#i think the problem is that some people only know cass from red robin

[mysteriousbeetle]

People act like Tim and Cass's relationship is all smooth sailing which is not true. And I think acting like it is does a disservice to their relationship.

During No Man's Land while Tim cares about her general survival, he is shown to dislike her and feel reluctant about working with her (Robin (1993) #73). While this reluctance continues after No Man's Land, it's resolved by the end of Batgirl (2000) #18.

They are both very different people and in order to find an understanding they have to put in the effort. Even then, that doesn't mean they're always on the same page.

In Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood, while they are able to work well together, they are shown to have differing ideals and have some disagreements over them.

They're siblings and again very different people so of course they're capable of arguing. And I think it's also important to acknowledge that it took time and effort to form the relationship they have. I'm not saying that they don't get along but to ignore their conflicts really takes away from their complexity and makes their relationship seem a lot less interesting.

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons Part 12 CW: blood, past trauma and experimentation

Jason could almost go to sleep. He wouldn’t, not when he was the only Bat in the apartment, but it would be so easy to. Danny made a really good weighted blanket.

It seemed once the kid got over touching someone, he basically became a koala. Cass and Danny had spent the morning wrapped around each other on the couch. Cass was playing one of her weird clicking games and Danny, blue bear in his lap, was scrolling through articles on the tablet that Tim had brought him the other day.

Now, though, Cass was out on a snack run and Danny had slowly slumped over until he was laying across Jason. It wasn’t minded. Jason could admit he still had some trouble with touch himself, but it was easy to be there for Danny like this.

The problem was, Jason needed to get back to Crime Alley for at least a few nights. He was already past when Red Hood should have made an appearance. It he didn’t go back soon, rumors were going to start that he was dead. Again.

Jason waited for Danny to start searching for a new article to read to ask, “Are you alright with meeting someone soon?”

He didn’t expect Danny to tense like he did.

“Robin?”

“No, Dandelion,” Jason said, stroking Danny’s white hair. “N talked with Robin and he knows not to stop by like that without warning. We’ll have him over when you’re comfortable but not before.”

“Okay. Sorry. I don’t mean to…”

“None of that. He freaked you out,” Jason said. “I know he didn’t mean to, and from our guess it’s not his fault how he feels like to you, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t. It’s okay to set boundaries.”

“He… doesn’t feel weird to you?”

Jason sighed. “No. I guess I don’t sense it. I didn’t know you had died until you told me.”

“Oh.” Danny’s voice was small and quiet.

“But I knew that I had died— the others know it’s too,” Jason was quick to add. “It’s alright that you died. No one will think differently of you.”

“They might. It’s… you’re different than me, I guess.”

“I don’t know, because I don’t know what happened to you, but I actually hope so. The way I came back wasn’t pleasant.” Jason had to take a breath before he continued. “I was murdered by a rogue in town called the Joker. I woke up… we’re still not sure when exactly, but somewhere about half a year later. I didn’t have any of my memories, but I still had most of my injuries.

“I was picked up by some people you might hear us refer to— the League of Assassins. They put me back together about a year after my death by tossing me in something called the Lazarus Pits. Those things come with a price though, one that I’m still paying. Coming back was… hard, in a lot of ways.”

“Oh,” Danny said. He clung a little to Jason’s shirt, like he wanted to make sure Jason was still there. It was a feeling Jason understood all too well. “I, um, don’t think I’ve ever stayed really dead for more than a minute or two. At least not like… not like you were.”

Jason rested his hand on Danny’s back, feeling him breath. Feeling him… feeling him not breathe.

“…Danny?”

Danny clung tighter to Jason’s shirt. “Go ahead, ask.”

“Are you… somewhat dead right now?”

“Yes.”

Just one word. A simple answer.

“Okay. That’s— okay. I’m glad there’s a reason that you’re not breathing,” Jason said and pressed a kiss to the top of Danny’s head as he tried to calm his own pounding heart.

“I think B.B. knows. I usually… it’s habit to breath but sometimes I forget and—”

“She’s good at noticing things.” Jason would have to talk with her. “But that goes to what I said, right? None of the others will thinking of you differently.”

“Even if…”

“Even if anything.”

Danny sat up and Jason resisted the urge to reach for him. It took him a moment longer to release Jason’s shirt. Jason sat up slowly and waited for Danny to get the words out he was obviously working on.

“Can I show you?”

“Course.” Jason braced himself for anything.

“It might be bright, close your eyes.”

The flash still shown through Jason’s eyelids.

“Oh.” Danny’s voice wavered horribly. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Danny?” Jason was reaching forward even as he opened his eyes.

It was good he did.

He had to catch Danny as he wavered dangerously. Danny’s who hair was black. Who’s eyes were blue. Who looked all the more like Bruce’s son. Who was bleeding red.

-

“Jesus and Mother Mary,” Dick cursed, resting his forehead against his wrist’s.

Cass came over and peeled the bloody gloves off for him. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing,” Dick wheezed.

“Badly.”

Jason barked out a laugh at that. It was unstable in a way that reminded the room of worse days.

The door banged open and they all jolted, everyone but Cass, who was better than that, and Danny who was still out cold.

“Shit, fuck, sorry,” Tim rambled. “Is he stable?”

“Yes,” Cass answered. Her voice was calm, but but Duke could see the way that she fidgeted. For anyone else it wouldn’t be called fidgeting, but the way that she untied and retied and untied the trash bag in his visions told Dick otherwise.

Cass was as worried as the rest of them.

“Signal?” Tim asked. He came into the room, tablet already pulled up to record everything.

“Hard for me to say,” Duke said with a little shrug. He wished he could say, but he was still trying to understand what he was seeing. “The guy is… he’s like no one I’ve ever seen before. But I think he’s getting stronger.”

“That’s— holy fuck.” Tim paused as he finally got a look at Danny.

“Really looks like the old man like this, doesn’t he?” Jason asked. He was trying to hide how his hands were trembling by keeping his arms crossed. Everyone in the room let him pretend.

Duke sure wouldn’t have wanted to be the one Danny collapsed on like that. It was bad enough being the third one there as he swung over from his patrol. The cuts had still been appearing on Danny’s skin, ripping him apart like he was nothing.

He didn’t look much better all bandaged up.

“I think the cuts were ones he must have sustained before changing forms before he even met us,” Duke reasoned. “They… felt old.”

Dick rubbed at his face. “So the whole time they were there just waiting to bleed?”

Jason laughed again. “Waiting for him to be alive again.”

Slowly, Dick dropped his hands and looked up at Jason. “Jay?”

Okay, so they were at the point of forgetting cape-names now. That was a great sign.

Confusingly, Jason looked to Cass, who actually fidgeted.

“He doesn’t breathe. He does, not always. His heart beats, not always. It is like he…,” she twisted her hand as if trying to grab onto the right word. “Like he relaxes and forgets.”

Well that was weird. Dick nodded to the monitor that he had helped hook up. “He’s breathing right now and the monitor says his heartbeat is hella slow, but steady.”

“This is his alive form, I think. More alive form,” Jason said with a shrug. “His other form is his more dead form. He said he’s never stayed ‘really dead’ like I was. I think ‘really’ was the important word in that. He stressed it like it was… a technically or some shit.”

“Or a loophole,” Tim said. He was watching Danny with his head tilted just slightly to the right.

It was a pose that had Duke straightening up in attention. “What do you see that I can’t?”

Tim glanced at him and then back down at Danny. “The scars don’t match.”

“Ti—Red, please just say it,” Dick pleaded, exhaustion hanging on his words.

“Sorry, I was. I mean, the scars he has now don’t exactly match the scars he had in his— what are we calling it? Dead form?”

Jason flinched.

Dick’s eyes flicked from Jason to Tim. “Let’s go with… ghost. Undead, you know?”

Tim continued on valiantly. “His scars don’t match with what he had in his ghost form. There are a few like around his neck that I think are one-to-one and a lot of them are in the same place from what I can see and might be the same? I’d have to take photos and compare. But… he has more in this living form, I’m sure of it.”

“Okay, right, so that’s a thing,” Jason said. He slid down the wall he was leaning against until he was squatting. He hung his head between his knee and wrapped his hands around the back of his neck.

Duke could see Jason passing out with enough probability that he slipped out of the room to grab some sour candy for Jason and an icepack for the back of his neck. Being honest with himself, Duke could use the moment out of the room. It was a lot to deal with.

Man, someone would have to do something about the bloody couch too… Dick sighed and took the time to send a message to Babs about it as well as an update. Knowing her she had a list of all the furniture in all the safe houses and could get a slipcover ordered on same day delivery. At least he hoped so. Everyone was taking this pretty hard and they didn’t need the reminder.

Duke figured the bad reaction was pretty fair though, they had thought that Danny was getting better and now his healing was going to be set back. Dick would be guilty because he hadn’t been here, Jason going through his issues about kids and violence and death, and Cass already counted Danny as family. She was never good when family was hurt. It was even worse that Danny should have been safe, he was under their watch.

Duke set the pack of candy and ice pack down next to Jason’s foot, close enough that he should be able to feel the cold, and backed up to his corner. It was best not to touch right then. He wasn’t afraid of Jason ever hurting him purposefully, but he was also very aware for Jason it might not always be purposeful.

Cass joined him, leaning against his side, and Duke wrapped an arm around her. Tim was tapping away on his tablet, mostly muttering to himself, but Dick had gotten up to peer over his shoulder.

Jason tore open the packet of candies and popped one in his mouth.

They’d be okay.

It would take work, but they were Bats. They were stubborn.

Dukes wrist buzzed. The tracking number for slipcover flashed across his hud. It would be there by 9 pm.

They’d be okay.

-

Everything hurt. Everything ached all the way down through his skin and muscled and bones. His breath caught in his chest, ragged and frayed like his lungs were full of shattered glass.

He tried not to make a noise.

He tried to stay quiet.

They would notice him if he made a noise. He couldn’t take any more attention. He didn’t think he’d survive more attention. God, that thought was almost enough to kill him. Once he would have done anything for his parents attention and now—

There was a hand in his hair. It was gentle.

Oh, he was crying.

“…going to be okay. We have you, Dandelion, and we’re not letting them touch you ever again. The two Reds will make sure it can never happen again. Once you’re better they’ll take a little road trip.”

That was… that wasn’t… a sob broke through Danny’s lips and he didn’t stop it. He didn’t even try.

He wasn’t there.

He could make noises.

He was safe.

“Danny? Hey, are you awake.”

Danny nodded as much as he could manage.

“Hey there,” Nightwing said, voice so kind that it just made Danny cry harder. “Can you open your eyes for me?”

Danny shook his head.

“Okay, that’s okay, thank you for answering me Danny. How’s the pain? Um, squeeze my hand once if it’s okay, twice if it’s really bad.”

Danny squeezed it three times.

“Really, really bad, huh? Okay. Okay… we can give you some pain meds through your IV. We have you on a saline drip because you looked really bad. We didn’t want to give you any meds without your consent though. Are you alright with some pain medication? Once for yes, twice for no.”

One squeeze.

“Okay, let me go—”

Danny clung to Nightwing’s hand a tightly at he could. His breath stuttered around the glass.

“Not leaving, Dandelion. I’m going to text Red Robin, okay? He’s in the living room. Hood and B.B are out… running an errand. They’ll be back soon. I’ll text Red and he’ll bring the pain meds.”

Danny nodded. Nightwing shifted around, but didn’t let go of Danny’s hand. The breathing calmed, got easier. Danny let out a slow breath.

“Hey Danny,” a new voice said. “The medication will make you feel fuzzy and maybe disoriented. You’ll probably sleep a lot. We don’t want you to wake up panicked. Is there anything we can do to help you know you’re here with us and safe?”

“Bear,” Danny croaked. He wet his lips and tried to continue. “Smells that aren’t… Touch. Warmth.”

“Red will get your teddy bear as soon as the meds are hooked up and we’ll work on the other things. One of us will always be here with you,” Nightwing said.

Danny squeezed his hand again.

“Okay. We won’t leave you alone, Danny, we’ll keep you safe. You’ll be okay.”

Danny trusted that.

It was surprising.

He didn’t think he could trust anymore, but Danny trusted that, trusted them.

The warmth of that thought followed him back into the black.

---

AN: This all Danny's fault, not mine! He decided to reveal his form early and then... welp.....

...Stay delightful, darlings?

[krunklys]

Why Batcest is a Thing

I was talking with my friend the other day and while she's not a batcest shipper, she asked me why I was. I said that I don't think I take it to the same extremes some other people do, a few things that aren't a personal favorite of mine would be any of the REALLY younger kids with Bruce or say Dick and Damian. It's mostly the age gap that gets to me.

But she asked why I liked JayTim and I had a time explaining it to her and I wanted to bring it here as a sort of explanation, I suppose for people who might not enjoy batcest ships.

first of all, the name. Batcest is... an interesting name. A lot of arguments you'll come across is that they're not actually related, or there are some fanfics out there for aus where one of them (most commonly Tim or Jason) were never apart of the Batfamily in the first place. Of course, there are some where they are! Because, at the end of the day, in Canon they do share a family. But the implication of it being incest can be a real no no for people, even if it's not. Dick wasn't adopted into the family for quiet some time (I think he was adopted around the same time Tim was but I'm not a 100% sure, not to mention he acted as his ward and then aged out of it), Jason was adopted but after his return to life has regularly denied his part in the family (Look at literally any Red Hood Comic, though I do prefer to look at the New 52 Red Hood and The Outlaws for his feelings towards Bruce and the Wayne's in general), Tim was adopted but was later emancipated (in Red Robin), and Damian has a blood relation to Bruce only. Morally, there can be a problem with it but for mow shippers, since this is fiction, the lack of blood relation means there's no problem. Remember! They're not real people. Adoptive relationships, or pseudo familial ones, they don't see these relations as any reason to not ship them! And in later points, I go into why. And if people really had a problem with this pseudo familiar relationships, take for example Tim and Jason who have never once lives under the same roof nor have any legal connection to each other through Bruce, then on principal alone they should have a problem with Cassandra and Stephanie - Cass is adopted by Bruce, yes, but Bruce has also claimed Stephanie as part of the family and includes her in family talks. Does that not make them family members? No. They're friends or girlfriends, depending on how you want to interpret them.

Secondly, the canon relationships that any of the Bats have with their partners. I could go through all of them and explain the nuance of the relationships but I'll simplify for the sake of the post. In Bruce's sake, whether it be Talia or Selina or for the more fanon ones like Clark and Min Khoa (i think that's how you spell that, I'm not sure though!), there's no denying that in Canon these relationships don't pan out. Talia and Bruce have moral problems, even if she was originally a spy and didn't kill, and Selina and Bruce have an entire history of problems. For Dick, himself and Barbara are much of the same. A sweet beginning until something comes in to ruin it and they break up. Take, for example, the newest Nightwing run (on webtoon and not technically canon, i know). Barbara breaks up with Dick because she feels disconnected from him and like he's still preforming for her, but they have no conversation about this prior to it. With Kori, I'm not as knowledgeable about why they broke up, all I know is that they did and it was ugly. Another example is Tim! Himself and Stephanie didn't work out because she couldn't trust him, due to now knowing his identity, and then she faked her death, causing the distrust between them both. These are only a few examples of how relationships work out for Bats and in my personal opinion I think it's because of a ack of understanding for the characters, their love interests I mean. And in fanon, partners for Batfamily members tend to be washed down - Kon acts as an emotional crutch for Tim, Roy has morals he simply does not stand with anymore in Canon in JayRoy fics, Barbara is an anecdote in DickBarbara fics, and Selina is barely featured in Bruce fics. Not to mention the simple lack of wlw fics in the fandom that aren't background.

Due to this, the shipping of Batfamily members together is only natural. The characters share similar morals or in the case of Tim have such complicated morals that in fandom you can pick and choose what to use. They're fleshed out, have a canon relationship with multiple layers to it, and complete each other in many ways. In comparison to some of the fandom favorite ships like SuperBat or BirdFlash, where we only see a two dimensional aspect of their relationship recently, then the shipping of characters like Jason and Tim or Tim and Dick together is a natural conclusion to reach.

And Finally, History and old characteristics. It was mentioned before in another post that I'll try to hunt down for you guys and link in a repost because it will be WORLDS better than what I could write and have much more research thrown into it than this does, but originally there were a lot of implications under their relationships, specifically Bruce and Dick. Wardships programs were used by a lot of gay people when gay marriage was illegal, so were adult adoptions. It was to have a legal connection in whatever way possible. And I think in a really old comic, Dick has a dream where he's living in the manor as an adult still with Bruce. Bruce has a portrait of them together. They eat breakfast together in their pajamas or underwear, and spend all their time together. Batman regularly saves Robin over civilians and for his relationships, sometimes they wouldn't work out simply because of Dick. It worked this way for many Superheroes and their sidekicks in the "golden age" of comics! Batman has always had queer undertones since his creation but adding Robin into the mix just proved this. Like it or not, Bruce and Dick had sexual and romantic implications to their relationship since the character was first introduced in the 40s.

As for Old characteristics, in the New 52 i feel as though some of the characters have been washed down do their base characteristics. They lack depth in a way some characters don't or in a way some do, particularly in fanon. Dick's possessive originally and I see people talking about his anger issues as a child a lot, especially in comparison to Jason's Robin run, but either way - the characters have changed throughout the years. That doesn't mean that people can't cling on to their old relationships or even their old personalities. People are so fond of making Jason insane and crazy and Hella mean when in recent adaptations, he's a normal vigilante for all intents and purposes. He's not even a crime lord anymore, I'm pretty sure he still owns the Iceberg Lounge. That's all to say that the boys used to be a lot closer than they are now, especially Tim and Dick and Dick and Bruce.

The conclusion to my explanation to her is that batcest is much of the same as any other ships - picking and choosing what to take from canon to put two people together into a relationship that you like. It's a work of fiction and while that's important to remember, it doesn't say anything about you in real life! you don't enjoy real life incest if you like JayTim. That's all to say si that there's reasons behind it that some people like and some people don't. She wasn't swayed by my answer but accepted it since she couldn't deny that the Batfamily has been explored on and their relationships together so much more than their relationships with anyone else, canon or fanon.

[msfcatlover]

Duke in the Reverse!Robins AU be like…

”Eldest daughter syndrome? What eldest daughter syndrome? Nah, just because I’m the oldest does not mean I have eldest daughter syndrome. Sure, I’ve had to mediate between Damian & Bruce, or Steph & Bruce, or help certain Titans find a middle ground, but that’s just being a good leader. And yeah, I’m protective of the younger kids, but that’s just what any responsible adult in my position would do.”

*finds out one of the members of his team has such bad civilian trauma they need to straight-up quit hero work*

“Oh shit… I fucked this up. I was too focused on my own problems, how the fuck did I miss this? Okay, okay. I was already burning out trying to juggle being Gotham’s only daytime hero and single-handedly leading the Titans. I need to pick one. And find some way to make it up to Grant. Jesus fuck, how did I miss this…”

*Tim becomes Cass’s apprentice. Steph & Cass start arguing more often. Steph has her biggest fight with Bruce yet. Steph goes missing.*

*Steph dies*

“After that fight with Bruce, no one backed her up. She didn’t know anyone was supporting her. She died thinking none of us were on her side. If any one of us had actively taken her side, instead of getting distracted with our own messes, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Oh, but am I really expecting Damian or Bruce to be intelligent about feelings? Am I really expecting tact from Cass? I know them too well; it should’ve been me, shouldn’t it? I can’t believe I managed to fuck up worse than I did with Grant…”

*Luna gets taken away*

“Look at what you’ve done, Bruce! Look what you’ve fucking done! You’re tearing this family apart! We all promised to look out for her if anything happened to Steph, and you’re just going to force every single one of us to break those promises?! You’re going to rip away the last piece of Steph we had?!? Look at Dami & Cass! Look at them! You did this!”

*finds out Damian’s training for Tim to be Shadow uses all the LoA techniques he refused to use for Steph, making it borderline-through-outright abusive, almost certainly to try to drive Tim off by making him too miserable to continue*

“I. I can’t fucking believe this. I can’t… I can’t believe it took me so long to realize. Damian, nobody is happy about this, but fuck you. I thought you were trying to be better, you absolute fucking asshole! And I… I don’t even have the excuse of not knowing half of the involved parties this time, or being away, or too busy, I was just looking away because I didn’t want to think about Tim taking Steph’s mantle. I should’ve fucking stopped this the first time Tim came back from Bludhaven. God fucking dammit, how do I keep failing the kids in my care in the same fucking way, over & over again?!”

*was all the way at the other end of the room & looking in the wrong direction to have enough forewarning to actually save Tim from being shot*

“I… I… I… I’m literally the only person who could’ve fucking stopped this. I have all the training, all the abilities, but I went to refill my punch glass, and now Timmy might never walk again. I mean, absolutely blame the asshole who pulled the trigger, but Tim & I were in the same fucking room. Who would even put a hit out on Tim Wayne? There’s no way Tim doesn’t know who’s behind this, but he won’t tell me because he doesn’t trust me, because of course he doesn’t! Look at my track record! When it matters most, I let down the people I love. My parents, Grant, Steph, Tim…”

*Jason becomes Shadow.*

*The Tower fight happens.*

*Jason gets kidnapped by the Joker.*

*Bruce “dies,” and Jason runs away to have the Red Robin arc.*

*Dick only begrudgingly puts up with Duke because Duke’s rather overbearing expressions of protectiveness support are not meshing well with Dick’s “stuck on anger til I personally catch my parents’ murderer” issue*

“…If anyone needs me, I’ll be screaming in the closet.”

[phantom-dc]

Dad Hood - part 14

Bruce was getting a weird feeling. He thought that with Jason coming clean about having a kid and with he misunderstanding about Jason being cloned cleared up that things would go back to normal. But the way his sons were acting told him that there was still something he didn’t know. It likely had something to do with Danny, but he wasn’t sure what. Danny was a sweet kid, always eager to help others and make new friends. Bruce had still no clue what Dick, Tim and Jason were hiding from him and it nagged at him. He was suspicious that it was something big, otherwise one of them would’ve ratted the others out by now. If not to him then to Duke, Steph or Cass. Even Alfred didn’t know what was going on, and there were times Bruce suspected him of being an all-knowing being only pretending to be human. Bruce decided to keep an close eye. It’s not like he could investigate the Joker case any further before J’ohn came back from Mars anyway.

‘Grandpa Bruce, is daddy’s doll dry yet?’

Bruce looked down. Danny was looking at him with big eyes, waiting for the paint on their self-made Red Hood action figure to dry. Checking it with his finger, Bruce found it had dried and was ready.

‘It seems he is, champ. Here you go, you can play all you want with him. Be careful not to break him, ok?’

After Bruce handed Danny the action figure, Danny got really excited. He immediately ran back to his other toys so he could play out the stories his uncle’s told him about. Though they were made child-friendly, of course. Danny immediately gathered the Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin toys. He even had a Mr. Freeze and Riddler toy. Mr. Freeze had no problem with his visage being used as long as a portion of the money went to his wife’s cure. Riddler had seen it as a contest with Batman, so his toy even came with pre-recorded riddles! Seeing Danny play with them, Bruce turned to the other people in the room.

‘Dang, Bruce. You’re really playing into the grandpa role, aren’t you?’

Jason smirked at Bruce. It was a good thing that there wasn’t much happening in Gotham. With things calm in the city, he could stay a bit longer and the family could bond. Jason couldn’t remember the last time things were like this. He started to wonder if he should tell everyone how Danny took care of his Lazarus problem… Nah, they would just ask more questions and he really didn’t want to put his Soul on display again. Never again.

‘You’re not going anywhere, Red Hood! We’ll skin you alive and turn you into a coffee table!’ Danny said, holding the Mr. Freeze toy.

Dick, Jason, Tim and Bruce looked at Danny. Where had he picked up that language? Sure, Jason wasn’t always able to watch what he said around Danny, but he never threatened to turn someone into furniture? Maybe he should try it though. He bet he could make it work, with his reputation and all.

‘You are going down! The Red Hood never loses! Pew pew!’ Danny was pretending the Red Hood toy could shoot lasers from his hands.

Dick thought it was adorable. Did Danny think Jason had laser guns? Did he see those in cartoons? Maybe Danny liked those sci fi cartoons that were popular nowadays. With all the glow-in-the-dark stars Danny put up in his room it was obvious that Danny loved space. He wonders if Danny had those stars in his old house.

‘I am the Question Mark, and you will question why you ever thought you could win!’ Danny was holding the Riddler toy, and for some reason putting up a mad-scientist voice.

Bruce was worried. What had Danny been through that he knew about stuff like this? The threats and the obvious mad-scientist. Did the person Danny was copying the voice off the same one as the person that tried to clone him? It made him think. After Jason had told him that Danny had adoptive parents out there, he had avoided the issue. He’d been too happy to have a new family member. But now? Would it be safe for Danny? He should investigate these ‘parents’, so he could decide if it would be safer for Danny to stay here. If he was going to stay, Bruce knew that he would be fine. Everyone loved Danny, and Jason was being a very good father-figure to him. Bruce could tell that Jason loved his son very much, and would do anything for him. Somewhere, deep down, Bruce wished he could say the same thing.

‘You’re defeated, Question-Mark-man! No evil people will harm the innocents while the Red Hood is here!’ Danny put the Red Hood toy’s foot on the Riddler toy, in a triumphant pose.

Jason smiled. It was nice to be his kids hero. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Bruce looked at him with a very proud look in his eyes.

‘Jason, I must say, I’m proud of you. You’re a good father.’

And then Danny phased the Riddler toy into the floor.

Bruce, Jason and Dick were looking at Danny. Danny, who had just phased a toy into the floor. Seeing the gears turning in Bruce’s head, Tim quickly scooped up the kid and left the room. As Bruce slowly turned to look at Jason and Dick, Jason decided to make the first move:

‘IT WAS DICK’S FAULT!’

Dick was shocked by that. They immediately started arguing. Dick accused Jason of throwing him under the bus. Jason accused Dick of leaving Danny alone in public. Dick threw back that Jason didn’t warn him about Danny being so much to handle. Jason asked why on Earth he told his 5-year old child that he puts people in the ground, this never would’ve-

‘ENOUGH!’

Bruce’s voice boomed through the room, silencing the 2 brothers. He was furious. His grandson was the reason the Joker was dead, and his own children tried to hide it from him! Bruce took a deep breath. Dick and Jason were looking guilty. Bruce was reminder of how they looked when they got into trouble as kids, but this was serious. The fight the two had did reveal a few things to Bruce.

‘So, Danny is a meta? And you, Dick, told him that bad people are to be buried alive?’

Dick didn’t look him in the eyes:

‘He wanted to know what Jason did for work, and I was overwhelmed and it just came out? I knew I messed up as soon as I said it, but Dany didn’t seem to care. I never thought he would-’

Bruce cut him off. He needed more information, not excuses.

‘Does Danny realize he killed someone?’

Jason said Danny didn’t, at least Jason thinks he didn’t. Danny never showed signs of that, but with all the things that Danny does do it might have slipped through. Jason still isn’t sure what things Danny tells him are real and what is a child’s interpretations. Bruce sighed. That was good, at least they didn’t have another trauma to deal with.

‘Ok, we can deal with this. But I do need to know what Danny can do before we can make plans for him. Is phase-shifting his only power?’

Jason looked at Dick with a strange look, that promised nothing good. He pulled out a tiny black notebook, scribbled something in it, claiming to be updating the list and handed it to Bruce.

Invisibility

Cryokinesis

Flight

Soul-pulling-out-powers???

Destructive scream

Super strength

(Flying) Superspeed

Photokineses

Shields

Doesn't need to breath (as often)?

Color changing (Camouflage? Different form?)

Phase-shifting

Bruce read it over. He looked at Jason.

‘Jason. This is like half the Justice League’s powers.’

Jason just nods. Dick tells him this is only what they’ve seen Danny do. They have no clue what else he can do. Danny’s memory is iffy, and couldn’t give them a list himself.

‘We need to figure out where Danny came from. We put this off long enough, but this amount of powers is concerning. I’m guessing you were hiding more form me, so the both of you need to come clean about everything.’

Jason sighed. He knew this was coming. He told Bruce everything. How Danny just showed up, to the Lazarus blood, to being cloned, to being younger than he should be and everything. By the end, Bruce had turned slightly pale. The three decided to use the Bat-computer to find out more.

When they got there, Tim was already working on Danny’s case. He managed to track Danny from the orphanage in Europe that Talia had left him at. There Danny had been adopted by a family called ‘the Fenton’s’, but he had lost sight of them after they moved to the US. No matter how hard Tim tried, he couldn’t find anything. It was almost like there was some sort off wall blocking all information. As much as he hated to admit it, Tim didn’t think that technology would help them much further. Bruce thought for a bit. If technology couldn’t help…

‘Good thing Constantine still owes me a favor, then.’

First - Previous - Next - AO3

[celaenaeiln]

My connection went off so idk if my ask just sent but. I was wondering your thoughts on post Robin Jason, because idk what his deal is at this point and writers don't seem to either. I don't think he's a heartless killer who should be hated and hunted by the entire family but I don't like this fanon "Jason is 100% right about everything and everyone else is the problem" idea either, when they put him in the family he feels really out of place and random and it's just.. one moment he's trying to kill Tim and the next he's the best guy ever with the softest heart?? I don't know there has to be a middle ground right?? I just can't get into Red Hood as a character due to this

Thank you for being so incredibly smart, reasonable, and intelligent.

You're exactly right. I think this is the same issue that's been affecting the Robin Dick vs Robin Jason mischaracterizations as well as the batgirls' that have been predominant in the fandom post 2020. Tim and Damian's motivations and personality have stayed the same from when they entered to now but Dick, Jason, Cass, and Steph have all grown as characters. Who they started out as, they've changed from then to now which has led to some confusion about their personality and motivations.

For Jason in particular - no, he shouldn't be hunted to the ends of the Earth for the things he did. He was hurting and acted out of pain. However it's irresponsible to refute those actions and blame other characters for them.

Jason was originally meant to be a villain. He was supposed to be like Freeze, a sympathetic villain - a character who despite their evil actions is understandable. All Freeze wants is his wife, Nora, back. He loves her and commits horrible acts that don't justify his actions but it makes sense. You're supposed to feel complicated about characters like him because they point out exactly why morality is grey. What Freeze does is wrong, but he does it for the right reasons. It's ultimately still wrong which is why he gets imprisoned.

That is Jason. Jason's actions were never supposed to okay. In what universe would creators who spent half a century working on and developing characters be okay with another character trying to kill them? What about that is acceptable? But it's not just trying to kill Tim (who only escaped by outsmarting Jason) or trying to kill Damian, the crimes he did are not acceptable.

He bombed Gotham just because despite knowing he didn't need to. He was willing to kill innocent children, men, women, and civilians for Dick and Damian were chasing him, after they helped him.

Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #25

In the Red Robin Comics, he was willing to use children as bait during a gang war.

Robin (1993) Issue #177

Not to mention Mia Dearden.

But at the same time, he killed people who hurt children

Red Hood: Lost Days Issue #3

Initially Jason's morality was a swinging pendulum. He was as likely to kill kids as he was to protect them. He didn't care about the lives of civilians if it meant getting away or completing his plans.

Batman/Superman (2013) Issue #26

Here Superman says he wants to save a kid so Jason argues that to save him, they need to poison the environment and wipe out several countries.

That's why Bruce struggles with Jason so much. Over his lack of care for people's lives. It's not the murdering of criminals that Batman is caught up on which is where I believe the misunderstanding in fanon comes from. It's his fear that by his own hands, Bruce created a deadlier version of the man who killed his parents.

Batman vs Robin Issue #3

So no it's not fair to blame everyone for Jason's mistakes and claim him innocent, but it's also not fair to say Bruce had nothing to do with Jason's mental state. If he had shown a little less hesitance at the reappearance of Jason in Under the Red Hood, if he had shown a little more love then Jason probably wouldn't have gone as crazy as he did after coming back.

Because he saw Jason killing everyone, Bruce fell into his worst possible explanation of Jason, knowing the pain he was going through but succumbing to selfish actions to protect himself.

Jason's tough to deal with for writers because even when the batfamily reaches out, Jason is the one that burns his own bridges. When Dick begged Jason to take his hand during the Battle for the Cowl, when Dick and Damian helped Jason save his friend during Batman and Robin (2009), when Bruce saved Jason and fought alongside him against a couple members of the Secret Society of Supervillains, Jason immediately turned around and killed people and bragged about it.

In Batman Urban Legends, Jason tells Bruce that he has given up guns to which Bruce is grateful but it's also not for him. It's a sign that Jason is turning a new leaf especially given how caring he was with the kid, calling him Blue Hoodie. That was so sweet of him. The current Batman family comics are a sign of things changing between Jason and the family. What has happened up until now is not the family's fault, especially when they've reached out for the sole purpose of extending an olive branch only to have it burned and tied to a person in return. But now things are slowly changing and writers are trying to show that.

Jason's story is story of growth. He didn't come back to save people, he came specifically for the sake of hurting Bruce. But over the years, the repeated attempts of the family (Dick and far less Bruce) of bringing Jason back into the fold has helped him move past his anger. To slowly become adjusted and settle down.

Writers have struggled to know what to do with a character that canonically wants to be included in the family but rebuffs their every attempt to include him. They finally figured out the problem was Bruce - hence his fight against Jason and his exit in Gotham War. I'm assuming now that Jason will become more involved in Batman comics.

As a character currently though, I think of him as a lone ranger. He works independently but he'll show up for family meetings and big events. He'll also join family dinners if he's coerced but for the most part he likes to run on his own or with his team.

[purple-crusader]

Stephcass Week day 6 is up! Today we deep dive into some fun stuff, which is my take on Cassie's problem with finding identity beside her vigilante persona. Like I said, very fun. It's focused on Steph and Cass' free time as civilians, so I think it fits the prompt, even if they are still vigilantes on the side.

Hope you like it!

STEPHCASS WEEK Day 6: Civilians

Words: 1,188

@stephcassweek

You know things got fucked up, when Cassandra Cain, Black Bat, the daughter of two of the deadliest assassins on Earth, Lady Shiva and David Cain, as well as trained from birth to be a living killing machine, comes back from a fight with a broken arm.

Bane returned to Gotham, with the most powerful version of Venom created yet in his veins and decided the best people to celebrate that occasion with are his friends from the local crime-fighting family. When Batman and Robin realized they could not defeat the man alone, they had to call for reinforcements, those being Red Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Batwing, Batwoman and aformentioned Black Bat. It took around an hour of non-stop, brutal fighting and crashing most of the Gotham docks to finally put down the villain, but they managed to do it.

One of the factors in defeating him sadly being Cassandra's sacrifice by pushing away Damian from Bane's hit. She exposed herself, which gave the rest time to gather around the man and finally tie him down and inject an anti-Venom into his veins. Before that happened though, the hit landed on Cass' arm, breaking it and making her unconscious.

Fast forward 4 hours later, Cassandra woke up in the Bat-Cave's med-bay with Alfred and Bruce by her side, telling her what happened. "Your arm is broken in 6 different spots, Madame Cassandra. Recovering from that will take months..." Said Alfred. "I'm sorry, young lady, but in this time we need to put you off your vigilante activities."

It was the first time Cass had to hear those words during her vigilante career. She had never taken enough damage to get benched. Hell, she had never even caught a cold. Her training wouldn't allow it, but Cassandra herself was always incredibely careful with all of her moves, because she knew how much Gotham and her family needs her in the field. Now she's supposted to take a few months long break from that life? She did not answer any of Bruce or Alfred's further questions, just sat on the bed numbly.

For Cass it was like a death penalty, but someone took the news as an opportunity for good, this 'someone' being one and only Stephanie Brown, Cassandra's lovely girlfriend. It's not like she did not feel the pain her partner was experiencing, but she also thought that the dark-haired woman sooner or later needed a vacation and she did not want to wait for their honeymoon for that to happen (and even then Cass would probably pack her suit and change into it the moment she saw a kitten not able to get off a tree).

Cass was advised by Bruce to spend the next four months living in Stephanie's apartment, to be a bit further from the vigilante activity that she would be at home. It lined up perfectly with various activities Steph had planned for them to fill Cass' time during her treatment.

Besides vigilantism, Cassandra was taking online private classes to broaden her opportunities if she wanted to take on a job and generally were supposted to teach her more about the world. These taken up to five hours daily for her. Besides that? She was all free. Usually she'd spent the rest of that time training, working on cases, sleeping, so that she could then have no problem running around on patrols all night. Of course she also always tried to find time to spend with Stephanie, besides when they were cracking a case or playing rooftop tag, so it's not like she had no idea what to do in her free time. That didn't mean the first few days weren't rough for her.

That's where Stephanie came in. The activities she had prepared were generally stuff to bond over or use some skills for. It was stuff like learning to bake new things together, going on walks to the park, the library, the museum. Steph would love to teach Cass more about knitting (a little hobby of hers) but it was definitely hard with her broken hand. She loved to watch though. For lazier nights, Steph would put one of the films or TV shows on the long list she had prepared for her girlfriend to watch one day to be up to date with the pop culture.

And Cassandra absolutely loved all of these things and was really grateful how involved her partner was in making this time better for her. But she could not shake off the feeling that she should be out there, helping people, that she was... wasting time? No, Cass would never say that about time spent with Steph. Yet the feeling was still there.

Something almost broke when the women went on a quiet date in a local coffee shop. It did not end up as quiet as they wanted, when they saw Duke and Bruce drop into park across the street, fighting Mr. Freeze. They did not need help, so Steph was not running to change into her Batgirl suit. It was tempting to Cass. She got up and almost ran out of the shop, when Steph grabbed her healthy hand.

"What are you doing?!" She said quietly but firmly, for it to get to Cass' head. The woman was looking outside the window, as she saw the two vigilantes and the villain leave the park and her sight. She sat back with tears in her eyes. Steph was immediately alarmed. She slided over her chair to seat closer to Cass and hugged her, the dark-haired woman laying her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Cass finally raised her eyes to look at Stephanie. "I just- I'm... I love what you do for me." She said taking on of Steph's hands and caressing it. "But I miss this. I can't fight this feeling. I feel so useless... when I can't be out there." More tears rolled down her cheeks.

Steph felt pity for her girlfriend and wasn't really shocked. Cass was made for fighting. First as David Cain's weapon, then she forged it into her mission to help people of Gotham. She was never benched this long and it definitely made her undergo a little identity crisis. But what was Stephanie for, if not going through it with Cassandra?

"Listen, babe, it's okay you feel this way. I'm not mad, I know you have good intentions, but I need you to know, that you are someone bigger than just Black Bat. You are Cassandra Cain, a talented dancer, loving daughter, sister, friend and partner. You are your own person." Steph smiled fondly and kissed Cass on the forehead. She smiled as well.

It got kinda better for Cass after that. Sure, the need to come back to being a vigilante was tingling. But she knew it would come back to her soon. Right now, she had time to pursue things she never thought about before and she wanted to cherish that. Well, maybe even after coming back on the field, she could make some changes to her schedule. To find a moment for Cassandra Cain.

[electricprincess96]

Asking out of curiosity, but why do ya dislike Damian Wayne? I ask this not in a acussitory manner mind, as my only exposure to Damian is in non comics material such as those animated movies he popped up in. More so curiosity cause he seems to be a very controversial character among the main comics fandom itself.

He is controversial. There are a few reasons, some I could change my mind on with better writing and others would take a lot more for me to get behind him. I'll start by saying if you're reading this and are a Damian fan don't continue, you aren't gonna like what I have to say so don't both hate reading for the sake of it.

Firstly the concept of the Bat Family for the most part up until that point was about Found Family. Let me be clear I'm not saying it was sunshine and rainbows and they all got along great all the time BUT it was about broken people finding each other and trying to work together to make a difference. The very concept of giving Bruce a blood son ruins that, you need only look at most Damian fans when the debate on who should be Bruce's successor comes up, they will always say Damian despite the fact he has shown NOTHING to prove he deserves it, their only reason is he's the blood son. While yes being both biological and adopted kids is a thing that exists and most real people can do it and it works most DC writers are not adopted parents and dont know the specifics of how you depict that balance and it shows. It reeks of weird blood purist, anti-adoption vibes that just aren't good. Like the rise in "bad parent Bruce Wayne" towards Jason and Tim and some of the others (not sure he knows Cass's name anymore) conveniently corrolates with demon brats creation. Coupled with the fact on more than one occasion writers have seemed to make it seem like Damian does indeed mean more just cause he's blood related. I just don't like it. I wasn't overly fond of Helena Wayne (although she was better cause she was from another world instead of the canon one) and I don't like Damian for the same reason.

Secondly he was forced as Robin. As I said in a recent post up until Damian the role of Robin had only really been changed when it was necessary. Jason was made Robin because DC wanted Robin to be a kid again but readers liked the storylines they were getting with young adult Dick Grayson so they promoted Dick from sidekick and created Jason Todd. Likewise when Jason died there was no Robin, Dick wasn't about to go back to being Robin and Jason was dead thus Tim was created to fill a role that needed filling. Even Stephanie was made Robin due to Tim being unavailable for a long period of time (i dont remember the specifics but i think it had to do with his family finding out about Robin) so even when she lasted not even a year, she was still filling a vacamcy instead of being forced into a role that was already filled. Damian however was just created. They had not taken the proper steps to develop Tim out of being Robin naturally (and before people come at me with "oh he had plenty of time" Dick Grayson got FORTT YEARS and Damian is coming up on nearing 2 decades so shut up) and thus his creation has directly led to the problem we have right now in DC were we have TWO Robins cause they demoted Tim back to being Robin when Red Robin didn't work out (and 3 batgirls but that ones Barbara Gordon's fault). Coupled with the fact his introduction came right after the revival of Jason Todd thus basically screeching to a halt any real meaningful development that plotline could have had because suddenly DC had a shiny new toy to play with. Damian's creation was a turning point for Batman comics and not a good one, because it contributed to the derailing of multiple characters arcs and plotlines and some have still not fully recovered.

Thirdly his character upon introduction was already redundant. He's a child raised by assassins.... OK well we already have Cassandra Cain. He's a Robin willing to kill and will really test the Bat Fams moral compass. OK well as I said we'd already revived Jason Todd and he was already taking the fight to the Bat on the no kill rule. Literally the only unique thing he had upon introduction was that he was a blood relation to Bruce which I personally do not think should mean anything. But DC starting from that point going forward started to have a horrible undercurrent of blood purity. The only thing I can think that he is semi unique on is being biracial but even then not entirely his since Cassandra is biracial as well AND they never do anything with him being biracial. Plus if they really wanted to they could have reconned one of the existing Robins to be biracial without derailing multiple other characters plotlines.

Fourthly. He's an obnoxious and annoying brat 90% of the time. Like I get it, being raised by Talia (although there's conflicting information on of he was actually raised at all since the timeline does not seem to add up for his age and at one point he was grown in an artificial womb and artificially aged but that's been retconned but the timeline still don't add up if he's not artificially aged somewhat. His back story is a mess I ain't gonna make heads or tails of it) will inevitably result in a very arrogant child afterall Ra's and Talia's egos rival Lex Luthors. BUT they want us to believe at times he can back that up. And I'm sorry I don't care how skilled you are as a child assassin, you are still a child. Like in the Animated movies he should not be able to beat Deathstroke in a straight 1 to 1 fight. He just shouldn't. Both are highly skilled assassins sure but Slade is like 6 times Damian's age, double his size and at least 3 times his weight. There is also the fact that his dark, brooding, arrogant, cruel character sort of worked when he was Dick Grayson's Robin cause it was flipping the established dynamics for Batman and Robin. But when he's Bruce's Robin it doesn't work, we no longer have that little bit of sunshine that Robin is meant to bring to Batman (and don't think I haven't noticed how Batman's character has got crueler and darker since Damian became his Robin) while Batman is meant to be a guiding hand for Robin to keep him on the right track.

Fifthly. For Damian's character arc to really work/make sense ot has to be acknowledged that Talia is not a good mother. At best she's deliberately raising him in a dangerous environment and at worse she is actively abusive. It's the only way you can justify half of his character traits and why he's even here in the first place. Here's the issue for all I dislike Talia as a character... I don't believe she's an abusive mother. One thing that seems to be consistent for Talia was that she did love her family. Talia's flaws for me are in her inability to choose a side and her entitlement towards Bruce and other men (well and the whole worldwide genocide of anyone not League of Assassins). Now I am more willing to accept this one as just being how new Talia is but I don't blame some of her fans who feel miffed about this however they do have to acknowledge that there's no real way to do his story without her either being an incompetent parent or a down right bad one (but don't worry Talia fans Bruce is also awful nowadays so she's not alone there....)

Now his arrogance and overall unlikable character can absolutely be fixed with good writing. I hated him in the Animated movies (kid you grew up in the mountains leaving to kill you SHOULD NOT BE LECTURING BRUCE FUCKING WAYNE ABOUT STOCKS) but I'm quite liking him in Boy Wonder where it's actually tackling his own sense of entitlement and showing that he needs to learn from his predecessors rather than acting like he's better than them purely because he shares dna with Bruce.

BUT the conceptual issues I have won't go away quite so easily. It's why if I'm asked if I could wipe one Robin from existence, it will always be him. He could be written wonderfully, he could get a comic run that is the best written thing ever and I will still always say him when asked that question. And I know I'm not alone on that.

[appleswan]

I think that what a lot of comic book writers don't understand about the conflict between Bruce and Jason is what it's primarily about, because while yes the whole killing people thing plays a part it's not nearly as large of a part as people assume it to be. If it was about the act of killing both Damian and Tim would have been facing the same kind of damnation as Jason does. But they don't.

What Jason and Bruce's conflict boils down to is the conflation of the past with the present. Both parties are guilty of this, remembering what was and equating it to what is or what should be. For Bruce (and Dick) it's conflating Jason as Robin with Jason as Red Hood and seeing a child that he let walk down the wrong path. He see's what was (a great morally good hero) with what is (a morally grey Anti-hero) and thinks that Jason should be more like what Robin was which is impossible now due to many different situations and influences that have shaped Jason as an adult and as a hero. Meanwhile for Jason it's conflating the Bruce of the past with the Batman of the present, remembering who Bruce was as a mentor and father and seeking that in a Batman who has already mourned and grieved for a dead son and partner. There's more to that, including the hurt and betrayal of realizing that his death wasn't avenged, but I digress.

They are both so drastically different from when they worked together that they're near strangers. Their antiquated sense of who the other should be has driven a wedge between them that widens through near every interaction as they don't understand who the other person is as a person anymore. They've both been shaped by drastically different influences and circumstances that now there's not much that they can agree upon. That sense of past conflating with present is also why you see Dick fighting a lot more with Jason too, because he knew Jason as Robin.

There's a reason that Jason seems to get along more with people like Steph, Duke, and Cass, people who didn't know him as Robin. It's because they don't have this idealistic childlike version of him to hold onto a pedestal. They never grieved him so they don't hold onto those memories because there were none.

Personally I also think that a lot of the conflict at least on Jason's end comes from a poor sense of identity. He doesn't exactly know who he is or who he wants to be as a hero because he never really got a chance to discover that for himself unlike both Dick and Tim. When we see him start to pull away from Batman and begin that path of self-discovery he's blown up, and when he comes back to life there's people telling him what to do and urging him in certain directions. And while he has some time with the Outcasts I still think he's operating mostly under the influence of the League of Assassins and in the Prince of Gotham arc he's operating under a sense of obligation to Gotham (which I love don't get me wrong).

Furthermore a lot of critical years of brain development were stolen from him where he was either training, comatose, or catatonic. I don't think it's irrational to assume that he's going through those vital years of development just at a later date.

It's why I like the end of Task Force Z so much, we see him going on his own to discover who he is as a person outside of all these other influences and people trying to dictate who he's supposed to be. He's going on that journey of Self-Discovery that is needed so much

I also think that a lot of their problems could have been solved if Bruce had told Jason that the only thing that kept him from killing Joker after he died was diplomatic immunity and Superman. "It would have been too easy" my ass! You wanted too, Bruce, and you were going too.

Just my two cents idk I have a lot of thoughts about this and it kinda pisses me off how there always seems to be a fight between Jason and Batman + Batfamily in every Red Hood run. And it doesn't make sense because they're good and then they're not good and then they're fighting again. I just want some consistency (Please for the love of god don't get me started on how much I wish writers would drop the fucking crowbar thing). I just think that their conflict is a lot more nuanced (on both sides) than Jason does morally reprehensible things sometimes. I could be very wrong about this too, I'm just thinking tm

[lovingly-lightbulbs]

hey if i wanted to get into batman comics where would i start. i am asking this purely on the basis that u reblog a ton of comic stuff so u don’t have to answer if u dont want to haha

@amongusbabiescustodybattle

I'm so sorry I don't know how long this has been in my asks. Disclaimer: I haven't read comics in a while and these are purely my own opinions.

If this list is too overwhelming, start at either Detective Comics #568 (if you want 80s batfam vibes) or Detective Comics #934 (if you want modern batfam vibes).

I'd say a good starting place if you want a place to jump in featuring the entire modern cast of characters is Batman (2016) and Detective Comics (2016). A few Batfam characters have solos from this time too (These are at the start of Rebirth, which is one of the more recent reboots, this is where I started).

For individual characters, here are some recs. Most of these will not be from within the past 10 years.

Batgirl (2000): Cassandra Cain's solo, fleshed out her character a bunch. There's a few problems that are relics of the time but it's generally pretty well regarded

Batman and the Outsiders (Rebirth) is good for both Cass and Duke Thomas

Two good Duke comics are We Are Robin (2015 I think?) and Batman and the Signal (2018)

Batgirl (2009): this is Stephanie Brown's solo that only has (I think) 12 issues because of the New 52 reboot

SIDE NOTE DO NOT READ THE NEW 52 COMICS THEYRE SHIT AT LEAST MOST OF THEM

The 90s runs of Nightwing and Robin, starring Dick Grayson and Tim Drake respectively

Birds of Prey (1999): This is where you'll find a lot of Barbara Gordon as Oracle content

Batman and Robin (2009): Dick Grayson as Batman after Bruce's presumed death. Damian Wayne as Robin.

Red Robin (2009): Tim goes off the rails

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2005). Jason is back and murderous.

I'm also a big fan of Batman (2016) Annual #3 because of the Alfred content

Those are all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure some other comic people can think of a lot more (@junkoandthediamonds you are The Comic Person maybe you could give them some recs? No pressure)

Some individual issues I would recommend are:

Jason's robin run from the 80s: Batman #408-425 and Detective Comics #568-582 (thank you @dailyjasontodd because your post came up on google for this)

Tim's entrance: As a normal dude, Batman #436. As Robin, Batman #457. These issues are from 1989 and 1990 respectively.

Steph's debut: Detective Comics #647 in 1992

Steph's Robin run, Robin #126-128 in 2003 or 2004ish?

War Games. This is a 2004 event spanning multiple comic runs and crossovers. Stephanie's (fake) death. I'm not sure how good it actually is.

No Man's Land. This 1999 event was the debut of Cass.

That issue where Jason comes back and beats the shit out of Tim. It's in Teen Titans vol 3 issue 29

Damian's debut: Batman #665 (2006)

This is all I can think of atm. I hope it helped! If anyone else has some recs please rb with em!!

<3

[zorilleerrant]

BANG BANG BANG

3 8 & 9!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

I don't screenshot these for my own mental health but. I've genuinely seen someone - more than one person, actually! - claim that Jason Todd never killed anyone. And I don't know if it was just a joke that didn't land or if they're talking about Robin!Jason or something else, but I think there's a growing contingent of people who genuinely believe that every claim Jason killed anyone is a smear campaign. Which is like. That's the point of his character actually??? Like the whole point of Red Hood is exploring the morality of killing and what it does to a person regardless of morality. He wouldn't be an interesting character without the murders!!! The Cass misunderstanding (that she's an assassin) I get more because that's an easy mistake to make.

That Armand never really loved Louis, he was just convenient, which like. No he's not did you even watch the show? That's the most inconvenient motherfucker anyone could ever date. But also... none of the dramatic tension plays out unless he's in love! (Some of it I don't think played out anyway.) There's no reason for him to do anything he does unless he's head over heels and going crazy with it. And there's no poignancy to the breakup if neither of them care I mean. What about it then. (Also how can Daniel heal Armand's heart if it isn't broken, come on now.)

I've also been getting mad at people a lot for saying that Faith is a lesbian or has 'obvious lesbian coding' when like... she's one of the straightest characters on TV. Literally, no, people, you are just a lesbian and into her! That's the opposite! You're the opposite person from Faith in that equation!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

That any of the Batfamily smoke. Rich people just don't smoke anymore, haven't for quite a while, and certainly wouldn't be okay with their kids smoking. Which means they only do it as rebellion - except that Bruce had no parents to rebel against, and everyone else did superhero stuff for their rebellions. Even the ones who grew up in environments with a lot of smokers were too young to be smoking regularly when they were out on their own. Alfred might smoke, depending on his backstory, but not in front of the kids. Steph you could convince me was rebelling against her very health conscious mom, but you'd need to motivate an antagonistic relationship. Babs I feel would just think it's gross.

That Niko is aromantic. She literally decided two starfish were in love, just because they were next to each other and had contrasting color palettes. That's, if anything, an example of amatonormativity, not a thought that aromantics have all the time. I mean I think she just saw the starfish and had her own romantic thoughts, because she likes romance and thinks about it all the time, and if you want her to be arospec then make her aego!!!

That Xander is any more sexist or awkward than any of the other characters. Sure, a lot of his lines didn't age well... but neither did any of theirs, and no one decides they're evil for it. Well, except for the handful who have really violent things to say about Willow. I wish I could find more Buffy fans who watched it on the air tbh. He literally doesn't do anything except for normal teenage stuff like all the other teenagers also do.

9. worst part of canon

Alright, everyone's going to come at me for this one but like. I don't think Dick and Bruce should have an antagonistic relationship. Or even a tense one. Or even like 'well, Bruce is controlling and Dick is learning to be an adult, so they clash'. No? They really mostly shouldn't ever have problems. They're THE Batman and Robin; they know exactly what each other is thinking. They think in the same way and agree on 99% of stuff and don't ever misunderstand each other because they grew up together. They learned how to be heroes together. I don't need false conflict added to make the story world all dark and edgy and I don't see why it was. Dick is a kid who has normal growing up problems and Bruce is a supportive dad who sometimes gives the wrong advice because he didn't have the exact same problems, that's it.

The worst part of Invincible canon is that they specifically made the main character half asian and then didn't do anything thematic with it. Guys! His human half is asian, always seen as other, seen as a visitor or tourist even in his own home. His alien half, which is a visitor and tourist (and nefarious dictatorial influence), looks white, and thus is categorically instead of contingently accepted. Both halves would make him feel othered and outside of society, but one half people would reject outright for not looking othered, and the other half people would reject because they don't like to listen to asians having opinions on things. His dad was never racist to his mom because he didn't know how, and that helped her fall in love with him, but then the dude turns right around and has opinions about all humans that really sound a lot like the same orientalist arguments! And they just didn't SAY anything about it!!!!

The worst part of Buffy is Season 7.

lol probably everyone should specify a fandom

[whalehouse1]

The Red Hood Problem (for me):

This is more for the comic than the show since I think the movie did a much better job at Bruce than the comic did.

Jason is now a murderer after this comic, this part is fine since he can still operate in Gotham having that be true (Cass, Jean-Paul, Damian, Tim, etc.) but the way they went about it doesn’t work for me. His resurrection has him come back, go on a frenzy and kill some of Ra’s’ men before he flees into the desert. Now where his mind is at here is debated, but if he survived the desert he must have been “sane” at one point. Or you like Lost Days and the Al Ghuls just picked him back up to train him, which that’s a different issue I have with Batman comics. He then gets back to Gotham and ruthlessly kills drug lords, pimps and other such criminals as it’s the only way to protect Gotham. This is where my first problem comes into play. Jason’s father was a criminal who died due to Two-Face and his mother (Catherine, that other woman can burn for all I care) died of a drug overdose. So him coming from that background had to be retconned so he wouldn’t go “oh extreme poverty and desperation can lead people to do things they wouldn’t consider otherwise”, but instead go to the classic, “my dad beat me so it’s okay that I became an orphan”, because then he’d have to be shown recognizing that killing people could result in leaving people behind much worse off. They try to do this in Urban Legends but Jason just seems a little off character there, especially knowing Tyler’s mom might not make it along with him just being a lack of impulse control personified. Then on top of them retconning (read gaslighting) his parents, they also keep trying to rewrite him as this super grumpy Robin who just would attack without thought. But we have the original Jason stories, he was rough around the edges, sure, but he wasn’t cruel or nasty or more violent than other Robins. And that’s what makes Red Hood so tragic, is he lost his joy and became resentful instead. He still kept his kindness in well-written stories, because he’s the same as Cass when it comes to bleeding hearts. If they can’t save someone they go full on Bruce moping mode. But nope, now we have Jason who couldn’t care less about saving people, he just wants to sow discord. And I know it was all to get the Joker out of Arkham, which just shows Jason as stupid (he isn’t but they love putting the stupid Robin label on him and Steph) since if he waited a day or two, Joker would be back on the streets. Then we get to my final issue, aside from Bruce not wanting to kill Joker but having no issue slicing Jason’s throat. It completely invalidates so much of Bruce’s decision to not kill the Joker that the hypocrisy leaks through the page and destroys any reason Jason could hold onto the “He didn’t kill because it’s his one rule” which yes is understandably frustrating for Jason but at least could give him some reason to think Bruce didn’t just value him as a body on the job. Which Bruce didn’t, Bruce, before some twats got allowed to write him, loved his children unconditionally, spent time with them and was a good father to them. This dunks on that harder than him and Dick in Infinite Crisis. It also perpetuates the Batman/Joker Optimus Prime/Megatron dynamic of “we’re made for each other to kill!!!”, which I’m fine with when it’s the Joker thinking that but not Batman. These rogues do not mean more to him than his children. He assaulted Two-Face, one of his closest friends when he attacked Dick, extremely violently might I add, but Joker gets a pass because “they’re the same you and I”? No that’s some BS right there. Also it cements the Red Hood backstory and I’m firmly anti-backstory Joker. But the actual final problem is the redemption part of his story. Writers don’t seem to do this and have him revert back to killing or he uses non-lethal rounds 😑, but it usually comes out of nowhere and it never is satisfactory. Have him keep killing and have the Bats have to put him away or actually write character growth for him in the Batman comic so it can more easily bleed over. But they won’t since edge lords sell. I absolutely love Jason and I as much as I wish you could retcon his death.

[roseandgold137]

For the fandom meme:

F, G, I, N, O, P, Q, R

👀👀👀👀👀👀

F- (edit bc I accidentally deleted this at some point and didn’t notice) Percy Jackson was probably my longest fandom bc I got into it young and I still engage with it pretty regularly. I’m definitely going to buy the sun and the star and I’ve read all the spin off series as well so I’m pretty confident saying that’s my longest fandom. My fav spin off was Magnus Chase

G- okay so as a kid I had like a lot of casual ships but first OTP was probably Percabeth. I submitted a fanfiction of them for a school assignment when I was nine. I think that’s all we really need to hear to know that they’re the answer.

I- I don’t think so? Like. I’ll come back to this if I remember any but I’m pretty sure we’re good on this one

N- okay fandom: dc

I know that in my circle of dc fan logs there’s a lot of Timber content but the wider community seems to still be mostly hung up on TimKon. And I get it, they’d be really cute and all but Timber

More Teen Titans (fab five) bc I think mostly when people talk about the teen titans they’re usually talking abt the cartoon series

put some respect on the names of female characters! And the queer characters! And the poc characters! So many problems in my life could be solved if people weren’t so fixated on the straight white males of the franchise

O- Song is Bubble Pop Electric by Gwen Stefani, it is very Birdflash or really any speedster ship to me, very nice bouncy beat reminds me of Bart also

P- AU: Canary Tim - I’ll elaborate on this bc it is one of my aus and is kind of the reason that some of my second gen bat ocs exist so it’s kind of relevant.

First Black Canary - Dinah Drake. Married Larry Lance, daughter was Dinah Lance, who became the next Black Canary. Do you see where I’m going with this. Tim Drake. Dinah Drake. There’s a very weak connection there technically so I just made Dinah his aunt. Based off of Dinah Drake and Dinah Lance, we can assume the canary meta gene is hereditary, ergo we’ll just send it Tim’s way as well.

He won’t have his activated until his late teens though bc I want him to have atrocious voice control for a good while so he gets shipped off to train with Black Canary until he won’t accidentally deafen everyone around him.

From there, he’ll graduate Robin to become some kind of Songbird. It was originally going to be Galah (bc pink) but I changed it to Blackbird so his kids could call him B and it would be very emotional for Bruce to watch history repeat itself with the nickname and whatnot. Also this way tim gets to keep his red black and gold colour scheme.

that’s the au part but the part where my oc Jasper couldn’t really exist outside of this au is bc he’s a meta with a voice ability, that’s similar to the Canary meta gene but he’s not related to any of them. He’s Australian so he travels to America to look for Black Canary. He can’t find her, he keeps on missing her by like a handful of minutes or hours, but he does find Tim, and at this point he’s fed up of looking for Dinah and settles for the 19-year-old Blackbird in front of him. Tim, who only really got control of his powers around two weeks ago, chooses not to mention his inexperience and accepts that he’s a dad now

okay wow I didn’t expect to ramble that much but yeah that’s basically the au

Q- hate to say it but I don’t really ship stephCass. I used to, but I hc Cass as older by a bit too much for me to comfortable shipping them in my own au yknow? I wouldn’t say I’ve abandoned them completely though, but the only other ships I really could have put here were ones where I saw art of them, thought it looked sort of cute and then found out they were pro ship, so uh

anyways I think they are cute and would absolutely celebrate if they were made canon but it’s not really for me is all

R- hmmmm. Well I’ll start off with one that I think very few people ship. Steph and Bailey, who has one appearance in the Robin/Spoiler Annual. And I know I’m not the only one bc I’m pretty sure it was @aliteralchicken’s blog where I saw them for the first time, if not whoops

I also have a lot of Janet Drake ships bc I love her and given that most people do not love her I think it’s safe to say that Janet x Selina, Janet x Talia and Janet x Dana aren’t exactly popular ships

I’m trying to think of an m/m ship bc sapphic ships are hard to come by anyways, I’m thinking Bart x Preston but that’s mostly bc I haven’t really been looking for content of them so that would make them seem like a rare pair

oh also Darla Aquista/Laura Fell and Ariana Dzerchenko. Idk I think they’d be cute, and Ariana could really only upgrade from Tim let’s be honest

[mocksterling]

I posted 1,475 times in 2022

That's 1,475 more posts than 2021!

346 posts created (23%)

1,129 posts reblogged (77%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@yuriinadress

@mockingsunlilacs

@jjmk-jjmk

@chamiryokuroi

@broosepayne

I tagged 784 of my posts in 2022

Only 47% of my posts had no tags

#dc comics - 558 posts

#dc - 456 posts

#damian wayne - 198 posts

#robin - 192 posts

#incorrect quotes - 170 posts

#tim drake - 169 posts

#incorrect dc quotes - 167 posts

#batman - 157 posts

#bruce wayne - 153 posts

#superboy - 150 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#as a lgbtqia member i do not think dc making everyone bi gay or even straight is benefiting anyone because of how they go along with making

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Damian: You three, explain right now! Duke: It was Tim. Dick: It was Tim. Jason: It was Tim. Tim: Tim: . . . fuck.

302 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

#4

Damian: Father, I don't understand what you're talking about. Poison Ivy's drug did not effect me that much.

Bruce: You were flirting with Superman (Jonathan Kent) last night.

Damain: So what? Jonathan is a very worthy warrior and has shown great success in battle. Don't blame me for having high standards. Besides, he is loyal to his lover and wouldn't try anything anyways.

Bruce: No, that's the issue. You asked if they were single.

Damain:

Bruce: And you cried when he said he wasn't. Jason recorded it.

Damain: THAT MoTHerFuckE-

416 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

#3

See the full post

482 notes - Posted August 14, 2022

#2

Link to article here

536 notes - Posted June 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Au where the Waynes have to make a reality TV show because people get too close to finding out who they are. Everyone develops their public persona as follows.

Brucie Wayne:

Wears makeup all the time.

Really clumsy but has a quick reaction time regarding when his kids are about to fight. Yes, he can sense it from the other side of the house.

Mama bear, will panic if someone gets as much as a papercut.

Always wears dark colors because if he wears anything else he always manages to get them dirty somehow.

Will sing to pop songs, gets all the lyrics wrong except the chorus.

Glitter. He always wears at least one thing that is glittery at all times. He also uses a glittery bat-themed pencil pouch in his office (cass got it for him as a joke).

Kathy Kane:

A gay aunt icon.

Fashionable but in a classy way/simple enough to still fight if needed.

Will physically attack one of Bruce's kids to "prepare them for if they get kidnapped".

Damian's favorite, he will go ask her for permission first instead of Bruce. She typically allows him before looking at the camera like 'this is about to be good'.

Is one of the best at giving advice.

Will not hesitate to argue with Bruce's friends (the Justice League in their civilian personas) with the passion of a kid who wants ice cream.

Dick Grayson:

Nice older brother type/has answered to "mom" on screen multiple times before.

Knows all Disney songs by heart and will start singing them as his brothers fight.

The one who posts the most on social media and believes they're "in with the kids".

Is in college but tries his best to make time with his family.

Recites vines with passion as he burns everything in th kitchen.

Always wears "rich people clothing that compliments his best features".

Jason Todd:

Was announced alive before the show started so he's been here since season one and may or may not be the reason that they had to start the show in the first place because people were like, "oh, he could be Red Hood. . . wait".

He's normally the one who starts shit/drama on the show.

He has some of the best comebacks out of his brothers. And yes, most of them are along the lines of, "I died, bitch! I'll kill us both and drag you to hell myself! They love me there, unlike some people!"

Claims he doesn't remember what happened those years he was "dead" and says that he still have bad memory problems to get out of doing stuff because he "forgot".

Plays into the bad boy/street kid stereotypes.

Tends to yell a lot/doesn't have an inside voice for shit.

Tim Drake:

See the full post

1,239 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[phantoms-lair]

BatFam AU Beach Vacation

(Takes place midway through the last arc I have planned, tentively named Snowbird [further note: not because it's a finale arc, I just haven't had any idea past it yet])

Private beaches weren't something Jason Todd would ever have seen himself using. And there were only two reasons he agreed to go along with this. One is it wasn't a private Wayne beach. It was a private superhero beach, a place where Capes of all kinds and their loved ones could relax.

And knowing this would be available to Roy or Kori or Artemis kind of made it worth it (Especially since Roy let him crash on his couch after the Siege of Gotham. He was just...not up for dealing with anything brushing on his family after that.)

The Second was, shocker of all shockers, Bruce was actually admitting his perfect little family had problems and a family vacation outside of Gotham was his attempt at a first step in fixing it. And honestly, Jason wanted to see the old man sweat a little bit trying to figure it out.

He'd heard word there was a new vigilante in Gotham who was working with the Bats, but given the powers it was probably just Danny with a new look. There were no new faces here, but there also weren't people who were involved but not part of the official Wayne Family. Oracle, the Foxes, Spoiler, and Dr. Thompkins were absent.

Alfred was here, sitting back on one of the lounge chairs. He looked like he was fighting the urge to do things, but Bruce had made it abundantly clear this was a vacation for all of them, Alfred included.

Bruce himself was playing lifeguard, watching over his children. Damian was poking around a tidepool looking at the aquatic life. Dick looked like he was trying to do some ocean themed water-ballet, and Cass and Tim were pretending to bury Danny in the sand. (Pretending as Danny would occasionally ready up an intangible hand to mess with his siblings).

Jason himself was content to sit under the umbrella with his favorite copy of The Brönte Sisters and read it in between watching how things were going.

Jason may not claim the title of World's Greatest Detective, but he was no slouch. And he was trying to determine what had gone wrong enough to pull Bruce's head out his ass.

Two things stood out. One was Danny and Cass sticking to Tim's side like glue. The other was Dick didn't seemed to be doting on the demon brat as much as he did before. This led to the conclusion that whatever had happened, Demon Brat had done it to Replacement.

And there was a small part of him that felt jealous, that of course for precious Timmy things would change. but he shoved it aside because he knew it was bullshit.

For one thing Replacement himself got replaced. The fact that he'd rebranded as Red Robin rather than start anew showed how unwilling he'd been to give up the title. For another Demon Brat had literally stabbed the then Robin as a greeting, pushed him off the dinosaur, and (if rumors were correct) cut his grapple line and nothing had changed. So whatever Demon Brat had done, it was bad.

Not that you'd know from looking at the third brother. He'd assumed something demanding that kind of response would leave a scar, but Replacement didn't have a mark on him.

Jason's brain did a record scratch as the implication caught up to him. Tim Drake had scars. Hell, Jason had given him a large chuck of them when he broke into Titan's Tower when he was at his worst. And he'd seen him get treated for injuries after B had been recovered from the timestream and his torso had been even more messed up.

Yet now here was Replacement wearing nothing but a pair of black swim trunks with skin as fresh as a newborn's.

And the hair on the back of his neck prickled. Even plastic surgery to remove scars left it's own marks if you knew what to look for. And Tim had none of those. In fact the only thing Jason could think of that healed so cleanly, to completely was...was the Pit.

Demon Brat what did you do?!

[paintball-writes]

Day 3 - Identities

Day1 - Day2 - Day3 - Day4

Marinette had been living with the waynes for over a month now. The reason? Tom and Sabine sent her away to her biological father. Apparently To Dupain was not her biological, but Bruce Wayne was.

Marinette had a sliver of hope, A really, really thin one. Which had faltered by the month.

Marinette had defeated Hawk Moth with Chat Noir. Apparently Plagg found the brooches along with two sleeping kwamis accidentally. At night when Gabriel and Natalie were asleep, He had stolen the miraculous. On the patrol that night, Chat had told her that the miraculous were right under their noses. He gave her the two brooches and told her that Plagg had found the brooches in his father’s study. He told her that Gabriel was Hawk moth and Natalie was Mayura. Then he de-transformed and handed her the ring saying that he wanted to continue his life as a civilian.

Later that week it was announced that Chat noir found out who Hawk Moth was and he had stolen the miraculous at night. He then said that Gabriel and Natalie were the Villians. He then revealed himself saying that he was innocent, and he had no idea that his father was Hawk moth. Marinette had thought that with Hawkmoth gone she could beat Lila, But no, it Backfired. That was the reason she was Shipped off. Like an object. She was replaced just like an object.

Her only wish was to die. But she had tried to do that multiple times. Someone always managed to save her. So no, that option was unavailable. She had thought that she would finally be able to die in Gotham by sucide, But no, Selina, Cassandra or Jason always managed to save her.

By now she had started to see the woman as a mother figure. The Waynes hated her. They didn’t even listen to her side of the story. Only Cass and Jason had seen that there was more to the story. Selina and Alfred too, of course. The waynes saw her with disgust. They laid out certain rules.

And of course she figured out they were Bat family. She may not be from Gotham, but she wasn’t certainly stupid. She had to admit, The Waynes were really good at hiding the Batfam thingy. But what gave them away? Misplaced Batarangs by Tim. Then Tikki had also found the cave. She wasn’t stupid, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were good friends and certainly Batman and Superman. The people of Justice league stopped by often at the Manor too.

Speaking of the Justice League, They had given her an offer to join the League, but she declined. They had given her a satellite phone for emergencies to contact the league. They had praised her high and low. Batman was even Concerned for her when he found out her age range. Concerned! If they knew that Ladybug was their new sibling who was claimed to be a bully, she’d be declared a threat and her take Miraculous away.

Her routine was the same. Wake up. Eat breakfast in silence as she was being glared at. Study something. Do commissions while talking to her boyfriend, Luka and the others. Eat Lunch while being glared at. Study the Grimoire with Alfred. Sketch some designs while talking to Selina and Cass. Draw illustrations while Jason talks. Eat dinner in Silence. Stay up till 3 am doing commissions. Sleep.

Last week she had introduced Luka to Cass, Selina, Jason and Alfred. It went really well. Especially when Jason found out he was Jagged Stone’s son.

She was thinking how she could step up her game with the Waynes. In her thoughts she didn’t see Selina coming in.

“What are you thinking about Kitten ?” Selina asks, seeing the half sketched dress.

“Gah! Selina don’t scare me like that! Anyway I was thinking, ``What do I do to annoy the waynes?” Marinette asks the Master of scheming Cat-woman.

“Hmm, what about going to your true self? Being in headphones, ignoring them, Snide answers, and stuff like that?” Selina says thoughtfully.

“Selina, that's brilliant! You’re the best Mom!” Marinette says. She covers her mouth with her hand realizing what she said.

“Aww, Com’ere Kit. I love you.” Selina says softly.

“You’re not mad?” Marinette hesitantly asks.

“Of course not!” She says.

“You’ll be more of a mother than Sabine will ever be to me.” Marinette says with a small voice and hugs the older woman.

Then the Chaos was unleashed. Whenever the Waynes wanted to ask her something she’d ignore them and she always had her headphones on.

- - - - - - - -

“Marinette, tell me why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks in a stern voice. Of course Mari didn’t hear him because of the blaring music.

“Marinette, Why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks again, obviously annoyed.

“MARINETTE-” He was cut off from Alfred of course.

“If I may Master Bruce,” he says, earning a nod. He gently taps the girl’s shoulder. Marinette moves her hair away and removes her Airpod. The music is loud enough for everybody to hear.Meanwhile Bruce flushes in embarrassment. “Miss, Your father wants to ask you something.” Marinette nods. She turns to her Father.

“What?” She asks.

“I asked, Why did you hurt the poor girl marinette, around two months ago?” He asks, patience bearing thin.

“Oh? I didn’t know that I could make a clone of myself and Send one to the fencing class and the other to beat her up at the Seine?” She says in a bored tone. Jason and Cass, not being able to hold their laughter any longer, burst out laughing.

Later that night they checked her attendance, sure enough she was in the fencing class.

- - - - - -

One day Marinette got a call from the Justice league, Stating an emergency. She quickly transformed to Ladybug and Portalled to the Watchtower.

“Ladybug, welcome to the Watchtower,” Wonder Woman welcomed, standing at the head of a group of heroes. Interestingly enough, Batman and all of his brood were among them. Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin and the others.

“Wonder Woman,” she greeted back. “What’s the problem?”

“Your former partner has been kidnapped.”

Ladybug’s face turned pale, but she took a deep breath instead of panicking. “What do we know?”

“Ra’s al Ghul has taken the former Chat Noir in an attempt to convince the Guardian of the Miraculous to turn over the jewels to him,” Batman reported.

Her face turned up into a snarl. “The League of Assassins,” she spat.

They were surprised that she knew Ra’s. But they hid it well.

“I take it you understand why we cannot allow the Miraculous to be surrendered to his control,” Batman continued.

Wonder Woman stepped in before Ladybug could reply. “Ladybug, we need you to tell us who the Guardian is so that we may protect them.”

Ladybug let out a cold laugh. Shivers ran down everyone’s spine. “Wonder Woman, you misunderstand. The Order of the Miraculous is all but dead. I’m all that’s left. You want the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous?” She spread her arms wide. “You’re looking at her. And Ra’s al Ghul can have them over my dead body. ”

The gathered heroes looked stunned. “Now where is Adrien?”

Red robin started, recovering first. “You’re not going alone.”

“You’re right,” Ladybug cut in. “I’m not. I’m gathering my team.”

“What Red Robin meant to say is that Batman and his assembled partners are going with you,” Wonder Woman soothed. “They have experience dealing with Ra’s and would be a great asset.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, at the most.” She said. Everyone nodded. She portalled away to gather her team.

Five minutes later a portal opened and stepped out Honey bee, Dragoness and Cobra in the Glory. The portal snapped shut when Ladybug entered.

“This is not enough! We’re dealing with Ra’s al Ghul and the league here!” Ladybug said. “We need her. She’s the last resort if we lose!” Dragoness exclaimed. The Justice league was confused. Who were they talking about?

“You’re right. Bee, you’re the only one who knows where she is. You’re her best friend. I can't find her in all of paris!” Ladybug asks, turning to Honey bee.

“You’re right, I do. It’ll be easy to find her. She’ll be in her room. She’s always Isolated, so don’t worry about getting caught.” Honey Bee answers.

“Isolation! I thought I told her to Socialize!” Ladybug exclaims.

“Yeah, but her family treats her like a pariah except some people. But Ladybug I don’t know if she’ll be able to fight.” Honey bee says.

“Rossi?”

“Rossi.”

“Now location please.” Ladybug says.

“Right. Wayne Manor, Gotham, New Jersey.” Honeybee whispers. Earning surprised looks from Ladybug and the Supers.

“Alright.” Ladybug portals away. This was all staged of course. She had recently found a spell to make a clone of herself.

“Why won't the hero be able to fight? She’s a hero!” Batman exclaims.

“Depression, you overgrown furry, Depression. She’s tried committing sucide several times. We saved her.” This earns many shocked looks.

Cue opening a portal. All of the Paris heroes Gasps. All in glory Multimouse is standing there.

When Honey Bee saw Multimouse, she gasped and enveloped her in a hug, muttering French endearments and saying how much she’d missed her. Dragoness stole Multimouse for a hug next before passing her on to Viperion who also received an extra peck on the lips in return, while Ladybug watched with a soft smile.

With Kaalki involved, it was child’s play to get into the assassin stronghold. Team Miraculous filled the gaps and worked seamlessly in their own right, simply a step away from Gotham’s Bats. They beat assassins on their own. The Bats just watched in awe.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to Ra’s.

The man wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he greeted him from his throne. A bruised and bloodied but otherwise intact Adrien was being restrained on the dias a few feet away.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Team Miraculous,” Ra’s mused, looking down the line. His eyes paused on Multimouse and his expression shifted to intense amusement. “And if it isn’t the latest in the Detective’s brood. I suppose heroics truly do run in the family after all.”

A number of shocked and confused gazes snapped to Multimouse, who simply stared at him down with cold eyes growling quietly.

“And yet she isn’t why we’re here,” Ladybug cut in coldly, shoving that problem in a box for later.

Ra’s shifted his oily attention to her. “Yes, I believe I requested the Guardian, young Bug.”

“And here I am,” Ladybug said simply. “But I will never cede the Miraculous to you.”

“Well, then I suppose the Blonde Cat dies.” The assassin near Adrien tried to kill him only to turn to orange smoke. Ra’s growls when he realizes he was tricked.

“Your reign is over. Your crimes won’t continue much longer. Tell me, just how long have you been using the Pits to keep yourself alive?”

“Goodbye, Ra’s al Ghul,” Ladybug intoned. “We’ll leave you to what remains of your empire.” She turned and motioned for the Fox to open the portal to the Watchtower. The Bats followed behind.

Adrien was at the fringes, attempting to escape a hero that was trying to get him to the Medbay for medical attention. He only had eyes for Multimouse.

“Marinette!” he called.

The Bats were shocked at both the name and the blatant outing of a secret identity.

Adrien broke free from his wounds. “Marinette, I’m so sorry,” he said brokenly.

It was quiet for a moment. “I take it they told you why I left, then,” Multimouse said, carefully devoid of emotion.

“I never thought-”

“Don’t, Adrien,” Queen Bee snapped.

Adrien gaped at his friend, shocked at the venom her words carried against him.

“But her Lies, they weren't hurting anyone!”

“How?” Multimouse snapped, her voice cracking. She took a deep breath. “How was it different? Because you told me I had to ‘take the high road?’ Because her lies would unravel themselves? Because she wasn’t hurting anyone? Bullshit, Adrien! They were hurting me!”

“She followed your advice at first,” Queen Bee said sharply. “She shouldn’t have, but you were her friend and she trusted you. By the time she realized that it had been a mistake, it was too late. Everyone else was in too deep and you did nothing . When Mari tried to tell everyone that they were being lied to, she was made to look like a liar. A bully.”

“Do you realize that the rest of us had people on watchlists?” Ryuko said bluntly. “People at risk of Akumatization that could bring the city to its knees. Aurore, because of Stormy Weather II. Ondine, because of Syren. But do you know who was on top?” She let the silence sit. “Marinette. Marinette was on top of that list. The only reason she was above Ladybug was because Marinette was drowning. But any time she tried to get through to the others, Lila hit back harder and you would ask Mari to back down. Because we don’t want to upset Lila, right? We don’t want her to become an akuma. Again.”

“My parents believed her, Adrien,” Multimouse said quietly. “They sent me away because I was ‘out of control’. I’m treated like a criminal where I am now! So I’m sorry, Adrien, but I can’t forgive you. You said you didn’t want to live with more lies, but then you stopped telling the truth when it threatened your ‘peace’. Even when that ‘peace’ might have ruined my life.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “But you know what they say, right? Never meet your heroes.” She turned and looked straight at Batman. “They’ll always just disappoint you.”

- - - - - - - -

The next week was tense at the Wayne manor. But eventually they apologised to marinette. She became close with them. She and her family then sent lawsuits to the Akuma class.

The saying is true then. “All’s well that ends well.”

@maribat-bdbwm