#but his treatment of Tim seems about right

[ew-selfish-art]

Dp x Dc AU: Damian and Ellie become friends, and for all his research into her ‘Guardian’ older siblings, he can’t seem to understand why they’re asking after his own homelife. 

Ellie was an annoyance to him from the moment they met, and this unfortunately meant that her and Jon got along like a house on fire. She’d transferred to Gotham Academy in the middle of the year and clearly had no idea what a private school was like politically- She walked right up to him and declared them friends. He’d retorted something about preferring to be enemies, she immediately had a shark like grin and after school they had their first spat- which Jon immediately flew into town for upon hearing Damian’s typically fight related biometrics (which, yes, he always listened for). 

Immediately upon Jon pulling them apart, Ellie asked again if they could be friends and Damian accepted. Jon is bewildered but hey! New Pal! And she can throw down! How Neat! (plus she didn’t ask how Jon appeared so quickly-he wasn’t caught flying because of their fight- success! Identity kept secret!) 

Ellie eventually invites them over to her place since she lives closest to the school, and the apartment is meager if not incredibly well kept. Jazz is the one home at this time, makes them all some apple slices and ensures that they did their homework. Jon declares that Lois would love her. Jazz asks if Damian is safe at home, and she has a weird green color to her eyes for just a second when she asks, but Damian assures her that the Wayne family is merely a rambunctious one with too many children. 

The next time they come by her older brother Danny is the one who is home, and he looks absolutely exhausted as he mixes instant coffee granules into his energy drink. Damian learns that he’s an engineer at WE and working night shifts- apparently Danny was home the last time they visited but was asleep. Danny also kind of looks at Damian funny for a second, and asks if he’s safe at home, Ellie protests that they can’t keep asking him and Damian defends his family once more. 

Damian goes home after one of their visits and at the family dinner table if there is anything about him that reads as ‘abused child’ since he keeps getting this treatment by the Nightengale siblings. Tim doesn’t add anything towards Damian’s predicament but does explain that Danny Nightengale is off limits from the rest of the family- He’s not to be adopted and he’s not to be researched, this dude is his main engineer on a Bat project and Tim’s personal project to crack. 

Jason, who happened to attend because it was Alfred’s Eggplant Parmesan night, voices that his new therapist is also a Nightengale. She’s great (the whole family has noticed) but he’s also contemplating dropping her as a therapist for... reasons. (The whole family understands that he’s in love with her and theres a betting pool around it.) 

Bringing the conversation back to the start, Bruce suggests that Damian invite them over for dinner so that they can see he has a stable homelife. Tim and Jason protest but it gets ignored. Damian asks Ellie at school and she happily accepts with “Great! I can’t wait to haunt your house!” 

The Nightengales arrive, and fit right in. The evening goes off without out any major issues or bumps in the road- although the entire family + Danny are all keen on Jason pursuing Jazz (who keeps refusing to comment despite blushing every other word he says to her). Ellie is adored by the whole family, though Damian does his best to threaten them away. Danny is incredibly loose lipped about the project he’s working on to Tim’s horror but Danny just kind of winks and says “this feels like a room of people that can keep a secret.” (Danny doesn’t know they’re bats, he just assumes this cause they’re all family and so nice.)

Eventually at the end of the night Bruce asks why they keep asking after Damian’s homelife and safety- what makes them so concerned? Danny just spills the beans: 

“I’ve met a lot of undead in my day, but Damian was brought back to life in a way I’m still trying to understand. Like Jason? Easy peasy, got dipped in the green stuff. Damian? So Strange. Plus like the kid is like 15, it took me until 14 to die the first time but I had a portal to another dimension under my house and he lives in a mansion.” 

Chaos. 

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dc x dp #dp x dc #Danny Phantom #dc crossover #dp crossover #damian wayne #Anger Management

[writingsonsaturn]

Tim having a younger girlfriend who gets princess treatment from him, she very obviously in love with Tim, and nobody at the station believes he has a girlfriend, so one day she shows up and work and everyone gets to see and meet her and see just how much she has Tim wrapped around her finger <3

Sorry if it doesn't make sense

puppy love - tim bradford

{ masterlist }

🪐: hopefully this lives up to what you were thinking!! i did my best to capture all the main elements that you wanted in the story <33

word count: 1039

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Tim was notorious for being a hardass, his rough demeanor and strict ways of teaching made him seem like a total douchebag, for lack of a better word.

However, for you, he was a ball of sunshine, just don't let anyone else know that. 

Tim was awoken to the deafening sound of his alarm clock, he looked over at the red numbers, the clock reading “6:00am”, he sighed and reached a hand over to turn the blaring sound off. He turned over at the movement of your sleeping body, his hand now brushing through your hair with a small smile on his lips, waking up wasn't so bad when he got to see your face every morning.

You woke up gently at the new warmth that was on your head, “do you have to leave today?” you whispered with annoyance, one eye looking at him while the other stayed shut hoping to retain some sleep “unfortunately i do, baby, but i'll be home in time for our date” he responds, leaning over and kissing your forehead. 

He gets out of bed and heads for the closet putting on his uniform, once he’s done getting ready he reaches for his duty belt and gun that he keeps in his nightstand. Finally he leans over to give you one last kiss goodbye, “i love you, i’ll text you on break” you felt his lips move, “i love you too, be safe and come home to me” you respond as he walks out of the room gently shutting the door.

You shortly go back to sleep to get extra shuteye before having to go to your 9:00 am psychology class.

===

Tim made it to work early, going into the locker room and putting his duffle bag full of extra clothes and little snacks that you had snuck in there “just in case”, once he left the locker room he made his way to the debriefing room. “Hey Tim, you still owe me the 13 bucks for that burrito i bought you last week” Angela points out, while walking in behind him “ah right” he groans pulling out his wallet simply forgetting the little photo he kept of you in there.

The photo fell on the ground as Tim pulled out the cash, Angela reached down holding the picture “who is that?” she wonders while looking at the piece of paper “my girlfriend” he responds while holding out the $13, “you? You have a girlfriend?” she jokes “yeah, and i'm a millionaire” she finished sarcastically and walked away to sit down in her seat.

Tim just silently rolled his eyes and put your photo back in the safety of his wallet, after Grey gave his briefing, Angela and Nyla both started talking about Tim’s “girlfriend” the others overheard and suddenly everyone knew about Tim’s private life. 

“Tim has a girlfriend?” Lucy questioned, while walking over the group and grinning. “That’s what he claims, when he was paying me back a photo slipped out of his wallet and when i asked who it was he said it was his girlfriend, but i don't know who would torture themselves like that” she explained, Nolan had his eyebrows raised “come on guys, Tim can’t be that bad” Nolan continued “he probably just doesn't like us” he smiled making the others laugh. 

“Okay! Are you guys ready to stop being a bunch of highschoolers and gossiping about my love life so we can, I don't know, do our job?” Tim dead panned, they all quietly snickered, and some started getting ready to head out.

Tim heard the faint call of his name, and fast feet, “Tim! you forgot your lunch!” you spoke quickly while softly jogging towards him. “That’s what i forgot, thank you baby” Tim mentally smacked himself for forgetting the meal you had prepared for him the night before. You smiled at him, rushing as you had to get back to the campus as you had a final in 45 minutes.

Everyone looked slightly gobsmacked, realizing that Tim was in fact not lying about having a girlfriend, Angela came up to the love sick couple, “so you’re the pretty lady Tim keeps in his wallet” she spoke with playfulness, “you must be Angela! Tim talks about you all the time, im (Y/N)” you introduced yourself with a big smile. Tim smiled at you with all the love in the world, looking at you while you introduced yourself to his friends and colleagues. 

“As much as i would absolutely love talking to you guys more, i have a really important test i have to go take” you explained with haste, everyone was extremely understanding and wished you good lucks, “One last thing, Tim, before you come home will you please pick up milk from the store? I used it all this morning” everyone looked at Tim awaiting his response “Yes ma’am” he complied, you kissed his cheek and gave everyone a last goodbye before leaving.

“Man she has you utterly whipped” Aaron spoke, while shaking his head, “yeah, you are so done for sir” Celina giggled. Tim looked at both of them with a stern face immediately making them shut up and get back to doing whatever they were doing. 

“I'm glad you found someone Tim, you deserve a good person” Lucy quietly mentioned, Tim gave a silent nod of acknowledgement letting Lucy know that what she said meant a lot to him as she left and continued on with her duties.

Tim carried on with his day, doing paperwork, and counting the minutes until he came home to you.

Once he got off of work, he made sure he picked up milk and even got you you're favorite snack, as soon as he got home you two made dinner together and sat at the kitchen table, you told him how you’re very sure you passed your final with flying colors, and he told you about the mountains of paperwork that made him wish he was in bed watching a stupid reality show with you instead. 

When it was time for bed you and Tim continued to talk about random thoughts, and your futures together before you both drifted into a peaceful sleep.

#tim bradford x reader #tim bradford #the rookie #tim bradford fluff #tim bradford x you #tim bradford x younger!reader #reader insert

[flamingpudding]

Part 5 of Ghost Kid in Gotham

For those that ask, yes an AO3 link is in the works. I will post it once its ready. Also fair warning, I will be focusing on DPxDC Family Week now so I have no idea when the next part will be up.

<<1 Previous Next

Thrill and chirp brother

Tim sipped on his n-th cup of specially made Tim-brand-not-Alfred-approved coffee as he shuffled into the dinning room and sat down on the breakfast table. The moment he sat down he opened the laptop again and stared at its screen for a couple of seconds. The scan of the post-it note got nothing. None of the squiggles was recognised in any of the so far known languages. Hell he even ran it through the leagues recordings of interdimensional and interplanetary known languages. No hits so far. Right now he was running a picture recognition program to see if any of these had appeared before it was on 90% with nothing found so far.

Good he hoped this really was just a prank from Cass and Steph. Because if it wasn't, Bruce would go nuts and overly paranoid as well as up the entire Manors security system a third time this month. Sadly, despite his hope, Tim knew that it wasn't a prank.

A cough resounded behind him and Tim blinked two times before sighting, closing the laptop and pushing it only a couple of inches away from him as Alfred put a plate with his breakfast before him. Knowing Alfreds rules about work at the table he would better not touch it again for now.

"Replacement, you look like the dead walking. Did you even sleep last night?" He glared at his brother before he blinked taking in his surroundings before his eyes rested on little Danny.

Tim could see that all of them, despite barely knowing the kid for a couple of hours, had already become attached to Danny. It didn't help that they had discovered Lichtenberg scarring running up Danny's left arm all the way to where his heart was after the child had finally let Damien take care of him. Hell Tim wanted to know who would give a child, a once dead then revived one, scares like that. If Talia had let the kid go through some sort of experimentation…. Well Tim knew where the explosives were stored and by the looks of it he probably could count on Jason's as well as Dick's help to blow up a league facility.

Either way Damien had become very protective of the child. The scarring didn't help calming that protectiveness either. In fact he was pretty sure it steered it more in the rest of them too. Also the fact that Danny spat out glowing Lazarus Water once they managed to wrangle the kid off Jason last night wasn't calming down a different kind of worry anytime soon either. No, it was another factor next to the scarring that spoke for the League having experimented on the poor child. He probably should start investing more time into what sort of facilities the League had built or was using lately.

On a good note, thankfully Danny had let up on Jason after he spat out the green goop and thanks to the fact that he apparently recognised Damien, let said teenager manhandle -cough- take care of the little biter for the rest of the night. It also seemed like the little guys biting obsession with Jason had calmed down, for now. He didn't trust the calm, especially not with the way Danny was still focused on his second oldest brother. Though everyone except for the demon brat was still getting the hissing treatment. Considering his theory that the League probably used the revived child to experiment with Lazarus Water, it wasn't that much of a surprise. Anyone would be feral after being subjected to experiments.

Thankfully it looked that whatever Pit Madness had overcome the child last night was not reacting towards them. But as he watched Dick trying really hard not to pout at Damien who had Danny in his lap in a protective hold, he wondered how long that would hold. Jason sat as far away from Danny and Damien as he could, probably because of the way the child was watching him with glowing blue eyes while munching on whatever food Damien gave to the little biter.

He could also see the reason for Dick's pouting as the elder reached out to attempt to ruffle Danny's hair but the child instantly snapped his head in their eldest brother's direction, hissing, bearing his teeth and even snapping at the air until Dick withdrew said hand again. A pout very evidently on his face. Like a switch flipped the child's focus would then redirect to watching Jason like a hawk again and munching on the food the Demon brat gave him.

At least he was the bitey type that would hiss as warning and not the stabby kind without warning like Damien.

"Yo, anyone at home up there?"

Turning his focus back to his second oldest brother Tim glared at him once more. "If you have to know. Yes I did sleep last night."

"More than one hour?" Dick asked next and Tim refused to look at the eldest. He was not going to answer that. He had coffee, who needed sleep when you have coffee. Besides, he was a perfectly functioning human being even with minimal amounts of sleep. He had not face planted his breakfast for three days now.

"What got you so obsessed that you didn't sleep, Drake? Another case? Or did you try to find out more from the League in regards to Danyal's scars?"

"That too but mostly the post-it note." He finally answered after stewing a little longer under the stares of his siblings. "Neither our nor the JL's language recognition programs got a hit and right now I am running a picture recognition to see if there ever was any kind of writing like that found before but it ran up to 90% before I came down and hadn't found anything like that before. And-"

"Slow down there Timber. I thought that's just a prank from Cass and Steph?" Dick interrupted him and Tim suppressed a groan.

"It couldn't be. I wish it was but both of them weren't in the Manor last night and I don't think Duke would do something like this so-"

"Hold up." Jason cut in and Tim glowered at them for getting interrupted again.

"What do you mean no language recognition program got a hit?"

"It means that there is no languages to translate-"

"Why would you need that? Yea its cryptic as fuck but its clearly written out!"

"Jason what are you talking about?" He opened his laptop again, turning the screen so it was facing Jason. "These are squiggles! How is it readable?!"

"The fuck you talking about?! Don't tell me your sleep deprived mind doesn't know how to read anymore?"

"Jason what does it say in your eyes?" Dick carefully cut in before Tim could question the other any more.

"'The daylight knight will tell the truth with eyes that see the light'. See cryptic as fuck." The older gesticulated towards Tim's laptop screen while Damien raised an eyebrow at him.

"The what now, will tell what?" Dick asked confusedly while Tim turned the laptop back towards him noting down what Jason just said. He was confused as to why Jason was able to read the squiggles but at least that gave him some kind of hint about the post-it. Aside from adding more questions to the already growing pile.

Suddenly a thrilling noise echoed in the room and the four looked at Danny. The child's now green eyes were focused on Jason. Tim could see Damiens hold tightening and Dick tensing when they noticed the green. Danny repeated the same nose he made earlier, still intensely staring at Jason.

"Who the fuck is clockwork?"

The green fated and Danny made a similar noise to chirping, his head tilting in confusion.

"The fuck you mean you don't know? You just said that Clockwork wrote the note?!"

"Todd. Did you just understand the noise Danyal was making?"

Once again the three of them stared at Jason who looked at them confused. "You didn't?"

They shake their heads and Jason let out a frustrated groan as he sat back down his head in his hands. "What did you assholes hear just now?"

"Danyal made some kind of thrilling, then chirping noise."

"Well I heard him say that someone named Clockwork wrote the note and then he said all confused that he doesn't know who Clockwork is." He looked at them frustrated. "Why do I hear the kid speak and you guys don't. You're his fucking twin, right? Shouldn't you know what the brat is saying?"

Damien glowered at their brother offended but didn't retort anything. Tim did see a hint of frustration with their formerly youngest and he could guess. Damien was most likely frustrated about the fact that Jason understood his twin's noises and he didn't. The only thing stopping him from possibly hurling the breakfast knife at Jasons, was most likely his hold on Danny.

Tim also thought about the fact for a while until it suddenly hit him. He looked up and made eye contact with Dick who most likely came to the same conclusion. The two turned towards their siblings.

"The Lazarus Water." Tim carefully offered, watching Jason and Damien tensed slightly.

"What about it?" The second oldest scoffed, turning his attention towards them.

"That's what you two have in common. Both of you got revived and came back through a Lazarus Pit. You still have the Pit in your mind right? And Danny most likely also has a lot of it in his system. It even mixed with his DNA."

After a beat of silence Jason let out a hearty groan. "Fuck. So because of the Pit I understand thrill and chirps now? Just fucking great!"

"Probably can speak it too if you try. That would be pretty cute. Come on, say something in a chirp!" Leave it to Dick to try to lighten the mood, though the glare Jason sent the eldest did make Tim hide a chuckle. He had to admit imaging Jason talking in chirps was a funny image. Should his brother ever do that he would need to make sure to take a video for his black mail folder.

"I will fucking not!"

"Come on, don't you want to communicate properly with our little teethling here?"

"Fuck off Dick!"

"You have to try it Jaybird! For little teethling!"

"Richard." Damien warned but Tim could only snicker as he watched Dick reach out to pat the kids head carelessly, apparently not hearing the warning nor hissing as the elder was too engrossed in convincing Jason to talk in chirp.

Dick let out a shriek of pain.

"Ha! Not so fun getting bitten is it now?" Jason laughed gloating with the fact that for once he was not the biting target.

Tim winched the moment he saw Danny clamp down with his sharp teeth on Dick's hand. Damien was instantly scowling both of them but the little biter refused to let go. He saw Alfred approaching the three and instantly stood up from his chair with a warning on the tip of his tongue as the butler reached out towards Danny.

"Master Danyal." Stunned and frozen the four brothers watched how the butler fearlessly patted the child's head who only let out a small hiss in acknowledgement, teeth still digging into the eldest brother's hand. "I request you let go of Master Dick's hand. I fear it will not taste as well as this snack I have prepared for you."

In an instant Danny let go and chirped, turning his attention towards Alfred who was still patting the child's head without getting hissed at or being in risk of getting bitten. Damien even let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Pennyworth."

Dick was now cradling his hand, pouting and mumbling something about unfairness at the three as Jason laughed. Tim too couldn't help but chuckle, of course Alfred somehow became an exception towards Danny's biteyness.

It was at that moment that Duke entered the room, took one look at them, blinked, rubbed his eyes and then turned around and left again muttering something about it being too bright and early for any of this.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #damian wayne #tim drake #richard grayson #dick grayson #jason todd #duke thomas #danny and damian are twins #de aged danny #dp x dc #fanfic #feral danny #dc x dp #crossover #alfred pennyworth #unedited #no beta wie die like danny #Tim might blow a facility up again #clockwork #jason speaks ghost #Danny still wants to bite Jaosn #he bites anyone that gets to close #except for Damien and Alfred #Ghost Kid in Gotham #dpxdc

[ggomos-maribat]

2 | a girl named Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Part 2 of Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Dead | Masterlist

Tim came rushing into the Batcave with an armful of papers which he dumped by the computer in front of Jason. "I remember now. Why her name was so familiar."

"Lila Rossi's?" Jason looked up at him. Ever since the news blew up, Tim had been visibly restless, like the whole ordeal was a mind-boggling case. Though Jason, too, couldn't quell his own curiosity.

"No, that girl she supposedly killed. Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Tim pulled out a folder from the bottom of the pile and slapped it on top. Jason caught the same name on the case's title. "Her death two years ago was a cold case I found. Damn it, why didn't Damian tell me?"

"And you solved it?"

Tim huffed out. "No, I didn't have the time to go back to cold cases again and it kind of got buried with the other ones."

Jason opened up the folder with one hand and skimmed the content. Both Lila and the 'Marinette' girl were from Paris—he remembered how the media was raving on about the death being a mystery, and Lila, Lilia Ross, must've been involved in it. Of course, there wasn't definite proof as all rumors went.

On the corner of the paper, there was a stapled photo: a girl of East Asian descent, with dark hair and blue eyes. She wore a knit sweater, beaming at the camera with her hands clasped on the strap of her bag.

Just then, Jason heard a ping, followed by a curse from Tim.

"Lilia Ross just posted a video." In an instant, he was right by Jason's side so he could see it too. "Looks like she's addressing the accusations."

"Why would she do that?" Jason knew Bruce got all sorts of backlash too, but not once did he ever seriously address all the rumors since that would be equivalent to admitting they were true.

"Honestly this isn't something she can actually ignore. It blew up pretty badly and the online market is important for her business."

Jason looked at the video in scrutiny. Lilia Ross' setup was simple but still put together: there were brand products displayed in her background along with trinkets on the shelves reminiscent of Paris. The brunette's face seemed solemn, but he couldn't get a read if it was forced or not. The title of the video was short, all caps, bordering on being click-baity—'MY MESSAGE TO EVERYONE...'

"Hi everyone," Lilia managed a small smile. "Recently it has come to my attention that an anonymous poster broadcasted that I'm a suspect for murder. I didn't want to talk about it at first, but I decided to tell everyone the truth not for my sake but for the sake of everyone who was affected by that incident."

"Her name is. . ." She paused as if choked up suddenly. "Her name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was my friend and classmate in collége and lycée back in Paris. Two years ago, she . . . she passed away—they found her near Pont des Arts. We were told it was suicide."

Lilia took a deep breath and her eyes glazed over. Jason wanted to think that she actually looked remorseful. "Well, I should say her parents didn't say anything else other than that so we were kind of left in the dark about the details. But all of us—our class was really close—we're still grieving. If I knew she was hurting that badly, I . . . I would've done something before it was too late. Marinette was a kindhearted girl and we all loved—love—her. She was taken away from us too early."

Her expression shifted from sad to silent rage. "That's why I can't stand people using her name for this useless sensationalism. This is hurting her close friends, her family, everyone who knew her. Please don't bring her up again; give her some peace. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. And please think twice before spreading awful rumors about something so serious."

Jason tore his attention away from the video to look at Tim, who had his lips pursed, thinking deeply. Tim set down his phone. "The facts add up with Marinette's case file, but she's lying."

Tim opened up the folder again. "It's true that the police ruled it out as a suicide and there's still a lot of mystery surrounding her death. But based on what I've gathered, Lilia—er, Lila—and Marinette weren't friends."

"What do you mean?"

Tim picked up another folder, showing Marinette's school record. "According to this file, there were some reports of Marinette bullying her classmates, some issues of theft, blackmail, cheating . . . Lila made it seem like she was likable to everyone, which doesn't seem to be the case."

"But if Lila's intention of making the video was to partly clear her own name, obviously she won't badmouth Marinette." Jason frowned.

His brother shrugged. "Yeah, I thought that too. I'm not pointing at Lila as a likely suspect in this, actually. This case is so confusing that if there was actually an answer to it that makes sense, I doubt a then nineteen-year-old girl would've pulled it off by herself."

He sighed exasperatedly. "But then again, anyone could've been the culprit, and that includes Lila."

"Wait, so you're sure it's not suicide then?"

Another presence suddenly entered the cave. Judging by the soft humming, Jason figured that Dick was home from Bludhaven.

The eldest strolled into the room, hands casually in his pockets. "Hey, Alfie told me you guys were down here!" He greeted. "Did you guys see that accusation on Lilia Ross? That was crazy."

Jason stared at him. "You follow Lilia Ross?"

"I see her stuff here and there—I'm not a boomer, you know."

"So you know about everything then." Tim turned to the computer next. "We're investigating the case."

"What case?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng's death," Jason replied. "It's one of Replacement's cold cases and Lilia Ross is tied to it."

"So it wasn't suicide?" Dick walked towards the table, eyeing the papers scattered around. "Hold on, tell us everything. From the beginning."

Like the cop he was, Jason could tell that Dick was showing interest in the case as well. If it wasn't something Tim could crack right off the bat, it must be that difficult. Tim began typing things into the large computer, pulling out the case files in digital form to show the two of them.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, only child and daughter to Thomas Dupain and Sabine Cheng, who own a bakery in Paris. She died when she was just eighteen years old." Tim presented a few pictures. "Attended Francois Dupont in collége and lycée, the same one Lilia Ross went to . . . they were also classmates with a few other notable people: model Juleka Couffaine, physicist Max Kante, the current director of the Louvre, Alix Kubdel, and others. She had a perfect record up until the end of collége when she started getting tardies and absences, then she had three cases of theft, two of cheating and a few reports of bullying and harassment in lycée. She got suspended twice because of that."

He switched to another file. "And then . . . her death. April sixteenth of their last year in school. Locals found her body in Pont des Arts, near the foot of the bridge. The investigation only lasted about three days, but the police declared it a suicide despite the fact that there was no note found, no signs of tendencies before that day. I don't know if it was her parents' decision, but they didn't investigate any further."

Jason shifted on his seat. There was no clear picture of the body, only a blurry photo taken from far away, showing a motionless figure lying on the bridge, with police tape serving as its barrier. She was still young .  . .

Tim's expression turned grim. "Apart from that, here's where it gets weird. Her parents consented for an autopsy and I dug around for the file. They found nothing significant."

"Nothing significant?" Dick echoed.

"As in nothing. No marks on her skin, no sign of injury, no organ failure, no traces of drugs or poison anywhere, no fingerprints, no DNA other than hers." Tim clenched his jaw. "Nothing. Which means . . ."

"They didn't know the cause of death," Jason continued for him.

"Yes, but she was deceased. Only they didn't find out how and they couldn't even estimate the time of death."

"Maybe the coroner faked the report?" Dick suggested.

Jason crossed his arms. "Yeah, but if they wanted to cover up something, then they would've written a fake cause of death, right?"

"Exactly," Tim agreed. "Literally all it says on paper is 'no significant findings. Cause of death unknown'. That's all!"

"So if they don't know the cause of death and there was no note . . . they can't just say it was suicide," Dick concluded.

"Could they just have missed something?" Jason asked Tim.

"That's a possibility, but I'm not convinced it's a suicide with so many things unaccounted for. An accident or suicide would've left some kind of clue, which this case lacks. With evidence this meticulously covered up, it must be predetermined. Homicide."

"Is that why Lilia Ross was accused?" Dick wondered out loud.

"According to the anonymous post, she allegedly tormented Marinette which makes her a suspect in her death," Tim explained. "There's no evidence pointing to her though. Like I said, there's no evidence at all. Since the investigation period was so short, the police never questioned anyone other than her parents so even if her classmates had something to say about it, there was never a record."

"What about the cameras?" Dick said.

Tim looked a tad bit insulted. "You think I didn't check?"

He quickly opened up more files, video feeds of the day of the incident. The cameras didn't quite give a clear view of the bridge itself, only the roads on either side of it. "No sightings of Marinette or anything weird. Before, during and after the body was found . . . just a small crowd from the commotion. Marinette was last seen alive the morning before, but the cameras caught her going home but not going out after."

Jason searched the feed for anything out of the ordinary but unsurprisingly, nothing stood out for him. "What about her parents? What did they say?"

"They . . . they said Marinette was always stressed out and busy but they never thought she'd resort to suicide. She seemed normal the day before," Tim answered solemnly. "They saw her coming back home but didn't catch her leaving, but apparently she had a habit of sneaking out sometimes."

They all fell silent, seemingly at a loss on how to resolve all their questions. Jason couldn't wrap his head around the whole thing because it all appeared like the impossible did in fact happen. How did she get to the bridge? How did she even die? If there was a killer then why would they . . .?

Then Jason noticed Tim looking at him.

"What?"

"Bruce only asked me to look into this. Why are you so invested?" Tim leaned against the table.

"Why does the reason matter?"

"Like . . . I'd expect you to say something like 'leave the dead to rest in peace' or something like that."

Jason snorted. "First of all, as the spokesperson of the dead, I wouldn't say something like that. More like 'the dead need the living to bring justice for them.'" He averted his gaze. "And secondly, I want to know more. No, I want the truth because . . . because I think I've seen Marinette before."

Taglist: @hammalammadamdam

#maribat fanfic #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat #maribat fic #character death #major character death #angst #MDC is Dead #dc x miraculous

[theflyindutchwoman]

Hi I’m back.

But mad now.

WHY IS EVERYONE (expect Tim) TREATING MY BABY LUCY SO BAD!?

No one was in that room supporting her after the shooting.

Angela and Nyla treated her like shit, looking at her like she’s less then. Acting like her failing to make detective was actually her own fault!?

The way Nolan fucked up and ends up on fucking tv!? While Lucy “makes a mistake” at a scene and gets taunted!?

No one our girl is spiraling lately. The only person she has right now is Tim. He has been unwavering in his support.

I’m so mad 😤 and then I’m also nervous because next week it seems like they’re making Tim abandon Lucy!? And like wtf is that!? He better explain himself and not join the dark side. He’s all we have for her right now (unless we include Tamara but she’s MIA)

Who do we talk to about giving my baby a better support team and friends!? Jackson would never.

LUCY RISKED HER FUCKING LIFE TONIGHT TO STOP THAT GUNMAN AND A SINGLE ONE OF THEM SEEMED TO CARE! (Again excluding our husband Tim Bradford)

See, I don't know if it's because I saw that hospital scene first - I forgot about the time change so that's the only scene I caught live - but I didn't think they were treating Lucy that badly (or maybe I expected worse). She was the suspect of a shooting, she had to be isolated. That's standard procedure. We saw some of it in 1.08 when Nolan shot someone, killing him in the process. Talia had to secure the scene while he was waiting in the hallway alone. Same when Grey showed up. It's in Lucy's best interest that they follow the procedure to the letter so she can be cleared.

But that doesn't mean people weren't there to support her. Nolan and Aaron showed up for her. They were just waiting outside. Grey was asking how she was doing. The reason why Tim was able to go directly to her is because he wasn't involved in the orginal case or the pending IA investigation. And as soon as they got an update, Grey and Wesley immediately went to her to ease her mind. Now, Wesley's reaction seemed a bit harsh, but in my opinion, he was just trying to warn her of what could possibly happen in the worst case scenario so she could prepare herself. He didn't insist on doing the interview while it was still fresh or anything. Maybe he could have been more empathetic instead of matter-of-fact, but Grey and Tim's reactions balanced him. Especially Tim! I love that final scene of the two of them so much.

I'm going to circle back on the Angela and Nyla thing in another post (I have a couple of asks on that topic as well). But I will say that between the Pentagram killer + the shooting, I'm sure they were both very busy. And again, they couldn't be seen talking to Lucy either. But the look of horror and terror on their faces when Lucy fell down in that alley was rather telling.

Now, there is a part that pissed me off as much as you and that's Nolan getting on TV after messing up… The double treatment is so jarring. I miss the days where making a mistake had some consequences for everyone. The man is like Teflon, nothing sticks anymore.

Anyway, back to Lucy…. I don't think she's as alone as she thinks. She feels isolated, that's clear. I'm going to write about this later once I gather my thoughts a bit more but there was a small moment that I think illustrate this difference of perspective : at the hospital, when she was alone in that room, she saw Grey and Wesley look at her before turning away. We, as the viewer, know that Grey was asking how she was holding up. But I can see how, for her, it would look entirely different. She's in a bad place mentally and it's all piling up. And like you said, it's going to get worse before it gets better, with Tim going MIA. That said, this last scene at the hospital makes me believe that he will have a good reason for not telling Lucy. Most likely because it concerns a classified matter or something like that. I just can't picture the man who was rushing through the hospital to get to her, will suddenly disappear on her when she needs him the most. There has to be more to that story. But yes, moments like these really remind me how much I miss Jackson 😭 You can truly feel his absence. Lucy needs friends.

#little talks (with Bestie) #the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #6.04

[tumblingxelian]

Honest question, what do you think a well-written "Jason lives" story would look like?

Like, if Death in the Family still happened, but Bruce saved Jason before it was too late, then odds are there would still be consequences resulting from how BADLY the Joker brutalized him.

Hmm, OK so with your starting premise and utilizing my knowledge of comics to come but also the fact that if Jason lived then certain ideas and plots would be nixed... While all still colored from my perspective, here is my general take:

So, first, rather than Bruce saving Jason I'd say Jason actually manages to save himself, either because he released his mother or managed to half talk her through disarming the bomb.

I know the original splash page has Bruce pulling him from the rubble but that makes zero sense even by comics standards, he and Sheila should be charred corpses.

So, the bomb is disarmed or they managed to get out cos he released Sheila and Bruce arrives to whisk Jason away to medical treatment with Sheila keeping his head above water.

The exact next sequence is harder to make sense of at first, but here's the thing. The original comic could let Joker get away with learning who Jason was behind the mask because he 'died' soon after and then 'came back'. He also initially mistook Tim for Jason. So, given his state of mind it can be... Tacitly tolerated that he never deduced or used Bruce's identity.

Here, that's a bigger issue and so I will say that to keep the tracks covered as much as they can...

Sheila is kept in custody because while Bruce is furious with her, she did keep Jason alive & separating them seems like a bad idea, though she is to be closely watched by Leslie & Alfred.

Unfortunately, the intel she gave him on Joker's plan was slightly false and she used her time to slip away to go after the clown herself, intent on a redemption arc.

There's messages, misunderstandings, truths revealed and another arrest that doesn't last, before Joker is once again in a helicopter trying to escape but this time with Sheila who shoots him, but he shoots her back as he lays dying and the helicopter crashes.

They cannot find Joker's body but Sheila stayed above long enough to die later, musing on where her life led her, the importance of getting a chance to do something, and that Jason is a real good kid, better than she or Bruce deserve.

This is deeply tragic, mostly conceptually and philosophically, but still.

This is enough to make Bruce sort of ease up on Jason, but at the expense of becoming more overprotective in general. Which is hard to argue with as Jason is doing physical therapy and Dick has a broken leg.

So the drama for the ensuing period is Bruce trying to bench key allies and family ETC, so he can keep them safe while still running himself more ragged, but not quite as terribly as his suicidal spiral in canon.

He also has ideas on sending Jason to a semi boarding school to try and keep him out of super heroics. If he succeeds, this plan will still fail and likely ends up forming the nexus of Jason's own mini team with Eddie and Rose. But also would fail to keep him out of Gotham sufficiently. Still he may be at Brentwood some of the time so one can justify solo Batman stories & some more school time adventures for Jason.

But before all that happens, we have a new player in the field.

The Spoiler!!!

That's right, into the arena is the one, the only Stephanie Brown. She's here to spill the tea and kill her dad, and maybe protect her community on the side.

Best part?

Bruce either does not know who she is at first, or has zero jurisdiction over her and can't gain any without revealing his identity or attacking a teenager for trying to help and she is slippery regardless.

Basically, one of the people who helps crowbar Bruce back into tolerating help is Stephanie basically keeping her original give no fucks about Batman attitude and doing her own thing.

Their relationship is likely a bit contentious and back and forth, far more hands off, not quite mentoring, but also less outright toxic than canon.

She & Jason probably have a thing and bond over some shared and different history stuff, but I don't see it being the mainstay relationship.

Young Justice is likely found eventually under similar circumstances, though Stephanie likely gets to be a member this time, as do Eddie & Rose.

I think the team would be less, Kon, Kid Flash & Robin and more like a cycling mass of active or present members, dealing with an overseer.

Basically a comic series to throw lots of different personalities power sets and problems together and see what dynamics emerge as popular.

After that, less sure.

My ideal is Jason goes to university or maybe has to stay with Young Justice or some other area full time and adopts his own hero persona while Steph gets a run as Robin alongside Cassandra as Batgirl.

Otherwise most major storylines, save one's reliant on Jason being dead, still happen. Steph likely has a less horrible time as Spoiler, but is also maybe always and forever more overtly on the outs so she might not get Robin as she might not want it. (Though maybe during No Man's Land...)

See what I mean about the plot drift?

War Games may still happen but probably with a very different, though not inherently better cos Bruce's plan was dumb, resolution.

Also Joker does return, sadly, and there's always likely a hovering question as to whether he knows the truth of their identities but its never confirmed, or isn't until he dies again.

#Bat Clan #Batfam #Batman #the batman #Bruce Wayne #Jason Todd #robin!jason #Stephanie Brown #the spoiler #robin!steph #Death in the Family

[phantoms-planet]

Barred Protection

Chapter Two

AO3 Here

First | Prev | Next

---

It wasn’t hard, per say, to keep up his public persona at the museum’s fundraising gala, but it was beginning to agitate him that he hadn’t been able to get close to Percy Daelus the entire two hours he’d been there. Everyone and their dog wanted to speak with him.

It was understandable of course. People wanting to invest in the new company, or thank him for what he did, or try and schmooze their way into getting discounts and partnerships. That was just the way these things were at galas unfortunately.

“B!” Dick’s hiss was only heard by him, being that it was through the comms. “Go to the bathroom, Daelus is on his way there!”

Bruce quickly excused himself from the conversation he hadn’t really cared about. Thankfully no one stopped him on the way and he was through the door before the target, meaning he could ‘go to the bathroom’ and be waiting at the sink.

An odd skill to have, faking bodily function, but one that had come in handy more than Bruce would ever guess if he hadn’t been the one to employ the skill. It was just as he put soap on his hands that Percy Daelus stepped up to the sink next to him. The man was unassuming in looks. Brown hair and eyes, average build, no distinct markings like freckles or moles. He was the most boring thirty four year old Bruce had ever seen.

“Ah! Mr. Wayne? Goodness I never thought I would get the pleasure to meet you in person. I dreamed, of course, but never that it would be in a bathroom.” Daelus chuckled slightly. His face had lit up like he’d been gifted the world.

Bruce smiled as water flowed on his hands. “Some of the best meetings are in the strangest places. It’s nice to meet you Mr…?”

“Daelus! Percy Daelus, I own the Ameliorate corporation.” Daelus was practically vibrating with excitement, bouncing on his heals a bit before soaping his hands.

“Oh yes, that new medical company! Brilliant work you’re doing, goodness knows Gotham has needed something like this for a long time.” A little flattery tended to go a long way with anyone new to high end circles. It certainly didn’t hurt right then.

Daelus beamed as he dried his hands. “That means quite a lot coming from you sir.”

Bruce opened the door for him. “No need to call me sir. I’ve heard good things about your company; I’ve been considering getting a consultation myself.”

“You look fit as a fiddle Mr. Wayne.” Bruce led him towards the hors d’oeuvres table. He both wanted Daelus closer to Dick for better analyzing and wanted something to eat.

“Well truth be told Mr. Daelus, it wouldn’t be for me. You see my middle child, Tim? He’s been having health issues after needing an organ removed.” Daelus’s face twisted into a sympathetic frown. “A mother at my youngest’s school mentioned her immune compromised daughter was feeling much better after receiving some of your medicine.”

He seemed to be genuinely proud at that. “Oh, so glad to hear it! You know, I could do a personal consultation with your son. You inspired me to make my company so it would be my pleasure to help him.”

Bruce had to quickly choke down…well, he wasn’t sure actually. He had been so focused on his goal that he had grabbed whatever was closest on the table. Whatever it was had a mild kick to it.

Pulling out his brightest smile, Bruce placed his hand to his chest. “That’s very generous, you don’t have to! I know being an owner of a company leaves your schedule quite full.”

“No no,” Daelus gestured vaguely. “I insist on it Mr. Wayne. I want to be sure everyone who needs our help gets the attention they need. And getting your son treatment so he feels better, maybe some medication to boost his system, it would truly be no problem at all!”

“Pull the overly protective parent bit B.” Dick suggested. “Like ‘oh but I feel better knowing exactly where my kids’s things come from’ or something like that. It won’t even be that hard for you!” Bruce pointedly ignored that.

He was a prepared father, not overprotective. Maybe. “Thank you very much. I’m not sure how I feel about the medication, however. Not that I don’t see how brilliant it is of course!”

Bruce let some of his worries show through. Truthfully Tim being compromised did make him anxious if he had to admit it, really what good parent wouldn’t be worried after their child lost a spleen. “But I really like to vet everything my kids take personally. Meet the scientists, tour the business, all that. They’re the most important thing in my life, you see, and I want to be sure they get the best there is.

Daelus nodded quite sternly. “I understand completely Mr. Wayne. Our children are our future; you can’t play around with their lives like a game. It’s incredibly admirable that you would keep track of these things so closely just for their health.”

“I don’t normally offer this,” Daelus held a hand to his chest with a warm smile that didn’t quite fully reach his eyes. “But we could arrange a tour so you can feel secure with our products.

 Yes! Bruce waved the thought away as if it weren’t exactly what he had been aiming for. “I wouldn’t want to ask too much by asking to poke my nose into your company’s workings.”

“Oh no Mr. Wayne, nothing would be asking too much from you!”

“Bet you twenty he’s just trying to get you as a financial backer. He’s laying this on really thick.”

Bruce was inclined to agree with his oldest. “Well, if you’re sure; it would be delightful to see how your brilliant scientists create these medicines. And if it helps Tim, and others of course, I would be more than happy to put some donations in to help further the research.’

Daelus flashed another million-dollar smile. “That’s very generous of you! Tell me when you’re next free and I’ll clear the whole day for you. Better yet,” He pulled out a card. “You can call whenever you would like and I’ll drop everything!”

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #ao3 fanfic #my writing

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Don’t Forget to Write (6)

.... I apparently forgot to post the last chapter when I released it months ago. Oops.

AO3 -> first, previous

Fandoms: DC (Batman comics)

Summary: From Dick’s POV.  Damian happened to win a contest to illustrate a new book by an up and coming author. Being the good brother he is, Dick decided to check the book.He quickly realized he was reading a  very first hand account of one of Jason’s old cases, and deciding to act like a normal person would, he decided to read some of the author’s other works. What he found shook the very foundation of what he thought  was true?  

Warnings: rated T - mostly for swearing and questionable mental health. Amnesia

Parings: none

Notes: originally uploaded to AO3. Cross-posted to tumblr

“Stop grumbling for a moment. It’s about to start,” Dick teased as Jason continued to pace. After almost two months of preparations and another three weeks to convince Jason, they were finally having the press conference to announce he was alive.

His brother shot him a look as he messed with his tie yet again. While it was clear he was nervous, most of his discomfort came from the prosthetics he had to wear to make it look like nothing suspicious happened, and he was doing his best not to touch them. Over time, they would be changed to make it appear as if he’d healed either on his own or through some treatment. They were currently leaning towards the latter as an explanation, especially with how severe the damage to his hands used to be.

Deciding messing with his clothes wasn’t getting him anywhere, he reached into his suit jacket, pulled out a cigarette, and placed it to his lips. They were working on breaking him of that habit again, but at least he had no desire to light it. With the return of his memories, there was now an understanding why he couldn’t tolerate the smell of the smoke. It subconsciously reminded him too much of what happened.

“I thought Pennyworth searched your person for those.” Damian seemed moderately impressed.

Jason gave a mischievous grin. “He did.”

“You’re going to have to teach me how you did that. Nothing gets passed Alfred,” Tim stated as he double checked the prosthetics on Jason’s hands. Those were the ones most likely to come loose.

“I’ll think about it.”

It warmed Dick’s heart to see how his younger siblings interacted. While they were still getting used to each other, things were going relatively well.

One of the first things Dick did was make sure he gave Jason a summary of the others’ histories. It ended up being the right move as Jason admitted he had very conflicted emotions over the fact there had been other Robins after him. The one thing he couldn’t seem to reconcile with was Bruce allowing any child back in those colors. He didn’t think that kids truly understood the risks of playing hero, and that was something he was still coming to terms with himself. Dick made sure to tell his brother that it was his death that brought that to light for him too.

But as a result of that conversation, Dick noticed Jason’s protective streak towards his younger siblings. At one point, he had a nasty argument with Bruce after Damian came to his apartment to get away from the Manor for a night. Since it was a fight with Bruce that triggered his flight and eventual death, Jason was not going to tolerate Bruce’s inability to articulate his emotions and cause another catastrophe. It was amazing to watch, and in its own way, started changing how they conversed with each other for the better.

It also opened the door for everyone to start randomly crashing at Jason’s apartment. However, his apartment wasn’t really large enough for the constant influx of siblings and pseudo-siblings. So, they were working on getting Jason a much better apartment that was up to Bat standards near Crime Alley. It was supposed to be a surprise. But seeing as he stated that if anyone spent an exorbitant amount of money on him needed to make a donation of an equal amount to the charity organization who helped take care of him while he had no memories, he clearly already knew. In Dick’s opinion, that was a fair request.

For the most part, they were going to leave the decorating up to Jason. But they were all working on finding more bat and bird plushes to match his other ones. Damian had been the one to announce it wasn’t appropriate he only had ones that represented Dick, himself, and Bruce. They were still trying to figure out if Steph’s and Alfred’s should also follow that pattern or be different animals.

They were also working on sprucing up Jason’s old room. While he didn’t want to give up his independence, Jason had begun staying over the Manor some nights. It thrilled Alfred to have him back home, and soon the two started baking together again. And if he wasn’t doing that, Tim, Cass, Steph, or even Damian had begun commandeering him for various activities. Usually it was related to movies, but Dick did once catch Jason assisting Damian with some of his English homework. Even Babs, once she’d gotten the okay to come visit, had started stealing Jason away on some days.

Alfred even reported he found Bruce and Jason playing chess together. Dick could remember his brother venting about how Bruce always beat him at the game when he was still in the Manor. While it didn’t mean that everything was good between them, it showed they were working on it.

In Dick’s case, he decided to wait for Jason to reach out to him regarding bonding activities. Sure, he made suggestions of various activities he’d like to do with him, but they were just that, suggestions. Not only was Jason overwhelmed with everything, but there was also the distance there had been between them before his death. That was something he couldn’t just erase. While Jason hadn’t yet taken him up on any of his offers, he had rather shyly asked if Dick could help him get back in shape. And to him, that was a huge victory.

Even though Mask was finally back in jail, the likelihood he’d be back out on the streets sooner than later was high. So, retraining himself made a lot of sense even if he had a wicked swing with his tire iron.

They still weren’t entirely sure if Jason was going to rejoin the vigilante life. While it had come up in a couple conversations, Jason’s answer was always vague. However, he was willing to start being their ears on the streets. He already had a good rapport with the regulars of Crime Alley so sending them information he happened to learn wasn’t too much extra work. Babs had also started training him on her system, just in case.

The other aspect that was up in the air in Jason’s life was his writing career. His stories were an unconscious attempt to put back together the pieces of his former life, and he’d accidentally given away a lot of hints towards their lives and secrets. With his memories back, it was unlikely he’d be able to write in the exact same way which could raise some alarms. For now, he was reviewing what he had almost finished to see how much he needed to change and whether or not it was salvageable. He also wanted to write some short pieces in different genres to see how they’d be received.

There was also upheaval happening at the publishing company. After it was revealed Amy was Black Mask’s assistant once he was finally caught, the GCPD finally got involved. While most of the recent disappearances of writers were directly related to Mask and his paranoia, there was evidence it had occurred in the past if one of the Families were involved with the company. Trying to save face, the company gutted itself out and was in the process of rehiring, which put most of their projects on hold. At least Jason currently didn’t have to worry about any of his projects getting him into any more trouble for the time being.

The only thing he seemed certain of was that he was going to continue working with the organization that helped him out so much over the years. Now that he would have a proper identity again, he would be able to support them in ways he couldn’t do before. Well, that would be after he dealt with any outstanding bills or taxes he owed over the years. He was also going to go for his GED. Once that was squared away, he was going to consider college since it had been something he always dreamed of, even when he was on the streets trying to care for himself.

“Cass, seriously! Stop stealing them!” Jason snapped. Coming out of his thoughts, Dick watched as their sister gracefully kept just out of reach while laughing. It had become something like a game between them.

“Since we’re getting close to show time,” Dick stated after glancing at the clock. The press conference was to begin in just five minutes, “Let’s go back over the basics.”

“I didn’t start getting my memory back until I met you guys after the interview with Vicki Vale, which is mostly true,” Jason stated, almost bored, as he gave up on getting his cigarette back. They had reviewed this several times by that point. “But it wasn’t until Black Mask got interested in me which got Batman’s attention that revelations were made.”

“If asked, we are to state that Batman recognized him due to previous interactions with us and started the process of verifying his identity,” Damian continued. “We are to let Father answer any questions regarding the non-existent body in his grave.”

“Bruce stated he’s going to phrase it as a misidentification that had only recently come to light,” Tim continued. “He’s going to do what he can to help the GCPD to identify whoever is in that grave. I’m still not entirely sure exactly how he’s planning on that one. I thought he was going to ask J’onn to play the role, but it seems like he has something else in mind. He also has some story regarding how the switch happened and how you returned to Gotham.”

“I thought he was going to play the ‘we have no idea, but we’re going to find out’ card. At least that’s what he told me,” Jason huffed. “Thankfully, I can’t really contradict whatever bullshit he comes up with. The time between coming back and waking up in the hospital is thankfully fuzzy. Are we certain someone got hold of my medical records?”

Dick nodded. “I think Bruce did that on purpose to help prove how bad of a condition you were in. It’ll at least take some of the pressure off of you, but I don’t doubt some idiot is going to try to push some buttons.”

“If they want to go after me, that’s fine. I’m not going to be happy if they decide to take digs at anyone other than me or Bruce.”

“Wouldn’t that be a headline? ‘Lost Wayne son fist fights reporter’,” Tim teased, though there was no doubt in Dick’s mind that it could happen.

“Let’s try not to do that. But I think both Lois and Clark are in the audience. They’ll hopefully be able to keep things under control.”

Outside their family, the first two people Bruce let know that Jason was alive ended up being Clark and Diana. They had asked to see him as soon as he was willing. After that, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the hero community found out. Dick was partially responsible for the leak after he let it slip to Donna, who told Wally, and it just snowballed from there. Soon other heroes were visiting just to see Jason. It had the unintended effect of allowing him to start making friendships he never had a chance to while being Robin. It was easing the loneliness he’d been harboring for years.

Someone knocked on the door of the room they were currently borrowing. “Guess that’s our cue,” Dick stated as he gently pushed Jason towards the door.

…

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Dick questioned as he watched Jason do his double checks on his gear.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he answered as he pulled up his hood.

It had been almost eight months since he’d recovered his memories, and he was finally going out on the streets under a new persona. While he hadn’t directly agreed to it before the previous months, he had started back into his training with gusto almost immediately after he got the okay. Unlike the rest of them, he was going to predominately stick to one area as he eased back into it.

He hadn’t picked out a name just yet, but that was fine. He was half willing to let the people of Crime Alley come up with a name for him, but for now, he was going to act as more of a shadow than a directly seen force. To start, he was going to target the pimps and the drug dealers in the area. Once that was better under control, he would branch out to targeting the gangs. They were hoping he’d be able to keep out of the sight of the major rogues until he was in a situation where he was better established.

While he didn’t want to say it, Bruce was uneasy about letting Jason back in the field. His protectiveness had come out in full force as he helped Jason construct his outfit. And interestingly, unlike the rest of them, Jason wanted to make his outfit look less traditional hero and more akin to a civilian. Dick once asked if he wanted to appear as something like a ghost, especially with how Jason wasn’t going to show most of his face. While Jason didn’t directly answer, he just smiled.

In a morbid sort of way, it made sense for him. He’d already died and crawled his way back from the dead. If anyone had the right to act like a ghost, it was Jason. And knowing his brother, he was going to milk it for all it was worth on the streets. Jay always did have a flair for the dramatic after all.

“You better come home in one piece,” Dick warned him. “Seriously, don’t be afraid to call for help.”

Jason stared at him for a moment. While Dick couldn’t see his face well, with the hood up all he could see in the shadows were the red tints from his domino mask, he could tell his brother was smiling. “I lost everything once because I thought I wasn’t wanted. You proved me wrong and helped me find a different ending. I’m not going to risk giving that up again.” He patted his shoulder. “Besides, I still have to get you back for that prank you pulled last week. Can’t do that if I’m dead.”

Dick couldn’t help how he momentarily froze. Jason had begun making jokes about his death. They seemed to be a coping mechanism for him which meant the rest of them had to get used to it. As distressing as addressing it could be, it was something that happened, and they couldn’t get around it. Some days, he wondered if that was why he made those jokes.

“That’s true, but you still need to be in one piece to enact your revenge.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I bet I could get Tim to help me.”

“Pranks can wait until after Patrol.” Bruce gently touched Jason’s shoulder. Concern was barely visible on his face. “It’s time.”

As they took to their respective vehicles, Dick couldn’t help the excitement that raced through him. His brother, the first one he taught how to properly be Robin, was finally going to fly with him again. It had been a long time coming, but they were finally all together again.

Who knew that a simple book, written by a young man without a memory, would have been the key to it?

#don't forget to write #writer AU #dc comics #fanfiction #fanfic #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Batman #Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #Nightwing

[itsawhumpsideblog]

The Safehouse, pt. 6

CW: for institutionalized slavery, mentions of abuse, treatment of people as things, description of injuries

Advice from the Box Boy Liberation Movement:

The day of a rescuee's arrival can feel chaotic and uncomfortable for you, as well as for them. Be very careful not to inadvertently pressure rescuees to respond to you right away, and try to give yourself some grace if things feel tense. Remember that rescuees must learn that they can trust you and they likely do not yet understand that they have been freed. Save that conversation for a later date, after some trust has been established, and focus on their health and comfort during the first few days of their stay.

Francis was lying on the floor, like a good pet, when Master and Mistress helped the other one down the stairs. He tensed at the sound of their approaching footsteps and tried to rise before they entered, so that he could properly serve them, but he felt woozy and his arms were shaking and all he could manage in the few moments before they came though the door was to sit up and pause there while his head spun.

Master smiled at him and Francis watched his face intently, trying to figure out whether there was a sneer behind the expression. There didn't seem to be, but it was so hard to tell. Francis caught himself staring and dropped his eyes. Pets shouldn't stare, humans didn't like it.

But now Francis wasn't sure where to put his eyes. He could only keep his attention on the carpet for so long and the ceiling was so far up that to crane his head that far made it look like he was staring up at Master and Mistress, which wold never do. And he shouldn't appear to be studying their furniture, either. Francis closed his eyes briefly, in case it would make his head settle down.

Mercifully, they moved past Francis without stopping to kick at him or roll him out of their way, so perhaps his current location was acceptable. He pressed his back into the couch and closed his eyes for just a second... until he heard a sharp whimpering noise and they flew open again to see what was going on.

Across the room, Mikey had stopped in his tracks in front of the second couch. Angie and Tim had walked him across the room as gently as they could and had planned to sit him down, but he was staring at it in some kind of horror.

"Come on," Angie said, as gently as she could. "You can sit up here. It's alright, we're giving you permission."

Mikey shook his head vehemently, hardly looking at the couch. He had passed this test before and he could do it again. All he had to do was stand still until they told him where they really wanted him, until he proved he knew that the furniture was not for him and they gave him correct directions.

Only- only he hoped desperately that they wouldn't pull on his arms to try to force him forward. He hoped they wouldn't push him towards the couch. His old Master had done that, in the early days, and he had fallen onto the cushions and then Master had beaten- retrained him, so that he would remember to stay off the furniture. But he had never tried to get on the furniture in the first place, only been pushed- but he must not think like that. It was his job to avoid being bad, of course.

He hoped they wouldn't hurt his arm too much, when they pushed him. Mikey bent over, almost unconscious of the movement, cradling his arms against his chest protectively. He shifted his weight very slightly, prepared to fall sideways on his good shoulder when he had to.

Of course the push never came. Although they were reassuring him, Tim and Angie eventually realized that the man wasn't hearing anything they had to say. He wasn't ignoring them- the words didn't seem to be making it to his brain for processing.

"How about you take a spot on the carpet?" Tim suggested, one hand resting gently on Mikey's back. "Here- maybe on this pillow, so it's more comfortable?" He nudged a pillow over and now Mikey's eyes lifted, looking vastly relieved.

Mikey nodded and Tim and Angie stepped back to let him get comfortable. He shuffled around the pillow, as if searching for an angle, and then he very carefully lowered himself down onto his knees.

On the pillow now, Mikey seemed to relax a little. He still held his body very taut, poised for a blow or the need to move quickly, but his facial expression evened out. He cradled his left arm in his right, stroking absently at his forearm as if to soothe some pain there.

"Do you think he would take a painkiller?" Tim whispered to Angie. "If we gave it to him?"

"We can try. Francis ought to take something, too." She bustled off in search of water and medicine and the three men waited silently behind her.

Tim lowered himself onto the couch, finding that he was a little embarrassed to be seated comfortably while Francis and Mikey were on the floor. Mikey didn't seem to notice, engrossed in staring at the floor and tending to his arm, but Francis was watching Tim out of the corner of his eye and seemed to be waiting to find out what Tim would do next.

Angie wasn't gone long and returned with two cups of water, a small bottle of pills, and a washcloth. She set everything down on the coffee table and turned to her first patient. It took some coaxing, but she found that Mikey didn't seem to object to taking the medicine, as long as he didn't have to hold the glass of water himself.

"Very good," she reassured him, and he looked up briefly, his face relaxing into a look that might be pleasure. Angie returned the warmest smile she could muster before standing and moving on to her next patient. Something told her that Francis was going to present a greater challenge.

"Francis?" Angie started, "Can I give you some medicine?"

Francis was so surprised to hear his name, when he had not been expecting it, that his eyes widened and he looked straight at her for a moment before remembering to drop his gaze as a polite pet should.

"You're okay," Tim said, though Francis wasn't sure why. Tim stood and came over to crouch next to Francis, who unconsciously drew back. "Can we give you some medicine?" Angie asked again. "It'll help with the pain."

Tim added, "We'll take care of your feet and- and everything else, you know, properly but this will at least start to get your fever under control."

Francis tried to look clear-eyed and receptive, as he had been taught. Smoothly, he replied, "This pet needs no medicine. He will do as he is told."

"Sure, sure," Tim said uneasily. "But you can have some, just to start feeling better. Uh- please, take some?"

"This pet will do as he is told."

"Okay, sounds good," Angie replied, just to stop the cycle of repetition. Tim held out the glass of water and dropped two pills into Francis' hand. "There you go. Just take those and drink that glass of water, please."

It felt very strange to be given medicine. Francis couldn't remember if that had ever happened before- but yes, it had. It had been long ago, early in his time with his previous Master, when Master was still learning. He hadn't understood the limits of what his pet could take and had been too enthusiastic with his discipline.

There had been a correction and Francis had been left in the basement without supper. He had fainted and failed to clean his own wounds properly and by the time he woke, his head had been so fuzzy and his whole body had felt on fire. He could barely crawl to the top of the stairs and... and then Master had to come into the basement, a place he never went, and put medicine down Francis' throat every day for a week, until the burning stopped and the weeping cuts went back to just being red and Francis could get up and serve again.

"...you alright down there?" a voice was saying, not so harsh as his old Master had been, less resentful. More... curious, Francis thought. Were masters ever curious about their pets?

"Yes, Master," he said obediently. That was usually the right answer.

"And there's no chance I can convince you we want you on the couch?"

"This pet will do as he is told," Francis repeated, but they could tell from the tone of his voice that he was uneasy with the request.

"We can make you comfortable down here, too," Angie suggested. "Tim, why don't we do that? Then he can really relax."

Master nodded and Francis wondered what this would consist of. "Good idea. Let's see..." Master stood up and wandered out of the room, while Mistress remained crouched next to Francis, probably to ensure that he didn't rise without permission. Francis held himself very still be a good pet, be good, you can- until Tim came back holding a blanket and a pillow and something blue and plastic looking. For some reason, Mistress smiled when she saw it.

Francis knew he should be serving Master and Mistress, or at least assisting them, but he didn't know what they were trying to accomplish. His hands began to shake as he watched them work, knowing that he ought to be doing it. He ought to be taking care of whatever this was and they were going to be angry at him and he wanted to explain, but when he said, "Mistress, this pet will-" she just gave him one of those strange smiles and said, "Don't worry about it, it's all taken care of."

What was?

Slowly, Francis figured out what they were doing. Master blew into a small black tube on the end of the plastic thing and it unfurled into a thin mattress. They placed the mattress on the floor next to Francis and placed the pillow on it, like a small bed.

"You can't just lie on the floor," Master explained, sounding so reasonable, but Francis eyed the little bed with some horror. He had to stand, he had to prove that he could work, that they should not go to all this trouble for him, he should-

"I don't think he can hear us," Angie said to Tim, watching Francis' face intently. His eyes were vacant and darting from side to side and he was shaking, although he had been shaking before. Maybe it was better not to read too much into that.

Tim looked conflicted- he was thinking about the directions the manual had given them- but at last he shrugged. "Let's just put him to bed and maybe when he's there and he sees we're not upset, he can calm down."

Francis did not resist as they bent over him and lifted him, briefly and carefully, to lay him on the camping pad next to the couch. He felt the strange, soft material under him, more gentle on his back than the basement floor had ever been and it felt good, but it still felt like the kind of place that was for humans, not him, and he lay very rigid and frightened as Master drew a big, soft blanket over him. Could it really be for him? Or was it some sort of test that he could only pass by refusing?

Francis tried to rise, but Mistress pressed his shoulders back. Pressed, he noted, not pushed or slapped or grabbed. "Stay here, please," she said, in a voice whose tone he could not begin to fathom.

He lay back, staring with wide and glassy eyes directly at the ceiling. There was something cool and wet on his forehead and then a slight, soft pressure, as of a hand pressing down very gently. It rested there a moment and then lifted.

"I think we ought to stop there," came Master's voice. "Let them rest a little before we do anything else."

"Good idea."

As they passed out of his field of view, Francis wondered what they had in store for later.

Next time: an at-home medical evaluation for Francis and Mikey, and Francis draws some interesting conclusions from the television.

Master Post

#bbu #box boy universe #box boy whump #whump

[outrunningthedark]

Why do you think Natalia is unlikely to be back? From past experience (looking at Taykay), I thought any LI of Buck would be a sure thing to return, no matter how shitty it’s written. As for Marisol, if she’s not fired for her transphobic speech, we are looking at Ana 2.0…

Before the strike, I thought Natalia could be back to at least test the waters re: audience reception. Fandom may not have found her engaging, but (IMO) the GA's opinion could have been swayed had they seen her some more (and assuming Tim & Kristen put actual thought into giving her a personality and a purpose). Buck and a pretty lady? Particularly a pretty lady that comes off nicer than the last? Not a hard sell.

But the more I thought about it, the more I started wondering how a death doula is going to fit into Buck's life now that we've seen him work through his feelings about the possibility of dying on the job, and regardless of how people felt, story-wise, her career matched up with where he was (mentally) at in 6B. We just didn't see any of that connection. (More off screen development at the hands of Kristen...let's hope that gets better next year.) If Natalia were to come back, she'd be getting the Ali and Ana treatment, I think - an appearance every few weeks so you remember she's there - because there's truly nothing for her and Buck to do together that matches the other pairings. No kids right now. That makes her different from Michael and Karen, the two longtime non-first responder spouses. And Shannon. And even Ana, who Eddie first became interested in at a parent-teacher conference. No history of reporting or crime solving. They're no Bathena. Or even BT. She's not a firefighter. They won't be BL. She's not a dispatcher. There goes the Madney angle. (Natalia getting close to her boyfriend's sister, having double dates). And there *also* goes the potential for communication over radio or one showing concern over the other's safety (y'no, the thing we assume should be happening more with Madney). So much of Buck's story line has been about his personal relationships and desire for love/a family of his own. A girlfriend that he interacts with two times in half a season (all things being equal aka not 5A) doesn't seem like the way this is gonna go considering how his previous two "relationships" (counting Lucy) were with women who had a reason to regularly interact with him. The effort IS being made now, but it's not enough to win the audience over because of choices that were made early on. (The Lucy intro was just. Completely avoidable. Cheating is not how you get the moms on board, duh.) I expect that to change with Tim in the driver's seat critiquing more closely than before.

& regarding Marisol, yeah, the Ana detail is why I'm not as sure of or concerned with the character's status. The show has yet to write a LI for Eddie that has a presence. (I know people have their feelings about Shannon, but strictly speaking appearances, her first two set up her arrival and stay in LA and then the next "big" episode didn't come until she was supposed to die.) I don't know that I'll believe that's a priority in the writers' room until I actually see it for myself. :/ (And as for the transphobia...the ones in charge stayed silent and so much of the GA must not have a clue it happened, so I wouldn't even count on *that* being a deciding factor. If it's anything, it's her delivery and lack of chemistry with Ryan. So basically, Gabrielle 2.0.)

#anonymous #tina speaks #911 speculation #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie

[mzminola]

Trying to figure out why the fandom meme that Tim is misogynistic bothers me so much, beyond my usual kneejerk response to perceived inaccuracy, and I think the key is that it feels like fandom is lying to me.

Specifically, lying about nearly all the other characters.

That I am being taunted with some theoretical Less Sexist 90′s Comics that don’t actually exist.

Sexism is one of the reasons that I never bothered to seek out superhero comics when younger. Our town didn’t have a comics shop, which sure put a damper on it, but I didn’t bother looking for collected volumes when venturing into regular bookstores, or the occasional trip out of town to places with huge bookstores. I flipped through enough and heard enough chatter to know I didn’t want to put up with the sexism. Scans Daily on Livejournal sure had plenty of supporting examples.

Reading 1990′s & early 2000′s comics now, I can confirm this was the right choice on younger me’s part. There is a lot of sexism in that era, and unlike with prose books by a singular author, it’s much harder to ditch wholesale. I’ve got a lot more analytical reading under my belt now, so it’s easier to roll my eyes at the bullshit and focus on what is enjoyable than it used to be. From the later 2010′s comics I found at the library, things are improving, though still stumbling.

So yeah, Tim does sometimes say sexist crap. But as I devour comic after comic, so far, he isn’t saying or doing anything more sexist, more frequently, than any other character, including the gals. It’s almost like it’s a writing problem, not a character problem.

As far as I can tell, from what I’ve read, which includes all of Batgirl 2000, Young Justice 1998, and nearly half of Robin 1993, Tim is less sexist than the adult men he’s surrounded by, and no few of his fellow teenage boy heroes.

Maybe I’m missing something! But gender doesn’t seem to come into his treatment of Gotham vigilantes and YJ teammates? The most it comes up with his civilian peers is that, typical for the time period, girls are treated by the narrative & characters as potential romantic options and boys aren’t? Tim talks to Callie the same way he talks to Ives & Hudman? He and Ariana both make relationship mistakes, but in ways that are pretty normal for a 13-14 year old’s first romance?

So when the fandom keeps making ‘misogyny’ Tim’s distinguishing traits from the other Bats, or other YJ members or Titans, it implies that reading comics focused on other characters would have less sexism, but when I do read other comics, that’s not fucking TRUE.

Where are these magical less sexist Bat comics?

Who are these heroes fandom claims are less misogynistic?

Because it’s not Nightwing. It’s not anything Bruce takes center stage in. Barbara is fine in Batgirl 2000, but in other comics she’s written as cattily jealous and tears into other women. It’s not Stephanie, as we saw with Batgirl 2009′s treatment of Jordanna Spence.

Batgirl 2000 does pretty good, but that’s the only one I can think of, and fandom singling out Tim makes it sound like it should be all of the others.

Fandom likes to say Jason drinks his Respect Women Juice, but when I read Under the Red Hood and Lost Days, they felt about the same level as Tim’s comics. And I keep seeing examples from Jason’s Robin days of him admiring women or learning from them or teaming up, but I also get that from Tim’s comics.

Before he even had a long running solo, Tim’s Robin mini’s got a crossover with Huntress, in which he respects both her skills and her secrets, and argues with her about as much as he does with Bruce. Tim supports Cassie winning leadership of Young Justice, he supports Cissie’s decision to do what she felt was most responsible. He apologizes for avoiding Cass after finding her intimidating and goes on to work well with her.

I like Tim. I’m mostly enjoying his comics. They’ve got less sexism than I expected of the era they’re written in.

And I hate that fandom’s running meme about him makes it feel like everyone else is making a joke at my expense.

#Robin 1993 #Tim Drake #fandom critical #comics meta #or I guess fandom meta? #DC #Batfam #maybe no one in fandom actually means it and it IS 'just a joke' #but gawd if it is it's a shitty one #and I am pretty sure it ISN'T a joke from a lot of people #that they actually do mean it #it does NOT help that Tim is now one of the openly queer characters in DC #and 'jokingly' accusing gay men of hating women is a long standing piece of bigoted bullshit #and bi men were always lumped in with that when their existence was acknowledged #do I remember how horrible it felt as a closeted teen #when one of my friends found out Neil Patrick Harris is gay #and declared that him being gay and thus 'unavailable' #was 'a crime against women'? #yeah you fucking bet I do

[cfr749]

I totally, totally agree with your view of their relationship. The Barnes episode is one I can’t watch and I just pretend it doesn’t exist. The whole situation with Chris and Ashley was just…unnecessary and written horribly. I feel like Tim treated Lucy better when he was her TO and respected her and didn’t treat her like a child which is mainly what he does now. He became more patronizing AFTER she was no longer his rookie. Additionally, he didn’t say anything after Lucy told him he would do great in Metro - just gave her a half smile and left. He acted like a teenager during the Valentine’s episode when he gave her the silent treatment when he found out she did the five-player trade. And it ended with LUCY apologizing and Tim never once apologizing for his immature behavior. He also treated her horribly in the episode when Isabel came back. He invited her to LUCY’S apartment without asking Lucy, gave her a half-hearted apology only when Isabel was AT THE DOOR and then proceeded to joke around with his ex-wife ABOUT Lucy and IN FRONT of Lucy and then regressed to his TO voice with his “Chen!” later at the station, right after making fun of Lucy trying to help him relax. Like, hello, that’s your girlfriend! Why are you snapping at her when she didn’t do anything??? Chris was absolutely a shitty partner but Tim is a becoming a very, very close second. He treated her better when she was his rookie and especially before they dated. And im so bummed about it because I had such high hopes but the way they write Tim’s character is just ruining it for me.

Hi anon!

First off, I'm glad you got to get all of that off of your chest 😂. I know how isolating and frustrating it can be to have all of the feelings about choices the show is making, but feel like you can't share those frustrations without pissing people off or experiencing backlash. So while I can't control anything other than my own response, I'll just say, you're always welcome to vent to me!

I'll be honest and say I didn't notice / react to all of the things you mentioned in the same way, but I can see your points and understand why those moments may have rubbed you the wrong way. Especially since, like I mentioned in my last post, the issue isn't any 1 isolated incident. The issue is a repeated pattern in the storytelling and messaging.

Something I want to be clear about before I go any further though:

This is not about my head canons or what I'd like to believe the writers were trying to convey.

Of course I think the idea of Lucy liking Tim more than Tim likes Lucy is ridiculous. That's why I can't figure out what on earth the writers were doing.

Of course I don't hate Tim (I literally could never!!) --- I love both of these characters deeply, and close to nothing excites me more than the idea of the two of them falling in love.

This is specifically about choices the writers made and what we actually saw unfold on our screens.

And if my takes seem to be more pro-Lucy, that's specifically because, IMO, the way the story unfolded was much more favorable to Tim that it was too Lucy.

Which isn't even surprising. Women often get the short end of the stick. Women of color almost always do. And that is literally the entire point of why this conversation is important. It's why shrugging off repeated instances of Lucy's character being eroded in service of the ship or maybe just as a result of the thoughtlessness of the writers really bothers me. It's why I'm not the only one who feels this way.

So, anon, for now, I'm just going to dig into the first item you mentioned as one of the first examples of this pattern -- the Katie Barnes of it all (sorry Katie - you were lovely - I promise it's nothing personal 😂). Setting aside the confession prank in 3x09 (which is it's own essay), this was the first time I started to really question the direction the show was going with making the ship canon. At the time, I hoped it was a blip, because we all remember that look in 3x14, and... yeah.

I believe this was the first appearance of jealous Lucy. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using jealousy to tell a story -- as long as it serves a purpose and as long as it's not completely 1-sided.

But instead of moving Chenford forward, this actually moved them several steps backward for me.

Like you mention anon, in seasons 1 and 2, despite Lucy being his rookie, I felt that they were very much portrayed as equals. They helped each other in different ways. I’d argue Lucy often showed she was more emotionally intelligent than Tim and used that to help him navigate through the end of his marriage, and Tim obviously poured everything he had into getting her as ready as she possibly could be to move on to the next step in her career.

But this scene in 3x11 managed to re-assert the Rookie - T.O. dynamic in a way that slapped me harder than any moment when he was actually her T.O. -- asserting Tim's view of Lucy as someone he needed to teach not how to be a capable police officer, but someone he needed to teach about the world.

He said this to Lucy. Lucy! LUCY!

If you don't understand why this is categorically absurd, please go re-watch season 1 right now.

The fact that it was couched in compliments and we got to see Lucy go squee over his praise doesn't make this any less patronizing.

Literally, I don't need to hear any man say this to any woman ever. I especially don't need to hear a white man saying it to a woman of color. And I sure as hell did not need to hear Tim say it to Lucy.

So where'd we end up?

Lucy took some major hits to her character, blurring the lines between personal and professional by accusing Tim of giving Katie special treatment because he found her attractive, and ultimately came off as jealous, immature, insecure, and unprofessional amongst probably some other less than flattering things. And note, I'm not saying I think she is these things. I'm saying she was portrayed to the general audience as being these things.

Tim, on the other hand, got a windfall -- not only did he get to be the wise, all knowing teacher (let's not forget his deep love of meditation), he got to have all his past sins erased under the guise of helping sweet Lucy understand the world is a scary place.

***

So obviously you mentioned a bunch of other examples, but this is already too long and probably not at all what you were looking for in a response, so I'm going to wrap up here. I got another ask about the Valentine's Day plot, so I'll tackle what I did and didn't like there eventually (yes, I am capable of liking things. it's rare, but possible).

Thanks for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰

#chenford #chenford critical #the rookie #my asks #see lana ramble

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello all Happy Tuesday. We venture towards the end of S1. Thank you all for the love been getting makes my whole day/week. This episode is a gif desert legit one I can use haha So it'll be all screen-caps with my phone except one gif and this desert one haha My assumption is this will change as we get into later seasons. This one was lacking for sure in the gif dept.

1x17- The Shake Up.

This episode has Chenford separate which explains the lack of gifs tbh lol It's still a really good Lucy wise. We get a look into her family dynamic by meeting her father. We also get to see Nolan get the Tim treatment LOL Off we go.

Cold open gets me right in the feels. Nolan spotting Capt. Anderson’s grave during an arrest in the cemetery. Talia gives him a moment to pay his respects. A really nice scene. God she was so young. Love the nod to her after last ep. She deserved it.

A opportunity comes up during roll call to watch a protected witness. Nolan jumps on the chance. Talia instantly shuts it down. Says it's like watching paint dry. Grey tells him he's out of luck. Then Tim jumps in. Surprises the hell out of everyone. Says he'll go with Nolan to protect this witness. Heh you know Tim’s doing this to get a rise out of Nolan. Test him see what he’s made of. He’s ridden with the other two rookies and not him. John seems nervous af LOL it makes me laugh so hard how uneasy he looks.

Tim’s face LMAO I can not. Disgruntled with him from the get go. I’m fairly certain he doesn’t think much of Nolan. It has nothing to do with his age. It has to do with his personality I believe. Its the rambling he can't stand the most. I think he wanted to test drive Nolan see how he would do cause well Tim be Tim. He is going over the acronym and procedure with him as they’re leaving. Instantly thrown in deep in with Tim. Nolan goes on a rant and Tim just cuts him off by getting in the car LOL

They arrive on scene and meet with the DA. Tim is slightly offended when Delmonte thinks Nolan is in charge haha Let’s him know right away he is a rookie. Also cutting off Nolan’s convo with the DA about Jessica. It’s funny Tim is such a hard ass with everyone except Lucy. Now that is much more true towards the later seasons but still holds true in S1. He's softer with her than he was beginning of the season, but you can see the contrast between Lucy and anyone else easily. Watching Tim with John total night and day difference in his demeanor.

Also needs to be noted how vastly different these two are. This shot alone shows they're complete opposites. Their outfits show this more than any words ever could. John is dad clothes all day and Tim is a sight to see let’s just say that. Heh.

Something that is a plus about this ep is Talia/Lucy riding together again. I do love seeing them being paired up. This is a much better result/dynamic this time around. More of a mutual respect there. No Nolan garbage looming over them. On their first call they rescue a teenager from his mother. His girlfriend called it in concerned and rightfully so.

His mother had been torturing and dehydrating him in order keep him from his girlfriend. Doing some religious ritual or exorcism of sorts. Pretty damn awful to watch. Lucy asks if he’ll be ok. Talia says physically yes but mentally not for a long time. Good setup for the rest of the ep Lucy. Bit of foreshadowing with her father being brought into the picture.

As they're walking away she gets a call. Lucy asks if its ok to take it and Talia seems more than fine with. Its about her father. Talia overhears Lucy was going to wait to end of her shift to see him. She lets Lucy go right then and there. Talia is pretty great about it. She is the entire time for Lucy. Tells her it’s family when Lucy asks if it’s really ok they go and see him. Much more redeeming pair up this time around.

We get a first look into Lucy’s dynamic with her parents and it’s not a pretty one…Her father is a therapist and was attacked by one of his patients. Lucy naturally wants the guys name so she can go arrest him. Her first instinct is justice for him. He fights her on it says was just a dissociative episode. That his patient didn't mean to hurt him. Lucy battles back and says thats irrelevant, the law is clear and she should arrest him.

He doesn't respond well to this....Tells Lucy that the law is broken. That she is working for a broken system. Very combative with her from the jump. Lucy tries to use some reason. Tells him this isn’t the solution though. To pretend he didn’t break his arm. He goes on to say this is better this than arresting his patient for it.

Then after he's insulted her profession does a one-two punch to her gut with his words. He knows this is going to hurt her and it bugs me to no end. The guilt trip being laid down here. I have parents like this. When you aren't doing what they want they do this. The way he tears down her job and her concern for him in response angers me. She isn’t doing this to upset him but to help him. (not that he can see that) Lucy is a loving and protective person. She wants to do right by those she loves. What should be received as her caring is defensive in return. He’s attacking her every step of the way.

Melissa kills me in this scene. Honestly the entire episode with all her interactions with her dad. That look of devastation on her face ugh. I can relate. That emotional dismissal and really almost abuse she’s taking from him. That hurt she’s feeling in his disappointment. I just want to hug her. I too have parents like this so it hits home with me little harder.

I said back in 1x14 with plain clothes day how it seemed Tim was the first person to really fight for her. Believe in her. Support her. Why it meant so much that he did what he did that day. Tim probably has no idea the impact that made on her. By standing by her side the way he did. She obviously has little to zero support from her father in the career she’s chosen. That much is very clear in this exchange with him.

Even Talia can sense the tension from outside the room. Makes a comment to Gino while looking in. Its very evident you can feel chills coming in waves from her father. Lucy is still such a good daughter and stays anyways. Not that he deserves it….

We head back to Tim and Nolan. They have a credible threat for the safe house. Their witness Hayes starts to give a little mouth about his safety. Tim gets into ultra hard ass mode. I don’t hate it not gonna lie haha Doesn’t let this guy get under his skin. Shows no sign of backing down. Mmm. Don’t mess with my Tim.

The episode title lives up to its name and an earthquake ensues. Rocking the hospital in a bad way. I admire Lucy’s gut reaction to cover her father. I just love her so much. So loyal and willing to protect family even when they really don’t deserve it. This resonates with me so much. I too am the same way. Have that Italian familia loyalty drilled into to me. Taking care of family even when they really don’t deserve it.

Shortly after the quake the safe house is under fire. Something about watching Tim in action is so sexy. It’s like watching confidence in motion. Especially in this scene. Also very commanding and sure of what he wants to do. Tells Nolan to take their witness out back. If he doesn’t they’re sitting ducks. Nolan asks what if there is a shooter out there too? His reply is the best. ‘Then you’ll shoot them.’ LOL love this man.

They make it out and head to the beach. Assuming this is a good a hiding spot as any. This is such a good scene. Apart from fact Tim looks fine af just leaning against that railing. Its not long before they're found. They soon figure out Hayes has a tracker on him. That the men that attacked the safe house weren't there to kill Hayes but to rescue him. Hayes makes a crass comment about Capt Anderson. How they should just let him go or they’re gonna lose another buddy in line of duty. Tim knocks him out instantly. Get em' Tim! What a schmuck. Tells Nolan hook him up for them to find as a lure.

They dispatch of the rescue team fairly quickly. Once again love watching Tim in action. There’s a nice little nod between Tim and John once they’re done. Nice to see. He knows how to reward good work. He was crucial in their take down. Tim makes sure he gets a little attaboy hehe Lucy has softened him up a bit for sure.

We go back to Lucy at the hospital. She breaks my heart in this scene. Melissa crushes this 110 percent with the way her voice breaks getting emotional. Telling her father how she was taught to be true to herself. That this job is who she is, that it makes her so happy. (that should be enough) She goes on to say she knows he hates the system. That it’s designed to punish people and not care for them. Then strongly defends herself as a person. Basically pleading with him to accept/and understand her and her job.

I commend how strongly Lucy backs the fact that she can make a difference. That the system can't change unless there is someone in it to fight. After this statement her dad relents a little. Earlier he heard her talking to the victim of that first call her and Talia took. He was in the hallway listening. He heard how the kid's mother was going to face charges but her frame of mind would be taken into account.

That if the son could be a character witness on her behalf they could get her the helps she needs. He tells her she was honest and kind. That he was impressed. You think hey we’re making progress. He’s finally understanding her and her choice in career. Won’t be going after her so much now. Hoping his perception of her has shifted a little.

Then his patient who broke his arm walks in….At first Lucy has no idea who this guy is. Her father keeps trying to shoo him away. Then Lucy being the smart cookie she is puts it’s together. Immediately she has to do her job and arrest this man. You can see the regret on her face but it’s her duty to arrest him. She has no choice. Something her father is failing to understand.

It’s insane to me he could use logic just moments ago. Then turn on her so quickly. He could do the same thing that mothers kid is going to do. Be a character witness and get him the help he needs in the system. He’s so cold to her when she says she’ll be back after his surgery. Tells her not to bother. He would rather her compromise her own ethics and morales for his needs. Sacrifice his own daughter and her career for his patient. She like Tim has a moral compass she refuses to corrupt even for family.

That heartbreak on her face devastates me though. Now don't get me wrong, I’m with her dad with the system being broken. It is. Mental health needs to be addressed more especially in situations such as this. What upsets me is how her father treats her the entire episode. He should be proud of the fact that her morale code is so strong. That she isn't willing to be compromised. Instead he scolds her. Ridicules Lucy. Making her feel small and shameful for her job. When he's just upset she wouldn't bend the rules cause it was his patient.

Basically saying Lucy is part of the problem when she takes William away. When she is one the most empathetic humans to wear a badge. She’s desperately trying to reach out for him to understand. To accept her. All she gets in return is discouragement and emotional abuse. I know that intense reception of disappointment/guilt/shame you get from your parents. It guts you. When they should be building her up and supporting her they do the opposite. She’s so resilient and then you meet her parents and see why she is.

The look of utter devastation as she leads this guy out. Logically she know her father is in the wrong. But that emotional part of you that wants that approval so badly doesn't care about logic. Worst part of that scene is she had it for a split second till it was about HIS patient. When the same procedure can be followed for William. Will it be easy? No but it can be done, things put in place to help his patient. But he can’t see it that way. Only see how its affecting him. Then just like earlier casts her away because he disapproved of her decision.

Talia see’s Lucy writing up the arrest report and checks in. Lucy says she wants to add a mental health report addendum to it. Talia asks if she really thinks that or trying to get back in her fathers food graces? Lucy is firm in her reply. Says she’s pretty sure that’s impossible but knows he’s not wrong. That this guy doesn’t need prison he needs help. (she knew this before and helped out that kid's mother same way but Talia doesn't know that) Tells her was she’s going to do whatever she can to get it for him.

Talia approves and tells her 'Good' Once again being a good person despite her parents. Lucy then asks was that a test? Her reply is too funny haha As I said earlier this pair up was much better second go around. Not dominated by the Nolan BS. They had good rapport and even got a “test” she passed. Rough rough episode for Lucy emotionally though. She at least gets to end it with a laugh and a smile.

This ep gave us some insight to one of her parents. Little bit of her upbringing. We can see why she’s so damn driven to be a good cop. That instinct to prove your parents wrong can be a great motivator. You want to show them how capable you are. So they can be proud of you. Sadly despite her best efforts they seem to only feel disappointment.

Or as we see later with Lucy's mom her thinking this is a 'hobby' for Lucy. Like this was just dress up and a game. She wants her to come back to reality. Once again belittling her dedication and passion for her job. That's a discussion for a later ep though. Sucks when it’s both parents and not just one. Something I can also relate to. Both discouraging and not supportive whatsoever. Trivializing Lucy and her life choices just because it’s not what they wanted for her. Fastest way to drive your kids away and have them never return.

~~~~~

Side notes- Non chenford Didn’t really have much tbh. Whole ep didn’t have them lol I was just hot for Tim this whole ep hahah What else is new I know. They both had really good SL's in this one, but I always miss them when they’re apart the whole time.

That’s all she wrote for 1x17 thank you all for your interest. Blows my mind. Will always shout you all at for your likes, comments and reblogs. They make my whole day when I get them :) see you all in 1x18

#Caitlin rewatches the Rookie #chenford #chenford hiatus #summer rewatch #waiting on s6 #s1 #1x17 The Shake Up #the rookie #tim x lucy #tim bradford #lucy chen #lucy x tim #eric winter #melissa o'neil #otp: doing my job #tim bradford x lucy chen

[ectonurites]

…ok the next DC:YJ issue (#5) isn’t out yet (aside from the preview and a leaked page) but I wanna briefly talk about this criticism/sentiment i’ve seen in at least three or four separate posts across here and twitter:

Several people confused/frustrated by Meghan seeming to characterize Young Justice fans (via Mickey) as conservative homophobic sexist racist etc dudebros- when the Young Justice fandom they are familiar with is largely made up of a completely different diverse group of people. Plus the 1998 book itself being unfairly misrepresented as less progressive than it actually was in order to justify this.

To which there’s two points I’d like to bring up:

1. Meghan Fitzmartin is the one writing this book. Meghan Fitzmartin who wrote the story in which Tim became canonically bisexual. Meghan Firzmartin who has been constantly berated and criticized and sent hate by the vocal toxic homophobic Tim fans that think she ruined the character! A lot of those people aren’t fans of just Tim- they’re fans of Tim’s generation (in many instances because stuff like Young Justice 1998 was current back when they were getting into comics). And plenty are opposed to any change, not just characters coming out as LGBT, but more diversity in comics in general- more lead characters of color, more lead women, etc. The tumblr- and like stan dctwt- sections of the DC fandom might be what you see the most as a user of those communities, but they are not the only part of the fandom, not the majority, and not even necessarily the most vocal.

2. @gwynerso said the other thing I wanna communicate well when discussing misrepresentation of Young Justice 1998:

I think the whole point was that it was progressive, given the whole point is that Mikey had to heavily twist the guys memories and remove Cassie to make his “point”. Whilst we can talk about writing quality and whether it hits its mark or not, it’s definitely a critique of (x)

the sort of fan who will ignore the progressive elements of what they like to paint it in the gross light they want it to have. If it wasn’t progressive, Bart, Tim and Kon wouldn’t have noticed the dissonance. Mikey’s powers are reality bending on both ends like his dad’s. (x)

Because, as stated earlier, those types of fans of YJ do definitely exist and they are in Meghan’s twitter notifications on a pretty regular basis (plus I wouldn’t be surprised by some irl encounters at conventions she’s attended since UL #6 dropped). Maybe they’re not the ones reading the book (and even if they are, they’re obviously not the only ones) but it’s still a toxic mindset that’s within the comics community and she is actively painting that mindset as being the villain here (which goes along with the general theme in both this book and Dark Crisis as an event that things can’t/shouldn’t just go back to ‘how they were’ because things have changed, modern comics can’t just be ruled by nostalgia)

I think there is definitely fair discussion to be had about whether this was the book/story that was needed for these characters right now (I personally at this point don’t really think it was, in large part because a lot of problems/unfair treatment the YJ generation has faced were more editorial’s fault than the fanbase’s, and that’s something hard to actually approach through an in-universe story), I think there are certainly elements/execution/characterization worth criticizing (I’m just… waiting to formulate my final thoughts on any of that until we have the whole story, because the context of the ending could absolutely change/explain things), but it feels like so many people are just looking for reasons to be angry without taking a step back to think about the larger picture/larger comics community. Without trying to think about what is actually being communicated here and instead just getting defensive.

#please don’t take this as me vaguing any specific person though i’m just #saying all this because of how frequently i’ve been seeing people say stuff like this over the last day or so #and slight side tangent but #I also feel like a lot of people (in the tumblr and dctwt subsection of the fandom) #liked Sum of Our Parts a lot #and thus came into this book with really high expectations and strong ideas about what they wanted #and this book turning out to be different than what was wanted/expected has made people #look for more reasons to be angry about it whether consciously or not #idk man 🤷‍♂️ #grandpa max is god? i go to church now

[scintillyyy]

but what if reverse robins but lots of things stay the same

we start with damian wayne, bruce's age is *mumblemumble* to make this work. batman is working on his own and then talia just randomly drops him off one day and he insists on helping out as it is his birthright, becoming batman's partner robin.

things get tense as eventually he gets fatally injured and subsequently gets resurrected (we'll go with right away, by his mother), this causing a chasm between the him and bruce and causing bruce to lash out for damian's safety and fire him, causing damian to leave to his teen titans and find his own name, away from his father

bruce is sulky and sad that he pushes away everyone he loves when he finds a girl who is trying to DIY vigilante-ism going after her father, cluemaster. bruce, having learned nothing from his past mistakes, takes her under his wing as the new robin, in part to upset damian. this upsets damian greatly at first, although he eventually comes around.

bruce being bruce, however is controlling and paranoid after damian's death and resurrection and is quite dismissive of the girl. stephanie, being quite upset at this treatment goes out on her own to prove herself, getting ensared by black mask in the process. he tortures and seemingly kills her.

(she doesn't get sexually tortured, though, ew dc)

bruce goes on a rampage in his guilt, hitting harder and showing no concern for himself

tim drake, local batman and robin fanboy decides someone needs to intervene. he goes and finds damian wayne in an attempt to get damian to go back as robin, because batman needs someone there to hold him back.

damian says absolutely not, my father and i can't work together like we used to, things are different now. he doesn't like tim, necessarily, but eventually develops a grudging respect for him at his tenacity and faith that robin needs to be a thing. he eventually okays the transfer of robin to tim and helps to convince bruce to take on a robin again

tim gets lots and lots and lots of training to make sure he's as safe as possible. steph is a precautionary tale.

something something prodigal with damian and tim half baked idea utterly hilarious to me

tim and damian don't have the dick and tim dynamic but they settle into fondness and snarky comments about the other but still would 100% die for the other in a heartbeat

and maybe they bond over issues with their dads y'know?

anyways jack finds out and tim has to quit as robin!! oh noes

bruce deals with this in the most bruce way possible: by finding a kid jacking tires off his car and making him robin

unfortunately, this kid gets killed by the joker. tim returns, angry at bruce over everything that just happened, but the anger won't last long because immediately after this tim's dad dies and kind of overshadows everything else.

meanwhile, stephanie, having faked her death, comes back and is pissed because not only was she replaced right away, bruce seems to be putting much more care and thought into training tim

after she finds out she goes to the league of assassins to learn how to best get revenge on batman. she comes back and takes over black mask's gang and becomes the new black mask and yadda yadda yadda

anyways one year later, tim gets adopted (damian will never admit it, but this pleases him), and then bruce goes to the circus and meets dick grayson, only for his parents to fall and die and bruce immediately takes him in

which causes tim some insecurity because his place in the family seems so new

but unlike the super tense initial tim and damian relationship, every dick and tim brotherhood needs a healthy dose of hero worship

see, dick remembers very clearly the time that his parents won tickets to a baseball game from a charity event hosted by drake industries and it was a *big* deal. he got to meet tim there and ~take a picture together~ and he's just in awe of meeting him again

at some point jason gets resurrected. does he join steph?? maybe he settles into a role under oracle, the two brought together by their respective experiences with the joker

anyways bruce dies in final crisis. damian must take up the cowl. he chooses dick to be his robin because really, drake, i respect your abilities so much you are ready to spread your wings and fly now

tim then effs off to go find bruce in the time stream.

anyways he finds bruce, comes back, and settles into his role as red robin, mentor and big brother figure to robin. they complain about damian together, go train surfing, and push each other off buildings.

something something the end

#has this been done before??? prob yes. who knows. #this is full of half baked ideas #it should never happen #anyways i hate all incarnations of joker junior tyvm. tim's fate in all worlds is emotional support robin okay. #i feel like steph gets the short end of the stick here forreal

[mamahersh]

Here's like a part one to the TMA AU I was talking about a few days to a week ago.

-

While Martin might have assured Tim and Sasha that getting them in to see Jon would be a simple matter of letting the guards know ahead of time, he neglected to confess the additional paperwork that the judge and prison was fond of for any changes in scheduling. Martin knew he was exempt from the usual form and hoops that were generally required every time someone wanted to spend time with Jon, but despite his trustworthiness he knew that getting Sasha and Tim into Jon's prison would be like pulling teeth. So without giving the two of them a specific date, just that he would give them a heads up 2 weeks in advance, Martin set about calling his contacts in the prison.

After 3 gruelling weeks of phone conversations, email correspondence, and filling out forms that were constantly delayed; Martin was finally able to give Tim and Sasha a date for them to take off of work to see Jon with him. In the interim, Martin had made sure to keep visiting Jon as normal, and did his best to hide how taxing the process had been from both him and the dynamic duo. Unfortunately, he knew that Tim and Sasha had their theories about the process, but they were at least polite enough to not ask questions. They just seemed happy to hear that the waiting was almost over, and Martin had to admit it had been a joy beyond words that he had been able to reconnect with them and begin the healing process. He still was on mediocre terms with Tim, but Sasha made for a good buffer and they both were trying their best to forgive and heal.

At last, 2 weeks later, the three of them made their way to the prison. The solid brickwork and menacing bars always reminded Martin of the Hunt domain fashioned after a prison that he and Jon had gone through on their journey to the Panopticon. The oppressive atmosphere and stink of human misery never quite got any easier to ignore, and tended to remind him that Jon probably was suffering on the days he didn't visit. Admittedly it was easy to forget when he wasn't at the prison as even most visits he made Jon was in good spirits and looked about as good as he had right before the Unknowing. But every few visits Jon would be sporting a cast, or would be holding himself gingerly in the chair, or he would look like he hadn't slept in a week and would have that hair trigger panicked response to everything that moved, and Martin would once again be starkly reminded that Jon wasn't just sitting in a prison cell day after day waiting for his time in prison to be up.

Martin shook his head, clearing the depressing thoughts and focusing on the present moment as they were brought through the checkpoints leading to Jon's visitation room. It wouldn't do for him to be sad when he was about to have (hopefully) one of the happiest afternoons on record. They cleared the final checkpoint and Martin glanced at them to try and grab their attention before he began to speak. "So, just a reminder, Jon doesn't know yet that you're both…"

"Alive?" Asked Tim, after Martin had paused for just a moment too long trying to think of something more tactful.

Martin nodded, grateful he wasn't the one to say it. "I also don't know how he's doing today, so as long as you don't say anything I should be able to ease him into the idea without startling him too much."

Tim rolled his eyes, but nodded his assent while Sasha just looked vaguely bemused and nodded as well. Martin, may have also neglected to mention his suspicions about Jon's treatment here, but he hopes that perhaps he could address that after the others had had some time to reconnect with their old coworker. With a deep breath, Martin opened the door they had finally arrived at.

As always, the guards had sat Jon down on a chair facing the door. The first thing Martin noticed was that Jon was looking good that day. There was a still healing bruise peeking out of the edge of the collar of Jon's shirt, which was only noticeable if you were looking for it; and the fringe of white bandages at the edge of his shirt sleeve on his right side were quite subtle. Martin assured himself that despite these, Jon must have been doing well as he seemed to be holding himself very relaxed in his chair. With a fortifying breath, Martin walked into the room and was happy to note that Tim and Sasha stayed by the door.

#tma #the magnus archives #tma au #martin blackwood #tim stoker #sasha james #mamahersh throwing ideas at a wall again #imprisonment #implied offscreen torture #very implied lol #blind character