#bruce wayne is a local legend now

[bet-on-me-13]

Bruce Wayne beats the shit out of a Vampire!!! Not Clickbait!!!

SO, after Danny is adopted by the Batfam and they accept his Halfa Status, he gives them all their own special Fenton Deflector Badges that will prevent them from being overshadowed and lets them touch ghosts even while intangible

Of course Vlad finds out that his little Badger got adopted by an entirely separate Billionaire and wants to get revenge.

So one day, while Bruce is walking down the street, Vlad tries to overshadow him. He is hoping that he will be able to destroy Bruce’s public reputation and then sell himself Wayne Enterprises, making himself the richest man in the world and making Danny run to him instead.

What actually happens in that Vlad collides face first with Bruce’s back and is knocked to the ground. Bruce turns around, recognizes Vlad, and starts beating the everloving crap out of him.

And across the street, some people are recording it. It looks like a Looney Toons Sequence, with Bruce and Vlad fighting with a bench concealing their view, Vlad and Bruce appearing above a bench, with Vlad holding bruce in a chokehold before Bruce kicks him in the *redacted* and they both fall out of view again,  Vlad trying to crawl away before Bruce drags him back behind the bench, Bruce standing up just in view above the bench, and then proceeding to deliver an Elbow Drop. Basically every comedic fight element you can think of.

The Video gets posted to Youtube and goes Viral within the day.

Danny has a GIF of Vlad trying to crawl away and getting dragged back as his Screensaver. The GIF if him getting kicked in the *redacted* is his Background.

[fryingpan1234567]

DC high school au… mayhaps…..

I’m not sure if anyone’s done this before

But I’m doing it now

So the JL, right. These are famous alumni who made school history and now obvi they’re billionaires and reporters and museum owners but they’re not superheroes— just regular people

Liiike Clark Kent was the best quarterback the school has ever seen

Oliver Queen essentially revolutionized the archery team

Diana Prince convinced the school to start a fencing league

Barry Allen slayed both track and any and all chemistry competitions thrown his way

Arthur Curry… I shouldn’t have to say anything about his swim team career. That’s where he met his wife

Bruce Wayne was one of the smartest people probably ever, especially to grace that building

And so on and so forth

Anyways so these people are famous, and they’re up on the walls and display cases and shit

The staff!! Was so thrilled!! To be getting their children!!!!

(The principal counted down the days on his calendar after the news hit that Brucie adopted his first kid)

So.

Dick and Barbara are seniors. Dick is the cheer captain and Babs WAS on the team until a fun little accident that has her wheelchair-bound. (It’s fine, she discovered she actually likes computers better. She’d hacked the entire security system one day at lunch because she got bored)

Dick is kind of the queen bee of the school, which is hilarious, because he KNOWS but refuses to let it get to his head. This man will start water gun fights in the hallways for fun

Jason and Cass are juniors

Jason is one of the drama club’s absolute best (singing and acting). He played Billy Flynn in Chicago, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Aladdin in… yeah. He slays pretty hard

Cass is on the dance team and regularly misses class for some competition or another. Sometimes, when cheerleaders and the dance team collab on stuff (like assemblies), she actually likes the pompoms. She does not like the skirts.

Tim, Steph, and Duke are sophomores— people are s c a r e d of these three

Tim is known for constantly having a stockpile of energy drinks in his locker; sometimes a few of his friends get access to it. He’s also terrifyingly smart. And he’s got a bike. SOPHOMORE YEAR. TIM WHAT

Steph’s whole entire TikTok presence is lifting/ workout challenges against any poor scrub who tries to go up against her. She can lift the same amount as Jason Todd. That gives her a very confident “don’t fuck with me aura” around school, which is good, because she’s got zero interest in any guy there anyways (bi f pref queen)

And Duke… Duke is the golden boy, so the first time you see him in a sparring match with any of his siblings (they do that for fun at lunch), you’re very shocked to see him holding his own against Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. He also slays

Damian is the only freshman in his family. Jason and Tim make fun of him endlessly

It is pretty impressive that a freshie organized the biggest fundraiser the school has ever seen— and it was for local animal shelters. Nobody knows how he did it. Probably intimidation. You never know with that kid

Now the superfam. Ohoho, yes, these legends go to that school too

Kara is a junior, Kon is a sophomore, Jon is a freshman. They’re all on the football team (their dad comes to every game🥰)

Did anybody expect a woman or freshman to land on the varsity team the first year either of them tried out? No. But they made it anyways. Good for them

And football is just so different from their day-to-day personalities, sometimes it gives people whiplash

Kara pretty much runs the broadcast and yearbook teams, and she does it along with dominating the football field and gym

Conner looks like he’d deck you for looking at him wrong (I mean he might but like he won’t… probably), and he’s like. He makes good fashion choices. He’s the Bad Boy, which is funny considering his nerdy bf is the one with the motorcycle

Jon is fluffy?? So nice?? Sir who let an actual decent person on the varsity football team?? When someone spots Dami wearing his letterman at some point, they become the most popular couple at school. As freshmen. Slay for them tbh

Donna Troy is a senior. Fencing and beauty pageants is a weird combination. But she knows she’s pretty and she’s gonna make damn sure everybody else knows too

Cassie is a freshie, but she’s already on the fencing team as well and several people have seen her sparring with Damian (wHERE did he get KATANAS), and it looks like a couple of war gods who happen to be fifteen are fighting to the death for a few yards of shitty grass behind the school

Conner Hawke, Artemis Crock, Emiko Queen, Roy Harper, and Mia Dearden are the archery team captains. Yeah, there’s five of them, yeah, the coaches couldn’t pick because the kIDS ARE BETTER THAN THEM

(Ollie laughed so hard he fell out of his chair when they came home and told him that)

Roy is a junior and definitely brings his bow everywhere he shouldn’t. He also “accidentally” shot Jason once. Whenever someone asks about their meetcute they just laugh until the person gets scared and runs away

Conner is a sophomore but a bitter old man in his soul. What a king

Artemis is also a sophomore and everyone thinks she’s Ollie’s favorite because she’s like a mini-him, but Ollie doesn’t actually HAVE a favorite and she finds this claim hilarious

Mia, third sophomore, has a very strange attraction to the color yellow. She LOVES it. And she actually pulls it off, how awesome is she

Emi is a freshman but gets along with Dami pretty well, which isn’t surprising considering their matching deadpan humor and lowkey murderous rage constantly

Jackson Hyde broke Arthur’s record for fastest lap on his fourth try. He spends more time at the ocean than literally anywhere else

Wally West and Bart Allen are technically not related?? They’re like. Cousins. But Barry ended up officially adopting Wally (long story)

Anyways they’re actually cousins with Jesse Quick

The three of them DOMINATE track and field/ cross country/ physics club (yeah you read that last one right don’t even with me)

Wally is a senior and working towards becoming a forensic scientist for the cops. When someone asks why the fuck he wanted to do that to himself, he always jokes, “I’m not fast enough to be a serial killer so I guess I’ll help catch ‘em” and everyone is scared

Bart is a sophomore but should be a freshie, because he’s almost a full year younger, except that he skipped fifth grade and went straight to sixth. Tim and Kon pretend to be his adoptive parents and it’s like a soap opera watching these three act out a dramatic divorce arc

Jesse is a junior (alliteration go brr) but a younger one (summer birthday WOO) she definitely takes after Barry, especially in speed

SO people call their friend groups chaotic. What are you gonna do, go up and fuck with any of them? Bad idea

For fun, these assholes run a fight club after school with betting and rosters and everything, with anyone who signs up. FOR FUN. Once the batkids learned their dad has a black belt in like six different martial arts, it was all over

They say it’s a good workout

They’re probably not wrong, but still

Who the fuck wakes up and chooses violence on all their friends and family all in good fun to make MONEY OFF OF BEATING THEM UP

The most viral videos taken from their school is a push-up contest with all eight batkids, seven competing, Babs filming

Cass won.

LET me know if you want more for this. Because I’m gonna write more. But if you had specific suggestions or characters or scenarios or questions, I would love to write them

Good morning/ night/ 4am!! (PS BACK TO SCHOOL WOO)

[knight-of-the-graces]

Hey, um… with the whole “Bluejay!Jason” concept… has anybody ever considered it as an Inkheart reference instead of just a play off his name?

Follow me here, and sorry in advance, this turned into a ramble.

In the second book of the Inkheart trilogy, Inkspell, one of the main protagonists adopts a Robin Hood-esque approach to defeating the tyrant king, and adopts the name of ‘The Bluejay’ from famous folk legends and songs written by a beloved poet and often sung by travelling minstrels. He’s -Inkspell spoilers ahead, though this book is unironically older than I am- known for toppling said tyrant’s throne through the binding of a magic book (a recurring theme throughout the series, if you’ve never read it, which you should). He’s a champion among the Motley Folk, who were that world’s equivalent to a travelling circus and also regularly aid him in his quest to topple the Adderhead (the tyrant king mentioned above), and sought to help the poor and downtrodden. The Bluejay is aided and abetted by his family and friends, which include a shapeshifting wife, a daughter with the ability to make anything she reads come true, a fire-dancer who can speak to the flames, and a knife-throwing 'circus' prince with a black bear companion. (They're not called the Motley Folk for no reason, people!)

Now, consider for a moment: Little Jason Todd, in the local library, absolutely devouring the Inkheart series. It's everything a little kid could dream of in a fantasy book! And there's three of these fat books, what more could you possibly want? And he has an excuse to sit in a warm, safe building for a few hours.

Now imagine, Inkspell becomes his comfort book. Of course it does- every kid had one, and I can't imagine an orphan who grew up alone on the streets of Gotham picking anything other than a story about a strange man helping the opressed and downtrodden in a land he grows to call his own with the help of his family- and The Bluejay is an excellent father to his daughter, too, of course Jason pictured himself as part of that family, as whisked away into that world.

And of course, the rest of the series is wonderful too -Inkheart is where it all began, after all, and Inkdeath is the final triumph over evil!-, but Inkspell is a story about becoming. About learning to be more than you were born as- after all, if Mo the simple bookbinder could become the hero The Bluejay, what could Jason the street orphan become?

Maybe, instead of discovering this book in a library, he found it in the trash. And maybe he wondered, as he read it, why anyone would ever want to throw away the tale of Mo the Blujay, of Meggie the Silvertongue, of Resa the brave swift, of Dustfinger the loyal Fire-Dancer? (And maybe the last one took a while to get there, but he did get there! Eventually! And maybe Jason can understand why it took Dustfinger so long to truly come to trust someone again, because trust is a terribly dangerous thing to give to someone, because you can never really know what they'll do with it.) Maybe he read it through without knowing anything about Capricorn or The Shadow or why they feared the man named Basta, because they hadn't thrown away the first book, only the second. Maybe he wept for the death of Dustfinger, at the very end, because he didn't know that Death wouldn't keep him, because they hadn't thrown away the third book.

Maybe Inkspell found its place among his most treasured possessions. Maybe, when he met Batman and Bruce Wayne in one night and his life changed forever, Inkspell came with him, with its familiar story and characters and world and sorrows.

Maybe one of the first things Bruce did, upon seeing Jason reading that same battered old paperback, was to order Inkheart and Inkdeath and leave them in his room. Maybe that was when Jason started to realize that he wasn't going to leave forever.

(Maybe Jason and Dick would play Motley Folk together, because Dick was in the circus and could most certainly throw knives, even if it gave Bruce a heart attack every time he saw it.)

And maybe, after he could no longer have Robin, he remembered that old paperback book, that old story and that old world, and he thought of a new name for himself.

Bluejay, he thought, as he picked up the book that had been his constant companion for so many years. I'll be The Bluejay.

(I don't really know what this is. I saw some Bluejay!Jason art the other day and just started thinking of the Inkheart trilogy and the fact that Jason would absolutely have read it and probably loved it. And then it spiralled.)

[rainbow-universe]

my shadow (it follows behind) :

love me more (i killed someone for you)

part 1/3

Gotham has lost the Joker. GCPD doesn’t know how he escaped from Arkham Asylum or when. Your team is called in to find him, and figure out what he might be up to, or even if he’s still alive. Criminal Minds x DC Crossover Week Day 7 - Sunday, February 9th Backstory Reveal || Undercover Justice League || Profiling a Rogue/Bat || "Life is a hell of a thing to happen to a person." part of @criminalmindsxdc 's CM x DC crossover week!!

TWs: background character death, mentioned torture and body disposal, guns mentioned but not used

title from an Alec Benjamin song

cross-posted on ao3

wc: 8k+

”You will be forgotten. No one will miss you or mourn you.”

“It’s all over the news have you heard?”

“It’s bad news.”

“Gotham is such a weird place, I’m glad I don’t live there.”

“It’s kind of scary.”

The building was abuzz with whispers as you walked in.

“What’s going on?” you asked upon joining where Derek, JJ and Penelope were huddled around Spencer’s desk.

“Oh my lovely Gothamite! I’m surprised you didn’t hear before us! It’s your hometown! They’re saying the Joker broke out of Arkham again!” Penelope said worriedly.

No, that’s not- Why had no one called you, texted you? You resisted the urge to glance at your phone which you knew was blank of any new notifications.

Derek put his arm around her.

“Time to have some fun.”

“Don’t worry, baby girl, I’ll protect you. And Gotham is over 150 miles away,” Derek comforted her.

“That’s-” you stopped yourself. “He’s out? He’s gone? Has he done anything yet?”

“Gotham news says they looked in his cell early this morning and he wasn’t there, they have no leads on when or how he escaped, or if he had help,” JJ said.

“There’ve been no sightings yet, but the Gotham PD announced they’ve been gearing up for an attack, just in case,” Spencer added.

“They say the Bats have gone to talk to some of the Rogues to see if anybody knows anything. They said they were trying to talk to his girlfriend Harl-”

“Ex,” you interrupted Penelope. “Ex-girlfriend. Harley Quinn. Aka Dr Harleen Quinzel, former psychiatrist. The Joker was one of her patients. Anyways.”

“Yah.”

“You don’t believe Batman is actually real, do you? C’mon, that’s just an urban legend,” Derek said, no way was he real. Derek would need to see him with his own two eyes to believe in the local Gotham Cryptid.

“Considering the Joker considered him his archnemesis and Gotham PD has a ‘Batsignal’, I’d say that one hell of a strong delusion that keeps dragging the Joker back to Arkham if he doesn’t exist,” you said dryly.

“But, c’mon, a man who dresses up as a bat every night? Nuh uh.”

“Don’t forget the rest of the birds and bats!” chirped Penelope.

“The who now?” JJ asked.

“The Gotham Birds and Bats! There’s more than just Batman,” Penelope gushed. Derek loved when she got passionate about things. “There’s Robin too! And others like Nightwing and Spoiler and Batgirl, although she’s not active anymore, and my personal favourite, another hacker extraordinaire, the Oracle!”

“You sure know your Bats and Birds,” you smiled at Penelope.

“Not even Batman can save you now.”

“It’s a hobby of mine, scouring all the message boards and conspiracy theories and fan sites about them, like whether Batman is a vampire or who would be better suited to be Batman: Mark Zuckerberg, Oliver Queen or Bruce Wayne. Definitely Oliver Queen, he had that buffed up makeover a couple years back and Bruce Wayne has way too many kids. And I will not even consider the blasphemous opinion of Zuckerberg, he doesn’t have the face for it. Besides, Brucie Wayne isn’t serious enough to be Batman.” Penelope had her opinions and they were right. She would not be convinced otherwise. But maybe she’d have to drag you into telling her more about the Gotham vigilantes. Certainly there were things you knew that the internet didn’t.

“Did you hear? The Joker’s out of Arkham, apparently that’s the big news today,” Emily said as she joined your group.

“It is troublesome, since the last few times he escaped he mass murdered dozens of people,” Spencer said.

“You’re from Gotham, what do you think of all this?” Emily asked and suddenly all eyes were on you.

“I want to hear you scream.”

You knew it would come eventually but that didn’t mean you were prepared for it, or for five sets of eyes on you at once.

“I think that the guy’s a serial killer and I hope no one else gets hurt because of him,” you said, before making your exit to your desk, which was not far enough away but thankfully they left it there for the moment.

“Uh oh, looks like we have a case.” You heard JJ mutter and followed her gaze up to where Hotch was signaling you with a curl of his fingers.

You followed everyone to the briefing room and sat down.

“Which hurts more? A? Or B?”

“As you may have heard, the Joker’s-“ Hotch was uncomfortable with the fact that he had no other name to call him “-cell at Arkham Asylum was found empty at 2:52 this morning. GCPD have been on the scene but haven’t been able to determine when on how he escaped. None of the local criminals have admitted to knowing possible whereabouts of … the missing criminal.

“We’ve been called in to help, to figure out how he escaped, if he had help and from whom, and profile his possible next moves. Wheels up in 30, we’re driving there and debrief more on the way. Garcia? I want you on the ground with us for this one,” Hotch said.

Penelope’s eyes widened. “Yes sir!” she squeaked.

“Bring the gas masks I gave you, you never know with Gotham,” you added as you followed your team out of the room.

“Wait up, agent,” Hotch called out to you.

“Don’t worry about your pretty little face, there won’t be much left of you after we’re done here.”

You turned to see Hotch looking at you and you took a few steps back towards him. “Yes, sir?”

“You’re familiar with Gotham.” It was a statement as much as it was a question.

“Yes, born and raised, or so I’m told,” you replied lightly, brow furrowed because Hotch knew this.

He nodded. “I want you taking lead on this one, at least for contact with the locals. You’d be familiar with them, correct?”

You nodded.

“Good. And you’re also familiar with …”

“The Bats, Birds and Rogues?” you asked dryly.

“Yes.”

You nodded again. “I am familiar with most of them, and yes, sir, Batman does exist, no matter what Morgan says, and before you say anything about tampered evidence and convictions, when half the justice system is corrupt, having an outside source helps. At least in Gotham specifically.”

Hotch looked considering when he replied, “Commissioner Gordon said that when he called, that Batman was the one to recommend bringing us in.”

You hoped you kept your face as blank as possible without being too suspicious. Bruce!! “Oh wow. That’s a … nice? Surprise?”

“We’ll see.” Hotch waved you on to grab your go bag.

“You will not survive this., You will die here. No one knows you’re here.”

Before arriving, Hotch assigned your vehicle (you, Penelope, JJ and Rossi) to head right to the precinct to meet with Gordon while he, Spencer, Derek and Emily went to Arkham.

You led your teammates inside, winding around desks to Gordon’s office to knock at his door.

It opened to Jim Gordon’s exhaustion lined face. You were struck by how haggard he looked.

“Jim,” you greeted.

“Come on in then.” He gestured the four of you into his office.

“These are agents Jennifer Jareau and David Rossi and our technical specialist Penelope Garcia.”

“JJ, please.”

“Dave is fine.”

“Nice to meet you, sir!”

They shook hands and then Jim sat down and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Thanks for coming out. I know we Gothamites have a reputation for handling our problems internally, but I’m worried we’re out of our depth for this one.”

“Perhaps we’ll start with something small. Something you won’t miss. Work up to the big stuff. Hmm? Let’s start with the fingers.”

“We’re here to help,” JJ said. She could see how exhausted he looked. This would be a difficult case for any city, but in Gotham? They'd already experienced how bad he could be, now they were just bracing for impact.

Jim nodded. “I honestly don’t know when he got out and it pains me to say that. I don’t know what we’re dealing with. Usually he escapes with a big bang and spree killings and a revenge plot against Batman. This time? Silence. It’s unsettling.”

“That’s where we can help, to profile him and see why he might have changed his pattern,” Rossi said.

“Scream as loud as you want, no one can hear you.”

Jim nodded. He stood and began leading you out of his office. “C’mon, this way. I had some officers clear a space for you.” He weaved through the desks to a small corner of the precinct. “I admit I was surprised when Batman was the one to suggest you but he’s usually infuriatingly right about these things so I hope you’re able to help us out here. I don’t want more bodies on my hands.”

“Batman, sir? He …?”

“Recommended I call in the BAU, yes. He and the other Bats are working overtime on this too. Last I heard Batman and Robin were trying to get in with Ivy to talk to Harley- that’s Dr Pamela Isley, Poison Ivy, she’s taken over one of the downtown parks where she lives with Harley Quinn, Dr Harleen Quinzel. They haven’t been seen yet.

“Red Robin and Spoiler were checking with Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot, a mafia boss and owner of the Iceberg Lounge, and Harvey Dent, Two-Face. Haven’t heard anything back yet about Dent but they said Cobblepot said nothing, but they don’t think he knows anything.

“Meanwhile, the Signal is patrolling and Orphan and Nightwing are on Red Hood watch, making sure heads don’t roll until we catch the bastard-” Jim cleared his throat, these were FBI professionals who were out of place in Gotham, but as much as he hated to admit it, Batman was probably right that they needed help this time, and it wouldn’t do him any good to go embarrassing the PD in front of them. “The uh, what do you folks call it?”

“Unsub, or unknown subject,” Agent Jareau supplied.

“Unsub, well, in our case we know who he is, we just don’t know where. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.” Jim hoped they’d be able to work fast. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Jim nodded and left. As he was walking away, he overheard Agent Jareau whisper, “Wow.”

“This sure is a different city,” Agent Rossi remarked.

“Watch who you’re talking to,” you joked.

Jim wasn’t that close to you, but you’d worked a few years at the Blüdhaven field office and you were close with the Wayne’s, so he’d run into you before. You knew the stakes, he hoped the rest of your team adapted quickly. Otherwise, it’d be a hell of a ride.

“Batman has morals. So do I. But they are very, very different.”

The four of you unpack the boxes of case files of the Joker and get to work. Most of these you’ve read before, not from your time at the Blüdhaven branch of the bureau but from having bat access to them, but it was good starting place for your team to understand him.

Hotch, Derek, Spencer and Emily joined you a bit later and you went over what you knew.

“No forced entry, no hidden escape route or tunnel, no windows, and a hell of a lot of security between the cell and the outside world,” Derek said.

“The room looked untouched, no signs of struggle, as if one day he just decided to leave and walked through the walls,” Spencer said.

“They sent me the security footage and there’s nothing there either. No one coming in or out who’s not supposed to,” Penelope added.

“I gotta say it, it looks like an inside job,” Rossi said.

Hotch nodded. “As of now it seems the most likely. The security on that room means sort of an explosion, there’s no evident way out from the inside.”

“Ok, so who are we looking at first? Workers at the asylum, Gotham criminals, other inmates? He wasn’t supposed to have any contact to the outside world so he couldn’t coerce any one to help,” Spencer said.

“Because he’s done it before,” you added.

“So did he do that again?”

“There was nothing that pointed at the presence of a way to communicate with the outside, but it could’ve been so well hidden we couldn’t find it,” Derek said.

“Or magical interference,” Emily offered.

“What I don’t understand is how no one noticed he wasn’t there, he would’ve needed food while he was there, but no one remembered going to his cell. Ever. And there were no food trays anywhere either. So somehow, someone was able to stop sending him food without anyone noticing when.”

“Unless he just escaped, but that still doesn’t explain how no one remembers going to his cell of having things sent there,” JJ said.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?”

You were in the middle of further discussing the case with your team when someone jumped on your back.

“Dick.”

Your team stared in confusion.

You weren’t sure what surprised them more. A grown man jumping on your back to hug you from behind or you not reacting (except to seemingly swear at him).

“Good to see you!” Dick squeezed you tightly before hopping off your back and coming to stand beside you. “I heard you were called in for the case.”

“Yes. Everyone, this is Detective Dick Grayson, a detective from Blüdhaven PD.”

He slung an arm around your shoulder and gave everyone his best and brightest grin. “Nice to meet you.”

“I … know him,” you added as an afterthought.

“You don’t say,” JJ teased.

Emily snickered. Very unsubtly.

“Grayson.”

Dick let you go of you to spin and smile at Gordon.

“Commish! Good to see you.”

“Not your jurisdiction,” Gordon grumped without heat.

“I know, I wanted to help out,” he said.

“Don’t bother the agents, if they’re ok with it you can stay.” He turned to the rest of your team. “If his defense he’s been around for a lot of Joker events so he could have helpful insights. Still no updates or sightings. No one’s seen or heard anything. Spoiler and Red Robin confirmed that Dent doesn’t know anything. Signal hasn't seen anything unusual either. I don’t like it, doesn’t feel right. So far, Ivy hasn’t let anyone in the park yet, so no one’s heard from Quinn yet. I’ll leave you to it, I have to get back to coordinating patrols, let me know if you find anything.”

“Of course,” Hotch said before he walked off. “Detective Grayson-“

“Dick, please, yes I know, I’ve heard all the jokes, but English is weird.” He flashed them a winning smile.

You saw JJ raised her eyebrows at Penelope unsubtly and Penelope widened her eyes right back. You wondered if the silent communication was about your relationship with him, his conventional attractivity or whether they recognized him as a member of the Wayne family.

Hotch paused for a moment. “Dick, how familiar are you with … the current situation?”

“I only know what I’ve heard, the Joker’s escaped and no one knows how or when, or what he’s going to do next.”

“Gordon said you were familiar with him?” Derek asked.

Dick nodded. “He’s been terrorizing people since I was a kid.” He gave an uncomfortable smile.

“Any ideas on what he might do next?” Rossi asked.

“Go after Batman probably, that’s what he usually does. But he plans things out. He likes having a stage and usually hostages. Booby traps as well. Usually something with Joker gas, which is … a deadly laughing gas if too much is inhaled.”

You heard Penelope gasp.

“And bombs. He likes blowing things up.” Dick’s voice had tightened, and you couldn’t help reaching out to grab his hand and squeeze.

“Where do you think he would go first?” Emily asked.

Dick sighed. “I think that depends on what he has planned. And who helped him.”

“You think someone helped him?”

“I don’t know how he would’ve escaped otherwise.” Dick shrugged. “If there was already a safe house hideout in place, it’s someplace new. W- All his known haunts have been checked by the Bats (a guy hears things), and I’m not sure where else he could be hiding with this much pressure to find him. He thrives on chaos and attention and right now? With the city practically in chaos over his disappearance … he’d love it, feed off the fear and panic he’s created doing nothing. I think it’s only a matter of time before he does something, otherwise …” he trailed off.

“Otherwise?” JJ asked.

Dick seemed to remember himself and shook his head, but he still answered. “Otherwise, I’d start to wonder if someone got to him first.”

“I want him dead. Will you help me?”

“You think someone could’ve killed him?” Agent Morgan asked.

Dick hesitated and tried to find his words. His thoughts on the subject were complicated.

“There’s a lot of people who wish he was dead. Not too many that’d have the guts to try and take him out and none that I know of that wouldn’t claim that fame for themselves if they did it. Or even if they knew that he was dead for sure. That no one has …”

“Means no one knows for sure whether he’s dead or not,” Dr Reid finished.

“What about Dr Pamela Isley and Dr Harleen Quinzel? No one seems to be able to get a hold of them, could they have done it?” Agent Rossi asked.

Dick nodded. “It’s definitely a possibility, and one that seems realistic the more time passes without hearing from him or them. They might even have him right now,” he sighed. “I don’t like not knowing.”

“We don’t either, but that’s why we profile, to see what he might be doing, his possible movements, try to predict and anticipate,” Agent Jareau said.

“Anyways, I’m here to help if you’ll have me,” Dick offered, glancing around at you and your team.

“You already have,” Agent Prentiss said.

“But you’re welcome to stay. We appreciate your insight,” Hotch added.

“Of course, put me to work.”

“I should have finished this a long time ago, but it’s better late than never.”

“I need more coffee, anyone else?” JJ stood and looked around the table you were all hunched around, going through files and reports.

There were groans and grumbles of assent.

“I’ll go with you,” you offered. “You shouldn’t be alone in Gotham, especially right now.”

“Ok, perfect, you can take me to the best coffee place in the city then!”

You chuckled. “Sure,” you agreed, grabbing the keys from Derek.

“I assure you, I am no Batman.”

“So how do you know each other?” Emily asked Dick once you’d gone, stretching in her seat, taking a break from pouring over the files.

Dick looked up from his folder and smiled knowingly, without you there, interrogation time had started.

He did that a lot. Smile. Most seemed genuine but Spencer couldn’t be sure. There were many hidden depths to this man that you seemed so comfortable around.

“Well, it was partially through my brother. They went to the same high school and became friends, but it wasn’t until … after, that we really met and kept talking and hanging out and decided to be friends on our own.”

“Aww,” Penelope gushed.

“You’ve lived here all your life, too?” Rossi asked, also taking a break from the eye strain that was reading all these reports.

Dick gave a small laugh. “No actually. Grew up in the circus, travelled around a lot.”

“Ooh! Sounds like fun!” Penelope exclaimed.

“It was.”

Immediately they could all sense that they were approaching personal territory, especially when Dick picked up his folder again. Spencer knew their curiosity was piqued, but they all knew when a person had talked enough about a subject to want it let go.

Spencer watched the detective for a moment longer, noting how his knee hadn’t stopped bouncing since he’d sat down, how his eyebrows furrowed as he read. Detective Grayson had had good input since he’d joined them, he wouldn’t make a half bad profiler, Spencer thought.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die until we’re finished here. And we still have quite a lot to do with you yet.”

You and JJ had just left the café with your teammates coffees in trays when you pushed JJ behind you, and she bumped into the wall.

“Hey-!” she started, but then noted your defensive stance and reached with her free hand for her gun.

Something dropped from the sky and JJ was pulling her gun out when she realized you weren’t reaching for your own and had relaxed your posture.

She looked at the figure again and realized it was a someone that had dropped down in front of you.

You sighed. “Red.”

They were, in fact, red. Ah, must be one of the vigilantes. That you were clearly familiar with.

“Agent.”

JJ was partly put off by the white lenses covering their eyes. They hid so much expression, and it was kind of creepy to stare into blank white eyes.

“Batman and Robin have so far been unsuccessful with Ivy and Harley-“

Right, the vigilantes trying to talk to the plant wielding meta and the Joker’s ex-girlfriend, a danger in her own right.

“-and it was suggested that you try, that is what you were called in for, profilers. You can try and talk to Ivy, profile her and Harley if you can get in with them.”

“It was suggested,” you mocked. “By whom? You? Bats? Harley and Ivy?”

‘Red’ didn’t answer, just stared you down, mouth twitching occasionally.

You sighed and glanced at JJ, then the coffees that you both were still carrying, miraculously unspilled from when you pushed JJ out of the way. You looked back at the vigilante for a moment. “Fine, but you have to bring the coffees to our team.”

JJ couldn’t be certain, but she thought “Red” might have been glaring at you behind those impenetrable lenses.

“Spoiler.”

JJ wasn’t sure what that meant. You didn’t move. JJ nudged you and you looked at her again.

“Care to explain what’s going on?”

“Oh! Right, JJ, this is Red Robin, Red, my friend, coworker, person, Agent Jennifer Jareau,” you said formally.

“Spoiler! Nice to meet you!”

JJ didn’t think she hid her flinch well enough when another vigilante swept down from the roofs and landed beside Red Robin.

This one was very purple and very bubbly. For some reason, JJ thought they’d get along well with Penelope.

“Spoiler,” you greeted and handed over your tray of coffee. You looked at JJ and motioned she should to the same.

She hesitantly handed it over to Red Robin. How in the world they were going to get them back to the precinct without spilling the drinks, JJ had no idea.

“Don’t spill that coffee now,” you said in a flat voice, quickly grabbing your and JJ’s drinks before the left.

“Pul-ease, we’re not amateurs,” Spoiler laughed before shooting a line (when had she grabbed a grappling hook/gun??) and swinging away, Red Robin following after.

“C’mon then, seems we’re going to the park.”

JJ shook her head. Gotham was so weird.

“Do you have a blowtorch? I want to burn him.”

You arrived at the park and got out of the SUV, JJ behind as you approached- holy shit, Batman and Robin!! (Derek would have a fit if he were here, and Penelope would probably squeal, JJ thought.) Holy shit, giant wall of greenery!! The two vigilantes were standing not in front of a wall, but a veritable fortress of vines and trees and plants. Isley was one powerful meta is this was anything to go by. JJ was going to get whiplash from all the strange Gotham things here.

She stopped beside you, facing the vigilantes.

You introduced you and her formally, but JJ had a feeling it was for her benefit, that they already knew who you were.

“We’ve come to talk to Isley and Quinzel.”

“Hn.”

Big talker.

“Tt. She will not talk to us, why should she talk to you outsiders,” Robin scowled and JJ was horrified at how young he looked and sounded.

Spoiler and Red Robin sounded like young adults as it was, but tall enough that JJ was sure they were adults (hoped so at least). But this one … this one couldn’t’ve been more than … a young teen? This was a child.

“Well, maybe they will dislike us so much that they’ll talk to us,” you said dryly, as if this wasn’t a child in a brightly coloured costume, beside someone who looked more shadow than man.

“Hn,” Batman grunted again, yet somehow a different grunt that had a different meaning if Robin’s deepening scowl was anything to go by. Robin backed off, closer to the other vigilante’s shadows. Gotham was a good fit for Batman with its almost perpetual cloudy weather.

(Maybe Derek was right in a way, maybe Batman wasn’t a man, but a manifestation of … Gotham? Something that crawled out of the polluted waters of Gotham Harbour? That was way too complex and “meta” for JJ, she’d leave the conspiracy theories to Penelope.)

You seemed to take Robin’s movement as a signal to move towards the giant wall of vines and JJ strode after you. She whispered your name.

“Hm?” You spared her a glance.

“Robin is a child!” she hissed.

Your eyebrows creased. “Hm.” You were almost imitating Batman in a manner now.

“Seriously! That is a child in that costume! He could get hurt!”

You turned fully to JJ, face serious, brow creased, and she knew she had your full attention.

“Or maybe Robin is protecting him. Maybe without the suit he’d go out into the world anyways, with anger and vengeance in his heart, but instead without protection. Maybe instead he’d be one of the kids picked up and put in juvie or kidnapped into a child trafficking ring. Maybe he’d be just a kid trying to survive on the streets or get killed by a criminal because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe Robin gives him a purpose and the skills to do things safely and save others. Maybe he would’ve gone out anyway, so Robin protects him.” You shrugged. “Or maybe Robin’s just made from Gotham magic.”

“I want him to pay. For all he’s done, for all the people he’s hurt. … Killed.”

“We’d like to talk to you and Dr Quinn, Dr Isley. We’re agents from the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI. This is my friend JJ, can we talk?”

Nothing. You wondered how long you would have to yell at the wall of green before you gave up.

“Ivy? Harley? We just want to know if you killed him-“

Not that your team had exactly determined that for certain yet.

“-I know it’s probably annoying that we want to talk about a man when you both have your own long lists of heinous crimes but if we can just smooth out the first thing real quick, we can get on to your disastrous acts.”

JJ raised an eyebrow and you threw your hands up in the air dramatically. You were an awkward conversationalist at the best of times and now you were talking to a giant wall of plants. This wasn’t like talking to your normal household plants, ok?

“I’m JJ, we’ve never met,” JJ started, “but we just have some questions for you-” you saw the other SUV pull up out of the corner of your eye, the rest of the team was here “-about the disappearance of the Joker.” JJ winced, you guessed it was because of the fact that there was no record of any other name to call him.

The team stepped out of the vehicle and was ready to join you, when the wall shivered. Vines shot out towards you and JJ. You heard your teammates yell before you was pulled off your feet and enveloped in vines.

“How are we going to dispose of him?”

Pamela dropped the two of you in her parlour (what? Of course she had specific rooms to her plant fortress) and waited for you to get up. You untangled yourself from where you’d wrapped yourself protectively around the blonde agent, and helped her up, staying between her and Pam the whole time. How sweet.

“Ivy.” You nodded in greeting. “Thank you for having us.” Well, at least you had manners.

“Not my idea. Harls wanted to talk to you,” Pam said, bored. She went over to her lounger to lie down. She slid her sunglasses on and observed you from behind them.

You seemed calm, but she could see the tenseness in your shoulders as you murmured with your partner and dissuaded her from grabbing her gun. Smart move, Pam wouldn’t let that stand in her own home.

“Howdy!” Harley jumped in exuberantly from who knows where.

You had to grab the blonde’s hand from reaching for her gun again.

“Harley, it’s good to see you. Thank you for seeing us.”

“Meh,” she shrugged. “Batsy’s no fun when he’s hung up on Mista J. No one is, I didn’t wanna see ‘em. But I was getting’ bored so you came at a great time! C’mon in, sit down!” She waved you both over to a small table in the corner of the room.

Pam watched uninterestedly.

“So,” Harley started when the three of you were seated, “you wanna know if I killed Mista J, huh?”

“Yes, or if you know who killed him, or where he is.”

Pam had to give the blonde some credit, she was completely out of her depth here in Gotham, and in Pam’s domain, but she faced it head on, and with fantastic style no less.

“Oh, hunny bunchkins, Mista J is most, absolutely, certainly dead. Dead he is.”

“He is? You know this for sure? Do you have proof?”

“Of course I do! He’s as dead as Ive’s relationship with Kite-man!” Harley exclaimed, and- ouch? But not really, she was very happy in her relationship with her girlfriend.

“Do you know who killed him?” you asked.

“You may be wondering why I am here. I’ll do you the courtesy of letting you know. I am here to kill you.”

“Do I know who killed him? Of course, I know who killed him! You’re lookin’ at ‘er!”

“You?”

“You killed the Joker?”

“Yeppers, so I know he ain’t comin’ back, that’s for sure. He’s gone-for-good-goners.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone before? Then we wouldn’t have had to come down and bother you like this?”

Ok, yah. Blondie was smarter than stereotypes, sharp, clever. If she was a villain, Harley definitely would consider inviting her to her and Pam's book club.

Harley shrugged. “Didn’t feel like it. None o’ your business anyways who I kill!” She blew the two of you a raspberry.

“Actually, that’s kind of our job,” you said mildly, unphased.

“But you definitely killed him,” she asked again. Harley gave her props for persistence, she was staring down two powerful supervillains, Gotham’s Queenpins, and not giving an inch once she’d found her footing. It was definitely entertaining. Harley made a good choice convincing her girlfriend to bring you two in.

“Tha’s what I said.” Although, it was still annoying to be questioned so much, Harley was starting to get a glint in her eye. “If ya don’t believe me, try ‘n find him. That’s what you’re supposed tuh be able tuh do with your brain powers, isn’t it? That’s why Gordon called ya here, ‘n you haven’t found ‘im yet.” Harley stood up and you yanked your coworker up too.

“We just want to know where he is. Where he was … buried, disposed of, left, or kept, after he was killed, where is he now?” you asked, backing away from your hostesses, herding Blondie behind you.

Harley paused, then gave her biggest, but not wildest, grin. “You’re lookin’ at ‘im! I had Ives turn ‘im into mulch. Compost ‘im. To feed her plants! So he wouldn’t be such a waste of space after he died. ‘Sides, Ives would hardly let him be disposed in an un-eco-friendly manner.” She rolled her eyes.

“Can I have some? My plants need it.”

“I think it’s time for you to go.” Dr Isley stood up and JJ’s hand once again brushed her side where her gun sat against her hip, but the situation and your arm in front of her reminded her to take a deep breath and move on as if everything was fine. As if she wasn’t preparing to be flung back through the wall of plants. And that was best case scenario. But she was a professional, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, although instances with metas were of the rare sort.

“Thank you for your time, you’re right, we’ll go now,” you said with a calmness that JJ had the sense was more from a familiarity of dealing with your hometown criminals than your regular job experience and professionalism.

“Wait here, I won’t be long.”

Hotch prided himself on having a very good poker face. From years as a prosecutor to years in the BAU, it was in his best interest if no one knew what he was thinking at any given moment.

When you and JJ didn’t come back from your coffee run but instead two colourful vigilantes telling him that you’d gone to talk to two dangerous felons, one of them a powerful meta eco-terrorist, the other a wild and temperamental criminal, he was worried. But he put on his stern boss mask and told Dave to stay with Penelope to continue searching possibilities as the rest of them rushed to the remaining SUV.

Detective Grayson led the way to the park with a GCPD officer in a cruiser car, Morgan following close behind.

They all immediately clocked you and JJ standing by the enormous hedge wall, with … ah, that must have been Batman and … Robin? Batman’s sidekick, Robin?

He started walking towards you two, already planning to save the reprimands (worry) for later when he could shed his mask in private.

But then the wall shivered and vines swallowed you, and his stomach dropped, he was right behind Morgan, racing to where you disappeared from.

Before they could get there, Grayson was in front of them, Batman and Robin(?) behind him, looking intimidating and startlingly contrasted from one another.

“Hey man, get out of our way. That wall just stole our agents-”

“I’m sorry, but whatever you try won’t work. Ivy, Dr Isley, took them, that could be a good thing. That means they might be talking to Harley right now, which no one has done today.”

“They’re in there with two dangerous criminals,” Morgan argued. He was almost itching for a fight with how tense he was.

Hotch knew Morgan hated not being able to protect his teammates, even if they could defend themselves. Hotch wondered, in the back of his mind, how Grayson would fare in a physical fight against Morgan. Morgan had the size and height, but the way Grayson moved displayed a dancer-like grace and good reflexes. Somehow, he thought Grayson wouldn’t be knocked down too easily.

Grayson sighed. “Anything you try to do to get in will likely only piss Ivy off, putting your friends in more danger. Believe me, I want to help them, but the best thing to do right now is wait it out. I’m sorry, I won’t let you closer, at least, Batman and Robin won’t. But they wouldn’t explain anything. You should trust your agents, they have a chance to find out if Harley and Ivy know anything. ‘Sides, one of them’s a Gothamite, used to this sort of thing, they’ll be fine.”

Hotch levelled a stern look at Batman and took a moment to make sure his boss mask was in place. “Morgan,” he said quietly but firmly.

The other man scowled but backed up next to him. Reid and Prentiss hovered close behind.

“What can you tell us about them for situations like these?”

Grayson shifted on his feet. “Well, they’re less volatile together. More powerful sure, but … chiller, in a way. Ivy’s whole schtick is ‘ecoterrorism’, she usually just goes after polluters and other threats to nature, she just wants Gotham cleaned up, in a way. Harley … well, you’ve probably heard that she and the Joker used to be a thing. It was an abusive relationship, very … tumultuous and volatile. But since she’s gone out on her own, she’s … calmer? It’s hard to explain to non-Gothamites,” Grayson laughed awkwardly. “But she’s so much better now that she’s not with him. Did she kill him? I don’t know, she could’ve, definitely. Hopefully they’ll get it out of her.”

Gordon joined them then, with a few more officers, and they discussed options. Unfortunately, he agreed with Grayson, trying to get through by force would only aggravate the situation and put you and JJ more at risk. So for now, there was only one option. Wait.

“Do not worry, he will not be found. There will be nothing left for him to find.”

Morgan was muttering about making a run for it, wondering how big of a fire it’d take to burn through the wall, when the plants rustled again. Everyone was immediately on alert, the BAU walking closer as an arch opened in the wall.

There you were.

You and JJ walked in front of Dr’s Isley and Quinzel, looking unharmed. Every officer’s and agent’s hands sitting on their guns, just in case, but you two were in the way. And against a meta as powerful as Isley? Hotch was reluctantly resigned that they were unlikely to win against her with guns, even with the mysterious Batman and Robin there. (And/or other mysterious vigilantes hidden in the shadows.)

“We’re ok,” you assured the team as soon as you were close enough for them to hear, as they’d moved closer to the tunnel to greet you (get you back).

Prentiss was immediately at JJ’s side, as JJ repeated assurances that she too was ok.

Morgan herded you all away from the plant fortress and the two felons.

When you caught Hotch’s eye, he nodded once, and you gave him a small smile in return. He couldn’t deny that seeing you and JJ unharmed and back with them eased a tightness in his chest.

“Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.”

“Hiya Batsy!” Harley Quinn launched herself at Batman and Emily reached for her gun, preparing for a fight. She paused.

Batman just stood there. Let Harley Quinn wrap herself around him like she was hugging a teddy bear or tree. Or rather, Batman. She was hugging Batman. And he was letting her.

Emily dropped her hand and shook her head, staring in confused horror. She would never understand Gotham.

“Harley.” Batman’s voice was gruff and deep, and it was the first time she’d heard him speak since they’d got there. He’d grunted and spoken quietly to his sidekick (child?!) or just not spoken at all.

“How ya doin’, Batsy? Baby Bat?”

This was directed at Robin and Emily had to stop herself from laughing at the scowl that rivalled Batman’s that appeared on his face. And then she remembered that this was a child, and he should be at home eating snacks or at school, anything that wasn’t facing down criminals double his age. How old was this kid??

“Did you kill the Joker?” Batman growled.

“Aww, you’re no fun!” She jumped off and blew him a raspberry. “All you wanna do is talk about him, him, him!”

Emily was sure her therapist would not be thrilled to learn that a Gotham Rogue was becoming one of her role models in standing up for herself and feminism.

“Did you kill him?” he growled again.

“So what if I did? What are you gonna do about it, huh?” She stuck her hands on her hips.

Emily remembered Poison Ivy was there too when she walked over to her girlfriend (Girlboss) from where she had been leaning against her doorway?

“There’s nothing much you could do if we decided to kill him, Bats,” she said, bored.

“Did you?” he repeated.

“Yah! I did!” Harley exclaimed and threw her arms up in the air. “He’s as good as dead because he is dead! You can call you search dogs, whatever, but you won't find him! He's dissolved into plant food by now! And make sure you call Hood and tell him that Mista J is dead and he ain’t coming back eva’. Come on Ives, let’s go, I think the Knights game is starting soon.”

Faster than Batman could stop them, Ivy wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and covered them in vines, bringing them back into the green fortress.

Emily glanced around. Robin had disappeared, but Commissioner Gordon and Dick were talking to Batman, before he too swung off into Gotham's concrete jungle.

“Hood?” Spencer asked in a muted voice.

“A vigilante. Red Hood. Bat associated. His territory is Crime Alley,” you answered quietly.

“Crime Alley? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Derek snorted.

You gave a wry smile. “Official name is Park Row, but no one calls it that anymore. There were … a lot of people have died there, and it really fell down the ladder, but it’s better with Hood there now. He’s set up a lot of safe spaces, soup kitchens, after-school programs, keeps the kids off the streets and protects the working girls among other things.”

“Why doesn’t he just try and do that legally?”

You laughed. “Because he’s basically a mob boss/gang leader. And he killed a bunch of people, (but he’s been pardoned by the Justice League) not that he does that anymore, but still.”

Emily heard Derek mutter something like “Gotham is so weird” before nudging JJ and calling their teammates at the precinct to update them.

Him and Spencer hovered beside JJ, on the phone with Penelope and Rossi, which she couldn’t judge, because she too was hovering, JJ on one side of her, you on the other. She snuck a glance at you. You were silently observing their conversation, Hotch next to you, quiet as well. Your face was blank, but in a calm, yet emotionally exhausted way. The way you usually got at the end of especially hard cases when you didn’t have time to rest and reset. Emily knew this case hit home especially hard, given that you grew up here, and although you’d never outright stated it, they all predicted that’d you’d had run ins with the Joker before, or at least that he’d affected you or someone close to you. They could tell that you weren't upset to hear Harley confessing to killing him.

The other GCPD officers stood by their patrol cars, waiting on orders from Gordon.

The commissioner and Dick walked up to you and Hotch stepped forward to talk to them.

“Thank you for all your help, it was good to have you.”

Hotch and Gordon shook hands.

“You’ll be handling the rest now that Dr Quinzel has confessed to killing him,” Hotch stated.

Gordon shrugged with a wry smile. “We Gothamites handle our own. No one’s sorry to hear that, ahem, to hear that he’s dead. Frankly, it’s a relief to know for sure.”

Emily noticed JJ shift next to her and bumped her elbow to JJ’s.

“Glad we could help.”

“Some of my officers can help you clean up at the station. And Agent Jareau and-” he looked at you and you nodded.

“We’ll leave statements,” you affirmed.

“Good, thanks. Safe travels back.” They shook hands again, then all of them stepped forward to do the same.

“Thank you for your help as well, Detective Grayson.”

“Glad to be of service,” he smiled.

“I say this with all the respect in the world, but I hope I never have to see you again,” Gordon admitted.

Emily snorted quietly. Spencer nudged her in the ribs.

“We understand. Nice meeting you, good luck with everything.”

“Thank you, you too.”

“How are we going to get him out?”

You went with the team to the precinct where you pulled Hotch aside.

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to stay here a bit longer. There’s people I want to see, to check in on …”

“Of course, no problem. You can get back on your own?”

You nodded. “Yes, don’t worry, thank you.”

“Of course, take your time with your family.”

You hadn’t said family but yah, they were your family. “Thanks, Hotch.”

He nodded and you rejoined your teammates to help clean up.

“I think I’ll take a vacation. It’s been a while since I took time off.”

“I, for one, cannot wait until we get back,” JJ muttered after she and you had finally finished your statements with the Gotham PD officers.

“And I cannot believe you two were alone with Poison Ivy!!” Penelope exclaimed in a hushed voice as she cleared her computer away.

“What were they like?” Emily asked and Spencer looked up from his box to observe your and JJ’s expressions.

JJ hummed. “Surprisingly normal. Like some unsubs we’ve dealt with. Calm, clever, more or less level-headed, perceptive … I believe that she’s sure he’s dead. And I believe that she could’ve killed him, the way she talked about him? There’s trauma there, even without knowing it was an abusive relationship.”

“But…?” Rossi asked.

JJ sighed. “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

“And what are you thinking about, pretty boy?” Derek nudged Spencer.

“Something’s puzzling me.”

“Oh no!” Emily joked good naturedly, but … Spencer was sure something was bugging her too.

He rolled his eyes in response. “Supposedly Dr Quinzel killed him, and Dr Isley helped her and used his body for fertilizer, so there’s no evidence, no body left. But there was a too perfect log of food deliveries made to his cell, that no one recalls.”

“And his cell was seemingly untouched,” Rossi muttered.

“There was dust,” Derek remarked.

“Not much, but it was there,” Emily added.

“She could’ve broken him out and killed him, but why hide it? Why make sure the records still show normal activity, so no one suspects anything?”

“So, no one noticed and stopped her? She sounded like she had plans to make it painful for him before he died,” JJ offered.

“But neither she nor Dr Isley seem to favour stealth. They bust in, break things, make some noise, before leaving with what they’ve come for. I read a few reports of their previous attacks. It just doesn’t make sense that they’d hide killing the Joker.”

“What can I say, it’s Gotham. Things here are different,” Derek said, clapping his hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Either way-“

“It’s not our jurisdiction anymore,” Hotch finished. “We can’t overstay our welcome.”

“But what if he’s still out there?” Spencer urged.

Derek nudged him along towards the door. “Let’s hope he’s not, but Hotch is right, we can’t stay any longer, it’s out of our hands now.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m with JJ, I believe Harley when she said that he’s dead.” Spencer glanced at you, you weren’t making eye contact with anyone, gazing into space, not after the long, exhausting day you’d had. “Whether or not she killed him?” You shrugged. “But I believe he’s dead.”

Spencer was worried that your want of him dead might be influencing you, but he said nothing. He hoped the Joker was dead too.

“You’re staying?” Rossi asked you when you got outside.

You nodded. “There’s some people I wanna see since I’m here,” you said softly.

“Of course, you have to see your family while you’re here!” Penelope said.

“Come back to us though, Penelope might not forgive you if you don’t,” Derek joked.

You laughed. “I’ll come back, don’t worry.”

“Hugs ok?” JJ asked.

You nodded and opened you arms to give her a hug. Penelope was next, then Derek and Emily and even Rossi. You tilted side to side to say bye to Spencer, he wiggled his hands in response. You waved at Hotch and he gave you one of his rare smiles as he waved back.

Spencer got in the SUV after Emily, Penelope behind him.

“I’m so ready to leave,” Penelope whispered, as if Gotham itself could hear her.

“Just a couple hours, baby girl,” Derek said as he got in the driver’s seat.

“I’m glad the case is over,” Emily said.

“I hope it’s over,” Spencer mumbled.

“When do you think they’ll find out?”

You watched the SUVs pull away and then made your way to the Manor. You let yourself in and went straight to the kitchen.

Alfred looked up when you walked in. You held eye contact with him for a moment and he understood what you weren’t saying out loud.

He nodded, agreeing silently. “They’re in the living room. I’ll go with you.”

You nodded and he followed you out.

”Alfred?”

“Yes?”

“I want to kill the Joker. Will you help me?”

“He considered you for a moment. “Yes. I will.”

~~~

part two // part three

thanks for reading!! feel free to rb and leave nice comments <3

[sumiink]

Sumi's Fic Recs

I've been saving a list of fan fiction I like for years now and thought I should share it!

Fandoms include Danny Phantom, DPxDC, Batman, DCMK, BNHA, and Miraculous Ladybug, Legend of Zelda (Linked Universe), Mob Psycho 100, and Genshin Impact. Links, summaries, and comments under the cut.

Danny Phantom

Phantom of Truth by Haiju

NOTE: An edited/updated version of the sequel (Shadow of a Doubt) is also on AO3, but not finished. The finished, unedited version can be found on FF.net here.

Summary: Locked away in a secret government lab with Phantom as her sole object of study, nothing stands between Maddie and the truth... except, perhaps, herself.

Review: You can’t talk about Danny Phantom fanfic without bringing up Phantom of Truth. This one defines the vivisection genre. It’s written in Maddie’s perspective and you can see her character in every little detail of the writing.

Treading Water by TheFullCatastrophe

Summary: "This is the story of why we had to start calling Danny Fenton, Danny FINton. Get it, Danny? 'Cause you have FINS? Oh, I kill me." - a summary by Tucker Foley.

Review: Mermaid AU! Another classic fandom fic, this one with great worldbuilding and some dark, realistic vibes that make the ghosts (well, mermaids) really feel dangerous.

Modern Day Ghost Girl by MemoryWriter

Summary: Wendy Manson, 14-year old freshman in Casper High. Recently she's been able to sense ghosts, and on the day Wendy's paranormal curiosity gets the best of her, her project partner and ex-best friend Shane happens to follow her. When she meets a mysterious ghost in the abandoned apartment, what of her identity will she be discovering?

Review: One of the first fics I ever read, so it holds a special place in my heart.

Outside Looking In by Ellen_Brand

Summary: Casper High's new psychiatrist has some interesting interviews ahead of him.

Review: A great outside perspective into Danny. Also I just like Cade!

Phantom’s Sketchbook by AkoyaMizuno

Summary: Mr. Lancer finds himself in an unparalleled situation, he has access to something which can give him incredible insight into the personal workings of Amity Park's local ghost teen hero, Danny Phantom.

Review: Another fandom classic! A must read for the student/teacher relationship between Mr. Lancer and Danny.

You Should Be Dead by SapphireDragon11

Summary: Dash and Kwan are horrified to discover they've accidentally killed their classmate, but perhaps even more so when he shows up at school the next day. With his secret on the line, Danny soon discovers Dash and Kwan are the least of his worries.

Review: An epic story of Danny going up against incredible odds! One of my absolute favorites!

DPxDC

But I Want to Be Let In, Not Out by TheWritingOwl

NOTE: Actually a series of one-shots!

Summary: Growing up with the Fentons, Danny resigned himself to the fact that he would never see Damian again. However, when he gets summoned to Gotham after becoming the Ghost King, he finds himself reuniting with his long lost twin.

Review: Some nice demon twins au with batfam elements- all the stuff I like in a DPxDC fic.

close enough to be whole again by hailsatanacab

Summary: “If you ever find yourself in danger, go to Bruce Wayne. He will help you.”     His mother had loved him, in her own way. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have helped him escape. If she hadn’t, she would have dragged him back to the League of Assassins, to Grandfather. If she hadn’t, he’d be dead.     She loved him, but she loved the League more.     Jack and Maddie Fenton loved him too, they did, but they loved their work more.     They loved their work more.     --     After his parents react poorly to his reveal, Danny escapes to the only person he thinks can help him - Bruce Wayne. He doesn't know what to expect when he gets there, but it has to be better than where he is, surely? He certainly doesn't expect to be reunited with his long lost twin brother Damian. It's funny how things work out that way.     Danny is 16 years old, not Phantom Planet compliant

Review: More angsty demon twins AU with secret identity shenanigans, what’s no to love?

Recognized by AgentIanLegend

Summary: When they heard the fateful words "Recognized: Robin - B01," nothing could have prepared them for the web of secrets which would unravel as Daniel Fenton and Richard Grayson search for answers.

Review: An epic story will all kinds of twists and turns. Very will written with great pacing and tight storytelling!

Batman

hand in unloveable hand (a chokehold) by britishparty

Summary: Tim Drake is eleven years old when he’s grabbed off the streets of Bristol while he’s on his way home. It will be okay, he tells himself: they’ll call his parents, and they’ll pay the ransom, and he’ll get to go home.

There are pictures of Batman and Robin on the camera he was carrying. A lot of pictures.

They don’t call his parents. They call Black Mask.

- or: the one where Black Mask kidnaps Tim and tries to groom him into a ruthless heir, and Tim tries to figure out how to destroy him from the inside out.

Review: Tim is great in this. This one is full of scheming and mind games and all that good stuff.

From When He Sprang by WereDog15

Summary: January 2012. For the last four years, Jason Todd has been living on the streets of Gotham, doing whatever he can in order to survive on his own. But one night, as he emerges from his dwelling in Gotham’s underground tunnels, he encounters the legendary dynamic duo of Batman and Robin.A little bit of help can go a long way, but Jason's world is ripped apart as he is unintentionally put in the path of one of the deadliest secret societies that the world has ever known.Discover the story of the event that changed their lives forever, and put Jason on the path to becoming the second Robin.

Review: THIS FIC. It’s creative, it’s dark, it’s gory - this one makes me feel like I’m back in middle school reading The Hunger Games for the first time. This fic does not pull any punches.

Liminal Spaces by Calamityjim

NOTE: A multi-part series with some extra one-shots too

Summary: Bruce's habit of collecting strays is not limited by dimension. Or When Young Justice Batman comes across an angsty, seemingly abandoned by his Batman Tim Drake, he decides to step up to the plate and parent the crap out of him.

Review: Oh this one is a long, epic story with all kinds of twists and turns. And lots and lots of emotional batfam moments.

A Gentlekid Thief by Blazonix

Summary: Tim didn't mean to become the notorious thief Red X; it just sort of happened. Just like how he somehow wound up being Batman’s greatest nemesis - his therapist. He would like to remind whatever higher forces are out there that he is still only 12.

Review: Funny and clever!

From the Shadows by Wolfsbanesparks

NOTE: Shazam crossover

Summary: All Billy Batson wanted was to survive a particularly rough week living on the streets of Fawcett City. The last thing he was looking for was a new family. All Bruce Wayne wanted was to learn a bit more about his upbeat teammate under the guise of official Wayne Enterprises business. But he could never turn his back on a child in need. Especially one as surrounded by mystery as Billy. OR   Billy gets adopted by the Batfamily while trying to deal with a strong magical enemy.

Review: I’m always a fan of gen fic that also has an overarching story and great villain!

Shutterbye by katiesparks

Summary: The more I research it, the more I know it has to be true. Dick Grayson is Robin. And that means Bruce Wayne is Batman. All the pieces fit. I move my Dick and Bruce Wayne things into the Batman and Robin box and buy an extra lock for it.

Review: One-shot written from a young Tim’s perspective. The writing style really brings his character to life.

Surveillance by smilebackwards

NOTE: A multi part series

Summary: Tim knows antagonizing Lex Luthor wasn’t exactly his safest move but the point is really driven home by the bullet to the shoulder. Or: The AU where Jason never died and Tim is a civilian who contributes to crime fighting by taking surveillance photos and leaving them on the desktop of the Batcomputer.

Review: Gotta love some ‘stalker Tim gets involved in hero stuff without actually wearing a cape’ stuff.

Detective Conan & Magic Kaito

(Don’t) Believe What You Know by discordiansamba

NOTE: This fic is actually a rewrite, buuuuuut I saved the older, longer version if you want to read that one instead. Available here (I just copy and pasted it, so formatting may be a little weird)

Summary: For as long as he's known him, Hattori Heiji has always seemed to gotten mixed up in cases with a sort of... supernatural touch. Honestly, Conan's never thought much of it- it's not as if the things that go bump in the night are actually real, and they've got countless cases behind them to prove just that.But after getting mixed up in a strange case in Osaka and learning a disturbing secret from Heiji's past, its left Conan wondering if there's more his friend isn't telling him. So he does what any good detective would- investigate.He's just... not sure he was ready for the answers.

Review: I am a huge of discordiansamba’s writing! It very descriptive and the stories tend to have a lot of interesting moving parts. This fic in particular is great for its worldbuilding and the magical, dangerous adventures Heiji gets involved in. And Heiji trying to hide stuff from Conan always makes for some good tension.

Blood and Snow by discordiansamba

Summary: Heiji Hattori has never believed in the supernatural. Things like vampires have always been a bunch of nonsense to him. But the supernatural is about to prove itself very real.

Review: If you like the last one, you’ll like this one too – another supernatural adventure focusing on Heiji!

Unprofessional Opinion by Ellen_Brand

Summary: A series of psychologicalpersonality profiles of our boys... with guest shrink Cade Maboroshi!

Review: I just like Cade! And an outsider’s perspective is always fun, especially in this writing style.

The Case of the Magic Bullet Murder by MirrorandImage

NOTE: Technically a sequel, but I didn’t read the first one and wasn’t lost. There’s also a third fic that’s good too!

Summary: As always Conan stumbles across another body; and this time the prime suspect is this high school kid named Kuroba Kaito. Sequel to The Case of the Hidden Epidemic.

Review: We get to see Conan interact with Kaito, and that always makes for fun secret identity shenanigans. And we even get to see Kaito get involved in solving a case!

Insanity, Apparently by Taliya

NOTE: A series of one shots

Summary: Takagi Wataru would like to register a complaint to whichever deity thought it would be hilarious to toss him into odd situations with Kaitou KID. Repeatedly. Because this was far beyond his pay grade.

Review: A fun story with a mix of characters you don’t see very often.

Be a Better Me by Lisa_Telramor

Summary: Kaito thought that the Robot Incident ended with the destruction of his copycat robot. He couldn't have guessed how wrong that assumption was when he is injured months later.

Review: Wonderfully angsty and doesn’t shy away from the horror of Kaito’s new reality.

Guide you home by Tobina

NOTE: Uses Guide & Sentinel tropes, which I’d never heard of before but I guess it used to be popular in fanfic in the 90’s? Basically Sentinels have superpowers and Guides help them control it. The two tend to be lifelong partners, but it can be romantic or familial or platonic.

Summary: As a Level 5s Sentinel and skillful detective, Kudou Shinichi helps the Tokyo Police Department whenever they get stuck with a case, his Guide Ran at his side to ground him when needed. After a KID heist, it becomes clear that Guides are dissapearing and Shinichi and his western counterpart Hattori Heiji are knee-deep into the case, especially because this one hits far too close to home for comfort. When then even phantom thief Kaitou KID gets involved, things are bound to get... interesting.

Review: A GREAT story that does a good job with worldbuilding and characters’ relationships. While it focuses on Conan, my favorite part of this fic is the arc the Kaito goes through and the way this story takes a look at his motivations and moral compass.

It's Raining Men, Hallelujah by Asuka Kureru

Summary: Conan already has some kind of corpse magnet power, but when Heiji is in his orbit the corpses actively come to them. From above. Witness.

Review: A fandom classic! Short and hilarious.

Inconceivable by joisbishmyoga

Summary: In the face of a DNA analysis Kaito can't deny, he begins uncovering the rest of his family's secrets. Too bad he's not the only one looking.

Review: An epic story that has a takedown of the Black Org AND twin AU, what’s not to love?

Secrets in Indigo by Sinnatious

Summary: A throwaway comment about Kaitou KID’s eye colour sets Kaito on an uncomfortable path of discovery.

Review: I can’t give too many spoilers! An overall great story with great writing as Kaito discovers secrets and also tries to keep them hidden.

The Young Royals of Deduction by joisbishmyoga

NOTE: One shot

Summary: The Exclusive Interview with Four Children Taking the Investigative World by Storm

Review: Short but fun!

My Hero Academia

The Thin Gray Line by A_ToastToTheOutcasts

Summary: The beauty of the era of quirks wasn't the amazing abilities; it was that nobody sane would even entertain the thought that Kuroko, the most wanted vigilante in all of Japan, was Quirkless.

Review: A vigilante AU with a badass Deku (or, in this case, Kuroko) who puts the whole Hero Commisison to shame. The rivalry between Deku and Bakugou is so intense in this fic, I love it.

Yesterday Upon the Stair by PitViperOfDoom

Notes: When you’re done with this, there’s also a fun related one-shot by another author called U.A. Unsolved by kabukichou (ameliafromafairytale)

Summary: Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the quirkless weakling, he has to be the weird quirkless weakling on top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually quirkless. Even before meeting All-Might and taking on the power of One For All, Izuku isn't quirkless. Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.

Review: An epic story full of secrets and ghosts!

Hero Class Civil Warfare by RogueDruid (Icarius51)

Summary: Heroes lead by Bakugo. Villains lead by Midoriya. Seven days prep time. Three days for Izuku Midoriya to show why they should be glad he's not a real villain.

Review: Badass Deku going all out and scaring his classmates. This one uses nearly every character from class 1-A and 1-B and manages to make everyone have an impact on the story!

Tales of the Jade Mantis by Chess_Blackfyre

NOTE: A multi-part series

Summary: The adventures of Inko Midoriya, Number One Vigilante in all of Japan, and her complicated relationship with the Number One Hero, All Might. However, it's not all about kicking butt and taking names, watch as the telekinetic in the leather jacket struggles with things like brutal mentors, working in customer service, and trying to be a good single parent.

Review: The only fic I’ve found with Inko as a vigilante! Quite the journey, this one goes over her career as a vigilante and what comes after when Izuku suddenly has a quirk. I love the weird adventures Inko gets up to and the interesting people she meets. One of my all time favorites!

Monochrome Skies by QuantumPoint

Summary: Midoriya Izuku died four years ago. Midoriya Izuku dead in a housefire when his mother didn’t notice him come home early. Midoriya Izuku dead because heroes failed to hear the screams of a scared child. Midoriya Izuku dead alone and scared.His mother mourned him but went on with her life. The heroes swore to be better, but still made the same mistakes. And for four years, everyone believed he was until Aizawa caught sight of a well-known vigilante and decided to investigate. Everyone believed it until Yagi bumped into a kind child on the street and tried to give him hope.

Review: I can’t say much because spoilers, but if you’re an artist, read this.

brilliant lights will cease to burn (by my hands i’ll reignite them) by novalotypo

NOTE: It’s a Card Captor Sakura crossover, but honestly I’ve never seen that and as far as I can tell this doesn’t have much to so with that show. It’s BNHA characters and world with some Card Captor magic elements.

Summary: Midoriya Izuku is quirkless. This, he knows very well.This is also what he knows:Weekends and vacations are reserved for walking neighborhood dogs. The elderly are the most powerful people on Earth. Local gods are picky eaters. Trust is a feeble, feeble thing. Magic cards are incredibly difficult to seal, especially when the world thinks you're a vigilante. Heroes are not magicians, but magicians can be heroes.Becoming a cardcaptor wasn't on Izuku's bucket list, but he'll be damned if he doesn't make the best out of it.

Review: Deku doesn’t have a quirk, so he gets sucked up into some magical card captor responsibilities and goes all out, as he does. This one has an analytical Deku, otherworldly magic, creepy villains, and some tension between a vigilante Deku and hero society as a whole. One of my absolute favorites!

Quirk: Knife! by brightredwings

Summary: Izuku Midoriya is unlucky, to say the least and life hasn't exactly been kind. Things weren't so bad in the beginning, but once he was diagnosed quirkless, well, it all went to shit. Everyone grew to hate him, even his best friend and own father.Was it really that impossible to become a hero without a quirk? It doesn't really matter because to Izuku, the term hero is flexible. He'll be his own hero because he's learnt from his own experience, people are selfish and the only one he can rely on is himself.Left alone to fend for himself in the world, Izuku goes out to change things on his own terms, despite his methods being slightly illegal. Keyword, slightly. It's only illegal if he gets caught, right?

Review: A long story with great arcs for a lot of League of Villains character, and a beautiful ending. Some pretty intense angst with happy endings for everyone.

Roses are red and they taste like shit by Unbreakable_Red_Riot

Summary: Katsuki was really fucking sick of the smell of flowers.

Review: Ah, yes, KiriBaku with hanhaki disease. Mostly from Bakugou’s point of view, so you get to see all his frustration and a ton of drama. Also looks into some other characters like Midoriya and Todoroki, which is a nice touch.

The Beauty of a Beast by starofgems

Summary: Once upon a time a lonely beast lived in a manor deep in the forest. He dreamed of the day his true love appeared to break his curse... When a beauty finally appears in his life, it is not quite as he imagined. For who could have thought a beauty would be more of a beast. Or The beauty and the beast AU nobody asked for but here it is.

Review: A very sweet love story. (KiriBaku)

The Deaf Hero: Deku by BeyondTheClouds777

Summary: His whole life, Izuku was told that he couldn’t do it. That he should give up while he still had the chance. That someone like him—Deaf, Quirkless—could never become a hero.But Izuku wasn’t going to give up. Not now and not ever. (OR, the one where nearly everything's the same, but Izuku is Deaf.)

Review: Right what it says on the tin. Deku’s added deafness creates more tension between Deku and Bakugou, his classmates, and even other heroes. Things get angsty but Deku always stays determined, which I love.

Miraculous Ladybug

Where Have All The Heroes Gone and Where Are All The Gods? by Anthemyst

NOTE: This is actually part 5 of a series, but I just started with this one and didn’t feel lost. Just know that in this story, Gabirel isn’t Hawkmoth. Most of this was written before Season 1 ended, I think.

Summary: On their fourteenth birthday, the Agreste triplets' world is turned upside down. Their government has been overthrown, their city taken, and superheroes all over Europe have suddenly and mysteriously vanished-including, to their shock, their parents. They'll need to work together, and become the heroes Paris needs, if they're going to save both their parents and their country.

Review: A next-gen fic that got me into ML fanfic in general! It’s got a fun dystopian vibe and the Agreste kids are all fleshed out very nicely. One of my absolute favorites!

Not A Bit by CaptainOzone

Summary: "Sometimes, being a brother is even better than being a superhero," says author Marc Brown. Félix Agreste has been both, and he can't have said it better himself. (AKA The Brothers AU I wanted to read but had to write myself when I realized this AU has a depressing lack of fic to its name)

Review: I’m always a fan of fic that has Marinette and Adrien AND Felix and Bridgette.

Legend of Zelda (Linked Universe)

Looking for Group by Tashilover

Summary: People want to be a Hero so badly, they're willing to bribe, lie, cheat, and beg. Twilight knows there's a Hero amongst the people in this college town. It's just a matter of finding them.

Review: The modern setting keeps things fresh, yet this story is still full of legends, danger, and a fight of good vs evil!

Mob Psycho 100

tomorrow isn’t always another day by suitablyskippy

NOTE: One shot

Summary: It’s like Reigen’s been waiting for the question. He stops dead on the pavement, grips Mob by the shoulders, and stares down into his eyes with an expression as haunted as though every ghost the pair of them has ever exorcised has taken up residence behind it. “Mob,” he says. “Mob,” he says again. “Tell me, Mob. Look at me and tell me. Tell me truthfully. Do I look cursed to you?”Mob looks at him, and tells him truthfully. “No.”“Well, you didn’t look very long,” says Reigen. “Let’s just stand here for a moment, like so, and you can have another look, a nice long look, and really think about it...” (There's nothing strange about being called back to exorcise the same haunted photocopier six days in a row. It must just be a very haunted photocopier.)

Review: THIS WHOLE CONEPT IS HILARIOUS

Genshin Impact

Traveler’s search for Scaramouche by Scuriel

NOTE: A choose your own adventure story!

Summary: Ei wants Traveler to search for Scaramouche and get back her gnosis. They have many decisions to make along the way.

Review: Don’t see something like this very often! There are actually a lot of different outcomes.

[spidermannotes]

Two Massive DC/Marvel Omnibuses Coming this Summer

Covering around 25 years of DC/Marvel crossovers, the two comic book giants are giving fans young and old the chance to appreciate classic characters together in memorable tales.

Press release:

The vast and varied history of DC versus Marvel returns to print for the first time in decades with two massive volumes collecting the universe-bending comic book crossovers between the greatest characters in pop culture! These fantastic stories, originally co-presented by the two powerhouse comic book publishers, have been highly sought after and hard to find for most readers—but they’re making their return in DC Versus Marvel Omnibus and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus,both publishing on August 6, 2024.

Who would win: Superman versus Spider-Man? Batman versus Captain America? The X-Men meeting the Teen Titans? DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects crossovers between the core DC and Marvel characters, from 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to 2000’s Batman/Daredevil. Included are stories from some of comics’ most revered talents, namely Dennis O’Neil, George Pérez, Dan Jurgens, Chris Claremont, Walter Simonson, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Gerry Conway, John Romita Jr., and more. DC and Marvel fans alike can’t miss these thrilling pieces of unearthed comic book history!

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus features stories, first told in 1996, of the two superhero universes fused together into a new Amalgam Universe, combining DC’s and Marvel’s heroes, villains, and mythologies. The result was a series of unforgettable one-shot comic books starring the likes of Dark Claw (Batman and Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman and Captain America), Iron Lantern (Iron Man and Green Lantern), and many more! These stories, from creators such as Peter David, Dan Jurgens, Mark Waid, Dave Gibbons, Ron Marz, José Luis García-López, Gary Frank, Bill Sienkiewicz, Claudio Castellini, and more, represent one of the most fun and unlikely periods in comic book history, and now are available in one omnibus. Included in this volume are the historic DC Versus Marvel miniseries and its sequels, perfect for fans of both DC and Marvel!

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects Batman/Captain America #1, Batman/Daredevil #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, DC Special Series #27, Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1, Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, and Superman/Fantastic Four #1.

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus collects DC Versus Marvel #1-4, DC/Marvel: All Access #1-4, Unlimited Access #1-4, Bat-Thing #1, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Bullets and Bracelets #1, Challengers of the Fantastic #1, Doctor Strangefate #1, Iron Lantern #1, Legends of the Dark Claw #1, Lobo the Duck #1, Speed Demon #1, Spider-Boy #1, Super Soldier #1, Thorion of the New Asgods #1, X-Patrol #1, and more, plus a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes material.

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus (9781779523259) and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus (9781779523266) will both be published on August 6. The two volumes will each have a direct-market-exclusive cover available only in local comic book shops, while supplies last.

[batmannotes]

Two Massive DC/Marvel Omnibuses Coming this Summer

Covering around 25 years of DC/Marvel crossovers, the two comic book giants are giving fans young and old the chance to appreciate classic characters together in memorable tales.

Here is the official press release:

The vast and varied history of DC versus Marvel returns to print for the first time in decades with two massive volumes collecting the universe-bending comic book crossovers between the greatest characters in pop culture! These fantastic stories, originally co-presented by the two powerhouse comic book publishers, have been highly sought after and hard to find for most readers—but they’re making their return in DC Versus Marvel Omnibus and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus,both publishing on August 6, 2024.

Who would win: Superman versus Spider-Man? Batman versus Captain America? The X-Men meeting the Teen Titans? DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects crossovers between the core DC and Marvel characters, from 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to 2000’s Batman/Daredevil. Included are stories from some of comics’ most revered talents, namely Dennis O’Neil, George Pérez, Dan Jurgens, Chris Claremont, Walter Simonson, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Gerry Conway, John Romita Jr., and more. DC and Marvel fans alike can’t miss these thrilling pieces of unearthed comic book history!

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus features stories, first told in 1996, of the two superhero universes fused together into a new Amalgam Universe, combining DC’s and Marvel’s heroes, villains, and mythologies. The result was a series of unforgettable one-shot comic books starring the likes of Dark Claw (Batman and Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman and Captain America), Iron Lantern (Iron Man and Green Lantern), and many more! These stories, from creators such as Peter David, Dan Jurgens, Mark Waid, Dave Gibbons, Ron Marz, José Luis García-López, Gary Frank, Bill Sienkiewicz, Claudio Castellini, and more, represent one of the most fun and unlikely periods in comic book history, and now are available in one omnibus. Included in this volume are the historic DC Versus Marvel miniseries and its sequels, perfect for fans of both DC and Marvel!

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus collects Batman/Captain America #1, Batman/Daredevil #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, DC Special Series #27, Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1, Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, and Superman/Fantastic Four #1.

DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus collects DC Versus Marvel #1-4, DC/Marvel: All Access #1-4, Unlimited Access #1-4, Bat-Thing #1, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Bullets and Bracelets #1, Challengers of the Fantastic #1, Doctor Strangefate #1, Iron Lantern #1, Legends of the Dark Claw #1, Lobo the Duck #1, Speed Demon #1, Spider-Boy #1, Super Soldier #1, Thorion of the New Asgods #1, X-Patrol #1, and more, plus a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes material.

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus (9781779523259) and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus (9781779523266) will both be published on August 6. The two volumes will each have a direct-market-exclusive cover available only in local comic book shops, while supplies last.

[dr-jem-nutcase]

MvA: The M Files take-a-peek, pt. 4

Two chapters today. First one's rather small so it's not exactly a double feature

Chapter 4

Is it "shh" or "sshh"? You tell me. Artbook says "ssh"

And like that, slight panic starts not in the streets but in the White House

Maaaaan, someone sure let the White House front lawn go

Mr. President of the 1960s/70s, even though you definitely don't look one bit like John Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson, you've described a handful of times in America between your time & now (2023, in case some reads this in 2024 and beyond)

That is one heck of a color scheme for Monger's hair. Just about as mysterious as the president's hair: like how does that combover work? Or what is that supposed to be?

So there's a basic map of the facility we all came to know and love...or loathe...whatever. The artbook has a much bigger description of it, a LOT more detail. But you can kinda figure out where everything is in this picture in comparison with the movie, kinda maybe sort of. Hm

So, I guess Link is no longer on dry ice or whatever. Yay, I think

Chapter 5

Welp, so much for that mushroom cloud footage. Explosions were almost a comedy staple in 2000s cartoons, like the cooler & wagon crash landing on top of the SUV in Over the Hedge or the chain reaction explosions of the hunters' trucks courtesy of a propane tank in Open Season. Why Insecto's origin story was changed to exclude that...idk

First off, you wouldn't want any amount of radiation exposure in that close amount of space, especially with little aeration holes...in front of kids, no less

What does the kid second from the left have in his mouth? Definitely does NOT look like gum

I'm getting major bridal Thumbelina vibes from the girl in pink, that hair

Hey, is this a parody of Spiderman's origin story? Imma say yes! Japan's own superhero, Grubman!

No, I think we ended up with Spiderman meets Bruce Wayne. Or just a rich guy who had to undergo a good amount of medical treatment for a very abnormal bug bite. Boo hoo. But moving on!

How quickly did Insecto grow? And that would probably determine how she got from a museum to a marketplace. (Yes, Insecto is female. Confirmed by the artbook)

Whitewashing some of the locals or just tourists? You tell me

That's some lazy Kanji right there

So Japan already had experiences with giant monsters AND robots? I mean, there was Godzilla (who got blown up in the B&W OG movie), but still. My curiosity is P-I-Q-U-E-D. If Japan had this sort of problem before 1950, good luck convincing the Japanese public that monsters are just stuff of myth & legend. Japan must've been the chillest place in the world when the monsters made their debut

Indestructible. But not for an alien robot

RIP, pilot. We thank you for your service. You are forever in our hearts

Ooh, W. R. Monger-- "CAPTAIN! Captain W. R. Monger." If you don't know what this reference is, I'm very sorry for you

I know English is becoming more & more of an international language, but I'm not sure that it was THAT international in the 1960s/70s. So a Japanese general that was fluent in English back then was a miracle

So, was Insecto just there for that one night or was she just sitting there in downtown Tokyo for more than a day?

I just realized Monger's hair turned gray really quickly in between BOB's story and this one...and now it's brown again

For the record, his eyes aren't blue

Bright lights...like stadium lights, movie premiere searchlights, interrogation spotlights, tell me more

Oh! Christmas lights. I'm disappointed in you, Tokyo. Wait, there's stage lights...and a disco ball!! Lol! I stand corrected

I guess Monger names his monsters on the fly. As is shown in the movie, "Escar...gantua"

"We saved the city!"

"At what cost?"

"Ummmm...the city"

Goodbye, downtown Tokyo

Those lights must've bleached the fur on Insecto's back

And so...there they go, about to tow a 350-foot colossus across the world's biggest ocean and a few hundred miles inland through Cali and into Nevada

I just realized...how does Insectosaurus almost always stand upright if most, if not all insect species are invertebrates? A lot of invertebrates have exoskeletons, so hers is probably underneath all that fur. Pardon this quack/wannabe entomologist

I think there's two more posts after this, which both should be coming this week. Whoopee!!!

FYI: yes, I have been the proud owner of a hardcover copy of The Art of MvA since the early 2010s. You will have to hunt me down for it if you want it for yourself

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mourn the end of Phantom of the Opera 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[ere-the-sun-rises]

The thing about evil!Bruce is that he would weaponize the city against everyone else. You already can't talk shit on the Batfam in Gotham, let alone their local Cryptid Daddy, but evil!Bruce? Evil!Batman? One who kills off competition?

Gotham would be his city, no questions. The Court of Owls? Extinct. Harley, Ivy and Catwoman? Recruited. Joker? In the river. Deathstroke? Made into An Example. Penguin? Runs clean. Mr. Freeze? Advisory role. Clayface? Spy. Killer Croc? Pet disposal unit. Any crime syndicate moron Who Thought in his city? Heads posted up on Blackgate's fences.

No one fucks around and doesn't find out in the Black Knight's city.

But he's not merciless. Brutal, unrepentant and decisive, yes, but not unforgiving. You were a henchman just for a job? You work at WE now. Everyone does. There is no need for health insurance because Wayne owns the hospitals, clinics and GPs' offices. Wayne owns the universities and colleges, bought the primary and elementary schools. They have endless funding, well-paid staff and small classrooms with safe campuses. Not because they're policed or guarded, but because if you're not housed, the Bat will find you and Wayne will find you a home and a job. Busses, trams and subway systems get restored ans upgraded.

Gotham is a dark, beautiful place to live. It belongs to Bruce Wayne, an unofficial city-state within New Jersey. It's clean and well run and police are scarce. Gardens bloom all over and so many empty parking lots whose runoff water used to flood the streets are now utopic gardens.

The Justice League's first time there is bizarre. They heard it was a tyrant-run city, stuck under the hard hand of the Bat, whose very insignia could make people cower. And make no mistake, it is. Any citizen will tell you that. But life under the Bat is better than anything any corrupt official, DA or police commissioner ever gave them. And the Robins are nicer than the cops used to be. Hell, Harley will beat the shit out of your abusive ex for free. But it remains balanced on the knife-edge of the Bat, and no one - even if they know he's Bruce Wayne - will admit anything about him. He's a myth, an urban legend, a cryptid. They don't know shit, and they ain't tellin' you nothin'.

The JL can't find out anything until the Bat decides to reveal himself. Batman protects his city, and his city protects him.

It’s always “evil Superman!!!!” this, or “villain justice league!!!” that.

I want an AU of villain! Bruce who’s absolutely dog-shit at being evil.

Firstly: The worst thing he can think of doing is not donating to animal shelters or charities . immediately feels so guilty he throws up.

Secondly: The second a child cries because of him, he’d freeze up. Stand like a statue, unmoving and petrified. No more evil, but just today.

He ends up helping the city by accident more often than not, and to his immortal disappointment, Gotham loves both the Bat and Bruce Wayne.

“alfred come look at my evil plan”

“Yes, sir, “ Alfred is very indulgent. He does his best to pretend it’s actually good. “ ‘Don’t say please to the barista’. Getting bold, are we?”

EVERYTIME He and Clark meet and Bruce monologues about pulverizing him to dust, Clark (and the League) looks at him like this:

“I can make him worse,” GOOD FOR YOU!!! Clark can make him into his malewife and adopt his 7 evil sidekicks who actually know how to villain. Especially the little one.

[kudosmyhero]

Batman (vol. 1) #232: Daughter of the Demon

Read Date: May 12, 2023 Cover Date: June 1971 ● Writer: Dennis O'Neil ● Penciler: Neal Adams ● Inker: Dick Giordano ● Colorist: {uncredited} ● Letterer: John Costanza ● Editor: Julius Schwartz ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● (looks like I'm reading this one on my phone because the DC app is messing up again on my iPad. grr, I wanna love the app, but dammit DC, get your shit together!) ● (though after I uninstalled/reinstalled the app, the log-in screen was actually rotated properly for landscape--gaspu! it still didn't recognize my credentials, however) ● (anyway) ● opening page: holy shit, the art is amazing, the story prompted the "holy shit" back there… I'm invested. claps hands, leans forward let's go! ● (still no option for full page view in addition to panel-by-panel. git yer shit together, DC) ● first appearance of Ra's al Ghul! ● nice, Neal Adams recreated a common Batman pose in the comics from the 30s and 40s

● the art and inks are just brilliant ● no! kitty! ● btw, I live for Ubu constantly pushing Batman aside, saying, "No! Master al Ghul goes first!" ● Bruce, last time you used your parka as a distraction, you nearly froze to death (Legends of the Dark Knight, "Shaman") ● now won't you guys feel silly if you came all this way just to find that Robin and Talia have been back in Gotham somewhere this whole time? ● Robin has got to be freezing ● Batman is all out of fucks ● 👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: As Robin returns home from a night of adventuring, he finds himself the target of two gunmen armed with tranquilizer darts. They shoot the Boy Wonder and take him prisoner.

Hours later, Bruce Wayne receives a photograph of his kidnapped partner along with a challenge to find him. He returns to the Batcave to investigate further, but when he arrives he finds a man named Ra's al Ghul and his servant Ubu waiting for him. Ra's' contacts have deduced that Bruce Wayne and the Batman are one in the same, and he has called upon the world's greatest detective to help him find his daughter Talia, who has likewise been kidnapped. Suspecting that Talia's kidnapping and Robin's are related, Batman agrees to aid Ra's al Ghul.

Their journey leads them first to Calcutta where they find clues linking the kidnappers to a cult known as the Brotherhood of the Demon. Batman interrogates a local thug about the Brotherhood's whereabouts and the man points them towards a building in the Alley of Widows. As Batman enters the building, a poised leopard leaps out and attacks him. Batman catches the animal's jaw with his elbow and is forced to snap its neck. With the danger past, Batman finds a map that points them towards the Himalayan Mountains.

Ra's al Ghul finances a mountain-climbing expedition and the three begin scaling the frozen mountainsides. A sniper begins firing at them, and it appears that one of the bullets strikes Ra's. Ubu pulls him inside of a crevice, while Batman deftly evades repeat gunfire. Ascending the peak, he finds a temple belonging to the Brotherhood. He enters the temple where he finds Robin bound with rope under armed guard. Batman frees Robin, and the gunmen begin to advance on him. Turning around, Batman reveals that he is not fooled by this elaborate ruse. The masked "leader" of the Brotherhood approaches him, but Batman tears the mask off of him revealing the face of Ra's manservant Ubu. He knew all along that Ra's was the true perpetrator of this crime. Ubu and Batman fight, but Batman's speed and skill prove more than a match for him. Ra's finally enters the chamber along with his daughter Talia. He confesses to staging the entire episode to see if Batman could prove to be a worthy successor to Ra's role of leader of the Brotherhood. He also reveals that Talia is in love with Batman, and Ra's wants assurances that the Dark Knight would be a worthy son-in-law.

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_232)

Fan Art: Talia al Ghul Color by Protokitty

Accompanying Podcast: ● Relatively Geeky: Uncovering the Bronze Age - episode 02

[comicaurora]

Is there a fan theory you’ve seen for Aurora or any other story that you really enjoy, regardless of whether or not it is/ was correct?

Ophelia was pregnant and/or Gertrude killed her

In Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Wasp's powers aren't just from Pym Particle technology - she's also secretly a mutant. There's subtle textual support for this if you look, it's just never brought up

Batman Beyond is specifically the alternate future that happens if Damian Wayne is never born. Disproven in the comics and as far as I know this is just my personal theory, but I like that it allows for the Beyond future without dooming Main Canon Bruce to a lonely and depressing old age sans batfam

Han Solo is slightly force-sensitive which is why he's so lucky and such a good shot, but he has no idea and would be very frustrated to learn that he's been subconsciously cheating

Rey is descended from Obi-Wan, probably through Satine (obviously not canon but I was solidly in this camp and maintain it would've been better than what they went with)

The Arkenstone is a Silmaril which is part of why everyone gets so weird about it

Everyone specifically calls the One Ring "precious" because it's a tiny fragment of sauron's soul and his original name meant something like "precious" or "beloved" and everyone it gets near subconsciously picks up on that residual vibe without knowing why or even realizing it's happening (I don't remember the details on this one but it was very cool)

Zion is just another layer of The Matrix

The hidden SOS signals in the BotW Divine Beast themes correspond to when each champion first called for help during the Calamity, and correspondingly, since Vah Medoh's SOS starts the latest of the four, we can deduce that Revali waited the longest to send out his distress call because he was too proud to admit he was outmatched. Bonus theory, the bullet-time feature is actually Link's special champion ability (like Mipha's healing, Revali's gale, etc) and thus exists diegetically in-story rather than just being a game mechanic

My personal BotW theory that'll be proven or disproven whenever BotW 2 comes out: the Triforce of Courage is notably absent from this incarnation of Link - because it's currently being used by that spooky green ghost arm to seal mummy-Ganon, and that ghost arm definitely belongs to a previous Link. This sealing is why Ganon's previously-ubiquitous mortal form is now only known in legend and he's just been farting out metaphysical calamities every few thousand years - some past Link used his part of the Triforce to lock Ganon down and stall the cycle of reincarnation. Bonus points if sealed-Ganon also has the triforce of power and they're just locked in a stalemate until BotW 2 begins and the spooky arm merges with Link. I have a lot of thoughts about this game and I NEED IT

my other BotW theory is that every time Link dies it's not a timeline-breaking game over - the local Koroks just lug him back to the shrine of resurrection and pop him back in for a few minutes to juice him up. the less silly version of this theory is just that the sheikah slate automatically warps him back to the shrine of resurrection when he goes down and then warps him back later, but I think it's funnier if a bunch of koroks crowdsurf him up the Great Plateau

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Returning from Patrol (Mary Grayson Alive AU)

In honor of Mother’s Day, here’s a small little something I wrote basically out of nowhere. Dedicated to my pen pals @lightdusk96 @spider-jaysart @meara-eldestofthemall @thattimdrakeguy @fireflyxrebel-writes @sbd-laytall @tarisilmarwen @fireflyxrebel-writes @nightglider124 @romanticism-is-maudlinism @the-lighthouse-lit @nobodycallsmerae @lovenaiu @bluerene @batboyblog @badbunny139 @titans-trash @katekanemybeloved @richard-grayson-wayne and many more. If you leave a Like, Reply and/or especially a Reblog, it’s greatly appreciated. Constructive Criticisms are very much appreciated as well. Please enjoy and Happy Mother’s Day.

As she approached the staircase and window right outside her bedroom window, she let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, none of the major rouges were the one on the loose in the Bludhaven streets tonight. Not so thankfully, it was the lesser crooks, the frankly goofier ones that were. As her booted feet landed on the steel staircase and pressed the retract button for her grappling line to return to her baton, she’s pretty sure that both Condiment King and Polka Dot Man were both being transferred to Blackgate Prison as of now. Those two proved trickier than thought when she was stopping their bank robbery spree. Still, another night in which the bad guys were stopped and citizens can rest easy thanks to her help was really all she needed in her mind to put her at ease.

She opens her window lock with her key inside one of her handy pockets in her utility belt, entering her bedroom quietly as to hopefully not wake up the other resident living here, her son Dick. As she takes off her boots before letting her tired feet step on her bed and slipping off the domino mask on her face, Mary Grayson, aka Bludhaven’s resident crimefighter Snow Owl, sported a small smile on her face in spite of her exhaustion. It looks like those self defense classes she took all those years ago were starting to pay off very well.

It had been two years, nearly approaching three, since Dick and her had retired from being full time performers at Haly’s Circus. Two years since she had found out about the crooks responsible for the accident on the trapeze ropes that claimed her beloved husband John and with the aid of a local urban legend known only to neighboring Gotham’s residents as ‘the Batman’, the two brought said crooks to justice. Two years since moving into the humble yet very articulate apartment thanks to a generous donation by her now landlord Bruce Wayne. Two years since she had decided to continue protect innocents from the superstitious, cowardly lot both low level and at the top, ensuring no one suffers a similar pain to her and her son felt after the loss of John. Two years, and yet she still manages to keep Snow Owl’s identity secret from almost everyone, even Dick. Whether he eventually finds out or not, Mary will guarantee her son a happy life, whether as herself or as Snow Owl.

While stretching her arms and letting out a decent sized yawn, Mary makes her way from her bedroom to her son’s. Before heading out to patrol, Dick and her had some quality time with each other after long days tending to school and at the nearby gym respectively, enjoying some Italian restaurant takeout and watching a Star Wars movie together. The soles of her feet feel the soft fibers of the carpeting while her tired toes can also feel the carpet brush lightly, causing to emit very light giggles out of her tiredness. Thankfully, the carpeting makes her footfalls practically silent as she approaches every so closer to the door to her son’s room.

Finally, Mary opens her son’s bedroom door and sure enough; there he was, her 10 year old son deep in sleep, lying on his stomach with the blankets dropped all over the floor next to his bed, snoring away peacefully, clad in a simple black cotton t shirt and black sweatpants, a folded out book of Robin Hood in his arms while his head was lying on the soft pillows to the side, a tiny bit of drool coming out of his mouth.

Mary lightly chuckles at the adorable sight as she steps towards her son’s bed and does her work in making him comfortable. After gently taking the book off his arms and back on the nearby book shelf, followed by gently lifting up Dick and rolling him over so he lies on his back and his arms to his sides, Mary takes the fallen blankets off the ground and tucks her son in them. Her gentleness proves fruitful as Dick continues to snore away as the blankets are pulled up to the bridge of his nose. He lightly hums happily in his sleep as he’s settled in and Mary gently brushes her fingers through his black hair.

She then plants a small kiss on her sleeping son’s forehead. “Good Night, Little Robin. Blueberry Hotcakes first thing in the morning”, she sing-whispers in Romanes Chib into Dick’s ear before standing up and taking her leave back to her bedroom for some sleep herself.

As she reaches the door, she hears a sleepy whisper, also in Romanes, “Thanks, Momma. Love you.”

She turns around to see Dick happily still asleep so he thankfully doesn’t see her in her Snow Owl suit

She smiles while whispering a bit louder, “Love you too, Dickie”. She then gently closes the door, letting her son, her Little Robin sleep peacefully for the rest of the night.

[strangeduckpaper]

E136 Gotham Rogues HCs

- Harley “Quinn” Quinzel was a member of a Jokerz gang when she was younger, but that’s now sealed alongside the rest of her juvenile record.

- Ended up as Bruce Wayne’s therapist, but got more or less ‘drafted’ into the Suicide Squad as a handler, and eventually becomes the Mockingbird in charge of the Secret Six

- The Secret Six is comprised of reformed Gotham Rogues

- Cluemaster is at least partially based off of Riddler’s portrayal from the 2004 cartoon, alongside YJTV Sportsmaster. So, not a nice fellow.

- Poison Ivy was born in the 40s in the same sort of situation as Alec Holland, and she views Dr. Pamela Isley as a separate being.

- Was reawakened in the 2000s and had a bit of a meltdown, thus Batman and imprisonment. She later becomes a member of the Secret Six

- Killer Croc does reform, and eventually gets a girlfriend, Meredith Van Zayl

- The Great White Shark is actually an Atlantean, “Warren White” is an anglicization of his birth name.

- There are two Scarecrows. Jonathan Crane Classic and an actual spirit of fear who was drawn to Gotham. Crane actually based his persona off of the spirit, who’d become a local legend Court of Owls-style.

- Selina Kyle is a more Robin Hood sort of character, more unambiguously heroic. Founding member of the Sirens, who serve as the 2000s version of the Birds of Prey.

- There is a ‘malformed’ Lazarus Pit under Gotham, which bleeds into Slaughter Swamp, thus explaining Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy, etc.

- Calendar Man has his Rebirth ability of aging with the year, being reborn as a young man at the beginning of every calendar year. He’s actually one of the 40′s Batman Rogues.

- If there is a 21st century Joker, he’s based off the 2004 tv version and a very chaotic minion instead of a mastermind of his own. He also may be a metahuman.

I have two possible routes for Mr Freeze, as I’m unsure whether Victor or Nora becomes a villain

- Either way, the Fries were actually involved with the Court of Owls, responsible for designing Talon Cryopods.

- If it’s Victor as Freeze, he refuses to go by Doctor as he knows he’s violating the hippocratic oath.

- If it’s Nora as Freeze, she has the same Freeze angst, but for some reason I imagine her giving off an Olivia Octavius vibe.

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch.4

In Which: exposition for exposition's sake exists, and Vlad looks way more suspcious than he ought

| AO3 | Prologue | 3 | [4] | 5

VLADIMIR MASTERS. Human male in his mid-forties, and most notably the founder and CEO of VladCo, a billion-dollar industry that mostly specializes in manufacturing weapons and technology. Graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin despite having to drop out due to a lab accident in his second year, landing him in the hospital. Despite being based primarily in Wisconsin, he made an unexpected move to Amity Park Illinois shortly after reuniting with his college friends Drs. Madeline and Jack Fenton.

Not even a year later, Masters ran for mayor of Amity Park and won the election by a landslide. Suspicious, considering Masters being an unknown and the former mayor Montez being quite popular. It’s during Masters’ tenure in office that reports of ghost attacks to the Justice League steadily died down.

“Why?” Damian asked.

Barbara shrugged, pulling up a few files on the screen. “I originally had a theory that related to VladCo’s buyout of Axion Labs—a technological research and manufacturing company that’s mostly local to Amity—being a factor. Within the last couple of years, they had been experimenting with highly volatile chemicals with hallucinogenic properties. Amity had always been known for being extremely superstitious with its ghosts, and if Axion Labs had somehow accidentally released that chemical into the city, well…” She leaned back into her chair, hand twisting in the air. “You could bet how that ended up. The hysteria around ghosts only grew worse in the last two years, with suspected sightings from once every few weeks to multiple in a single day. Early attempts to capture sightings were unsuccessful, and soon enough Amity Park was just written off.”

Much like the mass hysteria surrounding the urban legend of the kuchisake-onna in Japan in the late 1970s, Bruce thought. He pulled up some news footage from Amity Park dated a few years back of citizens being interviewed about their ghostly encounters. Beside these videos were a few photos taken by a shaky camera, showing bright blurs of light streaking across the sky or vaguely humanoid shapes rising from the ground.

“So VladCo., bought out Axion Labs, improved its security, and slowly helped detoxify the town?” Damian shifted his weight onto his other leg and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought, but—”

“But the ghosts ended up being real.” Bruce pulled up a video of a field reporter-slash-weatherman taking cover as a figure dropped from the sky, breaking through the walls of a building. The figure—features distorted by an eerie glow—shot out of the rubble just in time before a green blast hit it.

Oracle enlarged other news footage with a few taps on her keyboard. Beings zooming through the air. Massive plants erupting from the ground. Technology coming to life. Each video more worrying than the last, and most showing some footage of a figure bathed in a white glow. “I’d be hard pressed to call any of these faked.”

It begged the question as to how Amity Park survived this long unscathed. Since, if he remembered correctly, even the Dark Leaguers tended to avoid Amity Park like the plague. “They have their own heroes, then?”

“Think along the lines of vigilantes with unofficial support.” A few more files popped up on screen. One showcased a female in a full-length black and red body suit on top of a hover board. The other was a male; young, perhaps a teenager, with white hair and a black and white suit. Hazmat? “The Red Huntress and the Phantom of Amity Park.”

“Partners?”

“More like enemies working on the same turf. Sources place Phantom as appearing first, though it seems Red Huntress has more government support in the end despite there being no official statement. They seem to be the most effective ghost hunters in town, though far from the only ones. The Fentons of Fenton Works are also acting as ghost hunters, though their track record of success leans more towards their anti-ghost tech than any hunting. The town’s even attracted visitors from the Ghost Investigation Ward; a side branch of Cadmus though a now defunct organization.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Damian said. “If anything, this should be more than enough reason for a League intervention. Why the Justice League didn’t come sooner is the real question here.”

Bruce’s lips thinned. “That’s because we were warned off it.”

“What?”

While there was no rule against heroes entering another hero’s city, there were certain unspoken rules that demanded that JL members avoid claimed cities or stay just outside of city lines until given permission to enter. Some were especially strict about it such as Batman’s ‘no metas or outsiders’ rule. Others were more lenient, simply requesting a warning before entering.

Amity Park, despite having no listed heroes in the database, was marked with heavy ‘Do Not Interact’ warnings for humans and metas alike.

“Justice League Dark said that under no circumstances should the League interfere in Amity. The situation was never explicitly laid out for us except to say that everything was being handled.”

“Oh yeah,” Oracle chimed. “Constantine even had it bolded, underlined, italicized, and in all caps. The occult community was very clear about everyone staying away—and apparently this decision had support from Amity Park too.” She pulled up another document. “That’s probably what led to the decline in their ghost reports, actually. Amity’s claims were considered bogus and brushed aside. No one outside their town—not even their sister town of Elmerton—believed them, so they simply stopped asking for help.”

Strangely, it reminded Bruce of Gotham. Both cities existed in its own isolated sphere, unwilling to let any outsiders interfere in its business.

“It’s safe to assume, then, that whatever Ra’s al Ghul wants with Amity, it has to do with these ghosts. Do we have anyway to contact the town’s vigilantes?”

Oracle shook her head. “Ghost attacks within the past few months have slowly died down along with sightings of Phantom and Red Huntress. Your best bet is asking Masters directly.”

Damian glowered. “Masters blatantly sent out an invitation for Batman to my father. How do we know that Masters hasn’t somehow found our secret identities?”

“Unlikely,” Bruce said. “Vlad Masters, despite his wealth, has done well to keep a low profile. He’s met Bruce Wayne a total of three times within the last decade and Batman not at all.” That, and with the kind of spyware Batman has, he’d be able to tell when, where, and who was trying to dig deep into Batman’s past. Masters hadn’t even registered as a ping.

“Besides, there’s always a few rumors of Wayne Enterprise’s involvement with Batman. All this tech has to come from somewhere, no?”

“How long is Masters staying in Gotham?”

“Umm…” Oracle leaned forward in her chain and flipped through a half-dozen windows. “Going by his reservations at the Gotham Royal Hotel, he’s leaving tomorrow.”

Bruce pivoted on his heel, heading deeper into the Cave. “We better make this count, then.”

------

According to Oracle’s intel, Vlad Masters was staying at one of the executive suites in the Gotham Royal Hotel. A titanic structure with forty-eight floors, two towers, and the gothic aesthetic that never seemed to leave Gotham’s architecture.

Scaling the building as well as entering the suite proved no challenge for Batman and Robin. But upon entrance, it was abundantly clear that the room was vacant.

“Are you sure you guys are in the right room?” Bruce could hear the clicking of Oracle’s keys through their comms. “Masters had reserved the suite on the west tower.”

“Yes we’re in the correct room, Gordon,” Robin hissed.

“Codenames only, Robin.”

Robin clicked his tongue, sweeping the common room for any hidden bugs or cameras as Batman scouted out the rest of the room. The bed was made to hotel standard and the bathroom towels all completely replaced. There were no clothes in the hotel closet or dresser.

The only thing left that indicated occupancy of the room was an unmarked manila envelope unsubtly tucked within a pillowcase.

Robin tensed at the sight of it. “A detonator of some sort?”

Batman rotated the package, holding it up to his scanner. “Doesn’t seem to be. Regardless, it might be better to take it back to the Batcave and locate Masters ag—” The envelope started ringing. A standard ringtone found in most phones. Quickly, but carefully, Batman opened the manila envelope and dumped its contents onto the bed. A ringing burner phone and a flash drive came tumbling out.

Batman threw the flash drive at Robin before answering the phone, holding it up against his ear but saying nothing.

Silence. Then, Masters’ voice filtered in through the phone with a strange echo-like quality. “Good evening, Batman! I’m so glad my invitation managed to get passed along.”

Batman growled into the speaker, “What do you want, Masters?” He signaled Robin to do another sweep of the room for any signs of Masters they might have missed.

“I sincerely apologize for not being there to meet you myself; incredibly rude of me, I know. But it cannot be helped, the shadows are growing ever bolder.”

“So, you are aware then, of the League of Assassins’ presence in Amity Park?”

“A league of assassins? What a terrifying notion that is.” Batman frowned. It was unlikely that they had misread his words at the gala, so why was he acting unaware now? Could he be watched? “Why such a group would appear in my little town, I wouldn’t even dare to guess.”

Robin came back into the room and signaled back ‘negative.’

“Why did you call for us, Mayor Masters?”

“Do you know what is so very tragic, Batman?”

“This is strange,” Oracle said. “I can’t pick up his signal. He’s not appearing on any of my cameras, either.”

“When someone so young dies much to soon.” A pause. “Could you even imagine such a thing? A parent burying their own child.”

Batman could. He had no need to even imagine it because he lived it.

“Some very close friends of mine have been weighed down by the shadows of death and I require help in providing them the closure they need.”

“Are the Fentons the targets, then?”

Masters paused. Then let out a breathy laugh over the phone. “Oh, if only it were that simple.”

“So a different target.”

“Everything you need to know is in the flash drive I’ve enclosed in that envelope Whether you take up the case is entirely up to you—though I do hope you take it. Regardless, if he is not returned soon then I assure you that a disaster unlike any you have seen before will arrive.”

Batman narrowed his eyes. “Is that a threat, Masters?”

“No,” He laughed. “That was no threat. That was promise.”

The phone line disconnected just as Oracle exclaimed that she finally found Masters boarding his flight back to Amity Pak.

[vespectral-a]

was talking a bit about this with cherry last night, but it has me Thinking thoughts that i intend to inflict on the dash. i feel like an idea that is vaguely touched upon in the dark knight trilogy that is also very important to the batman mythos is the fact that bruce wayne and batman separately cannot save gotham, regardless of the batfam’s strength both as a family and their entire arsenal of military weaponry, and not even with the amount of money bruce can throw around gotham. bruce could bankrupt himself, but it wouldn’t be enough to fix gotham city let alone the rest of the world. 

but to focus more so on gotham city - there is a reason why yes, batman’s rogues gallery is iconic and prevalent in his story, but the (italian) mob and other organized crime, white collar criminals, corrupt politicians - those are batman’s truly most prominent antagonists. bruce views his mother and father’s legacy with rose-tinted glasses and thought their philanthropy helped shake the rich elites of gotham city out of their apathy. he thought via becoming batman in addition to expanding on his family’s philanthropy, that he’d be able to shake them out of apathy even more. not only rich elites, but regular people. that regular individuals could somehow make a difference thanks to batman’s inspiration, that people who may not necessarily be Good would want to make a difference in their own lives because of batman’s existence as a symbol in gotham. 

but of course, bruce is not in touch with regular people. regardless of his training, the amount of time he spent in disguise around the world as a working class or poor person with nothing, he will always be bruce wayne, a billionaire. very quickly, he was jarred from his own naivety and began to understand how crime  and poverty structurally works, especially in gotham city. the deep amount of corruption in the gotham city especially in the police force and in the local municipal government disgusted him, the greed that the elites collectively shared, it disgusted him, and is why his reputation has now reached urban legend and boogeyman status. it must rely on fear rather than hope to even have a chance to make a difference. especially in the wake of events like harvey dent having acid splashed on his face after being blackmailed by the mob for trying to speak out against them.

it’s why the tweets about bruce wayne donating all of his wealth instead of fighting the mentally ill do definitely bother me, because he literally does donate most of his money. does he partly dedicate himself to the batman role because Mental Illnes, Luv as an escape mechanism and partly because of his addiction to violence and control and adrenaline rushes? yes, absolutely, and that money could be repurposed for better shit. like this makes him flawed and i’m not saying he’s not.

i’m saying that gotham city is so fucked up structurally that it created batman’s rogues gallery for a reason. individualism doesn’t fucking work when it comes to gotham city’s problems, not like he originally thought it did. the individualist capitalist myth of one man donating enough to charity to save the world is as old as rockefeller but it is a myth that i feel a lot of people fall into, even with fictional characters like batman.

[sarcasm--and--stuff]

Okay, so in the Eaglemoss Legend of Batman series, the original run is 80 issues following Batman stories from Year One to Year 100. Issues 1 and 2 however, are Zero Year, the retelling of Batman's first year as done in DC's 2011 universal reboot, The New 52. Now, the first thing you need to know about the New 52 is almost no one is happy it happened. The next thing that you need to know, is that basically, DC wanted to give people a starting off point to get into comics so reset all of the characters in their universe. The reason most people don't like it, is because it wasn't clear to the creative teams or the audience, what past content was still canon and what had been undone. As well as this, a lot of origin stories and characters got tweaked, most of which weren't well received.

Now personally, I can't hate on the New 52 that much at this point in time because it was my opportunity to get into comics. It was where I started getting more of a feel for what was going on an a comfort for the world of comics so there's that. However, I'm not starting this tale with them. I'm starting with:

Frank Miller's 1988 Batman: Year One.

This came about shortly after Frank Miller's 1986 The Dark Knight Returns where a much older Bruce Wayne resumes the mantle of the Bat in a gritty and angry tale that brought a much darker tone to Batman. (We're gonna be jumping around with years and titles but hang on). Following this, there was a desire for a darker, more realistic Batman, so in comes Year One, the origin and first year of Bruce Wayne as Batman. Now, frankly, a tiktok user by the name of @nikhilclayton points out that this reads much more like Jim Gordon's origin story and I thoroughly agree.

The opening pages are James Gordon arriving to Gotham after being transferred from Seattle PD and millionaire Bruce Wayne returning after being away for years. We get a steady introduction on Jim's side of the level of crime and police corruption and so obvious in the city while Bruce seems to retreat from the city and take up unspecified training at his mansion. You see for both characters that the wheels are turning. They had ideas what it would be like here and they're adapting quietly to the reality. Bruce is preparing for his war on crime he has spent years abroad training for while Jim wants to just do his job, do it well and look after his family.

Obviously, I don't want to spoil much from this story, if you've not read it and have access to it I would highly recommend. What I will say is that as NikHilClayton points out, the story is very Jim Gordon heavy and don't get me wrong, it's very well told. It very much gives us strong ideas about who Jim Gordon is. Bruce on the other hand, it's his first year. There is no Joker, no Two Face, no classic rouges gallery. When Batman first arrives on the scene, he's a myth, feared by corrupt politicians, crime families and croked cops. While Jim takles the cops primarily, not long after adopting the Bat persona, Bruce does have an amazing scene confronting the powerhouses behind the corruption in Gotham. Silently taking out the guards with minimal violence, charges are set and while the guest enjoy their dinner, the power goes out and suddenly wall blows inwards. As the dust settles, all disbelief of his existence runs from the minds of those who would soon be his victims. Batman, walks in and reveals himself to his enemies, delivering a chilling speech before extinguishing the last remaining light and vanishing into the night.

While I am by no means an expert, if I've ever any information wrong please let me know because I'm happy to correct it so that people are getting accurate info. If you do want to go out and get yourself a copy of Year One, do consider your local comic shop or second hand shop. If that isn't feasible, there are soft copies available online, I would just encourage send hand and small businesses where possible.

Until next time.