#also look into vandal savage

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP - Death and Taxes

Broke college student but also the Ghost King Danny looking at the stack of complaint forms in his inbox about people cheating death. In a stroke of sleep deprived inspiration, he issues a royal decree that anyone who has properly died before (I.e biologically dead, not just clinically dead) is still a citizen of the Infinite Realms, even if they were resurrected. And have to pay income tax to the Crown.

He establishes the Infinite Realms Revenue Service, recruits the ghosts of some meticulous accountants and sends them after all the assholes who think they can escape Death and Taxes. Starting with the worst offenders (ie those who have escaped death the longest/most often). Your tax bracket scales with how many times you died.

Just picture Ra's al-Ghul, in the middle of giving some speech to his assassin cult when this Phil Coulson looking ghost dude shows up behind him to "discuss the back taxes he owes to the Crown".

Every magic user worth their salt is suddenly swamped with messages from panicked villains and heroes who are trying to figure out wtf is going on and how to get out of this. Constantine is sweating bullets.

Danny hires Valerie to do mortal side "casework", because a, she's just as saddled with student debt as he is b, has worked fast food and knows how to handle asshole customers c, doesn't take shit from anybody.

Imagine Vandal Savage, Felix Faust and Red Hood awkwardly sitting in a waiting room with a stack of documents each, ready for their number to be called so they can dispute their claims. Being called in and utterly flummoxed at the unflappable, bored young woman at the desk who somehow has files on everything about you - birth record, death record(s), who you killed and when records... now declare your income as a crime lord/dictator/sorcerer, sir.

Meanwhile Danny is planning on how he can allocate the taxes to open a soup kitchen for Lunch Lady to work at and similar shit. He is determined to be a good king, dammit!

[tr1nd2de]

Old enough

I just saw a post from Wonderjanga (C.C. And Great Grandpa Wayne), and it improved my head cannon about Billy telling the league, that he remembers everything he went through in those 84 years of the time bubble.

I wasn't going to post this but I changed my mind. In my Head Cannon, Billy is already older, like 16 or 17 years old. He has been in the league for a few years since he was a kid.

Ever since Captain Marvel (or Billy Batson) joined the league, he's hardly ever asked for a reunion so it would obviously be a proven thing to deal with. Bruce was worried about this, for a few weeks now Billy has been acting strangely, missing some meetings and not responding to the communicators or the messages we send him.

So him calling a meeting was important, especially because he said it was urgent. The league members were quick to arrive, even Flash who is usually late arrived early, Billy didn't say much he just looked down trying to understand something... something was wrong Bruce could feel it.

Billy: Thank you for coming, I would like to say that the problem is not the end of the world, at least not our world but mine. I recently discovered why Fawcett has so many mental hospitals.

Superman: What do you mean by that Billy?

Billy: Do you remember the Justice Squad?

Wonder Woman: Yes, I fought alongside them in the second war, its members were Bullet Man and Woman, Golden Arrow, Mr. Scarlet and his helper Pinky, Mega Spy and Ibis the Invincible.

Green Arrow: From what we know, they returned to the United States for an urgent government mission. We have no further information about them to this day. Some myths say they were killed, others say they deserted and disappeared from the map. I prefer to believe the latter.

Billy: I found out what happened to them. When they returned for an urgent mission, they were assigned to deal with a being called King Kull. Just like Vandal Savage he is also a caveman, high intelligence and physical condition. In prehistoric times, King Kull was the ruler of a race of proto-humans known as the Undermen (also called the Beastmen), a brutish but technologically advanced race who ruled over humanity until they were finally overthrown in a revolt. Kull survived into the 20th century trapped in a state of suspended animation. When he woke up he decided that humans should suffer the same as he suffered, so he built a Suspendium bomb.

Batman: What would Suspendium be?

Billy: Suspendium was an artificial compound developed by Dr Silvana.

Flash: Since when has Silvana been alive?

Billy more than me and you

J'onn: Where are you going with this Billy?

Billy:Well... I-I knew Fawcett wasn't a "normal" place, not because of the abundant magic that pours into the city from the Rock of Eternity, but because of everything, the culture that hasn't advanced, the fashion sense that hasn't changed, and so on. I kept this in my head and went looking for answers, not only out of curiosity but because of memories that didn't make sense. Memories that I no longer remembered, I lived them.

Black Canary : Are you okay Billy?

Billy: yes, as far as possible.

Billy: I followed the clues that my memories gave me, and I arrived at an old building, the facade of Sivana, one of the Solar Centers, there was a passage to the basement and there I discovered where the old heroes of the Second World War ended up. They were trapped in a state of suspended animation, all of them, I came to the conclusion that the effect of the Suspendium had worn off after all these years. Apparently the Justice Squadron was unable to get Kull to detonate the bomb, everyone on Fawcett was affected, the heroes and Kull were trapped in a state of suspended animation that has not yet passed.

(Hal) Green lantern: Holy shit...

Billy: Yeah, holy shit. Well that was my report for the month, I would like to take a really long vacation, recommended by my psychiatrist.

Black canary: Psychiatrist!?!?!

Billy: Yeah, I'm seeing a-a psychiatrist, after discovering that my life was a loop of suffering and pain, finally my mind gave out and I developed a dissociative personality disorder, I-I- this is the first time I've come to consciousness. I-I-I have a few already, one of them is an 8 year old child called Hedwing, the other my supposed evil twin, all I fight are the sins, he was born from them I don't know his name yet...

Black Canary gets up and goes to Billy and hugs him."Oh Billy you don't deserve this"

Batman takes off his hood and stands up, hugging Billy. "I can't do much for you, but I will do what I can to help you, money won't be a problem."

wiping away the tears. "T-thanks, but that's not the whole problem, m-my Captain form also had new personalities."

After coming back from the shock Superman says: My God, I didn't know that was possible...

Not either, but the personalities that came are called Lord Shazam and a goth who says he has no name. says Billy leaving the hug: Lord Shazam prefers not to leave the Rock and Goth likes to explore the world.

So you mean that all that discussion about you being a child was a complete waste of time? Flash says trying to break the ice.

running his hand through his hair and leaning back in his chair (Hal) Green Lantern says: Nice try Barry, but how old are you Billy? Because the second war was about 85 years ago.

Well... coincidence or not, the Suspendium bomb exploded 84 years ago, in 1940 when I was 10 years old and had already been at war for 1 year. says Billy sitting in his chair.

Living for a long time has its consequences, Billy, but you are not alone, not today or tomorrow, because you have us and me, we will help you, little brother. Diana says, smiling at Billy.

Thanks but still, it's not something I like since well... I was childhood friends with Thomas Wanye. Billy looks at Bruce.

My father? Were you my father's childhood friend?.

Oh yes, how could I forget, Tommy was wild but fun, we got a good scolding from our parents, good times, I think that if the bomb hadn't exploded I would be a friend of the family, and possibly the one who would have been adopted would have been you. Smiling from ear to ear, Billy says looking at Bruce.

I don't know if it was good but that's it, have a good day, or night or afternoon, aah be well.

The End.

[youcalledsworld]

Danny Phantom is a time traveling hoe

Danny really likes going on time travel missions for Clockwork. That's not to say every mission was easy. Some could only be described as suicidal, thankfully he was already half dead so that was a moot point.

Some missions got so dangerous and stressful that Danny needed help realising some tension. So it wasn't uncommon for Danny to sleep with different women from the past.

Because Danny never stayed in the past, he didn't realise he fathered many children. When Clockwork told him of this he demanded to go back to help raise them, but Clockwork pointed out that he couldn't. So instead Clockwork gave him a list so he could check on his children and descendents.

After getting an earful from Jazz about being so irresponsible he took off. First he flew to a small town aptly called Smallville. His son is called Jonathan Kent, he is a farmer and married to a kind looking woman called Martha and they adopted a boy named Clark.

Next he was off to Gotham City, he apparently had three descendants in the city. He has a son named Arthur Brown who is the villain Clue Master, and the father of his granddaughter Stephanie also known as Spoiler. His third descendant in Gotham is his great great granddaughter Harleen Quinzel. When he found out he vowed to help her as much as he could, so the first thing he did was get rid of that clown.

He then went to find one Vandal Savage who he found out was an immortal supervillain. Vandal also fathered many children and had many descendants he would have to look for.

He was also surprised to learn that Hippolyta the Queen of the Amazon was his daughter. Which meant that Wonder Woman is his Granddaughter.

Who else is related to Danny?

[starlight-eclipsed]

Rockets Pointed Up at the Stars (Pt 2/2)

Part I

Despite what Phantom had implied, tracking down Batman wasn’t done in an instant.

Sure, they’d be back seconds after when they left. But with time travel in the mix, that could be hours or days apart. They’d already followed him back to his initial landing time, when Neanderthals were still around (and wow, was there a difference between factually knowing some people had been around since the dawn of humanity and physically seeing Vandal Savage in the flesh as a caveman). According to the trail left by Clockwork, the ghostly guardian of the timestream, they were getting close.

Apparently Bruce couldn’t make things easy and was also making jumps through time, which if left unchecked would cause the timeline collapse that Clockwork had recruited Phantom for. Specifically Phantom, as it turns out the thief that liked messing with him on weekends was also the Master of Space and the King of everything.

(Phantom insisted it was just a title, and he was only king of the Ghost Zone. It just so happened that the Ghost Zone was also known as the Infinite Realms, which contained every reality of every universe in existence.

And he’d won that title by defeating the previous ruler in single combat.

The High King had to scramble to catch Tim when his knees gave out at the realization that he had unknowingly gone toe to toe with someone who made Darkseid look like a toddler in a sandbox. What the fuck, Phantom.) 

As of now, they were waiting for the actual Blackbeard’s ship to dock to investigate the fabled Black Pirate he supposedly fought a week ago, whose description matched Bruce’s. Phantom had gone to grab them something to eat while they waited in a tavern, leaving Tim to save his seat. If someone told him even a week ago that this was where he’d be, Tim would’ve interrogated them for hours to try to figure out what it meant.

But no, he was just sitting at a table in the 18th century, a medallion from the Master of Time hung around his neck, waiting for his hero-turned-king-gone-rogue to return with food while they waited for Blackbeard the legendary pirate to show up. Jason would probably kill to be here in his place.

Tim was broken out of his thoughts when Phantom returned, two bowls of soup in hand and balancing an additional plate of tough-looking bread on his forearm.

They’d been forced to ditch their masks when Puritans tried to have them hanged a century ago, now dressing in more accurate clothing to better blend in. Phantom had apologized for discovering Tim’s real name, going as far as to reveal his own secret identity: a black haired blue-eyed teen named Danny.

“Heads up, it’s gonna be either too salty or bland as wood. I’m pretty sure the cook wanted to strangle me for asking too many questions about the ingredients.”

Tim snorted, accepting his bowl, “Is that why we don’t get spoons?”

“Nah, the owner doesn’t trust customers to return the utensils. Drink from the bowl, though you might want to soak your bread if you don’t wanna pull a muscle chewing it.”

“Noted.” Tim dared to take a sip, mulling over the taste. It wasn’t anywhere near Alfred’s level, but a step above his own adventures in the kitchen before getting a hard ban post-pancake incident. It tasted closer to brine than soup, but it went surprisingly well with the bread.

Phantom hummed in pleasure, proving yet again that his standards for food consisted of ‘isn’t actively resisting consumption’. Tim could hardly judge him for it, seeing as his own bar wasn't much higher.

“So, I’d say we have an hour or two until our man arrives. Want to go over the plan again?”

Tim shrugged. “Unless it’s changed from ‘confirm Bruce was already here before following the nearest skip in time’, I think we’re good.”

Phantom nodded, silence falling over them as they ate their way through dinner. Tim kept an ear out for trouble, but the tavern was quite peaceful this time in the evening. It was likely to change once the Queen Anne's Revenge finished docking, but for now he’d savor the ambiance.

“Wanna play twenty questions?”

He blinked, refocusing on Phantom sitting across from him. “Huh?”

“I just figured it might pass the time. Twenty questions, no lies, though you can reject them if you don’t want to answer.”

Tim considered it before nodding, “Sure. How old are you?”

Phantom grinned, “Seventeen, same as you. Why Robin?”

“I wanted to help Batman after the previous one died. Nobody else would intervene, so I stepped in. Why Phantom?”

“Okay, hear me out…it’s a pun.”

Tim paused, gesturing for him to elaborate.

“Before I was half-ghost, my last name was Fenton. So as a ghost, Danny Fenton became—”

“Danny Phantom,” Tim groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were subtle.”

“Hey, nobody expects the dead guy to moonlight as a living person. Sunlight? Whatever. Favorite hobbies?”

“Photography and skateboarding. Favorite power?”

“Ooh, that’s a hard one. I’d have to say flight. Nothing beats flying at night. Sexuality?”

Tim spluttered, making Phantom laugh as he blushed. “What the heck?!”

“Hey, you can always skip,” the asshole offered.

“No, it just caught me off guard. I’m bi. You?”

“Pan. And trans, while we’re at it. Ghosts can shapeshift, so I got a perfect transition at the low cost of death.”

Tim snorted, “Death is an ally.”

“Absolutely, it comes for us all,” he winked. “If you had a single power, what would it be?”

“Something so I wouldn’t need to sleep. I can manage otherwise. What determines the things you take?”

Phantom grinned, “Once a detective. But seriously, I just aim for things that look cool and won’t be missed too much. Some people will kick up a fuss over their trash if they think it’s worth stealing. Thoughts on soulmates?”

He stopped, some part of him catching on how serious the otherwise silly sounding question was phrased. As if the way he answered this could mean life or death. “You mean, a couple acting like they’re made for each other?”

“Ah, I wasn’t sure whether you had them in your universe. On my Earth, everyone is born with some kind of connection to at least one other person. Shared thoughts, a timer countdown to the time they first meet, stuff like that. Platonic or romantic, they were called soulmates.”

“So…someone you’re destined to meet and get along with? Is it magic based?”

A nod. “Humanity’s done research but they haven’t concluded on that yet. I asked an Ancient whose domain was centered around it, and they said it was determined by a soul’s resonance. I don’t know the specifics, but something about how all souls that resonate a certain way are born with soulmarks, so that they have an easier time finding each other. There are studies about how soulmates tend to understand each other easier, but other than that there’s no empirical proof that they’re different from any other relationship.”

Tim considered it. What it might’ve been like, to be told the second he met Dick that fateful night at the circus, ‘this boy will permanently alter the course of your life’. To have been able to approach Batman that first time, point to his wrist, and automatically be listened to instead of resorting to blackmail. How much easier it would have been to avoid the misunderstandings that defined their whole family.

Then again, it would be just his luck to have been born in that world and not have any soul connections to the Wayne family, making him work twice as hard for the same level of trust. Or to be born without resonance at all, and be left knowing that he was truly beyond reach. What would that do to him, in a society where people could point at the worst criminals and say ‘even that monster has someone they love’? To be soulmates with a genuinely terrible person?

“It sounds like a mixed blessing,” Tim said, meeting Danny’s gaze directly. “I would love to have someone like that by my side, and I’d be terrified of being defined by it.”

Danny leaned back, wearing a self-deprecating smile that Tim was quickly learning to recognize. “Yeah, that’s fair. Your turn.”

“What…what is your personal experience with soulmates? If I’m allowed to ask.”

He hissed out a breath through his teeth. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought you’d say.”

“I can ask something else?”

Danny waved a hand in dismissal. “I’ll answer, just lemme figure out how to put it.”

“I’ll return our dishes while you think through what you want to say.” Tim stood with his empty bowl, easily accepting the other bowl and plate as they were handed to him.

Walking back, Tim cataloged the people hanging around the tavern. A group of friends huddled around a dozen plates, decked out in gear that made it look like they just finished having some grand adventure. The bartender, a sly smile on her face as a drunken man clumsily flirted with his own wife. The cook instructing a boy to retrieve the dishes from Tim, sending a calculating glance in Danny’s direction before nodding at Tim and turning back to the fire.

Tim didn’t spend a lot of time in public anymore. His fame attracted far too much attention now that the press could consistently recognize him. But maybe once things settled back down again, he’d try civilian life again. There was something different about living alongside the people he worked to save, instead of far above looking down.

By the time he returned to his seat, Danny looked ready to talk.

“My soulmate rejected me when we were little.”

Tim blinked. “You can do that?”

“Ah…sorta? Depending on the connection, one side can choose to shut it down. Mine let us exchange messages. I was a dumb kid, and sent out a ton every day to try and get any kind of response that they were out there. They got sick of it and blocked me.” Danny laughed, but it wasn't very funny.

“I’m sorry. That sounds awful.”

“Don’t be. I annoy everyone—it was only a matter of time before I did something to chase them away.”

“Would you stop doing that?”

Danny blinked, tilting his head in silent question.

“Look, I get that you went through a lot of shit before coming to Gotham. But you keep acting like it’s a given that everyone you meet will be awful to you, and it sucks to hear you talk like that when I’m having fun with you. It wasn't your fault, so stop claiming credit for it. If I can’t justify losing Robin, you can’t justify being abandoned.”

“...alright then.” Danny huffed, folding his arms and pouting. “Neither of us can talk shit about ourselves.”

The twinkle in his eyes was enough for Tim to know he got through to him.

— - —

Tim leaned up against a fence in the Wild West, shifting uncomfortably in his dust coated clothes. Danny was perched beside him, smugly radiating a cool breeze that may very well have been the only thing keeping Tim upright in the summer sun.

“There’s too much sunlight here, it’s unnatural.”

“That’s just your Gothamite showing, city-boy.”

“Fuck off.”

Danny’s laughter had become a staple of the past few days spent traveling through history. In turn, Tim found himself happier than he’d been in ages, making sarcastic comments about anything that caught his eye in an attempt to get Danny to laugh more.

So far, he’d yet to fail to bring at least a smile to the other’s face.

Right now they were in the late 19th century, following rumors that Bruce had somehow crossed paths with Vandal Savage again. It was bordering on ridiculous, and a part of Tim wondered if this was why the legendary criminal stayed well away from Gotham waters. He was going to have to ask Bruce what was up with that after this whole mess was over.

“So,” Danny started, leaning closer to him. “Have any plans for when we’re back in modern day?”

Tim shrugged, “I see a lengthy report to Batman, hours spent explaining everything he missed while he was gone. I swear I’ll be up all week helping him catch up.”

A snort. “I meant about Robin. No offense, but you looked miserable in your new costume.”

He paused. He hadn’t quite processed the knowledge that bringing Bruce back wouldn’t also bring back his role as Robin. It was obvious whenever he actually thought about it, but to him Bruce coming home was still synonymous to going back to how things were before he was lost in time.

“I don’t know…Red Robin was just supposed to be temporary. It was one of Red Hood’s old aliases, not really mine.”

Danny turned to him. “Do you want a new one? If you decide now, we can lay the basis for some local legend to act as future inspiration for the new title.”

Tim elbowed him, “We aren’t messing with the timeline to establish lore for my new identity.”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun! I did it back in my original world, there’s ancient frescos of me winning chariot races and everything.”

“How are you and Clockwork still on speaking terms?”

“Oh, he totally finds it as funny as I do. He just has to pretend to be serious all the time so the Observants don’t crack down on him for shirking his duties.”

“You’re a bad influence on the embodiment of time,” Tim concluded with wide eyes.

A wide grin stretched across Danny’s face as he lied through his teeth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“How did you even—he’s millennia older than you!”

“Counterparts, remember? It’s not a soul bond, but it’s easy to see ourselves in each other. Besides, time is relative; he's like a weird grandpa-uncle-cousin.”

Tim shook his head, but couldn’t quite force down the laughter in his lungs.

“Hey, I know for a fact I’m not the only bad influence here. No matter how much you claim that sleep is for the dead, I’m physical proof against that.”

“Whatever. You know when the next jump is?”

Danny tilted his head, as if listening for something only meant for his ears. “If Bats already came through here, there’s only two big timesinks left he could be in. Either sometime in the 20th century, or in a designated Vanishing Point.”

“Vanishing Point?”

“Yeah, it’s something of a collaboration between the Observants, Clockwork, and Ghost Writer. Each universe has an archive set right around its eventual heat death. It’s like an empty room in a video game with props the devs left in to keep the system running after inadvertently designing the whole code in reference to a lemon.”

“I…never mind. Why would Batman be there?”

“Oh, ‘cause he’s traveling through time without one of these,” Danny tapped Tim’s chest, right where his Time Medallion lay under his shirt. “They’re designed to safely disperse the energy gained each time we make a jump, among other things. Otherwise we’d just be building up enough to wipe the timeline from existence. Or something like that, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Tim suddenly realized that this was what his former teammates meant when they complained about him executing strategies without explaining his thought process first. He still stood by his stance that it was more effective to explain things as they happened, but he was developing a new sense of empathy for them.

“Okay. Batman is a time-charged universe level bomb threat, and is getting funneled into the Backrooms so he blows up with everything else in existence. What can we do to stop that?”

Danny blinked. “Sorry, I thought it was obvious. I already carry a medallion with me wherever I go, so I was just gonna have you put the spare Clocky gave me on him to filter it out.”

Yep. This was karma for never giving people the full story behind any of his plans.

“I’m going to need you to go over everything we need to do when we get to this Vanishing Point. Twice.”

“Okie doke! So I’m gonna leave you with my spare medallion to help Bats while I throw down with Darkseid’s hyper-dimensional mind slave he sent after him to ensure his demise—”

Gift baskets. Tim owed so many people gift baskets for putting up with his bullshit.

— - —

When Tim found him, Danny was perched on the same apartment building they’d last met on.

His hood was down, freeing his flaming white hair to burn without heat in the night. His face was turned towards the sky, looking for all like he was somehow stargazing in spite of the thick smog that blanketed the city. It would’ve made for a stunning picture, if not for how soul crushingly lonely the scene felt.

Danny startled when Tim’s grappling hook latched onto the rooftop beside him. The halfa was quick to brighten upon seeing Tim down below, scooting over to make room for him as he reeled in the line and pulled himself up.

“Fancy meeting you here, Detective.”

Tim huffed, readjusting his utility belt. “The others won’t stop pestering me about how Batman was brought back when I shouldn’t have access to any time travel devices. It’s a miracle I was even able to get out of the Batcave without getting smothered.”

“You didn’t tell them about me?”

“You didn’t want them to know.”

Danny looked stunned. He physically shook himself out of it, a glowing green blush rising to his cheeks as he turned away. “Thanks.”

Tim absentmindedly nodded as he smoothly slipped a black marker from his belt while Danny was distracted. This had the potential to either go very smoothly or backfire completely, but it had to be done to sate his curiosity. Now that Bruce was home and he’d gotten the time to think over their conversations, pieces had started to align in his head. It was just a matter of taking the leap and confirming it for himself.

Reaching up to his own cheek, Tim wrote in practiced motions, focusing on the thought of sending it through to whoever was on the other side.

Danny jumped, hand slapping to his own cheek as he whipped his head around to stare at Tim in open shock. He shrugged sheepishly.

“Your description of soulmates was familiar. Between that and the cloak, I really should’ve put it together sooner.”

“You’re…not mad?”

Tim shifted, stashing the marker back in its rightful place. “I wish I knew sooner. I never meant to hurt you—Batman was getting on my case about the writing on my arms being recognizable in costume, and I never thought to wonder why it was happening in the first place.”

Danny shook his head, a wet chuckle escaping his lips. “You couldn’t have known. It would’ve freaked anyone out, getting messages from a different universe on their skin.”

“Neither did you. Know, I mean. Me blocking the connection was never on you.”

“Well…”

“I mean it.”

“Fine, fine. So…does that mean…?”

Tim carefully reached out his hands to grasp onto his soulmate’s, intertwining their fingers. It was remarkable how easily they fit together. “I don’t know if it’s romantic or not, but I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”

Danny collapsed forward into Tim’s arms. He could hardly make out the muffled affirmative, but the message was crystal clear. Leaning down to set his chin on the top of Danny’s head, he let himself savor this moment.

Tomorrow, he could beg Danny to experiment with the extent of their bond. They could talk about new ideas for his hero name, and Danny could get another shot at convincing him to go on a worldwide anti-multi-billionaire tour. The two of them had potentially forever to work out this newfound aspect of their relationship.

For the time being, Tim relaxed back against a chain link fence with his soulmate in his arms, the word ‘BOO’ scribbled in black marker across both their faces.

— - —

And that's a wrap! There's definitely room for more, but these were the all the scenes I wanted to cover ^-^

I think in this universe, Danny and Tim end up working as a slightly morally grey hero duo. They go global for a bit, Tim wanting to train under more people to better keep up with Danny (who follows along invisibly as backup). This eventually gets the attention of Ra's, and you can imagine how that goes XD

They're a bit overly attached; neither of them really have a healthy sense of boundaries, which causes a bit of conflict here and there. Tim is the one that insists on taking breaks to avoid becoming too codependent, which only really results in them deepening the soul bond to a ridiculous degree. Ironically it's during this that Tim discovers how he can send pressure marks through to Danny, who immediately converts it to morse code (oops).

Thanks for reading!

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@skulld3mort-1fan @profoundsoulsong @daemonlogical @bobred18 @ashoutinthedarkness @hilariousseagoat @undead-essence @ekatkit @wolfjackle @awkwardmaiden @vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

[lazycats-stuff]

Hii, can I request dc x teen male reader? They’re partly part of the batfam, he’s Batman’s second youngest son. And he tags along with Batman to a mission with Superman and Wonder Woman, and guess what, they brought their kids too? I mean not like the already existing kids of them, like they’re original characters? Imagine them just not liking eachother at first but they just become best friends during the mission when they almost die and just laugh it off. They are literally just like Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman trio.

Yup yup, you sure can. I feel like the OG trio would freak out at the similarity. I think I kind of strayed off, but I kind off got hit with inspiration, so I hope you don't mind.

Summary: Kids of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman don't like each other. After a near death experience, they become friends.

Warnings: explosions, cursing, tension between teammates, they like each other after near death experience, injuries, OG trio is worried, OC kids, except for Batman.

(Y/N) knew that missions with kids his age was going to be a normal thing. He knew it and there wasn't anything he could have done. But to go with Althea Prince and James Kent? There was no such thing that would make Bruce drag him on a mission with them.

The trio hated each other. (Y/N) didn't like how Althea thought that men were beneath her and James is too soft for (Y/N)'s liking. That boy is a personification of a golden retriever and his father was no better too.

Althea and (Y/N) had way more problems than (Y/N) and James had. While James was somewhat okay with the no kill rule, Althea found the rule ridiculous and thought that the evil should be eradicated. No matter what.

That grinded (Y/N)'s gears and it made him want to bash her face against any type of hard surface, but he couldn't. He would be grounded and she wasn't worth it. At all.

But this mission was a test for them. This was going to be their first solo mission without the supervision of their parents. It was just a covert one and intel collecting. Get in and get out.

And that's why they were siting in Justice League HQ, in a dull meeting room. Batman was presenting something that (Y/N) already knew. He has heard it before they left.

" Now, (V/N) will take the lead on this, since it's covert and intel gathering. I don't want to hear any arguments about this. " Batman said, knowing that the trio was going to argue about it.

But lets be honest, if there was anybody who knew how to be stealthy and quiet, it was (Y/N). Well, (V/N) in this case. (Y/N) forced himself to suppress a smile from blooming on his face.

Take that you two. He glanced at the two of them and Althea frowned a bit and James just rolled his eyes. Oh you two sacks of shit.

" Now, (V/N), would you like to take over? " Batman asked, well, demanded. (V/N) nodded and stood up from his chair. Bruce moved over and (Y/N) stood in his place. It felt weird, but you know, it made him feel powerful.

" Right. Like my father said, this is a covert and intel gathering. Which means it's get in and get out quietly. This is a base on a remote island in the Pacific ocean. We have reasons to believe that that's where Vandal the Savage and Deathstroke may have stashed their weapons, however, that is not our primary cause. It's intel that it's kept there. We will probably encounter Deathstroke or Lady Shiva, since those two started working together. " (Y/N) said, pressing a few buttons on the screen keyboard.

" This is how it's supposed to look. It's a pretty classical look for a base, but the security system is very tight and nearly impossible to hack into. However, I saw a small portion of the system and I know that I can hack into it. Now, the problem would be Deathstroke. If you see him, call me through the comms. Don't try to fight him, because he will win. " (Y/N) said and he nearly wanted to smack Althea for rolling her eyes.

" And also, he has experience fighting meta humans, like Wonder Woman and Superman. " (Y/N) said, glancing at the said duo, who nodded in agreement.

" (V/N) is right, he is not to be underestimated. " Wonder Woman said.

Batman stayed quiet, watching as (Y/N) dealt with the two. (Y/N) was growing into a brave and a mature person. And his hero side was no different. He knew that the trio didn't like each other and that was just normal and in life you are going to work with shitheads, as Jason would so kindly put it. And you would have to know how to deal with them.

Again, it's just life.

And Bruce could tell that (Y/N) was dealing with them well. Sure, his way was sarcastic and sometimes it could get ugly, but it was funny and sometimes it was outright murder worthy.

But Bruce loved him none the less.

" We are going first thing tomorrow evening, believe it or not. And that would be it. " (V/N) said and the other two left the room with their parents. Bruce and (Y/N) stayed back and (Y/N) looked at his father.

" You did good. You stayed professional and I could tell you wanted to smack Althea, but you controlled yourself. "

(Y/N) smiled, happy to hear this from Bruce. It wasn't like he never praised his sons, quite the opposite, but when he did, you know that he meant it.

" Lets go back home. Your brothers would like to spend time with you before you go on the mission. " Bruce said and the father son duo left the room, moving to the Zeta tubes.

" I know, but I just want to sleep. I had a tiring day at school. " (Y/N) admitted as they started the teleporting. Once they got into the cave, they both took their cowls off.

(Y/N)'s hair was going in all of different directions and Bruce ruffled his hair even more with a quiet chuckle. (Y/N) whined, trying to push Bruce's hand away.

" You kids grow up so fast. " Bruce admitted to (Y/N) and gave him a quick hug.

" You say that every year. " (Y/N) retorted, chuckling. It was true though. He said it every year when they did good in something.

" Am I wrong though? I would suggest you go up now. Jason called me and told me that if you aren't up in about 20 minutes he will come to get you himself. And you have about 5 minutes to get up there or he will kidnap you. " Bruce warned and (Y/N) ran into the locker room.

Jason would absolutely make that threat a promise and (Y/N) didn't want to fight with any of them. Bruce shook his head fondly at his sons antics.

All of them are going to be with the death of him.

The young trio was in a plane, flying to their location. It was quiet and they had a few hours to kill before landing down at their designated location. (Y/N) put it on autopilot and leaned back. He adjusted his gauntlets on his hands.

It was slightly nerve wrecking for all of them. When on missions they had supervision, they had guidance and they could call the moment something went wrong.

This time is a bit different. Did they have guidance? Yes. Did they have supervision? No.

But the trio knew that their parents were watching. They weren't completely alone in the dark.

" And what do we do know? I'm bored. " James said, crossing his arms.

" And that doesn't sound like my problem. You know you don't have the stamina to fly so long and you can't be weak for this mission. " (Y/N) responded, rubbing his eyes. He heard a tsk and for a split second he thought that Damian was behind him. But no.

" You know Althea, I wouldn't tsk since you can't fly that long either. " (Y/N) snapped back.

" I thought you two are supposed to be strong. Men like to boast about their strength. " Althea said and (Y/N) turned his head to look at her.

" I still can't believe that you are Wonder Woman's daughter. She doesn't hate men and yet you are so far up your own ass that you can't see reality. Is that the result of Amazon upbringing? " (Y/N) asked, sarcasm slipping through into his voice.

There was silence before she huffed, turning her head away. James sighed, shaking his head. They are supposed to be a team and not sworn enemies.

" Well, this mission is going to go well. "James mumbled and (Y/N) closed his eyes, just ready to meditate and get himself mentally ready for the mission.

The landing was quiet and the trio embarked on the shore. They stopped in the bush and (Y/N) zoomed in the view he had. Thank God for built in binoculars within his cowl.

He saw 2 guarding the door.

" Give me a minute and I will disable the security system. I think we will have about 20 minutes to get in and get out. I will take out the 2 in the front and when we get in, we are separating. I know we don't like each other, but we put all of that aside. Now we are teammates. " (Y/N) said and the two nodded in agreement.

" Good. Comms are going to be on the entire time. And if you see Deathstroke, call me. " (Y/N) said, opening up the tiny computer on his gauntlet. He typed a few buttons and the system was officially down.

(Y/N) took a deep breath. It's time to go.

" Lets go. " (Y/N) said and ran towards the two, seemingly out of nowhere. They didn't have a chance with (Y/N). After taking their cards, he swiped it to open the door.

" Now we split. Wonder Girl, you are going left, there is an office there, see if you can find anything there. Superboy, you are going to the right. There are guard's room on the right so if you see some, knock 'em out. I will go straight for the hardware room. And if I find any weapons, I will destroy them. Comms ON. " (Y/N) said and the other two nodded.

And so they separated. Wonder Girl went left, (V/N) went straight ahead and Superboy went to the right. (Y/N) ran in the hall, passing by the grey walls.

There is a certain adrenaline rush you get on certain types of missions. If he is patrolling in the city, it's something normal and usual, almost like a routine. It was nice, but deep down he is an adrenaline addict and he is just looking for some extra adrenaline.

Missions alone with his dad or with others was a bit better in terms of adrenaline. The missions were always out of Gotham city and he was in place were he has never been before. And it always led to him doing some crazy shit that is guaranteed to give Bruce a lot of grey hairs.

But a mission alone, without the supervision of their parents? It brought out a new wave of adrenaline rush that he has never felt before. It made him feel free and way beyond light. When he started being a vigilante, there was this constant fear. But now, there was no fear.

It was just sheer bravery and intent to get his dad proud. Bruce was already proud, but it would mean everything to (Y/N) that he could prove himself. "

" Yes. I checked everything. And you said yes to my proposition. " Bruce said, looking at the two.

" Are you sure about this Batman? " Wonder Woman asked as they were sitting in the conference room, waiting for their children. None of them are able to sleep without their children in their own homes. Bruce more so then others.

" I know that he wouldn't send them straight into fire. Intel and covert, that much they can handle. " Superman said, clearly agreeing with Batman.

" I know and I know that they are more than capable of doing this mission, but I worry. She is my only daughter and I love her to death. (Y/N) and James are my nephews and I love those two death to. " She said, sighing quietly.

" But I worry about them working together. And also, weren't they supposed to report back? A few minutes ago? "

Everyone was silent before running to the second airplane they had. Yeah... Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let them go alone.

The mission kind of went south. Their cover was blown and now they had to fight their way through the guards. Thankfully, there was no Vandal Savage and his kids, but there was Deathstroke.

Turns out, there was no actual intel. This was meant to be a trap for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Now that ticked (Y/N) off and he couldn't let it happen.

Absolutely not. Nobody threatens his family and just goes on with his business. And he had to settle a score after putting Nightwing out of action for months on end.

And even if he dies and this is the last thing he does, then so be it. Deathstroke didn't have any objections to (Y/N)'s plan. But the plan went tits up when (Y/N) got blown up to the next room. He hissed as he looked down to his stomach.

A shrapnel. A fucking shrapnel. He hissed as he took it out and took a syringe of something similar to the liquid from the Lazarus pit. He pressed the syringe into the wound, allowing the liquid to heal him.

It's a liquid only used in the emergency situations. (Y/N) lunged back at Deathstroke, taking advantage of the surprise. He managed to knock the bastard out. He was huffing at the dull pain, trying to block it out.

" Shit... " (Y/N) cursed, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees. It would all be fine if another bomb exploded, nearly knocking him out cold, but he was dancing on the edge.

He could hear a female and a male voice above him. He was blinking, trying to regain focus. He laughed as he saw their worried faces. They froze, looking at him worried.

" Why are you laughing? " Althea asked, worried beyond belief.

" Because you think a bomb can take me out. " (Y/N) said, laughing even more. When he calmed down, he took a deep breath and looked at the two.

" You two can help me up now. This was a trap for our parents instead. " (Y/N) said and James nodded.

" We know. Comms are always on. " James tried to joke as Althea and him pulled (Y/N) up.

" Our parents are going to kill us. " (Y/N) announced and the other two nodded.

" I don't know about you two, but I'm going to the plane, with or without you. " (Y/N) said and they agreed. The trio ran, just ready to get the hell out of here.

It was nice to see their parents, ready to fight for them. All 3 fussed about them, Bruce more than others. (Y/N) knew that they are going fight about rest when they come home. At one point, the trio started laughing out of nowhere and the OG trio looked worried. Some inwardly, some outwardly.

" What is going on? " Superman asked, looking around for some answers.

Nobody answered him.

After 2 months, they worked together again, but with their parents with them. It was a one completely 180 from their previous communication. The OG trio noticed a lot of similarities.

They were turning into their parents.

" Should we be worried? " Wonder Woman asked once, watching the footage from their last mission. It was just like them.

" I mean... Are we bad role models? " Superman asked out loud and Batman stayed quiet.

" No. But... You know, lets see where this goes. " Superman suggested. Bruce just pinched the bridge of his nose. May God help them.

[oifaaa]

Wait what the hell is happening on the current arc? It sounds like this comic year should be erased from the public consciousness.

Sure spoilers for Gotham war but Bruce was sleeping for a wee while bc of the fall out of night terrors he also lost a hand and bc of failsafe he's also not really himself rn bc of him unlocking his secret personality of zur - anyway catwoman calls everyone to a meeting to tell them what she's been up to which is that she's been scouting the goons from the other villains and training them so they only steal from the rich which obviously Bruce doesn't like so he starts going after the people selina has been training - most of the bats are kinda just on the sidelines but are more in-line with selina apart from Jason who is completely on selinas side (except for in his own solo Gotham war side story which I honestly don't know when it takes place bc in it selina and Jason fall out bc jason doesn't actually believe any of the goons are gonna change and they'll crawl back to joker and the rest eventually ) but in the main story Jason is very much on selinas side to the point where she's helping him distract Bruce - the first time Bruce and Jason fight the rest of the bats (dick Tim cass steph and duke) show up and Bruce beats quiet a few of them but is struggling a bit against Jason at the end until damian swoops in to save him - damian and Bruce retreat to the redbrick House (which has been Bruce's base basically since alfred died a few years back) the next morning a lawyer comes to the redbrick to tell Bruce someone has brought Wayne Manor which is surprising to Bruce so he rushes to the batcave to find out oh no vandal savage has brought Wayne Manor - Bruce and Jason end up fighting again when Jason is pulling another heist with a few of the goons but this time Bruce kidnaps Jason and injects him with something he claims it changes Jason personality so every time he feels adrenaline he will basically have a panic attack - dick at this point is looking for Jason but ends up finding damian Tim also shows up and damian gets handcuffed to a street lamp - batman shows up and starts fighting dick and Tim and dick finds out what Bruce did to Jason- Bruce ends up fleeing leaving damian behind which obviously really upsets damian - back with Jason selinas lieutenant shows up and reveals she's been vandals daughter this whole time and wants to know if Jason would be interested in immortality only for her to realise Jason's too far into his fear to really be of use to her so she leaves him alone in honestly one of the most heartbreaking panels I've ever seen

[zahri-melitor]

Spoilery thoughts on Batman #148:

This story was pretty clearly drafted to be a 5 or 6 issue story, probably originally resolving in #150 as bringing the family together is a nice round number issue sort of event. My best guess is that the Nakano and Vandal Savage plot and some more of the back ups around the captured villains got cut to the bone to speed things up after Zdarsky was told #150 was needed for Absolute Power (and #149 is apparently doing the epilogue to set up for whatever goes on in Absolute Power). There’s a couple of really clear “and we just skipped 3-4 pages” sort of moments in the shape of the script for this issue (and in hindsight in #147) that if it had been allowed even an extra issue the story would have more space to breathe.

And despite that revised pagecount, Zdarsky still manages to deliver the moments he wanted to bring for Dick, Babs, Jason, Tim and Damian, so I’m impressed by that. Cass unfortunately did get relegated, but if I’m being objective about this, DC’s still waffling over whether Current Cass is adopted or not, and Zdarsky was already juggling a big list of characters (plus part of the point of having a big cast is that you don’t HAVE to focus on all the cast).

I did like how much space Zdarsky still found for the Damian-Tim-ZEA Robin plot. That did NOT resolve the way I predicted from the costume’s first hints in the background (I was totally on team ‘Tim puts on the costume sacrificially to try to get through to ZEA Bruce thinking he can handle this, and gets brainwashed’), but it was satisfying in terms of acknowledging Tim and Damian’s relationship (it was giving me Gates of Gotham vibes, which are the best Tim and Damian working together vibes), there was more discussion of the different elements both bring to the role of Robin and what’s good and bad about each, and how ZEA Robin doesn’t understand what makes you Robin. It was a pretty balanced fight scene. Tim gives Damian an assist, Damian gives Tim an assist, Tim’s a bit too overconfident and pays for it, Damian was a bit petulant about having to sit part of it out (though being tied up is like, PURE Robin aesthetic).

As far as the costumes go for the Robins Fight scene: honestly, switching Tim into a darker costume that was black and green with red accents complemented Damian’s black and grey with red accents aesthetic well, and contrasted with the ZEA costume being so bright red and yellow (which is playing off the original red, yellow and purple ZEA suit). Jimenez also gave everyone a different mask shape, which also helped distinguish everyone when you have three ‘Robins’ appearing in the same fight. All the Bat redesigns at the moment are leaning into darker palettes, and I appreciated the choice to go back to green as Tim’s ‘colour’, rather than red, given: his pre-2006 history used to use green quite often as his distinguishing colour; he can share it with Babs (team green for the computer nerds!); it’s not a colour they’ve particularly focused on for Damian for ages; and it gets him out from under having to share colour palette with Jason, given Jason can’t keep a costume consistent for a year.

It’s fine. It’s not my favourite Robin design I’ve ever seen, it’s not the worst Robin design I’ve ever seen (even on Tim), and it made the fight a lot clearer to follow.

I really liked that Barbara’s contribution was Oracle based and it made her inclusion make sense. I cackled at Dick getting to punch Daniel Captio (I was having serious echoes of the Cave argument in Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive, and from Tim’s delighted face for that punch I think Tim was too).

In terms of Jason, having him volunteer to take on the Lazarus-linked part of the plot and tell Bruce “let us have control of our own decisions” IS the resolution and apology for the mind alteration plot (which I am still pretty sure was a Rosenberg driven decision, not a Zdarsky one, in Gotham War), and look. That’s the sort of resolution you get a lot for comics plots. They’re cool. It was never going to end up as a big song and dance.

I like that the resolution pulled everything back to Failsafe. Good way to round off 2 years on the title. Nice extended story arc, with shout outs all the way back to #125.

I did have to laugh at Nakano calling Cass, Steph and Duke ‘child soldiers’ though. Those are all actual adults, sir! Even Duke’s supposed to be 18+ now.

[emin-folly]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but what do you think Eobard does in his free time? Like, does he have a daily schedule? A color-coded calendar with reminders how to fuck with Barry? Is he still a professor? Like, what does he DO when he isn't actively fucking up someone's life? Sry, I just got interested in him very recently, and the comics are chaotic lol

Hello~! I'm very happy to be the first to welcome you to Yellow Rat hell <3 He's such a fascinating, tragic, horrid gremlin of a man, and he definitely deserves more fans aha. As someone who reads comics, I can confirm it's not you, they can be very confusing and all over the place xD

And no, that's not a stupid question, not at all! He is shown not to always be around to bother Barry for months at a time, so it's entirely reasonable to wonder where he goes a lot of the time~ Some ideas of what he could be possibly doing are but not limited to:

Tending to his beloved museum. Aside from Barry, this is one of the very few things he treasures deeply. It's his pride and joy as well as his home. We all know he's established to be the curator of the museum and has provided tours to the public, but it's very unclear if he continued with that after becoming Reverse Flash. While he might've, I feel like there's too many reasons why he wouldn't. One being that the Renegades know his secret identity and I'm pretty sure that would ruin a lot of business for him lol. Plus with Eobard's mentality, I think he would be just too distracted, too frantic with his need to focus on Barry to do his day job

Now this is more of a fun headcanon my friend, Ftl were talking about that I since adopted where Eobard likes to pop back into the past, right before a major event or disaster, whether just as a bystander or a instigator. And of course, he always manages to run into Vandal Savage, so much to the point now that Vandal now associates him as a omen for things to come

He is canonically shown to go and bother/mess with Thomas Wayne a handful of times. This is significant as normally he really doesn't go out of his way for anyone that's not Barry/Flashfam member more than he absolutely has to. He doesn't even go after Hal. The only people he seems to be genuinely interested in and fixated on are those who have (willingly) killed him. Thomas may not rank as high as a priority as Barry, naturally, but he definitely counts as a hobby at least

There was also that time in Flash Age, where Eobard got to play the role of savior of Central City in his own era. He genuinely seemed to enjoy being the hero but, well, if you read to the end, you'll see why that most likely won't be happening again heh

Now this one is a lot more jokey, but in a DC Holiday Special, there's one panel in the last story that shows Eobard enjoying a game of poker with the Anti Monitor along with some other characters, so take from that what you will~

Now, as for your question about him still being a Professor, that's also really not explained in depth. They never really cement exactly what he's a Professor of, but considering him, it's most likely history and/or the Speed Force. In some comics he does have students, in others it works mostly as just a title and then sometimes it's not referenced at all, but it's safe to assume he still is one aha

I also don't really see him having a daily routine. The way I see it, Eobard is so far removed from being human, he doesn't really need to eat, sleep, or do personal hygiene lol But I really love your calendar idea! It would definitely look something like: "Fuck with Barry" "Fuck with Barry" "Fuck with Barry" "Fuck with Barry/Visit Daddy Bat" "Fuck with Barry/Die" "Askdhsgkdbjk" "Poker night" 😂

Also, I know it's not really canon but I really enjoy the idea of him painting. Eobard is a gifted child and a genius, he can master practically anything he sets his mind to. IDK why painting of all things, but it just kinda seems right. Bonus points if he uses it to replace original paintings in the past with his LOL

Overall, sadly, we don't get to see all the mischief he gets up to when not tormenting Barry, only tidbits. But hey, that just gives us some creative freedom to come up with fun ideas ourselves~

[entity9silvergen]

Made my dad watch some X-Men 97, he had a lot to say during episode 5.

(For context, we’ve both been X-Men fans since we were kids but he is three times older than me. He watched TAS when it came out and I watched it on the Wii)

1) That scene where Jean and Logan are in the water

Him: Why is Jean so tall?

Me: She’s not. Logan’s just short so she looks tall next to him

Him: What?

Me: Yeah, it’s like part of his character. He’s canonically 5’3”

Him: W H A T

(Extra Context: I am also 5’3” so he could see how tall Logan was in that moment)

2) During Scott’s interview

Him: Who is Marvel Girl and why is Scott dating her instead of Jean?

Me: Marvel Girl was her original superhero name but I think she stopped using it

Him: Oh that makes sense

Me: Really?

Him: Yeah, because you can’t yell Marvel Girl as easily as JEAN

(Background: In TAS/97 Scott and Logan are constantly yelling JEAN in a very specific way. He does an impression of it . Before I knew who the X-Men were, he would use his action figures to demonstrate)

3) Genosha Council

Him: Who’s that?

Me: (explains the Hellfire Club) We watched a couple X-Men shows where Scott and Emma Frost get together.

Him: They dated???

Me: Yeah, I think they dated for like 15 years or something in the comics.

Him: Where was Jean???

(I’m realizing a lot of these are about Jean but this one started because he thought Sebastian Shaw was Vandal Savage and also I wanted to talk about how I recently found out Astonishing X-Men was not a tv show, but that’s another story)

4) During the gala

Him: Point out Emma Frost for me

Me: She’s the one in white

Him: Is that her?

Me: THAT’S ROGUE

(Rogue is wearing red in this scene)

5) Rogue crying over Gambit

Him, judgementally: Was this that part you said made you too sad to keep watching?

Me: No, actually, it was the next episode.

Him: …

(And that was where we stopped)

Also Magnus the dog, named after Magneto, fell asleep while we were watching and woke up when Magneto was dying because he got spooked by the noises :(

[littleeyesofpallas]

It's such a nothing detail at this point --after what almost 50 years now?-- but it always bugged me that Lady Shiva is called Lady Shiva... Like... Either do something interesting with her heritage to align her with the Hindi namesake, or call her by some kind of Chinese equivalent of the same Destroyer god. Or like at least tie the Indian epithet to her having learned Kalaripayattu or something. I dunno I just wish her name made a little bit more sense. Although so long as I'm griping about Lady Shiva stuff...

I'd actually really love it if they took her reputation as Master of All Martialarts to heart. It already makes for a great implied dynamic with Batman where he has a reputation that precedes him but by all rights isn't actually a master martial artist so much as just a very competent jack of all trades who supplements what he lacks in martial arts specifically with his deductive reasoning, broader situational awareness, and gadgets. But if her quest to master every martial art took her back to the cradle of civilization it'd make for a cool sort of feather in her cap. She could have more run ins with the likes of Sportsmaster to draw a line around Martialarts as sports vs martialarts as real combat, vs as art, vs as living cultural artifacts. She could have some back and forth with Vandal Savage as a guy who ostensibly knows more about lost histories than any other person on Earth.

Also dumb nothing side bit but how have we not had her do the full blown Bruce Lee, or Bruce Lee inspired blurry anime arms thing to match her Shiva title?

And like, as shitty as his plots have all been, there's just so much more that could be done with David Cain if anyone really gave a shit. I know it's super lame that he's literally named after Cain & Abel, but there's something kind of cool about the idea of a guy better known for training assassins than actually being one having this association with a mythical First Murder. Cain would just make for a much better codename than anything. It'd be really interesting if he was never a martial arts expert or even master assassin at all but just a guy dabbling in experimental operant conditioning and desensitization, trying to master The Art of Killing from the basest level.

Because really learning martialarts and bodily discipline as a first language fits Shiva's shtick better anyway. Cain's deal should be about breaking down the psychological resistance to killing and violence. Among other things there's really no reason for him to even be Cassandra's biological father. It would make way more sense to just make him a weirdo abducting or otherwise buying people's kids to try and get them as tabula rasa as possible. That being said he should also have closer ties to Damian specifically as the recipient of Cain's eventual perfected training methods.

(oh you know I don't know why I never thought of it but is he supposed to also be named after the biblical David? Like as a reference to David and Goliath? So he's named after two biblical guys who killed someone with a rock? Honestly the name David is so plain it never crossed my mind to even look for a connection)

But that all being said there's this implicit untapped synergy between the themes of The First Killer among men, and the Hindu Destroyer God that would be really cool to explore, obviously thru Cass and how she should be the marriage of their two themes, along with any siblings we want to acknowledge in any given timeline. Like, she should really be a perfect embodiment of bothe parents' ideals but also the perfect counter point or refutation of each. Like, I know we all love pure hearted Cass and the whole idea that she could just shake off her lifetime of training and condition to just know that killing is wrong, but I dunno it's a little corny? (I do like the idea that Cain's blindspot was that training her against professional killers meant she never learned the body language of fear in someone who can't fight back, though. That sort of culture shock is a fun part of that moment.) Instead it would be really interesting to acknowledge that, yeah, Cain's training worked and she can pretty easily take a life without much hesitation or guilt, but that doesn't mean she can't make the rational or ethical or moral judgement to not kill, it just means she isn't making it based on reflexive disgust or shame or trauma.

The loophole to her being a perfect killer and unmatched fighter being that if she's truly unmatched then other fighters don't actually pose a threat to her, and without her life at risk she has no actual motive to kill someone. In a way she should operate on a moral perogative more akin to Superman's than Batman's, just scaled down to a street level, or in the specific realm of martialarts.

Unrelated to really any of this while I do hate Cain's dumb "Orphan" moniker working with Mother, and especially the idea of Cass taking it, I almost would have liked if it had been that version of Cain that had had the weird eugenics program with his other kids. (I mean that it just ditch him and make Shiva the one with a bunch of protege kids, and instead of trying to make a perfect killer, it's just Shiva trying to make her perfect adversary) It would make more sense for him to have an entire line of failed experiments preceding Cass that she'd have to prove herself against.

But also if there was going to be a whole legacy of "Orphan" operatives, it would have been cool to make it a mahjong thing; there's a uniquely difficult hand in mahjong called The Thirteen Orphans, where the 13 tiles in your hand form absolutely no pairs, triplets or straights, despite those being the entire backbone of the game. You only get one pair to make it a winning hand and there could be a neat way to single out Shiva and Cass as a matched pair.

[halfagone]

Hemlo! ✨🤗✨ What's three dpxdc tropes that you like but is supremely underused?

Hello! ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

Hmm, now that's a hard question. But if I had to choose just three...

Playing With Danny's Time Travel Adventures.

I know a lot of people use these as alibis for Danny, to cover up how young he looks and make it seem like he's been around for thousands of years, but I enjoy the extra layer of complication this adds to the equation instead. I know some people use those adventures to turn Danny into a form of deity, and I've used this concept before in bloodlines. But there are actually a decent number of immortal characters in DC.

There's Ra's al Ghul, there's Vandal Savage, we have reason to believe that Duke's father, Gnomon, is immortal as well. In Off With [the Demon's] Head, I explored what might have happened if Danny and Ra's had met each other in the past. We also have other characters that have traveled through time, like Bruce or even Booster Gold. I have a WIP idea where Danny met "Mordecai Wayne" while in the past and ends up meeting Bruce in the present and realizes they're the same guy. There's so much you can do with the idea and I hope some day I can play with it some more.

Danny Joins the Superfam.

Now this one's more self-indulgent. The Superfam might not be as angsty as the Batfam, but I just know in my heart that Danny would just fit in so well into the Kent family and he would be the best big brother to Jon and my heart is just so full. 〒▽〒 I have so many SuperPham fics planned but can I write them??? Apparently not because the muse demands I write one-shots.

Exploring Different DC Continuities.

Now I know what you're probably thinking. Who cares about canon when we're just gonna do whatever we want with it anyways? But I raise you: different continuities means different shenanigans. There is honestly so much you can do with canon, even if you get rid of all the things you don't like. I loved writing Danny stumbling into the Flashpoint Paradox world. I loved writing the Danny Phantom show set into the Justice Lords universe.

There's the DCAMU, there's the animated shows, there's the live action ones, video game universes anyone?? Arkhamverse games??? We can even go with fan universes; I've mentioned the Reverse Robin AU in LL's Ascent, you can explore that too. I would love to see more stories where things are a little off-kilter from the norm.

All in all, there's so much you can do with DPxDC crossovers and I will always have a great time exploring them.

[leoruby-draws]

Having something a little different here, not really introducing a new team member per say, but a friend and ally of sorts. Here's Tom Bronson aka Tomcat, son of Ted Grant aka Wildcat! I love cats, look how many are in this pic, everyone's having a fun time (except Grant lol).

Tom debuted in Justice Society of America 2007, which I enjoyed tho it lacked the space for all those characters (a common problem I noticed in a lot of earth 2/jsa stuff), Since he was introduced in the first issue, you would think that he'd be a pretty important character onwards. But alas, he rarely got any focus past the early few issues, even in JSA All-Stars he wasn't given a lot of page time. Then new52 hit and he got erased, not sure if he's been re-introduced back yet.

He and Ted had a pretty good relationship in the book, Tom never blamed Ted for not being in his life and even actively keep up the distance as an adult. Up until Vandal Savage tries to attack them at least. Here in the TrWh au, it can be assumed Tom was discovered at an earlier age (he's 11 to Jason's 10 btw).

Also I said up there that Tom isn't a new team member, but I did wanted to do that originality. That's because in the comics, Tom really didn't like fighting at all when Ted meet him. And that's because Tom has a secret ability to transform into a werecat, something he inherited from his mother. Ironically he keep it secret from her, maybe that'll change in this au.

Ted seemed to help Tom get over his hang-up over fighting somehow, it's not really explained how exactly (like I said, Tom didn't get much focus past tho early issues).I wished that he kinda keep up his reluctant pacifism, it's a unique outlook in a world full of heroes and villains fighting each other.

So at the moment he's a non-combatant ally of the Outlaws, maybe that'll change later who knows.

Since I'm introducing him at at an earlier age, he's still in that anti-fighting mindset, and prefers to stay out of trouble. So he can't really help the team in combat issues, but they can still hang out and have fun in other ways.

Tom's tries to come off as cool and standoffish, but that seems to be a way to hide his skittish and kind-hearted nature. He's been feeling stressed and lonely, esp with how his mother is currently sick and bedridden. Perhaps some friends will do him good!

Here's Tom hanging out with the other Wildcats, his father and Yolanda Montez. Tom is fun to draw, esp in his werecat form. I might be making him more like a cat than a panther, but cats are so fun to draw. I'm basing some this of my mom's own cat, a black cat like Tom.

I really liked Yolanda, she had a real aura of confidence and was really outspoken about what she wanted. I admit I might be a bit biased, since I'm also a Latina as well (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). You can see her trying to 'help' Tom with training to fight, he doesn't seem to enthused with the idea. There's also Ted showing affection with his son, look at the mini cat suit, Tom is so done lol.

More of Tom spending time with Yolanda, they have fun together. Btw Yolanda might already be Wildcat at this point or at least just about to, a bit earlier than in canon but why not?

Jason messes with Tom, he can't help himself. Tom doesn't seem to know how to react with Jason sometimes, esp when Jason jokes around with him. But the jokes never feel too mean-spirited so it's not too much of a bother.

If you ever read Fruits Basket, then you know there's this character with the ability to call forth cats to him. Tom doesn't quite have that power but cats seem to gravitate to him anyways. Looks like Jason called in a favor for his little brother Damian.

Here's a comic that I'd meant to go on a little longer but couldn't think up of what to come next. It's meant to show how Tom meets the team and decides to become friends. Tom seems unsure and almost insecure about why he's being 'recruited' to be friends. Rose seems surprised at Tom's stance but Eddie seems happy to make another friend. But why does Jason want to be friends?

You know there's been some meta about how Jason probably wouldn't have mind not being Robin and just be the civilian son of Bruce Wayne. YMMV on whether you can agree with that or not, I can see reasoning for it tho it should be noted Jason was really ecstatic to be Robin. I'll keep it ambiguous on whether or not Jason would want to hang up the cape, but I keep this reasoning in mind for his interactions with Tom. Tom not wanting to fight at all is a viewpoint Jason has not really come across in his interactions with heroes. As said in the comic, he finds it 'interesting'. Perhaps he was also drawn to Tom's conviction in his ideals as well, maybe Jason finds it kinda admirable in a way.

The team Jason, Rose and Eddie made is in some ways a place to have fun and hang out, to escape from lonely and unhappy lives. It the same reason why other members of the team joined in, to just do things their own way and on their own time. Members come and go at their leisure (the team have multiple places to hang but no official headquarters) so it's a fairly casual and unrestricted type of team. Having a member who doesn't even fight is not really a problem. Though Tom sometimes feels lonely when team members go out on combat missions, and he gets left behind.

There's also the little detail of the team being 'unofficial', I don't think I ever shown that info before. Though I'll probably talk about that for another time.

Well, hope you liked that!

[mintaikk]

I literally love humanity sm

Me and my sister were watching Young Justice, and as usual, when Vandal Savage came up, we ended up talking about how horryfiying his situation is, which lead to a talk about ancient humans, and yeah.

And even years before modern civilization thousand years ago, Cro Magnons made art and still played with their dogs and still liked shells and cool stones and liked to make instruments. They made cave art and buried their dead (one guy even their dog buried next to them), and they would put their handprints on things, and they would trade and cuddle and just- I almost cried looking at old stuff they did cuz that's all just stuff we do. I'm still emotional over the guy that had their dog buried next to him (THE SCIENTISTS TOOK THE DOG OUT! IK WHY BUT THAT FELT SO DISRESPECTFUL)

And it also got me thinking how literally every culture has a form of art and all that. Even cultures that didn't have a lot of instruments had singing. Drums were/are practically everywhere because they're easy to make, and each culture has specific dances and songs for different events like weddings and parties; even ancient ones.

I've mostly been ranting about Cro Magnons, but even other stuff, too. These hand prints were made by children on the Tibetan Plateu between 169,000 and 226,000 BC, which makes them the oldest fossil records of humans. Obviously, we don't know why they did this, but it shows something. That humans just want to leave a memory of themselves behind, even ancient children. That's so sweet.

Even 40,000 years ago, Cro Magnons had furries (I'm calling them that). Like, they gave human characteristics to animals and that's so cute and I love how we kept this trait today.

Apparently, the bull on the right was for religious regions. Even 40,000 years ago, humans had religion. I love this sm.

I've been mostly talking about Cro Magnons, but I might as well talk about Neanderthals too, because they also fascinate me. From what I've seen, a lot of people see them as brutish and all that (they did commonly cannibalize each other, but so did humans. Ever hear of the Donner party?), but they made ponchos and weaved things and used herbs and cooked; just like us. They buried their bodies and would leave offerings like flowers. They made symbolic art and used fun toys, just like us. And all of this was 50,000 years ago; 40,000 years before modern civilization.

Also, I hate it when people say that humans are naturally mean and selfish because dogs are right there?? Dogs are descended from wolves, and they domesticated them by feeding the hungry wolves that followed their groups. Humans saw a hungry and weak animal and decided to give it food. And you could argue that they were giving them food so they wouldn't attack them (that probably, definitely did happen), but also, canines will make it known when they're not trying to be threatening. They'll he less aggressive and lower their head and of course, they won't harm or harrass you. It's possible that wolves did that at early human settlements, and the humans let them take the food or gave them food. Humans saw a weak animal and decided to give them food, even though, at the time, There'd be no known benifit. And wolves and humans were enemies, so it shows the empathy that humans naturally have. Humans also took in orphaned wolf pups, instead of just letting them die to lower competition. But they saw a suffering animal and helped it. It shoes that humans aren't naturally mean or viscouse; we just act that way to fit the environment that we're in. God, I hate capitalism and hyper individualism.

But yeah. I'm in that edgy phase where I go from "I hate humanity, why are we like this?" To then realizing that I love humans and I like living; I just hate capitalism. Just me venting somewhat, but humans literally thousands of years ago made art and toys just because they could. Cro Magnons made art and sculptures and music just because it was fun and they could. Humans literally make art and all this fun stuff because it's fun and they can! It makes them happy and fulfilled, and they like leaving their mark on things! And things like AI art just feels soulless once you realize that. These people are taking their time to do something they love, but now people are making ai art just to replace it.

And just other things too I guess. Idk about other places but in the US, anything that isn't work isn't seen as something that's valuable, when relaxing and doing something is just as valuable! And if anything, humans 50,000 years ago creating stuff because they can should show that. Find stuff to do that makes you happy, idk, I'm tired and about to cry again bcuz I'm looking at old fossils and found one of two skeletons being found holding each other. Have fun dealing with my sleepy rants.

Tldr; Edgy tumblr teen has her monthly cry over humanity bcuz of Young Justice villain and realizes how much she loves the world; but just hates the circumstances that he is in.

[havendance]

I am now thinking about a DC/The Old Guard Crossover:

Even in this universe where there's a billion different funky and weird things going on, the old guard's deal is still unexplainable. They've had a lot of time to look into things over the years and it isn't the metagene or magic or nth metal or aliens or the gods or the red or the green or the speedforce or any of other myriad freaky things going on in the DC universe.

They definitely have beef with Ras al Guhl, and probably also Vandal Savage and honestly the Order of St Dumas too I guess.

The point of this crossover is obviously to throw together different Rucka characters so Kate Kane is the newest member of the Old Guard.

(Sasha Bordeaux would be my second choice, and probably Renee Montoya as a third because while Renee is a very Rucka character, she is a very Rucka character in a different way)

Kate does not die when the religion of crime stabs her through the heart.

Maybe it heals just a little quicker and Kate makes a fuller recovery than expected. I'm not sure whether the regenerating abilities of the Old Guard are related only to death or if they manifest prior to death.

She does die though, in a cave in Britain (sigh, due to DickBats giving her an overdose of morphine). No one realizes that she didn't actually need the Lazarus pit in order to come back to life.

Afterwards, Kate starts having strange dreams. She assumes it's due to the pit.

Until that is, a woman shows up, shoots her before she has a chance to reacts, and explains that Kate can't die when she wakes up.

I think chronologically I'd put this before the events of The Old Guard, so Nile hasn't shown up yet.

Kate doesn't go with them. She's Batwoman. She has her mission. She has Gotham. She isn't going to stop.

"I'm a rich heiress," she says. "No one's going to bat an eye if I don't age."

"Until they do," Andy says.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

And for a while, no one does.

The DEO discover her identity, but they don't discover her greater secret--that she can't die.

I think it doesn't really sink in that she can't die. Kate still tries to avoid it and that helps keep the secret. Sometimes though, she doesn't have a choice. She will spend her life if necessary--all of Gotham's vigilantes will--Kate's bar for necessary is just lower. When that happens she always seems to make a miraculous recovery or have excellent luck.

She tells Maggie her identity but not her secret. Things don't work out and Kate never gets to the point where that has to change.

Batman is the first to notice Kate isn't aging because of course he is. He does know about the Old Guard because of their aforementioned beef with the League of Assassins and because he has notes on everything.

Bruce noticing is Kate's sign that she needs to make a decision. He may be the first to notice, but he won't be the last. Soon, gossip will turn pointed.

Now, if Bruce were the one to end up in this situation, his course of action would be obvious. He would immediately ditch Bruce Wayne and become Batman full time and Batman would haunt Gotham for all eternity.

I'm not sure if Kate has that same single-minded devotion to Gotham. Her primary motivation is that she wants to serve. Gotham and the Bat symbol give her away to do that. She may haunt Gotham for a while, maybe a lifetime or two, but in the end I think she does join up with Old Guard and join them in their never ending fighting and dying.

[teecupangel]

You know I have my own wonderful idea and this takes place specifically in the young justice universe around season 1 since that has the best time frame to include this now we all know The Light was vandal savage attempt to rule the world again but have you noticed that the league of assassins philosophy of killing corruption and ra's being immortal too with lazurus pit, And vandal desire for control fits perfectly with the constant battle between Templars and assassins, so what if the league was originally the brotherhood and the templars was originally founded by vandal savage and I'm not talking about the weird backstory we got in AC origins with Julius Cesar though those events still happened but vandal is the one who formalized the templars into what they are, however here's where the assassins come in and especially ra's see while vandal was more than willing to fake his death every now and than to let the templars grow on their own if necessary, and to make the assassins think they won for a bit before coming back with a new name and because of that he's been able to rule the world the same way he's always did in the normal comics just this time he has a secret army at his beck and call during that entire time.

Then the assassins finally got a true victory with ra's becoming an assassin and eventually grandmaster who found, wait for it, an isu artifact that allows anyone who had died to come back to life but of course as we all know isu bullshit tends to have side effects and the Lazarus pit was no different but thanks to ra's leadership and the Lazarus pit the assassins for the first time in decades have finally won a final victory against the vandal and his templars at least until vandal waited for the day he can recreate his templars under a new name one where everyone will see the light of his leadership and the world will be his to control again.

So my point to all of this is, what if all the events of the assassins creed games up until the modern day before 2012 and before the start of season 1 of young justice all happened and that the moment vandal and his light start making moves, the league of assassins hear about it and catch the justice league and definitely batman off gaurd with a partnership and when the team is given a liason and new support in the form of Desmond, Shaun, and Rebecca.

So, in this one, we’re setting up Ra’s Al Ghul as the mentor of the League of Assassins and not a member of The Light?

Or are we going for the ‘things are different in this AU’ then go psyche! Ra’s Al Ghul is our Al Mualim and he’s a member of the Light!

Honestly, I wanna go for the second idea because, this way, we can set up Ra’s Al Ghul as a parental figure of Desmond who raised him because he was an orphan and he would act as both his master and his mentor, mirroring Altaïr’s relationship with Al Mualim.

So when Ra’s Al Ghul is finally shown as a member of The Light, it would hammer in how Ra’s and Desmond’s relationship mirroring Altaïr and Al Mualim’s relationship was a hint of Ra’s true ‘allegiance’.

Also, this would give Desmond an easier time to befriend Dick as they both got… uuhh… ‘complicated’ relationship with their father-figure (although Desmond having Ra’s as his father figure makes Dick think “atleast Bruce wasn’t as bad…”).

Although, by Leagues of Assassin standards, Ra’s does act like a good father to Desmond and he cares for Desmond like he does for Talia so when the truth of his allegiance to The Light comes to… well… light… there’s gonna be some sweet, sweet angst, not just between Desmond and Ra’s but with the team (especially Dick) and Desmond on how loyal Desmond is to Ra’s.

Unorganized Notes (I’m messing up the timeline XD):

Yeah, I’m doubling down on it because the Desmond is Talia’s twin ask has some really good ideas on Desmond’s relationship with the League members.

Talia treats Desmond as a little brother and even tells Batman to look after him because, in her own words, he’s still naive. This makes Batman believe that Desmond is a good person.

He is but he was raised to be an Assassin so he has no qualms killing bad guys. Shaun and Rebecca actually act more as his moral compass and remind him that the team won’t like it if you kill this person or something.

Desmond is known as Ra’s son although some of the League members say it in a more derogatory way as he isn’t related to Ra’s by blood.

Soooo… in the end, Desmond is the one who ‘kills’ Ra’s although he does mention that Ra’s won’t say dead to the team. He leaves Young Justice afterward to take care of the League. This though, does end up splitting the League between Desmond and Deathstroke but Desmond and his League will pop in and out to help the Young Justice every now and then.

Vandal Savage calls Desmond ‘mentor’ after Desmond takes over half of the League. He talks about Desmond as if he was a completely different person, saying how he always knew that Desmond would assassinate Ra’s. No matter what trickery Ra’s do to him, his blood will always guide him to be the thorn in the Templars’ side.

Desmond doesn’t remember it but he has been drowned in the Lazarus Pit… by Ra’s himself. Talia would imply it happened multiple times because Desmond’s mind is ‘fragile’.

Depending on how old Desmond is supposed to be in this AU, he either acts as Cassandra’s older brother or her father figure. He’s the reason why Cassandra was able to get away from Lady Shiva (honestly, I don’t like how Young Justice merged Lady Shiva and David Cain and made Lady Shiva more evil in this one but I'll use it for the plot). Whether Cassandra stays with Desmond or she becomes Orphan is up to you.

Red-Hooded Ninja is also close to Desmond who pretty much taught him after he lost his memories. Desmond has no idea who Jason Todd was and that’s why he didn’t know Red-Hooded Ninja’s real identity.

Later on, Desmond would start remembering memories that don’t feel like his own at all. Talia sees this and tells him to use the Lazarus Pit, implying that the reason why Ra’s always ‘drown’ Desmond in the pit was because of these memories.

So Desmond doesn’t. Instead, he tries to make sense of the memories he’s getting.

This is the part where you can go: (1) Those memories are Desmond’s ‘erased’ memories from when he was actually Ra’s younger brother whose Creed made him butt heads with his older brother ending with Ra’s using the Lazarus Pit to make Desmond forget about the Creed he had and become more easily controlled to do Ra’s wishes, (2) Desmond was actually Ra’s father who he usurped and took the League from (which was called the Brotherhood before) after they found the Lazarus Pit, or (3) Desmond was found floating in the Pit without his memories and Ra’s made use of that with Desmond���s actually memories being either (3.1) Desmond is part of the Isu race who survived because he was dunked in the Lazarus Pit which he had created or (3.2) he’s the real Desmond Miles from the AC world that got transported to the Young Justice world together with the Lazarus Pit.

Regardless of whichever plot you choose, the idea is Desmond’s memories that were coming back were from his previous ‘lives’ before the Lazarus Pit erased his memories over and over again. This is the part where you can play with Desmond’s ancestors’ memories by making them memories of Desmond’s past lives before he is once again drown in the Lazarus Pit to forget everything.

[clay-cuttlefish]

I am still on my bullshit about the Vic + Renee + Helena + Jean-Paul + Ted teamup. Here are three unrelated character elements I have been rotating in my mind for it.

Thing 1: Helena's Thoughts on Jean-Paul

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #63-65 and Cry for Blood came out right after each other and reading them back to back fills me with Helena Emotions. It's been a while, but as far as I'm aware this is the most Helena and Jean-Paul ever interact?

Gesturing at these. You get it. How has this never been explored in more depth.

I'm attached to the idea that Helena's resentful of Jean-Paul for getting the benefit of the doubt and a second chance when she didn't, and it would only make her more frustrated that he barely remembers her and would be genuinely apologetic if she brought it up. It's not cathartic to yell at someone who gets weird and self-deprecating about it.

It'd be especially frustrating because it's not like her concerns about JPV are unfounded, but also she is 100% aware that if she went "I am not going to hang out with him, he's killed people" Vic and Renee would be insufferable about it and they wouldn't even be that wrong.

Thing 2: What The Questions Are Actually Good At

If Vic and Renee going to be active together, it'd be nice to flesh out their respective skills so they don't feel overly similar, ideally without pinning them down into their 52 roles (since Renee's evolved a fair amount since then) or making them excessively competent.

To do this, I want to contrast how Vic is generally pretty grounded and city-level while Renee's out there chasing cults across the world. Partly because I think this is really core to what makes them distinct and has been overlooked in both of them recently, partly because I don't like Vic's conspiracy theorist characterization and want to push back on it because I'm petty.

For Renee, I'd lean into the "witness to the bizarre" angle. She's found a space at the edges where the weirdness of the DC universe blends into the day-to-day - the places where multiversal skeleton assassins are a job risk for reporters, or where chasing organized crime sometimes leads her to Vandal Savage.

I'm pretending she last appeared in Lois Lane because making her the commissioner sucked and I can ignore a few years of appearances without breaking anything. In this version of reality she got her private investigator license as part of working with Lois so that she can operate semi-above-board, but she's mooching off of Tot (and maybe Lois still) so she doesn't have to take on real jobs. Anyways she's actually A Detective who has real investigative skills.

On the other hand, Vic's primary methods of investigation are asking directly and eavesdropping. A lot of what he does best relies on him either being recognized as a local reporter or being supernatural, neither of which I want to do, but I think it could be fun to take elements from the "city emissary" version into the "guy who has really strong opinions about municipal safety inspections" side of his writing.

What I'm saying is: let him get into a building by pretending to be a fire code inspector and then listen in on the employees until he figures out what he's looking for.

Thing 3: Ted and JPV Do Not Have to Be In Costume

This is just a kind of story I want to see for them tbh.

Ted does not need to be out there in tights at all. He's bad at staying retired, but that doesn't mean he has to be doing the legwork himself, and this is a group with minimal expectations for what he should be doing. Let him be the tech guy/world's least subtle getaway driver!

JPV enters the story in armor since he's trying to investigate, but once he's out of that first sequence, he doesn't have to suit back up. This being a heist/investigation focused group means that Azrael's skillset isn't super helpful, and they're working on their cooperation so he can actually try using his own skills.

He doesn't have, like, great skills for vigilantism, but half a comp sci degree and some medical training is more than Vic had. Depending on how much Azrael's able to dip into deeper System knowledge without freaking out, it might also be able to apply some of its engineering skills to things other than edgelord weaponry, or at least understand what Ted's showing off better than the others.

He can have an adventure where he gets to make a friend and be a nerd and not maim anybody. As a treat. He has more than enough unresolved emotional hooks to play off of already.