#The only reason dc keeps calling Tim the best Robin | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hanahaki-disease · 22 days ago

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And You Wonder What I Believe

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC crossover

Summary:

“When Tim looked over to his best friend, now adoptive brother, whose made of lean muscle and gangly limbs of a growing fourteen year old boy much like him, he wonders if he would have done the same. Would he have kept it all a secret from everyone if he knew it would save them? Would he try and keep the two worlds separate because only disaster can come from them meeting?”

To further enhance your reading experience, go and read “You? You!” and “Sing Sweet, Nightingale”

A/N: this installment is like 8,000 words…I did not plan for it to be that long

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When it comes to Percy, Tim tries not to pry. Not even after their argument when Percy returned the first time.

The first time Percy disappeared, Tim had no control and no way to help. He hadn’t even begun to train as Robin, hadn’t confronted Bruce about him being Batman, and had been in the middle of a gala when he heard the news.

Percy’s first disappearance was the one of the many reasons that made Tim push harder to become Robin, especially when he had called Dick to let him know about the news. Because Robin was able to help the justice league look for the missing Wayne child. Robin had access to information Tim Drake couldn’t see. He knew that the New York police department didn’t even follow proper protocols when it came to the search, he knew that a gang messed with the footage of the gas station explosion because one of their members had been spotted as part of the passengers.

The second time Percy disappeared, Tim was watching Percy escape the school with the weird tall kid and a girl he had never seen before from the other side of the gym doors. The entrance blocked by some kind of debris and the gym was absolutely wrecked when the first responders had been able to get in.

Tim wanted to follow him, he wanted to make sure Percy was going to be okay and not vanish off the face of the earth for months on end again. He wanted to drag him to one of the many emergency cave and interrogate him, keep him there till Bruce joined them, and continue to question him. Tim wanted to know what had happened to his best friend, and he hates that it felt like they weren’t anymore.

Percy had been his first friend, his first real friend since the younger of the two got adopted by the Batman. Their sarcastic personalities clicking together like link-n-logs, becoming brothers the moment Percy suck up on him on that rooftop. They used to be able to tell each other anything. Nonsense about their current shared brain rot, secret crushes about the girls and boys in the middle and high schools. They would laugh at the gaudily dressed women in the galas, banter with Jason and Alfred for hours on end—Percy knew Tim better than Tim knew himself, and he knew Percy better than anyone in the world.

So why did it seem like the Percy stuffing his duffle was someone Tim had never known before?

Why was he so okay to drop everything he was doing the moment that random girl showed up at the manor? How did she show up at the manor, how did she get past the security triggers and over the seven foot tall gate? None of this was making sense and Tim had been growing worried for Percy ever since he came back two years ago.

He had come back home a bit more reserved than before, a bit more angrier like how Dick had been when he found out Jason died. New scars littered his body, ones that were never reported in his files about how he had gotten them. There was an air of knowledge around him, one with matching chains of secrecy that dragged his limbs down and pulled him away from getting too close with Dick or Tim again.

Something happened to Percy on the first summer away, and it happened again this past summer and now—not even four months later—Tim was watching Percy change before his eyes.

“You—You can’t go! What about Dick? What about Bruce and Alfred?” Tim eyes followed Percy as he ran around his room, grabbing what seemed to be the most random things to put in his bag.

“Dick is said he’d be back in January, he’s on a mission with the Titans to find clone Roy,” Percy said. “And Bruce could give less of a shit if I disappeared and came back.” He zipped up one side of the bag. They must’ve fought recently for him to say that, about what? Tim doesn’t know, but it couldn’t have been good. “I will feel bad about Alfred though.”

“And I’m going whether you like it or not, Tim,” he slung duffle on his shoulder walking out the room. “Nothing you say or do will not make me go. I have to do this.”

“If you go, I’m following,” Tim said.

“No, you’re not coming with me.”

“Then you’re not leaving Percy!” Tim said. “I’m tired of you disappearing every summer. Do you know how worried we all get when you do that?! No, you don’t, cause you’re not here!” He ran his hand through his hair, pulling at the roots. “God, just tell me what’s going on! I can help you, B can help you!”

“I can’t tell you, I wish I could, but I can’t.” Percy pushed past Tim towards the main stairs.

“Why not? Why can’t you tell me?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” Percy dropped his duffle on the edge of the stairs. He made eye contact with the girl downstairs before Percy turned his attention back to Tim. “I’m doing this to protect you, to protect all of you. This is something Batman has no chance with and even if he did, it’s not his fight. I need to do this to make sure you guys are safe.”

“And what do you think the rest of us are doing every night, huh? Playing hopscotch with Penguin and having tea parties with Scarecrow?” Tim said. “We get hurt already, hell, you’re there to help Alfred patch us up! I just��” Tim sighed. So many words were bubbling up in his chest to the point where he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all the emotions in him.

He wanted Percy to understand that he didn’t need to do whatever it is that he’s doing by himself. Percy had so many people that could help him with the ‘fight’ he has been doing the past two years. And if he didn’t want Bruce, then Dick would do anything for him. He didn’t want Dick? No worries there’s the entirety of the justice league and their associates. Percy could literally have his pick of the litter for help and yet he’s choosing to go solo?

God.

For someone who doesn’t like Bruce much nowadays, he’s acting an awful lot like him.

“I just want my best friend back, Perce,” Tim felt his shoulders drop. The heat of his worry and anger fading and leaving him exhausted. “I want to know how to help you.”

It was quiet between them for a bit, neither of them wanting to break the fragile silence that settled in the hall. Tim could feel his heart pounding in his chest and tears prickle in the corners of his eyes. It wasn’t often he cried. The emotion was too overpowering and draining, not cathartic like most people say it is. He cried at his mother’s funeral, he cried when he and Percy had their first real argument, and before that? He couldn’t remember, each time he wanted to curl up under the covers of his bed and follow Percy’s lead and disappear for a while.

He couldn’t stop them from falling when Percy carefully wrapped him up in his arms. “I want my best friend back too, but I have to go.” Tim nodded against Percy’s shoulder before the younger separated, the soft shuffling of feet made their way back down the hall to where the duffle sat at the edge of the stairs.

Tim didn’t stop Percy as he made his way down the stairs. Didn’t stop him when he zipped up his winter coat and slung the duffle over his shoulders. He didn’t move from his spot at the bottom of the stairs, one hand holding onto the rail as he grabbed one set of the keys to the front door, shoving them and his favorite gold Bic pen in his pocket.

“When I get back,” Percy held down the latch to the door handle. The cold Gotham air wafting into the foyer and chilling Tim to the bone. “I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”

Ten words and the sound of the door closing left Tim frozen in his place. He wanted to shove his boots on and his coat and trail after him down the drive way. He wanted to join him in whatever he had to do, whatever was so important that he had to miss the next few weeks or months or however long.

But Percy promised him that he would tell him, Tim had his word. Percy never broke his promises.

—

A week later, looking as if he had just went against Bane in nothing but the clothes on his back, Percy stumbled into Tim’s room. The duffle he had was gone and the clothes he wore were not the same, except for his Reebok, though they had seen better days. Dark circles lined his eyes and he looked paler than he did when he left. Even during the winter months, Percy retained this sun-kissed, beach side tan. It was a warm glow that, alongside the permanent sea salt waves, made it looked like he had been raised on the shores of the Caribbean his whole life. He did not look like that when he walked in.

A bright shock of white was the first thing Tim noticed about Percy when he collapsed at the side of his bed. It still had his signature wave to it, starting at his temple and curving around and through the curls already there. For as well has he knew Percy, he knows that he wasn’t really into dying his hair. Percy liked keeping it the same length and not really doing much to it, aside from styling it for the occasional gala or press release. So then why the white streak?

“Percy?” He watched as his friend ran his hands through his hair, interlocking his fingers behind him and tucked his head in between his knees. There was a tenseness to him, one that—even if he was in one of the most secure places in the world—wouldn’t relax.

When he turned his head toward him, there was a different kind of tiredness in his eyes. A kind of defeated but accepted kind of tiredness. His green eyes were duller than they had been before he left and he sported new scars once again. Faded white lines on his hands and one that down across his jaw from the end of his ear. Percy sucked in a deep breath when he placed his head back where it had been, unclasped his hand and leaned back against the bed.

Tucked under the new gray hoodie and rumbled orange shirt was the leather necklace Percy had started wearing after that initial summer. It had only one bead then, a solid black charm and a glowing blue trident in the center. It was cool at first. The little symbol and the faint light it emitted in the dark, Tim really wanted to inspect it. But then another was added onto the string the following summer. Just like the other, it was a simple sandy-beige colored bead with a pine tree and something gold hanging off the branch. The gold glowed like the tridents, if not brighter in the dark of Tim’s room and it let him see the most recent addition to the necklace.

It wasn’t a bead like the other two, a metal bow and arrow charm with accentuated star shaped corners rested on the neckline of the shirt. Silver and shiny and brand-new, unlike the worn and handmade beads he head. Did they mean something to him? Where had he gotten them? Percy never took it off, wanting the necklace to stay on his persona at all times. Which wasn’t that strange to be honest. Bruce had a particular watch he was fond of when he wasn’t Batman, Dick had his favorite blue studded earrings he never took off, and Tim had his mother’s wedding band hung around his neck too. But, just like his hair, Percy was never one to wear jewelry. He never like having anything around his wrists or around his neck because he would get overwhelmed by the constant rubbing against his skin and neck.

So then why the necklace all of a sudden?

“Where should I start?” Percy said, picking at the skin on his fingers in front of him.

“The beginning, I guess,” Tim closed his laptop, wanting to give Percy his full attention.

“Can you promise not to tell anyone unless I say so? What I’m going to tell you is gonna change how you see everything, even the Amazonians,” Percy turned his head.

“I promise,” Tim slid down to the floor beside him.

Percy nodded his head and sighed, the words heavy in his chest before he even began, “It started with mine and Jason’s dad. Our actual dad.” He locked his fingers together again. “He met our mom seventeen years ago on the beach in Montauk, New York. A summer fling that left my mom pregnant with Jason, and he said that they would go back to the beach for the summers before I was born.

“Jason said that he’s only seen our dad twice before I was born,” He held up two fingers. “The first he said was a fuzzy memory when he was three, and then during the summer the year I was born. After that, he never saw the guy again. We kept going to Montauk till I was three, our mom died in November that year when we were passing through Gotham and Jason and I never left. That’s when Catherine and Willis found us and picked us up.” Percy gave him a quick glance at that. “You already know what happened after that.”

Tim nodded his head quietly. Percy had told him about his years living with Catherine and on the streets. The days in a ratty old apartment, smelling like cigarette smoke, burning crack and moldy walls. Where water leaked from the ceiling and his and Jason’s shared mattress was the same one Catherine shot up heroine. It wasn’t all to different from their years on the streets, they still had to forage for their own meals and take care of themselves when Catherine was too high to even remember her name and Willis was in prison. But at least with them, they had a roof over their head and place to hide from the winter.

He hadn’t known about his birth mother though.

Percy and Jason never talked about her or how they ended up in Gotham. They didn’t even tell Bruce either. All the information they had about her was whatever Bruce dug up when he took them in. Her name was Sally Jackson, a single mother of two boys living in a somewhat bad part of New York, working at a candy shop a few bus stops away from her apartment. She didn’t have a college degree since she had to drop out after her uncle got cancer, and she didn’t have her parents since they did in a plane crash when she was still in middle school.

It was the bare bones information that Bruce could get and it was the only information he had about their biological family. After Percy disappeared, Bruce had tried to dig up his birth father, wondering if maybe he had taken Percy when he had gone to the Met. Maybe the man had seen his son, wanted him back, and took him while he was with his school. But no matter how much Bruce dug, there was nothing. No name, no description, no age. It was as if the guy never existed. He had to, though, otherwise his two sons wouldn’t exist.

“Two years ago, during the field trip to the Met, I had been isolated from the group by the substitute algebra teacher Mrs. Dodds,” Percy said and Tim looked at his with a confused stare.

“There was no Mrs. Dodds in middle school, though,” Tim countered. “I would know, I have an eidetic memory.”

“No you wouldn’t have and let me tell you why,” Percy turned to face him, his hands outstretched before him. “This is the mortal world—” He gestured with on hand. “This is where you and ninety-nine percent of the earth’s population reside. You see things how they are in your head pretty straight forwards. A dog is a dog, a person is a person—unless they’re an alien—and so on and so forth, right?” Tim nodded. “This is…this is my world.” He lifted the other hand. “In my world, I see things that you cant. Dogs aren’t always dogs, people aren’t always people, and natural phenomenon is not caused by science, but by magic. The barrier between these two is what we call the ‘mist.”

“Missed?”

“M-I-S-T. Mist. It’s a magical barrier that blind the mortals from the mythical and magical monsters and people. The Amazonians are a part of my world, they can see what I can see, they can fight what I can fight, but since they’ve been so isolated to the world of man, they’re unable to see past the mist now that it’s gotten stronger since ancient times,” Percy said. “The point is—The gods are real.”

“Like, like Jesus?”

“No, not Jesus,” Percy clarified. “The Greek gods. Zeus, Artemis, Hades—they’re all real.” Distant thunder made Tim’s head turn towards the window.

“But they’re just stories, myths!” Tim leaned back on his hands. “They can’t be real and you’re just making this up.”

“If they’re not real, how is Diana the daughter of Zeus? How are the Amazonians able to live on an isolated island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, protected by magic? How is Shazam able to channel the ‘Speed of Hermes’ and the ‘Strength of Zeus?” Percy questioned.

Tim stayed quiet. “I don’t know!”

“They can do that because the gods are real. My dad, Jason’s dad, is Poseidon, god of the sea,” Percy said. “I didn’t know that until that summer two years ago.”

He turned around to lay back against the bed again, and eyes trained on the old skateboard mounted on Tim’s wall. The words were hesitant at first, tongue stumbling and stuttering as he recall that first summer. He told him of how the cab they paid had gotten stuck by lightning, flipped and burst into flames on an abandoned back-road. How the glass dug into his skin, the heat of the fire singing the hair on his forearms, and the cold rain digging into his bones and blinding him.

There was a smirk on his face as he spoke about the first monster he defeated. The Minotaur from the legends. He was big, apparently, seven feet tall, four feet wide at his shoulders, and just a mass of coarse bull hair and bright, white fruit of the loom underwear. Tim couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips at the mental image. The monster of the labyrinth? With tidy-whities?

His smile remained as Percy spoke about camp. The automatic camaraderie from the campers who just simply understood everything he had gone through and will experience. The children of the Hermes cabin, those claimed and unclaimed, welcomed him with open arms, teaching him all that he needed to know about life at camp. And while the nights were lonely and filled with nightmares, they’d fade away the moment the morning conch woke them up and started their day.

“The Friday of my first week was when I got claimed by my dad in the most show-offy way, I swear,” Percy chuckled as he threw his pen towards the cup on the other end of the room. They had been getting restless as they talked, Percy especially. He had taken to messing with anything he could get his hands on, a spare wheel for Tim’s current skateboard, the aglets of Percy’s laces, the gold Bic pen Percy always had.

“Claimed? What’s that?” Tim asked and launched his pink highlighter at the cup. “Is that like when a hospital does a paternity test for the baby or something?”

“Kinda,” Percy threw a pencil. “It’s when a god acknowledges their kids. It tells the camp and the other gods and monsters that you are their kid and, thus, have their powers or are a threat.” Percy fist bumped the air when his pencil landed in the cup, he was able to go again. “Sometimes the gods don’t claim their kids, they arrive at camp and they just stay in the Hermes cabin waiting for the day. Other kids get claimed shortly after arriving, but from what I heard that’s pretty rare.”

“Why the Hermes cabin, I though you said only kids of that god could stay in the cabin?”

“Hermes is the god of travelers, so he protects wanderers and stuff,” Percy dropped his arms against his lap. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked more annoyed than angry, if his tight voice was anything to go by. “The camp abuses that fact and shoves all the unclaimed kids in there and that’s not fair to the actual kids of Hermes and the unclaimed kids.” He throws another pencil towards the cup, watching it bounce way as it missed it’s target. “And you’d think the gods would be better with stuff like that, right? They’re gods, all mighty and all knowing, but they don’t even do the bare minimum of claiming their kids? It’s stupid.”

Tim stayed quiet as Percy continued his tale, offering comments and questions as it wore on. It felt unreal, what he had gone through at the age of twelve. (As if Tim was doing any better back then either, he was packing his bags to go a train in Paris to be Robin, so he really wasn’t one to judge.) It made the manhunt and new reports make sense too. The bus explosion was because a fury, the St Louis arch was a Chimera, and Percy was the reason zoo animals had been released in Las Vegas.

It all seemed like an impossible story, a modern Greek myth. Right down to the stages of “the hero’s journey” literature lesson. Tim had been told that there was magic that keep him blind to Percy’s world, the awesomeness of it all too much for him to comprehend. But he can imagine it pretty well. He can picture a younger Percy in his head surrounded by kids in the same bright orange shirts he was wearing, going ham on straw dummies in a Colosseum like the one in Rome. He can imagine the stone statues of the innocent lives Medusa captures, the souls in the fields of asphodel and the gems that sparkled on the food of the underworld.

He might not have been blessed with sight, but he does have a pretty good imagination.

Percy’s trip out the Bermuda triangle last years was even more impossible than the year before. First, the big kids in the gym class were Laistrygonians and Tyson was a baby cyclops and Percy’s half-brother. Which, what? How does that make sense?

“Cyclops are mainly children of Poseidon and some kind of nymph or naiad,” Percy had switched from throwing writing utensils at Tim’s empty tea mug, to trying to perfecting his batarang throw with the spares Tim had in his room. And, yes, Tim knows he shouldn’t have them outside the cave. Though people didn’t come over unless it was a gala, Bruce and Alfred did not want it to become a habit to have anything cape related in the manor. But Tim was always careful when it came to stuff like that, Percy can vouch for him.

“Why? I don’t know, but I have a feeling it has to do with his title of ‘father of monsters,” Percy shrugged before landing one bullseye. For claiming he was a terrible shot with a bow at camp, Percy had good aim. He hit whatever targets they set up with pretty good accuracy and speed, only missing the dart board on Tim’s door once. Alfred will not be happy about that when he sees the edge sticking out in the hall. “Oh, and Polyphemus, the cyclops guarding the golden fleece, is my half-brother too. I stabbed him in the eye.”

“That’s gonna make thanksgiving dinners awkward,” Tim joked.

“They’re already awkward now,” Percy pointed out. “I really don’t want to know how that’d go. Jeez. I think they’d trade me for the turkey.”

Percy continued to talk about what he did besides stab his brother. And despite being told that he was the son of Poseidon, Tim didn’t really believe him. Like, yeah, sure, Percy told him that he had perfect nautical bearings while at sea and that he could control any sea vessel while it was on water. And in theory, Percy can control water. (which, what was the limit to that? Was it just water or was it anything that contained water? Could he move poisons and toxins? Can…Can Percy bend blood?) But there is no proof of Percy doing that anywhere near Tim and the manor, therefore: Pics or it didn’t happen.

But back to Percy’s story—the fleece had done what to the magic tree? It brought the dead girl back? A part of Tim wanted to call bullshit on that, because how did that work? It went against all laws of nature to bring people back from the dead after so many years of them being in the ground. Even if the reason was magical in nature, one does not simply bring the dead back to life. Surely there was consequences for doing that right? Would it attract the wrath of Hades or Thanatos or something?

“So if you only go on quests in the summer, why’d you leave last week?” Tim pried the batarang out of the targets, small pieces of his bookshelf being pried out with each one. Alfred was going to given them so many chores for destroying the furniture.

Tim watched as the light heartedness Percy had vanished as he sat on the ground once more, the widow in front of him, the bed at his back. His knees came up and his arms were laid over them like it had been when they had first started the conversation. One hand reached to fidget with the bow and arrow charm and the streak of white in his hair seemed to glow in the dark, catching Tim’s eye.

“Last Friday, Thalia came to get me because she heard from Grover that there were two demigods that needed to be taken to camp. He said their scents were strong, like mine and hers, and it was an all hands on deck situation,” Percy said, dropping the charm before he began to spin his pen as an alternative fidget. “Me, Thalia, and our friend Annabeth went to upstate New York where we met Nico and Bianca, later we find out that they’re children of Hades.”

“We tried to save them, but there was a problem.” Tim placed the weapons in their case, his focus mainly on Percy. “There was a manticore and so many monsters that the three of us were getting out numbered. Thankfully the hunters of Artemis were able to come in, but, we lost Annabeth.”

“What do you mean?”

“She tackled a monster down into a trench and went missing for the week, eventually we found her, but I had to go on the quest given to the leader of the hunters, Zoe.” He had that dull look in his eyes again. No doubt the memory replaying in his head. “Her quest was to save Artemis, who had also been missing the for the past month, and it lead her to Mt Tamalpais where Artemis and Annabeth had been held hostage by Atlas.”

Incredulously, Tim cocked his head as he made his way to sit next to Percy. “Atlas? The guy who hold up the sky?”

Percy nodded. “He was set free by Luke because Kronos told him to. He really wants his general to lead his army or something. Anyway, Luke took over the weight of the sky and Annabeth was placed under it to save Luke.”

“Why though? The guy sounds like a total asshole, no offense ,” Tim commented.

“Oh, no, he is an asshole,” Percy agreed. “Luke is like her big brother, them and Thalia had come to camp together and she looks up to him the way we do to Dick. But, Luke is angry at the gods. He hates that they don’t care about us and wants them to fall so Kronos can take over, he doesn’t realize though that once Kronos gets his way, Luke’ll be thrown away like yesterday’s trash, ya’know?”

Tim nodded. He understood where Luke was coming from, after all, his own parents didn’t really care for him that much anyway. He knew they loved him, he knew they cared…in their own…special way. But he can’t imagine wanting his parents’ downfall because they weren’t there for Christmas every year. It was as if he summoned Trigon to smite them because they didn’t go to his third grade recital.

“Back to the story,” Percy said. “Once they got Annabeth to mt Tamalpais, He used the affection that she still had for him to have her take the weight instead. I think she was there for almost a whole day before they brought in Artemis. Eventually Artemis switched with Annabeth because she could last longer than a demigod, and also because she’s a maiden goddess of women. She’s gonna want to protect her as best as she can.

“Luke also knew that I would go where ever Annabeth was because, besides you, she’s my other best friend.” Percy rubbed the back of his neck and Tim smirked. Even in the dark of the night, with only the light of his singular lamp to light the room, Tim could see the tips of his ears turn a bit pink

He liked her, he just doesn’t want to admit it yet. Tim will file that information away for black mail for later.

“So by having her and Artemis there, Luke was using them as bait?” Percy nodded.

“Kronos wants me to be his meat suit,” he admitted. “Since I’m a child of his strongest children, I’ll be able to withstand the sheer amount of power that comes with hosting a titan. Especially since with my powers I basically control seventy percent of the earth, I can cause hurricanes that devastate the ground, and earthquakes to strong I could sink the Philippines.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Interesting.” Tim nodded his head. Okay, maybe he didn’t want Percy to prove it. Like, it’d be cool for him to make the ground move a little, or raise the entirety of the pool water in the back gardens. But if he uses too much power? If he looses control? Tim doesn’t want to be the reason the docks get over flooded and the bridges collapse, even if it wasn’t him who did it. “How’d you guys get to there anyway? It took you a while to get across country on your first…quest, so wouldn’t it have taken you the same amount of time this time around?”

“You’d think but, we had more help this time,” Percy began explain how he made it across the county in a week. First he flew on Pegasus horseback, then boarded a magic train that took him to Colorado. While there he rode a magic boar that took him to Death Valley.

Percy paused once he got there though, the flow of words coming to an abrupt halt and an apprehensive bob of his Adam’s apple. It was clear that something shifted in Percy after that night. A realization of some kind, an acceptance to a truth and a guilt chaining him where he sat. Still, Percy continued on. His hands holding tight to his arms as they crossed atop his knees, the pen long forgotten somewhere on the floor.

First he described the sky, how the stars were so bright and every constellation made their appearance. He was able to trace Gemini and Corvus, point to where the little dipper ended at Polaris. Tim had never known a clear night sky like that, be he can imagine it. All the stars glittering without the smog and lights of the city to dim them.

“We got stuck in the desert for a bit though, in one of Hephaestus’s junkyards,” He held tighter to himself. “It would have taken longer to go around and we didn’t have the time for that, so we went through it. It was cool at first. All the machines and weapons and trinkets, you would’ve had a blast. But we didn’t know there was a giant mech made to protect the stuff.

“One of us had grabbed something and it woke. We tried everything, no one took anything, or at least we didn’t think anyone took anything” Percy rested his cheek against his arms and Tim could see his eyes grow glossy. Tears springing up and threatening to spill as he spoke.

“We lost Bianca, Nico’s sister,” Percy whispered as a tear made its way down his cheek into the sleeves of his jacket. Just like Tim, Percy wasn’t one to cry much. Preferring to express himself in solitude of his room or one of the various hideouts he had in the manor. Last Time he saw Percy really let his emotions go was when Jason died. Tim heard his voice grow hoarse with his cries, his face red and eyes puffy from crying.

Now that he’s thinking about it, Tim remembers the weather being all weird during Jason’s funeral. Small earthquakes rippled through Gotham for a while, rattling the glass of every window and nearly collapsing a few old buildings. The water in the harbor rose higher, the boats in the bay nearly capsizing. Not to mention the hurricanes that devastated a few cities in the south, the record high waves in the ocean.

Was that Percy doing that? Was it him and his father grieving the loss of a brother and son?

“And I…I promised Nico that I’d keep her safe—” He dropped his head, arms reach over his head to pull at his hair. Tim could hear his sniffles, the stuttering breaths that kept him from pulling in a full breath. “I told him that I would bring her back to camp, but she—she sacrificed herself to make sure the rest of us didn’t die there.”

Percy lifted his head and wiped at his tears, trying to could himself together. “Gods, he was so angry with me.” Percy said. “He hates me now, ran off and we can’t find him now. But I promised him that I’d keep her safe. I promised that she would come back!”

“You did what you could, Perce,” Tim sat closer to Percy, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He’ll be honest, he wasn’t the best when it came to comforting someone under emotional distress. The most he can do is a stiff pat on the shoulder and a robotic “there, there.” But he has to do something to help the guy, he can’t just leave him to wallow in guilt and anger like Bruce tends to do six days out of the week. “You protected her until she had to protect you, that’s how it goes sometimes. Especially in our lives.”

“I know, but I just wished Nico hadn’t run away,” he sniffled, wiping the tears off his cheeks. “He’s a son of Hades, monsters are going to be after him and he’s only ten. He can’t fight. He wasn’t in camp long enough to know how to defend himself. I just—“ he cleared his throat. “I just don’t want to be the reason something bad happens to him. He left the one place that safe for kids like us because I got his sister killed.”

There was a lull of silence between them and Tim could feel the guilt weight down heavy on Percy. He didn’t like that all of this has happened to him, hates that they’re only fourteen and already they have lost so much. Tim understands what Percy’s going through, he knows how the chains of guilt and regret feel around his limbs. Because how many lives could have been saved if Tim was just that much faster? If he was that much smarter? How many parents could have lived to see their children get married, graduate college, or even celebrate the next Christmas with them? How many kids will never go to school again, never see their friends or family, never age? All because Tim couldn’t save them in time.

Dick explained the guilt that come attached to this life, of knowing that they had the power to save them, but they couldn’t. He told him that every person they couldn’t save was another link on the chain. Dick also told him that, while they should be upset they couldn’t help them, their death shouldn’t hold them back. Yes, it was tragic. Yes, it’s good to feel guilty and sad and angry that they couldn’t do more. But he couldn’t let it consume him, Tim can’t let their deaths keep him from saving every one else.

A few more moments passed, and Percy’s breaths were even again. His voice still had that post-cry warble to them, no doubt the lump in his throat the cause for that, and his eyes were red and puffy from the cry. “When we got to the mountain, we found out that Zoe is one of Atlas’s daughters. She lost her place as one of the Pleiades because she helped Heracles in the ancient times and got banished, joined the hunters to avoid men and protect women since she couldn’t go back.

“There was a big fight between us and Atlas and Luke,” Percy said. “Zoe needed Artemis’s help to stop Atlas, Annabeth and Thalia were preoccupied with Luke and his minions, but she was still holding up the sky. If she dropped it, it would crash against the earth and kill us all.”

“Did you hold it for her?” Percy nodded. “Is that how you got the…?”

“Demigods who hold up the sky are given the streak of white as a trophy, that they were strong enough to not be crushed by its weight and understand the prison in which Atlas is chained to,” Percy said turning his head so that Tim could see it. Like some kind of magic anime girl, the streak of white seemed to glow in the moonlight. A silvery tint highlighted the black curls around it, as if Artemis was helping him show off this feat of strength. “Luke and Annabeth have more in their hair than I do since they held it for longer, but eventually we got Atlas back under the sky, not without consequence though.”

“What happened?” Tim furrowed his eyebrows.

“We lost Zoe. Atlas stabbed her in the fight when she was protecting Artemis. We tried to save her on our flight back to camp in Artemis’s chariot, but she didn’t want to be saved.” Percy got up from his spot and motioned for Tim to follow him to the window.

It was a clear night for once. The gray clouds didn’t cover the ark blue of the night sky and, most importantly for this demonstration, the stars. Bright twinkling lights of various sizes and brightness, some strung together by the human mind over the centuries. He tilted his head around, scanning the skies for a second before he stood back and pointed in the direction he was looking. There in the sky, near to Orion, was a new constellation. A set of stars Tim had never seen before. “Artemis turned Zoe into a constellation, she loved the stars and told me she didn’t like how in modern times we couldn’t see it anymore. It’s called ‘The Huntress.”

“Wow.” Tim gaped at it and he could see her figure in the sky. Her arm outstretched, and arrow notched in the bow ready to fire. It was beautiful.

“Yeah.” Percy sat on the bed, shoulders slumped and his body language timid. “That’s all that happened but it’s not what I’m most worried about.”

Tim took one last look at the constellation before joining him on the bed. “There is this prophecy that says a child of the oldest gods is going to fight Kronos when they reach sixteen,” Percy says. “It’s said that they’re either the catalyst for the fall or the survival of Olympus.”

“At first we didn’t know who is was going to be about, the prophecy was spat out a few decades ago. But then I showed up and everyone thought it was me,” He said. “We thought it would have been Thalia since she got revived by the fleece and she’s fifteen, but she joined the hunters and is now immortal. Bianca and Nico could be chosen, but Nico’s ten, and Bianca’s…”

“So that leaves you again.”

“Yeah.” He nods and takes a breath. “I don’t want this to fall on Nico, he’s already lost his sister and he’s so young.”

“But if you’re going against Kronos, the Kronos, you’re gonna need all the help you can get Percy.” Tim says.

“I know, and no I don’t want Bruce to know.”

“But—”

“No! This isn’t league business, it’s not Batman business. This is demigod stuff,” Percy stood up. “You guys can’t even see the monsters I fight, how are you going to protect yourself if you don’t know what you’re fighting? Mortals can’t see through the mist, they can’t get blessed with sight, unless they’re born able to see it.”

“And how do you know I can’t?” Tim crossed his arms.

Percy dug into his pocket and pulled out his pen and uncapped it. “What do you see me holding?”

“A baseball bat.”

“Wrong. It’s a sword.”

“No, you’re lying.”

“No I’m not, you just can’t see it. You can’t even feel it when I hit you with it, it goes right through you because you’re mortal. Bruce is mortal. Alfred and Dick and Barbara are mortal.” The bat changed back into a pen. “You guys could die trying to fight in my war and I won’t let you.”

“If you don’t want us to fight, then why are you telling me?” Tim said.

“Because you’re my best friend and my brother and I miss you!” Percy yelled. Whatever anger that was growing dissipated with the confession and he just looked defeated and tired again. “I missed just hanging out with you like we used to. And I can’t do that if you’re wondering where I disappear off to in the middle of the day cause I’m fighting a hell hound during fifth period.”

“You’re the one who didn’t want anything to do with me anyway when you said I wasn’t mean to be Robin! You’re the one who instigated it.”

“Because if I didn’t then you wouldn’t stop questioning me about what happened! You would try and tell Bruce, and then Bruce would try and take over and be a general to a child army of the gods. I don’t want that! You guys save the world all the time,” Percy said. “Can’t I save it just once without him?”

“You could’ve been Robin thought, I don’t see why you have to fight the titan of freakin’ time!”

“I don’t have a choice Tim!” Percy yelled. “Do you think I want to fight him? That I want to be the deciding factor of if Olympus falls and the world gets overruled by the titans and sent back to the stone age?!” Tim stayed quiet, watching Percy’s arms flail to accentuate his words. “No! I don’t, but I don’t have a choice. The sisters of fate have already said that I have to do it, and bad things happen to those who go against fate. And it’s bad enough that kids of the big three are essential cursed from birth now, I don’t want to tempt fate any more than I should.”

“What do you mean ‘already cursed?’ did something happen?”

“Yeah. World War Two. One side had the children of Zeus and Poseidon, the other the children of Hades, and they decided that—for the safety of the world—to not have kids since. They swore of the river Styx, which is the strongest bind of all kinds, and if you break it, bad things happen.” Percy answered. “Zeus broke his oath and Thalia died, Poseidon broke his oath and Jason died and I get stuck with eternal bad luck.”

“But what about those other kids you mention, Bianca and Nico, aren’t they cursed too?”

“Technically no, they were born back in the forties before the oath—” Tim opened his mouth to question. “Time magic and a casino in Vegas, I told you about it earlier.” Tim closed his mouth. “The point is Tim, I don’t want to be the center of the biggest prophecy of the century, but I have no choice. And it puts my mind at ease knowing you all can’t get hurt because you don’t know anything. Yeah, you guys can handle your own, obviously, but you can’t handle this.”

“You guys protect Gotham and the world and me from everything else,” Percy sat down next to Tim again. “Let me protect you guys from this.”

Tim let the words circle his head for a moment. The moon was way over head now, the stars outside the window shifted to the other half of the manor and he was kinda upset that he wouldn’t get to see Zoe’s constellation from his window. Logically he know that new stars didn’t just appear out of nowhere, they were already there in the sky, but to think that they had been just assembled into the constellation all of sudden was mind boggling.

Maybe Percy was right. Maybe the gods were real and that’s why strange things happen, it surely would explain Diana’s immortality and the other Amazonian’s abilities. It does explain where Percy’s been and the scars he has, why he’s good at sword fighting in the cave and why he acts like he knows more than anyone else.

Well, it’s because he does, Tim thinks. His brain had to process both normal mortal customs and that of the demigod world. He has to remember all the mythological monsters and gods, the heroes of old and how their stories help or hurt him now. He has to train all year around because the monsters won’t stop going after him because it’s a school day. No wonder some nights Percy’s wide awake, tired and sleepy, but adamant about not going back to sleep. He probably has nightmares that keep him up the same way it does for him and Bruce and Dick.

When Tim looked over to his best friend, now adoptive brother, whose made of lean muscle and gangly limbs of a growing fourteen year old boy much like him, he wonders if he would have done the same. Would he have kept it all a secret from everyone if he knew it would save them? Would he try and keep the two worlds separate because only disaster can come from them meeting?

“Okay.” Tim breathes. He would. Tim would be doing exactly what Percy is doing now because, ultimately, Tim can’t do anything to help. He can study the old myths all he wants, he can read the Odyssey and every variant of every myth ever, but he’ll never be able to cross the line that separates Percy’s world from his.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” He confirms. “You do what you have to Percy. I’ll try and help as much as I can with my puny mortal mind and body—” Percy breaks into a smile and snorts, pulling a smile of Tim’s own on his lips. God, how long has it been since he’s seen Percy smile like that, like when they were kids. When the duty of didn’t Gotham bind him to a mask and place the weight of the sky in his hands. “And I’ll try my best to keep B off your back. But can you promise me something?”

“What is it?”

“Promise me when you’re out on quests, saving the world, doing your thing as the son of Poseidon,” Tim says, holding out his pinkie. “That if you need help, of any kind, you won’t hesitate to call?”

Percy stared at his finger for a second, no doubt running through the possibilities in his head, but instead he wrapped his own little finger around Tim’s. “I promise.”

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

I love the relationship I’ve built for Tim and Percy, their characters (both canon and in this au) are just *chef’s kiss*

Also, I hope the rants they have are in character. They’re both those type of characters that it’s easy to accidentally write as their fanon-self and not their canon.

Thank you for reading!!!!

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#percy jackon and the olympians #dc comics #pjo x dc #batman fanfiction #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson #tim drake #batman #jason todd #dick grayson #annabeth chase #thalia grace #bianca di angelo #zoe nightshade #luke castellan #artemis

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pinkiemachine · 2 months ago

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Hi! So, I was wondering... You said all heroes before 24 are in the YJ, where does that leave the original team of the NTT? Are they in the JL now? Do the Outsiders exist anymore? (and if you don't have this all figured out or have a different plan for canon it is okay, I just overthink things)

So, I’m a little confused by your question—the “original” team was the Mighty Teen Titans, the second gen was the New Teen Titans. Typo? Idk.

ANYWAY—REGARDLESS—I’ll try to answer your question as best I can :)

So, one of my main objectives when it comes to the superhero teams is trying to keep things simple. I don’t want there to be a whole bunch of different teams for people to try and keep track of all the time, because that makes it harder on the average viewer. At the moment, the only teams I’ve greenlit so far are The Justice League (there will be a few “generations” for them as well. Changing members over the years, like Aquaman leaving to become king of Atlantis and being replaced by Green Arrow and Black Canary), the Teen Titans (I’ve posted plenty about them, but yeah, there’s three distinct generations for them, each led by a different Robin, and yes, Jason would have gone on to lead his own team if he hadn’t sadly passed away), speaking of which, the Outlaws, led by Red Hood. Additional members: Arsenal, Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, and Bizarro. Then, there’s the Green Lanterns of Earth. (Yeah, that whole “each sector has only ONE Lantern” thing doesn’t really sit well with me. Besides, it’s not like DC listens to that rule anyway, lol.) So, the team consists of five members: Hal Jordon, Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Kelli Quintella, and is led by John Stewart. While he leads the Lantern team, Hal is the active representative on the Justice League, helping them on missions periodically when the rest of the Lanterns are preoccupied. Kyle Rayner comes in later, during the adaption of the Emerald Twilight arc, leading up to Blackest Night.

Finally, there’s Young Justice, which unfortunately is the least fleshed out of the teams right now, but it too will have distinct “generations.” However, which members are included will vary depending on the characters themselves. For example, among the original Teen Titans—Robin/Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Cyborg—Cyborg went on ahead and became part of the Justice League before Young Justice was founded, leaving Nightwing and Starfire to lead the new young adult team along with newcomers like Batgirl and Supergirl. I’ve been thinking maybe once Raven finishes her arc and defeats her father, Trigon, she can go ride off into the sunset, maybe by going back to Azarath. Either way, the point is she moves on. I haven’t decided about the rest yet. After that, some of them, like Nightwing and Starfire, go on to be part of the Justice League. Then, the next gen of YJ comes along: Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake), Spoiler, Cassie Sandsmark (who’s usually Wonder Girl 2.0 but to avoid another “multiple Robins” or “multiple Superboys” fiasco, I decided to make her an original hero called Olympia), Miss Martian, Conner Kent Superboy (I’m also looking for a potential new name for him, but I’m coming up dry), Aqualad 2.0 (Kaldur), and Impulse. I have not written anything for this gen of YJ yet, nor for the generation after them, and I can’t say when I will.

What I can say is that I have no plans currently to include the Outsiders. That may change, but personally it seems like a bit too much to include them on top of having the Teen Titans and Young Justice and The Justice League. If there are to be more superhero teams, they really, really, really need to justify their existence by having a specific goal or reason for being.

Thanks for asking :) I enjoy the questions.

#dc #dc comics #fandom #justice league #teen titans #young justice

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buymeanewlaptopty · 10 months ago

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Dos X Batman crossover

So Tim Drake is planning on exploding Ras al ghuls base. And after many sleepless nights (as usual) gets in his sleep-deprived brain, the brilliant idea to summon the God of explosions. Cause why not? It would be way quicker and more efficient than to get all the explosives himself. Young Justice being the enablers they are just support him, cause Tim is the smartest Robin, he was trained by Batman, surely he knows whats up and what are the chances even that actually works??

And they do some summoning ritual from a Sus book Tim found on his travels (when Bruce was stuck in the time stream). And tbh Tim is mostly doing it for sht and kicks but THAN

BAM the summoning is actually working. There is a bit of panic (lots) but then the one who appears is a lil girl. Younger than all of them it seems. Can't be more than 14/15. And she's just like 'sup' (shikako is starstruck cause WHAT??? IS THAT RED ROBIN?? THE BEST ROBIN ??? AND IS THAT YOUNG JUSTICE?? WHAT IN THE WORLD??), cause she's a ninja and she can keep her cool under any weird circumstances and to be fair getting summoned isn't all that surprising with her track record.

The hero team explain that they summoned her. And shikako asks how (assuming she speaks English even though it's been a lifetime ago)? And they show this ritual where Tim made some adjustments to summon the God of explosions (which was basically a seal that Shikako will decode later). Shikako says on instinct/autopilot that she isn't a goddess. She is a bit mortified cause omgomgomg she can never let this be known to Sasuke or Kakashi or Anyone really. She would never hear the end of it.

They talk some more and Shikako asks why they need explosions and Tim explains his situation. And shikako is completely on board like hell yes let's fk up the creepy stalker. And she shows she can make explosions with a touch. And they go on and basically egg Ras base with explosions and its a great time.

After that Shikako stays for a while cause it takes time to find her home dimension and decode the summoning ritual. She is the closest with Red Robin cause he's her(mine) favourite Robin. And they can totally geek out over her seals and technology and differences in their worlds and all that. They both have that single minded drive where they just get lost in their research. And shikako would totally explain her seals to Tim and he could like give suggestions.

Once they didn't come out of their research drive for 3 days, it would have been longer if Superboy didn't drag them out of the room for some food that wasn't caffeine or soldier bars (or whatever I forgot the name)

In the end she leaves but she lets them know that if they ever need her for whatever reason they can summon her again.

Afterwards when Tim summons her again and explains the problem. Shikako is like I have just the thing and she has this very weird and very convoluted plan.

But it works.

And they realize that explosions isn't the only thing she can do.

So they begin to call her for other things to and shikako always has a (convoluted) plan that usually works (and if if doesn't then she has a plan that will)

And she can also heal??? So like an on call healer which is great!

But when shikako goes on a mission or isn't available she will let it know through a message (somehow, via seal or via interdimensional technology or maybe a combination)

Sometimes the summons are just to catch up.

And just imagine how the Bats would react. Like there is some seemingly impossible problem/villain and Tim be like 'I know a god' and just summons Shikako from his instant-summon-seal and there Shikako is in all her glory, in her pjs with her blanket still on.

And just has all contingency plans ready for all situations.

Batman has the adoption papers ready and filled by the end of the crisis. But shikako already has a lovely family🤣 so she rejects the offer.

I NEED MORE SHIKAKO DC CROSSOVERS😭😭

Anyways lemme know what u think

#expecting explosions but getting convient natural disasters #dreaming of sunshine #nara shikako #shikako nara #tim drake #batman x dos #dos x batman #shikako in DCU

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gremlin-bot · 2 years ago

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This is based off this prompt from @stealingyourbones! Now this does have Hanahaki disease in it as well as blood and things to do with the lungs if y'all don't like that! this is also my first time writing for DC.

Edit: Here is the ao3 link

Blooming Death, Please Love Me

Danny never thought he would get Hanahaki disease after the accident. He was too busy with ghosts and general survival. He sees that he is wrong now, with burning lungs and the taste of iron on his tongue. Small red petals cupped in now bloody hands. Most would think it was a rose in his lungs, but Danny can feel they are not. His core hurts, lungs burn, and blood blossoms bloom in his lungs.

Danny sighs. He'll have to deal with this later, his break is almost up and he still has half of his shift left. He just hopes Tim doesn't come in while he's working, his lungs and core wouldn't be able to take it.

Danny usually works nights in a 24/7 coffee shop next to the Gotham University campus. It pays well enough for his shitty crime alley apartment, plus he can go there straight after his classes. He didn't expect to see any vigilantes during his working hours, but Red Robin's coffee addiction won't rest (much like the vigilante himself).

Now vigilantes aren't the only high profile people to tumble in during Danny's shifts. The Wayne family, for some ungodly reason, tends to stop in. According to his co-workers, they mostly stop in only during his shift. Danny thinks they are liars. Why would they only come during his shift, it's not like he does anything that would catch their attention. He's mostly retired from the hero gig and keeps invisible during his ghostly flights.

Danny is just a normal tired college student trying to get through his shifts. Really he should have known that could never happen. The thing with being a barista is that you get really good at recognizing voices. So, when Red Robin came in a couple hours after Tim Drake with the same tired but steady voice, well Danny didn't tell a soul.

It's a Friday night and his lungs burn. Danny is trying his best to stay calm. Fixing the mess his heart got him into might turn his half-life into a bigger tragedy than it already was. To think his second death was blooming in his lungs over a hot, too smart for his own good, vigilante. Danny coughs, petals brush and burn his throat. They sit on the tip of his tongue, like the words he has yet to say. Blood blossoms, the only damn flower he couldn't live through. He was going to die from the burning of his chest and core. Spitting out the poison of his heart's creation, Danny gets back to work.

It was a slow night, not surprising considering Gotham is still recovering from a break out at Arkham. The chances of Tim showing up should be high but Red Robin hasn't been seen in the streets lately. Danny really should stop thinking about him, his core aches, but he really can't help but worry.

___________

Tim was tired of not being able to take a full breath. He never had Hanahaki disease before. Never fell this hard for someone. This unexpected event put him out of commission for anything related to the bats and the birds. He hated it but couldn't blame them, not when he let it get this bad.

Tim's petals didn't start with the first time he saw Danny but damn was it close. A cute guy that doesn't even blink at the amount of espresso shots he asked for, isn't what kept Tim drawn to Danny. No it was his snark and brain. Tim often sees him working on some engineering project. If he has time, Tim will get Danny to ramble on what he's doing. Danny was brilliant. If he wasn't a full time student, Tim would have tried to snatch him for Wayne Enterprises.

He really hoped that the rest of his family didn't catch on to his crush, but hope can only take you so far. It was Dick that called him out on it. He is also the one to text it to the sibling group chat, like the trader he is. They make bets to find the person that has Tim looking like a love sick puppy. The first petal is coughed up, unnoticed by the family of great detectives, hidden under tongue and deflective words.

Tim didn't look at the first petal, or the second or third. He refused to believe that his heart was gone this quick, before his family even had a chance to look for the boy who wanted to touch the stars. Another cough, more petals.

Jason is the one to find Danny first, surprisingly. He wasn't even trying to look either, but hey he'll take winnings anyway. Since then the rest of his siblings stalked the coffee shop for the boy to make sure he was good for Tim. Honestly Tim wouldn't be surprised if Bruce knew what was happening and was helping them.

The commotion of his siblings hid his flowering lungs well, but at this point denial was useless. Tim fell hard for Danny, a cute boy with a brilliant mind to match. Tim coughs hard. Lungs rattling as a whole handful of petals fall from his mouth to his dinner plate past his poorly cupped hands. Everyone stops around him, it's silent. Tim for the first time looked at the petals from his lungs, white Chrysanthemums are the flowers suffocating him. Concerned chaos enraptured him.

Bruce pulls him from patrol, even after Arkum's break out. Everyone is walking on eggshells around him, well almost everyone. Jason doesn't feel the irrational guilt of worsting Tim's flower with teasing and the like. Tim may hate the situation he got himself into but at least someone is being sensible about it, (unlike himself).

It's around the time he would stop in to see Danny as Red Robin, when Jason checks in on him. Tim is coughing up whole flower heads, their roots pulling at the inside of his lungs with a long stinging sensation that turns into a stab with each convulsion. Hands hold him upright as the petals stop falling from his mouth.

Jason looks worried before sighing, his face shifting to a shit eating smirk. "It's been a week and here I thought you are smart enough to confess"

"You just saw me cough up a garden and that's what you say to me? Unbelievable!" Tim flat start is barely held as he fights a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Really living life here, Timbo. How's those flowers tasting? Not good I assume but clearly you like them enough to keep them so fucking long"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I should confess and shit, but I'm on mandatory bed rest. If Alfred catches me going out, I think I'll die from the disappointment."

Jason smirks turns smug "Good thing I already told him I was taking you out so you can take care of your sad love life. Come on let's go before your boy toy’s shift ends"

This sends Tim into a panic. He is nowhere near ready to go outside the manor least of all talk to Danny, but Jason doesn't care. He throws Tim over his shoulder and turns to walk out of Tim's room.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!!" Tim pleads "I'm not even sure if Danny likes guys and I'm not meeting him looking like I've been dying the past week!"

"The dying thing is true and you know it but I guess you can get changed." Jason relents, setting Tim down. "Be out by my bike in 10 or I'm hunting you down"

Tim scurries to his closet. Okay, he's doing this. To think that out of all of his siblings it would be Jason that finally gets him to confess. Tim is going to make him pay for his coffee when this is all over.

___________

Danny's shift is almost over, and there is still no sign of Red Robin. Not seeing him for a week shouldn't worry him this much, Tim could be on a business trip for all Danny knows. Actually he would know, Tim has a habit of complaining about having to leave for them.

His core burns as a red vapor starts to trickle up his throat. Hanahaki disease shouldn't be taking over his lungs this fast, but life decided to deal him a bad hand. Danny painfully swallows the vapor. He just has to make it to the end of his shift, he'll call Jazz for help then.

He is resting his head on the counter with his eyes closed, trying to manage the blooming pain. He is the only one here tonight besides his manager Anna. The bell above the door rings out into the quiet shop. He stands up from his resting position putting on his customer service smile.

Tim is standing just in the door. Their blue eyes meet and red vapor fills his burning lungs. Danny is going to drown in petals and green flaked blood. Danny starts coughing hard, not even trying to hide the bloody petals falling from his lips, nor the vapor rolling up into the air.

Tim rushes to the counter, his own petals starting to fall from him. At the same time Danny's manager walks out from the back, stopping him from vaulting over the counter. She looks startled before seeing their collection of petals.

"Danny, you can take the rest of your shift off. I'll cover the rest just to figure your shit out before you come in next okay." She says while helping Danny up.

He glances at Tim then back at her before nodding. "Okay, I'll clean the mess-"

"No. I got it, plus I think that you'll only make it worse at the moment." She gives him a small smile, while shoo-ing to the back so he can grab his things.

"Well, since you are waiting for him, is there anything I can get you?" She asked.

Oh right Tim forgot Jason was there. His brain shut off when he saw Danny crumple from a familiar cough. The red vapor and amount of blood mixed with the petals was concerning but hopefully that will be fixed after this. Petals fill his mouth as he orders him and Danny coffee. Pushing Jason to the counter to pay as they discussed (argued) on the way there.

Danny comes out the same time their order is done. Tim grabs the drinks and walks up to the cause of the flowers blooming in his lungs. Danny looks nervous, but smiles at Tim with slightly bloody teeth anyway. That shouldn't be hot. Tim blushes as he holds back the worst of his coughs. Petals puff out of his mouth like the first fallen leaves in autumn caught in the wind. Danny giggles as his own bloody petals fall.

"Man, I guess we got each other huh." Danny sighs

"Yeah, wanna talk about it? It's a little late to take you out for dinner, unless you want Batburger?" Tim leads Danny out of the coffee shop, leaving Jason behind.

"Batburger for a first date doesn't sound too bad." Danny grins, and the pull in his lungs disappears. The last of the Chrysanthemums petals leave his mouth. He looks at Danny hoping to see the same, but Danny looks anxious and in pain still.

"But, before that there's something I have to tell you. If we are doing this it would be unfair for you to not know" Danny takes a deep breath and turns to look at Tim. He really shouldn't tell Tim but he'll have to trust him.

"I'm half ghost. I had a lab accident when I was younger that killed me but brought me back… mostly. Now I can turn into a ghost and have ghost power. Also fangs but that's less important and I'm rambling now. Please say something."

Tim blinked "Well that wasn't what I was expecting but at this point, it could be worse. I believe and accept you. We can talk more about that later in a different place." Tim said, looking hopefully at Danny.

The burning in Danny's lungs stopped with one last drag of red vapor and bloody petals fall from his lips. He relaxes and takes Tim's hand.

"Good, because the flowers that were in my lungs are like one of the only thing that can kill ghosts and they fucking burned. Anyway, where is the nearest Batburger?" Danny says, casual as ever.

"Wait, WHAT!!"

#dp x dc #danny fenton #danny phantom #tim drake #dc x dp #brain dead #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #tim drake x danny fenton #hanahaki #blood blossums #tw blood #danny phantom au #ao3 link #Petals and Arrays of The Dead and Those Yet To Be #Writing on the walls

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punkeropercyjackson · 10 months ago

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The reduction of Stephanie Brown down to being just a white blonde girl needs to end.That was never all she was,even back in the Robin 1993 days-Did most of her charactet revolve around Tim at first?Yes but he was literally the protagonist and she was the love interest so it was necessary to make them a big part of eachother's lives to make their romance make sense and she gets more and more fleshed out as the run goes on and this extends to her 90s Yj guest starring,her Detective Comics issues and all the Batgirl runs up until to the point where SHE HERSELF became Batgirl because that's how much of her own character she was by then.You cannot seriously call yourself a Stephanie stan if you read all those years of her life and came to the conclusion that the only important part of her character is her having a 'desirable' hair color by white standards

Stephanie Brown has anger issues and violent tendencies and self-worth issues that she tries her best cope with through presenting herself as having unflincing self-confidence that eventually became real to an extent and the reason for all of this is that she grew up with an abusive dad and a drug addict mom yet she was brave and capable enough to stand up to him by becoming a vigilante at 15 without even having powers or special training and ended up being one of the best Gotham's ever seen anyway.She loves all kinds of food,anything and everything purple and girly,weird things,sports,video games,causing chaos and art.She's a shameless flirt but that dosen't mean she goes for just anyone because she has standards for herself and she refuses to give up on anyone but especially herself even if she wants to sometimes and she got murdered as Robin but Gotham ressurected her because it believed in HER too(Idc about the 'was just in Africa' shit DC tried to pull,that's what actually makes sense with the actual lore)and she's so kind to kids that it blurrs the line between big sister figure and pseudo-mom

And yet nonstop,the Batfam fandom can't look past her hair color-It's always 'the blonde Robin' instead of the girl one,making her listen to fucking Taylor Swift as if she's a not huge feminist both in-universe and in a meta sense,calling her an 'It Girl' and 'Preppy' as if she wasn't either a normal student or a troubled kid depending on the writer and sometimes even both and weird as fuck in literally all her incarnations,reducing Tim's pure and well-intended love for her down to her being conventially attractive and even Cass can't escape it because white wlw can't understand that Stephanie and her are canonically equals on every level so they see her as nothing but Stephanie's woc cheerleader gf who has no existense outside of her

Steph's not written like a soulless Barbie doll with no personality or arcs outside of being a girl,she's multilayered and written like a PERSON.You guys are straight up somehow even more misogynistic to her than DC is and i am NOT going to keep my mouth shut while y'all call removing her entire character to make her a cishet gender stereotyped fantasy 'girlbossing' and especially not canon.This is why i give her black hair and brown eyes in my blasian design for her even though it makes her less recognizable because not only do i want her to actually look like me since half the reason i have that hc for her is that i'm black mixed and she's so much like me in so many ways but also because y'all's obsession with acting like blondeness is a personality trait is weird,gross and deeply unserious.Aaaaaand end rant

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just-an-enby-lemon · 2 years ago

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Some of My WTNV/DC AU no one asked for:

Janet Lubelle: Then he goes "Janet we can't keep going like that, there's an ethics code for a reason."

Jonathan Crane: What a coward!

Lubelle: Right?! I tried to make him see reason, I went: "Carlos, the pursue of answers should meet no bounds. That what we call ethics are just arbitrary rules created because people are just too emotional over the truth and it's methods" and the absolute asshole just packed his things and left the university! He got transfered to Gotham because his lil baby fewings got hurt. People die all the time. They should be honored they died for science.

Jonathan: Exactally!

Lubelle: Well I couldn't let he have all the fun while not being totaly driven to understand Gotham. So I'm here.

Jonathan: And you want for us to exchange research pappers and text subjects?

Lubelle: Only some of those. Make it peer reviewed.

Jonathan: It'll be a pleasure.

---

Kevin: And the family would never ever stop smiling again, not only because of the scars they carved in adoration but because the Smilling God entered their minds and broke them until they were happy even as their house burn with their grandma inside. The end.

Joker: *amazed and a bit spooked* Say what?

Kevin: Oh! You only heard the end part! This is my favorite childhood fairy tale. Is soo heartwarming!

Joker: I like you!

Kevin: *smilling even wilder* Thank you, newcommer. *points to the bloodied spot in Jokers suit* You have a great taste in clothing!

Joker: Why, thank you. I also like yours. I'm Joker!

Kevin: I heard about you! Your smilex killed some of my followers.

Joker: *ready to fight* Oh bummer.

Kevin: No, no, it was great. I never saw them so happy their smilles were so wide. I had to try it for myself. Didn't work unfortunally. *almost drops smille* But not to fret! The Smilling God knows what He does, they were unable to smile by themselfs. I have no such a problem and need no solution.

Joker: And people say I am crazy.

Kevin: *threatning* This is a mean thing to say, don't you think?

Joker: Oh no, my new friend, I consider madness to be a compliment.

Kevin: Friend? Are we friends? I always wanted a friend. The last one gave me a letter and leaved!

Joker: *a bit too much in manipulative mode but also genuinally impressed with this random new crazy rogue* I would love to be your friend. Nay, your best friend. I'm a clown and it's a pleasure to meet other people focused in making everyone smile. What do you think?

Kevin: YES! *jumps excitedly* Best friends, please!

---

Charles: All I am saying is...

Tim: Look I am impressed you figured out mt secret identy and you're a really nice guy but I don't think Batman needs your help.

Charles: Carlos helps!

Tim: Carlos is a scientist!

Charles: I could help you with cult leaders and mystical stuff.

Tim: How many cult leaders Gotham even has?

Red Hood: Hey, theologist guy, I just found a third evil cult and I might be needing some- Tim?

Tim: Hood?

Charles: Hi. Jason.

Tim: Wait you know Jason's identity as well?

Charles: Yeah. And Robin's.

Tim: And you don't know who Batman is?

Charles: No clue.

Tim: How???

Jason: Can we talk about it after we deal with the new cult leader? We have two of those minor ones with dangerous cults every day in this hellhole and Huntress and I are the only ones dealing with it.

Charles: Is Helena okay? She and Sage were having some relationship problems.

Tim: I give up.

Batman: This is an emergency! There is a weird person following me around. They think they are hidden but they are not, they send minions sometimes, others they are there, they aren't tall nor short and dress with things like furry pants and a bow tie, no shirt; a rocking dress with a poncho and other odd combinations and always always has recording equipament . I still don't know the identity of this individual. But it seems to be a new criminal force studying their target and we should be cautious.

Dick: Furry pants and a bow tie? Recording equipament... Oh you're talking about the radio host.

Bruce: Who?

Dick: Me and Babs always listen to his show.

Barbara: I think I recorded today's show just in case we were unable to watch it on time. I'm sending it to you, B.

*recordings*

Cecil: The man who calls himself Batman striked again. Everyday he walks in the night, beats up people and buys a slice of Big Rico's Pizza. No one does a slice like Big Rico's. No one. As of late he again took out a normal family operation on the nightvalean area because apparently the taming and possession of too many antics is "iligal" and "dangerous". Now at first I was a defender of this new guy, yes it is weird he calls himself Batman and isn't visibly part bat but isn't it worse to define he isn't and has no claim on his heritage just because it isn't obvious? And he has a bunch of armed kids! Has Tamika Flyn not showed us we should trust armed heavilly trained kids? But that was then. Now he is attacking our comunity! Arresting and beating up members of our comunity and friends of our comunity. Shame on this Batman and shame on his heavilly trained kids and a bit less shame on his super cute and sexy scientist guy cause he is new and obviously is being tricked because someone as perfect as Carlos would never.

Cecil: On other news Waylon Jones also known as Killer Croc wants to talk with you. He wants to just talk something as friends and to apologize to your neighboor for potentially eating his grandma but also wants to discuss some more important details of your plans, he is going to do it at... my house? *reading* "nanana uh-hu Cecil please keep this friendly get along private" oh listerners, I'm sorry, it appears I was reading my personal text mensages instead of my notes. I'm so sorry. Silly me. The one who is going to visit you is Victor Zsass, he already has a scar with your name and his knife is ready, you know what you did.

Cecil: Finally the neigboorhood concil wants to inform that there is a Scarecrow attack planned for this friday. They recomend you cancel all your apointments and lock yourselfs at home with the aproved gas masks. This is of course the Gotham tradicional protocol. They do add to the protocol however that if you want to be hitted by Scarecrow's fear toxin do not scream degrading things like "Scarecrow hottie hit me hard with your fumes" nor be disrespectfull of his power by being overly friendly, simply go to public spaces and screem "I'm not afraid of you" or idealy scream "please no have mercy". If you are imnune to the toxin decorum also recomends you should pretend to be scared, you don't wanna hurt his feelings, do you?

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f4nd0m-fun · 2 years ago

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@sonicman613 @thatonegaybitch68 @hallowsden

This one is more a character thing and who I've figured out have wings.

Also, more focused on DC here, so they'll have little blurbs, but DP is just a blob of info.

Bruce Wayne was a distant descendent of Jonathan Nightingale, many greats-grandson of his only daughter.

Mrs. Nightingale fled Salem, heading north to the Gotham Settlement. Her husband was to be taken to the pyre, with no knowledge of his future child, but she knew there was no way to save him. She didn't know about the curse he had placed on the Nightingale bloodline to torment his brother, only knowing of the experiments his father had done to reawaken the long dormant bloodline.

Elizabeth was born normal enough, and the feathers never truly became wings, but they were a blight upon her back that many refused to touch. Eventually, though, she managed to marry, and her last name changed to Wayne.

Because of the nature of the curse and magic lineages often being stronger than genetic ones (depending on how the magic is curated for the lines), those Bruce Wayne takes in as his children find themselves with wings of their own, fledglings with one kind that mature into another as they grow up.

-----

The Drake's name came from their duck wings, something Janet did not like, but she'd married in for another reason. Besides, Jack seemed to be happy to let her handle Timothy most days after he was born, it was just a matter of making him agree with her.

"Remember, Timothy, keep your wings close to you, you don't want to cause problems, right?"

Sometimes, Tim could still hear his mother reprimanding him. Like that time he tried to fly.

"Timothy, no! Get back here!" She looked at the guests, and apologized to them.

After that night, he hadn't tried to fly again. Sure, short glides were used while he was following the Beasts around. But he never flew.

And when he joined the Beasts? He slowly lost even his ability to glide, wings burning away as flame robin feathers, the same kind Jason had had, slowly replaced his own, replacement holding yet another meaning once Jason returned.

Eventually, he got better, he grew new wings, the tattered ones burning into a deep crimson of a cardinal. He found out who he was, and learned to fly.

-----

Dent also has wings, but, sheet his accident, one was left scarred and burnt. Eventually, he gets a prosthetic, but he doesn't wear it when he's not flying because it's uncomfortable to wear.

People have made jokes about Harvey and Bruce being angels, Wayne with his flecked snowy owl wings, and Dent with his pure white egret feathers. While Bruce helps from above, with his charities and search for the future, Harvey strikes from below, using the law to the best of his ability, finding every loophole he can to help the victims.

But then he was burned, and the angel fell from grace. Half his body scared, wings blackened like a raven, charred like hell descended, warping the great one's mind.

-----

Jonathan Crane came from a family with literal crane wings, but the Nightingale Fenton lineage won out. Eventually, though, his wings take the form they were supposed to, better matching his lanky frame.

The experiments and abuse he faced at his father's hands left his wings battered and torn, the black sheen far from the white of the adult in front of him. Certainly, his father's wings were tipped with black, but it was nowhere near the depth of darkness that Jonathan had. Jon, though, was glad his parents had separated. His father taking him, leaving his brother safe with their mother.

As he aged in this abusive environment, an old friend of his past self began to show, taking interest in Jonathan, until he was broken enough to call on it, though it wasn't the creature's fault, the supposed father was more demon than the beast at this point, and the entity was glad to take the fledgling out of there, all but old enough to handle himself in several matters anyway.

-----

Jim Gordon has hummingbird wings. They're part of a family curse, if you want to see it that way, only passed down to the males of the family. Barbera doesn't have them, and isn't sure how dominant they are in regards to passing them down.

••••••••••

The Fenton family, aside from Madeline, have wings. However, Jazz's were acquired though the magic of the lineage and not the blood, as she's actually Harley Quinn's daughter, given to an old school friend (Madeline) to be away from the Joker.

Danny Fenton lost his wings when he gained his scars, but, like any powerful ghost, will grow into them. The most notable ghosts with wings, however, are the ancients.

Dorathea and Aragon both have leathery wings. These are tied to their amulets though and not their natural ghost power.

Sam's parents have wings. No one can figure out why she doesn't though.

Tucker somehow built a jetpack.

Ghost Writer has wings and uses his feathers as quills instead of using a typewriter. He also collects other ghost's feathers, with permission, to turn them into quills as well. These ones are in a collection though and not to be used.

Wes has wings as well, from his dad's side, though his father refused to stay in Gotham with her (Ives' sister), and took the boys with him.

••••••••••

At the moment, this is everyone.

#winged uncle scarecrow au #winged uncle jonathan au #uncle scarecrow wings au #uncle scarecrow au

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dailycass-cain · 2 years ago

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Cassandra Cain Reading Guide Part 3: The Search for a Arc

Part III of this reading guide for Cassandra is more what you say is "guidelines" than completed story arcs since well, "bumps" occurred aka DC Comics gonna be DC Comics.

Here you’ll find stories involving Cass that DC threw to wall to see what stuck, along with random appearances (outside and in canon).

Part I reading guide you can find here.

Part II reading guide (Modern) you can find here.

Part IV reading guide (Alternate versions) you can find here.

Part V reading guide (PAIN) you can find here.

Batgirl Vol. 2 #1-6 (aka Redemption Road)

- The title is figuratively and literally not only meant for Cass but the author of the series itself. Built on the back of some really bad stories involving the character it's another look into the character's ultimate coda.

Keep in mind when reading the series, that that the context isn't just of the characters, but the writer calling out various other Batman/Bat-Family writers at that time for their ignorance with Cass.

It's the only way to fully understand the out-of-character moments (namely Nightwing). It's probably the best "sendoff" the character could get. Even with the problems that are cast all over it.

The series is problematic (David Cain being a complete monster, 0 payback for the stuff Deathstroke did to Cass because during this era of DC Comics Slade could get away with anything), but has gotten better with age and knowing these strains over the story.

Batman & the Outsiders Vol. 1 #3-14

- Post-Batgirl #73, and the first story since Cass turned heel (aka EVIL). It does feature some gratuitous adult themes involving her in #4. However, #5-onward does treat the character decently.

Green Arrow and Cass work out some grievances over her brief villain career (along with the ramifications of the Black Canary mini that occurred prior to this series with the League of Assassins targeting Sin, Dinah’s adopted daughter to fill the void of Cass exiting the group), and we get the sprinkles of Cass wanting to connect with Katana, and the latter's maternal instincts kick-in knowing this girl needs some love. The thing is though none of these plotlines go anywhere.

The writer of the comic, Chuck Dixon, is gone by #10, and basically, a fill-in writer, Frank Tieri has to break-up this team abruptly in #12. Making this comic a solo featuring Cass in #13-14. These specific issues deal with the fallout to Batgirl Vol. 2 #1-6, but it does have a neat nugget..

Basically, Cassandra creates an organization (the Network) that would eventually become Batman Inc. The Network is featured in Battle for the Cowl, but there's only one important bit to read of that.

Battle for the Cowl: The Network #1

- is the last full canon appearance of Cassandra as Batgirl (until Batman: Joker War Zone #1 in 2020). Her, Oracle, Huntress, and others take on Hugo Strange in the issue.

The series plays up this angle as Cass is given the more spotlight most and is given one more moment to shine.

Batgirl Vol. 3 #1, 3

- Cassandra abandons the Batgirl identity-- for reasons that are retconned later in Return of Bruce Wayne: Batgirl #1 (2010). Let's just say, DC being DC at this point.

If you read my "tragedy of Cass" post then you know the various goings on this period. She also appears in a one panel flashback in Batgirl Vol. 3 #6.

Red Robin #14, 17

- Cassandra is teased in Red Robin #14 with Tim looking for her before a full-on return in #17. These issues continue the strong connection Tim/Cass have built all the way back in “Fresh Blood” x-over between their former comics. There is a further mention of the two corresponding between one another in Birds of Prey Vol. 2, but it’s a mention only to explain why Cass will be out of the loop that Oracle is still operational (Secret Society was targeting Barbara. So Babs “died” to keep herself safe).

Black Bat Era

Batman Inc Vol. 1 #6 (first appearance)

Red Robin #25

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1-5

- Cassandra’s tenure in her new identity of Black Bat, “the Batman of Hong Kong”. An older more mature Cass as showcases her knowledgable outlook helping Tim and Dick throughout her all too brief role.

Gates of Gotham is the true standout story here among the three stories. It has all of Bruce’s angelic kids (at that time: Dick, Tim, Damian, and Cass. Jason was being a bad boy at the time, and showing up in an arc in the Batman & Robin also going on at the same time) all teaming up to unravel a mystery involving the creation of Gotham City.

Originally meant to be a maxi-series starring Cass by writer Scott Snyder, co-writer Kyle Higgins and DC Editorial liked the Bat-Family angle more within it.

But well, any promise these issues had going for Cass- well DC gonna DC and right after #5 of Gates (LITERALLY THE WEEK AFTER), the entire line was relaunched into the New 52 with Cass/Steph being dumped to the wayside for a few years (see Part II of Rebirth reintroducing Cass and the Tragedy of Cass for the full story).

Solo #10

- written/drawn by Cass co-creator Damion Scott. Not surprisingly, Cass shows up in two tales of the comic. One of her mentoring Steph during her time as Robin, and the other Tim/her as Batman/The Bat.

You might be taken aback by the later story as Scott tries a new style to his art in this story. Likewise, you may be off put that Scott pairs the two together as husband/wife in the story.

Look, the best way to talk about this relationship was that in the late 2004 to 2007s many DC creative (both writers and artists) shipped these two together. Why you have the extremely awkwardness of her heel character being fully attracted to Tim.

Tiny Cass

Tiny Titans #33, 39, 45-46

- The myth. The legend. The force of nature. The tiger force. There is nothing that can prepare you for Tiny Cass. A variant of Cass who creates all sorts of shenanigans.

She is truly is the nickname of ONE WHO IS ALL.

Future’s End Batgirl #1

Red Robin #19

- Two one-shot appearances. Cass’s first appearance in over three years occurs in Gail Simone’s swan song to her New 52 Batgirl run. Cass appears with Steph and a new Batgirl Tiffany Fox as Barbara Gordon mentors the trio known as the League of Batgirls!

Red Robin #19 has a one panel Cass cameo, Tim and friends are in the Unternet (a dark internet used by DC’s supervillain community) and to combat the digital villains, Tim imagines "backup". Said backup being a Justice League of next-generation heroes with Cass as Batman. It's one panel, but the aww yeaaaah factor alone is worth it.

-Random Guest Spots-

Batman: The Brave & the Bold #13

- is an all-Robin spotlight issue. It's the ending which might bring a smile to some. Okay, the entire issue was glorious, but that ending of all the Batgirls together. I still want an all-Batgirls issue DC. GIMME!

Young Justice #21

Harley Quinn #10-11

Supergirl V. 4 #63

- YJ #21, Cass is the B-team sent in to save the A-team. Features Cass meeting Bette Kane (the OG Batgirl) and her bullying Klarion the Witch-Boy.

- Harley Quinn #10-11 features Cass, Tim, Dick, and Babs dealing with Harley running around Gotham dressed as Batgirl (Barbara). Hijinks ensue as the Bat-Family has to clean up the mess of Harley’s time as Batgirl.

- Only “heroic” meeting between Cass and a Supergirl (Linda Danvers). Takes place during the “Last Laugh” event.

Robin #119

Batman: Gotham Knights #42, 45-49

#cassandra cain #dc comics #reading guide

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thevindicativevordan · 2 years ago

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thoughts on John Stewart? he’s typically called boring

You know how Hal is the one who gets accused of being the "Nostalgia Lantern"? Only sticks around because of a bunch of old timers who can't let go of the past? Hot take time: that's actually John.

He's my second favorite Lantern, and the first Lantern I was introduced to because of the DCAU. John is a cool character, an ex-Marine turned socially conscious architect whose analytical mind allows him to put together a plan as complex as a skyscraper, and his power ring finally allows him the opportunity to create on a scale he could only dream of before. Yes he lacks the swagger of Hal, the bravado of Guy, or the sensitivity of Kyle, but John is cool for the same reason as Batman: give him a little preptime and he can beat God. Unfortunately, John's popularity relies entirely on a cartoon that ended over a decade ago. Stewart fans continue to claim that he's the one true Lantern because of the DCAU, same as how Tim Drake fans claim he is the one true Robin, and both of them need to face reality. Whatever boost John got from the DCAU - to the point that yes at the time he could have laid claim to being the top GL like Jaime Reyes can for Blue Beetle - has long since worn off.

Some of the blame for that does fall on whoever at DC failed to capitalize on his popularity, whether that was Johns or Didio or whoever. John should have gotten his own solo book alongside Hal, they should have built the two of them up as equals. Instead John basically languished on the sidelines and never did more than play support during the Johns era, which was the era that redefined GL in the minds of hardcore comics readers. The best stories for John, the ones that flesh him out and define him as a character, are books from the 1980s and 90s. Mosaic is still regarded as the greatest John Stewart story with no real competition, and that is irrevocably tainted by the writer being a convicted pedophile. It's utter insanity that DC has made no real attempt to rectify that until recently.

Another hot take: I think John has been hurt more than helped by keeping all of his continuity intact. Take Katma Tui, his dead wife for example. His entire relationship with her is based on old comics from decades ago, comics nobody from the younger generations is going to read. Katma was one of the most important characters in John's life, but she's no Gwen Stacy. Average person has no clue who she is, and no reason to care, hence why most writers nowadays avoid bringing her up at all. Furthermore, Stewart lacks a clean origin retelling the way Hal got under Johns. During the New 52 they should have given Stewart a hard reboot, given he was mostly inconsequential to the Johns run with Hal, that wouldn't have upset things anymore than rebooting Superman and Wonder Woman did. They could have retold his origin, brought Katma back to life and done their romance in the modern day for a modern audience. Or tossed that relationship and put John with someone else, but it would have freed him from all the useless baggage the same way Aquaman and Mera were freed.

Since that didn't happen, I'm hoping that PKJ can be the world-builder John needs by giving him a soft reboot. Retell his origin, give John new friends outside his fellow human Lanterns, new love interests, stop calling back to Xanshi, and give him new foes that he can have to himself. DC Cosmic is big enough for John to carve out his own storytelling territory, but it requires someone who is more interested in the new than the old. Continuity only weighs John down at this point, and there's another big opportunity coming up for him that it would be a shame to waste.

With the announcement that Gunn is doing a Lanterns HBO MAX show starring John and Hal, this is another huge opportunity for Stewart. He's about to get another high profile adaption, one that could see John being a major player in the shared cinematic universe if all goes well. Right now is the time to start creating comics material for Stewart, whether for the purposes of adaption or simply because they need comics they can give to people which aren't decades old or irrevocably tainted by association with their creators. Last big break for Stewart went nowhere, I'm counting on the new management at DC not to repeat the previous regime's mistakes this time around.

#green lantern #john stewart

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britcision · 2 years ago

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I see no reason Sam Manson can’t be Catwoman in this reality now all we need is Tucker’s DC identity

Because the GIW might try and track them as known friends of Danny Fenton to get the last Fenton they missed

So say… it’s new name season for all

Sam’s always wanted freedom from her parents’ expectations and of course becoming Poison Ivy’s best friend is an instant plus

(And maybe she’s a slightly more botanically inclined cat)

And Tucker? Lucius Fox is right there, guy in the chair, with a name that’s sexy like a fox

They’re all a little softer, a little closer here trying to keep Bruce together

Keep him human for as long as they can

And one day Jason gets him in private, asks how the hell he knows Joker doesn’t have a soul

And Danny Fenton looks someone in the eye for the first time in thirty years and asks if Jason wants to see where that man’s soul is

Batman doesn’t kill people because the Ghost King should not have power over those who hurt his family

It’s the only thing that’s saved the GIW (although how sad for them, the personal disapproval of a billionaire with connections to the Justice League makes funding soooo hard to come by)

It’s the only thing that’s saved Vlad, though he didn’t take the loss of his obsession well at all and hasn’t been Plasmius since Maddy Fenton died

Didn’t stop him from making one move too many when he thought he recognised Bruce Wayne at a benefit

Danny Fenton asks his son if he wants to see where the Joker’s soul rests now

And as much as Jason thought he wanted to. Wanted to hear Bruce’s pain, hear that he lost himself when Jason died. Hear that he cared more for his son than his rules.

Jason looks this man in the eye, and sees past the cowl, the brooding, the stern and emotionless mentor and father

And sees the boy who lost two families, the boy who lost his sons, the boy who burned with Lazarus energy right in front of him and nearly died rather than letting it free

Sees the boy who fought Pariah Dark to a standstill and shoved him in a coffin

And says no

Batman’s rules bind him more tightly than any Robin, and Jason can imagine exactly what he’d be capable of if released

(Jason’s wrong, the Joker’s soul is in Permanent Soup Time next to Dan’s and boy was Danny surprised when he next sent the Joker to Arkham)

And then Bruce is back for just a moment, the hurt and rage and loss buried under nothing again, and claps Jason on the shoulder and tells him to call his siblings.

Because it’s time to meet their older sister

Bruce doesn’t see Dani much, their connection makes her empathy too painful for all the memories she brings and if anyone knows who she is he’s in danger

But he can bring his kids to the one place that it’s safe

(The Bat Cave, the paranoia won’t let them see the Ghost Zone any time soon, he can’t cross that line yet)

Dani hasn’t really aged since she decided not to, so the bats are all expecting someone almost Bruce’s age when he confesses he was adopted, and cloned once before

(Also: who the fuck was Bruce before to be cloned as a rando kid??? Mutual promises not to look into it are now enforced with top tier Oracle blackmail

Not that they’d find shit, with melty ghost DNA)

None of them are expecting a bouncy, bubbly young woman who is DEFINITELY closer to Tim’s early 20s than Bruce’s nearly 50s

Dick: loves her unreservedly, delighted to have a teeny tiny big sister with his sense of humour

Jason: existential crisis why does she feel so familiar??? (Dani couldn’t save him, but she guarded his soul until his body was ready. She still regrets not going straight to Bruce but she couldn’t leave Jason alone again, just in case)

Tim: immediately suspicious because the facts aren’t adding up, there’s a Mystery here and he’s thirsty for answers… until Dani offers to teach him to brew quadruple espresso

There is still a Mystery and he’s gonna Detect it but she can stay

Steph: fucking ecstatic, pun wars will never end, she’s not a Batkid but she’s close enough

Cass: can smell death on Dani even more than Bruce, sees every line and wrinkle and scar Dani keeps hidden behind smiles

Decides Dani is the strongest person she’s ever met besides her father Bruce about 3 weeks in so of course she’s his heir

Damian: LIVID. SWEARS VENGEANCE AGAINST DANI’S CREATOR. EVEN MORE LIVID NO ONE WILL TELL HIM WHO IT IS. SWEARS VENGEANCE ON BRUCE.

Only mildly mollified by the technicality that Dani is a clone, not a biological child, because Dani Will Not Stop calling him Baby Blood Bro

Dick is the one to wonder if Dani being Bruce’s clone means she’s also Damian’s mom, because he is the only one who could survive Damian’s wrath

Duke: quietly melting down over the realisation that the “no metas in Gotham” rule was put in place by an unhatched(?) meta, every time he could swear his shadows responded to Bruce he was RIGHT

Dani’s so much less human than Bruce, it’s another thing that’s kept them from telling anyone about her even in her human shape

Her hair moves without a breeze even when it’s black, her teeth are too sharp, she’s light on her feet beyond the pull of gravity, her shadow is barely attached to her shape and flickers all wrong

Everything he persuaded himself was the power of rumour when he met Bruce was real all along

Also she brought some excellent cookies and calls him the only bat with fashion sense? Hard to penetrate the Crisis

Babs was let into the secret by Lucius (Tucker) years ago, when Bruce was in a particularly bad spiral, and helped him find Dani

She thought Dani was distant family who’d known Bruce as a kid, and left with questions Bruce can’t answer yet

But Babs knows that as soon as he can, his Oracle will hear it

And Bruce/Danny looks at his children, his family, his life all touched by death and his clone who never fully lived

And thinks that maybe, one day, he might be able to trust someone with all he is

(He’s gonna fucking have to it’s gonna start getting weird that he can still fight like the 20somethings in a decade or two, Dick is slowing down and Bruce isn’t technically sure he even can die???)

I having too many ideas today, so bear with me! pls!!

-Phantom Planet never happened.

-Danny reveal himself as Phantom to his parents, they accept him.

-they feel guilty for hunting his son, but Jazz and Danny take care of that.

-GIW come after the Fentons because they want Phantom, no they don't know Danny is Phantom.

-They think The Fentons are allies to the ghost hero.

-Kill the fentons , except Danny, who escapes.

-Found by a couple who couldn't have kids of their own.

-adopted by them and changed his name to.... BRUCE WAYNE.

-stopped using his powers, making a wristwatch acting as a block to his powers.

-Timeskip!!!

-Klarion (or anyone you want to use) try to summon the ghost king! Instead Batman disappears from his spot between the JL and appears in the middle of the summoning circle.

-chaos!!

this is some good shit right here

#dp x dc #oh the heavy shit #joker nearly went into the thermos with dan but dan doesn’t deserve that #clockwork does occasionally drop onions into both their soup times for reasons of his own

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oifaaa · 2 years ago

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wait but how does tim become robin aGAIN??? and then what is damian if tim retakes the mantle?? why is he allowed to retake robin?? who let him back in the manor?? bruce should lowk kick him out like he did to dick it’ll make him have character development or smth idk hasn’t that happened already or

this got so long mb

Tim just decided to become Robin again bc he was having no luck coming up with a new name for himself but also like if you look at the names he was trying it really doesn't seem like he was trying too hard really weaponised incompetence vibes but yeah Damian is also still Robin, Tim didn't need to be kicked out of the Manor he kicked himself out back in his red Robin run he just didn't do it right like Dick did and now we're back to square one with Tim still being Robin

#Ask #Anon #I keep saying #The only reason dc keeps calling Tim the best Robin #Is to give an excuse for why he's still Robin #At 22 years old #My boy is olddddd #Just gotta keep shaming him until he moves on

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river-bottom-nightmare · 3 years ago

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tim's not nervous, not exactly. nervous would be reaching out with shaking fingers to rewind the taped news footage, to make sure his eyelids hadn't grown glass shards, to make sure he wasn't looking into a mirror where his two greatest heroes were one. nervous would be picking at the skin of his nails, standing with trembling feet in front of ariana as he attempted to figure out how to tell her he'd gone and fallen in love with his other best friend, the one he trusted with his life along with his heart. nervous would be letting the red hood treat the wound on his neck in dirty back alley, ever-aware of the pain rained down upon him the last time those scarred hands were this close to his neck.

nervous was not fighting back to back with someone he was only just now realizing he trusted, enough to bare his defenses to. nervous was not feeling the confirmation of all the feelings shooting through his body that he'd always ignored, only to be given a name at last. nervous was not leaning into an arm thrown across his back, cheeks flushed for reasons tim couldn't begin to imagine, the word date deciding to burrow into his brain deeper than the universe itself. so no, he's not nervous.

but with the warm daylight taking all the worst parts of red robin and turning them into something soft and blossoming, bernard's house looked normal the porch railing was well maintained and the unfogged glass stretched across a door that tim had rarely hesitated to throw wide open in the past. tim still had a sluggishly bleeding wound on his calf, and the last time he saw bernard before their dinner, their date, bernard had loomed over him.

tim rang the doorbell and bernard opened the door and all of a sudden, tim realized he was looking down at the other boy, that those stupid sunglasses he'd wanted to yank off blonde locks every damn day for some godforsaken reason were nowhere to be seen, that his own shoulders filled out a shirt that used to be dick's but bernard was drowning in his hoodie. he almost turned around and left right then and there.

he couldn't muster up the courage to talk to steph unless the learned comfort of a domino was resting on his face and he only wandered aimlessly around the city or flopped on the edge of his bed when he wasn't thrumming with the adrenaline of another fight and swinging his fists like it was life or death, mind or madness. so who the hell gave him the idea to look bernard in the eye and tell him that tim drake wanted to date him? tim drake could barely keep a hold on robin.

except, listening to bernard's stammering and watching a grin that threatened to reach over to tim and swallow him whole, he remembered it hadn't always been like that. tim drake had always been as important as robin, if not more. tim's not sure when they fractured apart so far, he wasn't sure he could piece them back together.

stepping forward to see bernard offer him that same sly grin, tim decided it might have been when he stopped talking to this,,,,,,,,,this boy, this friend, this part of him that he'd failed to nurture. it might have been when bernard falteringly messaged him, texts getting shorter and shorter every time until they petered off completely, while tim put his phone on silent and ignored a part of him screaming at his own stupidity, his own self-destructiveness, throwing himself into his grief instead. it might have been when he stopped getting ice cream with cass after patrol, when he realized he was calling kon "superboy" in his head, when he learned to live with half of himself wasting away.

bernard had always been particularly good at dragging tim drake out hiding, though, and no one in the world could convince tim that the warm streaks of lightning electrifying him from the inside out when bernard asked him on a date was anything other than swell of an orchestra's climax, than the realization of oh.

i want that, tim said, and he didn't know when he'd let himself want things again, but he'd stay this way forever if it meant hearing bernard's breathless little laugh and seeing the hop in his step as he tugged tim into a hug more familiar than the weight of his bo staff in his hands.

~~~

this is me, desperately trying to forget what happened in ff life story because dc's giving me everything i want while marvel decided to shove their greedy little hand into my chest and rearrange my ribs till they reached my heart and just squeeze it until i'm crying. so i'm distracting myself with canon bi tim but this just turned out angsty instead. fml

currently trying to make sense of the kinda fuckin weird characterization dc's been giving tim as of late. he's probably completely in character but just doesn't line up with the version of tim i have in my head, but whatever, take some introspection. i'll write fluff and funny dialogue later.

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @subtleappreciation @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @bikoncon @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption @capricorn-stark @batshit-birds @comics-observer @buticaaba

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taggingtim · 3 years ago

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Why I love Pre-Boot Tim Drake and why the Reboot has ruined him

I love Tim Drake. He is my favorite comic book character of all time. I’ve been really upset the past few days about what DC has been doing with him lately, and I thought it would be cathartic for me to write something up about it. (No, this isn’t a rant about Tim being bi/gay; it’s a much larger problem than that. But I’ll get to that in a bit.) Bear with me for a bit of history, first.

When I was a kid I loved the Batman Animated Series. I know this will lose me a lot of internet cred, but I always preferred the fourth season. In particular, I loved Tim Drake. He was fun and funny and I absolutely adored him. I used to beg my mom to take me to the mall so I could buy issues of Gotham Adventures. For my birthday one year my parents got me a subscription to the comic, and I was blown away by the idea that I could have comics MAILED to my HOUSE.

Around middle school I started collecting Marvel comics, mostly X-men stuff. I loved them, but when I started college I quit the hobby for financial reasons.

Fast forward a few years, and I felt I was financially stable enough to start buying comics again. Rather than going back to Marvel, I decided to give Batman comics a chance. I had no idea where to start, and when I found out my beloved Tim had his own comic series, I thought it was a perfect entry point into the Batman universe. I bought the complete series from a local comic shop and dove in.

Tim’s Robin series was exactly what I was looking for in a comic. He was very different from little Timmy Todd from BtAS, but I loved him. I built the rest of my comic collection around him, grabbing up every book that he was featured in, from Young Justice to Teen Titans to Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Robin, and many others. I have random books from series like The Demon just because Tim was in them.

So why did I like Tim so much? What about this character made me so excited for more? I found in Tim something that I had never seen in a comic book before: character growth. Somehow, though he was written by many different authors over many different years, Tim managed to have a character arc that is consistent and makes sense. Sure, there were a few small bumps along the way, but on the whole Tim has always stayed true to his character, and he’s developed in a way that the big name characters, like Batman, never can.

When we’re first introduced to Tim, he’s a young teen who has been neglected by his parents growing up. He’s smart, healthy, and strong, but he lacks so much self confidence and has little sense of self worth. Tim notices Bruce’s increasing violence as he grieves for the loss of his son, and Tim knows he needs to step in and help. Batman needs a Robin.

For most characters, this would be the part where Tim put himself forward for the job. But he doesn’t. He seeks out Dick Grayson and begs him to come home instead. It’s only when Batman and Nightwing are in danger and there is literally no one else to help that Tim steps up and dons the cape. And once he does, he’s constantly plagued by self-doubt, terrified he will screw up and leave Batman worse than ever before.

From there, Tim undergoes intense training. He never begs to be in the spotlight, doesn’t push to go out on the streets before he’s ready. His goal is to help Bruce as much as possible.

Here’s where I started to fall in love with him. All that self-doubt, the constant need to be useful? That’s exactly what you would expect to see from a child whose parents had ignored and neglected him. He finally has a parental figure who sees him, who values him, and Tim does everything he can to make himself worthy in the hopes that Bruce will keep him around.

This is the first example of character consistency that we see with Tim. And it continues. When his mom dies and his dad is put in a coma, you see Tim struggle to come to terms with losing the people he loves, but never had a relationship with. Tim almost never mentions his mom after her death, because she just wasn’t present in his life. When his dad recovers and decides to stick around, Tim struggles to build a relationship with him. He’s plagued with guilt because he’s finally found the father figure he needed in Bruce, but he thinks that he’s supposed to feel that way for Jack. It’s a running undercurrent in their relationship that creates distance between them for years.

This is already so long, so I’m going to try to summarize a bit more. We get to watch Tim grow up. We see his awkward relationship with his first girlfriend, Ariana. He doesn’t know how to treat her; he’s never had the opportunity to observe a healthy relationship. But he tries so, so hard. All of Tim’s relationships are awkward, because he’s never had a model of a good one. Steph is a great match for him, because she’s very vocal about what she wants and needs, and she isn’t afraid to call Tim out when he messes up, which is exactly what Tim needs.

Big things happen to Tim. He’s stuck with Jean-Paul Valley, who slowly goes insane, leaving Tim to try to keep the city in one piece. He’s infected with the Clench, a plague that sweeps over Gotham and kills everyone it touches, and barely escapes with his life. His girlfriend is sexually assaulted, leaving him to deal with the fallout. His family moves out of Gotham, and he has to sneak back in during No Man’s Land to help. His relationship with his dad has intense ups and downs, resulting in him being sent to boarding school, punished in a variety of ways, and generally caused a lot of trouble in his life.

Then people start dying. Over the course of about a year in his life, Tim loses his girlfriend, his dad, a close friend, and his best friend, each of whom dies under tragic conditions. Tim’s grief is intense, and he is understandably traumatized by the losses. We see fundamental changes in his character. He changes his costume from something bright and cheerful to something darker that reflects his emotional state. He’s more subdued, his adventures a little more serious.

When Bruce first tries to adopt him, Tim literally creates an uncle and hires an actor to play him, just to avoid dealing with the situation. Bruce has viewed Tim as a son for years, so to him the adoption is an obvious step. For Tim, it feels like a betrayal of his father, and it takes a while before he’s ready to accept Bruce’s love, home, and a place in his family.

When Damian shows up on the scene, Tim really struggles with him, and not just because early Damian is a horrid brat who tries to kill Tim on multiple occasions. Tim has always felt the need to earn his place with Bruce, and Damian constantly throws all of Tim’s biggest fears in his face—he’s not wanted or needed now that the “real” son is here, he’s not worthy of a place in the family, he’s not good enough.

Tim tries to clone Conner, his best friend. He’s lost so many people, and he’s desperate to get them back. Conner was cloned to begin with and fully matured over a very short period of time; the technology clearly exists, so why can’t Tim use it to get his best friend back? And if he can get Conner back, why not the others he’s lost? He eventually gives up, but when he eventually gets access to a Lazarus Pit, he immediately wants to incorporate the waters into his process so he can revive his loved ones. With Dick’s help, Tim eventually decides to let it go, but it’s such a poignant moment for the character.

Then Bruce dies, and Dick takes Robin away. Tim switches to the Red Robin persona as he travels the world, alone, trying to prove that he was right. He has to deal with the trauma of losing another father, finds out that his girlfriend never died but let him hurt so much for so long. His brother and the only close friend he has left both think his grief has overwhelmed his sense and that he’s gone crazy. He’s utterly alone.

The Red Robin series is such a great culmination for Tim. He finds a place for himself as a hero, as a CEO. He gets parts of his family back—Bruce, Steph, Bart, Conner. He finally figures out who he wants to be and creates a place for himself.

This overarching character development is what I love about Tim. His many, many traumas impact his decisions, and you can clearly see how he changes over time as a result of them. I didn’t even go into his development as a leader from his early fumbling with Young Justice to his strong leadership of the Teen Titans, or how his relationships with Conner, Bart, and Cassie develop so fluidly and realistically over the years.

This is why I love Tim. Characters like Batman are static; nothing that happens to them will ever have a lasting impact, because in the end the character always returns to what they were. Tim, on the other hand, has changed and developed A LOT since his initial appearance. His growth has always been consistent and logical.

When the reboot happened, all of that character growth was lost. Tim was replaced with a jerk who betrayed his friends and cheated on his girlfriend. DC has basically retconned all of this and tried to turn Tim back into who he was, but by taking away all of the things that have happened to him over the years, Tim has lost SO MUCH.

I keep looking for my Tim in recent comics, and I just can’t find him. It breaks my heart, because I love him so much, and it feels like he’s lost to me forever. The most recent Young Justice comic series actually gave me hope; I felt like maybe, finally, someone was going to write Tim correctly. He had his primary friendships back, his relationship with Steph was developing (even if they seem to have completely dropped all the development around Steph’s decision to let Tim think she was dead). The actual book itself wasn’t fantastic, but it felt like they were headed in the right direction.

Over the last few days, I read the Batman: Urban Legends books. I actually read the Batman/Red Hood story first, which was fantastic. I was really excited to read Tim’s story (though I already knew how it ended). Jason’s character was handled so well, and he seemed to actually have some character development that will hopefully last. I anticipated the same for Tim.

But Tim’s story was awful. The plot was all over the place—kids are being kidnapped, so Tim has to join a pain cult to get them back? He’s somehow helping Oracle with computer issues while simultaneously questioning witnesses? He’s broken up with Steph, off camera, shortly after telling her how much he loves her, but Steph somehow thinks that they should have a caring relationship where Tim tells her what he’s feeling? Bernard has somehow become a good enough fighter to stand side by side with Robin? Tim STILL doesn’t have a code name? Why is everyone suddenly hounding him about what he wants to do with his life?

It’s just such a mess of a story. If it didn’t end with Tim agreeing to go on a date with Bernard, no one would ever have even mentioned it. There’s nothing particularly re-readable or enjoyable about it.

I actually liked that they brought Bernard back. I really enjoyed him in the original Robin series. It’s been a while since I read that part of the series (I’m actually working my way back through it now). I know Bernard always read as gay to me, yet somehow I felt like he was out of character in these books.

And then, the climax of the story. Tim is bi, or gay, or has at least agreed to go on a date with a boy.

If this had happened in the pre-boot, when Tim was Red Robin and had an actual character arc, I honestly wouldn’t have had an issue with it. I do think it would have needed a LOT more build up than it was given here. Tim has always been a very introspective character, and we’ve been party to so much of his internal monologue over the years. It seems very strange to me that such a huge thing just sneaks up on him out of nowhere when he’s never even thought about it before.

But more than that, this story just feels like the final death blow for the Tim I loved. The whole arc is about how Tim doesn’t know who he is or who he wants to be. What will his hero name be? Will he go to college? What is he going to do with his life? These are all great questions, and his answer to all of them is… date a boy?

Is this going to be his defining characteristic going forward? From here will we just see Tim exploring and discovering his sexuality? The Tim we have now doesn’t have a family, a team, a purpose, or even a code name. Why was this the thing that DC decided to give us? It feels like they wanted to make a gay Robin and decided it would be Tim because they didn’t know what else to do with him.

It’s stupid, but I honestly feel like I’ve spent the past few days grieving the loss of a loved one. The Tim that DC is presenting now is just not the person that I knew. Tim would never break up with Steph that abruptly for what he admits is no apparent reason. He would never say “just call me Robin, since Damian’s out of town.” Everything that I love about Tim seems to be gone, and in its place DC has given me a date with a boy.

Again, it’s not Tim being not-straight that I have an issue with. I’ve never read the character that way, but it’s something I can live with. My issue is the way it was handled. Why not make Tim an actual person first, and then explore his sexuality? Send him off to college! He’s obviously thinking about it! It’s the perfect opportunity to give him his own book. He can move to a different city, choose a new name, and DC can introduce a whole new set of characters. Figure out which parts of Tim’s backstory are still canon, and which have been dropped. Make him a person again, and then let him explore his sexuality.

I know this post is all over the place, and I don’t have time right now to go back and edit it. I just really needed an outlet for my frustration. Right now it feels like there are so many people who are so excited about Tim being bi/gay, but they don’t know anything else about him. I keep seeing people comment how DC has been “dropping hints for years!” with no evidence other than “he and Superboy were really close!” I guess I’d just really like to have some dialogue with other people who are fans of Tim, rather than fans of Tim-as-bi/gay or fans of Tim-as-straight.

Does anyone else feel this way? I’d honestly like to have a dialogue about it with other long time fans.

#Tim Drake #Red Robin #this is a long one #pre-boot vs reboot #this formatting is a little weird #Batman: Urban Legends 6 #Batman: Urban Legends 5 #Batman: Urban Legends 4

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stxleslyds · 3 years ago

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It seems like you have a negative opinion on all non-Winick characterizations of Jason in the comics. But do you hate them all equally? Could you rank all non-Winick comic depictions of Jason from best to worst characterization? Or maybe give them a letter grade?

Hi friend! This is a bit funny to me because I really didn’t expect people to be so vocal about me being such an annoying person when it comes to Jason’s characterizations. I can’t promise that I won’t complain anymore but I will try to be kinder.

But I won’t start right now, because I really want to make this ranking, it will go from best to absolute worst! I bet you guys won’t know who is in the deepest circle in hell! Place your bets everyone!

This is the level that gives me joy! (Yup, I put a writer that only wrote ten pages of Jason content as the best, please don’t call me out on it).

Matthew Rosenberg: I love him and I love what he has done with Jason, I have only read ten pages of his work while writing Jason and he already has me hooked. Like I said in that one ask/post, I think he will make some amazing things with the Jason that we have now and I still believe that. Little shit and competent Jason Todd, I am glad you are here.

Peter Tomasi: This one is a little checky because his run is out of comics canon, but his Arkham Knight Jason Todd and the way he wrote his origin are absolutely stunning.

Marv Wolfman: His Robin Jason was really good and I am really glad that we had those comics in which we could see Jason in an environment that didn’t include Batman. I was like looking at what Jason could have been if he had stayed with the Titans’ instead of keep on being Robin in Gotham with Batman.

This is the level in which I can still like some things about the story even though in general I didn’t enjoy the book.

Joshua Williamson: Yeah, but he is only here because his story seemed interesting, my issue as I have said before is his subplot “romance” and the fact that he seems to be the kind of writer that wants to push the “Batfamily” dynamic. Otherwise, his Jason characterization when it came to him not liking working for the Magistrate was really good, sadly it was overshadowed by all the bad that I just really didn’t enjoy at all

Chip Zdarsky: Tyler (Blue Hood) and Jason working to rid Gotham of a drug really brought me back to the good old days. I also really liked seeing the parallels between Jason and his mom with Tyler and his own mother, it felt like a good way to start a connection and develop a Red Hood story. Sadly, the book as a whole was shit and it ended horribly but there were some interesting moments.

Now we are looking at the level where I just wonder: Why?

Paul Dini: Why? His Jason really did a 360, and I meant it, I really don’t know what the point of Jason taking the mantle of another dead Jason was. His Red Robin was just a Red Hood in a different suit and that was that. I understand that they wanted to kill him because he was an anomaly and all that but, he just really felt out of place in that event. This was the first warning: Jason Todd/Red Hood only works on a street-level, stop trying to make everyone dimension jump and all that DC.

Bruce Jones: Hey! I forgot about this guy in the last post! He sucks! And his arc in Nightwing is the epitome of the question: Why? I get it, DiDio wanted to kill Dick and then have Jason take over as Nightwing but Dick didn’t die at the end of Infinite Crisis, he was still alive there was no reason to have Jason dress up as Nightwing and going on a killing spree, also, the tentacles? Really? Annoying and weird.

Scott Snyder and Tim Seeley: I ask why but I know why. This was a desperate attempt to use Jason in stories because they couldn’t use Dick Grayson. It was also weird because being there only pushed him more towards the Bat-Clan even though he had his Outlaws team going on. It was just weird and they were also big on unnecessary “romances”.

This is the Skrull Jason level. Here I see, hear and feel no Jason Todd.

Grant Morrison: Grant needed a villain and all they could come up with was this weird as red-haired-pill-headed-Red Hood and DC said “sure, why not?”. There is no real way to find UtRH Jason in this version of Jason and that for me is a little bit better than still seeing the Jason that I loved in whatever this was.

Tony S. Daniel: This one sucks the most because it isn’t that Jason is unrecognizable its just that Jason is the exact opposite of who he would have become. Everything about this Jason seems to come from the Upside Down. Him saying that Gotham needs Batman so he will be Batman and he needs a Robin was the wildest take that I have seen about Jason. I have no other words for it.

Hell.

James Tynion IV: whoever invited this man to this party needs to understand that they made a big mistake. All Tynion did was overpower the living hell out of Jason for a fight that wasn’t big enough to become a Batman/Red Hood event. The fight was so lame and so stupid, if Jason had learned the ancient martial arts move in the All-Castle and the used that and the All-Blades to defeat Ra’s it would have been more than enough, but in New 52 writers really wanted to make Jason look like the most experienced and best at being a hero when Kory and Roy were standing next to him.

Scott Lobdell: He sucks, New 52 was just terrible, there was nothing that I liked from it, character assassination for everyone, nobody was treated well there. He wrote a self-insert version of Jason and it was noticeable because Jason was trash in New 52. Rebirth was better but that didn’t make things better for Jason because Lobdell started to fuel the “Jason was guilty for his own death” and “Jason was a reckless Robin” narratives and here we are today. Lobdell danced around his own stories, his characterization of Jason and he never gave a fulfilling ending to any of his arcs. Some characters we only saw once some others simply disappeared. Nothing ever truly started or ended when it came to his writing.

Ginnungagap.

Geoff Johns: to him all I will say is: comprate un bosque y perdete.

Thank you for the ask! I had fun doing this! I wish you have an excellent day!

#jason todd #red hood #rhato #dc comics #jasons characterization #asksss

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creatureofmystry · 4 years ago

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MLB x DC Universe Headcannons

I just love the idea of MLB and DC (expecially Batfam cuz Mari is such a Wayne) being in the same universe and crossing over. So one night, I just had an idea overload of different ways the Marinette would know the batfam/be a part of the DC universe. And if any of my shitty ideas somehow inspire or prompt you, then please be my guest. 😊 _

1) “Ladybugs of Past and Present”

Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, was once a previous holder of the ladybug miraculous. When Fu activated the miraculous and put them in circulation, Hippolyta could feel its magic waking back up. Knowing there must a reason for it to be out, she sent a message to her daughter. Diana searched, finding Marinette and Adrien as the present holders of the ladybug and cat miraculous. She vouched and brought them into the Young Justice program while they also made their own team, Project: Zodiac (or something like that).

[Sometime when Diana takes Marinette to meet Hippolyta]

“Great Hera, Tikki, you have not aged a day” -Hippolyta, cause she does know how to make joke.

“And I would say the same to you” -Tikki

“Mother, you can make a laugh?” -Wonder Woman, honestly a bit confused cause her mom have never not been serious before.

And Marinette is just speechless cause she’s starstruck meeting Wonder Woman’s mom AND a previous Ladybug holder.

2) “Rockstar Niece”

Jagged Stone is Marinette’s Sweet Uncle J. During the summers, Jagged Stone would take Mari with him on tour. HIs summer tours are throughout America, so Mari gets to sightsee the country. Jagged’s first tour that he gets to take Mari on (5-ish), he’s also booked for the annual (for whatever reason) Wayne Summer Gala. When Marinette meets the Waynes, they are so enamoured (Dick and Tim couldn’t help it) that they tell Jagged he’s always invited as a guest, Mari of course being added to the permanent guest list too. About 6 years later, Mari is practically adopted, spending the first half of her summers with Jagged, going to the Wayne Gala, then spending the rest of her summer with the Waynes. Overtime, she figured out the secrets of the family and was there to welcome Jason back from the dead (when that happens). Anyways, now 11(-ish?) Mari meets Damian and the two become good friends… after an… impressionable first meeting.

“Tch, let me guess, you’re another one of father’s adopted strays” -Dami

“YOU MUST BE DAMIAN!!! DICK TOLD ME ABOUT YOU!!” -Marinette, who just ignores what he said for a hug.

“hiiiiiiiiissssssss” -Dami, touchy with touch

“...” sprays water in his face since he decided to act like a cat.

“I say, Master Bruce, the children are getting along quite well” -Alfred

3) “Pen Pals”

Jon Kent and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are part of an international pen-pal program, starting when they were very young (maybe like 4 or 5-ish, super super young) where they told each other everything (Jon can’t just say that his older bro is a clone made from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA, or that his dad is Superman, or that his best friend is Robin, but yea. Lois and Clark probably proofread his stuff until he’s like 9) with pictures and everything. When they’re old enough to get phones & stuff, they call, text and vid-chat along with their letters (love without blood). When Mari is maybe 9-11 (somewhere around there) she starts flying over during the summers to hangout with Jon (and his friends and big brother). While there, she meets Kon, Bat fam, and Clark (some who she already knew, some who she didn’t) & lightly hints that she knows who all they are once she figures it out (it didn’t take her long to do so).

Now whenever she visits and is at Wayne Manor (Jon likes to have sleepovers practically every weekend) while they’re on patrol, Mari subtly messes with their minds (super subtle, they’re the world’s best detectives after all) until they finally look through the cams and see Mari giving them one of those smiles (those shit-grinning cause it’s just so hilarious how it’s gone on for so long) & and a playful wink.

[5 seconds later]

“Mari!” “Pixie-pop!” “Angel!” “Teacup!”

“Seriously, am I the only one with a normal nickname for her?” -Tim

“Ms. Marinette would like to inform you that ‘it took you long enough’” -Alfred (who so knows that the girl has been playing them since the third night she stayed at the Wayne’s)

“Where are my adoption papers?” -Bruce (who is seriously adopting any talented black-haired child)

4) “Mari and Mar’i”

When Mar’i is young, Dick and Kori take her with them to see Paris (btw, this would be during the winter). They’re strolling along through a park and lose track of Mar’i who finds Marinette (9-10 ish). Marinette comforts and distracts Mar’i while noticing the young(er) girl is Tameranian (her hair is very warm and she’s wearing significantly less layers than should be worn for a human of that age during the winter, plus that sun-kissed skin tone. She’s seen Kori in her fashion magazines (and, from time to time, on the news as an ambassador) so she easily make the connections). Dick and Kori finally spot Mar’i with Mari who introduces herself to them. Mar’i asks if she can see her “Auntinette” again and Marinette just goes “if your parents are okay with it.” Dick and Kori are totally cool with it (not many are willing to watch her and have the time to do it) so they ask Marinette if she can babysit Mar’i whenever (with good pay of course) if she’s up to it (cause she’s still pretty young). Marinette can’t say no to Mar’i’s babydoll eyes (and she’s so much easier compared to Manon, who’s only 2 rn), so of course, she says yes.

Now Marinette is Mar’is official babysitter and sees Mar’i often whenever her parents drop her off (using zeta tubes to quickly get to Paris and back). Marinette gets treated like an honorary Wayne (cause she’s the most responsible) and gets invited to their family stuff (w/ travel pay taken care of, of course). It doesn’t take her long to realize the fact that she babysits Bruce Wayne’s & BATMAN’S granddaughter, but of course, being the responsible one she is, keeps the secret… while also playing with them via Mar’i.

[One Day]

After Marinette leaves for her plane…

“Uncle Dami!”

“Yes, Spawn?”

“Auntinette said to tell you after she left that Robin’s sut needs a major upgrade & that you look like a traffic light… whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

[Another Day]

“Uncle Jay!”

“What’s up kid?’

“Auntinette said that to let you know that Red Hood doesn’t make any sense ‘cause Red Hood wears a helmet. Not a hood.”

[The next time]

“Uncle Tim!”

Yawn. “yea?”

“Auntie told me to give you this” (pulls out super caffeinated coffee) “and that Red Robin’s cowl is a menace to all things fashion”

[Again…]

“Daddy!”

“Yes, Starshine?”

“Auntienette said she’s proud of Nightwing’s costume ‘cause it’s one of the only in the batfam that isn’t an astro-city to the fashion society.”

5) “Marinette, the one who’s always getting chosen”

Before Mari became (becomes(?)) LB, she comes across a different powerful piece of jewelry, from a different order of guardians where her will of mind is not only her shield from being akumatized, but it is also what drives her powers. That’s right, Mari walks past a flea market and activates a GL ring. The guardians pick up on this activity and send Hal (it is his sector) to check it out. Hal finds the ring with Mari but it still needs the light of a GL to charge and fully work.

[During the explanation]

“Look, kid-”

“Marinette.”

“Look, kid, I just need to know why you have that ring.”

“You think I know? I was just walking through the market and all of a sudden, this possessed ring, if that’s even what this is, started following me, then zipped in front of my face til i held my hand up so it can put itself on my finger.”

“Kid-”

“It’s MARINETTE. Get it wrong one more time and you’ll see why I don’t need a possessed piece of alien jewelry.” -Marinette, making sure you get her name right. “Besides, if I stole it, I would remember. I’m a klepto” -Marinette, probably holding his ring too at this point.

Hal obviously doesn’t want the wrath of the Dupain-Chengs (just the kid Marinette scares him enough), so he tells the guardians that JL will take care of most of Mari’s training (once they get her a lamp for her ring, of course) & has her take part in training at Mt. Justice with the Young Justice team and special training with the Bats. Mari does all this under the guise of an international student exchange program for Mari to stay with the Waynes (not yet knowing that it’s the bat fam) and attends G.A. Mari doesn’t do much, but it takes her 24-36 hours to know who EVERYONE is.

[the next week after settling in]

“Hey, Mars,” -Dick, in his Nightwing gear

“Hey, Di-is the GREATEST SHOW!” -Mari, changing the subject(… not really)

“How long did it take you?”

“Not as long as the Kryptonians…” -Mari, going off into a tangent (still trying to change the subject”

[When Marinette meets Tikki]

Back in Paris:

“Sooo… I’m getting powerful jewelry that gives me powers and a suit, needs to be recharged, and comes from some Order of the Guardians? What’s the difference between you and my ring?” -Marinette, who at this point is very confused as to why she keeps getting picked on for this kind of stuff.

“One’s alien, one’s magic” -Tikki, hoping Mari will end it there & lowkey hates that the GL Corp. got to her first.

“They’re both non-human made energy sources” -Mari, cause once you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all before.

“You can’t heal the Akuma without the miraculous, and there are more than just rings. Yours are earrings, there are hair clips, bracelets, necklaces and more” -Tikki, after having a minute to think

“Fine, only because you said they’re the only way to heal the, what was it again, akuma?”

6) “Their Unofficial Official Barista”

Part of Tim’s job as Co-CEO, is to make sure all the branches are running smoothly, sometimes that means he has to fly abroad to manually check in. Tim goes to Paris to check on the W.E. Paris branch. He goes to a nearby Patisserie (Tom and Sabine’s) to see a young Marinette (somewhere from 8-11) drawing in her sketchbook at the counter. She explains that her parents are at a catering event, but she’s there to man the little bakery. Tim asks for a super caffeinated coffee and Marinette makes it with ease, claiming it was on the house with how bad he looks (and how much sleep the man clearly needs). Tim begs for her knowledge and asks if she can teach his butler. Mari’s willing to show him the next time he comes, so he gets the whole fam to go (viz tubes so they don’t waste time) maybe a week later. Everyone gets their own drink (plus a free pastries) and Marinette teaches Alfred her coffee, but it’s just not the same so Tim, using the tubes, goes to get coffee from the girl whenever he can.

Mari is horrible at getting up on time (the life of an insomniac, never getting to sleep even if you want and then barely waking up on time) that she is up super early, makes Tim his coffee (plus a croissant) and tries to go back to sleep (making her inevitably late). Tim would walk up to the pick-up counter where his cup and to-go bag is while Marinette runs out of the house to get to school. Eventually, the rest of the Batfam (as well as the Laegue, TT, and YJ) frequent the place, slowly becoming (Dami too) Mari hides it, but she knew all the batfam the first day they came and she showed Alfred how to make the coffee. When the others start making more regular appearances, she learns the identities of YJ team, WW, GLs, and others. Obviously when LB and CN appear as heroes with HM as their villain, they immediately reach out to help. Because 1. Batfam clearly notices that it’s Mari and they sure as heck won’t let her deal with that by herself, and 2. The JL is worrying too much about their favorite barista (even though she’s not really one), especially with the Gigantitan scare. So, of course LB & CN (can’t make him bad everytime) get inducted into YJ.

[After Ladybug finishes defeating Gigantitan and detransforms]

“Bean! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” -Tim, being an even more protective older brother than Dick, which shouldn’t be possible

“Yes, I promise. I’m fine” -Marinette, who just accepts the fact that she’s adopted an older brother (and his famliy)

“Tube over, we’ll have Alfred make sure” -Dick, already pulling out the medical supplies for Alfred.

“I-”

“You shouldn’t worry your brothers like that, Marinette. Now come over so Alfred can clear you,” -Bruce, who just happens to overhear the conversation

“I’m sorry, Miss Marinette, they are very adamant that you’re in pitch perfect health before going out again,” -Alfred, who’s not actually sorry

“Fine” -Marinette, accepting her fate of her adopted, protective family.

7) “Thicker Than the Blood We’ve Shed”

Why is Marinette so freakishly strong? Because she was trained to be. Before she could even talk, Mari was taught to be an assassin. She and Damian were frenemies, both competing for top spot as best in the League (of Assassins). They often spared together and became rivals who pushed each other (which sounds great in that context if you forget about the fact that they’re killing people and turning it into a competition). When Damian’s care is turned over to Batsy, Mari also comes along for the ride. She implements herself into Dami’s classes at G.A. & watches him from afar. (Damian, not being an idiot, of course knows all this and knows that it’s probably for Mari to give a report to Talia.) When he becomes Robin, Mari obviously knows, but waits to see if anything drastic would happen (his care was given to the Batfam, they had already expected this to happen.) She then heard word of the bounty Talia put on Damian’s head. Marinette knew there wouldn’t be much she could do to help, but she ave Dami a warning about the upcoming situation before fleeing the country.

From there she got to France, changed her name (it wasn’t originally Marinette, it was Shénqí, chinese for miraculous/magical (or something else if you want)), was adopted by Tom & Sabine, and left her time in the League in the past. When she received Tikki, she didn’t want to be a hero because she didn’t think she deserved it after her up-bringing. Eventually, she did become LB (being a trained assassin does help with lucky charms, considering she was taught how to kill with basically every and anything), and life was good for her. Then Rossi came.

[Gotham field trip]

While at Wayne Tower…

“How idiotic are they?” -Damian, who after reuniting with his long-lost sister-from-a-different-mister (yes, Marinette was able to convince him to say it once), can’t understand the stupidity she has to deal with.

“Are you Robin?” -Mari, who is too tired, so just goes straight into the analogy

“Yes.” -Obvious and simply is.

“Exactly” -Mari, who can’t even put a limit to the amount of thought the one brain cell the class shares doesn’t use. I mean please, the so-called “reporter” believed that the first cosplayer she saw was the actual LB when they don’t even have the same hair! And let’s not forget the origins arc, where LB’s first citizen save was Chloe.

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