#we almost got long haired kane in a suit

[brothersgrim]

kane && seth rollins, maybe, probably, particularly thanks to authority!era

i have so many of these in my screencap folder. this is about half. you gotta hand it to seth, he's determined if nothing else!

[rawiswhore]

Various WWF Wrestlers x Fem Reader- "Back That Ass Up"

The 1990's...a time when most rock bands and singers didn't sexually objectify women in their songs and music videos.

A time when popular female singers, from female singer-songwriters to lead singers of bands to R&B singers, barely ever showed their bodies off and used sex to sell themselves.

A time when it seemed like women who defined the decade were sarcastic, deadpan, nonsexualized alt girls like Janeane Garofalo, Juliana Hatfield and Daria from the titular MTV cartoon.

A time where you had riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill angrily protesting rape and sexual assault.

A time when Gwen Stefani, who was then known for being the lead singer of a band, stating how she's "had it up to here" with sexism while she points to her forehead.

A time when Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon asked "Are you gonna liberate us girls with your male white corporate oppression?" and Queen Latifah making diss tracks towards misogynistic men.

But then...as the 1990's come to a close, just when you thought professional wrestling had dwindled in popularity when so many of their top stars during the 1980's left the World Wrestling Federation, pro wrestling made a comeback in 1996 and 1997 due to Hulk Hogan turning heel and a wrestling company known as WCW was beating the WWF (World Wrestling Federation, not World Wildlife Fund) in the ratings.

What was the WWF to do?

Instead of having a kid friendly product that seemed like a live action Saturday morning cartoon and had their faces of the company not using profanity or adult-like things despite having lots of charisma and being fan favorites with the audience, the WWF by the end of the 1990's became edgier, more violent, sexualized, shocking, trashier, vulgar and "adult like" than ever before.

You could say that the WWF was growing up with their audience who were kids watching the WWF when Hulk Hogan, Macho Man and even Bret Hart and Razor Ramon were the faces of the company that were now transitioning into teenagers who love sexualized women, middle fingers, sexual innuendo, violence and profanity.

Speaking of sexualized women, during the 1990's, when you had hardly any sexualized female recording artists save for a few and rock bands who barely sexually objectified women, by the end of the decade, the World Wrestling Federation would have their women's roster, be it from valets like Debra and Terri Runnels to legitimate wrestlers like Ivory and Jacqueline, participate in bikini contests where they'd be judged for their beauty and dressed in bikinis that left nothing to the imagination, and worse, the women's roster would participate in the infamous "bra & panties" and evening gown matches where women would tear each others clothes and dresses off in the ring until they were down to a bra and thong, or they'd wrestle in bikinis in pools of mud or pudding.

To add insult to injury, this was considered "women's wrestling" by the late 90's and some women would end up winning the World Championship belt for participating in matches involving them tearing their clothes off or "wrestling" in bikinis in pools of pudding or mud.

Plus, the World Wrestling Federation during the late 90's was also a time when you had wrestlers playing pimps that would have groups of prostitutes following them and men who would have half naked women cuddled with them.

And worse of all...some wrestlers played characters that would degrade women, from the Rock telling Chyna she "belongs on her knees", Jeff Jarrett being a misogynistic asshole who thinks men are better than women, some racially insensitive Asian men degrading his wife and someone drugging a woman and marrying her through a drive through wedding whilst unconscious.

After a time where you had feminist-esque female recording artists that almost never used sex to sell themselves, wrote their own music and played their own instruments who performed at those Lilith Fair concert tours (tours that featured all female recording artists), male rock bands and singers who didn't sexually objectify women, the NBA launching the Women's NBA playing legit basketball like men and not dressed in skimpy outfits, and the list goes on for days, the World Wrestling Federation now had most of their female roster participate in bikini contests where they were judged for their beauty and women were mostly there to be portrayed as sex objects and nothing else.

It was like this was a backlash towards Lilith Fair and nonsexualized, feminist female singer-songwriters, rock bands that didn't objectify women, and nonsexualized women in the 1990's in general.

Then again, the WWF's Attitude era as it was known as was a product of its time, popular around the same time other trashy pop culture like the Jerry Springer show, Jenny Jones and Ricki Lake's talk shows, Howard Stern, "South Park", Tom Green, Eminem at his most shocking and Marilyn Manson was at the height of his popularity.

Granted, the 1990's weren't completely wholesome, considering this was also the era of gangsta rap that sexually objectified and sometimes even degraded women, "Baywatch" was a popular show that was just an excuse to see beautiful women with silicone breast implants running on the beach in slow motion in tight red swimsuits, Playboy playmates like Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, and Anna Nicole Smith were popular sex symbols, Howard Stern was a pop culture icon infamous for sexually objectifying women, and there were even some female singers who used sex to sell themselves during the 90's like Madonna, Janet Jackson, Salt N Pepa, TLC, Adina Howard and more, and by the end of the decade we had the Spice Girls, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Mariah Carey becoming more sexualized, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez getting a record deal.

However, for every oversexualized Adina Howard, there was a Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. For every oversexed Madonna, there was a Tori Amos. For every band that objectified women, there was a band that didn't objectify women.

Speaking of sexualization, you were one of the many bricks in the wall of the oversexualized women's roster during the WWF's Attitude era.

Not only did you participate in a few of those bikini contests, bra & panties and evening gown matches as well as those mud/pudding/gravy matches where you and another woman wrestled in a bikini, but your character you will always be remembered for playing was a scantily clad, nymphomaniac-like slut who was basically the wrestling equivalent to Madonna during her early 90's sex era and a female Val Venis.

From seducing wrestlers while you wore outfits that left little to the imagination, entering the ring wearing nothing but wrestling belts covering your bathing suit areas, cutting wrestling promos while being gangbanged (though your private parts weren't shown on television), rubbing cum on your body like it's lotion (though it wasn't really cum), wearing outfits that exposed your uncovered breasts not even being covered by pasties, wearing shirts that read "Pervert 69" on the back (parodying Janet Jackson's "Pervert" shirt she wore at the 1995 MTV VMA's), and Ministry Undertaker sacrificing you for being a whore, to roleplaying as a urinal while wrestlers jerk off in your mouth or on your face, becoming one of the Godfather's hoes (and you don't mean "The Godfather" as in the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece), Triple H and Shawn Michaels undressing you until you lay in the ring wearing nothing but a thong and they pulled a bottle of lotion out and squeezed it to simulate ejaculation, and to top it all off, having actual sex in the ring with Val Venis while over 1000 people watched this in the audience and it was broadcast on television.

The WWF was nearly rated TV-MA almost because of you, and was getting boycotts and protests partially because of you.

However, despite many shocking moments that made headline news and caused controversy and nearly got you arrested for obscenity charges, this particular moment was slightly tame in comparison.

Almost near the end of 1998, during one of those "up next" vignettes that had the guitar riff to Slam Jam's "We're All Together Now" playing, you were on all fours on your knees on top of a bench in the locker room.

While you were on all fours on top of this bench, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Billy Gunn, Val Venis, Christian, Test, Jeff Hardy, Steven Regal and Kane were circled around you, standing on your sides.

Triple H had his long blond hair hanging down, not with a ponytail in the back, Shawn Michaels didn't have his hair tied back in a ponytail, and Billy had his hair hanging down, not tied back in a ponytail or in little braids.

You were wearing nothing but a bra and thong and being filmed from behind, and as you were being filmed, you rolled your ass backward and arched it up a few times.

Your thong was buried and snug in between your ass cheeks, your pantyline covering your vulva.

Thankfully, you were shaved down there, not a single bit of pubic hair peeking out from your panty line or your panties, and you didn't have any bumps on your bikini line and thighs.

These aforementioned wrestlers around you were just staring at your ass rolling back, they all smiled from ear to ear, nearly salivating at your mouths.

These wrestlers surrounding you were cheering for you, Shawn even put his fingers into his mouth and wolf whistled at you.

Jerry Lawler sitting at the commentary table was going nuts, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head.

Grown men and underage boys in the audience are getting a massive kick over seeing you roll your ass to the camera, cheering for you and a few of them wolf whistling at you.

Triple H put his hand in one of his jean pockets and pulled out a dollar, where he slipped that dollar in between one of your thong straps.

Shawn, too, put his hand down the pocket of his slacks, where he pulled out a few dollar bills and his other hand stretched out one of your thong straps, putting that money at your hip, only to let go of your thong strap afterward, letting your thong hold that money.

Val and Billy really wish they could have some money to pull out and make it rain on you, though Billy wears those Mr. Ass shorts and Val is known for wearing a Speedo and a towel over it, neither of their outfits have pockets.

"Is that money!?" Jim Ross asked at the commentary table.

"Somebody better get her a pole!" Jerry Lawler exclaimed, his voice shrill as usual.

Indeed, you could use a stripper pole for this moment, but there sadly aren't any poles in the locker room.

You pulled yourself up from the bench, placing your feet on the bench and standing up on top of the bench, but after you got yourself up, you still continued dancing and shaking your ass.

Somebody come get her, she's dancin' like a stripper...

Some of these wrestlers surrounding you pretended to be shocked by when you assembled yourself up from the bench, their eyes bugging out and their mouths dropping open as well as walking a few steps back as if to act like they're shocked, only for them to smile after their mouths were agape.

Once you stood on top of the bench, you placed your hands on your knees and stuck your ass out, rolling your ass backwards and sometimes even shaking and bouncing your ass, basically twerking.

You smiled and your head was slightly turned looking at your rear whilst you rolled your ass backwards, hands on your knees, shakin' ass on your thot shit.

Triple H, Billy, Shawn, and Val were looking at you, smiling from ear to ear, especially Billy Gunn who placed one of his hands on your ass cheeks and squeezed it.

Hey, his nickname is Mr. Ass, that's why he did that.

You turned your body around and gyrated your ass and hips around in a circle, rolling your hips to the beat of the guitar riff of that Slam Jam song, and as you did that, you lifted your hands off of your knees and grabbed one of your bra straps, where you slid that bra strap down on of your arms, teasing the audience.

You looked at the camera filming in front of you with this "come hither" expression on your face.

Just as it looked like you were gonna take your bra off, the camera then cut to commercial.

Bah.

You wanted to do so much during this moment; besides spin around a stripper pole, you also wanted lie on your back on the bench with your legs spread up and shaking your ass, squat down on the bench and spread your legs out with your hands on your knees, but this moment was short.

Y'know, since you were roleplaying as a stripper and some wrestlers were pulling money out and sticking it in your G-string, you're surprised Vince McMahon, the CEO and boss of the WWF and pretty much the Ted Debiase Sr. of the Attitude era (and Ted DeBiase Sr. was known for playing a millionaire in the 80's and early 90's) wasn't in this segment pulling dollar bills out on you.

Though, Vince McMahon is a snake, even when the cameras aren't rolling.

[youngerdrgrey]

the only way to get over someone... // a Batwoman fic

About: SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON TWO FINALE / post-2x18 / season two finale — After the s2 finale, Ryan tries to be a good 'friend' to Sophie, but it does not go the way she planned (feat. an extended cut of the similar tastes in conversation).

Notes: Don’t read if you haven’t seen the finale. This picks up at the end of the Kate and Ryan scene, then continues on from there because my WildMoore heart wanted to. Under the cut because spoilers + read on ao3

Kate Kane is leaving, and Ryan might need some time to fully process that. Kate’s opposite her, comfortably seated on the corner of their desk. The beer bottle clinks against the edge of it as Kate covers her bases. The suit’s staying with Ryan.

Kate starts, “As for Mary and Luke….”

Ryan jumps in with a smile. “They are my family, and I am going to take care of them.” No questions asked. Though, with Luke and his new super suit, she will definitely have help in keeping their family safe.

“Thank you.” Kate smiles back at Ryan. “And Sophie?”

Not family. Not in the traditional sense, at least. She’s family-adjacent at best. She’s… she’s Sophie, the same person who ruined Ryan’s life and relationship multiple times, and the same person who helped Ryan build them both back up.

Ryan quirks her head from side to side. “Can I get back to you on that?” The repetition gets another grin out of Kate. Worry still shines in Kate’s eyes though. Ryan admits, “She’s saved me a lot more than she’s hurt me, so, I guess I can look out for her too.”

Kate sighs in relief. “Good. She’ll need it. She’s not invincible, Ryan. Mary told me all about the two of you going back and forth over Cluemaster. She’s tough, but Sophie’s a lot more fragile than she seems.”

Ryan has seen a bit of that. Sophie does her best to hide the cracks in her armor, but Coryana in particular stripped down a layer. Her fear for Jordan took another, even her concern for Ryan in these last few days wore at it. “And you’re about to break her heart.”

Kate nods. She seems so sure that looking for Bruce is the right move. Maybe that’s what a good trip of Snake Bite can offer: clarity. Not that Ryan’s interested in joining Kate on that other side.

“Help her through it?”

Ryan jokes, “I’ll make sure she finds a suitable rebound. There’s a pretty great lesbian bar here.”

Kate’s eyes twinkle. “Keeping it close to home?”

Ryan does not like the implication in that question. She redirects the conversation. “Call us every once in a while. And make sure to tell Mary how much you miss her. She won’t admit it, but she loves to hear it. And maybe text Parker too. That girl is so hungry for gay mentorship. And —”

“I get it. I will keep in contact.”

Ryan aims her beer bottle at Kate like a threat. “You better. Don’t make me come find you. I almost died the last time.”

But Sophie saved her then. Ryan can always do the same.

.

.

Sophie does not know what to do with herself now. There’s no guidebook on what to do when the love of your life comes back from the dead, then promptly leaves to search for her cousin. No FAQ with tips on how to handle making out with said love of your life either.

There’s a knock on her door. A hopeful part of her immediately thinks it’s Kate. Sophie will open the door, and Kate will drop down her duffel bag and helmet and say, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sophie rushes to the door. Throws it open and — oh, of course. Ryan gives her an apologetic smile from the other side of it.

“I know I’m probably not who you want to see right now….” Ryan starts. Her arms shift around two resusable grocery bags with overflowing snacks and wine bottles. A backpack bumps them from her shoulder. She offers another smile. “I brought supplies. And I’m here to keep you company through the heartache and to take you up on your offer.”

That explains the backpack. Sophie checks, “Kate’s leaving tomorrow?”

Ryan nods. “Tonight’s her last night in the loft, and my only night crashing on your couch. If the offer still stands?”

She seems hopeful too, and nervous, like she’s bracing herself for Sophie to close the door in her face.

Sophie hasn’t exactly had any company at her place. Not since Julia. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone here tonight. Make her laugh, make her smile.

Sophie steps back to let Ryan in. Ryan glides forward. Sophie closes the door and leans back against it so she can watch Ryan take in the space.

Ryan does a full turn in the entrance. “Damn, you got it like this?” She whistles low in appreciation. Her platform converse pad along the hardwood flooring between the front door and the living room. It’s spacious with the most comfortable couch Sophie’s ever owned, her favorite coffee table, and a large TV, courtesy of a Black Friday sale two years ago. This place isn’t as nice as her old apartment with Tyler, but it’s still one of the nicer places that Gotham has to offer.

Ryan glances back at Sophie, and she realizes she should probably answer the playful question.

“I barely got it like this. Say what you want about my comphet marriage,” Sophie pushes off the door to approach Ryan in the living room, “the dual incomes made life a lot easier.” She winces. Any income. “I may have to downsize again now that I’m unemployed.”

Ryan sets her bags down on the coffee table. “Just work with Luke.”

Sophie’s eyebrows raise in confusion. “In real estate?”

Ryan gives Sophie an equally confused look. “He still daylights as Head of Wayne Security. If you work there too, it’ll make Bat stuff that much easier.”

Oh. “I… hadn’t thought about that.”

“Bat stuff or what comes next?” Ryan asks.

“Honestly? Any of it.” Sure, Ryan has called Sophie now that Sophie knows the truth. They’ve teamed up, and they really did a great job last night during the blackout. All signs point to Sophie officially being a part of the team. She simply doesn’t want to assume and get hurt in the process.

Ryan reads her silence and rolls her eyes. “Consider this your Bat Team orientation. We mostly work nights, though there are the occasional work trips. We went to a beautiful island this year for a company retreat.”

Sophie can play along. “I think I’ve been there. Shame about the fire.”

Ryan nods with a faux somber expression. “Beautiful sight, even if it did almost kill me. Oh, and we have full medical benefits, so long as you go to Mary and Mary alone. No overtime. No days off. But you get to make Gotham a better place.”

Sophie pretends to think it over. “Is there a uniform?”

“Only for me. The rest of the staff comes as they are.”

“Lucky them.”

Ryan pops the collar on her flannel shirt. “You should see me in my suit.” It fits Ryan in all the right places for being protective wear. Sophie will never say that though. Ryan’s cocky enough without being complimented.

Sophie eyes the bags. “So what’s the plan?”

Ryan perks up, their earlier bit forgotten. “Anything we want. I’ve got face masks —” She tugs them out to show Sophie. “Candy and snacks. Most of it’s vegan, so I can enjoy it too. I brought wine that I took from the bar. We can blast angry, pop music, or do sad girl karaoke. Ooh, you can call Kate a bitch again.”

“I called Circe a bitch,” Sophie clarifies.

Ryan waves that off. “She deserved it.”

“Well, she’s gone so….” Sophie shrugs because that is the point, isn’t it? She glances around her one bedroom apartment — the effects of her last break-up — and logs the empty spots on the walls where old art would’ve gone. There’s space on the bookshelves from the books Tyler took with him. After the divorce, Sophie had to physically sort through her life. What does she do now when there’s nothing to pack up, or send away?

Sophie admits, “I’ve never had another person for this. Though, Kate and I did have a better goodbye than we usually do.” Even saying that puts a little smile in the corner of Sophie’s lips.

Of course Ryan clocks it. “Oh, y’all had a good-bye then.”

Sophie’s smile gets bigger as she licks her lips. A very good bye. As the rest of the conversation filters back in, Sophie’s smile shrinks. “She wants me to go for something easier.”

Ryan hums in understanding. “Long distance isn’t great, especially when you have no idea where she’ll be.”

“Are we still talking about Kate?” Sophie asks. Angelique’s out there somewhere. Ryan spent the majority of their working relationship hating Sophie because of Angelique. If Ryan’s still hung up on her….

Ryan shrugs. “We’re all getting over someone. I am just much further along than you.”

Honestly, direct communication is not something Sophie is interested in right now. She doesn’t want to think about whether Ryan misses Angelique, or how much Sophie will miss Kate when the reality sets in. She doesn’t want to think about Imani, or the fact that Ryan has had a whole mini-relationship in these last few months while Sophie’s been frozen in grief and time.

“You know what they say, the best way to get over someone…” Sophie lets the sentence hang a moment as Ryan’s eyebrows inch higher and higher up her hairline. Sophie laughs before finishing, “is to watch a movie with a friend. You pick.”

The way Ryan’s face lights up with the power is absolutely worth whatever disaster will take up the next two hours of Sophie’s life. “Let me see what you got.”

.

.

As Sophie brings two glasses of wine over to the living room, Ryan puts a throw pillow on the ground and tells Sophie to sit on it.

“But the couch—”

“Is for me!” Ryan plops down with her feet on either side of the pillow. She looks like they’ve got church in the morning and the hot comb’s smoking on the tray beside her. “You know the set up,” Ryan says.

“True. Care to tell me why?” Sophie’s hair is fine.

Ryan’s nose quirks up the way it does when she needs to keep her emotions in check. She shrinks into her chest. “When I was sad, my mama used to play with my hair. She’d claim that she was oiling my scalp, but mostly, she ran her fingers through it. Gave me a little massage until I felt better, or went to sleep. I am willing to do that for you, if you want to actually relax.”

Relaxing does sound better than drinking a lot of wine and crying. Besides, Ryan studies Sophie’s face like she wants to find every crack and smooth it over. How could Sophie say no?

She sets the wine down and sits onto the pillow. Instinct takes over as she scoots back until her back’s to the couch and rests her neck against the side of the cushion. Ryan does a little happy dance that shakes the couch. She presses play on the movie, and Sophie watches the credits. She does. She sees that much for sure. But once Ryan slips her fingers into Sophie’s hair, Sophie tunes all the way out.

A light lavender scent hits her nose each time Ryan’s hands shift towards the crown of her head. Did Ryan put on a perfume, or is that an essential oil? Lavender’s meant to be calming. Soothing. Sophie wants to drown in it.

As Ryan massages her way along Sophie’s scalp, the world melts away. No pain, no drama, just a weightlessness that eases down her body and makes her want to cry. Her body sinks into the softness. The peace and stability of knowing hands and the right amount of pressure to send tingles through her skin. Then Ryan’s short nails get involved, lightly scratching, and Sophie barely bites down on a moan.

Ryan must still hear it. A little chuckle shakes the couch. She doesn’t comment thankfully. Sophie doesn’t have the energy to be embarrassed right now. Too lost in the feel of Ryan’s hands on her. If this is what Ryan can do with just Sophie’s head —

Sophie’s eyes fly open. She needs to get a grip.

Ryan’s fingers snake down to Sophie’s shoulders. Again, the only grip Sophie can focus on is Ryan’s. Sophie lasts another few minutes of this high before sighing out, “Marry me.”

She figures Ryan will laugh at that too. They’ve joked enough about dates, both in and out of the cowl. Ryan doesn’t even stop touching her. Ryan leans down rather than keeping the distance. The shift in position tightens her thighs on either side of where Sophie sits. She waits until her breath is a warm whisper against Sophie’s ear to let out the sexiest little laugh. Sophie genuinely stops breathing.

“If you think this is good, you’re not ready.”

In an instant, Sophie would really like to be. Ready, willing, anything and everything if it feels this good and Ryan stays this close to her. Her face is on fire as she turns her head to see Ryan. Fuck, Ryan’s lips are right there. Teasing and parted, and Ryan’s tongue dips out to wet them. Sophie drags her gaze up from Ryan’s lips to meet Ryan’s hooded, sparkling eyes. Oh she knows exactly what she’s doing to Sophie. She’s enjoying this.

Ryan’s voice still sounds teasing. “Watch the movie, Sophie.”

“I’ll watch what I want to watch,” Sophie shoots back.

Ryan takes that as the challenge it is. She holds the stare and kneads her thumbs into the backs of Sophie’s shoulders. Sophie’s eyelids flutter, and she struggles again to keep from audibly moaning. At least this time, she catches the little gulp Ryan does.

Ryan scoots back onto the couch, up to her full — albeit little — seated height. Sophie turns further, and she tries not to think too hard about looking up at Ryan from between Ryan’s legs. It must be on her face though since Ryan actually averts her eyes.

“Soph....” Ryan’s voice strains. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” Ryan started it with that ‘if you think this is good’ comment. She is not putting this back on Sophie.

Ryan groans, flustered in a way that should not look as cute as it does. “You know what! You — we — just look over there.” She takes a hand off Sophie to point back at the TV. “I am trying to be a good friend right now. To both of you.”

And there goes the fun. Sophie turns back to the TV. She really has no idea what’s happening in this movie. She doesn’t want to ask either. They’re damn near fifteen minutes in. She’s not going back in the movie, or with life. She’s not going to break down over losing Kate again. She has no reason to. She’s spent more time with Ryan this week than she did with Kate. She’s fine.

Ryan clears her throat. “Talking with her today was, like, everything I’d imagined it would be. She’s funny and witty, and she has great taste in everything. Present company included. I can see why you’d love her. And why it would be easier to not try to deal with those feelings of loss all over again.”

Sophie drops her head back against the couch. Her ceiling’s not nearly as interesting to look at as Ryan. Or Kate. “Do we have to do this?”

“We’re not doing anything else so….” Her narrowed eyes say exactly what she means by ‘anything else.’

“There are other things, Ryan.” Besides giving in to the tension that flares between them, besides shifting an already unstable dynamic past its breaking point. Probably many, many times.

Ryan holds her hands together in her lap. “Well, you’re clearly not interested in the movie, so: your call. What does the great Sophie Moore want to do with her break up night?”

Sophie’s eyes dance as she gets up to kneel in front of Ryan. (Yes, Ryan glances at her through what looks like a haze of lust and concern. Yes, she blinks, and all that emotion slips back under the base gleam in Ryan’s eyes. No, Sophie does not want to think about how many times Ryan might’ve looked at her like this without ever noticing.)

“Well, Ryan Wilder, there is one thing that I have been dying to do.”

.

.

“You have to— Sophie, please listen before we end up falling.” Ryan glares up at Sophie. They’re standing on a building that Ryan says is the best jumping point to the Bat-roof. It’s lower down, which is probably why Sophie has never seen either of the Batwomen coming.

Ryan’s face is torn between excitement and dread at sharing her red and black baton with Sophie. She repeats for the third time which button to press to shoot the grappling hook, how to angle the body, and how to land so they don’t fall off the roof.

“I’m listening,” Sophie swears. She adjusts her stance so her feet are wide like Ryan instructed. She angles her body towards the other roof — their roof. She takes a steadying breath and gently plucks Ryan’s hand off the other end of the baton.

Ryan steps in to wrap her arms around Sophie’s waist. “You have to brace yourself for landing. And please do not let go of me. I’m holding on, but—”

“I won’t let go,” Sophie assures her. She wraps her left arm around Ryan and holds tight to the baton with her right. Okay, another steadying breath, and she jams her thumb into the button. The wire flies out, and in a breath, they soar up through the air. Wind whips around them, and Ryan squeezes so tight that her face is nearly in Sophie’s chest.

For her assurances, Sophie does not stick the landing. She stumbles the moment the wire ends, and Ryan stumbles with her. Both of them clatter onto the Bat-roof with a groan and a laugh and a tangle of limbs that ends with them side by side on the roof’s floor.

The air around them is quiet and warm and still has a hint of the smoke from all the fires in Gotham yesterday. Sophie has the fleeting thought that it might be easier with Ryan than she ever expected. What ‘it’ is, well, Sophie blinks that away.

She props herself up on her elbows. “Can we go again?”

Ryan laughs. “No recovery period with you.”

Sophie gets up and offers her hand to Ryan, who takes it without hesitation. She tugs harder than she needs to. Ryan pops up with little more than a breath between them. She uses her free hand to tuck Ryan’s hair behind her ear. Lets her finger trail down Ryan’s neck.

Sophie whispers, “Oh, Wilder, you have no idea.” Ryan’s dramatic groan of reply makes Sophie laugh harder than she has all day. "Come on, round two."

Ryan pouts as Sophie heads for the stairs. Ryan points out, "I normally just jump off."

"What's the rush?" Sophie holds the door open for Ryan to come with her. "We've got all the time in the world."

/

/

a/n: We made it through season two, and I love these two so much. What about you?

[starrybethany]

I’m Sure - Adam Boqvist Imagine Part 1

Word count: 3.3K

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I heard about Adam before I met him. The guys had hung around my office, claiming they wanted to catch up with me, but I really know it’s just because they want to gossip. Hockey players are like that. We were catching up on how their summers went.

“Hey, did you see who was drafted, Y/N?” Dylan asks, wandering around the small room and staring at various objects.

“Nope,” I pop the ‘p’, scanning over the email recently sent to me. “Who was it?”

“This Swedish kids with sick hands,” Alex gushes.

“Really? Is he gonna be the next Patty Kane?”

“Please, like anyone could be like Showtime,” he scoffs.

Dylan pulled up some videos of his highlights, showing them to me.

I nod in approval. “Looks like hockey.”

They give me unamused looks.

We’ve had this talk plenty of times- they think that since I work at the United Center, I should understand hockey more, I think that since I work for United Center and not for the Blackhawks, it really doesn’t matter.

Adam had spent that season in London with the Knights. I had heard about him sprinkled into conversations here and there but really, I just focused on my work as being the suites advisor and making sure everything went smoothly. It was a great year for bookings, and apparently a great year for him.

Alex tried explaining the kid’s talent to me when we were on a double date with our partners, but I still couldn’t understand hockey that well, so I just smiled and nodded. He let that slip by.

It wasn’t until he was here in Chicago that I got it.

For some reason I had been down at the rink, watching practice take place. He had spent a few weeks with the Hawks- weeks that I had taken off to take care of my boyfriend after his knee surgery- and was sent down to Rockford almost as soon as I had returned.

The boys were really upset that I hadn’t met their new friend, Kirby especially, who was a new addition to our group almost as soon as Dominik introduced him to me.

But then there he was, back on the ice. I squinted my eyes, not remembering a ‘27’ on the team. The last name clicks, and I watch as he flies around on the ice, joking with the guys and passing the puck skillfully.

I got it. I understood then why the boys thought he was so talented and why he was back in the NHL at the mere age of nineteen. He played with confidence and speed, a conscious defenseman- something the boys tell me they’ve been struggling with.

Then I un-got it.

Alex had invited a couple of us over for drinks one night and my boyfriend, as he did often, accompanied me.

“Oh, you guys haven’t met yet,” Alex comments, pouring glasses of wine for all of us. “Y/N, this is Adam, the defenseman we’ve been telling you about. Adam, this is Y/N, she works as a suites advisor for the UC.”

“Nice to meet you,” I reach out, shaking his hand. I thought he was attractive, I won’t lie. From the detailed tattoos to the messy hair, he was just my type. But my boyfriend was sitting right next to me, so that was a line I didn’t want to cross.

It didn’t matter to Adam, though. He winked at me as we shook hands, which I found distasteful, but allowed myself to send him a tight-lipped smile.

“And this is my boyfriend, Steven,” I emphasis, resting my hand on Steven’s thigh.

“Oh yeah,” Alex mutters.

Alex always tended to forget about Steven. In fact, everyone seemed to forget about Steven.

“So, suites’ advisor?” Adam questions, ignoring the man sitting next to me. I could feel my boyfriend freeze up at the clear dismissal.

“Yep.”

“What do you do? Just say hello to all of the rich investors?” By the smirk on his face and the small sip of wine, I can tell the dig is intentional.

He knows there is much more that goes into this job than that, so I don’t know why he’s trying to get under my skin. Especially when we just met.

“Um, no, actually, I schedule who books suites for when, what suites are available, who caters what suite. A lot goes into it, actually,” I send him a fake smile.

His smirk just widens, digging under my skin even more.

Steven and I had left early that night.

~

I ungot it again at the family skate. I’ve never learned how to skate- the guys tried to teach me, but I get frustrated easily so they stopped attempting. I’m stumbling around on the ice by myself, the boys stopping by once and a while to check on me but quickly rushing off to be with their significant others. Steven has work today and we had an argument a few days ago, so I didn’t even bother inviting him to the family skate.

A hard body runs into me from behind, causing me to become unbalanced and hit the boards, catching myself before I fall right onto the ice.

“Ow,” I turn around to glare at the person who pushed me, narrowing my eyes even more when I see the familiar blonde boy and the smirk that he’s always wearing. “What’s your problem, dude?”

“What do you mean?” His accent is thick with his words, making my stomach flutter but the irritation replaces the fluttering quickly.

“You’ve just been rude to me for no reason. What’s up with that?”

He gives me a surprised look, like he didn’t expect me to confront him on it. But I don’t know why he would think that- if you’re going to be a dick, I have a right to call you out on it.

He scoffs quickly, an annoyed expression quickly replacing his surprised one. “You’re overthinking everything.”

I watch as he skates away in annoyance, Kirby replacing his spot next to me.

“You two are close, right?” I question.

He nods.

“Why does he hate me so much?”

He laughs at that and I’m the one who’s shocked now. “Isn’t it obvious? He likes you.”

I give him an unimpressed look. “You’re saying he’s acting like an asshole because he likes me?”

“Hey, I didn’t say it was logical,” he puts his hands up in defense, skating away.

I’ve always thought that was ridiculous. If you like someone, just tell them. And if you don’t, just avoid them. There is no reason that meanness is needed, especially if it’s because you really like that person.

I try to avoid Adam after that.

~

It doesn’t last long. About a week of avoiding him goes by before I find myself out at a bar with him and a few other players. I had just broken up with Steven, discovering that I no longer did my ‘in love’ giggle with him or smiled when I saw his name pop up on my phone.

But just because I fell out of love with him didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. It hurt. It really hurt. So that’s how I found myself one, two, three, four drinks in at the bar, too drunk to remember what I was saying and too drunk to care about how I might feel the next day.

I went on the dance floor to blow off some steam, swaying along to pop songs and screaming the lyrics.

Arms wind around my waist and I look down at them, spotting a familiar sleeve. I turn around in his arms, careful to not move my hands. I’m worried of what I might do if that happens- even though Steven and I had just broken up, I’ve been touch-deprived for weeks.

“What are you doing, Adam?” I question, leaning closer so that he can hear me.

“You’re single now, right?”

“Yes, but did I give you permission to touch me?” I raise my eyebrows.

He takes a step back with amusement, raising his arms defensively to show me that he’s respecting my boundaries.

Then I can’t help but think: fuck it. After being in a committed relationship for years, why not mess around with some guy I have intense sexual chemistry with? He’s hot, he’s sexy, sure he’s an asshole but I’m sure that confidence would do wonders in bed.

So, I throw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and tangling in his blonde locks as I pull him as close to me as he can get. One of his hands rests on my ass while the other rests on my hip, tugging me closer and closer to him.

He’s staying with Alex and Lyndsey, so we end up at my apartment in my bedroom. And when I wake up in the morning, I don’t regret it.

I regret it when I go to work the next day. He gives me a knowing look every time he passes me in the hall and even Kirby sends me a look or two.

It happens for a couple more days until one day he finds himself in my office with Dylan and Alex Nylander, another young rookie.

I’d been struggling with work all day, people bitching at me on the phone and numbers not adding up so all I really wanted was to finish the last hour of work and go home.

Then Adam gives me a look.

“What’s your problem?” I snap.

He gives me a confused expression, causing me to elaborate. “We slept with each other once and now you think you know so much about me? Do you think you can hold this over my head or something?”

Dylan chokes on his spit and Alex stifles his laughter, Adam flustering with words.

I organize a stack of papers on my desk, not even bothering to make eye contact with any of them. “I think it’s best if you three leave.”

They respect my wishes. An hour later I lock my door with a deep sigh, turning to make my way towards the parking lot. A body pushes me up against my door suddenly, causing me to gasp and dart my eyes up to see who my attacker is.

My eyes meet familiar blue ones and my body relaxes at the sight, then freezes up again when I realize I’m stuck in between his arms.

“You know, I didn’t really like that stunt you pulled earlier,” Adam breathes out, breath fanning over my face. His head leans down and he nibbles at the skin on my neck teasingly.

I hold back a moan at the action. “You didn’t?”

“No,” he bites down a little bit harder, causing me to wince. “I think you’re going to have to be punished for that.”

“You think so?” I whisper out.

“I think so.”

“Then I think we should get started on this now, don’t you think?”

“I agree.”

~

And that’s how I began sleeping with Adam Boqvist. Neither of us are looking for anything serious- I want to live the single life after being in a committed relationship for so long and he wants to enjoy his single, youth years in the great city of Chicago.

Plus, he would be the last person I would date.

He’s cocky, selfish, obnoxious, loud- I could keep going.

But either way, the relationship between us, or whatever you want to call it, isn’t end game. He isn’t the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. He’s not the one I want to raise children with or sit with on rocking chairs on the porch.

He’s just a guy I want to have sex with until I find the right person for me.

So, tell me why I’m sitting in my shitty apartment bathroom with two pregnancy tests sitting on the small basin of the sink.

I crisscross my legs on the toilet, fiddling with my fingers anxiously. They have to be negative. They have to be.

I can’t have a child right now. I want to focus on my career and build my reputation in the field. I don’t want to have a baby just a couple years into starting this job. I can’t afford a baby anyways; Chicago is an insanely expensive city and I can barely afford to live by myself.

Hell, I live in a loft.

Besides, I can’t be connected to Adam for the rest of my life. I can hardly stand the guy as it is.

As the minutes slowly pass by, I convince myself that I’m not actually pregnant. The ache in my ankles and lower back are due to stress from work and the vomiting is because my eating habits haven’t been as consistent as they usually are.

I’m just going to completely ignore the fact that I let Adam have sex with me without a condom while I was off my birth control for a while due to the weird side effects it was giving me.

It’s like I’m watching from outside of my own body as I reach forward, grabbing the sticks and holding one in each hand.

Positive. Positive.

My heartbeat fastens and I can feel my breath getting shallow. I try to focus my breathing, counting to four over and over and it slowly helps.

My eyes open back up as I ground myself and I can’t help but just stare at the sticks, switching between the two. I’m pregnant. I’m having Adam Boqvist’s baby.

~

I really didn’t prepare myself for the next time that I’d see him. I’ve already prepared myself to deal with this on my own- whichever way I decide to do that. I haven’t really decided that yet either.

“Hey,” he grins at me as he enters my office, shutting the door behind him. “I have about ten minutes before Kirby starts to look for me, let’s have a quickie.”

“No, Adam,” I sigh, swallowing the lump in my throat. The words are just begging to come out. I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a dad.

“Why not? Is it because we’re at work? We’ve done it in your office before,” he protests.

I set the pen down next to the pad of paper gently, crossing my hands on the top of the desk and turning to focus him with a serious expression. His mischievous grin fades when he notices that I’m not in the playful or teasing mood that I’m usually in when I see him.

“What’s up?” He questions.

“Adam, I’m pregnant.”

His reaction is not one I expect. His face turns to one of confusion, like he’s genuinely unsure why I would be telling him this.

“Congratulations?” He says it more like a question.

My eyes narrow into a glare at the word. He doesn’t believe that it’s his child. I feel hurt, disrespected, and angry. Who does he think I am, the type of girl who has unprotected sex with everyone who walks?

Not that there’s anything wrong with those girls, more power to them, it’s just- he knows me. We’ve been in each other’s beds most of the time for the past couple of months. I spend practically every night with him, and he has the nerve to doubt paternity?

“It’s yours, idiot.” I can’t help but let that dig slide.

“Well how do you know that?”

“Because if I’m not working, I’m having sex with you,” I say slowly, like I have to spell it out for him.

“Well how do you know it’s not- uh- what’s that guy’s name- Steven’s kid?” Adam inquires, his eyes showing that he’s searching hard for an excuse to not take responsibility.

I scoff, leaning back in my chair. “Whatever, Adam, I don’t care if you believe me. I’m going to figure it out.”

“You better.” And by the way he says it, I know what he wants me to do. I know that he doesn’t want to be a father- although actions do have consequences, there is a reason that abortion and adoption are options.

I can also tell that now he knows for sure that he is the father. And he sure as hell doesn’t want to be the father.

~

I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s just scheduling an appointment- I can always cancel or reschedule.

But my finger rests over the call button for a long time, ‘Planned Parenthood’ looking up at me, mocking me, taunting me.

Do you want an abortion or not? Do you want to be a mother or not? Do you want to go through this pregnancy or not?

There are so many questions flashing through my head. Quite frankly, I don’t know what I want to do. I have no one to turn to- as much as I love the team, I don’t want to cause a rift between them and Adam, and I don’t want to think that we’re closer than we actually are.

I cut out my family years ago.

My friends are all party girls, they wouldn’t know the first thing about a baby if it hit them.

Everything is telling me that I shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t want to raise a baby on my own, I shouldn’t want to be a single mother.

But why do I so desperately yearn for it? Why did I feel joy when I looked at those sticks and why do I get excited at the thought of little footsteps running around on hardwood floors?

I press the call button.

It gets two rings in before I end it, knowing I’ve made my choice despite all odds.

I need to keep this baby. I know Adam won’t be there for me, but he doesn’t need to be. All this baby needs is to feel love and support and it’ll get that from me and me alone. I need to start fresh, though, to make sure that I’m the best mom that I can be.

~

“I can’t believe you quit, just like that,” Alex states with a disappointed tone.

I told the guys I quit because I want a change in scenery. That’s not a lie, I’m excited to be moving to the beautiful state of Colorado to start new. But I also hid the news about the baby. They don’t follow me on social media, so they’ll never know- unless Adam says something to them about it. But I doubt he will.

“We’ll miss you,” Dylan adds.

“I’ll miss you guys too,” I respond, closing the cardboard box containing all of my office supplies. Picture frames, pens, cool knick-knacks. All packed into a box ready to be shipped to the mountain zone.

“Hey Adam, Y/N was just getting ready to say goodbye,” Alex says, making me look up from taping up the box with wide eyes.

Sure enough, the blonde is leaning in the doorway, looking unsure for the first time since I’ve met him. It’s weird to see him so hesitant. It’s not him.

But I also don’t feel bad for him. A real dad would step up and want to be there for their kid. A good dad would do that. But clearly, and unfortunately, I was right. Adam Boqvist is and always will be selfish.

I say my goodbyes to Alex and Dylan, the box in one arm while I lock the office with the other hand.

“You’re really leaving?”

“Let’s just get this over with, Adam,” I start, turning to him. He winces when I look him in the eye, seeing all of the resentment and anger I feel towards him. “I’m keeping the baby. I’m raising the baby on my own. Don’t worry, I won’t put you down on the birth certificate. You’ll never see us again.”

His mouth opens then closes. “Are you sure?”

I scoff at the question, shaking my head in disbelief. I go to push past him. “Oh, trust me, I’m sure.”

[light-miracles]

Would it be okay to ask for a writing prompt with SuperBat? Maybe idk Kate’s been missing for ages and Kara has been looking for her non stop and she finally comes back and like visits Kara and Kara just basically breaks down because her best friend was missing and she missed having her worlds finest buddy by her side? I realise this is a long prompt but like I love them and we need more SuperBat fanfics.

Freakin finally, L

......

It was Ally's call what woke her up in the middle of the night, after spending more hours than what she should working in a report for the Senate she had to deliver in two days. Her niece was direct and clear, like all Danvers through the generations. Faintly behind her in the background noise, she could hear Nira Nal's voice telling someone to hold on, not to lose consciousness. Kara immediately stopped feeling any tiredness and got out of the bed. "What?"

"A woman dressed as a bat literally just fell from the sky. Her DNA links her to the Kane family, but she's obviously not Kitty, and her costume seems to be a relic. Aunt Kara, I think it's an accidental time traveler. I need you to-"

Kara ran out her house and in less than ten seconds she was already there.

......

At no point did Kate lose consciousness, but her pain was so intense that she wished she had. She had a vague understanding of everything that had just happened. Alice threatening to blow up the city, the building below her collapsing, she falling, falling, falling uncontrollably and with nowhere to shoot her hook, an excruciating light and then the her painful impact against a car.

Then there was two strange faces in front of her telling her to hold on. Confusing colors. Her mind clouded. At no point the relief of unconsciousness but the blinding torture of pain.

And when she regained her mental clarity, she was sitting in a shiny headquarters, with a couple of weird cables attached to her arm and three people talking around her. Someone had found her and helped her. A great relief washed over her when she recognized Kara. "Super."

"Hey," said Supergirl leaning in front of her. It was Kara. Beautiful, brave Kara. The others must have come to help when they heard of the disaster. Kate wasn't selfish enough not to admit that she was relieved, even if it meant owing Allen a favor. "The city... Alice ..."

"Don't worry, everything is fine," said her friend, putting her shaking hands on her shoulders. "Everything is fine."

"No, it's not okay, the bombs exploded." Kate tried to stand up, remove the cables from her arms, and go back outside where her city needed her. And where was Mary? Luke? Her father?

"Kate, no, don't move, please. You're not fully healed yet."

"I have to help them."

"There's no one to help Kate. Please don't move. Listen to me. Gotham is fine. Everyone is fine. And you have to sit back and let Daydream heal you. She's the best, it won't take long. "

That must be true, because as the seconds passed clearer the image around her became. The lab was very high-tech, bright and white, with things she hadn't seen in her life. The two women next to Kara were strangers and yet they looked familiar. Kara wasn't wearing her outfit but what clearly looked like pajamas, her short hair (short?) tousled like she'd just gotten out of bed.

She looked older. At least ten years older.

"This isn't real," murmured Kate without looking away from her pretty face.

Kara put both hands on her cheeks, holding her gaze. "It's real Kate. I'm here with you."

"Where am I?" she asked trying to control the growing (strange) panic. "What's going on?"

"It's the year 2300," replied Kara slowly. "You have been missing for 280 years."

.....

The only thing that seemed real was Kara's hand holding hers firmly.

Kate thanked her training for her ability of remaining calmed at the face of the strange aspects of her life. It had been useful to her when the Multiverse died because a bald zombie in a robot suit was having a bad day, and it would be useful to her now. If Sara Lance and her team could, so could she. She just had to stick to the facts, evaluate the information, and focus on a way to fix it.

Kara's presence would make it easier.

The brown haired young woman explaining what they thought had happened. In 2020, when Kate fell from the building, somehow a wormhole opened that took her to 2300. For her it had been only seconds. For the rest of the world, centuries.

"Excuse me, what was your name?" asked Kate.

"Ally Danvers," the young woman replied. "I'm Kara's niece."

Kate looked at Kara to confirm, and she nodded. "Great great great something niece, but who counts these days?"

"And I'm Nira Nal, Daydream," the woman a little older than Ally said, stepping forward and bowing slightly. "I think that in your time they shook hands, but we don't do that anymore."

Evidently the little brunette who had been Kara's apprentice had also had a family. Kate nodded again.

"Everything must be very confusing for you, maybe we should give you a moment..."

"How do I come back to 2020?" Kate interrupted. "Someone put me in touch with the Legends. Hell, even Allen would be enough. I don't want to rest, I want to go home and stop Alice."

Ally cleared her throat a little. "It might be a bit more complicated than that. We need a little time to-"

"Look, Agent Danvers 9.0 or whatever, you may have all the time in the world but my city was literally falling apart just now. I have to go back and help my city, now."

It was Kara who answered. "It will take a while, Kate. Time travel isn't that easy anymore. But I'll take you home, I promise."

"This is the future," replied Kate, feeling a sudden rejection for the woman with Kara's face and Kara's voice but that wasn't her Kara. Not completely. "Don't you have loads of time machines and 200 mini Barrys with ridiculous names running around?"

"No, not anymore," Nira Nal replied. "Time travel was completely forbidden years ago. We can bring you home, but it's going to take us a couple of days to get a machine."

"Time travel is forbidden?"

"Yes, I forbade it," said Kara.

Kate turned to look at the blonde woman.

"I'm the President of Earth, Kate."

The bat woman blinked confusedly. "President..."

"Candidate for President of the Solar System next year!" said Nira cheerfully.

It was all too much, and Kate didn't want to show any sign of weakness but it was too much. Kara took her hands. "It's late. Come with me, please. I'll explain everything you want to know at my place, and tomorrow we'll start looking for a time machine. We'll fix it. But Ally and Nira have to go now, someone has to sleep tonight."

Kate still wasn't convinced that she shouldn't just turn around and get out of there.

"World finest, remember?" Kara asked with a small smile.

That helped her make her decision.

....

Kate thought that Kara would take her wherever she was going to take her flying. Instead, they both entered what would in the past have been described as a car but to Kate's eyes looked like a mini tank.

They didn't talk on the way, Kate intently looking at the incredible futuristic city around her, the glowing towers, the long, labyrinth-like streets, the flying vehicles in the sky, and the Kryptonian carefully staring at her at her side. Only Kara could not pay attention to the street at all and drive with absolute safety. Like everything else she did, she did it perfectly.

They left the city towards a two-story red house, which seemed totally mundane. And old, at least for what seemed to be the rest of the future. It had a porsche, two roofs and a small garden where Kate could see a lot of different flowers, dimly lit by the white light coming from the bright lamps.

"I thought you'd live in the White House."

"No, that's still only for the president of the country. I work in the embassy of the planet and live where I want. I use this house when I want to be near Ally and Nira."

"Always taking care of your family."

"You already know me."

Kate still wasn't totally convinced, but she nodded. "The city is not Gotham or National. Where exactly are we?"

"Unity City," replied Kara. "It was founded by Kal 150 years ago."

Still in her Batwoman outfit, Kate got out of the vehicle and rushed into the house, assuming no one was around to see her face or Kara would have said something, the little Bruce in her mind scolding her for having her face uncovered. But she was trying to focus on one problem at a time so she ignored her annoying imaginary cousin.

And it was when the door closed behind them that everything started to feel real.

The place looked so hideously normal that Kate wanted to snap her fingers to make sure no robot butler would come asking for her coat. Kate turned around and Kara was there, by the door, looking at her like she hadn't seen her in centuries and that look of hers broke her heart.

"I know it's only been a few hours for you," said the older-looking short haired Kara. "But I'm so happy to see you, Kate. I thought I'd never see you again. I never knew what happened to you. I thought-" Kara let out a sob.

Kate could never bear to see her sad, so she hugged her. It was the first time all day that she felt like herself. The only thing she felt familiar.

It was Kara. Older, with another hairstyle and almost imperceptible wrinkles around her eyes. But she smelled like Kara. Her hugs felt like Kara's. So Kate closed her eyes and returned her hug with all her strength.

..........

After taking off her batsuit and laying it on a chair, Kate Kane took a quick shower in a bathroom that looked normal except for a small water fountain next to the toilet and the fact that the shower water floated around her instead of falling. After coming out, she dried off and put on a comfortable green pajama that seemed never to have been worn. Probably because it wasn't pink and she didn't imagine Kara's fashion tastes changing, ever.

Kate came out of the bathroom with her hair still wet, studying the house some more. Strangely, Kara no longer had photographs, when in the past she used to have many photos of her friends on her walls. The decor was less colorful too, more sober, fewer kitten figurines and more desks and books and strange objects that Luke would surely kill to use. Kate took one that looked like a remote control, pressed a button, and a small hologram of Saturn appeared in front of her eyes.

"That's a letter they sent me from Titan," said Kara entering the living room, having changed out of her old pajamas for a clean new set. "It turns out that on some of Saturn's moons there are favorable conditions for living. A group of explorers founded a colony fifty years ago."

"Sounds like something out of a bad movie."

"Nobody watches movies anymore, but you're right."

Kate put the remote control down on the table. "Nobody watches movies anymore?"

"Well, I suppose some people still do, but cinematography is considered an ancient art now. They're not as popular as they were in the early 21st century. They're hard to find too."

"Do you still watch movies?"

"You know me, Kate. I couldn't survive without my weekly dose of Frozen," she said smiling and turning away from the door. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"

She nodded and entered the deceptively plain-looking kitchen, all the while Kara staring at her as if she might disappear at any moment. Maybe she was going to do it. Maybe this time travel thing was only safe if you were a Flash or had a time machine. Perhaps at any moment the universe would simply erase her as if she had never been born.

The food on the white table in the kitchen looked magnificent. It was a stew with potatoes. Kate didn't know how hungry she was until she smelled it.

"All kosher, of course."

That moved her deeply, but she did not allow her face to show it.

They both sat silently, facing each other, smiled slightly and began to eat in silence, until Kate could no longer ignore her own nerves and looked up at Kara. The blonde looked at her with a smile on her face, as if patiently waiting for her to talk first.

"Sorry, it's all so..."

"Confused."

"Weird," said Kate. "I had lunch with you last week and now you're... older, and we're in the future."

"I remember that lunch very well. It was the last time I saw you," she said with a sad smile. "I ... never stopped looking for you, not even when you were declared legally dead years later. No one gave up. Sara and her team even asked Gideon to look for you through the timeline, but she couldn't find you. I don't understand why."

"Maybe the thing that brought me here was something different," said Kate rubbing her hands together. "I'll look into it when I get home, and I guess you will too."

Part of Kate wanted to ask her about the future, and another part of her wanted to know absolutely nothing. She knew very well that she could be influenced and change what was supposed to be her future. However, her future was Kara's past. Or at least this Kara's, who was similar enough to her friend to trust her and different enough not to let her guard down entirely.

"So, you're president of the planet now."

The blonde nodded. "Yes, for ten years now."

"And you banned time travel."

"I did, yeah," she said, looking away for the first time, using her dinner as an excuse. "Eventually we discovered that it was too dangerous and could have catastrophic consequences so we banned it. The Time Bureou was dismantled. Brainy had to go back to his own time immediately."

"Consequences like what?"

"The timeline is much more fragile than it seems. Also, for example, if two people from different times have a child, it can create a paradox that could swallow the universe. It was too risky and I had to ban it. That's why believe me when I tell you that take you back to 2020 is practically a global priority, and you will be back very soon."

Kate's instinct told her that there was something Kara wasn't telling her, but she decided not to press it right away. "Good. Meeting Mia was good, but there are also dangerous assholes like Reverse Flash. And I respect and appreciate Sara and Barry but..."

"They were like lemurs with machine guns?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, more or less," said Kara with a sad smile. Kate realized that she had spoken in the past tense about their friends.

"And... is there anyone left?"

Kara's gaze lit up, and she drank a glass of water before answering. "Kal is still in Metropolis, but he's taking some sabbatical years. He's not as active as before but if anyone deserves a break it's him. J'onn is still alive, but he's very old, and can't move as much as before. His children and I visit him very often."

"Children? Oh, good for him."

"Yes," Kara smiled. "He and M'gann were very nervous at first, no one had had yellow Martians in millennia."

"Yellow?"

"Children of green and white Martians."

"Sounds colorful. Anyone else?"

"Charlie, Sara's friend. She hasn't really changed. It's as if time hasn't passed for her. Andrea Rojas is also-"

"Fuck, your awful boss is still alive? What the hell?"

Kara laughed, smiling like old times and making Kate feel her heart flutter. "She's not been my boss in centuries, thank goodness. And it turned out she's half Jarhanpurian. That was a long time ago," she said leaning forward, as if she were going to tell her a secret. "Do you remember Gemma Cooper?"

"Walmart Karen?" said Kate, and they both shared a laugh as they remembered what they used to call the old hideous Obsidian North member.

"Well, Gemma was secretly part of this group of Jarhanpurians hidden in the planet, Leviathan. At that time we didn't know it but she was Andrea's mother."

"Ugh, so a jerk and with super powers."

"And one of them is to age as slowly as a Kryptonian," Kara drank water again. "She's on Titan now, sometimes she sends me letters."

"Then she must not be a jerk anymore," said Kate quietly. And she suddenly knew she had to change the subject before asking about who she really wanted to ask. Mary. Luke. Sophie. Her father.

Alice

Whenever she thought of her sister she only felt pain.

"I have to go home, Kara."

"I know. I'll do anything I can to make you come back safe and sound."

Kate sighed wearily. "Being here can't be good for the timeline."

"Don't worry about that, the timeline can fix itself when you come back to 2020." Kara reached out and cupped her hand on the table, gently stroking her knuckles. Kate wished she hadn't. She was still as intensely beautiful as she was when they first met, and Kate at the time was too tired to be careful not to do something stupid, like tell her she loved her and ask her to kiss her.

So she just smiled wearily. "World Finest?"

Kara's eyes gleamed. "Always."

[swifteforeverandalways]

Notes: so @lilmissriottbliss and I have both been watching a lot of Chicago Med and decided that the Chicago shows now officially take place in Emoverse! This is just a lil’ one shot of Kate being injured, Rhea and Toni taking her to Chicago Med, and everyone finding out Ethan was once SHIELD. If anyone has questions, toss them in my inbox!

“Hold on, just hold on,” Rhea Ripley muttered, half under her breath, as she ran down the street. Kate Kane was laying, half limp, in Rhea’s arms. It was supposed to be a normal trip, a vacation almost, to Chicago before WWE started touring again but it ended in disaster. Even on vacation, Kate brought her Batwoman suit and it ended with her stabbed.

“M fine,” Kate murmured weakly, even as blood steadily bled out of the wound.

“You aren’t fine, you got stabbed!” Toni snapped, her tone shaky. Kate tried to roll her eyes but winced instead as they burst into the Emergency Department at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

“Help! We need some help over here!” Rhea shouted. A nurse rushed up to them.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

“I’m Rhea, that’s Toni, and this is Kate. Please. You need to help her!” Rhea pleaded.

“Dr. Halstead, over here!” The nurse yelled. A tall, well built man with red hair rushed up.

“What happened?” He demanded.

“We Uh….we um….” Toni stumbled over the question so Rhea quickly butt in.

“We were at the park and Kate was climbing in a tree and fell,” Rhea quickly lied. Dr. Halstead looked unconvinced but still helped Kate onto a gurney. “Someone page Dr. Choi!” “Already on it!” A nurse yelled.

“You look really familiar,” Another nurse commented. “Kate!” Toni cried

“Listen, will you help my girlfriend or not!” Rhea snapped. A Korean man ran up and checked on Kate, making orders quickly.

“Get me a CBC, CMP, tox screen, and type and screen. STAT,” he commanded.

“Make sure the tubes are green and lavender,” Dr. Halstead said before adding a, “Or Raya will have my ass” under his breath. One of the nurses snorted.

“Looks like whatever stabbed her missed her lung by about a centimeter” Dr. Choi said.

“What the hell stabbed her?” Dr. Halstead asked. Toni paled. “She fell off a tree, I didn’t even look when we picked her up” Dr. Choi looked at the two women, frowning. Kate’s heartbeat went slow. “She’s stable” A nurse said, another snapping her finger. “I know you two! You’re wrestlers!”

“Bloody hell, can’t we go anywhere and not be recognized,” Toni grumbled.

“April, leave them alone,” Dr. Choi said with a smile.

“I’ll take the tubes down to the lab,” a new doctor said, walking up.

“Thanks Nat!”

The doctor walked off with the tubes in hand.

“Where can we wait?” Toni asked

“I’ll show you….I actually have a few questions for you two,” Dr. Choi said. Rhea nodded. Dr. Choi led them to a small room and shut the door behind them, crossing his arms and looking at the two. Rhea did the same, Toni sitting down.

“I’ve been a doctor for a very long time, and I know what kinds of injuries are caused by what. And I know that she didn’t fall out of a tree. So what happened?” Dr. Choi said. Rhea looked him in the eye. “I can’t tell you that”

“Why not? Was this a domestic dispute? Those injuries are more from a knife than falling from a tree”

"It wasn't a fight with us, and that's all I can say"

“Kate helps SHIELD,” Toni added.

“The agency that works with the Avengers?”

“Yes, her father runs Crows Security in Gotham,” Rhea said.

“That explains where I’ve seen her. Used to do medical for Shield”

“So trust us when we say, this wasn’t a dispute with us.”

He sighed. “Fine. But don’t be surprised if Chicago P.D gets involved” Toni nodded

“And we’ll let SHIELD know….why did you leave them?” Rhea asked. Dr. Choi’s jaw tightened. “That’s none of your business”

“Fine,” Rhea snapped, “But some agents will be coming here.”

“Then you can ask them” he left. “What a dick”

“We should call Bobbi and let her know.”

Rhea nodded. Toni pulled out her phone, dialing up the number.

“Hello?”

“Hi Bobbi, do you know a Dr. Choi?”

“Yeah, he used to work for SHIELD. Why?”

“Because Kate had a incident with a knife and I’m pretty sure him and Rhea are gonna hurt each other”

“I’ll be there ASAP”

“Thank you”

About fifteen minutes later, Bobbi Morse strode into the room with Jade on her heels.

“Ethan!” She greeted the doctor

“Bobbi. Jade,” Ethan nodded. Bobbi pulled him into a hug, Ethan awkwardly returning it.

“How have you been? It's been ages.”

“Good”

“Have you been going to therapy or are you still overworking yourself?”

“The second one” Will interrupted.

“Damn, he looks like he could be Romanroger’s kid,” Jade joked. Bobbi snorted, turning to Ethan. “I thought when you retired you said you’d take care of yourself.”

Ethan shrugged, looking away awkwardly. Bobbi sighed, noticing Rhea glaring.

“So why did he leave?” Toni asked Bobbi and Jade. Ethan glared.

“What, you said to ask them,” Toni said.

“Ethan used to be a field agent” Bobbi said

“Ooh,” Rhea and Toni nodded in understanding.

“Went down to medical after a mission, been a doctor ever since” Ethan added

“So what happened to Kate? Is she okay?” Jade asked.

“She was stabbed”

“We’re just waiting on the blood test results,” Will added before his phone buzzed with a text.

“Why is Saraya texting you in all caps?”

“Something about Nat saying we were being rude”

Ethan laughed. Will smacked him. “She might be tiny but she’s gonna kick my ass!”

Ethan laughed again. Will stared at Ethan. “Stop laughing!”

“To be fair, tiny people can be scary. One of our wrestlers…..” Toni shuddered, “Took out a guy.”

“With a broken nose”

There was a knock at the door. Will made a noise.

“Come in,” Ethan said. A small woman holding lab papers walked in, glaring at Will. “Hey Raya” She marched up to him and began poking him in the chest. “You. Do. Not. Get. To. Be. Rude. To. Wrestlers!”

“I apologized!”

“Still rude to be rude to them!”

Ethan silently walked out. “Actually it makes sense he's former SHIELD” Rhea noted.

“He never did say where he was before coming here,” Will mused.

“Was he in the Budapest mission?” Jade asked Bobbi, who nodded.

“Thought I recognized him. What happened?”

Bobbi let out a long breath.

“He got shot in the knee, guy came close to killing him, retired from field work not long after”

“Damn,” Jade shook her head.

“He was a good agent”

Bobbi nodded. “He was”

“A bit. Not much, Jemma did a lot more as did Lincoln”

“Lincoln was smart enough to work in med shit?”

“Had a medical degree and everything”

“We sure he didn’t cheat?” “Jade!”

“What?” Jade grinned cheekily. Bobbi shook her head. “I was on Budapest, hell of a two day mission”

Will frowned as there was another knock on the door. A man who looked similar too but a little bit older than Will, and with darker hair, walked in with Natalie behind him.

“This is Detective Halstead”

“Jay Halstead,” Jay extended his hand, “I understand this involved SHIELD?”

“Yes, we can’t exactly say that out loud” Jay nodded

“What happened to the perp?”

“I might have punched him out and left for CPD to deal with” Rhea flexed. “These aren’t just for TV”

Toni laughed slightly, nuzzling her face against Rhea’s shoulder.

“Wow” Jay said

“So will Kate make it?” Toni asked.

“Well she’s in surgery right but we have the best surgeons in the state”

“Not to mention her blood type is O pos, which we have a good amount of, and the rest of her results look normal,” Saraya added. Rhea breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Anyway, I need to get back to the lab,” Saraya said, handing the lab papers to Will.

“Love you” She mock glared. Natalie laughed, pulling her into a hug.

“Where’s Ethan at?”

“He walked out.”

Saraya sighed. Natalie bumped her shoulder gently. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing much, just thinking about my application to join Shield”

“You applied for SHIELD?”

“Yup. Didn’t get in because of an underlying heart condition”

“Underlying heart condition?” Will frowned.

“Arrhythmia” Saraya said. Will let out a breath.

“Now that I think about it, it was a blessing in disguise. I was able to finish my MLS program”

Will wrapped her into a hard hug. Saraya hugged him back, laughing. “April’s missing too so I assume I know where Ethan is”

“God I was such a bitch to him” Rhea whined.

“Eh, you were worried about Kate. If it had been me injured, Jade would’ve killed him,” Bobbi shrugged. Jade stuck her tongue out.

“Jade’s a bit overprotective,” Bobbi explained, noticing the confused looks on Will, Natalie, and Saraya’s faces. Toni coughed. “Bit?”

“Not my fault I don’t want my wife killed,” Jade shrugged.

“Ethan’s having a panic attack!” April ran down the hall.

“I’ll page Dr. Charles,” Will said but Bobbi grabbed his arm.

“Let me go” She ran after April. In the break room, Ethan was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees.

“Ethan” Bobbi knelt down and grabbed his hands.

“Leave me alone,” Ethan muttered.

“Not happening” Bobbi sat in front of Ethan, “I know you’re scared, but do you remember what you told me? Back when I was having these?”

Ethan looked up

“That you were safe at SHIELD,” he said.

“Exactly. So you’re safe here”

“How do you know?” Ethan whispered.

“Because you have friends here. You’re alive”

Ethan licked his lips. April leaned down and hugged his head to her chest.

“I’m here for you,” she whispered. Ethan held onto her and took deep breaths. “I’m such a idiot for talking about Budapest”

“Sometimes it feels good to talk about traumas, sometimes I feel better when I talk about….you-know-who,” Bobbi said. Ethan nodded, April kissing his head. “I’m guessing you’re his girlfriend”

April held out her hand. “Fiancée, actually.”

“Nice job Ethan”

Ethan chuckled slightly.

“Alright let’s get up” April eased him off the ground. Ethan smiled at her, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you Bobbi”

“Anytime,” Bobbi smiled.

[hallowed-be-thy-username]

Hi! Can i just say that i absolutely love your writing and your vibe as a whole? 🥺💞 If i may, I’d like to request a fic where the reader is a very well known socialite, but she gets very bored of her life and wants something different. She suddenly meets J in some sort of situation and becomes infatuated with him & his lifestyle. You must be busy with other requests & your personal life, so if anything, i just want you to know that i love your writing! 💘

 Sweet anon!!! AKADJSBAJSND 😭💖 I’m SO sorry this has taken me so long to get to and I hope you see it!! This was a really fun one and I had a great time writing it so I really hope you like it 💕

 Self-insert, Ledger Joker x fem reader, first time meeting Joker

Word count: 1,954

Warnings: tension, light violence

Something Different

Another boring party with boring people in a boring place. How many more of these must you endure?

Ah the fabulous life of the daughter of Dr. Thomas Elliot, famous Gotham City surgeon and longtime family friend of the Wayne family. Being born to one of Gotham’s founding families, she lives a life of luxury. Chauffeurs, butlers, ritzy charity events, fashion shows, brand promos, intense boredom. You were certainly grateful for the fact that finances were never something you had to worry about, but at the same time, money imprisoned you. It controlled your every move like a puppet master. Stand like this, wear that, speak this way, don’t forget to smile. And don’t even think about having your own dreams. You had access to all of the means in the world to do whatever you want, right? Wrong. If it’ll tarnish the family reputation on any way, its not gonna happen. Ever. And you’d be surprised at what they consider “tarnishing.” Learning to drive, going to school, coloring your hair, going on dates, having a job, getting ice cream with friends. What friends? You never got to experience these things. Things that were normal. Now you were in your late twenties and the life of the average young adult was completely foreign to you. Its been ten years now. Since you started to hate this life.

You were attending yet another fundraiser at Bruce’s place. What was it for this time? Friends of the Gotham Railway? Society for the Performing Arts? Gotham Heights Country Club’s new golf course? District Attorney Harvey Dent. Didn’t he just get elected? Okay then. It really doesn’t matter anyway. They’re all the same. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres, expensive champagne, some phony inspirational speech, bland conversation, smile through how much your feet hurt in these heels, send a check tomorrow. The predictability you lived your life by was astonishing. When were you finally going to get to do something different?

You lifted another glass of champagne from the tray drifting past you and took a heavy sip. Can’t get to drunk though, what would the media say? You were tempted to do it on purpose, just to mix things up for once. The sound of rough whirring broke you out of your melancholic trance and you turned to see a helicopter landing on the roof top balcony outside. The man himself arriving ever so fashionably late. Linking arms with three women you could only assume to be models, how classy. And here comes the motivational speech. I believe in Harvey Dent, a safer Gotham, optimism, face of our bright future, blah blah blah. Now everybody claps. Just wonderful. Back to our mindless mingling.

The evening continued on like they all do. This time you were stuck trying not to stare at the speck of food stuck in Mr. Kane’s teeth while he droned on about the new hotel, they planned to open it across from the opera house. Would it be uncouth to express to him how little you care about any of that? When you were seconds away from excusing yourself for a bogus trip to the ladies’ room, a loud boom rang out from the entryway. You spun around and your body froze at the sound of his voice.

“Goood evening, ladies and gentle-men.”

It felt like ice was running through your veins when you saw him. Purple suit, shotgun over his shoulder, unkempt green hair, painted face. His face. Covered in white with black swallowing his eyes, bright red over his mouth and crawling up his cheeks in a wicked grin. On the news they called him The Joker.

“We are… tonight’s entertainment! I only have one question… Where. Is. Har-vey Dent?”

He was so tall, walking with a slight slouch but had an air of confidence like you’d never seen. Like he knew just how much attention his presence attracted. No, attention it demanded. Like he knew you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He made it look effortless. Almost like he was bored by it. He tossed food into his mouth, chewing noisily while he spoke. Then he stopped and turned to walk toward the crowd, pointing his shotgun toward the people in front of him before moving on down the line. Your feet grew cold when you realized he was heading in your direction. He tossed champagne out of a glass before mockingly tossing his head back to let the last drop hit his tongue. You couldn’t move a muscle as he leaned in and muttered questions at the people standing nearby. He kept coming. Your heart pounded, climbing into your throat as he got closer.

Then you could see it. It was scars. The red smile stretching across his face, it was painted over scars. Someone had cut through the corners of his mouth on both sides, leaving behind a twisted, permanent, grin. It made your stomach drop. He said something to Mr. Kane, but you couldn’t hear it, only the blood rushing in your ears. He got so close. You swore you could feel the heat from his body, smell something sharp like acetone.

“You remind me of my father.”

Then he suddenly grabbed Mr. Kane by his collar and growled, “I hated my father.”

“Ok, stop.”

Mr. Kane was shoved into you while Joker turned to face the voice coming from behind him. Rachel Dawes, Bruce’s friend for as long as you could remember.

“Well, hello, beautiful. You must be Harvey’s squeeze-ah. Hm?... and you are beautiful.”

He circled her like a wild dog stalking prey, practically licking his chops. Relishing the feeling of cornering his victim. Waving a knife blade at her.

“You look nervous. Is it the scars?... Wanna know how I got ‘em?”

Then he reached forward and gripped her by the back of her neck and her face. You felt your cheeks abruptly grow warmer. He pulled her closer to him, holding her there, not letting her look away. A thought suddenly cut through you mind like the knife in his hand. You wondered if the leather of his gloves felt warm or cool on her skin. Your heart fluttered and a shiver ran down your back. Why were you thinking about that? He intruded without warning and started threatening people, but here you were wanting to know what it was like to be that close to him. You found yourself wishing you were her, just to know what it was like, him touching you.

You hung on to his every word. He had a wife once, who told him he worried to much, that he should smile more, she gambled, got in deep with the sharks. They carved her face, had no money for surgery, she couldn’t take it, he just wanted to see her smile again, he didn’t care about the scars, he stuck a razor in his mouth and did that to himself. He… he did that to himself?

“And you know what? She can’t stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side... Now I’m always smiling.”

You blinked and the next thing you knew, punches were being thrown and men in clown masks were falling to the floor. Batman. The masked vigilante everyone was talking about. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, coming out of the shadows to beat up the bad guys. Reality struck you in that moment. This was real. This was happening. The word surreal doesn’t quite cover it. You wanted something different. Well, this was different. Instead of fear you started to feel something else rising up from inside of you, tingling up your back. Excitement.

A punch from a clown masked man landed square on Batman’s jaw, sending him to his knee and giving Joker the opportunity to start kicking him in the stomach. All you could do was watch, spellbound by the violence occurring before your eyes, wide with anticipation. It almost happened too fast for you to see. He really had nothing holding him back. He couldn’t care less about what people thought of him. Showing up in face paint and a purple suit with a posse of men disguised as scary clowns, commanding even more attention than Bruce. He basked in it, not caring one bit what they thought, only that he left an impression. He did. Especially on you.

You blinked again and he had Rachel. He stood behind her, his arm wrapped around her chest to keep her from running, his other hand waving a handgun in the air. He wasn’t going to drop the gun, not unless Batman took his mask off, show us all who he really was. Then the window behind him shattered with a shot from the gun and he dangled Rachel by her arm out into the open air. Your chest felt tight, as helpless as everyone else watching and unable to do anything about it. But you still couldn’t shake the thrill you felt buzzing in your arms and legs, fogging your mind.

“Let her go,” Batman’s hoarse voice demanded.

Joker squinted his eyes and grinned with ironic amusement as he answered, “Very poor choice of words.”

He let go. His laugh reached down to your bones and held on, pulling you toward him while Batman dove out the window after Rachel. You didn’t know what you were doing but you couldn’t stop yourself. Your feet kept carrying you closer. People all around you started rushing for the exit, running from the taunting men in clown masks like the crowd at a Halloween fun house. Except this was real.

You kept your eyes forward, getting within a few feet of him when he turned and saw you. A chill washed over you, both icy cold and burning hot at the same time when his eyes traveled up and down your body where you stopped in your tracks. Your skin felt like it was on fire.

“Hello, there,” he purred.

You opened your mouth to speak but no sound came out. You just stared at him. Then he started to saunter toward you, slowly closing the gap that separated you, and you almost couldn’t breathe.

The corner of his mouth twitched into a sideways grin. “Aren’t you a pretty little flower, hm?”

Your heart fluttered and your lungs pulled in a sudden gasp of air, that sharp smell filling up your senses. He was right in front of you now. He was right in front of you and you could undeniably feel the heat radiating off of him. Your heart pumped faster, the adrenaline in your veins saturating every tissue. That tingling in your spine came rushing back as his tongue flashed out of his mouth to run along his lip.

“Can I, uh, help you with something, little flower?”

The last sounds of panicked voices faded, and it was completely silent. You were alone. With him. Fear tried to wrestle for a place in the front of your mind, to pull you away, to make you run back toward the door, but the allure you felt was too pervading. You remained still, trying to steady your breath while the gaze from his black-rimmed eyes seemed to swallow you up. Sirens started to echo in the distance.

Then your voice found its way out of your mouth, “I… I just wanted to… um, to get closer.”

His eyebrows shot up and his grin widened as a low hum rumbled in his chest. Your brittle nerves nearly shattered when he lifted his hand and gently took hold of your chin, lifting it and stepping forward to press his chest against yours. “Mmm, this close enough?”

His gloves, they felt cool on your skin.

Taglist!

@youmaycallmebrian​ @heavymetalnarwhal​ @neverputsaltinyoureyes @jokersqueenofchaos​ @into-crazy​ @killingjokee​ @astheworlddturns​

[mischiefandspirits]

Colony of Gotham (1/7)

Special thanks to @starlightandsunshine​ for helping me with this <3

The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It's said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.

When Bruce became Batman, he'd never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners -- as his family grew -- they all followed suit.

Next Part

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

Bruce Wayne was born a vampire, one from the long-standing Kane family of vampires through his mother. This nature granted him a few abilities. He was more durable than a human and could heal faster. He was stronger and faster than a human and had better sight and hearing, though not to anywhere near the degree that some metas boasted. He could take on the form of an animal and could influence bats, corvids, canines, and felines to a certain extent. Finally, he would stop aging once he reached his thirties, a trait of those who were born or turned young instead of those like Alfred who were turned at an older age and therefore would always be that age.

However, when he set off on his path to becoming Batman, he swore to himself that he would not rely on any of this to fight the criminals that plagued Gotham. He would not be like those heroes past who relied on their powers, then were left defenseless when those abilities faltered or were ripped away. After all, only a vampire’s healing and longevity remained during the day and some spells and devices could similarly strip his nature away.

Batman stuck to his wits, tech, and martial arts training.

Even still, the criminals of Gotham could tell something was off about the Bat. Rumors flew about a demon haunting Gotham’s night, which Bruce leaned into. He hadn’t chosen a bat just because of the family significance. He wanted to strike fear. As such, he stuck to the shadows and allowed his fangs to bare. He used makeup to make himself appear paler and contortionist tricks to make his movements uncanny. He allowed Batman to become an urban legend that sent shivers down the spines of Gotham’s infamous.

When Barbara Gordon became Batgirl, she quickly realized his tricks were just that and leaned into them as well. She became a ghost following in the Bat’s footsteps. She disappeared into a mist made from special smoke pellets and spun across the ground and air in a weightless way that came from years of ballet and gymnastics training. She wore shadows like Batman’s, but violet and gold peeked through the darkness to make her stand apart.

Bruce initially didn’t want her in the field, but she eventually proved herself both competent and stubborn. In a bid to help protect her, he outfitted her with proper gear and let her in on the secret of his nature. She considered it, then a week later she asked him to turn her so she could always watch his back.

Then Dick Grayson was taken in by the billionaire and became the Bloody Robin. They called him a demon child, the son of the Bat who flew on bird’s wings. His cheerful laughs and giggles echoed and hissed eerily thanks to a voice filter. His clothes were bright colors, but were covered by the wing-like shadows that wrapped over his shoulders. Fake blood dripped from his hair and eyes and coated the tips of his gloves and cape. He chirped like a bird as he flipped and flew through the air. His mask made his eyes glow white and his body almost appeared boneless when he moved around on the ground thanks to the contortionist who’d babysat him at the circus.

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

The three heard the tales when teams of heroes began to form, but they didn’t reach out. Gotham’s Colony was a myth, an urban legend. Those outside of Gotham had never heard of them and those within only spoke in whispers.

That was how the Colony preferred it.

Besides, the rest of the world wasn’t as dark as Gotham.

Their tricks and games worked fine in the shadow-filled gothic architecture that made up Gotham, the near-perpetual overcast days, and the deep darkness of Gotham’s nights, but cities like Jump, Metropolis, or Central were far brighter. They could do without, they’d proven that plenty of times against the bigger villains that were either too crazy or brave to fear the Bat, but why should they? The tricks and games had become a part of them over the years and discarding a piece of themselves just so they could work outside of Gotham with strangers felt wrong.

So the Colony stuck to their own.

On the job, at least.

Dick met Wally West at a two-week-long Jr. Forensics Summer Camp when they were eleven and thirteen respectively. Bruce had sent him to brush up on his skills while Wally’s mentor, Barry Allen, thought it would be good training. Neither boy knew about each other's secret lives, but became close friends all the same and kept in contact when they returned home. Dick didn’t reveal it to Wally when he discovered the other boy was Kid Flash, but kept a close eye on Central City just in case.

A similar situation happened two years later when the Colony discovered Green Arrow’s latest protégé, a girl named Artemis Crock, lived in Gotham and had been helped into Gotham Academy by the other billionaire. Dick decided to keep an eye on her, but his pseudo-stalking quickly turned into a genuine friendship.

He may have taken a bit too much joy in introducing Wally and Artemis to one another. Wally got back at him a few years later by introducing him to the model Kory Anders, the secret identity of his celebrity crush Starfire. Dick had to admit to having a crush on Kory as well to explain his nerves.

It turned out to be a net gain in the end, though, since he came out of it with her phone number.

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

As time passed, Dick started to get too old to be the demon child. He decided to create a new story for himself. One that would let him step out from under the shadow of the bat, using a name from an alien myth in Bruce’s files that he’d loved reading growing up. He and Bruce argued, and Dick spent some time sleeping on Barbara’s couch, but with nowhere to run they were forced to come to a compromise. There was still tension, but it was smoothed over with time and a bite.

Nightwing was a nocturnal bird that had taken human shape after being taken in by Batgirl’s elegance. It chased after and raced the ghost, nothing but shadows and a blue streak flying through the air. Those who got close enough to see his face would say that his skin was like porcelain while black wings covered his eyes completely and his lips were painted with darkness.

Nightwing wasn’t the only change to the Colony, though, because as Dick was finishing up his designs for the story, a little boy was stealing the tires off the Batmobile.

Dick was furious when the kid climbed out of the car into the cave, thinking Bruce had brought the kid in as a new Robin without even consulting him, but anger’s quickly replaced by confusion.

Because Batman wasn’t with the kid.

Jason Todd had gotten grabbed by the Bat after having already nicked three tires off the batmobile. Batman caught him before he could run then replaced the tires. He’d made a mistake in leaving the boy in the car when he went to call for someone to pick him up, however. Jason, who some might generously call impulsive, proceeded to use the opportunity presented to him to hotwire the vehicle and take it for a joyride that ended when he accidentally had the autopilot bring him to the cave. 

Dick was immediately taken with the small spitfire’s story, as well as his stubbornness and intellect. Meanwhile, Jason was amused by the fact that Gotham’s demon was, in his eyes, nothing more than a spectacular conman and wanted in. They teamed up to force Bruce to adopt the younger boy through underhanded -- and perhaps slightly illegal -- tactics.

As Dick started using his new story more and Robin less, Jason got his own turn under Batman’s cape.

People started to say Robin was more vicious. He’d climb walls, the claws on his feet and hands easily cutting into brick and metal. He’d give a fang-filled smirk as he hung from the ceiling like he’d forgotten he was a bird instead of a bat, only to drop down on unsuspecting shoulders. If he wasn’t clawing at opponents, he was beating them with his fists.

As one of his first acts as Robin, Jason saved a young boy who had been kidnapped for ransom. The kid had acted out of it during the rescue, but Jason put it down to trauma. He’d had no reason to realize the young detective-to-be had noticed the edge of Jason’s fake fangs through the shadows and fake blood. No one could have predicted the rabbit hole young Tim Drake had just fallen down nor that it would lead him to massive discoveries in the near future.

When Jason discovered Catherine Todd wasn’t his birth mother, he considered going alone to look for the mystery woman who’d given birth to him. He and Bruce had just had a fight about his temper that had left him benched and he wanted to prove himself, but something Dick had told him months before echoed in his mind.

“No matter how much we argue, we’re always going to be there for each other. Us birds and bats, we’re a family. We have to stick together.”

In the end, he asked Dick and Barbara for help. It was something he was thankful for when his mother sold him out to the Joker. At least he could hold out against the torment with the knowledge his true family would soon come for him.

When Batgirl and Nightwing arrived, Joker fled. Barbara got Jason out while Dick, after seeing the state of his brother, tracked down the clown. Bruce got to him just in time to stop him from beating Joker to death, but when he saw Jason’s condition he couldn’t bring himself to scold his elder son for his loss of control.

Jason was barely hanging on and Bruce, knowing there was no other choice, turned him.

The boy lived, but his injuries were too severe and he fell into a coma.

Three weeks later, Bruce and Dick came into Bruce’s study to find Tim Drake waiting for them. Both were a little more focused on “My parents are never home” than “so I’m in a perfect position to cover for Jason as Robin while he’s sleeping,” to Tim’s confusion, but he ended up in the suit all the same.

The whispers that had come after Joker’s latest incarceration had him crowing about clipping bird wings tapered off as Robin sightings flared up throughout the city. People saw him flying next to the Bat and they heard him tap-tap-tapping his claws. He tapped them against the walls as he hunted through warehouses and against the floors as he crouched in front of technology that seemed to unlock under his gaze thanks to the computer that’d been built into his gloves, the interface of which could only be seen through the lenses in the Colony’s masks and cowls.

Tim didn’t really know how to feel about being adopted by Bruce, aside from the guilt he knew was mixed in there somewhere. It felt wrong to be slipping into the family like that while Jason was right there and Dick had to talk him down when the anxiety attack eventually hit.

Tim was Tim. He wasn’t Jason and they didn’t want him to be Jason.

Dick understood though. He explained how Dick and Jason had both had similar feelings regarding Barbara and Dick respectively, though Dick could admit he’d gotten off easier all things considered. He told Tim that the Colony was a family, and adoption or not, Tim was a part of that now. Jason wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Tim.

When Jason woke, Dick had a similar conversation with him after Jay saw a news broadcast about Tim while waiting for the others to arrive. It soothed him some, and Tim soothed him more when he assured Jason he wasn’t taking Robin from him.

“There can’t be two Robins.”

“Why can’t there?”

As Jason went through physical training to get back in shape, the two worked together to develop a strategy for acting as Robin together. One part of this was Trillic.

Tim, with help from Dick and Jason, invented a secret language made up of chirps, whistles, and clicks. It started as a way for the Robins to communicate with each other without giving away there was more than one, but over time the rest of the Colony picked it up and the vocabulary expanded until it became the family’s own personal language that they’d use whenever they didn’t feel like using words.

A few days after Jason was released from the hospital, Dick found Jason down in the cave and grew worried his little brother was pushing himself too soon after his accident. Then he saw the young woman on the screen. She looked a year or two older than Jason with long red hair, olive skin, and bright green eyes.

They’d met in Ethiopia, Jason told him, while saving a woman from some men. Jason had wanted to try to track her down now that he was awake. He’d succeeded, but it turned out she was an Amazonian hero.

Combined with the fact her name was Artemis, Dick couldn’t help but laugh and make a joke about Jason following in his footsteps. Jason smacked him and told him she was really more of an anti-hero so it wasn’t the same as Dick making friends with Kid Flash and Tigress, but Dick ignored him.

Jason did end up contacting her, and even got her to take a visit to Gotham. Dick took the opportunity to introduce her to Wally and his own Artemis, who Wally began to refer to as Stripes to not get confused. When questioned, he claimed it was because of some outfit of hers that stuck in his mind. Dick and Jason, knowing it was actually based on her identity as Tigress, nodded along and picked up using the name, to her annoyance.

Surprisingly, the two women didn’t get along despite their similar attitudes. This led to them taking great offense whenever people couldn’t tell which Artemis was being talked about, something only Jason, Dick, and Alfred never managed to do.

While the teens were laughing over this, whispers were going around about how the Bloody Robin seemed to be everywhere. If you fled from a room you knew he was in, you’d find him standing right in front of you in the new room. There was no escape. And he trilled more than ever, though his voice almost seemed to echo back at him as if he was having a conversation.

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

Not long after the Justice League had formed, Barbara had hacked into their security system and planted a little bug she named Mockingbird. It was designed to alert her whenever someone mentioned the Colony’s civilian or vigilante identities and copy any footage during the time. More often than not all it gave her was Wally and Bow-Artemis (as most of the family thought of her, to contrast with Axe-Artemis) discussing Dick. Every so often though, there’d be someone pining after Dick or Bruce, which could be good for a laugh depending on who it was.

On a day not long after the Robins had been set loose together, Mockingbird gave her something that was sort of new, yet at the same time not.

The video started with Wally discussing some prank he and Dick had pulled on Bruce and slowly devolved into him just bragging about how awesome Dick was. Suddenly he froze, staring off into the air.

Artemis took one look at him and asked, “Did you finally realize you’ve got a crush on your best friend?”

He immediately went to reassure his girlfriend, but she said got it and even shared his feelings.

Barbara settled in to watch the show.

Unfortunately, it took longer than she’d anticipated for Dick to catch on that the two actually wanted to date him and not just spend more time with him. He was usually pretty good at picking up on people’s feelings, yet Artemis ended up having to pull him into her lap during a movie night and kiss him flat on the lips before it sunk in.

When Barbara approached him about it, he pouted over her spying. Then he admitted that he’d known for years they all had feelings for each other, he just hadn’t wanted to risk getting in the middle of the two’s relationship since they seemed so happy together. When he’d realized how they’d started flirting with him, he’d been worried they were just after a quick thing and he couldn’t do that to himself. So he’d put on his media mask of naive ditz Dickie who wouldn’t recognize flirting if it hit him in the face.

Thankfully the two had reassured him and after talking it through, the three settled happily into their throuple.

To congratulate his brother, Jason gave him a solid week before making jokes about Dick following in Bruce’s footsteps by dating someone with a feline-themed suit.

The next hurdle was deciding how to deal with the media. Dick was Richard “Dickie” Grayson, eldest son of Bruce Wayne. The media loved to go on about him. Pretty much every second of his relationship with Kory had been recorded by the press. Neither of them had minded. He was still a performer at heart, always would be, and she was a warrior princess who had been in the spotlight all her life.

But Dick knew Wally and Artemis weren’t Kory so he talked to them about how they wanted to handle things.

In the end, they agreed only friends and family would know about Artemis, but Wally and Dick would go public. They all had practice keeping much bigger secrets so it wasn’t hard on Artemis to hide their relationship. Meanwhile, Wally didn’t mind playing around for the cameras. Plus, he knew how people treated Dick when they thought he was single and a small possessive part of him didn’t want them trying anything, even if he knew Dick would never cheat.

Things didn’t actually turn out too bad. Of course, there were always the conservatives that came around when Dick got a boyfriend, but they never stuck around long. Bruce had made his support of Dick’s sexuality very clear from the beginning and no one wanted to risk really ticking someone as rich and connected as him off by attacking his son like that.

The real problem came when their agreement to tell their families accidentally didn’t reach everyone.

Dick had been alone at the manor when it happened.

Bruce had gone on a weekend business trip, bringing Tim with him. Alfred was on a trip to England. Jason had taken the opportunity to spend the weekend hopefully not blowing things up with Artemis Grace, who had ended up getting a small flat in Gotham to act as her home base so she could visit with Jason and Dick during the rare occasions she wasn’t running across the world causing trouble with the Outlaws. Dick had been planning to spend the weekend with his partners at Stripe’s apartment, but they’d both been caught up by something (Dick assumed a mission had unexpectedly run long) so he had the night to himself.

He was watching a movie in the theater room when he felt a shift in the air. He immediately dropped to the floor, barely avoiding the sai that had been coming for his throat. Then he was over the back of the couch and engaging the assassin. He quickly realized she was with the League of Assassins as he recognized moves Bruce had picked up from them. She was good, too, but she had clearly come to the fight unprepared to face a Gotham myth. He didn’t take too many hits before pinning her and binding her hands and feet with the obijime from her dress. He then disarmed her of all her hidden weapons just in case.

When he questioned her, she declared that she was Artemis’s sister and had come to avenge her honor after Wally had betrayed her for Dick. She was not going to sit back and let the fool cheat on or dump her sister for the likes of a man she had believed was nothing more than an airheaded socialite.

Then, with narrowed eyes, she added that she had clearly been mistaken as not many airheaded socialites had been trained by assassins. Nor did they use moves only known by those trained by Ra’s al Ghul.

Dick ignored that and explained the trio’s situation as he untied her, having recognized her as Cheshire aka Jade Nguyen aka his girlfriend’s -- apparently protective -- assassin sister.

He took pride in the fact that he was dating someone who was only related to criminals instead of actually dating a criminal, unlike a certain father of his.

She thankfully believed him, though she did warn that should he be lying or should he hurt Artemis, she wouldn’t underestimate him a second time. She made a few more thinly veiled digs at his assassin-based fighting style as he showed her out that he cleanly sidestepped with comments about self-defense training. They both knew she didn’t believe a word of it, but she left it alone as she slipped away into the night.

So long as her sister remained unharmed, she had no desire to get involved in whatever was going on between the Wayne’s and al Ghul’s.

Before she left Gotham, though, she met Artemis and Wally on their way in and informed her sister that she approved of her new boyfriend. Both to be sure Dick was telling the truth and to mess with the speedster. The two predictably freaked out and she used their panic to slip away.

Dick answered Artemis’s call with, “Oh hey, Stripes! Your sister came by earlier to give me the shovel talk over tea. It was pretty gory, but I think the one Jason gave Wally was still probably worse so I’m not going to complain. Are we still on for tomorrow?” to their relief.

Artemis had not wanted to try to explain her assassin sister to her civilian boyfriend.

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

I decided to use Stephanie's Batgirl suit for Babs because most of Babs' suits are either bright or look just like Batman's. Steph will get other suits of hers when she appears.

The Robin suit looks just like Dick's from The Batman (2004), just bloodier.

Nightwing's suit looks like the typical V one, just with the eyes of the mask being blacked out. Also, black lipstick because yes.

Vampires’ animal forms:

Bruce: Gray bat

Alfred: Common raven

Selina: Oriental shorthair cat

Barbara: Little red flying fox

Dick: Black-billed magpie

Jason: Malayan flying fox

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [32]

iii. ye who enter here

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 5.6k 

Warnings: language, mentions of injuries, death, mentions of anxiety, angst, blood, stabbing, violence, explosions, mentions of getting drugged.

Summary: after months of trying to avoid it, you return to Mount Weather, and you’re reminded of why you hate it so much.

a/n: the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

You wake up in the hospital ward a few hours after returning to Arkadia. 

You’re unsurprised to find both Bellamy and your mother asleep on either side of you, your hands intertwined with each of theirs. You smile down at their sleeping forms, before squeezing Bellamy’s hand slightly, waking him. 

He takes in a deep breath as he wakes, turning and blinking up at you sleepily. When he realizes that you’re awake, he wakes up much faster, smiling at you and whispering, “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“How are you feeling?”

You flip your hand over, revealing your IV. “I feel nothing, which means mom slipped me something.”

“She was worried about you.”

You roll your eyes slightly. “It’s just a little knife wound. We’ve had worse.”

Another voice answers before he can, her tone scolding. “A deep knife wound that you sloppily patched up before running on it.”

You turn and face your mother, giving her a smile and hoping that it eases her disappointment. “I promise I’m fine. Besides, aren’t you the one who’s been mad at me for letting Clarke go in the first place?”

Bellamy senses a fight coming and he stands and quickly presses a kiss to your forehead, mumbling something about “incoming explosions” as he scurries out the door. Your mother’s voice drops to a whisper when she answers, “I haven’t been mad at you in weeks, you know that.”

“I know, I’m sorry. But I've been mad at myself. And I was so close, mom, I nearly brought her back.”

She reaches up and pushes your hair off your face. “She knows where Arkadia is, she’ll come back when she’s ready.”

You shake your head, “Didn’t they tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“About the bounty?”

She freezes and all the color drains from her face. “What bounty?”

“There’s a bounty on Clarke’s head, and she was being held captive when I found her.” You can tell from the expression on her face that this is all news to her. “Shit, was I not supposed to tell you?”

She tries to give you a reassuring smile, but it barely masks her anger. “I’m glad you did, honey.”

She reaches up to fiddle with your IV. “Get some rest. I’ll send Bellamy in to keep an eye on you.”

The sleepiness overtakes you as the sedative flows through the IV and into your bloodstream, knocking you out and taking you back into the land of dreams before Bellamy has even entered the room. 

-

Four days after getting stabbed 

You shift on your stool and let your eyes rake over the guns once more, double checking your count, before scribbling down the number and moving to the next group. 

Okay, shock batons. One, two, three-

“Hey!”

You almost fall off the stool in surprise, and you turn to Bellamy with a glare. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“I’m sorry.” He steps inside, and grabs the notebook from your hand, setting it to the side. He presses an apologetic kiss to your forehead before he pulls you to your feet. “Kane says he has news and he needs to see us.”

“Good news?”

“Seems like it.”

“What are we waiting for then?”

You head to the Chancellor’s office as fast as you can, still limping a little from the pain in your leg, despite your best efforts not to. Bellamy knocks on the door as you reach it, and Kane waves you inside, cutting off the conversation he was having with your mother. She glares as she watches you limp inside. “Where are your crutches?”

You roll your eyes, “I’m not using those.”

“Clearly.”

Kane cuts a look between the two of you, and you both cut the argument off before it can continue any further. “We just got word from Lexa.”

“Lexa as in, betrayed us at Mount Weather Lexa?”

Kane gives you a disapproving look. “Commander Lexa, yes. She has Clarke.”

“How? Is she okay? When can we get her?”

“Lexa put the bounty on Clarke’s head when she found out the Ice Nation’s Queen wanted Wanheda’s power. The bounty ensured that Clarke was brought to Polis, their capitol, unharmed.”

You open your mouth to ask another question, but he holds up a hand to stop you. “She’s fine. We’ve been asked to meet with the Commander, and that’s when we’ll get Clarke.”

“Great, when do we leave?”

“We’ll leave in three days. You’re not going.” 

“What?”

“Your leg is still healing, and your mother and I agree that-”

“My leg is fine! This is just about what I-”

“...further proven by the fact that you refuse to use the crutches-”

“...just upset that I didn’t obey your stupid-”

“Enough!” You and Kane quiet immediately, tuning to look at your mother in surprise. She locks eyes with you. “You and Bellamy will be delivering supplies to the Farm Station survivors at Mount Weather in three days. Kane and I will go to Polis, meet with Lexa, and bring Clarke home. End of discussion.”

“Did you just say people are staying in Mount Weather?”

She turns to look at Bellamy, who’s been quiet up until this moment. “Yes. The only space we could offer the Farm Station survivors was tent space, and when they heard about Mount Weather being empty, they asked to stay there. We sent a small group ahead first, and if all is well with the Grounders, we’ll send the rest.”

“Won’t that look bad to the Grounders? The Mountain Slayers moving into the enemy’s house?” You turn and look at Kane, “What was it you said to me months ago? We’d look like a new set of conquerors?”

“Yes, well, the decision has been made. Gather a team, you leave in three days.”

Bellamy mutters, “Yes sir.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

-

One week after getting stabbed

You’re silent the whole way back to Mount Weather, lost in your head. 

As soon as Raven parks the rover outside the ground entrance to the mountain, you freeze in place, ignoring everything around you as Gina, Raven, and Octavia all jump out and start to unload the rover. Bellamy reaches out and grabs your hand. “They’ll be fine at the delegation.”

“We should be there, Bellamy.”

“Maybe if someone used their crutches…”

You ignore his playful tone and glare at him. “My leg’s fine and you know it. Kane is just pissed that I disobeyed him and he’s trying to teach me a lesson.”

“Probably. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re in Polis and we’re here.”

He stands and tugs on your hand, getting you to follow suit, before helping you out of the rover and onto the ground. You both stand staring at the entrance, remembering the last time you were here, and you whisper, “I hate this fucking mountain.”

“Kane says we don’t have to stay long. He gave Gina a list of things to take care of, and then we can leave.”

You nod. “Let’s make it quick then.”

You both turn and grab the last few bags from the rover, you and Bellamy each taking a handle on the heaviest one, sharing the weight as you walk side by side behind the others. You can hear Raven telling Gina a story from the Ark, and Octavia drops back to walk on your other side. She notices your silence and asks, “You okay?”

You give her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’ll be back to my usual charming self as soon as we’re out of here.”

She laughs but it dies in her throat as you come around the final corner, the hallway opening up into the mess hall, loud with music and laughter. You all stand at the entrance, frozen and in shock at the comfort of Farm Station as they sit at the tables eating and smiling. You fight back the image of the hundreds of irradiated bodies that littered the floor the last time you were here. 

Pike sees you all at the entrance and yells, “Welcome! Join us.”

You mutter, “Someone's made themselves at home.”

Octavia sounds horrified when she counters, “There must be 30 of them in here.”

Pike reaches you and hears this, clarifying, “36, but the more, the merrier.”

You and Bellamy lower the bag to the ground so he can reach out to shake Pike’s hand, and he nods at you in greeting. Octavia looks around the room before glaring at Pike. “36? Wow. The Grounders are gonna think we moved in.”

“Well, there was no room at the inn.”

“And this is your option?”

Bellamy glances at his sister, his voice a warning. “O.”

“I'm out of here.”

She turns and storms off, and you and Bellamy exchange a look as Pike muses, “Spirited.”

You glance around the room again and a chill passes over you, before you turn back to Bellamy. “I’ll check on her.”

“Thank you.”

He presses a quick kiss to your cheek before following Pike into the room, and you turn and head back down the hall and up to the ground. Each passing second you spend in the mountain leaves you feeling more and more anxious, and by the time you reach the top level, you’re practically running to the door, fighting off the images of what you’ve done. As soon as you push open the door to the ground level and step into the sunshine, your anxiety starts to fade, leaving you calmer than before. You hear a whistle and you look over your shoulder to see Octavia on top of the entrance, looking down at you. 

You move to the side and find the ladder, ignoring the slight pain in your leg as you climb to the top and plop down beside her. “So that’s Pike.”

It’s not a question, but you answer like it is. “Yup.”

“Seems great.”

You snort at the sarcasm in her voice. “Very pleasant. You should have heard his anti Grounder stuff when we first met him. He yelled at Indra when she spoke Trigedasleng and kept making snide remarks about how all Grounders are the same.”

“Great.”

You hum in response and she turns to watch you. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. No.” You shake your head, “I don’t know. It’s this mountain, O. I’ve done nothing but avoid thinking about it for the last 3 months, and being back here just...doesn’t feel right.”

“You, Bell, and Clarke did what you had to to save our people.”

“Everyone keeps saying that, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I wish it did.”

She reaches over and puts her hand on top of yours. “You’ll get through this. You and Belllamy both.”

You turn and smile at her, both of you sinking into comfortable silence as you enjoy the quietness of the ground. Bellamy comes out a few minutes later, unsurprised to find you both sitting on top of the entrance, and you scoot over as he reaches the top, allowing him to sit between you and Octavia. His gaze is focused on her. “You okay?”

“The Grounders will never accept this.”

“We're not the Mountain Men, O. Nyko and Lincoln will make them see that.”

Octavia glares at him. “How? Lincoln has a kill order on him. He can't even leave camp without risking his life.”

“The summit will take care of that.”

Octavia turns away from him and looks out at the trees. “Then we can finally get out of here.”

You both turn to look at her, surprised, and she meets your gazes. “I'm sorry. I don't fit in here.”

Bellamy takes a deep breath, and reaches for her hand. “If you need to leave, I get that, but you'll always fit in with me.”

“And me.”

She starts to reply, but stops when you hear arguing beyond the trees, and you all turn just in time to watch two guards dragging a Grounder towards the front door. “What the hell?”

You all leap up and descend the ladder, jogging over to the trio. As soon as you see the Grounder’s face, you recognize her. “Echo?”

You and Bellamy exchange a look, and Octavia asks, “You know her?”

“Yeah, she's Ice Nation. She was in the cage next to mine.”

When Echo sees you walking towards her, she yells your names, relieved. Bellamy yells, “Let her go.”

One of the guards glares at you. “She threatened the summit.”

“I was trying to help!”

“Shut up.” He kicks her legs out from under her, knocking her to the ground. 

Bellamy yells, “I said, get your hands off her.”

Octavia moves behind the guards and glances at Echo’s restraints before looking up and meeting your eyes. “Knife?”

You pull your knife from the holder on your thigh and flip it in your hand until the handle is out, facing Octavia, and then you hold it out to her. She takes it and cuts Echo loose as the guards protest. “What are you doing? She's a Grounder.”

You help Echo to her feet and Bellamy asks, “What are you talking about?”

“The summit's a trap. The assassin is already there. By sundown, your people will die.”

Your stomach drops, and you turn to Bellamy with a horrified look, “Clarke. My mother. Kane.”

Bellamy looks at Echo. “We need you to tell us everything.”

She nods and you all lead her inside the mountain, straight into the mess hall and over to Pike. He looks up at all of you in shock, a Grounder between you, before clearing out the room of children and leaving only his guards. “What is this?”

“Echo is Ice Nation, and she has something to tell us.”

You see Pike’s eyes widen and he nods at two guards over your shoulder, who push you, Bellamy, and Octavia out of the way to grab Echo. They yank her towards a chair and push her into it before restraining her. “What are you doing? She’s with us!”

Pike glances between you and Bellamy. “We’ll see.”

He walks over to Echo and glares down at her. “Bellamy says you have something to tell us?”

“The summit’s a trap.”

“How do you know?”

“I was with the Queen's army heading toward Polis. The war chief talks too loud.”

Pike looks at her in disbelief. “You're one of them, so why are you telling us this?”

Echo looks over at you and Bellamy, sadness in her eyes. “We abandoned Skaikru in the Battle for the Mountain. It was wrong.”

Bellamy turns to Pike, voice earnest. “Pike, we saved her life, this is her saving ours. We can trust her.”

Pike considers this, as Sinclair, Raven, and Gina run into the room and join the group. Bellamy addresses all of them. “Listen up. If we want to get to Polis before the attack, we have to move.”

Sinclair shakes his head, confused. “Attack? Do we have confirmation of that?” 

Octavia walks over to you, radio in hand. “I’ve been trying to radio, but no answer.”

Pike sighs, “They may already be dead, for all we know. If they are, we need to be ready to respond.”

Sinclair turns to him. “Don't make this about the missiles.”

You and Bellamy exchange a worried glance, both of you thinking about Tondc, and you turn to Pike in shock. “Missiles?”

“This is about survival. We don't have the numbers, but the missiles in this mountain even the playing field, and you know I'm right.”

Sinclair steps closer to him, “Even if I did agree with you, we still don't have the launch codes.”

Raven smirks, walking over to the two men. “No, but we have me.”

Pike nods his approval at Raven, before turning and grabbing Echo, pulling her out of the chair and out of the room. Octavia follows to keep an eye on them, leaving you and Bellamy mostly alone. You smile at him and turn to grab a gun from the crate behind you, but he reaches out to stop you. “You’re not going.”

You spin towards him, incredulous. “Like hell I’m not! My twin and my mother are at that summit!”

“Which is why you shouldn’t be there. Plus, your leg-”

“Damn it, Bellamy, my leg is fine!”

“Your mother asked me to look out for you, and-”

You reach for the guns again, ignoring him. “I don’t care, I’m going.”

“No, you’re not.”

You spin towards him, growing angrier. “Yes, I am!”

“Kane said-”

“I don’t care what Kane said, Bellamy! I’m going to that summit, and you can’t stop me.”

You start to brush past him, but he grabs you and spins you towards him, pulling you in for a kiss. You start to resist him at first, but kiss him back when you realize that this is his apology, and he’s changed his mind. As you lose yourself in the feel of him, you almost miss the prick in your neck. 

You open your eyes in surprise and pull away from him, shocked to find his hand held in the air, a syringe tight in his grip. Your eyes lift to his, your face full of betrayal. “What did you-”

You cut yourself off when you feel yourself sway on your feet, and Bellamy reaches out and catches you right as you start to fall. He pulls you up into his arms, looking down at you with regret, and the last thing you hear before passing out, is a soft, “I’m sorry.”

-

You wake up slowly, feeling heavy and groggy as you come out of sleep.

And then you remember why you were asleep.

Anger pulses through you, intertwined with betrayal, and it wakes you quickly. You jump up, realizing you're in a bed in the 6th floor dorms, and you run out of the room and into the hall, making a beeline for the elevator. Once you reach the first floor, you run down the hall, ignoring the limp and the pain in your leg, pushing yourself as fast as you can as you head straight for the door.

When you burst out of it and into the open air, you feel your stomach sink to your feet at the now empty spot where the rover was parked. You let out an angry yell before turning and running back into the building and straight for the mess hall. Once there, you push past the people milling about, chatting aimlessly about nothing, and grab a radio off one of the nearby tables, tuning in to the agreed upon channel. “Bellamy, come in.”

You let your finger off the button and stand glaring at the radio, waiting for a response. When you get nothing, you repeat, “Bellamy, do you read me?”

After another silent minute, you grind out, “Bellamy Blake, you better answer the goddamn radio.”

But again, you’re met with nothing. You let out a frustrated huff and clip the radio to your belt, before deciding to find Raven. After asking around, you find out that she, Gina, and Sinclair are down in the control room, so you head there. As soon as you burst through the door, you meet Raven’s gaze with a glare, and she lets out a snort of laughter. “Yeah, that’s the exact face I told Bellamy you’d make when you found out.”

“Did you know he was going to do it?”

“No.”

You let out another frustrated huff and plop down into a chair. After a moment of silence, you ask, “What are we doing then?”

“Trying to figure out the launch codes for this stupid missile.” You see her furiously punch the keys on the keyboard before yelling, “Damn it!”

“What happened to that Raven Reyes confidence?”

Raven turns to glare at Sinclar. “It's a 12-digit code, and there are a trillion combinations. It's gonna take me a minute.”

Sinclair turns to Gina. “Gina, what do you got?”

She helplessly lifts her hands, “Don't look at me. I'm just a grunt.”

You smirk at her and she smiles back at you as Sinclair sighs, “Oh come on, guys, it's gonna be dark soon. We're working analog, we're working digital. What are we missing?”

You think about Dante, remembering his age, before asking, “How is the president gonna remember a number that long?”

“Not well.”

Gina looks over at you, catching on, and asks, “Want to bet he wrote it down somewhere?”

“Oh, come on. That's like setting the launch code to all zeros.”

“And yet it's better than anything we've come up with.”

Gina smiles, “I'll check the president's office.”

You stand, “I’ll go with her.”

Sinclair tosses Gina a radio. “We'll keep working the tech angle. Hopefully, one of us will get lucky.”

You follow Gina out of the Control Room and to the other side of the level where the President’s office is located. Once inside, Gina heads for the desk, and you start scanning the books on the bookshelf, taking them down and shaking them out, looking for any sign of hidden papers. You work in silence for a few minutes until Gina glances over at you. “Don’t be mad at Bellamy.”

You glance over at her, confused, and she adds, “For the sedative thing.”

“He took my choice away, Gina. Didn’t even give me the chance to go.”

“It wasn’t his idea. It was the Chancellor’s.”

You turn to her fully, brows lifted in surprise. “My mother?”

“I overheard her talking to Bellamy when she gave it to him, and she said she couldn’t risk losing you again. She told him to inject you if it seemed like you were going to put yourself at risk again.” She stops rummaging through the desk, lifting her eyes to look at you. “He fought her on it, for a while actually. I had to finish loading the rover, so I didn’t hear the rest. I wasn’t even sure he took it until Raven told me what he did.”

You nod, taking this all in, trying to process it. Then you suddenly remember something from the last time you were in Mount Weather. “Dante’s quarters are around the corner, I should go check it out.”

She nods, and you add, “Channel 4 on the radio if you need me.”

“Okay.”

You turn and head towards the door, but right before you step out, you turn back to her. “Hey, Gina?”

She looks up again, already back to searching. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

She smiles. “What you have is too good to throw away on a misunderstanding. Sometimes people do crazy things for love.”

You think about nearly hanging to death, and following Bellamy into Mount Weather, too worried to let him go alone, and you smile back. “Yeah, I guess they do.”

And then you turn and head out of the office, jogging around the corner and up to the only other door on this hall. The door is cracked, so you push it open, half expecting Dante or Cage to jump out and yell at you. But it’s empty, full of nothing except ghosts and a few modest belongings. You rummage through all the drawers on the bedside table before checking the small desk area. After finding nothing, you move to the bookshelf and check the books again, shaking them quickly and tossing them to the side when you find nothing. 

You smile when your eyes land on the next title, a yellow book with a blue spine.

The Iliad.

Bellamy rolls off you, both of you panting as you come down from your high. When he hears your breathing slow, he turns towards you, a smile on his face. “Have I ever told you about the Iliad?”

Your nose scrunches when you ask, “Were you thinking about a book while we were having sex?”

“No.” He sees your disbelief and laughs. “Okay, maybe a little. But only because I was thinking of our first time, and when you asked me to tell you about the gods. Which made me think of the Iliad, and how my mom used to read it to me and O when we were kids.”

He smiles as he tells you the memory, his grin boyish and bright. You can’t help but smile in return. “I wish you could read it to me.”

His smile drops a little. “Me too. I bet the only copy left was on the Ark. Who knows where it ended up when they came down.”

The memory makes your heart ache for Bellamy, your anger already starting to dissipate. You turn the book upside down, but you don’t see the piece of paper that falls out and flutters to the floor, too distracted by Gina’s voice calling your name on the radio. You lift the radio to your lips. “Did you find something?”

You’re answered by silence and you tuck the book into the waistband of your pants and ask, “Gina, are you there?”

You hear your name come through again, this time carried on the sound of a gurgle. You feel the hairs on the back of your neck lift, as suspicion takes over you. “I’m coming to you.”

You turn and run out the door, jogging back down the hall towards the office. Just as you round the corner and step into the room, you run right into a knife blade, which sinks into your side. You look up in surprise at the Grounder staring back at you, pure hatred on his face, and he pulls his knife out of your side. You see his hand move towards you to stab you again, and you feel your adrenaline take over as you quickly reach down and grab your knife, before lifting your arms to protect your middle. 

His knife slashes and cuts your arm, and you feel warm blood run down and drip to the floor, but you ignore it and focus on all the training you received from Octavia and Lincoln. When he tries to slash you again, you duck down, and send your arm forward, plunging your knife into his exposed side. You pull away quickly and jump back as he lunges towards you, taking another cut from him, this time to your shoulder. You bite back your cry of pain before swinging a punch towards him, and he blocks it before kicking you in the stomach and knocking you onto your back.

As he stands over you and brings the knife down towards your chest, you roll away and lean forward, stabbing him in the thigh. He lets out a grunt of pain before punching you and knocking you backwards again. He glances over at the desk and then back to you, before he takes off running down the hall. You’re about to follow him when you hear a small sound of pain, and you look over to the desk to find Gina slumped onto it. “Gina!”

You run over to her, horrified to find her surrounded by a pool of blood, her shirt soaked with it. You can see the minuscule rise and fall of her chest and you know she’s alive, but barely. You grab your radio and call out to Raven. “Raven, Sinclair, SOS!”

“What’s going on?”

“A Grounder just attacked me and Gina, and he ran off. The exit is near you, don’t let him leave!”

“Are you okay? Is Gina?”

You don’t answer as you lift her shirt to find at least three stab wounds, and you start to reach forward to help her, but she weakly pushes your hand away and whispers, “Code.”

“What?”

“He set off the self-destruct.” Her eyes flit toward it, and you see it counting down, with 45 seconds left. “Code on his arm.”

You hesitate, stuck between wanting to help her and wanting to chase after him. “Go, get the code. You can help me after.”

You reach out and squeeze her arm. “I’ll come back for you.”

You take off running down the hall, following the trail of blood from the Grounder, and you call Raven as you do. “Raven, he set off the self-destruct. The code is on his arm.”

“How much time do we have?”

You reach the elevator and your anxiety grows as it slowly brings you to the surface. “Less than 45 seconds!”

The doors slide open and you look down, spotting the trail again. You follow it down the hall and towards the exit. Up ahead you can see the door open, the sound of fighting coming from outside. You push yourself faster, lifting the radio to ask, “Gina, how much time?”

You’re met with silence, but you don’t have time to process what that means, because you run outside to find Raven knocked to the side, bleeding from her head, and Sinclair on the ground beneath the Grounder, knife to his throat. You run towards them, gripping your knife tight in your fist as you sneak up behind them and plunge the knife into the Grounder’s neck, killing him. He drops onto Sinclair, and you help roll his body to the side as Raven comes over and grabs his left arm while you grab his right.

You yank up his sleeve to find it blank, but Raven lets out a gasp as she lifts his sleeve to reveal the twelve digit code. You lift your radio and call Gina. “Gina, we got the code.”

You’re met with silence, and you start to panic. You glance at Raven as you call again, worry written all over her face. “Gina, do you copy? Gina! We got the code, do you copy?”

Raven jumps to her feet and starts to walk back towards the building, “We’ve got to go back in there.”

You and Sinclair jump up and run after her. “Raven, no!”

“We can't just let them die!”

You think of the countdown, already at 45 seconds before you even realized, and how long it took you to reach the surface. You feel your stomach sink because you know that you’re out of time. “Raven, no one can reach the office in time!”

You and Sinclair grab her arms and tug her backwards as she fights against you, knocking the book out of your waistband in the process, leaving you feet from the door when the explosion hits. The force of it sends all three of you flying through the air, tossed to the side like you weigh nothing. You hit the ground with a thud, the wind temporarily knocked out of you, and you gasp for breath. It takes a second for the ringing in your ears to stop, and you roll to your side, looking for Raven and Sinclair.

They are both slumped on the ground nearby, and you struggle onto your hands and knees as you crawl over to them, calling their names. Raven sits up first, coughing the ash and dust from her lungs as you reach her and force her to look at you. “Raven, are you okay?”

She nods weakly, tears already starting to fall as you look over her, checking for injuries, but finding none other than her earlier head wound. You turn and check Sinclair, who’s unconscious now, but alive. You pull off your guard jacket and tuck it under his head, checking him over for any other injuries and relieved to find nothing. 

Raven’s sobs pull you back to the reality of what’s happening, and you feel fear constrict your throat as you think of the summit. Was it a two front attack? Three? You scramble over to your fallen radio and push the button, calling frantically, “Bellamy? Bellamy, come in! Are you okay?”

His voice crackles through the radio, calling your name, and you let out a sob of relief before lifting the radio again. “The Grounders attacked Mount Weather. White war paint, Azgeda.”

You hear concern in his voice, and your mother calling out for you somewhere near him. “What are you talking about?”

You stand and walk towards the smoking wreckage, dropping to your knees in front of it, nothing left but a pile of rubble, and you think of the 30 something people that were inside before the explosion hit. You think of Gina, and the tears overtake you, heavy sobs wracking your body as you think of the death left behind because of this mountain. This goddamn mountain. You fight through your sobs, “It's gone. They're all gone. Sinclair, Raven, and I are the only ones left.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just hurry, Bellamy. Please. Sinclair’s knocked out, Raven probably has a concussion, and I got stabbed when we were fighting him off.”

You feel yourself start to grow weaker as Bellamy continues to ask you questions. You drop the radio at your side, and turn back to see Raven slumped over onto Sinclair, sobbing. You hear Bellamy calling your name, sounding more and more worried with each passing second, but with the adrenaline wearing off, you don’t have the energy to reassure him. 

You lay back onto the ground, rolling over to see the smoking remains of Mount Weather, coming face to face with a small yellow book with a blue spine. 

The Iliad.

The bottom right corner is singed and the book is covered in a thick layer of dust and rocks. You reach out for it with blood smeared hands, from which wound, you aren’t sure, and you pull it towards you, tucking it to your chest. Your eyes slide closed as the rest of your energy leaves you, and the last thing you think of before the world fades out, is Bellamy.

-

next chapter

[peppersonironi]

Batfam/Avengers Crossover Chapter Five: The Assassins’ Bond

Tagging: @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types

Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne, Clint Barton & Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Koriand'r/Jason Todd,

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Justice League (DCU), Alfred Pennyworth, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Alfred the Cat (DCU), Bat-Cow (DCU), Goliath (DCU), Selina Kyle’s Cat Isis, Kate Kane (DCU), Duke Thomas,

Additional Tags: Batbrothers (DCU), Avengers Meet The Batfam, MCU/Batfam crossover, Crossover, no beta we die like robins, rated T for Jason’s language, I bleeped it out though. Just to be safe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon? What’s canon?, Deaf Clint Barton,Deaf Character, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Happy Batfamily (DCU), Birdflash and joyfire are implied/referenced,

Summary: Nat sets out on her assignment to gather information about the bats, and ends up talking with Damian.

Natasha couldn’t seem to find anyone to investigate, which was weird. Usually, when she wanted to find someone, she did.  Nat hadn’t seen any of the other Avengers either, which was also strange.

So Natasha wandered the halls of the manor. She had already checked the Cave, though it was also empty.

After half an hour, Natasha turned to the gardens. She wasn’t really searching at that point, only enjoying the early afternoon breeze. But soon enough, she heard sounds of laughter.

Following it, Natsha wound through a shaded path to find a large lawn occupied by the bats, as well as Peter, Banner, and Thor.

They were in the middle of what seemed to be an extreme version of capture the flag. Nat looked for someone to talk too, but they were all invested in the game. Then she noticed Damian on the sidelines, inside a clearly marked square that must have been the ‘prison’. He looked angry, and seemed to be passing the time by doing drills with his katana. Once again, Natasha was struck by how precise he was.

"Hey kid."

Damian glanced at Natasha, clearly suspicious.

"Hello Romanoff, do you want something?''

Nat smiled. “Call me Natasha. And no, not really. You looked bored, so I thought I’d offer you some company.”

Damian scoffed and returned to his drills. Natasha sat down, and was soon joined by a large dog whom she had never seen before. "Is that your dog?" She asked.

Damian nodded stiffly. "Yes his name is Titus."

Nat looked at Titus with gentle eyes. "Hi Titus." She reached out her hand for the dog to sniff. Titus obliged, and then began to nussle  her hand, quickly warming up to Nat.

Damian’s whole demeanor changed at the sight. He relaxed significantly, and even had a soft smile on his face. “He likes you," Damian said as he set his katana aside and joined Natasha on the grass.

Nat smiled right back at him as she began to pet Titus. "Titus is a great name for him. Latin right?" Damian nodded. "You know the meaning?"

Damian scoffed. "If I didn't then I wouldn't have named him Titus. An honorable dog deserves a name that literally means `title of honor’."

Nat chuckled, surprising even herself. "I like you kid, you've got spunk.” She nodded over at the now abandoned katana. Time to see what she could get out of him. “And your fighting technique is impressive."

Damian’s face became a mixture of guarded and prideful. "Of course it is, I was trained to be the best."

"Well your father sure does a good job."

Damian pursed his lips and remained silent for a moment before replying. "He didn't train me. I … was trained by my mother."

Nat looked over at him softly. “The one that Jason blames for him killing?”

Damian scowled. “Yes. My mother is responsible for bringing my brother back from the dead using the Lazarus pit which is … not quite magic. The pit induces its user with enhanced aggression, and memory loss which she utilized to manipulate Todd to her will.”

Natasha sat still for a moment. She really didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, that did partially explain Jason’s references to murder. On the other hand … the woman sounded horrible.

“Why would she do that?” Nat asked quietly.

Damian stroked Titus for a long moment before replying. “My mother is part of a group called The League of Assassins - led by my grandfather - that is dedicated to … saving the world.”

Natasha almost raised an eyebrow at that. Assassins and world-savers really didn’t seem like they would go together well.

“Not like you saved the world,” Damian continued, “But through brutal, unforgiving justice. They wish to reform civilizations across the world into total submission to my grandfather.

“So my mother took it upon herself to take in a newly raised from the dead Jason Todd, train him, and set him upon Gotham. Her point to it all was to harm my father, who is very much against League ideals.”

There was a sudden shout of triumph from the game, and the pair looked over at Tim crowing over a downed Peter Parker. They were silent for a long time, watching the game play out. Finally, Nat took it upon herself to speak.

“I never knew my parents. I grew up in a top secret Soviet-Russian training facility designed to create the perfect operatives, or assassins.” She took a breath as she looked over at Damian.

The boy had shed his smirks and scowls. His eyes were wide and innocent. There was a quality of quiet hope in his face. Like he was amazed that someone else could understand him.

“You’re like me,” he whispered. Then raised his voice slightly. “I was trained from birth. Mother and grandfather wanted me to be the heir. The perfect heir. I was taught every conceivable way to kill, to torture, to withstand any injury.” Damian was no longer looking at Natasha. His eyes showed that he was in another place. Another time.

“We were chained to the bed at night to prevent escape,” Natasha replied. “Sometimes they would make us fight to the death. To weed out the unworthy.”

“Weakness was not tolerated. The moment I made a mistake I was punished. I was to take it willingly.”

“When we trained with guns, they gave us real people to use as targets.”

“Emotions were a liability. I was to never show any, I was never to trust anyone. Not my trainors, not my servants, especially not my own mother.”

“We weren’t to trust each other either. Sometimes they would randomly order to kill your friends, and you had to. Otherwise you were killed.”

Damian sighed. “The worst part was leaving. Mother dumped me with Father - for training she said. I was to learn what I could from him. And I did, I learned a lot. But not what she wanted me to.” He looked over wistfully at his family. “I learned to trust. I had to believe I wasn’t invulnerable. I … I had to learn what it felt like to be … wanted .”

Natasha nodded at him, though he wasn’t looking at her. “Clint was sent to kill me, after I had been an operative for a while. I was the best, so people began to take notice. So S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Barton to eliminate me. But when he found me, he didn’t. He … had mercy on me. Something I had never known. He recruited me. I worked with him, and S.H.I.E.L.D. to help people instead of killing them. I had to relearn almost everything.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while. Neither bothering to pity the other. Just enjoying the companionship of another like them.

Then Nat spoke up again. "I'm not good with …" Natasha paused trying to find the right words. "Comfort. But, I understand"

Damian looked at her, then nodded. “I understand as well.”

They sat together for a while, looking at the game progressing. They talked about their lives, and even started to explain their families as well. Damian talked briefly about Bruce’s tragic childhood experiences, as well as Dick’s. He went into detail of Jason’s death and then resurrection. Tim’s becoming Robin. His neglectful family. Damian explained Cassandra’s past, and how Duke lost his parents. He mentioned Stephanie and Barbara, and how they joined the vigilante life as well. He didn’t go into detail, though, saying that their stories were not his to tell.

In return, Natasha talked about befriending Clint. How Steve became Captain America. How Tony built his suit. Banner’s experiments, and how he became the Hulk. How Thor found himself on Earth. What she knew of Peter, and how he became Spiderman.

“Do you trust me?” Damian asked, looking over at Nat when she had finished speaking.

Natasha smiled. “Yes. I’m assuming that’s what your goal was?”

Damian had the nerve to not look apologetic. “We may or may not have overheard your entire conversation after lunch.”

Nat nodded, she had figured as much. The Boy had been almost a bit too loose lipped in the beginning. But she could tell that as the conversation went on, he spoke freely because he wanted to, and not because he was trying to supply info.

“Did you draw the short straw?” Natasha asked.

Damian scowled. “T-t, no. Father said that if any of you were to question us or our motives, we should hold nothing back. You had the nerve to approach me first.”

Natasha laughed freely and ruffled the boy’s hair. He frowned, but didn’t push her hand away.

“Do you trust me now?” He asked, tentatively.

Natasha paused and tilted her head. “Yes, I think I do. You didn’t lie to me, I know that.” Damian rolled his eyes, and Natasha smirked a bit. “But also, you and I are similar. I don’t think I could distrust you if I tried.”

Damian nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Good, I would not want to disappoint Father.”

Natasha smiled. “I don’t think he would be disappointed if I didn’t trust you. He seems quite reasonable.”

Damian outright snorted. “Say that again when I have a slight cold and he won’t let me on patrol. He can be quite unreasonable in mother-hen mode. Not unlike Grayson, unfortunately.”

Nat chuckled. “He loves you. That’s important.” There was another shout of victory from the field, then Natasha continued. “What about me? Trust goes both ways, you know.”

Damian frowned in concentration. “Yes, I believe you have earned some trust. I don’t know about Stark though, he seems … unstable.”

Natasha couldn’t help but outright laugh at that statement. After a moment of surprise, Damian joined in.

“That,” Natasha said between huge gasps of laughter, “Is by far the best thing I have heard in a long time.”

“Do you deny it?” Damian asked.

Natasha was almost crying from laughter. “No, not in a million years.”

Damian smiled at Nat. “Thank you, Romanoff. For talking. I believe you will make a valuable ally.”

“Call me Natasha, kid. Or Nat. Or Tasha. I don’t care. But not Romanoff. Friends aren’t so formal.”

Damian furrowed his brows for a moment before relaxing. “Very well, Tasha. We are now friends?”

Natasha smiled at Damian. “If you want to be.”

The boy pet Titus for a few thoughtful moments. “Very well. I accept. Together, we shall be a formidable force.”

Nat chuckled, ruffling the kid’s hair once again. This time, he didn’t bother frowning.

Just then, a voice called from the field. They both looked over to find Dick running up to them. “Dami! I’m so sorry! I thought someone had gotten you out! Well, the game’s over. Want to join in the next round?”

“T-t. Of course you forgot. If this had been in the field, I could have been killed by now.”

Dick smiled easily at his little brother. “So, what do you say?”

Damian glanced at Nat before replying. “Very well, I shall partake once again in your childish games, Grayson.” Then he smirked. “But I demand that Tasha be on my team. Since you are clearly untrustworthy.”

Dick looked curiously over at Natasha, a small smile on his face. “Sure Lil’ D. Let’s go.”

He motioned for the pair to follow him, then turned and ran off back toward the field.

Damian looked over at Nat. “You will be on my team?” He looked like he was trying to hide how hopeful he was.

Natasha got up and offered her hand to Damian. “Together, we shall be a formidable force, right?”

Damian grinned at her and accepted her hand. “Our reign of terror shall be legendary.”

[cwanddcunitedsuperheroes]

Savior (Kate Kane × F! reader SMUT)

Request: Yes or No

Based On: A post by @allurajarren​ wanting some Kate Kane × F! Reader Smut. I got you guys who wanted it covered. And I warn you it is my first time writing Lesbian Smut so it’s a learning experience here since I’m straight. Enjoy! 

Pairing: Kate Kane × f! Queen reader

Note: (Y/S/H/N) - Your superhero name, (Y/N) - Your name, (A/B) - Alcoholic Beverage, 

Word Count: 

Description: As batwoman gets captured by Alice on a mission it's up to her girlfriend the reader aka (Y/S/H/N) to save her from Alice. After you save Batwoman the reader get injured and as her girlfriend she learns your identity. Which leads her to being angry at you, but also angry at Alice for harming you. But it escalates where the reader isn't too badly injured and leads to Angry yet passionate sex between Kate Kane and the Reader. (And yes, this is Oliver’s sister). And no I do not own Batwoman. 

Your heels were clicking against the hardwood floor as you were entering The Hold Up as you saw doing more work as she was currently thinking of what else to do with the whole club since everything with the club across the street hating homosexual people. When you kept studying the surroundings and saw Luke talking to Kate, as Mary noticed you walk in. 

“Hello (Y/N).” Mary said waving at you as your heels clicked more on the hardwood flooring, and you watched as Kate glanced at you from where she was standing behind the bar while focusing on her conversation with Luke. As you went to sit down beside Mary at one of the tables across from her. 

“So how is it being a lawyer in Gotham (Y/N)?” Mary asked me as I laughed. “Nothing too hard, because last time I checked Star City wasn’t too calm back then being a lawyer and all.” I said as she looked at me, “One time we almost had the court blown up.” I said as I remembered helping my client on trial as one of the court wall’s.” I said as Mary gasped, “Did anyone get hurt?” She asked as I nodded. “Well, nothing more than one broken leg, and a few people having scrapes and scratches. But nobody was injured to bad since Arrow came before anything could happen.” I said as she nodded. 

“Heroes always come at the craziest moments. Like they know how to make an entrance.” She said as I nodded. Before I saw a ding on my phone about the latest news in Gotham. I was scrolling through some of the batwoman articles as Mary continued to talk about Batwoman and (Y/S/H/N). 

Before I could glance back at Mary, I turned my head to see Kate coming up with drinks for everyone. I smile at her as I grab (A/B) and clink my glass with everyone before I take a sip of it. As everyone just looks at another as we are having a moment to just... enjoy. 

I heard Luke’s phone go off, as he whispers something in Kate’s ear as she apologies to Mary and I and then she runs off out the back way. For quite awhile I have suspensions that Kate is Batwoman since our encounter back when I lived in Star City as (Y/S/H/N) with my older brother Oliver when the Monitor came to test the heroes for this “crisis”. Before I knew it I finished my (A/B) and grabbed my jacket from the chair and walked out the front door after saying goodbye to Mary and Luke. 

I ran to my motorcycle and drove to my apartment as I threw my jacket on my couch as I took my hair down from the bun it was in, and sat my keys in my door bowl as I turned on the news watching as the sun was setting in Gotham knowing some sort of crime would happen tonight or any night now. Like Star City once did back then as my Brother, and I along with Team Arrow had to fight the crime there so why is this any different?

As I snapped out of my own head, and I saw the news headline “Alice captured Batwoman during a fight near Gotham Bridge” It said as I stared at the screen. I continued to watch the helicopter fly over Gotham Bridge and River.

I quickly grabbed my phone as I opened it and texted an Old friend as I opened my burner computer and started hacking through some of the controls of Batwoman’s gear and not getting to far. As I got a quick response back from my text, “I got you covered (Y/N). Next time just ask Barry to bring me to Gotham so I could have it easier to hack gear from Batwoman. Friggin Batwoman. What’s next Batman?” The text said as I laughed from the response that I received from Felicity one of my go to girls from Star City, other than Dinah, Laurel, and Sara. 

I grabbed my gear putting the location of the warehouse one of my weapons as I walked to my wall where my painting was as I moved it to grab my suit. Then running to my room to suit up as I continued to listen to the news. Then I ran to the storage place across the street unlocking it to grab my motorcycle as I started driving down the streets of Gotham. 

Smelling the water, listening to the cars, and the helicopter above me as I saw the flashing light from the lighting under the helicopter as I knew it would be the news. Then before I could continue to look up I see some of the crow cars behind me as I smiled turning down a street earlier and losing them heading to location of the warehouse Batwoman’s tracker was at. 

I stopped my bike near a dark patch of the street looking at some of the goons outside of the warehouse, as they definitely were Alice’s goons since they wear those silly and stupid masks that they do. I use my bow to go above the building before I jump on a goon and then fight the others, before taking them all down. Only getting minor bruised and scratched in the process. Nothing that Oliver would kill me for if he found out, or Kate. 

When I walked in the warehouse I walked through some creepy areas of broken dolls, white and red roses, and checker board on the floor pattern. I saw batwoman tied up as Alice was talking to her about her life story and not giving in to Batwoman. Before I could listen anymore I saw a goon coming over to where I was standing and I had to sneak up to them and take them down just like the old days as (Y/S/H/N). 

I continued to listen to Alice speak to Batwoman as she was bleeding badly already, and I continued to sneak around the hallway. When I was sneaking I heard Batwoman call Alice “Beth” which was Kate’s twin sister who was claimed “dead”. Just as I was going to enter some goons saw me. 

“It’s (Y/S/H/N).” One goon said as they started shooting at me and I dodged the bullets, as I saw Alice turn her head along with Batwoman as I kicked the men, and then threw a smoke bomb. When I got to the main room to help Batwoman, Alice had disappeared. But she can always be captured later.

As I saw some of the goons start to run down the hall towards here I quickly cut batwoman down with one of my daggers in my side pockets. Watching as she was trying to fight my grip as I turned to see the goons coming our way and I used my grappling hook to get us up hearing what sounded like Luke’s voice as we flew out of the building. 

I grabbed the com putting it in my ear as I headed to my motorcycle letting batwoman be in the front as I drove down the streets of Gotham, “Whoever you are if you have a medical kit she is going to need it.” I said through the com. “Who is this?” Luke said as I laughed. “(Y/S/H/N) and Batwoman needs help Luke stop with your games. I know it’s you, and trust me your teammate will die. I just need to know where this cave, or hideout is.” I said with my voice box as Luke sighed then told me to head towards Wayne Tower and go under the parking garage. 

As I arrived at Wayne Tower and headed up the elevator Batwoman woke up and was groaning at the pain from her side. When I got to the floor I saw Luke standing there coming over as he used Martha’s necklace and turned it to the Cave as we sat Batwoman down on the table as we had to get some of the gear off of her to help to stitch the knife wounds up. And I took off her mask, as Luke left the room to return later. I was in shock. 

Kate Kane is Batwoman.

A few minutes passed as Batwoman was finally better, and I was still in shock even through all the years of fighting with Team Arrow. My girlfriend was Batwoman. 

“Luke you let her in.” Kate said as she saw her mask beside her as she groaned and sat up looking at me like daggers coming in my side. As Luke entered seeing her mask off and looking at me. “She saved your life Kate.” She said as I looked at her worried. She studied my face for a moment looking at my (E/C) then every other detail she could see that the hood doesn’t cover. 

“(Y/N)?” She questioned as I was still hurt from being stabbed in the arm that I just stitched. Looking over and saw Luke look at me as I took down my hood to show my (H/C), and then I took off my mask. “Your (Y/S/H/N)?” Kate said as she furrowed her eyebrows and I nodded. 

“I’ll leave you two alone, I’ll see your both I presume tomorrow.” He said walking out to head home. I stared at Kate for a moment. “How long?” She asked me as I looked at her. “Before I moved to Gotham I helped my brother, which I know you know is Arrow.” I said to her as she looked at me as I saw the anger in her eyes. “I didn’t tell you because like you I was wanting to protect you. Even though I know you can protect yourself Kate.” I said as she looked at me. 

“Let’s go.” She said as I heard a light growl in her voice knowing what was going to happen as we headed to her apartment after changing from our costumes. I just knew she wasn’t going to care what I said tonight on how things go. 

As we arrived to her apartment and unlocked the door I turned around to feel her soft lips against mine as she roughly kissed me when we were walking slowly taking off our coats. But before I could do anything else she pushed me against the door, and locked it with a smirk on her face, when she saw I was flustered. 

She continued to kiss down my neck as I was feeling the moans in my throat trying to escape but couldn’t...yet. As she continued she took off my top, and threw it somewhere I couldn’t see. And then she continued to kiss down my neck and sucked on my sweet spot in between my neck and collarbone and I finally let in and moaned as I looked down to see her smirk. Trying to touch her with my hands she moved them up as she shook her head at me leading me to her bed pushing me on it. And before I knew it my skirt was off, along with her clothing as she got on top of me. 

She then pushed my hands above my head as she kissed down my collarbone down to my stomach. As in between kisses she roughly bites and sucks my skin as my moans become more frequently. As I know I’ll have a few hickies in the morning. Until she goes back to my lips and starts teasing my lips with her tongue as I allowed her access as she started to venture into my mouth then sucking my tongue. Once we both ran out of air she finally stopped kissing me and pulled her head up a bit to catch her breath, as I was laying breathless. 

Before I knew it Kate’s hand lowered to my waist, as she lowered her head to my breasted, and placed her mouth on my right nipple making my back arch at the feeling when she held my waist down. But before I could continue moving at the sensational feeling she wrapped her hand around my other nipple bud and started to twist it and the massaged it while she was sucking and biting my right nipple. Until she moved to my other nipple leaving a trail of kissing in-between each breast until she started sucking and biting on my left nipple, and then massaged my right nipple. I let out a deep moan as I felt my wetness growing worse in my panties. As I could hear my deep breathing continue as she came back up and kissed me taking one of her hands putting it on one of my thighs. 

Before I knew it she started to move my panties down my thighs then my calves to my heels as she finally pulled them all the way off looking at my the whole time with lust in her eyes. As she started to kiss my foot, then my ankle, then my calves, knee caps, and then she started to hold my hips as my back tried to arch as I moaned loud and hard. “Kate.” I moaned as she smiled with a smirk on her face going back to kissing up my thigh as I felt my pussy grow more wet knowing that her smirk grew bigger at the sight of me getting more wet. 

“Are you that eager?” She asked with a smug face and a raspy tone to her voice as I moaned out. As she continued to kiss my thighs slowly coming to my core. She then kissed my core as I started to moan louder as she laughed as I felt the pleasure of her laugh in my core. 

As she put her tounge near my wetness teasing me as I moaned as she was so close to the entrance. And I put my hands in her hair and she moaned.

After I hit my climax, I took a few breaths watching her lick some of my juices off my fingers. As she fell right beside me on her bed, as I turned over and got on top of her. “What Kate you thought that you I was going to be the only one?” I said kissing her pushing her back on her bed, watching as she fell down on her pillow and I kissed her again. 

I started trailing wet kisses down her neck to her shoulder sucking and biting leaving bruises for her tomorrow. After I continued to kiss down her chest kissing her breast then going down to her stomach as she moaned, “Fuck.” She said as I went back up and kissed her making her quiet again. 

Instead of teasing her I went to pleasure her by kissing her core 

I could feel from her body that she was almost at her climax. I continued to keep my tounge in her pussy, as I used on of my fingers that was on my other hand to start playing with her 

“That was something Kate.” I said looking back at her as she laughed but with a raspear voice. “Yeah, but (Y/N) next time don’t hide anything from me. I don’t want you to get hurt because of Alice.” She said as I smiled turning my body as I reached up and kissed her before falling asleep in her arms. 

[brothersgrim]

FRUIT HEADCANONS

@asteraex​ asked:

🍑- kane

🍑  :    how meticulously does my muse look after their physical appearance?  do they spend a lot of time on their hair,  makeup,  grooming,  and clothing?  is there a particular reason why they do or don’t?  

Well, it depends. We know Kane can dress well. Corporate Kane was rocking the suits and ties with the best of ‘em. Even early on, he had a matching tracksuit, which is adorable to me. And Glenn himself said Kane was good at cutting hair - I think he learned how by trial and error on himself. We all know Paul didn’t give a shit about how he looked, beyond ‘big and scary’. Again, he wanted a weapon, a guard dog, not a son. The nice hair broke the image. But Kane, even as broken as he was, never wanted to be just an object. And sometimes if his hair got too long or too matted, it was a bad sensory input. It’s also worth noting that Kane’s hair is curly. Like, VERY curly. That means it takes more to look after it than his brother's hair. At the same time, Paul and the hospitals don’t give him a lot. Sometimes, if Kane was in a good enough headspace to comb his hair, he just used his fingers, since it was all he had. And then when he gets to be with his brother in their house, he actually gets the tools he needs to take care of himself. 

It’s weird for him, for the longest time. Yes, he never wanted to be an object, yes, he hated feeling dirty and matted, but still. He was a prisoner for most of his life, and doesn’t remember the better parts. The good news is, he’s a fast learner, and his brother has a near-endless capacity for patience with him specifically. He can get there eventually. 

Even then, though, some parts of his grooming can be difficult for him. This is especially true when it comes to things concerning his face - shaving, hashing his face, and so on and so forth. Kane is incredibly headshy. He doesn’t like things touching his face, with his mask being the exception. He spent a long time having actual burns on his face that weren’t properly cared for, so he also dislikes having chemicals on his face, too. He almost has a sort of psychosomatic sensitivity on his face. At the same time, he doesn’t want a beard under the mask. That feels terrible, not to mention it gets caught in the straps. It hurts. 

The other big hurdle is, Kane isn’t always the best with mirrors. He doesn’t like seeing his own face on bad days. He's put his fist through more than one mirror in his time. He’ll probably do it again. Most of the mirrors in the home have some kind of built-in cover, just in case. There are good days when he doesn’t mind, neutral days when he can handle his reflection for certain periods of time, but on bad days, he doesn’t want to see himself. 

It also depends on what ‘era’ he’s in, as Kane’s view of himself and mental health has fluctuated wildly over the years. Obviously, his capacity for taking care of himself is lowest when he's with Paul (with XPac is a close second). Neither of them care about him whatsoever. Inversely, I would say Corporate Kane is when he takes the most care in his appearance. This is pretty obvious when you look at him - no mask, he wears a suit and tie, wears his hair nicely. (Also, as an aside, Glenn said he'd originally wanted to grow his hair out for corporate Kane, but had to shave it back down for a movie role. So in my perfect world, Corporate Kane has long hair. He usually wears it pulled back.) Of course, that’s also not necessarily a sign of ‘good’ mental health, because Kane feels like he has to be something he’s not in order to get approval (especially since Paul conditioned him to believe that approval equated to survival). 

Other than that, it’s a middle ground for him. It comes and goes.

[wonderful-writer]

24 - Searching

Summary: While looking for Clarke, the group discovers that farm station survived the fall to Earth. Monty finds a trail that leads her to Clarke, but a passing army holes everyone up in a cave. That, however, doesn’t seem to stop her.

Word Count: 2.55k

Warnings: Stabbing, fighting, etc. 

Based Off: 03x02, “Wanheda, Part Two”

Feedback is always highly appreciated!

You’ve been waiting anxiously in the rover with everyone crammed in the back for around three or so hours now.  Monty hid behind his seat while you sat between him and your father, who was looking out the slates in the back door of the rover with Bellamy beside him and Indra in the same spot she was in before.

“It’s been three hours now. What are they waiting for?” Bellamy asked no one in particular.

“Even in the light, I don’t see anyone,” Kane noted.

“I say we make a run for it.” Monty suggested.

“No. That’s what they want us to do.”

“The boy is right.” Indra agreed. “The boy is right, they can wait longer than we can.”

“Okay, Bellamy.” Kane addressed your boyfriend. “Get in the turret, and you cover us. Once we get to that ridge over there, we’ll cover you.”

“Copy that.” Bellamy zipped up his jacket. “Run fast.”

Before he could get to the turret, you grabbed his wrist and pulled him to you, capturing his lips in yours for a moment before you whispered, “Be careful.”

“Always am.” You let go of him and watched as he opened the hatch to the turret, pulling himself up to his full height. Not even ten seconds later, he spoke again. “They’re here.”

Your father pointed his gun up at the turret as the grounder spoke. “Everybody out or the boy dies.”

All it took was Bellamy’s legs to be pulled out of the rover for you to surrender. “Okay! Okay! We’re coming out!” You put your sword on the ground and laid your daggers there too. “Just don’t hurt him!”

Your father followed suit and opened the door for you, but he was dragged out and thrown to the ground as soon as it was the tiniest bit open. The same went for you, Monty, and Indra. All five of you were pinned to the ground with arms behind your backs as a woman shouted. A rapid beeping was heard as they pulled Monty up off the ground and grabbed the tracking beacon from him.

He fought for it back, but you and Bellamy begged him to stop. “Monty, let it go.”

One of the grounders repeated his name, almost like she was in shock. You looked between the masked woman and your close friend, becoming even more surprised when he called her mom. She pulled down her hood and ripped off the mask, pulling her son into her arms. They let the rest of you go as your dad recognized someone.

He helped your father up and pulled him into a hug, but you helped yourself before moving to Bellamy’s side, giving him your hand and pulling him up and into your arms as well. After you pulled apart, you moved back to your father.

“Dad, I hate to cut this short but we have to find Clarke.”

“Clarke Griffin?” Pike asked, to which you responded with a nod. “If only all of my earth skills students were as good as her.”

Bellamy smiled at the man and they greeted each other before he turned to you. “I don’t remember seeing you in any of my classes.”

“That’s because I wasn’t in them, sir.” You said politely. “Went to the skybox before I could get to your classes. I’m Y/n. Y/n Kane.”

You smiled at the shocked look on Pike’s face, looking between you and your father. “I knew Marcus had a wife, but I had no idea he had a kid.”

“Not a lot of people did, sir. Not that it’s entirely his fault, though, my mother wanted me not to get caught up in politics that young.” Pike nodded at you and you smiled back, turning your attention to your dad.

“Okay. Move the tree.” He requested. Pike enlisted the help of his group along with you, Bellamy, and Monty to roll the tree out of the way. It didn’t take much to get it out of the way with the amount of people moving it.

Before you knew it you were back on the road again, this time with more people to help you look for Clarke without getting killed. Once you got to the trading post, the door was wide open and there was what sounded like a fight going on inside. You unsheathed your sword, having put all your weapons back once you were in the rover, and walked toward the hut behind Bellamy. With one shot the grounder that was fighting the other person was dead. The woman he was on top of got up and backed away, covered in blood.

Lowering your sword, you put a gentle hand out and looked at her. “Are you okay?” When she gave no answer, you asked again. “Are you all right?”

Indra noted that the man Bellamy just killed was a bounty hunter before giving a brief glance in the back room. “We’re here to help.” She addressed the other grounder.

Pike requested that Indra speak english, your father immediately telling the teacher to go outside. “Take Monty and Hannah. Search the perimeter, make sure he was alone.”

“We’re looking for Wanheda.” Indra told the woman.

She looked down at the dead man on her floor. “So was he.”

“Please,” Bellamy asked. “She’s in danger.”

“You’re Skaikru?” The blonde asked.

“Yeah,” You told her.

“She was here last night.” She informed you.

“Did she say where she was going?” Kane asked.

“No,” The woman shook her head. “She was here when I fell asleep and gone when I woke up.”

“Did she give you any indication of where she might go?” You inquired.

“No.” She told you and you looked down, sighing. If this is how it was going to be with everyone Clarke’s come across, you were never going to find her. “But he did.”

“He said that his partner came back for her. He was Ice Nation.” You exchanged looks with the two men on either side of you. “I hope you find her.”

Bellamy thanked the woman as Monty came back into the hut. “Good news. I found fresh tracks.”

“Great. Start the rover.” Bellamy instructed.

“That’s the bad news-- too many trees.” Monty sighed. “We have to go on foot.”

You nodded gratefully at the woman and left after Bellamy. Your dad gathered up Pike and Hannah, letting them know what was going on and letting Indra lead them with the tracks the grounder left behind. The tracks led you out to an overgrown field. You stayed behind with Bellamy, walking side by side.

Monty lagged behind his mother, exchanging a glance with Bellamy before picking up the pace again, allowing Pike to come up beside him. “I need to ask you a question,”

“The last report we got on the Ark, you were under attack by grounders. What changed?”

“Turns out we had a common enemy.” Bellamy responded.

“What happened to them?”

“We won.”

Indra held up a hand and demanded that everyone remain quiet. “Listen.”

You could hear drums pounding in the distance, nothing like what you heard during the first few days of being on the ground. You could easily spot where they were coming from and Indra spoke up. “Azgeda.”

“You can tell it’s Ice Nation from the sound?” Monty asked.

“No. From them.” She pointed to the dead bodies on the ground not too far ahead of you.

“We need to get those bodies off the field, unless you’re good with them thinking that we killed them.” Pike suggested.

“Wait, two people at twelve o’clock.” Bellamy pointed out. You looked in his direction, seeing two figures that were partially covered by the overgrowth moving away. “Bellamy looked into his scope to get a better view before speaking. “It’s Clarke.”

Bellamy started running in her direction and you followed him, until Pike stopped the both of you. “You’ll never make it in time, look.” He pointed and you spotted the army making its way across the field.

“There’s no way we’ll get across without being seen,” Monty told you.

“We should lay low, let the army pass, and then we’ll find Clarke.” Pike suggested.

Monty pointed out a cave close by and you got to work in helping to move the bodies there, while Indra walked away. You heard little bits of the quick conversation she had with your dad, so you knew where she was headed.

It didn’t take long to get cover inside the cave, leaving the bodies of the Ice Nation men near the entrance as you all went a little deeper into the cave. You stayed near the entrance with Bellamy, restless. All you wanted was to find Clarke and hopefully bring her home and you were so close to doing that, but the army that passed by prevented you. However, you had a plan.

The dead men were Ice Nation, just like the army passing by outside. They were, well, dead, and didn’t exactly need their clothes anymore. So, as soon as Bellamy left to talk to Kane and Pike about finding Clarke, which you knew would take a little bit, you slipped on the Ice Nation clothing and out of the cave, into the grounder army.

Your face was covered with a mask and you were sure that because Bellamy was distracted, it would take him a little longer to come for you. While walking across the field, you were stopped by a large man, who just spun you to face the same direction as the rest of the army and moved on. You were thankful for the mask, because as soon as the army started moving, you walked over to the part of the forest you saw Clarke and whomever she was with enter into.

As you went, you came across a light pole with blood on it. Taking off the armor that covered your face and unsheathing your sword, you went down the stairs that were next to the pole, hoping Clarke was in there, as it was your only lead.

You walked stealthily down the steps with your sword in front of you, aware of your surroundings in case anyone found you or tried to attack you. Once you entered the abandoned subway station, you let your eyes adjust to the dark and when they were, you spotted a rope wrapping around one of the pillars and a hand on one of the sides. Clarke’s hand.

You glanced around once before deciding to go around the left of the pillar, sighing in relief when you saw Clarke’s face. You smiled and crouched in front of her, moving the locks of hair from her face. She said something, you thought it was your name, but it was muffled by the cloth in her mouth. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”

As soon as the gag was pulled from her mouth she shouted. “Look out!”

You barely had enough time to turn around and put your sword up defensively, blocking a hit that might have killed you had Clarke not been able to warn you in time. Because you put most of your strength into blocking the rough hit, you left your stomach wide open and your opponent used that to their advantage, kicking you down and putting their other foot on the arm you held your sword in.

The man put the tip of his sword to your chest threateningly as Clarke begged him not to, watching as he pulled one of your daggers from the holster on your thigh. “I’ll do anything, I-I’ll stop fighting, just please, don’t kill her.”

You kept your gaze on the Azgeda warrior, who had his eyes locked on Clarke before taking the blade off of your chest. Your relief didn’t last long, however, as he plunged your dagger into your thigh with force before ripping it out. You couldn’t help the scream that passed your lips in pain as the man told you, “Don’t follow us.” Then his boot came into contact with your face and everything went dark.

You didn’t know how long it had been since you were knocked out by the aggressive Ice Nation warrior, but as soon as you woke up and saw that you were alone, you hurried to get back out and find Clarke, forgetting about the stab wound in your leg until you tried standing on it. An involuntary yelp slipped past your tongue and your hand went to the would, coming away with bloody fingertips.

After a lot of effort and pain, you made it back out into the forest, trying to find where Clarke and her captor went. You had to keep resting on trees, and once you realized you weren’t far from the entrance to the subway, you groaned. It got harder to walk as you fell against the next tree, letting out a grunt in pain.

“Y/n!” You heard Monty shout at you. “She’s hurt.”

You stopped to rest against the tree, watching as everyone came rushing towards you. “We told you to wait for the army to move,” Your father scolded.

Bellamy came to your side and tried to examine you. “What happened?”

“I-I-I almost got her,” You panted, all your energy gone from trying to walk on a hurt leg.

“Pike, find their trail.” Kane ordered.

“It’s useless,” Pike shook his head. “He knows he’s being followed now.”

As the group looked towards Pike, you made a feeble attempt at getting away, but Bellamy and your father pulled you back against the tree. “You can’t even walk,” Your dad told you.

“So what? We just-- we just give up?” You asked. “Let him kill her?” Shaking them off, you limped forward but stopped, the pain getting to you. Bellamy ran back over to you, crouching to your level and holding your arm.

“Hey, I wanna find her, too, but look at your leg.” He pointed to the wound. “You could die out here and we don’t have a trail,”

“We can’t lose Clarke!” You shouted at your boyfriend, the worry and pain seeping into your emotions. “We-- we can’t lose her, Bell.”

“We will find her, okay?” He affirmed. “We’ll figure something out, I promise… but not like this. This isn’t how we do it.”

Once you agreed quietly, Bellamy put your arm around his neck and put his arm on your back, helping you walk back to the rover to get back to Arkadia, where you would once again get stitches.

Every bump the rover hit on the way back worsened the pain in your leg but you managed to keep quiet and deal with it until you got there. Bellamy helped you onto the gurney that Jackson prepared for you while you were on the way back, although you insisted you didn’t need it. 

“You got lucky this time, Y/n. You won’t need crutches this time because it isn’t too deep, but you can’t do any heavy lifting for at least a week.”

Groaning, you took Abby’s hand and got off the bed. “I need to be out there, Abby.”

“Well unless you want tissue and nerve damage I suggest not going.” 

With a final roll of your eyes, you turned and left the medbay to go see Raven.

Taglist: @soullessbabee​​ | @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis​​ | @dummythiccwitch​ | @sireddobrev​​ | @gxvrielle​ | @hurricane-abigail​ | @holyhumorliteraturelight​ | @lilacs-lavender​

[youngerdrgrey]

love me wilder (love me more) // scenes from Ryan and Sophie’s relationship

about: Mary starts all of this. They’re on comms one night, and Mary asks, “Would I be Maid of Honor, or would it be Luke?”

and other questions about Ryan and Sophie's relationship. + you can read this on ao3 too.

.

.

Who asks the other on dates? Once they’re dating, it’s pretty even, but Sophie does get the credit for their first official date. It happens on the third time that Ryan bails on plans with Sophie and Jordan. They’re supposed to be seeing an art installation for their self-proclaimed ‘Black girl date night.’ But Sophie shows up to The Hold Up to pick up Ryan, and Ryan’s tending bar with an apologetic and frustrated grin.

Sophie stomps over to the bar. “Again, Ryan?”

Ryan slides a drink to the customer beside Sophie. “Yes, again. Patrice is sick and—”

“And nobody else can cover? You’re the manager.” Sophie says. “Call someone in.”

Ryan takes the credit card from the customer, who unabashedly watches Ryan as she swipes the card in the reader. Her work tank’s tied into a crop top like always, and she’s pulled her hair back in a way that really draws the attention to her neck.

Ryan says, “I don’t abuse my power.” It’s the sort of dig that a few months ago would’ve started a fight, but today it just makes Sophie groan and dig her elbows into the bar top to get closer to Ryan.

“You don’t do anything,” Sophie corrects. At this point, Ryan's either working as Batwoman, or working at the bar. She has no social life, which kind of screws things up for the one person who's actively trying to spend time with her.

Ryan snorts. “Okay, choice words from the lady going on a date with her sister on a Friday night.”

Sophie levels Ryan with a serious stare. “I’d go with you, but you’re too busy.” Ryan rolls her eyes, but Sophie isn’t joking. There’s no hint of a smile, no hitch in her voice. Ryan rewinds the last few minutes in her head.

“Wait —” Ryan circles her hands backwards in front of her. Rewind again. Reprocess the fact that Sophie used date and Ryan in the same context. “—are you serious? You’re... you’re actually—”

Sophie chuckles, and there’s a bit of a nervous shake under it. “And I thought I was the inexperienced one here.”

“You are,” Ryan says. That gets a glare from Sophie. Ryan plucks the receipt for the customer off the printer and slides that to them before turning her focus fully back to Sophie. “But I’m game.”

Sophie grins. “Really?”

Ryan flashes a full smile back. “Yeah. As soon as Patrice gets better.”

“Let me make her some soup then, damn.”

.

.

Who is the bigger cuddler?

Ryan. She’s very affectionate, and she loves snuggling up anywhere she can. Mary complains sometimes about how often she comes home to find Ryan and Sophie on the couch.

Luke cringes when Mary says it. His eyes jump from the Bat screens to Mary in the chair beside him. “Like on the couch?” Mid-deed?

“Ugh, I wish.” Mary quickly shakes her head, as a quick disgusted look passes her face. “Not like I wish, just like…. I come home, and they’re not even doing anything. They’re asleep on the couch, just wrapped up in each other’s arms and happy and comfy and….” She sighs.

Luke drums his hands on the keyboard. “And you want that?”

Mary slumps into her chair and lets her head roll onto her shoulder. The lights paint her softer, or maybe it’s the open vulnerability now that she doesn’t have to be the perky sidekick she usually is. It’s actually one of the good things about working with Luke; he doesn’t expect her to be happy, perfect Mary.

“I want something. We spend all day living our normal lives, then rushing away to help save Gotham, and it’s totally worth it. It is. But before, when the work was done, I went home to my best friend in the world.” Mary glances up at the monitors where the two dots tracking Ryan and Sophie rush across the Gotham map. “Now she has someone else. And no offense to you, but we’re not exactly swapping secrets and having sweet potato pancakes.”

Mary does love Sophie and Ryan. She loves that Sophie is moving forward after losing Kate, and she loves that Ryan has someone other than Angelique to care about. But Mary has also spent so much of her life begging people to care about her. It’s hard not to feel like this is Kate and Beth and her dad all over again. She’s getting really tired of being replaced.

Luke clears his throat. He even sits up straighter in his chair when he turns it. The monitors behind him almost make him look like an angel. Or whatever.

He says, “I can’t make sweet potato pancakes,” like it’s an apology, or maybe a concession from someone else who knows what it’s like to be the odd one out. “But I do make a mean crab cake. If you’re in the market for more friends.”

Mary can work with that. But at the risk of this feeling entirely too sentimental for a mid-mission chat, she adds, “Fine, but no cuddling on the couch.”

Luke smiles. “You wish.”

.

.

Who initiates holding hands more often?

Ryan cannot get enough of Sophie’s hands. She’s constantly reaching out during team meetings, or across the bar at The Hold Up. She believes in the reassuring squeeze. At the same time, Sophie’s the one who actually initiates the hand holding and interlocking fingers. She claims it’s her way of keeping track of Ryan, reminding her that “you’re stuck with me, and you trust me.”

“There are other ways to show that, Sophie,” Ryan taunts. Sophie uses their linked hands to tug Ryan over to her.

“Show me?”

.

.

Who remembers anniversaries?

Ryan smiles up at Sophie on the couch. 

“Aww, babe, three years ago, you arrested me for the first time.”

Sophie rolls her eyes. “That’s the anniversary you remember?”

Ryan laughs. “It truly changed my life.”

“Okay, well, remember that when you want an anniversary present in three weeks—”

“Four,” Ryan corrects. “Three weeks is when the date should’ve happened, but you got a flat, then Black Mask attacked—”

Sophie nods, “Right, and we didn’t actually go out until after he was in holding. I stand corrected.”

Ryan preens until Sophie pushes her away.

.

.

Who is more possessive?

Ryan used to think she was possessive. She would do anything to keep the people she loves by her side. But then Kate Kane comes back into their lives, and suddenly Ryan’s on the verge of losing everything that she’s built for herself. She keeps jumping between being incredibly self-sacrificing and hoarding away her minutes with the rest of the team like Kate’s coming to snatch them away.

One particular night, Ryan drops down onto Sophie’s fire escape in the suit. Her feet barely hit the level before she spots Kate inside Sophie’s apartment. 

Sans jacket, Kate’s tattooed arms look great in the moonlight. Her everything looks great. Ryan can’t see everything, but she can see the playful smirk on Kate’s face as she crosses the living room. Sophie’s not visible, which means she must already be in the bedroom. Is she waiting for Kate? Is she --

Ryan stumbles back. Sophie wouldn’t cheat on her. Ryan knows that, but if there was ever a reason to break up, it’s definitely the love of Sophie’s life wanting to start over again. And who is Ryan to stand in the way of that?

So, Ryan grinds her teeth and jumps back off of the balcony.

 .

She gets halfway back to Wayne Tower before the comms buzz in her ear. She pauses on top of a random roof to answer the incoming call.

“Ryan, get back here.”

Of course Sophie saw her. The grappling hook isn’t exactly the quietest way to move either. Though, Sophie had certainly taken her time to reach out.

Ryan lets a bit of bitterness slip out. “Your plans with Kate fall through?”

“I don’t have plans with Kate,” Sophie says. She sounds tired and frustrated, like whatever conversation she’d had probably took a lot out of her. Or maybe just reuniting with her one true love did that. Who’s Ryan to know?

“Sure looked like it to me.”

“And if you’d looked any longer, you would’ve seen her grab her things and go. I don’t want to do this over comms, Ryan.”

“What, break up with me?”

“Why would you even —” Sophie sucks in a deep breath. “Kate was here to clear the air. She wanted to know if there was a chance that we could try again.”

Ryan needs to sit down. She needs to lean against something. Her eyes dart across the roof, but there’s nothing up here but spider webs and deflated balloons. 

“Oh.” Ryan circles her jaw to try and stop herself from crying. She’s not going to cry over Sophie. She should’ve known better than to ever think that Kate Kane’s ex would choose her over—

“I told her no.”

What? The air rushes out of Ryan’s lungs.

Sophie repeats herself. “I told her no. Now can you please get back here before I have to drive all the way over to wherever the hell you are?”

“It’s faster by roof.”

“Give me the grappling hook, and I’ll try it out.”

Ryan clicks her tongue. “Can’t do it, that’s mine.”

“And you’re mine, Ryan. Nobody’s changing that, okay? Trust me.”

Ryan glances over at the long way back to Sophie’s place. The trek across the city that they help keep safe. “I do.”

.

.

Who gets more jealous?

Sophie really wishes she weren’t this jealous. She’s not super familiar with the feeling. With Tyler, her emotions never went this high. With Kate, there either wasn’t competition, or well, the guilt of how things went overshadowed everything else. But with Ryan — hot, flirty bartender Ryan — the opportunities for jealousy keep building.

It doesn’t help that Imani shows up from time to time for different fundraiser events. Sophie watches Imani and Ryan from across The Hold Up. Her eyes narrow, and she zones out of her conversation with Mary so completely that the young medical professional ends up waving her hand in front of Sophie’s face.

Mary steps over to block Sophie’s view of them. “You do know Imani’s not a threat, right?”

Sophie nods. She taps on the side of her head. “Up here, yes. But in here….” She rubs her hand over her heart.

“Ryan’s so into you, and you know that. Any jealousy is completely ridiculous,” Mary says.

Sophie nods. Again. “I’m gonna go over there.” She knocks back the drink in her hand and hands it to Mary, who mostly just clinks that cup with her own.

Mary mumbles to herself, “’Gee, Mary, thanks for being such a great friend. Let’s keep talking together instead of rushing over like a jealous lunatic.’” Her face perks up as she plays herself. “Of course, Sophie, so glad you’re being super reasonable. Love you too.”

By the time Mary finishes her own drink, Sophie’s leading a very amused Ryan up the stairs towards the loft. Mary sighs. She really may have to move out soon.

.

.

Who is more protective?

This one’s a tie. Ryan tries to protect Sophie by sidelining Sophie on the Bat Team. But Sophie is used to being in the field, or at least calling the shots. She doesn’t do well in the Bat Cave where she can’t physically assist. That back and forth goes on for months, but it comes to a head when Ryan needs to get on a plane again to try and catch their latest bad guy of the week.

Sophie hates the idea. She refuses to let Ryan go alone, and the more that Ryan tries to fight it, the more emotional Sophie gets. Ryan assumes that Sophie’s upset because the last private Kane plane ended with Kate in Black Mask’s clutches. But Ryan’s not about to go missing. She doesn’t have enemies like that, and most importantly, as Ryan yells, “Sophie, stop treating me like this! I’m not Kate.” 

Sophie sputters before rasping out, “I know that. But the last time you flew, Ryan, you almost died too. In my arms, mind you. Forgive me for not wanting a repeat of that.”

.

.

Who is more likely to cheat?

No one’s cheating, but Ryan does have a particularly handsy customer who tries to kiss her once. 

.

.

Who dislikes PDA the most?

Sophie’s still getting used to the idea of actually having PDA with a woman, but she’s coming around.

.

.

Who kills the spider?

Both of them, but Sophie does it more often. Mostly because she doesn’t want to hear Ryan taunting her that “Sophie freaking Moore can’t handle a spider?”

.

.

Who asks the other to marry them?

Mary starts all of this. They’re on comms one night, and Mary says, “Would I be Maid of Honor, or would it be Luke?”

The question makes Ryan stumble on her landing, and Sophie crashes into her since they didn’t exactly space out on the wire as they slid from one secret warehouse to another.

Sophie catches her footing first and says, “I’m sorry, what?”

Back in the Bat Cave, Mary ignores the glare that Luke gives her. She leans closer to the mic. “Hypothetically. If you two get married, it’d be a really small ceremony. We’re not inviting Alice. And Jordan will probably be Sophie’s Maid of Honor, so I just wanted to make sure that I get to be Ryan’s.”

Luke huffs. “Then why did you ask a question if you’re calling dibs?”

Mary turns to face him. “Because you can’t call dibs. It has to be her choice.”

“But you’re leading her to pick you. It’s not fair. You were already roommates—”

“Which is exactly why it should be me—”

“But we had to work on our relationship. The growth that we had is just—”

“But you had to work on it! We clicked immediately!”

“You click with everyone!”

“I do not!”

“You do—”

Sophie and Ryan yell into the comms, “GUYS!” Mary and Luke freeze.

Ryan chances a glance at Sophie, who has not actually moved since their friends started this conversation. They’ve been together for nearly two years at this point, and honestly, they’ve both been avoiding having to talk about this. Neither of them have their moms — for very different reasons — and Sophie’s already got one failed marriage under her utility belt.

Sophie readjusts the cowl on her super suit. “Could you wait until after we’re engaged to plan a wedding?”

Ryan does a double take. “After we’re what now?”

Sophie freezes. “Well, I just mean — if things keep going well, because they’ve been going really, really well…?” The damn cowl blocks off most of her face, but Ryan knows Sophie well enough to know that her eyebrows are halfway to her hairline. That higher lilt in Sophie’s voice means she’s reaching, and nervous. Ryan’s thankful that her own mask can cover the way her eyebrows drop as her nose scrunches up. Ryan is not about to cry on this roof.

Ryan goes for the joke. Makes her voice as teasing as she can handle. “Aww, you wanna marry me?”

Sophie crosses the few steps between them to take Ryan’s hand. “Are you asking?”

Ryan interlocks their fingers. “Not officially. Luke hasn’t made a Bata-ring yet.”

Everyone groans. The deep one from Luke is enough to get Sophie to smile, and it finally breaks some of the tension in the air. Ryan brings their linked hands to her lips and kisses them. She makes sure that Sophie’s focused on her before mouthing, Marry me.

Sophie leans in to kiss her, and they both get carried away. Lost in this moment of possibility before —

“Um, guys?” It’s Luke. “Are you working or making out?”

Ryan pulls back from the kiss and says, “Just for that, Mary, you’re Maid of Honor.”

“Ha!”

.

.

Who buys the other flowers or gifts?

It’s a trade off. Ryan loves bringing back little things from missions. Sophie is the reigning gift champion though. A few weeks after she joins the team, Sophie shows up at the loft with a plant for Ryan.

“It’s no desert rose, but well, Mary said how much you loved taking care of your old one.” Sophie holds it out for Ryan to take, but Ryan just keeps staring at her. Sophie shifts her weight from one foot to the other. She cringes inwardly. She’s probably tipping her hand too much by doing this. She can’t just show up at a cute girl’s place in her casual clothes and give her a plant. It’s… well, very gay, and probably invasive, given the fact that the last plant Ryan cared for was literally the thing to bring Ryan back to life.

Sophie groans. “Please don’t make me take it back.”

“No! You don’t have to.” Ryan reaches out with both hands to take the plant. She curls it to her chest, hugging it close. She stares down at it for a bit, and when she does look back up, a teary rim frames her eyes. “Thank you.”

.

.

Who would bring up possibly having kids?

Ryan really wants to be a mom one day. She’s fine not doing it now. But one day, she wants to do for someone else what her mom did for her.

Sophie gets weird about the idea once Ryan brings it up. Like, ducking out of rooms and coming up with all kinds of excuses as to why she can’t go on missions for a week. She even stays at Jordan’s place for a few nights.

Ryan has to go to Jordan’s apartment just to talk to Sophie alone. She barrels straight into the little two bedroom and plants herself next to the kitchen island. Sophie closes the door behind Ryan, but doesn’t step any closer to her fiance. 

Ryan says, “I get it. If Batwoman can’t have a girlfriend, then she sure as hell can’t have a kid. But—”

Sophie cuts her off, “It’s not about Batwoman. It’s about me.”

“Oh.” Does Sophie not want kids?

“Before I came out, the thought of having kids and a family, it all felt so… not me. I told Tyler that I didn’t want kids, that I thought having kids in a city like Gotham was irresponsible and not something I would ever want to do.”

Ryan leans back into the island. Closes her eyes and tries to let the cool feel of the granite calm the pain of those words.

Sophie wrings her hands together. “But I honestly didn't want to do any of that, with a man. And you're right. It's completely irresponsible for Batwoman to have a kid. But maybe… maybe Ryan and Sophie Wilder-Moore could consider it. If we can help clean up a city, we can probably raise a pretty cool kid.”

.

.

Who is more nervous to meet the parents?

Sophie is literally shaking when they meet up with Diane Moore for the first time. 

Thanks to Jordan, Ryan technically met Diane the week before. Ryan and Jordan were hanging out when Diane FaceTimed Jordan. Once Diane saw Ryan in the background, Jordan casually said, “That’s Ryan, Sophie’s girlfriend.” Then Diane’s entire face caught on fire, and she made an excuse to hang up. Fast forward five days, and Diane called Sophie to say she was “stopping by” for brunch. Reservations were made for four, and now Sophie is going to vibrate into another dimension from shaking so much.

Jordan and Ryan split a sympathetic look outside of Grits and Bear It, one of the best brunch places in Gotham.

Jordan tries to help. She says, “Just don’t mention the ex-con thing, and you’ll be fine.”

Sophie groans. Ryan steps up to Sophie and slips her arms around Sophie’s waist. “Babe, chill. I am a successful manager of a great bar—”

“A gay bar,” Sophie corrects.

Jordan winces. “Don’t mention that part either. Or Batwoman.”

Both Sophie and Ryan freeze. Sophie turns wide eyes up at Jordan and asks, “Why would we…?”

Jordan looks back at them like they’re five. “Because all you do is talk about how Batwoman’s the one person doing anything to help Gotham. And Mom still won’t say her name without gagging in her mouth.”

Sophie drops her head back down on top of Ryan’s. With their height difference, she can press her forehead to the crown of Ryan’s head. Hide away from the world for a moment. Whisper, “We should run. Now. Before she sees us.”

Ryan kisses Sophie on the cheek. “Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

.

(It is.)

.

(But thankfully Jordan takes one for the team and brings up her graffiti to take some of Diane’s fire. Ryan’s able to get one of very few smiles when she reminds Diane that Jordan’s working at the youth center now. Saving lives and what not. Still, nothing is enough for Diane. Ryan holds Sophie’s hand under the table.)

.

(Sophie doesn’t relax until they’re back at her place. Until they showered away the tension and curled up on the couch with Sophie wrapped around Ryan and a cheesy action movie playing on the TV.

Sophie holds on a little too tight. Sits a little too stiff. And she sniffles during a chase scene, which is really the final straw.

Ryan has to tuck her head under Sophie’s chin to look up at her girlfriend. “It’s her loss, you know? I’m pretty damn amazing, and you? You’re Sophie freaking Moore, and anyone who chooses not to love you is making the worst mistake of their life.”

Sophie sniffles again. “What if she never comes around?”

“Then you still have me, and Jordan, and Mary and Luke. You can even have Alice if you’re that desperate for a high head count. But you don’t need her to be happy.” Ryan wiggles out of the hold to sit up on her own. “And whenever you start worrying about what your mom thinks, just remember what the great poets once said.”

Sophie’s eyes narrow, and Ryan does her best to keep a serious look on her face.

“‘All I need in this life of sin—’” Sophie shoves Ryan away from her, and Ryan uses all of her strength to pull Sophie into her arms and sing right into her face, “‘is me and my girlfriend.’ Come on, baby, you know it.”

Sophie sings back, “‘It’s me and my girlfriend.’”

“See.” Ryan pecks Sophie on the lips. “That simple. Trust me.”

Sophie says, “I always do.”)

.

.

.

.

a/n: if only it were actually that sample. but hey, we can hope, and we can keep trying, you know?

so, what'd you think? any other random questions y'all would like answered? any prompts?

[fancyfade]

Batfam Height - core members and batfam height - everyone else by Fade31415

This has been in my WIPs for months, but I’m finally done! Technically I’m not sure if everyone here is “officially” batfam, since I view Renee as more of an independent agent but I’ve heard her be listed as Batfam and I wanted to draw her. so :P

okay so this is going to be a super long post, so the decisions for why I drew who with what is just going to double as an image description, since I’m not sure it makes sense to write [image: barbara gordon wearing her armored new 52 batgirl costume end image] and then follow it with “I decided to draw the Batgirl version of babs in her new 52 costume because I liked it better because of the armoring.

anyway: everyone’s heights and outfit decisions under the cut!

Alfred Pennyworth: (first Alfred is present day, balding and 65, second Alfred is when he just met Bruce, with a full head of black hair). Alfred is 6'0" like it says he is on his wiki page. He’s got his regular butler outfit, which seems to be a suit with those  two hanging down things on the back? IDK what its called.

Cassandra Cain/Batgirl: Cass is 5'5" like it says she is in the back of Batgirl: To the Death. I combined her Batgirl and Orphan suit because I love the lightly armored aesthetic on Orphan, but I also prefer her as Batgirl. Her civilian outfit is just an outfit she wears in I think the start of Batgirl: To the Death? A crop top and black pants basically.

Bruce Wayne/Batman: Bruce is 5'7" which is NOT canon, but I put him a little short in my headcanon. This isn't for any real reason but last time I drew him not tall I got a whiny fanboy complaining he wasn't physically intimidating enough, so I'm specifically not changing it because of that I still do try to draw him with like... actual muscles so he can do stuff, because he's a very physical character. His outfits are just batman outfit and then the regular suit he wears all the time. Nothing exciting there.

Dick Grayson/ Nightwing/ Agent 37: Dick is 5'10" like it says he is on the wiki. He's got his nightwing rebirth costume for the superhero version, which is mostly all black with slight blue accents and fairly skin tight, cuz that costume was just beautiful, though I did add a little bit of armoring like he has in teh animated movies for practicality. Then he has his Grayson outfit for his 'civilian' clothes (even though it's not really civilian clothes  I like how it looks). Khaki pants a gray T shirt and some pouches for spy stuff. He’s also got his escrimas in both forms, cuz signature weapon.

Barbara Gordon/Oracle/ Batgirl: Babs is 5'11" like it says she is in the back of Batgirl: To the Death. Even though she never got magicured in my headcanon, I drew her new 52 batgirl outfit because i like the armored aesthetic better. Her civlian clothing is just the skirt and black turtleneck she wears in BTAS. Her Oracle outfits are a tanktop (so we can see her buff arms) and then my favorite outfit she wore in the comics (jeans and a leather jacket). She has buffer arms and thinner legs as Oracle, because she is using her arms way more than her legs.

Damian Wayne/Robin: I drew Damian once at 10 years old, when he just started being Robin, and then at 13, like he is in the present. I chose his Batman and Robin (2011) costume over the 2009 one, because i liked how it looked better, and Robin: Son of Batman costume over Rebirth because Robin Son of Batman is my FAVORITE costume for him. both costumes have a red tunic and black pants, the batman and robin 2011 one has a yellow cape and black hood but the son of batman one has a black cape with gold trim. He's 4'6" at 10 years old and 4'11" at 13. His civilian clothing is a simple suit at 10 and the yellow sweatervest he wears in Robin Son of Batman #6 at 13.

Onyx Adams: Onyx is 5'9" like her wiki entry says. Her civilian outfit is the monk outfit (a long loose orange robe). Her superhero outfit is what she seems to fight in, which is just a crop top and black pants.

Kate Kane/ Batwoman: Kate is 5'11" like her wiki entry says, and I let her be a little broader around the shoulders and hips after seeing a broader Batwoman drawing I really liked. She's wearing her rebirth costume, mostly black with a red bat symbol and red trim, and got her rebirth short hair on her civilian outfit. her civilian outfit is black pants, a black vest, and a button up white no sleeve shirt.

Stephanie Brown/Batgirl: Stephanie Brown is 5'5" like her wiki entry says. I can't remember why I put her in her Batgirl costume instead of her Spoiler costume (maybe because I haven't drawn her as Batgirl before?) Either way, her Batgirl costume is black with purple trim. her civilian outfit is jeans, a purple shirt, and a leather jacket, which I think I saw her wearing in one of her batgirl issues but it’s been a while.

Tim Drake/ Red Robin: He is 5′6″ like his wiki entry says, though that might have been referencing when he was younger because it also listed his weight as 125 pounds. But I figured some guys are allowed to be short :P he has his first red robin costume (black pants, red tunic, cowl that covers his face except for his mouth and chin like batman’s) and his civilian outfit is just jeans and a white button up shirt.

Duke Thomas/Signal: I couldn't find Duke's height on the wiki so I guessed and put him at 5'9". He’s a little lean cuz he’s 16 and still growing. his superhero outfit is his bright yellow and black signal outfit with the motorcycle helmet with bat ears. His civilian clothing is an outfit he wore in Robin War (jeans, red shoes, a red hoodie).

Jean-Paul Valley/Azrael: Jean-Paul is 6'2" like his wiki entry says. In Batman: the Sword of Azrael, he seemed to be drawn leaner before becoming Azrael and buffer afterwards, so maybe his Azrael training/programming gave him guns? IDK that's why I drew both a thin version and a buff version in the civilian clothes, which are a white T shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.

Azrael outfit only gets the buff version though. I combined the 90s outfit and his new 52 outfit because... I'm gonna be real I LOVE his 90s outfit, even though it is very 90s. But I also had a hard time drawing it in my style, which is why I borrowed some from new 52. so he’s got golden boots like in new 52, but otherwise red, mostly skintight outfit, a golden chestplate, large shoulderpads and large gauntlets, like in the 90s. with his cool wrist sword. obviously.

Jason Todd/ Red Hood: I was actually conflicted as to whether include Jason because my all time favorite appearance for him (after his intro, when he whacks batman on the stomach with a tire iron) is the Red Hood movie, where he is decidedly not batfam and rather an enemy. But lots of people count him as Batfam and he’s an ally in the current continuity, so I drew him. Jason is 6'0" like his wiki entry says. He's just got an outfit inspired by his under the red hood movie outfit - black cargo pants, brown leather jacket. his civilian clothing has a grey T shirt and his red hood outfit has a black chestpiece with a red bat symbol and a red face covering helmet.

Helena Bertinelli/Huntress/Matron: Helena is 5'11" like her wiki entry says. She’s got her dark purple hooded Rebirth costume, and her tiny crossbow. I drew her as she appears in Grayson for the "civilian" version (black shirt with a white cross on it, reddish pants), to match the Agent 37 Dick on the other chart.

Renee Montoya/ the Question: Renee is 5'8" like her wiki entry says. She was very inspired by how Cully Hamner draws him in Pipelines, because I love Cully Hamner's art (reffed her outfits here: link). her civilian outfit is a white crop top and blue work out pants, and her question outfit is a leather jacket, black t shirt, fedora, and jeans. she’s holding a nunchaku in both.

Renee is a member I'm not sure "counts" as Batfam, because i view her more as an independent agent, but I've heard some people count her in it and I wanted to draw her anyway

Luke Fox/ Batwing: Luke Fox is 5'10" cuz i messed up and made him 1 inch too short (his wiki entry says 5'11"). He's got the blue polo he wears in Batman: Bad Blood in his civilian clothes, even though I consider comics Luke to be more "canon", but I couldn't think of what to draw him in from Comics luke's civlian outfits  His batwing outfit is comics luke's batwing outfit as well -- all black and armored, covering every inch of his body, with the blue bat symbol and shiny blue eyes. 

David Zavimbe/ Batwing: I like Luke, but David will always be the Batwing of my heart :P David is 5'8". It didn't say his height on the wiki so I had to guess, and I guess I let him not be super tall because there are already a ton of tall people in the Batfam. His civilian outfit is the uniform he wears in his day job (police officer), kind of green almost army looking clothes, and a black hat, and his batwing outfit is his first batwing outfit from the comics -- dark grey armor, domino-esque mask that has giant wing motifs coming from it, etc.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Do you have a pitch for a kids Bat-fam flick? I feel like you would knock it out of the park.

oh man. so many options. 

okay so ngl what I’d love to do is a Spider-Verse esque type thing with the Robins. 

So here’s my pitch. It got long, so below the cut. 

We start with Damian. Damian is our POV, our narrator. He’s only just become Robin. Bruce is dead, and he’s dead dead in this world. The family has ended up scattering after Bruce died, and Damian never got to meet his father or meet any of the other Robins/Batgirls, and he feels confused and conflicted about the legacy he’s dealing with. We find out through hints that this Damian was raised mostly by his grandfather, because like in Son of the Demon Talia tried to give him up for adoption, only Ra’s found out and took Damian under his wing without telling her, with Talia only discovering about Damian’s existence a few years ago. Damian spends a lot of time staring at the glass cases, which contain suits for every Robin, as well as the Batgirls, Nightwing, the Signal, etc. 

We follow Damian around his new life. He’s going to Gotham Academy and we see how he’s extremely well trained and educated in certain areas, but less so in others, and how it leaves him feeling adrift and out of place. He brushes off a girl who tries to reach out and befriend him. Dick picks him up from school and tries to hype up being Robin to Damian, but Damian just complains about not wanting to be a side-kick. 

“Not side-kick. Partner.” 

That night Damian is trying on his new outfit when a portal appears in the Batcave. And some time travelling villain comes out, makes some monologues, and then… 

All of the cases break. 

Freeze. 

Rewind. 

We start with Duke Thomas, in a Gotham that’s scarred and scared. We see Joker gas filling the streets, we see police every where and hear screams. And we see Duke, desperately trying to live a normal life by day. We see Duke, at night, putting on the Robin mask and leading a group of teenagers to try to help out, doing the good work. We see him pushing back against Batman, because Duke thinks that Robin doesn’t need Batman, that Batman’s not doing the work that matters, but he does eventually acquise to going back to the Cave to restock on supplies for the Robin Gang. 

He looks at the glass cases, but he notices that one’s missing. He turns around to ask Bruce. 

The cases shatter. 

Freeze.

Rewind. 

We start with Stephanie Brown, flying through the air. We see her racing across rooftops with Cassandra Cain, laughter tumbling out of both of them. We see her fighting back to back with Batman. But we also see her alone, in her apartment. We hear Arthur Brown screaming, we hear doors slamming. We see Steph, insecure about her place as Robin, eavesdropping on Bruce as he calls Tim and asks him to come back. 

She goes down to the Batcave and looks at the cases. 

Suddenly, she’s thrown through one of them, and all around her, glass shatters. 

Freeze. 

Rewind. 

We start with Tim Drake, at his height. We see him hanging out with Nightwing and Batgirl, we see him group-chatting with Young Justice, planning a weekend hangout, we see him fighting crime and hanging out with his dad. We see him going out on dates with Steph and solving crimes with Bruce. Dick asks him what he wants to do when he outgrows Robin. Tim replies he’s never going to. Dick points out that Tim didn’t even want to be Robin, when he started. Tim… isn’t sure what to say to that. It’s true. 

He goes down to the Cave, and starts looking at the costumes, trying to figure out where he could even go, next. What could possibly come, after Robin?

A portal opens behind him, and Tim’s eyes narrow before he spins around, throwing out a batarang, which embeds itself in a case–we can’t tell which. It shatters, and Tim falls to the ground as all around him, glass explodes. 

Freeze. 

Rewind. 

We start with Jason Todd. We go through the motions with Jason, only slightly faster. We see Jason’s backstory, we see that he and Dick aren’t close yet, we see that he’s struggling to fill Dick’s legacy and the big shoes he’s left behind, and he’s still uncertain how to relate to Bruce. He’s the first legacy. He sees people on the news questioning the presence of a new Robin. Some Godfrey-type starts demanding why the kid doesn’t have his own name, why he needs to use Robin? 

Jason storms down to the cave, and starts to sketch himself a new costume, while sitting with his back against the case in the cave. 

The costume in case suddenly collapses, and Jason tumbles backwards through shards of glass. 

Freeze. 

Rewind. 

We start with Dick Grayson, almost grown. He’s seventeen, and he’s uncomfortable in his own skin. We see him arguing with Bruce, and struggling to figure out who he is, now that he’s this age. We see him talking with the Teen Titans on the phone, we see Dick skipping school, not for superheroics, but to hang out with his friends, and we hear him talking about how Robin doesn’t mean much to him anymore. About how he’s tired, how he’s not sure if he should keep going with it. 

We see Dick in the Batcave, arguing with Bruce about something. We see Bruce end the argument abruptly when a police alert goes off. He offers Dick a ride to the crime scene, but Dick refuses. He’s alone in the cave. 

A portal opens. 

And everything breaks. 

We go back to Damian, in the Batcave, and he’s yelling as a bunch of strangers are there with him, all in the same colors, all standing exactly where the cases for their old outfits were. 

The villain escapes, because of course it does, and the Robins end up going on an adventure together, because they can’t find Batman (or Alfred) anywhere. 

The adventure they end up going on takes them through the different parts of Gotham, and we tackle each of the Robin’s insecurities and driving questions. We see Dick end up having to take off his costume and be a leader and a hero without the trappings of Robin. We see Jason becoming assured in his role as a legacy, and his place in the family. We see Tim realizing that it’s going to be okay to move on and to grow. We see Steph realize that she deserves to be Robin, that she’s good at it. Duke ends up rescuing Batman, and he finds multiple–Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis, Dick Grasyon–and he ends up working with Bruce to figure out where they need to go, and realizing the importance, not just of Robin, but of Batman, and the work that the two of them can do in tandem. 

And we see Damian realizing the scope and shape of this legacy, this family, and we see him beginning to hunger for this history that he’s now a part of. 

And then! The Robins and the Batmen are facing off. It’s dramatic, it’s tense, and oh no! They’re beaten! What are they going to do?

Enter, the Batgirls. 

Bette Kane, blonde haired and silly, from a world where things are simpler, but she’s no less heroic. Barbara Gordon, an adult and a hero, experienced and clever. Cassandra Cain, a warrior with a pure heart and a driving force behind her. Stephanie Brown, optimistic and stubborn and creative. 

They save the day and the portals open up again, and the Robins, the Batmen, and the Batgirls go their separate ways, back to their worlds. 

But one Batgirl stays. 

“Hey kid,” Stephanie Brown says. “I heard there was a new Robin. I’m Batgirl.” 

And Damian… starts to smile. 

The next day we see Damian walking through the halls of Gotham Academy, towards a sign that says GOTHAM HISTORY MYSTERY CLUB. 

He opens the door. “This is where I can learn more about the history of this city, right?” He demands. 

The Gotham Academy crew is sitting there. 

“You’ve come to the right place!” Declares Maps Mizoguchi. “Where do you want to start?”

Roll credits.