#the justice league are horrified and are thinking about all the ways this could go wrong politically/diplomatically

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X DC WRITING PROMPT #18

✦

Handle With Care

So. Danny is more exhausted than usual, his enemies seemingly agreeing to harassing him all at once for the past couple of days. Which is the only reason his Dad gets a lucky shot in on one of their usual chases all across town.

The only thing is, Danny got shot with a new weapon his parents had just finished making that afternoon and it produces terrifying results. Instead of being a regular ecto blaster his parents so love to make, this weapon his an extra special function. It's meant to end a ghost's very existence from one shot alone.

Danny is half ghost though and it's the only thing that saves him. The new weapon siphons away the ectoplasm that makes up his ghost form's very being and forces him into a painful, paralyzing state of destabilization while still partially retaining his form.

Basically, instead of Danny falling apart into puddles of goo like he'd witnessed with Dani, his ice core cracks from the stress of the sudden, severe lack of ectoplasm and in an act of self preservation, slowly freezes him solid from the center of his core to his extremities. He only has time to catch sight of his friends and several of his classmates staring in horror, some even recording everything live on their phones as he slowly froze over. A single tear slips from his eye before he completely freezes over.

The Fenton parent's hoot and holler over their victory to the disgust of onlookers. After they're done celebrating, they make their way over to Phantom's frozen form and were about to proceed to shatter him completely but several of the football players and many other students managed to tackle them to the ground before they could so much as scratch him. Several others set up a human barricade to keep them as far from Phantom as possible, most of them in states of anger or full on crying over what the two ghost hunters had done to their hero.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are understandably a mixture of both. They decide to inact one of their back up plans for whenever Amity Park became too dangerous for Danny's continued existence.

As Sam and Jazz carefully prepare to transport Danny to the Ghost Zone to get to Frostbite as quickly as possible, Tucker breaks through the firewalls around the city long enough to open a window for the previous live videos to flood the internet and to send out a single message to the last hope they have of their friend being safe from those who want to destroy him utterly and completely.

They contact the Justice League.

[wonderjanga]

Kill Licenses

Stargirl was excited! Captain Marvel had just offered to let her fight crime with him in Fawcett. The man was like a big brother to everyone. That included her. He was super nice, was normally the person who first stepped up to diffuse a situation, and overall just a big teddy bear of a man. So it was a little bit a of a surprise when she saw him snap a rapist’s neck like a twig.

Marvel: *drops the body, muttering something about paperwork*

Stargirl: *gobsmacked*

Marvel: *looks over to her for a second before doing a double take* “Oh my gods I forgot you were here!” *sounds horrified*

Stargirl: “You just killed a man!”

Marvel: “I know- I know!” *leads her away from the body* “I’m so sorry you had to see that.” *sounds completely ashamed*

Stargirl: “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You killed a rapist. That’s one less evil in the world, but my question is how are you gonna get away with this?! Cap, you’re gonna go to jail!”

Marvel: “Ah… Well, no. I have a license to kill.”

Stargirl: “Wait, you can actually have one of those?”

Marvel: “Yeah, uh me, and most of the other Fawcett heroes have one. We’ve all had them since the sixties and had to get them renewed a while back. It’s not a bad thing to have for situations like this.”

Stargirl: “…Can I have one?”

Marvel: “Yes? No? I don’t know? You should in my opinion. It’s a good safety net for if you accidentally kill a villain. You just fill out some paperwork and you’ll be safe. Do you want one…?”

Stargirl: “Yes.” *immediate answer*

Marvel: “Are you sure? I mean, you’re a teenager, so you might need a parent to sign or something.”

Stargirl: “Well, I don’t have a parent right now, but I do technically have a temporary guardian at the moment.” *eyes him*

Marvel: “No… you’re not seriously suggesting…?”

And that’s how Marvel ended up taking Stargirl to a secret government base so she could get a kill license. Stargirl got a stellar recommendation from the Captain and passed with flying colors.

As they’re leaving the base…

Marvel: “Okay, so we need to lay some ground rules.”

Stargirl: “Ground rules?”

Marvel: “Yeah, ground rules. Now I know you’re not the type of kid to go around killing people all willy-nilly, but I’ll say it just in case, don’t go killing people all willy-nilly.”

Stargirl: “Well, duh, I’m not dumb.”

Marvel: “I know you aren’t. And now onto the actually important rule. Under any circumstances, do not kill around other heroes. That’s how Huntress got kicked out of the Justice League after all.”

Stargirl: “I can’t even do it around you?”

Marvel: “Well, I guess you could. And I guess you could do it around the other Fawcett heroes, but just make sure not to do it around heroes who don’t have a license, okay? I don’t wanna get in trouble, and I doubt you wanna get in trouble too.”

Stargirl: “Gotcha.”

Marvel: “Nice. Now that that’s out of the way, wanna go for victory ice cream since you got your license?”

A solid four months passed after this incident. The two forgot about it. They were chilling. Then, Courtney forgot that her stepdad didn’t know that she could legally kill a villain, fill out some paperwork, and face no repercussions.

S.T.R.I.P.E.: “YOU TOOK MY STEPDAUGHTER OUT TO GET A KILL LICENSE?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

Marvel: “Nothing! I didn’t think it was a bad thing!”

S.T.R.I.P.E.: “She’s sixteen. She sliced a man’s head off. CLEAN. With practiced precision. She doesn’t even have a drivers license! What in hell would make you think it’s a good idea to give her a kill license?!”

Marvel: “Okay, her slicing off someone’s head isn’t my fault. I didn’t teach her that, and the guys who gave her the license didn’t either.”

S.T.R.I.P.E.: “Then who did??”

Marvel: “I don’t know! Maybe she’s just bloodthirsty?”

Stargirl: “No I’m not?” *sounds slightly offended*

Marvel: *ignores her* “Look, the point is, I’m sorry for not telling you but please, please, pretty please don’t tell Batman.”

S.T.R.I.P.E.: “Why?”

Marvel: “Oh come on. He’s super anti-kill. If you told him he’d have me removed from the Justice League almost instantly.”

S.T.R.I.P.E.: “Maybe you should be removed! You don’t just give a kid the okay to kill someone.”

Marvel: “I’m not giving her an okay to do anything. I only wanted her to have it as a safety net. I promise.”

It took a lot of convincing for Pat not to squeal to Batman, but thankfully, they got it in the end. Though, the man still ended up chewing the two out.

Inspired by @helps-the-writing-brain-go’s repost on my We Thought You Died?! post :) Thanks for the inspo!

[evilminji]

You know what's my JAM?

Extremes being treated as the Serious Dangers they ARE, even when they aren't "oooh its a spooky Grey morality and BADness!" Extreme.

Like? No, people. ALL of them are bad. They are ALL face melting dangerous. The void may crush your soul, but look upon the Face Of GOD? Not gonna be having a fun time! Doesn't MATTER if he's a cool dude! Face melting!

We are creatures of BALANCE. Tiny, fragile, little motes of dust. That can only exsist in the careful, blended, dances of territories and powers that be. We squishy.

Ghosts? Less squishy.

Poor impulse control, too. Especially ones with Fenton genetics. ABSOLUTELY ones with Fenton genetics and a trauma based aversion to therapy. That one? Pretty hardy. Made pretty tough, what with being Fates third favorite chew toy. But? Still gets the Sads, you know? The slightly longer then just seasonal depression.

Would medicine and some therapy help? Oh like a dream!

If medicine WORKED on his Ectoplasmicly contaminated ass. And he TRUSTED therapists.

But... surely, Danny thinks, as he sits grossly in his Depression sweatpants and eats suspect pizza on the floor of his moldering shoebox of an apartment, there must be SOME way to address his Depression? He should... he should DO something about it. Take a break maybe. Look up some ghost doctors or something.

.....

Oooooooooor..... >.>

He could break out that OMENIOUS af, bound in suspect leather, Big Book Of Forbidden Knowledge(TM) that he got from Pariah's.... what, fourth? Fifth? Library? Fuck that Lair is huge. He's STILL cleaning it out and it's been over half a decade. He swears it spawns more floors just to mock him. Bastard. Don't know HOW a building can be a Bastard, but it sure found A WAY.

Anyway!

Book it is! *horrifying Eldritch light as he opens it* huh. Neat. Comes with its own visual effects. *another bite of suspect pizza* Funky.

And so! Danny, the depressed King Of The Zone... fucks of to go cheer himself up in the Fields Of Bliss(TM), an area of Absolute Bliss. Which! Sounds GREAT in theory, now don't it? Lovely even.

Remember that little comment about extremes?

You can ENTER those fields. But no one leaves. No one CAN. The deeper you go? The more doomed you become. Less will to do anything at all. Eat, talk, move. So much as think. Like ALL extreme "Goods", it sounds lovely, but the reality is no gentle little thing.

It's a glue trap.

But how could Danny have known? Honestly, who would have TAUGHT him? Textbooks can only go so far, after all. And placing blame will not rescue the young monarch.

I imagine it's one of his helpers that pieces together what's happened. Come for further clarification on WHERE exactly he wants certain statues moved. Only? Your Majesty? Your Majesty...? Where ever could he BE? Oh? He's left out some of his books. Well, I'll just assist by putting them away for-.....

Oh.

OH ANCIENTS, NO.

But! What can the poor man DO? Ghosts are Beings of Will, Emotion, and Obsession. Were it some sort of Holy Blade or Sentient Tree, you know, something INDIVIDUAL with a will they could FIGHT? Oh no problem. But an area of effect? Especially an EMOTIONAL area of effect!? Ooooooh, this is bad. The Zone can't AFFORD to lose ANOTHER King!

We JUST GOT THIS ONE!!!

Wait. He's heard that there's an organization for this! That loudly cursing fellow who got violently thrown back into the Zone. "Ruined his fun" and all that! Perfect! He'll just hire THEM!

Smashcut? To a nice, peaceful, everybody's screaming Justice League Meeting. John's cursing life, extremely hungover. Zatana still has three cracked ribs. Wonder Woman is enjoying the new sword she... liberated... mid battle. Truely stunning craftsmanship. When?

Knock Knock!

Heads swivel. There... is a glowing green... accountant? Dandy? Dandy accountant. With an equally radioactive day glow green Actual Pirate's Chest Of Treasures, floating next to him. In the void of space; Just beyond the glass. What, the, fuuuuuu-

He seems to be under the impression they are some sort of Heroic mercenaries. And has come to request the retrieve-

"NNNNNOPE! Pariah can SHOVE it!" Snarls a suddenly very awake John Constantine, sitting up straight for the first time in hours. The rest of Dark grimly nod in agreement. Let the fucker rot. It's a kinder fate then he deserves.

No, no, NO! King PHANTOM! Pariah's SUCCESSOR by right of combat! They are not, and were never, allied in any way!

Well, all right then. Road trip to save a young idiot then.

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @hypewinter @lolottes @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe

[phoenixcatch7]

Theirs an episode in Justice League Action where Superman, Batman, and Stargirl get their minds swapped and go into each others bodies, Superman in Batmans body, Batman in Stargirls, and Stargirl in Supermans. They beat the villain Mxy (who’s full name I can’t remember) by calling in reinforcements including Firestorm who has two people in his mind and the Professor gets stuck with Mxy and tricks him into undoing everything by saying his own name backwards.

It’s complicated and I’ll send you a link to the episode if you want clarity, but in your (and @puppetmaster13u) Possessed Dolls au what would happen to Batman? Would he act the same role as Firestorm? Presumably not because he’s one person two bodies not two people one body. Would a random persons body be left… empty and both Bruces body and Batmans puppet get different people in their minds? Or would the episode go as normal? Would Batmans puppet/body feel strange to the person not used to it, would they discover any secrets (as small as him being tall or as big as him being a puppet)? Would Batman be eerily good at acclimating/adjusting to a new body- enough to make people ask questions or not?

Ooh, a body swap isn't something I've considered before!

Hm... Myxlptlk or whatever his name is (lol) is someone I have limited knowledge of, but that's not too important here XD.

I'm assuming mxy tried to swap firestorm as well, but the magic tripped up figuring out what to do? Lmao. Did mxy accidentally get stuck in their body or vice versa? Interesting.

I think whatever happened, if someone was successfully transplanted into a doll body, they would be spiritually set on fire. Their soul getting rejected by the very vessel it's in. The doll would take GREAT offense to some unworthy intruder. It'd be like acid on their soul. Just, screaming unending agony.

But the way the dolls bind to their users' souls would certainly affect the process of trying to body swap them. I think the Bruce body would be untouched, as it wasn't the target, but if a spell was not a straight swap but instead a two step empty and fill that might change... Luckily then that emptying a body of its soul is typically called death and is to be universally avoided! (Though I am imagining a scene where a villain is using that spell to murder people without a trace and being terrified/horrified when Bruce Wayne just keeps popping right back up again lol.)

It's tempting to imagine batman acting as the untouchable reinforcement, but given the dolls are all about fluid identities and body modifications it's just too interesting to not have them be affected somehow.

Maybe if it pulled a different puppeteer to take his place? Like, if nightwing was going about his routine patrol in bludhaven and all of a sudden he's in the batman body again while the jl sort of collectively fall over trying to figure out the new controls. Him being the only other permitted user? His voice would change where everyone else's wouldn't, considering he isn't using a physical mouth to speak. And he'd have to try and fix it the same way firestorm did...

Oh!! Of course!! Batman could try and trick mxy into body swapping with him! And then while mxy is incapacitated (4th dimensional or not having... Whatever the dolls are made of trying to eat your soul with needle poison teeth and rip it apart for food cannot feel good) he uses mxys body (flawlessly adapting, of course) to reverse the spell and banish him! Or... Just tells him he can escape the agony by undoing the spell lol, if it has to be him and not his body to say it.

Underhanded and a bit mean? Probably! But it was a decisive victory with little to no collateral damage and now the team only has a few questions for him!

[starwrighter]

I have a cold and that’s scarier than anything I could write this October. Tw suicidal idealizations

So! 3/??? Halloween prompt.

Danny is in Gotham because his sister was invited to tour some prestigious school in Gotham because of how smart she is. Danny’s not resentful, truly he isn’t. He’s proud of her. He’s happier for her than he’s ever been for anyway. It’s just… Hard knowing the future his death stole from him.

Seeing his sister succeed while he still has to fight to keep what little remained of his life is bittersweet. He’d never say any of this out loud because he loves her and she’s one of the only people he can truly count on to support him.

After a few days in Gotham with all these bitter and depressing thoughts Danny start to believe that he needs to die. He doesn’t want to kill himself he just… Wants to not be Fenton or phantom anymore. He doesn’t want be the stupid failure of a kid in a family full of geniuses. He doesn’t want to be seen as a villain or hunted for trying to help people. He’s just so, so so so tired and just want’s to not deal with any of this anymore.

Danny goes ghost for the first time since entering this city. Sitting on a roof with his head tucked in between his legs. When he hears someone drop behind him going on this whole spiel on “Not jumping,” it strikes him as odd because the usual response to seeing phantom is anything but compassion. Danny waves the guy off with a mournful smile and a reassurance of “I think you’re a bit too late to save my life, most that’d happen now is me phasing through the core of the earth”

The guy sits next to him, shocked when his attempts of patting Danny’s shoulder passes right through. Danny can’t help but snicker. “Don’t worry about me I’m still new to the whole ghost thing,” he looks disturbed at Danny’s response but not in the way people usually did when they saw phantom. He introduces himself as nightwing and Danny finally recognizes him as one of Gotham’s vigilantes.

“How do you do it?” The question spills out of his mouth bitterness leaking into his words. Nightwing looks confused.

“Everyone loves you guys, everyone trust’s you,” his eyes water as he speaks

“No matter how many people I save, how many buildings I stop from collapsing and criminals I stop, they still paint me as this monstrous villain,”

“I can’t believe I died for this shit,” Danny scowls, Nightwing is speechless. Danny then decides that he doesn’t want to be turned in to the GIW by a vigilante and dips.

Dick and the entire fam who were listening to the entire encounter are horrified because apparently there is a child who fucking died being a vigilante and people are attacking for it?! They make the connection with the ghost dick talked to and phantom but not the connection between phantom and Danny Fenton. Danny is very confused when the entire justice league comes down on amity park the moment they get home.

[notdexterousatall]

An angst idea that I really love when it comes to Batman and Jason Todd is Bruce (and/or other people) separating the idea of Jason-the-boy-wonder and Jason-the-Red-Hood into two different people. Not in, like, an identity-reclaiming way on Jason's part, but in a hurtful, delusional way against Jason's wishes. Jason always having known himself as himself, but Bruce being unable to handle the idea of his son coming back "wrong", killing people, and coming to believe that this man, the Red Hood, must not really be his son.

An aside - here's a fic series rec if that's something you also like: Abraham Fails His Test by chucklesbuckles on Ao3. It's very good.

So I've got a fic idea I'm putting together for this premise:

Batman, the various Robins/Batgirls, perhaps even the Justice League, are fighting some sort of large-scale threat. In the course of this, Bruce does something to, presumably, earn the gratitude of one of DC's Greek gods. This god/goddess tells Bruce that in exchange, they will grant him a gift - a son for a son. (Let's say Bruce saved the life of one of their demigod children at the cost of injury to himself.) And so, after the battle is over, they snap their fingers and before the Justice League appears Jason. Jason as Robin, specifically, as he was before the bomb went off. Still gravely injured but not so much that he couldn't live with prompt medical care - the son that Bruce had lost.

Meanwhile, off to the side, stands the Red Hood, who still isn't really on speaking terms with his family but agreed to help out with the threat (secretly hoping to rebuild a few bridges he'd burned, as he's been doing for a few months at that point.)

Now, the god/goddess who does this isn't someone inherently untrustworthy, like Eris. This is a deity with a good(ish) reputation. Someone who could actually pull a miracle like that off with just a snap of their fingers. Maybe Zeus, Hades, Athena, Hera, Hestia, or Aphrodite. (It's a bit hard to pick Hera... because of her whole THING with demigods, or one of the virgin goddesses, if I go with the "saving a demigod son" idea, but they could be made to work.) Either way, someone with a bent towards justice, family, or love. Believable granters of the gift of returning a dead son to life. (I'm leaning towards Hades.)

(Note: this is the point at which I admit I know nearly nothing about DC's Greek gods other than what their Wikipedia articles includes, so I'm probably leaning hard on more Percy Jackson type depictions of the gods and what Wikipedia says about their actual depiction in ancient Greek myths. I feel no guilt in ignoring whatever DC comics says except for what I like. Maybe this is where I go with my Jason-Todd-son-of-Aphrodite-AU?)

So everyone looks at Robin!Jason, seemingly brought back from the dead by the god of the dead, and at Red Hood!Jason, murderer and breaker of his family's hearts, and goes, "oh, the Red Hood is an imposter! That makes sense, considering everything about him." Then someone arrests Red Hood for all those murders he committed (and also for impersonating Robin.)

Red Hood gets carted off to Arkham and Bruce gets his presumably-real Jason to the hospital, to be joyfully reunited with his father, older brother, and new younger siblings (although Tim may be older than him since he's about fifteen, and Cass is also older than him but is in Hong Kong, probably.)

Red Hood Jason knows he's the real deal, however. (At least, he thinks he is. Right? Holy identity crisis, Batman!) Shortly thereafter, he breaks out of Arkham and sneaks back to the manor to confront imposter Robin in the dead of night.

But imposter Robin seems to know everything Jason did when he died. And he acts just like Jason did when he was still a stupid fifteen year old. And he's just as horrified by the Red Hood as Jason always figured he-as-Robin would be if Jason ever got punted backwards in time (not an unreasonable confrontation to fear, Jason tells himself, considering the multiversal road trip bullshit he recently had with Donna and Kyle.) Jason is almost convinced.

And then imposter Robin tells Jason that, considering how Jason as the Red Hood has let his anger and hatred consume him, he has decided to forgive the Joker.

And that's BULLSHIT. Jason's identity crisis is over - he's 100% positive that Robin is an imposter. Because Jason, especially right after his beat down in Ethiopia, would NEVER forgive the Joker. Because the Joker is evil, and Jason knows that he can't forgive evil and live with himself.

But Jason has to leave or he'll get arrested again - and now that Batman doesn't think he's his son, he won't be pulling punches, especially if he catches him near his "baby". So Jason heads for the one person he knows will believe him: Talia, because of her involvement in Jason's real resurrection.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bat clan are desperate to (re-)form their familial bonds with the REAL Jason Todd. But, while they don't know it, over time, it becomes clear that the new Jason isn't a gift. He's a punishment - a lesson - a haunting - for failing to show sufficient gratitude for the return of a lost son from the grave.

(Because of the BATARANG, Bruce, Hades let Jason go for reasons-to-be-revealed and you try to send him right back??)

[justrandomfanfictionskh]

A Blue Bird and a Black Cat pt1

Selina decides that Marinette would be better as the Cat than Adrien. Five years, later Dick is very confused about this Lady Noire ao3

Five months ago Selina had expected to waltz into the Louvre, liberate a particular Ming dynasty Jade Cat, and waltz out. She had not expected to be stopped by two teenaged heroes, who clearly had no adult supervision. She had definitely not expected them to be quite so skilled at fighting, despite their obvious lack of training. And she had most certainly not expected them to leave their fight in favor of chasing a strange blue child on a flying carpet! She had not gotten the Jade Cat, or even entered the Louvre that night. However, the next night she had gotten her answers. 

The small girl in the ladybug suit explained everything as simply as she could to the rouge, and what Selina heard was both intriguing and horrifying. The idea that a mad man was vilifying children in order to serve his purposes, and enslaving people made her hiss and spit. What was intriguing was the young heroes. Especially the cat boy. Not to mention the girl's response to her reaction. She seemed amused and almost...gratified by such a blatant display of disgust. When Selina asked why the Justice League had not gotten involved the girl just sighed and Selina watched as a huge weight settled on her shoulders. 

"We tried calling them, but they didn't believe us. I don't know if it was because we weren't talking to the right people, or the magic interfering. But it's almost impossible to prove our claims, because the government is actively suppressing the information so that foreign relations aren't strained, and the magic involved means that there is no lasting damage, or casualties, and the identities of the users are protected through the magic. So proving anything we say in order to get the help we need is next to impossible. Besides do you really want to see Superman, or Batman, or worse, Wonder Woman akumatized? No thank you?"

Cat Woman hummed thinking softly. She snapped her fingers when an idea came. "I know lets make a deal!"    

"I'm sorry?" Ladybug asked.

"A deal! I make them with Batman all the time!" A half truth but the young hero didn't need to know that. "I get you Hawkbitch, and you let me take the Jade Cat!"

Ladybug eyed her suspiciously before saying, "You honestly want me to believe that you can find Hawkmoth? and then you really think I'm just going to let you walk away with the Jade Cat? A priceless artifact? Are you crazy?"

"I'm from Gotham," Cat Woman said dismissively, "But that's not the point. The point is, that I can deliver! I get you the name of your villain. You utterly destroy him. And then I walk way with the most precious kitty in France! What do say?"

"I have been looking for Hawkmoth for almost five years, five years, and you think you can just find him like that?" she snapped to illustrate her point. But Selina just smirked. 

"If you think it's impossible, then what do you have to loose? I'll even sweeten the deal, I'll leave Paris, no...I'll leave France, and I won't come back until I have a full file detailing exactly who this Hawkbitch is, including admissible proof of his identity. What do you say?" 

If this was Superman, he would say no. If this was Batman, he'd think about it and then also say no. Wonder Woman was to experienced to get this deep in the hole. And the rest of the hero community that well but she expected that they would all refuse such an offer. She expected the girl to do the same, but once again her expectations were over thrown when Ladybug said, "Ok. You have a deal. Get me Hawkmoth, and you can attempt to steal the cat. But you have to leave first thing in the morning, and you cannot, I repeat, cannot come back until you know who Hawkmoth is."

Now five months later, Selina smiled into her coffee. All she had to do was casually mention to Bruce that there were unsupervised heroes in Paris, and he was on the case like a cat on a mouse, or a bat on a bug. Whichever you prefer. Still she did not want to reveal herself to the heroes just yet. Because she...was curious.

While waiting for Bruce to crack the case, Selina had decided to do some light browsing on exactly who these heroes were. Their identities were apparently protected by magic, which Selina could easily believe. She had seen Ladybug's face that day as clear as the moon in the sky. But like the moon, her memories of the girl's features were obscured behind clouds. But after using a French IP address and watching something called The LabyBlog and The BugCast, Selina had become determined to discover the identities of the young heroes for two very important reasons. One was to rip that ring off of the mangy, feral, tomcat's finger for daring to disgrace the noble and divine species of felines with his carless and flippant ways. And two was to invite Ladybug to have a little Gotham fun. The girl was clearly too stressed for words, but it wasn't hard to see why. With a partner like that and the responsibility of resurrecting the dead, Selina would have cracked years ago. But this girl hung on, and for that the girl disserved a break, without having to worry about akumas, or villains, or anything but the joy that came from bashing in a deadbeat's jewels. 

But after a week of searching and stalking, she had gotten know where. All she could confirm, was that Ladybug, and probably Chat Noire lived somewhere in the vicinity of this lovely patisserie. Not a lot to go on, she knew, but it was better than nothing. And besides, the coffee was wonderful. The pastries were divine. And there the sun was shining. So she really couldn't complain. The sun never shone in Gotham. 

As she took another sip of coffee and looked over at the park where children were playing, she smiled thinking about the current Robin. He was probably too old and too scarred to enjoy the park as a kid. But perhaps one day, he could enjoy the park with a kid. Maybe a little brother, or a little sister. She smiled mischievously, but her thoughts were interrupted by a small cough.

"Oh I'm sorry, excuse me, I didn't mean to disturb you. You were probably really deep in thought, and hate being interrupted, and think I'm annoying, I'm so sorry! This is so rude of me, and you probably hate me, and don't want to talk to me. But I needed to ask you something, but you don't have to answer, in fact it's probably best if---"

"It's alright child," Selina said with a low chuckle and a soft smile. "I understand, now what is your question?"

"Oh, ok," the young girl said softly, "Um, if you're finished with your plate, then I can take it inside for you?" 

Selina arched a brow and examined the girl. She was small, and extremely nervous, which made Selina think that she was probably 12 or 13. However, any careful examination of her features revealed that the girl in actuality was probably older. Perhaps 16 or 17. But it was difficult to tell. First of all her black hair that shone blue in the light was tied up in pig tails (a decidedly younger preference). Secondly, her big blue bell eyes were shining with all of the nervous energy her voice conveyed (the poor girl probably had anxiety and had never been taught how to manage it). Thirdly, her clothes, which were objectionably fashionable and stylish, seemed to convey a softness and timidity that only hung around small children. Selina found her pretty, in an innocent, cute, fairy kind of way. Which combined with the over abundance in nervous energy, convinced Selina that this child should never enter Gotham, unless she quickly received a shot of pure confidence in the next hour or so.

So Selina smiled her warmest smile and said, "Of course you may my dear. Please. Now tell me are you just being kind, or do you work here?" 

"Oh?" the girl said a little confidence edging its way into her voice, "My parents own this patisserie! And I like to help out where I can. I hope you enjoyed everything!"

"Oh I did," Selina said. "I truly believe this is the best cup of coffee, that I have ever had. You must compliment your parents for me..."

"Oh, Marinette!"

"Selina."

Marinette's smile was now so bright and genuine, that it was contagious. And Selina found herself watching the girl out of the corner of her eye for the next half an hour she was there. 

Benevolent and sanguine feelings rolled through Selina, as she watched Marinette clumsily and skillfully clean the outside tables. The girl was entertaining, as she seemed to be a mass of contradictions. One minute she was graceful. The next she was flailing. One minute she was nervous and shy. The next she was talking animatedly with someone she knew. One minute she was day dreaming. The next she was stressing over the smallest details of the tables. Selina was amusedly endeared to the young lady. But she didn't have time to be distracted. She needed to find Ladybug, and give her the Hawkbitch file. However, just as she was finishing her drink something happened that made Selina bristle and hiss.

Marinette was just wiping down a table, when something caught her attention and made her tense. This caught Selina's attention, because it was a different kind of rigidity than her pervious bouts of nervousness. When the girl had addressed Salina she had been fidgety, but upright and clear. Now, Marinette was hunching over, curling in on herself. Her hands, which had flitted about with the need to move, now stilled, and...Selina blinked and almost turned to directly stare at the child. Marinette's hands were shaking and her eyes...oh her big, beautiful, clear, bluebell eyes, where fading as if something was slowly draining away the life in them Selina felt her own shoulders tense as she watched. She knew those actions. She had seen those signs. She recognized those defenses. She did not have to consult Harley in order to recognize a victim of abuse.

Selina settled back as casually as she could and began to watch the pedestrians. One of these people was this bright young woman's abuser, and Selina was determined to discover them. None of them stuck out, everyone kept walking past, or into the bakery. Then a group of teenage girls caught her eye. Unremarkable in and of themselves, just a group of five or six teenagers, probably coming from a shopping spree. They were laughing and talking without a care in the world, but there was something about them that made Selina's hair stand up on end. So she examined them closely. Her eye fell on the girl who was front and center of the group. Her hair looked as if she was trying to imitate sausage links, and her style was decidedly gaudy. The girl walked with an air of entitlement, and obnoxiousness that even a cat would find insulting. Especially since she was not carrying any of the shopping bags and was walking ahead of the group, thus giving the impression that the girls around her, were not her "friends" but her ladies-in-waiting. And though she never looked down at the people around her, she watched them through narrow calculating eyes that reminded Selina of Lady Shiva. Selina did not like that woman.

Selina kept one eye on Marinette, and one eye on the approaching group, sat back, and watched. And what she saw made her quietly hiss into her now empty mug. The lead girl (Selina heard her called Lila) took one look at Marinette and smiled predatorily. She then redirected everyone immediately from their previous goals, to the bakery and sat down at a table Marinette had yet to clean. She then proceeded to cry and sob, blaming Marinette for forcing her to sit at an unclean table, while the rest of the girls began to yell and berate the poor girl for the injustice. Marinette said nothing as she quietly cleaned the table, letting the screams and sobs wash over her without even making a noise. As Marinette attempt to walk away with the dishes, Lila very blatantly tripped her. This time Marinette did not use her graceful reflexes to contradict the clumsiness but silently fell to the ground shattering all the plates. The other girls at the table then began to scream at Marinette for attempting to hurt Lila by dropping plates on her head. 

Selina could not hear this Lila's voice, from where she was sitting, but the affects of her gross, and obvious manipulation and abuse made Selina want to scream and claw her eyes out as she watched. The sweet charming girl silently and cautiously pick up every shard of ceramic as the other girls screamed and surrounded her. The commotion drew out the two adults that Selina had seen behind the counter. Knowing these to be Marinette's parents, Selina decided not to kill a minor, trusting them to defend their daughter. The yelling stopped for about five seconds when they appeared. Long enough for Lila to say something through her hands, and for the bakery owners to turn on their daughter and begin to reprimand her and not the other girls. Selina had to bite her tongue against a scream as she watched the previously bright and kind girl that was Marinette silently stand up and slink back into the bakery without ever making a sound. When she passed, Selina felt stabbed, because her beautiful blue eyes were rendered dull and grey in the wake of her abuse. 

Once Marinette was gone, Selina watched as her parents filled the group's table with the best free pastries with growing hatred and disgust. Selina shook her self she could not get akumatized. She could not risk all of her plans falling apart, because of one incident. However, she smirked deviously. There were other ways to punish bullies and abusers. But as she walked past the table, something happened that completely other threw all of her expectations once again. This was becoming a pattern in Paris. 

Marinette blinked at the woman in her room. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed. Cat Woman smiled mischievously and removed her cowl throwing Marinette into even more open mouthed confusion. Mme. Selina is Cat Woman! her mind screamed. Marinette stared at the new patisserie regular in shock and horror, as the older woman chuckled at her reaction.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Ladybug, but I had to be sure of you identity before I could give you this." She held up a thick manila folder with the word Hawkmoth written on the side, and the word Hawkbitch scribbled on the front.

Marinette held up her hands in protest. She had to breath. Her mind was swirling, and she could barely process all of this new information. Mme. Selina was her new favorite customer. She came in almost everyday and always had a kind word for her. Cat Woman was a thief who stole priceless artifacts. She had known Selina for about three weeks now. And Cat Woman was a world renowned thief. A thief who knew her identity...Marinette took a deep breath before she could spiral and closed her eyes. This was not helping. 

Ladybug, she thought desperately, I need to be Ladybug. She took a deep breath and settled into the mindset of the hero of Paris. Ladybug could save the day. Ladybug would save the day. Ladybug can deal with Cat Woman with ease. Ladybug would make sure that nothing went wrong. She felt her energies settle into calm, heavy, order as confidence and surety took over her bones. When she opened her eyes, Cat Woman was watching her with undisguised curiosity and fondness. Ladybug could not understand it. She cleared her throat.

"So how did you discover my identity?" 

"Well it wasn't easy," Cat Woman said dismissively. "But lets just say, you were perhaps a little too tired after that last akuma. Neither you nor that filthy alley cat noticed that I was following you. But then again he never notices when I follow him." She spoke of Chat Noir with disgust, as if he were the epitome of everything wrong with the world. Ladybug let the information settle in the back of her mind before she continued.

"So you're here about our deal. Hawkmoth's identity in exchange for a free attempt at the Louvre." It was a statement, but Ladybug was curious to see how Cat Woman would respond to it. 

"Yes," Cat Woman said with a smile, "But also no."

"No?" Ladybug said with unaffected surprise. "Don't you want your Jade Cat?"

"Hmm," Cat Woman mused as she eyed Marinette's room. "I think I remember saying that I want the most precious kitten in all of France. And at this point I don't think it's the Jade Cat."

Ladybug sighed and crossed her arms. "Do I want to know?"

Cat Woman smiled sardonically. "Lady Noire."

Ladybug blinked. That was not the answer she was expecting and it almost rocked her out of her persona. She recovered by giving Selina a very pointed look and said slowly, "Lady Noire? The persona I take when I wear the cat miraculous?"

"Mmhm," Cat Woman hummed with a smile.

"I don't understand."

"Well it's quiet simple really. I don't like that tomcat running around with the black cat miraculous. As the original, feline identity I take anyone who attempts a feline persona very seriously. And I don't like the reputation he is giving us nighttime predators."

"You do know that the black cat hero is older than most civilizations."

"All the more reason to take his miraculous from him. He doesn't deserve it, not with the way he treats you. Come now kitten, you can't tell me that you haven't ever questioned his suitability for the role. He's skilled, yes. And he's passionate. But he's hardly capable. How often does he leave alone in a fight? How often does he get distracted or impede your abilities? How often has he assaulted you?"

"Woah, Chat Noire has not assaulted me," Ladybug declared. 

"Oh so you like it when he kisses you're hand, and calls you pet names in professional settings? Or how about when he decided he was in love with your civilian identity? Did you like him coming up to your balcony every other night? Based on how often the CCTV cameras caught him here, I assume he had an open invitation? You did invite him to sit on your balcony for hours on end, correct?"

Ladybug stiffened. She couldn't deny it. She couldn't deny any of it. She couldn't deny her wish that Chat took things more seriously, or was more reliable. It was becoming more of a question of if he would even show up! And when he did appear, she often found her self watching him as much as their enemy. When he decided that he was in love with Ladybug, she always had to make sure that there was at least five feet between them so that he wouldn't try to pull her against him, "Because that blast was going to hit you m'lady!" he would always say even as his hands began to wonder. And when he decided he was in love with Marinette, she could barely go out on her balcony to water her plants without him trying to corner her, or get into her space. She used to love lying back in her bed, and watching the sky out of her sky light. Or going out on her balcony at night to let the cool air wash all of her troubles away. But now there was paper over the glass, and she had to lock the window the moment the sun went down in case Chat Noir decided to shift his attentions again.

She looked away but Cat Woman moved so that she was in her line of sight. Ladybug looked at her and saw something she had not seen directed at her in a long time. Not since Luka and Juleka left with their father for his world tour, and Kagami had been sent to a fencing camp by her mother. It was sympathy, understanding, and a righteous fury on her behalf. Ladybug shifted, she could feel her mask slipping, and she was almost tempted to call on her suit in order to cement it in place, but Cat Woman wasn't done. 

"You know," she said softly, "I had plans to steal you away as the new cat holder, before I ever realized you were Ladybug." Marinette started and stared, but said nothing. She did not trust herself. Selina continued, "That first day we met. I saw what those girls did to you. What your parents did to you, and I'll admit I was almost akumatized. But I wasn't because the moment I went over to steal that Lie-la's wallet, rip her knock-off designer bag, and spill coffee in her lap, something happened. The moment I heard her voice I started to believe her. Despite everything I felt and witnessed, I started to believe that she was right, and you deserved what they did to you." Ladybug stiffened, but said nothing, she was too confused and too conflicted. So Selina continued almost conspiratorily. "And that's when I realized. That Lie-la is a meta!" 

Marinette gasped. Her mask had slipped. The Ladybug persona was on the floor. There was no recovering it. The realization and the understanding hit her like a truck as the reality fit everything into place. For years she had wondered how Lila had done it. How had she turned everyone who had always loved and supported her through thick and thin against her as if she was a rat in the pantry. But it made sense. Lila was a meta! She was controlling them. Marinette never stood a chance. She looked up and saw the gleaming satisfaction in Selina's eyes as hope and vindication filled Marinette's. And Selina continued,

"It's the only explanation. Because I know what I say. I know what they did to you. And over the past few weeks I have seen who you are as well. You are kind, and generous, and beautiful. So how could anything she said be true, even if I believed her when I heard her voice. I knew right then and there, that very first day what was happening. But Marinette...I also knew right then and there that the only way for you to be free of them, of her, would be to escape. The only way you're going to be able to get out of this toxic dumpster fire of a life is to run away from it as fast and as far as you can. Now you're 18. You'll be graduating soon. And with this," she tapped the almost forgotten file, "You'll be able to put the mask aside. You can choose how you want to escape. All I ask is that you let me help you do it...It is your decision Marinette. I'll make sure that it is only your decision. If you let me."

Marinette breathed deeply, her scattered and shattered mind desperately trying to put all of the pieces together. She tried to summon Ladybug. She tried to shut down. She tried everything, but that did not stop the buzzing in her head so she just stared, at the woman in front of her. The woman who was offering the only thing her heart could ever want. As she stood and stared the kwamis began to slink out of their hiding spots, but only Tikki came up to comfort her and pull her out of her deepening spiral. "You're unbalanced, Marinette," the kwami whispered. "And I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you. I can only offer you creation and order, and I'm afraid you might have a little too much of that right now. Please, please, please, let this woman help you! We, all of us, will support you no matter what." 

And with that, Marinette fell to her knees and began to cry. And she didn't stop not even when the small hands of her kwami were joined by the warm, tight embrace of a human. So she knelt and cried, as sixteen deities protected her, and a warm, kind woman embraced her. 

Next

(let me know if you want to be tagged for this fic.)

[yellowocaballero]

milagro!!! i LOVE GL!milagro stuff. is guy still the first GL she meets? i am v curious what his story (and john’s) ends up looking like in this au in general, but my first exposure to him was in jaime’s bb run so i’m hoping that pseudo mentorship still exists here somehow

IS!! THAT!! A GIANT!! GREEN!! FIST!!

Green Lantern Milagro is the most god-tier take and we need to return to it. My "Kyle rebuilds the GLC to be woke and Milagro is the most feral Lantern" idea is actually super old - I think it's in the Reverse Robins Universe, in some unpublished stories - but it's still good. Let the furries make the judicial system. Do it. Let them free.

Let's say:

Guy Gardner was the second Green Lantern on Earth. Everything that Hal was, Guy is not. He's a hothead, meathead, go-getting action hero wannabe who has to be the biggest, the best, and the strongest. He's abrasive, selfish, mean, and short-sighted.

Guy Gardner is exactly like Hal Jordan: an All-American hero, angry and rude in a way that his colleague John Stewart could never get away with. He's part of the NRA and thinks Trump has some points. Too wimpy to make a good President, though. Give him a President who can last five minutes in the ring with Guy Gardner!

Despite his differences with the more professional and cool-headed Hal, he was shocked and horrified at Coast City's destruction. Where other heroes expressed sympathies and turned away in discomfort with his overwhelming pain, Guy stayed with him. He doesn't like to spread it around, but he's a registered school councilor - doubled with his middle school gym teacher thing - and he stayed at Hal's side through his grief as long as Hal let him.

When Hal disappeared, Guy was the one who knew in his heart that he had killed himself. He had been expecting it.

He had not been expecting his ring to break.

Guy loses it all. His power, his respect. He can't go back to who he used to be. He's not a gym teacher or school counselor anymore. He's Guy Gardner. You can't ask Guy Gardner to be a civvie.

The only thing he keeps is his Justice League International membership. He wanted to quit, but his friends (family, but none of them would admit it) needed him to stay. They had already lost the second Blue Beetle so recently, and they can't lose anybody else. Booster Gold's grieving his husband too. In that way, in some way, Guy's still needed. Guy has to be needed. But Guy has to be a hero too, and he feels like he's dying slowly by degrees in powerlessness.

Then Booster calls the JLI, drunk as a skunk and deep in a panic, saying that there's this kid in El Paso running around with Dan Garret's scarab in his SPINE, how did this even HAPPEN, how did he get it WORKING, where the hell is TED - Ted's dead, he's still dead, what the FUCK do we do, he's a baby he's gonna DIE TOO, everyone's gonna DIE -

A gym teacher and licensed counselor knocks on he door of a house in El Paso.

Booster was right. Jaime Reyes is a snot-nosed kid who's getting his ass kicked up and down to Sunday in every fight, and either he's gonna get himself killed or he's gonna blow up the city. Nobody else but the JLI ever gave a shit about Ted, and nobody's gonna give a shit about this kid with an orphaned legacy. He needs a personal trainer and mentor and he needs one right now. Jaime Reyes needs a hero, even a washed up old asshole like Guy Gardner.

And his little sister throws a heck of a punch. Oh, Guy is keeping Milagro. She's learning boxing!

An asshole, shallow kid enters the scene. A new ring appears. The last Green Lantern disappears to find the truth. Guy leads his own life. It's not like his old one, but it's good. That kid Jaime's become a good hero, and his little sister is the coolest kid on the planet. A Trumper on the street says something shitty to Jaime and Milagro about illegals and Guy lands on him the signature Guy Gardner punch. Trump's an asshole idiot, anyway. Next time, Milagro lands the signature punch. She has learned well.

A young man returns. A truth is told. A fucked up orange ring is on Guy's finger. And now he'll have to learn how to be a hero all over again.

The orange ring isn't powered by bravery and willpower. It's powered by greed. It's a greedy, cruel ring. It's mean. But Guy's pretty greedy too. And Guy's a mean son of a bitch.

Guy Gardner is the first Orange Lantern. And he's everything Hal Jordan is not: a man with a voracious need to protect and help. A man with an endless appetite for love, and to give love. A school counselor, and a mentor to some pretty nifty kids. Guy can never get enough of being a hero. He'll never stop. And he'll always help.

Because he's Guy fucking Gardner!

[weebsinstash]

And if one of the batfam just so happen to develop not-quite-so-platonic feelings for the reader, so be it :)

Honestly I've consumed Batman media but when it comes to comics and the lore of the Robins and all that, I'm remarkably uninformed, but the one I'm leaning towards the hardest, besides Bruce obviously, is Jason

I mean, for the sake of informing those not in the know, the original first Robin was Dick Grayson and after he became older, Batman found another protégé in Jason Todd, but at some point Jason is kidnapped by the Joker and horrifically tortured over the course of i think its a full year, beaten with a crowbar, and presumably killed with the "evidence" sent to Batman who believes he's dead and, never finds Jason, who is resurrected with the Lazarus Pit (something something evil league of assassins and also the mother of Bruce's blood son Damian is here, Talia Al'Ghul)

Eventually Jason comes back to Gotham as his own antihero identity, Red Hood, and he has his own take on justice greatly varying from his mentor: he now uses guns and even kills when he deems it necessary. And when Jason and Bruce finally meet and Bruce finds out Jason was alive this whole time, Jason's reaction is "I wasn't mad you never found me. I'm mad you let Joker do that to me and you still let him live" like he was deeply wounded by this betrayal and has to be basically rehabilitated back to being a hero (and also that performance is by Jensen Ackles which I never knew until today lol)

So I can just only imagine the levels of unhinged if Jason gets over his, you know, constant killing and is finally back to being like somewhat relatively normal and a vigilante again and then you have a situation like "oh Reader is kidnapped and hurt by the Joker too, maybe even sexually assaulted" and when Jason finds out it just triggers him being Red Hood all over again. I can imagine him wanting to take you away from this horrible life and this man (Bruce) who keeps getting everyone around him hurt and still doesn't have the balls to get the job done, at least in Jason's eyes

I remember watching this scene from Death in the Family and thinking about, what if Jason is just sitting there in that bed having this angry monologue and his thoughts shift to Reader and he has no hatred or animosity towards them at all, in fact, he's horrified. Why is Bruce risking your life by bringing you into this sort of lifestyle? So the man doesn't love Jason OR you? And he makes the decision that you're only going to get hurt if you stay with "the family" as it now disgusts him to even call it that

Like can you even imagine the rage and trauma and anguish he would feel if you know, the Batfam is gathered around and welcoming him back, and then, after everyone else has gone, you come into the room and you're just an absolute mess, shaking at the sight of him, instantly crying. "I wanted to keep looking for you," just absolutely weeping "they told me you were gone and I needed to move on but I kept wanting to at least-at least find your body and they... they...!" And Jason finds out, well of course YOU never could have rescued him or killed the Joker, because Jason's disappearance and 'death' was the last straw that finally sent you into a mental breakdown after dedicating yourself to Bruce's "mission" and you're not even allowed to leave the manor by yourself anymore and he can tell by looking at you that you've lost so much weight and not in a healthy way

And just like that, Jason readjusts his plans. He is not the only one who is going to escape from this mansion tonight. He feels rage boiling his blood as Bruce finally realizes you've spent so long in his room talking to him and one look at your puffy eyes and ragged breathing and the man decides, well you're just simply too overwhelmed to keep talking to Jason right now, you better go eat dinner and get some rest. And Jason grits his teeth as he sees you just, relent, as if you're used to not even having an option, still crying and obviously not wanting to go, still wanting to see him and touch him and talk to him and know he's still alive, but Bruce says to go, and so, you go.

And Jason would rather die a second time than let things end here.

[forjustice]

Even though Hikari despises Volo and wants to kill him because she thinks he utterly failed her when she needed it most, she is literally just like him. Just. Like. Him.

Not so fun fact about Volo: He was formerly known for wiping out the ENTIRE GOVERNMENT AND LEAGUE OF A NATION if he knew its government had systemic problems, if even ONE person from his communes suffered grievous harm there, and if the legal system did not address it in a just way. He has changed the course of world history by doing this before. If someone from his communes got murdered, or raped, or became the victim of a hate crime or suffered any other similar thing, and the courts didn't do their job to get what they or their family would consider to be justice? He wanted every last person in that government DEAD. On local, provincial/state, federal and League levels. Even the "good ones," who many in that country would consider to be good government officials--because to Volo, there is no such thing as a "good" government official in a system that will allow such horrible miscarriages of justice; for him, thinking any government official in such a system could possibly be a "good one" is a failure of imagination since it doesn't hold politicians to a high enough standard. Everyone. Gone.

It's horrifying and he didn't stop until it actually got people who live in his communes banned from certain countries because no government was willing to risk him killing them all if he disagreed with a court ruling involving them. And even then, he threw a fit and didn't want to stop until his wife Amaya (the woman featured in this story) and husband Lanakila, the two voices of reason in his core polycule, fucking told him he needed to calm down and back off and promise to the nations of the world that he wasn't going to do it anymore.

Oh, Hikari hates Volo, but it's not because of things like this he's done in the past. She doesn't see anything wrong with this behavior whatsoever, and in fact, she has revenge fantasies of doing her own version of it to any nation that willingly and knowingly shelters Cyrus--and worse. She hates him so much that this mindset applies to just Cyrus, even though he's not the only one on her hit list; her main obsession, the one that approaches monomania, truly rests with killing the one who murdered so many of her friends. Given her late start in Pokémon battling compared to my other ridiculously OP muses and the fact that she hasn't been around as long as many of them, I'm not sure if she'd actually be strong enough to achieve that just yet, but if she could, she'd be willing to. She would plow through busy metropolitan areas full of innocent people until the government gave Cyrus up to her and then obliterate the government anyway just out of spite for having sheltered him in the first place. Does this make her not only like Volo, but also like Cyrus? Yes, absolutely, it does. She is aware that this possible irony exists, but frankly, she's so hell-bent on vengeance that she's past the point of caring.

Don't be fooled by Hikari's "Hero" title.

She is 100000000000000% a villain.

[valenshawke]

Considering your favourites: Claymore and Arcane, which characters do you think would fit in the other’s universe. Also, who are most alike?

This very much depends on how they end up in each others’ place or universe. 

And I have to put this under “Read More” cause this is far longer than I had planned. 

Resurrecting my old idea that three of my favorite fandoms taking place on the same planet is interesting with Arcane. Could Ambessa Medarda be convinced to join whichever side of the war raging on the mainland continent of the unknown and unnamed planet Claymore takes place? That's an interesting idea, but given the technological and… magical advancements in Arcane, that require a lot of explanation. Also, as someone that knows virtually nothing about actual League lore… Are there dragons? Would a government go all-in on human experimentation? We're not talking about whatever it is Singed does. We're talking about trying to create supersoldiers with xenotransplantation. 

Now, the easier way would be Jinx/Viktor/Jayce messed around and found out with Hextech by managing to rip a hole into the multiverse. 

Arcane going to Claymore. 

I'm assuming this takes place post-finale for Claymore and I'm drawing slightly on my post-canon storyline. 

My first thought is Vi would be both incredibly sad and incredibly angry. While the warriors are now treated as humans and equals, the Yoma are still around as are some Awakened Beings. She would sympathize with the oppression everyone suffered under the Organization and be horrified learning about how the warriors became warriors. 

Caitlyn… I think back to a couple of scenes where she shows her naivety. On an abstract level, she knows evil exists and horrible things happen. But, for good or for bad, her parents tried to protect her. Her time with Vi opened her up to the realization that evil exists and horrible things are, sometimes, hiding in plain sight. I also think back to the scene where Caitlyn asks about Vi having parents and not realizing the possibility that Vi is an orphan (twice). Again, in a purely textbook and factual way, she knows orphans exist. Practically? She's now faced with all the trauma that comes with it. 

Now apply that to her ending up on the island/continent. I think the first question she'd ask is where WERE the parents and being told that some were sold, some were abducted, some being orphans, and some being abducted. The look of horror on her face would be something. And Vi would explain to her, alone perhaps, as to why (economically) it'd make sense to sell the girls, no matter how evil it is. 

She'd also have to question her sense of justice and how to fix things. In Piltover, she believed in the institutions and going through channels, why wouldn't she? Until that last meeting with the council. Here, there are no institutions except maybe a Church and whatever this newly freed society comes up with. But she'd struggle with the whole notion that the Organization and their overlords would never be punished. She'd probably look at Vi and understand why Vi goes straight for fists. But even here, fists are useless. 

Viktor, already an expert on fucking with human transmutation (imagine Viktor and Edward Elric meeting) and modifying one's body, would have a conflicted response. He would see warriors possibly free of any physical ailments, which would interest him, but also being told the process and why the first generation was the only generation of males would leave him questioning and wondering about how science can be perverted. Perhaps he'd think of Heimerdinger. 

Jayce. The god damn himbo wouldn't have a clue what to say or do and just look wide-eyed. 

Jinx… So vorkera_x once drew Jinx as a warrior. I always put Jinx with Rippling Ophelia. But since she’s dead, I don’t know what Jinx would do. Maybe look for Awakened Beings to hang out with them? 

Claymore going to Arcane

Okay, so we’re just going to skip the whole wide-eyed shock and awe of such a technologically advanced society versus what Clare, Miria, et al. live in. I think Miria would be equally as outraged seeing the status of Zaun and possibly more so that there is no unifying force to oppose Piltover. And while I could see her helping organize a rebellion and maybe even trying to restrain Vi’s immediate urge to go to fists (cause Miria’s A LOT of experience with a certain warrior going off and doing shit on her own). Miria and the warriors would also be an interesting counter to Hextech for an organized rebellion. I could also see Miria trying to mentor Caitlyn, since it’s implied Miria went through her own process of disillusionment with the Organization and realizing that, sometimes, institutional means (however loose that was in the on the Island/Continent). But she’d also have a hard time selling this to the citizens at-large. They’ve already failed once under Vander.

Another interesting aspect is what the effect Shimmer would have on the warriors. We know as a result of the procedure, the warriors can metabolize alcohol to have the level of effect they want. Would the same work for Shimmer? Or would they be affected? I kinda lean towards it having the same effect as alcohol. It only affects them as much as they want it to. 

Clare… Clare is the hardest to figure out what she’d think or even do. Likely, she’d be with Miria and perhaps keeping quiet while observing what to do. She’d be sympathetic to the orphans in Zaun, especially those that were killed by Enforcers. 

Anyways, so this kinda got away from me, but in terms of which characters are similar

Caitlyn and Jean are probably most similar and Clare and Vi are definitely similar. Though I think there’s a bit of Miria in Caitlyn.

Out of left field but I think Ekko from Arcane and Deneve from Claymore are rather similar insofar as they both characters that have tremendous insight that the other characters don’t usually see. Ekko to Heimerdinger and Deneve to Miria, Clare, Dietrich, etc. 

[str8sub4domdudez]

Here's a story I like very much. It has nothing to do with my Tumblr topics, but it's a lot of fun and has sequels.

It's a Superboy story based off the comics and the Young Justice cartoon.

Superboys - Part One

Archive Of Our Own

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19248841/chapters/45773932

I've included a few excerpts in the rest of this post.

Excerpt 1: Halloween Decisions

"But I think you would look lovely as a French maid!" Lex says to Clark.

"I am not cross-dressing this Halloween," Clark says for the tenth time.

"Fine. We could go as a real life couple. Intrepid reporters, Clark Kent and Lois Lane! I'll be Clark of course, and—"

"No, Lex."

"Or we could be Disney Princes. I'll go as Prince Charming and you as Prince Eric."

"That is the best you've come up with all morning. But still, no."

"I could be Koopa and you could be Mario."

"A little on the nose, don't you think."

"Well, yes, if Lois went as Peach and Jimmy went as the little mushroom fellow."

"Who would be Luigi?"

"Bruce, I suppose, but I hear he's going as the Phantom of the Opera. I know! I could be the Lone Ranger and you could be—"

"—Tonto?"

"No, Silver."

"Geez, Lex you are so bad at this. It's a good thing I agreed to marry you before we started dating."

"We're dating? I thought we were skipping that part."

"What about Ghostbusters? Then we could tease Bruce in his Phantom costume and hit him with NERF darts."

"Pass. I refuse to dress up as anything Bill Murray was in. Brilliant actor, but antithesis of sexy."

"We could always be Power Rangers."

"What is that. Some kind of video game? Oh, that's right! Those new Justice League members I keep hearing about!"

"No, Lex. It's a children's television show."

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"They made a movie recently?"

"Nope."

"Jon Lane is obsessed with them."

"I thought he was obsessed with Transformers. Did I get him the wrong gift?"

"No, I mean, yes, he loves Transformers, but Power Rangers have these robot dinosaurs and—"

"—Oh, the Megazord! I thought that was a transformer."

"Right and so the Megazord has all these people driving it like a car, and those are the Power Rangers."

"Fuck it. I'll go as Julius Caesar and you as Cleopatra."

"Lex!"

...

жжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжж

"I feel silly," says Jon, trying on his costume in the dressing room at the costume store.

"Don't, just finish getting dressed," says Conner.

"Okay, but I'm not going out there. You guys have to come in here."

"Okay," says Conner. "Let me go see where Colton went off to." Just then, Colton comes walking up with chocolate milk and a donut. "Match! Did you run all the way to Double Nuts Pastries for that?"

"That depends. Which answer will get me in less trouble."

"Nevermind, just don't get frosting on the costumes."

"I won't. Is Jon done changing yet?"

"He changed into five different costumes while you were gone. He didn't like any of them."

"We could always go as each other."

"What?"

"Jon can be me, I'll be you and you can be Jon. All we'd have to do is wear each other's clothes. No fuss."

"Guys, come here," says Jon. "I'm finished getting dressed."

"Wow," says Conner, "you look like a very sexy RoboCop."

"I agree," says Colton, "very sexy indeed."

"I don't like this costume," says Jon, "I'm too skinny for this."

"We could go as Jocks." says Conner. "You could be a track star, a swimmer or a gymnast and Colton and I could be a football player, hockey player or wrestler."

"Or we could go as the Weather Girls and Jonny could go as Storm," says Colton.

Jon and Conner stare at him in disgusted and horrified expressions.

"You're saying you want us to dress up as overweight black women and Jon gets to dress up as Ororo Munroe?" says Conner.

"Fuck you! Martha Wash is incredible!"

"Screw that!" says Jon, "Let's all just go as X-Men. Or Avengers. Without having to be a different race or gender."

"That's not a bad idea," says Conner. "I call Captain America."

"I call Cyclops!" says Jon.

"We'll, fuck then… I guess I'll be Wolverine or someone. Although we would technically be going as a different species if we dress up as humans, mutant or otherwise, so we're already going as a different 'race'."

"Well, we're Caucasian-looking and it would be in bad taste to go in black-face. You could always be Gambit," says Jon.

"You have to be able to shuffle to be Gambit. I'll be… I dunno. Let's go home to figure this out. We can get Cosplay costumes online if we're going as comic book superheroes."

"Like you never wanted to be a comic book superhero," says Jon.

"I didn't. I'm supposed to replace Superman when he gets old. I never wanted to be any other kind of hero."

"Even for Halloween?" says Conner, "We could get those sexy first responder costumes. The skimpy ones for policeman, firefighter and EMT."

"The EMT is just a 'sexy nurse' costume for guys," says Colton.

"I'll be a sexy male nurse," says Jon.

"I call policeman!" says Conner.

"I could be a sexy firefighter," says Colton. "Fine. Do you guys want to get the standard costumes or look at designs online and have Dad order us tailored ones?"

"Tailored," says Jon. "It's hard being tall and skinny."

"Okay, that's cool," says Conner. "Let's do that then."

жжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжж

"Cavemen?" says Roy.

"Cavemen," says Arsenal.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

There are several fun characters in this story and one of my favorites is Jason Todd.

Here are a few excerpts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason Excerpt 1: The Lecture Dodge

"Drink your beer," says Jason. "Lex won't mind, but if Clark sees I'm giving alcohol to a nineteen-year-old he's gonna try to guilt trip me."

"Does it work?" asks Jay.

"Does what work?" says Jason.

"When he tries to guilt trip you," says Jay.

"Not really, but it's not fun getting one of his lectures," says Jason.

"And what about one of my lectures?" says Superman coming in from the balcony.

"You've licked my ass before, Superman. Your pure Boy Scout routine doesn't work anymore."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jason Excerpt 2: Tim's Kidnapper

When Tim wakes up, he's blindfolded and tied to a chair. He listens for any evidence that his captors are nearby and when he doesn't hear any movement, breathing or talking, he reaches for his utility belt. It's gone. That's going to make things a bit more difficult, he thinks. He tries to use his wings to cut the cord but they're gone too. Finally, he decides to do this the hard way and manually tries to untie himself. It takes him a lot longer than he'd like, but he gets the cord untied and frees himself. He rips off the blindfold to find he isn't alone in the room. A man with black hair and a white streak in his bangs, wearing a black and red costume is eying him curiously. Tim kicks himself for thinking he was alone. Time to bluff.

Before he can start a convoluted speech about having trackers on him, the man walks up to him and drops several tiny, broken pieces of tech in his newly freed hands.

"I thought we could use some privacy while we're having our fun," his captor says. "We've changed locations seven times while you were out. Old Brucie has no idea where you are."

"Who's 'Brucie'?" Tim asks stiffly.

"Now, now, Tim-Tim, I know all of your secrets. His too. As a show of good faith I even let you see my face."

"You won't get away with this!" Tim says, hoping he's intimidating (but kind of knowing he's not).

"Actually, I think I will. Now, give me your best bat glare. Don't hold back."

Tim tries not to acquiesce the man, but he pulls out Tim's utility belt and gives him a look. "Come on, Timmy. Be good and I'll give you your belt back."

Tim glares at him.

"That's just pathetic," says the man. He disappears for a split second and reappears sans utility belt. "You'll have to do better if you want your things back."

"I think I'll settle for esca—"

The cold barrel of the gun is pushed against his throat before he realizes that the man has even moved.

"If you want to escape, don't tell me that's what your going to do, just do it! Here," he says getting a coil of knotted cords from a nearby table and tossing it at Tim. "Untie these behind your back. Do it faster this time." The man lazily waves the gun around in Tim's direction, and he realizes he never checked the man like he normally would. Batman trained him to observe everything about his opponents and use everything about a given situation to his advantage, but he failed to notice the multiple obvious guns strapped to the man's legs, and he was so focused on figuring out the man's powerset and thinking of what to do next that he hadn't even taken in his surroundings. As he places the rope behind his back and starts untying it, he looks around the warehouse where the man has taken him.

"About time! Now make it look like you're concentrating on the knot and looking in random directions as you focus on your goal. You're being too obvious right now."

'Oh my God!' thinks Tim, 'This guy must have a really weird fetish.'

Tim presents the unknotted cords to the man and the man does a face palm. "No! No! Buy yourself some time. Keep it looking like you aren't succeeding and use that time to take in your surroundings. Have you even seen the weapons lying around?"

"You told me to untie the knots faster this time."

"But I didn't tell you to give yourself away! Jeez. Let's try the next step. Now that you are untied and have completely given yourself away, what do you do?"

"Are you teaching me?"

"Somebody has to. My faith in Bruce is completely crushed by his inability to prepare you for this. Like I said, I have a gun, I'm pointing it at your head, you're untied, I know you're trying to escape, what do you do?"

"Surrender peacefully and try better next time?" asks Tim. The man face-palms again, and Tim uses that moment to dive for cover behind a concrete barrier where he saw several metal poles.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jason Excerpt 3: Batman's Apology

Bruce shows up at the LexCorp penthouse unexpectedly. He doesn't usually call first, but Lex is starting to wish he did.

"Where's Jason?" he says when he steps off the elevator.

"Hello, Bruce, how are you doing?" says Lex. "Now you try."

"Fine. Salutations, Lex. Now where's Jason?"

"I'm here," says Jason, stepping out of the staircase leading up to the next floor. "What do you want Bruce?" Jason looks at the package in Bruce's hands and knows it can't be some sort of gift or gesture of love. They're most certainly documents and mission dossiers.

"I want to apologize. I shouldn't have called you soulless, and I didn't mean to cut your throat back then. I was aiming for your shoulder, but the batarang banked off the pipe differently than I expected. I also wanted to give you this." Bruce holds out the package stiffly and Jason sees the greeting card on top of it that says 'I'M SORRY!' in big letters.

"This is a joke, right?" says Jason. There's no way he was aiming for my shoulder! There's no way that he would give me a present without an ulterior motive. And there's definitely no way he would ever apologize!

"Lex, he's a robot or an evil clone! What are you and what did you do with my father?!!"

"Jay," says Lex gently, "why don't you try using your ring to scan him?"

Jason hesitates, but then raises his ring and a shadowy aura lights up around Bruce as the ring scans him. The ring tells him unerringly that this is the real Bruce Wayne.

"This is impossible!" says Jason. "I don't believe you! What do you really want?!"

"Jason – Jay, I love you and I'm sorry for hurting you time and time again. I know I've been wrong to do and say the things I did. I wanted to do right by you and I haven't. Now, I want to change that. Will you forgive me, son?"

"No. I won't. You're years too late for some things and others you still can't take back. Do you believe me that I really have a soul?"

Bruce's mouth clenches into a line and he looks down. He raises his head to speak, but it's already too late. Jason has seen the truth in his face.

"No. You don't believe me. You think I'm a soulless zombie so why try to make amends. If I'm not your Jason, why are you willing to apologize for stuff that happened before I was a Black Lantern?"

"I don't know. I just know it's right for me to make amends. Even if you aren't the original Jason, you have his memories and his experiences. As far as you're concerned, I did those things to you. I intend to make up for it one way or another. I don't want to lose you, Jason. I want you back. I don't care who you date and I'll accept that you do things your way, but I need you in my life Jason. I don't want to be an absentee, neglectful father anymore."

"I don't believe you about the batarang."

"I didn't think you would. Either way, I want you to know I'm sorry. If nothing else, take this gift. I want you to have everything you need. These are brand new items from WayneTech Enterprises. I had them made specifically for you, but dumbed down versions will go to market in a couple of years."

Jason takes the package and goes into the living room. Lex and Bruce follow him in there and sit down in chairs on either side of the couch while Jason opens his gift on the coffee table.

He can't believe his eyes. They're bullets!! they're all color coded and there's a color code sheet in the box. He quickly goes through the list. Smoke bombs, knockout gas, tracer rounds, tranquilizers, adrenaline, Blue Kryptonite, X-Kryptonite and remedies for Joker Venom, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, Poison Ivy's Sex Pollen and Bane's Venom – all in convenient bullets that are perfectly made to go in his Glock. Jason is astounded.

"If you have to use guns, I want them to be tools to you and not just weapons," says Bruce. "I wanted to show that I support you as a person even if we don't agree on the ethics of crime-fighting."

"Dad, I … Bruce. You know I can't stand you. I know what you think of me. I know what you think of my life choices. Why do you think I would accept this gift?"

"I don't think you will," says Bruce, "But I hope you do. You're my son and I love you. I've always loved you. That will never change. I thought the gift would be a good way to show you that I love you, instead of just saying it."

"I'm gonna need some other caliber bullets," says Jason, "For my other guns."

"Then I'll have them made," says Bruce. "Text me the details, and I'll have R&D manufacture them ASAP."

"I hate you, Dad. But I love you too. Maybe one day you'll believe me that I'm really Jason. But as long as you think I'm a soulless ghoul, we're never going to see eye to eye."

"We don't have to see eye to eye to care about each other. I don't hate you Jason. I could never hate you. And I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"This is too much Bruce," says Jason as he begins to glow in different colors. Violet and blue dance in his aura with the black and red that fades into indigo.

"Alright, son. Do you need me to leave?" asks Bruce.

"Yes. Please go."

"Alright, son. I'll call you. Maybe we can do lunch."

Blue overshines the other colors in Jason's aura.

"Maybe," Jason says. "Goodbye Bruce."

"Bye, Jay."

Lex sits next to Jason on the couch and Jason curls up in his lap. He can't understand what just happened – what would drive Bruce to act this way. In a place in his heart he won't admit exists, he misses Bruce. The truth is Jason is afraid to hope, but hope fills him now and it's overwhelming to experience. He tries to use his Black aura to block emotions out but it glows violet instead.

"What's happening to me, Lex?"

"I thought you knew that Black Lantern Power Rings can imitate all the colors of the spectrum. Your love and hope are greater than your darkness."

"It hurts, Lex."

"I know it does, Sweetie. A lot of old wounds were opened today, but maybe when they close this time there will be less damage than before. It's okay to feel things, Jason."

Jason cries.

[thebiggestfuckgiven]

i had an… idea

———————————

1- Batman

If he was being honest, Danny didn’t particularly like having the whole “I am the Ghost King” shtick on show 24/7, or for any period of time longer than an hour.

It didn’t bother him that much at first, but there were only so many weird looks and hushed tones he could take before it started to get to him. Besides, people knowing he was the Ghost King only brought him more problems than he had. And trust him, he had plenty of those already. One of them being working with the actual, honest to god Justice League for some reason.

This was an especially huge source of stress for Danny as of late. If he wasn’t a ghost, he would be concerned about his health he was so damned stressed.

Admittedly, seventy percent of that stress was leftover from being creeped up on by the freakin’ Batman. Only that guy could terrify the life out of a ghost.

Anyways, Danny was so sure he was going to get a scolding for sticking around to do some work in Gotham, but thank the universe that wasn’t it.

“You… want me.. to join the Justice League??? You do know I’m a ghost, right? Don’t get me wrong, I know you people don’t exactly shy away from the weird and creepy, but I’m barely even alive.”

“I didn’t say join,” Tall Dark and Brooding said in a low scratchy voice, with narrowed eyes that Danny was doing a great job at avoiding. “This is a temporary and brief job offer, benefits included. You help us, we help you.”

Danny accidentally stared at the Bat, marveling at how the light from the lamppost above was causing the shadows across his face to deepen, making him look like a ghoulish demon without any eyes. Whoops, did he say marveling? He meant horrified.

“Uhh, yeah yeah, totally. What, um, exactly do you guys need me for?”

“One of our main experts in the occult is off on a different mission, and being half dead, you seem to know you’re way in the field.”

Danny snorted.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Dealing with ghosts for half your life can do lots of things. So then what’s the problem?”

“It’s—“

A growing buzzing sound above them interrupted the Bat, and that was all the warning they got before the light went pop.

Danny wasn’t “submerged in darkness” or whatever used to happen before he half-died, so the most noticeable difference when the light went off was that Batman didn’t look like an eyeless demon anymore. Although he did look surprised— as surprised as Batman can be?

It took Danny all of four seconds to remember: oh right, I’m the ghost king who, for some reason, wasn’t given instructions on how to turn off his neon “ghost king here” sign.

It took Batman less than that to point it out.

“You have a floating crown. That’s on fire.”

Danny sighed, annoyed

“Hate it when that happens, I can’t even do anything about it. Anyways, what was the— can you, like… please stop looking at it?”

Honestly, Batman was pretty considerate when Danny said that, ‘cause he did not even peek a glance at it.

But if Batman of all people reacted like that to his “ghost kingliness”, Danny didn’t even want want to think what some of other League members might say. He’d been lucky so far with the few members he’s worked with, but luck was rare for him. He was honestly surprised that it took this long for it to run out, especially with Batman considering the guy works nights religiously.

Something told him that keeping to the light was not going to be as easy as it used to be, especially now that he had to work with the Justice League. Oh joy.

sometimes you just gotta draw the king

DP X DC ghost king danny

What if Danny’s King Regalia always shows up in the dark? Danny can keep it invisible/unequip it, but it’s permanent in dark settings. Yet, it always shows back up in dark rooms etc.

except he has a really hard time figuring out if it is dark out or not because his vision is tinted green 100% of the time, and he has night vision anyway, so whenever the lights flickered in a room, and his crown was visible for a few seconds, and whatever hero he is with thinks they were seeing things, he just never notices

so danny’s a daylight hero, and avoids dark rooms with the JL because he thinks being a king isn’t a big deal. There are demigods and champions of magic, so what difference is a king? Or maybe he assumes they already knew or smthn, and he didn’t like the weird looks people used to give him when he left the crown visible, and the JL never seemed to care that he was (technically) ruler of infinite realms, only that he could save people, and stop world-ending threats

and, of course, they don’t actually know; cue misunderstandings.

art taglist: @i-amtransexual @badatgmrt

[igotafewbadideas]

YOU MAY REGRET DOING THAT

Jazz Fenton has done many things she regrets in her life and unfortunately she just added another to her list as she stares at the four members of the Justice League at her door. She had just gotten home from dealing with the consequences of her actions when her door bell rang and low and behold the Superman, Flash, Green latern (The first one she thinks) and Black Canary are standing at her door looking pissed and ready to fight

Okay so maybe she really shouldn’t have exposed the fact that her parents hunted ghosts to her friend but how was she to know that it would blow up after someone overheard her explaining everything and unfortunately that included the Ghost Zone and Danny being the Ghost King but to fair most or nearly all of amity park already knew (it was kinda hard not to when for weeks ghost kept challenging Phantom for the Ghost King title, it wasn’t hard to figure it out) so she thought it would be okay.

It wasn’t okay. AT ALL

Because as soon as it blew up that her parents tried to erase an entire species that were way more powerful than humans and to even continuously target the king of that realm even as he protected them from Ghosts (even if amity park knew most ghosts just wanted something to cure their boredom) her family became under fire

Her parents were first of course. They had all of there P.H.D’s taken away and were thrown in prison for reasons she wasn’t bothered to remember but than someone had released a video of her firing at Phantom (out of context of course, he was trying to improve her aim. It wouldn’t have even hurt him, they were just small stuns which at most would leave him with a bruise) and she was next (she had already tried multiple times to prove that she never hunted Phantom but people never believed her. They said she was just making excuses)

It started as People on the streets yelling at her about how ‘inhuman she could be’ and how ‘she was just like her parents’ which was fine she just ignored it and continued to study (she had a dream after all) and than she was kicked out of her college and her life started to fall apart. Her landlord had already given her a notice that she would have to find a new place at the end of the year as she would not be renewing the lease and every place she applied to were quick to decline her with snide comments

It had gotten even worse when just before she had seen the Justice League (almost every member. Wow was there a lot) say that they were trying to get into contact with the Ghost King to apologise and ask for an alliance (they had quickly gotten rid of the ecto-laws when they found them and most of the GIW were thrown in jail thankfully, the only good thing out of this whole thing) but they couldn’t get in contact with him. Apparently they were doing a gesture of good will to show and she had felt dread when almost five minutes after she heard her door bell ring which leaves her here staring at the four members of the justice league and only now she saw the handcuffs hanging from each of there hands

Fuckkkk

Now she normally didn’t swear but this was a situation where it was granted okay?

One of them (Green lantern maybe) raised his arm towards her and she felt a giant pressure around and against her body, she looked down to see a giant green hand holding her tight, a little too tight if the pain in her chest was anything to go by.

“Jasmine Fenton you are under-arrest as of now for conspiracy to eradicate another species as well as aiding and abetting the murder and torture of countless Ghosts” The girl said (It must have been Black Canary) her voice was firm but she could hear the anger behind her words. She was horrified, with those charges there was no doubt that she would get life in prison. Her parents had plead insanity as Vlad had told them to but there was now way she could or even try that approach, oh fuck would she get the death penalty?

Jasmine felt like her world was crashing down around her “No you don’t understand! I didn’t do any of that. That video was taken out of context please you have to believe me! I didn’t do anything I swear! I was helping Phantom! Please!” She started to cry out before she felt the hand around her tighten and she ended up screaming.

“That’s funny, that’s exactly what your parents said. They were trying to help Phantom. Let me guess, was he a abomination that needed to be destroyed at all costs or was it he was just a ecto-entity that was caused by the imprint of human emotions and destroying him was helping him move on and that he didn’t feel any emotions or pain at all?” She heard Flash snidely comment and noises of agreement from the other three

“There’s no use trying to create excuses now when your caught. You should have thought about that before deciding to try and kill and entire race of people” Superman spoke up from where he was floating above the ground “Now let’s get back we still need to track down her brother”

She froze, Brother? DANNY? THEY WERE AFTER DANNY?! Oh god why do the bad things always happen to them. She just hopes that Danny stays in the Ghost Zone so he doesn’t get caught, he wouldn’t even know what was happening, the hero’s had destroyed the portal in the basement so he was trapped until he found a natural portal or used Vlad’s but they were in a fight right now so she doubts he would risk willingly to run into Vlad.

Superman must have heard her heart rate spike because he turned to her and the question that she had been dreading since the few seconds she had to freak out “Do you know where your brother is? I will have you know there is no use lying because we will know and it won’t add any brownie points to be hiding a active fugitive”

Jazz mutely shook her head, she knew they could tell she was lying by the head shake of disappointment from Superman and the yank toward by Green Lantern

“Have it your way than, we can add the charge of hiding a wanted fugitive and withholding important information about a case” Flash sarcastically spoke from besides her

“Let’s just hurry and get her into a cell please” Black Canary called out already starting to walk out of her hallway toward a open window where they must have entered due to the size of it “I would love to put my efforts into finding the last Fenton to put behind bars, that would be great” and off they went, her stuck in a huge green ball flying towards what she assumed to be their base.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Con Man's Daughter

Posting this because there isn't enough biodad! John Constantine content.

[Masterlist]

(Part 2)

-----

I feel like this should be a Damianette story or just platonic relationship after Jon got aged-up to seventeen and Damian wanted a friend his age but doesn’t want to admit it.

So basically there is this big bad in Gotham using magic that Batman was fighting at the time and enlisted John Constantine to help out.

John realizes that the villain is using a Miraculous.

“Oh. I think I know how he gets his powers. And lucky for you, Bats, I know an expert on this special brand of magic.”

And he did the smart thing and called up Marinette who at the time was already Guardian and was looking for other lost Miraculouses like in the Treasure Hunter AU I wrote.

He calls her at a really bad time. She was in the process of being chased by the guardians of the place. Monsters and evil spirits.

“Hello, Dad. What do you need and can you do it quickly?”

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. How is my little cupcake up to these days?”

“You called at a bad time.” Gunshots.

“WAS THAT A GUN I HEARD? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOUNG LADY?!”

“Somewhere in Japan. Getting a Miraculous. And why can’t you call me to check in on me and not ask me to help you with whatever mess you got yourself into.” More gunshots sounds and it was telling that Marinette was using a gun.

“Where did you get a gun? And don’t you have school?”

“It’s summer break. Don’t worry Maman and Papa know. Well, the fact that I am in Japan anyways.” Marinette sounded a little out of breath. Roaring and horrifying sounds at the other end. “Can we do this later?”

“As it happens, there is a villain going around Gotham with what I think is a Miraculous.”

Swears on the other end.

“Oi. Watch your fucking language, young lady.”

“How about a No and move the fuck back, old man. I am coming over right now.”

“Old man? I am not that old-” as a magic blue portal opens up in the Bat Cave.

And a red Chinese dragon comes out with someone riding it.

Its rider was a black-haired girl. She had a trench coat similar to Constantine's. I imagine her with a fedora. Like Carmen Sandiego style but not red. Sometimes red but only when she has to steal it from a museum or high security places and she leaves a name card with the name Carmen Sandiego. A sword strapped to her back and a dagger to her thigh.

She had a gun in her hand which she used to shoot the monsters as it was halfway through the portal and yelled out the spell to close it.

“Brilliant entrance but you are in lots of trouble, little lady. What were you thinking about going to another country unsupervised? And isn’t there still a butterfly problem in Paris?”

“One, I wasn’t unsupervised. I had Tikki, a billion years old being and a sort of god. Two.Well, it got boring trying to track Hawk-bitch down. And I found this legend about a guy with a Miraculous who disappeared in the temple and thought hey, more miraculous could mean another edge to defeating Moth-man.”

More bickering and John grounding Marinette who was acting very nonchalant about it.

Okay, at this point, I should say that Batman and Robin are in the background trying to make some sense.

Batman is surprised to find out that Constantine has a daughter who is also involved in magic like her Father but an apparently more specialised kind called the Miraculous. He is a little miffed that he didn’t know about John having a daughter. He did consider it weird at first that she had a slight french accent unlike her father’s Liverpool accent although she pronounced some words like he does.

He also connected some dots that she is also the Parisian heroine, Lady Rouge who Wonder Woman introduced to the League a while back and had declined to join the Young Justice or Teen Titans until everything in Paris was resolved.

Damian on the other hand was suspicious of the new arrival and came to the same conclusion as his father about the daughter thing.

Batman after a few minutes, clears his throat.

The Constantines stop arguing.

“Bonjour. Batman. Robin. Pleasure to meet you. I am Mari Constantine and yes, I am this homeless looking man’s brilliant daughter.” “Hey”

“Well, Mari. Your father thinks you can help us with this new criminal turning Gotham upside down. Literally in some cases. He said that you might be able to help us.” Batman said as he pulled up zoomed in picture of the Miraculous.

Mari looks through the Miraculous grimoire and tells them all about it and power-ups, basically the most effective thing to defeat the guy is to get the Miraculous off them. Plus a spell that would make the Miraculous ineffective if casted within a certain radius of it.

“Thank you for the information, Mari. Constantine, let’s go.”

Mari made to follow them.

“You young lady are grounded and staying here.”

“I don’t need another supervillain using the Miraculous which are my responsibility as Guardian to retrieve them for their own misuse and wreaking havoc on the city. And what if there is an akuma in Paris? I can’t go there if I am grounded in the Batcave although it is a cool place to hang out.”

“You can portal back to Paris but you are not going to follow me. Understood?”

“yes. crystal”

“Good. After me and Batsy get the Miraculous, you can do your Guardian duties.”

Damian snickers. Until Batman cut his mood short, “You are staying behind too. Robin.”

“But Father, why? I am much more capable than Constantine.”

“Hey!” Both father and daughter.

Damian is staying behind too because of the Miraculous power or other reasons and keeps an eye on Mari.

Damian stays behind and there were some protests about mari mad about having a babysitter and Damian doesn’t want to be a babysitter. Despite the two of them being around the same age.

“I got an eye on you so no funny business.”

“Okay, Dad, I am not going to have sex with Robin.” Mari said with a shit- eating grin. Robin definitely didn’t blush.

“I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you too, Dad. Go save the world. Byee.”

John eyes her suspiciously because she is not one to give up that easily usually.

He casts a spell to watch her as they leave. and which she totally knew about.

“So...I have one question.”

“Tt, ask and don’t bother me anymore.”

“Is Batman Bruce Wayne?”

Damian looks up, totally caught off guard.

“I am going to take that as a yes.”

Puts sword at her neck. “How did you find out?!”

“Opened up Google Maps and saw that we are under Wayne Manor. Connected the dots. Also I already knew when Dad made a bet with me once to find out Batman’s secret identity but he never did confirm it for me. And can you please not tell your father about this? I don’t feel like being interrogated by the Bat in the future yet.”

“Father must know about this.”

“I saw you looking at Scarlet here. An animal lover then? You can give her some belly rubs. She deserves it after helping me outrun those monsters.”

His silence was brought. To pet a dragon.

One thing after another and he ends up bringing out his pets-Jerry the turkey, Goliath the dragon-bat, Titus- and her introducing him to her other pets like a hellhound, griffin and other mythical creatures who mostly roam free but come to her when she calls for them and also the kwamis, at least the ones who came with her.

After 30 mins have passed, “So Robin how do you feel about disobeying our fathers?”

“I am in.”

“Depends. Are we going after the (villain's name) ?”

“Yes.”

Awesome montage of them getting rid of the spell John casted and flying out of the Batcave on their respective giant flying pets to the villain’s base.

Meanwhile, their fathers are not doing so well and are trapped in a death trap. John can’t say the spell because the villain made him unable to talk.

“At least, the kids are staying put.”

Cut to Damian and Mari jumping off their pets and onto the roof. Taking out the guards posted there and going into the building all sneakily and also taking out the guards that come their way.

They dropped into the room where their fathers and the villain is.

“Why am I not surprised?”

Villain starts an evil monologue about his mastermind plan to which Damian cuts it short by trying to cut him down with his katana. Mari goes to deactivate the death trap.

They are evenly matched with Damian’s training and the Miraculous.

Mari steps in as Damian was about to be killed. Taps on the shoulder of the villain and when he turns around, gives an awesome right hook that knocks him out.

Takes away the Miraculous and curses him. Wiped the dude’s memories of it.

“When I said stay in the Batcave, I meant stay behind at the Batcave. What point of being grounded, don’t you understand?”

“You mean, Oh, Mari, light of my life, my wonderful daughter, thank you for saving my ass. You are the best.’ by that, right?”

-----

Mari and Damian exchanged numbers and email addresses.

As she was about to leave the Batcave, “It’s been nice meeting you, Mr. Wayne.” and leaves with a wink.

John ‘ungrounds’ her for the look on Batman’s face.

-----

After this, Marinette and Damian become friends who bitch and vent to each other about their alter egos and various villains of their respective cities. (In codes, just in case) They also share updates about their pets and love of drawings.

They have that type of friendship where they trade favors. Mari calls Damian to Paris sometimes to help out with the akuma of the day and Damian sometimes calls her in when Bruce doesn’t let him go investigate a case so he can sneak out by magical means or as back up for when his brothers were too annoying to deal with.

It’s summer break so no missing school.

John and Bruce are aware of their friendship and some of the shenanigans the pair gets into behind their back.

-----

-----

Right. how this all started...

John and Sabine first met when the latter was still in college somewhere in France. John was tracking down a demonic entity which was targeting Sabine for some reason and she was the next target.

John saved her life and exorcised the demon. There was a heat of the moment thing and they had a one-night stand. There were a few more flings and hook-ups after that night.

And nine months later, Marinette Cheryl Cheng-Constantine was born.

When Sabine first found out, she called John to come over and he thought that it was a call for another hook-up and was very surprised to find out that it was not and that he was going to be a father.

They both like each other but do not want to be in a relationship together so they both remained as friends and John agreed after some strong-arming at the very least to meet his daughter before he goes to do his job. And pay for child support. And help Sabine during her pregnancy.

Pregnant Sabine was someone you don’t want to mess with. And John has never met a demon or anyone scarier than her.

He was at first not into meeting his child and there was a self-pity party he threw himself with how the child was going to live a bad life because he was the dad and how he destroyed every good thing in his life.

That’s why he is going to meet the baby once and leave maybe a letter and the occasional birthday present and stay out of their life. Forever.

The day Marinette was born and it took one look into her eyes for the HellBlazer to fall under the spell and all of his plans to stay out of her life to burn away.

At first, he tried. He really tried but he couldn’t do it.

Lasted 4 months before he came back, wanting to place protection spells on her and sigils around the house to keep away the forces of Heaven and Hell and other entities so they won’t use her against him as a bargaining chip.

Sabine calls him to babysit. He could have refused and Sabine would have easily found a babysitter. He moans and whines about how he is a great mage and not a bloody babysitter. Sabine retorts that it is actually called parenting since he is Marinette’s father. He grumbles but in the end, agrees.

The great John Constantine is wrapped around the little girl’s finger.

He was around for some of Marinette’s firsts. Her first word was “John”.

It made him cry. He wasn’t a good man and he doesn’t deserve someone this precious. His daughter doesn’t deserve someone like him as a father but fate made it that way and what can you do about it.

After an exhausting week of doing the usual and coming back from Hell, he saw that Sabine had sent him a video. It was Marinette taking her first steps.

Chas swears that in all the years that he has known John Constantine he has never seen the man look so happy.

------

When Tom came into the picture, John was there to take care of a toddler Marinette while Tom and Sabine went on dates.

Insert John threatening a much bigger Tom while holding a baby Marinette with wide eyes and hugging a teddy bear with the same coat as John’s. (It was something Sabine brought on a whim and to tease John when he came around.)

Tom is supportive and treats Marinette like his own flesh and blood.

John resolved to leave for good now that Tom would be there to be a father figure for Marinette.

That plan fell into the drain the moment he was going to leave for what was supposed to be the last time before Sabine pulled him back and knocked some sense into him.

His face was a big giveaway. Sabine knows that despite his claims of being a terrible father for Marinette, he was a good one and damnit she was going to make sure that Marinette would get to know her actual father.

Tom later made an awkward talk with John about how he was not going to replace John’s role as Marinette’s father.

Marinette was the flower girl at Tom and Sabine’s wedding. John was there too.

During bedtime, John would read her stories and use his magic to make it come to life. Although he would feel a little drained afterwards, it was worth it to see her smile.

Sometimes he told stories about his tamer adventures. (After cutting out some of the inappropriate bits)

------

When Marinette was about 5 or 6, Sabine was out on an errand and Tom was at home with Mari and helping her with her homework. There was a crash downstairs at the bakery. Tom went down to check it out to find John lying on the ground.

With a weak cough, he said, “Close the door. Close it.” Before losing consciousness

Tom did before a man with pitch black eyes slammed against it.

Thankfully John had installed heavy wards around the bakery when it first opened.

They held against the demon on John’s tail. Tom brought John inside and unsure of what to do, grabbed a rolling pin on the counter.

The man outside started pounding on the glass door and every time his hands touched the door, light glowed outwards, showing the invisible magic barrier around the bakery. Sparks and steams fizzled with every pound.

Despite the reddening and burns of his hands, the not-human didn’t slow down.

“ʝօɦռ....ʏօʊ ӄռօա ȶɦǟȶ ɨȶ'ֆ օռʟʏ ǟ ʍǟȶȶɛʀ օʄ ȶɨʍɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ɨ ɮʀɛǟӄ ȶɦʀօʊɢɦ ȶɦɛֆɛ աǟʀɖֆ. օռƈɛ ɨ ɢɛȶ ʏօʊ,” He laughs, the sound sends chills down the large man’s spine, “ȶɦɛʀɛ ǟʀɛ ֆօ ʍǟռʏ ȶɦɨռɢֆ ɨ ɦǟʋɛ քʟǟռռɛɖ ʄօʀ ʏօʊ.”

Tom knew that Marinette’s father was a con man. Come on, Master and Practitioner of the Dark Arts and Occult. But he was a good father nonetheless despite all his flaws and Sabine liked him enough so that was good enough for him.

Before today, magic was just the sleight of hands and use of fancy tools to sell the illusions. Now, with a could-be-a-demon knocking on his door to get to the father of the girl he sees as his daughter, he’s not so sure.

“Tom? Qu'est-ce qui se passe? (What’s going on?)” A little voice came from the stairs, “Dad!” Marinette padded across the floor to the body of her passed out father.

She shook him awake and there were a few soft slaps to the face.

“Dad, what’s happened?”

John mumbles, “Demon…. possessing some rich guy….. Exorcism…. Doesn’t like me very much…Don’t worry...wards going to hold.”

John manages to stand before falling down and Tom catches him before he hits the floor. He has a concussion. Tom turns to Marinette, “Go, Hide and don’t come out until It’s safe.” which she did

Unfortunately, a while later, Sabine returns from her night out and the demon upon seeing Sabine. “ɛӼƈɛʟʟɛռȶ..”

The demon possessed Sabine and the previously possessed dude hit the sidewalk with a thud.

“ɨռȶɛʀɛֆȶɨռɢ....” The voice coming out of Sabine didn’t sound like her mother which scared Marinette a lot. “օքɛռ ȶɦɨֆ ɖօօʀ օʀ,”the demon pulled a knife out of thin air, ,“ȶɦɨֆ ɮօɖʏ ɢɛȶֆ ɨȶ.”

Tom hesitated until the demon put the knife on Sabine’s neck and put enough force for a thin line of blood to be shown.

He opens the door and the demon knocks him out. Stepping over his unconscious body and looking down on it, “ʄօʀ ȶɦǟȶ, ɨ ǟʍ ɢօɨռɢ ȶօ ʟɛȶ ʏօʊ ʟɨʋɛ ʊռȶɨʟ ɨ ǟʍ ɖօռɛ աɨȶɦ ʝօɦռ, օʄ ƈօ��ʀֆɛ.” and cackles. The sound was so wrong and unnerving and little Marinette tried very hard for her sobs not to be heard.

Too bad the demon had super hearing. “Come out, my little blossom. Maman is home. Why don’t you come out and give me a hug?”

It sounded so much like her mother and she nearly believed that it was her mother and not some entity in control of her body.

But she knew better from John’s stories of dealing with demons and how they would use the voice of loved ones to lure them out and into a trap. (Definitely not something one should tell as a bedtime story but Marinette was very different and had an unconventional childhood with John Constantine as her father.)

Wait...she got struck with an idea but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

Before she could do anything, the door of the cabinet she was hiding in was opened and she was dragged out.

The demon lifted her a few feet above the ground by the collar of her dress.

It heard Marinette saying something. “աɦǟȶ ǟʀɛ ʏօʊ ֆǟʏɨռɢ ƈɦɨʟɖ, ֆքɛǟӄ ʟօʊɖɛʀ?”

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.” Marinette was now screaming the words at the top of her lungs. She repeated the spell over and over again with fierce determination.

John, being his paranoid self, taught her the spell for an exorcism, just in case. Demons spared no one, not even a girl.

It screamed “NO….” as Sabine’s body contorted in strange angles before a dark shadow seemed to be dragged down into the ground. It made a desperate attempt to possess John before it was pulled away and disappeared. There was no sign that there was a demon attack.

After John woke up, he managed to piece together that his 5-years-old (Sorry 5 and a half) daughter sent a demon back to hell.

He was a very proud dad. (He was a tad worried about the consequences from this event and demons hold one hell of a grudge. He wanted his daughter to live a very safe and happy life. The bakery’s wards also need an upgrade.)

He also got the job of explaining what he actually did to Tom. And lots of reassuring.

Sabine, on one hand, was not happy that Marinette knew how to do magic. That is until John told her that he did it just in case so she can protect herself and later it was agreed that Marinette can learn some Magic spells and charms to better protect herself and when she is older, she can decide if she wants to continue or not.

----

(Part 2)

[soulmate-game]

Not related to the other two Bio!mom Harley AUs that I did. Just... similar. I wrote this instead of sleeping, as per the usual.

—*—*—*—*—*

“I need your help.”

No accent, no threats of violence, no beating around the bush (figurative or otherwise). No fighting or unconscious bodies.

Just Harley Quinn with her hair down, no makeup, and completely serious, in the center of the Bat Cave. Even though her usual exaggerated Brooklynn accent (circa 1950s) had become a pretty inseparable part of her personality over the years, every now and then she forcibly stuffed it down and used her mostly unaccented voice. The one reminiscent of days with less colors on her face, a high bun, and a pristine white lab coat.

Every single one of the Bats and Birds present, fresh from an interrupted patrol thanks to her, could count the number of times they had seen Harley like this on one hand. Bruce would have the most recollections, but everyone else would have plenty of fingers left on said hand. So they all knew, especially when Bruce willingly pulled down his cowl so he could look Harley in the eye, that this was the start of something they were not likely to forget. And maybe their chances of survival were slim too.

“Harley,” Bruce’s voice was still gruff, seeing as he was still mostly Batman at the moment, but his eyes were soft. “Maybe you should tell us what you need help with first. And sit down. You look exhausted.”

Sure enough, there were dark circles under Harley’s eyes. She let Bruce-man lead her over to one of their debriefing tables and sit her down. She let out a huge sigh, her fingers tangling in her loose blond locks.

“I have a confession, and it isn’t gonna leave this cave, capiche?” The slight return of her accent relieved a little of the tension, but not much. Taking this as their cue, the rest of the bats spread out into their usual seats at the table. Bruce stayed near Harley, keeping a hand on her shoulder in silent support. Harley didn’t continue talking until he gave her a solemn nod in agreement. She gulped— an action that immediately returned the tension.

“... fifteen years ago, back when I was still with Joker, I disappeared off the Gotham scene for a few months. I’m sure a few of you remember,” she looked up, and a couple of the older vigilantes nodded. Really, Jason has still been Robin back then. But the memory stuck out in his head now that he was thinking about it.

“Yeah, you were breaking away from him a little bit, which was weird at the time,” Red Hood mused aloud, arms crossed. “I think you helped us out a couple times and did some of your first team ups with Ivy before you vanished. Then a few months go by and you were back in action with Joker, so we mostly ignored it as you just being you.”

Harley nodded. “Ah, my Ivy’s a lifesaver, even back then. She helped cover up the timeline by keeping me in action for longer than I should’a been without putting me at too much risk.”

“Timeline…” Red Robin spoke up, eyes huge even behind his mask. “You don’t mean—“

“Harley,” Bruce breathed, having also caught on. “You were pregnant?”

The air went still. Harley sniffed, eyes watering even as she smiled.

“Oh yeah. Shouldn’t have been possible, ya know? Me ‘n Joker being dumped in that damn acid should have made us both more sterile than an operatin’ room. But I knew I couldn’t raise a kid, so after she was born—“

“You kept her?” Damian interrupted, earning a gentle cuff over the head from Dick. Harley just snorted.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I thought about abortion. But the baby didn’t do nothin’ wrong, and I was still in love with Joker back then so I was ecstatic that I was able to make something new with part ‘a him in it. Still, I knew a baby didn’t deserve to be raised in Gotham. Especially not my baby, not with my enemies and history. Not with who her father was. I knew he’d never want her, never let me keep her. So I spent the last five months of my pregnancy lookin’ around for the best possible family to take her in. And I found them in Paris, France. A sweet couple, both of them bakers. Sabine, she’s both adorably sweet and super kickass. Comes from a Chinese family that is crazy about teachin’ their women martial arts. But nothing shady about it, I triple checked. Just bonding through kicking people in the face. Which is perfect, I wanted my baby to know how to defend herself. I knew she’d need those skills eventually. And Tom, that’s Sabine’s wife, he’s a gentle giant. Same size as Bane, but as harmless as a puppy and makes the best croissants ever. Seriously, the best.”

��Harley,” Bruce gently prodded, but there was a tiny grin on his face. Seeing her behaving so… so normally, so proud and reminiscent, was a rare treat. Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of how far the woman had come. How she had freed herself and become a better person, mostly on her own.

“Right, right. The point,” Harley took a breath, rubbing her forehead. “I came clean to Tom and Sabine, but apparently they knew who I was the whole time. They just didn’t care— did I mention they are perfect? Anyway, once I explained everything, they agreed immediately to adopting my baby. They’d been wanting kids, but it would’a been too risky for Sabine’s health. That’s how I found them anyway, they were in the market to adopt. We named her Marinette. She took Tom and Sabine’s last names, hyphenated. We decided Quinn would be her middle name. And after that, I came back to Gotham and told myself that she was in good hands and I needed to forget about her. Cuz I was no good for her. I knew that. I went back to my old tricks. And then…” Harley chuckled, but it was self-depreciating.

“Then a few years passed, and I started breaking away from Joker for real. Then we broke up, I blew up Ace Chemicals while you guys were outta town doing Justice League and Young Justice shit. I started dating Ivy. And—“ she smiled softly at the table, clearly seeing something the rest of them couldn’t. “Then Ivy convinced me to go see her. Visit my baby, see how she’s been. And I did. Marinette was seven years old, but damn it to hell she was gorgeous. And say whatever you want about me and Joker— most of it will even be true— but neither of us are stupid. And she inherited all of our intelligence. All of it. She got my blue eyes. But she got his hair, which meant Sabine teased me relentlessly about ‘are you sure she isn’t that Wayne’s kid?’ And don’t make that face Bruce, you’d be lucky to have a kid half as beautiful as my Mari-pie. No offense, Damian. Anyway. Anyway, this is the important part. Or part of it.

“She sat there and listened to everything I had to say. Everything. A little seven year old, who could barely understand English at the time, and she listened without interrupting once. She never threw a fit, she wasn’t angry or confused. I told her about the things I’d done in the past— well, G rated versions— and she didn’t care. She called me Momma Harley right away, said she wanted to meet Aunt Ivy sometime soon, and started telling me everything about her that I’d missed. From that day on, she became my sunshine. The light of my life, and I still call her at least once a week every week. When I disappear for a few days out of the city? I’m visiting her—“

“You’re banned from international travel, Harley,” Dick scolded, but he sounded way too amused for it to work. He knew she had her ways, anyway. Nobody could actually stop Harley damn Quinn from doing whatever she wanted.

“—Ugh, she tells me the same thing every time! Disappointed glare and everything. I don’t know how I gave birth to such a goodie goodie, but somehow I did. Not important though! The important thing is, I’m always the first to hear when something new happens in her life. And we had decided that she wouldn’t visit me in Gotham until she was at least eighteen, but apparently she disobeyed me— which I should have expected honestly— and entered you guys’ WE international scholastic competition.”

“Oh no,” Bruce pinched the bridge of her nose. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? The contest winner?” He finally pulled out a chair and sat down. “The winner gets an all-expense paid trip to Gotham for them and their whole class.”

“Exactly!” Harley threw up her hands. “Mari told me last week, and I’ve been trying to talk her out of coming ever since. But she’s inherited both of our stubbornness too, and she isn’t budgin’ a bit. ‘Momma Harley, I wanna see you and Auntie Ivy though!’ And ‘Momma, Gotham’s nothing I can’t handle,’ or my favorite, ‘Maybe you’ll finally get to see me dropkick someone three times my size then, and I’ll prove it.’”

“So that’s what you meant by you need our help,” Tim said as he leaned forward over the table. “Joker just broke out of Arkham yesterday. You want us to protect her.”

“I’d prefer if one of you was with her outside of the mask too, as often as possible,” Harley confirmed. “I can’t stop her from coming here anymore, but I also don’t trust Joker for a second. As soon as he sees her, I’m afraid he’ll make the connection.”

“She looks like him?” Damian asked, scrunching up his nose at the ugly mental image of Joker as a teenage girl. Harley shook her head, solemn.

“She looks like a dark-haired mini-me,” she corrected. “She even keeps her hair in pigtails as her way of showing support for me. And I know Marinette can kick ass, Sabine’s trained her well. But Marinette inherited more than I’d like from me,” Harley ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t notice it until she was thirteen. She got a crush on a classmate, and it was almost like watching videos of me back during the early days of— well, of Harley Quinn. Just without the crime and insanity. She didn’t even realize that she was almost stalking the poor kid until I pointed it out, and luckily I was able to put my doctorate to good use and we nipped that right in the bud ASAP. She never meant it that way, anyway. As soon as I explained things to her, she was horrified and immediately asked me to help her learn how to have a healthy relationship. That was a fun discussion,” Harley grimaced. “But she still gets attached to people really, really easily. Once she grew out of her crush on that boy, she adopted him as her unofficial brother. She already calls Selina “Auntie,” even though I’ve barely mentioned her to Marinette. She gets attached fast, and deeply. And I’m afraid that even after all the warning I’ve done, all the stories I’ve told her—“

“You’re afraid she’ll get attached to Joker just like you did,” Bruce finished for her, closing his eyes. “Because she knows he’s her father.”

“Yes,” Tears were slowly dripping down her face already, her hands curled into fists so tightly that her knuckles were paper white. “You know how he is. If he finds out she’s his biological daughter, he’ll immediately try to take advantage of that. And he’s far too good with his words for people like me and Mari. I’m worried outta my mind. Please. Help keep my baby safe from him.”

“We will,” Jason no longer had his helmet on, or the domino mask that he usually wore underneath it. All of them knew masks were merely formality with Harley nowadays. And he needed to look her directly in the eye so she could see how serious he was. “I can sign up as a bodyguard for the class. It won’t be weird, seeing as they’re tourists and this is Gotham. They also have several rich kids in their group if I remember right.”

Bruce nodded, agreeing with Jason. “That’s a good idea. I can lead the class on their tours of WE personally. That’ll serve the purpose of keeping an eye on her and shutting up the investors that keep begging me to make more public appearances for the sake of the company. Marinette’s name is already released to the news as the winner of the contest, so we can’t keep her out of the spotlight long. Tim, you’ll have to keep an eye on any and all pictures of the class. Try to erase or doctor the images with her in it well enough that connections between her and Harley can’t be easily made. Dick, you and Damian will be in charge of keeping an eye out for any activity from Joker. The slightest hint, and you notify all of us. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis who is necessary to stick with the class and who goes after the clown.”

“She’s gonna sneak out of her hotel to stay with me and Ivy,” Harley admitted, bringing the (now slightly judgemental) attention back to her. She raised her hands up in surrender. “She didn’t tell me that, and I didn’t approve or suggest it! I just know my baby too well to not realize that that’s her plan. Could ya provide an escort?”

Bruce sighed. “This is gonna be an eventful month.”