#let. barbara. kill. the. joker.

[horsechestnut]

There are so many Dick, Bruce, or Tim kills the Joker fics on AO3, meanwhile Barbara was the one talking about how The Joker should be the exception to the No Kill Rule years before Red Hood Jason even existed.

#joker: last laugh #barbara gordon #oracle #batgirl i #let. barbara. kill. the. joker. #she deserves it #also that's basically exactly what jason says in the red hood movie #(i have not read the comic yet I'm still in 2001) #batfam #batfamily #i read comics #look i'm not saying dick shouldn't be allowed to kill the joker #but right now on ao3 there are more fics where D*NNY PH*NTOM kills the joker #then fics where Barbara does #we should fix that

[scintillyyy]

it's remembering joker: last laugh is an oracle event hours.

it starts with her. it ends with her. her surveillance over him, her attempt to control her surroundings & always keep an eye on him because of what he did to her. her complicated feelings at first about wanting the joker to die & what he did to her, what he's done to everyone & her ultimate realization that if they give in and kill him he'll get exactly what he wants, it's his ultimate success & it will ruin the people she loves and that, when it comes down to it, that's not what she wants. her turning off her monitors, wondering if that's enough, to just not give him the power of attention. just. gah.

#listen as someone who does often talk and think about tim and dick and helena in this event #let's put aside dick killing the joker that's not the point #the point is barbara. victim of the joker. her complicated feelings. #hate the joker. i will allow him for this event.

[livingdeadvoid]

Tim, looking on the Internet: Dick, have you ever heard of batjokes?

Dick, looking over at his screen: What are you taking about?

Tim and Dick looking at fanart: ...

Stephanie, spitting out her coffee: WHAT THE-

Cass, who's seen this before: Don't yell.

Duke, closing the laptop: We CANNOT let Jason find out...

Damian, glaring at them: Never

#dc comics #tim drake #batfamily #jason todd #dick grayson #batkids #cass cain #cassandra cain #duke thomas #damian al ghul #damian wayne #batjokes #im sorry #i just cant #they would all hate it let's be honest here #joker killed jason #and paralyzed barbara

[babisawyer]

while I was playing arkham knight I was like wow, jason/barbara is kinda sexy ngl. I am now finding out that everyone seems to fucking hate that ship lmfao

#🐇 #I should've just closed the window when I saw the word toxic #fascinating to me how it's incesty when it's anyone but dick and also like that's gonna stop me #oh barbara and jason would be toxic they'd be trauma bonded over the joker #uh yeah and it's sexy!!! let them kill him with hammers #oh she can't hook up with bruce because he's like a father to her. no he's not lmfao she has a dad bruce is a hot sugar daddy that taught #her how to fuck people up!!!! #oh it's disrespectful to have her hook up with multiple batfamily members. boring!!!!! boring!!!! I think you guys should be having #more threesomes!!! live a little!!!!! #I need to go to bed lmfao I'm about to go down a dangerous road

[gothamcityneedsme]

me staring at the short story that was unlocked by the screenshot of robin. i am chewing through my own bones rn.  what does this MEAN.  HELLO I DIDNT KNOW THERE WAS /DRAMA/?????

#shitpost #like OH SHIT. #i like? thought they WERE together? I DIDN'T REALIZE. #THAT THEY'VE BEEN ON AND OFF AND ARE CURRENTLY 'OFF'? #BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING HAPPENING? #i thought they were engaged but i guess that happens. after? jesus christ let me in #i NEED to know #this is the ONLY universe where i ship barbara and tim OBVIOUSLY #but they DO drive me a bit insane. the snippets of them in City and like. how they're both working SO hard. kills me. #they deserve to be happy and they have like. an electricity between them? #its hard to phrase because its still hard to get past the whole weirdness of 'tim and barbara as a ship' like in the first place #but like. context from other continuities aside. it DOES work here. they're contemporaries #and like. idk man. they have an energy that captures me a bit. #also perplexing because if they're off atm then batman does not think that it seems? #joker has talked enough about them like. #idk man this little short story and how little and simple it is is like. killing me #im normal #shipping brain activated. #ive mostly been like analyzing these games in their entirety and like #focused on the overall themes and character developments and setting and gameplay #but by god. im gonna do a little thinking about tim and barbara too. ok. #ive never actually examined them too much before #b/c i like. didn't particularly care? #but this time im like. more into things and also just. looking deeper. #and ive been looking at barbara as one of the core keystones of this entire game series (because she is) so!

[shyjusticewarrior]

Jason Todd's Will

Jason: Here's my will and testament. I leave my crowbar to Tim Drake. Do whatever you want with it except letting Dick or Damian use it- they know what they did.

Jason: I leave my books to Barbara Gordon, and my Batburger rewards card to Duke Thomas. Everything else goes to whoever kills the Joker.

#dc #dc comics #comics #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #red robin #damian wayne #robin #dick grayson #nightwing #barbara gordon #oracle #duke thomas #the signal #batfam #batkids #batbros #batboys #batgirls #robins #batfamily #funny #batburger #bat burger #the joker #joker #original dialogue #dc incorrect quotes #batman characters

[ohnonotthehorrors]

You know, if any of the bats are going to kill the Joker: it should probably be Dick or Duke.

Like, I get it. 'Jason kills the Joker' sounds like the most obvious solution. But the thing is: Jason literally does not care about the Joker.

"But he's the man that killed him-" Sure. But that was a While ago. (At least if you ignore all the rebooting of the universe). Sure, Joker is a big symptom of what Jason sees as the problem. Which is: Crime needs to be controlled. Because more than anyone, he knows it won't be stopped. (It especially won't be stopped if no one is allowed to kill the bad guys).

But here's the thing. Jason's arc does not, and Should Not, revolve around Joker at all. Jason's story really never has been about revenge, and he should be Allowed to Move On from this one of the many people that hurt him. This isn't a: 'Oh Jason should learn to forgive and let go and not take revenge' this is a: 'the Joker is pathetic. Killing him just straight up doesn't do anything to Jason's arc or character.'

But Dick? Dick whose TRIED to kill the Joker? Dick who first donned the mask and tights to take revenge? Who wanted to make up for not being there for Jason? Yeah. This is the character that Would benefit from killing the Joker.

The first Robin has been around almost as long as the Joker has (both made in the same year) and it would be nothing more than divine justice for him to finally be the one to end him.

Well that's all well and good, you say. But what about Duke? What does he have to do with this?

You mean other than Duke being Awesome and he deserves to?

Duke's parents were hit by Joker gas. Pretty famously part of his character's back story. Duke has already killed a 'mirage' of Joker in the comics, which I think would be neat foreshadowing.

And think about it. The guy with light powers, the guy that works the day shift, by all means the Proof that Gotham really does care. Really does take things seriously. Why Shouldn't he get to kill off the personification of apathy?

Now the other point, and this is really just a personal vendetta, I would love Love the character that is Constantly ignored (at least by fandom) to kill off DCs 'specialist awful white man.'

The other person who should get to kill the Joker is Barbara Gordon (for self explanatory reasons) except I don't trust any writer to do it.

(She should get to beat that Thing into a white and red Pulp and shred his remains. No 'pull a trigger' no 'hire a swat team.' She gets to do it with her Bare Fists)

#do you see the vision? #I'm like barely in this fandom but the voices spoke to me #if this is too long and should have a 'keep reading' I apologize #jason todd #duke thomas #the signal #dick grayson #nightwing #batfamily #batfam #batsiblings #barbara gordon #babs gordon #oracle

[qcomicsy]

a list of funniest things jason todd could do:

slowly steal the parts of the batmobile and reassemble it elsewhere, then pull up next to bruce in his own second secret batmobile

become a lawyer and get joker setenced to the death penalty - bonus is that he completes college and gets a degree which bruce never did and alfred is proud beyond the gravethat one of his grandkids actually completed college

change bruces name to "free trires" in his phone contacts

call time the wrong name everyday, but it starts of sounding like a genuine mistake (tom, jim ect) and slowly gets further and further away from the original (jimothy, jeremy, dave, the dogs name)

dye his hair red, claim he was an original red head and then gaslight the family into believing bruce made him dye his hair black to look more like dick and be a replacement

come out as gay and claim to be the only gay member of the batfamily and when tim tries to say something to dispute it he just hits him with "who are you again? the computer guy or smthing?"

could also come out as poly and roll up to family dinners with more than one partner and if someone says something about it, he just says "mad cuz i got TWO more partners than you huh. lonesome bitch."

feel free to add on

LMAAAAOO THIS IS GREAT

Let's go.

Made a carbon copy of Batman and spread in strategic places on the Batcave, Tim's boat, Clock Tower, Duke's nest and Dick's house. (He almost killed them)

(One of Dick's colleagues saw it and he had to lie he was this die hard Batfanboy, his ego never recovered until today.)

Stole Tim's mug and placed on Damian's room, stole Damian's mug and placed on Tim's boat then proceeded to visit the Manor until he hard the scream of the fight he planted between them;

When he saw Bernard for the first time he said "Whoa Timmy you move on fast, this one is Terry right?";

Did a Tramp Stamp tattoo;

Slut shames Dick every chance he gets (this one is actually cannon);

Shot Dick's phone;

Every Christmas shows up with a different Outlaws member and affirms that's his partner

Dated an arrow to piss of his dad, when Bruce got over it proceeded to date a lantern instead;

Never told no one other than Dick he's actually in a stable relationship with Artemis because he refuses to swap Bruce's horrified reaction to a normal one;

Gave Bernard the shovel talk;

When he bumped with Selina after the (failed) marriage and she teased him on how he didn't gave her shit for it he just answered "No, no I get it"

Purposely brings Harley to bat reunions under the bullshit "She's my therapist" when the bats bother him, knowing his therapy with Harley only count when they're at her office;

Told every one he's Harley's adopted kid (actually Harley was the one to say that once when she was drunk and he just went along with it);

Exchanged Bernard's number to Kon's in Tim's cell phone and vice-versa;

Left his Mustache grow and showed up as Matches Malone in one of Wayne's Gala;

Lied he was actually a Titan but they kicked him out because Dick's is an asshole;

Stoled Signal's Patrol Lunch;

Stole's Spoiler's lunch;

Brought alcohol to manage going through their family gathering when he was caught he blamed on Tim;

(He thought about blaming on Dick but he knew Dick would just go along with it)

Everytime Dick, Barbara and Bruce call him he answers with "He's dead";

Introduced Tim to the Outlaws with "That's Robin they found him on the thrash"

Showed up to Barbara's job dropped a "Hi mom" as a greeting then proceeded to laugh his ass off while Barbara tried o explain to her coworkers that that tank of a man wasn't her child;

Told Dick Talia adopted him;

Told Talia Dick adopted him;

Told Damian that if Batman dies he's going to adopt him out of spite;

#jason todd #q asks #I loved this one #the gay and the poly one was so fucking funny

[brucewaynehater101]

Just read a fic about Tim finally getting post patrol ice cream and his own renovated room after admitting to never getting any unlike his siblings and now I'm imagining an AU

Imagine this, Tim is tired, pulling an all nighter, because he did too poor a job at pretending as Robin, and it's too late to do damage control. Not in front of villains or heroes alike

But the people

They've caught onto how the third robin receives less than the first two

Robin acts less like a child, less like a son to Batman, and more like a 'Business Partner's as he said with his own words. Like a handler

Robin who has to put work into keeping Batman from overexerting himself, from cruelly punishing those who fall victim to him

Robin who receives less praise or care from Batman and cares for both himself and his "Boss" as he said with his own words

And it gets worse after the mantle passes down to Stephanie and Damian because the people notices how even as Batman treats them better than the third, now rebranded as Red Robin—

—Red Robin is still as much a Business Partner to batman as he always has been since the Dark Knight's loss of his second bird

And as much as tries to keep things buried, word is spreading that Red Robin is black sheep of the batfamily, and he won't be able to hide it for much longer

Have fun with this idea lol

I know the fic you're talking about! "with the exception of..." by DSS1101. That's a good one!

"Home Decor" by sElkieNight60 is about Duke remodeling his room as part of the new Wayne member tradition. This brings up feelings in Tim cause his bedroom still looks like a barely used guestroom.

The concept you've mentioned gives similar vibes to a hc/au post I read about how JJ (Joker Junior) isn't known by anyone but the goons/Rogues, Barbara, Jim, and Bruce. All the other Bats don't know. In consideration of Tim, electric shock weapons are immediately put away when Red Robin arrives on scene (I love that idea so much).

I think, with the Gothamites around when Bruce was going on his grief spiral almost killing spree, people feel a kinship with Tim. They couldn't have stopped Batman and, with part guilt and part relief, it seems only a child could. They watch this child, who seems to be sacrificing everything for a brutal and cruel man, and how he pulls Batman back into the symbol he's supposed to be. It brings out the protective and parental instinct of a lot of people.

This cues civilians, goons, and rogues alike trying to assist Robin in small ways. Tim as Robin had people offering him food (in sealed containers), giving him compliments, handing him scarves or hats (how could Batman let a child out in this weather without a hat?!?!?), and more. They tried to give him small moments to be the child he was pretending he wasn't. He obviously wasn't getting decent parenting at home if Batman was just his boss and his real folks were letting him out to fight.

There's a kind of guilty gratefulness towards the third Robin and a protectiveness of him. All young Bats are treated with care by civilains and some goons, but Robin three was special. He willingly became the barrier between Batman and Gotham. A lot of folks owe their ability to work (and not have exorbiant medical debt and medical conditions) to Tim. He saved them by damning himself. He needed the support Batman obviously wasn't providing.

Tim, as intelligent as he is, doesn't realize the affect he has on Gotham's older population. The younger ones will react with slightly more respect towards him than the other Bats, but they weren't around to see what Tim's sacrifice did for everyone.

Tim, with his self-doubt and hero-worship of his predecessors, thought his treatment throughout Robin was the work of those who came before him. Of course Gothamites trust and help out Robin when Dick and Jason built that foundation.

He's not exactly wrong, but it isn't to the extent they actually do for Tim.

Unfortunately for Tim, Damian and Jason do know that his Robin was treated with such reverence. They don't know why, but their Robins did/do not get treated that way. They chalk it up to Tim being the "perfect" and "can do no wrong" Robin. It's one point of contention they are unable to clear up due to Tim not knowing about it and the other two not wanting to explain their jealousy.

Steph was not treated as well as Damian and Jason when she was Robin. She, in this AU, was not treated as much of a crutch as Tim is. Despite that, her Spoiler/Batgirl/whatever persona gets some of the protectiveness that Tim's personas do. Bruce was more healed with Steph, but he was still an ass. That was obvious to any Gothamite watching.

Steph, because she was around at the time and talks with Gothamites to know what rumors are floating around, becomes aware after her death of why Tim's Robin is held up with such respect. This allows, unknowingly to Tim, for them to reach more understanding. With her knowledge of Tim's time as Robin, she's able to point out how he was being an ass, what he should've done instead, and that she herself was sorry for some of her actions.

When more and more individuals cue into Tim's black sheep position in the Batfam, this could go two ways.

One, Tim is targeted more due to his lack of support.

Two, Gothamites and Rogues increase their aid to Red Robin and become slightly cold to the Bats for their treatment of him.

#dc comics #dc universe #tim drake #thank you for the ask!!!! #it's my hc that Tim's robin went through hell #part of the reason tim is great at making friends (even with people who have hurt him) is because he's trying to build Bruce's support grou #steph brown #jason todd #damian wayne #bruce wayne

[thelibrarian1895]

Bruce is the restraining bolt

Let's say that Bruce "dies" again. Tim, of course, figures it's another temporary thing and bonus he doesn't need to risk another organ to prove it this time. That being said, Bruce isn't around to stop them now. Dick doesn't feel the need to be the dad this time since Bruce will be back. He's the big brother, the babysitter at best. Jason has never felt the need to step up into a parental role for any of his sibs before and he's not going to stop now. Cass won't kill, that is her line, beyond that, she's not anyone's parent either. Tim is one bad day away from being a supervillain, he seriously needs a vacation but at the same time he needs something that will keep him busy or he will get paranoid (thanks B for the trauma) and so he's not going to stop anyone, Duke doesn't have the experience to know when or if he should stop any of his sibs, steph and barbara are staying out of it as while they are family they consider themselves cousins at best no matter what B says, and no one is going to let Damian boss them around.

That being established, B is gone, Alfred is fretting but not inclined to stop anyone anyway, the kids decide that while the bat is away...

When Bruce returns, Alfred is just returning from a spa trip his beloved grandchildren insisted that he go on since he deserved a nice break and they even investigated to make sure the spa wasn't a scam or front! While Alfred was gone and Bruce was "dead", all Black Mask's warehouses had been mysteriously destroyed with large explosions that Bruce had previously forbidden because he was worried about collateral damage since some of those warehouses were sandwiched by other storage facilities and places where people squatted. (Steph and Jason, both very affronted because they are professionals B! And yes, there were also glitter bombs involved, it made the fire extra pretty with the different colors).

Furthermore, Lex Luthor is no longer the majority shareholder of his own company anymore, that would be Tim now, and all of Lex's employees are rejoicing since they're all getting a pay raise that brings them from the legal bare minimum to not just a living wage but twice that plus benefits even for those who aren't full timers (which is basically everyone, lex never wanted to get benefits for anyone). Lex is also being investigated for embezzling, money laundering, domestic and international terrorism, and the trafficking of minors (kon). Lex chose a very bad time to make Kon sad and Tim took that personally.

Bruce also discovered that Tim's childhood home, aka the drake's old place next door for the given value of next door, has been demolished and that whole area is now a botanical garden and registered wildlife sanctuary. (Damian with assistance and permission from Tim since technically the land was in Tim's name, Damian persuaded Poison Ivy to help while also monitoring to ensure she didn't slip in anything detrimental and also breaking up the exotic animal smuggling ring that B had been trying to keep from him to prevent this very thing. Tim, in the meantime, just happened to have a number of people on hand more than happy to work in a botanical garden/wildlife sanctuary and no, none of those people were ever formerly ninja who answered to Ra's before realizing that Red Robin was a far better employer, why would you ever think they were?)

And of course, the Joker is dead. None of his kids are fessing up to this. If pressed, they will cry, even Jason, and say that they thought Joker killed their dad and they wished it had been them because they missed him so much! (It was Dick and Barbara, Babs faked the paperwork for Dick to go in as an orderly, Dick, in disguise, gave the Joker altered medication via injection and made sure to get some air bubbles in for good measure, official COD was a totally natural brain aneurysm, so sad, no autopsy needed, burn the body)

Duke was a bit of a wild card and ended up hanging out with Selina, picking up a few extra skills, and using those skills to break into various mansions and apartments of the filthy rich to steal back stolen art and artifacts and return them to museums in their country of origin so they can be enjoyed by everyone (he watched indiana jones recently and the "it belongs in a museum" popped into his head a lot, he did wear a particular hat while he was committing his heists) It was nice potential step mother and step son bonding time

And finally, Cass causes Ra's Al Ghul to lose a particular appendage, one that the lazarus pit hasn't been able to grow back for him thanks to a little consultation with Constantine beforehand. She then went to hang out at Themyscira and got some very pretty bracelets.

Bruce is thinking very hard about just turning around. He takes a nap instead and then he lectures his beloved nutcases about personal safety, the law, respecting what is essentially dibs on certain super villains, and all the other boring stuff he's tried to impose on them over the years.

#bruce wayne #batfamily #batman #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #signal #stephanie brown #duke thomas #alfred pennyworth #crack fic idea #cassandra cain #cassandra wayne

[nerdpoe]

Whenever I read anything in comics or in fanfic about "we can't kill the Joker because that would be doing what he wants, we have to let the law take care of him" I just. giggle.

He's shown multiple times premeditation, which indicates he does, in fact, understand the consequences of his actions. By law, he is mentally fit enough to stand trial.

By law, he would more than likely be sentenced to death, many many times over, after being branded a terrorist. He wouldn't even be housed in New Jersey, he'd be sent to someplace like Guantanamo Bay, ultra secure max prison. His execution would be sped up due to flight risk. It would happen out of sight and out of mind, in a glass box so that weird chest bomb of Joker Gas doesn't affect anyone, and then incinerated.

This is comicbookland, so that doesn't happen, but like, if this was the direction Joker's court cases were supposed to go, and it was an assistance program run by Wayne Enterprises that kept stepping in and using legal fuckery to get Joker to Arkham instead of standing trial?

All it would take is just. One little sign off from Barbara. One little tweak.

Joker isn't eligible for that outreach program anymore.

#batman #joker #story prompt i guess #lol #i just think it'd be funny with batman being like #“well i can't condone death but also like the state declared it through valid legal proceedings” #i know it's comicbooklogic that stops joker from standing trial and not an outreach program #because if it was an outreach program barbara would have absolutely destroyed it #or altered it so that joker wasn't viable for it #i don't care about the discourse of “but joker is the best villain for batman!” #no he's not DCU is just too lazy to come up with an actual replacement

[tyrantisterror]

I think one of the things that gets lost in the big, endless internet conversation about whether or not heroes should kill their villains is the fact that killing villains off robs you of a lot of story-telling potential. The Joker died at the end of his debut story in Batman - imagine what Batman would be if he stayed dead. No Joker in Batman 66, no The Killing Joke which means no Barbara Gordon as Oracle and no The Dark Knight, no Mark Hamill Joker episodes of BTAS (so many of them were based on his comic appearances, after all - the laughing fish is a direct adaptation of a comic), which means no Harley Quinn and no Return of the Joker, on and on it goes.

Like, you can argue the morality of heroes sparing their villains till you turn blue - god knows this site does it at least a thousand times a day - but on a purely pragmatic story-telling level, the minute you kill ANY character, you kill all the story potential they had. And yeah, it's fiction, you can bring them back from the dead if you really need them, but that's a pretty hard story beat to pull off without hurting your story. You don't want to fill your tale with "Somehow, Palpatine has returned" moments.

And you can just make new villains, sure, but again you have a problem with that - a new villain has to establish themselves and has to stand out from who came before, which means you can't go directly to the storylines you could have had with a villain who stuck around AFTER their introduction. A recurring villain is capable of doing things that one-off villains can't.

I'm going to illustrate this with a character from a fandom I'm not even a part of - I never played the Ratchet and Clank series and am only vaguely aware of it, but one day I saw a supercut of scenes starring one of its recurring villains, Dr. Nefarious, on twitter, and I was like "Oh shit, that's the guy who plays Quark on Deep Space Nine, isn't? This guys a hoot, let's see if we can find more clips on youtube." Which brought me to this hefty video here from one of the more recent games in the series.

And, like, as a person who "doesn't even go here," it's obvious this goofy little fucker has a history. His opening scenes have him ranting about how much it sucks to lose repeatedly - a lampshade on the "flaw" of a recurring villain, i.e. that their threat diminishes the more they come back because, by the nature of their role in the story, it means they've suffered a lot of losses. So how cool is it that as this supercut chugs along you can clearly see this is a theme of the game - that this is a story about the virtue of losing, a story that is enriched by having an antagonist who fans of the series know has lost a LOT?

The true antagonist is an alternate version of Dr. Nefarious who's won every fight in his life so far, apparently with little effort, and I love how they differ on a design aspect. They're both technically mad scientists, but notably, Emperor Nefarious, the winner, has a more imposing and "heroic" build, but a smaller brain-dome for his robot brains. Because winning may make him look strong, but if a mad scientist's real power is their mind, well, which Nefarious is really the strong one here then?

Dr. Nefarious gets this juicy arc about realizing the virtue in his repeated failures that corresponds with the heroic characters struggling to find a way to win against a seemingly invincible opponent, as well as contrasts the true villain, Dr. Nefarious's explicit counterpart and foil Emperor Nefarious, who has never once lost and is a total piece of shit for it. Again, not my fandom, I don't go here, not an expert on Ratchet and Clank, but even as a relative stranger to it who's just watching a big supercut, I fucking love this. This is an excellent story.

And it's one you can only tell with a recurring villain. Without Dr. Nefarious, this story works significantly less. You need a villain with a history the audience has seen to really sell this.

Anyway, I made this post because, ironically enough, I saw another tweet talking about how some fans think Dr. Nefarious should have been killed off in his first appearance, and, like... that's just fucking baffling to me, as a person outside this fandom looking in. Recurring villains deserve more love, man, they give us so much.

#Youtube

[confused-wanderer]

How would Jason react, or even know about Bruce nearly killing the joker?

He doesn’t hear it from Damian, Dick nor Barbara. It’s only when a few years have passed and relations between Bruce and him slowly start cooling that he starts being able to return to the Manor more often without feeling pangs of guilt, longing, nostalgia and overall the Lazarus Pit screaming to be let out.

However, he isn’t dumb. Whenever he complains to Tim about how Tim’s been treated better and loved more than he was, he’s quick to notice how Tim’s jaw tenses, with fingers spastic as if they wanted to curl into fists. Nor does he miss what Tim whispers under his breath twenty minutes later.

If only you knew..

Bruce keeps trying to make amends, tries engaging with him face to face before a few bullets got the message across and he retreated. But Jason could still feel him waiting, hovering, for the signal to light up and let him know he was needed.

He could go to hell though.. Every single time he looked at Bruce he felt safe, followed by fierce anger burning through his veins. He hated that he felt at ease when Bruce entered. Hated that he almost fell back into their old banter. Hated that he missed him. Hated that he still trusted him.

Hated that he still loved him.

One night, after giving Bruce the cold shoulder the entire time and watching in satisfaction as Bruce’s shoulder slumped in defeat, he felt the sudden need to comfort him. He’s the batman, he chided himself. If he could get over your death, he can get over this.

Standing out on the balcony, he never spoke to the presence already there.

“Master Jason..”

“Hey Alfred, it’s pretty cold out you sure you’d be fine?”

“I’ve faced worse winters.”

Jason sighed. That old man always had an air of expectancy around him, just like when he was robin, like a mother waiting for their child to tell them what they did wrong.

“What do you want?”

“I want to know what the bloody hell you think you’re doing?”

That caught Jason’s attention. Hatred and stoic ness quickly melted and all he could do was stare at him in shock.

“Why are you tormenting him?”

“Are you fucking kidding me??-“ “Language master Jason.”

“Alfred. You were there.”

“There was nothing master Bruce could do to save you-”

“I DONT CARE ABOUT THAT ALFRED! He-“

Shoulders slumped, he looked down.

“He replaced me.” Jason whispered. “He didn’t even wait till my body was cold he just fucking went ahead and replaced me. Even after knowing I died, he still put another child in that suit, MY suit! And then, HE DIDNT EVEN AVENGE ME!! He just took Joker back to Arkham, which is basically just like a vacation for him, and LEFT. After all these-”

A shivering cold current of electricity ran through his body and he could feel the Lazarus Pit rising, making his body grow colder by the second.

“After all this time.. he never did anything.” Jason muttered. “So yeah, not only was knowing I was dead for four years a slap to the face.. but to come back home to find another kid in my room and business as usual? As if I never existed? That just made me realise I didn’t matter.”

CLINK

The tea cup in Alfred’s hands was shaking, and a wave of concern overtook Jason. He was about to reach a hand out to steady it when Alfred put the cup down, sighed and looked at the moon.

“Master Bruce never gave Robin to Tim. I did.”

“.. Come again?”

“I gave it to him myself. After you died.. he was a shell of himself. He started pushing himself more, brutalising criminals to the point of hospitalisation. After you died.. a big part of him did too. He refused to be around people, friends, to be happy, to eat. He was punishing himself for your death by refusing to live. And I never forgot you either my boy.. Every night for months I stood by the windows, staying awake and looking outside..hoping to catch a glimpse of you. For the first time in my life I prayed for you to be beaten and bruised, but alive. Locked myself in your room, in your memories, as if standing over your bed was guarding you even in death..Master Bruce missed you so much he played tapes of your missions, just to hear your laugh.”

The older man shook his head and refused to look at him.

“He rejected Tim, but I couldn’t watch him destroy himself. I’d already lost one son..” Alfred paused, looking at Jason with such fondness and pain. “ I wasn’t going to lose another.”

A long pause lingered in the air, and Jason could hear his heart racing as it processed what he’d heard.

“As for Joker,” Jason looked up, and saw the most terrifying scowl he’d ever seen before, with eyes filled with hatred and a craving for retribution.

“Jason Bruce almost killed him too. Like you said, I was there. I was always there. He had chas- hunted Joker down, torturing him slowly and violently until the air was thick with his screams. How every bone was shattered, with so much blood you couldn’t even tell the tiles underneath were white.”

Alfred closed his eyes, and Jason couldn’t help feel that though he was remembering the scene, he was also reveling in it. “His body shattered, smile gone replaced with pain and the howls of misery that he emitted that night.. alas-”

“He didn’t kill him.”

Alfred’s eyes bore into his, and reflected the darkness of the shimmering sky.

“You’re not hearing me. He damn well nearly did. There are things worse than death in this world and Bruce made sure to make Joker feel every single.one. But Superman.. heard him. He heard the roars of fury and grief, and stopped him. All while Bruce stood over the broken body of what once was human. All while muttering your name over and over again, like it was a prayer that kept him grounded. With every hit he took, with every ounce of pain he delivered, he did it with your name on his lips.”

They both just stood there.. shadows in fading moonlight as the noises of life started waking the world with their song.

“Unfortunately, his voice was recorded on one of those surveillance cameras. Tim wiped it, but we kept one copy.. and though the footage is corrupted, the sound is crystal clear.”

Alfred hesitated, before gently cupping Jason’s hands and placing a cold weight on them.

“I hope you never hear it..my boy. I’d rather you burnt it. But if you want to hear the raw truth.. I wanted you to have proof.”

Sunlight burst through the horizon, and with it came the dawn of a new time.

Jason heard the tape as soon as he left.

And burnt it right after.

Alfred was right.

All he had heard were the guttural cries of a broken man..

A father, grieving for his son.

Jason finding out Dick killed joker post:

#dick grayson #batfam #batfamily #batman #jason todd angst #jason todd robin #batman angst #tim drake #alfred pennyworth #red hood angst #badass Alfred pennyworth

[thebatfamdeservesbetter]

My unpopular (?) batman opinion ™️ is that i would 100% be behind DC actually killing off the joker. Even if it’s just for a while-

i’d hope it would be Jason or Barbara or even Harley but let someone take out the clown. Literally every member of the batfam has earned it by now.

I can also imagine a lot of stories that could coke of it- how do the other heroes react? How do the other villains react? How is the crime presence in Gotham affected by the loss of the Joker?

#dc comics #joker #batman #batfamily #batfam #jason todd #barbara gordon

[gffa]

I will say that, as frustrating as the arguments in Gotham War are, this part struck me as 100% in character. I was reading the Joker War storyline and Bruce's hallucinations of Alfred were forcing him to confront the fact that, on some level, he still held it against Damian for triggering Alfred's death, still held it against Dick for having amnesia and not being there to help, still held it against Selina for taking him out of the city, and it wasn't meant to be a fair blaming, it was meant to be that this is what Bruce struggles with. And it struck me how much this was a pattern with Bruce, that he's even aware of it before Alfred's death, in the Nightwing series, he admits that he blamed Dick for making Bruce need him so much (loving him so much, basically) and then leaving him. Bruce struggles with how much he loves all these people, lets them into his heart, and then some part of him desperately wants to idealize them, the way he idealizes his parents. That his reaction to Selina's plan isn't just "poor little rich boy whose parents were killed by a robber" (which, by the way, does still have a point, it isn't less horrific that they lost their lives just because they had money, and we see that Selina's way is going to get people killed), but also Bruce's trauma is playing a big part on all his kids and extended family, because he struggles with idealizing them, struggles with, "we are all in his life because we were victims of a crime, how can any of you decide that the thing that drew us all together doesn't matter?" How can they say that the thing that forged their family into the unbreakable bonds is something that they can just decide no longer matters to who they are and why they do what they do? It's not rational, it's not justified, it's striking out in hurt and anger, but it's also partly coming from a place of love for his family and very much coming from a place of trauma and Bruce's complicated relationships with what he does and the family he surrounds himself with, the family that began to let him heal after the death of his parents. And, to him, it feels like that is slipping away, if it's so easy for them to decide that it's okay that some people are victims--because Bruce didn't just let anyone join his family, they all had to stand up to him trying to stop them first.

How many times did he try to stop a young Dick Grayson from going after Zucco? How many times he did he try to stop a young Barbara Gordon from becoming Batgirl? How many times did he try to keep Tim from this life? How many times did he try to stop them, only for them to stand up and say, "I won't let anyone else become a victim like I was."? How many times have we commented about how Bruce wasn't training child soldiers, he was putting leashes on the kids?

That is what made them acceptable in this life--and now, suddenly, it doesn't matter? Yeah, I 100% believe Bruce would react this way.

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #bruce wayne #tim drake #batman/catwoman: the gotham war

[artemismoorea03]

Jim Gordon had seen a lot of things in all his years as both an officer and Commissioner but for the most part things stayed at an arms length or he was able to easily separate himself from situations. Of course, there were incidents that were a bit harder to seperate from like Barbara becoming paralyzed due to Joker, all the times he or Barabara nearly died, kidnappings, and watching friends and loved ones either die or go down a dark path, but for the most part his life wasn't too crazy.

At least that was until one summer that all changed rather dramatically. In the form of a redhaired teenager showing up at his police station. She was around 17 and was wearing teal pants, a black shirt and a teal headband. But no matter her age or what she was wearing it didn't change the fact that she looked like Barabra had when she was younger.

That mixed with the fact that she specifically asked to see 'Jim Gordon' was something that made all of the Gotham PD point her in his direction. Once they were face to face the girl let out a shaky breath.

"My name is Jasmine Fenton, I'm your second cousin and I need your help protecting my brother from my parents and Batman."

Jim was shocked, blinking confusion away as he held up his hand. "Wait wait. You're my-"

"Second cousin. My mother is Madeline Walker."

Maddie. He knew Maddie though he had only met her a couple of times. Her mom and his dad were siblings. That explained why Jasmine looked so much like Barbara at least.

"Maddie... right, I remember Maddie. Okay, so why does your brother need protection? Specifically from your parents and Batman?"

Jasmine played with her hands. "My... my brother is different, Commissioner Gordon and my parents found out. They hurt him... badly. So we came here because you're the only one who might be able to help us but if Batman finds out we're here then Danny could get hurt again. B-but my parents and the government are wrong out him! H-he's not evil, he's a hero. H-he's a hero but because of what he is... he's labled as evil..."

Jim frowned, "Okay... is your brother a meta?"

Jasmine shook her head. "No."

Damn. Meta protection act wouldnt help here.

"Alright... is your brother with you?"

Jasmine sniffled then nodded. "He's in the car sleeping."

Jim stood up, grabbing his jacket off of the coat hanger. "Take me to him, please."

"You won't hurt him?"

"You have my word."

Jasmine looked at him, her teal eyes filled with more exhaustion and anxiety than any childs should be. Then, she let out a shaky breath and lead him out of the room.

They walked through the police station before Jasmine lead him out to the parking lot to the furthest corner of it where a beat up red station wagon was parked alone. Jasmine then gestured to the back window as Jim looked in.

The seats had been laid down and blankets laid out in a makeshift bed where a teenager around 14 or 15 laid sleeping on it. The teenager had healing bruises on his face and arms as well as a multitude of bandages that Jim could see peeking over the blanket, specifically on his chest. What had Jim the most concerened though was how pale the boy was and how weak his breathing seemed.

Any doubts Jim might have had immediately flew out the window. It no longer mattered who these two kids were they were kids in trouble.

"Why didn't you take him to the hosptial?" Jim asked, looking at Jasmine who looked ready to cry.

"Because if the Government finds out where he is they'll take him away and kill him. What he is isnt supposed to exist and is listed as 'dangerous'." She sniffled.

Jim frowned. The goverment couldn't know yet they took the risk to come to him? They must have been desperate.

"Okay, let me see your keys. I'll take you kids to my place to hide then call my daughter."

"Y-your daughter?" Jasmine asked, handing the keys over regardless.

"Yeah. She's good with these kinds of things and if she can't help I might know somebody else who can." Jim explained, climbing into the drivers seat as Jasmine ran to the other side.

"T-they won't turn us in, right?"

"No, they wont. My daughter is a librarian and my friend is a butler, they know how to keep secrets." He promised, pulling away from the police station in the direction of his house.

He could only hope that he would be able to help these two kids, and that whatever fear they had of the Batman wouldn't end up being justified fears.

#dp x dc prompt #my prompts #more of a oneshot #i was bored