#genuinely i think dick would rather bludhaven think nightwing was dead

[skecherss]

"why is Bruce trying to be Nightwing, they should have let Tim or Jason do it" why does ANYONE else have to be Nightwing. Can't Dick have one thing that's just his

[fifteenblackcats]

Okay so I recently watched this tik tok about Jason Todd that had some great points about his character. The main thing that interested me was the fact that the person in the video pointed out that Jason feels like a fan fic character. As someone who loves the character and has read all of his comic series, I have to agree.

Tbh it’s not usually the fault of Jason’s character that he feels like a fan fic character, that’s more Dc’s fault. Like when it comes to his own series, they usually don’t have the best writing and can’t really compete with other bat family comic series. Personally I love all of his series, even the New 52 Outlaws series (which I know is a controversial opinion lol), but overall when I recommend Jason’s comics to my friends, I have to literally warn them that the overall writing isn’t good. The only comics of his that I can say that are genuinely good are the Task Force Z comic he was in and the short story from Urban Legends. Basically anything written by anyone besides Scott Lobdell. I personally mainly read Jason Todd comics for his character rather than the quality of the writing.

Back to Dc’s treatment of Jason Todd. I swear I love Dc, but they fuck up their canon so much. Which includes why I think Jason feels like a fan fic character when he really doesn’t have to. A lot of it is tied to Dc’s continuity issues. Personally I don’t have a problem with the fact that two of his friends, Starfire and Roy Harper, are originally Dick Grayson’s friends. I understand why some people may have a problem with it, but in my opinion characters don’t always have to be tied down to friendships with one character for the sake of canon. My main example is how he is a part of the Bat Family. Jason of course will always be Bruce’s son, so in that way it makes sense that he’s with the Bat Family. But with everything else it just doesn’t make sense. Mainly Jason’s morals once he comes back from the dead. He is completely fine with killing criminals, which is why it is very contradictory that Batman would let Jason be a part of the Bat Family. Bruce is very stubborn and very strict about his moral code, so it really doesn’t make sense that he would let Jason operate with the rest of the Bat Family. It’s kinda this reason that I have to say that he feels like a fan fic character. I know that Bruce gets in fights (physical fights too) with Jason about the killing, but Jason in many Bat Family stories is still included in many of the Bat Family comm channels and many Bat Family events. Again I love Jason, but it would really make more sense for his character to be an anti hero who keeps to himself. Technically he does this, but since he’s such a fan beloved character DC always includes him in the Bat Family, even when it doesn’t really make sense for Bruce or Jason.

In recent years since Rebirth, Dc has tried to make canon make sense as to why Jason should be with the Bat Family. Jason’s moral code is slowly changing to being less lethal by using rubber bullets instead of real bullets. So far I guess this works? At least he’s not killing as much anymore, but his morals haven’t really changed. At least in my opinion. It seemed like he mainly agreed to use rubber bullets to stay in Gotham, otherwise Bruce would kick him out of the city. Tbh this seems like a temporary solution to a large issues relating to Jason’s character. He of course can stay an anti hero that kills, but then I think it doesn’t make sense for Jason to be a part of the Bat Family where everyone has a similar moral code to Batman (expect for maybe Kate Kane, but even then it seems like it is very rare for her to decide to kill). Either Dc should create a real character arc to show why Jason wouldn’t want to kill anymore or just separate him completely from the Bat Family. Maybe they could have him be a main vigilante in another nearby city, like how Nightwing is for Bludhaven. Otherwise it does kinda seem like fan fic because it doesn’t really make sense for Jason to work with the Bat Family so closely. Besides the aesthetic of Jason be the edgy anti hero of the Bat Family.

Anyways those are just my thoughts and you don’t have to agree of course. As someone who loves his character, I don’t exactly like saying he feels like a fan fic character, but his poorly written comics (which I still love, but I can be honest with myself) and convenient place with the Bat Family in canon make me feel like he can give fan fic vibes.

Anyways here’s the video that inspired my post:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRsDGw1R/

[hood-ex]

Hello there! So, I saw you answer an ask earlier about the Batfam, and I agree with that user that you have a really good grasp on their relationships/dynamics. So, I've got a question for you pertaining to reactions for them, aka how they react to things. (sorry for long ask)

I'm writing a fic where Dick dies of "natural causes" (Batfam believe this) and I'm trying to figure out how/if the Batfam would react to this. Bruce is honestly the hardest to figure out for me, because I feel like Jason obviously messed him up because he was fairly young when he died (along with Damian, even though it was a bit different), but in this au, Dick is almost 30. Personally, I believe that Tim wouldn't believe he's dead (kinda like with Bruce and his whole time travel thingy), Damian would be kinda/hella depressed without support, and Jason would want Dick to r.i.p because he knows what that sh*t is like along with coming back to life.

All this to say: How do you think the Batfam boys (Bruce, Jason, Tim, Damian) would react to Dick's death? DC never really explores that imo

If Dick died very suddenly then I think Bruce would run every test under the sun to determine what the cause of death was. He’d factor in everything. He’d figure out where Dick was leading up to his death. He’d check to see who Dick was in contact with leading up to his death. He’d check every little thing to make sure that Dick’s death wasn’t caused by an outside source. 

@bigskydreaming has actually mentioned his take on how Bruce would react to Dick’s death, and I found it very interesting. I’m gonna paraphrase what I remember of it (Kalen, come yell at me if I remembered it wrong.) Basically, his idea was that Bruce wouldn’t be able to acknowledge the fact that Dick was dead. To preserve his own sanity, he would go on pretending that Dick was just on a never-ending mission. Basically, he’d live in denial. 

I think that’s an interesting way to think about it. It would be kinda like one of those fics where the author makes you think a character is alive, but then once you get to the end of the story, you realize that the character has actually been dead the whole time, and the narrator was pretending they were still alive or was talking about them as if they were still alive. 

On the other hand, we’ve seen how Bruce reacts when his family members die. With his parents, he became Batman. With Jason, he became depressed and reckless. With Damian, he brought Damian back to life. With Alfred, he let go of his responsibility as head of the family. (So his reactions are a bit extreme.)

If Bruce found out that someone had killed Dick, I think he would 100% go after them with the intention of killing them. He did it when Jason died, and he attempted/threatened to kill the villains when he thought they had killed Dick (I’m referencing Alexander and Luthor). Also, recently, he beat the absolute shit out of KGBeast after Dick got shot in the head. He left KGBeast to die in the snow knowing damn well that KGBeast couldn’t move because Bruce had broken his back. 

If Bruce genuinely thought Dick died from natural causes, I think he would become obsessed with making sure his other kids didn’t fall to that same fate. That could mean doing way more medical screenings more often. Making sure everyone is eating properly and exercising. Becoming extremely paranoid about things like head injuries that could cause unexpected side effects. 

I think Jason and Damian would both find it shocking and ridiculous that someone like Dick would’ve died randomly rather than dying in the field. I could see Jason making some insensitive comments about Dick to hide his real feelings. Stuff like, ��Wing was always good at dodging bullets. Heart attacks? Not so much.” 

I don’t think Jason would really want to talk about it. Him and Dick weren’t super close, but I think Dick’s death would still bug him considering their history together. So, yeah, he’d think about Dick but wouldn’t really bring him up unless he wanted to hurt Bruce. Like if him and Bruce were really going at it over something, I could see him throwing Dick’s death in Bruce’s face (kinda like when he taunted Bruce over Dick most likely being dead after Chemo fell on Bludhaven.) 

I could also see Jason muttering about Dick under his breath when he was alone. Just kind of like a one-sided conversation. Essentially stuff like, “You would have had this figured out by now if you were here” and “Did you hear what Bruce said to me? Fuckin ridiculous. You would’ve cussed him out.”

Tim would be similar to Bruce in that he would want all the answers. He’d want to know what happened to Dick and how it happened. 

Now Dick and Tim haven’t been as close in Rebirth so I can’t accurately determine just how impacted Tim would be by Dick’s death. But if we’re talking about a Post-Crisis Dick and Tim relationship then Tim would be completely devastated. 

I’m talking like... getting choked up seeing Dick’s empty spot at the dinner table. Going through all the voicemails Dick left for him on his phone. Getting really depressed whenever he needed to talk to someone because the person he used to always go to is now dead. On the inside he’d be a crying river and on the outside he’d be a wall of stone. 

Tim would possibly contemplate using a Lazarus pit to bring Dick back. He tried to use one in the later Nightwing issues to bring his parents and friends back only to be stopped from doing so by Dick. I don’t know, maybe he’d throw the idea out there to Damian. 

Like Bruce with the Joker and KGBeast situation, Damian’s instinct would be to go after the person who killed Dick if he found out that someone was responsible for it. In the scenario where Dick dies of natural causes, I think Damian would mostly just be depressed and have a lot of repressed emotions. I could see it all boiling over one day and Damian either letting his anger get the best of him or his sadness overwhelming him to the point of tears. 

Lately, Damian has been reflecting on Alfred a lot since Alfred died. We’ve seen him have some flashbacks of good memories with Alfred. I think Damian would try to find comfort in good memories with Dick, and then reality would hit him like a punch to the face, leaving him in either a bad or depressed mood. 

I think Damian would also feel guilt. Guilt for not hugging Dick more when he had the chance. Guilt for never telling Dick how grateful he was or how much he loved Dick. On the flip side, I could see him being irrationally angry too (like he was when Dick was shot in the head). Muttering stuff like, “Tt. You were Batman, Richard! You were supposed to be untouchable!”

But, yeah, that’s basically how I think they would individually react to Dick’s death. Since Dick has such an important part in the family just like Alfred does, I think the batfam would find it really hard to put the pieces back together after losing him. Dick was essentially a mediator between Bruce and Damian as well as between Tim and Damian. Those three left on their own without Dick to balance them out would not be pretty. I mean, look what’s happened recently since Dick’s had amnesia alkjda. 

Of course, we saw that the family got along when everyone except Bruce thought that Dick was dead during the Agent 37 shtick. I think one of the key reasons that seemed to work is because Bruce knew Dick wasn’t actually dead. He wasn’t feeling any real repercussions from Dick’s death like other members in the family were. So if Dick had stayed dead during that time then I don’t think the batfam would have gotten along as well as they did since Bruce would have been acting completely different. 

Anyways, hopefully that helped!

[nightwingmyboi]

I have a massive amount of questions and hopefully you can answer them all. I wont ask all at once but first question. Dick and Tarantula. I know kinda what happens but like... All the titans took her side? Who were the titans and how did they react?

Alright, always happy to help out. Feel free to fire away! To start...I believe you’re thinking about Mirage, not Tarantula. 

Everything with Tarantula occurred in Bludhaven when Dick wasn’t currently working with the Titans. Dick hasn’t ever talked about what happened with Tarantula to anyone, so it’s likely that the Titans have no idea that anything ever happened...the only people who would have an inkling of what went down would probably be Bruce (who after the fact yelled at Dick to stop being suicidal and never looked into the matter further) and Barbara (who broke up with Dick...after seeing Tarantula force herself on him and knee him in the groin...okay). Yeah that’s a whole other issue :/ 

But I’ll explain the situation with Mirage instead. To set the scene: Dick was on the “New Titans” team, which included: Starfire, Beastboy/Changeling, Red Star, Donna Troy, and Pantha. Mirage came from an evil alternate future timeline, and in that timeline she was romantically involved with a version of Dick Grayson, later known as “Deathwing.” Because of this, she is obsessed with Dick and is convinced that they belong together. She’s come back with the rest of the “Team Titans” to the past to kill Donna Troy in order to stop her son from ruling over the world as a dictator. For some reason, she accomplishes this plan...by kidnapping Starfire, replacing her, and tricking Dick into having sex. Yeah, the plot is convoluted as hell. No time to unpack all that! 

Deathstroke (1991) #14

The team discovers that there is an imposter when Kory manages to break free of her imprisonment and escape. Dick realizes that he was manipulated into having sex with a stranger. Instead of Kory and Dick being able to talk about it alone, Pantha spills the beans in front of the whole team (sans Donna) and fuels the fire with several horrible, crude comments. 

The New Titans (1988) #90

“Details! From ten to one--how did she score compared to this one?”

Though Mirage had them all fooled, Pantha says that, seeing as Dick slept with her, he definitely should have been able to realize that she was phony. No one on the team comes to Dick’s defense or tries to shift the blame from Dick’s shoulders. Kory’s a bit pissed as well. She’s had a pretty bad couple of days. She wants an explanation from Dick, but Pantha can’t freaking shut up for five seconds so that he can give her one. 

Also, note the comments about how Dick’s hair has changed? And about “Starfire’s” new costume? I’m going to quickly side track to explain just how terrible Mirage is. 

The New Titans #88

So, while she was disguised as Kory, Mirage pushed Dick into changing his costume and cutting his hair into a mullet. Dick didn’t want to, especially because his discowing costume had huge sentimental value seeing as he’d modeled the look after his dead parent’s circus outfits, but “Kory” kept pestering him. He trusted his girlfriend, so Dick eventually agreed to follow what he thought was her lead. 

I can’t get over how horrible that is...that Dick’s rapist tried to own Dick’s body to the extent that manipulating him into having sex wasn’t enough, that she abused his trust to change his appearance to suit her needs too, specifically altering him in ways he wasn’t comfortable with. It’s disgusting, I don’t know why it’s so often glossed over, and it really gives a whole new reason to hate “Mulletwing.” And Nightwing’s not the only one whose bodily autonomy is completely thrown out the window.

The New Titans #93

When Mirage was disguised as Kory, she went around and did a bunch of porno, nude photoshoots. I don’t think I have to explain how awful it is that Kory’s appearance was used like this without her consent, especially in such a public way (people were literally stopping her in the streets to talk about it and she was invited onto a news show). Kory is rightfully pissed. Mirage also changes Starfire’s costume as well, to have big cut-outs on the sides. 

Mirage is absolutely horrible. Cannot say that enough.  

Back on the plot: Dick and Kory still have a lot to talk out, but they are on a mission to save Donna, so both of them put their feelings aside for now to help their friend. Later, while Starfire is busy chasing Donna in space, Nightwing runs into Mirage, and she reveals that she was the imposter. 

Team Titans #2

DICK YOU SLUT! So tell me, who was better? Huh? Huh? Huh? 

Mirage laughs about raping Nightwing with zero remorse. Pantha calls Dick a slut and once again asks who is better. Also like last time, the rest of the team (sans Donna) is standing right there...and doesn’t care or help him out at all. 

Dick is forced to put his feelings aside once again to deal with the threat to Earth. This means working with Mirage to the point where she is just...part of the team for some reason? My reaction is pretty in line with Kory’s here: 

Despite Kory’s protest, Dick focuses on the mission, and says that they need the manpower and the knowledge of the future that the Team Titans (including Mirage) have in order to defeat Donna and her son (long story, just ignore the plot honestly). But really, they need Mirage...so that she can cause unnecessary, contrived drama between Dick and Kory. 

I’m just going to say it: Kory and Dick are both pretty wildly out of character. Putting aside how stupid and cliché this plot is in the first place, Dick lets Mirage get away with way too much crap, when he’s always been very up front about dealing with bullshit in the past. One of the absolute worst things about having Mirage stick around (and at one point literally go on vacation with the Titans) is how she just keeps acting like her and Dick are together. It’s gross and Dick needed and usually would have put his freaking foot down about it. They also have Kory flipping from acknowledging that Mirage tricked Dick and is at fault for what happened: 

Team Titans #2

The New Titans (1988) #90

To having her think that Dick genuinely...loved Mirage and would rather be with her? And blaming Dick for being tricked? Even though Dick and Kory are both victims here? 

The New Titans (1988) #90

The New Titans (1988) #97

Starfire has an incredibly high EQ. She and Dick have always been very communicative. To see her completely unwilling to hear him out (and blame him for being raped) is shocking. She acts like an immature teenager, changing her mind all the time and then storming off to go party with random guys in clubs for the next couple days. She has zero of her previously demonstrated emotional maturity and trust. Meanwhile, just as Dick loses his girlfriend, he also loses his apartment, and, to top it all off, Roy swings by to tell Dick that the government is going to shut down the Titans because of all the property damage that happened in their last fight. Nightwing literally can never catch a break. 

The New Titans (1988) #99

Eventually, the two do make up...and Dick immediately proposes to Kory out of nowhere. She accepts, despite being pissed moments before. They have a wedding the next issue, but it is interrupted by villains from the alternate timeline, including an evil Raven and Deathwing. Afterwards, Dick and Kory’s relationship is never quite the same. 

Seeing Dick and Starfire’s relationship sour, when it was built up over so many years of comics (and with neither of them truly being at fault for the split), is freaking depressing. And Mirage never does get punished really...I’m pretty sure she’s even part of the honor guard that escorts Superman’s body to his tomb when he dies, which is dumb as hell. But that’s how it all went down. 

Just to clarify, since you specifically asked how the team reacted, I kept saying “(sans Donna)” because while most of this was going on Donna was a) giving birth or b) going crazy with power. Later, Donna is shown to know about what happened with Mirage, but she doesn’t really give it much thought. She does comment that Dick is acting strangely and she’s concerned about him, but she also doesn’t seem to connect the obvious dots that Dick is acting off...because he’s still shaken about being raped and tricked. Roy also appears later on to lead the Titans. Mirage is a member of that group, and Roy isn’t really shown to have any strong feelings about it. 

Honestly, I wouldn’t say that the Titans “took Mirage’s side” as you describe. Pretty sure none of them liked Mirage. But, they didn’t stand up for Dick, certainly. There was a lot of victim blaming. Dick’s rape wasn’t given the narrative weight that it deserved, probably due to the time period the comic was made. His teammates mostly didn’t care enough to take sides, used him being raped as a joke, or blamed him for being tricked. 

The whole story arc is convoluted, the characterizations are terrible, and overall it just sucks that this was written. 

[dork-knight-stephanie]

Born on a Monday

[A drabble written a while back that I was actually quite proud of, decided to share it]

How? How was this happening to her? Why now ?

Of course she was the only one on hand when Solomon Grundy decided to start causing chaos.

Bats was out, big bad Justice League business, above her pay grade. Robin and Red Robin we're doing some Titans thing. Thanks for the invite, boys. Nightwing had more than enough on his plate in Bludhaven, and Black Bat was off being a total badass somewhere else. Probably involving stabbing Shiva.

That left her.

Little ol’ Stephanie Brown.

She talked a lot of shit, and often backed it up. She fought a lot of things she probably shouldn’t have, but this call out genuinely made her worried.

She didn’t really have the luxury to think about that though, because she was already en route.

“Now you have to stay focused, Steph. If he gets his hands on you you're-”

“Yeah, I’m as dead as he is. I know, O. Stop reminding me. It doesn’t help. We both know you’d rather it be anyone but me out here for this but we drew a shitty hand tonight… now please. Let me focus.”

She scowled, her hands gripping at the handlebars of the Ricochet, resenting how much she sounded like Him just then, but the sentiment remained.

She needed to be fast. Smart.

Gritting her teeth, Stephanie caught sight of the wreckage of what was East End. Grundy had hit it like a hurricane. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Oracle, are there GCPD in the area?"

The clicking of a rapid search came over the comms, then her response,

“Yes, but they’re pinned down in the library, trying to help keep people safe. They can’t help you.”

Steph normally didn’t tut. That was normally a Damian thing. She tutted.

“I wanted them to get people out, so I don’t have to worry about that too. Tell them to start evacuating on my signal…”

“Wait, what will the signal be?”

“They’ll know it when they see it…”

She mutters, and floors it, heading for the Gotham Library.

She could hear him, roaring, tearing up street lamps.

Oh god she hoped this worked.

Lining up the hulking, grey frame on the sidewalk, she pressed a few buttons on her console, then released her grip on the handle bars.

‘NOW EXITING THE RICOCHET. GOODBYE.’

Batgirl was launched out the top of the vehicle, as it continued at top speed, slamming into the back of Grundy, spinning away, sparking on the asphalt.

“RRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Turning to find what hit him, he spotted the blonde bat, making a three point landing from her hasty ejection, her eyes on Solomon. The comms crackle.

“That was your signal?”

“Part of it… yep..”

She mutters, then throws one of her electro-rangs at Grundy, finding her mark as it sunk easily into his rotting flesh, jolting him. Normally, it would have dropped a person, like being hit with a taser, but all it seemed to do was make him mad.

Good.

She took off at a dead sprint, across the plaza, away from the library.

Behind her she heard him start after her, along with the dragging and scraping of something heavy.

“RRAGGH!”

Whatever it was, he just threw it at her. She couldn’t risk glancing back.

Taking out her grappling gun, aimed, fired, and started towards a building across the plaza.

The Ricochet crashed down on the line as she was mid-take off, Grundy's long range depth perception either terrible, or much better than she expected, cutting her off hard, jerking her heavily into her bike, knocking the wind out of her sails, only just managing to roll aside, to not be pinned beneath it as they both bounced to the ground.

“You’ve got his attention. Now what?”

Oracle asked, somewhat wearily, as Steph groaned slightly, rolling away, trying to regain momentum, feeling the heavy footfalls as he closed in.

“That was the signal… they better be moving…”

She pushed herself up off the ground, and started towards the nearest inclosed building.

“They are… but who is going get you out of there when this goes south?”

She vaulted though the window, feeling fingers brushing her cape, twisting and slamming the pane shut on the offending arm, taking a minute to look around her surroundings.

A tiny, ten seater coffee shop.

Yeah, no. Last stand worthy this was not.

“GRUNDY SMASH BAT!”

Gotta move…

Steph scrambled over the counter and out the back door, to the horrendous sound of the front of the building being bulldozed by the revenant, trying to make good on his word. The back of the coffee shop lead to an alleyway, feeding down between the back of office buildings, with trash, dumpsters, fire escapes, and  back entrances, and locked gates. basically a bullpen. Or a dead end, if played wrong.

“Steph! I’ve got Nightwing flying in to help you out, if you can just hold out until he gets there.”

“Sure, because I was just taking it easy this whole time….”

She would have rolled her eyes, but she was too busy using them to scope out the alleyway, looking for ways in which to maybe get an upper hand, maybe only come away mauled, only maimed, not murdered.

The only real answer she kept rolling back around to were the fire escapes, and dumpsters. She’d have to plan on the fly.

Keep Grundy in this alley, with her, until Dick got here. No big deal. Then the two of them could die together.

No, that kind of thought was gonna help. She fiddled with a set of buttons, the remote call for Ricochet, on her belt as she ran to the middle of the alleyway, hoping it still worked, turning to face the advancing Grundy, drawing her collapsible bo staff.

“Alright, Brain Dead Fred, come get some!”

Taking up a defensive stance, the Batgirl waited as Solomon Grundy barreled down on her. She knew hitting him would only wear her out. It would be best with energy conservation in mind. Especially since her vehicle in scuffed and thrown around armor seemed like it wasn’t capable of coming to her rescue.

That was fine. Better to know now then if she needed it.

With Grundy swinging wildly at her, trying to swat her like an annoying gnat, she circled around him, ducking, dodging and weaving like her life depended on it. Because frankly, it did.

She propelled herself from the ground onto a dumpster using the staff as a pole vault, taking a running leap across the chained shut lid at the fire escape ten feet away.

“STOP RUNNING!”

Instead of swinging for her, Grundy knocked grabbed the fire escape, and pulled, leaving half the metalwork hanging loose, and another five feet away.

“Stop being so slow then, Rotbrains.”

Skidding to a stop, dangerously close to his grasp, she tried to reposition, ready to begin her defensive dance again, starting to wonder how far out Nightwing could be now.

Unfortunately, Grundy may have been dead, but he wasn’t as stupid as Steph has hoped. He started circling her now too.

Once they had switched sides in the alleyway, without breaking eye contact with her, he dragged the dumpster that was just used as a launch pad into the middle of the thoroughfare, cutting her directional movement in half, unless she vaulted again. While theoretically not a problem, it wasn’t a whole lot of distance between them for her to have her back to him comfortably.

“Shit….”

She hisses, taking a half step back, running a quick inventory on what she had on her. Some smoke pellets, bo staff, magna-rangs, goopa-rangs, shock-rangs. She ditched her grapple before when she ate a face full of pavement before, which, was undoubtedly going to leave a mark.

“BYE BYE BATGIRL….”

Not likely. Not today.

Shifting her weight she got low, ready to start moving one way or the other.

It was a standoff, between the walking dead, and a dead man walking. Which was which? Who knew.

Grundy lunged.

Steph went to the left, slipping under his arm. She was fast. She was faster. She was thro-no.

She had a cape. And now Grundy had her cape.

Before she could reach up to hit the safety release on the cape, she had been jerked backwards, off her feet, and straight into the brick wall, like a ragdoll.

Everything went white, as she lost all her air.

Sinking down the wall, as the ringing started fading from her ears, her realised she could hear laughter. Grundy was laughing at her.

Struggling to push herself up, Stephanie let out a weak gurgle, then shook her head, trying again. Her mouth tasted like metal.

Ok, new plan. Getting up wasn’t going to happen. C’mon Steph. Think.

Grundy was looming over her now, a crooked grin on his stinking  face, she looked up at him, up. Up. The fire escape. Hanging loose, rockng from the force of her hitting the wall.

“SQUASH LIKE A BUG!”

Both fists, poised readys to slam down on her almost immobile body, Steph flung all her batarangs skyward with a yelp of pain, falling to her side.

“MISSED GRUNDY!”

She coughed slightly, blood splattering the concrete before her.

“Wasn’t aiming for Grundy….”

DEETDEETDEET GOOOOOP! KERRRKRACKKK!

That was her queue. She rolled away, under the dumpster, as the force of the good dozen specialised batarang pods explosively discharged, knocking the precarious mass of metal loose, falling onto Grundy.

Stephanie wasn’t sure if she could hear the hum of a jet overhead, or if she was imagining hearing Oracle yelling at her to stay awake.

But everything went black.