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to-the-stars8 · 7 months

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Reviving Love

Jason Todd x Reader Chapters AO3

Chapter 5

Bruce smiled when Jason got into the car, reaching out to ruffle his black curls before getting ready to drive off, and was ready to ask him how his first day was when a voice called for his son. Jason perked up, automatically looking out the rolled-down passenger window at you running toward the car, notebook in hand. The smile on Jason’s face got wider as he called out your name, asking you what was going on.

“I forgot to give you my notebook,” You said, out of breath as you leaned into the car to set the notebook in his lap. “I wrote my home phone number in it if you have any questions. My mom might answer but just tell her that you’re looking for me.”

“O-okay, thanks,” Jason said, trying not to look at Bruce. He wasn’t looking at him, but Jay could practically feel the shit-eating smirk on his father’s face.

That seemed enough for you, but before you could pull away you leaned back into the car, directing your question at Bruce. “Hey, Mr. Wayne, tomorrow after school the art club is painting a set for the school play, do you think Jason could stay to help?”

Jason was glad you brought that up because, during lunch earlier that day, he had expressed to you that the art club had sounded fun though he knew it couldn’t be a commitment of his. You saw to at least get him to try it once.

Bruce was caught off guard and it took him a second to answer. “Yes, yes, that should be fine.”

“Great! See you tomorrow, Jay,” You said, running off.

Once the car window was closed a deafening silence fell between the two of them. Jason knew what Bruce wanted him to say, but was too embarrassed to say anything.

Then, holding back a smile, Bruce said, “So, made a new friend?”

“Yes, I made a friend,” Jason made sure he understood that much.

Bruce didn’t say anything as he drove back home, just occasionally glancing at his son with a small smirk. Jason pretended not to notice just as he did with the blush on his cheeks when he stared down at your notebook on his lap. It was one of the notebooks the school sold, with the name and mascot on it, but with little details left behind by you. Your name was written prettily in red Sharpie across the top, random stickers littering the cover, and little sticky note tabs poked out on the side.

Bruce was always one for dry teasing, much to Jay’s annoyance. When they got home, Bruce was quick to loudly tell Alfred that Jason had made a friend, emphasizing that was all it was. Alfred was none too pleased with his charger’s treatment of the boy and scolded him for trying to embarrass him in such a way.

“Should we discuss Miss Kyle, Bruce,” The old man said, eyebrow arched. Bruce said nothing else about you, and Jason quietly thanked Alfred.

Usually, Jason would run straight to the cave, excited to get to work on a new case with Batman, but a new rule had been implemented. No Robin on school nights. Dick had told him it was a rule that Batman, and Bruce, stuck by religiously. Not that Jason could complain, he was secretly excited to go through your notebook.

He got comfortable at the counter, his notebook set out next to yours, ready to copy down all the notes from the past few weeks. On the first page, in the top margin, your phone number was scribbled with a little note to call you if there were any questions. Staring at it for a minute, Jason slowly slid off the stool to grab the house phone. Slowly, he dialed you.

There wasn’t any question that he wanted to ask, but it was the urge to just know what you were doing. In the hours he had spent with you at school, Jason had been happy to find someone who understood his interests and seemed interested in them.

The phone rang a few times before an older woman’s voice came through, “Hello?”

Jason nervously stammered out, “H—hello, I’m calling for…”

Before he could even get your name out, your mother was yelling across the house for you. There was some muffled talking before your voice came through the phone, saying his name happily.

“How’s it going with the notes?” You asked.

Jason looked down at them, suddenly remembering that he needed to have something to ask you about. He couldn’t just plainly say that he wanted to talk to you more. “Good. I…I just wanted to ask about the art club project.”

“What about it,” You asked quizzically.

Jason quickly said, “Do I need to bring anything to help?”

You hummed in thought, and he pictured you thinning your lips. He had noticed the habit a few minutes after meeting you. After a few more seconds of silence, you finally said. “Nope. Just yourself.”

“Good, good,” Jason mumbled, not too sure of what to say next.

Luckily, you were quick to fill in the silence. “Did you enjoy your first day?”

“Yeah. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” He paused, cautious of the words that were going to come out next. “Thank you, by the way. You were a great first-day buddy.”

You giggled, “Thanks. You were a great… first-day buddy, too? I don’t know how to phrase that.”

“I think I get your meaning,” He felt more confident talking to you. “And thanks.”

You started to say something before some talking in the background cut you off. You must have pulled the phone away from your ear as your voice now sounded distant. A moment later you were giving a quick goodbye. “I’m sorry, Jay, my mom needs me for something. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sure, talk to you tomorrow.” When the line went dead, Jason let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Putting the phone back on the counter, he looked back down at the words on the paper. Jason thought about you before he noticed Bruce leaning against the doorway.

“Shut up,” Jason said. He knew what Bruce was already thinking.

Standing straight, the older man put his hands up. “Hey, I wasn’t going to say anything— except to see you if you needed help with any homework, bud.”

“Good.”

“Well,” Bruce said expectantly when Jason didn’t answer his question. “Do you have any homework? Or are you just flirting on the phone?”

“No, to both,” He said sheepishly.

Jason turned away from Bruce, ending the conversation. He pulled his notebook toward him, starting to copy your notes.

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thebatfamfanatic · 3 years

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Six Times He Met Her

Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, guy taking advantage of a minor in first chap, mention of underage smut in fourth chap, making out?, violence, mentions of blood/injury, main character death, adult language, angst

A/N: First thing I’ve written on Tumblr!! Tell me if anybody likes it, or if I broke your heart. And yes, I know I’m evil.

The first time he saw you was around 2:30 in the morning. Jason was squatting on the edge of a rooftop in Gotham, surveying the dark scenery below him.

Somehow, there was still plenty of traffic on the dirty streets, plenty of cars honking and driving around. Jason always wondered who the fuck needed to be somewhere at 2 am.

He fiddled with a loose seam on the Robin uniform he sported each night, hunting down the assholes of Gotham (pretty much 70% of the city) and putting them in jail, where they belonged.

At 16, Jason Todd technically should have been in bed, maintaining a healthy sleep schedule and doing some rich kid shit during the day. Of course, his adoptive (long story) father, Bruce Wayne, richest playboy in Gotham, employed him to be his little tweety bird sidekick at night, so here he was, at the rendezvous watching the streets. yay. A scream came from an alley nearby. Jason stood, stretched his legs, and leaped down from the roof onto the ground. He pinpointed the alleyway where the noise was coming from and raced into it. A girl, about his age, had been cornered by some bitch dude who thought he could take advantage of this girl. Not on Robin’s watch.

Before the girl could scream again, the guy was on the ground and Jason was helping her up. She shakily took the hand he offered her and looked him in the eye. Shit, she had gorgeous eyes. Jason froze for a second, lost in her beauty, before clearing in his throat.

“Hi. I’m Robin, uh, you probably knew that. Are you okay, ma’am?”

He hated the squeak that came out of his mouth. He sounded like a fucking 5 year old. The girl raised her eyebrow. She had recovered rather quickly. “You don’t have to call me ma’am. I’m not some rich-ass royal whatever from Britain.” Jason liked this one. Sassy, but just so. He inquired where she lived, and she gave him the address. With his grappling hook at the ready, Jason pulled her closer to him. She jumped at the sudden closeness, but seemed to enjoy it. Maybe? He didn’t know shit about girls.

Jason shot the hook, propelling them up in the air, and landed on a rooftop. They continued this routine until he got in front of her house. It was still several seconds before he released her waist.

She started to walk towards her door, before stopping.

“Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Sorry, what?” Jason blinked.

“I thought you were smart, Robin. Its my name, dumb ass.”

Then Y/N disappeared into her house. Jason stood there foolishly outside on her front lawn for a while, thinking about the girl he had just met. She was unlike anyone he had ever met, and he realized 10 minutes later that he had forgotten to ask about where her family was and everything.

Oh well. Bruce would be expecting him anyways. Jason shot his grappling hook and started home, still dazed from the encounter.

The second time you guys met was two weeks later. Jason was just Jason Todd, a normal 10th grader living in the shadow of his (adopted) older brother Dick Grayson. Nobody paid much attention to him, and he didn’t really mind. Mostly Jason focused on getting A’s in class and then retreating into the library until Golden Boy’s after school clubs were over.

That is, until you walked in. It sounded as if you had just moved here, and for a minute, Jason felt a little sorry for you. I mean, Gotham wasn’t the greatest place to spend high school, or any grade, in his opinion.

You looked at your schedule from across the hall and then up at the locker next to him. For a second, your eyes met his and Jason was content. Lost in those brilliant colors. And then you looked away and started walking towards him. He realized just in time maybe he should stop leaning over your locker as you stopped next to him.

“Hi. Y/N. Just moved here. Looks like we’re locker neighbors.”

Jason was about to reply with “I know” but restrained himself. “Jason. Nice to meet you. Congrats on moving to this shitshow.”

He managed to not grin like an idiot as you laughed. The sound was music to his ears, like beautiful bells. God, he was being sappy.

“It’s not much of a shitshow when you’re here.” Ooh, she flirts too. Jason smirked as you opened your locker and dumped your stuff inside, pulling out the things you needed for your first class.

The first bell shrieked just as you closed your locker. “See you around, Jason.”

The small smile you gave him made his day, and he almost forgot to get to class. Yes, you were certainly one of a kind, and yes, Jason wanted you. The question was how to get to that point.

You guys had a couple classes together, and frequently sat at the same table during lunch, so it wasn’t long before you were quick friends with Jason. However, the next notable time you met was a little while after he got your number.

Jason was laying on his bed, scrolling mindlessly through Tumblr as he thought about ways to ask you out.

Y/N, would you grant me the honor of going out with me? No, too Romeo and Juliet.

Hey, want to grab ice cream? He had to make it clear what his intentions were. Then it wouldn’t be weird if he kissed you, right?

Oh, god, if he fucking kissed you….what would that be like? Before Jason could start fantasizing, his fingers were flying across the keyboard and he had sent a text to you. What did he do, what did he-

Hey, I was wondering if you’d like to see that new movie this weekend. It seems like something you would enjoy.

Hm. That was actually pretty good. Where did he come up with that?

Jason had just started inspecting his fingers for some kind of sign of being possessed by smooth-with-girls-syndrome when you responded. He looked up and read it quickly.

Sure, I’d love that! Thanks for thinking of me ❤️

A heart. You had put a heart at the end of it. Did that mean you knew it was a date?

Jason sighed. He certainly hoped so.

The weekend date went good. By the end of it, Jason was sure you knew it was a date. The second one passed, and then the third. The third one was when you hesitantly pecked him on the cheek. The fourth was when he kissed you actually. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it was just enough for him to take you on a fourth date. An actual “will you go out with me on a date” kind of thing.

He took you to a restaurant in the fancy part of things. You two ate food that two broke 16 year olds technically shouldn’t have been able to afford, but Bruce helped Jason out.

Jason drove you home afterwards and discussed the topic of the upcoming summer during the car ride. What you were doing, where he was going. The entire time, Jason had butterflies in his stomach. He wasn’t sure how to act. Was he messing it all up, or were you actually into him?

Once he parked in front of your house and walked you up to the stoop, you looked at him. He noticed you were biting your lip nervously, and god, why did he think that was so hot? “My parents aren’t home.” It was the softest Jason had ever heard you speak, but he knew what you meant. He smiled gently, and kissed you again. This one was destined to last longer, and before either of you realized it, you had opened your door and you were leading him to your bedroom.

That night was one neither of you would forget, and by the end of it, Jason had officially asked out successfully.

You and Jason spent a lot of time together after that. You met his older brother, Dick (who was very happy for Jason, too happy in his opinion) and his dad, Bruce Wayne. Bruce was cool, but very busy all the time.

By two months, Jason still hadn’t told you his identity as Robin, and he was running out of excuses. One day, you confronted him, assuming he was cheating on you. He tried everything, but he had to go out on patrol.

Jason left that night assuming you were broken up. The entire patrol, he wasn’t himself. Truth was, he loved you so much he was afraid of losing you. That had become his greatest fear. It was that night everything went wrong.

You were out taking a late night walk. Down by the pier, a cold wind was blowing, and as you walked past warehouse after warehouse, you pulled your coat tighter.

You were affected as well, and confused about where you and your boyfriend stood. Did you guys just breakup? Did he love you? Did–

A scream echoed from one of the warehouses. You turned, afraid of stepping closer but afraid of leaving the person. Eventually, your curiosity won over and you climbed up several crates to peer into the window.

What you saw inside almost made you scream yourself. Robin, the hero everybody talked about, lay defenseless and bloody on the ground as a tall man-the Joker- whacked him over and over again with a crowbar.

You gasped, wanting to help, but you knew that would be foolish. You would just get in the way for a minute. Tears started to form in your eyes as Robin weakly cried out from the pain. He looked so…helpless.

Joker relentlessly beat him with the crowbar, and Robin’s mask began to come off. You rubbed the tears from your eyes just as the mask fell to the ground.

“No.” was the only thing that you could muster. Jason lay on the ground in the bloody Robin suit. Jason fucking Todd. There was your boyfriend, being beaten to death by the asshole of all assholes. That was why he kept disappearing at night, because he fucking protected the city!

You were mad at yourself for being so cruel to Jason without knowing what was really going on. You barely paid attention as Batman and Nightwing suddenly burst through the windows.

Joker laughed, and said something you couldn’t hear from the outside. Probably taunting Batman as he watched his apprentice get beat to death.

A fight broke out, Batman lunging at Joker as Nightwing rushed to Jason, laying broken on the ground. You had just enough time to duck as a Batarang came swooping out of the hands of the Caped Crusader and straight through the window you were looking through.

It was then you realized how close Jason was to death, and what you needed to do. The window pricked your jacket as you jumped through it, but you didn’t care. Gymnastics back in 6th grade helped when you landed awkwardly. Nightwing spun around, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that was Dick, which meant Bruce was Batman.

However, none of that mattered when Jason was half dead in front of you. Nightwing- Dick- made no effort to stop you as you knelt in front of Jason. “No, no, no.” You cradled his head in your hands, trying hard not to recognize how limp his body was, and how his chest barely moved as he struggled to breathe.

Jason’s eyes were closed, tears running down his face silently. You were crying as well, mumbling curses and things that made no sense.

“Please, don’t be dead. Please, I-I love you.”

You watched Jason make no acknowledgement he could hear you, watched him breathe once more. His chest rose and never fell.

You screamed and buried your head in his costume, not caring about getting blood on your face. Dick pulled you away wordlessly, out of the warehouse. You barely registered that the warehouse exploded behind you a few seconds later.

Dick let you sob into his shoulder for what seemed like hours. Him and Bruce exchanged a short conversation, both riddled with grief.

Six times you and Jason had met, and that was the last.

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd angst #jason todd smut #jason todd fluff #dc comics #robin!jason

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shyestofhearts · 2 years

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I have a headcanon that Damian acts all calm and collected (if easy to anger) around his family, but around people his own age he is ridiculous and funny and does ridiculous things with them.

Like, his family hardly ever seems to listen to music at the Manor or with his siblings, so they think he thinks he’s too mature for today’s music. However, Damian and his friends have a whole react channel where they listen to songs and it’s super popular. Manly because it’s almost like a crack channel. They use voice modification so all their voices are high pitched and use empty piñatas as masks. It is insanely popular with the younger generation, (and in this world Duke is closer in age to Damian, so it is his and Damian’s generation that know about it), which is why none of the other siblings hear about the channel for a long time. Duke absolutely loves it, because the reactors (Damian and co.) are absolutely ridiculous. Every time Damian sees Duke cracking up at it in the TV room, he can’t help but puff up his chest a bit and smirk a bit.

Sooo, Damian, after doing so many reactions to her, is a huge Swiftie (favorite song is a tie between Enchanted and No Body No Crime). So when All to Well was released, you know that he and his friends reacted to it. Problem is, now he has to constantly stop himself from humming or singing the lyrics at the manner. He slips a few times, but no one is ever home to notice, so Damian lowers his guard slightly—which is how Duke finds out.

Duke has patrol during the day, Alfred is out running errands, Bruce is offworld with the JL, Jason is away on a mission, Stephanie is in class at the University, Cass is in Hong Kong, Tim is at WE or with the Titans, and Dick is in Bludhaven. Damian thinks this is a perfect time to plan their next reaction (though they kinda just wing it). He’s arguing with Howard (from the kid’s book Batman and Robin and Howard) over FaceTime about what is the best song to do next and who gets to where the donkey piñata and who gets to princess one, while the others snicker in the background, getting a snack from the kitchen. Suddenly, as Damian turns around from the freezer with mint chocolate chip vegan nice cream in his hand and a bag of vegetarian gummy worms in the other, his hears a crash. Duke is starring at him with his jaw dropped, eyes wide, and oh no.

“You’re—!”

“This isn’t what it looks like!”

“Damian! What was that—“

“What’s going on!”

There’s an awkward silence as Damian turns redder by the second as Duke realizes all the stupid things Damian has done in the videos.

“Damian!” Howard shouts, “What’s going on?”

“My, uh, brother” Damian clears his throat, looking at his iPad, “Discovered our conversation and who we are”

There are five groans that follow

“Gosh dang it , Damian! How’d he find out?!”

“I, possibly, maybe, was walking around with the speaker on,” more groans follow,

“Are you kidding me, Damian!”

“What are you, a forty year old in Costco?”

“A mom trying to wrangle her four kids?”

“A middle aged guy at Home Depot?”

“Hey!” Damian protests,

“Why could you wear your AirPods like a normal person?!”

“They hurt my ears!” Damian protests, “Besides, number 6 was supposed to be out! I thought I was home alone!” More groans.

Duke stares baffled as Damian continues to get roasted by his friends.

“Trust that Damian would be the one to spill our identities,”

“It would be Dami who exposes us,”

“Good thing you’re not a hero Dami” Howard snickers

“Oh screw you, Howie!” Damian says, fighting a smile (Howard knows in the book).

“Yeah, you’d be exposed so easily”

“Wouldn’t last month”

“You know what—“

“A week!”

“Put your brother on!” Maps demands,

“Uhhh,” Damian says wide eyed, “I can’t!”

“Why not!”

“He needs the swear secrecy!”

“He’s naked!” Damian blurts, blushing.

“Hey!” Duke says, cheeks heating up.

“Damian,” someone asks, “why is your brother naked…in your kitchen!”

“Uhh,” Damian says, because he’s unsure as well, meanwhile there are whispers calling Duke a pervert

“I’m not naked !” Duke yelps, and before thinking he says “I’m wearing underwear!” There is a brief silence before Damian’s friends start giggling. “Don’t show them!” Duke yells, running behind the counter, as he realizes Damian is FaceTiming and can show his friends.

“No one wants to see that!” Damian shouts, causing his friends to laugh harder, as Duke takes that as an insult.

“Hey!”

“Why are you in your underwear!” Damian groans.

“Boxers!”

“Whatever! Go put clothes on” Damian demands, as his friends continue laughing.

Someone clears their throats, cause both to freeze.

“Mater Duke, Master Damian” a voice interrupts, and standing across them is Alfred and Tim. Tim looks so done right now, keys in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. Alfred has two grocery bags in his hands, but that does not take away from the look he gives them. In the background Damian’s friends go “Ooooooh” together, making Duke and Damian feel even more chided.

“Perhaps after putting on some clothes, and not ruining your appetite by eating dessert before dinner, you both can help retrieve the rest of the groceries.”

“Yes, Alfred,”

“Yes, Pennyworth,”

Damian ends the call with his friends and puts the ice cream back in the freezer, as Duke explains that he just got home from patrol and was headed to his room when he spotted Damian.

“Perhaps keeping a spare pair of clothes in the cave would prevent any one, including guests, from seeing you dressed too…casually.”

Damian spends the whole night worrying about Duke exposing him to his family, but he doesn’t. After a few days, Damian finds the opportunity during school hours to corner Duke, and questions him with narrowed eyes.

“You are spending time with friends your own age, doing non-vigilante things, and having fun.” Duke shrugs. “You should get that opportunity without having to feel self conscious or embarrassed about it. I know that probably is part of the reason you didn’t want us to know,” Damian stares at him, shocked, for a second before reacting. He hugs Duke tightly for three seconds, whispering his thanks, before running off.

“Aww,” Fiona, Duke’s lab partner coos from by the water fountain. She’s just rounded the corner. “Was that your brother?”

“Uh, yeah,” Duke blushes, as he stares at Damian making his way to the rest of the seventh graders. “He’s in the middle school,”

“He’s so small,” she continues to coo, laughing Duke nods.

“Just don’t let him hear that”

Eventually, Damian drags Duke over to his friends within the next week during school lunch, where Maps threatens him to remains silent. Duke agrees, amused but wondering how no one else noticed that one of the most popular channels are a bunch of middle schoolers—they’re so small!

The one thing Damian does do—gift Damian a scarf from Taylor Swift merch during Christmas. His siblings all laugh because they think he’s pranking Damian, but despite Damian’s raised eyebrow and blank face, he know Damian loves it. Tim and Jason snicker every time they see Damian wear it, but Duke smiles every time.

—🪡🧵

If this were a whole fanfiction with like 40 chapters you can bet I'd spend the entire night not sleeping just binge reading this SEW THIS IDEA IS INCREDIBLEEEE AKSJAKSKA

#shy's asks #sewing anon #anon #damian wayne #duke thomas #dc comics #I will be thinking about this all day now #long post

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anjuschiffer · 4 years

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Amira Wayne - Chapter 10

Two days late but here we are! Day 10 of @biodad-bruce-month event!

Chapter 10: Consolation + Salt

P.Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan

Tag: @vixen-uchiha @we-want-mini-mini @ramos123 @bluesimani @redscarlet95 @greatcatblaze @promiswords @fantasiame @corabeth11 @anonymously-odd @alexandriamw

MASTERLIST | FIRST | PREV | AO3

“Meine lieblingsschwester!” Dick yelled, scooping Amira into a hug, causing her to panic.

Why did she agree to let him pick her up at the airport?

The flight towards the States wasn’t bad and if anything, was thankful that it was silent. It was something she needed after accidentally yelling at Tikki like that. She knew she should’ve run the decision by Tikki, but Amira knew the outcome if she did that.

“I’m your only sister.” Amira said, smiling as she returned a hug.

“It’s just that it’s been so long! Look at you! You’ve grown bigger than the last time I’ve- when did you cut your hair? Why didn’t you tell me?! And please don’t tell me you did it yourself. There’s salons for that reason!”

Amira allowed herself to be examined, feeling herself relax. “Really gonna miss being able to braid your hair.” Amira smiled, quickly throwing herself at Dick.

“I’ve missed you, you blöde.”

Dick dropped Amira’s suitcase with a thud, closing the door behind him as Amira slumped into a nearby sofa.

“So this is your place.” Amira said, looking around the apartment, quickly getting up when she saw Dick had a balcony.

She hurried over and gently pushed the door open, adoring the view.

“Looks just like Gotham, doesn’t it?” Dick looked out towards the streets, watching as cars drove by.

“Yeah, just without the gargoyles.” Amira said with a sigh, looking at the dark streets and cloudy sky.

Amira pulled her sweater to her body, getting chills from the evening breeze.

“I know we talked about this as we were in the car, but...are you sure about staying here? If it’s about not having a costume for the party, I could always just stay behind and-”

“Like I told you earlier, I’ll be fine. Plus, there’s a few things I want to do before settling for the night. Sure, I’m not going to be for long, but that’s the whole reason I want to stay behind.” Amira cut off, leaning into the sounds that she so dearly missed.

Paris could never beat the atmosphere that Bludhaven and Gotham had. “So go on ahead and tell the guys I said hi. I’ll be fine.”

As much as she wanted to join Dick and hangout with Wally, Vic and Garth, Amira needed to hold herself back.

Dick’s mouth turned into a thin line, tapping his finger against his arm, looking at Amira for any doubt. He finally decided to let out a sigh and run a hand through his hair.

“I know you Amira. And I know that if I try and force you to come with me, I know you’re going to find a way to sneak out.” Dick pulled out a bracelet, a tiny ladybug hanging from it.

Amira took it and slipped it on, hearing the faintest click go off. A tracker, huh. “It’s a tracker. And no, I’m not going to check on it unless you press it.”

“Press it?”

“When you press on the ladybug’s head, it will send me a notification that you’re in trouble.” Dick pulled Amira into a hug, squeezing her. “Please. Be careful on your-”

“I will.” Amira swore, pulling away from her brother. “I will be alright, don’t worry.”

Tikki wanted to scream for Amira to slow down, but swallowed back her screams after remembering what happened last night.

She didn’t feel like she was in the right to scold the girl, nonetheless tell her what to do when they were no longer in Paris.

Not only that, but seeing Amira smiling at every step she walked also added to the pressure to hold back.

She’s never seen Ma-Amira so content and that wasn’t something Tikki was going to take away from her.

So Tikki remained silent when she watched Amira take a pair of keys and leave the apartment via the window. Tikki kept quiet as Amira stole a bike and started it, using it to head towards Gotham.

There were a plethora of things that Amira was doing illegally -Amira’s speeding and driving with no license being two of them- but Tikki couldn’t bring herself to say anything, not even as they broke into a cemetery.

Tikki watched as Amira took out a small bouquet of flowers she had bought and stuffed into her jacket before arriving at the graveyard.

Some of the petals were squished or missing, but the sentiment was still there.

Tikki watched as Amira placed the flowers down into an abandoned vase, wondering when was the last time someone brought this person flowers.

Tikki settled into Amira’s shoulder as Amira carefully stooped down, dusting off the debris that was starting to accumulate on the tombstone.

Tikki felt her heart stop upon reading the name on the tomb.

“Hey Jason. It’s me, Amira. Sorry it took so long to visit, but I’m finally back. I’m home.”

Tim wasn’t expecting anything when he went patrolling that night with Barbara.

The two agreed to patrol without Bruce, Bruce having gone to a Halloween masquerade ball while Tim and Babs scouted for the night in his stead.

If anything were to happen anyways, Bruce would know about it and be at the scene asap.

As the duo swung across Gotham’s streets, Tim noticed someone inside the cemetery, kneeling in front of an ever so familiar grave.

“Hey Babs. Isn’t the cemetery always closed during Halloween?” Tim asked, recalling the amount of times some of his classmates would dare one another to enter it on Halloween night. Most didn’t end up entering as they used the ‘cemetery was close’ as an excuse.

“Should be.” Babs ended up saying, turning over towards Tim who was perched on the corner of the building behind her. “Why do you-“ Babs followed Tim’s line of sight, finally noticing the reason behind his question. “She shouldn’t be there. Come on. Let’s try to get her out of there.”

Tim stumbled as he got up, but managed to follow Babs to go and greet the girl and possibly take her home.

As the two approached the girl, they couldn’t help but bring their guard up, feeling oddly familiar with her aura.

“-believe that? Of course you would. You were the only one-“ the girl turned around, causing Tim and Babs to stop, watching as the girl’s eyes widened before narrowing dangerously.

She shouldn’t have been able to sense them. Just who was she?

“Sorry! We didn’t mean to scare you. We just wanted to escort you out of the cemetery-“

“Well, if it isn’t Replacement Number 1 and Replacement Number 2.” The girl spoke out, Tim catching the venom that dropped at the end of her words.

“I’m sorry, do-“

“To think Bruce willingly took the two of you in and then let you replace the previous Robin.” The girl spoke, glaring at Tim. “Just goes to show how little he thinks of those around him.”

“How-“

“-do I know you replaced the previous Robin? It’s quite easy. I was there.” The girl spoke, walking up to Tim. “I was there the night he was brought back home. I was there the night Jason Peter Todd came home, dead and covered in blood.” She grabbed hold of Tim and brought him up to her face. “You will never be what he was. You will never be able to bring the mantle justice...Replacement.” Tim watched as the girl ripped the mask off of him, watching as her eyes widened.

“Drake?”

He told her not to do anything stupid, to not get herself into trouble and yet that’s exactly what she did.

Only an hour into the party and he got a notification about Amira having got into a fight.

Excusing himself from the party, Dick quickly got onto his bike, heading over to Gotham Cemetery, hoping Amira was alright.

When he got there, he didn’t expect to see Amira fighting both Robin and Batgirl, fighting the two of them without too much of a struggle. He watched as she expertly handled her rope dart, watching her elegantly spin and whip her rope out, striking Batgirl multiple times with knee shots, keeping her at bay.

Robin tried to get close, but she wouldn’t allow him to by spinning her rope close to her and when he dared to approach, she would take a few steps back before jumping over him and slamming the end of the rope against his back, causing him to fall to the ground and get kicked in ribs and stomach until Amira decided to slam the other end of her rope against the small boys back.

That’s how Dick found out that both ends of the rope had weights, allowing Amira to send out easier consecutive hits to her opponent.

However, her streak was broken thanks to Batgirl knocking the rope out of her hands, the vigilante smirking when she thought she disarmed the girl.

Focusing her attention on Batgirl, Amira charged at her, pretending to do a roundhouse kick when she whipped out an escrima stick and connected the tip to the side of her head, causing blood to seep from the contact and for Batgirl to stagger towards the floor.

Dick’s heart came to a halt.

Was this really Amira?

Dick climbed over the fence, dashing over to the fallen Batgirl and heavily injured Robin, when the person he least wanted to see made himself known.

Gliding down, Batman appeared.

But that didn’t signal Amira to stop. Instead, it fueled her to continue to attack.

Taking out another escrima stick, she connected the two, now arming herself with a bo staff.

“What are you doing here?” Bruce asked, but only got an answer in the form of a hit to the side, Bruce quickly grabbing the bo staff and pulling Amira towards him, only for her to snap the bo staff in half and attempt to hit Bruce on the head.

But he was quicker.

Grabbing hold of the escrima stick, he pulled it diagonally down, allowing him to grab hold of Amira.

She hissed as she squirmed under his hold, hating that the Kevlar he created was a bit hard to slip out of.

“Let go of her Bruce.” Dick demanded, glaring at their supposed father.

“Dick.”

Batgirl finally got into her two feet stumbling a bit as she got up. She held her hand against her head as she watched and listened to Bruce and a Dick argue, noticing the odd resemblance between the assailant and Bruce.

Wait...she recognized that face. How did she not recognize the little girl sooner?

“Marinette?” Amira glared at Batgirl, wondering how she knew her other name. “You're Marinette, aren’t you? It’s me.” Amira felt her heart stop as she watched Batgirl become Babs. “It’s me, Barbara. Where have you-?”

Amira didn’t know how she slipped out of Bruce’s hold, nor how she left the cemetery. All she knew is that she managed to get back on the bike she stole and headed towards nowhere.

She still didn’t know how she ended up in her old room.

“Is...is this-”

“Yeah.” Amira answered Tikki, looking at a room she didn’t recognize anymore. It felt empty and void of familiarity. Despite the furniture still there, without the books and clothing that were in Paris, the room didn’t feel like hers anymore. It just felt like any other room in the manor. “To think I lived here for 13 years.”

That’s when Amira heard the door cream open, Amira quickly ducking behind the bed, crouching to make sure no one saw her.

She listened as the floorboards creaked, Amira slowing down her breathing as the person walked around her room, reaching the opposite side of the bed.

Just when she thought the person was going to leave the room, the figure appeared before her, grabbing her by her collar and lifting her up with ease.

“Miss Amira?” Alfred asked in disbelief, Amira seeing her vision blur as she was placed back down, her feet feeling the floor. “Is that really you?” He asked as he cupped her face in his hands. His hands were warm and smelled of quiche.

“Grandpere… Grandpere Alf!” Amira wailed, throwing herself at her grandfather and proceeding to cry. Alfred held his granddaughter tight, letting her know that he was going to be there no matter what. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, mon poussin.”

“Do you think you’ll go back there later tonight?” Alfred asked Amira, Amira looking at the mug in her hands.

The chamomile tickled her nose, the aroma reminding her of the days she would sit with Alfred and Jason and talk about bread.

“I don’t think so. If it means running back into Replacement and Batgirl, I don’t want to go back, even if Jason would hate me for that.”

“Replacement?” Alfred asked, lifting a brow.

“Timothy Jackson Drake.” Amira seethed, gripping the mug tighter. “The one who replaced Jason’s spot by Bruce’s side.” At that, Alfred was taken aback.

“Bruce, as in your father?”

“What other ass-”

“Amira Martha Wayne.” Alfred sternly spoke, promptly shutting Amira.

She forgot that Alfred hated it whenever any of them cursed, even scolded her father when he did.

Amira pursed her lips, deciding to take a sip of her tea. It was cold.

“How could Father do that to Jason? He knew what Robin meant to Jason...and yet! He went ahead and replaced him with the neighbor! A kid who’s two years younger than me! And then Batgirl! Did he need to replace me too?” Amira yelled, watching as a tear slipped onto her hand.

“Amira.” Alfred softly said.

“Grandpere...I’m just tired of having to prove myself. I’m tired of having to scream and cry until he does something about it. I’m...I’m done...I’m...I’m just a burden to him, aren’t I?” Alfred’s heart clenched when Amira looked at him with shrouded eyes, noticing how worn out they were, how dull they’ve become since the last time he saw her smile. “I mean, it would explain the way he’s been treating me.

First off, I look nothing like him. I have green eyes and an olive complexion. The only thing I have from him is his midnight hair.

Then there’s the fact that I can’t even use my last name anywhere. My schools and classmates know me as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the daughter of a pair of bakers. Dupain-Cheng is the name I use when it should be Wayne. Wayne! A name that was supposedly my birthright and yet was never truly given to me…” Amira trailed off, wiping away some tears.

“As if stripping me of my identity wasn’t enough to get rid of me, he decides to get rid of me by sending me across the Atlantic, towards Paris, where two months later I find out he’s taken Barbara under his wing.

Did you know I used to look up to her? Did you know she was my only friend after what happened with Jason? He even took that away from me…”

“Mon poussin,” Alfred coaxed, wiping away a stray tear that slid down her face. “You know that isn’t true. Master-no. Your father never saw you as a burden, ever. If anything, you were a blessing that anchored him. A ray of hope within this chaotic city.”

“Then why. Why-”

“Because he didn’t want you to go through what he went through when he was younger.”

“What are you talking about?” Amira asked, wondering what exactly her grandfather was talking about.

As far as she knew, nothing major really happened to her father, except for that one time she got so sick she ended up in the hospital. But that was about it.

“I believe you were about five years old when it happened. Your father barely managed to get through a stab wound that almost cost him his life.

He feared he was about to leave behind you, his only child...just like he was left behind after your grandparents were killed when he was a young lad himself.”

She couldn’t sleep after hearing Alfred retell the incident from long ago, a memory Amira couldn’t remember despite being five at the time.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided to do another one of her lists of things to do while in Gotham: research.

Sitting at the large computer, Amira realized how much she missed the giddiness that would course through her by simply sitting at a place with endless information waiting to be used.

She ran her fingers over the cold keyboard, looking up at the screen that held its breath and awaited for her command.

“Amira. Where exactly are we?” Tikki asked, watching as Amira logged into the computer and began pulling file after file, typing in different things into different bases of data.

“The Batcave. My father’s base of operation as Gotham’s vigilante: Batman.” Amira provided, skimming through different bases, clicking on different files before closing some and downloading others. “Currently, I’m looking for-”

The sound of someone walking into the Cave caused Amira to zip and for Tikki to hide. Even though her father knew of the miraculous, he had yet to know about Tikki. “What are you doing here, Replacement?” Amira asked when she turned to see who had entered.

Thankfully it wasn’t her father.

There, by the stairs stood Tim, his head wrapped in bandages and his cheek sporting a bruise.

“I...I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“That wasn’t the answer to my question. What are you doing here?”

“Came by to check a few files on-”

“Leave. I’m busy using it right now. Come back when I’m done.” Amira commanded, turning back to what she was doing, hearing Tim approach her instead of leaving. “I told you to leave.”

“Perhaps I can-”

“Leave.” Amira gritted, saying it louder this time. “I don’t need the help of a kid who thinks he can just force his way into this lifestyle and think he’s up to it. Sure, you might have the capacity to absorb everything thrown your way, but you lack the experience.”

“But I’m-”

“You just started training with my father, but I’ve trained under him for years. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, our fight from earlier should’ve proven it. You’re unfit for the vigilante fight.”

“But Jason was able to-”

“Jason learned his skills from the street, skills he needed to survive. You, on the other hand, didn’t have to learn how to dismantle a car or use all means necessary to keep living. Under our father, Jason was able to sharpen the skills he already knew. But what about you?”

Tim frowned, looking at his curled fists. “Bet he had to start from square one, teaching you the basics, the stances and making you memorize-”

“I helped him solve cases that had him stumped, retrieve data-”

“Robin isn’t just support in the tech and detective department. He’s also support in the field, during fights. Robin has to be well rounded and excel in combat, something you just showed me to lack.” Tim watched as Amira unplugged a USB, glaring at Tim as she stood in front of him.

“You’ll never be worthy to be called Jason’s successor. No matter how hard you try, I’ll only ever see you as a replacement.”

Tim stood there, biting his tongue as he heard Amira leave the Cave.

As Amira walked out the Cave, she found Dick waiting there for her, watching him let out a sigh of relief. She watched as he pulled her into a hug.

“Thank god you’re alright.”

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Forget about that. We should’ve known better than to think he wouldn’t find you.”

“At least I’m still roaming free.” At those words, Dick let out a laugh, ruffling her hair.

“Let’s go on ahead and go home. Halloween isn’t over yet and I’m pretty sure there’s still a marathon or two playing tonight.”

“I’ll only watch it if they have the Addams Family.”

#maribat #bio!dad bruce wayne month 2020 #bio!dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #b!dbwm2020

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maribatlife · 4 years

Text

Without Context

Inspired by this post

Important info: Jason never died, but he has scars from his encounter with the Joker. Soulmate words start off a light gray and turn a color that contrasts with your skin after you hear the words.

*******

Soulmate words were a pain and a half. For every unique word set there's a basic one. You would not believe the number of times you hear "Hello" in one day until you're looking for one specific person to say it to you. Marinette's words were only slightly better. Boldly displayed along her collarbone in light gray was "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" She had always been proud of those words and displayed them as often as she could. Entire designs had been created to showcase her words. And then she became Ladybug. Suddenly those words, her words were everywhere. It was one of the most common things she heard.

Jason's words were the easiest to read. Technically, he didn't have words he had a noise. Across his collarbone read "AAAAAHHHHHH!" And wasn't that a great comfort. The first thing his soulmate was going to do when they met him was scream.

After Hawkmoth was defeated, Marinette just wanted to escape Paris. It was stifling. She couldn't go out as Ladybug without everyone trying to gain her attention and going out as Marintte meant hearing all the latest about Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie's trials. Not to mention the speculation that Adrien was secretly helping his father all along. "After all, how could he have possibly not noticed his father was a terrorist," the gossips whispered furtively all over Paris. She didn't even have her partner anymore. Chat had returned Plagg to Master Fu shortly after the final battle and had asked that Ladybug not find out who he was. So Marinette was left as the sole protector of a city who didn't need her anymore. Not long after the battle Master Fu declared her training complete and renounced the title of Guardian of the Miracle Box. There was nothing permanently tying her to Paris anymore. And so, after talking to Wayzz, she packed everything up and flew to Gotham.

After his run-in with the Joker, Jason's "word" made a lot more sense. Sure it was rude but with his scars who wouldn't scream? Especially if they weren't from Gotham. There was a reason he had the helmet made after the attack and it was only partially for the protection. And so his life continued with minimal interruptions until a new boutique opened in the fashion district.

Upon landing in Gotham, Marinette immediately opened up The Lucky Bug Boutique filled with her own designs, the store came with an apartment above it. She learned all about the city's vigilantes from her fellow shop owners. By pure luck, she glared at Tikki, the balcony of her apartment was a frequent stopping point for the Red Hood during his patrols. Over the years in Paris, it had become a tradition for Marinette to leave some baked goods out for Chat Noir to pick up on his patrols. Almost without thinking she started to leave food out for Red Hood.

Jason was confused as he swung around the fashion district. He was fully prepared to pass by the balcony he usually stopped on to check in with the rest of the team, but as he looked over he saw a plate covered in plastic wrap. As he swung over, Marinette was stealthily peering through the sliding glass door waiting to see if he would stop by. He landed on the balcony with his back to the door, before him, on a tiny table was a plate of cookies and a note. Opening the note he read:

Monsieur Hood,

Please accept these cookies as thanks for the protection you provide to this city. Thank you,

MDC

"Hood, status update," crackled over the earpiece built into his helmet. "All quiet here Bats," he replied. "But I got some cookies from a civilian. Meet you at the cave."

A few nights later, Jason ran into MDC herself. He was on his usual patrol, route 3 variant 4. "Bats, I got a mugger, interrupting now." Marinette had been walking home from dinner, when she was abruptly pushed into one of the numerous dark alleyways that littered Gotham. She was just finding her bearings when a voice announced from behind her, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Before the large mass that she recognized as Red Hood crashed into the would-be mugger. The fight honestly never started. As soon as her attacker saw which Bat he was dealing with he allowed himself to be ziptied and sat patiently waiting for the police. Red Hood turned back to the young designer and Marinette couldn't help it. She screamed, which unfortunately was picked up by Hood's mic. Within minutes the entire group of vigilantes surrounded the alley. Jason's heart dropped as he realized that this was his soulmate meeting. He tried to sneak away, but smacked straight into Batman. "Robin, escort this man to police custody." "Father," "Now." While that exchange was happening Nightwing slowly approached Marinette. "Miss, is everything alright. Would you like someone to call your soulmate?" He asked gesturing towards her now stark black words. "I'm fine, it's just that mask." She said with a shudder. "Wait, did l you say soul mate? Where is…" she looked around frantically. When she spotted Red Hood she pushed Nightwing out of her way to get over to him. "Monsieur Hood?" She reaches out to tap his shoulder. She frowned as he moved away from her. "Monsieur Hood," she darted in-between him and Batman so she could look him in the eye. "I did not mean to scream, it is just that your mask, it is terrible, the design is hideous."

#Jasonette #MariBat #soulmate au #without context au #might continue this

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

Text

Colony of Gotham (1/7)

Special thanks to @starlightandsunshine for helping me with this <3

The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It's said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.

When Bruce became Batman, he'd never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners -- as his family grew -- they all followed suit.

Next Part

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Wayne was born a vampire, one from the long-standing Kane family of vampires through his mother. This nature granted him a few abilities. He was more durable than a human and could heal faster. He was stronger and faster than a human and had better sight and hearing, though not to anywhere near the degree that some metas boasted. He could take on the form of an animal and could influence bats, corvids, canines, and felines to a certain extent. Finally, he would stop aging once he reached his thirties, a trait of those who were born or turned young instead of those like Alfred who were turned at an older age and therefore would always be that age.

However, when he set off on his path to becoming Batman, he swore to himself that he would not rely on any of this to fight the criminals that plagued Gotham. He would not be like those heroes past who relied on their powers, then were left defenseless when those abilities faltered or were ripped away. After all, only a vampire’s healing and longevity remained during the day and some spells and devices could similarly strip his nature away.

Batman stuck to his wits, tech, and martial arts training.

Even still, the criminals of Gotham could tell something was off about the Bat. Rumors flew about a demon haunting Gotham’s night, which Bruce leaned into. He hadn’t chosen a bat just because of the family significance. He wanted to strike fear. As such, he stuck to the shadows and allowed his fangs to bare. He used makeup to make himself appear paler and contortionist tricks to make his movements uncanny. He allowed Batman to become an urban legend that sent shivers down the spines of Gotham’s infamous.

When Barbara Gordon became Batgirl, she quickly realized his tricks were just that and leaned into them as well. She became a ghost following in the Bat’s footsteps. She disappeared into a mist made from special smoke pellets and spun across the ground and air in a weightless way that came from years of ballet and gymnastics training. She wore shadows like Batman’s, but violet and gold peeked through the darkness to make her stand apart.

Bruce initially didn’t want her in the field, but she eventually proved herself both competent and stubborn. In a bid to help protect her, he outfitted her with proper gear and let her in on the secret of his nature. She considered it, then a week later she asked him to turn her so she could always watch his back.

Then Dick Grayson was taken in by the billionaire and became the Bloody Robin. They called him a demon child, the son of the Bat who flew on bird’s wings. His cheerful laughs and giggles echoed and hissed eerily thanks to a voice filter. His clothes were bright colors, but were covered by the wing-like shadows that wrapped over his shoulders. Fake blood dripped from his hair and eyes and coated the tips of his gloves and cape. He chirped like a bird as he flipped and flew through the air. His mask made his eyes glow white and his body almost appeared boneless when he moved around on the ground thanks to the contortionist who’d babysat him at the circus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three heard the tales when teams of heroes began to form, but they didn’t reach out. Gotham’s Colony was a myth, an urban legend. Those outside of Gotham had never heard of them and those within only spoke in whispers.

That was how the Colony preferred it.

Besides, the rest of the world wasn’t as dark as Gotham.

Their tricks and games worked fine in the shadow-filled gothic architecture that made up Gotham, the near-perpetual overcast days, and the deep darkness of Gotham’s nights, but cities like Jump, Metropolis, or Central were far brighter. They could do without, they’d proven that plenty of times against the bigger villains that were either too crazy or brave to fear the Bat, but why should they? The tricks and games had become a part of them over the years and discarding a piece of themselves just so they could work outside of Gotham with strangers felt wrong.

So the Colony stuck to their own.

On the job, at least.

Dick met Wally West at a two-week-long Jr. Forensics Summer Camp when they were eleven and thirteen respectively. Bruce had sent him to brush up on his skills while Wally’s mentor, Barry Allen, thought it would be good training. Neither boy knew about each other's secret lives, but became close friends all the same and kept in contact when they returned home. Dick didn’t reveal it to Wally when he discovered the other boy was Kid Flash, but kept a close eye on Central City just in case.

A similar situation happened two years later when the Colony discovered Green Arrow’s latest protégé, a girl named Artemis Crock, lived in Gotham and had been helped into Gotham Academy by the other billionaire. Dick decided to keep an eye on her, but his pseudo-stalking quickly turned into a genuine friendship.

He may have taken a bit too much joy in introducing Wally and Artemis to one another. Wally got back at him a few years later by introducing him to the model Kory Anders, the secret identity of his celebrity crush Starfire. Dick had to admit to having a crush on Kory as well to explain his nerves.

It turned out to be a net gain in the end, though, since he came out of it with her phone number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As time passed, Dick started to get too old to be the demon child. He decided to create a new story for himself. One that would let him step out from under the shadow of the bat, using a name from an alien myth in Bruce’s files that he’d loved reading growing up. He and Bruce argued, and Dick spent some time sleeping on Barbara’s couch, but with nowhere to run they were forced to come to a compromise. There was still tension, but it was smoothed over with time and a bite.

Nightwing was a nocturnal bird that had taken human shape after being taken in by Batgirl’s elegance. It chased after and raced the ghost, nothing but shadows and a blue streak flying through the air. Those who got close enough to see his face would say that his skin was like porcelain while black wings covered his eyes completely and his lips were painted with darkness.

Nightwing wasn’t the only change to the Colony, though, because as Dick was finishing up his designs for the story, a little boy was stealing the tires off the Batmobile.

Dick was furious when the kid climbed out of the car into the cave, thinking Bruce had brought the kid in as a new Robin without even consulting him, but anger’s quickly replaced by confusion.

Because Batman wasn’t with the kid.

Jason Todd had gotten grabbed by the Bat after having already nicked three tires off the batmobile. Batman caught him before he could run then replaced the tires. He’d made a mistake in leaving the boy in the car when he went to call for someone to pick him up, however. Jason, who some might generously call impulsive, proceeded to use the opportunity presented to him to hotwire the vehicle and take it for a joyride that ended when he accidentally had the autopilot bring him to the cave.

Dick was immediately taken with the small spitfire’s story, as well as his stubbornness and intellect. Meanwhile, Jason was amused by the fact that Gotham’s demon was, in his eyes, nothing more than a spectacular conman and wanted in. They teamed up to force Bruce to adopt the younger boy through underhanded -- and perhaps slightly illegal -- tactics.

As Dick started using his new story more and Robin less, Jason got his own turn under Batman’s cape.

People started to say Robin was more vicious. He’d climb walls, the claws on his feet and hands easily cutting into brick and metal. He’d give a fang-filled smirk as he hung from the ceiling like he’d forgotten he was a bird instead of a bat, only to drop down on unsuspecting shoulders. If he wasn’t clawing at opponents, he was beating them with his fists.

As one of his first acts as Robin, Jason saved a young boy who had been kidnapped for ransom. The kid had acted out of it during the rescue, but Jason put it down to trauma. He’d had no reason to realize the young detective-to-be had noticed the edge of Jason’s fake fangs through the shadows and fake blood. No one could have predicted the rabbit hole young Tim Drake had just fallen down nor that it would lead him to massive discoveries in the near future.

When Jason discovered Catherine Todd wasn’t his birth mother, he considered going alone to look for the mystery woman who’d given birth to him. He and Bruce had just had a fight about his temper that had left him benched and he wanted to prove himself, but something Dick had told him months before echoed in his mind.

“No matter how much we argue, we’re always going to be there for each other. Us birds and bats, we’re a family. We have to stick together.”

In the end, he asked Dick and Barbara for help. It was something he was thankful for when his mother sold him out to the Joker. At least he could hold out against the torment with the knowledge his true family would soon come for him.

When Batgirl and Nightwing arrived, Joker fled. Barbara got Jason out while Dick, after seeing the state of his brother, tracked down the clown. Bruce got to him just in time to stop him from beating Joker to death, but when he saw Jason’s condition he couldn’t bring himself to scold his elder son for his loss of control.

Jason was barely hanging on and Bruce, knowing there was no other choice, turned him.

The boy lived, but his injuries were too severe and he fell into a coma.

Three weeks later, Bruce and Dick came into Bruce’s study to find Tim Drake waiting for them. Both were a little more focused on “My parents are never home” than “so I’m in a perfect position to cover for Jason as Robin while he’s sleeping,” to Tim’s confusion, but he ended up in the suit all the same.

The whispers that had come after Joker’s latest incarceration had him crowing about clipping bird wings tapered off as Robin sightings flared up throughout the city. People saw him flying next to the Bat and they heard him tap-tap-tapping his claws. He tapped them against the walls as he hunted through warehouses and against the floors as he crouched in front of technology that seemed to unlock under his gaze thanks to the computer that’d been built into his gloves, the interface of which could only be seen through the lenses in the Colony’s masks and cowls.

Tim didn’t really know how to feel about being adopted by Bruce, aside from the guilt he knew was mixed in there somewhere. It felt wrong to be slipping into the family like that while Jason was right there and Dick had to talk him down when the anxiety attack eventually hit.

Tim was Tim. He wasn’t Jason and they didn’t want him to be Jason.

Dick understood though. He explained how Dick and Jason had both had similar feelings regarding Barbara and Dick respectively, though Dick could admit he’d gotten off easier all things considered. He told Tim that the Colony was a family, and adoption or not, Tim was a part of that now. Jason wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Tim.

When Jason woke, Dick had a similar conversation with him after Jay saw a news broadcast about Tim while waiting for the others to arrive. It soothed him some, and Tim soothed him more when he assured Jason he wasn’t taking Robin from him.

“There can’t be two Robins.”

“Why can’t there?”

As Jason went through physical training to get back in shape, the two worked together to develop a strategy for acting as Robin together. One part of this was Trillic.

Tim, with help from Dick and Jason, invented a secret language made up of chirps, whistles, and clicks. It started as a way for the Robins to communicate with each other without giving away there was more than one, but over time the rest of the Colony picked it up and the vocabulary expanded until it became the family’s own personal language that they’d use whenever they didn’t feel like using words.

A few days after Jason was released from the hospital, Dick found Jason down in the cave and grew worried his little brother was pushing himself too soon after his accident. Then he saw the young woman on the screen. She looked a year or two older than Jason with long red hair, olive skin, and bright green eyes.

They’d met in Ethiopia, Jason told him, while saving a woman from some men. Jason had wanted to try to track her down now that he was awake. He’d succeeded, but it turned out she was an Amazonian hero.

Combined with the fact her name was Artemis, Dick couldn’t help but laugh and make a joke about Jason following in his footsteps. Jason smacked him and told him she was really more of an anti-hero so it wasn’t the same as Dick making friends with Kid Flash and Tigress, but Dick ignored him.

Jason did end up contacting her, and even got her to take a visit to Gotham. Dick took the opportunity to introduce her to Wally and his own Artemis, who Wally began to refer to as Stripes to not get confused. When questioned, he claimed it was because of some outfit of hers that stuck in his mind. Dick and Jason, knowing it was actually based on her identity as Tigress, nodded along and picked up using the name, to her annoyance.

Surprisingly, the two women didn’t get along despite their similar attitudes. This led to them taking great offense whenever people couldn’t tell which Artemis was being talked about, something only Jason, Dick, and Alfred never managed to do.

While the teens were laughing over this, whispers were going around about how the Bloody Robin seemed to be everywhere. If you fled from a room you knew he was in, you’d find him standing right in front of you in the new room. There was no escape. And he trilled more than ever, though his voice almost seemed to echo back at him as if he was having a conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not long after the Justice League had formed, Barbara had hacked into their security system and planted a little bug she named Mockingbird. It was designed to alert her whenever someone mentioned the Colony’s civilian or vigilante identities and copy any footage during the time. More often than not all it gave her was Wally and Bow-Artemis (as most of the family thought of her, to contrast with Axe-Artemis) discussing Dick. Every so often though, there’d be someone pining after Dick or Bruce, which could be good for a laugh depending on who it was.

On a day not long after the Robins had been set loose together, Mockingbird gave her something that was sort of new, yet at the same time not.

The video started with Wally discussing some prank he and Dick had pulled on Bruce and slowly devolved into him just bragging about how awesome Dick was. Suddenly he froze, staring off into the air.

Artemis took one look at him and asked, “Did you finally realize you’ve got a crush on your best friend?”

He immediately went to reassure his girlfriend, but she said got it and even shared his feelings.

Barbara settled in to watch the show.

Unfortunately, it took longer than she’d anticipated for Dick to catch on that the two actually wanted to date him and not just spend more time with him. He was usually pretty good at picking up on people’s feelings, yet Artemis ended up having to pull him into her lap during a movie night and kiss him flat on the lips before it sunk in.

When Barbara approached him about it, he pouted over her spying. Then he admitted that he’d known for years they all had feelings for each other, he just hadn’t wanted to risk getting in the middle of the two’s relationship since they seemed so happy together. When he’d realized how they’d started flirting with him, he’d been worried they were just after a quick thing and he couldn’t do that to himself. So he’d put on his media mask of naive ditz Dickie who wouldn’t recognize flirting if it hit him in the face.

Thankfully the two had reassured him and after talking it through, the three settled happily into their throuple.

To congratulate his brother, Jason gave him a solid week before making jokes about Dick following in Bruce’s footsteps by dating someone with a feline-themed suit.

The next hurdle was deciding how to deal with the media. Dick was Richard “Dickie” Grayson, eldest son of Bruce Wayne. The media loved to go on about him. Pretty much every second of his relationship with Kory had been recorded by the press. Neither of them had minded. He was still a performer at heart, always would be, and she was a warrior princess who had been in the spotlight all her life.

But Dick knew Wally and Artemis weren’t Kory so he talked to them about how they wanted to handle things.

In the end, they agreed only friends and family would know about Artemis, but Wally and Dick would go public. They all had practice keeping much bigger secrets so it wasn’t hard on Artemis to hide their relationship. Meanwhile, Wally didn’t mind playing around for the cameras. Plus, he knew how people treated Dick when they thought he was single and a small possessive part of him didn’t want them trying anything, even if he knew Dick would never cheat.

Things didn’t actually turn out too bad. Of course, there were always the conservatives that came around when Dick got a boyfriend, but they never stuck around long. Bruce had made his support of Dick’s sexuality very clear from the beginning and no one wanted to risk really ticking someone as rich and connected as him off by attacking his son like that.

The real problem came when their agreement to tell their families accidentally didn’t reach everyone.

Dick had been alone at the manor when it happened.

Bruce had gone on a weekend business trip, bringing Tim with him. Alfred was on a trip to England. Jason had taken the opportunity to spend the weekend hopefully not blowing things up with Artemis Grace, who had ended up getting a small flat in Gotham to act as her home base so she could visit with Jason and Dick during the rare occasions she wasn’t running across the world causing trouble with the Outlaws. Dick had been planning to spend the weekend with his partners at Stripe’s apartment, but they’d both been caught up by something (Dick assumed a mission had unexpectedly run long) so he had the night to himself.

He was watching a movie in the theater room when he felt a shift in the air. He immediately dropped to the floor, barely avoiding the sai that had been coming for his throat. Then he was over the back of the couch and engaging the assassin. He quickly realized she was with the League of Assassins as he recognized moves Bruce had picked up from them. She was good, too, but she had clearly come to the fight unprepared to face a Gotham myth. He didn’t take too many hits before pinning her and binding her hands and feet with the obijime from her dress. He then disarmed her of all her hidden weapons just in case.

When he questioned her, she declared that she was Artemis’s sister and had come to avenge her honor after Wally had betrayed her for Dick. She was not going to sit back and let the fool cheat on or dump her sister for the likes of a man she had believed was nothing more than an airheaded socialite.

Then, with narrowed eyes, she added that she had clearly been mistaken as not many airheaded socialites had been trained by assassins. Nor did they use moves only known by those trained by Ra’s al Ghul.

Dick ignored that and explained the trio’s situation as he untied her, having recognized her as Cheshire aka Jade Nguyen aka his girlfriend’s -- apparently protective -- assassin sister.

He took pride in the fact that he was dating someone who was only related to criminals instead of actually dating a criminal, unlike a certain father of his.

She thankfully believed him, though she did warn that should he be lying or should he hurt Artemis, she wouldn’t underestimate him a second time. She made a few more thinly veiled digs at his assassin-based fighting style as he showed her out that he cleanly sidestepped with comments about self-defense training. They both knew she didn’t believe a word of it, but she left it alone as she slipped away into the night.

So long as her sister remained unharmed, she had no desire to get involved in whatever was going on between the Wayne’s and al Ghul’s.

Before she left Gotham, though, she met Artemis and Wally on their way in and informed her sister that she approved of her new boyfriend. Both to be sure Dick was telling the truth and to mess with the speedster. The two predictably freaked out and she used their panic to slip away.

Dick answered Artemis’s call with, “Oh hey, Stripes! Your sister came by earlier to give me the shovel talk over tea. It was pretty gory, but I think the one Jason gave Wally was still probably worse so I’m not going to complain. Are we still on for tomorrow?” to their relief.

Artemis had not wanted to try to explain her assassin sister to her civilian boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I decided to use Stephanie's Batgirl suit for Babs because most of Babs' suits are either bright or look just like Batman's. Steph will get other suits of hers when she appears.

The Robin suit looks just like Dick's from The Batman (2004), just bloodier.

Nightwing's suit looks like the typical V one, just with the eyes of the mask being blacked out. Also, black lipstick because yes.

Vampires’ animal forms:

Bruce: Gray bat

Alfred: Common raven

Selina: Oriental shorthair cat

Barbara: Little red flying fox

Dick: Black-billed magpie

Jason: Malayan flying fox

#batman #batfam #colony of gotham #fanfiction

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whumpbby · 4 years

Note

So uhh.... how would you feel about a BruJay single dad x nanny au? Just picture it Bruce Wayne single father of four (Dick, Cass, Tim & Dami) hires Jason to be his nanny only he didn’t expect to catch feelings. But how can he help it? Jay’s so pretty and smart and amazing with his kids and those thighs Jesus Christ. Bonus points if the kids are totally down for Jay to be their new mom and have some matching making schemes. Jay, as always, is oblivious to this entire situation.

How would I feel?

My friend, I AM A YES!!!

Listen.

I have to make it an ABO, because that’s how I roll nowadays.

Bruce is Batman. But he’s also a dad of 3 (let’s say 3 so far, Dick, Tim and Damian - respectively 7, 5 and 4). Steph is his Robin and Cass is the Batgirl (adopted by Jim Gordon and his wife, older sister of 8yo Barbara;]), and Bruce is about 29-31 in this story:] Duke is leading the Titans - not a Robin, but B trained him. They have a colloquial relationship of a mentor/student.

Now, because B has 3 boys, each of them a horror of their own, and because he loves Alfred too much to leave him in charge of them, he scouts around for a nanny.

Except it’s not easy, because B is notoriously suspicious, and Damian is notoriously hard to please - he won’t accept a woman in the house that isn’t his mom, or an omega, and the kid has lungs of steel. So, as of now, B relies on daycare and upscale agencies, but there is always some snag.

Enter Jason Todd, a new temp cleaner at the nursery Dami and Timmy go to. Jason is aiming for a job a s teacher and the nursery job (he landed by accident) is a good way to make some money through the Summer. He’s 20, big and buff, and with a chip on his shoulder. And on the first day of his shift he accidentally ends up stuck between two Wayne brats trying to kill each other. He just needed to clean up the playroom during the nap - the kids had a muffin day and left a lot of dough everywhere - that these two brats seemed to skip to fight over a stuffed toy. There’s just him and his bucket, and no carers in sight, and the boys are really getting aggressive.

And he has no idea who the kids belong to, he’s exhausted and short on patience, a week from his heat, so he’s not afraid of grabbing them both and stuffing them both into timeout - Damian lands himself in a baby ballpit until he stops trying to bite and Tim gets sat down at a table with a colouring book and crayons, and a big angry man showing him carefully how to draw a spider. The toy lands on the top of the cupboard until further notice.

A couple minutes later, after Jason makes sure that Tim has a firm grip on the number of legs a spider should have and is on the way of populating his little notebook with an arachnid family - he goes to check on Damian, who stopped yelling. The boy is sitting in the ballpit, looking lost and confused. No one ever just - no one treated him like that. No one apart from Alfred, that is. Certainly no one at the nursery. Apart from this person who looked at him expecting better behaviour and Damian is confused.

He wants his toy. Please.

The boy’s speech is slurred and barely legible, but Jason understands the little tacked on ‘please’ and okay, once the kid stopped screaming, he’s pretty cute. Just very snotty. So, Jay pulls him out of the ballpit, gives him his toy and wipes his little face. Then he sits him in the play corner and goes about his cleaning.

Five minutes in he notices that he now has two little shadows - the boys are trailing behind him, watching him work: Damian with a stuffed dog under his arm and a thumb in his mouth, Tim with a toy-camera, taking ‘stealthy’ photos of Jason. It’s amusing so Jay lets them.

It lasts until a rushed career runs into the room, terrified that she’s lost the Wayne boys again! And who are you, a strange man?!

Jason introduces himself and explains the situation, and watches bemused as the career tries to bundle the kids away, back into the nap room and that is it.

Except it isn’t. Because the Wayne boys are smart and from that point on all Bruce hears about from these two is “Jason”. Every morning Damian goes to the nursery he expects to see the “’aison” and every time he doesn’t, he grows grumpier and grumpier. And Timmy employs all of his detective skills to discover who is the Jason and where is he?

It’s adorable, but a bit concerning, so Bruce does a bit of research into that Jason. Because Jay is a temp there’s not much on him in the nursery’s database, but what there is sounds harmless, so Bruce leaves it at that.

Until the fateful day when the nursery is invaded by criminals who are there to kidnap Wayne boys and, well, since the boys were currently busy trailing behind Jason, and the omega gets defensive, and well, gets himself bagged alongside the kids.

And now it’s down to Batman to save his kids and their accidental babysitter.

#headcanon #Anonymous

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tired-college-student-writing · 5 years

Text

Tim’s Secret Weapon Pt. 4

I’ve been slightly obsessed with @ozmav ‘s Damian Wayne/Marinette Dupain-Cheng pairing as of late, and just saw a post that has inspired me more than anything else has in months, so I felt the need to write it

Summary- Tim has always seen the numbers floating above people’s heads, been able to perceive their threat levels with a single glance. After being a hero for so long he thought he was desensitized to seeing high numbers above people’s heads until Damian brings a new friend home.

Part 1

Part 3

Part 4 (HERE)

Part 5

_______________________________________________________________________

“Yup!” Jason popped the ‘p’ before holding up the book Tim had given him, “Who’s ready for storytime?”

“What do you mean Tim is afraid I would throw him out?” Bruce pushed even as Jason led them towards one of the desks, “I want to help him with-”

“Yeah I’m gonna stop you there,” Jason cut him off, eyes hard as he set the book down with an uncharacteristic amount of care,“Tim was very offended by what we thought was going on with him and it just made him more sure that all of us were going to leave him behind as his shitty parents did. So let’s just cut to the chase and cool off before he seriously decides to run off before we can go talk to him because I’m pretty sure even after talking to him for twenty minutes, he’s still around seventy-five percent sure that’s going to be a better option than waiting around.”

Jason had never seen the energy of a room shift so fast, the anger and bloodlust that had been suffocating since Dick uncovered the file on Marinette vanished into a deep rippling uncertainty. If there was one unspoken rule of the household, it was that no previous trauma will knowingly be replicated. It’s why Jason always makes a point of leaving his guns in the cave and never points them passed Bruce unless it’s life or death. Why no one touched the trapeze unless Dick was going up with them and they always used a net, no matter how good their aerial skills were. Why no one spoke to Jason in angry or stern Arabic. No one told Damian he was overreacting, especially when it was about illness or injuries.

No one was allowed to make Tim think they were abandoning him.

Dick looked stricken at the very idea, “Jay, why is Tim so scared?”

“Short answer? Tim’s Meta.”

The whole room froze, eyes flying wide, making Jason chuckle, “Yeah that was my response to.”

“How long?” Bruce asked, hand gripping the back of his chair so hard, Jason wondered if he was going to break it.

“From what he said, he was born with his power, it’s always on and pretty impossible for him to block out.”

Damian’s face scrunched, “And father always made it clear that he doesn’t like Metas in Gotham.”

“Fuck,” Dick swore, turning to punch the cave wall, “How the actual shit did we miss this? We’re fucking detectives goddamn it!”

Seeing Dick lose it like that made Jason pause. It was rare to see the carefree brother truly get mad about anything, let alone for him to cuss up a storm, he always did prefer those filler cusses that make the rest of them groan.

But then again Damian looked pained and Bruce was sinking into the Bat-computer chair looking lost as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I never meant it like this,” Bruce whispered, “I just didn’t want anyone else coming to Gotham expecting to be able to fix it overnight. Did I really come off anti-meta?”

“I…” Jason winced, stopping to think, “I never thought so, but I can see how Tim thought you might be. We all need to talk to him, but I promised I’d explain some of this shit like Tim did to me, and look through his book so that we don’t all bombard him with questions.”

The four shared a look before they all surrounded the table as Jason began. He told them of the numbers, the skill Tim had that he never shared. After they opened the book they found that it was more complex than just that.

The entries started off very rudimentary, clearly written by a small child, the dates claiming that Tim began this journal when he was merely six years old. They detailed the color, font, and number of the person he had met. A few of the higher ranks having little ideas next to them on the cause, but as the list grew and the handwriting even outed, there were itemized lists on the reason for each number above a 5.

By the time they reached Bruce’s they were pretty dumbfounded as they read through Tim’s confusion and fear at the number that broke the code he’d knew through his whole life, his reason section was filled with sentences of ideas, instead of the short bullet points, trying to ration it out.

The most confusing part of it was he ruled things out that he couldn’t have known, insider trading and corruption would have been a logical conclusion for him to draw of the Billionaire he knew nothing about but he ruled them out instantly, not even bothering to consider they might be part of the reason.

Not to mention when he actually put it together.

“His power works on broadcasts as well?” Bruce mused, “I know I never saw he was never on the streets when I was out during this time period,”

“Adding it to the list of questions,” Dick said as he typed it out into the sheet he had made when they started asking too many questions only Tim could answer.

“Never mind that,” Damian brushed off, “Look at the traits he listed, all listed at the same time from the looks of the ink but if the date is to be believed, this is from before Todd was debuted as Robin, how did he know you had a mastery in hacking, spoke multiple languages and stunt flight?”

All of them froze at those words, hunching over it to look at the words.

There was no logical way Tim could know any of those things. Most of Batman’s skill set could be guessed through out the rumors and gossip that flew since the caped crusader started his reign of the city, but those skill sets still weren’t widely known to the public.

“I…” Bruce shook his head, “Add it to the list, we have a lot more of the book to get through to worry about this now. We should try and finish the book.

But the issue popped up again and again as the pages went on, each hero he met he knew their skills down to the littlest detail, things he shouldn’t be able to know, especially before he became the third Robin.

He knew Clark was Superman when he met the reporter first.

He knew Diane was made of clay before the woman had ever given away that little tidbit.

He knew that Barry was a wiz when it came to criminology before the speedster had ever given up his identity.

He knew Arthur had low-level empathic abilities that went beyond sea life before Arthur was even considered a hero.

They were only two-third of the way through the book, arguing over how The Commissioner could possibly know their identities, let alone why it would make his number rise so quickly when not even Bruce’s number had done so when he learned the other League member’s identities, when a stern voice cut through their thought.

“Gentlemen, There’s a bit of a situation that Master Tim and I discovered that could use your attention.” Alfred cut in, making them turn, stopping when they saw Tim practically sprint to the Bat computer, pointily looking at the wall to avoid looking at them, his shoulders so tight they shock.

“Tim?” Dick asked, concern dripping from his words as he started towards the younger man only to freeze as Tim visually flinched away from the word, curling inward as he frantically typed away on the keyboard.

Before any of them tried to break the silence again the giant screen lit up to show a battle play out. A young girl dressed in a red and polka-dotted outfit flipping and twisting out of the way of the pages thrown like ninja stars at her, a yoyo used to propel her, eyes filled with laughter behind her mask. Her moves were agile and practiced, as another figure, a boy her same age dressed in skin-tight black leather entered the frame.

“I figured out why Marinette is a 15,” He finally managed out, making the bats’, minus Jason, heads snap to him.

A 15?

The brat couldn’t just have a normal girlfriend, could he?

No, he had to have someone that shattered Tim’s power completely.

And he had no idea why, until now.

They really couldn’t blame him for being obsessive.

“I couldn’t find out why Mari was so powerful,” Tim rambled on, “But Alfred helped me realize that she’s a hero too. A hero with the power of the god of creation on her side, which makes sense for why she completely broke my, uh, my power. She’s been-”

“Tim,”

“-fighting a supervillain,” Tim just continued as if he hadn’t heard Bruce, his voice skipping up a few pitches, “ who also uses the power of a god to help him make others into villains to do his bidding. They’ve been locked in battle for years now. Years! We really should have noticed before now, but better late then never right? Heh, she has some allies though so it’s not like she was fighting on her own or anything, and-”

“Drake,” Damian cut in, ducking past Dick to grab Tim by the shoulder to spin him, staring into his eyes with the type of harsh determination only the demon spawn seemed to be able to, ignoring the quacking fear in Tim’s own eyes, “I am the byproduct of the daughter of one of Father’s greatest enemies drugging him. I was raised will one goal in mind, to be the ultimate weapon to take down all that stood in the way of the League of Assassins, and yet Father, Grayson, Todd, Pennyworth and you gave me safety and taught me why my grandfather was wrong. Todd was murdered by a clown with psychopathic tendencies, was brought back by the magic that my grandfather has a monopoly on, went crazy with Lazarth sickness and thought the best course of action was to become a crimelord in the very city he vowed to protect, going as far as trying to shoot Father, the man he saw as an older brother and you, the boy he was convinced Father had only brought into the circle to die as he had, and yet once the sickness faded Father welcomed back in with open arms, shedding tears for the child he thought he had lost. Father may have made it clear that he’s not a fan of metas operating in the city, but you’re a moron if you believe for a second that means he’s going to disown you or take Red Robin away from you. You’re also lost all my respect if you think this means I or any of the others that dawn the bat moniker are going to feel any different about you for having these powers.”

Tim’s mouth opened and closed several times after Damian’s speech had come to a close as the others waited for him to break the silence of the cave. All he could feel was his hands trembling as his eyes welled up.

Damian was still looking at him before sighing, “You really are an idiot,”

He wanted to retort, wanted to bite out a response as he blinked back the tears but he suddenly found Damian’s arms wrapped around his waist, a tight grounding embrace, the younger boy’s chin resting on his shoulder.

Tim wasn’t sure he was breathing, his whole body shaking like it was trying to shatter into a million pieces. The brat, Damian, the one person he thought would gladly cast him aside given the slightest of reason to was…

“You’re family, Tim,” Damian stern voice cut through his mental frenzy, “If I’ve learned one thing since moving to Gotham, it’s that you don’t give up on family, not for anything, and certainly not for something like this.”

Tim felt something inside him break and the next thing he knew he was sobbing into Damian’s shoulder the pair on their knees in the middle of the cave, gripping Damian back like he thought if he let go the boy would vanish. Slowly as he felt his breathing calm down and his sobs fade he could feel more arms surrounding him. The entire bat family was surrounding him, silently holding him through his breakdown.

He pulled back, scrubbing his eyes as his family slowly untangled from around him.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered, voice scratchy from the tears, “I guess I should have known none of you would hate me but… I’ve been so scared that I’d lose you guys too. I didn’t want to risk it, I couldn’t risk it.”

He flinched slightly when a large hand squeezed his shoulder looking up into Bruce’s eyes, softened by a love that could destroy the world if his child was hurt. A love that none of the Waynes needed to put words to because of looks like this.

Glancing back to his brothers he saw the love in Bruce’s eyes reflected in theirs, all of them accepting him and loving him still.

The weight Tim had carried for as long as he knew to grow lighter as a small smile worked its way onto his face.

His eyes burning with the same intense love for his family back at them.

For the first time in a long time, Tim knew without a doubt

It would be okay.

_______________________________________________________________________

Tim couldn’t stop the whimper from falling from his lips as Marinette’s class came pouring out of the doors of the school.

All of the Wayne boys had decided to surprise Marinette by showing up at her class when it let out, in addition to not wanting to wait to reveal they knew her secret. It wasn’t hard to get all of them to Paris merely days after Tim’s secret came to light, especially since Bruce was planning on checking up on the Paris branch of Wayne Enterprises the following week before everything happened. Expanding the trip last minute to include all of them had taken little effort, and all of their suits were tucked away in their hotel suites, waiting to be dawned once they got Marinette alone.

Tim was ready to turn back now though and for a very good reason.

In the normal sea of threes and fours, normally Marinette stood out with her overwhelmingly soft pink 15, but now...

The tanned girl that had hoards of kids surrounding her had an obnoxious copper 9 floating above her, the font looking like a tiger had scratched it into the very fabric of space.

A trio of students, a bulky boy, a small pink-haired girl, and a dark-skinned nerdy-looking boy, were messing around as pale numbers circled their heads, a pair of stark white 12s over the boys and an icy blue 13 over the girl.

A pair of girls, one blonde and one of Asian descent, were bickering as they made their way down the steps, a canary yellow daintily drawn 14 for the blonde and deep burgundy calligraphed 13 for the more stoic girl.

And the blonde boy Marinette was happily conversing with, looking even more softspoken and sweet than the baker girl.

He had a venomous green 15 swirling over him in it’s rounded bubble-like font.

His brothers glanced at him warily.

“Everything okay Timmy?” Jason asked, eyes flitting over the crowed on instinct, looking for the threat that spooked him.

“I’ll tell you later,” He groaned back, “... but keep an eye on the girl in the orange jacket, she feels slimy from all the way over here,”

His brothers nodded, but even so, Tim felt a migraine coming on.

For once Tim wished for an alien invasion so he didn’t have to deal with this bullshit.

_______________________________________________________________________

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @iggy-of-fans @mewwitch @roseinbloom02 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mochinek0 @royalchaoticfangirl @09shell-sea09 @mystery-5-5 @derpingrainbow @aloha-posts-stuff @hauntedfreakdeputyhero @maribat-archive @blue-peach14 @kae690 @zazzlejazzle @vincentvangoose @be-happy-every-day-please @xxmadamjinxx @celestiacq @peculiarlylostdreamer @dani-ari @melicmusicmagic @themcclan @nyctamaximoff @nataladriana9 @drama-queen-supreme @miraculousbelladonna @urbanpineapplefarmer @graduatedmelon @lexysama @hecate-hallow @ki117h3dr4g0n @vinerlover @interobanginyourmom @bluefiredemon @imanerddealwith @tinybrie @clumsy-owl-4178 @shizukiryuu @whogavemeaninternet @schrodingers25 @lunar-wolf-warrior @urbanpineapplefarmer @xxmadamjinxx @crazylittlemunchkin @littleredrobinhoodlum

#miraculous ladybug #batman #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #Tim Drake #meta!tim #BatFam #Damian Wayne #dick grayson #Jason Todd #bruce wayne #Alfred Pennyworth #miraculous class #numbers AU #Tim is so tired

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dcnatural · 4 years

Text

End Game

Word Count: 1454

Pairing: Reader x Dick Grayson

Rating: General Audiences

Synopsis: You are Dick's SO, but your insecurity gets the best of you when you think you found evidence he was cheating.

Dick Grayson had a reputation as a womanizer. As the first son of Bruce Wayne, and heir to the Wayne Enterprises, the media loved to detail everything he did, and especially with who he did it. So when he first approached you during a fundraising, you had thought it would be an one-night stand and nothing more. But the morning after, before he left the flat you shared with your best friend, he asked for your number.

You went over the moon when he called that very same afternoon to invite you to dinner. And, then, after having been going out for almost a month, he asked you to be his SO, to which you gladly said “yes”. Despite all that, you still feared the day he would leave you and move on to the next, after all, he had a reputation, you knew the relationship wouldn’t last. But it did, a year passed and you two were still a couple.

You knew it was foolish, but you couldn’t help but think he was cheating on you. He often worked late night (and he was super vague about what his work was, you knew he worked at Wayne Enterprises, but that was all) and when he was sleeping with you, he would sometime disappear when he thought you were asleep and come back hours later. The only explanation was that he was cheating, you were sure of it! But you were too much of coward to confront him, Dick had been the best boyfriend you ever had and you preferred to share him than not have him at all. You hated what he was doing, why couldn’t you be enough for him?

* * *

It’s a Saturday morning, Dick had called saying he had a surprise and that he would pick you up on your apartment. You loved when he surprised you! He often took you to the most amazing places, like that one time when he took one of Bruce’s helicopters to fly you to New York so you could see your favorite musician. You wonder what he had planned for today. Sitting by the window, you see his blue Corvette ‘61 park in front of your building. You rise from your seat as he exit the car and go have a last look on the mirror, to make sure you look great.

The doorbell rings and you run to answer.

“Hi”, you greet your boyfriend, running a nervous hand on your hair. How come that even after one year the mere sight of him is still enough to send your heart racing?

“Hey”, he answers, kissing you softly on the lips. “You ready?” You nod and closes the door, checking to see if it was locked, you can’t take any chances on Gotham.

Dick looks amazing in his football jacket, reminiscent from his high school days, his back hair is combed back and he wears sunglasses, despite the dark clouds floating on the horizon. You walk with him to the car and he opens the passenger door for you. Always a gentleman. As you accommodate yourself on the seat, a sharp object pokes your ass cheeks.

“Auch!”, you exclaim, blindly tapping to try to catch it. An earring… And it’s not yours, that’s for sure. Nor Dick’s. Tangled on it, a single strand of red hair… “What’s this?”, you ask, handing him the small piece of metal. Jealousy burns on your chest. He was seeing a redhead. His ex’s is redheaded. Barbara, the Commissioner daughter. You knew it! Even though he said she was just a friend now, you always had a hunch that he was still into her.

“Ah… An earring?”, he answers, unsure of why you are asking.

“Whose earring?”

“I don’t know”, he says in a humorous tone. You could see that he was trying not to laugh.

“You think this is funny?”, you are more disappointed than mad. You always hoped that when you confronted him about his cheating he would at least admit to it. “I’m not stupid! I know there are others, but I preferred when you hid it, instead of letting them leave things around.”

He pulls the car to a stop, having driven only a block. The engine off, he turns to look at you. “What are you talking about?”

His gaze is too much to bear, and you decide to stare at the steering wheel. “You always work at night, stays days without calling or text, and sometimes you disappear in the middle of the night when we are together. I notice things, the mysterious phone calls that you answer in private and the weak excuses you give afterwards to leave. I know, Dick. Just don’t need to rub it on my face, okay?”

“Hey”, he says, reaching out to cup your face, “look at me”, his voice is not humorous anymore. You comply and turn to see his blue eyes. “I’m not seeing anyone else. I love you, Camila. I love you with all my heart.” You lean in and his lips meets yours in deep, passionate kiss. He says it so honestly that you almost believe it. But if there isn’t another, then what’s the reason of his shady behavior?

“I love you too, Dickie”, you say, breaking the kiss. “But, w-why”, your voice trembles, “what are you hiding?”

He takes a long pause and then restarts the car. “I was going to show you that. Well, there was a picnic first, but I guess we can skip that.”

You turn the radio to avoid the uncomfortable silence that follows you through the drive to Wayne Manor. He parks in the garage and you both get out. You still hold the earring on your hand, clenching and uncleching your fist.

You hear Tim and Damian arguing inside the house and smell the familiar aroma of Alfred’s cookies. Dick takes your hand and you walk together to an old clock that is in one of the corridors. You had passed by that clock many times before, and there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Just a huge, old clock.

“That’s it?”

“Wait a minute”, he replies, and begins to tap in the wood. Suddenly the clock moves backwards, opening a narrow passage to a stairway leading down.

You can’t hide the shocked expression on your face. He chuckles seeing your wide eyes and agape mouth. “What’s…”

“Go on, there’s nothing to be afraid”, and thankfully he flicks a switch, illuminating the staircase. At least with the lights on it doesn’t look as creepy. You glance back to the corridor and see Tim spying on you and Dick, when he notices you caught him, he quickly hides behind the hallway curve. You roll your eyes. Teenagers … You begin to walk down the stairs, checking every few steps to see Dick’s reassuring smile. Finally, the stairs comes to an end, and you find yourself facing a large cave.

In front of you, a variety of objects are displayed across the hall. You spot the Batmobile, the giant coin Two-Face used once, a dinosaur skeleton, and at least 10 different Batsuits on display.

You turn to Dick in disbelief. “You are Batman?”, you exclaim.

He laughs. “No. Not yet, at least.” He points to the blue costume on a glass display. You recognize it as the first suit Nightwing ever wore.

“You’re Nightwing!”, you exclaim again. He nods. “And this means that Bruce is Batman...” He nods again. “And who is Robin?”

“Well, first it was me, then Jason, then Tim and currently it’s Damian.”

“And is Bruce okay with you showing me this?”

“Yes, they know how much you mean to me. I wanted to tell you the truth, so you wouldn’t make a decision in the dark.”

“A decision about what?”, you inquire, puzzled.

He kneels and pulls a small box from his pocket. “I love you, Camila. I want you to be part of live forever”, he opens the box, revealing a gold ring encrusted with stones on your favorite color. “Will you marry me?”

“YES!”, you shout without a second thought, your voice echoing in the cave.

He puts the ring on your finger, and it fits perfectly. You hug him and you two kiss for a long time. Your body feels like it’s on fire. But there’s still one single question on your brain.

“Hey”, you say in a low tone, “but whose earring is it?”

“Oh, I gave a ride to Aunt Kathy yesterday.”

You laugh at your own stupidity. All those worries for nothing, in the end, you were the only one in his heart. You kiss him again, wedding plans already forming in your head.

#dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #nightwing x reader #nightwing imagine #dick grayson imagine #reader #dc

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heartless-error · 4 years

Text

Broken, not perfect, but together. - Chapter 12

Fandom: DC comics, Batman

Pairings: Jonathan Kent x Damian Wayne (JonDami) & Jason Todd x Timothy Drake (JayTim)

Rating/Tags: Family feels, hurt/comfort, mental health issues, running away, childhood crushes, brotherly love

Other(s) links: AO3

Broken.

The Batfamily was broken.

It was six years ago, and they had barely stood together since then, trying to stand up despite guilt and regret.

Damian was sure there was nothing to save, not after losing something that he didn’t know he cared about. But when a new opportunity to get back what they had lost appeared, he cannot help to doubt as his past decisions haunt him again.

If you love somebody, set them free. But you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Chapter Summary: Gotham people were rough and rude, but also kind and patient. Just like the city, they were shaped by darkness and courage. They protected what they loved and who they loved with ferocity and strength, without restraints. Damian wasn’t purely from Gotham, but was protected in its way, and Jason Todd not only made him see that, but made sure Jon would love his little brother the same way. The Gotham way.

Chapter 12

Seven years ago

Gotham had a certain… charm.

A unique and special one that characterized it and it was quite difficult to discern, much more openly recognize it. However, once you looked beyond the high crime and corruption rates, the alarming number of villains or rogues in disguises that continually threaten people's lives, and that unstable climate that sometimes gave rise to clouds and fog that gave the city a gloomy and macabre appearance, you could realize the hidden beauty that the site harbored.

It wasn’t found in dirty alleyways that smelled bad and were home to stray cats or rats, nor in parks conveniently unguarded by nights, or in the ports where the toxic waste was dumped, not even in the gargoyles located on the heights that seemed to act as unbreakable guardians of the city.

No. It was in the people.

Gotham’s people were tough, sullen, and tenacious, just like the city itself. They had been born into it, and the place had forcefully taught them to be resistant and obstinate to live under its darkness and harshness. The insight and perseverance they possessed was proof of their determination and effort, one that could only be obtained when you lived and loved a place like this.

Still, despite such rudeness on their part, the vast majority possessed within themselves a kindness and a kind heart that not only survived in the darkness of the city but adapted to it with everything it could. Many sought to do good in their own way regardless of what it involved, see vigilantes or others in the simplest and most imperceptible way, some kept smiling despite everything, and all of them stayed on their feet despite the fact that the place was cruel to its own people. It was difficult to explain, sometimes even to see, but it was as if the city itself was aware of its own danger and forced its citizens to adapt to it for their own good. In this way, the love-hate that characterized the place was beautiful in its own way, although somewhat twisted.

Gotham could be dark and cruel, but also kind and patient. The insane madness of some contrasted with the strong will of others, and much as everything fell apart, they always did their best to get up and move on. Dark, yes, but also strong, determined, and unwavering.

After living in Metropolis for a few years, Jonathan was very used to hearing not very pleasant things from the rival city. However, Superboy had patrolled among it enough not only to appreciate the strength it possessed, but to realize that antipathy that the people of Metropolis criticized, was nothing more than a stealth and kindness covered of prudence and a very usual aversion on the part of the gothamites. Maybe if he thought about it, there might have been real antipathy of many after the Gotham Knights lost to the Metropolis Meteors in the final game, but that was far from the principal issue.

Now, despite Jon still having a hard time making out the difference between that inherent caution they had acquired after living on the same streets as the Joker or plain antipathy, he was quietly observing the city while he waited for his patrol partner to arrive.

The lights that lit up Gotham that night was pretty decent, it didn't look as dark as usual and the humid and worrying smell of the place was not so intense this time. Jonathan was on the lookout for any alarming or troubling sounds reaching his ears as he swung his legs in the void, sitting on the edge of one of the rooftops that had become a meeting point when patrolling with Robin.

He might as well have gone straight to find him at the cave, or at the manor, but Damian had been involved in another case and asked him to wait for him.

So there he was, sitting there, waiting, trying not to break Batman rules too much by being there unsupervised, and still pondering on that admirable need so fierce and innate that the pure gothamites felt to protect their city, when they heard him arrive.

Damian was not purely from Gotham; it was a fact. Jon had realized that his attitude and personality were quite similar to the city itself, since his friend was tough, direct, but kind too, cautious in his progress, but patient in his own way. However, he had not been born there, had been raised in a more hostile and crueler environment, and no matter how long he had been living there and learning from his family. Although his effort, will, and affinity had brought him closer to being a gothamite, he was not completely one. That was not bad, far from it, Jon didn’t consider himself from Metropolis entirely, would be too much. But if he had to put some perfect example on who belonged to Gotham to the core and it showed, it was definitely Jason Todd, Red Hood.

Who had gone straight to the roof he was on and, after landing behind him, was approaching him at a safe pace, without hesitation.

Jon liked Damian. How could he not? He was cool, amazing in many ways, he was even proud to call him friend. Really, he liked him, he even dared to say that he loved him, in that special, sincere, and vehement way that only a best friend could do… Supposedly.

The thing is, sometimes his family, the bats, were too indecipherable even for him.

Red Hood was a complicated case, sure not just for himself. And not precisely because the elder would have done something to him or behaved badly with him, well, quite the contrary. He liked him, maybe too much, or more than he seemed allowed.

Red Hood and the Outlaws always seemed to be a separate case for many in the hero community, mostly because of the uncomfortable tensions or conflicts that old family or friendship relationships had supposed about their members. But Jon didn’t know much either, he didn’t have to do it because it wasn’t his business, and most of the conflicts that took place, he didn’t witness, since he was neither old enough to do it nor he wasn’t even born, therefore, it was not his problem or the place to get into. Also, he was twelve years old, neither could comment on anything. All he knew about Jason before met him or talked to him was that he died, he came back, he wasn’t on good terms with much of the batfamily, and for some reason Kon had a very strong resentment towards him.

But for his part, he couldn’t dislike him. Most of the time he ran into Red Hood it was on a mission, when a disaster was too big to deny the Outlaws’ help, or when he appeared during his patrol with Robin to bother for a while and then leave, sometimes even accompanied by Red Robin. The man always exuded that same dangerous but controlled aura that shouted “Gotham” everywhere and had always felt when he stepped on the place the first few times he showed up there on patrol with Robin. But in turn, he had never been a danger or a threat, and beyond treating him with playful irony, he hadn’t done nothing.

At the same time, Damian trusted him, Tim too. With the passing years, he had noticed how everyone had gotten closer and how their interactions were less scathing and softer, though he couldn’t say the same for the other bats. But from what he had seen and understood, Tim worked more with Jason than anyone currently in Gotham, and if there was one thing that had been made clear to him from all the stories he had heard, it was that Tim’s judgment -as unique and strange as it seemed- it was always pretty right. As for Damian, he trusted him more than anyone in the world, and he knew he saw the red team frequently. He almost always ended up in quite a good mood and Jon understood what it was like to get along with an older brother, also how much it had cost his friend to get to that point with them, so he was very proud and happy for the three of them, although he didn’t understand how fighting with his fists over the last slice of pizza could be described as brotherly affection, but who was he to question how bats showed love?

The case is that as a result of everything else, he decided to ignore his father’s anxiety (again), Batman’s paranoia, and Kon’s jealousy (Yes Conner, I know you’re jealous even if you don’t want to admit it), to trust that Red Hood was not as bad as they had made him think.

Indeed, he wasn’t, he isn’t, he hadn’t failed him so far, and he doubted he would. Like a good gothamite and Damian’s older brother, at first glance Jason was harsh, ironic and somewhat dangerous, but he had a soft spot for children that made him treat them better than to humanity in general, and Jon was the best friend of his little brother, whom he protected when there was some imminent danger. He also worked with Tim and was sure that the third Robin had told him about his tutoring for school, so he supposed there was no way the man had anything against him to start and vice versa.

So, Jonathan didn’t care much about the concern of others about his short encounters with the guy in the red helmet or the strange friendship he had with him, except when they pointed it out as an act motivated by his “innocence”. He was twelve years old, yes, but he believed that he had lived through enough things not to be so naive as everyone wanted to assume.

Also, how could he say no to free food?

“Hey. Superbrat.” Jason snapped as he reached him, swinging the bag of Chinese food in the process. They both knew he had heard him come from far away.

“Hi Jason.” He greeted back and turning to give him a slight smile.

“Tsk. Names in the field.” He replied with exasperation, although he didn’t even seem really upset, his tone lacked angry and seemed more affectionate than anything else.

“Sorry.” He answered with fun, all bats always responded the same. “Hi Hood.”

The other seemed more satisfied with his other attempt, bet he might been smiling, but there wasn’t a way to be sure. Instead of questioning it, he simply looked as the older got closer to him, put the bag of takeaway between them and sat on the roof ledge as well.

“Hi kid.” He greeted him again. “What are you doing here alone? Does the Big-Bat let you wander around the city as freely as you want now?”

Jon almost rolled his eyes wearily. Batman was still somewhat strict about his “no metas in my city” rule despite how effective his association with Damian had proven to be. He had permission to be there, as long as he was accompanied by Robin or another bat. It was ridiculous.

“No.” He denied it. “I’m waiting for Robin.”

“That already makes more sense.” Hood nodded settling where he had sat and taking out a pack of cigarettes. “Where’s he doing?”

“He’s on other business, he told me to meet him here.”

“And he leaves you here alone and waiting?" He exclaimed wryly as he also took a lighter. “What a bad way to treat a date.”

Jon could have answered or continued with what he knew it was a joke, but his brain didn’t seem to register it on time and finished choking on a babble nervous as he felt his face begin to burn with embarrassment.

He knew Jason was joking, of course he was, most of what that man was saying out of his mouth were taunts, sarcasm and inappropriate jokes that shouldn’t be taken seriously most of the time, more about them, who were younger than him. Hood really liked to tease Dami and him, bite and bother them in that unbearable way that only an older brother or a cool uncle could do. But hearing him hint that he could be Damian’s date, that he and Damian could have a date, that Damian could ask him for a date... imagining it made his heart jump and his breathing inevitably catch.

It was weird, he didn’t get it -or didn’t want to- and Jay was joking, of course he didn’t think he and Damian could be... like that. They were just best friends. Yes. Best friends didn’t have dates, nor did imagine or expect a future with each other. No. That was weird. And they didn’t give that image to others, did they?

He wanted to think no, but Jon was flushed to the ears by his best friend and now Red Hood was looking directly at him without saying a word at his reaction. Which was quite disconcerting, because the helmet made it impossible to discern any emotion or expression that the man might be doing, and for a moment Superboy felt what some villains or rogues in Gotham might feel before being crushed by Red Hood’s fury: an uncertainty fear by not being able to know what the hell he might be thinking.

“I-I don’t think it will take him long.” He finished babbling nervously to try to hide his nervous. “He could arrive at any time…”

Jon cleared his throat and looked up at the city lights again as he bit his lower lip, he didn’t want to have to face Red Hood and he still felt the shame bubbling up inside him, threatening to blush his face again. It was too late to pretend how weird his reaction had been, but he hoped Jason wanted to let that moment pass as well as he did. Because he didn’t know what he would do if he started joking about it now.

Fortunately, the eldest didn’t seem to want to comment on it, and he did him a huge favor by remaining silent. What’s more, he heard clearly how he took off his helmet to put it aside and lit a cigarette to start smoking silently.

They remained silent for a good time, listening to the movement and the nightlife of the city below them and with the wind lightly caressing them from time to time. Jon gradually calmed down with the vision of the lights, and Jason finished a cigarette and then lit another. Once he looked calmer and able to pretend he hadn’t been exposed in front of his best friend’s older brother, Jon realized how he should be surprised by the way in which precisely of all people, he seemed able to relax and fall into comfortable silence with the Red Hood, realizing that it hadn’t been difficult at first, either.

Jason treated him like a kid, yeah, but he never assumed he was dumb, innocent, or inexperienced like others did. He respected what he said sometimes and kept patient if he failed. He joked with him and bothered him, but always with a certain respect and knowing the limits, like at that moment, for example. And most importantly, he never demanded anything or showed unrealistic expectations of him, which many did without realizing. With Jason he wasn’t the “son of Superman”, or “the talented Super", or “a super”, he was just... A brat, a child, a kid who he ruffled his hair, could make blush with a joke, bring Chinese food or give a book for Christmas. That’s it. And was fine, because he didn’t feel like he had to explain anything or do something heroic to please him, not even pretend that he didn’t feel anything, or that he was more mature than he needed in pursuit of being the indestructible Superboy.

He inspired him a sense of normality, security. More or less the same as Conner. He liked that.

“So…”

The older one caught his attention and interrupted his thoughts, making him look at him and realize that he had half a cigarette left, as well as he wore the red mask under his helmet. The bat was looking straight ahead, but hadn’t continued speaking, he seemed to be measuring his words or thinking what to say, something weird about him that made Jonathan bow his head curiously and nervousness.

“The gremlin likes you.” Jason finished affirming with a serious tone and concise. “So much as someone can like to him, of course.”

Jon felt his heart jump again, but this time he controlled it, being aware that he didn’t have to say it that way, so he looked at him, urging him to continue. Although an unusual unease began to flood him, one he had never felt around him.

“And you like him.” The older man said again, still in that tone of strict yet inquisitive. “Right?”

For some reason, danger alarms started ringing in his head. Which made no sense, because as he had thought before, Jason had never been aggressive or dangerous towards him, he had no reason to be. So, what was wrong?

“…Yes?” Jon didn’t know how to respond, nor where that conversation went, but because of how the atmosphere was tense he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“Is that a question?” Said then Red Hood, this time turning to look at him fixedly and the angry flooding his voice.

“No! I like him! I do.” This time he answered hurriedly and with more security, not wanting to anger him with vague answers. “He’s my best friend, of course I like him.”

Jason frowned and for a moment he looked like he had had a drink that had made him sick, looking at him in silence for a few seconds as if he had just said something that didn’t fit. Jon didn’t know what to think, the alarms kept ringing, and he shifted in his uncomfortable seat, he had never been so uncertain with him and his conversations had never had that tone, he didn’t even know what he could have done to anger him, if he was angry.

After a moment, Jason nodded slowly, thoughtfully, as if he had come to an agreement with himself. Again, he didn’t know what was going through his mind, he couldn’t know it either from what little he could see of his face, but he was still somewhat curious.

“I have kryptonite.” Hood announced suddenly.

Ok, that didn’t help him at all.

“Eh?” He asked, confused, still not knowing what he had done or how to fix it.

“And I know when to use it.”

“O-Okay?”

“Remember that when you grow up.” He sentenced then, throwing away the nearly finished cigarette and pointing a finger at him, like an offended middle-aged mother.

Jon, as confused as he was, would have liked to say that he was never going to forget it, because being aware of whom he shouldn’t annoy for having Kryptonite on him was basic survival for a Kryptonian. However, before he could say anything else or ask what was going on, a voice coming from the Red Hood helmet interrupted and made Jason part from him to let him breathe.

Jon instantly recognized the voice of the one who was trying to contact Red Hood, despite everything indicating that it was Tim, because Red Robin was already his partner in Gotham par excellence. Because of the way the other answered the call and smiled widely while putting the helmet back on to speak, Jonathan tried not to listen too much so as not to invade the privacy of the lovebirds (See, Superman? He isn’t that innocent. He knows things, even if he doesn’t want to tell you.) Although he wouldn’t have gotten listen a lot, because he was too distracted trying to assimilate the conversation he had just had and the possible implications.

Before reaching a conclusion, the hand calloused and larger from Jason fell on his head and stirred hair doing him squirming in his seat annoyed, huffing. He should have seen that coming.

“Sorry kid, duty calls me. Babybird says hello to you.” Jason said, this time in a tone much livelier and rising off the ledge. “It was a good talk; you are my favorite Superboy so far.”

This time he did roll his eyes, of course he was his favorite Superboy, if he couldn’t stand Kon and vice versa.

He wanted to ask what all the above had come from, the threat of kryptonite and all that, but instead he gave up and sighed as he looked how Jason stretched and then leaned to give him one last pat on the head, to bother, more than anything else.

Then, it was when he took his grapple gun to leave that he dispelled his doubts.

“Make the demon spawn happy, okay? No one can do it like you.” Said getting off from the ledge and pointing out the bag of food he had left as he walked away. “And enjoy your date!”

Jonathan couldn’t say goodbye because he was trying to control not only the strong blush that adorned his face, but the happy smile too, and the warmth that flooded his chest.

Gotham people were rough and rude, but also kind and patient. They protected what they loved and who they loved with ferocity and strength, as they watched how its happiness was prospering slowly. Jason Todd was from Gotham head to toe, that’s why only he was able to accept him, approve him for Damian, and threaten him with the typical shovel talk at the same time and in the same night so easily. It was natural for him.

Jon sighed happily and for a moment he wondered if the smile Jason had done when he heard Tim’s voice in comms was the same that he did when he spoke with Damian.

He knew the answer.

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tomboxe · 4 years

Text

The Batman

It was a moment. A brief flash of the man he’d been for decades. It passed very quickly though, the massive, grotesque smile. There were lines around his eyes now he no longer used the over the top makeup that had for so long struck terror into the citizens of Gotham. He sat back into the gently whirring massage chair that was his almost constant companion, his back an entire citadel of aches. The years of taking on the Batman had taken their toll on him.

He spared a thought for his old enemy and chuckled at the thought of the sheer mass of injuries he must have lived through. How he’d envied the brute force with which Bane had literally broken Batsy on one beautiful, almost tragic occasion. The iconic rictus flickered on his face again for a moment.

He grabbed his cane, the one with the jewel encrusted joker head on it, the only bit of memorabilia he’d kept from the old days. It had been a gift from old Cobblepot, and it was worth an absolute fortune. Not that he cared that much about money anymore.

He walked out to the street, hobbling slightly. He wasn’t a particularly old man, but he was, physically at least, a broken one. He just wanted to live out the rest of his days with the rest of his wealth. He paused at a newspaper stand and looked at the headlines.

“Top of the morning to you sir!”

The vendor’s voice was bright and cheerful. Too cheerful. And who in Gotham used a greeting like that? He got halfway in character, and the grin came out to play. The vendor recoiled a bit.

“Good morning to you, kind citizen. I haven’t my glasses on me, so pray tell, what does the news say?

His smile didn’t shift as the vendor told about crime after crime that the Batman had foiled. If the vendor had any training in reading body language, however, he’d have noticed the clenching of both fists around the head of the cane, the slight twitch in the eye, and the way the seemingly harmless man had drawn himself up to his full height. He didn’t though, and it was just as well for him, as there’s no telling what might have happened if he’d been thought to be goading the Clown Prince.

“And he vouched for the Joker’s old broad! You know, Harley Queen or something! She’s strictly on the straight an’ narrow now.”

The Joker winced at the mispronunciation, said a hurried thank you and walked away. He was angry, and knowing why he was angry made him even more so.

He hurried back to the abandoned amusement park he called home. It was familiar, a safe haven for a clown in an un-mad, sanitised world. He’d had the traps removed and a few creature comforts installed, but apart from that it was a functional fairground. His functional fairground.

He often left the carousel spinning so he could waltz to the music - by himself, now that Harley wasn’t here. She hadn’t left Gotham, but she had refused to stand by him during his trial. He had deserved that, of course. She had been devoted to him and when she had needed him most, he had tossed her aside like an old toy. He’d always been abusive towards her, but the coldness with which he had rejected her had even stunned the Batman.

He remembered it well. It had been one of the things that had escalated his downfall. He had set an elaborate trap for the Dark Knight. It would have been hilarious. It was a pastiche of all the big villains Batman had ever fought - a coin deluge a la TwoFace, a Penguinesque attack by a genetically modified peregrine falcon, a physical and psychological pummelling by Bane, slow acting poison by Ivy - all part of an elaborate death trap maze courtesy of the Riddler which he was forced to go through under the Mad Hatter’s mind control. The Joker chuckled at the perfect plan. He’d even got Carmine Falcone and Rupert Thorne to team up to decimate Wayne Industries and leave the Batman penniless.

The Bat had survived.

He’d blamed Harley, of course. She must have done something wrong. It had been the perfect plan. So when Harley inevitably came running, screaming for her Pudding, he didn’t tell her to get lost. He delivered her to Hugo Strange at Arkham Asylum and had her remanded as a risk to society, staying to watch the initial shock treatments - not that they helped his mood much.

Still, he missed Harley somewhat.

He turned on the TV in an attempt to distract himself. Harley was on the news. Her voice had lost some of its pitch, but she seemed happy.

“Without me!?”

His anger was misplaced, he knew. It had never been Harley’s fault. If he really wanted to kill the Batman he should have shot him in the head at point blank range.

The thought calmed him somewhat. A dead Batman meant anarchy in Gotham. Exciting. He hadn’t been excited in years. He wouldn’t lead the brave new world Batman’s death would usher in, but he could be the catalyst. He could kill the Batman.

Kill the Batman.

“Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! Kill the Batman!”

It sounded amazing out loud. The thought reverberated in his head, filling every part of his psyche. Suddenly it was crystal clear. For the Joker to find peace, the batman had to die.

He spent the next few days plotting. There had to be a crime with all the hallmarks of the Joker’s devious mind to draw out old Batsy. He toyed with the idea of bringing Harley in, but decided against it. It had to be personal.

When the Joker’s ghastly visage appeared above the city, commissioner Sarah Essen hoped and prayed it was a prank. She had been promoted to Commissioner after her husband died at the Joker’s hand, and she had lived in terror until the Batman finally caught the Clown Prince and put him in a facility as far away from Gotham as humanly possible - the Phantom Zone.

It was harder for her to get up to the roof these days, and she was thankful the Batman had upped his game in the years following the Joker’s comeuppance. She rarely had to summon him ever, but tonight she had to know.

He was already there, brooding in front of the filtered strobe light that was casting the Joker’s face into the night sky.

“He wants me.”

The gravelly baritone Bruce Wayne assumed when in his Batman persona had never really deceived her, she liked to think.

“Why?”

“Why not? I ended him.”

The silence between them seemed heavy with questions.

“They shouldn’t have let him out,” the Commissioner said quietly.

“Doesn’t matter. I need to take him down.”

“Yes. But...”

The Batman looked in her direction for the first time that night. His cowl only covered the top of his face, and slight fuzz that covered his chin was flecked with grey. You may be in peak human condition, but nobody lives forever, she thought.

“But what?” He asked.

“Nothing, nothing. It has to be done.”

“Yes. It does.”

In the few moments she spent contemplating her next words, he left. She looked up and was relieved at the fact. There was a time she would have been furious at the abruptness of his departure. Now she just wanted it to end. All of it.

She hobbled back down the fire escape to her office and waited for the inevitable rush of activity that would signify a Joker sighting.

Gotham City Bank. The Batman had foiled more robbery attempts than he could count. All of his Robins had numbers. Batgirl had... he remembered what the Joker had done to Batgirl. To Jason. To Commissioner Gordon.

Every important building had a skylight with an external lock that opened with a digital key that only Batman, the Commissioner and the Mayor had. The real key to the city, Mayor West used to say with a rich little chuckle that often made the Batman half smile in spite of himself.

He slid down into the building from the bank’s skylight. He knew the Joker would be expecting it, but he didn’t have the patience for stealth. He wanted the Joker taken down as quickly as possible.

The little circle pressed into his temple the moment his feet touched the floor.

“Hello Batsy,” the Joker spat. There was mirth in his voice, but it was tinged with an incredible amount of bitterness. Batman shifted his weight and launched his right arm up, knocking the gun out of the Joker’s hand. It spun up in the air and he spun to face his old foe, throwing a black gloved hand towards the Joker.

He wasn’t there.

The Batman touched a pressure point on his cowl and murmured “switch to infra red.”

“Oh I’m not hiding Batsy, although you might want to wish I was.”

He closed the distance between them before batman had a chance to react.

“Goodbye, Batman.”

The first two shots flung the Batman back onto the floor of the bank, the Kevlar that protected his chest battered, his ageing heart beating against it like a marching band. He made to get up, but the Joker swept his feet out from under him. The former maniac sat on Batman’s chest, put the gun a couple inches above the horrified face, and pulled the trigger.

Tears filled his eyes as he walked away, but he wiped them and held his head high as he got into the chauffeur driven limousine that was waiting for him. He wiped off his make up carefully and changed out of the purple suit. Dark slacks and a fitted nude-striped shirt were offset by plain white sneakers, and he became a rich middle aged man about town trying to have a good time.

Essen sensed that something was amiss before the Joker’s signal went out. She ran into the dark bank. Her hands shook as she surveyed the scene in front of her.

She thought quickly, her mind moving faster than her feeble frame would allow.

Nobody had called it in, so she had time to do what had to be done.

“You, Conroy! With me. And you, Timms. The rest of you stay here and let me know as soon as the paramedics get here.”

Between them they hurriedly shrugged the cape, cowl and suit off the still warm body, and shoved them behind a counter. When there was no way of connecting Bruce Wayne to the Batman, she looked into her officers’ faces.

“One word of this gets out, and your careers, your lives as you know them, are over.”

The she raised her voice.

“Civilian down! Where is the damn paramedic!?”

The whispers started as the paramedics stretchered the still form out into the ambulance. Essen climbed in with the body and the vehicle moved swiftly through Gotham without its sirens. The Commissioner held a press conference as soon as she returned to the station. Bruce Wayne had been shot dead at point blank range earlier that evening. Police were exploring the possibility it was related to the sighting of the Joker symbol over Gotham earlier in the evening. Yes, the Joker had agreed to come in for questioning. No, there would be no further comments until a breakthrough was made in the investigation. As she hobbled back into the station, she wished for the first time in a long time that her husband was still alive. She considered calling Barbara, but they spoke too rarely to be any source of comfort to one another. She called Bullock instead. He’d been rough around the edges when he was an officer with her husband, but he was a good man, and one of the few whose corruption her husband had overlooked in favour of his other qualities. He lived on a farm outside Gotham these days, retired since Commissioner Gordon’s death. He picked up the phone on the first ring.

“Commissioner,”

“Harvey, did you see the press conference?”

He grunted dismissively.

“Wayne’s dead.”

Silence. Harvey Bullock had always been jealous of the Batman, unwilling to work with a vigilante but in awe of the undeniable effectiveness of his methods. He had grown to greatly respect the Batman, and one of the reasons he’d retired was the knowledge that the Batman was there to protect Gotham better than he ever could.

“I’m on my way,” he said, and hung up the phone.

Blood seeped from the deep gouges on Selina’s arm. In fairness, she had almost strangled Isis when she’d heard. The tears flowed freely down her face. After all this time, she still loved the Batman fiercely, and it was out of respect for him that she had stopped being Catwoman. He had paid her the courtesy of telling her he was going to take down Gotham’s criminals for good. She had laughed in his gorgeously sculpted face and then kissed it, but he hadn’t responded. It had been a matter of days later when the Joker had been sent to the Phantom Zone.

She picked up her phone. It emitted a whiny laugh that made her wince.

“Hey darlin’” Harley minced down the line.

“Harley, I think the Joker killed the Batman.”

For the first time in their shared existence, Harley Quinn spoke without a lilt to her voice.

“You’re kidding.”

“No. Bruce Wayne’s death was announced a few hours after the Joker’s signal went out over Gotham.”

“No. He wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“That’s not how it works. He’d kill anyone close to Batman, but he’d never kill him. He wouldn’t have a reason to go on.”

Selina paused for a moment.

“What should we do?”

“You need to sit tight,” Harley replied. “I’m going down to Gotham PD to offer them my assistance. I know the Joker better than anyone, and if he’s guilty I can get him to tell me. Just seeing me will make his blood boil.”

“What about yours?”

“Excuse me?”

“Harley, I know what he did to you?”

“It’s Dr. Quinzel, and I know what he did as well. That’s why I don’t wear a fool’s costume anymore. I’m done being anyone’s idiot.”

“Be careful.”

Harley put her voice back on.

“I pwomise, puddin’”

Jerome Napier didn’t like to be called Jack. He liked the sound of Jerome. It was round. It rhymed with ‘home’. He couldn’t at this point remember what his real name was, and every time the psychiatrists who had spent years curing the Joker had tried to induce the memory, the psychosis returned. In the end they reminded him he’d once gone by the name Jack Napier, and he’d allowed them call him that. He much preferred Jerome though.

He was in the precinct now, explaining how he couldn’t possibly have killed Bruce Wayne to an enraged Harvey Bullock.

“You’re not even an officer anymore, Mr Bullock,” he said quietly, interrupting an invective filled rant. “I don’t have to answer your questions, and I don’t want to.”

Commissioner Essen walked in and chuckled mirthlessly.

“You will answer all our questions, Joker.”

Jerome winced at the name. He’d only killed the Batman to finally set himself free, and he felt more at peace than he had in years. He was mildly surprised to find out Bruce Wayne was Batman, but then again he’d always hated the rich fool just as much, so it was no real loss. It did kind of ruin the whole Dark Knight aesthetic for him though.

He mused silently, unimpressed and uninterested in the discussion around him. There was no way they could tie him to this. A copycat must have done it. He was cured.

“Talia!”

After seven centuries Ra’s still spoke with the clarity and authority of a well tuned bell. Talia turned away from Damian and faced her father.

“Yes, father?”

“What will you do?”

“What can I do?”

The Demon Head paused for a moment. He looked at his grandson with a glint in his eye and malice in his heart, and spoke quietly.

“The boy will go.”

“What?”

Damian hadn’t been paying much attention to anyone, lost in his own musings and uninterested in anything but himself. He didn’t want to go to Gotham and he didn’t want to see his father. He didn’t even want to be here.

“You will go to Gotham.”

“Why?

“To honour your father’s legacy.”

“I don’t care about...”

He’d forgotten about his grandfather’s formidable temper. In a flash he was on his back, a sword at his neck.

“You will not disrespect me. You will not question me. Your father, although I despised him greatly, was a man of honour and you will keep his name alive.”

“I am not Batman.”

“You are the Son of the Bat and the grandscion of the Demon Head. You are more than capable.”

His mother’s voice still sounded like smooth, rich syrup over ice cream. He stopped arguing and started thinking.

“My costume will be comfortable, and white. I will have horns. I will be at once angel and demon and bat.”

Ra’s could see the homage and the individuality, and he respected it. He had his personal costumier and technicians work with Damian and ordered them to get him ready within days. As the straight faced young man left with them, he spoke quietly to Talia.

“It’s about time the brat started to do something worthwhile.”

Talia smiled. She didn’t agree with the Demon Head’s reason, but her heart was heavy, and she could think of no better way to honour her beloved than what he had come up with. And having Damian out of the way would make it easier to bring Bruce back to her.

The Joker almost jumped out of his seat when Harley walked into the room.

Let’s rephrase that, since they’re both civilians now. Jerome almost jumped out of his seat when Dr Quinzel walked into the interrogation room.

“Harley?”

The question was at once pure incredulity and infinite scorn.

“Come to gloat have you?”

“Awww puddin’” she fawned sarcastically. “No I haven’t. I’m here to find out why you killed Batman.”

“Why? Not if?”

“Don’t play coy with me, Jack Napier.”

He longed to wrap his hands around that neck and squeeze it till it snapped. How dare she gather the nerve to be anything but obsequious to him. He looked in her beautiful eyes and it hit him. She wasn’t asking him if he did it because she knew. He may have twisted her all ends up and played on her emotions to an incredible degree, but she was still a clinically trained psychiatrist, and she’d studied him for years.

“It’s the only way I can be free, Dr Quinzel.”

For the first time since he’d become the Joker, he realised that by killing the Batman he’d acknowledged that the game was over and he’d been beaten. He spoke then. He spoke about how he only wanted to be left alone, how he was tired of everything and everybody. He didn’t regret what he’d done, but he wasn’t that person anymore - or at least he didn’t want to be. How else could he prove to himself that he wasn’t the Joker anymore? The Joker would never have killed the Batman - it would be suicide. Harley let him finish and smiled.

Selina helped Talia because she didn’t know what else to do. Everyone else seemed useful. Harley had gotten a full confession out of the Joker, Bullock had started working with the new White Bat to keep the streets of Gotham safe, the Commissioner had taken Arkham in hand and the Joker was in a secure unit having the last vestiges of the Clown Prince stripped away. When Talia had come to her to ask her to rob Bruce Wayne’s grave, it had seemed disgusting and disrespectful, but it had given her something to do other than mope and nurse her broken heart.

Getting past the police stationed to control the crowds that had gathered every day since the murder was the easy part. She had considered putting on the old Catwoman costume, but even though she was still the same size she had been all those years ago, it didn’t feel right. She had squeezed into a comfortable pair of jeans and a turtleneck sweater, and she looked just like any other mourner. She had taken advantage of an understandable lapse in concentration to slip past the patrol and eased herself down into the Wayne Family crypt. Talia joined her a few moments later, and they made short work of opening the ornately carved coffin. When they emerged with the body, she noticed a neat pile of uniformed officers leaning against a nearby tree. She chuckled and looked over at her employer, who shrugged. A sudden gust of wind brought her back to the present, and the grin slid right off her face.

This was Bruce Wayne’s body they were carrying, the man both of them had loved above any other. The man both of them had loved not as the playboy billionaire philanthropist, but as Gotham’s gruff, taciturn guardian of the night. She knew Bruce and Batman would both disapprove of being brought back by the Lazarus Pit, but she was as desperate as Talia to see his face again, to smirk at him knowing her insistence on being Catwoman drove him crazy.

The drive to Gotham Airport was uneventful. They picked Harley up from the precinct and flew straight for Nanda Parbat.

Ra’s was expecting them, and did not try to stop them, only warning them that as the Batman had killed in his career and had lived in the darkness, his madness would be severe.

Four of his maidens prepared Bruce Wayne’s corpse for the ritual. He was anointed with healing and soothing oils, swathed in the rich black and gold cloth that only high ranking League of Assassins members were permitted to fashion into robes, and placed on a quickly assembled wooden platform.

“This part of the process is often harrowing to those who have loved the resurrected,” Ra’s warned. The three women looked at him, unmoving. He shrugged and raised his hands. The maidens disappeared, and four pallbearers took their place. They hoisted the platform on broad shoulders and walked over to the gently bubbling pit. Ra’s lowered his hands, and they lowered the platform carefully into the pit, careful not to touch the surface of the water. The Bat’s body lay just beneath the surface, and the water churned around him. Greens and reds erupted around him as the baleful life giving force made its way into his body.

All of a sudden the churning stopped. Bruce lay still, still just beneath the water, a beatific smile of his face. Moments passed, moments that seemed like aeons to the women. Talia had seen this before - with her own father - so she knew it was only a matter of time. Selina’s perfectly manicured nails were tearing into the leather of her jacket as she hugged herself.

“Nothing’s happening!”

Harley’s whisper was urgent, worried. She didn’t care much for the Batman, but it had been Bruce Wayne who had made it possible for her to return to her career after decades as the Joker’s accomplice. Even as Batman he had treated her with more dignity and respect than the maniac she had loved.

He only ever tried to stop me from hurting people

The revelation hit her hard, and her eyes opened in shock. The man she had antagonised for most of her adult life had consistently avoided hurting her and she had paid him no notice whatsoever.

Lost in her thoughts, she missed the moment when Bruce emerged from the pit. His leap landed him directly on on of Ra’s men, who stood no chance against the man Ra’s himself had trained. In a second a neck snapped loudly, and Bruce was crouched like a panther, ready to pounce on anyone. His jet black hair was streaked grey at the sides, his eyes wild and menacing, full of a cunning none of the women had seen in Batman. His smile was cruel and taunting.

The remaining three men jumped on Bruce. It was the last thing any of them did. Free of the usual restraint the Batman showed, the deranged person before them murdered the men with devastating efficiency. He stood up, his back still arched, and approached the women.

Ra’s, who had watched impassively from a nearby doorway, pounced. Sensing an equal, Feral Bruce stalked.

“That’s it,” Ra’s taunted as they circled one another.

Talia, quite sensibly, poked a syringe in Bruce’s neck as he passed her, and pushed the plunger as he turned to face her. He managed one wildly aimed slap that she easily avoided before he crumpled to the floor unconscious.

After Jerome Napier’s confession was made public, his trial became a bit of a circus. He was glad he hadn’t laid eyes on Harley since that night. She had gotten under his skin the way only she could - made him admit murder, and would probably be the reason he went away for a long, long time.

He chuckled at the thought. Funny enough, he felt no malice towards her. He no longer wanted to wring her throat and laugh at her as she suffocated under his ministrations. He was at peace.

I killed the Batman. The game is over. I’ve lost, but so has he, and so has Gotham.

Me.

The Jovial Conniver Commonly Called the Joker.

He laughed out loud, and someone in an adjoining cell yelled at him to shut up.

He laughed louder, elevating the hearty laugh to the chilling tone all of Gotham knew only too well.

Silence.

It was good to know people still had a little respect.

Three months.

That’s how long it took Harley, Talia and Selina to restore Bruce’s sanity. They weren’t helped by the fact he was furious at them for raising him. He almost killed Harley when she remarked drily that he could at least be thankful for a second chance.

“I’ve never seen him so serene,” she said after rubbing her neck for a few moments. “It’s weird.”

Her comment about Bruce had only been a response to a fresh bout of anger. He’d stormed into the room raging at Talia and Selina for subjecting him to the Lazarus Pit, interrupting Harley mid flow. She’d snapped at his rudeness more than anything.

“I’m sorry,” said Bruce.

“Not you.”

“Napier?”

“Yes. It seems the Joker has finally found peace in your death.”

Bruce sat quietly.

Not many people knew how to contact the League of Assassins, and even fewer could get a direct link to the inner chambers. When one of Ra’s men walked into Bruce’s room with a small, inauspicious looking phone, he knew who it would be.

“Damian.”

“Father.”

“How’s Gotham?”

“Father, the Joker helped me bring in Hubert Cobblepot and Edward Nigma, Jr.”

“What?”

“He worked extensively with and against their parents, so when they tried to hold the city to ransom as a sort of trial for me, Jerome Napier asked to see me.”

“And you went to him.”

“I’m not you, father. I have no personal agenda against him. If he has one against me, he hides it well. He didn’t lie to me once - you know I can tell.”

“And he helped you crack the case.”

“Wide open, as they say.”

Bruce let out a long, low whistle. This was a turn of events he hadn’t expected. Still...

“Did he help you as the Joker, or as Napier?”

“Both.” There was a familiar smirk in the younger Wayne’s voice. “He refuses to be addressed as the Joker, but he takes great pleasure in ruining people’s plans - only now he’s targeting criminals.”

“Hmmmmm...”

“I have to go. I merely thought this might interest you.”

“It does. Goodbye, Son.”

“Bye dad,” Damian said with an exaggerated flourish.

It was safe to say they didn’t have the best relationship.

When Bruce asked Harley to go with him on a trip around the world, Selina and Talia nearly lost it. He needed them to keep an eye on the Joker and Damian, and he needed Harley to keep an eye on his mind. If there were any other reasons, he kept them to himself.

#batman #fan fiction #fanfic #the joker #harley quinn #catwoman #talia al ghul

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norahjakobs · 5 years

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Earth 33: Outlaws - Jason Todd

Earth 33 is my attempt at rewriting the dc universe. I’m doing this entirely for my own entertainment and as such will be writing what appeals to me. I’m starting this au off with the members of the outlaws, almost all of whom never canonly have been members.

So without farther ado, here’s Jason (This is a long one)

(TW: Death, Drugs, Overdosing, Crime, Vague Allusions to Rape)

Jason Peter Todd was born to Willis and Catherine Todd in a backstreet in Crime Alley. His father a small time crook and his mother drug addicted and unable to take care of him, he was basically left alone emotionally other than the few times Willis made time for his little prince of Gotham. Such as when he pickpocketed two tickets for a flying grayson show.

Willis got arrested on charges of drug use, theft, and grand theft auto. Reportedly he died in a prison riot started by some of Harvey Dents goons. Jason was 8 when this happened and it affected him greatly, he locked himself in his room in the Todd familys beat up tiny apartment for three days till he realized his mother hadn’t gone shopping or even begun to try and hustle any money for bills. He knew then that he’d be taking care of his mother till the day she overdosed like how the neighbors kept saying she would. Pick pocketing and theft became his new way of life but it was beyond stressful for a child of his age, and he was beat up several times by both gang members and police officers who caught him stealing.

He was 10 when his mother died from an overdose, it had been a long day and he was just happy to be able to bring some noodles and dollar store tomato paste home. But as he entered his home of ten years it smelled like how the alleys he always rushed through instead of walking smelled. He set the bags down at the door and rushed to the source of the scent. He got into the cramped kitchen and found his mother, dead. He went into his room and with a vacant expression on his face packed anything he had of value, he knew he couldn’t call 911, the phone service to the house had been cut three months ago, and besides there was no money to give his poor mother a proper burial.

He lived on the streets for the next two years and those two years taught him the way of the street, the distrust, the scrappy fighting that came when you hadn’t ate in three days, the value of a warm meal. Late one night he saw a chance that didn’t come by everyday, the batmobile, unguarded in an alleyway. He could only imagine how much the tires on it would fetch, so yeah he tried to jack the tires off the batmoblie. He was caught by Batman, who took him to get some food and talked with him. He was dropped off at a Wayne funded shelter.

And the next morning something bizarre happened, the people at the shelter let Jason know that there was someone interested in taking him in. He was hesitant at first but agreed to meet this person. A little later Bruce Wayne came in and chatted with Jason who was at first dismissive of the man but warmed up during the conversation, especially when Bruce shared about how he lost his parents when he was around 10. Jason agreed to try out living with him.

He liked it alot to say the least. He ran around the manor stuffing his face full of junk food almost constantly when he first got there till Alfred stepped in, just for his healths stake as a tumble down the long stairs or getting stick off of eating too much wouldn’t be all that fun for the kid. Jason wanted to stay and so stay he would.

Bruce put graves for Jason’s parents in the Wayne family graveyard next to Dick’s parents. Jason was put at ease by finally being able to put them to rest, including his mom’s body that was tracked down in GCP’s system as a yet to be identified body, his father’s body however had not yet been found.

Something that Bruce hadn't accounted for was the fact that Jason was a troubled sleeper, everything else he was doing perfectly with adjusting too, he was doing amazing at school, his checkup only indicated that they might want to give him some multivitamin gummies. But he just couldn’t get to sleep, he was too nervous too, and when he wasn’t too nervous he was too full of energy and trying to use it up doing something. So it was inevitable that he noticed how often Bruce was out at night and how at times he couldn’t find Alfred anywhere.

So when Bruce and Alfred were busy at some glala that didn’t let children in (Side note to myself, write younger Jason at one of these glalas) Jason poked his nose around the house looking for anything hidden. And while pulling books off the shelf in the study he tripped on the carpet and knocked a bust on the desk over, revealing a button. He did what you do when you find a button and he pressed it revealing a firemen pole, which he went down.

He ran around the cave unattended for an hour and when Bruce and Alfred has finally managed to get back home he had managed to put on one of Dick’s old robin costumes and was trying to figure out how to turn on the batmobile. Bruce sat him down and explained everything, and once he was done Jason asked if he could be Robin, and pointed out all his selling points like that his grades were good, he was good at running, he could throw a punch.

Bruce agreed to let him become Robin after a few months of training. Jason would remember his first night as Robin as one of the best of his life, only second to being adopted. His first night they dealt with a few purse snatchers, a mugging, and the crown of the night was a heist being pulled off by The Riddler at an art museum.

He met his brother Dick he and Bruce went to Bludhaven for a weekend due to Wayne Enterprises related business. The three of them met up for lunch on the Saturday and Jason and Dick got along greatly and poked fun at Bruce throughout the whole meal. On Sunday it turned out a mob had made the billanet plan to kidnap Bruce Wayne and hold him for ransom. Nightwing and Robin teamed up to save him and by the end of the adventure Dick gave Jason his phone number and told him to call whenever he’d like.

He was pretty friendless though, at school he was focused on the work and there wasn’t any sidekicks around his age running around Gotham. So Bruce organized the sidekick equivalent of a playdate with Blue Devils on again off again sidekick Kid Devil, also known as Eddie Bloomberg. The two were only supposed to taking down Polka-Dot Man who was planning a robbery. But when they returned to where Batman and Blue Devil were supposed to be figuring out a case with Zatanna at her hotel all they found were scorch marks and a very confused Zachary Zatara who had been in the hotel dining room before hearing a bunch of yelling and coming to investigate.

The events that followed were both chaotic and too long to list here. But for more details you can read here!

A couple years later he had hit the age of 15 and was overall, happy. He had a brother who loved him and checked in on him, he had a penpal who understood the stress of being a sidekick. But he also had lingering problems, anger over the treatment he got as a child and the treatment he saw others get, an empty feeling left by his parents. And what really brought out these feelings was a man by the name of Felipe Garzonas, someone that represented everything he hated. A person who abused his privilege to take advantage of those less fortunate, and then got off thanks to that privilege. Batman and Robin got him arrested but he got out the same day thanks to diplomatic immunity. And the man’s victim, overcome with terror took her own life. So when Jason was left alone with the man on a balcony it didn’t come as a surprise that he didn’t help when Felipe was falling to his death. Though the question of if he was pushed or slipped would never be answered.

Jason’s mental health took a dip due to what had happened and the fact that Bruce was avoiding him, and he called Dick who was having problems of his own at the time. But agreed to take Jason on a teen titan mission or two while his mind lingered on what had happened in Gotham and wandered to his family. But his mind got taken off that by meeting the titans and helping with one of the many smaller problems they had.

But when he got back he couldn’t get his mind off his past, so in an attempt to bring himself more closure on the topic he started looking for his father’s body. But meanwhile The Joker pieced together that one of his goons, was Robin’s father and so a plan was formed. Jason figured out that his father wasn’t dead but had gotten away the day of the riot and was working for The Joker who was planning something off in the alps. And due to the avoidance Bruce was showing to Jason, Jason decided to go out on his own. And we all know how that goes. His body, alongside his father’s was found in the wreckage of the blown up building.

He was laid to rest next to the graves for his parents and finally for the first time in years they were all together. But nothing lasts and Taila Al Ghul, in a bid to have something to use against Bruce in case he found out about Damian prematurely. So she sent one of her other pet projects, Twilight, or better known is Slade Wilson’s missing son Grant Wilson.

When he came out of the Lazarus Pit he was confused and tried to flee and there was some trouble stopping him till Taila tranquilized him. It turned out he had no memory of his life than his own name and the fact he died. He was respective to The League Of Shadows training, he still had the muscle memory from being Robin and was in a mental state that was easy to manipulate. He took to hanging around Grant as he reminded Jason of someone in a couple ways and Grant’s inner big brother came out around Jason.

By years end, Jason had fully integrated with The League and was sent on his first mission. When he had came back from it he had been sobbing but the deed was done. Taila talked with him about what had happened and tried to help him desensitize to the issue, she had grown to care about him and it hurt her to see him like this. After this incident his memories started to return, sparked by the familiar feeling caused by what he had done and the subconscious fear of being ignored again because of it.

He shared what he was remembering with Grant and that only helped to fuel the flame of rage in him. He wasn’t mad that Bruce couldn’t save him, he was angry that Bruce let there be chance the same would happen to another kid by letting The Joker live. He made a plan to try and make Bruce understand and set out on his way. Taila feared for him but did offer the original funds he needed for the plan.

He had his 17th birthday right as he was taking over Gotham’s underground as The Red Hood. It was a quick and hostile take over where he intimidated those he could, and killed those he couldn’t. News of The Red Hood found it’s way to Bruce quickly who was working alone at the time due to Tim being with Young Justice at the time. The drug lords were scared and one even agreed to meet with Batman but before they could give out much information they were shoot sparking a chase through the city where Batman failed to catch Red Hood.

He tracked down The Joker and kidnapped him and while waiting for Batman to arrive did all the things that Joker did to Jason in that warehouse so long ago. When Batman did arrive it became a tense confrontation where Jason revealed himself and demanded to know why the clown still breathed. Bruce answered the way he always did, saying they could not be the judge, jury, and executioner. He ended up forcing Bruce to make a choice, either kill The Joker himself or Jason would do it. Bruce instead threw a batarang at Jason, cutting the side of his neck and then The Joker detonated explosives that had been in the building.

He survived and fled Gotham. He decided to go meet his replacement Tim, he broke into the Young Justice base and kidnapped Robin not wanting to also take on a half kryptonian, speedster, and a demigod. The two fought and Jason mocked his replacement but he wasn’t trying to kill Tim. And when things were looking dicey for Tim, Jason nerve pinched him and left.

He then went off to Bludhaven to bother Dick. Who at the time was dealing with the Court Of Owls and the fact they were stalking him and trying to kidnap him. So when Jason was following him and saw some other shady character was following his brother he started a fight with them. Nightwing very quickly joined the fray between Red Hood and Talon and the two scared them off. Their chat afterwards was awkward to say the least, but weirdly friendly since Jason had just helped Dick and Dick caught on to the fact that Jason had been trained by The League of Shadows.

Dick made an effort to help Jason who he had figured out had been brainwashed during his time with The League of Shadows. And some progress was made. But when they went to Gotham so Jason could try to have a normal-ish conversation with Bruce, it blew up in his face when they had gotten talking about Taila and Jason let it slip that Taila had a son that she said was Bruce’s. Bruce, with no where to direct his feelings on the matter, got cross with Jason for not telling him sooner and the two started arguing. It ended when Jason pulled a gun on Bruce and Dick knocked him out with some sleeping gas.

Jason spent a month in Arkham and was beyond angry, he was angry at Bruce for taking out his complicated emotions on him and he was mad at Dick fortaking Bruces side. He had been admitted under an assumed name as a non criminal resident so he was being kept away from where the violent offenders were. Which was for the best, if he had been anywhere near The Joker it wouldn’t have been pretty. He got out when Tim bribed Arkham to let him out. Jason thanked his younger brother and asked about why he did that and Tim explained that the reason Jason was in there wasn’t fair, and besides he was mad at Bruce as Damian just showed up and stole the Robin name. Jason offered to get Tim a drink but he rejected pointing out the were both underage.

It wasn’t long after that he turned 18. He was headed out of a gas station with the first legal box cigarettes he had ever bought that he got a call from Dick asking him to come to the cave, it was important. So he did, everyone did. And it was a grim affair as Bruce had died. Jason didn’t handle his grief well and left the cave before he could hear the message that was left for him. He left Gotham city as well, both because he needed some space from the situation and because he knew that there was about to be a fight over who would wear the cowl.

He went to LA and met up with an old friend, Eddie Bloomberg who was acting as part time tech support for the Teen Titans. The two had a happy, tearful reunion. Jason, who was crashing on Eddie’s couch for the moment continued his work as Red Hood but it was mellowed out. There was a combination of reasons for this, Dick’s support (even though it had been withdrawn), not wanting Bruce’s ghost judging him, and trying to get in a better mental space and not throw away the chance he had.

After Bruce had came back Jason went back to Gotham, and they hashed things out, by no means were they on the same page, they probably never would be again. But Bruce was willing to offer Jason a place in the batfamily as long as he agreed not to kill anyone, and Jason was willing to agree.

Jason and Stephanie got to know each other pretty well since they were given the chance finally. And they got along greatly. It was a nightmare for Bruce however as he had snark coming left and right. Jason also got to know Cass better and they had a couple things to relate on. And for the first time in three years he was finding happiness in his family life.

But again, nothing lasts for forever. Jason late one night while on patrol noticed someone had broken into the penthouse of a well respected lawyer. And he found Twilight was the intruder and it was no mistake that he caught him. The League wanted him back and weren’t willing to take no for an answer, and Grant felt it was personal. So the ensuing argument was intense and by the end the fight had found it’s way onto the top of Wayne tower where Grant misstepped and fell to his seeming death, and worse batman had seen the end of the fight and given prior events including falling to death and Jason Bruce didn’t trust that it was an accident and banished Jason from the city till things were more clear.

Out on his own yet again he decided to form a team and work on the move, no superhero wants the murdery batfamily member in their city for long. So he got on his bike and he went back to LA.

#jason todd #batfamily #batfam #dick grayson #tim drake #bruce wayne #taila al ghul #dc #eddie bloomberg #my writing #earth 33

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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BATMAN #365-366, DETECTIVE COMICS #532 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 1983 BY DOUG MOENCH, GENE COLAN, DON NEWTON, BOB SMITH, ALFREDO ALCALÁ AND ADRIENNE ROY

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Vicki Vale investigates an illegal trade of weapons between Cuba and Russia taking place in Guatemala and ends up captured by criminals and taken prisoner to one of the ruins in the jungle of the country. Inside, Vicki manages to write a note of help, which she tosses outside of the ruins, where it's picked by a tourist.

Back in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd return to Wayne Manor and notice that Alfred is not home. Before they could investigate, Bruce is informed about Commissioner Gordon's critical condition. While visiting his friend, Bruce learns about the help note that Vicki Vale has sent and he decides to travel to Guatemala and rescue her. As this happens, Harvey Bullock apologizes to Gordon and feels true remorse for his actions.

Once in the jungle, Batman starts looking for the ruins and is confronted by a number of natives and animals of the place. Batman overcomes this obstacles and eventually reaches the ruins, where he has to fight several armed men. During this struggle, Batman falls into a trap-door inside the ruins, where he finds Vicki Vale held hostage by none other than the Joker.

Batman has located Vicki Vale, who was captured by the Joker, but to achieve this, Batman was captured by the Joker in the first place. In the criminal's lair, Batman learns that the Joker has concocted a plan that will get him total control of Guatemala and that he pretends to turn the nation into a large amusement park with his own variation of deadly traps and "killer" rides.

Meanwhile in Gotham City, Harvey Bullock decides to stop following Mayor Hill's instructions as they have caused James Gordon's ultimate health decline. At that same moment, Alfred Pennyworth has been reunited with his daughter, Julia, who has finally learned the truth about him.

Later, Joker has tied Batman to one of his train models and he placed Vicki on the tracks of the train, which could seriously injure her, at best. When Joker activates the train, Batman struggles to break his bonds and he manages to do it just in time to prevent the train from running over Vicki. Using the vehicle's momentum, Batman disposes of Joker's thugs and helps Vicki out of the trap. Together, Vicki and Batman leave the Joker's hideout, just as the place collapses. In a fit of rage, Vicki shoots several of Joker's army and when she and Batman are out of danger, she decides to stay longer in the nearby city to get all the angles for her next scoop.

Unaware to them, Joker is inside his collapsed hideout, laughing even after his plan was thwarted.

At Wayne Manor, Jason Todd stumbles upon the old room of Dick Grayson and finds the most valuable item in the room.

Meanwhile, Batman and Vicki Vale have escaped from the Joker and his armed thugs and they head to the nearest town, where a conflict between the military forces of the country and the rebel resistance is taking place. Batman realizes that the conflict was started by the Joker to have the forces of Guatemala destroy one another so that he could take over the country without any opposition.

At that moment in Gotham City, Alfred learns that his daughter Julia has not only come to meet him as her father, but she is also investigating the death of her adoptive father, Jacques Remarque. Elsewhere, Harvey Bullock refuses to follow any more orders from Mayor Hill after their last scheme caused Commissioner Gordon to be hospitalized and fall into a coma.

In Guatemala, Batman and Vicki have reached the village and they warn the military about Joker's plot, when they are all suddenly attacked by Joker and his forces, who are all using Jokercopters to attack. After leaving a dozen of victims in their wake, Joker and his men retreat, but Batman follows them closely. When Joker and his forces return to their base of operations, Batman confronts them and he gets help from the military and the resistance alike, who have decided to work together to stop the threat of the Joker.

While the allied forces take care of Joker's armed thugs, Batman goes behind the madman himself, who has climbed at the top of an ancient pyramid and is waiting until Batman comes close enough to finally murder him. Realizing that his plans have been foiled once again by Batman, Joker becomes unhinged and is determined to murder his long-time enemy. Unaware of the sudden threat, Batman climbs the pyramid towards the Joker until he is within reach of Joker and his machine gun. It is then that Batman is saved by the timely arrival of Robin, much to Batman's own surprise. Working together, Batman and Robin make short work of the Joker and the madman is finally captured.

With the threat under control, Guatemala returns to its peaceful normality and Vicki Vale has the best story in pictures, including the long-awaited reunion of Batman and Robin. Once in private, Batman learns that Jason is behind the Robin costume and that he dyed his hair black to become the perfect Robin. Using information gathered in the Batcave, he located Batman and traveled all the way to Guatemala, all by his own. However, the Dark Knight is none too thrilled about this decision, as he believes Jason is stealing someone else's identity and they decide to discuss things further upon their return to Gotham.

REVIEW

The art in these issues is a bit uneven, and sometimes distracting. The most obvious problem is the Joker, who is mostly drawn with his mouth open, all the time, like he were a toy.

Joker taking over Guatemala is a bit of a stretch. Jason going there and beating the Joker is also a bit of a stretch. He also had time to dye his hair black!

This also lets us know that Batman doesn’t want a new Robin (as Dick is still using that identity), so clearly, Bruce meant Jason to be a different sidekick.

Still, this is our first glimpse of Jason with the Robin costume.

I give the story a score of 6

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12freddofrogs · 5 years

Text

An Episode of a Batfamily TV Show

Hey, everyone. I’ve been writing out what I would do if I was the scriptwriter for a Batfam show, and this is an extract from ‘Season Two’, the Robin!Jason era.

I have a much fuller fic on Ao3 here, which includes episodes detailing how Jason got the job, a bit of Dick’s jealousy and uncertainty how to treat his new little brother, Sheila Haywood’s story being refined to fit television structure, that incident in Ethiopia, several flashes of dramatic irony, and tiny book-nerd Jason who despises Alice In Wonderland, much to the annoyance of both Babs and Jervis Tetch. Plus this episode, which is far more readable on Ao3 than tumblr, especially if you’re on mobile.

Season Two, Episode Nine - Double

In one episode, Two-Face robs a casino.

Complete with hostages.

Batman is on the other side of the city, already busy breaking up a kidnapping.

Robin had been halfway home from the patrol, excusing himself to finish a book report for class, when the call comes in.

He’s close, and isn’t so easily lured by homework that he’d ever ignore people in danger.

Robin goes in alone.

The casino is styled with one main room, complete with a stage and dining tables across the floor from the slot machines.

Two-Face is standing in front of the stage, gun hold high. The crowds are huddled up, most of them still collected at their tables.

His speech is interrupted by someone singing, the chosen song starting slow.

He turns around to see the Boy Wonder on stage, stepping lightly around the stand-up comedian who is sitting hunched at the back of the stage.

Robin had picked up a microphone from somewhere and is taking full advantage.

He doesn’t do his whole song — three minutes is a lot of screen-time. He finishes a verse, just long enough to get everyone’s attention, before taking a seat on the edge of the stage.

Two-Face is unimpressed.

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t applaud.” He points his gun.

“Well, if I end up punching you today, it’ll probably be for different reasons.”

“So you’re Robin number two.” Two-Face sneers. “Heard so much about you.”

“What makes you think I’m new?”

“Gonna claim that you got shorter?”

“Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen in Gotham.” Robin drops the microphone with a remarkable lack of respect for other people’s equipment and bounces to his feet. The stage means he’s looking down on Two-Face as he grins. “Or maybe I just got new boots, either-or. You gonna come quietly, or do I get to kick your ass first?”

Two-Face does not come quietly.

“You know you’re not getting out of here,” Robin warns. “The GCPD has the building surrounded, and Batman is — well, it defies the point of a secret if I tell you where he is, but he’s very close. Let these people go.”

“I’m not done yet.”

Two-Face grabs a man from the crowd — young, couldn’t be older than his early twenties, a small child with the same hair colour sitting at the same table. He drags the hostage up in one quick movement, a gun suddenly pressed to the man’s temple.

Immediately there’s a batarang in Robin’s hand. “Let him go!”

“And why should I do that, Boy Wonder?” Two-Face grins, as much as he can manage with his scarred face. “You asked how I’m getting out of here, and this here is part of my plan.”

The man whimpers, a beg on his lips before Two-Face tightens his grip. “Shut up.”

“You want a hostage?” Robin says, not moving. His mask eyes remain trained on Two-Face. “Take me instead.”

“What?”

“I’d be much more valuable if you’re trying to get leverage over Batman.”

Two-Face pulls out his coin.

He has to yank the hostage in closer to himself, wrap the man’s neck in the crook of his elbow while holding the gun so that he has a free hand. It’s the kind of trap that would potentially be possible to break free from, but no smart civilian would attempt it with a gun to their head.

Robin is still standing on the stage, batarang at the ready, as the coin flips.

“Fine,” Two-Face growls. Robin slowly lowers his hand. “But you’re not staying armed.”

Robin’s expression doesn’t change, but he tucks the batarang away.

“No. Leave the belt.”

His glare darkens.

“I said—” Two-Face presses the gun tighter to his hostage. “Drop the belt.”

“Fine.” It takes one moment to unbuckle it. Robin drops it on the stage, kicks it behind himself. Then he glances away from Two-Face to look at one of the stage managers cowering in the same area. “Don’t touch that. It’ll electrocute anyone who’s not me or Batman.”

“And your earbud. And I know you’ve got lockpicks in those gloves, loose them too.”

Robin obeys, dropping his comm unit on the stage. He takes off his gloves and tosses them towards his belt. “So you know, there’s a limit to how much I’m going to strip.”

Two-Face releases his hostage.

The man rushes back to the table where his family is sitting.

Robin steps off the stage, dropping a distance taller than him without wincing. “Let’s go.”

Two-Face raises the gun to him. Robin doesn’t blink.

The two of them walk away.

“What exactly is your plan for getting past the cops?” Robin asks as he’s escorted downstairs. He’s careful with his bare hands, making sure not to leave fingerprints.

“Shut up.”

“What am I going to do with this information? You made me leave my earbud,” he protests as they enter the underground carpark. “Besides, hostages tend to notice how you travel.”

Several of Two-Face’s thugs are already downstairs, packing a van with stolen money. “Uh, is that Robin?” one asks.

Robin glances at him, waves his fingers like a ghost. “Boo.”

“Kid’s the best hostage we’ll get ‘round here.” Two-Face reaches into the front seat of the van and tosses a pair of handcuffs. “Put these on.”

“Since you asked so nice.”

Robin cuffs himself. Two-Face gestures and one of the thugs tightens it, to the point he winces.

They drive off.

Robin is startled to notice Two-Face had a car meticulously degraded so that exactly the left half is scratched.

“What do you think?”

“It’s… a lot.”

He’s impressed despite himself that it turns out to be a distraction. One of the henchmen crawls in behind the tinted windscreen. Two-Face promises they’ll meet up soon.

Two-Face gets behind a much more ordinary two-door car, forcing Robin into the passenger seat.

The car drives off.

The decoy car goes first, tearing out of the service entrance.

Two-Face’s actual car is waiting patiently behind as several cop cars chase after it.

"So did you hire a racer or was it always part of your plan that guy goes to jail?” Robin leans back in his chair, looking more like he’s at the movies then a hostage.

Two-Face grunts. “If Henry makes it back, he makes it back.”

“Oh. Chance. Right, your whole thing. Gotcha.” Robin rolls his eyes as the car continues out. “There’s still plenty of police out there.”

Despite his observation, the two waiting police cars don’t do anything to stop them, leaving Robin confused and Two-Face smug.

They escape into traffic.

Robin keeps up a steady stream of smart-ass commentary throughout the drive.

“How does Batman put up with you?”

“I’m a lot less of a brat when I’m not handcuffed.” Robin lifts his wrists. “Wanna give me the keys, let me prove it?”

“How bout I try a gag, instead?”

“Ooh, are you going to stop driving and leave me unattended while you check the back?”

At one point, while chatting, Robin’s cuffed hands slowly creep towards the handbrake.

Two-Face has his gun in his face before he can try anything. “Don’t.”

Robin’s face sours, but he pulls back.

Meanwhile, Batman has arrived at the casino.

The man Robin traded himself for is giving a statement, and is appropriately startled when a black shadow lands in front of him.

Batman hears the story again and immediately swoops off.

The World’s Greatest Detective is able to find out how and when Two-Face got away.

He accuses the cops who didn’t chase of being bribed, and judging by their reactions (one tries to run), was right. When they babble that they don’t know anything more about Two-Face’s plans, he throws them at Gordon and gets into the Batmobile.

Batman’s chase is interspersed with moments of Robin and Two-Face.

“So do you actually know where you’re going?” Robin comments as they zoom through traffic. “Cause you seem to be doing about three loops to get there.” He wiggles his fingers, all the more obnoxious with his wrists bound. “I could recalibrate your GPS for you if you’re too old to work out how.”

Two-Face is driving with a gun pinned in one hand between the wheel and his fingers. The free hand lets go of the wheel and digs in his pocket. Without saying a word or looking away from the road, he takes out his coin and flips it.

He glances at the result, and puts it away without any further action.

Robin shuts up.

Batman tracks down ‘Henry’, the decoy driver.

He’d already been caught by police, so it wasn’t hard.

Henry gives his information up very quickly about Two-Face’s rendezvous point.

The first sign of Two-Face’s plan going awry is when they run into a road block.

He veers violently to avoid them.

“That wasn’t suspicious,” Robin says brightly as the rogue starts searching for another route.

Two-Face is getting more annoyed, which isn’t helped when the Batmobile shows up.

Cue a car chase.

Two-Face is too distracted to notice when Robin slips off his seatbelt.

During a particularly sharp turn, one that Two-Face had to hit the brakes to make, Robin takes advantage and flings open the door. He rolls, landing on the edge of the sidewalk.

Two-Face curses, but doesn’t go back.

Batman is more willing to stop. Robin leaps into the Batmobile and the tyres screech off again.

Robin’s belt, gloves, and earbud are sitting on the chair. He starts working on removing his handcuffs almost immediately, even as Batman starts talking about how risky it was. The lecture is occasionally paused with a particularly sharp obstacle as they chase a supervillain.

They eventually catch him.

Two-Face is arrested, the thugs are similarly caught, and most of the cash is recovered.

Later in the Cave, Bruce and Jason talk.

The general gist is that what he did was reckless, but overall, Bruce is proud of him. “Don’t do that again, though.”

The episode finishes with Jason finally starting on that book report he should have done hours earlier.

Ao3: Here

Tumblr post for chapter one (also involving a hostage situation - specifically, billionaire’s child Dick Grayson, rather than in costume): Here

#batfamily #jason todd #bruce wayne #two-face #batman #robin #batman and robin #robin ii #12freddofrogs writes #batfam #tumblr fanfic #gotham crusaders

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fyeahwonderbat · 6 years

Text

In the Middle of a Broken Constellation - PT. 5

Pairing: WonderBat (Wonder Woman x Batman) Rating: T / 14A Universe: N/A - Reader’s Choice Previous Chapter: <- Chapter 4

Diana felt ridiculous, which was quite a feat considering she had worn her favourite business attire for such an odd occasion. In a beige blazer dress that could catch the light and shimmer gold, she perceived herself as if she was imbued with the power of the old gods whenever she wore it, but that energy felt like it had been snatched away by the Fates as she walked through the front doors of Wayne Tower. The ruffles that ran vertically over the tops of her thighs caught the breeze that she sauntered through as she made her way towards the front desk, perhaps portraying the confidence that her walk was meant to illustrate.

Her chest lifted high, her lips pursed into a smile, the professional persona of Diana Prince presented herself to the secretary without a single notion of the anxiety she housed inside. “Good morning, my name is Diana Prince and I have an appointment with Lucius Fox for 8:30.”

The young woman behind the desk looked up at her with a similar, polite expression. Matching with every other person who was walking through the lobby, she was polished more like a runway model than a typical corporate employee. The name tag peeking out from beneath the blunt cut of her straight blonde hair said ‘Delilah’ and when she noticed Diana’s eyes scroll down to read it, it was almost reflexive for her to toss her golden locks out of the way. “Excellent. Let me just confirm your appointment, Miss Prince.”

“Of course.” Playing the part of a poised interviewee, it felt natural to fiddle with the cat eye frames she wore as she waited for Delilah to contact Mr. Fox.

However, that earned her a scolding through the earpiece she had hidden beneath her hair. “Don’t move them too much, Diana. The connection is unsteady enough as it is.” Warned a rather exasperated Cyborg. He was very sensitive about the eyewear she wore since he had only outfitted the lenses as a technological miracle the night before; the last twelve hours had been such a chaotic blur while Jason had worked alongside them in their efforts to sneak her into Bruce’s daily life. Almost fitting of the Batman’s protege, it was his sneaking suspicion and his breaking and entering into her Mercedes’ glove compartment at the JLA headquarters that led to the transformation of simple reading glasses into an impromptu x-ray machine of their own so that they could corroborate Kal’s diagnosis.

Though they were most likely not as efficient as the eyes of Superman, it was the best the three of them could do if they planned to expedite her transformation into a Wayne Enterprises staff member.

The only thing Diana had true confidence in was that she knew she interviewed well.

“Miss Prince?” Delilah called to her as she tapped off the call she supposedly had with Lucius through the headset she wore.

She brought her hands together and clutched her resume folder unnecessarily tight when she replied. “Yes?”

The secretary didn’t seem to notice. “Mr. Fox is in a meeting on the thirty fourth floor at the moment, but you can head upstairs through the elevators down the hallway to your left and wait for him outside of Board Room C.”

“Thank you.” Was her final words to Delilah as she followed her directions. The moment she turned her body to face the lobby again, it felt much like a more condensed version of Grand Central Station. There were so many bodies walking in every single direction, all with a purpose in mind, all relatively at the same quickened pace. She knew that Wayne Tower was the epicenter of Wayne Enterprises because it was the base of Mr. Wayne himself, but maneuvering through the multitude of people reminded Diana of a battlefield of sorts.

Or perhaps that was a projection of her Amazonian mind set, given the way she thought of her interview with Lucius Fox to be a battle she couldn’t afford to lose.

So much of their approach to dealing with Bruce’s situation fell onto her shoulders. After Victor’s suggestion that she play the part of a potential hire when they first spoke about it at Drake Manor, Jason refused to accept any sort of rebuttal she had made. It was true that Victor couldn’t have entered the building without drawing attention to himself, and the reaction that Alfred had to the previous Robin insinuated that there would be no favour gained if they sent him in for the meeting.

During their entire time traveling to the JLA headquarters to formulate a plan of attack, Diana hadn’t been able to think of a better person to take her place either.

Now here she was, the next day, riding an elevator to meet the man in charge behind the scenes of Bruce’s company.

“You’ve got this, Diana.” Assured Victor in a whisper, doing his best to lend her some kind of support. She appreciated the gesture, and it never failed to amaze her how such a small gesture could keep her grounded; even though he couldn’t swap places with her, he wasn’t going to leave her to handle this situation on her own. She had until she reached the third-fourth floor to rid herself of any doubts and play herself up to be the corporate version of Wonder Woman - the woman who could accomplish anything, while wearing a power suit instead of a girdle.

When the doors opened, she stepped out onto the floor as if she was prepared to thank Mr. Fox for hiring her on the spot.

Having tumbled through the industrial uprising on her own and having to apply for job after job, updating her credentials constantly and trying to keep up with every advancement that had come and gone over the years, she knew of the energy and fervor that employers looked for when hiring. If she was going to land a position during a meeting she set up last night, she’d need to embody the confidence it would take to impress her future boss.

The signs she saw along the wall indicated the alphabetical conference rooms were to her left, and she merely had to walk towards the room in the corner of the floor to find the one that Delilah had instructed her to visit. Board Room C was hidden behind a dark oak door, but there were some soft-looking seats in the hallway to act as an informal waiting room. She was ready to sit down and perhaps look over the version of her resume that she had brought to the interview, but it appeared as though there wouldn’t be a moment to rest.

The door handle to the boardroom shifted with a rather noise clang before it swung open. Catching the end of a conversation, she heard the final thoughts of one of the people in the meeting, spoken in a strikingly familiar voice. “And I just think that we can do something more by turning some of our focus over to research. It makes no sense to solely work on treatments, considering how much money we can funnel into Wayne Medical!”

The door flew open, and slowly but surely, Bruce Wayne himself entered her line of sight. His hair was messier than she had ever seen it, and one too many of his shirt buttons were left open as he entered the hall. She had never seen such a disheveled version of him, but there was no doubt that she had stumbled upon the man she was looking for much earlier than she could have ever hoped for. Seeing him like this - so soon! - nearly stole the air from her lungs.

A rather grainy chuckle followed closely behind Bruce’s claims, and it was none other than Lucius Fox himself who found those remarks about Wayne Medical hilarious. “Says the man who no longer has to run the numbers.”

The two men let the discussion flow into the hall without much concern for who might also be dallying on the floor. Bruce especially, as he replied with a clipped tone. “Hey, with the money we have, what matters most is…”

Suddenly, he spotted Diana waiting there when he turned to leave, but it looked as if he had walked into an invisible wall when his foot fell to the floor. “...your passion.”

Lucius looked to see what had caught Bruce’s eye, and she suddenly felt like a spectacle. The energy radiating off of her friend was raw, unfiltered as he stood next to a man who gave off a much more regal air. It felt like she had stunned him, awed him, his gaze fixated on her so strongly that it made her skin feel warm beneath her clothes. The chances of finding him in the building within minutes of her arrival was unfathomable, and yet here he was, feasting on the sight of her with a look in his eyes that reminded her of only one other interaction they had ever had.

At a certain party, when the Batman used Bruce Wayne to speak to her privately.

It felt like tearing velcro apart to look away from him, but she had to. Turning to Lucius, she took charge of the awkward beat that passed between them and offered out her hand. “Good morning, my name is Diana Prince.”

“Ah, Miss Prince. Thank you for waiting. I was just finishing an unscheduled meeting with a rather insistant man.” The look he gave Bruce was reprimanding, almost reminiscent of how a father might feel exasperated by their rambunctious son. It was only when he was mocked did the owner of the company realize that he was behaving rather inappropriately, performing a small double take as he looked between the only other people in the hallway.

Diana plastered a casual grin on her face and turned to offer her hand to him, too. “Is that the way to make sure I do well in my interview, Mr. Wayne? Insist that I am the woman for the job?” She quipped at him, all while letting him know that she recognized who he was, despite the ambiguous way that Lucius referred to him. She needed to demonstrate her intelligence as well as promise that she could commit to the role, all while behaving with the air of a seasoned socialite. It was her intention to wow them so that they would be moved to offer her any position, not just the one she applied for in the middle of the night.

But when Bruce took her hand, she felt the corners of her lips quiver. She had been so panicked over the wellbeing of this man for weeks, and now he was casually shaking her hand. Despite the trauma she needed to uncover, he looked looked to be the picture of health and it was striking to have him so close to her when that was all she wanted for an unfair amount of time. This was a different Bruce before her though, that she could tell.

Still, it was him.

Her whole point of being here was to make sure that he was protected, and for the first time while stumbling through this plan, she relished in a single moment.

“Well, I don’t know if Lucius will appreciate anyone emulating me in order to get their foot in the door,” he attempted comedy with her after gawking for much too long, and she had seen the gears inside his mind turn to form a joke with perfect timing. But they kept turning, nearly spinning out of control when he decided to tack on. “Perhaps I should sit in to make sure he’s treating you fairly. He has been known to get rather cranky after dealing with me, you know.”

“That’s not necessary--” Lucius tried to pipe up, but was verbally stomped down.

“Is that not true? Do you not find me irritating at times?”

“You know I can’t argue with that--”

“Great! I’ll be the good cop then. Let’s go!” And he held out his arm in the direction of the boardroom’s open doorway, implying that she was welcome to enter first.

His motive was still hazy, yet it was absolutely transparent. She didn’t sense any sort of sordid energy from him, however, he wasn’t done observing her himself. It hadn’t occurred to her until she nodded with gratitude at his gesture and wandered inside that perhaps he recognized her. She had only assumed that his reaction to Kal had meant that something happened to his memory - was she being watched like a hawk because Bruce realized that she was in his city, unannounced, unwelcomed, and he was secretly unhinged?

All she could do now was wander over to one of the black leather rotating chairs at the table and make her way through the interview that her civilian life hinged on. Diana Prince’s life revolved around the outcome of this interaction, and she couldn’t allow anything to come in the way of that either.

A hiss in her ear warned her of Victor’s voice sounding off again. “I need you to keep him in your line of sight for the entire interview, if we want to take advantage of this opportunity. I know that might be strange, but we can evaluate him faster if we get this information today.”

Of course Bruce had to sit at the head of the table, while Lucius sat across from her. Diana pretended to fix her seat, then crossed her legs rather dramatically so she could afford the angle Cyborg needed without appearing strange. The windows that acted as the exterior walls to the room rested behind her, she watched as the other two fixed themselves in their seats too before the interview began.

She couldn’t help but notice that Bruce’s appearance was much tidier now than it was in the hallway, as if he took advantage of her turned back to fix himself up.

But Lucius pretended that he wasn’t with them at all, and immediately held out his hand for her resume. “Now, I must say Miss Prince, this is a rather odd interview. I’ve never had a call from someone’s current employer in the middle night, giving me a reference for an employee of theirs that I didn’t even know was interested in working for Wayne Enterprises.”

Diana knew this was coming, so she wasn’t at all thrown off balance by the indirect question. “As you can see in my resume, my previous career has allowed me to work all over the world. It allowed me to see places that most do not get a chance to see, and meet people who are most often forgotten. I’ve heard about the people who are infected in places like Metropolis and Central City and Gotham City, and I realized that I could not consciously stand by and carry on with my life anymore without helping those who need it.”

“But why here?” To her surprise, Lucius hadn’t been given the chance to ask a follow up question. Bruce had decided that it was pertinent information to ask her something that felt more like he had taken on the role of a ‘bad cop’, with how sharply he asked her.

She faced him to answer him, and to help Cyborg’s scan. “Because I know that the type of work experience I have would better benefit an organization that tackles these issues on a larger scale. I can travel anywhere I need to be, I can speak many languages, I always conduct myself professionally--”

Apparently, Bruce wasn’t buying her explanation. “No no, I’m asking you why you chose Wayne Enterprises to be your new employer? Why not the Red Cross? Or the Peace Corps? They travel, they probably could use a secretary at their head office.”

His behaviour was irking both herself and Lucius, but she charged at him with her answer before their ‘discussion’ could be interrupted. “I have encountered the Wayne Foundation before, and done my research in regards to their outreach programs. I am not asking to be a secretary, I am intending to be on the ground where the Wayne Foundation is needed.”

Her rebuttal lead to a stare down, which suited her just fine. It had taken a great deal of convincing to make Victor and Jason see that this was the most practical entrance she had into Bruce’s company, and into his personal life. Being a secretary didn’t promise interactions with him beyond appointment-scheduling and possible errand-running; if she worked inside the building for a foundation that traveled and moved his money around, it would most likely result in his presence being more relevant in meetings, in information he’d need for interviews and investors meetings.

She also read articles about his relationship with Lucius Fox, and realized that he was her ticket into his inner circle, so that she could receive more of his time with a genuine excuse to have it.

It nearly startled Diana when Lucius found her response funny, laughing from behind her resume. When Bruce glared at him though, she assumed by the nuances of their friendship that the laughter was actually directed at Mr. Wayne. However, he pushed passed their interaction to address her properly. “So you’re going from an office job that allowed you to travel, to investing all of your time and energy in our international charity organization.”

“Yes.” Was her confident reply. She dare not make it seem as if Bruce’s behaviour turned her off of the opportunity.

Lucius remained calm until the moment he laid her resume back down on the table, then he interrogated her without remorse. “This isn’t the type of work that allows you to take a break when you’re feeling exhausted you know. We need go getters, people who can handle their personal life and their career simultaneously. It can sound cruel, but you won’t be babied if you’re here, even if you’re new. I’d throw you in once all of your documentation is cleared, and then you’ll be expected to stand alongside every other person I have employed at this level. Do you understand that?”

The challenge he was presenting with not only made her respect Lucius, but it also inspired her for this career she was once questionably applying for. This is the man she had read online about, the one known to have the ‘Midas Touch’, where he can turn any failing business into gold due to his own personal strengths. Working for someone as determined as him reminded her of being trained on Themyscira as a girl, where she wanted to master the talent of those above her.

With honest enthusiasm, she answered him. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. I understand that my application seems sudden, but I believe that when you’re passionate about something, you need to chase after it or you waste all of your time worrying about what could have been. The people I hope to help don’t have those opportunities, so I should take advantage of them when I do.”

There was a pause, there was an exchanging of glances between the three of them, but her energy refused to be melted down into any sort of nervous energy.

That is, until she received an update through her earpiece. “We’re only at 21% of the scan. Keep them talking--”

“Well this interview feels like it’s over.” Was Lucius’ ending comment, as he began to raise to his feet. He handed off the resume to a slouching Bruce Wayne, who flipped off the cover page and began to perform a personal audit of her listed experience and credentials. Within the blink of an eye, she went from feeling confident in her presentation to wondering what on Earth had just happened.

“Oh, really? Well, thank you for your time.” She heard herself saying, despite the confusion she felt. She offered her hand again to Lucius robotically while trying to keep Bruce in her line of sight for Victor.

Graciously, Mr. Fox smiled at her as though she interviewed well, but she couldn’t really say since it was over and done with all too quickly. “I’ll be sure to contact you once I’ve received your background check, all right? Thank you for coming in today.”

“Diana! Are you leaving? I can’t move any faster.”

It felt like she was caught in a whirlwind, being told that it was time to go while needing to stay. She looked directly at Bruce and tried to offer him her hand, but all she could was that she had to make this moment last…!

Woo! I made it before the end of the day (in my time zone, at least). I have been working on this all day, so I hope you enjoyed it. I knooow it’s taking a while for WonderBat to happen, so I wanted to make sure you got a taste of something more solid this chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and I WILL see you next Monday! ~ Maiden

#maiden writes #wonderbat #in the middle of a broken constellation #wonderbat fanfic #wonderbat fanfiction

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