#like the countdown before jumping on the enterprise

[nonbinaryurianger]

i was paying attention to urianger for emix reasons during the prison break duty, and i've come to the conclusion that the devs forgot about him

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Approaching Countdown.”

Had to write this at work today, so sorry it is short. 

The GA chairwoman stood in the oppressive muggy heart of Earth. She really hated it, it made her skin itch and her eyes sting, there wasn’t enough water in their atmosphere to actually cause her any harm, but there was definitely enough of it to make her very uncomfortable. A part of her had hoped that it might rain, forcing her to stay off world for the weather formation, but these humans knew what they were doing and had scheduled the launch for a cloudless day.

She looked up at the yellow earth sun and sighed. The humans had been very excited to invite the GA delegations out to view the launch. Humans were generally very excited to show anyone they could their dangerous past, and looking at the thing that was passing for a spaceship, she could not see how it would get more than a few inches off the ground, much less out of orbit. Supposedly they had dipped into very rare rocket fuel reserves to even do this as it required fossil fuel.

Fossil Fuel!

Let that sink in for a moment.

Liquified dead plant and animal remains mixed with liquid oxygen and some sort of oxidizer. She wasn’t sure what that last part meant, she wasn’t a rocket scientist. She sighed again, personally she wished she didn’t have to be here, for she doubted the launch was going to go as the human expected. In all reality her nerves were shot and she wished that she could just pass out for the next few hours and forget where she was. Everything was out of her hands anyway. Her orders had been given and now all she could do was wait.

She stood in the heat not too distant from her array of human bodyguards,dressed in dark suits and wearing dark glasses to cover their eyes. Somehow they managed to look more intimidating than normal humans did frowning, missing the characteristic tooty smile she had grown to associate with humans.

Shehad spent far too much time with Admiral Vir it seemed.

She sighed at the thought of him and shook her head.

Every time she tried to think about something else, it just circled back around to him. She tried not to think about it, taking a very deep breath.

There was some shuffling behind her and she turned slowly on her knuckles feeling the concrete grinding below her hands as she did. Two Tesraki and one other Rundi stood behind her having been let through by the human guards, who still eyed them with some measure of suspicion.

“Everything is in place, Chancellor.”

She nodded her head once.

“How many?”

There are at least thirty patrolling the borders of the trajectory zone. They will know as soon as he breaches orbit.

“And our engineers?”

“We are having trouble gaining access, but we are still working on it.”

“You better hope that we can.”

She lifted her head towards the sky where she could see the faint line of the moon against the blueness of the sky.

“We better hope.”

***

Captain Richard’s palms were very sweaty. He tried to wipe them discreetly on his pants or more accurately a onesie the scientists were calling a “Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment. So like a Onesie with tubes in it. He glanced sidelong over to where Admiral Vir was sitting staring at the antique space suit equipment laid out before them. 

He tried not to make it look like he was staring, but he totally was.

Admiral Vir wasn’t much older than him, maybe by a year or two, but that was part of what made being in the same room with him so strange. Every time he, or probably anyone, though of an admiral, they generally thought of some stuffy grey haired fat guy who sat behind a desk and gave orders. But…. this guy…. Well he was nothing like that at all. He was young and stupidly fit, and sure he had some white hair appearing at his temples, but his hair was blond enough you only noticed it in certain light.

And he was very personable, that was the first thing Richards had noticed.

The man knew how to work a room. He was funny, and despite being intimidated by his status, he found himself forgetting constantly that this guy wasn’t someone cool he had just met out at the bar. 

As if he could sense someone looking at him, Admiral Vir turned around theappriture of his mechanical eye adjusting slightly. He grinned in a very un-admiral way, “This is so friggin awesome.” The man looked like he was about to jump out of his boots, “Just look at this stuff-” He grinned some more dancing from one foot to the other, “Happiest damn day of my life and I’m wearing a diaper.”

That got the rest of the shuttle crew laughing which then devolved into a discussion about the pros and cons of diapers versus the new suit catheters. There was a surprising split on the discussion as the group of men talked, a conversation that was only broken as a group of scientists stepped in to help them with their suits. The process was rather tedious, the suits were bulky and cumbersome, nothing like the neat, sleek and comfortable suits used on regular ships.

Stepping into the pants of the suit they had to hold their arms up as the upper portion was lowered into place over their heads while others hurried in to pull on their arms and then help them fit into the gloves. He ducked his head as the communications cap was placed over his head. They would be wearing the full suit into orbit, though they would be allowed to take it off on the journey over. A journey which would take roughly three days or more to complete. One of them would stay in orbit while Admiral Vir and Richards himself took the lunar module down to the surface.

It was all supposed to go very smoothly from here.

Once suited up he couldn’t help but be reminded of when he was a child ready to go sledding with his siblings, in his massive snow pants and puffy jacket, waddling across the floor with his arms held out to either side.

He honestly hoped he looked cooler than he felt.

Admiral Vir might have been able to pull it off if he wasn’t nearly skipping, which seemed pretty improbable in the massive ass snowman suit.

Glancing out the long windows and into the horizon, he could see crowds of people set up in the distance. Head was a teenager when the Enterprise Launched, standing in an awed crowd as the massive behemoth hauled herself into the sky. He remembered the thrill, and he remembered the fear as he watched it go higher and higher and higher.

He remembered that day as one that led him to where he was now, and couldn’t believe it.

***

 The UN president stood at her lectern feeling a soft breeze blow through her hair. Today was a good day, or at least it was shaping up to be a good day. She had two folders sitting under the lectern like she always did during times like this. One of them was green and one of them was red.

The red one was sitting on top.

She glanced over to where the GA president stood and scowled slightly. She had always thought the little creature was kind of ugly looking like an ant. She had never liked bugs, or bug like things of any kind, which she found to be a common trait among aliens, Drev, Vrul, Gibb, Rundi, Burg.

She looked up at the sky neck stretched out sunning herself in the bright morning.

She could see the rocket in the distance held up on its platform. Admiral Vir would be moving into place now. Most people would see this only as some sort of historical recreation act, but PR analytics suggested that, if the Admiral succeeded, approval rating in the GA would go up almost 3 percent. Human and alien relations had been rockier than most people would like to admit. If Admiral Vir were to fail, the failure would likely shock the aliens senseless, and if he died. It could completely break down human/alien relations for the foreseeable future.

They were on the cusp of cooperation or war, and any single event could push them in that direction.

Relations might have already broken down if it wasn’t for Admiral Vir.

The president reached down a hand brushing the tips of her fingers over the red folder.

***

Jade examined the rocket from the inside of her decontaminated engineer’s suit. She was busy going over final checks before the craft was launched. Personally she thought it was a bad idea. There was no reason to go and do something so dumb when they had perfectly viable technologies available at their fingertips. Of course, she understood the value and importance of major historical events, but that didn’t mean they had to reenact them. I mean it's not like anyone ever wanted toreinaced the titanic or the Berlin wall, or burning down the library of Alexandria, but for some reason some yahoos wanted to strap themselves to a rocket inside a tin can and fly into space.

Using the same EXACT design from TWO THOUSAND years ago.

Might as well start using steam locomotives to get around.

She inched her way along the scaffolding catwalk  just a few hundred feet in the air. She didn’t mind heights, butcher wasn’t stupid, and would enver risk herself unecissarily. She examined the bolts holding the ship together passing a critical eye over each and every one of them. If just a single one of them got loose, it might potentially pull the whole panel off. If that happened, the launch trajectory might destabilize and they could begin to spin into the ground and explode.

Off in the distance she heard an alarm calling her down from above.

She would need to leave soon, and so tucked her clipboard under one arm and began to climb down one of the ladders towards the distant ground.

It was then that she noticed something strange. She didn’t know why she noticed it, it was so small, and she was in a hurry but…. There was something…. Strange. She glanced over and squinted towards the strange reflection.

The siren continued to blare.

She should really go.

She started to descend but then.

“You might want to check that again.”

She nearly leaped out of her skin at the voice turning on the spot and pitching ackwards with wide open eyes nearly falling over the rail as she came face to face with a porcelain white face and wide black eyes like pools of onyx. For a second she almost screamed assuming she had gone insane, but then paused as she saw the figure floating before her a gravity belt around it’s waist, and hundreds of white ribbons streaming from it’s back.

A starborn!

She had seen a documentary mentioning them, even with a few images, so she knew who it was. She also knew that they could read minds.

It wasn’t supposed to be able to speak, but this one was wearing translation gloves, and spoke sign language rather fluently.

“You might want to check again.” It repeated

“But I-”

“The Admiral is expecting an attempt on his life, and the best way to do it would be to sabotage the shuttle. You will want to help me because if the Admiral dies, my daughter will be very upset.”

She opened her mouth then closed it, not sure how to respond but eventually turned back to the shuttle and leaned forward pointing to the side of the rocket, “That, right there, can you float over and take a look. The creature floated past her, billowing like smoke as he eased over. He pointed, “This?”

“Yes.”

He touched it.

“Can you feel it/” She wondered.

“It doesn't feel like the rest of the ship though I cannot say how.”

“Keep looking around, I need to call in-”

“NO!”

She frowned hand halfway to her mic.

“Don’t tell them, we don’t want them to know that we have found anything.

She wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t feel like pissing this thing off, so reached to her mic, “Mission control this is Engineering, i'll need a postpone on the launch while I finish off my checklist. This is taking longer than I anticipated.”

“Roger that.” mission control responded.

The sirens stopped a moment later as she urged the Starborn forward to prod at the spot. There wasa soft peeling noise, and after a moment, she watched as the creature came away with a strip of tape.

He floated over to her and she examined it. That shouldn’t have been there, this was not the heat resistant sort of tape they used, and it certainly wasn’t something they would have bothered to put on the outside of a ship. The only thing it seemed to do was match the paint color.

She leaned forward glancing at the side of the shi. If this had gone up during exit it would have burned off, and that would reveal. 

The loose bolt underneath. Just like she feared.

She could fix it and ordered the starborn to do so following the instructions in her head. After that she ordered him to take her vest camera and fly around the outside of the rocket. She had noticed based on the way the light interacted with the tape as compared to the finish of the rocket’s exterior. 

If only she had someone who was good at distinguishing subtle color, and then she remembered.

She called the starborn back.

“Go, get a Drev and hurry back here. I’ll try to stall them.”

[krispydefendorpolice]

Once Upon A Miraculous - Part 2

Ok before we even get into the story here’s yet another warning to think twice before you continue. Jason dies. He dies in a gruesome, traumatizing event and even though I think I went over it very lightly I still think it’s pretty fucking graphic. I’m the writer and I. Had. To. Fucking. Stop. And take a break before I could continue with the story.

Violence and the results it can have on the body ahead. Madness from the pit and angst from hurt feeling of being replaced ahead. For the last time. You’ve all been warned so read at your own risk.

I’m going to trust that you all know your headspace well enough and for those that choose to read anyways? Thank you for going on this journey with me. I hope the falls between here and the end are worth the river journey and the lake we reach at the end (yes those are f*ing metaphors. I’m feeling philosophical at the moment)

Previous Masterpost list

————————————

“It’s me Nettie. I’m alive”

****************************

Jason was 14 years old when he met the Batman. He came across an unwatched batmobile. The tires on it could be sold for more than the average car and he had the tools on him.

One last check and he got to work. He was already thinking about the things he could buy for himself and his street siblings that he forgot the number one rule. Always keep a lookout.

The Batman caught him red handed with three wheels off and the fourth half done. After being forced to return the wheels to the car Jason was taken to the underground batcave. He met Alfred and the unmasked Batman. Bruce “fucking billionaire” Wayne.

Less than a month later he’s living in the manor and has been “adopted”. He doesn’t trust it. Rich men don’t want son’s and there are too many kids with stories about the horrors that “nice family’s” hide behind closed doors. But he’s got a roof over his head and food in his stomach. If Wayne thinks that will be enough to buy him he’s going to find out how wrong he was.

Jason starts small at first. If he can just get the man angry enough to throw him out he won’t have to worry about being brought back. Setting all the alarms in the house and making them unfixable was a bit of a challenge. Seeing Bruce’s face when he changed the passwords was brilliant.

It continued that way for a few months until Bruce finally decided if Jason was gonna be a little shit he could learn to fight better instead. Jason decided that if he was going to learn to fight he would take over the abandoned Robin role too.

Dick was not happy. The first time Jason got to meet the man was after he was seen as Robin. He came to the manor and yelled at Bruce, saying he had no right to give his costume and name to someone else. Jason listened from the second story.

As angry as the two men got neither came to blows over it. Dick ended the fight by storming out and he put the older hero on radio silence for months after but neither had any injuries from their disagreement. If Jason had ever even looked at his old man funny as a kid he would have a black eye and welts on his back to show for it.

Maybe Bruce could be trusted after all?

****************************

At 15 years old Bruce is engaged to Selina Kyle. Their on again off again thing as hero and thief where they danced around each other had been driving Jason and Alfred batty. It was nice to see them actually settle into their thing as each challenged the other and kept them on their toes.

When Selina said she was going to be spending the summer with the daughter of an old schoolmate of hers Jason didn’t think much of it. He knew she had a legit degree she used to assess the potential spoils of her criminal activities.

He arrived at Wayne Enterprises a little early for their lunch meeting. Bruce had told him they’d meet in the lobby so after greeting the receptionists he looked for a place to sit. In one of the chairs facing the doors a small girl looked up at the windows before going back to her book and writing something. No she was probably drawing with long pencil strokes like that.

Curious he walked over to see if he could look at her drawing. He could see what looked like an image of the stained glass windows on the page but the lines through them gave it a softer, almost flowing shape. Which was weird cause glass wouldn’t follow those lines.

“What are you drawing?” He found himself asking her.

She jumped so he’d obviously surprised her. His thoughts were captured by her bright blue eyes. In the light coming from those stained glass windows she’d been admiring they almost seemed to glow.

She said she was designing a dress while she waited for her guardian and the fiancé to return. This must be Selina’s friends daughter.

Lunch was a fun affair where the girl shared she would be designing costumes for Jagged stone to wear during his concert tour this summer. She would stay with Selina in Gotham from Monday to Thursday while she designed and created clothes she would fly to whatever city Jagged was playing in from Thursday to Sunday to be on hand during the concerts for any costume repairs that would be needed.

Bruce volunteered Jason to show Marinette around the city since it wouldn’t be safe for her to be alone. Jason agrees because it’s summer break and he likes the Marinette he talked stained glass windows with and wonders what other beauty she will see in his dark city.

**

He is breathless by the beauty she sees all around her. The joy and happiness she shines as easily as she breathes. Everyone she meets becomes a new friend. Even the tamer of the Rogues and the Siren’s who meet her are enthralled by her smile and her charm.

Kissing her was a completely spontaneous action. He had thought about it for weeks by then but she had said there was a guy back home she sort of still had a crush on though she wasn’t happy with how they wanted to deal with the liar situation. So he was resigned to keeping his budding feelings to himself so that he could see her happy.

It had been the night of the last concert. Jagged had Marinette come on stage where he officially introduced her as his designer and the creator of all the tour costumes to the world. She had beamed with a smile so wide that when she threw herself into Jason’s arms after walking off stage he had just pulled back and placed a kiss on her lips.

He froze when he realized what he did. Marinette had stood on her tiptoe to start their second kiss.

For a week they were blissfully happy and free with their affection. Multiple paparazzi got pictures of them holding hands, kissing each other or just cuddling when they were waiting. Jasonette and the Sunshine of Gotham blew up on social media.

Saying goodbye to her was a really hard thing to do. So Jason went shopping for something he could give her to remember him by. They had decided they would try a long distance thing but he was afraid it wouldn’t be enough. If they did fall apart from distance he wanted something she could use to always fondly remember the summer fling they had.

It was perfect. He knew it might be impractical but he was convinced that it would be the perfect gift for her someday.

************************

They made it work. They had talked everyday and he spent every chance he could in France with her. He met her parents and they met Bruce as well. Marinette had her school situation resolved following her return.

He was proud of her for sticking up for herself when all her classmates seemed ready to abandon the liar just because Marinette had a connection they could use again. Nathaniel, Rose and Juleka were all artsy like Marinette and he could see how their creative energies inspired each other and themselves.

He was a week away from his departure to spend the summer in France with Marinette and her family when it happened. A false lead led to his capture by the Joker.

(Begin Angst)

The first break hurt but it was bearable. He had broken bones before. His bio dad had broken them frequently when he was still alive. The fifth hurt as bad. He also had a concussion and several burns at that time as well.

What felt like days, weeks, years... minutes?, passed in a haze as he jerked with every new hit. He was a mess from vomit, blood, piss and shit when his body couldn’t follow his commands any longer.

He held to the belief that Batman would come for him. That his father could still save him.

When the Joker left, Jason was lying on the concrete floor looking at the bomb countdown. He knew he had to get out of there, he pushed his battered body past the point he could feel pain and struggled to the door. He pulled on it but it wouldn’t open. The rattle of chains on the other side told him why.

He collapsed to the floor, tears streaming as he watched the numbers countdown.

10, 9, 8...

I’m sorry Alfred.

7, 6, 5,...

I’m sorry Bruce.

4, 3,...

I’m sorry Nettie.

2, 1,

I love...

(End Angst)

He was only 16. He would never see 17.

***************************

It was dark. It was small. It was hard to breathe. He was in some kind of box. He screamed and hit the walls around him trying to get out, trying to find some air.

It surprised him when cold pieces fell from above him. It had a new smell. He focused his determination on that spot. More of the new thing came down into his cage. He pushed it away from him and continued. There. Briefly a breath of clean, fresh air.

With new determination he pushed harder towards the life giving air. He was able to pull his head and shoulders out of the box. He rested for a moment swallowing greedy gulps of air into his starved lungs. When he was able to continue he pulled himself from the ground and looked around. As far as his eye could see were stones standing from the ground around him and beyond those trees and underbrush fading into shadows.

He picked a direction at random and began to walk.

**

It was familiar. Grab an item, run. The actions came without conscious memory. The streets were cold but he was big enough to scare off the worst of the predators. There were a few small people, kids, that came to him for protection from the bigger people. He did what he could but it never seemed to be enough he thought, as he stood over another small, broken body.

“I can give you a way to protect them.”

He looked up. She was beautiful but her eyes were cold. Empty and unfeeling. But she had promised to give him a way to protect the little ones. He was willing to try anything for that power.

What was his name? How old was he? He didn’t know.

****************************************

Jason.

He remembered his name as he lunged from the sickly green waters that Talia had led him to. He remembered Bruce, his father, but he didn’t save him from the Joker. He remembered the Jokers laughter ringing in his ears as he stood over another broken child on the streets. And the new shadow following the shape of the Batman when he was an amnesiac wandering the streets of Gotham.

He had been REPLACED!! He fumed. The anger and resentment over Bruces inability to save him, to avenge him and his replacing him as if Jason meant nothing, festered and boiled in his mind.

When he left the League of Shadows his only plan was to go back to Gotham and get revenge for his own death and to hurt his so called father as badly as he could. If Jason meant so little to him then he would show how little Bruce meant to him.

**

(Mild violence ahead)

Their first reunion was in a fight over drug dealers selling heroin to kids. Jason looked directly at the bat, pulled his gun and shot the dealers in the forehead.

(Violence over)

“These are my streets now. I won’t tolerate kids getting hurt on my watch.”

He disappeared before Batman could restrain him.

For weeks they danced around. Batman trying to catch him and Jason using every trick he learned from the Bat himself to avoid him.

Blood flowed freely from the wicked and the corrupt. He was a villain in his own right bringing judgement and execution down upon the criminals of Gotham.

Batman always appealed to the better side of him, to stop his madness. Didn’t he understand that part died? The child that trusted in heroes to protect the innocent died at the hands of a monster. A monster that his father couldn’t chase away.

The RedHood was risen from the pits and unleashed upon the evil of Gotham.

He was 18 years old.

******************************

Months of their back and forth dynamic between RedHood and Batman passed. The Batman couldn’t arrest the RedHood but the RedHood couldn’t stop tweaking his cape to get a reaction.

Didn’t he care? Wasn’t he going to stop him? He was doing everything wrong so why wouldn’t Bruce do the same for him that he did for all the other criminals in Gotham?

It was when Jason had the Joker at the business end of a gun that he got his answers.

“Don’t do it Hood,” Bruce pleaded. “It will change you beyond what you can come back from if you do.”

“I’ve already killed, B,” his words caught as he gasped, fighting back tears of rage. “My hands are dripping in blood.

He laughed madly then, “‘Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’ Who knew that bitch knew what she was talking about.”

“It’s the madness that’s done it Hood. You’ve barely held control before. But you’re fighting the killing urge and directing it to those that do deserve it.”

“And yes,” he interrupted before Jason could argue, “no one deserves it more than Joker for what he’s done to you. But if you do it then the madness will win. Please I can’t lose my son again,” he begged.

“WHY DOES THAT MATTER NOW?!” Jason screamed. “He killed me. I was dead in the ground and you let him walk. WHY COULDN’T YOU KILL HIM?! AM I THAT MEANINGLESS TO YOU!?!!”

“I COULDN’T!” Bruce yelled back. “If I killed him I wouldn’t be able to stop killing. It wouldn’t just be the Joker that died, it would be every criminal in Gotham who dared step out of line. I wanted to. I still want to. He took my son from me but I know that once I start I won’t be able to stop. I’m sorry that I’m so weak, but I couldn’t.”

The Batman, no Bruce Wayne, stood before him, head bowed in defeat as he admitted to his greatest shame.

Jason looked away before dropping the gun and walking away. He knew Bruce would take the Joker back to Arkham so he just needed to get away and think.

**

They worked to build their relationships anew. He couldn’t be the son Bruce remembered anymore, too much had changed, but he could be the son he was today. He could do what he could for the Replacement and make sure the kid didn’t get himself killed on the streets. The girl that joined them got the same measure of protection though she was better able to defend herself.

When he finally let go of thoughts of revenge he could think about a time when a stray spark of living Sunshine found its way to cold, grey Gotham. He finally looked up news of Marinette to see how she was doing. He broke down and cried when her wedding announcement to the son of a Parisian fashion house was the first thing to pop up.

Selina, Bruce and Alfred all encouraged him to take a trip to France anyways to get some closure, to say goodbye. But he refused, the smile in her eyes as she looked at her new husband in the picture convinced him that she was happy. And that was all he ever wanted for her, even if it couldn’t be him giving the her the world.

He was 19 years old when he made peace with his past.

****************************

He was 20 years old when news of the villain Hawkmoth and his defeat hit the international press. He was livid to realize that his beloved Nettie had been in so much danger just living in a city that should have been safe. That the Justice League had done nothing when the citizens pleaded for help.

It felt like the period after his revival in the pit as he stormed the halls of the WatchTower. His vision was in various shades of red and his thoughts just kept turning back to how Marinette might have been killed in one of the villain’s monster attacks. Hell, she probably did die once or twice only to be revived by the hero’s magic.

If he ever got to meet LadyBug he would shower her in appreciation for defending the city his Nettie lived in.

The door crashed and nearly fell off the hinges when he threw it open and stormed through into the Leagues council room.

“RedHood,” Batman said calmly as he stalked up to the table.

Slamming his hands down and leaning over the collected heroes he asked what he’d wanted to since the news broke.

“Who. Screwed. Up?”

“When footage of the attacks first reached the League, investigations were done. No lasting damage was left from the attacks so it was written off as a publicity stunt and subsequent messages were ignored,” Batman explained. “It was a phone operator that fielded these calls. They went based off the assessment done by the League and deleted them.”

“She could have died B. I was dead and couldn’t do anything but you should have been keeping an eye on her. You know what she means to me.”

Batman nodded, “I should have. The messages never reached me but I should have been keeping a watch on her regardless of that.”

“You’re going to make amends to those heroes for ignoring them,” Jason stated. “All of you are,” he added, including the other heroes in the room in his statement.

“Yes,” Batman agreed.

Jason jerked his head in a nod and left the room. Going back to the cave where he can do his own check and make sure Marinette was safe.

********************************

It wasn’t just the League that failed Marinette. Jason knew he was as much to blame. If he had gone to Paris? If he had seen her? If he had told her he was alive? Would she have suffered under Hawkmoth? If, if, if.

News of the divorce of up and coming fashion designer MDC and the son of the fashion mogul and former villain Adrian Agreste hit airwaves like lightning. In the beginning people claimed it was Marinette who left because of Hawkmoth’s identity. Adrian was fast to shut that down and own that he was the one to ask for the divorce for personal reasons. With what seemed to be an amicable break up the world turned its attention to the next sound bite.

He’d failed her again. Jason just sat by his empty grave as he cried when he learns about it. He argues with Alfred and Selina when they bring up him visiting Paris afterwards. This time Bruce supports his decision. He doesn’t approve and lets Jason know it, but he supports him.

Returning to the cave after patrol, Jason was the last to arrive. He didn’t know why everyone was gathered by the computer so he went to take a look. He didn’t hear what Alfred said as he walked over. Momentarily blinded by the helmet as he removed it, he froze when he finally saw what, no who, had his family’s attention.

She had grown since their first meeting, not in height but in maturity. She had traded the fun pigtails for an elegant braid, and jeans for a sundress obviously of her own design.

“Hi, Monsieur Alfred introduced the others but I haven’t gotten your name yet. I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she introduces herself as if she were meeting a stranger for the first time.

It hurt his heart that she would do that with him, though he realizes why she did. She didn’t know. She couldn’t know that it was him under the mask.

The words wouldn’t come though when he tried to find them and tell her. He finally settled for showing her, hoping she would believe her eyes.

After she gasped in reaction to his reveal he thought maybe his approach was a bit boneheaded after all. Nothing to do but go forward from there though.

“It’s me Nettie. I’m alive.”

Marinette teared up but instead of breaking down and crying she ran to him and jumped into his arms. Burying her face in his neck she just murmured “You’re alive” over and over.

“Yeah,” he admitted. He held her as tightly as he dared. A little worried he might hurt her by accident.

When she pulled away he reluctantly let her go but it was worth it.

She gave him the biggest smile and he saw it again.

He was 21 years old and the sun was shining in cold, grey Gotham once more.

————————————

So I really got into the structure I used for the first chapter and exuded to use the same for this one. They end at different ages because Jason’s a few months older and this happened in that in between time (the real reason is sections were getting too busy so I add another year to his story. How do I rationalize it? Well birthdays are a thing so there you go).

I hope everyone enjoyed this wild ride. I do plan to do an epilogue chapter but that will have to wait until next weekend. Anyone have any ideas you can send it to me.

@pepelachanel @mellownieice @kris-pines04 @zebrabaker @two-faced-biatch @vixen-uchiha @mandy984 @shamefullove @mycupisbroken @dawnwave16 @abrx2002 @mochinek0 @tbehartoo @fertileleaf @thanks-captain-obvious @ravennightingaleandavatempus @hinata3487 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @zalladane @dast218 @miraculous786 @18-fandoms-unite-08 @moonlightstar64 @mooshoon @ladybug182 @iggy-of-fans @legendaryneckjudgestudent @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @finallyaniguana @tog84 @mystery-5-5 @evil-elf16

[jasontoddiefor]

Title: I measure every Grief I meet

Summary: Batman arrives in time and Jason spends hours buried beneath his father’s corpse, crying and begging and bleeding before Alfred finally manages to contact someone to come bring them home. Ethiopia is a constant in most universes, but who dies isn’t written in stone.

AN: Y’all remember when I said I had big angst coming? This is it. Have fun!

There were three truths to being Robin.

1.      You are the distraction. The hits they see coming but don’t expect to hurt. The bright light, the laughter and the joy.

2.      You are half of a whole. Batman and Robin are a team, which is why you shouldn’t fly on your own.

And most importantly:

3.      Batman will always catch you, no matter what.

Jason had held onto that last truth even when the Joker wouldn’t stop beating him and all he wanted to do was scream. His legs were on fire, the few steps he had taken had been worse than any beating he had endured before. Jason knew that once the adrenaline wore off, he wouldn’t be able to move them at all. All Jason wanted to was scream, or better yet, take the fucking crowbar and hit the Joker right back with it until he was lying on the floor, blood slowly collecting under his head-

But Jason couldn’t. He had to endure, had to save his energy until Bruce would come and get him.

He’d make it.

Jason knew he’d arrive.

Bruce always did.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jason saw the Joker returning from the back of the warehouse. He tried to keep his breathing even like he hadn’t started struggling to push air in and out of his lungs hours ago. He wanted to shut his eyes, spare himself the sight of a future filled with broken bones, a blood-drenched uniform and pus covered lacerations. But Jason had to stay awake, stay aware. The moment he lost consciousness of what was done to him, he’d lose whatever advantage he still had.

Even if the said advantage was only knowing what weapon the Joker had taken to his bruised body. Instead of the anticipated object of torture, the Joker returned holding onto a coat. Instead of stopping beside Jason, he walked towards the entrance of the warehouse.

“Okay, kiddo, I gotta go,” the Joker began to speak. Jason noticed how rough and low his voice sounded. He’d never heard it so deep. Usually, it was as high-pitched and disorientating as nails on a blackboard, screeching birds, a violin played by a beginner.

“It’s been fun, alright. Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me than you.”

The Joker shrugged as if he were talking about daily trivialities. “I’m just guessing since you’re being awfully quiet.”

He watched Jason just a moment longer, his eyes too sharp, too calculating. There was madness in these green pits of poison, but it wasn’t the kind found before the jump into insanity. This was afterward, calculated unhingedness betting on sudden terrifying inspirations for an even more gruesome plan.

“Anyway! Be a good boy, finish your homework and be in bed by nine. And hey! Please tell the big man I said hello.”

The Joker finished putting on his coat. The jarring of the door mashed with the Joker’s laughter, the sound still echoing in the silence that followed.

Jason allowed himself two short breaths, then he rolled backwards to get on his feet. His… everything protested vividly with pinpricks against him moving. He managed two wonky steps forwards before crashing to the ground again. His body begged for rest, but the door was right there. Jason just had to keep moving forward.

He’d get out of this.

He would go home and apologize to Alfred for running away without another word. Ask Babs to teach him that cool kick she did on their last joined patrol. Call Dick and tell him he’d like to just hang out sometime and try out this whole siblings package that came with being Bruce Wayne’s son.

Jason would go back home and hug his Dad and promise to never ever take on such a dumb and dangerous risk headfirst again. He’d honor the ‘you’re worth more than the mission,’ whispered at his bedside when Bruce thought Jason was asleep.

Hot tears ran over Jason’s cheeks. He lifted his right arm and pushed himself forward. Then he moved his left arm, bare skin scraping over the dirty floor of the warehouse. One arm after another, Jason slowly crawled towards his freedom.

It’s a trap, his ever vigilante sub-consciousness whispered. It sounded like a starved child begging for food on the streets. The Joker’s right behind that. He’s waiting for you. He’ll grab your ankles and drag you back inside again and laugh and laugh and laugh.

He didn’t slow down.

Jason was choking on his own spit and blood, but he didn’t dare stop even for a second longer than necessary. The way over to the door took ages so that he could hardly believe it when he actually made it. Reenergized, Jason jogged the door handle, but it didn’t move.

The door didn’t open.

Hysteria bubbled up in his mind, emerging from his throat as barely contained whimpers. He just wanted out, he wanted to go home.

Sobbing, Jason leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Everything would be alright. He was still here, but the Joker wasn’t. Bruce would find him in no time. He was Batman. They were a team. They didn’t- shouldn’t leave each other behind.

And if not for that fucking ticking noise, Jason would be able to focus on that as well, instead of crying like a child. The noise kept distracting him, reminding him painfully of every second passing away while Jason had to wait for rescue. Like the world’s most annoying countdown, the ticking continued.

Jason opened his eyes and turned his head so fast that he became nauseous.

A small black box covered in tape and wires was lying innocently on the wooden boxes to Jason’s left.

Tick. Tock.

A Bomb.

There wasn’t even a minute left until it would blow up. It would set the sky ablaze, burn everything in reach to ashes and Jason-

20.

Jason was right in the middle of it.

17.

He’d die.

15.

Bruce would be too late and he’d die.

13.

The door to Jason’s right crashed open. A shadow, tall, dark, imposing and so familiar.

“Jay, son-“

“Bomb!” Jason screamed and Bruce didn’t even bother to search for it. He pulled Jason close and began to run. The warehouse and the bomb to their back. Jason’s head was resting in the crook of Bruce’s neck.

He exhaled.

Fire torched the earth.

X

Jason’s ears were ringing. 

Everything was silent, yet the screaming in his head wouldn’t stop. It assaulted his mind like the crescendo of an untuned violin. Small fires crawled over the remains of the warehouse to his right. The flames must be cracking, whispering of destruction, but all Jason heard was the terrifying emptiness of a high-pitched whirring.

Jason coughed and tried to push air into his lungs, but all that seemed to slip in was ashes. The air smelled of burned flesh and the weight on his chest made it impossible to move. 

“B?” Jason rasped.

He needed Bruce to get off. They had to start going; staying close to explosion sites was dangerous, especially in their condition. Bruce would have to carry Jason. He knew he wouldn’t be able to take another step on his own. Bruce had shielded him with his body, but the shock from the fall to the harsh ground hadn’t improved Jason’s wounds either.

“Batman?” Jason tried again. “We need to move.”

Jason could barely make out his own words. He knew he was moving his mouth and his tongue, so he must be making words. Why wasn’t Bruce reacting? “Batman!”

Silence still. Terror seized control of Jason’s voice.

“Bruce, please, wake up.”

He didn’t know what to do. Jason could count the times Bruce hadn’t been able to act on one hand, and then he had been mind-controlled, or sick. Not like this. Unmoving. The smell of burned flesh. As still as the dead-

Jason’s heartbeat accelerated, he thought his heart was about to claw itself out of his ribcage.

“Dad,” he said. “Dad, please. Wake up. I need you to wake up, don’t leave me here alone. Please don’t leave me. I’m sorry, please. I promise. Wake up. Wake up, wake up. Dad, please, wake up-”

X

Jason woke up in a hospital. The smell of antiseptics stung in his nose and his throbbing head made it difficult to open his eyes.

The world was silent.

Jason had been to plenty hospitals since he had been adopted. Bruce supported many hospitals, if not all of Gotham’s clinics, and took to visiting regularly. Jason had tagged along whenever he’d felt like it. Most of the time, he would sneak away to the children’s wing and done cartwheels for the youngest – or snuck in sweets and snacks that were better than the gross cafeteria food.

In all his visits, though, even on the intensive care station, the hospital had never been this silent.

Jason forced himself to open his eyes, and to his relief, his sight wasn’t immediately assaulted by bright white light. His room was as dark as night in Gotham with plenty of shadows that looked just vaguely human enough to scare you. The curtains were drawn and the only source of light was the TV in the corner, running the news from what he could tell.

Vicky Vale stood in front of a building Jason recognized as the Wayne Enterprises' main office. More people surrounded the plaza around it, bringing flowers, candles and balloons.

Jason must be in Gotham again. When had that happened? He’d been in Ethiopia with Bruce just before-

A sharp pain exploded in Jason’s head and he instinctively raised his hands to massage his head, an action his ribs immediately protested against.

Bruce.

He had to go check on him. Surely he was close. He was always there when Jason felt unwell. Jason had woken up so often at night with Bruce asleep at his bedside. He was probably just down the hallway.

Jason pushed the blanket off his bandage covered legs and tentatively sat his feet on the ground. He didn’t have any crutches, but the IV stand would do as well. He braced himself for pain when he shifted his weight to his feet, but thankfully only a dull numbness greeted him. Given his injuries, Jason knew standing shouldn’t be so easy. They must have given him the good stuff.

Jason gritted his teeth and took his first step. He hated painkillers.

Soon enough, Jason opened the door and reached the busy hall of the hospital. People were chatting away, running around, moving.

Jason couldn’t hear a thing, nothing but a very low rumble he wasn’t sure he was just imagining.

One of the nurses spotted him and began talking, but Jason still couldn’t make out any sounds.

“Where’s my Dad?” He said, or perhaps he shouted instead. In his panic, it might have been either or both, Jason couldn’t tell.

The nurse kept talking, moving towards him, so Jason took a step back. “Where is he!?”

There was a hand on his shoulder and Jason, all injuries be damned to hell and back, was ready to flip whoever was playing this fucked up prank on him. His hand was already at the other’s wrists, and if he hadn’t turned around in the last second, he would have followed through with it too.

“Alfred.”

Seeing Alfred amidst the chaos washed all tension off Jason’s shoulder.

“Alfred, what’s going? Where’s Bruce- Alfie?”

Alfred looked so tired, exhausted beyond his years. He had always been an unmoving constant in Jason’s world. The closest they’d get to immortality without Ra’s al Ghul he had joked with Bruce. For the first time since Jason had seen Alfred, there was nothing graceful about the butler’s age. He looked exhausted in the same way Bruce did when the two of them had to bury another child after a long night.

Alfred’s mouth moved and words must be coming out.

“I can’t hear you,” Jason said, desperation clinging to him. “Why can’t I hear you?”

Alfred was silent.

X

They went back into Jason’s room and soon after a doctor came to them. She was holding a tablet and typed out what she was saying, painstakingly slowly in Jason’s opinion. He’d been here for two days already apparently and went through a lot of surgery. They’d take him down to another station to get his ears checked out now.

“Where’s Bruce?”

Jason made sure to speak slowly, pronounce every syllable correctly without Crime Alley’s drawls. Maybe they all just couldn’t understand him properly. He felt as if he had asked this question a thousand times already. He just wanted to see his dad.

Alfred’s face was ashen and he put an arm around Jason’s shoulder.

Jason didn’t get it.

And then, when he read Alfred’s message on the tablet, he thought he had forgotten how to read as well.

Master Bruce had already passed by the time you were brought to the hospital.

Jason’s shoulders trembled and he began to laugh. High-pitched, he assumed, but he couldn’t tell because he couldn’t hear and couldn’t read too apparently because his dad wasn’t dead.

Batman couldn’t die.

X

It was Superman who had found them, supposedly.

Jason didn’t recall anything but his own pitiful begging until his tears had exhausted him and he had let himself be welcomed by the merciful emptiness.

They’d been kidnapped by the Joker.

[Lie: Jason had gone to the warehouse by himself.]

They had managed to escape.

[Truth: They had been outside.]

They had been caught by the blast.

[Truth: The heat hadn’t touched Jason but it had melted the Batsuit to Bruce’s skin, scorched his skin black.]

Superman had come across them by chance.

[Lie: Alfred had taken an hour until he had been able to connect to a League member. And then another thirty minutes until Clark Kent could get to them.]

Jason had been unconscious when they had been found.

[Truth: He had spent 83 minutes and 47 seconds buried in-between rubble and his father’s corpse, breathing in ashes and blood. He’d been awake for almost all of it, choking on his tears and his words.]

Jason was lucky. He was alive.

[Lie: He woke up with nightmares, words on his tongue he couldn’t speak. It said “Sensorineural Hearing Loss” on the white paper sheet the doctor had handed Alfred, but all Jason really saw punishment befitting the crime. He hadn’t listened. Now he wouldn’t ever hear again.]

Bruce Wayne was dead.

[Truth: Gotham was mourning, pouring flowers and light all over the streets for its favorite son. They didn’t even know yet that Batman was gone too.

And so was Robin.]

X

When Dick stepped onto the Watchtower, he was capital P Pissed. The Titans weren’t the League’s children’s club they could order around like they wanted. Dick knew the League respected them, but this first generation of heroes only ever acknowledged their boundaries when it benefited them. This was why Dick had left Gotham in the end.

Bruce could be proud of him as much as he wanted, but as long as he still expected Dick to come each time he called and follow every other like a perfect little soldier, there was nothing left in Gotham for Dick.

He had practiced his speech on the entire way back. He’d give Bruce a piece of his mind, maybe force the League to stick to some kind of regulations.

The words were stuck in his throat the moment he saw Superman.

No matter what, Clark Kent was always a rock you could lean on. He carried so much weight on his shoulders and rarely let anyone see his weaknesses. Bruce had called his behavior foolish and necessary at the same time.

Dick was vaguely aware that if there was anyone Clark confided in, it had to be Bruce. The thought that Clark must have terrible days too had never really occurred to Dick.

Clark looked grim, and so did the rest of the League.

Founders meetings didn’t happen very often since the heroes were already busy enough. Yet there all of them were, with the notable exception of Batman.

“What happened?” Dick asked.

It was Wonder Woman who spoke up first. “Two weeks ago, Robin and Batman confronted the Joker in Ethiopia. The Joker managed to escape and has so far escaped the League’s grasp. Robin has been severely injured, but is recovering steadily.”

Dread filled Dick’s thoughts. “And Batman?”

Diana stood up and walked over to Dick, taking his hands into hers as she had always done when he was young, walking around the Watchtower while Bruce was in surgery.

“Batman passed away on the 27th of April. We tried to reach you faster. His funeral is today.”

X

There were paparazzi everywhere. They were screaming his name, trying to get his attention, and Dick tried to block them all out. Kori squeezed his hand and helped him move forward. His side was still hurting from the battle he’d been in hours ago. All of it felt so surreal and fake.

Dick had seen Bruce injured plenty of time, but he had never expected those injuries to mean anything besides a little more physical therapy and another disapproving look from Alfred.

Dick knew death - it was a part of their lives.

He didn’t expect it to ever haunt him personally again. Not like this.

(He had healed before hadn’t he? Those wounds had closed, yet here they were again: wide open.)

They had reserved the first rows for family and friends. If Alfred looked bad, Jason looked downright horrible. He was sitting in a wheelchair, makeup partially hiding bruises and scars. He hadn’t bothered to cover up the bags under his eyes. Babs and the Commissioner were at the front, as well as Oliver. Dick could spot Selina in the crowd and various other Justice League members in civilian uniform. From the Kane family, only Kate had shown up, wearing a suit. Her hair was as bright as Dick remembered it from the last time he had seen her.

His relationship with Kate had always been strange. She wasn’t that much older than him, but Bruce had always treated her differently. She was his cousin and Dick was his-

Dick bit on his lips. He wanted to look at anything else. Everything but the closed casket in front of him.

He failed.

He needed to check the autopsy files later, see what had actually happened. The League’s report hadn’t even scratched the surface.

The music began to play and everybody stood up.

Dick would go to the Batcave and search for an explanation. Something about this didn’t add up in his mind and he would figure it out.

X

Jason didn’t know what the hell all the people were talking about. He didn’t even know why so many people were at the funeral. The family’s circle of friends hadn’t been all that big. Most of these people were only here for their own benefit. After all, they hadn’t been there when Bruce had-

When he-

They hadn’t been there.

Never mind Dick who looked like he was paying about as much attention to it all as Jason. Jason had excuses at least. He couldn’t hear what was going on, wouldn’t for a while longer until his ears healed the little bit they might still, and he’d get hearing aids. Jason had already cried plenty for his father. Screamed and raged too, threw books against the wall and hoped he would grow satisfied by seeing everything crash and burn.

He’d only felt horrible afterward, cried because he had damaged the Anne of Green Gables book Bruce’s mother had bought decades ago and Bruce had entrusted to him.

This funeral was useless. Jason had never been to a funeral, he only knew where his mother, where Catherine Todd, was buried thanks to Bruce researching it. Jason hadn’t been involved in her funeral. He had been searching through trash cans, looking for food.

He should have stayed in Crime Alley.

He ruined everything he touched.

X

The Cave welcomed Dick home. The familiar moving shadows embraced him, eyes watched his back and the low whirring of the Bat-Computer powering up echoed in his ears. Kori had gone back to the Titans after the funeral, they needed her more than Dick did at the moment. He would have gone with her too if he’d gotten access to the Cave immediately. But Alfred had decided to be difficult about it all. He had pretty much outright forbidden Dick from going down to the Cave. It was only after Alfred had gone out with Jason a week later to get the kid his hearing aids that Dick could finally sneak it.

Because of course he had to hack the system to get access. Damn Alfred’s paranoia.

Dick had spent many hours in the Cave, but he’d never really been alone for long. To know that he really was the only person here was strange, to say the least.

Quickly, Dick headed for the Batcomputer and opened the archive. He searched for the files that set up this whole Ethiopia mess. If there was one thing Dick had to be thankful for considering his vigilante upbringing, it was the many hours Bruce had spent with him, teaching him how to organize exactly. Bruce was a neat freak, and his own files were all categorized per date, case, duration, participants, crime and so on. Dick used a similar if slightly simplified filing system and had more or less forced his teammates to adapt to it.

Dick grinned triumphantly when he found the beginning of this particular case. He’d have to cross-reference it with the undercover cases later on to figure out what Bruce needed to disappear for.

Dick knew he and Bruce weren’t exactly on speaking terms right now, but he’d thought that for instances such as faking the death of your civilian persona, he’d have gotten a note, a call, anything.

Emotionally stunted as Bruce was, he wouldn’t just disappear on Dick like that.

He’d promised Dick.

The more Dick read, the more confused he became. Where was the hidden plot?

Groaning, Dick pushed himself away from the Batcomputer and marched over to the cabinet with the paper files. It was impossible to hack the computer unless you were Barbara Gordon, but Bruce still kept some of the critical data on paper so that you needed access to the Cave to read those files, and the Cave could withstand WW3. If there was anything more profound to it all, then surely the secret had to be hidden in-between these documents.

Dick carefully combed through the different cases, forced himself to read on where Bruce’s elegant handwriting turned into short chicken-scratches. More often than he expected, Dick had to stop and go to the mats, burn away the images of torn-apart bodies, thin children with no clothes, and horror stories of Gotham’s dirty streets. Dick had known that Gotham could be this cruel, but Bruce had never let him see these cases.

At the very end of the pile, Dick had to admit that there was nothing on these blood-stained pages that explained Bruce’s actions.

Frustrated, Dick went back to the computer to check the recordings. He still hadn’t gone through all the audio files because he usually didn’t have the patience to sit down and listen for a longer duration. And most of the time, the audios were pretty useless as well.

Dick dropped back into the massive chair in front of the computer. It was big and comfortable, he’d fallen asleep in it when he was younger and waiting up for Bruce to return home. He’d always woken up in his bed the next morning.

Dick opened up the file and it began to play.

“Bomb!”

Static.

“Jay, Jay, you’re okay-“

And the rain started pouring.

X

The manor was loud when Alfred and Jason returned. After the two weeks of mostly total silence, every sound had Jason jumping at his own shadows. His hearing aids worked as well as they could, though Jason still had troubles with certain sounds. Alfred had suggested visiting Lucius in the next days, have him take a look at them.

Jason thought he was comfortable hiding away in his room for the foreseeable future, but before he could voice such thoughts, Alfred was ushering Jason into the kitchen.

It had been a quiet, peaceful May day outside. Sunshine warmth and bird songs.

Alfred wanted to make him a hot chocolate either way and Jason was sure it was more for Alfred’s sake than Jason’s own. He wondered if drinking the hot beverage in silence was their thing. Instead of talking, they hid away in the kitchen, drowning their sorrows in sweetness as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

The kitchen was already occupied when they entered.

“Master Dick,” Alfred said, his tone almost wary.

Jason didn’t know what for. Dick had stayed away from everyone in the past weeks. Or he had stayed away from Jason at least, and in such a big and empty house, Jason was pretty much everyone. If Dick wanted to join them for dinner now, it wasn’t Jason’s place to protest.

(Though there were several things on Jason’s mind he wanted to scream at him.)

“I’ll be making hot chocolate for Master Jason and I, and I prepared lasagna for dinner. Will you be joining us?”

Dick's eyes were blue.

Barbara had made jokes about it. It had been Jason’s first time meeting Batgirl and he’d tried to impress her with a rather amateur flip. She’d smiled at him regardless.

“Gosh, B!” She had said. “Are you sure you’re not cloning yourself to get such a talented little Robins?”

Dick’s eyes weren’t blue anymore. They were stormy gray, tidal waves and hurricanes, rage, and anger.

“You’re the reason Bruce is dead,” Dick said.

His face was impassive, but his look made Jason freeze up on the spot.

“Master Dick-“

“He wouldn’t be dead, if not for you,” Dick continued, now rising to his full height.

Jason used to wonder how people could be intimidated by the ever-smiling, joyful and perfect Dick Grayson.

He didn’t anymore.

“I-“

“You got my Dad killed!” Dick shouted and lunged forward, his hands at Jason’s collar.

Not even Alfred’s shocked protests could drown out the sounds of explosions in Jason’s head because Dick was right. Jason had been stupid and reckless and only he was to blame that the two of them were orphans once more.

“I know,” he said when he finally found his voice again. Dick was still caught up in his righteous fury. “It’s my fault. I know. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- I didn’t- I’m-“

Dick let go of him and stormed out of the room.

Alfred stayed with Jason, put his hands on his back and let him cry into his neck, all while whispering sweet but useless reassurances into Jason’s ears.

He knew he was to blame.

(He wished it would have been him too.)

X

When Dick could finally feel again, he was halfway across Gotham in his Nightwing suit.

Bruce was dead.

He was dead, dead, dead deaddeaddead-

He had promised. Bruce had promised that he’d never leave Dick. He wouldn’t die, he wouldn’t make Dick bury another parent. Oh god, he had buried his father, Bruce’s burned body had been in that coffin, Dick had just stood there and watched as they killed his father a second time because he hadn’t known-

“Breathe, Dick. Look at me. Dick, can you hear me?”

Dick wanted to throw out another cheap line about hearing. He wasn’t the Robin who had lost his hearing. He’d only lost his father, his wings, the one person who’d always catch him, be it when he was falling from chandeliers or buildings. Even when they had been separated by different cities, Dick had been aware of Bruce’s shadow lingering somewhere nearby.

“Dick, son, are you alright?”

“No,” Dick replied. “I’m not okay, Uncle Clark.”

Dick held onto Superman’s cape. Clark’s heartbeat was a slow and steady one, grounding.

“I know. It’s alright.”

“It’s not. He’s really gone, isn’t he? Bruce is dead. And I wasn’t fast enough. I shouldn’t have left him or Gotham. I could have stopped this. If I’d been-“

“Here? Faster?”

Dick slowly let go of Clark. He wanted to rub his eyes, wash away the tear stains, but he couldn’t. Years of being told to never take off his mask had stuck.

“It wasn’t your fault, Dick,” Clark said. “You couldn’t have known. You weren’t even on-planet. Don’t blame yourself.”

No, Dick couldn’t have known. But he should have. He and Bruce had been partners, even if Dick had left to stretch his wings and Bruce had brought Jason in – he’d still been Dick’s partner. If not for Jason, Bruce wouldn’t have gotten into this situation in the first place, but Dick couldn’t change the premise. That too was a lesson Bruce had taught him early on.

You cannot change the situation, only the players.

So who had been there, or rather, who hadn’t?

Alfred must have suffered terribly at the other end of the comm. Line. Listening to his son’s last words trying to organize a rescue-

Dick tensed.

“Look, if there’s anything you need-“

 “You said you were listening,” Dick interrupted softly. He had screamed his throat sore just hours ago in the Cave. “You promised, Clark. You said you always had an ear on my father’s heartbeat and you didn’t.”

What was the Justice League even for if they weren’t there for each other? A whole world to protect and they couldn’t even keep one of their own safe.

“Dick-“

Dick turned around and stared into the black void of Crime Alley beneath him. He couldn’t look into Clark’s face anymore. See his worry and pity and guilt. He should have just been faster instead.

“Go away, Superman. Your kind isn’t welcome in Gotham.”

Dick jumped.

And for the first time in years, he was wondering how he’d reach the ground.

X

Jason fucking hated his hearing aids. He hated a lot of things recently starting with his pain medication, the press and the fact that Gotham still seemed to be holding her breath even though it was all over already. Bruce was dead, and so was Batman.

He didn’t know what everyone was waiting for anymore.

Jason dragged himself out of his bed and room for lunch. Alfred insisted that they ate together, what for Jason didn’t know. He wouldn’t be able to sit in the same room and cook a meal for his son’s murderer.

(Because that was what he ought to call himself.)

Dick hadn’t returned to the manor in the past weeks or, if he had, Jason hadn’t seen him. The past had proven once already that he wasn’t the most observant person or a good judge of character.

Jason sighed when he reached the top of the staircase. He hated walking them up and down every day, but he wouldn’t tell Alfred about it. Jason was causing enough trouble as it was.

Once he reached the bottom, he sat down for another few minutes to catch his breath. He’d lowered his medication dosage and was paying for it now. He just wanted to get off them as soon as possible. He hated taking the little white pills, they brought up too many ugly memories.

Jason continued on to the kitchen. They didn’t eat in the dining room anymore, Jason didn’t know why.

Maybe the table was just too big for them.

When Jason stepped into the kitchen, the smell of burned flesh assaulted him. He couldn’t even make it to the sink. He just toppled over and threw up right on the kitchen tiles. He heaved until his stomach was empty and only fluids crawled up his throat. Alfred’s hands were on Jason’s back, but they weren’t enough.

“Everything will be alright, lad. Breathe with me, Jason.”

But he couldn’t.

He just kept on hoping for air when he was drowning in the deep waters.

X

Alfred tried to make Jason go see a therapist.

Jason thought it was stupid and promptly voiced it. He hadn’t meant to start shouting, but by the time he had realized what he’d done, it was already too late.

Alfred didn’t bring it up again, but he gave Jason access to the Cave again.

Jason hadn’t been in there since before Ethiopia and he only got as far as the first case holding the Batman suit.

(He didn’t throw up again, but it was a close call.)

He had hurried back upstairs, nearly running past Bruce’s bedroom. He hadn’t meant to stop and stare, but he couldn’t help himself. Slowly Jason opened the door. He knew the door usually screeched every time you moved it. Bruce hadn’t wanted to oil the hinges because it alerted him whenever someone opened the door. Jason had thought the explanation was bullshit, but Bruce had been awake every time Jason had crawled into his bed at night.

The sheets smelled like they always did.

Jason woke up screaming.

X

Maybe hiding away in Barbara’s Clocktower was cowardly, but Dick didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t return to the manor, despite Alfred’s many unanswered calls and voice messages. Barbara hadn’t said anything against him staying with her either, yet. She had handed him a pillow and a blanket, pointed him into the direction of the sofa and that was it. While she worked, Dick did coffee runs, cooked, cleaned or spent hours staring at the ceiling like it could tell him what is next step should be.

And every night, without fail, Dick put on his suit and headed outside, chasing crime out of Gotham’s streets and venting his frustrations.

He knew he shouldn’t go out when he was so full of rage, but he didn’t know how to stop.

(Bruce used to be the one who decided that they should have a movie night every time Dick was too angry for patrol. He hadn’t noticed it as a kid, but now Dick knew what his father had been doing and he missed those times.)

“Are you staying?” Barbara asked one morning when he returned.

Dick was still wearing his suit, his hair was shiny because of how much he had been sweating.

“What?”

Barbara didn’t look away from her many screens. She was calculating something, observing Arkham on another screen, Blackgate on another, and the listening device was recording a conversation and sending it straight to her server.

“Are you staying in Gotham or returning to Blüdhaven? I need to know so I can script patrol routes accordingly.”

The question caught Dick off-guard. “I don’t know.”

“Then make up your mind.”

Dick threw his hands up in the air. “Can’t I get just five minutes to think about it?”

His tone must have been harsher than he had intended. When Barbara turned around, she looked downright murderous. Her auburn hair appeared to be on fire with the light of the screens behind her. Dick had never believed that her injury would interfere with her capability to be an absolute terror. Still, he had never expected to be at the receiving end of her righteous fury.

“You’ve had more than five minutes already, Dick. You’ve had hours, days, weeks. I need to know now so I can start setting up an actual working system for Gotham!”

“What gave you the right-“

“What gave me the right!?” She interrupted him. “I’m Oracle. Bruce left his city to me. I’m supposed to know it all and right now I’m the only reason Gotham hasn’t been devoured by gang wars already, but I don’t know how long I can keep this up when working with uncertainties. Tell me now if you’re staying or leaving so that I can do my work.”

She was breathing heavily and her eyes, though her glasses hid it well, were red-rimmed. When he thought of it, Dick had never seen Barbara sleep in the past weeks.

“I-“ He glanced at her screens. There was a robbery going on in City Hall. “I need to go.”

Dick fled.

X

Nightwing caught the robbers still in the act. He quickly knocked them out and put them into cuffs. The police would arrive in the next fifteen minutes, Dick was sure. The night was as clean as it could be in Gotham, and with summer underway, Dick didn’t need to feel bad for leaving the robbers right there on the ground.

Dick had perhaps apprehended the robbers in a much harsher way than he could have, but he was just so angry. He wanted something to hurt. Others, his hands, his heart – he didn’t care as long as he was feeling anything that wasn’t the dark pit clawing itself open with razor-sharp nails.

Dick moved further south, as far away from the Clocktower, the manor, the Cave, the Grave as he could. He hadn’t patrolled in Gotham in such a long time, every change caught him off-guard. Not all of them were massive, but Dick expected a house where there was none or empty space where there now rested a small playground. When Dick reached the docks, he was almost thankful that the old warehouses were still standing. Some of them had been torn down to make space for newer ones, but the oldest was still standing. Dick had fond memories of falling asleep its rusty roof while the sun rose and Bruce was sitting next to him.

He had always woken up in his bed again, except for the times Bruce also hadn’t made it up to Dick’s room again and had just let Dick fall asleep next to Bruce.

Gotham’s sunrises were beautiful. The polluted air made the colors all that more vibrant. Almost neon. The prettiest there were.

Nobody would carry him back to his room.

His father was dead and Dick hadn’t had the chance to apologize to Bruce and come home again.

He should have never left Gotham.

X

When Dick fucking finally showed his face again, he looked just as angry and grim as the last time Jason had seen him. There was a different edge to it though, the same kind of exhaustion Jason had been able to trace in Bruce’s face after bad nights.

Jason had taken to working on his homework in the Cave. Up in the manor, he couldn’t concentrate. Everything looked so normal like nothing had changed, like Jason hadn’t brought everything down crashing.

In the Cave, surrounded by the familiar smell of sweat, machinery and leather, Jason could breathe and focus. He caught up on schoolwork he’d missed, vowed to excel at it for the praise he’d never hear again. Dick suddenly showing up there wasn’t part of the plan.

Alfred hadn’t allowed Jason to drop the speech therapy. Jason frankly speaking didn’t see the point of it. He already knew the basics of ASL and with the adjustments Lucius had made to his hearing aids, Jason was alright. The world wasn’t silent anymore, even if it wasn’t as loud and clear as it used to be, but Jason could make up for it. He’d managed on the streets with broken bones, bruised ribs and scraped knees.

He didn’t understand how meeting with some lady with eyes filled with pity was supposed to improve anything – or what the point of going to that equally stupid children’s group was. He didn’t fucking want to interact with any of them and he most definitely didn’t want to be stuck there for two hours every Saturday. He could be using his time more productively, studying, researching, tracking that fucking clown down since the Justice League was apparently too god damn incompetent.

Jason didn’t need any help.

He wasn’t just born with a mistake, he was the fucking mistake. It would be better for everyone if they stopped trying to fix it and just left him alone.

X

Dick didn’t know what the hell Jason was doing in the Cave. He had no right to be there, but since Alfred was apparently letting him in there, Dick couldn’t kick him out either. And the brat was stubborn. He glared at Dick every time he entered the Cave, but Dick’s presence obviously wasn’t enough to make him leave or speak up.

The kid was just always there, observing, judging.

It was worse than Barbara’s anger when Dick had returned to her to apologize – after a week of sleeping in Bruce’s safe houses. She had been right. Dick needed to step up and act to protect what he had abandoned. During the night, he refamiliarized himself with Gotham. He needed to know every corner, every territory, every gang and very loose brick if he wanted to do as he once did: fight and bleed for this city.

Batman’s absence had shifted Gotham’s carefully crafted balance into disorder. The Rogues were careful still, but soon enough Batman would have been gone too long for them to still care about repercussions. They would just lash out and injure whoever their closest target was.

None of this would have happened if Dick hadn’t left. He needed to fix it, try to stitch up the bleeding wound of Bruce’s absence. He could do it. He had to.

Bruce used to believe in him.

Dick hoped that despite his own flaws, his father had never stopped.

It wasn’t easy to pull up the schematics of the batsuit, but it got more bearable with every word Dick read. Bruce had made a lot of changes since Dick had been Robin, continually improving his armor. A lot of it wouldn’t work for Dick, his fighting style was too different, but he too could adjust. He owed it to Bruce.

The cape had to be shorter, the armor lighter.

Time to get to work.

X

Jason hadn’t known what Dick was doing in the Cave, not until Dick had asked Alfred for help. The butler wasn’t pleased with whatever Dick was attempting – probably something stupid – but he was still helping him, if reluctantly. It reminded Jason of the times he and Bruce had snuck away from galas to go on patrol.

“Do you think it will hold up?” Dick asked Alfred. Jason watched them out of the corner of his eyes, tried to make it seem like he wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying. They were a little out of his reach, it sucked that he couldn’t hear them. He should look into tweaking his hearing aids, giving himself a broader range, he thought as he subtly moved closer to the conversation.

“It should,” Alfred replied. “Though, I’m not sure you’ll be able to fool Gordon.”

Dick snorted. “There’s no fooling him. He knows exactly who we are. He just lies because he’s a cop and all cops lie. He’s just one of those who knows what the line should be.”

And then Dick picked something up from the table. Long and dark fabric fell to the ground, the bat-symbol reflected the light it caught.

It was a batsuit. A new one.

“No.”

Jason didn’t notice he had said it out loud until Alfred and Dick both turned to him. Jason stood up from his chair and walked over to Alfred and Dick. Dick might have the advantage of years of training, but he hadn’t been forced to steal for his survival. Jason snatched the uniform right out of his hands.

“Hey!”

“You don’t deserve this,” Jason hissed. “You have no right to walk in here and put on his mark again!”

With every word Jason said, his voice grew louder, stronger, more resolute.

Dick’s storm returned full force and he stood up straighter. “Now, you, listen to me-“

“No! Fuck you!” Jason didn’t back down, not this time. He knew he was a screw-up, but Richard John Look At Me I Can’t Do No Fucking Wrong Grayson didn’t get to pretend he wasn’t. “You walked out of this and you don’t get to come back. The only person who can allow that is dead and you don’t fucking get to wear his uniform. You’re not Batman! You can’t be!”

“And you can!?” Dick shouted back.

His wrath was impressive, but Jason wouldn’t let him take this away from him. He would fight and bleed and suffer if that meant that Dick wouldn’t ever touch a uniform.

“You don’t belong in Gotham, traitor!”

 “And you don’t belong in the manor!”

“Master Jason! Master Dick!”

Right now, Jason couldn’t care less about what Alfred had to say. He had vowed to protect Gotham and all the treasures left behind. He didn’t care about what happened to him, but nobody would tarnish Batman’s legacy with cowardice and weakness. Not as long as he was still standing.

“Fuck you, Grayson! Bruce chose me!”

Maybe he wouldn’t have if he knew what it would lead to. Or perhaps he would because Bruce had sat at Jason’s bedside, read for him, made him breakfast, didn’t get mad when Jason accidentally broke expensive vases or put stickers on the ancient wooden floors.

“He was my dad too and he wanted me. He was mine and you don’t get to take him away.”

Then, before Dick could think of a reply, Jason quickly ran off towards the stairs, the suit still in hand. He’d throw it in the trash, ruin it and ensure nobody could ever wear it.

Jason didn’t even manage step one of his plan. As soon as he was out of the Cave, he blindly ran upstairs, planning to cut his path to the kitchen short, but unfortunately, Jason still wasn’t healed completely, and not as fast as he knew he could be.

Dick caught up to him and gripped his shoulder when Jason was going at full speed. Jason fell backward, tumbling right into Dick’s chest.

“What the hell, Dickface!?” Jason shouted, he clutched the uniform as tight as he could, but Dick was stronger. He jacked it out of Jason’s hands like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Now you listen,” Dick said.

Jason looked up, ready to stare straight at a tidal wave of fury, persist and tear it down, but Dick’s face was blank. No anger, nothing.

“You don’t know anything about Bruce and me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jason challenged. “I know plenty-“

“You know nothing,” Dick replied, his voice tethering on the edge of dangerous. “And here’s the deal: You don’t say anything about it and I don’t make sure you never step on Gotham’s rooftops again.”

Jason stared at Dick in disbelief. How was this supposed to even be a threat? Dick couldn’t stop Jason from doing jack, no matter how hard he might try.

“I’m sorry, Grayson, did the truth hurt your feelings?”

Dick looked like he was reaching the end of his patience. Good. Jason wanted him to lose it, to prove he was just as much of a mess as the rest of them.

“Shut. Up. Jason. Just shut the fuck up. Bruce would be ashamed to hear you speak like that.”

Jason snarled and stepped forward to push Dick, but the older man avoided Jason by leaning to the right, evading him easily.

“Well, he isn’t here anymore! So who cares!?”

Dick moved away from Jason, mustering him again with that cold expression Jason couldn’t place.

“Gotham,” Dick then said and walked back into the direction the two of them had come from.

X

Bruce chose me!

Dick pulled the uniform close to his chest, inhaled and expected a scent he never entirely could forget. Sometimes he’d walk through Blüdhaven, catch it and get thrown right back into one of his fondest childhood memories. When he had been younger, he hadn’t understood how much work having a protégé must have been for Bruce. He had to make his files and the cases he allowed Robin to investigate childhood friendly, train him enough so that he wouldn’t have to worry every time Robin left his line of sight.

He was my dad too.

Of course, Bruce being Bruce, he would worry nevertheless, that was just in his nature. He wasn’t the poster child of articulating his feelings or thoughts very well, but Dick had never questioned that Bruce cared about him. He had proof of that buried beneath all the gruesome Ethiopia files he had hidden so deep down in the archive that nobody but him and Barbara would ever find it.

He wanted me.

Bruce would make Dick run laps until his legs gave out for how he’d been acting in the past weeks. Jason was fifteen for god’s sake and what had Dick done? Screamed in his face that it was Jason’s fault Bruce was dead when really, nobody but the Joker was to blame.

Dick didn’t have to like Jason, he didn’t know if he ever could, but he could start treating him like the victim instead of the offender. He was a child lashing out at everything and everyone he could get his hands on, Dick had to be patient.

Putting on the uniform for the first time was a strange feeling. When Dick looked in the mirror, he thought he was seeing someone else. His brain caught up only slowly, measuring the height of the vigilante in the mirror against what he knew Batman’s actual height was. The cape was too short, the waist too narrow and the chin not angular enough.

He was mine.

Dick looked like a child playing dress-up. It would have to be enough. (He would make sure of it.)

X

“The Signal has been lit again and for the first time in months-“

Switch.

“-Calendar Man escaped last week-“

Switch.

“I thought I wasn’t seeing correctly, but there he was-“

Switch.

“Batman-“

Switch.

“-Batman.”

Switch.

“-Batman-“

Switch.

“-Robin?”

Jason stopped flipping through the channels, which were all reporting the same thing. Batman had finally returned and caught the villain of the week. The people were celebrating, but Jason didn’t know what for. It had taken Dick much longer than it would have Bruce to capture Calendar Man. One person had died still. Batman hadn’t made his great comeback, he was lying six feet underground and maggots were eating away his skin. Dick was a terrible replacement and Barbara was the only reason he was functioning at all. Without Oracle’s help, the first scuffle he had gotten involved in, would have ended deadly.

“And still we wonder: What happened to Batman? And where is Robin? The Joker, too, hasn’t resurfaced yet and his madness looms like a threat over Gotham’s skyline. Many speculate-“

The TV cut off.

Jason looked to his right where he found Alfred holding the remote.

“You shouldn’t watch such rubbish, Master Jason,” Alfred said.

“Why? It’s not like they’re saying anything wrong. As soon as that clown comes out of his hideyhole, Dick is done for. He’s barely holding it together as he is.”

Jason pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them. Where is Robin? The question echoed in his head. He was curled up on a comfortable sofa and the heavy blanket resting on his shoulders kept him warm. His wounds had healed, all of them, and he was almost back in shape. His legs still hurt more than they ought to when he didn’t land a role or a jump a hundred percent correctly, but that was to be expected. Bruce wouldn’t let him out on the streets yet, maybe in a week or two.

But he couldn’t.

Robin had caused all of this, he didn’t know how to fly anymore.

“Master Dick is trying his best,” Alfred said.

He took off his gloves and put them on the table in front of them. Then he sat down next to Jason and put one arm around Jason’s shoulders.

“His burden isn’t yours to carry and neither of you should feel like you have any weight on your shoulders at all. You are not to blame for the action of others.”

Jason bit on his lip until he could taste blood on his tongue. “But I am. I did this. I ruined it. I got him killed-“

His eyes burned. He had cried so often in the past weeks, when was it finally enough? He hated it, he wanted it to stop, but nothing he ever did went according to plan.

“You did not. You were trying to do an admirable task and save another person. Bruce wouldn’t want you to keep hurting yourself like this. He definitely wouldn’t blame you, either.”

Jason buried his head in Alfred’s chest as if that could stop the tears from flowing. They burned hot on his cheeks and his shoulders trembled as he tried to choke down the sobs.

“It will get better, Jason,” Alfred murmured. He held Jason close, both his arms acting as a shield, protecting Jason from the outside world. “It will get better.”

Jason wanted to believe it.

X

Blüdhaven was a terrible city to protect. Everybody was corrupt and Dick could count the people he could trust on one hand with a couple fingers still left over. However, Blüdhaven was also a lot smaller than Gotham. It wasn’t called Gotham’s little sister just because it inherited its gangs, it was also only roughly a third of its size.

Gotham was a lot more work than Blüdhaven. When Dick had started going out as Nightwing, the high amount of hours and sleepless nights that went into acting on your own had caught him slightly off guard. The first weeks hadn’t just sucked, they had been the worst.

Dick felt a lot like he was eighteen again, standing in front of a wall so high he wasn’t sure he could climb to the top. Dick wasn’t even working by himself, he had Oracle and her Birds of Prey. Catwoman too had taken up a much more active role, keeping check of East End. Her relationship with Bruce had always been a little strange, and it hadn’t gotten any clearer now that Dick was an adult and could understand parts of it. However, Selina Kyle had always been absolutely clear on the fact that she was no vigilante and certainly no hero.

Her more recent actions sung a different song, but Dick wasn’t going to ask her about it. He was grateful for all the help he got.

Batman’s mantle was a heavy weight, one Dick wasn’t sure wouldn’t suffocate him one day. He’d need to slow down a little, or the stress would catch up to him. His body was already a stunning blue and green pattern- there was no need to add any red to it because he couldn’t catch enough sleep.

Alfred wouldn’t be able to handle it and he already had his hands full with Jason.

Dick hadn’t seen him in the Cave lately, though he knew the teenager still sneaked in to look at the computer. Jason did a good job of covering his tracks, but Dick had been in this business longer than Jason. It had been almost twelve years now.

It felt like an eternity and a half.

Dick dropped in Bruce’s chair. (No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of the big chair as his own. Dick had hang on it when he was a child, climbing all over Bruce while he was trying not to spill any hot tea on Dick. It was always going to be Bruce’s throne to Dick.)

“Alright,” he muttered. “What does today’s schedule have for us?”

Barbara forwarded him any info she gathered. Some of it was already marked down as taken care of, but other cases were filled with more gaps and holes than Swiss cheese.

“Arms dealer, drug trafficking, …” The list went on and on and Dick had no idea where to start. It seemed like the moment he took down one operation, another was there to take its place.

Dick didn’t like the silence of the Cave, never had. Back in Blüdhaven, Dick would play musing while he was solving cases and before that, when he had been Robin, he had always been talking with Bruce – or at Bruce. His grunts and hums might not have been the greatest replies, but they had been enough for Dick. He missed them. The silence ate everything up.

Until it didn’t.

“Dick!”

Dick wasn’t prepared for Barbara’s face to suddenly show up on the computer screen. Her eyes were wide with shock, fear. Her breathing was uneven and shallow, signs of a panic attack.

“Barbara, what’s going on-“

“The Joker. He’s back. One of my camera’s picked him up. It’s him, I know it, Dick. It’s him, he’s back.”

Dick could feel all the blood drain from his face. For a moment, he was frozen. All the years of training him out of the habit seemed to disappear.

(“Fight or flight, chum. Choose either, but never freeze. There’s no shame in running away.”)

The cold determination took over.

“We’ll get him,” Dick said. ‘I will end him,’ he thought.

He suited up.

X

Jason carefully monitored Dick’s progress. He still sucked, but the fact that he needed Jason’s help was becoming painfully obvious. Jason had thought about abandoning Dick, but then he might as well burn Bruce’s grave to the ground.

Dick was trying to keep Gotham standing when Jason couldn’t. He had to help him or people would get hurt and die. Gotham needed Batman and if Dick was the only viable candidate, then Jason would ensure he wouldn’t come back to the Cave with more bullets than blood in his body. Jason left notes on the Batcomputer, correcting Dick’s records and adding background information Dick couldn’t have because he hadn’t been there when it happened.

There was no way he’d know the Irish and the Russians hated each other because of some Romeo-and-Julietesque drama that had gone down a year ago. So Jason put it in Dick’s rainbow color-coded files and highlighted it thrice.

Jason didn’t own Dick anything, least of all an apology.

He had been right with everything he said.

But they needed to set terms or Gotham would go to hell.

Jason walked down the steps to the Cave deliberately slowly, going through his speech word for word. Yes, he had written an actual speech and learned it by heart. He didn’t want Dick to catch him off guard when Jason struggled to find the words. Alfred was currently out running some errands, so it was the best time to confront Dick.

Jason knew it hurt Alfred to see the two fighting. The butler had enough worries already and Jason didn’t want to add to them.

When Jason reached the bottom of the stairs, he stood still for a moment. Analyze the situation first, figure out where Dick was and what kind of mood he was in.

But Dick was nowhere to be found. Jason frowned and tried to recall whether Dick should be anywhere else, maybe with his Team?

No, he had resigned from the Titans or something. He had had a massive fight with his teammates about his decision to stay in Gotham, not that Jason was supposed to be aware of that.

“Grayson?” Jason shouted. “Are you here?”

Nobody replied and Jason was starting to get worried. “Hey, Dick, come on. This isn’t funny. We need to talk.”

Jason walked further into the Cave, but he still couldn’t spot Dick anywhere.

“Where did you-“

Jason’s words were stuck in his throat as Jason glanced at the Batcomputer screen.

He was back.

He was back, he was back, he was back.

Jason belched, but nothing came out. Hellfire burned the earth around him, there was a heavy weight on his chest and the Joker was laughing and laughing-

Dick.

He must have gotten the Joker alert and ran after him on his own, without Jason, without back-up.

The Joker was no fool, he would know that Dick wasn’t Batman. He’d barely take a look at him and he would make Dick pay for it.

Jason couldn’t let that happen.

He scrambled over to the changing room, that horrible sound chasing him. Jason hadn’t worn Robin’s colors in months. He wouldn’t fit the uniform anymore. Somewhere in-between his panic, he recalled that the spares, Dick’s old Robin suits, were still kept in at the very back behind Jason’s.

Bruce had never said why he had kept them. They were old, Dick wouldn’t use them again and Jason’s had all been upgraded. They would have to be enough today.

Jason fastened his utility belt and headed for his bike.

He couldn’t waste a minute.

Thirteen seconds left.

Jason drove out of the Batcave faster than he ever had.

He needed to find the clown and end him.

X

The Joker usually hauled up in the Amusement Mile. Even when he was locked up in Arkham, people didn’t dare to go there in fear of stepping into the Joker’s traps.

Dick would likely head there first.

The Joker wouldn’t be there. It would be stupid to head to his main base immediately. They knew Joker had more hideouts, but they had never been able to track down all of them. He would restock first and then-

Where would he go?

Somewhere he can plan, somewhere familiar.

The Joker had known that Bruce had been on his way to Jason and he knew that whoever was wearing Batman’s mantle now, it wasn’t the real Batman. What was the likely conclusion if Robin and Batman hadn’t been seen since Ethiopia?

Death.

Joker would be pissed, he’d be furious. His Batman was gone and now a new one had taken the scene. One who didn’t share any history with him yet. He’d want to change that, recreate what had existed once.

Jason cursed. He knew where the Joker was headed. He thought about calling Dick or Barbara, notifying anyone, but-

He could end this.

Jason could ensure nobody would ever get hurt by the Joker again.

He drove on.

X

Dick was one setback away from indulging completely in his panic. The Joker wasn’t in his usual hideout, nor anywhere near it, and Barbara had lost track of him. The Joker could be everywhere, planning to blow up more than just one warehouse this time, and they didn’t have a single lead.

 “Dick,” Alfred’s voice rang over the comm. “Is Jason with you?”

He sounded out of breath like he had run a marathon. Dick’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.

“No, why should he?”

Please, Dick thought. Not now, not this.

“He’s not at home and his bike is missing, I fear he’s decided to follow you.”

Dick’s mouth dried. No. No, no, no, no!

“O, can you track him?” Dick asked. “Jason’s bike has a tracker, right?” Dick’s bike used to have a tracker so he wouldn’t be able to sneak away. Of course, he had figured out how to disable it, but if Jason was even half as terrified as Dick right now, maybe he wouldn’t have thought of it.

“I’ve got him,” Barbara replied. “He’s- it’s parked in front of Ace Chemicals. I’m rerouting the police there. Hurry.”

Dick didn’t need to be told twice.

X

The Ace Chemicals plant was dark. They were currently right in the middle of rebuilding the whole area and roughly half of it was already done. They had started with the newest parts, fixing them up and enlarging them. A lot of their production had been shipped overseas, and if a few adjustments here and there were enough, they could simply tear down the old buildings and warehouses.

Jason didn’t even waste a second to consider where exactly the Joker would go, it was obvious. He had no interest in the new building, it held no memories for him. No, he would head to the old part. Maybe he had sneaked in, just like Jason, through the damaged fence and entered the old building through the backdoor.

The lack of security cameras was a bit confusing, but not too unusual. Enough dark deals were made in the shadows of big corporations. The less supervision there was in general, the more plausible deniability did the heads of such companies have. Jason was mindful of any security still, but he encountered not even one guard on his way through the building. Everything smelled like chlorine and disinfectant. It reminded Jason of the hospital and he hated it. He tugged at his cape and held it over his nose in the hope it would lessen the sharp scent at least a bit.

It didn’t.

The warehouse was cloaked in darkness. The only light source was the moonlight shining through the dirty windows. Jason’s patience was running out.

“I know you’re here,” he hissed. “Stop hiding, you coward.”

Jason walked into the middle of the warehouse, his back exposed. He was open to any attacks, but he was sure that the benefits outweighed the risks.

At first, nothing changed, but then a shadow moved and by the time Jason could see the trademark violet suit, he also heard the Joker’s footsteps and clapping.

“Oh, look! The itty-bitty birdy found me! Where did you leave your new Bat?”

Jason had been right. The Joker did know that it wasn’t the same man under the mask. He took out two Batarangs, one for each hand.

The Joker leaned forward as if to examine them closer. “Those again? I thought we had already established they’re not useful, especially if I step a little on those fingers and toes.”

Jason was accustomed to the fire burning inside him. It flared up, tainted his vision red and urged him to move forward through all walls and bodies.

He couldn’t feel its warmth.

Instead, ice spread through his limbs, its cold burning like the flame, if not even more damaging.

“That reminds me!” The Joker said. “Do you think we should have another session? Our first one didn’t end as planned.”

And suddenly, the Joker was upon him. Jason stumbled back, but he couldn’t catch his balance in time and dropped to the floor. The Joker grabbed Jason’s shoulders and when he tried to lift his head, the Joker smashed it to the ground.

“You! Ruined! My! Game!” The Joker shouted in Jason’s face. “You useless little birds always do! The Bat is mine and you keep hogging his attention. Life would be so much better with you gone.”

The Joker sighed theatrically and leaned back. “I imagined how sweet it would be. Just me and Batman forever and ever without you little pests interfering.”

The Joker’s nails dug into Jason’s arms so harshly that he must be drawing blood. Jason whimpered. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, he’d had a plan, a goal. He couldn’t let the Joker ruin it or him or anything else ever again.

“But you! You had to get in-between us! I figured Batsy’s gonna be sad for a while, but then he came back all wrong. So I have to make him right, I’ll fix us. You won’t make me mad again, will you, Robin? I had fun the last time, but I think I might be angry today. People don’t like me being angry, it hurts them.”

The Joker’s green eyes gleamed and he began to grin. “Or maybe that’s why you came back? No daddy at home to punish teeny-tiny Robin for getting him killed?”

Jason could taste blood on his tongue. He hated the Joker. That was the reason for the cold, he was the reason. Jason had been angry at others before, but nobody but Willis had managed to make Jason so furious he lost all control, but the Joker?

This was hatred.

Jason screamed and with all the strength he could measure up, he pushed himself off the ground, toppling the Joker over. Now their roles were reversed. The Joker was lying on the ground, helpless like prey and Jason was holding the weapon.

He would kill him.

Jason would kill the bastard and make him pay for every crime he had ever committed.

“You-“

A loud crash interrupted Jason. The right wall of the warehouse just smashed open when a familiar black car drove through it.

Dick jumped out of the driver’s seat.

“Robin!” He shouted, then his eyes zoomed in on the Joker lying beneath him.

“Hello, big bird,” the Joker sing-songed. “Nice upgrade you got there, but it’s not all done. I was going to help you but then this little bird interrupted.”

Jason used his right hand to push the Joker’s head forcefully to the ground.

“Robin,” Dick repeated, this time softer. “Let go of him.”

“No.” Jason hissed. “I can’t.”

“You can,” Dick said and took one step forward, then another. “You don’t want to do this.”

“I don’t want to do this? He ruined everything!”

Why didn’t Dick understand? If they got rid of the Joker, everything would change. No more torture, no more nightmares, no more pain.

Jason was going to fix everything. “He has to die.”

 “B wouldn’t want you to do this,” Dick said. He held his hands up as if to show that he wasn’t going to forcefully take the decision out of Jason’s hand.

It almost made Jason want to laugh. Bruce had shown him a couple maneuvers he could do easily while

“No more death,” Jason said. “No more destruction. The world is better off without him!”

Beneath him, the Joker laughed maniacally, his face twisted into the ugly impression of a smile.

“Shut up!” Jason shouted, but the Joker wouldn’t calm. He only became more and more hysteric and Jason just wanted it all to end!

“I said, shut up!”

“Ja- Robin,” Dick tried again. “Please. You don’t-“

“I’m right,” Jason said. “I’m right. He should die and I’ll make him stop.”

Dick fell silent. The Joker’s laughter surrounded them both. If Jason wasn’t here, Dick wouldn’t know whether he’d be able to knock the Joker out and put handcuffs on him. Hell, if Dick were in Jason’s position, he didn’t know if he could do it. He wanted the Joker gone as well. Preferably slow and painful, so he’d suffer like Bruce had.

But-

“B wouldn’t want it,” Dick repeated. “I want him gone as much as you do, but Batman and Robin don’t kill.”

Gotham would fall apart as soon as they shed blood like that.

“I know it hurts and he should suffer, but you shouldn’t have to pay the price. Dad loved you and he wanted you to be safe. This is the opposite of that. You don’t have to agree, you don’t even have to think my way is the right one, but you know he’d hate himself for being the reason you’d have to spill blood.”

Jason’s hands were still holding onto the Batarang. If Jason really wanted to kill the Joker, Dick wouldn’t be fast enough to drop it.

“He deserves it,” Jason whispered. “He killed our Dad and he deserves it.”

Jason dropped the Batarang. His arms went slack at his side and Dick used the opportunity to move in. He pulled Jason away from the Joker as fast and gentle as he could. He draped his cape around Jason’s shoulders and kneeled down next to the Joker. Dick jammed a syringe with sedatives in the Joker’s neck and cuffed his hands together.

Maybe the dosage was a little higher than usual.

Not enough to make sure he wouldn’t wake up again, but to ensure he’d drop immediately and his insane laughter would die.

“Oracle, police?” Dick asked. He was moving on autopilot, directing Jason away from the body.

“Outside, my father’s there.”

Good.

“Let’s go back home,” Dick said softly. At his side, Jason only nodded.

Dick carefully maneuvered Jason out of the warehouse and towards the Batmobile. When they arrived back home, Alfred was already waiting for them. He pulled both of them into a bone-crushing hug.

“My boys,” Alfred said. “Don’t ever do something like this again. I’m not sure my heart could take it.”

Dick put his arms around his grandfather, squishing Jason in the middle. All of them were here and all of them were alive.

They had made it.

Dick was home.

X

“There is something I want to show you,” Dick said. “I- I didn’t want you to know before and, fuck. I’m sorry. This wouldn’t have-“

Dick was struggling to find the right words. Would it have changed anything, he wondered, if he had given Jason this beforehand?

Jason wasn’t moving from his spot on Bruce’s chair, still wrapped in Dick’s cape. He was just staring into space, tear tracks still visible. Alfred had wanted them to go upstairs immediately and not step in the Cave for the next ten years, but Jason needed to listen to this.

Dick sighed. Now or never.

He opened the Ethiopia file and purposefully didn’t look at Jason. Then he hit play.

X

“Jay-“Bruce's voice played and Jason breathed a sob. “Jay, you’re okay. It’s alright. Don’t cry. Sssh, I love you. You and Dick. I love you, I-“ He coughed. It was a wet and ugly sound. “I love you, I love...”

The recording cut off.

Jason hit replay.

Again.

And again.

And again and again and again and just once more. He just had to be sure that he wasn’t mishearing Bruce’s words, that he was committing them to his memories until he could quote this terrifying declaration.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

Just once more.

Rewind.

X

Jason was sitting in the circle with the rest of the deaf kids. He knew their names, some of their hobbies and roughly how much of their hearing was impaired. He had never bothered to pay any attention beyond that or involve himself in any way. More than once, he had brought a book to these sessions and had refused to look up from it.

He thought of all the puns about deafness Dick had made on the way to Jason’s appointment. Not all of them had been good or fun – two have them had fucking hurt, but Dick had apologized and it was okay.

Getting better.

Something like that, at least.

‘Is there anything you’d like to share today, Jason?’ The therapist asked like she did every Saturday.

She wore one of her awfully colorful dresses and smiled softly, hopeful. Jason didn’t get how she could do that for weeks without growing resentful. If Jason didn't absolutely shut down, he avoided eye-contact and replied with a quick ‘no’ and, if he was feeling especially crude, told her to ‘fuck off’ in the most vulgar way possible.

‘Yes,’ Jason signed for the first time. ‘I’ll be spending the evening with…’ He dropped his hands in his lap, took a breath, then picked the sentence up again. ‘I’ll be spending the evening with my older brother. I don’t know what we’ll do yet, but I hope it will be fun.’

Poison Ivy had escaped Arkham yesterday. The last few times she had escaped, she hadn’t done any significant damage and Jason still had a biology test to study for. Sometimes, Ivy was down to answer his questions when they were driving her back to Arkham. It would be pretty great if tonight was one of those nights.

X

“So,” Jason said. “I’m thinking.”

The buzzing in his ears annoyed the hell out of him, but he couldn’t get it to stop. He'd have to wait until they were back home.

“Oh, dangerous,” Dick shouted from where he was lying beneath the Batmobile, trying to figure out what Ivy had done to stop their car.

Jason rolled his eyes and wrung out his cape once more. Everything was cold and wet and sticky. Ivy had been seriously pissed by the plans for a new factory at the edge of town. So much for getting her to tutor him.

“I think I should exchange my mask for something that covers my ears as well because my aids were not made for being thrown in Gotham River.”

Dick moved out from beneath the Batmobile, looking at Jason in a slight panic. Even though the mask covered his head, it was fairly easy for Jason to tell what he was thinking.

“They didn’t get damaged, did they?” Dick asked, signing while he was it.

Honestly, Lucius had made them. If getting dropped in the water once was going to fry them completely, Jason wouldn’t trust any of the equipment they were using.

“They’ll survive the night,” Jason said. Even if everything sounded a little bit like static. ‘And don’t speak and sign, your signs are shit.’

‘Sorry.’

“Anyway, I was thinking I should get a helmet…” Jason trailed off. Something or someone was moving on the roof of the building in front of them.

“Robin?” Dick called.

“Be right back,” Jason replied and angled his grapple so that it would pull him onto the roof. He shot it and whoever was on the roof was already running backward. Oh, hell no!

Jason landed smoothly on the roof and after a short sprint, he caught the person, who turned out to be much shorter than Jason expected.

Kid-sized, really.

“Hello,” the kid squeaked nervously. He couldn’t be older than twelve or so, Jason thought. “Nice to meet you?”

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Eh…” The kid glanced at the camera he was holding. “Maybe?”

Jason raised a brow, pretty unimpressed with the kid so far. Though, he couldn’t just let the kid go and ignore that he had caught a maybe twelve-year-old with a camera on a rooftop. At least it wasn’t a video camera, so no possibly incriminating videos spoiling Batman and Robin’s identities for the world.

“Gimme that,” Jason said, already pulling the camera out of the kid's hands.

“I don’t show them anybody!” The kid insisted when Jason turned the camera on and looked at the most recent photos.

As expected, the last one was of the two down in the alley, but the ones before that were close-ups of the dynamic duo fighting Ivy. Ivy had destroyed an entire – fortunately abandoned – building in her rage. To get pictures of that…

“Who are you?” Jason asked. He didn’t make it his habit to intimidate kids, but if they got involved in such dangerous situations, he needed to know why. “Who is paying you for this?”

“Nobody!” The kid said. “I just do this for. Uhm. Fun. My name is Tim. I’m your neighbor.”

The words registered in Jason’s mind about the same time as they did in the kid’s as Tim slapped his hands over his mouth and paled.

Later, when Jason would be ranting about Dick’s overreaction at Bruce’s grave, he’d maybe admit that he could have dealt with Timothy Jackson Drake differently and that knocking a twelve-year-old out shouldn’t ever be anyone’s first instinct, but right now?

Right now, Jason already had the knock out gas in hand and was only vaguely aware of Dick having reached the rooftop.

[bluesakura007]

What She Had to Do - Chapter 5: A Leap of Faith - Khan Noonien Singh x OC

Summary: This chapter picks back up again from where Chapter 3 left off, because of the fourth being a flashback chapter. Khan is on the brink of escaping thanks to Zinalya’s plan, and the moment of truth has come as he attempts to get both himself and her out of his prison facility once and for all.

Warning: Fight scenes, so some violence again.

They were everywhere. The Augment, over the last minute, was having no trouble with carrying the woman responsible for his rescue so far, whose body still remained unconscious as of this minutes prior - it wasn’t the physical weight of doing so that bothered him even in the slightest, it was the fact that it meant his arms were occupied and were currently less equipped for dealing with enemy combatants compared to when they were empty. 

From what he’d also found out in this minute that the rest of the guards, the ones that he hadn’t faced yet and that were still conscious, were practically everywhere: they attempted to come at him from all sides during his journey through the facility at his quickest running speed, to which he’d respond by either running off onto another direction or, when he felt able to do so without dropping Zinalya with the other one, swiftly pulling out his phaser with one hand and firing it at them. 

These remaining guards were like rabbits due to this fact of them being pretty much everywhere.

Ducking around a corner for a moment, Khan checked Zinalya’s timer watch by holding up this wrist it was on. Only fifty-six seconds remaining.

He took off again instantly afterwards: he’d been mindful of this remaining time, deciding that he needed to be out of the building before it reached zero but that he also needed to not get out too soon, otherwise he’d be stuck hanging around and still dealing with more guards outside while waiting for this zero.

"STOP!" He was unfortunate enough to have to come to a halt where there were no sideways directions for him to run to, with the only way he could go being backwards. The very way he’d just come from and which led anywhere but out of Sierra-Lambda 3. 

This was because there were what appeared to be three guards and two scientists who’d just shown up in front of him, blocking every inch of that corridor’s width. "It’s okay, we’ve got no intentions of harming you. We just want to get you back off to sleep." The guard who’d shouted to him, the man standing in the middle, said. Khan noticed that one of the two scientists, who were both male with one of the guards being a female, was holding up a hypospray not unlike the one Dr. Helen Baxter has used to inadvertently sedate Zinalya.

"I’ve spent more than enough time sleeping." Khan replied calmly in the face of this threat, gripping a little bit more tightly to Zinalya in his arms with his eyes narrowing in both his protectiveness of her and his defiance against the system, the bureaucracy which had torn him apart from her two years ago only soon after realising her importance to him. "So I think I’m going to have to decline." He was covertly spending these seconds eyeing up a metal catwalk above this corridor which seemed to lead to a fire escape door high up on the wall off in front of him.

"It’s for your own good, and for the commander’s; just put her down, we don’t want to end up hurting you or her." The scientist with the hypo responded, his tone being non-confrontational and reassuring but the man in black nonetheless seeing past the surface. There’d been other men before, back when he was younger, who’d taken to dressing up their ultimately selfish goals and desires in a veil of idealism and noble reasons, most of whom also coincidentally wore white, and his most bestest friend in the world had ended up paying for these selfish goals of theirs with his life.

"I might have believed that my slumber is indeed for my own good three years ago, but at this moment I'm not quite so easily convinced." He retorted. Then, deciding he’d now wasted enough time, he swiftly checked Zinalya’s wrist watch again and went towards the five in front of him at full speed upon finding that there was twenty-five seconds left.

It was over again just as quickly as it had begun: once he reached them, he’d managed to quickly pull out his phaser once again with his right hand, and once he’d shot down a couple of them and physically knocked back the others in a brawl that lasted another few seconds while still clinging on tightly to Zin with his other arm, he felt sure that he had enough room to keep going. 

Thus, he kept on running towards where he found the base of the stairs leading up to the metal catwalk, kneeling down behind this base of the stairs while the ones out of the group of five who were still conscious shot at his direction with their own phasers. "I’m not certain but I believe I’ve almost reached the outside." He put his away again to now instead bring out and flip open the communicator he still had, raising his voice over the noise of the phaser-fire coming his way.

"You’ve got ten seconds left before we can get you outta there once you have made it out." Iadras, sitting on the edge of his captain’s chair on the bridge of his ship in orbit, replied, him and the other members of the bridge crew currently present watching the countdown timer which was displayed on their viewscreen, which was synced with the one on the wristwatch belonging to the young woman with the burgundy hair. "That medical team for Zinalya’s on their way to the transporter room and the engineers there have just told me they’re done getting the systems ready."

Khan got up from his kneeling position and, still carrying this young woman, ran up the stairs connected to the catwalk above now that the phaser-fire towards him from down the corridor seemed to have stopped. "Get ready for my signal, and be prepared to do it quickly!" 

It wasn’t by very much, but the urgency in his voice involuntarily increased as he held up the communicator while making sure he simultaneously continued to not drop the commander, all while making sure he ran as fast as he possibly could due to him seeing that the two remaining conscious guards and the scientist with the anaesthetic hypospray were also making for the base of the catwalk steps at their own highest running speeds. He was so close to freedom now, and he’d decided that he wasn’t going to let this plan of Zinalya’s to get him out be in vain.

Without looking back a second time, he made his way through the twists and turns of the catwalk until the fire escape door he’d found suddenly appeared straight ahead. Bracing himself for the impact, he turned slightly with his right arm out in front of himself to knock it open, feeling the metallic thud but no pain as such when this attempt was successful on the first try. Sunlight. Cold but bright white sunlight instantaneously met his eyes, making him squint for a moment at this abruptness of its appearance in his vision. It had felt like only hours or even minutes since he was anaesthetised deep within that building back in 2259, but at the same time it were as if daylight was a luxury he hadn’t seen for much longer than just two years.

After this squint, Khan made his way up the other catwalk outside this fire escape door, which wound upwards towards the roof in a square shape and also downwards to the ground. Once he was about a quarter of the way up, he looked downwards when he heard noise coming from this direction; down below, the three going after him had just reached the base of this outside catwalk at the door, and this glance caused him to find out that he was somewhere around fifty feet off the ground. The roof was bound to be higher, that was a certain fact.

When he was almost at the top, he felt himself weaken all of a sudden after hearing another burst of phaser-fire, very nearly dropping Zin, relying on the railing off at one side for support and fully dropping the communicator. When Khan then felt a second phaser hit get him, he was additionally hit in the process by a feeling of dizziness not unlike the kind he’d felt while hurtling heels-over-head through space when he got hit by the large debris piece during his jump with Kirk from the Enterprise to the Vengeance - the world, and even the galaxy itself, was spinning at a colossally high speed in all directions. 

Mind you, back when this particular instance in space happened, he was indeed and always would be capable of recovering from an impact like that and his disorientation fading away quicker than it would for a non-enhanced human, but both this occasion and the one that was going on right now made him feel somewhat helpless in the disorientation even though he didn’t admit it. He hadn’t felt this dizzy the last time he’d been shot numerous times with a phaser, so obviously the staff there at the facility had kicked up the power of theirs specially for him.

Luckily, though, he’d managed to regain enough of his balance in time to notice that the scientist holding the hypo, who was probably the one who’d just shot at him based on the phaser he was holding up in the other hand, was now no more than a foot away in front of him. "This is just going to sting a little, but it’ll be over again soon." He approached Khan a bit warily, remembering his combat abilities, but still got out this sentence in a tone meant to calm him while raising the hypo towards the latter’s neck.

Just after this scientist had finished speaking, the two guards with him then appeared behind him on that part of the upwards-spiralling catwalk, moving towards Khan to attempt to restrain him with enough force to successfully stop him from fleeing from his impending second sedation.

"NO!"

The "superman" hadn’t quite expected himself to produce this scream in that moment as the three drew ever nearer and nearer, especially because of this fact that there was only three of them. 

As he proceeded to kick the scientist away with enough force to send him falling back down a small part of the catwalk with a yell and to make him drop the hypospray, before picking up the communicator as quickly as he could and sprinting the rest of the way up with the two guards in hot pursuit again, he thought to himself that he’d done it out of actual, genuine fear that he’d only felt a couple of times before in that century. He still thought it somewhat strange as he made this realisation, but he soon realised without saying anything about it out loud that it was because of the fact that he’d almost been ripped away again from the person responsible for his breakout.

"I’m outside, beam me up!" He yelled into the communicator straight after reaching the roof, looking around for a split second before deciding on running across to the edge in front of him that was the nearest.

"They’re getting a lock on you now!" Responded Iadras, his own voice now containing a similar urgency at the nail-biting tension of the situation as a whole despite him not being there in-person.

After this exchange, following which he flipped the communicator closed and put it back into his pocket, the rest felt like it was in slow motion, and yet it had all the exhilaration and tingling nervousness of another fast-paced action moment.

Khan sprinted like he’d never sprinted before, to the point where it was like his feet were barely even touching the surface beneath them and like he was instead soaring across that area of the roof. This was the first time he’d consciously noticed it that day, but his heart was racing to match this sprint. It all came down to this.

The two guards had only just started their own sprint after him across the roof. He didn’t dare stop now or even slow down slightly, as this was the final part of the escape. Every part of his surroundings was one giant blur. The wind flew through some of the locks of his jet black hair.

Within another few seconds, he was getting close to the roof edge he was heading for. He could see, and faintly hear despite the rushing of the wind through his ears up there, some small dark blue-grey particles of a Trill ship transporter beginning to appear and surround him. 

The edge was getting closer, along with the railings around it.

He took one last quick glance at the sleeping Zinalya, now getting a better look at the forehead injury she’d sustained, and as the edge railing off the roof came very close, the transporter particles around him were also increasing in number.

The guards chasing after him screeched to a stop when they saw what he was about to do next. "KHAN!"

Ignoring this yell from one of them, he turned his head around for a second to give one last look of defiance in his eyes before he leapt up onto the top of the railing just as quickly as he’d been running and, now clinging on to Zin even more tightly than he’d done before, he leapt off of the edge of the roof and into mid-air as the transporter particles began to surround him completely like a curtain.

[captainpikeachu]

and here it is, the big season finale!!

it’s so hard to believe that we are at the end of the road for season 2 already!!! it feels like only yesterday that we just started the new season and new adventures but now we gotta say goodbye!

so, one last promo analysis until we come back for season 3 next year!!

this begins with Pike’s voiceover saying “This is Captain Pike, we have one job, protect Commander Burnham until she reaches her target”

here we see Enterprise and Discovery surrounded by the Section 31 ships

also this is really clearest view of how much bigger Discovery is compared to Enterprise, Discovery is just more longer, especially with the nascelles

then we get Michael and Spock running through the Discovery corridors, likely heading to the shuttle bay to get ready for Michael to use the suit

I think this is the backshot of the Enterprise, we see some pods flying out of what I assume is the ship’s shuttle bay, likely getting ready for the battle

Pike on the Enterprise with his bridge crew and Admiral Cornwell, he’s saying the voiceover, stating that their mission is to protect Michael 

we see a shot of Georgiou on Discovery

a reaction shot of Detmer, with Georgiou standing behind her

it looks like they’re in red alert given the coloring of the lights

this looks like Section 31 ships releasing some sort of new drones?

Pike continues: “Section 31 is in our way, get it done”

this is likely after the shot of Michael and Spock running down the hall to get here, I have an assumption that they’re gonna have to fight their way to the hangar judging by some of the scenes we see later in the promo

Michael is in the red angel suit and Spock is piloting the shuttle

from this point is the beginning of Saru doing a countdown

Saru: “Five...”

we see the shot of the back of Saru’s head as they’re ready for battle

Saru: “Four..”

Michael is ready in the suit

Saru: “Three...”

now this is the interesting part, Spock has blood on his face, you can see the specks of green blood, this is why I think a scene that we see later might have resulted in this injury we see on Spock before they get to the shuttle bay

Saru: “Two...”

Discovery and Enterprise ready to face off Section 31

Saru: “Mark!”

we see Michael takes off running out of the shuttle bay and breaking through the shields

here it is Michael in her suit in space with the shuttles and pods circling around her, likely serving as her protectors to shield her from Control’s attacks

Enterprise bridge is taking damage as everyone is falling all over the place and hanging on for dear life, this could be happening during that scene in Michael and Reno’s vision of a torpedo lodged in Enterprise’s hull

explosions going around as the ships fire on each other

this is an interesting scene because I’m pretty sure the person that looks to be about to jump off from the walls on the right is Leland/Control, and the one on the left sliding across the floor looks to be Georgiou

Leland/Control is trying to attack someone else though, there’s someone else that’s blocked in this shot and it could be Michael or it could be Spock, it’s hard to tell, but this could either be happening before Spock and Michael gets to the shuttle bay and thus why Spock has blood on his face OR this could be Georgiou and Nhan fighting off Leland/Control since we saw them going after him in one of the visions

shuttles and pods flying around Discovery

here is that torpedo heading towards Enterprise’s hull, the one they saw in the vision

explosions at console, poor Enterprise crew member :(

Spock in the shuttle and Michael in the suit, it looks like they’re about to land on the hull of a ship? maybe a Section 31 ship?

Spock: “Go Michael, now!”

looks like Spock’s shuttle may be sustaining some damage given the sparks, and my guess is that’s gonna be the reason that while Michael and Discovery (with her crew) gets pulled through the wormhole, Spock will be left behind since he still needs to be on the Enterprise serving with Pike according to canon

though of course they could always do some time travel plot to reset stuff and allow him to maybe do half a season in the future with the rest of the crew or something

but the guess i’m going with is that Spock is in the shuttle helping Michael clear a path and his shuttle is gonna be damaged but he’s gonna hold out long enough for Michael and Discovery to make it through while he remains behind, and the Enterprise picks him up after the battle

Michael looks shocked and worried, probably doesn’t wanna leave her little brother behind where he could get hurt

note on Michael’s display, we can see Red Signal 04 (which we know lead them to Boreth) - does this mean that Michael is trying to anchor herself to one of those Red Signal points or she is merely imputing the locations of those signals so that she will know where to send the signals once she gets to the future?

so far, we have had 5 signals:

USS Hiawatha - asteroid field

Terralysium

Kaminar

Boreth

Xahea

there are still 2 signals that are unaccounted for and I’m curious to see how they will play into this finale because if we are busy dealing with Control, then how does the last 2 signals come into play because I don’t see them extending this into season 3 since the season 2 official trailers and such made it seem like figuring out these signals was the whole point of the season and Pike’s mission, so if this is the last we see of him and the Enterprise, then we do need to complete this mission before we go into season 3, or at least provide some sort of resolution

Michael activates the suit and is pulled towards the wormhole

but look to the left of her, that’s some sort of a ship, but it doesn’t look like Discovery or Enterprise, so do the Klingons show up with their ships to help?

and off she goes into the wormhole

i can’t tell if that’s Discovery between her and the wormhole?

now, I am almost sure that this season finale will end with a cliffhanger, which is likely to be the crew stuck in the future

but this begs the question, even if Discovery and her crew escapes into the future, it doesn’t mean that the threat of Control is gone, it just means that Control doesn’t have the data to end all sentient life, but Control would still be a threat

so if Discovery and Michael escapes with the data into the future, then does that leave Enterprise and the rest of Starfleet to still have to destroy Control and make sure it doesn’t survive? or will we see in this episode Enterprise getting some backup perhaps from other Starfleet ships and from the Klingons and they all together take down Control to make sure it doesn’t continue? Tyler said that he had to do something, so I assume that he’s going to get more help since if Discovery leaves, then Enterprise can’t handle fighting Control alone - they need help to eradicate Control or else Control could just take over Starfleet and slowly evolve and wait until it finds them in the future anyways

i am not sure how that part of the story is going to be resolved

the only thing i am sure is that Discovery ending up in the future won’t be a permanent thing, because Georgiou still has to do that Section 31 show - unless that Section 31 show is set in a completely different timeline? and if Spock does somehow end up going into the future with them, then that’s another thing that would confirm that Discovery crew has to return, even if the ship can’t return

there are quite a few ways this finale could go and I am excited to see what happens!!!!!

just a few more days and Season 2 comes to an end!!

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER DISCO FANS!!!

[lambs-rest]

Escape from Castrum Centri - Unbearable

Surrounded by Imperials on one side, and a canyon on the other. They’d really stepped in it now. Granye hoped that ‘Escape Castrum Centri’ had not become ‘Die at Castrum Centri’.

‘Where the hells is Cid?!’ she wondered, bracing for the immanent violence. She didn’t fancy her odds against heavily armoured Imperials like they were facing now. Her arrows were strong and her aim true, but there were very few easily targetable weak points for her to exploit.

Suddenly, the slumped Magitek armour reared to life, beeping and clanking upright.

The unexpected and inexplicable interruption startled not only the Imperials near it, but those closing in on the Scions.

The armour thrashed, stomping and throwing itself around, almost gnashing like an angry beast. Granye grinned. Leave it to the armour with a mammet heart to be unpredictably loyal.

Suddenly the linkpearl in her ear rang.

“This is Cid! Can you hear me!?”

Granye turned her head to the side, holding the linkpearl.

“I need you to count to five, then jump! Understood!?”

Granye was about to voice her very loud protest when she spied the ravine behind them. “E’en crazier than I heard, that one is.” she muttered, turning to the Scions.

“Everyone, count t’five an’ jump.” She said lowly. “We ain’t got the luxury of a stationary boardin’.”

Varying degrees of horror and fear crossed their faces. Well, Yda looked positively thrilled. Granye shrugged haplessly.

Y’shtola began the countdown. “One…”

“Two!” Yda chimed, grinning.

“Three!” Papalymo said.

“Four!” came Minfilia’s determined voice.

“FIVE!” Granye shouted.

As one they ran, leaping off the cliff.

She spied Tataru, hesitating on her last step and before Granye could take her leap she reached out, grabbed her collar and hoisted the secretary off her feet and into her arms with a squeal.

Tataru curled up tightly and Granye saw the deck of the Enterprise rushing to meet her. The landing was hard. She rolled over the deck, shielding Tataru as best she could before her back hit the wall, eliciting a groan.

“Granye! Are you alright?” Minfilia asked, rushing to her side. She slowly pushed herself up, setting Tataru down on the deck. “’m’fine. Just had a bit too much force behind me jump.” She checked the lalafell. “Y’alright, Tataru?”

She nodded, still shaking a little. Granye gently patted her back. “Good.” 

“Thank you, Granye. When I saw the drop I just- I froze!” She said quietly. 

“Aye, I cannae blame ye.” Granye looked at the pilot. “Yer a bloody madman, Cid!” she shouted, grinning despite her words. Granye pushed herself to her feet and made for the prow, clapping Cid on the back. “Bloody mad! Or maybe tha’s just genius in action!” she laughed as he grinned.

Wedge looked forlornly over the edge. “Shame we couldn’t save Maggie…”

Biggs cocked his head, scratching his chin. “Wonder what happened to ‘er back there…”

“Whatever it was, ‘m glad of it!” Granye laughed weakly.

“BRACE!” Cid bellowed suddenly.

The ship tilted and everyone on board stumbled and slid to the left before it leveled out. Granye slowly let go of the main pole she had grabbed, a flurry of curses on her lips and her heart almost in her throat.

“What in the seven hells-!?”

“Oh no… It’s here!”

She looked at Alphinaud, his voice shaking, and walked to the edge, staring over the rail.

The metal, primal-devouring monstrosity was back.

“Twelve preserve us…” Minfilla breathed, aghast. “They finished it. Ultima Weapon…”

Granye stared at the mechanical fiend. What a cold and pitiless device. She wondered if the Allagans gave it a mind or if it only obeyed.

She squinted suddenly. “Is tha’…?”

Standing beside the Black Wolf was a figure, clad in a familiar black coat.

Before Alphinaud could open his mouth, Granye leaned far over the rail and shouted, waving her arm. “LAHABREA, Y'CHEEKY SOD! What’re y’doin’ with the Garleans!?”

She knew the entirety of the party on board the Enterprise was staring at her.

“D’ye see me at Natalan!?” she shouted, smirking. “Ye’d better’ve brought those pom-poms!”

Though none aboard the airship could tell, Gaius van Baelsar was increasingly aware of the low growl coming from his Ascian conspirator.

“Oh, dinnae give me the silent treatment now! If I’d known y’were here I’d ‘ave stayed longer. I swear I wasnae neglectin’ ye! Dinnae be jealous, darlin’!” Granye called sweetly.

“I’m going to wring your bloody neck myself!” Lahabrea shouted, breaking his composure and storming two steps toward the airship.

Granye made a show of fanning herself. “Oh! I had no idea y’were into that sort o’ thing! Though its prob’ly not the best idea t’ tell e’eryone yer kinks.”

They all heard the outraged scream from the Paragon on the ground.

“Have…Have you been teasing him this whole time?” Yda blurted, jaw open.

Granye wore a shocked expression. “Teasin’!? Why, Yda, ‘m not that cruel! I’s just some light banter! He never sticks around long enough t’ have a proper conversation. Isnae tha’ right, Lahabrea? Yer always leavin’ ‘fore we get to have a nice chat!” she shouted, turning her head back to him.

“Cid, we may want to leave before she provokes the Ascian to jump aboard.” Y’shtola said quietly.

“Dinnae worry. He won’ face me like tha’.” Granye declared, staring at Lahabrea and leaning comfortably over the edge. “Why is tha’, Lahabrea? Why’re y’always leavin’ others in yer wake fer me t’ face, instead o’ buttin’ heads with me yerself?” She cocked her head, smirk slowly spreading. “Are ye waitin’ fer somethin’? Are ye scared?”

 Lahabrea flashed his teeth in anger, but the words he almost spat at the Bringer of Light were quelled. He slowly eased back, smirking before he bowed his head and reached up to his mask, gripping the cloth of his hood.

Oh, how he relished the way her face drained of colour. How the expression of that insufferable grin melted away into open-mouthed shock and dread as the crimson brand flashed over his borrowed flesh, over the face of their dear Thancred Waters.

The mirth in her countenance died as horror swept over the others around her.

Granye was deaf to Minifilia’s heartbroken disbelief. Deaf to Cid, and the explosion Ultima Weapon’s sudden assault left behind.

She could only stare at the villain below, betrayal stabbing at her chest as he laughed, grinning cruelly as they fled.

——————————-

<- Previous | Next ->

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Such Sweet Sorrow’ Review

Pike: "Sometimes we know the role we play, sometimes we don't. I'm not sure which is better, to be honest."

By nature I love brevity: A fine piece of build-up. This show has filler, transitional episodes down to a science.

The aptly named 'Such Sweet Sorrow' is filled with goodbyes, framed around the countdown until the big event of the finale. On the one hand, I'm pleased with most of the emotional beats 'Sorrow' hits, and there are a lot of them. On the other, this is almost entirely set-up and build-up, and it gets a little tiresome when you know you'll have to wait a whole week for the resolution.

But, as I said, the emotional scenes are mostly well-realized, so let me unpack them. Probably the most disappointing of them was between Tyler and Burnham. It had to be done, and I expect the show is only passing him off to Michelle Yeoh's Section 31 series, but I continue to be thoroughly underwhelmed by Shazad Latif. I didn't mind him so much in the first season, but all throughout this one he's been delivering poor performance after poor performance, and his character has been of precious little use. I won't miss him here, but I have hope that he'll fare better on the Section 31 series as his interactions with Yeoh's Georgiou are easily the best the character has.

Next in line we have the unfinished, unresolved feel of Stamets and Culber's bumbling goodbye. I very strongly doubt the show is done with their relationship, so I don't believe for a second that it's going to end this way. Their conversation, too, was awkward and cut short, and that leaves the audience feeling that something isn't right, and it's still unsettled. If the show vaults the Disco into the future as it promises to, I expect that either Stamets and Culber will both be aboard, or they will both leave the show together. But their conversation does have value, as the discussion of 'forward motion' seems to be a promise about the series more than it is about the two of them. If the show ends up making the jump to somewhere in the future, that would be a huge step of forward motion. Fans have widely decried Discovery's status as a prequel, and a time jump would certainly at least begrudgingly placate some of them.

One emotional farewell seemed particularly out of place for plot reasons, and this was the surprise visit of Sarek and Amanda. These two have been a large part of the series so far, and it seemed fitting that James Frain and Mia Kirschner be brought back one last time. It's the method of doing this that didn't work. The purpose of the episode's numerous countdown timers is to give the plot a sense of urgency, and that was heightened for most of it by a sense of loneliness. The Disco and the Enterprise are supposed to be without reinforcements and without aid, but the arrival of Sarek and Amanda on a Vulcan ship that then just kind of left completely shattered this. If Sarek and Amanda had time to get there, surely at least a few Vulcan ships could've gotten to that spot. And what about the ship that Georgiou must have used to get there? They said she 'arrived,' but gave absolutely no explanation of how. These kinds of questions are raised by the nature of Sarek and Amanda's farewell, and I wish they had gone with something less in-person for that reason.

I absolutely loved the sequences that involved the larger crew. The first of these, of course, was the touching recording of goodbye messages to everyone's families and friends. It was a nice look into Owosekun and Detmer's lives in particular, to see who they cared most about. The second nice, touching scene was the farewell to Captain Pike. Though he will of course be in the finale, he will almost certainly not be interacting with the Disco crew before they leave for times unknown, so it was good to send him off with the appropriate flair. I thought the scene relied perhaps too heavily on dialogue, but the moment at the end where they all stood as he left the bridge was well-deserved.

Notable by their absences are the departures of Spock and Georgiou. These, of course, are being saved for the second part. Spock must leave because he cannot exit the timeline according to canon, and Georgiou must leave because she will have to head up the Section 31 series. That they're saving these two farewells for later means there is something important planned regarding them, and I certainly hope they will be worth the wait.

Two characters made unexpected appearances here, and I'll be interested to see what happens to them in the finale. First is Reno, who is finally starting to have a role worthy of the fanfare her character received. Reno finishes the episode by staring into the time crystal, seeing all manner of horrible things. I wonder if this is leading up to a sacrifice in the end, or if she will be left broken or insane by the visions of the future. Also making her presence felt is Queen Po, whose existence can be explained by the Short Trek 'Runaway.' Yadira Guevara-Prip is clearly far more comfortable in her role here than she was in 'Runaway,' and I would almost say she is now too comfortable. Po's casual couldn't-care-less attitude is at times refreshing, but at other times it feels off and out of place. She is still on board at the end of the episode because reasons, so I wonder what role she will have to play in the final events of the season.

Oh yeah, and... THE ENTERPRISE! The bridge! The hand grips in the turbolift! The little grate things in the hallway! Useless blinking lights everywhere (courtesy of superfan James Cawley, whose recreation of the TOS sets is something any Trek fan should go see)! I absolutely loved the look of the ship's interior, and I'm very well impressed by the attention to detail and homage to Robert Jeffries' incredible original designs. This fan is happy with it, very much so.

Strange New Worlds:

The ship visited Po's home world of Xahea, but we never went down to the surface. It's now an extremely politically relevant planet, we're told, due to Po's scientific discoveries.

New Life and New Civilizations:

No new species or cultures here, or even any exploration of previous ones. I guess we're down to the plot now, and there isn't any time to explore.

Pensees:

-Rebecca Romijn's Number One makes a very brief appearance in this episode, but I thought she worked better here than she did in 'An Obol for Charon' earlier this season.

-Disco's auto-destruct system uses handprint recognition rather than voice identification and codes.

-The sound design of the Enterprise scenes was great, with classic noises for everything from door whooshes to torpedo fire.

-The teaser for this episode was 13, almost 14 minutes long. That's nearly a third of the episode's runtime!

-Georgiou doesn't like ice cream. Add that to the list of her bad-guy cliches.

-I don't like the way the Captaincy discussion was set aside. Saru's glance at Burnham when he said there were many things to consider made it seem like Burnham will be made Captain over Saru. Please don't actually let that happen, writers. Please?

-Dear Mr. Osunsamni, Please stop spinning. Sincerely, Everyone.

-Further evidence to support the still quite unlikely theory that CBS is planning a series set on Pike's Enterprise: The Enterprise sets, which were built fresh rather than redressed from the Disco bridge; the minor bridge characters on the Enterprise who had distinctive characteristics and were given names despite appearing for less than five minutes.

Quotes:

Georgiou: "I thought there were no bad ideas." Pike: "That's a lie." Cornwell, at the same time: "That's a bad one."

Po: "You look taller in your photos." Burnham: "Thank you?"

Po: "I don't have to listen to any snark. I made it an actual law."

Georgiou: "You flinging yourself into the future like some galactic rubber band with a martyr complex."

4 out of 6 truly bad ideas.

CoramDeo has never painted daisies on a big red rubber ball.

[mizmahlia]

Snowstorms and Sled Races

This was written to fill @thefuriousstarlightstudent ‘s Christmas stocking for the Batfam Christmas Stocking Exchange over at AO3. The prompt I used was Damian going sledding for the first time.

You can read it here or over at AO3.

Have a great read! :)

Damian sat in the study and watched the snow fall. At his last check, the storm had dropped nine inches and counting and the forecast called for another eight to ten by nightfall. School was cancelled for the day and he was stuck at home with nothing to do. Patrol that night would be limited, since getting around by rooftop when they were covered with a foot and a half of snow wasn't exactly safe. There was distinct chance he would be stuck inside all weekend and he dreaded the possibility. Cass appeared in the doorway with a coy smile. He acknowledged her, a single brow raised in question, and she smiled wider. "Time to play," she said quietly. With a speed few people could process, she whipped a snowball at him and it hit him right in the sternum, snow exploding in his face. She disappeared as quickly as she'd appeared, leaving a spluttering Damian in her wake.

Minutes later, he was dressed in his warmest winter gear and following her footsteps through the snow. The wound around the perimeter of the Manor and back into the trees. He held a tightly packed snowball in his hand, ready to pelt someone if they so much as blinked in his direction. Halfway through the woods her footsteps completely disappeared and he knew she'd climbed up into the trees. Before he glanced up, he darted out of the way and grinned as a enormous snowball dropped from above. "Ha! You missed me, Cass. I'm too..." "Psst. Damian." Damian looked up and scowled when he saw Tim's smiling face just as he dropped another snowball the size of a watermelon. It crumbled the moment it Damian's face, sending a cascade of snow down both the front and the back of his jacket. Both Tim and Cass climbed down from their perches and watched Damian shake the snow from his jacket. "Well played, Drake. That won't work twice." Tim laughed and rolled his eyes, his cheeks rosy from the cold. "Both of you come this way. There's a hill that's perfect for sledding on the south side of the property." Damian glanced at Cass, who waggled her eyebrows. "You're not seriously going sledding with him, are you?" Cass shrugged. "Never tried it. Could be fun." Tim nodded to the trail behind them. "Come on, Damian. It'll be fun. I promise. If it's not? I'll let you pelt me with snowballs for a solid five minutes later." Damian sighed. "Fine. Only because I know this will be a total waste of time." Cass grinned and tugged Damian's jacket. "Don't be such a Negative Ned, little brother." Damian snorted and allowed Cass to drag him along. "You've been hanging around with Stephanie way too much."

Dick entered the Manor, shaking the snow from his hair. He'd barely made it before the roads out of Gotham were shut down. "Anybody home?" "Master Dick, must you yell? You're indoors, for heaven's sake." "It's so quiet around here, I wasn't sure anyone was home." Alfred gave him a look that clearly said he didn't buy the excuse. "Where is everyone?" Alfred took Dick's jacket and scarf, moving to hang them in the nearby closet. Dick rubbed his hands together and headed toward the kitchen for something warm to drink. "Master Timothy stayed home today on account of cancelled meetings. Master Damian is home as well, as is Miss Cassandra. I believe they're out playing in the snow." Dick stopped and spun on his heel, turning to Alfred. "I beg your pardon.. they're.. playing in the snow?" Alfred nodded and Dick took off sprinting up the stairs. "Shall I get your winter gear?" "No need, Alfred! I'll get it myself!" Alfred smiled as he mopped up the melting snow by the front door. Four down, only a couple to go.

Bruce was in his office reviewing a new clean energy contract for Wayne Enterprises when he heard someone sprinting down the hallway. There was a blur as whoever it was ran past and the footstep grew faint again, before whoever it was came running back down the hallway. "Hey, Bruce. Gonna head outside. Damian is, and I quote, 'playing in the snow'." Bruce opened his mouth to say hello to Dick, but he was gone before he had the chance. The meeting to sign off on the contract wasn't until after the holidays on account of the blizzard, so there was no harm in setting it aside for a few hours. At least that's what he told himself. He made sure his phone was charged and he went to dig his skiing gear out of his closet. If the kids were playing outside, he refused to miss the opportunity to witness it. He just had to find his boots, the good ones. Otherwise his feet would get cold too quickly and he'd be miserable.

Dick, Tim and Damian were going over the rules for the sled race when Jason arrived with three more sleds. Cass pelted him with a snowball from her hiding place in the treeline before disappearing again. "Jason! You made it!" Dick laughed, gesturing to the sleds he was carrying. "You must have talked to Alfred already." Jason dropped the sleds next to the others and zipped up his coat a little further. "Yeah. He said I have to send an injury report, so hold still while I take a photo for proof." They lined up and waited for Jason to get his gloves off so he could take the photo. Just as he raised his phone, Cass appeared behind them and gave Dick and Tim bunny ears as Jason snapped a photo. "There," he said, sending it to both Bruce and Alfred with a grin. "Now, what are we playing and what are the rules?" Dick rubbed his hands together and looked at Jason. "It's a relay. One from each team goes down the hill, the second can't go until the first one gets back to the top. First team done, wins." Jason threw his head back and laughed. "I like it. Teams?" Tim frowned. "Someone will have to sit out. Steph isn't here yet so we only have five people." Cass pointed over Tim's shoulder. "Bruce can play." Dick and Jason looked at each other and immediately started talking over one another. "He's not on my team." "Definitely on your team." Damian rolled his eyes when they started to argue. "Richard, Cassandra and I are on one team. Jason, Tim and Father make up the other team." Cass fist-bumped Damian. "We got this," she mock-whispered, making Damian smile. "In case you hadn't noticed, short-stack, Bruce and I have the longer legs. In snow this deep, that is what we call an advantage." Jason said as he rested his elbow atop Damian's head. Damian swept his leg for the trouble, sending him tumbling backwards into the snow. Dick rolled his eyes and knelt next to the sleds to pick the two with the least amount of wear. He winked at Cass and fist-bumped her before choosing two of them. "Not necessarily," Dick replied, "you two also weigh the most, so you waste more energy hauling all of that muscle around." Jason sat up and grabbed Damian by the back of his jacket, tugging him down into the snow alongside him. "Okay, so who's up first for Team Kickass?" Bruce watched in amusement as Tim rolled his eyes at the name. "That's the best name you can come up with, Jason?" Jason and Damian continued to wrestle. Damian managed to wriggle free and shove Jason's face into the snow. He came up spluttering and laughing, scraping snow from his nose. "You got anything better, Doctor Midnite?" Cass, Dick and Damian started to laugh. Tim scowled at all three of them. "Of course Steph would tell you about that," he muttered. "But why don't we let the oldest member of each team pick?" Tim glanced at Bruce. "Please tell me you can come up with something better than Team Kickass." Bruce and Dick looked at each other and Bruce motioned for Dick to go first. "Fine. We'll be.. Sled Team Six." Cass and Damian looked at him strangely. "Like the Navy Seal Team Six? The elite military unit? As in, 'we're so good that we're done before you even know we're there?'" Damian looked at Cass and they both shrugged. Bruce looked at Jason, giving him a nudge with his elbow. Jason grinned as an idea came to him. "And we're Team OG." Dick snorted when he laughed. "Seriously?" he asked. "Damn straight," Jason answered. "Three OG's right here- the original Batman, the Red Hood and Red Robin." He held out his fists and both Tim and Bruce bumped theirs against Jason's. "Rules?" Tim asked. "Only three," Dick answered. "One- the bottom is the fence at the property line. You have to reach out and tap it before you turn and come back. Two- the next person doesn't go until the sledder reaches this line." He packed down a start line with this feet. "And no contact with another sledder, whether they're a teammate or not." Everyone nodded in agreement. "So how exactly does this work?" Damian asked. Any and all conversation stopped and everyone turned to look at him. "What? I've never gone sledding before. Do you go head-first?" Jason began to laugh, but Dick silenced him with a glare as he spoke. "Yes, you go head-first. You put your sled down, take a few steps back and you run and dive onto it. You want that momentum to get you started. I'll go first to show you and Cass." Cass put her hand on Damian's shoulder. "Push forward when you jump, not down," she said. "You'll go faster." Damian nodded and got in line behind Cass, who stood behind Dick. On the other team, Jason lined up in front, Tim would be second and Bruce was last. Tim stepped up to the start line. "Everyone okay if I give the countdown?" They all agreed and Dick and Jason took their places at the start line several feet behind their sleds. "Three... two... one. GO!" Tim brought his arm down and both Dick and Jason sprinted forward and leaped onto their sleds. Dick's landing was smoother and he didn't lose any speed when he landed on the sled, but what Jason lost when he landed on his sled he made up for in the speed he gained because of his size. They were neck and neck on the way down, and the hill was steep so they gained speed quickly. Jason reached the bottom first, but he nearly collided with the fence. As a result, he lost time for having to roll off the sled. They heard Jason shout several colorful words as Dick smoothly glided to the fence and climbed out. He tapped the fence and started sprinting up the hill. Jason was about twenty yards behind him, swearing and laughing as he tried to catch up. Cass jumped up and down as Dick got closer, eagerly snatching the sled from his hands the moment he cross the starting line. She darted out onto it and sailed down the hill, laughing the entire way. Tim was only about ten yards back and taunted Cass that he was right behind her and would catch up in no time. Damian laughed when Jason collapsed in the snow next to Bruce, panting and muttering about being out of shape. Dick crouched and rested his arms on his knees. "What's the matter, Jaybird, all that muscle you brag about slow you down a bit?" Jason flipped Dick his middle finger and in a move much faster than they thought Jason capable of, he grabbed Dick and pushed him face-first into the snow. "What's the matter, Dickiebird?" he asked, still laughing and no longer as breathless, "those ninja-like reflexes not fast enough?" Damian looked toward the bottom of the hill and watched Cass smoothly roll out of her sled, tag the fence and take off back toward the top. Tim was right behind her and was gaining ground too quickly for Damian's liking. He bent his knees and watched Cass run toward him, his hand outstretched and ready for the sled. Bruce watched Damian's competitive streak kick in and grinned. He mirrored Damian and reached his hand toward where Tim would arrive any moment. Cass narrowly beat Tim and Damian tossed the sled down the hill without jumping on it. A second later, he started sprinting after it. "What the hell is he doing?" Jason hollered, nearly doubled over with laughter. "He's running downhill to build up his momentum, Jay. It's a hell of a strategy," Dick replied. "And we didn't say you couldn't do that." Tim collapsed backward into the snow and gasped for air. "I don't buy that this is his first time sledding. No way." "Wish I'd thought of that," Cass said. "I could have beaten you by more than what I did." Tim stuck his tongue out at her and sat up to watch the race. While Damian was over halfway down the hill and somehow still picking up speed, Bruce was gaining on him. But that's when Damian made a crucial mistake. He turned his head to see where Bruce was and the front of his sled shifted to the right. The opposite corner caught the snow and the sled flipped, sending Damian up into the air before coming down hard and rolling down the rest of the hill. He came to stop in a heap against the wooden fence. "Oh my god," Dick muttered. He grabbed a sled and launched himself down the hill. Jason followed close behind on another sled. Bruce rolled off his sled just before he reached the bottom and rushed to Damian's side. "Damian? Can you hear me? Don't move." He ditched his gloves and carefully rolled Damian onto his back, his fingers ghosting over Damian's face. There was blood along his bottom lip, but there were no teeth missing and his tongue was intact. His neck was fine and though he was wearing snow pants and a heavy jacket, his arms and legs appeared to be okay. "Open your eyes, son." Dick and Jason knelt next to Damian and unzipped his coat, checking for injuries. There was no obvious trauma, but they couldn't be sure until they got him back to the house. "Bruce! Should I call for help?" Tim yelled from the top of the hill. "Is he okay?" Damian's eyes fluttered open and he grimaced. Dick held up a hand, signalling to Tim to wait. "What happened?" he asked. "You lost," Jason said. When both Dick and Bruce glared at him, he continued. "You flipped your sled, kiddo, and finished the race without it. Can you tell us what hurts?" "I don't think I hit my head on something, but my neck hurts," he said quietly. I remember looking backward and then I was airborne." Bruce zipped Damian's jacket and fixed his hat so it covered his head. "Can you move your arms and legs? Does any of that hurt?" Damian moved both arms, then both legs. "That's fine. It's just my neck, but it's muscle pain. Nothing serious." Dick helped him sit up and when Damian was ready, Bruce lifted him and carried up back up to the top of the hill. Both Cass and Tim sighed in relief. "Do you want me to carry you back to the house, or do you want to be pulled in a sled?" Bruce asked. He leaned his cheek gently against the top of Damian's head. "This is fine," he replied quietly. "I don't want to move if I don't need to." "Tim?" "Yeah, B?" "Run ahead with Cassandra and have Alfred prep for some x-rays." "Sure thing. C'mon, Cass." They both took off running toward the Manor. With Jason and Dick still at the hill collecting the sleds, it was just Bruce and Damian. "I think I would have won," Damian said. "Had I not turned around, I mean." Bruce's mouth twitched into a smile. "Is that so?" "Yeah. I mean, you made up for some lost time, but I would have won the footrace." Damian felt the rumble of laughter in Bruce's chest before he heard it. "If you insist, kiddo." "Insist? When was the last time you ran a five-minute mile, old man?" Bruce bit his lip for a moment, still smiling. "You hang around Jason too much," he said. "And for your information, it wasn't long ago I was running that fast." "My point exactly. Old man."

A few hours later, after the x-rays came back negative and he was diagnosed with whiplash and some muscle spasms, Damian was cleared to go upstairs and relax. The rest of the family were waiting in the theatre room with blankets, more snacks than Alfred was comfortable with, and an assortment of movies to watch while they waited out the storm. Damian settled in between Dick and Bruce, the pain medication and muscle relaxant making him drowsy. And the ice pack was numbing what pain was left. "What are we watching?" Dick asked. "We have Disney movies, Christmas movies, action movies..." "My vote's for Disney, but you knew that already." Damian piped up from his blanket cocoon. "Tt. You don't get a vote if you're wasting it on Disney, Brown." There was laughter from multiple sources, but Damian was too sleepy to distinguish who was who. "Glad you're okay, squirt," Steph said. "Good to know you didn't break your sense of humor." "How many people for 'Home Alone'?" Dick asked, ignoring their argument completely. Multiple hands went up, only a few stayed down. "'Home Alone' it is, then." As the opening credits rolled, Damian dragged his eyes open long enough to glance stiffly up at both Dick and Bruce. "As soon as my neck has healed enough, I demand a rematch." "If you insist, D." "Alfred will have to clear you first." "I'll do whatever's necessary. But there will be a rematch." Bruce looked down to see Damian drift off to sleep. He removed the ice pack and carefully adjusted Damian's head. "Do you think he would have won, B?" Dick whispered, grinning from ear to ear. "He seems to think he would have." "But what do you think?" "He was in the lead.." "That's not an answer, Bruce." Bruce looked over at Dick and shrugged. "It's the only one you're going to get. Now hush. I want to watch the movie."

"But you've seen this..."

"Dick. Ssssh."

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Recruits, Regulation″

Recruits Kimber, Alvarez, Han, and McCaster sat mostly slack jawed in the little conference room on the command deck of the UNSC Harbinger. The little alien doctor they had called ‘Krill’ was standing at the front of the room, and in general military fashion, he had a powerpoint holographically projected over the far wall. 

On the projection currently was a diagram of a human body, the kind you would see in high school health textbook.

The little alien was pointing vigorously towards the diagram, “And here, right here this little opening that leads into the bladder is called the urethra, and if you STICK things in it, it gets grossly infected and causes horrible urinary tract infections.” The group of recruits simple sat there in shock, “This, this is the anus, this muscle was designed to push things out not take things in. In fact, if you try, the negative pressure created by your adventure can pull things INSIDE your colon and up your large intestine. The procedure for getting that out might include surgery, but could just involve someone like me reaching up there to grab it out.” 

Mouths gaped in astonishment.

They couldn’t be living through this, could they.

“This, this machine right here is the mechanism used to close the airlock doors. If the airlock doors get jammed, do NOT stick your hand inside to try and fish them out, because this may cause something called degloving…. If you don’t know what that means, its when all the skin peels off your hand like a banana and-”

The door at the far end of the room hissed open, and they turned to see the commander, of course the man didn’t just walk into the room like any normal person. He glided in on his ‘heelies, hands clasped behind his back like he was standing at parade rest. It was such a strange sight, considering the man was wearing an officer's uniform and a captain’s cap having ditched the sunglasses from earlier in favor of the eye patch, which did not, in fact, seem to be a joke, but was definitely part of his everyday wardrobe. 

He came gliding to a halt next to them, “You made a powerpoint?” He asked in mild amusement.

“Of course I made a powerpoint.”

“Hmm,” The man shrugged, “Guess it makes sense.”

“Can you let me finish.”

The man grinned, “Afraid not. We are about to launch, and I have it on good authority these four have been invited to the bridge to see the spectacle.”

The little doctor sighed, “So human by way of his exasperation that it was hard to tell he was even alien, “Alright go then, but when one of them ends up in my infirmary with some stupid injury, I am going to blame you.”

“You blame me anyway.”

“That's because I am convinced you are the amalgamation of human stupidity and recklessness.” The recruits looked nervously back and forth between the two. Its not everyday you watched an officer get insulted to his face, but the man just smiled and laughed blowing the entire thing off.

“Well I’ve never gotten anything stuck in my colon, so I guess I’m not a good representative, anyway.” He pointed to the four of them, “Come on. I think you’ll want to see this.” 

Nervously the group of them stood and followed the Commander through the open doors walking along behind his gliding form.

He had…. Not been what they expected. They had seen the movie trailers, heard about his exploits, watched flight demonstration videos, in certain cases, and even received lectures about intergalactic relations based on transcripts from his conversations, and or interactions. He was a legend at the academy, at the forefront of human/alien relations. All the books were written based on what he had done or what people in his crew had done. He had been the first man to SEE sentient nonhuman life.

And there he was, wearing an eyepatch and heeleing down the hall like a botched middle school costume party. Not to mention, when they had heard of him, they had immediately assumed it would be someone older and more experienced, someone graying at the temples who had seen more life than he knew what to do with, but this…. This guy wasn’t much older than them. Young enough to be their older brother, or their older brother’s weird ass friend.

Then there was that smile, like he didn’t have a serious bone in his body, and they were expected to follow this guy?

How could they take him seriously?

“Um… Sir, I don’t mean to sound…. accusatory , but.” He glanced over his shoulder back at them, green eye sparking with some unknown emotion.

Recruit  Kimber pointed down at his shoes, “Um, are those regulation…. With the uniform or…”

He grinned again and turned away, “Uniform regulation Gama on the proper maintenance of footwear when wearing uniform. Footwear must be classified as a dress shoe and come in Mat black or grey, no laces.” he pointed downwards at his feet, “These are slip ons, and in the online description they were described as a ‘dress shoe” maybe it was on a technicality but I took a screenshot just in case anyone asks.”

They stared at him. 

“Um…. sir…. I hate to sound like an….ur well…. But you arent exactly…”

“What you expected?” The man finished, coming to a stop and turning to face them.

“Well.” Alvarez rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, I mean you…. Well weve read about you in military science and tactics, and we sort of just assumed that you’d be more ...”

The conversation died away as the young recruits shifted awkwardly.

He smirked, “you thought id be some old stuffy officer with years of military experience. Some regulation stickler with a metal rod shoved up my ass, yes sir, no sir, you say jump, I say how high, that kind of person?”

They shuffled their feet awkwardly, but didn’t answer.

The man didn’t break his expression, “Well this is the reality.  When I was a kid I used to set up my telescope out on the lawn, hoping I would see a UFO I trained for over five years in aviation to get my ass on board the Enterprise, because I wanted nothing more than to go to space.. My first trip to space was in an F-90 darkfire, and I nearly died. I was on the forerunner team that stepped foot on Proxima b and then when we receive incoming radio signals from an unknown source,I accompanied them as well. There I was the first person to see extraterrestrial life, not only that but I helped to establish linguistic contact between the two races. When the Drev war happened, I was deployed when I never should have been, lost my leg become a part of operation steel eye fought through withdrawals and PTSD before crawling back to the UNSC only to learn that the GA Knew me and trusted me enough to want me as the human representative to the rest of the galaxy.” He paused for a second looking them over, “All of that, was just one big accident. I was in the right place at the right time, and aside from training as hard as I did to be a good pilot, I have stumbled and crashed my way to success by the grace of my own luck.”

The group remained silent.

He looked at them with a critical eye, “Do you want to know what I learned through all of that?”

They remained silent but nodded nervously.

He took a breath, “I learned first and foremost to never stop loving what you do, With the army it is easy to take all the rules and regulations, and hate all the political loopholes you have to jump through. It’s easy to make a routine to grow bored. But boredom leads to burnout, and every day I wake up on MY ship living my childhood dream and determine I have no right to feel that way, so if that means wearing heelis on the command deck, Playing songs older than dirt on the bridge, and making myself look like a fool, than I’ll do it, just as long as I remember to contain it when it most matters.”

He turned away and began gliding down the hall again, “Ever wonder why my ship, despite being the most dangerous, is the most sought after in the fleet… It's because Morale. I make sure to keep my people entertained and happy. Morale has the happy side effect of making people work harder, they try more, and they are more loyal. Everything I do, I do for the crew, and for myself.”

He came to a halt at the bottom of the steps and led them upwards onto the bridge. 

The small blue Drev, Sunny, was waiting for them, “Rousing lecture, I almost peed myself a little.”

He snorted and shoved her aside with a shoulder, “You know you love me.”

The drev lifted her head slightly, “Do I?”

“Yes, you do.”

The recruits followed nervously after him glancing towards the Drev female and her bright gold eyes. She snapped her beak at them and they stepped back nervously. She made some sort of humming sound deep in her chest. The the base of her throat they watched as two large holes opened and closed in time with her breathing.

Creepy.

“Begin preflight sequence.” The commander had taken a seat in the captain's chair, and as he was sitting there giving orders and taking command of the ship, you could almost forget that he was wearing an eyepatch and a pair of heelies.

By order form one of the bridge men, they strapped themselves into their seats as the countdown sequence began, “Crew of the harbinger this is your Commander speaking. Please follow all takeoff protocols for we are beginning preflight at this time. Please make sure to strap down all objects that would be lethal flying towards you head, and keep your hands and and feet inside the vehicle for the duration of the ride, thank you for flying with the UNSC.”

He flipped some controls on the chair as the countdown began, and it wasn’t moments before they were being lifted into the sky. Everyone braced themselves against their seats clutching the harnesses as they were thrust upwards into the sky, hands clasped onto harasses, and then they were airborne.

Despite the sudden and violent takeoff, the ride was relatively smooth, and they watched out the windows as earth receded behind them.

It was an amazing sight, more than any of them had ever before imagined, “Charge warp drive!” The commander ordered.”

“Charging warp drive, engage on your command, sir.”

“Diagnostic report on the coolant system?”

“100% operations functional, sir!”

“Engage warp drive in three ...two…. One.” 

And then they were gone, off into the vastness of space at the forefront of space exploration.

At the forefront of danger.

***

The forefront of danger was not what they had been expecting, they certainly had not expected the aggressive prank war that occured on April first, a prank war that covered McCaster in Green paint, and resulted in Han having lost all of his left shoes. 

They didn’t expect the mess hall to burst into a sing along when the commander began playing outdated rock music, they hadn’t expected to get cleaned out in a game of poker by an alien nearly twice their size, or chased out of the shower by a very grumpy looking spider hybrid.

All through this, the commander appeared and disappeared at random wheeling past or riding on the back of the electric blue Drev, only to prance down the hall out of sight leaving a trail of…. Something dumb, bubbles or confett, behind him. 

How he managed to requisition any of the things he got his hands on was a mystery to them.

And though this was the strangest experience they had ever had, he hadn’t been wrong about burnout, boredom, or monotony. They never knew what was coming next, and there was always something interesting going on.

If you walked in on the commander, one moment he was trying to teach the spiderlings how to shake, and the next moment he was on a conference call with the president of the UN brass of the UNSC and the galactic Assembly giving tactical advice with the same mouth that had earlier proclaimed the hypothesis that , why don’t we just do all our laundry in space seeing as the inhospitable vacuum would kill all the bacteria, not entirely sure if he was joking or not.

During meal times he spent a good portion of it rotating around the tables and eating with a new group every day. Generally his big blue friend, Sunny came with him, and more often than not, the doctor as well. Seemed odd how close he was with them, but no one would give a straight answer when questions came up about the nature of the relationship.

It was on just such a day when the commander made his way over to their table and took a seat followed by the blue Drev who was carrying a large salad in a mixing bowl. 

The drev could really put down food, but that made sense.

“Morning gentlemen.”

“Morning, sir.” 

He tilted his head, “Don’t look so thrilled, you might have an accident with all that enthusiasm.”

Alvarez clutched his mug, “Sorry not a morning person.” He muttered 

“And you commander.” 

“Any time is a good time to be alive.”

“And there is the optimist.” Han muttered with a sigh rubbing groggily at his eyes before pausing “What are you wearing?”

The commander grinned leaning back to show off his shirt, “Star Wars T, its vintage, do you like?.... Don’t give me that look, it’s casual friday.”

They just shook their heads in slight amusement as he leaned an elbow on the table, “I was meaning to ask you guys something.”

They nodded, and he was about to open his mouth to speak when, alarms started going off all around the ship.

Suddenly, the geek was gone and the commander stood in his place demeanor no more marred by his clothing than a speck of dust in a beam of sunlight.

“EVERYONE TO YOUR STATIONS, NOW!”

“What’s going on!”

He tilted his head to the side listening, probably to a report over his implants.

“The GA is under attack. “

[mybullshitsensesaretingling]

Nuh'mau-wak

Request: Hello, cool blog! I have a request if that's alright: Captain Kirk falling for Spock's half sister, who's human (reader is female) thank you! - @demigodgirl91

A/N: Naming a story in Vulcan. Oh yeah, I’m so deep in this I’m never gonna see the light of day again. It means “too much time” or “it has been too long since I last saw you”

Spock and Kirk stood waiting in front of the airlock door. Your ship had just docked with the Enterprise in response to a distress call. When the door swished open, you stepped aboard, your first officer in tow.

“It’s good to see you again, Captain,” you greeted Kirk, shaking his hand.

“We have to meet under better circumstances one of these days.”

You nodded your agreements before turning to Spock. “S’chn.”

“(Y/N).”

“Your bangs are a disaster.”

“As are your manners.”

You kept your hard expression for a moment before it broke into a smile.

“I am glad to see you well.”

“The feeling is mutual.” You held your hand out toward your first officer. “Commander Morris is the head of my engineering department. If you would allow him, he would like to meet with the Lieutenant Commander and get started on the repairs right away.”

“Of course. I’ll have Ensign Chekov take him down.” Kirk gave out the order then started directing you to a conference room.

“Ki'kwi'fun-tor,” you told Spock as the two of you walked behind the captain.

“Nuh'mau-wak,” he responded.

“Ah,” you agreed. “Hi ka’i. And I expect a full tour of the new ship,” you spoke up when you switched to English so that Kirk knew you were speaking to him.

It used to bother him when you and your brother spoke to each other in Vulcan. He didn’t like not knowing what you were saying, especially when things got heated, or as heated as a conversation between two people raised on Vulcan could get. But he had gotten used to it a while ago. In fact, he almost found it comforting.

“It’s cute that you thought there was a chance that I wasn’t going to give you a tour,” he said, stopping at a door and waiting off to the side to let you enter first.

You took a seat at the table and listened as the two began to regale you with the choices and mistakes that had lead to their current predicament. You looked over the logs, carefully sorting through all the information they were giving you and deciding what was and wasn’t worth putting in your report.

The formal meeting between high ranking colleagues morphed rather quickly into a coffee shared between old friends.

Jim, as always, found himself constantly trying to make you smile. You weren’t under the same pressure growing up to act Vulcan, so it was a much easier task than getting Spock to smile. But getting you to smile, sincerely smile, still came with its own challenges.

“You disappoint me, Jim,” you said, after he had told you a particularly bad story of his captaining “skills”.

“You’d be more disappointed if I didn’t have any stories.”

A smile started to tug at your lips, but you covered it by lifting your mug to your mouth. “I guess we will never find out.”

“I resent that.”

“I don’t believe you do, sir,” Spock said.  

“Captain?” a man’s voice called from the door.

“Yes?” you and Kirk responded in unison, both your heads turning towards the door.

“Umm… Captain Grayson,” you first officer clarified.

“Yes?” you repeated, unaccompanied by Kirk.

“We’re needed back on the O’Neil.”

“Of course.” You got to your feet, nodding at the two men in front of you in turn. “Kirk. Spock. I’ll be back after I get a chance to speak with my team. Thank you for the coffee.”

Kirk smiled and watched you leave, the whole while being watched by Spock.

“Don’t,” Kirk said, turning to look at his friend.

“Don’t what?” Spock asked, his gaze unwavering and having the distinct look of someone who knew something others really wished he didn’t.

“You know what.” Kirk gathered up the PADDs from the meeting and Spock’s eyes never left him. “Jesus. Blink or something.”

He did as his Captain asked, somehow managing to do it smugly.

-

“How’s Sarak?” Kirk asked as the two of you walked down the hall.

“I’m sure he is well.” You kept your hands clasped behind your back as you walked, barely even looking at him out of the corner of your eye.

“You haven’t been talking, have you?”

“Not lately, no.” Kirk was always surprised at your ability to keep emotion out of your voice no matter what. He had seen you let your walls down when it was just the two of you, even when Spock was with you, but whenever you were in public they went right back up.

“He doesn’t seem to be very good at talking to his children.”

“He’s fine with talking to his children. It is only Spock and I that he has a problem with.”

“Uhuh. And how many siblings do you guys have?” He had been trying to get a straight answer to this question for years.

“That depends on what you count as a sibling,” you said as if that should satisfy him.

Kirk snorted and you raised an eyebrow at him.

“If dancing around questions was a sport your family would take gold.”

“It’s a Vulcan trait.”

“Your ears are a little too rounded to use that excuse, sweetheart.” He saw the laugh at his comment start to form, but watched you push it away before it could make its way out of your mouth. “If it helps, Spock feels the opposite. I’m surprised he hasn’t jumped ship yet.”

The two of you stepped into his office.

“He is very loyal to you, Captain.” Once the door closed behind you, you added, “But it does help, thank you.”

“You know, I’ve been reading your reports,” he started, going to his desk.

“You’ve been checking up on me?” you ask, instantly becoming more casual, more human.

“No, of cour-” he stopped looking back at you. “Yes. At least once a month. You’ve been busy.”

“So have you.” You walked around to the other side of the table. “But you need to learn how to write a proper report. You sound like a nine year old writing in his diary about his first crush.”

He let out a loud laugh. “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“It’s been too long,” he smiled.

“Since I saved your butt?” you teased.

“Yes. You should do it more often.”

The corners of your mouth lifted and his smile turned into a full grin.

-

“I’m not letting you go out there!” Kirk shouted as he raced after you through the shaking corridors of the Enterprize.

“If somebody doesn’t, we won’t survive this.” You only raised your voice so that he could hear you over the commotion.

“That somebody isn’t you.” He took hold of your hand, causing you to stop and turn around. You sent his hand a sharp look before moving your eyes up to meet his.

“I am the most senior officer aboard this ship,” you told him. “You are in no position to give me orders, Captain.”

“It wasn’t a order, Captain.” His eye held something you recognized but couldn’t quite place. It had been there when he had seen you at the memorial service for Vulcan and every time Amanda was brought up in conversation. You saw it through your screen when you had been stuck in sickbay after a misstep on a mission had left you battered and bruised. You wished that you were raised around humans. You wished you knew what his looks meant.

You stared at him for a moment longer, before a particularly bad jolt through the ship reminded you of the urgency of your mission.

In one swift move, you slipped your hand from his and turned to carry on your way. You knew he was hot on your heels, but he didn’t say anything else until you were pulling an EVA suit from the rack and stepping into it.

“There’s nothing I can do to stop you, is there?”

“No.”

Your answer changed his whole personality. His hands wrapped around your collar, helping to tug it up over your shoulders. Then he moved to close it.

“What are you doing?” you asked, letting him dress you.

“You’re not doing this alone.” He clipped the tether to the back of your suit. “I’m going to be there every step of the way. If your radio goes silent for even a second, I’m going out after you.” He pulled your helmet down over your head, locked it in place, and kept his hands on either side. “Stay focused. Stay alert. Come back to me.”

You nodded and he let go of you, allowing you to step back and away from him. He watched you go through the airlock and exit the ship, before he started off back down the hall at a full sprint. The moment he was on the bridge, he switched on a com.

“How we coming?”

“It’s breathtaking,” you told him. You had never been out there with just an EVA suit between you and the stars. Even with all the debris littering the area and threatening the lives of both crews, it was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen.

“Focus, Grayson,” Kirk reminded you.

“I’m at the leak. I’m-” You had to duck as piece of an old ship came uncomfortably close to the ship. “Patching it now.”

“What was that?”

“I believe it was a piece of hull plating,” you said casually as you got down on your knees and pulled a tool from your belt.

“Be careful.” He turned to Chekov. “How much time do we have?”

“Fifteen minutes before the radiation becomes lethal, sir.”

“Grayson, did you hear that? Fifteen minutes.”

“I have a countdown on my helmet, Kirk.” Your breathing was thick and heavy as you struggled to work.

“Don’t give me that attitude,” Kirk said.

“Is there an attitude you would prefer?” You could hear him trying not to laugh and smiled to yourself.

“Just focus on your work.”

You tried, but it seemed Kirk was very serious about not going radio silent for even a minute. Everytime you would get into a groove his voice would crackle through your helmet asking you how it was going.

“I need you back on the ship.”

“One moment.”

“No, now. I’m not going to watch you die. Get your ass back in the ship,” Kirk said sternly.

“I’m finished,” you told him, standing up. “Headed back to the airlock.”

Kirk, unsurprisingly, was waiting for you inside. He ripped your helmet unceremoniously from your head and tossed it to the floor. His hands flew to the side of your face, twisting it this way and that, inspecting every feature closely.

“Hey! Tha’s delicate equipment!” Scotty yelled, rushing to pick the helmet back up.

“Sorry,” Kirk said, dropping his hands from you. “Get changed. I’m taking you to medical.”

“Kirk, I’m fine.” Turning to Scotty, you started tugging your suit off. “Did that fix the problem?”

“Aye.” He waited until you had completely stripped of your EVA suit and were left only in your uniform to hand you a PADD.

You looked over it and gave it back. “Good. Is Commander Morris on board?”

“No, he went back to O’Neil.”

“Thank you.” You walked past Kirk and he immediately fell into step beside you.

“You’re going to medical before you go see Morris.”

“I made it back in plenty of time. There’s no need for a doctor,” you said.

“Humor me.”

“Why are you acting this way?” you asked, clasping your hands together.

“Maybe because you could have died.”

You stopped and turned to look at him. After a second, you nodded like you were examining a painting. Then walked away with a small “hm.”

“What? What was that?” he asked in a panic, chasing after you.

“What was what?”

“That face! That ‘Hm’!”

“Nothing. I just realized that you have feelings for me.”

“What? I don’t- What would make you- I don’t know-,” Kirk stumbled.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” you told him calmly. “I feel the same way.”

“You do?” You didn’t have to turn around to know that he was smirking.

“Yes. Now if you excuse me, I do have work to.”

[aion-rsa]

Which Star Trek Books Are Canon?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Imagine there’s no VHS tapes. I wonder if you can. For the earliest Trekkies, the ability to own your favorite episode of Star Trek wasn’t difficult, it was impossible. This meant that some other media was required to record the true logs of the USS Enterprise. Enter books. The most reliable data storage device in history, and the first and possibly best destiny for Star Trek merch. 

Since 1967, there have literally been thousands of officially licensed Star Trek books published. The question is, if fans only care about “real” canon do any of the Star Trek books actually qualify as part of the “real” story of the Final Frontier.  The answer doesn’t fall into a simple binary. Star Trek books have been an integral part of the growth of the franchise since the very beginning. Here’s a quick and dirty guide to the mixed canonicity of the various Star Trek books.

A very brief history of Star Trek tie-in books.

In terms of U.S. book publishers of officially licensed Star Trek print fiction (excluding roleplaying games), there have really only been two publishers. First was Bantam, which published the very first novelizations of episodes from The Original Series. Written by James Blish, these books have a strange canonicity insofar as there are not really direct novelizations of TOS episodes. Instead, the Blish stories almost read like impressionistic notions of what Star Trek would be like if it existed as a series of 1950s short stories. This isn’t to say Blish’s novelizations are bad — they’re great! It’s just that they are very different from the aired episodes. Most of the time this is because Blish was working from early scripts, but even more often it was because just like the readers, it wasn’t like he was able to rewatch the episodes over and over again to make sure he got it “right.” In his version of “Arena,” the Gorn even has a tail! 

Blish also wrote the first “original” Star Trek novel, titled Spock Must Die! This refers to a transporter duplicate of Spock, who is created on accident during a long-range beaming gambit at the beginning of the novel. This novel slaps, even if it does open with a long conversation about the metaphysics of beaming in which nearly nobody sounds like they’re in character. In any case, the success of Blish’s novelizations and Spock Must Die! led to more original short story collections and novels. However, by the end of the 1970s, Bantam lost the license for Trek books, and it was subsequently snatched-up by Simon & Schuster, where it remains to this day.

Are the post-Blish Star Trek novelizations canon?

In 1979, Pocket Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) began Trek fiction anew with the publication of the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, written by Gene Roddenberry. So, this counts as canon, right? It’s the novelization of The Motion Picture and it’s written by the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.

Well… the novelization of The Motion Picture begins with a forward from Kirk himself, in which he makes all sorts of interesting claims. For one thing his middle name is Tiberius. This checks out— that’s canon! (Although the Tiberius thing wasn’t spoken aloud until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.) But, after Kirk’s intro, we also get a scene where Starfleet sends him signals straight into his brain via something called a “senceiver implant.” Basically, Kirk has a top-secret implant in his brain that lets him receive classified data—just downloaded straight in there, like cyberpunk style. Obviously, there is no reference to this brain implant in other Star Trek canon, which makes the one and only Trek novel written by Gene Roddenberry either a classified document, or mostly non-canon.

If you jump ahead to the David Gerrold novelization of Star Trek: The Next Generation premiere “Encounter at Farpoint,” you’ll discover that Jean-Luc Picard was getting over the death of a girlfriend named “Celeste” right before he took command of the Enterprise. Gerrold was on staff with TNG at the time, and of course, wrote “The Trouble With Tribbles.” But, it’s not like we’ve heard about Celeste in Jean-Luc’s other adventures. 

Star Trek books tend not to be holistically canon, but do seem to create canon.

Not only was Kirk’s middle name affirmed by Roddenberry’s TMP novel, but Sulu’s first name, Hikaru, also came from a Star Trek novel. 1981’s The Entropy Effect, written by Vonda N. McIntyre first established Sulu’s first name, which was later made canon on screen in The Undiscovered Country.

Similarly, another famous helm officer in Starfleet — Keyla Demter — got her first name from the Star Trek: Discovery novel Desperate Hours, written by David Mack and published before a single episode of Discovery had even aired. But, the name Keyla stuck, and as long as she’s on DISCO, she owes her first name to a Star Trek novel. 

So which Star Trek books are canon?

If you’re looking to find out which Star Trek books completely adhere to canon in the way the newer Star Wars books (supposedly) do, it’s kind of tough. That said, literally everything published since 2017 has been closely connected to what you’re seeing on the various new Star Trek TV shows. For example, remember that mysterious character “San” that Georgiou talked about in Season 3? (Remember those scary, bloody flashbacks?) Well, that character is mentioned in a recent Discovery novel Die Standing by John Jackson Miller, which, yes, was published before Season 3 aired. 

Miller also wrote the book The Enterprise War, which reconciled what was going on with Pike and the Enterprise during the Klingon War in Discovery Season 1. This book also managed to fix a strange canon gap created by the novel Desperate Hours in which Pike and the Enterprise teamed-up with the USS Shenzhou and Burnham before the events of Discovery. Basically, Burnham and Spock hung-out in Mack’s novel way before Discovery Season 2 happened. But, in Miller’s novel, all of that was fixed with a few lines. 

Picard: Countdown and the Discovery comics

Most hardcore Discovery and Picard fans probably know this, but writer Kirsten Beyer was a longtime Voyager novelist before joining the writing team of Discovery, and then, later, co-creating Picard. This means that nearly all the tie-in fiction she’s involved with that connects to the new shows has some whiff of legit canonicity to it. For example, Beyer was behind the Star Trek: Picard — Countdown comics, which were published in late 2019, right before Picard debuted. These comics give you a full background of what Raffi and Picard were doing during the evacuation of Romulan space, and also introduce the characters of Laris and Zhaban. Because their backstories are established in this comic, co-written by Beyer, it seems pretty legit to think that, yes, this all completely counts. Some of Beyer’s other comic stories like Discovery: Aftermath also feel pretty close to being actual canon. 

Missing New Trek? Just Read the New Books! 

With the post-2017 novels and the contemporary comics, Star Trek print fiction is closer to being canon than it ever has been before. Meaning, if you’re wondering where to start with Star Trek books that feel like they actually “count,” the new stuff — like Una McCormack’s The Last Best Hope or James Swallow’s The Dark Veil—is actually pretty close! Reading the new books is easy, too, because you don’t have to go searching for which books actually “count.” Just find the new Picard and Discovery books! There’s a good chance those are closer to canon than they’re not.

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So, go ahead, boldly read the new books that some fans have never read before. You just might find something in those pages that even Kirk’s top-secret brain chip doesn’t know about. Yet.

The post Which Star Trek Books Are Canon? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3uoMJo4

[auduna-druitt]

Broken

Fandom: Star Trek (AOS)

Pairing: Scotty X Reader

Word Count: 1141

Rating: Everyone 

Beta’d: yes @yourtropegirl 

Tags: @feelmyroarrrr, @mccoymostly, @wonders-of-the-enterprise, @pinkamour1588, @goodnightwife, @ryon1101, @captainsbabysitter-blog, @medicatemedrmccoy, @impalaanddemons, @engineeringtrashcan

Your clock had started the day you turned eighteen. It was a moment you’d been waiting for and it was finally here, but as you watched as the numbers appear on your wrist your heart sank. Six years, three months, and twelve days. That’s how much longer your soulmate would live.

Two years later you decided to enlist in Starfleet. You loved the challenge and meeting new people at the academy, but you really hoped that maybe you’d finally bump into your soulmate. You only had a little over four years left on the clock. If you didn’t find them in that time you weren’t sure you ever would.

As the months passed you became  more and more anxious that you hadn’t met your soulmate yet. You were far from prepared however when the clock stopped with three months remaining.

It was your last week in the campus clinic before you were scheduled to ship out with the Enterprise. You’d been making a notation on a patient when your wrist suddenly began to itch. You scratched it and went about the rest of your day, thinking nothing of the itch that lingered on your wrist.

The next day you reported for duty aboard the Enterprise and finally got to meet the infamous Doctor McCoy. You’d heard a lot about him and were excited to be working under him. One of the first things he noticed about you was that you kept scratching at your wrist. He sat you down on a biobed and insisted you let him look at it.

“How long has your wrist been bothering you,” he asked, as he scanned it with his tricorder.

You shrugged, “I think it started a week or so ago.”

He raised an eyebrow and sighed. “By all appearances you’re fine, but…”

“But what?”

He glanced up from his tricorder, “I’ve never seen this before. Your clock...”

You frowned and looked down at your wrist. “It stopped.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure what this means. Like I said I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t think it will affect you but I want you check in with me regularly just to be sure.”

You nodded and hopped off the bed, “Yes Doctor.”

You settled into life on the Enterprise surprisingly well. You made several friends and before you knew it you could practically read Doctor McCoy’s mind. Not one for conflict, you made sure that he always had what he needed before he even knew he needed it. You kept watch on your clock, and Doctor McCoy looked at it about once a week to see if there were any changes.

You knew exactly how many days were left on the clock and continued the countdown in your head. The last day of the clock Doctor McCoy found you crying in the store room.

“I’m sorry.”

You shook your head and wiped your face. “I kind of expected that I’d never find them. I only had six years.”

He placed a hand on your shoulder as the ship lurched suddenly throwing you both against the wall. The red lights blinked overhead and the alarm sounded. Doctor McCoy staggered to his feet and offered you a hand up. “Looks like we’ll be busy for a while.”

“Engineering to medbay!”

He hit the panel by the door, “McCoy here!”

“We need a medical team down here! Commander Scott is injured!”

Doctor McCoy glanced at you and you nodded and headed out the door. Behind you, you heard Doctor McCoy tell them he was on his way. You grabbed the emergency kit and a couple of orderlies with a gurney. McCoy rushed out to find you already at the door. “He’s in main engineering. Let’s go!”

He led the three of you out of the medbay and down to engineering where you were faced with complete and utter chaos. An ensign showed you where Commander Scott was located. You passed the tricorder to Doctor McCoy, and he ran a quick scan to assess the damage done. “Couple of broken ribs, fractured leg, probable concussion….internal injuries.” He turned to the orderlies, “Get him up on the gurney and get him to the medbay now!”

He turned to you while they moved him. “I’m going to need you to help me. He’s in pretty rough shape.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Two days later Scotty was still in the med bay. Doctor McCoy was not going to risk him re-injuring himself so soon after having surgery. He’d asked you to keep a close eye on the engineer, and it was during a check of his vitals that you noticed his soulmate clock. You stared at if for a while, running your fingers lightly over it.

“Aye, lass. It’s broken.”

You jumped and looked up, “I’m sorry Commander Scott, I was just checking your vitals and I…”

He smiled at you, “It’s perfectly alright.” He looks down at the clock on his arm again. “I don’t know who it was but the clock broke just a few hours before their time was up. I don’t know how it happened.”

You smiled back at him, “I know how that feels. Mine broke too.” You turned your arm over and showed him your clock.

Doctor McCoy walked up behind you and frowned. “Scotty, I didn’t know your clock was broken.”

“Aye, it happened about three months ago.”

Doctor McCoy looked at you,”Isn’t that about the same time yours stopped?”

You nodded, “Yes sir.”

“Hmm, what a funny coincidence,” he said nudging you a little as he turned to pick up his tricorder.

You could feel your face turning red as you turned back to Scotty. “Hi, I think you’re my soulmate.”

Leonard checked his vitals while the two of you just stared at each other in an awkward silence. He shook his head and set to tricorder aside, “What happened three months ago?” He asked, crossing his arms.

Scotty shook his head, “Nothing. I was getting the ship ready to launch that week.”

“Anything weird happen?”

“There was a leak in a lab on deck 6.”

Leonard nods, “Where exactly?”

“The medical research lab. I thought it was clear but I had an odd feeling about it so I checked it again. The leak had been patched but there was another smaller one a little further on.“

“And that’s when the clock broke?”

“Aye, to the best of my knowledge. I wasn’t watching it that closely but I believe so.”

Leonard turned to you, “You reported for duty just a few hours after he fixed the leak. If he hadn’t double checked that you probably would have died from exposure to the gas.”

You lightly brushed your fingers over Scotty’s forearm and you could feel your cheeks growing warmer. Leonard cleared his throat and excused himself leaving the two of you alone.

[reginaldqueribundus]

Countdown to Disco: The Finales

Okay kiddies, yesterday [click here] we discussed why TOS’s “Turnabout Intruder” was the worst finale final episode of any Trek show. Today we’re going to take a look at number four. It’s the Second-Worst—but arguably the most controversial. (Remember, this is only my opinion—don't get your antennae in a twist.)

#4 Enterprise – “These Are the Voyages…” (2005)

This might be a bit of an understatement, but the fans were less than pleased with this one.

here’s why they were right

Where “Turnabout Intruder” disappointed me, “These Are the Voyages…” just makes me angry. All I can say is… why? Why make your entire finale a holodeck simulation? Why set it in the middle of a random TNG episode that established fans already know the outcome of and newbies won’t care about? And why not take the time to actually establish a connection between Riker’s story and the NX crew’s story? And while you’re at it, if you’re going to go to the trouble of getting Troi and Riker back, why not set their part of the story on the USS Titan (thus actually acknowledging the rest of Trek continuity) instead of trying to pretend Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis are 20 years younger?

Why waste time showing the characters talking to the cook instead of, I don’t know, actual series finale stuff like accomplishing something or changing in some way? Why jump ten years ahead to show us The Final Mission if it’s just gonna be something boring like helping Shran trick some space pirates? I’m glad he was there, but why cram in all that unnecessary shit about him faking his own death to hide from jewel thieves? “Ah yes, my favourite Star Trek character was Thy’lek Shran, the notorious smuggler.” Perhaps you were thinking of Han Solo?

And for the love of god, why kill off Trip if you’re just gonna Tasha Yar it and not give his death any meaning? Why have it happen at the hands of some random-ass nobodies we’ve never met before and don’t care about, instead of bringing back an established enemy/enemies? Enterprise has defeated far greater threats than “guys who traffic in comically oversized gemstones”, and there were a million ways to get out of that situation other than Trip blowing himself up. And what for? So Archer wouldn’t be late for a speech? Even the brief scene of his friends mourning him feels hollow because they’re all just holograms being watched by a random guy 200 years in the future. The cast are trying their best, dammit, (which is why this episode didn’t end up dead last) but it just isn’t enough.

Rick Berman had the balls to claim this episode was “a valentine to the fans”—how in the fuck can you call this a valentine, asshole? Because while you were busy shitting on Star Trek’s corpse, you smeared the feces into a heart shape? Fuck you, and fuck “These Are the Voyages”. [next]

[allspark]

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, My Little Pony, Star Trek, Star Wars Adventures, and more! All coming your way for May 1st!

TRANSFORMERS #5

Brian Ruckley (A) Angel Hernandez, Ron Joseph (CVR A) Sara Pitre-Durocher (CVR B) Umi Miyao

Prowl and Chromia are investigating the disappearance of a missing scientist in the wilds of Cybertron when a mysterious figure crosses their path. Who is he and what does he know about the disappeared scientist? And where is Bumblebee disappearing to at all odd hours? Transformers-now shipping twice monthly! All your favorite Transformers characters as you’ve never seen them before!

GI JOE REAL AMERICAN HERO SILENT OPTION TP

Larry Hama, Ryan Ferrier (A) Netho Diaz, Kenneth Loh (CVR) Luca Pizzari

ADVANCE SOLICITED FOR APRIL RELEASE! Featuring the return of the new Snake Eyes-breakout character Dawn Moreno-and the first appearance of Agent Helix in the Real American Hero universe! Following in the bloody footsteps of the smash-hit “Dawn of the Arashikage” story arc comes the newest chapter in Dawn Moreno’s journey, joining a special rescue team led by Bombstrike. It’s her first (un)official mission as a JOE… but it may be her last and nobody will ever know. That’s because, when Agent Helix is involved, the only option is the Silent Option. Collects the four issue miniseries, plus the short origin story “Codename Helix.”

MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #77

Katie Cook (A/CVR A) Andy Price (CVR B) Sara Richard

With stars aligning, villains escaping, and princesses out of commission, can Equestria’s favorite ponies find a way to defeat Cosmos-before it’s too late?! Cosmos is freed, and it’s going to take a little bit of magic-and a lot of friendship-to stop her!

GOOSEBUMPS HORRORS OF THE WITCH HOUSE #1

Denton J. Tipton, Matthew Dow Smith (A/CVR) Chris Fenoglio

When young tech entrepreneur Veruca Curry buys the old Whaley House, the kids in town are worried the ghosts who haunt it will get her. But when they discover Veruca’s horrible secret, it will turn their world upside-down!

HOUSE AMOK TP VOL 01

Christopher Sebela (A/CVR) Shawn McManus

ADVANCE SOLICITED FOR MARCH RELEASE! It’s the summer vacation from hell! Ten-year-old twin Dylan Sandifer and her family have fallen down a rabbit hole full of secret implants, conspiracy theories, Mandela effects, invaders, and organ thieves. As the attacks intensify, the Sandifers light out across the country in search of answers and salvation, blazing a bloody path of arson and murder.

MARVEL ACTION AVENGERS #4

Matthew K. Manning (A/CVR) Jon Sommariva

Magic and mayhem collide for more mighty Marvel action in this new adventure featuring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Thor, Captain Marvel, and Doctor Strange have gone missing! Forced to face fiendish foes without their teammates, can the rest of the Avengers find their friends before it’s too late? And what’s this about a ruby?! It’s an adventure you’ll need to see, True Believers! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes tackle adventures perfect for young and old readers alike! Jump in to Marvel action as you’ve never seen it before! All your favorite heroes are here: team up with Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow, and more!

MARVEL ACTION SPIDER-MAN #3

Delilah S Dawson (A/CVR) Fico Ossio

As if Peter Parker didn’t have enough problems at high school, suddenly New York’s crawling with Spider-People! Peter has no choice but to forge a tentative partnership with Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, as a larger mystery threatens the trio! All-new web-swinging action in the Mighty Marvel Manner!

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ANNUAL 2019

Ian Flynn, James Kochalka, More (A) Jonathan Gray, Jack Lawrence, More (CVR A) Yuji Uekawa, Sonic Team (CVR B) Jennifer Hernandez

In Sonic’s world, adventure awaits around every corner, but even the world’s fastest hedgehog can’t be at the center of all of it! Join Sonic and some of his coolest friends in adventures that show just how wonderful Sonic’s world really is. In the lead story, the odd couple of Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf team-up to save a friend in need! Then Sonic and Tails take the Tornado for a spin, but is Sonic going too fast? Plus, Silver and Blaze slow down for a minute to go gardening, the Sonic Fan Club has their first official meeting, and Rouge the Bat hunts for treasure!

Incredible creators working on Sonic for the first time-including James Kochalka (Johnny Boo), Cavan Scott (Star Adventures) and Jack Lawrence (Transformers: Lost Light)!

•   Celebrating Sonic’s first year at IDW! •   Cover by Yuji Uekawa of Sonic Team, designer of the Modern Sonic characters!

STAR TREK TNG TERRA INCOGNITA TP

Scott Tipton, David Tipton (A) Tony Shasteen, Angel Hernandez, Carlos Nieto (CVR) J. K. Woodward

ADVANCE SOLICITED FOR APRIL RELEASE! Following their clash with their villainous doubles from the Mirror Universe, the Enterprise crew returns to business as usual, little realizing the serpent in their midst-one of their own has been replaced! Six stories focusing on fan-favorite crew members of the Enterprise-D-including Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, and Selar-each connected by the machinations of this sinister doppelganger. What does Mirror Barclay want, and what’s to become of his Prime-universe counterpart?!

Following the blockbuster MIRROR BROKEN and THROUGH THE MIRROR storylines comes a brand-new Next Generation series, featuring untold tales of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D!

STAR WARS ADVENTURES FLIGHT OF FALCON

Michael Moreci (A/CVR) Arianna Florean

The Flight of the Falcon ends here! We’ve followed Bazine Netal’s quest for the legendary starship the Millennium Falcon, but here’s one final tale yet to be told, featuring famous pirate captain, Hondo Ohnaka!

TMNT ONGOING TP VOL 21 BATTLE LINES

Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz (A) Michael Dialynas (A/CVR) Dave Wachter

Advance solicited for May release! The countdown to issue #100 begins! The longest running TMNT series continues as new dangers and enemies force the Turles to make tough choices! Multiple sources of conflict collide as the maniacal Agent Bishop goes to war with the alien forces on Earth, driving the Turtles to embrace unsavory alliances and race to stop a massacre. But this complex web of enemies and allies-as well as new divisions between the Turtles themselves-may thwart any chance they have for success! Collects issues #86-90.

TMNT URBAN LEGENDS #12

Gary Carlson (A/CVR A&B) Frank Fosco (CVR B) Erik Larsen

The fallout! With Donatello offline and Deathwatch still on the loose, it’s up to Leo and Mikey-accompanied by some intergalactic help-to catch the infamous killer, while Ralph-back home in New York-takes on a much more familiar foe: the mob, hellbent on getting Casey’s daughter back! The entire TMNT Volume 3 run-all 23 issues-reprinted in full color for the first time!

UNCLE SCROOGE #44

Alberto Savini, Jan Gilbert (A) Nicola Tosolini, Andrea Ferraris (CVR) Marco Mazzarello

When an important client comes to town, Uncle Scrooge must rely on Donald and Fethry Duck to serve not just double duty, but triple and quadruple duty as they take on a variety of roles in “The Crowded Newsroom!” Then, when Scrooge’s tax bill skyrockets, Donald comes up with an unusual way for his uncle to make some much-needed cash in “Bin World.”

UNCLE SCROOGE MY FIRST MILLIONS TP

Fausto Vitaliano (A) Marco Mazzarello, Stefano Intini, Giampaolo Soldati (A/CVR) Paolo Mottura

Advance solicited for April release! Travel back in time to Scrooge’s younger days to explore the origins of everyone’s favorite miser! Find out how Uncle Scrooge made his first, second, third, and fourth millions in a four-part story that answers all our burning questions about how Scrooge McDuck got so very, very rich-and so very, very stingy! It’s Uncle Scrooge like you’ve never seen him before!

  Join the IDW Hasbro Shared Universe related conversation here in our Comics Discussion and Reviews section and here for all other franchises, superheroes, or general comic book discussions! Not a member? Join our community by creating your own free account here! Or jump right into the live chat on our Discord server or our Facebook Group!

IDW Comics Shipping List for May 1st! It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like 

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1202

Monday, February 26, 2018

 Way to go all the Canadian athletes that competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics. You made us proud. Now we get ready for some March Madness. It might seem like I'm a big sports fan but I'm not. It's just that it's less annoying than a lot of the stuff happening around the world these days. Sure I was sad when the Canadian Women's curling team skipped by Ottawa's Rachel Homan didn't make it to the medal rounds and the Canadian Women's hockey team lost the gold medal game in a shoot-out but I didn't get angry and upset. No one was killed by some idiot.

 Archie #28 - Mark Waid & Ian Flynn (writers) Audrey Mok (art) Kelly Fitzpatrick (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). I only keep reading this book because Betty is in it. I don't like the walking disaster area that is Archie. Nor the smug Jughead. I really hate that big fat jerk Reggie who should be someone's plaything in prison. The fact that I feel so strongly about these characters means that the creators are putting out a very good comic book but I would stop reading if there weren't any likable characters. Classic Catch 22.

 Doctor Strange: Damnation #1 - Nick Spencer & Donny Cates (writers) Rod Reis (art & colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Stephen may not be Sorcerer Supreme anymore but he's still pretty powerful. Remember how Las Vegas was destroyed during a recent mega crossover? Well now the whole city plus its citizens is back on terra firma. Guess where it's been before being resurrected? Hey, they don't call it Sun City for donuts. There's a glitch in Doc Strange restoring all those lives and landmarks and that's where this 4-issue mini takes off. This is a high stakes game between the Doc and Mephisto and the players will be familiar to Marvel Zombies far and wide. Doc's team is on the cover but you'll have to read this first issue to see who's playing for Mephisto.

 The Brave and the Bold #1 - Liam Sharp (writer & art) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). DC's old team-up title is back on the racks with a murder mystery featuring Batman and Wonder Woman. There's a strong fantasy element since the murder takes place in Tir Na Nog, the mystical land of faerie. Liam Sharp drew me back into reading Wonder Woman when he did the Cheetah story and here he gets to go all Irish myths for us with runes and rugged faeriescapes. I like a murder mystery as well as the next Batfan but the profuse flowery prose turned me off. It's a tough decision whether I read the rest of this 6-issue story because I really love the art.

 Mata Hari #1 - Emma Beeby (writer) Ariela Kristantina (art) Pat Masioni (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). This 5-issue mini comes from Dark Horse's Berger Books imprint. I'm glad Karen is still editing comic books. I met her at a DC Retailer's conference over twenty years ago. I was lucky enough to share a group dinner table with her at a steak house in Fort Worth, Texas. I can still remember how happy I was when I asked if I could order a second steak dinner after the first one failed to fill me up and she gave me the go ahead. She thought I had a hollow leg. This book is beautifully drawn but I found the storytelling a little confusing with it's jumping back and forth in time to show us how the lady spy ended up in her current situation. Mata Hari is a very compelling historical figure so I will keep reading this to learn more about her life and death.

 Infinity Countdown Prime #1 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Mike Deodato Jr. (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Flip the cover and you get an info page quickly telling you about the 6 Infinity Stones and what powers they bestow to whoever possesses them. The story starts promisingly enough with the guy who is the best at what he does fighting off some bad guys and then the new Sorcerer Supreme, for the Infinity Stone that he has. Unfortunately the story deteriorated for me when it came to introducing the other stones. It got way too convoluted what with other dimensions involved and what looks like every dang super hero and super villain to ever exist thrown in. I think I have mega event fatigue. Keeping up with the weekly Avengers: No Surrender story with all those heroes and villains to keep straight makes trying to follow this massive story harder to do. I hope nobody dies.

 Batman: Sins of the Father #1 - Christos Gage (writer) Raffaele Ienco (art) Guy Major (colours) Josh Reed (letters). This 6-issue mini is based on the Batman: The Telltale Series video game with a different back-story than the Batman that we are all familiar with. This Batman's father, Thomas Wayne, was a villain who experimented on people. Bruce is trying to right that wrong and save Wayne Enterprises. You can expect lots of action and the first protagonist is easily recognised. I was super impressed with the art here. Kind of reminded me of Frank Quitely. If the rest of this story looks this good it will be a joy to read.

 Hit-Girl #1 - Mark Millar (writer) Ricardo Lopez Ortiz (art) Sunny Gho (colours) Melina Mikulic (letters). Hot on the heels of the new Kick-Ass book is this 4-issue mini featuring Dave's old partner Mindy. She's looking for a new partner and who she picks is a real winner. This story goes international as the purple-haired perp pulveriser goes to Colombia to deal with the gangs there. I want to see if her new sidekick survives.

 Avengers #681 - Al Ewing, Jim Zub & Mark Waid (writers) Kim Jacinto with Mike Perkins (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 7. It's Kree Captain Glah-Ree's turn to narrate an issue as his Lethal Legion team fights the Falcon's Avengers team for the prize. Some surprise characters pop up right at the end that will make fans clamour for the next issue. Mike Perkins's pages were only subtly different from the rest of the art and that surprised me too.

 Batman #41 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin (art) June Chung (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Everyone Loves Ivy part 1. I was naïve to think that Joelle Jones was the best artist for this book because there are lots of artists that I love out there. Mikel Janin made me gasp after I flipped open the cover and saw the first page. Page 10 made me sigh. His Poison Ivy will haunt your dreams. The Cat and the Bat face a daunting challenge in this new story. This is a great issue to start to find out why I've been raving about this title every issue.

 Moonshine #7 - Brian Azzarello (writer) Eduardo Risso (art & colours) Cristian Rossi (colour assistant) Jared K. Fletcher (letters). Boy was I surprised when this issue hit the racks. I thought #6 finished the story of Lou Pirlo, mob enforcer. Plus, it's been almost a year since #6 came out. This supernatural tale continues with the location changing from the hillbilly hills to New Orleans. I'm thinking some voodoo be due.

 Superman #41 - James Robinson (writer) Ed Benes (art) Dinei Ribeiro (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The Last Days part 2. I was tolerating this story about Superman and a native scientist trying to save a planet from a Jonestown massacre until the science guy explains how he's going to save his species. He sure didn't take any genetics classes. I do not suffer foolish science gladly. The good news is that this story is over and Jon learns a lesson in tolerance.

 Defenders #10 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Ah Jessica, Luke, Danny and Matt, we hardly got to know you. I don't know if this team book will continue after this but it won't be the same. This sure looks like Brian Michael Bendis's last issue. David Marquez  made me sigh on page 11 panel 5. I'm glad Felicia is okay.

 Incredible Hulk #713 - Greg Pak (writer) Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Return to Planet Hulk part 5. Hulk faces off with the Warlord in the fifth and final gauntlet. The final page had me singing Chuck Berry's Maybellene in my head. Now that we've gone back to Sakaar it's time to revisit another old Hulk story. Get ready for World War Hulk II.

 Damage #2 - Tony S. Daniel & Robert Venditti (storytellers) Danny Miki (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). I can't say that I am enamoured of the title character since he's just a one hour Hulk but the guest stars are worth the read. Here we have the Suicide Squad and next up is a real hero that I am certainly interested in.

 Amazing Spider-Man #796 - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers) Mike Hawthorne (pencils) Terry Pallot & Cam Smith (inks) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Threat Level: Red part 3. The art and writing this issue was very wooden to me. Kind of stiff and predictable. I don't like Peter and Mary Jane getting cozy again either. If it wasn't for what's happening to Norman Osborn I would consider benching this book.

 Super Sons #13 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Carlo Barberi (pencils) Art Thibert (inks) Gabriel Eltaeb (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The Parent Trap part 1. Damian's mom, Talia al Ghul, needs his help for a hit and she's not going to take no for an answer. The boys find themselves in even more trouble when one of the targets is revealed. Robin and Superboy's friendship may not survive. As much as I love Carlo's art I wasn't happy that Talia looks more like Damian's slightly older sister than his mother.

 Astonishing X-Men #8 - Charles Soule (writer) Paulo Siqueira (pencils) Walden Wong & Roberto Poggi (inks) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). A Man Called X part 2. Y'know, I don't think that the guy in Fantomex's body is Charles Xavier. He keeps saying trust me, I can fix this and then he screws things up royally. So, another comic book with amazing art. Psylocke made me sigh on page 3.

 Mighty Thor #704 - Jason Aaron (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The Death of the Mighty Thor continues. Wow, I snagged a larger than usual pile of comic books off the rack to read last week and inadvertently saved the best 'til last. The writing and art was as powerful as can be. The build up to the last page made it a spine tingling experience. This story is going to be another highly recommended collection when it comes out in trade paperback.