#who made me a villain

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Who Made Me a Villain (6)

[Masterlist] [Ao3]

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)(Part 5) This is a Halloween special as a treat. ------

Clark Kent, a mild mannered reporter, was drinking his coffee. Just like any other average Joe while editing Lois Lane’s latest scoop so there were no spelling mistakes and grammar errors.

Then, his super hearing picked up Lois’s heartbeat speedup. There was an ear-piercing scream that had him jumping out of his seat.

“Woah, Kent, what’s wrong?” A concerned colleague asked.

“Indigestion. Bathroom. Real quick.” Clark threw out the first excuse that came to mind before speeding down to the nearest bathroom. Being careful to keep it to human speed.

He had just finished changing into Superman when his phone rang, the caller ID showing Lois’s name.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Superman demanded.

“Name’s Rebel. And don’t worry your darling, I need her alive to do something I want.”

The voice sounded young and female. Superman went through his mental list of supervillains, trying to figure out who took Lois.

“Rebel…” Superman repeated, trying to put a face to the name. Then, he remembered Batman grumbling about Robin sending a picture of him covered in neon green paint and feathers to the Young Justice unofficial group chat who all were happy to show their mentors. It took everything for Superman not to burst out laughing when Kon had shown him the picture. The one responsible for Batman’s misfortune had been no other than Rebel.

“Aren’t you supposed to be Gotham, Rebel?” Superman asked as he flew towards where he knew Lois was.

“Ah. So the great Captain America has heard of me.”

Superman stopped in mid-air, purely due to confusion because Rebel sounded so confident that it was his name.

“Excuse me what?”

The French accent didn’t really help but make Clark think of those terrible Hollywood bad guys.

“You are excused. As I was saying, Captain, your beloved love is fine. I just need her to do this one little thing for me. Then, she’ll be free to go.”

“What do you want from me?” Superman asked again.

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Captain America, the world does not revolve around you. You aren’t the high and mighty god everyone thinks you are. I just need Mrs. Lane’s help in releasing a certain truth.”

“You will let her go right now!” Superman said.

He was narrowing on his wife’s location.

“I just told you that I will do that after I am done.” Rebel replied.

Superman arrived at the location but,

“This can’t be right.”

Rebel giggled over the phone. “Plot twist! Gotta love them.”

Superman was currently floating above Stryker's Island Penitentiary where the worst offenders of Metropolis were kept.

He scanned the buildings but couldn’t locate Lois.

“What did you do to her?”

“Chill, Captain. She’s fine. I just did something so you went after a fake heartbeat while I hid Lois.”

The fact that she tricked him using a complicated method that sounded like something Bruce would come up with had Superman raising his guard up. She was not an opponent to be underestimated.

“I am not going to repeat myself. What did you do to her?”

“Urgh. Can’t you overlook this little thing just this once?” Rebel complained, not concerned about the fact that she was provoking a man who could bend metal like it was rubber. “I am just stealing her for a few hours and then you can have her back. I even swear that she will be in the condition you last saw her in.”

“No. Give Lois back. Now.”

Rebel huffed. “You aren’t going to make this easy, huh? Then… beep.”

Superman was confused for a second when she made that sound with her voice.

Then, an explosion rocked the island below Superman. Instantly, the place was swarming with freed prisoners and guards trying to put them back.

“That should keep you busy. After all, the people of Metropolis need to be kept safe from the vicious criminals. Lois and I would probably be done with our girls’ day out by the time you are done. Au revoir.”

The phone hung up.

Trapped between the decision to save his wife and his city, Superman went to save the day.

—

“Man, your husband was a pain to deal with.” Rebel said after she hung up on Superman.

She turned back to Lois who was sitting unbound on a sofa with her recorder, notepad and pencil out. In front of her was a delicious spread of cakes, pastries and cookies with a mouth-watering scent which Lois tried her best to ignore.

“You kidnapped me and blew up a prison. I don’t think he would be happy to see you.” Lois pointed out. “This isn’t about him.” Rebel dismissed. “This is about you, helping me expose one of the biggest cover ups in history.”

“What makes you think I would help you?”

“What if I told you that four years ago. There was a supervillain in Paris that used negative emotions to turn people into monsters and the mayor had made sure news of it never got out.”

Lois snorted. “I don’t write fantasy, kid. I only write the truth.”

Rebel slapped down a bunch of newspapers dated from four years ago to the most recent one and a lot of documents.

“Here’s evidence. I promise that they aren’t faked. You can even use your phone to search all of this up if you still don’t believe me.”

Lois grabbed the one that was oldest and the front page talked about some stone golems wrecking the city. She read through it. Then, she looked at another paper dated a week later and read the front page talking about evil butterflies.

Fifteen minutes later and some google searches, Lois put down her phone and the newspapers.

She gave Rebel a professional smile. “Now… about that scoop you were going to give me.”

She watched Rebel’s eyes lit up.

—

Hours later…

Superman landed on the roof of the Daily Planet where Lois stood safe and sound. He scanned her with his x-ray vision and felt relieved to see that she was fine.

“Lois, are you okay?” Clark asked with worry as he hugged her.

“I’m fine. Honestly, it was the best kidnapping I've ever been in.” Lois replied, hugging back.

“Thanks for the compliment, Ms. Lane.” The unwanted spectator to their reunion said.

Rebel cheerfully waved from where she was on her bike as Superman glared at her.

“I am going to-”

“That’s my cue to leave.” Rebel cut off his threat as she took out a lead box. “Really lucky I stole this off the Big Bat the other day.”

Superman immediately backed away when the box was opened, revealing a glowing green rock.

“Bye, Captain America.”

Rebel tossed it onto the ground and sped off on her bike.

It took a moment for Superman to remember that they were on a roof and that Rebel was insane.

He watched Rebel drop down as gravity took hold. Superman immediately flew after her, only to find that she had disappeared in between the seconds his eyes were off her.

His brain finally caught up and Superman realised that he wasn’t feeling any effect of Kryptonite.

He turned around to see that the box was still open. Cautiously, Lois picked it up and closed it.

“You okay, Clark?” She asked.

“Can you give me the box, Lois?”

She nodded with confusion and slowly handed it over.

Clark slowly opened the lead box and laughed in disbelief. Inside was just some clear plastic crystals with a glowing green light underneath.

—

“Batman.”

“Superman.” Batman nodded in acknowledgement. “Why are you here?”

“I need you to run some tests on Lois’s blood. She had a run in with one of your Rogues. She said that she feels fine. But I want to be sure.” Superman answered. He handed Batman the vial of blood. He accepted it and put it in his pocket.

“I will do that as soon as I get back to the Cave. Who was it that she encountered?”

“Rebel.”

Batman stiffened at the mention of her name. “I see. What did she do to Lois?”

“Gave an interview I suppose. Lois was immediately on research binge about something that happened in France afterwards. She also had a few of the food Rebel laid out because she was hungry and I quote ‘they were the most delicious pastries ever’. She insisted that she was fine but I wanted to be sure.”

Batman’s frown deepened at that answer.

“Is something wrong?” Superman asked anxiously. This was the mother of his child and the love of his life that was in danger here.

“Lois is most probably fine but I will still run the test to ease your mind. I know Rebel won’t do something to the food unless it was for a prank. Even then, it’s nothing toxic or lethal.” Batman answered.

The answer didn’t reassure Superman.

“She blew up Stryker's Island, Batman.”

He couldn’t understand why Batman seemed so unbothered that such a dangerous villain was running around freely and causing chaos wherever she went.

“She regularly does it to Arkham.”

“Bruce. She lured me into a trap with a fake heartbeat of Lois. She fooled me into thinking she had kryptonite. She rode off the roof of the Daily Planet on her bike and disappeared into thin air. And Rao knows why she keeps calling me Captain America!” Superman ranted.

He took a deep breath to calm down before asking his question. “Rebel is clearly dangerous so why aren’t you taking her as a serious threat?”

Batman stared at him. Clark knew that this was his decision making face.

“You said that Lois was looking into something that happened in France.”

Superman nodded. “Yeah. Is Rebel related to it?”

Batman sighed. It was filled with regret and shame.

Superman knew that this was not good news.

“I was going to bring this up at the next League meeting but Rebel appeared to be getting impatient.” Batman started.

“What happened in France?”

“We, as the League, had made a huge oversight. There was a major problem in Paris for many years. A villain who could turn people into monsters had the city hostage. Rebel intends on making sure that we rectify our mistake.” Batman started.

He told Superman everything. About how Rebel brought the issue to his attention. What her plans were. Her past.

“Bruce, are you sure? She could be lying.” Superman said.

“I did my research. It’s all true. There is too much evidence to be faked. Some parts are still being investigated but it is largely the truth.”

Superman looked solemn. He couldn’t understand how something like this never fell on his radar. Batman had to rely on reports and technology to get his information. He was just a man after all. It would be easy for something like this to slip past his radar, especially how tightly controlled the information was.

Clark had super-hearing and this news about Paris had completely blindsided him.

“How could we have missed something so big for so long?” He muttered.

“Too many factors prevented news about it from reaching us. The past is done. What we can do is prepare so nothing like won’t ever happen again.” Batman said firmly.

Superman agreed. They had to do better.

“First, we have to catch a moth.”

It wasn’t the threat of Rebel unleashing her plans on the world that had him motivated to capture Hawkmoth. It was the determination to atone for his ignorance while a city suffered hell on a daily basis.

—

October 30th, Halloween Eve…

Spoiler looked through the binoculars to spy on the group of men moving a crate gently into a warehouse. Plastered in stickers that said ‘Fragile’, the crate was an object of interest for the vigilantes. 

“I got eyes on the target, O.” Spoiler reported. “They are moving it into warehouse number 32. East side of the Gotham Docks.”

“Hear that, Robin?” Oracle asked.

“Got it.” Robin replied as he ran towards the location.

“Oh. I see you, Robin.” Spoiler said.

“Eyes on the target, Spoiler.” Oracle admonished her.

“Sorry, O.”

“Hey. Can you tell me what you Bats are doing here?” A mechanical voice came from Spoiler’s left. 

It was lucky that Spoiler didn’t immediately scream and instead tried to punch the new arrival. He caught her attack easily with his one hand.

“Red Hood.” Spoiler greeted once she recognised who it was.

“I am asking again. What are you Bats doing here?”

“Spoiler, you okay?” Robin’s worried voice came over the comms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just Red Hood.” Spoiler replied.

Looking back at Red Hood, she said, “I will tell you if you tell me what you are doing here.”

“I think we are both after the same thing.” Red Hood said, tilting his head in the direction of the warehouse.

“Black Mask’s mysterious package.” Spoiler nodded.

“It’s actually Rebel’s.” Red Hood explained. “Black Mask’s men intercepted the delivery and she asked for my help to get it back.”

“Do you know what’s inside?”

“She said it was supposed to be a fun Halloween surprise.”

“So it’s harmless.”

Red Hood shrugged. “All I know is that I should not be within a mile of it when the clock strikes midnight tonight.”

“We have five hours then.” Oracle’s voice came through Spoiler’s comms and inside Red Hood’s helmet.

“Jesus, don’t just hack into people’s helmets.” Jason complained.

“Well, we don’t have extra comms on hand.” she retorted.

“Hood, did Rebel tell you anything else about the package?” Robin asked.

“Just that it’s set to be unleashed the minute it is Halloween. Oh and don’t open it. I think it’s some kind of special bomb.”

“You didn’t ask?” “It’s Rebel. What harm can she do? It’s probably some kind of high quality glitter bomb.” Red Hood replied casually.

“You have no idea how destructive she has gotten lately.” Oracle said. “Last month, she blew up Stryker's Island. That was after she had kidnapped Lois.”

“Is she trying to go after Superman?”

“She wanted Lois to spread her ‘take down Hawkmoth’ agenda.”

“Hawkmoth? Never heard of him. Who the hell is that?” Red Hood asked.

“Rebel’s personal vendetta.” Spoiler answered.

“Sorry to cut this short, guys but Black Mask is coming.” Robin said. “We can fill you in on what happened later”

“Truce?” Red Hood offered. “I still owe Roman a beating.”

“No killing, Hood.” Oracle set as her condition.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Red Hood loaded his guns and jumped into the fray with Spoiler in her purple glory following.

—

“Crap.”

Robin spotted Black Mask running into the warehouse. He slammed the goon he was fighting against the ground as hard as he could. 

“Somebody go and stop Black Mask! He’s going into the warehouse.” Robin said to everyone before he picked up his dropped staff and went back to fighting.

They were outnumbered and a few of the goons were trained from what Robin could tell.

“Oracle, what’s the ETA on back up?”

“Hang in there, Robin. Batman and Batgirl’s ETA is under one minute.”

“Good. Let’s hope that someone can stop Black Mask before we find out what Rebel’s Pandora box holds.”

—

Red Hood ran towards the warehouse as soon as he heard the report from Robin.

He had a score to settle with the other crime lord.

“Sionis, where are you?” Red Hood bellowed into the warehouse.

His helmet picked up the sound of someone running and Red Hood sprinted in the direction of the sound.

It became a chase and a gunfight with the two crime lords exchanging gunfire and one trying to lose the other in the maze that was the warehouse. Black Mask used every trick he had to throw Red Hood off his track.

However, it was fruitless as Red Hood continued to chase him like a bloodhound.

As desperation seized him, Black Mask picked up a crowbar that was lying around and ran towards the box he had stolen from that upstart Rebel.

Rumour has it that it is a weapon she had made for the Bats. Intended to drive them mad.

Red Hood rounded around the corner, just in time to see Black Mask pry the box open.

“NO!”

The lid was off. 

—

Last Month in Metropolis. A day before Lois’s kidnapping…

A young woman sauntered through the hallways of Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Then, she stopped in front of the cell she was looking for.

“Hello, Toyman.”

“Rebel.” Toyman greeted back. “What a pleasure to see you again.”

“I would like to contract you to make a few things for me.” Rebel went straight to the point.

Toyman gave her an interested look. “What would be in it for me?”

“Would getting you out of this place give me a discount?” Rebel asked.

Toyman smiled. “I suppose that might be possible. I’m a generous man after all. But that still doesn’t answer what you want me to make.”

Rebel chuckled. “It’s September. It’s practically nearly Halloween. And I really really want to make it a memorable one. Especially for the heroes in my city. I would like to commission a few toys. Here’s a list.”

She handed it to him.

Toyman hummed as he read it over. This could be a good deal. He would get his freedom and just make a few dolls with a bit of profit.

“How many would you like to make?”

“As much as you can before the deadline which is a few days before Halloween. Say the twenty-eight? Would that be possible? I would pay a set price for each one you can finish.” Rebel said.

“Can you back it up? I am not saying that you are not trustworthy but...” Toyman didn’t manage to finish before Rebel took out a wad of cash, all in hundred dollar bills.

She took half of it and handed it to Toyman through the bars.

“This is for the materials. Once I get you out of here, we are going to make a legal contract to discuss the finer details.”

“It is going to be an honour to work with you.” Toyman said.

Rebel grinned under her mask. “It’s nice doing business with you, Toyman.”

“So when do I get started?”

“Tomorrow afternoon-ish. That’s when something would happen and you escape in the chaos.” 

“How would I know it happened?”

“You will know. And try not to get caught by the guy who wears the ‘S’. A second breakout might not be easy to plan.”

After she left, Toyman felt giddy at the taste of freedom and to make so many new toys.

—

“WHAT?!”

Black Mask reached into the box and took its content out.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” Black Mask said in angry disbelief as he held a doll in his hands.

Red Hood took that opportunity to tackle the man and handcuff him.

In his curiosity, Red Hood glanced into the box and saw that the box just contained dolls.

There was your typical Raggedy Ann, clowns, ventriloquist dummies, string puppets, those collector’s dolls with the pretty frilled dresses, a few Barbie dolls and some plushies that resembled some of the Bat vigilantes.

“Hood. Come in, Hood.” Batman’s voice came from his comms.

“Cool your jets, Batman. I got Black Mask. He managed to open the box but it’s just dolls inside. Rebel probably tried to scare us into not opening the box because they’re for a prank and it would ruin the surprise.”

“Good to hear.” Batman said with a hint of relief.

—

Tim curiously picked up the Robin plushie and inspected it.

The Bats had taken the box of dolls with them to the Batcave to later give back to Rebel.

“The quality is so good. The details are amazing and so accurate. Wonder who made it.” Tim wondered curiously before he discovered initials stitched in the inner lining of the cape of the toy.

“W.S.J” Tim read out as he traced the letters. There was a niggling thought at the back of his head that he should look into who the mysterious toymaker was.

Meanwhile, Steph was tentatively holding the Raggedy Ann doll and telling Jason about the true story behind the Annabelle movies.

“Did you know that the real Annabelle doesn’t actually look like the doll in the movies?” Steph said as she held up the Raggedy Ann to Jason, “It was actually a Raggedy Ann doll that looked just like this one.”

Jason frowned as he gave the doll a slightly wary look. “It doesn’t look creepy at all.”

“That’s what makes it so unsettling. Something innocent hiding its sinister nature.” Steph explained.

Damain frowned as he picked up one of the collector’s dolls. “I don’t see what is creepy about some toys.”

“It’s the terror of something that should be lifeless moving around. Something that should be harmless becomes something dangerous.” Jason mused.

“But why dolls? I don’t think a piece of porcelain dressed in lace could scare anyone. I would be sc…alarmed if Father’s dinosaur came to life but not these.” Damian said as he held up one of the dolls.

“You should try watching some horror movies.” Jason told Damian.

Cass picked up a ballerina string puppet she had found and showed it to Bruce with a questioning look.

“It’s a string puppet. Have you seen Pinocchio yet?”

“No.” Cass replied as she shook her head.

“Remind me at our next movie night. So the strings make the puppet move. Here look.” Bruce took the puppet from Cass and expertly manipulated the strings so the ballerina waved and walked a bit before breaking out a few ballet moves. Cass clapped with wonder at the end of his performance.

“Teach me?” Cass asked.

“Sure.” Bruce promised.

Next, Cass took out the ventriloquist dummy and inspected it.

“Scarface?” She asked.

“Yes. It’s a ventriloquist dummy just like Scarface. How it works is that the ventriloquist holds the dummy and throws his voice so it looks like it is the dummy that’s talking instead of the ventriloquist.”

“Show me.”

Bruce obliged as he slipped his hand into the dummy and the dummy started to move its mouth.

“Hello, Cass, nice to meet you.” said the Dummy as it held out its hand.

Cass shook its hand. “Hello.”

She asked Bruce, “Can I try?”

“Of course.” Bruce said as he gave her back the dummy.

Cass breathed in and out a few times and then raised the dummy up.

“Hello. Nice to meet you.” Cass’s voice came from the dummy this time.

Bruce smiled as he ruffled her hair. “You’re good at this.”

“Thank you.” said the Dummy.

“If you are all done playing, it’s time you all went to bed.” Alfred said as he brought in his famous after patrol snacks; cucumber sandwiches. “After a shower.”

Jason put the Raggedy Ann doll back into the box.

“Well, it’s late and I need to get back home.” Jason said as he walked towards his bike.

“You can stay the night, Master Jason.” Alfred said. “I have taken the liberty of cleaning your room.”

“Thank you, Alfred but…” Jason trailed off, not knowing how to convey that he didn’t want to stay in the Manor despite his truce tonight with Bruce but also not wanting to offend the butler/grandfather-figure.

“I understand, Master Jason. Perhaps another time.” Alfred said in his wise way.

“Thank you, Alfred.” This time, there was a look of gratitude in Jason’s eyes.

—-

The morning after was a busy and bustling day but there was something not right in the Wayne Manor.

Tim woke up from having fallen asleep while working on trying to find the maker of the dolls. His laptop had turned itself off sometime during the night. He stretched and yawned.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spied the Robin plushie sitting on his bed.

“That’s strange. I could have sworn that I left you in the box last night.” Tim said, scratching his head. He picked the plushie up and examined it again in the morning light.

It was more accurate than Tim had initially found. In fact, it was like it was an exact likeness of him. Which was a very scary thought. He wondered how Toyman knew that he had a mole on his arm near his elbow and the birthmark on the side of his hips. Tim theorised that Rebel must be a very good stalker.

He put the plushie back on bed and headed down for breakfast. Tim didn’t see the plushie morphed its uniform into the outfit that Tim was wearing.

—-

Tim walked down to the kitchen and sat down.

He thanked Alfred who set down a delicious plate of pancakes in front of him.

“Morning, Steph.” Tim said to the blonde who was dressed in a purple cowgirl outfit and a white Stetson hat.

“Morning, Tim.”

“Who are you supposed to be anyways?” He asked.

“Barbie but with the Stephanie twist.” She replied.

“Ah. Gotcha.” Tim said after he finished his mouthful of pancake. “You look so realistic by the way.”

Bruce entered the kitchen and sat down with a groan, his hand massaging his neck.

“You okay, B?” “Just feeling a bit stiff. I’m not as young as I used to be.” Bruce replied with a grimace.

Slowly, the other occupants of the house trickled in and the kitchen was filled with the Waynes and Steph dug into their breakfast.

Dick came all the way from Bludhaven to help out on what is annually one of the worst nights of the year in Gotham. At least one Rouge would have plans for Halloween.

To break this peaceful moment would be one Jason Tood who angrily stomped into the kitchen, clutching a Raggedy Ann doll.

“Didn’t we agree on leaving me alone? That includes not finding out where my safehouses are.” Jason said.

He held up the doll and asked, “Which one of you left this at my place this morning as a prank?”

Several confused faces stared back at him.

“Was it you?” Jason pointed at Steph and demanded.

She put her hands up in surrender. “It wasn’t me. I was busy studying for the test I have today. Ask Bruce. He can tell you that he helped me with flashcards.”

“Then, was it you, Tim?”

Tim blinked at Jason. His mind took a few seconds to answer because Tim was not a morning person.

He shook his head.

“No. I was looking into who made these dolls.” Tim answered.

“Why?”

“The dolls all have the initial W.S.J. and they were all incredibly detailed. I also wanted to know why Rebel would need them. The maker turned out to be no one other than…” Tim dramatically paused: “Toyman.”

“Suddenly, I feel like we should have burned that box when we could.” Steph said to break the silence.

They should have.

—

“So how bad is it?” Dick asked Zatanna, anxious about what curse had befallen his family.

They had gone down to the Batcave to get rid of the box. Only to find it empty. It led to hours of searching for them. Except Tim never came back from his room to retrieve the Robin plushie.

Dick went to check on Tim only to find that he had turned into the plushie.

Imagine finding your brother missing and suddenly the mini plushie replica of your brother started moving and talking. It immediately went onto the top ten weirdest and scariest list of things Dick had experienced.

Then, the next to go was Steph who slowly became plastic. Her face was stuck in a smile while her skin hardened into shiny plastic. She was in class when it happened and they had to go pick her up.

Cass found the dummy but it got attached to her hand and started to speak on its own in Cass’s voice. Cass herself was unable to utter a word.

The stiffness that Bruce had complained about was the fact that he was slowly turning into wood and almost invisible strings controlling his every move.

The final terror was the Raggedy Ann doll that suddenly gained life and proceeded to hunt Jason down for sport. No matter how far Jason managed to get away from the doll and Dick’s best efforts to keep the doll contained, it still managed to escape to go after Jason.

Somehow, Dick, Alfred and Damian were the only ones unaffected by the ‘curse’. They managed to figure out why when Babara told them that Black Mask and his men were attacked by the missing dolls and some of them were experiencing the same things as the Bats and about Jason’s warning from Rebel before everything went down.

Desperate, Dick asked Superman to track down Toyman and asked him how to reverse the effect only to find out that he only made the dolls. The curse was someone else's doing. 

Which was why they had called Zatanna to see if she could reverse it.

“Well, there’s the good news and the bad news.” she announced. “Good news is that it is reversible and the curse only lasts for a day. I recommend to just wait it out because the reversing would take longer than the deadline. The curse is too complicated to simply undo.”

“So that’s the bad news?” “No. The bad news is that I recognised a bit of the spellwork. It is a bit similar to how my father would do it so chances are that whoever did this is a student of my father. The thing is I know most of my father’s students and what is bad is that I don’t recognise the magical signature of who put this curse on the dolls.”

Puppet Bruce jerked his head at the information that Zatanna had given them. Dick noticed.

“B?”

“Paris.” Bruce managed to get past with his wooden lips.

“Paris? Are you talking about the Miraculous?”

“Hero.”

“Wait, you think one of the Miraculous heroes is involved in this?”

Zatanna gasped. “I remember Batman telling me that Ladybug was a student of my father. I looked into his old journals and he mentioned a student named Marinette during his stay in Paris.”

“Marinette. Marinette. Why does it sound so familiar?” Dick tried to recall where he had heard that name before.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Damian answered for him. “It’s Rebel’s legal name.”

Just like that, pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

“Rebel used to be Ladybug.”

The revelation felt bitter on Dick’s tongue. He had seen the videos of Ladybug in action. He would say that she was inexperienced but she was compassionate and willing to lend a hand to anyone in need. He thought that it was nice of her to forgive her enemy instead of causing pain on the man who had caused her so much grief.

He couldn’t believe he saw the similarities between the two girls sooner.

Rebel was cunning and sharp enough to always stay a step ahead of them. Her planning and paranoia on par with the Batman himself. Useful skills to have as a hero.

Then again, Rebel couldn’t be more different from Ladybug. She was more cynical and petty. Rebel caused chaos wherever she goes instead of cleaning up the mess. She saw everything as a game and never took anything seriously. 

Dick wondered what it was that pushed Rebel over the edge. The line drawn between heroism and villainy. Then he remembered how Rebel was sent to Gotham in the first place.

“Damn. Rebel has really good valid reason to fuck that Hawkmoth guy up.” Jason said. “In fact, I am surprised she hasn’t razed Paris to ashes yet.”

“Can you imagine?” Zatanna said, having been briefed a bit on the Paris situation and had heard about Rebel’s kidnapping of Lois, “The city you gave so much to save, branding you as a criminal and sending you to one of the worst places on Earth.”

“People have turned to crime for less.” Damian pointed out.

“But Rebel used to be a hero. One of us essentially. It’s just sad that we had to meet her as people on opposite sides.” Dick said.

“It only shows her lack of will.” Damian said.

“I think Rebel had reached her breaking point and honestly, I might too if I face it all alone like she did.”

The Cave was in a sombre silence for the hero that once was Ladybug. Dick remembered something Bruce once said about Two-Face and Harvey Dent.

‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.’

—

The next day, just as Zatanna said, the spell wore off and everyone was human again and able to freely talk again. Other than some nightmares about the experience for a month or so, they were fine.

The Batfamily had a meeting about the new revelation that they had discovered last night.

“Bruce, tell us the truth. Did you know from the beginning?” Tim asked. “I only had suspicions but Zatanna confirmed them with her father’s journal.” Bruce answered. “This changes nothing.”

“It does, Bruce. You failed another young hero.” Jason said, his tone sharp and accusing. “Not even one of the ‘sidekicks’. You turned your back on the One Main Hero who had been there since the beginning and saw through it to the end. She didn’t get the happy ending she deserved. Instead, she was rewarded for her sacrifices by being sent to fucking Arkam Asylum in one of the most dangerous city in the world.”

“Todd, stop projecting. The way I see it, Rebel had seen the errors of her way and intended to fix her mistake regarding Hawkmoth. She should have locked him up when she had her chance.” Damian shot back.

“Boys, settle down. The fact of the matter is that whether Rebel used to be Ladybug or not, Hawkmoth needs to be arrested before Rebel does something more sinister than what she did yesterday.”

“Wasn’t it an accident?” Steph asked.

“According to Toyman, we had always been the intended recipients of that particular gift.” Dick answered. “It was dumb luck that Black Mask opened it while most of you were in the area.”

“After this latest incident, the League and I have decided that Rebel must be contained.” Bruce announced.

Jason jumped out of his seat. “Bruce, she’s just a kid!”

“But she’s a formidable threat. Who knows what else she might do if she is left unchecked and she doesn’t like the progress on the Hawkmoth investigation.”

Jason growled and then left.

Bruce told everyone that they should catch Rebel if they saw her before he ended the meeting.

—

Rebel stood in front of a half-finished mural, a spray can in hand.

“So we finally met, my dear daughter.” The voice belonged to the man who starred in Gotham’s nightmare.

Rebel didn’t bother to turn around and simply looked at him from over her shoulder.

“Which one are you?” She asked.

“I’m sorry?”

Rebel went back to spray-painting as she explained, “I know that there are at least three of you running around Gotham. I want to know which one you are.”

Joker laughed. A genuine laugh instead of the mad one he usually makes.

“You really do live up to your reputation, Rebel. I can tell that you are a real wildcard.” Joker said excitedly.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Very well then. I am the Joker. The original one. Not the copycats I made because I was bored. And Rebel, I am your father.”

----- (Part 7)

Taglist:  @toodaloo-kangaroo, @iloontjeboontje, @buginetye, @angelwreckedd, @anoires-blog, @ever-since-i-was-young, @shutupandactuallylisten, @its-maemain, @vel-vee, @kashlyn, @officiallydarkgeek, @jayjayspixiepop, @cmouse, @transheso, @thecrazyfantrolls, @just-a-random-girl-loves-anime, @maddiesupdates, @the-dumber-scaramouche,

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Who Made Me a Villain (5)

To the ppl who read my fics only on tumblr, I am sorry. I have been posting a lot on ao3 and I keep forgetting that I have a tumblr acc. I will try to be more mindful in the future.

--------

[Masterlist] [Ao3]

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Here) (Part 6)

-----

“B, what’s all this?” Dick asked during one of his visits to Gotham. He was here for Alfred’s cooking.

Upon seeing the eye bags on Bruce, Dick was understandably worried. “Have you slept at all, Bruce?”

“A few days ago, Rebel brought something serious to my attention.”

Bruce had spent days working on the case Rebel had dropped into his lap. He felt that she had summarised the situation too simply. Or she was unaware of what the full extent of the situation was due to her lack of experience and knowledge.

John Constantine was unhelpful in getting more information on the Miraculous but did confirm their presence in Paris in the same period Rebel had given. Rebel had given more information than him.

Zatanna said that she would sort through her father’s journals to give him a definite answer but told him that it was likely Rebel was telling the truth about Paris. There were surges of the magical equivalent of earthquakes from Paris which her father had gone to check out a few years ago.

Diana had overheard their conversation and talked about how her mother used to wield the Ladybug Miraculous. She promised to talk to her mother for more information. Bruce decided to ask Doctor Fate later if his research wasn’t enough.

However, the thing that had Bruce tearing apart his training dummies like they were paper was the good-for-nothing, sham of a man that Paris had for a mayor.

Mayor André Bourgeois had blocked all news about the akuma from getting out of the city. He didn’t report about it to the Justice League European branch and blocked all attempts to prevent others from reporting it. His reasoning was that the child heroes were enough. That was just the political side of things.

To further make things worse, the heroes who were stationed in France all claimed to have been told to be relocated to other cities by the Justice League Headquarters. They did as they were told under the assumption that someone else would be filling in for them. Just before Hawkmoth struck.

Bruce investigated that lead and it appears that someone had sent out that order but Bruce hadn’t figured out who it was yet or whether it really was sent by one of the Justice League. Either they had a mole or the JL Headquarters needed a new update to their systems.

Then, one of Zatanna’s contacts in Paris had informed her that magic helped in preventing news of akuma reaching outside of Paris.

By the time Dick came to the Manor, Bruce was hours deep into the many footage he had spent the most of the day collecting from the internet. He started with the first akuma where Ladybug and Chat Noir were practically strangers shoved together and forced to rely on each other. He didn’t like that the Parisians were forcing the love narrative between the two of them. Ladybug had the sense to focus on her job and remain professional while Chat Noir tried to enforce the love story. He was not pleased with that interview.

The Ladyblog that was run by a very dedicated teenager was very helpful in getting raw footage of most fights, albeit a bit shaky and blurry. He was currently watching the blog owner’s interview with Ladybug. How she got an interview with the very elusive heroine Batman doesn’t know. There was something about the heroine that caught his attention. It felt like he had met Ladybug before.

Dick skimmed over the notes Batman had taken. He whistled. “This is pretty crazy.”

“Why are you doing all of this research?” Dick asked.

“Hawkmoth. I am trying to track him down.”

“Wait, you are telling me that there is a powerful supervillain in Paris and these kids are heroes? They look like babies. They don’t even know how to properly fight.”

“We are already too late. Hawkmoth has been defeated and stripped of his powers.”

“So what’s the problem? Is he coming back?”

Bruce sighed heavily and showed off his days of research to Dick.

“Rebel had been planning something for months. Something big. I asked the reason behind it all. She asked me to bring him to justice and she would call it all off. Apparently, the leader of the hero team, Ladybug, gave Hawkmoth the equivalent of the slap on the wrist and Rebel doesn’t agree with him being off the hook that easily. He got his wife in exchange for giving back the Miraculous under his possession and didn��t face consequences for his little foray into villainy.”

“How does she know what happened to Hawkmoth?” Dick asked, “It just says that no akumas was seen for a month and then, Ladybug announced that Hawkmoth was defeated before disappearing forever.”

“According to her, Rebel used to be one of the heroes going against Hawkmoth.” Bruce told him.

Dick nearly fumbled the file in his hand due to the surprise.

“Oh. Um. That- That explained a few things. The experience in fighting. Those acrobatic stunts. Former hero, huh.”

It left a bitter taste in his mouth. The thought of somebody who was once a hero turning to the dark side.

Dick changed the subject. “Any luck finding him?”

“I have one suspect. He’s the one that fits the profile.”

Bruce handed Dick a file.

“Gabriel Agreste.”

Dick looked through it. “He’s a fashion designer. That doesn’t exactly scream evil to me.”

“Even without Rebel’s hints. He’s still suspicious.” Bruce said. “I am meeting him in a month to get a feel for him.”

Dick closed the file. “Even if he is Hawkmoth, it’s been a few years since his defeat. We can’t just take him in.”

Bruce suddenly looked very tired.

Tim popped up from where the pile of blankets besides the Batcomputer that Dick hadn’t noticed. Dick’s and Bruce’s voices have woken him up.

Dick definitely did not scream.

“Tim! How long were you there?” Dick asked, putting his escrima sticks away.

“A few hours I think.” Tim replied and yawned.

“Anyhoo,” Tim started, “Rebel had already taken care of that part. She had been using different accounts to sow seeds of conspiracy theories and rumours for people online to find Hawkmoth’s true identity. No mention of Gabriel being Hawkmoth or it won’t be taken seriously if the truth comes out. I think she is trying to spread the idea that Hawkmoth must be taken in to face the legal system.”

“Why is she going that far?”

Bruce was silent for a moment. “Hawkmoth was part of the reason she was framed for murder.”

“Framed? Why do you think that she was framed? Her father is the Joker. The Joker. The one who killed Jason.”

Bruce stiffened. Jason had left Gotham after their last showdown. Last Bruce heard of him, Jason had teamed up with Roy Harper to form his own mercenary team.

“I know. But children are not their parents.”

Bruce handed Dick another file.

“Her case file and the transcript of her trial. Read it and draw your own conclusions.” Bruce instructed.

Dick took it.

“You are not going to like it, Dick.” Tim said.

—--

A day later, Dick came back, storming into the Batcave.

He slammed the file in front of Bruce.

“What the fuck is wrong with people? How did something like this get past you?” Dick demanded furiously.

There was the last thing that was cherry on the icing of the cake that was this whole situation.

-

Rebel was not supposed to be in Arkham Asylum. She was not supposed to get a life sentence. She was not supposed to have fourteen charges of first-degree homicide to her name.

Dick read the trial proceeding.

It was way over exaggerated and very dramatised. He thought that he was reading the script for a courtroom soap opera drama. Dick even went as far as to hack into the French government to get the untranslated copy of the files and it was just as bad but in French. It didn’t take him long to find the blatant amount of bribes that were tossed around. The very obvious abuse of power. Every odds was stacked against Rebel. The unnecessary DNA test that unfortunately brought her to Gotham.

No wonder Marinette Dupain-Cheng turned to a life of crime. Everyone was dead set on labelling her the bad guy.

Then, he read Gabriel Agreste’s involvement in the case. His son was part of Rebel’s old class. Their classmates spoke about Rebel’s stalker tendencies towards him. But Dick kept an open mind, knowing how exaggerated everything was. Gabriel had blacklisted Rebel from every company in the fashion industry he had connections with. That move confused Dick until he found out that Rebel was trying to be an aspiring designer. It was essentially salt in her wounds.

Dick simply couldn’t understand the witch hunt against Rebel. 

-

“Bruce, we have to do something about this.” Dick said.

“The only thing we can do right now is bring Hawkmoth in before Rebel takes it into her own hands.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dick asked.

Tim injected. “You already know that Rebel had been acting suspicious for the past few months. She had been meeting up with several different villains and secret projects we couldn’t figure out until now.”

“We found a warehouse in Washington connected to her that contained these strange stone statues.”

Bruce pulled up a picture of the stone statues in the warehouse.

“Now look at the clip of the first akuma attack.”

Bruce played a clip of Stoneheart attack. The monster looked similar to the stone statues in the photo.

“Going through the akuma fights and her movements in the past few months. It is obvious what she is trying to plan.”

Picture of Rebel talking to many different ice villains with a powerpoint presentation and a clip of the Glaciator attack.

Picture of a machine that could create floods that the Teen Titan had managed to shut down a few years back and picture of Paris being flooded.

Picture of Weather Wizard, next to a picture of Stormy Weather.

“She’s trying to recreate akuma fights.” Dick concluded. “And making it seem like Hawkmoth was back.”

Bruce nodded gravely. “I wouldn’t have figured it out if Rebel didn’t deliberately let me in on her plans. She exposed a great problem we had missed. She is giving us, the League, a chance to rectify our mistake.”

Rebel was not counting on the legal justice system to bring Hawkmoth to justice. She was counting on him as Batman to make sure that Hawkmoth ended up with the same fate as her. His reputation torn apart and dragged through mud. Behind bars for the rest of his life with the supervillain mark following him everywhere.

Or she will forcefully do it by bringing the whole world down to force the Justice League in carrying it out.

“Without Ladybug’s miraculous power, it would be disastrous for us and we would have a lot of civilian casualties.”

“I don’t think she would do that, Bruce.” Tim argued.

“Then, lock her up.” Dick suggested.

“Arkham is currently in no position to take her in.” Bruce said. He looked resigned.

Dick looked at Tim for an explanation which he helpfully provided. “It was being renovated a few months ago to put in a new security system. In the chaos, her records were wiped out from the system and her physical reports went missing. Every copy was gone. So even if we arrest her now, we have to find a pretty good justification to keep her there legally. We only have these copies because Bruce regularly back-ups the Arkham database onto the Batcomputer and the Bat-net.”

Dick cursed. While they could just put it back, it wasn’t worth the headache if it was erased again.

“What about the police? Won’t they have her records?”

“Same thing. We think she did it when Clayface attacked the police a while back.”

“How about her original case that sent her to Arkham?”

“It was erased too. We need to get to Paris in order to access their database or if she erased her case, then we need to get the physical copy and we would have to go through so much legal bullshit to get it. That will take months.”

“She covered everything.” Dick said, amazed.

“She thought of all the possibilities and covered all of her bases. She had been staying under the radar and not getting caught.” Bruce said.

“He means that he got caught in her traps if we try to catch her.” Tim said with a shit eating grin on his face.

Bruce grumbled.

“You? How did you even get caught?” Dick asked.

“Rube Goldberg machines.” Tim answered.

“Rube what?”

“Here.” Tim opened up Youtube and showed Dick a video of a marble rolling down a pipe and then knocking down a row of dominoes in a spiral which continued to set off a chain of reactions that ended with a ball going neatly through a hoop and triggering a banner that said ‘WOW!’ to pop up.

“So that’s what it is called.” Dick commented. “Aren’t these like super complicated to do? She couldn’t have set them up that quick …unless she had them set up beforehand.”

“According to my research, she has at least 50 of these set up in different locations around Gotham. There are videos of people setting these off on purpose. Rebel is always making more. They usually have victims stuck in a net or a hole. Or have water, paint or liquids splashed onto them.”

“She did that? That picture you sent me where Bruce had yellow pain all over him?”

Bruce glared at Tim.

A derisive snort came from the entrance of the Bat cave.

They all turned to look at the newest addition to the house.

Damian Al Ghul. Well, Damian Al Ghul Wayne now.

“I find it hard to believe that this one petty criminal got the better of all of you.” He said mockingly.

“Damian.” Bruce said. “Even if she is just a petty criminal, she cannot be underestimated. You must never underestimate your opponent, no matter how deceiving they look.”

“Perhaps Father, you and Drake aren’t good at doing your jobs.”

“Like you would be any better catching her.” Tim said under his breath.

“If it was up to me, she would be killed on sight.” Damian continued.

“Damian, we do not kill here. People deserve another chance to redeem themselves.” Bruce explained like he had a thousand times before.

Damian scowled. “I don’t need to kill. I have brought in targets alive before.”

The way he said it implied that those targets were in a state where their hearts were the only things that could still move.

“Do you really believe that you can catch Rebel?” Tim asked.

“I don’t have to believe. I know I can.” Damian answered, disdain in his voice that Tim dared to doubt his skills.

“I bet you can’t.” Tim taunted.

Damian lunged but was stopped by Dick who grabbed his shoulder.

“Boys!” Bruce shouted. “Tim, stop antagonising him. Damian, you know you aren’t allowed to go out on patrol.”

“No!” Damian demanded. “Drake has issued me a challenge. I will not back down. I will prove to him and you that I can catch that petty criminal that goes by Rebel.”

His declaration was filled with the determination and stubbornness that all eleven year olds seemed to possess.

Bruce rubbed his head at the oncoming headache.

He knew that despite whatever he gave, Damian would go behind his back and against his orders to fulfil his self-assigned mission of capturing Rebel.

“Tim, this is all your fault. I am blaming you for this. You will be washing the Batmobile for a month.” Bruce said after some thinking.

“Bruce!” Tim complained. “What did I do?”

“You started it. And Damian, I will let you go after Rebel.”

Damian gave Tim a smug grin.

“However,” Bruce continued. “There will be a few conditions.”

Damian stood up straighter and paid attention. “One, Nightwing will be with you.”

“What? Why, Bruce?” It was Dick.

“I am busy with the Hawkmoth case. Tim and Damian shouldn’t be together. Cass and Steph are busy with their own things. I don’t think Jason wants anything to do with me and he’s out of town. Babara has no desire to watch Damian.”

“Thank you, Bruce.” Oracle’s voice came from the Batcomputer.

“Tch. Grayson is an acceptable choice.” Damian said with a sniff.

“Fine. I can stay for a week or two. Give me a few hours to sort some things out.” Dick threw up his hands in defeat.

“However, he will not be helping you. He is going to be monitoring your every move and he will intervene if it was a life and death situation.” Bruce added.

“Fine.” Damian replied.

“Two, when you bring Rebel in, she should not have sustained any life-threatening and fatal injuries. She should also possess all of her limbs intact.”

Damian scowled harder. “I know my limits. Anything else?”

“Three, do not kill anyone to achieve your goals.”

“Got it.”

“Your deadline to bring her in is in three months. You will report to me on your progress every morning. That’s all. Any questions?”

“No. I will not fail you, Father.” Damian said seriously.

“Does anyone else find this funny?” said Dick. “Son of Batman hunting down daughter of Joker. Children of two arch-enemies repeating history.”

“That only means that I am destined to bring her in.” Damian further solidified his mission.

—--

Forty-eight hours later, found Damian, currently going by Redbird, tied up, covered in green paint and dangled upside-down over a vat of something that smelled utterly foul.

Rebel landed near Nightwing and asked, “So what’s the deal with the new kid?”

Nightwing extended a hand dramatically towards Damian, “That’s Batman’s blood son.”

Rebel frowned. “Is this going to be a thing now? Child of Batman versus child of Joker. Because I really don’t want to hurt the kid that much.”

“I AM NOT A CHILD.” Redbird yelled as he struggled against his restraint. “Nightwing, help me get untied and catch the villain!”

“Would a dip in that kill him?” Nightwing asked, pointing at the vat of whatever that was. He wanted to stay more than 20 feet away due to the smell alone.

Rebel shrugged.

“Probably not. It’s just water from the Gotham River with the contents of the nearest dumpster emptied into it.”

Nightwing shivered. He had taken a dip in the icy cold waters of Gotham River before. It was not pleasant. And the amount of showers he had to take to finally get rid of the smell.

“Good news, Redbird.” Nightwing shouted back. “You won’t die if you fall.”

Redbird threw some words in Arabic that sounded a lot like swears.

“So… I ask again. What’s up with the kid?”

“He thinks that Batman would accept him as the one true heir of the Batman title if he catches you.” Nightwing explained. “It has nothing to do with the blood rivalry thing. He’s trying to prove Batman wrong by trying to succeed in catching you when Batman and Robin - especially Robin - couldn’t catch you.”

“It’s there like a deadline for this? Because I really don’t want to play cats and dogs forever with the gremlin.”

“Oh yeah. There is.”

Rebel smirked. “That means I just have to up my game then. Thanks for the heads up, Bluey.”

Nightwing’s smile faded as he realised his slip-up. “Damn it. Baby Bat is going to kill me.”

“Hey, can I use that nickname?”

“Does it matter if I say no?” Nightwing said.

“Nope.” Rebel said with a laugh as she slipped away into the shadows. 

—--

A Bat signal shone in the night sky. Calling Batman to action.

However, it was not Commissioner Gordon who met Batman on the rooftop that night.

“Commissioner-”  Batman immediately went on guard as a petite figure of Rebel greeted him instead of the broad shoulders of the Commissioner.

“What did you do to him, Rebel?” Batman growled out.

“Chill, Mister Bat, he’s dealing with an anonymous tip off for his latest case at the other side of the city. I just flipped the switch to your nightlight to get your attention. Less messy than other methods, don’t you agree?” Rebel explained as she switched the Bat-signal light off.

He glared at her. “What do you want?”

“A week is up. So what are you going to do?”

Batman gave a tired sigh. To be honest, he had forgotten about the deadline. There were so many things he had to take care of. Starting with the possible Justice League breach. An entire city being under attack and no one noticing until the problem was gone. The investigation into who Hawkmoth was. Finally, dealing with a testy Damian who didn’t take his loss against Rebel well.

“My conclusions showed me that you were telling the truth about akumas. I would like to apologise on the behalf of the Justice League for our massive oversight. You were a child that had to fight a war without support.”

“I won that damn war. Without your help.” Rebel said defensively.

“Yes. You did. I am not criticising your achievement, Rebel. I am just pointing out that you were a child fighting those monsters everyday and some of those monsters had been a family or a friend. You shouldn’t have to carry a burden like that on your shoulders. Even Nightwing had me to look after him until he could step out of my shadow to fly on his own.”

“We weren’t alone.”

“You weren’t. You had other people who were as clueless as you about what to do. No one taught you the basics. You had to learn how to fight all on your own. You had to learn to do it right on the first try because a mistake would cause you everything. I am sorry that we weren’t there to provide that guidance.”

“Why are you apologising for that? You didn’t know.”

Batman’s frown became deeper. “That is exactly the problem. Something this big slipped under our radar.”

He went on to explain about how the oversight occurred. If anything, Rebel looked surprised by the news.

“So you're telling me that I could have had help. I wouldn't have to do it all on my own if it wasn’t for a lot of people meddling.”

She sounded angry. The comment about her doing it all on her own confirmed a theory Batman entertained. There was a little evidence that pointed out otherwise but with magic there was no telling if the evidence wasn’t faked.

“We never realised until now. We have failed you.” Batman apologised.

“Kwami. All this time. I thought you were too busy with your own world-saving to pay attention to Paris. Fucking Mayor Bourgeois. Fuck Magic. Fuck whoever mess with your systems. Fuck Hawkmoth.” Rebel screamed. “What else? What else do I have to know that I didn’t know?”

“That’s mostly it. I am here to get your account of what exactly happened during those years.” Batman paused (Dramatic bitch) “I also need you to confirm the identity of Hawkmoth.”

“Well…” Rebel inclined her head for him to continue.

“Gabriel Agreste.”

Rebel smiled from under her mask. “Bingo. As expected of the World’s Greatest Detective.”

She pulled out a flash drive from her pocket and handed it to Batman. “Here’s everything I wrote down from what I remembered.”

“How did you know I would ask for it?” Batman asked as he took it and put it away in his utility belt.

“I didn’t. I was going to send that to every news station when I start my Armengeddon plans.”

Batman stared at Rebel, waiting for her to hand over her Armengeddon plans she had given the other villains.

Rebel stared back at him defiantly.

“Hand them over.” Batman demanded.

“I already gave you what you needed.” Rebel said with a raised eyebrow, pretending to be oblivious about what Batman wanted.

“What about your Armengeddon plans?”

“Oh. Those plans. Yeah. Gimme a minute.” Rebel reached into her jacket inner pocket and took out a slim notebook. She tossed it to Batman who expertly caught it.

He flipped through it and noticed the jagged edges of pages torn out. He also noticed that none of the plans that involved other villains were in the book.

“Where are the missing plans?” Batman asked harshly.

“You thought it was going to be easy?” Rebel said amused. “I want definite proof that you are working on taking him in.”

“How long do I have to get you proof?” Batman asked cautiously.

“When is the deadline for your son to catch me?”

Batman knew that tone. He had heard that tone from the clown before Joker pulled out the punchline.

“In three months.”  He answered.

“That’s around when the plan is supposed to start anyways. Then, if you don’t have it by the time Redbird catches me, you won’t get the plans. However, if he doesn’t catch me by the three month deadline, you will get the plans and I will tell the others that everything is called off.”

Batman had a feeling that if Rebel wasn’t wearing her mask, there would be a smile on her face identical to the one Joker would usually wear for his maniacal plans.

Children aren’t always their parents. But they sometimes inherit their parent's worst traits.

“Deal.”

What other options did he have but to play along with her games.

—-

After Rebel was gone, Redbird came out of the shadows.

“Father, what is the meaning of this?” He demanded. Redbird had been hiding to unleash a surprise attack when Rebel proposed that inane condition to Batman.

Batman sighed. “We will talk more back at the Cave.”

“I want an explanation now.”

“Just hold off trying to catch her for at least a week, Redbird. I am not going to stop you from your task. Maybe use that time to observe her instead.”

Redbird huffed but nonetheless accepted the compromise.

“Fine. It gives me more time to make more well thought out plans.”

“Since she would mostly be at school, you won’t have to do much.”

Batman grappled off the roof and Redbird followed.

When they reached the Batmobile, Redbird turned to his father and said.

“Father, I have been thinking. Perhaps I should infiltrate her school in order to get closer and gain more information on her movements.”

Bruce looked at him in surprise, remembering the first time he suggested Damian going to school and being told that he was never going to step foot into a subpar teaching environment.

“Are you sure, Damian?”

“I am sure.” Damian said firmly.

“I will call the principal in the morning and arrange everything.” 

—

“Come back here, you-” The insult was lost as Redbird comically stepped on the rake. The handle hit his face like those old cartoon gags.

A slew of Arabic curses were unleashed.

"Tick-tock, birdy." Rebel taunted as Redbird held his broken nose. "It's nearly midnight and I am not still not in chains or behind bars."

"I should have your tongue cut out for your insolence." 

"That threat lost its charm about two months ago." Rebel replied in a bored tone.

"Be more creative. Like ‘I will slowly take a small piece of your tongue a day, roast it and force feed it to you’." Rebel declared with an imitation of Redbird’s voice but slightly higher pitch than it actually was.

“I will gladly do so.” The threat probably would have sounded more intimidating if Redbird wasn’t still holding his broken nose and didn’t sound like he had a very bad nasal problem.

Rebel covered her mask with her hand as if trying to hide a smirk.

“Well, little bird, if you are done with your threats, I will be off- WHAT THE FUCK!”

Rebel didn’t look where she was going and had fallen down the hole in the roof that was hidden with a tarp..

Redbird grinned as he peered over the hole where Rebel had fallen into a cage he had set up to work like a bear trap.

“You aren’t the only one skilled with traps in this city.” He boasted.

Nightwing landed, giving Redbird an appreciative whistle and applause.

“Good job, baby Bat.”

“Call the police, Nightwing. Tell them I have the fiend, Rebel, in custody.” Redbird said.

“Sure thing.”

Redbird turned to give Rebel a smug look at his sure victory. It immediately got wiped out as he saw Rebel dangling her legs over the hole she fell down a few minutes ago.

She gave him a cheeky wave.

“HOW?” Damian exploded. “HOW DID YOU ESCAPE MY FOOLPROOF TRAP?!”

“It’s not foolproof if a fool like me could get out of it that easily. Nice setup though. Gave me a few ideas for my next project.”

Redbird growled and launched himself at her. Rebel rolled out of his way.

Landing nimbly, Redbird charged at her and threw a few attacks. Rebel effortlessly dodged every one of them.

Nightwing watched with a bored look on his face as Redbird chased Rebel around the rooftop.

“Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk. I'm a woman's man, no time to talk ....”

Rebel took out her phone and turned off her alarm as she ducked a birdarang.

“It’s midnight! And you know what that means. You just failed your mission.” Rebel announced cheerfully.

Redbird yelled in anger and charged at her.

Nightwing stepped in between the two to restrain Redbird.

“Chill, baby bat. You need to calm down. She won, fair and square.”

“And just as promised, I will send over the plans I made for the other villain to the Big Guy.” Rebel continued as she walked backwards to the edge of the rooftop.

“See ya around, Birdies.” She said as she jumped back off the roof while giving them a finger salute.

Nightwing hurriedly let go of Damian and ran to look over the parapet wall. Rebel appeared to be perfectly fine after a five-storey drop and was calmly putting her helmet on. She got on her bike and drove off.

“Um… guys.” Oracle’s voice came over the comms. “There is actually fifteen minutes left until midnight. She lied.”

The two vigilantes looked at each other and cursed. They grappled off, trying their best to catch the cunning villain.

—

“I am sorry that I failed you, Father.” Damian reported.

Three months should have been more than sufficient for him to complete his assigned task successfully. He even had subjected himself to the establishment called a school in order to catch Rebel.

Each time, he thought that he was close to capturing the most slippery villain in all of Gotham. Something would interfere in his plans and Rebel continued to walk free.

Head down ashamed as he kneeled on the cold floor of the Batcave to receive his punishment. Damnit, why was his vision getting blurry?

The shadow from his father’s cape moved closer and blocked out the light. Damian braced for the pain.

Damian was confused when he felt his Father placed his hand on his head. It felt… odd and comforting.

“It’s alright. You did your best. Even with the restriction I placed on you.” Bruce said.

Damian’s confusion increased.

“But… I failed.”

It did hurt to admit his failure but he was more confused by his father’s actions. Grandfather would have given out some sort of punishment by now. Like going against some of the League’s Finest on his own.

The hand moved from his head to his shoulder.

“Look at me, Damian.”

Damian obeyed and met his father’s blue eyes. The colour reminded him of the flowers his mother would sometimes wear in her hair when Grandfather was out of Nanda Parbat.

“Even if you had failed in your task, you still had helped me.”

Damian was flabbergasted.

“How?”

“In order to capture her, you monitored her every move. Because of you and your reports, I knew her every move. Avoiding your attempts kept Rebel so busy that she wasn’t able to work on her plans as much. Which gives me more time to work on how to bring Hawkmoth in.”

“I still failed.”

“And I am telling you that you still did a good job. You can learn from this experience and learn how to do better.” Bruce said.

“Aren’t you going to punish me?”

“No. I am not going to punish you for this.”

The answer seemed to have shifted Damian’s worldview. It broke Bruce’s heart to know how Damian had been treated. Being punished for failure which made Damian scared to fail.

“How.. how can you…”

Damian didn’t seem to comprehend that there would be no punishments for failing.

“Damian.” Bruce said gently. “I know that this is hard for you to comprehend but we do things differently here. We do not kill. And we do not punish people for simply failing.”

“But Drake… Batmobile.”

Oh right, grounding.

“I will reiterate. I will not physically hurt you as punishment for failing your mission. I do not like raising my hand to people I call family. Yes, you are part of it now, Damian, no matter how unexpected your arrival was. I prefer giving you chores to do instead. Like washing the Batmobile. Giving Ace a bath. Organising the case files. Helping Alfred around the Manor. Even then, it’s only if you misbehave and go against the rules of the Manor. And you may see them as pointless but they were put in place to keep you safe. I don’t want to see any of you hurt. Yes, including you, Damian.”

Bruce hoped that he got through Damian. Made him see that things were different now but they were a good kind of different. Maybe now Damian would let him in and be the better person Bruce knew he could be.

Bruce thought all of this as he hugged the slightly shaking boy in his arms who hid his face with Bruce’s chest.  ------ (Part 6) ----

Taglist:  @toodaloo-kangaroo, @iloontjeboontje, @buginetye, @angelwreckedd, @anoires-blog, @ever-since-i-was-young, @shutupandactuallylisten, @its-maemain, @vel-vee, @kashlyn, @officiallydarkgeek, @jayjayspixiepop, @cmouse, @transheso, @thecrazyfantrolls, @just-a-random-girl-loves-anime, @maddiesupdates, @the-dumber-scaramouche,

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Who Made Me a Villain (4)

[Masterlist] [Ao3]

(Part 1) (Part 2)(Part 3)(here)(Part 5)

-----

Gotham Academy is the most prestigious school the city has to offer. With a rich history since its founding in 1863, it has seen many students pass through its halls.

Currently, school break has ended and students return back to their education. They chattered about their holidays and excitement filled the air over seeing their friends again.

They didn’t know about the storm that was going to disrupt their peace.

The doors slammed wide open. Illuminating the girl wearing a pink hoodie that was definitely against the school dress code.

No one paid her any mind.

When the bell rang, students reluctantly headed to their classrooms.

—-

Mr. Myers was a perfectly ordinary English teacher who had the lovely opportunity to teach at Gotham’s most prestigious education institution.

Currently, he was taking attendance for homeroom.

“Rei Yukimura.”

“Here.”

“Rebel Without-a-Cause.” The teacher paused and looked again at the last name written down on his list.

“Rebel Without-a-Cause” he repeated with a tinge of confusion and settling fear.

“Here.” Came from a voice in the back. Looking every bit of the picture of a delinquent student with combat boots both propped up on the desk and customised school uniform that goes against every school dress code was Rebel. The teenage maniac killer from France who is also the daughter of Joker and Gotham’s newest problem.

Everyone in the class turned to look at her. Upon meeting her gaze, they looked away for fear of drawing attention to themselves.

Mr. Myers, a born and raised Gothamite with nerves of steel, said, “I wasn’t aware that I was getting a new student.”

Rebel hummed before answering, “Well, the paperwork wasn't finalised until this morning.”

She dared him to challenge her.

Mr. Myers, a born and raised Gothamite with self-preservation instinct, didn’t take the bait.

“Well then, let’s begin the class, shall we? We won’t have trouble here, right, miss Rebel?”

“No. No. I’m just here to learn. Psych ward is not a good learning environment.”

“Very well then. Let’s start homeroom.”

Mr. Myers turned back to the whiteboard.

—--

Batman and Commissioner Gordon met on the roof of Gotham Police Station.

“The strangest thing happened today.” Gordon began and turned to face Batman. “Rebel went to Gotham Academy.”

“Hn.” Batman grunted. This was news to him and caught his interest. Tim had dropped out of the place years ago and Damian refused to mingle among the ‘low-minded morons’ in ‘prison for children’.

“Apparently, she had enrolled herself there. Caused a bit of panic among parents when they found out. But she has done nothing bad as of yet.”

“How is she enrolled?” Batman asked, “Wouldn’t the school board deny her entry?”

Gordon sighed, “According to some ‘anonymous’ tips, Rebel had threatened most of them with blackmail. She sent proof of the incriminating evidence she had on them that none of them want being leaked to the press.”

“Hn.”

“It’s a headache. We have tried to arrest her but she pulled out some bullshit loophole law from years ago that she found that basically says that we can’t arrest her while she is on Gotham Academy grounds during school hours. That law is still in place to this day so our hands are tied unless the city council gets on changing it and you know how long the process takes.”

“Hn.”

“In addition to that, she has signed a contract that says that she promises to not cause any physical harm to the teachers and students. Or else she would be expelled. That contract has incredibly detailed circumstances where she would not be to blame if there were some injuries on a student or staff member in an incident involving her. In addition to that, she could continue her schooling online if she happens to be in Arkham. The frustrating bit is that all those conditions she set out were all reasonable. She had Harvey Dent, wearing a mask to cover his uglier side, come in as her lawyer when she signed the contract.”

“Two-Face had his lawyer licence revoked.” Batman said.

“Again, due to some technicality, it is Two-Face who doesn’t have the right to practise law. Harvey Dent still can. And it was Harvey Dent who was in the meeting. Or so Rebel claimed.”

“Hn.”

“The law bends to exactly fit Rebel's wishes and we have no clue why she wishes to go to school.”

“I have an idea.”

Gordon waited.

Batman stood there silent.

“Well, what is it?” Gordon asked, annoyed by his silence.

Batman pointed behind Gordon. The Commissioner turned around to see a pink dot in the distance, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Gordon turned back around to see that the vigilante had disappeared. Probably chasing down Rebel.

—--

Rebel walked out from the fast food joint, humming with her goods in one hand. She expertly parkoured one-handed onto the rooftop. She set down the bags of food and reached for her backpack.

A few minutes later, a blanket is laid out with paper plates and soft drink cans nearly arranged on it.

There was a thud signalling the arrival… of who she wasn’t expecting.

Rebel turned around and her forehead creased into a frown.

“Mister Bat.”

“Rebel. How was your first day in school?”

“Fun.” She replied. “Are you going to stop me?”

“Hn.”

A non-answer.

“Relax. I am not going to kill any of them-” Rebel realised why Batman was worried about her going to school. Her track record of murdering classmates.

“I suppose my past history does make people nervous about me attending school. I promise that I am in a healthier state of mind now. You can check with Dr. Fenton.”

Rebel tried to reassure the vigilante. Everyone she knew had asked her for the reason behind her latest decision to go back to school. The paranoid Bat was probably the same as everyone else. Wondering if she would cause another school massacre.

“I am not worried about that.” Batman said, cutting off her babbling.

“Huh?” Rebel gave him a look of surprise.

“You wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble of making an air-tight contract with many conditions that would backfire on you if you ever make the slightest misstep.”

“What if it is all just a ruse? What if I am just biding my time? What then?” Rebel challenged.

“Then, I will personally drag you back to Arkham into the cell with maximum security.”

“Do it then.”

“Not until you give me a reason to. I believe some people need second chances.”

“You have given my biological father many chances and he has never changed. What if I am not that much different from him?”

“You are not your father. You are someone independent of him. You make your own choices.”

“Still a criminal though.”

“But not a murderer.”

Rebel lets out a dark laugh, “What makes you so sure that I have never killed before?”

“I have kept an eye on you since you set foot in this city. When you get angry, you lash out and take it out on empty places. You ease your boredom with pranks and heists. In all of your plans, you had considered the civilians and they were all left unscathed. And I know that you are not fully set on what you want to do.”

“Maybe I just don’t like getting blood on my clothes.”

“Emily Campbell.” Batman said. The name didn’t ring any bells.

“Who?”

“She was the girl you saved from an explosion which you caused.” Batman explained.

“Oh, the Tik-Tok girl. She was a stupid girl standing there to record a video for five minutes of fame. I am not a monster who is going to let someone die by their stupidity.” Rebel remembered that she was a villain not a hero anymore.

“Besides, it’s more fun to see themselves being humiliated by the audience they were trying to impress.” Rebel finished.

“Most villains wouldn’t care enough to save her but you did. And you rescued her.” Batman pointed out. “You convinced yourself that you are some evil person because that’s what people told you that you are.”

“Stop psychoanalysing me!” Rebel said angrily.

Batman was stubborn in letting her know that she was wrong.

“Even if they die, you visit their graves with flowers. You carry around a gun filled with blanks because you can’t handle the thought of killing someone. You wear a mask to distance yourself from your true nature because you hate…” Batman trailed off, realising his mistake a bit too late.

“Myself.” Rebel finished calmly. The calm before the storm.

“I hate myself. But self-loathing is a very common thing in our lifestyle. Along with the guilt with each person you cannot save. Another person you failed. Another name to remember and etched into your heart. It’s worse if you knew them. It’s devastating if you care about them very deeply.”

Rebel had another thing in common with her father. She knew just how to get under Batman’s skin.

“Enough.”

He would not admit that his voice was slightly shaky when he said it.

“No. You fucking started it and it’s my turn to psychoanalyse you.”

Rebel was a vengeful angel on a warpath. Intend on leaving the earth scorching with her wrath. She was out for his blood.

“You break every promise you made because you convinced yourself that it’s for the greater good. That only made all the relationships you have so strained and you feel alone. Once you realise that you are alone, you decided that it was the best outcome and continued on carrying the weight of everything like you are Atlas. Like you are the titan that can hold up the sky. When the reality is that you are not a god, you are just a human who is too paranoid to trust anyone and pushed everyone who remotely cared about you away for your stupid self-assigned mission!”

Batman knew all of this. He had spent many nights thinking about it. He was self-aware enough to admit to himself that Rebel was right and on point for everything she said. But he didn’t say anything to refute it.

Because Batman knew that Rebel was not talking about him and that was the worrying part.

Rebel didn’t speak for a while and just waited for him to argue back.

When he didn’t, she scowled and rubbed her eyes.

“It’s the dust.” Rebel said, louder than needed.

Batman continued to say nothing and reached into his utility belt for a packet of tissue and held it out to her. An olive branch and an apology.

She took it and faced away from him. He politely looked away.

Her phone beeped and she took it out to read the message.

“Looks like Lay’s not going to be coming. Some trouble came up.” Rebel reported when there was no need for her to do so.

Batman thought about what to say but he had already pushed her too much for today.

“For what my opinion is worth, I believe that you will do the right thing when it comes down to it.” was what he ended up going with.

Rebel scoffed. Although she looked thoughtful about his words.

As Batman was about to grapple off the roof, she said the one word he was hoping for.

“Wait.”

Batman stopped, the arm with the grappling gun still raised.

Rebel fidgeted in her spot, hesitation written all over her.

“I… I thought about it. Whether I should tell you or not. Even before you chased me here.” Rebel started. “And you were right. I don’t want to go through with it.”

Batman put his grapple gun away.

Rebel gave him a look that was a bit difficult to decipher. 

“Here’s the deal. You do this one thing for me and I will call it off.”

“What’s the catch?”

“I need you to keep an open-mind and try to believe that I am not making things up. This is the context of what I was going to do.”

Batman would admit that he had been slightly curious about her past. He does the typical background check on her like he did with all of his Rogues but not as in-depth. There was always something off about what he had gleamed.

He was expecting neglectful parents or being outcasted for being strange.

What he got was completely different.

Evil butterflies. Teenage superheroes who were given a responsibility too big and way over their heads. Magic jewelries that could grant wishes. The city being attacked on a regular basis because someone had a bad day. The world nearly ending a few times. Said magical jewelries given out to other teenagers, one of whom was Rebel.

That last confession had confirmed his theories about who had taught her to fight.

“I have never heard about it.” Batman said. He was not trying to point out that she was making this up but it was bad if this had never appeared onto the Justice League’s radar.

“I assume it’s because the threat was mainly contained in Paris and the akuma battles rarely lasted for more than a day. Most people don’t know an attack happened until way later. I was there with Ladybug and the rest of the team when Hawkmoth got defeated.”

“What happened to him?”

“Ladybug dealt with him.” She answered. “And… I was in contact with Ladybug’s civilian identity afterwards. A few months later, she told me that she met Giovanni Zatara.”

“Zatara? I’ll have to ask Zatanna to confirm.”

“Yeah.” Rebel appeared nervous for some reason. “Can you not… look for Ladybug? I have caused her enough trouble.”

“Why wasn’t she there at your trial?”

Rebel’s shoulder slumped. “The Miraculouses used to be protected by this super secret society and a few months before my trial, they took the Miraculouses away and wiped Ladybug’s memories. As for the rest of the team. They were out of the country, pursuing their careers so they didn’t know this was happening and it all went down fast.”

He felt sympathy for the girl in front of him. He was mostly convinced that the story is true. His only worry was that she might be lying about how involved she actually was.

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

Rebel sighed. “I don’t agree with what Ladybug did for Hawkmoth.”

Batman waited for her to elaborate.

“I- she let him get away mostly scot free.” Rebel confessed. “Back then, I thought it was the right thing. The most peaceful resolution. We get the Miraculous back and he gets his wife back. The whole reason he wanted a wish was to bring her back. Happily ever after, right?” She sounded choked up.

Batman stepped forward and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I know I sound a bit selfish, wishing for him to suffer when he is happy with his life and I am not doing well with my life.” Rebel continued.

She looked up with determination. “I want you to arrest Hawkmoth. That is the deal. You catch him and I will stop what I am going to do. But if some of the others want to continue regardless, I can’t do anything about it. I can only give you my notes so you can counter them.”

“I assume Hawkmoth had caused you some hurt. If you are going against Ladybug’s decision like this.”

“He was part of the reason I had a falling out with my old classmates. I couldn’t give a concrete reason why I was skipping out on our hangouts for akumas. It was so easy for that two-faced lying bitch to get into their heads and-”

Rebel stopped and tried to calm down from her rant.

Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out.

She steeled herself and continued.

“The thing is I saw him on the news the other day. Celebrating his wife’s birthday. It’s fucking selfish of me. He didn’t get to suffer the consequences of his actions. I am here in Gotham as a known criminal while he is acting like he is god’s gift to people with his appealing bland designs. It’s kinda late but I want him to get the consequences he deserves.”

Rebel looked at him. “Is it pathetic of me to ask this of you?”

Batman mulled over the issue. “Why are you asking me to do this?”

“Hawkmoth’s secret identity was connected to my murder trial even though he didn’t know that I was one of the superheroes that interfered in his plans as Hawkmoth. I don’t want it to be seen as me trying to get back at my victims.”

“He’s one of the parents.”

Rebel nodded.

“Yes. You are a smart guy. You would be able to figure out who he is. Given that you believe that I am not making the entire thing up.”

“You rarely lie, Rebel.”

“I lie all the time.”

“You are not a very good one. So it is easy to tell when you are not.”

“Fuck.”

“I will verify what you said first.” Batman said. “I will come back later. Hold your plans off for at least a week.”

“I am not that good of a person you think I am, Mister Bat. The only reason I haven’t done him in is because I don’t ever want to step back in Paris if I can help it.”

“I have one more question for you.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you go back to school?”

“My personal reason why?”

Batman gave a slight nod.

“I suppose you can call it a desperate attempt at living a ‘normal’ life.” Rebel answered.

“I see.”

“Be good.” Those were Batman’s final words before he grappled off the roof.

“Remember who you are talking to, Batman.” Rebel mumbled into the night as she popped open a soda can.

----

(Part 5)

------

Taglist:  @toodaloo-kangaroo, @iloontjeboontje, @buginetye, @angelwreckedd, @anoires-blog, @ever-since-i-was-young, @shutupandactuallylisten, @its-maemain, @vel-vee, @kashlyn, @officiallydarkgeek, @jayjayspixiepop, @cmouse, @transheso, @thecrazyfantrolls, @just-a-random-girl-loves-anime, @maddiesupdates, @the-dumber-scaramouche,

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Damian managed to get Rebel into a trap.

He is bragging about it.

Nightwing drops in to congratulate him.

Rebel was mildly shocked that Damian used her own traps against her.

She is slightly impressed.

She slow claps in admiration.

Damain and Dick noticed that Rebel was too chill for someone who is captured.

Dick: Damian, I have a very bad feeling about this.

Damian: Are you planning, Rebel?

Rebel shrugged: Nothing except it's not three months yet. Not really. You have until an hour left for midnight.

Damian narrows his eyes: I ask again, what are you planning?

Rebel: Birdy, I always keep my words. In fact my exact words were if you caught me before the three month deadline, the plans are gone.

She took out the pages stapled together put of her and in the other had there was a lighter.

She flicked it on and the flames were millimeters away from licking the pages. The plans his father wanted his hands on.

Damian: You are bluffing.

Rebel: do i look like I am bluffing?

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Who made me a Villain (3)

[Masterlist] [Ao3]

(Part 1) (Part 2)(here) (Part 4)

------

Rebel hummed to the tune of Jagged Stone’s newest single as she spray-painted her newest masterpiece on the wall of some office building. The full moon shone bright enough for her to see without the need for a flashlight.

Then a dark shadow loomed over her.

Rebel ignored the glare Batman was giving her, focusing on the shading of her mural.

“Rebel.” came his one-worded demand.

She didn’t look at him and took a step back to admire her nearly finished handiwork instead.

“I feel like something is missing here.” she said, slightly tilting her head and tapping her lips in thought. Or the approximate location where her lips would be since the lower half of her face was covered by a mask.

Batman kept staring at her. Perfectly still but his impatience was still obvious from his body language.

“Oh.” She clapped her hands as inspiration struck her. “What if I added some thorny vines here?” she said. She motioned with her hand where the vines would spread out from her portrait of Poison Ivy.

“Add a subtle threat, don’t you think so, Monsieur Bat?” She turned around to face him, finally acknowledging his presence.

“Rebel.” He narrowed his eye lenses to show that he was giving her the ‘tired dad glaring at her’ face.

“It’s not like I am doing anything bad.” She shrugged her shoulders and rummaged through her duffel bag for her green paint can.

“You are vandalising the property.”

“So do you on a regular basis.”

“Hn.” He grunted, not able to refute that statement.

A snort came from behind her, “Hah. She got you there, B.”

Rebel jumped, startled.

“Damn it, Robin. You know I hate it when you bat-people sneak up on me like that.”

Robin just smirked at her.

“This is completely unfair, you know. Ganging up on me like this.” Rebel complained as she uncapped her green spray paint can and shook it.

“What do you know about the Red Hood?”

Oh no. Rebel hated that voice of Batman. If she was on less friendlier terms with Batman, like the Penguin, she probably would have been thrown to the wall. She would have to get an arm cast, just like the Penguin had for the past month.

Rebel paused in what she was doing.

“Why are you asking me about that?” She asked, genuinely confused about why Batman had asked her of all people about the newest vigilante/maybe villain in Gotham. “Like you aren’t the head of the Rebellion, the biggest gang in all of Gotham.” Robin said, with a wide grin. “And best information network on all things criminal.”

“Don’t call me that.” Rebel groaned. 

People seemed to think the ‘Rebellion’ worked for her no matter how much she corrected them on the misunderstanding and she was getting tired of correcting them.

“I am not leading the gang. I am just their consultant. For commiting crimes. A Consulting Criminal if you will. They were shit at planning so all I did was come up with the plans. They get great results and a good rep. I get paid. Mutually beneficial arrangement. Just because they named themselves after me, doesn’t mean I lead them.”

“Riiight.” Robin didn’t sound convinced. “Anyway, you gotta have heard something.”

Rebel sighed.

“Red Hood. Red Hood.” 

She tried to remember what Lay, her main contact with the gang and the actual leader of the Rebellion, said at their last regular meet-up at Bat-burger.

“Oh, the decapitated-heads guy.”

Batman’s face became frownier. Rebel took that as a sign to continue.

“Yeah, the guy showed up at the latest meet of every top group in Gotham. The big players, you know. Which was only held in the first place to discuss what they were going to do about him.”

Rebel chuckled at the slight irony of it. She had turned back from Batman to continue on her mural.

“Ten minutes in. He showed up with a duffel bag filled with the heads of every lieutenant. Said that he accomplished the act within two hours. Doesn’t seem to be a lie. Lay said that she last saw Erwin’s head on his neck 2 hours before the meeting.”

The sounds of spraying paint stops. She grabbed a new can and shook it.

“He threatened them to give him a cut of our profits each month and laid down a few strict rules. Lay said it was all already what we are doing. Don’t involve kids. Don’t sell drugs to kids. Main point, don’t get kids involved in the drug trafficking shit. And human trafficking.”

“Anything else?”

“She thinks the Red Hood dude is trying to be some enforcer type guardian angel of Crime Alley. Described him as a big guy. Built like a fucking tank and wears leather. No face because he has a red helmet even though he called himself Red Hood. The name sounds like that old gang Harley told me, used to run around with Joker.”

“Joker did once have a crew that called themselves the Red Hood.” Batman mused. “He also called himself that too.”

“Thank you for your help. Let’s go, Robin.”

“Bye, Rebel. I will come see your painting when you are done.”

Rebel absentmindedly sent them a wave. Too focused on her mural.

-

A moment later, a dark shadow blocked her light again.

Rebel sighed. “What more do you want from me?” She turned to give a glare to Batman. 

Only to see that it wasn’t Batman.

Rebel squinted.

“You are the new big bad in town that everyone is gossiping about, right? Decapitating heads and taking over the drug market scene.”

“So you heard of me.” Red Hood stepped closer towards her. She remained unfazed.

“I try to keep up with the latest gossip in the city.” Rebel shrugged. She tilted her head, “Any reasons why you came to see me? I hope it’s not to kill me.”

She said as if being killed was just a mild inconvenience. But that’s just how most Gothamite lived their lives

“Rebel. Relatively new to the Rogues Gallery. Mainly works with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. And… Daughter of the Joker. Following in your father’s footsteps, are you?”

Rebel’s face became dark.

“I do not like associating myself with him. I am more of… the occasional chaos maker than whatever insane and mad thing he usually does.”

“Is that Daddy issue I hear?”

“Are you sure you aren’t just projecting?” She was definitely smirking under that mask.

“Fuck no.”

Rebel laughed as she stepped closer to Red Hood, unafraid. His stature meant that he completely dwarfed her petite figure but he still subconsciously took a step back.

Whether or not Rebel didn’t like to be related to him. They sounded the same, especially when they laughed.

“Because I am pretty sure you are the one with Daddy Issues. After all, it comes with the territory of being a Robin. Having the Big Bat for a father.” 

How did she-

Red Hood whipped out his pistol. The nozzle was a few inches away from blowing Rebel’s head off.

“How do you know?” He growled out.

“Like, it’s hard?” Rebel moved the gun away from her head. “Besides, the writer won’t be happy if I spoil a story which everyone already knows.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Rebel hummed instead of answering like the little shit the rumours claimed to be and said, “How many Jokers can be found in a pack of cards?”

“For someone who claims not to be like her sperm donor, you sure do have that same vague philosophy thing going on.”

Rebel frowned. Jason thought he finally hit a nerve on the teenager.

“Two Jokers.” She calmly continued instead of getting angry like he thought she would. “In countries like Germany, you can find three in a deck. In video games, you often get three lives. Unless you have a cheat code. Or get very lucky. Or you don’t die, ever because you are in creative mode.”

“What are you trying to say?” Red Hood demanded, done with Rebel’s riddle-talk.

“What I am trying to say is, Buckethead. You do have to wonder, despite all the wrong he has caused, why no one has managed to off him yet.”

“My name is Red Hood.”

Rebel walked to the edge of the roof, stepping up onto the parapet wall.

“Whatever you say. Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Buckethead.” Rebel said, turning to face Red Hood. A few inches was the only thing that kept her from falling to death.

Red Hood tensed, realising what Rebel was going to do as she leaned backwards.

“NO!”

Rebel took a step back.

The former Robin leaped and tried to catch her. He failed, missing her fingers by a few centimetres. 

After what felt like an eternity, he stared unseeing at the corpse decorating the sidewalk below and twisted at an awkward angle. The sickening splat when her body hit rang in his ears. The streetlight nearby illuminated it like it was some grotesque artwork.

What the fuck just happened?

Jason’s thoughts were jumbled as he tried to make sense of it.

The girl just stepped off a roof. She didn’t even use a grappling hook, no secret trampoline on the ground or even a rope. Just stepped off and Bam! 

She was lying dead on the ground.

Was she insane? Given her father, it would make sense but why jump off a roof without a back-up plan?

Red Hood sat there for a while in shock and tried to collect himself. A girl, he was talking to, killed herself for no reason. That was fine. It wasn’t important. He shouldn’t care. She was the clown’s daughter. All the more reason he shouldn’t care that she just died in front of him.

But he did care. Despite the fact that he had only talked to her for a few minutes.  He had killed people without mercy but the fact that he couldn’t save the daughter of his murderer made him feel… like a failure.

The clank of metal broke him out of his reverie. He looked up to see a very much breathing, walking and very much alive Rebel who had a deer-in-headlights look as she was caught slowly putting her paint cans back into her duffel bag.

“What?” He gasped out, his voice coming a tad hysterical. He slowly looked over the edge of the roof. The bloodstain was still there but the body was gone. Like Rebel’s corpse had gotten up on its own, walked away, gotten up to the roof via the fire escape and currently, standing in front of him.

Jason closed his eyes and opened them again. Nope, the bloodstain from her fall was still there on her jacket.

“How- how did you- ” Jason swallowed before asking the obvious.

“How am I alive?” Rebel shrugged. “I just am. I am alive so I am.”

“And you are fine.”

He looked at her leg which he had last seen being bent at an unnatural angle moments earlier.

“No one could survive that fall.” He said.

“Eh. I did.”

“That’s cause…” Jason got struck by a horrible realisation, “The Joker is an immortal motherfucker, isn’t he?”

“In a way. Yes.”

“What do you mean ‘in a way’?”

Rebel opened her mouth.

Then thunder boomed and lightning struck the nearest lamppost. Making it dark for a moment before the lights came back on. No rain fell from the sky.

“Alright! I will keep my mouth shut. Happy?” Rebel screamed at the sky. Then, she gave Red Hood an apologetic look.

“Sorry, looks like I am not allowed to tell you.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Someone would be angry if I revealed too much of its secrets.”

“Who? The universe?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t tell if you are genuinely insane or your life is actually that crazy.”

“I would like to think that it is both. But you got the message, right?”

“The Joker can’t die by any means. He will just come back to life.”

“Eh. Close enough.”

Jason was quiet for a moment.

“Does that mean he can still feel pain?”

“When I fell off the roof, I felt my bones break so I am going to say yes.” Rebel replied as she finished packing up her things.

“How the fuck is he even an immortal anyways?”

Rebel looked around, looking for a sign that she won’t be hit by divine punishment if she told Red Hood the answer. When there was no thunder.

She answered, “This sounds the most hippie shit ever but the closest analogy I can think of. Imagine that the Universe is a writer and our lives are the stories it writes. It loves a good story. The story of Batman and Joker is one of them. Because it is such a good story. It never wants it to end and it has the choice to not write an ending. So the Joker is written to be the most evil, the silliest, the most dangerous, the luckiest, the smartest and the most insane man to ever walk the planet so he can be Batman’s enemy in a war forever locked in a stalemate. Until the Universe gets tired of the story.”

“And then, what?”

“I wouldn’t know. I have never heard of a story that ended.”

Jason stared at his hand and closed it into a fist. “Is that why I am alive? Why you are still alive?”

Rebel shrugged as she picked up her duffel bag. “Probably. Then again,” She walked to the edge of the roof, stepping onto the parapet wall.

Jason got hit with intense deja vu.

“I might have made the entire thing up just to mess with you.” Rebel said as she stepped back for the second time that day.

Instinct made him try to grab her again. This time, however, he watched her hands glow and a portal appeared under her. She disappeared through it and the portal closed.

Red Hood stood there on the rooftop, blankly staring at Rebel’s half-finished mural when he heard a familiar thud behind him. That’s when he finally realised her plan.

He laughed and then turned to face Batman. Right on cue, thunder boomed and rain fell.

----

(Part 4)

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