DC to flip her entire motivation and personality.  Catwoman was a villain for decades, and yet here she is, protecting people, making out with Batman on rooftops and leaving him at the alter for altruistic reasons. Same with Ivy, except for the parts about Batman, soooo… you know….

Anyway. I’m going to work with the assumption that we have to use what we have, and that we’re trying to get her to something like her pre-Morrison personality.

The first thing she would need is the experience of love. Someone to anchor her, who won’t judge her or abandon her even when she’s in a dark mood. Even when she’s showing her pain and her anger.  Someone who recognizes how broken she is, but decides to try to help her rather than rejecting her.  Someone who, in essence, will do for her what Bruce did for Classic Talia, and what he does for Damian in his flawed way.

Now, I’m a massive Bruce/Talia shipper, no lie.  However, I do not think Rebirth Bruce and Talia have the kind of connection that could provide her this essential first need. Someone like Superman or Wonder Woman would probably be a better choice, simply because they have greater warmth of character and a drive toward helping lost souls.  

After that, she would need some good old fashioned redemption time.  Maybe a miniseries where she goes Xena on the world: a redemption quest.  Maybe joining a team like the Outsiders or the Suicide Squad where she can earn her way back from the brink.  The Outsiders would be cool, especially, because it would allow Bruce and Damian to monitor her and judge her as she progresses.  

…and I mean, from a character perspective that’s all she really needs.  From a writing perspective, she needs a writer who will nail down things like where Damian came from without going back to the drug-and-rape well, which was a retcon to begin with and has been retconned out and then back in over and over again.   And most importantly, she needs a writer who has the interest in exploring her internal world to the point where they can actually draw these things out of her instead of just ignoring the fridge-horror implications of things like… the way she was raised.

If we could get these things to coincide, then Talia, too, can be saved!

Or we could just reboot the timeline again, whatever.

Anyway, that’s all folks, thanks for reading this far, I have no idea how you did.  If you’re interested in this kind of thing, feel free to drop me a line and ask me… whatever, because God knows I have plenty to say about Talia and about comics in general.  

In closing, something to remind us of the character we’ve lost.

Until next time!

[ccfstephaniebrown]

Because you forgot how to love me. || Tim  & Steph || Chatzy

Tim and Steph face each other in the Batcave

@redrobinxdrake

Stephanie waddled her way down to the cave as quickly as she could. Baby Drake was getting too big, and she resembled more an apple with legs then her usual self. She was livid. When Conner had told her where Tim was, she hadn't believed it. Bruce wouldn’t just lock him away. He was supposed to be in a room. He was supposed to be able to come and go as he pleased. But what Kon had described was a prison! She moved quickly Tim's Gotham U hoodie stretched wide over her belly and her black leggings doing little to keep her warm. "BRUCE," she yelled, "BRUCE!" He wasn't there. How dare he not be here when she found out what he had done. She was putting an end to this. She didn't care if she had to play the pregnant card. They were exhausting her. She moved down the cave's hall towards the prisons until she could see him. Laying in the glass case like he was a caged animal. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is not what Bruce sold us on. I swear Tim. We would never let him lock you up like this.

Tim settled into the warmth of the scratchy wool blanket, his hands prepared to catch the smooth leather baseball. The confines of his room felt chillingly comforting in the wake of his latest sparring session with Barbara. It took every trump card for him to convince the big dog to crank down the homey comforts. He didn’t deserve cable, dressers of grandeur, or the view of the city. He deserved to be a prisoner. His mind no longer a comfortable place to hide or concoct some scheme to harm anyone else. Tim caught the baseball between his palms, a brow lifted to the voice that through his sanctum of sorrow. “You didn’t allow him to do anything. He didn’t lock me up,” he opened his eyes to take on her rounding figure. “This was my idea.”  

Stephanie looked at him, horrified. "Why would you do this," Stephanie demanded, slamming her hands against the glass. She was furious. Furious at everything. The unfairness that Tim had "died" on her after promising to never leave her alone. The fact that they hadn't found him. That it had been Talia, who had found him. "WHAT DID SHE SAY TO YOU? WHAT DID SHE SAY THAT YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD," Stephanie demand anger and frustration evident in her eyes. She was tired of this bullshit. The first thing she would do after Baby Drake was born and she got her body back, would be to hunt down Talia and chop her up till there was nothing to resurrect. She hated the woman. She hurt everyone Stephanie loved and kept hurting them. Jason was right. Some people just deserved to die.

Tim’s jaw set at the continuous pounding of the glass. His expression unchanged but the worry swirling dangerously in his pit. This amount of stress on the baby wasn’t right; she knew this but didn’t care. The underside of her palms was reddening with each wild slam against the glass. The baseball fell from his grasp, rolling beneath his cot, as Tim rose to face her. Her reflection cast in contrast to his own in the mirroring glass. “That I wasn’t worthy of being saved but that I could be.” His words were softer. “You need to calm down, Stephanie. If you keep on, you will push yourself and our child into early labor.” Tim slowly had come to the terms of this new life. With or without all the pieces.

Stephanie sobbed, how dare he talk about their child. It was a miracle every day in her book that she hadn't lost their baby with the amount of stress she had been under the last eight months. Steph chaulked it up to the fact the baby was a Bat. Thru and thru, Baby Drake was a fighter who would survive having her as a mom and their crazy family that was always in trouble but would die for each other. "And you believed her because I wasn't enough. We weren't enough to keep you anchored to this life. You don't get to scold me about the baby Tim. You've made it clear you don't want anything to do with us, and while I'm strong enough to have my heart broken by you every day. I'll be damned if I let you break her heart. Because its a girl, Tim, she needs her daddy. Every girl does, even those of us who have crappy dads like mine. We need a daddy to tell us we're beautiful when boys say we're ugly. To tell us we're worth the wait when boys try to pressure us for more. To tell us its not our fault when we're not strong enough to fight back. We need daddies, and she needs hers. But you're too busy trying to be punished to realized that. You haven't even checked on us. You haven't asked about her. I want to love you and believe in you. I want you back in any way I can have you. But you have to want to come back, and I'm beginning to think it's because you don't want us," Stephanie confessed.

Tim’s features were steeped in the darkness that crowded his soul. He didn’t know what he wanted more. Love or the peace in atoning in the eternal fires of his own doing. Stephanie’s words cut him in places that he didn’t know still mattered. He ached but refused to be derailed by her emotional manipulations. “I believed her because she pulled me out of the grave and I was alone. Alone in my thoughts, and I was scared. I don’t know anything for sure...nothing feels real.” He turned away from her. His hands clenched and unclenching. “Maybe she’s better off without me. Maybe both of you are.” His heart broke silently in his chest. He knew if he pulled the cord now, there was no going back. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be the man you need me to be. I’m trying to figure out who I am because I’m not her tool. I’m not Robin. I don’t know who I am, but I can’t be him. No matter how deeply I wish I could be.”

Stephanie screamed and slammed her hands again, unable to reach him to slap him. "You're Tim Fucking Drake. She fucking stole you from Bruce. Cause he found you first. Did she tell you that? Cause Babs told me. Bruce should've but we fucking chalk it up to Bruce can't admit when he's been outsmarted, and he's an asshole by trade. But Bruce had you. Was caring for you. But Talia stole you like she's stealing you from our child. You're not the coward she has made you. You're Tim Drake. You are the man who saved Conner Kent from Cadmus and then proceeded to protect him while he got on his feet. You protected fucking Superboy. You’re Tim Drake who out-witted Ra's Al Ghul when Oliver Queen caved to him. You’re Tim Drake who saved Barbara Gordon when she was possessed by an AI and figured it out like it was a computer virus. You did those things, all on your own. Not with me or Bruce or Babs or Dick or even Jason. You were the man who figured out my father was coming after me when no one else had an idea of it. You're not Robin. You haven't been for a long time. You were never her tool. You made a choice to follow me. To trust me. And DAMMIT I DESERVE BETTER THEN THIS," she screamed. "So get over your fucking self. I'm scared, Tim. All the time. We both know what a fucking train-wreck I am. I can only hold the bullshit persona of the mom who knows what she's doing for so long. I'm susceptible to postpartum depression. I need you to get your head outta your ass and help me as you promised. Because you made me believe I deserved better than to let, people, leave me like I was the street rat that everyone told me I was. And we have rules that only one of us can be broken at a time, and I'm a month away from pushing something the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a lemon. I need you cause I'm scared I'm going to die and she's going to be alone in this world, and it wakes me up in the middle of the night because you won't get better. You keep hiding away instead of getting the help you need cause I don't want to leave our baby in the world alone. "

The truth steamrolled over him. It felt as if all the air in his chest had been forced out. Tim turned on his heels, all the anger finally surfacing onto his features. Why couldn’t they all just leave him? Didn’t they get that with every new development a part of him broke? “You do deserve better, Stephanie.” His palms flattened against the glass, rooting him back to the calm he needed to get back too. “You aren’t alone. You have Barbara and Jason and Dick. Hell, you finally won over Bruce,” his eyes softened as they tangled up in hers. God, she was even more beautiful when she was fired up. “You are stronger than you think and it’s about damn time you stop hiding that in this relationship. You don’t know what I want or what I have been through. You don’t know how desperately I want to go back. Back to when I had control. I don’t. I’m not afraid of who I was or what I did. I can accept the bad, but I’m afraid of the new me. I'm afraid of hurting the only thing in the world that makes me feel right, and that’s you.”

Stephanie sobbed feeling something in her break Too tired and stressed to remain standing she down the wall and cried in frustration and hurt and fear and anger. Nothing she did was right. She couldn't save Tim. She failed to protect him. How could she possibly raise a baby on her own? "They all will leave. That's what people do in my life. They leave me. My dad left me for crime. Mom left me for drugs. Babs left me over and over again. Jason and Dick both have lives. You left me. It's the one thing I can count on. People leave. She looked up at the bats in the cave. Misery radiated from her. "I can't help you. I can't fix you, because you're not broken, and I think in all of this that's the most frustrating part. You keep thinking you need to be fixed. That we're trying to fix you. But its Kintsugi, the cracks, the damage is what makes me love you all the more."

“I never wanted to leave you, Stephanie.” Tim’s forehead leaned into the frosty glass. “Please take a breath for our little girl and for me.” He pleaded. Tim shifted slightly out of view of the camera perched in the corner. Constant surveillance had a downside. “What if I can’t love the cracks? What if they make me weak and angry all the damn time?”

"They're supposed to. I look in the mirror, and I see the girl who nearly destroyed Gotham with a gang war. Who broke Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon's heart when she faked her death. The girl who holds the title for the shortest run as Robin ever. The girl whose own mother would rather be high as a kite then holding my hand when I go to doctor's appointments. The girl who became a statistic. The street rat who came from nothing. I hear the whispers of the girl who sucked every Wayne dick to become the youngest, female VP at Wayne Enterprises. The girl who earned her cowl on her back. The girl who is going to screw her child up like she is. And I hate them. I hate everything that I have seen and done and heard. But then I look again. And I listen again. And I see the girl who picked herself up and stayed calm when her world crumbled when her big brother had to tell her the man she loved died. I see the girl who built the life that her lover wanted for their child. I hear him say I love you, and I'll always find my way back to you. And to trust him. You said we didn't morn you. Its cause I knew you weren't dead and I just had to focus on the goal and take power from it. Because you love me. Cracks and all. I'm strong and weak. I'm beautiful and fragile. I'm angry, but I can still love it. I think you've forgotten how to love your cracks because you've forgotten how to love me. But I'm patient, Tim. I'll wait. I will always wait. Because if it were the other way around, you'd wait for me."

[cursed-to-be-a-sidekick]

DC Ladies and Why They're so Awesome

Barbara Gordan: So of course Im going to start of with a good part. Babs is probably one of the smartest people in the entire DC universe. She graduated high school early (at like sixteen) and went to college. She got her masters degree so she could be a librarian. In her 20's she became a congresswoman but apparently was too liberal to get re-elected. On top of this all she was batgirl. When the Killing Joke happened the DC universe thought they lost Babs. Not only did Babs stick around she became stronger. Babs used everything she had and built up the Birds of Prey using her quick thinking and computer knowledge to keep her team safe. Not only that but as Oracle Babs was the information keeper for the Justice League. She had every single superheroes number easily accessible and knows them all personally. Also Babs became a Green Lantern! Like thats awesome. Babs has been at war with the Calculator for forever and has won every time. You can not tell me Babs isnt one of the best DC characters hands down.

Diana Prince: Okay I bet you're all surprised I didn't start off with Diana. I love Wonder Woman so much and there's so many reasons why. First off Wonder Woman defied her Amazonian sisters and went out to the real world. She didn't know what was out there and didn't really care. She wanted to promote peace and be a diplomat and that's what she was at least for a while. When Diana killed Maxwell Lord she regretted it so much that she decided not to be Wonder Woman anymore. Even though everyone told her that her reasoning was just (cause like yeah it was). Wonder Woman has this huge sense of responsibility and like how can you not love her for it. Also the fact she's more powerful than most of the Justice League and the Justice League knows and admires it. Yeah that's definitely a plus.

Mary Batson: Okay I love Mary and honestly I don't know much about her but I'm going to take a stab. Mary carries this sense of responsibility, she wants to be a hero and she's damn good at it too. When she lost her powers around Countdown she was devastated. When she got them back and become "Black Mary" that absolutely sucked. But she came back became Mary Marvel again and built herself back up. Mary is a key part of the Marvel family and I don't know what Billy would do without her. She's also still a kid. Like an actual kid. A teenager and she's out helping save the world. Yeah I have respect for that.

Kara Zor-El: Of course Supergirls on this list. Why would she not be? Okay supergirl has an interesting story. She's the sole survivor of not one but to planets. When she arrived on earth she knew nothing about the planet at all. She had to trust her cousin knew what he was doing to help her. She wanted to build a whole life away from being a superhero too. She just wanted to be a normal kid. She has her ups and downs but ultimately Kara is probably one of the best characters because she's realistic. She's written to be an angsty teenage girl who is still trying to figure herself out. Sure she's chronologically 30 years older than Superman (depends on what story you read) but that doesn't make her any less of a kid. Also she fought Darkseid and Lex Luthor while still figuring out her powers, she single handedly took down the entire Justice League and she's more powerful than Superman. I think that's pretty cool.

Dinah Lance: The Black Canary's name has belonged to like three different Dinah's at this point. But that doesn't make her any less awesome. Dinah is trained in all forms of martial arts and is thought to be the second best martial artist in the world. Yeah the entire world. Dinah is hot heated and can be moody at times but she knows what she's doing. Even after losing her Sonic Scream she continued to kick ass with the Birds of Prey. She did get her Sonic Scream back later while in the birds but she never seemed to rely on her powers, she always just used her gut instincts and quick thinking. At one point Dinah adopts a child who was being trained to be an assassin. She kept this child and even stopped being with the birds to settle down with Oliver Queen and have a family. Dinah is undoubtedly one of the best ladies in the whole DC universe.

Helena Bertinelli: Okay not only is Helena a superhero known as the Huntress shes also a school teacher. Helena originally was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman but at some point during Crisis she became a vigilante who was the daughter of a mob boss. After her whole family is murdered in front of her she vows to end the underground crime ring in Gotham. Shes pretty good at it and almost succeeds. Sure her methods arent well liked by Batman but she gets her job done. She joins the Birds at one point and actually gets a family. Babs gets her a job as a school teacher and Helena is happy again. Towards the end of the original Birds run Helena manages to take over the underworld and Gotham and manages to (almost) take it down.

Stephanie Brown: Okay Steph is the daughter of some low class supervillain called the Cluemaster. She becomes Spoiler as a way to make up for all the things that her dad did. She literally built herself up from nothing and became an amazing superhero. Steph might have never had a major standing in the comics but she was there in the background spoiling everyones plans. Also Steph got pregnant as a teenager. Like thats really hard to deal with. And she did it mostly while continuing to be a vigilante. Steph maintained a good friendship with Cass and when Cass ditched the title of Batgirl Steph took it up. While Batman never approved of her actions Steph did everything she could to be an accepted member or the batfamily. Plus she was briefly Robin which is really cool.

Cassandra Cain: Okay daughter of assassins is already cool but the fact she can speak solely with body language is amazing. Cass never learned how to speak and was trained to be the worlds best assassin. When she did learn how to speak she spoke few words. Despite that she maintained a great friendship with Babs and Steph. Babs trained her to be the new Batgirl and Steph ended up being her best friend. Cass is even better at fighting than Batman and she took down the Joker her first time fighting him. Not only did she break the Joker out of Arkham she beat him and sent him back just as easily. Cass had a great character arc and I just love her character. She really brought the name Batgirl to mean something entirely new and when she dropped it and gave the name to Steph she did it with honor. Cass did at one point leave to go run the league of assassins but she eventually came back to Gotham.

Talia Al Ghul: I dont know much about Talia but I think I know enough to write a paragraph about her. Talia is the heir to the demon. She trained as a child to be an assassin alongside her father Ra's Al Ghul. She also fell in love with Batman. But thats probably the least cool thing about her. I mean she is an assassin who will potentially inherit a whole army of assassins and be immortal. Like I dont know about you but I think thats pretty friggin awesome.

Selina Kyle: Okay Catwoman is amazing. She trained to fight under Catman which is pretty cool. Also like she controls part of the Gotham underworld. Selina is an amazing woman who is a great thief and she also has morals. She doesnt do killing (most of the time) and shes even been a hero for a while. Catwoman became a hero alongside Batman but at some point she decided to return back to crime. She's worked alongside the Birds of Prey a few times and at one point was even a member. Selina also decided not to marry Bruce because she knew marrying Batman might give him a reason not to be Batman anymore and she knew people needed Batman more than she needs Bruce. Also Selina helps girls on the street. Like thats a major thing. Helping kids who dont have much. Like thats great. Lastly she feeds and takes in stray cats and thats just wonderful.

Harley Quinn: Okay while I wouldnt consider Harls a hero persay (shut up new 52 and rebirth) she is still an amazing character. Harley is a genius, she blew through med school and became a psychologist. She built herself up from working at Arkham from the bottom all the way to working with the highest class psychos. Harls was also an amazing gymnast and she had tons of medals. After falling in love with the Joker she did some regrettable things but the fact she managed to get herself and she started to redeem herself shows a lot about. Harley now just wants to help people she wants to fix what she did wrong. Harley has a big heart and wants to do right and while she knows her methods arent that great shes trying hard. She just wants to please the people she loves and cares about.

Pamela Isley: Okay Ivy is a tricky character. She doesnt really have a set backstory or anything that I really know of. Ivy was a scientist and something happened that changed her physically. She became connected to the green. Now Ivy isnt really sure who she is. She became the Batman villain known as Poison Ivy and became an ecological terrorist (at least thats what I think they call her). Ivy really just doesnt know her place in the world. Ivy is wicked smart and she has patented a lot of biotech stuff and she made Harley the antidote that made her immune to toxins. She does end up re-entering the field of science a few times and is genuinely trying to turn a new leaf and become a better person. At first she didnt really understand that what she did was wrong she just wanted to help out the plants because she saw all these terrible things happening to them. For the most part Ivy is a misunderstood person who is trying to find her humanity.

Kara Zor-El (Earth Two): Okay Power Girl is a tricky character to figure out because she has so many different backstories due to the destruction and then reformation of the multiverse. Anyways Karen Starr is from another Earth specifically Earth 2. When she arrived on Earth 1 she learned there was already a Supergirl. She took on the name Power Girl and founded a company that focused on software (I think.) Shes older than Earth 1s supergirl and is kind of like a big sister figure at times even though her and Kara are the same person. The two also didnt start off on the right foot with eachother. Karen for a while led the Justice Society of America which is really flipping cool. Karen knows whats right in her heart which is what makes her like Superman in a way. Because like her cousin (even if the two arent really cousins on earth 1) she wants to help people.

Donna Troy: The original Wonder Girl will always hold a special place in my heart but I kid of want to focus on her time as Wonder Woman and also as simply just Donna Troy. When Wonder Woman quit being Wonder Woman Donna took her spot and she made a pretty great Wonder Woman. She doubted herself a lot and didnt think shed ever be as good as Diana she pushed herself up to the top and did it. As Donna Troy she was an amazing Teen Titan and she even cheated death. Her spot in the multiverse has been looked over a few times but her Roy and Jason last I heard were all kicking ass together.

Rachel Roth: Ravens a weird character Im not going to lie. Shes kind of mysterious. Rachel was a key addition to the Teen Titans, her powers are unmatchable in battle a lot of the time. Also shes the child of the demon Trigon. Rachel herself never really knew what to do with herself but while growing up she knew she had to do something and that she has to save people. She spent her teenage years with the Titans and continues to be with the Titans even if shes technically supposed to have aged out by now.

Kate Kane: Kate is one of my favorite characters of all time. Batwoman adds so much to the story and it covers a lot of things Ive never even thought of. Kate was kicked out of Westpoint under Dont Ask Dont Tell. The story talks a lot about her experience with PTSD, being gay and also being in the army. Kate runs a major business and is Batmans cousin. Kate literally gives zero craps about what Batman says and she does what she wants even if he doesnt approve. Kate has a big heart and ultimately she just wants to save her sister. After being kicked out of Westpoint Kate became a party girl and an alcoholic becoming Batwoman changed all of that for her. She became the woman she was meant to be.

Maggie Sawyer: Maggie Sawyer is a badass cop. Shes also Kates girlfriend and shes a mom. Being a cop in Metropolis is one thing but since moving from Metropolis Maggie has joined the GCPD. Being a cop in Gotham versus being a cop in Metropolis are to completely different things. Maggie can do it all and she works well under pressure. Shes an amazing cop and deserves so much more credit that what she gets in the comics.

Renee Montoya: Renee Montoya started out as another Gotham City Cop well until she became The Question. Also one of Kates ex girlfriends Renee has taken up Vic Sage's mantel and become the Question. She's a cop turned vigilante who is trying to do everything she can to keep Gotham safe.

Zatanna Zatara: So Zatanna is a magician. An actually magician with real magic and also a performing magician for kids. She does a lot of volunteering and loves showing her magic to the kids. Shes part of Justice League Dark and her powers are probably some of the most powerful in the whole DC universe. Zatanna can literally do anything just by saying it backwards. She doesnt get as much credit as she deserves but Zatanna is a kid with a big heart and deserves a lot more than she gets. Also did I mention she once climbed Mount Everest?

Courtney Whitmore: Not many people know much about Stargirl but this teenage girl is a key part of the Justice Society. Stargirl is a nobody without her Cosmic Staff but with it she is one of the greatest members of the JSA. Courtney has befriended Supergirl and has run around on all sorts of adventures before she could even vote. Her friendship with Supergirl is strong even if it isnt seen too often in the comics. Stargirl is just another kid who wants to change the world and who does manage to do it.

Lois Lane: Supermans girlfriend has ring to it enough but pulitzer prize winner Lois Lane is so much more than that. Shes an investigative reporter who strives to find the truth no matter the cost. Time and time again she goes undercover and risks her life for her job. She has no powers and no fighting skills just faith and a keen eye for a story. So sure while she's Supermans girlfriend she so much more than that. She's a woman who's going places and will always be independent. (Bonus: the first time Clark meets Lois she's yelling at some guy at the phone for being sexist)

Lana Lang: Supermans other girlfriend. Lana kind of got abandoned for a while but trust me she's still great. Lana takes in Kara while Kara is still struggling to figure her life out. Lana is the most supportive and loving person there is. She really cares about Kara and treats her like a daughter and as a best friend. Her friend ship with Lois Lane is amazing and Lana had an amazing story arc when she became possessed. Moral of the story never mess with any of Supermans girlfriends because they will fight back and theyll fight back hard.

Lady Shiva: If it wasnt for Lady Shiva Black Canary would be the best martial artist in the world. Lady Shiva is a long time Batman villain and not even Batman himself can beat her. Shes said multiple times that the only time he did she let him. She just wanted to know how worthy of an opponent he was. Shiva and Dinah trained under the same sensei together and have a mutual respect for eachother. For a short period of time Shiva even took Dinah under her wing to teach her new techniques no one else in the world even knew.

Mia Dearden: Speedy is hands down the best Green Arrow sidekick. And no Im not talking about Roy I really do mean Mia. Mia was living on the streets for the longest time and as a teenager. Constantly in the comics she talks about what it was like as a teenager being homeless on the streets, doing drugs and even selling her body just to stay alive. She became a great fighter while training with Ollie and Dinah and becomes the second Speedy. Mia is quick thinking and knows how and when to act. Later in the comics before she joins the Teen Titans she gets diagnosed as HIV +. That was the first time the DC universe made a character be HIV + and it hit hard for a lot people. Her backstory is really sad but its meaningful and really tells a lot about things that nobody knows anything about. Mia is a spunky kid with a lot of personality and she wants to help people.

Emiko Queen: Emi wasnt really around until she become the Red Arrow in Rebirth. She had her ups and downs but she stay devoted to Ollie throughout all of it. Emi is a tough character who really wants to be just like her big brother. She does at one point join a cult but then she breaks away from the cult to save her brother. Emi really admires Dinah and their friendship is great. Her story is still just starting to develop and its really cool to see where its going.

Zinda Blake: Lady Blackhawk has been no where in sight since New 52 hit. Im not really sure if theyll bring her back but I hope they do. Zinda is a hotheaded pilot who thinks more with her fists than she does with her brain. Shes a key member to the Birds of Prey and a true hero. After somehow re entering the continuity despite having to have originally been in WW2 Zinda has begun to fit right in with her weird accent and odd slang. I really hope she gets put back in soon.

Charlie Gage-Radcliffe: Misfits not really a well known character but shes a good one. Shes a spunky kid with an obsession with Batgirl. She takes on the mantel of Batgirl briefly before the real Batgirl, Barbara Gordan, stops her. Babs takes her in as one of her Birds and trains her. Charlie is just a kid and Babs knows it. Charlie doesnt get to see much action throughout the series but her character really grows a lot and she molds into this amazing character. Misfit is pretty impulsive and her mind (and body) tend to bounce all over the place. Charlie is just like any other teenager and she does everything she can to look on the bright side of every situation

Cassandra Sandsmark: Cassies Wonder Girl is what got me into Teen Titans. Cassie knows what she wants and knows how to get it. She can be short tempered but she had a really good heart. Her friendship with Supergirl is one of the best friendships in the whole DC universe. Cassie ultimately just wants to impress Wonder Woman. When she's not roaming around with the Teen Titans or on Paradise Island she's like literally every other teenage girl. Sitting at home argueing with her mom. Her power for her lasso comes fron her anger which she seems to carry a lot of. Shes still figuring out how to be Wonder Girl but shes become a valuable asset to the team. Cassie is a really relatable character and I love her for that. Her and Diana are a great pair and seeing them together is amazing. (Bonus: In New 52 Teen Titans she can put up a fight against basically anybody including Tim Drake and she hates the name Wonder girl)

There are more characters but this took me about two hours to write so Im going to cut it here. If anyone wants me to add any more characters let me know in the notes and I'll edit this. Also special shout outs to characters who I didnt have enough info on to put on here but are still equally as awesome: Martha Kent, Director Cameron Chase and Linda Park.

[aquaburst3]

Vocal Pineapple made a video reimaging western superheroes as what they would be like if they were characters in My Hero Academia universe and made to fit said universe. I want to do the same thing with other heroes he never mentioned in the video as a fun thought exercise. I might make another one of these if I think of more.

(As a side note, I’m not doing Spiderman since Vocal Pineapple already tackled that one. Same goes for the other characters he talked about in the video. I won’t talk about Superman, since I think All Might is BNHA’s version of that character already. xP)

Bruce Wayne: Bruce is a quirkless man, who was a part of one of the wealthiest families in the US. Bruce’s parents died while he was a small child. Instead of vowing revenge and wanting to take them down, he started his own hero agency. Other socialites in his city saw this as a strange pursuit, especially given the fact that he had no quirk and never went to a hero school, but Bruce did it anyways and started Batman Incorporated. Over the years, many people worked for him including Barbara, Tim, Luke, etc. Also, during those years he adopted a few boys and had a biological son in the form of Damian.

Ra’s: He’s an Arab man with a longevity and healing quirk, which slows his aging down to a crawl. In fact, he was one of the first quirk users around, born around the same time as All for One. Back when he was alive, Ra’s was the head of the League of Assassins and was one of the big names in the underground alongside All for One. He didn’t like this, so he took out the competition by stealing Ra’s’ quirk. He died shortly after. That’s how All for One is able to live for so long without dying. (After he dies, Talia inherits The League from her father and hatches a plan to have a child with Bruce so he could take down All for One and rule the criminal underground.)

Damian Wayne/Robin: Son of Tailia and Bruce, his quirk, which he inherited from his mother, allows him to predict the moves of his opponents. (With the downside being that he has to make eye contact with them for it to activate.)  He was raised by his mother to be the prefect assassin and was the heir to his late grandfather’s empire.

When he first came to live with his father, he was a spoiled brat and saw himself as a prince, everyone around him found him quite annoying. He struggled with the duelling sides of himself–The Assassin Prince and The Son of Batman. Over the course of his adolescence, after much struggle, he calmed down considerably and became a pretty well adjusted adult. He can still be intimidating and badass when he wants to be, even having a sword cane.

In the current timeline, ie when the manga is taking place, he’s an attractive man in his late 20s. He’s married to Kimiko Queen, the half sister of another wealthy socialite, Oliver Queen, and a fellow a former assassin, who works for another hero agency. Damian inherited his father’s company after the aging Bruce retired shortly after he graduated from hero school. Many people work for him, including some fresh talent like Terry (who’s not related to Bruce in this version).

Dick Greyson/Robin/Nightwing: He started off as an acrobat with an agility quirk, who worked long side his family before they passed away. Bruce adopted him and he became Robin while doing his provisional licence. During his early 20s, instead of sticking to his adopted dad’s agency and becoming like Batman, he decided to go down his own path. He did a stint at some hero agencies as Nightwing, being in the Top 10 Heroes List for America for a few years, before deciding to become a teacher at an American hero school and settling down with Barbara. All of the students love him there, since he’s patient and always helps out young students in need.

Tony Stark/Iron Man: He’s another quirkless scientist on I-Island, who created a technologically advanced suit. After his technology gets into the wrong hands, he makes sure that it would never happen again. Expect many dick wagging contests between him and Melissa’s dad over who comes up with the better stuff. He also mentored Peter Parker before Peter passed away right out of high school and then Miles.

Scott Lang/Ant Man (going with the MCU versions for this): He started out as a criminal, who wanted to get money to save his sick daughter by stealing some tech from the company his brother used to work for. One day, he’s tasked to go to I-Island to steal some top secret tech for a group of thugs. He’s caught by Hank Pym. Since he tried to steal for him to help his daughter and had a transforming quirk, the aging doctor offers him up the opportunity to work for him and test out his new suit. Scott agrees and he’s used as the guinea pig for his new powered suit. Now, he’s as an official hero working for Hank Pym with the help of his daughter.

Kamala/Ms Marvel: She’s a Pakistani-American teenager, who attends an American hero school around the same time as Deku and has a quirk where she can morph the size and shape of her body. (Think Mr Fantastic, but with the drawback that she has the strength of those sizes). She’s also still pretty nerdy and loves geeking out over heroes like Deku.

Robbie Reyes/ Ghost Rider: A Latino American with a quirk that allows his whole body to be engulfed in flames without dying or getting burnt and control them. (Think Endeavour’s quirk, but with less control of it if he’s emotional.) He’s a younger hero who is based out of a hero agency in the US. He also uses a motorbike to do his work to separate himself from Endeavour and born with a skull for a head, earning him the name “Ghost Rider.” He’s also does some side work at the US version of UA and a lot of the kids love him as a teacher.

Diana/ Wonder Woman: Born a normal human during the first generation of quirk users, she had a strength quirk that even allowed her to jump long distances and deflect bullets. During this time things were out of control without any rules in place, she went out and caught evil doers anyways. In modern times, long after her passing, her legacy lives on and she’s seen as an idol to young girls, who want to get into the hero business.

Dr Strange: He’s a doctor turned hero, who has a quirk that allows him to manipulate matter. Don’t know what else to add other then that, really.

T'Challa/Black Panther: The king of an African nation, he has a quirk that gives him the skills of a panther. (Think something like Tsuyu’s quirk, but with panther powers and he doesn’t have any panther psychical features like a tail or something.) He decides to use his powers more often to help out his own people and others are in desperate need of his help around the world.

Arthur Curry/Aqua Man: Instead of being the king of the sea, he’s just the son of a lighthouse keeper with a quirk that allows him to control sea life. He joins Mera and starts up his own hero agency. He has two protegees: Aqua Lad and Tempest.

Aqua Lad:  Jackson Hyde is the son of an accountant and the villain Black Manta, making him rather self conscious about his image and how others in the business perceive him. Despite being the son of his greatest foe, Arthur wanted him to do his provisional licence training with him. He has a quirk that allows him to manipulate water like a Water Bender from the ATLA universe…without the healing abilities. Personality wise, he’s like his Young Justice counterpart.

Jaime Reyes/ Blue Beetle: He’s a boy living in El Paso,Texas. He has an pulse cannon quirk that allows him to able to create an outward surge of energy wherever his hand is pointing, damaging anyone in a close vicinity. (His friends Paco and Brenda often tease him about being the human version of a cinnamon roll, despite having the power to take out All Might if he wanted to.)

One day while visiting his friend Miles Morales on I-Island, Ted Cord’s lab gets attacked and the scarab that he was creating attaches itself to his spin. The scarab turns out to be armour that has the ability to shape shift and has a highly advance AI (think JARVAS from the MCU). However, due to it not being fully realized yet, it has some glitches and bugs like the AI saying that he needs to use his quirk to destroy others that makes Jaime fear it. Branch of the League of Villains located in the US, The Reach, try to control the scarab in order to turn the boy into a living weapon for All for One, but Jaime stops that plan and the scarab becoming friendly to him.

Oh yeah, he’s also friends with Tracy 13 and Impulse.

Jon Stewart/Green Lantern: He’s a former solider turned hero with a quirk that allows him to create anything, but can only due it when he has another object at hand. (Kinda like a mixture of being an alchemist in the FMA universe and Momo’s quirk.)

[kiintsugi]

Batwoman should have used the Bad Blood story line: Fight me

Arrowverse has always been a strange entity for me. On the one hand, it gives screen time and recognition to (at times) underrepresented comics and comic characters under the DC banner, especially to groups of people who might otherwise never pick up an interest in comics. On the other hand, Arrowverse really loves two things: queerbaiting and ignoring comic-canon. 

So with 5 intertwined shows currently airing on the CW, it was no surprise to me to know that their most recent lore expansion comes in the shape of Gotham’s Batwoman.

There is a lot that The Batwoman show is restricted by; not only in the sense that DC has declared Bruce Wayne/Batman as “off-limits” to the CW, but because of how the entirety of the CW universe has unfolded over the past – what – eight or so years? 

Now, this isn’t a ‘Felicity Smoak doesn’t exist’ type of rant. It’s a show, on a low budget network whose target audience is women ages 18 to 34. I get that there will be changes, new characters, and storylines will be manipulated however the team feels best to tell the story they’re trying to tell. This is me yelling about the changes they made that they really didn’t need to make at all in order to tell an origin story they don’t need to tell because they already had the perfect storyline for the “no batman allowed” problem.

But before I get into that. We need to talk about the core differences established between the two universes as I believe that without understanding Comic Kate, this argument i’ve decided to make has little ground to stand on.

(source:https://www.dcuniverse.com/encyclopedia/batwoman/)

In the Silver Age, Batwoman (known as Kathy Kane) was introduced as a sort of hybrid between Batman and the first Robin. She was wealthy, she was acrobatic, and most importantly, she proved that Bruce Wayne was not gay.

She has since made appearances in four essential storylines and timeline reboots as Kate Kane starting in 2006.

Her introduction as Kate Kane came at a time in which DC was rebooting series with the intention to diversify their character roster, and it is here we see the “I’m just here to make homophobes feel better" crime fighter come into her own,  badass, identity

The basis of her background goes like this: Kate and her twin sister are born into a military family of which her father is the brother of Martha Wayne, Bruce’s mother. One year, on her birthday, Kate, her sister, and her mother are taken captive by enemy agents and despite her father’s best efforts, only Kate was saved.

Later, in an attempt to please her father, Kate enrolls at West Point where she fell in love with her roommate, Sophie. When caught, Kate protects Sophie and avoids outing her, earning herself a dishonorable discharge. Despite this, her father is nothing but supportive and Kate’s life (now boosted thanks to her father’s marriage to Catherine Hamilton) becomes that of a hard-partying socialite. She is eventually apprehended by Renee Montoya, a GCPD officer. They begin a relationship, but it eventually ends with Renee dumping Kate after she learns that Kate, still with no direction or life goals, has dropped out of school.

It isn’t until she is rescued by Batman from a mugger that she finds her purpose. She operated for a year at this point by using stolen military equipment before her father discovered what she had been doing. It takes some convincing but her father, still, the most supportive and loving father any superhero has ever had, arranges for her to train with some of his contacts to hone her skills. When she returns, he presents her not only with the Batwoman suit, but with a headquarters of her own, where he offers tactical support to his daughter in the field.

For Arrowverse, this has changed quite a bit.

Kate lost her sister and mother in a car crash gone wrong in which Batman failed to rescue them. This failure to rescue his only living family is noted by Luke Fox later in the episode as something that haunts Bruce to this day. 

We haven’t seen a whole lot into Kate’s time at West Point, but we know the CW plans to expand on this. So far, the main thing worth noting is when the academy finds out about their relationship, Kate defies the orders of her superior officers and quits the academy while Sophie agrees to the terms and the two break up.

It is also hinted several times that Kate’s father isn’t nearly as supportive of Kate as he is in the comic. It is pretty clear that they want her best family relationship at this point to be to with Bruce, not her dad, but that’s beside the point. The strain on her relationship with her father is marked by him sending her away to train with survival specialists with a promise (later revealed to be a lie) to enlist her in his private security, CROWS, upon her return.

Her foray into crime-fighting comes only when Sophie is reported to have been taken hostage and Kate, determined to help, stumbles into the Batcave and arms herself with her cousin’s gear that he has for some reason left behind.

Obviously, these storylines are very different from one another. 

Where Kate in the comics had to earn her place in the Batfamily, Kate in Arrowverse finds herself operating as the only member of the family in a Gotham on the brink of collapse without Batman. This is supposed to be because The CW can’t use Batman and their desire to tell something along the lines of an Origin story for Batwoman. 

But, the thing is, we had Batman: Bad Blood (based off the Leviathan arc)  where, you guessed it, Batman isn’t around and the remaining members of the Batman Family are left to pick up the pieces.

It doesn’t make sense to me that they would have introduced Kate already operating as a vigilante last season only to backtrack track to a newbie a year later where they then proceed to tear apart her origins for the sake of their own story. One that, quite frankly, doesn’t hold up as well by comparison.

Bad Blood is different from the comics too, but it has a solid backbone that could have made a perfect skeleton for the Arrowverse storyline

Kate is already established as a crime fighter. Bruce knows who she is, is keeping tabs on her and doesn't want her getting involved in anything that can get her hurt. Kate doesn't care and does whatever she wants. They don't get along. But Bruce still saves Batwoman and is hit with an explosion that seemingly takes his life. There is so much story potential for a TV series here that could span one really good season and be sprinkled in throughout several more revolving around her blaming herself for his disappearance/death.

There is more pressure on Kate from the beginning to succeed. At first, Batwoman will be placed up a pedestal for filling the gap created by Batman's disappearance. Tieing in her guilt for her hand in this takes that away, giving her the underdog effect often found in origin stories and encourages us to root for her.

It’s a better explanation for why Bruce isn’t around. There’s no logical reason as to why Bruce would up and disappear or why Batman would apparently abandon Gotham. At least one that doesn't involve people believing he’s dead.

We don’t have any of this ‘unsupportive’ father garbage. We get a good supportive father/daughter relationship. We could have happy family holidays of Kate and her dad celebrating Jewish traditions together, we have great representation of a military man fully embracing his daughter despite being dishonorably discharged because of DADT, also lots of potential scenes of him being worried/helping her out in the field instead of doing his own thing with the CROWS.

Also why CROWS and not MCU? MCU means Maggie and anyone who read the comics back in 2013 and remembers the bullshit DiDio pulled would appreciate Kate being that much closer to meeting Maggie Sawyer (who was very well received by the arrowverse fandom) and idk...maybe not doing Kate dirty this time around.

And i mean, if not, Renee is badass and we like her too, and she’s actually in the Bad Blood storyline.

The entire concept of making Kate the ‘female Bruce Wayne’ is dumb. Especially since she’s spent her entire vigilante career forging her own path and doing her own thing bc batman is a narcissist and a control freak and she has no intention of mindlessly following his orders.

Bad Blood introduces Luke Fox as Batwing so there’s a whole storyline to follow there since he’s in the pilot episode and we know they have the ability to use him.

It allows for Talia to cross over from Arrow to Batwoman and introduce Damien if they feel like it.

It doesn’t interfere with Arrowverse Canon. They can very easily tell a story about how Batwoman goes from a relatively new vigilante under Batman’s shadow to a fully realized crime fighter without contradicting any of the arrowverse continuity. 

I get that they’re limited and that’s totally fine. You can’t expect things to be perfect. But CW is really missing an opportunity for good storytelling all for the sake of “she’s the female Bruce Wayne” concept and its extremely disrespectful to the character to equate her to nothing more than being a female version of another character when she has already established herself as her own person and her own hero.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.