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emo-batboy · 1 year ago

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Battinson Guest Starring on TV Shows

For someone who holds the title of Richest Man in the World, Bruce doesn’t do a lot of traveling.

Which is to say he does a LOT of traveling, but he always tries to find a way out of it.

(Are there bat-related reasons for this? Are there people-related reasons for this? Are there anxiety-related reasons for this? Who knows?)

But partners and sponsors aren’t always going to tolerate his hermit-like tendencies. So once every month or so, Alfred wrangles Bruce into a private jet and sends him off to who knows where so he can represent the company.

Usually, it’s somewhere close on the East Coast, maybe it’s across the pond, even Asia isn’t off the table, but the rarest place to spot Bruce Wayne is actually the West Coast of the US.

One day, it is announced that Bruce Wayne will be spending two (count ‘em, 2) consecutive weeks in California with his kids for some grand business convention.

The West Coast media goes feral with the news, ESPECIALLY interviewers. And because Bruce kicks up such a fuss this time, Alfred has the gall to sign him up for FOUR TV appearances.

Here are these appearances :)

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Drag Queens, especially Drag Race all-stars, contribute to a wide variety of charities

So on a new episode, the queens are challenged to design and shoot a promotional ad for their own charity

And who better to act as a guest judge for this episode than the show’s largest benefactor, CEO of the Wayne Foundation, Bruce Wayne?!

Physically? He’s older than half of the contestants. But spiritually? He screams Baby Gay.

Fifteen minutes into the episode, Bruce is welcomed into the werkroom where he gives them pointers on their campaign. He’s in his cute little three-piece suit (Alfred’s idea) with the intention of looking put-together and knowledgeable. But that’s not the only outcome.

They all flirt with him. Everyone, single or taken. The confessionals are so thirsty.

“He’s lucky the cameras are on. Otherwise, I’d eat him up faster than a bachelorette party in a buffet line.”

“My celebrity crush is talking to me, and all I can focus on are his gorgeous eyes. How am I supposed to know what he's saying?”

Of course, they shoot their shot, but most of it is joking since they don't know he's bi yet.

“Are you single, honey?” Bruce blushes. “It’s complicated.” “Well, I’ll make it simple for you.”

We all know this man can't handle being flirted with. We saw how he froze when Selina did it. It’s like he mentally bluescreens when someone calls him a pet name.

Only THEN do they learn he's bi

One of the queens jokingly asks him, “Ever been with a man before?” thinking it would be a firm no, but Bruce says, “Actually, yes.” “Oh shit, really?” And to Bruce’s embarrassment, the whole room hears him.

The flirting is thus taken up a notch.

On the main stage, Bruce has a lot of great constructive criticism. He talks about how to find the right audience, the importance of a good slogan, and even goes on a little rant about logo design.

(You cannot convince me that Bruce hasn’t hyperfixated on the business of charity work before. Or the science of marketing. They’re his favorite business topics.)

After about three minutes of him complimenting one contestant for their Drag Library pitch, he stops himself mid-sentence and says, “Oh sorry, am I talking too much?” “No, please! Keep talking, sweetheart.” Bruce covers his face to hide his blush. “Why is everyone flirting with me?” “Baby, have you seen yourself?”

While the judges deliberate, RuPaul mentions Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent. Bruce nods along for a while then suddenly just blurts out, “Wait, does it spell ****?”

The judges pause then burst out laughing. “Oh no, we’ve traumatized him!" Bruce is blushing up a storm. “I just never thought about it like that!” “Sweet, innocent Bruce. We’re so sorry.”

It’s later revealed that Bruce offered to help some of the queens launch their charity projects through the Wayne Foundation.

It’s v cute 🥰

Nailed It!

I love Nicole Byer.

She is Mother.

In all seriousness, she’s so fucking funny and she’s personable enough to pull Bruce out of his shell a bit.

The theme for this episode is Found Family. Three pairs of family members compete together—a gay father and his adopted son, an aunt who adopted her niece, and a stepfather and stepdaughter.

Because Bruce Wayne famously adopted two children, he is invited to guest judge.

So Nicole opens the episode with a zinger, the contestants are introduced, and Bruce is welcomed onto the judge’s panel beside Nicole and Jacques.

(Yes, Bruce does speak French. Yes, Nicole makes a joke about it being hot.)

Nicole: “We were surprised you accepted our invitation, Mr. Wayne. You’re notorious for staying on the East Coast. What brought you to the Nailed It! Studio?” Bruce: “My children love this show. They always tell me I should be on it since I’m so bad at baking.” Nicole: “Really? Maybe we should do a celebrity season of Nailed It! and have you compete.” Bruce: “No, you should not.”

Nicole: “So, Bruce, I know you have a butler at home who bakes for you. But what’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten? Escargot? Bad caviar?” Bruce: “I drank olive oil straight from the bottle once.” Nicole: “…What?”

The problem for Bruce is he can’t say anything bad. It just feels mean :(

(And he would rather jump into oncoming traffic than gamble with a social interaction)

For the first challenge, the contestants make cake pops. But when Bruce tries the first one, there is a sickening crunch. Bruce’s eyes widen for a second and he slowly chews.

Nicole: “What was that? Bruce, are you okay?” Bruce, clearly struggling: “It’s…good.”

“Bruce, you can spit it out. It’s okay.” “I already swallowed it.” “Oh, you poor thing.” Bruce chokes for a second, and Nicole pats his back. “Please don’t die. We can’t afford it.”

For the big challenge, production has a surprise in store for Bruce.

Dick (9) and Jason (7) run onto the set and smother Bruce with a hug.

It’s adorable. Bruce no longer cares about paying attention, okay? His kids are here :D

The two boys read from cue cards to announce the second challenge: a three-tiered Gotcha Day cake. And as per tradition, the winner of the first challenge gets a leg-up.

This time, it’s a Helping Hands Button. When they hit the button, Dick and Jason will run over and help them for three minutes. (While being supervised, of course.)

As the contestants bake, Nicole says hello to Dick and Jason, who are clambering all over Bruce like a jungle gym. They both shake her hand and talk about how they love the show.

Nicole looks pointedly at the two empty chairs beside Bruce. “You know, we brought these chairs for you two to sit in.” Dick, on Bruce’s shoulders: “We’re fine, Ms. Byer!” Nicole: “Ms. Byer? Oh, you’re a cutie, aren’t you?”

Just ten minutes before the challenge is over, the Helping Hands button is pressed, and Dick and Jason are given stools so they can help the aunt and niece stack their cake tiers.

Two minutes in, the aunt instructs them to let go of the cake. But the moment Jason pulls his hands away, the cake topples over and covers him in frosting. Jason, whispering: “Oh f*ck.” Bruce: “Jason!” Jason: “I didn’t say that! Dick did!” Nicole: *cackling as Bruce buried his face in his hands*

Jason gets cleaned up, and Dick helps them stack what can still be salvaged.

When Wes brings out the trophy, he’s dressed as Batman. Dick and Jason gets a kick out of that.

Celebrity Family Feud

Bruce was invited to the show after his SNL skit went viral a few months ago

This episode, the teams are split up by cities they grew up in. Gotham v. Star City. Naturally, his team is playing for the Wayne Foundation.

It’s a pretty odd cast of people, most of them having moved to LA or Hollywood. Bruce is the only one to still live in Gotham.

They have fun, though, despite their limited common ground. The audience has a few good laughs.

(Some at Bruce's expense)

Harvey: You're a very wealthy man, Mr. Wayne. What do you really do in that tower all day? Bruce: I, uh…business? Harvey: …You business. Bruce: ……Wait-

All in good fun. Bruce just vibes in his little corner until he needs to answer a question. It's pretty chill.

For exactly half of the episode.

Then it happens.

Steve Harvey takes two people from each team up to the buzzer and says, “We asked 100 people: Name something your parents always told you as a kid.”

What the production failed to consider is how this particular question might be a sensitive topic for some contestants.

Bruce’s team gets the question, and Steve saunters up to Bruce, completely oblivious.

“Alright, Bruce Wayne!” Bruce nods awkwardly. “Hi, Steve.” “Bruce, what’s wrong? You’re looking a bit uncomfortable.” “…I don’t like this question, Steve.” “Why not?” Bruce just gives him a desperate look, and it clicks. “Oh! Oh my gosh!”

Let’s be real. Bruce is awkward enough, but Steve Harvey cannot save an awkward moment for his life either.

But he tries his best anyway and asks, “Are you okay with answering this question, or would you like to pass?” Bruce nods frantically. “I can answer. ‘I love you.’” “I love you too, Mr. Wayne.” “No, uh, my answer is ‘I love you.’” “Oh! That’s a good one.”

Thankfully, the audience erupts in laughter. That little interaction cuts the tension, and Bruce’s answer ends up on the board.

And by god, the memes

“I love you too, Mr. Wayne” is the new “Enjoy your meal.” “You too.”

The audio clip of “I don’t like this question, Steve” goes viral on TikTok

Someone gets a pic of Bruce and Steve looking at each other with palpable fear in their eyes, and it makes its rounds all over Twitter

10/10 never again

Running Wild with Bear Grylls

Now this is the most challenging. Not because it’s difficult, of course. But because Bruce has to look stupid enough to maintain his Brucie Wayne persona but smart enough to keep himself safe.

For this episode, Bear takes Bruce to the California desert.

“How much do you know about survival, Bruce?” Bear asks. Bruce nods carefully. “I did some survival training once with a friend from boarding school.” “Oh really, how did you do?” “Fine, I think.”

This is, of course, his way of saying I trained with a league of assassins for years, but Bear can’t know that! And that’s how most of the episode goes.

Thank god Bruce's fear of being caught is mistaken for being scared of the physical challenge because every time Bear points out how well he’s doing, he breaks into a sweat.

Bear: For a businessman, you’re surprisingly fit. Bruce, sweating bullets: Oh, this is all just for show.

Bear: Wow, you’re a natural. Are you sure you’ve never set up a zip-line before? Bruce, gripping his equipment so tight he gets rope burn: I think it’s just the survival instincts.

Of course, he pretends to be out of breath a few times. The Drama.

Bruce, pretending to slip and fall: Ouch! Who knew the outdoors were so dangerous? Bear, you are crazy. Bruce, internally: How much longer are we doing this?

Bruce being a vegetarian is actually a point of contention. You see, Bear always makes their celebrity guests do something crazy for food like skin a snake or eat a mouse. Scavenging for berries just doesn’t grab the audience’s attention.

But do you know what is vegetarian?

Bear: Now, in extreme cases of survival, it’s not rare for humans to resort to drinking their own pee. That’s what we’ll be doing in a moment. Are you up for it? Bruce, visibly repulsed: I’ve had Gotham tap water. I’ll be fine.

How on God’s Green Earth did Alfred convince him to do this?

To get to the extraction point, Bear takes Bruce down a cliffside.

Bear shows Bruce the meticulous process of properly belaying from the top of a cliff, and Bruce, who has done this over 100 times is like, “Wow that’s so dangerous :( Will we be okay?”

He really tries to ramp up his acting skills this time.

(Little does he know that’s not necessary.)

Bruce goes down first as Bear belays with a cameraman filming from the top. Halfway down, Bruce hears a scuffle, and the cameraman yells, “F*ck!”

Bruce looks up, arms already out for protection, and he sees a small disk falling towards him. It’s the lens cap. He catches it on instinct.

For a second, he thinks, “Shit, was that too skilled? That’s not enough to make people think I’m Batman, right? I just caught it in midair while dangling from a cliff. That’s totally not weird and suspicious. Normal people do that—“

Then Bear yells, “Bruce, drop it!” Bruce looks up at Bear, confused. “Why?” “There's a scorpion!” That’s when Bruce looks at the lens cap and sees a black scorpion perched on top with its tail ready to strike.

They don’t have those in Gotham.

Bruce jumps in his harness and flings the cap at the rocky cliffside. He hears a crunch, and the scorpion and cap tumble to the ground. Bruce frowns. Can a scorpion survive that drop?

“You just killed a scorpion, mate!” Bear cries. Bruce looks up in horror. “I killed it?!” “Hell yeah!” Bruce’s face falls. “No!”

Because oh. shit.

Bruce just killed something. The sad, orphaned vegetarian just killed a scorpion.

Bruce has a meltdown.

He didn’t mean to kill it!!!! Oh no, he just killed an innocent little creature. Yeah, he punches people for fun sometimes, and he definitely put a few violent criminals in the hospital, but he’s never committed MURDER!!

This poor little scorpion died due to his own negligence, and he feels so so so bad about it.

Bruce is a mess as he climbs the rest of the way down.

Bruce, cradling the scorpion’s body: I don’t know how to perform CPR on a scorpion! Bear: Bruce, you took its head clean off. Bruce: *sad noises*

Legit inconsolable. To him, it’s like he just murdered a puppy

Once they're out, Bear is trying to cheer him up. Bless him.

Bear: We’ve conquered the wild! Haven’t we, Bruce? Bruce, head between his legs, still mourning the scorpion: I’m never going outside again.

Yeah, no one’s going to think he’s Batman after that.

And that's all four of Bruce's TV appearances from the West Coast :) Dick and Jason never let him live any of it down. Alfred is almost sorry. (He is not sorry.)

Let me know your thoughts! What other TV shows do you think Battinson would appear on as a guest?

Okie dokie :D Love y'all! Have a good day <3

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albatmobile · 8 months ago

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Cardinal Sins Chapter 3

𓅪 Living with your vigilante boyfriends for the past year has been amazing, well, almost. Butting heads, old wounds resurfacing and a deadly threat still looming overhead could threaten the sanctity of everything you've ever fought for. Will you finally overcome your tainted past and survive the trials and tribulations, or will your relationships and your faith crumble under the pressure?

Rated: E | 15k | Contains: popsicle smut, revelations and a takedown fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist] Previous in Series: Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds

Chapter Three: Ice Cream

“Lian,” Roy lectures halfheartedly as he looks up, mopping the sweat from his freckled forehead. “I need your help putting together your dollhouse. Where do you keep wandering off to?” He stops talking as soon as he catches sight of what’s in her hand. “Where did you get that?”

The 'that' refers to the melting blue popsicle you just gave her.

“What?” you question, meeting his unimpressed stare with one of your own.

It’s hot as fuck outside.

Even under the covered part of your balcony with fans running, it’s almost unbearable. This, however, doesn’t stop Jason and Roy from insisting on putting together a dollhouse the size of you outside on it.

“Why did you give Lian a popsicle if you know she’s supposed to help daddies put this together?”

“Because I wanted a popsicle,” you suck on your own popsicle as if it’s obvious, “and I knew if I got one she would want one, so…”

“Baby, I want a popsicle,” Roy complains from beside Jason. He pulls up the bottom of his shirt to wipe at the cascading sweat on his forehead before giving up and throwing it off his body altogether.

You bite at the corner of your lower lip, getting lost in the dips of his dripping, chiseled chest.

He, being the asshole he is, hands Jason the screwdriver

“You two fucks are good for nothing,” Jason teases. You snatch your popsicle from Roy’s exaggerated lunges your way with a bubbly laugh. “What’s the point of dating two people if I’m the only one ever doing the heavy lifting work?”

“Roy and I are like your trophy wives, daddy,” Roy nods at your statement enthusiastically from beside you before chomping off half of the treat in your hand. “ROY!” you shout.

“DAD!” Lian echoes your yell.

At this point, Lian has more puddle than popsicle.

Roy sees this and uses it as an excuse to eat the melting blue goop before it hits the stone tile.

“So stinkin’ cute,” you can’t help but coo.

“You sound just like him,” Jason teases, looking up at you through his dark lashes.

You blush brighter than the red popsicle in your hand. “Shut up.”

Jason smirks, briefly glancing down at the screw before looking back up at you. “Give me a bite,” he says.

Your heart flutters.

Even though you’ve been dating over a year at this point, he still manages to stir butterflies in your stomach. Without hesitation, you bend down, bringing the sweet cold against his silky lips. The red liquid trickles slowly down to his defined jawline until it dribbles down onto his jugular.

You slowly settle in his lap with your legs stretched across his thick thighs.

His eyes flash dangerously.

You take the melting stick and press it against his lips again. This time, he lewdly slurps at it, drawing attention from Roy who’d just finished off Lian’s popsicle.

“Go wash your hands, etai yazi,” Roy says while distractedly ushering Lian inside. He shuts the balcony door behind her, but he’s too busy staring at you on top of Jason to notice that she’s dripping blue all across the hardwood.

As soon as she’s out of sight, Roy bolts over hungrily.

Your tongue juts out, lightly tracing along the sweet red river stretched out along his neck and Adam’s apple. You flick at his jugular with the tip of your tongue, watching as it bobs up and down before gently sucking it into your mouth.

He releases the prettiest moan.

The screwdriver falls to the tile with a clatter, but you and Jason are far too wrapped up in each other to notice his closeness.

It’s as if a floodgate has broken. Neither of you willing to break apart.

All of your arguments have put distance between you that seems to dissipate with every hungry clash of your mouths together.

Roy cuts in, sucking Jason’s tongue into his mouth lewdly for your entertainment. Their sinful green eyes peer at you, half-lidded, as they consume each other with slick, wet noises.

They break apart to scatter teasing bites and hickeys all along your shoulders and neck.

All of a sudden, you hear Lian’s tiny footsteps. Curiously, they seem to be scampering in the opposite direction.

You glance up to see her running with one of the Twinkie’s from Roy’s sweets stash, only to disappear into her room moments later. You figure it’ll at least give you a few minutes of peace out here.

“I love it when you guys get along,” Roy pants once Jason allows him to come up for breath. His eyes are blown wide with his pupils encompassing the majority of his verdant, lucid gaze. “And in public too, nonetheless.”

You blush at the reminder, though it doesn’t stop you from removing your top and pushing Jason’s closest hand into your panties. You instantly buck into his calloused teasing, rolling your hips as your arms collapse around his neck.

He expertly trails along your folds, parting them while hardly offering you relief.

Your hips roll helplessly against his onslaught, gasping when the pad of his finger briefly catches on your clit.

“You want to piss off the neighbors, babe?”

You groan pathetically, “I don’t give a fuck as long as you keep touching me.”

He does.

His rough fingers trickle down to your entrance, teasing you only briefly before slowly sinking his index finger into you. Meanwhile, Roy takes a brief look around before pulling down his pants and slinking down to the ground beside both of you. He grips his cock in his hand loosely, watching as Jason’s hand retreats in and out of your squelching heat. You bite your lip as you watch his stroke steadily becomes more desperate as Jason’s pace increases.

You take Roy’s girthy member into your free hand and offer sporadic, desperate yanks as Jason stealthily adds in another thick finger.

The pleasure becomes damn near unbearable as his fingers work in tandem, curling and uncurling against your g-spot. At some point, you get lost in the throws of your pleasure, leaving Jason to pick up where you’d left off on Roy’s cock.

He teases you slightly, stalling his movements to spit on Roy’s red-tipped cock. You watch as his saccharine saliva drizzles down Roy’s tantalizing length.

You can’t help it. You need him in your mouth.

You unfurl your tongue, welcoming Roy’s hefty weight against it as you gag against his fiery base. Jason runs a gentle hand through your locks before tugging your attention back to him, enveloping your plump lips with his own. As soon as he releases you, your mouth is back on Roy’s length.

This is how the three of you continue until Roy’s orgasm interrupts your lewd makeout session with Jason.

Your expecting tongues and Jason’s fluttery dark lashes are now drizzled in Roy’s sticky want. It’s enough to have you twitching and grinding mindlessly against Jason’s rough fingers until you still suddenly and release. He removes his fingers from your still-pulsating cunt, revealing a slick trail on them as he does so.

You gasp when he shoves your want right down your throat. Your eyes cross briefly as you take his large, syrupy fingers into your small mouth, sucking the sweetness of your orgasm as you meet his dazed eyes.

You know just how to thank him.

“Baby,” you slink from Jason’s lap to position yourself lower, “let us suck you off.”

Jason looks over at a beet-red Roy, whose spent dick twitches hungrily in response to your salaciousness.

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Roy beams eagerly, moving to help you remove Jason’s shorts.

You and Roy share so nicely for Jason, taking turns tempting him to go over the edge.

Your tongue lewdly traverses Jason’s length, stopping briefly to tangle with Roy’s from the other side of Jason’s cock before diving back in.

The three of you know you don’t have much time before Lian becomes bored and comes back out. Because of this, the time usually spent teasing and edging is spent in a race to see what will make the other come undone first.

You utilize all the tricks they’ve both taught you in an endless barrage that leaves Jason grunting and tugging at your and Roy’s hair.

“Shit!”

“You already about to come, Jay?” Roy teases around swollen lips.

“You’re one to talk, Harper.” Roy doesn’t bother with a retort. Instead, he flicks his tongue in a way he knows Jason can’t resist.

Together, you and Roy make quick work of his leaking cock, taking turns devouring his length until he can’t hold himself back any longer.

“Mm,” you moan salaciously. You take his load, but you don’t swallow it. Instead, you spit Jason’s come out onto his twitching length and force Roy’s head down on the mess to clean it up.

He slurps gently at Jason’s sensitive member, collecting as much of the stickiness as he can before drawing you in for a kiss to take the rest.

“Fuck,” Jason groans, pulling each of you in for a toe-curling kiss. “I needed that.”

“I better go grab some towels,” Roy says, getting to his feet. He throws you your shirt as he messes with the heavy balcony door, “and go see what else Lian stole from the sugar drawer.”

•••

“My boy!” Ollie greets. The older blonde man roughly pats the shit out of Roy’s back as your motley crew enters their mansion.

Dinah, with Connor clinging to her hip, welcomes each of your family members in with big bear hugs.

You look around at their growing little family and can’t help but feel butterflies in your stomach as you look at your own. You don’t even notice your sentimental gaze toward Lian until Dinah mentions it.

“You okay?” she asks, though it seems like she already knows the response.

You’d waited for so long to be a part of Jason and Roy’s life and now that it’s finally here, you sometimes stop and catch yourself taking it in.

“Yeah, good,” you clear your throat anxiously under her knowing gaze. She lets you stew in your thoughts a bit until you unwittingly blurt out, “So, how has it been?”

Dinah shoots you a knowing smirk but plays coy anyway, “How’s what been, love?”

You know there’d be no point in faking ignorance with her.

“You know,” you smile awkwardly, “your family and all that?”

She laughs easily, sounding almost too perfect. “It’s been good. Not a lot of sleep, but we’re both used to it after years on the job,” she pauses a moment, staring at Lian and then at you. “Are you sure that’s all you were wanting to know?” She gives you another look that, for some reason, has you revealing all your cards.

A family of your own.

The butterflies come back tenfold.

“Being a parent to a newborn seems intense,” you say, motioning to where Connor and Lian are messing around with his toys. Right now, Lian is attempting to teach him which shapes go in which hole.

“Ah,” she finally looks pleased with your response. “See, being a parent is just another phase in life. It’s an important decision, though. One that shouldn’t be taken lightly,” she sounds resolute, “but you already know that- don’t you?”

You blush down at a beaming Lian.

When you realized that Jason and Roy were completely open to you being in their life, you knew you had to be there for Lian too. You’ve already made the decision, it seems, without necessarily fully realizing it. It’s daunting to you to be considered a parent when you’ve never considered yourself to have any. You know, aside from Bruce.

Thinking back to your own parents, you realize that, yes, they’d been your age at some point, grew up at some point. That being said, it didn’t seem like they’d put as careful consideration into raising you as you’re determined to with Lian. No, they’d only raised you for a check.

Lian…

Jason and Roy have assured you numerous times that she thinks of you as her mom. The word alone makes you slightly uncomfortable with the realization you now have the ability to fuck her up mentally, just like your parents have done to you.

How is this the first time you’re realizing this?

You begin to inwardly panic, hoping you’re hiding it well, but your wide, doe-ish eyes reveal it all.

She places a gentle hand on your bicep as if hearing your thoughts as they loudly clash in your brain. Fucking therapists, always therapist-ing.

You sigh, “How do you know you won’t fuck it all up? That you won’t fuck them up?”

She nods as if thinking of the answer. When it comes to her, you’re definitely not ready for what she says.

“You can’t not fuck them up,” she says with a shrug, looking down at her babbling son. “That’s just what being a parent is. As long as you do your very best to do right by them, that’s what counts. Being a parent is a thankless job. All you can do is try to set them up for success; give them a life that’s better than yours. If you do that, you can’t fuck them up too bad, I’d say.”

You nod, pretending like it all makes sense, but you really have no clue.

“The hell are you two on about over there in the corner?” Ollie’s loud voice booms, effectively startling you three feet into the air.

Roy quickly hushes him with a warning glare, “Lian’s in her repeating phase, grandpa.”

“Yeah, grandpa,” Lian mimics her dad.

Roy raises a brow at his dad as if to say, ‘I told you so.’

Ollie raises his hands up in faux-surrender. “Sorry, kid. The other kid over there’s just a bit over two, so cursing isn’t really on our minds so much as choking hazards.”

Lian and Connor have been getting on like a house on fire. She’s eager to teach him and read to him, helping him stand and playing peek-a-boo with him until he giggles himself into a fit. You don’t realize you’ve been staring so long until you feel Roy’s familiar verdant gaze fall on you. Before he can make some smart ass remark that’ll make you blue-ball him for the rest of the night, Lian chirps up.

“Dad,” Lian shouts over her shoulder. Connor stumbles a little bit, leaving Lian to immediately turn around to support him as he attempts to wobble around. “Can we get a baby?”

Roy sputters while Jason pointedly avoids Ollie’s shit-eating grin.

“Any advice on how to take this one, Ollie?” Roy asks.

“How the fuck should I know?” he says, thoroughly amused.

“Because you’re Roy’s dad?” you chime in with your confusion palpable.

“Darlin’, this is my first time parenting a kid so young,” Ollie snorts. “When I found this kid over here, he was already downloading porn to the cave’s systems-”

“The Quiver,” Roy corrects him.

“Oh, damn.” Ollie seems to think on it for a moment. “Yeah, that does work a lot better,” he starts to say something else, then stops. “Shit, have you been calling it The Quiver this whole time?” Roy merely rolls his eyes in response. “No, no. That’s good. That’s good,” he says to himself before turning toward Dinah. “Were you calling it The Quiver?”

“Love,” she sighs tiredly, “it’s not cavernous in the slightest.”

Ollie stops rubbing pensively at his goatee. “Damn.”

“Damn,” Lian repeats quietly.

Dinah shoots Ollie a loathing look, one Roy matches easily.

“I told you she’s in her repeating phase,” he hisses, covering her ears from any further debauchery from Ollie’s mouth.

“How the fu-" he catches himself, shooting a playful index finger in Roy’s direction, then Dinah’s. “Caught myself, see? I can parent.” Dinah, however, doesn’t look impressed. “Maybe I’m not the best with cursing,” he admits. “And honestly, parenting is still new to me.”

“Tell me about it,” Roy mutters under his breath as he busies himself with fixing Lian’s braids.

“Listen,” Ollie starts cautiously, “the first time I saw you on the reservation, kid, you were mourning the death of your second father.”

“Brave Bow,” Roy offers to no one in particular.

A quick glance Jason’s way reveals nothing about the events unfolding.

Does he already know this, or is he hearing this for the first time too?

“I guess I just didn’t know how to be that,” he searches for the word, “parent or, I don’t know, role model for you. Tried my damn-darndest, though, I’ll tell you that much.” Ollie sees you looking inquisitively Roy’s way and quickly adds, “S’not my business to say much beyond that, though,” he trails off awkwardly, watching as Roy continues to stare at the carpet.

Luckily, Roy fills in the blanks for you.

“He took me in and offered me a life I never could’ve had on the reservation. How can I be mad at him for that?” his tone seems to contradict his prior statement, however.

“That doesn’t invalidate any negative feelings you have, though,” you offer awkwardly in the tense atmosphere that’s quickly overtaking the room.

You’ve seen Bat Family drama, but never Harper/Queen/Lance beyond the night of the college party.

“Shit,” Roy sighs with a weak smile. “I thought being an adult meant feelings were supposed to get easier.”

“Definitely not,” you say at the same time Jason answers, “Fuck no.”

“All this being said, Jason wasn’t my only intervention,” he says it so simply, but the grim look on Ollie’s face says everything you need to know. He’s hit a nerve.

Dinah moves to pick up Connor from the floor to quiet his upset noises, “You know we tried our best to allow you to be yourself and have fun, but when it became clear it went deeper, we thought it best to intervene.”

“By tearing me away from Star City in my senior year? Y’know, the place I grew up in,” Roy says, nodding sarcastically. “Where all my friends were? Yeah, no totally makes sense to remove me from my only fucking support system since the reservation.”

“We seem to remember this differently,” Dinah responds cooly.

“Bet we do.” Roy smiles humorlessly. It’s quiet as the heavy words sink down. Roy’s not quite finished, though. “You ripped me away from everything I’ve ever known just so at least I’d be under the Bat’s watchful eye, right? Because you both couldn’t stand the thought of having a fucking drug addict for an orphan, right? You wanted me to be like Dick, perfect, quiet, sober, so you made Bruce my fucking watchdog over at Gotham Academy. Isn’t that right? Thought he’d knock some sense into me? What kind of delusional ass motherfuckers are you?”

Lian looks up from the ground at her dad, obviously never having seen him so upset. You look at Jason, hoping for some sign of what to do, but he looks just as conflicted.

“Star City was where you were using, Roy!” Dinah interjects suddenly. “For god’s sake, we didn’t want you to have to pass by the streets you bought from on your way to school, Roy.”

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” Ollie admits cautiously, “but we did it with our hearts in the right place.”

Dinah looks at you now as your earlier conversation comes to fruition with Ollie’s words.

“I’m not doing this in front of my kid anymore,” Roy says. The redhead scrunches up his face in irritation before easing it away with his fingers. “You're not my guardians anymore and haven't been for a long time, might I add."

“Guardians, sure. But you've always been a part of this family regardless of the system that brought you to us. We love you, son,” Ollie says. He sounds sincere and full of regret, leaving Roy’s hand to still between his brows. “All I’ve ever wanted was to do right by you, Roy. I wanted to be your Brave Bow, wanted to be your real father and I wasn’t any of those. Hell, I wasn’t even a good Ollie to you. I see that now and have for a while,” he walks over to Roy and places a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t right of me to take you in when I wasn’t ready to be a parent, kid, but it doesn’t mean I love you any less.”

Roy lifts his head up, meeting Ollie head-on. He finally sighs, “I love you both. Even after the bullshi-”

“We should’ve handled it differently,” Ollie nods rapidly, “very differently. I didn’t know how to handle the situation and, for that, I’m so sorry, Roy. We just wanted to get you out of the place that was eating you alive so you could start over new. Bruce and Dick had absolutely nothing to do with it. We genuinely just thought we were doing what was best for you.” He looks over his shoulder to where Dinah’s slowly bouncing Connor in her arms. “We now realize we were wrong,” Ollie admits. He’s tearing up now and you can’t help but feel your throat tighten in response. “My beautiful boy, we were wrong.”

Roy’s voice is thick with tears as he finally faces his father, “That’s all I’ve ever wanted: an apology. To hear that you love me regardless of all the messed up shit I did. That’s all.”

“I love you, my boy,” Ollie holds him at arm's length, looking over Roy’s bashful form with pride before pulling him in for a bone-crushing hug, “always.”

“Always,” Roy says into his chest. He quickly wipes away any stray tears as they pull apart, brushing off imaginary dust on the front of his shirt as he clears his throat, “So, uh, you made your famous chili?”

The edge of the room quickly dissipates, almost as if it’d never happened. It’s a complete 180 from the throw-downs and grudge matches the Waynes are infamous for.

You look at Jason and swear he’s got to be thinking the same thing.

“Think the spitfire can handle it?” Ollie winks your way as he ushers everyone into the kitchen.

You raise a questioning brow. What kind of chili denoted ‘handling’ of any sort?

“She’ll be fine. Right, baby?”

Oliver lifts the lid on a bean-ridden concoction that sends a singeing scent through the air. Your eyes unwittingly water as the spicy smell assaults your nostrils.

“Right,” you answer unconvincingly through the tears welling in your eyes.

How the fuck is Lian supposed to eat this shit? No, better question; how are you going to eat this shit? You don’t have to wonder long because Ollie and Roy are fighting over the spoon that, ultimately, ends up shoved in your mouth.

You wince, feeling the heat immediately and it’s…

Holy shit, it’s fucking amazing.

Ollie must see your eyes light up because he smirks at his wife, “Told ya the chili’s good, pretty bird.”

She just rolls her eyes before offering, “The taste is fine. It’s what happens after that’s a travesty.”

Ollie howls, slapping Dinah on the back as he doubles over. “Oh, she’s right, though, you know?” he wipes away a stray mirthful tear, “How many bathrooms did Bruce set you up with?”

“Three,” Jason says as he helps you and Roy set the table.

“Well, then,” Ollie beams as he dumps the steaming pot of chili in the center of the table, “dig in!”

•••

Joker.

He’s here.

Well, more accurately, you’re Joker.

Closely peering down into the pool of water below you, you see his maniacal face as if it’s your own.

There are more shapes in the reflection, though they remain as murky as the filth that stirs in the water surrounding you.

You know you’re dreaming, but, fuck, the images are so strong that it feels real…

You can practically taste the dank, mildewy stench that liters your nostrils. The ground beneath your feet feels sturdy, pressurized as if it’s your own feet pressing into the concrete below.

You wake up to Roy snoring in your ear, clutching your bare tit like it’s a lifeline. He’s hardly noticed your hard panting and, if anything, it only spurs his snoring on even more.

Jason, on the other hand, stirs in the intimate dawn light.

His hands slowly trail up and down your stomach as he blearily blinks awake.

“Ollie’s chili wake you up, babe?” Jason yawns lightly. “Or was it this fucking asshole’s sleep apnea?” You want to laugh, really, you do but your heart refuses to calm. He shifts onto his forearm, now more alert as he checks you over. Your name is a quiet whisper in the morning quiet of your bedroom, “What’s wrong?”

Your mouth opens, but nothing comes out.

It feels different from the panic attacks you’ve had in the past.

It’s like you’re frozen. Your body is still under the influence of your horrifying dream and you can’t wake it.

“Roy,” Jason’s deep voice reverberates lowly in your room. Jason reaches across you to shake Roy awake. You want to stop him. You want to tell him you’re fine, but you can’t. “Roy, wake up.”

Roy awakens with a loud snort, blinking his eyes in the bright light that leaks through the curtains, “Wha?”

Move.

Please, just fucking move. You beg your body, pleading with all your might that you’ll be able to move before Roy truly wakes up and gets concerned.

You’re fine.

Everything’s fine.

“She won’t move,” Jason supplies. His tone is gentle, but worried as he and Roy talk over your tense body.

“Panic attack?” Roy’s sleep-ridden voice slowly slips away as concern takes over.

“Dunno. I just woke up.” You feel Jason’s shrug more than you see it. “Can you help me elevate her?”

Hearing them talk about you like you’re not here only serves to freak you out further.

Roy’s hands gently join Jason’s as they shift your head to slide a pillow underneath.

You’re good.

Everything’s good.

Why can’t they see that?

No.

Why can’t you show them?

“Focus on your movement on your fingertips, baby,” Roy’s sidled up beside you to coo in your ear, “then your knuckles, then your palms, then your wrists.”

You feel him look up, most likely at Jason for what to do next.

“Imagine Roy trying to cook scones with Alfred,” Jason says hesitantly. It sounds like he’s not too sure of what he’s saying, but it’s out in the open now.

“Sure,” Roy snorts lightly, “scones with Alfred at the manor. There’d be so much flour everywhere.” He’s taken to petting your hair now. “You and Jay would make fun of me and Alfred’d definitely make me mop after. I’d be cursing the whole time to the point I’d have to take out a loan to pay off my swear jar indictments.”

Jason slowly begins drawing tiny circles on your hip bone.

You blink.

“That’s it, babe,” Jason’s soft voice caresses your being until it’s all you can focus on. “Come back to us.”

It’s as if you break the surface of water, coming up for air and gulping it down like it’ll somehow disappear.

“Control your breathing,” Roy says and gently places your hand on his chest to demonstrate a deep breathing technique. “Good girl.”

Every moment coming back down from your nightmare is agonizing hell. Put aside the embarrassment, you realize you’re now going to have to reveal everything. It’s so fucking embarrassing to have to look your lovers in the eyes and say, “Hey, Joker’s been in my head again. I want to die, but it’ll be alright!”

Well, not exactly to that effect, but still, you get the gist.

“Sorry,” is the first thing that comes out of your mouth. They both dote over you, telling you not to worry and asking if you’re alright, but you can hardly focus. All you can see is his face. “Just keep having these, like, nightmares or something. I’m really fine, though.”

They seem entirely unconvinced.

Surprisingly, it’s Jason who speaks first. He takes your hands within his big, calloused ones, “You can talk to us. Please talk to us.”

You stare down at your joined hands, then up into his emerald eyes, then over at Roy’s tired frown. “Okay,” you say slowly. How do you even explain this? “He’s, uh, been in my head.”

That’s a good start, you sarcastically think to yourself.

“Joker?” Roy asks, though he and Jason both seem to already know the answer.

Both of them are sitting beside you in the mess of cotton and pillows, waiting for your response.

“Yeah,” you respond dejectedly. You clutch at your duvet, bunching it up in your fists as you willingly allow the horrors to crawl back into your brain.

“How long?” Jason growls.

“Huh?” You look up, meeting his fury head-on.

Why is he so upset?

“How long have you been keeping this from us?” he asks with his emerald ire sears deep into your soul.

“Jay,” Roy scoots over on the bed from behind you to place a calming hand on Jason’s bare thigh, “please. Not right now. It doesn’t need to get like that.”

He’s treading carefully, but Joker’s always been a sore spot between you and Jason. Especially ever since he was sidelined by Bruce from saving you at the Wayne Gala your freshman year.

“She was doing this same shit at the manor, Roy. I’ve been biting my tongue for long enough,” he spits. His head whips your way now. “Do you trust us?”

You quirk a tired brow. “Is that really a question?”

You trust them enough to bare your body to them. You trust them enough to love them. Hell, you trust them enough to fight side by side with them.

But to reveal your fears?

You sigh.

“Yes,” he glares, pushing the issue once again.

“With my life, apparently.”

He laughs humorlessly, crossing his arms and looking to the side, “Is that enough?”

You can’t do this right now.

“I don’t know. Is it?” you snark back. “You know, this seems like a really roundabout way of getting me to open up, Jason.”

“For fuck’s sake! There shouldn’t have to be any sort of way!” he exclaims before quieting down. It’s still early in the morning, but Lian would be up soon. “You should just feel like you can come and talk to us about things that are hurting you.”

“I’m not hurt!” you insist. don’t know if you’re saying it to convince them or yourself, but no one seems convinced. You turn your gaze back to the crumpled blanket in your clutches.

“Baby,” Roy starts rubbing your leg, too, eyes going between you and Jason cautiously, “just talk to us. We were both really scared just now seeing you like that.”

You peer up into his verdant sincerity. “I’m sorry,” you say. You’re not able to meet Jason’s eyes, something he notices immediately.

“Stop apologizing,” his gruff voice startles your eyes to meet his gaze.

You look away first.

“Jason,” Roy groans, “please.”

“She knows I’m just upset because it’s him,” he says, looking at the side of your face as if gauging if you do or not.

The thing is, you do. But damn, you’re not up for this back and forth right now.

Your stiff body still hums with adrenaline, trembling all the way through to your unsteady fingertips.

“Just take a deep breath, baby,” Roy urges. His chapped lips kiss lightly at your shoulder while his light green eyes shoot Jason a warning look.

Eventually, the shaking lessens and you reach over to take each of their hands within your own. You rub anxiously at the skin of their hands as you think of how best to explain the situation.

“Ever since the dockyard, I keep seeing him in my head. I don’t know if they’re continuations of my nightmares or what.” Your hair scatters across your shoulders as you shake your head. “And, I don’t know why, but every time it’s like I’m… him,” you trail off as you stop rubbing their hands. “I see the things that he sees.”

You don’t look up to see their faces, knowing you sound fucking insane.

“What kind of things?” Jason asks.

You look up into his hardened emerald eyes before continuing on warily, “At the manor, I saw the stem.” At this, Jason and Roy share an evaluating glance. “That and Joker escaping with,” you remove your hands from theirs as you try to think of the words, “like this hoard of just blurry figures.”

Their faces are grim. You’re just glad they’re actually taking you seriously.

It’s taken you far too long to come clean and it instantly feels like a portion of the weight has been lifted from your chest.

“What did you see just now?”

You clear your throat uncomfortably as the dream comes back to you.

“Water,” you say.

“Water?” Roy repeats dubiously.

“It was murky,” you supply with a lame shrug.

“Murky water in Gotham,” Jason’s low morning voice rumbles deeply into the stillness of the room. “That really narrows it down.”

“I know it comes naturally to you,” you briefly look up at his unconvinced face before taking refuge in fiddling with the duvet again, “but you don’t always have to be such a dick."

Cue the ever-present sarcasm.

“Gee, I’ll keep that in mind.”

There it is.

“It’s 5 in the fucking morning, loves,” Roy groans, tiredly falling backward to the mattress below. He seems just about as done with the direction of the conversation as you are. “Don’t you guys have a fucking ‘off’ button?” he pauses briefly before raising a fiery, interested brow. “Makeup sex?”

“Roy!” you and Jason both admonish him, simultaneously smacking him on his sides.

“What?!” Roy runs a tired hand down his face as if it’ll somehow wake him up more. “So much fucking tension, you’d think the two of you’d be ready to bang at a moment's notice.” He raises an interested fiery brow again as if somehow either of you will suddenly now be more into the idea. “So,” he trails off, “that’s a no on the makeup sex?”

“There’s nothing to make up!” Jason insists. “She kept shit from us, I got mad, she opened up. We’re good.” Regardless of his words, he appears to anxiously await your response, mimicking your fidgeting with the blanket.

If you two hadn’t been moments from ripping each other’s throats out, Roy might just think the two of you looked cute. You’re both clearly worried about what the other thinks, but neither knows how to bring it up without butting heads.

“We’re good,” you agree.

“Cool,” he tries with a faux confidence you see right through.

“Cool,” you finish. You make to kiss him but, ultimately, hesitate.

Roy notices and won’t allow it. “Jay,” he nods his head in your direction.

He gets the idea but hesitates as well.

Your chemistry is palpable. It’s thick in the air between you in a way that makes you want to push back and flee at the same time. It’s affronting and repelling, similar to two like magnet-poles facing each other.

He pushes through, regardless.

Jason swallows heavily, “Can I kiss you?”

You meet him halfway with a light smile, “Always.”

•••

At the last minute, Stephanie joins in on your reconnaissance mission. With two ex-Cadmus escapees, your team needs all the mental support it can get.

Arsenal’s stretching beside you as you wait outside the perimeter in the trees. He doesn’t seem particularly off; he hides it well enough, but you see the hidden tenseness that lies beneath each movement he makes and every word he holds.

It’s pitch black, aside from the emanating lights from the large cinderblock facility. It’s a normal looking building, ugly if anything, which makes it somehow seem scarier. The place could easily blend in with the normal office buildings downtown, though what goes on inside definitely doesn’t scream normal.

You, Red Hood and Arsenal trekked up one side of the mountain while Superboy, Red Robin and Spoiler took the other. You reconvened in a small coverage of forest before you attempted to breach the research center.

“How are you feeling?” Spoiler cautiously eyes Superboy from the corner of her mask. Red Robin seems like he wanted to ask the same, shifting anxiously from beside the blonde.

“Definitely not great to be back,” the Kryptonian sighs deeply, sparring Arsenal a quick sympathetic glance, “but someone’s gotta show you fucks around.”

“Wouldn’t Roy-” Everyone’s heads immediately shoot in your direction at the slip-up. “I mean, Arsenal,” you correct yourself, “know the way around?”

Red Hood shifts from behind you, causing you to glance back at him to avoid Arsenal’s distant stare. He’s looking forward towards the lab, but his eyes are somewhere else entirely.

You know the feeling.

You don’t have to see through Jason’s helmet to know he’s thinking the same.

“He was knocked out for most of the escape,” Red Hood supplies finally.

“Hood’d be more help.” Arsenal shrugs too casually for the heaviness of the moment. “S’not like they let me out of the tube to go on walks.”

It’s tense.

Everyone goes back to their pre-mission tasks quietly.

“The place sticks with you, though,” Superboy says. “The smell, the lights,” Arsenal’s nauseated look seems to confirm this. Regardless of how hard he tries to hide how much this affects him, Superboy’s words seem to be the final nail in the coffin. “Never knew their names, but I remember the faces of the scientists and Genomorphs clear as day.”

The scientists and the what now???

“Yeah,” comes Arsenal’s rough response. That’s all he says, making it clear that the subject is over.

Red Robin looks to Spoiler, who looks to Superboy, noting how lost in thought he appears to be. It’s clear he wants to comfort Arsenal, but if the archer isn’t willing, it’s obvious Superboy isn’t going to push. However, the blonde and raven next to him seem more concerned with his reaction than Arsenal’s.

It’s really cute how close the three of them have gotten. Feels like just yesterday you were keeping up with Tim and Stephanie’s relationship via Damian’s gossip. Not to mention your first time meeting Konnor at the college party where you’d first kissed Roy. Though, you still find it hard to believe that Tim and Konnor managed to become friends despite the fact that they were fighting over the same girl. You think back to your odd yet similar predicament. Okay, maybe not that hard to believe, but still.

Aside from a few rustles and light whispers from your crew, it’s dead silent as you wait for the guards to change shifts. When the time finally comes, you set to work on your burner laptop.

Your fingers fly across the keyboard at the same time your group closes in on the guard station at the back entry.

“I just hacked their security systems,” you whisper, proudly turning your screen around to show them. It had only taken a few moments and even Arsenal seems impressed by your Flash-like speed.

From below, you hear one of the main security details scream out, “Some dude just hacked our security systems!”

You turn around to face the crew with a deadpan expression.

Spoiler snorts, “Sexist ass, scientist motherfuckers.”

Arsenal lets loose a light laugh, but you know it’s taking everything within him to just remain mentally present. You shoot him a sympathetic smile you’re sure only Red Hood sees.

With the security cameras playing yesterday’s footage, Spoiler and Red Robin tag team a group of guards before they can reach for their radios.

“We only have five minutes before they’ll be walkie-ing down for a check-in,” Spoiler brushes imaginary dust off of her purple suit. “We need to get a move on.”

Superboy nods, seeming to pick up on incoming noises as he quickly ushers the group into a dark corner. Your back presses against the cold exterior wall as two stray guards goof around on their way to the front station where the other guards lay knocked out and tied up.

Not good.

Red Robin wastes no time in producing two marble-sized orbs from his utility belt and throwing them in their direction. Light blue smoke filters into the night and Red Robin warns everyone to cover their mouths and noses. You watch as the first guard slowly kneels, then the second before they’re both passed out on the ground.

Arsenal quickly grabs both their lab cards as Spoiler and you drag their bodies into the shadows you’d just sought refuge in.

“We’ll need to split up,” Red Hood’s robotic voice warbles. He doesn’t need to dole out teams for everyone to know who’s going with who, but you all need to know where you’re going. “My team takes the North part of the facility, your team South. We need to find that stem and anything else that could help with figuring out the serum’s chemical composition.”

Everyone nods, steeling yourselves for possible conflict as Arsenal uses one of the keycards to gain entrance.

“You’ll probably need this,” Arsenal hands Red Robin the other lab keycard.

It’s quiet.

The sickening fluorescent lights grant no secrecy as you wander further into the maze of hallways.

There’s one hallway that’s completely blocked off, so that’s the one you decide to go down. You duck under the caution tape and carefully traverse around the random building supplies that create an obstacle course.

A heavy metal door blocked off by steel beams is at the end of the hall. The keycard looks busted, but there’s a makeshift lock strung through the double door’s handles. Arsenal picks the lock in under a minute.

All of you are on high alert after the lack of, well, anyone in the area.

What lies beyond the vault door is a large elevator.

The three of you look at each other briefly before climbing inside. Red Hood picks the lowest floor, Sublevel 53 and steadies you as the sonic speed of the elevator shoots downward at a stomach-twisting speed.

“Anyone else concerned by the lack of guards?” you ask.

Neither have to say anything. The grim look on Arsenal’s face says it all.

You arrive in a white sanitation quarantine room and quickly push through to the next room. It ends up being a wide open, empty lab, though it appears well lived-in. Post-it notes are scattered across the various papers and stray beakers have been left in the sink. Further inspection shows lab coats strewn haphazardly across the fancy rollie-chairs as if someone had just left for a ten-minute break. It sets your nerves on edge.

You push past the chairs, absentmindedly thumbing through some papers as you go along, but you ultimately head toward the giant wall-length computer set up against the furthest wall.

Arsenal and Red Hood do a thorough sweep of the floor while you plug into the mainframe. The system is difficult, one of the hardest ones you’ve ever had to crack, but you know you’ll be able to. The long tips of your costumed nails clack dutifully against each key, sounding similar to a gangster shooting off a Tommy gun.

“We’re in a lab,” Hood’s voice crackles into your comm system. Arsenal sidles up to you, crossing his arms across his chest as he leans against the large desk to watch you work. “What’s your position?”

There’s a beat of silence that’s occupied only by your hands flying across the keyboard before Spoiler responds, “In some sort of underground greenhouse.”

“What floor?”

“Sublevel 35,” she responds.

That’s the inverse of the floor you’re on now. This could be a good sign.

A static sets across your earpiece before Red Robin’s fuzzy voice breaks in and out, “W- found… stem.”

“You found the stem?” Arsenal tries to make sense of the message, but the connection is steadily getting worse. “Five minutes, meet at the rendezvous point,” he repeats himself a few more times before the comm system cuts out completely.

“Guys,” you call them over, “I think I found what we came here for.”

Arsenal turns around to better face the screen while Red Hood slowly walks over, trying to make sense of the files in front of him as he does.

“Poison Ivy mentioned them using a protein,” you say as you motion at the screen labeled ‘Plant Protein JK-2.’ “Looks like they’re trying to find a way to make it water soluble or something.” Your eyes rapidly scan across the numerous files, widening with each new twist and turn Cadmus’ information takes you on. “That can’t be right,” you say as you scan over the last document just to be sure of what you’re seeing. “It seems like they’re also hoping the protein can work in conjunction with a disperser of sorts?” you trail off in confusion.

“A microwave emitter,” Red Hood puts his hands on either side of you, leaning over your smaller body to get a closer look, “for something called Clean Energy, LLC.”

That name. You remember clearly seeing it on the vaulted door back when you toured with Luke and Jon, but… Why would Cadmus have equipment from Wayne Enterprise?

Your program is still uncovering information, albeit at a crawling pace, leaving you to tap your sharp nails with impatience.

"They're not going to believe the video loop forever," Arsenal warns.

After what seems like forever, a new set of documents pop up on the screen. Your brows furrow under your mask as you try to make sense of the jargon, but it's entirely too vague and too specific at the same time.

Arsenal seems to be in the same boat.

"It's obviously a participation contract, but for what?" you question, meeting his confused gaze.

The redhead just shakes his head, puzzled as he looks back at the screen. "None of this other information makes any sense either."

Before you can think more about it, the elevator suddenly dings. You glance back quickly at the screen one last time to confirm as a squad of tens of Cadmus officers flood into the room with their guns drawn.

“GET ON THE GROUND!”

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

Your head snaps from side to side, waiting for a signal, any signal, or something telling you what to do. It never comes.

Fuck.

You’re going to have to think on your heels. Luckily, the three of you have been training nonstop ever since you got your costume, so you feel more than capable. Scared, 100%, but capable, nonetheless.

“You are trespassing in a government facility,” the main officer warns as he walks forward slowly with his gun aimed directly at Red Hood’s head. “Surender now and no one gets hurt.”

Where have you heard that one before? Oh, yeah, when your parents said it and lied.

Arsenal makes to lift his hands in surrender and you wonder if you should do that same. In the seconds during your hesitation, he makes the decision for everyone. With great speed, he loads his crossbow with a smoke grenade followed by a smoke bomb and sends them flying. The combination of arrows blinds and then clouds the room upon impact, giving you all the cover you need.

You feel their steady hands remain on you as the three of you sprint into the hallway. Luckily, none of the officers followed, allowing the three of you to board the now empty elevator.

Red Hood fires off a few shots at the guards that have caught on to your escape, but a few get too close as the doors continue to close slowly.

“Arsenal,” Red Hood calls. All the while, he covers you with his body, pushing you against the closest wall of the elevator car.

From only that one word, Arsenal springs into action, drawing one final arrow that unleashes a highly reactive, fast drying, industrial polymer that encases and hardens around the group of advancing men.

The three of you stand panting as the solid doors finally thud shut and the car makes its fast ascent.

“Holy shit,” you breathe. You’re running your gloved hands up and down the expanse of Red Hood’s body armor as your adrenaline settles upon your vibrating body like a static-like buzz. “Poison Ivy was nothing compared to this shit.”

“You say it like it’s exciting,” Arsenal replies with a quirk of his lips, though his eyes remain distant.

Hood briefly turns off his voice modulator as the floors continue to quickly click by. “Prepare yourselves.”

Bows and guns drawn, the three of you await whatever waits beyond those heavy doors.

Ding!

Waves of higher-level security are lined up at the ready.

You swear you see what looks like a pale, big-headed monkey with horns hobbling inside a panel in the wall, but you can’t be sure. Your heart’s beating too fast for you to make sense of anything other than ducking and punching as you fight your way out of the elevator car. Too many bodies are piling up and Red Hood keeps having to re-trigger the door motion sensors to keep the heavy metal doors from closing on the three of you.

It’s not the most opportune position to be stuck in, let’s just put it that way.

Finally, Red Hood laces his gloved fingers together, which you use to backflip off of. The momentum sends you flying over top the rest of the officers and allows you to strike from behind.

With you out of the car, the men are forced to scatter, leaving an opportune moment for your partners to bulldoze their way into the hallway.

Red Hood immediately moves to cover you. You watch from the corner of your mask as he lands haymakers on any motherfuckers who stand in his way of reaching you.

“Hood, your six,” you warn, causing him to duck as you jab forward with your left hand. The power of your fist alone is enough to shatter through the visor on his helmet and reach his now unprotected face.

Red Hood pops back up. “Thanks, babe.”

He seems like he wants to say something else but instead grabs you by both of your arms and spins you around to take a bullet for you. It’s romantic. Though, knowing he wears a heavier bullet-proof vest than most cops means that it makes more sense for him to take the hit, but… still romantic, nevertheless.

“That was close,” you breathe out unsteadily.

His sturdy grip around your biceps vanishes as he raises his guns to keep the advancing officers at bay.

“I don’t think I’d mind getting closer, Cardinal.”

At the sound of him using your heroine alias, you beam. “How much longer you think this bullshit will take?” you ask, finishing your sentence by grabbing the head of the nearest guard to you and flinging him into one of his buddies.

Red Hood humors you, motioning to the growing pile of passed out bodies. “30 minutes tops,” he teases.

You can’t help but throw your head back and laugh, feeling like you’re in one of the old comics you used to pour over endlessly.

You advance on your lover slyly, never once faltering as he continues to fire off round after round. You feel someone advancing on you from behind and seamlessly spin around to take him down with a roundhouse before facing Red Hood again.

Your claws trickle up his body armor, stopping only at his thick breastplate. He follows the action easily, though he never once misses his shot, “As soon as we’re finished, you can get as close to me as you like, Red.”

“What happened to fucking heads in the game?!” Arsenal slides over to the action, shooting off a quick succession of arrows as he does.

“You’re just mad you’re not getting felt up, too. Don’t lie,” Red Hood’s monotonous warble manages.

One moment, Red Hood is pummeling half-beaten guards your way to finish off, and the next… well.

You turn suddenly at the sound of a deep grunt, startling backward when you turn and are met with two stocky guards. You back up with raised fists, bumping into Arsenal’s familiar warmth as you do.

“Where’s Hood?” Arsenal has his head slightly turned so he can speak to one side of your face.

You shake your head, turning to do the same. “He was behind me. DUCK!” you warn.

The two of you duck at the same time and manage to avoid a round of bullets.

“Shit,” he curses at the same time the guards decide they’ve had enough of your conversation. You’re both surrounded as heavy-armored men swarm around the two of you like prey. “I can’t get taken again.” Arsenal’s panicking, making sporadic swings and holding nothing back. “I can’t,” he says. His voice begins to shake as the outnumbering amount of remaining guards close in.

You steel yourself, ready to take on the brunt of men who seem distracted by your partner’s frantic state. You claw your way between the men, ducking and dodging their heavy fists as you knock their guns from their hands.

“I won’t let them,” you pant, hoping you can keep good on your promise. This is the first bout of the night, but the constant hailstorm of fists coupled with Arsenal’s panic is dragging all the energy you’ve got. “But I need you to get your head back in the game.”

You do a flip over a guard who was taking aim at Arsenal. You grab at the shoulders of his bulletproof vest and tug down with might of your descent in a way that sends him sprawling halfway across the room. His gun clatters to the floor and you watch in horror as one of the men you’d just disarmed picks it up. The man aims and shoots so quickly that you almost don’t dodge the bullet sent millimeters away from your arm.

You hastily duck out of the way, dodging another close call, but you know your luck will run out soon if you continue to flee like this.

Luckily, Arsenal seems to realize this and comes to just in time to protect you. He takes mere seconds to draw his bow to unleash a flash grenade that distracts them enough for you to flip over the two advancing guards in front of you.

You land behind them, kicking one in the back of the leg where you know it’ll give him a muscle spasm and the other on the tailbone where you know it’ll ache like a motherfucker.

It’s loud now.

The ugly sound of grunts, horrible cries of agony and the sickening squelch of fists against raw flesh fill the sterile, echoing hallway.

You’re so caught up in ensuring that your stance is correct and that you’re protecting your vulnerable areas that you don’t hear Arsenal’s muffled cry for help. Rather, you vaguely feel Arsenal’s presence disappear from behind you just as you feel Red Hood join you. His ragged breathing startles you as you take in his beaten state. You fend off a majority of the men to allow him a moment to rest, feeling a plethora of questions flooding your brain.

Where had Red Hood gone to?

Where is Arsenal now?

With everyone dropping like flies, you can’t help but wonder if you were going to disappear next…

Two men charge at you at once and you duck out of the way at the last second so that they tumble into each other instead.

“Hood,” you wheeze, turning just in time to see him body-slamming the last guard to the ground.

So far, no alarms have sounded, but you don’t know how much longer that’ll last with the number of bodies your team has been piling.

“Where’s Arsenal?” he asks in a panic. Red Hood stalks over to you, quickly checking you over, it seems, without even realizing it.

“Don’t know,” you respond, shaking your head quickly. You can’t see it, but you know his face is grim. Your stomach settles uncomfortably, knowing you’ve undoubtedly let him down.

There’s no time to linger on your inner doubts as Red Hood takes off.

You follow behind his frantic form as he searches the endless maze of hallways splayed out in front of you. After finding no further clues, you double back to the original hallway. You try to think back to where you were positioned when you felt him leave when it hits you.

You motion for Red Hood to follow you, something he does easily.

“It almost got me,” Red Hood warns ominously. He secures the hallway before motioning you forward. “Didn’t feel shit until it started dragging me.”

It?

He must be so caught up in memories of whatever happened last time he was here that he’s not thinking straight. You need to get him out of this funk and back in the game.

Without Hood’s guidance, you’ll be all on your own in this hellish laboratory.

“You’re not alone this time,” you put a reassuring hand on Red Hood’s shoulder, “I’m right here with you.”

He shrugs it off almost immediately, leaving you feeling dejected. The action alone lets you know you’ve definitely let him down.

Great.

With Jason, it was starting to feel like one step forward and two steps back: this morning being the step forward and now being the two steps back.

That’s all you have to say before the two of you are off again, searching each wing for any indication of Arsenal. Regardless of your hurt feelings, you follow after his long gait, making sure to check your six and stay alert even at his fast pace.

Red Robin, Superboy and Spoiler round the corner right as you feel your heels lift from the ground and a silencing hand (?) cover the mouth portion of your mask.

•••

Your head is underwater.

No, literally.

You’re somehow floating in water.

You can only manage to blink your eyes open for a couple of blurry seconds before the sting of the liquid forces them closed again.

The fuzzy image of the clock across from you shows it’s been nearly three hours since you’ve been taken. At least, you think. Each time you open your eyes, your vision becomes more and more clouded with whatever liquid you’re suspended in.

Muffled voices ripple around you, along with animalistic growls.

If you could furrow your brows, you would.

Whatever had grabbed you obviously hadn’t been human, coupled with Jason calling his captor ‘it,’ you’re not sure what the fuck is in this room with you.

Nor, you realize, do you have any idea what you’re in.

You can’t turn your body, only having the ability to twitch your fingers and eyelids, but you’re pretty sure Roy’s right beside you.

You’re also pretty sure that you’re naked.

“There’s evidence of two subjects in this tube.” You hear a man’s voice clear as day. From the sounds of it, they must be directly in front of your… tube? “The original specimen is showing signs of symbiosis without ever having had the latest two compositions. Further study with her could prove useful.”

“What’s the status of the test subjects for the serum finalized yesterday?”

“Still a week out before we can begin, sir.”

“That won’t do,” comes a dark voice, much deeper than any of the other chatter. You hear a loud clank, then whirring as they jostle your tank around. “Inject the latest JK-2 serums into the original specimen. Him too-" Who’s him?? “We’ll take all the free subjects we can get. Monitor the responses, then call the boss.”

You feel a cold rush race across the expanse of your encased skin, sending shivers across your body as the liquid settles into and fills your veins.

“First injection is complete, sir.”

You’re so used to being injected at this point that it almost doesn’t phase you.

Almost.

Surprisingly, your legs kick out, ringing out in immediate, unbearable pain as they come into contact with what feels like thick glass. You try to move your arms, but only your fingers choose to cooperate as your body begins to shut down in a familiar terror.

Before you can completely surrender to your suffocating fear, you hear a loud boom, feeling debris impact your tank. Soon, the liquid blanketing you seeps through the cracks, leaving your body heavier and heavier as more continues to leak out. Your skin is starkly pierced by the prickly remains of your prison as your lifeless body leaks like a puddle to the steel floor below.

You’re half-lucid, half-panicked when sturdy arms wrap around your soaked body.

The tubes forced down your throat are carefully removed before you’re being hauled over someone’s shoulder.

It’s as if all your previous injections have granted you some sort of immune response against Joker’s torturous serum. No matter how much he tinkers with it, the fear seems to last shorter and shorter, with the hysteria lessening to that of nothing. However, you’re still fighting off the pulse-pounding effects of the injection, leaving you lucid with a fatigued pain settling deep into your bones.

No matter how quickly the other effects have worn off, the pain and mental toll still remain, fogging up your instincts.

With your breathing back to normal, you see that Hood has you thrown over his shoulder, sturdy hand around your ass, while a naked Arsenal wraps his arm around Hood’s neck for support.

Roy.

"Inject him, too."

Had Roy really been right beside you that whole time? You fucked up over and over again tonight and this was another prime example of this. You promised Roy you wouldn’t let them take him again and yet…

You do feel a minuscule amount of your edge ebb knowing that, at the very least, he’s safe, though.

Red Robin quickly takes up the remainder of Arsenal’s weight while Spoiler makes a grab for your discarded suits.

Superboy’s trying his best to hold off what seems like the entirety of Cadmus security while the rest of you shuffle to safety.

Red Hood Hands Spoiler a handful of clanking items that she secures against the remains of the lab. She rushes to join you just as the room you and Arsenal were in explodes in a loud, angry cacophony of rubble. Any samples they may have kept from the two of you would stand no chance of surviving a blast like that.

With Superboy fighting off squadrons on his own, it’s not looking good. Plus, you’re not sure how much longer you can stay awake for.

It sounds like war.

The previous quiet that enveloped the lab is completely gone as ravaging screams and deafening gunpowder leak into the room like smog.

When all seems lost, a man in a gold helmet skids onto the scene.

His shield staves off the never-ending barrage of bullets coming from the hoards of guards, “This way!”

The man wastes no time in scooping you up into his arms, so Red Hood’s better able to fight. You start to protest, until you look up through the curtain of your wet hair to see the golden helmet of the man holding you.

“Roy?!”

This man seems to be a beefed-up replica of Roy. You blink again just to be sure of what, no, who, you’re seeing to confirm that, yes, this motherfucker looks just like your baby.

“Jim,” the Roy replica smiles down at you, blushing when he realizes your compromising state, “but you can call me Guardian.”

Your head is cold and pounding with the worst migraine of your life. You can’t 100% tell if your head is actually spinning because fuck if it doesn’t feel like it.

Your pulse quickens, seeming to match Guardian’s steadfast gait as he runs toward… well, you can’t really tell. The blurred edge around your vision slowly clouds in until it’s all you can see. You know you’re losing it now.

The battle sounds far away, though you can feel the kickback from Guardian’s arm each time he fires off his gun.

Your visions suddenly become stronger and strike against your skull like a mallet.

Laughing, smoke, Joker.

An army.

Hood doesn’t hesitate to follow the clone, barreling down the hallway with a dripping, nude Arsenal supported in his arms. You want to say Arsenal looks pathetic when you realize you’re in the exact same state.

“It’s a dead end,” Red Hood exclaims, turning around to fire on the advancing swarm of guards with his free hand.

Meanwhile, Guardian sets you against the side of Red Hood that isn’t occupied by Arsenal and set to work, typing away at his holographic wrist-computer. “That’s what they want you to think,” he says and smiles pointedly as the panel of the wall splits in two, revealing a raised, metal tunnel. You think back to that weird monkey creature you saw using the same type of panel earlier. If you’d been in your sane mind, you might’ve asked him what it was, but, as is, you’re lucky to be breathing. “Get in!” he urges.

Hood steps inside first, lifting Arsenal’s weakened body in behind him with help from Red Robin.

“Here,” Spoiler says as she offers Guardian a hand.

Guardian takes it gratefully as he cradles you in his arms.

“Superboy!” Red Robin calls, signaling for him to make his escape. Spoiler anxiously looks up, nearly losing her grip on you as she watches Superboy barely make it in time.

He slams the entrance shut behind you right as the hoards of guards and odd-looking creatures round the corner.

The silence is eerie.

Your ears are still ringing from the battle in the quiet echo of your team’s shuffling.

“We’ve got keep moving,” Guardian suddenly says. His voice is grave and his eyes are filled with the wild worry of a cornered animal. “They’re closing off the exits to the genomorph tunnels as we speak. We're going to be stuck in here.” He motions down to screen where outlets are turning from green to red.

“Where does this side of the tunnel face?” Spoiler points to her right as your group continues to sprint along the metallic tunnels.

Guardian stumbles in his gate before clearing his throat, “It, uh, doesn’t say.”

“Then that’s our way out,” Red Hood’s tone is final.

You hear Superboy asking Spoiler if she’s injured followed by Red Robin’s quick quip and Spoiler’s enchanted laugh.

You lose yourself in their moment of calm, allowing it to wash over you. It works for a while. The constant thrum of panic has somewhat waned, yet still lingers like a reminder across every inch of your naked body.

Suddenly, everyone screeches to an abrupt halt.

Your eyes blink open in a brief moment of strength only to see you’ve all hit a dead end.

“How?” Guardian starts, only to be cut off by Superboy’s confidence.

“Nothin’ I can’t break through,” Superboy insists. The Kryptonian cracks his knuckles with a small smirk thrown Red Robin and Spoiler’s way. “Nothin’ I haven’t done before either,” he adds bitterly as he faces the metal wall.

Red Hood’s taken off his brown leather jacket to offer you a bit of modesty, but it’s not much.

“Cardinal.” Hood’s turned off his voice modulator.

Jason.

“Yes,” he says. “Stay with me.”

“I need to figure out if there’s a hollow point I can work with.”

Your eyes slip shut once again as the rhythmic thumping lulls you back into a light sleep.

“OOF!” someone sounding suspiciously like Red Robin exclaims. “Kon, why’d you stop?”

“I hear something.” Meanwhile, you can practically hear him concentrating, even through your haze. “They’re going to start blowing the tunnels.”

“Then this is as far as I can take you.” Guardian, you recognize in your muddled thoughts. You hear the robotic tapping from his wrist computer. “They’ve surrounded all exits. I’ll try to hold them off as best I can.”

“Shit,” Red Hood’s voice rumbles across your skin.

“Kon,” Spoiler sounds like she’s panicking now, but you have no idea why. Your body’s never felt more relaxed. Your mind, however? That’s a whole different story.

Your visions come in waves, right now, quite literally.

You see waves, water. You can practically feel the droplets against your naked skin.

“I’ll bust us out of here, don’t worry.” You blearily open your eyes to see Superboy searching the wall with splayed hands. “Besides, I think I finally found the spot. This area seems structurally weak enough for me to break through, but once we break it, how are we getting out? I can’t fly,” he states.

“Break first, escape second,” Red Hood supplies, staring down at you with pity.

“You’re the boss,” Superboy says with a shrug, watching as Hood caresses your face, then Arsenal’s.

The Kryptonian clears his throat and motions for everyone to get back.

Guardian activates his shield as the raven slams his fists against the metal, warping it with each titan-like clash of his strength.

You black out.

Your eyes close without your permission, sealing shut with images of Superboy crashing down the mountain atop which Cadmus once stood.

Red Hood’s gun startles you awake again.

“Guardian,” you whisper helplessly, watching as the last of the lab crumbles into the river and is carried off with the rest of the debris.

Whatever serum they used has already worn off, though the pangs of your visions still ring out violently against your skull. It gets to the point where it’s nearly impossible to tell what’s a vision and what’s real.

“We’ve got to keep moving,” Red Robin says. He sounds calm and panicked at the same time as he helps you stand.

Meanwhile, Red Hood tries to wake Arsenal, but to no avail.

“Arsenal was in there longer than I was,” your words feel incoherent as if you’re speaking through a drunken stupor. “I didn’t see what they did to him, but I was injected.”

You pull your arms through Red Hood’s jacket and zip it up. The length means the edge of his jacket just barely covers the lower half of your ass, but you’re not stopping to shimmy into your skin-tight suit right now.

Red Hood growls lowly, quickly snatching his helmet from his head, “They didn’t deserve mercy.”

“I’d hardly call their base collapsing mercy,” Red Robin chimes hesitantly.

Red Hood ignores him, electing to trek forward with Arsenal thrown over his shoulder.

The sun has just begun to rise, leaking vibrant pinks and melty yellows across the horizon. Crickets chirp out as the songbirds rise from their nests to greet the dawn.

You feel yourself lulling off to the peace of early morning noise. That is until Jason’s anger suddenly lights up your ears. Seeing as you’d been steadily nodding off, your head snaps up in alert at his deep grumble.

Apparently, he wasn’t going to ignore Red Robin.

“Mercy,” he mutters with a humorous laugh as if he’s been mulling over the word. “Fuck you, Tim. I’ll tell you what, it’s mercy compared to the hell I would’ve shown ‘em,” you watch as he suddenly spits on the ground with a snarl. “Fucking COWARDS!” He stops now and you halt your limping to stare at him. “I’D’VE FUCKING KILLED THEM. WRUNG THEIR FUCKING NECKS ONE BY FUCKING ONE, TIM. I DON’T GIVE A FUCK,” he spits. Jason looks downright psychotic now. “I’d do it. I’d watch as their pathetic lives left their eyes and I’d fucking laugh. I’d be so fucking happy, you have no fucking idea. Pathetic, soulless SCUM.”

Everyone stares at him in shock, watching as he angrily pants. His fists are clenched as he burns holes in the ground below him.

“Jason,” Tim trails off softly. It’s as if he’s still surprised by the outburst because he can’t seem to think of anything else to say beyond that.

Field names be damned.

“You and these fucking bats, you’ve all got this dumb fucking antiquated code of morality,” Jason grits out. “Guess what, Timmy? I don’t have that fucking code and I don’t think I ever will. This is my mercy; take it or leave it. Tell Bruce to disown me again, I don’t care. Not this time.” He’s put his heart out on the line, revealed all his cards and yet, his brother remains silent.

It’s answer enough for Jason, it seems, who merely resituates Roy and starts away from the river.

“No use in talking about it now,” Steph mutters as she examines the horrifying remains of the lab.

The entire body of water is littered with large, crumbling portions of a now unrecognizable building.

Even in your haze, you know your group doesn’t have much time to hang around. You need to get moving.

Moving.

You attempt a step of your own and quickly fall forward into what may as well have been steel but was, in all actuality, just Conner. He calmly picks you up at the bend of your bare knees with ease before motioning for Tim and Steph to follow him onward.

Even though he’s suited up, you see Tim so clearly now as he helplessly stares at his brother.

Tim’s mouth opens, then shuts before ultimately trudging forward. “Let’s go,” he says

Jason mumbles something incoherent. Nonetheless, you can hear the tears in his voice as Conner finally catches up to him. “This whole thing was fucking bullshit, man,” he says while wiping angrily at his domino mask. “No one should’ve been taken.”

“We did our best,” is what Conner ultimately replies. His tone is unsure, like he doesn’t know if what he says will set Jason off again or not.

It doesn’t.

“Yeah,” Jason says, “but was it enough?”

From there, the trek continues.

Soon, it becomes obvious to the group that Jason’s lagging behind. It seems Roy’s added weight, coupled with Jason’s own injuries, has left him trudging a few feet behind everyone else.

No one says anything, but you can see Steph, Tim and Conner all seemingly having a conversation through their eyes alone. It reminds you of your high school years when Jason and Roy would do much of the same and how it’s evolved to now include all three of you.

At some point, Conner offers to take Arsenal from Jason, but he refuses. ��No, this is my burden.” You’ve never heard him sound so grim.

Your heart sinks. “Jay,” you say dazedly.

“No,” he says and you watch as his bottom lip wobbles slightly. “Don’t you dare try to fucking lie to me. Not when they almost stole everything from me again.”

You stare at him from over Conner’s shoulder, tapping him to let you down. He obliges but looks after your wobbly form with concern.

“It’s not your burden to bear alone.” Even though it’s already hard enough to hold yourself up, you limp over and shoulder the rest of Roy’s weight. “And I’m not fucking lying about that, Jay,” you insist.

Tim, Connor and Steph stare back at the three of you, looking at each other before continuing on.

Though it takes longer, you and Jason carry Roy’s weight all the way back to Gotham’s outskirts. You’re met by Jon and Damian and two parked cars.

Upon seeing you, Jon flies over and scoops a naked Roy from both of you, safely depositing him in the car he and Damian had exited from. Damian watches the action distastefully, undoubtedly annoyed that Roy’s bare ass cheeks are sitting on his Italian leather.

Jason wastes no time in lifting you up bridal style to carry you to the road.

“The fuck happened?” Damian asks, looking the five of you over with a quirked brow.

“We’ll brief you on the ride back,” Tim says. He can’t stop looking back at you and Jason, though. You meet his gaze only to have him smile lightly and help Stephanie into the car.

“I call shotgun!” Jon calls as he hops into the passenger seat beside his older brother.

Damian ‘tchs,’ looking over you and Jason with a distasteful look. His mood seems to soften when he realizes Jason isn’t in the mood for their usual tiff and surprisingly backs off.

“I suppose I’d get stuck with you three,” Damian says lightly as he and Jason help you into the back seat of the Batmobile.

Lian was going to be so upset you were in here without her.

Jason ignores him in favor of glancing back at you and Roy briefly. He, ultimately, settles his gaze out the window.

The engine booms to life and Damian waits for Conner’s car to start up before he revs the engine once more. It all seems to go largely ignored by Jason.

“Cadmus is gone.”

“Meaning you killed them all?” Damian sneers. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drop the three of you off at Blackgate?”

The car zooms off at a speed that sends your body backward against your seat.

“Building collapsed,” Jason closes his eyes, “all on its own.” Jason’s statement lingers in the air as Damian sorts out the information in his head.

Finally, Damian clears his throat, “Fine, then.” His eyes flicker over your discarded costume in the rearview, obviously looking to change the topic. “Costume held up well, I presume?”

“Would’ve kept me nice and cozy in the incubation chamber if they hadn’t stripped me.” The resounding silence that follows makes your stomach sink. “You were right, Dami. Hell, you both were,” you sigh, feeling his gaze on you in the mirror, but you refuse to meet it. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”

Inside the chamber was unlike anything you’d ever experienced.

It’s just another experience to add to the vault of terrifying images that already keep you up at night.

Great.

One thing you haven’t figured out is what they meant by two subjects. You were definitely going to be taking a pregnancy test as soon as you get back home.

“I think you’re conveniently misconstruing our words,” Damian responds without missing a beat. Jason turns his head in surprise, not having expected Damian to stick up for him. “And I think you’re beating yourself up for nothing. Everyone gets captured at some point. Not everyone gets out safe. You did well.”

You blush, ducking your head from Jason’s view. “Thanks,” you respond earnestly.

Jason’s the one clicking his tongue now. “From threatening to drop her off at Blackgate to congratulating her,” Jason trails off, staring at the tiny quirk of Damian’s mouth with disdain. “Whatever,” he huffs.

From beside you, Roy finally begins to stir.

He sucks in an aching breath, nearly choking on it as he begins to thrash around. Roy searches around frantically until his eyes finally rest on you and Jason, “Wha?”

Relief floods you and you immediately begin to caress his freckled face. “We’re safe,” you tell him. “We’re in the Batmobile.”

He nods blearily. After a few moments, he sits up slowly, straightening himself in his seat with a feigned nonchalance.

Whatever guilt Jason was feeling revives itself in everything he does. “They’re gone, Roy,” he says simply. He looks like he’s waiting for Roy to yell at him. No, like he’s waiting for both of you to start telling him he fucked up.

“Got me outta there a second time, Jay?” Roy tries to joke, but his tone falls flat.

You immediately start rubbing your hand up and down his sweat-soaked chest. You can tell he wants to ask about the nudity, but seeing you also naked leaves him distracted. It’s not so much comfort for him as it is for you, trailing your fingers through his coarse chest hair and over the divots of his abs as if to prove he’s actually here.

You really thought you’d lost him.

“I let you get taken a second time, Roy,” he laments. Jason faces forward, not daring to meet Roy’s concerned gaze. “This time, I let her down, too. Again.”

The finality in Jason’s tone forces Roy’s eyes to face your still slightly damp form. You know that with your wet hair, you probably look like a wet rat in Jason’s oversized jacket, but Roy looks past this and seemingly more. His eyes linger over your naked body with a cold distance, seeming to realize that both of you had gotten captured.

You won’t allow him to stew in self-pity, either. Despite your tiredness and the way your head pounds, despite the body aches and heartache, you push through. They need you to be strong in a moment when they’re both crumbling.

You steel yourself, gathering the fumes of energy you have left to feign normalcy when there is none.

You turn to Roy, addressing him suddenly, “Now that you’re awake, can you please talk some sense into him?” Your arm motions toward Jason. “He, Tim, Kon, Steph and I’m like 99% sure your clone, got us out of there. The whole place collapsed- the whole god damned thing, Roy. It’s all gone and Jason’s one of the only reasons we’re both in this sick ass car right now and not chunks floating down a river.”

You try to convey just how insane Jason’s being with your face, but Roy’s more focused on putting the pieces together.

“Wait,” he says, rubbing at his face. “Jim? Did he….?” Jason’s stiff posture is the only answer Roy needs. Roy laughs humorlessly, staring off into space as he takes in all the new information, “And then there was one.”

You realize quickly enough that no sense will be talked into Jason because sense needs talked into Roy first.

“We’d be stupid to think taking down their facility means the complete annihilation of Cadmus,” Damian starts somewhat cautiously. You watch as his hazel eyes carefully meet Roy’s in the rearview mirror as if to gauge his reaction.

“No, he’s right.” The weight behind Roy’s response, hell, his agreeing with Damian is all too much.

“It’s not completely hopeless,” you try. “Plus, we got the info we came here for. Steph confirmed that they managed to snag the stem sample Ivy sold and now we know about the microwave emitter.” Roy’s lips are tight as he looks out the window. “We may have gotten captured, but they blew up the lab. There’s no possible way for there to be any remains of either of our DNA and, oh yeah, did I mention the whole fucking lab was obliterated? That’ll throw them off for a while and, when it doesn’t, we’ll be right there to take them down for good. All three of us,” you assure him by placing a gentle hand on his knee. “No one will ever have to go through what you went through there again, baby.”

The energy in the car grows even tenser and you start to wonder if you’ve maybe said the wrong thing.

Finally, Roy speaks.

“What we went through,” Roy corrects you grimly, looking at you only through the reflection of the car window’s glass. “You were right beside me in that lab and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

Jason’s chin rests in his hand with his fist covering his mouth as he stares out at the Gotham City lights. Through the side mirror though, you can tell his eyes are unfocused. You know he’s heard Roy and can’t help but think he deserves a percentage of that same blame.

They’re both ridiculous.

Can they not hear what you’re saying, or are they just ignoring you to brood?

Of everything that went wrong, so much more was righted in the end. The whole situation’s like a win, win, win… win. Multiple wins, okay?

And, yeah, there were losses. You and Roy got shoved into test tubes and Guardian was lost in the wreckage, but it could’ve been so much worse.

You don’t feel bad about admitting that you feel like the mission was a near complete success.

“Well, I’ll be here to help you try.” You look from Roy to Jason. “Both of you.” A few beats of silence linger in the Batmobile before you finally try again, “I love you, my loves.”

This finally gets them out of their clouded thoughts.

Jason reaches around to kiss the back of your hand and, at the same time, Roy places a gentle kiss on your cold cheeks. After their combined attention, your cheeks definitely aren’t so cold anymore.

Damian snorts, “This is just like one of those fucking Telenovelas Jason used to force me to watch with him.”

“Shut up, fuckface,” Jason hisses at his younger brother. Finally, he slumps back in his seat, instantly going back to scowling out the window dramatically.

Another few dregs of silence linger before, surprisingly, Damian’s the one to break it.

He clears his throat hesitantly, “I didn’t bring up the possibility to ruin the mood further.” Was Damian seriously apologizing to Roy? Even Roy seems uncertain at the odd shift in conversation. “It was merely to say that Grayson and I will keep an eye on Cadmus’ progression for you three. I doubt to see much activity from them for at least a few months, but I won’t assume anything when it comes to them.” You think he’s done, but after a moment, he continues, “You all did good work, so don’t worry about the maintenance. We’ve got that covered.”

Roy nods appreciatively at Damian before turning to you.

The chip on his shoulders that had been there moments prior has seemingly lifted. His hand tentatively trails across your bare thigh to gently take your hand into his. You can’t help the light sigh you release at the contact, but the small smile he gives in return makes you glad for it.

His freckled fingers trail over your soft skin absentmindedly as you trudge on through the rainy dredge of the neon-lit city.

Damian was kind enough to bring a few sets of civie clothes for the three of you to change into before hopping out of the Batmobile a few blocks away from your apartment. The action alone reminds you fondly of when you’d given Jason, then as Red Hood, the run around with your address much in the same way.

You don’t mind the short walk, reveling in how the salty Gotham rain stings against your skin, reminding you that you’re real.

Lian’s been asleep for hours by the time your motley crew stumbles back into the threshold of your penthouse.

You and Jason help Roy in the shower, spending extra time to drag your caring touches all along his body as he sobs into the stream. Once he’s sufficiently washed and his tears refuse to fall any longer, you hop out to help him to bed while Jason finishes washing up.

“Come on, baby,” you coo, drawing his wet, naked body into bed with yours. You can’t help but think back to how the two of you were just in this predicament hours earlier, something Roy seems to sense. “What?” you ask, regardless.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he whispers your name into the low-lit room.

You sigh, trying to will away your annoyance, but it still shines through anyway, “It’s not like I’m some fucking damsel in distress, Roy. I can hold my own.”

“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it,” he chides back without missing a beat.

You focus on wiping away the remaining streaks of tears that stain his flushed, freckled cheeks.

“I love you,” you murmur, moving your body closer to his. It’s not sexual, well, it is, but it’s not meant to be. It’s reassurance, comfort, that the man you love is still here beside you. It makes you want to memorize every inch of his body in case…

“I love you more.” The redhead nestles further into you, leaving you to wonder if he’d been thinking the exact same thing.

You don’t know who caves first, all you know is that his chapped lips are moving against your plump ones. It’s slow and fluid, like even shrouded in all his stupor, he’s putting every ounce of love and devotion into his erotic onslaught against you.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper against his lips without thinking.

He blinks blearily at you before resting his forehead against your own. His grip on your jaw lightens briefly as he looks at you, really looks at you and sighs, “I’m sorry, too.”

You nod, biting your lip, not sure if you’ve ruined the mood, when he guides your face up to drag you under once again. Your toes curl as Roy’s hands trickle along all of your sensitive spots, leaving goosebumps in his wake. His love distracts you from the heaviness of the night, if only for the minutes that trickle by, coming apart in each other’s arms.

When you do separate, you’re both panting and still connected via a heavy string of saliva that Jason graciously wipes away for the two of you.

“I thought you were in the shower,” you say dumbly at the jaw-dropping site in front of you.

Your eyes follow down the rippling divots of Jason’s muscles as droplets cascade down them. You swallow heavily, unwittingly looking down at Roy for refuge from the tantalizing sight.

“You should go finish up,” Jason says. He notes your blush with sparks of mischief in his eyes, but nonetheless, he keeps his kiss with you PG-13. “I can take over here.”

You patter about the room for a while, building up the courage to do what you’re about to do.

While Jason’s busy holding Roy tight in bed, you sneak off to the bathroom. Neither seem to notice how you uncharacteristically close the door with a click behind you, which makes it all the easier to pull out your secret stash from under the sink.

You’ve only had to use them once before, leaving only one package.

You turn on the shower to drown out the noise you know you’ll soon be making before hurrying back to the task at hand.

The plastic crinkles upon first contact with your tentative hands, but the door ultimately remains shut. You breathe out shakily, fumbling to tear it open so you can finally get some relief after the whole test tube debacle.

Your mind hasn’t been quite right since and you know this will at least put some of your worries at ease.

Seconds are ticking by as you finally manage to rip it open like a Band-Aid.

You pay little attention to the ruckus you’ve made as you quickly take the contraption out. You conceal the wrapper in toilet paper before stuffing it down in the bottom of the trashcan, not bothering with the instructions.

How hard could it be, anyway? Step 1: Piss on stick, Step 2: Read stick.

There’s nothing left to do but face the music, you think bitterly.

You stare at the white object in front of you, scoffing at how a dumb piece of plastic is going to be the thing that reveals your fate.

You take the pregnancy test and quickly hop into the shower to finish rinsing the dried suds from your body. You emerge in a swell of steam minutes later and are relieved to see the ‘negative’ flashing across the small digital screen.

You stare at yourself in the foggy mirror as panic sets in.

They can’t know you had another scare, not when the first one a year ago caused such mixed emotions for everyone. You wonder if now would be different but quickly shake your head. You have Lian. You want to make sure her childhood’s better than all three of yours and that’s all you can afford to focus on for now.

With pregnancy out of the way, you’re left to wonder what exactly the Cadmus scientists had meant by ‘two subjects.’ Poison Ivy had mentioned a symbiotic nature, but surely the stem you’d collected tonight had been the only stem she’s sold to him… Right?

You glance past your reflection up to the window that sits behind you. You know it opens slightly at the top to allow ventilation and realize this is your best bet. You climb into the slippery tub, standing precariously on the thin ledge to unlock the hinge and open the small squeaky window. You can’t see down with the way it opens upward at an angle, but you’re able to throw the stick out of the opening easily enough.

You glance back at the door, but it’s still shut. You can’t stop the loud exhale you produce, thankful that the shower’s still on to hopefully cover it up. You quickly finish up in the bathroom before joining your loves on the bed.

You think you’ve made it when Jason suddenly stirs.

“Did you open the window, babe?” Jason asks quietly so as not to wake Roy.

“Just to help the steam,” you swear you answer too nonchalantly for him to actually believe, but all he does is yawn and pat beside him on the bed. You curl into his strong, naked body, smiling when he immediately scatters light kisses against your still-warm skin. “How’s he faring?”

“It’ll be hard,” Jason’s hands begin wandering less than innocently along the globes of your ass, “but he’s got us.”

Just like you had the two of them through the darkest parts of your life, the least you can do is be there for them during theirs.

You nod, breath hitching as he draws you in for a toe-curling kiss.

“Jason,” you gasp, only to have him gently shush you. The three of you have long established that sex doesn’t always have to be the three of you, but you always feel somewhat odd when it happens.

You can’t count the amount of times Roy’s eaten you out in the parking lot while Jason was grabbing groceries or Jason’s habit of sneaking into your long ass showers to get you dirty all over again. It also wasn’t unheard of for whoever was going on patrol that night to have the occasional rooftop/alleyway quickie.

Let’s be honest, after tonight’s terrifying, death-defying mission, you have a lot of tension you need help releasing.

Jason seems to understand completely.

“Today kinda put me back in the fucked up headspace I had after,” he trails off, stopping his salacious ministrations before he can reach your throbbing cunt. He sees the understanding in your eyes and clears his throat, “Just felt like I let you down again.”

“Well,” you flip around in bed so you can face him, running your hands along his abs as you meet his heated gaze, “you didn’t and neither did he.” You motion over his shoulder with the slight bob of your head where Roy's passed out. “Fuck me and get whatever guilt you have out, babe.”

He bites lightly at his bottom lip, reveling in the way your body reacts to him.

“I can do that.”

Roy’s snores accompany the gentle sound of Jason making love to you until you’re completely tired and spent. Soon, all three of your snores fill the room with something Lian would later tell you at the breakfast table that sounded like ‘hibernating bears.’

This week, there's definitely an uptick in the peculiar instances of hibernating bears.

A/N: not edited as much as i'd like. just finished editing this outline so expect more CS soon!

be sure to check out info on the giveaway for a physical copy of ARS (plus 4 custom pins and a bookmark!) here!

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