#then we saw nightwing jump off the roof

[anormalkidingotham]

i think i might have accidentally tripped nightwing with my backpack?

[jellyfitzjelly]

Has a bit of a long set-up, but I hope it's worth it! Work Anon.... please, you REALLY do not want to read this at work!

-

Dick had to keep from preening as he saw Jason's eyes stare at his neck, going back to surveying the supposed drop site.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say it. What the fuck?" Jason spat.

"What?" Dick jumped, realizing it was directed at him and not the mission.

"You're still with that guy?"

"I talked to him about it, like you said-"

"And he still put that shit on you," Jason accused.

"No," Dick snipped, "I put it on. Didn't take you for a kink shamer."

"It's one thing in public. It's another when you're Nightwing. And what's with the orange shit? We're supposed to be stealthy, not directing traffic. Dick gripped the binoculars tighter. He liked the orange accents he added to the finger stripes.

"Coming from the person wearing a giant, red, metal helmet?" Jason blinked at him a few times.

"Okay, I don't know what your problem is recently, but you're turning into a real shithead. Cut it out," he said a bit calmer, lightly shoving Dick's head. Dick leapt up and locked Jason's arm behind him. "What the fu-"

"Do. Not. Touch me." Dick growled, pushing Jason away. His brother stared at him as he went back to the stake out. Dick had to admit, he liked feeling this powerful. This in control. No one had any right to touch him but Slade.

The binoculars were knocked out of Dick's hands, shattering from the impact. Jason was glaring down at him, crowbars drawn.

"You wanna act like a shithead, then you're off the mission. I can handle this myself," Jason sterned.

"Batman's in charge, not you-"

"B, Nightwing is acting out, I'm sending him out," Jason said, the words echoing in Dick's comms.

"Explain," their adopted dad replied.

"He's being a petulant child, Batman, ignore him," Dick cut in. There was silence for a bit before Bruce came back.

"I'm not far from you. I'm on my way over. We are not doing this over comms."

"Happy now?" Dick glared, cutting off his communicator.

"No, I'm not. Whoever this is is corrupting you, Wing. This isn't you!" Jason bit, shoving him back.

"I said to not touch me!" Dick yelled, drawing and swinging his escrima stick at him.

"Oh-ho, you wanna dance, shithead? Maybe I can beat some sense back into you."

While Dick was quick and light on his feet, Jason had power. And when his hits land, they take a second for Dick to get his bearings. But Dick could tell his brother was pulling his hits, aiming specifically for his arms and legs. One good hit had Dick yelping in pain. Then the sound of metal hitting the concrete roof. Dick looked up to see Slade restraining Jason on the ground, his hand digging Jason's helmet into the concrete.

"Do not touch my things," Slade growled, leaning his knee harder into Jason's spine. Slade smashed Jason's head against the roof hard enough to make his head spin, getting up to help Nightwing to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"You were watching?" Dick panted, a little weak in the knees. Aside from the possible concussion, Dick was a little jealous of Jason having Slade on top of him like that.

"I'm always watching, little bird. We'll work on your counters this week. They were atrocious." Dick could only nod, a bit shocked.

"You're working with him again?" Jason spat, throwing his helmet off. "After fucking everything!?" Jason's eyes went wide, his face slackened in disbelief. "Or... you can't be fucking serious..."

"You're right, Nightwing," Slade said, stepping closer to Jason, "he is a kink shamer."

"I did not need to hear that," Batman sighed behind them. Dick wished he could plummet into the earth and never exist again. "Jason, the drop is happening now. Go handle it." Red Hood hesitated for a bit before collecting his crowbars and jumping off the roof. "Nightwing, report back to base, immediately-"

"He doesn't answer to you," Slade said, putting his arm around Dick.

"Deathstroke, this is between Nightwing and I. Last I checked, you were to stay far away from Gotham."

"Oh, I have recently. Just had to make sure my property was being taken care of." Slade blatantly fiddles with the collar now, unobstructed by Nightwing's lowered suit collar. Batman stayed startlingly still, not reacting one way or another. But Dick knew that meant that he was fuming.

"Nightwing," Batman called, "explain."

"He doesn't answer to you, I told you that," Slade all but rolled his head back.

"Did you concent to this?" Batman asked. Dick just blinked at him. "I need an answer," Bruce said now, easing his voice gentler. "I'm not going to let you get hurt like this again. Did. You. Concent?" Dick realized what was happening, and nodded. Bruce seemed to wilt a little, but nodded. "I still expect you at base after patrol. Attacking an ally does not go undocumented, you are aware of that."

Dick felt Slade's hand tighten dangerously on his shoulder. Slade was incredibly possessive, but also can get pretty jealous. Anyone giving Dick attention made him jealous, even if it was just him getting scolded by his dad. Punishments were Slade's job.

"Tomorrow before patrol," Dick negotiated. Batman hesitated, but nodded.

"Fine. I will get Red Hood's statement tonight. For now, you are suspended from patrol for tonight-"

"What?"

"You attacked Red Hood-"

"He struck first!"

"And I taught you all how to diffuse a situation. Go home, Nightwing. Now." Dick looked like he was about to argue, but stormed off. "A word?" Batman growled as Slade turned to leave. The mercenary crossed his arms and cocked his hips.

"I'm all ears."

"I don't know what you are doing, but I will not tolerate it-"

"I don't think you have a say. As you saw, he concented. There is nothing you can do."

"You've abused him in the past-"

"And that is in the past. He chose this. I've asked on multiple occasions if he was sure. And he says yes. Every. Time." Batman fumed, knowing the secondary meaning behind his words. He was taunting him.

"I don't need to know what goes on behind closed doors. I do need to know that my son is safe."

"As you can see, I clearly am keeping him safer than his own colleagues. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it tomorrow," Slade smirked, his eye crinkling with a mischievous pride, casually leaving to follow his partner.

-

"You did well tonight," Slade praised, trailing more kisses down Dick's torso, feeling how he stretches and arches under him. The poor young man was an absolute sucker for praise. "You stood up for yourself, just like I taught you," he said, his breath brushing over Dick's hip. The hip reached up further for more. "I'll have to reward you tonight. Perhaps it was a good thing old Bat sent you home-"

"Don't mention him," Dick suddenly sat up, glaring at him, all hint if his lust gone. Slade crawled back up to his face, coaxing him to lie back down.

"Of course, little bird. I don't like bringing it up either. You belong to me," Slade purred, lightly nipping at his neck. And like that, Dick was melting again, wrapping his arms around him with a hum. He trailed up his neck till he was kissing the underside of his jaw, tangling his fingers around the collar's pendant.

"Such a needy little bird," Slade commented, bringing his thigh between Dick's legs. Dick gasped and pressed his groin closer, making Slade laugh darkly against him. "And a slut."

"The most desired bachelor in all of Gotham," Slade continued. "The amount of people you've brought into your bed. And you still came back to me. Could they not satisfy you? Ended too quickly?" Dick grinded up against his leg harder, panting now. "That's one thing about a healing factor. I can satisfy you as much as you want. All night."

Dick had enough, pushing Slade over so he was on top, using his entire body weight to grind down.

"Now, now," Slade chastised, pulling Dick closer by the collar. They had tested it already, and the collar could handle quiet a decent amount of force. "I intent to really reward you tonight. I'm going to make you savor every moment." He pushed Dick off gently, getting the most irritated groan from his lover. He opened the nightstand, pulling out what looked like lotion in the dim light.

"I got a present for you," Slade said, straddling Dick's hips as he warmed some in his hands, smoothing it up Dick's chest and neck. The young man preened under the touch. "Know what this is?" Now that Dick thought of it, the 'lotion' made his skin tingle a little. "Thought we'd try it on less... sensitive areas first." He leaned down and started deeply kissing him, Dick's chest and neck warming up as the lotion settled in. All Slade did was run a finger down Dick's chest, over his nipple, and sparks erupted over his skin. He was so fucking sensitive! Dick couldn't help it, and let out a deep, lustful moan. "Perhaps we will just leave it to less sensitive areas for now," Slade laughed. "Get you used to it," he hummed, kissing down his chest. Dick was writhing under him, arching and moaning. If Slade wasn't careful, he'll have Dick finishing before he even gets to proper foreplay.

This was going to be an interesting night.

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE THING TO WAKE UP TO!!!!! WORK ANON ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!

also I love how Jason basically went

stop kinkshaming your brother, Jay 😂

[the-broken-truth]

Hello good nigh! I have a request yandere batfamily 👨🦇👑that the vampire reader fled his homeland to get a place in Gotan and as he only travels at night the batfamily sees them during patrol how would the family react to that? If you can include Alfred it would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Broken Truth: Whoa, a Vampire Royal Reader, I haven't had this combination yet. Hm... Leaving his homeland to make a life in Gotham; maybe they find him feeding or something... Nah, too classic. I'll figure something out. Now, Let the words weave together!!!

[Gotham City - The Batcave]

[The Dark Knight of Gotham City looked upon the Batcave's Supercomputer with narrowed blue eyes behind the white lens of his mask as he looked upon the 4 blinking red dots on the screen before him - the locations of break-ins during the past few months, but they weren't banks or museums...well they were banks: Blood Banks. For the past 4 months, someone has been breaking into the blood banks and stealing numerous packs of blood from the refrigeration unit but a gold coin of ancient origin was always left behind as if someone was paying for the blood that they took.]

Batman (Thinking): 'Why would someone want blood bags? What could they be doing with them?' (Holds up one of the gold coins he took as evidence and looks at it with narrowed eyes and a raised eyebrow) 'And the gold... I've never seen anything like this in Gotham. What am I dealing with here?'

Alfred (Walks down the stairs and walks over to Bruce's side with a tray of tea and cookies): Master Bruce, you've been sitting there for the past few hours. Have you caught a break in the case, yet, sir?

Batman (Still looking at the coin): Not yet. Something is off, Alfred. Someone is stealing - or in their mind, buying - blood bags and leaving these coins; there have been no reports of gold coins being stolen so they had to come to Gotham with the coins. The question is, who are they, and why are they taking blood bags?

Alfred (Looks at the coins with a raised eyebrow): Why sir, I do believe I've seen that coin before.

Batman (Looks in Alfred's direction): You have?

Alfred: Yes. I was reading about vampires the night before and happened to see an illustration of that same coin in the book. If I were to guess, Master Bruce, you're dealing with a vampire that's simply trying to eat.

Batman: A Vampire in Gotham? (Looks at the computer and types a few keys - all the red dots disappear and one appears in a new location - The only blood bank that wasn't hit) Sine our 'vampire' wasn't going to the same places twice, this is going to be the place they hit next.

Alfred: When are you going to stake it out?

Batman: Tonight. It's the night of a full moon and that's when they seem to strike. Call the boys, we're going out.

[The Roof Top of the Blood Bank]

Robin: Father, why are we here?

Batman (Looks around): According to Alfred, we're dealing with a vampire and this isn't the first time he saw the coin. That would explain why no security footage has been seen of them.

Nightwing: Vampire? (Chuckles) Bruce, you can't seriously believe that Vampires exist.

Batman: I did fight and kill Dracula, so I know that they exist. Besides, care to explain why we haven't seen any footage of them or where the gold coins came from?

[Nightwing thinks but can't come up with something. He opens his mouth to speak when he is silenced by Bruce who points at the cloud of dark mist that was creeping in the direction of the Blood Bank. Batman grabs a flashbang and throws it at the cloud, making it stop and when it goes off, the cloud vanishes and a figure stood here in its' place. The figure was as tall as Nightwing with [Hair Length - Hair Color] hair, blood-red eyes, pale skin, fangs, claws, wearing a regal-looking outfit with a golden ring crown around his head.]

Batman (Jumps down with the boys as they surround the male vampire who rubs his eyes and looks at Batman): So, you're the vampire stealing blood from the blood banks.

Vampire (Looks down): Listen, I know that humans need that blood but I didn't want to result in feeding off innocent people and possibly turning them into thralls or vampires.

Robin: Why is there a vampire in Gotham anyway?

Vampire: There is a war going on in my homeland and my parents sent me away to make sure I was going to be alright. I didn't want to leave them but I am their only heir and they didn't want to risk losing me to the war. I came to Gotham because it was...quiet and I don't think I would stick out here because I only come out at night.

Batman: Where do you live?

Vampire: In the old abandoned apartment complex. It's quiet there and no one comes there.

Nightwing: Tell me - what's your name?

Vampire: My name? Well, my real name is too long but I go by [Name] the 3rd.

Batman: Come with us, [Name].

[Name] (Looks at Bruce confused): Huh? Why?

Robin: You're gonna stay with us from now on.

[Name]: Why? I don't know you and you don't know me. Why would I stay with you?

Batman/Nightwing/Robin: We're not giving you a choice.

[mochegato]

Calling Dibs

This day was going to be boring, Jason knew that before he agreed to the trip in the first place.  ‘Agreed’ is a generous term.  ‘Relented’ might be a better term. Regardless, he was in Paris for the next week.  He was looking forward to the Louvre and seeing Notre Dame, but he was expected to spend time with his family for a large part of the trip and end with a branch opening party, because those are always so much fun.

He had barely plopped onto the hotel couch when something went flying past the building, crashing into the building down the street in a cacophony of shattered glass and warped metal.  “Holy shit!” Jason yelled, jumping up and running to the window to assess the situation.  The family looked to each other to see if anyone had a better grasp of the situation. Everyone shared the same confounded expression, before running out on the balcony to check out the situation.  

Bruce sighed.  This was most definitely not part of the plans.  This was supposed to be a relaxing week with the family looking at art for Damian, going up in the Eiffel Tower (and preventing him from jumping off) for Duke, sampling French foods and checking out French fashion for Steph, exploring the catacombs for Tim, attending the ballet for Cass, visiting Notre Dame for Jason, and time together as a family for Dick, with just a side of meetings for him.  Superheroing was not one of the scheduled activities.

Bruce opened his mouth to state a plan, but before the words made it past his lips, blurs of red and black swung past them toward the creature that had destroyed the building.  It took more than a few minutes for him to finally close his mouth in a resolute line as they watched the two heroes fight.  Jason’s mouth stayed open in awe as he watched the red figure expertly dodge and strike the creature.  It stayed open until the creature backhanded the red hero into a wall of the building across the street.  

The group flinched in sympathy at the sight, all too familiar with the feeling of getting smashed into a building.  She fell to the ground in a crouch.  Instead of fear, she looked back up with a glare. She jumped away and landed next to her partner in black and seemed to have a conversation before separating. The black hero distracted the creature while she swung further away.  It almost seemed like she had run away until they saw her charge at the creature from the side, hitting circles that decorated its body, shattering them like mirrors as she went.  With each hit the creature seemed to deflate more, until she hit the last one, a black butterfly emerging from it.  

She captured it in her yoyo and released it almost instantly as a white butterfly.  She called something out and threw her yoyo up into the air.  As soon as she did, a pinkish red wave rushed across the city and suddenly all the damage they had watched with their own eyes, was reset to its previous condition.  

They stared, mouths agape again, trying to take in everything they saw.  Finally the silence was broken by Jason.  “I call dibs!”

“What!” Dick exclaimed.  “You can’t just call dibs on someone.”

“I just did,” Jason scoffed.  “I call dibs on the red badass.  You can have the cat one.  Follow B’s footsteps, protégé.”

“You don’t even know if she’s straight.  What if she’s into girls?” Stephanie objected. “Maybe they both are.”

Jason stared at her for a second before his eyes narrowed.  “Fine. But if she’s anything other than a lesbian or ace, I have dibs.  And the cat one is up for grabs.”

“Oh, I’ll grab,” Steph smirked.

“Fine, whatever,” Dick groused, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away.  “Wasn’t looking for romance this trip anyway.”

“Your libido is not the priority right now. Father, did you bring us here for this?” Damian demanded.

Bruce kept his eyes on the spot where the creature had been a few seconds earlier before turning into a distraught woman. “No, I had no idea.  But now that we know, let’s investigate.  We’ll find out as much as we can from outside sources and try to meet up with the heroes when we can.  If they have a regular patrol, we can try to meet them somewhere. If they don’t, we might have to try to show up discretely at the next attack.”  He observed the people below already returning to their normal jobs. “It doesn’t seem like this is too out of the ordinary for everyone, so I don’t think we’ll have to wait long.”

He wasn’t wrong.  In fact, they only had to wait until the next night for another akuma to strike.  As soon as the akuma was dealt with, they caught up with the Parisian heroes, though in hindsight, they perhaps should have announced their presence a bit more clearly, judging by the way Red Hood was hanging upside down off the side of the building they were on.

“Sorry again,” Ladybug grimaced as she helped pull him back onto the roof.

“No, we shouldn’t have snuck up on you,” Red Hood assured her.  “I was just struck too speechless by you to give you a better warning.”

Ladybug blinked at him a few times before turning to the rest of the group and motioning toward Red Hood helplessly. Chat gave her an amused smile. “She tends to have that effect even on the best of us.”

“As Red Hood said, we should have announced our presence more plainly.  We likely would have reacted the same if you had snuck up on one of us,” Batman said, taking a step forward.

“We just wouldn’t have looked as kick ass doing it,” Red Hood added, leaning toward Ladybug.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him, but allowed him to move closer to her.  “Well, you certainly didn’t look ‘kick ass’ falling like that,” she smirked at him.

“I’ll work on how I look when falling, then.  I have a feeling I’m going to be falling a lot for you.”

Ladybug narrowed her eyes at him and puckered her lips in an unsuccessful effort to keep them from quirking up.  Red Hood’s chest puffed up almost imperceptibly at the sight.  Ladybug’s eyes darted over to Batman and back to him.  “First, I don’t think you came all the way to Paris just to hit on me.  I believe we have other things to talk about. Second, if you’re going to hit on someone, take off the helmet.  It’s rude. I can’t read your expressions at all. It puts me at a disadvantage.”

Red Hood quirked his head to the side. “Can’t take the helmet off. Secret identity, you know?  B would kill me.  If he didn’t the squirt there,” he motioned toward Robin, “would try. But trust me, if you saw my face, you’d swoon.  And I assure you, I would have come all the way to Paris if I’d known you were here waiting.”

“But we didn’t know you were here,” Batman cut in harshly.  He placed a hand on Red Hood’s shoulder and pulled him back with the others.  “We were unaware there was a supervillain in Paris. We’d like to offer assistance, ours and the Justice League’s, but first we should introduce ourselves.  I’m Batman.  That’s Spoiler, Black Bat, Signal, Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing,” he motioned to each of them in turn as he said their name.  “And you’ve met Red Hood.”

Ladybug and Chat nodded to each of them as Batman said their names.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.  I’m Ladybug. This is my partner Chat Noir.”

“Sorry, we didn’t bring our full team.  We would have if we’d known there was going to be a party,” Chat smiled disarmingly.

“We’ll be sure to let you know next time,” Spoiler grinned back at him.

“Can we sit down with you sometime to discuss the situation?” Red Robin interrupted whatever Chat was about to respond with. “It doesn’t have to be tonight, but we weren’t planning on staying in town too much longer.  Not that we haven’t been enjoying our time here.  And we’ve definitely enjoyed watching you work. You have got some really good moves.”

“Oi,” Jason interrupted, smacking him in the shoulder.  “I called dibs.”

“Dibs?” Ladybug quirked her head to the side and scrunched up her nose in such an adorable way Jason let out an almost inaudible choke.  Quiet enough that only Red Robin, letting out an almost as silent scoff, and Chat Noir, with his enhanced hearing, heard him.  Chat zeroed in on him with a knowing smirk.  He rested his arm on his baton and got into a comfortable position leaning against it, waiting for the entertainment.  “What is ‘dibs’?” Ladybug continued, oblivious to the dynamic between the three.

Chat’s smirk grew.  “Dibs, M’lady, is when you claim first rights to do something.”

Ladybug stared at him for a few seconds as she put together what he was implying.  Her head whipped around to Red Hood.  Her face was furrowed in an offended scowl.  She pointed to herself.  “Am I the thing you’re going to do first?”

Jason jerked back at the suggestion as Chat Noir and the rest of his family, sans Batman and Robin, started laughing.  “No! No, no, no.  No. Not… No.”  He waved his arms desperately.  “Not that.  I…”  He took a breath and glared at his family to get them to shut up, expecting them to know he was glaring harshly under his helmet.  “I just get to be the first to try to impress you.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes.  “You want to impress me?  Do something impressive.  And I don’t date as a superhero, so you’re going to have to impress civilian me. Good luck with that.”

Chat gave Red Hood a patronizing grin.  “You’re going to need it,” he singsonged.  He looked back and forth between Ladybug and Red Hood a few times, his eyes sparkling with mischief.  He swung his baton over his shoulders and rested his arms over it.  “But then again, she is the embodiment of luck so, maybe she just gave it to you.”

Ladybug’s head whipped back to him and she narrowed her eyes at him in warning.  He smiled innocently back at her as if he hadn’t just been meddling in her love life… again.  He needed to meddle in his own instead.  Although, with the way Spoiler kept eying him, maybe it was already taken care of. “Anyway,” she said loudly, bringing the focus back to the topic at hand.  “Tonight isn’t good.  We both have early mornings tomorrow.  But tomorrow night should work.  How about meeting here tomorrow at 22h?”

“Okay, now that that is settled, I have a very important question,” Spoiler spoke up.  Signal groaned next to her, preparing for whatever her question was going to be.  “Where is the best place to get some French treats?” Batman let out a deep sigh. “What!  I came to France to eat amazing French food and shop French fashion. They live here.  They should know the good places to go.”

Chat straightened up immediately and sent Ladybug a feral grin.  “You don’t say…”

“Chat,” Ladybug hissed warningly.

“They’re just asking for advice,” he answered in his most exaggeratedly innocent voice he could muster.  “You wouldn’t want to deprive them of the best food in Paris. Would you, M’lady?”  The devilish grin in his eyes was a complete contrast to the innocent voice.  He turned back to the bats, the picture of politeness.  “The absolute best place to get pastries in Paris is Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie on Rue Gotlib.  It’s amazing.  I recommend trying… everything.  And it just so happens their daughter is one of the most amazing designers in… anywhere.”

Spoiler grinned at him.  “A man after my own heart.  Thanks, Kitty Cat.  I’ll take that under advisement.  And do you also frequent there?”  

Chat blushed slightly and looked away quickly, but not before Ladybug saw the reaction and smirked at him.  “Yes, he does,” she assured Spoiler.  “He frequently frequents there.”

“And what about you?” Red Hood interjected, leaning toward Ladybug again, much to Batman’s chagrin.

“Are you kidding?  She’s the reason I found it in the first place.  I swear she’s there daily,” Chat grinned.

“Ooh, Kitty Cat, you sure know the way to a girl’s heart,” Spoiler purred at him.  Chat’s cheeks burned red, but didn’t look away from her this time.

Ladybug pursed her lips in annoyance at his romantic interference but quickly smoothed out at the sight of his blush.  A smile was back on her face when she turned back to the Bats, eyes lingering a bit longer on Red Hood before moving to Batman. “Anyway, we will see you again tomorrow. But Chat, maybe you should get an idea of what Spoiler likes so you can bring treats for her to the meeting tomorrow.  I have to go though.”  She waved at the bats before turning to Chat with a wink.  “Have a good night.”

Red Hood stepped forward before she jumped away. “You don’t want to know what I like for tomorrow?” he asked huskily.

She looked up at him with a sultry smirk.  “Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you like.  Sweet dreams.”

Red Hood watched her jump away.  “Oh they will be,” he whispered to himself.

<><><><><> 

Marinette had been apprehensive all morning.  Every time the bell above the door rung, she braced for the bats.  She let out a relieved breath as a man walked in by himself.  She wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure the group would come in together.  She wasn’t sure why she knew that, but somehow she was confident of it.  The man blinked a few times at her before smiling charmingly at her.

And damn if that smile couldn’t melt ice.  She let out another breath, this one to calm her cheeks.  She smiled at him, warmer than her regular customer service smile.  “Can I help you, monsieur?”

“Do you, by any chance, have a bowl or something I can put some water in?” he asked awkwardly in barely accented French.  The cocked head and curious look Marinette gave him prompted him to continue.  “I wanted to… there’s this stray dog outside and he looks like he needs some water.”

American, she noted… with dimensions roughly matching Red Hood’s.  And oh God, those muscles weren’t just the suit.  Well fuck.  Guess she did give him some luck after all.  “Of course he’s fucking Adonis hot,” she muttered under her breath, but apparently not quietly enough.  He smirked at her and chuckled.

Marinette’s eyes snapped up to him and she blushed furiously at having gotten caught.  She took a deep breath and smiled back at him.  “Blonde with a dark stripe down his back?”  He nodded at her, a surprised look on his face.  “That’s Éclair.  He’s a local stray.  An absolute sweetheart.  Here, let me get the bowl I usually use for him.”  She rushed to the back and came back with a filled dog bowl and some pancetta. “Can you give him this too, please?  I usually do, but I’ve been stuck inside most of the morning.”

He gave her another ice meltingly brilliant smile and nodded in thanks.

She tensed at the next man who walked in, not really knowing why she was apprehensive.  Red Hood was already there.  She gave him her customer service smile even as her eyes darted out the window to watch Red Hood feeding Éclair.  She could imagine the hearty laugh he let out when Éclair leaped up to lick his face.  She smiled at the sight.  

“Excuse me,” the man stepped into her line of sight.

She immediately turned to focus on him, regretfully tearing her eyes away from Red Hood and Éclair.  “Yes, monsieur.  Sorry about that.  How can I help you?”

The man looked her up and down and leaned toward her. “I was looking for something sweet. Maybe you could help me.”

She cringed internally, but gave him a strained smile as she leaned away.  “Of course, sir.  We have a lot of sweet treats.  Maybe you can look over the petit fours, éclairs, macarons, and tartlets.  Let me know if you have any questions.”

“I have a question already,” the man gave her a leering smile.  “Are any of the treats as sweet as you?”

She gave him a flat look and took a step back. She almost missed the door chime ringing.  “I assure you, monsieur, you would find me far from sweet. Let me know when you’re ready to order.” She turned away and started wiping the counter instead.

Red Hood took the opportunity to step up to her and pass the bowl back to her.  “Thank you. He looked very happy after the treats.”

Marinette blinked at him a few times and looked down at the bowl unmoving for a few seconds before the reason clicked for her. “Right,” she answered, louder than she meant to, as she took the bowl.  “Can I get you anything?”

“What do you recommend?” he asked as he moved to block the other man’s line of sight to her.

She smiled appreciatively at him.  Maybe he was impressive after all.  “You looking for something sweet or savory?  We have great bread, but if you’re looking for a treat, I would recommend an assortment of eclairs.  It just seems apropos.  Honestly, I think it’s all good, but I’m a bit biased.” She leaned in as if confiding a secret and winked at him.  

He chuckled and nodded.  “That is definitely something to consider.”  He side eyed the other man in the store.  “I’ll take a look around I think.  Figure out what it is I want.”

Marinette nodded and gave him an understanding smile. She turned to the other man.  “Have you decided, monsieur?”

The man made a show of looking around.  “Are you on the menu?  Because I definitely know what I’m interested in,” the man answered, leering at her again.

Marinette gave the man a flat look.  It was not the first time she’d heard the line.  She didn’t get it as much as waitresses, but still, it was a tired line… from a married man… that she had already turned down. “No, sir.  I’m not on the menu,” she answered curtly, “because we are not a brothel, which are illegal in Paris, I might add.  However, a quick internet search will direct you to the areas of the city where you can find that kind of menu items.  If you would like one of the pastries, please let me know which ones you would like, otherwise, please leave.”

“I’m not good enough for you, but you’ll flirt with him,” he motioned toward civilian Red Hood.

“First, I get to choose who I’m interested in and that isn’t you.  Second, he,” she motioned toward civilian Red Hood, “called dibs on flirting with me.  Now either order or leave.”

The man huffed and left, trying to slam the door on the way out.  The door closed with a gentle thud.  Marinette rolled her eyes.  “Sorry about that, monsieur.  Are you ready to order?”  She sent him an apologetic smile.

Jason stared at her for a few beats trying to figure out if her previous words meant anything.  She could have just said that because the guy was an asshole.  It could be a coincidence.  And her partner could have sent him here purely because they had really good food.  “Oh, um… what do you recommend I take?” he asked again absentmindedly, his mind still on how likely it was that it was all a coincidence.

Marinette smiled innocently at him.  “Me out.”

Jason looked at her wide eyed.  “What?”

“You asked what I recommended you take.  I recommend you take me out,” she shrugged nonchalantly, but the grin was devilish.

Jason opened his mouth and closed it again. “Any other day, beautiful.  Any other day I’d say yes, but I’m kind of working on someone else and I’m a one woman man.”

Marinette looked at him for a few seconds, a brilliant smile beaming at his response.  

“Thanks for helping out, Sweetie,” her mom called coming from the back room.  “I think we have it covered now.  Oh,” she looked up at Jason, then at Marinette’s smile, and back to Jason. She smirked at the two.  “I think you should be able to take off now, get to your real job.”

Marinette nodded and took her apron off, stowing it under the counter.  “Thanks, Maman.” She leaned up and kissed her cheek before making her way around the counter. Jason turned to her as she walked out, watching her as she moved.  She paused a few feet in front of him.  “I have to admit, you impressed me after all.”  

She smiled sweetly at him before moving to the door.  She turned back at the last second, twirling to face him.  “But you flirted much better with the helmet.”  She winked at him and disappeared through the door.

Her mom chuckled before clearing her throat. “Anything I can help you with, dear?”

Jason turned to her blankly, still processing what Marinette had said, after a second he smiled and rushed to the door.  “No, thank you ma’am.  I have some dibs to collect on.”

Tags:

@jasonette-july-event @maribatserver

[deathwishy]

x MARVEL CROSSOVER x

Marinette knew that Tom Dupain wasn't her biological father. Nonetheless, she loved him and he loved her. He married her mother when she was two and have been inseparable ever since.

On the other side, her biological father was a prick.

He first came to visit her after she developed a ... rather interesting set of abilities. She was five when that happened. Her mother had somehow contacted him and, even though he doubted it, he came.

It is safe to say that he was beyond shocked when he saw that Marinette was his spitting image, not counting the blue eyes. She had a mischievous smile and sharp eyes, carrying herself like royalty, worthy of the title of the daughter of the god of mischief.

That day, Loki found out he had a demigoddess daughter.

While he was reluctant at first, the little girl grew on him. He visited at least twice a month, mainly to help her control her powers but also to let her know that he actually cared about her, to ensure that he wasn't with her like his father was with him. No other Asgardian knew about Marinette and he would like to keep it that way. There was no need for his brother of father to swoop in and ruin everything.

As the years passed their bond became unbreakable. Marinette still thought that Loki was a prick and an idiot at times but she wouldn't have it any other way. Life was boring anyway, why not sprinkle it with a little bit of mischief?

When she became Ladybug, he knew. He called out Tikki as soon as he stepped in her room and her parents were out of hearing range.

"Tikki, you can come out. You should know better by now."

Marinette was dumbfounded when the goddess came out from behind some books, with a pout and with her arms crossed.

"I knew it. Trixx did say that you came to Midgard and Marinette looks like a miniature female version of yourself."

"I'm actually surprised the guardian gave her the Ladybug miraculous. I would've guessed she would have been a better fox."

"She is a very good match for me too. Her soul is a creative one, but yes, she would be a perfect fox."

"Um... Can I get in the loop too?"

The two gods turned to her. Marinette had her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the floor. Loki gave her a sheepish smile.

"I am a God, Marigold, I do know the other gods too."

The day passed talking with the two deities about all sorts of things, Tikki especially scolding him for the New York disaster, Marinette joining her. It happened before she was born so even if he changed it was still a horrible thing

"Look, daddy issues are a pain to deal with. I was very angry."

"Dad, it's no excuse to be an asshole."

"I know." Loki rolled his eyes then grinned. "But what's this I'm hearing about from Tikki about a boy?"

Marinette flushed, glaring at the offender, now munching on a cookie, her eyes sparkling with laughter. She was shaking her head and vigorously gesturing with her hands.

"Nope. I'm not talking with you about this and, Odin forbid, if I see you around him I'll cut your macaron supply."

Loki only raised his hands in surrender, laughing heartedly. He wouldn't dare cross his daughter, so he swore, between tears of laughter, that he would keep his distance.

"But if he breaks your heart I'll throw him in Jotunheim."

                                                         ...

A few years later, when Lila came around he knew. There was no mistaking the dimming of the fire in her soul. He could see that she didn't want to talk about it by the way she was dodging the subject so he had to take the matter in his own hands.

He shapeshifted into a horsefly and flew after her when she went to school. It took a lot of his power to hide from Marinette's sight but if was worth it. Now he knew why she started closing in on herself.

Loki could admire a good lie. After all he was the god of trickery, lies and deceit. But this girl spouting off the worst lies he ever heard. Not only were they ridiculous, they were also completely devoid of any drop of truth. That was the base of any good lie, and she was lacking it entirely. What confused him more what that some of her classmates believed her. Only a handful others didn't seem to believe her, one of which was a blond boy that looked at the leech, glued to his hand, with disgust. By his aura Loki assumed he was the holder of the Black Cat.

He confronted Marinette when she came back from school. Some of the lies were concerning, they were hurting his daughter and he couldn't let it fly. He assumed the harpy was set on Marinette because she wouldn't buy her lies. That was not surprising, she could see even though his best lies.

"I know, Marigold."

Marinette knew what he meant. She inhaled deeply and looked around.

"Can we go somewhere else, outside of Paris?"

The furrowed his brows, getting more concerned by the second. He couldn't read her in that moment. He could read most people like an open book, but that was his daughter. She knew how to hide things from him.

"Yes. Tell your parents, we don't want to concern them."

After she told her parents that she would go with Loki on a short trip, he opened a portal to a high rooftop over a city. She could feel the darkness of it, potent and corrupting. She figured that was why her father would bring her there, no one would notice them. As soon as the portal closed, she broke down. She hugged him, crying into his chest.

"I'm so tired, dad. The responsibility of Ladybug, Lila and her lies, half of my class turned against me, Hawkmoth just sending out akuma after akuma, it's just so much."

He let her cry, hugging her closely and patting her head. Even after all these years he didn't know how to properly comfort his daughter but it was something he actively was working for.

"But I assume you still don't want me to help?"

"The Avengers or The Justice League would notice if you do something. I managed to keep them away, for the time being, but I doubt they would hesitate coming if they heard that you came into a highschool, knives flying after a teenage girl or if you burnt down half of Paris searching for Hawkmoth."

She sighed, sitting on the edge of roof.

"I can handle it, I think. It's hard but I can manage it. I have Chat Noir and the others, we will succeed."

"You know that I will always be by your side if you need me, right?"

"Of course, dad." She hugged him once more, not letting go for some time.

When she calmed down, she asked him to get them to Paris.

"Dad, where was that? I've never felt a more malicious feeling to a place in my entire life."

"Gotham City. That place holds a centuries long curse."

Marinette nodded then hugged her father one more time before he left. She then went on her balcony, sketchbook and laptop in her hands. The afternoon sun was providing perfect lighting for sketching. She set aside the sketchbook for the moment, opening the laptop. She heard about Gotham from Alya when she was gushing about the vigilantes. She wasn't especially interested about them so she listened politely but forgot everything the next day.

Gotham was dubbed the Crime Capital, which was not surprising. The maliciousness surrounding the city was overwhelming, even if she was there for only a few minutes short of an hour. She could only imagine what that could do to the locals. A meeting with Fu after her patrol that night was mandatory.

Apparently he knew about the situation in Gotham. An old friend kept him updated. He confessed that he wanted to talk with her about it but decided to tell her when she was prepared. Fighting that kind of corruption would be hard and it would take years. They decided to put a pin in it and deal with it after they defeated Hawkmoth. Marinette did NOT need this on her plate now.

                                                          ...

Things got a little complicated when Wonder Woman decided to drop by. It was night, just a few hours after an akuma attack. Ladybug had to patrol on her own, Chat Noir was held back in his civilian life. She caught Ladybug on the Eiffel Tower, just when she was finishing her round.

"Ladybug."

"Wonder Woman. I wasn't aware that you would be coming by."

"I apologize, but this is important. Your presence is required at a summit between The Avengers and The Justice League. Some discussions will be about the situation in Paris and as the city is in your jurisdiction, you are invited to attend."

Marinette felt like she didn't tell the whole truth but agreed, under the condition to bring Chat Noir too. They were a team.

Loki wanted to come along but Marinette shot the idea down quickly. The was a chance that Thor would notice and everything would go south very quickly. She didn't need an international incident on her hands. The others didn't trust Loki but they were civil with each other after the brothers made amends and he helped them a couple of times. Still, she didn't think they would appreciate Marinette bringing an unauthorized guest.

                                                           ...

A few weeks later they were in a secret base in the Alps. After she got the coordinates of the location she used the horse miraculous to get there. They were fairly early, only a few members of both teams being present. Batman with his team, Thor, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Winter Soldier and Green Arrow.

Batman was the first one to greet her, soon after she closed the portal.

"Tikki, Kaalki, divide."

The horse kwami landed in her hand, where a sugar cube was waiting for her. She then nestled on top of her head. She slid the glasses there too, for easy access, just in case.

"Ladybug, glad you could come." Batman greeted her cordially. She shook his outstretched hand.

"Of course. After all, I was said this was concerning us."

Before Batman could say anything, a man dressed in black, with a blue bird symbol on his chest jumped in front of her, grinning like a child.

"I can't believe it, you are a real magical girl!"

Ladybug took a step back, blinking, a little shocked by the grown man's reaction.

"Tt. Nightwing, be professional."

"Yeah Wingman, you're going to scare the little Pixie."

"Ignore them, they are idiots." Said one of them, coming beside her. She identified him as Red Robin, one of Batman's... Associates? It felt wrong to call him a sidekick. That would be Robin.

"Red Robin. The idiots there are Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin."

"Pleasure meeting you." She smiled to them warmly. Robin narrowed his eyes, looking at her head.

"What is that?" He asked, taking a step closer to take a better look. Kaalki flew in his face, indignated.

"I'm a goddess, you oaf." Robin took a step back, hands on his katana, shocked by the little goddesses reaction. She narrowed her eyes, suddenly tamer. "Are you famous?" Robin was sputtering, clearly not prepared for the change in her demeanor.

Red Hood burst out laughing.

"Fucking hell, his face. I've never been more grateful for the camera in my helmet."

"Kwami don't show up on camera, but his face definitely will." Chat Noir pointed out. He went beside Ladybug, up until then scanning the compound. "I'm Chat Noir, the fabulous purr-tner of Ladybug, at your service." He made a mock bow, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Ladybug, Red Robin, Red Hood and Robin groaned.

"Not ANOTHER ONE!"

"Tt. I can't handle two of them. I'll inevitably going to break the no killing rule."

"Um, what's going on?" Ladybug turned to Red Robin, who was grimacing.

"Nightwing." He said, giving her a pitying look.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that claw-ful." Retorted Nightwing. Chat Noir lit up like a Christmas tree.

"My lady, see. I was sure I was feline a fellow paw-nner nearby."

"Kill me." Ladybug and Red Robin said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

As more heroes were arriving, Ladybug introduced herself to each of them. She tensed a bit when Thor came beaming at her.

"Ah! I haven't seen the miraculous for centuries! I am not really that familiar with the Chinese Miracle Box but I did encounter a wielder of Trixx."

She smiled tightly listening to his encounter with Fylja. She knows from her father about her, a trickster just like him, who managed to seduce Thor and steal Mjolnir and hide it. Thor decided to omit that detail. He liked the young hero but something seemed oddly familiar about her.

When Aquaman came, he looked very uncomfortable with his proximity to Chat Noir. He was cordial but kept his distance after finishing introductions. Chat Noir did tell her once that Plagg said that he was the one who sank Atlantis. It was a real story, apparently.

Ladybug preferred the company of Red Robin. They had a lot of things in common, from mutual interests to similar experiences as heroes. He asked a lot of questions without being invasive or trying to find out things about her civilian life and actually seemed interested about her answers. She actually blushed when Nightwing called them cute. She could see with the corner of her eyes how Chat Noir was wiggling his eyebrows but swooped up the other boys when they started teasing them.

"Everyone is here. Only the official members of the Justice League and the Avengers are allowed, as well as Ladybug and Chat Noir. The rest will stay here." Wonder Woman announced, leaving the rest of the young heroes pouting and protesting.

Ladybug turned to Red Robin and gave him a wave.

"See you after."

"Definitely." He grinned, making her blush.

Chat Noir came beside her, smiling knowingly.

"At least you're not a stuttering mess this time."

"Shut up you alley cat, that was four years ago."

"So you do like him." He smiled even wider. Ladybug blushed furiously, punching him in the ribs. He only giggled.

"Nightwing and Red Hood owe me 50 dollars."

"You're unbelievable."

All the heroes were seated at a circular table, everyone having an assigned seat. Even Ladybug and Chat Noir, their symbols gleaming brand new on the backs of the black chairs.

"The summit begins. We are now gathered here to discuss the Paris situation." Superman began, opening a slide on the projector.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. It became obvious that they called the summit just for this. They were trying to take control. She clenched her fists, but didn't say anything. She hoped this wasn't what it looked like. She put her hand on Chat Noir's shoulder when he looked like he wanted to say something. She squeezed twice. ' I got this.'

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, it's been four and a half years since Hawkmoth has been active and so far we haven't seen much progress. The akumas seem to become more powerful and aggressive and the damage to Paris greater each time. We think you might be over your heads."

"What we are trying to say," Batman stood up, glaring at Superman for his lack of tact, "is that the situation is becoming increasingly difficult and we feel the need to intervene. We know that you are young, let us help you."

"You are kids, we can tell. We thought that because of the nature of the miraculous you will be able to neutralize the threat in due time, seeing as it's the same type of magic." Added Captain America.

"We trusted that you could handle it, as you said, but some of us already have doubts." Iron Man said, crossing his arms.

"Your miraculous might not be enough this time. But that's ok. We want this to end as much as you do." Professor Banner added, looking at them like he was explaining to children why they couldn't cross the street when the traffic light was red.

Most of the heroes didn't notice the way the two young heroes narrowed their eyes, faces darkening, but some, mostly those who knew the power of the miraculous, did. Aquaman was uneasy, a sense of foreboding dawning over him, Wonder Woman looked like she didn't know what her peers were going to say. She stood still, but tense, like preparing for an attack. She knew they were somewhat right, but that wasn't the way to help them. Green Lantern was leaning in his seat like he wanted it to eat him. Thor looked around the table, damning every one of them present. They were going to get them killed. Black Widow was glaring at Banner, knowing what his words did to the Parisians by their increasing straining to say nothing and stay in place. Batman was following them carefully. Something about the two of them screamed danger.

Then Superman dropped the bomb.

"So, effective immediately, we take jurisdiction of the city of..."

He was cut off by a sudden boom reverberating through the room. All heroes jumped in a battle stance. When there was no threat in sight, they looked at Ladybug, who had made a dent in the table with her fist. Her eyes were entirely blue. But it was not her usual color, it was an icy blue, that could freeze the fires of hell. Thor held his breath. They looked exactly like frost giant eyes. And familiar ones.

"How. Dare. You."

She didn't yell but the heroes could feel the ice in their veins.

"For four years we've been tirelessly fighting an emotional prying bastard, while controlling our own to the point where it seems that we have none, handling our civilian lives at the same time, trying to minimize the destruction of Paris even though we new the cure with bring everything back to normal, tending to our citizens after they've been akumatized, ensuring they would get therapy and support, even stopping minor crimes around the city and you have the balls to say that we are in over our heads?! We may be but we are handling it way better than any of you do! You are not one to speak, Superman. Metropolis gets trashed every other week with you're messy fights, and there is no cure. You obviously have no regard of the destruction or the victims most of the time. The rest of you are mostly the same. But there is no one getting in your way saying that you're doing a horrible job and trying to replace you. And if there is, gods forbid, you just send them to prison or in a mental asylum. You have NO right to criticize our ways when yours are statistically worse!"

Both the Justice League and the Avengers were silent and wide eyed. Thor was the first to recover. Her eyes went back to normal after she finished but there was no mistake. The girl wasn't human.

"Who are you?" He pointed his hammer at Ladybug. She rolled her eyes.

"Put that down, you're not intimidating anyone."

"Those were frost giant eyes. Answer me or perish."

"Dad would not appreciate the perish part, you know."

The Avengers and the Leaguers were now exchanging confused looks. What were they supposed to do? What was that about? After exchanging glances, they remained silent, watching the exchange curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Thor retorted, now gripping Mjolnir tighter.

"I guess this is as a bad time as any but... Hello uncle."

It wasn't ideal but she couldn't have both the Justice League and the Avengers trying to arrest her. She took the yo-yo from her hip and slid it open. She scrolled through her contacts and tapped the one named 'The God of Bullshit'. After a few beeps, during which the heroes were recovering from their stupor, Loki's face appeared on the screen.

"Daughter dearest. What's the matter, are the others bothering you?" He said in a sarcastic sweet voice. She rolled her eyes then pointed the screen towards Thor.

"L'Oréal blond knows."

After a few seconds Loki starts laughing like a maniac.

"This is the best way they could've found out. This is PERFECT."

Thor walks in wide strides to an unimpressed Ladybug and takes the yo-yo from her hand.

"I have a niece and you didn't TELL ME!"

"Of course not. You pieces of shit are not worthy of the presence of my daughter. I don't know why she even agreed to come to the meeting. She is doing a wonderful job in Paris and does not need any interference. Beware, brother, if you upset her I'll come for your heads. I have to go now, see you soon, daughter."

Ladybug closed her yo-yo and looked around the room.

"I don't care what you decided. Paris is my city. You don't come barging just because you think you can do a better job. And yes, I'm the daughter of Loki but that doesn't mean that I have bad intentions. I'm a hero as much as you are. Now, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Ladybug." Wonder Woman was the first to respond. Even if she was a daughter of Loki, the young hero earned her respect. She stood her ground against them and made her point crystal clear.

The rest of the heroes agree, though some reluctantly.

"Now, I agreed to come here mainly because I wanted to say that I have a strong lead. Hawkmoth may soon fall."

After some other arguments with some of the reluctant heroes and a few protests that were quickly shot down by Ladybug and her supporters, the heroes dispersed. She and Chat Noir were between the last ones to leave, having a shushed conversation while the others left.

"We will discuss it back in Paris. But yes, it's true."

"So you're a half goddess?"

"Demigoddess, but yes."

"That is awesome."

When they entered the hall, they saw it was almost empty. She was disappointed that maybe Red Robin left until he was in front of her. He gripped her shoulders and looked in her eyes.

"I think I'm in love with you. That was the greatest hero smack down in history."

She was a blushing mess by the time the other boys and Batman came around. They were all snickering, even Batman and Robin.

"How did you..."

"Father turned his com on when he saw that you looked like you were ready to kill someone."

"B, you are not allowed to adopt her under any circumstances, do you understand me? We do not need another sister."

"Yeah Bats, don't ruin your only chance at grandkids."

Now Red Robin was blushing too.

"So... You don't care about the Loki thing?"

"We noticed that he toned down a few years ago. We didn't know why. Now it makes sense."

"Yeah, trust me, you're not the only one with a villainous parent 'round here." Red Rood pointed, putting his elbow on Robin's shoulder. The latter looked like he wanted to rip it off.

"And you are clearly taking your job seriously. Even father respects your efforts."

"I didn't intend to make you feel like you are not good enough. We wanted to help you, but it got out of hand. I apologize."

"Apology accepted. I understand where you're coming from, but trust me. This is coming to an end. Soon."

When the Bats were going to the zeta tubes and Ladybug was merging the horse miraculous with her own, Red Robin stayed behind. He handed her a phone.

"It's a non traceable phone. Of you ever want to talk, my number is programmed in there. I really enjoyed our conversation"

She took the phone, smiling brightly.

"I did too. Thank you."

She pulled him into a hug. He hugged her back, kissing her on the cheek then running to the zeta tubes. Her cheeks were as red as her suit. She touched the place where he kissed her, smiling like an idiot.

"Aww, I'm going to die of fluff. I ship it."

"Shut up." She grumbled but still smiling.

                                                           ...

A few months later Hawkmoth’s reign of terror came to an end. It was messy and heartbreaking but they were finally free. Adrien was exonerated by both the Justice League and the Avengers when accusations started to appear in the media. Not wanting to live with the Graham de Vanily’s, Adrien was taken in by Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman. It was quite fitting.

They have revealed their identities during the battle when they had to recharge and barely found one place to detransform. When they had the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous secured and Gabriel and Nathalie in police custody, they swung to the Eiffel Tower and collapsed there on each other, crying their hearts out for the first time in five years. Loki got there at some point but he kept his distance, understanding that it was their time. That was how they were found by the Justice League and the Avengers. Huddled together on the railing, not talking, with Loki next to them, smiling serenely. Thor almost had a heart attack. When she noticed that Red Robin came too, she ran to him and kissed him like the world almost ended, which almost actually did.

Fu passed guardianship to Marinette not long after, deeming her ready.

After everything was solved in Paris and the trials of Gabriel, Nathalie and Lila, for her aiding Hawkmoth, were done, Marinette began her first mission as Guardian. Cleanse Gotham.

Soon, a new vigilante, with a black fox theme, swung through Gotham with the Bats and Tim Drake appeared in public with his new girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

When I first saw what the prompt for today was I had no idea what to write. I didn’t want to do the class trip to New York so I took my favorite character, Loki obviously, and brainstormed. This came out. I don’t know if this has been done before but I love biodad!Loki.

So this is approximately 4326 words (I added and edited things on here so I don't know for sure) which is a new record. I did enjoy writing this. Maybe I will do something biodad!Loki again in the future, it's fun to write.

And as a sidenote, Marinette can lift Mjolnir.

@timari-month-event​

[neozoid]

Peril comes out

Peril's wingtips touched Clay's as they silently soared through the soft gray rain.

Half an hour ago, she had asked him if he would take just one moment to fly with her. After everything that had happened, with Jade Mountain Academy under threat and those little rapscallions - Moon, Turtle, Kinkajou, Anemone, Qibli, and Winter - had all managed to save it. The past week... no, weeks? She had lost track of time. But they had been a blur - a blur of emotions, of frustration, of painful, deep searing guilt, Darkstalker's scroll looming in her mind, and of longing. She hadn't gotten to talk to Clay in so long, and she wasn't sure that at the end of it he'd still feel the same way about her that he did when she saved his life on the brightest night.

She turned to look at his face in the grayness. His expression was focused, concentrated, effortful.

He must still be in a lot of pain from that burn I gave him, Peril thought guiltily.

No! She shook her head. I kept him alive! If it wasn't for me he'd be dead! But that didn't make her feel any better.

She turned her gaze back down to the valleys below, vast and dotted in slate blue pine trees obscured by the falling droplets. They rolled harmlessly off Clay, but they sizzled when they hit her and dissolved into steam, making her look like a ghost in flight. The rocky outcroppings below resembled a sleeping dragon - as if the landscape itself, was, once again, put to rest after Darkstalker's second sleep.

"Peril," Clay spoke.

She whipped her head around to him. "Clay?"

"I'm... I'm starting to get a bit tired. Do you think we could stop somewhere down below? Maybe in a cave."

She quickly scanned the landscape below her, and saw an opening just a half mile away. "Yeah, I see something down there." She turned herself in the direction of the cave, and Clay followed her.

As they came in for a landing, Peril opened her wings wide, scattering a million fallen petals that intermingled with the rain. She softly touched down and carefully wrapped her wings around herself, and looked back at Clay, beckoning.

They both sat in the mouth of the cave, tails twined, watching the rain fall.

After what seemed like just a moment (but Peril knew full well was the better part of an hour,) Clay looked at her and asked "So... do you want to talk about Scarlet? Or Ruby? Or the stuff that happened while you were helping Moon and her friends save Jade Mountain?"

Peril stared at him, startled. "No! I mean, yes! I mean, just..." She sighed and looked at the roof of the cave. "I do, but like... hrmmmnnm." She closed her mouth shut and hummed.

"I get it. It can be hard to talk about stuff like this. It took us five forever to find the time to reflect and talk about our feelings after everything happened." He looked at the ceiling too and laughed. "Tsunami..." he muttered happily, and shortly his smile faded, his face a sad, wistful stare. "And Glory."

"I... hm." She fidgeted with her talons nervously. "I mean, I DO want to talk about Queen Scarlet and Ruby and-" she shook her head, "not-queen-Scarlet and- arghh, but it's so! CONFUSING! And it makes me mad to think about her manipulating like that. I trusted her, I really did and..."

Clay looked into the rain. "Like we trusted Morrowseer."

"I... I guess... yeah..." She looked into a corner awkwardly, but then curled her fist. "She shouldn't have betrayed us like that!" she roared.

"What about... Turtle?" Clay offered.

Peril's heart jumped in her stomach. She thought about Turtle, the only other dragon who had understood and trusted her, at least for a while. How protective she felt of him, how she wanted to follow him (and then not...) when they were trying to find Queen Scarlet. She thought about how he went underwater that night, making her rage about how she couldn't get to him, and how regretful she felt when she left him behind. He made her feel new things, just like Clay, new weird things.

"He was nice, I guess."

"How did he feel about being an animus? That must've been why he was able to sympathize with you. He knew if he revealed his animus secret he'd be thrust into the talons of others and the plans they wanted for him, and the only way to avoid that was deep, resolute isolation. He knows how that feels, Peril."

She fumed with fury for a second. Why could he hide! He got to choose that lousy isolation, but she didn't have a choice! Then she thought about his pain-stricken face when she found his healing rock, or his vengeful look as he bashed Chameleon upside the-

Chameleon.

She stared through the wall of water passing outside.

"Peril," Clay whispered.

"Oh. Right." She looked back at him.

"I know it's a lot of stuff to think about, but I can't keep carrying this conversation by myself." He softly chuckled with a warm, patient smile.

She blushed and fluttered her wings. "Right. Sorry, sorry. I was just- argh. Arghhh." She squirmed, as if caterpillars were crawling out of her skin.

Do I tell him?

"Turtle," she said resolutely, "taught me new things about myself. He reminded me of you, actually, Clay. You were my first exposure to life outside the Skywing Palace, and if I'm being honest I was kind of disappointed with the other dragonets at Jade Academy, how they treated me. I thought they'd be like you - I thought everyone in the outside world would be like that."

Clay winced.

"But Turtle! Turtle has his friends, and, surely, he's taught them! I keep getting letters from them. Which is like, weird, but the fact that someone's thinking about me!? While I'm not in front of them!?! Threatening to blaze their FACE or melt their SKIN off!?!?!" She yelled with a smile. "It's CRAAAAZY!"

Clay let out a hearty laugh, smiling as well.

"And Queen Ruby - she hated me, she hated me so bad Clay, she hated me just as much as the other Skywings did, if not more. If Scarlet's twisted love is what makes me ache, Ruby's absolute hatred of me tore me to the core. She looked at me and didn't want anybody, nobody in the whole world to do anything with me. Didn't want anyone to touch me, look at me, love me. She saw me as an irredeemable monster because of things I couldn't control." Peril's face contorted in despair.

"But Tourmaline... Someone who hadn't been fed Scarlet's lies... She saw right through that and she knew deep in my heart I COULD love." She scratched her snout awkwardly. "Well, at least I think I can. I'm not sure."

Clay lovingly jabbed her with her shoulder, and she giggled.

"But that pure strong spirit.... It's so." Her stomach dropped. "It's so scary what Chameleon did to her. Ripped her title, her memories, her life away just for some gold, some jewels." She spat on the ground.

"And Chameleon..."

Her stomach felt like a howling void, ready to collapse her from the inside out.

Do I tell him?

What if he hates me?

He should hate me.

I'm just as bad as him.

I'm just like my dad.

She turned to Clay terrified.

"I-" she sputtered. "I want to tell you something."

Clay looked at her face, concerned, but he motioned around. "Just you and me."

"I-" Peril's muscles clenched, her veins wrapped all around inside her, her bones stabbed inside her, shame made her heat blaze ever hotter, shame and guilt and pain and fear. She wanted to fall into the ground and have it swallow her up, but she knew she didn't have a choice.

"I'm not - I'm not actually a girl. I was hatched as a boy. I- I- Queen Scarlet, she said, she- she wanted me to be like her and- " Words started running over one another. "When you got here- I- I- I just felt like protecting you- and- but- I didn't want you to give up on me- Having a relationship- I-" She wanted to die. She wanted to disappear. "I'm a liar. I'm- I'm just like Chameleon," she howled. "I'm faking it. I- I wanted you but I- I just-" She let go, and wailed.

She looked back at him. "P-please don't-don't hate me," Peril choked through tears.

Clay softly gazed at her, leaned in closer, his wings wrapping around her, and kissed her on her snout.

Peril tears turned to confusion as she leaped with delight and her scales roared a bright blazing blue, the searing heat singing any leftover moss in the cavern. Clay reflexively pulled away, and patted his singed scales, laughing.

"Ow, geez, haha! Not like that!"

"I- I- Huh??"

Peril stepped back, but looked up and peered at his expression.

He really doesn't hate me, she thought wondrously.

As Clay turned looking over himself, his scales settled, and as the smoke rose, he looked at Peril.

"You know, someone else actually said something similar to me a little while ago." He sat back down.

Peril crooned. "R-Really?"

"Yeah. It was - it was Sunny."

Peril's jaw dropped open.

"She'd mentioned to me how she'd - during our time fulfilling the dragonet prophecy, she'd... we'd kind of ignore her most of the time. Not take her seriously. When we first planned on escaping the cavern, we didn't tell her.... she was so upset, afterwards. And in all of our discussions and planning afterwards, we'd step on her feelings. Actually, you remember the Nightwing invasion? Or, well, whatever came of the invasion before they all came crashing into Glory's rainforest under fealty."

"Yeah?" Peril looked at him.

"She was the one who came up with the idea of using the sleeping darts! But Glory was planning, and the others were shouting, so she had to ask me to use my voice and SHOUT it at everyone. The point is, she felt small. And overly protected - we didn't respect her whole, y'know, feelings as part of the team."

Peril flicked her tail, anxious.

"So... A couple nights ago, she talked to me in private, and she told me how she'd been feeling, and... she said she didn't really feel like it was right to be a Queen anymore. Given Thorn had safely secured the position, and was doing a good job... And with everything about the Eye of Onyx." Clay shifted on his talons. "She could trust it to pick a new leader. And the thing is, you know how... you've seen Deathbringer. You've seen Riptide. You've seen Starflight and maybe even Winter and Qibli. And maybe even Darkstalker, and Clearsight."

He sighed.

"Male dragons have a strong feeling to protect one person, the one person who brings them all the light in the world. Sunny said she didn't really feel like that - like one person had captured her whole heart in their hands. But she certainly didn't want to be the object of that kind of affection either. And Sunny didn't feel like Queen Coral or Thorn or Scarlet either, where she wanted to protect her own kin, her own future. She wants to protect everybody. And more than that, she doesn't want to be Sunny the small and weak and lovable, or Sunny the fierce and possessive and loyal. She just wants to be... Sunny, helping out wherever she can."

Peril stared at him intently, blue eyes locked in brown. "And?"

"Well, at first we tried just referring to Sunny by name to sort of, you know, respect her decision, but Starflight looked through the library and found in some old scrolls people using 'they' to refer to - did you even know there were dragons who decided to live past being a boy or a girl in the past, just like Sunny? I was surprised."

Peril's mind was racing. "They must be so happy," she said, eyes sparkling.

Outside, the rain had cleared, and Peril noticed out beyond the cave was a huge field of sunflowers, waving and dancing in the cool wind.

Suddenly her thoughts returned to her.

"But that thing you said earlier about protecting..." Peril looked down at her talons uncomfortably.

"Oh yeah - sorry, I... I didn't mean to. I just..." Clay caught himself. "I... I'm sorry Peril. I know your feelings about this must be really, really complicated. I..." Clay looked away again with a twinge of guilt on his face.

Peril stared at him, trembling.

"But Sunny taught me something I hadn't even thought about before." He chuckled. "I did think about it too, but after a long night of restless staring at the sky and thinking I figured I was perfectly happy being a guy. But that look on Sunny's face... they must have struggled as much with telling us as you did."

"I love you, Peril. I don't think you're anything like Chameleon at all. He only used his identities to trick and manipulate others, to get what he wanted for himself. But you've only ever been trying to find yourself - with Scarlet twisting your thoughts from birth, with how everyone's avoided you and you've been excluded from all the Skywings and, man, even the other dragon's games on Jade Mountain. It must hurt so much to be that isolated."

Peril stared into the field, unable to meet his gaze, tears running down her face.

"I just want you to know, Peril, I love you for who you chose to be. For all of your heroism, and your kindness. Your self-restraint. Chameleon had none of those qualities. But you do."

He stared her straight in the eye.

"What you chose is noble, and so so hard. Being true to yourself - more than Chameleon ever was, he couldn't handle being boring old him - is so, so hard. I know."

Peril thought about the Chameleon's enchanted necklace that removed her firescales. She shuddered deeply."

But you did it. And you shouldn't have to live with the shame, or the guilt anymore. You can have a new beginning just like us." His eyes creased as he looked into hers so warmly, making her melt. "You might protect my scales, but I want to protect your smile. I hope you can let me do that."

"I-"

She rushed forward and hugged him, squeezing him tight. Tears streamed down her face, and she choked down a sob, but she hugged him as tight as she could, not letting go.

"Thank you, Clay," she said when she finally let him out of her little death trap.

"Woof!" He stumbled backwards, breathlessly. "I know I said be true to yourself, but maybe we can work a little on the intensity." He looked at her with a silly expression on his face. "Just kidding. You're perfect the way you are."

"Ha ha," she guffawed. "Tell that to anyone else at Jade Academy." She joked, but she knew deep in her heart that the others were starting to see her for what she could be, too. Not just a monster, or a weapon - but a friend.

"So my queen, shall we return to the mountain?" He curtseyed awkwardly, then looked up with one eye. "Actually, wait, that sounds kind of weird? Girlfriend? Babe?" He started scratching his head. "Names were never really my strong suit."

She howled with laughter and smacked him on the back, taking flight. "Just call me Peril," she triumphantly roared. As Clay lept into flight behind her, grinning, Peril thought... Not gonna lie - I like babe too.

[ultimatetornshipper]

So close yet so far

Trope tussle, enemies to lovers

Nightwing landed silently on the roof. A faint breeze ruffled his hair and he came to a stop when he heard something behind him. He swirled around and found nothing but shadows and a view of the city.

He turned, walking back to where he was, he looked around suspiciously. Either the guy who had given him the tip was lying or-

His thoughts were interrupted when he stepped in something small and hard. He lifted his foot and saw something shiny on the ground.

Nightwing went down on one knee and picked it up. It was a ring. A ring with what looked to be a very expensive diamond in it. He lifted it higher to inspect it better.

Suddenly a shadow dropped in front of him and plucked the ring from his hand.

Immediately disappearing right back where it came from after.

He jumped up and held his batons ready to strike. He moved in circles, trying to spot Noire before she could ambush him from the shadows again.

“Oh, Birdie, I’m flattered but I think we should get to know each other a bit better before we get married!” she whispered teasingly from behind him.

He spun around and spotted her as she put it on her left ring finger and admired it. She met his gaze and smirked, “We’ve only known each other a few months after all, though I’d be happy to keep the ring, “

“It’s not yours to keep, Noire,” he said pushing down a smile and running towards her. Making a grab for the ring, his hand simply curled around the air where it had been a mere second ago.

“I beg to differ,” she said simply as she avoided him in a swift movement, a teasing smile etching itself on her face and everything in him wanted to wipe it right off. Though in a very different manner than he would’ve wanted to a year ago.

Noire started running in the opposite direction and he grabbed her hand before she could get far.

She gave him a look of surprise over her shoulder before it slowly melted into a smirk.

The moonlight lit up her hair, the silver bouncing off of her black leather- looking suit. Her blue eyes shone with mischief and recognition tugged at the edges of his mind.

Before he could think about it too much, she dodged beneath their connected hands and twisted his arm, trying to stop him from keeping her there. He copied her move quickly, bringing them back on equal footing, he sent her a teasing smile of his own, catching her off guard.

While she was distracted he pulled her that she was standing right in front of him.

He ignored the ever lingering urge to kiss her and tried prying the ring from her fingers. Before he could find it, though, she leaned forward and threw him over her shoulder. He landed on the floor at her feet staring up at her.

The full moon glowed behind her, her black hair shining silver and here, with the night glowing around her, she looked magical.

She leaned down, blue eyes meeting blue.

Their noses less than a foot apart, he could count the freckles on her face. Wisps of her hair that had escaped her plait were flying above his cheek, only inches from touching him. She smiled at him and her hand reached behind his ear.

“What’s here behind your ear, mon oisoau?” she said softly, before producing the ring and holding it right between his eyes. The diamond shimmered in the moonlit night, but somehow her eyes managed to shine more than the rare gemstone.

He made a grab for it just as she pulled away, standing up straight. Her beautiful laughter filled the air and his hand hung in the empty space for a few seconds as he watched her, captivated with the way one sound could sound so happy and lonely all at once.

She calmed down and met his gaze. The atmosphere changed as the silence stretched between them. They stared at each other for a few moments on the Gotham rooftop in the middle of the night, and for a moment they were the only people in the world.

She sighed, tilting her head and giving him a sad smile, “So close, yet so far, birdie,”

Noire turned around and he jumped up and grabbed her waist, “Not so fast, kitty cat,”

She grabbed his hand, nails digging into his skin, and with a force he wouldn’t expect from her small stature she spinned him. She tried pulling her hand free but he held on tightly and he pulled her close. He could feel her heart hammering above his stomach and her breath near his collarbone.

Her hair under his nose he caught the faintest whiff of cookie dough and roses that he could only smell in the rare moments when they were this close. He longed to forget about the ring, to forget about the past and to just keep her there in his arms for all of eternity.

“So close, yet so far,” he whispered into her hair, dreading the words he knew he needed to say. He swallowed, “Just give me back the diamond, we'll call it even,”

“No,” she breathed. She grabbed his waist and in a movement he couldn’t quite catch she was suddenly sitting on his shoulders and strangling him with her legs.

“Do you ever wonder how we got here?” she asked him, casually as though they were merely chatting in a coffee shop, while he fought to get her off of him.

He threw his body forward and she fell off but got back on her legs quickly before he could reach her.

“What do you mean?” he asked as he extended his baton.

He dived towards her and she jumped over him, landing behind him and sweeping his legs out from under him as soon as he got up.

He landed on the ground with a hard thud. She pinned him down, straddling his waist and holding his arms above his head.

“You know,” she breathed, as she leaned close, their noses about touching, “here. We used to hate each other remember? We used to throw insults and hit hard, handing out the best blows we could, playing dirty, all of it. And now…,”

He took the opportunity of her being distracted to flip them over so that he was now on top of her instead.

She gasped but couldn’t stop him, so she settled for glaring at him as he smirked down at her.

He leaned in close, his mouth next to her ear and even though he knew exactly what she meant, he whispered the only reply he could think of, “Now?”

Noire lifted her head up, her mouth a hair away from his cheek, he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face, “Now we're here, and things are different and-,”

Suddenly she pulled her head back and knocked it against his. It through him off enough for her to escape and when he looked up she was about to jump off the edge of the building and escape.

“Oh no you don’t,” he whispered. He grabbed his grappling gun and shot it at her as she jumped. The hook grabbed her belt and pulled her back to him in seconds.

She let out a small yelp when the hook pulled her back.

Noire hit him with enough force to knock him down but he didn’t loose his balance. He stood there for a moment and it was weird, how right it felt to have her in his arms, again.

For a few minutes they just stood there, his chest to her back and he was certain that she could feel his heart beating against her spine. Nothing but the sound of their heavy breathing filled the late Gotham night.

She pushed away from him and he suddenly felt cold without her against him.

She turned around, furious, with a storm brewing behind her eyes. It was a look he knew well on her and it reminded him of the beginning of their… whatever this was.

She punched him in the jaw, hard and unapologetically. The same way he wanted to kiss her.

Boy, past him would deck him if he could hear him now. In fact she probably would too if she could hear what he was thinking.

“Are you even listening to me?!” she screamed, her face flashing in anger and he realize that she’d been yelling at him about something while he was lost in thought.

He took in her flushed face and the way strands of escaped hair stuck to her forehead. The black blending into her mask of the same colour.

The little crease between her brow and the way she set her jaw made him nostalgic and he decided that she definitely still looked cute when she was mad.

He took a step towards her and tilted his chin, giving her a lazy smile, “And if I wasn’t?”

She huffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, “You know, for a hero, you can be a real dick sometimes,”

Dick paused for a moment. There was no way she knew. No, she wouldn’t knowingly make that pun.

He burst out laughing at the thought of just how mad she’d be if she found out about it. Her nose would do that cute thing where it scrunched in disgust and the tips of her ears would turn bright red.

She gave him a confused look but he could see the curiosity in her face. Nightwing leaned closer to her and lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger, tracing her jaw.

Their lips were only inches apart and he heard her breath hitch. He met her gaze and smirked.

“Oh darling,” he whispered lowly, “You have no idea,”

He slowly started leaning in, till their lips were only a breath apart. He could see the lighter flecks of blue in her eyes and the almost faded scars on her cheek.

He could see the finest of details on her leather mask and the sharp ends of her canines as she bit her lip. Her gaze searched his and after a moment she seemed to have found what she looked for.

She smiled, closed her eyes and tilted her head and he took it as a silent sign of permission.

He closed his eyes and leaned forward. He met nothing but air as he kept leaning forward. Bewildered, his eyes shot open to find her standing on the other side of the roof.

Her silhouette stood out against the bright full moon. Her eyes shone with mischief and the ring on her finger sparkled, taunting him but he didn’t mind the loss as much as he would’ve once. Strange, what a few months could do to change everything.

She gave him a teasing smirk. Noire brought her fingertips to her lips and blew him a kiss, “Maybe next time, mi amore,”

She disappeared into the night again and his arms have never felt as cold and empty.

In another life, where they were on the same side from the start, things would be so much easier. She could be by his side and they could dance on Gotham rooftops instead of fight.

But then again what would the fun in that be?

[pricetagofficial]

Warning Signs -WW

Warnings: Language, angst, fluff, reasons to yell at me

Pairing: Wally West x Reader

Part Two

Word Count: 2.6K

Tag List: @kishony-the-geek​ @idkmanicantenglish​ @unknowntoanyone​ @subtleappreciation​ @catxsnow​ @nightwcngs​ @screennamealreadyused​ @river-bottom-nightmare​ @woahjaybird​ @bikoncon​

A/N: Thank you to the anon who sent in this request! I hope this is something along the lines of what you wanted, and if no one is yelling at my after reading this are you even human?

Your romance with Wally was anything but slow, but that came with the territory of loving a speedster let alone the fastest person alive. You knew from the moment you met that he was going to be a part of the rest of your life, and you hoped that it would be in a good way. It was no secret that Wally West was famous with the ladies, he was as smooth as he was fast and his words had you stumbling for a response.

What was once just simple flirting, turned into tense training sessions filled to the brim with sexual tension. It got to the point that the rest of the Titans could see your obvious attraction to each other but Dick knew your past.

In fact, he was the only one who knew it.

You had a dark past, one that you weren’t proud of and was actively trying to leave it behind. Deadshot had made you a lethal weapon someone who could shoot a target from hundreds of yards away and hit your mark perfectly. That kind of skill got you noticed, and not in a good way. It was what led the Titans to you in the first place.

Deadshot had brought you along to make you see that the Titans were really just what he said, a bunch of kids who had no idea what they were doing. But to you, they were anything but. He had ordered you to take them out one by one, and that’s what you planned on doing before you were interrupted.

Your first bullet didn’t hit its intended mark, instead, it landed in the shoulder of The Flash because you were knocked over by a blur of blue and black. Nightwing had stopped you from killing his best friend that day, and The Flash never even knew about it.

The mask you wore hid your face from him, so he couldn’t see what you looked like but with one well-placed hit, he caught a glimpse of just how young you were. It stopped him in his tracks, Deadshot had brought a girl no younger than he was to murder them for him.

Nightwing had tried to make you see sense, convince you that Deadshot only had his intentions in mind and cared nothing about you. With how young and naïve you were, you refused to believe him until you were captured and he left you there to take the blame.

For someone you thought you trusted, it hurt when he disappeared from sight as you yelled for him to get you out.

Nightwing gave you an option, you could join them on the team or go to jail. Considering the better of the two options, you joined the team. Dick, as you had come to know him, gave you a new background that you needed to fool the rest of your team into thinking that you were who you said you were.

Now here you were months later passionately in love with the very same speedster that you had almost killed.

Looking over at him while he slept, you could count the freckles that decorated Wally’s face. His brilliant green eyes were hidden by his closed lids with his bright red hair spread out across your pillows. Your naked form was pressed into his side as he held you close to him in his sleep. You had never felt like this about anyone before and it scared you that you cared so much about him.

Deadshot was still out there, and he knew who you were. If you were to run into him again, there was no guarantee that he would not try to ruin the new life you had tried to build for yourself.

Wally rolled and pulled you on top of him with a groan, a soft smile on his lips. Slowly, you leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the not wanting to wake him. But it seemed that he already was.

Feeling your lips on his, Wally’s grip on your waist tightened as he cupped your face and fully kissed you. For someone who was dead asleep only moments ago, he seemed to be very awake with the way he was kissing you.

Your free hand tangled itself into his hair, tugging it every so often causing him to let out soft groans that you loved so much.

“Hey babe, what’s got you up at this hour?” he asked, his voice filled with sleep.

You giggled and looked down at him, your hair framing your face. “I could say the same about you handsome.” You teased, brushing his bangs back.

“I was dreaming about the most beautiful girl I know, only to realize that while I dreamt of her, she was pressed against me in reality. I couldn’t pass that up.” He grinned, holding your waist. “Now, what’s keeping you up beautiful?”

You blushed at his pet name for you. “Just thinking about when Dick-“ you didn’t even get the rest of the sentence out before Wally’s face changed to a dangerous smirk.

“You mean to tell me that you are in bed with me naked, and you are thinking about my best friend?” he asked sliding his hands up your sides.

You scoffed and hit his shoulder with a laugh. “Wallace West! If you let me finish you would know that it was about when Dick brought me here to meet all of you.” You giggled, watching Wally look you over as his hand ran over your bare body.

“I remember that day too, the moment you showed up I knew that I had to have you no matter what.” He started. “It’s weird though, Dick told me that I shouldn’t get involved with you but I couldn’t be gladder that I ignored him.”

Hearing his words, your mood dropped but you refused to let your smile change. Dick didn’t approve of your relationship? That was news to you, but if you were honest with yourself you weren’t surprised. Dick was the only one who knew of your true past, he just wanted to keep his best friend safe. But he had to have known that there was nothing you would ever do to hurt Wally.

Wally noticed that you were quiet for a long minute, and his eyes filled with concern. “Y/N, babe, you alright?” he asked as he forced himself to sit up with you still straddling his lap. His large hands held your hips as he looked you over to make sure that you were alright. “Are you bothered that Dick said that?”

Quickly you shook your head and placed a kiss on his forehead before leaning yours on his shoulder. “it’s not that, I’m just really glad that I met you, Wally.”

He wrapped his arms around you and held you close to comfort you. Laying back down, the two of you drifted off to sleep while you thought of confronting Dick about what he had said to Wally about staying away from you.

The confrontation with Dick didn’t happen for another few days. He was stuck in Blüdhaven working on a case and the day he got back was when there was a threat on Jump City. Within no time, you and the rest of the Titans were suited up and ready to go. Wally gave you one final kiss before he sped out the door to head off your adversary and you ran across the roofs with Dick and Roy. Donna flew above you with Garth taking the waves from the harbor with him.

Dick could tell that there was something off with you but it was placed on the back burner when he was bolts of lightning streak across the city as Wally fended off the city as he waited for the rest of his team.

“Hey Flash, any sign on who it is?” Nightwing asked.

“It’s our favorite sharpshooter here Rob, Deadshot is back in town and he seems pissed.” Flash’s voice sounded through the com system.

The look you and Nightwing shared didn’t ease your nerves at all. Deadshot was back in town, and he was most likely looking for you.

“What’s the plan Nightwing?” Donna asked as she flew above.

“Flash, Garth and Donna, you three distract him so Arsenal, Barrage, and I try and get in close to take him out. If we play this right, we can finally put him away after months of tracking him down.”

There was a murmur of agreement as Donna and Garth shot ahead to give Flash the assistance he needed It didn’t take long for you and the other two to arrive, but the second Deadshot saw you, you swore he smiled.

Pulling out a rifle of your own, you set up in a hidden location so you could try and get a good view and possibly a few good shots in at him. The man who made you a killer was not going to get away with it this time.

The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, but finally, with a combined effort of you, Nightwing and Flash Deadshot was finally down for the count. But that didn’t stop him from talking.

“Barrage you said your name was? You remind me an awful lot about my last partner Deadeye, the last time I saw her was here in this city. Any idea where I could find her?” he asked.

Before the others could ask, you punched him hard enough that his nose broke and a couple of his teeth chipped. Giving the others the signal that you were heading back early, you disappeared down the street leaving a very confused Wally and a frowning Dick.

The second you got back to the tower, you showered and grabbed a snack from the kitchen. Moments after you grabbed a bowl of food, you felt a rush of air beside you. Within seconds, Wally placed a kiss on your lips, took a bite of your food, and promised to “be back in a flash” before zooming off to the shower and dressed.

One by one the others filtered in with Dick being the last one. His gaze went to you immediately and you followed him to the training room. Dick shut the door and stood with his arms crossed as he watched you walk towards him.

“I know you have questions, but I have a few of my own bird brain. First of all, who the fuck gave you permission to tell Wally to stay away from me when I first got here? Isn’t that a choice to be made by us, not you? I would never hurt him like that, you of all people should know this!” you snapped at him, poking him in the chest.

“Yeah, I of all people also know where you really came from. What’s he going to think when he and the others find out that you were Deadeye and almost killed us only a few months ago? I’m thinking of more than just you; I’m thinking about the entire team.” he snapped.

“I left Deadeye behind before I ever fell for him! If I was going to hurt him, I would have done it already. But what about you? How are you going to tell your best friend that you lied to him about his girlfriend? I am not the only one at fault here and if I go down, I am dragging you with me, Richard Grayson.”

You were going to say more but you caught the expression on Dick’s face. He was staring at something behind you, and you had a bad feeling about what it was. Turning on your heel, you saw Wally standing there with a look of shock on his face with the apple he was eating long forgotten about.

“Y/N, Dick, what the hell is going on?” he asked slowly.

“Walls-“ Dick started towards him only for Wally to back away and shake his head.

“Don’t, I want the truth.” He said sternly. “The whole truth.”

You dropped your head and took a deep breath. “I haven’t been exactly honest with you about who I am. I wasn’t always Barrage; I was Deadeye Deadshot’s apprentice.” You said slowly.

Wally’s eyes shifted between you and Dick. “You knew, you both knew and kept it from me?” he asked.

The look on both yours and Dick’s faces said it all. The two people he loved most in the world lied to his face about who you were and it hurt him more than that bullet wound you had apparently given him.

Dick moved to step towards his friend once again only for Wally to shoot him a glare. “I want to hear what she has to say, not you.” He snapped, only for Dick to drop his head and leave the room for the two of you to try and talk things out.

The silence that fell over you was deafening and it seemed that the tension was choking you. You loved Wally, you loved him more than anything but the way he was looking at you broke your heart. He trusted you with everything, including his secret identity only to find out that you had tried to kill them only months before was a shock.

He was the first to break the silence, “How long have you been lying to me?” he asked. The lack of response only told him that it had been from the beginning.

“I wanted to tell you Red, I really did. But I knew that if I was honest about who I was, none of you would have trusted me. Floyd left me on that rooftop knowing what could have happened to me, and Dick decided that I deserved a second chance. So, with his help, I came up with a new past and joined the team.” You explained.

Wally stood there quietly and listened. “So, you thought that lying to a whole team who trusted you was a good idea?” he asked.

“Wally, would you have trusted me if I told the truth? Would we be what we are if I was honest?”

“Dick warned me about this.” He said softly, looking at the floor.

“About what?”

Wally’s green eyes finally met your own after almost ten minutes of avoiding your gaze and you could see the heartbreak hidden behind the traces of his anger and betrayal. “You.”

His words cut you deeply, Wally’s opinion of you was the only one you actually cared about and you could see it changing in front of your eyes.

“Red please,” you begged stepping closer to him. “We can work this out, I don’t want to lose you.”

Wally shook his head, pulling his hands away before you could take them in your own the term for endearment you had for him leaving a bad taste in his mouth. “You and I both know that you lost me the second you decided to lie to me and the rest of the team.” He turned around and quickly walked out of the training room avoiding his best friend that stood right outside the door.

The gravity of the situation was crushing you, what else were you supposed to do? Wally had just broken up with you and was likely going to tell the team that you and Dick had been lying to them. So, you did the only thing left for you to do.

Before Dick could ask questions or express the guilt he felt, you darted out of the training room and ran to yours and packed. Within half an hour your stuff was packed into two duffel bags and you dashed for the elevator.

The last thing you saw before the doors closed was the look on Wally’s face before you left Titans Tower, never wanting to come back.

[anothertimdrakestan]

Mommy Issues (Damian Wayne x Reader)

words: 2.2k

req? yes! from a lovely anon!

“Can I request a Damian x Reader soulmate AU fic where you write on your skin and it appears on your soulmate? I had this idea where reader doodles on her arm in class and Dami doodles back, and they start sending little notes in class and one day they ask for each other's names and just look cross the class and lift their arm? and then the school is under villain attack or something and Dami rescues her! I think it could be really cute<3 sorry for the long request”

this is too cute!!! 10/10 great idea i hope my writing brought it to life for you : ) hope you enjoy thank you for the req!

no notes today? you looked at the ink on your arm one last time before rolling down your sleeve. The notes and doodles had just recently started but you’d grown attached quickly- they were from your soulmate after all. However, today was silent, your notes exchanged last night had been washed off before you had woken up and there was nothing waiting for you. This seemed normal at first, whomever your soulmate is, they were always the first to remove the notes, most of the time before the sun fell for the days notes and similarly before dawn for the occasional late night writing. This was strange behavior as most everyone let their soulmates notes and doodles linger until they were just faint ink splotches, but your soulmate was diligent to never leave a trace.

You couldn’t help yourself, pulling up your sleeve to look for an answer but there was none. It was strange as whenever you were in english was when your soulmate was most active. English, what started as the most boring, dull class slowly shifted into the class you remember most fondly. Relishing in the slight tickle that comes from your soulmate drawing little pictures or little notes across your forearm you learned to appreciate the boring lectures your teacher gave as they made the perfect cover for getting to know your soulmate. 

So far, you’d learned your soulmate was a he, with some wild artistic talent, even though he was always complaining about his pen bleeding through the small crinkles in skin as he tried to draw various pictures on your arm. It had only been around a couple days or so since lettering began to show, typically soulmates can start drawing pictures and whatnot that will show through a month or two before lettering fades through the bond as well, then finally your name will bleed through onto the base of your soulmates wrist, giving away the secret to your penpal. As is fate makes you patiently wait your turn, falling in love with the little doodles and notes until you finally know exactly who your soulmate is. 

Your day dreaming was cut short by the familiar tickle on your forearm. Trying to keep calm you slid your sleeve back and watched as the beautiful penmanship appeared. As he wrote you admired the sloppy but exquisite writing, a mix of cursive for speed and lettering for flair that exuded a kind of careless confidence- at least that’s what you’d determined from hours of pouring over the little notes on your skin.

Apologies for the delay, hectic day. You smiled at the formal-ness of the message as it seemed he slipped into that type of writing when he was distracted- god, you needed to stop obsessing over every last detail of the writing. You grabbed your pen, considering what to write back before the tingling started again. 

Do you go to GCHS as well? Your heart stopped at the message. Quickly you scribbled back, Yes! I do! You waited for a reply, scanning your class realizing that anyone there could be your soulmate. 

There was no wordy reply, but you felt large swooping curves begin to bleed onto your skin meaning your soulmate was drawing something. “Y/n care to give us an answer?” your head snapped from your arm to your professor, your pen which you had been toying with sliding down your neck as you flinched, almost assuredly leaving a black line down your neck. Slapping a hand on your neck you looked at your professor who was asking about last night's reading, a section you definitely did not do. “I gotcha y/n it was in Chapter 39!” your classmate Jack called from the other side of the classroom, giving you a wink as he turned his attention back to the teacher. “That so? Can you confirm 39 was the chapter?” the teacher turned back to you with a glint in his eyes daring you to accept that answer. 

“It was 41, can we move on now?” A voice echoed with boredom from the back of the class. “Ah mister Damian, welcome back, you know I’ll have to mark you tardy for class,” you let out a sigh of relief glancing back at Damian with a thankful smile, but his eyes were cast down looking at something on his desk. 

Class got out shortly after and as you packed up your books you saw the curling black stem of a drawing peeking from the exposed skin on your wrist. Pulling it back you saw the most beautiful drawing of a large rose with vines creeping beautifully from it’s edges. You were too busy admiring the rose to realize that there at the base of your wrist in the handwriting you’d been obsessing over for days was forming a new message. 

damian wayne

Your soul just about left your body. 

Then all the windows in your school shattered.

You flung yourself to the floor covering your head as you heard shouting and the sound of bones breaking. Peeking up you saw cloaked figures tearing their way through the hordes of terrified students grabbing the wrists then throwing them backwards. You crept away until your back was pressed against the back of the classroom. Watching as they checked student after student you saw a blur flit past every cloaked figure, knocking many of them out with ease. You craned your neck to follow the blur but your vision was interrupted by a dark figure entering the classroom, following the same protocol as he grabbed the wrist of students then threw them backwards. 

When he came up to you his ice cold fingers wrapped around your arm, you yelped, trying to rip your arm away but he held tight. He just stared at your wrist, then an eery smile crept over his lips, the cheshire smile was the only thing you could see from under the deep green, almost black hood. Unlike the other students his grip held strong, dragging you out of the classroom while you kicked and screamed. 

“Look what I found” he cooed as he pulled you towards the main hallway of your school. The view from the second story of your school was shocking. There was a blue and black blur fighting alongside a green and yellow one as they both attacked a group of the cloaked assassins, all watched over by a tall woman dressed in black. Her head snapped up to you and the same terrifying smile slid over her face. “See! Was that so hard dearest?” her voice drawled as Robin looked up at you, his expression hardening. “Over my dead body mother” he said between clenched teeth as he sprang backwards, breaking into a run in your direction while (you assumed to be) Nightwing began sweeping through the figures. 

You screamed as you were tugged backwards, you had way too bright a future for this shit. With all the courage you had you wound back, and swung, your fist connecting with the mans face. You winced as you felt your ring finger click out of place against his nose but it was a good and unexpected punch, sending him stumbling back as you ripped your other arm out of his grasp. 

“Y/n!” you whipped your head to Robin who flipped past you, giving far too hard a blow to the assassin, returning to your side almost immediately. “Did he hurt you,” his gruff voice dipped into concern while you held your breath in his presence. When you gave a small nod he released a breath he seemed to have been holding for far too long, turning his gaze off of you and back down to the fight below you saw a black streak jutting down his neck. Your hand flew to your own, your mouth moving before your brain.

“Damian” his masked eyes snapped back to you. “Y/n” he answered, his tone softer and more natural. He continued, “we’ll sort this out in a minute,” as he jumped off the banister, rolling to break his fall and diving back into the fight with Nightwing against the woman. She seemed to be laughing into the fight, whispering teasing remarks that seemed to anger Damian, but Nightwing was already overpowering her and with Damian’s assistance she knew she was out played. She gracefully dodged Nightwings punch, gliding up to Damian. Giving his hair a little ruffle she winked at him “be terrible my son I’ll be back yet” and before he could reacted she ran out of the building, followed by her men. 

You sat for a second in shock, trying to let everything set in. The school was silent, most students had either fled or were huddled in classrooms still unaware the fight was over. 

“Hey! Your hand okay?” Nightwing gained your attention as he was waving his arm with a dazzling smile. “Oh uh, I hurt my finger but it’s nothing,” you replied, hearing your shaky voice echo through the halls of your school. “C’mon down I’d love to help you out!” Nightwing beckoned you, getting jabbed in the ribs from an uncomfortable looking Robin. 

A few minutes later you were perched on the roof of your school sitting with Damian while Nightwing briefed the public. Damian broke the silence, “Which finger” his gaze cast down to your hands, you held out a shaky hand where your finger was visibly bent. “You gave him a hard hit” Damian mused, taking off his gloves to more delicately hold your hand while he began to bandage it. 

“y-yeah” you swallowed, bidding your voice to stop shaking. Damian’s eyes refused to meet yours. “Do you wanna talk about the whole, wrist thing?” you whispered, casting your eyes down to notice his exposed wrist had y/n l/n written on it as well. He stayed silent, you brought your eyes up only to notice he’d been staring at you, quickly he looked back down, finishing the bandaging he released your hand with a sigh. 

“Nice to meet you soulmate” you said with a small smile. Damian glanced up at you, giving you a surprised look. “Soulmates?” he gulped as he continued, “I completely understand if you like to move on and forget about all this, I know better than anyone how dangerous my life is and if today with my mother was any sign I should’ve known soulmates just aren’t in the books for me,” you watched as his hardened expression faltered, even behind the mask Damian seemed easy to read to you. “Oh uh, that was your mom?” he gave you a pained nod when you realized you’d hit a touchy subject. “Not the point! Soulmates are soulmates for a reason and as you saw today [you held up your bandaged hand] I’m a freaking badass and can totally defend myself. I’m not giving up or forgetting anything.” you finished with a deep breath, telling yourself that this was the beginning of something epic. 

“Then, I suppose it is nice to meet you soulmate” Damian said, his lips faintly curling into a smile as he stuck out his hand. “Shaking hands with your soulmate? Absolutely not.” you teased, wrapping your good arm around him and giving a squeeze. He seemed frozen at first, but slowly but surely you felt his arms begin to caress your back in a lopsided slightly dysfunctional hug, but a hug nonetheless. You could feel him smiling against your shoulder, making you melt into his embrace as he let out a sigh, his hot breath tickling your neck. 

“Aw Dames this is too cute!” Damian scrambled out of your embrace as a tall raven haired boy joined you on the roof. “Dick Grayson, Nightwing” the man grinned at you, ruffling Damian’s hair against his protest. “You got your soulmate baby bird congrats!” you laughed as Damian huffed, a light blush peeking out from under his mask. “I’m all ready to go unless you wanna stay with what’s your name again?” before you could answer Dick grabbed Damian’s wrist with a laugh, “y/n! Pretty name isn’t it Dames” he swerved Damian’s fist half heartedly launching towards his face. “I’ll be at the cave waiting!” Dick cooed triumphantly as he careened down the stairs. 

“I should be going,” Damian agreed, getting up and offering you a hand. As you stood up he quietly said, “I’ll text you okay?” and you nodded, “oh okay! Do you need my number or anything?” you began to pull out your phone. “No, it’ll be easy for me to find,” he said honestly. You shook your head, “right, Robin, Batman- oh my god you’re Bruce Wayne’s son is he-?” “Yup” Damian flashed a confident smile at your dropped jaw. 

“See you around y/n” Damian nodded at you, pulling his hood over his head and grappling off the top of the building, leaving you standing atop Gotham still trying to process the days events. Pulling your phone out you dialed your best friend. 

“Dude are you okay? I heard shit went down at your school!” their voice echoed from your phone. 

“You’re never gonna guess but I found my soulmate” you said, revelling in just saying the sentence. “Who?” they screeched.

“R- Damian Wayne!” you cut yourself short, realizing that now you had a secret to keep for Damian. There was certainly more than meets the eye about the quiet boy in the back of English.

“HOLY SHIT BITCH YOU’RE GONNA BE RICH!” 

[fidothefinch]

maybe it's enough (to know that we were here together)

For Dick & Damian Week 2021, day 2: "He's my son!"

I wrote this over the last two hours. Fair warning, it is not proofread. Title from Kina Grannis's "For Now," for fake-deep reasons.

(More warnings: this story strongly features hospitals and difficulty breathing (and poison). Please take care of yourselves and skip it if it will hurt you, especially because of the last year we've all shared <3)

Nightwing woke up with a gasp like it was the first breath he had taken in a long time. He floundered for a moment, instinctively worried he had just surfaced from Gotham’s harbor (it wouldn’t be the first time), but it only took one hard smack of his wrist to recognize the very solid ground beneath himself.

Panting, he leveraged himself to his side to empty his stomach onto the concrete.

Something was wrong. He tried to check his surroundings, but he was only able to make out grey blobs that may have been buildings and wildly swinging lights.

No, they weren’t swinging. That was just his vision.

He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could just will vertigo away. It wasn’t a feeling he was used to; growing up swinging from a trapeze conditioned him to enjoy the swoop in his stomach. But right now, he was either on a boat or drugged.

Sirens doppler-ed towards and away from him, somewhere down below. Definitely drugged, then.

He lifted one hand to his pounding head and was happy to find his domino was still in place. So were his gloves. But when he checked, he was missing an Escrima stick and a handful of wingdings. He grappled with his memory, trying to pull up some idea of what could have happened. A fight, obviously. But was he in Gotham? Blüdhaven? Somewhere overseas?

He flipped to his back and stared at the sky, still breathing like he had just run a marathon. Drawing in air was like drinking through a silly straw. Above him, the sky was a mottled green-black, the wind rolling the clouds inland. The motion threatened to make him sick again. He considered the merits of rolling to his side, just in case, when his eyes caught the flicker of a familiar shape against the clouds.

The Batsignal.

So, he was in Gotham. Now that he thought about it, that felt right. He could recall riding in earlier on his bike, the wind whipping through his hair, weaving through wild traffic. But traffic had been going the wrong way? Everybody had been leaving the island. . .

He sat up suddenly. “Robin!”

Sitting up was a bad idea. He pushed through his temporary blindness to wobble to his feet, anyway. “Robin!” he called again.

Damian didn’t answer. He was nowhere to be found.

More sirens rang down below him, passing in the same direction the last set had. Dick scrambled to the edge of the roof to watch the ambulance pass. What he found took his breath away. Cars lined both sides of the road, all headed toward the bridge that led off the island. All empty, abandoned. There didn’t seem to be a soul in sight, except the emergency response vehicles speeding down the clear sidewalks.

Everything snapped into focus, and Dick’s memory returned. Somebody had called the Gotham PD with a thirty-minute warning before releasing an aerosolized drug into the sewer system. Nightwing had sped into town as quickly as he could, and Batman teamed him up with Robin to cover the south quarter, and they had gotten separated—where was Damian?

Dick leapt off the building, shooting his grapnel as he fell to swing into a perfect arc to the ground. His bike wasn’t within eyesight, so it was too far. He took off, running after the ambulance.

Toward the hospital.

-

“Sir, you can’t be here.”

Dick had never seen the hospital so busy. Patients were lined up along the walls and hallways, crammed into the rooms like sardines. The staff actually ran between beds, looking haggard and exhausted already. Dick stood out like a sore thumb in his Nightwing gear, but nobody had the time or energy to move him.

Except the head nurse, behind the desk. “You have to leave,” she said. “We don’t have room.”

“Is Robin here?” Dick asked. He had scanned the pinched faces of the patients he passed on the way back into the ER, but nobody was familiar. He was almost thankful; the victims of the poison were sweating profusely and gagged on their own breath.

“I can’t tell you that,” the nurse said.

“I need to know that he’s okay,” he pleaded, leaning into his palms. They had been planted on the desk for stability, but now they were the only thing grounding him in his panic. “Please.”

All of Gotham was supposed to be evacuated, but there were still so many people too slow, too many people without a way off the island. When the threatened poison hit the city, there were too many people left behind. Nightwing had rushed over from Blüdhaven as fast as he could, but by the time he had joined the rest of the Bats it was too late. Half of Gotham was sick. Dying.

And somewhere in the panic, as noxious steam shot from the sewers and spilled from the vents, he had lost Robin.

The nurse studied his face, her lips pursed. “Robin was admitted two hours ago.”

Dick’s knees nearly buckled with relief (it had nothing to do with his legs feeling like jelly). “Where is he?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?” Maybe the words were clipped, but he didn’t have time for this.

“No visitors. Hospital rules.”

“He’s just a kid!”

“Then maybe you should have helped him evacuate,” she said, levelling a glare at him that could melt glass. “Instead of encouraging him to run straight into the line of danger.”

Now Dick growled. “You don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“I think he’s better off here than with you.”

“He’s my son!” Dick slammed his fist on the counter between them, making the nurse jump. He would have time to feel guilty about it later. “If you don’t tell me where he is, I’ll find him myself.”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, not getting any words out.

“Nightwing!” somebody else called. Dick spun around (too quickly), and another nurse was gesturing quickly behind herself. “I’ll take you to him.”

“Moira—” the head nurse started. But she wasn’t fast enough to catch Dick as he weaved through the maze of gurneys.

The nurse had dark circles under her eyes, and her bun was frayed. “Pediatric wing,” she huffed, already jogging down a wide white hallway. Dick followed, heart racing. “His oxygen was too low. He must have gotten a face-full of the stuff.”

“What does that mean?” Dick asked.

Her face screwed up. “He’s on a ventilator.”

Dick’s heart squeezed in panic at the words. He began to mentally prepare himself for what he would find.

The nurse he was following stopped abruptly, almost making him run into her. She flipped a hand at a set of double doors. “Stairs,” she explained. “You’ll have to go up to the third floor. Room 329.”

Dick didn’t question why she wasn’t coming; she had work to do. He nodded as he pushed through one of the doors. “Thanks.”

By the time he reached the third floor, he could tell that he had been dosed. Maybe not as badly as the other patients there, but three flights of stairs should have been child’s play for him. He arrived to patient hallway sweating and panting too hard, jelly legs making their displeasure felt.

There were doctors and nurses in this wing, too, but they were also scrambling too quickly to give him more than a passing glance. The crammed hallways on this floor were even more disconcerting, because the flushed, moaning faces were those of children.

None of them were the one he was looking for.

He forced himself to slow down, not able to bear the idea of passing Damian’s room and missing him accidentally. When he found room 329, he steeled himself before barreling through the door.

There were two beds crammed inside the small space, made possible only because the beds were child-sized. The smiling clouds painted on the ceiling were a harsh contrast to the dark, noisy machines wound around the beds.

Damian was in one of them.

Dick rushed to his side, sparing barely a glace toward the other child. Damian looked tiny, dwarfed by the size of the gurney and the mouth of the ventilator. His domino was in place, but somebody had flipped the screen over the eyes back, so Dick could see that Damian was asleep. The IV in his elbow connected to several bags, and Dick had no doubt at least one of them was a sedative. They would have to, to put him on the ventilator.

Dick snaked his gloved fingers into Damian’s bare ones and squeezed lightly. Even through the gloves, he could feel the smallest pulse.

He legs threatened to give out beneath him again.

And, well. Then they did.

A passing doctor saw him just as he had sprawled on the floor like a starfish. “Nightwing? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Dick shook his head, gesturing to his chest about the tightness still persisting htere. “Just dizzy.”

The doctor clucked his tongue, reaching out to the chair wedged into the corner. “Think you can get in this chair?”

Dick nodded (a mistake), and with the doctor’s help he was able to slide into the seat. The doctor flit out of the room and returned less than a minute later with a nasal cannula and oxygen tank.

Dick waved it away. “I’m fine.”

The doctor rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh, and I am, too.”

Dick didn’t fight it when she applied it. The steady stream of dry oxygen through his nose was a relief, and his head began to clear again almost immediately. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” the doctor waved.

Dick stopped her on her way out the door again. “Wait.”

She paused, obviously a little irritated at being interrupted.

Dick blushed in apology. “When will he be taken off the ventilator?” he asked, gesturing toward Damian, in the bed.

The doctor only shrugged. “When he’s ready.” And she left, hustling toward her next patient.

Dick pulled his glove off and ran his free hand through Damian’s hair, brushing back the strays. It was still damp with sweat.

However long Damian was asleep, Dick would be there when he woke up.

[redhoodssweetheart]

Blackbird | One

Pairing: Dick Grayson x Fem!Reader slowly turning into a Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2K

Requested: No

Warnings: Swearing, angst, some fluff, talk of having a dark soul and not being a good person, death mention, shot with a gun

Description: You were once a member of the BatFam known by the moniker Blackbird.   You and Dick Grayson were close, but when a tragic accident left many members of the team thinking you were dead you went into hiding and tried to build a new life for yourself. But now Dick is back and he’s about to find out your secret.

A/N:  You may recognize this from @writersfortheworld​ which I was once apart of.  I am moving my Marvel/DC stories from there to here.  Enjoy.

The rooftop was dark, little light from the street lamps below casting light this far up.  She preferred it this way, less time for her prey to catch wind of her if she were up here with no light then trying to avoid the yellow tinted pools the street lamps caused.

Below her was a man stalking an instant pedestrian.  She wondered why someone was out this late at night and alone no less.  The city wasn’t known for being safe in the nighttime.  She also wondered why the person hadn’t called a cab or hired one of those drivers from one of the apps they had nowadays.  That certainly would have been safer than this.

If she was going to act it had to be now before the mugger got any closer to the other person.  Swinging over the side of the building she dropped down in front of the man who came skidding to a stop.  “What the fu--”

“Ah, ah,” she chastised.  “There’s no need for such harsh language.”

The mugger was clearly frustrated that some masked vigilante had just interrupted his heist for the evening.  He lunged for her, but in a swift move she kicked him in the stomach and set him sprawling backward until he hit the pavement.  He was stunned for a moment before sitting up, “You’re gonna pay for that.”

She merely inspected her nails, “Am I though?”

The person who the mugger had attempted to rob had fled the scene the moment the masked woman had jumped down from the building behind them.  Their phone in their hand as they dialed nine one one to alert the police of what was going down on the corner of sixth street.

The mugger clamored to his feet and tried to come at her again, his fist aimed straight at her face, but she was quicker and ducked out of the way.  She laughed, which only spurred the man on.  “Come here!”  He yelled as he lunged for her again.

She jumped into the air and used his back as a springboard.  “Is that really the best you can do?”  She taunted, the distant sound of sirens piercing through the air.  “Well it looks like our playtime is over, now be a good boy and wait here until the cops show up and arrest you.”  She took his head and rammed it into one of the light poles knocking the man out.

Handcuffing him to that same light pole she took off into the night once more.  She was trying her hardest to go unnoticed by the law and others around her.  There was a reason she didn’t want to be discovered and had managed to protect her identity pretty well except for a few fuzzy photos bystanders had managed to snap of her.

The night was relatively slow after that as she picked her way across the city back to her apartment.  She was tired and just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before she had to be at her job the next morning.  Maybe tonight she could finally shut her brain down long enough to get some actual rest for once.

Doubtful, but a girl could wish.

She carefully opened her window and discovered that everything was how she had left it.  Pulling the mask from her face she headed for her room to turn on the shower.  Hunting down bad guys gave her a thrill like nothing ever would, but she always felt icky after a night out on the town.

Steam poured out of the bathroom letting her know that the shower was nice and warm.  The hot water relaxed her muscles and she hummed in content.  This was her favorite part of the evening.  These few minutes to herself where she could just relax and not have to worry about anything else.

When the water ran cold she grabbed her towel and stepped out of the bathroom to finish her nightly routine.  Tomorrow was going to be a good day, she could feel it in her bones.

Dick Grayson walked into the Batcave with a folder in his hands.  There was a new vigilante that had popped up in Preston City, no one knew much about this new player and the only photos there were, were all blurry and dark.  He wished that he could find out more about this new vigilante but it seemed he would have to go to Preston City himself and see this person up close.

“Bruce, I’m going to be out of town for a few days,” he said without looking up from his file.

“What for?”  Bruce had noticed Dick come in with the file in his hands and wondered what the former Robin had discovered.

Dick finally closed the file he was holding and met Bruce’s gaze, “There’s a new vigilante that’s sprung up in Preston City.  I was gonna head there tomorrow and see if I could recruit them.  Maybe offer them training and get them on our side.”

“No,” Bruce shook his head.  “The League and I have discussed it and we’d rather not bring in the vigilante.”

Dick was confused, “Why the hell not?  We’re always looking for new members to bring in and they could be useful to have around.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dick.  Just leave this one alone for now.”  He turned his attention back to his computer and hoped that Dick would drop the subject.

Dick stood there for a moment just staring at Bruce’s back wondering what the hell was going on with him.  Normally the League looked for new recruits, it was better if the vigilantes that sprung up were watched by the leaders than running around causing problems on their own.

When Dick saw that this was no longer up for debate with Bruce, he huffed and left the Batcave.  He still had plans to go to Preston City no matter what Bruce or the League had to say about it.  His gut was telling him something different and he was going to listen.

Bruce waited until he heard the doors to the elevator slide shut before he picked up his phone and dialed a number.  “It’s me,” he said.  “Dick’s going to be heading your way tomorrow.  Be careful.”  With that, he hung up and set his phone down.  Steepling his fingers together he leaned back in his chair and stared blanking at the computer before him.

“How do you know Master Dick is going to be heading her way, sir?”  Alfred asked as he emerged from the shadows.

Sometimes Bruce swore that Alfred had a superpower of knowing when something was bothering one of the people living under the same roof as him.  “Dick is impulsive and if he thinks something is for the better good of the world then he’s going to do it.  Tomorrow he’ll be heading for Preston City and I’m not sure he’s going to like what he finds there.”

She set her phone back on the nightstand and stared at the wall in front of her.  This was the exact reason she had been so careful.  She didn’t need him coming into her city and messing up the life she had built for herself.

“What am I going to do?”  She whispered into the darkness of her room.

She could take a few days off.  With Nightwing in the area he could handle any small crimes he came upon.  The city would be safe until he grew tired of waiting for her to come out.  But she knew she wasn’t going to do that.

Growling she stood and headed into her living room to try and find something to watch.

Another sleepless night on the books.

“You ready Blackbird?”  Dick looked over at her, his usual carefree grin on his face.

She rolled her eyes and pulled her gloves a bit tighter, “I’m not the one that needs to be focused right now.  Keep your eyes on the prize, Nightwing.”  He chuckled and knew that she wanted to use his last name.

“Focus you two,” came Bruce’s voice over the earpiece.  “We can’t let Luthor or any of the others escape.  Remember what’s at stake here.”

Luthor had banded together with the likes of Poison Ivy, Deathstroke, Black Atom, Deadshot, and Killer Frost to try and steal a nuclear reactor.  The League had called in all the help that they could get to stop them before it was too late.

Dick’s eyes scanned the road and tapped her on the shoulder, “There.”

She followed to where he was pointing and saw the flash of headlights in the distance.  “They’re here,” she warned.

Things hadn’t gone as planned though.  There were more villains there than the intel had said and the heroes were ambushed.  She and Dick were on the roof fighting off Harley Quinn and Joker when the Joker had pulled a gun and shot her.

“Blackbird!”  Dick had shouted as she went falling over the side of the building, pain blooming in her chest.  

That had been the last thing she could remember before the world went dark around her and she was lost in a sea of pain.

[the-broken-truth]

Broken-Style Remix: The Red Hood & Shadow Hunter (Jason Todd & Bellatrix Todd)

Broken: So, I happened to read one of @anxiousnerdwritings's works about Jason Todd and Damian's Twin sister being a team and going against Bruce and the Bat-Family who want Damian's twin sister with them. This idea came to mind and I thought you would like it. Let the words weave and enjoy!

@anxiousnerdwritings's version: LINK

Quick Note: Bellatrix's Name is Shadow Hunter - Her Armor is like Jason's but it is more wolf-like (My personal touch) and has a bit more tech to it.

Blue eyes forced through the magnifying glasses on the face of the Eldest Wayne Heir, yet the one who cast the name aside for one that better understood her and a family that would better understand her than the Dark Knight or his gaggle of infants ever could. She sat in the darkroom - well, not entirely dark; the sparks from the tools in her hand made occasional lights that illuminated the room every now and then, plus there was the desk lamp on the workbench - shining light on the hand & forearm model and the gadget in the making that Bellatrix was working on. It was an attachment to her suit - Claws that gave a lightning discharge. She could use it to knock someone out or remove them completely with enough voltage but she won't do that - she won't live on the Al Ghul Blood, she won't be like Talia Al Ghul or the boy she once called brother.

Speaking of brothers.

"Another all-nighter?" A familiar voice called out, causing Bellatrix to turn off the tools, placed them down, and turn in her seat while lifting the goggles off her face to look at the man in the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Yeah, I wanna make sure the claws are ready for our next patrol." Bellatrix explained as she pulled the goggles off her head and placed them on the table before getting up and walking over to Jason, who gave her the coffee cup once she was in front of him. "Thanks." She said as she took a sip.

"No problem, what are brothers for?" Jason asked with a smirk.

"Other than entering their little sister's workroom without knocking?" Bellatrix asked with a raised eyebrow.

"As your brother, I have a right to invade your privacy for the greater good." Jason said with a smirk.

"And to be nosy." Bellatrix added as she walked past him.

"And to be..." He stopped when he realized what he was gonna say, "Hey! I'm not nosy!" He yelled as he followed behind her to the kitchen where breakfast was waiting.

[Later That Night]

Shadow Huntress secured her clawed boots shut before standing to look at the modified claws before sliding them on and latching them closed. She then positioned her right hand as if she was going to strike with her claws and smiled as the light blue electric current waves ran flowed from the bottom of her forearm to the tip of her claws; the tried with her other arm and everything was perfect. She grabbed her sword in one hand and her mask in the other before heading out to see what Hood was doing.

"Anything?" Huntress asked.

"They're still moving - I think they might be hiding to the abandoned warehouse on the edge of town; you know, the one near the waterfront." Red Hood said.

"I think that's where they are heading. Look." Huntress hits some keys on the supercomputer and the cameras in that area showed the factory. "See those boats? They're new, no one has been in that district and it's the only place to do a deal uninterrupted because the cops don't patrol that area anymore." Huntress explained.

"Then, we have our place. Let's move out." Red Hood said as he placed on his helmet and Huntress did the same - both masks locked into place and the two of them were out of there.

[Gotham Rooftops]

Red Hood soared through the open spaces of the backstreets of Gothan while the Shadow Huntress ran across the roofs with the speed and prowess of a wolf on the hunt. She leaped for a high roof and used her claws to climb to the top before running and jumping to the next one while Red Hood attached his rope to another point and began to swing.

The two of them landed on the roof at the same time - a vantage point that showed the trucks driving into the warehouse and the men that stood out to keep watch; not seeing the two hunters crouching on the roof, waiting and watching.

"What do we got?" Red Hood asked. Huntress placed her fingers on the control pad of her mask's visor to activate heat-vision mode - seeing the heat signatures in the building.

"There's about 25 of them - not counting the ones that are waiting outside." Huntress explained.

"What do you think we should do about it?" Red asked.

"We take out the guys outside, then we find the generator and cut the power; under the cover of darkness, we take them out - one by one." Huntress explained.

"What if they see us or hear the noise?" Red asked.

"Then we beat the hell out of them." Huntress said as the two of them rose to their feet and jumped down.

Everything was going good until Jason decided the throw someone through the window, everyone was high alert - it was ass-kicking time.

Red Hood and Shadow Huntress were knocking thugs down left and right, showing the combos that brother and sister made together. Huntress saw one of the thugs pointing his gun at Red Hood and jumped in the way, taking the bullet in the side but she still stood. She cracked her hand in the claw formation and the lightning came to life, causing her to pounce on the thugs, knocking them out through electrical waves while Red just beat the hell out of them.

When the last thug fell, Huntress grunted as she held the bleeding hole in her side, causing Red to run to her.

"Huntress, you alright?" He asked.

"I'll be fine. Let's get out of here and we can get it patched up." Huntress said as she rose to her feet and the 2 of them jumped through the window. They scaled the wall of the roof to stop and breathe for a moment while Jason removed the bullet that got stuck and clean the wound before wrapping it. They were waiting when Huntress's Robotic Wolf Ears shot up at the sound of footsteps - 4 pairs of them, she groaned.

"They're here." Huntress groaned and just when she said that 4 Figures landed on the roof in front of them.

The Dark Knight - Batman, a.k.a Bruce Wayne; Bellatrix's Father.

The Latest Robin - Damian Wayne; Bellatrix's Womb Mate.

Nightwing - Dick Grayson.

Batgirl - Barbara Gordon; the Police Commissioner's Daughter.

"What the hell do you 4 want?" Red Hood said as he rose to his feet.

"We received reports about gunfire in this region, we came to investigate." Batman said to Jason, but his eyes remained on Bellatrix, who just glared at him.

"There was a Firearms Deal going on and we put a stop to it before it could have even begun." Huntress said as she rose to her feet and stood beside Red Hood; Nightwing looked over the edge and whistled.

"They put a stop to it alright - everyone is laid out." He said.

"Laid out? You killed them?" Batgirl asked.

"We're not above killing but we try not to, per Huntress's request." Red Hood said as he gestured at his sister.

"You don't kill but you partner yourself with a killer? How backward you are, Bellatrix." Damian said.

"It is no business of yours, Wayne." Huntress growled.

"You're my sister, so it is my business, and you're a Wayne too; as well as an Al Ghul." Damian countered but Bellatrix scoffed.

"I've never been an Al Ghul, that's why you and your mother cast me aside; the only one who saw any worth in me in that family was my grandfather. Just like you wiped your hands of me back then, I wiped my hands of you - you're nothing to me but a stranger I happen to share my blood with." Huntress said.

"Bellatrix, that's enough." Bruce said.

"You have no say over me, Bat-Boy; I don't have to listen to you." She said.

"I am your father, you need to listen to me." Bruce said.

"I may have your blood but I damn sure don't have to listen to a damn thing you have to say because I don't live with you, nor do I work with you." Huntress said.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Bellatrix, you've been hanging around Jason for too long, it's making you reckless and dangerous. I think it's time you came to live with me, with us, with your family. There is a room waiting for you at Wayne Manor and we can talk about patrols and missions once you get settled in but you need to be with us now; Todd is a bad influence on you." Bruce said.

"You're joking." She said.

"No, Father is right - you've been living with this brute for too long. You're a Wayne and an Al Ghul, it's time you started acting like one." Damian said.

"Let me tell you something: I stopped being an Al Ghul when I left that hell you called home, and I never accepted to be a Wayne. Last time I checked, my last name is Todd and I want nothing to do with you...and of you." She glared at all of them. "Let's go, Bro. I'm done with this." Huntress began to walk away with Jason at her side.

Jason was her brother.

Jason was her family.

Bellatrix was a Todd and there was nothing anyone could do it change that.

[mochegato]

Nannyette

Chapter 1     Chapter 2

  Chapter 3 – Lions and Robins and Ladybugs, Oh My

“The lions!  This is where the lions are!  I love the lions.  I love their hair.  It goes out everywhere.  I wanna make my hair look like a lion.”  Mar’i babbled loudly and happily as she pulled Marinette towards the lion exhibit. “Do you think we’ll see them?  I hope we see them.  They’re my favorite.”

“I thought the otters were your favorite?” Marinette commented with a smile.  Almost every animal they’d seen had been Mar’i’s ‘favorite’ so far.  They were enjoying a rare warm day and decided to celebrate by visiting the Gotham City Zoo before the next cold front blew through that night.

“I LOVE otters.  They’re so cute and fluffy!  But I love lions too.  They’re my favorite favorite.”  She rattled off, still pulling Marinette with her.

They had just made it to the Plexiglas enclosure for viewing the lions when they heard screaming.  Marinette automatically picked up Mar’i and held her close.  She turned toward the door and said loudly, “I wish someone would investigate and see what is going on for me,” hoping Tikki would pick up on the hint.  She then turned back to Mar’i.  “Let’s stay hidden in here until we figure out what is going on.”

They waited there for a few minutes observing people running scared and looking over their shoulders in both directions, almost like they were all running from something.  Soon, Marinette saw Tikki flying back to her.  She nodded subtly to Tikki and brushed Mar’i’s hair out of her face. “Hey, sweetie, do you see any lions or are they hiding too?”  When Mar’i turned to the enclosure, Marinette leaned away, trying to put as much space as she could between Mar’i and Tikki, without letting go of Mar’i.

Tikki flew to Marinette’s ear and whispered quietly enough for Mar’i not to hear her.  “It’s some guy wearing a black mask.  He has a bunch of henchmen working their way through the zoo.  They are working in teams to gather people.  There are two teams headed this way from opposite sides.”

“Damn it,” Marinette mumbled under her breath. “Why does everyone try to kill us?” They were in the worst part of the zoo for this.  They were in a section that had Plexiglas enclosures on either side of the walkways. There was no place to hide.  No getting off the path to hide Mar’i.  No sneaking into an enclosure to hide Mar’i. And with them approaching from both sides, there was no outrunning them.  Marinette looked around her in a panic, frantically looking for anything she could use.  She could turn into Ladybug but that was a last resort, a Mar’i-is-about-to-get-hurt-resort.  

She glanced out of the observation room and stopped.  The lemur observation room was directly across the walkway.  The rooms were really tall, to ensure that the lemurs couldn’t jump over them.  So tall, nobody could climb up there from the pathway.  So tall, nobody could see the rooves from the pathway.  “You have to fly.”  She told Mar’i suddenly.  “I need you to fly up on the lemur roof and lay on it.  Stay on the roof and away from the edges.  Do not move from the roof.  Do not stand.  Do not do anything but lay in the middle until you hear your Dad’s voice.  Do you understand me?  We’ll wait until nobody is looking.  Now, if we could just get someone to mess with the cameras on this section….”

Mar’i nodded at her, a look of fear appearing in her eyes, missing the red blur that flew to the camera pointed to their area. “It will be okay, Mar’i.  I promise you that, okay?  You lay down on the roof and stay there until you hear your Dad’s… or Tim’s… or your grandfather’s? voice.  Okay?  I need you to do it now.  Do not make any noise no matter what you hear unless it is your Dad’s or Tim’s voice okay?” Mar’i nodded again.  “Okay.  I love you, sweetie.  You’re going to be okay, okay?  I’m going to lead them away so they won’t look around here and your Daddy can come get you, okay?  And your Dad will come for you in no time.” Marinette gave her a tight hug before holding her out.  “Now go.”

Mar’i nodded and floated up to the roof.  She backed away from the edge and laid down on the roof, curled in a ball, trying not to cry.  As soon as she couldn’t see Mar’i and it looked like she was staying away from the edge, Marinette let out a breath and whispered “Good girl”.  She paused to send Dick and Kori a text message letting them know what was going on and where she was having Mar’i hide, before she chose a pathway and started running.

She didn’t get very far before she came across the first set of henchmen.  There were unconscious bodies strewn across the path behind them.  So, they weren’t taking prisoners, they were just knocking people out… or killing them and robbing them, if the outturned pockets and open purses meant anything.  

As soon as they saw her they started laughing. They didn’t expect her to continue running toward them.  She motioned to kick their legs out from under the first one.  When he bent down with a leer to grab her before she could reach him, Marinette jumped, delivering a flying kick that broke his jaw, knocking him over into the other henchman.  She then turned back in the other direction.  She needed to get the other set of henchmen away from Mar’i’s hiding spot.

She just got to the lion and lemur enclosures when she saw them.  She stopped running and discretely checked to make sure Mar’i couldn’t be seen.  She made sure they saw her before turning around and running back toward the henchmen she had just knocked down.  As she had hoped the new henchmen started running after her too, away from Mar’i.

She slowed to a stop once she reached the original henchman.  She lowered herself into a fighting position, trying to calculate if she could get past him and lead them even further away.  There was a chance, slim, but she just needed a little bit of luck to pull it off.  Luckily, she knew the embodiment of luck.

Marinette bounced from foot to foot like she was trying to come up with a plan, really she was analyzing the first henchman. When she was ready, she started running toward him.  She motioned to sweep his feet again.  As she expected, he braced himself for a high attack.  Instead, she slid between his legs.  As soon as she was on the other side of him, she started running again. She checked over her shoulder to make sure the three were following her.  When they started lagging behind, she slowed down and pretended to consider her options, even though there were none.  She didn’t want to risk them losing interest and turning back.

After a few seconds, she came to a fork in the path… and more henchmen.  It was now five to one and that one hadn’t fought, beyond playful sparring matches with Adrien, in years. She looked around for a way to escape or get past the new henchmen.  She could try the same maneuver again but… fuck it.  It worked twice, third time’s the charm right?  No, wait… that didn’t work in her favor in this instance. Three times lucky?  That worked in her favor didn’t it?  Sure, that’s what she was going with.

She ran full speed at the henchman on the left, motioning to kick his legs out from under him.  He hunched down to block her way and Marinette jumped to go over him again. Unfortunately, the henchman on the right had his partner’s back and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Marinette kicked the head of the left henchman since she was already in a position to, knocking him out.  She used that leverage to add force to her throat punch to the right henchman.

He dropped her instantly, bringing his hands to his throat.  She hit the ground in a crouch and pushed off to start running again but instead saw a blinding light followed immediately by the blurry ground rushing up toward her. She landed roughly on her hands and knees.  She tried shaking her head to clear it, but that just made her head hurt more.  She pushed back to kneeling as one of the henchmen walked in front of her.  He swung a bat around saying something to her that she couldn’t quite make out.

Another henchman walked in front from the other side. He grinned maniacally at her and raised his foot to kick her in the face.  Marinette didn’t register his foot approaching until it was a few centimeters from her face.  She summoned the last of her strength to twist out of the way and kick up, meeting the most sensitive part she could reach with enough force that it was unlikely he would ever be able to have children.  With that energy spent, she collapsed to the ground.

She tried to brace herself for the oncoming beating, but instead heard distant grunts and the distinct sound of punches landing.  She wanted to open her eyes but her body was fighting her.  When she finally felt someone’s hand meet her, it was gentle and urgent feeling.  “Marinette! Marinette, are you okay? Marinette open your eyes! Please!”  The voice sounded pleading and familiar.

She finally opened her eyes and saw white. She scrunched her face in confusion. She tried to refocus her eyes and took in the person’s unfamiliar full face.  It was a mask she realized as she studied the face longer.  It was Red Robin kneeling over her.  She tried to look around for Nightwing.  “Dick,” she gasped out.  “Mar’i.”

“The girl you were babysitting?  We know about her. My colleague is looking for her right now.”  Red Robin assured her.

Marinette looked up at him, the world starting to settle a bit and make sense again, “Her dad?” she asked quietly.  “I told her to only come out for her dad or you or Bruce.”

Red Robin gaped at her.  “You…”

“Have a functioning brain cell?” She slurred slightly. “Yes, yes I do.  It seems a little slow right now…”  She tried to look around to see who was nearby to overhear them and relaxed slightly when she saw they were alone, police having already dragged the henchmen away.  “Well maybe I don’t or I wouldn’t have outed myself as knowing just now. But, I normally have a functioning brain.”

“And a concussion.” Red Robin commented dryly.

“Ugh, I hate concussions.  They last forever.” She clumsily tried to sit up and turn toward the direction Mar’i was hiding, squinting her eyes to see if she could see him yet.

Tim grabbed her to give her support, cradling her between his knees.  “Easy, easy. Try moving slower,” He cautioned her. “I can hear him over the coms,” Red Robin told her quietly.  “He has her and she’s safe.”  Marinette let out a quiet sigh of relief.  “A little scared but safe.”

“Thank God.” Marinette smiled closing her eyes and laying her head on his chest.

“Hey, no.  None of that.  You have to stay awake for me, okay?” Red Robin’s voice suddenly became strained. “We’re going to get you to a hospital and you can fall asleep there.”

“Liar,” she mumbled.  “They won’t let me sleep either, not for a long time.”

Red Robin chuckled lightly.  “You’re right.  But humor me and talk to me.  I like hearing your voice so it’s win/win for me.”

“I like your voice, you should talk to me and I can fall asleep to the sound.  Win/win for me.” She retorted.  

“Not if you fall into a coma.  Come on, let me see your beautiful, blue eyes.  I like looking into your eyes.” Red Robin gently begged her.

“You first,” she scoffed. She opened her eyes and shifted her eyes around them, remembering where they were.  “Ignore that.  Don’t show me right now.”

“Later, I promise.” He assured her, hugging her closer to his chest.  He gently brushed her hair out of her face.

She smiled sleepily, still struggling to keep her eyes open.  Her eyes popped open wide a few seconds later when she heard Mar’i scream her name.  Marinette blinked a few times and turned her head in her direction.  “Marinette! No, you got hurt!  Marinette!  Is this because of me?”

“No!  I’m okay, sweetie.”  She tried to smile reassuringly.  “I just… fell for Red Robin’s good looks again.” Mar’i giggled in her father’s arms.

“Hey, why are you giggling at that?” Red Robin pretended to be upset.  “That was a serious comment.”  Mar’i giggled even harder.  “That’s it, you’re grounded young lady.  Go home right now.”  Mar’i only laughed harder at that, nearly falling out of her father’s arms.

“You heard him, it’s home for you.  Or maybe we can take you to your Grandpa Alfred, huh?  Let’s go.” Nightwing said turning her away from Marinette.

“She does that a lot,” Mar’i giggled.

“Does she now?” Dick asked with an amused tone, but his eyes stayed sharp.  He gave Red Robin a concerned, questioning look, darting his eyes to Marinette.  He only continued walking away with Mar’i after Red Robin nodded to let him know he could handle talking care of Marinette by himself.

“And let’s get you to the ambulance, huh?” Tim gave her a gentle smile as he carefully picked her up to carry her to the ambulance.  

He gripped her tighter into his chest when she laid her head on his shoulder and let out a relieved sigh. “She’s safe.” She slurred sleepily. “She’ll be okay.”

“You both will be.” Tim assured her, kissing the top of her head.  “As long as you stay awake.  Maybe while you are awake you can tell me why you decided to come here without me?  I like animals, too.” He pretended to pout. “Enjoyable things to see, delicious food, did I mention the fries here are amazing?  Spectacular company...  Sounds like a perfect day.”

Marinette giggled into his shoulder then groaned at the pain the vibrations caused in her head.  “I’ll make sure to invite you next time.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he whispered as he handed her off to the EMTs.  His fingers itched to keep holding her hand, but it would be dangerous for Red Robin to take too strong of an interest in one particular victim.  He had to settle for watching them take care of her in his peripheral vision and praying everything would be okay.  He knew, logically, that she would be, but that didn’t stop him from worrying until he could see her brilliant, radiant smile again.

     Chapter 4

          Tags:

@timari-month-event, @ichigorose @stainedglassm

[alecmagnuslwb]

Say Your Name Softly

Read on AO3

“Jaybird what happened to ‘don’t call any attention to ourselves’?” Roy asks as he looks around the bar where Jason has absolutely just caused a scene.

“I’m improvising,” Jason says throwing a wad of bills onto the bar for the owner as an apology for the trouble he’s just caused. “And choose between Jaybird or your trachea, you can’t have both,” Jason adds on because he doesn’t need Roy giving him some stupid nickname.

Roy, naturally, doesn’t listen. Jaybird sticks and despite his reputation and vague threats Jason never actually does anything to put a stop to it. Jaybird becomes common vernacular for Roy.

First Jason’s pretty sure Roy does it just to annoy him, especially when he realizes Jason wasn’t really serious about the whole trachea thing, delighting in every sharp glare that has less and less heat behind it every time Jason shoots one back.

From there it just sort of evolves, Jason stops glaring every time Roy says it and it becomes an everyday friendly nickname that as much as Jason is loath to admit it out loud he likes.

He’s Jaybird and well that’s fine.

***

Roy takes a running jump from the ledge of the building reaching out for the grappling hook and landing with a grace that sometimes still surprises Jason.

He doesn’t stop moving as he rolls to a stand and takes off, arrows knocked and aiming at the goons cornering them.

“Cover me Jaybird!” he shouts as he goes, expertly dodging gunfire while hitting three of the goon’s square in the chest with stun arrows. Jason curses under his breath already in motion guns at the ready. Beside him Dick chuckles.

“Jaybird?” he laughs and questions simultaneously as he stands and does a complicated flip jumping into the fray. Jason ignores him taking out the kneecaps of several of the guys while Dick kicks and punches his way through a pack of them, the blue of his Nightwing costume moving like a blur. Off to the side he hears the familiar thwip of a bow and thud of knocked out bodies.

Between the three of them they deal with the lackies easily, to the surprise of no one Black Mask doesn’t even bother showing his ugly, bony face. Jason’s tying up the last of the goons when he hears the sirens in the distance, Montoya most likely leading the charge. Jason stands to his full height about to shout over to Roy that at least he needs to get going, he’s not exactly on the best of terms with the GCPD just yet even if he’s been cleaning up his act.

Roy however beats him to it, “Jaybird!” he shouts from the other side of the roof where he and Dick have been chatting. “We better motor!”

Jason turns and shoots a thumb out to the direction of the next roof over so they can make their escape quickly before the cops show up not needing to say a word for Roy to know what he’s meaning. Roy nods in return before turning back to Dick, the two do some complicated bro handshake that ends with a loud high five before Roy immediately takes off in a run shooting another grappling hook for he and Jason to slide across.

“See you soon,” Dick shouts at Jason as Roy already makes his slide over to the next building. “Jaybird,” he emphasizes with a big doofy looking smile that Jason hates. He does not have time for his big brother teasing him about going soft or something by letting Roy call him a nickname.

“Hopefully not too soon, Dickie,” he shouts flipping his brother a playful middle finger as he takes off in a run following close behind Roy.

***

Dick isn’t the first, or the last to comment on the little nickname as more and more people hear it. Kory always gives Jason this look, this soft understanding look that he doesn’t understand every time he lets the nickname slide. Alfred drops on comms one evening to invite him over for tea and calls him Master Jaybird and Jason can hear his teasing smile in the words. One by one his family and Roy’s friends all start to just make little notices of it, like it’s some big deal.

Which it isn’t. It’s not like the words become more and more a term of endearment than a nickname, like lately Roy hasn’t taken to saying it a lot softer than he ever had before and started accompanying it with these lingering soft little touches. It’s not like Jason hasn’t found himself feeling something a little deeper than friendship of late when Roy says it, like he doesn’t absolutely melt when those little touches brush his skin. It’s just a silly name, that’s it.  

“You good, Jaybird?” Roy asks his hand reaching out to turn Jason’s unmasked face to look at the cut along his cheek, all things considered it’s a minor injury.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jason says not making any move to stop Roy’s hand from lingering. That is until he catches sight of a small pack of Titans out of the corner of his eye. He clears his throat and steps back a bit a small grateful smile that he knows only Roy will notice on his lips. Roy just nods his head resting a hand a little too lightly to be considered some sort of bro slap on his shoulder before he steps away over to the little group.

Donna starts walking their way brushing Roy’s arm in a friendly manner as she goes, Jason’s stomach does a weird fluttering thing at the action. He’s not jealous, there’s no reason to be jealous. He and Roy are friends. Donna and Roy are friends. It’s as unmeaning as the nickname is.

“Jaybird, huh?” Donna says with a tittering laugh as she passes. They’ve just thwarted an apocalypse; Superman is somewhere on the metropolitan battlefield and that’s what she chooses to focus on. Roy just shrugs winking at her as he goes a look of some understanding passing between them that Jason can’t quite read.

Jason turns around bending down to pick up his helmet where it had been rudely knocked off of his head during a fight. Donna’s boots come into his eyeline, the amazon standing firmly beside him. He stands to his full height mirroring her stance with her arms crossed and hip cocked. She watches over where Roy, Dick, Gar and a few others have gathered checking in with each other.

“You better treat him right, Todd,” she says turning the full force of her warrior stance on him. Jason squints at her, the sky has turned back from its bright red to the sparkling night it should be, it makes the little constellations and stars on her outfit shine even brighter and makes her somehow more intimidating.

“That’s all,” she says before he can scramble to say it’s not like that with a wide fake smile, she reaches out her hand and places it on Jason’s shoulder like Roy just had, but with a much firmer grip, a grip that means business. It takes every bit of his Batman training not to wince.

She smiles more genuinely after a moment and steps away her eyes trained upwards when she spots Diana fly above.

Jason just watches her go expression unmoving realizing that maybe everyone keeps pointing out the nickname for a reason.

***

Jason’s not totally certain how he ended up at an arrow family dinner, except for the fact that he’s weak in the face of a bright-eyed pouting Roy Harper. So when he’d asked Jason to come as a buffer in case things between him and Ollie got intense his big green eyes bright in the morning sun with a pout on his face as he gave Jason a giant mug of coffee just the way he likes it, well he didn’t have it in him to say no.

Roy had been dodging the invitations for nearly a year, but when Dinah showed up in person and asked him to come there was no way he could say no.

Plus they’ve been spending more and more time in the warehouse in Star City than the loft in Gotham these days anyway, so really it was more a matter of convenience than anything.

So here they all are surrounding a big green table, which Jason thinks is a little on the nose, and everything has been shockingly pleasant so far. Dinah had practically burst into happy tears when she saw Roy on their doorstep and she’d even welcomed Jason in with open arms.

It’s clear the other arrow kids love Roy he’s oldest of them and they all look up to him and it pains Jason to see how surprised Roy is by that fact all the time. He’s not a screw up in their eyes, he’s their hero who overcame a lot to still be sitting at this table today.

Connor and Cissie are fairly indifferent to Jason which is just fine by him, except for Emiko who keeps asking exceedingly inappropriate questions about Batman that Damian always refused to answer. Jason doesn’t have any qualms about answering them however and he’s certain he’ll be getting a stern call from Bruce in no time about it. Mia is even shockingly polite, which considering their history is the most shocking thing about the whole evening.

Even more shocking though is Oliver Queen himself who is nothing but cordial and corny the whole night through. He’s clearly trying to maintain an easy-going environment and watching his words carefully so that he doesn’t test any boundary or limit that will lead to even one tense moment between he and Roy.

He doesn’t like Jason, but he’s never liked Jason so the simple fact he’s made not one negative remark about Jason’s presence is just enough for him. Everything about this night is clearly a win in Roy’s book judging from the smile that’s rarely left his face all night.

Dinner is perfectly pleasant and even makes Jason a little nostalgic for his Robin days when he was still innocent and family dinners weren’t just the occasional tea with Alfred. They’re lingering after dinner clearly each just waiting to see who will be the first one to break and say they need to leave and go on patrol.

It’s a waiting game Jason’s seen and always been the first to break at every gathering of his own brood, the only reason he’s not tonight is for Roy’s sake. He’s not even really paying attention anymore just lingering over the Tupperware of insanely good chili that Oliver had pushed his way moments ago letting the family just be together.

“Hey, Jaybird,” Roy says startling Jason out of his staring contest with the chili. He looks up and meets Roy’s eyes followed by the amused little smiles of everyone else and Ollie’s wide eyed, confusion maybe? Definitely surprise. “You ready to go bust up that fight club?”

Jason raises an eyebrow. The fight club in question has been on their radar for some time now, they’re 99% certain they’re using meta’s against their will and have been planning a little coup of their own over the weeks. Roy has about one and half feet in the door as a high roller, playing the role of spoiled rich boy looking to blow money even better than Jason does.

The next time he shows up he’s certain it’ll be the clubs last night in operation, he didn’t think tonight would be that night.

“You sure?” Jason questions searching Roy’s eyes for confirmation that this isn’t because he missed something going sour. Roy’s eyes look clear and certain and Jason knows he hasn’t missed a thing, Roy just wants to get the job they started done. He nods grabbing the Tupperware and the rest of the arrow kids take that as their cue each signaling their own farewells. Ollie never stops watching the two of them however, he looks like his mind has been running a mile a minute as he leans against the counter.

He finally moves when they all makes their way out the door, Dinah hugging each of the kids and even Jason as they file out. Roy and Dinah chat for a few more minutes while Jason safely secures the chili to his bike.

Roy looks so light and carefree and it makes Jason smile against his will. They walk over to the bike together Dinah hugging Roy one more time before he turns to Ollie and they do a weird bro hug style farewell that’s only a little bit awkward.

Ollie grips his bicep when they pull back. “You sure you two won’t need any backup with whatever you’re messing around with tonight?” he asks eyes briefly flitting over to where Jason leans against his bike.

“Nah, we’ll be good, Jaybird’s got my back,” Roy says. Ollie gets this amused look on his face as Roy steps away and takes the spare helmet Jason offers him. Jason gets on the bike first ignoring whatever is going on with Oliver.

“Jaybird,” Oliver mumbles under his breath before shaking his head. “Well if you change your mind, Pretty Bird,” he says looking Jason directly in the eyes as he pulls her close and places a lingering kiss on her head. Jason can’t ignore the implication of that comparison the way he’s managed to ignore everyone else’s glances and little comments. “And I are just a call away,” Ollie finishes with a chuckle.

Roy gives him a smile and a salute as he puts on his helmet and slips onto the bike behind Jason sitting a little closer and holding Jason’s waist a little tighter than necessary. Jason throws down his helmet visor to avoid the way Oliver’s still looking at him all meaningful and vaguely threatening before speeding away.

***

Tearing down the fight club is a hell of a lot easier than Jason expected it to be. They gear up at home then they’re in and out and sending vans full of free meta’s to safe havens set up around the city by the Black Canary herself in under two hours.

They’re both a little banged up when they make it back to the warehouse, but it’s nothing a few band-aids and a little Neosporin can’t handle.

Roy starts discarding pieces of the fancy burgundy suit he was sporting as soon as they’re in the door, Jason follows suit pulling weapon after weapon from his person in what they lovingly refer to as the discard box by the door. It’s their go to spot for all the weapons that need a good cleaning or maybe a good recycling down in Roy’s workshop.

By the time Jason’s down to just his pants and an under-armor shirt Roy’s settled down at the kitchen island rifling through the first aid kit with one hand and holding his other to a spot on the back of his head.

Jason walks up behind him picking his hand up from the spot he’s covering carefully.

“Did someone slice you on the back of the head?” he asks grabbing the rubbing alcohol from Roy’s hand.

“Yup, not sure how, but yup,” Roy grimaces when Jason takes a cotton ball to the slice.

“Told you not to cut your hair,” Jason says as he keeps cleaning the wound out. Last month Roy had finally parted with his scraggly red locks for a new cut short on the sides and back and just a little longer on the top. It looks good on him, but sometimes Jason misses the tresses of hair that would always slip their way out of his hats and blow around in the wind when they stood on rooftops. The hair not even fazing Roy from making a perfect shot when they’d fly in front of his eyes.

Roy snorts. “You just miss braiding my hair.”

“Yeah during all our pillow fights and sleepovers,” Jason huffs as he finishes cleaning up the slice and moves to open the Neosporin. He can’t exactly bandage this up so he’ll just have to badger Roy to remember to keep it clean.

Roy sighs. “If only you’d accept all my invitations to those, Jaybird,” he says seriously and there’s implications not even an emotionally constipated Jason Todd can’t catch onto under those words.

“You’re always calling me that,” Jason says as he slowly finishes up on the wound.

“Jaybird?” Roy asks slowly turning around to face Jason when he gives him a tap on the shoulder signifying he’s done.

Jason nods swallowing the lump in his throat realizing this conversation is happening there’s no jumping around it anymore.

“Well aside from your attempts early on, it was pretty clear you didn’t mind it all that much,” Roy says leaning back against the island. He reaches out brushing the bit of hair that’s fallen into Jason’s eyes, it’s the part that’s shock white a stark contrast to the rest of his dark hair. “So, yeah I call you that all the time.”

“You know Oliver calls Dinah Pretty Bird all the time,” he says tracking the movement of Roy’s hand as it falls slowly down the length of Jason’s arm.

“That he does,” Roy hums as he reaches Jason’s hand and tangles their fingers together.

“And you call me Jaybird,” Jason says looking up from their joined hands to Roy’s eyes.

“That has been established.”

“You know some people might make implications based on those similarities,” Jason says holding Roy’s eyes.

“Yeah they sure might,” Roy says pushing himself off the island. They’re practically nose to nose, eyes locked. “Damn do I wish the right person would realize those implications already.”

Jason swallows again a small smile forming on his lips. He never thought this would happen, that he’d work up the courage and finally acknowledge this ever-growing thing between them. That it would lead to a moment like this.

“Well I think he’s catching on,” he says. Roy smiles bright and lifts his other hand to gently cup Jason neck.

“About fucking time,” he says before leaning in finally breaching the space between them and connecting their lips. It’s a slow, sweet glide with so much passion and over a years’ worth of tension all seeping through when their lips move and their tongues meet. Jason’s not sure how much time passes, but eventually breathing becomes a necessity.

Roy doesn’t let him go far, keeping his hand on Jason’s neck and their fingers intertwined. He tilts their heads together while they both catch their breath.

“Well that works, huh, Jaybird,” he says stroking his thumb up and down the side of Jason’s neck.

“It sure does, Roy Toy,” Jason says with a chuckle hating the nickname even as it leaves his lips. Roy’s head throws back in a deep laugh he can’t seem to restrain.

“No way, nuh uh,” he says still chuckling. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, I’ll have to take up your trachea idea if you try to make that a thing.”

Jason snorts. “I’ll keep workshopping then,” he says before leaning back in and kissing the bright smile off of Roy’s lips.

[flying-nightwing]

Scorpion (1/2)

I am still working on Op. Solarstorm, but I had this playing in my mind for far too long to keep ignoring. Also, not me back at it again with my favourite tropes and villain!reader? lmao. Anyway, enjoy!

Masterlist in bio/pinned

Pairing:

Dick Grayson x f!reader (villain)

Word count: 5217

Warnings: Language, violence, steamy stuff hehe ;) but no nsfw, kind of angst? also reader being so fucking dramatic Summary: You are the resident bad guy of Blüdhaven, former supervillain, nemesis of Nightwing and master toxinologist in your own right. One night, however, you receive an unexpected visit that convince you to return to your former alias, Scorpion. (Based off a prompt I can’t find in my likes anymore but I’ll link it as soon as I find it)

The storm raged outside.

The rain pelted down your windows, blurring the view of Blüdhaven’s skyline almost entirely. Only the occasional thunder bolts lit up the horizon, just enough to see for a fraction of second the dark clouds glaring down the city. The wind howled as it navigated around the skyscrapers, washing away the droplets of rain as soon as they crashed down.

You stood in front of the curtain wall of your condo, sipping a glass of wine and watching it all unwind like a movie. You found the storm relaxing, as if the loud growl of it drained all the negative energy stored within you and released it as a powerful blast out into the world. You smiled at the thought; if only you could possess that much power to smithe your enemies, your job would be about a hundred times easier. 

You were about to leave your window for a refill when you heard the faintest thud at your door. You frowned, waiting a moment, before shrugging and resuming your course for the kitchen. However, before you could get there, another sound reached your ears, this time, unmistakably two quiet knocks. You placed your glass on a hallway table beside a flower vase and went to the door, peeking through the glass eye. When you saw nothing, you backed up and reached for the switchblade tucked under the waistband of your pants, then placed a careful hand on the knob. You twisted and pulled the door open, and your muscles tensed at the sight in front of you.

Your fight or flight instinct kicked in for a second as your eyes registered the black and blue before anything else, but you held back that reaction when you noticed something was wrong. While there was no doubt the man on the other side was Nightwing, the vigilante that always managed to spoil your plans or stop your schemes, he looked nothing like the cocky vigilante who would have already delivered a clever one liner as soon as he got a glimpse of your face. 

No, that man was hunched on the wall, his footing staggering and his suit ripped on the arms and the torso. He was drenched and visibly weak, and his mask was broken over his left eye. Even if you could see only half of it, you noticed the blown pupil that expanded over most of his iris. Like his reaction time had been put in slow motion, he finally lifted his head, his gaze swaying from left to right. He had been clearly drugged.

“I’m sorry” His voice was shaky and breathless. “I’m sorry… I had nowhere else to go”

You noticed only then he was clutching his stomach, even if he wasn’t bleeding specifically there. You snapped out of your stupor, putting your arm around his torso and holding him up as he crashed forward. You managed to pull him in your condo with you and shut the door behind you with your foot. He was heavy, especially since he probably didn’t have the control of his muscles at all to help you with the weight, but you managed to get him to your couch. You laid him down, being careful not to let his head bounce on the way down. You put the back of your hand on his forehead, and he was burning. Even through the rain on his skin, you could see the coat of sweat on his face and down his neck. Switchblade in hand, you cut through what remained of his suit and slipped it off him before he caught his death from wearing cold, soaking wet clothes on top of whatever else was happening. He started writhing on the couch, moaning in pain and still clutching his stomach. You saw that it was swollen and tender under all the shallow fresh cuts littering his body, and immediately you understood that he hadn’t been drugged, he had been poisoned.

You moved up his body again and kneeled beside his head, gently removing his domino mask. He was so out of it he didn’t even notice your cold fingers on his face, nor your saddened sigh. It had been a while since you had seen him without his mask, and yet, he was still as shockingly beautiful as he was years ago. You didn’t waste time appreciating his beauty however, as you were most probably on the clock. You stood up and left him there for a second as you grabbed your emergency kit labelled poison/venom and brought it back to him, kneeling once again. You grabbed the flashlight first, leaning above his face and pulling the eyelids of his right eye open. You flashed the light in it, but the pupil remained blown, completely ignoring the sudden brightness. His left eye was the same. 

Quickly, you put the flashlight away and grabbed a plastic syringe, capping it with a needle. You made sure the air was out before finding the vein in his arm and plunging the needle in it. You filled it with blood and put it aside while you fished the toxicity test, then put a small amount of blood in the vial and twirled it to mix it with the powder. You waited a minute and checked the scale, which told you if left untreated, whatever was flowing through his veins would be very lethal. You swore under your breath as you pushed to your feet again, heading for your bedroom and your walk in wardrobe. At the back of it, you punched a code in a pad and the wall pulled slightly toward you. With a tug, you pulled it all the way out and grabbed the first o negative blood bag as well as tubes and a stand to hook it on. You returned to him and prepared his transfusion in a record time, setting the bag and the tubes then putting once again a needle in his arm. At this point, he had stopped moving, but his chest still rose and fell in jagged motions. 

You remained there a couple of seconds more to be sure he was really passed out, then you grabbed the syringe filled with blood and moved everything else out of the way. You put the syringe on the counter while you dragged your working station from another room--only now glad that you made the choice to have it on wheels--and put it so you could have a good view of Dick even when working. You took the time to put gloves, then brought the syringe with you and sat behind your microscope.

You put a drop of blood on the slide and got to work.

---

You waited in the dark warehouse, your ears strained for any other sound than the water leaking from the roof. Your double edged spear was prominent on your back, glistening under the faint light coming from the bright spot outside. You hadn’t taken it out in a while, but its blades were still sharp and deadly. You hoped the sheer sight of it would be enough to remind your rendez-vous who was in charge here, but you wouldn’t mind using your weapon once again. 

You stared deeper into the building as quiet footsteps grew closer, and seconds later, your contact emerged from the darkness. You let them come to you as you remained attentive to your surroundings. Just because they were an old colleague of yours, it didn’t mean you trusted them. If anything, it made them even more dangerous in your eyes. 

“Scorpion” They greeted with a smirk, using your old nickname. You couldn’t help but let a chuckle at the memory of the good old days, when you definitely wouldn’t have gone to such lengths for Nightwing out of all people. “What owes me the pleasure of getting your call tonight?”

“I need some intel” You went straight to the point, fishing a small vial from your black trenchcoat, holding it up to eye level. “This is a very rare sample of Diamondback rattlesnake venom I extracted from the blood of an unfortunate victim. Any idea how it got into Blüdhaven without me knowing?”

They raised an eyebrow after giving the vial a quick glance. “Are you accusing me of smuggling it into the city?”

“Not yet” You carefully replied. “But I believe you might know who did”

“Listen” They sighed as you put back the sample in your coat. “You’ve been out of the game for a while now. Things have changed down here, and it’s not my place to question the chain of power”

“Have they?” You challenged, sweeping the room once again and noticing they hadn’t brought back up. Decidedly, someone somewhere got ahead of themselves and forgot their place. 

“Uh?”

“Have things really changed?” You slowly raised an eyebrow. You felt dread creep in their eyes. “I want a name”

“None can do” They backed up slowly, palms up. “You hold no power here anymore, so you should just go back to your tower and keep your nose in your mob business before we both get killed”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” You mumbled, looking them up and down. Then, you reached behind your back to get your spear. You striked rapidly as they jumped back, the blade slicing the skin of their biceps. You spun it in your hand and put it back on your back.

“What the f--” They swore, glaring at you. “You’re truly out of it, Scorpion. Can’t even hit your fucking target now. That’s why nobody’s scared of you anymore”

“If you think I missed, then you’ve learned nothing” You simply smiled as you backed away. “You’ll remember who’s in charge soon enough. Have a good life, what’s left of it anyway”

You turned around and walked away, thinking about how the powerful venom coating the blades of your staff was strong enough to cause seizures in about fifteen minutes, and death in fifteen more.

---

You returned to your condo as the sun began to be visible over the horizon, the soft light basking the whole living room in a yellow hue. You quietly went back to your room, changing from your drenched trench coat and black suit to a cream colored blouse and burgundy slacks. You carefully put back your spear in its locked case, keeping its blades far away from any exposed skin.

You returned to the living room, pausing beside Dick who was still passed out. His breathing was slower, more even now, so the antidote you had prepared before leaving had worked. The fever seemed to have died down, and you guessed his stomach wasn't swollen anymore. You didn’t want to pull off the two heavy blankets over him to check and let his bare skin come into contact with the cold of the room. You checked the solute solution that replaced the blood bag on the stand, knowing you wouldn’t need a refill once it was empty. Knowing the man, he’d wake up anytime soon. 

You cleaned up the room and brought back your working station to your office, then sat at your computer to catch up on some work your now ex-accountant messed up. After a couple of hours, you took a nap that turned into something closer to a night full of sleep, and only woke up in the late afternoon. You were surprised Dick was still out when you checked on him, it wasn’t his type to fall into the average of anything, especially not recovery time. 

You had to wait well after sundown for him to stir awake with a groan, then slightly panic as he took in his surroundings. He tried to sit up, but fell back onto his elbows.

“Take it easy” You said, bringing his attention to you for a second before he averted his gaze. “You had quite the dose of venom in your blood. You’re lucky you even made it to my door”

Even with his gaze casted down, you could see he was confused by the soft tone you spoke to him with. It was a far cry from the threats and insults you usually shared when he decided to come and interfere with your business. Yet, you didn’t like the idea of someone else out there trying to kill him, despite the fact that you had done so many times in the past. You and Nightwing had been long standing rivals, fighting for the same turf when you were Scorpion and now that you had your own mob to manage. He knew where you stood, and you him, creating a dynamic where unspoken rules were religiously being respected by both parties. And well, you hated when rules were broken, especially by people with no respect for them, especially when they targeted your nemesis.

You stood up and walked to him, sitting on the coffee table beside him. You brushed your hand down his cheek to his chin, gently pushing up so he could meet your eyes. They were still a bit glassy and unfocused from the venom, but the pupils had regained their normal size. The white around his dark blue irises was bloodshot, and the dark bags under his lids were prominent. In the years you had known him, you had never seen him so battered, so down, so not… him. Even if you were by all purposes and intents enemies, it still sparked a rage within you. You could feel the anger rise in your throat at the defeated face staring back at you, but you willed it back inside. For now.

Your voice was barely a whisper, but it still conjured a divine wrath with every word. “Who did this to you?”

“Doesn’t matter” He mumbled, but he didn’t have the strength to conceal his lie. He tried to get up, but his muscles failed him. 

“But it does” You shook your head, not letting him look away. “Someone injected you with venom and tortured you. It cannot go unanswered, not under my watch”

Something switched in his eyes, before it was buried under resolve in front of your insisting. “Sionis”

Suddenly you saw red. You knew he had been in town for a few weeks already, but you mostly ignored him, thinking he’d go away on his own after concluding whatever deal he was there for. You had no doubt he had been the one to take over Blüdhaven’s underworld right under your nose and turn everyone against you. Unbeknownst to them, you were still the most dangerous person in this city and it was well past time to remind them of it. 

“Stay here, you need to rest” You ordered, gently pushing him back on the couch. “When you’ll feel strong enough to stand up, there’s food in the fridge”

“Wait, where are you going?” Confusion etched on his features.

“I’m going to have a little chat with Sionis”

“(Y/N), no” His voice was strained as he pushed himself off the couch and tried to stand up again. The use of your name made you halt your step to face him as he struggled to stay on his feet. “You don’t… You can’t…”

You retook the steps towards him, stopping right in front of him. “You came to me last night for help, so let me help”

“I know but…” He trailed off, sighing. “I can’t let you fight my battles, it’s not right”

“I’m not, I’m doing what I should have done weeks ago. I have let the infection fester in the wound for far too long, and now it’s time to clean it” You placed a hand on his cheek, and he didn’t fight it. “It’s our city, and if Sionis thinks he can take it, he’s gravely mistaken” 

“It doesn’t mean I want it to be taken back your way” His eyes flashed pain as he shook his head slightly. Yet, he still didn’t back off, but you retracted your hand like it touched fire. “Scorpion left a trail of bodies wherever she went. I may still not approve of your current career, but nothing will let me morally support your descent to that rabbit hole again”

Your features hardened at his words. “Those are bold claims for a man who cannot take two steps without crumbling” You spoke calmly, but the harsh undertone in your voice was a dead giveaway of your bitterness. “I don’t want to see you hurt, I think we’ve established that a long time ago. But I feel like it’s a good time to remind you that what was given can be taken away”

“You’re threatening me now?”

You gave him a cold smile as you backed away. “Oh honey, you’ll know when I’m threatening you”

“So we’re back to this uh?” His sneer transcended his weakened physical state.

“You should rest” You deflected, not ready to answer that just yet, not to him, anyway. You hated to see disappointment on such handsome features, even if it was pretty much the only thing you ever saw anymore. “This isn’t a hangover you can shake off with a tylenol and a smoothie. You need to let the antidote work” 

He only held your stare, the disappointment you dreaded steadily growing in his blue eyes. His lack of words were as effective as his worst scolding. Without breaking eye contact, you fished your phone from your pocket and dialed the first contact in your list.

“Borovski, arrange a last minute meeting with Mr. Sionis” You spoke in a flat tone. “Yes, let him know that Scorpion requires an audience”

------

You found the place of the meeting peculiar. 

The underground casino was crassy, a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging low in the air. No players were sitting at the tables, no bartenders were on duty, only a handful of armed guards giving you a not so warm welcome into the establishment and one man in a purple sequin suit.

“Ah, Scorpion!” Sionis called as he stood up. Then, he paused as he took you in. “I must say, you are not what I expected”

You raised an eyebrow at the grimace he made, but he kept looking you up and down as if there was something he didn’t quite catch. Finally, his eyes stopped on your spear on your back, and his face lit up with understanding. He laughed, but it seemed way too forced.

“Oh, I get it now!” He wiped nonexistent tears from his eyes as he pointed back and forth between you and the spear. “It’s because the spear’s like a scorpion tail. Very clever!”

“I’m glad to see there are no explanations required then” You scoffed sarcastically as you took one step forward. Immediately, his guards closed in on you.

“Aht aht,” He held a finger up, waving it obnoxiously. “I might find it clever, but there is no scenario possible in which you come close to me with that thing. Hand it over”

“Afraid of a little blade, Sionis?” You taunted, nevertheless taking your spear off your back and handing it to one of his goons. 

“Nice try, but we both know it’s not just the blade” He made yet another grimace as you got cleared to come closer. “Men, be careful not to touch the shiny part of it, kay? I’d hate to stain the floors with your dead bodies”

You smirked as you sat down in the chair he gestured to, resting your arms on the empty poker table. He sat down sideways in front of you and crossed his legs, bouncing his feet to an imaginary beat. “So... Miss Scorpion,” He began, a hint of humour in his voice like the situation was amusing. “I gotta say, I admire your previous work. But how long has it been since then? Five, six years? Where have you been?”

“Seven” You corrected. “I inherited a criminal empire from my father, changed vocations. Rather than sting people, I synthesize antidotes to the most potent venoms and sell them for quite a fortune per dose”

“Uh, I heard you were in the drug market” He frowned. “Perhaps my intel was… Mistaken”

“That too” The corner of your lips went up. “Well dosed, venom makes for a fantastic psychedelic. But worry not about your circle, those are no street drugs. Not a lot of people can afford it, in fact”

He nodded slowly. “So you want what exactly, to sell to me?” 

“No” You shook your head, your smile turning just a bit more sinister as you grabbed the rattlesnake venom vial and rolled it to him. Slowly, he picked up and observed it, recognition flashing in his features. You leaned forward, setting your stare on him. “I’m here for other concerns. Like you bringing venom in my city without my authorization”

He sat back in his chair, amused and unimpressed. He twirled the vial in his gloved hands, lazily studying it. “It’s not your city anymore” He shrugged. “It was right there for the taking, and honestly it is so much more fun than Gotham, without a gloomy bat lurking in the dark”

You didn’t react immediately. You simply observed him, then subtly calculated the distance of each goon from him. In theory, their reaction times would be slow enough for you to get to Sionis. But you held back, knowing he’d expect it now. 

“That’s what your smuggler said, too” You hummed, watching closely as his eyes met yours. He mustn’t be happy about that, because his expression became a notch darker. “Before I killed them, that is. But I guess I did you a favor in doing so. They would have sold you out to the next opportunist. Nobody likes a traitor, right?”

He regained his composure, but the bitterness in his eyes didn’t leave. “When I heard you wanted to meet, I thought it’d be to apologize to me for your misstep” He took a deep breath. “I was ready to let you go with some compensation for my loss in the form of doing my dirty work, I really was. But now I see you still want to be insolent--”

“Alright, I’ll say this once and only once” You interrupted him, and he instantly grew offended. “Get out of my city. Leave and never come back, or Nightwing won’t be the one you’ll be facing”

“So, this is what got your panties in a twist” He laughed, then seriousness fell back down on his features in a snap. “Kill her”

Before they could move, you pushed out of your chair and grabbed your switchblade in your belt. Your footwork was swift as you spun around Sionis, avoiding the range of the gun he was pulling out, and stopped behind him. A second later, his head was slammed down on the table and your blade was pressed to his throat. You looked up at the goons who had halted their movements, suspense of what you’d do next hanging in the air. 

“Drop your weapons” You ordered, nodding at the gun aimed at you. “C’mon, off with it. Kick them away too”

“Drop your weapons” Sionis repeated through his teeth, not daring to move a muscle. God knew what was on your blade, and if you drew blood, it’ll most likely be over for him. “Fuck!”

Slowly, they lowered their weapon to the ground and kicked them toward you. “Good” You huffed out before leaning closer to Sionis. “Now maybe you won’t underestimate me anymore. This is only a taste of what will come to you if you keep provoking me. I’ll destroy you like a poison running its course through a healthy vein, and you’ll regret setting eyes on my city. Understood?”

“You fucking bitch” He panted, a twisted smile on his lips. “You’re fucking dumb if you think you can get out of here alive. You’re out of your league, little girl”

“Really? I was under the impression that your life mattered more than mine” You said as you pressed your blade further, exposing the metal to his blood long enough to know the venom got in. You retracted your blade, but kept the hand on his head. “If I don’t make it out of here, neither will you. You’ll be dead in thirty minutes, like your smuggler. It’s gonna be painful and ugly, trust me. But if I walk out of here, in five minutes you’ll have a delivery boy knocking at your door and handing you the antidote. So what’s it gonna be, Sionis?”

He took a moment, exhaling loudly as his breathing quickened. “Go” He muttered harshly, glaring up sideways at you with a thousand daggers. “Fucking shit hell, go!”

You grinned, making the motion of leaving, but you weren’t done just yet. “One more thing” You slammed his head on the table once again before letting him go. “Nightwing is off limits. You’d do well to remember it”

You backed off of him, letting him stand up again and adjust his suit with an undignified huff. His eyes shot thunder at your back as you retreated, smugly taking your spear out of a goon’s hand and exiting the casino. 

You weren’t such a fool not to expect retaliation, but at least you could say he had been warned through an over of what would be waiting for him. 

-----

You weren’t expecting a welcome party back home, but Dick was there, on his feet, leaning on the couch as he glared at the front door. 

“I thought you’d be back to sleep by now” You mused as you got in your apartment. You dropped your keys on the counter and made a show of putting down your spear. His eyes burned into yours as he watched your every move like a hawk. You raised an eyebrow as you took off your coat, then unclipped your utility belt and dropped it beside your keys. “Why now, are you finally out of clever one liners?” 

He scoffed, then crossed his arms against his chest and looked away.

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t know why you’re mad I went after Sionis” You kept speaking, as he clearly gave you the silent treatment. “Who, by the way, tried to kill you with rattlesnake venom, in case you have already forgotten”

“I’m not mad” He finally mumbled. “I’m mourning the days where I didn’t have to worry about you going on a killing spree anymore”

“Is that all you think of me?” Your tone turned dry as you took one step toward him. “A loose cannon that needs to be held on a leash?”

“I don’t know” He shrugged sarcastically. “From what I remember from your so called glory days, bodies pile up pretty quickly when you’re in a mood”

You closed your eyes as your eyebrows rose in disbelief. “I’ve always liked you, Dick” You began after taking a deep breath. “As yourself and as Nightwing. We’ve always had a lot of common enemies, and I was fine with sharing this city with you”

You paused, slowly closing the distance between you and him. His muscles were tense, and his posture was defensive.

“If you think this was bad, oh you’re in for a treat, honey” You were face to face now. “I held back out of respect for you. Sionis is alive, out of respect for you. I healed you out of respect for you. Now that I know none of that respect is reciprocated, what stops me from fully being the bad guy?”

He stood up fully, towering over you. You had to look upwards to hold his glare.

“Me”

You smirked. “You’re so full of yourself”

“You don’t believe I can?”

“Well, you couldn’t when I was holding back”

“What makes you think I wasn’t holding back too?” He raised a challenging eyebrow.

“You had no reason to leave me out on the streets to pile up bodies, as you put it so eloquently” You taunted. “Unless…”

You inched closer, your faces only inches apart now.

“Unless you liked the chase as much as I did”

“In your dreams” He sneered.

“Oh, every night without a fail” 

Before you could blink, he sneaked his hand behind your head and crashed his lips to yours. You were surprised, but you didn’t waste time leaning into it. For a man still weak from his previous poisoning, he recovered his spunk pretty quickly. His fingers dug into your side as you moved against each other, and if you didn’t know better, you’d believe he was trying to leave bruises on your skin. You returned the favor, brushing your hands against his bare chest, but his reaction wasn’t the one you had anticipated. He hissed, probably still sensitive around the stomach from the effect of the venom, and you took the opportunity to catch his lower lip between your teeth, giving it a soft bite. 

“Fuck” He grunted, his eyes fluttering close.

“Are you sure you’re strong enough for this?” You hummed, tracing the dark bags under his eyes with your thumb. He opened his eyes once again, an incredulous and slightly offended glint in them that told you he was tired of you asking any variant of this question. “Alright, no need for hostility”

You returned your lip to his as he steadily backed you through your condo, navigating with assurance toward your bedroom. Your back pushed the door open with a thud, and soon after, you felt the mattress pressing behind your knees. You sat back, peeling off your shirt from your body and scooting further back on the bed. Dick climbed after you, pushing you on your back and wasting no time to crawl all over you again. You heard noise in the background, but you were too busy focusing on how blissful his mouth down your neck to your chest and back up made you feel. You barely noticed when your hands were brought up above your head, or when cold metal was secured around your wrists with a click. 

Then, his body weight above yours was abruptly taken off. You reopened your eyes, mind still a bit fuzzy as you stared in confusion at Dick standing at the foot of the bed. Your frown deepened when you gave a good tug on your wrist, but couldn’t bring them down. You narrowed your eyes, then read his smug expression and understood what he did. You were tempted to be mad, but you couldn’t help but give him a full blown grin”

“Well, well, well” You drawled out, relaxing back. These were your handcuffs, you knew there was no getting out of them so easily. “I gotta say, I’m impressed. Using my attraction to you to get me temporarily out of commission is cold. I didn’t know you had it in you”

“Well, you had it coming” He crossed his arms against his chest, but in a more relaxed manner this time. 

“Playing dirty now, are we?” You chuckled as you shamelessly checked him out. “Very well then. Next time we meet I’ll have adapted my game. I hope you’re ready”

You might have imagined it, but a small smile played on his lips just before he turned around and left you there, handcuffed to your bed frame.

[a-la-la-llama]

The one where Marinette Steals the Batmobile #1

I’m trying to get a schedule going for my writing and planning on writing one-shots and posting them every Monday. We’ll see How this goes, Enjoy!

Part 2     Part 3

  Fifteen year old Marinette didn’t know what her future would hold but her younger self did not expect this. Five months before her thirteenth birthday she was given the Ladybug Miraculous. After that she was named the guardian of more than a dozen pocket sized gods while still trying to defeat Paris’ villian. By the time she turned fourteen, she had defeated her partner's father, took a hold of all the miraculous’, and became an orphan. The kwami’s supported her in her time of need and understood she was adjusting to not having all her previous weight on her shoulders and the grief of losing her parents in the final battle. With no real person to turn to, she decided to lose herself. What better place for a teenage superhero to retire in than a dark city filled with highly unstable people such as herself. With the Kwami’s and her parents, Master Fu’s, and her own savings she teleported to Gotham City.

  Just because the miraculous were made to stop evil did not mean the Kwami didn’t like getting into mischief. Especially a certain cat, fox, and mouse with no one but the god of creation to stop them. The same thing could be said about Marinette, however, she too was curious about making trouble. The city was practically in rubble but it already had heroes and she no longer wanted the weight of being a hero. Marinette also couldn’t stand the long faces of the tiny gods who wanted nothing more to explore the world. Within the first months of her stay in Gotham she became a well known thief that could rival the infamous Catwoman. She never stole anything for her own gain of course, most of the time it was miraculous’ in museums or bad people’s stuff. At the moment she has three notorious gangs wanting her head for stealing their guns and feeding them to Plagg. The only thing ever left behind was a red symbol much like the design of Master Fu's box.

  “Kitten! I’m so bored, why can’t we go out?”, Plagg whined atop of Marinette’s head.

“You heard what Tikki said, we have to lay low for now since we stole that emerald and ancient headware piece from the museum”, she said.

“But those new kwami’s are so mean!”, Trixx added.

“That’s why they are in the box and you guys are allowed to roam around.”, countered Marinette.

“Mari, you really shouldn't be wearing this many miraculous.”, chided Tikki from her tray of cookies.

“I’m fine, I am only wearing five anyway!”, she responded.

“I for one think three days is enough time. Plus, we don’t have to steal anything, just go out for a joy run!”, Mullo said.

“I agree, please Mari!”, Trixx begged.

“It’s not up to me Miri’s, you have to beg Tikki.”, she responded. Marinette smiled as the three swarmed the red god with pleas and threats to destroy all the cookies in the house. It was all worth the glare Tikki sent her way before she gave in.

“Fine. No stealing, I swear if I find out you did I’ll make you return it!”, the goddess threatened. Just like that a multi mouse, fox, and cat made their way across the rooftops for their latest adventure.

  “What should we do, now?”, asked MultiMouse.

MultiMinou narrowed her eyes at a dark parking lot with only one car parked in it. “Since we finished our joy run, how about we take a joy ride?”, she said with a cat-like grin.

MultiFox wagged her tail in excitement, “It looks nice too! I bet Kalkii would help us transport it to the Kwami dimension to take it for a spin.”, she squealed.

MultiMouse divided herself once more, “Mullo. Kalkii. Merge!”

  The four jumped off the roof they were perched on and made their way towards the car before transforming into their smallest selves. Entering the car through the front all the way to the air ducts was a simple task for the mice. Once inside, Multi Mouse, Minou, and Fox worked on the gas pedals and steering wheel while MultiHorse worked on the portal in the passenger seat.

“How do we even start this thing!”, Minou whined.

“It has a screen right here. Maybe we push it?”, suggested Mouse.

Tapping the screen, the car let out a soft hum before various blue lights turned on. The mice all had one thing on their mind, “Merde!”

  Marinette had had a couple of run-ins with the dubbed ‘BatFam’ in her time in Gotham already. She had expected it to because of her being a well-known thief and all, of course they would try to stop her. Marinette also had a huge upper-hand against them with her powers. One minute her bright orange tail is being chased by three and the next she is standing right in front of them watching them curse, wondering where she went. Illusions were the best thing to ever have! Marinette especially liked messing with the youngest one because of how angry he would get. Once, she saw him wait until no one was there and proceed to cut a trash bin in half with his katana. When he is with the one with the red helmet the two curse like sailors. The boy who has a cowl that looks like an egg, similar to Aspik, gets frustrated when his heat sensor malfunction when he is looking right at her. When the youngest isn’t around she’ll tail the one in blue and whisper things while he is patrolling. Most of the time it’s ‘Boo!’ or ‘Rawr!’ and what she has heard the people in his ear call him before as Minou, ‘Dick’. The man screams like a little girl and gets paranoid easily. When he tries to tell his partners they brush him off!

  That wasn’t the point right now. The point was, Marinette found herself trying to steal the Batmobile. As if matters couldn’t get any worse, MultiFox turned to her left to see the youngest and Batman making their way towards her, trying to steal the Batmobile! So, MultiMinou did the only logical thing to do. As soon as the portal opened she slammed on the gas leaving the two in her dust. Darn Plagg and his chaotic-ness! Hopefully the drive would be worth the wrath of Tikki.

  It was not worth Tikki’s anger at all. Of course Marinette, Mullo, Trixx, and Kalkii threw Plagg under the bus for it but they didn’t get out of it unscathed. True to her word unlike the five, Tikki forced them to return the vehicle to Batman the next night. They also had to write a note apologizing to Batman for all the trouble they caused. MultiBug went with the four as they teleported straight into the secret Batcave and pushed the car out of the portal. Luckily no one seemed to be there and they left quickly after placing the note on the windshield.

  Red Robin was there. Red Robin blinked once. Twice. Red Robin rubbed his eyes.

The Batmobile was still there but the five identical girls were gone.

He calmly turned around back towards the computer. He must be hallucinating right? When was the last time he slept? That didn’t matter. He had to check the cameras to see if they got that and once the rest got back from patrol they could tell him if it was real. He turned back one more time towards the car and noticed the note. Better to not touch it in case it disappeared again. Coffee. He needs coffee to explain this.

  Marinette ended up passed out on the couch as soon as they got home just like Tikki predicted. Seriously, that girl should listen to her more. Miraculous’ can take a huge toll on humans. All the active Kwami were nested on top of her unconscious body when Tikki decided to ask what exactly was on the note.

“The note? Oh that note! Well…”,Plagg dragged out with a yawn.

  Dear Mr.Batman and Traffic Light boy.

We are very sorry for taking your Batmobile for the day and I swear we didn’t mean to. We thought it was an abandoned car and wanted to learn how to drive. When we got in we realized this was a mistake but you were very close to us and we didn’t want to get in trouble so we took it! Don’t worry, we didn’t do anything with it but drive. Since we are making confessions do you think we should add the rest? Might as well Kitten so she doesn’t get mad at us. No, Trix don’t write that, stop it!

-We were the ones that scared the Blue Boy.

-Tell him that ‘Dick’ isn’t a very good vigilante name.

-Traffic-Light boy we saw you cut that trash bin in half.

-Traffic-Light boy and Red Helmet need to watch their language.

-Egg head, your cowl looks like an egg.

-Those guns we stole all got destroyed, don’t worry! Have you ever melted them? It’s really cool to watch.

-We ate that granola bar that Red Helmet had in his pocket.

-It made us feel really funny.

-We caught Egg head when he passed out while grapple hooking.

-Oh, write that we are really evil. I wanna make them scared!

-We are really evil!

-Blue Boy has really good jokes that make us laugh.

  “Then it’s signed with their usual red symbol, a green cat print, mouse ears, fox tail, and a horse spur.”, Alfred concluded.

“Shiitake mushrooms! They knew my identity and didn’t even realize it.” Nightwing screeched, grabbing his hair.

“That granola bar was a ‘special’ brownie.”, Red Hood stated.

“I do NOT look like an egg! ...Ok maybe I do.”, sighed Red Robin.

“I told you I kept hearing things and I was RIGHT!”, shouted Nightwing.

“They can’t be real if they liked your jokes, Grayson.”, Robin said.

“Ouch, Traffic-Light boy! That felt like you cut me in half like that trash can.”, teased Nightwing.

 Batman took the note from Alfred and rewatched the footage from the caves cameras. They five looked younger than Robin and obviously held some type of magical abilities to create a portal. From what he could tell they weren’t actually doing bad things and when they did they felt guilty about it. He pulled up the note left at the museum that was also an apology.

  “They are just kids, Alfred.”, Batman mumbled.

Alfred hummed. “Kids who need some guidance I suppose, Master Bruce?”, he suggested.