#Cass found out when he helped her with a case in Hong Kong. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

call-me-strega · 3 months

Text

Dc x Dp Prompt #14: The Valentines Day Debacle

“debacle • \dee-BAH-kul\ • noun.

1 : a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river

2 : a violent disruption (as of an army) : rout

3 a : a great disaster b : a complete failure : fiasco.”

~ It was Valentine’s Day and Jason regrets agreeing to go on this date.

Weelll, kind of, but not exactly.

This “date” was actually a covert-op with three caped chaperones because he, Steph, Tim and Cass were all on cases that ended up being the same case.

Steph and Tim had caught wind of some allegedly magic potions becoming popular among college students used to help students score dates with their up coming Valentines. There weren’t any outright love potions but confidence boosters, things to increase your attractiveness, luck boosters, thing to get people in the mood. They had been investigating into it to make sure this wasn’t secretly a drug ring but found it to some real magical bullshit. They’d located the source’s lair/lab where they brewed the potions but not the potion brewer themselves.

Cass had been in Hong Kong when she caught wind of one of her targets following rumors of a witch who specialized in potions to grant small boons and bewitching charms. After dealing with her target she started tracking down the witch to find out her goals and intentions. She followed her trail across Asia, Europe and a good portion of the eastern seaboard before her path led her to Gotham.

Jason was investigating some upper middle class chick that started hanging around the alley trying to get in with the prostitutes and drag queens(and only succeeding in making them suspicious). She met several young men who abandoned the gang allegiances too trail after her like puppies. His investigation showed she was also circling Gotham elites and was in search of gossip on two things: people looking for love and a beau for herself.

They had been going over their cases at a team meeting when they realized their 3 targets were all the same woman. Between the four of them they pieced out she was some new age witch, descendent from an older family line looking to get rich and in a relationship. Her potions weren't really actively harmful but her use of them to gain the upper hand in business deals and amass a following of boytoys she decided weren’t hunky enough for her but would do as muscle was.

Tim and Steph knew she was planning on selling her potions at the Valentine’s/Winter market place in Robinson Park coming up. Jason and Cass knew she was looking to net some more followers while they were there so the plan was simple. One of the guys would go undercover to try and get recruited while the others stayed nearby for back up. They’d try to get some information out of her and if the need for it arose, to take her into custody and hand her off to the Justice League Dark. They’d already talked to Zatana to have her ready to come to Gotham should things go awry and gotten a charm from her to prevent them from getting put under her control.

Oh if only this didn’t go so wrong.

Unfortunately for Jason, he matched their little witch’s tastes to a tee. Thus, he was the one stuck being dragged around market under the guise of having agreed to a date with her. She dragged him around, made him pay for her things, tried to use his stature to intimidate others and was generally rude to the other patrons and staff. Oh, Jason despised her but grit his teeth and pretended to play nice. Cass was investigating her stall and Steph and Tim were tailing them.

Finally over the comms he heard the team confirm Cass had found the info she was looking for and he could finally ditch little miss witch. He broke it to her that he thought this wouldn’t work out and her eye just twitched. She must have tried to charm him because she asked him to stay with her and become her main beau, which he soundly refused. This set her off on a rage as she screeched over how her charm didn’t work and how Jason would have been perfect if she’d been able to get him under her thumb. He tried to back off when she lashed out with a magic rope insisting once she captured Jason he’d be the perfect leader to her adoring little boyfriend army.

So yeah she was more psycho than anticipated.

Spoiler and Red Robin began to swoop in for the rescue which only served to enraged her further. That’s when the team learned that she was talented in more than just potions. She used her magic to start awakening magical creatures in the park surrounding them. Nymphs shed from trees and little snow golems formed and began attacking RR and Spoiler.

Black Bat had run over to extract Jason when the witch noticed her. She shrieked in outraged proclaiming if she couldn’t have Jason no one else would and that he could become fish food for the frost creatures of Far Frozen before picking him up with a spectral vine and slamming him through the frozen lake into a swirling blue portal. Cass tried to go after him but the witch quickly engaged her with too much feral rage to realize she was outclassed in hand to hand against Black Bat. By the time Steph and Tim fought off the nymphs and golems it was too late. Whatever whirling portal had been in the lake closed and Jason was no where to be found.

As Jason pushed through the ice he had one final thought before he felt himself black out: ‘Worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

~ The first thing Jason felt when he came to was cold. He was still submerged under icy water. It was chilled him to the core but was almost soothing in a way. As if cooling of a burn. As is opened his eyes the world seemed to move in slow motion. He was still underwater surrounded by chunks of ice. He could make out sounds of distorted yelling as the world seem to get even slower.

Suddenly he felt something grab his collar and place itself under his arm. Jason was unceremoniously hoisted out of a frozen river and laid out on a river bank. He let out a harsh cough and his head got dizzy. He tried to regain his wits long enough to see who pulled him out.

It was large figure, maybe an inch or two taller than his 6 foot, with the bulk of a viking and the looks of one too. The man appeared to be around the same age as Jason, possibly older, and very concerned. He had messy white hair that was tied(or braided? Jason’s vision was still blurry) in the back. He was wearing armor made of some sort of hide leather and a dark gray metal (iron?) and covered in snow-white furs.

Jason stared at his savior trying to get his wits about him, willing his vision to clear. That’s Jason felt a warm fur cloak wrap around him as the man said something Jason wasn’t able to comprehend. He let out another harsh cough and felt himself being picked up in a princess carry. His rescuer moved incredibly fast for someone carrying a man of Jason’s stature. However, the motion did not help with the dizziness or the cold. Jason shivered, curling towards his “heroic knight” and pulling the cloak tighter around himself. This spurred the man to go faster.

Finally, everything stopped moving and Jason felt himself encompassed in warmth. Several more furs were wrapped around him and he was laid down to rest. At last Jason’s vision cleared enough to see the other man’s face properly. He had a rugged face and a strong jawline. He had a small scar near his eyebrow and round eyes with light eye bags beneath them. He had a straight nose and bow-shaped lips.

Jason felt the world slow down again and realized he’d soon pass out from the cold. The man lifted Jason’s head and slipped a pillow underneath. A rough hand gently pushed the wet hair out of his face and caressed his cheek. Jason stared into the man’s eye. They were kind, gentle, and such a vibrant green they seemed to glow. The man gave him a small smile and the last thing Jason heard before falling asleep was a soothing voice telling him “Rest, we will take care of you.” And with that Jason felt himself relax and fell asleep.

~ When Jason came to the first thing he saw was a 20-something-foot tall yeti with an icy cybernetic arm looming over the foot of his bed.

He promptly screamed and fell out of bed.

A vaguely familiar voice called out from another room.

“ FROSTBITE! I thought I told you not to scare him!”

In walked the man that had saved Jason from an icy death. Upon closer inspection now that he wasn’t dying the man seem 10 times as beautiful than Jason remembered. He almost seemed to have this ethereal glow to him. The man continued to admonish the yeti who just laughed heartily and continued on with whatever task he was trying to complete. The man turned his attention to Jason, smiling at him in apology and lifting him back into the bed.

“ I’m sorry about Frostbite. He won’t admit it but I think he gets a crack out of scaring his patients,” He said with a placating chuckle. His mirthful eyes met Jason’s puzzled ones and he continued on as he began to fiddle with few thermoses, seemingly searching for one in particular.

“ You must be quite confused. I don’t exactly know how you ended up here but this place called the Far Frozen. I felt a pulse of magic near the river and went to investigate and ended up fished you of the water. You were nearly frozen so I brought you back to village where you could get warmed up and medics like Frostbite could help you before the actual frostbite set in.”

He chuckled at his own joke before placing a cup in Jason’s hands.

“ It’s soup, drink up. It’ll help you get warm.”

Jason hesitantly took a sip of his soup. It was surprisingly good! He continued to sip his soup and Jason observed the man. He had a rather muscular build Jason noticed, staring at the man for no other reason than assessing if he’d be a potential threat (and for absolutely no other reason). Danny finished closing up his thermos and continued to speak.

“ I promise once Frostbite treats you for any illness or injury. I’ll help you get home. -Oh where are my manners” he held his hand out for Jason to shake. “You can call me Phantom.”

“ Call me Jay,” he replied, taking Phantom’s hand and a glance at his biceps. Phantom pulled away and stood up.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to resting. I’ll come back later when Frostbite gives you a check up and we can talk about how you got here and how to get you back” He turned and began to walk out before turning his head back one last time and waved. “I’ll see in a bit Jay.”

Jason watched him go and fell back into bed having finished his soup. As he pulled the furs and blankets back over himself he thought ‘Well maybe it’s not the worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

225 notes · View notes

prfctparis · 5 months

Text

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

AO3 Link / One / Prev / Next / Masterlist

summary:

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

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

a/n:

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

warnings for entire fic:

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

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

CHAPTER FOUR —

Tonight did not go the way Bruce thought it would.

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

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

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

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

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

Not this.

Not Damian having two secret, older, biological siblings.

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

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

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

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

Now he’s learned Talia had lied yet again.

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

His twins.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And he offered to.

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

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

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

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

…A lot of things about Damian made sense now.

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

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

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

It made Bruce emotional in so many ways.

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

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

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

“Of course.”

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

“Wesley,” Athanasia said as a greeting.

Wes half smiled. “Hey.”

Bruce frowned a little. “Is everything okay?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You need rest now.”

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

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

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

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

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

‘Acquaintances’ she said.

Damian huffed. “I don’t like him.”

“Hn.”

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

+++

Athanasia ached – for multiple reasons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manson frowned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sam has a point,” Foley said.

“About what?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Like hell–” Gray began.

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

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

“For now, yes!”

“How?! That makes no sense!”

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

“C’mon, Ana, just–”

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

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

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

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

“It’s true,” he said with a nod.

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

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

Athanasia held back a grimace.

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

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

“That old guy–”

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

“Or what?”

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

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

“Athanasia, right?”

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

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

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

“Yeah, no problem.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Not if they’re family,” Wesley said

Athanasia looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Athanasia smirked. “Good luck.”

“Ugh.”

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

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

Silence.

Foley sighed.

“Seriously, Wes?” Gray complained.

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

“It’s not an obse–”

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Master Bruce–”

“Anything else?” he repeated, firm.

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

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

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

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

“The Lichtenberg figures.”

“Yes.”

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

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

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

“Not these.”

Bruce sighed.

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

Bruce had so many questions. He needed answers.

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

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

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

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

“You’re right,” he reluctantly admitted.

“I often am, Master Bruce.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bruce hummed.

The quiet turned tense between them.

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

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

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

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

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

“For how long?”

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

“So you met at the League.”

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

“And you never told me.”

“Jesus. No.”

“Why?”

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you mean?”

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

Bruce faltered for only a second.

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

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

Her expression was a guarded.

Jason glared at her. “What the hell–”

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

There was a beat of silence.

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

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

“I wasn’t your kid then.”

“Hn.”

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

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

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

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

“We need to leave.”

“No.”

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

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

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

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

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

“We don’t have time for later.”

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

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

The group hesitated.

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

“Ghosts,” Bruce repeated.

The teens nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But–”

“Batman, you don’t understand–”

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

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

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

No one responded. A short silence fell over them.

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

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

35 notes · View notes

ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole · 3 years

Text

Claiming Ones Own

Cross posted on my AO3. Thank you again @boldlyanxious for your encouragement.

Decided that there wasn't enough Cass and Marinette fics and finally got this concept out my head and written down.

Masterlist

[next]

Chapter 1 - Cass gains a child

Cass could feel Jason’s frustrations radiating off him. He was over from Gotham to help tracking a new drug that had cropped up over there but originated in Hong Kong. They had managed to find the Hong Kong point of contact from the Gotham Drug Lord and now trying to work out the Hong Kong network.

Currently they were seated on top of a building observing their latest suspect.

She could feel the irritation pulsating off Jason, the twitch of his fingers ever so often. The low almost inaudible growl. The way the air around him vibrated with his emotions ready to pounce.

The annoyance stemmed from following the suspect for over a fortnight and it was clear that the gang rarely met up in person and was apt at avoiding use of technology to communicate. Cass was happy being a ghost bat in Hong Kong at the present. The lack of use in tech made it trickier to gain evidence for the police to surreptitiously stumble upon.

Tapping Jason, Cass signed to him ‘we need to infiltrate or plant recording devices’

“Yeah” came the response as he turned back to observe the suspect, “Recording devices is probably the quickest way. The way these guys are operating will make it hard to infiltrate quickly.”

Moments later “Fuckers!!” Jason snarled. Fingers twitching even more towards his gun.

Cass looked down and saw what caused Jason’s outburst. They had recently concluded that the men used street kids to send messages to each other, the unseen people of the city who were very good at being avoided. The gang that used them seemed hold and extraordinary amount of power held over these kids.

“Fucking pieces of shit” Jason muttered to Cass as they watched what the men were doing. Cass narrowed her eyes and silently nodded. She focused on the child who ran off observing the direction and movement. Suddenly she jabbed Jason and whispered “look” pointing to the child. They observed the girl knock into a man and sneakily pickpocket him before scampering off.

Cass nudged Jason quietly saying “plan”, before signing ‘if we can get a tracker on a kid and let them pick pocket us we can work out the number of locations and maybe plant recording devices’ Jason replied “hmmmm, risky but quicker than waiting for these bozos to slip up”.

The next few days the pair watch their target, also taking note of the street kids, to figure out who they would let target them, before deciding on the original girl they saw. She was petite, either due to age or, more likely, malnourishment. She had dark hair but what made her stand was having unexpected blue eyes. She was more skittish around the original suspect and other gang members they had come across but was bolder in her pick pocketing. She was creative in her approaches and had a far higher success rate compared to the other children. It was clear she felt safer amongst strangers who, if caught her, could seriously cause issues, than the men she was working for.

While Jason blustered and verbally vented his anger, Cass’s anger grew silent but more deadly. Neither were happy about the blatant child abuse occurring.

Having figured out the type of “target” the girl went for both Cass and Jason set the plan in motion. Trackers and recorders on their wallets, lots of cash and fake credit card trackers and recorders along with a micro trackers to put on the girl in case she ditches the wallet and just takes the cash. They dressed slightly better than the average person to showcase “wealth” which she seemed more inclined to go for and headed out.

Out on the streets she fell for their plan perfectly. Cass was able to slip the tracker onto the child while she slipped Jason’s wallet out his pocket. The pair continued their loop round back to Cass’s apartment to see where the kid went.

“Cass, fuck! She is good. If I’d not grown up on Crime Alley I would have struggled to notice. She is fucking good. Too bloody good! Shitting hell, that kinda skill only comes with practice! Like a fuck load of practice! Crap! She’s tiny! How bloody long has she been having to do this for! Fuck how long has she lived on the streets” Jason cursed. He was impressed but could feel the anger brewing, the desire to hurt someone.

“Long time” Cass replied before signing ‘She’s too thin. Her eyes showed fire. Determination but haunted’. The look in her eye’s had struck a chord with Cass when they 'bumped' into each other. Something about them resonated within her but Cass wasn’t quite ready to name it yet.

Back at the apartment they watched the trackers path and patterns over the next few days. Their little pickpocket went to 5 different warehouses along with a few apartments and the original dock with the first suspect repeatedly. Rarely using the same route or common paths, though destination always the same.

The pair scouted out the warehouses and apartments to get a better understanding of how the operation was run. It wasn’t just drug’s they were producing and exporting but also slave trafficking as well. No wonder the kids were terrified of the adults. They could easily be shipped off at any moment if they stepped out of line.

Cass’s disgust was intensifying with this discovery. They were practically slaves as it is even with the external slave threat hanging over them.

Cass could hear Jason loading of a gun. Looks like Jason’s preferred method of elimination would be soon be seen.

Over the course of a week. Cass and Jason snuck into each warehouse, planting bombs on secure/obscure locations. Carefully the explosions would leave just enough evidence for the police to take the gang down but also eliminate the gangs means to continue operating. Whilst trying to minimise external impact of neighbouring buildings. Well at least that was the aim. Anonymous hints were also sent or found at police stations.

All they now had to do was press the button on Jason's phone to ignite the bombs at the warehouses and take down the headquarters.

Jason and Cass crept into the headquarters building sticking to the shadows. Cass signed 'detonate' to Jason who grinned manically and did his thing. With so many warehouses littered with explosives you could hear when they went off. Shortly followed by the sound of sirens.

Cass and Jason used the distraction to sweep through the building taking out henchmen left, right and centre. Their anger and fury finally being released.

The pair had completed taking the men above ground up and were tying the stragglers up when they heard sirens approaching. They quickly slinked into the shadows out of sight to observe. Cass was still wanting to maintain that bats were still an urban rumour in Hong Kong at this point.

The police swept the upstairs building observing the chaos Cass and Jason had left while a group of them went off to look in the basement. Over the radio they heard a crackly “Chief, you may want to come down here. Bring bold cutters with you. And call social services and a med team. I think we will need that.”

“What's happened!” the chief replied, signalling to an officer nearby to call the services requested.

“They’ve got a group of kids caged up down here” came the crackly reply. Half of the team that went to the basement returned with a cuffed pair from the gang and took them to the cars outside. The chief muttered to himself and to the basement.

In the shadows Jason signed to Cass ‘Fuck! I should have killed those men! No! Wait! Death would be too sweet. Maimed them more” Cass nodded in agreement though her gaze kept focus on the scene they were observing.

The police slowly led the children out of the basement and, from somewhere, had a paramedic check the children out along with having someone from social services talk to them.

Then came Cass and Jason's pickpocket. The girl growled at them all and kept her distance refusing to let the paramedic treat her.

A kid spoke out to an officer "You won't get anything from her. She doesn't really speak. Or not to us at least. Dolly is a puppet and does what the Bossman says. Doesn't trust anyone"

"Yeah I don’t think Marionette has ever spoke while I've been here and that's ages, I think she was one of the first they got" another provided. Murmurs of agreement rippled through the small group children.

The girl stood watching like a cornered animal, eyes darting everywhere, looking like she wanted to escape. She seemed to see through the shadows and stared right at Cass and Jason which unsettled the bat duo. They were nearly invisible to the others in the room. But not this small child.

Quietly Cass whispered while signing "Safe. Mean men gone. Be ok now." to the girl. Even if the crowded room didn’t notice, she was positive this small girl could see her in the gloom. A small amount of tension left the girls shoulders.

Eventually the other children had all been seen by the medic, spoken to the police while the social worker was working on finding places for them to go for the interim. It was just this girl left to resolve. Having seen the adults treat the other children with care she cautiously let them look at her, warily viewing everyone and still ready for a quick escape if needed.

"Malnourished, a fair number of cuts and some nasty bruises from what I can tell. There doesn't appear to be any broken bones thankfully. She will need a careful diet to increase her weight and vitamins to help with what is likely to have missed out of her diet. Much like the rest of them. She should be good to go after I’ve dressed this cuts" said the medic looking the girl over. He turned to grab a wipe and bandage and the girl was off.

She swiftly slipped through the adults in the room and darted out onto the streets to disappear. Loud shouts occur from the chaos left behind.

Cass watched the girl intently. Observing her movements. Cass could tell though she was cooperating, the girl was planning. The glint in her eyes and slight angle of her body. As soon as she shifted to move Cass grabbed Jason and they slipped outside following her quickly. Sticking to the roofs they tracked the girl down to an alleyway. The girl was terrified. She knew they had caught her. She was trapped though and though frantically looking for different ways to avoid them was stuck.

“Safe now” Cass whispered signing along “Promise men are gone now. We won’t hurt you. We’ll look after you. You’ll be safe now”.

Carefully Cass approached the girl as if a frightened animal. Cass quietly said to Jason “Chocolate” holding her hand out for him to give it to him. Calmly and gently as possible she placed the chocolate near her and waited sitting on the floor gracefully. She could see the fear in the girl’s eyes, with distrust but there was a burning fire as well. Patience would be the key to winning the child over.

Cass knew she wasn’t going to let this girl go, let alone let her live on the streets and she was sure that Jason was of the same mind set.

Slowly they saw the girl take the chocolate. The child inspected it with caution and nibble it. The way her eyes grew wide was a delight and she ate it in haste. While she nibbled, she kept her eyes trained on the pair watching their movements.

When finished she remained cautiously looking at them, but body language didn’t scream “fear”, more curiosity was emerging. Cass smirked as she understood that she was reading their body language and reading their intent as much they were hers. Cass opened her body language up. Again reiterating ‘Safe now’ “Safe” to the girl. The girl’s eyes bored into hers whilst moments pass, and when the girl found what she was looking for offered her hand to Cass to hold.

Cass turned to Jason and stares straight into his eyes, “My child now”.

[next]

#maribat #Marinette x Cass #Marinette x Jason #platonic #ml x dc #mlb x dc #found family #maribat au

324 notes · View notes

river-bottom-nightmare · 3 years

Text

OXYCONTIN OXYCODONE (HCI CONTROLLED RELEASE TABLETS)

—tim grabbed the bottle from the stash of medicines in his apartment, shakily pressing down on the lid to open the locking mechanism.

OT00367K 300514-0H WARNING: OxyContin is an opioid agonist and a Schedule II controlled substance with an abuse liability similar to morphine.

—because thank god alfred somehow managed to keep the batcave infirmary stocked with many different drugs and painkillers. tim remembered the money making people blink, the professional suppliers delivering to an unknown location, leslie turning a blind eye, going so far as to help them sometimes. it gave tim access to whatever he needed to take for his own apartment.

Oxcodone can be abused in a manner similar to other opioid agonists, legal or illicit. This should be considered when prescribing or dispensing OxyContin in situations where the physician or pharmacist is concerned about an increased risk of misuse, abuse, or diversion.

—leslie had glanced at him strange, so tim took her into the medbay and pulled up his sweatpants. the swollen, bruised colour of his ankle was striking against his pale skin. to her credit, leslie didn’t even wince, just used firm hands and warm fingers to examine the wound. tim had asked her not to tell anyone, and the injury was minimal enough for her to purse her lips and nod. she demanded a checkup in a week. with some negotiating, tim moved it up to a week and a half. “be careful with those,” leslie said, gesturing towards the painkillers. “of course,” tim responded easily.

OxyContin Tablets are a controlled-release oral formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride indicated for the management of moderate to severe pain when a continuous, around the clock analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.

—tim leaned against the wall of his bathroom, finally gripping the hem of his sweatshirt and pulling it off. a myriad of colours greeted him, everything from mottled yellow to angry violet to the dark red of the blood flecked around the wound on his side. it was stupid, so stupid. damian had come out of that encounter fine, just a couple bruises to the forearms. tim, on the other hand, had to suffer a slice to the side with a knife, all because he’d hurt his ankle and ribs a day ago and hadn’t been able to flip out of the way in time. the pain had been unnoticeable yesterday, but today, it went past his entire body being on fire and instead felt like he’d been dipped in ice. tim was ready to claw his skin off his torso and fix his ribs himself, but he settled for tipping a couple pills into his palm.

OxyContin Tablets are NOT intended for use as a prn analgesic

—tim allowed himself a couple seconds, taking a few deep breaths, the way dick had taught him to push through the pain. then, pushing off the wall, tim stumbled into his bedroom. forgoing dinner, he shrugged his sweatshirt back on and collapsed onto the bed, letting out a hiss of pain when he landed on a bruise. he shuffled over to his favourite side, staying on top of the covers, moving his injured ankle into a somewhat comfortable position, and waited for the pills to kick in as he drifted off to sleep.

OxyContin 80 mg and 160 mg Tablets ARE FOR USE IN OPIOID-TOLERANT PATIENTS ONLY. These tablet strengths may cause fatal respiratory depression when administered to patients not previously exposed to opioids.

—when tim woke up the next day, it was hard to breathe. hypoventilation was nothing new with stronger painkillers, though, so tim groggily stood up and made his way into the bathroom. the bruises had darkened, and the wound was gaping. turned out tim’s initial assessment was wrong: he needed stitches after all. on the bright side, the pain wasn’t as bad today as it was yesterday. tim popped a couple more pills and took out his medkit.

OxyContin Tablets ARE TO BE SWALLOWED WHOLE AND ARE NOT TO BE BROKEN, CHEWED, OR CRUSHED. TAKING BROKEN, CHEWED, OR CRUSHED OxyConton Tablets LEADS TO RAPID RELEASE AND ABSORPTION OF A POTENTIALLY FATAL DOSE OF OXYCODONE.

—bruce needed his help with a black mask case, and he’d called jason in as well, because no one knew the villain like the former crime lord. but jason was also working a human trafficking case with dick, and while things were getting better, dick was still one of the people that routinely defied bruce’s authority, quieter than jason but much more intense. but damian had asked him personally to come (well, he’d said he wanted to show him how to groom alfred the cat, which was practically the same thing), and cass was visiting from hong kong. so, for probably a couple rare hours, everyone was going to be in the manor, and if alfred and cass had anything to say about it, peacefully. tim gathered the information he’d layed out, and made his way towards the manor.

Possible Side Effects of OxyContin include: Drowsiness and/or weakness,

—tim stopped in one of the sitting rooms in the manor, dropping onto the couch after feeling the ground sway underneath him. he probably needed to eat something. knowing what his family would say if anyone found him in this state, he used trembling hands to take his computer out of his backpack, and pull up some mindless case under the pretense of work. he forced his eyes open, letting the blue screen cut through his vision. he had a good night’s rest, so the last thing he needed was to sleep right now. besides, look at dick! the man could stay awake for days on end, or keep going for weeks on minimal sleep, never get slow or sloppy in the field with exhaustion, and kept a warm and welcoming smile on his face the entire time. the least tim could do was put his injury to the side and stay awake for the first few hours of the night, before everything delved into screaming matches and arguments.

dizziness that may be accompanied by a headache,

—tim could feel everybody staring at him. they were analyzing him, taking stock of his weaknesses, he just knew it. and he couldn’t blame them. he could barely keep his head propped up, sitting in front of the screen. he flinched every time a particularly sudden or loud sound cut through the air, making his brain scream and his face wince in pain. tim’s fingers were rubbing his temples, but the effect was laughable against the pounding in his ears, the pounding of his head. “tim,” bruce’s voice caught his attention, deep but not quite gentle. “why don’t you get some water, hm?” tim nodded, then went to stand up stumbling slightly and grabbing the chair for balance. bruce moved to steady him, but tim held a hand out to stop him. he was fine. the floor was moving, the walls were spinning, but he was fine. “just a little tired,” he waved off to bruce. “don’t worry. i’ll grab an energy drink or something later.”

nausea,

—jason’s brow was furrowed as tim forced another bite to his mouth. across the table, dick’s head tilted in question and he asked “i thought alfredo was your favourite?” tim’s smile didn’t feel all that forced when he brought it up, and he forced another bite past his lips. “i’m just not that hungry. i had a snack in the afternoon.” his stomach was rolling, clenching, sizing up and- “if you would like something light, master timothy, i’m sure we have some crackers and soup. you can eat the alfredo another time.” alfred really was too kind. tim’s hands were clenched around the fork, and it took everything he hand not to curl up on his stomach, to heave as he opened his mouth to say “no thanks alfie. i’m good.”

and vomiting,

—tim couldn’t take it anymore. he pushed his chair back and left the table, far more rudely than he’d ever been before, barring an argument at the dinner table, and raced upward, willing his uncooperative feet and busted ankle to cooperate no matter the dizziness. he could hear the confused cries of his family behind him, but ignored them. tim threw open the door to the bathroom, having the mind to close and lock it, before falling over the toilet, heaving up the little pasta he’d managed to force down. and when that was done, there came the fire. the pain in his stomach as he tried to throw up what wasn’t even in his stomach anymore and oh was that blood? that wasn’t a good sign.

among other side effects. For a complete list of all possible side affects, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

—there was pounding on the door, and tim heard dick’s voice calling out his name. “fuckin’ pick the lock!” jason’s voice was angry. of course it was angry, the one time his family hadn’t come to blows and tim had ruined it. couldn’t he have held it together for just a few more hours? suddenly, there was a loud crack. cass had kicked the door in. she leaped into the bathroom, immediately over to him, with dick hot at her heels. jason was leaning against the doorway, keeping damian or bruce from coming in.

Previous medical conditions, such as lung problems, head injury, liver or kindey problems, adrenal gland problems, convulsions or seizures, alcoholism, hallucinations or other severe mental problems, and past or present substance abuse or addiction may heighten the negative effects of the oxycodone.

—voices filtered into tim’s mind, but everything sounded like he was underwater. muffled, quiet. the quiet was nice. if only his headache could get with the program. there were hands on his shoulders, cupping his face. they were warm, and felt strong. he was safe. there was a part of him screaming, though. get up, open your eyes, stop being weak! stop being pathetic! the others could do so much more than you, so just stop acting like a victim and be useful for once! the voice was demanding, and tim tried to do just that, the dizziness had come back with a vengeance and the room was spinning. or maybe his vision was whiting out, because everything flared a bright, brilliant white before tim was plunged into darkness.

Pharmacist: dispense the attached Medication Guide to any patient taking OxyContin Tablets.

OT00367K 300514-0H

i don’t actually know how OxyContin works so all of this may be horribly wrong. this is just what the warning label said on a bottle i found in the medicine cabinet.

tag list: @comicsandhoney @birdy-bat-writes @elles-shitposts-personified @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @astroherogirl @yesboopityboop @dangerduckjpeg

124 notes · View notes

littlemissinvisible101 · 3 years

Text

From Replacement to the Original pt.1

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Fandom: Batman - All Media Types

Relationships: Tim Drake & Selina Kyle, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne

Characters: Tim Drake, Janet Drake, Selina Kyle, Original Male Character(s)

Additional Tags: Tim Drake-centric, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake Gets a Hug, Good Parent Selina Kyle, Somewhat good parent Janet Drake, Bruce Wayne is Tim Drake's Biological Parent, Selina Kyle is Tim Drake's Biological Parent, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, Past Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Child Neglect, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Was Robin, Protective Selina Kyle, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne had just woken up on his once-a-month mandatory rest day when he saw that the Drake Family Lawyer contacted him about a contingency letter left by his mother. Apparently, word of mouth travelled fast that he had come back from his supposed soul-searching trip around his parent’s favorite dig sites.

Mr. Fletcher had asked him when he was free to come get the letter his mother had left for him. Tim had wanted to get out of Gotham as soon as he could so he set up an appointment for that afternoon.

Tim had whipped together a quick breakfast and taken his antibiotics before he spent the rest of the morning finalizing his 2 weeks’ notice since Bruce had been able get back into Wayne Enterprises for the week. It had just been a little over a month since Tim had brought Bruce home from the Time Stream and while Tim had expected things to change, he had hoped it would be for the better.

Bruce hadn’t even blinked at the sight of Damian wearing the Robin suit. Hell, he had congratulated Dick for the way he had managed to keep Gotham and everything in line. Bruce had even found the time to fix up his relationship with Jason before he talked to Tim.

He didn’t even bother to thank Tim for saving his life and for taking over his family business. Instead, they talked business and acted as if nothing was wrong in front of the WE employees. If it wasn’t in business suits, then it was in the other suits when he called in Red Robin to help with a case. Tim hasn’t stepped foot inside the Manor in months.

If this was Bruce’s way of saying he didn’t need Tim anymore, he got the message loud and clear. After all, he was just the replacement, right? The pretender who forced his way into their lives and refused to go peacefully so he had to be kicked out. Well, here he was, bowing out silently out of their lives.

Tim had planned meticulously for how he would be able to leave without them noticing. In a week, he would submit his 2 weeks’ notice to Lucius Fox before heading on business trip to Japan to finalize a deal. He would be spending the next week there before heading to Austria for another week for another business deal. After, he would simply go wherever he wanted to go.

He preprogrammed a message to be sent to each of the Bats, as a farewell of sorts because even if they didn’t think of him as family, he still loved them as if they were his family. He had even prepared a message for the Titans in case they would ever need him again. They were the only ones Tim trusted enough to keep in contact with. Everyone else, even Alfred would have to be left behind.

Tim viciously pushed these thoughts to the side as he decided to enjoy a quick lunch before he made his way to talk to Mr. Fletcher. As he mindlessly prepped ingredients for a simple salad (because his immunity was shot so he needed all the help he could get), he wondered what would be in the letter.

His mother was not the touchy-feely type. She wouldn’t put something about them loving him. Most likely, it would be business instructions to ensure that Drake Industries would still be the empire that it had been under his mom’s command. Unfortunately for his mom, his dad had been the one to wreck the empire.

Tim had thought about reviving Drake Industries but had ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it. The amount of time that went into running a business wasn’t conducive to being a teenage vigilante and Tim wanted to be free to pursue the things he wanted in life. He had more than enough money to live off on and he had invested his money wisely so it had been turning a profit since he had left Gotham the first time.

Even if he continued his vigilantism, he had more than enough money to support himself. He didn’t need their help anymore, just like they don’t need him anymore. As he started cooking his breakfast, he marveled at how he had gotten to this point of independence from the Bats.

Ever since he came back with Bruce in tow, the rest of the Bats didn’t even bother to contact him unless it was for patrol or for a case. Oracle only kept in contact for business. Dick basically ignored their issues and tried to pretend they didn’t exist. Damian liked to act as if he didn’t exist. Jason was, oddly enough, the only one he could stand even if they did only work together for cases. Cass was still in Hong Kong.

If he was being honest with himself, Tim desperately missed being home at the Manor but after everything happened, it was clear that the Manor was no longer his home. Home used to be with the Bats and occasionally, with the Titans. Now, Tim would have to find a new home for himself, hopefully away from Gotham and the Bats.

Tim ate his salad mindlessly while he let his mind wander on his active cases. He would need to tie up his loose ends before he left without the bats taking notice. He popped his next dose of antibiotics into his mouth after and finally decided that he’s wasted enough time to start getting ready for the appointment.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, Timothy Drake-Wayne was ready and presentable to the public again. Tim debated bringing his motorcycle but the address of the office was only a couple of blocks from his apartment and he could use the walk to clear his head and get some fresh air.

As he left his penthouse, Tim’s mind debated again about what his mother could have possibly written about. His inheritance had already been secured since he was born so it couldn’t be that. The business had already sunken and drowned under the guidance of his father. It didn’t make any sense for Janet Drake to write a contingency letter and yet, here it was.

Tim didn’t know why but every step felt like it was weighed down with lead and his stomach dropped as he got closer and closer. By the time he was at the office, Tim’s mind was buzzing about theories as to what could have been so important for him to know that his mother, famed Iron Dragon of Gotham wrote a letter just in case she died.

Mr. Fletcher must have been eagerly awaiting him by the looks of it since Tim had scarcely knocked on the office doors before it was opened. It’s been a while since Tim had seen Mr. Fletcher given that he had retired before the Drakes passed.

“Timothy, you’re early!”

“Mother taught me that it was better to be early than to waste other’s time. It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Fletcher.”

“That does sound like something Janet would preach. I wished we’d met again under more ideal circumstances but you’ve grown into a fine young man. Your parents would be proud.”

“Thank you. Your email mentioned a letter from Mother?”

“Ah yes! As you know, ever since my son took over my position at the firm, I had relinquished all of my active duties to him but this was more of a request made by your mother to me as a confidant and friend. Jacob, my son had been cleaning out my office a few days ago when he found the envelope. He contacted me immediately about it and I remembered what it was about. I made the trip out here because I had to give it to you before I forgot again. I owe your mother that much.”

“What do you mean, Mr. Fletcher?”

“I think it’s best for you to read it, Timothy. I already know what it contains but I’m here to answer any of your additional questions.”

This suddenly seemed like a much bigger deal than Tim originally thought it would be, especially since Mr. Fletcher had left his retirement in Metropolis to give this to him in person. With bated breath, Tim opened the sealed envelope and began to read.

~~~

Dearest Timothy,

If you are reading this, then there are two possible options. Either I have passed on before your 18th birthday or I was too much of a coward to talk to you about this in person and I gave you this letter instead. As I write this, your father is asleep, holding you after a nightmare from today’s ordeal at the circus. I have tried to sleep but my mind will not be quieted about the possibility of that happening to us before I could tell you the truth so I decided to make this contingency letter just in case. By the time

you’re reading this, you will have grown into an intelligent young man who I know is capable of so much more than Jack and I could have ever dreamed of, partially because you are more than Jack and I could ever produce.

Timothy, you are not our biological son. I had gotten pregnant but the child I had borne was stillborn. Jackson Timothy Drake hadn’t been able to take his first breath before it was taken away. Luckily for me, your father was out of town on business and I rushed to Gotham General against my earlier wishes and they had stuck me in a room with another woman who had given birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy, you.

You were both born on the same day, in the same room, with different fates. Your mother was a young woman from the seedier side of Gotham and your father was out of the picture, or so she said. She was planning to give you up for adoption anyway and so I made the only impulsive decision I have ever made since marrying Jack and I told her to give you to me. I told her I would give you the life of luxury you deserved and that you would never want for anything if she gave you to me. She agreed on one condition: I tell you the truth about your parentage on your 18th birthday so that she could have the opportunity to get to know you too.

She didn’t even let me pay for her hospital bills because she didn’t want to be indebt to me even though I was forever indebted to her for giving me you. I had John rush over to Gotham General and make a contract for both of us because I could not allow Jack and the rest of Gotham High Society to find out about this. The only ones who knew about you being adopted were me, John, your mother and the medical staff who helped us. Since Gotham General was severely underfunded prior to my intervention, it was easy to get them to change the records to make Timothy Jackson Drake be born and for Jackson Timothy Drake to disappear. I had gotten the staff involved to sign NDAs and to make sure that none of this got out.

As I write this, I have seen you grow into this absolutely marvelous and intelligent child, talented in ways I could have never expected. It is bittersweet for me because as I see you grow, I cannot help but think of what my biological son could have been had he survived. Would he be as smart and as capable as you? Would he be different compared to you? Would I have taken you in had he survived? I have never regretted my decision to adopt you but I could not stand to watch you grow when I know my biological son never will. I know I will most likely grow to be distant from you and I already regret it but I cannot stop myself from seeing my dead son in you.

However, I can already tell you will be stronger than I ever could be. You take to your lessons like a duck to water and you see a magic in the world that I could never see. I want you to know that even if you are not mine biologically, I still love you even if I cannot show it. I love you even if you cannot feel it. I love you but I also love the son that I lost and I cannot help but mourn for him while I watch you grow. Your father does not know so his love is genuine and pure for you.

I want you to know this, Timothy. I took you in on an impulsive decision but I have never regretted it. Sure, I wish with all of my heart and mind that my son had survived but I was able to have you and you more than made up for it. I know that this does not excuse my future actions, my possible neglect of you but I hope you understand why I cannot bear to be close to you. I love you even if I do not show it. I love you even if you cannot see it. I love you and I hope you can forgive me for not telling you sooner.

Love,

Mother

~~~

Of all of the possibilities Tim had considered, this was not one of them. This explained so much but also left so many questions but the only thought passing through his head was the fact that, even at birth, he was a replacement.

“I assume you have questions?”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, to be honest. You’ve known the entire time?”

“Yes. I was the one who made the contract for your mother and she swore me to secrecy.”

“So, let me get this straight. I was just a replacement for her son who died?”

“No! Of course not. Timothy, I know it must not have seemed like it but your mother and father truly did love you as if you were their own. Your mother has some leftover problems from her childhood that negatively impacted her ability to show her love even if she does. She would have never bothered to put in the effort otherwise.”

“I’m trying to believe that but my recollection of Mother is not that different from the Iron Dragon of Gotham.”

“That’s because she fought to give you the best education and care possible which she knew was not her own. That’s why she constantly changed your nannies and tutors because as soon as she felt they inadequate for you, she was searching for the next best thing for you. Janet didn’t really care in the normal ways, Timothy. I know it’s hard to see but she really did love you and take care of you in her own way.”

“I just. I never expected this.”

“I knew this day would come but I was honestly hoping your mother would be here to explain her side of the story before she told you who your birth mother was.”

“Do-do you know who my birth mother is?”

“It’s not written in the letter?” Mr. Fletcher seemed genuinely surprised at this.

“No. Mother didn’t include her name, just a vague description of her. Can you tell me who my mother is?”

“I guess by the time Janet wrote it, she had forgotten the name. I think I have the contract hidden here. Let me look for it.”

What followed was the tensest five minutes of Tim’s life. He didn’t even know if his biological mother was still alive but he wanted to find out. After all, his birth mother had wanted to reconnect when he was older. Maybe, she wanted to have him in her life, just like Mo-Janet had apparently wanted him in her life.

Maybe, she would be there with welcoming arms. Maybe, she was one of the many civilian casualties of their nighttime escapades. Maybe, she had gotten lost in the seedier side of Gotham and she had never been able to make it out. There were so many maybes that Tim wanted to figure out what was true and what wasn’t.

“Aha! Here it is. According to this, your birth mother is Selina Kyle.”

Holy shit. His mother was fucking Catwoman.

#tim drake #bruce wayne #selina kyle #tim drake angst #ao3 fanfic

61 notes · View notes

currentfandomkick · 4 years

Text

Marinette did not sign up for this pt 3

Part 3 time. part 1 here part two here, ao3 link here

Cass had long since taken to eating at Yan Toh Heen when she was in Hong Kong, where head chef Cheng Wang served her favorite soup, Marinette Soup. Given that Cass often came at odd times and remained a regular whenever she was in town, she had come to know of Shifu Cheng’s inspiration, his niece’s daughter. A girl who reminded Cass of Bruce’s usual adoptees when she first saw her picture, and mentioned it was a good ting her father hadn’t begun adopting until the girl was already a toddler. Shifu Cheng had laughed at the time, and mentioned that Cass might be a good influence on her, if she could keep her father from trying to steal his great-niece away that is.

Now Cass was looking at the girl’s picture a bit more critically, and with Bruce and his parents in mind, she wouldn’t be surprised if this Marinette—a young designer who had managed to have two major figures in the industry recognize her by 16 with an apparent knack for helping her local heroes—was Bruce’s daughter. Her eyes reminded Cass of Thomas Wayne’s from the portraits, and her smile was a lot like Bruce’s when he wasn’t hiding anything.

With all this in mind, Cass was already on a plane to find the girl and test out her theory—to see if Marinette of the Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie was also Ladybug—Batman and Bruce Wayne’s daughter.

She did smile when she saw the group chat for “Middle Kids Only—No D’s Allowed” exploded with Jason, Tim and Steph arguing over who would find her first and what the prize would be. It looked like Cass would win at this rate. She was fine with that—and having a no-questions asked favor from each of the three in the future would be the icing on the cake to meeting their new sister first.

---

Marinette has to explain to Adrien a bit of her blow up while they were civilians and out of sight in her room. Tikki and Plagg were napping.

“So, you’re uh…” she couldn’t blame him for the lack of words. She tended to forget (re: ignore) the fact herself most of the time.

“Yeah,” Marinette shrugged. “Maman and Papa got me in a closed adoption case, the mother was young.”

“… I’m now picturing a young Batman and can’t wrap my brain around it.”

Marinette snorted at that. “It was before Batman existed.”

Adrien frowned at that, thinking it over as… “So did you ever…”

Marinette shook her head. “My mother warned against it, the note she left for me said it was dangerous to even attempt contacting him.” She ran a hand through her hair as she remembered Maman and Papa letting her read the note not long after her Guardian training began. It was another life entirely. “She said he was an unfit father, and that she never wanted kids so I was better off not looking for them when I grew up. I never planned to—Maman and Papa were all I ever needed or wanted.”

Adrien smiled at that, grabbing a cookie for himself. “So what happened?”

Marinette winced. “I, I don’t want to talk about it. Long story short, a wild Murder Robin appeared and told me not to contact his family or else, and I promised to steer clear of affiliates so he wouldn’t try anything.”

Adrien twitched at that. He knew Marinette and Alya made a few comments about it once upon a time but…

“Is he the one dropping off the weapons and flower threats?”

Marinette looked away, keeping her eyes low.

Adrien tightened his fists. “I see. If he or that family get near you, they’ll have to take on Chat Noir first.”

Marinette huffed at that. “They’re the normies that took down the world ending metas, I doubt there’s much we could do against them chatton.”

Adrien shook his head and jabbed a thumb at his chest. “Black Cat wielder, destruction incarnate, and the idiot you share a soul with.” He gave her his Chat Noir smile. “There’s nothing I can’t take on.”

Marinette snorted at that. “Chemistry.”

Adrien’s face fell at that. “You cannot tell me chemical reactions are that easy!”

Marinette smiled at him then. “I can and will say it—Chemistry is easier and superior to physics. Kitchen Chemistry is how we get food.”

“And physics keeps us from floating off into space.”

“Not studying it. Studying chemistry I get food, physcics is just a headache of formulas on formulas on formulas.”

“But the theories!”

With that, the pair fell into their familiar rhythm of banter for the rest for the night.

Tim was crossing French designers in Paris aged 14-20 that own or work at a boutique, online or physical, and turned up a large number of candidates for who Ladybug/the missing Wayne could be.

Babs rolled in on this particular search, and gave him a look. “You know the Justice League wants us to not to contact her, right?”

Tim made a vague sound of acknowledgement.

“And that Bruce probably didn’t have a kid at 15, right?”

“Just covering my bases.”

Babs looked over his search margins. “Did you check Damian’s search history?”

Tim scowled at her. “Of course I did, he’s been doing more through wipes, I couldn’t get more than a few scarps of useless code.”

Babs began to grin then. “So that means I do have a leg-up on you then.”

He didn’t even want to know how she knew about the competition. But she wasn’t officially in it either (all of the placed their bets down negotiated rules (re: no asking for help from Damian) and agreed the only participants were the four of them). What did Barbra Gordon want out of this?

Tim paused at that. “What.”

Babs grinned at him. Tim remembered why Oracle is the queen of hackers everywhere—nothing is safe from her reach.

“He was particularly taken with a few designers, and one of them happens to be in the range you’re looking for.”

Tim scowled at her. “What do you want?”

“You know that picture of me you took a few years back?”

Tim blinked as that was what she wanted. His ‘Don’t tell The Family’ insurance.

“Yes.”

“I want your copies of burned, and any you may have floating around returned to me.”

Tim weighed the pros and cons to this. The girl should be in his current data pool. And he does know to use Damian’s search again (tracking Bab’s hacks was child’s play now) but she probably deleted most—if not all of—her trail. Decisions, Decisions…

He could just wait to meet the baby bat. But then he would owe Jason a no-questions asked favor if he found her first… and he didn’t want to know what Jason would use it for. Owing Cass a favor meant family nights with the worst board games or tea parties when he was elbow deep in a mission. A no question favor for Steph was always interesting and usually resulted in Bruce giving them both looks.

Did he want to lose his leverage on Babs, or did he want to avoid the consequences of the bet more?

Chat and Carapace exchanged a quick look when the pair arrived. A nod from Carapace as he trailed after their paling Ladybug was all Chat needed to begin operation Distract the Justice Leaguer Members.

He and Rena Rouge were having the time of their lives. Both were genuine in their admiration of the pair and the work they had done. And they were both eager to learn from them—both as individuals and what their people knew of the Miraculous—something Chat and Rena knew there were large gaps in the history of still. And if they could help out Ladybug with gathering information and ensuring she was given space, well, the pair were down for it.

Chat was asking a confused and mildly frightened Aquaman for combat tips in aquatic situations for future Syren-eqsue akumas.

“So how do you keep an eye on attacks from all directions? Is it a ‘feel the water movements’ thing? Or is it just something you know how to do from growing up underwater? Could you teach me a few things on it—it’s a weak point that I need to work on.”

Aquaman was quick to agree to help, eager to avoid angering the Black Cat and given Ladybug’s (apparently continued) evasion of Justice League Members, this may be the best way to both prevent the possible apocalypse and ensure Atlantis’ future safety.

Wonder Woman was having an interesting conversation with Miss Sting about the uses for her spinning top and potential ways to work on her use of Venom while Rena asked about the Amazons and was there really an amazon who wielded the Ladybug miraculous? There were no confirmations from Ladybug and the Guardian was impossible to find to ask. Was there a Fox and did they have anything on the Miraculous’ history?

Wonder Woman was quick to supply answers while scanning the area for Ladybug, and noted that the Turtle was missing too.

“Is Ladybug well?”

Rena and Miss Sting exchanged a look.

Miss Sting stepped forward. “Ladybug just needs some space. She isn’t willing to risk breaking her promise since certain people do know where she lives.”

Rena tensed at that, a scowl quick to her face as she remembered why Ladybug was absent. “She can’t talk to either of you until Murder Robin,”--Wonder Woman winced at the reminder of the current Robin’s past--“makes it clear he won’t keep threatening her if she does.”

Chat caught enough of the conversation to join in. “Its also not good to stress her out, especially since its going to be open season soon.”

Miss Sting sighed at the reminder. “Application and testing season.”

Rena rubbed her forehead. “Don’t remind me. Last time Ladybug was so stressed over her workload that the cure was off for a week.”

Wonder Woman and Aquaman exchanged a look.

“Are you stating that stress on Ladybug alters how the Miraculous Cure works?” Aquaman asked cafefully, hoping it wasn’t the case.

“Yeah,” Chat rubbed the back of his neck. “I figured it always did.”

Wonder Woman shook her head, mind racing as, “No. Not during Mother’s time—it must be a side effect of something. May I speak to one of the Guardians?”

Chat didn’t even have time to respond. Both adults noted the way his pupils shrunk and body tensed at the question. He knew something the others didn’t.

“Uh, there’s only one, and the guy has been radio silent for months now,” Rena explained. “And not to be rude, but given the security breaches in the past, I don’t think it’s the best thing for our Guardian to be in contact, just in case.”

“I see…”

Aquaman was the quick to defuse the situation. “Perhaps one of your sisters could reach out to Ladybug? They are not affiliated with the League so that should lessen her stress.”

Chat nodded along at that. Good. It was better to keep the Destroyer content.

“I can see who Mother would like to send of the historians given the interest in past miraculous wielders,” Diana conceded. “Could you ask Ladybug if that is acceptable?”

The teens grabbed their respective weapons and messaged Ladybug. A moment later the trio stated that Ladybug would agree to those terms.

In the meantime, Chat, Rena and Miss Sting caught the adults up on the Hawkmoth situation and their limitations on investigation. Rena was particularly annoyed by the lack of progress as “Our best suspect was akumatized before Mayura showed up, so he can’t be Hawkmoth. But he lives in the target area, has the funds for a butterfly garden and the ability to keep it underground if LB’s theory about artificial sunlight to keep it secret is right.”

“But we know he can’t be, so we should drop it and look for other suspects,�� Chat added a bit nervously.

Miss Sting nodded in agreement.

Rena sighed. “I know, its just, too much adds up on him being Hawkmoth, but then again, that would mean he’d put his own kid in danger just to get the Miraculous. I mean, he’s bad and all but…” Rena shook her head. “LB is right about him making sense but it’s too obvious. I mean, who hides in plain sight, right?”

Wonder Woman made a mental note to find out who this suspect was and maybe—MAYBE—let the bats do a deep search on this suspect if Rena would name them. He could very well be their villain, but she didn’t know enough on this investigation yet to make a call, nor did she have much knowledge on the Butterfly or Peacock miraculous. She only paid attention to the Ladybug and Black Cat legends—a soul spilt in two, destined to always find one another and willing to do whatever it took to protect the other from self-destructing once they grew close as allies.

In Gotham Jason Todd is on a Mission. That mission happens to be meeting the Baby Bat before Timmers or the Waffle Queen herself beat him to it. Cass hadn’t responded to any of their texts, so he figured she was knee-deep in Black Bat and forfeited for once. He hoped.

Either way, Red Hood would be tracking a certain Little Lady when he touched down in Paris once his plane took off, and take out whoever this “Hawkmoth” was. Magic terrorism is one thing. Targeting kids? Well, that puts you Hood’s list and high on his priorities real quick. Add threatening his family (estranged, feuding or 'well they're a Bat') to that? Gotham would live without him for a bit.

Ladybug is currently holed up with Carapace in one of their hide-y holes on patrol. She has borrowed (re: snagged and is not returning any time soon) Carapace’s headphones. The music helps her breath. No immediate danger, she didn’t (further) break the rules of engagement, and she didn’t see any sign of Murder Robin in Paris from news reports.

“So, uh, Murder Robin?”

Ladybug wanted to groan. She knew this conversation was coming. “Can you send the others the cliff notes?”

She did not want to do this with each one of them. there are a lot of miraculous users. Besides Chat and Carapace, there was Rena, Miss Sting, Pegasus, Ryuuko, King Monkey, Viperion, and Bunnix. She did not want to have this conversation seven more times.

“Sure thing Ladybug.”

Ladybug took a deep breath.

“Remember Incinerater and Goo-Boy?”

Carapace paused, face a bit slack as he nodded his head. “The first time Mr. Bug appeared, and the day Rena, Sting and me got our miraculous.”

Ladybug nodded. “Well, it lasted so long because my transformation timed out. I couldn’t figure out what my lucky charm meant—I didn’t know what the kwami box looked like, and a bigger version of the jewelry box I got Tikki in meant nothing to me.” Ladybug sighed, as once again, she realized how much easier it would have been if Fu contacted her and Chat Noir after the first attack, or even during one on their built-in communicators. Just. Something.

“So you timed out.”

Ladybug nodded. “And I got caught in the building that went down.”

Carapace froze. “Most people were still injured.”

Ladybug winced. “I was. Still. Chat somehow knew to look for my civilian identity and found out I was Ladybug. I thought…” Marinette shook her head, pushing old fears of losing Tikki away. She’s the Guardian now. Tikki and her are together as long as Marinette remains so. “Nevermind. The point is, even after he cast the cure and helped me get home, Goo-boy showed up and Mr. Bug was needed again.”

Carapace put the pieces together. “You were still hurt. And he left you alone.”

Ladybug ran a hand through her pigtails. “He had to. I told him to, I figured I could make it the rest of the way.”

Carapace frowned at that. “LB…” He put a hand on her shoulder. “What happened?”

Ladybug swallowed a lump. “Tiny Murder Robin.” She stiffened a bit, fiddling with her yoyo then. “He uh, grabbed me, pulled me into a car and held me a sword-point. Not gun point, sword point.” Marinette bleed through then. “Who does that? What kid goes around and says they’ll kill you with a sword at your neck?”

Carapace rubbed her back, keeping her grounded. “I managed to get him to leave since I was ‘unworthy of the Bat legacy’ and all, discarded and useless.” Marinette shook her head, reminding herself she’s moved past those feelings, the one that tried to well up in her moments. She was bigger than those thoughts. “He let me go since I wasn’t worth the effort if I didn’t know I was Batman’s daughter.” Marinette kept her eyes on her lap, a nervous hands running through one pigtail vigorously. “I kind of sicced him on the current Robin to save my skin.”

Carapace pulled her in for a hug. She clung back a bit. she didn’t have to look at him as he explained the deal. “I promised to not contact Batman or the JL and he agreed to leave me alone. And he did.”

Carapace pulled back. “That’s not all of it, is it?”

“He uh, started leaving flowers and some weapon for winter holidays, Easter and my birthday in my room….”

Carapace paled at that. “He’s threatening you.”

“y, yeah…”

“So that’s why….”

Ladybug nodded.

Carapace hugged her tight. “One sec, I’ll text the team. Then we’re doing that plan of action you made the rest of us do for when we can’t show up.”

Ladybug nodded.

She noticed a text from the others, asking if she’d be willing to talk to an Amazonian historian on the history of the Miraculous and learn from her. That… wouldn’t violate the terms of the agreement, in spirit or wording. She sent her agreement on the terms that none of the sent historians were Wonder Woman or the Queen herself. As cool as meeting Hippolyta would be, Marinette does not want to risk the violation in spirit (family members probably counted to Murder Robin.)

“Done.”

Ladybug blinked as Carapace turned to her.

“Now what can we do to help?”

Ladybug opened and closed her mouth, running over her options. “Just keep non-miraculous heroes from contacting me, especially in battle. I just...” Ladybug struggled for words. “He knows where I live. My family.”

Carapace nodded, keeping a steady hand on her shoulder. “Can’t risk it, I got you—we got you.”

After a moment of silence, Carapace spoke. “Keep the team on speeddial—if you don’t want everyone on, then at least me, Pegasus and Rena. Rena can distract without getting hurt, I can protect all of us and Pegasus can send him and anyone he works with packing. Monkey probably would want in on this too—he is the Distraction King after all.”

Ladybug laughed a little at that. It came out weak. “Sure. Chat, he’s…”

“Busy.” Carapace shrugged. “We all know his dad has him running through hoops to make it to patrol half the time.”

“Yeah…”

(Marinette agreeing to intern with M. Agreste and work on her accessories brand under the Gabriel umbrella did give Adrien more lee-way than he had before, but not by much at first. Ever since her line of scarves based on the miraculous heroes took off last winter, he was given more free reign if it involved Marinette as a designer, not Marinette as his friend and classmate. Adrien was allowed at her house at all hours now without no questions asked on the basis of ‘Marinette’s muses have spoken’. As far as Gabriel was concerned, Adrien was learning more about the designing process and crafting of individual garment and accessories from her, and offering critiques as a model on wear-ability and helping her develop her style as a designer while keeping her ‘on-brand’. The fact they mostly goofed off or worked on miraculous-related things together was another matter for another time.)

Ladybug and Carapace stayed like that for a while, until after the JL left. She may have trolled the Monkey tab on the Ladyblog and snorted at someone’s short of ‘era 1’ Chat running at an akuma while screaming “this is how I will get Ladybug will love me!” with an ‘era 2’ Chat cringing. “That. That is how I got Ladybug to baby brother me.”

Dick was wondering where the rest of the bats were during patrol. The night before, it was only him. Something about needing to look into something for the JL on Bruce’s end, and Damian was working on something again—trying to make up for a past wrong was the most Dick ever got out of him. It was the third year in a row this happened, and around the same time. Apparently needles are part of this apology.

Dick really hopes Damian manages to meet the person face to face this time. He has a feeling the person Damian’s apologizing to might be a civilian by Bat standards, and is probably missing Damian’s message completely. Maybe Dick would check up on him tomorrow—Gotham wait for no one and apparently Nightwing is the only responsible Bat at the moment. Thank god for Oracle’s Birds of Prey and the other vigilantes Gotham’s collected over the years. Dick doesn’t want to think about what would happen if this happened without them all.

PART FOUR HERE

Thanks for waiting on the update. Working with burned hand so it will take longer for the next installments. Mostly planned for the next chapter but character will do what they want and highjack my writing constantly. Things are moving forward (somewhat) on the Bats and JL end, while Miraculous Team stands with their leader, Ladybug, and aren’t ready to let Anyone threaten her.

this makes for a set-up for much to go Wrong. Feel free to add to the upcoming chaos or put in things youd like to see happen in the comments or by messaging me.

@heldtogetherbysafetypins @laurcad123 @raisuke06

#bio!dad bruce #bio!dad bruce waye #maribat #my writing #marinette did not sign up for this #long post #how do i tag

167 notes · View notes

hasegawasosise · 4 years

Text

In Numbers We Trust

Summary:

Prompt master: @outoftheframework

I like the concept of each of the kids having a number or having a thing where they count off. Not in a demeaning or dehumanizing way at all, just more so to use in dangerous situations. For example, a bomb goes off on patrol, and to quickly see if everyone is okay, the kids (including Steph and Babs) automatically start counting one at a time. Bruce can breathe again once the count reaches eight. This tradition begins to carry over to civilian life when the kids yell numbers across a crowded gala after the power goes out.

Beta Agenthandler

Bruce never planned on starting a family. He made a vow to live for justice. He would be the force Gotham needed. He would be the forever bachelor. Justice was his Lady Love.

But 90% of life’s plan was just that—a plan. Bruce would never have guessed he'd end up taking in a boy who called himself Dick Grayson. Technically his ward, but Bruce suffered a mid-life crisis every day from thereon, wondering whether it was the right choice for him to adopt a kid—or why anyone sane would let Bruce Wayne adopt any kid in the first place. It was a testament to Dick’s own awesomeness that he grew up to be a mostly functional adult—Bruce definitely wasn’t.

After Dick, he recruited an amazing girl named Barbara Gordon as another sidekick. She was not officially his adopted daughter, but by day two of working together Bruce registered her in his little hind brain as “my kid.”

Then another. Jason Todd not only stole the Batmobile’s tires but also Batman’s heart. The little boy taught Bruce more about street-smarts and how to be a better person right until his death. His realized depth of parental love made him wonder why he ever adopted anyone in the first place—and ended up losing them that way.

After what he thought was the last, another one came into his life without invitation. Timothy Drake was a genius detective. Out of his first four—yes, Bruce could still count—Tim was the most similar to Bruce. They had the same kind of upbringing amidst the Gotham Elite, they were both highly focused and detail oriented individuals. Tim was even smarter than Bruce, and he was the sole reason Bruce could continue functioning after Jason’s death. Tim was also the only one to believe he was still alive and brought Bruce back from when he was lost in time.

After Time was Stephanie Brown. A cheerful ray of sunshine that had her own worries, but could function the best out of all his children. She had the kind of light sarcastic humor to brighten up Bruce’s darker days. He gained a third daughter, Cassandra Cain, the most accomplished amongst his children in terms of stealth and combat, also his one darling princess.

Then Bruce was introduced to his—one and only—blood son, a little baby assassin who had the unfortunate tendency to stab first ask later. By this time, Bruce had a better handle on raising children highly susceptible to raising hell and violence (read: still an incompetent parent, but he knew how to tune out their nagging) and had no choice but to assign Dick with Damian’s education on humanities and socialization.

He also had Helena, Terry, Matt, Duke, and Harper.

Bruce lost count.

It was the ultimate testament to Bruce’s parenting skill. He sometimes couldn’t remember how many kids he had. He could lose them in a Walmart and forget he was missing one. But thankfully, he had a secret weapon.

Since Jason, he assigned them all numbers. Dick was one, Barbara was two, Jason three, Timothy four, Stephanie five, Cass six, Damian seven—although he always said he was the first—Duke was eight, Harper nine, Terry ten, Matt eleven, and little Helena was twelve.

Imagine that. Bruce had twelve kids. What was his vow again? Lady Love Justice? Don’t know her.

It became sort of a tradition. When the kids entered the Wayne manor, each of them wrote their number on the info board down in the changing room. They were also listed on a desktop note of the BatComputer. It became a ritual in which the last child would add their newest sibling into the list, so they knew who the next number was supposed to be, and that next child would be who they were responsible for. Well, except Dick who accepted all of them as his baby chicks. The number also became a little part of their identity—each of them would put their numbers on everything they owned from their doors to their batarangs to the containers in the fridge.

Bruce, most importantly, used the numbering system to check in on them. It started when Penguin detonated a bank and his robins were scattered fighting all the hundred thugs Penguin hired to keep Batman busy. The blast stopped the fight and Bruce’s heart dropped when he realized his coms were damaged and he immediately couldn’t keep sight of them. He immediately tried to think what he could do, and when he did, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“KID COUNT!”

“One!” Nightwing shouted from the top of the next building. Apparently he flew off the bank’s roof when he realised it was going to burst.

Oracle was two but he knew she was safe in the clock tower.

“Three,” Red Hood drawled. Bruce wondered why he joined in, but was thankful nonetheless.

“Four,” Red Robin shouted from the opposite direction, because he was the sensible one who directed the civilians and police to safety.

“Five!” Spoiler laughed and flew to his side. “That was a doozy!”

“Six,” Black Bat said as she appeared beside Spoiler where they shared a hi-five.

“Seven,” Robin pulled out his swords from a thug’s leg. “Father, I need to clean my sword immediately.”

“No stabbing, please.” “Too late.” Bruce groaned.

“...Eight?” Signal. He was still new to the numbering system.

Batman let go a deep relieved sigh.

The police and civilians who were fortunate to witness the scene, collectively said ‘Oh’. It became a trending twitter before Tim deleted the topic as much as he could.

********

The counting continued though. Citizens who have lots of children (such as parents, teachers, sometimes even the Police teams), realised it was a quick method to ensure update of their progeny/students/teams condition. So they The counting became sort of a Gotham Trend and eventually enlisted into Gotham’s Emergency SOP. Imagine that, having too many kids to count gave birth to a crucial disaster first-aid first responder procedure.

In all actually, maybe that was one of the top major contributions Batman has given to his city.

********

The kids themselves slowly embraced the importance and fun of the numbers. It created a sort of camaraderie-- even when the numbers didn’t correlate with their height. It used to be a nice isoquant curve when they stood side by side. But after Jason’s growth spurt and Tim naught growth spurt, Steph finding high heels and Cass love for Anti-flood Boots, the nice isoquant curve just became a jagged line not unlike a heartbeat rate.

That aside, the numbering also slowly bled into their civilian lives:

All of them counted before they entered the GothMart -- Alfred was there too, and suddenly Bruce became number 0. He was there to help Alfred because herding the kids was a massive job.

Dick was back for the weekend to spend time with his “babies” and refused to stay at home, because he wanted to sneak in his grocery list (gummy bears and cereals) into Bruce’s list so he could bring it back to Bludhaven and not spend a dime on it.

Jason was there because Alfred asked him for help--he was the only one out of the brood with cooking talent and generally all responsible in the kitchen, i.e. Alfred could trust Jason to use his kitchen without blowing it up (shoutout to Tim and Duke who blew the kitchen for the fifth time this year).

Barbara stayed at home, watching over their base, but she was ready with her surveillance just in case they lost one of the broods.

Tim was half dragged, because he had spent the last 30 hours awake doing Bruce-knew-what, and only agreed to be dragged with the promise of sweet, abominable GothMart coffee with pink glitter (a cheap imitation of Starbucks, really) because Tim was fabulous especially after thirty hours of no sleep. And the surprisingly awesome coffee was a dollar--what kind of frugal millionaire didn’t appreciate a dollar of drinkable coffee?

Steph was the one who dragged Tim, with the help of Cass who just returned from Hong Kong for the weekend. Steph wanted to buy some new bras for Cass, something cool and sexy she could enjoy immensely. Bruce was not privy in this knowledge.

Damian was there to ensure his embarrassment of siblings didn’t kill themselves or humiliate the family. Wayne was his legacy afterall, and all of them reflected on his legacy, whether he liked it or not. Duke, the only one whom he could tolerate outside Cassandra (Grayson was mother) just poked his cheek and grinned. Duke might be tolerable, but it didn’t mean Damian didn’t want to stab him sometimes (Drake, on the other hand, looked like a nice pincushion to stab his sword into).

They counted 0 to 8 before they entered, orchestrated by Alfred.

When they were ready for the checkout, 4, 5, and 6 were missing. Bruce finally found them at the children section, where Tim was busy defending his virginity from a Superboy Plushie, while Steph convulsed with laughter on the floor and Cass video-ed the entire thing.

Bruce refused to buy the cereals (Dick) / sexy lingerie (nope, nope, nope) / kitchen knife collection in black (Damian, as they didn’t need another stabby collection). But Bruce ended up buying the superboy plushie because it had been tainted (the store manager glared at him the whole check out time). At least Tim looked ashamed enough when he was handed the superboy plushie.

The gala was in full swing, full of important people and not-so important moochies. Bruce was entertaining a group of usual donors (important and fun people!) while he saw Tim seriously discussing the stock exchange trends with several old, serious men. Dick was charming the usual group of ladies and young men, while Cass seemed to be hiding behind the potted plan.

Then, just like usual in Gotham, the lights went off. The room suddenly became dark and people started to scream.

“KID COUNT!” Bruce shouted. “Zero,” he added because of habit.

“One!” “Three!” “Four!” “Five and Six!” “Seven.” “Eight” “Nine.”

Wait, did he bring Harper with him? Harper was allergic to this kind of gala--and that was why he never fully adopted her into his Wayne name.

Oh well. The more number he got, the better.

Justice Lady love who?

#bat family #batman #bruce being a good dad #bruce is a bad dad #bruce is a bat dad #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #timothy drake #damian wayne #cass Wayne #harper #barbara gordon #prompt by @outoftheframework #prompt fill #numbering system #Alfred is the leader #bruce is one of the kids too

113 notes · View notes

peppersonironi · 4 years

Text

For @duketectivecomics‘s Duke Week Day Five: Leadership (A day late, I know, but I had wifi trouble)

Summary: Nightwing offers Signal a chance to lead a small group for a mission. Duke is wary, but accepts the challenge. He proves to be a rather great leader.

Notes: Takes place after Season Two of Young Justice, and ignores Season Three (I still haven’t seen it, unfortunately).

“So will you do it?” Duke looked over at Dick, who had decided to brave the day as Nightwing in order to ask a favor.

“I’m not sure, Nightwing, That’s your team, and I’m perfectly happy taking care of Gotham.”

Dick pouted and dramatically flung himself over the nearest gargoyle. “You sure? I could really use the help. Don't you want to lend aid to your poor, poor brother?”

“You are literally a billionaire.”

“Ha ha, Signal. You know what I mean.”

Duke sighed and joined Dick beside the gargoyle. “Yeah, I do. Are you sure you need me? Why not Tim? Steph? Heck, even Damian would love the chance to boos those guys around.”

Dick sighed. “I told you, The mission occurs at the same time as one on the opposite side of the world, which I already have Tim scheduled for. Steph is woking a case in Hong Kong with Cass. And Frankly, I doubt the Team would appreciate Damian's … style of leadership. This one is smaller, and less of a priority. I have some of the newbies and more older members on it, but none of them have experience with leading stealth missions.”

“So give one of them the experience!” Duke was getting a bit exasperated. Why did Dick think it would be a good idea to handle a mission on a covert team he'd never even met before?

“It's not that simple.” Dick frowned. “This mission is time sensitive, and delicate. It really does need someone with experience leading it, but all my best people are elsewhere.”

Duke tilted his head, considering. “Why me?”

Dick laughed. “Why NOT you? Seriously, Signal. You handled a whole group of Robins, by yourself. No Batman. You proved yourself, and you've earned respect. I trust you with this.”

Duke considered, thinking through everything Dick had said. “Alright,” He sighed, “What's the mission?”

*****

“Team, I'd like you to meet Signal. He'll be joining you on the mission, as well as over seeing things.” Nightwing stood at the front of the group of heroes, turning to where Duke had just come in from the zeta tubes.

Duke walked forward, surveying the group. “ 'Sup?” He asked, unsure of what else to say.

“Signal, meet Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beatle.”

Duke nodded and extended his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“I've been waiting to meet you for so long, dude!” Kid Flash said, racing forward to shake Duke's hand. “I've heard all about you, but the dates on when you actively joined the guys in Gotham were murky, and since I couldn't ask Nightwing or Robin – wait, does that mean Tim's no longer Robin? Why didn't he say anything? Unless the history books got it wrong, in which case woah, sorry I said anything – anyway it was a bit of a tricky situation. Of course, I probably could have looked it up on the internet, but that feels like cheating y'know?”

Duke blinked several times. “Um, thanks, I guess? I didn't really think anyone bothered with me.”

“Are you kidding?!” Kid Flash was literally bouncing at this point. “You're one of the coolest bats! You patrol during the day, for one thing, plus your costume is pretty crash. Not to mention you're literally the only meta human Batman has ever let stay in Gotham! Although Black Bat might be one, no one was ever really clear on that.”

“You're a meta human?!” Beast Boy asked, shoving Kid Flash to the side. “Seriously? And you work with Batman?! How does that work?”

Duke laughed. “Yes, I am a meta. No, Black Bat isn't. She's just awesome. And I was Batman's protege before I gained my powers. When we found out, we kinda just rolled with it.”

“Translation,” Nightwing added, “He grumbled a bit before deciding that the rule only really covers Green Lantern.”

“Didn't it always though?” Duke asked his brother.

Nightwing laughed. “Probably. He never seemed to keen on Superman either, to be honest.”

Duke frowned. “Wait, then why did he stop by for tea last week?”

“Wait, he did?! Why wasn't I invited?!”

Duke shook his head and tsked. “Downside to no longer living at the house dude, that's all I'm saying.”

The Team was looking back and forth at the exchange. “Wait,” Blue Beatle said, holding up his hands. “Superman comes over for tea, at Batman's house, which you live in, but Nightwing doesn't anymore?”

“Yup,” Both of the bats said.

Blue Beatle blinked, then nodded. “Alright then.”

“What are your powers,” Wonder girl asked.

“Light stuff, basically,” Duke said. “I can see in several different light spectrums, lets me do a bunch of stuff, like limited x-ray vision. I can also 'replay' what happens in rooms, due to the light residue. I can also see a few seconds into the future.”

Everyone blinked at him.

“Not to mention you can control shadows!” Nightwing added helpfully.

Duke cringed. “Yeah, but that's new. I'm not really familiar with it.”

Everyone stared, except Kid Flash, who just continued bouncing.

“Alright,” Nightwing said after a moment, “Let's get on with the briefing.”

*****

The mission was simple: Infiltrate a high rise owned by Lex Luther in San Francisco, and retrieve information that was being stored on a hard drive. Said drive was only going to be present in the tower for twelve hours, nine of which Lex was also present. Hence the need for a small team, and the precise timing.

The infiltration was scheduled at 1400 hours, after Lex had left for lunch, and before the buyer of the information had arrived. Duke had been given the plans of the building, and multiple suggested strategies. One of these strategies was modified by Duke, and was what led Beast Boy (who insisted Duke call him Garth) turning into a fly in order to get through the vents.

“Are you sure I can't go for something more fun?” Garth asked on the way to San Francisco, “Like a snake? Maybe even a monkey!”

“No,” Duke had said, “A fly is the best option, it's the least likely to set off motion sensors.” At the disappointed face, however, Duke conceded, “You can be a monkey when you open the side entrance.” Garth had whooped in triumph, and Duke had to crack a smile.

Once Beast Boy had managed to get into the building, he made his way to the main security center and dismantled whatever detection systems Lex had in place, allowing Kid Flash (Bart, Duke learned) and Signal himself to make their entrance. The trio made their way to Lex's office, only needing to take out a single guard, and retrieve the hard drive from one of Lex's many (There were like thirty, sheesh) safes in the room. The cracking of said safe took longer than initially planned, but Duke managed to hack the system in time for the guard change. Boy was he glad Tim taught him how to hack.

With the target in hand, they made their way out to the back alley, where Blue Beatle (Jaime, he said his name was) and Wonder Girl (Cassie) were keeping watch. They were almost caught at one point, but Duke saw the guards coming and quickly shoved his teammates into a closet, along with himself. In the end, two guards who were lagging behind on their shift change intercepted them, but Blue Beetle knocked one out, and Wonder Girl got the other.

“Took you long enough,” Cassie said with a grin when she saw the trio returning.

Duke grinned right back at her. “You have any trouble?”

“If these two count as trouble,” She replied, kicking one of the goons.

“Sounds crash!” Kid Flash replied. “How about we get out of here before something blows up?”

Duke frowned. “Why would anything blow up?”

Everyone turned and gave him a look. “You'd be surprised,” Blue Beetle said.

“Better not jinx it, then.” Duke spook, and the team made their escape.

*****

“ - Complete insubordination! Do you know what you did?!”

Duke paused at the doors, looking in on the meeting room where he and the others were supposed to go for their debriefing. Turns out, the other part of the Team was already there, and being chewed out by Batman himself.

“This was supposed to be a covert mission, and you go and get the entire building blown up!” Huh, they weren't kidding about explosions, Duke thought. “You clearly disobeyed the mission parameters, opting instead to joyride with the robots you were sent to destroy! Do you know how many lives you put in danger?!”

“It wasn't our fault!” Tim Drake, better known as Red Robin (Though Duke thought Bart mention that he still went as Robin here? Boy, Damian was gonna be pissed!) told Batman. “The robots got activated remotely, and dragged us along. In the end, they self destructed!”

Batman sighed, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “I let Kaldur go one one vacation …”

“You can at least acknowledge we got the job done.” Tim said, and Bruce sighed once more. He looked so tired, and Duke could barely hold in a grin. From the scared faces of everyone else in the room, Duke gathered that no one else found it quite so funny.

“Yes, you got it done,” Batman conceded, “But your methods are far from acceptable! All of you need to reevaluate how you-”

“It's almost kinda funny when I'm not the one being chewed out!” Duke turned to find Jaime and Garth standing in the door beside him, the latter of whom had spoken.

“Oh it's definitely funny,” Duke replied. “I've had front row seats to these types of things since I joined the bats. I”m almost never the one in trouble. Surprised it's Tim, though. Usually Nightwing.”

Both of their eyes widened. “Nightwing is the one in trouble?”

“Yup. We – the other bats and I – have a running bet on how long the rants last. B's best record is two hours, fifty minutes, thirty-seven seconds. It was right after Nightwing spray painted the bat-suit glittery pink, though I'm pretty sure Spoiler helped.”

Jaime opened and closed his mouth for a few moments. “Wow.”

Just then, Bart and Cassie showed up. “Are we late for the debriefing?” The latter asked.

Duke shrugged and pointed into the room, where Batman had moved onto a rant about aerial combat and unneeded fuel. “Nope, There's is running late.”

The group turned and went back to viewing the scene before them. After another fifteen minutes, Batman said. “I have another team coming in soon for debriefing, so let's hope that they were at least partially competent.”

Duke thought that would be as good a place as any to make an entrance, so he brought his fist to his mouth and coughed a bit.

Everyone turned slowly to find the grinning group standing at the doorway.

“Signal,” Batman said, and Duke knew he was relieved, “Did you just get back?”

“We've been standing here for twenty minutes, B. Seriously, your lecturing skills have not gone unpracticed.”

Batman sighed, putting his fingers on the bridge of his nose, not a sight unfamiliar to Duke, but from the gaping mouths, Duke was pretty sure no one else thought anything about the exchange was normal. “Please tell me your mission went well?”

“Without a hitch,” Duke replied grinning. “We got in and out easily. Had a tad of trouble with hacking the safe, but we got it open.” Duke turned to Tim, “Thanks for those lessons last week, they really paid off.”

Tim grinned “Welcome. Wanna continue when we get home?”

Duke nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Were there any complications?” Batman growled.

“We took out three guards quietly, and avoided two more that I saw coming right before they turned a corner, but other than that, no.”

Batman glared suspiciously down at Duke, who only smiled. “Any explosions?”

Duke frowned. “What is it with this team and explosions?” Batman glared some more, “Calm down B, no explosions. Everything was quiet.”

Batman nodded. “Good job, Signal. You dropped off the target with Nightwing, I assume?” At Duke's nod, he continued, “You get head back to Gotham, then. Finish your report in the cave, and finish up your patrol if you want. I'll make a note on the file if we ever need you again.” He paused, and looked critically at Duke. “Would you?”

Duke looked back at Garth, Jaime, Bart, and Cassie, who were all nodding their heads furiously. “Sure,” Duke said, “Why not?”

#dukeweek2020 #duke thomas #the signal #Young Justice #Nightwing #Beast Boy #Kid Flash #Wonder Girl #blue beatle #leadership

40 notes · View notes

our-happygirl500-fan · 5 years

Text

Reverse Robins

I was talking about the Reverse Robins AU on discord and it was actually mention that Duke would technically come before Damian in this AU and that actually makes things super perfect.

The We Are Robin kids are the Baker Street Irregulars to Batman’s Sherlock Holmes! (For those who don’t know Sherlock Holmes used to pay/ use kids to spy for him or do jobs for him to help with his cases and he had a network of these kids all across London).

Just as Batman is starting out rumours and stories about him fly around Gotham and Gotham kids can feel that times are changing, criminals are less likely to get away cops are more eager to do their job, they’re inspired to take their city Back!

Like Bruce they figure out that they need a symbol to unite under and fight against crime with but a Bat isn’t representative of what they want to do, what they want to be. They don’t use a Bat bathed in darkness as their symbol but a bird, a symbol of freedom, bathed in colour. They are represented by something linked to Spring and new life.

They are Robin.

They stop crimes where they see it, feed information to good cops, and try to influence events. Batman starts noticing these kids and starts getting more involved with them, he worries but he can't stop them all (and it's new/ young batman he's still as optimistic as he can get) so he gives them missions that will allow them to help while not putting them in too much danger. He gives them equipment. He let's Alfred coordinate them and the Robin's call Alfred 'the nest' they're very fond of him. Through these kids Batman ends up having eyes and ears all over Gotham and criminals become even more convinced that The Bat is somehow everywhere at once.

Eventually Bruce has to put a stop to them, all of them except for Duke who he takes in and continues working with. Bruce keeps on working with the leader Duke who becomes The Signal and Duke starts his own intelligence network like a hands on Oracle leading a team he calls the Birds of Prey making and coordinating allies.

Then one day when Talia reveals that during the time Bruce trained with the League of Assassins she became pregnant and Bruce suddenly finds himself with a ten year old assassin son who insists on going out at night with him and it’s the only way Bruce can seen him using his training for good and Damian needs an outlet so Batman suddenly finds himself with a partner.

And what better name for a partner of Batman than Robin?

Bruce wanting Damian to interact with children his own age but worried about Damian’s assassin training finally leaves his solitude from other heroes to reach out to other heroes namely Superman who’s son is indestructible. Clark nearly has a heart attack when Batman turned out to be real and tried to set up a playdate between their kids.

Nell Little a girl who was inspired by the We Are Robin movement decides to don a cape and calls herself Batgirl, when she grows up she starts working with the Foxes but an attack on the Wayne enterprise building by a new crime lord king pin called Black Mask forces her into a wheel chair and she becomes The Oracle one of the most important players in the Justice League working closely with Duke and his Birds of Prey.

Jon and Damian are best friends and when they are older become crime fighting partners Nightwing (Damian) and Flamebird (Jon).

Stephanie Brown’s mother OD’s and she’s stuck with her criminal father, sick of her fathers crimes and wanting to stop him she puts on a homemade Batgirl costume to try and get back at him due to her father hating Batgirl. Bruce finds out someone who isn’t Nell is running around as Batgirl and goes to confront her only for Stephanie to panic and hit him in the face with a brick and Bruce decides to adopt her on the spot.

She becomes the second Robin and though Damian wasn’t sure how to react to this girl becoming his successor Jon encourages him to mentor/ look out for each other and Damian and Steph becoming like real sibling, always bickering but always there for each other.

Steph’s dad knows she’s Robin though due to knowing she had dressed up as Batgirl to stop him and he sells her out to Black Mask and she dies. Eventually though Stephanie comes back as the Spoiler getting in the way of not only criminals but Batman’s own operations that she doesn’t agree with. (Steph becomes Spoiler in reverse which is fun).

Tim is literally still just Tim here which is hilarious, Tim will always be Tim. Damian is resentful of this boy taking the place of someone he viewed as a sister and is hostile towards him leading Tim and Damian though they do care about each other to have a slightly hostile relationship. Timsteph in this AU is hilarious because Tim is still Tim he's the kid that was obsessed with Batman and Robin and followed them across Gotham. He would spend hours talking to talking to Steph’s case you can't tell me that he didn't have the biggest crush on Steph in the reverse Robin's AU. Then his childhood crush comes back from the dead to kick his ass meanwhile Steph wanted to mess with her replacement and was not ready for Tim.

Their first interaction is literally this.

Jason get’s caught stealing the wheels off of Tim’s Red Bird and Tim takes Jason under his wing and becomes kind of like a mentor/ partner to keep Jason out of trouble. Jason reminds Bruce heavily of Steph giving them a complex relationship as he tries to keep Jason out of the field. Jason ends up being Robin when Tim’s dad finds out for a short time only to be fired by Bruce. Trying to prove himself Jason ends up beaten with a crow bar by the Joker when he comes back he calls himself the Red Hood as a middle finger to the clown.

Cass is still Cass because she’s perfect. It’s revealed that Jason is her brother (because I really like the Jason is Shiva’s kid and Cass and Jason are sibling stories) and Jason cares about Cass a lot and Cass loves her little brother. Jason gets frustrated by being called little because they are only like 9 months apart.

Bruce takes Tim to the Circus to try and cheer him up after Tim’s life took a downward spiral and they witness the Grayson’s fall. Being reminded of his own tragedy Bruce takes Dick in. Dick wants to be Robin because he wants to go after Zuco and also those are his families colours, that’s his mothers name for him, it’s destiny! When Bruce is believed to be dead Damian takes over as Batman and makes Dick Robin because he thinks Dick needs it. When Bruce comes back Damian goes back to being Nightwing but Dick continues to be Bruce’s Robin.

Dick is spoiled rotten by all his siblings as the baby of the family.

It’s my personal headcanon that Bruce always planned for Cass to become Batman when he died but didn’t think Cass was ready quite yet so in canon he made Cass give Steph Batgirl and sent her on missions around the globe to prepare her until Tim found her in Hong Kong, Bruce came back and Cass set up shop there. In the Reverse Robins AU Cass is still Cass so per Bruce’s orders she leaves Gotham and starts going on missions around the world.

Barbara who’s noticed Batgirl hasn’t been seen and noticed criminals getting more confident during the shift in Batmen makes herself a Batgirl costume and starts fighting crime. No one wants to go against her, she literally decided she was Batgirl now and they all went with it. She forces Steph to train her which Nell encourages, Cass loves her a lot.

#DC comics #reverse robins #duke thomas #bruce wayne #stephanie brown #damian wayne #tim drake #cassandra cain #jason todd #dick grayson #barbara gordon

163 notes · View notes

heartless-error · 4 years

Text

Broken, not perfect, but together. - Chapter 9

Fandom: DC comics, Batman

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

Rating: Family feels, hurt/comfort, mental health issues, running away

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: Cass knew a lot of things, always did. But she's human after all, she can fail, feel and miss her family. Sometimes she wishes she had been there, but now the only thing she had is the knolwedge of whatever they planned to do, it will be harsh.

Chapter 9

Now

Cass knew a lot of things.

She always did, it wasn’t new to anyone. His father, David Cain, had deprived her and taken away many things throughout her life, like her childhood, stability, a normal home, innocence, or her voice along the ability to use it. In return, he had turned her into what he longer desired, in a warrior, the perfect, deadly, silent killing machine, capable of reading the enemy and their movements in one way that very few could.

He took away her voice but allowed her to read and understand people far beyond. Many would consider it a blessing, others a curse, to her it was nothing more than her small but familiar and comfy personal hell.

Despite this, she was also aware that knowing something didn’t give her the full right to reveal it, she knew the limits, after all she also had secrets, everyone did. So, she could tell when someone was hiding something, but she also couldn’t guess or reveal it. She could also tell when someone was sad or stressed but knowing why it was beyond her abilities and intervening depended not only on her but on the other person’s will. From what Barbara Gordon taught her, it was best to act when she considered necessary, and if she had permission or words to do so.

From the beginning, Cassandra knew Red Hood and Red Robin were in love, maybe even before they did. It was neither unexpected nor surprising, they complemented the other well enough. In addition, both were very easy to read, since Jason was passionate, effusive and motivated by his emotions, expressive even in the way he breathed; and Tim, despite appearing the opposite, his eyes always said too much, and was very close to her, he couldn’t escape her scrutiny.

Timothy was also the first person she called “brother”, who taught her what was like to be a family, loving and being loved despite the pain, the trauma. That’s why, when he began to love someone else in a different way, she soon realized it as well as the fact that he was strongly requited.

Of course, she realized later that they did everything to hide it, both their feelings for each other when they began to emerge, and their relationship when it was consolidated. She understood, it shouldn’t have been easy. It was obvious why they did; it was nobody else’s business. And seeing the reaction when the whole thing was finally revealed, they did well.

If someone had asked Cass, she would have been sincere (within all she could express, of course). She would have tried to explain how happy she was for them and how she considered it good news. She would have said how Tim’s constant weariness and sadness has dissipated a bit after being with Jason, as well as the other’s blind anger and constant tension; How nice it was to see that uncertainty and uneasiness about whether those feelings were right or reciprocated, being replaced by tender smiles and sneaky soft touches. Cass would have said to leave them alone, because they were happy and safe, and that made her happy too because that kind of happiness was something they had to grab and not let go off considering how their lives were.

But nobody asked her. She couldn’t say anything. She also couldn’t have found the words to do it correctly, but at least she would have tried if given the chance. Which they didn’t do.

Black Bat was involved in a case which lead her from Hong Kong to the edge of the Xinjiang desert itself, where coverage was a bit bad and her infiltration mission could be compromised. As much as she reported her location and plans, getting an answer and being in touch to know what was happening in Gotham was a bit difficult. So, find out after that her brothers had deserted and disappeared during those weeks in which she had been uncommunicated wasn’t funny.

Now, years after receiving that news while hiding from the cold in a cabin in Tibet, she was going down the stairs towards to the cave with the text Dick had sent repeating in her head, the one that said they had found the missing Robins and she had to go to the manor quickly.

Sometimes, she wishes she had been there. In the moment they found out the Red’s relationship, in the discussion afterwards, in the other fights that followed. Because she could have said so much, she could have changed so much. But she wasn’t, she couldn’t. And now they have to deal with the consequences.

Stephanie, with whom now she lived, had sat in the driver’s seat after parked the car at the manor’s entrance, in silence and begging for a moment to be alone, to prepare herself mentally. Then, Alfred had allowed her to hug him tightly, even if that distracted him from his chores in the kitchen. She hadn’t seen the others yet, but she was sure they were in the cave. Even so, she knew that what was coming wasn’t going to be great, whatever they decided to do were going to be difficult to face or assimilated and that, surely, would led them to relive fights and discussions that they had for years. The difference this time is that she planned to intervene.

Indeed, when she arrived the cave, she witnessed the fragility in which the dynamics of the bats were currently, seeing how Dick and Damian -those who least should be fighting- argued strongly in front of the batcomputer.

Blending into the shadows, she approached them, stealthy and watchful, carefully with her surroundings and listening the discussion going on. Dick wanted to go after his brothers, Damian refused to do it.

The photos of the missing Robins on the screen shook her heart, making her smile. They seemed happy, satisfied, more than when they had to hide, and that made her so happy. She wouldn’t lie and say things like she never thought they wouldn’t be able to run away, indeed, she knew if the smallest but adequate circumstances were given at the right time, they would. And it happened, to the chagrin of some and the relief of others they clung to that happiness that Cass knew they had and didn’t let it escape, even having to leave them (her) behind.

However, looking at Dick, his older brother, she could say he thought otherwise. He denied it fiercely, he didn’t want to give in. He never thought they would leave everything, leave him behind, whatever the reason was. He wanted to believe they would figure things out before they had to run away, and now, that hasn’t been the case, he was just sad and desperate. Every word that came from his lips, every gesture his body made showed how helpless he felt, how much he needed to do what he was begging to Damian, to fly to Florida just to see the other two. He would do anything, he would fight with whoever, he had no limits, he seemed so defeated and angry at the same time.

When he turned his head, so he didn’t have to look at Damian after his harsh words, he was aware of her presence. His indigo eyes fixed on her for those brief seconds of silence to then turn around again and continue the fight. It was long enough for Cass to be aware of how the weight of guilt was sinking her brother down, making him obsessed with finding the others and going back to be the “family” they were before.

That wasn’t possible, not matter how hard he tried. It couldn’t happen. She knew it and so did Bruce, who without being seen also watched the development of the discussion from the other part of the cave, surely collecting information from it to confirm certain suspicions.

Suspicions that focused on Damian.

Her little brother was suspect since the start. At least for her, since she didn’t need to look at him twice when she returned to Gotham to realize there was something weird with him. It was evident in his posture, his attitude, in his way of avoiding everyone, in his resentful gaze and constant tension around them. He knew more than he was saying, and had done something, she didn’t know what, but somehow, he had a key role in the whole thing which didn’t exempt him of guilt. Didn’t matter how much the others wanted to believe that guilt was due to Damian’s past with his now disappeared brothers, with the murder attempts and constant disputes, no. It was recent, it had to do with this, because his rejection towards the others was genuine, and how she explains Jonathan then?

Superboy could barely look any of them in the eye without falling apart, his relationship with his father was battered and if Damian’s attitude were suspicious, his had neon signs placed around him.

Now, with his whole body screaming contradictions and anger, leaving slips behind him, Damian strongly refused at the decision to see the other two, stating specific reasons, but at the same time suspicious. That angered and intrigued Dick, who in the end had decided to get the truth out of him by breaking his temper, making Cass prepare to intervene.

When Conner Kent approached her one year ago, asking her if she knew what their little brothers were hiding, her answer was simple and concise: No.

She didn’t know, she couldn’t. She can read bodies and gestures, not minds. She’s not a meta, she has no powers. She’s human and also fails, also feels, also want to see his brothers because misses them, also want to know what Jon and Damian hide, because knows it’s consuming them more and more.

But she had never been in a position to ask, to know (does she wants to know?) Except today because things have changed. So, she slipped her foot to warn Dick he was missing something, he had to keep pushing. She didn’t move when Damian’s patience ended when his emotions took over. She held her breath when she knew he was going to say something he was going to regret.

“Because who do you think helped them to escape?!” Damian shouted. “It was me! Idiot! Open your fucking eyes! It was me! Me!”

Oh.

She knew it.

There was silence, Dick and Bruce stood completely still, assimilating that, and understanding everything as quickly as possible. She knew everything fell into place for them when realization mixed with anger flooded their bodies, and by the time Dick throw the first punch she was already running towards them.

She let Damian strike back and punch Dick only because she knew he had been holding back for a long time, but she didn’t allow anything more. In a blink of an eye, before everything could escalate, she grabbed Dick by the back, kicked Damian off, and knocked them to the ground as she stood between them, ending the fight instantly.

“No.” She sentenced seriously and glaring at them, challenging them to dare to contradict her.

They wouldn’t, because even outraged they were smarter than that. Furthermore, Bruce was also approaching them and starting a fist fight now was not the best idea, neither was going to allow them to go that far and it wasn’t the moment.

They stood up, wounded, furious, on guard and looking at each other with rancor.

“You knew!” Dick reproached, angrier than before. “You’ve always knew where they were!”

Damian jerked at that accusation, clenching his teeth tightly, as if he were holding himself back from punching him again. Everything said he really wanted to do it if were not for her presence and his father, now in front of them, watching the scene quiet like a heavy and judicious shadow that made them nervous.

“I haven’t said that!” The last Robin denied quickly.

“How could you?! How could you do this to us?!”

“Learn to fucking listen, asshole!” He yelled back. “I’ve never knew where they were!”

“Why would I believe you?! You’ve been lying us for years!” Dick accused him again.

Damian was ready to fight back before Bruce’s firm, analytical voice cut him off.

“He didn’t know it.” Bruce said firmly. “He’s saying the truth.”

He was right in that statement, he wasn’t. If Damian had known where Tim and Jason were all this time it would have been very different. Even in his confession, in his reactions, you could tell it was information he didn’t have before.

His father saying this as if he were psychoanalyzing him like any villain made Damian give him the most hatred, offensive and reproachful look he had seen him make over the years.

“Speak.” Bruce asked the younger, in that tone he use during interrogations, as if something like that was going to work and Damian would magically confess.

“Fuck you.” He insulted his father quickly without vacillation.

If Alfred were here, he would have scold him, might even have put in the order she couldn’t quite establish. But her grandfather was upstairs, cooking compulsively and sad, so sad.

“Damian, if you don’t speak, I swear to god-”

Dick started to say that taking a few steps closer, his anger dominating him again before she gave him a warning look to step back. The she looked at Damian, hoping to make him nervous with her stare. She also wants answers.

“What do you want for me?!” He asked, looking surrounded. “I helped them to leave, not hide!”

It made sense. Not knowing their location once they were out of sight was easier and safer after all, once they were gone, he couldn’t track them down anymore and it didn’t matter how much they’d regret it, it was too late. The best way to avoid betray them was not knowing where they were going, it was the smartest decision.

“But why? Why did you do something like that?!” Dick asked, seemed to feel betrayed.

Damian chuckled, sarcastic, looking at Grayson and then at his father, as if he found funny that they were wondering something like that when the answer was pretty obvious.

“Look at you. Look around.” He pointed at them, with anger and aversion. “It was killing them; you were killing them! This life, everyone! They couldn’t take it anymore!”

“It’s not- ”

“Drake was on the verge of suicide!” He exclaimed, now frantic. “And you couldn’t even look at Todd! The only good thing they had was the other and you wanted to destroy that!”

The burning shine in his eyes had returned, Damian seemed to have so many things to say, so much kept within himself. Looking at him now was similar to seeing a balloon deflate, expelling everything inside him after so long, without barriers, without caring about the consequences at last.

“It was dangerous.” Bruce justified.

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” He growled at his father again. “You have the proof on the fucking screen!”

“That’s-”

“The truth! It’s the truth!” He yelled furiously, without hesitation. “You wanted to shatter them further, I couldn’t allow it! I owed that to them.”

“We only wanted to protect them…” Dick muttered, stunned.

“From what?” Asked the younger. “The only danger was you; you still are.”

A brief silence followed that statement, in which Dick shrugged himself and Bruce tried his best to hide a shake, which was useless to her.

“Not an hour has passed since you found out where they are, and you already want to drag them back.” He kept scolding them. “For what? To use them as before?”

“That was not what was happening.” Bruce denied this time.

“Oh, no? I wonder why they ran away then.” The other answered sarcastically. “I’m sure it wasn’t because of the kindness and acceptance you get around here.”

“I can’t believe you really helped them…” Dick muttered, he still seemed to have trouble assimilating it. “You’ve hidden it, all this time.”

“I would do it again.”

Dick shook his head, almost at the edge of tears. The fact that two of his brothers abandoned him and the rest hated him was one thing, but it turned out that Damian himself was the one who helped them to run away from him, and that made things a thousand times worse. Cass wanted to hug him, tell him it was okay to feel that way, but he didn’t avoid the fact that she also knew they were hiding something and shut it up, she didn’t know if Dick would see this as another betrayal or not, she didn’t know if anything she had to say would fix something now.

“How?” Bruce ended up asking, wanting to continue the interrogation.

That was something Cass also wanted to know, since she didn’t even know yet how they had found them after years of absolute silence. But whatever Damian did to hide them in such a way had to be great.

“I have contacts.” The brunette replied stiffly, after a brief hesitation.

Bruce stared at him thoughtfully, then frowned in disgust.

“Talia.” He said coldly.

The League of Assassins, or at least the faction that was faithful to Damian’s mother. It wasn’t unknown the woman was trying to get out of the yoke of demon’s head, trying to gain the throne’s power, even if it meant killing her own son on the way. She and her group had been trying to gain ground within the criminal world for a long time, creating their own dark web and using resources Ra was still trying to familiarize himself with. They had enough material and personal to hide someone from the bats if they wanted to. And Damian, being of her blood, it wouldn’t have cost him to get a favor from her, anything, if they put aside the great disappointment that had been for her over the years.

“Damian, what have you done?”

Dick asked that as if the younger had made a deal with the devil itself, which was true. Now, if he had obtained this from Talia as a mere mother-son favor or by giving something in return, it was something they couldn’t know. They wouldn’t, judging by how the boy didn’t even move a muscle at the accusations and seemed to answer Dick’s question with a gaze that seemed to say, “Nothing you can prove.”

“It doesn’t make sense…” Dick thought aloud, still devastated but trying to find logic in everything. “Even if it was the league, why also metas couldn’t…”

That question asked out loud made Damian’s breath catch for a second, his muscles ready to fight imperceptibly. Cass was sure she was the only one to notice it, but it didn’t say anything good. It was a good question after all, since that had been another of the unknowns and problems that had arisen as a result of the disappearance, because not a single meta could locate Tim and Jason, not even the kryptonians. Whatever method or power they used was useless, it was as if something or someone would have been blocked them.

Cass didn’t have to think long to know who it was, but Dick’s eyes widened with surprise halfway through the question, realizing.

“Jon…” He whispered stunned.

Damian went from being slightly tense to being defensive and aggressive in less than a second. Just one more provocation and she’d have to grab him directly so he wouldn’t kill someone.

“Don’t drag him into this!” He ordered, which was already useless.

“He’s already in.” The other replied, stunned, almost trembling, suffering another betrayal. “It was because of him, right?”

“Leave him alone!”

“H-He did something to block metas, lied to us too…”

“Leave. Him!”

“I can’t!” Dick exclaimed, shaking his head. “Do you realize the reason we couldn’t find them is because of him?! It his fault!”

That statement, cruel as it sounded, was true. Technology could fail, couldn’t not doing well the job, but metas were certain and they had the best at their disposal, they could have found them in seconds. Having the kryptonians on their side was in their favor too, but if one of them was against them and had decided to annul the others, the result was years of searching without result.

Jon’s influence had been vital but being pointed out by Dick caused Damian to lose patience again, trying to attack Grayson in blind anger ready to beat him up. Hopefully for Nightwing, she was there to stand in his way, grab his shoulders tightly, and push him away. For this time, she wanted to avoid the physical fight, but with everything she was witnessing, she didn’t know if she would do it again.

“Fuck off! The only ones guilty of all this are you!”

She had to push Damian again and keep Dick under surveillance, because they were getting pissed off and provoking each other again, they didn’t seem to want to give in until they were punching each other. She was considering the option of knocking them out to calm down when Bruce raised his voice authoritatively.

“Damian, give me your phone.” He ordered approaching them and extending his hand. “Your comms too.”

The younger remained tense under her touch, clenching his jaw and now looking at his father with anger. It was clear why he was doing this, now that Jonathan had been confirmed as an accomplice and they both were firmly against their trip to Florida, he was cutting all forms of communication between them to prevent them from doing anything about it. Jon or any contact who Damian could use against them, like the league, for example.

“Do you think that shit is going to work?” Damian asked resentfully. “Jonathan can hear me anyway.”

“Do you think you’re the only one with a Super on his side?” Bruce answered. “Phone. Comms. Now.”

Damian growled loudly again, shoving her away as he took out his things. Bruce’s statement had been clear and concise, as much as his son dated a Kent, he hadn’t been the first one to be friendly with one. It seems that Bruce had personally commissioned himself, maybe with a simple whisper that Clark would have been waiting, that Jonathan wouldn’t interfere with them and their plans. So, it was going to happen anyway, they planned to go for Tim and Jason whatever the price.

“You are making a big mistake.” Damian said to his father as he tossed his comms to him angrily.

“Your opinion is no longer valid.” He replied, grasping the objects with precision. “You are clearly not objective.”

“As if you were.”

Bruce didn’t answer, or at least didn’t want to. Cass could tell he had something else to say, right on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t dare to do it. Dick did it instead.

“You lied to us…” He said. “We can’t trust you.”

Damian looked at Dick thoughtful, then his father. He shrugged.

“You never did.”

Richard lowered his head; Bruce remained silent. Cass remember the words from the security camera video of that night, that one Bruce tried so hard to delete but Barbara rescued and let her watch, the one where they tell Jason they couldn’t trust him, because he was a murderer after all.

Like her, like Damian.

Bruce turned around and started walking away from them, ready to do whatever would distract him after all the revelations, like secure the comms he had took away from his son as if he was 14 years old again to prevent him from ruining his plans . Dick, still looking at the ground, was about to do the same, until Damian caught his attention again ready to throw the last punch.

“When you see them, what are you going to do? Shoot them?”

Dick said nothing and left, surely to burst into tears where they couldn’t see him. Cassandra, if she could, would have too.

#myfic #dc #dc comics #batman comics #tim drake #jason todd #damian wayne #jon kent #jonathan kent #jaytim #timjay #jondami #damijon #red robin #red hood #robin #superboy #supersons #batman

6 notes · View notes

lookatthisdork · 7 years

Text

Case Study: Cassandra, Damian, and Tim

I read Batman: Gates of Gotham just now because my library happened to have it and it actually includes Cassandra (!). It might also be the last substantial appearance of Cassandra/Black Bat in the Post-Crisis canon (!!!). Naturally, I have to wax poetic about it with panels and long diatribes concerning batsibling relationships.

Context: Gates of Gotham (GoG) is a five-issue limited series published in May 2011, making it a very late addition to canon before the New 52 launched around September. At least, I’m pretty sure this is a canon story. Scott Snyder got first billing on the cover, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this story was prototyping some of the stuff for the Court of Owls.

But who cares about canonicity when we get Cass, Damian and Tim all interacting in the same book?!

(Quick shout out to renaroo who did a breakdown of Cass and Damian in GoG back in 2016. Go look at it! I’ll be reblogging it before this post as well.)

(TL;DR at the bottom.)

For clarity, our main cast is Dick as Batman, Damian as Robin, Tim as Red Robin, and Cassandra as Black Bat. Stephanie, Jason, and Barbara do not appear; Bruce puts in a very brief cameo at the end.

GoG immediately establishes that Batman and Red Robin are working on an explosives smuggling case together, and within a few pages elaborates Red Robin’s also in close contact with Black Bat. Dick admits he didn’t even know Cassandra was in town until she pops up at home base, which makes sense; Cass at this point in canon operates out of Hong Kong, so Dick has no immediate reason to know what’s she’s up to. Tim, on the other hand, is completely unsurprised; apparently he’s been working the case with Cass before he brought it to Dick’s attention.

So in the very beginning of GoG, we have a three-way team-up that started as Black Bat reaching out to Red Robin, who then contacted Batman. Which, honestly, I think is cool? Cassandra went to Tim first when the smuggling left her territory - I’m already getting warm fuzzies about the implied working relationship.

In the same page as Cassandra’s entrance, we get Damian and this super telling panel:

Now, I’m pretty sure that the way Dick is saying “I’d recommend minding Damian” is implying that this is Cassandra’s first real encounter with the kid. We are seeing history in the making here, folks. Or we would be if Cass hadn’t been reset in the New 52.

Then we get the next page:

Notice all that visual distance between Damian and his siblings in the first panel as well as the way he’s rendered creepily in shadow in the second. It’s a rather isolating composition choice, portraying Damian as the outsider while his siblings are comfortably close together, enjoying a dynamic that existed before he joined the family. No one told Damian to stay back, but no one’s encouraging him to come forward either, so the distance kind of settles in.

I would also like to point out that when one of his siblings does look back towards him, it’s Cassandra, not Dick.

Skipping forward through plot and stuff, we next get Black Bat and Robin watching over the Iceberg Lounge. Whoo, team-up! There’s a lot to parse here.

Robin makes it clear he’s not thrilled with being on the Penguin Protection Detail (makes sense in context) before we get all of this:

Wow, okay, Damian, calm your jets.

Let’s break this down. Damian starts with saying he’s heard about Cass specifically as “Black Bat” and as the one “destined to lead the League of Assassins to glory.” I find it super interesting that Damian focused on Cass’s League connections rather than her career as Batgirl here; is Damian still using the League as a marker of quality and ability like he would have before he was Robin? Or is Damian making an indirect link between himself, the other League kid, and Cass? Could be both...personally I’d say both.

There’s a beat panel of Cass after Damian says that first bit - I included it here because the timing seems intentional. I doubt Cass is super proud of her reputation in the League, so I think the beat is a bit of hesitation, a bit of her wanting to avoid this becoming a proper conversation.

Then we have “I have to admit -- I’m not impressed.” And Cass specifically looks over at Damian rather than ignore him (contrast the beat panel).

The thing where Damian says Cass should stop giving him condescending looks...oh boy. I’m 98% sure Damian is barking up the wrong tree here. Actually, 99.9% sure. He’s reading condescension and hostility where there really isn’t any to be found, and the ensuing defensiveness is causing him to lash out with his own condescending remarks. “I’m not the one Father relegated to Hong Kong. Maybe there’s a reason.” This is both super rude and greatly undersells Cassandra’s skills, but it’s more a reflection on Damian’s own insecurity with his position that this is the insult he throws at a fellow Batsibling.

Cass, for her part, does not engage with the insult. She turns the other cheek, reminding Damian without explicitly reminding him that they’re on a job. That said, her stoic reaction doesn’t necessarily mean that Damian’s dig doesn’t bother her. In fact, I think her next conversation with Tim indicates that it does bother her.

Think about the context - what Cass would have said first - that Tim’s response was “Trust me -- I’ve wanted to kill him more times than I can count.” Granted, Tim is taking his dislike of Damian to it’s logical extreme here, but it sounds like he’s commiserating with a Cass that is more than a little put out by an unwarranted attack on her person.

Which, leads us right into Tim and Cass in this arc. I’ve only read a little bit of Tim, but I’m getting the impression that he’s the type of person that shit-talks about people he or someone else is angry with (eg Damian) in the company of people he trusts (eg Cassandra). Since Cass is kind of pissed at Damian, Tim shit-talks about him on her behalf - like when one sibling has a bad breakup and the other sibling goes off on a “why I never liked that person” rant. Not the best coping mechanism since it can easily turn into nasty gossip (and that’s still your little brother, Tim), but that’s what he’s doing in this panel.

And rather than correct him and dismiss Tim’s own very real frustration OR agree with him and feed into the unhealthy dynamic, Cassandra listens without passing a final judgement. Maybe I’m reading too much into her “hm” here, but I’m translating it as “I see what you mean, thanks for sharing” - not a “yes”, not a “no”. Good older sibling middle-ground, basically.

Right after that, we have Cassandra complimenting Tim’s problem-solving skills.

Which? This is so sweet? “It’s what you do. You’ll figure it out.” “It’s part of your niche. And they all know it.” Cassandra has this easy faith in Tim to figure shit out, and Tim’s not quite grasping how deep her faith goes. I will never get over my positive Cass-Tim relationship, okay? More fanworks need to capitalize on this.

After this there’s some bombs. While Batman deals with his own elsewhere in the city, Robin tries to disarm the bomb in the Iceberg Lounge while Black Bat evacuates.

He doesn’t succeed, which leads to this:

(Middle panel is Batman - ignore that one)

Two things here: 1) Robin does not want to give up, even when it’s very clear that he’s completely out of time. 2) Black Bat gave him as much time as she possibly could (there’s one second on that clock, guys) before picking up her little brother and bodily removing him.

Aftermath:

This might be my favorite scene with these two. Damian is angry, frustrated, and he feels like Black Bat forced him (allowed him) to fail. Meanwhile, Cassandra reminds him that she doesn’t care about failure because what matters is Damian is still alive. Here’s Damian who had a chance to prove himself, apparently blew it, and is now getting huffy with his rescuer. And here’s Cassandra pinning him to the roof, making him listen as she reminds him that he doesn’t have to prove himself, she loves him and just wants him to live.

Cass is best big sis, is all I’m saying.

And when Damian is at a loss, his default MO is to take parting shots at whoever’s around.

And hey, having Dickbats in this last panel, let’s mention a few things about him.

Here’s his thoughts about the whole bomb situation:

“When I was Robin, I always thought I could be as good as Bruce was. But now...I’m standing in the debris of his tower and I can’t help but thing -- he would never have let it get this far.”

(Dick has a problem with holding himself to impossible standards and building Bruce up in his head.)

And Dick’s thoughts on Tim:

“Even as Tim explains what he found, I can’t stop thinking about how much I rely on him. He’s a better Robin that I ever was. He’ll probably end up being a better Batman, too.”

(Dick’s still putting himself down, but at least we get Dick also having a lot of faith in Tim. Lonely Place of Living disagrees with the Tim-Batman assessment, though.)

Next up, Tim-Damian team-up! They both sound super excited about it [/sarcasm].

Yikes.

In defense of Tim, Damian is in full Undeserved Insult Mode here. We start with Tim’s refute of Damian calling Cass useless, then Damian calls her “spineless, naive and fragile”, and finally we have him calling Tim’s “eagerness to trust” a weakness. That’s three insults in as many sentences, two of which were aimed at a shared sister who Tim trusts and admires. Not to mention Cass saved Damian’s butt not very long ago while reassuring him that his “failure” to disarm the bomb was not his fault.

Damian is a kid, yes, but he’s also mature enough to run around Gotham and exercise judgement about how to balance lives as a vigilante. He really should be held accountable for the stuff that comes out of his mouth, and I can’t blame Tim for losing his cool.

That said, Tim is savage as fuck, holy shit.

“Well, deny it all you want -- but I think we both know the only real reason you don’t like her...is that she’s just one more person your father picked over you.”

Tim has a talent for discerning weakness in a person and exploiting the shit out of it to maximum effect. With Damian, this means using well-placed words to emphasize his feelings of insecurity and inadequacy next to his adopted siblings. It’s fucked up and not constructive at all - pointing out flaws like this doesn’t encourage Damian to change. But Tim doesn’t want Damian to change - he wants him to shut up.

Just look at his responses: a simple denial that Cass isn’t useless, a dismissal of Damian’s mistrust, and a piercing comment on his daddy-sibling issues. The first two responses are not necessarily rude - a sign that Tim’s not actively picking a fight - but they’re not invitations to talk or well-meaning corrections. When Damian says rude shit, Tim shuts him down and isn’t afraid to get nasty back. He has no interest in playing the part of the patient older sibling.

(Cue arguments about whether the onus is on Tim to give a damn, Damian to chill the fuck out, or Dick/Cass/Bruce/an actual adult to sit these two down and reach some understanding. Personally, I think these two need a proper adult.)

That said, both Tim and Damian look out for each other while fighting, so their relationship could definitely be worse.

Coming up to the final issue of this miniseries, Cass and Damian work together to deal with a bigger version of the bomb from last time. The plan involves moving the bomb instead of disarming it. Importantly, Cass asks Damian to trust her and he does, without dissent or hesitation. I see progress!

Finally, Cass visits Tim, who was out of the climax due to a concussion. They have a short heart-to-heart thing, during which Tim kind of blames Damian for blowing up the Batboat while Cass defends that “we kind of did that together.” I don’t feel like posting panels of this scene, but it’s nice enough.

TL;DR: GoG features a rocky but promising start to Cassandra and Damian’s relationship before the New 52 erased it. Damian makes a bit of an ass of himself, but Cassandra has sufficient chill that they end this arc on a good note. I would be looking forward to more if not for the Orphan reboot, I will never not be salty about this.

Cassandra and Tim continue to have a strong relationship, trusting each other both professionally and personally. More people should explore this dynamic, and I’m looking forward to catching up on the canon between GoG and early Batgirl (aka where I actually am in my comic reading).

Tim and Damian continue to bring out the worst in each other. Swear to god, someone needs to just shove them in a closet with a counselor or something.

Generally, GoG was a fun read. Cass is mostly in-character, and I’m a sucker for self-contained Gotham stories with no crossovers and no weird magic/alien shenanigans. I’d recommend it.

#batman #meta #character study #comic panel #cassandra cain #damian wayne #tim drake #dick grayson #this got really long #lots of pics #note that damian did not immediately take to cassandra #it's a work in progress #tim and damian have no chill #someone stage an intervention for those two #cass and tim love each other #spread the word #batfam #batfamily

86 notes · View notes

renaroo · 7 years

Text

The Sibling Complex

Disclaimer: Batman and associated characters are the creative property of DC Comics. Wolverine and associated characters are the creative property of Marvel Comics Warnings: Canon-typical violence & language Rating: T Prompt: ( @shobogan ) DAMIAN AND GABBY, HOW DID I NEVER THINK OF THIS "do you have a big sister too?" "tch. ......yes."

A/N: Okay so even though I’ve still not gotten around to writing the main MAIN fic for this universe, I couldn’t help but tie this little team up into the big Amalgamation Comic Universe I’ve been dreaming up for the last few months. So that’s what’s being referred to as the ‘Merge” and ‘Mergers’ are people from other worlds/continuities that you don’t identify with.

For all intents and purposes this is Prime/New-Earth Damian and Cassandra, with 616 Laura and Gabby. If you don’t know what that means, you’re a more worthwhile human being than myself, lemme tell ya.

Jonathan’s seatbelt wasn’t quite fitting the way it was supposed to, though Gabby figured it wouldn’t. It was created for dogs and not wolverines. Still, he seemed content enough, sleeping in the backseat all to himself under all the blankets and pillows that she and Laura had packed for their journey.

“I think he’ll sleep the whole ride this time,” Gabby informed Laura. She was sitting on her knees in the passenger seat, leaning against the corner of the chair to better look at their pet. “We won’t have to take a pee break.”

“And I remember telling you to sit down and use your seatbelt,” Laura responded, not taking her eyes off the road, though Gabby suspected that behind her sunglasses she was glancing into the rearview mirror.

Sticking out her lower lip, Gabby flipped around in the seat and sunk down. “You’re not wearing your seatbelt either, Laura,” she said pointedly all the same.

“I have a healing factor,” Laura said plainly.

“So do I,” Gabby countered.

Laura bothered to actually look at Gabby and lower her chin enough that she could look at Gabby over her sunglasses. There was no humor in her eyes, though Gabby never lost sight of that bit of affection Laura only had for her, Deborah, and Megan.

“I’m older,” Laura said in that flat, this is final tone she had perfected.

“Of course you’re older! I’m a clone of you, duh,” Gabby said, but she already reached for her seatbelt and pulled it over her shoulder. “Some day that’s not going to be a good enough excuse, y’know.”

“It’ll always be enough for me,” Laura replied, looking back to the road. “I also distinctly remember that I told you that if Jonathan had to use the bathroom, you could teach him to go in a cup as easily as you taught him to go in a litter box.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Gabby said, nose curling. “Someone would have to hold the cup for him.”

“Not someone,” Laura said, smirking a bit. “Just you.”

“Ugh,” Gabby rolled her eyes. “Why’re we even going to this new place? This... Gotham? Ever since the explosion and all the weird stuff with the world popping up and the Jean-Grey School going public again, I thought we’d be... I don’t know, staying around there? Or if we have to explore new places from the other worlds, why can’t we start at some of the fun sounding ones? Like Metropolis or Sternbild or Miracle City--”

"This isn’t an adventure, Gabby,” Laura said simply. “This is a favor for Tyger Tyger.”

Surprised, but not that surprised, Gabby settled in her seat and reached for her own sunglasses from the glove compartment. “I should’ve known you were still allergic to fun.”

“You should have,” Laura agreed. “Seems several businesses that Tyger once had a firmer grasp on in Madripoor are making large moves on her operation. The sorts of moves that require a lot of financial support to see them through. Financial support that used to be provided by her and her alone but, with how everything has been since the Merge, it seems that there are some additions to Intergang’s watchlist. And they seem to be taking roost in some of the places that are outside of her banks’ former influences.”

Gabby tapped on her chin. “So, criminal hubs that weren’t around before the Merge, but now want to take advantage of power vacuums. Makes sense.”

“Gotham is one of those hubs,” Laura explained. “A port city with an apparently ages old criminal history built into the brick and mortar. And it’s on the East Coast of the United States which would make it conveniently a world away from Madripoor, Hong Kong, and the majority of Tyger Tyger’s surveillance.”

With a smirk Gabby poked her sister’s shoulder. “And because of someone you know, you just happen to have earned Tyger Tyger’s trust, huh?”

“Something like that,” Laura said simply. “I already thanked you for it, though, so there’s no reason to bring it back up.”

“Except maybe to get thanked again. Since we’re going to Gotham instead of any of the cool and awesome places that aren’t full of seedy undergrounds and people who are going to be shooting us pretty soon,” Gabby answered. “Liiiike Miracle City--”

“We’re not going to England today,” Laura said plainly. “And I’ve heard... conflicting things about this mysterious Miracle Man. I’d not put too many eggs in that basket, Gabby.”

“You’re right,” Gabby hummed, pulling up her smart phone to play games on. “I mean, it’s kinda pretentious to name yourself Miracle Man isn’t it?”

“Very,” Laura agreed. “Which is saying something since you’re friends with a kid named Genesis.”

“Your original name was Talon,” Gabby said simply. “Glass houses, Laura.”

“And you still haven’t picked one,” Laura remarked. “Not so easy is it?”

Gabby pointed toward the backseat. “I named Jonathan! I don’t know why you can’t give me one that isn’t stupid for free.”

"I’m driving us to Gotham, I’ll think of something you’ll hate on the way,” Laura remarked with a smirk.

“You’re the worst,” Gabby laughed, though she didn’t mean it.

She didn’t mean it at all.

Working with others was beneath him when he considered himself an al Ghul. Working with Grayson had been an adjustment and the sort of opportunity for learning he would never admit to out loud. Working with his Father had been a pain which throbbed, upsetting and mismatched, until they at last found each other’s patterns.

Damian took time and effort with teamwork and it was never once a pleasurable experience because it nearly always involved sharing his time with someone he would rather not have. And that was an annoyance almost beyond measure.

“Tt, I would have more delightful conversation with Goliath tonight than with you,” Damian asserted, arms still crossed and nose high toward the sky.

For a moment, that seemed to almost faze Cain as she bothered to look up from the cheaply made paper flyer to Damian, then back to the colorful brochure.

Annoyed with the lack of response, Damian leaned in and curled his nose at her. “If you must know, that was an insult lotted toward you,” he continued to inform her.

Cassandra looked up, a knowing glint in her brown eyes as she gave a small smirk and responded with the most infuriating, quiet, “Thank you,” Damian had ever heard.

“This annoyance of a public outing is over and I am ready to leave this campus before more of my classmates come across us to ask questions and compliment that stupid barrette in your hair again,” Damian growled, looking over the grounds of Gotham Academy. “Mizoguchi alone would be an unending barrage of questions.”

Cass put her hands and the brochure into her pocket and glanced back out. “Mmkay,” she said. “Waiting on...?”

Glaring at her, Damian could not have further expressed his aggravation. “On our ride since Father so rudely left halfway through.”

“Told him to go home,” Cass explained, looking back to Damian. “Said we could... walk.”

Damian’s eye twitched. “Why didn’t you say anything?” She shrugged simply to defy him. “Walk? Walk to Bristol? Have you lost your mind--”

“I think we,” she said, bringing her book bag around her shoulder and pulling out just enough of her mask that Damian could tell what it was, “should... bond. Been a while.”

Memories of exploding bridges and the risk of a family name larger than both of them came to mind as Damian grinned ear to ear. “You do make up for insufficiencies with some amount of style, Cain.”

"I know,” she replied somewhat cockily as they headed toward the nearest alley and began to quickly switch attire.

While there were many things about Cassandra that Damian was uncertain about, especially with her strangely youthful presence after what his Father was referring to as the great Merge, the one thing he was always sure to admire was her combative skill.

He still remembered the tinges of jealousy that hung off of him like weights the first time they had met face to face back during the Architect’s attacks on Gotham. He remembered how completely unfazed she was by his cutting words.

Back then he had been willing to give credit for that to Cassandra’s lack of proficiency in spoken language, but lately he learned that was not the case.

Instead she defeated him shear self-confidence and assuredness. HIs words may have cut deep, but she still had layers of armor made out of pure conviction.

Though, he had been right about her sparsity in using her tongue.

After they rounded a third mile, Damian was slightly falling behind Cassandra. And that, of course, simply was not going to work.

“I refuse to go another centimeter without you explaining what our plans for the rest of the evening are, Black Bat,” he said promptly. “It is only ten thirty and prime patrol activity is best between the hours of midnight and four AM.”

“Won’t be expecting us then,” Cass said with a smirk, looking back behind him.

“Who won’t be?” he asked testily.

“Ships,” she answered again before reaching for her grappling gun.

“Ships,” Damian repeated flatly.

“Ships,” Cassandra confirmed before taking the next swing.

Annoyed once again, Damian followed suit, quickly getting distance covered and making a point of leaping ahead of Cassandra by their next landing. He could see that they were at Cape Carmine, which answered what ships, but left another question.

“Why ships?” Damian half-whined. “Do you have information on them? Do you have any suspicions about their use? What intel have you gotten from that new Network of Batgirls-United or whatever it is that Oracle is up to these days?”

“Sh,” Cass said shortly. “No information. No intel. Gut.”

Immediately annoyed, Damian narrowed his eyes and followed Cassandra almost reluctantly. “That is not enough to encourage confidence in you, Cain!” he told her firmly.

“Sh, codenames,” she corrected, as if he was still green in more than just his boots.

“I don’t need to use them because there is no one around,” he growled after as they reached the edge of the docks and easily crossed over the barbwire fence.

Though Damian hated to admit it to himself -- and would never dare to admit it out loud -- he truly could sit back and appreciate the ease with which Cassandra moved herself forward. She had the sort of grace in her movements that was natural like Grayson, but there was a determination and ferocity to everything as well.

It made Damian feel familiar with her in ways that he seldom felt with anyone.

Once Damian landed, Cassandra glanced from one side of the port to the other then pointed to the far off shore. “Take that side,” she ordered.

Damian was more than a little taken aback by the order. “On my own?” he asked, uncertain if she realized what she was saying.

A soft smile came to Cass’ face and she glanced toward him. “Trust you,” she assured him.

Heat came to Damian’s face but he abruptly ignored it, pushing past his sister and heading toward the docks as ordered. “Of course you do,” he made light of the commentary. “Everyone should trust me. I’m the best.”

“Sure,” Cass replied with more amusement in her voice than he liked, but she did not double back behind him. She certainly went her own way and left Damian completely unsupervised.

It was the sort of trust and confidence that he usually only earned after several disobeyed orders -- both with his father and with Grayson.

As impressed as Damian was with the simple act, however, it began to quickly fade once he actually began patrolling the area. There was not so much as a dock worker on shift in his area, and his combing of the landscape began to feel more and more like a useless chore.

“I told her,” he whine petulantly, “there’s no one here! And the best hours for patrol are later. People are still out and awake at...”

With that, Damian took pause and looked around the docks once more. They were completely barren, his search had assured him of that.

And that was where the problem lied.

"UGH!” Damian growled, going for some high ground in his frustration so as to have a better vantage point and see along the harbor. “Why can she never explain a damn thing! Such an annoyance.”

He leered over the skyline, unimpressed with the fact that a ship, surely enough, was fast approaching.

“All it would have taken was a single word, Cain,” he muttered to himself. “You truly are like father. And here I thought the others had been vastly exaggerating.”

His focus, however, was taken from the approaching ship when he noticed quick movement in the distance.

Eyes narrowing, Damian turned more toward the direction of the motion and, sure enough, from one shadow to the next leapt a small figure -- no bigger than himself. And though the exact details of the costume were unfamiliar, Damian recognized high grade armor when he saw it.

“Tt, still haven’t memorized all of the files we have on new heroes and villains after the Merge,” Damian growled to himself. “I will have to correct that after I fix this.”

The unknown assailant was ducking into a warehouse only one over from Damian’s own perch, which made it easy enough to leap to one of the top windows and quietly lift it open after a lightning quick lockpick job.

Inside, the darkness provided even more cover for them both, but the advantage was still to Damian given the small thief was not aware of him yet.

A small, drowning part of his conscience was worried that just perhaps he should have alerted Cassandra as to what he was doing, but he figured if she could leave out some details, so could he.

“Hey, I think I’ve found an empty hangar,” the small girl said, touching the side of her face mask as she walked away. “It’s the thirteenth, so that means it’s unlucky. Sounds about like us. It’s good that we didn’t bring Jonathan.”

Damian was more than a little disgusted to see such a young girl being used for what seemed to be a very organized attack. But at the same time, her determination and unwavering disposition didn’t leave him any doubt about her possible guilt.

She reminded him more of Katrina and the other ruffians that Colin was spending time with in the East End under Catwoman’s proverbial wing.

“You want me to just stay here?” the girl whined. After a pause she let out a groan. “None of them ever get past you, Laura. That’s my point. Let me move-- Ugh. I hate when she hangs up.”

The girl crossed her arms, childishly in Damian’s opinion, and looked around the warehouse as if curiously bored when she suddenly went stiff.

Her rigidness caught Damian by surprise, it was obvious to him even if he was not the world class body language expert that Cassandra was. The girl’s shoulders hunched forward and she began moving her head around widely in a circular motion, sniffing the air like some sort of dog.

Damian’s eyebrows raised curiously as the girl hunkered down more and, to his surprise, unleashed what looked like a bony claw from her hands.

It took a moment, but Damian realized that she was onto him, and if he did not strike quickly and get things under control, his advantage would be lost.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped to the nearest rafters, using the arc of his own jump to quickly fling several Batarangs the mysterious foe’s way. She somersalted away from the first two and then sliced through the remaining with the two hand claws then a foot claw that had appeared through her boot when Damian wasn’t watching it.

The pieces dropped around her and she seemed to be examining them at least for the moment. Damian took the opportunity to fling himself downward and aim a kick for her head.

The girl let out an aggressive grunt as the kick hit, but rather than fall to the ground she quickly recovered and slid back on her heels.

There was no seeing her eyes through the large, pink goggles she was wearing, but Damian knew a disgruntled expression when he saw one.

“Are you picking a fight with me?” she demanded.

“I’m winning a fight with you,” Damian corrected before pulling out blades and rushing forward at her.

“Oh, confident,” she mocked, easily blocking his swings with her forearms before kicking Damian in the chest and knocking the air out of him. “Sorry, if I lost a fight to someone like you I’d never hear the end of it from my sister. Do you know how long it took me to convince her to not leave me in the motel with Jonathan? At least two minutes of my sappy eyes. I’m supposed to reserve those for emergencies.”

“You need to shut your mouth, woman!” Damian growled as he continued to attack her.

She let out a long gasp as she caught Damian’s foot. “Oh my god. Are you like... nine? I’m not supposed to beat up babies. It’s not good for my karma!” She then used the momentum of his foot to twist him midair and send him to the ground chest first. She seemed intent on not letting him have enough air.

"I,” Damian wheezed as he began to block attacks. “Am... Not... NINE!”

With his final declaration, Damian used a two finger strike right for the girl’s throat, causing her to choke immediately and back up, grabbing at the plating armor and pull it forcefully away from her skin to try and relieve her bruised trachea.

Then there was an enormous explosion just outside.

Both Damian and the girl turned toward the sound, eyes wide.

“Black Bat!” Damian called out despite himself.

“Wolverine!” the girl yelled. She then released a vicious growl that shouldn’t have been possible given the bruising of her throat Damian had just given her, and quickly kicked Damian across the face, a wicked attack punctuated by a deep cut that ran across his cheek due to one of her claws.

Damian hit the ground and the girl took off toward the harbor. But he wasn’t going to stay down long.

In all the time that Gabby had spent with Laura, she had come to learn that explosions usually meant Wolverine and that usually came with a sense of trouble.

Trouble which, whether Laura liked it or not, Gabby had gotten very good at getting her out of.

After losing the weirdo in the cape, Gabby quickly made her way toward the source of the explosion and was not deterred by fire or recursive blasts because she knew that a healing factor plus a little determination was more than enough to help her as much as it did Laura.

“Wolverine!” she yelled out, ignoring the way the flames licked at her heels and singed her hair the more she ran toward it. “Wolverine, where are you--”

Before the words had fully escaped her mouth, she was snagged by the back of her armor and pulled into the air. It reminded her of her not-so-long-ago run in with Spider-Woman, flying through the air at a swing.

But it wasn’t any of the Spider-people that Gabby knew when she looked back, but rather a woman dressed all in black and gold, swinging from a grappling hook that wouldn’t have been out of place in the arsenal that Gabby and her clone sisters were trained with in the labs.

That wasn’t a memory she reflected on fondly.

“Let go! I have to find my sister!” Gabby warned before extending her left claw and slashing out at the woman holding her.

The move somehow didn’t surprise the woman as she went in for a landing far away from the fire, tossing Gabby by her shirt to flip her in the air. Then, just before Gabby’s face could meet the pavement, the woman caught her by her foot.

It was a cool move, and if Gabby wasn’t worried about her sister at the moment, she probably would have marveled at it more. But as things were, she needed to find Laura, and this lady was becoming a nuisance.

“I need to find... Wolverine!” she growled before extending her claw and stabbing the woman in the arm with it.

That had apparently been a surprise to her where the swing had not been, and the woman dropped her without so much as a word or a grunt. Which was weird, but Gabby was again preoccupied by tucking into a quick roll and landing on all fours to face the would-be attacker.

The woman looked at her, then out to the explosion and the bay. She looked back to Gabby. “Sister is on the ship,” the woman explained. “Stay. I will get her.”

At first, the command caught Gabby off guard. Then she tilted her head and waved to her attire. “What? Do I look like a civilian kid to you or something? because I’m definitely not that!”

She glared at Gabby then looked up, drawing Gabby’s attention upwards as well and to the annoyance she thought she had left in the warehouse.

“Not you again!” she all but groaned just before the kid tackled her with a feral growl.

They struggled, rolling with each other and landing punches and kicks where they could without much mind to the woman in black and gold. At least not until she cleared her throat and the colorfully clad kid looked to her almost in irritation.

“Keep her here,” the older woman ordered.

“Since when were you in charge of me, Black Bat?” he snapped at her, leaving his cheek open for a good punch that Gabby was more than happy to take. “YOU!!!”

Before either of them could continue on, however, the mystery woman raced forward, past the flaming dock and toward another. With a few swift leaps, she was at the bow of a fishing ship and then leaping toward the bay, grappling hook in hand. It eventually hit the distant ship attempting to steer away from the harbor. The so-called Black Bat hit the waters and disappeared, but for a while, with her goggles, Gabby was able to trace the ripples of her trailing behind the boat and gaining on it.

Gabby sat up on the boy’s chest and allowed herself to feel impressed for a few moments. “Wow,” she said. “That was almost cool.”

“Get off me!” the boy snarled before kicking up with all his might and forcing Gabby to do just that.

She tucked into a roll and then leaped to her feet, claws drawn.

The other kid was ready with bat-shaped throwing weapons.

Both of them were heaving for breath.

“What’s your deal!?” Gabby snapped. “I was trying to help my sister stop smugglers!”

“Tt, likely story,” he snapped back. “And even if you were, this is not your city to do such for. This city belongs to Batman and Robin.”

Blinking some, Gabby loosened up and glanced back toward where the mystery woman had gone to follow after Laura and the ship. “Her costume didn’t look like a Robin--”

"Fool! She isn’t Robin!” the bright red child -- in costume and face -- yelled at her. “I am Robin! The best Robin that there’s ever been.”

“Robin,” Gabby repeated before putting her hands on her hips. “I guess Wolverine was right. It is important to put more thought into a superhero name so it doesn’t end up being something stupid.”

“I’ll kick that insolent mouth,” he snarled.

“You’re being silly,” Gabby informed him. “But it’s kinda cool to have a superhero named Batman like that. I guess some good things did come out of the Merge. There’s a woman Wolverine, so why not--”

“That wasn’t Batman!” Robin snapped. “That was Black Bat! Obviously.”

Gabby narrowed her eyes. “How is that obvious? That’s like saying oh, they’re Inhuman, not a Mutant. Obviously. Like unless you have a Cerebro, how’re you going to really know at first glance--”

“What are you talking about?” Robin growled.

“What’re you talking about?” Gabby fired back.

They stared at each other for a good long minute before being distracted by the sounds of gunfire over the harbor. They both looked and, in the corner of her eye, Gabby could see despair and concern wash over the Robin’s face before he regained his sour composure.

“So you’re from one of the other places during the Merge, huh.” Gabby said, finally putting away her claws and folding her arms across her chest.

“I suppose the same could be said about you,” Robin said stuffily. “Save for the fact that I belong here. Gotham has the heroes it is meant to have. But you are unfamiliar.”

“Eh, come up to Westchester, We’ll probably say the same about you,” Gabby joked lightly with a shrug. “Besides, we only came down here on business for a friend. I think. I don’t know. Wolverine gets in these moods and it’s like she forgets I’m the greatest partner, like, ever. And it’d always go smoother if she actually let me in on things, y’know?”

“Tt, no,” Robin snapped. “There is complete disclosure between myself and my partner. I have earned it through a lifetime of training and perfection.”

Looking him over, Gabby was having a hard time deciding whether or not this kid was actually real. So she turned attention back to the harbor. “So you know what’s on that shipment that our partners are fighting on?”

There was a long beat of silence.

"Things that are obviously not of your concern,” the spiky haired brat finally said.

“That just means you don’t know anything!” Gabby groaned.

“It means I wouldn’t tell you anything even if I did because you don’t have any business being here other than shady business. And if Black Bat told me to keep you here, I will do it with you unconscious on the ground if I have to!” he snapped.

“If this Black Bat told you to jump off a bridge, would you?” Gabby asked sarcastically.

“Tt, I’ll have you know, we blow up bridges together, and so jumping off it was a given,” Robin answered in that same snooty way.

Gabby frowned then looked back out to the ship. “At least it isn’t moving anymore. I guess we just have to wait now,” she sighed before dropping into a sitting position on the pavement. “Hope Wolverine gets done in time for us to get to the hotel and let Jonathan out.”

Robin stared at the ship as well, aggravation coming off him in waves. “Do you have someone kidnapped at this hotel?” he demanded.

“Jonathan’s family,” she said with a wave of her hand. “He’s a wolverine.”

“Tt, sounds like a mascot,” Robin sneered.

“More like a brother. Our actual half brothers suck,” Gabby sighed. “What about you? You have any siblings?”

Robin’s shoulders dropped and his entire head rolled with his eyes. “More each and every day,” he groaned.

“Cool,” Gabby said with a smile. “Got any sisters?”

At that, Robin’s gaze flickered back to the ship in the distance. Slowly, he lowered himself to a crouch by Gabby, still keeping his gaze level on the harbor. “Yes,” he said.

And that was all he really needed to say. Gabby understood.

She started watching the harbor again, too.

Damian knew that regardless of circumstances, it was of the utmost importance to keep vigilant and wait for the inevitable signal from Cassandra that would tell him he was needed. He was certain of it coming sooner rather than later.

He also knew he was utterly exhausted from the effort he had put forth to fight the new stranger he was now waiting with at the Dixon Docks.

At some point, he didn’t know when, he must have closed his eyes and left his guard down just enough that he could be surprised by the obnoxious snort of a giggle that was coming from just a few feet in front of them.

Alarmed, Damian whipped out his batarang, ready to throw, when he realized that the position he had just been in was so compromised and so inexcusable he hadn’t even registered it at first.

He and the mysterious girl had been sleeping head-to-head, shoulder-to-shoulder before a woman in a yellow-and-blue garish costume stood by Damian’s own sister and snorted in laughter at them.

“Wow, that’s almost adorable,” the woman said.

“Wolverine!” the girl with Damian cried out, leaping to her feet. She apparently experienced no-such shame from their compromised positions.

Instead, she raced to Wolverine’s side and wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. “You smell like smoke, but your clothes are intact, so I don’t think you burned yourself alive again. Sorry your hair is singed. This is all an improvement, though! I’m so used to you being stupid about your healing factor.”

Looking toward Cassandra, Damian was met with an all-too-presumptuous smirk. As if his sister had observed anything worthy of humiliation. Or, more importantly, like she had any history of abusing such situations to her own whims.

She was not Drake or Todd, after all.

“Where have you been!?” Damian demanded. “You drag me to warehouses, leave me behind, and all for what?”

“Stopped bad guys,” Cass answered simply.

“You’re incorrigible,” Damian spat out.

Wolverine looked toward Cassandra, tilting her head with a sharp toothed smirk. “You’re right. He does get angry when he’s worried. That’s adorable. Mine just gets chatty.”

“I do not, why would you tell strangers that, Wolvie? That’s so rude,” the girl whined.

After watching the sisters interact for a bit, Damian put an incredulous look Cassandra’s way. “You’re seriously not going to give me more explanation than you stopped bad guys.”

She rolled her eyes at him, as if a mask could hide the expression he was more than familiar with from his older siblings. “Penguin’s men. Same connections from Hong Kong. Recognized them on patrol last night. Thought we’d check again tonight. Got lucky.”

“They weren’t shipping arms to Hong Kong, though, they were shipping them to the competition of our connections in Madripoor,” Wolverine revealed. “Trying to take advantage of the lack of cohesion between the various worlds of the Merge for now.”

“Genius,” the girl smirked.

“It is, which is why Black Bat here has been talking to me about a superhero four-one-one that their original world apparently uses with some frequency,” Wolverine continued.

Damian continued to scrutinize his sister. “You’re sharing secrets about Oracle now, are you?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Cass replied without hesitation. “Need to work together more. If villains can, we can.”

“Looks like you two have already started on the right path,” Wolverine joked.

Damian’s face felt like a furnace as he rapidly shook his head in disagreement. “We’re as good as bitter enemies! We fight like dogs! She hasn’t even given me a name to curse at her with!” Damian shouted.

“Talon,” the girl answered. “After my sister’s loser name.”

“Talons have a terrible history in Gotham, you should stay away if you know what’s good for you,” Damian snapped at Talon viciously. An action which led to Cassandra wasting no time in flicking him in the ear for. “Black Bat!”

Ignoring Damian, Cassandra offered Wolverine her hand and a smile. “We’ll... work together again. Know it.”

“You can count on it,” Wolverine assured her.

When Damian glared over in Talon’s direction she was still wearing that infectious smile as she and her sister turned away to head back from wherever they came.

He then shifted his glare toward Cass. “You’re the worst partner,” he informed her.

“You’re the best,” Cass joked. “That’s why I brought you.”

“You better believe I’m the best, better than anyone tonight deserved, that’s for sure!” Damian growled out, following Cass in getting his grappling hook out of his utility belt. “You’re willing to team up with any of these unchecked Mergers.”

“Yup,” she said as they took off. “Also willing to watch... your terrible school plays.”

Damian sighed and followed his sister into the Gotham skyline. “O brave new world, that has such people in it!”

#writing #batfic #marvel fic #Damian Wayne #Gabby Kinney #Laura Kinney #Cassandra Cain #Amalgamation

50 notes · View notes

euroman1945-blog · 6 years

Text

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Thursday 27th September 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. The wind has been blowing strong most of the night, so when Bella and I went out this morning at 3.30am a jacket was needed, the night sky was crystal clear with millions of stars and planets visible.. what a fantastic sight, I am constantly amazed by the wonders of nature as I walk in the early morning… it was so clear today that I could see the lights twinkling in Morocco and reminded me exactly how close Africa is to Europe … Walk completed back to the comfort of our home and coffee.. so let’s explore and see what I can read and share with you..

RUGBY WORLD CUP: COVER UP YOUR TATTOOS IN JAPAN, PLAYERS TOLD….Tattooed rugby players will be asked to cover up during next year's World Cup in Japan to avoid offending people, the sport's governing body has said. In Japan, tattoos have long been associated with the notorious yakuza crime syndicates and inked tourists can find themselves barred from traditional communal hot springs, or onsens. Players are being asked to wear vests when using gyms or pools. Tattoos are common among players, especially Pacific Islanders. But tournament director Alan Gilpin said there had been no objections from teams. "When we raised it with the teams a year or so ago, we were probably expecting a frustrated reaction from them, but there hasn't been at all," he said. "We have done a lot in the last year or so with the teams to get them to understand that. "The idea of putting a rash-vest [shirt used for watersports] on in the pool or in a gym, they will buy into as they want to respect the Japanese culture. We'll position it as self-policing." The New Zealand All Blacks have confirmed that their players - many of whom sport full or half-sleeve tattoos - will comply. "When any of our teams tour we endeavour to be respectful of the local customs and culture, and this will be no different when we visit Japan both this year and next year," New Zealand Rugby chief rugby officer Nigel Cass told news website Stuff.

INDIA MAN HELD FOR 'INHUMANE TORTURE' OF SISTER…. A man has been arrested in India's capital accused of locking up and torturing his sister for two years. Police and officials from the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) broke into his house and rescued her in a dramatic operation on Tuesday. The woman, whose name was not given, had been starved and was so emaciated that she could not walk, talk or even recognise people, officials said. "She is 50 years old, but she looks 90," DCW chief Swati Maliwal said. "When we rescued her from the terrace, she was lying in her excreta. Her starvation is so extreme that she was unable to look after her basic needs." Ms Maliwal said she personally accompanied an investigating team to the house but they had not been allowed to enter by the man and his wife, who turned abusive. They called the police to help, but they were still not allowed to enter. "The police then climbed to the terrace through the neighbouring house and found the woman in extremely poor condition," deputy commissioner of police Rajneesh Gupta told the BBC. They then arrested the man and his wife for complicity in the crime. Police say they are investigating why the couple had been torturing the woman.

SOUTH AFRICA GANGS 'THREATEN' RARE SEA SNAIL EXISTENCE…. Poachers linked to South African drug gangs are threatening the existence of a species of abalone, a sea snail that is highly prized by restaurants in China, a new report says. Stocks of abalone are declining at an unprecedented rate, according to research by conservation group Traffic. The affected abalone species, Haliotis midae, is only found in the waters off the coast of South Africa. Traffic wants it to be put on the global list of endangered species. About 96 million abalone are thought to have been poached since 2000. Abalone are large and round, and cling to rocks in the shallow, shark-infested waters off Cape Town. Every year some 2,000 tonnes of abalone flesh are dried, and smuggled abroad, mostly by air to Hong Kong and beyond, where they are re-hydrated and served as a gastronomic treat. South African police have managed to seize some of the illegally sourced abalone. South Africa has a number of measures in place to protect abalone, but once they are taken out of the country there are no measures in place to prevent its export from the continent. The country has been losing an estimated $42m (£31m) per annum through the rampant illegal harvesting of the mollusc, Traffic found. It says that up to 43% of the illegally harvested abalone was traded through a number of non-abalone-producing sub-Saharan African countries to Hong Kong between 2000 and 2016.

SUGE KNIGHT TRIAL: RAP MOGUL PLEADS NO CONTEST OVER HIT-AND-RUN DEATH…. Former US rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight has pleaded no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge over a hit-and-run incident in 2015. The Death Row Records founder made the plea to avoid charges of murdering one man and attempting to murder a second with his pick-up truck in Los Angeles. He will be formally sentenced to 28 years in prison in October. His record label helped launch the careers of artists including Dr Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. Under Californian state law, a no contest plea is the legal equivalent of a guilty plea. As part of the agreement, the murder charges against Knight, 53, will be dismissed by prosecutors, along with separate criminal cases charging him with robbery and making criminal threats. The deal, in which Knight admitted using a "deadly and dangerous weapon" when he ran down two men with his vehicle, calls for him to serve 22 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter with a further six years added because of the US "three-strikes" law relating to repeated violations. Had Knight been found guilty of murder as originally charged, he would have faced life in prison, prosecutors said.

MORE FAKE DIPLOMA CLAIMS FOR SPANISH UNIVERSITY…. The university already faces claims of awarding fraudulent master's degrees to two Popular Party (PP) politicians. A Spanish university is being investigated for allegedly giving away diplomas to hundreds of Italian nationals. King Juan Carlos University in Madrid reportedly granted law diplomas to around 500 Italians with limited Spanish language skills. The university already faces claims of awarding fraudulent master's degrees to two Popular Party (PP) politicians. A court spokesman said the latest probe was at a "very early stage." According to Eldiario.es, the students took trips to take their exams which coincided with Real Madrid matches. The newspaper also said the diplomas allowed the students to practise law all over the European Union, including in Italy, where they would otherwise be required to complete an expensive master's degree. King Juan Carlos University has yet to respond to the BBC's request for comment. Cristina Cifuentes, former head of the Madrid region, and ex-health minister Carmen Monton both resigned over allegations the university had awarded them master's degrees without them completing the work. Since that scandal broke, the university has closed its Institute of Public Law and suspended its former director. Its former chancellor, Fernando Suarez, has been accused of plagiarism but claims he is the victim of defamation and harassment.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are as always fantastic!

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Thursday 27th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Tulips #Bella #Coffee

#Robert McAngus #RobertMcAngus #tulips #news #blog

0 notes