#to cause chaos and crime in gotham is their way of showing their love towards him

[stealingyourbones]

Short DPXDC Prompts #592

Harvey is mid bank heist when he hears “Harv? Is that you? It’s been so long!” From one of his hostages. Oh that voice was so incredibly familiar there’s no way-

Well he’ll be damned. Jack and Maddie Fenton, the couple he had a momentary fling with in college were pushing through the crowds and fully ignoring his goons pointing half a dozen guns at them as they made their way towards him.

———

Harvey couldn’t believe it. Jack and Maddie were still deeply in love and as crazy as ever, but they kept reaching out to him. They didn’t seem to mind him as the broken man that he is unlike another college friend. They treated him like a person. They didn’t expect his therapy and treatment to magically change him back to how he was, they just were happy that he was happy.

They mentioned once before that they messed up with how they treated their son but they realized their mistake and did their absolute damndest to make it up to their kids. They weren’t going to villainize their college ex. They were going to support him and be for him every step of the way.

[rainybyday]

Flower shop au continues 

Gotham, usurpingly, had a lot of crime. Already he can hear an explosion down a couple blocks away and tripped a pocket picker from trying to rob him. It was sort of nostalgic to hear the chaos of destruction again and had to restrain himself from trying to transform and see who is causing such chaos. 

He reassured himself that once he manages to set shop, a peace can come. 

It didn't take long for him gain a property near the Gotham graveyard, an old, abandoned thing that no one used. Walls still intact but wallpaper pilling off with creaking stairs and holes in the floorboard. Furniture in pieces and a smell of decay wafted all over the building. 

The graveyard was even worse with rusty metal fences and broken-down gravestones with dried up weeds and dying willow trees. Only a few of the hundreds of graves were well kept and clean 

For a place that has such a high death rate, they really never took great care of their deceased. 

But Danny sighed and got to work. 

In a week he managed to clean his two-story shop with the help of his ghost abilities. He managed to work through a couple of nights to not only replace all of the flooring and walls, but he managed to repaint and clean the whole first floor. He decided that the second room should be an actual green garden room and replaced the roof and wall with screens. There were rows of beds filled with soil, growing vines wrapped by his hands on wooden pillars and many pots of baby seedlings yet to uncover themselves from the blanket of rich soil they are buried in. 

It took two months to finally finish his new shop and another few weeks before the scent of flora wafted through the building. The store front wasn’t bright, dark tones of green and gray that seemed to fit the Gotham esthetic were painted on instead. The inside, however, was filled with shelves of flowers and vines crawling the walls and bean bags and chairs that were scatted all over. There was writing on the walls of names of people with markers near them. Then in the back there sat a counter with bags of dried flowers and scented candle sticks. If you look to your right, you can see the open stair way that will lead you to a jungle of greenery and peace. 

Danny’s store was complete, and he was happy with it. 

The first few weeks not many people came, in fact, no one came but that didn’t bother him. Instead, he filled his day with a schedule of sorts. In the morning he would clean and care for his plants around the store before weeding and picking flower petals to create dry flowers for teas. He would spend his late afternoons expanding his garden outside his shop for more flowers to grow before closing shop once the sun sets. It was at night did he grabbed on a hoodie and as many flowers he can carry and walk towards the graveyard leaving tokens for the dead. 

Danny can tell that the dead, that Gotham, was suspicious of his attention to give a token to each and every grave. In fact, he can feel the creeping sensation of fear trying to use intimidation on him to get out plenty of times from the aura of death that surrounded the graveyard. But it felt like mere child play for him, and he kept coming back to leave tokens of flowers to those who pass. 

By the time he met someone on his daily rounds towards the graveyard, the sensation of death and fear lessened, and the suspicion turned to a curious cautious feeling instead. He wasn’t welcome, not yet, but he was no longer pushed away. He didn’t think he was at the point of being allowed to meet one of Gotham's people, but he didn’t show his surprised when a man in a suit was watching him place flowers from the well-kept grave he was standing next to. Danny gave him a single glance before looking away and continuing his work elsewhere. He learned from experience not everyone wants someone around them when they are visiting their loved ones, so Dany respected the man by giving him space. 

It was when Danny was walking back to that again place, he first spotted a bundle of flowers near the grave the man once stood. When he got there, he breathes in deeply at the choice of flowers before place one of his own and walking away. 

(Louts flowers, Lewisia's, and Hyacinths.)

(Resurrection, new beginnings and rebirth, regret and sorrow)

(Maybe that's why the grave felt so empty, he thought distantly.)

Surprisingly, the next day, he saw the same man again out in front of his shop. Danny invited him in and ask what he would like. 

And the man only said he was visiting his son. 

So, Danny gathered a bundle of Primroses, Crocuses, Hyacinths, Forget-me-nots, and Buttercups.

(Primroses for youth and new life. Crocuses for children. Hyacinths for playfulness and energy. Buttercups for childness and youthful joy. Forget-me-nots for remembrance.)

The man walked off and Danny enjoyed the sensation of having a new customer. 

Slowly more people came, mothers and fathers and grandparents and siblings and families and lovers. Slowly they all came in his shop and were blanketed by the scent of flowers. Most would ask for a bundle of flowers before leaving for the graveyard, but a few would come back and stay in the shop and take in the peace of it all. He would usually offer them tea (which no one has yet to refuse after taking their first sip) and leave them to thoughtlessly wonder through his store. Once a customer asked why he had names written on the walls which he replied they are the names of people that passed away and their loved ones left behind a message for them on his walls. 

(It wasn’t a lie since Danny did have a message for each of his ghost friends he left behind at Amity and the Ghost Zone.)

The customer asked if they could leave a message as well and Danny replied by handing them a marker. It soon became a trend that spread throughout all his customers who would now ask for a marker first instead of him taking their order. 

Slowly, Danny was fitting in with the eyes of Gotham no longer cautious but inviting, even soothing in a way. And slowly, so ever so slowly, if you listen just right you can hear that the screaming of the city became just a tab bit silent. 

Danny was, ever so slowly, bring peace to Gotham’s land. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to know that one day the land can breathe again. 

Then one night, when he was just about to close shop, the bell of his shop’s door rang as some opened the door late at night. 

Another continuation later one: Pt3

[aquariuscurly94]

Term: Jealously

Summary: Jealously: A word that generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. 

 It is a term that Raven had often felt among other people but never on herself. She had felt anger, fear, worry and other emotions within herself, but never the emotion of jealously.  

She had always thought she would never feel the need to be jealous of anyone or anything. She had always found it useless whenever she had felt a wash of jealously that would come from other people. She had never understood why people would feel that way towards another human being.  However, her thoughts on the term had changed recently.  

Very recently.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the DC universe!!! I just own the plot!

AN: I cannot believe that DamiRae week 2021 is about to be over!! I have seen many great works of art and fics and I truly hope that you guys had fun this week! And I truly hope that you guys will like this little beauty because it is Pre- DamiRae lol

Jealously: A word that generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.

 It is a term that Raven had often felt among other people but never on herself. She had felt anger, fear, worry and other emotions within herself, but never the emotion of jealously.

 She had always thought she would never feel the need to be jealous of anyone or anything. She had always found it useless whenever she had felt a wash of jealously that would come from other people. She had never understood why people would feel that way towards another human being.

 However, her thoughts on the term had changed recently.

 Very recently.

 She tried to tear her lavender gaze away from a couple that was dancing in the middle of the ballroom that was filled with other rich and famous citizens of Gotham City. The woman had long auburn hair that was swaying back and forth gently against her dark blue off the shoulder dress that she was wearing. Her partner that she was dancing with had short dark hair, forest green eyes and olive skin, wearing a fancy black and white suit paired with a short green bow tie.

 “They would make such a lovely couple don’t you think?” Raven hears an elderly woman ask her in a hush whisper, leaning in close as if not to disturb the pair that was circling back and forth in a waltz even though the tune of a classic Beethoven was playing around them loudly. “I can see the headlines now: Damian Wayne and Bethany Rosewater Officially Together Finally,” the older woman giggled at the made-up title that she had thought of. “Ah, young love. Do you have a boyfriend miss?”

 Raven managed to look away to look down at the short heavy-set woman that was standing next to her. She gave her a tight smile. “I… don’t unfortunately,” she answered the woman, trying to swallow down a sudden tightness that she was feeling in her chest.

 The kind gray haired woman eyed Raven up and down, taking in her black dress that she was wearing, frowning slightly at the sight of her plum long hair that had fallen over her pale shoulder. “Hmmm,” she said, and Raven wanted so badly to roll her eyes but held herself back. “You are…interesting looking. I am sure that you will find someone soon dear.”

 Raven sighed heavily at the woman before turning her attention back towards the pair that was still dancing gracefully on the dance floor. She studied Bethany’s face as Damian swung her around, smiling ear to ear as she spun around in a small circle before she had collided gently against his chest. Raven’s eyes widen slightly when she could’ve sworn that she had saw Damian’s upper lip twitch upwards which made her breathing hitched slightly and her chest tighten once more.

 Her whole body froze when she had felt a prick from her finger on the wine glass that she was holding and looked down at the cracked surface and realized if she had squeezed it any further it would’ve shattered under her hold.

 “Excuse me,” Raven said to the woman, walking backwards so she could get away from the crowd around her. She tried to calm her sudden wave of emotions as she tries to find somewhere to clear her mind. She tipped her head slightly when she spotted an open balcony and quickly made her way over to it. “Air. That’s what I need.”

 She leaned over the railing of the balcony, wondering why she had decided to go to this stupid gala event in the first place. She rolled her eyes when she remembered that it was his idea to invite her to represent the rest of the Titans because they had helped stopped several crimes in the city of Gotham when the Dark Knight had asked for assistance to stop a villain from terrorizing citizens of Gotham.

 Raven was confused when Damian had asked her to represent the Titans and not someone like Kori who is one of the leaders of the team. Dick Grayson was no go because he has to show up to the gala to show face for the Wayne Enterprises along with Damian who was the son of Bruce Wayne.

 She had only spoken to the younger Robin once when Bruce Wayne and Dick came over to speak to her briefly before going their separate ways to mingle with the guests. Damian was preoccupied speaking with board members and her.

 Bethany Rosewater.

 Raven had seen the auburn-haired woman before on some model magazine that Garfield Logan had shoved into her face one day. Apparently, she’s the daughter of some board member of the company and her father is close friends with Bruce hence why Damian had danced with her. She had seen other pictures of her in the magazine as well as several photos on her Instagram account and some of them were with Damian which had thousands of likes on it.

 She didn’t mean to scroll through the page. In all honesty at the time, she didn’t know that she was doing it until she had spent all night going through each picture that Bethany had posted. Raven could remember some of the comments that were written underneath pictures of Bethany and Damian and it had made Raven frown at each one.

 “They would make such a cute couple!”

 “Ugh, she’s so lucky! I mean, just look at him!”

 “Maybe they are already dating but is keeping it under wraps?”

 Raven had almost broken her phone from reading all the comments before she had managed to shut off her phone and put aside her.

 She doesn’t understand why she was feeling this way towards a woman that she barely knows. She doesn’t understand why she should care at all really. Granted, Bethany is beautiful and Damian is… she even couldn’t think of a word to describe the the green eyed Robin but knew that he was more than decent looking in that department and that was why the entire Gotham City wants the model and the heir of Wayne Enterprises to be together and the more she thinks about the possibility of them becoming an IT couple, the more her chest would burn at the thought.

 Raven’s amethyst eyes widen in surprise when she realizes as to why her chest was burning and why she had stormed out of the ballroom when she had grown tired of watching them dancing. She placed her hand over her chest in hopes to calm down her beating heart that was pumping fast.

 Raven was jealous.

 Jealous.

 The daughter of Trigon was jealous, and it was an emotion that she had felt on others and never on herself. Raven had no reason to ever feel jealous on anyone! She had always thought it was a useless emotion wasted for ridiculous reasons that had caused war and chaos throughout time and here she was… feeling jealous of a woman.

 The real question that Raven must ask herself was why: why was she jealous of that woman that was dancing with Damian?

 Was it because of the way that she had looked tonight at the gala? Raven shook her head no at the question. Was it because of that elderly rich woman that had mentioned that they would make a great couple? Again, Raven had shook her head no at the question. Then what was it that made Raven jealous?

 “She… she made him smile,” she whispered to herself, balling a fist that was on the railing of the balcony when she had finally answered her own questions. “It was because of the smile.”

 There are only a few people that can manage to bring out a smile from the former assassin. And when he does smile, it would bring warmth throughout her body when she feels a calm emotion that would come from him whenever he does twitch his upper lip ever so slightly. She shouldn’t feel jealous over the fact that someone other than her or the other members of the Titans made him smile.

 No. It was something else. Something deeper than that and Raven needs to figure out what it is and resolve it.

 “The party is inside Raven. What are you doing out here?”

 Raven turned around to find Damian leaning against the entryway of the building with his arms crossed and his brow lifted as he studied her. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I needed a minute,” she told him truthfully, knowing that it wasn’t a lie. “What are you doing out here? Won’t Bethany Rosewater miss you?”

 Damian snorted as he leaned off the entryway to walk over to stand next to Raven on the balcony. He leaned his back against the railing to stare at the guests inside the Wayne Manor. “She’s preoccupied at the moment,” he answered her when he had spotted the auburn-haired woman mentioned talking to someone. “There’s something bothering you,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone after a lull of silence.

 Raven shook her head at him. “I just needed a minute. That doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong,” she explained to him with a small sigh.

 “Raven…” Damian said sternly, lifting his forest eyes to stare into her indigo ones and Raven knew that he could tell that she was lying to him and backed away when he leaned in closer to her. “Tell me what is bothering you.”

 Even though she was in heels, Damian was still towering over her with his height as he walked closer to her when she tried to back away from him. “Damian…” she warned him, placing a hand on his chest to keep him from coming any closer towards her. “Back off.”

 “Not until you tell me what’s bothering you. I would also suggest that you don’t lie to me as well.”

 “Why does it matter what I feel?” she asked him with a scoff, crossing her arms across her chest.

 Damian paused his steps and cocked his head to the side and rolled his eyes at her as if she had just asked a ridiculous question and in his opinion she did. “It matters to me Raven. Tell me.”

 She thought about telling him. Even if she doesn’t truly know exactly what she wanted to tell him because it is all confusing to her to experience an emotion that is foreign to her and doesn’t exactly know how he would react to it. All she could do was shake her head and turned away from him to start walking back inside. “I’m going back inside. You should also before Bethany starts to look for you.”

 Raven’s breath got caught in her throat when Damian grabbed her wrist to make her stop walking inside. She tried to concentrate on the guests that were inside the manor chatting with one another when she couldn’t ignore a wave of irritation that was coming from him. “Not until you tell me what is wrong.”

 Raven knew at this point the former assassin won’t give up on his quest to find out what is bothering her and sighed when she broke free of his hold that he had on her wrist. “Are you…together with her?” she whispered, and she wasn’t exactly sure how she would feel about his answer.

 Damian knitted his brows at her question, wondering why it concerns her when it shouldn’t. Why would the most powerful empath concern herself something ridiculous? “Everyone wants us to be. Father, her father,” he finally told her when silence fell over them and he walked back over to the railing of the balcony to lean against it. “Told us that it would be good for the company and for our families if we’re together…” he stopped talking when Raven’s face became unreadable. “However, do not concern yourself in this ridiculous matter because I have no interest in her.”

 Raven felt her beat of her heart slow down at his answer and nodded at him. She gave him a small smile. “I see. Thank you for telling me, Damian. I should go back inside now.” She started making her way back to the gala that was inside the manor but paused when Damian spoke again.

 “I am interested in someone else, Raven.”

 Raven turn her head slightly to look at him. She watched him leaned causally against the railing of the balcony with a balled fist at his side. His emerald eyes wasn’t looking at her when he had told this. Instead, his eyes were focused on the ground in front of him. “Oh?” she said, lifting her brow with interest. “Is it someone that I know?”

 Damian didn’t answer her as he leaned off the railing. His face was blank as he walked closer to her and Raven held her breath when he leaned in close to her and could feel his warm breath against her ear as he spoke into it lowly. “One day you will find out Raven.”

 Raven released her breath that she was holding when Damian disappeared inside the manor, leaving her to her thoughts as she processed the whole conversation. She was relieved to hear that he didn’t have a crush on Bethany Rosewater, and she knew that one day he will tell her who he was interested in.

 For some odd reason——she had a tiny suspicion of who it could be even though he technically didn’t reveal of who it was, and her stomach fluttered at the thought of it as she walked back inside with a smile on her face.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Longitudinalwaveme Reviews Some More Old Comics (and One New One), Part 2

Batman #321, “Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!” 

The story opens with Commissioner Gordon receiving an invitation to the Joker’s birthday party. “Black tie optional, funny hats mandatory”. A few seconds later, everyone in police headquarters doubles over laughing, the victims of Joker’s, well, Joker gas. 

Batman is on the scene only a few seconds later, and starts punching out Joker’s goons. Unfortunately, by the time he’s finished doing this, both Joker and Commissioner Gordon have disappeared. 

Eminently Quotable Joker: “Ah---the Batman! What an expected surprise! And what a waste of a perfectly good window! Couldn’t you have used the door?” 

As Joker leaves in his Jokermobile, the police officers tell Batman that the Joker also captured Robin earlier that day (by pretending to be a woman with car problems!) 

Meanwhile, Selina Kyle, Lucius Fox, and Alfred are talking when the Joker bursts in and kidnaps them as well. Notably, Selina mentions that she’s been having terrible headaches. 

Selina Kyle wakes up in a room with Batman; the other kidnapees wake up in the Joker’s “Ha-Hacienda” on his “victim-go-round”. 

Eminently Quotable Joker: “Tomorrow is my birthday, and by way of celebration, I intend to eliminate all you who’ve crossed me, while all of Gotham watches! It’s not exactly the catcher’s mitt I really wanted...but it’s a pretty fair second place! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” 

Hawkman stars in a Hostess cupcake ad! 

The Joker murders one of his own henchman with his “BANG!” flag gun for not laughing at his joke. 

Eminently Quotable Joker (in response to Robin saying “You’re out of your mind!”): “Gloriously so! Isn’t it wonderful?” 

In order to get his audience, the Joker put an ad in the newspaper that states that the “Harlequin Baking Company” will be inviting all of Gotham to  sample its wares at the Seaside Coliseum. AND IT WORKS, because everyone in Gotham has the IQ of turnips. A bazillion people come to the Coliseum to get free food. 

Joker dramatically reveals himself to everyone and explains that he’s going to blow up all the people he hates with a giant cake bomb. Then Batman arrives and offers himself in exchange for the other hostages. This goes exactly how you’d expect it to go, but Batman manages Batman his way out of the trap, saving both himself and all of his friends. 

Joker runs away and jumps into a boat. Batman follows him, they fight for a bit, and then the Joker apparently blows himself up. But he’s not dead, because nothing can kill the Joker. Batman even says so. 

This would’ve made a great episode of B:TAS. 

Batman #322, “Chaos--Coming and Going!” 

And now for something completely different! 

Catwoman looks at a bunch of old newspaper clippings of herself, as the comic hints fairly subtly that she might be unwell (just as her headaches last issue did). 

Meanwhile, a van is delivering issues of the tabloid The Gotham Guardian...when a thrown bundle of newspapers is intercepted by a boomerang! Captain Boomerang is in Gotham City! 

The two men in the van react by promptly trying to run Digger over....only for him to slice their van in half with a boomerang!

Digger yells at them to tell their boss that this was only a warning: the mysterious boss owes him a million dollars, and he wants it in 24 hours or else. 

Then Batman shows up out of nowhere and he and Boomerang get into a fight. Digger distracts Batman by using his exploding boomerang to damage a nearby building. This causes some rubble to fall on one of the drivers. Batman goes to rescue him, and Digger vanishes. 

Green Arrow stars in a Hostess fruit pie ad! 

Batman talks to Alfred about Captain Boomerang, telling him to ask Lucius Fox to find out who owns the Guardian, since he’s probably Boomerang’s next target. He also refuses to call the Flash in for help. “The night I can’t handle a punk like Boomerang is the night I hang up my cowl!” 

Catwoman goes to a doctor and it’s confirmed that she is, in fact, dying. She has less than a month to live and the only cure is some Egyptian herbs that have been lost to time. 

Meanwhile, Captain Boomerang lets us know that he hates Gotham. “Lor’, but I hate this cronky town! I never would’ve come her from Central City if it wasn’t for my million quid!” 

Apparently, Captain Boomerang set up a retirment fund for himself and is ticked off that has money was subsequently stolen. 

“It’s really rum--downright ironic! The one time I play the game by their rules--and it’s me who gets taken for a sucker! Well, nobody crosses “Digger” Harkness--and gets away with it intact!” That’s our Digger! 

Also, he has a giant boomerang hidden under a tarp. 

Catwoman goes to the museum to see a display about cats...and conveniently, some ancient Egyptian medicinal herbs are there. Catwoman determines to take them so she can save herself. 

Batman asks the most Irish Irishman to ever walk the pages of the comic book about where he might be able to find Captain Boomerang, but he hasn’t heard anything. Then Alfred calls Batman and tells him that Lucius has discovered that the Gotham Guardian is owned by a corporation which serves as a front for a guy named Gregorian Falstaff. 

The man in question is eating dinner at a hotel when he is rudely interrupted by Captain Boomerang, who knocks out Falstaff’s bodyguard and demands his money. Falstaff plays dumb, claiming that the whole thing was an unfortunate accident and offering to write him a check. Boomerang insists that it’s cash or nothing (since he doesn’t trust Falstaff). Then Batman shows up, and Digger throws a smoke bomb boomerang that distracts Batman long enough for him to knock him out with another boomerang. 

“You gave it a fair dinkum try, cobber-but fair ain’t enough when  you’re dealin’ with the likes of me!’” Didgeridoo! Crikey! Steve Irwin! Can you tell I’m Australian yet? 

Selina Kyle tries to call Bruce but can’t get ahold of him, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and pulls out her Catwoman costume. 

When Batman comes to, he’s been tied to the giant boomerang. 

“Nothin’ permanent, mate--you’re simply tied to my giant rocket-powered boomerang! Only Flash’s super-speed saved him from the original--and without super-powers you’ll never escape this improved version!” So...which one of the giant boomerangs you used to launch the Flash into space are we talking about here, Digger? Because there’ve been at least four at this point. 

Boomerang launches the boomerang into the air and it explodes. Digger is naturally convinced that he’s killed Batman, only for Batman to promptly prove him wrong by showing up alive and well. “Nobody could possibly survive a flight on my Doomerang!” Oh, Digger...

Batman explains that he survived by “maneuvering my bonds toward the Doomerang’s rocket-jets--and the ignition-flames freed me! Then I simply slipped away under the cover of all that smoke before the Doomerang took off!” I love that Batman also calls the thing a Doomerang (with a totally straight face, mind you.) 

Then Digger throws a boomerang at Batman at the same time Batman throws a Batarang at him. But because Batman is Batman, he wins the boomerang duel and knocks Digger out. Way to take away Digger’s only accomplishment there, Batman. It’s like if Superman won any of his races against the Flash. 

Batman decides to investigate Falstaff. 

Meanwhile, at the museum, someone who looks like Catwoman is stealing one of the exhibits....

Flash #286, “The Color Schemes of the Rainbow Raider”

This issue introduces the greatest villain of all time...the dreaded Rainbow Raider! 

After a long day at work, Barry Allen is heading home...only for an alarm to go off at the Centrex Art Museum! Barry has to promptly go into action as the Flash as Barry thinks about how tired he is. Apparently, his new police chief, Darryl Frye, has made him work overtime three times in one week alone. 

Suddenly, a rainbow appears, bewildering Barry, as it hasn’t rained for the past week. Barry runs inside the museum to find the guards crying inexplicably. Barry deduces that the thief has been altering their emotions and realizes that this is probably not one of his established Rogues. 

Sure enough, he soon comes face-to-face with the Rainbow Raider!

“Welcome, Flash! I didn’t think you and I would be meeting so soon...but sooner or later we were bound to clash! Allow me to introduce myself! I am the Rainbow Raider---the most colorful criminal this city’s ever seen!” Oh, Roy. You’re so amazingly silly, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Roy shoots a beam of blue light at Barry, who somehow deduces that this was what enabled him to mess with the emotions of the guards. Barry dodges the blast of blue light, but it hit and knocked out by a blast of black light. 

The police are suitably baffled by the Rainbow Raider, who, incidentally, signed his crime scene with “The Rainbow Raider was here!” That’s amazing. 

Meanwhile, the Flash runs home, for the Rainbow Raider has...uh....sucked all of the color out of his body! Somehow! Wha? 

Meanwhile, in a mobile trailer, Roy is gloating to himself. “Now I know I’m ready for the big leagues--on a par with seasoned criminals like Captain Cold and Mirror Master!” Uh...sure, Roy. 

Batman and Catman star in a Hostess cupcake ad! 

“Roy G. Bivolo is compelled by higher motivations--like art appreciation!” 

Roy reveals that he suffers from achromotopsia, a rare form of colorblindness that means he sees the world entirely in greyscale. This fact apparently scuppered his burgeoning artistic career, because the art critics of Central City have never heard of black-and-white artwork even though it totally exists. 

Also, Roy’s dad was apparently a, quote, “leading world-renowned optometrist”, and he tried to create goggles that would allow Roy to see color. He passed away shortly after Roy turned 21; having finished the googles just days before. 

When Roy tested them a few weeks later, he found that they hadn’t cured his colorblindness...but that they could shoot out “bands of multi-colored solid light particles that I could literally “ride” through the sky”. Roy then uses his father’s notes to unlock even more abilities with his goggles. Eventually, his mother also passed away, and Roy decided to turn to crime. 

“Since I was robbed of a brilliant art career as a painter--I think it’s only fitting that I rob others....rob them of the pleasure they’ve derived all these years from priceless works of art I myself have never been able to enjoy! If I can’t see them in all their glory---then neither will anyone else!” Roy...that’s insane. 

Barry Allen fails in his attempt to flirt with Fiona Webb, then exposits about pseudoscience. “The color black appears black because it absorbs the light waves of all other colors...without reflecting them! Those black beams the Rainbow Raider enveloped me with must’ve had a similar effect--saturating my body with radiation that prevents me from reflecting any and all light-waves...leaving me totally colorless!” SCIENCE! 

Barry uses makeup and hair day to make himself look normal. As a result, he’s 20 minutes late to work and gets chewed out by his boss. 

Also: “The unnatural inner-vibrations from this color drain are steadily sapping more and more energy from my molecules by the minute!” More SCIENCE! 

Barry is about to get to work when he hears about the opening of the Skytop Art Gallery. Assuming that this would be an ideal target for the Rainbow Raider, he goes into action as the Flash. 

Roy has created a distraction by using his emotional manipulation powers to get all of the art patrons to fight each other while he escapes. Barry runs up a building and onto Rainbow Raider’s rainbow...whereupon Raider shoots a blinding light at him, causin him to slip off the rainbow and almost fall to his doom. Luckily, his ability to vibrate through anything saves his life, as he manages to vibrate through a green car he was about to land on. 

Barry then finds that he’s turned totally green. ‘I must’ve been vibrating on the precise wavelength of the color green when I passed through this heap--somehow allowing me to regain my capacity to absorb green light-waves!” SCIENCE! He then starts running through vehicles of other colors to regain his capacity to absorb those light-waves, too. Since Raider is colorblind, he can’t figure out what the Flash is up to. 

When Raider takes one last blast at the Flash, the effects restore him to normal, and Flash is able to make quick work of the Rainbow Raider. 

I love the Rainbow Raider so much.

[thebookwormfairy]

Captain The Retired Police Dog Part 6 (Final)

BookwormFairy: Sorry for taking so long, but I'm here with the final part of Captain the Retired Police Dog. I just wanted to thank everyone who've read, like, reblogged, commented, and wrote their own stuff with Captain. When I first started this I had no idea how big ot would get. I will be doing more stuff with Captain, but this is the end of this story. Thank y'all so much for accepting both me and Captain into the fandom.

-------------------------

The rest of the trip was like a dream for Marinette

Every chance they got Marinette and Damian would spend time with eachother

And after Ace met Captain she would come along on all of their outings as well

Damian would take Marinette every where in Gotham

From the fashion district to the zoo Damian made sure Marinette didn't miss out on anything

They couldn't explain it, but something just clicked with them

It was like they were meant to be

Damian even met Marinette's parents

Kinda

He video chatted with them and was actually invited over during the summer

Which he whole heartedly accepted but warned the bakers that his family might "unexpectedly" show up with him.

Only to be told that they would be more then happy to meet them as well

Basically Damian took up all of Marinette's free time

Though sometimes, much to Damian's annoyance, the other batboys would come and "kidnap" Marinette and Captain and take them back to the manor.

Marinette didn't mind it so much, except when they didn't even wait for her to get back to the hotel

When the class was done touring Luxcorp, Jason rode up on his motorcycle and took Marinette and Captain

Jason picking up Marinette and grabbing Captain's leash: Hey French people I'm taking her and her dog. Bye

Ms. Bustier: Are you okay with that Marinette?

Marinette: Yeah I know him

Ms. Bustier: Okay have fun

Jason was less then impressed with the teacher's response but took the duo anyway

Another time Tim hacked into the schedule and change the bus route to drop Marinette off at Wayne Tower

Then Dick feeling left out did the responsible (and legal) way and called Marinette's parents to get their permission to take Marinette back to the manor.

Damian was not impressed with his brothers

Neither was Bruce

On the outside at least

On the inside he was so happy to see Marinette and Captain again

Captain wasn't sure how to respond to these strange new people in his and his girl's lives

After a couple of days they did grow on him

But he still didn't let Jason pet him

Mostly because Captain found the older boy's attempts hilarious

And his girl seemed to blossom in this new pack

Captain could see that the spark that he brought back into his girl's eye turn into a whole galaxy

She was almost always smiling and laughing now

To top it all off Alix and Kim finally pulled up their big kid briches and tried to reconnect with Marinette

At first Marinette was very weary of them

And Captain out right growled at them

But slowly they were able to earn Marinette's trust back

Not enough to be able to come on Marinette's adventures with her, but enough so that Marinette would seek them out when stuck with the class

And they would seek her out

Not even Lila could bring her down

And she tried

On this trip alone Lila has stolen several of Marinette's projects, tried to get her sent home with no success, has tried to get Captain detained, and has even tried to lock Marinette in several closets throughout the city, but Marinette somehow always got out.

All in all Lila was harmless

Until the last night of the trip when Lila went too far

Damian had tagged along with the class on their finally outing in Gotham

They went to a teens club somewhere near crime alley

Which is why Damian was with them

They made sure to leave the dogs with Alfred so he could take them back to the manor.

The night was going great

Marinette spent the night dancing with Damian, Alix, and Kim

But mostly Damian

Everything was perfect

So of course Lila had to open her big fat mouth

Lila: Oh yeah I've helped super heroes all over the world. I've even helped Batman put away a few rogues.

Villian kid (Edwin) near by: Oh really who?

Lila: You know all the big guys the Riddler, the Penguin, Two-Face,

Edwin: Hm, the Riddler.....

Lila: Yeah he's not so tough.

Lila continue to bad mouth the Riddler as Edwin called his dad to tell him all about this little, french goody goody who helped but him in Jail.

Riddler over the phone: What an interesting development, I wonder if she would like to play a game? *evil laugh*

Marinette slow dancing with Damian: This has been a great night

Damian: I have to agree with you there Angel. *Damian nuzzles Marinette's hair* I don't know what I'm going to do when you leave.

Marinette: I don't either, but I know I never want this to end.

Damian: Even with my annoying brothers

Marinette: Partially because of your annoying brothers. You know I'm an only child, but I always wished I had siblings, so they're like the brothers I never had.

Damian chuckling: don't let them hear you say that. You'll never get rid of them.

Marinette: Who said I would want to. Especially with how close Captain, Ace, and Titus has become. We'll have to fly out to eachother just so they can see eachother again.

Damian smirking: oh most definitely we be terrible pet owners if we didn't

Marinette catching on: You are so right. You'll be coming to Paris during the summer so I guess I'll be coming back to Gotham during the winter.

Damian pulling Marinette closer even though it didn't seem possible: That's not soon enough.

Alix: Hey love birds you do realize that the slow song ended 2 songs ago right?

Damian glared at the pink hair girl as Marinette backed up slightly blushing

Kim: I don't think they did Alix. How cute?

Damian: Yeah yeah let's go get something to drink.

As the small group made their way towards the bar

But before they could reach it chaos erupted in the club

Teenagers were running towards the exit trying to get away from something the group couldn't see

Somehow in the made dash out Marinette was separated from Alix, Kim, and Damian as they got pushed out of the club, but Marinette was pushed further in the club and gets corralled by a group of minions dressed in green

She scanned around the group of teens that were left seeing that all her classmates made it out except for Lila who was standing in the front of the group, but was trying to get behind the frightened teens

Marinette ended up standing next to her facing on of the famous rogues of Gotham the Riddler

Riddler: Hello kitties so sorry to interrupt your night out, but I heard one of you tattletells are the reason I was thrown back in that hellhole we call a prison so I'll give the little pest a chance to step up and we'll play a little game if they win you will all be let go and the pest will die, if they lose, well you all die. Either way that person dies so come on speak up or should I just kill everybody right now.

Lila without a second thought: It was her Marinette!

Marinette: What?!?!

Lila: Yeah it is all her she was the one who was bad mouthing you.

Marinette whispering to Lila: I knew you were mean Lila, but this is just pure evil

Lila smirking at Marinette: Why so shocked Dupen-Cheng? I know you, you wouldn't put innocent lives in danger so there's no way you'll deny it and this way I can get rid of you for good.

Marinette continued to glare at the evil girl as she was pulled up towards the Riddler

Riddler: Well aren't you a little cutie. Is what the loud mouth said true are you to person who helped put me in jail?

Marinette through clenched teeth: Yes

Riddler: Well here's the game goody goody I'm going to tell you a riddle and if you answer correctly we're going to play a game of Russian rullet *Riddler holds up an old revolver* you might get killed, you might not, but if you get on wrong then you get shot with this *Riddler holds up a newer hand gun* instant death. Are you ready?

Marinette trying to hide her fear: Yes

Riddler: Oh what a brave little girl. What is full of holes. But still holds water?

Marinette a little surprised by how easy the riddle was: A spongue

Riddler holding the old gun to Marinette's forehead: Correct

Riddler pulls the trigger as Marinette flinches but only a click is heard

Riddler: Well you live for another riddle. What can you break without picking it up or touching it?

Marinette: A promise

Riddler : Correct again

Riddler repeated the process and got the same result

This process continued for another 10 minutes and both Marinette and the Riddler were starting to get annoyed

Marinette because the riddles were to easy and Riddler because she wasn't dead yet

It should be impossible for her to be still alive

The gun did not have this many rounds

Riddler growling: Okay, Jim and Kate go to the zoo and get eaten by the sea lions but nobody freaks out, why?

Marinette rolling her eyes: Now you just stealing riddles from TheOdd1sout. They're both fish.

As Marinette answers she hears a loud crashing sound

Riddler and his goons look up at the noice and Marinette takes the opportunity to escape

She swiftly pulls Riddler's belt off him causing his pants to fall

She then uses the belt to knock both the guns out of his hands the wrapping the belt around of one of his hands flips over his shoulder grabs his other arm and tie them behind his back using the belt

To add insult to injury she kicks him in the back of his knees bringing him completely down

As Marinette looks up she sees the goons being tied up by Batman and his sidekicks all with shocked looks on their faces

In fact everybody was completely shocked by what Marinette just did

Though unnoticed by her Robin's shocked faced soon turned into a lovesick smile

That's his girl

Batman walking up to Marinette: Good job civilian, we'll take it from here, there are some people waiting outside for you.

Marinette: Thank you Batman

Marinette and the rest of the captured teenagers ran out of the club as soon as possible

They were so busy trying to get away from the trauma they just experienced nobody notice Robin slipping away trying to meet his Angel up front

As Marinette made it out she was bombarded by police officers and camera flashes from reporters

Gordan: Okay boys break it up I'll take this one

Gordon wrapped his arm around the young girl who reminded him of his daughter

Gordon: I know you've been through a lot tonight but can you please tell me what happened?

Marinette nodded her head going over everything that happened including what Lila said to her

Gordon was shocked by what Marinette told him both about how she took down the Riddler and how Lila basically tried to kill her

Gordon: Okay thank you, you go over to your friends while me and my officers gather more information.

Gordon pointed her towards Alix and Kim

As she runs towards her friends she was engulfed in a group hug

Marinette pulling back from the hug: Are you guys okay? You're not hurt are you? Where's Damian? Is he okay?

Kim chuckling: Classic Marinette worrying about others instead of her self

Alix: We're fine Marinette. We got out pretty quickly but we got separated from Damian in the mad rush

Marinette got a worried look on her face as she started twisting around searching for the man she loved

Damian bursting through the crowd: ANGEL!

Marinette running towards Damian: DAMI!

The young lovers ran to eachother embracing eachother in a long hug

Marinette buried her head in his chest letting out a sob as everything caught up with her.

Damian burying his face in her hair: Shh Angel everything's okay now. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you. I should have never let go of you

Marinette sniffling into Damian's chest: It's not your fault Damian you had no control of our separation

Damian: I still should have tried harder to stay with you.

The two stayed together refusing to let eachother go afraid that if they did so the other would be lost

They stood there for 30 minutes just hugging eachother as Kim and Alix joined them trying to cheer Marinette up

Gordon walking up to the small group: Several other people collaborated with your story. Ms. Rossi will be takened to the French embassy to be held until your classes flight back to Paris tomorrow we just need to know if you want to press charges?

Damian angry: Of course she'll want to press charges! That girl tried to have her killed!

Marinette softly: I'll handle this Damian. *Marinette turns around to face Comissioner Gordon with Damian's arms still wrapped around her* I would like to press charges Mr. Gordon this has gone on too long, I would also like to look into getting a restraining order on her.

Gordon: of course, we'll make sure that Paris police force understand what happened and your request.

Marinette: Thank you

Ms. Bustier yelling: Okay everybody time to head back to the hotel.

Gordon: Wait one moment Miss but Ms. Rossi is going to be retained at the French embassy for attempted manslaughter of Ms. Dupen-Cheng

Alya: What? Is that what Marinette told you? You shouldn't listen to her she's nothing but a liar.

Gordon: Actually we're doing that not only on Ms. Dupen-Cheng's testimony of events but several other witnesses who heard and saw Ms. Rossi threaten and admit she was trying to get Marinette killed and we also have video from the security cameras showing the same thing. Boys take her away!

Lila most certainly did not go quietly she was yelling all the way to the police cruiser threatening that as soon as she was back in Paris she will be Akumatize and finish the job that Riddler couldn't

Marinette watched terrified as Lila was taken away knowing very well that she would keep her promise if given the chance

Damian tightened his hold on Marinette trying to comfort her: Dont worry Angel I won't let her do anything to you

Marinette pressed herself to Damian trying to get as much comfort from him as possible.

Ms. Bustier grabbing Marinette's arm: Come on Marinette it's time to go.

Marinette looked over at her classmates seeing the murderous glares directed towards her from some of Lila's more dedicated followers

Marinette: I don't want to go back to the hotel Ms. Bustier

Ms. Bustier sighing: Please don't be difficult Marinette. You've already caused enough trouble tonight just get on the bus before you ruin the night for everybody else

Damian: EXCUSE ME! ARE YOU-

Marinette: I'VE CAUSED ENOUGH PROBLEMS?!?!? ALL I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO IS NOT CAUSE PROBLEMS!! AND IT'S NEVER ENOUGH! WELL I'M TIRED OF BEING YOUR PERFECT EXAMPLE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PRESSURE THAT PUTS ON MY SHOULDERS! IT'S YOUR JOB TO TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO BE BETTER PEOPLE NOT MINE! AS SOON AS WE'RE BACK IN PARIS I'M DONE! I'M TRANSFERING FROM YOU CLASS HELL I'M GOING TO TRANSFER TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL IF I CAN BECAUSE I AM SO DONE! I'M DONE WITH THE BULLYING, I'M DONE WITH THE PRESSURE, AND MOST OF ALL I'M DONE WITH YOUR PACIFIST BULLSHIT!

Marinette was huffing from her outburst finally letting everything out after such a long time.

Marinette could her some clapping throughout the crowd but ignored it turning her attention to Damian.

Marinette: Do you mind if I stay at the Manor tonight?

Damian: Of course Marinette let me call Alfred to come get us and I'll escort you to your hotel room so you can gather your stuff

Marinette: Thank you

After a couple of minutes not only did Alfred show up, but so does Tim, Jason, and Dick

All ready to to kick ass and take names of anybody who even dare look at her the wrong way.

When they got to the hotel they surrounded her like a wall blocking her from reporters and classmates

Marinette gathered her stuff as fast as she could thanking herself for being smart and packing ahead of time

Once they got back to the Manor Captain tackled Marinette

Licking and cuddling into her trying to comfort his girl

He couldn't believe he let her be put in so much danger

He should have never let her out of his sight while is such a dangerous city

Captain let out a whimper trying to convey how sorry he was

Marinette: It's okay Captain I'm fine, I'm safe and everything is going to be fine better than before even.

Captain still stayed close to her side

Titus and Ace did also sensing the distress rolling of the girl followed her

As Marinette slipped into the bathroom she was finally able to comfort and thank Tikki for saving her life by using her power to make sure the bullet never got shot

And also promised to slip some cookies to her as soon as she could

After getting a good hug from each of the Wayne's and Marinette grabbing some cookies for Tikki she made her way to her guest room just wanting this night to be over.

When the Batfam was sure Marinette was in for the night they made their way down to the batcave to discuss what happened

Damian: Father if you think I'm going to let Marinette out of my sight after what happened tonight you're crazy

Bruce: Think this through Damian smothering isn't going to make her any safer it's just going to make her resent you.

Jason: I dont like it anymore than you do Demon Spawn but he's right. You can't hover over Marinette her whole life, but we do need to look into what's going on in Paris more.

Dick: You're right Jason, Rossi was saying something about being Akumatized and killing Marinette that can't be good.

Bruce: Your right Dick. So when Damian goes to Paris in a couple of weeks we'll come along and assess the situation and see if we need to step in

Damian: If Marinette gets even a scratch on her I'm going to do more than just step in I'm going to find whoever responsible and dual them to the pain

Tim: Did you just quote Princess Bride

Damian: I watched it with Marinette a couple of days ago

The rest of the batfam: Awwww

Dick, Jason, and Tim giving Brice a weird look

Bruce: Don't judge me

Marinette tried her best to fall asleep that night cuddling up to Captain but she jus couldn't

When the clock showed it was 1am Marinette decided to seek out Damian

Marinette: Captain? *perked up and looked at his girl* Can you please help me find Damian?

Captain jumped off the bed and headed to the door

Before Marinette opened the door she turned towards Tikki

Marinette: Tikki I'm going to go see if I can sleep with Damian do you want to come with or stay here?

Tikki: I'll stay here Marinette. I don't want you stressing about keeping me hidden tonight

Marinette: Okay Tikki good night.

Marinette followed Captain down a couple of doors before they stopped in front of the door

Marinette knocked on the door and after a couple of minutes Damian opened the door looking a little ruffled from sleep

Marinette: Sorry to wake you Damian, but can I please sleep with you tonight

Damian: Of course Angel come on

Damian and Marinette settled into Damian's bed seeming to fit together perfectly as Marinette rested her head on Damian's chest and he wraps his arms around her keeping her close

Captain made himself comfortable next to Titus but also lays across the young couple's legs

The next day Lila was sent on a later flight back the Fance to a town outside of Paris so that she wouldn't be akumatized by Hawkmoth and she can face the consequences of her crimes

Marinette shared a long goodbye with the Wayne's in the airport

They were nice enough to upgrade Marinette's seat to first class and even got Captain a seat so he didn't have to stay in the cargo hold

And as Marinette said her goodbyes to the people who've became her second (or third is you count Jagged, Penny, and Clara) family Captain was saying goodbye to Titus and Ace

Captain: I'm going to miss you guys so much you have become my pack and I wish I could take you with me

Titus: And I wish you could stay, I love you

Titus gave Captain a big lick to the side of his face

Captain: Thanks Titus, I... love you too

Titus: I'm going to cry

Ace giggling: Thanks for that Titus

Ace nuzzling Captain's neck: I love you Captain I wish we can stay together.

Captain nuzzling her back: I wish I could to your my mate and I hate to be away from you for so long, but my girl needs me, but I heard our humans talking and they do plan to visit eachother again so we will be together again. One day permanently I can tell.

As the girl and her dog boarded the plane they may be leaving their loves behind today but it won't be forever

Thanks to this trip Marinette is a stronger person, and Captain learned to be a little softer

As Kim pass he tried to give Captain a pat on the head only for Captain to give him a little growl before he could

Like I said he learned to be a LITTLE softer

Bonus

2 weeks after returning from Paris Marinette recieved a very interesting call from Damian

Damian: Hey Angel weird question but is Captain fixed

Marinette: Oh no, after everything that happened to him it just seemed cruel to do that to him too. Why?

Damian: Because Ace is pregnant Captain is the only one who could be the father

Marinette shocked: What?

Marinette looking at Captain: You little hound dog.

Captain: What?

@felicityroth @northernbluetongue @mystery-5-5 @sidefrienda @tbehartoo @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @sonif50 @t-nikki10 @dawnwave16

[hyunrun]

Dream SMP/Batfam

This is my reasoning for connections between Dream SMP members and the Bats. This was all just for fun, but feel free to give feedback if you’d like! And do say if I’ve made a mistake. I haven’t done everyone, so if there’s anyone else you’d like me to do, lemme know! Please read, I spent a good while on this :D

Batman (Bruce Wayne)/Technoblade: Technoblade's Dream SMP origin story starts with his parents dying, so the backstory fits. He swears to kill all orphans because of the way they killed his parents (Similar to the way Bruce wanted to stop crime from running rampant in Gotham). Techno is also, technically, an orphan as Bruce was. I've always imagined Bruce's voice to be kinda like Techno's, especially that monotone tone he uses, and especially when he's Batman and not Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is -Bat-man and Technoblade is a pig, need I elaborate? Both of them seem to stay up till ungodly times of the day, and I'm sure their sleep schedules are never on the same clock as anyone else's, Bruce's because of his vigilante lifestyle and Techno because... well, he's a Minecraft YouTuber. Both of them have a father figure, although not biological. They also have a friendly rivalry with a fellow content creator/hero (Cough Dream/Superman cough). We say Dick/Wilbur is dramatic, but you can't possibly mean to tell me Batman/Technoblade isn’t subtly more dramatic. They practically invented being dramatic in their respective businesses.

Alfred Pennyworth/Philza Minecraft: Is the father figure to Batman/Technoblade. Is really a force of chaos but everyone pictures them as a soft, loving dad because we all have parental issues and we need more father figures. Both of them are very badass in their own ways. Old and British. Here's a parallel I thought was pretty cool. Philza had been building up his hardcore world for 5 years before he died. It was like his home disappeared in front of his eyes as he fell away from his life. I'm not sure which continuity/arc this is from (Please do not hate on me, I am but a small child) bUT I do know that Alfred died of a heart attack/stroke at the same time the Wayne Manor was destroyed. His home was destroyed as he died. Just as Philza's had been.

Damian Wayne/TommyInnit: Is never really loved by anyone at first glance (From the fandoms). Tommy's the loud, annoying one, Damian's the grouchy, haughty one. But everyone eventually gravitates towards their characters later on. Their families were wary of them at first but grew to love them. Both of them are the youngest, and generally angriest child. Both are not American, Tommy being British and Damian, Arabic. They both have ICONIC mothers. MotherInnit is a queen, we all know this. If she can handle Tommy, she can handle absolutely anything. Talia Al Ghul has a reputation of her own right, and while she hasn't quite the pristine repertoire, she definitely strikes a strong mark on people. Now, this is a dumb connection between the two, but hair!! Tommy’s seems nice and floofy while Damian's is generally drawn spiky, and I think that's a cool contrast. Their love for pets is also important to note. Tommy's the one that's known for starting wars over the deaths of his pets, and it's easy to know that Damian wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone if they did anything to Titus or Batcow. It’s been shown on multiple occasions that he loves his pets a lot.

Jon Kent/Tubbo_: Best friends with Tommy/Damian. Do not try to argue that Jon and Damian aren't best friends because come onnn. And PLEASE do not take this as a dumb excuse to ship Tommy and Tubbo, as I know people ship Dami and Jon. Both are the embodiment of chaos wrapped in kindness, and both are definitely the more stable of their friendship with the other gremlin children. I am confident that both would probably refer to their parents as mother and father dearest. You cannot convince me otherwise. Tubbo has already done so, and Jon would never disrespect his parents, so this would obviously be the next best alternative for when he is upset by them. Jon’s powers fluctuate upon shifts in emotion and he can’t really control his powers, like the shifting of Tubbo’s alter egos. We never know when Toob or Big Law will creep out of the shadows.

Dick Grayson/Wilbur Soot: (Second) most dramatic in the family, though perceived as the drama queen because of their boisterous personalities. The one that was probably a theatre kid in school. The lighthearted one that keeps everyone cheerful, but also the one with the easiest path to a horrid descent into madness. They have a flair for drama, the glitter and sparkles to Batman/Technoblade’s sombre smoke and haze, which is why they work together so well. The closest family member to Tommy/Damian. Their little brother/big brother dynamics are just impeccable. Both are the most simped for by their respective fanbases (from what I’ve seen). The token pretty boys. Both artistically talented in different ways, with Wilbur’s music and Dick’s acrobatic skills. Also the ones that get constantly shipped with every woman they literally even look at. They also express their dramatic tendencies through their clothes, Dick with his jazzy Discowing suit and Wilbur’s dramatic L’manburg outfit.

Superman/Dream: The OP gods, need I say more? Friendly rivals with Technoblade/Batman. Very often perceived as ‘Perfect’ which they are not, but many refuse to accept that. A funny parallel I drew was the fact that both of them are famous in their own rights, but can just walk around and not get recognised despite millions of people knowing their online/superhero identities. Both are technically not human.

Stephanie (Batgirl/Spoiler)/Sapnap: Both of their names start with S! Not my only reasoning, but I’ll take it into account anyway. Both are basic looking in my head (Blue eyes blonde hair for Steph?? There’s at least 3 other girls that look EXACTLY like her in the nearby DC universes. And Sapnap blends in with every other white boy, though I love him regardless.) but both also have immaculate personalities to make up for it. They’re the most normal people out of all their co-streamers/superheroes in my eyes, also my favourites. (I didn’t realise as I put them together that I loved them most but here we are). They’re both great at dumb banter. They don’t have huge, hilarious bits often or any constant jokes that are pulled on time and time again, but their general atmosphere makes everything seem like a joke. They may not be the best at what they do in their friend groups but are actually really good nonetheless and do not get due credit for their effort and talent sometimes. Has a warring relationship with Damian/Tommy (Sapnap over the pets and Steph and Dami didn’t have the most friendly relationship at the start)

Jason/BBH- Same but opposite but same. Exists to cause chaos. I wouldn’t have associated these two with each other till the Badlands became a thing… but then the Badlands became a thing and I had to. Now, I know that technically Bad doesn’t have a grudge against Techno, but Jason would totally set up a whole empire just to mess with Bruce’s plans, just to get in the way, to instigate, to fan the flames of the fire till he’s driven Bruce to his breaking point. Bad isn’t exactly trying to do that, but he’s only around for the chaos. He’s only here for his own benefit, and he’s only here for that because of the hurt caused to him by the nation he came from. A parallel being Jason causing havoc because of the pain Bruce caused him. Besides, both have a cool red and black colour scheme, and both wear jacket!! Both are also technically not alive (If we're considering BBH as a demon).

Roy Harper/Skeppy: I have absolutely no explanation for this, but it just Fits. Besides, they have cool opposing colour schemes and are best friends with BBH/Jason!!

Aaaand last but not least

Jason/Technoblade: Now you must be thinking But Kaly you already spoke about them! And yes, I did, and they do go really well with their respective characters but I couldn’t simply ignore the connection between these two, so I thought I might as well write about it. Technoblade was an English major (If I remember correctly) before he dropped out to pursue his youtube career. Jason, though this may not be a well-known fact, was a definite literature nerd at school before he met his demise. Their cut off education in English is an interesting parallel to me. Both of them also have destructive tendencies, with Technoblade being an anarchist and Jason periodically running an underground empire to make sure he can do whatever the hell he wants to. They don’t generally care who they hurt on their way to reach their end goal. Jason’s reckless shooting and killing clearly shows this, as he continuously justifies his actions by saying he’s ending crime rather than just making it wait in line for its turn to pop up again, while Technoblade’s release of the withers and excessive use of his firework crossbow clearly shows that the deaths of the residents of L’manburg do not matter to him as long as he abolishes the government.

[nokomiss]

How about: "I won't forget this." *Rolling their eyes* "Thats's the idea y'know." With Jaysteph?

The tragedy happened -- poetically, really -- in Crime Alley.  

Two mid-class goons currently serving Two-Face were barreling down the middle of the street in a stolen armored truck, sideswiping anyone who didn’t swerve out of the way quick enough.  Steph didn’t even know what the special occasion was -- it was both an odd month and an odd day, so maybe it was just Two-Face causing what chaos he could -- and Steph was the closest on patrol. She swung in, regretting her choice to leave the Compact behind, and tried her best to catch up with the armored truck.

“Any help?” she called over the comms. “O, can you do something about the traffic, maybe? These guys are not following the rules of the road.”

“Already there,” Babs said.  “Red Hood is incoming.”

Steph managed to hook a line onto the truck just as Red Hood appeared on a really nice bike. Nice enough she noticed even when flying through the air aiming her body at a speeding truck.  

She landed on top of the truck with more grace than she’d been hoping for, given her iffy relationship with gravity in general, and began to make her way towards the cab of the truck. “Hood, can you distract them?”

“On it,” Jason replied, and a second later the armored truck swerved wildly as a chain wrapped around one of its wheels.  Steph kept her grip, and made her way unnoticed to the roof above the driver. She knew the glass was bulletproof, but that didn’t so much matter if the driver couldn’t see through it. She anchored herself to the top of the truck, then splattered two gooperangs on the windshield.

Instant chaos. The driver, just correcting from Jason’s attack on his wheels, lost total control of the truck as his vision was completely obscured. Steph gripped tightly to the magnetic gripper she’d anchored down. Her cape whipped around her as she tried to figure out where Jason and his bike were -- she definitely needed to bail soon, as the truck was aimed right for the concrete pillars supporting an overpass.  

“Behind you,” Jason said through the comm, clearly seeing her dilemma, and Steph let go of her anchor as she felt the truck lurch over a curb.  

She managed to somersault off the back of the truck like she did it every day, and caught onto Jason’s handlebars in a move she couldn’t replicate if she tried, but was so grateful that she pulled off. A half-turn and a twist and she was landing roughly in Jason’s arms like she’d planned it all out, and a second later the armored truck smashed into the pillar, front end crumpling like an accordion.

Jason pulled the bike to a stop, and Steph hopped out of his arms before offering him a high five. He grinned at the destruction they’d caused and high fived her back before they went to check on the goons, who were both groggy and easy to subdue. There were two dollar bills floating comically around them, like it was a cartoon, and Steph understood why Two Face had staged this particular robbery.

“Huh,” Jason said, catching one of the bills mid-air. “Who knew there were this many in circulation?”

“And in a city known for Two-Face’s crimes, even,” Steph said. “Like. What was the take, a couple hundred bucks?”

Jason pocketed the bill he’d caught, and Steph rolled her eyes at him. “What?” he said. “Batman takes trophies all the time.”

Steph could hardly argue that point, having spent more than her fair share of time climbing the giant dinosaur.  “Thanks for the assist, this went way smoother than--”

She was interrupted mid-sentence by an ominous creaking noise overhead.  She looked up, saw the cracks in the concrete, and grabbed onto Jason’s sleeve. “Run!”

They sprinted across the road, and watched in mutual horror as a broken slab of concrete, loosened by the crash, fell directly onto Jason’s motorcycle.

“Oh no,” Steph said quietly.

“Oh shit,” Jason said, and it was not the horror-struck tone of someone who had lost a prized possession. It was the horror-struck tone of someone who had fucked up majorly.

Steph looked at him.  Jason pointed at the crushed metal that had formerly been a red motorcycle with a shaking hand. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”

“Gotham’s infrastructure really never recovered from No Man’s Land,” Steph said, patting him on the arm. “I mean, that was a really nice bike, but at least we caught the bad guys?”

“It was a really nice bike,” Jason said. “It also wasn’t my bike.”

“Yikes,” Steph said. She cautiously moved closer, but there were no more creaking sounds overhead. The bike was thoroughly crushed, though. She poked at a bent wheel with the toe of her boot. “Bruce’s?”

Jason nodded. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“I mean, it’s not like he can’t afford another one?” Steph offered. 

“There aren’t any more,” Jason said. “And he fucking loves that bike.”

“How can there not be any more? It’s not like donut holes at the bakery,” Steph said. “It’s a motorcycle.” A Ducati, granted, and a definite loss, but… Jason was not taking this well. She wondered if he needed a hug.

“There were less than eight in the world. Seven now, I guess,” Jason said. He began picking pieces of concrete off the bike’s remains. “Come on, you have to help me hide the body.”

“Hide the -- you’re shitting me,” Steph said. “You love breaking Bruce’s stuff. Last month you took a picture of yourself next to the Batmobile you wrecked and made it the Batcomputer wallpaper.”

“Well, this is different,” Jason said. “Come on. I saved your ass, now you get to save mine.”

Steph couldn’t really argue with that, given that Jason had kindly kept her from splattering on the pavement. She began to move concrete chunks, and the more of the bike they unearthed, the worse it looked.  Oil and gasoline smeared the pavement like blood, and the bike itself was mangled beyond recognition. The bright red paint was coated with concrete dust, turning it dull brown.  

There was absolutely no way they were wheeling it away from the scene, and Steph could hear police sirens echoing down the street. They cleared off the rest of the concrete as Steph remotely called the Compact.  She glanced over her shoulder and noticed Jason doing the same. “We can drag it over behind that pillar?” she suggested, pointing to one that didn’t have an armored truck smashed into it.

It was less than fifteen feet away, but it took all their combined effort to get the bike’s remains behind the pillar before the cops came.  Steph hurried out, grabbing a broken tail light off the pavement and standing casually in front of her captured goons as the police cars careened around the corner.  

The scene looked suspicious as hell, but the actual presence of a Bat at the crime scene -- even if it was Batgirl -- had the officers off-balanced enough that no one actually questioned the pile of rubble.  Steph told them all the intel she had on Two-Face’s crime (not much, but she added enough details that it took a few minutes) while watching the Compact arrive out of the corner of her eye, and Jason managing to strap the Ducati’s remains to it without any officers actually noticing.  

It was actually pretty hilarious, watching him struggle to shove mangled motorcycle parts into a net intended for a cartoonish capture of criminals on top of the Compact while trying to blend in with the night.  He mostly failed, but luckily for him, Steph was a pretty great distraction.

“And in conclusion, what the heck, Gotham National Bank, what were you thinking? Gotta run!” she announced as soon as she saw Jason finish with the Ducati and climb into the Compact, and made a big show of firing her grappling gun and swooping off into the night like a proper vigilante.

If it hadn’t been for the one notable casualty, Steph would be having an absolutely stellar night.

She met up with him a few blocks over and climbed in the Compact, letting him continue to drive, as she had no earthly idea where one disposed of the body of a motorcycle.

Though, as he pulled up to an abandoned part of the harbor, she probably should have guessed.

They climbed out of the Compact and stood there, breeze ruffling their hair and the moonlight shining on the water. It should be a peaceful moment, but the smell of motor oil dripping from the Ducati ruined it.  

“Tell me why this bike’s different?” Steph was so incredibly curious.  Jason was not one to hide something to spare Bruce’s feelings.

Jason had his hands shoved in his pockets. They were both fully in uniform, though Jason was down to a domino mask.  For some reason, Steph thought it was easier to share personal things while in uniform; it somehow seemed divorced from real life.  Though for Jason the uniform seemed to be real life.  He stared out at the water for a few more minutes, then finally said, “I had a picture of that bike on my wall when I was a kid. Like, before things really went to shit, I ripped a picture out of a magazine at the fuckin’ library, and snuck it home in my backpack. I didn’t know it was some rare thing, I just liked the color.”

“You do like your reds,” Steph said, for lack of anything better.  

His mouth quirked up. “You sure you wanna go there, Purple Rain?” 

She bumped her shoulder up against his-- well, against his arm, but the thought was there.  “So you had a picture of a motorcycle on your wall. Very weird. Almost unseemly, for a boy to have an illicit picture of a motorcycle--”

“Wow, you just don’t stop ever, do you,” Jason said. His mouth quirked up, and then he glanced back at the bike. “Anyway. After Bruce took me in, I kept pestering him about getting me one, even though they were stupid expensive and impossible to find, because of there being only a handful in existence.” 

“And obviously he got it for you,” Steph said, rolling her eyes, because Bruce could be called a lot of things, but stingy wasn’t one of them.

Jason shook his head. “Nope. I mean -- I guess, but not as a present. I guess he bought it symbolically for my sweet sixteen. Probably drove it to my grave, the melodramatic bastard.”

Steph opened her mouth and shut it again a few times, and then turned to stare again at the wreckage of the bike.  “I mean-- wow. So he didn’t think to give it to you once, you know, you rejoined the world of the living?”

“I don’t know if you remember but things weren’t awesome between us then,” Jason said, a little testily.

“I mean, if you want to play that game, I don’t, actually, given that I was having my own post-death world travels at that time,” Steph replied in exactly the same tone. 

Jason’s mouth tightened, then he let out a sharp bark of laughter. “I kind of forgot about that.”

“Well, I don’t bring it up in every conversation I have, so….” Steph nobly managed to not stick her tongue out at him.

“You’re a saint. And no, he did not give it to me once I came back,” Jason said, bringing the conversation back to the salient point.  “I found it in the garage covered in a freaking tarp, and sometimes I borrow it.”

“Without permission, I assume.”

Jason nodded. “He’s never shown any indication that he noticed. Which, you know, for Bruce…”

“Is a miracle in and of itself.” Steph nodded back at him. “So basically -- Bruce bought you your dream bike when you were dead and you’re cranky because he didn’t actually give it to you, so you keep stealing it hoping he’ll notice.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds stupid,” Jason said.

Steph stared at him, hoping he’d get the point.

“It isn’t stupid,” he insisted.

“You’re all stupid,” Steph said. “So now you want to throw it in the harbor instead of just… letting Bruce know that you have been taking it? Nevermind that obviously he knows you’ve been taking it. I mean. Do you fill it up with gas every time? I bet not, and I bet it’s always full when you pick it back up.”

She absolutely was not speaking from experience with her own personal favorites of Bruce’s ridiculously awesome car collection.

“I--” Jason began, but then shrugged. “Shit.”

Steph surveyed the harbor again, then looked back at the wreckage. “You know, this is one way to deal with this, but… what if there’s a better way.”

Jason drummed his fingers on his thigh, clearly weighing her earlier words, then said, “I’m listening.”

*

Four hours later, they stood side by side again, this time in the Cave.

“Okay,” Jason said slowly. “Okay, I’ll say it. You are an evil genius and I adore you.”

Steph fluffled her hair cheerfully. “Glad to hear it.”

“This is-- I mean, I thought I was the best at getting under Bruce’s skin, but this is going to make him go ballistic.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “The point is not to make Bruce go ballistic. That’s just a happy little bonus.”

They were standing in front of Jason’s memorial case, which until very recently had held only his Robin uniform.

Steph had to say, the a good soldier plaque now felt far less serious, given that it was now describing the mangled remains of a motorcycle that had died in the line of duty.  She even found a sharpie and added to the plaque, in the most cutesy handwriting she could manage so that it now read JASON TODD’s dream bike.

“It’s perfect,” Jason breathed.  Steph had been unsure about what to do with the uniform that had been inside, but Jason had lovingly pulled it over the handlebars until the Ducati had become, in death, an honorary Robin. “I won’t forget this.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “That’s the whole idea, y’know. It’s a memorial. For memory-keeping.”

But then she reached over and took Jason’s hand in hers, tangling their fingers together and squeezing. “Sorry your bike died while you were helping me.”

Logically, Gotham’s poor infrastructure wasn’t her fault, but if she hadn’t needed an assist, Jason would still have his beloved bike. Well. Kind of. Would still be regularly stealing his beloved bike from his emotionally inept father, because they were both stubborn idiots.

Jason kept holding her hand, leaning in until their sides were touching. “At least it went in a blaze of glory.”

“And now it’s gonna live on forever in our hearts,” Steph said. She pulled up their joined hands and pressed a kiss onto Jason’s knuckle, ignoring the way he startled at the soft touch and focusing on the little smile he gave her.  “Wanna hide in the dinosaur and watch Bruce’s reaction when he notices?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

[onebadwinter]

The Joker Tropes Part 2

Taken From Here and here

Nether Realm Studios especially seems to love making Joker out to be evil incarnate. In Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel, he loses all his cred (and life) once he nukes Metropolis; Harley ditches him entirely, Batman just completely gives up on indulging him any more, even Guest Fighters like Hellboy consider him worthless, and non-Batvillains such as Grodd and Brainiac and even Darkseid loathe him for either Metropolis, or just in general principle. Mortal Kombat 11 shows that even the MK cast see him as a scourge upon the realms, and also express distaste toward him for either his nuking, a previous outing, or because he's seen as a buffoon who cannot be taken seriously (this is usually the case for other villain characters).

About the only person who can tolerate him for long is Lex Luthor, only because they both have the same level of hatred for their respective enemies. Even then, Luthor prefers to keep his distance from the Joker, if only because a bored Joker screws with everything For the Evulz.

In the animated series, he claims to have been beaten as a child when interviewed by Harley Quinn. It is unknown if this is true. According to Batman, he's simply making it up.

In one issue of New 52, he claims to have been driven insane by an abusive grandmother, who also bleached his skin to its present pallor.

In the same continuity, he is one to a baby gorilla he adopts, trains up as a gun-wielding henchman, and ultimately gets killed off for laughs.

In the comic book adaptation of Injustice, it's implied Harley fears Joker would be one, and gives their daughter to her sister, lest he kill the child. It's left ambiguous whether the Joker's even aware of the ruse.

Averted in one story, wherein one of Arkham's doctors realizes Joker's faking insanity just to piss off Batman as revenge for his disfigurement. Another doctor finds the report and excitedly reveals it to the current head doctor, only to learn that  the Joker left it for everyone to read, since the paper's written by Harley Quinn, and therefore worthless as evidence.

In Batman: The Man Who Laughs, it's established that the name "The Joker" was given to him by the media, and he liked it so much that he decided to call himself that.

The same happens in Joker (2019), where Murray tells the audience to "look at this joker" when talking about Arthur. Arthur took it to heart.

Batman: Arkham Knight takes this even further by revealing that being forgotten is the only thing the Joker truly fears.

Just to demonstrate how much disregard he has for his henchmen, a reoccurring motivation for offing his own lackeys is failing to laugh at one of his jokes. Or laughing too late. Or laughing for too long. Or laughing at the wrong joke. He's... unpredictable.

The Joker loves it when people laugh with him, whether genuine or not, but if someone laughs at him, they're most likely already dead.

Joker loves attention and being above the normals, so never imply that he's not interesting or unique. Terry exploits this flaw in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker just to drive him to a Villainous Breakdown.

The Batman Who Laughs. Since the character's first appearance in Dark Nights: Metal, the mere mention of him is enough to put The Joker in an uncharacteristically un-jolly mood and is a good way to get on his bad side. In fact, the dislike of this twisted version of his archnemesis is so great, that when Lex Luthor and The Legion of Doom started cooperating with him against Joker's protests, he quit the legion (after non-lethally jokerizing every other member of it) in disgust.

If you're going to hurt Batman, do it right. One of the supplementary stories for Joker War had him beyond furious with Bane - to the point of promising him he'd kill him in a way he would never see coming - for showing so little imagination in killing Alfred in City of Bane without even letting Batman listen to it to torture him. By his reckoning, if you have a great gag to break the Bat, use it to break the Bat - don't blow it by having Robin be the only one to witness it.

Originally Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs.

Later portrayals base themselves on his actors, with Cesar Romero a popular candidate, and after Jack Nicholson came in, artists such as Alex Ross base him on him, such as the actor's distinct widow's peak and slicked back hair.

During Knightfall he and Scarecrow killed several members of a SWAT team, and one of his last actions in Batman: No Man's Land was to kill Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Lt. Sarah Essen.

One of the alternate realities seen in Zero Hour! was one where he killed Commissioner Gordon instead of crippling Barbara.

Part of the reason Gordon takes over the post of Commissioner in both The Dark Knight Trilogy and Batman: Arkham Series is due to the Joker killing Gillian Loeb. Additionally, the first game in the latter series, Asylum, he sees several of Arkham's guards killed by him and his men.

He's holding a dead cop's corpse in his intro in Injustice: Gods Among Us and using it as a puppet. He also talks to the body of one of the Regime enforcers who captured him once he breaks out and heads to Gotham.

Whether he was driven insane or was already insane and became completely bonkers.

Where he is on the spectrum between "wacky prankster" and "utterly depraved and sadistic sociopath and murderer".

Whether he is a senseless, performative terrorist wreaking havoc for kicks or a deceptively cunning and competent criminal mastermind. Or both. Usually both.

He's no Batman, but sometimes he is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, Knife Nut or marksman, and other times a flimsy wimp who goes down in one punch. In some of the grittier settings, his raw strength, numbness to pain and viciousness are enough to level the playing field with Batman.

Whether he actually loves Harley Quinn varies. In the animated series, (where Harley first appeared) the writers haveoutright said he's a sociopath incapable of loving anyone, and just sees her as a useful mook. Some other works imply he really does love her on some level (although he's usually still an abusive asshole.)

He can either be Faux Affably Evil, Laughably Evil, just a Monster Clown, or some combination of the three.

At least one such incident implied he would be interested in Batman... but only after he was dead. Again this may only have been a tactic to get under Batman's skin or truthful admission. The readers will never know for certain.

His plot in The Killing Joke is to put Jim Gordon through the wringer hard in the hopes of driving him mad. He'll also try to drive Batman over the edge (particularly, drive him to break his "no killing" rule), sometimes by cutting off all of Batsy's human connections.

The Dark Knight reworks it into Driving Gotham To Senseless Violence with wanton acts of destruction or terrorism, just to prove everyone's as bad as him deep down.

Ironically, a 1952 story has the Joker get himself falsely committed to an insane asylum, to question a patient who knew the location of a cache of money. The end of the story has him Laughing Mad due to a prank Batman used to disguise his identity.

He didn't have his signature laugh. This seems to have been a way to "goofy up" the character to make him less terrifying in the days of the Comics Code Authority. Later on, he'd learn to giggle while remaining terrifying.

He actually committed crimes for moneynote , and wasn't really interested in causing chaos or terror for a joke's sake.

Building off of that, his plans weren't really "insane" until the Silver Age (at which point it's not even fair to say this was exclusive to him), nor was there any question of the character's mental stability.

His obsession with Batman wasn't there, much less the idea that he would pass up chances to kill the Bat or learn his identity. This aspect was probably introduced to explain the Bond Villain Stupidity he (and every Batman villain) had become infamous for in the Silver Age.

His clown-like complexion was actually makeup in his early appearances. He even removed his makeup to disguise himself as a cop, which was referenced in The Dark Knight. It's later revealed that the look is permanent after falling in a vat of chemicals.

The Brave and the Bold #111 and #191 have him team up with Batman to clear his name after being framed for several murders. The first instance turned out to simply be a framing the guilty part occasion but the second instance was actually genuine on Joker's part (except the person Joker seemingly murdered turned out to be faking their death).

He also does this with Batman whenever The Batman Who Laughs is involved (specifically in the Dark Knights: Metal series).

He abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his Nazi affiliation comes out. Red Skull simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi. The Joker is NOT happy about this, proclaiming "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" It even provides the trope's image. And yes, folks, even an equal-opportunity murderer like the Joker despises the Nazis!note

The exception is mentioned again in the Last Laugh arc where the Joker immediately refused to join the American Neo-Nazi Aryan Alliance group in the Slab after he was offered membership. Joker: I'm evil and all that, but you guys are just plain mean.

Will not harm dumb animals and doesn't condone it. There's no humor to be had in that. Higher primates apparently do not qualify but a lot more effort went into that one.

While in Arkham with villain Warren White, AKA the Great White Shark, Joker calls him the worst person he ever met. He states that while he may kill people, even he doesn't steal their kids' college funds.

Sees nothing funny about someone parking in a handicap spot when they're not handicapped. However, he does think it's hilarious to hurt them in ways that will make certain they'll always be able to park there.

A girl named Janey Bennett, whose class was studying criminal behavior, became pen pals with the Joker while he was in Arkham. When Janey revealed that her father, the mayor of Motor City, was abusing her (exactly how isn't specified, though it was implied to have been really bad) the Joker broke out and, convinced that the authorities would be of no help, tried to force the mayor into admitting to his crimes and giving him Janey (so that he could find a better home for her) by threatening to contaminate the city's blood supply, going through with it (because the ends justify the means) when the mayor refused to give in to his demands. He originally intended to give her to Batman as well so he could protect her but at the end decided to give her to her mom. Joker: I mean, stealing a city blind is something I can admire... but being mean to one's own daughter... that just makes my blood boil.

For a rather literal form of "standard", the Joker's team-up with Carnage in Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds fell apart in part because the Joker, known for his love of theatrics, found Kasady's desire to get straight to killing boring. Conversely, Kasady didn't like the Joker's flair for theatrics.

The Joker absolutely loathes The Batman Who Laughs, to the point where he drops his usual joking demeanor and is deathly serious whenever directly referring to him, even willing to work together with Batman to face him when it comes down to it. When Lex Luthor goes behind his back to make a deal with The Batman Who Laughs (going against the only condition Joker has for joining his plan), Joker responds by Joker-gassing the Legion of Doom, putting Lex into a series of deathtraps, trashing Lex's Power Armor, and quitting the Legion. In the process, he tells Luthor how he had planned on ruining the Legion utterly on the verge of victory, and as nightmarish as his plan sounded, he claims it is nothing compared to what the Batman Who Laughs is going to do.

While he still gloated about it and found Commissioner Gordon kneecapping him funny after remember that he'd crippled Barbara, the actual act of killing Sarah Essen in the penultimate issue of Batman: No Man's Land is one of the few times the Joker wasn't happy with something he himself did, considering he's seen walking away while scowling afterward, leaves the babies he originally planned to murder unharmed and immediately turns himself in to the police.

Emperor Joker sees the Joker disgusted with a corrupted Jimmy O Lsen tormenting the Superfamily and Batman when they're turned int animals.

Later one he is disgusted when his minions vandalize the Moai on Eastern Island.

Again, when he rescues Lex from The Batman Who Laugh's infected minions in Hell Arisen, the mere mention of his alternate universe rival prompts him to have a very uncharacteristic Freak Out. The Joker: I told you. I told you not to deal with him. You should have shot that thing in the head the second you had it in a cage! It is wrong. It is a wrong thing.

Played more straight in his relationship with Punchline. Only time will tell if it lasts.

There’s also a comic storyline when Hush informed that a dirty cop Office Halmet killed his wife Jeannie. The Joker wanted nothing more than to kill said cop in revenge. Then there’s Batman: Three Jokers where, despite it being being heavily implied he was abusive, the “Comedian” Joker is seen setting up fake tea parties with dolls, clearly trying to substitute them for his wife and child showing that he does miss them and desire to be a family with them.

While The Dark Knight is one of the few times the Joker's clown-like appearance is the result of make-up, he does sport a Glasgow Grin.

While Joker still has the permanent clown look, it's combined with the Glasgow Grin.

While Batman: Endgame would see the skin of his face restored with a chemical called Dionesiumnote , at the start of The New 52, the Joker had the Dollmaker skin his face and then, after he recovered it, spent Death of the Family wearing it like a Leatherface-esque mask. And even in Endgame, his restored face ends up badly burned as the result of the finale battle between him and Batman, though it still ends up restored again.

Gotham sees neither Valeska escape this. After his death in season 2, Jerome (the proto-Joker) ends up resurrected in season 3, but because Dwight thinks his attempt to revive him failed, Dwight ends up cutting off Jerome's face ala Death of the Family and Jerome ends up stapling it on when he catches up with Dwight and while he later has it properly reattached, there's still scars from what happened. Jeremiah, Jerome's twin and the show's true Joker, ends up with the "perma-clown" appearance due to Jerome having the Scarecrow brew something up to spray in Jeremiah's face, but season 5 sees his fateful fall at Ace Chemicals badly scar his face and sear off most of his hair with only stringy patches left.

Averted entirely in Joker (2019), where his clown appearance is entirely makeup, and the worst it gets is painting his iconic smile on his face with his own blood from a car crash. Not even a Glasgow Grin or anything, the blood is from his hand and his face only has a few normal cuts on it.

While Batman is a rather serious character who refuses to kill anyone, The Joker is a rather comical character who revels in death.

Joker's gadgets tend to be rather goofier but much more lethal, such as the Joker Venom that he often uses to kill his victims.

While Batman gets along well with his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, Joker frequently abuses his sidekick Harley Quinn and has tried to kill her before, not to mention all the times he has been a Bad Boss by killing his henchmen for any reason you can think of, sometimes for no reason at all.

While Batman's backstory is well known, even by the citizens of Gotham who know of the tragedy of the rich Waynes' in Crime Alley, no one knows anything about the Joker's backstory, but most versions he tells are consistent in two things: he was a nobody, and possibly someone poor.

In most adaptations, his voice is high-pitched in contrast to Batman's Badass Baritone.

Why he went by the name the Red Hood has changed over the years: The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement from jumping in the acid and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him insane. However, even this backstory is questionable, as the Joker himself calls it "multiple choice".

In Injustice 2, an intro with Atrocitus has the Red Lantern wondering what drove the Joker to nihilism.

In the animated series, he claims to have been abused as a child when interviewed by Harley, but according to Batman, it's just another ruse to escape Arkham.

The purple suit and matching pants with either an orange and/or green shirt with a bowtie or tie, remains the definitive Joker look one that many artists and costume designers have given spin on. He is sometimes known for wearing a cool hat but other times goes hatless. Heath Ledger's custom-designed purple long-coat, trousers, blue shirt and green Waistcoat of Style with a tie has likewise become iconic and famous for its contemporary and downright stylish update on the classic look.

The original Red Hood outfit which is a black suit, white shirt, bowtie with an opera cap and a bizarre red dome is also quite famous.

The Hawaiian tourist outfit he wore in the notorious scene in The Killing Joke.

The white suit he wears in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as well as the white nurse maid outfit with red wig in The Dark Knight is also quite notable.

The Future Joker look from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which went with a mime look (black body suit, slicked-back hair) is also quite distinct and unique.

The first issue of Batman with Joker's debut has him described as having "burning, hate-filled eyes" and the moniker, "the harliquin of hate".

The Man Who Laughs had Bruce dosed with a light version of the Joker Venom and he felt his perspective shift into a paranoid vengeance were he felt everyone deserved to be punished for his parent's death just for existing.

Death of the Family had Batman describe how Joker's irises are always narrow when looking at anyone but Batman and that it is usually an indication of negative feelings toward something with Bruce mentioning that his eye are the eyes of someone who hates everything he sees.

In the Justice League storyline "Rock of Ages", Martian Manhunter has to put in incredible effort to reorganize Joker's mind long enough for him to give up the cataclysmic Philosopher's Stone. The briefly sane Joker immediately says My God, What Have I Done? verbatim as he hands it back, before quickly losing his mind and going back to the laughing madman.

The famous example from the end of The Killing Joke, where Batman tries to convince him to allow Batman to rehabilitate him before their vendetta kills them. Joker considers it for a long, somber moment before quietly reflecting that they're both too far gone.

Batman: Cacophony ends with Joker being pumped full of an inhuman amount of antipsychotic drugs to keep him under control while in recovery from a near-fatal stabbing. Batman takes the opportunity to have a relatively-sane conversation with him, though it's somewhat subverted by Joker still being a homicidal sociopath even while heavily sedated.

He even gives multiple reasons on how he came Back from the Dead in Injustice 2 and will go along with whatever his opponent thinks is true, despite being Dead All Along in story mode and only appearing as a hallucination to his ex-moll.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sees him kill David Endochrine and Ruth Weisenheimer, who were clearly based on David Letterman and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

During Knightfall, once he realizes that Azrael isn't Batman, his plan's gone to hell, and one too many criticisms from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert stand-ins, he kills the stand-ins.

In one of the issues for the The Batman tie-in comic, The Batman Strikes, he terrorizes a stand-in for Conan O'Brien. This becomes darkly Hilarious in Hindsight as the real O'Brien voiced Endochrine in the animated version of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In the series proper, Harley's debut had the two of them terrorize a stand-in for Dr. Phil for the climax.

If you want to know how truly terrifying The Batman Who Laughs is, look no further than the way Joker acts whenever discussing him. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't smile. He becomes calm and serious and simply tells whomever he's talking to that the TBWL is "a wrong thing that shouldn't exist". Someone HAS to be scary if the very thought of him makes Joker act like a calm rational sane person.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the clown has a massive Villainous Breakdown when Terry mocks him for his failed attempts to break Batman.

On the rare occasion Joker gets bored and leaves Gotham, expect everyone to think of him as just a silly clown, until the bodies start piling up.

One issue of the Robin Series had him talking about having Abusive Parents, only for a psychiatrist to tell him it's the seventh story he's told now.

Batman lampshades on this to Harley in the animated series, thinking it's another lie to gain sympathy.

The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him mad. However, even this could be a lie, as he himself calls it "multiple choice".

It's even discussed in Injustice 2, as Atrocitus wonders what drove the Joker to nihilism. Despite only appearing as a hallucination to Harley in story mode, he spews out multiple theories for his Unexplained Recovery and will say Sure, Let's Go with That in non-canon fights. Was he resurrected by someone, or is he from another universe? Did he escape from either the Source Wall or the Phantom Zone, or is he just an apparition?

Shadow of the Bat #38, Tears of a Clown: He celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive Stand-Up Comedy club for an unfunny act the patrons mercilessly heckled. It was the last straw as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. So he kidnaps all the patrons and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. Oddly enough, the patrons are hardcore Stand-Up Comedy fans, so they can't remember the number of times they've booed someone. However, even this origin story could be a lie.

It's come to be his primary disfigurement over the original skin bleaching.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Terry McGinnis exploits this by delivering an epic Boring Insult so the clown will have a Villainous Breakdown.

King Barlowe proved to be a big one in his Thanatos Gambit in the episode "Joker's Millions" of The New Batman Adventures. In a spiteful Video Will, he gives the clown his millions, revealing in his tape that most of it was fake. Expecting the clown to splurge on it, he won't have enough to pay off the IRS, allowing Barlowe to get the "last laugh" after his death, without the Joker coming after him.

Alan Moore's "I go Loony" from The Killing Joke, an in-panel song-and-dance tune that was eventually made into an actual song belted out in Batman: The Killing Joke.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold has "Where's the Fun in That?" from the episode "Emperor Joker".

Batman: Arkham City ended with him covering The Platters' "Only You (and You Alone)", Batman: Arkham Origins had him cover Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold, Heart" and Batman: Arkham Knight had him provide an original composition, "Can't Stop Laughing".

Action Fashionista: This incarnation of the Joker has a wide variety of garish outfits for every occassion — most of them straight from the comics.

Adaptational Attractiveness: Metal teeth, lack of eyebrows, and tattoos aside, he's still being played by the youthful-looking real life Pretty Boy Jared Leto; especially since the last two cinematic Jokers were a creepy middle-aged gangster with a botched face-lift and a filthy, scarred vagrant (even the mentally unwell clown-for-hire doesn't scream Mr. Fanservice one bit). This version looks more like Marilyn Manson.

Adaptational Nice Guy: A very downplayed example. While he's otherwise the same Clown Prince of Crime we all know and love to hate, he appears to genuinely care for Harley, and even throws her out of a falling helicopter to save her life. Almost any other iteration of the Joker would do that to save his own skin or rid himself of her.

Adaptational Skimpiness: This version of the Joker tends to be shirtless a lot more than he has in any other medium. It mostly seems like an opportunity to show off his tattoos.

Adaptation Distillation: Leto's Joker seems to be less of the "evil philosopher" that Heath Ledger portrayed him as in The Dark Knight, and instead seems to be a cross between the garish, larger-than-life Mark Hamill version from the animated series and the Arkham games, and the creepy, deeply twisted Brian Azzarello version. David Ayer had also stated that he looked specifically to the Golden Age Joker for reference, providing reason for many to believe that Leto's Joker is a modern re-imagining of that incarnation.

Advertised Extra: Heavily featured in Suicide Squad promotional materials, barely appears in the film for more than seven minutes. According to Jared Leto, several of the scenes he shot were not included in the theatrical cut.

Ambiguous Disorder: In Suicide Squad, most of the time the Joker seems... not all there compared to Harley. In addition of psychopathic tendencies, the Joker has random bouts of maniacal laughter, confusion, and slurred speech-like patterns. All attributes that stem from punch-drunk syndrome. Considering he has faced Batman one too many times, it makes sense that the Joker's mental stability is finally catching up to him.

However, come Birds of Prey, they broke up, mirroring the comics where they do have an Relationship Revolving Door. It appears to stick, as Harley publicly calls it quits between the two of them.

His tattoos are very reminiscent of the Joker in All Star Batman and Robin.

Ax-Crazy: Like all the incarnations before him, calling him a violent psychopath is one of the biggest understatements you can make.

Bedlam House: Spent some time at Arkham Asylum, where he met Harley. Then he broke free from it with the help of both Harley and his gang.

Chewing the Scenery: An important part of the character is his theatricality.

Cool Car: A bright purple sports car with underglow lights and a "HAHAHA" license plate.

Dented Iron: It's subtle, but the numerous scars on his body and metal replacement teeth in his mouth are clear signs that his frequent run-ins with Batman are taking their toll.

Disney Death: He seemingly dies in the crash of his helicopter... only to come back to free Harley from her high security prison at the end of Suicide Squad.

The Dreaded: In true Joker fashion, everyone is terrified of him.

Establishing Character Moment: One that takes place before he even makes his official debut in the setting - he killed Robin (a minor) and vandalized his outfit to mock Batman over his inability to save him.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Insofar as much as the Joker can love anyone, anyway, but he does seem to genuinely care about Harley. Eventually, subverted.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He considers the brutal murder of a minor as a joke he played on Batman. When he's torturing Harleen Quinzel, he promises not to shatter her well-kept teeth while flashing his own hideous metal dentures. When Harleen later has him at gunpoint, Joker just says "please don't kill me, I'll be ya friend" in a snarky tone.

Evil Is Hammy: It's not The Joker if he's not Chewing the Scenery. And, sure enough, he does.

Evil Is Petty: The graffiti on Robin's costume seems to imply that Joker murdered him just to prod at Batman. It is confirmed in Suicide Squad that Joker and Harley killed him.

Evil Laugh: It's kind of his thing. One notable example is when he chuckles while surrounded by an arsenal of weapons.

Fake Shemp: Indie rocker Johnny Goth stood in for Jared Leto in Birds of Prey, in the flashback where he and Harley torture and tattoo the big mafia thug Harley later bumps back into.

Foil: To Batman as usual, but with some new additions. After 20 years, Batman became more jaded and cruel, while the Joker somewhat mellowed out and his criminal activity became more professional. Batman didn't settle down until the death of Superman while the Joker grew attached to Harley Quinn.

In Suicide Squad Griggs' smug indifference about his gambling debt immediately becomes pure terror when he realizes the Joker has gotten involved.

He is so feared that even the likes of Black Mask would rather steer clear of him. Harley's enemies only start gunning for her in Birds of Prey when it's become clear that she's no longer with him.

   G-Y

The Ghost:

There is an allusion to him in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ("HA HA HA Joke's On You, Batman" painted across the chest of the dead Robin's empty suit in the Batcave), but he doesn't actually appear.

He gets mentioned a lot in Birds of Prey, but he's only seen very briefly in some flashbacks, always from the back (including footage from Suicide Squad). There is a whole Deleted Scene where he and Harley have a domestic dispute. Harley leaves the house through the window and the Joker throws her stuffed beaver out through the window. In the film proper, she's just kicked out of the house, with no shot of Mr. J.

Greater-Scope Villain: His role in Batman v Superman. Despite not actually appearing his murder of Robin by this point has driven Batman down a darker, more vengeful path that goes against Batman's traditional moral code; the one that the Joker is always trying to prove is wrong. Batman's rage towards Superman blinds him to the possibility of Lex Luthor being the real threat long enough for Superman to die fighting Doomsday. In a way the Joker's actions contributed to Batman's failure.

Guttural Growler: This Joker is noticeably more snarly than previous incarnations.

Handshake Refusal: He doesn't like to shake hands, as Monster T finds out.

Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a purple crocodile skin duster at some point in the film.

Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Despite being a homicidal sociopath, he seems to truly love his girlfriend Harley Quinn. Then in Birds Of Prey, he coldly and violently breaks up with her.

Joker Immunity: He appears to die when his helicopter is shot down about halfway through Suicide Squad. To absolutely no one's surprise, he shows up alive and well in the final scene. It helps that he's the Trope Namer.

Knife Nut: And by God, does he have enough blades.◊

Lean and Mean: This Joker, while muscular, is quite lean, especially compared to the heavily muscled Batman.

Love Epiphany: Well, "love" is pushing it, but Joker realizes his affections for Harley when she dives in the chemical bath that ultimately turned Joker into what he is. Symbolic in the sense she was agreeing to join him in madness. Further adding to the complexity of the scene; Joker was tying up a loose end, having used Harley to escape from Arkham. He lead her to her demise and intended to leave her for death but at the same moment realized she had entered his world and his madness. Joker never anticipated the amount of utter devotion Harley would have for him, something inside him just couldn't walk away from her, so he jumped in to save her.

Manipulative Bastard: He manipulated Harley into helping him escape Arkham because she fell in love with him. When she served her purpose, he would have had her kill herself jumping into a bath of chemicals to prove her feelings. He instead saves her from this demise because he has a Love Epiphany in the moment.

Monster Clown: Like the previous film versions, Joker is an Ax-Crazy criminal with clownish makeup. Green hair notwithsanding, his white makeup, red lipstick and absence of facial scars make him look closer to a mime than his predecessors.

Noble Demon: In Suicide Squad, his whole motivation is to rescue Harley Quinn. His commitment is so strong he doesn't even waste time with pranks or petty acts of cruelty. Everything he does is for someone else.

Only Known By His Nickname: He's only known as The Joker, or "J" / "Mr. J".

Outlaw Couple: He and Harley Quinn are lovers and partners in crime.

Sadist: Even though there was only a few select scenes of him, one of them is him torturing Harley. It's disturbingly obvious that he is positively gleeful over it. And he doesn't seem to have lost any sleep over murdering Robin, either.

Pet the Dog: David Ayer confirms that while he did push Harley out of the falling helicopter, his intent was in fact to save her life.

Satellite Love Interest: To Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. His characterization revolves entirely around Harley, not even getting involved with the main plot.

Scary Teeth: Several of his teeth are made of metal. According to David Ayer, Batman punched his teeth out after he killed Robin, leading him to replace them with metal teeth.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Although he has a presence at the start of the film, The Joker appears to have left Gotham City to be controlled by Black Mask in Birds of Prey, with Roman saying that Joker has already skipped town.

The Sociopath: He's chaotic and remorseless, much like his previous versions. Special mention goes to his murder of Robin, which he topped off by spray-painting a cruel taunt for Batman onto the boy's costume.

Tattooed Crook: His torso is covered in jester-themed tattoos. He also has a few on his arms and face.

Villain of Another Story: He mainly appeared in Suicide Squad, but his biggest act of villainy to date — killing Robin — happened some years before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which he doesn't appear. The spray-painted message on Robin's empty suit ("Ah ah ah joke's on you Batman!") in the latter film can't be anything else than his doing.

Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Is seen with a rather impressive arsenal of guns and knives. And even says to warden Griggs, at some point, "I can't wait to show you my toys." note Notably, he manages to hijack the gunship which was sent to extract Waller and the squad so he can rescue Harley.

Would Hit a Girl: In the past, the Joker electroshocks and manipulates Dr. Harleen Quinzel into allowing her to fall into a vat of chemicals, in order to become Harley Quinn.

Would Hurt a Child: He killed Batman's sidekick, Robin, while the boy was an underage minor.

You Gotta Have Blue Hair: His hair is bright green.

   "Knightmare" Joker

"You won't kill me. I'm your best friend..." Appearances:

Zack Snyder's Justice League

"You need me. You... need me... to help you undo this world you created, by letting her die."

The Joker meets up once more with Batman in the nightmarish alternate future where Darkseid has conquered the Earth and Superman turned evil. But things aren't the same anymore between the two legendary foes.

See also the Knightmare page for more on that setting's characters.

Break Them by Talking: He deliberately tries to agitate Batman by reminding him of how many people have died on his watch.

Cop Killer: He wears a bulletproof vest with at least two dozens police badges on it. Whether these were good cops killed prior to the apocalypse or servants of the oppressive regime of Superman after the apocalypse is not detailed.

Costume Evolution: He has ditched his garish gangster suits for what looks like either a medical gown or a butcher gown, complete with orange gloves and a bulletproof vest with a dozen police badges pinned on it. He got rid of his "Damaged" forehead tattoo, let his hair grow and put red makeup around his mouth, looking closer to more common depictions of the character.

Enemy Mine: He and Batman had the worst kind of enmity imaginable, but the Earth being conquered by Darkseid is enough of a Conflict Killer for them to call a truce and work together to try undoing this mess.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He utters the line "We live in a society" while gazing upon the devastated landscape in the trailer. This is clearly a Meme Acknowledgement, and it's quite awkwardly used given the context (is there really any society left in this post-apocalyptic world?). It doesn't appear in the actual film, however. The line was improvised by Leto.

Evil Laugh: Even with the world being in such a sorry state and him still being sane enough to acknowledge how bad the situation is, he'll still let some laughs out, even though they sound more subdued than ever.

Evil Versus Oblivion: Even he sees the necessity of teaming up with Batman to try undoing what Darkseid did to Earth.

Future Badass: He survived the apocalypse brought upon Earth by Darkseid and looks like he's geared for guerilla actions.

My Card: He gives a Joker card to Batman as a symbol of their truce. Shall the Dark Knight want to break that truce, he'd just have to tear that card up. The card could be seen strapped on Batman's assault rifle in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Joker gets a high reminding Batman how costly his mistakes in the past have been.

The Nicknamer: He nicknames Mera "my little fish stick" and Robin "Boy Wonder".

Progressively Prettier: Despite being worse for wear, this Joker is arguably even better looking than his previous appearance, with his over-the-top tattooed gangster image toned down and his androgyny played up. Ironically, this version also more closely resembles the Heath Ledger incarnation.

Thousand-Yard Stare: He has such a stare when looking at the devastated horizon as he starts talking to Batman.

Villain Has a Point: While he’s the one who killed Robin, he gives Batman a minor What the Hell, Hero? for sending “a Boy Wonder to do a man’s job.”

Vocal Evolution: His voice is much softer and higher pitched than it was in Suicide Squad.

[crystalangelluna]

A New Chance Chapter 5

Ao3/ Part 1 /Part 2 /Part 3 /Part 4/ Part 5(You're here)

Taglist: @wannajointhecrabcult @kceedraws @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @lilyreadbooks12

Enjoy:

{With the PMH (Past Miraculous Holder} They were all sitting in the movie theater, eating popcorn, and watching the events unfold themselves.

“Our little bug needs some guidance, you guys thinking what I am thinking.” The first-ever ladybug spoke up (Mei).

“We should give her a surprise, after school”

Everyone agreed and started planning out their idea. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (With Mari) Yesterday was pretty embarrassing, especially since the assassins escaped. Oh well, I don’t want to relive that again.

(Mari it is Mei, after school today, go to the alleyway near _______ street. We have a surprise for you. Make sure to bring Kaalki with you. And just know, we are looking after you.)

(Thank you, Mei, I am happy to hear from you again, say hi to the others for me, will you?).

She happily agreed.

In under 10 minutes, I got ready to go to school, I grabbed my purse along with Tikki and Kaalki, and headed out.

Gotham Academy

Very different than I had pictured it, but it will do.

Being the new student sucks sometimes but it is what it is.

My mission is to avoid Damien at all costs. But apparently luck isn’t on my side, because he is on the other side of the school steps,

Great way of keeping a low profile, Mari. I scolded myself

Just ignore the pretty boy… Just ignore the pretty, wait what? Stop it, Mari, you promised yourself you wouldn’t go down this path again…

Just ignore your childhood crush,

Shi- No cussing, a tinny voice said in the back of my head. Shoot he’s looking at me better RUN!!!

(Damian’s pov) Yesterday was pretty embarrassing, and not to mention the bloody assassins dared to escape. All because of my insolent brothers.

Alfred dropped me off at Gotham Academy. I honestly don’t understand why my father forces me to even go to this school. I am clearly more intelligent than these empty-headed people. But apparently, I have to “socialize” with kids my age. No thank you I am fine with just one friend.

Where did that come from?

I was about to go inside when I noticed someone on the other side of the school steps.

It seemed the new student was having a fight with herself, she then ran up the steps and trip but got back up and headed to the office.

What an idiot.

Whispers were going around the school, so were rumors and questions about the new student. Why would a new student be joining in the middle of the trimester, and especially in the city with the worst crime in the world?

Suspicious…

I headed to my first class, Physics

I sat at the back of the classroom next to Jon because he is the most tolerable in the whole school.

“Good morning class today we have a new student, please introduce yourself, Miss.”

The same girl from earlier stood up to speak,” Hi my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I originally lived in Paris.” This raises my suspensions even more, why would someone who lives in a safe city be somewhere like Gotham. People are Weird.

(Mari's POV)

“Thank you Marinette, you sit next to Marely, please raise your hand.” A black-haired, brown-eyed, Hispanic-looking girl raised her hand. While I was walking to my seat, 2 things stood out to me. I was sitting behind the one person I didn’t want to sit near.

Damian Freaking Wayne/Robin. And he was glaring at me, great, the famous bat glare.

I just sighed.

Great trying to stay away from Damian is harder than I thought,

Mei and the rest had something to do with this.

(Mei and the rest of the crew) They were snickering at the screen that showed their beloved little bug and her fate. Marinette was correct; they were a part of it, especially if they were planning her love life all while eating popcorn. This was going to be Fun.

(Time skip, Mari's Pov)

It was lunchtime already and so far I was done with my first 3 classes. I had Marely in all of my classes so she showed me around the school. She easily became one of my new best friends. Luckily for me, Damien was only in my first class.

Lunch came and went by, I punched a kid in the face cause he went too far in his opinion on me, then we got sent to the principal's office only for him to place us in detention for the next day. And then it was time for the last class of the day...

Gym.

Oh how I was excited to participate in this class {who hates the gym, cause I do?}

The Gym teacher announced that they would be competing against the art teacher's class since the teacher was absent for the day.

Low and behold…

…

…

…

…

{You guys probably think It is Damian, am I right?}...

…

…

It was that jerk face that I met earlier, the one I punched in the face, for calling me pathetic and a liar. Can't I have no enough enemies in my life? Jack, Jacob, Jim whatever his name is,

he is going DOWN!!!

Too bad he got on my bad side, you never want to see a pissed off, Mari.

Also, too bad for him, dodgeball is my favorite game, and I happen to be the best at it.

Well back when I was alive in my Paris.

And I happen to be the hero Ladybug. And I carry the Kwami's Of Creation and Teleportation right now, and not to mention the others especially Plagg./p>

Calm down Mari, it is okay you have another chance, you can sorta of start over again. I told myself.

Right now you have to show jerk face exactly who he messed with.

(Another time skip cause ya author too lazy 🤪)

Let's just say he will never mess with me, again. And for that matter, if these Gotham kids are who I think are, word spreads fast, and they would know not to mess with me.

As I was heading to the direction Mei talked to me again.

(Bring Marely with you, she will play a big roll in the future. Oh and she needs to know the truth after your surprise)

(Are you sure, that could be dangerous and risky?)

(Trust me you will need all the help you can get, just don't worry about it right now, you know what Bunnixx would say!!)

(Yeah, yeah I know, everything has a time and place.)

(Marley's pov)

I was about to leave the building when Marinette or as she told me to call her Mari, called out to me. I turned around and saw her running towards me.

She tripped but caught herself gracefully, I giggled.

" Do you need anything Mari?"

"I was wondering if you would like to hang out right now?"

My common sense screamed at me not to go because, 1.We are in Gotham for crying out loud. 2.She could be a villain in disguise And 3. I just met her.

But alas my gut is telling me to go, and I trust my gut, especially since it got me out of sticky situations.

So I went with her.

(Damian's POV) All-day people were pestering me with rumors about the new student. Especially after school, apparently, she beat up a kid and beat him at Dodgeball.

I spotted her talking to the girl she sat next to during Physics.

They left the building, and then I did what any reasonable person would do.

I dragged Jon with me and we followed them.

This is Gotham after all. And I am the son of the World's greatest detective.

(Mari's POV)

Someone was following me, I bet I know who.

It won't be of any use losing them now.

I’m just going to let them be surprised. Oh the CHAOS!!!

When we arrived at the place Mei informed me, Marely was confused.

"Just wait for it." Not even 5 seconds later a portal opened up behind us and covered our mouths, I wonder if this is the surprise that Mei had for me.

Then they yanked us into the portal and it closed.

I looked into a familiar room that I thought I would never see again I turned around and I saw…

And older looking Adrien and Kagami than me, precisely 3 years.

I was wrapped in a hug. I didn't even know that we were crying, once that was over I looked up to see Marely super confused and shocked.

I mean who wouldn't be both when you were kidnapped, then your recently new friend hugs your kidnappers and they all cry, and you don't even know what is going on.

"Umm, Marely meet my best friends Adrien and Kagami, from another alternate universe."

"Hi, I am Adrien" The sunshine boy is back.

"Greetings, nice to meet the friend of my best friend."

"Hi, I am Marely, can you tell me what the heck is going on???"

"Well, you see Marely…"

(With Damian)

Wtf just happened?!?!?!?

[mystorytellerstuff]

Searching Truth

Batman Fanfiction

Searching Truth

Chapter One: Fired!

The room was buzzing that chilling morning. Men and women speaking softly about what they were writing about, but as not in too much details so nothing could ever get stolen. Clicking of keyboards echoed in the rather large room, taping of feet walking around to get where they are going, ringing of phones everywhere. It was a busy day, their due almost coming causing them to work a little bit harder. Oh, how she wish she was among them all. She rather be out there stressing unnecessarily than being seated in her bosses’, Mr. Derby, office with him jumping down her throat for yet another article that she did recently.

Her eyes stay glued out through the window, watching all her coworkers running around franticly. Listening to all the muffled sounds that came from the closed door. Besides that, the room was filled with a man’s grievance of needing to keep this business a float. Mr. Derby ranted for fifteen minutes about her negligence of popular media streams and that she needed to get a better story than the ones she’s been doing since she got here. But what was the point if she couldn’t print out all that happens in the night? The people that lurk out only causing chaos to other people. 

“We need more viewers to our brand, Laynie. No one doesn’t need you playing detective.” He told her harshly, his voice deep and gruf. He sat in his chair, leaned against the old desk. The light from both the window and the light in the ceiling caused a glare in his glass. A glow bouncing off his dark skin. Laynie rolled her eyes at his words, feeling her blood boil with anger. She knew red was creeping across her face, she didn’t have to look in a mirror to know this. 

“People deserve to know the truth, boss.” She responded just as harshly to him, turning her head to him with cold eyes. “And I’ll keep giving them what they need to know to keep them safe.” He heaved a tired sigh. This response was not new, but weighing its annoyance heavily on his shoulders. The old man had took his glasses off, rubbing his eyes a bit hard. Uncomfortable, Laynie thought to herself while watching him start to lose more patients with her. She could tell that he was at his wits end of her putting out the crime reporting and digging up activity that happened in certain areas of Gotham.

Mr. Derby stood up from behind the wooden desk adjusting the worn suit a bit before proceeding move around it. Placing himself a bit closer to her as he sat on top of the large desk that was littered with papers and folders.

“What they need is a peace of mind. Uncovering the things that this Batman does in the night doesn’t give them that.” He spoke to her a bit more softly. Hope in his voice that she understood him. Hoping that she would listen to him to keep herself alive. Especially since there’s not a lot to know about the mask vigilante, other than he fights the criminals during the night. He didn’t need her involve in something that he couldn’t very well trust or understand.

Laynie had heard her father’s words echoing in her mind. ‘You can’t find peace until you know there are problems to begin with.’ Of course she had thought it was silly when she was a child. Now though, now that she dug up more of every gang and criminal in this city, there no such thing like peace here. There never will be if people keep ignoring it, or being naïve that there isn’t a problem at all.

Laynie held his stare for a bit longer, not wanting to back down from this. She couldn’t agree with him at all. There was no peace in this city that she loves, and barely anyone who wasn’t living in the dumps had no idea what was going on in the dark. And barely any news cast covered it. She felt that the people had to know what else that was going on. Everything she could find and put out there.

The noise outside grew louder some, a bit of an argument circling among a few people. It didn’t take long for it to settle down. More typing, banging on metal desk now occurring amongst the crowd outside. The

“I disagree, boss.” Her voice went colder then before. Another minute of silence from both of them. His eyes drawing in disappointment at the reply she gave. He knew she would say that, knew her all too well. God have mercy on him moving forward with this. The solemn gaze to her way brought confusion to her.

“Then Laynie. You given no chose now.” With that said, he stood on his feet. Back straight, arms crossed. The suit now showing just how much he worn it. The bit of threads popping out, the material looked it was ready to collapse on itself any given moment. She brought her head up, narrowing her eyes with suspicions. What was Mr. Derby planning now? “If you don’t do this interview, I will have to let you go.” He warned her.

Laynie froze at this, honestly she didn’t see this coming at all. “You’ll fire me?” She spoke breathlessly. It hurt. Having a man she knew since she was a kid tell her this. “What the hell?” In a fit of hot blood temper, she also stood. Shoulders stiff with that anticipation he set out. Heart racing with worry, eyes spiking suddenly. Mr. Derby had placed a hand on her shoulder to her reaction. Wanting her to calm down.

“I’ve told you time and time again. You know your place here. And I am expecting no less than that. If you refuse, than I’m sorry. I have to fire you.” His voice assertive, but in a soothing tone. One she use to hear at a young age. Use to it was because she would run up and down the hallways, almost running into people in the process. Her father of course got on to her, but it was Mr. Derby’s stern eyes and assertive voice that caused her to listen. She felt like a child again, and she hated every moment of it. 

Laynie took in a deep breath then. Soon, she was looking away from him. A bit of bitterness towards this old man now that he was punishing for what she was passionate about. A few people started to leave for their lunch through the window. She really longed to go with them right now. Having to pull on her hair when writers block came, drinking ten cans of red bull to stay up through the night to finish her article or investigating a new lead for her life’s work. Having him threaten her only income just stung so bad. 

Finally, after moments of trying to keep from crying a bit and losing her temper, she faced him. Heaving a sigh, “Alright fine. I’ll do this damn interview.” Her boss smiled at her. It made her stomach twist unpleasantly. “Who am I interviewing?” She questioned him.

“Ah!” He went back around his desk, taking a seat in the big rolling chair. Doing a small dance of success that she was finally listening to him. Opposite of what she felt in that moment. Laynie stayed where she stood, folding her arms rather tightly. This was not what she wanted at all. It felt wrong. Laynie felt a little betrayed in that small moment. What happened to the man that wanted her to live out what she was passionate about doing? Now, all she saw was a stranger before her.

Mr., Derby heaved a sigh, leaning back like any old men out there. “You’ll be interviewing Bruce Wayne.” The answer was not what she wanted. It was bad enough that she was doing a stupid worthless interview. But with that guy? Laynie knew there was enough information and gossip about that guy. Whether they were true or not.

She groaned lightly, rolling her eyes to show her displeasure at the situation he put her in. “Don’t you think there’s enough 'peace of mind’ about that guy?” She questioned again, annoyed. The reaction causing him to grin gleefully.

“No.” He put it simply. Of course he wouldn’t, she thought. “You’ll be at his office tomorrow at 12.” Laynie nodded her head to him before leaving the small area. Mr. Derby had started typing away on his computer. She stopped in her tracks once the door closed behind her, glazing over people’s heads with a heavy heart. They were busy, like every day. Lucky them for not having to deal what she had to deal with. Her thoughts ran a bit wild while at what she needed to interview him. Her boss never told her what she needed to question him about.

That was when a grin appeared on her face. The mischievous glint in her eyes. Maybe she could take some creative liberties for her old boss. She almost felt like laughing evilly to herself at her plan. Laynie walked off to her little cuticle, cracking her knuckles as she went off in the internet to research Bruce Wayne. 

End of Chapter One

[aion-rsa]

The Batman Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

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The Batman trailer is finally here, accompanied by Nirvana’s “Something in the Way.” The two-minutes-and-a-half of footage presents a nightmarish new take on Gotham and the Dark Knight, an impressive feat considering only 25% of the movie has been shot so far, according to what director Matt Reeves said during the DC FanDome digital event.

Matt Reeves’ Batman reboot explores the early days of the Caped Crusader’s career, about two years into it, and focuses on a younger Bruce Wayne who is haunted by his past as well as a new villain who’s leaving victims all of the city for him to find.

We see in the trailer as Batman is hunted by a serial killer who is leaving him letters at every crime scene, teasing that the movie will feel more like a detective story than the usual action take. The trailer also gives us our first look at several villains, including Penguin, Catwoman, and a gang that seems to call back to a group first introduced in an animated series.

While the trailer makes quite a few things clear about this new Batman movie universe, there are a few lingering questions left in the promo’s wake. So we’re going breaking down the trailer to see what’s really going on in The Batman. And if there’s anything you spot in the trailer that we missed, let us know in the comments!

Before we get started, take a look at the trailer again:

Okay, let’s get started:

The trailer kicks off the character reveals right away, giving us our first look at The Batman‘s version of the Riddler — at least I’m pretty sure this is him. The riddle-obsessed villain isn’t really known for wearing a full facemask with glasses over it, but as you’ll see throughout the trailer, this movie seems to play like an extended fever dream full of grotesque baddies set against an almost overbearingly dark Gotham City.

This is the perfect version for this new take on the Riddler, who seems more like a serial killer here than the grinning megalomaniac we know from the comics, video games, and Batman Forever. In fact, Paul Dano’s Riddler looks about as far the opposite of Jim Carrey as you can get.

The trailer definitely sets up the Riddler as the main villain of the piece, a killer obsessed with getting to the Batman by leaving behind corpses and messages for the Dark Knight at his crime scenes. Above, we see one such victim, his face wrapped in tape with the words “No more lies” written over it.

Uncovering a lie seems to be a major aspect of the movie, as its a message the Riddler repeats to the Batman several times in the trailer. It suggests the Riddler knows something about the Caped Crusader that no one else does. Does the villain know that Bruce Wayne is the masked vigilante? Or does this lie run much deeper than that?

The fact that the Joker movie also dealt with the idea of the Wayne family’s hidden past — in that case, that Thomas Wayne may have had an illegitimate son — and that this movie could have at least one potential connection to last year’s Taxi Driver-inspired character piece makes me think the Riddler knows a secret about Bruce’s past. The Riddler, who seems to be speaking to Batman throughout the video, tells the Dark Knight at the end of the trailer that “he’s a part of this,” meaning whatever the villain is doing was designed to punish Bruce for something.

Reeves has said that his take on Batman is more of a detective story than an action movie, and this trailer definitely delivers on his promise. We see Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon investigating the crime scene the Riddler leaves behind at the start of the trailer, while a forensics team takes photographs and gathers evidence.

One piece evidence is a green envelope left behind for Batman. Inside is a card with a riddle that I can’t quite make out, but it’s undoubtedly meant to lead the World’s Greatest Detective to the next clue in the Riddler’s twisted game. We also see that the Riddler has also picked up a few things from the Zodiac Killer’s book of riddles, as he leaves behind a code for the Bat to crack.

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a framed newspaper at the crime scene gives fans of The Dark Knight and The Long Halloween a nice easter egg to mull over. We already knew John Turturro was set to play crime boss Carmine Falcone in the movie but now we know that his comrade in crime/rival Salvatore Maroni also exists in this universe and has been busted for transporting drugs at some point before the start of the movie. Was Maroni one of Batman’s early targets? Maybe we’ll find out.

Here’s an excellent look at what the top half of the new Batsuit looks like. It’s pretty much a suit of armor, although the cowl and cape seem to be made out of leather. And as we already knew, this Batsuit has a collar, which is a pretty neat addition to the usual suits designed for the movies.

This scene also confirms that by year two of Batman’s career, he’s already on good terms with Gordon and the GCPD, although something tells me that relationship ain’t gonna last very long…

I have no idea who this is, but I’m going to guess it’s The Batman‘s version of Commissioner Loeb, the corrupt head of police that preceded Gordon. Since the movie is getting a GCPD-centric spinoff on HBO about the corruption inside the police force, I’m going to assume this version of Loeb will be a bit closer to the power-hungry chief introduced in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One.

We also get a look at the new Batcave, which is about as minimalist as the Dark Knight’s secret lair can get. In fact, it looks more like a garage than a secret underground science lab/high-tech surveillance station. It even looks like this version of Bruce spends more time working on his Batmobile than on his computer piecing mysteries together. Can you even call that a Batcomputer? It looks like a workbench with a dual-monitor PC setup. Does this dude even get wi-fi inside his underground mechanic shop?

Bruce is at someone’s funeral for someone I don’t recognize when a car comes crashing through the church. Inside seems to be a man with a bomb and a letter for Batman strapped to his chest. Does the Riddler know Batman is attendance already or does he think this latest scheme will lure him there?

Either way, we also get our best look at Pattinson as Bruce. It’s interesting to see a version of Bruce who doesn’t sport slicked back billionaire hair. Instead, Pattinson wears more of an emo slick — very fitting for the mood of this trailer.

We get our first look at Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle doing what she does best: stealing. Reeves said during DC FanDome that this version of Selina hasn’t quite morphed into Catwoman at the start of the film and is instead still being shaped into the master thief we know and love.

The trailer shows us a brief snippet of Selina taking on Batman, suggesting that the characters will be at odds with each other in the movie. But could this be the start of a love-hate relationship like what we’ve seen in past takes on this duo? This should be interesting.

We also get to see Colin Farrell’s absolutely incredible transformation into the scarred Oswald Cobblepot, who, according to Reeves, is still working his way up the crime ladder in this movie. He’s not yet the powerful crime lord known as the Penguin, but it sure seems like he causes plenty of havoc for the Bat nonetheless.

Here’s why I mentioned that Joker connection earlier. The gang of face-painted goons that challenge Batman in the trailer sure look inspired by the Clown Prince of Crime. My initial reaction was that The Batman was doing the Jokerz, the Joker-worshiping gang introduced in the Batman Beyond animated series, but what if these guys were actually inspired by Arthur Fleck’s actions in the ’70s-set movie?

We know that by the end of Joker, Arthur has a cult following rallying around him, despite the fact that he’s admitted to murdering quite a few people by that point. His followers, who don their own clown makeup and masks, see Arthur as a freedom fighter, someone fighting for justice in a corrupt city where the rich have it all and the poor have nothing. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that Arthur has become a symbol all these years later, inspiring the next generation to go out into the streets and cause their own chaos.

I know WB has said that both The Batman and Joker exist in their own universes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio was suddenly anxious to tie these two movies together after the massive success of the latter. If Pattinson ever does take on the Joker, you can bet your Batarangs that WB will try its very hardest to make it the Joaquin Phoenix version of the villain.

Anyway, we eventually watch as Batman beats the ever-living shit out of one of these clowns. It’s a bit…much.

While Batman and the GCPD seem to be on good terms at the start of the trailer, things have certainly taken a turn later. We first see Bats getting into a scuffle inside an interrogation room surrounded by cops and then later escaping a building while police officers shoot at him. That second shot actually seems to recreate the famous panels from Year One where the Dark Knight escapes an abandoned building surrounded by the GCPD with the help of a swarm of bats, a scene that also inspired an action sequence in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.

Why are Batman and the GCPD suddenly at odds? It’s possible this is part of the Riddler’s plan to destroy the Bat. Has the villain framed the Dark Knight for something? Or has Batman gone too far in his search for justice?

The new Batmobile is front and center towards the tail end of the trailer. It’s a very cool and surprisingly realistic take on the Batmobile unlike what we’ve seen in past movies. This muscle car definitely looks like something Bruce would have worked on himself inside the Batcave.

Finally, we get a look Batman sans mask. There’s no elegant bachelor under the cowl in The Batman but a beaten down, soot-covered man who looks more troubled than any other Bruce before him. Pattinson’s Bruce almost looks more inspired by The Crow than Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, or Michael Keaton before him. It definitely looks like he’s taking the character in a new direction.

We’ll find out for sure when The Batman hits theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.

The post The Batman Trailer Breakdown and Analysis appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[inappropriatefangirlneeds]

Gotham s4ep20 “That Old Corpse”  Personal Review

For Jim Gordon the law is not a steel boned corset  but more of a fragile lingerie corsage..

Warning spoilers below 

“I would sooner debate you all on TELEOLOGY versus DEONTOLOGY than leave her with that overgrown Boy Scout.”  * Oh eff you EDWARD NYGMA and people like you, those two concepts aren´t that hard to grasp if you explain the terms, don´t feel more intelligent cause you got in touch with terminology other people didn´t, they have no use for those words but they sure do understand what they are about you might get a compelling discussion, you know when you are faced with the necessity to break rules and law to make a living instead of doing it just to flaunt your ego, might be an interesting perspective Ed, consider this  (Overgrown boy scout though :D) This really is one of the episodes themes though. With Jim Gordon we´ve already walked all kinds of paths of the question of the lawful vs. the right thing but now we got some more steps here. 

LESLIE THOMPKINS & JIM  GORDON get a whole straight forward conversation about the whole issue: “Who doesn't want to be Robin Hood? But you're still breaking the law.” “Jim, you wish you could do what I'm doing. Helping people without the straitjacket of the law as if the law means anything in Gotham.” “If the law has lost its meaning, it's because people like you are turning your back on it.” “I am fighting back. I don't deny anything I've done. You want to send me to Blackgate? Go ahead.” “I don't want to send you to Blackgate! That's the last thing I want to do. Don't you know I wish I could let you walk out that door, turn my head?” “What's holding you back? Maybe if you let me go, you'd let yourself go, too.”  Oddly Leslie seems to have forgotten that Jim Gordon does bend the law for the right cause.Why though he was present during the Galavan thing. Jim is not exactly completely restricted by it. “Come to the Narrows.” “What?” “Where you can make a real difference in this city. You can make up your own rules about how to do it.” For Jim Gordon the law is not a corset with steel bones but more a fragile lingerie corsage. It´s nice to look at and you can flaunt your body in it if you please but it´s not restricting you. He is already quite on board with the whole doing bad / criminal thing for the sake of the good cause. Jim already made up his own rules. Just look at him torturing suspects in this episode. It´s not like he hasn´t already “let himself go”. The only real thing that´s holing him back is appearance. He wasn´t happy about Oswald´s public licence system he wanted the old more concealed mafia cooperation back. Only HARVEY BULLOCK voices the issue. They have long crossed that line. “People get away with a lot worse in Gotham every day.” “Doesn't make it right.”  “We got away with worse. Both of us.” > Oddly recently we have had Harvey Bullock be on the “hold up the rules” train, he arrested Oswald although he helped them, he called Jim out on falling for Lee´s “she is doing good” argument. This time they have switched platforms. This time it´s Harvey being ready to let Leslie get away with her crime because of her motivations and because there is worse people. Jim instead is the one to insist that not only the “good intention” matter. Less oddly this is the kind of philosophy Jim usually shows with other people. We get more and more expressions of doubt about himself but he still goes on with acting based on the other kind, the one that supports him bending rules and law. Which certainly must be less easy to suppress now that Bullock is directly addressing this.  (I´m on the other hand suspecting that with Bullock that is less a matter of philosophy than one of personal feelings. He never liked Oswald, not even before he killed Fish Mooney. I´m pretty sure this animosity was even more leading him to arrest Oswald than it was his righteousness.)

Then there is the matter of PERSPECTIVE. All the question of doing a good thing or causing a good thing doesn’t matter much if there´s different points of views on what´s “good”. When Harvey Bullock and JIM GORDON torture the guy in the trunk of their car Jim reminds Harvey of their audience. “Harvey, Harvey. Reporters, buddy.” The good cause of foiling crime outweighs the unethical deed of torture for the both of them but that´s only their judgement the reporters might see that differently. Likewise BRUCE WAYNE´s intentions of bringing JEREMIAH to Jerome´s grave were good but the outcome was detrimental to Jeremiahs situation. “I thought it would help. I was wrong, but we need to leave.” JEREMIAH VALESKA and BRUCE WAYNE is the other pair where this question is discussed most directly: “Jerome wanted to slather you in honey and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles. Now, that's mad.  Me, if I want to kill you, I'll just do it. I'll shoot you in the head. Simply and sanely. See, I don't want to kill you, because I want to show you how much I've changed things. How much we've changed things. 'Cause I could not have done any of this without your help.”  Just like with leading Jeremiah to the dug up Jerome Bruce´s intentions with the project that turned out to be bombs instead of cheap environmentally friendly energy were good. However this doesn´t matter when the outcome is death and destruction. Or does it?  He´s contributed to it! He has made it possible. What weighs more heavily the thing you wanted to do or the thing you did?  It´s also tied straight back to him feeling responsible for what Jerome did after he let him live!  And on the other side it connects  the whole issue back to JIM GORDON. He doesn´t let Jerome live. He shoots him to stop him from pressing destruction buttons. He´s trying to safe his live as well when he is about to fall from the roof but with shooting him he already risked his death.  Apart form this quite obvious bomb point I do think that there´s something to be said about JEROME & JEREMIAH here as well. Jeremiah says he would just kill Bruce without further ado, claiming he is all about the outcome, while Jerome would have delved in the deed itself. With Jerome there is much more focus on his intentions and motivation. On the other hand you could also read this as the both of them being on the same page. In pointing this out Jeremiah also flaunts his own intention, which is differentiating himself from his brother. It´s not about killing it´s also about making a point that he kills differently than Jerome?  LESLIE THOMPKINS & EDWARD NYGMA “Were you awake the whole time?” “Maybe.” “Smartest man in Gotham, huh?” “Don't just wrap me around your finger, Lee.” “Come on. Let's run.”  I´m still kind of expecting that they turn on each other, Leslie inviting Jim to the Narrows is potentially as suspicious as Edwards “not gonna happen” line last week (about the both of them joining and loving Lee), maybe I´m paranoid but I don´t like their relationship very much plot wise but they are still super cute together, how can they even have that much chemistry? How?! However both seem to have a common ground in “darkness”.  Leslie accepts hers for the sake of the good cause. Her crimes are motivated by the outcome, one that´s helping others. She doesn´t see herself as a bad person for doing crime because the cause justifies them. On the other hand Edward doesn´t care about this, he would rob a bank or kidnap nuns as long as he can make a name of himself and flaunt his ego. He delves into this darkness instead of focusing on what it can be harnessed for. He recognizes the darkness in Lee but also sees that she isn´t in the same place as he is but he seems to think she will get there, while Leslie sees his as well and his ability and thinks she can influence him to get on her path .. Edit: more 

JEREMIAH and JEROME VALESKA and THEIR PAST MAYBE? * Who are those Jerome followers? I mean I would say either you are the kind of person that likes some chaos and to trash a place while partying or you are the kind of person that can partake in an event that takes quite a level of organization but then again young people organize illegal parties and whole festivals in the woods maybe that´s not so out of the ordinary, maybe you can get a whole mix but oh well, in general I wonder about all those mobs and groups that show up, where are they when they disband? Do they wear sweatpants if they aren´t out to make trouble? *“And trust me, you're gonna want to pay attention so the TWIST makes sense at the end.” I was getting really excited when the Jerome video popped up and Jim was mid fight with Ecco, like oh what are they gonna do with this plot? Have I judged too early? But then it was Jeremiah who orchestrated the whole thing. He was not unaffected by the gas. Him telling Bruce that he sees Jerome everywhere was probably a lie, or not, who knows? Maybe seeing him everywhere sparked his change and his obsession to outdo him? But anyway That is not a twist, I guess you could claim the twist is there not being a twist which in some way is a twist but with the absent of an actual twist this doesn’t really count as a twist it´s just a suggestion of something that isn’t there that´s not the actual thing. In other words I´m disappointed.   * And it does not change anything about the fact that having someone in that prominent role that dedicated his life to something else before and who just took this path because of some gas is cheap. And I still don´t like that notion that, (assuming Jerome was right about Jeremiah) the choices a person makes don´t matter.  * But I´m gonna try to find something interesting in this. > I´m wondering if we are meant to believe that Jeremiah already started working on that energy system having in mind that this could be used as a bomb? Even before the whole Jerome thing went down? Were it his natural impulses or his subconscious that made him gravitate towards such an ambivalent project? I´d rather believe not, I want to believe his intentions were the same as the intentions of Bruce, but then again this could feed some characterization > “Like everything Jerome set his mind to, his insanity gas failed. Other than some mild cosmetic effects, he might as well have sprayed me with water. You all need to see Jerome for the utter dud that he was, so I donned the mask of madness to show you how feeble that is compared to actual greatness. Behold, the face of true sanity.”  So given his words we could read this as sibling rivalry, Jeremiah wants to come out of this on top. He´s better than his brother. He´s not only better he´s also different. Where does his all come from?   Is he really seeing Jerome everywhere and wanting to spite him? He took some time learning about Jerome´s “obsessions and goals” and came to the conclusion that: “I will outdo every one of them”.  I don´t think that mixes well with Jerome and his talk about legacy, also I´d like to have some more background where this could be base on..  > Another thing is this repeated “Progress requires sacrifice” notion that Jeremiah shows, he also says “To truly build something, you must tear down what’s already there.”  I haven´t had the impression that this is a philosophy he would support? He was more about protection and building in a constructive way, granted this was self protection but still. He expected Jerome to confront him, he feared for his life and he hid and built a defensive structure instead of going out of his way to find Jerome first and get rid of him. Which he should have done if he believes in the notion that for him/something to flourish obstacles need to be eradicated. On the other hand it was implied that Jeremiah planned to maybe kill Jerome. Which would make the defensive structure more of a trap in order to destroy him. Maybe it was both and this is meant to show Jeremiah´s struggle/split between the tendencies Jerome sees in him and the choice Jeremiah made to not act upon them?! Just this still feels a bit out of nowhere, I´d really like to have had some hints, maybe connected to his architectural work that this is a philosophy he cherishes.. > Then again maybe I´m asking for something that was in fact there. Maybe him throwing young Jerome under the wheels was his version of “progress requires sacrifice”. By making his family believe he was in danger he could leave them, which opened up opportunities far from circus life for him, he could go to school and have success ..  * I loved all the details they had this week: >The mazes on Jermiah´s walls > Jerome´s diary outside and inside > The diy flyer that called the crowd to Jerome´s grave  > That one umbrella (see below) one of the Jerome followers had * JEREMIAH´s hiding spot among the dead. This was such a good choice because you can´t escape how much it resembles his home underground, how in turn his safety maze is resembling a grave, he´s hiding dead to the world, and now Jerome obviously got into it through the gas * The shot with Alfred going through the door and the fight scene we only get a glimpse at  * I loved how Jim Gordon was a proper detective again for a moment, the tactical retreat to trap Jerome´s followers was a nice moment, as well as him basing this strategy on Jerome´s tactics of distractions .. well he couldn´t know that this was all on Jeremiah..    only Oswald figured that out! (“I don't expect you to betray the memory of that old corpse. I want you to betray whomever it is you are currently following.”) * I loved that there was a lot of openness and communication (even if sometimes not sincerely) Jim is quick to tell Alfred about the problem, JEREMIAH talks about the gas, he directly calls out BRUCE on the lie and he promptly apologizes and changes his strategy * Likewise although less kind the interactions between BUTCH GLIZEAN and OSWALD COBBLEPOT were rather open.   “There's nothing petty about my aggression.” “So, am I to starve until I guess the source of your resentment?” “You said, if I joined you …… “ //  “Shh! Did you just shush me?”  Just like Jeremiah Oswald addressed a problem inbetween them directly and the openly talked about it. * “What I want to know with a minimum of fuss,” Oh Oswald, I feel you, everything is exhausting * It´s a shame that we don´t know more about ECCO. With a show that´s supposedly about Gotham before Batman and the villains he hunts they are way too quick to push characters into those roles. I want to see them being someone different and then slowly change and develop but there are like Oh by the way here have Harley doing Harley things (assuming Ecco is meant to be her)  Edit: more * “Confusion is always an opportunity for the clear headed.” * “You, go where Jim Gordon goes. He comes under some harm, assist him. I do not need Lee blaming me if he's killed under friendly fire while I go about my business.” * “And even though I know it's not real, it feels real.” * “Dead when he came in. More dead when he was eviscerated and his brain was sliced up.” Oh Lucius  * “Which is exactly why I will not have you bumbling into the GCPD en masse.”  Bumbling! * That poor „We’re saved!” guy was funny .. * Harvey running that guys head into the metal bar was mean but takin more beer out of the coffin a funny moment again, also Harper!! * „Yes, that's right. Now you can tell me why you sound so concerned.” I don´t even know why but his tone in this makes me ship Jim and ALFRED even more. 

[headquartersforlievmuses]

► Damian Wayne

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. This makes him an heir to the world's greatest crime-fighter, and its greatest super-villain Ra's al Ghul. Damian became the fifth Robin, working alongside Dick Grayson as Batman. Damian's existence was initially unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. Raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, Damian became a talented martial artist by the time he was a pre-teen.

Damian was seen years later when Talia had him spy on Bruce with her. Talia revealed Damian's existence to Bruce Wayne at ten years old and left him in his father's custody in an effort to disrupt Batman's work. Precocious, spoiled, selfish and violent, Damian battled Robin (Tim Drake), whom Damian wanted to replace as Batman's sidekick, and sucker punched him off the T. Rex model in the Batcave. Grounded by Batman, Damian escaped, donned a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and got into a fight with the villainous Spook, whom he decapitated. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seemed to genuinely want to aid Batman's war on crime as Damian saw himself as Wayne's true son though that remained unconfirmed.

Eventually, Batman confronted Talia, but both Talia and Damian were soon caught in an explosion. They survived the explosion, but a badly injured Damian required transplants of harvested organs, which his mother ordered her physicians to carry out. Damian made a full recovery.

Talia, Head of the Demon, takes Damian to the Australian Outback where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute.

Sometime after surviving Ra's resurrection, Damian had sensed that someone is out to get Batman. In response to this, Talia began to formulate a plan. It was later revealed that Bruce Wayne had performed a DNA test on Damian to determine any blood connection between them. After learning of Batman's disappearance, Talia took Damian to Wayne Manor, where they deactivated a series of traps and saved Commissioner James Gordon in the process. Damian rescued Alfred from a burning batcave and the kid took the Batmobile, driving it to Arkham in order to aid Batman against the Black Glove. On the road, Damian knocks an ambulance off a bridge, much to Alfred's dismay.

After Batman's apparent death, Damian was left in the care of Alfred Pennyworth and trained by Dick Grayson.

While Gotham was drowning in chaos, crime and corruption, Damian was joy riding in the Batmobile with a friend when Oracle called him to send him on a mission to the Gotham Harbor. Oracle took control of the car, but Killer Croc and Poison Ivy attacked the Batmobile and Croc knocked the car off the road into a stream. Damian was terrified and tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Croc was about to eat Damian until he was saved by Nightwing, who used the Bat-Glider to take Damian out of danger. While they were flying, they were shot out of the air and upon landing they were quickly surrounded by Black Mask's goons. Suddenly an impostor Batman appeared and shot the criminals, killing them all. Dick fought the impostor, who was revealed to be Jason Todd. Jason shot Damian in the chest and Dick took Damian back to the Batcave, where Alfred healed Damian's wounds.

Despite working as Grayson's Robin, Damian expresses a strong willingness to take over the Batman identity himself if Dick is not "up to it." Damian has no respect for Grayson, and tells him that he needs to earn it if he wants his respect.

It is revealed that Damian has begun to visit his father's former friend and enemy Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, in the prison at the top of Wayne Tower that Dick and Tim put him in, and engages him in chess games. Damian claims that these visits are out of his curiosity for why Hush would alter his appearance to that of Bruce Wayne's. But Hush suspects that the visits are rather Damian's form of grieving for Bruce and a way to "spend time with your old man."

It appears that under Dick's teachings, Damian has begun to grow a conscience and has even demonstrated signs of empathy, particularly towards children. This is demonstrated by his behavior during a mission with the new Azrael and more recently during a Christmas case, in which Damian and Dick find the bodies of several dismembered kids, causing Damian to vomit in horror.

Damian also becomes involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members during one board meeting led by Lucius Fox. He manages to track down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises accounts, intimidating the board of members along the way. The board becomes impressed that the young Wayne has such impressive business capabilities despite his young age, apparently inherited from his father.

After Tim Drake is revealed to have named as Bruce Wayne's heir in accordance of his will made prior of his disappearance, Damian has filed an injunction with the boards to against Drake since he is Wayne's son.

After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's paternal grandparents, to their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, whom Damian lashes out at in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The two heroes then prepare for the Black Lantern's assault on Gotham. After raiding the Army Reserve National Guard Armory, Dick, Damian, and the arriving Tim Drake, are able to save Commissioner Gordon, Oracle, and the surviving police officers at Gotham Central from the reanimated versions of the original Dark Knight's deceased rogue gallery members. However, they then find themselves having a horrific encounter with Batman and the Red Robin's parents - the Flying Graysons and Jack and Janet Drake - reanimated as Black Lanterns.. Dick and Tim send Damian with the Gordons to their underground base while they battle the Black Lanterns. Dick eventually orders Damian through their comm-links to send one of his Wingers with Mr. Freeze's gun. Grayson uses the weapon to cryogenically suspend himself and Tim, forcing the Black Lanterns to retreat as they are unable to read any sign of life of them. Deadman later revives the former Boy Wonders.

Talia begun to clone Damian as she has realized that her son has completely sided with Dick Grayson and the Bat-Family. Damian finally stands up for his Robin mantle, telling Talia that being Robin was the best thing that he had ever done, and Talia does not need to save him from something he chooses to be. Talia then shows Damian the cloned version of himself, whom she sees as Damian's younger brother. Talia admits to Damian, that even though she loves him, he is no longer welcome and is now considered an enemy of the House of al Ghul. Damian defiantly replied that he hoped that he would be a worthy one. Damian (as Robin) is then seen teaming up with Batman and Alfred to begin the search for Bruce Wayne.

Dick Grayson eventually sees that Damian requires friendship and compassion in order to curb his harsh methods. So Grayson takes Damian to Titans Tower, where Damian, despite not being a teenager, takes steps to become the leader of the Teen Titans. His first mission ends in disaster after a super powered teen, who was using his powers in revenge for being bullied, is attacked by Damian after Raven is able to calm him down and the teen lashes out and escapes.

Upon his return to Gotham, Grayson notices that Damian's time with the Titans has made him more patient and he is less prone to use his weapons. After apologizing to Damian about his time with the Titans being a bust, Damian states that he knows Grayson sent him there to find friends but "[he has] one in Gotham and that's more than enough" implying that Grayson is the only friend he will need.

Bruce and Damian begin patrolling together as Batman and Robin for the first time. Bruce tries teaching Damian about the sanctity of life, but has trouble relating with his son. Damian begins showing restraint, which Bruce commends, although Alfred still criticizes him for not being supportive enough. Bruce buys Damian a dog named Titus to teach him compassion. They were both targeted by a super-villain named Nobody. They are kidnapped by Nobody, who tries to show Batman that his no-kill methods are ineffective. He encourages Robin's darker side and tries to take him as an apprentice. Robin angrily leaves the Batcave to work with Nobody, who asks him to execute a criminal. Robin reveals that he was lying, and refuses to betray his father. Nobody decides to torture Robin, continuing his personal vendetta against Batman. When Batman discovers their location, he beats Nobody mercilessly. Nobody swears that he will return and kill their friends, so Damian shoots and kills him. Instead of growing angry, Bruce reacts with compassion. When Damian gets out of the hospital, they talk about how difficult it is to adjust from the life of an assassin. Despite their differences, they play with Titus and enjoy spending more time together as father and son.

Bruce and Damian begin working together against his mother Talia, revealed as the head of Leviathan. During a fight in a meat factory, he converts to vegetarianism and adopts a pet named Bat-Cow. He is believed dead when he was shot in the head by an assassin named Goatboy. It was revealed that Talia has created another clone as his replacement, the obedient fully-grown Heretic. Robin is shown to have faked his death, and is confined to the Batcave at Batman's orders. To avoid the bounty on his head, he begins using the name Redbird and switches to a new costume. This allows him to team up with Jason Todd, who is using the Wingman identity. They work together with Batman Incorporated to take down the League of Assassins' top killers. However, Batman tells Damian he has to quit crime-fighting altogether. Bruce reveals that he has seen Damian's future, as told through "Batman in Bethlehem". If Damian does not retire, his actions will lead to a plague that forces the President to nuke Gotham. Batman Incorporated fights Leviathan in the streets, while Damian is forced to stay inside. Alfred Pennyworth gets him a cat to take care of, who he also names Alfred. Damian refuses to stay home while his allies are dying, and Alfred allows him to leave knowing he cannot be stopped.[48] He flies his exo-skeleton into the center of the battle, where Leviathan has taken over Wayne Tower. He neutralizes the child soldiers, and teams up with Dick Grayson to take down the remaining assassins. The Heretic flings Grayson aside, and challenges Damian to a sword-fight. Despite his bravery and refusal to give up, Damian is impaled through the chest and killed.

After various trials and tribulations involving his corpse, mainly revolving around Ra's al Ghul and Apokolips, Batman managed to rescue his son's body and, though using the Omega Sanction infused within a Chaos Crystal shard, brought Damian back to life within the Batcave.

On his 13th birthday Damian is sent a package by his grandfather Ra's al Ghul, which contains a dead Robin. After a meeting with his mother Talia, he discovers that it is a warning from his cousin Mara al Ghul, who has chosen him as her prey as part of an initiation ritual she must undertake in order to properly join the League of Assassins. Mara has been made leader of a group known as the Demon's Fist, which was originally supposed to be lead by Damian but became hers when he chose to leave the league. They too have chosen targets that they must hunt down in order to ascend to the league, Damian descides to collect the other Demon's fist's targets in order to form the new Teen Titans; this includes Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Kid Flash.

While searching for a tree for Christmas,  Jonathan Samuel Kent accidentally torched some woodlands near a swamp in Hamilton. He was subsequently rescued by Maya Ducard aka Nobody and Goliath. Jon later awakened in the Batcave and found out that Robin had been keeping him under surveillance for a long time. The two initially did not get along, and the situation was further complicated when Batman and Superman arrived, blaming each other for the conflict.

Powers 

Archery: Damian asserted that his training with the League of Assassins gave him greater mastery of the bow than even Green Arrow.

Artistry: Damian is considered as skilled with a brush as he is with a sword.

Business Management: Trained by his mother and the League of Assassins in the way of controlling a company with an iron grip. Even as a young boy he knows that in business there are wars and even in war there are assassins. Damian is involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members. He even intimidated the board members by tracking down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises' accounts.

Disguise: Damian has disguised himself as an elderly busdriver and a substitute teacher.

Driving: He learned to drive at the age of five.

Martial Arts: Trained by the League of Assassins, Damian has stated he knows just as many martial arts as Batman and can use them more effectively. This may be a largely overstated comment but one should not ask for verification. Damian may not be physically tough but he knows how to control his weight and has stated that he knows, "one thousand ways to kill a man." Damian's training has made him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant able to defeat or hold his own against multiple opponents, armed opponents or skilled hand-to-hand combatants.

Genius Level Intellect: Damian has inherited a genius IQ from his father.

Mimicry: Damian can imitate anyone's voice and speech patterns perfectly as he imitated Tim Drake's voice in order to gain access to the Batcave.

Peak Human Condition

Pedagogy: He once taught a geology class for a day at Jon Smith's school.

Stealth: Damian was able to sneak into Gotham City and furthermore into the Batcave virtually undetected until he felt necessary. Of all the Robins, Damian may be the one that is the most silent.

Swordsmanship: Damian assaulted both Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne on separate occasions with his sword, apparently the same sword used by Ra's al Ghul. Although Damian no longer uses his sword he may be unmatched with one if armed correctly.

Throwing: Damian is trained by the League of Assassins in shuriken throwing and further trained by Batman in Batarang throwing.

Arrogance: More often than not, Damian believes himself to be better than he is, this has allowed him to underestimate opponents as well as irritate his allies.

Damian has declared himself a vegetarian.

Damian has a strong love for animals. Pets he has owned include Goliath, Bat-Cow, Titus (dog), and Pennyworth (cat).

Verses

tba

[oneeyedscarecrow]

apropos of nothing (except remembering that I need to write this up at some point) lemme tell you about earth 451 Jack. under a cut ‘cause this boy has a lotta backstory

his dad either died or left too early to remember; he was raised by a single mom, a nurse named Suzanne, who grew up in France and still fondly remembered it (feeding Jack’s own love for France, especially Paris, later in life). Suzanne never knew she had a son, not a daughter, but she supported Jack being a ‘tomboy’ and sympathized with him over being bullied at school. They were extremely poor; that, combined with school being a generally miserable experience for him (being an obviously queer kid with a mood disorder and probably some other comorbid disorders doesn’t make for a GREAT school experience) encouraged Jack to drop out as a young teenager and start looking for any kind of work he could do, hiding it from his mom. 

Gotham being what it was, that work was always usually illegal; acting as the ‘tiny person who climbs in through vents and stuff’ in crimes, stuff like that. Jack tried to stay away from the more violent work, but being a tiny perceived-as-female teen meant he wound up fighting often to be taken seriously, and learning he had to be vicious to earn respect. Still, he tried - and the first person he killed, he wasn’t even supposed to kill. It was an accident; the man wasn’t supposed to be home, Jack had terrible trigger discipline and the gun just went off... Terrified, Jack did his best to lay low after that, but some people have the worst luck. The guy he’d killed was connected to the Court of Owls - a minor member, but they had to show that nobody connected to them could be touched without consequences. In a few days a Talon showed up; killed Suzanne, shot Jack and dropped him into a convenient vat of chemicals, and went home satisfied with a job well done. 

As you may have guessed, Jack wasn’t dead. He crawled out of the Gotham River (which the chemicals were dumped straight into. Yay pollution!) a while later, discovering that the chemicals had apparently increased his ability to heal - not significantly, but enough to save his life. And he was bleached, which was weird. He was also having a massive nervous breakdown, but that’s more from watching his mother die and almost dying himself. 

One bad day doesn’t make someone a Rogue. More than that, he was fifteen at the time. He dragged himself to the home of one of his few friends (Teresa, more on her someday) and she gave him a place to stay temporarily while he went through his breakdown. Then... he had to find a way to stay alive. He didn’t feel like he could leave Gotham, even if he wanted to; it was all he knew. After a year or two of recovery and beginning to present as a guy (he was already learning to use makeup to disguise his new bleached state, he could fiddle with his appearance a little; and needing a new identity gave him an excuse to do what he’d always secretly wanted, use the name he preferred) he started working at a chemical lab. No concrete end goal, but he wanted to understand what had happened to him. (He never would, but in the process of searching he’d create a poison that left a rictus sardonicus on the victim’s face. He’d file the formula away, horrified yet fascinated by it.) 

He had always had difficulty with his moods but it was around then he started to have long, serious periods of suicidal depression. The main thing that kept him from killing himself was the feeling that there must be something, some reason he had survived when the odds were so thin. 

Jeannie was a librarian, and a friend of Teresa’s. They met when they were still both young (barely over twenty) and got married young, which surprised everyone; most of all Jack, who was attracted to dudes 80% of the time and didn’t expect to find anyone who was interested in him period. But Jeannie genuinely liked him; they shared senses of humor, he sang to her and she gave him books to read until he finally caved in and read them and things seemed like they might be going good. 

Aaand then Jeannie mentioned that she was researching some odd events in Gotham over the years, and Jack realized that she was building up a big ol’ file of evidence that the Court of Owls existed. And she was good - Jeannie was a tenacious researcher and made connections few would; she’d practically compiled half a list of members by following the hints and putting together facts from centuries ago. After about fifteen panic attacks, Jack tried to explain to her that these people were not to be messed with. They seemed practically omnipotent. She needed to stop or bad stuff was going to happen. But Jeannie refused - she needed to keep pursuing the truth. 

And one day Jack clocks out of work to hear that she’s dead.

It takes a while for the news to sink in. But the more it does, the more confused he gets. Because if it was the Court, he knows he’d be dead too. If it was the Court, it would have been something worse than a bullet, if it was the Court - and he realizes, it wasn’t the Court of Owls. It was practically an accident. A stray bullet from a drive-by shooting, directed at someone else on the block. Jeannie just happened to step out the door at the wrong time. 

And if it had been the Court, Jack might have just finally committed suicide, or he might have lived in fear the rest of his short life. But it was accidental, it was random - or no, not exactly, because the people in charge - the rich and famous that made up the Court and their favored, the judges and the crooked cops and the businessmen - they never had that kind of luck, did they? They were rigging the system, hoarding all the good ‘luck’ for themselves. People told him that people just died sometimes in Gotham, that there was nothing that could have been done, but that wasn’t true. It wasn’t random. It was a rigged carnival game. Jack hung around their apartment for a while longer, thinking about that kind of thing for a while, then he dug up Jeannie’s partial list of Owls and got to work.

He didn’t intend to live. He was sure he’d kill one, maybe two people and the Court would take him out. But he wanted to make sure he took out at least a couple people and terrified the shit out of the others, so he took his time coming up with a persona; digging up that poison and perfecting it; coming up with ways to get into and out of the places Owls lived. And finally, one warm summer night, the normal radio broadcast cut out and a slow, mournful voice cut in.

“Tonight, at precisely twelve o’ clock, I will kill Henry Claridge. The Joker has spoken!”

His debut’s very much modeled off the very first appearance of the Joker in 1940; at the time, Jack was far from what his persona would eventually become. He was considered terrifying because he looked like a dead man walking, painted into some semblance of life; barely ever raising his voice over a hoarse mutter, with a humorless laugh and a grin that resembled the rictus grins he left his victims with. He wasn’t described as the Harlequin of Hate for nothing. Everyone could tell he was pissed off about something, but nobody knew what. Put that together with his occasional erratic behavior and black humor, and the easy explanation of ‘well, guess he’s Mad’ began to emerge. He was more successful than he’d anticipated, but he still would have wound up dead - whether at his own hand or the Court’s, through a corrupt cop or paid-off prison inmate - if it hadn’t been for the other new kid on the block. 

Batman deeply confused Jack, because... well, what the fuck, I thought I was the only dude out in a costume, is this going to be a trend? They wound up becoming active at almost the same time, so both of them had expected to be alone in this ‘let’s create a persona and head out for Justice’ mindset. Regardless, Batman captured Jack and he was sent to Arkham - an old, little-used asylum for the criminally insane - and so he survived. And after he broke out and made another pass through the Court, they were too shaken to retaliate immediately. So he survived. And then new people started showing up, in their own costumes, and Jack realizes that he’s apparently not a dead man walking; he’s part of the new wave of the future. 

Against all odds, Jack started to cheer up. 

At this point, he’s part opportunistic criminal (although those crimes are generally geared towards money and jewels), part extremely violent vigilante, part bizarre philanthropist. He sees himself as not quite a force of chaos, but as helping chaos be more fair, and he deeply hates anyone trying to recreate the Court of Owls or anything similar. He still has periods of deep depression and struggles with suicidal feelings, but he (and by extent, the Joker persona) got significantly happier once he started finding reasons to stay alive. His sense of humor became more apparent, and pretty soon people forgot it wasn’t always part of his persona. 

and he’s still deeply confused by Batman.

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

Photo Album

Batfam Week Day 1 is Family. The supremely talented @sam-and-crystal collaborated with me to create the picture I describe in the Wayne Family photo album. I can’t believe that she took the description and turned it into a beautiful reality! You can also read the fic here on my ao3. Rating: PG (Jason has a bit of a mouth and I stand behind Kate’s burn but some may not) Words: 2,095 Gen (only familial relationships though it’s heavily implied that the batkids end up with kids of their own. Insert personal headcannon’s there (including adopting kiddos of their own).)

The little girl roamed the manor in awe, her expression showcasing the pure definition of wonderstruck just as it always did when she came to visit “Grandpa Bruce”. She came across a section of the library that she couldn’t remember visiting before. The shelves here held books that were thicker, their spines almost resembling the three-ring binders she used in school. Ever so carefully the girl removed the books and placed them in a growing stack at her feet.

Bruce found her seated there on the floor, miniature towers surrounding her, an hour later. She was smiling as she cautiously turned the page of the volume she had nestled in her lap. Bruce maneuvered between the piles and carefully sat himself next to her. All the while his joints creaked and ached, his body’s belated revenge for years spent brutalized in the name of crime fighting. Peering over her shoulder Bruce felt the corners of his lips flick upward. “I see you’ve found the family albums,” he whispered.

“Is that what these are?” she asked with her wide eyes sparkling.

Bruce bobbed his head once and gently tugged the album from her lap to his own. Flipping the page, he smiled as something in his chest warmed. Staring up at him was his family in all their rambunctious, candid glee.

Tim sat directly in the middle of the frame, wedged on the couch between Steph and Cass. The two girls were successfully tickling Tim and you could just make out the hint of a motion blur around the edges of their forms as they squirmed and laughed. Damian sat on the arm of the couch with his back leaning against Stephanie. His arms were crossed as he petulantly stuck his tongue out at Dick, for once looking like the child he had truly been. For his part, Dick was sticking his own tongue out at Damian. Face scrunched up, hands on his hips, his butt jutting out as he leaned forward. The stance reminded Bruce suddenly of Peter Pan. Jason stood behind the couch with his arm slung around Duke’s shoulders. His head was thrown back in a laugh so you could just make out his shut eyes and open mouth between the jutting chin and flop of hair. Duke was smirking at whatever joke the two had made, likely at Dick’s expense, with his arms crossed over his chest. On Jason’s other side stood Babs, her palm pressed into his shoulder mid-shove. Her lips had scrunched up to the side of her face, wrinkling her nose in the process. However, behind her glasses her eyes sparkled with silent laughter. Behind Barbara and just barely in frame stood Alfred, a wide smile on his face as he watched the chaos his charges created.

“I took this picture,” he told her, tapping lightly on the page.

“How?” she asked. The knit of her brow told Bruce that she had sat through enough family dinners to know how hard it was to get them all joking with each other, even after so many years.

“Luck,” he said with a smirk.

The day the picture was taken was one of Gotham’s many dreary ones. His various children had found refuge from the drizzle and damp in various wings of the manor. Even now he couldn’t think of what might have drove them all there on a perfectly average Saturday besides the weather. The day before he had promised Tim to help with some WE things but had gotten significantly sidetracked, ending up in the living room arguing with his cousin over the phone when the teen walked in.

“Kate, I don’t think you understand exactly how redundant that is,” he half sighed into the phone. Pinching the bridge of his nose to try and ward off a Kate induced headache.

“And I don’t think you understand exactly how redundant you are! Come talk to me when you stop being an exorbitantly wealthy, cishet white male of a nonspecific faith,” she screeched back.

Bruce loved his cousin, she was often right, he just didn’t appreciate her ire being targeted at him. He turned to Tim sitting on the couch, who gave a little wave and mouthed “I’ll wait” with a smile. Bruce could tell he had heard Kate’s outburst and was now significantly more eager to hear his response than talk business.

“You need to understand that you have every reason to be mad and what you said is true, however directing your anger at me for those reasons isn’t helping right now since they are not only unrelated but also as I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Yet,” she immediately shot back.

Bruce sighed. “Yet. Now please, can we get back on topic?” He paced as she laid out the full extent of her anger. Now and again Bruce would interject with a question that she would then elaborate on but otherwise he just listened. His concentration narrowed to the problem she was dictating to him and when they both hung up about twenty minutes later, on good terms, he was surprised to find the living room filled.

Over the course of the conversation his other children must have filtered in. They now sat before him, talking and laughing. Tim was wildly turning his phone this way and that, obviously playing a racing game of some sort. Steph cheered and poked him in the side, causing Tim to flinch and jerk his phone.

“Steph!” he whined, “I was winning!”

“Just a game,” Cass poked him in the other side. She wore a sly grin and her eyes had a mischievous glint to them. Bruce had to admit he was glad that her mischief wasn’t being directed at him.

Stephanie snickered and the two girls shared a knowing look before they pounced. Tim didn’t stand a chance as his phone dropped to the floor.

Damian had perched on the arm of the couch, half leaning on Stephanie once she sat back slightly. Dick stood in front of him, waggling a finger in Damian’s face. “Just because you deny it doesn’t mean it’s not true!” he crowed.

“-tt- Only a true idiot such as yourself would believe in such an outrageous thing.” Damian rolled his eyes spectacularly.

“Oh really? Then why do your ears turn red whenever I say anything about it?” Dick asked.

Damian narrowed his eyes and Bruce could see him formulating a response.

Bruce decided to turn his attention away from his eldest and youngest son, full-well knowing that he would be made aware of the fallout of their current conversation as it happened. His eyes landed on Jason who was leaning with his forearms on the back of the couch. He was semi-aggressively ruffling Tim’s hair as the girls continued their tickling.

Duke was tapping on Jason’s shoulder, obviously trying to direct Jason’s attention to Dick and Damian’s increasingly dramatic not-actually-a-fight-fight. Babs was attempting to braid a few stray pieces of Cass’s short hair as she moved. Jason’s sudden focus on a brother that wasn’t Tim drew Barbara’s attention as well.

Bruce heard Jay snort as he quickly opened the camera app on his phone. He raised it as he heard Jason mutter something, snapping the picture just as his son let out a raucous laugh. Bruce lowered his phone without looking at the screen, instead standing there and smiling at his kids.

“B? Uh, everything ok?” Tim asked. Stephanie and Cass had dropped their hands to their laps. All of them had their own unique dumbstruck faces. Bruce blinked at them.

Alfred cleared his throat and stepped away from the back wall where he had been standing. “I believe Master Bruce is, ah, taking it all in.” He smiled kindly at Bruce before turning his attention to the kids.

He could see them all squirm a little, a few smiles and chuckles. Bruce was used to it though, he wasn’t one to openly show affection and no one was exactly comfortable acknowledging when he did. At least not when he was standing right there.

“I know I promised that we would talk business Tim, but I can’t pass up on a day such as this.” With that he swooped towards the couch, scooping up Cass and easily and gently throwing his daughter over his shoulder. She squealed and lightly pounded her fists on his back.

Bruce chuckled as she laughed, he was waiting for the rest of his family to lay chase.

“Hey! That’s my protegee!” Babs yelled as she ran after them.

“And my best friend! Kidnapping is a crime!” Steph called out.

Bruce glanced back in time to see Jason’s long strides overtaking the two girls. “Yeah well that’s my little sister so I get first dibs on ass whooping!”

Bruce laid on the speed as Cass’s peals of laughter filled the manor. Bruce could just hear Dick’s shout of “Get in line Jay!”

Rounding a corner, he was forced to skid to a stop, resulting in a soft “oof” from Cass. He murmured a quick apology and felt her sign “It’s alright” into his back. Bruce turned his attention back to the obstacle that caused him to stop. Before him stood Tim, Damian, and Duke. All three wore matching mischief making grins and Bruce had some sudden serious concern as to when they had all started spending enough time together to do that. The last Bruce could recall Damian and Tim still hated each other and Duke was still not quite comfortable around the other two.

“Now boys, let’s discuss this civilly,” he tried. Cass tapped his right shoulder and Bruce began edging that way. He could hear the others getting closer. They all stood there tensed, waiting to see who would make the first move.

“Now!” Cass yelled and Bruce took off running again. A smile on his face as he sprinted down the halls. “Kitchen!” Bruce veered left and slid to a stop in front of Alfred, who already had two bowls of ice cream readied. Setting Cass on her feet, Bruce turned to look at his daughter questioningly. She just held her phone up at him and smirked. Bruce gave Cass a high five as they grabbed the ice cream and went to barricade themselves in the cave.

After about ten minutes, and hastily finishing their ice cream, the two of them were dragged from the cave into the large movie room that the manor was home to. Dick had pulled a movie from the shelf and flipped on the DVD player. “What’d you pick?” Barbara asked.

“Man from U.N.C.L.E. Something we can all actually agreed on,” Dick said. His gaze met Bruce’s and he smiled as his eyes twinkled. Bruce flicked up his lips in a smile of his own. His eldest knew how to keep the peace, even if it didn’t last long.

The rest of the night passed relatively without incident. Tim lost his popcorn when Damian aggressively fist pumped, upending the bowl. Steph was told to shut up after the third time she said how much she loved a particular dress. Jason was shushed for bemoaning that his action sequences couldn’t be viewed from such good angles. In all, it had been a good day. A real win for the Wayne family and company.

“Hello? Anyone in here? Alfred said you were here and I will not take kindly to being startled,” Dick’s voice carried through the library. He rounded the corner of the shelves and smiled down at them. “There you are munchkin! Hey B! I’m surprised to see you on the floor. You think you can get up?”

Bruce scoffed. “I’m not that old Dick. I’m guessing you were sent to collect us?” Dick gave a sharp nod and a grin. Bruce handed the photo album back and slowly pushed himself to his feet.

He began following after Dick when he paused and looked back. The photo albums were still stacked around her and she hadn’t even made a move to get up. “You coming sport?”

Her head jerked up. “Huh? Oh. Sorry. These are just so cool.” A small smile danced across her lips as she kept staring at the page.

“You know, why don’t we bring some of these along? I think everyone else might like looking at them too.”

Her face lit up. “Really?” When Bruce nodded she scrambled to her feet and scooped up as many albums as she could. Bruce helped her and between the two of them they managed about half of the piles. 

[theartistdetective]

The Joker x Harley Quinn-Mephisto Part:4

Hey guys, thank you for your patience. As a compensation for my extremely short third chapter, I’m presenting you a long one! Things are getting tricky with some action!

 Warnings: Out of character Harley Quinn, Sherlock references, violence

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Harleen grunted as Jonny Frost pushed her onto the cold metal surface of the stretcher and started to tie her down using chains, trapping her beneath them. She wasn’t used to being treated like this. She let out an disapproving huff and stared at the henchman. She realized she couldn’t hear the head doctor’s screams anymore. That meant her interesting and fellow patient would grace the painfully boring room earlier than expected. How delightful! Frost gave the doctor an unsure look and wondered why she stopped struggling. Hell, it was pretty easy to bring her to his boss as well. She hadn’t even struggled that much, just trying to get off of his grip by wiggling around. No bite, no scratches, no punch, no kick in the nuts. Didn’t she value her life? Well, she must be crazy anyway; he thought. Falling for a dangerous madman… As the Joker –naked torso and sweatpants, a blood covered bat in his hand- made his appearance in the room, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The chaos died down, unexpectedly, Harleen just laid on the cold surface without moving. Mr. J approached to her from behind and looked at the laying woman beneath him. Harleen could tell she was about to receive an electroshock therapy, looking at the things he held in his hands. But she calculated that something else would happen first. And she knew she wasn’t born to be tied down. And she told the henchmen that they would be sorry if they didn’t get off of her. She was a woman of her words. She just stared at those steel blue eyes, waiting for him to speak his mind. “Are you married?” “Look at my ring finger.” J knew that there was nothing on there before, he just thought she didn’t choose to wear it. For… reasons. “Do you have a child?” “Although I might be quite motherly at times…” J grunted at that response. He remembered how she told him stories about her family, how much she loved them and so on… Little Susie and her perfect father Lucas. A bright student and a successful businessman. The sunshine that lights her world and the heat that keeps her bed warm. He remembered all those times she tormented him. He listened to all kinds of domestic stuff: Susie’s first word, the first time she talked and walked. And that annoying man that he swore to kill… Ugh! Why would she fucking lie? “If you want an answer, ask a question.” Harleen chimed, snapping the Joker out from his drunk~in~anger state. “Why?” he whispered, his tone reeking of murder. And then she laughed. Laughed! Out of all things she could have done, she started giggling like a maniac. The Joker was frustrated. How dare she! He felt his gun getting heavier on the small of his back, ready for him to engrave her smile on her face for the eternity. Or maybe the knife in his pocket, shall slice her exposed neck; covering the floor with flesh blood. He struggled to choose between two options. Eeenie meenie miney mo… But his hand didn’t move downwards, it rose up: going farther away from the two weapons. He didn’t want that, but since his hand was up anyway it would have been logical to go for a slap. But his hand stopped mm’s away from her face, ‘cause a loud thudding sound made him look behind him. One of his henchmen was knocked out cold and hit the ground. And then the other, the other and the other… He noticed the suspicious looking white gas leaking through the pipes as all of his henchmen fainted, including Frost. The gas was moving towards him, center of the room. He held his breath, trying to think of something. Suddenly someone behind him put a mask on his face. He turned around to see Harleen, free from the chains and wearing the same mask. She giggled: “Well, Puddin… Did you enjoy the show of Houdini?” Everything happened so fast. Suddenly, she reached into her inner labcoat pocket. She swung her arm and J felt pain on his left shoulder as she pricked him using the needle in her hands. He tried to apply pressure on it with his right hand. But he couldn’t move it. He felt like his hands were paralyzed. In less than a second, he was on the floor; not able to move any parts of his body. But he was still awake. He heard the woman approaching. “Well, that was for you to hear my answer. I need you awake for that. But, I don’t want you to think you’re getting special treatment or something.” she threw her head back and laughed, a mischievous look in her eyes. “So, being awake but paralyzed would be fair… I guess.” She then looked at him, her eyes scanned his half naked body up and down for brief seconds. “Screw it. Might be giving a little bit…” she mumbled as she bit her lower lip. She then jumped suddenly with her eyes wide open, exaggerating her mimics. “Now where were we… Ah… yes… My itty bitty lie… Let’s think over the reason together, shall we?” she laid stomach~down on top of the paralyzed clown prince of crime and looked into his eyes. “What would the reason be?” she laid her hands on the top of the other on his chest and rested her chin on them. After she asked the question, she tilted her head to the side, pouted her lips and raised her eyebrows like a child. “What? Tell me already!” wanted to say the King but couldn’t. Harleen noticed that. “No no no no! No rush… We’ll figure it out together. Even if you cannot talk, you can think, you can guess things. But I won’t be that cruel, I’ll give you a clue. Everything that has happened, every thought that has crossed your mind, every emotion you had to bear… they all occurred just as I wanted them to. What was your plan in order to break out? Be frank with yourself and me.” I would use you by making you fall in love with me. “You’d use me. Did your plan succeed?”  No. He thought. “No no no no, Mr. J!” she exclaimed as if she could hear his thoughts, cupping his face –as much as the mask let her- and bringing their faces closer together. “It did, you’ll be at your hideout tomorrow as a free man. And I should be frank too, if I wasn’t interested in you I really wouldn’t pull off all that crap! You totally got me handsome!” Mr. J was puzzled, why the hell was all this narcotic gas thing? She noticed her look and giggled playfully: “Mr. J, I would be damned if I let every guy I meet perform an electroshock therapy on me! You can’t inflict pain on me without my consent, I won’t be letting that.” she got closer and whispered in his ear. “If you’re prepared for a battle, you should expect a counter-attack; you should know that the best in this world.” “But let’s go back to our topic, my lie. Another hint: I knew the reason behind you approaching me. I wasn’t unaware of the trap, I just closed my eyes and walked. I knew you thought you didn’t love me back.” The Joker furrowed his eyebrows. Thought? The woman smiled. “Oh, so you caught that.” “Yes, thought. What did you feel when I told you I was already taken?” He thought about himself, being angry as hell; wanting more information regarding the man. “Me being happy; even having a kid. You don’t need to answer, I already saw it. You were hella’ angry. But not in the my plan fails with this development way…” He wanted to laugh then; wanted to mock her, he knew where this was going. And he knew she was hella’ wrong. She continued talking as everything started to unravel.“Well, that may be defined as “making him jealous” in some women’s magazines. It was a mere test, whether I’m wasting my time with you or not. But it is a good tactic, let me tell you… you may think it was stupid for me to even think about something like you being jealous of me when I was clearly aware of your plans… well, I had a reason…” J was laughing angrily now in his head, that stupid woman! Of course it was stupid! He wasn’t in love with her, it was all a game. How could she think… What kind of reason? He suddenly felt the mask being snatched away and saw the white smoke hovering over his head. Harleen moved her face closer to his and spoke, “You could’ve easily scared me to death like you did to the others before, why choose to make me fall in love? My goal never was to make you fall in love with me. I thought you were a genius and shouldn’t be locked up in this hellhole. I offered my help, but secured myself. My aim was to make you interested in me: an interest that it would stop you from pulling the trigger when the barrel laid on my forehead.” Her smile got wider as she got closer, their masks touching to each other. “But even I couldn’t calculate that I would make the King of Gotham unable to draw the gun, just with looking at him in the eye.” J felt her slender hands reach to his cheeks, her soft lips touching his as the her voice echoed through his mind. “Goodnight and farewell Joker…” “I want you to remember me… The woman who beat you…” were the last words he heard as the darkness took over him.

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