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keirou-kun · 20 days ago

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Batman-Nightwing: Bloodborne - A Ramble

I'd call this a rant or an essay or a review or an analysis, but it's kind of all of them at once, so 'ramble' works best I feel XD

Now, precisely nobody asked for this but fuck it, this is one of my favorite one-shot stories and I’m gonna make it everyone else’s problem. The story in question is Batman-Nightwing: Bloodborne, and it scratches the itch for seeing Dick be Absolutely Completely Normal about Bruce in a delightful fashion. I don’t care for the art style much – no shade to Toby Cypress, it’s just not my cup of tea – but the writing – by Kelly Puckett – is -chef’s kiss-

This is gonna get long [7 pages in Libre Office >w>] so I'm shoving it behind the cut.

Now, the first thing you need to know is that this story also hearkens back to a panel from Prodigal that lives in my head rent free. This one.

that’s such a Normal thing to say to your father figure dickie.

Keep this panel in mind. It will be relevant as we go along. Now, let’s get to our story.

It starts off in media res on page one with Bruce in some kind of snowfield facing off against bad guys. Page two cuts to Bludhaven and Dick’s apartment, where Clancy’s trying to get him to go out except that he’s got a previous engagement. It’s the anniversary of his parents’ deaths.

Side note: This is one of a handful of comics to say when it falls on a timeline, since Dick tells her he’s had this engagement for “about twenty years” [which, if he uses that term the way I do, means it could be anywhere from 16 to 22 years ago, but still. Anyway.]

Clancy offers company, but Dick declines and heads up to Gotham.

dick pls this is not an episode of csi

On the way he passes a car full of kids all hyped up on ice cream and cotton candy – and if you think circus brat Dick Grayson can’t recognize real, fresh cotton candy when he sees it you are wrong – which then draws his attention to this billboard.

Look at that smile. What a bean.

Meanwhile, back in the snowfield, Bruce is in bad shape. Something Is Wrong, probably with his heart, but we have no idea what. We just know he’s collapsed in the snow, gripping what looks like a batarang with lights on. Cut back to Dickie, who’s somehow managed to talk his way into getting one trip on the trapeze at the Gotham City Circus and is remembering his parents’ training.

"Remember, son–when you're in that tuck you're spinning too fast to see anything. If you try to look it'll throw you off, so don't. Just close your eyes, remember your training...and trust your partner to be there for you."

Remember this moment. It may be relevant later.

As Dick’s hands grip the other aerialist’s however, Bruce crushes the bat-tracker and – with the signal suddenly lost – makes Alfred choke on his tea and call Dick in what is undoubtedly a very restrained British panic. The next page has a couple things to comment on, so I’ll try to break it down here.

First: Dick has no idea what’s going on, but all he needs is an urgent tone from Alfred and mention of Bruce in trouble and he’s breaking speed limits. And then kicking himself for not driving faster when he sees Alfred’s face. A lovely introduction to his Normalcy about his batdad mentor.

Second: Alfred calls him ‘sir’ and this is clearly unusual. Dick doesn’t outwardly comment but he notices it and questions the use in his inner monologue. Another hint at how concerned Alfred is and how bad the situation could be, doubtless; with Bruce gone, Dick is pretty much the ranking member of the household here.

Third, and arguably the most important point here: Bruce leaves flowers for Dick’s parents every year. Not only that, but he does it without Dick knowing. Dick’s seen the flowers before, clearly, but for some reason has always assumed they were Alfred’s doing. To find out that it’s been Bruce, and that Bruce has never once missed this anniversary – and to find out on said anniversary, when Bruce is quite possibly in mortal danger – has to be a gut punch. But one that gets almost instantly compartmentalized because Dick has other shit to focus on, like what the fuck is going on with Bruce.

We learn, as Alfred takes him down to the Cave, that crushing that tracker was indeed intentional and – for whatever reason – Bruce does not want to be found. We also learn that Alfred’s called Tim in on this, which Dick is not a fan of, but Alfred’s reasoning is pretty damned sound.

but also dick that is such a bruce line omg.

They’re all worried as fuck, and this is apparently Tim’s first time realizing that sometimes Bruce purposefully erases mission files when he goes out solo.

not that it works

Tim, being Tim, has recovered most of them anyway, and so we learn that the whole mission began with a Russian virologist. Dick zones out into a flashback of his time as Robin, quite possibly the first time he ever saw Bruce get shot and got scared the man would die. Which, of course, didn’t happen, and in true Bruce fashion he brushed it off and assured Dick he’d dodged the bullet, but that didn’t stop young Dickie from sneaking down to the Cave later and finding the bullet hole in the center of the Batsuit’s chest.

And then we cut to the snowfields of northern Siberia. Dick’s dazed from having his jet shot down, doesn’t remember much between talking to Tim in the Cave and right this very moment, but he’s recovering. Taking stock of the situation. He’s been shot down by some kind of rebel militia that’s now trying to take him prisoner. As he fights his way free, another rebel lets loose with a rocket launcher and destroys not only the ATVs that Dick was going to make use of, but also the rest of the jet and all his gear that hadn’t been actually on his person.

Which means now he’s stuck in the Siberian snow near the Arctic Circle with not a blessed thing to his name but his standard suit – thermal suit went up with the jet – and a heartbeat sensor with a 20 foot range, on foot, with a 5-mile-wide circle for a search area.

Oh, and there’s a storm coming in.

gotta calculate that risk tho

So off he goes. Starts with one valley and does a full sweep with no results. We have no idea how long it takes or how many valleys he makes it through, but somehow through sheer plot device luck he all but stumbles across an unconscious Bruce. There’s a very tense moment when Dick’s feeling for a pulse – because the heartbeat sensor hasn’t detected a damned thing – and this is when I remind you that he got the news of Bruce’s disappearance on the anniversary of his parents’ deaths and so is almost certainly all the more desperate for that, but finally he gets a pulse and the relief is palpable.

I guarantee you he was clinging to bruce for a solid minute before moving on.

Unfortunately Dickie’s still suffering from a pretty bad concussion himself, so even as he’s trying to carry Bruce to shelter he stumbles, which is enough to bring Bruce back to consciousness enough to A: register that it’s Dick there with him and B: tell Dick to leave him behind. Which Dick, naturally, does not do. He keeps carrying Bruce through the snow to an old, theoretically abandoned way station that will hopefully offer at least some shelter through the coming storm. When he kicks the door open, however, it turns out the shelter is occupied by someone else. A woman, who is both surprised and alarmed at the intrusion. Dick demands blankets and warm water, on the assumption that Bruce is near freezing to death, only to realize Bruce is in fact running a fever.

And then Dick’s still-recovering memory throws up another card. The woman they’ve found is the virologist Tim mentioned. Her parents were murdered by Siberian rebels right in front of her – this will be important later – and she’s since developed a viral compound so virulent it makes the Clench look like hay fever. And Bruce has just dropped a mysterious vial of Something on the floor as he passed back out.

uh-oh.

Naturally Dick turns to the virologist to ask what to do next, only to find she’s run off. So he follows her, rescues her from a rebel, and drags her back to the way station only to see Bruce being hauled out to a waiting helicopter by more rebels. Naturally, he does the only logical thing here, which is charge in, race up the woodpile to the roof, and jump up to grab the landing strut on the helicopter to try and get Bruce back. The rebels, however, have other ideas and open fire through the floor, forcing him to let go and plummet back to the snow-covered tundra.

When he comes to again, there’s the virologist, and Dickie is done playing nice. He grabs her by the throat and barks a demand for information.

nightwing does not fuck around okay

Fortunately for her, the virologist claims there is a cure located in her lab, and she’s actually taken them there. Of course, it’s currently occupied by rebels, but that’s a minor matter. Dick gives her some instruction along with a warning – “Double-cross me and you’ll regret it.” – and the virologist offers something that is almost but not quite an apology, to which Dick’s response is less than charitable.

‘I’m not a monster’ says woman responsible for potentially-continent-killing plague.

Now, here’s the thing. He’s calling Bruce his friend here which, okay. They’re both in uniform, giving more information is dangerous and something he’s trained against. But for me, given the history between these two, that also tells me that Bruce hasn’t formally adopted Dick yet. But Bruce is so clearly more than just a friend here. The narrative sets that up and makes it clear, even if you don’t have the weight of the rest of pre-Flashpoint canon [or, hell, just the rest of canon itself] bearing down on you.

Dick is nigh feral at this point, his focus 100% on getting Bruce out of there alive, and his usual at-least-civil exterior is gone. “I’m not a monster,” says the virologist whose creation is directly threatening Bruce’s life. “Sure you aren’t,” snaps Nightwing who is in no mood to coddle someone who will, if she doesn’t help him fix this, be directly responsible for the death of his second father as far as he’s concerned.

He single-handedly takes out every guard between the virologist and her lab, though the final one cuts it close and she sees him haul a grown-ass man up into an air vent without much difficulty. She’s also seen him jump from a cabin roof to a moving helicopter without a second’s hesitation or a break in her stride. Point being, she should have some idea of what he’s capable of here. But as he’s tying up one last rebel and she’s behind the desk typing in an access code she sees reinforcements heading for the lab and says absolutely nothing.

Instead, she grabs the cure and says nothing until she’s already standing behind closing security doors, leaving Dick behind to deal with the reinforcements but showing him clearly she has the vial in hand.

Remember what he said about not double-crossing him?

We don’t get to see what happens in the lab once she runs, but we do see one last rebel get kicked through the front doors hard enough to knock them off their hinges. Nightwing is pissed. Enough so that when he catches up to the truck the virologist stole he just punches through the driver’s side window, grabs her with one hand and spins the wheel violently with the other, sending the truck skidding hard enough to turn over and dragging her out of it at the same time.

As he insists on continuing on to the rebel stronghold, however, the virologist hits him with another gut punch. That vial doesn’t hold a cure; it holds a vaccine. There is no cure. It’s too late for Bruce in her eyes, he’s doomed, so there’s no point in going to the rebel stronghold. Dick, understandably, doesn’t take this well. He actually collapses for a second there in the snow, because she’s just told him his father mentor is dying and there’s no way to save him at all. And then we get this exchange.

remember her tragic backstory?

Dick is probably near tears at this point, out of rage or frustration or pain or all three at once, and I can’t help but hear his tone as absolutely scathing. “Was it worth it?” Killing a man who had nothing to do with her grudge? “I’ll bet he saved your life at one point.” That may well have been why Bruce was out there to begin with, he knows; to stop her virus falling into the wrong hands if not to destroy it completely. “So...are you happy now?” Now that she’s killed a man who was trying to help her? “Feel better?” And if she says yes he cannot be held responsible for his reaction.

And then she comes out with that. Of all the people to say that to, and of all the times to say it, it had to be Nightwing, hard on the heels of the anniversary of his parents’ murder, while he’s trying to save a man who is also a victim of that very same tragedy. The virologist, of course, has no idea about any of this – how could she? – but that doesn’t stop Dick whirling on her to snap out his response.

well he meets her criteria for saying that

And then he’s moving again. Back to the helicopter he’s commandeered, demanding she come along, because he’s got a plan. It might be half-baked and absolutely insane, but it’s a plan and he has to try it. The virologist still insists that it’s pointless, that there’s no way his friend could still be alive, and Dick’s only response to that is:

The stony determination on his face says it all: he has absolute faith that Bruce can pull through anything, because he has to. Dick’s not stupid, and he’s not blind; he went into this knowing there was a chance he might find a corpse. But he also knows that Bruce’s heart was still beating when he found the man, and he has to hope. He has to, because if he stops hoping then he’s going to shatter and he can’t let that happen. Not until it’s proven beyond a doubt that there really is no chance at all. So as long as there’s even a single shred, even the barest iota of a chance that Bruce could still be alive, Dick’s going to cling to it and use it as fuel to push himself through everything else. He’s good at weaponizing hope like that.

And it works. He gets them to the rebel stronghold and drags her in with him. Just why he does this becomes pretty clear once they’re inside; it would’ve been easier for him to go in alone rather than drag her along clinging to cliff faces and dodging guards, but this way she gets to see what the rebels are gearing up to do with her creation. The virus she created as vengeance is about to destroy untold numbers of lives; the room they find, with rows of empty beds awaiting occupants, is almost certainly just the first drop in the barrel, and even she admits she’d never even considered this.

But while she’s wrestling with that Dick’s already moved to Bruce’s side. Bruce, who is strapped to a table with his vital signs being monitored, and who is still clinging to life. Dick then launches into what is almost certainly an extremely simplified explanation of how vaccines work, but it gets the point across. A vaccine sparks a response from the body’s immune system, nudging it into creating antibodies to fight whichever illness it’s for and thus filling the bloodstream of a vaccinated individual with those antibodies and giving the body the necessary boost in defense it needs to fight off the illness.

And then he reveals his plan.

you fuckin what mate

Turns out he’s taken the vaccine at some point between shoving her in the helicopter and arriving at the stronghold. It’s an absolutely bonkers plan, since the vaccine likely has had barely any time to really have much effect, but we’re using comic book logic here so fuck it. It’s still an absolutely bonkers plan even with comic book logic, because that vaccine was experimental and not even its creator knows if it will actually work or not. He could just wind up contracting the virus himself.

It’s at this point that Dick’s passive suicidal tendencies show themselves, and that I remind you all of the panel from Prodigal that started this whole thing. Remember that? Now look at this.

“Then I’ve got nothing to lose.” “I’d die for you, Bruce.”

There is not an ounce of hesitation. There was no question or wavering. Dick saw one single path through this, one potential chance to save Bruce, and he did not care if it cost him his life. If it works then Bruce survives and maybe Dick does too, and if he does that’s great but if he doesn’t at least his death will have been worth it. If it doesn’t work, then who cares if he lives or not?

But it’s only passive, because he still has the will and determination to give the virologist one last – and probably, honestly, terrifying – warning. “Even with half a blood supply, I can still stop you if you try anything.” Betray him again and see what happens, when he’s already told you he has nothing to lose.

But she doesn’t. She does exactly what he needs her to, sets up the transfusion, keeps it going. The virus starts taking hold of Dick and it’s painful, or at least his mind thinks it’s painful. His heart is pounding, he can feel the fever set in and spike, and then the *boom*s that he hears translate into the rebels busting into the room through the barricade he’d set up to buy them time.

Clearly not enough of it, though.

The virologist wants to cut off the transfusion and get them out of there, but Dick refuses. And he keeps refusing until the last possible minute, at which point he’s pulling the needle out and diving into battle. The narration is really what makes the next few panels, which are all still images of the ensuing fight.

Fever dream. Shapes blurring around me. Screams and thuds surrounding me. No tactics. No strategies. Blind instinct. A lifetime of training. My lifetime. His training. All I have now...is what he gave me.

Remember back at the beginning, when Dick was recalling John Grayson’s words? “Just close your eyes, remember your training.” One father’s advice bleeding into another’s training in a way that is almost seamless unless you’re looking for it. And then there’s that last line.

On the surface Dick’s talking about his combat training. All the skills and techniques he’s learned from Bruce over the course of his life. But peel back that first layer and you find that dogged determination, the willpower. Dick came to Bruce with his fair share of that to begin with, yes, but you cannot tell me that Bruce’s training didn’t strengthen it, sharpen it to a point. Dick had the will, but Bruce showed him how to temper it into another weapon, into a shield.

And then, below even that, you have Dick’s own life. A life that Bruce gave him. Without Bruce, Dick’s life would have been completely different. Dick has said at least once that he considers Bruce to have saved him. Without Bruce, it’s reasonable to suppose, Dick is fairly certain he’d be dead by now.

All I have now is what he gave me.

His fighting skill. His determination. His very life. And he’s putting every last bit of it to use, fighting through a band of rebels on his own until he’s confronting their leader, who is a giant of a man wielding a battle-axe. And Dick is getting tired. He’s fighting the virus as much as he’s fighting other people right now. He knows he’s flagging, but he has to keep going. Has to keep fighting. And the narration here lays bare a part of him that, if anyone’s been reading Nightwing‘96, comes as no surprise.

Dick fears letting Bruce down. In other shocking news, the pope has been confirmed as catholic. More at 11.

I see it now. Clearly. My greatest fear. Not that he would fall, but that I would fail him. That he would need me someday...and my best truest effort would be... ...not quite enough.

There is a point in Nightwing ‘96, not long after Dick’s settled in Bludhaven, where he faces off against Scarecrow and spends at least a day or two dosed on fear toxin. We learn then that Dick’s deepest fear is failure. Is not measuring up. Is for his best to just not be good enough. This moment, right here, digs deeper into that and, I think, nails it perfectly.

Dick has always tried to measure up to Bruce’s expectations. He has to be perfect, because that’s what he thinks Bruce wants. And by this point in his life, he’s also learned that when he’s not perfect, people get hurt. People die. He has to be perfect. He has to be. And right now, with Bruce’s life on the line, if he can’t win this fight, if he can’t push through this, if he can’t find a better best to pull out, then the consequences are unthinkable.

Failure is Dick’s worst fear, but failing Bruce - not being able to catch his father partner when the chips are down and it’s literally do or die – is his worst nightmare.

And finally his body just. Gives out. He can’t get back up. He’s straining, he’s trying, because in his head Bruce would, but he can’t. The rebel leader towers over him, the axe about to fall, but there in he background is a familiar silhouette just before everything fades to black.

Then we cut back to the Cave, where Alfred and Bruce are in the middle of a discussion about the virologist, who apparently was convinced to destroy a lifetime of work, though not by Bruce. We don’t actually learn what did convince her, though, because Tim interrupts them to inform them that Dick’s awake, and then to assure Dick that he’ll be fine.

It’s the last two lines, and the final panel, though, that really cement things for me. Because of all the things either one of them could say, of all the things that have to be going through Bruce’s mind or through Dick’s, not a single one makes it into words. For a second Bruce just stands there in silence before offering a single word of thanks, and a hand. And Dick just takes the hand, and smiles, and responds with another single word that carries about a ton of emotional weight regardless of how light his tone might be when he says it.

who needs actual conversation am I right

“Anytime.”

Let’s recap just what he did here. He took a jet into what he knew was going to be hostile territory and got shot down for his troubles. He forged ahead into an oncoming snowstorm, on foot with no supplies or gear, to find a man who might be dead anyway, when he could have tried to salvage enough gear to take shelter and GTFO. He risked his life to obtain a cure that turned out to be an experimental vaccine which he took without hesitation or asking for more information about because a whole-body full blood transfusion to flood Bruce’s body with hopefully-effectively-vaccinated blood was the one insane idea he had even if the odds were astronomically in favor of him dying in the process, and then he exacerbated those odds by fighting off half a rebel army in order to buy Bruce time to recover, because let’s be real here, Dick couldn’t have expected Bruce to recover enough to actually fight right then. Likely his hope was that he could buy enough time for the virologist to get Bruce out of there, or that he’d get lucky enough that he could live up to what he thought he needed to and finish the fight himself to give them both collapse-and-recover time.

He pulled off what should have been an impossible mission, one that Bruce himself had deemed too dangerous to allow backup on. He could have died. Arguably he *should have* died. He took a risk that anyone else would have deemed absolutely batshit-bananas insane, and they both know it. And then he simply brushes it off with “Anytime.”

And he means it.

And they both know that, too.

This is one of my absolute favorite one-shot stories purely from a Bruce-and-Dick dynamic perspective, because it nails Dick’s side of things and it nails a side of him that so rarely gets shown. No matter what’s going on, no matter what’s happening – because at the time of this comic, things are once again a little rocky between them – if Bruce needs his help Dick will drop everything else to be there, and Dick will do whatever it takes to get him out of trouble. Even at the cost of his own life. And when someone he cares about – especially when it’s one of his family – is in mortal danger, he stops pulling punches, he stops playing nice, he threatens and he’s harsh and he’s rough and he shows a side of himself that even those he’s trying to defend would be surprised to see, because he hides it so goddamned well that people forget it even exists.

Go read the comic and see for yourself.

#Musings #batman #nightwing #bruce wayne #dick grayson #dcu #dc comics #nightwing bloodborne #batman nightwing bloodborne #batfam #geekery

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marlsbys-dragons · 7 months ago

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New Batman headcanon: Selina absolutely adores Damien for his love of animals, and while it takes him a while, the affection is eventually mutual. This unexpected relationship ends up being a significant factor in Bruce and Selina finally making it official and getting together for good.

#meri's musings #batman #batman headcanon #batfam #batfam headcanon #bruce wayne #damien wayne #robin #selina kyle #catwoman #batman and catwoman

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quiidam · 10 months ago

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Love seeing comic panels of Bruce and Dick working together where Bruce is hunched over some document or sitting at the Batcomputer while Dick is doing a handstand or using something expensive as his personal jungle gym. They work best like this. I imagine the first time Dick helps out with the Justice League not only are they all completely unaccustomed a child in a professional environment but none of them are prepared for the adorable nine year old doing backflips off all the equipment while he discusses forensic evidence. One of the Leaguers makes the mistake of trying to correct Dick and tell him to ‘stop messing around’. Bruce, protective of his son and deeply respecting his little partner in crime fighting, isn’t having any of that and immediately levels them with a look that could cut glass and says: “He’s working. I suggest you stop sitting on your hands and do the same.”

#morning musings #my headcannons #dick absolutely does his best work while he’s scaling the wall like a squirrel and bruce knows it #bruce wayne #batman #dc comics #dick grayson #nightwing #batfam

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bitterrobin · 2 months ago

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Part 1 of analysis on the Batman & Son/Three Batmen arc that no one asked for, bc I'm writing a fic using it and I'm using this website as a public notes app. Basically me making observations and notes on what to emphasize when I write, so it's not very cohesive outside Damian & his interactions w/ Tim and Bruce.

Long Post Ahead:

Starting with of course, Damian's introduction arc. I guess this would technically be considered spoilers for GRAVEYARD, but I feel enough of what I've written so far is contained in Damian's mind a lot/shifted just a bit from canon to not be too obvious.

WRT Post-Crisis, Damian’s first introduction under Morrison implies that Damian didn’t know what Batman/Robin did, and especially after learning - he thought it was ridiculous, something to scoff at.

Prior to this, we don't really get an indication that Morrison-Talia told Damian what Batman did. We can assume he knows Batman as a concept, as he's not very surprised to see his estranged father in a bat costume, nor does he regard the Batcave as something weird.

I feel like I should stress wrt Robin, that Damian did not attack Tim just because the boy was Robin -- he attacked Tim because he (rightfully) perceived Tim as Bruce's son, the son that Damian wasn't. It can also be assumed with how abrasive and bratty that Morrison wrote Damian, that he attacked Tim as a sort of tantrum (turned up to 12 w exaggerated comic book panache), with Tim having (unintentionally) annoyed Damian earlier in the day.

It's also very important to note that Morrison wrote Tim as fairly normal...and as far as I know, in-character. He's a little condescending with the "here in my world, we call this a handshake" line (but that's more likely Tim attempting a joke that doesn't land, which Damian takes as patronizing). Otherwise, he's shown interacting with Damian as nicely as possible and talking to Bruce about his gripes with the sudden situation.

Tim gives Damian the benefit of the doubt, then unfortunately that doubt is massively proven through Damian killing and beheading a minor villain.

Fandom tends to blow their "fight" out of proportion as a mutual slug-fest or as Tim getting the shit beaten out of him. But in the comic, Tim is mostly on the defensive (holding his own, not really getting hurt) as Damian is attacking him, doesn't strike back, and even saves him from the T-Rex in the cave before it can injure him. And that was after the aforementioned scene of Damian pulling about a bloody key and Tim making an ominous assumption about Alfred's status as alive/dead.

Tim sits down to talk with him, and Damian gives him pretty much the exact reason why he's so aggressive. It's laid out right there for the reader. (Not to get too meta, but the comics actually give both Tim and Damian leeway on both their "sides." It's the fandom that generally exaggerates Damian's violence/Tim's reaction.) Anyway, Damian hits Tim hard enough that he falls, steals a Robin costume (notably not any of Tim's considering the black/red color scheme he then had), and Bruce finds out about everything.

IMO, a lot of Damian's actions can be explained through his POV as his limits getting pushed/buttons being pressed. He's 10 years old -- dropped by his manipulative mother to a father he doesn't know, realizes that father has another son older than him and treated better (presumably, in his eyes), put in a room with a password lock (which has implications), yelled at (explicitly told that his father has expectations of him, that he'll be tested until he can prove something) and then he decides to do something about it. Be proactive. He decides to kill the Spook and "prove" his worth, he fights Tim and "proves" his "deserved" place as his father's son, and takes a Robin costume to further that point.

Of course, he then learns that Bruce doesn't and will never appreciate those actions. Everything Damian just did was for nothing, almost, and he's brought right back where he started to his mother -- who then says that she intended for him to only be a distraction the whole time. Damian is a toy, a tool to Talia, and a violent obstacle to Bruce.

This is why I insist that Damian here, isn't really a character yet, he's a glorified plot device that Bruce/Tim have to get around for a couple issues.

Skipping way ahead in the plot, I wanted to highlight this piece of dialogue:

"I'm giving both of you a second chance you don't deserve." Wow. Morrison's characterization of Bruce in this arc (and frankly, his whole run) gives me whiplash. Morrison-Talia aside --- to Damian, hearing this must've been devastating on top of everything else. It's a throwaway line, like Dick's in Resurrection of Ras al Ghul where he snarks to Tim that saving Damian's life "makes us feel better about ourselves" that has a certain bite to it - and then is quickly ignored by the plot.

As I've posted before, Damian's aggression and mistrust is not without cause, he's not fighting people because he just an evil little kid. We know, as readers, that Bruce is rightfully angry about Talia's machinations and Damian hurting Tim/Alfred (and that Dick was only making another of his many jokes) but Damian doesn't. Even if he doesn't immediately say or do anything about what they say, he most likely internalizes it.

Still, he says this. Morrison of course, projecting Peak Divorced Child onto Damian's character --- but I like to think that Damian genuinely meant it. He just wants his parents together, like a child would, even if neither of those parents seemingly like him, or want what's best for him in a rational way? (Talia's just using him here, Bruce apparently is fine with letting her.) Good thing to bring up with Damian btw, it's like that Lady Bird movie scene:

"I wish that you liked me" - "Of course I love you."

You can be someone's child, cherished in that way, but that doesn't necessarily mean your parents like and understand you as a person. While in (my fic) GRAVEYARD, this doesn't fully apply as Taxonomy AU!Talia is nothing like the Talia here -- Damian thinks that she doesn't fully like him and he believes that she's not going to ever understand who he is. (And frankly, there is always the notion haunting her that he's not a normal kid, her kid anymore - that she's worse off because she has to see what the League twisted Damian into. But that's a more meta analysis of her POV than I want to get into; how warped Talia's character became because of Damian existing in comics -- and something more for a diff. fic.)

Coming up on the end of the arc, it's kinda crazy how Talia and Damian were technically supposed to die. And Damian pretty much did, until he got the intense medical attention he got. Something to think about.

Ending the post here! Next time, I'll skip to Three Batmen, quickly go over it, and then just kinda jump around talking about Damian's POV of events happening.

#damian wayne #tim drake #bruce wayne #dc #dc meta #graveyard musings

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ghost-bxrd · 1 year ago

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Imagining a point and click game focused on Gotham ambience and atmospheric music, having you navigate life as either a Gothamite or someone who recently moved there, with the option to get in contact with the bats, become one of the rogue’s goons, or even join Red Hood’s gang and work your way to the top 👁️

Each choice you make influences the story, and by then end of it you could be a rogue worse than the Joker, or the catalyst that brought the batfam back together 👀

#musings #basically fanfiction in game form ksksks #games #jason todd #batfamily #dick grayson #bruce wayne #batfam #robin #tim drake #red hood #Gotham #ghost talks

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chronicwhorebatman · 1 year ago

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the great thing about batman/brucie/matches is that bruce now has a wider spectrum of fuckability

#batman #bruce wayne #dc #dcu #matches malone #brucie wayne #trixie’s dc musings #i know there are more disguises but these are the big three #it's just objectively funny. do you like cryptids? no? how about a guy that's more grease than man? hmm. how about prettyboy idiot?

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libraryofgage · 1 year ago

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Harlequin Prince (2)

Part of: Steve Deserves Good Parents, Actually

This part was line-jumped on Ko-Fi, which means y'all got it sooner than I originally planned!

If you want to line jump your favorite series, you can learn more here

Ironically, even tho the post says about a week of turn around, I get so excited that somebody wants to line jump that I just write it immediately lmao

Steve finally gets a good fight in this one, but it ends way too soon the poor boy. Either way, he also gets to meet some of the party!

As always, if you see any typos, no you didn't ;)

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Steve knew his dad wasn't in the picture, but he never knew why. He never asked, but he started to get this horrible feeling after a while. Harley Quinn's past was well known to Steve, her previous...associate and her relationship with him isn't exactly a secret, no matter how much his mother tried to keep them from him. She couldn't protect him at school, and she couldn't protect him from hearing people talking on the streets.

So, yeah, from the age of nine, Steve walked around with this horrendous knowledge in his gut, a knowledge that he wanted to think was just him being paranoid. But it wasn't. He knew it wasn't. He just couldn't admit that to himself, and he couldn't ask his mother because he didn't want to send her down that particular lane of memories. So it festered, and Steve pretended it didn't exist at all.

Until, that is, his 13th birthday. It was held at Uncle Bruce's mansion because his mother wanted to go all out. It was as much a celebration for her (a full three years without getting sent to Arkham!) as it was for him (managing to stay alive for 13 years in Gotham with Harley Quinn for a mother). Steve hadn't minded, either, especially when he saw the absolute joy she had when picking out the hugest bounce-house she could find with Uncle Bruce's sleek black credit card.

The party was catered by Steve's favorite Indian restaurant, the guests were limited to immediate friends and family, the bounce-house was extra bouncy, and a table was practically buckling under the weight of the gifts piled on top of it. It was, by far, Steve's best birthday, surpassing even the one he spent in Arkham after letting Poison Ivy out of her cell.

"Hey, Dumplin'!" his mother shouted, waving at him from the top of the bounce house she'd managed to climb. When Steve looked at her, she grinned even brighter and jumped, launching off turrets and rolling down sloped walls before landing on her feet on the ground. "Let's get to them presents!"

Steve laughed, looked at the table eagerly, and nodded. Her grin somehow getting wider, Harley turned, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted, "GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR, EVERYONE! STEVIE'S OPENIN' PRESENTS!"

Soon enough, Steve was standing in front of the table, surrounded by everyone, and not at all sure where to start with the mountain of presents. "You should open mine first," Jason said, grinning as he gestured to a bike-shaped package.

It was, in fact, a bike. A motorcycle, specifically, with a red and black helmet and the promise of lessons from Jason whenever he wanted. Steve loved it immediately and ignored Uncle Bruce muttering about driving laws and how Steve couldn't operate any motorized vehicle until he was fifteen. "Well," he said, "as long as I don't get caught by Batman, who's gonna know?"

That had earned him a laugh and his mother's hand ruffling his hair. "Go on, Dumplin', choose another."

Dick got him a literal outfit's worth of Wonder Woman merch, accessories included, that made Bruce look ready to pop a blood vessel. Tim gave him small tracking pins and a hacked handheld game console to watch the trackers with the promise of free upgrades anytime he wanted. Damien gave him daggers since he "wasn't good enough for real swords, but everyone should have a blade" on them, just in case. Cass, Steph, and Barbara pooled their skills together (and Alfred, they borrowed Alfred a lot) to make him an Unofficial Robin costume, complete with shorts only slightly less scandalous than Dick's original costume.

Bruce, when he finally stopped glaring at the three of them, gave Steve a fingerprint panic button shaped like a bat and easily attached to a key ring. "For emergencies, Steve," he said, "Just hold your thumb to it for three seconds."

"This is perfect for the next time we run out of ice cream," Steve said, grinning as he attached it to his key chain.

"Emergencies."

"Oh. So if we run out of mint chip, specifically. Got it."

Bruce merely sighed and let him return to opening gifts.

Alfred gave him a tin of homemade cookies that Steve immediately had to protect from the others. Poison Ivy gave him a Venus flytrap and the promise to help him grow it properly. Selina couldn't be there, but Bruce passed along her gift: a pair of goggles Bruce had handed over with a sigh and quiet request for him to use them responsibly.

Steve opened Duke's present last, eyes widening at the red leather jacket. "Wait, seriously?" he asked, holding it up as he looked at Duke.

"You're gonna be a troublemaker, Steve," Duke said. "Might as well make sure you're bulletproof for it."

Steve grinned wider and pulled on the jacket, swimming in the leather but eager to grow into it all the same.

There was nothing from his mother in the pile, but Steve figured the party itself was his present since she'd done all the planning. When she pulled him away to a secluded room in the manor after they'd all had cake, Steve realized it was just because she didn't want to share this moment with anyone.

She smiled at him, reaching up and gently tucking a few strands of hair behind Steve's ears. "You grew up so fast, Dumplin'," she said, sighing softly.

"Ivy says I'm like a weed."

"Ives is right," Harley said, nodding once before looking away. "Okay, ready for your present?"

"Wasn't the party my present?"

"No, no, Dumplin'. The party was for fun," she said, grinning as she reached behind her and pulled a comically-large mallet from seemingly nowhere. "This is your present."

Steve blinked, leaning over to look around Harley. "Where'd that even come from?" he asked.

"Jester Logic, Dumplin'. Don't worry about it. I'll teach you the trick later," she promised, holding the mallet out to Steve with an expectant expression.

When Steve took it, the weight threw him off. He frowned, shifted his grip, and suddenly had no problem holding it up. He took a closer look, noting the scratches and marks on the mallet and the faded paint. "This was yours," he said.

"Yeah, it was."

"I've never seen it before."

Harley sighed, tugging on one of her pigtails with a slight frown. "Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly a great person when I used it, Dumplin'. Tried to forget about that Harley and all," she explained.

"Then why give it to me?"

Harley looked back at Steve and smiled, reaching out to cup his cheek. "Cuz you're so much better than me," she said. "I think you'll do some great things, Dumplin', and maybe all the good you do will erase most of the bad this mallet's got."

Her words were so serious, her smile was so bittersweet, and she looked ready to cry and deny it. This was the closest he'd ever gotten to learning about her past straight from the source, a past he knew about it, a past that involved a certain person that haunts Steve's mind with terrifying potential. Suddenly, he had to know.

Steve didn't really think before blurting out, "Is the Joker my father?"

Harley froze, her shoulders tensing and her eyes widening as she stared at Steve. "You don't got a father, Dumplin'," she finally said, her voice quiet and her expression conflicted.

"Fine. Was he the sperm donor?"

With a sigh, Harley stepped closer and placed her hands on Steve's shoulders. "I won't lie," she said. "He is, but that don't mean a thing. His crazy ain't hereditary, Dumplin', and he's never gettin' anywhere near you."

"Does...does he know?" Steve whispered, "About me, I mean."

"It don't matter," Harley said, her voice firm and her eyes more serious than Steve had ever seen them. "I'll kill him before he gets near ya. Ives will kill him. Hell, Brucie wil---no, wait, he's got those pesky morals. Fine, Jason will kill him before he gets near ya. Actually, Jason'd kill him anyway, but the excuse will be good if Brucie scolds him for it."

Steve couldn't help laughing at that, feeling a little lighter when his mother smiled back at him. When his laughter trickled to nothing more than a smile, he asked, "Then, was I the reason you left?"

Harley nodded and gently tugged Steve into her arms, holding him to her and cradling the back of his head. "Yeah, you were," she said, her voice soft and soothing. "I was excited to tell 'im when I learned about you, but then I heard him talking to some goons. He was laughin' about running a kid over, breakin' their legs, and I realized...you wouldn't be special to him. You'd've been like his goons, all expendable and not even worth a glance. I couldn't put you through that, and I couldn't put me through it, either. So, I got us out the only way I knew how."

"By finding Uncle Bruce," Steve said.

He felt her nod. "By finding Brucie," she agreed. "He tried to deny bein' the Bat and all, but your mama ain't dumb, Dumplin'. I'd done my homework, and the butts matched. Once I explained it all, once I told him about you, he agreed to help."

Steve nodded, listening to his mother's heart beating against his ear. He glances down at the mallet again, tightens his grip, and takes a deep breath. "Thank you," he said, "for the gift and for telling me. I'll do good with it, I promise."

"That's my boy," Harley said, pulling back and ruffling his hair. "Now, lemme explain that Jester Logic to ya."

----------

Hawkins remains boring even after meeting Eddie. After all, Eddie's in high school (his second attempt at senior year, apparently), and Steve...isn't. He should be, probably, but there's no way he's stepping one foot in that suburban nightmare of a building. He can feel the normalcy, the utter boredom, oozing from the place, and he'd rather not subject himself to that.

So, he spends his day wandering around Hawkins, getting a feel for the little town until he could navigate the place blindfolded. He can do the same in Gotham, but it's more impressive there with the winding streets and sprawling sidewalks. Here, it's nothing special.

The most interesting part of his day is when he's sitting on the roof of a video store, one leg dangling over the edge with the other pulled to his chest so he can rest his arm on his knee. He's about halfway through a cigarette when a cop car pulls into the lot and a middle-aged man steps out.

He looks up at Steve, frowning as he calls up, "You shouldn't be there, son."

"I ain't your son," he calls back, grinning as he takes another drag and blows smoke out as the guy rests his hands on his belt. It reminds him so much of Gotham PD rookies trying to posture that Steve can't help laughing. "Is that supposed to intimidate me?"

"I'm serious, kid," the cop says, apparently ignoring Steve's question. "It's dangerous up there. If you don't come down, I'm gonna have to call the Fire Department to bring the ladder."

Steve sighs and puts his cigarette out on the roof. He gets up, stretches his arms above his head, and stands on the ledge of the roof. He grins at the cop, casually stepping into empty air and hearing the guy shout as he falls. He lands in a crouch on the awning over the door, swings to hang from it, and lands on his feet on the sidewalk.

It wasn't even much of a fall, but the cop looks like he's about to have a heart attack. Steve glances at the badge on his chest. "We done now, Officer Hopper?" he asks.

"Don't do that again," Hopper says, pointing a finger at Steve, "Or I will drag your ass to the station and call your parents."

Steve snorts, doing his best to hold his smile back. "I'll keep that in mind, sir," he says, giving a mocking two-finger salute before turning on his heels and walking down the street.

After a few blocks, he veers off into the forest, figuring he'll wander around the trees for a while before going to the Hideout to bother Bev and stare at Eddie and quietly pray someone else is gonna look for a fight.

Did he mention Hawkins is boring? Because it's fucking boring.

Steve sighs, kicking a stick as he shoves his hands into his jacket. He idly notes the forest is healthy. Sure, a few pieces of litter are strewn around, but it's not as bad as the parks in Gotham can get. Poison Ivy would find this place barely passable, which is hard to manage, and he's tempted to call her when he gets home to tell her about it.

He hums softly as he walks, enjoying the sounds of the forest until they just...stop.

The entire forest falls silent, which is weird; forests are too full of life to go silent. Even the bugs seem to have frozen in place, too scared to risk making a sound by moving. Steve stops, looking around him with a frown and trying to figure out what's caused this.

He gets the answer a second later when he hears a scream. The voice sounds young and cracks slightly, so it definitely belongs to a child. Despite himself, Steve can't help grinning as he takes off in the direction of the scream.

This is the most exciting thing to happen in the four weeks he's been stuck in Hawkins. As he runs through trees and easily jumps over bushes to take the shortest path, he makes guesses on what he'll find. Maybe Hawkins has a villain that's only now showing up. Maybe the town has a secret alligator or something that's decided to have a midday snack. Hell, maybe someone just decided to be a dick today.

He realizes every guess is wrong when he slides into a clearing to see a few kids (two boys, one girl) surrounded by some weird dog-looking...things. They have heads but no faces, crouched low to the ground and growling at the kids they've cornered. There's around ten of them, which would normally make Steve hesitate, but he's so desperate at this point for a real fight that he doesn't care.

Instead, he reaches over his shoulder, thinks about how fucking hilarious it's gonna be to jump out of nowhere with a giant mallet, and grips the handle as he swings it over his shoulder. "Hey, monster mutts!" he shouts, grinning when all the monsters and the kids finally notice him. "Let's play."

Pure, unfiltered joy rushes through him when the first monster-dog jumps at him. Steve's eyes are bright and his grin is positively feral as he swings the mallet and sends it flying into a tree. He roundhouse kicks another dog, using the momentum to bring his foot down on the head of a third before smashing its body with the mallet.

"Are you insane?!" one of the kids shouts.

"Certifiably!" he shouts back, watching as another monster-dog jumps at him. He waits for the perfect moment to back flip, bringing his feet under the dog to send it flying. He brings the mallet up as he lands, clocking another monster under the jaw. It yelps, crashing into another dog.

"Where'd this guy even come from?" the girl asks, turning to look at the boys with her.

"I don't know, but I'm happy to let him deal with the demodogs."

Oh. That's what they're called. Steve hums softly at the name, grinning as he twirls the mallet and swings with all his strength at one of the demodog. He rests the mallet on his shoulder like a baseball bat, watching the demodog arch in the air with an appreciative whistle. "Solid air," he says, nodding once before looking at the remaining demodogs.

There's only three, the others scattered in the clearing. He can't tell if they're dead or not, but he could always smash them to mush when he's done. Steve grins at the remaining dogs. "C'mon, then," he says, only to be filled with disappointment when they creep back, turn heel, and run.

"Damn, that's no fun," Steve says, sighing as he rests the mallet on the ground and leans on the handle. He looks at the kids. "You guys okay?"

The girl has orange hair pulled back into a messy braid. She's staring at him like he's got two heads but is kind of impressed by it. One of the boys has curly hair being smothered by his hat, and the other is wearing a basketball jersey. They're also staring at Steve like he's crazy. "Dude," the curly-haired one says, "that was awesome!"

"Where'd you get that mallet from?" the girl asks.

"Jester Logic," Steve explains, shrugging as he picks the mallet up and walks over. "Wanna hold it?"

When the girl lights up, he passes the mallet to her, snorting when she immediately staggers under its weight. "How do you hold this so easily?"

"Jester Logic. Again. It's funnier when other people find it heavy."

"That makes no sense," basketball jersey says.

"Who are you?" curly hair asks.

"Steve. Moved here recently. What about y'all?"

"Dustin," curly hair says.

"Lucas," basketball jersey says.

"Max," the girl says, her voice strained until Steve takes the mallet back, twirling it like it weighs nothing.

"Great. Nice to meet y'all. Now, what the fuck were those?"

"How much time you got?" Dustin asks.

Steve grins, thinking he's finally found something that can keep him entertained when he's not hanging around Eddie. "Plenty."

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Tag list (let me know if you'd like to be added!)

@nectandra, @y4r3luv, @just-a-tiny-void,

#steddie #steddie fic #harlequin prince #steve deserves good parents actually #steve harrington #harley quinn #bruce wayne #jim hopper #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #dc comics crossover #wayne family adventures crossover #i kinda let the muse take over with this one actually #unhinged steve harrington #as he deserves #poison ivy #robins

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