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vikingpoteto · 4 years

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hostage situation (AO3)

It isn’t the first time Bruce Wayne had been kidnapped. It certainly won’t be the last.

But for sure it’s the most jarring kidnapping experience he’d ever had.

He was in the middle of a charity gala when he was taken, which is upsetting because he was really invested in the cause this time. Alas. Bruce wakes up in a dark room, something for which he’s grateful, because he might have a mild concussion. He had been tied to a chair and left on the corner of what seems like an abandoned warehouse - unfortunately, Gotham is littered with those - and he can barely see the silhouettes of a group of people on the opposite side of the empty place. Bruce’s captors.

Bruce takes a deep breath and tries to access the situation in a calm manner. The ropes keeping him in place feel… cheap. Like those plastic rope children use to play. He could possibly just slip out of the bound since no one bothered to tie up his feet. The knot restraining his wrists is uncomfortably tight, however. There is a gag in his mouth. There are at least 5 goons watching him, but they’re smart enough to keep their distance so Bruce can’t make a lot of details about them.

That being said, it feels almost too easy to escape. He wouldn’t even raise suspicion about his secret identity if he did… which means there must be some sort of catch. Bruce wants to make his escape as simple as possible, so it’s best if he figures out what are their tricks before attempting anything

He knows for sure they’re not dressed as clowns, so this can’t be the Joker’s doing. They don’t seem to be dressed as old-time gangsters, so no Two-Face either…

A voice in his right ear interrupts his musings. “I have eyes on him. He’s conscious and tied up. Oracle is checking the building for traps.”

It’s Tim. First comes the relief that Tim has found him. He won’t have to do anything to compromise Bruce Wayne’s identity. Then comes the realization that these people had him unconscious long enough to take him from his own party and they didn’t notice the earpiece he always has to communicate with his family in case the need arises.

Could it be that this is a trap for the bats? Maybe Bruce’s identity has already been compromised and his captors are using him as bait for the others? The thought disturbs him and he wishes he could warn Tim somehow.

Then a second voice joins Tim’s and Bruce’s worry spikes.

“Am I crazy or is he tied with one of those toy jump rope thingies?” Jason asks.

“Looks like it,” Tim says evenly.

“That’s hilarious.”

“Hood, our dad has been taken hostage. Be serious.”

“I am! The thing is at least one of us is kidnapped every week. At some point you get used to it. Anyway... seriously, this looks like a cartoon. I almost expect him to just… slip out of that chair like he’s Bugs Bunny or something.”

Tim snorts and Bruce sighs. He really wished Tim would notice how strange it is that he’s so losely guarded, but, honestly, his hope was lost the instant he heard Jason’s voice. Tim is the smartest boy Bruce knows and Jason has the best instincts, but when the two of them get together it’s as if their intelligences cancel one another out. What was it that Steph said that one time? When Tim and Jay team up they drop all of the brain cells.

"Wait," Tim says. "Look at his face. That's tired #7. I think… I think he can hear us."

"No way, man… they can't be that stupid. There's no way they're stupid enough to leave a whole earpiece unnoticed."

If only.

"Bruce? Bruce, if you can hear us, blink twice."

Bruce sighs again… and blinks twice.

The two boys explode in laughter and Bruce honestly hopes they're seeing him through a camera feed, because they are very loud.

On one hand he's happy that Jason and Tim are finally getting along.

He just wishes they bonded over literally anything other than making fun of other people.

"Oh man-" Tim stutters and Bruce can imagine him wiping tears of laughter as he tries to control himself. He can still hear Jason snickering on the background. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Bruce. It's just... those kidnappers are so bad ! How are they this bad? How did they get you?" Then, after a brief pause. "I mean, we're not laughing at you. "

"I am," Jason says cheerfully.

There is the distinct noise of someone slapping what sounds like the back of Red Hood's helmet.

“Behave, you two!” Another voice joins the frequency.

Dick. Thank God. The only person that can control Jason and Tim is Dick. If Dick is the one leading the mission, this should be over soon.

“B, sorry this is taking so long,” Dick continues. “Babs is scanning the building again because she didn’t find any of the traps at first. There is a chance their security system is analog or something.”

“Tsc,” and there is a fourth familiar voice now. “We should just storm in and remove father from this humiliating situation at once.”

Oh no . Oh no, it’s Damian. Damian is Dick’s kryptonite. If he’s involved, Dick will have his hands full and there will be no one to stop Jason and Tim from just… blowing the place up for the hell of it.

Bruce doesn’t know from what angle his sons can see him, but he attempts to sign something. His bound hands are numb, so no sign comes naturally, but he tries nonetheless.

“Girls, girls, look at that.” And there’s Steph. What this situation needed was another chaos maker. “He’s saying… Hm… Who they work for? Bruce is asking who they work for.”

Never mind. Steph gets to cause chaos once because she is the only child considerate enough to notice Bruce’s feeble attempts at communication.

“Maybe he wants us to figure out who these guys work for?” Tim suggests. “I mean, knowing the M.O. would make it easier to figure out their security.”

“Penguin is in Arkham, but maybe these are loyal followers?” Dick comments.

“Negative. This place is nowhere near as damp and nasty as Cobblepot’s usual dwellings.”

The boys start discussing possible villains, their usual traps and how to overcome them. Bruce is glad they’re covering all the possibilities, as one would expect from a bat. They must always be ready for anything. That being said… they don’t seem to hear it when Steph hisses “ Cass, what are you doing?”

Before Bruce can react, a shadow drops from the ceiling. She doesn’t make any noise as she gracefully lands in front of him. His eyes widen in panic and he glances at his kidnappers on the other side of the warehouse. None of them seems aware that there is a bat in their lair.

Cass gives Bruce a soft smile and signs the word uncomfortable before going behind him and loosening the bound on his wrists. She gently massages Bruce’s numb fingers as though making sure his circulation will return to normal soon enough. When he can barely feel himself restrained, she seems satisfied with her work. She cards her fingers through his hair as if encouraging him. After planting a kiss to his forehead, Cass disappears the same way she appeared with only a slight breeze.

Her brothers have stopped bickering.

“Did Cass just-”

“Hey guys,” Duke’s voice interrupts. “I just heard the kidnappers talking. Turns out they didn’t mean to kidnap Bruce. They were trying to rob the building, Bruce walked into them and they panicked and knocked him out. Now they’re freaking out because they don’t know what to do with him.”

Silence follows.

“So the reason Oracle can’t find any traps…”

“It’s probably because they don’t have any traps.”

More silence.

Batman prides himself in being prepared for anything. Bruce has well-crafted scripts for any possible situation… except for this one. All he can do in this situation is use his recently freed hands to facepalm.

“This is it. We have no viable option but to kill them.”

“ROBIN, NO--”

All in all, it’s a mess. Considering one of the kidnappers promptly passes out when Nightwing drops in front of them, the rescue mission definitely feels like overkill. Clark once said Bruce has too many children and he thought that was a stupid thing to say until he found himself in a situation where his children outnumbered the gang that kidnapped him. It barely counts as a fight as Stephanie and Jason alone immobilize the criminals - granted, Cass was busy holding back Damian, Tim was busy laughing, Dick was busy checking the vitals of the woman that passed out at his sight and Duke was busy getting rid of the rest of Bruce’s restraints.

“What were you thinking?” Dick asks the criminals. “You guys aren’t even wearing ski masks, for heck’s sake.”

“We just needed the cash, okay?” One of them responds miserably glancing at his friends that are currently being cuffed by Steph. “We didn’t expect to run into the owner of the building.”

“And you guys were just… pulling a heist barefaced like that?” Duke questions.

“Look, we’re new in town. We left Metropolis, because how does one survive there? They have Superman! Plus we didn’t think Batman was real…”

At that, Tim starts laughing so hard Jason has to hold him to keep him from falling.

“Dude!” Steph throws her hands up. “If you guys want to be criminals in Gotham, you gotta add some pzazz! Throw in some themed costumes, I don’t know…”

“ Batgirl ,” Bruce chastises and his voice might be still a bit raw from the gag, but he can still sound like a stern father. “We do not condone crime.”

“You’re right, we don’t. … But if you’re going to do crime anyway-”

“Look, we’re just trying to get by, okay?” A woman cuts in. “Our shelter got defunded and it’s hard to get a job when you don’t have an address!”

All of the kids are suddenly both uncomfortable and sympathetic. These are not the criminals they usually deal with, no real harm was done and none of them are truly happy about taking these people to jail.

This, however, is a situation Bruce has a script for.

“I’m sorry to hear about your predicament,” he says, pulling a business card from his pocket. “Here. Wayne Enterprises has a program of support for people in situation such as yours and we’re always looking for new employees. Lots of people leave Gotham.”

Behind him, some of his children groan and Jason hisses something about not adopting these ones too, but Bruce simply ignores them.

After all, this wasn’t that unusual of a night for all of them.

#batfam #batfamily #bruce wayne #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #duke thomas #poteto writing #this is just fluff and crack ok #i thought i'd share this here #batfam fanfic

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captain-ozone · 4 years

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okay okay, guys, so I know we’ve seen HP/Batman and ATLA/Batman mashups and crossovers, with numerous discussions about which Houses the Batfam would be Sorted into as well as which elements they would bend.

I raise you: the Batfam in the world of The Magnus Archives. Which Fear Entities might they serve? Which would they abhor? Which might they have been victims to?

Let’s discuss.

(If you’re unfamiliar with The Magnus Archives, it’s a horror/tragedy podcast. Highly recommend. For context, though, here’s some info on the Entities I’m talking about)

Bruce: He’d likely develop an association with The Web, The Eye, or possibly The Dark with an absolute loathing of The Corruption, The Extinction, The Desolation, and, of course, The End. He fights to keep these last four entities out of Gotham while utilizing his association with remarkably contradictory Entities (i.e. The Eye and The Dark) as both a detective and a cowled vigilante. If anyone could pull it off, he could. And does. I mean, Bruce goes out of his way to investigate and reveal corruption, crime, and other plots against the good people of Gotham, which The Eye loves, AND he skulks in the shadows and makes common criminals piss themselves when he comes to get them, all of which The Dark would thrive on. In any case, I imagine he’d resent any favor given to him by ANY of the Entities. The Hunt enjoys Bruce, too, as it would all the members of the superhero community, actually, in some capacity. Another point for The Web? For all the plans and contingencies he makes, he never plans to make a family. Kids just fall in his lap, somehow in the right place and the right time. The Web undoubtedly has a blast with Bruce. It gives him all sorts of plots to unravel while ultimately playing him like a fiddle.

Dick: THE VAST OMG. He’d both be a victim and servant, and I will not take criticism on this point. The Vast is fickle, I think, and Dick would be a perfect plaything for it. As we all know, this poor boy lost his parents due to a fall from the trapeze, and he might have fallen himself, had things been different (*cough cough* I see you, Mother of Puppets). I love fics that put Dick’s love of heights at odds with his trauma (again providing some evidence for a love-hate relationship with this particular Entity), but of course, Dick overcomes the trauma associated with his parents’ fall and rarely leaves his feet on the ground. Heights and open spaces are his heroin. They’re in his blood. He shares this love with the Robins who follow in his footsteps as well as other colleagues in the superhero community. The Vast feeds off their initial fear of heights/grappling/free-falling, or perhaps each heart-stopping reaction they have when they watch Dick do all these wild acrobatic things from high heights. But The Vast isn’t just about heights, is it? It also has to do with a fear of falling into obscurity or feeling insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And we also know Dick has this fear in ABUNDANCE (see as, his oftentimes rocky relationship with his mentor, as well as his desire to be That Shoulder To Lean On in literally every team he’s been a part of). So. Yes. The Vast.

Babs: THE EYE. Her code name is Oracle. She oversees the entire Batfam operation. And is also an information hub for THE BIRDS OF PREY AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE. Like???? This needs no explanation or further discussion.

Jason: Oh god. This boy. Okay. So. He is fascinating, and he’d be fascinating to pretty much every Entity out there, for both good and bad reasons, too. They’d have a field day with him. Let’s look at his death first. He technically escaped The End as well as The Corruption and The Buried when he was resurrected, bodily restored, and forced to dig his way out of his grave. I cannot decide if these three Entities would target him specifically afterwards for having escaped their clutches or if they would be sated knowing how afraid he was at the time of his resurrection. Either way. The Web, also, would have had a hand in pretty much every convoluted part of DC’s many Crises, one of which triggered Jason’s resurrection in the first place. BUT WAIT THAT IS NOT ALL. Jason’s been touched by The Spiral (because who else would the Joker serve???? Actually... lies. I might argue the Joker shakes hands with The Stranger sometimes too, but idk how well those Entities would work together). Outside of his death at the hands of an avatar of The Spiral/The Stranger (which Jason would experience intense fear/loathing toward), the Lazarus Pit is probably a co-instrument of The End (because the fear of death does drive men to seek immortality, does it not?) and The Slaughter (for obvious reasons). During his crime-lord phase, he may have some association with The Hunt and The Desolation in addition to The Slaughter. The Flesh would have loved his duffle bag of heads. Prior to forming a team of Outlaws, he’s likely also been touched by The Lonely. And ALL THIS after being mentored by someone who has an association with The Eye/The Web/The Dark. And having a brother so closely tied to The Vast. In the end, after the Pit Madness has worn off, Jason might have unintentionally found himself an avatar of The End, but I imagine all of the Entities would love or hate him (and possibly even consider him with the same fondness they would a pet that gets passed around between distant family members). He...has a unique relationship with each of them, in any case.

Tim: WEB TIM WEB TIM WEB TIM WEB TIM. This boy was born to serve The Web. Though he very nearly fell prey to The Lonely, on account of his parents’ neglect. Prior to becoming Robin, he had to fight every day to keep himself from being consumed by it. Continuously lying and tricking his caretakers (as well as his parents) into believing he was alright by himself specifically to sneak out and get pictures of Batman was what initially drew The Web to him. After becoming Robin? Whoooo boy. He had free reign and excelled as a master strategist and manipulator. He violently rejects The Lonely, no matter how often it tries to draw him back.

Cass: Like Tim, she’s been touched by The Lonely. Unlike Tim, I like to think she’s made her peace with it and has learned to live in harmony with the mark it left behind. I mean, her father isolated her for most of her childhood and denied her the opportunity to learn how to speak and read. She had no connection to anyone beyond that. The Lonely adored her. Once choosing to join Bruce, she casts off her larger association with The Lonely, obviously, and learns to become a part of a family. Unlike the others in the family, though, she does not serve any other Entity and makes a point not to get too close to any of them, though she does have an uncanny understanding of each of them (and can identify their avatars, victims, and associated artifacts on sight), which puts her closer to The Eye than she likes to acknowledge. Her hatred of The End surpasses Bruce’s.

Stephanie: she’s the hardest for me to decide upon. Tbh, she’s probably a lot like Georgie Barker in TMA. Perhaps her shameless lack of fear/ability to focus beyond her fears makes her uninteresting to the Entities, maybe??? Will come back to her later. And will definitely accept any further thoughts on her.

Damian: The League of Assassins is all about new world order, right? Ra’s al Ghul’s main motivation is to save the world...while also destroying a good portion of it to do so. So we know Damian has grown up around ideals of The Extinction, The End, and The Desolation. After meeting Bruce and moving in to Wayne Manor, it’s hard to shake any loyalty to these Entities. His death and resurrection, like Jason’s, ties him further to The End, but after meeting Jon Kent, Colin Wilkes, Maya Ducard (etc etc) and actually allowing himself the opportunity to be a kid, he doesn’t really serve any Entity, does he? I mean, he probably defers to Bruce’s loyalties in the beginning and continues to do so while learning from his other family members, but he’s probably made no such commitments to any of the Entities himself. Dick’s tie to The Vast may have some impact on him, especially considering how close Dick and Damian are, but I doubt The Vast would have an interest in Damian solely because of it. The kid’s personality and The Vast don’t mesh. I bet Damian may, later, genuinely follow in his father’s footsteps and be a dichotomy by allying himself with The Eye and The Dark. For now, though, he’s a kid and deserves freedom from any Fear Gods.

Duke: you see the state the Joker’s toxin left this kid’s parents in?? Victim of The Spiral/The Stranger, without a doubt. I’m not as up-to-date on his current arc, unfortunately, so I’m not sure which Entity he would end up leaning toward outside of The Eye (by association to the others and due to his own detective skills) but his powers with light put him at distinct odds with The Dark.

#batman #dc comics #the magnus archives #tma au #batman au #mashup #may add more later #but damn please talk to me about this #i need to see what other fans think #despite what i say i actually will accept criticism #and will happily discuss and hear all theories both agreeing with and contradicting me #this is an unedited mess i apologize #but i needed to get these thoughts out of my head

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tiptapricot · 4 years

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Request from the DC gc: When Duke finds out he has powers he tries to hide it from Bruce because he’s worried he’ll be kicked out of Gotham.

AO3 link here, enjoy!

“Let me under, I’m freezing!”

“Stop it, you’re letting in cold air!”

“Oh really?”

Duke watches as Steph yanks the blanket from Jason’s shoulders and runs cackling for the other side of the field. Jason gets up and stumbles after her, yelling a string of curses as he tries to catch up. Steph makes it about halfway to the tree line before she’s tackled to the ground and the two of them start throwing punches. Cass rushes past a second later, a look in her eye that Duke is sure would make even Darkseid wet his pants.

It’s his first New Year’s at the Manor and one of the only times he’s seen the whole family together in one place. Bruce is setting up fireworks and sparklers, Dick and Tim are helping Alfred ferry food from the kitchen to a buffet table near the edge of the backyard, and the rest of the family is set up on blankets, talking loudly and drinking steaming cups of tea and coffee. It’s cozy, a welcome break from the usual chaos of Gotham.

Jason trudges up and plops back down next to Duke, muttering under his breath as he pulls the blanket tight around his shoulders. The peace only lasts a moment before Steph walks by and kicks him teasingly in the shoulder and the two of them are tearing off through the grass again.

Duke chuckles and stretches, taking a deep breath and lying back on the picnic blanket. Unlike in Gotham, you can see the stars from the manor. The sound of traffic is distant and the hum of conversation is relaxing. It almost seems unreal. So much of Duke’s life over the past few years has been a nightmare. Riddler, Joker, it all feels so alien compared to now.

He’s never had siblings before, that’s been one of the biggest changes since the adoption. There were his parents, but that doesn’t really compare. He’s still getting used to the little things, like how yelling doesn’t necessarily mean someone is angry (though it can), and how there’s always someone to watch your back. He wants to get to know his siblings better. He’s been around Dick, Tim, Jason, and Damian a lot, and he likes to think he knows them pretty well, but the others are a bit of a mystery.

Cass seems nice. She’s quiet most of the time, but Duke has seen her cut loose on more than one occasion. Cassandra Wayne knows how to have a good time.

Babs is what he’d expect from an older sister, strict but kind, dorky, the voice of reason when things get too hectic. Duke thinks it’d be nice to help her out with monitoring patrol sometime. It would give them a chance to sit down and talk.

Steph is just a big ball of energy. She’s headstrong and loud but Duke knows that isn’t the whole story. Sure, she might have added purple glitter to Dick’s shampoo last month, but Duke has stumbled upon quiet moments in the kitchen more than once, heard how soft her voice sounds when she’s helping patch the others up from a night out.

Duke wants to get to know them better, they are family after all.

A shadow blocks his view, making Duke blink. He sits up and rubs his eyes, squinting in the dark.

“Damian?”

“Is this spot taken?”

“Uh…” Duke doesn’t see Jason anywhere, maybe he’s been put on time out. “Nah go ahead.”

Damian sits down with a huff, steam pluming in a soft cloud from his lips.

“Any New Year’s resolutions?” Duke asks.

Damian shrugs. “I don’t see the point.”

“Right, and I’m guessing the others have already given you a lecture in it?”

“Not really.”

“Then why not?”

“Thomas,” Damian gives him a look that’s supposed to be intimidating but instead comes off as more of a pout, “why would I waste my time on meaningless promises?”

“I mean, there’s no harm in thinking about how you want to improve, right?”

“Tt.” Damian crosses his arms over his knees, focusing his attention into the clearing. Bruce is setting up the last of the fireworks.

“It doesn’t have to be a big thing, Dami. You can just say something like, uh, something like...”

He loses his train of thought, his brow furrowing. It starts off small, little sparks drifting up from the grass, so faint Duke thinks he’s imagining it. He shakes his head, and tries to focus back on the moment.

“You can say something like, next year I’ll keep my room cleaner, or—”

A streak of fire erupts in the middle of the clearing, just to Bruce’s left, little dots of light raining down on him. Duke flinches, hand coming up to shield his eyes, but no else seems to react, not Damian, not even Bruce.

Did one of the sparklers go off by accident? Something else moves behind the light and Duke squints to make it out. It almost looks like… a person. Who—

“Thomas?”

Duke jumps, attention snapping back to Damian.

“I, uh,” he glances back at Bruce. The sparkler is still going off, but the figure is gone now. He swallows thickly. “What’s up Dami?”

“You seem distracted. Is something wrong?”

Duke tries to smile, ignoring the way the edge of Damian’s face is starting to blur and glow, like badly layered frames of a movie. He shakes his head. “No, it’s nothing. I’m just… excited.”

Damian nods slowly, obviously still skeptical. Duke really wants to change topics, to ignore whatever weird thing is happening right now, because if one thing’s for sure, this is not normal.

“So, about those resolutions—”

There’s an echoing, shrill, pop that rings in his ears and a second later streams of bright smoke erupt into the air, more sparklers bursting to life in towering pillars of fire.

Duke jumps, letting out a shriek of surprise as he watches the entire clearing fill up with light. He can’t even see Bruce anymore, lost somewhere among the haze of fireworks.

“Holy shit.” He breathes.

This isn’t some kind of minor malfunction anymore, something has gone horribly wrong. Duke feels frozen, his eyes bulging wide as he watches the night burst open with streams of light. Bruce is somewhere in there. He’s hurt, maybe dying. Why is nobody doing anything, why is no one else—

“Thomas? Thomas!”

Hands shake him out of his stupor, and he blinks rapidly, heart hammering in his throat.

Damian looks at him through the darkness, an uncharacteristic expression of worry etched into the lines of his face.

“Dami, what are you doing? Why is no one helping?”

“Helping with what?”

“Helping—”

He looks back and freezes.

Bruce is fine.

There are no fireworks or sparklers, no smoke, no fire. Bruce is kneeling in the grass, still unwrapping tubes of colored packaging.

“He’s—I—he was… I’m gonna see if Alfred needs more help.” Duke excuses himself with a curt smile, mind racing.

The walk to the kitchen feels like it takes forever.

***

“I mean, it’s not like I don’t get that you like it, I just don’t know why you like is so much.” Dick says, lifting a few serving bowls down from the cupboard and setting them on the counter.

“Just because you don’t appreciate the simple beauty of Minecraft doesn’t mean I love you any less, Dick, I hope you know that.” Tim replies, pulling the last tray of dinner rolls from the oven.

“I’m so relieved.”

“Is this what you guys have been arguing about this whole time?” Duke asks.

“No, I believe it started out as a debate over fat free milk.” Alfred says coolly, pressing tin foil over two bowls of soup.

“I still can’t believe you actually drink that shit!” Dick calls over to Tim, laughter in his voice.

“Language Dickie boy!” Tim yells back, pushing the back door open with his hip.

Dick chuckles lightly, turning back to finish up the last few salads.

“You sure I can’t do anything to help?” Duke asks.

“I think we’ve got it covered here bud, but if you wanna grab some more blankets from the living room I wouldn’t say no.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Duke leaves the warmth of the kitchen, letting out a long sigh as he makes his way down the hall.

What an evening.

Sparklers. Tricks of the light.

It’s not the first time something like this has happened, and that’s what really worries him. There have been a few late nights alone in his room, where he’s seen things he shouldn’t be seeing. Books falling before they fall, light trails clinging to his heels when he gets up, things he just attributed to lack of sleep and too much caffeine. But tonight has been different. It’s like he can feel it now, a warm buzzing building up behind his eyes, a weightlessness in the pit of his stomach.

What is he becoming?

The living room is dark, everything solid and still. Duke scoops up an armful of blankets from the couch, pausing for a moment to take a breath.

Whatever’s happening, he’s going to be alright. It’s probably just the lingering effects of a hallucinogen, Scarecrow maybe, or Mad Hatter. He’ll check in with Bruce later and they’ll run some tests and get it out of his system. And then he’ll be fine. The visions will go away and he can go back to being normal again.

Duke smiles at the thought. Normal. It’s not a word he gets to use much in his life, but the idea that he’s gotten to a point where he can is… comforting.

He adjusts the pile of blankets and makes to turn back towards the kitchen, startling when he nearly bumps headfirst into Dick.

“Jesus. You almost gave me a heart attack!” He says, half laughing. “Warn a guy next time yeah?”

Dick doesn’t respond, staring off somewhere over his shoulder. He doesn’t make a sound, his eyes blank, something off in his expression Duke can’t quite place.

“Dude, are you alri—”

He cuts himself off as Dick walks forward, and through him. Duke freezes for a moment, breath picking up, before he turns slowly and watches the apparition move silently across the room. Its edges are dull and shifting, like a bad copy of the original. It gets dimmer as it crosses to the window, before it melts away completely.

Duke stares after it, every part of his brain telling him to run, because you don’t just see things like that. You don’t just see ghosts of your family, you don’t just see things happen before they happen. Hallucinogen, he reminds himself, even though he’s never seen a drug that can do this.

Duke takes a deep breath and stumbles towards the hall, stopping in his tracks when he sees more of them.

They’re even vaguer than the one before, faint glowing outlines of Bruce and Alfred and Cass, walking up from the basement, tending to the fire, reading a newspaper. Duke weaves between them in a panic, clutching the blankets in his arms in a death grip and trying to ignore the quiet faces.

He stumbles into the hall and towards the kitchen, breathing heavily. If he can just get back to the others, then it’ll all be a nightmare, it’ll all be fake and he can go back to normal. That’s all he wants. Normal.

Two figures burst through the kitchen door and Duke skids to a halt, watching as a ghostly Steph and Jason run swift and smooth towards the main house. He can see their lips move in silent taunts, see how close they look to the real things, the coats and mittens and… the blanket held tight in one of Jason’s hands. Duke whips around as they pass, realizing in one heartstopping moment that the ghosts are dressed the same as the real Steph and Jason.

Something cold and tight twists in Duke’s chest.

He pushes open the kitchen door tentatively, glancing back down the hallway. It’s empty now, but he can’t get the image out of his head.

“Oh hey! What took you so long bud? Get lost?” Dick claps a hand on Duke’s shoulder. He flinches, but Dick doesn’t seem to notice. “We took out the last of the food, I was just about to come grab you. Want some help with those?”

“What? Oh, yeah.”

Dick takes most of the pile, hooking his chin over the top.

“Come on, it’s almost midnight, you don’t want to miss the fireworks.”

Yeah, actually he does.

“I’ll be out in a minute, just want to check on something.”

Dick raises an eyebrow in confusion but turns to leave anyway, pushing the back door open with his elbow.

“Wait… Dick?”

Dick pauses, looking back. “What’s up?”

“Did Jay and Steph come through here earlier?” Duke asks, fingers tightening around the cloth of the blankets.

“Uh, yeah, a few minutes before you came in. They nearly knocked Alfred over, went straight through. Why?”

“No reason.”

Dick nods slowly, “Right.” And with that he slips outside. Duke watches him through the window before he turns back to the kitchen.

He has to test something, something that scares him more than fighting villains ever has. He focuses on the room, letting the buzz from before fill his head. Then he waits, part of him hoping nothing happens, part of him hoping he really is just imagining it all.

But, just like clockwork the phantasms appear, going through the same motions Duke had watched before. He sees Dick working on food, sees him laugh, only there’s no sound this time, just the silent smile and vague crinkle of the eyes. Sometimes the ghosts will turn and pieces of their bodies will melt into blackness, cutting off abruptly. Duke takes a step back when something passes over Tim’s face and the apparition ceases to have one, just an empty hole surrounded by glowing wisps of hair.

That’s too much for him. He crosses the kitchen in a hurry, palms sweating, slipping on the door knob. The manor grounds are empty and quiet and Duke walks as fast as he can for the backyard. Faint outlines are drifting through the air, just the shadows of people, just their imprints. He ignores them as he comes around the side of the garage, just in time to watch the manor grounds explode with color.

He’s blinded, stumbling back as cracks and bangs reverberate through the air. He screams and covers his eyes, dropping the rest of the blankets in the process. The light is too bright, brighter than he’s ever seen, like looking straight into the sun. It’s brighter than light should be. His vision is a patchwork of blotches and dots and his head feels like it’s on fire. There’s a whoop of excitement and the shrieking of another firework before Duke manages to open his eyes again.

He nearly chokes on his own breath.

There are hundreds of them, swarming over the lawn and up the steps, clear and vivid and blindingly bright. The ghosts melt into each other, overlapping, rippling out towards the house. All the possibilities of the next few minutes, family members running, sitting, some smiling, others looking terrified.

Duke screams again and turns back towards the house, tripping over his own feet as concerned voices drift after him.

He can’t breathe.

Up the steps, through the door, over the landing, down the hall. The door to his room slams shut behind him and Duke fumbles as he tries to lock it, hands shaking feverishly.

This isn’t right, none of this is right.

“Duke?” He hears Jason call from downstairs. “You good, man? Where th’ hell’d you go?”

There’s the heavy sound of boots thumping up the stairs and Duke panics, trying to run for his bed. He trips and knocks something off a shelf, scrambling blindly in the dark. He hasn’t turned the light on and he doesn’t want to. This thing is triggered by light, so the less of it, the better.

There’s a knock at the door. “I know you’re in there kid. What’s goin’ on? Looked like you saw a fuckin’ ghost back there.”

Duke takes a deep breath, trying to blink away the returning buzz.

“It was nothing, Jay! I’m fine, go back outside!” He yells. It’s not convincing, of course it’s not, but it was worth a shot.

“Okay, but if ya don’t tell me what happened imma have to have B come talk to you, and that’s gonna be way less fun.”

Duke doesn’t respond, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to get rid of the images flashing behind his eyelids.

Jason’s sigh sounds muffled through the wood. “Suit yourself.”

The footsteps retreat and Duke is left alone with his own heavy breathing. Tears slip over the skin of his wrists, hot and wet, and he pushes harder against his eyes.

He knows what this is. He doesn’t want to, god of course he doesn’t want to, but he does.

He has powers.

None like he’s heard of before, he’s not even fully sure what they are or how they work, and that alone is scary enough, but it’s not what’s important. Every meta struggles with their powers, that’s obvious enough. Damian has told Duke countless stories about Jon accidentally blasting things, or floating when he shouldn’t.

That’s not what really scares him.

It’s the reality that this, that he, won’t work in this family anymore. It’s a clear rule, no metas in Gotham, so what is he supposed to do?

Duke doesn’t want to leave, he doesn’t want to give up a life again. He just got this family and now the universe is just going to rip it away? No. No. That can’t happen. God please don’t let that happen.

“Duke?” There’s a heavy pounding on the door and Duke scoots further behind his bed. “Son, I need you to let me in, I have to make sure you’re alright.”

It’s Bruce. Of course it’s Bruce. What can he do? What can he do what can he do whatcanhedowhatcanhedo?

He can hide it.

“Duke?” Bruce’s tone is firm but soft, and it almost makes Duke regret running for the window.

He throws open the latch and takes a gulp of fresh air. There’s a ledge jutting out from the windowsill that runs along the side of the house. It looks sturdy enough, at least he hopes it is.

“Duke, I don’t want to scare you but I will have Alfred open the door if you don’t let me in.”

No choice.

Duke steps through the window, edging carefully along the ledge. He takes a short breath when he’s fully outside and lets go of the frame, leaning against the manor's tiling as he slides away from his room. The marble is cold and he really should’ve put his coat back on, but he doesn’t have much time. Bruce’s knocking has gotten more insistent and he has to make it to the front of the house before they find him.

He picks up the pace.

When he gets to the corner of the house Duke rests his head against the wall, letting out a long breath and readying himself before he swings his leg around and feels for the ledge again. The sole of his shoe slips off an he sways before trying again. There’s the sound of a door slamming and a shout of surprise and that’s all the motivation he needs. Duke pulls himself around and hugs against the wall, heart fluttering sporadically in his ribcage.

They’ll be looking for him soon.

He takes one step and his shoe slips again, but this time he can’t get a good grip. His shins slam against the ledge, followed by his elbows, before he’s landing fast and heavy on the lawn. Duke chokes as he tries to get his breath back, sputtering and coughing before he pushes himself to his feet.

Move move move.

The manor is still dark, the front windows gaping open like big black mouths. He can’t see anyone in the living room, now’s his chance.

Duke pushes open the front doors and runs for the back hall, blood drumming in his ears. He can hear people upstairs, calling out to each other, searching the rooms.

“Where could he have gone?”

“What the hell is happening?”

“Do you think he’s alright?”

The clock swings open silently.

Down down down, the cave walls echo as Duke thunders down the stairs, not pausing to catch his breath before he’s running towards the chem lab.

He gets to the cabinets breathless, wrenching the glass doors open. He rifles through the bottles, skimming his finger along the labels. Where is it. Where is it.

There!

Duke pulls out a small glass tube filled with greenish brown liquid. It’s labeled Fear Gas in thick black sharpie.

Duke closes the cabinet carefully and grabs a syringe from one of the drawers. He pops off the lid of the tube and draws out a few milliliters of solution before capping it again, hands shaking as he sets it back on the counter.

He can hide this way. Inject himself and when they find him, when they test him, they’ll just think he got dosed. It’ll explain everything, his jumpiness, the screaming, heck, he thought he was drugged too at first. They don’t have to know he has powers, he doesn’t have to get kicked out, he doesn’t have to lose a family again.

“Duke! There you are!”

He turns with a start, shoving the syringe behind his back. Bruce is making his way across the cave, face twisted in concern.

“What happened? Why did you jump out the window? What is going on?”

Duke stumbles backwards, two steps at a time. Not now, it won’t work now.

“Duke?”

He flinches back from the touch before Bruce even reaches out. Because he sees it. He sees it coming. Ghostly fingers reaching out, wispy and vague like morning mist, there to expose him for what he really is. A meta. A monster.

His fingers tighten around the syringe and he backs further against the counter.

“I need to know what’s going on or I can’t help you. Just talk to me.”

“I—I,“ he presses the needle to his wrist, thumb shaking over the plunger. He can still do it somehow, he can hide it. They don’t have to know. He can hide it.

“I don’t know what you’re going through, but I can help you, Duke, it’ll be alright.” Bruce’s voice is so low, so soft, so loving. It makes Duke feel sick, because he knows he’s going to lose that if he doesn’t act now.

“But—” His hands are shaking, shaking too much to hold the syringe. But he has to do it, right? Right? “But you’ll be mad.”

Bruce smiles sadly. “No, no no no, I won’t be mad, I promise I won’t be mad. It’s alright.” He wouldn’t say that if he knew, he wouldn’t care so much if he knew, he wouldn’t—“It’s alright.”

The syringe clatters on the cave floor and Duke is in Bruce’s arms a second later, pulling him as close as he can.

“Msorrymsososorryididn’tmeanit!”

Bruce’s arms wrap around his back, warm and steady and solid, holding him so carefully, like he means everything in the world.

“I know, I know, don’t worry. I’m still going to need you to tell me what’s wrong, okay? It doesn’t have to be right now, but I want to make sure you’re alright.”

“Okay.” He presses his face into Bruce’s stomach. His knees feel weak and Bruce must notice because he’s suddenly being hefted up into his arms.

“Let’s go have Alfred make you some tea. When you’re feeling better we can talk. Does that sound good?”

Duke nods, taking a shuddering breath.

“Alright.”

Bruce turns to carry him out of the cave, and just before they go up the stairs, Duke cracks his eyes open.

There’s a boy standing in the middle of the cave, hugging tight to his father, both glowing warmly against the stone.

What a beautiful sight, Duke thinks to himself, a family made out of gold.

#the ao3 link might not work on mobile bc tumblr's being weird :/#im playing pretty loose with canon and Duke's powers in this since I haven't actually read the comics #duke thomas #bruce wayne #jason todd #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #alfred pennyworth #batfamily #batfam #my fic #dc #dc comics #fic #fanfic #my-fic

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ohmygoodnessgraciouss · 5 years

Text

Batfam Headcanons on Voice Impressions

Bruce Wayne

Voice Actor: Kevin Conroy

When the boys don’t have to patrol at night, they’ll watch anything that’s on TV.

That include watching reruns of Dynasty from the 80′s.

When they see Bart Fallmont on screen, it doesn’t even click to them that it sounds a lot like Bruce.

Until Jason finally decides to dare Bruce to try and do an impression of Bart.

And so Bruce tries it out seriously, and everyone basically does a spit take when they hear it.

Dick can’t stop laughing, Damian never sees his father the same way again, and Tim and Jason are just staring at him wide-eyed.

Jason constantly teases him about it later on how he can sound like a gay guy.

Dick ran straight to Babs to tell her about it.

And Alfred was able to hear it from the hallway and even he chuckled.

Bruce will never live it down.

Ever.

Dick Grayson

Voice Actor: Neil Patrick Harris

Let’s be real, Dick would do voices anywhere and everywhere.

Even while fighting some criminals with Jason, he would so use voices to make fun of everyone.

Everyone used to say that his regular speaking voice always reminded them of someone, but they could never figure it out.

Until Tim suddenly ran into the room yelling, “BARNEY MILLER,” after five cups of coffee.

Everyone knew what he meant by some miracle.

For a week they would ask Dick to say some line from whatever episode of How I Met Your Mother so they could hear him say it.

At first, he’d gladly do it, and then he slowly got sick of it.

Poor Dick started lowering his voice so it didn’t sound like Barney as much and wouldn’t have to hear all about it.

What he didn’t tell everyone else was that later on, he’d use the craziest Barney lines right before he knocked someone out.

Jason Todd

Voice Actor: Troy Baker

When he discovered he could mimic voices, he basically died again.

In a good way.

He used this to his advantage, of course.

Whenever he was trying to fight Two-Face, he found that it was really easy to trick all the goons into thinking he was the boss.

It almost disappointed him on how easy it was to fool them. Then again, this meant he could do so many hilarious things to them without them knowing for twenty minutes.

He’d even mess with Tim and Dick for a while by making them think Harvey somehow knew who they were.

They weren’t happy to find out it was just Jason the entire time.

He might’ve been banned from the Batcave for three weeks after that.

However, he totally terrified himself when he realized he could closely resemble Joker’s voice.

He looked in the mirror that day and tried it, and he isolated himself from everyone for a month.

He never tried sounding like the Joker again, even if it meant it’d make things easier when he went for Joker’s head later on.

Tim Drake

Voice Actor: Matthew Mercer

He’s played the Resident Evil games before, but it never dawned on him that he sounds like Leon S. Kennedy.

Until one day when he was playing Resident Evil 6 and Damian walked in to tell him to go on some mission.

Damian practically stopped dead when he heard Leon.

“Drake, Father needs you-”

“Needs me to what?”

“Did you really do a voice on this stupid game?”

“What?”

Thus Damian had to convince Tim that he sounds a lot like Leon. It took getting Bruce, Jason, and Babs to tell him it as well.

And then he tried doing it to the best of his ability and was shocked when he sounded exactly like him.

From then on, he couldn’t stop doing the impressions when he was all alone in his room, where no one could hear him.

As he continued to practice, he discovered he could do more than just one voice.

It was a bad idea to tell Tim that he sounded like a video game character.

Damian Wayne

Voice Actor: Yuri Lowenthal

He never wanted it to be known that he sounds like Ben 10.

That’s why whenever someone mentioned the show around him, he’d freeze in place.

Of course, in a family that has been raised to notice these kinds of movements, they tried to figure out why he was like that.

For a while, they just thought he liked the show and Damian being Damian, wanted no one to know that was the case.

Until Dick picked a random channel on TV and low and behold, Ben 10 was on.

None of them realized what the big deal was until Damian let out just a slight hint about how it sounds like him.

Now he has nowhere left to run, because the secret is out, and they couldn’t let go of it.

He wanted to so desperately just run his sword right into their heads at this point.

“Damian, you’re just a darker and depressed Ben!”

If looks could kill, man.

He didn’t mind sounding slightly similar to the TV Show’s main character.

It was just when Jason and Dick find out, he knew he’d be screwed for the rest of his life.

Bruce would have to restrain him from ripping out their eyes in the middle of the night.

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feralmerit · 5 years

Text

@kingofdirtandnothing from x

Somehow, it’s not the clowns that do it, really.

It’s Dick.

Dick with his blurring motion and fierce strikes and god all the things Jason had prayed for, cried for in that fucking warehouse with the Joker taking parts of him away with every crushing blow.

The only thing as fierce as his love for this, this proof that Dick cares, is the rage at how fucking late it is for that. Where was this when he was dying alone? Where was this when he was dead and that freak was still alive?

(Jason takes a resounding hit to his chest for his mixed emotions-- the cracked rib helps.)

Still, he’s not gone. He knows where he is and what trick is being used and he can freak out about it later. Right now, he’s just pissed. Hurting and eager to take his therapy from a few broken bones.

And then the crowbars come out.

He doesn’t know exactly what noise he made, some combination of rage and denial and hurt, but he knows when Dick whirls in front of him, furious all over again.

No one with a crowbar touches him.

But someone hits Dick.

The first one isn’t bad, a strike across the shoulders and back, and he sees Dick roll to his feet. The ones after that aren’t as easily shaken off. Dick falters, spits blood--

And that’s it.

He’s in the warehouse again with the wet crunch of bone and the fucking ticking bomb and the laughing, all the fucking laughing--

He didn’t exactly, mean to take the crowbar, but he’d started breaking arms and, almost by accident, he had it in his hands, copper and smoke in his throat, murderers in front of him.

He could do something about this. Stop these fucks from killing more kids, more Robins.

And then Dick is between him and the first one and Jason... doesn’t really remember taking that step forward. He stops, staring nonplussed at where Dick has put his heart almost literally in Jason’s hands.

He can’t hear anything over the ticking in his head for a long moment.

For me, Dick says, like he has a right, like he knows what he’s asking.

Jason recoils, cold sneer forming under the mask, ready to cut this tie too, but Dick’s hands are on him and Jason never really did stop bending under that grip.

Shock keeps him in place, a burst of outrage surges through his heart, railing against the cruelty of this, that Dick would manipulate him, would use his old child’s heart to keep him in line like a dog chained up.

That’s not Dick, though. Bruce would use that. Bruce would weaponize that affection in an instant to ‘save’ Jason from himself.

Not Dick. Dick means this and is asking, knows Jason could do whatever he wants in this moment. He asks because he believes, somehow, that Jason is capable of doing this.

For a vicious several seconds he wants to push him away. Wants to snarl and break Dick the way he’d been broken-- no one had been there when Jason needed them, when he’d asked, why shouldn’t he crush Dick? Why should the prodigal son get to keep his heart unbroken when Jason’s splintered and turned black so long ago as he died with nothing but hopeless loathing to keep him company?

That’s the trick, though, the big secret.

Everyone thinks Jason died hating. That he died angry at them all and cursing their names and he’s never told them.

The secret is Jason remembers what he’d wanted in those moments before he died, at the moment he’d realized he wasn’t getting out of that door.

He hadn’t wanted the Joker dead then. He hadn’t spent his last, ragged breath raging against Bruce’s failures and the people who weren’t fucking there.

In the last, short moments of Jason Peter Todd’s life, all he had wanted, his last wish, was his family. He’d wanted Bruce and Dick and Alfred and Barbara. He’d wanted comfort, not to die alone, not to go like this, with the last hands on him ripping him apart. He’d wanted Bruce patting his shoulder and Babs almost crushing him with affection and Alfred’s shocked embrace, hands hesitant and unfamiliar, like he hadn’t known he had a right to Jason’s heart too.

And of course he’d wanted Dick. He’d wanted the stupid jokes and the warm hugs and how he was still just short enough for Dick to trap in a headlock. He wanted his fucking hangers turned backwards in his closet and the way Dick’s eyes crinkled when he laughed at Jason’s outrage.

When he had accepted his death it was with the knowledge that his hopes meant nothing and the realization that he’d never wanted so much to keep living.

Jason takes a breath, lets it hitch and shake in his throat, and looks at Dick, bleeding and on shaking legs, hurting and begging his brother for one thing.

He breathes out and remembers being vulnerable and bleeding and sobbing “Nightwing!” instead of “Batman” and bartering like a man with god-- if you could get here, Dick, please, I’ll never cheat at Uno again, I’ll never tease you for your stupid tights, I’ll start saying I love you back instead of making faces at you, please-- make it stop hurting make him stop--!

He knows what it is when the people you love fail you. He knows why Joker left him with just enough skull to know no one would be in time.

Can he let Dick down like that? Can he spit in his face and go it alone, righteous and angry and knowing he’d destroyed the one bit of belief anyone has left to give him?

Can he be the Joker, just to kill a few thugs?

“Fuck you,” he says, and it’s tired, weighed down and resentful. Fuck you for asking this, for taking this away from me, fuck you for still remembering what I used to be, for believing I can be that again.

Jason drops the crowbar and puts his arms around Dick instead, fierce and sure and determined to keep him from tumbling down.

#kingofdirtandnothing #kingofdirtandnothing / dick grayson #ch. jason #long post #a very very long post holy shit

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jaytodd2 · 7 years

Text

AU where the League of Shadows rule the world. Bruce isn't Batman but his Rogue gallery is still around. Except Harley. She didn't get assigned to Joker and go crazy

It goes like this.

-Ra had managed to rule from the start (Vandal Savage and his ancientness isnt around)

-He still has his children

-Bruce parents still die

-Talia still gets married off to Bruce because WE is the richest company with LexCorp coming in close second but Talia refused to marry the bald man.

-They find out that Bruce got some good qualities so Ra keeps the thought to himself about Bruce being his successor

-Bruce makes Talia happy so she asks her dad to cut back on the killing of those that try to turn from the way of the league

-Ra is actually a wonderful father and respects Talia wishes so they pull back on it

-Bruce still takes in Dick

-Two Face ends up shooting Dick but he doesn't succeed in killing him

-Talia sees Dick somewhat like a son so it takes everything to not kill Two Face

-Talia starts training Dick "Its for his own protection Beloved. And it helps with all of that energy he has"

-Then Talia takes in Jason

-Joker beats him and the League of Shadows make it just in time to keep him from dying

-Talia's nerves are frayed (also Jason is the favorite so Ra and Nyssa nerves are frayed. They want the clown dead)

-He starts training "He nearly died, Beloved! I will not lose my son! You're the one who always said that you need to find a way for him to let out all his anger"

-Talia ends up pregnant

-The Drakes and Waynes are good friends so when Jack and Janet die, Bruce takes Tim in

-Psychogical Trauma by Joker. They hire the best psychologist... Harleen Quinzel. She's one of the best and to help kids that need help, she shows play games and Tim learns tricks. It helps him focus

-Talia starts training Tim when Harley said a way to help him was to give him something to concentrate on "And Beloved, just look at him. He needs a little muscle mass"

-Somehow Tim gets his hands on a computer and it was over from there. Training and hacking became his friends and he slowly got his mind back

-Damian is born

-Cass accidentally killed her dad in an all out sparring match in front of the Al Ghuls (Talia, Ra, Nyssa, and Baby Damian). Shiva doesnt want her so Talia and Bruce take her.

-Bruce and Talia begin helping her learn to talk, read, and write. Though Talia encourages her to keep training. "If you can one day beat me, Cassandra, then I'll buy you and Jason that library you two are always asking for."

-Steph mom died when she was little and she lives with her dad. She ends up going to a park where all of them at an accidentally hits Tim in the face with a rock. She apologizes furiously when she sees Talia and then tells Talia about how her dad was trying to commit crimes and Talia takes him down

-Steph gets taken in on joint decision

-Bruce doesnt want her to train but the kids decide otherwise. Talia agress afterwards. "Timothy's face was bruised for weeks after she hit him with rock, Beloved. She needs to learn to control that strength. It'd be nice to give her a way to feel in control of her own life after her father took so much."

-Alfred is happy to have all of these people in the family

-Damian starts training. Mainly because he didnt want to be left out and that was the only reason Bruce agreed

-Dick and Babs have an on and off relationship and they were "on" when Joker shot her

-Talia is reaching the end of her rope of patience

-Black Mask kidnaps Steph and nearly beats her to death and she manages to get saved before she died

-Talia's left eye is twitching from anger

-And then Bruce and Alfred die. The Manor blown up after Bane attacked Bruce. Bruce was at home recovering and had asked Talia to take the kids out. And she did so reluctantly.

-No one knows who exactly bomb the manor, but with Alfred and Bruce dead? Talia and all of the kids snap.

-Joker, Two Face, Captain Boomerang, Cluemaster, Bane? All dead.

-All of the criminals that did major offenses and were sitting in cells. All "mysteriously" died overnight

-And then Ra ended up getting killed by Deathstroke.

-In this universe, Ra was grandfather figure next to Alfred. He praised them on excelling and unlike Alfred, who spoiled with food and comfort, Ra spoiled with the finest of everything. Dick wanted a pet elephant? Here you go, Richard. Jason wanted to some more books to read and wanted to learn another language? Here's the finest books in Arabian.

-If Deathstroke thought he couldn't die, then Talia and Nyssa showed him. And the kids stood around to block off exits and fight off whatever reinforcements Slade had

-Talia and Nyssa took over the League and to establish a firm rule. Each of the children became the heirs and all took a place across the world to establish their ruling.

-Damian stayed in the middle east with his mother since he was the Blood heir and had Al Ghul blood.

-Stephanie went to Africa while Cass went to Japan and China

-Tim went to San Francisco and built up Drake Industries.

-Jason traveled around. He sometimes stayed near the various Islands around the world or ventured towards England whenever he caught himself thinking of Alfred. If he settled for a long time, then he went to Gotham and ran WE with Dick.

-Barbara went to Star City and met up with another "computer specialist" there. They ended up being the technological voices for the League of Shadows.

-Dick went to New York and sometimes Bludhaven. It depended on the mood.

-Once when Dick visited Gotham, he was attacked by a dude in an owl mask. He had been saved by Jason who had the manor rebuilt and they were living in there where Jason took base after he stumbled across a cave under the manor.

-The two did some research and found out about the Court of Owls. They were a rebel group to the League of Shadows, but they didn't just want to take the League done. They wanted to replace them.

-They call on Talia and Nyssa and told them about what they found and what they learned.

-All of their siblings converge in and with reinforcements from the League, wiped the Court down to the ground. Dick took control of the Court because Jason claimed that it was his birthright.

-The other heroes (Superman, Flash, etc) tried to take down the LoS but they were like roaches. The more you tried to take down and the more kept popping up and with Dick's Owls Robins. The "Justice League" ended up being taken down.

-Research was done to find weaknesses or to find ways to get them to see the way of the League

-Themyscira was an ally. Man's World was no longer plagued by wars and senseless killing? And Strong Women in charge? Sign them up! Sometimes they had disagreements. Different beliefs, you know. It wasn't perfect.

-And with the lazarus pits? They ruled with an iron fist until either Dick, Jason, or Tim did a space adventure and one of them came back with something that granted immortality.

-They ruled forever and anyone that got in their way was taken down brutally.

#ra al ghul #talia al ghul #nyssa al ghul #alternate universe #jason todd imagine #jason todd #dick grayson imagine #tim drake imagine #damian wayne #bruce wayne #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #barbara gordon

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outlawintheredhood · 6 years

Text

Jason vs. Oracle | Self-Para

@centralcitysfinest-rp

There was an unsettling feeling setting the hair at the back of his neck on end as Jason maneuvered his way around the Waverider. It had been easy enough to distract Harley with the promise of getting to blow something up if she could find a weak point in the hull while he searched for a more subtle method of breaking in. That and he couldn’t be sure whatever or whoever had his sister trapped in there wouldn’t have a fail-safe in place if a hole was blown in the ship. Trying to divert the connection that was currently lighting up the Star City Electric was already going to prove difficult. Tracking it back to the Waverider had been simple enough - he was no Barbara Gordon, but he knew a thing or two from working on his own.

He hummed in response when his helmet interface picked up something near what looked to be the cargo bay. He had to pry open a panel with no small amount of effort with his knife, but eventually it slid open to reveal a blank screen. “Okay, Babs, time to get you home.” He muttered to himself. Maybe he couldn’t hack in - he was fairly convinced of the fact - but he might be able to give Babs an opening if her captor was distracted.

The uplink to his helmet took longer than he wanted, his fingers drumming impatiently against the metal of the ship as the screen in front of him glitched and flickered as it attempted to load.

“I would advise against your current course of action.”

The voice rang through the comms of his helmet as the display seemed to finally stabilise. He scoffed as he pulled up the access panel’s manual input, hands flying over keys as he attempted to make sense of the code keeping him out. “Yeah, well, I’m not inclined to take advice from the people who kidnap my family.” He muttered under his breath.

“Ms Gordon was not kidnapped. The opportunity to trap her in the ship was presented and it proved the most logical course of action to avoid the cataclysmic events set in motion by her future actions.” Jason scoffed under his breath at that, grinding his teeth as with each code he managed to get through, whoever was on the other side set up further firewalls in place. He couldn’t get through to Babs to try and hack through it on her end - not while her captor had infiltrated his comm link and could listen in. “We both know you do not possess the necessary skills or technology for this level of decryption, Mr Todd.”

He paused briefly in his attempts, shaking his head quickly to shake off the shock before continuing on. “So you know who I am.” He muttered under his breath. He blinked when he fought through the encryption, spotting his own name at the start of a file. He briefly considered it might be bait, eyeing the code surreptitiously before finally inputting a command into his own interface to try and extract some of the files and isolate them into his own cloud storage to strip and scan for viruses later.

“Jason Todd. Born to Willis Todd and Sheila Heywood. Officially adopted by Bruce Wayne at the age of twelve. Deceased at the age of fifteen, official cause of death noted as asphyxiation and severe bodily trauma.” Jason’s hands shook slightly as the files he was trying to access were flying up in front of him - newspaper scans, online transcripts of press conferences, court case trials.

“What is this?” He muttered, the words and photos flicking up too quickly for him to catch more than snippets - “Wayne ward found in critical condition”; “Joker arrested for attempted murder”; “Jason Wayne-Todd graduates Gotham City University with father-”; “Romance for young Wayne bach-”. His fist connected with the side of the ship, barely making more than a dull thud against the thick hall. “I don’t know how the fuck you think you are-”

“I am Oracle.”

“Like hell you are.” He growled under his breath at her words. “Whatever game this is, stop. Get out here and face me and leave my sister - the real Oracle - alone.” He challenged, temper overriding sense, the plan he had laid out in front of him.

“This is not a trick, Mr Todd. This is a reality that you lived, that has since been wiped from the time stream by the man you know as The Flash.” He blinked uncomprehendingly at the photos - with Bruce, Barbara, Rory, Dick, Tim, everyone - jovial smile in place, slightly crooked and shy. He was sporting a crutch in most, a leg brace or even wheelchair in some of the ones that appeared earlier, younger. He had never been a lanky teen after the Lazarus Pit, but he could see what he might have been had its magic never touched him, imbued him with the strength and bloodlust it sunk into his veins.

What he might have been had he never died.

“The timeline has already been put in danger by his actions - your son’s kidnapping at the hands of the League would not have occurred without his intervention. You were supposed to raise him as your own. Lives have been lost due to the ripples of his actions. Even more will be lost due to what Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne intend. Necessary precautions are being taken to ensure the loss of life is minimised.” She informed him. The tone had remained impassive, cool and lacking any real emotion as it cited these facts to him as if they were no more than the weather. He pushed away as Oracle locked him out of the terminal, the connection to his helmet snapping immediately with a soft crackle in the ear of his comm before it filtered out.

He heard the hiss of the hatch coming open, whipping around to stare blankly through the helmet. He couldn’t take it in - his son, his life, different, all of it twice over - before he saw the outline of the woman standing at the ship’s entrance, familiar red hair falling into her face.

“Babs.” He breathed out hoarsely, relief colouring his expression at some familiarity, some sign they hadn’t failed at his sister alive and well.

Then her head looked up, staring back at him, analytical in a way that Barbara never regarded him, her usually soft blue gaze a sickly green instead.

“I should inform you that Barbara Gordon has died.”

His heart dropped into his stomach at her words, the voice like Barbara’s but not, tinged with something machine-like, holding none of her warmth. He could recognise, faintly the others there, but the panic rising in his chest filtered his vision to one spot - to the thing standing in place of his sister. His hand reached with his gun without thought, raising to aim between its eyes. He felt half-possessed, half of him screaming not to pull the trigger, too caught up on how much it still looked like Barbara, and the other determined to eliminate the threat the only way he knew how. “Where is my sister?”

“Your instinct is as much a risk as Ms Gordon’s ideals. I would advise against it.” It informed him, cold, the words falling from Barbara’s lips while ringing in his comm system again.

“I asked you a fucking question.” He growled, finger moving to the trigger as his grip tightened, before his helmet interface flickered, the targeting system flying around the room wildly before the visuals began to darken and glitch. “What-” He couldn’t question further before the malfunction fried the circuitry of his helmet, and everything went dark.

#//this is crud but i've been struggling with the muses recently so hopefully it's not completely awful #muse: jason todd #character: oracle ai #ccfflashpoint2.0

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redjayson · 7 years

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What's your new idea?

season 2 young justice au!!

there’s not a clear timeline on when jason became robin and died in canon, so i can just handwave it and say jason’s alive and doing his lost days thing by the time s2 has rolled around

that’s where things get interesting. the reach are looking for people with metahuman genes, and the lazarus pit isn’t exactly metahuman genes, but it’s something different. it’s not atlantean and not natural and it clings like a residue to jason.

(the reach might not even recognize it as the same thing that clings to ra’s al ghul because have they ever actually met him in person or did they always just talk with the light over their oversized television screens? probably the latter.)

the reach like to kidnap kids with metahuman genes, but above all they like to kidnap kids that no one will miss. jason is wandering through europe all by himself, training; he checks in with talia every week or so, but she mostly leaves him to do his own thing.

he’s an easy target.

talia doesn’t even worry for over a week after the fact. it’s not like they keep in contact that closely. and by the time she realizes something’s wrong –

she doesn’t really have any idea where to start.

when the young justice team finally infiltrate the reach’s base, jason’s been there for weeks.

impulse speeds around looking for blue beetle, but he takes the time to jab at control panels as he breezes past, setting everyone the reach has captured free. jason stumbles out of his prison, dizzy and shaking, before starting to gather the other prisoners in the room into some semblance of order. he hasn’t been robin for a while, but there’s a tone of command and authority that you gain from being a superhero that you can never really let go of.

jason pulls the hood of his jacket over his head and they all start making their way through the reach ship. shaky as he is, jason still manages to down a reach guard he gets the drop on, and he manages to steal a gun. a weird alien gun, but any gun is basically a gun.

after that they hook up with the rest of the superheroes that have infiltrated the reach ship and freed the prisoners. jason keeps his head turned to the side, allowing the faint shadows of the hood to hide his face as soon as he noticess nightwing and batgirl and any of the other superheroes who might recognize him.

(he doesn’t have any other option for escaping the reach ship other than boarding miss martian’s bio ship. he’ll have to hope he can hide among the others and slip away after they land.)

of course, jason’s luck is absolute shit. he’s almost resigned to it at this point.

jason’s helping the other superheroes herd the prisoners on board m’gann’s ship, sniping from a corner at anyone trying to stop them, when black beetle interferes. they all make it out, though not without being tossed around a good bit, and jason somehow ends up being one of the few that have remained conscious, so it’s his role to start dragging unconscious superheroes onto the ship.

once blue beetle shows up, that gets a lot easier, but jason’s pretty banged up in the whole process, reaction time slower against a reach beetle and after being held for weeks (being tortured and experimented on for weeks).

jason slumps against one of the walls of the ship once they’re finally all inside. he doesn’t care how damp it is from the rush of seawater that m’gann has since cleared out. he’s tired.

“hey,” says a blonde, a year or two younger than him, sitting down next to him. jason vaguely recognizes her as one of his fellow prisoners. he practically threw her onto the ship trying to shove her out of the way of one of black beetle’s attacks. “you probably saved my life. thanks.”

jason laughs. “no problem,” he says. and, slightly grudgingly, “it wasn’t all me.” the team is due its thanks as well. none of them would be getting out of this if it weren’t for them.

(jason wouldn’t be getting out if it weren’t for them. he’d be trapped here until he died, just the same way he was with the joker.)

the girl starts. “you sound like home,” she says.

jason considers her. she sounds like gotham. more than that, she sounds like him.

“crime alley kids gotta stick together,” he says.

the girl laughs. “steph,” she says, holding out her hand.

“…jason,” jason says, and he takes it.

fast as m’gann’s ship is, it still takes time to get places, even if it’s probably faster than any commercial airplane. when you’ve apparently been held out in the middle of the ocean somewhere, it takes hours to get back to land and wherever you’ve been kidnapped from. jason was in europe, and these kids were taken from all over the world, but the justice league – and the team – are located in the united states. that’s where they’re heading.

the flight takes long enough that the team members are trying to talk to everyone who was taken, getting names and places they can go, reassuring them that everything is going to be all right.

jason tucks himself even more firmly into his corner, trying to hide in the shadows, but he knows there’s nothing he can do. everything he had planned and talked to talia about and started training for – it ended the moment he was taken by the reach.

he’d thought he was going to die there, held by the reach. the team rescued them all instead, but everything was still ruined. he could still bounce back, somehow, he could still kill the joker, but it would be so much harder.

well, so far jason hadn’t let even death stop him. he’s at least going to try.

it’s nightwing who comes to talk to jason and steph, two crime alley kids sitting in their corner away from the others. of course it’s nightwing.

jason has his hood pulled low over his head, his hands clenched in his sleeves so they won’t betray him through shaking, his head ducked just enough to allow him to peer through his bangs at nightwing’s approach. the first robin crouches in front of them.

“hey,” nightwing says, in his ‘frightened civilians’ voice. it’s gentle and calm and jason hates it, hates the way he remembers working alongside nightwing and practicing his own voice for when he had to talk to victims.

“you’re nightwing,” steph says, her voice faintly awed.

“yep,” nightwing says cheerily, and no one who didn’t know him would be able to pick out how strained his voice is under that faked emotion. sounds like the golden boy had been having a rough time of it recently. “and you are?”

“stephanie,” steph says. “brown. i’m from gotham.”

“awesome,” nightwing says, and a little real warmth seeps into his voice. for all jason’s heard that nightwing has been operating more in blüdhaven now than in gotham (when he isn’t working with the team), gotham is still where all the robins got their start. “and your friend?”

“i don’t know,” jason says, dagger-sharp. he looks up and meets nightwing’s eyes behind the domino mask. “why don’t you tell me, nightwing?”

nightwing goes a very gratifying shade of white.

“jason,” he says. he reaches out, like he wants to touch jason–

jason slaps his hand away, up and on his feet before he’s even thinking about it, taking a few swift steps back but keeping his back to the bio ship’s walls. nightwing stands slowly, hands held at his shoulders. it’s not reassuring; jason knows how fast nightwing can slip from one stance to another, knows the kind of insane tricks no one but an acrobat could manage to slip into their fighting skills.

all the civilians and superheroes alike in the main hold of the bio ship have turned to watch them, some more stealthily than others. jason can see the two other bats – babs and jason’s replacement – focus intently nightwing and the situation he’s in.

jason’s skin crawls.

“jason,” nightwing says again. he doesn’t take his eyes off jason’s face. his voice is probably supposed to be soothing, but all it does is make jason start to shake.

“piss off,” jason says. his voice breaks halfway through.

he thought he could do this, but he can’t. he thought he could pretend for long enough to get to land and slip away from them all, but he can’t. they’re in the air, in this tiny ship, and there’s no escape. he can’t get away.

nightwing edges one careful step forward, and jason breaks. he lashes out at nightwing, and then the speedster – not west, it’s not kid flash, it’s someone else – is slamming him against the ship wall and jason thinks he might be screaming and then there’s a quick pain in his arm and everything fades away.

(an interlude:

“what did you do?” nightwing yells at impulse. blood is trailing down from his broken nose, but he still staggers forward to catch the slumped form of his brother.

“i helped,” bart says.

“did you,” nightwing says viciously, cradling jason’s head in his lap.

bart thinks about jason’s regrets, the old stories he’d told in the dead of night, the memories of what his family had been and how long it had taken them to reconcile in the aftermath of how hard and dangerous jason had made himself in order to fight against them. he had told bart the kinds of things he had done.

you’re going to save us all, jason said, shortly before bart left. he smiled a little. unless you screw it up. try not to. and– jason hesitated. try to stay away from me, kid. i won’t know you. i might hurt you. there was a time i didn’t care who i hurt, as long as i got what i wanted.

did you ever? bart asked.

no.

bart doesn’t know what ripples he spread that made jason end up in the hands of the reach, and he really doesn’t like that it happened and what other unforeseen things might have been set into motion that he had never considered having to deal with, but a little part of him is glad this happened. he has to be more concerned with stopping the reach apocalypse than anything else, but for the man who had been a presence in his life and told him all sorts of things he might need to know about the superheroes as they had been –

yeah. he’s glad it turned out this way. even if this jason hates him for it.

“yes,” bart says. he swallows any doubt. “it’s a sedative. he should wake up fine in a few hours.”

after they’ve landed.

jason told him about his slightly higher resistance to drugs after his resurrection, in case impulse ever ended up against red hood despite jason’s warnings to stay away from his past self. bart just prays he calculated it accurately.

nightwing gathers jason into his arms and stalks past bart, into the front with m’gann. bart retreats to his position by jaime and tries not to think about the future.)

jason wakes up in a white room, one hand cuffed to the bed he’s laying in.

he’s…kind of offended.

it’s a matter of moments to slip the cuff, but the door is locked from the outside. jason sweeps the room, then sits back down on the bed, staring disdainfully at the camera perched in a corner of the ceiling. he doesn’t touch the water or the covered tray sitting on the table next to the bed.

he isn’t sure how long it’s been before he hears a knock on the door. black canary steps in, closing the door behind her.

“dick couldn’t be bothered to come himself?” jason spits. or bruce, he thinks, and shoves away the hurt.

black canary sits in the only chair in the room, pulling it towards the bed. not enough to crowd jason, just enough to mimic the therapy sessions they’ve all ended up having with her at one time or another.

jason really isn’t looking forward to this.

“i thought i might be the better person for you to talk to,” black canary says neutrally. “given your reaction to nightwing earlier.”

jason scowls.

“jason…” black canary says. “i hope you understand this is a delicate situation. if this is anything like red arrow and arsenal–”

jason laughs. he doesn’t know who arsenal is, but he has to hazard a guess that it’s the real roy harper. looks like they managed to find him after all.

“can you tell us what happened?” black canary asks. “how did you end up in the reach’s hands?”

when we all thought you were dead, remains unspoken, but it hangs heavy in the air.

jason thinks about the whole mess of it, the bomb and waking up in his grave and drowning in the endless green of the lazarus pit. he thinks about the weeks he’s been out of contact with talia, wonders if she even bothered to search for him. he thinks about the replacement, standing next to batgirl like it was his right.

“figure it out yourselves,” jason says.

everything’s there, if they bothered to look. talia found him in gotham, and jason knows she wasn’t lying to him. he isn’t a clone, because there was simply no time for them to have taken him, no reason to implant memories of his death and the grave in his mind, no need for talia to push a clone into the lazarus pit when she could simply have grown one that wasn’t hurt like he was.

jason lays down with his back to black canary and waits until she leaves before he buries his head under the pillow to hide any tears that might seep out.

i’m going to end this here because it turned into a fic more than an outline, oops, but:

batman is off In Space per canon and has no idea that jason is alive and that they’ve found him. between the team pretending the justice league is still on planet and jason’s kidnapping, jason doesn’t realize this

he definitely thinks bruce abandoned him. ouch.

remember how i mentioned jason was grabbed by the reach because of the lazarus pit? remember how he was one of the very few left conscious by black beetle tossing superheroes around like ragdolls? yeah there’s a reason for that

what does the lazarus pit do?

it heals people

even without a metahuman gene of his own, the reach still messed around with him enough that the little amount of lazarus in his system sparked and gave him some healing abilities

not what future!jason told bart about, because that jason hadn’t ever been kidnapped by the reach

i’m undecided whether it’s pretty minor healing or wolverine-style or even full on captain jack harkness, where jason keeps waking up after every time he dies (wouldn’t that suck?)

with jason in the mix, the runaways probably manage to escape earlier. assuming that they keep jason with them, because jason is a) a bat, someone who has a vigilante family who desperately wants him back and would fight to take him, b) has a healing ability, and it seems like that would be a very iffy thing to test ethically, and c) a bat – it’d be hell trying to contain him (a facility that’s good enough for the runaways, and barely at that, would in no way be sufficient to hold a bat that didn’t want to be there), and also probably d) under suspicion for Everything

jason has really bad claustrophobia now. between the grave and weeks spent being tortured in something the same size as his coffin –

yeah.

season 2 au~

#anonymous #jason todd #young justice #julia writes #my fic #*evil laughter*#steph was canonically taken by the reach so you better believe i was going to use that #i love her #jason has The Worst Time #bart probably...should not have.....done that #even if he knows future jason and was given permission #but i mean also fair enough bc jason attacked nightwing and has told bart #about the many many people he'd killed #anyway #jay's (not) having fun playing Figure Out How You Fucked Up First And Then Maybe I'll Talk To You #i hate how i get bored and come up with these kinds of aus but #they're fun #even if they distract me from the fics i need to damn well finish...

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