#dick feels bad for not being there for tim during certain events | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thecanadianowl · 4 years

Text

Batman: Death in the Family Review (SPOILERS)

This is going to be long.

I originally had no interest in watching this mainly because it's based off a story where its only significance is Jason's death. The thing that won me over was the "choose your adventure" type which is an interesting style to do for this particular event. The three main selections are Jason cheats death, Robin dies and Batman saves Robin. Of those 3, only 1 of them was the most interesting. But before I do that, let me go over why the other 2 were disappointing.

Robin dies choice is basically a rehash of the Under the Red Hood animated movie only its shortened and narrated by Bruce as he is speaking to Clark Kent at a diner. All it is a repeat of shit we knew. Bruce blames himself for the path he set Jason on and Clark giving a hopeful message of finding Jason. All this choice does is add an extended ending.

Robin cheats death one puts Jason having gone through surgery, having his skin grafted and stitched up from the explosion. The trauma and pain has Jason resent Bruce for the life he been put into and basically becomes Hush. He goes after criminals (btw decapitating Nygma, waay too much) which gets the attention of of Talia Al Ghul where she proposes an alliance with Jason while also taking in baby Damian under his tutelage. The problem isnt the story itself bit that it had so much potential. Seriously it could have been Batman:Hush as well as seeing where this conflict between Bruce and Jason will end now that Talia and Damian are in the equation. Btw Talia fans, this is probably the only ending with the character you are gonna like.

Batman saves Robin okay this is the one with multiple choices involved and goes down interesting paths for some of them. So Batman saves Robin but in doing so, he dies and Robin lives, and Nightwing becomes Batman (cool I guess, too bad they never gave him any dialogue). The first choice given is whether Jason chases/arrests the Joker or Kills him.

Kill Joker option where Jason is at a Diner and talks with this stranger who is revealed to be Joker who is now given up being the Joker because “his” Batman is gone. He recites the ‘2 inmates escape an asylum’ joke that he said in the Killing Joke allowing for Jason to put it together and kill him right there in front of 2 cops who are also in the diner.Immediately after you are given the choice to turn yourself in or run. The run option is the one that matters because Jason becomes Red Robin and begins his killing spree. Which Btw is just recycled footage they used in the Robin cheats death option just with the Red Robin edited over Hush. Really? Was budget that low? But what makes this ending good is that RR is later pinned down by Two Face and given the clean/scratched coin option, Jason is saved by Tim Drake (with a taser) and is reminded of Batman’s code and its importance not only to himself but to the people of Gotham. In doing so Jason stops killing and takes Tim in as a sidekick: BatKid. Seriously, that is the name you chose? Why not have Jason be Nightwing (which he was for short while, albeit to ruin Dick’s reputation) and Tim be Robin? Batkid :Great name for a kid’s Make-A -Wish dream, not so great if you want to use it in more serious context . This is one of the better endings as Jason becomes a better person in the end and the type of hero Bruce would have wanted but at the same time shows that Jason’s past habits were hard to get rid of especially with his father gone.

Arrest Joker has Jason become Redhood to lure Joker out in public. When he does that and unveils his true identity to him, the Joker brags about how he created him and how his rage has lead him down a murderous path, reinforcing the jokers belief of "one bad day". The next decision to be made is whether Jason should kill Joker or not. This decision ultimately has no impact as both decision lead to the same concluding decision set. I chose to kill him because let's be honestly this the path set by Jason really compliments the 2 choice options you have to make in the final one. Where Jason is confronted by Talia with a resurrected Batman who only says “Zur-en-arrh” trying to get Jason to join them but later results in a fight.

Okay there is a lot to unpack here. First: Did Grant Morrison write this? I’m asking because of how he has written Talia during his run on Batman (and how it upsets a lot of fans). You would think Talia knowing first hand what the effects of the Lazarus pit are, would she actually risk it turning the man she loves into a husk of his former self? Yes she would want Bruce to join her on their crusade against the corruption of the modern world but not if it meant Bruce wasn’t in a rational state of mind. Secondly, of all the possible Batman personas/iterations why this one?

I know they give some sort of reason near the end, but it just seemed so out of nowhere. Maybe I am looking too much into this, but if they were going to go this route, I feel like it would have been cooler to see Bruce in the Knightfall suit or have him wear a similar Batsuit that Damian wore in Batman 666.

And thirdly, you would think a fight between Jason and Bruce (where the roles are reversed, sorta) would be the most epic shit ever, but it doesn’t even last a minute it ends with either Bruce getting stabbed or knocked out (depending on which you choose). Before I go with why I think letting Bruce live is the better ending, I would like to say that when Jason kills him, Bruce sets off a bomb killing all three of them and the final shot of Jason’s corpse is very reminiscence of that comic cover of Jason caught in the explosion. I thought it was cool.

Now the reason why, I liked the save ending (and find it to be the definitive ending for this movie) is that Jason gives up being Redhood and works with Babs, Dick and Alfred in helping Bruce gain back his sanity. This ending encompasses all that was needed for Jason’s arc from becoming Redhood, to killing Joker, to his realization how wrong his methods were to being part of the Batfamily again and finally to save his father. It encompasses the idea that being Batman is more than just pain and suffering, its about hope and being able to become a better person, that your pain/anger doesn’t define who you are/can be.

Overall, I feel that this movie is a disappointing as both a prequel/sequel to Under the Red Hood. Unless you are a huge fan of Jason Todd, wait for a sale or when they release this in a collection with their other movies. The letdown for me is that certain choices have better writing than others and supporting characters aren’t used to their full potential. That being said, the idea of having different choices and giving the audience the chance to explore each of them. I hope they do this with other pivotal moments in DC’s history.

Also do the writers hate Black Mask? I get he isn’t the most popular Bat-villain but damn Sionis gets the short end of the stick in every timeline especially in the first ending of Robin Cheating death, it was so ridiculous that it is borderline hilarious

#dc comics #batman #batman a death in the family #jason todd #joker #dc animated movie universe #dc animated movies

42 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 3 years

Note

Also, weren't the majority of Tim's losses more out in the open and known without even digging, in universe? Did anyone other than Alfred and Bruce and maybe Barbara really know the full extent of what happened to Dick (assuming they even knew the entire story and not just what Dick let them or they were able to figure out)?

Its a good question, and I think one that just falls to individual headcanons or takes to answer. My own personal take is that Alfred, Bruce, Babs and Tim all knew the basic outline of losses that were public knowledge - they knew about the circus being attacked by Firefly of course, they knew about Dick’s apartment building, and while they never EXPLICITLY said they knew what exactly happened with Blockbuster, they’re all aware that however his death actually happened, Dick harbored massive feelings of guilt for it and literally turned himself in to the police except even the police said like even by your own account of things there’s nothing we could fucking charge you for other than just plain vigilantism, because nothing else you did there was criminally wrong.

So all of that, I think, they all knew about and even if they never discussed it specifically with Dick, they were aware of these events and no doubt formed their own conclusions or attempted to fill in any gaps in knowledge there with their own guesswork.

And then of course, it was kinda hard to miss Bludhaven being reduced to a smoking crater. There was a lot going on that year, but uh, that definitely hit the news.

So personally, I believe the only thing they didn’t all know about was the specifics of what happened with Tarantula, and/or how all of that played into the end of Dick and Babs’ relationship....I say this because like, there have to be a lot of QUESTIONS among the Batfam about Tarantula, without a lot of answers, since I don’t think the matter was ever raised with Dick. Like, the rest of them knew very little about this anti-hero Dick worked with and even trained for a time, but then seemed to be mortal enemies with the next minute. I think they all know she played SOME kind of role in the end of Dick and Babs’ relationship, but I don’t think they actually know what that is, and some of them might have drawn conclusions that make sense, but only from a certain perspective and lacking key information.

Like, its also a thing that after Blockbuster was killed and what happened on the roof afterwards, Dick was in a state of shock that had him depressed, lost and listless for literal weeks afterward. Rather than push Tarantula away for what she did to him, he kinda went into denial about it and then engaged in a kinda ‘just going with it i guess’ pseudo relationship with her as she was weirdly one of the only remaining sources of familiarity in his life at that point, with so many of his usual landmarks of self having literally just been blown to pieces. So she went on the road looking for supervillains to take down, like Copperhead, and he just kinda...went along for the ride, but mostly stayed in their hotel room or at bars being the actual poster boy for depression and severe trauma except for when she manuevered events to force him into confrontations with supervillains, in order to help people/her....like, her version of trying to reignite his fire, I suppose. Without ever acknowledging the role she’d played in dousing it in the first place, which is y’know....why it didn’t work.

But my point being, Dick was actually on the road with Tarantula when Bruce called him during the War Games event, to help with the gang war that had erupted across Gotham. And so Dick went to Gotham to help, and brought her along with him, because he still wasn’t at the point of being ready for the confrontation that trying to leave her behind or tell her she couldn’t come was bound to bring.

So Tarantula also ended up in Gotham during War Games, nominally helping out as a member of Batman’s team by proxy....specifically because Dick vouched for her. For this event or mission at least. And once it was done, THAT was when Dick started trying to face what he viewed as wrong in his life, starting with him attempting to take responsibility for Blockbuster’s death, turning BOTH of them in for it....but of course, Tarantula was the only one it took with, given that like....she was the one who’d actually did it. And also everything else that was ever wrong with the storylines involving Dick having ever been a cop, which is everything, and idk wanna talk about it I just wanna forget lololol fahlsfhalf.

And because of that vouching for her during War Games, which is basically the only time most of the Batfam ever interacted with her, and it was all pretty surface level, professional style interactions....there’s the possibility, and even the likelihood, that some of them formed assumptions about the nature of Dick and Tarantula’s relationship that just weren’t accurate, or like, they made more of his bringing her along than it actually ever was. Because they were viewing it as well Dick wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t really trust this woman, and lacking the information that Dick wasn’t really in the driver’s seat for much at that point, he’d kinda been like hey Trauma take the wheel, and was trying his damn best to nap in the backseat.

So personally I headcanon that as far as the rest of the Batfam goes, they kinda avoid mentioning that Tarantula person, because they never really KNEW her and in fact never really even knew what the deal was between her and Dick, they just knew that there was SOMETHING going on there, and that in years since, its just been seen as a super sensitive subject none of them want to raise with him because he seems touchy about it every time they go near the topic.....and so again, its inevitable they’re going to have opinions or theories about WHY that is.

But without all the information, and what little evidence they do have to draw conclusions from mostly just being Dick’s shifting behavior towards her and thus ‘tainted evidence’ due to the fact that Dick’s behavior and attitudes towards her were all hugely trauma based and thus nothing they could reliably measure against or draw accurate impressions FROM....chances are there’s actually a spectrum of opinions amid the Batfamily as to what the precise nature of Dick and Tarantula’s relationship was, as well as why, specifically, its such a sensitive subject with him.

Like, headcanon-wise, I tend to imagine that some of them assume the reason he ices out conversation about her is just because they think they WERE in some kind of relationship and that Dick just super regrets ever having been with her after the fact, based on the mistaken (but understandable) conclusions drawn from them just being together PERIOD, during War Games.....but lacking the crucial insight into just how bad off Dick was at the time, mentally, and how much he was NOT operating from a place of Making Choices I Actually Wanna Make but rather from the mailing address of Hi, Dick Grayson Has Left The Building, He’s All Checked Out, Its Just Trauma and Badly Processing It, That’s Who’s Home At the Moment, Leave a Message After the Beep.

25 notes · View notes

multiverseforger · 3 years

Text

Robin the Boy WonderEdit

Characters from an illustration by N. C. Wyeth for "Robin Hood" (1917) by Paul Creswick. The look inspired Jerry Robinson's design for Robin.[6]:83

Dick Grayson as Robin in his first appearance, on the cover of Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), along with Batman. Art by Bob Kane.

The character was first introduced in Detective Comics #38 (1940) by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Robin's debut was an effort to get younger readers to enjoy Batman. The name "Robin, The Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume are inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood. The costume was designed by Jerry Robinson who drew it from memory based on Robin Hood illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.[6]:83

In his first appearance, Dick Grayson is a circus acrobat, and, with his parents, one of the "Flying Graysons". Robin was born on the first day of spring, son of John Grayson and Mary Grayson, a young aerialist couple. While preparing for a performance, Dick overhears two gangsters attempting to extort protection money from the circus owner. The owner refuses, so the gangsters sabotage the trapeze wires with acid. During the next performance, the trapeze from which Dick's parents are swinging snaps, sending them to their deaths. Before he can go to the police, Batman appears to him and warns him that the two gangsters work for Tony Zucco, a very powerful crime boss, and that revealing his knowledge could lead to his death. When Batman recounts the murder of his own parents, Dick asks to become his aide. After extensive training, Dick becomes Robin. They start by disrupting Zucco's gambling and extortion rackets. They then successfully bait the riled Zucco into visiting a construction site, where they capture him.

Robin's origin has a thematic connection to Batman's in that both see their parents killed by criminals, creating an urge to battle the criminal element. Bruce sees a chance to direct the anger and rage that Dick feels in a way that he himself cannot, thus creating a father/son bond and understanding between the two. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, DC Comics portrayed Batman and Robin as a team, deeming them the "Dynamic Duo", rarely publishing a Batman story without his sidekick; stories entirely devoted to Robin appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1947 through 1952.

The character history of the Earth-Two Robin accordingly adopts all of the earliest stories featuring the character from the 1940s and 1950s, while the adventures of the mainstream Robin (who lived on "Earth-One") begin later in time and with certain elements of his origin retold. Both were depicted as separate, though parallel, individuals living in their respective universes, with the "older" Earth-Two character eventually reaching death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Teen TitansEdit

1964's The Brave and the Bold #54 introduces a junior version of the Justice League of America. This team is led by the modern-day Robin, residing on Earth-One, and was joined by two other teenage sidekicks, Aqualad (sidekick of Aquaman) and Kid Flash (sidekick of the Flash), to stop the menace of Mr. Twister.

Later, the three sidekicks join forces with Speedy and Wonder Girl in order to free their mentors in the JLA from mind-controlled thrall. They decide to become a real team: the Teen Titans. By virtue of the tactical skills gleaned from Batman, Robin is swiftly recognized as leader before the Titans disband some years later.

In 1969, still in the Pre-Crisis continuity, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams return Batman to his darker roots. One part of this effort is writing Robin out of the series by sending Dick Grayson to Hudson University and into a separate strip in the back of Detective Comics. The by-now Teen Wonder appears only sporadically in Batman stories of the 1970s as well as in a short-lived revival of The Teen Titans.

In 1980, Grayson once again takes up the role of leader of the Teen Titans, now featured in the monthly series The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics's most beloved series of the era. During his leadership of the Titans, however, he had a falling out with Batman, leading to an estrangement that would last for many years.

NightwingEdit

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, the maturing Dick Grayson grows weary of his role as Batman's young sidekick. He renames himself Nightwing, recalling his adventure in the Kryptonian city of Kandor, where he and Batman meet the local hero of the same name. In post-Crisis continuity he is fired by Batman after being shot by the Joker and becomes Nightwing. He maintains this identity during his role in the Teen Titans, and occasionally returns to assist Batman and his successors as Robin in the form of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, Tim in particular becoming a younger brother figure to him.

When Bruce's back is broken by Bane during the Knightfall story arc, Bruce selects Jean-Paul Valley as his replacement as Batman as he does not want to burden Dick with the role and fears that Dick may go after Bane in revenge. However, when Valley proves to be too unstable to be Batman, Bruce undergoes a rigorous recovery and training program with the aid of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving and Lady Shiva to restore him to full health, defeating Valley with Dick and Tim's aid. However, feeling that he needs to re-evaluate Batman and his mission after Valley's defeat, Bruce leaves Gotham once again, after appointing Dick as his successor during the "Prodigal" story arc. While acting as Batman, Dick is left with a clearer idea of the psychological stresses Bruce must endure in the role, as well as facing some of Bruce's newer enemies — such as Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist and the Ratcatcher — while settling his own long-standing issues with Two-Face.

Miniseries and afterwardEdit

In Nightwing: Alfred's Return #1 (1995), Dick Grayson travels to England to find Alfred Pennyworth who had resigned from Bruce Wayne's service following the events of the KnightSaga. Before returning to Gotham City together, they prevent an attempted coup d'état against the British government that involves destroying the Channel Tunnel under the English Channel.

Later on, with the Nightwing miniseries (September to December 1995, written by Dennis O'Neil with Greg Land as artist), Dick briefly considers retiring from being Nightwing forever before family papers uncovered by Alfred reveal a possible link between the murder of the Flying Graysons and the Crown Prince of Kravia. Journeying to Kravia, Nightwing helps to topple the murderous Kravian leader and prevent an ethnic cleansing, while learning his parents' true connection to the Prince; they witnessed the original Prince being killed and replaced with an impostor who became as bad as his predecessor (although Zucco killed the Graysons before the conspirators could do anything about it). In the aftermath, Dick returns to his role as Nightwing, recognizing that, for all his problems with Bruce, Bruce never made him become Robin or join his crusade, accepting that he imitated Bruce's example because Bruce was worthy of imitation.

In 1996, following the success of the miniseries, DC Comics launched a monthly solo series featuring Nightwing (written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Scott McDaniel), in which he patrols Gotham City's neighboring municipality of Blüdhaven, relocating there to investigate a series of murders and remaining as he recognized that the city needed protection. He remains the city's guardian for some time, facing foes such as Blockbuster and new villains such as Torque, and even becomes a police officer so that he can make an impact on the city's criminal activity in both parts of his life. Later, Grayson divides his duties between Bludhaven and Gotham after a devastating earthquake and the subsequent decision to declare Gotham a No Man's Land, Grayson occasionally assisting his mentor and other members of Bat-Family in maintaining and restoring order in Gotham until it is fully rebuilt. When the Justice League vanished into the past fighting ancient sorceress Gamemnae, Nightwing was selected as the leader of the reserve League created by an emergency program Batman had established in the event of his League being defeated, Batman describing Nightwing as the only person he could have picked to lead the new team.

Eventually, the original League are restored, and Nightwing departs along with some of his League-although others remain as some of the original team take a leave of absence-although Batman notes that his leadership of the League proves that he is ready for more responsibilities. However, the death of Blockbuster prompts Nightwing to leave Bludhaven due to his crisis of conscience; Blockbuster was killed by vigilante Tarantula and Nightwing did not stop it even when he had the chance to do so. While Nightwing returns to Gotham to heal after assisting Batman in dealing with a series of gang wars, Blüdhaven is destroyed by the Secret Society of Super-Villains when they drop Chemo on it.

During the battle of Metropolis, Grayson suffers a near-fatal injury from Alexander Luthor, Jr. when he shields Wayne from Luthor's attack.[7] Originally, the editors at DC intended to have Grayson killed in Infinite Crisis as Newsarama revealed from the DC Panel at WizardWorld Philadelphia:[8]

It was again explained that Nightwing was originally intended to die in Infinite Crisis, and that you can see the arc that was supposed to end with his death in the series. After long discussions, the death edict was finally reversed, but the decision was made that, if they were going to be keeping him, he would have to be changed. The next arc of the ongoing series will further explain the changes, it was said.

After spending some time away with Bruce and Tim to heal and rebuild after their harsh times prior to the Crisis, Dick relocates to New York, but has trouble finding work as both Dick Grayson and Nightwing. During the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Nightwing is ambushed by the International Club of Villains. He is later seen being held in Arkham Asylum, where one of the surgeons, in reality also the civilian identity of ICoV member Le Bossu, arranged for Nightwing to be admitted under the name of Pierrot Lunaire (another ICoV member) and be kept both heavily drugged and regularly beaten by staff to subdue him. Scheduled for an experimental lobotomy by Le Bossu himself, he manages to free himself and come to Batman's aid for the finale of the story arc.

Batman: RebornEdit

Following the events of Batman's apparent death during the Final Crisis, Nightwing has closed down shop in New York so as to return to Gotham, where after the events of "Battle for the Cowl", he assumes the identity of Batman, with Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's biological son, as the new Robin.[9]

The new team of Batman and Robin is the focus of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's Batman and Robin series.[10] Their dynamic reverses the classic dynamic of Bruce and Dick, by having a lighter and friendlier Batman paired with a more intense and dark Robin. Over time, Dick's experience as the Dark Knight would harden his personality as his mentor.

During this period, Dick Grayson as Batman also features as a member of the Justice League in a short-lived run by writer James Robinson. After an intense confrontation with the Club of Villains and the mysterious Doctor Simon Hurt (who has established fake evidence that he is actually Bruce's father Thomas Wayne), Hurt is defeated when Bruce returns to the present. However, Bruce leaves Dick to continue to act as Batman in Gotham with Damian as his partner while he sets up the new 'Batman Incorporated' program, Bruce publicly identifying himself as Batman's financial backer to justify a global Batman-themed operation where he funds multiple other vigilantes.

The New 52 (2011–2016)Edit

See also: The New 52

Dick Grayson is re-established as Nightwing following DC's Flashpoint crossover event, after which the publisher relaunched all of its titles and made alterations to its continuity as part of an initiative called The New 52. In the new status quo, Bruce Wayne is once again the only Batman, and Dick, like the other members of the adoptive family, is a few years younger. Dick, despite being 19 is drawn a bit shorter than in his pre-relaunch frame. This is likely due to adding believability to his acrobat past.[11] According to various interviews it is stated that Dick was adopted at 16, as opposed to 12. This is due to the DCNU's timeline existing for five years.[12] Dick Grayson is shown in flashbacks as Robin with a revamped version of the Robin costume in Nightwing (vol. 3) #0 (November 2012) and Batman and Robin Annual (vol. 2) #2 (March 2014).

Dick Grayson in his New 52 Robin costume from Batman and Robin Annual, vol. 2 #2 (March 2014). Art by Doug Mahnke and Patrick Gleason

In his civilian identity he is attacked by an assassin named Saiko who insists that he is the fiercest killer in Gotham.[13] The series Batman Incorporated relaunches with a second volume, continuing its story while taking into account the New 52's continuity changes; Dick is now depicted as Nightwing, and not as Batman, but the change is not addressed in the comic itself. In Nightwing, Dick inherits the deed to the circus from a dying C. C. Haly and begins a relationship with his childhood friend acrobat Raya Vestri. Saiko tortures Haly for information on Nightwing's secret identity, and the old man dies in Dick's arms after telling him the circus holds a terrible secret.[14] Investigating leads, he tracks down a supervillain named Feedback, who used to be a childhood friend, but does not learn anything.[15] Following Haly's clues, he finds a mysterious Book of Names in the circus that has his name on the last page.[16] Later the circus announces they will be doing a memorial show on the anniversary of the night Dick's parents were murdered, and Saiko attacks by detonating a massive explosion.[17]

It is then revealed that the circus has been training assassins for years, and Saiko was a childhood friend using Raya as an accomplice. Grayson had been selected to become a new Talon for the Court of Owls, but when Batman adopted him, Saiko took his place. The killer plummets to his death and Raya turns herself in. Returning to the Batcave, Bruce reveals to Dick that the current Talon is his great-grandfather William Cobb.[18] During the Night of the Owls event Dick faces Cobb, who was revived while protecting Mayor Hady.[19] Following the event, Dick decided to keep Haly's Circus in Gotham and plans to invest in turning an abandoned amusement park into their new location without Bruce's money.[20] He works with Sonia Branch, the daughter of Tony Zucco, the crime boss who murdered Dick's parents, into getting a loan for this plan by investing his entire trust fund despite being a high-risk due to Saiko's recent attack. The problems arise because of the guilt Sonia feels towards her father's actions [21] and many members of the circus are afraid for their lives because of the previous disasters and accuse Dick Grayson of being a flake, making it hard for those who choose to stay.[22]

The "Death of the Family" crossover event across the Batman-related comic books led to a major shift in Nightwing's status quo. During the storyline, one of Dick's friends Jimmy Clark, who worked as a circus clown, was murdered by the Joker because Joker felt like Jimmy was a knockoff of him. Nightwing later discovers Joker broke Raya out of prison, infected her with his Joker venom and has forced her to fight him while wearing a makeshift Nightwing costume. The toxin eventually killed Raya, though Nightwing tried in vain with an anti-toxin to save her. Nightwing then discovered that Joker left a message on Raya's abdomen that he was targeting Haly's Circus next.[23] However upon arriving there, Joker unveils his plan to burn the circus to the ground and then infects Nightwing with his gas that not only causes him to experience hallucinations of Jimmy and Raya, but he is soon attacked by the other members of Haly's Circus that were also affected by the toxin allowing Joker to capture him.[24]

In the aftermath, Haly's Circus is gone, with Dick broke as a result for having lost his investment. While the other circus members survived since Joker used a different Joker venom on them, they blame Dick and decide to leave after Raya and Jimmy's funeral, though deep down they know it is not his fault. Dick becomes bitter from his loss. After he used excessive force to bring down some criminals that tried to plunder valuables from the remains of the circus, Damian, having been monitoring him, is able to talk some sense into Nightwing, which helps him recover.[25]

Nightwing is later deeply affected by the death of Damian following his murder at the hands of Damian's clone, the Heretic, in Batman Incorporated. With Damian's death and potential resurrection becoming an obsession of Batman's, Dick is shunned by Bruce when he tries to tell him to move on, in Batman and Nightwing (a retitled Batman & Robin #23).

Later, the Nightwing series changes its setting to Chicago, Illinois. Sonia Branch reveals to Dick an e-mail that indicates that her father Zucco is still alive. After giving the address to Red Robin to try and track down who sent it, Robin uncovers that Zucco is residing in Chicago. Nightwing moves to Chicago in order to find and arrest Zucco, who is now living under the assumed identity of Billy Lester, an assistant to the mayor. Soon after arriving in Chicago, Dick meets his new roommates, a photojournalist named Michael and a computer specialist named Joey. After leaving the apartment to meet with Johnny Spade, a borderline criminal who steals and sells information, their meeting is interrupted by the police. A short chase results in the accidental destruction of a newly rebuilt subway. Meanwhile, a criminal hacker called the Prankster tortures, maims and kills criminal con men who are untouchable by the police.

The Chicago story is later abruptly ended by Nightwing's role in a larger company-wide crossover event. After the Crime Syndicate invade Earth Prime at the conclusion of the "Trinity War" Justice League storyline and defeat the Justice League, the DC crossover story Forever Evil depicts Nightwing's capture by the Crime Syndicate, who expose his secret identity to the world. Following their escape from the Syndicate, Batman and Catwoman decide to rescue him. He then is invited by Owlman to help defeat the Crime Syndicate, which he accepts. Nightwing is severely beaten by Ultraman and is attached to a device from a parallel world known as the Murder Machine, which is controlled by his heart rate and is reportedly impossible to escape from alive. When Batman and Lex Luthor arrive to free him, Lex stops his heart in order to fool the system so he can disarm it. However, Batman, enraged over what Lex has done, attacks him. Luthor explains it is not too late to save Grayson.[26] In an uncharacteristically heroic moment, Luthor injects Grayson's heart with adrenaline, which successfully revives Grayson. Cyborg enters, having defeated Grid, and Grayson joins Batman, Cyborg and Catwoman in freeing the Justice League from the Firestorm Matrix. After the defeat of the Syndicate, Grayson is seen with Batman in the Batcave. Batman tells him that he has to send him on the most dangerous mission he could possibly undertake.

GraysonEdit

The Nightwing title concluded in April 2014 at issue #30, and was replaced with a new title, Grayson, which depicts Dick having given up his life as Nightwing at age 22 and going undercover as an agent of the Spyral organization where the former Batwoman Kathy Kane works.[27] Written by Tim Seeley and former CIA counter-terrorism officer Tom King, the career change for Dick Grayson comes from the urging of Batman himself, who convinces him to remain dead to the world. Seeley stated that the series will be "leaning into" Grayson's sex symbol status. The character's look also is redesigned with no mask, but a blue-and-black outfit calling back to his pre-New 52 Nightwing counterpart with an addition of a "G" on his chest, said to be reminiscent of the Robin "R".[28][29]

In the "Agent of Spyral" storyline, Dick (known as Agent 37) is enlisted by Mister Minos, the director of Spyral, after having been chosen by Helena Bertinelli to serve as a new candidate. However, Dick serves as a mole under Batman due to their agenda of unmasking heroes by collecting the Paragon organs, organs in which contains the DNA of the Justice League and bestows meta-bioweapons the ability to use their powers. He assists Spyral's agenda to know more about Minos and his endgame, resulting in Spyral attaining most of the scattered organs. In a later story arc, Minos betrays Spyral and attempts to leak its secrets. To his surprise he finds the new Agent Zero, who reveals that she, along with the upper echelon of Spyral, had used Minos to attract Dick into Spyral and kills Minos as he has outlived his life full of humor.[30][31]

During Batman and Robin Eternal, Grayson finds himself working with various other members of the Bat-Family-during the time when Bruce Wayne is amnesiac after his resurrection against the ruthless villain known only as "Mother", who, it is revealed, briefly met with Batman early in Grayson's career as Robin, believing that he shared her views on using trauma to make people stronger. Mother intends to trigger a global collapse with the reasoning that the survivors will rebuild a stronger world after being broken by tragedy and without the hindrance of parents to force their ideals on them, but Grayson and the rest of the Family are able to defeat her, Dick affirming that Batman helps the Robins become their own people who can avoid the mistakes he made in dealing with his own trauma rather than Mother's belief that she and Batman each teach people to use their trauma to define themselves. At the conclusion of the storyline, Dick meets with the restored Batman, assuring Bruce that, unlike Mother, he never forced his ideals on them, but simply gave them all an example that they chose to emulate while avoiding following it so exactly that they became like him.

When the Court of Owls plant a bomb inside Damian Wayne, they are able to blackmail Dick into officially joining their organization, although all sides are aware that Grayson intends to try and use his new position against them.[32] The Grayson series ended at issue #20, where in the final issue, it was revealed that all knowledge of Dick's identity was erased from most of the world with one of Spyral's satellites, allowing Dick to resume his superhero activities as Nightwing once again.[3]

DC RebirthEdit

Starting with the DC Rebirth relaunch in 2016, Dick returned to being Nightwing with his black and blue costume, his Spyral contacts having wiped all global evidence of his dual identity and the bomb removed from Damian. He uses his new skills and expertise in espionage moving forward.[33] Nightwing is prominently featured in two Rebirth books: the fourth volume of Nightwing, his own solo book, and Titans, where Dick teams up with the other original Teen Titans after Wally West returns to the universe; through Wally, Dick remembers events of his life prior to Flashpoint and The New 52.[34] After the Titans are forcibly disbanded by the Justice League, Dick creates a new Titans team after the rupture of the Source Wall consisting of Donna Troy, Raven, Steel (Natasha Irons), Beast Boy, and Miss Martian.[35]

In his solo book, Dick is paired with a vigilante named Raptor and the two plan to bring down the Court of Owls from the inside. Barbara criticizes Dick's willingness to trust him and does not agree with his methods. Though Raptor seemed willing to play by Dick's rules of not killing, he tricks Dick into agreeing to a plan that results in the deaths of all of the Parliament of Owls in Sydney. After knocking Dick out, Raptor goes to Gotham and kidnaps Bruce during a conference. Nightwing confronts him alone in the ruins of a circus in Paris. Raptor reveals that he grew up in the circus as a child and fell in love with Dick's mother, Mary, as they stole from the rich and powerful in Paris. Raptor watched over Dick in the shadows as he grew up, and developed a hatred for Bruce Wayne as he represented everything he and Mary were against and felt it was dishonoring her memory to have Dick raised by him. Dick defeats Raptor and rescues Bruce in time.[36]

After joining forces with the pre-Flashpoint Superman to defeat the latest attack of Doctor Destiny, Dick contemplates checking out Bludhaven, based on Superman's reference to how the pre-Flashpoint Grayson acted as the city's guardian for a time,[37] and ultimately decides to go there.[38] While there he meets a supervillain rehabilitation group called the Run-Offs, all of which were villains he and Batman defeated in the past. He finds that most of them are being framed for crimes around the area and works with them to find the true culprits.[39] After solving the case and clearing their names, Dick begins dating their leader Shawn Tsang, known as the former criminal the Defacer.[40] Shawn is kidnapped by Professor Pyg after Dick discovers she might be pregnant with his child, and he teams up with Damian to track Pyg down and rescue her.[41] After Shawn is revealed not to be pregnant, she ultimately breaks up with Dick, who focuses his efforts on taking down criminals such as Blockbuster, the returning Raptor, the Judge, and Wyrm.[42]

During one of his nightly patrols with Batman, Nightwing is shot by KGBeast and nearly killed.[43] As a result, he suffered from severe memory loss and attempted to build a new life in Bludhaven. He changed his name to Ric, gave up being Nightwing, and became a taxi driver that frequently went to bars. With Bludhaven suffering from an increase in crime from the vigilante's absence, a detective named Sapienza comes across Dick's abandoned hideout in the subway and decides to become the new Nightwing.[44] Sapienza recruits a team of his friends in law enforcement to help him, and together they make a team of Nightwings using Dick Grayson's old uniforms. In addition to Sapienza, the team consists of Malcolm Hutch, the deputy chief in the Bludhaven fire department, Zak Edwards, vice of the 10th precinct, and Colleen Edwards, detective of the 14th precinct.[45]

During Year of the Villain, Ric is captured by William Cobb, his grandfather who is a Talon. A brain surgeon that Bruce hired to take care of Dick after he was shot named Dr. Haas was secretly a member of the Court, who was using a mystical memory crystal to alter Dick's memories and eventually shape him into becoming a Talon himself. William Cobb forces Ric to wear goggles and puts Dick under his spell. As a Talon, Grayson fights off other Nightwing heroes. A Nightwing hero name Connor Red shoots at Grayson's mask, making his eye visible. Connor Red pleads for mercy saying he has a family, and as the sun comes up Dick Grayson suddenly breaks out of his grandfather's control. Dick Grayson starts to remember his adventures as Nightwing. Ric defeats Talon, and saves his girlfriend Bea.[46] Afterwards, he journeys to Switzerland to learn more answers about his past from Dr. Haas, who attempts to use the crystal to alter his memories once more. However, an explosion seemingly sends her down a river to her death while Ric is able to retrieve the memory crystal she used on him. During the "Joker War" storyline, the Joker steals the memory crystal and uses it to brainwash Grayson into believing he is the Joker's adopted son, "Dicky Boy" and turns him against the Bat Family in his latest war against Batman. After Barbara gets the crystal back, Bea uses it to allow him to fully regain his memories as Dick Grayson.[47

14 notes · View notes

schweeeppess · 5 years

Note

Do you have any angsty fic recommendations? I feel like ripping my heart out for no reason and figured you'd have some good recommendations

OH BOY DO I EVER!

(Dick & Tim & Jason) theyve broken me by Princex_N

Retraumatization is a conscious or unconscious reminder of past trauma that results in a re-experiencing of the initial trauma event. It can be triggered by a situation, an attitude or expression, or by certain environments that replicate the dynamics (loss of power/control/safety) of the original trauma. Being forced to talk about your trauma before you're mentally ready to do so can also be a trigger.

Jason agrees to talk to Bruce about the circumstances of his death and resurrection in Batman and Red Hood #20, at serious detriment to himself.

If you mention angsty fics, you literally cannot just not mention this one. I cried so hard reading this, it’s not funny. It breaks your heart into shards then stabs you with them, and bruh. I just. 1000/10

(the batboys in general) When the Stakes are Higher by keeptogethernow

There's a new serial killer in Gotham, and he's managing to evade even Batman's attempts to catch him. The psychopath's inclinations have Bruce on edge, but Jason's not as worried...until it becomes personal. But when even the world's greatest detective is at a loss, will their efforts be enough to prevent another tragedy in the Wayne family?

Not as angsty as the last rec, like at all! It’s very suspenseful though, and there is quite some angst, but it’s not as bad as “theyve broken me”.

(Dick & his brothers) the man with guns for eyes by 8sword

“Don’t blame him, little D. He gave me a choice.”

"He always makes it a choice," Damian mutters. "If you’re the one who makes the decision, it’s your fault if it’s the wrong one.”

(Dick comes back from the dead.)

Oooooh, boy, this one had me crying hard in just the beginning! It hurts! Very, very bad!

(Tim & Jason, mostly) New Alphabet by AllumetteRouge (RedRaidingHood)

Tim had hoped to have the manor (and Alfred’s cooking) for himself today. Only, there’s a fourteen-year-old Jason and a whole lot of trouble waiting for him.

Again, not as bad as the last one, but it is angsty--like real angsty--at certain points.

(Tim & Dick & Bruce, mostly) (You) Forgot About Where it All Began by Qais

Bruce is back from his jaunt through time, but his sons are not okay. Jason is aggrieved on Tim's behalf, and he isn't going to stay quiet about it.

This one makes me cry, too, and I just. It’s so emotional, at least to me.

(Jason & Tim) Tightrope by Acxa_Kogane for Kyra_Marmora

Time passed with baited breath as the gentle wind swept through the void, lightly pressing against Tim's outstretched fingers and playing with his hair.

The two who stood at the beginning of the rope never took their eyes away from the one that was floating above the shadows.

Then, the careful steps began to slow, and suddenly stopped altogether.

I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD AT THIS ONE, JUST LIKE THE FIRST AND THIRD RECS. I WAS LISTENING TO THIS SONG AND WAS JUST SOBBING. HHHHHHHHHHHHH.

(Jason & Tim, mostly) Stages of Deterioration by aradian_nights

After Bruce finds Jason Todd, catatonic and traumatized, miraculously alive on the streets of Gotham, Tim, Dick, and Barbara attempt to fix their broken brother. AU for Invasion.

Horribly angsty at many points, this one gets ranked right up there with recs 1, 3, and 6. 1000/10 breaks my heart and actually made me cry a little during certain chapters.

(Damian and Tim & Jason) It's Not Poetic by the_authors_exploits

There is laughter in the air, and tears in their eyes; because it's all a ploy, a facade, and people fall for it all the time. Until it becomes too much to hide and the laughter fades and they can't ignore it anymore. PLEASE READ THE TAGS

I will absolutely never not recommend this fic, unless the tags are triggers for you. Otherwise I adore this fic--it is definitely one of my sheer favorites--and highly recommend it.

(Jason & everybody) The Calling by LananiA3O

Three years after escaping from prison, after almost complete radio silence, Jason heeds a call for assistance from Batman. When he disobeys a direct command in order to save more lives, old issues arise again, and Jason finally has enough. It is time to set the record straight...

This one will run you over, stomp on you, slam a piano on you, then stab you straight in the heart just to make sure you’re crushed and dead from angst. You will cry. You will grieve. I recommend it.

(Dick & Jason) these things define you by Miisakee

Jason and Dick go to fight a gang and it all goes downhill from there.

Another one of the lesser angsty fics! It is still very, very angsty, so be reassured you just might cry. Maybe. I can’t remember if I did.

(Bruce & Jason) Morning Sun by Lilfunny for drakefeathers

Between his death, resurrection and subsequent replacement, Jason Todd just really needs a hug. Or maybe he just needs his dad.

AHHHHH THIS ONE I DID CRY FOR! SO EMOTIONAL! BROKE MY HEART AND HIT ME IN THE GUT WITH A CROWBAR. I CRIED. MOST CERTAINLY RECOMMEND.

(Jason & Tim) It's Not That Funny by Ionaperidot

“I’m sorry I killed you, Jay," Tim says. "Please don’t be mad at me.”

Jason sighs, raising his head slowly. “You are not handling the Pit nearly as well as I thought you were.”

After Tim kills the Joker, Bruce sends him across the country with his parents, where he'll be safe. After Jason finds out, he tracks him down to visit. It's all going pretty well until Ra's al Ghul gets involved.

Okay, you really really need to be careful with this fic. There is very unhealthy coping mechanisms, several suicides, several murders, Jason lets Tim cut and burn him so he doesn’t do it to himself... It can be extremely triggering, so I strongly suggest you be careful before deciding to read this. It’s so utterly heart shattering. It makes you so very sad.

(Dick & everybody) If Night Falls in Your Heart by WithTheKeyIsKing

Dick never knew how to tell his family about what Tarantula and Mirage did to him, so he simply didn't.

That solution works, until it doesn't.

Hoo, boy, this was written by a friend of mine and she did not pull her punches as she wrote this, I’ll tell you that. I fucking cried. This one hurt and it hurt bad. This fic and the next rec both deal with Dick’s rape, so be advised.

(Dick & Jason) When I Needed You by firefright

On the night Blockbuster dies, Dick goes through one of the worst experiences of his life. But this time he's not alone, this time someone comes to save him. Someone familiar, though he doesn't figure that part out until much later.

Grahhh, I hurt so bad when I read this, and every time I come back to it I ache. It’s so heart-wrenching and emotional and I just--hhhhhhh. Recommend! If it’s not triggering, of course.

I’M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I WAS MAKING THE LIST THEN MY PAGE REFRESHED AND I LOST EVERYTHING SO I HAD TO START ALL OVER AGAIN AND I DIED A LITTLE BUT HERE IT IS! HERE YOU GO NONNIE! I’M SORRY THERE’S ONLY LIKE A FEW RECS BUT IT’S ALL I COULD REALLY FIND.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

#ask #anon #anon ask #fic rec #fic recs #hoooo boy do i have many angsty recs!#some have rather dark themes tho #so be careful 💙

59 notes · View notes

heartslogos · 5 years

Text

mafia!verse: the wedding [1]

There are social events that hold personal, and social, significance and power. They bring communities together. They provide avenues for bonding and exchanging information, exchanging money, exchanging blood.

Society uses these occasions to build. To grow. To war.

And during these occasions nothing is more important than hospitality. Civility. Propriety. The following of certain accepted social agreements and unspoken rules. The covenant of neighbors, of social hierarchy, of class.

Birthdays are an example of such an important occasion.

The classic tale of Sleeping Beauty illustrates exactly why this is so important. A child is born and everyone comes to wish the happy parents well. The parents invite everyone of import.

But everyone knows that there’s one person who wasn’t invited. And whether or not they would have accepted the invitation is irrelevant. What matters is that no invitation was offered.

One does not slight someone of such power and importance.

Now, the Wayne family isn’t made of fairies. There’s too much talent for iron and its various formats for that. But at least two of them are so rotten not even death would take them.

Another such occasion with as much importance that would require the same amount of respect and healthy handling of such societal niceties as a birth is a wedding, which usually precedes a birth by about eight to nine months depending on how close that shotgun is to someone’s head.

Weddings are important things. They’re the start of something. They’re the end of something. They’re the making of something. They are the destroying of something.

Weddings bring people together. They end wars. They start alliances. They usher in peace. They can start feuds. They can start grudges.

And the Wayne family was not issued an invitation to this one.

Dick Grayson drives up to the security guards posted all the way down at the end of the street, parking his car right there in the damned center of it and knowing not a single person present — security guards, people who also happen to unfortunately live in this affluent suburban neighborhood, reporters, police — is going to stop him.

The man’s an angel to end all angels.

The word end is used in its most literal, finite, and apocryphal sense here.

Man’s got a smile like a morning star, you could call him Vesper. You could also call him by the other name, too, but you’d get more of a laugh than anything.

He smiles that devil’s smile and the security guards falter. Most do.

Dick Grayson adjusts his suit, and turns to the sound of another car. Dark cherry red coming to a smooth stop next to his.

“Jason,” his eyebrows raise as the car doors open, “Tim. You came together?”

“Yup,” Jason answers, jerking his thumb towards the passenger side as it threatens to swing closed on the occupant. “Timbo over there’s having a day. I felt like being decent and giving the man a ride.”

“Feel like being decent and helping me out of the car?” Tim calls from the other side. Jason leans against his side of the car, making no move to go help. Dick shakes his head and goes to help.

“Having a day are you?” Dick asks, holding the door open so Tim can swing his forearm crutches out and pull himself out after them.

Tim Drake was supposedly assassinated on live television four or five years ago. Supposedly. Rumor has it that it was all staged. To make the people who saw that video feel sorry for him. To get the negative press coming from outside of Gotham off his back. To get people who do want him dead to lower their guard so he could surprise them by popping back up when they least expect it.

Jury’s out on whether he was really shot or not — several thousand witnesses, a still somewhat visible bloodstain right out front of W.E., and a box of evidence in the police department vaults aside. But he’s been using the crutches on and off ever since and no one’s got the balls to challenge it to his face.

“Yes.”

“And Jason just so happened to be around to give you a ride?”

“I might have been there already as the day was progressing towards crutches territory,” Jason admits, making a motion for them to get a move on so he can lock the car.

“Oh? Anything I should be worried about?”

“We were bonding,” Jason says, “Right, Replacement?”

“It’s fine, Dick,” Tim ignores Jason and starts to swat Dick’s hands away as he tries to fix Tim’s hair. “What are you doing here?”

A motorcycle snarls in the rapidly deceasing distance.

“It’s a family gathering off the manor grounds,” Jason groans, “Ode to joy.”

Cassandra’s black monster of a motorcycle comes to a perfect stop, next to Jason’s car.

She flips the visor on her helmet up, examining all of them before resting her eyes on Tim.

“Bad?” She nods towards the crutches.

“They aren’t for the aesthetic.”

Before anyone can say anything about that, one way or the other, a final car comes by. It doesn’t park, it idles as its passenger leaves the back seat, before slowly reversing and turning itself around to drive off again.

“What are you all doing here?”

“Attending a wedding,” the four of them answer, eyeing each other and Damian.

“Alright, I’ll bite, did anyone here get an invite?” Jason says, “Raise your hand if you feel excluded from the block party that literally everyone was invited to.”

Four hands raise. Tim whacks one of his crutches against Jason’s tires to cast his vote.

“I heard Vale was invited,” Damian says as they all stare at each other.

“I’m sure our invitation was lost,” Dick shrugs, “I bet they didn’t know who to address it to. There’s six of us, after all, and most of us are never at the manor.”

“Such optimism.”

Cassandra points at the closest security guard, making sure he’s met her eyes before she points at her bike.

“If this has moved,” Cassandra says, “I will remove you.”

She does not wait to see if this is understood. She turns around and starts to take off her leather jacket, revealing a black undershirt.

Cameras flash. The reporters who didn’t get a chance to pass security know better than to ask questions, and to be content with whatever pictures they can manage.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding your face?” Jason gestures towards the flashing cameras as the four of them move to somewhat obscure their sister from the flashing lights. “Might look bad for you if you’re seen crashing a wedding.”

Tim’s smile to the cameras causes a riot of flashes that are now solidly directed and him. It looks so menacing in its niceness that it would make sharks look like herbivores.

“Don’t be silly, Jason. I own those reporters.”

“Tim, Tim, Tim,” Dick chides, “You can’t own reporters. Owning reporters is owning people and that’s slavery. It’s been outlawed.”

“Slavery is illegal and wrong,” Cassandra says from where she’s standing a bit off from them, pulling out a neatly folded dress shirt from her bike’s storage compartment and doing it up. “Damian, do my tie.”

Damian sighs, “Yes, Cassandra. You’d think that you’d know how to tie it yourself at this point, considering all the other knots you know.”

Dick points at her as he slings an arm around Tim and Jason, drawing them in together earning a grumble from Jason and an irritated eye roll from Tim, “Exactly, Cass. Besides, there’s something more powerful than owning a person.”

Cassandra and Dick both turn at the same time to face the cameras directly in a sharp snap.

“You can own the face of their fear.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jason passes a hand over his eyes. “You’re the goddamned worst. I don’t know why I bother. Alright. Let’s get this shit show on the road.”

Dick smiles at the guards.

“You don’t need to see our invitation, right?”

Damian doesn’t wait, he brushes past the guards and starts walking towards the house with the white ribbons on its tall stone wall.

“Our invitation is the fact that we are Waynes, and all the money used to pay for this wedding came from our graces,” Damian says, “And frankly, I would like to see such graces return with some measure of gratitude.”

“Agreed,” Tim adjusts his grip on his crutches as he moves forward, parting guards without any resistance. “This union wouldn’t have happened without my influence and I would like some minor acknowledgement of that. And there are some people here who’ve been annoyingly persistent in how hard they are to reach.”

#heartsfic #c: unwanted and enduring knight #c: a star going red giant #c: icarus rising #c: uncompromising victor #c: the dreamer who always sees the stars #c: the children's champion

20 notes · View notes

spacemilkies · 5 years

Note

Bart Allen x reader

summary: He’d ran to the past purely by the determination to unselfishly prevent the future from fallling into ruin.

For that for that act of valor, wasn’t he allowed this one selfish want ?

Notes: It took me awhile to come up with something. Sorry for the lateness. Here’s a little snippet drabble thing.

When he’d first appeared he wasn’t quite sure who was more surprised. Naturally he managed to send the premature flock of superheroes into a mild panic.

That wasn’t entirely intentional. So far into the future calculations were somewhat accurate at best. Nathaniel had planned for the when, but the where was more abstract in nature.

So yes, Bart was equally as astonished to not only find the machine in working order but to find himself at the center control panel of Mount Justice?

Now that was crash.

All his idols were in attendance.

The creative and instinct driven Beast Boy.

The premature and determined Robin.

And oh man, the notorious Nightwing in the flesh.

And then there was you.

For a moment Bart wished for nothing more than looser suit to drag away the spandex from red itch crawling up his neck. The poster on his wall had depicted you as an older hero, matured in both your talents and prowess. But there had been plenty of opportunities for him to imagine what it might have been like to fight beside you.

Share the excitement and spoils of victory.

If only he’d been born a few decades earlier.

If only you hadn’t-

The time capsule hero jerked in response,“Careful now, watch the claws!”

As part of the infamous Allen lineage, all speedsters relied on that split second decision where time slowed to their advantage.

It separated life from death.

Freedom from capture.

“Now that would have not been crash. Seriously Robin ? I have your action figure man. “

Bart shook a non threatening fist from his perch atop the massive screen. He’d narrowly managed to avoid quick shot of cable. The young hero hadn’t even been aware of his speed inclement yet smartly chose to go after his legs.

He couldn’t put it past the detective.

It was obvious that his window of opportunity would have dwindled. During his fanboy episode the startlement had worn off.

And now he was outnumbered.

… yet still a little crash.

Yeah, he expected to feel the mode shortly after.

But damn did he enjoy going head to head with the best of the best.

Sure, they were still in their youth and nothing compared to what they would be in the future but damn wasn’t it still a thrill.

No one could blame him for at least attempting to shift out of the bindings. His vibrations only managed to encourage the current Robin to tighten the ropes further.

Bart wasn’t entirely certain that he hadn’t taken a bit of pleasure in the act.

“You’re from the future? Ha, right dude.”

Bart’s attention whipped over to the green meta human, taking in the distinctively furry texture of his skin. Funnily it had been a small detail the cameras managed to miss when capturing his likeness.

“Oh man, Beastboy if only I could get started on you.” Unfortunately, Bart had seen enough movies depicting the consequences of speaking so openly about what was to come.

No, he would need to be sensible here.

Regardless of how easy it would be to drag these chump- eh- heroic deities.

“Look, no hard feelings. I’m one of you!” His hand twitched from the desire to bring it to his chest in emphasis. “ Name’s Bart Allen. You know, of the Barry Allen legacy? Really, the speed should have been an indicator.”

Among the skeptical faces it was yours he kept darting to the most. He couldn’t help it. You were just so young and so here.

And right in front-

Oh well … was right in front of him before Robin had taken the initiative to cut in between, effectively severing the point of contact.

Bart would have been more baffled had he not understood the root of the protective stance.

It didn’t help that bat family was incredibly rich.

They just had to be eligible bachelors to boot.

Speaking of the family, where had the older bat flown off to?

“Dude if you’re honest we can figure this out. And then you can go.”

Bart tried extremely hard not to roll his eyes but it was painful. The littlest bat really needed to brush up on his interrogations. The summation of this little group was only the junior leagues.

Once he really got started talking they were going to have to draw out the majors.

“What if he is? It wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen here,” your voice trilled over silence.

Okay, maybe crossing spacial dimensions was a little different but it was the future! He obviously shared some connection to the Flash- grandson did he say?

All you were saying is that you couldn’t rule out the impossible without considering the possibility.

Your gaze flickered uncertainly to the bulky machine sitting like a quiet observer.

Beside you Robin scuffed I’m firm disbelief. Granted it too a lot to get the junior detective to think outside of the realm of possible. You were starting to think he was being a bit close minded.

The two of them had barley known one another for twenty minutes and you could already feel the bad blood thrumming under the veins. It was obvious that Bart knew something they didn’t but was it so inherent that Tim would react out of instinct ?

“Not you too,” he groaned. He caught your eyes from the side. “A tourist ?”

Okay, that was an odd thing to call oneself given the situation. It was hard to determine what was more concerning.

That fact that a kid would travel so lightheartedly into the past without considering the consequences or how easily accessible it was for him to do so.

Beastboy settles his arms across his chest,”I don’t know man. I mean, yeah, I’m green but from the future? That’s a little crazy.”

“Batman will deal with him,” Tim reasoned under his breath.

As subtly as you could, you reached for him, finger tips just skimming the callouses of his own. While his face didn’t portray emotion, your loose grip tingled with the ripple of calm you were trying to make mutual.

Unbeknownst to you, the red haired speedster followed the minuscule movement with a grimace.

“Easy, Robin. If he travel from the future he must have accumulated quite the thirst. Barry’s grandson, right? That’s quite the journey.”

Bart watched Nightwing with interest as he reapplied with a glass of water in hand. Bringing his tied hands up, he accepted it with a shallow nod. He was a little thirsty but more in the lack of proper clean water kind of way and less of a time travel exhaustion.

It wasn’t until he’d taken a few sips before the subtle insinuation of the offer became apparent.

Now he was realizing how one graduated out of the Robin role.

“Ah, you’re not really worried about the culprit. You just want this.” Bart probably added more of the wanted specimen than necessary when he spit heartily into the glass much to the grimaced disgust of some of the observers. “There you go. Authentic DNA of the Allen family. Just don’t go cloning anyone.”

His gaze widened comically at the thought. “Oh man, that’d be so crash though. Surely Dick Grayson could figure out the proper cloning sequence. Just ask Connor.”

It had started off as a joke and tumbled horridly into a snowball effect after that. What could he say? Once he got started talking, it was just downhill from there.

To say the hero was affronted would be putting it off lightly.

“I know all of you guys? Future guy remember ?”

He gestured to each member individually.

“Dick Grayson.”

“Garfield Logan.”

“Newly appointed Robin, Tim Drake.”

And then there was you. Your eyes were already comically wide by this point as if already knowing your fate.

It didn’t matter really. He was immediately overshadowed by Beast- Garfield was who didn’t find it very crash to be the last one to get he knowledge party.

By the end of it all, he’d left the heroes more confused than the moment he’d arrived.

His ride had unfortunately arrived before he alleviate some of their obvious worries. The tell tale sound of the dimensional portal gate called out the name of another rememberable hero, but he was already shaking past the restraints before the computer could finish the introduction.

Besides he had his own history to change.

And somehow managed to alter his own future in the midst of it.

With the current Flash properly save and hopefully alive in his future, he was more than ready to return to a brighter more lively lifestyle.

When he returned, you were all better prepared for his arrival. Not so much for the older man that ‘Impule’ had hastily referred to as his great grandfather with no little excitement and current Flash and Kid Flash in tow.

It was like a backwards family reunion.

Nightwing’s analytical results had proved the impossible, well possible. Bart Allen was a direct descendant of the Allen family.

The red haired future superhero seemed to take the news with the strongest stride, not doubting his truth for a second. Part of you felt for him, this had to be his only chance to properly meet the senior Flash.

Regrettably, the meeting was cut relatively short as his urge to go home out ran the present desires. He was still an erratic variable of the future and had no place here.

A few hugs were exchanged amongst family, the current leagued Flash expressing his anticipation on meeting him again in a proper timeline.

You found yourself longing for the same. Eager to see his origin and watching the child become what you’d witnessed today.

“Well this has been crash, but gotta run.”

God, were you not looking forward to the puns though. A mutual groan rumbled amongst the gathered crowd in agreement.

Impulse had nearly disappeared into the awaiting machine before his body staled as if forgetting something. After saving the life of a hero you couldn’t imagine what other time altering event he could have on his agenda.

Then his gaze locked with yours.

Your hair fluttered behind you from the sharp gust of wind from, a noise of shock barely escaping your lips before his swallowed it down.

Somewhere behind you the sound of Tim’s shock tried to reach you but it was lost to the soft press of lips molding against your own.

Then it was over.

And you were left wading in a pool of soft baby blues.

“Oh man, I wish you could have married me instead of Drake.”

And left you stranded.

“Now I should really get going. Be nice to me in the future!”

He raced back to the machine with a sloppy salute, before sliding inside the machine. The only sound it gave was a clank of metal as the latch sealed.

And then the silence stretched on for several seconds.

“Isn’t he supposed to be in the future by now,” Garfield asked unhelpfully.

“He better be.” You felt Tim appear at your back, his growl echoing a darker intent.

There was a drawn out groan, as the metal protested the slow opening of the door. It was likely the slowest you’d ever seen and of the speedsters move as Bart reluctantly stepped out of the machine.

Something told you he wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon.

A sheepish smile pulled at his lips as his gaze darted across the room.

“Anyone else feeling the mode?”

#Anonymous #young justice imagines #bart allen x reader #bart allen imagine #bart allen fanfic #young justice x reader #yj imagine #bart allen

411 notes · View notes

batbirdies · 4 years

Note

In your storyline ccat did Dick send Jason to Arkham like he did in the comics? How does Jason feel about that? How does Dick and the family

EDIT: I did not mean to post this yet. Ugh. The post button is too close to the little dots that let you save a draft and now it keeps not saving my edits. I was going to do some fact checking and, you know, general editing before posting but now we’re too late. I might make a more readable post about this later...

Get ready for an extremely wordy, answer.

So, this is an interesting question. Because I know that most batfans do consider this to be canon. Dick sent Jason to Arkham.

However - I read those comic issues, and even re-read them after getting this ask just to see if I missed something. And it’s very possible I still did since it could have been referenced much later in a comic when talking about the whole thing past tense. But....while Dick was there when Jason was arrested - he was arrested, as in by actual police, specifically, commissioner Gordon. He wasn’t taken in by Dick as Batman.

So while we can infer, possibly, that Dick had an influence on what facility Jason was actually brought to. It seems to make perfect sense to me that the police and court system would have ruled Jason criminally insane and sent him to Arkham themselves. ESPECIALLY after the arch in which he was arrested in. (The professor Pyg one, quickly followed by Flamingo the assassin where Jason does something so dangerous in order to kill flamingo that Dick asks him “was that some kind of suicide attempt?”)

Now, we could reason that Dick could have gotten Jason out of Arkham buuuuut, there’s so much to go into honestly... and I’m gonna go ahead and skip it here because basically everything I would say in relation to this will be the same as my reasoning if Dick was the one who was directly responsible for Jason being sent to Arkham.

So let’s go there, let’s say Dick was responsible for Jason being locked up in Arkham. Let’s first look at Dick’s options here, what places could he send Jason? He could send him to a regular prison, Blackgate, made for extremely dangerous criminals, or he could send him to Arkham Asylum, made for the criminally insane.

(One might also argue that he could have just not had him sent anywhere and let him go free, but let’s be real and honest here, unless you are the type of Jason Stan who thinks he’s perfect and never made bad decisions or been at fault for any apparently poor ones, this is faulty reasoning. Jason has not only been responsible for the deaths of a ton of people in recent times to this arrest, he also attempted to reveal Dick and Damians identities to the world and pitted himself directly against Batman and Robin in these issues. He tried to get in their way, ruin their plans, to prove that his methods of vigilanteism were more effective and in general, better than the bat’s. He was actively attempting to ruin their reputation and turn people against them.

You could reason he was also responsible, in a roundabout way, for Damian’s very serious injuries in this particular issue, where he is shot five times and ends up paralyzed from the waist down and must be rescued and operated on by Talia’s expansive medical team.

End note being: they had to lock him up. I certainly would have felt I had no choice.)

Sending him to a standard prison would never have been an option, Jason would have broken out in a matter of days if they ever would have even managed to get him locked inside. So Dick would have to choose between Blackgate and Arkham.

In later issues, after Bruce is back, he goes to visit Jason when Jason keeps appealing to be sent to Blackgate because he is sane and has passed all the tests they’ve given him with flying sane colors. Bruce says that he is in Arkham “For his own protection” implying that as Red Hood he made some massive enemies, a lot of whom are imprisoned in Blackgate at this very moment and who would take any opportunity to do harm to Jason.

Dick would have been aware of this. Dick would have been very much caught between a rock and hard place here. Because while he would more than likely be aware that Jason would NEVER wish to be stuck in Arkham, as would NONE of the bats, he would more than likely put his physical safety first. Reasoning that even if Jason was unhappy in Arkham at least he could be safe and given more time to hopefully come around to a more reasonable state. Because it’s been shown that Dick wants to help Jason. Before stepping back and allowing the police to arrest Jason Dick says this to him: “Look at yourself Jason. You’re a mess. Everything’s a mess. Stop all this...and let us help you.”

Jason then responds: “Help me? ...It’s...it’s too late for me Grayson. It was always too late for me, don’t you get it?”

Jason was more but I don’t think it’s necessary to to recount the whole thing. During this exchange the police surround both of them with guns pointed at Jason and Commissioner Gordon says the only reason they let Batman do this stuff is because he stayed on the right side of the law. So they arrest him.

Dick is then distracted by Damian, who is lying on the ground after being shot multiple times and unable to move from the waist down.

The short answer to this question, is yes and no lol. Because going by canon I think it could easily be reasoned that Dick wasn’t the one who put Jason in Arkham, but even if I’m mistaken in this and Dick was credited with this at some point in the comics I’m unaware of...

I certainly would have questioned Jason’s mental health. And I mean, I think Jaosn’s mental health is a serious concern in general. He needs help. But he wasn’t willing to get it, he thought it was too late for him.

We also have to look at the fact that while we, as readers, see Arkham Asylum as this dumping ground for the criminally insane that’s rife with abuse and everyone who works there is incompetent and allows inmates to escape on the regular etc etc. That’s not really what it’s meant to be in canon. The Batfam obviously view it as the best option they have to deal with the particular breed of crazy that Gotham produces.

Jason’s personal history with the Joker in particular is brought up the most, because how could Dick put Jason in the same place as the JOKER. LIKE WTF.

But my understanding is actually that by canon timelines Joker wasn’t actually in Arkham while Jason was there. That’s not to say he couldn’t have been locked up during his stay at any point, but I would also think that in a psych hospital it would be a reasonable action to keep certain inmates always separate and never in the same space together. Of course we can reason that even being in the same facility would bring Jason all kinds of anxiety and be terrible for his mental health but again, just looking at what I already wrote - there just wasn’t an amazing option available. Nothing would have been a great move on Dick’s part.

To actually answer your ultimate question:

I think everyone would look at this time in all of their lives as just....the WORST. Like....the WORST possible time. This is during the year that Bruce was dead, all of their lives were in turmoil, utterly chaotic and incredibly stressful. Jason was at one of his lowest points and Dick was trying to be Batman to Damian’s violent and difficult to control Robin whole also being on the outs with Tim. Jason pulled some serious shit, trying to reveal their identities on national television? Beyond his killing of people, which the batfam has been staunchly against for forever, even if they decided to give Jason a pass because reasons. No one knew what to do.

I think Jason would look at this time in his life with a large amount of shame for his actions. He might resent Dick for being involved in the event that got him locked in Arkham but he could see what’s already been mentioned. What were his options?

I think Dick feels guilty, but again, what was he supposed to do? What was a better choice? Jason DID eventually end up in Blackgate and it ended terribly, multiple got killed and like over 80 people were poisoned and Jason escaped. So obviously Blackgate would NOT have been the better option.

I think it’s maybe a rough, sensitive spot between them, but both of them also just see it as a time when all of their lives were so difficult it would have been impossible for there to be a good outcome. I think the rest of the family feels similarly. This was a terrible time in all of their lives when no one was making their best decisions. And frankly there weren’t a lot of great options.

I think all of them just want to put this behind them and move forward.

#batbirdies answers

1 note · View note

constantlyirksome · 5 years

Text

Are you Cool Enough to Join the Umbrella Academy? (Season 1, no spoiler review.

Have you heard the one about the astronaut, the talking monkey and the violinist? Last week Netflix released it’s newest superhero offering, “The Umbrella Academy,” originally an indie comic written by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame. Published by Dark Horse Comics, this is one of the first adaptions from an independent publisher, untethered to the Marvel or DC cinematic universe. Publishers aside The Umbrella Academy has enough unique style and story element to attract anyone suffering from SHFF (SuperHero Film Fatigue.) The story revolves around a family of six siblings, born across the globe to mothers who weren’t pregnant the day before, who all possess certain super human talents. Brought together by a careless billionaire scientist who wanted to build an army of super children, the now estranged siblings have to come together once again when their dear old dad kicks the bucket. As family secrets are revealed, tensions between the group become palpable, as they struggle to deal with past traumas, while trying to come together to save the world from a deadly fate. For the most part the six siblings are all very unique, from both each other and a lot of the other types of heroes you’d see from the Big Two studio. There’s Luther (Tom Hopper), an astronaut with super human strength. Alison (Emmy Raver-Lapman) is a glamorous movie star, who has built her life using her power to persuade others to do what she wants. Diego is an expert knife thrower who still moonlights as a vigilante. Klaus (Robert Sheehan), the family’s black sheep, is a drug addict who can talk to dead people. Vanya (Ellen Page) is the only sibling with no evident superpowers and is told by her father often and at length that she is nothing special. Number 5 is a time and space traveller who disappeared when the group were little, and he reappears in the present, looking just like the 13 year old who disappeared decades earlier. There was a seventh sibling, Ben (Justin H. Min) who died mysteriously while 5 was absent, and is now a ghost who can only talk to Klaus. He was the strongest, able to conjure ancient beasts from his skin to smash up bad guys. The central plot revolves around an upcoming apocalypse prophesized by five to happen in one week. Sometimes this main plot point becomes a little thin in early episodes as the siblings are distracted with their own troubles, and a clear way forward isn’t really established until mid way through. The second half pushes forward hard and fast as the apocalypse approaches, and relationships begin to splinter. While the first few episodes lack clear purpose they act as a good six origin stories, which help the season feel like both a beginning, there’s enough action and intent to make it a possible stand alone if there are no more seasons. As superpowers go the group have a pretty stacked deck. In a team there are usually a few cool powers and a few trained assassins, or a super genius. The members of the Academy however are all strong, powers honed by their strict father to be the perfect weapons. Super strength isn’t anything new but Luther makes up for it with a super ego and a super sense of self-importance. Diego is the Hawkeye of the group power wise personally if I had siblings who could conjure the dead or teleport, throwing knives would seem pretty lame. Each sibling carries on their own side story, the outlines how their powers have in some way or another ruined their lives. Obviously Ben had it the worst because he, well, died but most of the others have highly compelling stories. Alison used her powers on too many wrong people, leaving her personal life in shambles. Klaus, so haunted and terrorised by the dead, had to take up drugs to drown out the noise. Number 5 was ripped away from his family and spent, let’s just say, a lengthy amount of time trying to get back, and is now being hunted down by time cops Cha-Cha (Mary J Blige) and Hazel (Cameron Britton.) Diego and Luther however lack any sort of story worth getting teary over. Perpetual man children who never grew out of wanting to be the hero, they spend much of the season bickering, swinging their metaphorical dicks around and generally not helping the situation. While David Casteñeda does an admirable job of injecting Diego with some much needed heart, Luther’s character falls flat in almost every category. You almost want to root against him the way he mistreats people and feels sorry for himself. (Fake looking muscles and a weird sub-plot with incestuous undertones don’t help at all. Technicalities or no, the uncomfortable relationship between Luther and Allison is creepy and makes both characters slightly off-putting. While Aidan Gallagher plays Number five with a perfect mix of teenage snark and a world weariness that comes only after you’ve seen some shit, it’s Page and Sheehan who carry much of the seasons emotional heavy lifting. Sheehan, known mainly for his roll as the scene stealing Nathan from the show Misfits, once again steals the show as Klaus. Kooky yet troubled, hilarious yet haunted, the actor is mesmerising as he stumbles, high usually, through life. Without knowing his full backstory you can tell, through glances or certain lines, that this character is deeply disturbed, and not just a token junkie. He also is one half of the most touching, if not woefully under-developed, relationships toward the end of the series as Number 5’s time hopping shenanigans start to affect his siblings. Ellen Page, (think Juno) as Vanya is the character most grounded in reality, having grown up “normal” Page is perfect as a tired, shunted sister, the perfect person to stand in the middle of some of the seasons juicer plot points. Having written a book about her mistreatment as a child, Vanya is alienated from the rest of the family, is while sometimes morose also very raw. Page wearily moves through scenes with characters that are far whackier, but still holds her own. When the main story focuses, and Vanya takes centre stage, her inner turmoil and fractured relationships make for some of the seasons most gripping scenes. The world in which the siblings live is bleak, grimy and wild. Most scenes take place in run down diners or hotels, or in the decaying facades of the family mansion, with just enough colour and intrigue to keep the show from becoming depressing or drab. During flashback scenes the group, as children, wear matching school uniform in a kooky, Tim Burton like house. There are scenes on the moon, in glamorous Hollywood events, and gnarly apocalyptic wastelands that keep the settings fresh. The influence of comic writer Gerard Way comes through in the children’s uniforms, the matching black umbrellas and the architecture of the mansion, you can sometimes see how the comic was created by the same man who sang the Black Parade. Costuming does an excellent job chiselling out the identities of the siblings. The glamorous Allison in her red carpet dresses, the unassuming Vanya in her drab denims, and he badass Diego who wears all black. However, Klaus beats them all, as in every scene he’s wearing a new whacky ensemble, perfectly matching feminine and masculine, none of the pieces like skirts, flowy jackets or crop tops seemingly go together, but it works. Cha-Cha and Hazel steal their costumes straight out of Fortnite, the contrast between their cop uniforms and their giant animal head helmets is hilarious and unsettling. While the plot sometimes stretches a little thin between characters, The Umbrella Academy succeeds in breaking the traditional superhero tropes by imbuing the characters with more depth, personality beyond gruff tortured crusaders, and individual styles that both ground them, and elevate them so that they remain sympathetic. Not out as actual heroes since their teens, their humanity makes every fight or drama more climactic. As the apocalypse comes closer and the tension builds, it’s never actually certain that the siblings will actually win against whatever or whoever causes the apocalypse. The future of the show, whether it will get renewed or not, and the future of the world may remain uncertain it’s definitely worth exploring the futures of each of these characters. How will they and their powers grow? Will we ever find out how Luther got to the moon? Why was their dad such a dick? Watch this new season and you will definitely want to find out. Also their butler is a talking monkey named Pogo.

#The umbrella academy #umbrella academy #tua #vanya hargreeves #ellen page #klaus hargreeves #robert sheehan #diego hargreeves #david castaneda #number 5 #aidan gallagher #alison hargreeves #luther hargreeves #ben hargreeves #the white violin

34 notes · View notes

goddessofroyalty · 6 years

Note

How did Jason’s relationship with Tim and Dick change in your omegaverse? Did Dick treat him worse when he was Robin because he felt like Bruce really wanted an alpha sidekick, not an omega? Did Jason still beat the hell out of Tim and try to murder him twice when he’s probably big about protecting omegas in this verse? How much did Battle for the Cowl change? Does he find out about Tarantula and Ra’s? You don’t have to answer if you‘d rather not say, I can wait until you write more stuff later.

Honestly it’s pretty much the same in general terms. However there are some situations where it changes just because of how Jason views himself in relation to them by being an alpha while their omega. Not that he thinks they’re inherently weaker just… he knows other people will. So he feels a bit more like he has to at least act like a protective-alpha-brother in public because he can get away with it more - although that’s more once he actually reconciles with the family. While he’s still against them he still sees them the way he does in canon “potential allies if they could see the reality of the situation, current adversaries because they refuse to”.

Saying that Jason is CONVINCED the reason Bruce doesn’t ‘like’ him as much as the others is because he’s an alpha. Like he fully believes Bruce prefers Robin as an omega (Jason’s reasoning is because an omega will never fully be able to take over from Bruce while he’s still alive). He’s not actually right but… he can bring enough evidence to make a compelling argument,

I feel like Jason either hadn’t presented or had only really just presented when he died (I more often lean to just presented) so I don’t even know if Dick would have found out. Would very much depend on like how close to Jason’s death he presented at for whether the news would reach Dick. So while there might have been some resentment about it it happened too late to really effect their relationship that much.

So I’m going to have to read the Under the Hood arc to say for certain as to how that confrontation with Tim went down (I have a couple fic ideas as well but need the canon beats of it). In Battle for the Cowl he still beats Tim to hell but that’s because Tim rejects his attempt to basically take over as head of the pack. So it’s more an attempt to prove his position through violence that’s taken too far? Which, I mean, is basically what happens in Battle for the Cowl anyway? Again I feel like it comes down to Jason being aware that the rest of the Batfamily (and really super-hero community generally) who are omegas aren’t exactly like how most omegas behave/are expected to behave. So while he’d probably get protective of them if an outside threat came for them he knows he’s not targeting them because they’re omegas but because they’re Robins so it’s cool.

… also I have a fic for Battle for the Cowl literally sitting on my computer waiting for the next time I hit a “DC - new” post in my posting schedule (look I need that schedule and I need to stick to it or else things will get bad again). Basically Jason through his own reasoning, and interpretation of Bruce’s message to him, decides that he needs to become the head of the Wayne/Batfamily pack by essence of him being the only other alpha that can actually take it. He loses to Dick and Dick becomes head (despite being an omega). There’s a bit more going on in the fic but that’s all I can probably say without basically posting the fic haha.

Don’t think he’d find out about the Tarantula thing just because I don’t think Dick would exactly have it be a known thing and he’s able to control the information around it enough to actually be able to achieve it… probably. Although maybe from villain gossip… I need to find out more about Tarantula to be able to call that.

As for Ra’s… well I have two options (because why have one idea when you can have multiple). Option 1 is Jason doesn’t find out unlike like some possible later plot after he’s rejoined with the family and it’s a bit of a shock to him. But like by that point it’s probably a bit just… normal for Tim so like Jason actively trying to kill Ra’s might make it an active problem again instead of a passive one. Of course if Ra’s is around well… dude’s lived long enough as far as Jason’s concerned.

Option 2 is he finds out through villain-gossip during the events of Red Robin (because like I feel like Ra’s would make that ‘dibs’ somewhat publicly known at least among the villains) and like… probably feels a bit vindicated because he TOLD THEM THAT’S WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. However he’s also still kind of… angry and vengeful so he doesn’t do anything actually about it? Maybe sends Dick a letter which is basically ‘I fucking told you so - should of let me take the pack. I wouldn’t have let this happen’ but I don’t think he’d do anything actually about it.

#Batfamily #Bat Family #DC Omegaverse #jason todd #tim drake #Dick Grayson #Bruce Wayne #DC Comics #tw rape #Ramblings of the Goddess #Q and A with the Goddess #Anon question #I have another fic centring around the villain-gossip-re-Ras-calling-Tim-Dibs #Which is basically called 'Slade makes an argument why HE should take over the pack"#but I need to read the Slade-Dick stuff in Nightwing first #to get a read on how exactly their relationship was then #(as in whether it was more parental or more shippy and if shippy how consenting it was)

7 notes · View notes

marudny-robot · 6 years

Note

JayTim: Who developed feelings first? Did they deny this or accept it?

Hi! Thanks for the ask! :D (And sorry for kinda late reply)First of all, as you well know, depending of the AU the beginnings might drastically change, but considering you didn’t specify anything then I’ll go with the most… canon-ish version (pre!52).Before I continue, I’d like to mention that I have read only @glaciya ’s version of that answer before writing that and, honestly speaking, I kinda/mostly agree with her.

I agree that during Tim’s stalking days he might have developed a crush (or was very hardcore fanboying, but well, emotions are confusing). I think he developed crush on Robin!Jason (while was mostly fanboying over Robin!Dick) mostly because he get to know him better. I’m not sure how in canon that might be (bc I have not read those comics), but I like to think that when Tim started going out taking photos Dick was on the way to transition to Nightwing (and changing cities), so he didn’t saw much of him. On the other hand he get to observe Jason career as Robin from beginning to end.

So that would make Tim first to develop a crush.And later that crush will die ugly death, because no-one likes when your crush ambushes you and tries to murder you.

So, after this it mostly depends on Jason. I like to think that he took time for himself (to decide his stance on various members of the batfam, where REALLY lies the problem he have with them, to control Pit-rage, etc., etc.). I don’t think that that was the moment he fell in love in Tim, or noticed at least how cool Robin 3rd is, BUT it was the time his stance changed from “I hate him” to neutral.

What I like to think what’s happen next is that Jason tries to reconcile with batfam members from before his death (Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Barbara). In doing so, he sometimes helps/works with other batfam members, whom he doesn’t care about - but also doesn’t dislike.While others might start liking Jason thanks to this, Tim understandably is still wary of him.

I imagine there’s period of time (few years long), after the events of Red Robin where the above happens - Jason slowly gaining trust with others, while Tim asks himself were he is standing in the Family. During that time Tim rarely trust anyone. He was hurt and now he is alone, in bad place mentally, and is afraid of doing the first step towards reconciling with ‘family’, because he might get hurt again (plus he doesn’t think HE should be the one to make the first step, anyway).Red Robin does his job but he doesn’t care that much and is often reckless.Now enter Jason, who doesn’t specially care for Red Robin or Tim or Replacement, but idiot will bleed out or get shot and Jason can’t with clear conscience leave the kid to die. So he helps him. Sometimes.They don’t talk when Jason stitches him. Tim observes him like a hawk the whole time. He is still wary of him (and doesn’t understand Jason’s agenda).Tim once asked him why he helps him. Still doesn’t believe him when the answer was “I simply don’t want to see you die on my watch.”

It takes Jason helping him lots of times. Tim still can’t - doesn’t want to believe him. He is still waiting for when Red Hood would just leave him to die.Still, Tim starts to feel grateful, you know? So he tries to even the score. He leaves Jason info for his case, sometimes it’s gear.

And so, they are stuck in that kind of limbo. No-one wants to look gifted horse in the mouth. Jason more often stops Tim from dying sometimes even helps him some other way and Tim does the same. They don’t talk emotions with each other, are professional. Those 'meetings’ became the way to get a break from others (mainly batfam members), problems connected to them and life in general.

It isn’t perfect. There’s always some tension from the murder attempt (they never forget, Tim never forgives and Jason never tries to be forgiven), but besides that they aren’t center of each other’s problem. So it’s easier to just …ignore that and simply be in each other presence.

Years go and they became more comfortable with each other. They start to trust each other (to certain degree). They wouldn’t exactly call each other 'friends’. More like 'I hate him the less’ or 'I might actually be sad if he dies (again)’.Then, Jason is the first one who wants to move from Gotham and from vigilantism. He is tired.Tim is the first one to hear about his decisions and agrees to join him later. He is still working for WE, but Damian is almost in his twenties and it’s time to train him to take Tim’s place.

They move out of town, out of country. Live together, get jobs and adopt animals (like two dogs and a cat, maybe more). They still have contact with the family and it’s not as bad as it was before. Less tension, maybe some things are already talked over, but they are still left alone.

Even more years goes by and they start thinking that they might actually feel happy! Their lives aren’t so stressful anymore and they start to, not only enjoy each others presence, than more often seek each other out. They are blissfully happy with their simple life out of Gotham with horde of animals.Then one day, someone (from work, stranger in the park, cashier, whoever) make a comment about them being husband or boyfriends or something, which results in the conversation late in the evening between two of them. What they are? Friends? Boyfriends? Flat-mates?They can’t decide in the end. Mostly because each of them got to their own conclusion which they don’t want to share.

Some time later Jason or Tim tries to propose to other. Or they do that at the same time. In the end the wedding is big and Bruce is happy to see them on their special day with the whole family.

And they lived happily ever after…

#jaytim #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #headcanon #I like happy endings fight me

16 notes · View notes

differentjokes4differentfolks · 7 years

Text

WTFIT Chap 6

A.N. Heyo! Here’s the next chapter, as promised :) plenty of fluff and stuff, also Tim Drake! Anyways, enjoy!

AO3 Link

“Bruuuce, c’mon! You gotta let me help you!”

“I think he should too. If it’s as bad as I think it is he’d be useful.”

“No.”

“Master Bruce, if I may-”

“No, Alfred.” Bruce eyes the men in front of him, all three pleading Tim’s case in assisting Bruce. It’s too early for this, he hasn’t even gone to bed yet.

Dick had waited up for him to discuss the lack of activity in the East End, which makes Bruce realise they’re starting to cover up more of their tracks. They feel threatened, which is both good and bad for Bruce. It’ll make them harder to find, but at least they’re scared. Dick had offered to visit the East End again tonight, which Bruce readily agreed to, eager to head off to bed, though he didn’t want to admit it. Then Tim had shown up. Apparently they weren’t quiet enough, and the young man was still wide awake, wanting to talk.

Tim now looks at him pleadingly. “Please let me come along, I swear I’ll be careful!”

“Tim, it’s too dangerous.” Bruce feels a headache coming on, he hasn’t even gotten over the event with Joker earlier. Now’s no time to think about that. He rubs at his temple, eye twitching.

“I know I can help you, Bruce. Give me a chance! What have you been training me for, if not to be with you during times like these?”

Dick plants a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “He’s got a point, you know. I’ve been going on these missions since I was younger than him, and look at me now.” He grins.

Bruce fixes him with a withering glance. “Headstrong and reckless to a fault?”

“Ouch, Bruce.” Dick raises an eyebrow. Alfred coughs to cover a laugh, Bruce just picking up on it. When Alfred realises he’s been found out he simply lifts a shoulder.

“Sorry sir, I had a tickle in my throat.”

“Right… Sorry. Look, can we talk about this later, when I’ve gotten at least two hours of rest?” It takes all his strength at that moment not to slump against his bedroom door, much as he hates to admit it. He’d love to be able to run just on solar power like a certain someone he knows...

“Ah, I forgot it was only four in the morning!” Tim suddenly looks sheepish. “My bad.”

“Yeah well, if you don’t get any sleep I’m definitely not taking you,” Bruce pointed out, enjoying the panicked expression Tim wears.

“See you guys later!” the boy disappears into his room. Bruce can’t help the half-smile on his face, tired though he is.

Dick yawns loudly. “I’d better get some rest too.” Stretching his arms up over his head he ambles over to his own room across the hall, leaving Bruce and Alfred alone in the dark hall. The butler stands at attention, Bruce peeling off pieces of his armor.

“I’ll get these tomorrow. I know you’ve been up as long as I have.”

“Someone has to look out for you, sir. But I daresay if someone had told me twenty years ago I’d be pulling all-nighters helping my ward hunt down criminals, I’d have laughed in their face.” Bruce has a hard time imagining Alfred laughing in anyone’s face, smiling at the thought.

“Get some rest, Alfred. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Meaning mid-day?”

“You know me well.” Bruce opens the door to his room, Alfred walking away, his steps sounding as he heads downstairs. Bruce doesn’t bother with the lights, falling into his bed the moment the last piece of his armor is off. His eyes close within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.

He ends up waking up a little past one. Thank god he doesn’t have a meeting today. He rolls over in bed to adjust to the lighting, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He breathes deeply, savoring the sweet moments of relaxation. Wrapping himself up in his blankets, he lies back on his pillows, remembering last night.

That’s Dent and Bane down for the count. A few more villains to go. It does little to reassure Bruce, Penguin is still at large, but it’s something. And he isn’t sure if Sionis is just supplying or if he’s actively helping, so that’s something to consider. Oh, boy. His peace is shattered. Might as well get up.

A piece of paper catches his eye as he sits up. It’s lying around near his armor, which still lies strewn haphazardly. He picks it up.

In case you need to get a hold of me. xoxo

A phone number is scrawled underneath in Joker’s spidery handwriting. Bruce puts it back into a compartment in his gauntlet, whether or not he’ll use it is another situation entirely. He didn’t think Joker was a phone person. He thinks back on that phrase. It sounds strange in his head, causing him to question when his thinking about Joker became so casual.

Everyone is awake and in the kitchen when he finally decides to eat. He walks in and immediately Tim perks up. Dick sips his coffee, looking at him from the top of the rim. Alfred busies himself with food. Bruce isn’t sure if he’s preparing breakfast or lunch at this point. He knows they’re expecting an answer, one Bruce hasn’t thought of enough, and one he doesn’t want to make. He sits at the table and Alfred sets a plate in front of him. Lunch. Still no one says a word, and Bruce finally caves under the pressure. He’s so soft when he isn’t being Batman. Or maybe he just can’t say ‘no’ when he sees Tim’s puppy eyes. An eighteen year old should not have that ability.

“Fine, you can help.” Tim gives a whoop of celebration, but Bruce holds up a hand. “But you listen to everything I say, no exceptions. That means if I say something is too dangerous and you need to stay back, you stay back.”

“Sure! Thanks, Bruce!” The young man wears a grin that could rival the Joker’s at this moment. Dick’s smile is only slightly smaller. And Bruce can feel smugness radiating off Alfred, though the old man would never admit it.

“Don’t make me regret my choice, Tim.”

“‘Course not! You won’t even know I’m there.”

“Hmm.” Bruce drinks the coffee in front of him, a little too sweet but not unbearable. Dick must’ve made it. If anything has too much sugar, it’s Grayson that’s to blame.

“What are your plans for today, Master Bruce?” Alfred asks, leaning against the counter.

Bruce thinks. “Honestly? I don’t have any. Why?”

Alfred brings out a newspaper. Old fashioned maybe, but Alfred refuses to read the news online. “There’s a new restaurant opening over in the Diamond District, I thought maybe you’d want to visit, if you had no other pressing matters to attend to.”

Bruce leans back in his seat. “I could go check it out, it’ll give the place publicity at least. Dick, Tim, do you want to go?”

Dick shakes his head. “I’m gonna spend the day with Barb. There’s this thing she wants me to see, some machine maybe. She won’t tell me.” He stands. “I better get ready, she wants me at her place in an hour.” He walks down the hall, whistling a cheery tune as he goes. It sounds vaguely like ‘My Girl’.

Tim rolls his eyes at the older man before frowning thoughtfully. “I have homework. Which reminds me...do I get tomorrow off of school? You know, since I’ll be helping you save the city...”

Bruce purses his lips. “It’s your grade. You think you can miss a day of college classes?”

Tim nods. “I’ll have someone record the lectures. And I’ll email my teachers, it’s all good.” He stands from the table. “Thanks for lunch, Alfred.”

“Anytime, Master Tim.” Alfred doesn’t bother lifting his head from the newspaper, raising a hand to acknowledge the boy. Bruce tucks into his lunch, suddenly ravenous. The last thing he ate was...probably that cheesecake, if he’s honest. Which brings back the topic of Joker.

Why does that man make him feel so unhinged? He’s a villain, and a guy.

Actually...when has he ever been truly interested in a woman? Really. The last person was Selina, and even then something wasn’t right between the two of them. It wasn’t her, if he was going to date anyone it would’ve been her, and he did for a while. There was something that wouldn’t let him get closer to her though, something she noticed but he didn’t. But with Joker...no. He’s not going to finish that sentence. Well, whatever Bruce’s sexuality may be, Joker is a moot point when it comes to who he loves. A madman, albeit an intelligent, charismatic, humorous one… He loses himself in his train of thought. Where was I going with this? Only when Bruce hears Alfred calling his name does he snap out of it, focusing on the man.

“What is it, Alfred?”

“You’re in a daze again. You know I worry about you when you’re like this. What’s wrong?”

Bruce’s forehead scrunches up, seeing the concern on Alfred’s face.

“I’m alright, just thinking.”

“Your face is red, did you know that?” Bruce lifts a hand to his face, feeling it burn his hand. Shit. “Are you sure you aren’t coming down with a fever?”

Oh. That makes him feel guilty, worrying about a clown when his butler worries about his health.

“It’s nothing, really.” Bruce barely manages to get out the sentence without a stammer.

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.” Bruce looks down at his plate, unable to look Alfred in the eye.

Alfred remains impassive; Bruce doesn’t know how to feel about that, but he shrugs it off.

“It’s really nothing to worry about. And if it is a fever, it’s nothing I haven’t gone through before. I’ve already rested.” He’s eager to get away from the kitchen at this point. “You know, I think I’ll drive myself to the new restaurant, take the long way and sightsee a bit.”

Alfred smiles, though his eyes reveal concern. “Have fun, sir. Don’t overexert yourself too much.”

“I won’t.” Bruce puts his plate in the sink, rinsing his hands off, the cold water freezing his thoughts.

The car ride is long, a casual drive, good music making an appearance on the radio for once. Bruce hums along to some of them, singing out some of the lyrics quietly. At one point he hears an older song, and while it’s familiar Bruce can’t quite remember how he knows it. He doesn’t listen to this kind of music often, a sort of doo-wop tune, a fifties song… the answer comes out of nowhere. He hasn’t heard it as Bruce Wayne, but as Batman. During one of Joker’s schemes. The clown was singing along while causing mass destruction, swinging a cane around cheerfully and dancing around with one of the hostages he’d captured. The hostages face was molded into a mask of pure terror, Joker’s one of sheer joy. Why can he see that in his head so clearly? He’s relieved at having figured it out but frazzled that every little thing seems to remind him of Joker. Still, he can’t bring himself to switch the station. So he keeps driving.

Once he's truly in the city he heads to the Diamond District, where Gotham’s richest hang about and enjoy themselves. Rarely does he see prices in any place drop below 500 dollars. Even food is at least fifty. Mere pennies to the rich, but even a middle class man in this district is a rare find.

There’s a valet he gives the car keys to who stands under a ritzy, bold sign. It stands out, not necessarily in a bad way. He should’ve looked into what the restaurant’s theme was. A 20’s themed restaurant is creative, he guesses, but how is it different from any other restaurant in Gotham? The gangs are all there, it’s like walking into a gangster movie. He guesses the upper class probably hasn’t visited those places, but who knows? At least he’s wearing a suit, though nothing would convince him to wear a fedora.

There’s a haze of smoke in the air, enough to make him want to choke. Waitresses are dressed like flappers, guests in 1920’s finery. Judging by the people in the building it’s going to be expensive. Of course it is.

A hostess seats him at an empty two-seater table, not fussing about whether or not he has a reservation. He watches the spectacle on a stage in the center of the room, a woman crooning along to jazz. His head is propped on his hand, nose crinkling at the smoke. Laughter rings through the air, people dancing, instruments wailing. This probably isn’t a place he would frequent. Too lively. It’s only two o’clock and people are drinking fit to burst. Maybe the food’s better…

It is. The hors d'oeuvres are to die for, a lemonade he orders just tart enough. The main meal is just as good, though Bruce tries not to stuff himself.

Time passes and people start to glance over at him, maybe he should’ve brought someone with him. To not stick out like a sore thumb among other socialites. But it’d been spur of the moment, and he didn’t really want to bring anyone this time, he doesn't have the patience for small talk at the moment...

“Bruce Wayne?” A voice alerts Bruce, glancing up he sees two women standing next to his table, one blonde wearing a red and black dress, one ginger and clad in green. He recognizes them almost immediately, starting with the blonde’s less pronounced Boston accent. Harley and Ivy. Or Harleen and Pamela, when the duo isn’t wreaking havoc on the city.

“Hello,” he says with a smile, though he screams internally. Two villains he should be taking in, if not for the fact he’s wearing a wool suit instead of kevlar armor. Harley brightens up.

“Can we sit here?” Not waiting for an answer, she drags a chair from another table, Ivy sitting down meanwhile. She raises a brow at Bruce, the man doing all he can to not frown back. “This restaurant is awesome, huh? I can’t believe they hadn't come up with it earlier!” Bruce notices she takes care not rubbing at her face, her makeup the only thing making her a bit more inconspicuous. She'd stand out if she was still bleached white, though her personality is a far cry from the quiet psychologist at Arkham. Her eyes gleam as she takes a drink from a nearby table, taking a sip and recoiling at the taste.

“It’s definitely interesting,” Bruce comments, looking around. Ivy frowns.

“There’s too much smoke in the air. It smells funny.” Harley wraps an arm around her.

“We don’t have to stay too long, I just wanted to check the place out, Red.” She presses a kiss to Ivy’s forehead. Then she turns her gaze on Bruce. “I don’t see too many paps around you at the moment. Usually they're like flies around honey with you.”

Bruce shrugs. “They’ll probably get the jump on me outside.” Harley giggles.

“That’s the problem with being rich, isn’t it? Oh, by the way, I’m Harleen Quinzel. I used to work over at Arkham. You're helping fund it, right?” She holds out her hand, shaking Bruce’s hand firmly. “This is my girl Pamela.”

“Isley,” Ivy adds, not bothering with a handshake. Bruce nods. The woman turns to the small vase of flowers on the table, touching one of the petals softly, expression less than happy. Bruce can tell she’d love to make them healthier, change the water in the vases, or maybe just beat up whoever cut them and placed them here.

“Nice to meet you.” Though I already know most everything about you two.

“You too. It’s not everyday you meet up with a billionaire, am I right?” This side of Harley is a bit more subdued, in tone and language. Bruce almost wants to laugh at how different she looks but how obvious she is with the color scheme of her dress. She tugs at the stray hair fallen from her bun, eyes on the stage, people dancing with the music. “I wanna go dance. Whaddaya say Iv- Pam?” Her eyes flit to Bruce, who tries to seem not to have noticed.

“Can we leave after?”

“‘Course! Nice talkin’ to ya, Mr. Wayne! Ooh, wait. You mind taking a picture with me?” Bruce obliges, forcing the corners of his mouth to curl upwards as Harley snaps a pic with her phone. “Nice! Well, g’bye!” Harley takes Ivy’s hand, pulling the woman to the dance floor. Bruce waves, deciding to leave as well. There’s no point in staying any longer. His mind is back on his work already. His fingers drum on the table in time with the music, upbeat swing that gets the dance floor roaring with the sound of dancing feet. He didn’t think people knew how to dance to these kinds of songs anymore. Not that everyone is light on their feet. One couple moves in a way that’s more spastic than rhythmical, and another disregard the song completely in order to slow dance. A couple women eye him, and he knows they’re looking for a dance partner. His feet tap to the beat, but he isn't quite sure he wants to join them. He waves but stays where he is, left to his thoughts and to the ever-shifting music.

It’s a wonder he can avoid the chair that flies straight towards him. Blinking out of his reverie, he whips around to see where the table came from. The way is cleared, and he really didn’t know what else he was expecting to see.

Harleen Quinzel stands front and center, a scowl prominent on her face, her fists clenched. Ivy stands to the side, looking slightly charmed, sipping her drink and watching. A man is sprawled on the ground in front of Harley, babbling out incoherent excuses. There’s fire in Harley’s eyes.

“You think it’s cool to just touch people without their consent, huh? You think they want you to lay a fuckin’ hand on them when they pull away?” She points to a young woman a little ways back, tears in her eyes. “She said no. And you kept going. Now, you should apologize to her.” She tilts her chin up, waiting. The man looks less than terrified at being attacked by the slight blonde woman, but Bruce knows better. If she wasn’t in her ‘normal’ get-up, he’d by dead already. The crowd around the scene is deadly silent. Waiting to see what would happen next. Sheepishly the man mumbles out an apology, nursing an already swelling eye. Harley must've punched him. The girl smiles awkwardly but Harley isn’t impressed.

“Louder.”

Clearly the man is angry at being put on the spot, but he raises his voice to spit out a “Sorry” in the general direction of the girl.

“Better. Now get outta here, you ruined the atmosphere.” She nudges him roughly, narrowing her eyes and glaring at him until he’s on the street. Her shoulders hunch over as she sighs, the fight disappearing from her posture. She looks around innocently, suddenly acting more like the meek ex-psychiatrist she used to be. “I’m so sorry this happened, guys! I’ll pay for the damage. Please, carry on!” She smiles brightly, not waiting for the crowd to disperse as she heads back to Ivy, fixing her hair as she goes. Ivy takes her hand, kissing her softly. Harley catches Bruce’s eye as she turns and winks before disappearing back into the crowd. Bruce decides maybe it’d be best if he headed home, but not before he pays for the damage caused. Harley might not have had the best strategy in apprehending the man, but it was effective in helping someone else out, and honestly if he had been in her shoes he would’ve wanted to do the same. He starts to walk out of the restaurant when a hand grips his, and he turns to look into familiar green eyes. He freezes, and Joker grins, pulling Bruce towards him.

“Bruce Wayne, what a surprise.”

“Um. Hi.” A less than eloquent start. In his defense, he hadn’t expected to see the man here. Butterflies form in his stomach, an odd sensation he hasn’t felt in a long time.

“Hi,” Joker replies smoothly. “I wondered if I’d catch you before you left.” His suit is a muted but no less stunning blue, his hair light brown, though Bruce has no clue whether it’s a wig or dye. His face is covered in makeup, and like before he looks drastically different without his red lips. Not better, not worse. Just different. “Dance with me?”

Bruce flounders in the question, but he tries to maintain some of his composure. There are so many ways he could say no, his mouth deciding to say the lamest excuse ever. “I don’t know how to dance to this music.”

Joker rolls his eyes. “It’s easy. Just feel the beat, you know?” The beat is suddenly erratic to Bruce, matching his heart rate. There’s a knowing flicker in Joker’s eyes, as though he knows exactly what’s going on, can hear the way Bruce’s heart thuds against his chest.

Bruce is still hesitant. “I was just leaving, really…”

“Nope. You’re not running away. We’re dancing, I know you’re light on your feet.” He closes his eyes, tapping in time to the music. Soft jazz. “Not my favorite style, but it is nice to lose yourself in. They were playing swing music not three minutes ago. Not that I can see you doing that.” He snorts at the thought, Bruce feeling a little offended, even though Joker’s definitely right. The clown wraps his arm around Bruce’s waist, Bruce not knowing whether to stiffen up or comply. “C’mon baby, relax. It’s just a dance. Scared? Used to being the one leading, aren’t you?” Joker snickers. Bruce feels the tips of his ears heat up. Why does he always feel the need to make double entendres?

“How’d you know I’d be here?” He doesn’t think Harley knows who he really is, and he trusts Joker not to tell. The answer ends up being much simpler.

“Harley sent me a message that she just talked to Bruce Wayne. A picture too. It looked nice, you were actually smiling. You can’t blame her for wanting to share; it’s always a big moment when you meet Gotham’s favorite socialite. Well, maybe not for you, I guess.”

Bruce feels a bit more at ease with his explanation. He lets himself be guided around the dance floor, Joker leading him through a few paces, Bruce looking down at their shoes to make sure he doesn't trip. He does vaguely remember Alfred teaching him how to do simple dances like these, though it comes back to him slowly. As they dance he notices that Joker is a bit shorter than him, by at least two inches, having to tilt his chin up the slightest bit to meet Bruce’s eyes. You wouldn’t really know these details during quick melees, and even though he has Joker’s stats on file, he never really visualized it. It’s almost fitting. But...

“Why are you doing this?” he murmurs in the clown’s ear. Joker looks at him with amusement.

“You're gonna have to be more specific than that, darling. Why am I what, dancing?”

“No. I mean…” he lowers his voice to a whisper, not trusting the people next to him, couples who dance too close for comfort. “Whatever this is. Kissing me, flirting with me, dancing with me.”

“Are you confused again? Boy, Eddie’s gonna be out of a job.” Joker’s smile couldn't be any wider at this point. Any wider and he’ll give himself away. “I do it all the time, remember? You know I'm obsessed with you, right?” Bruce nods slowly, that's been clear since day one. “And I'm pretty sure you're at least a little obsessed with me. So why not? Are you just now realising that part of it?” Bruce nods again. “Wow. Have I been on your mind all day?” he coos.

“No.” Yes. “Obsession isn't the same thing as love.” Bruce points out. He regrets the words as the come out of his mouth, glancing around. He can’t believe he just said that. He hadn’t meant to call it love. All that time in the kitchen trying to convince himself it wasn’t just got washed down the drain, and he knows it. Joker seems startled at the wording as well, eyes widening slightly. He receives a couple curious looks from people around him, but other then that they’re just another part of the crowd. He’s right though. You can be obsessed with someone and never truly feel close to them, always putting them up on a pedestal instead of next to you where they should be. He’s done it, along with most of the human race. Bruce doesn’t think he’s in love, at least. Joker only shakes his head, composing himself and giving Bruce a sly smile.

“Don't you think it's halfway to it though? All it takes is a little push in the right direction. And besides, this morning? That was barely even a kiss. I can do better.” His grin is devilish as he waggles his eyebrows, warming Bruce all over. He can’t help but return the smile, Joker’s grin melting into something softer. “Can we just enjoy this, Bruce? It’s back to the usual tonight, you know.”

“I know.” Bruce pulls Joker closer, and the corners of Joker’s eyes crinkle. The song slows into more of a waltz, and they move in smoother paces, Joker resting his head on Bruce’s shoulder, humming along lazily. He lets Bruce lead this one, content to just rest against him. Bruce lets his eyes slip closed and relaxes into the moment.

He’s not in love, but there might be something there, just the tiniest spark that refuses to go out. And for the time being he ignores the warning sirens going off in his head, angrily spouting off why this is such a bad idea, the things Joker’s done, the people he's hurt...

There’s time for guilt later, he decides. He’s lost this round.

“You’re still a psychopath and a criminal,” he murmurs, almost to himself. Joker’s laugh breaks through his thoughts, the sound ending more like a sigh.

“I know. But I don’t really think you mind all that much.”

Traffic takes him home a little later than usual, the radio turned off in the car, and Bruce feels like all he’s done today is sleep and eat. And dance. It’s five o’clock by the time he gets home. Dinner in an hour. It’s all downhill from here, finding ways to pass time before heading out. He focuses on the entrance to the batcave. Might as well try some new gadgets he’s started to improve on. There’s a new addition to his batclaw that allows an increase in how much weight it can bear, and an added range to his smoke grenades. There isn’t a whole lot more he can do to these aids, but he has new ideas itching to be made. Tim comes down a bit later.

“I added something to your suit.” Bruce looks at the armor, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. “You can’t see it. And I don’t know if I should keep it a surprise or not, you know?” He grins, hands in his pockets.

“Is it helpful?”

“Yeah, and guess what? It’s bat related! I know you love that,” Tim teases. “Took some time to figure out how to make it the most effective, but you’ll appreciate it, I’m positive.” He fidgets, and Bruce knows the boy is going to give in. “Okay, actually I’m just gonna tell you. I wanna see your reaction. Hold on.” He puts earplugs in, and Bruce wonders just what is about to happen. “There’s a tiny button if you open the compartment in your gauntlet. The right one, it’s all the way in the corner. Click it!”

Bruce presses down on the small button he finds, and a sharp ringing enters the room. It’s strong, but he doesn’t really feel the effect of it. Meanwhile Tim has his hands clapped over his ears, a slight wince on his face. The ringing subsides and Tim bounds over to Bruce.

“What do you think? A piercing whistle to deter your enemies? It doesn’t affect you, I made sure of that, but it packs a punch.” His smile is prideful, and Bruce returns the look.

“This’ll work fine. Especially in groups. Thanks, Tim.”

The young man shrugs. “I thought it’d be useful for tonight. Where are we going, anyway?”

Bruce walks over to the batcomputer, going over the schematics of the next location. “Clock tower. Barbara has the location of the items we need to find and dispose of. The sooner we can fix that, the sooner the city will be safe.”

“Speaking of Barbara, do you think they’ll ever get back together?” Tim wonders.

Bruce’s brow knits in confusion. “They said they’d be better off as just friends.”

“I know, I know. But it’s obvious Dick is still in love with her, he has hearts in his eyes whenever he sees her. Or even talks about her. And Barb, well, she might’ve broken it off, but she’s about as obvious as he is.”

The corners of Bruce’s mouth curve up. “Aren’t you perceptive.”

“You’d have to be blind not to see it, Bruce.” Tim makes a face. “Really blind. But it makes sense if you haven’t noticed it, I guess. It took years before you realised you liked Selina. At least, that’s what Dick told me. I’m guessing it’s true.”

“It didn’t take years,” Bruce protests. “Besides, there were more factors that added up to why we took so long. Our professions, for one.”

Tim looks skeptical. “If you say so. Anyways…” Another subject change. “Are you having Jason help out? I don't really know him, but he's teamed up with you a couple times after the incident, right?”

There’s a wave of emotion that overcomes Bruce, sadness and regret. He hasn’t seen his old ward in quite some time. Their last team-up, as Tim had called it, was a while back, at least six months ago. And before that they hadn't seen each other in a year.

“I haven’t called him. I doubt he’d want to help either.” Especially if he finds out who we’re working with. Joker might not have killed Jason, but being beaten within an inch of his life doesn’t exactly set the tone for a friendly team-up.

“I guess. I’d still call him though, just in case.” Bruce only hums in response, knowing he won’t take Tim’s advice. He’s put Jason through enough.

Dinner is just him, Tim, and Alfred. Dick is still at Barbara’s, and the man claims he’ll just suit up over there. He’d brought his suit with him, apparently.

The food placed in front of Bruce is rich and flavorful, but he doesn’t eat much. This whole affair has kept his appetite at bay, and he only eats out of necessity. He can’t run on fumes all the time, after all. The sun sets early, clouds covering the October sunset that warns of the day’s end. Once in the batcave Bruce and Tim suit up, Alfred making sure their comms are secure and working, and leave via the batwing for faster travel.

The clock tower is Barbara’s location as Oracle, which worries Bruce, but she assures him that they won’t find her base of operations, hidden thoroughly. The criminals located there have no idea she’s there, but she only found out yesterday when they first showed up. None of the tenants in the apartments have noticed, which surprises Bruce a bit, but there are other ways to avoid gaining a civilian’s attention. Since then she’s kept quiet, not telling Bruce right away to listen in on them more. The thugs are antsy, but there’s no boss in the tower that she can detect, and Bruce assumes it’s not the most valuable cargo. At least, not as valuable as last night’s toxin. But there’s still the matter of explosives.

The base of the clock tower is quiet, the streets characteristically empty, save a few braver souls out after dark. Tim is itching to jump out of the vehicle, it’s his first mission in weeks. Bruce can only trust the boy won’t be too impulsive.

The lights of the clock tower brighten as the night grows darker, most windows shining light through as families have dinner and lead their normal lives, unaware that the Batman will be in the building. It’s amazing, that these people can be relatively oblivious as evil misdeeds are being carried out and corrected. It’s a luxury Bruce wishes he had sometimes.

He lets Tim lead the way at first, following him up the tower and away from the apartments. The higher up they go the darker it gets, until they reach the top.

They actually make quick work of the clock tower, Oracle doesn’t report anything amiss and it just ends up being a mission to knock out thugs and take the boxes back to the batcave. It’s simple. The GCPD arrives shortly after they finish their mission, carrying the criminals off as Bruce and Tim watch. Bruce then comms Dick, wanting a status report. He doesn’t get a response, only buzzing static. Strange.

“Dick?” More static. A wash of worry comes over Bruce, even in battle Dick doesn’t usually fail to respond. “Nightwing, are you there?”

“He’s not answering?” Tim asks, forehead puckered. “He’s in the east end, right? I thought he said there wasn’t a lot of activity over there. Maybe his comm died on him.”

“Maybe.” Bruce doesn’t think so. He comms Oracle.

“I checked his comm, it was charged. I just talked to him five minutes ago, what’s going on?” Bruce quickly tells her, and she checks his tracker.

“He’s not on the map. Bruce, you should go check it out.” Her voice is neutral, but Bruce recognises the tone as one she uses when she’s uneasy

“Do you knows what’s happening at the East End?”

“No, it’s still blank on the map…” Barbara gives a small huff of impatience.

“I’ll go see if anything’s wrong, Barbara.” He doesn’t bother telling her not to worry. A heavy feeling settles in Bruce’s gut. “Tim, maybe you shouldn’t come with me.”

“Bruce, I just got out here.” Tim’s expression falls.

Bruce closes his eyes. “I don’t want you getting hurt. Who knows what happened? Please just go home.”

“What if you need help? It could be a trap.” Tim keeps trying to plead his case, but it won’t work. Bruce places his hands on his partner’s shoulders.

“I need you to be safe right now. Nightwing can usually take care of himself, but like I said earlier, this is a dangerous situation. If it’s a trap I’d want you there even less. Any other night I would let you go, I promise. Please.” He looks Tim straight in the eyes. Understanding flickers in the younger man’s eyes.

“You don’t want me to end up like Jason.” Bruce’s knows Tim can see it on his face, he knows it’s mirroring the turmoil he feels in his heart. Tim hesitates, biting at his lip. “Alright Bruce, I will. But the moment you need help call. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Bruce smiles weakly. “Thank you. Maybe you should stay with Barbara, it’s closer.”

“Will do. But Bruce? Make sure you watch your back out there. I won’t be there to watch it for you.” Tim’s mouth is set in a firm line, eyes deep with concern. Bruce nods in understanding, waiting for Tim to enter the building before gliding off into the gloom.

#batjokes #batman x joker #wtfit #joker #batman #my writing #comments appreciated #posting on ao3 later

15 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

Hi! I'm new to your blog but found a few posts that were about a JayTom ship, and I was wondering who Tom was? And also you've mentioned in a couple of posts the idea of Jason having a lineup of Titans in his age range and you talked about the Ray and Damage in one. Do you have a whole lineup in mind for them and if so, is there a post on that somewhere?

LOL man, I really need to start pulling all my posts about JayTom and Jay’s lineup of Titans together for some kind of a masterlist, so thanks for the reminder haha. Like, I saw this ask and thought of various posts to point you towards but ugh, I don’t know where any of them are.

Anyway, so. The Tom of JayTom. Aka my ideal ship for Robin!Jason in the series of one-shots about an AU where Jason doesn’t go to Ethiopia in ADITF and thus never dies, that’s kinda grown out of that of a one-shot I started as a writing commission a couple months ago, if anyone else remembers that….the one that was like ‘what if Jason called Dick after the Garzonas incident and Dick sided with Jason’…that one.

Which then snowballed into ‘well, then I could give Jason his own lineup of Titans who are in the same age range as like a younger gen learning from Dick’s generations of Titans but still older than Tim’s generation of YJ and then eventual Titans.’

Sigh. Oh, me. Right! So! Anyway! Tom in JayTom is Thomas Bronson, the son of JSA member Ted Grant, aka Wildcat.

Tom and Jason have never ever interacted in canon as far as I know, as I don’t think Tom’s ever appeared outside of JSA and Jason never appeared in that book either before or after his death. BUT by the magic of winging it and Canon Has Not Definitively Contradicted Me, I think the two of them are feasibly in the same age range, so I’m going with them both being fifteen when they meet here.

Tom’s a scrappy, street smart, attitude throwing teenager with daddy issues of his own, lol, thanks to Ted’s general non-existence in his life, for most of it….and he’s also tiny, like, 5′6″ and 135 lbs even at the end of his teenage years. LMAO, I honestly don’t remember, but I think that might be the whole basis of this ship for me, or where it originated. Like, I happened across Tom’s stats as listed on one of the DC wiki sites, and was like, lol oh, he and Robin!Jason could be pint-sized punks together! And then from there, I had the inevitable thought “okay but now make them gay” and then from there I fell into my usual trap of “oh no, it was supposed to be a joke but now I’m taking it seriously and seriously pondering how it could seriously work.”

And then from there it consumed my brain and devoured my life. I swear, it was Dick/Kyle all over again. Ugh, my brain is so problematic.

So anyway, this is Tom:

He’s a werepanther, he can shapeshift into a panther form to fight, which brings up an interesting facet of his character and something I think could be really fun to play off Jason and his own issues…because Tom hates fighting. HATES it. Will run from a fight at any given opportunity rather than engage….but its not because he’s a coward, or doesn’t have heroic instincts of his own, and its not even because he’s not GOOD at fighting.

Its that he’s scared of himself, and scared of hurting whoever he’s fighting…at least more than he means to. Because he has trouble controlling his shift when in fights. His panther form just comes out in response to his own amped up levels of aggression. The fight or flight response for him is actually more like “flight or turn into a raging whirlwind of clawed and fanged fury that can’t stop won’t stop until he’s definitively won his fight….which by extension, usually means his opponent is currently bleeding out on the ground from a few dozen deep claw marks because Panther!Tom’s claws and fangs are SHARP.”

Now pair this fear of his own power with Tom’s natural belligerence and problems with authority at certain points in his life, AND his desire to follow in his hero father’s footsteps as well as his resentment and giving himself grief every time he realizes he even has that desire, because he doesn’t owe his deadbeat dad shit and can’t stand that he nevertheless admires him in a lot of ways and still feels a desire to prove himself to him…

Then pair him up with Jason during his Robin years, going through similar issues and emotions as well as a comparable dynamic with Bruce as him not dying in Ethiopia nevertheless changes nothing about the two of them likely clashing more and more over their views on how to deal with criminals and the appropriate levels of aggression when dealing with them….

And that right there, IMO, is super strong potential for a dynamic couple with a lot in common and yet occasional clashes of their own due to different opinions on which direction to go in so as to address those shared issues…but who likely would never hesitate for a second before backing each other up and presenting a united front against anyone else who tried to give one or the other shit for any reason whatsoever.

Also, I have vastly amused myself with the thought (and the occasional post here and there) of Ted and Bruce continually glowering at each other and blaming each other’s son for being a bad influence on their son, who has never done anything wrong in their life ever, CLEARLY (even if Bruce had actually just grounded Jason the day before. Whatever. Ted doesn’t need to know that).

Anyway, so that’s the JayTom I reference now and then. I’ve always maintained that Jason could really benefit from having a stronger support system of friends distinct to him and not sharing similar dynamics with any of his siblings, so then I was like, well if Jay doesn’t die, and I have him and Dick closer in this AU than they’re usually written as being, plausibly Jason would spend a lot of time at the Tower to get away from Bruce and his own fights with him.

With Dick being more than able to relate to trouble dealing with Bruce and thus happy to lend a sympathetic ear….and eventually maybe express to Bruce that it might do them both some good for Jason to make more friends his own age and have some normal routines that took him out of the house and Gotham enough that he and Bruce don’t constantly feel like they’re breathing down each other’s necks and keeping tension a constant thing between them. A little space now and then could benefit them both, give them chances to cool off after their fights and actually MISS each other before readdressing the issues.

So then I could see the Titans kinda sending out invitations/recruiting various teen heroes around Jason’s age that they’d all maybe had their eyes on for awhile as kids who could benefit from the same kind of team unity/group support that helped them so much when they were that age just a few years ago themselves.

Which leads me to where I am now which is….I still haven’t settled on a solid lineup, because I came up with too many choices, lol. Basically, my parameters were I wanted characters who could feasibly be said to be in the same age range as Jason and Tom, and didn’t have super strong associations with any other characters that would create any kind of conflict with them being on a Titans team at this point in the timeline instead. And because I’m all about my thematics, I wanted them all to have certain root issues in common that they could all bond over and actually, y’know, support each other with and through.

(The same way I think Dick’s generation of Titans actually has certain distinct themes and issues that almost all of them share and can relate to in varying ways, which I think has a lot to do with how quickly and fully they all bonded and why they created such lasting friendships and teams between them. But that’s a whole other post, lol.)

So the central shared issues I decided to focus on for Jason’s age group of Titans were: teen/young heroes from abusive homes or runaways, ones with issues and fears stemming from and regarding their own powers or tempers, etc, and misfits who were regarded warily by other or older heroes and considered potentially able to end up on either side of the hero/villain line in the sand.

Which Dick’s generation of Titans, which of course includes Raven, Kory, etc, would not be in agreement with that last part, and thus be all the more likely to recruit these specific teen heroes and be like nyah, nyah, watch how with our help and oh yeah, SUPPORT, they all become the best damn heroes that ever did heroically hero. Suck it, JLA-holes!

(And then Donna would be like, not you Diana, you know we’re cool, its just I gotta do the team solidarity thing and Dick, Garth and Roy are still being Displeased with their mentors/dads at the moment, and also we’re all kinda ticked you guys stole Wally. Btw, we’re stealing the new Green Lantern kid, because Revenge and stuff. He’s ours now, you snooze, you lose).

So, Jason’s lineup of Titans will consist of some of the following, I’m just not 100% sure which yet, because I have to whittle down the list.

1) Jason (nominally mentored by Dick, but the latter just calls it an excuse for brother bonding time and neither of them make much reference ever to having any kind of actual mentor/protégé relationship like I see the rest of Jay’s lineup having. Plus, Jason unique from the rest already has a mentor in Bruce anyway, so his situation and reasons for being part of this team aren’t quite the same from the others, especially as one of my reasons for this AU was always addressing the issues I have with Bruce’s parenting before the canon event point of Jason’s death, and like…..so like, Bruce does get better once Dick calls out some of his shit with Jason based on his own experiences with Bruce and then later Jason returns the favor by calling out Bruce for taking Dick for granted and no longer putting in the same effort connecting with his eldest and being an actual PARENT to him like he used to).

2) Tom Bronson/Tomcat (who else would act as his personal mentor other than Gar aka Beast Boy aka Changeling, the shapeshifter extraordinaire?)

3) Grant Emerson/Damage (recruited by Roy and his personal protégéand likely BFFs with Jason IMO, as I think their temperaments are complete opposites but Grant’s the kind of kid who would roll his eyes and dolefully follow his troublemaking best friend Jay into likely danger, because his power to blow things up really comes in handy with the kind of scrapes Jason gets himself into and this in turn is a really handy thing to point out in the aftermath of pulling Jason’s butt out of a scrape and then gloating but in the totally mature and “I’m much too nice to actually be gloating, you must be mistaken about what’s happening here” manner in which I see that going down. And in terms of the parameters I mentioned, Grant grew up bounced around abusive foster homes, is watched like a hawk by various groups and heroes because of the huge catastrophic potential of his powers, which he has his own fears about, and also he has no idea who his parents are either, and I imagine him and Jason going on a ‘find out who our real parents are roadtrip’ after graduation or something).

4) Ray Terrill/The Ray (potentially recruited by Kory and her personal protégé. He was briefly a member of Tim’s Young Justice team, but part of the reason he was never that close with the other members was he was a little bit older, just a couple years or so, but enough to put him squarely in Jason’s age range. Also comes from an abusive home, and spent the majority of his childhood living in complete darkness because his asshole uncle told him he had the same powers as his father which meant sunlight would be harmful to him and make him dangerous to be around. When in reality, like his dad, Ray’s powers are fueled by sunlight and he’s like a living solar battery, keeping him afraid to leave the dark was just meant to keep him passive and powerless. Even knowing his uncle lied now, Ray still has long had fears about his own powers, unable to totally shake the fears his uncle instilled in him).

5) Todd Rice/Obsidian (potentially recruited by Raven and her personal protégé. He and his twin sister Jenny-Lynn Hayden are probably a bit older than the rest of this team, but their ages aren’t definitively linked to any points in the DC timeline, so there’s no real conflict between handwaving them as aged down to be right around the same ages as the others. Todd and Jenny-Lynn are the twin children of original Green Lantern Alan Scott aka Sentinel, and the DC villainness Thorn. They grew up in separate foster homes though with Alan unaware of their existence for most of their childhoods. Todd’s childhood was notoriously rough, with him having several abusive foster parents. He’s canonically gay and mentally ill/neurodivergent, which several of his foster homes targeted him for. In addition, his shadow powers are tied to a dark dimension that’s said to prey on his mental state and led to occasional times where he’s been a villain briefly, and at all times his powers are regarded fearfully by most people and with him shunned and avoided because of them. All of which I think makes Raven an ideal mentor for him).

6) Jenny-Lynn Hayden/Jade (Todd’s twin sister, even though they didn’t grow up together for the most part. Honestly, she doesn’t share in a lot of the issues the rest of the team prospects do, and had a relatively good childhood before her powers developed and she found her brother and they started operating as heroes together. But upon learning who her brother and dad are, she’s always been committed to growing closer with them, so I think anywhere Todd goes in this AU, she’d definitely follow, and its not like the team can’t benefit from a heavy hitter like her, let alone more girls. Not totally sure who I picture as most mentoring her in specific, probably because I don’t see her as being recruited per se, so much as just going with Todd when recruited….but I’m thinking maybe Garth, actually. Garth has a lot of range and versatility with his powers and magic, which makes him ideal for mentoring someone who not only has the same powers as a Green Lantern, limited only by her imagination…..but who also might benefit from being mentored by someone who ISN’T a Green Lantern because she doesn’t share their traditional weaknesses and thus she’d be best off training with someone whose own techniques and instincts aren’t geared around weaknesses that are literally irrelevant to her powerset).

7) Courtney Mason/Anima (A metahuman runaway who was almost sacrificed by a cult before her powers kicked in….she’s also right in the same age range as Ray, Grant and Jason, and has briefly been a member of a couple Titans lineups but never for long and usually only for big event stories. But she fits the runaway/rough home environment parameter as well as fear of her own powers….she absorbs life energy from people and animals and can potentially kill them by draining too much. She also has a separate power that’s basically a connection to an other-dimensional spirit called the Animus that she can summon forth and unleash on her enemies. I’m thinking she’d make a good recruit/protégé for Jericho actually, for a number of reasons).

8) Cynthia Reynolds/Fantasia (? Maybe? Not sure yet. Not her actual codename, but her actual codename is a slur, so I’m def gonna make up a new one, I just haven’t 100% settled on what it is yet. Suck it, DC. She’s most known for being a member of Justice League Detroit along with Steel, Vibe and the Ray, but she’s the right age range to end up recruited to be a Titan here instead, like Ray. Also is a runaway from an abusive home, and often deals with mistrust and suspicion due to her illusion powers. Perfect recruit/protégé for Lilith, IMO).

9) Cisco Ramone/Vibe (Also created as a teenage hero to be part of the Justice League Detroit lineup, which makes him the right age range and he’s another runaway. The nature of his powers makes him a good fit to be a recruit/protégéof Mal Duncan/Herald).

10) Amy Allen/Bombshell (Totally self-indulgent on my part given that I basically would ignore the vast majority of her storylines and writing, which I think suck. She was in the Titans stories revolving around Tim’s generation of the team, but she was always stated to be a few years older than the rest, like in her late teens when the majority were probably sixteen, so I think she’s a good fit for this age range. Also had a crappy home life and parents, and her powers are hugely destructive in certain applications…she basically has the same powerset as Captain Atom, though she’s never had any kind of official mentor or sidekick relationship with him. Also, I think Captain Atom is an asshat and a dillhole and he sucks, but I do like his powers, so reinterpreting Amy as a character who doesn’t suck and playing around with her powers instead is solid decision making on my part and renders Captain Atom irrelevant now. I think I shall kill him. Because I can do that. Anyway, I think she doesn’t need him as a mentor but could make a good recruit/protégé for Leonid/Red Star).

11) Carla Moretti/Cinder (Odd choice, given that she’s only ever really been used as a villainous member of Deathstroke’s anti-Titans team and was easily in her twenties at the time. Pyrokinetic who happily makes bonfires out of her enemies but written with zero attempts at nuance, like a total one note villain framed as having long since abandoned her own humanity….which bugged the crap out of me, as she was given a super angsty backstory of childhood sexual abuse and that’s just ‘why she’s like this’ and I have a deep seeded loathing for asshole writers writing survivors as villains and just blaming their casual homicidal ways on their abuse while serving up said villains to just be punching bags or dominoes for the heroes to knock down on their way to the Boss Fight. So I do have inclinations towards making an actual Titan out of her, like with Amy, because surprise surprise, both these characters being written shittily and one note was the work of the same writer, shocking. So I’d just handwave her down to the right age range and have her recruited/mentored by Donna, probably…more due to me thinking Donna would be the best person to help her deal with stuff because she’s mastered the art of avoiding avoidance via having Dick Grayson as a BFF. So with them its not really because Carla needs mentoring with her powers specifically. Idk, Carla anyway you slice it I think has a lot of rage, and Donna knows what to do with that. Written right, Donna’s not a character who judges or shames a victim or survivor for being angry…she gets angry with them, and helps them find options for what to do with that now.)

12) Hero Cruz (Lesser known Titan, has a device called the Dial H device that lets him turn into a different hero with different powers depending on the setting he puts it on. Basically Ben 10, but Hero came first. Doesn’t really fit most of the parameters, other than being around the right age range, and not even sure who would make a good mentor for him though I wanna say Vic, but not totally decided yet. Mostly I just like him and think he’s underused, so whatever).

There’s also a few other candidates that I have mostly ruled out but not totally. I thought about using the aged up version of Chris Kent, and just introduce him earlier than he showed up in canon. And then Kara/Supergirl could be his mentor because I kinda handwave her into Dick’s generation of Titans anyway, even though it was the alien Matrix version of Linda Danvers that was the only Supergirl ever on the team. Whatever. She should have been a Titan all along anyway. But also Chris would fit the team well as he had an abusive childhood as well, at his dad General Zod’s hands, and again, I just like the character.

Thought of including Virgil Hawkins/Static too, even though I think he’s closer to Tim’s age range. And again, just another character I’m a fan of and think is underused, but he would definitely be an odd man out in this group because like….he comes from a happy, healthy, loving home and family, and he loves his powers. So he would constantly be just like nodding his head along while his teammates talk and like ugh that sucks, but 10/10 absolutely can not relate, my parents are awesome. Same with Natasha Irons/Steel, who really would have to be handwaved to even be in the right age range, and again has a happy loving home environment and a superhero uncle of her own so its not like she needs a Titan mentor…..but I kinda wanna see Karen Beecher/Bumblebee take her under her wing anyway, and have them be science nerds together.

Also pretty much the only reason I ruled out Connor Hawke too, as he doesn’t really match the rest of the team in any of the parameters except for feasibly being right at the upper edge of the same age range. But again, I just love the character.

So I’m probably gonna end up throwing at least one of these other characters in there anyway, lol. I do know myself).

Anyway. So that’s Jason’s lineup of Titans, or at least the candidates as they exist bouncing around in my head now. Also, they’re pretty much Team “Everyone is Gay Except For When They’re Bi.” Which, granted, is basically how I view Dick’s generation of Titans, but with them I have to be like Make It So, in my brain, whereas with this group like….canon’s actually done the work for me for the most part lol. Ray is gay, Todd Rice is gay, Courtney is bi, Hero is gay. And I can’t actually find anything confirmed Tom was stated to be gay somewhere in canon, but I SWEAR he was, like, ugh this is bugging me.

But anyway. That’s that about all of that.

18 notes · View notes

oh-mother-of-darkness · 7 years

Text

asks (9)

Anonymous said: if you have the time, could we maybe please have your absolute /worst/ headcanons about Dick mourning Damian? before/during Spyral? btw u are an absolute gift :*

Shoot I meant to put this one into the fic today too. Oh well. Damian and Dick angst is here

Anonymous said: everytime I see something about damian it reminds me of you

The highest praise I’ve ever received :’)

Anonymous said: do you know of other batblogs that don't do ships?

Uhhhhhh I don’t think so? I can’t think of anyone else that’s entirely ship-free, but frankly I don’t follow very many people. How bout this? If any of y'all ARE ship-free, reply in the notes. That way we’ll know :)

Anonymous said: Song recs: "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy (Justice League), "Remember The Name" by Fort Minor ft. Styles of Beyond (this is THE Batfam song!), "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic (Dick), "All The Right Moves" by OneRepublic (Batkids), "Tiptoe" by Imagine Dragons (Batkids), "Warrior" by Beth Crowley (Batgirls), "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling ft. Lzzy Hale (Babs), "Disarm" by The Civil Wars (Jason), "Demons" by Imagine Dragons (Jason), "Afterlife" by Ingrid Michaelson (Batkids).

Oooooooh thank you these are very nice! I hadn’t heard most of them

Anonymous said: Batfam/kids song recs! "Renegades" by X-Ambassadors, "When The Darkness Comes" by Colbie Caillat, "Royals" and "Rule the World" by Lorde, "Midnight" and "Fix You" by Coldplay and "Bad Blood" by Bastille. Also for Dick: "Pompeii" by Bastille and "Hopeless Wanderer" by Mumford & Sons.

Thanks! Idk if this was one person or two, but please continue to send me music, y'all, I like it

Anonymous said: no need to be batfamily centric, what comics would you recommend for someone getting into comics now?

Red Robin (2009)

Batgirl (2009)

Batman and Robin (2009)

Batman and Robin (2011)

Robin: Son of Batman (2015)

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: The Black Mirror

Batman: The Court of Owls

Batman: Death of the Family

Good enough for a start? I don’t read a lot outside the batfamily titles, I’m afraid

Anonymous said: Omg I love your writing. Can I request Damian and Jason fighting about Damian and Jon's missions?

Hm I’m a lil backlogged just now, but I think there’s a pretty good chance that Jon will show up eventually. Just probably not real soon :/

Anonymous said: I'm new to the DC comic world, but I'm a bit curious as to how fans feel/reacted about one thing: Talia drugging and taking advantage of Bruce? Do fans feel the same about that as they would if that had happened to a female character? Was it a big deal? I was shocked to find out it had happened, and want to know how other fans feel. Did the writers ever later address it?

Oh boy

In my experience there are two schools of thought:

1) People that like Talia and choose to use the older version of canon, where Bruce and Talia were in love and the rape never happened

2) People that hate Talia

As always, I’d prefer not to say which side I come down on, and I won’t answer any personal questions related to Talia. It’s a bit of a hot button topic, and I prefer to avoid conflict. Thank you. Let’s continue.

Here’s the thing, anon-- Damian was created by a writer named Grant Morrison in 2006. Before that, there was a storyline where Bruce and Talia had a baby, and she gave him up for adoption without telling him. Historically, Bruce and Talia’s relationship has been pretty straightforward: they liked each other, and any romantic interactions were consensual.

Morrison changed that. I can’t say for certain why, but you can read a bit more about my opinion of him over here. In Morrison’s version, Damian was conceived by rape, for eugenic purposes; they were trying to create the ideal heir from al Ghul and Wayne DNA.

Talia drugged Bruce’s drink, and yes, that is absolutely rape. No doubt about it. Rape. It’s disgusting and unnecessary, and it doesn’t really make sense, considering the thirty-five years of material that came before Morrison’s Talia.

Because of that, it’s a divisive topic. There are a lot of people who argue that since Talia’s actions were out of character for her (and since Morrison went on to make her do other out of character things, like murdering her own son) the rape should be removed from canon. Those folks generally substitute the older storyline where Bruce and Talia were in love.

That kind of thinking really isn't that uncommon for comic fans because the way comic canon is constructed-- multiple writers with varying skill levels who frequently produce overlapping or contradictory accounts of the same events-- presents us with multiple versions to choose from. A small and unrelated example: in his original version, Tim Drake dropped out of high school before graduation. In the n52, he graduated early. I prefer the older version, so even when I read the n52, I think of Tim as a high school drop out.

There are also canon story lines that I just don’t acknowledge, Battle for the Cowl being the easiest example. I know that the characterization is awful, so I pretend it never happened.

Morrison dramatically changed who Talia is as a character, not just at that specific point, but continually from 2006 to 2013. Since he retired, Talia has been shifting back to her older incarnation (again, see the link from above). You’re going to find a lot of folks who are happy with that, and those are likely to be the same people that edit the rape out of Talia’s history.

You’re also going to find folks on the other side of the issue-- people that acknowledge the rape and believe that it would be wrong to edit it out of history. Morrison’s Talia, while mischaracterized, has been around for a long time with some very dramatic effects. Damian’s redemption storyline, death, resurrection, and general personality all depend on Talia’s action while Morrison was writing her-- if you choose to ignore all of that, Damian as we know him can’t exist, and he’s been a giant part of the general bat canon for the last eleven years.

Beyond that, rape and filicide are awful, horrifying crimes, and they both happened within Talia’s canon. They’re the current version. They haven’t been retconned. As a matter of fact, Morrison isn’t the only one circulating that version-- the recent animated movies about Damian explicitly include the rape, and those began in 2014.

You also made an excellent point when you asked about gender-- male rape victims are treated incredibly poorly in fiction and life, and I think it’s fair to argue that ignoring Bruce’s canonical rape contributes to that. Bruce isn’t the only member of the batfamily with this issue either. Dick was raped by Tarantula in 2002 (he asked her not to touch him, he was in shock and immobile, and she had sex with him anyway), and that writer (Devon Grayson) didn’t even call it rape. Would the rape of either of those men be treated differently if they were women? I don’t know. I can’t really answer a hypothetical. But it’s worth thinking about.

When it comes to Talia, I’d say my experience with general opinion has been about a 50/50 split? That being said, I am very young, and I’ve only been in this game for five years. I can’t tell you how any of this went over in 2006 because I was a ten year old at the time, and I don’t think I know anyone older who could tell me.

As far as writers go... I don’t recall Bruce’s emotional state being addressed in any way. Most of the time, writers don’t directly talk about it. Some of them seem to lean towards the earlier version by framing Bruce and Talia as a love story; however, that doesn’t mean that by omitting the rape, they retcon it. People are raped by their partners or spouses all the time. Saying that Bruce loved Talia doesn’t automatically erase the rape. Implying that Bruce and Talia had consensual sex before or after Damian’s conception doesn’t automatically erase the rape. Frankly it would be very hard to retcon, since there would have to be some kind of statement within the dialogue denying any kind of drugging.

I don’t know if any of this will ever be addressed, but I’ve written a lot more than I meant to now, so I’m going to stop. I hope I answered all your questions. If I didn’t, you could try sending me a message instead of an ask, and we can talk more about it in private

@another-nameless-person said: The CTC story reminds me so much of my own family omg. I am so happy I'm not the only one with a big family who does this too. I'm so happy I've since moved out of my moms and can stash my own junk food at home lol

Right? I’m only just now kicking the habit of hiding my food. I also recently realized that I’m allowed to drink directly from the bottles now, which is fun

@coredesignixandnekonee said: Do you think, in a world where Nightwing knows Starfire, Oracle, Miss Martian, Red Arrow/Arsenal, and Kid Flash (Wally West1) that there's a "red headed friends of Robin/Nightwing" club where they hang out and complain about him with tea and cookies?

Wally, dipping Oreos in his milk: listen guys I know for a fact he isn’t sleeping and I think we’re gonna have to make him. Whose turn is it

#yes i like music send me music #please #i particularly liked afterlife #asks #whooo boy I'm gonna have to tag this one i think #rape #rape cw #tw: rape #death #please remember that i don't want to take sides and i don't want to talk about it #bout have a panic attack every time she comes up tbh

30 notes · View notes

iphoenixrising · 7 years

Text

Window Seat

My soulmate @satire-please deserves all the love, so a bit more little Timmy with the Bats from here.

The house is always quiet. Even when his mom and dad were home or Mrs. Mac was in the kitchen when he got home from school, the upstairs is always silent, like the museums where his parents donate what they find on digs. He thinks it’s always been like that.

No one ever goes to the upstairs attic, though. The dust is thick and settled, its’ own niche in Drake Manor. There’s one window to look out the back yard and off into the sea (and if you looked really, really hard, you could almost see Wayne Manor up on the bluffs, a dark silhouette in the dawn). The nights he didn’t go out into Gotham with his camera, he usually wound up here, squeezed into the non-existent seat to watch for the headlights of the large, black car that was unmistakable even in full dark.

And tonight, a few days after Robin saved him from a bad fall, and the extraordinary turn of events that put him in their direct path rather than an outsider that just knew their secret, he’s still waiting. At the time, he grudgingly turned over the box of photographs when Robin (Jason) and Nightwing (Dick) brought him home. They were working a hard case and would be gone for a few days, so he did what he was probably expected to do: promised to go to school and stay out of trouble.

He hasn’t gone out into Gotham, and hasn’t heard or bothered them since. Which…is okay. It’s not a problem for him. He’s used to these kinds of things. Promises from grownups that never come to fruition. Coming home for his birthday. Taking him with them during Christmas break. Being there for the Science Fair.

Sometimes expectations fail. Sometimes you need another plan. Sometimes other things have to take precedent. All the real world truths.

So, it’s really okay. He gets it.

The vigilantes didn’t expect a kid to figure them out, not when they’ve got the whole world fooled. It makes sense they would want to give him something to look forward to, a “reward” for keeping quiet about their secret identities. (And it isn’t like he doesn’t realize how dangerous it is to know, how many of Batman’s enemies would come looking for him just to get the secret, how dangerous he is to them now just because he was too smart for his own good. He’s…he’s a liability.)

By the second night with no word, he’s convinced himself the whole thing is going to amount to checking in on him quarterly to make sure he keeps out of trouble, doesn’t call any attention to himself or them. It’s the adult thing to do. So, he’s going to give it a few weeks, wait until they’ve all but forgotten, and go back to his old haunts. He’ll have to be more careful they don’t catch him so he can’t slip up and accidentally almost kill himself again.

It’ll be fine. He’s got darker clothes to stay closer to the shadows and has been tinkering around with a shooting grapple gun like Robin used. He thinks he might have figured it out, but testing is really going to be the problem.

And…and it is fine (it’s disappointing but inevitable). They didn’t need some kid hanging around when they had criminals to stop and a city to save.

He’s sleepily convinced himself it was all for the best, he already had the one chance to live the life and shouldn’t be too greedy because the reality is nothing but trouble could come from stepping into their world. He could get hurt or die, he could get them hurt if he got caught and they had to come save him. Or they would finally get tired of dealing with him, his endless questions and terrible hand/eye coordination, his fanboy awe and clumsy stumbles, the odd moments when he can fit in the most awkward spaces to hide (like right now).

Eventually…it be the same as with his mom and dad. They’d just start leaving.

Tim sighs and forces himself to be reasonable because of course it’s better this way. Nothing would change (it’s okay, it could be worse). Besides, it was better than never coming back.

Right?

When the rumbling goes by the house, goes further, deeper into the woods, toward the only other home, he can let his eyes slide closed, glad they made it back from another night, and let himself drift off a little. No school tomorrow, no Mrs. Mac, no reason to get up early and make an appearance.

He’d probably read more on the coding manual he’d picked up from the library, ride his bike into the city for pizza and to hang out with Ives, then come back home before his curfew. He would wait it out a few weeks and then jump back to old habits, keeping out of their way, and staying in the shadows. Life would just—

Go on.

The world gets fuzzy and soft and dark, and even with the minor ache in his neck and back from the odd angle, even in the quiet upstairs, even though he knows it’s too cold to be sleeping up here, the dream starts out anyway…

“—glad we found him, Big Wing.” That’s…that’s Jason, isn’t it? (Jason, here? Nah)

“I wonder how long he’s been up here all alone?”

(It has to be a dream because they came looking for him…)

“Musta been a while. He’s freezin’.” The dream hand is warm on his forehead, so nice, not enough to make him want to come to reality, so he just snuffles against his arm and hums, not trying to swim to the surface of awake, not yet.

“Okay, okay. Not leaving Timmy by himself at night anymore. Check.” Dick sighs, his breath a puff in the cold, and cranes his neck to eye the configuration the kid squeezed through to get to the wide window ledge.

“B’s gonna talk ta his folks when they make it back ta town anyhow.” And Jason shakes his head, burrowing a little deeper in his jacket with bare face (doms keep the eyes warm, you feel him?). “Kid his age shouldn’t be left alone anyhow.”

“Nope, just circus brats and street kids, right Little Wing?” Dick glances over at his replacement with a wide grin (and if B is serious about keeping Timmy now that the business with Two-Face is over, he’s going to have to come around more to help corral two younger brothers).

“Yeah, some a’ us can take care of business, Dick. This kid? He don’t need ta be in a house alone like this. Ain’t right.” The current Robin just frowns at the small silhouette, eyebrows drawing together.

“Alfred has his room ready, so at least he’ll have somewhere warm with a window. How did he even get in there?” And Dick? Is an acrobat and this configuration is making him flinch.

But Jay just smirks back, “Wiry little shit, apparently. Already fittin’ in.”

“Apparently. Let’s get him out of there, shall we Robin?”

And he huffs drowsily, swimming in and out of consciousness, the lack of sleep in the last few days making him sink further down where the voices are muffled, muted.

He might make some grunting sound when dream hands lift his heavy limbs, weightlessness like this a foreign concept, but it’s not like dreams where you step down abruptly and jar awake. It’s warm and smells like leather, Kevlar, and musk. And his brain gives him what he wants in the dream, soft cotton to fist his hands into without having to do anything more than sigh.

“Poor little guy is tuckered out. We shouldn’t have left him so long. It doesn’t look like he’s been sleeping.”

The transition is down, steps, his blurry mind supplies.

“He chases us through Gotham, yeah? Sleep probably ain’t even in his vocabulary.”

“He’s so small, Little Wing. He needs to sleep.”

“He needs goddamned parents, Dickie.”

“It’s okay,” is breathed against his hair, “he has us now.”

“Sure, sure. Lotta grown ass men what dress up in tights n’ masks. Normal as they come.”

“Hey! It’s not a bad life, you know. I turned out just fine, thank-you very much.”

A grunt in reply and something warm tucked around him before the air shifts and it’s cold, making his small body tighten again, start to swim a little closer to consciousness. But he’s snuggled higher, closer to strength and warmth.

(All the good things)

“Ah. I see you two have managed to ferret out the missing Master then?”

“Shoulda seen ‘im, Alf. Alla way up in the attic window.”

“You have a similar propensity for small spaces, Master Jason. Master Dick as well if memory serves. Very high, small spaces to be precise.”

“Not my fault there’s so many in the Manor, Alfred. Those are the perfect places to explore.”

“Hm,” the car doors close as Alfred Pennyworth shuts his young charges in (three now, not including you, Master Bruce. He is not getting any younger, you understand?) and moves to the driver’s side through the chill.

Master Jason and Master Dick continue a quiet conversation while the child sleeps on and the dark forests pass them by. Alfred inputs when necessary with the usual plans on the next few nights of patrol ahead of them sans the Batman, and it does the butler’s heart good to see them finally getting along. Just as he told the worrywart that is his eldest charge, the two needed time to find their own way. Time and exposure, more appropriately.

As Alfred is well aware, the life his family leads, one of the night, one of pain and bruises and burns, one of trauma after trauma with only the strength of will and people in need to drive them, it required a certain amount of humanity to maintain. The strength of their bonds, to lean on one another in times of need, had been the hardest lesson for Master Bruce to learn as the Batman,, and one he would daresay he failed to pass it down to his sons. Fortunately, when a certain little robin that lost something so precious so young, the lesson for Master Bruce had begun and would continue for a second so in need, he would take on any fight just to survive, and would, of course, extend to the small one they are carrying up the staircase of Wayne Manor as he sleeps the sleep of the innocent.

Alfred and Master Dick take his shoes off and manage pajama bottoms, tucking the little boy in with care.

Only once did he wake up slightly, blinking fuzzily without move his heavy head from the pillow.

“This is such a nice dream, Mr. Alfred.”

A gentle hand to his head, smoothing down his too long hair, “go back to sleep, Young Sir. We shall be here when you wake in the morning.”

And Timmy hums again, smiling, snuggling down into the comfortable mattress and pillow. He’s fine sleeping until morning, to keep the dream for as long as he can (and maybe….maybe it would be okay to just not have to wake up).

#satire_please needed loves #tim drake #dick grayson #jason todd #alfred pennyworth #robin!jason #my fic #my writing #tiny!tim

198 notes · View notes