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prfctparis · 5 months

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I’d Give You My Lungs So You Could Breathe (I’ve Got You, Brother) CH4

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summary:

Danny Fenton was adopted at age ten, with little to no memories about his former family. At age fourteen, he died yet lived and those memories began to return. He didn’t do anything about those memories – didn’t plan to, at least not yet – but then he got captured by the GIW, saved by his friends and someone who might be his sister who he only somewhat remembered, and taken to Gotham to, apparently, his biological father for safety until further notice.

Team Phantom was there, too, and they did not sign up for this family drama.

a/n:

i am so sorry for such the long wait!! but here’s ch4 finally lmao hope you guys enjoy :)

warnings for entire fic:

canon-typical violence of the DC variety; angst; memory loss/repressed memories; do i need to say major character death(s) or is that just a given for this fandom; questionable parenting tho every parent is trying to do good & care for the kids; implied/referenced past child abuse bc of the child assassin backgrounds; pls tell me if i missed something

CHAPTER SPECIFIC WARNINGS: Alfred tells Bruce of Danny’s injuries, but nothing in explicit detail

CHAPTER FOUR —

Tonight did not go the way Bruce thought it would.

The day started out peaceful enough. For his family, that was. Tim had stayed the night after patrol rather than heading back to his place in the city, so he and Damian, both half asleep still, had gotten into a snarky quarrel about cereal bowls, of all things. Apparently there was favorite bowl; it was the perfect size and depth. Damian woke up first, grabbed it, and Tim became grouchy when he discovered that.

Bruce had then taken the bowl away when they wouldn’t stop arguing about it, handed it to Duke who had entered the kitchen at that exact moment, and continued on to get a plate of French toast that Alfred had made and a large mug of coffee. He dutifully ignored his sons’ complaints while his other son just went along with what had just happened.

Then Alfred took Duke and Damian to school, Stephanie appeared out of nowhere to drag Tim into helping her study for college finals that were coming up, and Cass regularly sent him pictures of Hong Kong as a means to let him know every thing was going smoothly for the case that had lead her back over there. Bruce called Dick during his lunch hour at WE, tried to get out of an afternoon meeting only for Lucious and Tim (who was now only a partial shareholder instead of the majority shareholder, since that went back to Bruce) to drag him to it anyway, and told Jason that he might have found something to aid him in one of his cases through e-mail because, once again, Jason had blocked his number.

Bruce had no idea what warranted it this time, and he was hesitant to ask.

All in all, it was a normal day. He might even describe it as a good day. So, of course, he expected patrol to be hell. Maybe a breakout of some sort; an intense hostage situation; one of his children getting majorly injured again; a near death experience or two. Possibly more than one of those, or even all of them. That was what Bruce Wayne – Batman – expected.

Not this.

Not Damian having two secret, older, biological siblings.

Not a group of kids in their late teens obviously on the run, brave faced but scared.

Not a daughter finding him on a random roof on the verge of a panic attack, brave façade crumbling with the fear her brothers weren’t okay.

Not a son no older than eighteen having been vivisected by someone Bruce has yet to find out, and warranting Alfred to perform emergency surgery on him.

After Damian, Bruce swore he was done. No more kids for him; the children and pseudo-children he had were enough. The amount of love he had for them was immeasurable, and with them – because of them – Bruce had a mountain of happiness in his life among all the other shitty and dark valleys of depression and torment.

Now he’s learned Talia had lied yet again.

First, about having a miscarriage back when she had been pregnant with Damian. Second, about how before that, from their first meeting five years prior, she already had twins.

His twins.

Damian had also lied, yet he had been told to do so and promised to by his older sister herself. And he had no idea why.

It occurred to him, then, that Jason knew as well. He recognized Damian’s sister on the roof.

It hurt to know that they knew yet didn’t tell him. Everything about the current situation hurt, if he was to be honest.

“My name is Athanasia al Ghul,” Bruce’s daughter, introduced herself as he helped clean, re-bandage, and stitch her injuries. “My twin– our brother… He was born Dányál al Ghul, but he got adopted when he was ten. Legally, his name is now Daniel Fenton. He goes by Danny most of the time.”

It was surreal. Bruce had to keep himself from questioning her until he got answers – about her, Danny, why Talia never mentioned either of them, why Athanasia told Damian to keep them a secret, what and who they were running from and why, and tens of others. It wasn’t hard to do, but the urge was still there.

Making sure his daughter (he had another daughter) got some much needed medical attention took precedence over that.

For now, he would merely let her speak to him on her own terms.

“Do you have a preferred name you go by?” Bruce asked, because his eldest went by ‘Dick’ and Tim hated it when ‘Timothy’ was used and Steph only let ‘Stephanie’ slide if the person was a stranger and Cass didn’t care one way or another, but she did seem to like when the family used the shortened version of her name more. If Athanasia wanted a specific name or nickname used, he planned to use it.

“My brothers called me ‘Ana’ sometimes,” she said. “Hardly anyone else calls me that, but I won’t mind you do, too.”

Bruce nodded and smiled. He finished bandaging the newly stitched up cut on her thigh as he said, “I will be sure to remember that, then.”

“I still will if you want me to,” Damian spoke up immediately from the other cot he sat on. His foot was propped up and an ice pack laid on his ankle, curtesy of Duke who had brought it over a few minutes ago; he seemed to want to stay, but got dragged away by Jason almost immediately.

What his youngest said took Bruce by surprise. Damian wasn’t the type to use nicknames or shortened versions of names; the exceptions were probably Jon Kent and Maps Mizoguchi. And, now, apparently the twins.

And he offered to.

One corner of her mouth twitched up before she smothered it, going for a neutral expression. Bruce still saw something akin to happiness and relief in her eyes as she nodded. “I wouldn’t mind that at all,” she said, “As long as I can still call you ‘Dames’.”

Damian pressed his lips into a thin line to lessen the size of his smile that he then twisted in a faux frown of annoyance. “If you must.”

Bruce refrained from reacting to that. He knew that Tim tried to call Damian that once, and his youngest son had a very sudden, negative reaction to it. Tim went to Bruce later that day, guilty and frustrated, because he didn’t mean to upset Damian and now they were at odds again; Bruce only got the story out after a spar.

It certainly made some sense now, why he had reacted like that. And also why he was more tolerant of ‘Dami’ than everyone thought he would originally be, back when Dick first started using it.

…A lot of things about Damian made sense now.

Bruce wondered often about how Damian, an apparent only child, grew accustomed to older brothers and a sister rather seamlessly. Well, after he stopped attempting to murder Tim, of course; and after he stopped insisting that he didn’t have siblings, that he was the only blood son and therefore superior than the others.

(He still occasionally pulled the blood son card. More so now to annoy the others, than anything.)

He grew accustomed seamlessly to the others because of Athanasia and Danny. He had always been the youngest. He was used to nagging, protective, annoying older siblings already.

It made Bruce emotional in so many ways.

The next fifteen minutes or so were spent in silence as Bruce finished tending to Athanasia’s wounds. When he got done, he stepped back to give her space as he picked up everything he had used.

“Do you need anything else?” he asked her.

“No,” she said. Athanasia almost sounded confused on why he asked, and Bruce sincerely hoped he imagined it. No one of any age should be confused when asked that. “Thank you, Batman.”

“Of course.”

Footsteps, hesitant and soft, grew close, catching their attentions. The redhead, Wesley ‘Wes’ Weston as he introduced himself as earlier, stopped a few feet away. His posture and the way his hands sat in his pockets said casual, but his muscles were tense and his expression held exhaustion.

“Wesley,” Athanasia said as a greeting.

Wes half smiled. “Hey.”

Bruce frowned a little. “Is everything okay?”

The teenager nodded. “Oh, yeah. Um, the others just want to talk about something as a whole. I came to get Ana.”

Bruce saw Damian straighten just the tiniest bit in his peripheral.

Athanasia began to get out of the cot, but Bruce held out a hand. She froze, so he kept his hand in the air rather than placing it on her shoulder like he was about to. Then, lowered it.

“You need rest. I’m sure the conversation can wait,” Bruce said to them.

Wes shook his head. “It can’t. It’s important.”

“Talking does not require extensive body movement,” Athanasia said. “And I’m sure Wesley is right about the importance. I can rest later.”

“You need rest now.”

Athanasia stared him dead in the eye and got out. She stood in front him, back straight and no sign of discomfort or pain.

She was tall for a girl, he noticed for a second time that night. Maybe a bit taller than Tim, if not the same height, but still shorter than Dick. The way she stood reminded him a lot of Talia, but that defiant look was something Damian definitely learned from her at a young age.

“I’m eighteen – an adult,” she spoke in Arabic, and that fact made his heart hurt. “I know my own limits by now. I will rest later.”

She then pivoted on her feet and walked off. As she passed Wes, she grabbed the sleeve of his shirt to drag him along. Other than a slight noise of surprise at being forcibly turned around in the opposite direction, the boy didn’t seem that fazed.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed behind the cowl at him as Wesley casually grabbed Athanasia’s hand to remove her grip. Her fingers twitched, almost holding his hand instead, before she pulled away and quickened her pace.

‘Acquaintances’ she said.

Damian huffed. “I don’t like him.”

“Hn.”

Alfred stepped halfway out of the curtained off area and requested his presence. A surge of panic washed over him and he walked over, telling Damian to stay put. Whatever Alfred needed, he hoped it was better than all the negative thoughts now plaguing his mind.

+++

Athanasia ached – for multiple reasons.

The soreness and pain was finally, truly settling in post-fight. With the adrenaline gone, and now able to relax with Danny being taken care of, she was way more aware of what hurt and what didn’t, except for the number areas where Batman had to do stitches. She probably should have asked for Tylenol or Ibuprofen. She didn’t.

Then, there was Damian. Her baby brother. She said that he was still short earlier, and he was, but he had also grown so much. Watching him from afar when she visited Gotham kept that fact from settling in until now.

He wasn’t the tiny, baby faced nine year old anymore. His hair used to be medium brown and wavy, but over the past few years it’s gotten a few shades darker and now the strands curled like her own. His limbs were lanky as he began to enter his teenage years, the baby fat was disappearing, and he was much taller than a nine year old. He stood and had the mannerisms and forming attitude of any other 13 year old.

Dányál was whole entirely different type of ache from realizing Damian had grown and the pain of her injuries. It was tangled up in anger and fear. At the GIW and Ra’s, and what they did to him.

She almost felt ten again, following the servant in the shadows to the Lazarus Pits. Except this time, there were no pools of bright green liquid to heal him to assure survival. Just the talented Penny-One, Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Wayne Manor and doctor of the Batcave and a pseudo grandfather to many.

And her father… He was kind and gentle in a way she hadn’t expected. Yes, Jason said he was a good man, but she honestly never was able to picture it. Batman? The man who took down criminals nightly? Gentle? It was jarring, but not completely unwelcome.

It hurt knowing he was like that, and Mother kept them at the League of Assassins. It hurt that she now knew Jason spoke the truth, and Mother knew too, and even after Ra’s ran a sword through her son’s chest, she still kept them there. That she didn’t have her servant take her and Damian, too, and rather acted as if Dányál had truly died.

It hurt because she still didn’t believe it. Obviously he trained with the other members of the family, but all Athanasia was able to picture were the training tactics and punishments of the League. Batman trained with them, years ago, after all. Who’s to say he didn’t use the same ones on his kids?

And then there was Wesley. No one knew about Wesley. Not even the rest of Team Phantom. She even kept herself from thinking about it until the mission of finding and saving her brother was done.

Manson and Foley were the first members of the team she’d met – technically. Wesley Weston wasn’t a member when she first visited Amity Park and met him. They grew close; then Athanasia panicked and ran away left town, only to come back when the GIW took over. She felt bad for leaving him, truly, and she didn’t understand why he didn’t seem to be as angry as she thought he’d be.

There were so many aching emotions within her. It was almost overwhelming. Athanasia wanted to rest; she knew her father was right that she needed to. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Gray and Wesley needed to get back to Amity Park to get Ellie, and then figure out a way to get to Jazz Fenton, or at least somehow inform her of everything that happened.

They needed to figure out what, exactly, they were going to tell Batman about Dányál and literally everything else.

Athanasia sat down where the others had gathered – far enough away so they wouldn’t be heard, but still seen – and made short eye contact with Wesley when he sat in the only free spot beside her. They both looked away at the same time.

Gray and Manson had their own share of fresh bandages, but hardly the amount Athanasia had. Foley had one. A lucky shuriken cut his bicep and an ectoblast singed the bottom hem of his shirt, but other than that he was fine yet exhausted. Wesley was the only one injury free.

A pack of water bottles sat on the edge of the table. Everyone already had one when she got to the table. Foley was the closest to the pack, and he took one out and rolled it over to her without a word. There was a bottle of migraine medicine by Manson’s elbow where she was laying her head down.

“So,” Gray began to start the conversation. “Batman. I thought you were taking us to your dad?”

“I was, but I knew he would bring us to Batman anyway, so when I spotted him I decided to cut out the middle man.”

“Are you sure we can trust him?” asked Foley.

Athanasia nodded. “As a member of the Justice League, I fully believe Batman is trustworthy.”

“Exactly,” he sighed. “He’s a JL member – a founding member. In hindsight, it’s a good thing they have never visited Amity because that would risk any of them getting possessed, but not one member has checked on our town.”

“Well, actually,” interrupted Gray, “there was that British dude in a trench coat, remember? He smoked a lot. I think he mentioned a…Justice League Dark, or something? It was two or so years ago, so I’m not really sure.”

“Oh him!” Foley started laughing. “Oh, Ancients, how did I forget? Danny scared the shit out of him!”

Manson didn’t move, but she did snort amusedly. “That was hilarious.”

“So… What are we telling Batman?” Wesley asked when the laughter died down.

“Not everything,” said Manson. She finally lifted her head, and placed her hands around her eyes to block out some of the light. “For one, we need to figure out if he knows of the Anti-Ecto Act. We need to explain what’s happening in Amity Park, too. As for everything else… Danny should be the one to explain his powers and everything. Not even Athanasia knows it all.”

It was true. It annoyed her. She knew he had to have gotten the powers somehow, but Danny’s friends were tight lipped about it. All she knew was that Danny had ghost-like abilities, could change his looks, and also had whatever an ‘ice core’ was. She shouldn’t know about that last one, but she overheard Foley and Manson talking one night.

By eavesdropping she had hoped things would begin to make sense regarding her twin’s powers. Rather, it did the exact opposite.

“Batman will dig for answers,” Athanasia warned them. “He’s a detective – a good one, possibly the best in the world.”

Manson frowned.

“Then we give him enough info to keep him happy until Danny wakes up,” Foley said. “Then, he can make the decision on telling Batman everything else.”

“What about the others?” asked Gray. She looked at Athanasia. “Batman, sure. But does that include Robin? I saw you with them both earlier.”

“Robin is as trustworthy as Batman. All of the Bats and Birds in Gotham are, including Nightwing in Blüdhaven.”

“You sound so sure for someone who doesn’t know them personally,” Manson said.

Athanasia raised an eyebrow. “I never said I didn’t.”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You never said you did, either.”

“Sam has a point,” Foley said.

“About what?”

“You never said if you did or didn’t know these vigilantes personally. You said you were taking us to your dad, and we’re here instead.”

Athanasia’s brows knitted together. “I said my father would have brought us to him, anyway. Why does that matter?”

“Because you said nothing about him in the first place.”

“Why does that matter?” she repeated. “Where do you think we would end up taking Dányál? Certainly not Arkham.”

“I don’t know, but it would be nice if you told us things,” he said, tone turning frustrated. “Like, who was the old dude you wanted to avoid?”

“That isn’t important right now,” she forced out. She knew she had to tell them about Ra’s, but she planned to do that later.

Manson scoffed as Wesley hesitantly said, “Well, no. It kinda is.”

“You mood completely changed when Tucker mentioned him on comms,” Gray said.

Athanasia drew in a deep breath through her nose. “That is not,” she spoke slow and low, “important right now.”

“Like hell–” Gray began.

“Why does it matter right now?” she stressed. “Can we focus on what is happening right now?”

“Whoever the fuck the old man is who came out of the room where they kept our best friend is isn’t important?” Manson asked incredulously.

“For now, yes!”

“How?! That makes no sense!”

“It really doesn’t make sense,” Wesley agreed, with Gray nodding along in agreement.

“C’mon, Ana, just–”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped at the other boy.

Taken aback, Foley frowned. “But Wes calls you that?”

Athanasia shrugged. “I knew him before you guys,” she admitted after a beat of silence.

His eyes, along with Manson’s and Gray’s, went to Wesley.

“It’s true,” he said with a nod.

Gray leaned her forearms on the table. “So, did you know about the assassin thing?”

“No.” Wesley’s tone wasn’t exactly clipped, but it was clear that he wasn’t happy.

Athanasia held back a grimace.

Gray’s eyes flicked between them, and a spark of realization flashed in her eyes. Her mouth formed a small ‘o’ and she nodded slowly. “Well,” she said, somewhat awkwardly, “have fun talking that out.”

She crossed her arms and shifted in her seat. “Can we get back on track? Please.”

“That old guy–”

“Say it one more fucking time, Manson, I swear,” she snapped.

“Or what?”

“I will make that splitting headache of yours literal.”

Someone cleared their throat behind her. Everyone looked in that direction, and Athanasia was mildly surprised to see her father’s most recent foster kid standing there with a silver tray of sandwiches. He wore a t-shirt and basketball shorts and shoes, and had on a the helmet from the Signal suit. She knew he wore a domino mask earlier, so he must have switched one for the other when everyone else was too busy to notice.

“Athanasia, right?”

She nodded. “Yes, that’s me. You’re Signal.”

Signal – or rather, Duke Thomas – nodded as well. “Yep. Hood said you guys might be hungry so he snuck off and made these real quick.” He set the tray on the table.

“Oh,” she said, still a little surprised but pleased, because honestly Jason made some of the best food. “Thank you, Signal.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Wait, Hood?” Foley choked out. “As in, the Red Hood?”

When she and Signal both nodded, Manson sarcastically said, “Oh, so the one you do know personally is the Ancients-damned crime lord. Great.”

“Why is a crime lord working with Batman?” Gray questioned.

“He’s a Bat,” Signal told her. “And these days, he’s more an anti-hero.”

“Former crime lord, then,” she said. “That’s suspicious.”

“Not if they’re family,” Wesley said

Athanasia looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Signal just stared at him and didn’t make a sound. When he noticed, Wesley shifted in his seat, seeming a bit awkward and uncomfortable from Signal’s stare.

“How do you know that for sure?” she asked him.

Wesley shrugged. “I don’t, it’s one of my theories. I’m not sure if it’s an uncle-nephew thing, a father-son thing, or pseudo family thing, or a brother-brother thing, or what, but I believe it’s something along those lines. Otherwise, why isn’t Batman treating Red Hood like any other criminal, like Bane?”

“Hood is nothing like Bane,” Signal stated. The corners of his mouth had turned down into a frown, and Athanasia noticed the defensive and protective undertone.

Honestly, she almost said the same thing in the same way.

By the way Wesley’s eyes widened, he noticed Signal’s tone, too. He raised his hands. “Hey, man, I didn’t say he was. That’s just the first criminal who came to mind!”

Signal stared at him for another second, visibly unnerving Wesley even more, then finally looked away. “Anyway. Eat the sandwiches if you’re hungry.” Then, almost resigned, “If you need anything, please tell me. I’m stuck babysitting to make sure Robin doesn’t walk on his ankle, and that kid is borderline grumpy on good days.”

Athanasia smirked. “Good luck.”

“Ugh.”

When he walked away, Wesley spoke up again. “My family theory is growing.”

“Please don’t start trying to figure out their identities,” Foley practically begged. “I’d like to stay on their good sides.”

Silence.

Foley sighed.

“Seriously, Wes?” Gray complained.

“We can talk about Wes’ obsession with secret identities later–”

“It’s not an obse–”

Manson cut him off with a glare. “Later,” she emphasized. “Batman. GIW. The assassins. What and how much are we telling him?”

Much to Athanasia’s relief, she didn’t try to bring up Ra’s again to get her to explain. Her shoulders relaxed at that, and conversation finally got back on track.

+++

Much to Bruce’s short lived relief, all Alfred needed him for was to give him an extra set of hands to apply bandages to the teen. They were almost done. It took longer than Bruce liked, simply because he had so many injuries, old and new.

Alfred finished wrapping bandages around the boy’s torso. Gently and carefully, Bruce laid him back down, having been holding him up to make things easier.

He stared down at Danny. Even under anesthesia from surgery and with a safe amount of morphine to ease the pain, his face was still slightly pinched in a way that told them something still hurt. Bruce wished he knew what else he could do to help him. His kid.

Danny and Athanasia, he thought. Another son, another daughter. One who had one giant wound on his chest and other smaller ones littered about, one who had defensive and offensive injuries and bruises.

He almost lost another son tonight. He didn’t know Danny, didn’t even know he existed until a couple of hours ago. It still hurt. Still settled an ache in his heart – for him, Athanasia, Damian, and the other teenagers.

“Whoever did this…” Bruce began, anger seeping into his tone. “Who would vivisect a child?”

“I’m afraid, these days, that list is longer than any of us would like, Master Bruce,” Alfred said.

Bruce pushed back the cowl and rubbed his eyes with his pointer finger and thumb. “This is…” He had no words. With a sigh, he dropped his hand. “How bad is it, really?”

There weren’t many times Bruce could count on his hands where he saw Alfred look so devastated that he was near tears. To see it now, Bruce almost retracted his question.

“He had internal bleeding that I had to stop. Multiple broken ribs. Broken sternum.” Alfred hesitated. “Misplaced organs that I had to put back.”

Bruce shut his eyes, and backed up to fall into the chair behind him. He leaned back, hand over his eyes. “Jesus,” he muttered. “Anything else?”

“Master Bruce–”

“Anything else?” he repeated, firm.

Alfred sighed. “He has bruises and cuts on his wrists – signs of a struggle against cuffs of some sort. Burns from something I am unsure of. His right forearm is fractured; we will have to call Dr. Thompkins to get it properly taken care of. Until then I placed a splint on it. He has other injuries, but those are superficial and nothing to worry about. If he is anything like anyone else in this family, he will make a miraculously full recovery.”

Taking in the information, Bruce rubbed at his temple, then looked back at Danny. He was pale from blood loss, and from where Bruce sat he couldn’t see the splinted arm but he did earlier.

The heart monitor beeped slower than an average human. It set Bruce’s anxiety off, afraid that at any moment it will slow down to a complete stop.

“There is…another thing that has my concerns,” Alfred spoke as he began to clean the area.

“The Lichtenberg figures.”

“Yes.”

Bruce noticed them when he first began helping Alfred. It was hard not to see them. The ones on his back started at the base of his neck and went all the way down his spine. Most branched off into faint, small lines that followed the nervous system of the body, and quickly faded out; a few went up towards his hairline. But there was one figure that branched off, that stayed prominent like the one down his spine; it went across his shoulder blade and down his left arm, not stopping until it reached the palm.

“They are old, from what I can tell,” said Alfred. “A few or so years, perhaps.”

Bruce brows lowered. “Lichtenberg figures disappear after a few days.”

“Not these.”

Bruce sighed.

The Lichtenberg figures. The horror of what happened and who did it. The Lazarus green on both twins, and Danny’s bandages. The secrecy of the twins.

Bruce had so many questions. He needed answers.

“Might I suggest, Master Bruce, that you wait to interrogate the traumatized teenagers?”

He stilled from where he stood back up. “We need answers–”

“And we can get them once everyone is well rested,” said Alfred. “We have no idea how long any of them have been awake, or where they even came from. Ask questions now, and you will have five exhausted and frightened teenagers giving you the hardest time of your life.”

Bruce thought back to when they first got to the Batcave. Of the persistence and stubbornness, and blatant refusal to let the adults take over. He admired their loyalty and want to protect their friend, but he did not want a repeat of that tonight.

“You’re right,” he reluctantly admitted.

“I often am, Master Bruce.”

“Hey.” The curtain moved. Jason poked his head in. “It’s just me,” he announced. “Gave Duke a tray of sandwiches earlier to give the kids. They have water, too. Need me to do anything here?”

Alfred looked down at the bed Danny was on; Bruce did, too. The sheets and mattress were stained from the impromptu surgery.

“A little help cleaning up and moving Master Danny to a new bed will be much appreciated,” said Alfred.

Jason nodded, then backed out with a, “One clean medical cot. Got it.”

That left Bruce and Alfred to continue cleaning everything else. The former tossed away the old bandages, dirtied thread, and alcohol wipes; the latter picked up the medical equipment that had been used and placed them in a plastic tub to be washed and disinfected later. Jason quickly came back in rolling up a clean bed, and they carefully moved Danny from one to the other.

Silence fell as Bruce began to check that the IV was still secure after all of the moving.

“So,” Jason said, Alfred leaving to put everything away, stained bed included. “Danny, huh.”

Bruce hummed.

The quiet turned tense between them.

“Hell, old man, just go ahead and ask.”

With crossed arms, he looked at his second son. “You knew.”

“Not a question, but sure. Whatever.” Jason motioned to Danny. “I didn’t know about him. Hell, I didn’t even know about Damian until he came here.”

His eyes narrowed a little. “But you knew about Athanasia. You recognized her on the roof.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, carelessly. Like it wasn’t a big deal.

“For how long?”

Jason didn’t immediately answer. “I don’t know, B. I guess I was sixteen?” He crossed his arms, too. “She looked, maybe, a little younger than Damian is now.”

“So you met at the League.”

“Eh, sure… It would be more accurate to say she found me, and randomly appeared like the fucking Ghost Christmas Past or some shit.”

“And you never told me.”

“Jesus. No.”

“Why?”

“No more dead Robins. No more child soldiers. No more kids dealing with your shit,” said Jason. “Take your fucking pick.”

“They aren’t Robins, Jason, and they definitely are not child soldiers because of me,” Bruce snapped. “They are my children, all of you are, and I didn’t force any of you to do what we do. I wouldn’t have forced Athanasia to become a vigilante if she didn’t want to, if she came here with Damian!”

Underneath his domino mask, Bruce knew Jason was glaring at him. “Are you going to hound Damian like this? He didn’t tell you either!”

“Because he made a promise that he wouldn’t! You didn’t! Six years, son–”

“And she’s been visiting Gotham for two!” Jason yelled.

“What do you mean?”

“She already knew you’re her dad; don’t ask me how because I don’t know. But don’t you think she would have come to you if she wanted you to know?”

Bruce faltered for only a second.

It was long enough for a small projectile to hit him in his temple before he could form an actual response to his son. He flinched from the impact but caught it – a rock from somewhere in cave – and heard Jason begin to chuckle before he also got hit in the side of the head with another rock.

Having slipped into the curtained off area while they argued, stood Athanasia. A few more rocks were in one hand and Bruce had no doubt she would throw another one if she felt like she needed (or wanted) to.

Her expression was a guarded.

Jason glared at her. “What the hell–”

“The others want to speak with Batman. In case you forgot because of your aging mind, I didn’t tell them your identity, so I suggest you put the cowl back on before you walk out.” With that, she ducked out, not waiting for either of them to speak.

There was a beat of silence.

“Insulted by a new kid in under two hours,” said Jason. “That has to be a new record.”

“No,” Bruce denied gruffly, “it still goes to you for calling me a ‘big boob’ and hitting me with a tire iron when stealing my tires.”

“I wasn’t your kid then.”

“Hn.”

Jason exasperatedly sighed. “You’re impossible.” He walked out without another word.

Bruce put on the cowl, but didn’t leave until Alfred came back, wary to leave Danny alone. When Alfred assured him that he would alert them if needed, he left and made his way to Athanasia and the other teenagers.

He wasn’t surprised to see Damian already there. Either Athanasia got him or he forced Duke to help him; whatever the case, he and Duke now sat at the table with the others, while Jason stood off to the side against a nearby cave wall. His helmet was back on, and he watched the group with crossed arms.

He pulled up a spare chair and held laced it between Athanasia and Damian. He had barely sat down for longer than a second when the girl who introduced herself as Valerie Gray spoke up.

“We need to leave.”

“No.”

She reeled back, shocked. The others stared at him with either incredulity or anger. Tucker Foley froze with a half eaten sandwich hovering in front of his mouth, and Sam Manson looked ready to argue.

“Um, yes,” Valerie corrected. “You can’t keep us here, we aren’t prisoners. We brought Danny here for medical attention, and now that that’s done, Wes and I need to head back to Amity Park ASAP.”

“I can’t in good conscience let any of you to take another trip somewhere,” Bruce told them. “I’m not keeping you as prisoners. You need rest. All of you.”

“We can rest later,” Sam argued. “We don’t have time to just- just sit around and do nothing!”

“Resting isn’t doing nothing,” he said. “It’s making sure you don’t push your body and mind too much so you can work more later.”

“We don’t have time for later.”

“With all due respect, um, Batman, sir,” Tucker began nervously, “Sam and Valerie are right. We have a lot to do. This has already gone on for long enough.”

Underneath the cowl, an eyebrow raised. “And what is ‘this’ exactly?”

The group hesitated.

“There is a secret government organization tormenting a subspecies of humans and metas,” Athanasia explained. “The organization call themselves the Ghost Investigation Ward.”

“Ghosts,” Bruce repeated.

The teens nodded.

Duke ‘huh’ed, as if he was piecing things together in his own head.

“Ghosts?” questioned Jason incredulously. “Are you fucking serious?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “There are literally aliens on this world, a dude with a magical ring, an Amazonian woman, a gene in human DNA that gives some of us powers, heroes apparently die and come back to life on the regular, a bunch of other shit, and you’re seriously questioning ghosts right now?”

“What do you mean by ‘tormenting’?” Bruce asked before Jason could properly respond. “And why?”

“Ghosts, or anything paranormal, aren’t seen as good or friendly beings by them,” Tucker said. His eyes became downcast. “They aren’t even considered beings. Or sentient.”

“The GIW are ghost hunters,” Valerie explained. “And over the past few years, they have taken an interest in our town, Amity Park, because of the extreme amount of paranormal activity and ambient ectoplasm we have. Usually our local ghost vigilante takes care of them, and it’s never been that big of a deal, even though they have always wanted to catch Phantom and do Ancients know what. He’s always been able to stop them before anything got too serious.

“Honestly, we didn’t take them that seriously when we probably should have. We call them the Guys in White, because they’re like a lame, evil, paranormal-obsessed version of the Men in Black. Even though they did have bad intentions, they’ve never been successful. But last October…”

“They aren’t so lame anymore,” Wes muttered.

As Bruce quietly took in and filed away the information he just got, Damian gave them a somewhat judgmental look. “You underestimated them. That can very well lead to a deadly mistake,” he said. He glared at them under the domino mask. “It almost did.”

“We know,” Sam responded, sounding equally frustrated and solemn. “They are a government organization that got bested by a group of fourteen year olds when they first came along. What were we supposed to think? They have been getting better over the years, but so have we. We have always taken necessary precautions and we had plans for potential bad outcomes because Danny was insistent on that. But they stopped coming around for some time. We stupidly believed they’d given up on us. Then the Guys in White finally showed their faces again, and we weren’t as prepared as we should have been.”

“It’s why we need to get back to Amity Park,” Wes said. “They put us under martial law and we need to get in touch with another friend of ours.”

Bruce took in what they said. He still had a bunch of questions alongside new ones that he wanted answers to ASAP. Alfred was right, though; questioning them right now – let alone letting any of them leave to continue on their mission – wasn’t a good idea.

This was a group of eager, stubborn teenagers whose town and best friend were in danger. He understood their urgency to keep going, and he told them as such. “But it will do no good for anyone to run yourselves to the ground. I’m even willing to help and hear the full story of what happened, but not until each of you get some much needed rest. That’s final.”

“But–”

“Batman, you don’t understand–”

“Running on fumes will get you no where,” he spoke firmly and loudly. It was the same tone he used on his kids, both in and out of suits, when they were misbehaving or did something they shouldn’t have. “It might even lead to another almost deadly mistake. You all need to rest. You can either stay in a safe house, or I can get in touch with Athanasia’s father and see if you can go there if that’s what you want.”

“What if we want a hotel?” Sam asked with a glare that hard to tell if it was from anger at him or the migraine she had.

“I won’t let you,” he bluntly admitted. “A government organization is after Danny and you guys by proxy, for reasons I don’t know. It’s either a safe house, or Athanasia’s father’s home that I have personally created a security system for.”

No one responded. A short silence fell over them.

Bruce decided to stand up. “I will let you guys choose. I need to check on my partners out in the field.”

#dc x dp fanfiction #dc x dp fic #dc x dp au #dc x dp crossover #dc x dp #dp x dc au #dp x dc fic #dpxdc #dp x dc #dcxdp #dp x dc fanfic #dp x dc crossover #batpham #stay with me my blood #my writing

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cosmic-herbal-tea · 1 year

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Justice Society of America (2022) #1 Review: It Just Sucks

Being that I was anticipating for this title happily despite some of my concerns, I am disappointed to say that honestly, this first issue wasn't really good at all. My belief about first issues is that it SHOULD attract an audience enough to want to be interested in the book and I'm not even sure If the first issue could do that given what happens.

Story recap

So the story here is that years into the future, the daughter of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Helena Wayna aka the Huntress, is a member of the JSA. Due to the JSA's legacies not being fulfilled properly as they retire or whatever, Helena convinces Doctor Fate (one of the two only people on the team with legitamacy in terms of legacies alongside Powergirl) to recruit a whole new team, in which consists of former super-villains, some who are related to previous enemies of the JSA.

Doctor Fate is missing and the team tries to find clues to his whereabouts, with some speculating he was killed by one of the new team members. Doctor Fate's body turns up mummified days later and the team is then ambused by time travelling villain, Per Degaton, who uses his time manipulation powers to kill them all save Helena, who is saved by a aged Catwoman and thrusts her into the past to find Doctor Fate of the 1940s.

Opinions

Helena Wayne's focus

One of my earliest concerns about this series was the fact that Helena Wayne was going to be a focus in the series. I recall after saying that, I was reminded that her character has, in fact, served as a JSA character, Infinity Inc. member, etc. That's all find and dandy but again, a character related to Batman gets prime focus in a series over the other Justice Society of America.

It's nice that Helena Wayne finally gets to exist but it comes at the cost of icing other characters needlessly. It also continues this trending idea that Batman-related characters are the highest billed characters in these teams (Titans with Robin/Nightwing, Justice League with Batman, The Outlaws with Red Hood, the Birds of Prey with Barbara Gordon/Harley Quinn). It's time for DC to give other character some REAL love.

Doctor Fate is disrespected

Which gets to my second point: Despite the fact that Helena within the story actually asked Doctor Fate's permission to recruit more team members, implying that HE is the actual leader, you don't see that because he spends the issue being DEAD before you even get another appearance Older Khalid!Doctor Fate. And he is killed by Per Degatron with Falcone thugs doing SOMETHING and then him getting mummified and stuffed into a sarcophagus, found days later because someone unearthed him in a museum and caught an illness that is assocaite with the "Curse of the Pharaohs" myth.

So incase it didn't dawn upon you, DC has Per Degaton, a time-travelling, kill off the ONLY canonical Egyptian Doctor Fate by mummifying him and stuffing him in a sarcophagus in the first issue of a JSA book.

And you know, I find it high-key ironic that even when Khalid is the current Doctor Fate, they're still finding ways to involve Kent Nelson. The previous JSA books didn't tweak their nose nor shy away from telling you the current Doctor Fate (Hector Hall, Kent V. Nelson) is NOT Kent Nelson and they're fine. Khalid is equally capable of fixing the plot like Kent Nelson and yet, Catwoman sends Helena back in time to find KENT NELSON's DOCTOR FATE.

This is an issue that can get fixed down the line but Khalid isn't white so I don't know If it will.

Power Girl is also dispresected.

Not only is Doctor Fate disrespected but I feel Power Girl's character is too. Her character was once Chairwoman of the JSA. I don't like the fact that like Khalid, she is taking a back seat to letting Helena run the reigns, especially when she has some STRONG disagreements and frankly, she has more legitamancy. If not Doctor Fate, why isn't Power Girl leading this JSA? How is it exactly Helena Wayne was able to convince Doctor Fate of a new interim team?

Maybe these answers MAY get answered some time later but I definitely can say I don't like how it is written that the only thing Power Girl did was "not forgive Helena" for it. This version has been on the team for DECADES. This is not the same Power Girl/Helena Wayne from World's Finest back during the New 52 days. Why didn't she just take command instead?

And then she is killed unceremoniously by Kryptonite poisoning even though Kryptonite from other universes can't affect her but OH WELL. We gotta make Per Degaton look REALLY scary for this one-off storyline.

The series' setup is bland

Overall, this series' first issue is bland and ridiculous. You introduce a whole new incarnation and then kill them off in the same issue in gruesome ways just to show off your villain (ONCE AGAIN), who hasn't been impressive since his creation Ain't nobody care about some Per Degaton wanting to be Extant.

The series twists it's neck once more to find a way to tell a story that claims is about "legacy" characters but is beginning to look like it's only interested in the same old fucks in the JSA, which begs the question of why not just having the series set in the 1940s-1970s and just going ham on it instead.

This is another story where "legacy characters" only amount to not being up to par and stuggling eternally just to exist. You don't see them fuck shit up; you watch shit fuck them up. How many stories are we having about legacies that actually come FULL CIRCLE and be real badasses? It's 2022 and you'll be hard pressed because they INSIST on not actually moving forward or taking a few steps forward before making giant leaps back.

This first issue did not take the oppurtunity to introduce the prospect of a REAL, new, and interesting team lineup, which also missed the oppurutunity for both new and updated versions of characters. Instead, the first issue beleives a time travelling murder mystery of the JSA with Helena Wayne on the case is more interesting. That may be a contending fact but it makes me think why isn't it called Huntress and the Justice Society instead.

Overall, given that the JSA was spotlighted in the Black Adam movie and it is received fairly well, I find it severely underwhelming DC's first inclination to using the team's mythos is starting off like this. Not to mention how they treat worthwhile characters, ranging from ridiculous to borderline ignorant at the very least.

#justice society of america #justice society #jsa #helena wayne #huntress #doctor fate #khalid nassour #power girl #karen starr #kara zor l #dc comics #comics #comic reviews

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britesparc · 1 year

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Weekend Top Ten #570

Top Ten Couples in Comics

Ah, love is in the air. Sort of. Soon-ish. Yes, it’s not technically anywhere near Valentine’s Day yet, but a confluence of other stuff in my life has made me dedicate this weekend to good old Cupid and his ruddy bloody arrows.

So a couple of years ago, around about now-ish, I was banging on something rotten about superhero romantic couples, but focusing solely on adaptations thereof. It was movie (and TV I guess) versions of superhero romances that flew backwards round my particular world. Now I’m returning to that well with a vengeance, as I discuss actual comic book incarnations of superheroes, and their respective squeezes.

I think it’s obvious what’s going to come highly here, as there’s at least one superhero romantic pairing that’s so iconic it transcends the very medium; there have been at least two live-action TV series with the characters names together in the title. The first “modern” superhero movie literally hung the story around the romance – including the world-spinning finale. And, yeah, quite a few more are fairly obvious I guess. But there are some that might be less iconic, less all-encompassing (although I imagine if we give James Gunn a couple of years these could all be household names); it’s an idiosyncratic list that, once again, reflects my particular tastes and thirty-odd years of reading history.

I’ve gone, here, for couples that I think work well together for one reason or another. And they’re couples that I’ve actually, y’know, read; not just those that exist in the atmosphere. I’ve tried to cast my net as broadly as possible but at the same time, if you’re aiming for superheroes, chances are you’re going to catch a lot of DC and Marvel characters. Which is fine! Those guys are totally iconic.

Anyway, with no further ado, let’s kick off the season of love by celebrating fictional super-people and their significant others.

Superman and Lois Lane: who else? They’re perfect together: a man with all the power in the world who only uses it to protect and inspire others; and a woman dedicated to finding and protecting the truth at all costs. She’s tough, he’s gentle, despite him being the strong one. Whether it’s the initial dynamic of Lois wanting Superman and ignoring Clark, or more modern stories where it’s Clark she falls in love with, or any variation in between, they’ve been doing this dance for eighty years. So strong is their bond, so well do they fit together, so iconic is their pairing, that nowadays it’d be weird if they weren’t presented as a couple; it didn’t take too long after the New 52 reboot undid their marriage for them to wind up not only back together again but with a child, to boot.

Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson: pretty much the whole time I ever read comics, Peter and MJ were a couple, if not married; as such, I find it really, really weird that they got magically un-married. Because they’re so great together, the teenage melodrama of their love playing out in tragi-adventurous fashion. MJ, groovy party girl, wannabe model, shows her strength and compassion when she comforts Peter after Gwen’s death; and, as they become close and fall in love, quiet nerd Peter comes out of his shell. They’re there for each other from their teenage years and you really get the feeling no one knows either of them so well. And the future-set stories, where they’re married with a superpowered daughter, are terrific too.

Batman and Catwoman: whilst nowadays this seems equally as inevitable as Lois and Clark, it’s actually a relationship that’s evolved over time. Catwoman started out as more of a femme fatale; sure, there was an attraction, but Bruce was given “proper” love interests for years, from Silver St. Cloud to Vikki Vale. But there’s just something about Selina. And really it makes sense; Bruce definitely has a dark side, so him being drawn to a Bad Girl, seeing the good inside her, and how he helps bring that to the surface without totally switching her to the straight and narrow… whether they actually end up together or are doomed to forever be apart, they’re perfect. And let’s face it, they’re just both super, super sexy.

Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon: no codenames here because it’s a love that transcends secret identities; Robin and Batgirl? Nightwing and Oracle? Bats and Babs? Like Peter and MJ, they’re a couple of kids, best friends who played out together at night, and then grew up and fell in love. I like that they had lives away from each other – Dick went off with the Titans and had another relationship; Babs pursued a career and overcame disability – but they come back together. There’s something so true and honest about the pair of them, and their relationship together, that makes them a perfect couple, even though part of that knowledge is that they probably can’t really make a go of it, not now, not at the moment.

Cyclops and Jean Grey: so much of their relationship is based around how it ended, but I still like them as a couple. It’s a bit weird, looking back decades later, how quickly some of the Sixties characters accelerated into middle-age, but I always think of Scott and Jean as like the X-Men’s mum and dad. They were a seemingly happy married couple, with just a touch of the usual Marvel angst; until she died, of course, in massively iconic fashion. In fact, it’s partly this tragedy – and how it effected both of them, with Jean’s weird resurrections and Scott’s batshit reactions – that partly defines their relationship.

The Elongated Man and Sue Dibny: I first came across this couple, and their adorable rock-solid relationship, when Sue was horribly murdered in the controversial Identity Crisis (a book which, weirdly, was basically my gateway to the wider DC Universe). Having read more about them, they’ve got serious couple goals: solid, dependable, best friends. I like how Sue totally supports Ralph’s super-heroing, but is more than just a hanger-on, becoming an integral part of the various books the Elongated Man was involved in. Even their deaths didn’t slow them down, as they popped up as ghosts – still together, of course.

Superboy and Wonder Girl: I was never a fan of attempts to match up Superman and Wonder Woman, but their Teen Titans analogues were a different kettle of Thanagarian Snare Beasts. Their slow-burning romance was the stuff of teen drama serials, as they bottle battled personal demons that got in the way of their feelings. They finally consummated things in the series Infinite Crisis, just before Superboy heroically died saving the multiverse; but this added extra wrinkles, as we saw the effect his death had not just on Wonder Girl but also Robin, and how it played into his (inevitable, this is comics) resurrection.

Green Arrow and Black Canary: some couples are soulmates; some are doomed, tragic romances; some are booty calls. And then there’s Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. For decades now, they’ve bounced off and around one another, an all-time perfect romantic couple, a bickering, back-and-forth Eighties action movie pairing. They’ve fought and argued and – well – done other stuff, and it’s like a Shane Black exploding into When Harry Met Sally. They’re star-crossed lovers who are also often very cross. And, I’ve gotta say, there’s something just really sexy about the pair of them. I blame his beard. And her fishnets.

Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman: some of the characters in this list are married couples, but they’ve also spent a lot of time, well, not married – or even not together at all. Not so Reed and Sue: yes, of course, they weren’t married when they debuted at the very dawn of the MCU in 1962, but for the bulk of their history they’ve been married. And despite the likes of Doom and Namor trying to muscle in, they’ve been happily married for the most part – having a couple of super-powered kids. But they compliment each other so well: he’s an absent-minded genius, she’s phenomenally capable and arguably even more powerful, and there’s no sense that they don’t love and trust each other completely, even though they’re different in many ways. God, I can’t wait to see them on screen. Er, again.

Rocket Raccoon and Lylla Otter: maybe this one is entirely me; and unlike some of the other longer-running couples, really these two were only together in one mini-series forty years ago. But I like them! He’s a dashing adventurer; she’s the heir to a toy-making dynasty. Together, they battle nefarious, corrupt toymakers, try to avoid Lylla getting married, and cure a bunch of humans of insanity, all the while making weird refences to the Beatles’ song Rocky Raccoon. It’s incredibly strange and I adore it. And they do make a cute couple; there’s a bit of Han and Leia about them, and they go for nice picnics and cavort about in streams and suchlike. The Rocket presented here is very different from the one who became famous in the movies – and, indeed, quite a bit different from when the character became a member of the comic book Guardians too. Speaking of which, Lylla makes her big-screen debut this year in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and as a long-time fan, I cannot wait.

Feel a bit bad that I didn’t find room for any of the cool same-sex couples in comics, like Apollo and Midnighter or Hulkling and Wiccan. This is because, basically, I just haven’t really read enough comics about them I guess. But the latter two guys are an incredibly cute couple who very, very nearly made the list!

Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day. Er, a week from now. Yay!

#top ten #comics #couples #valentines day #romance #superheroes #dc #marvel #mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it #but a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it

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themaribatpit · 2 years

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The Lost Wayne: Chapter 1

Synopsis: On the night of her parents’ anniversary, Marinette was shocked to learn that all this time, she had been the long forgotten daughter of an American businessman named Bruce. When she is given the chance to visit him that summer, she learns that she’ll also be spending the summer with his many other children.

Rated T: Language

Content Warning: This chapter contains references to works of literature that could be considered spicy (only the titles of these works are named).

Ships: Gen.

Author’s Note: Hi everyone, sorry we haven’t posted in a while. We’ve both been very busy. DC Boy has had this Bio Dad Bruce fanfic idea for a while now. One of us has a headcanon that Jason has read classic literature that was a bit more spicy, most likely when no one else in the Batfamily was looking.

Also here’s the source of our research into a ballet dancer’s routine: Teen Ballerina's Daily Routine 1 Week Before a Show | Teen Vogue

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

On this breezy evening in Paris, Marinette’s parents had just celebrated another anniversary together and they treated themselves to a glass of wine. Marinette yawned as she walked to the kitchen late at night for some water, as she walked to the kitchen she saw her parents sitting on the sofa with their backs turned towards her. Marinette opted to creep past them quietly, letting them enjoy their quiet moment together. She poured herself a glass of water while her parents talked.

“Thank you, it was a lovely evening.“ said Tom as he held his wife.

“No, thank you. I know it has never been easy.” Sabine lamented over a glass of wine.

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“Really, it meant a lot to me. Especially since you’ve accepted Marinette.” Sabine swirled her glass thoughtfully. Marinette’s ears perked curiously at what her mother just said. What did she mean by her father ”accepting” her?

“Sabine, I love Marinette as if she was my own daughter.”

As if she was his own daughter? Marinette repeated in her mind, she unknowingly dropped her glass with a loud crash. Her parents quickly sprang from the sofa and rushed to turn on the light. When they turned around, they saw their daughter, the one they had just been talking about and the shattered glass on the ground. She froze as if she was a deer caught in headlights. “I’m…not…your…daughter?” she barely spoke above a whisper, she shook at the sudden revelation. Tom grabbed a broom and dustpan to sweep up the broken glass while Sabine comforted her daughter.

“I should have told you long ago, but I never found the right time or had the strength. It's just that…'' Sabine hesitated as she tried to explain what they were talking about a moment earlier. They were all sitting on the sofa together with their stunned daughter unable to take her eyes off the floor..

“You were born before we met and got married. Does it really matter? So long as we have each other,” Tom tried his best to placate Marinette and pulled her into a big hug. Marinette hesitated to hug him back and began to cry onto her step-father’s chest. After a few minutes, Marinette calmed down enough to talk.

“W-Who is my real father?” Marinette asked, curious yet nervous of the truth.

Sabine took a deep breath, “His name is Bruce, he’s a businessman from America.”

Marinette stayed silent as she tried to process this sudden revelation, she left her parents' embrace and went back to her room. Sabine tried to follow but a large hand was placed on her shoulder, Tom stopped her and shook his head.

Marinette curled up in a seated position on her bed, her mind in a mess of thoughts as she tried to process what she just learned. Part of her felt rage, rage at being abandoned by her birth father. Did he just decide that her mother wasn’t good enough for him and cast her aside? Another part of her felt melancholy, had her birth father truly felt that she was so worthless and abandoned her? What must he think of her mother? Did he even know she, his daughter, was alive? Or did he thoughtlessly abandon her before she was even born? Her thoughts spiraled as she sat restlessly all night. She had already endured years of people like Chloe telling her that she was a pathetic loser, she didn’t need it from her own birth father too.

Next day, Marinette trudged along to school with sullen eyes, she didn't get any sleep the previous night. Alya kept eyeing her best friend in concern, she barely responded all day and almost face planted herself onto her lunch. Her concern grew as Marinette didn't even respond to Lila, Chloe or take any notice of Adrien all day. During lunch Adrien walked by to give Marinette a coffee, Alya accepted it on Marinette’s behalf as she didn’t even register Adrien at all.

After school Alya had to drag Marinette to a nearby cafe to have a heart to heart talk. “All right, we need to talk. You’ve got eyebags that raccoons would be jealous of, you’ve barely said a word all day, and you didn’t even look up when Adrien brought you a coffee,” she pointed out.

Marinete clenched her fists as tears poured from her eyes. “I...I’m not my father’s daughter.”

Alya gasped, she tried to formulate a response, or any consoling words for her friend, but nothing came out. She stared speechless as Marinette buried her face in her hands and began to sob. “Do you know who your real father is?” Alya asked hesitantly.

“Just some American,” Marinette replied flatly.

“How’s your Dad taking the news?”

Marinette calmed down slightly as she thought of the man who raised her, “He already knew, I was born before they married.”

Alya released a sigh of relief, “Okay, this isn't as bad as I thought it’d be. Your parents are alright and happy, it doesn’t matter as they still love you all the same.” She placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder to reassure her. “Does it really matter? This doesn’t change anything.”

Marinette lifted her head, “You’re right, I can’t help but wonder, why did he abandon both my mother and I?”

“Doesn’t matter, what's done is done. You’ve never even known him, you could just move on,” Alya suggested.

“No, I’m going to ask my mother more about him. I want answers.”

Alya smiled as she saw some of Marinette’s energy return to her, “If you ever find him, kick his ass. Better yet, call my sister.” Alya raised her fists in the air, mimicking some of her sister’s moves.

That evening Marinette spoke to her mother alone, she tried to ask for more details about her biological father. All she got was the same answer over and over again, some American businessman named Bruce. Her mother would not budge to give her more details.

"Mum, please, I just…I want to meet him," Marinette pleaded. "Does he know about me?" She asked.

"No, I'll give him a call and let him know about you. I'll ask him if he wants to meet you too," Sabine returned to her bedroom, she emerged minutes later with an old photo and gave it to Marinette.

Marinette looked at the photo, it was old and worn, yet she could clearly see it was a photo of her mother in her younger years along with the man who was supposedly her father. She flipped the photo to see a handwritten message "Thanks for the great time, love Bruce" along with a telephone number written below. Marinette's hand began to shake as she saw the only connection to her father before her.

Sabine noticed this and gently held Marinettes hand, "let me call him, I'll let you know if he wants to meet you. You go do your homework," Marinette returned the photo and went to her room.

Marinette had put these thoughts in the back of her mind for the next few days, until her mother approached her and asked her to spit in a tube. Marinette stared blankly at her mother at the sudden and odd request, until she was told this was for a DNA test. She sheepishly obliged and went about her day.

After a couple weeks her mother approached her again and told her that her biological father was delighted to know that she existed and would very much like to meet her. In fact, he had arranged an all expense paid trip to Gotham City for her summer break. Marinette's eyes widened as she heard Gotham City and she began to panic, “Oh god, my father is a rich man living in Gotham, he must be a mob boss. Oh no, he’s inviting me just to kill me off isn't he? To get rid of any potential scandal and toss my body into a river somewhere in the dead of night and my swollen body will be unrecognizable when the police find it washed up the next morning and-”

Sabine looked at Marinette expectantly, “Marinette? Did you hear me?”

Marinette jumped in surprise as her mother spoke, she adopted a strained smile, borderline grimace. “That sounds wonderful,” She barely managed to respond.

“It is, isn’t it?” Sabine then handed Marinette an envelope. “Your father has sent you a ticket, everything you need is in there. He’ll meet you at the airport and the two of you will go to Gotham together.” Marinette accepts the envelope and rushes into her room.

Next day at school, Marinette seemed to be an absolute nervous wreck. She seemed to be glancing over her shoulder every few seconds in the hallways. She kept nervously clicking her pen or tapping her fingers on the table in class. Alya was starting to get a little worried. During lunch she asked, “Let me guess, it has something to do with ‘You Know Who’?”

Marinette could only nod, “Alya, you’ve been my best friend for years.” Alya raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. Marinette then handed Alya a piece of paper, “here is my last will and testament.”

Alya recoiled at the severity of receiving this from Marinette, “What is happening? ” she demanded.

“My biological father wants me to come over to…” Marinette couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Oh, that’s not so ba-” Alya spoke before getting cut off by Marinette.

“To Gotham City.”

An awkward silence surrounded the two. “Gotham fucking City? As in, the city with the highest crime rate on planet Earth?” Alya whispered harshly, shocked as to why they would even meet there.

“I’m scared, he’s some rich business man in Gotham. I just know it, I’m a scandal, a ticking time bomb to ruin his career. He’s going to get rid of me, throw my poor corpse into some junkyard or into a river or-” Marinette trailed off.

Alya pinched her brow, this was much more serious than she thought. “Okay, okay calm down. That may or may not be true. Besides, you've got those ‘lucky earrings’ don’t you?” Alya nudged her friend in an attempt to calm her down.

Marinette takes a deep breath, “You're right, I’ll need them.”

Summer arrived and Marinette had her bags packed, she hugged her parents tightly and gave Alya a farewell call on the way to the airport. At the airport, she wore a brightly coloured floral dress that she made. She hoped the bright colours and pretty clothes that she made herself would inspire some kind of good first impression. She presented her ticket to the Wayne Airlines counter, the person behind the counter stared at the computer for several seconds before rapidly scanning Marinette’s ticket over and over again. Marinette grew nervous as not only other passengers stared at her, but the person behind the counter had called their supervisor over. The people behind the counter discussed in disbelief for another minute, the supervisor then walked off to make a telephone call. “I’m sorry Miss, it’s just that your ticket is…’unusual’ and my supervisor is checking it.”

Marinette gulped, “Okay,” was the only response she was able to muster.

She stands by the counter for a few minutes, then a tall figure in a suit comes up to her. She recognised him as the aforementioned supervisor that spoke to the person behind the counter. “Greetings Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mr. Wayne will see you now. Please, follow me.“ Marinette followed the man to the VIP area, she marveled at the elaborate decorations, she just had to take her notebook out to make brief notes on their designs. So engrossed in her note, she hadn’t noticed that the man had stopped and she clumsily bumped behind him. She muttered a quick apology before peeking her head around the man to see the waiting room.

In that waiting room stood a tall, muscular man with his back facing Marinette, talking over the phone. Marinette tried to step forward but the man held her shoulder, “Please wait young miss, Mister Wayne is currently busy.” The man instructed before walking away, Marinette waited nervously for her biological father.

“Yes, Lucius, I know,” The figure spoke as he paced around the room. “What would I ever do without you?” Bruce peered over his shoulder, only now noticing that Marinette was waiting for him. “I’ve got to go now, Lucius, I’ll talk to you later when I get back to Gotham."

As he turned to face her, Marinette looked up at the face of her real father. She swallowed nervously, he was much taller, much more imposing in person. Now Marinette understood where she got her blue eyes from, as his own looked down at her. Marinette wondered for a moment if he was staring her down, judging her. She was the daughter of two bakers, one of which was a woman he had a brief tryst with. He was a wealthy businessman, a known playboy, and probably had doubts about whether she was actually his child. Marinette tentatively held out her hand, as though she was worried he was going to bite it off for daring to let it anywhere near him. “My name is Marinette,” she tried not to stammer as though she was unsure about it, “my mother has told me a lot about you…”. He gave her a polite smile, one that was probably reserved for talking to the press. He took Marinette’s hand and gave it a gentle shake. Though she gave him a limp and weak handshake as she tried not to grip his hand too tightly, she tried to convince herself that it was a start.

“Yes, Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” There was something impersonal in the way he said her full name. As if she was a stranger that he was meeting for the first time, and hadn’t given her much thought over the past few years.

“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Wayne,” Marinette wanted to mentally shake herself, that made her sound more like his aspiring secretary instead of his daughter.

“Please, call me Bruce,” he told her, keeping up that same cordial smile. She nodded, not entirely sure of what else to say at that moment.

Moments later, he gestured to the private plane on the tarmac, a proud smile on his face. “Behold, the Wayne Air Prototype: Fledermaus, with a cruising speed of Mach 2, we’ll be in Gotham in three hours. We should be back at Wayne Manor by lunchtime.”

Bruce glanced back at Marinette trailing behind him before he stopped and stepped aside, gesturing for her to go on ahead. “Before we go, I need to make a call back home.” Marinette nodded and tentatively ascended the steps to the cabin.

Back in Gotham City, it was early morning. Alfred just finished serving breakfast to the family as they returned from another night out on patrol. Dick walked past to get himself a cup of coffee as Alfred answered the call. “Hello Master Bruce, how is Paris?”

“Good, I’m about to board my flight back. We’ll be back for lunch, could you prepare a guest room by then?”

“A guest room?” Alfred asked, scratching his chin, Dick leaned over to listen in on the conversation. Alfred glanced over at Dick leaning over the counter, before putting the phone on speaker.

“Yes, I recently learned that I have a daughter, she’s 15 and I’m bringing her back over for the summer,” Bruce explained over the phone.

Dick yanked the phone from Alfred’s hand, “You have a daughter and you didn’t bother to tell us this before you left for Paris?!” Dick yelled. He tossed the phone back to Alfred before grabbing a pan and a ladle. He ran out to the dining table and banged them together to get everyone’s attention. “Code Red, Code Red, Bruce is bringing back another kid.”

Tim covered his ears from the banging, “Bruce is bringing another Robin, so what?”

Dick slammed his hands on the dining table, “That's the thing, it isn’t some orphan he picked up. He just found out he has another biological kid,"

"Is this one another demon spawn?" Tim groaned, Damian shot him a glare.

"She’s probably a civilian, we have less than three hours before they arrive.” Everyone’s eyes widened as it dawned on the entire family that they had less than three hours to hide everything and prepare for the arrival of their newest family member.

Everyone jumped from their seats to clean their respective rooms. Tim ran from room to room, distributing cardboard boxes for everyone to store any Bat related equipment. It would all have to be stored down in the Batcave.

As he left Damian's room he poked his head in the doorway and warned him "Demon Spawn, hide your swords!" Damian crossed his arms and grunted in response.

Elsewhere, Jason slept face down on his sofa back at his apartment, he was rudely awakened by his phone ringing. He swung his arm several times to reach his phone, before he finally managed to pick it up on his fourth attempt. “Who is it and what the fuck do you want?” he answered angrily.

“Jason, Bruce is bringing back another kid!” Dick yelled on the other end.

“So, why should I care?” Jason groaned.

“It’s not some random orphan he plans to train to be another Robin.”

“Another Demon Spawn, then?” Jason asked groggily.

“Not that either, secret lovechild.”

Jason sat up at the odd surprise, “So who was it with this time? Wonder Woman?”

“Nope, some civilian. We need all the help we can get to clean up any and all traces of our ‘night time activities.’ She’ll be here in three hours, we don't need her questioning why we have swords, grappling hooks, or batarangs lying around the house.”

“I don’t see how that's my problem Dickie,” Jason shrugged.

“Did I mention she’s French and 15 years old? What would happen if she found your old copy of Madame Bovary on your shelf? Hmm?”

Jason leaped off of the sofa and put on his leather jacket, “Alright, you’ve made your point I’m coming over to pack my shit up.” He ran out and jumped onto his motorcycle.

He raced across Gotham and arrived at Wayne Manor, an empty cardboard box with his name written on it was waiting for him on the doorstep.

He picked it up and rushed towards his room. As he ran across, he heard Dick call out to him across the distance, “Jason, when you’re done bring the box over to the garage and seal all entrances to the cave!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jason grumbled as he rushed into his room and threw any equipment and various books into the box that would be best kept out of the young girl’s reach. There was the copy of Madame Bovary Dick mentioned, but he also threw in his copy of Thérèse Raquin, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover for good measure. With the box full, he ran towards the garage to see Tim loading several labeled boxes onto the elevator to the Batcave.

“Just put it on the pile over there and I'll sort it out later,” Tim deadpanned as he finished loading them and brought the elevator down to the Batcave.

Jason then made his way to Bruce’s study, there sat Damian sitting behind his father’s desk, brooding. Damian sneered as Jason ran in, he crossed his arms. “Hmph, such foolishness, why is everyone acting in such a way?”

“Look Demon Spawn, people aren’t exactly looking forward to exposing their deepest darkest secrets. Especially not to children, or worst of all, chatterboxes.” Jason didn't bother to look at Damian as he spoke, he flipped open the bust of William Shakespeare and locked the bookcase to the Batpoles.

“Bah, it's such a waste of time, why is Father even bringing her here?” Damian complained. Jason still did his best to ignore him, he rolled up his sleeve and reached into the fish tank and deactivated the iron maiden entrance. “I find out I have a sister from some harlot and now he’s bringing her over?!” Damian grew angrier at the thought that the entire family was doing all this for some unknown stranger, and worse for some half sibling that was not trained in any way.

Jason had reached his limit, “Verification code, Bravo Tango Three Six Six–” He called out into the room. “Chair,” Jason said with an evil grin towards Damian. Damian eyed Jason suspiciously before a hole appeared at his feet and the chair he was sitting on pushed him into said hole.

“Damn you Tooooooooooooodddddd!” He cried indignantly as he fell into the Batcave.

Jason chuckled before he continued the task at hand, rushing around and sealing the grandfather clocks around the estate. Finally, he reached the living room and he stood by the piano frustrated, trying to remember the piano key combination. Jason gave up and started mashing the keys hoping to eventually get the combination. Dick walked in annoyed, hands covering his ears. He shouted, “You’re supposed to seal the entrance, not cause everyone to go deaf..”

Jason stepped aside, “I forgot the damn combination, I'll get it eventually.”

Dick sat on the stool and cracked his knuckles, he readied his fingers to hit the piano keys. “Shit, I forgot it too.” The two turned to look at each other.

“Let’s keep her away from the piano,” Jason suggested.

“Works for me,” Dick agreed and the two went their separate ways to continue to clean up Wayne Manor.

Marinette sat on the plane opposite Bruce, the two sat silently while he tapped away on a tablet. She didn’t know what to say to him now, it was just the two of them in the cabin, with the exception of a cheerful hostess “Do you have other children?” Marinette asked downcast.

“Yes I do, five of them.”

Marinette looked down, even more worried at how her half-siblings would react to her existence. Would they call her or her mother a homewrecker? Would they see her as an outcast and bully her the entire time she was there? Marinette

Bruce noticed Marinette’s reaction and tried to ease her worries. “All but one are adopted.” Marinette looked up in shock. “Dick’s the oldest, followed by Jason, Cass, Tim and Damian. Damian is my only biological child, well, until I found you.”

Marinette became a bit more optimistic after finding out the others had been adopted, perhaps they wouldn’t be angry for suddenly appearing in their lives.

Back in Gotham, Stephanie’s phone rang. After a night patrolling the city and swapping out with Cass towards the end, she really needed the extra sleep. She twisted and turned on her bed, feeling frustrated she wrapped her pillow around her ears. But the ringing persisted and she had no choice but to pick up the phone. She glanced up at the screen, as “Tim” flashed up on it. “What do you want?” she groaned.

Tim’s panicked voice came from the phone, “Steph, we need all hands on deck, Bruce is bringing home another kid.” She sat up on her bed and pinched her nose, “Another one? Damian’s not gonna like that.”

“This one isn’t another Damian, she’s a civilian, as in we need to hide all our gear. Also, Cass said she left her ballet bag at your place and needs it back.”

Stephanie gazed around her room and found the aforementioned bag on her sofa, “Alright, I’m on my way.” She begrudgingly got up. She stopped by to get herself some coffee on her way to Wayne Manor, once there she could hear the chaos from outside. As she stepped in, she could see Dick and Tim running past her with several cardboard boxes. She ignored them and went straight to Cass’ room.

She knocked on the door and entered to see Cassandra in the process of breaking in her pointe shoes. Stephanie watched as Cass slapped them on the floor to get the sound out of them. “Whoa Cass, what did the shoes ever do to you?” She joked. “You seem pretty calm compared to everyone else.”

Cassandra gestured around her room, everything was neat and tidy. Stephanie placed Cass’ bag on the bed. “Come on, let's go help the others.” The two walked towards the door and opened it to see Alfred standing right outside, dressed in his chauffeur’s uniform, hand raised in a fist as if he was about to knock the door.

“Ah Miss Stephanie & Cassandra, I was just about to collect Master Bruce and our newest member. Could you kindly help clean the room next door? Nothing too strenuous, just some dusting,”

“No problem Alfred, we’ll also help set the tables while you’re out.” With that, Alfred nodded his thanks and left.

Alfred arrived at the Gotham City International Airport just as Bruce and Marinette’s jet landed. He stood outside the passenger door as he waited for the ground crew to guide the aircraft in. Once the stairs were in place, Alfred made his way up to greet Bruce and their newest ward. The door opened with Bruce emerging first while Marinette hid behind him. “Welcome back Master Bruce, I trust you had an excellent time in Paris?” Alfred spoke with a short bow.

“Oh nothing special, it was just a short trip. Marinette, meet Alfred, my butler.” Bruce gently patted Marinette on the back to guide her towards Alfred.

“Um…hi, nice to meet you,” Marinette awkwardly greeted Alfred as she tried to carry her luggage off the plane.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Young Miss, please allow me to handle your luggage.” Alfred stepped forward and picked up the suitcase as Marinnete and Bruce entered the limousine.

Soon, the three of them were on the way back to Wayne Manor, Marinette sitting in the back of the limo with Bruce. She heard Alfred call to them from the front of the car, “Master Bruce, lunch has been prepared and everyone is back home ready for your…special announcement.”

“Thank you Alfred, what would I do without you?” Bruce answered with a rhetorical question.

“I shudder to think,” Alfred murmured sarcastically.

The ride back was quiet, Marinette’s anxiety slowly bubbled within as she worried about how her siblings would react to her. All those thoughts escaped her mind as Wayne Manor came to view, her jaw dropped at the size. Alfred noticed and smirked, with the push of a button he opened the window beside Marinette. She looked back to see Bruce gesturing for her to take a look. With that she peered her head outside of the window to see the grand scale of the mansion and its surrounding area.

She was still in awe as the limousine came to a stop, Alfred swiftly exited the driver’s seat and opened the door for Marinette. She could only gaze up at the tall double doors that seemed to stare her down. It was as if the manor itself was taking a moment to decide if she was worthy of setting foot inside.

If it was about to pass a swift judgement on her, it didn’t prevent Alfred from swinging open its doors. Marinette’s eyes were now faced with an opulent grand entrance hall, and a twinkling chandelier high above her head. When she finally stopped and looked in front of her, she felt a nervous lump in her throat. She had only just noticed that at the bottom of the grand staircase, were a small cluster of people, all of whom now had their eyes on her. Her small hand nervously gripped the strap of her bag, and she fought the urge to shrink back from several sets of eyes that seemed to be watching her every move.

“Welcome to Wayne Manor, Miss Marinette,” Alfred said.

#bio dad bruce wayne #ml x dc #dc x ml #maribat

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knullanon · 3 years

Note

Hey so I would like to request u know how anxious has the whole Dc yan fam well I would like to request just yan batfam, yan superfamily, yan green arrow, yan ra's al ghul, and yan lex luthor all platonic. But like how they met what makes them different if they kidnaped and how ya know. You don't have to do this if it's is to much

Your Friend

-🌹

omg thank you for sending in the request!!! here it is, sorry it wasn’t fast enough lmao!

The batfam

These bitches would find you probably on the street tbh. Like maybe it's on patrol, maybe they saw you while doing day to day activities, and honestly, I think Bruce would be the one to find you. Not to be cliche but i'm pretty sure he's the only one who would think “hmm. It's a child alone on the street. Adopt.” and then just take you.

They would totally take you during the night. You would probably just be walking down a street and they would just snatch you up. I don’t think they would knock you out just as they get you, but they would probably give you some kind of drug to “calm down”.

After you get settled in, it would be like a breeze. Nothing to worry about, food being delivered whenever, and you even got like, 12 kids to keep you company,

As for the ones who would bond with you immediately, it would definitely be Cass, Duke, Tim, Dick (obviously), and Jason (surprisingly).

The superfam

OOF- bitch you’re fucked. Jon probably saw you at school or walking home from school and he took a photo like “:D look! She's friend shaped!!” and almost immediately they would be like “well a new daughter wouldn’t hurt”.

To the kidnapping, either jon or clark would be the ones to get you, maybe even both. Maybe Jon would try to befriend you beforehand to gain your trust. Maybe even (yes i’m gonna include kon why bc i can) Kon would try to talk to you and gain your trust. Maybe meet you at a restaurant and be like “hello, my name is Kon, what’s yours?” If I remember correctly, Kon is sociable so he's obviously gonna be the one to talk more n stuff

After they got you, they probably gave you your own room and tbh I don’t think they would be very worried about you running away, because 1, they are on a farm who the fuck are you gonna call lmao, 2, they are fast. You’re not gonna get very far, and 3, they would act like you were always there. Like you were always a part of their family. And it's a really good act too. They are always honest, so it's not hard to fake their happiness. If you act confused, they’ll act like they need to bring you back to the doctor, as Lois says, “Did that concussion really do something else?”. These bitches WILL manipulate you.

As for the ones who would bond with you immediately… yeah, it’s all of them.

Green Arrow

Honestly pretty chill guy when you first meet him. It's at a coffee shop, and he's asking for a coffee. You give it to him and you’re really nice to him. He decides to go back, just for you. He meets you again and you’re kind of weirded out, but like, he's so nice! And he tips. He tips very well.

Kidnapping you was a big ass plan he had and somehow it worked. He “hired'' someone into trying to rob you, he never said why, and it was so he could ruin that person's career. Then, he would swoop in to save your ass at the last minute. Then he would say, “Sorry I’m late” and beat the shit out of the guy. Then he would take you.

Since he's rich, he would like, pay for everything. You want some chips? Payed. You want oreos? Payed. You want to go home? Well, you can’t have that, but you can have some more food. I honestly think that he would try to emotionally manipulate you. Like, you were touch starved wherever you were from? Not on his watch. You don’t like the sound of doors slamming? He will make sure to softly close doors. Honestly he's like a normal dad except he won’t let you leave and is really protective.

He would definitely bond with you immediately because he's the one who kidnapped you lmao

Ra’s Al Ghul

Yeah you aren’t getting away from this asshole. He travels alot for “business” and he probably saw you walking with your friends and then he was like “oh my god its a child.” “Yes, it's a child, master, what about her?” “i must have her.” Then boom, new dad. Well, not yet, he would spy on you for a while, but eventually he would have to come up with a plan to get you.

He would corner you in your house. It would look like someone trying to give a cat some food to bribe them but instead it’s an immortal cult leader and a young girl trying to get some dino nuggets. Will just shove you in a limo and act as though you are the center of the world. “Well of course you can sleep on the bed, who else is it for?” “You’re not a prisoner- well, no you can’t leave the mountain but you can watch the news.” “I will not tolerate this behavior young woman- you are already a young woman, yes, yes you are-”

Honestly like I said above, he would just totally act like a dumbass. His main instinct was to adopt but now it's like “shit what do i do.” he's kind of lenient with some things, and others he's not. Like oh, you forgot to close the cabinet after you got food, no deal, but then you leave the door open and he's like, “????? WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING??????? I’VE GIVEN EVERYTHING YOU WOULD HAVE EVER WANTED AND YET YOU STILL TRY TO LEAVE-” yeah it's a guessing game but other then that he's kinda normal with things.

Just because I like her so much, Talia would definitely bond with you immediately, no questions asked. Like when she heard her father had gotten a new kid she was like “goddamn it who is it now” and then she saw you and was like “i’ve only had ______ for a minute and 35 seconds, but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.”

Lex Luthor

Once while watching the news he saw you walking about with your friends and so he tracked you down to find out where you lived and who you were with etc. He probably then realized that he liked you a lot, so then he was like “Mercy prepare a room for a teenage girl, I’m about to go get a daughter.”

Kidnapping plan was genius, deadass just had a bunch of his men take you and hide any evidence. If your family asked or tried to report it, they would get paid off, and if they continued, then, well…

He would most likely be busy for like 2/4 of the day, but he would always try to make time for bonding with you. When these little “bonding sessions” first started, he would sit in one corner while you would sit in the other. After a while he got closer, and closer, until he was able to sit next to you. In the dad lex fic I had written, the reader had gotten a concussion so they kinda forgot about what happened before they met Lex (they got it during the kidnapping if you’re wondering). He honestly believes he was your father and nothing can stop him from believing so.

Again, mercy would hate you at the beginning, but like after a month, she thought you were fine, and then after a while she would start to grow fond of you.

#dad!lex luthor #🌹 anon #dad!bruce wayne #dad!oliver green #dad!ra's al ghul #dad!clark kent

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universalfanfic · 2 years

Text

DC AU: Part 2

Dang it, dang it. There’ll probably be a part 3

Alfred and Bruce maybe be slightly ooc for a second bc I, the author, wanted to make a joke.

[][]

There was a list. The paper was well creased by now from the amount of times Sutton had folded and unfolded it, only to fold it back up again. The list helped her feel prepared. Organized. She had several questions she needed to ask, to get out in the open, in order to figure things out and feel like she had real answers.

1. Do you really intend to burn the city of Gotham to the ground?

a. If no: Can you help me tell Batman he’s got the wrong people? b. If yes: I genuinely don’t know what to do from here

It hadn’t been the first thing she wrote down, but she figured it was probably the most important so she’d rewritten the list, making the next question:

2. Do you have another son and/or daughter?

a. Is baby Robin my nephew?

The idea that she could have another sibling was a bit weird, especially when they could be so close, in Gotham. But given she was planning to start with question one (ideally with a negative response), having another sibling, and a crime fighting nephew, didn’t exactly chart on the shock scale.

3. What do you actually do for “management”?

a. What is your definition of “true justice”?

Assuming all went well and her father wasn’t an actual criminal intent on destroying Gotham or going up against Batman, the only other weighty question she had was,

4. What do you do for the holidays? (Ask in a way that doesn’t feel like trying to invite yourself.)

Obviously she was more nervous about question one. Obviously. He had been vague when she’d told him about the Batman incident, which wasn’t great. But it could have been because they didn’t have a great history? Like, if Batman left his training without a word or held a grudge or something?

And maybe baby Robin was wrong? Maybe he didn’t understand the actual situation given that he didn’t look older than ten.

She wanted him to be wrong so badly.

Ra’s offered to send a car to pick her up this time and despite everything, Sutton accepted. Nothing bad had happened with him so far, and she figured that even if things went south she had better luck with a car hired by a crazy father than public transportation. Especially since a week ago one of the city buses had been attacked by overgrown weeds.

Once again the restaurant was an upscale place. Though Sutton wasn’t sure if upscale was enough of a description. If she wasn’t meeting Ra’s, she’d never have even dreamed of walking through the door of a place like this.

She was glad she’d had the mind to dress up a little.

Someone inside recognized her, to her astonishment, and directed her to a table we’re Ra’s sat. The restaurants, the car, the immediate assistance. It all finally fully sank in that her father had money.

She glanced around the room, to diamond necklaces, bow ties, and bottles of wine with years she didn’t know could go back that far.

Dear lord, was that the Bruce Wayne a few tables over?

Like, Ra’s had real money.

Sutton sat in the chair the host pulled out for her, and smiled nervously at Ra’s. She waited until after they’d ordered to try and work up to her questions.

“I’ve never been here before.”

She winced after she said it, because obviously someone who had to move back to Gotham to take care of her grandparents instead of hiring a nurse wouldn’t be able to afford eating at a place like this.

“I’m not surprised,” Ra’s replied. “It has an extensive waitlist to get in. Generally only those with the financial means or unsavory pull get in.”

She swallowed thickly and ran her palms over her dress before resting them back on the table.

“And yours is the financial means.”

It was meant to sound like a joke, but the prompting rang horribly clear. Ra’s settled her with a look.

“It would be hypocritical of me to strive towards justice and yet threaten my way in for a paltry dinner, wouldn’t it?” He agreed.

“Of course, yeah.”

Sutton swallowed and broke eye contact. Ra’s let out a quiet breath and placed one of his hands over her own. It swallowed hers up. She wondered if he’d be the kind of dad to wipe tears away. To squeeze your shoulder when he was proud or trying to be comforting.

“Ask your questions,” he said.

Sutton let out a breathy laugh and wrinkled her nose.

“I’ve never been very subtle, I guess.”

“You’ve never had the need.”

The list was in her purse, but she’d memorized it already. Still, she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“Please don’t take any of this personally,” she preempted. “I’ve just- I don’t understand the entire situation with, well, you and you know. And baby- the new Robin said- He thinks you want to destroy Gotham.”

Ra’s leaned back, though he didn’t seem shocked. His eyes were steady and unwavering and there was no uncomfortable shifting in his seat. Sutton didn’t know if that was a good sign or not.

“Gotham has reveled in its wickedness for too long and grown fat on injustice. It is my job to set it right.”

Her fingers drummed over the tabletop.

“And what, exactly, does that consist of?”

His eyes cut dangerously sharp.

“What could you do to save Gotham?”

This felt dangerous. She’d expected a simple no, or hoped for one. And he’d altered the question this time. Not what would she do, hypothetically. Could. She frowned.

“Probably nothing.” She admitted. “Nothing that would help quickly or would last, at least. I mean, look at Bruce Wayne. He’s constantly throwing fundraisers and opening centers and there’s still so much to do.”

“He has the knowledge and the power you previously spoke of, and even his efforts are in vain.”

“I wouldn’t say in vain.” She defended. “It’s just that money doesn’t fix everything; you have to change the people. And that can take a lot of time.”

“Precisely.”

For the first time his voice truly inflected and she could see the passion in his eyes. Her stomach flipped.

“The people of Gotham have had every opportunity to change their city, to make the right choices. But they refuse, time and time again.”

“There’s still good people here.”

“And do you keep the tumor to spare the good cells around it?”

“Of course not, but that’s not the same-”

“Do you think Gotham keeps itself contained within city lines? Rot spreads when left.”

She was flustered. What he said made sense in a terrible, terrible way. The sort of way you use as a twisted thought experiment but would never act on.

Of course Gotham wasn’t going to just fix itself. Of course corruption ran deep and of course it would probably require some wide, sweeping changes to see results.

A fresh start.

Her stomach rose and fell again as she looked up into her father’s eyes.

“You do plan to burn it down, don’t you? Like a forest fire.”

“From the ashes comes new growth.” He said, like he was admiring her analogy.

“Ultimately, Gotham will destroy itself.”

“Through what means?”

He smiled again and she hated it. Hated that her father was plotting and was criminally inclined, and she hated more that she craved his approval even now and that some small part of her soaked up his smiles at her words.

“Perhaps it can wait until after dinner,” he finally said. “I can show you.”

She turned her head away and ran her hand through her hair. If she were smart, she’d leave now. Surely this was enough of a giant red flag to send her through the door and back to her grandparent’s house.

Her gaze flitted over the dining crowd. So many of Gotham’s wealthiest, and possibly cruelest, sitting down for what Ra’s deemed a “paltry dinner”, and they had no clue. No idea that he was working to dismantle everything they’d built.

Not that all the loss would be for the worse, obviously. Some things deserved to be burned down, but not everything.

She glanced back at Bruce Wayne to find him drolly scanning the room, looking bored. He’d lose all of his charities and foundations if Ra’s succeeded. If only he knew.

Against her better judgement and the voice of reason in her head, she stayed.

They got through dinner with Sutton pretending her father was only Henri Ducard. Selfishly, she wished Batman had never told her the truth, or at least waited a little while longer. Just a little longer for her to enjoy the discovery of having a father in the first place.

“Are you ready?” Sutton blinked at the question as Ra’s grabbed his jacket and held out a hand to help her from her chair.

“You were serious? You’re going to show me?”

“I’m a man of my word.”

She briefly pursed her lips as she took his hand and stood.

“Okay, um. Let me just run to the bathroom real quick first.”

The bathroom was glittering gold and empty, which was perfect because Sutton paced the length of it with no one to question her. Her curls began to frizz as she ran her hands through them again.

She probably should not go. Definitely not. If Ra’s was planning to push Gotham into whatever self destruction he had in mind, he couldn’t be showing her anything good. And he already knew how to read her well enough to know if she were lying if she told him she wouldn’t tell the police. Well, he had eyes.

She wished she were a better liar.

Okay. But she wouldn’t tell the police. The police were hit and miss anyway, and as far as she knew some might be on someone’s payroll, if not his.

But Batman was on the case, and he needed information.

If she could go along with it and pass a piece of information to Batman, he’d be able to do something, and then he’d believe she wasn’t part of this, right?

Sutton groaned as she leaned over the sink.

This would probably be the most dangerous thing she’d ever done since moving back to Gotham. Her mom would tell her to ghost Ra’s and run.

Dang it.

Sutton drew in a deep breath and gave herself a glare in the mirror.

“You can do this.” She said to herself. “Don’t be a wimp. He- he probably won’t hurt you.”

With that, Sutton fixed her hair and smoothed her dress. She stepped outside the bathroom and immediately collided with another body; liquid soaked the front of her dress and glass shattered. Sutton gasped and flinched back. Her heel slipped on the wet floor and she rolled her ankle as she careened toward the wall. A hand caught her shoulder and before she could tip too far, she was back on her feet.

“Oh dear. I’m terribly sorry about that.”

Bruce Wayne. Sutton stared, horrified, into the eyes of Bruce Wayne. Richest man in the city. The richest man, and now she was wearing his wine and standing with him in a pile of broken glass.

“Mr. Wayne!”

He shot her a charming smile as he let go of her.

“Please, Bruce is just fine,” he said. “Especially after I’ve ruined your dress like this.”

Indeed, red wine soaked through the front of her purple dress in a large stain that she couldn’t hope to hide.

“It’s alright, it’s just a rayon blend. I got it from Ross.” Sutton winced and cursed herself under her breath.

Why did she tell Bruce Wayne that she bought a, already cheap by his standards, dress on clearance.

“It’s still ruined and I feel awful. Please, let me make it up to you.”

He held an arm around her shoulders as if to lead her somewhere and Sutton took one step before pain shot up from her ankle. With a stifled cry, she teetered again and Bruce Wayne held her up.

“Are you okay? Let’s get you off your feet, there’s some seating in the lobby.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sutton said. “You don’t have to- ow- it’s really okay.”

“Nonsense, it’s the least I can do; this is my fault.”

The lobby was relatively empty, and Bruce Wayne helped her into one of the ornate seats and knelt before her. Her face went hot at the mortification that this billionaire was near groveling over her cheap dress and cheaper heels.

“Can I check your ankle? You can say no.”

Sutton tugged on a curl.

“Uh, sure? I mean, I don’t think it’s broken-”

He lifted her leg slightly to get a look at her ankle and she hissed as he moved her foot upwards and to the side.

“It’s probably strained.”

“Bruce.”

Her head snapped up and her face went hot again. Ra’s stood right behind Bruce, his visage tightly controlled and his tone even.

“Da- Ra’s. I’m sorry, I literally ran into him and-”

“It was my fault,” Bruce said.

He stood and eyed Ra’s with a challenging look. Sutton frowned.

“I expect so,” said Ra’s, and she felt herself start to curl inwards at the air in the room. Ra’s gaze flicked over her dress. “Drinking in the men’s room? Seems a bit unusual, even for the… eccentric.”

Bruce smiled thinly.

“I don’t like to leave my drinks unattended.”

“Um.” Sutton held up a finger and waved it between the two men. “Do you two- know each other?”

Bruce’s smile shifted from something nearing contempt to dry humor.

“All rich people know each other.”

“Right.”

Ra’s glanced down at her ankle, now slightly swollen, and his lips tightened.

“It looks like you won’t be able to make any extra stops tonight. I’ll call the car to take you home.”

Relief and dismay crashed in her chest and she opened her mouth to protest when Bruce cut her off.

“You should stay off that ankle.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. Sutton accepted it with wide eyes. “Please, have them bill me for the dress. And if your ankle requires any medical treatment, send that bill to me as well.”

She’d been planning to just throw the dress away.

“Okay. Thank you.”

Ra’s took over for Bruce. He helped her up and outside to wait for the driver to bring the car around and Sutton was at a loss. She didn’t know how to part ways with him, knowing what she knew.

“You’re distressed again,” Ra’s said.

“I don’t- know what to say now. Getting to meet you has been amazing and I don’t want to stop- I can’t agree with what you’re planning to do.”

The car pulled up and Sutton turned towards Ra’s at his prompting. He tucked a stray curl behind her ear and cupped the side of her face and all her defenses collapsed.

“I know,” he said. “You’ve never had to make decisions of this weight. I never had the opportunity to teach you. But I promise this won’t be the last of this conversation.”

She swallowed.

“Okay.”

The ride home was spent in silence and she felt more tangled up than before. Perhaps it was for the better, but she couldn’t help wondering what Ra’s had to show her. Maybe it would have made trying to cut him out of her life a little easier.

[][][]

She tried to sandwich the information about her father being a criminal between good things, like a Criticism Oreo.

“So, grandma and grandpa are doing really well and we haven’t had any more accidents! My dad’s real name is Ra’s al Ghul and he wants to destroy the city. And, hey, guess what! I might’ve kinda started seeing someone and it’s going pretty well!”

No, mother, she did not want to repeat that second one.

Of course, that plan didn’t work as well as she’d hoped and now her entire family was in a tizzy of what to do about the situation. Her reassurance that Batman was on the case only seemed to calm her grandparents. And they still insisted on staying.

“This isn’t the first time someone’s tried to ruin Gotham.” They said. “Most certainly won’t be the last.”

The news about her dates with Clark did manage to help some. Her mother especially warmed up once she heard that he actually lived in Metropolis and was a good-old farm boy from Kansas with impeccable manners.

It did also help that she hadn’t heard much from Ra’s since that dinner. She wasn’t sure if she should be fully relieved or nervous that it meant he was busy scheming.

Sutton walked down the sidewalk, distracted. She took a screenshot on her phone and sent it in a text as she briefly glanced up to cross the street.

“Let’s see how you rank compared to this.” She said.

“We’ll see.”

The screech of tires snapped her to attention and Sutton lurched out of the way as a fancy black car skidded to a stop. She threw up her free hand and scowled.

“Hey! Watch it; the light ‘s still red!”

The driver’s side window rolled down and the color drained from her face as she looked inside.

“Mr. Wayne.”

The odds of her seeing him in person twice in her life, especially on this side of town, were slim to none. She thought. But there he was. He studied her, his brow puckering as he paused to gather his thoughts.

“You’re the girl from the restaurant.” Sutton grimaced and his face turned sheepish. “I’m so sorry I keep running into you like this.”

It was surprising that he remembered her at all, she thought. But perhaps seeing a lady in a thirty-five dollar dress in your usual, ritzy restaurant was something of an oddity.

“Well, we didn’t make contact this time,” she said. “Which is great because, you know-”

She gestured at the car which she felt said enough.

“Please, let me give you a ride. It’s the least I can do.”

Oh no. She wasn’t about to run off with a stranger again. Getting ice cream with Clark was seeming to work out, but Ra’s wasn’t looking great, and one out of two wasn’t exactly the best record. She at least wasn’t willing to test her luck.

“I’m fine walking, but thank you!”

“Please, I insist. I feel awful.”

“Mr. Wayne, we don’t know each other-”

He leaned further out of his window and traffic was starting to pile up behind him. Sutton felt her face heat as she attempted to shuffle away.

“I promise I only have the best intentions. And Clark Kent can vouch for me.”

Sutton froze. There was no way Bruce Wayne ought to have known she knew Clark Kent. Something wasn’t right.

She slowly lifted her phone up to her face without breaking eye contact.

“Hey Clark?”

“Yes, I got your text and I’m working on beating that high score right no-”

“Do you know Bruce Wayne?”

It went quiet for a moment and Sutton assumed he was pausing the game to pay more attention.

“Bruce?” He said. “Yeah, I’ve met him several times at some events I’ve covered. He’s a good guy.”

Bruce cocked an eyebrow at her and the cars behind him started to lay on their horns.

“What’s going on?”

“Please let me give you a ride, Ms. Regan.”

Maybe she was a stupid person who ran off with strangers at every opportunity, because she got in the car despite him inexplicably knowing her name. Between the pressure from creating a fuss on the road and the ominous tone of Bruce Wayne, it was clear that this was more than just a chance encounter.

He took off when she shut the car door and only punched it after she put on her seatbelt.

“Hey Clark, I’m, um, I have to talk with… Bruce Wayne. I’ll call you back.”

“Oh, well. Okay. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“Sure thing.”

“Be safe.”

The fact that Clark hardly seemed phased by this situation barely registered. Sutton kept her phone in her hand but shoved her hand in her jacket pocket. Bruce Wayne’s disposition had shifted, somewhat. It’d lost it’s forced smiling, politeness and turned more serious.

“What’s going on?”

“I hope you don’t mind if we take a detour.”

“Look.” Sutton shifted nervously and tugged at her seatbelt strap. “Not to, you know, be rude, but if this is some freaky Pretty Women thing, Clark may not seem intimidating, but he-”

“I know exactly what Clark Kent is capable of.” Bruce interrupted. “And, like I said, I have only the best intentions.”

“Then perhaps you should elaborate?”

Bruce sighed deeply, and Sutton got the feeling there was some more complex emotion there than she understood.

“It’d be easier to explain once we get to my manor.”

It was a long awkward ride.

Sutton never expected to see the inside of Wayne Manor. She’d seen pictures of the outside of it on TV before, but Bruce Wayne wasn’t one to go on MTV to show off his house. It didn’t even really look like a house. It looked more like a castle.

The door opened at his approach and Sutton stepped inside after him, dazzled by the size of the foyer and the ornate staircases on either side of the room leading to the second floor.

The door closed behind her and she swiveled around. An older man dressed in a suit studied her drolly and shifted his gaze to Bruce.

“Another one, Master Bruce?”

Bruce didn’t seem amused.

“She has a family, Alfred.”

“Oh, please, don’t let that stop you, sir.”

Sutton nearly snorted from Alfred’s dry tone, despite not understanding the jab. Bruce continued on into a side room and Sutton followed after him. She twisted around to face Alfred and gave him a wave.

“I’m Sutton, nice to meet you, Mr. Alfred. Though I’m very confused as to why I’m here?”

Alfred dipped his head at her in a short bow, but didn’t answer her attempt at a question.

“You may call me Alfred, Miss. I’m sure Master Wayne will explain all to you shortly.” Alfred cast another dry sort of look to Bruce.

“And I must point out, Master Bruce, that she doesn’t match the set you’ve currently collected.”

“Alfred, please.”

Bruce walked up to a marble bust in the corner of the room and sighed. His face was flat and serious when he turned to look back.

“You know the girls don’t have to match.”

She had no idea what sort of meaning their conversation had, but Sutton was too distracted to think about it by the fact that Bruce Wayne pulled back the head of the bust to reveal a red button.

He hit the button and part of the wall moved away.

Part of the wall. Moved away.

“Okay!” Sutton balked and backed away. “I’m dumb but I’m not stupid.”

“Please Ms. Regan, I’m going to answer all your questions. There’s no danger to you beyond this entrance. I promise, you’ll meet no more trouble. Tonight.”

Her stomach clenched and her eyes widened at his wording. There was no way he- that was the same thing Batman-

She looked to the secret passage, to Bruce Wayne, back.

This was either the stupidest thing she’d ever do, or she was going to have the wildest story for later.

“Oh no,” said Sutton quietly. “I am stupid.”

The passageway tunneled down into the ground. The air turned cool and the drywall quickly shifted to brick, then rock. But it was at least lit enough that she could see Bruce in front of her and the stairs under her feet.

Her chest grew tighter and tighter as the stairway opened up into an expansive room. A mantra of “no, no, no, don’t be silly. It can’t be-” looped through her head as she took in the evidence around her. There was chatter coming from somewhere, but Sutton was more focused on the walkway that led to a huge bank of computer monitors and a console. On the dark, winged car near the end of the room. On the suit in the corner.

“No.” She said in disbelief. “No way.”

Bruce didn’t say anything and Sutton turned in a circle as she took in the entire room.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me. No!”

She turned back to Bruce and he seemed to be resigned to allowing her this mind shattering moment.

“You can’t be- You made fun of the idea that you were Batman on late night TV!”

“I never said I wasn’t.” Said Bruce.

Sutton threw up her hands.

“You made it seem ridiculous!”

“It is ridiculous.” A new voice said. Sutton turned to look. “It’s just that reality is ridiculous.”

A gang of dark haired, blue eyed boys were walking toward her. More specifically, they were Bruce Wayne’s sons, or at least under his care, and suddenly the comment about girls not matching made more sense.

Her face journeyed from confused to understanding and then twisted in distaste.

“You’re Batman and your sons- are Robins. You use your kids to help fight crime?”

Bruce sighed again.

“More like I couldn’t stop them.”

One of the taller guys, she thought his name was Dick, gave her an evaluating onceover and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So this is your aunt, Damian?”

Damian Wayne scowled.

“She’s my half aunt.”

“We don’t do halves in my family.” Sutton replied automatically. The concept had been instilled into her from the moment Tyrese was born and she found she didn’t feel any different about this situation. If Damian, baby Robin, was her ‘half’ nephew then he was her nephew.

Damian looked at her skeptically and Sutton raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s a more problematic family connection which is why she’s here, right?”

He had the same voice as Red Robin, now that she had the pieces to put together. She thought this one was Tom? Tim? Gosh, Bruce Wayne had a lot of wards. She honestly hadn’t ever really kept up with all of them.

“Tim’s right.” Bruce said. He turned to her and any, bare hints of humor or sarcasm he might’ve fleetingly shown before were gone. “I wanted to leave you as unconnected to all of this as possible, but that’s no longer an option when it comes to your safety. Ra’s al Ghul has plans to abduct you to train you in the League of Shadows.”

The information washed over Sutton like oil over water, refusing to really sink in.

“Abduct me.” She said flatly. “And…train me. Like- train me like he trained you?”

“Precisely.”

She stared at Bruce. Squinted. Tilted her head.

“Okay. I know you don’t know me, but that’s just, like, the most ridiculous idea ever. I’m not- I could never be a ninja, or whatever! He- Ra’s should know that.”

“One would think.” Damian commented.

“Regardless,” Bruce interrupted, “the threat is real and Ra’s al Ghul isn’t one to give up.”

What could she possibly say? What could she possibly do? An extra deadbolt on the front door and a few dowels in the windows didn’t strike her as enough to keep a man of Ra’s wealth, intelligence, and skill out.

Did he expect her to hunker down in his bat cave for the foreseeable future? Just leave her grandparents and go hide?

But she was stopped from having to sputter out a question or response by Alfred showing up with a cart full of tea and drinks and little snacks.

“Some refreshments for you all.”

Bruce looked ready to deny the treats, but the boys all jumped in on the goodies before he could say anything. Sutton accepted a cup of hot tea, one sugar, from Alfred with a quiet ‘thank you’. She used the small spoon to stir the tea twice, tapped it once on the rim of the cup, and sat it on the saucer. Alfred looked intrigued.

There were several large chunks of information that she still hadn’t fully processed or accepted. Even the hot tea wasn’t doing much to get her brain functioning again.

Bruce Wayne was Batman. Her birth father was Ra’s al Ghul and he wanted to kidnap her. She had a nephew who, as far as she could tell, was in perpetual need of a good nap.

Her blank stare was fixed on some Batarangs on the wall near the Batsuit as her musings churned.

“Wait.” She said between sips of tea. “If Damian is my nephew, and you’re his dad, that makes you my brother-in-law!”

She swore she saw Bruce’s eye twitch.

“No,” he asserted. “No it doesn’t.”

[][][]

Perhaps, Sutton allowed, she had made a small mistake.

She raced down the sidewalk, pushing people out of her way as she madly tried to get… somewhere? Away, certainly.

The baton was already extended at her side and she attempted to scramble for her cell phone in her purse, but between the running, and the pushing, and the shaking in her hands she wasn’t able to grab it.

Perhaps she ought to have definitely ‘stayed inside’ and ‘not gone strolling the city’ without getting an escort of some kind. But grandpa gave his self-conscious little hints that he’d like ice cream and he “knew he had five dollars in his wallet, hmm.”

And who was Sutton to pretend not to understand? Besides, it wasn’t like he knew her father was currently trying to snatch her off the street.

Perchance, also, she ought to have remembered the Bat Alert Bracelet thing she took off to shower.

She jumped over a discarded fast food bag on the ground and moved towards a gap in the crowd.

Yeah, maybe this situation was a little bit her fault.

She darted down an alley to try and get out of direct view, but there was already a man coming from a doorway at the deadend before her. Metal rang and another man perched on the fire escape above. Sutton swiveled around back to the mouth of the alley and her breath left her.

Another guy blocked off her exit.

The man in front of her rushed towards her and Sutton snapped her baton out, he caught the end of it, but she twisted it and broke it from his grip.

“Stay back,” she snapped. “I’m warning you.”

It was an empty threat and all parties knew it, but it felt wrong not to try. Might as well put those dozen or so self defense classes to use.

Her arm was grabbed from behind and Sutton threw back her elbow and stomped her foot, but the man had already moved out of the way.

They were toying with her.

She grit her teeth and grabbed the baton with two hands, holding it like a bat and dared the three men to try anything else.

But she really hoped they wouldn’t.

“I’m not going with you,” she stated. “Not of my own free will. You’ll have to fight me.”

“They’ve been instructed not to harm you.”

Sutton’s heart dropped.

Ra’s al Ghul stepped around the man guarding the exit and took three steps nearer to her. His head dipped in an expression of disappointment and Sutton’s jaw clenched.

“I expected more of you,” he said. “You’ve let Bruce Wayne poison your thoughts.”

Sutton grimaced and slightly lowered the baton.

“Mostly I don’t want to be kidnapped. Please, if that’s not what you were planning, tell me.”

“It’s hardly kidnapping.” Ra’s replied. “I’m taking you home. And I’m giving you the inheritance you should have had from the beginning.”

She hissed and took a step away.

It was naive of her to think Ra’s would give up trying to get a hold of her despite the recent setback to his plans. Maybe she should have convinced her grandparents to leave Gotham. Maybe he’d still be able to find her anyway.

“I never cared about an inheritance.” She bit out. “All I ever wanted was to know you; to know who you were! I would be happy with you just being part of my life.”

“And I will be. You will be under my direct tutelage, and you’ll have the opportunity-”

Sutton jerked at the shoulders, as if she’d been about to lurch forward and stopped herself. Her hand flapped at her side, palm up, and her eyes were hot.

“Did you ever just want to know me?”

Her words quieted him and she fought to keep herself from crying. From yelling. She couldn’t decide if the look on his face made her want to believe whatever he said or rip her hair out.

“After you put together that I was your daughter, did you, for one second, just-” Her mouth twisted over the bombardment of words. “Did you ever want to spend time with me just because I exist?”

Ra’s head canted again. He reached towards her.

“Sutton-”

One second she warily anticipated the hand reaching for her shoulder, knowing that would be it. His grip on her shoulder would be game over. She was already surrounded and Batman was probably in a business meeting at this hour.

And then, between one blink and the next, there was a man in blue and red blocking her from Ra’s al Ghul.

Superman.

“I don’t need super vision to see your advance is unwelcome.”

“Superman,” Sutton exclaimed.

“Kal-El,” said Ra’s.

Ra’s had been terse but self confident in their first run in with Bruce. More irritated at having been intercepted than worried about the interaction. But there was a distinct difference in his wariness with Superman. And how could there not be? Batman was impressive, but Superman had near every power in the book and nothing but one rare item phased him.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I’m going to have to interrupt the family discussion. Miss, I believe you’re needed elsewhere.”

Ra’s al Ghul’s men moved, but not even their elite training was enough to match Superman’s speed. She hadn’t even seen him move when she found herself in his arms and an expanding distance above the ground.

“Whoa, hey!”

She scrambled, briefly noting her baton was no longer in her hand, and threw her arms around his neck to pull herself closer to him and hopefully not plummet to her death.

“You’re alright, I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

Something about his arms around her did feel safe. Comforting. Sutton tried to shake the thought off; he was Superman. Of course he felt safe.

But it went deeper than that. More familiar.

Still. Now wasn’t the time.

“Thank you.” Sutton took a breath and blinked against the biting wind. “But how- how did you know I needed help?”

Superman smiled at her and Sutton couldn’t help mirroring the expression.

“Batman asked me to help keep tabs on Ra’s al Ghul’s activities. Obviously it was a good thing I did.”

Sutton didn’t want to think about where she’d be if Superman hadn’t interfered. Instead, she focused on his smile and the light in his eyes. The curve of his lips; the dimples. It was- it was so familiar.

Superman noticed her staring, and he straightened up, pausing his flight to wherever he was taking her, and focused his attention on her in return.

“Are you alright, Miss Sutton?”

Him knowing her name didn’t shock her. He’d mentioned he’d heard her and Ra's’ conversation and Ra’s said her name. But the way he said it. She recognized it.

Sutton loosened her death grip on his neck and reached up to brush back the curl on his forehead, and he let her. She squinted and tipped her head, bending her thumbs and first fingers and holding them in front of his face as she tried to imagine a pair of glasses sitting on his nose.

A beat passed.

“Clark?”

Another beat.

“Hello, darlin’.”

A thrill fluttered through her heart as she stared at him. He smiled again, but now it was a bit more sheepish. No; shy. So much more Clark Kent.

“Usually the glasses and hair are enough to work,” he said.

Since her arrival back in Gotham, it seemed, it was one mind blowing revelation after another. At this point she didn’t even really question it.

“That’s why you canceled our date three times last week. I thought I was getting to be too much, or too boring.”

She let out a short laugh of disbelief and Clark’s smile quieted and turned rueful.

“Hardly. I felt awful, by the way. I still have to make it up to you.”

“Well you did just rescue me from an abduction.”

“That doesn’t count as romancing.”

Sutton shrugged and dropped her arms back over his shoulders. She wasn’t afraid of falling now.

“All this time,” she mused, “and I didn’t even know-”

“That you were having dinner with a superhero?”

She scrunched her nose in disagreement.

“No. I didn’t know you could be even more generous and kind than I already thought you were.”

Clark laughed and blushed. It was cute when he did that.

“You’re taking this pretty darn well, I gotta say.”

“At this point, I don’t know if anything could shock me. Don’t get me wrong, this is pretty big, but it- it also makes a lot of sense, I guess. And to be fair, I never told you Ra’s al Ghul, high level threat, was my dad.”

“To negate that, I already knew. Sorry about that.”

Sutton laughed and tucked herself into his chest as a gust of wind chilled her.

“To be fair to both of us, these are more ‘things are getting serious’ conversations.”

“Yeah,” Clark agreed, his tone inflecting thoughtfully. “Yeah, they are.”

He shifted his body and they were moving again. Sutton peered over his shoulder at the clouds and the way the light of the sun reflected off them in warm colors. From this height, Gotham didn’t look so dirty or dangerous.

“Well,” said Clark, “were you doin’ something before they interrupted you?”

Sutton perked up.

“I was, actually. I need to get ice cream for grandpa.”

His flying took on a more purposeful direction. Sutton was sure they were going to be a sight in front of the grocery store. Clark held her closer and Sutton didn’t complain.

“We better go get some, then. We can’t leave grandpa waiting.”

She got her grandfather’s favorite butter pecan. And she also bought a carton of rocky road; as a thank you.

#personal #my writing #dc au #dc!sutton #part 2 #catch me not knowing the personalities of the batboys #and skimming over them #sutton can no longer be stupified #the world is crazy and she's accepted it

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elysian-entries · 3 years

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One film, two visions; The Justice League

It’s 2017; the highly anticipated “Justice League” film, directed by Zack Snyder, is set to be released later in the year as a continuation of the DCEU.

A blockbuster movie showcasing the biggest DC characters uniting. Taking down the ultimate super villain; bound to fulfil millions of past and present children’s, as well as current adults and elderly dreams.

Then a fork in the road appears, Snyder and his wife, Deborah, step down from the colossal project due to the incredibly woeful loss of their daughter, Autumn. News hits the fans like a brick. Resulting in Joss Whedon and the Warner Bros. Studio stepping up to the mantle. Or at least attempting to.

Whedon's theatrical cut lost Warner Bros. Pictures approximately $60 million dollars. With overall painfully negative reviews and reception. Breaking the hearts of DC fans everywhere.

4 years, campaigns, hashtags, sky banners, petitions, and billboards later; I can’t say how many of us would have predicted receiving the holy gift that is the “Snyder Cut”, in its full 4 hour running time glory (in a 4:3 ratio, which somehow adds to the grandeur). 4 years of dedicated, passionate and determined people helping in any way they can for the cause. It was a journey to behold.

A large section in Snyder’s 4 hour venture is used to build dimension and depth in the characters. Making an absolute world of a difference. Something that was sorely lacking in Whedon's cut. The film had a completely different feel and atmosphere instantly.

There's no better example of increased depth in characters than Cyborg's (Ray Fisher's) narrative. I was engaged, and intrigued by his story. In Whedon’s cut, he isn't even given a second thought. His entire backstory was cut as well as his father's important role also being stripped. His scene where he sacrificed himself in order for them to find the mother box was gone. And it took away such an important, integral part in Cyborgs story, and in the film in general I believe and also realised having seen the two movies; the complicated but delicately developing relationship between father and son. And just the whole story in general made such a difference in Snyder's cut, it really is almost indescribable the difference it made. It just felt so much more genuine and heartfelt. Like a real developed and executed narrative.

In Snyder's cut we were shown detailed flashbacks that fully fleshed out his character, his morals and his relationships. Creating a much needed deeper connection with the audience. We experience his conflicting journey to accepting his responsibility, accepting the past, the "gift he has", and his purpose in the league. Leading into receiving closure. He was given great and meaningful importance and purpose in this cut.

Similarly, Ezra Miller's Flash was too given a largely more meaningful and impactful role that left quite the impression on me. His character was light-hearted and charming but still had those important, emotionally impactful scenes. Which were painfully lacking in Whedon's cut. I was left loving Barry Allen a lot more than I already did. Barry's scenes with his wrongly convicted father were hard hitting for me. They also play a large part in making later scenes more impactful. Like his detrimental importance during the final fight. In Whedon's cut his big hero moment was saving a Russian family. The overall the inclusion of the family was superfluous and extraneous, along with the robber at the start and many other things. Not only that but Whedon's cut gave the Flash a silly, attempted comical relief role. To be fair he attempted to give everybody a comical relief role. Which hardly worked because none of the attempts were actually funny and were at time agonizing. It ultimately lacked substance and came across as almost immature. The scene where Barry went on about brunch was painful. Leading me to ask, why? Why was this so important to film Whedon?

After re-watching Whedon’s version, I had gained a new found appreciation for Snyder's representation of Barry. '"Make your own future, make your own past"; he echoes his father’s words. "Your son really was one of them, the best of the best," as his theme "At the Speed of Force" plays in the background of this pivotal moment. A powerful scene reflecting Barry's ulterior motive, doing his father proud. Which invoked many tears. And still does whenever I re-watch the scene or listen to the song. As if it were the first time experiencing it. Thomas Holkenborg's soundtrack truly amplified emotion and made the scenes much more powerful, It makes for one of the absolute best scenes in the movie; I'd say one of, if not my absolute favourite.

His job in charging up Victor was completely removed and I have to wonder why. Instead Barry was left to participate in "bug duty" (bugs being one of his fears also). Barry's role in Snyder's cut, and that one incredible scene where he broke the rule was arguably better than Whedon's Justice League as a whole.

I think the only scene in Whedon's cut involving Barry that I thought was actually meaningful was where he was faced with his first real mission. And he was confronted with his fears of "obnoxiously tall" beings. He appeared anxious and frantic. Fearful. Communicating to us his inexperience. And Batman simply told him to just "save one". To which he then, without struggle, saved them all. And was also able to participate in the final battle. The "save one" scene made those achievements more meaningful.

The scene after they won the battle, showcases the victorious team standing proud; and Barry with a sweet, goofy, golden retriever-esque smile plastered on his face. What a loveable smile.

An interesting contrast is the scene in where Barry reveals to his father his new position at an “actual job”. In Snyder’s cut the father was absolutely over the moon, shouting at the top of his lungs, "his foot is in the door!" repeatedly in excitement. It tugged at my heart strings; his shameless pride in his son. Making me wonder how he would have shown his pride if he found out Barry saved the whole Earth and humanity. We can assume Barry had that unequivocally powerful underlying thought too. Contributing to his saccharine reaction. In Whedon’s cut the reaction was softer and more timid but nonetheless a sweet moment. Barry becoming bashful.

It was a sweet touch to have Cyborg and Flash finally fist bump during that victorious scene after Victor rejected Barry's initial advance in Whedon's cut. Ezra Miller improvising that “racially charged” line, acknowledging the possible racism attached to a fist bump I assume. The whole fist bumping being "racially charged" was not included in Snyder's cut. The grave digging scene was entirely different. Which I far more preferred. It was a group excursion. With a little positive interaction between the Atlantean and the Amazonian. And funnier, more light-hearted dialogue between Barry and Victor.

Aquaman’s contrast was interesting. In Whedon’s cut he actually sought out to obtain the trident to help the league (although he was always disagreeing with them). Compared to Snyder; where he was apprehensive and had to be hesitantly persuaded by Willem Dafoe’s character Vulko (who was completely absent from Whedon’s cut). This was also an importantly established relationship by Snyder. Arthur first makes his desire to help the the team known saving them from the water rushing from Gotham Harbour. He isn't acknowledged in the theatrical cut but in Snyder's cut Diana notices and takes a moment to take in his presence (I assume?). Then Barry asks who that guy is. And of course we all know, it's Aquaman.

I particularly liked how Snyder chose to include Barry asking for Arthur's opinion on military hats. It's an odd, minimalistic thing to include - the reasoning as to why I like it. I also thought it was quite charming.

A scene I think deserves a mention is when Aquaman is first introduced, and then rejects Bruce's offer, he then makes his way back into the ocean. A farewell song is performed. This was quite early in the film and I think the voices being hauntingly beautiful, yet slightly eerie/poignant set the perfect atmosphere. A well done scene.

His overall character was also contrasting. He became a genuine hero who was proved capable of more than water powers and silly moments. Including that god-awful lasso of truth scene. In the theatrical cut he was bitter, a bit of a joke, not caring too much about the events that were unfolding. He had more of a heroes’ sense of purpose within Snyder’s cut.

Gal Gadot did not gain too much from the extra scenes. Though different to the theatrical cut, Snyder had paired her with a repetitive character establishing theme. It could be referred to as ancient lamentation music. Hauntingly beautiful. Something I could only assume would be the battle cries of the Amazonian warriors and the Amazonian warrior inside Diana. In some ways possibly over used, though I thought it was brilliant. It has a special place in my heart because I love that type of soundtrack. The almost eerie, maybe poignant but overall emotion provoking type. Especially her introduction scene where she faces off against the terrorists )which was overall better in Snyder's cut) The haunting warrior moans fade into her classic theme to create an incredible atmosphere. And that atmosphere was definitely missing in Whedon's cut, in more than just that one scene. It was also sorely lacking the lamentation music. We also didn't get that sweet interaction between Diana and the little girl.

When Diana began detailing Steppenwolf and the mother boxes past to Bruce, the cuts were very strange and abrupt/awkward in some way. And it felt silly and rushed; and I think that perfectly describes the whole film.

Whedon's cut also included uncomfortable scenes. Almost forcing characters to be funny where it was just completely out of place and character. Or just downright inappropriate. To be fair, Whedon is known for the Marvel movies in which fourth wall dimension breaking and odd self ware/ironic jokes are heavily used. One of the main reasons I don't particularly enjoy them, but rather enjoy the darker, more meaningful DC movies. I say meaningful in the way in which we are completely transported into this universe; where it's taken seriously and has obvious effects and meaning to the characters. Compared to Whedon's Marvel films in which the threat is joked about and the characters make fun at their expense.

Another negative contrast is the colour grading and overall shots. A good example is the conversation between Lois Lane and Martha Kent. In Whedon's version the colour is poppy, reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or The Office. As if it were an empty shell of a TV show. Lacking any artistic or symbolic aspects. Whereas Snyder's conversation between Martha Kent (who was actually Martian Manhunter) and Lois Lane was beautiful. The lighting was dim, with steam from their hot coffee creating a brilliant shot and conveying the perfect mood. Almost a piece of art. A lot of Snyder's cut looked as if it were ripped straight out of an incredible graphic novel. His talent when it comes to filmmaking is grandiloquent. Compared to Whedon's over saturated and flat scenes as if it were from a cliché sitcom.

Whedon also made the Justice League a lot more dysfunctional than it needed to be.

The scene where the team unanimously come up with the plan to revive Superman seemed really silly and lackluster in Whedon's cut. In Snyder's cut it was a genuine moment. A "wow" moment where the penny dropped. It gave me goose-bumps. The way it was implied, the explanation/analogy with the house, and then Cyborg creating a Superman visual as the team, standing around the table, stared at it in awe. All thinking the same thing. Without even having to say it (as Barry pointed out) It was a uniting moment. Whedon's version was just, disappointing. Lacking any impact at all. And it made the team seem disconnected in a way. Whereas in Snyder's scene the league's thoughts were in unison.

There was also an agonizing amount of Wonder Woman praise. I think praise is a...well...nicer way of putting it. It was more so adolescent boy humour, immature if you will; with her being the butt of the joke. To the point where it was little uncomfortable and borderline unnecessary. And to another point where Gal Gadot refused to do a scene, (the one where Flash lands on her) and Whedon insisted so much on still including it - that they used a body double. A scene so stupid and pointless it actually hurts. Why, Whedon?

Superman's main feature in this film is his moustache. Or, lack thereof. At the beginning of the theatrical cut, we witness the infamous Superman film scene, where we are introduced to his CGI moustache…then “Everybody Knows” by Sigrid plays as we see the aftermath of his death. I really enjoyed this scene, the song and the atmosphere. I think it was a strong start, setting the poignant mood. But of course it all goes out the window and downhill from here.

The biggest difference between the two Superman’s was the elimination of the godforsaken CGI removed moustache and the introduction to the “Recovery Suit” in Snyder's cut, which was a brilliant touch. We actually see Clark stumble upon the suit. A scene where various voices from his past, echo in his mind. An equally important and impactful scene; where he flied up into the universe, overlooking the Earth he is to protect.

I also really liked the whole, "Lois Lane is key" setup, with the eerie premonitions and glimpses into the “Knightmare”. Adding yet another deeper layer to the narrative. Setting the scene for Snyder's envisioned sequel.

In Whedon's cut during the first confrontation where Clark is confused immediately after his resurrection - the previous BvS battle is implemented more. With the "Do you bleed?" question being revisited. Giving us an unwanted closer look at the strange looking $3 million dollar CGI.

I liked Snyder's first confrontation better. It included more action and participation of all parties. And it was just a longer scene, making it seem more plausible and less silly. Before Clark reached Bruce he went through every member. Resulting in a little appreciated interaction between Arthur and Barry. I also thought Whedon’s scene showing Superman throwing Batman away like a ragdoll added to the ridiculous nature.

During the final battle. (Not mentioning how uncomfortable the colour grading was causing an unlikable atmosphere. Especially when it became daylight, taking away the exciting and intense atmosphere.) Whedon's Superman's entry was a little plain. Maybe cliché. Banging on about "truth" and "justice". Which isn't necessarily bad. It's just, maybe, too Superman? We then see the relieved faces of all the members. Batman's giddy smile was by far the best. It was nice to see genuine happiness and I think that played an important role in communicating to us Bruce's character arc. From lowest of lows, and his conflicting attitude towards Superman in BvS, to Superman giving him incredible hope. Though it slightly made me uncomfortable.

Snyder's entry of Superman was brutal in the best way. Appearing just before Cyborg was chopped to bits. Giving us that epic moment of 'He came.” Superman mercilessly rips into Steppenwolf for the next minute or two. No breakaways. Which was a great choice. It perfectly showcased his abilities. Though in the theatrical cut he was shown to be the only capable one of saving the world and being the real “hero”, in Snyder’s cut, especially The Flash, they were all shown to be powerful with meaningful parts to play.

Bruce Wayne appeared more guilty and conflicted about what happened in BvS in Whedon's cut. Though he was overshadowed in terms of writing by Superman and Wonder Woman. He also was the one who brought in the "big guns" a.k.a Lois Lane as a contingency plan in case the Superman resurrection went awry. In which it did. In Snyder's cut it was coincidence, or the doing of Man Hunter in that mysterious scene. Bruce was also quite tense and wasn’t too much a bright beacon of hope as he was in the Snyder cut. Even despite Snyder's vision of him being reminiscent and heavily inspired by Frank Millers version; darker, older, broken and violent in a way (which is brilliant) he still had this character arc. The lover’s tiff he suffered with Diana was irritating and what I thought was superfluous. Creating an unnecessary disconnect with the group. It wasn't an interesting sub-plot/complication at all .

Bruce's character arc (from the dark BvS time, to the hopeful present) was more thoroughly shown in Snyder’s cut compared to Whedon's. I briefly mentioned Bruce's schoolgirl grin when Superman arrived right on time. Though Snyder more effectively showcased this positive rise through his obviously increased in optimistic attitude. When the team are off the defeat Steppenwolf once and for all Alfred asks Bruce how he can be so sure of the Man of Steel’s arrival. And Bruce replies full of vigour, “Faith, Alfred, faith!” And in another instance Barry questions their strength against Steppenwolf due to the amount of demons he has won against. Bruce declares that, “He’s never fought us. Not us united.” It was a powerful statement that heavily elevated excitement for the final fight.

During this final fight, Batman basically goes out on a suicide mission. Then the rest of the league join him for a family reunion. The Snyder cut better represented this with an astounding freeze-frame, slow motion shot of the team. It nicely established the power of unity in this case.

The way in which Steppenwolf was defeated was vastly altered. Changed completely. Mostly due to Darkseid’s absence in the theatrical cut. Darkseid added an important extra layer of looming fear, and even gave Steppenwolf more depth. It gave him an important reason as to why he was doing what he wasy doing. As we saw his utter dedication to Darkseid. It alerted us of the larger dangers that were present. Steppenwolf’s death in Whedon’s cut was ultimately debilitated after seeing Snyder’s version. Instead of being anti-climactically eaten alive by his bug minions as the sun rose; (maybe it’s a personal preference but I heavily dislike the daylight, especially for action scenes) his head was chopped off, first horn by horn, then from the neck. His decapitated head thrusted back through the portal into his own world, landing at the horrifying Darkseid's feet, along with the terrifying parademons. Engulfed by a fiery hellscape. The horror that Earth could have faced. But still could face. It reveals the deeper and darker enemy, beyong Steppenwolf looming just beneath the surface.

A sinister tune plays, as we see the victorious Justice League looking back at them. The portal then closes. Although a victory, we can’t help but wonder what the demonic and powerful entities, far more powerful than Steppenwolf, have in store for Earth’s future.

The Knightmare vision being apart of that future. It's set up from BvS to the very end of Justice League. It's a very intriguing part of Snyder’s vision. The moment where you can link up and see the connections between all the post-credit scenes and the “premonitions” is an epiphanic moment. It’s a whole other narrative on its own that you can analyse, hypothesize and discuss. It’s a very intriguing/exciting concept to think of what would have been Snyder’s future movie where Barry (as we saw previously reverse time) goes back to warn Bruce that “Lois Lane is the key”, to avoid the whole disastrous scenario. We can gather that he is referencing what we see at the end of Snyder's cut, Superman turned evil. The death of Lois Lane, whose skeleton we saw Superman cradle previously, we can assume had a hand in that, and possibly the Anti-Life equation too. It's an incredible narrative, and there are few things I would love more than seeing the Snyderverse come to life on this epic scale again.

We also finally get a glimpse of Snyder’s joker. A very exciting moment for me. Seeing any new iteration of the Joker is an exciting moment. Could Jared Leto somehow redeem himself?

Well, it sure was infinitely times better than the Suicide Squad rendition. This Joker was actually eerie and unsettling. I felt almost uneasy watching these scenes, and his odd laugh caused shivers to form down my spine. Jokers comments about “boy wonder”, whom we find out was indeed Bruce’s adoptive son, were heartbreaking (I believe he was actually referring to Dick instead of Jason surprisingly as his grave was once seen in a previous movie) Leaving me holding my breath, wondering what Bruce would say next, or what other wretched thing Joker could say. Of course the "reach around" comment was a bit off, but I’ll just brush over that.

We also learnt of Arthur Curry’s death, Harley Quinn’s death. Proving that Snyder had such a colossal plans for all the characters, dead and alive.

It’s a poignant feeling; to see this incredible, vast narrative, just beneath the surface, unfold. Knowing that we won’t be able to see it fully developed. As of now.

While watching these two completely different cuts of the same movie; it occurred to me and I am sure many other people, that attempting to produce such an in depth narrative intensive movie on the small scale that Whedon attempted, will commonly end in a painful, empty and superficial representation. Or maybe that really was just Whedon's vision.

As the epilogue ended, the credits rolled. Hallelujah began playing, sung by Allison Crowe. And as they rolled, in big letters the words; "For Autumn" took center focus. White against black. Clear as day. Like a bus, it hit hard. The reason I was sitting on that couch finally having the great honour to watch such a film. The courage it must have taken to continue and finish such a project is beyond admirable, it's heroic. Also non-profit. It only further proves what we already knew, that the intentions were pure, as no one ever doubted.

Also acknowledging the giant billboard on one of the buildings promoting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. A very important cause, especially to the Snyder’s. To date fans have raised over half a million dollars to the AFSP in honour of Autumn. A truly incredible feat.

When looking at the two movies side by side, it blows my mind to see the difference that I do. The emotion, meaning, the depth. It all just made sense in Snyder's cut. The emotion was palpable, absolutley unmistakable. Things mattered more. The people mattered more. There were reasons, and purpose. It was a genuine journey for every one of the characters, and I felt it. There were so many little scenes that made so much difference that added depth and meaning, emotion.

And I cannot say such words for Whedon, though I won’t put all the blame on him. Warner Bros. is about equally responsible. .

The true, original and intended Justice League; expatiated heroes, people, stories and journeys coming together on a grandiose scale, executed with passion and care. But also giving us a bittersweet taste of Snyder’s epic trilogy that could have been.

The end of the saga; and the rest of Snyder’s visions, are left unfulfilled; as of now. But regardless, remains as one of the things I hope to see come to life. Watching this movie, and the feeling I had during and afterward is indescribable. I want to say a massive congratulations to Zack Snyder. The film was beyond breathtaking. It really is so special and it will forever have an important place in my heart.

Though I think the most important thing to take away from the Snyder's incredible work is Autumn's story.

Thank you Zack Snyder.

For Autumn.

www.imdb.com/title/tt12361974/

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agentnico · 3 years

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) Review

It all started with Sonic’s teeth. Ever since fans successfully bullied a studio into reanimating their titular hedgehog character after the abomination shown in the first trailer, fans realised that rallying together (on Twitter) can make a difference. So you’d think it would mean we could all come together to restore world peace and get rid of racism, injustice, poverty, war and negativity of all kind? Nope, nope it does not. But at least we get a better version of a bad DC movie that came out in 2017. I mean, baby steps I guess.

Plot: Fuelled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists newfound ally Diana Prince to face an even greater threat. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to recruit a team to stand against this newly awakened enemy. Despite the formation of an unprecedented league of heroes -- Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash -- it may be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

I recall my younger simpler self in 2017 at the early age of 20 soon to be 21, sitting down and watching the new Justice League film with zero to no expectations, as by that point the DC Extended Universe was a trainwreck and was a franchise that was literally falling apart before out unblinking red hay fever filled eyes. However, after watching Justice League I was baffled at the fact that I still managed to be disappointed after having zero expectations! With zero expectations this film took me into the minuses, and we all know I’m not great at mathematics so boy are we in the danger zone when we hit the minuses! Looking back at my review of the film back then, I used extreme yet fitting comments like “generic”, “predictable” “messy” and plain “dogsh*t”. Which is what it was. 2017′s Justice League is exactly how I’d imagine a dog’s poop would look if it was turned into an abstract film! It was truly abysmal. After that I thought I’d never have to talk about this film again. How wrong I was. But, in a rare turn of tables, I am glad that I was wrong...

A little history lesson first. Alright, settle down kids, settle down.... Rob, put the paper plane down, do not throw it, I said DON’T THROW IT! NO! Stop! Stupid child!! Headteacher’s office right now! Also, say hi to your mother for me, okay? I’m having brunch with her on Saturday and you better not be there as you should be doing your homework watching the 4 hour cut of Justice League and questioning your life choices!! Anyway, now let’s have ourselves a history lesson. The topic is - What In The Flying Fudge Happened Behind-The-Scenes Of Justice League For DUMMIES: Condensed Edition. A really condensed version as honestly none of us have the attention span to read loads and I’m probably losing the vast majority of you due to this overlong rambling session. So anyway, to the last couple of readers left, here we go! Following the success of Man of Steel, Warner Bros. gave Zack Snyder the reigns to oversee and create a DC cinematic universe to rival the success of Marvel. And so came Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which turned out to be a bit of a hodgepodge, receiving mixed to negative reviews and though was a box office success, earned diminishing results to what Warner Bros. originally anticipated. However, by the time Batman V Superman released, Zack Snyder was already hard at work on the big superhero team up film Justice League (which was meant to set up many characters and future films for the DCEU) with a lot of filming already underway, so Warner Bros. couldn’t particularly pump the breaks on it by that point, even though they evidently lost trust in the Snyder formula. To be honest, at that point I too lost trust in Snyder’s vision and the DCEU as a whole, but my opinion doesn’t class for a single dime, whilst the opinions of Warner Bros. executives make millions, so there aren’t any hard feelings on my behalf for them not enquiring on my thoughts. Anyway, midway through production Zack Snyder was hit with a family tragedy with his daughter committing suicide, so Snyder naturally had to depart the project to be with his family during this grieving time. Warner Bros. had the option to pause production and await for Snyder’s return, or progress at their own accord. Naturally they decided to do their own thing cause they are a business and want that dollar dollar bill baby!! So they hired Joss Whedon who was riding fresh off the success of two Avengers movies and obviously had experience in cinematic universes and such, to rework the Justice League movie by condensing it into a 2 hour film (from the over 4 hour material that Snyder shot) and reshoot scenes to fit the smaller runtime. So you cannot particularly blame Whedon for taking out so many great scenes as he had a contract to fulfil with Warner Bros, but then you look at the many forced jokes and unnecessary reshot scenes and you realise how self-indulgent Joss Whedon was during filming, as he basically was spitting on everything Snyder did and was trying to do his own thing. Low and behold, the mess that is the 2017 movie is created, where its the visions and creative minds of two director with evidently different styles clashing and not really mixing well at all, and as such we have a messy movie that doesn’t really make sense and is a bit of a middle finger to DC fans and honestly everyone and all. Also, there was that little aspect of Henry Cavill’s deformed upper lip due to the fact that during reshoots he had a moustache that he’d grown and was contractually obligated to have for his Mission Impossible role, so the visual effects team had to digitally remove it in post production and the result is, well, see for yourself...

Yes, they made the dashing handsome my-sexuality-questioning Henry Cavill look stupid, and that is UNFORGIVABLE. Funny, yes, very funny but unforgivable!! So for this and many other reasons the 2017 film turned out horribly. Then after that many months later, Zack Snyder and cast and crew members began teasing of this mythical version of the movie that was befit of Snyder’s original vision. You see, apparently before he left the project, Snyder actually filmed everything he wanted and it was only awaiting to be reworked with visual effects and edited properly, but then Whedon came in with his scissors and cut everything mercilessly with a cheeky grin and his ginger beard. Speaking of his ginger beard, is Joss Whedon Irish? Or has Irish roots? Honestly, I would Google it, but wait, I don’t think I really care. So anyway, Snyder still had all of his filmed scenes saved on his ridiculously oversized hard drive just waiting to be looked at again. This is where the fandom did its magic by creating a Twitter hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut and began spam posting for Warner Bros. to let Zack Snyder release what he originally intended to. Honestly, who would have thunk it, but this actually worked!! Warner Bros. allowed this, and not only that, but gave Snyder an additional $70 million to finish up the visual effects as well as to film a couple of additional sequences and gave it the prestigious honour to debut it on HBO Max, so as to boost the subscriber rating on Warner Bros. new streaming service. And here we are.

Honestly, I thought seeing this Director’s Cut of sorts wouldn’t bring much to the table as I didn’t believe that a film that was so broken had originally been in any way good. After finishing this 4 hour Snyder vision I must admit though that I was pleasantly surprised. Completely baffled by the studio and Joss Whedon, but really happy for Zack Snyder. The guy was fighting for it and finally was able to accomplish and bring out his true original vision, and though Zack Snyder’s Justice League has its flaws, its so much better than what we got in 2017, and in fact is a soaring science fiction sci-fi epic that literally feels epic!! It takes time establishing the characters and every single plot point as well as building out this rich mythology of this world of the DC Extended Universe, and so as you move into the second half of the film, there’s a feeling of pay off. You actually care about the characters and understand the plot points and it doesn’t feel rushed. Its truly astounding that there are producers out there who thought it was a good idea to get rid of all of that and instead bring out whatever the heck Joss Whedon did with the 2017 version. Look, I quite enjoy Joss Whedon’s work, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to Cabin in the Woods and his work on Marvel, the guy obviously has a talent, but also he obviously does not belong to the dark and brooding style of DC. Zack Snyder on the other hand, though makes his mistakes, truly embraces the epic feel of the DC material. And it seems once you give Snyder enough time and space, he can actually bring out something like this:

The main characters are all given so much more to do, or at least those that got side-lined in the 2017 version are given more to do here. One of my complaints with the original was how pointless the League turns out to be. Basically in the theatrical version the main team all end up being useless and only once Superman shows up he saves everyone’s asses and literally does EVERYTHING. Might as well have called the film Man of Steel 2 (feat. Justice League). However in this new version, every main character serves a purpose. Well most of them do at least. Cyborg and Flash are much more compelling characters with more layers and backstory, and in fact are a prime reason to defeating the great evil in the end. You now understand why Cyborg actor Ray Fisher was pissed at Joss Whedon, as the guy literally got rid of his best stuff. Superman strikes a cool black suit and is still powerful, however as the finale shows, he isn’t all-powerful and does need the help of the rest of the team. Wonder Woman gets a lot more to do in this theatrical cut, and in fact this is probably Gal Gadot’s best performance as Wonder Woman and she really shows herself as a powerful female superhero! Aquaman’s role stays largely unchanged, however to be honest Jason Momoa’s character was one of the only ones who didn’t suffer in the theatrical cut. That’s unsurprising seeing as Jason Momoa is such a naturally cool dude! A big panda that is friendly in real life, but when necessary can turn into a roaring bear. To be honest, the only League member that ends up a bit pointless is actually Batman. He still serves a purpose in the film in that he’s the one who assembles the team, but otherwise the rest of the group is so overpowered compared to him that in the end you do kind of think that he doesn’t really belong there. Still, Ben Affleck is great in the role and it’s a shame we won’t see much of him past Flashpoint film that will be released in the next few years.

There are a lot of characters in this film and one can still say the movie is overstuffed, but also seeing as the movie was originally intended to spring board the DCEU properly, all these teases are actually welcome. There are an abundance of cameos, and to be honest so many characters are so well cast that you do end up wishing that Snyder was given the opportunity to make his entire Justice League planned trilogy, but nevertheless at least we have this. There are truly an abundance of cool appearances here, from the menacing villain Darkseid (played by Ray Porter) to Willem Dafoe doing what Dafoe does best, only in this case underwater and I’m certain that’s gonna span many comparison memes with The Lighthouse. Joe Morton as Cyborg’s dad is given a lot more to do here and in fact is pivotal towards building up Cyborg into the important character that he is. There’s also a cameo from Jared Leto’s Joker, who in some ways redeems himself after his appearance in Suicide Squad. Also, we need to talk about Steppenwolf, who’s the main baddie in this film. In the theatrical cut the guy was the most generic one-note villain who also looked like a PS2 character. It was honestly embarrassing the way he was animated. Luckily in this version he’s been put through enough Skyrim mods to looks much more intimidating and is also given a better motivation. As we find out, the reason he does what he does is because he wants to go home. He’s been banished and he simply wants to earn his place back home, so it’s actually kind of sweet. Steppenwolf is a sweetie. I mean, yeah, he wants to destroy half of the world to fulfil his dream, but hey, haven’t we all taken something extreme measures to get what we want?

The film is far from perfect though. At the end of the day, the movie is just about a guy hunting down a bunch of magical boxes. That was the premise of the theatrical cut and its the same here too. Yes, there is more substance and gravitas to the proceedings, but at the end of the day the story doesn’t really surprise much. And with the entire thing running at 4 hours, it is definitely too long and there is the element where there is simply too much in this thing. Also visually, though the movie has plenty of gorgeous shots and Zack Snyder’s signature slow motion sequences are on full display here, there are still many sequences where the CGI and green screen are super obvious and look really fake. That being said there’s still so much visual goodness in this, and also I have to mention Junkie XL’s new music score that does reiterate the epic feel of this movie, in comparison to Danny Elfman’s weak uninspiring notes in the theatrical cut.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a massive surprise and completely changes the perception of what we saw in the original 2017 theatrical cut. It’s a sprawling massive adventure that’s a dream come true for any comic book fan. It shows how vital film editing is, and how important it is to have a cohesive plan when making a movie. Gone too are the silly forced jokes, and though there is still some humour here, it feels more grounded and fit of the setting and scenario. This is Snyder’s vision through and through, and though at times it is clunky, it overall is incredible to behold, as it’s this one guy’s mind and his love for the DC lore. It’s a credible achievement, and I’m actually sentimentally happy for Snyder that he finally managed to complete this. He even during the credits dedicates this to his daughter Autumn that passed away, and I found that to be truly bittersweet. Justice has indeed been served.

Overall score: 7/10

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davidmann95 · 3 years

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I want to read Ewing's work on Marvel, but I don't know the order. I know you did one when you talked about his Avengers. Can you, please, make a new one now that he has written more titles?

So there’s a LOT with this now - like Morrison at DC, Ewing seeds threads through pretty much all his extended work that he ends up elsewhere one way or another. Here’s as best an accounting as I can manage, but this is probably going to be mostly incomprehensible sans some kind of visual articulation:

Mighty Avengers is the start, which is relaunched as Captain America and the Mighty Avengers. He also does the book Ultron Forever, which introduces Danielle Cage as a future Captain America, and during Secret Wars it becomes Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders, which uses an alternate version of Dr. Faiza Hussain as Captain Britain he introduced in some Age of Ultron tie-in issues of Avengers Assemble, and an alternate universe version of Ho Yinsen as Rescue he introduced in his Iron Man miniseries with Kieron Gillen Fatal Frontier.

Out of this he launches Ultimates, New Avengers, and Contest of Champions, the former two of which extensively use characters from his previous work (including Ho Yinsen’s daughter Toni Ho, who was introduced via an alternate universe version in Mighty Defenders), and the latter of which features an appearance by the Ultimates. New Avengers also uses the robotic incarnation of Dum Dum Duggan Ewing introduced in his guest issue of the S.H.I.E.L.D. comic. These books later become Ultimates2 and U.S.Avengers, the latter of which brings back Danielle Cage, and those in turn feed into Avengers: No Surrender, which introduces the take on Bruce Banner seen in The Immortal Hulk.

That has a successor in Avengers: No Road Home, which I haven’t read yet but I know introduces both a reimagining of Hercules and a group of ‘New Olympians’ which lead into his Guardians of the Galaxy relaunch (with that New Olympian stuff also being touched on in his Valkyrie: Jane Foster), which also follows up on some stuff from his short Rocket book and brings back Marvel Boy from his use in Royals. Later on Empyre which follows through on some stuff with Wiccan and Hulkling he did in New Avengers also connects to Guardians, while also setting up S.W.O.R.D. And Marvel Comics #1000 brings Blue Marvel back from much of his Avengers work, as well as Night Thrasher who he revived in Contest of Champions, apparently leading to a new Defenders book that may connect to his Defenders: The Best Defense (which itself ties into The Immortal Hulk).

Elsewhere, The Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle, Avengers #34.1 (his Hyperion one-shot), Carnage: Black, White & Blood #1, Civil War II: Ulysses, Crypt of Shadows, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Infinity Warps/Secret Warps, and You Are Deadpool are relatively standalone.

So...yeah, there’s no clean reading order, the closest thing to a single arrow of direction at this point is ‘he did a bunch of Avengers stuff that is now leading to a bunch of space stuff, with a lot of other books feeding in and out’. But you don’t have to read all of it to understand a given title, so while you can try and lay out everything I just said on a graph if you want I’d say just start where you want and keep going/backtrack as compels you.

#Al Ewing #Marvel #Opinion

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afaimsarrowverse · 4 years

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Crisis on Infinite Earths

youtube

So given what I have been reading and watching lately, I just can’t anymore. What some self-promclaimed experts and people who should know better are claiming ist just so wrong, it hurts

So here is a short list of the most common misunderstandings concerning the future of the Arrowverse and “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.

(By the way, only ever believe stuff that comes from offical sources, take even the stuff Pagey and Ben say with a grain of salt, there sources may be reliable or may not be reliable, and in the time between production and transmission a lot can change (they same goes for canadagraphs). And please listen to their whole videos, they are going to tell you were they got something from and how believable they think it is most of the time. If they don’t name sources, they are probably just speculating, please keep that in mind).

* “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will be a five night event.

No, while there are five episodes, the last two parts will air on the same night. So it’s four nights: Three in december and one in january.

* It will be the crossover-event that imbebds “Black Lightning” into the Arrowverse.

Kind of true. Black Lightning played by Cress Williams is in the crossover-event. However there will be no tie-in episode in “Black Lightning” and it’s unconfirmed if any other BL-characters will show up in the crossover. Furthermore “Smallville” and “Birds of Prey” will also crossover in the Arrowverse with this event. Does this make them part of the Arrowverse? I guess, that’s up to debate.

* Tom Welling will be the third Superman in “Crisis”.

Kind of true. There are two important versions of Superman in the crossover: The Arrowverse-One played by Tyler Hochelin and an aged up version played by Brandon Routh. However Tom Welling is reprising his Smallville-Character in the crossover as well. And he will be in a scene with Tyler and Brandon. But he is not heavily involved in the crossover, and it’s unknown if he actually is going to be in suit or not.

* Erica Durance and Tom Welling will reprise their “Smallville”-Characters, but Michael Rosenberg will not.

Probably true. Michael Rosenbaum did post a rather long explanation for him not being in the crossover. This explanation is most likley true, but it could have been a calculated lie an/or a ploy to get more money for a cameo, or he could have changed his mind after all and now be in the crossover anyway. However, none of this is very likely.

*Justin Hartley is the Smallville Green Arrow in “Crisis.”

Unconfirmed and probably not happening due to “This is Us”. If he is in it, it would be a very small cameo.

* Helena Wayne is the only “Birds of Prey”-Character in “Crisis.”

She is the only confirmed character in “Crisis” as of now. It would be kind of strange to not use the Black Canary, whose actress is a regular on one of the Arrowverseshows, but somehow no one ever confirmed her for that part, so maybe it’s just Huntress.

* “Crisis on Infinite Earths” confirms that “Birds of Prey” takes place in the same timeline as Tim Burtons Batman-Movies.

I really don’t think so. There will be a nod to the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton-Batman-Movies, but I don’t think that there will be a connection to “Birds of Prey”. The newspaper of the Keaton-Verse shows an article about Bruce Waynes relationship with Selena Kyle, yes, but this takes place in the present and the picture they used shows a young Michael Keaton, so where should the grown-up daughter come in? As nice as this would be, explaining it would distract from the actual storyline.

* Michael Keaton will be in “Crisis”.

You wish. I wish. We wish. I really doubt it.

* Kevin Conroy is Old Man Bats.

Yes, he is. That’s literally all we know about his role though. He spoke about a Bat-suit, so at least it looks like we finally get a proper look at a version of Batman during Crisis.

*The Titans in the crossover are not the Titans from “Titans”.

Okay, so about that. There was a scene involving the Titans which was marked as filmed. We don’t know who was in that scene, but it was a cameo-moment. So, the only version of the Titans that was ever shown in a non-animated adaption of DC Comics was the version from the DC-App. Now, there is the rumor/claim that the actors refused to shoot said scene for various reasons and that the scene was scrapped. Of course one could do a scene involving alternate versions of Wally West und Roy Harper posing as the “Titans” from any odd Arroverse-Universe. But why should anyone bother to do this? Also, it’s very likely that those two are not even showing up in Crisis at all, so why bother doing this scene at all? So unless it turns out to be an unexpected animated scene, the only Titans making sense appearing in Crisis would be the current Titans from the DC-Show with the same name.

* Tom Ellis is playing Lucifer in Crisis.

Oh, boy, that one. We have photos. And denials. So, the mostly likely scenario is, that Tom Ellis is going to play an unnamed angel or demon who is going to be summoned by John Constantine in order to do something (probably bring back Oliver from the dead). While the character is dressed like Lucifer Morningstar in “Lucifer”, my guess it that he won’t be named that onscreen. So this is going to be an indirect crossover, where everyone knows it’s Lucifer, but no one says it. Unless the sequence gets scrapped, because it leaked. However given that it is a scene of plot-importance that probably won’t happen.

* Given that Brandon Routh is leaving “Legends” Ray Palmer will die in Crisis and stay dead.

Okay, this is what prompted me to right this article. Yes, Brandon is leaving “Legends of Tomorrow” alongside his wife. He filmed his last scenes a short while ago (Probably). BUT THE LEGENDS TIE-IN EPISODE IS THE FIRST ONE OF SEASON 5 AND TAKES PLACE BEFORE THE REST OF THE SEASON. A SEASON THAT RAY PALMER IS VERY MUCH IN FOR THE FIRST HALF SO UNLESS HE IS UNDEAD FOR THE REST OF SEASON 5 HE CAN’T DIE FOR GOOD IN CRISIS! Rays last episode is most likely to either be 5.7 or 5.8 because “Crisis” is not even the official first episode of the season, but more like episode 5.0 or a special between seasons. Yes, they filmed it between the episodes 5.7. und 5.8 along the other shows for technical reasons, but it takes place before the events of season 5.

* Mick might die in Crisis.

Like I said, Dominic is very much in season 5. The Legends Tie-In of Crisis takes place before the events of season 5, even though it was filmed as episode 8.

* Zari Tomaz is in Crisis.

Again: Crisis takes place before the events of season 5. During the season finale of season 4 Zari was erased from the Legends-Timeline and her brother Behard took her place. The Legends can’t remember Zari, they think Behrad has been their teammate all along. There will be a new version of Zari in Season 5. But this version will under no circumstances debut during Crisis. However another version of Zari Tomaz from another universe could be in the crossover for a brief cameo.

*Behrad Tomaz is in Crisis.

I thought so too, because he is in the current Legends-Team. however the only Legends we know for sure to be in Crisis are Ray, Sara, Mick und John. It was pointed out to me that including Behrad could be to confusing for the general audience. So he might just sit this one out, like Evelyn did the Arrow-Tie-In of “Invasion!”.

* Batwoman ist the only Batwoman-Character in Crisis.

Possible, but unlikley.

*Batwoman will catch up to the other shows timeline-wise before Crisis

Not necessarily. Given the Waverider, Harbinger, and the Monitor and the events of Arrow 8.4 time travel is very much on the table. Batwoman could just be taken from her current late 2018/early 2019 timeline for the crossover. Or the Tie-In-Episode takes place later than the episodes after it.

* Crisis will end with all universes merging in one.

I hope not. It’s possible, but would be a very stupid move. As in any adaption this one will be very different from its source, so don’t bet on it.

* “Superman and Lois” und the Arrow Backdoor-Pilot will be the new Arrowverse Series for the next season.

At this point a pilot for “Superman and Lois” has been commissend and the Backdoor-Pilot for the Mia/Canaries-Show has been flimed and will be transmitted in January. Neither show has been picked up yet. This won’t happen before pilot-season, which means we won’t know for sure until mid 2020.

* “Supergirl” will be cancelled because of “Superman and Lois”.

While it is entirely possible that “Supergirl” will end after Season 6 (given that standart US-television-contracts run for six years), the show won’t be cancelled for a potential Superman-show, that might not even be picked up. If “Supergirl” ends, it will be because Melissa wants to move on, not because of Superman.

* Next season is going to bring a six part/ seven show crossover.

I have nightmares about this already. But we can’t know until we know the 2020/21 programm of The CW.

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hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews · 4 years

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Titans Season 2

So I wouldn't exactly say that Titans season 2 was bad, exactly. But I felt like it kind of meandered through a bunch of different plot points without actually seeming to go anywhere?

And I was thinking about the constant “five years ago” backstory episodes, and I was like “But they make sense”. So it's not like things felt... unnecessary, by any means. However, I felt like the plot kind of zig-zagged around a lot different points, zipped back to a couple different backstory episodes, rerouted back to the present for something completely different, and then... somehow managed to wind up at episode thirteen (the last of the season).

We left off in season one with Rachel's demon father literally being brought to the human world, and all hope seemingly lost.

However, the entire subplot of resolving this barely lasted for five minutes, when all way said and done. Most of the first episode was just these darker timelines in which every one of Rachel's new-found friends and adoptive family sunk into evil ways. But not to worry, because Rachel was able to just talk to them and remind them of how much she means to them.

And then she stopped her father. Somehow. I can't swear that Princess Celestia didn't show up and preach about the power of friendship.

It was such a huge build-up in the first season, and the fact that it was resolved so quickly in the first episode of season two is honestly the first of many let-downs, I felt.

Following this, Dick is adamant that he take the new kids to San Francisco, where, with Bruce's permission, he's going to start up the Titans again.

Back in the day, it was Robin, Hawk and Dove, Wondergirl, and Aqualad. You might remember that we've met all of these characters from the first season... except for Aqualad.

And if you're wondering if he died... bingo. You win a prize of a depressing episode in which we're introduced to his character and his budding romance with Donna Troy... only to have him be murdered by a man named Slade Wilson.

This asshole was the entire reason why the original Titans broke up. See, following Aqualad's murder, Dick got it into his head that he could befriend Slade's son, Jericho. And the others were on board with this, because their friend was killed. But when they actually got to know Jericho, they all felt bad.

Until they find out that Jericho has “body snatching” powers, and can “possess” other people so long as he has initial eye-contact with them. And then suddenly, they tell him everything and even make him an official member of the team.

And that's all fine and dandy, but Slade is upset over this and murders his son. Because reasons.

And all of these memories suddenly being brought to the surface because of Slade's reappearance cause a break in Dick's already fragile psyche and he starts to have intense hallucinations in which Bruce Wayne follows him around and offers advice. It got old after a while.

Eventually, it reached a point with Dick this season that he went out and punched a security guard at the airport just so that he could be locked in jail. And this subplot dragged on forever, and never seemed to actually go anywhere.

But eventually, Dick made nice with the suit maker who seems to supply all of the suits for all of the heroes. Bruce had already designed the Nightwing costume for Dick, although this didn't make an appearance until the final episode.

Kori does have a lot of interesting developments this season, but a lot of them are seemingly being put on the backburner for the next season. She goes off for a while to help Donna do crime-stopping stuff, and ends up getting “kidnapped” by a guard from her homeplanet... Who also is a former lover of hers. He tells her that it's time to go home and rule, but Kori decides to go to California and help Rachel instead.

Eventually, her lover is taken over by her sister, Blackfire's mind-controlling jelly-thing, and Kori ends up needing to kill him in order to help stop her sister.

And then... that's it. Kori's duties are literally never brought up again for the rest of the season. Or the fact that Blackfire killed her entire family and seemingly started some sort of war on the planet. Kori can't even be bothered to tell Blackfire that she would prefer to stay on earth. Just... okay, this is a thing that's happening. BUT TITANS. Ugh.

There is a little teaser of Blackfire taking over some random lady at the very end of the last episode. But, as I said. Season three material.

Hank and Dawn... exist. That's pretty much the only thing that I can say about their characters this season. They simultaniously don't want to do crime-fighting anymore, yet refuse to actually walk away. Hank eventually pushes Dawn away to the point where he suggests that they should break up. And then he goes off the deep-end and starts doing hard-core drugs.

Anything that happened with them this entire season could have literally been cut out, and I doubt that the overall plot would have changed much.

I feel like the same could probably go for Donna as well. Although she had two exciting parts. One with her lover dying. Which... felt weird and forced and I honestly couldn't care either way about Aqualad's relationship with Wondergirl.

And then Donna herself died. Which was just so random and seemingly out of the blue. Especially because they'd just gone done taking down a mind-controlled Superboy (I will get to him in a second), and she had a full-powered fight with him. And then she'd killed by a ferris wheel falling on her.

And then Rachel says that she's going to go with the other ladies and probably learn how to better control her powers for next season. I don't know, and at that point, it all just seemed like characters moving around without having any actual motive.

And then there's Jason Todd. His plot basically revolves around Slade giving Jason PTSD, and then Jason fucking Slade's daughter, Rose.

When the season started, and it became clear that Jason was going to be on the team as the official Robin (leaving Dick to take over the role as Nightwing), I had really hoped for some decent character development from him. But instead, all we get is thirsty asshole with daddy and authority issues. Moving on.

And speaking of Rose... I felt like her character was given the proverbial shaft. She has an interesting character of being the daughter of a villain, but wanting to break away from her father after coming to understand a few things about found family.

She realized that she had healing powers, and told her father. He then trained her, and used her to further his own goals. Meaning to get vengeance on the Titans for using Jericho to get to him. But after having spent some time with Jason, Rose decides not to have anything to do with her father at all.

In the end, Rose and Nightwing team up and take down Slade. Which is something that the original Titans said that they'd struggled with “the first time around”. So how is it that “circus boy” and “girl who can heal herself” can do what actual super-powered Wondergirl, with the help of Robin, Hawk, and Dove failed to do?

All in all, the take down of Slade coupled with the destruction of Rachel's father is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Don't get all excited over things like the build-up of villains, because the show will probably let you down in this regard.

And then there's Rachel. So much time in the first season was devoted to building up her character and everything, that it was honestly kind of disappointing that she seemed to take a back-seat in the second season. There was too much going on.

On top of a pointless side story where Rachel ran away from Donna and beat up some girl's father. It went nowhere, none of this was explained, and it was almost like the development of Donna, Dawn, and Hank.

Finally, the introduction of Superboy. For those not familiar with DC lore, Superboy is a science experiment to basically make an mpreg baby between Lex Luthor and Superman. He's got all of Superman's powers, and all of Lex's intelligence. However, the thing that comes out from the CADMUS lab is as innocent as a newborn baby... which makes him insanely dangerous.

There was a really long and honestly kind of tedious episode where he escaped from the lab with Krypto the Superdog, and how the project lead came to find him.

And then he went off and saved Jason from falling to his death, thanks to Slade. Only to be shot with kryptonite bullets for his trouble.

When Connor wakes up from this shooting, it's to find that Gar is the only one remaining at Titan's Tower, the others having taken off because of REASONS. However, Gar is certain that teaching Connor how to do proper hero stuff, that it'll make the other Titans want to come back. But circles around to Connor's innocence, he goes off and attacks a bunch of police officers.

This results in CADMUS breaking into Titan's Tower. Once the leader sees what Gar can do, they take him, too.

They then brainwash both of them to follow orders without objection. For Gar, this means transforming into a tiger whenever classical music is played, and killing anybody who is nearby.

This comes to a head after the others have taken down Slade. Gar attacks a street carnival, and Superboy is sent in to “stop” him. However, all of this was a ploy of CADMUS in order to convince people to buy Superboy for millions of dollars.

Rachel is somehow able to un-brainwash Gar simply through THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. And Dick is able to get to Connor again, using nothing but talking. AND THEN EVERYBODY SANG AND THERE WERE MAGICAL BIRDS AND A UNICORN SHOWED UP. /sarcasm

Overall, this season wasn't bad. It was trying REALLY hard to be good, I felt. But I also felt like it was trying to do too much in just thirteen episodes.

#Titans #The Ravenclaw mod

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redroseworks · 4 years

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you should talk abt your earth-116 oc kids 👀

Akajsjakakah ok you asked for it lol

Idk where to start

Oh wait the three dc ocs that are kinda sort of their own thing except for one anyway

Lynn Small aka Selkie. Gothamite. Half Atleantean. Hates their dad. Goth. Eventually a sorcerer. Bad at coping.

Quatashia McFadden aka Lady Iris. Wonder Woman stan. Her mom is the goddess Iris. Would be offended by the pjo books. Retires from being a hero very early in life.

Jivika Chabra aka Kali. Her bio mother is lady shiva who donated her egg for a gay assassin couple to use with a surrogate. Yeah it's a long story. Also jivika isnt happy that they wanted her to be an assassin later in life. But like she only finds that out when they're both dead? They weren't planning on actually training her till she was 18 anyway. At least she can yell at their ghosts. Would kin Danny Phantom. She ends up dating Emiko Queen while in college!

Now my dickroy kiddos

Valerie Harper-Grayson. Adopted when she was three. Part Atleantean. Damian is her favorite Uncle bc he is almost always up for taking her to the aquarium. Then again Damian is basically all the Harper-Grayson kiddos fav Uncle. She never gets into the whole vigilante/hero business.

John Bo Harper-Grayson. Yeah John Bo is his whole first name. He goes by Bo. Hes biologically Roy and dicks kid. He'll eventually become Nightwing but he stays out of vigilante stuff till hes about 19.

Dylras Harper-Grayson. He was adopted as a baby from New Tamaran! He was rescued from uhh human/alien traffickers. He becomes Flamebird to Bo's Nightwing.

So now Bo's best friend: Jordan Lance-Queen! Haldinahollie's kid.

Jordan is biologically Hal's and a surrogate. They literally tried to find a surrogate that looked like Dinah. Jordan ends up being nonbinary so luckily they already had a gender neutral name. They'll eventually become Green Arrow! Their main goal in life is to make Bo suffer.

And then there are the Kent-Waynes and Allen-Waynes. Timkonbart kiddos.

Logan Kent-Wayne is tim and kons kid. Hes a really sweet kid though I havent wrote him as well him yet since I've mainly written him in a time period where he hasn't come out yet. He literally named himself after an actor cough garfield logan cough from a science fiction show he liked but then he found out said actor is friends with his uncle dick and he will never admit this.

Then there are the actually older than Logan twins. Except their clones. Made by lex luthor with DNA from kon and tim, Clark and Bruce Kent-Wayne use to be known as Alexander and Alexa Legacy. Maybe they were a little evil but they changed. They wanted to choose new names for their new lifes and asked tim, bart, and kon about names. Bruce's gender identity came out when he choose the name Bruce. Bruce and Robbie Troy end up dating (for a second time, first time being back when b was a little evil) and doing humanitarian work around the globe while also being heroes. Clark ends up going to Metropolis University to study elementary education!

And then there are tim and bart's pair of twins Meloni and Dana Allen-Wayne. I've only written them as babies so far so I havent given them much thought

Oh that reminds me Thad Allen (used to be Thawne but I feel like thad would change it) has an adopted son who he named Max

Now these two aren't kiddos but: Ezra and Amber Kane, Bette Kanes parents. Ezra is the youngest kid of whatever the fuck martha and Jacob's parents names were. He was a bit of a surprise considering his parents were pretty old when he was born so hes like 20 years younger than his closest sibling in age jacob. Hes also only like 8 years older than bruce and doted on his nephew as much as he could and hes the inspiration of the whole brucue wayne playboy act despite him not being a playboy at all but anyway. Hes also a pro tennis player. Amber Kane is his wife and best friend. She once dated Janet Drake. She had a shitty life and despite being an actress her childhood is still mainly secret. A few vague details are known but not specific not that it matters anyway. Her parents died when she was young and was taken in by some not so good people who got away with it bc they had money. Ezra and Amber spend any minute they can with Bette bc they love her and she is the light of their lives (well besides each other).

Then there's Faith, Bane, and Soledad Kerzner. Scandal, Kay, and Liana's kids. Faith and Bane are biologically Lianas with Thomas Blake as the sperm donor. Soledad was adopted when she was two . Faith... is a bit rebellious and gets caught up in some shit she really shouldn't have. Bane and Soledad are two characters I havent really explored yet but anyway they all love their three moms.

Viola and Robin Thomas are Duke Thomas and Jackson hyde's adopted kids. Viola is Martian which is really difficult considering her abilities. Shes a sweet kid though and really likes to help her dads! Robin is an Atleantean baby Jackson saved and brought home and it was kinda like that icarly meme (duke: jackson what do you have there? Jackson, holding robin and a smoothie: a smoothie) but like more dramatic bc Jackson was injured and had only come home because it was close and he really needed to actually go to a hospital anyway yay. Viola will become the signal and robin will become aqualad on day

Oh and there's Lilith "Lili" Bloomberg. Shes rose Wilson and eddie Bloomberg's daughter. She likes to watch blue devil. Shes really sensitive. Rose and eddie never got married to each other but Rose and Mia dearden married when Lilith was sorta young and eddie was married to jason todd for a little while before they got divorced and later he enters a relationship with zach zatara but I havent decided if that will last or not. Lilith is really close with tommy Blake bc hes kind of like an older brother to her

And then there's mystery girl wilson... I have yet to name her but shes a character I'm working on but her dad is slade

And that's it for now. There's more but I dont feel like going into then right now. But there more like Jason Todd's group of adopted kiddos and some others but I feel like this answer is getting way too long

#red rose answers #tee tag #earth-116 #ocs #mg ass aint tagging all of them

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abundanceofsoph · 4 years

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SkyFire 1: Chapter 17

The North American tour & YouTube Collabs

Word count: 3k

SkyFire 1 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts

Aurora was nervous when she entered the recording studio in North Hollywood. Mark had sent her the address the previous week and told her that the four members of Our Last Night would be expecting her at 9am, so there she was walking through the front door, with Harry’s supportive hand on her lower back.

“Aurora?”

“Yes, Hi,” she replied, reaching her hand out to shake the one offered to her by the tall brunette standing in front of her. “It’s great to finally meet you, Matt. Thanks for having me.”

“Great to meet you too. We were all stoked when your manager reached out. Thanks again for flying out here.”

“Not at all,” Rori said. “This is my partner, Harry by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry. Everyone else is back this way.”

They followed Matt further into the building, finding the other members of his band sitting around the studio space. Introductions were made and the rest of the day was spent working on the arrangements for the 2 songs they had already decided on covering. They had been emailing back and forth for much of the last week and the band had already done much of the work, so it was simply a matter of putting the final touches to the instrumentals and by the end of the first day they were ready to start recording. The band invited Aurora and Harry back to Trevor’s house for dinner and they gladly accepted, already enjoying the company of the 4 men. Aurora spent most of the evening with Trevor’s 1 year old perched on her lap until the baby was put to bed. They didn’t stay too late and made plans to meet back in the studio earlier the next morning. Over the next few days they recorded the instrumental tracks for both covers, leaving only the vocal tracks left to lay down for their covers of the Chainsmokers All We Know, and Charlie Puth’s We Don’t Talk Anymore.

At the end of her first week in LA, Aurora, Trevor and Matthew all took their turn in the recording booth to lay down the vocals for each track and then they decided to take the weekend off before returning Monday morning to film the music videos.

Harry felt that Malibu was the perfect place to spend the weekend, renting a beach house for the pair and Aurora spent the days lounging beside the pool and soaking up as much sun as she could. Given their usually hectic schedules, the young couple revelled in the free time. The opportunity to waste away hours by the pool, without the constant demands to be somewhere or do something was intoxicating. Harry was happy to set himself up on a banana lounge with a book and a glass of red wine, enjoying the relaxing sounds of the nearby waves and the view of his beautiful girlfriend laying nearby in a bikini. Likewise, Aurora was also enjoying the calming sound of the waves, and would cheekily request that Harry refill her drink, if only to watch him walking around in a pair of boardshorts slung low on his hips and nothing else. Before long, their mini vacation was at an end and Aurora headed back into the studio, spending three days filming the 2 covers and then helping with the beginnings of the editing process. After what felt like no time at all, the pair said goodbye to their new friends with promises to catch up again in the future before heading to LAX to fly up to Toronto for Harry to start the next leg of the bands tour. By the time they returned to the States on Monday, the two covers were posted on both Aurora’s channel and Our Last Nights, much to their fan’s excitement and praise.

xXx

Despite being so close to her home across the river, Aurora didn’t visit while she was in New Jersey with the band and instead Tony came to see her. He was beyond excited when he pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her feet off the ground as he swung her around.

“Missed you,” he murmured in her ear as he set her back on her feet.

“Missed you too,” Rori replied, “and Pops.”

“He wanted to come,” Tony said, “But things are a bit crazy back home.”

“How is Sergeant Barnes doing?” Aurora asked, leading her dad down the hallways towards the green room.

“Yeah, he’s getting there,” Tony answered. “He was still a bit confused when we finally tracked him down but he’s already getting better. I mean don’t get me wrong, he’s got a long way to go but he’s been doing really well in therapy so it’s just a matter of time really.”

“I was talking to Pops on the phone the other night and he seems really excited to be getting his friend back.”

“He is, I just don’t want him to get his hopes up too much. Barnes has been through so much that I’m not sure he’ll ever be his old self again.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s gone through,” Aurora agreed. “But at least he’s out of it now.”

“You’re right,” her father agreed. “I’ve been working on fixing his prosthetic lately. The one Hydra made for him was a mess. They clearly didn’t care whether it was causing him any pain, so hopefully I can ease that for him with some modifications.”

“Well there’s no one better to work on it than you, dad,” Aurora smirked. “You got Peter helping you on it?”

“I couldn’t stop him if I tried,” Tony laughed. “The kid is having the time of his life.”

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon catching each other up on the last month and simply revelling in being together after weeks apart.

Following the New Jersey shows, Aurora and the band travelled down to Massachusetts, and then on to Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and finally Illinois. Along the way Aurora continued heading out exploring whatever city they found themselves in while the boys worked, and she would often find herself sitting in on writing sessions for the next album. Harry would often run lyrics by her, asking for her input and she found that Liam and Louis’ writing style was similar to her own which led to her often joining the two as they threw around ideas. By the time they reached Chicago at the end of August, most of the album had been written, if not recorded in full ready for its November release.

Following the last show in Chicago, the band had a week and a half break before continuing the tour in California, so Harry joined Aurora on her flight back to New York on the Sunday afternoon of the last day of August.

xXx

Aurora wasn’t at all surprised by the surprise party that she walked into when she stepped out of the lift and into the penthouse with Harry by her side. The scene that greeted her was so perfectly Tony, that she felt herself grinning widely. There was a banner strung across the living room that read; ‘WELCOME HOME RORI’ with a small crowd of her friends and family assembled underneath it. The crowd included the Avengers, Pepper and Happy, Peter and May, her parents and two new faces; one of which she recognised from photos to be Bucky Barnes, while the other she assumed to be the newest recruit to the team, Sam Wilson. Rori quickly found herself sandwiched between both of her fathers as they threw their arms around her, crushing her in a warm group hug. She laughed as they finally let her go. “I missed you too,” she chuckled, allowing them to lead her further into the room to be passed from one hug to the next as everyone took their turn to welcome her home.

A few hours later, full to bursting from the Chinese takeout Tony had ordered from her favourite place, Aurora was curled up against Harry’s side on the large sofa. Steve brought Bucky over to sit on the sofa opposite the young couple, introducing his daughter to his oldest friend. She smiled softly at him, unsure what to say. She could see the excitement on her Pop’s face to be introducing his best friend from the 1940s but the person she saw before her was also a Hydra assassin who had killed more people than she could comprehend.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bucky murmured. “Stevie hasn’t really shut up about you.”

“He’s told me a lot about you too,” Rori replied, a soft smile lifting the corners of her lips as she glanced over at her step-father. “That was before he knew you were still alive though.”

“It’s crazy that either of us here now,” Bucky admitted. They continued to talk idly until Steve walked over to the kitchen to refill his and Rori’s drinks. The moment he was out of earshot, Bucky looked between Rori and Harry with a nervous glance. “I understand that you’re both concerned,” he said. “I am too, but I promise you that I’m not a threat.”

“We don’t think you’re a threat,” Harry replied.

“Don’t we?” Rori asked him. “I’m not going to say anything in front of Pops because he deserves this, but I don’t trust you Bucky. Maybe I will someday but not yet.”

“Steve said you were smart,” Bucky replied, seemingly unaffected by Auroras blunt words. “Glad to see he was right. I don’t trust myself completely either but we’re working on it. I’m doing therapy to help with the brainwashing and your dad is fixing my arm. I’ll earn your trust.”

“Yes, you will,” Rori agreed with a genuine smile, dropping the conversation as Steve returned with Sam in tow. “Welcome to the madhouse, Sam.”

“Thanks Aurora,” the newest Avenger replied. “Not sure what I’ve gotten myself into with this one,” he gestured towards Steve, who rolled his eyes. “Should be good fun though.”

“It’s certainly never boring,” Harry joked.

Shortly before midnight, when almost everyone had left for the night, only Nat, Clint and Bruce remained in the living room of the penthouse with the Stark-Rogers family and Harry. After refilling his drink in the kitchen, Tony walked past where Rori was sitting, lifting her wine glass to her lips to take a sip. “What is that on your wrist?” he asked, pulling his daughters attention away from a conversation she was having with Bruce. She paused for a brief moment before following Tony’s eyes to the inside of her left wrist.

“It’s a tattoo,” she replied, holding her arm out so that he could see the fresh ink clearer. “Pretty cool, right? I got it about 2 weeks ago.” The image on the inside of her wrist was of half of Steve’s shield and the right half of the Iron Man helmet, joined together in the middle. “Harry, Louis and I went to this great little tattoo parlour in Philly.”

“It’s nice,” Tony said. “Did you draw it up yourself?” Aurora nodded that she had, tracing her index finger over the ink, smiling at the memory of sitting in the tattoo studio with the two boys, Louis laughing at her as she winced when some of the heavy shading was done.

“I’m already planning the next one,” she told her father. “It really is addictive.”

Tony shot a joking glare towards Harry where he sat with Nat and Clint nearby. “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” he told the younger man.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Harry laughed, raising his hands in mock defence. “She cooked up the idea with Lou and they’d decided they were going long before I invited myself. I was just tagging along and figured I’d get something done while we were there.”

“A likely story,” Tony laughed. “So, what’s the next one?” he asked, turning his attention away from Harry and back to his daughter.

“I wanna get a yellow cab on my ribs,” Aurora explained. “Big Yellow Taxi was mum’s favourite song, so I want to be a walking cliché and put it near my heart.”

“You’re not going to start building a sleeve like Harry’s next, are you?” Steve asked, joining the conversation and sitting down next to Aurora on the sofa.

“No,” Rori promised. “But I think I’ll definitely get a couple more. I really love the idea of having my art permanently a part of me.”

xXx

Harrys stayed for the rest of the week, enjoying spending time with Rori without the pressure and constant scheduling of being on tour. He also enjoyed spending time with her family. He would sit with Rori while she sketched on the sofa in Tony’s workshop, watching her father and Peter working away on whatever project had their attention at any given moment. He’d chat with Rori while she drew, her feet perched in his lap and one of his hands resting softly on her thigh. Sometimes she’d be sketching Tony and Peter, sometimes it was Harry and sometimes it was a landscape she could see only in her mind. They reminisced about the tour, recounting the funnier stories for Peter who lapped it all up eagerly. Every morning the couple would head downstairs to the gym, where Rori would run on the treadmill and Harry would use the weights. Steve would join them most mornings and there were always other members of the team floating in and out of the space. On the Wednesday, Rori started back at Columbia and Harry caught the subway with her, wandering the campus and grabbing a coffee at one of the small cafes while she attended her two classes for the day. When she was finished, the pair walked back to the tower through Central Park, taking their time in the autumn sunshine. Eventually Harry had to leave for California, and while Aurora tried to pretend she wasn’t upset to see him go, she lasted only until he was standing in front of the lift with his bag slung over his shoulder. Happy was waiting with the car downstairs and they had agreed to say their goodbyes in private, both knowing that if Aurora went to the airport with Harry, they would be on every gossip blog by morning.

“I’ll see you at Christmas,” Harry promised. Aurora nodded, swallowing thickly against the emotion building in her throat. “Come here,” he said, pulling her against him as the tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks.

“I got so used to see you every day,” she admitted, her face pressed into his neck. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t want to go either,” Harry said, “but you’ve got school and I’ve got the tour to finish. It’ll be December before we know it.”

“I love you,” she told him, pulling her face back from his neck to look into his eyes.

“I love you too,” he promised, leaning forward to lock their lips together.

“Sorry to interrupt,” JARVIS said, “But Mr Styles will need to leave now if he does not wish to miss his flight.”

“I’ll call you when I land,” Harry said, pecking her lips one last time before stepping into the waiting elevator car. As the doors slid closed, she stared at them for a few long minutes before turning towards the living room and throwing herself onto the sofa, her face buried into the cushions. Tony found her there half an hour later and sat down next to her hip, rubbing a handing down her back.

“Harry get away alright?” he asked to which Rori nodded, her face still pressed into the fabric below her. “You wanna watch a shitty movie and eat crap food that will make Steve disappointed in both of us?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, finally sitting up and allowing her father to crush her in a tight embrace.

xXx

Two weeks after Harry returned to the tour, Aurora was sitting at the large dining table with every member of the Avengers team present. They were halfway through the meal before Clint finally snapped, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Rori are you gonna tell us why you made such a big deal about everyone having dinner tonight?”

Aurora looked up from her plate, glancing around the table to see everyone’s eyes on her, expectant. “Uhhhh,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to talk to you all at the same time, so I didn’t have to repeat myself.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Clint asked, causing both Tony and Steve’s heads to snap towards their daughter.

“No!” Rori gasped, both men visibly relaxing in response to her answer. “Christ, Clint. I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that we’re having visitors for the next few days and I would appreciate if you could all stay on your own floors and stay out of here, so you don’t embarrass me.”

“What kind of visitors?” Bruce asked.

“I’m collaborating with a band called Boyce Avenue, so the three members are going to be here until Monday to record in the studio,” Aurora explained, growing more nervous with every second as Nat and Clint shared a look that could only spell trouble for her.

The three Manzano brothers arrived the following morning and within the hour, the four of them were already set up in Aurora’s studio downstairs. As with her collaboration with Our Last Night, much of the work had been done via email over the previous weeks, so they got straight in to running through the arrangements for their covers of Zedd’s The Middle and Khalid’s Love Lies. The process was effortless and over the next 4 days they recorded the instrumental and vocal tracks as well as filming the two videos for their separate channels. Aurora and Alejandro’s voices blended together beautifully, and they all had so much fun working together. Thankfully the Avengers took pity on her and stayed out of the way for the duration of the Manzano’s visit and before long the men returned to Florida while Aurora through herself into her college classes, hoping that the months of separation from Harry really would fly by as he’d promised.

NEXT CHAPTER

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#skyfire #skyfire fic #aurora stark #dad!tony #iron dad #step dad steve rogers #stony #stony fic #boyfriend harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #superfamily #harry styles #tony stark

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takaraphoenix · 5 years

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Okay, so how about for Iron Hawk Tony first learning that Clint is deaf and learning ASL for him. (hmmm. How about he does only to find out due to only partial deafness Clint has actually been using aids since he was a kid and lost hearing and never bothered to learn sign language himself?)

Tony was used to working alone in the workshop. Even now that all of the Avengers shared a living space. Usually when Tony really got lost in his work, the others would flee. Tony knew mostly they were down there to give him company. Most of the things they did down there could be done anywhere in the compound, but the true purpose was to spend time with Tony.

The compound that Tony had designed, where the Avengers had relocated after a Hydra agent had put horrifying images into the head of a scientist named Hank Pym, resulting in a dangerous killer robot named Ultron. The Avengers had taken it out and had arrested the two Hydra agents.

In the wake of it all, they had moved places. Had moved into the compound and were currently working on expanding the Avengers. The team of six that had started out, well, the world needed more heroes than a ragtag team of six people.

The first addition had been Rhodey, through Tony.

Then, with the fall of SHIELD, Sam Wilson joined them. Well, together with all left-over trustworthy SHIELD agents and Maria Hill, who coordinated the agents now.

The latest addition had been Hope van Dyne, daughter to Hank Pym. She had been the one to alert the Avengers early on – despite her father's hatred for the Starks (a reason why Ultron had been born, because the delusions the witch had put in Pym's mind had made him afraid of a world where Tony Stark and the Avengers turned on everyone, resulting in a very faulty security program).

Hope was not her father. Tony knew what it felt like to stand in the shadow of one's father. She was a brilliant woman who had opposed her father on many occasions. She used a suit that shrank and could fly, giving the Avengers additional aerial support.

They all integrated well into the team and the team tried to spend time with each other outside of missions and training, to bond, to form trust and to truly learn each other's ways. The others knew Tony was a busy man though, he had more than just the Avengers – he still had Stark Industries to work for and take care of and he took to upgrading most weapons and suits for the Avengers himself, trusting no one but his own capable hands to make sure his team was safe. So the other Avengers knew that bonding time with Tony was best achieved by joining him in the lab.

Sometimes, Steve would sit on the couch in the corner and draw.

Bruce was a regular down here, working with Tony on multiple projects.

The same went for Hope, who preferred to update her suit and stings herself.

What Natasha did – well, Tony wasn't entirely sure, but she was there occasionally too.

Even Sam spent quite some time down here, ever since Tony had upgraded Red Wing and installed a simplistic AI that gave the robot enough personality (enough to befriend Dum-E).

But once Tony really got into his work though, blasting his music at top volume, most would leave the lab and leave him to it. Tony wasn't sure if it was consideration because they didn't want to disturb him when he was truly concentrated, or if it really was the loud music.

There was only one person who always stayed. And while Tony appreciated that the others were considerate, he really enjoyed having someone who'd always stick around. And that person was Clint. He'd usually be down at the workshop to tinker with his arrows. He had a vast array of trick arrows and special arrows, most of which Clint had either designed or even built himself.

At one point, Tony started to suspect that maybe Clint simply shared his passion for AC/DC. He knew for a fact that it was that band in particular that chased Bruce away. Too aggressive and loud, not what the harborer of the Hulk needed. Which was fair enough. Steve too, not a fan, though he wasn't big on music anyway. Adn Natasha, she preferred classic music over modern. Sam liked them alright, though not at the volume Tony preferred. And Hope just generally didn't like music when she was at work because it was distracting to her.

Clint however, he would stay. Regardless of what music Tony blasted at what volume. In fact, when Tony would go really loud, Clint would always have a smile for him. And no, that was just a random bit of information, it had no significance. It didn't mean anything to Tony when Clint smiled at him in that teasing, crooked kind of way. Any fluttering in his heart was due to a malfunction of the arc reactor or something like that, nothing else.

/break\

Natasha had one eyebrow raised as she took a sip from her coffee. It was still quite early. Sam and Steve had just gotten back from their morning jog and they were currently bickering over what to make for breakfast. Natasha had already been awake for two hours, training. It was however rare for Clint to be up this early. Yet here he was, sitting opposite Nat and grinning into his mug.

"AC/CD? Is that Tony's mug?", asked Natasha with a frown.

Clint shook his head at her, a smug look on his face. "Mine. He gave it to me."

"You've been wearing an AC/DC shirt yesterday too", noted Sam curiously. "I thought you didn't like them. Don't tell me Tony converted you, huh?"

"Awful music", replied Clint casually. "But Tony's been giving me stuff? I'm not gonna decline it."

"You could buy your own clothes and then they would actually advertise what you like", offered Steve slightly bemused. "You shouldn't abuse Tony's generous nature like that."

"What? Abuse-", echoed Clint irritated. "I'm not-"

Natasha raised her eyebrows curiously at that. How very interesting. Clint was hoarding AC/DC merchandise not because he liked it but because he liked the person he got it from. Tony. She filed that information away for later usage, knowing fully well it was going to be very useful.

/break\

Hope smiled as she listened to Bruce's latest theory on their way to the workshop. Though she was only listening with one ear, if she was being honest. Her main focus was on what Natasha had told her. The two women had grown quite close. Partially through sparring with each other and partially due to being the only female team-members. That did forge a tight bond; they were fighting hard in a boys' world. And while they were both tough in nature, it wasn't easy that they were never allowed any weakness, to a far greater extend than the men.

Anyway, Natasha had cued her in on something very interesting. Apparently, Clint had a crush on Tony. Now, Hope was rather close to Tony. Surprisingly enough. Then again, Hope had always opposed her father and she knew what it was like to stand in her father's shadow so when meeting the Avengers, she had given Tony Stark the benefit of the doubt. He was as much Howard Stark as Hope was Hank Pym. The two scientists had hit it off pretty well from the get-go.

So while Natasha provided intel from Clint's side, Hope was supposed to poke around and see what Tony's opinion on it all was – and if Tony was even aware of what was happening around him.

"Tony, can we please turn down the music?", asked Bruce gently and a bit amused.

When Tony was really in the zone, he was in another plane of existence really. It was fascinating to watch and even quite charming. Hope remembered all the press coverage on Tony Stark throughout the year. The playboy, the drinker. No one ever showed Tony Stark, in a ratty tank-top with holes in it and grease in his hair, grinning like a maniac as he gently talked to his bots and invented things that threw them all decades ahead of their time. The narrative really mattered.

"Su—ure thing, Brucie-bear. Jay, you heard the man." Tony sighed forlorn as the music dimmed down. "Why can't you all appreciate a good AC/DC like Clint does?"

Hope raised her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Bruce. "You really don't know that he doesn't even like AC/DC, huh?"

"What? No. Of course he likes it. He's been wearing the shirt this morning!", argued Tony.

"The shirt you gave him", tagged Bruce on, a little amused.

"...So?", asked Tony confused and sat down on his bench.

Hope sighed and shook her head. "Tony, if you want to get your boyfriend clothes, get him clothes of a band he actually likes, because this... isn't one."

"But he always stays, regardless of how loud I play it?", asked Tony, not minding the boyfriend comment for now because he was still too confused. "He never complains about it."

"...But you do know that he's deaf, right?", asked Hope very slowly. "That he just turns off his hearing aids when he doesn't want to hear something. Mostly Cap's debriefings. And this."

The way Tony stared at her told Hope that Tony did in fact not know this. Bruce shook his head before he went to his work, giving Tony the time to digest this information.

/break\

Clint blinked a little confused when he found a glaring small genius blocking his way. It was hard to take pouting Tony seriously because he was just... so short? Glaring was more effective when glared down at someone, not up at someone. All Clint wanted to do was pet Tony's hair (it was very fluffy. Good for petting), but he had learned his lesson. Last time he did that when Tony was furious, no electronics in the entire place had worked for Clint. The toaster, the washing machine, the dryer, the remote, nothing at all, not even the damn internet connection. Never again.

"How did you never tell me you're deaf?", asked Tony, gesturing widely at Clint.

"I... generally don't advertise it?", countered Clint a bit confused.

"Well. Yes. I mean-", started Tony frustrated, gesturing even more now as he started pacing. "I'm Tony Stark. You're walking around with those... mediocre hearing aids and you never thought of telling me that you're deaf? I could have whipped you up something proper years ago!"

Tony moved on to poking Clint in an accusatory manner into the chest. This whole exchange was utterly confusing for the archer, so he decided to move on toward the kitchen, having the genius trail after him. Was Tony angry with him for not sharing this? That seemed... odd.

"Wait", grunted Clint as he realized, slowly turning around to look at Tony. "Are you angry because you think I... don't trust your tech, since I didn't ask you to build me something?"

Tony looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie-jar. "I... No? I just... As your team-mate, I think you should have the best of everything. That, of course, includes hearing aids."

Clint hummed and tilted his head. "Honestly, I just... never thought of it? I've had these hearing aids for years now, they've just been... a part of me, for me, mostly. I never really thought about Stark Tech upgrades of them. And, in my line of work, I've learned not to draw too much attention to them. When people hear I'm deaf, they like to conclude I'm not fit to be a spy, an Avenger."

Tony frowned at him. "I... get that. But I want to... help."

It made Clint smile a little. Oh, he loved this small genius so much. Every time Tony had a new idea how to improve Clint's arrows or armor, he'd be so excited – well, with everything of everyone. And even when Clint didn't understand half the things Tony said in explanation, it was so captivating to listen to him. It made Clint wonder for a moment why he had never told Tony.

"I lost my hearing when I was a teen. It was a crazy circus accident", explained Clint softly. "It was... hard, at first. But with the hearing aids, most of the time... I don't even think on it. Or, I try not to. Ever since I entered SHIELD, I had to work against people who thought I'd prove too much a risk on the field – what if the aids fail, what if no one can contact me anymore then. Not to mention a potential lack of communication in general then. Nat was the first person who learned ASL for me, specifically. Just so she could tell the agent who had voiced those doubts to fuck off in ASL. Because it's a language that exists, that people would just have to learn."

Clint paused and jumped onto the kitchen counter, grabbing an apple. "Kids at school, they're encouraged to learn Spanish or French or... or Latin, which is like dead, you know. And that's cool. Languages are cool. But no where are they encouraged to learn ASL, a language that's literally the only means of communication for many people in the US."

Chewing on his apple, Clint watched how Tony sat down, staring at Clint in curious wonder and just listening, which was somehow a nice change from the usual. "It was how Nat and I became a team, you know. After that, we went on a mission together and... ASL actually proves to be really handy for spies, what do you know. Not being required to talk, or be in hearing distance, to communicate can actually be really useful. Shesh."

With a small smile of his own did Tony tilt his head. "So, why do you always smile when I play AC/DC then, if you don't even like it and turn your hearing aids off?"

"Who snitched?", sputtered Clint. "Was it Nat? No, Nat loves me."

"Actually, it were Hope and Bruce. Now, what do you have to say for yourself?", asked Tony. "Because I think I get now why you didn't tell me you were deaf, but why would you take all of that AC/DC merch and let me blast my music if you don't even like it?"

"Well, those are two different questions", started Clint defensively. "I let you blast your music, because... it doesn't bother me. I can just turn off my hearing aids and let you have your fun. I know it makes you happy to listen to your music, so there's that."

The blush suited Tony. "...Okay. That's... nice. But, doesn't explain the AC/DC hoodie you are literally wearing right now, Barton."

"It's cozy?", shrugged Clint. "Besides, it's rude to decline a gift."

"...Sure", grunted Tony, not buying a word his friend was saying.

Clint's eyes widened when he saw Natasha poking her head around the corner of the kitchen with a deadly death-glare. She signed Tell him it's time before crossing her arms over her chest in a very definite gesture, just standing there in the doorway behind Tony. Steve, Hope and Sam stuck their heads out to peek in curiously too. Clint made a face at them, confusing Tony.

"Okay, so maybe I accept them because they're from you", grunted Clint with an edge of defensiveness. "It's... nice. A lot like, you know."

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking", huffed Tony a bit frustrated.

"Like wearing your boyfriend's clothes, that's what it is", whispered Hope.

"Because he lo—oves you", whispered Steve.

"He wants to date you, he wants to kiss you-", tagged Sam on in a sing-sang voice.

"Okay. Enough. You're like children", grunted Natasha unimpressed, ushering the Avengers off.

Tony stared startled at them before he turned back toward Clint. The archer was properly flustered by this, covering his face with one hand and muttering to himself about what he had done to deserve any of this. Sure, he had pranked Hope by putting pink dye in her shampoo last week and maybe he had painted over Steve's shield with hearts and perhaps there had been that one incident where he had replaced Sam's favorite vanilla pudding with mayonnaise, but still he did not deserve this.

"You like me? Why? How? When? What?", asked Tony stunned.

"Believe me, it was as much a shock for me as it is for you now", drawled Clint dryly. "But you're... you. Not the press you I was debriefed on. The real you. The cute, excitable genius with the heart of gold who does everything for everyone he cares about."

"So... you... want to go on a date?", asked Tony unsure. "I mean, is that-"

"Yes", interrupted Clint and nodded wildly. "Only if you-"

"If I may interrupt, Miss van Dyne has taken the liberty to booking a table at sir's favorite restaurant for today, 7PM. Doctor Banner assures you that if anything comes up, 'the Big Guy will take care of it' so you should not worry about anything", interrupted Jarvis.

"...When did they...", muttered Tony surprised.

"After your conversation last night", replied Jarvis.

/break\

Clint looked very pleased in his Iron Man hoodie, drinking out of his Iron Man mug. This was the perfect compromise. Instead of merchandise of things he wasn't interested in, Clint now got merchandise of something he was very interested in. His boyfriend. Okay, okay, some merch was also of the other Avengers, but most of Clint's things now were Iron Man themed.

"I finished them!", exclaimed Tony as he came running into the kitchen.

A bit startled, Clint looked up at the very excited looking genius before being handed... hearing aids. Smaller than his, less obvious. And with a Stark Tech logo on them. Clint blinked surprised.

"Wait, Tony. Did you seriously...", muttered Clint.

"Of course", huffed Tony nearly offended. "My boyfriend needs to have the best of the best. And I've been meaning on branching more out."

Clint took a moment to appreciate the effort and time that must have gone into this – was this the secret project that had Tony locked into his lab alone lately? Even without Clint. To make it a surprise? What a total dork. Grinning tentatively, Clint took his old hearing aids out before putting the new ones in. Tony tilted his head like a curious puppy, watching him eagerly.

"How is it? Does it work? Is it comfortable?", asked Tony anxiously.

"It's perfect. Like everything else you do, Tones", answered Clint fondly.

He got up and pulled Tony into a hug, kissing him softly. In the background, Sam made gagging noises that somehow, Clint could hear even clearer than with his old aids.

"Shove it, jealousy doesn't suit you, Wilson", signed Tony over Clint's shoulder.

The entire team had learned ASL in the past weeks, after Tony suggested it, echoing Clint's words about him and Natasha. Nat had taught them and while some had picked it up quickly – Tony and, surprisingly so, Steve – others, such as Sam, struggled more with it. Sam huffed at them.

"You don't have to be all cute in front of my breakfast though", grunted Sam.

Tony grinned broadly, hanging off Clint's neck. "Can't help it. I'm always cute."

"That you are", agreed Clint fondly, kissing Tony's cheek. "Thank you, Tones."

------

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#IronHawk #Clint Barton #Tony Stark #Fanfiction #Deaf Clint #Oblivious Idiots #Pining #Fluff #Marvel #kimmycup

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