#jason takes it (as it should be taken) and both of them start a non serious argument about who’s death was the most traumatic

[notrobinsomethingworse]

Honestly he would just be like “tt, pathetic Todd. I have been to hell and do not as lament as you do. Mother would consider you weak.” and throw a knife at him or something.

Imagine the amount of shit Jason Todd can get away with just pulling out the “remember you failed to save me” card. Like:

Bruce: -and you wrecked the Batmobile that’s beyond irresponsible!

Jason: REMEMBER WHEN THE JOKER KIDNAPPED ME-

Bruce: Jason that’s not-

Jason: -TIED ME UP AND BROKE MY BONES WITH A CROWBAR.

Bruce; Jason.

Jason: BECAUSE I REMEMBER IT! I REMEMBER THE PAIN AND THE SOUND OF THEM BREAKING.

Bruce, tired: …

Jason: REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Bruce, quietly: you blew up.

Jason: I BLEW UP.

Bruce: …

Jason: …

Bruce: Have a good night.

[cottagecore-moss-king]

Not so Artificial Intelligence Part 2

When Bruce finally managed to get the time to look at the file Danny had added to the bat computer, it was almost patrol, and the rest of the family was filling in to get ready to head out. Even Jason had shown up, but that was probably just because he was bribed by Alfred with leftovers from dinner. Bruce couldn’t really blame him, Alfred’s food was the best in the world, but he does wish that he would show up more often just to hang out with him and his siblings.

Bruce sat in the bat-chair, graciously labeled with a sticker from a recent prank by Stephanie. She had gone around and labeled everything in the bat cave, but added the bat suffix in front. It had taken forever to find most of them, but he allowed some of them to remain. 

Finding the new folder was easy, it was labeled FROM DANNY, and left in the middle of the screen. Clicking it open and sipping his fresh coffee he glanced at the first document. The folder was full of notes, pictures and videos, but all of the previews were white, green, or black. 

Bruce started to read through the document, and chocked on his coffee at the contents.

Hello Batman and family, I hope this reached you before they do. I didn’t bring this up just incase you knew and were supportive, but how you act and how contaminated you are I will assume you do not. There is a Government Law that declares any being that has come into contact with enough or creates ectoplasm as non-sentient and non-sapient, but at the same time malicious {Abbreviated the AEA}. We are to be turned over to the GIW to be experiment upon and exterminated. This is literal torture, and I have gathered as much evidence as me and my friends could without being caught. I beg you, please be careful if you decide to take these people down. From what is on here, I think that Lazarus Water is a form of corrupted ectoplasm. Also, anyone who has died and come back to life no matter what are counted, and anyone with godly blood within them. Please Please, save us. My parents are the leading “scientists” which is bullshit, and they’ve already tied me down once. I can’t go through that again. Please, Amity and the Infinite Realms need help. If you don’t help us, I’m scared we may be forced to go to war, and I don’t think you can win against the godly dead. 

Please, I’m begging you - Danny Fenton {King Phantom}

“You good B?” Nightwing asked strolling over casually. He didn’t know how to answer, how was he supposed to say ‘Oh yeah, just found out that the government calls us non-sentient\sapient, and we are to be experimented and slaughtered. Also if we don’t stop them our worlds probably going to fall and we’re all going to die a painful death.’ That’s a fun conversation to have.

Clearing his throat he finally spoke up. 

“Red Robin, Oracle, I need you to help me sort through these, Nightwing, get the Justice league ready for an emergency meeting, call the Dark too. Look at this.”

“Are we sure it’s real though? It could be a prank,” muttered Oracle, though even she doubted her words.

“Even so, the threat is there and we should certainly look through this, and that means the League needs to know.”

Batman carefully mourned the loss of a peaceful evening, and his coffee, he was going to need to leave that at the cave, he had an image to keep. 

Nightwing wasn’t smiling anymore, Robin looked concerned, and Red Hood was openly gawking at the screen.

“I’ve called the emergency meeting, you three sort these files out, I’m calling up the JLD now. Guess we should warn Constantine to bring a couple extra bottles huh.” His joke fell flat, but Bruce wonders if he should bring some alcohol and coffee with him, image be dammed. 

“Wait a second, godly blood included? They fuckn’ shittin’ on Diana!”

“That’s what your concerned about Todd? Not that the we both fall under these parameters, along with Father and the rest of the collection? I will go fetch Thomas from his chambers, he will need to suit up to follow us to the watchtower.”

“Good idea Damian, tell him to hurry up. Everyone else, in the Zeta Tube, Alfred, you can stay here if you want.” Bruce gathered his laptop and moved the file over, copying and sending it to Tims laptop as well. 

“Thank you master Bruce, I will wait for the younger masters then I will be up shortly. Run along now.” Alfred excused with a bow, but even his face was shadowed in worry and thinly veiled anger. 

“See you in a bit Alf.” Dick replied, inputting directions to the watchtower in and doing a quick headcount. 

With a flash, the dark gloomy cave was replaced by fluorescent lights and the steel infrastructure of the watchtower. Hopping off the platform another flash of light appeared, and Aquaman stepped out. The group filled out as Aquaman politely greeted them. Making their way to the nearest meeting room, Batman and Red Robin began to set things up as the gathered heroes began to sit. 

“Hey Nightwing, what’s with the meeting, you never call for an emergency meeting, Blüd rarely has big threats.” Flash mentioned as he zoomed into the meeting room, last as always, and began to dig into his waffle plate. Where he got waffles from, Bruce didn’t want to know, they weren’t serving waffles in the cafeteria today, or yesterday from leftovers. 

“This isn’t just Blüdhaven, it’s all of the united States.” He worried, checking over one final time to make sure everyone was here. A collection of the main heroes from the Justice League, they’d need to figure out who counted as ecto-contaminated before throwing people around, and Constantine, Zatanna, and Deadman were gathered to represent Justice League Dark. At least he assumed Deadman was there, as a chair was pulled out and labeled for him. At least they wouldn’t have to race to find him, they could tell him just to stay up in the watchtower if things got bad. Finally, Robin and Signal rushed in, signal tiredly rubbing his eyes and his helmet in Agent A’s hands. 

“As some of you know, a person got stuck in the batcomputer a couple months ago. And was only recently released.” Murmurs and imputed questions rose around, and Nightwing promptly ignored them. 

“They left behind a file for us, and we were looking through it and discovered many hidden crimes from the US government. They have taken and labeled a whole species and group of people as non-sentient and non-sapient, and have been experimenting and committing genocide on them.” Again, a chorus of questions and yelling went up, and Nightwing had to take a moment to pause. A glance at Martian Manhunter reviled a stone cold face, quietly waiting for more information. 

“Oh god… what is this?” 

[geraldmariaivo]

So the concept of Halfa Jason and Damian hasn’t left me alone ever since I’ve made that post, both because of you motherfuckers, and my own brain. So guess what, y’all have to deal with more of my dpxdc bullshit 

- Cores as fucked up as theirs are take a long while to develop right/heal, and even longer to gain enough power to properly maintain a ghost form. This means that accidental power usage happens well before they first transform.

- Damian’s core is less developed to start with, but his baby core has been developing almost since he was a baby, and when it actually has the chance to properly grow, it does so really quickly. This is also helped by the fact that his core developed in a way that’s more similar to an adult ghost having a child than to a death-born ghost.

- Jason’s core takes longer to fully develop and heal than Damian’s, on account of the fact that it should have, by most standards, formed the way the vast majority of death-born ghosts are, but then it didn’t happen right because it only had the nasty as hell Pit waters. Between the Pit gunk and the weird creation, his core takes a good while longer to figure out what the hell it’s doing.

- blob ghosts that spawn as a food source are one of the best ways for baby ghosts to get ectoplasm. Jason will munch on one when he has the opportunity,  but Damian refuses to eat them on principle, so he eats/absorbs artificially concentrated ectoplasm, and approved ghost plants and other non-sentient ghost food sources.

- Jason’s ghost form defaults to 15 year-old Robin self, and he hates it. He may have had a panic attack when he saw his reflection for the first time.

- Damian’s ghost form defaults to whatever he’s wearing at the time, but tinged with green.

- Jason takes longer to change his ghost form than Damian does, for two reasons: 1) that’s how he died, and his core doesn’t super want to let go of that even if he does. 2) the demon child has almost always had his core, and without an actual death for his core to mold the concept of his ghost self around, it just ends up looking like a glowing, green-tinged Damian.

- Damian has to be taken out of school when his powers first start developing, for obvious reasons.

- Damian and Jason have both taken to keeping blob ghosts around as squishy therapy animals. 

Bonus idea: Duke is simultaneously very happy to no longer be the only meta in the family, and also a billion percent more concerned about potential prank wars.

[willsimpforanyone]

could u write a leo valdez x daughter of hestia :)) basically two bffs who crush on each other but neither of them no that their feelings are reciprocated

oh that's so sweet

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

as a daughter of hestia you're chill, a calming presence to those around you

this is a godsend when it comes to leo

he's spent his whole life bouncing from carehome to carehome and running away more times than he can count

he thought he killed his mom

he got dragged into this new demigod life and a prophecy within a year

plus he had adhd and that's a whole other level

so when he finds himself in a group with you for capture the flag

he honestly gets a lil freaked out

he's so not used to being relaxed and focused and after ten minutes he has to leave

it takes a day or so for him to realise that hey, he actually really liked that feeling?

it felt like when he was working on festus, only without the metal dragon and his thoughts weren't racing so much

so he started looking for you

and this became a regular thing

you'd be sitting by the campfire or polishing your weapon or something

and leo would sidle up, ask how you were doing, maybe ask your opinion on something to spark a conversation

of course you welcomed his presence

but assumed he'd move on after a while

this tended to be a pattern

people would crave being around you for a while

a calm eye in the hurricane that was this existence

and then they'd leave

it kinda sucked, but you got used to it

you were a temporary home, a respite

so when leo kept coming back you were pleasantly confused

he was so hyper a lot of the time when you saw him around camp you'd assumed he wouldn't be able to deal with the feeling of 'chill the fuck out' for very long

but he didn't leave

he even started affecting you

you noticed some of the mechanics around camp that he'd point out to you

how you'd take a little longer doing tasks so he stayed longer

that you felt kinda cold without him by you

after a few weeks it was a rare sight to see one of you without the other

you were attached at the hip

best friends

besties

bros

nothing else

...right?

it took months for you to realise that maybe, just maybe, you had non-platonic feelings for the son of hephaestus

a playful smack of your head from your siblings told you that duh!! obviously!!

you panicked a lil

dear gods what if he left now?? like everyone else?? what if he'd just become addicted to the calming feeling??

what if he didn't like you?

in the hephaestus cabin, leo was freaking out at piper and jason

"shit shit shit i really like her! what if she thinks i just like the weird chilling out feeling and not actually her?? what if she's just putting up with me because her mom is hestia and that's just... what she does??

what if she doesn't like me back?"

oh you sweet precious idiots

the entire camp had figured this out before you two

piper did her best to calm leo down

she told him that he should tell you about his feelings or they'll just eat him up inside, jason nodding along enthusiastically

reluctantly he agreed

"damn you piper and your knowledge of me as a friend"

the three of them stayed up way past their bedtime planning how he should tell you

you, on the other hand, were with your closest sibling

desperately trying to figure out how to let leo know of your feelings and still keep him as a friend

the morning was unwelcome, as it meant you'd stayed up far too long

but there was a familiar excitement, one that you knew meant you'd get to see leo today

yes that excitement was there every day

you had no idea how it had taken so long to realise you had a crush on the guy

to your surprise, you found his outside your cabin door

it had been a long night

you were both exhausted

brain filters were broken

and at the same time

to almost no one's surprise except yours

you both said

"i really like you"

...

...

the adrenaline surged and explanations poured out

"i'm so sorry leo i didn't mean to just say that i just mean that like i think i have a crush on you like a really big crush and if you don't feel the same way that's fine i didn't even mean to tell you right now i-"

"i'm sorry i didn't mean- well yeah i did mean- yes i really like you but i didn't wanna just say it because i thought it would freak you out and i'm a little freaked out right know 'cause like i didn't know what i was gonna say-"

you both stopped, finally realising what had happened, and huge smiles broke out on your faces

"leo... you like me?"

he flushed and looked down, grinning wildly

"actually what i said was that i really like you"

you giggled

"well i really like you too"

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

i very much hope you enjoyed, thank you for requesting!

[artemismoorea03]

(Since you asked so nicely and I had ideas~ :3 @simplestoryteller)

WARNING: SEMI-GRAPHIC MENTIONS/DESCRIPTIONS OF TORTURE AND ABUSE, KIDNAPPING, THREATS PLANS OF MEDICAL TORTURE, VIOLENCE, FIGHTING, BLOOD!!

Danny had been doing everything he could to keep his head low after everything that had happened, which was easier said than done. His parents finding out his secret identity and helping the G.I.W sure as sugar didn't help anything though. As a result of his secret coming out he'd been hurt badly. He didn't know how long he was in that hell, but it was long enough and bad enough that Clockwork let Dan out to help.

As it turned out Dan hated the G.I.W. more than he ever hated Danny and Clockwork had explained this as Dan's 'Second Chance' and that if Dan helped protect Danny then things would be 'as they should be'. More cryptic Clockwork non-sense that Danny didn't have the give-a-damns to care about in his condition at the time but regretted listening to now.

The situation sucked, getting taken from Amity Park and hiding in Gotham City of all places, especially without his friends by his side but until Sam and Tucker graduated High School they had to stay away. Mostly to avoid the G.I.W. from using them to get to Danny. So, to recap.

Danny had been kidnapped, tortured, abused, saved by a once-evil-maybe-still-evil version of himself, then taken to Gotham by the once-evil-maybe-possible-probably-not-still-evil version, Jazz and Elle to Gotham City and was no just expected to pretend to be a 'normal kid' again? That was hard enough, then throw in a cryptic message about a 'test' from Clockwork, the big idea to open a soup kitchen from Dan, and being registered against his will into Gotham Academy by Jazz he was having a BadTime™.

It was exhausting but was also... nice?

While Danny was recovering Jazz was thriving at college and having fun. Apparently Psychology wasn't a big or popular course in Gotham City but the few people in her class seemed to have their heads on straight.

While Danny was struggling to regain enough strength to walk from one class to another at school, Elle was having fun learning despite the bad grades she always came home with. All of them were just happy that she was doing her best and she was having a great time making friends.

Then Dan - or Dante as he called himself - was making friends while Danny was studying for this 'test' and trying to ignore the fact that every Ghost in Gotham had apparently decided that he was 'healed enough' to help them with all of their problems like some kind of Medium.

Even if he was suffering his family was having fun and that was important to him.

"As much as you talk about this 'Jason' guy, I'm starting to think you both have a crush on him." Danny said at dinner one night a few months after they had finally settled in. He was recovered physically but mentally the smell of hand sanitizer or some kinds of laundry soap sent him into a panic attack, then the shit his science teacher pulled a few days earlier had left him particularly on edge. So, he defaulted to jokes in hopes to lighten the mood.

Jazz and Dan both blushed from the other side of the table as Elle chuckled.

"If you guys marry him then does that mean that we have to change our last names again?"

"Nobody's marrying anybody." Jazz said, her cheeks red as she shoveled another scoop of mashed potatoes on Dan's plate when he had finished his first place. "All we know about him is what Tucker has managed to find out and send us as well as the whispers o the dead. We haven't actually learned anything about him, from him."

"That's your concern?" Dan asked, "What about the fact that you're a minor and he's one of the vigilante's we're hiding from?"

"I-I was getting there!" Jazz said as Dan smirked, taking a bite of his potatoes.

Dan and Danny still had a tense relationship but Jazz had forgiven Dan for what he'd done in the past and as a result Dan genuinely showed her a lot of love. Jazz and Elle were both clearly Dan's favorites and he had never so much as yelled at either of them. Danny completely trusted Dan with their safety and despite the nightmares he still had about Dan he didn't fear for a second that he'd hurt their sisters.

"Speaking of which, that wanna-be Lawyer still giving you shit about your age?" Dan asked Jazz.

"Nah, he's finally backed off. I think he realized that he hated being psychoanalyzed every time he tried to pick a fight with me. That and when he saw you the other day when you picked me up I think he might have actually peed his pants."

"Jazz, you're 17 say pissed." Dan sighed.

Danny smirked, "Do it Jazz, say pissed."

"No! I won't be peer pressured into using inappropriate language." Jazz said then looked at Elle who had a Cheshire like smile.

"Say he pissed his pants, Jazz." She pushed as Jazz flicked a pea and bounced it off of Elle's forehead.

"You see what you've done, you've tainted Elle."

"I'm literally the child of Danny and his 40 year old stalker. I was born tainted." Elle joked as Danny shuddered.

"Can you not bring up that fact all the time? People will take that out of context." Danny said, "I love you, no matter how you came to be and that won't change, but people will think Vlad had done wildly inappropriate things to me if you phrase it like that."

"You mean he hasn't kidnapped, tortured or cloned you?" Dan pointed out, "Cuz last I checked those were considered 'wildly inappropriate things' to normal people."

"Well we're not normal people. Now, change the subject before I hurl." Danny said, standing up from the table as he went to the sink to rinse off his plate.

"Oh, that reminds me. You left your thermos in the kitchen again." Dan said, looking back at him. "I kicked it under the counter but you need to get it."

"Ah shit, alright I'll do that now before I forget."

"You better, you leave it there again and I'm sticking it up your ass."

"Dan. Language." Jazz scolded.

"Ass." Dan, Danny and Elle said together as Jazz threw her hands up in defeat.

Danny chuckled, walking to the door that lead out of their apartment and down to the soup kitchen. He closed the door shut behind him, giving his eyes a second to adjust to the dark before he walked down the stairs.

Overhead lights had freaked Danny out since he was rescued. The buzz they made, how bright they were, and the general anxiety they brought to him were just not things he liked to deal with. So, despite the confusion it caused the others he tended to just use his night vision when he could. Sure, it meant that to anybody outside of the group who didn't know his secret were freaked out by the glowing green eyes walking around in the Second Chance but at least it limited the amount of break ins.

Danny turned the corner and stepped into the soup kitchen before turning towards the actual kitchen. He had just about reached it when he saw movement from the corner of his eyes near the door. Inwardly he perked up, wondering if it was a stray cat he'd been feeding (he would get that cat to love him and he would have his first ever pet, fuck what Dan said) but his hopes were immediately dashed when he saw a familiar blue glow.

His stomach dropped, his heart raced and his fight-or-flight kicked in. Unfortunately it was still on the fritz because he froze and all he could do was shout.

---

Danny vaguely remembered fighting, though it didn't last long and when he woke back up it was to pain. He was in his human form with new bruises littering his battered body and he was strapped down to a table.

Big surprise there.

Danny struggled against the restraints holding his wrists above his head as he growled against the muzzle. They had learned after last time that his wail wasn't anything to mess with which was frustrating not to mention painful. Muzzles bit at his skin and drove him crazy.

"Oh good, it's awake. Here I was hoping we wouldn't get the chance to do a basic exam before we transported it to Metropolis."

The voice hurt his soul as much as it scared him. He turned to look to the right, his stomach knotted up as his mother - or rather Maddie Fenton - walked over to the table with two GIW agents.

Danny struggled, growling and glaring at Maddie who simply ignored him.

"Scissors." She said, holding out her hand as an agent handed them over, allowing Maddie to start cutting away his t-shirt. The cold air nipped at his skin, covering him in goosebumps from fear alone. She stopped at the bottom and hummed. "New signs of ecto-echo on its body in the shape of the scars from previous experiments. Suggests that even the echos that make up a ghost can be affected by changes. Perhaps something to note when considering searching for a Ghost Core."

Ghost Core.

They had mentioned it last time, and talked about trying to find his but it had been offhandedly mentioned before brushed off due to 'how much they had to learn' still. For her to already mention it was far from a good sign.

Danny tugged at the restraints again as his pants were cut away, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut. He had to remember to breathe. Had to keep his head on straight.

If he was captured like this then did that mean they had Dan and Elle? Did they have Jazz? No... if they had any of them then Danny would be hearing an absolute rampage. Danny's Protection Core prevented him from hurting or killing anybody, no matter what they did to him but Dan had a Family Core. Even if Danny and Dan didn't get along Dan would destroy anybody who got in his way to get to Danny.

Which probably meant that they were safe but that Dan needed to take are of Elle and Jazz. Were they hurt? Were they okay? Would they be coming to save him again? Ancients part of him hoped so but the other part of him begged for them to stay away and stay safe.

"Marker." Maddie's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as she traded the scissors for a black sharpie which she then began to drag across his skin. "We'll need to Vivisect it again, but after last time it's clear that we need to work faster or at least make it so it can't escape even with help. So I purpose a solution." She then made his stomach sink as she drew new marks on his shins and upper arms. "Since we now know that Phantom's echo can be scarred then this should provide a solution in at least prevent its 'powered down' or 'disguised' self from escaping and its 'powered up' form will also hopefully be affected."

One agent took notes while the other nodded in agreement with her choice.

Danny whimpered, shaking his head pleadingly as tears filled his eyes.

"Alright, let's draw some ectoplasm." Maddie held out her hand for a syringe and vial but before the agent could pass one over there was a very clear sound of a gunshot and not an ectoblaster shot. Maddie jumped, "What the fu-"

"ATTENTION ALL AGENTS, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" A voice boomed over the speakers, "ALL HANDS ON DECK! TAKE DOWN WHO ANY APPOSE YOU FOR THEY ARE TO BE CONSIDERED TRAITORS OF THE UNITED STATES AND ALLIES TO THE ECTO-SCUM!"

"Tsk, come on. This thing can wait." Maddie said, jogging out of the room with the agents as the door slammed shut and locked behind them with a loud clank.

Was Jazz, Dan and Elle here?

Did that mean they weren't hurt?

Where did they get a gun?!

No wait that didn't make sense.

Guns, there to help, sending the GIW into a panic.

Danny's eyes widened with realization.

The GIW had a bat problem.

Danny struggled against the restraints again, scrunching his nose with pain as the metal cut into the flesh around his wrist. Since his last capture he'd learned a few things from the internet. For starters, if a person could deal with some pain then breaking or dislocating ones thumb could help them slip out of restraints!

No better time to test it.

He pulled and pulled, ignoring as blood began to drip down his skin as there was a pop followed by a new wave of pain. He let out a pained scream behind his muzzle as his hand slipped free and he pulled it to his chest, trying not to cry.

It was fine.

He was fine.

With a deep breath and a bloody hand he reached up, pulling at the ecto-lined muzzle before surrendering to the fact that he couldn't get it off. Thankfully, luck wasn't entirely off his side though, because the agents had left the scissors on the table.

Rookie mistake.

Danny grabbed the scissors then brought it up to the second restraint, digging one of the ends into the lock and twisting it around. He had no idea how to pick a lock, but he had learned that if he destroyed the lock enough that sometimes they would pop open. Something that worked!

Two for Danny, he'd take it.

Once his second hand was free he sat up and destroyed the locks the same way, properly freeing himself as he got off of the table, and stumbled.

'If only I could get this damn muzzle off." He thought with a frown, but unfortunately the lock was different for the muzzle. Not something he could mess with until it popped off. So he was stuck with it.

For now.

Danny walked unsteadily to the door, trying to push it open with a scowl. Locked from the outside. Proof they were desperate to keep him in but also didn't give a shit for anybody else who got trapped during emergency situations. Annoying, but it was fine.

He looked at the scissors then around the room as his eyes landed on a vent in the wall. He smirked under the muzzle, limping over as he used the bent and rough looking scissors to unscrew the four screws holding the vent, then popped it off.

'This lab looks temporary, probably something they put here to hold me for transport. But how did they plan to move a building?' He thought curiously, holding the scissors in his good hand as he started to army crawl through the vent. 'Whatever their plan, they should think about welding the vent into place next time.'

He made it to the other end of the short vent, mentally kicking himself for not going in feet first before he put the scissors down and slammed his hands against the vent as hard as he could.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Finally the fourth caused it to pop off, the broken screws flying in different directions.

Relieved he grabbed the scissors again and crawled out the rest of the way. His legs were shaking from fear and pain, though as dizzy as he felt it almost felt like he had taken some kind of sleepy medicine. Which didn't make sense, drugs didn't work on him... right?

He was probably just tired from the fight. The fact that he didn't remember the fight and felt off didn't mean anything.

He looked around, the sounds of fighting and gunshots continuing through the building(?). Now that he looked at it, it didn't really look like a building. More like a weirdly shaped massive room with boxes lining one of the walls, small temporary cells and another temporary lab.

Weird.

He shook his head, mentally kicking himself for not being able to focus as he started looking for some kind of escape route. A fire exit, more vents, a window, maybe even the front door. Eventually, he found some stairs, which was better than nothing.

Danny started marching up the stairs, making it up about seven steps before movement at the top startled him into looking up.

Jack.

Specifically Jack wearing the Ghost Gauntlets and wielding an ectoblaster.

"Not so fast, Ghost Scum!" Jack shouted, aiming and firing the weapon at Danny.

Jack, had always been a terrible shot. But, being a terrible shot also meant that sometimes he managed to hit something important accidentally. In this case he hit the wall next to Danny's head, causing him to stumble backwards, getting off balance. Jack was quick to take advantage of Danny's stumble as he rushed at Danny, swinging his fist and clocking Danny right across the jaw.

Pain exploded through his head as he was thrown over the edge of the stairs, dropping down to the ground bellow with a thump as the scissors landed a few feet from him. Danny gasped and wheezed as he tried to regain his breath, curling onto one side as he sucked desperate breaths through his nose.

'Get up! Get up! You have to move, damn it!' Danny thought, pushing himself up to his hands and knees as his ringing ears started to focus a bit more on the approaching foot steps. 'MOVE!'

He scrambled to his feet, trying to run from the movement but was too slow as Jack grabbed his good wrist, spinning and slamming him against a nearby wall, stunning him further.

Danny held up his hands to protect his head, but thankfully it didn't come to that as a blur of red and green suddenly swung in from who-knows where, kicking Jack in the shoulder and throwing him away from him before landing on his feet in a fighting position.

Robin.

The boy glanced at him, then glared at Jack as he pulled out a sword. Danny whimpered, grabbing Robin's hand anxiously as he shook his head.

"What?"

Danny looked at Jack who was getting back up before he shook his head again.

"Seriously? He was going to kill you, and you expect me not to kill him?"

Danny gave him the best pleading look he could as Robin sighed.

"Fine. I will not kill him, assistance is on the way, hide or get out of here."

Danny was relieved as he tried to relax, moving out of Robin's way. He couldn't physically fight his parents and he couldn't let them get killed, but he was far too weak to care if Robin hurt them just a little bit. With a shaky breath he turned to go back towards the stairs when a Fenton Lasso wrapped around his torso and suddenly yanked him away from Robin again.

Maddie. Again.

"Release the control you have on the Gotham Vigilantes immediately!" She demanded.

'SERIOUSLY!?' He thought, kicking his legs forward to startle Maddie who instinctively dropped the lasso, allowing him to get free as he ran from her. 'What are they going to pin on me next?'

Maddie slid in front of him, blocking his exit as she used a Fenton Ecto-Staff, swinging it at his head. Danny ducked out of the way to dodge the first attack before he grabbed her wrist and spun her to the best of his ability. He felt bad about it but twisted her wrist in order to make her drop the weapon before he pushed her away from him to give him space.

It didn't hurt her and it bought her the time to try and escape again.

But, as was fitting for his mother, she didn't give up and her next attack was even more surprising. With a shout of pure rage she threw herself at him. In that moment Maddie Fenton wasn't the cold calculating scientist but instead was an emotional ball of fury wielding a scissors.

Maddie tackled him to the ground, sitting on his hips as she tried to bring the scissors down into Danny's chest. He caught her hand, shouting behind the muzzle as the scissors cut sliced through his hand. His eyes widened, tears dripping down his face as pain ripped through his arm while his body trembled.

"How dare you have my baby boys face." She said, "How dare you try to trick us for months then trick my daughter into trusting you! You mimic is voice, you wore his clothes, you stole his name, you pretended to be my baby! But you're a fake, and I know for a fact that my real son would want me to take him out of his misery if he ever became something like you."

Tears dripped down his face, wishing he could talk to her, that he could explain to her or get through to her. But, the fact was there was no getting through to her. She didn't want to hear the truth.

That her science was wrong.

That her science killed her son and brought him back to life.

That she had failed.

Danny pushed back against her, ignoring the pain ripping through his limbs as he heard Jack and Robin still fighting near by. He didn't have strength to transform, he couldn't use his powers he was too exhausted, and he couldn't hurt his mom.

Suddenly the shadows seemed to come alive above Maddie as somebody grabbed her by her suit, yanking her off of him and throwing her to the side to show none other than Batman standing above him, a heavy glare on his face.

"Enough." He said, throwing a smoke pellet near Maddie's feet. The color drained from her face as she suddenly crumbled, causing Danny to gasp in shock. The surprise was nothing compared to the fear when Batman looked at him. "It's just knockout gas, she'll sleep for a few hours but she's not hurt." He promise, walking over as Danny pushed up into a sitting position, curling up slightly. "Hey, hey... you're safe, chum. You're safe. How about I get that muzzle off, huh?"

Chum?

Did he just call him Sharkbait?

Whatever, Danny was too tired to care.

Hesitantly, Danny nodded, letting Batman closer as he pulled something out of his belt and stuck it into the side of the muzzle. After a moment there was a click and the muzzle fell away allowing him to suck in a full breath through his mouth. A breath that immediately came back out as a sob.

Batman frowned, carefully moving forward again as he took Danny's hand, wraping bandages around the wound and the scissors, clearly hesitant to remove it without medical help. Once it was bandaged he looked at his other wrist.

"I'm going to get you out of here. Can I pick you up?"

Danny hiccuped, then nodded with a soft sniffle while Batman scooped his arm under his knees and another around his back to pick him up bridal style.

"The large male is down." Robin reported, jogging over.

Danny looked passed him to where Jack was also unconscious on the ground, but thankfully not hurt other than bruises and destroyed equipment laying all around him. Danny sniffled, curling up slightly in Batman's arms as Batman carried him up the stairs with Robin leading the way, looking for any more signs of danger.

As they reached the top and exited a doorway at the top he realized why everything was so weirdly shaped and different from what he felt they should have been. He wasn't in a building he was in a boat that was parked at a pier. A pier that had a lot of tied up or unconscious GIW agents while vigilantes, police and medical personal ran around the area like ants.

"M-my brother and sisters-" Danny began.

"They're safe at home, Danny. Your sisters had minor injuries so we had them stay back. They're waiting for you at the Second Chance."

The Second Chance.

Home.

Danny sniffled, "I can't... n-no doctors."

Batman nodded, "We'll treat you back at your house and come up with a plan with your family on what to do next. Robin, go update the others."

Robin nodded, jogging off towards where the other vigilantes were while Batman carried Danny to the Batmobile, the top opening when he approached before he placed Danny in the back.

He was terrified still. He didn't know if he could trust the heroes but given his choices were the GIW and Batman he would take the second option. Once Danny was in the back seat her curled up, cradling his injured hands to his chest. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening or what was going to happen, but for now he was just thankful to be alive.

A new family has moved to Gotham. A strange new family. They appear normal from the outside. The older brother runs a soup kitchen, while the younger siblings attend college, high school, and middle school respectively. All perfectly normal things when you don't take into account the abnormal things they've been sighted doing.

[causeiwanttoandican]

Robert Lacey excerpt

I fully expect them to say William was the one commenting about the baby’s skin color after this. Battle stations! Book excerpt

The Times

Prince William ‘split his household from Prince Harry after Meghan bullying claims’

June 07 2021, 7.00am BST

‘So, are you saying,” asked Oprah Winfrey, talking to Meghan and Harry in their famous interview of March 2021, “that there were hints of jealousy?”

She was inquiring about the Sussexes’s wildly successful tour of Australia and the South Pacific of late October 2018, and the couple shifted uncomfortably in their plush wicker chairs.

“Look,” replied Harry, “I just wish that we would all learn from the past.”

By bringing up “the past”, the prince was venturing into an area that was almost taboo. He was making a sensational comparison between his mother and his wife. Harry was suggesting that Meghan had demonstrated in Australia the same massive star quality as Diana and was now having to face the family envy that went along with that.

“It really changed,” he said, “after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour . . . it was . . . the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”

Memories of what? Again Harry shied away from putting words to the almost unmentionable. But Oprah had prepared and polished this moment, like so many others in the interview, and she had a reference ready to prompt her prince’s revelation. The latest, fourth season of TV’s The Crown had depicted Charles and Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia, showing how Diana had been “bedazzling” in her ability “to connect with people”. Episode six had depicted how the crowds would groan when they realised that Charles, not Diana, was walking down their side of the street — hence the beginnings of the “jealousy” on the family’s part.

“So is that what you’re talking about?” asked Oprah. “It brought back memories of that?”

“Yeah,” Harry finally replied in a fashion that was both dismal and unmistakably aggressive.

What on earth had happened, viewers had to wonder, to the old and once-familiar happy side of Prince Harry?

When trying to define the moment that marked the decisive rift with his brother William — the break-up and actual separation of the joint household they had established together in 2009 — Harry would fix upon his triumphant return with Meghan from their Australian tour at the end of October 2018. But if asked the same question, William would have fixed on a more specific event: the explosive argument he had had with his brother earlier that month.

Both brothers agreed how bitterly they had clashed back in the early days over William’s attempt to slow Harry’s courtship of Meghan — “Don’t feel like you need to rush this . . . ” But both of them had subsequently moved on. Harry’s transparent contentment with Meghan had relaxed the tensions, give or take the odd row over bridesmaids’ dresses. The “no speaks” had eased just a little by the time “best man” William escorted his brother down the aisle in May 2018.

Then five months later came the conclusive and determining rupture — the division that has lasted to the present day — though here the brothers’ retelling of history diverged. As Harry explained it to Oprah, Meghan’s Australian tour success sowed the jealousies that caused feelings to “change”. According to this scenario, William and Kate resented the Diana-like popularity that was generated by Harry’s wife. William had a different recollection.

We now know that Princes William and Harry were no longer on speaking terms before the Sussexes set off for Australia. Feelings had already “changed”, as Harry put it, and drastically so. The brothers had parted on extremely poor terms, with the trouble centring on Meghan’s stringent treatment and alleged bullying of her staff.

Most Kensington Palace courtiers were noted for the comparatively long tenures of their comfortable and prestigious jobs. But it came to look as if employees could not wait to escape service with Harry and Meghan. Those who left formed themselves into an informal fraternity that they titled the “Sussex Survivors’ Club”. They had finally hit back, and their organising agent had been PR man Jason Knauf.

The joint communications secretary for Kensington Palace — who was still, at that date, working on behalf of both of the brothers and their wives — had become concerned by the numerous stories of mistreatment being brought to him by colleagues whom he knew well and trusted.

Texas-born and New Zealand-educated, Knauf, 34, was a popular character in Kensington Palace, widely noted for his friendliness and loyalty towards his colleagues. He had been considered a real “catch” when the brothers snared him from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2015, and one of his concerns was that professional management practices should be more effectively enforced inside the traditional British palace. Knauf’s American sensibilities caused him to see the Meghan situation as raising principles of human resources management in the palace system that needed to be formally addressed.

Knauf’s first priority was to set down the facts, as he saw them, for the record: “I’m very concerned,” he emailed to William’s private secretary Simon Case, in a document he drafted in October 2018, “that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year.”

Knauf described Meghan’s treatment of one aide as “totally unacceptable . . . the duchess seems intent”, he wrote, “on always having someone in her sights”. Specifying another staff member, Knauf alleged Meghan had been bullying her as well, “seeking to undermine her confidence”. His office had received “report after report”, he wrote, from people who had witnessed “unacceptable behaviour” by Meghan towards this member of staff.

“Meghan governed by fear,” claimed one courtier. “So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. [She] humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains — and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”

As early as 2017, around the time of the couple’s engagement, according to a subsequent report in The Times, a senior aide had spoken to the couple about the difficulties caused by their treatment of staff. “It’s not my job to coddle people,” Meghan was said to have replied.

“Americans can be much more direct,” wrote the authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in defence of the duchess, “and that often doesn’t sit well in the much more refined institution of the monarchy.”

A Brit might have raised an eyebrow at Meghan’s alleged behaviour, then looked the other way. The Yank decided to act. Knauf was actually one of Meghan’s most senior advisers — her chief adviser, in fact, when it came to public relations. Earlier that year she had gone to Knauf for help when drafting the disputed letter of severance that she sent to her father. She valued his PR expertise.

Before that, Knauf had helped Harry to word the fierce anti-media statements that he had framed to try to protect Meghan from press harassment, both as his girlfriend and then as his fiancée. The PR man had taken considerable stick from some of his non-royal contacts who criticised him as being overprotective in fighting the newcomer’s corner. Like so many people in all the palaces, Knauf had started off on Meghan’s side.

But as the months went by the American’s feelings became more ambiguous, as numerous colleagues — women whom he greatly respected — continued to bring him stories of what they said they had suffered at Meghan’s hands.

“I can’t stop shaking,” one aide had told a colleague in anticipation of an encounter with Meghan. Another reported that the prospect of confrontation with the duchess had made her “feel sick”. “Emotional cruelty and manipulation”, were the words of a third, “which I guess could also be called bullying.”

The b-word featured prominently in the accounts of several, along with an even more sinister set of initials: PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder was a deeply serious condition to allege — flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of deep anxiety — but that was how one complainant said that they had felt.

Several people maintained they had been “humiliated” by the duchess, and that criticism extended to Harry as well.

“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” recalled one Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”

Shouting and screaming? PTSD? Making people feel sick? Prince William went ballistic when he heard the “dossier of distress” that Knauf had gathered. We do not know whether the communications secretary brought his allegations directly to his boss or submitted them via Simon Case. What we do know is that the prince was astonished and horrified. He was instantly furious at what he heard.

“I remember Christian Jones [William’s press secretary and later private secretary] explaining to me how the Cams [the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] are paternalistic with their staff,” recalls one royal correspondent. “They copy the Queen in that respect with all her Christmas parties and Christmas presents to her people. They’re proud to treat their staff like family. They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them. So this was a very deep clash of philosophies, with Meghan being used to a Hollywood service culture — getting exactly what she wanted whenever she wanted in that famous way that Harry said.”

William personally knew and liked all the individuals whom Knauf had named in his dossier. The prince regarded them as assets to his household — colleagues to be cherished and for whom he was responsible. Human beings. Like Knauf, the prince was appalled that his respected staff may have been put in this position.

For William, Knauf’s allegations also clarified something that the prince had long believed — that Meghan was fundamentally hostile towards the royal system, which she failed to understand as an outsider. William wondered if she had not wanted to leave from the very start — even dreaming, perhaps, that she could whisk Harry back with her to North America.

But Meghan’s lawyers and PR representatives said this was quite the wrong interpretation of their client’s thinking and behaviour in a statement that they issued to The Times early in March 2021. They denied all allegations of bullying as inaccurate and the product of what they described as a “smear campaign”. The duchess wished to fit in and be accepted, they insisted. She had left her life in North America to commit herself to her new role.

I have never met Jason Knauf. What you have just read is based upon the published accusations that Knauf set down on paper — refuted as “defamatory”, it must be stressed again, and “based on misleading and harmful information” in the view of the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers. It also relies upon William’s personal account of these events to one of his friends who then spoke to this author.

The moment the prince heard the bullying allegations, he related to this friend, he got straight on the phone to talk to Harry — and when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted. Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.

The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter. William’s pre-engagement questioning of Meghan’s suitability had been quite reasonable, in William’s opinion. His fraternal doubts had been provisional, based upon how the new recruit appeared to be. The elder brother did not really know Meghan in those early days.

But now William had seen enough of his sister-in-law to feel sure that, sadly, he did know her and that many of his reservations linked unhappily with what Knauf’s colleagues had alleged. William believed Meghan was following a plan — “agenda” was the word he used to his friend — and the accusations he had just heard were alarming. Kate, he said, had been wary of her from the start.

Meghan was undermining some precious principles of the monarchy, if she really was treating her staff in this way, and William was upset that she seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. Later courtiers would coin a hashtag — #freeHarry. It was only half a joke.

“Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” recalled one Kensington Palace staffer, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged. Which was why the pair of them were drawn to each other in the first place — both damaged goods.”

William felt deeply wounded. “Hurt” and “betrayed” were the two feelings that he described to his friend. The elder brother had always felt so protective. He had seen it as his job to look out for Harry but this was the moment the protection had to stop. At the end of the day the British crown and all it stood for with its ancient traditions, styles and values — the mission of the monarchy — had to matter more to William than his brother did.

Harry, for his part, was equally furious that William should give credence to the accusations against Meghan, and he was fiercely combative in his wife’s defence. Some sources maintain that in the heat of the argument Harry actually accused someone in the family of concepts that were “racist”. But it must be stressed that neither brother has ever confirmed that the hateful r-word was used face to face.

Only William and Harry can know what they said to each other and they have respectfully maintained their silence on that. But Harry made clear to the world in his interview with Oprah that he considered his family’s response to Meghan to have been essentially racist — using the heavily freighted code words “unconscious bias” to provide an intellectual framework for his analysis.

Where could the two brothers go after such painful and damning notions had been thrown into their debate?

We have reached the crux of the drama. What painfully unforgettable and surely unforgivable things have been said? These are not passing differences. They are two core sets of values in conflict — love versus duty — going to the very heart and deriving from the deepest beliefs and loyalties of each man. Two opposing identities butting heads. In the months following the tragic and not-obviously bridgeable rift of October 2018 between William and Harry, the younger brother solidified his belief that his family were suffering from “unconscious bias”.

William, for his part, felt just as strongly about Meghan and the need for her subversive “agenda” to be removed from the operations of the British monarchy, which she did not appear to understand or respect. He certainly wanted Meghan removed, for a start, from the hitherto harmonious joint household that he and his brother had operated together for the best part of a decade. William simply did not want her or Harry around any more.

When accounts of the rift started seeping out through the winter months that followed, it was generally assumed that the volatile Harry must have set the pace in the splitting up of the joint Kensington Palace household. He was the brother who visibly departed, stalking off to set up a new home in Windsor, with offices for himself and Meghan in Buckingham Palace.

But the reverse was the case. It was William who made the decisive move. Following his furious confrontation with his younger brother in the autumn of 2018, the prince instructed Simon Case to start the process of dividing their two households immediately. William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis — and that meant being separated from his brother as well.

“William,” says a friend, “threw Harry out.”

©Robert Lacey 2021 Extracted from Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, to be published by William Collins on June 24 at £9.99

[scorpionyx9621]

Do you think Jason Todd fandom is kinda toxic? Because it seems like NO MATTER what DC do, there'll always be complains. Forget the bad adaptation like Titans. Even Judd Winick cannot escape the criticism with how he potrayed Robin!Jason. They just never satisfied.

SORRY, IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO RESPOND TO THIS. I just moved from Washington D.C. to Seattle, which, for my non-American friends, that's 4442km away. And I DROVE THERE ALL BY MYSELF. And now I'm trying to find new work in a new city and trying to stay mentally healthy and positive. Life is exciting but hard and scary.

*sighs*

As someone who was a fandom elder with V*ltr*n. I've seen some of the worst when it comes to fandom behavior. I'm talking people baking food with shaving razors and trying to give them to the showrunners. I'm talking leaking major plot details and refusing to take it down unless they make their ship canon (I am looking at you, Kl*nce stans) For the most part, DC Comics has had a decades-long reputation of treating their fans like trash and not caring what they think so from what I've seen, we all just grumble and complain in our corners of the internet about how we don't like how X comic portrays Jason Todd.

The challenge with Jason Todd is that he's your clinical anti-hero, the batfamily's Draco in Leather Pants, he's a jerkass woobie, and on top of all of that, he's a Tumblr sexyman. It's a perfect storm for a very fun but frustrating character to be a fan of. It doesn't help that every writer decides to re-invent the wheel every time Jason comes up so his canon lore is confusing at best and inconsistent as a standard.

I guess starting with a general brief on who Jason is and what is uniform about him with every instance he's appeared in comics/media.

Grew up in a poor family in Gotham with a dad who was a petty-mid-level criminal, and a mother who dies of a drug overdose.

Survives on the street on his own by committing petty crimes and potentially even engaging in sexual acts to keep himself alive.

Is cornered by Batman and taken in after Dick Grayson quits/is fired

Becomes the second Robin, but is known for being the harsher, more brutal Robin.

Is killed by Joker after being tortured, but somehow comes back to life and regains senses through the Lazarus Pit

Resolves himself to be better than Batman by basically being Batman but kills people.

Where there has been a lot of conflict in the fandom is the fact that Jason Todd is not a character that is written consistently. DC Comics loves to go with the narrative that Jason was "bad from the start" and was the "bad robin" when, yes, he has trouble controlling his anger, but he also still is just as invested in seeing the best of Gotham City and trying to be a positive change for the world as any other DC Comics hero.

Where I get frustrated with the fandom is its ability to knit-pick every detail of a comic they don't like while completely disregarding everything that makes the comics great and worth it to read. My example being Urban Legends. To which most people had pretty mixed reactions to. I was critical of the comic at first but as it went along I ended up really liking it. I have a feeling DC Comics went to Chip Zdarsky and told him he had 6 issues to bring Jason back into the Bat Family, and honestly he didn't do a bad job. Did it feel rushed? Absolutely. I wish there was more development of Jason and Bruce's characters and their dynamic as a whole. However, where I see a lot of people being angry and upset with Urban Legends is that they feel Zdarsky needlessly wrote Jason as an incompetent fool who needs Bruce to save him.

Whether or not that was the intention of Zdarsky is up to debate. However, and this may be controversial, but I don't think he wrote Jason Todd out of character at all. For as fearsome, intimidating, and awesome as Red Hood is. Jason is a character who is absolutely driven by his emotions. Why do you think he donned the role of Red Hood? As a response to his anger towards The Joker for killing him, and towards Bruce for not taking action against The Joker and for seemingly replacing him so quickly after he died. Jason didn't care about being the murderous Robin Hood or for being the bloody hammer of justice against N*zi's and P*d*ph*les. He only cared originally about making The Joker and Bruce pay. It wasn't until he trained under the best assassins in the world and realized most of them were horrific criminals who trafficked children and were p*dos that Talia began to realize that the teachers that she sent Jason to train under started dying horrific and painful deaths.

The entire story of the Cheer story in Batman Urban Legends was started because it finally forced some consequences upon Jason. Tyler, aka Blue Hood's father was a drug dealer who gave his supply to his wife and kids. And when Tyler's father admitted he gave the drugs to Tyler, it immediately made him fall within the self-imposed philosophical kill-list of Jason Todd. And Jason, well, he proceeds to kill Tyler's father. When this happens, Jason is in shock. Tyler's dad fit the bill to easily and justifiably be killed by Jason. We've never seen Jason having to deal with the consequences of being a murderous vigilante on a micro-level. When Jason realizes what he's done in that he's murdered Tyler's dad, he's shocked. He tells Babs the truth. He does a rational thing because he's in shock. He doesn't know what to do, he never has had to face the consequences of his actions as Red Hood and now the gravity of befriending a child as a vigilante hero who kills people just set in when he killed the father of the same child he was just introduced to.

(Oh here's a little aside because it had to be said, Jason would not have been a good father or a good mentor to Tyler and absolutely should not have been his new Robin. Jason is a man who is in his early 20's (not saying men in their early 20's can't be good fathers at all) who is a brutal serial killer using the guise of a vigilante anti-hero to let him escape most of the law. the complications of having the man who murdered your father adopt you and make you his sidekick are way too numerous for me to explain in a long-winded already heavy Tumblr essay post. There's a reason why we don't advocate for a story where Joe Chill adopted Bruce Wayne or one where Tony Zucco took in Dick Grayson.)

The next biggest argument is that they feel that Jason is giving up his guns as a means to just be invited back into the Bat-Family. To which I will tell anyone who has that argument to go actually read Urban Legends. Already have and still have that argument? Please re-read it. Don't want to? That's okay, I will paste the images from the comic where Jason specifically says that he doesn't want to give up his weapons for Bruce and his real reasoning down below since the comic isn't exactly readily accessible.

Jason gave up the guns because he felt the gravity of what he had done and knows how it'll effect Tyler. Thankfully his mom is alive and in recovery. But Tyler doesn't have a father anymore. And Jason killed Tyler's father. It may have been in accordance to Jason's philosophy, but it was a case where it blurred the lines. Jason Todd isn't a black and white character, just very dark gray. He doesn't kill aimlessly like the Joker. If you are on Jason's list you probably have done something pretty horrific, and also just in general, being in his way or being a threat to him. Mind you, in early days of Red Hood and the Outlaws (Image below) Jason almost killed 10 innocent civilians in a town in Colorado all because they saw him kill a monster. That being said, Jason isn't aimless in his kills.

(Also can we just take a moment to appreciate Kenneth Rocafort's art? DC Comics said we need to rehabilitate Jason Todd's image and Kenneth Rocafort said hold my beer: It's so SO GOOD)

That being said, the key emphasis in the story of Cheer asides from trying to introduce Jason Todd back into the Bat Family and give an actual purpose for him being there, other than him just kind of being there ala Bowser every time he shows up for Go Kart racing, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and the Olympic games when Mario invites him, is that Jason and Bruce ultimately both want the same thing. Jason wants to be welcomed back into the family and to be loved and appreciated. Bruce want's Jason back as his son and wants to love and protect Jason. Both of these visions are shown in the last chapter of Cheer while under the effect of the Cheer Gas. It's ultimately this love and appreciation they both have for each other that helps them overcome their challenge and win.

Jason Todd is a character who, just like Bruce, has been through so much pain and so much hate in his life. The two are meant to parallel each other. While Bruce chose to see the best in everyone, giving every rogue in his gallery the option to be helped and give them a second chance, hence why he never kills, Jason has a similar view on wanting to protect the public, but he understands that some crimes are so heinous they cannot be forgiven, or that some habitual criminals are due to stay habitual criminals, and need to be put down. But at the end of the day, the two of them both try to protect people in their own ways.

I am aware that through the writings of various DC Comics authors such as Scott Lobdell and Judd Winick, the two have had a very tumultuous relationship. And rightfully so, I am by no means saying that Scott Lobdell writing an arc where Bruce literally beats Jason to within an inch of his life in Red Hood and the Outlaws, nor Judd Winick's interpretation of Under the Red Hood where Bruce throws the Batarang at Jason's neck, slicing his throat and leaving him ambiguously for dead at the end of the comic is appropriate considering DC Comics seems to be trying everything they can to integrate Jason back into the family. That being said, a lot of these writings have shaped the narrative of Jason and Bruce's relationship and have an integral effect on the way the fandom views the two. It doesn't help that Zdarsky acknowledged Lobdell's life-beating of Jason by Bruce at the very end of Cheer by having Bruce give Jason his old outfit back as a means of mending the fence between the two of them. That does complicate a lot of things in terms of how they are viewed by the fandom and helps to cause an even greater divide between the two.

Regardless, I want to emphasize the fact that Jason Todd is a part of the family of his own accord. Yes, he's quite snarky and deadpan in almost every encounter. However, Jason is absolutely a part of the family and has been for a while of his own will. There's a great moment in Detective Comics that emphasizes this. Jason cares about his family because it is his found family. Yes, they may be warry about him and use him as a punching back and/or heckle him. At the end of the day, we're debating the family dynamics of a fictional playboy billionaire vigilante whose kleptomania took the form of adopting troubled children and turning them into vigilante heroes. Jason Todd wants a family that will love and support him. This is a key definition of his character at its most basic. This was proven during the events of Cheer and is being reenforced by DC Comics every time they get the opportunity to do so.

Now, none of this is to say that I hate Judd Winick. I do not, I don't like the fact that in all of his writings of Jason, he just writes him as a dangerous psychopath, and Winick himself admits to seeing Jason as nothing much more than a psychopath. Yet Winick is the one who the majority of the fandom clings to as the one true good writer of Jason Todd because 'Jason was competent, dangerous, smart' Listen, friends, Jason is all of that and I will never deny it. However, what I love about Jason isn't that he's dangerously smart of that writers either write him as angsty angry Tumblr sexyman bait or that they write him as an infantile man child with a gun. There's a large contention of this fandom that has an obsession with Jason Todd being this vigilante gunman who is hot and sexy and while I definitely get the appeal. It is very creepy and downright disturbing that all of you hyperfixate on his use of guns and ability to be a murderer. It is creepy and I'm not necessarily here for it.

What I love about Jason Todd is that despite all of the pain, all of the heartache, all of the betrayal, and bullying, and death, and anguish. Jason Todd is one of the most loving and supportive characters in all of DC Comics. Jason has been through so much in his life, but he still chooses to love. He still chooses to see the bright side in people. Yes, he takes a utilitarian approach and chooses to kill certain villains, but at the end of the day he wants to see a better world, and he wants to be loved. It takes so much courage and so much heart to learn to love again after one has been abused or traumatized. I would not blame Jason at all if he said fuck it and just went full solo and vigilante evil. He has every right to, but he still chooses to be with the Bat Family of his own accord. That's something that I see a lot of in myself. I have been through a lot of trauma and yet I try to be a better person myself in any way that I can. It is extremely admirable of Jason to allow love back into his heart when he really doesn't need to. He kills and he protects because he has this love of society. It may have been shaped by anger and hatred, but Jason has found his place amongst people who love him and value him. I think Ducra, from Red Hood and the Outlaws put it best in the image given below.

To end this tangent, I love Jason Todd and all of his sexy dangerousness, but it's far more than that. As much as Jason may be dangerous and snarky, he loves his family without a shadow of a doubt. I look up to Jason Todd because despite all of his pain and all of his trauma, he still choses to love. Jason Todd is a character who is someone I love because despite all of his flaws and having a very toxic fandom, he still serves as a character filled with so much heart and so much passion. I wish more writers would understand that. But for now I will live with what I have. Even though the fandom may be vocal about it's hatred for his characterization, I choose to love Jason regardless because he is a character who chooses love and acceptance regardless of his pain. Jason Todd is by no means a good person in any sense of the word. He has easily killed upwards of 100 people by now. He is a character who is flawed and complex but ultimately is one who powers forwards and finds love and heart in a place from so much pain and anguish. That is what I love about Jason Todd. After all, to quote a famous undead robot superhero, "What is grief, if not love persevering?" Jason Todd chooses to love despite all of the trauma and pain and grief. Yes, he is hardened in his exterior, but inside there is a man with a lot of love to give and someone who deserves the world in my eyes.

[theredheaded-stuff]

AU royalty -hereditary curse

Today's Shipp: Jondami

Residents of the Eastern Kingdom of Krypton, Descendants of ancient deities have non-human abilities, One of its residents ended up trapped in the northern kingdom Gotham.

Age!up Jondami

Captured Jonathan Samuel Kent El, found himself imprisoned in one of the kingdom's dungeons! Search parties refuse to help those in the Eastern Kingdom because of their "curses"

Treated by the majority of the people as monsters, they are isolated from the majority, so the Eastern Kingdom is not really a kingdom as it has no royal family.

And then unexpectedly Jon was found by a young man who looked about his age, a boy with green eyes,The boy was fighting with some of the monsters there, Jonathan still having strength helped him to fight, but he fainted out of exhaustion.

Jon Along with this boy was taken to the kingdom of gotham, imagined he would be imprisoned or something

The green-eyed Who found out he was called Damian, turned out to be one of the princes and named him a knight of his group (Addition: Jon had no choice)

Damian known as a "Prince of War" decided that someone with Krypton's abilities would be more than perfect to help him end the realms' strife.

Kon/Connor also a knight, also came from Krypton, but he was created with magic itself, being something like a chimera in the eyes of all of the people,Except the royal family of gothan, well he works with Tim being his personal knight

The curse of those created or born in the lands of Krypton, would itself be an inhuman force that can kill the slightest care, climate changes due to their emotions.

There are myths that say they can kill at the slightest touch, so everyone walks away from them, but remembering is a myth.

...

Damian has been known as a cursed prince since childhood because of his ease with dealing with monsters and dragons and taming them.

He just finds it funny that someone else "is cursed" like him and decided to take him with him.

He took information from Kon to prepare some food Jon liked before convincing (read oblige) him to be his knight.

Each prince has his own palace, damian's palace is the "emerald palace" a play on the color of his eyes

Jon went to live in the Emerald Palace, and gained the sympathy of the employees, now he also helps with some tasks that require strength.

Jon and Kon see each other as brothers, and quickly understand each other, both leave the palace together sometimes to patrol the streets.

Unfortunately the people still have some fear of Kryptonians and most of the population always lock themselves at home these days.

Tim and Damian get along well even though they fight daily, as Tim was one of the first who decided to give damian a chance as "there's no logic in getting curses just for being born" It was this logic that made him accept Kon into the Castle as well.

Damian lived in the Al ghuls duchy until he was 10 years old, sometimes he goes to visit his mother there, he was the result of an affair between Bruce and Talia who fell in love at the time, but they couldn't get married.

Rumors started to spread about Damian since he was born, and it got worse when he came to Gotham,Since it was publicized there that he was in very fragile health due to the circumstances of his birth.

Dick accepted him into the family immediately, as he was so small! He felt that he should protect his little brother

Dick is married (decide who he marries Kori or Babs)

Jason didn't die, but was seriously injured and was found by Talia, a mage who healed and cared for him until he returned to Gotham.

Cass was a prisoner of war from another kingdom in fact, Bruce managed to take all the children who were in those conditions and put them in orphanages,he adopted Cass in childhood taking her out of that life.

Tim was taken from the care of one of the greatest merchants in the kingdom, the drake's, and in time he was adopted also because of his intelligence and effort.

Babs was a commoner but she got a title due to her magic formulas and intelligence, protected the kingdom in one of the conflicts, and after that won a title

Jason has a favorite library in every existing realm

Damian loves cakes and sweets

Dick practice dance constantly

Cass has precision with weapons like a warrior, but enjoys leading fights on the battlefield.

Stephanie takes dance lessons with Dick

Duke is a descendant of a demigod, but nobody knows that.

Kate Kane is a grand duchess of the realm

palaces

Jason lives in the ruby ​​palace

Dick lives in Sapphires Palace

Duke lives in the Agatha palace

Damian Lives in the emerald palace

Cass and Steph lives in the obsidian palace

Tim lives in the Garnet palace

Athanasia lives in the Duchy with Talia, but also stays in the Emerald Palace with Damian.

Helena lives in the Pearl Palace

Alfred lives in the Tourmaline palace

Selina lives on opal palace

even not living there Talia has a palace the Diamond Palace

The main castle where Bruce spends most of his time doesn't have a real name other than Gotham, but we like to call it the Jewel Box.

Bruce likes to call his children jewels, as each one of them has talent and great importance, being as rare as jewel mines.

[recycledraccoon]

The Batkids, all seriousness aside from the reveal, do think this is absolutely hilarious. Like, almost all of THEM have gotten surprise siblings or a sibling returned from the dead and now it's Bruce's turn.

Plus Danny and kids being openly suspicious of this billionaire?? *chefs kiss*

Most of the siblings are eagerly watching but trying SO HARD to not overwhelm Bruce's long lost little brother and his kids. It's bad enough that Damian has got off to such a bad start with the new cousins. They all meet in the hallways now and it's like two semi-feral cats (Dan and Damien) and one mischievous ferret (Ellie) having a stand off.

Dan and Damien: *locked gazes and raised hackles*

Ellie: *trying to decided which BatBurger would be the best option to stage an after school brawl behind*

Dick, in the distance: "I have the sudden premonition that I should check in on Damien today."

Steph, also in the distance: "Something's happening. I don't know what but I want to be there."

MEANWHILE

Danny, on the phone with Tucker and Sam: "He has a creepy lair in his basement I just KNOW IT."

Batman, lurking: *sweats*

Red Robin, watching Batman Lurk™️: *trying not to laugh*

Duke has only met Danny so far as Signal, but former Teen Hero Danny Fenton spots him and is SO intent on giving this young hero high calorie snacks or even a damn gatorade. If he sees him he will sprint into the closest store if he has to. Duke has a large collection of random post-it notes or wrappers/bottles with affirmations and gratitude Danny wrote. (It goes with other similarly sentimental gifts from Gotham citizens).

Danny hasn't MET Cass personally, but he has taken the kids to a ballet performance once with Jazz when she visited as "cultural enrichment". Surprisingly, Dan liked it more than anyone thought he would. Ballet is incredibly physically demanding, and he can see the beauty in that in their movements.

Jason tho. Jason sees Danny eye sad-wet cat Brucie Wayne with deep suspicion and immediately pushes his way into the Fenton's lives.

Jason LOVES Uncle Danny. Both because it gets Bruce's panties in an absolute twist and because something about the Fenton family just clicks with him. (Danny has absolutely clocked Jason as having returned from the dead. He's not a halfa or a ghost, but he has died and returned from the dead. Probably some type of Revenant? Danny's not sure when or how to broach the topic as they don't know each other well enough yet to our themselves, but Jason being around the family in the meantime will be good for him. Plus the kiddos love'm.)

Bruce is struggling to get his emotional constipation under control long enough to establish a non-hostile or unintentionally-creepy-billionaire relationship again with his baby brother.

Meanwhile Jason is already on the couch playing games with Ellie and Dan. He's already ordered himself a "I'm Someone's Favorite Nephew" mug which he absolutely drinks from at the Manor almost exclusively while he's there. Alfred allows this, given Jason got Danny to agree to meet him.

Jason will happily give Bruce the middle finger but he loves Alfred fiercely. It takes a bit but eventually Danny agrees to meet him. Jason takes Ellie and Dan out for the day to terrorize Gotham, and leaves the two older men to talk.

Danny has a long talk with Alfred, who absolutely has tried so so hard not to cry during all this, but absolutely does eventually. He must have felt so guilty for so long, his beloved friends Thomas and Martha gone, and their youngest son Daniel stolen and he had been unable to do anything but hold Young Master Bruce in both their grief. And yet here he is, a kind father to two beautiful children, telling him he's happy and grew up with a family who, despite a weird, bumpy road, loves him and his kids so so much. Danny doesn't have a photo album available right now, but he and Alfred set a date for Alfred to come back and have dinner to meet both Dan and Ellie, and to look at photo albums together, Fenton and Wayne both.

Alfred reminds Danny of Clockwork just a bit, with his impeccable timing and knowledge/intuition.

Slowly as Danny gets to know Alfred (and Jason, despite how he rags on Bruce, or how Damien seems to have become Dan and Ellie's highschool nemesis, which makes Danny think fondly of fighting-as-bonding in the Infinite Realms) he warms enough to agree, finally, to have dinner at the Manor with the family so Alfred can host, back in his environment as the impeccable Wayne family Butler.

This also means of course that Danny has also agreed to meet and talk with Bruce. (Creepy Billionaire...but also a name that long since lingered in the back of his head and heart though he didn't know why. A photo of a little boy and his big brother that pulls at those same heart strings.)

....

....

....

.....

I

....

I had another 11pm brain worm.

Enjoy

-x-x-

Daniel Wayne, the younger toddler brother of Bruce Wayne and the son of Martha and Thomas Wayne had been kidnapped the night their parents were murdered.

Daniel had been snagged the moment their killer heard people headed to the alley and Bruce in his state of shock didn't realize it until it was far to late and could only scream in horror (from everything) as his baby brother is crying his name. (If you wanna make it even more heart wrenching, make it Danny's first time being able to say Bruce's name right and/or Bruce had said some mean things to Danny earlier after he accidentally broke something of Bruce's, something like 'I wish youd go away' or 'I never wanted a brother, you're such a bother!')

Bruce is being held by Alfred as some police officers are chasing down the Wayne's parents killer while some stay behind to see if they could do something.

Minutes turn to hours and as they wait, praying the police at least found Danny, Bruce is ridden with guilt. From his parents death to allowing his brother to be kidnapped.

Eventually the police return to give Alfred and Bruce the news. And it's not good.

The killer escaped and Danny was nowhere to be found.

And it would take many years before he would be found.

-x-x-

Bruce gets a call from Damian during school hours one day. When he answers he is greeted with Damian demanding him to get to the school and explain himself.

Confused Bruce asks what does he mean and Damian responds with

"The two new students in class today are the spitting images of you and I father! Either they are poorly created clones or you have more hidden blood children!"

-x-x-

Meanwhile the very students being discussed are calling up someone too

"Ellie? Dan? What's wrong? You better not have made too much chaos already, I just paid for the uniforms for that place."

"DAD! I THINK ANOTHER ONE OF THE FRUITLOOPS FAILED CLONES SOMEHOW SURVIVED!"

"What?"

[mxtantrights]

past lives | 3

a/n: Ok this is like the pre-climax? is that a thing? no well I'm gonna make it a thing right now! time to meet more of the family!!  enjoyyy <3

Fallon nudged your shoulder to get your attention. Previously your focus was on the champagne flute, and before that the odd waiter who served it to you with an old scar straight through his mouth.

“I brought you here to snatch and grab stuff, where’s the team spirit?” they ask.

You make a face, “You brought me here because you didn't wanna go alone. And I can’t blame you if I had to come here alone I would-”

“Definitely throw myself off the balcony. Running start.” a voice adds.

It was neither yours or Fallons. So the two of you turn around and find the culprit. And just like destiny or fate or something, you see the guy you handed off a letter from your dead parent a few days prior.

“I mean isn’t it kind of your party?” you ask.

Tim shrugs a bit and sips the drink in his hand. It’s a non verbal answer that gives something away. Maybe it’s in the 

“If you think that, then think about me. I’m the plus one.” you say.

He chuckles, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Same”

“Again?” Fallon asks.

You nod your head, “I had to drop something off at the Wayne building not too long ago. To Mr.Drake actually.”

“Oh it’s just Tim.” he says and holds out his hand.

You quickly take it and shake as instructed. Then Fallon follows the action, along with an introduction. Tim smiles and it looks like a genuine one.

“Well when I said we were gonna smooze I didn’t know you pre-planned.” they say.

You nudge them as they snicker. 

“I’d probably be the wrong Wayne to smooze. My hectic schedule allows for no free time.” he answers.

Fallon laughs at this. “Oh, well you’re kinda on the younger side too.”

You can see Tim’s check taint red. His eyes dart away from the both of you. You still couldn’t believe that a young man like him was in charge of Wayne enterprises- or enterprise, however that worked out. 

It probably felt like the world was on his shoulders.

The phone in your cocktail bag buzzed. Even though you didn’t know who it was, you had a very high suspicion that it was the league. What they wanted you to do at tonight’s event was still under wraps. But you knew that whatever task it was, wasn’t going to lead to a happy ending. 

It never does.

You open your bag and take out your phone, “I’ve gotta handle this. My Aunt.”

Both Fallon and Tim nod as you walk away from your table and out into the balcony. It was a bit chippy outside so it wasn’t really of use to anyone. The rich don’t like the cold you guessed. Makes sense, heated floors and sidewalks. 

The cold air reaches your skin. You don’t shiver. Growing up in Gotham until you were eighteen you hadn't gotten used to it. It was no Antartica but then again that Icicle man did like to rein terror sometimes. It was like practice.

You open the text and sure enough,

tonight you act as transport. 

when you get handed a package deliver it here: 

45 Gotham Harbor 

Great. You were acting as a convoy tonight. It shouldn’t bother you that much, but it does. If whatever they were planning was something real and dangerous and they were keeping you low on the food chain, that mean you were expendable to them.

It hurt. 

It wasn’t like you ran away from them. They gave you an opportunity to leave after a couple of years being one of their fastest rising recruits.. At first it felt like a sick test. Like one final trust fall before they could actually believe your unwavering loyalty. 

You sat with the decision for days. It was a whole week before you decided to get out of the league. You thought that as soon as you stepped food out of the place they would kill you. But you walked out the front door and kept walking.

Oddly enough they had even given you a ride to Gotham. 

But you being a convoy tonight? This felt like a test. One you needed to pass. If not for your life, then to find out what they were really planning. The league never takes care of things so out in the open like this. 

“Did you just get dumped or something?” another random voice.

You turn off your phone and turn your head to the left. In the dark corner of the balcony is a guy. You can only make him out because of his lit cigarette. If it weren’t for that, you probably wouldn’t have made him. 

Have your senses and training begun to fade? Ra’s is probably somewhere vibrating off the walls.

Sure enough he comes out of the dark and you can see him fully. He’s not in the night standard uniform. Instead he's in a dress shirt underneath a brown jacket. He did try with the black slacks you see. 

Was he security? No he looked a bit familiar. 

You think you should probably say something before he thinks rudely of you. 

“No, just an interesting text.”

He hums some sort of sound. And then he walks a bit closer. You notice its not close enough to reach out and touch him. He’s really careful. He must be some type of security.

“You were talking to Tim, you one of those Gala Groupies?” he asks.

The shock that falls upon your face can't be helped. It instantly turns into sourness at the implication that you were a groupie. First off, Galas are boring. Second you’d more likely be a groupie for a rockstar than a rich old man- let alone a younger guy like Tim.

You hiss and cross your arms against your chest, “That was bit presumptive wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t mean it as an insult. Presumptive to think that I did.” he bites back.

You nod you head along with a grin. 

“Didn’t know the security detail came with snobbery. How do I know you’re not a groupie for Tim?” you ask.

He looks like he wants to hurl. Then he beings to laugh. His laughter fills the balcony a bit and you just watch in interest. He calms himself and then places his hand over the railing to rest.

“I would not, it’d be weird.”

“Not your type?” 

“My brother will never be my type.” 

Ah.

You look at him for a second more and then it clicks. This was Jason Todd, the black sheep of the Wayne family, you are talking to. You thought he looked familiar you just couldn’t place him earlier. Even though the white streak through his hair should’ve gave it away. 

“My apologies.” you say.

He fakes wiping a tear from his eye. “no worries, you gave me a laugh tonight. I should be thanking you.”

“I am not gonna be your groupie either.” 

“Presumptive, but okay.” 

“Have a good night.”

-

Bruce finds Tim in-between mingling and cuts in. 

“Oh thank God, I thought for another second my head would burst.” Tim says.

Bruce smiles, “Saved you then.” 

“Have you seen Dick anywhere? I wanted to get his eyes on a case of mine.”

“No night work at the Gala. Take a break.” 

Bruce begins to look for Dick within the crowd of people. His eye bounce from person to person. Effectively he’s glanced over you without a second thought. Or so he thinks.

When he does finally find Dick, he calls for him. This makes his son stop in his tracks. He comes to a stop and you were right behind him as he did. You aren’t quick enough to stop yourself and so you go colliding into his back.

-

“So sorry about that.” he says.

You shake your head, “It’s fine. No drinks spilled or whatever they say.” 

He throws out a laugh so easily. You smile quickly and make a B-line for Fallon. As you make your way to where they have taken new residence, you see their face change. More specifically their eyebrows go up in the way that says ‘oh?’

“Cut it out, he bumped into me.” 

“Maybe you guys can do some more bumping. Later on, if you-”

“I know exactly what you mean and I’m not entertaining you.”

-

Dick makes it over to his father and his brother. When he does Tim claps his back with his hand. It makes Dick wonder where the time went. 

“Nice to see you brother.” Tim says.

“You too. Bruce.”

Bruce just nods. A man of not many words for those closest to him. He sure did know how to entertain guests though. It was all a mask anyways. If anything he was doing them a service not using it with them.

“I almost ran into someone. Thankfully there was no drinks involved, I would’ve ruined a whole outfit.” Dick says, pointing back to you.

Tim follows his finger over to where you and Fallon are standing. 

“Oh, that’s who delivered me that letter the other day. Speaking of which, there was another one addressed to you Bruce.” he says.

Bruce nods his head once, “I know I saw it the other night when you passed out on your desk. At some point we’re gonna have a conversation about your sleeping habits.”

Jason walks up to the three men. 

“You’ll never correct it. He’s more of a bat than you.” he says.

Bruce is doing double the work. He’s listening to the conversation happening in front of him about Tim’s horrible sleeping schedule or lack thereof. While he looks over at you. The person Tim said delivered the letter.

His child.

[thathelplesshomeschooler]

humans are space orcs (with magic!) *skillz to pay the billz pt 1*

5wow i have been gone for a hot minute but i think i’m gonna tryn write more on here, but school’s starting up again soon so we’ll see how that actually goes. anyway, without further ado, here is another short story or sum, based on how some people can cook, and how some absolutely cannot

also i had to resist so hard from writing that’s what she said at the end so i will have to console myself with writing it up here.

***

The VIV Narrtor was docked at a WayCenter Station for repairs after a gamma burst from a neutron star had fried nearly all the sensors. As it was the humans had decided to designated this as their “vacation” and had put their money together and were renting a small abode for the duration of the repairs. Not wanting to miss out on any possible research, Drerzii had insisted that he and Tygeria rent the room across the street from the humans. 

And so Tygeria found herself the windowsill with a pair of “binoculars” as the humans called it, in her hand. Currently the humans weren’t doing much, in fact it appeared that only one of them was up and active. Uhris, clad only in his undergarments, was in the sustenance preparation room, making ready the pot of dark, steaming liquid that the humans drank every morning. She and Drerzii had suspected it to be either some sort of religious ceremony or a necessity of their species, much like how the dular always had to eat from a plant native to their planet before they ate anything else or they would die. However, neither of them had mustered the courage to ask the humans. If it was indeed a private matter, it might not be appreciated if they suspected they were being studied so thoroughly. And an angry human was not something Tygeria wanted to see. 

As she observed, the rest of the humans slowly arose from their slumber, except for Taurus. Being the largest of them all, Tygeria suspected that he likely needed more rest than the rest of them in order to move his mass around. She noted her thoughts on a holotablet. 

When she resumed her observations, she noted that Uhris was preparing sustenance, and quite a large amount. He must be feeding the entire group. It was strange she thought, since his records didn’t indicate that he had been trained in sustenance preparation, but he seemed quite adept in his actions. Perhaps he had trained in secret, hoping one day to be employed as a sustenance prepare. These “chefs” apparently were quite coveted in any group. 

The group spent most of the morning hours indoors, but what they were doing exactly Tygeria couldn’t say exactly. They were certainly enjoying themselves at the very least. Around midday Uhris and Enara walked out of the building. Tygeria leaned forward, her interested piqued. “Drerzii, Drerzii! They’re headed this way.” Her carapace tingled with mixed fear and excitement. They’d been found out. Surely the humans would be angry at being spied on. Drerzii rose from his resting state. 

“My dear Tygeria, you surely must be mistaken. The humans-” He stopped as he peered out the window, “Oh. You’re quite right Tygeria. But do calm yourself, I doubt they mean us any harm. Likely their simply curious. Their species’ natural inclement is towards curiosity rather than violence; however, I suppose we should be prepared. There, I have a clear line of communication to command should anything happen.” 

Tygeria appreciated his actions, but her carapace still tingled. A minute later there was a knock on the door. She walked quickly across the room and opened the door. Uhris and Enara stood in the entryway. 

Uhris switched his hand from scratching the back of his head to giving them a little wave. “Uh hey. Anne pointed out that you guys were staying across the street from us, and we all agreed that we couldn’t just let you guys stay here.” It was exactly as Tygeria feared, the humans were angry about being spied on. Drerzii’s flashing colors echoed her fear. “So we- Drerzii you okay? You’re putting on a whole light show my dude.”

“Oh, yes, I’m quite fine. For the time being at least.”

“Erm, yeah, whatever that means. Anyway, we’re about to have lunch, so we wanted to know if you guys wanted to join us. We might do something later, but we haven’t decided what yet.”

Tygeria lowered her head so it was on eye-level with the human. It didn’t make much of a difference to her, what with her infrared vision, but apparently it was a human gesture. “You don’t intend us any harm?”

The two humans looked on in confusion. “N-no? I mean why would we want to hurt you? We just wanted to know if you wanted to eat with us, but if you don’t that’s fine too.”

Tygeria was taken aback. Did they not know? “Because we were obs-”

“Of course we would be delighted to enjoy you for a meal. I unfortunately am unable to consume at the current moment, but I would be delighted to participate in your fellowship.”

“Oh. Great, well you guys can head on over then. Enara and I are just going to get some groceries, but we’ll be back in just a few minutes. The door’s unlocked so just head right in”

And so the humans headed off toward the provisions center of the station while Tygeria and Drerzii made their way to the humans rooms. Upon entering the room they were met with ferocious laughter. The terrifying sound of mirth coming from all three of the humans. Taurus, who apparently was in the middle of a story glanced over towards the door, his predatory eyes moving by pure instinct. He motioned with his hand. “Come on over guys, I was just telling them about when I managed to get a screw jammed up my nose.” It took a few minutes of recap for Tygeria and Drerzii to understand the situation, but it was incomprehnsible why the humans found it so funny.

Uhris and Enara arrived shortly after the story was finished. Both had bags filled with consumables in both hands. Taurus hooted from across the room “Uwu, y’all look like a couple, walking in with your groceries.”

Uhris breathed heavily through his nose, what Tygeria believed was called a “snort.” “If I was Jason maybe we’d be a couple.” At that comment Jason started coughing and Enara’s face grew red. Perhaps, Tygeria thought, this has something to do with them ‘liking’ each other.

“Anyway, we’re going to get started on lunch. Y’all just sit tight. Also Tygeria you should be able to eat this, we got food that’s edible for you too.” She clicked her thanks.

It was very considerate that the humans would use sustenance that she would be able to ingest as well. She was, however, concerned. Among her kind she was known to have rather specific preferences. However she couldn’t risk offending the humans by not eating any sustenance they prepared. But as they worked in the kitchen, her olfactory senses began to tingle. The smells of whatever it was they were making piqued her curiosity. How could one prepare food so that it would have such a smell? Was this some form of communication between human. Perhaps it was just a byproduct of whatever processes they were using to prepare the sustenance. 

She peered over to see both Uhris and Enara moving efficiently through the kitchen, handing each others utensils and ingredients as they worked. Occasionally one of them would take a small utensil and taste some of the sustenance, then make a small adjustment to the ratios of ingredients. Sometimes they would ask each others opinions or hand something off to the other. Tygeria was astonished at the ease with which they hurried through their movements. Uhris placed his creation in the heating unit and turned to the rest of them. “Alright, so this should take just a few minutes to bake, and then we’ll be good to go.”

Taurus set out dishes for everyone to eat on, except for Drerzii, who had declined on account of his metabolic processes not being in service for the time being. Once Uhris had deemed the time to be right, he carefully pulled the sustenance from the heating chamber and placed it upon the table. Enara came from the kitchen and placed what she had prepared next to Uhris’. “Just wait for it to cool down and then go ahead and dig in.”

With a laugh Jason raised his hand, “So what exactly is it that we’re eating.”

Uhris bared his teeth, then quickly changed his expression to be less frightening for Tygeria and Drerzii. “What we have here is a magherita flatbread, made completely by hand, with non-native ingredients. I subbed uthara for tomatoes for both the garnish and the sauce, and used tehari cream instead of cheese. And the crust is, actually I don’t know what it is, it just said it could be substituted on my holotablet. But Enara, tell them what you made.”

“What we have here is a fruit salad, also made with ‘non-native’ ingredients, as Uhri put it. And I put in some of the spices they had at the compound for some added flavor.”

Jason laughed, “So basically we’re having alien pizza and alien fruit salad? This is really gonna be the test guys.” With that he took out the first section of the ‘flatbread’ and took a bite. His eyes opened wide and he made a sound deep in his throat. With a mouth full of food he said, “Oh yeah, thish ish the sh*t you guys.” 

What exactly that meant, Tygeria wasn’t sure, but the rest of the humans began consuming the sustenance, and so Tygeria took one of the squares and took a bite of it herself. Her carapace tingled with delight. The flavors burst in her mouth, sweet and salty combining perfectly. She hummed with delight, this was beyond what she would have imagined the humans to be capable of. She then took a portion of the ‘fruit salad’ and ate some of that as well. It complimented the flatbread in a way that she didn’t know was even possible. She quickly secured another few servings, making sure she would have enough for later on. She would have to savor the taste whenever she had the chance. But she couldn’t help but to hum even more as she continued to feed on it. 

“Well it looks like we have one very happy customer.” Uhri said.

* * *

The rest of the day the group simply stayed indoors and talked about a myriad of subjects. Enara’s skill in the kitchen had come about simply because she liked to cook as a past time. It was, as she said, “A pleasure to see my work put smiles on faces. And even better if I can make the food healthy.” Uhri had apparently worked in his family’s business of making food for special events, something called catering, and had picked up his skills from his years helping around the kitchen. He volunteered to make another meal for dinner, but before he could start Anne stopped him. 

She stepped into the kitchen and turned to him “It’s been a while since I’ve made anything for anyone else, but I’d like to try to make something for you guys.”

Uhri shrugged, “Knock yourself out.” Tygeria was startled by this. Why would Anne hit herself so hard as to knock her unconscious? She was about to raise her concern when Uhri spoke, “I didn’t mean it literally. It’s a human saying, kind of like good luck, or go right ahead.” 

She hummed her acknowledgement, but was still confused as to why anyone would say this. 

Taurus paused, “Wait Anne, I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Well I did live by myself for two years in college. And I got sick of instant ramen after the first semester, so I had to learn.” 

This made sense to Tygeria, humans apparently had to fend for themselves once they reached a certain age. Their parents would assist but for the most part they were on their own. Next to her Drerzii trumpeted with delight. “Why, Tygeria I have been fastidiously taking notes of this whole occasion, and I would like to mull over them with you later. We can see what our thoughts are, but this entire time has been so enlightening.”

A few short minutes later Anne huffed out of the kitchen a steaming platter in her hands. The smell coming from it was just as strong as the one coming from the earlier dishes, but not quite so delectable in nature. Anne plopped it down in the middle of the table and introduced the dish. “It’s a bean casserole, or at least as close as I could get to one with what we have.”

Jason was again the first one to take a bite. He slowly pulled his utensil out of his mouth. Anne beamed, “So, what do you think?”

Jason shook slightly, “It’s definitely something else. You’ve got a real flavor there I’ll tell you that.” He timidly placed another portion in his mouth, shutting his eyes as he did so. 

The others began to eat, and had similar reactions. Slow, and usually taking a drink of water after every bite they had. It was a completely different reaction to what they had before. Before she could take a bite, Drerzii whispered in her ear, “Tell me what it tastes like.” 

So she  put a large portion on her plate, and another large portion in her mouth. If it was anything like the bliss she had tasted earlier she would have to start eating the humans food more often. Unfortunately, it was nothing like what she had eaten earlier. It was as if whatever the flavor was meant to be had become evil and was attacking her mouth. And the way it felt, it was incredibly dry, parching her mouth. She quickly grabbed a cup of water and downed it, trying to suppress the taste and texture. She turned to Drerzii and spoke quietly, not wanting to offend Anne, “It’s awful. I would not recommend trying it.” She looked back to see Anne staring directly at her. Her predatory hearing must have heard Tygeria’s report. 

“Is it actually that bad? I know I might have fudged some of the spices, but was it actually that bad?” 

Tygeria started to panic. How could she tell the human that it was possibly the worst thing she had ever tasted? Humans were easily offended when it came to things they made themselves. It wouldn’t do for her to insult the food. But she could thing of no other honest alternative. Right as she was about to confirm, Taurus spoke. “To be honest Anne, it’s not great. It’s pretty dry and you overdid it with the flavoring. But trust me it’s not as bad as my grandmothers cooking. That was a culinary nightmare. I can at least eat this.” 

Anne nodded, liquid gathering at the bottoms of her eyes. Tygeria tilted her head, she had heard that liquid spilled from humans eyes when they got emotional, and the action even had a name. So she asked, “Are you going to cry?”

Instantly Anne stood straight, and shook her head. “Throw the food away. I’ll just go out and grab something pre-made.” With that she dashed out the door. 

“Did I say something wrong?”

“I mean, yeah, you aren’t really supposed to ask people if they’re going to cry.” Taurus said, “But at least we don’t have to finish the food. God it was disgusting, I thought I was going to throw up.” 

Enara struck him on the shoulder. “Don’t say that, she tried her best.”

“I mean am I wrong?”

Enara raised her hand as if to cuff him again, but slowly let her arm down. “No, not really, it was pretty terrible. I’m going to go find her, but let’s do try to cheer her up when she comes back.” And with that Enara rose and left the room. As soon as she had Uhris spat out a slimy, semi-chewed portion of the food. “That shit was nasty, I couldn’t bring myself to swallow.”

Tygeria wondered how any human could take the risk of attempting to prepare sustenance of the potential for disaster was this, this massacre of the tastebuds.

[creatureofmystry]

MLB x DC Universe Headcannons

I just love the idea of MLB and DC (expecially Batfam cuz Mari is such a Wayne) being in the same universe and crossing over. So one night, I just had an idea overload of different ways the Marinette would know the batfam/be a part of the DC universe. And if any of my shitty ideas somehow inspire or prompt you, then please be my guest. 😊 _

1) “Ladybugs of Past and Present”

Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, was once a previous holder of the ladybug miraculous. When Fu activated the miraculous and put them in circulation, Hippolyta could feel its magic waking back up. Knowing there must a reason for it to be out, she sent a message to her daughter. Diana searched, finding Marinette and Adrien as the present holders of the ladybug and cat miraculous. She vouched and brought them into the Young Justice program while they also made their own team, Project: Zodiac (or something like that).

[Sometime when Diana takes Marinette to meet Hippolyta]

“Great Hera, Tikki, you have not aged a day” -Hippolyta, cause she does know how to make joke. 

“And I would say the same to you” -Tikki

“Mother, you can make a laugh?” -Wonder Woman, honestly a bit confused cause her mom have never not been serious before.

And Marinette is just speechless cause she’s starstruck meeting Wonder Woman’s mom AND a previous Ladybug holder.

_

2) “Rockstar Niece”

Jagged Stone is Marinette’s Sweet Uncle J. During the summers, Jagged Stone would take Mari with him on tour. HIs summer tours are throughout America, so Mari gets to sightsee the country. Jagged’s first tour that he gets to take Mari on (5-ish), he’s also booked for the annual (for whatever reason) Wayne Summer Gala. When Marinette meets the Waynes, they are so enamoured (Dick and Tim couldn’t help it) that they tell Jagged he’s always invited as a guest, Mari of course being added to the permanent guest list too. About 6 years later, Mari is practically adopted, spending the first half of her summers with Jagged, going to the Wayne Gala, then spending the rest of her summer with the Waynes. Overtime, she figured out the secrets of the family and was there to welcome Jason back from the dead (when that happens). Anyways, now 11(-ish?) Mari meets Damian and the two become good friends… after an… impressionable first meeting.

“Tch, let me guess, you’re another one of father’s adopted strays” -Dami

“YOU MUST BE DAMIAN!!! DICK TOLD ME ABOUT YOU!!” -Marinette, who just ignores what he said for a hug.

“hiiiiiiiiissssssss” -Dami, touchy with touch

“...” sprays water in his face since he decided to act like a cat.

“I say, Master Bruce, the children are getting along quite well” -Alfred

_

3) “Pen Pals” 

Jon Kent and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are part of an international pen-pal program, starting when they were very young (maybe like 4 or 5-ish, super super young) where they told each other everything (Jon can’t just say that his older bro is a clone made from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA, or that his dad is Superman, or that his best friend is Robin, but yea. Lois and Clark probably proofread his stuff until he’s like 9) with pictures and everything. When they’re old enough to get phones & stuff, they call, text and vid-chat along with their letters (love without blood). When Mari is maybe 9-11 (somewhere around there) she starts flying over during the summers to hangout with Jon (and his friends and big brother). While there, she meets Kon, Bat fam, and Clark (some who she already knew, some who she didn’t) & lightly hints that she knows who all they are once she figures it out (it didn’t take her long to do so). 

Now whenever she visits and is at Wayne Manor (Jon likes to have sleepovers practically every weekend) while they’re on patrol, Mari subtly messes with their minds (super subtle, they’re the world’s best detectives after all) until they finally look through the cams and see Mari giving them one of those smiles (those shit-grinning cause it’s just so hilarious how it’s gone on for so long) & and a playful wink. 

[5 seconds later]

“Mari!” “Pixie-pop!” “Angel!” “Teacup!”

“Seriously, am I the only one with a normal nickname for her?” -Tim

“Ms. Marinette would like to inform you that ‘it took you long enough’” -Alfred (who so knows that the girl has been playing them since the third night she stayed at the Wayne’s)

“Where are my adoption papers?” -Bruce (who is seriously adopting any talented black-haired child)

_

4) “Mari and Mar’i” 

When Mar’i is young, Dick and Kori take her with them to see Paris (btw, this would be during the winter). They’re strolling along through a park and lose track of Mar’i who finds Marinette (9-10 ish). Marinette comforts and distracts Mar’i while noticing the young(er) girl is Tameranian (her hair is very warm and she’s wearing significantly less layers than should be worn for a human of that age during the winter, plus that sun-kissed skin tone. She’s seen Kori in her fashion magazines (and, from time to time, on the news as an ambassador) so she easily make the connections). Dick and Kori finally spot Mar’i with Mari who introduces herself to them. Mar’i asks if she can see her “Auntinette” again and Marinette just goes “if your parents are okay with it.” Dick and Kori are totally cool with it (not many are willing to watch her and have the time to do it) so they ask Marinette if she can babysit Mar’i whenever (with good pay of course) if she’s up to it (cause she’s still pretty young). Marinette can’t say no to Mar’i’s babydoll eyes (and she’s so much easier compared to Manon, who’s only 2 rn), so of course, she says yes. 

Now Marinette is Mar’is official babysitter and sees Mar’i often whenever her parents drop her off (using zeta tubes to quickly get to Paris and back). Marinette gets treated like an honorary Wayne (cause she’s the most responsible) and gets invited to their family stuff (w/ travel pay taken care of, of course). It doesn’t take her long to realize the fact that she babysits Bruce Wayne’s & BATMAN’S granddaughter, but of course, being the responsible one she is, keeps the secret… while also playing with them via Mar’i.

[One Day]

After Marinette leaves for her plane…

“Uncle Dami!”

“Yes, Spawn?”

“Auntinette said to tell you after she left that Robin’s sut needs a major upgrade & that you look like a traffic light… whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

[Another Day]

“Uncle Jay!”

“What’s up kid?’

“Auntinette said that to let you know that Red Hood doesn’t make any sense ‘cause Red Hood wears a helmet. Not a hood.”

[The next time]

“Uncle Tim!”

Yawn. “yea?”

“Auntie told me to give you this” (pulls out super caffeinated coffee) “and that Red Robin’s cowl is a menace to all things fashion”

[Again…] 

“Daddy!”

“Yes, Starshine?”

“Auntienette said she’s proud of Nightwing’s costume ‘cause it’s one of the only in the batfam that isn’t an astro-city to the fashion society.”

_

5) “Marinette, the one who’s always getting chosen”

Before Mari became (becomes(?)) LB, she comes across a different powerful piece of jewelry, from a different order of guardians where her will of mind is not only her shield from being akumatized, but it is also what drives her powers. That’s right, Mari walks past a flea market and activates a GL ring. The guardians pick up on this activity and send Hal (it is his sector) to check it out. Hal finds the ring with Mari but it still needs the light of a GL to charge and fully work. 

[During the explanation]

“Look, kid-”

“Marinette.” 

“Look, kid, I just need to know why you have that ring.”

“You think I know? I was just walking through the market and all of a sudden, this possessed ring, if that’s even what this is, started following me, then zipped in front of my face til i held my hand up so it can put itself on my finger.” 

“Kid-”

“It’s MARINETTE. Get it wrong one more time and you’ll see why I don’t need a possessed piece of alien jewelry.” -Marinette, making sure you get her name right. “Besides, if I stole it, I would remember. I’m a klepto” -Marinette, probably holding his ring too at this point.

Hal obviously doesn’t want the wrath of the Dupain-Chengs (just the kid Marinette scares him enough), so he tells the guardians that JL will take care of most of Mari’s training (once they get her a lamp for her ring, of course) & has her take part in training at Mt. Justice with the Young Justice team and special training with the Bats. Mari does all this under the guise of an international student exchange program for Mari to stay with the Waynes (not yet knowing that it’s the bat fam) and attends G.A. Mari doesn’t do much, but it takes her 24-36 hours to know who EVERYONE is.

[the next week after settling in]

“Hey, Mars,” -Dick, in his Nightwing gear

“Hey, Di-is the GREATEST SHOW!” -Mari, changing the subject(… not really)

“How long did it take you?”

“Not as long as the Kryptonians…” -Mari, going off into a tangent (still trying to change the subject”

[When Marinette meets Tikki]

Back in Paris:

“Sooo… I’m getting powerful jewelry that gives me powers and a suit, needs to be recharged, and comes from some Order of the Guardians? What’s the difference between you and my ring?” -Marinette, who at this point is very confused as to why she keeps getting picked on for this kind of stuff. 

“One’s alien, one’s magic” -Tikki, hoping Mari will end it there & lowkey hates that the GL Corp. got to her first.

“They’re both non-human made energy sources” -Mari, cause once you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all before. 

“You can’t heal the Akuma without the miraculous, and there are more than just rings. Yours are earrings, there are hair clips, bracelets, necklaces and more” -Tikki, after having a minute to think

“Fine, only because you said they’re the only way to heal the, what was it again, akuma?”

_

6) “Their Unofficial Official Barista”

Part of Tim’s job as Co-CEO, is to make sure all the branches are running smoothly, sometimes that means he has to fly abroad to manually check in. Tim goes to Paris to check on the W.E. Paris branch. He goes to a nearby Patisserie (Tom and Sabine’s) to see a young Marinette (somewhere from 8-11) drawing in her sketchbook at the counter. She explains that her parents are at a catering event, but she’s there to man the little bakery. Tim asks for a super caffeinated coffee and Marinette makes it with ease, claiming it was on the house with how bad he looks (and how much sleep the man clearly needs). Tim begs for her knowledge and asks if she can teach his butler. Mari’s willing to show him the next time he comes, so he gets the whole fam to go (viz tubes so they don’t waste time) maybe a week later. Everyone gets their own drink (plus a free pastries) and Marinette teaches Alfred her coffee, but it’s just not the same so Tim, using the tubes, goes to get coffee from the girl whenever he can. 

Mari is horrible at getting up on time (the life of an insomniac, never getting to sleep even if you want and then barely waking up on time) that she is up super early, makes Tim his coffee (plus a croissant) and tries to go back to sleep (making her inevitably late). Tim would walk up to the pick-up counter where his cup and to-go bag is while Marinette runs out of the house to get to school. Eventually, the rest of the Batfam (as well as the Laegue, TT, and YJ) frequent the place, slowly becoming (Dami too) Mari hides it, but she knew all the batfam the first day they came and she showed Alfred how to make the coffee. When the others start making more regular appearances, she learns the identities of YJ team, WW, GLs, and others. Obviously when LB and CN appear as heroes with HM as their villain, they immediately reach out to help. Because 1. Batfam clearly notices that it’s Mari and they sure as heck won’t let her deal with that by herself, and 2. The JL is worrying too much about their favorite barista (even though she’s not really one), especially with the Gigantitan scare. So, of course LB & CN (can’t make him bad everytime) get inducted into YJ.

[After Ladybug finishes defeating Gigantitan and detransforms] 

“Bean! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” -Tim, being an even more protective older brother than Dick, which shouldn’t be possible

“Yes, I promise. I’m fine” -Marinette, who just accepts the fact that she’s adopted an older brother (and his famliy)

“Tube over, we’ll have Alfred make sure” -Dick, already pulling out the medical supplies for Alfred.

“I-” 

“You shouldn’t worry your brothers like that, Marinette. Now come over so Alfred can clear you,” -Bruce, who just happens to overhear the conversation

“I’m sorry, Miss Marinette, they are very adamant that you’re in pitch perfect health before going out again,” -Alfred, who’s not actually sorry

“Fine” -Marinette, accepting her fate of her adopted, protective family. 

_

7) “Thicker Than the Blood We’ve Shed”

Why is Marinette so freakishly strong? Because she was trained to be. Before she could even talk, Mari was taught to be an assassin. She and Damian were frenemies, both competing for top spot as best in the League (of Assassins). They often spared together and became rivals who pushed each other (which sounds great in that context if you forget about the fact that they’re killing people and turning it into a competition). When Damian’s care is turned over to Batsy, Mari also comes along for the ride. She implements herself into Dami’s classes at G.A. & watches him from afar. (Damian, not being an idiot, of course knows all this and knows that it’s probably for Mari to give a report to Talia.) When he becomes Robin, Mari obviously knows, but waits to see if anything drastic would happen (his care was given to the Batfam, they had already expected this to happen.) She then heard word of the bounty Talia put on Damian’s head. Marinette knew there wouldn’t be much she could do to help, but she ave Dami a warning about the upcoming situation before fleeing the country. 

From there she got to France, changed her name (it wasn’t originally Marinette, it was Shénqí, chinese for miraculous/magical (or something else if you want)), was adopted by Tom & Sabine, and left her time in the League in the past. When she received Tikki, she didn’t want to be a hero because she didn’t think she deserved it after her up-bringing. Eventually, she did become LB (being a trained assassin does help with lucky charms, considering she was taught how to kill with basically every and anything), and life was good for her. Then Rossi came.

[Gotham field trip]

While at Wayne Tower…

“How idiotic are they?” -Damian, who after reuniting with his long-lost sister-from-a-different-mister (yes, Marinette was able to convince him to say it once), can’t understand the stupidity she has to deal with.

“Are you Robin?” -Mari, who is too tired, so just goes straight into the analogy

“Yes.” -Obvious and simply is.

“Exactly” -Mari, who can’t even put a limit to the amount of thought the one brain cell the class shares doesn’t use. I mean please, the so-called “reporter” believed that the first cosplayer she saw was the actual LB when they don’t even have the same hair! And let’s not forget the origins arc, where LB’s first citizen save was Chloe.

[the-witches-you-couldnt-burn]

It's final

Dedicated to my best friend K, who exclusively reads angst (yes I know she is crazy).

Warnings: domestic disputes, panic attacks & mental breakdowns.

Ao3

———————————————

“Why are you such a fucking bitch?”

She froze, her anger steeled within her. Their argument was abruptly silenced, both tempers flaring high enough to threaten the heavens. Heaving breaths from their vocal exertions became louder than their previous yelling. A pang of fear struck her heart as she wonders whether the neighbours had heard them and called the police for a domestic dispute.

Marinette was furious. She wasn’t a saint during this war of words, and had said somethings she shouldn’t have. She had started this argument with the intentions of lessening his reckless behaviour, but ended up stating in anger that his mother would be stopping his behaviour too. That line lead to his outburst and the state they were in now.

Cheeks flushed red, particles of perspiration dotted their skin, bodies wound with tension. She swiftly motioned towards the door, hand reaching to the knob. Jason grabbed her other wrist, deep seated sadness displayed over his features, immediately regretting his words spoken by ire. Her head tilted downwards, stubbornly refusing to meet his eyes.

“I didn’t mean it,” his voice cracked, any traces of rage had melted into sorrow.

“You never do, but it hurts the same.” She shook her arm, detaching his hand from her wrist. His grip was firm but unwilling to deny her, her free will. She picked up her purse, slinging the strap over her shoulder. The door opened, she could feel his stare on the back of his head. Her sigh filled the empty space, without turning she said, “I think it’s better that we seperate, we aren’t good for each other. I’m willing to keep up appearances with your family at the gala but then I’ll move my belongings to another apartment.”

She turned around, rushing into his embrace, tears shed from her eyes. A final hug goodbye. His stray tears raced down his cheeks to reach their raven hair finish line. He made no move to respond to her hug. Usually he’d have wrapped her in his arms, especially after an argument like this. But this one was different. This would be their last.

“Au revior, Jason.” She removed her body from his. It left him wanting to pull her back but it was as if his muscles had necrotic back to a corpse. His eyes flicked down to his invisible chains, begging his arms to move, to capture his lightning bug and never let her go. He looked back at her, she stood there, seemingly wanting him to say something, anything.

“I’m sorry.” His hoarse voice whispered, he desperately wanted to pepper her face with kisses and beg her to forgive a cretin like him. His voice broke as he uttered, “Please.”

Blue eyes met blue eyes. Marinette’s head shook slightly, non-verbally denying him. A bitter laugh escaped her mouth, she brought up her hand cover her crazed smile. “I’m sorry too.” She sobbed.

She rushed out the door, practically sprinting to the elevator. As the strong metal door closed, her sobbed echoed around the empty box. She broke down, months of fights and building tensions had weighed her down, her creativity had been primarily funnelled into ways she could improve her relationship. Il vaut mieux prévenir que guérir (It is better to prevent than to heal).

When the door closed Jason’s knees collapsed, a hollow echo resounded through the hallway. Their shared apartment would be no longer. No more hello, good bye kisses; no more delicious meals shared between the two; no more sleepy morning kisses. He looked down at his hands, clenched fists. A primal cry left his throat, he felt it to his core. He would have rather had his heart ripped out, he would have rather have died again, than to feel this pain.

——

It was the night of the gala, only four days after their fight. Marinette had only come back to their condo once to collect some clothes and her sewing machine. Only the essentials were taken, the rest could be gathered by movers.

Jason was a wreck. He had worked multiple overtime shifts to avoid the festering wound that was his bleeding heart. Preparing for his family’s ball was tough, this would be the first time they would see each other since the argument. He sported a fresh haircut which was left messy, his white button down top hugged his muscles perfectly, was paired with a slate grey blazer and matching dress pants (both gifts from Marinette).

He was fiddling with his tie, the gala’s atmosphere was already suffocating due to insufferable and rich hotshots, and his tie decided that he didn’t need to breathe. Marinette didn’t care for appearances but knew his family lived under the watchful eye of the media, so she always made sure they were matching. But tonight, tonight he had no clue what she was wearing and had received no colour matching instructions, so he went with trusty rusty red. It was the first thing the fashionista made for him and he will always cherish it.

His eyes widened as he saw her enter. She wore a midnight silk black mermaid gown that had a chiffon overskirt that was black fading to blood red. Her hair was down and curled, a silver feather hair clip pinned back the left side of her hair, exposing her magnificent facial features. Cerulean eyes framed by dark painted lashes, scanned the room.

Her heart caught in her throat, she had entered the doors to the banquet hall. She came with the intention of saying her silent goodbyes to the family who had taken her in when she had no one else. She had been suffering in silence for the past few days, her only support system being the Wayne Clan, but couldn’t bring herself to tell them what had happened. She couldn’t do that to Jason, she wouldn’t make them choose between him and her, she dreaded to hear their answers. Resigning herself to reside in silence, she came here to keep up appearances then fade into obscurity, but she saw him and her breath died in her throat. He looked as handsome as the day she left him. She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress. She walked towards him; he spotted her and did the same. They met in the middle, on the dance floor.

“You look amazing Marinette.” He swallowed the urge to call her pixie, it hung heavy in his throat. He needed to create distance between them, that was the first advice in ‘How to be civil after a breakup’. During the silent nights, he delved into any written text that would give him refuge and advice.

“You too Jason.” The pit in his stomach grew, he should have known she would take the same path. Never would he hear ‘Jay’ or ‘Jayjay’ from her plump red lips again. His shoulders slumped a fraction before he shooed away his depressing thoughts.

Their conversing was viewed by many around the room. They were the odd couple of the family. Jason, despite his rich adoptive home worked in security and charity whilst Marinette was a hardworking fashionista who had built her own fashion empire. They were from two different worlds and only fate knew that they’d meet.

He bowed and held out a hand to her, a lopsided smiled danced across his face. She smiled sadly, she would miss her dork, she would miss his smile. Her hand brushed against his calloused palm, their fingers locked together. She hesitated before placing a hand on his shoulder, ‘just one dance’, she could do this.

His hand found her waist, warmth bloomed upon his cold skin. He was always cold since he died, only his temper had warmed him. But then he met her. Marinette was his warmth, she made him feel like he was a child again, bathing in Gotham’s rare sunlight. His lightning bug brought him warmth and he had lost it.

They swayed to the classic instrumental melody. Neither looked at each other as their bodies flowed, ‘it was just an act’, they chanted as a mantra within their minds. ‘It means nothing, soon this will be over’. It struck her, this would be the final time they would see each other. A quiet sob escaped her, she was unable to do anything to stop it.

Jason’s head snapped towards her, sweeping her away into a private garden. Between her weeping she apologised for the state she was in, hyperventilating soon after. Jason guided her to a bench and clasped her hands in his.

“Hey, hey! Mari look at me. Deep breaths in and out, ok?.” Screw creating distance, this was his girl, he will fight anyone who says otherwise. Marinette slowly began to wind down from her panic attack, eyes misty and her water-proof mascara blotchy but still intact. The temperamental man wiped her cheeks free from trails of liquid fright.

“I’m so sorry for everything Jason. I never should have said that thing about your mother, that was cruel. I can’t keep hurting the people I care about. I can’t keep you happy. I’m just not enough.”

Her cries broke down his own walls, exposing his vulnerability to the Gotham night. “Fuck the word enough. It’s synonyms: sufficient, ample and adequate, could never describe what you mean to me.” He pressed his forehead on her, blue eyes fluttering shut. “I’m not sure if any of us will ever be enough for anything. There’s no point in begging for it.”

“I hate goodbyes.” She whispered, lips inches from his. Their breaths mingled, cheeks flushing. The icy Gotham air whipped at their skin causing them to move closer to the other for sanctuary.

“Then let’s not make this one.” Fireworks. That’s what they felt when their lips connected. All of the week’s tension unraveled within this lip lock. Their teeth clashed and hands tugged at hair in desperation to close the distance between them. When she entered the gala tonight, she had been so ready to say, ‘adieu pour toujours,’ but was glad she didn’t need to.

C’est cela l’amour, tout donner, tout sacrifier sans es poir de retour. (This is love, giving it ones all, sacrificing everything without hope of it being returned.)

[stxleslyds]

Can you please do the list of Jason's and Dick's skills and how good they are at it compared to other skilled people? Of course only if you want to.

Hi! Thank you for the ask anon! I am sorry that it took me so long to answer your ask, I found myself going back and forth with how I wanted to write this out.

Just a heads up, the skills that I will depict here are the ones that I remember and found are attributed to each character in the current timeline. I think it’s important for me to say this because this current Dick Grayson has been nerfed greatly compared to his pre-New 52 counterpart. As for Jason, he has had many things incorporated into his training and some others have been completely erased (even though some of Jason’s training was erased he hasn’t been nerfed by any means).

When I say that Dick has been nerfed, I mean that some of his abilities have been erased in canon and some others have been washed down as the reboots happened.

Now, let me do a little ranting before I jump into listing Dick and Jason’s skills.

If you search for Jason’s skill set in wikis and other places, they might include his Lost Days training as something that he still has but as of New 52 and Rebirth that training has been erased and replaced with Talia sending Jason to the All-Castle right after he came out of the Lazarus Pit.

Also, while many places say that the Lazarus Pit has granted Jason regeneration and the ability to not age, I can safely say that those things aren’t true. As far as I know, the Lazarus Pit can only heal injuries, physical and mental (to a certain extent for the last one).

I assume that the concept of Jason “not being able to age” comes from the fact that Ra’s Al Ghul has the ‘longevity ability’ because “through the use of the Lazarus Pit, Ra's has acquired a greatly extended lifespan, allowing him to live a near-immortal life for centuries”, the thing with this is that Ra’s uses the Lazarus Pit fairly often, Jason only used it once.

So, just to be clear, Jason can age just like any other human character, and the regeneration ability is also untrue because Jason spent a long time recovering from his injuries after the “Death of the Family” event and RHatO vol.2 #25.

Also, there has been no proof of Jason actually having magical abilities (after being submerged in the Lazarus Pit). The All-Blades are summoned through his soul but he doesn’t do magic with them and the summoning was mastered after non-magical training. And the “Magic Negation” move is an arcane martial art move.

Wow, sorry I spent so much time explaining my line of thinking. But I can be confusing when I talk so I thought it would be better if I explained my thought process a bit. I promise I am done though; I will now start listing Dick and Jason’s abilities.

Let’s start with Dick!

Acrobatics.

Aviation.

Criminology.

Espionage.

Genius Level Intellect.

Disguise (Acting).

Escapology.

Leadership.

Multilingualism (12 Languages).

Indomitable Will.

Martial Arts (Boxing, Eskrima, Ninjitsu, Stick Fighting)

Peak Human Condition (Strength, Speed, Stamina, Agility, Reflexes, Durability).

Throwing (Escrima sticks, Wingdings)

Weaponry (Escrima sticks, Firearms, Swords)

Abilities learnt with Batman:

Eidetic Memory.

Forensic Science.

Investigation.

Tactical Analysis.

Tracking.

Interrogation.

Intimidation.

Stealth.

Surveillance.

Jason’s Turn!

Aviation.

Computer Hacking.

Genius Level Intellect.

Indomitable Will.

Martial Arts (Dim Mak, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun).

Multilingualism.

Occultism.

Peak Human Condition (Strength, Speed, Stamina, Agility, Reflexes, Durability).

Weaponry (Firearms, Master Swordsman)

Abilities learnt with Batman:

Investigation.

Tracking.

Interrogation.

Intimidation.

Stealth.

Surveillance.

Abilities learnt with the All-Castle:

Summoning of the All-Blades.

Abilities learnt with Talia Al Ghul:

Magic Negation (a martial arts move)

All in all, both of them are incredibly well trained. There are abilities that one of them has and the other doesn’t. Jason has had more training outside of Batman’s teachings due to Talia having taken Jason to the All-Castle after he was submerged in the Lazarus Pit. And he was also trained by some of the members of the League of Assassins, like Lady Shiva.

If I were to compare Jason and Dick’s abilities with, let’s say, Barbara, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian, I would say that Jason and Dick are far more well trained and knowledgeable than them. Cass could beat both of them in hand-to-hand combat but I feel like it would still be a long fight for Dick and Cass or Jason and Cass, maybe Jason would have a harder time with her because he is so big compared to her.

I would even go as far as to say that both Jason and Dick could take down Batman if they really wanted to. Let’s say that for some reason Dick and Bruce or Jason and Bruce decide to battle it out with everything they have got, then I would say that the odds are in Dick and Jason’s favour.

Now, those comparisons that I just made, I did them with uncertainty because I don’t keep up with any of those characters. When it comes to DC I really don’t go beyond Dick and Jason centred content. I don’t even read Batman (I only read it if there is an event that has Dick or Jason as a major player).

So, I don’t really feel comfortable comparing their skill sets with other people, what I don’t know I prefer to not talk about. I was being a little cheeky with those comparisons that I made before; they are very surface level.

I can talk about what has actually happened in comics though. From a combat perspective I can say this:

Jason was able to master the “Magic Negation” move with little training from Talia, and she hadn’t even mastered it way back when she was training him before he became Robin (yeah, that was a thing that happened in zero year, RHatO vol.1 #25). So that would give you a little insight on how overpowered Jason has been written in the past 10 years.

The second time that he did that move he used it against Ra’s al Ghul, that Ra’s was charged up with the power of the Untitled but in reality, the power wasn’t strong at all because Ra’s didn’t have enough “soul” for the Untitled to latch on to. Jason, however, was able to channel that power and the All-Blades against him. All that should have drained Jason pretty quickly but he had the whole “chosen one” thing going on for him. Here is where the magic aspect of Jason would come from but I am still not sure that Jason can actually manipulate or do magic, I feel like it’s more like letting something like the All-Blades or the Untitled latch on to you like a parasite (that will kill you if it does it for too long) to get a boost in power. Maybe you or somebody else sees that as magic but I don’t.

So, overall, I would say that Jason is a very strong opponent. But you have to take into consideration that weapons like the All-Blades aren’t accessible to him at all times, they only can be summoned when true evil is presenting itself as a threat to Jason and they consume/corrupt his soul, so their power isn’t unlimited either.

Dick is a very strange case because while he was able to fight and defeat a proper Talon and a ‘second-hand’ Talon (that was still a notable opponent) in the New 52 run and he was able to defeat his enemies just fine, in Rebirth things took a dark turn, all of his skills were either gone or watered down by a lot, he was everyone’s punching bag. 

As time went on though Dick seemed to be written better and he fought Cheshire and some LoA people fairly easily and so on. But then… Ric happened and the whole manipulation and being played with as if he were a toy happened and that set his characterization on fire again. He defeated Jason easily when he was under Joker’s control but he was sloppy against Barbara so, there isn’t really a lot of rhyme or reason in that one.

After he regained his memories mid-way Joker War, he was an excellent fighter all of the sudden and everything was easy for him. When the event ended and he was Nightwing again he didn’t only beat KGBeast (the one that had shot him) but he absolutely humiliated him, it was like Dick snapped.

Now, under Tom Taylor’s writing, Dick is… I don’t want to say dumb because he isn’t, but I will just say that Taylor isn’t doing Dick any favours. He promised us a lot of things, like giving Dick the respect and level of expertise that he deserves but so far, I have seen none of it.

Something that has to be taken into consideration is that Dick isn’t fully recovered from his head injury, so, he is written as not as skilled as he is supposed to be and he is also making decisions that aren’t good for his health because if you run the risk of falling unconscious in the middle of a fight, you shouldn’t be fighting at all.

From Batman’s training’s perspective, I can say this:

Dick has always given me the “mentee surpasses his mentor” vibes. He is a better detective and he is also overall better than Batman in what he taught him and also at being Batman. Sadly, just like his combat, his detective skills along with all the other Bat training have been watered down for Dick. It’s absolutely awful, DC has been doing Dick dirty for far too long.

I wish I could say that things are picking up for Dick now, but Tom Taylor put “drama” as his priority instead of giving Dick back the skill-set that he once had (I know, I complained about Tom Taylor’s lack of action before but I really needed to do it again).

Jason has been done dirty too when it comes to his detective skills and other Bat training, mostly in Urban Legends: Cheer but quite honestly it wasn’t as bad as what they did to Dick. Jason has never really been as good as a detective as Bruce or Dick so yeah. But there is a clear difference between the Jason that we have now and the one that appeared in UtRH.

So, I would say that as of now Jason and Dick are treated as if they were on the same level detective/bat training-wise, which I think isn’t fair to Dick. Because he should be better in those aspects than Jason (or, at least, that’s how I see it).

I really don’t know if this answer is what you wanted or if it is good at all but I hope that if you read this you don’t end up feeling like I wasted your time.

I promise I will get better at answering asks! And I hope you have a wonderful day anon!

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 13th of April, 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 13th of April, 2021

Question: Will Catherine attend Prince Philip's funeral?

Interpretation: Catherine wants to go to the funeral, but it may not be wise. The final decision is what HM the Queen wants.

Card One: The Ace of Wands. Aces are new beginnings, and the Ace of Wand represents a new rush of creative energy, a new inspiration, which can take the from of a new PR narrative (Wands can be PR). This is especially important when you consider the next card, a card of conflicting PRs. The funeral is the first public appearance at a formal royal event of the seven working royals of the BRF (The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, The Princess Royal, and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge). It is crucial for the future of the group that this appearance goes without a hitch, to give reassurance and confidence in the group going forwards.

The Ace of Wands, as a card of new beginnings, is also the card of a baby. The image on the card always looks very phallic to me, with Zeus (king of the gods, known for not being able to keep it in his pants) holding a wand that is spurting fire (the seed of life) everywhere. In these cards, the BRF is frequently represented by the gods and goddesses (both the highest in the land), so the presence of Zeus on the card reinforces that this is a baby in the BRF. The world that Zeus shows indicates that this is a baby that will have the interest of the world. Wands are ideas, so this is the idea of a baby, and the PR involved in presenting a royal pregnancy (the idea of a new baby) to the world. Is a funeral the place to announce or hint at a new royal baby? Absolutely not. So the new royal baby is posing a bit of a problem.

Card Two: The Seven of Wands. This is usually a card of conflict, showing the battle between the supporters of Jason of the Golden Fleece, the rightful King, and the supporters of the usurper king. This time, my eyes are drawn the the number seven and the bright flames on the torches, so there are two messages from this card.

The first message is one of conflict, of competing PRs (Wands can be the suit of PR). The rightful King, the BRF, want everything done at the funeral in accordance with protocol, with the focus being on Prince Philip and his life. Anything that distracts from this focus is being avoided. The rival PR, that of the usurper king (Prince Harry and Meghan), is trying to make the funeral all about them. The BRF is trying not to feed the flames of Meghan and Harry's PR, but instead to hold a funeral that follows protocol and focuses on Prince Philip and only Prince Philip.

The second message is also one of PR. This is the PR of the future monarchy. We have seen that earlier this year, when the seven working members of the BRF and HM the Queen were presented to the world, represented here by the number seven on the card. Catherine is one of those seven working royals and as such she should be attending the funeral.

The third message from this card comes when you take it in combination with the first card. We have a new royal baby on the way for the BRF. The usurper king, Harry, has a 'heavily pregnant' wife, Meghan. The last thing the BRF wants is for the funeral to turn into a PR battle over the two babies. Meghan is using her current pregnancy as an excuse for not attending the funeral. To have Catherine appear at the funeral looking pregnant will ignite a PR war and give the opportunity for comparisons that will be twisted to advantage in the victim narrative of King and Queen of Montecito.

Card Three: The Hierophant. This is the card of institutions, and in this spread it represents the BRF. It is the first of three major arcana cards in the spread, and hence one of the major energies in the spread. Lying directly above the underlying energy card representing HM the Queen, it amplifies and reinforces that energy. The main concern of the funeral is to do everything according to protocol, to make a royal funeral fit for a royal consort, and everything else comes second to that.

As a lesser point, coming directly after the Seven of Wands, this says that the BRF will win the PR war over Prince Philip's funeral in the eyes of the general public.

Card Four: The Fool. This is the second major arcana card in the spread, and so the second main energy in the spread. The Fool is a card of new beginnings, especially those that are unexpected and surprising. It is beginning a journey into and across territory that we know nothing about. It is a card of children, of innocence, and of naivete. It is also a warning against appearing or acting foolish, to look before you go plunging over that cliff edge.

This card is a further indicator or pregnancy as the issue in this question, as it represents a child or children. It aptly sums up the dilemma facing the BRF. This is an unusual situation, to have a Royal Ceremonial funeral and an unannounced royal pregnancy at the same time, and no one is quite sure what to do.

Announcing the pregnancy at the moment is out of the question. Do they let Catherine attend and hope that no one spots the signs of pregnancy? If the signs of pregnancy are spotted, do they announce it? If so, what would be the appropriate time for such an announcement? No one wants the BRF to look foolish, or to make an unconsidered move (that would send them 'over the cliff'), so this unusual situation must be considered with care for the image of the BRF, the focus of the funeral on Prince Philip, and the health of the mother and child.

If Catherine does stay at home, the needs of her current children may be put forward as a reason for why she did not attend the funeral, although that also brings PR issues. The best course may be to announce her non attendance and say nothing else, as any reasons for the nonattendance that are possible to give would look foolish.

Card Five: The Star. The Star is the last major arcana card in the spread, and the last main energy in the spread. The picture shows Pandora opening the forbidden box and letting out all of the evils within to plague the world, as well as the figure of hope. This sums up the situation around Catherine. A pregnancy is usually taken as a sign of hope. It would be nice to have a pregnant Catherine at the funeral, and for people to see the pregnancy as a sign of hope, However, if she does appear and is seen as being pregnant, this will unleash the 'evils' of a PR war with Meghan and the nastiness of the press in general, as well as being the evil of taking the focus away from Prince Philip.

This card tells me that Catherine wants to go to the funeral and hopes that she will attend, but she is well aware of the potential evils arising from her attendance and she has no wish to have the attention focused on herself instead of on Prince Philip and HM the Queen (the underlying energy of the reading). Taken with the prior card, she is aware that this would be a foolish act that would damage the reputation of the BRF.

Underlying Energy: The King of Pentacles. This is an earth sign person, particularly a Taurus. In this reading the card comes across as a person, not the qualities of the King of Pentacles (although the person may embody those qualities). That person is HM the Queen, a sun sign Taurus. What will happen at the funeral and who will attend is being decided in accordance with the wishes of HM the Queen. Everything is being decided with the utmost consideration for her and her wishes.

Major Arcana cards: Three out of the six cards in the spread are major arcana cards, so this quite a serious consideration that has implications on the world stage. The energies of the major arcana cards are that of the BRF (The Hierophant), a child/not wanting to appear foolish/naive (The Fool), and of hope (The Star). These are the major energies of the spread, set against a backdrop of competing PR narratives and supported by the concern and consideration for HM the Queen and her personal wishes at this time.

Conclusion: Catherine wants to go to the funeral, and as a member of the seven working royals who now represent the BRF, she should attend. Unfortunately, her pregnancy is against this. Showing up with an pregnant body will ignite a new and fierce PR war with Meghan, who is already battling to make the funeral all about herself. It will damage the first public appearance of the BRF's new group of seven working royals, and it will take the focus of the funeral away from Prince Philip, something that no member of the BRF wants to happen. The BRF does not want to do anything foolish or naive that will start a PR war, and it is concerned for the well-being of the child and its mother. As much as Catherine wants to attend the funeral, she is well aware of the consequences of her attendance, and she will be guided by the wishes of HM the Queen and what is best for the BRF as a whole.

[phis-corner]

demon’s daughter

I didn’t expect people to like this? Here’s chapter two!

Masterlist Chapter 1 [Chapter 2] Chapter 3

“Again.” Shiva’s commanding voice rang through the training room. “Straighten your hind leg to maintain your balance.”

Three year old Marinette obeyed, launching her small body into another series of attacks on the training dummy with her fists.

“Again. Your form was sloppy.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

The pattern continued until she was too exhausted to hold herself up and collapsed. Shiva tutted. “Still weak. I suppose we will have to end there for today. Dismissed.” 

Marinette painstakingly picked herself off the ground and made her way back to her tiny living quarters.

.o0o.

Marinette parried another strike from her trainer, unflinching as the blades clashed millimeters away from her face. Her five year old arms shook with the effort to hold the blade there, and she ducked and rolled when the strain became too much.

She turned just in time to meet another strike before knocking her trainer’s blade to the side and slashing with her own katana. They trade blows back and forth until she sees another woman with auburn hair enter the courtyard, followed by a boy that has her hair and facial features.

The moment of hesitation is enough. Her trainer’s katana slashes across her chest, tearing through her skin and flesh and definitely scraping a lung. The pain is something she has never felt before, and she had already gone through the first round of torture resistance.

It burned, and she couldn’t breathe. The last thing she sees before everything goes black is Lady Shiva’s frown, the boy’s look of mild curiosity, and the concern that flashed through the auburn-haired woman’s eyes before she stuffed it down.

.o0o.

Marinette woke in the sickly green waters of the Lazarus Pit with a new bloodthirsty voice in her head. The first healer that came to check on her was murdered with her bare hands. As was the second, and the third.

It took months to learn to control the voice, the urges to kill. When she realized she had taken another three lives, she cried, but only when she was alone. Crying is a weakness that she could not show.

She returns to her room after another day of training to find the auburn-haired woman from a few months ago sitting on her bed.

The woman introduces herself as Talia al Ghul, and tells Marinette that she is her mother.

Her grandfather is the Demon’s Head, and the boy she saw, her twin brother, Damian, is his heir.

Marinette asks why she is ranked so low if her brother is the Prince. Talia’s eyes harden.

“Ra’s is a fool. He believes that women are not worthy of power, and can do nothing to maintain it. But you will prove him wrong, daughter. I refuse to raise an unworthy child.”

Marinette trains harder after that.

.o0o.

But harder isn’t always enough.

The second time she died, it wasn’t because she was not a capable fighter.

The second round of torture resistance took place a year and a half after her first death. She withstood the pain, only letting out the tiniest whimper in the beginning, which earned her another ten lashes, but in the end, her body gave up from the injuries. 

She bled out, still bound in chains, and woke up in the Pit again, the murderous voice back with a new vengeance.

Marinette accidentally took another life, but she promised herself it wouldn’t happen again. She would gain control of this madness. She would.

She refused to think of what would happen if she didn’t.

.o0o.

When she turns nine, Lady Shiva deems her worthy enough to claim her spot as the Princess of the League, and so she moved into the larger quarters, meant for the family of the Demon’s Head.

Talia was proud, but she did not outwardly express it. Marinette read it in her body, the way she was trained to.

Her twin brother was… distant. He refused to accept a sibling, refused to accept that she can be the Princess while he is the Heir. He acted just like Ra’s, the man he will grow up to replace.

Marinette supposed they saw her as unworthy not only because of her gender, but because of her deaths. She thought that Damian might have died too, had the trainers not been too afraid to kill the Demon’s Heir. She doesn’t point it out. It wouldn’t do her any good.

One month after she moved in, Ra’s demanded that she spar Damian. Talia and Ra’s bore witness to the spar.

Damian drew his katana, scowling at her all the while. Marinette remained unfazed and took her own battle stance opposite him, feeling the comforting weight of her steel war fans in her hands.

They launched at each other at the same time, slashing and parrying and slicing and dodging. Damian gives her a shallow cut on her right cheekbone. Marinette retaliates with a slice on the forehead. The spar goes on for three hours before Ra’s ends it, having seen that there will be no winner.

Ra’s was hard to please. Marinette did pass his judgement for being worthy in battle, but he would never fully accept her the way he did his grandson. That was alright by her. Ra’s was not the kind of person she wished to have the opinion of anyway.

Damian was also a lot more willing to talk to her after that spar, and Marinette finally learned what it was like to have a companion her own age, even if he was a bit arrogant and rude at times.

.o0o.

Marinette flies awake with a start, and for a moment, she forgets where she is. Wayne Manor. Father. Safe.

“Good morning, ukhti.” Damian greets, rubbing the last bits of sleep from his eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

Marinette snorts derisively, sliding easily off the top bunk and landing lightly on the floor. “Do I ever, akhi?”

Damian’s face softens. “It is still early. Would you like to spar to get your mind off things?”

“Of course.” Marinette gives her twin a rare smile. “We must change into more suitable clothes first though.”

Ten minutes later, the twins silently creep out of their room and start the hunt for the training room, exploring the Manor as they go. It takes half an hour to find the correct location. Marinette and Damian occupy opposite sides of the sparring mat as they start warming up.

Marinette relishes the pull of her muscles as she stretches, the feeling grounding her into reality. Once they finish, they settle into their fighting positions, each eyeing the other apprehensively.

Damian makes the first move, as the more aggressive of the two. Marinette swiftly dodges his fist and sends a quick kick to his chest. He catches her foot and uses her own momentum to throw her over his shoulder. Marinette twists as she falls, and hits the ground in a perfect three-point landing. She lunges again, and Damian charges forward to meet her in a whirl of fists and kicks, blocks and blows.

At some point, they notice Alfred enter the room, but he merely stands off to the side and watches, so they continue sparring. Not long after, he is followed by a lithe young woman with short black hair, a pale teen who has massive eye bags, and a familiar man with a white streak in his dark hair.

Cassandra Cain. Timothy Drake. Jason Todd. Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood. Alfred clears his throat, and both of them part, barely even sweating.

“Is something the matter, Pennyworth?” Damian asks in a snobby tone that makes Marinette want to smack him over the head (didn’t his training ever cover socialization? Hers definitely did, but maybe that’s because she was a female.) so she does so. 

Being treated as a prince from birth certainly inflated his ego. Damian glares, but does not retaliate. Good. He knows he is being rude.

“I wished to inform you that breakfast is ready and the rest of the family wanted to come and meet the two of you.” Alfred says neutrally. 

Cassandra then gives them a friendly smile and a wave, while the boys stay where they are, calculating eyes roving over them. Marinette can’t really judge them for that- she has already scanned all of them for weaknesses too, though there weren’t many.

Damian sniffs. “I do not see why Father chooses to keep these imbeciles around now that he has a blood son and blood daughter.” Marinette smacks him on the head again, because his attitude is getting a little irritating.

“They are not here for you to demean, brother.” She hisses in Icelandic. “Father has deemed them family because they have proved themselves worthy. You well treat them with respect, or I will treat you the way you treat them.” Damian grumbles, but thankfully quiets.

Marinette quickly gives the others a small curtsy. “My apologies for my brother. He can be quite abrasive, but he is learning. It is an honor to meet those whom our father considers family.”

Cassandra responds first, patting each of them lightly on the shoulder, making sure to keep her posture relaxed and non-threatening. “Sister. Brother.”

Jason and Damian stare each other down, and Marinette internally sighs. Men and their need to have… what was that phrase I read online? The biggest penis energy? Jason breaks the silence. 

“Damian al Ghul. Ibn al Xu’ffasch. Grandson of Ra’s al Ghul, Heir to the Demon’s Head. Never knew you had a sister.”

Damian shifts protective towards Marinette. “I learned of her existence last year.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Timothy frowns. “Grandson of Ra’s al Ghul? As in the grandchildren of the man who is not only obsessed with Bruce, but also the head of the League of Assassins? These are assassin children?”

Cassandra frowns, hurt. She points to herself. “Assassin child.”

“I’ve been in the League too, Replacement.” Jason shrugs. 

“No, you don’t understand.” Timothy shakes his head. “These are Ra’s grandchildren, kids that Talia gave birth to after some questionable activities with Bruce. Who’s to say that Ra’s didn’t plant them here as moles? Why should we trust them?”

Marinette feels a pang of hurt against her will. “Ra’s al Ghul may have been my grandfather by blood, but he was never more than any other assassin in the League to me. He was the one who took me away from my brother at birth. He is the reason why I have been died twice and been revived both times by the Lazarus Pit. He is the reason why I only got to meet my twin last year, and you think I would work for him, act as a spy for him, when I finally escape the League to live with my father?”

“Whatever.” Timothy spits. “I still don’t trust you.” He pivots and walks out of the room.

Marinette reads a fear in his body language, but it isn’t fear of their skills, or fear that they might kill him. It’s a fear of being replaced, and suddenly, she understands.

“...You don’t plan on betraying us, right?” Jason asks suddenly.

Damian huffs. “Tt. Of course not, Todd. I wish to become Batman one day, and betraying Father’s cause would be extremely counterproductive to my efforts.”

Sometime during their encounter, Alfred had disappeared. Cassandra heads to the exit, and gestures for them to follow. “Come. Breakfast now.”

Timothy does not show while they eat, and neither does Father. Alfred nearly has an aneurysm when he learns that Marinette has never had chocolate (a side effect of being a low-ranked assassin) and immediately starts stuffing chocolate-covered pastries into her hands.

“I insist that you try one.” Alfred says. “You will find it quite delicious.” Marinette obediently takes a bite, and a delightfully rich flavor fills her mouth.

She has never known that food could taste so good, and says as much. Alfred’s pleased face, Damian’s small smile, and Cassandra’s grin make her feel warm inside. Evidently, there is a lot she doesn’t know about the world, but she is excited and willing to learn.

.o0o.

Marinette and Damian carry out their plan after the rest leave for patrol (sans Jason, who was still benched because of his ribs) and believe they are asleep.

They change into the darkest, most flexible clothing they can find in their room and silently slip out of the window after disabling all the alarms. Wayne Manor’s security measures are evaded with some effort, and they are out in the midst of Gotham City in almost no time at all.

 Ubu has not tried to hide at all. He is entertaining two women when they burst in, already having disabled the cameras around the area just in case.

“Leave, harlots.” Damian spits at the women, as Marinette charges the much larger man. Her steel fans glint in the light as she slashes.

Ubu does manage to escape the apartment, but the twins easily catch up to him even though he runs through the traffic. The drivers don’t seem very disturbed. It must be a normal occurrence in Gotham, to see a hulking man running from two children with swords and fans.

Damian tackles Ubu, but after a half-hearted attempt at interrogation, in which the man purposefully riles him up, he raises his sword, the angle indicating he intended to kill him.

“Akhi, no!” Marinette cries, and she sees a blur of blue and black as her brother is tackled, sword flying out of his grip. She snarls, flicking open her fans and ready to hurt whoever attacked her brother, but stops when she realizes who the man is. “Nightwing.”

Richard Grayson sighs. “The psychos keep getting younger.” 

Damian growls, launching himself at the larger man with a battle cry. The fight lasts about six minutes before Nightwing manages to tie her brother up, hanging from a streetlamp with a gag in his mouth. Marinette was trying to get them to stop all the while, to no avail, and she didn’t want to step in for fear of hurting either brother.

Nightwing turns to her. “Do I need to tie you up the hard way too?”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “Thank you for finally acknowledging my existence. If you had actually listened, Nightwing, you would know that your offer is not necessary. My name is Marinette. My twin is Damian, and we are Bruce Wayne’s biological children. Hello, older brother.”

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