#[ cries I am thinking about the year we had them all as DC villains it was so cute ]

[sylvva]

@sunbcrned // ♡'d

❀ 𓏬 ❝Are you and Rosie matching again this year?❞ She could not stand to wait until the actual date to find out. Curiosity was getting the better of her. It seemed the couple had a long standing tradition of the cutest group costumes, enough to make Camilla jealous almost.

     ❝Maybe Luffy and I could join?❞ Or at the very least give her inspiration for her own.

[batarangsoundsdumb]

guess fucking what? my inbox is so fucking full right now i'm unloading all of this shit in one post.

For the 11th gotham memes: gothamites react to bruce being jacked in a tiktok he made with kids, like super yoked, ripped as hell

fucking hilarious thanks. i think i did it in one meme post, but i genuinely don't remember which one

i dunno which of the batfam would do this but one time i was sleeping over at a friends house and ended up on the floor bc the bed was so very small and i just stayed there because the rug was soft

that's a drunk jason move i don't know what to tell you

tim and jason are "i listen to pop punk" solidarity. whenever jason highjacks the batmobile theyll go on long ass car rides blaring mcr and paramore and then never talk about it again

as they should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tim: no jason it's my turn using the aux cord i gotta put on my jams jason: don't you dare put on weird shit tim: don't worry, you're gonna love this *plays fearless (taylor's version)

hear me out hear me out, red hood stans 🤝 nightwing stans t h i g h s

holy shit yes.

SNL au: Bruce breaks character when pretending to superman and says something like "I'm not superman! You've seen his gps!! It's from 2001!!!" @sabeanybabe

superman flies past the snl building the next day just to say 'actually it's from 2005, i'm not a heathen'

does your back hurt from carrying the batfam fandom

it hurts more from the exotic rock collection i keep in my backpack, but thanks for the concern.

I love your posts by why would you always leave the best parts in the tags?

as a treat for the people that check the tags ;) (and also because i'm committed to the short post aesthetic)

somehow your playlist was everything i never knew i needed. i mean it. this is my new favorite playlist.

and don't you dare get a new favourite playlist!

babe ur stoner tim playlist is exactly too perfect, earth is literally blessed by ur existence

babe thanks so much! i love my stoner tim playlist because it's just my usual playlist but people think it's an artistic choice that i put taylor swift and britney spears in there, when it's just what i unironically like listening to

JANDKSKDK BILLY RAY CYRUS ON THE STONER TIM PLAYLIST I LOVE IT IT

again it's not even an ironic choice, i know every single word and i genuinely like the song

The last chapter of Fundamentals of Casework has me crying at work. Thanks I love it @dudelookitsalesbian

oh babe, i'm sorry, but also, not sorry i love chapter 4 so much it's my lovechild with the 'mental illness' tag

soooo....stumbled on your tumblr by some stroke of fate??? read your DC fanfic first. which is PHENOMENAL btw. then found all the batmemes; the funniest thing EVER bc everyone forgets about regular old gothamites. kept scrolling and your blog pops up as recommended. clicked on the ao3 for shits and giggles and waddaya know?!?!? it's YOU!!! you're LEGEND!!!! ever seen that meme? it's a video of a cat that got into a baseball field and the two announcers get really invested in his escape attempt and start giving a play by play of the cat instead of the game. memeable moment: "GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!"

i seriously think about this ask every single day and it's so fucking funny to me that i've never seen the meme you're referencing, but i still find myself going 'GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!' whenever i see something funny. but wow i'm glad you liked this steaming pile of garbage

Fav dc character overall? And fav batfamily character?

don't ask me to pick between the loves of my life, but i can tell you i've cried about every single batfamily member and also wally west (my beloved)

What's your opinion on fans having a problem with batfam being "too big"? And some even claim that batfam is just "Bruce Alfred Dick Damian" and the rest of them are just "friends and allies" (source: reddit) Personally, I like batfam because of this reason but idk

stupid. a family can never be too big. i'm not that big a fan of like huge batfam stuff with everybody from every single universe, because as much as it's funny for bruce to have like 30 kids, it just feels a little too OOC for me.

This is the best tag I've seen involving the batfam, thanks for thinking of it

This is canon now @nctxrejects

lmao yeah i think at that point alfred has had to sit through like at least a dozen coming out talks and just has a pride flag collection in the attic that he pulls out whenever a kid comes out

idk why batfam hits different as compared to any other superhero family

bc it's found family and usually the other superhero families are almost all genetically related in one way or another

I don't know if you watch the umbrella academy but I saw your last post about batcest and saw the similarities. But the thing is (although I think it's weird) in TUA, they addressed it by saying "they were raised as weapons, not siblings" or something along those lines, which is simply not the case with batfam.

yeah i watched tua but i also thought it was ridiculous and they still treated each other as siblings so i didn't like the luthor/allison thing, and am glad they stopped doing that shit bc it fucking sucked.

Hot take: Batcest shippers are the same people who believe adopted siblings are not actual siblings

smoking hot take: batcest shippers are the people who watch 'my sister got stuck in the washing machine' porn

Duke was adopted by Bruce?

not technically no, but do i, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb, look like i care?

True story but I had to change my freaking name because it used to be "Damien" and most people would go "OH LIKE DAMIAN WAYNE" like please I'm just tryna live

true story, but i don't actually think of damian when i hear the name damian, literally the first thing that pops up is damian darkh like bruh what?

apparently dc comics company supported comic stores by giving out new titles and stuff during the beginning of the pandemic to help them run and I just think that's wholesome

ah yeah that's so fucking cool, still don't like dc, the company, because this world is a capitalist hellhole and we're all owned by warner brothers or disney with no in between.

ayo looking at tumblr head canons and finding out bruce is actually a terrible father is a punch in the gut

lmao yes, in like 50% of comics bruce is a terrible father and it gives me whiplash

oooh I just saw the jason todd vs winter soldier post and the real question is: batman vs iron man

while iron man has like hundreds of cases of armor, batman could throw out an emp and have the guy dropping out of the sky in 2 seconds.

dickfast = fastdick = quickdick = quickie

magnum hot take

hey bata(?) just thought I'd let you know I have copied the obnoxious emoji and Billy Ray post for use on simping men going forth

thank you 😘🌷 (@spacebarsidecar)

why would you do that to your followers???? i get why i did it, but why would you???

what is scarecrow made the nightwing funko pop himself, like those diy-ers that paint over other ones

oh god no, horrible take, horrible take, that's a disgusting thought oh no

I see your HC that Bruce and Oliver fucked and raise you this: Dick and Roy ALSO fucked

yes they did and it was a horrible moment for jason to find out dick has fucked both of his best friends

"at this rate bruce adds like 1 child to his family every decade or so" Duke is introduced in 2013, Damian as Damian, not as an unnamed child, in 2006. And he is already 14 years old, Robins rarely remain Robins after 16 😬 It looks like a new Robin and Batkid will appear in a couple of years

i mean i can't wait? but somebody will probably die first tho, we're due for another major character death. my money's on either cass or duke this time.

BRO you're so right all of your Bruce's ex headcanons are amazing but they aren't ships, that's kinda wild. Like I don't want any peeks into how their relationship was I just want to see everyone make fun of them

lmao YES it's just i love bruce being a slut, like good for him.

I am in love with your posts your honour thank you

omg thanks are we like,, gonna kiss now?

The justice league needs to have a meeting to discuss how many of their members/partners have slept with bruce. Because through a combination of cannon & fannon (if DC wasn’t homophobic) we have AT LEAST: 1) clark 2) lois 3) oliver 4) dinah 5) john

Thats not counting villains or random civilians @dudelookitsalesbian

yes yes yes, they'll have a yearly meeting about how many of their collective exes could be out for revenge and batman's list just keeps getting longer.

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

and what about it?

when steph's fighting livewire and she zaps her with lighting and nothing happens and then they both just. stand there awkwardly for a second and talk. yeah i couldn't stop laughing at that batgirl steph is the BEST

oh yeah that was fucking hilarious and i think it would be so cool and sexy of dc to give steph a little comic series,,, as a treat

Hi I absolutely adore all of yours "Bruce and Oliver very badly pretending they didn't fuck each other" memes

lmao i do too

I need you to know that “Bruce Wayne had frosted tips” is one of my favorite Bruce takes of all time it’s so galaxy brained. you’re right and you should say it

he also painted his hair blonde once when he was travelling and in conclusion, this is why he's being blackmailed by the gotham gazette.

you know my thing about gordon being branded as the only good cop in gotham is its a load of shit like arguably he's a good person and not working to screw people over or anything but the fact that he also works w. batman makes him a shit cop. like yea batman is better than the mob but its still illegal its still an abuse of power he just not making bank

babe, all cops are bad cops. (but yeah youre absolutely right, working with vigilantes makes you a shit cop, but also working against vigilantes just makes you an asshole cop yanno?)

ruh roh i think i’m about to add “so not yeehaw” every time i don’t like something

that's a very good vocabulary upgrade

somehow i feel like steph already knew. like babs obviously knew but i feel like bruce got high/drunk in front of steph and started telling his boarding school stories and steph was just like “oh you fucked up i’m never gonna forget this”

steph and bruce have weird uncle/rebellious niece dynamic and they just hang out sometimes and bruce will be like 'i once broke my arm when i tripped over a hedge when i was drunk so oliver drove me to the hospital on an electric scooter' and steph will just have to sit there with that knowledge in her head.

Hello I just wanted to tell you you are So right in all your steph opinions bc she is, in fact amazing and I think that's very sexy of you. Ps. Your Bruce/Oliver fic is hilarious

babe, thank you so much and yes steph is amazing and i love her and she deserves the world and she's the best member of the batfam hands down. also thanks

In Supersons we see a couple of kids that are implied to be Damian and Jon's children and the boy has laser eyes and can fly, so I asume he's not adopted. The girl, who calls Bruce grandpa, can also fly, btw. So it's canon (probably by accident) that Jon can have kids and he must have married one of Bruce's kids. (I'm hoping for Damian, mostly because any other of his children would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old.) @artemisa97

lmao that was probably an accident seeing as jon is a 17 year old superhero in the year 3000 (by the jonas brothers)

You know, I'm a die hard fan of your memes, but I gotta say one thing: if Gothamites actually took gas mask everywhere with them, then the Scarecrow would just be a weird dude in a weird costume, and not a villain oh so scary. DC really should just takes notes from you.

bold of you to assume there's no gothamite anti-maskers

How does it feel being the funniest person on this app?

horrible, next question.

I can't listen to Green Day or Billy Joel without thinking of your post about how Bruce got arrested at a Billy Joel concert @nightwings-kid

yeah that's your mistake, i on the other hand can't enjoy billy joel without thinking about the glee rendition of 'uptown girl'

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

superman: so what do you do in your free time? batman, thinking about the superman fanfiction he's writing on the batcomputer: i have no free time

bruce and oliver be like boyfriends to co-workers 401k (do the justice leagues get 401ks??? not that bruce and ollie would need them, but-)

lmao yes just 400 thousand words of bruce realising 'oh dip oliver is such a fucking dumbass' (also i don't know what a 401 k is but i assume they don't?)

Gothamites would totally boo superman as he saves Gotham while batman is out. @meenje

he's like 'okay think about that next time you want to be saved from an alien octopus'

I just took long break from dc comics and I come back to see ric grayson ??

i think it's very cool and sexy of dc to see dick and just think 'you know what? let's just give him a traumatic brain injury' and then didn't develop his character in any real way

SPEAKING OF RIC GRAYSON, gothamites making confused memes out of ric grayson is much needed

'dick grayson is my taxi driver? can anyone explain what the fuck happened he looks like an italian plumber?'

i hate to say it but batfam are def "marvel characters" in that sense they are characters who are human but become superheroes unlike most dc characters who are gods trying to be human maybe this is why I like batfam

fair enough

[miraculouswolf99]

Breaking Into The Watchtower Part 1

Miraculous Ladybug-DC Universe crossovers are some of my favorite fanfictions. They are just a good match. I especially love ones where the Justice League either ignores the Paris situation or one of the League members gets the messages for help and doesn’t believe them. Mostly, it’s the Flash, Guy Gardner, Green Lantern, or Booster Gold.

In this story, some of the miraculous have changed hands for my story. There will be new holders and different holders for old miraculous. All of my OC characters will also be included. Nathaniel has the fox, Marc has the turtle, Rose has the horse, Juleka has the tiger, and Alix will have the bunny.

*****

“This is most definitely not something that I would ever have thought that I would ever do,” White Wolf says.

“We are magical teenagers that use the power of mini gods and mystical jewelry,” Beautifly says. “Your statement pretty much sums up every day of our lives.”

“Trust me, I never thought that I would be doing anything like this before I met Plagg,” Cat Noir said.

“At least I can cross this off my bucket list,” Ladybug giggled.

“Why is the name of the Olympian gods would this be on your bucket list,” White Wolf looked at the teen hero weirdly.

“I put it on after they started to ignore our cries for help,” Ladybug crossed her arms. “Or, when it was made obvious that they were ignoring us, at least.”

“How much sleep have you gotten lately,” Beautifly asks. “You only get this sassy when you haven’t slept in about two days.”

“I remember going to sleep on Wednesday,” Ladybug put her hand on her chin as she started thinking.

“Uh… It’s Saturday,” White Wolf deadpanned.

“Oh,” was all Ladybug could say.

“If you don’t go right to sleep after we get back, I am sending Plagg over to destroy every device you have to make sure you are not distracted and can finally sleep,” Cat Noir threatened.

“But what if there is an akuma,” Ladybug protested.

“Then we will have to make sure that Cat Noir saves his power so that he can Cataclysm the moth when it comes out of the akumatized object,” White Wolf says.

“And the damage,” Ladybug continued to protest.

“We will get to that when we get there,” White Wolf said.

“You are sometimes too selfless for your own good,” Beautifly shook her head.

“Yeah, she tends to be like that,” Cat Noir chuckled. “Why do you think I force myself between her and the villains we face when she tries to protect me because she will take the hit for me. But she needs to be the one that the attack does not hit because she is the one that purifies the akuma.”

“We are a very colorful crew,” Beautifly giggled.

“Says the butterfly girl whose hero outfit is almost entirely black,” White Wolf said.

“Not my fault that Flutter is a monarch butterfly kwami,” Beautifly shrugged.

“I certainly wish that I had some color on my suit,” Cat Noir says. “While the black makes my eyes pop, the color doesn’t match my personality at all. Why couldn’t Plagg be a tabby cat or a white cat?”

“Because he is the literal god of bad luck and nobody thinks of either of those two other kinds of cats when bad luck comes to mind,” Ladybug stated. “Deal with it, Chaton.”

“Yeah, you really need some sleep before you become permanently sassy,” Beautifly says.

“I blame Hawkmoth and his never-ending late-night akumas,” White Wolf stated. “My ears are still ringing from that banshee akuma he created last week.”

“And talk about unoriginal,” Cat Noir rolled his eyes. “Scream Queen was probably the most obvious choice of name in the history of villain names.”

“Even more so than that Poison Ivy woman in Gotham,” Beautifly asked.

“Well, she could have called herself Mother Nature,” Cat Noir shrugged.

“Point made,” Beautifly said.

The four then looked at the rest of their teams preparing themselves for what was going to be done. The Greek hero team had stayed the same throughout the three years of fighting, but the French team had changed. Their current members were Vulpix, Emerald Turtle, Queen Bee, Viperion, Lady Unicorn, King Monkey, Ryuko, Shadow Cat, and Bunnix. The last two being the newest members of the hero team. The Greek team was Gladiator with the grizzly bear miraculous, Tigress with the leopard miraculous, and Ocean Mage with the mermaid miraculous. The last one being the only person to be currently using a magical creature miraculous on the planet.

All of the heroes were getting ready in their own ways. Ryuko, Ocean Mage, and Viperion were meditating. King Monkey, Bunnix, Tigress, and Gladiator were all getting themselves hyped up for the mission. Queen Bee was trying to find a way to take off her gloves to file her nails. Vulpix and Emerald Shell were cuddling, comforting each other, and probably trying really hard not to start making out. The same could be said about Shadow Cat and Lady Unicorn. Those four were always the more timid ones of the group, even though all of them were amazing heroes.

“Alright, does everyone remember their parts of the plan,” Ladybug asked them, snapping them out of their trances.

“I will make sure that everything goes smoothly and no one truly gets hurt,” Viperion says.

“White Wolf, Lady Unicorn, and I take out our biggest worries to being discovered before we are ready,” Bunnix added.

“The rest of us force them into a position where they have to listen to us,” Gladiator said.

The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Some of them were still looking nervous about what they were about to do.

“Are you sure doing this is the right thing to do,” Lady Unicorn asked. “We could get into serious trouble for this.”

“We wouldn’t be doing this at all if they stopped ignoring us,” Tigress crossed her arms. “Even with all these miraculous being active, Hawmoth’s akumas are getting more and more dangerous.”

“He is also akumatizing more dangerous people like con artists, martial artists, and policemen,” Ocean Mage says. “What’s to stop him from going all Scarlet Moth and sending his moths to a prison if he gets desperate enough?”

“That is why we need their help,” Ladybug said. “If contacting them through official means does not help, then we must do what we have to.”

“I just hope that we don’t get labeled as criminals for this,” Beautifly said.

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

If there was one thing that Robin currently was, it was bored. He had to stop himself from yawning as he sat in another long and boring meeting of the Justice League.

One would think that a young hero like him would not be a part of one of these meetings. But this was less of a war room and more of a meeting between all heroes to discuss general things involving heroes in general and not entirely league business. It was always the same things being discussed in these meetings. Egotistical politicians trying to control the league, villains breaking out of prison again, as well as discussing potential new members of the League and the Young Justice team.

Other than Robin, the rest of the Bat-family was there as well. Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Oracle, Spoiler, Orphan, Batwing, and even Batwoman. The Super family was also there. Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, and the former Superboy that now called himself Krypton. Robin smirked at how Conner had finally broken the trend of having “Super” in his hero name. He may be a clone, he knew that both Kara and Jon both adored him. The other young heroes that were there were Red Arrow, Artemis, Aqualad, Tempest, Miss. Martian, Beast Boy, Starfire, Zatanna, Kid Flash, and Impulse.

And other than Batman and Superman, there were also the mentors of the other young heroes as well. Green Arrow, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Dr.Fate, and the Flash. The other adult heroes in the room were Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Wonder Woman, Sparton, Black Canary, Red Tornado, all three Green Lanterns, Black Lightning, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, the Atom, and Katanna.

As Robin looked around, he noticed that he was not the only bored-looking young hero. The entire Bat-family looked to be wanting to be anywhere else, especially since they lived in a city where a crime was committed every five seconds. But the other heroes that looked bored were Superboy, Krypton, Red Arrow, Aqualad, and Beast Boy. They were all probably like him. They were excited to be part of league meetings until it was discovered that there was a lot more politics involved than actual hero work.

“Does anyone have anything else that they would like to add,” Superman asked the room.

“How about we talk about actually saving people instead of dealing with politicians,” Nightwing muttered, making the Bat-family hide their snickers.

“Especially that psycho Lex Luthor,” Krypton muttered from his place next to Nightwing.

“Well, if that is all…” Superman was about to wrap up the meeting.

“Wait,” Zatanna shot up from her seat, her hands on her head. “I sense something.”

All the younger heroes were all now thinking how something interesting was finally going to happen during one of these meetings. But the heroes were also all reaching for their weapons if they had them.

“What is it,” Wonder Woman asked the magician, her hand on her sword.

“There is an incoming magical…” Zatanna was cut off.

A bright blue portal opened up right under her feet. She fell in before she could finish her warning. The portal closed right after she fell into it.

“What in the world,” Flash gasped.

“ZATANNA,” the members of Young Justice yelled their former team member’s name.

“Oracle,” Batman did not even have to say the entire order.

“I’m on it,” the wheelchair-bound hero immediately started typing on her holographic computer. “She’s… I can’t find her.”

“What do you mean you can’t find her,” Captain Atom demanded to know.

“It’s like she vanished into thin air,” Oracle continued typing. “She’s nowhere in the Watchtower, or on Earth, not even on my planet in our galaxy. There is no sign of Zatanna anywhere.”

“She managed to say that it was something magical that was approaching,” Wonder Woman says.

“Dr. Fate, can you do something,” Superman requested of the lord of order.

The master sorcerer stood up from his seat. While he, personally, did not care for Zatanna other than a fellow user of the mystic arts, his current host body was that of her father. So finding her will hopefully silence all the yelling that Zatara is currently doing inside of the helmet.

But before the lord of order could do anything, another portal opened up behind him. But unlike the bright blue of the first one, this portal was a ring of blue surrounding a white portal. Something had quickly reached through and Dr.Fate was instantly turned into an ice statue. An invisible figure sneaked through the portal before it closed.

This caused all the other league members and Young Justice members to all jump and, drawing their weapons or preparing their powers. They all looked around and were on guard just in case another portal opened up.

“Oracle,” Batman ordered her again.

She was typing as quickly as humanly possible.

“I can’t find anyone else in the Watchtower,” she said, still typing. “I��ve run heat scans, x-ray scans, even the program to search for invisible opponents. I still can not find anyone else in the Watchtower.”

A soft tune suddenly played throughout the room. It was like a theme song for a peaceful day in the Fall played on a flute. A ball of light soon soared to the end of the room and brightly flashed. When the flash died down, the heroes were all shocked to see a message had been written in light in the air.

“We Just Want To Talk.”

It floated there for about a minute before Superman and Maritan Manhunter flew over to the message to examine it. But the moment that one of them touched it, it vanished in a burst of orange smoke-like light.

“It was an illusion,” Nightwing was the first to realize it.

“Maybe that is how they are hiding,” Red Robin opened up his own holographic screen over his glove and started typing. “Under an illusion.”

“And if they are magical like Zatanna said, it would not be possible to detect them since the technology that can detect magic has not been invented yet,” Oracle added.

“There is no such thing as magic,” yelled out Kid Flash.

Young Justice rolled their eyes, used to the constant rants that the speedster goes on about his disbelief in magic. It certainly annoyed those like Aqualad and Tempest, who both were born in Atlantis and attended the conservatory of sorcery there. Few other magical heroes tolerated the loud-mouth. Which was why heroes like Phantom and his brother Gold Siren wanted nothing to do with the team. (Reference to my fanfictions on Wattpad, Phantom Music and Home.)

“Try to find out where the illusion came from,” Superman ordered.

“You could try looking right in front of you,” a female voice was suddenly heard.

The heroes all turned and saw three masked teenagers standing there. Two boys and a girl. 

The first boy was a redhead with his bangs covering his right eye. He had on a fox-themed skin-tight orange and white outfit with red boots, gloves, and a red jacket. He also had real fox ears and a real fox tail as well. A flute was strapped to his back.

The boy next to him had black hair with green tips, which matched his turtle-themed outfit. The outfit also had a dark green leather jacket and boots with a green shield on his back, going with the goggle-like mask over his eyes.

The girl was blond with a single black streak in her ponytail. Her outfit was definitely themed by bumblebees. But unlike the shoes of the two next to her, her shoes had a slight heal to them. Like a two-inch-high wedge heel. Around her waist was a spinning top on a string.

“What have you done to our allies,” Captain Atom demanded of them.

“They are perfectly fine,” the turtle boy informed them.

“Why should we believe you,” Robin held his katana in his hand.

“Because we need your help and harming your fellow heroes would not help our situation,” the fox boy crossed his arms.

“What could you possibly need from us,” Black Lightning’s hands sparked with his powers.

“How about for you to stop ignoring us while we have been fighting a terrorist for three years,” the bee girl yelled at them.

“We also are not lying,” the fox boy said. “We have no reason to lie when surrounded by most of the world’s heroes.”

Before they could say anything else, all three were surrounded by separate green spheres that floated them up into the air. The Green Lanterns all had their rings pointed at one of the masked teens.

“This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous,” the bee girl complained as she crossed her arms.

“I got captured by the original Green Lantern,” the fox boy looked to be almost fanboying inside of his sphere.

“Lucky, I got that class clown Guy Gardner,” the turtle boy almost seemed to pout.

“Hey,” Guy Gardner protested, offended.

“Why are you here, where is Zatanna, and what did you do to Dr. Fate,” Superman demanded of the three as he flew close to them.

“You know, you are a lot less threatening than you think you are,” the bee girl stated with a smirk. “By the way, whoever told you that underwear on the outside of your pants was a good choice needs to be thrown into fashion jail.”

Most of the Young Justice team had to stop themselves from laughing. Even Superboy, Supergirl, and Krypton were trying not to laugh. They had no idea who this girl was, but she was certainly sassy.

“How did you get into the Watchtower undetected,” Superman continued to demand answers from them.

“That is for us to know,” the fox boy started.

“And you to find out,” the turtle boy finished.

The smirks the three had told the league something, alright. Batman was the first to realize what it meant.

“There are more of them,” he said.

As if him saying that was their cue to come in, three more masked teens almost seemed to materialize into the room. A guy in a monkey-themed outfit hit his Ruyi Jingu Bang against the ground and then threw it into the air.

“Uproar,” he yelled.

He threw his now glowing staff into the air, the staff letting out a flash as it spun in the air. With a swift flick of her lasso, Wonder Woman grabbed the weapon before it could fall back into the monkey boy’s hand. But something else fell into his hands that they did not see.

But then came the second masked teen, who looked like he had been born of the ocean. He took out what seemed to be a hilt made out of sapphire. Water came out of the hilt as the masked boy flicked his wrist, the water forming into a whip. Before they could move, the teen whipped all of the Green Lantern’s hands at once. Pulling his whip, the masked teen caused their hands to collide together.

That was when the monkey boy threw the object that he had caught out of the air. Katana was close enough to try and slice through it with her sword, but she was intercepted by a second masked girl, this one appearing out of nowhere and seemed to have a tiger theme to her. Even if she was purple and black and not orange and black. Katana’s sword was met with a metal tiger-claw gauntlet. While they fought, a bunny-themed girl showed up and intercepted Green and Red Arrow, fighting both archers at once. Then, to the shock of the Green Lantern trio, a stuffed octopus child’s toy landed on their connected hands.

For a moment, nothing happened and they wondered why a stuffed animal had been thrown at them. But then their rings all started to malfunction at once. The rings stopped glowing and all three trapped teens were released from their bubbles. And since the rings were no longer working, the Lanterns all fell to the ground without their ability to fly.

“We’re teenagers, not stupid,” the bee girl smirked.

No longer wanting to underestimate the masked teens, the big hitters of the league all started to move toward them. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, and Captain Atom.

“Venom,” the bee girl shouted.

The top in her hand seemed to grow a bit in size and start glowing. As Superman flew at her, she dodged him and managed to touch him with her top. He fell to the ground and did not move from his punching pose. He was paralyzed.

“Confusion,” a female voice shouted.

Wonder Woman turned around to almost immediately be scratched on her arm by a girl in a leopard-themed outfit. The scratch on her arm glowed purple and the hero suddenly became very dizzy and could not seem to focus. She had never been drunk before, but she was sure this was probably how it felt.

Captain Atom’s hands lit up as he aimed one of his energy blasts at the masked teens. As he was just about to blast, another masked teen appeared. This one was themed by a brown-furred bear. Probably a grizzly bear.

“Roar,” a male voice yelled just as Captain Atom blasted.

The bear boy’s fist lit up gold and he punched right into the energy beam. To the surprise of the league, he was able to keep the beam at bay with a single punch.

Red Tornado was about to throw one of his twisters when he was hit on his robot head by a thrown horseshoe. It bounced and flew around like a boomerang-gone-wild until it landed back in the hand of a horse-themed girl.

All of the heroes and masked teens in the room were either fighting or dodging the attacks of another from one of the other groups.

“Enough,” a male and female voice shouted at once.

Even the Justice League froze as the voices boomed throughout the room. Standing on the other side of the room were six more masked teens. Three boys and three girls. The two that had shouted were a ladybug-themed girl and a boy with an icy wolf outfit. The boy standing next to the ladybug girl looked to be related to Catwoman while the girl next to the wolf boy was like a butterfly turned human. The last two were a snake boy and a girl that looked to be dragon-themed.

“All of you, front and center, now,” the ladybug girl ordered.

All of the animal-themed teens stopped what they were doing immediately. They put their weapons away and walked over to join the others at her sides.

Wonder Woman looked at the group for a few moments. The drunk feeling had been lifted from her and she could focus. There was something about them that was making an old memory of her’s rise to the surface. An old story that her mother used to tell her about when she had been friends with, who she had called, an adorable and wise little creature known as a kwami. A creature that she also remembered was bound to a magical object called a miraculous.

“The ladybug and black cat are active once more,” she gasped.

The league looked at the Amazon princess in shock. She actually had an idea who these teens were.

“We thought that you would be the one to recognize our magic, Wonder Woman,” the ladybug girl softly smiles.

Wonder Woman approached the group, putting her sword away as she did. And surprising the league again, she bowed to the ladybug girl and cat boy. The two of them and the wolf boy and butterfly girl bow back.

“It is an honor to meet the wielder of the ladybug miraculous,” Wonder Woman said.

“The honor is all ours, daughter of Hippolyta,” the ladybug girl says. “Tikki says to tell your mother ‘hi’ for her.”

Wonder Woman smiled at that.

“Would you care to explain exactly what is going on,” Batman ordered them, crossing his arms. “Starting with where Zatanna is and what you did to Dr. Fate and Superman.”

The bunny girl got out a pocket watch from her pocket. She checks the time.

“We can answer the first question now,” she smirked. “We’re right on time.”

She put her watch away and then threw her hands forward yelling “Burrow.” Out popped the same type of portal that Zatanna had disappeared through. And seconds after the portal was opened, out fell the magician.

“What just happened,” Zatanna immediately asked.

“The rest of your comrades will be fine somewhere between five to ten minutes,” the butterfly girl says.

“Before we go into the full explanation, do you guys have a bathroom in this place by any chance,” the leopard girl asked.

[mrawkweird]

Some of the best 4 hours I’ve ever spent in my life..

Now I get how 4 hours can seem as if it’s incredibly excessive and some may not have the patience for that but holy shit if it wasn’t completely worthy of that run time. By the end of it all I would have gladly stuck around for more.

It almost doesn’t feel real that I’ve actually finally seen it and yet here I am after having finally seen it. This movie almost felt like a love letter to all of those who never gave up on this universe and always wanted more and damn if this film didn’t give me every single thing I ever wanted for the past 5 years. Not to mention it was a complete triumph for Snyder himself to finally get the opportunity to see his vision to the end after such unfortunate circumstances.

Yes; there will be SPOILERS.

Full disclosure, I’ve always said that I had fun with the other version of Justice League. However, the thing about that is you’d be surprised by how good certain things taste when you’re starving and I was absolutely starving for more DC content from Snyder’s universe. Like, hell; they gave me a live action Batman/Bruce that I actually liked and appreciated. Affleck was the most Batman a live action adaptation has ever been, I ain’t about that Nolan/Bale life, so you damn right I was gonna wholeheartedly support that shit back in 2017. After actually being delivered a quality feast this time around I’ll be damned if it ain’t clear as crystal just how much heart, soul and character was completely sucked out of what Snyder originally intended for this film just to try and compete with Marvel.

This film gave me more of Affleck’s Batman, more of Cavil’s Superman, more of Wonder Woman being an absolute badass, more of Leto’s Joker that I really thought the universe would never allow me to fucking have that I’ll still stand by to this day as well as actually make you care about the new editions of Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman. They made you care about every character and delivered on the many things the first film was so severely lacking.

Also, that damn powerhouse of a soundtrack. It was just so beautiful and Junkie XL took that whole thing to another level. Right when I thought Wonder Woman’s theme couldn’t be any more epic they said “Hold up; look at this shit we got”.

Fun Fact: I cried. Shocker I know but I’m just gonna admit to that. From Cryborg...”Cryborg”? Yep; that’s me. I’m Cryborg. From Cyborg and Flash’s individual stories about coming into their own and finding acceptance within themselves to seeing Batman’s character progression from Batman V Superman to this film going from hopeless to hopeful is the shit that fucking hit me.

I swear, to not return to this universe would be a complete and utter crime by Warner Bros. No offense to The Batman but I don’t necessarily need The Batman, all the offense to Joker but I for damn sure don’t need Joker. I want Affleck’s Batman, I want Leto’s Joker, I want more of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg because he killed that portrayal and they would be out of their entire absolute mind if they don’t think I want more of Cavil’s Superman.

Let that man have his Man Of Steel 2 before he’s off somewhere getting wasted in the MCU as Captain Britain or some shit.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League was truly a whole journey and a half and I’m still not even able to fully encapsulate everything it has made me feel into words. The best way I can think to put it is its made me feel full. They also made me feel validated for being a fan of this universe even when the world wanted to go “See? This is why MCU always wins”. It gave me everything and even then I still want more from Snyder’s vision for the DCEU. They need to let this universe continue, they need to let them tell their story until they have no more left to tell.

They earned the absolute fuck out of this hero shot this time around.

Also, fucking Darkseid..

Absolute beast of a character, a beast of a villain and he’s only just getting started. We need, NEED to see him go all out in the future and I’m not just talking about any Darkseid but THIS Darkseid.

Also, also...

MARTIAN. MANHUNTER. IN. THIS. BITCH.

Like, how can you not go back for them?

[alexalblondo]

I was about to say pancakes but someone beat me to it 😔

So how about this: which one of Seb’s 4 wdc wins is your favorite and why?

Hahahaha 🙈😂 I’m so sorry 😢

And DAMN!!! That’s a hard one!

Oh oh ohhhhh, okay, okay!

First off: Sorry for clogging up people’s dashes but I’m to lazy to get my laptop and who knows how to do a read more in the app? (Not me)

There’s the first one were no one ever expected him, I mean, let’s be honest despite being runner up in 2009 and SOMEONE *cough* Mark *cough* saying Seb got preferred treatment by the team he was never that favoured and no one - NO ONE - expected him to win? Like every interview beforehand was whether RedBull would pull team orders and would Seb go along and then THEN Mark messed up a little and Ferrari messed up a lot and the bastard babe got his first title and he cried so hard and I may or may not be getting a sun tattoo for him cause damn that one hits so hard still!!! He did so good, my baby!

And then there is 2011 which is (as a season) kinda boring but it might just be Seb’s most deserved title simply because he won it BY BEING THE ONLY BITCH WHO CARED ENOUGH TO LEARN ABOUT THE TIRES!!! (Also cause he was that good and the car was superb but yeah, bastard man knows his tires!)

I mean, Seb really just looked at every podium that year and went: 👉👈 and that is sooo sexy of him (his worst finish that whole season? 4th place ONCE and 1 DNF! And 11 wins out of 19 races! Bitch snapped that year! (Even Lewis only managed sth like that in 2014 and he had 3 DNFs that year, soooo...)

(Also Martin Brundle hates it sooo much? Like damn, every time he says “Is there anything they can do against this boy?” or whatever condescending shit he was spouting Seb gains another second on his opponents! 😂)

Then we have 2012 which many call the best season ever (when 2009 and 2010 are right there? M’kay? I mean, haven’t watched in a while so maybe I should) which really ... didn’t have Seb pegged as a favorite at all?

Cause McLaren had the best car and Alonso drove supremely well and the Lotus? Came out of nowhere?

But RedBull nailed the development and it’s sort of the beginning of spite driven!Seb cause once the asian leg of the season hits Seb is basically like: oh, Alonso is the clear favorite and leading by quite a bit? Well. Wouldn’t it be a shame if someone where to win 4 races in a row? And get another 2 podiums?... like, go off king, do drive two of your best and messiest races just near the end to prove to people you CAN overtake! I’m not mad, just, why do you hate having an easy life?

(Also that brought us the iconic moment of DC having to stand on a podium with Seb and Kimi swearing and having to say: english isn’t their first language, they don’t know what they are saying - they did and Jean Todt threatening disciplinary actions for SWEARING is just hilarious, does the FIA not have bigger fish to fry?)

And of course, OF COURSE, who could forget 2013? THE 2013?

If the TV show we will someday get based on Lewis and Seb’s career has titles for their seasons 2012 will be called “adjusted expectations” and 2013 will be “SPITE” (done in a really toxic green)

God, I love all of them but thinking about it 2013 must be my favourite cause it gave us so much!

We have Seb the ultimate bad bitch with the iconic Multi21 incident and the “I was faster. I passed him. I won.” and wow, 9 wins in a row? And 13 total? OUT OF 19 races? Well, do go off king, I beg you!

Like, Seb bleached his hair and he bleached his remorse and he turned into the baddest bitch and just went, if ya’ll wanna hate me I’ll be the best damn villain people have ever seen! And he made fools out of everyone else in the most stylish fashion only someone driving for the tox-factory that is RedBull could manage!

Cause I love RedBull and I love Seb but they are one toxic ass bitch and damn, love that for them (but also fuck them and I’ll see you in court once the Stockholm Syndrom wears off!)

But like, if you actually ... really ... officially ... here ... on tumblr ... on this day ... on the 26th of November 33 years after a short bastard man was born ... if you want me to choose my favorite title? It gotta be the one he wins with Aston Martin to equal Fangio, the man who holds so many oldest driver to do X titles! Like, let Lewis break all of Michael’s record - as he should and deserves - but also let Seb have one more (or two or more - dear racing goddess, I am not the boss of you!)

So there you have it:

Chris’ fave titles Seb has won (so far)

Hugs and kisses and lots of spite to motivate you 😍💖😍

(Bonus mention for 2009 aka: if only he didn’t crash into Kubica, crashed out a lap later in Malaysia and didn’t let Jenson past in Turkey that title would have been his!)

[nonamenotitles]

HELLO, IN THIS ESSAY I WILL TALK ABOUT RIDDLER AND DO A COMPARISION WITH A POP CULTURE BRAZILIAN CHARACTER AS WELL.

.

RIDDLER is a fascinating character. He can be portrayed as silly, or menancing. A gentleman with finesse and complex schemes or a completely mess who doesn’t really know what to do, but hey here’s 10 dolars for solving my riddle! Also Spandex! And Question Marks!

My Favorite Edward is the one from @askarkham. There’s  lot of thing I like about him, but the one that resonates with me the most is this:

Ronnie, how dare you give me feels!

Because I’ve been there, my anxiety sometimes fills my head with so many things it’s overwhelming.

I am a lot better know with therapy and stuff.

But before treatment I too, soo many times, cried the same phrase.

That really touched me

Sooo

That’s why I’d like to talk about my fave villain who is very similar of another beloved character here in Brazil, who shaped every childhood here. (And I do get a little pride at showing my people’s comics, they’re great!)

A lot of other characters reminds me of the riddler. Like Wheatley!

@canadian-riddler made an wonderful analysis of the two characters.

I’ll poorly describe them: Polite and condescending, friendly enough until he get’s high advanced technology. Then he wants to put you through puzzles and puzzles and if you keep getting it right he will try to murder you with one of them.

But the character that reminds me of Riddler the most is:

Jimmy Five (English) Cebolinha (little onion) Cebola (onion) from Monica’s Gang/ Turma da Mônica

His main traits is his ingenuity, his five pointed hair and his dysdalia (pronounces R as L)

@drdeath​ did na wonderful analysis of Riddler and he’s motivations, and both these characters personality and motives matches a lot.

Cebolinha is a kid who gets in lot of trouble. He’s a very smart and clever kid, always bragging about he’s superior intellect, and creating “infallible plans” (who always fail) to defeat Mônica and earn the title of “owner of the street”.

Cebolinha also messes with Mônica to get her attention and for fun, calling her names ( he has a little crush on her, and in Turma da Mônica Jovem they’re dating) and he has almost a compulsive desire to knot the ears of her rabbit plushie.

Mônica’s main way to deal with the boys name calling is hitting them with her blue rabbit plushie (though the also gives them advice and uses other ways) which hurts a lot because she has super strengh!

Even though he has been beated numeours times Ceblinha never gives up. Believing he deserves the title of Owner of the Street, yet a lot of he’s plans fail because he understimates Monica’s own cleverness.

Despite everything the two kid’s consider themselves friends, and don’t hesitate to protect each other. We have a movie about the group of kids helping cebolinha to find his dog, floquinho.

A lhasa apso that for some reason is GREEN.

Turma da Mônica Jovem.

These comics are about the characters as teenagers. Cebola grew to be na expert with comouters, games and technology, he went to a professional and now only speaks L intstead os R when his nervous.

Batman notices it (but it’s another comic for another time)

Now he wants to take over the world to make it a better place.

He’s cleverness and plans saves his friends through the many and dangerous adventures they get themselves in.

Yet he’s been called out on his manipulations.

One of the earlie sagas was about the ID Mosters, the physical manifestations of the group worst traits and impulses.

They manifested because it’s in the teenager years that kids start to get more emotional changes, and start to be aware of their impuses and control them better than when as kids by developing their emotional intelligence.

Cebola’s mosters is a Liar and master manipulator who uses his charms and skills to get whatever he wants. And the kid had to deal with his shame and realise he is and can be a better person than in he was in the past.

Maybe Arkham should try the “fight the physical manifestation of your Id” it seems to work.

Important scene in the Saga.

Here Red Monica is Monica’s ID monster disguised. Humilliating Cebola. Later the Real Monica confronts him, thinking he’s sending fake messages  to make her look bad. So he feels he’s being gaslighted.

THEN HE BEGS HER TO BEAT HIM.

C: Mônica...No... I will do anything...I

Cellphone*Sending to all contacts*

RM: Tomorrow you will make another  sign, and will do my homework too! Or else... I will send your other love notes so everyone will laugh at you.

C: I thought that we...

I thought that...

I thought that you liked me!

RM: And I Like! I like when you do what I SAY!

M: CEBOLA!

Speak now! What nonsense is this!

Why are you saying such things about me. Did you decide to go back to the old plans?

Why are you lying,Cebola?

C: BEAT ME UP!

Go on, Mônica! Beat me up already! It was better when you beat me up!

C: Because being beated up by you doesn’t hurt s much...

As what you’ve being doing...

NOW! Of course emotional manipulation hurts more than being punched.

And what was the blackmail: Humilliation

Tying it with the Riddler: Edward surely feels that being beaten up by Batman hurts much less than the humiliation of being defeated. That’s also why he goes on and on with puzzles and plans even though if he fails he will physically hurt.

Because he’s already hurt! He already feels humilliated! And that’s the worst pain he’s ever endured and is still going on.  

Back To the comics.

Later in the comics, He and Mônica confessed his feeling to each other, but Cebola explained he can only date her after defeating her.

He does get called out on it in later editions.

C: Mônica...I...

M: Why illusions of grandeur, Cebola? Why do you believe you need to be superior than me?

C: Superior? I don’t want to be above you, Mônica!

I want to be equal! Sice childhood you’ve been strong... confident...the leader...

While I always was the changing-letters kid who got beaten up at the end.

Okay, Edward Nigma wants to be above Batman. But most of the feelings is the same.

Eddy sees Batman as strong, and confident and a leader. While he’s the one who’s humiliated and beaten up.

C: You don’t realize it, right? You have no idea how hard it is to stand at your side...

Without feeling small.

I think I’m giving a little fuel to batriddle shippers... oh well.

As you can see, like Riddler, Cebola feels that he needs to prove himself, needs to prove he’s worth, to the point of delaying everything else in his life until heachieves it.

So my analysis is complete. BEHOLD!

HEADCANONS

I found a fic that I still wanna read called “Dinner at Wayne Mansion”, I get Riddler made the highest bidding in Bruce Wayne at the Bachelor Auction.

It reminded me of that comic where Eddie tried to trick Batman into dining with him.

I think this universe riddler would totally do the auction thing just to talk all night long with Bruce Wayne, and his projects and stuff. All happy and giddy. “Oh Bruce, how are the kids doing?”

Edward lowkeys wants Bruce Wayne to adopt him.

Come on DC! Give us na alternative universe where after his first crime and Batman finding out about he’s abusive household, Bruce decides “Okay I’m gonna raise this young man”.

Stephanie LOVES her Big Brother Eddie! He beat up her abusive dad (Cluemaster) and humilliated him with trivia knowledge and stuff.

I think one thing that should be explores is Riddler as na expert magician, he is a master escapist because he loves houdini, and magic employs cleverness and illusion.

He’s a geek for magic tricks.

He shows them to Harley and Jervis who look bright eyed and “Oooooooh”

Firefly asks if he knows fire tricks

He does and promplity shows off his skill.

Then John has to clean out the entire hideout because Edward fell for it and now Garfield knows there are flammable chemicals here.  

Final Thought.

Well, there’s ANOTHER brazilian character that he reminds me of.

Visconde de Sabugosa  (Viscount of Corncob) from  The Yellow Woodpecker Farm

Ginger like lots of adaptations

Soul patch

Green tux

He’s main trait is his intelligence

differences

HE IS A LIVING DOLL MADE OF CORNCOB!

@jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear​

@weyoun​

@askarkham

@drdeath​

@frommylack​

@praprikat

[herstarburststories]

Batfam Headcanon: Pregnancy

✾ Request: Can I request a batfam headcanon? Batboys reactions when Kory says she’s pregnant of Mar’i. Btw love you page💕

✾ A/N: You teased me about dickkory, now you got a bible. That’s how it goes. Also, added Babs, Alfred and Bruce as bonus. And I’m glad you enjoy my work! Ps: I barely know Duke, tha’s why he doesn’t show up here.

✾ Disclaimer: Main relationship is Dick Grayson x Koriand’r. Mentions of Tim x Steph and Tim x Kon (kind of?). Check my Fandoms’ liist to see which Ships I’ll write for.

                                                  ━─┈ ✧

Dick Grayson

I'm gonna use unpublished Nightwing #30 here: he and Kory had sex when he was getting ready for the agente stuff.

Once Agent 37 is off the deal, they end up finding each other again. A bit before Dick gets shoot.

And then, as usually it is between the acrobat and the alien princess, they do it again. 

Over and over again.

She gets pregnant and finds out by the time Dick is amnesic.

Don't @ me DC would do that.

Kory flies towards Bludhaven & talks to him. It's not exactly successful. As he had said to Babs before, he didn't want his memories back. Ric was happy without Dick's conscience.

But Starfire isn't asking for her; it's about him, of course. He should be himself, he worked very hard through years to become who he truly was. But mostly, she begged him to come back because of a new addition to their lives.

Pregnant alien!!

At first, Ric Grayson doesn't believe it. Actually, part of him is aware that's true, he can feel it in the change inside his heart when he saw her; something similar to shame and adoration and excitement at once. Kory moved, talked, and seemed like someone he could love, be completely crazy about.

But he wasn't a father!

Koriand'r leaves, and Grayson is by himself again. Without his Gotham or Titans affiliates.

And, for the first time, there is no comfort in that.

He could tell she wasn't lying. Even though a part of his treacherous new mind tried to convince him otherwise.

Grayson's mind didn't know any gorgeous alien, let alone a pregnant with his child alien.

Yet, Dick felt like he had her in his veins. Just like he did with Bruce, Damian, Barbara, Donna, and the others. Tickles behind his skin, a red alarm for a memory that was long lost. But the sensation of keeping it somewhere remained inside him.

Although, when it came to the redhead princess, the warmth inside him was more intense.

Dick was going to be a father. He didn't even know his whole self and would be needed to take care of someone else. Someone small, part of him, and the legacy of the Flying Grayson's. Besides, he didn't even actually remember the mother of his kid.

didn't even remember making the kid.

He calls Bruce. Telling him to bring the antidote that Barbara was keeping if he wanted his memories back.

Not for him, not because it was the right thing, not because of everyone who claimed to love him cried for Dick to do that. Not even because of familiar senses holding into him every time he interacted with someone from his past.

But because he was going to be a father.

This decision was for his child.

When Bruce, Babs, and Damian ask why, he doesn't answer.

He remembers now, and he needs to find Kory.

It's scary, exciting, and the biggest surprise she ever gave to him-- even more scandalous than the day she fell on earth and kissed him.

A dad! He would be a dad!

Jason Todd

It all started off as an unusual ordinary day; 

Roy got himself in trouble, Jason went to help him and the little problem became a bigger situation. Roy called Kory and a few minutes later, the situation was replaced by dust and fire smell. No one died, but it was enough to make the villains leave.

In the middle of ''What the fuck they wanted?" & "Who were they?" wonders, the original Outlaws heard a familiar motorcycle's noise which made Jason huff, Roy arch eyebrows and Kory confused. 

Dick Grayson was there.

He was hysterical, blue eyes flaming with worry and relief towards Kory. Between their couple discussion and the others attempt to understand what was going on 

Were they back together? Did dick know about the outlaws' way and was sticking his nose where it didn't belong? Did the titans need kory urgently? 

Until 'pregnant' left Dick's lips, being followed by Kory's chaotic scream of "Just because I am pregnant, it does not mean I can not fight!"

Roy just had to get closer to them and explain that it would make no good to go through stressful situations, especially if he got it right. 

A deep breath would be taken, and then Dick would apologize to Kory, saying he was just really scared for both of them. She'd look at her Outlaw friends and curve the corner of her lips-- that Kory smile that translate into 'I've seen hell and chose to use its flames to warm up the cold places of my heart.'

‘’Jason, Roy. . . I am expecting a baby.’’

Meanwhile, Jason was taking off his helmet and glaring at his friends with a perplexed look on his face. Also, a slightly desire of punching Dick. Last time he had heard of their relationship, it was about both of them avoiding each other, his older brother telling him to take care of Kory and Jason calling Dick an idiot. Yeah, he had to have a chat with him later.

For now, Roy was pulling him and Kory into a group hug.

Almost felt like their old times together.

Roy: Outlaw baby!!  /  Dick: Excuse me?

Tim Drake

Okay, okay. First of all, he wasn't planning on seeing any member of his family for a quite while. Not that Tim didn't want to, he was just really running out of time. Being Young Justice's leader was a full time job, and he wanted to be excellent at it.

But things don't always pass by as they were settle to. Therefore, when a disaster happens and Conner, of all people, gets hurt, Tim is in a delicate state of mind.

Drake is smart. He knows it isn't just about Conner. It's all the small things he's been keeping since Gotham.

Not enough sleep, but a certain amount of coffee to make his hands shake when it's late enough for the sun to come out weakly. His relationship with Steph is growing with disagreements from both lives; heroic and urban. His best friend is hurt because he analyzed too much a situation instead of telling his team what to do, so they made their independent choices. A dumb mistake, the kind that Batman would be disappointed of. Tim himself was biting his own neck about it. How could he be a leader? He should be better than that.

And then, he made a call. Because of all things he might be and might not be, he wasn't Batman.

Tim had friends, and a brother that would know what he was going through.

And he knew how to ask for help sometimes.

Dick comes by as fast as possible. They go to the roof and talk it out.

"Remember that they aren't just your team, Tim," He would say, a tranquil smile on his face. It's so similar to how he explained his relationship with the Titans when Drake was still Robin years ago. "They are your family. It's impossible for you not to be affected when they get hurt or something goes wrong. But they are alive. They still trust you. They believe, and need you. You need to give yourself some credit, and do your best for them."

OF COURSE Tim is stubborn about that because Dick is Dick and he basically grew with the Titans, it wasn't the same thing. He didn't have his older brother's skills to command, communicate, etc.

It was scary.

"Yet, Tim, a lot of things are scary. But you have to keep going. For who needs saving. For yourself. For the people you love."

His tone is too sentimental, even for Dick's big brother moments.

"You need to find something to fight for. That's how you keep going, even when you make mistakes. Good news, you already have it. "

Tim: Yeah, I think so. . . You came back to the Titans? I still have access to the computers.

Dick: Yeah, no. Kind if. It's complicated.

Tim: "Complicated? Like. . . Alien kind of complication?"

Dick: "You should know about that, huh?"

BLUSHING, STUTTERING TIM. Cutting it because I already mentioned Steph, but I couldn't miss this opportunity ok.

Dick just laughs about it.

"Starfire isn't complicated, but yeah. We are still deciding if we will keep in the Titans or if we are going to Bludhaven for now."

"It sounds serious, even permanent."

"As permanent as a baby can be."

HHSHHSUSJJSIUSIE

BABY?

IS SHE PREGNANT??

Yeah, Tim was pretty wake, and shaking, and his brain felt like burning right now.

OH MY-- DICK

He was going to be a FATHER.

"YOU ARE GONNA BE A PARENT!"

But then, Dick was the older one and the best with kids.

"WAIT, SHE WILL BE HALF ALIEN. An hybrid. In nature, two different but similar species can procreate, but their kid can't have kids. Do you think--"

"Tim, calm down. Can you at least give me congratulations before talking about my unborn child's probable infertility?"

Damian Wayne

He knew Kory and Dick had been seeing each other again.

Therefore, making one of them notice his presence before showing up was necessary.

He didn't want to accidentally see profanity between his brother figure and his team's current leader, thank you.

After an obvious noise, he got in Dick's apartment.

As expected, Starfire was there.

She was standing up, and Grayson and looking at her tearful, while holding her belly.

It wasn't possible.

Grayson wouldn't be that irresponsible, would he?

Of course he would.

" So, I supposed Starfire either has a deadly bellyache, or you two are procreating. "

He is mildly fearing that Dick won't have much time for him, but that's a matter for another time.

BONUS!

Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth

Dick visits the manor with Kory someday.

He had to give the news or Batman would end up knowing anyway.

Honestly, it wasn't about that. He actually wanted to tell Bruce about his baby.

Alfred was there when they exchanged greetings, politely as usual.

‘'We are having a baby.'’

Listen, Bruce knows how to keep his emotions under his skin, but his eldest son being a father?

This must be the most real expression he has showed in years, and it's full of emotions; he is content, and surprised, and worried.

Some would say that Alfred was tearfully, but kept his posture. Master Bruce really made it. Obstacles, of course, even more than necessary at times. Yet, he was going to be a grandfather, and master Dick was becoming a father.

Gotham had a sunny day for once.

Barbara Gordon 

If it's not Kory and Babs' baby, she will be aunt Babs

Something happens, help becomes needed.

Nightwing shows up in the middle of the combat, he was in Gotham to talk to Bruce & Alfred & Damian, anyway.

Batman dispersed him, though.

And Batgirl was confused by Batman's choice, especially after listening to his explanation:

"Nightwing, this is more dangerous than our usual job. I will take Robin and Batgirl. You have more urgent thinks to be taken care of. "

The dynamic duo leaves and there is just two long time friends. 

It doesn't take a half second for Barbara to notice Dick hiding something.

Sigh, sigh, sigh.

"All right, Dick Grayson. What did you do?"

"Apparently, a baby."

????????????

"He has been ditching me since he learned about Kory's pregnancy."

"KORY'S WHAT!?"

"You didn't even tell me you two were back together!"

"You lost your virginity to an attractive alien and now she is pregnant with your child. That is. . . Surprising."

"I am really happy for you, Dick."

"Thank you, Babs. . . You know what? Maybe it's time to actually introduce you to Kory."

Communicator ringing.

"After I take care of something. Go home, dad."

[awkwardbluefish]

An Understanding

--

a/n - Damian needs a hug and he gets it!

Summary: Damian is confused and hurt and a breakdown happens. they really should’ve seen it coming

--

Tim sighs tiredly and resists the urge to scream long and loud and hear it echo against the waterfalls’. It was a tiring night and Damian had only made it much more exhausting by defying every single rule he had set out. The rules weren’t meant to baby him - as he believed - but to protect him. Because despite all the training the kid had been put through, he wasn’t ready for this world.

 Damian had been isolated, taught to fight men and cut them down. He had been taught to fight people who didn’t hold back and yet their intent wasn’t to kill. It was to train. No one wanted to face the wrath of Talia and Ra’s Al Ghul after all if they ever did hurt Damian enough to see the brink of death.

 That world Damian was hidden away in wasn’t like this one in the slightest.

 This world crumbles and fights. These people won’t hesitate to kill you, no mercy or stopping just before the inch of death. They hunt you down, torment you and wreck you and watch you break. Sure, there are petty thefts, criminals who piss their pants at the sight of them but they had to work for that, had to install that fear so they had a chance at fighting back. Believing yourself invincible and superior to them can and will get you killed if you’re not careful.

 “You won’t be patrolling for a week,’’ Tim finally tells the boy, taking off his cowl and cape, unfastening the belts strapped to his chest in the process. The reaction isn’t at all that surprising in the least.

 “You can’t do that!” Damian roars, his shout scaring the bats and clashing against the damp walls of the underground.

 Tim sighs softly, placing his suit in the hanger and running a hand through his hair tiredly. “I can,” he states simply, walking past a fuming Damian and settling down at the main computer. He needed to send the report to Bruce. “Bruce told you that I’ll be in charge while he and Dick are investigating the sex trafficking ring in Washington DC, and I’m sorry Damian, but you are not patrolling.”

 The huff is cut short by a growl and Tim pays no mind to the heavy stomps that halt abruptly behind his back. He simply opens another case file and begins his typing. It wasn’t the worst case they have had and there will be ones much horrible after, but the report still needed to be completed. It was simple enough; Clay Face had managed to escape again after years of being jailed and contained in a prison that kept him in his liquefied form. It was nearly nostalgic seeing the villain from his own Robin days. It would’ve been nicer if he wasn’t trying to murder them and attempting to hide inside some unsuspecting civilians.

 “They’ll be back in a week!” Damian counters, words biting and angry. The familiar sound of a mask being ripped off as the glue sticks to the skin fills the cave briefly before its being thrown onto the floor. Its shortly followed by another stamp against the cold stone beneath their feet.

 “Well that’s too bad,” Tim replies drily, resisting the urge to pinch his nose. How did Dick deal with him? He didn’t give enough credit to him sometimes and it was showing now. He had far more patience when it dealt with emotions than the others were capable of.

 “I didn’t even do anything wrong!” Damian explodes and Tim does sigh this time. Damian doesn’t stop however, he keeps on going, frustrated and angry, blinded by his rage and confusion. “Why am I being punished? What? You don’t think I’m competent enough to do my job! I’m Robin now, I was chosen! Clearly you don’t want to deal with me so just say it!”

 The chair scrapes against stone and Damian stumbles back. Tim hair whips into his eyes but he couldn’t care less, something unpleasant and heated boiling under his skin and on the tip of his tongue. “I have no such problems Damian,” Tim manages to say calmly, “but I won’t tolerate you disobeying the rules I set out for you, its for your own protection.”

 Damian seems to raise on his hackles at that, going stiff straight and growling deep in his chest. “For my protection?! I don’t need any protection coming from you Drake, in any form! I’m perfectly capable of handling myself!”

 Tim releases a breath, shaking his head and scratching at his scalp. “That’s wat they all say,” he mutters and shakes his head again tiredly. He looks Damian in the eye again. “And if you can’t handle it one time? What then? I know Clayface, better than anyone of else. He wouldn’t have hesitated to drown you Damian, from the inside out. That’s why we have plans, rules to follow and backup always at the ready. We trust each other and that’s how teams work, that is how this family works.”

 Damian turns his head around and crosses his arms, a scowl that’s a little to soft and resigned to really be angry. Tim eyes him warily, the slight anger and annoyance sliding away into worry. He hadn’t gotten hurt so why was he like this?

 “This family is all about trust and nothing else, am I really apart of it then?” it’s a mumble and I’m one hundred percent sure he wasn’t surpassed to hear it but he’s talking before he can shut his mouth and thing things over.

 “What are you talking about?” Tim asks and he’s honestly and genuinely confused. Damian was apart of this family the day Bruce met him? Didn’t he understand that? “Of course you’re apart if this family, your Bruce’s son.”

 Damian shakes at that, his whole body is trembling in fact. His hands grip at his bangs and he tugs, eyes closed tight and Tim has never felt so shocked and worried before because this wasn’t right.

 “That’s exactly it!” Damian cries, stumbling back as Tim takes a tentative step forward. “This whole damn family is about trust and the only one who actually seems to trust me is Grayson! Not you, not Todd, not even my own father!” he spits it out like he can’t stop and Tim is frozen in place in pure shock. He can’t really believe that can he?”

 “Damian,” Tim tries again, stepping closer to the child. Green eyes snap open wide and Damian shakes his head and stumbles back. Tim watches the child desperately, not believing the words escaping his mouth. How had no one realised this is how he feels? How had no one noticed hoe insecure this child was?

 “I hate this! I hate this family!” Damian spits out and Tim flinches because Damian had never said that before. Sure, they fought and argued but those words have never been uttered and yet, now they were being screamed. “I’ve always thought you incompetent, but you have my fathers trust! You have this whole damn families trust and loyalty, but I just can’t seem to get it no matter what I do! All I have to this family is the blood in my veins and the Robin title that I stole! Its not fair and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!”

 Tim is helpless as tears of frustration and pent up emotions spill down from red eyes and tracks down round cheeks. Damian closes his eyes again, chest heaving under his suit and rattling from his throat.

 “Oh Damian,” Tim sighs, shaking his head. “You’re right, Bruce didn’t ask for you.” Damian’s whole body flinches and Tim smiles sadly, striding forward and capturing the boy into his chest. Damian struggles and fists smack against his stomach but he continues none the less. “but if you think he doesn’t love you with his whole being and want you, then you don’t know Bruce at all.”

 Damian sags and Tim soothes the hair at the back of his neck comfortingly. “Everyone says this family is about trust and loyalty,” he mumbles, breath hitching between stuttered words.

 Tim shakes his head slightly and pulls Damian’s head into the crooks of his neck. He instantly feels the warm tears sinking through his suit and scrubs his hand gently through Damian’s sculp. “it is,” he agrees softly as Damian trembles in his hold, “but its also about love. And Bruce may not show it but he loved you from the day he met you, maybe you didn’t have his trust just yet but you had his love and that’s what makes you apart of this family.”

 “then why doesn’t he trust me!” Damian cries and the tears start up again. Tim sighs softly, hating seeing Damian like this. No child should ever doubt their families love, let alone their trust in them.

 Carefully he manoeuvres them back to the chair, pulling Damian on his lap and letting the boy curl against him to bury his face into his shoulder. Tim rubs his side soothingly. “It takes a while to earn Bruce’s trust,” Tim admits quietly, “and he never tells you when you have it. But you do Damian, he trusts you to be Robin and to be his son. He just isn’t good at praises or compliments and that sometimes makes it seems like you are always doing something wrong and you can’t do anything right but trust me Dami, he loves you. Just like the rest of us. You understand that, right?”

Tim doesn’t get a verbal response, and he doesn’t really expect one as Damian rubs his nose into his shoulder and sniffles. He internally cringes at that but smiles as Damian nods against his shoulder blade and the sniffles die down. Good.

 “Why does it hurt so much?” Damian mumbles quietly and Tim chuckles wryly at that. He tussles Damian’s hair gently, smiling as he receives a small jab in response and a tiny but genuine smile.

 “I’m not sure,” Tim hums, “but you know its family when it hurts so much. You know its family when you care too much. It hurts but that’s okay, that is normal.”

 Damian hums into his shoulder, scrubbing at his eyes and Tim smiles gently. It seems they weren’t moving for a while and that’s okay. His legs may have gone numb five minutes ago but that was fine, he doubts it would be the last time someone refuses to move off him. It definitely isn’t the first time

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1283

Monday, October 14, 2019

 Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to one and all. Thank-you for reading this. The Jee Gang gathered for a turkey dinner yesterday with the littlest 2-month-old Ashton being passed around like a hot potato because he was tired and cranky. His mom got him settled but you couldn't hear his tiny cries for the raucous noise from his cousins. The kids took over the larger formal dining room now that they outnumber us old folks. It was a nice big family affair.

 Gwenpool Strikes Back #3 - Leah Williams (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Gwenpool tries to save herself from cancellation by holding a "Contest of Champions" in this issue. Guest stars galore. This thing is so much fun.

 Catwoman #16 - Joelle Jones (story & art) Laura Allred (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). I'm glad I checked the credits on this issue since I said that I was going to let this cat out after reading last issue. I will always read a book by Joelle Jones even though this one had me befuddled with some jumping back and forth in time and the added "Year of the Villain" thing. I am curious to find out Catwoman's decision.

 Loki #4 - Daniel Kibblesmith (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (pencils) Oscar Bazaldua & Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel & Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I love a good trickster. Loki uses a good one to defeat Nightmare. I like this Loki.

 Detective Comics #1013 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Keith Champagne & Christian Alamy (inks) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). It's Batman versus Mister Freeze as the super villain tries to resurrect his dead wife. Batman's flame thrower costume is a cosplayer's wet dream

 Doctor Doom #1 - Christopher Cantwell (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This was a pleasant surprise. The art caught my eye but the story is really good too. There's no sign of the good guy Sorcerer Supreme from a while ago. Just good old fashioned arrogant Victor. He scoffed at a new technology to reverse global warming and is accused of being jealous of it because it was invented by Reed Richards and Tony Stark. When disaster strikes, Latveria is blamed and Doctor Doom sacrifices himself for his country. The mystery is who framed him and I will keep reading to find out.

 Web of the Black Widow #2 - Jody Houser (writer) Stephen Mooney (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). What the!? Two Black Widows? Doctor Doom isn't the only one being framed for murder. I liked the clever cut-out on Nat's bathing suit.

 Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Ze Carlos (art pages 1-8) Ig Guara (art pages 9-20) Dono Sanchez-Almara with Protobunker (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Miles must solve the super hero's dilemma of saving a family member or a stranger's life. His decision leads to a confrontation with the Prowler. Is it Uncle Aaron? I can't wait to find out.

 White Fox #1 - Alyssa Wong (writer) Kevin Libranda & Geoffo (art) Israel Silva (colours)

VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Another Agent of Atlas super hero gets her origin story told. She's based on Korean folklore. It was very well done and almost makes me want to read the new team book. There's also a peek at the Future Avengers by Alyssa Wong (writer), Ale Garza (art), Dono Sanchez-Almara with Protobunker (colours) and VC's Joe Sabino (letters). They're an Asian version of the Young Avengers but these guys used to be Hydra agents in training. Read on if you're wondering what turned them into good guys.

 Age of Conan Valeria #3 - Meredith Finch (writer) Aneke (art) Andy Troy (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I wish the art inside was a nice as the Jay Anacleto cover.

 Marvel Action Spider-Man #9 - Delilah S. Dawson (writer) Fico Ossio (art) Ronda Pattison (colours) Shawn Lee (letters). The Black Cat gets caged as the kids finally work together and start to treat each other with respect. Next, things get even darker as Venom attacks.

 Batman 100 Page Giant #1 - There are five superb stories in this $4.99 US one-shot and you'll feel like you just read five $3.99 comic books when you hit the last page. The only story that was disappointing was the Batwoman story mainly because she was fighting a lame villain named Lord Death Man. It was written by Steve Orlando, who has never impressed me. The other four stories more than make up for it though, especially Scott Snyder's lengthy contribution. This book is a steal at twice the price.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #31 - Nick Spencer (writer) Ryan Ottley (pencils) Cliff Rathburn (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). More hints are given to the secret identity of the super villain Kindred. Definitely related to Norman Osborn. That mystery is the only thing keeping me reading this book. As if the waters weren't muddy enough, the guy in the straight jacket isn't even Norman. I hope we don't get strung along too much longer because there will come a point where I say screw it, I don't care anymore.

 Batman Universe #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Nick Derington (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Josh Reed & Tom Napolitano (letters). I don't mind this time traveling if it means that we see Batman and Green Lantern team up with Jonah Hex. The chase is on as Vandal Savage gets his hands on his prize. I know I've said that I don't like time travel and Vandal Savage, but this is a Bendis book and I'm a sucker.

 Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #2 - Jody Houser (writer) Adriana Melo (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters). I think the Floronic Man chowed down on Swampthing and Ivy is next on his menu. Well, it's Harley to the rescue and the girls seek help from a fellow super villain to see what's wrong with Ivy. I'm reading this because it looks so pretty.

 Powers of X #6 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) R.B. Silva & Pepe Larraz (art) Marte Gracia & David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The house is built and the power has been connected for a new X-verse. Jonathan Hickman has managed to make mutants relevant again for me. There are a half a dozen new mutant books coming out in the next six weeks starting with X-Men #1 hitting the racks October 16. I'll be reading them all to see how I feel about them but I can't imagine that they'll be all worthwhile.

 Event Leviathan #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Josh Reed (letters). I'm curious to find out who Leviathan is but it's not going to have a big impact on me since I'm not a huge DC fan. I'm sure DC fans might be able to suss out the secret given the Manhunter clue in this issue but I'm going to have to wait until next issue when all is revealed.

 Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1 - Kami Garcia (writer) Mico Suayan & Mike Mayhew (art) Richard Starkings of Comicraft (letters). I love new and different takes on iconic characters and this one is a killer. Harleen Quinzel is Doctor Harley Quinn, GCPD profiler, who is working a 5-year-old cold case of the murder of a hospital employee. Meanwhile there are other new murders landing on her desk. The writing is tight and the characterisations are vivid, helped by the beautiful art. Mico's black and white art chronicles the present while Mike's gorgeous colour art handles the flashbacks. DC's Black Label imprint is well worth checking out if you're a mature reader. This mystery not only looked good but made me feel good after I finished reading. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

 Contagion #2 - Ed Brisson (writer) Stephen Segovia (art) Veronica Gandini (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I know I said that I wasn't going to read any more of this 5-issue mini but this was on the racks with the awesome Power Man and Iron Fist cover so I snagged one after I finished reading all the others for the week. This issue was better thought out and the story flowed smoothly. Ben takes Sue, Reed and Johnny to Doctor Strange for help and the two of them go back to Yancy Street to contain the infectious bad guy. Danny and Luke are there helping the first responders and a couple of surprise super heroes show up too. The villain is briefly subdued but Doc Strange and Power Man succumb to the disease at the end. Uh-oh. The next issue teaser has Jessica Jones so that's reason enough for me to want to read it.

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: Tyellas

Creator name (AO3): Tyellas

Creator name (Tumblr): thebyrchentwigges

Link to creator works *https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyellas/works?fandom_id=51060

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: I’ve been a fan of postapocalyptic scifi since my teens. But it took me until Fury Road to really fall in love with the world of Mad Max. Living Down Under probably helped. 

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: For Mad Max, my style varies very much based on the character point of view. Max's terseness is very different from a History Person's verbal rambling. Recurrent themes for me...Some of them tie back to canon, like the fragility of Wasteland technology and the quirkiness of human nature. There's a lot of geology and a consistent thread of land-based spirituality - an Antipodean influence, there. 

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: Most popular overall – Definitely “Gastown Nights.” Max, Furiosa, sexual tension, adventure in a setting with the Wasteland wildness turned up to 11 – what’s not to like? Most fun – Writing fluff is always fun, even if the world’s falling apart around it. “Very Max, Much Wasteland, Such Dog,” my take on Max Gets A Dog, and “If You Give a Pup a Flamethrower” stand out to me. Most difficult – Several of my Miss Giddy stories were harrowing, “Weave a Circle,” “One Way Ride.” At one point writing “Weave a Circle” I glanced in a mirror and was shocked – shocked! – to not be looking at the face of a tattooed 76-year-old. 

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?

A: Gritty as, mate, but always with that glimmer of hope. Because that's how it would be.

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: I may jot down a story’s core idea, then let it ferment a few months. I might think I’m writing something just for myself, then it will take on a life of its own. When the time is right, I’ll think and plan around it, then do an outline. I like Kurt Vonnegut’s advice that a character in a story should want something, “even if it’s just a glass of water.” A glass of water is a big thing in Mad Max! For a writing environment, I’m very lucky – I have a home office, a desk chair, a desk specially set up for writing. If part of a story is giving me trouble, I’ll treat it like the eye of the storm. I’ll write around it, write down to it – I’ll write everything but that part! Once the frame is in place around the difficult part, that helps.

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: For Mad Max, Ocker rocker classics from the 70s and 80s. Songs by Goanna, Cold Chisel, Dragon, AC/DC. New Zealander Neil Finn's song "Sinner" always makes me think of Max. 

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: Finding time when I have inspiration, and finding inspiration when I find time.

Q: How have you grown as a creator through your participation in the Mad Max Fandom? How has your work changed? Have you learned anything about yourself?

A: I've grown so, so much as a writer. Descriptions, plot, research. Getting over myself and putting that crazy idea out there - and learning that it was worthwhile if it found one reader. Personally, I decided I would probably survive an apocalypse, which is always good to know. 

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: I took the long road around to this one, because it took getting into the Mad Max fandom for it. I'd say I relate the most to...Aunty Entity. She's determined, she's creative, she's femme, and she has excellent taste in henchpeople. Oddly, I've never written about her, for all that I have screeds about Furiosa, the Vuvalini, and the History People. Aunty Entity has aspects of those three. My Furiosa is calculating, fierce, stony, and, after the Fury Road, willing to make terrible decisions for a long-term goal or a greater good. After a mostly Citadel life, she’s used to better living, and both disgusted and horrified/saddened by how others are getting by.  

Q: Do you ever self-insert, even accidentally?

A: All the characters we write about are our shards and our reflections. I do have a draft of a piece for a Self-Insert week that never took off, where I hitch a ride in the Nullarbor desert with some Buzzards.

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?

A: I've written smut, and in my fics both canon characters and OCs get laid and find love. "Citadel Nights" is a novel-length fic about love and sex in the Mad Max apocalypse. But the most enduring relationship in my fics, one that all characters deal with, is...their own one with the Wasteland. That post-apocalyptic world around them. For some it's chaos and ruined dreams. For some it's horror yet opportunity. And for some of them, it's simply how it is. My story quartet "Wasteland, Seize My Bones" delves into this in all kinds of ways.

Q: How does your work for the fandom change how you look at the source material?

A: For Mad Max, I seek it out and look at it in more detail. Some of it takes some finding. It took me a while to track down the novelization of "Beyond Thunderdome". There were some jaw-dropping interviews with George Miller back in the 80s!

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: I can't help creating in one defined chronology. That's just how my imagination works. Every Mad Max story of mine fits into a timeline. I've sketched out that timeline over two notebook pages, like the nerd that I am.

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: For Mad Max, I'm usually in line with canon. Mad Max canon itself is so rich, flexible, and berserk that most of the plots and actions I wanted to write fit right in. Like most fan creators, I did make it gayer.

Q: Share some headcanons.

A: Oh, so many! Have three: - Furiosa wears her keys on the left: Max wears his on the right. - There are two popular headcanons around Miss Giddy: long-term Citadel denizen or Wasteland Survivor Having Adventures. I like the second one better. - Immortan Joe and the Bullet Farmer had a thing going on for a while there. 

Q: If you work with OCs walk us through your process for creating them. Who are some of your favourites?

A: There are OCs and there are "characters who had three frames in the movie/outtake." Very often I'll create an OC to fulfil a plot moment and then...they're not done...they tap my shoulder with more stories. I have a list of my Mad Max original characters for reference. I need it because I have *forty-nine* of them. Wretches, War Boys, Milking Mothers, Wastelanders, antagonists. My favorite OCs are the ones I've spent the most time writing about - if an OC of mine has a POV story, you know I liked them. Or somebody else did and made a request! 

Q: If you create original works, how do those compare to your fan works?

A: My original works seem positively sybaritic compared to my Mad Max fan works! 

Q: Who are some works by other creators inside and outside of the fandom that have influenced your work?

A: There were all these different creative factions – Maxiosa shippers, War Boy lovers, the Gigadumpster focusing on the villains – having fun. That in itself was inspiring. For a while I was unable to read @sacrificethemtothesquid ’s Length and Breadth of Fury Road. Its gravitational field of influence was that strong for me. And I adored the story “The Bullet Farmer’s Daughter” for its ruthless postapocalyptic extremes. For Max and Furiosa and their particular dynamics and madness, I’m influenced by J.G. Ballard – his compelled postapocalyptic wanderers, his cool, in-charge women. For my History People writing, influences include Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, and Neal Stephenson’s “Anathem”.

Q: What advice can you give someone who is struggling to make their own works more interesting, compelling, cohesive, etc.? 

A: The time you spend planning your project helps bring it to life. Thinking, plotting, outlining, deciding your ending and working up to it. If something seems crazy or self-indulgent, but *feels* real or right, there’s emotional truth and weight behind it. Readers will sense that and respond to it. Write it and see what happens. Thanks to our protagonist of few words, Mad Max writers suffer less from verbosity than other fandoms. Still, keep a sentence 20 words or fewer: keep a paragraph 6 – 8 sentences or fewer. Your reader will stay more engaged with your writing. 

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: I'd love to go to Wasteland Weekend sometime, but I live in New Zealand. It's been great to meet up with some fellow Mad Max fans in Australia, and to have Mad Max-like moments when I'm visiting there.  Walking down an industrial street, lost, when a gang of masked bikers roar by, disrupting the crows into their own corvid cries...

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: I've got two Mad Max WIPs that will be done, come hell or high water. I'll share their titles: "In the Heart of the Wasteland Sun" and "A Favourite Has No Friend".

Thank you @thebyrchentwigges

[andimackisdead]

Shazam! Review (Spoilers? Kind of?)

So I saw Shazam a few days ago, not because I love DC and superheros (I mean I do like superheros, but I’m not actively reading comics and whatnot) but because the movie looked good and I was eager to see Asher Angel (Billy Batson)’s first feature film. I am very happy with his performance, as well as Zachary Levi (Shazam) and Jack Dylan Grazer (Freddy Freeman). Some of the acting of the minor and background characters were questionable, but the main characters and family did well. And some bad acting comes from poor direction, which was the case at times, awkward movement or lines, but I do think that the director, David Sandberg, did very well. The one thing that I really didn’t like about the movie was the editing and CGI with the seven deadly sins. They looked fine on their own but once they made contact with a human character and picked them up or something, you could tell how fake it really looked. Although, some people weren’t too bothered by it and of course things will look fake when it’s a superhero movie. And some people weren’t too bothered by the runtime, I wasn’t (It’s over 2 hours long), but I did find that some scenes went on for a little too long, but of course that was just my opinion and I did appreciate that at times so we get more time with the story and with the characters.

One other thing that was off for me about Shazam was the story. After doing research on the origin/background story and after everything was revealed in the end it was understandable but it is a crazy story but they handled it well and explained it to the best of their ability and I’m sure more will be explained with a second movie if that’s where they’re going with the post credits scene. However, Billy’s origin isn’t entirely realistic. When you don’t think about it, it’s reasonable that his mom abandoned him, but with basic knowledge of child care and the foster system you would know that it is actually illegal to just leave your child. Again, though, they did well working with what they had and making it seem like they didn’t believe Billy with the officer saying, “He says his name is Billy Batson” and the story ended up working well with Billy’s entire character arch. It was very nice to see foster families represented in a positive way, with Billy thinking that the only family out there for him is his biological one when that of course isn’t the case, and I’m very glad that they portrayed the Vazquez’s in such a positive and accurate way. Although for some reason, none of Billy’s old homes gave him clothes or anything. And they didn’t really make it clear if they were all adopted and Rosa and Victor were their parents because they told Billy it was a group home and none of the kids had their last names changed, and that’s not how group homes work, but it’s okay.

Also the diverse cast of characters! This really isn’t credited so much to the movie as it is a nod to the creators, but having a foster family is already so great and then adding on the different races and ethnicities of the kids and their different interests and things going on with them, it really does show what a family is. It’s great that the movie went with a story of family and coming together because that really shows what is important: family. No matter what, you always do have family. Whether it’s your biological, adoptive, foster, or friend family, you always have the group of people that will help you and support you with what you have to do. I’ll be honest, I cried when Billy gave them all his powers and they started working together. It wasn’t just one person dealing with their problems, it showed that your family will be there to help you with what you have to deal with. And it was lovely to see that Shazam had the ultimate package of all of the powers, but each of them had one power that really shone through: Freddy and flying, Darla and speed, Pedro and strength, Eugene and zapping things, and Mary with agility (I think), like they were all making up Shazam.

Of course, the best part of the movie was how real it was. I hate superhero movies where the hero gets their power and automatically becomes a great success or has little build up to the final battle where they finally showcase all of their power. And Shazam does have build up to him discovering all of his powers and all of his battles with Dr. Sivana leading up to the final one are him running away and stuff. But there is that build up of him figuring out what to do, like finally realizing that he can transfer back and forth from hero to normal form, and in the final battle he doesn’t have a great exertion of all of the power that he had stored inside of him to destroy the villain like Captain Marvel did. Both of these heroes had an insane amount of power and Shazam finishes the battle doing a reasonable amount of fighting and use of his power to get envy out (which he does mostly by talking) and then getting the eye out. And this small build up is especially perfect because you realize that it is a 14 year old kid who suddenly has superpowers and doesn’t know what to do with them.

And Zachary Levi did an excellent job at portraying a 14 year old in an adult’s body, that role was really made for him. The other adults playing the older counterparts of the kids did a great job, too. Meagan Good (Superhero Darla) seemed to go a little far at times with her lines but it does capture a child, just maybe not what Faithe Herman (Darla) had been doing with the character. And it was so enjoyable watching Adam Brody (Superhero Freddy) act like Jack Dylan Grazer’s Freddy and I had a huge smile on my face watching him do his laugh.

Would I recommend this movie? Yes. I think that it is unfair to treat this movie entirely as a superhero movie and compare it to others like Captain Marvel, which I totally just did, and instead realize what it is truly about. Recognize the message and appreciate the comedy. I didn’t realize that it was rated PG 13 and I was seated next to children so some of the crude humor and swearing seemed excessive because of that situation, but there was never a dull moment. I was either laughing, crying, or smiling. I hope everyone is happy with what they created and hopefully this movie is the start of great things.

[7phdsinbadass]

From Death to Life - The Redemption of Tony Stark

The hardest thing, the very hardest thing about Endgame, was watching Tony Stark die. I cried, I cried, and then I cried some more for good measure.

Despite the pain it caused me, I didn’t hate the ending. I hated that it made me sad and I hated that it made me cry, and I hate thinking about the pain for everyone he left behind in the aftermath, but I always knew Tony was going to die in the end even before those suspicions were confirmed. There was no other way it could have ended.

Tony Stark was never going to die of old age. He was destined to die a hero, destined to prove to the world and the universe that he was willing to make the sacrifice play for the sake of it all, even though he had to sacrifice his own happiness.

It was a fitting end for Tony, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get emotional about it when I’m driving to work or when I hear AC/DC on the radio because, let’s be real, Tony Stark shaped our lives. For better or worse, he was always there, trying to do the right thing. And the thing is, no matter how much some people hated Tony Stark, they could never hate him as much as he hated himself. And no matter how much they hated Tony Stark, their favorites adored him. Steve Rogers adored him. And he adored Steve in return.

You don’t feel that level of betrayal from someone who doesn’t mean the world to you. You just don’t. You don’t lie to someone in order to protect them if you don’t care about their emotional well-being.

Tony Stark was righteously angry. Steve broke his heart in ways he didn’t think possible, but Steve had never wanted that to be the outcome. He’d never wanted to create a rift between himself and Tony. He’d tried to avoid causing Tony pain, and in the end it only caused even greater pain. They loved each other so much, and even though it went unspoken, it was there throughout the yelling, the separation, the forgiveness and the banter. I’ll get to the importance of the relationship between Steve and Tony at a later time.

I really wish people would stop finding ways to minimize Tony’s sacrifice because it didn’t fit the storyline they had created in their heads. Tony’s mission, from the very beginning of his foray into becoming Iron Man, was to save the people who couldn’t save themselves. He questioned why he was alive. He spent 15 years trying to protect the world, protect his family, protect his friends, and ultimately the universe.

Tony’s death wasn’t meaningless and it wasn’t a way for the writers to stick it to the fans. This was the path he’d been on since he flew that nuke into the wormhole in the first Avengers movie. No one is saying you have to be happy that he died or that you should even feel satisfied with it, but through the constant demands of “bring him back” and “they don’t care about the fans”, the whole of Tony’s arc is dismissed.

Tony’s sacrifice was a love letter to the world. Where the greater good rarely outweighed Howard’s own self-interest, Tony put the greater good ahead of himself when he wielded the Infinity Gauntlet. He was his father’s opposite in every way imaginable.

He went from “Tony Stark: Not Recommended” to “Earth’s Best Defender.”

My point is that the MCU spent 11 years building up to this final moment with Tony Stark. His death was as inevitable as Thanos. He was so very connected to this tyrant that it was inevitable they would meet their end together.

One was life and one was death.

Thanos took life away and Tony gave it back.

One issue I am having involves seeing people ask why Tony didn’t hand the gauntlet to someone who wouldn’t have died as a result of using it, which leads me back to the point I made above. It was destiny fulfilled.

On a side note, it would have been extremely unrealistic for Tony to pause the battle so he could find someone else to wield the gauntlet. That would have given Thanos the time he needed to kill everyone after getting the stones back from a broken Tony. It wasn’t as if Thanos was going to agree to pause the fight so Tony could ask someone stronger to take the wheel.

If that were the plausible scenario, Strange wouldn’t have sounded as regretful as he did before he turned to ash. He didn’t like the outcome, but it was the only one that worked.

Tony’s death completed his arc. It was a heroic death. No one will ever forget Tony Stark, the man who saved the universe. He will no longer bear the title of the Merchant of Death he carried for so long, but rather the Savior of Life. He completely redeemed himself in the end.

Do I hate that he died? Hell yes. Am I heartbroken and still extremely emotional about it? Of course. Do I think it was poor storytelling? No. Not at all. It was the final chapter of a story of redemption. The story of a man who proved he was willing to lose his life in order to make sure everyone else was able to live.

His journey of redemption took 15 years, and he was finally able to rest when he hit his mark. Had he not died, he never would have been able to give up the life of a superhero. He’d be obsessed with protecting his family, and he possibly could have turned into Howard in the end.

“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” -Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight. Yeah, I know it’s DC, but I think it rings true in some cases.

That doesn’t mean I’m not hoping beyond hope that we’ll get a little bit of multiverse Tony action at some point.

Tony Stark’s imprint upon my heart will last a lifetime, and I’ll probably never stop mourning him even though he’s a fictional character. I do think he died a hero’s death, and in the end, we got one final act of defiance from the great Tony Stark.

Thanos wasn’t willing to lay down his life for his cause. Tony was.

I’m not here to debate this either. These are my feelings and if you disagree with them, oh well. Tony Stark meant everything to me, and I’m not going to minimize the importance of his sacrifice by calling his death unnecessary. You can put your wank in another post.

[give-me-writing-or-give-me-a-nap]

Rule 28: Prologue

A/N: This is long, and I haven’t started posting on AO3 yet, but I figured that I may as well post chapters here, since I post my thought-process on those chapters as well. And if I need to overhaul a couple? Well, I’m posting the second first draft, after all. That’s kinda what editing is for.

(I wasn’t kidding when I said this is long. Don’t be worried, the individual chapters won’t grow to be this big!)

This story is a story for the ages. There’s nothing specific about the story that makes it stand out. In fact, if you were to press hard enough even the people within this story probably would admit they don’t know why this story is so important to them. But it’s the little pieces along the way that make this story worthwhile. It’s the decisions that are made in the heat of the moment, the smiles shared between people who never thought they could get to where they were, and the realizations that these people were not destined for greatness, but they carved their own way into it anyway.

Rule twenty-eight is an important rule to know. In fact, rule twenty-eight is the whole reason that this story exists. It’s the rule that a man named Clayton Reeves invoked twenty years ago when supervillains came into DC and the whole city was quarantined in order for the villains to be captured. And rule twenty-eight says, “If you need help, ask.” But we’re putting the cart before the horse. Before all these people in this story came together, they had to grow. They had to know who they were, and what they could do.

And that, my dear reader, is where this story starts. It’s a story that we’ve heard all our lives--one where good triumphs over evil, where determination and a little bit of teamwork means that everything turns out all right, even if it’s never quite the same. This is the story my sister and I will tell you--it’s the story of our family. And it starts out decades ago, right before the ban on superheroes was put into place.

Ducky could barely believe the newspaper he was reading. After starting to explore the world, working alongside the British Army, and seeing the attitude most countries had about supers, moving to the States had been a breath of fresh air. A place where if he so chose, he could disclose that he had powers and no one would care. He might get called on to see if he could use his powers to help someone, as some of the other supers he knew had experienced, but that was it.

Now, he was thankful that he hadn’t told anyone about his powers yet. Because the paper he was reading had revealed that superheroes were in danger of being prosecuted for their powers and their actions that may have damaged property, or worse, human life.

Ducky was incensed. The one place he was starting to feel safe was turning against him. Just because some man running around wearing spandex had saved another man’s life when that man was trying to commit suicide, did not mean that all supers were intent of causing harm. More than that, the man who was trying to commit suicide should have been placed in hospital care, and the man who had saved him should be praised. After all, suicide was a horrible act. How could anyone condone such a thing, and furthermore, try to sue the person who thwarted the attempt?

Ducky’s mother walked in the room and said, “Careful, Donald. You know what happens when you glare too hard at someone. That newspaper might not freeze at the sight of you, but anyone you’re looking at when you’re in a foul mood will.”

With a sigh, Ducky put the newspaper down. “Sorry, Mother,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s right that everyone should be punished for the transgressions of the few.”

“No one thinks that, Donald, at least I should hope not,” his mother said gently. “But you must hold out hope. No laws have been passed yet, you can’t give up the fight before it has even begun.”

Ducky shook his head. “I know. But the way the paper is reading, it looks like this is very serious. Mother, what if we have to move again?”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Donald,” his mother chastised. “You have not told anyone of your powers, and you’re careful about who even sees them. We won’t have to move anywhere, provided you get that job in the medical examiner’s office at the local police station.”

Ducky smiled. “You remembered that my interview was today?”

“Of course,” his mother said. “And I wish you luck. I won’t be able to work forever, you know.”

“I would never make you do such a thing,” Ducky vowed. “I would sooner work five jobs than force you to work into your old age.”

“You’ve become a good man, Donald, and I couldn’t be happier with how you’ve grown up,” his mother said fondly. “Go on, go to your interview. I’ll head out to work soon enough, and whoever gets home first can walk the dogs this afternoon.”

Ducky shook his head fondly. “I do suppose we’ll have to be careful about who we discuss my father’s heritage with, now won’t we?” he asked.

“We always have been,” his mother simply replied.

Ducky left for the interview, and thankfully got the job. He figured it would be much safer to hide among the dead than the living, when it came to his powers. Still, it was very disheartening to find that people were talking about what to do about supers. They restricted supers’ travel, told them that they had to be careful with when and how they used their powers, before telling them that eventually, they couldn’t use them at all. And all the supers Ducky had known, either around the neighborhood or at work, slowly started to move away, where no one would know them or their past.

Eventually, the day came that Ducky had been dreading. He was filling out paperwork for his taxes, and one little box taunted him on the pages. In it, were the undeniable words printed in black, that asked, “Are you a super?” And Ducky felt bile rise in his throat as he swallowed, forced himself to breathe, and picked up his pen, checking the box that said, “No.”

Gibbs knew something was wrong the moment he walked home from school. His mother and his father were both home, waiting for him. Normally his mom would be out making sure that everyone in the city was safe, although he had to admit that she had been doing that less and less recently, and she had mostly been staying home and cleaning instead. His dad might be out back in the garage, but he might also be working at the grocer’s at this time of day. But either way, he never was waiting for Gibbs when he came home.

His mother looked like she had been crying, and Gibbs felt his stomach fill up with dread. Either one of his grandparents had died, or something equally terrible was going on, and he was not looking forward to finding out what that something was.

“Leroy,” his father said slowly, cautiously. Like he was approaching a wounded animal. “We need to have a talk.”

Gibbs’ heart started to thud in his chest. “Who died?” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

“No one died, honey. But...” his mother took a deep breath. “The government has passed a law saying that supers aren’t allowed to use their powers anymore.”

Gibbs thought his heart stopped. Everyone at school knew he hung around with the supers, even if they didn’t realize it was because he was one himself. While he could strengthen or weaken someone else’s powers, that was about all he could do, and it wasn’t immediately obvious that he had done something, unless of course the person who he had affected did something with their powers. Still, everyone he was friends with knew that he could do this. “Am I in trouble?” he asked, dreading the answer.

“No, Leroy, you’re not in trouble,” his father said. “But because everyone around here knows you and your mother are supers, we’re going to have to move.”

Gibbs felt his stomach drop. Move? He had lived here his entire life! Where were they going to go? And would he be able to talk to his friends, still, through letters? No, he immediately knew. He wouldn’t be able to write them because then they would know where he lived and could get him in trouble. What was the point of making friends, though, if he couldn’t even keep in touch with them when they were gone?

His mother came over and put a hand on his shoulder, and he wrenched it away. “No, don’t touch me!” he exclaimed. “I’m going to my room!”

Before either of his parents could get another word in, Gibbs stormed up to his room to find everything he owned packed into boxes. He felt sick. This was real, this was genuinely happening. His whole life had fallen apart with that one simple declaration. He flung himself on his bare bed and cried, vowing to himself that he wouldn’t become friends with anyone wherever they moved to. He didn’t want to get attached to anyone only for them to get taken out of his life in case they had to move again.

After some time, his mother came in, and tried to get him to talk, to no avail. His dad came in maybe an hour after that, and said softly, “You know, your mother’s worried about you, Leroy.”

Gibbs scowled.

“We don’t like this any more than you do, son. But we have to move if we want to stay safe.”

Gibbs sat up and sighed, crossing his arms. “Where are we moving to?” he asked.

“A small town in Pennsylvania,” his dad said. “I know a man there who agreed to become partners with me at the local store, so I’ll have a job there. And there will be new kids for you to make friends with.”

Gibbs pulled a face but said nothing. He wasn’t going to make friends with them. There wasn’t a point to it.

His father sighed. “We’re leaving this weekend. I’d recommend saying your goodbyes tomorrow.” And with that, Gibbs was alone in his room again.

Abby didn’t consider herself psychic. After all, she couldn’t control her powers, or speak to the dead. She just knew that she could see the future, or at the very least, possible futures, because not everything she saw came true. She knew not everyone could do this, because Luca looked at her like she was crazy when she asked him about it. She knew that her parents worried about her because of this. She could see them signing the word super back and forth in conversation when they thought she wasn’t watching.

Everything came to a head one day when she was five, almost six, and she could see in her mind’s eye that a bully was going to come up from behind her and pull on her pigtails before shoving her to the ground. The second she felt someone grab her pigtails she whirled around and socked the person in the nose. The bully howled in pain, and the boy was sent to the nurse, while Abby was sent to the principal’s office.

The principal sighed and asked her why she had punched the boy, and Abby dutifully explained that she knew the boy was going to yank her pigtails and shove her to the ground. Although judging by the look the principal was giving her, maybe she shouldn’t have used the word know.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Miss Sciuto,” the principal had scoffed. “You couldn’t possibly know that he would try and hurt you. If you did, you wouldn’t be around decent people, you would be a super, a danger to society.”

Abby wanted to give the principal a piece of her mind, but she didn’t. Instead she asked, “Well, what else would he have done if he was grabbing my pigtails?”

She left school early, close to tears, and Luca asked her what was wrong when he got home. She didn’t say anything to him, though. She didn’t want him to know the horrible things the principal had said.

Of course, when her mother cornered her afterwards, and asked her why she looked about ready to cry, Abby signed the whole story. Her mother’s lips had thinned into a line as she explained to Abby that the principal was wrong, that supers weren’t a danger to society, and that she was fine the way she was. That she couldn’t tell anyone how she knew what she knew, and that this had to stay a secret, but that didn’t make her a bad person.

Abby didn’t know how inclined she was to believe her mother, but she repeated those words over and over to herself when she could. It didn’t help much. Especially now that no one wanted to be friends with her, because she had punched the biggest bully in school. She could see all the possible future timelines where she tried to make friends, and she was turned down every time. That did absolutely nothing to make her feel better.

Still, she held out hope. Because while she couldn’t control her powers very well, she was getting better at tuning them out at inopportune times. And besides, when she thought about the far off future, and making friends then, she saw so many different things. A flash of grey hair, a dorky smile, a crushing hug, a belly laugh. And those fleeting images left her feeling like she had more than one family, and a reason to keep going.

She desperately hoped that was one future that she would get to be a part of.

Alex loved the dark. Most people found that strange, but she found it comforting. Something about the fact that people didn’t have to see her, she didn’t have to pretend to be something she wasn’t and could roll her eyes when she needed to were all great perks about being in the dark.

By far, though, the greatest appeal for her being in the dark was the fact that she could find her way around wherever she was and no one else could. There was something about that fact that filled her with a petty sort of pride at first, but at the same time, she just found it really weird, but cool.

It had started when she was six years old, and the lights had gone out in a huge thunderstorm outside her house. Her dad had naturally moved the furniture around earlier in the day to make a pillow fort, so when she called out for her mother, there was a bump and a crash and Alex clicked her tongue and shook her head.

The weird thing was, when she clicked her tongue, she could almost see her room in her mind. Not in full color, of course, but the shape of where everything was. She heard more crashing downstairs and decided to help her mom get to a flashlight, so she continued clicking her tongue, surprised but pleased to have it show her where she was in the house compared to all the objects around her.

She made it down the steps without bumping into anything once, and quickly found where the flashlights were stored in the kitchen soon after. She turned one on and went to the living room, where her mother was struggling with the blankets on the ground. “Mom?” she asked.

“Alex!” her mother exclaimed. “How did you get down here so fast?”

“I...I walked down here? I know where everything is in the house, so...” Alex trailed off with a shrug.

“But I didn’t hear you run into anything, and normally when you’re walking in the dark you stub your toe at least once!” her mother said. “And what was that clicking noise I heard?”

Alex felt a blush creep up her cheeks. “Oh...that was me,” she said. “I made the noise so that I could see where everything in the house was, so I didn’t have to stub my toes this time.”

In the dim light of the flashlight, her mother looked like she had suddenly seen a ghost. “You...did what?”

“I made the noise, and could sorta see everything around me. Not in color, but...where everything was,” Alex said.

Her mother shook her head. “Honey, tomorrow morning you need to talk with your father about this,” she said. “And don’t tell a word about it to anyone else, understand?”

“Not really, Mom. What’s going on?” Alex asked.

“Sweetheart...I think you’re a super,” her mother said softly.

Alex’s eyes widened. “You mean like...like the bad guys on the cartoons?”

“No, honey, not like that, never like that. But you’ve got a special talent that most people don’t have, and some people might feel threatened by that.” Her mother squeezed her shoulder. “Could I have the flashlight, since you can walk in the dark without it?”

Alex nodded and passed it over.

“Thanks, honey. Now go on back to bed, if you can. I’ll tell your father about this and he can talk to you about it in the morning, sound good?” her mother said.

Alex nodded and walked back up to her room, clicking her tongue the whole way. When she got back into bed and stared unseeing at her ceiling, her mind was whirring with thoughts. What this meant for her, what she was going to do about it, and perhaps most importantly to her, why she had to speak to her dad about this of all things. Did that mean...that he was a super, too?

Now that you know about the first four supers in our life, it seems necessary to clarify: just because these supers are good, does not mean all of the supers in our life are good. This story is about the good ones, the ones who fought the supervillains. There are other superheroes in our life, too. Our aunt, our great-grandmother, and our grandfather, just to name a few. But if we talked about every super in our life, we’d never get to the actual story.

These supers are also the most important to us, because they’re the ones we see the most. Even if we aren’t related to them by blood, we all matter a lot to each other. And as one of our grandfathers says, family is more than DNA. Family is what we make of it.

My brother is such a sap, but he has a point. This is a story about our family, first and foremost. It’s an important story to many, but it’s also a story about our family, which makes it that much more important to us. You’ll find out more about the other supers in our life shortly. Just know that we’ll get to the actual good, action-y bits once we’ve explained who everybody is. Bear with us.

When Tony DiNozzo figured out that he could manipulate his voice to sound like other people he knew, he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Everyone thought he was someone else, and as long as they didn’t see that he was the one talking, he could have them doing whatever he wanted.

He had a grand old time messing around with this power. Sounding like his dad, his mom, some of the kids around the other estates. It took some practice, and he had to hear their voices a lot, but he could do it.

His fun all came to an end one day, however, when he was practicing sounding like his mom in his room and his dad walked in on him talking into the mirror.

“Junior, what are you doing?!” his dad asked, looking around frantically and closing the door behind him as he walked in. His face held nothing but pure horror on it.

Tony was startled about the sudden movement, and frowned in confusion when his dad walked over swiftly and knelt down in front of him. “Dad? What’s wrong?”

“You can’t do that ever again, Junior, promise me you won’t!” his dad said frantically.

His dad’s hands were digging into his shoulders, and Tony tried to twist out of his grip, unsuccessfully. “Dad, why are you so freaked out? I’m just having some fun,” Tony said. His dad was just overreacting, he thought. Just like that time that Tony had ran around and accidentally broken a vase. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal, Junior,” his dad whispered. “Not everyone can do this, and it’s dangerous!”

Tony’s eyes widened. Dangerous? He was just playing, wasn’t he? What was so dangerous about messing with his voice? “Am I gonna die?” he whispered hoarsely. He didn’t want to be in trouble, he didn’t want to be sick! He thought this was just a game!

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” his dad said. “Which is why you can never do this again! I wish you hadn’t inherited this from your grandfather...but what’s done is done.”

Tony couldn’t wrap his head around this. Why was what he was doing bad? His dad wasn’t making any sense! What was he saying? “Dad, you’re not making any sense!”

“Son...you’re a super,” his dad said.

Tony could feel the whole world stop. A super? He had seen supers on the news, and they were always bad people. People who didn’t care who lived or died, and did whatever they wanted without regard to others. Was he going to be like that?

...Were people going to think that he was like that whether or not he was?

“A...super?” he asked, completely shocked. “Can’t other people mimic voices?”

“Mimic, yes. Create an exact copy of someone’s voice? No,” his dad said. “If anyone else can do that, then they’re a super too.”

Tony thought supers were something to be feared, that they weren’t good people. That’s what everyone around him said. That they weren’t good, they just loved to destroy things, and took no responsibility for their actions. Tony couldn’t be a super! He cared too much about others! All his dad needed to do was ask anyone around the house, they’d say he couldn’t be a super! He was responsible! He couldn’t be a super! He just couldn’t!

“There’s no way,” he managed to rasp out. “I can’t be a super, there’s no way.”

His father shook his head, and gently shook Tony’s shoulders. “You have to promise me that you’ll never do that again. Promise me,” his father insisted.

Tony swallowed. “I promise, Dad.”

His father nodded and left him alone. Tony shook. He didn’t want to be taken away from everyone he knew and loved just because of his powers. If he was a super, he told himself, he wasn’t going to be one of the bad ones. He’d never use his powers if he didn’t have to. That way, he’d never have to worry about others hating him. If he was lucky, no one would find out about his powers, and he could just live a normal life. That was all he ever really wanted.

Kate found her powers really interesting. She couldn’t really see the future with them, unfortunately, not unless she focused really hard, but she could always see the past if she tried. This wasn’t just seeing any old past, though. This was seeing the past of specific objects that she held. She could see which of her peers went home and did their homework right away, or those who went to daycare and did their work then. She could see the surroundings of the object, too. So she could see the homes of her friends without ever going there, or see when a kid visited family in the hospital.

It took her awhile to pluck up the courage to tell her parents about this, though. She knew that both of them were supers, and that her brothers and sister were, too. They were hoping that she would be the normal child, the one who didn’t have to worry about the prejudice that supers had against them.

She might not have ever told them, in fact, if her brother hadn’t accidentally dropped a bracelet on the way to his room, and she picked it up, seeing that he stole it from a girl in his class. She immediately went to her parents, telling them this and how she knew it.

Her brother, naturally, was in big trouble for stealing the girl’s bracelet, and for a while, he wouldn’t let her even enter his room. She didn’t like that at all, thinking that meant he just had something to hide. Her other brothers also didn’t like the fact that she could see what they had been up to just by touching their stuff, so they might let her into their shared room, but she wouldn’t be allowed to touch anything. Only her sister, Rachel, would let her touch anything she wanted. After all, Rachel said, it’s not like Kate couldn’t tune out what she was seeing, and if Rachel wanted to keep something private, then Rachel could just ask Kate not to touch that thing.

Kate appreciated Rachel so much more after that. Having someone treat her like a human being with decency, rather than a little pest, was something that she appreciated.

Of course, Kate never told a soul outside her brothers, sister, and parents about her power. Not even the people in her extended family who were also supers, who might understand what she could do. She let the others think she was weird for enjoying playing with the toys around her grandparents’ house, seeing what sort of changes had been made over the years, the difference between the then and the now in the house, the people around it, the technology they had.

Kate had a newfound appreciation for history over the years, getting to see it in action when she touched older items, such as family heirlooms. She adored getting to see the stark difference in surroundings, and all the things the objects had seen. That is, she enjoyed it until she felt one of her brothers’ bears and saw him have a seizure before her very eyes.

Her stomach churned and she thought she might get sick as she could hear her mother scream, her father rush to the phone and shout to the person on the other side that her brother was having a seizure with a high fever. Her oldest brother was crying, practically sobbing, he was so scared. She dropped the bear in shock and her middle brother, the one she had seen having the seizure, snapped at her to leave his stuff alone, ignoring the fact that she looked like she had seen a ghost. After that, she tried to tune out her powers as much as possible. She hated the thought of learning more things like that, and while she still loved history, she decided she wasn’t going to use her powers to discover it.

Three year old Timothy McGee was scared out of his mind. His father had been yelling downstairs, bellowing something about him, and he didn’t know what in the world he had done wrong. He was hiding in his closet, hoping to stay out of everyone’s way, and away from his father’s wrath, but he was still so small and it was night outside and with the closet doors closed, he couldn’t see his nightlight.

He was trying to be quiet, but he couldn’t help but let a few sniffles loose. He hadn’t learned to cry silently yet, though he was close. He was terrified of the dark, and when he couldn’t see himself, how could he make sure that he wasn’t surrounded by monsters?

The clothes over his head were rattling because he was shaking, sitting on the closet floor in the dark, and he was bracing himself for when his father found out where he was, yelling nasty words that his mom would say that his father never meant. It was just a fact of life that this sometimes happened, and he would just have to grin and bear it.

Before he could do that for long, though, a pale orange glow appeared in Tim’s chest. He watched with wonder as it gently floated outward from his chest to rest in his palms. He had his own personal ball of light, floating in his hands! He touched it, and it felt warm. Kind of like when you got in a bath and the water’s temperature was just right.

Tim couldn’t stop the soft giggle that left his mouth when he touched the ball. It felt like the ball was telling him everything would be all right. His whole closet was bathed in a pale orange glow. He could see his shoes, his clothes, and only one shadow on the wall behind him, which he knew to be his. He could wave to it and it waved back, after all.

Of course, he didn’t take into account that while he couldn’t see his nightlight from inside the closet, a glowing ball of light would be much harder to hide from prying eyes, and soon his door was flung wide open, his father standing there, seething, on the other side. “What are you doing?!” his father hissed.

“It’s a glowing ball, Dad!” Tim exclaimed, so excited by his new discovery he didn’t notice his father’s ire.

His father smacked Tim’s hands and the ball disappeared. Tim’s jaw dropped in shock, and he was about to protest when he saw the look of pure rage on his father’s face. “Dad...?” he asked.

“You can. Never. Do that again, understand?” his father barked.

“Why?” Tim asked. He didn’t even know what he had done to get that ball to appear!

“If you show anyone that you can do that, they’ll take you away and you’ll never see me or your mother again!” his father hissed.

Tim didn’t know who “they” were, but they couldn’t be good people if they were going to take him away from his parents. He nodded his head to show that he understood what his father said.

His father pointed to Tim’s bed. “Get in bed, boy,” he said.

Tim scrambled to follow orders. His eyes widened when his father went over to his nightlight, and pulled it out of its socket. “You’re too old for this, boy. Time you learn to sleep in the dark like the rest of us.”

Not daring to protest, Tim let his father walk out and slam his bedroom door behind him, before he tried to conjure the ball again. He made a smaller one, but it made him so tired to try it that he fell asleep with it snuggled against his chest.

Ellie loved her powers. That wasn’t something she could say to anyone, let alone anyone outside her family, but it was the truest statement she had ever said. If it weren’t true, it would only be because she didn’t have adequate words to describe just how much she loved it.

Her discovery of them happened like most supers...which meant that she found out about them entirely by accident. She was daydreaming underneath her favorite tree on the farm, when her vision went out of focus in thought and suddenly snapped back in to focus, except all the colors she normally saw were gone, to be replaced with black and blue blobs of color, everything looking like a photo negative. Ellie put the book she was supposed to be reading down and stood up, walking out from under the tree’s branches. Everything was outlined in neon blue, and solid shapes had a navy-colored tint to them, but most of the world looked black.

Ellie looked up at the tree she had been sitting under, and wondered what everything would look like if she were to climb to the top. She jumped for one of the lowest branches, but was shocked when her jump took her halfway up the tree before she hit a tree branch and everything turned back to normal. “Ellie? Eleanor!” her mother was yelling.

Ellie made her way down the tree and ran to meet her mom halfway across the field. “Ellie, what happened?! I just saw a flash of blue light and you were gone!” her mother exclaimed.

“I was sitting under the tree and my vision went kinda funny,” Ellie said. “Everything turned sorta...black and blue, and I jumped up but flew into the middle of the tree. When I touched a tree branch everything went back to normal and you were calling my name.”

Her mother paled. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah, Mom. That’s what happened,” Ellie said. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Her mom wrung her hands. “Well, sweetheart, it looks like you’re a super,” she said. “And you have some sort of very unique power. Promise me that you won’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

“I promise, Mom,” Ellie said, straight away. She knew that supers were outlawed and that she could get into serious trouble if someone proved that she had powers. “I won’t even try and do it again if you don’t want me to.”

“That would make me feel so much better, thank you,” her mother said. “I’ll hold you to that promise.”

Ellie nodded, but was surprised to find herself in that same photo negative the next night when she was trying to sleep. She walked around the house and saw her older brothers playing video games downstairs, and her mom and dad talking in the kitchen, but none of them saw her. She grinned. This was quickly becoming addictive. What should she call this place? Obviously, it needed to have a name...She figured she could just call it the Negative for now and find a better name for it later, if needed.

She snuck back upstairs and was surprised that when she touched her bed, the world returned to normal. Apparently, she couldn’t touch anything in this other dimension without being pulled out of it. Oh, well. It would still be fun to travel through anyway. She couldn’t wait to test out her powers, and see exactly what she could do with them.

Jack would freely admit to anyone who asked her that she loved her powers. They would get her into trouble sometimes, yes, but she loved them. Of course, the only reason she could be as open about it as she was, would be that she was raised on a commune where superpowers were not only allowed but encouraged. She didn’t necessarily love everyone there, but she did enjoy the freedom it gave her to stretch her powers.

From a very young age, she was always asking questions she had no business asking, with knowledge about the answers that she had no business knowing. She asked her older sister what she meant when she’d think “oh, they’re so hot!” Or she’d ask the teacher at the commune’s school why he was crying and read his mind about how his affair was failing, as well as his marriage.

Her parents always warned her that if she wasn’t careful, she’d get kicked out of the community and they wouldn’t advocate for her to be brought back in, so she’d have to watch her tongue. Little did they know that she didn’t plan on sticking around very long after she was of age. It was restricting to her, only being able to move a certain amount of distance in any direction, and she hated it, vowing to leave the second she got the chance. Even if she got to use her powers here, she didn’t have many friends, because they all knew she could read their minds and were wary of her.

She left the commune when she was nineteen. Asking very sweetly to the leader of the community how his marriage was holding up considering he was hitting on some of the girls fresh out of high school, she walked off the reservation with the clothes on her back, the shoes on her feet, and the feeling that she could take on anything in the world if only she tried.

This attitude didn’t always do her good, but she made the most out of it. She made a few friends, who let her crash at their place, and as soon as she got a job, they moved together to a big apartment, where she helped pay rent. It was nice, being able to party sometimes, go out of the city if she wanted, and never being restricted to one place for very long.

Eventually, she grew tired of living in San Francisco and moved to DC, and once again, quickly found friends who would help her pay the rent. She joined a small group of psychics in their services, and read her clients’ minds to know what she needed to say, and that was a lucrative business.

She sometimes felt guilty about tricking the clients, but really, she needed the money. She tried to not let it get to her, and she tried to not regret moving away from the commune and to a place where her powers had to be hidden. She needed to hide her powers, but this still felt immensely freer than the commune ever did. She hoped that she’d never be confined to that small a space again. It was an unrealistic goal, but a goal nonetheless, and one she made sure to go to great lengths to keep up, if she had to. That’s just who she was, and who she would always be.

Ziva knew she was useful. That was the one thing that she kept at the forefront of her mind at all times. She was useful, and she served a purpose, and therefore it was unlikely anything bad would happen to her. She knew what happened to people who weren’t useful. They faded into nothingness, they disappeared from people’s lives and nobody went looking for them, they served no one and therefore were eliminated. Ziva worried that would happen to her if she outlived her usefulness. She would fade away into memories, and nothingness, and no one would bother to look for her.

Ziva was especially useful when it came to chemistry. It was something she could pick up quickly. Give her a textbook and a day and she would be able to tell you anything that was in the book, right down to the molecular structure of whatever chemical it was you asked her about. Ziva at first thought it was convenient to know this when her power was to generate poison, but she soon realized it had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with her abilities.

Her father would rent her out to people who needed her usefulness. These people often didn’t have a moral code outside of the desire to save people who were useful to them. In that way, she supposed, she was lucky. She would never not be useful as long as she had her powers, and therefore these people wouldn’t kill her when they were done with her. She always assumed that her father would never let that happen anyway, but something about him made her occasionally doubt that.

Growing up in the Middle East left Ziva busy. Everyone wanted her poison for an assassination, or a murder of the regular kind, or even just something to make someone violently ill and incapacitated for a couple of days. Ziva made all the poisons they requested, remembering that if she weren’t useful, then there wouldn’t be much point in her going on. She longed to stay at her father’s side, and maybe one day gain his approval.

Her confidante in all of this was her half-brother, Ari. He was always disgusted with what their father would force her to do, and he’d say that their father was a despicable man, who no one would miss once he died. After all, the only use he had was giving the both of them their powers. Ziva always urged Ari to take the words back, fearing that if someone overheard them, Ari would be taken away. But he never did take it back, not after their sister Tali was killed in a bombing. He blamed the whole world for her death, but he especially blamed their father, and Ziva worried about when Ari would stop idly blaming people for his misfortunes and start hurting others because of it.

When Ari attacked their father and ran, Ziva naturally followed him. Even if it meant her father wouldn’t approve of her, Ziva cared more for Ari than she did anyone else in her family after Tali died.

Ziva found Ari in America, which she found more than a little strange. After all, a lot of Western countries, including America, had banned the use of superpowers. But, she considered, it might be for the best. If Ari went to a place where he couldn’t use his powers, he couldn’t lash out at anyone and everyone he hated. She hoped that the reason he came here was to go somewhere where neither of their “services” would be called on, and not because he was going after whoever he blamed for Tali’s death.

Clayton was seven when he found out about his powers. And in this case, found out about his powers meant less teleporting across the world or discovering that he could make his friends stretch farther than they could otherwise with their superpowers, and more that not everyone in the world could hear any language at all, in the world, made up or real, and automatically know what was being said.

He didn’t tell anyone about his “newfound” ability, knowing that supers were not widely accepted, and he was ostracized by his foster family enough. If they found out he had powers, they’d send him back to the orphanage, and no one would ever want to adopt him, because his powers would be on record. Instead, he eavesdropped.

His foster parents preferred to talk about how stupid and incompetent he was in French. His so-called “friends” at school would mutter what a weirdo he was in Spanish. And he used his abilities to sign to the one kid who thought he was an okay guy, who was Deaf and preferred signing to trying to talk and read lips.

Still, not having a moment to himself without someone trying to alienate him in some way or form left him desperate for any sort of escape he had. And as soon as he was eighteen, he left his abusive foster parents’ house and never looked back. He felt bad for the kid who would get put there next, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He got a small job, enough for rent just outside the city. Any money he earned that didn’t go to basic necessities, went to the pub on the nearest street corner, where he would lose himself down any bottle the bartender would give him.

Everyone there knew him by name, and a few knew when he would be coming from work or not by the way he dressed. He knew that was a problem, but couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when he finally had an escape, not when he could just go to bed and fall asleep and not remember his miserable nights alone.

Soon after he had turned twenty, though, he came across a problem. People in the bar were giving him funny looks and telling him that he got his languages mixed up when he was intoxicated. Sometimes he’d speak English, sometimes French, and once he even had a conversation with someone in Russian, and since when was he a polyglot?

Clayton decided there and then that he was going to stop drinking. If for no one else, then for himself and the sake of his safety. He didn’t want to be found out as a super, that would basically guarantee that he was dead. So he sobered up, saved his money, and applied for a green card to America. They didn’t have any more accepting a position on supers than England did, but there was no chance of anyone knowing who he was, and there were plenty more places to hide.

And he didn’t take this second chance lightly, either. He applied for citizenship, got a job as a local translator for pamphlets, and generally kept his head down. He wasn’t going to risk being sent away just because he could speak any language. That was about the stupidest reason ever to get arrested. When everyone let him be, he felt like he could finally exhale, but it didn’t last for long.

Nick Torres was never alone, and he hated it. Whether he was at home, at school, or outside somewhere between the two, there was always someone with eyes on him. He didn’t mind when the eyes were from his little sister Lucia, but if they were the neighborhood kids, or the bullies at school, or even his parents, it would drive him stir-crazy to have everyone observing him. Almost like he was a ticking time bomb, and no one knew when he was going to go off, so they were watching for when they needed to take cover.

Being that explosive was not a fun thing. Yes, he had a temper. Yes, sometimes it got the better of him. But in times like this, where he had everything under control, he wished that everyone could just mind their own business and let him do what he wanted. He wasn’t stupid enough to go into the gangs’ territories a couple blocks away, so why couldn’t he walk down to the grocery store and pick up some eggs for dinner by himself?

He knew why that would never be allowed by his parents, and that was because he antagonized all the bullies at his school, and they were worried he would actually be that stupid and go by the gangs to antagonize them. No matter what he told them, his actions would always speak louder than words.

But he was going through a lot at the moment. The girl he thought he was going to marry had just been diagnosed with cancer, and her survival odds didn’t look great. He had been snarling more than normal, not wanting anyone else to be as miserable as he was, and as such he had a much lower tolerance for bullies than normal.

Sometimes, he would stay after school to practice basketball on the court, shooting hoops on autopilot and letting his brain think on its own. He was doing just that when a group of bullies from several different grades came over to him, looking like the last thing they wanted to do was talk. Nick was only in the ninth grade, but he wasn’t naive. He knew trouble when it was coming towards him. That didn’t mean he was going to roll over for these guys, though. “Do you mind?” he asked, sparing them only a side glance. “I’m a bit busy, here.”

“Actually, we do mind, Torres,” the head bully sneered. “Who gives you the right to mess with us?”

“Well, I don’t know. Who gave you the right to mess with all the kids you decide to pick on?” Nick asked, throwing another shot into the hoop and running up to catch the ball. He turned around, ball in hand, to find the bullies starting to circle him, like wolves tracking down prey.

His stomach started to sink as the bullies came closer. He could feel the sun burning his skin, the sweat trickling down his neck from his exercise. His muscles tensed up, and with no where for the energy to go but outward, he shoved the head bully away from him, making him fly backwards and land on his backside five feet away. Did I just?! But...I couldn’t have! I’m not a super! Nick stared in shock at how far he had pushed the bully.

He didn’t have long to be shocked about this development, however, because now the other bullies were coming towards him, and fast. He dropped the ball and let it bounce away, muscles tensed before he started to pummel anyone who got too close to him. As he fought, he could feel the sun burning into him, and he remembered his biology class, how plants could turn sunlight into energy, and it clicked in his mind, that’s what he was doing.

As soon as all the bullies were on the ground, Nick took his book bag and took his ball and ran, using the sunlight to power his legs to keep moving, even when they were screaming for him to stop. He ran all the way home, and refused to tell his mother how he scraped up his knuckles. The only person he told was Lucia, and he made her promise not to tell anyone else.

The bullies all left Nick alone from then on, and wouldn’t pick on anyone if he was there to see. Well, good. He only got his powers from UV light, but they didn’t have to know that. All they had to know was that he was freaky strong, and wouldn’t take them lying down.

Jimmy Palmer had a secret. It wasn’t a little secret, but it wasn’t something that he was exactly going to be killed over. He was a very, very reckless child. He would run after animals into the woods, or he’d climb trees that were a bit too high and a bit too dead to be climbed in, or he’d forget to look both ways before crossing the street, because he was in the middle of an epic game of tag, and he didn’t intend to lose.

Most of his friends when he was growing up knew this. They found it funny how sometimes he might sprain his ankle, but not learn his lesson and two weeks later do the exact same thing that made him sprain his ankle in the first place. It made his parents worry sick about him, and he never understood the big fuss. After all, he hardly ever broke a bone, and he never died from what he was doing, so what was the big deal?

Jimmy was a super, but he never told anyone, not even his parents, what his power was. After all, the last place you would look for a super was in a reckless child whose parents had no clue what their son could do if he really tried. So he hid in plain sight, made friends all throughout his years in elementary school, and was generally well-liked by the school’s population, even if he was an egghead who didn’t know his own limits.

The secret Jimmy had was like the Mother of All Secrets. Everyone had a MoAS, but Jimmy’s could change the entire world if people knew it. So he resolved to never let it slip.

Middle school for Jimmy meant that he got quieter, more withdrawn, and more awkward. He was still mostly liked by his peers, but they found him more strange than endearing, and those who weren’t close to him mostly left him to himself and his good friends. As the years went on, and Jimmy met knew people, he would tell them stories about when he was a kid, but they rarely believed him. After all, how could this quiet guy run after a fox in the middle of the day into the woods, and not come back with a single scratch or bite mark?

He let them think his stories were made up, despite them all being true. After all, if they thought he was just exaggerating, it kept his secret from coming to light. And that was the safest thing for him and his family.

Now he had just finished his final year of college, one year ahead of his peers, he noted with some pride, and he applied for medical school, got in, and resolved to work for the local ME when he wasn’t doing his classes. After all, his dream was to help find justice for the dead.

His new boss, Doctor Mallard, didn’t seem like the type to dismiss his childhood stories, but Jimmy knew he suspected something whenever Jimmy would talk about them over a body on the examination table. One day, of course, Jimmy said too much and Doctor Mallard figured out Jimmy’s secret. Not that he ever told anyone. He respected Jimmy too much to tell the world he was a super. So whenever “Ducky” (as the detectives called him) spoke to Jimmy in hushed tones, everyone just assumed they were discussing something that others shouldn’t be privy to. Everyone suspected it had something to do with supers, but no one said anything to them.

Jimmy Palmer had a secret. But he wasn’t the only one.

[yes-dillman-yes]

Different Time, Different Life

Reddie/It/Superpowers AU

Paring: Eddie K. x Richie T. 

Summary: Richie and his best bud, Bill, take over their parent’s old job of protecting the people of DC. They take care of every criminal. Except for a certain villain that goes by the name The Dreamer. Ignoring their sexual tension, Richie and this villain has been archnemesis for two years. Until an ungodly being enters the picture and causes destruction that will make the good and bad of DC join sides and take down the true evil creeping on the streets and in our mind.

Words: 1.5k 

Warning: Smut, Language, Minor Character Death, Violence

part 1 // part 2

Third Person POV

January 24th, 2016

The night was cold and calm. Distant sirens gave Richie a certain comfort. Knowing that the police could do their job and he didn’t have to come save the day once again. Not that he didn’t like his job. Hell, Richie craved validation. He was still trying to get used to the whole superhero title. The title that he felt more pressured into holding than actually wanting to pursue.

Richie had only been doing this job for a month and he already felt overwhelmed.  

Cars passed, lights flashed everywhere, and people’s laughs heard from outside the bar he was currently standing in front of waiting for Bill filled the air. There was life everywhere around Richie, but he still felt alone. No one within his surroundings knew who he really was or the powers he held that was inherited from his now-retired father.

In the corner of the hero’s eye, he saw a short shadow move quickly. The figure was in all black and seemed as though they had a mask on. Behind the figure, two large assumed to be men were chasing after the person. He wasn’t quite sure who was the bad guy or not, but he felt a certain need to protect the man in the mask. Must have been his superhero instinct kicking in.

The three unknown figures turned the ally way about sixteen feet away from where Richie was standing. He could hear a scream and some intense rumbling sounds erupt from the hidden ally way. Using his sort of x-ray vision skills, he saw the people fighting and one man was on the ground. He walked closer to the scene, a conversation coming to his ears.

“Give us the money, you chump. We’re not here to play your foolish games.”

“Or I could tell you to fuck off. In my case, I like the second option.”

To the sounds of it, it seemed as though the two larger men were robbing the other man. Richie knew he had to help the guy even though it sounded like he could handle himself. So, he ran. What he was about to see next would definitely set him into shock.

“Help! Someone help me! It burns! It burns!” the once very stern voice of the large man was now screaming in horror.

“Sir, what’s wrong? There’s nothing on you,” Richie tires to calm down the man in his arm. But, the man just cries.

The hairy man that was once on the ground grabs the man crying out of Richie’s arms and starts to run the other way. But, before the men turn the corner a few words are shared.

“Stay away from us, you monster! Stay far away or you’ll regret it.”

Richie was surprised by the name the big man placed on the man in the mask. He wasn’t quite sure what the hell happened, why one of them was crying in fear, or who this mysterious man behind him was. But, to say the least, he was intrigued.

Once things calmed down and it’s only Richie and the man, Richie turns to the masked figure. “Who are you?”

At the sound of Richie’s voice, the man meets his eyes and forms a sad smile. Richie taking note that the mask only covers half of the man’s face with wacky black lined patterns.

“Call me The Dreamer,” a soft voice answers.

Richie almost laughed at the name. Not because the name had some comical value. But, the name sounded like a superhero name which kinda frightened Richie. He didn’t know that there were more people like him. Although, it would answer many of the forming questions in his head.

But, before Richie could even say a word, the man spoke once more.

“Love to stay and chat, but I don’t like to keep people waiting. See you later.”

With that, the man disappeared. It was as if the air just ate him up.

Richie stood there in the middle of the darkness and let his mind try to comprehend what just happened. A new uneasy feeling of adventure filled Richie.

“See ya later,” Richie whispers.

Present Day: March 4th, 2018

“Richie! Better suit up. Seems like your little boyfriend is robbing another bank,” Beverly yells from her seat facing a desktop computer, “Let’s not get sidetracked this time.”

With a roll of the eyes, Bill comments, “We al-all know Rich-chee can’t stay focused while Dreamer’s ‘sweet ass’ is right there.”

Small giggles fill the airy room.

Richie fidgeting with his blue and black suit, says, “You guys know I’m standing here, right? And we’re running late. Let’s go, Bill.”

“Alright, Captain. Lead the way.”

“Alright, aren’t you tired of playing the same game, babe? We’ve done this once too many times.”

The Dreamer turns around and his frown somehow turns down deeper. Annoyance covering his face.

“Get out of here, Trashmouth. Not in a mood for a fight today.”

Richie leans against the counter dividing him and his not so secret enemy crush.

“You love seeing my handsome face, Dreamy Bear,” Richie says in a sickeningly sweet voice while he flicks his wrist, closing the bank register.

The masked man signs in annoyance and surprise, not thinking the mother man could close the register.

“You’re right. Sometimes seeing that handsome face of yours makes me wanna be a good guy,” he says with a straight flirtatious voice. Now leaning against the counter, face to face with Richie.

Stumbling over his words, “Re-really? ‘Cause-”

“God, no!” The Dreamer’s loud laugh erupts into the room, “But, seeing your face was priceless.”

Richie’s face went completely red. He felt like a fool. Half for believing his enemy and for doing something he said he wouldn’t. Getting sidetracked.

“Well, I gotta go. But, thanks for the laugh,” the villain picks up a bag of cash while he says his goodbyes.

But, before he could disappear, Richie grabs his wrist. A shockingly strong grip holds The Dreamer in place. The two make intense eye contact.

“You’re not going anywhere, but jail this time. I promise that I will visit, babe.”

“Don’t call me that. And if you wanna play hardball, fine,” the villain breaths out heavily, “Let’s go.”

At the speed of light, The Dreamer flips over the counter and lands right on his feet. He turns to a shooked Richie and lets a devilish smile spread across his face. He throws a punch at Richie but misses. 

Richie swipes his foot across the floor and makes his enemy fall to the ground on to his back. A grunt leaves the small man’s mouth. 

For a split second, Richie almost felt bad. Almost.

Richie hovers over The Dreamer and in a pirate accent, “You gotta try harder than that, son.”

“Don’t you dare touch me again.”

Richie has seen The Dreamer’s powers before. He doesn’t use them often, but when he does use them, it’s usually on somebody else. Richie has only experienced the wrath of his enemies powers once. The one time was enough for Richie to know that no one should mess with this man. This man was not just a monster, he was also a freak. But, so was Richie.      

“Come on, dude. Just give up? Aren’t you tired of being evil? Jail time could do you some good,” Richie says in a voice so generic. 

The Dreamer’s eyes start to glimmer with something unexplainable. Something in Richie’s words hit him. Hard. “Evil? You really think I’m evil?”

“Well, I did-”

“I’ll show you evil.”

Richie didn’t exactly know what was happening at first, but then he saw the faces. The bright colored faces that matched their brightly colored clothes, staring at him. Eating their way through Richie. He felt sick. 

Even though Richie could no longer see the villain, his voice whispers through Richie’s ears. “Watch what you assume. ‘Cause you obviously have no clue who I am. I’ll see you around, Trashmouth.”

Richie would’ve loved to say something, but his lungs felt tight and the clowns were cornering him. Stepping closer while their laughs got louder. Everything seemed like a dream. Or more so a nightmare. He felt a large hand press against his back, crawling to his neck. Right before the hand gripped Richie’s neck, he heard Bill’s booming voice. 

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” Bill’s heavily worried voice ask Rich. 

Richie didn’t know how to react. The air in his lungs felt like smoke and his blood was rushing. Just a second ago he was going to be chocked by a clown. Now he’s struggling to breathe while his best friend is telling him to calm down. And The Dreamer is gone. 

Fuck.

“Bill, god bill, his gone. I missed him again. Dammit,” Richie speaks in a rushed defeated voice. 

“It’s fine. Well, get him next time. I just need to know if you’re okay,” Bill says calmly, “Are you okay?”

Richie nods his head, still stuck on what the hell just happened. “I’m okay, Bill. But he got away. The people are gonna lose faith in us.”

“I said it’s fine. Now, let’s get out of here. The police will clean up the mess,” Bill orders, “Look up, you’ll see him again.”

And Richie will see him again. But, their meeting won’t be like any other.

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DCeased: The Secret Origin of DC's Zombie Horror

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The smash success of DCeased, the DC zombies comic is all in its emotional power.

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This article contains major spoilers for DCeased.

When DCeased was announced, it’s safe to assume it was met with more than a few eye rolls. Did the world really need a DC zombies book as the rest of pop culture seems to be putting a lid on the zombie phenomenon for another few years? “I'm not a zombie fan either, or a horror fan, like at all,” says Tom Taylor, writer of DCeased, in a chat ahead of the release of the sold-out hardcover collection of what ended up being a critical darling and a runaway train on comic shop shelves. “What I am is a DC fan, and I enjoy a challenge. So for me, it was actually something I hemmed and hawed about when [DCeased editor] Ben Abernathy contacted me about it. And then suddenly, I just had all these ideas running through my head. I'm like, ‘Oh my God, and then this could happen, and this could happen. And then we could torture this beloved hero in this terrific way.’”

And torture he did: the body count in DCeased was impressive, both in quantity and quality. Almost no one was safe, but it was the way that the deaths were used to tell the story that made it really shine. “I think I sold a lot of people on ‘Darkseid Was,’” Taylor says. The death of the dark opposition to the New Gods took a moment from beloved prestige series Mister Miracle and repurposed it as a grindhouse inciting event for the zombie plague in DCeased. It was the first of many perfect moments in the series and in fine keeping with much of zombie media culture: irreverent and over the top with more than a hint of satire. “As soon as I said, ‘Look, we're killing God in the opening pages,’” Taylor tells us, “that was enough to go, ‘Oh, okay, so this is happening.’”

From there, though, it was deep character work all the way. This isn’t to say there wasn’t gore or shocking deaths: by the end of the series, the entire Justice League has been remade. But the deaths so typical of zombie fare were used to give incredibly compact, efficient, moving character moments to both the dying and the survivors. By the end of the first issue, Batman is dead, his zombie put down by a shotgun wielding Alfred. Shortly after this horrific incident, the mantle of the Bat is passed to Damian, who had to listen to his father’s death on the phone. “No one ever gets to kill Batman,” Taylor says. “But that's the moment when anyone reading this going, ‘Oh, the gloves are off.’ Don't expect anything. Yes, Batman's going to die. And then Alfred's going to shoot him in the head with Damian on the other line. That was truly awful, I'm sorry.”

As anyone who has read Taylor’s work on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man knows, it’s extremely likely that he will make the reader cry at some point in his run. DCeased was no different, but it was the book's status as a semi-Super Sons book that jerked the most tears from readers: first, with Damian reacting to Bruce’s death, and later with Superman getting infected saving the survivors from a zombie Flash, saying goodbye to Jon before the infection took hold, and finally with Jon fighting his zombie father to buy the survivors more time to flee. “I know my editor cried, he cried handing it to the letterer. Every time we read it, we all misted up a little, which is great that it was that effective,” Taylor says.

read more: The Horrific Return of John Constantine to the Sandman Universe

There were limits. “I couldn't kill the Super Sons. That just could not happen because my son was the one who asked me to include them. So I couldn't do that to him,” he says. “And he cried when he read the Batman fate. He's like, he wanted me to kill Batman, but he didn't want Damian to hear it. So he was very annoyed at me for that one.” Killing Damian or Jon would have robbed the story of most of its emotional center, as well.

Ultimately, the series landed as well as it did because the whole team - Taylor, artists Trevor Hairsine, James Harren, Stefano Gaudiano, and color artist Rain Beredo - were working at the top of their game. “There's this thing [Trevor Hairsine] did where Superman is trying to smile to reassure his son at the exact same second he's saying goodbye, and telling a little joke in the middle of that. And that's incredibly difficult, that sort of nuance for an artist,” Taylor tells us.. “You're not supposed to be able to show three things at once...But Trev can.”

In part because it was a smashing success, Taylor gets to come back to it. A sequel, DCeased: Unkillables starts in February, and takes a look at the villains and antiheroes left behind during and after the heroes’ retreat from Earth. It has Red Hood and Deathstroke leading a team to protect an orphanage full of kids, if that’s any kind of hint at the tone (spoilers: somehow more over the top). And on top of the typical characters one would include in a team led by Red Hood and Deathstroke (Vandal Savage, Cheetah, Lady Shiva, Ravager), there’s also one big surprise that should prove very popular: Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl. “Kelley Puckett/Damion Scott ‘Silent Running,’ [the first arc of their 2000s Batgirl run]...it was so good. It was just perfect comics in every way,” Taylor tells us. “In [Unkillables]you’ve got Deathstroke and Rose and Lady Shiva and Cass, there's lots of family ties happening across the whole book…[and] they end up in an orphanage man, you know, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Perfect.”

read more: The Question Bounces Through Time in New Series

DCeased: Unkillables starts during the events of the first series and run a bit past the end of the book, and Taylor gets to play around in the DCU proper soon. Murdering a planet full of heroes is perhaps the best preparation possible to take the reins on Suicide Squad, coming in December. “I'm renowned for killing characters in ways that actually mean something, or actually hurt the reader. And you know, I do enjoy doing that,” Taylor says of the new book. “Suicide Squad's got a lot of ridiculous in it and a lot of humor.”

As for returning to the DCeased universe after Unkillables ends, there’s nothing to report yet. “I would love to write in this universe more,” Taylor tells us. “ I think there's something really intriguing with this, and certainly where we find our characters at the end of the DCeased, and at the end of DCeased: Unkillables there's certainly potential for more.” One can certainly hope.

The hardcover collection of DCeased, including Taylor’s original pitch and all the variant covers to the books, including the classic horror homage covers, is in stores on November 26th. Suicide Squad #1, with art from Bruno Redondo, is out in December. Unkillables launches in February. Den of Geek’s best comics of 2019 will be out in December! No relation! 

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Feature Jim Dandy

Nov 25, 2019

DC Entertainment

Tom Taylor

Zombies

Superman

Batman

Justice League

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[nebulawriter]

Wonder Woman

I had such a roller coaster of expectations before seeing this movie. If you read my list of anticipated films on new years, you’ll know I was looking forward to this the most. I was ready to defend it from critics just because of my love of Wonder Woman and female superhero movies. 

And then critics started coming in RAVING about it, and I was so happy!....until I realized it couldn’t possibly that perfect. Until I realized that maybe critics liked it because it was basically a marvel movie instead of a DC movie, or they liked it for some reason that I’d end up hating, and my expectations started getting worried.

But then I came out of that theater, and you know what, its not a perfect movie, what is? Sure there were some changes here and there I could make, some things that weren’t the best, but you know fucking what?

Wonder Woman’s heart was there. It was there, right there at the center. And because they nailed that, nothing else matters. 

Lets talk about the flaws real quick, though. 

The Bad Stuff

So, right off the bat the greek god legends they put into this were weird as heck. It was not a traditional greek god telling, and I only realized after I got home that its because they were doing christian greek gods. Okay, but really, Zeus as god, Ares as the fallen angel who hates humans and whispers in their ears to influence them (shush he kinda does a bit) and Diana as Jesus because.....well, it is still a DCEU movie, folks. 

On the whole it didn’t bother me too much it was just weird and I think there were ways to have like....not made your hero jesus? but at least it was love jesus, so okay. 

I felt like there was a scene missing of Diana going back to Themyscira before going into modern times. IDK. MAYBE they’ll want to pull another movie out of that, but i doubt it. 

Am I the only one who kinda wishes after the reveal they replaced David Thewlis with a different actor? Like. Eh. This villain did not feel very Ares god of war. Honestly none of the villains were really that great, but its still a superhero movie, so *shrug*

Did Charlie ever actually snipe someone? we never really found out his story. Was the point he DIDN’T snipe someone? 

This also shows its a DCEU movie because like....every action scene had about 10 times more than necessary slow mo. Some of them were needed. Not all of them. if you played all of those at regular speed you’d cut 10 minutes off the film. 

aaaaaaaand thats it for Bad Stuff, lets talk about Good Stuff

The Good Stuff

The biggest thing here, and I mean the BIGGEST, was the message. It was clear, concise, but...also complicated? and Very very wonderwoman. About humanity not being perfect, but still should be protected, guided to be better. Its about believing in Love in all things. 

And geez the way this played out? The dawning realization for Diana that not one single entity, even a god, caused the cruelty of mankind, but that its more complicated. Its in everyone, even those she loves, maybe even herself. That Good and Evil is not so straightforward. Holy shit. So good. 

The ‘godkiller’ part was also thematically appropriate. I remember a post talking about being disappointed that Wonder Woman was often depicted with a sword these days, and I get that. I thought it was just going to be a truth of the films that we’d be stuck with violent Diana. But damn, when that sword SHATTERED! I mean, I wasn’t totally surprised, I kinda expected that the god killer would have actually been her, but still FUCK. The whole final battle sequence was with  her lasso, and her final move to defeat Ares was one of protection.

Okay this is going to be something I’ll need to see the movie again for, but from what it looked like, while Wonder Woman was totally 100% on board with killing people, for MOST of her fight scenes, The killing blow was always her second. She’d first try to do some nonlethal damage like punching, or using the lasso to trap them. It was only when they continued pursuing she used a sword, and holy fuck if THAT isn’t thematically appropriate for Wonder Woman. The others, sure, Steve was ready to shoot to kill. But that was Diana’s 2nd move. 

The dialogue pieces were nice. People keep saying the romance between Steve and Diana is on point, and it is. Its MAYBE a tad rushed when they get to the actual kissing part, but I’ll put that down as it was war and they had little time. I DID appreciate that even after the kissy stuff, they didn’t treat each other any different. 

That’s actually another great point, Steve Trevor was marvelous. He was sorta the comedic relief (brilliant idea to combine that with the love interest) but he was heartfelt when he needed to be. I was so in love with the moment he wrapped the lasso around his own hand. After he had been imprisoned in that thing, it was like, the ultimate trust move on his part. And trust clearly doesn’t come easily for him. Plus he was such a good counterpoint to Diana’s ideals. I was sad he died, but did kinda expect it. 

THIS FILM HAS DIVERSITY!!!! Its not perfect, and there’s still a LOT of white, but of the main crew, one was brown, another Native American (actually that was another great point in the thematically “things are more complicated than they appear”) Although...did they say his tribe? Hmm. That is disappointing now that I think about it.....BUT the BACKGROUND characters were also pretty diverse and that was...that was amazing for a ‘historical’ movie. Honestly, they could have made everyone white and there would have been complaints, but they’d be protected mostly. First off there was Nyobe with the Amazons (!!!!!). Then in the background you had even more, I saw multiple background actors with Turbans and everything and it was...it was glorious. 

Also I think they tried to sneak in some lesbians. They never made it overt, but we all saw the scene where Antiope died and was crowded by her niece, her sister, and Other Amazon who came running. Also, she’s dead, what more proof do you need of lesbianship? (cries forever)

But yeah. Flawed? Maybe. But Holy SHIT this was a good movie. It had that good balance of humor and action and moral compass. But like I said, it had heart. And thats what makes a superhero film. 

Also a boss soundtrack, holy SHIT