#but also how long did it take lex luthor to figure this out

[arzuera]

Conner isn't a clone of Luther and Superman,but Danny phantom and Superman.

Phantom looked at the monitor in the med bay dumbstruck. Several other leaguers were in the same situation. How could this have happened? WHEN did it happen? Sure during the early years of crime fighting, Danny hadn’t been the best at keeping his blood in his body but he had grown by leaps and bounds since then. With GIW and his parents trying to figure out how to take him out, it had become instinctual to make sure that he didn’t leave much of a trace wherever he went. Yet, somehow it had been leaked.

And to Lex Luthor no less.

“I don’t understand. Phantom wasn’t even a part of the league when the Cadmus project was in operation. So how could this be?!” Flash stated as his eyes scanned the results over and over but they remained the same.

“I’m… I’m just as confused as you are.” Danny admitted still feeling overwhelmed by this new information. When Cadmus was in operation he had finally appointed as the King of the Infinite Realms at the age of 21. He didn’t join the Justice League until a little over a year later when some idiotic cultists had thought it was a good idea to try and merge the death realm with the living. Now, going into his second year with the League, Danny was finding out he had been cloned.

Again.

Batman grunted as he leaned back in his chair. “The results don’t lie. I’ve run them about ten times and it has all come up the same. The records on Cadmus had stated that Superman and Lex Luthor were the donors in creating Connor. However, Phantom’s DNA is a perfect match.”

The halfa looked to the teenager who was lying on a bed in the other room unconscious. While out on a mission, Superboy had taken several nasty hits and was severely injured. He had needed a blood transfusion and the poor kid had a horrible reaction when Manhunter tried to use an IV of Luthor’s blood which was supposed to have been a match. (Superman donated his blood as needed. It's not that he didn’t want to help but it was really hard for him to give blood with his body the way it was. Most needles just bent out of shape when they tried to pierce the skin.) It was touch and go but it appeared that Danny’s was a perfect match in more ways than one. Phantom pulled out his cell phone and started texting Jazz. She was not going to believe this.

“Phantom, what are you doing?” Batman asked when he saw him pull the device out.

“Texting my sister.”

Flash, finally, peeled his eyes away from the monitor. “Why?”

“Because, apparently, I have a long lost son who I didn’t even know about and she is going to flip that Superboy is her nephew,” Danny responded with a smirk. He wished he could have delivered the news in person. Oh! He also needed to get a hold of his other sister. Dani was going to be so excited to learn that she was no longer the only clone in the family.

Thoughts were swirling inside of his head. Conner currently lived at the base of the Young Justice team. Mainly because he didn’t have anywhere to go. Would the boy mind if he took him home with him? His castle in the Ghost Zone was massive and a lot of the rooms were unoccupied. Conner could pick as many of the rooms as he wanted for all he cared. So long as he was happy. Danny’s apartment was a lot smaller but he could probably upgrade so that Conner could have his own space. Money wasn’t really an issue anymore. It would probably do wonders for the teen’s mindset if he had a proper home to come back to instead of the reminder that the one person who was supposed to care about him didn’t.

“You are taking this awfully well,” Batman said as a statement but Danny could feel the questioning gaze of the bat when he put his phone away. “I would have thought you would be mad.”

“Oh, I’m livid all right.” Phantom replied and what he said was true. “I just found out today that I have a son because the boy was put into the hospital due to the severity of his injuries and he had existed for at least two years in this world without my knowledge. Two years that were filled with an unprecedented amount of physical, emotional, and mental trauma as he tries to figure himself out and separate his identity from the man who is supposed to be his other father and mentor. Only for that man to have treated him as an abomination for existing in the first place.” The room temperature dropped to the point that the breath of the other Leaguers showed. “To be honest, I had already low-key adopted him because of that fact but now that I know I’m related there are going to be some changes.”

Flash and Batman exchanged a look seeing the green eyes of the ghost king flare for a few moments before settling into a soft pulse. Both were thankful that Superman was off-world, at the moment. Clark would have probably said something that would have set the man off if he had been there for the startling revelation. Superman cared about Conner. He did but he was having a hard time overlooking the fact that he was cloned without his consent. So Conner’s life was basically denied by the one person he wanted to be acknowledged the most.

Superman would have to be told before he came back so that he would be prepared for when Phantom was going to come at him. Hopefully, enough time will have passed so that Phantom will have calmed down and had a chance to figure out what he wanted to say. Regardless, it wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. For now, Batman nodded to the halfa and turned back to the monitor. “Why don’t you go check on Conner? He should be waking up soon and this news might be what he needs to hear.”

“Maybe he won’t see himself as a villain anymore because he shared DNA with one.” Danny nodded and flew into the teen’s room trying to think of a good way to tell him. How was he going to react? What was he going to say? Would he accept Danny as a father? It didn’t have to be a father role right away, maybe even a cousin or brother. Whatever the boy felt most comfortable with. After all, it didn’t matter what Conner picked in the end because he was family.

And he would never be fighting through things alone again.

#dp x dc #dc x dp #ficlet #danny phantom crossover #danny phantom #conner kent #batman #flash #justice league #arzuera #ask game

[moffle]

Uh beware possible spoilers for My Adventures with Superman in this post!

With that said, did anyone else take a laughably long time to realize Ivo's assistant Alex is probably Lex Luthor? I can't be the only peanut brain to take WAY too long to figure it out right?

Like I actively thought about how this show might represent Lex and wondered when he'd be introduced in the show, while also wondering who this Alex guy might be. Then, after last week's episode I woke up in the middle of the night and was like "OHMYGODALEXISLEX!!!!"

Also what's everyone's opinions on pretty boy slade 🤔

#my adventures with superman #maws #maws spoilers #why am i so stupid

[idabbleincrazy]

Some Clark pov:

Jeez. I knew Lex was going to take a bit of work, but I don't think I was expecting it to be this bad. He just doesn't see himself the way I do. He sees the man everyone else thinks he is, a carbon-copy of his dad. He's always so confident and sophisticated on the outside that I've forgotten about those glimpses I've seen of the insecure, yet hopeful, young man he is underneath the Luthor-scion façade. I haven't forgotten about the incident with the black Kryptonite, I haven't forgotten about how truly dark and twisted Lex has the capability to become, but I also remember how good his other side was. I remember how he tried to save me from himself.

There is the capacity for terrible evil within him, as there is in most of us, but like most people, there is also the capacity for great kindness. I've seen how caring he can be. I saw it when he fought against his father and worked out a way to lower operation costs rather than laying off a couple hundred people who were dependent on their jobs at the plant. I saw it when he did everything in his considerable power to try to save Ryan. I saw it when he took responsibility for his company's R&D mishap, giving himself up as guinea pig for an antidote that could have killed him. He's done so much for this town, with so little thanks in return. I know who Lex Luthor really is, I just have to make him see it, too.

I know he still has things he hasn't told me, but I'm not going to push. He'll tell me in his own time, or he won't, but I trust him to not do anything that would end up hurting me or the people I care about. I have to believe in that. Having faith in someone isn't about making that choice after knowing all the facts, it's about making a conscious decision to trust them even when you're in the dark. He loves me, and that's something Lex Luthor doesn't do easily, or halfway. And that knowledge is enough for now.

As I pull up the drive to the barn, I realize we still haven't gotten around to discussing the us part of our relationship. With the revelation of my apparent ability to forge a more-than-figurative bond, that kinda took a backseat. I'm not completely sure what this connection between us entails, but it's going to take another trip to the cave and a lengthy conversation with Jor-El to figure it out, so I put a pin in it for now. I still have my surprise waiting inside, and I think Lex needs it now more than ever. Grand gestures go a long way with him, after all.

@leatafandom

#clex #sneak peek sunday

[blorb-el]

thinking about that steampunk/victorian/edwardian AU superbat vibes post again. tbqh i have read very little steampunk, so if i were to actually write anything in this setting it’d immediately turn into thinly-veiled modern labor critique

anyway. some Thoughts, please chime in if any of this seems interesting.

- the reason for so many scientific advancements: lex luthor. on his surface the brilliant inventor responsible for everything from airships (you’ll believe a man can fly!) to the complete infrastructure overhaul of metro-gotham, The City of Tomorrow. the public persona of the ultimate renaissance man; more money than ford, more inventions than edison, and twice as subtle about his bigotry and thieving nature than either of those two.

- (metro-gotham, the sprawling megapolis of three states, roughly encompassing northeast NJ [gotham], NYC, long island, and southwest connecticut [metropolis]. travel times are a lot easier to manage with privatized Lex-Transit elevated magtrains.)

- and at what cost does the future come? the people in his factories? well. if you catch him in a good mood in his gentleman’s club he’ll be happy to expound on  social darwinism and the gospel of wealth. would a side of phrenology be too on the nose?

- basically 60% pre-crisis the world’s maddest and most brilliant scientist, 30% post-crisis ruthless exploitative businessman, 10% [redacted for the Villain Scheme plot point of the fic that i’m trying to convince myself not to write]

- it’d be more interesting to have him work his way up from being a nobody born in suicide slum, however it would be far more on the nose for him to inherit ‘a small sum’ from the sale of his father’s plantation estate. probably split the difference; the propaganda/public persona is the first. carnegie eat your heart out, lex did it better

- bruce: lots of uncomfortable implications with being an industrialist especially if bruce needs to be one too. probably he is. the question of if ethical industrialism is possible in this world, what does it look like. this could turn out SO badly if I don’t do so much research lol. like batman 2022, inheriting his position and wealth but failing to understand at first what his responsibility is. did thomas wayne himself build the conditions under which so much of gotham labors, or was he attempting to triage the situation left by his father/bruce’s grandfather/ancestors? how old is the wayne money? from where did it come from, considering the history of wealth in this country? are there actual canon answers to any of these questions and/or stories in which they are addressed? sure he gets to punch people and glide from his bat-gyrocoptor onto the top of aforementioned elevated magtrains, but also give him problems he can’t solve with his fists, because the idea of dragging battinson-adjacent bruce into corporate maneuvering is very funny to me (especially since lex has probably succeeded in repealing or blocking the sherman antitrust act! monopolies ahoy!)

- clark: obvious play to fully take him to golden age Champion of the Oppressed/grant morrison t-shirt and jeans superman, just explicitly including the people left out of the original golden age stories (aka, there are Black people in metro-gotham now). starts out as a cryptid a la the radio show’s first series (radio clark my beloved), evolves into unifying solidarity, direct action, compassion as more than a platitude; figure out some way to not directly steal the emotional arc from superman smashes the klan. which is so goddamn good. explicitly raised in the great plains socialist tradition, his first job delivering copies of Appeal to Reason, maybe interning under Eugene Debs? what actual year is this set. who knows. this fic would be as fine an excuse as any to finally read The Jungle since i already hc that’s an influence on modern!clark. muckraking journalism is already immensely cool and sexy therefore the daily planet gang and lois are mostly unchanged.

- the irons family ought to play a significant part but right now i only have: john henry high up in the experimental R&D division of lexcorp, deciding how best to stop [redacted evil lex plan], even though it will cost him a social standing that is probably going to be nigh impossible to regain, considering the amount of companies that would hire a Black man in R&D in this time period. again. lots of research to do here

- literally 0 changes needed to dick’s backstory lol

- literally 0 changes needed to jay’s either lol

- the drakes... probably well meaning also-ran second tier industrialists pretending they aren’t lex hangers-on. maybe they can get socially ruined by something along the lines of the teapot dome scandal. as a treat. 95+% of the metro-gotham gilded industrialist robber baron social circle is full of hollow hearted complicit scumbags, and the only thing preventing tim from this fate is 1. his parents’ fall from grace 2. that he has enough braincells to look around.

- there would be SO much pollution in metro-gotham YIKES. easy fodder for any number of villain backstories. cool and understandable motive, ivy, still ecoterrorism

#no points for guessing which evil billionaires luthor is a thinly veiled metaphor for here #clark kent #bruce wayne #lex luthor #steampunk au #hm. this is barely superbat but i guess it can go into the tag. #superbat #basically i think battinson and tshirt clark would be such a fun dynamic #they would NOT get on at first sight lmao #golden age clark my beloved

[superman86to99]

DC Retroactive: Superman - The '90s (October 2011)

Wait, why are we talking about a comic from 2011 if the blog is still in 1994?! Because this was part of DC's “Retroactive” event, where they brought back iconic creators from various eras to do new issues retroactively set in the middle of their old series. This one happens to be (roughly) set in the time period we're covering in the blog, so we couldn’t let it pass.

More specifically, this story takes place during the time when Lex Luthor Jr. is losing his hair (and also his mind) due to the "clone plague" hitting Metropolis. Literally, a deadly plague that only affects clones. And since "Lex Jr." is actually Lex Sr. in an enhanced clone body, he's getting it pretty bad.

Lex is jealous of Superman's media attention and impressive hair (we're smack dab in the middle of the Mullet Era, after all), so he pulls out an ace he's been keeping under his sleeve for quite some time: a new and improved version of "Cruiser," the gigantic tapeworm that attacked Metropolis back in 1992's Man of Steel #12. (Yes, this comic picks up on a 19-year-old plotline.) This new Cruiser was created by genetically modifying an egg left by the original one, which begs the question: do Cruisers reproduce asexually, or are there a whole bunch of giant worms getting it on deep under Metropolis? Maybe we'll get an answer in another follow-up issue in 2030.

Anyway, Superman spends most of the issue dealing with some strange earthquakes around Metropolis, which turn out to be caused by Lex maniacally remote-controlling Cruiser 2 as it burrows under the city. Superman is able to prevent the monster from destroying the orphanage where his unlucky little pal Keith lives, but just being in contact with the toxic slime secreted by the bug for 20 seconds leaves him in pretty bad shape... and bald, to Lex's delight.

But Lex's victory doesn't last too long, because he ends up losing control of Cruiser 2 as it heads towards LexCorp. Superman manages to stop the monster right before it hits Lex’s building, but he realizes he can't throw this Cruiser into space like he did with the original one because the toxic slime would drip down and probably kill some people (or at the very least make them bald... wait, was that Lex's plan all along?). So, he does the opposite: pushing it through the Earth's crust into the magma below, which is a reminder that Superman is actually okay with killing if you're ugly and destructive enough. See: Doomsday.

Speaking of which, Lex is pretty sure Superman died since he's taking so long to come back from the center of the Earth, but once again he's celebrating too early.

The issue ends with Lois Lane telling Superman that she did some digging and figured out that Lex Jr. was behind Cruiser 2 because it targeted buildings LexCorp had been trying to buy via dummy corporations to build luxury high rises. And if there's one thing Lex Luthor loves, that's a real estate scam.

Character-Watch:

This issue is pretty special to me since I believe I might be responsible for one of its many cameos! When this was first announced in 2011, I told Jon Bogdanove on Twitter "Hope we see the return of Dragon Lady and/or Mildred Krantz." At the time, Mildred (the middle-aged waitress who gained Professor Hamilton's heart) hadn't appeared in a comic in almost 20 years... I think. I'm actually not sure how long it had been since she last showed up, because this blog seems to be the only website tracking all of her appearances and we're not done yet. And hey, who is that fine lady with the funky glasses visiting the Daily Planet offices?

Bog enthusiastically confirmed to me on Twitter that that's indeed Mildred. You're welcome, Krantz-fans! It’s worth noting that two other characters in the panel up there (and in a subsequent staff meeting) also hadn’t appeared since the ‘90s: Daily Planet publisher Franklin Stern and reporter Fran Johnson (EDIT: thanks to our patron Bheki Latha for informing me that Fran does have a last name!). Ron Troupe is also there but he’s lucky because he was designated as the Planet’s token black guy at one point, so he has continued appearing over the years.

And, yes, of course Bibbo shows up elsewhere in the issue -- it wouldn’t be a ‘90s Superman comic without him. He’s seen feeding some people who had to be evacuated from the subway via a mobile version of his Ace O’ Clubs bar (I hope that’s not a mug of hot beer he’s handing Lois there).

Plotline-Watch:

Placing this issue in the continuity is tricky: it obviously takes place after the fight with Lobo in Man of Steel #30 (since we see newspaper stories about it), and therefore also after Superman came back to Earth from his mini space adventure with Lobo, which happened in Man of Steel #31. HOWEVER, Lois Lane's hobo friend Charlie dies in MOS #31, yet he's very much alive in this issue. That could mean this story takes place between the pages of #31, but Lex Luthor's hair contradicts that: on the last page of that issue we learn that he's just starting to go bald, and at the start of this one he already looks like a monk. The only logical explanation is that Lex started wearing a wig after this story, or maybe got some hair plugs that fell off within a few weeks.

Lex's characterization itself is also somewhat inconsistent: in this story he's a raging maniac who doesn't give a crap about destroying Metropolis, but in upcoming issues we'll find out that his love for the city is actually his one redeeming quality. Let's chalk this up to the clone plague causing temporary mood swings. This would also explain why Clawster, the evil Underworld mutant who keeps trying to overthrow the surface world, acts a lot more reasonable than usual in this issue. I mean, he still wants to murder people, but at least now he's nice enough to warn them about it.

You might think that Superman's hair is also a continuity error, since he's bald by the end of this issue yet has gone back to the glorious "mullet" look in the stories directly after this one, but no: we learned during "Reign of the Supermen" that Kryptonians are able to grow their hair extra-fast in certain circumstances (like if they’re traveling from Antarctica to Metropolis in a giant battle armor). And, since recent issues have established that Superman's powers are going out of control (he keeps punching things too hard, using his heat vision by accident, etc.), it stands to reason that his hair should grow faster than usual too. In fact, I’m assuming that Superman is constantly having to cut his hair off-panel during these issues, or he’d look like Alan Moore.

I like the mention of Clark Kent's novels going into best-seller lists after his miraculous reappearance after being presumed dead (which happened to coincide with Superman's resurrection). One of those novels was actually the basis for a one-shot special that came out right when this issue is set, so we'll look at it soon.

Clark gets a phone call from a certain "Bruce" who tells him about some weird earthquakes that were just detected under LexCorp. That couldn't possibly be Bruce Wayne, who was too busy traveling the world looking for a cure to his Bane-related paralysis when this story takes place, so I'm gonna assume it was Mighty Bruce from the Injustice League.

It's briefly mentioned that Superboy, being a clone, "has been ill for several days." That kinda lines up with him showing his first symptoms of the clone plague in Superboy #2, which we're about to cover. We also see that the Newsboy Legion kids are sick (as mentioned in MOS #31) yet still allowed to wander around Project Cadmus in their pajamas. That is not how you contain a plague, guys.

Don Sparrow points out: "We see the Ed Sullivan Theate-esque marquee for the DCU’s David Letterman analogue 'Whitty Banter' in the background of Superman’s soaring from the Daily Planet, located on the cross-streets of (Wayne) Boring and (Otto) Binder avenues." Chronologically, that would make this issue the first appearance of the Whitty Banter Show, which I think didn't appear in the comics until 1995, though it had been an in-joke among the creative team since 1993 ("Whitty" is actually long-running colorist Glenn Whitmore).

Lois has a framed poster of Jon Bogdanove's pin-up from Action #600, his first official Superman artwork, in her apartment. What a nerd! She also has the cover for Man of Steel #66, which came out in 1997, but that isn't necessarily an anachronism (who knows, maybe the Planet has published more than one newspaper with nothing but the S-shield logo on the front page over the years).

Patreon-Watch:

This post is getting way too long, so quick shout out to Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Hank Curry, and Bol! You can join the exclusive shout out club at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, more from Don Sparrow and even more sweet Bog art from this issue!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We open with the cover, and right away, it’s a good example of what went wrong with the experiment of the “Retroactive” books—they got period artists, but still used modern colouring and paper stock, which kind of defeated the purpose of matching the style and feel of the old comics they were trying to recapture with these one-shots.  It’s less glaring on this issue than some others (the Superman 70s and 80s issues come to mind) because 90s colouring was closer to the style of 2011, but it’s still a bit jarring to see the glowing effects and other colouring tricks of the modern era on this retro looking era.  That said—it’s a classic Bogdanove cover, with his long-limbed,  hyper muscled and lantern-jawed Superman striding out toward the viewer.  

Inside the issue, we’re placed right where we left off last week, with Lex in the barber’s chair.  Apparently he has a whole team of stylists, as this guy doesn’t look a thing like Meschach Taylor, unlike the other fella.  Yes, I’m quibbling about a continuity error in stories 17 years apart!  [Max: But he fired the other fella, Don! And then this one too. He probably went through 20 hairstylists off-panel.]

There’s another unique 2010s touch, as the LexNews logo on the screen is decidedly Fox News-esque (as is Clark’s later dismissal of doing an interview on the channel).  Bogdanove (inking his own pencils here, which might explain some of the uncharacteristically thick and un-rendered lines) always had a good handle on the grotesque, and it’s used to good effect seeing the illness-ravaged Lex Jr. rage at his hair stylist.  For the most part, Bogdanove hasn’t lost too much of a step in the intervening years—there’s some cartoony moments, which we’ll discuss, but that stylization was always a hallmark of his unique style.  One issue that persist throughout begins here, which is a pretty sizable gap between the eyes of the characters.

We get a pretty Kirby-esque LexCorp lab as we see Cruiser 2 being worked on by AIM looking scientists.

As we see the interiors of the Daily Planet, it’s clearly like riding a bike, as ponytail Clark and the rest of the Planet crew look exactly as they did in the mid-90s, right down to the outfits.  Bogdanove always drew a fetching Lois Lane, and there are a couple adoring shots of her in these pages.

They give Superman a dynamic double page spread as he leaps into action (once again, I always love it when it’s snowing in Metropolis, so bonus points for showing the seasons).  The sequence of Superman rescuing the citizens of Metropolis’ Chinatown is well done, especially the joy on his face as he flies the group to safety.  We’ve talked a lot on this blog about how the Simonson/Bogdanove team seemed to showcase the most ethnically diverse side of Metropolis, so it’s nice to see that continue in these pages

We get pretty cartoony as Lois meets up with Professor Hamilton and Charlie—though it does put the lie to my assertion last week at how much Ham and Charlie resemble each other—while also buttressing Max’s point that Charlie looks like George Carlin.  

As Jimmy and Clark wok their leads, we return to eyes-far-apart land, followed closely by another great image of Superman flying.

The actual battle scenes against the landwhale are well done, but perhaps excessively similar to Superman battling the first version (which we see at the back of the book).

Lois’ slippers falling off as she smooches Superman is a nice touch, and it’s interesting to see Superman with such short hair, even if it gives be a shudder thinking of the immediately retconned Greg Pak era to come, with brush cut, street fighting Superman.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

There are a few Easter eggs hidden throughout the issue, particularly in the Daily Planet scenes.  There seems to be a shout-out to Walt Simonson (husband of writer Louise, and a comic art legend in his own right) on the construction outside the Daily Planet.  Inside, I’d bet that’s a caricature of 90s group editor Mike Carlin hunched over a page layout in the corner.

In two different places, we see grabs from the famed vinyl cling issue of Superman fighting Lobo, which puts this issue right around our current coverage.

At first I thought perhaps the Chinese toddler’s broken English as she cries for her beloved stuffy toy was borderline insensitive, but then I remembered her age, and that pretty much any kid has broken/limited English at that age!

There’s another Walt reference on the Subway, where it’s referred to as a radio station, with KROQ sounding hosts “Something and the Bean”.

I’m guessing a few of these extras on the Subway are cameos of people Bogdanove knows?  They seem a little too prominent (and in the case of the heavy-set bearded guy, repeat too often) to be just background filler. [Max: He looks disturbingly like Ron Jeremy to me, so I hope that’s not someone Bog knows personally...]

Another insider reference as the Children’s Aid Society subname is a wink at Phyllis Coates, the Lois Lane of the 1950s. [Max: Note that Steel had just stopped using the S-shield at this point, so unfortunately that snowman can’t be him either.]

#superman #louise simonson #jon bogdanove #cruiser #mildred krantz #ron troupe #franklin stern #fran #whitty banter #emil hamilton #charlie the ungrateful hobo #clawster #underworlders #bibbo bibbowski #dubbilex #guardian #newsboy legion #project cadmus #myra #keith #clone plague #not ron jeremy (hopefully) #DC RETROACTIVE

[nothingunrealistic]

review roundup: billions 7x06 “the man in the olive drab t-shirt”

a return to disappointing form! what did reviewers think?

New York Times: ‘Billions’ Season 7, Episode 6 Recap: From Russia With Love

At any rate, by the time the closing credits roll, neither one has tried to body slam the other, figuratively or otherwise. That’s the best thing about Chuck and Bobby’s big reunion, actually: the lack of fireworks.

i would have said the best part was that it didn’t stretch out for more than five minutes, but to each their own, i guess.

He allows the menacing robber baron to threaten to throw Krakow off a rooftop unless he puts the kibosh on the divorce filing and stops shtupping Grigor’s ex-wife.

untrue. he threatened to throw krakow out a window. totally different.

Everyone’s a winner! The same cannot be said for the participants in the Mike Prince story line. Like a trio of plotters straight out of Shakespeare, Wendy, Wags and Taylor are constantly kibitzing in hopes of taking their dreaded boss down before he can win the White House.

get their asses!

At this point in its run, “Billions” feels a bit like a spinning top starting to wobble — but I mean this as a compliment. There are only so many times the schemes of one of the show’s preposterously competent main characters can go right before they start to go disastrously wrong. Each meticulously plotted episode moves us incrementally closer to that tipping point.

i wouldn’t say wags & wendy’s schemes have been going “right” so far, per se, but they have avoided ending in disaster, so point taken.

“When did I become Lex Luthor?” Mike asks Wendy plaintively. I dunno, Mike, probably when you decided to run for president as a bald billionaire, something the comic-book villain did over two decades ago. He won, too, if you can somehow imagine a United States of America willing to elect a wealthy megalomaniac as president. Try not to strain yourself.

truly one of the top lines of the episode. look in the mirror, prince! literally!

Yes, that was President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine talking to Axe, but if you thought he might have better things to do than make a cameo on “Billions,” you would be correct. A Showtime spokesperson confirmed that the show edited existing footage of him into the episode.

i’d definitely wondered about that myself. billions pulls some pretty high-profile celebrities for cameos, but that seemed a bit too tall an order to be done just for the show. (though i still wonder what kind of permission, if any, they needed in order to do that.)

Vulture: Billions Recap: Double Turn

each of vulture’s billions episode recaps (and presumably its recaps of other shows) includes an episode rating out of five stars. this episode received four stars — the first after a long string of three-star ratings. would you like to guess what the last episode of billions to receive four stars from vulture was? go ahead, guess. i’ll give you some time to think about it.

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that’s right! it was 6x10 johnny favorite! that episode of billions that everyone loved so much because it was so well-written!!! 🙃🙃🙃

I’m conflicted over “The Man in the Olive Drab T-Shirt.” In many ways, it’s Billions’ best episode of the season yet because it brought back everything the show has been lacking since Axe skipped the country. But it’s also one of the series’ worst episodes on account of how much was crammed into a single hour of television. By overstuffing “The Man in the Olive Drab T-Shirt,” most of the important plot points were diluted.

THEN WHY DID YOU GIVE IT FOUR STARS?

Oh, and remember what I said last week about Billions not spending enough time on Kate Sacker? I continue to be appalled by how major developments in her story line are shoehorned into already overflowing episodes like this one. In short, Wags plants seeds of doubt in Kate’s head about sacrificing her congressional ambitions for the sake of Prince’s presidential campaign (yay!). But after one dinner with her media-mogul father, who reminds her that connections are more powerful than political smarts (he’s right, dammit!), Kate decides to remain at MPC and eventually run as an independent on Prince’s ticket. She’s a political animal, all right.

it was truly baffling how sacker seemed to just bounce back and forth among what everyone else in this episode was telling her without ever having a thought of her own. shouldn’t she at least suspect that wags is messing with her head?

In an exposition-heavy dialogue between Malkovich and Damian Lewis — their superb acting is the only thing that makes this tedious scene bearable — Andolov makes it clear that he’s not letting bygones be bygones yet.

was it bearable? i didn’t notice.

“When did I become Lex Luthor?” Prince moans to Wendy. (This is hands down the funniest line of the season so far. Look in the mirror, pal!)

i must have plagiarized this exact sentiment when reacting to that line being mentioned in the nyt recap. oops! still true though.

Right before Prince goes live, Wendy tells him she knew he would put himself back together, only for Andy to snidely remark that she put him back together — and that she knows Wendy was the one who tore him apart in the first place. It looks like Andy may be the most monumental challenge for the Fifth Column yet because Prince’s speech does gangbusters.

i’m interested to see whether andy becomes a significant player in the battle against prince or if she’s just kind of lingering on the sidelines resenting the influence wendy has on prince. i’d expect her to be showing up in more episodes if it’s the former.

And let’s be honest, we all needed Danny Strong’s exposition so badly here because even I didn’t initially understand how Andolov’s arrest and deportation was going to benefit the oligarch: Andolov agreed to say he was trying to steal American military secrets, which would make him a hero in Russia, thus killing any “rumors” that he was secretly funding Ukraine.

i think him saying “i am a citizen of the greatest nation in the history of the world, led by the greatest leader, so fuck you and fuck america” into news cameras while wearing a t-shirt saying RUSSIA under a hammer & sickle and putin riding a bear also helped out.

Can Wendy, Wags, and Taylor please stop conducting Fifth Column meetings IN THE OFFICE DURING THE WORKDAY? MPC is an open-floor plan. There is no way their machinations will remain a secret for long.

HONESTLY. at least they had the sense to hold their second meeting in wendy’s apartment, but huddling up to discuss their schemes in their extremely high-visibility workplace with all their coworkers around is amateur shit! sacker could have overheard them and ruined everything if she’d approached just a little more stealthily!

As insane as the entire double-turn sequence was, it was worth it just to watch John Malkovich don a USSR-era T-shirt and scream “Fuck America!” in his creepy Russian accent.

not really USSR-era, given the “putin riding a bear” detail, but that was indeed the highlight of that sequence.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Damianista): Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 6: The Man in the Olive Drab T-Shirt

As Grigor Andolov rightly points out one should avadversary is the one that knows about your abilities the most.

PLEASE get an editor. hell, i’ll do it if you want.

We actually kind of knew that it is Grigor Andolov that Axe partnered with to provide weapons for Ukraine.

honestly, lol. even if we hadn’t seen grigor in the trailer, axe’s line of “i got a guy you would not expect to deliver weapons to ukraine” in 7x01 would have immediately set me up to expect that it was grigor.

Once the other oligarchs leave the room, Grigor sits next to Axe. He is very straightforward with his demands and threats. A number of oligarchs who are against Putin’s policies are dead (and the people Andolov mentions were all found dead in apparent suicides! Read about Menlikov and Protosenya here.)

i did not realize that the dead oligarchs grigor listed off were the names of real people. damn.

And knowing that Chuck may not want to do this personal favor for him, Axe talks about the “old combatants’ code” in the example of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, one of the biggest rivalries in the sports history. And remember Axe and Chuck likened their rivalry to that of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Season 5 Episode 12 No Direction Home.

i did remember that, but didn’t realize that “smokin’ joe” referred to joe frazier.

I have read comments on different social media platforms where some viewers do not understand why several characters are against Prince running as a presidential candidate. This shows me that, unfortunately, some undemocratic tendencies and practices have been normalized in American democracy. Mike Prince quoted from Hitler’s 1929 Munich speech in Episode 1 Tower of London. Mike Prince told Wendy that the founding fathers never intended to establish a democracy but a constitutional republic, and that politics in the US went downhill when politicians decided they had to listen to people in Episode 2 Original Sin. Mike Prince promised his Taiwanese business partner special trade privileges as soon as he is in the Oval office in Episode 4 Hurricane Rosie. If you think this kind of person can be the POTUS, then vote for him. I would never vote for someone that has a clear authoritarian agenda.

THANK YOU. not only have i seen this sentiment, i’ve seen a few people suggest that the Real threat to democracy is “a few elitists” (meaning wendy, wags, and taylor) trying to keep prince from the presidency and therefore depriving the american public of the chance to decide whether or not to vote for him. please be serious. (though i must correct you to point out that prince’s points about the founding fathers and politicians were also in 7x01, not 7x02.)

Kate basically buys ads on major TV networks in a way that if another candidate wants to buy TV time like Prince within a week, they cannot because there is no time left! I know I am repeating myself but this is something we should all think about as citizens: Money holds politics hostage in this country.

*turns on a big blinking neon sign that says ↑THEME↑*

The survey obviously does not work when they do it survey with Prince and Bradford in the room since the employees naturally see this as some kind of “loyalty test.” Answers vary from Tuk’s “I don’t deserve you” (Tuk) to Dollar Bill’s “Mike, you’re a combination of Benjamin Graham and fucking Hal from Space Odyssey” to Rian’s FREE PASS. If this was Axe, he would tell his employees that his cholesterol is high enough that they should stop buttering up his ass – like he did in Season 1 Episode 1: The Pilot. But Prince who genuinely believes he is LOVED is very happy with the survey result that Wendy needs to intervene.

one of the strongest axe-prince comparisons ever made. axe fully expects that his employees will talk shit about him! he knows how the world works and how people see him!

When the couple arrives at the studio for Prince’s talk, Prince is grateful to Wendy for putting him back together while Andy says that she, Andy, collected the pieces Wendy kicked across the floor and put him back together. Hmmm. Well, I remember Lara did not like Wendy much, either 🙂

i sure thought about that as well! but wendy’s dynamic with prince definitely shouldn’t worry andy for the reasons that wendy’s dynamic with axe worried lara. as the scripture says:

One storyline that has not been compelling for me this week is that of Kate’s. And this hints that the story is way more complex than it seems. When Wendy says they need to get rid of Kate since she is very effective in helping Prince, Wags takes on the responsibility to convince Kate that it staying at MPC would not work in her favor if she still planned to run for Congress. Since Mike is running as an independent candidate, why would the two major parties nominate Kate, someone so close to Prince? Kate is not naive. And she is smart as hell. There is NO WAY Kate has not thought about this or other potential scenarios. And if she is still staying, she has a plan. And here is what I believe Kate’s plan is: Kate already knows about Prince and his shady ways, his untaxed billions in crypto, and I think her plan is to take down Prince as a presidential candidate, become a public hero, and both parties knocking on her door to ask her to be their nominee for Congress. Yet, Kate does not know about Wendy, Wags and Taylor plotting to take down Prince and so she chooses to play dumb with Wags and brings in a list of attorneys as her replacement to Prince and Scooter. She also talks to her dad for them to go over her plans which I believe her dad is involved in. Mr. Sacker tells Kate about Donna Summer who made him go broke as a music manager but also made everyone answer his calls because he was working with Donna. And when he tells Kate to stay at MPC, I don’t think he tries to tell her that she will win if she stayed close to Prince but she will win if she stick to her plan: Both parties will be after her if Kate takes down Prince as a presidential candidate. I am now convinced Kate will be an essential character in taking down Prince and I think she may recruit Bryan to help her.

um. i strongly doubt that this is the case. i think it’s plausible that sacker will turn on prince eventually, but i really don’t think that's what she’s planning at the moment.

Food for thought: I keep going back to Wendy telling Wags at the end of Episode 4 that they have to do it like in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. I love the book and the original movie. In Murder on the Orient Express, 12 people coordinate to murder a man who hurt so many people in the past. And since every word and reference used in Billions has a purpose, I am wondering whether 12 people will coordinate to take down Prince in the series finale. So let us count: Wendy, Wags, Taylor, Chuck, Ira, Dave make 6. Axe will join them so we have 7. Kate, and if she recruits Bryan for the cause, we have 9. As a bond forming between them, I would not be surprised if Wendy did have Bradford Luke as an ally at some point and it makes 10. And more importantly, one of the dozen murderers in Murder on the Orient Express is the victim’s right-hand man! So, ladies and gentlemen, it could actually be Scooter who can join the ranks to take down Prince as well. Scooter’s face spoke volumes when Prince came to his office to say he could not allow him to conduct the NY Philharmonic in Episode 4 Hurricane Rosie. And I am positive this is not the first time Prince disappointed Scooter. And if Philip joins his uncle, we have 12 right there to take down Prince. What say you?

i don’t think it’s out of the question for brian & david to go the extra mile in fulfilling the reference by arraying twelve against prince, but i think you’re leaning too heavily on hoping that prince’s inner circle will turn against him and too readily ignoring the possibility of rank-and-file prince cappers, or characters currently outside the spheres of the law and mpc, to join the fight. here’s my thinking:

wendy, wags, and taylor are givens, and chuck and axe will join them eventually. it’s possible one or more of these characters will switch sides at the last minute, for The Ultimate Twist, but i expect this to be the core of the fight against prince from episode 10 on.

ira makes sense as an ally to chuck. dave is certainly trying to take down prince as well, but she might insist on doing it her own way.

luke’s first loyalty here is to prince. sure, he might be torn over his growing attachment to wendy, but i don’t think he’d choose her over prince.

sacker and scooter’s first loyalties are also to prince, but he’s done more to undercut or diminish them than he has to luke, and sacker might still feel some attachment to chuck. i could see either of them switching sides at the last moment, but i don’t consider it likely. nor do i expect connerty to come back again.

in my opinion, philip is the real wild card in prince’s inner circle. he came aboard for prince, yes, but he’s been chafing under prince's rule almost as much as taylor has, and his love for scooter might mean he takes prince’s treatment of scooter as enough of an insult to justify working against prince. plus whatever prince does in 7x07 to put philip in “a tough position” will probably only embitter him more against prince. (of course i’m also hopeful that however philip feels about taylor will be a factor in him switching sides. but i’m trying to be Objective and Reasonable here.)

looking at characters outside mpc: based on dan soder’s recent-ish appearance on brian koppelman’s podcast, mafee will appear in one or two more episodes, and if so, him siding with axe et al is far more likely than him siding with mpc. god knows if winston will ever show up again, and whether he’d take a stance on this fight other than “i hope you all kill each other,” but if he does pick a side, i’d bet on him picking taylor’s side.

as for the rank-and-file prince cappers: i’d love it if ben and tuk found it within themselves to fight against prince from the inside (or even the outside), but i doubt they will. dollar bill and victor might be torn between “axe my man axe” and “guy i’m currently making money working for,” but i don’t care enough about them to puzzle out which way they’d lean. rian seems most likely to both want to turn against prince from inside and actually do it, but as we’ve learned, the first rule of predicting rian’s behavior is that you can’t predict rian’s behavior.

Entertainment Weekly: Billions recap: Prince for president

you’re seven episodes too late to have that as your headline!

Axe says that he needs Chuck to arrange safe passage to the United States for none other than Grigor Andolov (John Malkovich), the Russian oligarch that Chuck ran out of the country a few seasons ago. Axe and Grigor became buddies when they came together to help get military reinforcements to Ukraine, but now Grigor is seen as a traitor to his country and asks (or threatens) Axe to get him out of the country.  Chuck isn't eager to let Andolov back into the country, but Axe tells him he'll return the favor at some point and Chuck knows that having Axe in his back pocket is too valuable to pass up.

do you realize that you’re using “the country” / “his country” to refer to three different countries, without clarification, across three sentences? what do you have against proper nouns?

Meanwhile, Kate (Dola Rashad) briefly considers leaving Michael Prince Capital to run for congress within one of the big parties but decides to come back to Prince and run as an independent alongside him. 

squashing sacker’s whole subplot into one vague sentence, without naming any of the other parties involved, and failing to capitalize “Congress” while you’re at it! you really do hate proper nouns!

While I'm not sure this final season of Billions is amounting to much of anything as a whole, this is the kind of episode that still entertains. The storylines are fun and loose without being overly serious, and the performances are great. While the season in general doesn't have much left in the tank and the Prince run for president is mostly dull, it's nice to know that Billions may still have a few good moments and episodes left before it goes off the air. 

peak “half-hearted high school book report” prose right here.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Gingersnap): The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 7 Episode 6, “The Man in the Olive Drab T-Shirt”

Gingersnap […] Food For Thought: Love when Axe and Chuck banter different names at each other. On the tarmac Chuck says, “I’ll need a name, Robert.” We know Bobby, we know Axe; but Robert on the other hand is Chuck’s formal way of chastising. Like when you were a kid and you knew you were in trouble when one of your parents yelled your first, middle and last name at you from another room. But this isn’t the first time Chuck has called Axe out of his name. Back in season 1, episode 12 The Conversation, Chuck pronounces, “Because you’re a criminal…BOB!!”

see also: axe showing up at chuck & wendy’s house in 3x12 elmsley count.

CHUCK: ‘lo, Bob. AXE: Charles. CHUCK: You know, Wendy asked, and I said: Mm, you know, I’m no longer the U.S. Attorney. So there’s no conflict. And I have nothing against the guy. Not anymore. AXE: I said much the same. CHUCK: So come on in. Join us. AXE: Love to.

though i think chuck calling axe “robert” is a first.

Damianista […] First Rate Hypocrite – Dollar Bill Bill before the MPC employee survey: “I’m calling bullshit on this whole exercise, and I sure as fuck won’t suck up.” Bill at the MPC employee survey: “Mike, you’re like a combination of Benjamin Graham and fucking Hal from Space Odyssey. Everywhere all at once… Processing, prodding me to make better trades.”

get his ass!

TheTailThatWagsTheDog Best Duo – Bobby and Chuck  – this has always been the best part of this show.

[CROWD BOOING]

Chuck Sr May Have Delivered the Line But We Know Who Wrote Them – Chuck is all anti-religion huh? And quite vociferously at that. That seems a bit over the top. I wouldn’t be surprised if we looked back at some Chuck Sr scenes in the first six seasons and found him proclaiming to some deity along the way. But this fits their M.O. The writers are obviously not fans of the Christian right and so this is their way of mocking them. Weak sauce.

you seriously think chuck senior is a mouthpiece for the writers’ opinions? have you even watched this show? at any given moment he’s far more likely to say something the writers obviously disagree with! including in this very episode when he’s ranting about how he Has to control his wife and child and Had to apply a firm hand to chuck to make him turn out right!

There is plenty to critique in organized religion, but this is not the way to make a convincing statement. (Full disclosure, I am a cradle Catholic).

of COURSE you are. fucking hilarious.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Lady Trader): From the Trader’s Desk

i don’t believe lady trader is doing a review of 7x06, as she mentioned she was going on vacation in her 7x05 review. if she does publish a review for 7x06, i’ll update this post accordingly.

#billions #7x06 #review roundup

[from-a-reckless-writer]

because, i think it's stupid that lena wouldn't have a back-up plan after alex took the device from her...

“Hey, Alex,” Lena calls, jogging to where Alex was putting her jacket on. Everyone was already gearing up to go home and she’s been thinking about this for the past hour. 

So, Lena shoots her shot.

“Yeah?” Alex turns to her, motor helmet in hand and already clad in her leather jacket.

“I was wondering if I can bring home the tracker? I know it’s a long shot but I was thinking maybe if I get another look at it, I can reverse engineer some of its properties and try to come up with a another way to get Kara back, I know Nia’s already doing the time-travel the but it can’t hurt to-”

Alex mercifully puts a stop to her rambling and puts a hand on her arm to stop her nervous fidgeting.

“I left it on top of the workstation.” She smiles in reassurance. “Of course you can take another look at it. Anything to help Kara.”

Lena lets out a relieved sigh. After everything that’s happened today she’s still a bit wary of stepping on anybody’s toes. That showdown with Alex was really something not to mention that talk after.

“Okay, okay. Thank you.”

“Alright. Good night.”

She sprints to the lab--which looks like more of an awkward gallop in her high heels--and snatches the tube-like device from the table.

She doesn’t even realize she’s hitching an elevator ride with Nia and Brainy—too caught up with planning out what to do with the device—till Nia speaks up, “Hey, that wasn’t bad for a first day.”

Lena looks up from the device in her hands, meeting Nia’s eyes.

“What’d I tell you, Nia Nal? Lena has always been extraordinary,” Brainy states, pressing for the ground floor.

“T-thank you,” she says, voice shaky and shy, but who can blame her? She isn’t used to this kind of appreciation. She still can’t believe they’ve accepted her like this, even though she very nearly ruined the whole mission by choosing Kara above everything else. 

It was a good thing Alex was there to call the shots.

Nia gives her a small smile before slowly closing her eyes and resting her head against Brainy’s shoulder.

They say their goodbye’s at the door and then Lena’s speeding her way to her apartment.

***

The device worked with Kara’s DNA before it got recalibrated, if, and that’s a big if, Lena thinks.

If she can extract Kara’s DNA, replace the core of the device, and input it in, then she can recreate the same tech she did earlier.

She already knows she’s not going to get any sleep tonight.

She pulls up in front of her building and heads straight for her penthouse.

Kara hasn’t been here for a year, what with their falling out and everything that’s happened with Lex. They didn’t even have a chance for one last movie night before Kara disappeared.

Her eyes start to sting with unshed tears at the thought, but knowing the work she has to do tonight, she quickly pushes it down.

Despite Kara not having visited her home recently, Lena knows there are many traces of her in this place. Namely, the lavender hairbrush living in her second bathroom drawer, the one she didn’t have the heart to throw away even during their fight.

She quickly makes for her bathroom, throws open the drawers, grabs the brush and puts it in a clean zip-lock, one she pulled from the kitchen.

She didn’t even bother changing clothes.

She was too busy outlining tonight’s lab work in her head to bother with something as trivial as changing clothes.

There are more important things to do, like busting inside the LuthorCorp tower, and down to what used to be her private lab. Lex hasn’t changed security. This, she knows. Therefore, she also knows that Mr. Johnson still works the night shifts and if she plays her cards right, she can sway him to open the door for her and keep it discreet.

Of course, you must be wondering why doesn’t she just use her private lab at home, instead? The reason being, her private lab is strictly an engineering and physics lab. What she needs right now, is enzymatic reagents and buffers; a gel electrophoresis machine and a PCR machine.

All of which can be found in LuthorCorp’s cutting-edge Biochemistry laboratory.

***

Turns out, she was right.

Mr. Johnson still does the nightshift and he was only a tad bit surprised to see her there. Already used to Lena staying holed up all night long, in her lab in the past.

He tells her he’s on her side despite the bad news about the Luthor Children’s Hospital, tells her that most of them here dearly misses Miss Luthor and hopes that Lex as CEO is only a temporary thing. He also tells her thank you again for the thousandth time for Lena saving his daughter’s life. Lena smiles warmly and asks if he can keep this visit under wraps if he doesn’t mind, to which he immediately agrees. Lena fights the urge to let out another sigh of relief.

See, Lex? It pays to treat people kindly.

It’s 11 pm when Lena reaches the labs. It was already dark, save for the lights of the big freezers. She knows there’ll be footage of her little excursion here but that’s an easy enough problem to solve when you have a Twelfth-Level intellect as back-up.

When she said she isn’t going to sleep tonight, she really genuinely means she isn’t going to sleep tonight.

See, it’s already 11 and she needs at least an hour to sterilize all equipment, another hour to sift through the clump of hair in the brush and look for an intact hair shaft. Then, she estimates 2 hours for extracting the DNA from the hair shaft using enzymes and she knows all too well how long a time it takes for a pipette to find the right fit during electrophoresis, not to mention the PCR machine can take 2-4 hours.

And even then, Lena still has to test the device, link it to her transmatter portal in order to open a portal once she gets Kara’s coordinates and after all that she isn’t really sure if this is going to be effective.

She has half a mind to call Brainy here and run her through all the probabilities.

But she knows this is something she needs to do alone.

***

It’s been so long since she’s had to do anything with physiology that she has to spend at least 30 minutes reading up the lab manual.

Extracting cattle DNA like she did back in college was an easy enough task with someone with the brains as hers, but a Kryptonian’s?

Lena had to do some extra calculations on what temperature to set and how much solution to use to get through Kara’s hair of steel.

In the end, she figured it out and soon enough the hum of the PCR machine becomes her only companion. It took a while to denature Kara’s DNA, she had to double the amount of Taq polymerase before actually getting it to the PCR machine.

It’s 4 am now, and she only has two hours before the LuthorCorp employees show up; two hours before her brother pulls up.

Thank God, for state of the art PCR machines that get things done in under an hour.

***

She’s been actively avoiding thinking of Kara throughout all of this.

But now, she’s home and in her private lab with Kara’s DNA strands in vials inside the LuthorCorp sterile container.

If she pulls this off, if this works, Kara would be home.

She won’t have to talk to holograms anymore, she won’t have to dream about bloody capes, she won’t have to feel incomplete anymore. Kara would be home. She can bring Kara home.

With a newfound determination, she sets on recalibrating the device. She takes out a vial of Kara’s DNA; gloved hands carefully inserting it unto the core of the device.

Now, onto the second part; linking her transmatter portal to open up at the exact coordinates the tracker points.

The whole process took her at least two hours. By the time she trudges to her bedroom to test the device, the sun was already peeking up from the horizon.

She opts to do it in her bedroom, granted that her physics lab was nothing more but the size of two small rooms mashed together. Her bedroom was more spacious and in the event that Kara needs to lie down, her bed would only be three steps away.

The device feels heavy in Lena’s hand, it actually feels alive. Lena supposes, it is. 

It does have Kara’s DNA in it after all.

She feels like this is one of those moments where it will be ingrained in your brain for forever. That small in-between in the middle of the Before and After. The realization of how important this moment is clears up her mind.

So, with sweaty hands she raises the device, clicks something on her wristwatch, watches as the tube fills with a blue hue getting brighter and brighter, till a streak of blue-white light beams out from the device and from a single point starts to form the beginnings of a portal.

Lena’s seen one too many portal openings for a lifetime to know in the next instant that this is it, it works.

She fucking did it.

***

A gust of ice cold air is the first thing that hits Lena once the portal fully opens.

The next was the sight of Supergirl. Kara. She was slumped against a boulder; cape tattered, hair dirty and face begrimed. She looked tired, exhausted, and in those first few seconds, Kara had her eyes closed.

Before it hits Lena all at once, Kara’s right there! She’s right there! She found Kara! Kara is right there, just three steps away—

“KARA!” She shouts, runs to the portal and into the Phantom Zone.

Kara jerks at the call of her name, squints her eyes at the bright blue portal before she realizes a figure is barreling straight for her, screaming her name.

A figure she knows all too well, a voice she knows all too well.

Before she knows it Lena’s crashing unto her place on the ground, two arms wrapping at Kara’s neck, sobbing, “It worked! Oh, God, it worked, I found you! I found you, I found you-”

All Kara could do was mutter a Lena in response, still suspended in disbelief.

Lena pulls back to touch her face and Kara finally takes a good look at her. Lena knows her hair was a far cry from her prim ponytails, she’s been tugging at it since midnight, her face was blotchy with tears and her eyes must’ve screamed exhaustion. But she couldn’t care less about her appearance, because Kara was here, she found Kara.

Kara was here and she’s crying too, also bringing a hand to Lena’s face and wiping at her tears.

They were crying and smiling and sobbing in each other’s arms.

“You found me.”

Lena leans in to Kara’s touch, both hands cradling Kara’s hand on her cheek, smiles in between sniffles and nods.

“I did, Kara I did. I found you. I'll always find you.”

“Take me home, Lena.”

***

Alex picks up on the third ring.

“Lena?” she answers, voice still groggy with sleep.

“I found her, Alex, I found her, she’s home.”

“What? Who? Lena what-”

“Kara. Kara’s home, Alex.”

The next thing Lena hears were sobs. She passes the phone to Kara, who was still in her filthy supersuit, sitting on the edge of Lena’s queen bed probably making it dirty beyond saving but Lena cannot find in her to care.

“Hi, Alex.”

She exits the room to give the Danvers sisters some privacy and also to prepare Kara a shower, grabs a couple of Kara’s clothes from when they still had sleepovers and left it in the bathroom counter.

By the time she comes back again, Kara’s put the phone down, still sitting on the bed and fiddling with her thumbs. Kara looked small like this and there’s nothing more Lena wants to do than to embrace her.

So, she does.

“Hi,” Kara says, as she holds Lena close, Lena straddling her lap, foreheads pressed together.

“Hi back,” she whispers, smile in her voice, Kara’s blue eyes were filled with exhaustion but still beaming bright just for her. “Would you like to take a shower? I’ve prepared the bath for you.”

Kara nods, refusing to pull away, “Okay, okay, great,” she mutters even though the both of them make no move to pull away from each other, choosing to remain in this quiet existence of overwhelming love for each other’s presence, instead.

There’s still so much to say and so much to do, but all of that can wait, everything can wait, there’s no rush.

Her hero is finally home after all.

***

When she opens the door, Alex crashes into her with an embrace so tight, Lena had trouble breathing. Kelly closes the door for them, they drove here still in pajamas Lena notices, as Kelly gives her a smile from over Alex’s shoulder.

“Where is she?” Alex gasps out, tears springing from her eyes at the sight of Kara’s supersuit on the floor, right next to her grimy red boots. Concrete proof that her sister really is home, that Lena really did the impossible.

“In the shower,” Lena murmurs, giving Kelly a cup of tea as Alex paces in anticipation, Lena was half-afraid she’d wear a hole in her hardwood floors.

“H-how?” Alex asks, too emotional to let out a full sentence.

“Well,” Lena begins, and takes them through the entire process of what she had done the night before, how she didn’t sleep, how she kind of needs Brainy to scrub clean the LuthorCorp surveillance system, how she replicated Kara’s DNA as substitute for the life force in that crystal, how the portal had opened in her bedroom.

Alex took all of this in with quiet tears streaming down her face and Kelly’s hand tight in hers.

“Thank you, Lena. Thank you.”

***

The sight of the Danvers sisters reuniting was something that would make even a grown man weep.

Alex collides into Kara, before she even gets the chance to say her name.

“Rao, Alex, I missed you.”

Alex couldn’t respond to hearing her sister’s voice again for the first time, so she just sobs into the embrace.

Lena has to wipe away a stray tear or two before turning around, feeling like this moment was something too precious to intrude on.

This moment belonged to Kara and Alex, not her.

Kelly did the same and asked Lena if it would be okay to use her kitchen, she wanted to fix Kara her first breakfast.

***

“Are you sure you’d rather stay the night here?” Lena murmurs unto the crown of Kara’s head.

They were both laid in Lena’s bed, she doesn’t why she asked, when the both of them are already in pajamas and are two seconds away from slumber still Lena can’t help but ask.

Surely, Kara would want to spend her first night back in her own bed rather than here, right?

“M’sure, I’m right where I want to be,” Kara says around a yawn, pressing close to Lena, and nuzzling into her neck. She was clearly wearied, which was totally understandable, hell the both of them were. Lena’s been up for 24 hours. She’s amazed her body hasn’t knocked her out yet.

After that emotional morning, Alex insisted Kara be checked in The Tower. And so they did, everything was fine with her vitals, though they all still insisted she stay a couple of hours under the sunlamps. All of them knows, there was no sunlight in the Phantom Zone.

Nia, Brainy and M’gann all had teary reunions with Kara. Although, Nia’s was the most amusing one, “I’m sorry, in advance,” she said between sniffles, “But I just couldn’t think of anything and- and- Andrea was grilling me so I just said you were with Cat,” she sobbed.

“It’s okay, Nia,” Kara laughs, “We’ll work on it together,” she promises.

Seeing Kara back with everyone, seeing her in her pastel clothes, seeing her without her glasses; laughing and soft and safe has Lena crying quietly again at the memory.

“Hey? Why are you crying? This is a happy day, remember? I’m home. You brought me home. No more crying, okay?” Kara tells her from her place in the bed.

“I know.” Lena quickly wipes a tear, “I’m sorry, I’m just happy. So, so happy.”

She is. She really, really is. Especially right now, finally laying in bed with Kara after a long two weeks of lonely nights.

Kara requested to be held tonight, asking Lena shyly, “C-can you hold me? For tonight? Please?”

Lena was powerless and now here they were.

“For the record,” Lena says, “I’m right where I want to be, too.”

#ignore the science part i read like one article from ncbi and then wrote that shit in #sdfjklasdjf thats like stock knowledge from my past biochem lessons #anyways yeah cos i really think it's stupid that lena wouldn't have a back up plan or at least a replica of the tech #the reckless writer writes #supercorp ficlet of sorts #supercorp #supercorp fic #supergirl spoilers #rcklss writes

[thevindicativevordan]

You really have done a good work on your takes on the Superman rogues. There are interesting and very original ideas than at the same time are really in the coherence of the characters. Not always I agree with you, but I congrat on how you have worked your ideas. Now, considering this, how would you create a list of enemies for Supergirl? In the CW series they practically stolen all of Superman enemies to give Kara something to fight against. Supergirl really lacks of her own rogues gallery.

With a Rogues Gallery you typically want a mix of villains who are physical threats and villains who are mental or ideological threats (and of course some that are both). For Supergirl you need to figure out what her status quo should be, what her long-term goal is, and what kind of themes do you want to explore with her that you can't do with the rest of the Superfamily. Then you can make or revamp Rogues to act as threats, roadblocks, or alternate paths to her goals. Love the idea of Kara forming a lunar colony from Future State and I'd still love a Supergirl run that makes that the focus, her building it and overseeing it. With that in mind here's some (not all of them) of Kara's existing Rogues I'd want to use for such a run:

The Worldkillers

Great fit for Kara to face living embodiments of Krypton's sins, given that she's the one born and raised on Krypton. Kara's idealization and nostalgia of Krypton running up against the rather unpleasant reality of the planet at it's worst adds some thematic weight to their fights. Plus they look cool and aren't connected to anything of Kal's which is a big plus. I would tie one villain of Kal's to them, but I'd also straight up give him to Kara in recompense for doing so. Given their role is destroying/conquering worlds, them showing up to torch Kara's new home on the moon feels like an obvious way to demonstrate how her old home is a threat to her new one.

Reactron

Reactron was badass in the Pre-Flashpoint era. Did a better job of living up to his potential than Metallo ever has, I have to concede that. You'd basically be starting over from scratch with him since I don't think he's reappeared post-Flashpoint, and New Krypton is not one of the stories that got recanonized given the state of Kandor. Think it's worth bringing him back all the same, he's a psycho who hates aliens and enjoys killing them, a simple and straightforward motivation that works. Given Kara in my eyes should be far more cynical about humans than her cousin, Reactron is the villain to trot out for when you want to have Kara see her worst beliefs about human nature confirmed. In my ideal take I'd use him as the one that finally pushes her to bail on Earth and start setting up that moon colony. Afterwards he's the muscle of the human forces who want Kara off of "their" moon.

Simon Tycho

Was this guy meant to be a revamp of Psimon? He sure looks like the Young Justice take on Psimon although maybe that's a coincidence. Anyway he's a pretty clear cut Lex Luthor expy given he's a bald genius with an interest in aliens, but his mutations and powers help differentiate the two. Originally he paid world governments for the right to experiment on any extraterrestrial objects that landed within their borders. Maybe write him as Kara's competitor on the moon, in response to an alien setting up shop on Luna, Tycho gets a ton of discreet funding from governments to set up a humans-only lunar settlement, and also has a hidden goal of sabotaging Kara's colony? Can't imagine there wouldn't be some Earth governments that are nervous about aliens colonizing the moon, what if it was used as the launchpad for an invasion of Earth? Tycho as the pro-human villain who brings some interstellar geopolitics sounds like a fun way to flesh him out into a stronger villain for Kara.

Dollmaker

Pre-Flashpoint Dollmaker was great (New 52 Dollmaker not so much). Guess he needs a new name now since a Batman villain has his old one and those guys take precedence. Modelmaker? Plaything? Putting the name issue aside, I'd write him as the darker side of the outcasts Kara has gathered. Not everyone who was kicked out of their society was undeserving of being a pariah. Some have deep-seeded issues and Dollmaker is one of them, with him eventually taking the role of voice for these more violent members. Pre-Flashpoint his father, the Toyman, basically rejected him and never showed him any affection or attention, and his mother abandoned him after taking him away from his father. Compare how Kara feels ignored and overlooked by Kal and by humanity who more readily accept her cousin and nephew as their heroes and I think you could create interesting stories. Dollmaker is the vengeful side of Kara given free reign, the urge to lash out at a world that neither wants nor welcomes you.

Bizarrogirl

Straightforward as can be, all the other Superfamily members have Bizarros (I'd argue Lex is Steel's), this is Kara's. Plus the Sterling Gates storyline was really great, highly recommend check it out. Maybe use Bizarrogirl as an outcast from Bizarroworld who is unable to fit in with Kara's lunar colony either, and turns against it in anger? Basically if she can't find a home there she doesn't want anyone else to find one either.

As for villains I'd just straight up swipe and give to Kara to be hers exclusively from both Superman's Rogues and others?

Amalak

Another cool Kurt Busiek revamp of a Pre-Crisis Superman Rogue, sadly forgotten after Busiek left, Amalak's home world was conquered by Krypton during an imperial phase. Burning with a hatred for all Kryptonians, Amalak became a bounty hunter and a space pirate. Still could easily fit into Kara's Rogues Gallery in the present day, just make it so the World Killers were the ones responsible for subduing his home planet, makes for a nice way to tie Kara's Rogues together. Amalak getting hired to launch raids on Kara's new home, taking slaves and supplies, seems like an organic way to lay the groundwork for them to meet and face off. I want an alien group adversary (maybe bring back The Circle?) to oppose Kara's colony for accepting alien refugees and runaway, similar to how some human governments would dislike her for taking in their outcasts. Amalak could be their "face" until Kara is able to uncover the identity of his backer.

The Eradicator

Eradicator is the one Rogue of Superman's I mentioned connecting to the Worldkillers, and giving to Kara as her Rogue. Pairing him with Kara makes more sense to me, both of them prefer Krypton over Earth, and feel alienated from Kal because of how he's "gone native". Have Eradicator push Kara to turn her colony into a New Krypton rather than allow it to be something new. Eradicator should be the temptation of toxic nostalgia for Kara, the desire to believe everything was better in the old days, and that Krypton is what she should attempt to recreate. Revisit his ability to "posses"/merge with Kryptonians like he attempted with Kal, he bonds with her after orchestrating events to push her into accepting him, then starts subtly influencing her in ways she's not aware of until she's almost changed completely. Like the Venom symbiote yes, that's what I'm going for.

Dominus

Much as she's tried to suppress it, Kara often harbors jealousy of her cousin, envying his greater degree of comfortability with living amongst humans, and she's jealous of Jon taking over for Kal as the main protector of Earth. Dominus is someone who went mad with jealousy after his own loved one surpassed him to ascend to greater heights of power and responsibility. Connection between the two is obvious, if Kara ever gives in to her darker emotions towards her cousin and nephew, she could end up turning into a villain just like Dominus did. Make him her equivalent to Mxy, the reality warper with petty goals and dreams.

Indigo

Indigo is a character that feels like a natural fit for Kara to interact with in the same way as Lena Luthor is. "Daughter of Brainiac vs. Last Daughter of Krypton" is a natural match-up. I do want to reconfigure Indigo to be a more thematic foe for Kara in terms of revamping her background a bit to service that goal. Brainiac creating a Trojan horse is a great concept, I'd just tie that into his world collecting more. Turns out there are many "Indigos" seeded throughout the universe. When Brainiac finds a civilization that shows potential but isn't yet advanced enough to be worthy of collection, he sends an observation unit to merge with one of the dominant sentient life forms and act as an unknown agent. Via injecting a host with nanomachines, the observation unit can slumber within the host until ready, passing on to offspring the host has or infecting others should the host not reproduce/be killed. These agents are utterly unaware of their true nature until their unconscious programming judges the civilization advanced enough for collection upon which a transformation occurs. Nanomachines in the sentient reshape their body and mind into a combat unit who can summon Brainiac for collection and also sabotage a world's defenses.

I would make this a new Indigo, one from a world that became advanced enough for collection and triggered the nanomachine activation in the host. Indigo's world managed to destroy itself before Brainiac could arrive to collect it, and with the death of the planet Indigo's programming ended and she recovered control of her mind and body. Now she's arrived at Kara's colony in an attempt to make a new life for herself, but she's keeping her past a secret. Indigo fears that were Kara to discover the truth, Kara would exile her due to the risk Indigo still poses of summoning Brainiac, and Indigo isn't willing to leave until she can find a way to "cure" herself of Brainiac's brainwashing. What she wants is access to the Fortress of Solitude where she hopes that by studying Superman's data on Brainiac, as well as access to Kryptonian technology, she can create a virus which will sever Brainiac's controls over the machines inside her and allow her to keep the upgrades without risking a loss of control. Knowing that the directive to observe a civilization until it's advanced enough for collection is still in effect, and fearing what could happen if Kara's colony crosses that threshold, Indigo covertly sabotages the colony's advancement at various points to keep it at a safe level for her while also trying to win Kara's trust.

In terms of themes both Kara and Indigo are defined by their male counterparts. Kara exists in Kal's shadow and struggles to metaphorically be her own person, while Indigo literally belongs to Brainiac and is desperate to safeguard her independence. Focus on that and I think Indigo could be a great Rogue for Kara.

Rogal Zaar

I know everyone hates him but there were some hints of potential, and he's no worse than many other Superman Rogues. Make him the "Doomsday" equivalent to Supergirl, he already looks it in terms of appearance, and the two of them have an interesting tie given she wielded his axe for a while (with said axe feeding on her anger). Rogal was a "hero" of a sort, serving the Circle as their agent, and Kara served as a hero of Earth for a while. Both ultimately grew disillusioned with the ones they had served, both struggle with intense feelings of rage, and Rogal also has been hinted at being tied to House El by blood. Originally I suspect he was going to be Kal's half-brother, but that's not happening anymore. Instead why don't we make him a product of a distant ancestor of the Els, a bastard half-breed that was cast off during Krypton's imperial days, and left behind on a planet to fend for himself until he was discovered by the Circle.

Rogal is a more extreme version of what Kara sees herself as: the forgotten and overlooked El family member. Team Rogal up with Amalak, maybe Rogal is the one who recruits Amalak, and have the two of them work together to destroy everything Kara is attempting to build because of their hatred of Kryptonians, and because a powerful organization desires it and is funding them. Ultimately Amalak finds out about Rogal's heritage and betrays him, causing a blood feud between the two which takes the pressure off of Kara for a while as the two battle it out (while still attacking her individually).

I've got some thoughts on a few others, but just some scattered ideas at most. Kara's got some cool Rogues, and there are Rogues who could make good foils for her, but unless DC can embrace Kara being the one who isn't at home on Earth, I don't know if she'll ever really grow into her own. Likewise her Rogues aren't going to stand out if they're just copying the basic Superman plot only against Supergirl. Optimistically Kara will get something after King's mini is done, either another mini or a spot on a team, and I pray we get to see her interact with some of the Rogues I listed again soon.

#supergirl #kara zor el #worldkillers #reactron #simon tycho #dollmaker #bizarrogirl #amalak #the eradicator #dominus #indigo #rogal zaar

[thebluewritingbench]

the wrong side of a second

or, how 5x8 might have gone if Lena didn't succeed in turning off Mount Norquay's Kryptonite cannons on time

A tribute to Lena at her worst, if a few extra seconds had put her beyond forgiveness. It's an angsty one - cw for major character death, if that's something you'd rather avoid at all costs

(also on ao3, if that's more your speed)

+

The walls of the cell are white, clean, pristine. Three blank, empty, one of glass. There’s a bench, long enough to lie down on, too hard to be comfortable.

Lena stares at the white walls. They’re bright enough to make her eyes hurt, but she can’t look away from them. Can’t blink. If she blinks, she’ll see the moment again. Her eyes sting from the effort of holding them open for so long.

They separated her and Hope the moment they arrived at the DEO. Lena doesn’t really remember how they got back here. She doesn’t remember anything after the blast hit, after the sky lit up with green like the Northern Lights, after the screaming started. Her screaming. She was the one screaming. She’s not sure why she isn’t still lying crumpled on the floor on the bunker, like she should be.

There were strong arms grabbing her the second they appeared, guns pointed at them from all directions. Cuffs being pressed into her wrists. She’s not sure why they bothered. She wasn’t trying to escape. She’s here of her own volition.

She’s still wearing the clothes she was wearing at the bunker. The ponytail is so tight that her head aches, but she doesn’t bother trying to pull it out.

She wonders if she can just die, right here, right now, if she uses enough willpower.

She’s so cold that it might as well be her lying in the snow at the bottom of a mountain.

Footsteps approach her cell, loud and echoing through the hallway. She doesn’t look away from the wall when the person comes to a halt in front of her cell, but their shadow blocks out some of the brightest light.

“Last I heard, she was heading to Mount Norquay to stop you,” says Alex. “So, I’m going to ask now, calmly. Where is Supergirl?”

Lena sucks in a breath. Maybe this was why she came back. There was this to do.

This one last horrible thing. This living nightmare of a thing.

She opens her mouth, doesn’t remember any words. She closes it again. There’s bile at the back of her throat. Alex allows her a long, hearty pause before she speaks again.

“We’ve got your little… mind-controlled slave locked up. She refuses to tell us anything. So, I’m asking you. Where the fuck is my sister.”

My sister. It’s the first time she’s heard Alex use those words to refer to Supergirl. Lena closes her eyes, desperate to escape Alex’s voice. As soon as she does, the inside of her eyelids fill with green, and she watches the tiny figure in the center of a sea of neon arch, convulse, fall, down down down. She sucks in a sharp breath through her nose, wrenching her eyes open.

“Supergirl is dead,” she says, looking directly at Alex. “I killed her.”

Every muscle in Alex’s body goes perfectly still. “What?”

“The cannons at Mount Norquay. They were Kryptonite. I tried to turn them off. I wasn’t fast enough.”

Alex’s hands are starting to shake. “You’re lying,” she says.

Yes, Lena wants to say. I just wanted to hurt you, for a moment. It’s not real. “No,” she says instead. “I’m not.”

“Luthor. Tell me you’re fucking lying.” The shaking has moved up her arms.

I wish I could. “I’m not lying. What reason would I have to lie?”

“Kara is not fucking dead. You didn’t kill her, you hear me? She’s survived way worse than you. Do you know the kind of things she’s survived? You’re not powerful enough to kill Supergirl. You’re deluding yourself to think that you could be,” she spits out her words, venomous in the same insidious, green way as Kryptonite.

Lena can’t close her eyes. She can’t look away, back at the white walls. She can’t look down at her lap, like a child scolded. She can’t do anything but stare into Alex’s eyes and watch the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders, the twisting of her facial expressions. She doesn’t know what to say. There’s nothing to say. Words stick to the dry roof of her mouth.

Something in Alex’s face shifts more panicked with each moment of silence that ticks by. Lena swallows, digs her nails hard into her palms. Alex’s fist bangs into the glass in front of her, and it shudders. Lena flinches.

“What the fuck did you do?”

“They were Lex’s cannons,” says Lena, her voice unsteady, and each word takes a mountain’s worth of effort. “He didn’t design them to incapacitate. He designed them to kill. I could have disabled them, if I’d just had a few more seconds. It would have only taken a few more seconds.”

“A few more seconds,” Alex repeats blankly.

There have been so many instances in their lives when a few seconds made the difference between life and death. So many instances where they just managed to come out on the right side of those few seconds, just managed to keep everyone safe.

This time, they came out on the wrong side.

“Lena,” says Alex. “Tell me my little sister isn’t dead. Tell me you didn’t kill Kara.”

Lena looks down at her hands. The response that comes to the tip of her tongue is I didn’t mean to, but it’s too juvenile, too blameless. “I can’t.”

“Fucking hell,” says Alex, turning away, digging her hands into her hair. “God, fuck.” She whips back around to face Lena. “I thought you were on our side! I thought you were someone we could trust! Kara thought you were someone we could trust! Do you know how many times she’s stuck her neck out for you? Risked her identity? Risked everything?” She’s yelling, and it vibrates in Lena’s bones. She wants to flinch, wants to close her eyes and wait for it to be over like she has every time it’s been Lex or Lillian, but she can’t. She can’t, because this time it’s her fault. This time she deserves it.

Lex would be proud of her, she realizes. Lex would be delighted that his weapon worked so well.

How far she has fallen.

“She’s not dead,” says Alex. “You’re lying, and you’re despicable, and Kara is not dead.”

“She is, Alex,” says Lena, leaning forwards, and she’s shaking too, can’t get it out of her voice or her lungs. “She is, she is, Kara’s dead. I watched the cannons go off. I watched her fall. I saw her hit the ground. I saw it, I saw it all, and I wasn’t fast enough to stop it, I would have stopped it. All I needed was a few more seconds. Just a few.”

She feels the few seconds in her chest, a deep, hollow, aching squeezing. If she’d only been a little bit faster. If only she’d never pressed deploy. If only she’d never gone to Mount Norquay. If only she’d confronted Kara at the beginning. If only she’d known all along.

If only, if only.

“I don’t believe you,” says Alex, shaking her head.

“I wish I was lying. God, I wish I was lying.”

“She’s my sister. She’s my sister and you killed her, you killed her.”

“I know,” says Lena, and she’s starting to cry. “I know, I know.”

“Don’t fucking cry,” says Alex, slamming her fist into the glass beside Lena’s head again. “You’re not allowed to fucking cry, do you hear me? You lost that right! You lost that right when you blasted my little sister out of the goddamn sky! This is your fault, this is all your fault!”

“I know,” Lena sobs.

“Stop fucking saying that!” Alex yells. “Stop it, just stop it, just…” She turns abruptly on her heel and strides away, and Lena thinks that she’s finally going to leave and let her hate herself in peace, but Alex stops before she can round the corner. She’s still for several moments, her breathing loud and harsh, and then she turns again to face Lena.

“You want to know what the worst part is? She was in love with you. And I know she was fucking obtuse about it, but I also know that you weren’t. You knew that she was in love with you. You knew that you were in love with her. You knew, and you still…? How could you still…?”

“I wanted to hurt her,” Lena whispers. “I wanted to hurt her like she hurt me, and then I didn’t want anyone to hurt ever again.”

“You wanted to hurt her? So you killed her? So you left her rotting in the snow at the base of your little mountain fortress? Because I sure as hell don’t remember her doing any of that to you.”

The childish words slip out before she can stop them, barely audible. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t mean to? Does that fucking matter?She’s dead either way, isn’t she? Your intentions don’t mean shit, this isn’t something you can just apologize for and get fixed! It’s not one of your little basement experiments that we all stayed silent about because Kara insistedyour intentions were good. You can’t just say sorry and cry into her arms to fix this, Lena.”

And there’s nothing she can say, no defense to Alex’s words, so she just stares at her hands and shakes and sobs quietly, tears streaming hot and fast down her face and falling into her lap in a steady drip.

“Stop it,” screams Alex, anguished, composure gone. “Fucking stop it!”

“I can’t,” Lena chokes out. “I can’t, I can’t.”

She can tell by the fury that’s radiating off Alex that she wants to shake Lena, or slap her, or punch her into the ground, but that’s she’s holding herself back because she knows that it won’t be satisfying. Knows that Lena won’t fight back, that she’ll just take it quietly.

There’s nothing Lena could do or say right now to make any of this better. There’s no better to this situation.

“What kind of person does that? What kind of person kills the only other person in the world that they truly love? What kind of person could bear to let that happen?” says Alex, hollow.

“You think I can bear it?” says Lena. She runs her fingernails down her arms, sharp, repeats the motion, repeats again.

“I think you’re going to have to,” says Alex, and her voice takes on a sharp, ugly quality as she steps back towards the cell. “Because I sure as hell am not going to let you die. Oh, don’t give me that look,” she says, when Lena looks up, startled. “Believe me, I want to kill you. I don’t think there would be anything more satisfying in the world right now than taking you out myself and letting you rot. But that would be too merciful for you. You would just… get away without any of the consequences. No, Lena, I hope you live a long, miserable life, and that every second is consumed by thinking about what you’ve done. You’ve annihilated one of the only things that still gave people hope in this world. You were trying to prevent people from being able to feel hurt again? That’s all they’ll feel now, because of you. You didn’t just kill Supergirl, you just killed every single person that she would have saved for the rest of her life. That’s their blood on your hands, too. That’s their families that you destroyed.”

Lena thinks she might throw up. She doesn’t remember how to breathe properly. It sits ragged in her throat, choking her.

Alex isn’t done.

“God, and I hope every second of your life is consumed with the knowledge that you killed the only thing that could ever have made you genuinely happy. Because do you honestly believe that anyone else will ever be capable of loving you the way she was? With your family? With the shit that you’ve done? Kara was willing to look past that. She did every day. She would have forgiven you for this, had she survived. She would have fought for you back. And she can’t do that anymore. Because of you.”

Lena’s drowning. Every word that comes out of Alex’s mouth is like another needle in her skin, lining her flesh and her throat and her the inside of her organs and she can’t even tune them out or deny them because every word she says is true. Kara was the only person who believed she was good, unconditionally.

“It was wrong,” says Alex, dangerously quiet, back outside the cell now. “It was wrong of Kara not to tell you she was Supergirl earlier. I’ll be the first to admit that. But she was willing to put in the work to fix it. She would have done everything in her power to fix it, and you weren’t even willing to try. You self-destruct, Lena, and that’s one hundred percent on you.”

God, she’s so stupid. How was she ever this stupid? How did she get here? How did she let this happen? She might still be crying—her eyes are certainly still blurred, but her skin is too numb to feel the tears. She doesn’t even feel like her body belongs to her anymore.

“Don’t just sit there,” Alex says. “Say something. Just… fucking say something!”

“What do you want me to say?” Lena says, and it’s like her voice is coming from someone else. “That you’re right? You are. Of course you are, you’re right about all of it. This is my fault, all of this is my fault, and there’s nothing—nothing I can do.”

“I changed my mind,” says Alex. She slides down the wall beside Lena’s cell, digs her hands into her hair again, curling in on herself. “I don’t want to hear your voice.”

Lena closes her eyes. The moment the cannons went off starts to play again behind her eyelids on repeat. Flash of green, sickly green. Tiny figure, blonde hair, flopping like a ragdoll, dropping like a stone. She glowed, when the cannons hit her. Like every single one of her veins and arteries and capillaries lit up with Kryptonite, all at once. Like a broken glowstick. She glowed, suspended a thousand feet in the air, her arms splayed like she was taking it all in willingly. It plays again and again behind Lena’s eyes, and she doesn’t feel like she has the right to stop watching. It’s her prison to endure.

Alex voice breaks through, soft and awful and crackling. “It’s sick. It’s really sick, but I wish you were happy about it. I wish you were happy with yourself so I could hate you more. But you’re so… pathetic. You’re so fucking pathetic, how can you hate someone who’s so pathetic? Who am I supposed to hate when you’re like this? It’s not fair.”

“I’m sorry,” Lena says, and it’s not even the tiniest dent in the way she feels.

“I know. That’s the problem. I wish you weren’t. It would be easier if you weren’t.”

Lena stays silent. It’s despicable, but she doesn’t want Alex to leave. She doesn’t want to be alone. She wants… god, all she wants is for Kara to be here. She wants Kara’s arms around her, warm and comforting, steady and real. She wants to bury her face in the crook of Kara’s neck, breathe in her shampoo, cry herself to sleep on her shoulder. She wants Kara’s lips on the top of her forehead, brushing soft, whispering reassurances into her skin.

She wants, and she’ll never have, never again.

And it’s her fault.

It hits her suddenly, in a way it somehow hasn’t before, and the pain in her stomach is so intense that she has to wrap her arms tight around her middle to stop herself from falling apart, has to fold forward as she gasps out sobs, loud and harsh. She’s not sure it’ll ever stop. Behind her eyes, Kara falls, she keeps falling, she hasn’t stopped.

“I don’t how to do this if I can’t hate you,” Alex says, over Lena’s sobs, and Lena can hear in her voice that she’s crying too, even if her vision is too obscured to see it. “I can’t do this if I don’t have anger to lean on. I just want to hate you. I just want to hate you.”

Please hate me, Lena wants to say. She’s crying too hard to speak, it’s hurting the inside of her throat, like each sob is ripping something. Hate me all you want. You’ll never be able to hate me as much as I hate myself.

She doesn’t need to say it. Alex knows.

She must cross some line into hysteria, because she wakes up with the heavy feeling that she’s been under sedation for a long time. She’s in the same cell, lying on her back on the hard bed and staring up at the ceiling. Her chest is hollow; someone’s scooped out everything from inside her ribs.

It feels like the end of time.

“Are you awake?” asks Alex’s voice, scratchy. She’s sitting outside Lena’s cell, arms wrapped around her knees. It looks like she slept there.

“Yes,” says Lena. If this is what awake is.

Alex looks away. She drums an uneven pattern on floor with her fingertips. Her hair is sticking up at the back.

“Why are you still here?” croaks Lena. “It’s because of me that your sister is dead.”

“I know,” says Alex. “I wish I could kill you for it.”

“Why don’t you?”

Alex looks over, and she’s aged about forty years overnight. “You’re the only person who loved her as much as I did.”

Lena laughs, humourless, at the ceiling, because if that just isn’t the most fucked up thing she’s ever heard in her life. “Well, fuck me.”

At some point, Alex is going to have to get up and leave. She’ll be able to seek solace in her other friends, in the other people who love Kara. And Lena will be moved somewhere more permanent. She’ll let them take her. She won’t struggle. She hopes there’s no trial, but if there is, she’ll plead guilty.

For now, they both just stare at the ceiling, at exposed dirty grey pipes, as the DEO rumbles around them.

Somewhere far away, Kara lies in the snow, crumpled and green and more peaceful than they’ll ever be again.

#supergirl #supercorp #i mean not rlly but #supergirl fanfic #lena luthor #alex danvers #kara danvers #cw major character death #i was enabled into writing this on discord #pls feel free to yell at me if you decided to put yourself through this for some reason #angst angst angst #this whole thing is just undiluted angst #sometimes i like to write things that hurt okay #bluewritingbench writes

[supercorpkid]

Mind Controlled – The Series.

Part 2 – Pull the trigger.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader, Alex Danvers x Niece!Reader, Lex Luthor x Niece!Reader.

Word count: 2300.

Warning: Injuries, violence, pain, angst.

Previously on the series - part 1

You land on the same room, on the same building, waiting for Lex's voice to come out of the speaker with further instructions. You’re ready to do whatever he asks from you.

“You’re back, my bösewicht.” You hear his voice sometime later. “I presume you have done a good job leaving your mothers wrecked?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Such an obedient little monster. A Super with a Luthor’s brain. Why has no one thought about this before? Oh yes, I have. But they called me a mad man for it, and yet here you are.” And there you are. Standing still, staring at a wall, waiting for more orders. “In that stupid outfit, dear Lord, why would anyone be dressed in those stupid clothes?”

You look down on your super suit. You do look stupid. This stupid skirt, horrible boots, long sleeve shirt so tight if you were human, it would mark your skin. It makes you so sick you want to rip it off of your body.

“Nevertheless, with you playing pet for me, I can do whatever I want even still in jail.” The static comes again, but Lex doesn’t stop talking. “I should’ve known Lena would be greedy and want a smart and powerful kid. But I hadn’t had confirmation, that was until mother came here to visit and told me all about you. So impressed with her little granddaughter.” He lets out a chuckle. “I can’t imagine how infuriated she’ll be once she finds out it was her, who gave me the idea to mind control you.”

You think about Lillian, and how impressed she is with you. You give yourself a cocky smile. She should be impressed, you are impressive.

“Kryptonians might have strong minds, but Luthors? We’re unfortunately just humans. So my bright sister didn’t think that having a powerful kryptonian daughter with a susceptible mind wasn’t a good idea?” He scoffs. "Oh, Lena. You may try, but you will never be smart like me.”

There’s a loud breathing sound.

“That’s enough of chatting. I have better things for you to do, my bösewicht. You’ll break me out of jail when it’s time, but first-” There’s a wicked little pause. “Let’s destroy the Super name.”

Your body is suddenly filled with rage and wrath. You want to destroy everything. You want to drop a bomb in everyone’s head. You want to make them suffer.

“That’s it. Use your rage. Destroy National City, scare them, let them see you in your worst form. Let them fear the Supers, and then, come for me.”

“Yes, sir.”

You fly off the window, looking for a place to start. You want to cause damage, you want them to be scared of you, whoever they may be.

You start off by using your heat vision to draw the ‘House of El’ symbol in the middle of the park, so they know who’s responsible for all that it is coming their way. You watch the grass burning, the form coming along and your heart beats fast, enthusiastic.

You didn’t even start the destruction part yet, and this already feels fulfilling. You know exactly where to go next.

You fly to your training center and you look down. This stupid-ass place gives you no good memories at all. You got beat up, got yelled at, got annoyed every time your powers didn’t work like they were supposed to, got angry at people looking at you thinking you weren’t good enough. You remember their disapproving looks; you remember the tiniest of sighs you’ve heard.

Fuck them all.

Your heat vision hits the ground, and your heart gets heavy, but your powers never stop. You can almost taste the feeling of being a disappointment in your mouth. And it gets you incredibly proud of yourself. You want to disappoint them. Them being proud of you means nothing at all.

You look down on the entire place up in flames. This is the right thing. Destroying this place will send them a message. You are not their little pet anymore. They can’t keep you under a leash, pretending you’re not powerful and fucking special. You’re so fucking special, even Lex wants your powers.

It’s not long until Supergirl flies in front of you. You smirk at her looking down. There’s a powerful feeling cursing through your veins. You know she can see it too. Your hair blowing in the wind, your stupid super suit moving almost in slow motion, your eyes burning of rage with little flames dancing in the dark of your enlarged pupils.

“I believe you owe me an apology.” It’s the first thing you say, after unclenching your jaw. “You called me weak.” You spit, disgusted. “You were mistaken.”

“Deeply.” Kara agrees looking down, and you notice the cars from the DEO stopping, people getting out of them in desperation, trying to put out the fire. That makes you so happy. She looks back at you. “Is this what this whole thing is about? You’re trying to prove to me you’re strong, after all this time?”

“Trying?” You scoff, then your face goes back to a frown. “I don’t need to prove myself. Especially not to someone who uses her powers to stop bank robberies instead of having the world under her firm grip.”

“I know you’re not my daughter.” Kara comes a little bit closer; you don’t move. You’re not scared of her, but she should be scared of you. “Are you bizarro?”

“You’re too far consumed in this battle of ego to see right in front of you.” You tilt your head, letting a creepy smile dangle on your lips. “Don’t you recognize your little one, mommy?”

“If that’s the case, then I have to stop you either way, little one.” Kara does her whole superhero pose and you laugh at her.

“You can’t. You don’t have the stomach.” You look down to the ground and you see Lena there. “I see, you won’t be the one doing it. Clean hands, right? Let the Luthor hurt the Kryptonian. It’s the natural order of things.”

“I’m sorry, my love. It has to be done.” Supergirl flies towards you in one motion. You still try to fly away, but she is a little faster, so she grabs you easily. You push her, punch her, you even pull her hair, but she doesn’t let go.

She lands on the floor with you wrapped in her arms, and Lena comes closer. Kryptonite gun in hand. Soon, you’re surrounded by agents with their own guns. Supergirl lets you go, flying above you, but not leaving, in case you decide to make a run for it.

You look at Lena. Gun in hand. You listen to her heartbeat going crazy and you smile at her.

Let’s play, mom.

“Do it.” You dare. “I want to see you pull that trigger. I want to see you hurt your own daughter with Kryptonite.”

“I don’t want to do this, baby.” Lena assures you, taking a small step towards you. “I promise you, I’ll figure out what’s going on with you. You just have to come with me.”

“You’ve always known, haven’t you?” You lock eyes with watery green eyes behind the gun. “You’ve always known someday the Luthor genes would shine through. Because no matter how good the Super gene is, the Luthor one is worse. So, so bad. Rotten to the core. You’ve always known I wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“I’ve told you before. We are not Luthors. We are Luthor-Danvers, and that means something. Please, stand down. Let me look at you.”

“Tell me to stand down one more time and I’ll throw-” You look at one guy on your left and point at him. “That guy into space.”

“Baby.” It’s Lena’s last try, you can see it in her face. You can see the way her finger presses lightly at the trigger. You also hear how that makes everyone else do the exact same movement.

“I’m not going to run away. But I won’t surrender, either.” You defy her. “If you want me to go with you, then you have to do it. You have to pull the trigger and you have to live with the guilt all your life.”

“I’m sorry it has come to this, baby.” But her face doesn’t hold much sentiment, nor does she lower her weapon. “But you know I have to do this. You can’t go on pulling stunts like this. You can’t keep thinking there are no consequences to your actions.”

“You are not sorry.” You smirk. “Don’t try to play me for a fool, Lena.” It’s the way her name leaves your mouth that makes her flinch. “I know you’re dying to pull that trigger and be the one who tamed a Kryptonian once again. It’s what all Luthors want in the end.”

She pulls the trigger, making you fall on the floor in pain, after a blast of kryptonite hits your chest.

“You should be so satisfied now.” You whimper. Kryptonite filling your body. “You’ve used kryptonite on your wife, and now on your daughter. It’s a full circle, isn’t it?” You spit out your words.

Lena puts you in handcuffs that strip you off of your powers, and strokes your cheeks gently. Eyes full of tears and instant regret.

“I’m bringing you back, my baby. I promise you.” She whispers delicately, like she’s not even talking to you anymore, but maybe to the memory she has of you.

But the two agents that come from behind you don’t pick you up delicately. In fact, they seem very pissed at you, and you’re shoved into the back of a van where Alex is.

“Aunt Alex.” You start with your bitchy tone and Alex breathes deep.

“Listen kiddo, I’m not in the mood.” She shakes her head, upset. “You just caused us millions of dollars in damages, Kara is a wreck, and don’t even get me started on Lena.” Alex raises her eyes from her tablet. “I know you’re not yourself, that’s why I don’t give a fuck about this. You start talking? That gag goes in your mouth in a second. Don’t think you can play me like you did with your moms.”

“I think the story would be really different if Lena hadn’t cuffed me and stripped me off of my powers.” You raise an eyebrow, not breaking eye contact. “You’re scared of me too.”

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?” Alex smiles unbothered. “I’ve dealt with things much worse, and much scarier than you and your babyface.” She grabs the gag and looks at you. “Now shut it, or I’ll make you.”

You decide to shut up. Your quarrel isn’t with Alex and the last thing you want it’s to be shut up. The best course of action is going willingly, and working something up in the DEO, because you know for sure there is where they’re taking you.

It’s Alex who shoves you inside of a cell, when you get there. Locks the glass door, and turns on some red sun lamps. You bite your mouth at the idea of it. They are very scared of you; they keep finding ways to strip you off of your powers.

It takes a few minutes until you hear talking on the other side of the glass. You can’t see them, or hear them well enough, but there’s one voice that stands out. You bitch grin to yourself.

Let’s play, momma.

"Mommy” You use your best and sweetest voice. Kara comes closer to the glass cell, and you stare at her from the other side. You want to destroy this place brick by brick until there’s nothing left, but you know if you’re aggressive about it, they won’t let you out. “Please, let me out. Can you open the door, please?"

"Kid, I'm sorry but we have to understand what's-" Kara starts, but you interrupt her.

"I'm begging you, please, please mommy." You drop on your knees. Tears falling from your eyes, and that act allures a crowd. Lena and Alex soon join Kara on the other side.

"Baby, I'm sorry." Kara gasps, and you watch Lena’s hand squeezing her shoulder reassuring. “You know I want to-”

"You said you would protect me. This isn't protection.” Your tears stop falling, you’re angry again. The act isn’t working. You clench your fist, using all the strength you have, trying to focus so the anger doesn’t consume you. You feel the palms of your hands burning, with nails digging into your flesh. “Please, this isn’t fair. Mom, please, do something.”

"I swear this is for your own good." Lena takes a deep breath, not buying into what you’re saying. Great. You’re done faking either way.

“FUCK YOU! LET ME OUT OF THIS CELL!” You bang on the cell, screaming as loud as you can. You see your blood leaving hand-shaped marks on the glass. Your scream is loud, but the banging is louder.

“Baby, please, you have to calm down.” You hear Kara’s voice trying to sooth you. It gets you angrier.

"FUCK YOU TOO! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT NOW!" They look at the blood splashed onto the glass. Your face is burning red, and Kara flinches at the sight of you. Lena doesn't, so you know your best shot is with your momma. "Kara, I swear if you don't open this cell right now, I will hate you until the day I die."

“That’s enough.” You hear Alex’s voice and the glass turns black. You can’t see them on the outside, and you know they can’t see inside either. You can’t hear their voices, so you suspect they’re not listening to your unrelenting yell anymore.

Fuck. You need a new escape plan.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #supercorp #kara x lena #kara x reader #supercorp daughter #supercorp fanfic #supercorpfamily #lena x reader #reader insert

[creatureofmystry]

MLB x DC Universe Headcannons

I just love the idea of MLB and DC (expecially Batfam cuz Mari is such a Wayne) being in the same universe and crossing over. So one night, I just had an idea overload of different ways the Marinette would know the batfam/be a part of the DC universe. And if any of my shitty ideas somehow inspire or prompt you, then please be my guest. 😊 _

1) “Ladybugs of Past and Present”

Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, was once a previous holder of the ladybug miraculous. When Fu activated the miraculous and put them in circulation, Hippolyta could feel its magic waking back up. Knowing there must a reason for it to be out, she sent a message to her daughter. Diana searched, finding Marinette and Adrien as the present holders of the ladybug and cat miraculous. She vouched and brought them into the Young Justice program while they also made their own team, Project: Zodiac (or something like that).

[Sometime when Diana takes Marinette to meet Hippolyta]

“Great Hera, Tikki, you have not aged a day” -Hippolyta, cause she does know how to make joke. 

“And I would say the same to you” -Tikki

“Mother, you can make a laugh?” -Wonder Woman, honestly a bit confused cause her mom have never not been serious before.

And Marinette is just speechless cause she’s starstruck meeting Wonder Woman’s mom AND a previous Ladybug holder.

_

2) “Rockstar Niece”

Jagged Stone is Marinette’s Sweet Uncle J. During the summers, Jagged Stone would take Mari with him on tour. HIs summer tours are throughout America, so Mari gets to sightsee the country. Jagged’s first tour that he gets to take Mari on (5-ish), he’s also booked for the annual (for whatever reason) Wayne Summer Gala. When Marinette meets the Waynes, they are so enamoured (Dick and Tim couldn’t help it) that they tell Jagged he’s always invited as a guest, Mari of course being added to the permanent guest list too. About 6 years later, Mari is practically adopted, spending the first half of her summers with Jagged, going to the Wayne Gala, then spending the rest of her summer with the Waynes. Overtime, she figured out the secrets of the family and was there to welcome Jason back from the dead (when that happens). Anyways, now 11(-ish?) Mari meets Damian and the two become good friends… after an… impressionable first meeting.

“Tch, let me guess, you’re another one of father’s adopted strays” -Dami

“YOU MUST BE DAMIAN!!! DICK TOLD ME ABOUT YOU!!” -Marinette, who just ignores what he said for a hug.

“hiiiiiiiiissssssss” -Dami, touchy with touch

“...” sprays water in his face since he decided to act like a cat.

“I say, Master Bruce, the children are getting along quite well” -Alfred

_

3) “Pen Pals” 

Jon Kent and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are part of an international pen-pal program, starting when they were very young (maybe like 4 or 5-ish, super super young) where they told each other everything (Jon can’t just say that his older bro is a clone made from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA, or that his dad is Superman, or that his best friend is Robin, but yea. Lois and Clark probably proofread his stuff until he’s like 9) with pictures and everything. When they’re old enough to get phones & stuff, they call, text and vid-chat along with their letters (love without blood). When Mari is maybe 9-11 (somewhere around there) she starts flying over during the summers to hangout with Jon (and his friends and big brother). While there, she meets Kon, Bat fam, and Clark (some who she already knew, some who she didn’t) & lightly hints that she knows who all they are once she figures it out (it didn’t take her long to do so). 

Now whenever she visits and is at Wayne Manor (Jon likes to have sleepovers practically every weekend) while they’re on patrol, Mari subtly messes with their minds (super subtle, they’re the world’s best detectives after all) until they finally look through the cams and see Mari giving them one of those smiles (those shit-grinning cause it’s just so hilarious how it’s gone on for so long) & and a playful wink. 

[5 seconds later]

“Mari!” “Pixie-pop!” “Angel!” “Teacup!”

“Seriously, am I the only one with a normal nickname for her?” -Tim

“Ms. Marinette would like to inform you that ‘it took you long enough’” -Alfred (who so knows that the girl has been playing them since the third night she stayed at the Wayne’s)

“Where are my adoption papers?” -Bruce (who is seriously adopting any talented black-haired child)

_

4) “Mari and Mar’i” 

When Mar’i is young, Dick and Kori take her with them to see Paris (btw, this would be during the winter). They’re strolling along through a park and lose track of Mar’i who finds Marinette (9-10 ish). Marinette comforts and distracts Mar’i while noticing the young(er) girl is Tameranian (her hair is very warm and she’s wearing significantly less layers than should be worn for a human of that age during the winter, plus that sun-kissed skin tone. She’s seen Kori in her fashion magazines (and, from time to time, on the news as an ambassador) so she easily make the connections). Dick and Kori finally spot Mar’i with Mari who introduces herself to them. Mar’i asks if she can see her “Auntinette” again and Marinette just goes “if your parents are okay with it.” Dick and Kori are totally cool with it (not many are willing to watch her and have the time to do it) so they ask Marinette if she can babysit Mar’i whenever (with good pay of course) if she’s up to it (cause she’s still pretty young). Marinette can’t say no to Mar’i’s babydoll eyes (and she’s so much easier compared to Manon, who’s only 2 rn), so of course, she says yes. 

Now Marinette is Mar’is official babysitter and sees Mar’i often whenever her parents drop her off (using zeta tubes to quickly get to Paris and back). Marinette gets treated like an honorary Wayne (cause she’s the most responsible) and gets invited to their family stuff (w/ travel pay taken care of, of course). It doesn’t take her long to realize the fact that she babysits Bruce Wayne’s & BATMAN’S granddaughter, but of course, being the responsible one she is, keeps the secret… while also playing with them via Mar’i.

[One Day]

After Marinette leaves for her plane…

“Uncle Dami!”

“Yes, Spawn?”

“Auntinette said to tell you after she left that Robin’s sut needs a major upgrade & that you look like a traffic light… whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

[Another Day]

“Uncle Jay!”

“What’s up kid?’

“Auntinette said that to let you know that Red Hood doesn’t make any sense ‘cause Red Hood wears a helmet. Not a hood.”

[The next time]

“Uncle Tim!”

Yawn. “yea?”

“Auntie told me to give you this” (pulls out super caffeinated coffee) “and that Red Robin’s cowl is a menace to all things fashion”

[Again…] 

“Daddy!”

“Yes, Starshine?”

“Auntienette said she’s proud of Nightwing’s costume ‘cause it’s one of the only in the batfam that isn’t an astro-city to the fashion society.”

_

5) “Marinette, the one who’s always getting chosen”

Before Mari became (becomes(?)) LB, she comes across a different powerful piece of jewelry, from a different order of guardians where her will of mind is not only her shield from being akumatized, but it is also what drives her powers. That’s right, Mari walks past a flea market and activates a GL ring. The guardians pick up on this activity and send Hal (it is his sector) to check it out. Hal finds the ring with Mari but it still needs the light of a GL to charge and fully work. 

[During the explanation]

“Look, kid-”

“Marinette.” 

“Look, kid, I just need to know why you have that ring.”

“You think I know? I was just walking through the market and all of a sudden, this possessed ring, if that’s even what this is, started following me, then zipped in front of my face til i held my hand up so it can put itself on my finger.” 

“Kid-”

“It’s MARINETTE. Get it wrong one more time and you’ll see why I don’t need a possessed piece of alien jewelry.” -Marinette, making sure you get her name right. “Besides, if I stole it, I would remember. I’m a klepto” -Marinette, probably holding his ring too at this point.

Hal obviously doesn’t want the wrath of the Dupain-Chengs (just the kid Marinette scares him enough), so he tells the guardians that JL will take care of most of Mari’s training (once they get her a lamp for her ring, of course) & has her take part in training at Mt. Justice with the Young Justice team and special training with the Bats. Mari does all this under the guise of an international student exchange program for Mari to stay with the Waynes (not yet knowing that it’s the bat fam) and attends G.A. Mari doesn’t do much, but it takes her 24-36 hours to know who EVERYONE is.

[the next week after settling in]

“Hey, Mars,” -Dick, in his Nightwing gear

“Hey, Di-is the GREATEST SHOW!” -Mari, changing the subject(… not really)

“How long did it take you?”

“Not as long as the Kryptonians…” -Mari, going off into a tangent (still trying to change the subject”

[When Marinette meets Tikki]

Back in Paris:

“Sooo… I’m getting powerful jewelry that gives me powers and a suit, needs to be recharged, and comes from some Order of the Guardians? What’s the difference between you and my ring?” -Marinette, who at this point is very confused as to why she keeps getting picked on for this kind of stuff. 

“One’s alien, one’s magic” -Tikki, hoping Mari will end it there & lowkey hates that the GL Corp. got to her first.

“They’re both non-human made energy sources” -Mari, cause once you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all before. 

“You can’t heal the Akuma without the miraculous, and there are more than just rings. Yours are earrings, there are hair clips, bracelets, necklaces and more” -Tikki, after having a minute to think

“Fine, only because you said they’re the only way to heal the, what was it again, akuma?”

_

6) “Their Unofficial Official Barista”

Part of Tim’s job as Co-CEO, is to make sure all the branches are running smoothly, sometimes that means he has to fly abroad to manually check in. Tim goes to Paris to check on the W.E. Paris branch. He goes to a nearby Patisserie (Tom and Sabine’s) to see a young Marinette (somewhere from 8-11) drawing in her sketchbook at the counter. She explains that her parents are at a catering event, but she’s there to man the little bakery. Tim asks for a super caffeinated coffee and Marinette makes it with ease, claiming it was on the house with how bad he looks (and how much sleep the man clearly needs). Tim begs for her knowledge and asks if she can teach his butler. Mari’s willing to show him the next time he comes, so he gets the whole fam to go (viz tubes so they don’t waste time) maybe a week later. Everyone gets their own drink (plus a free pastries) and Marinette teaches Alfred her coffee, but it’s just not the same so Tim, using the tubes, goes to get coffee from the girl whenever he can. 

Mari is horrible at getting up on time (the life of an insomniac, never getting to sleep even if you want and then barely waking up on time) that she is up super early, makes Tim his coffee (plus a croissant) and tries to go back to sleep (making her inevitably late). Tim would walk up to the pick-up counter where his cup and to-go bag is while Marinette runs out of the house to get to school. Eventually, the rest of the Batfam (as well as the Laegue, TT, and YJ) frequent the place, slowly becoming (Dami too) Mari hides it, but she knew all the batfam the first day they came and she showed Alfred how to make the coffee. When the others start making more regular appearances, she learns the identities of YJ team, WW, GLs, and others. Obviously when LB and CN appear as heroes with HM as their villain, they immediately reach out to help. Because 1. Batfam clearly notices that it’s Mari and they sure as heck won’t let her deal with that by herself, and 2. The JL is worrying too much about their favorite barista (even though she’s not really one), especially with the Gigantitan scare. So, of course LB & CN (can’t make him bad everytime) get inducted into YJ.

[After Ladybug finishes defeating Gigantitan and detransforms] 

“Bean! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” -Tim, being an even more protective older brother than Dick, which shouldn’t be possible

“Yes, I promise. I’m fine” -Marinette, who just accepts the fact that she’s adopted an older brother (and his famliy)

“Tube over, we’ll have Alfred make sure” -Dick, already pulling out the medical supplies for Alfred.

“I-” 

“You shouldn’t worry your brothers like that, Marinette. Now come over so Alfred can clear you,” -Bruce, who just happens to overhear the conversation

“I’m sorry, Miss Marinette, they are very adamant that you’re in pitch perfect health before going out again,” -Alfred, who’s not actually sorry

“Fine” -Marinette, accepting her fate of her adopted, protective family. 

_

7) “Thicker Than the Blood We’ve Shed”

Why is Marinette so freakishly strong? Because she was trained to be. Before she could even talk, Mari was taught to be an assassin. She and Damian were frenemies, both competing for top spot as best in the League (of Assassins). They often spared together and became rivals who pushed each other (which sounds great in that context if you forget about the fact that they’re killing people and turning it into a competition). When Damian’s care is turned over to Batsy, Mari also comes along for the ride. She implements herself into Dami’s classes at G.A. & watches him from afar. (Damian, not being an idiot, of course knows all this and knows that it’s probably for Mari to give a report to Talia.) When he becomes Robin, Mari obviously knows, but waits to see if anything drastic would happen (his care was given to the Batfam, they had already expected this to happen.) She then heard word of the bounty Talia put on Damian’s head. Marinette knew there wouldn’t be much she could do to help, but she ave Dami a warning about the upcoming situation before fleeing the country. 

From there she got to France, changed her name (it wasn’t originally Marinette, it was Shénqí, chinese for miraculous/magical (or something else if you want)), was adopted by Tom & Sabine, and left her time in the League in the past. When she received Tikki, she didn’t want to be a hero because she didn’t think she deserved it after her up-bringing. Eventually, she did become LB (being a trained assassin does help with lucky charms, considering she was taught how to kill with basically every and anything), and life was good for her. Then Rossi came.

[Gotham field trip]

While at Wayne Tower…

“How idiotic are they?” -Damian, who after reuniting with his long-lost sister-from-a-different-mister (yes, Marinette was able to convince him to say it once), can’t understand the stupidity she has to deal with.

“Are you Robin?” -Mari, who is too tired, so just goes straight into the analogy

“Yes.” -Obvious and simply is.

“Exactly” -Mari, who can’t even put a limit to the amount of thought the one brain cell the class shares doesn’t use. I mean please, the so-called “reporter” believed that the first cosplayer she saw was the actual LB when they don’t even have the same hair! And let’s not forget the origins arc, where LB’s first citizen save was Chloe.

#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous ladybug #no ships stated #but add them if you want #headcannons #maribat #marinette dupain-cheng #marinette x dc #marinette x batfam #dick grayson #tim drake #damian wayne #bruce wayne #hal jordan #nightwing #batman #red robin #robin #green lantern #diana prince #wonder woman #just a bit of salt #jason todd #red hood #koriand'r #starfire #mar'i grayson #nightstar #writing #klepto mari

[liquid-luck-00]

When Two Coffee Addicts Unite 2

Part 2

@maribatmarch-2k21 Day 29: Wait!

Ao3 *** Part 1

~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette has been in Gotham for almost two months doing her class work online while working with Lucious Fox on the fabrics and the best way to show case them. If the prototypes happened to need testing and kept her warm no one mentioned anything. Luckily, Adrien, Kagami, and Chloe told her when the class would be arriving. Her luck also held seeing as she had and apartment in Gotham, thanks to her uncle Jagged, she wouldn’t be in the hotel. Because of this she and her friends were allowed to stay at the apartment so long as there was a responsible adult with them. Jagged would say it was him, but the group of five were allowed to stay in the apartment, so long as they made it to school, W.E., and any mandatory events unless given permission to skip.

The first day of classes wasn’t too bad, thanks to being ahead and he placements, meaning that very few people from her class were with her. Thank kwamii Felix was such a book worm that she had at least one familiar face.

Arriving at Wayne Enterprises was another story. The two busses and the car that held Mari and her friends arrived. Marinette was going to just walk in when she was pulled back by miss Bustier.

“You must wait Marinette.” She smiled at her condescendingly.

“Hello I am Bruce Wayne. I only have a moment.” He scanned the crowd when his sights fell on her. “Miss Marinette what are you still doing out her.” He seemed to speak only to her.

“Just held up for a moment.” She replied to the billionaire, who may or may not be the same person she demolished at UMS III yesterday, when she was hanging out with Tim, the rest were sleeping off jet lag.

“Head on up would you, Lucious is waiting.”

“Of course,” a blindingly charming smile on her face. “you wouldn’t mind if I took up the interns for my team, now would you?

She could see that he could tell what she was planning. “I don’t see a problem with that. Seeing as they will be aiding the upcoming show after all.” He motioned for the receptionist to proceed.

“Oh! Um, of course.” The woman flipped through a few pages. “Mr. Adrien Agreste, Mr. Felix Graham de Vanily, and Miss Chloe Bourgeois. Please come forward and collect your badges.”

With that the four of them would have walked in had Lila mot started making a commotion. “Wait! Why are you letting them in without explanation?!”

“If you wouldn’t mind Bruce?” he only nodded to give her permission. “You see the reason I haven’t been in France is because I have been working on a partnership project with Wayne enterprises. I, for the duration of this project am considered a department head. Right now, I need to go up and continue my work.”

“But why are you taking them with you?”

“The three of them have been assigned to be interns and a part of this project. Is that a problem Miss Rossi?” She quirked her head and brow. When she didn’t get an answer, she headed in with Adrien, Chloe, and Felix in tow.

“Nettie! Thank god, okay so you better at this than me seeing as I need to figure out a way to be cordial with Luthor.” Tim ran into the elevator before it closed.

“Voice call, video call, meeting, or email?”

“Voice call.”

“Deep breaths keep to the points you need and stick to them. If he grates on you can always sick him on me.” The two of them laughed. “Oh, that’s right, this is Adrien, Felix, and Chloe.” The five were walking down the hall to the room she and Lucious were working in. “Guys this is Tim Drake.”

“Nettie’s told me a lot about you guys.”

“And we’ve heard quite a bit about you.” Chloe bumped into Mari and if she blushed no one was any wiser, hopefully.

They got to work and an hour in did the question come up.

“So, who is this Luthor, Tim did not want to Talk to?” Chloe asked.

“That would Be Lex Luthor of Lex Corp.” Lucius answered.

“Okay so why offer for him to turn him to you?” Adrien brought up.

“Okay remember last month, when whenever you guys called, I was irritable?”

“What of it?”

“At that point I hadn’t slept in almost a week, and well one thing lead to another.”

- - -

Marinette had stalked into the building a huge cup of coffee in one hand, a tablet in the other going over designs and fabric functions.

She was already in a mood seeing as there were four separate akumas from midnight to noon in Paris, meaning it was six pm to six amin Gotham. She didn’t even have a chance to sleep.

The week before were random attacks from both akumas and amoks. Add to the fact she still had class work and this show to put on she was seriously lacking sleep.

She stopped by her temporary office space dropped off her coffee, bag, and coat. Checked the time, 8:15 am, grabbed a stack of designs and the function reports from the fabrics and the tech that will accompany them. With that she made it up to Tim’s office and walked in.

Immediately she noticed that he was close to screaming, but to anyone else it would seem like he was mildly frustrated. “Monsieurs Wayne. There are a few things that need your…”

“Who do you think you are to interrupt this meeting. Or are you blind as well as stupid.”

“Excuse me?” She didn’t raise her voice, but her posture shifted, but most importantly her aura changed. You see most people think ladybugs are harmless, but most forget Ladybugs are carnivorous and are known to cannibalize other ladybugs. She quickly flicked her wrist and noted the time, 8:18 am. “You see if I am not mistaken, I was scheduled to meet with Monsieur Wayne at 8:20 to go over a secret project between Wayne Enterprises and the designer MDC. Seeing as it my scheduled time you are intruding upon Monsieur…”

“Luthor. Lex Luthor of…”

“Lex Corp. I am aware of your position, but seeing as this is neither your office, your building, nor your company. Added to the fact that this is not currently your scheduled meeting time slot. I believe it best for you to wait outside until we are finished. Or are you honestly that belligerent and stupid that you cannot read a clock, Monsieur Luthor.” For a moment he simply sat there his moth pressed in a line, before silently standing and sulking out of the room.

- - -

“Wait you sent Lex Luthor, one of the most powerful men in the world, sulking out of a room without lifting a finger?” Adrien announced shocked.

“Well I was seriously sleep deprived and did not have a single care left to give, besides, I have good teachers.” She shot Chloe and Felix a smile, and a thought to Kagami, stationed in Security, she may specialize in swords but knowing how to use a gun and taser isn’t bad to have.

“what did he say when he finally saw you again?” Chloe was now fully invested in the gossip.

“He apparently did a quick search on me and found out I am MDC. The most connected and influential female under the age of twenty. The muttered a small apology but wouldn’t look me in the eye.”

“According to Bruce Wayne Luthor apparently, muttered something of how with your influence you may damage lex corps reputation.” Lucious added a hit of a smile.

“Well he’s not wrong.” She shrugged and the room laughed as they continued to work.

~~~~~~~~~~

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[naralanis]

little bumps in the road (pt. 21)

Previously, in LBitR...

Lena has to admit she’s impressed—albeit exceedingly exasperated—when Nia does not budge an inch in her resolve to keep her locked away from Lex. They young hero apparently has a stubborn streak to rival Kara’s, and at some point, Lena simply has to concede defeat, if only for the fact that Nia seems close to bursting into tears whenever she tries to explain there’s no place Lex can’t reach.

Whatever Nia has seen in her visions, it’s enough to make her adamant and completely unmoving on the matter. It hurt; Lena understood it, even if she did not agree with the decision in the slightest, but still. It hurt.

Brainy is the one who comes to collect her, a silent Nia in tow, a few hours later. Lena had only recently been allowed to walk around her room—under heavy guard—so he comes to her with a rather apologetic look when he pulls a fresh pair of handcuffs from his back pocket.

Lena offers her hands with only a resigned sigh. The cuffs barely close around the cast.

“My apologies,” Brainy says as they click into place, barely even tightened. “But we must keep up appearances.”

Nia is completely silent when Lena shoots her a look.

“This is a mistake,” Lena tries for the last time, a last-ditch effort. There’s no changing the resolve in Nia’s gaze. “We have to disable the implants—it’s the only way.”

Nia tries to remain utterly impassive, but there is a slight tremor to her lips that does not bode well. Before Lena can press further, Brainy interjects, looking apologetic. “There isn’t time,” he says, cutting through Nia’s determined silence with worry in his tone. “Supergirl has been spotted in Nevada—she’s undoubtedly on her way here. We cannot take the chance.”

Lena doesn’t try to say that they should take the chance, now more than ever. She doesn’t say that somehow, Lex will find her wherever it is they are taking her, and she’ll be powerless to stop him when he is literally inside her head.

Instead, she bites her tongue and lets DEO agents put a bag over her head. She doesn’t try to count the number of steps it takes to get to the van, or how many curves they take to this new, supposedly Lex-proof facility. She doesn’t even try to count the seconds in her head to work out how long the trip takes.

No, the entire time, Lena keeps her eyes shut and thinks.

She thinks about the miniscule implant in her skin, under a fresh layer of clean bandages changed only this morning. She thinks about the pattern in which the flashes of memories first appeared, tries to think about the memories she lost, she thinks of the blinding pain Lex’s trigger words had wreaked in her brain and her mind, physically and emotionally.

Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.

Most of all, Lena thinks about how the fuck she’s supposed to stop it from happening again.

The bag finally is taken off her head in a corridor so poorly lit Lena barely has to blink to adjust her eyes. It looks like any of the many run-of-the-mill military bunkers she’s seen in her lifetime. The main difference is the endless row of reinforced Plexiglass containment cells, all dark except for two, at the very end of the corridor.

One of them is empty; Lena assumes it will be hers. The other holds only a redheaded figure, slumped over a cot.

“Alex?” Lena breathes—the whisper comes out before she can even think about stopping it. The figure shifts ever so slightly in the cot, but Alex Danvers doesn’t deign to look her way. From where she’s standing, Lena can just see the white of fresh bandages at Alex’s temple.

The one other thing that draws Lena’s attention is the tall, brooding and stoic presence of J’onn, looming by the open cell next to Alex’s. Lena wonders why he’s here, wonders what he could possibly have to say to her, but the Martian remains utterly silent as Brainy and Nia escort her into her cell.

Once the handcuffs are off, Lena takes one step backward, and the door hisses shut; the loud click of the locking mechanism echoes eerily down the corridor, drowning out the breath that escapes Lena’s lungs.

They all stand there—well, Alex is still lying on her cot—for several moments. The air is thick with tension, and Lena wants to say something, but all she has to say are more arguments as to why what they’re doing is a terrible idea, and she already knows they will not be heard.

To Lena’s surprise, Nia’s the one to speak first.

“This—” she waves at their cells, hands trembling despite the strength and certainty she injects into her tone “—this is temporary. I promise.” Her eyes meet Lena’s framed by the blue of her Dreamer mask—it somehow makes her anguish even more apparent. She looks to where Alex is lying dejectedly in her cot, lips pulling into a thin line. “We’ll take care of Lex before he can activate the implants. I promise.”

Lena doesn’t tell her not to make promises she cannot keep. She just smiles, as frankly as she can, and lets Nia walk back down the corridor in a determined strut, Brainy following shortly after, leaving Lena behind with a pained look.

J’onn lingers. He stares directly at Lena, wordlessly for several moments, like he is staring through her soul. Lena tries very hard not to think about what she knows of Martians’ and their telepathic abilities—knowing she can’t exactly shield her own mind, instead she focuses on keeping it blank, a vast emptiness with nothing for him to find.

She can’t exactly look away—this feels like a test of sorts, and Lena has never not risen to the occasion. She’s not entirely sure she succeeds, but the silence is interminable as the tension slowly, slowly ebbs away.

Unfathomably, the Martian chuckles.

“Very good, Miss Luthor,” he says, his deep voice a rumble behind the glass of her cell. Lena cannot even begin to understand what he means.

J’onn steps closer—his eyes drift to Alex’s curled form for a moment, a glint of worry glimmering through them before they settle back on Lena. “You are more prepared for this than you think, Lena.”

The statement shocks her, enough for Lena to let her guard down for a moment. Her fist—which was clenching tightly at her side—suddenly relaxes, and it is as if the movement releases a ball of pent-up energy she has been carrying ever since her heated argument with Nia.

“Excuse me?” she says, her disbelief and confusion plain in her expression. She’s stuck in a cell, with an incapacitated Alex Danvers in the cell beside her to boot. They’re essentially sitting ducks for Lex.

“You are not as vulnerable as you think you are,” J’onn continues, as if he had read her… wait. He smiles, following her realization with something akin to amusement.

“I have a mind-control device in my head,” she says matter-of-factly, eyes narrowing. “I’d say that’s pretty vulnerable, especially now that I’m being left stranded here with no recourse.”

“Lena. You know. And knowing is half the battle,” J’onn murmurs cryptically.

Lena’s good fist clenches again, her aggravation evident. “I can’t win half a battle,” she hisses.

J’onn shakes his head, like he’s discussing something with a child who can’t comprehend a fairly simple concept—it only serves to irk her further. “Lena. You know about the implant.”

“Yes!” She half-yells. “I know about the implant, I know how it works, I even know how Lex put it in my head! But I also know there’s nothing I can do about it. So tell me, J’onn, what good is knowing all of this if I can’t use it??

J’onn regards her pensively for a moment—that hint of amusement that glimmered in his eyes is gone; however, it looks as if it has been replaced with something else entirely.

He looks impressed.

“Lena,” he says, and his voice is… encouraging? Optimistic? “You said it yourself. You know you have a mind-control device in your head. You are aware Lex will use it at any point. And thus, if you are aware…” he trails off, taking a step back and eyeing Lena knowingly.

Lena feels her jaw slackening, her fist unclenching. The hand encased in her cast throbs mildly, just enough to remind her of how she stopped what Lex had triggered. She thinks of his words, thinks about the blinding shock that seized her psyche when he did it, of how it pulsed inside her skull, white-hot and agonizing.

She thinks of how she expects it to happen, literally any minute now, how Lex’s words seem to have been swirling in her head ever since he used them against her.

Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.

The Martian’s smile returns as he follows Lena’s train of thought.

“You know, Lena,” he repeats, beginning to walk away. “That means you are prepared.”

<< Previous || Next >>>

#nara's word vomit #LBitR #supergirl #supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #fic writing #femslash #I ACCIDENTALLY MADE THIS LONGER WHOOPSIE #SORRY #but we are close to done I promise #I just could not resist A Little More #and also #brain cannot just pick One Lane and Stick With It

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

If ever there was a situation where the rest of the JL discover that Danny is human before Bruce (somehow) they all take one look at Phantom's human form and had a collective realization that they should never let Bruce see him outside of his Ghost form or else his Parental Instincts will most definetely kick in and adoption papers will be filled out by the end of the day

the running joke that batman adopts any dark haired, blue eyed child is powerful. though i’m not sure why the other jl members would try to stop him.

i also feel danny will probably have a joke about billionaires trying to adopt him, because this would be the second time this happens. you think he’d be able to get lex luthor to want him? i think Arrow counts as a billionaire.

now i want a fic that is just danny accidentally collecting billionaire father figures, not because he needs new parents or wants them but because they’re all fascinated by this kid in some way. a good chunk of them have villainous intent obviously. danny is scientifically fascinating so the danger of experimentation is obvious. i’m pretty sure a few other billionaires are just immortals so they’d be interested in danny because he’s semi immortal. 

danny: i have parents

vandal savage: but for how long?

ra’s al ghul would want him so bad. ghost powers potential use in assassination. plus the relationship between the Lazarus pit and ectoplasm. lots of potential plot here. i could see dani also joining in on the collecting billionaires/ getting randomly adopted thing.

there’d also be a point where the billionaires would be refereed to as his sugar daddies, as they inevitably try to buy him. the fenton’s business gets heavily funded by several billionaires, which ironically makes vlad’s claim on them weaker. hard to throw his money around when the other billionaires are fighting over them. i could also see danny’s popularity jumping up because of his finances improved.

we’re gonna ignore that there’s an episode where the fenton’s got rich and danny became a jerk because that episode was dumb. i see it more as danny having no idea to do with all this attention and just wanting to be left alone. he likes the popularity at first, but being surrounded by people all the time makes it harder for him to get away to fight ghosts.he’s also probably struck by how shallow it is. i know in the series he wasn’t allowed to grow out of being shallow, but as fair as character development goes, he really should have. there were a lot of moments where it was criticized and he should have grown past it. so surrounding a mature danny with shallow people would probably be frustrating

i could however see him trying to hang out with val again and getting his parents to hire her dad, so that her financial situation recovers. that would actually be pretty interesting. danny basically trying to make up for her dad losing his job, even though that wasn’t his fault. takes the steam out of the whole ‘phantom ruined my life thing’ if her life is no longer ruined. though phantom’s not the one getting credit for helping her. i could also see val trying to return to the popular kids group and finding it unsatisfying. after all they immediately abandoned her in her moment of need and she know what it’s like to work and struggle for things.she and danny could definitely talk shit about how shallow and unimportant the popular kids convos are. and sam is just standing in the back loser corner with her millions of dollars going “what did i tell ya!?”

tucker would also probably be jealous but i feel he’d easily be pacified by danny just handing him knew tech whenever he complains. alas i’m not sure how much tucker has grown out of his shallowness, though he’s also had several learning opportunities

i see a lot of comedic and plot potential in this concept, sorry i didn’t really adress your question. - Hestia.

#Danny Phantom #dpjl #DC comics

[c-optimistic]

Supercorp- 19

go home

“I thought you were supposed to be super,” Lena huffed as they walked. Kara spared her a brief glance, suppressing a sigh as Lena tugged off her jacket and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. “Shouldn’t you just...fly us home?”

Kara closed her eyes, taking a moment to smother the flare of annoyance at Lena’s attitude. It was hot, they’d been walking for some time, and their relationship was strained. Of course Lena would be a little testy. “Like I told you an hour ago, I solar flared. That means no powers,” Kara finally said, opening her eyes and giving Lena a look before refocusing her attention on her steps. She tugged uncomfortably on her suit, not liking the way it felt against her sweaty skin, feeling absolutely ridiculous with the cape flowing behind her, sun bearing down relentlessly overhead. 

“How long does it take to come back?” Lena asked, some of her irritation bleeding out of her voice, replaced with reluctant curiosity. 

“Depends,” Kara shrugged, finally caving and taking the hair band Lena had offered when they first got stranded and pulled her hair up into a messy bun. Lena watched her silently for a moment, then let out an unamused laugh.

“Put on glasses and you’d be Kara Danvers in a Supergirl costume.”

“Can we not do this right now?”

“Is it inconvenient to talk about how you lied to me for years while we’re stranded in the middle of nowhere?” She gestured wildly at their surroundings, the hard dirt, the unforgiving sun, the lack of any people for miles. 

Kara winced, hating that Lena had a point. “Technically, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, I know exactly where we landed.”

“I want to go home, Kara. And since we can’t do that until your powers come back or Alex finds us, we may as well talk.”

“Fine,” Kara said, coming to an abrupt stop. She turned to Lena fully, eyeing her flushed face and closed off express with some trepidation. “Ask.”

“Did you ever feel guilty? Even once? Did you even think about what you were doing to me each time you lied?” The words came out in a rush, as if Lena had wanted to ask that for ages and hadn’t known how, but before Kara could even open her mouth to respond, Lena was walking again, leaving Kara behind in her wake. 

“Wait,” Kara called, running up behind Lena and reaching out to grab her arm before thinking better of it. “Don’t you want an answer?”

“I can’t think of an answer you could give that would matter,” Lena said shortly, giving Kara a dirty expression. 

“Then why did you ask?” Kara mumbled under her breath, struggling not to groan, slowing her walk just enough that she lagged several steps behind Lena. She crossed her arms over her head as she walked, studying the back of Lena’s head intently, wishing, not for the first time, that she could take a look inside and figure out what Lena was thinking. 

(She’d thought, to some extent, they’d gotten better. That they could spend some time together and remain civil, even friendly. That even if they weren’t yet back to what they’d been before, they were slowly and steadily getting there.

But they never could get anywhere if Lena kept insisting on dragging them backwards every time they took two steps forward.)

“Last time you lost your powers, how long did it take to come back?” Lena suddenly asked, only turning her head briefly, speaking over her shoulder. 

“A day or so.”

“Is that typical?”

“Pretty much,” Kara said, choosing not to mention all the times her powers hadn’t returned for days, and once, for nearly a week. “Can I ask you a question?” Lena shrugged, and Kara took that as a yes. “Did you ever wonder why I lied?”

This made Lena come to a stop. “It doesn’t matter why, Kara. But I assume it’s because I'm a Luthor, right? Can’t trust someone whose family has Lex in the gene pool?”

“You’re smart enough to know that’s not true.”

“You wanted to fake a friendship. To spy on me.”

“Come on, Lena. I had easier ways to do that if I wanted.”

“Then I don’t know. But I also don’t care. You shouldn’t have lied in the first place.” 

Kara dropped her arms to her sides and shook her head, brushing past Lena as she walked by. It took her a moment to realize Lena wasn’t following. 

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Lena called out. Kara didn’t stop walking.

“That’s a human thing, Lena. And I’m not human.” 

This was not the response Lena was expecting because Kara would swear that she heard a soft ‘huh’ come from behind her, but she refused to stop and she refused to turn around. She heard Lena’s shoes crunch against the dirt, her steps quickening and getting louder, and before long, Lena had caught up to her, walking just a few inches to her right. 

“If you could go back, would you change anything?” 

“No,” Kara said shortly. Lena didn’t seem very shocked by the response, and Kara wondered if she understood, if she knew as well as Kara that sometimes some mistakes had to be made, some things had to be learned the hard way, the painful way. 

Sometimes things just sucked, but there was no way around it, just through it. 

“I’ve never had to come out. As anything, ever,” Lena said suddenly, letting out a breath. “But it must be hard. To tell people about parts of yourself you keep hidden.” 

Kara didn’t grin, she didn’t even look at Lena, but she let the back of her right hand brush against Lena’s. “I felt guilty every time,” Kara told her, answering the very first question. “I wanted to tell you everything, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how not to be afraid I’d lose you.” 

Lena didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. Her hand twitched, pressed firmly against Kara’s, then turned to intertwine their fingers. 

And suddenly, being stuck in the middle of nowhere, sun unforgiving, surrounded by miles of dirt and no way to go home, things just didn’t seem to be so bad anymore. 

#supercorp #fanfic

[cosmic-rainestorm]

Jealousy looks good on you - Brainy x reader

Warning:jealous Brainy. Also spoilers for S5E10.

This was requested by @diva-1992

It was strange to say the least, seeing multiple versions of your boyfriend in the same room. Ever since crisis and the rebirth of the Earth, many things have changed. A few examples is the fact that there is no more multiverse, everyone we have met on the different earth's is on one earth, Lex Luthor is liked by people and now there is multiple Brainiac 5's.

Other than the initial strangeness, the initial incident of when they all saw you and the mild discomfort from how the other Brainy's looked at you that went after a couple of minutes, you found it absolutely hilarious how they all contrasted from each other. Plus, they were generally great people to be around once the staring got to a bearable amount.

Happy Querl was easy to talk to and very enthusiastic, maybe a tad bit too much. Scared Querl had great fashion style and could have a nice conversation with once he wasn't in a constant jittering mess. Female Querl was confident and was straight to the point whilst also considering her words, although she could be kind of cold at moments. However none of them were the true Brainy, your Brainy. The one you fell in love with. He was a mix of all three but even better, and you loved him for him.

He, however, couldn't get past his own insecurities and jealousy over how well you got on with the others, and what they all did when they saw.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Situated in the room where eyepatch Brainy was left to rest, you couldn't help but feel sadness towards the man laying in front of you. He looked exactly like your Querl, except for the eyepatch, so how could you not feel an emotion to a dead man who looks identical to the one you love, even if you are yet to say it.

Prime Brainy strode into the room, pulling you out of your thoughts almost instantaneously. He pulled you into a hug and kiss you softly on the head in a form of reassurance that things would be okay.

"Brainy, I-I know that it isn't you lying on that table, but hunny, I can't help but feel grief towards him," you whispered to your partner "he looks exactly like you, probably thought like you as well, I can't help think of what his life was like on his Earth, if he found someone who got him like you and I get each other. Plus, knowing there is a killer coming after Brainiac 5's doesn't help ease any worries that you could be next. I-I-I can't lose you Querl."

Tear started pricking in your eyes at the mere thought of losing your Brainy and he could clearly tell the rodeal was upsetting you. As a couple of tears started falling down your cheeks, Brainy cupped you face ever so softly to try and centre you as he spoke,

"y/n, if you are feeling guilt for grieving for this man, don't. Your right, he does look like me, except for the eyepatch, sprock it is cool," he exclaimed with a small smile making you laugh "and he probably thought like me as well. If anything, you feeling grief towards my doppelganger shows how much you care about me, and it flatters me. And darling, you don't need to worry about me dying anytime soon. I'm not ready to leave you and I won't be for a very long time. Everyone is trying to figure out how exactly eyepatch me died and how to stop it should it happen again. In mean time, do not worry about whether I am alright or not okay?"

"Okay"

With that, you both got back to work to try an figure out how the other Brainiac 5's got to your Earth. However, that got disruptive when a certain ponytailed Colouan squealed your name and pulled you into a kiss, leaving both you and Querl stunned to say the least.

"Sprock y/n, I am so glad you made to see you, but why are you on this Earth?"

After the initial stun of the kiss, you blinked your back into exist to see two very similar but different Brainy's infront of you. I didn't help that when the other Brainiac's walked into the room, they also kissed you (angsty Querl on the top of your head and Female Querl also on the lips) and asked the same question. All you could do was stand there frozen until you fully comprehend what ahd just happened.

"Ummmmm, I'm on this Earth because I - live - hereee, " you uneasily resonded "I'm y/f/n y/l/n, I'm uh guessing you knew my dopplegangers huh."

You laughed slightly xnot knowing how to act as they all gave you looks of apologises. However your Brainy seemed to look more pissed off than apologetic to what just happened. Especially since his fist was slightly clenched whilst he rested his face atop it.

"Yes, it seems they do," he gritted out when suddenly he became very calm "y/n, do you mind if I have a word with my fellow Brainiac's, I would like to ask them questions surrounding how they got here but would prefer to ask them alone."

He simply smiled at you waiting for your answer. If you were honest, it not only scared you a little, but also intrigued you.

" Um yes of course dear. I have diagnostics to run anyway. It was uh lovely meeting you all."

With that, you left the room that all the Brainiac's were situatedto run diagnostics and simulations to try and solve their problem, whilst also getting away from all the staring and awkwardness of what just happened . However, Brainy wanted to know the reason as to why the other 3 were continuously looking at you and to why they kissed you

"If you don't mind me asking, why exactly were did all three of you kissed MY y/n"

All three turned to each other then looked at him. It wasn't until female Brainy spoke up did he get his answer.

"Well on my Earth, y/n was my wife for a year and a half and my partner for 4"

"Ah yes, she was also my girlfriend for 2 years, 7 months and 13.5 days. And what a tremendous girlfriend she is, well was I guess." Happy Brainy explained with a hint of sadness.

"ye-yes, y/n was m-my girlfriend for nearly 3 years as w-w-well. I loved her dearly, I would do absolutely anyth-thing for her."

Brainy was finding this hard to comprehend. Not only were they all him, they all had relationships with their Earths' version of you. It gave him a strange feeling, a feeling he severely did not like.

With his anxieties running wild, he left the room to run calculations and to try and keep his mind off the whole scenario.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was only two hours later when you found Brainy huddled up in a spare room with a tablet. The other three had apologised to you and aexplained their situations and how it would take getting used being around a y/n that wasn't their own.

Leaning against the wall, you admired the Coluan that you were in love with and smiled softly to yourself.

"So, this is were you've been hiding, I was starting to worry darling."

After not getting an answer back which was odd to say the least, you started to get worried about Brainy.

"Brainy, are you okay. Is the other Brainiacs being here cause you to stress." you softly asked

No answer, only the soft murmuring of jumbled words could be heard from Brainy, a sign of either he was deep in thought or highly stressed.

"Querl, what's wrong, please talk to me"

"why would it matter" he huffed angrily "you probably prefer talking to one of the other versions of me."

You couldn't believe what he was saying, why would you want to talk to the others, you had obviously gone looking for him so you could spend time together away from the drama.

And then it hit you. You almost scolded yourself for not noticing it sooner. The clenched fist, the sudden calm nature of his commanding question, the forced smile, and the lack of contact just now.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" you pondered aloud with a slight smirk.

The question caused his head to whip around to face you, making you smirk more out of amusment.

"I am not jealous" he slightly gritted out.

"Oh but I think you are dear"

"That is proposterus-"

"It isn't though, because all he telltale signs are the-hmph"

In an instant, you were backed up into the nearest wall, Brainy towering over you. His breathing heavy, his hair dishevelled and his dark eyes piercing into your's. (If this isn't definition of scared and horny I don't know what is)

"y/n I am not jealous. I just don't like when they look at you or when they are talking to you or when they are near you. Especially after they had l kissed you. This is highly rational since you are MY girlfriend and you are the person that I fell in love with and I don't want anyone to get in the way of us, not even my dopplegangers since I am that in love with you!" he huffed out.

It took you both awhile for his confession of love to dawn on the both of you. At this point, both of your breathing was slightly erratic due to his confession (and because of Brainy, I mean damn). Brainy couldn't read your reaction to his reveal, whether you were happy, sad or confused. He was about to say he was sorry when your lips started to curl upwards into a smile that could only be described as full of love and adoration.

"I love you too, I have for a long time though I just didn't know how to tell you. And Querl, no one can get in the way of that, not even your dopplegangers, because they aren't you, they aren't the Coluan I fell so deeply in love with."

Brainy was ecstatic and so full of emotions that he leant down and kissed you feverishly on the lips, pouring every emotion he felt for you into that kiss, which you reciprocated with ease.

"Agent y/l/n, Director Danvers would like to see you"

Breaking apart with a slight gasp for air, you leant your forehead against Brainy's, slowly bringing your breathing back to a normal pace.

"How about when I've finished talking to Alex, you and me can work together to figure how the other Brainiac's got to our Earth. And once we have it all sorted out, you and me can go back to my place, order takeout and watch some movies. That sound good.

"Yes, I would very much like that, my love."

As you slowly walked towards the door to leave, a grin appeared on your face as you turned back to Brainy.

"Oh and by the way. You look extremely hot when your jealous love."

BONUS:

As Brainy entered the main control room, he saw you, Kara, Alex and the other Brainiac's standing around the main control panel.

With jealousy still coursing through him, Querl strode towards you and pulled you into a passionate kiss, shocking the others.

As he pulled away, he turned to his dopplegangers and smiled.

"y/n, is mine, got it"

Once they had all nodded, he walked away with a grin, leaving you a blushing mess and ran after him to slightly scold him.

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AHHHHHHHHH, I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS.

14th May - just proof read it as I saw some misspellings

#arrowverse #supergirl #supergirl x reader #supergirl imagine #brainiac 5 x reader #brainiac 5 #brainiac 5 imagines #brainy x reader #brainy imagines #brainy #querl dox x reader #querl dox