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themaribatpit · 3 years

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Hanging by a Thread: Chapter 3

Rated M: DC canon-typical violence, suggestive threats

Author’s Note: Neither of us are actually American, and DC Fanboy has some gripes with certain American habits. Please feel free to tell us how uncultured we are in the comments, and try and explain yourselves to non-Americans.

Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (side ship).

Taglist:

@aespades, @neakco, @ladybug-182, @seraphichana, @zalladane, @luminous-carrot, @jayjayspixiepop, @cap-noodles, @livelifeauthorstyle, @thepaceperson, @moongoddesskiana, @vroomtaka, @laurcad123, @prettylittlebutterflie

Chapter 2 - Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Dick slumped down on a chair when they returned to the Belfry. He ripped off his domino mask and let out a sigh. “Damn he’s good, then again he was taught by the best.”

“Dick!” Barbara gave him a dirty look. They both looked towards their French guest to see her still lost in thought.

Ladybug transformed back to Marinette, and then slowly walked over to get herself another cup of hot chocolate to cheer herself up. As she operated the multi hot drinks machine in the Belfry, she thought about how incredibly convenient the device was. Barbara and Dick mentioned that unless it was winter, no one else used it for hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate dispensed from the machine, and as she picked up the paper cup, a shadow loomed over her. She was able to make out the silhouette of an imposing figure with demonic pointed ears. She squealed in shock, spilling her hot chocolate on the figure.

Dick rolled off the chair laughing, “Oh, better fly away home Ladybug.” “How long have you been waiting to use that joke?” Barbara said without looking away from the screen.

“Since the moment I met her, Babs,” Dick retorted.

After the initial shock, Marinette was able to see the figure clearly and realised she just spilled hot chocolate on Batman. The Batman. Marinette paled at what she had done, she fumbled around looking for tissues. All the while apologising profusely as she tried to find anything to wipe the Caped Crusader clean from this chocolatey mess. Her mind ran at a mile a minute, thinking of what Batman would do to her for spilling hot chocolate on him. She thought of how Batman would squish her like a bug, or perhaps he would break all of her limbs, and send her on the first flight back to Paris while tied to the cargo hold. Her mind was catastrophizing and going into a full panic as she stumbled around the kitchenette.

Marinette found a damp cloth and began wiping Batman vigorously from head to toe and hoping it would somehow lessen her punishment. She looked up to see that Batman continued to stare at her with his infamous glare. Seeing that her attempts to clean up her mess had no effect, she ran back towards the main room and grabbed Dick, holding him in front of her as a shield.

Batman slowly followed, without saying a word he stomped into the main room and came to a halt right in front of Dick. “Uh, hi.” Dick awkwardly greeted Batman. Marinette shakingly peeked her head out from behind.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug.” Batman’s low voice boomed with authority. “What are you doing here in Gotham?”

Marinette yelped and went back to hiding behind Dick. Barbara interjected, “She’s here to investigate a recent use of the Lazarus Pit, mainly the Red Hood. From what we gather the creatures that give her power were also the ones who created the pits.” She explained on Marinette’s behalf.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the room as Batman contemplated her answer. “Fine,” he relented. He turned and walked away.

Marinette released a sigh of relief as she saw Batman leave. Dick took out his phone and began tapping on it, he just had to notify the rest of the Bat Family of what had just transpired. After a few moments he put his phone back in his pocket and walked away, “I’ll get a mop” he yelled back at Marinette and Barbara.

Marinette then slumped on the dining table, hands in her head. Completely embarrassed at how she made a fool of herself in front of one of the world’s greatest heroes. Barbara calmly patted her back in consolation. After she calmed down and got herself another cup of hot chocolate, Marinette decided to head home.

On the way back to the apartment she shared with Zoe, she checked the messages that Zoe sent her during the past couple of days. “Hey, are you okay?” The first one read. “I haven’t seen you in the apartment for a while now,” she said, followed by a message that said “Please don’t be dead, I can’t afford rent by myself.” Marinette sent a quick reply saying, “I’m okay, I’ve just been busy taking care of some things. See you tonight.” she said. When Marinette got home, she logged onto her computer to see a few messages from Alya, asking her of how she found Gotham City. Expressing worry for her friend, especially with the notoriety of Gotham's crime rate.

Marinette typed up "Hi Alya! Gotham is all right, I can take care of myself, you know that."

Alya decided to video call Marinette and her face appeared on screen. "Hey!" Alya waved her hand to her friend.

"Hi" Marinette gave a tired wave back.

"Everything okay?" Asked Alya.

"Fine, just tired from moving into the new place." She explained.

"By the way, could you open up a portal with Kaalki to my room?" asked Alya.

Marinette complied with her friend, as she put on the horse Miraculous and opened a portal. Soon a paper bag dropped from the ceiling and landed on the floor. "I had a feeling you might want something to cheer you up, I went to your parents' patisserie earlier."

Marinette opened up the bag to see several treats from the bakery. She thanked her best friend profusely, and began eating them “How are things back in Paris?” Marinette asked, taking a macaron out of one of the boxes, she smiled as she took a bite out of it. It was almost like she was 13 again, and her dad had given her a box of macarons for the first day of school.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Alya said, winking at her. “So, have you met any of Gotham’s vigilantes yet?” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, yeah,” she might as well tell her some of the things that happened. “I accidentally spilled hot chocolate on Batman’s cape,” she confessed. “And you’re still alive?” Alya’s mouth hung open in shock. “Well, he does have a pretty strict ‘no killing’ policy,” Marinette told her. “Okay fair enough, how are you still in one piece?” Alya asked, still somewhat shocked.

“He just kinda glared at me, and I hid behind one of his sidekicks.” Marinette told her, “So, that’s how.” “Ah so you’ve met the sidekicks then,” Alya gave her another knowing smile. “Some of them, Nightwing being one of them.” Marinette told her. “Did you get a good look at his assets?” Alya gave her a wink, and Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure his assets were spoken for,” Marinette said, and before Alya could say anything more she quickly added “and no, I am not telling you who the lucky person is.” “You’re no fun.” Alya pouted mockingly, but she couldn’t stay angry at her friend. Alya noticed the faraway look in Marinette’s eyes at that moment, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Marinette wondered how best to phrase it, “do you know anything about the Red Hood?” she asked.

Alya’s eyes widened in shock, “You’ve met him? Are you and Zoe living in his territory?”

“No, at least not that I know of, I just…” Marinette assured her, “Do you know anything about him?” “Give me a moment,” Alya said, quickly turning away to search for something on her laptop screen, “must have heard something about the guy…” she muttered. Marinette never really told Alya about her soulmate bond, and she wasn’t about to start now. “Says here he’s a crime lord that operates in Gotham City, that he took over Black Mask’s crime syndicate not too long ago…” Alya told her, “Pretty brutal to those who cross him, by the sound of things.” “Good to know,” Marinette muttered. “Marinette, are you sure you and Zoe are okay?” Alya asked. “We’re fine, just that Ladybug ran into him while working with Batman’s sidekicks.” Marinette told her. “I should have been there, it would have been a fun interview for Ladyblog.” Alya chuckled, and Marinette raised an eyebrow. “I mean, after the fight of course, or maybe I should just stop talking.” “Try pitching the idea to Vicki Vale or Lois Lane, I’m sure they would jump at the chance.” Marinette joked.

"Just you wait until I get my Journalism degree, I'll bother you everyday for a scoop." Alya retorted. The two of them continued to laugh and joke with one another before Marinette went to bed.

The next morning, Marinette was woken by someone gently nudging her awake. “Get dressed dummy, we’re going out.” she heard a voice say. Marinette looked up and blinked a few times before Zoe’s face came into view. “What time is it?” Marinette groaned. “9am,” Zoe told her, “we are going to go out and get some breakfast together.” Marinette groaned in response, but slowly got out of bed. Zoe leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms and smiling. She chuckled slightly at the sight of Marinette’s tousled hair, Marinette smiled slightly in response. “All right, all right, give me some time to get dressed.” she said and Zoe left, closing the door behind her.

The two friends sat down to eat breakfast at a nearby diner, and Zoe began telling Marinette all the ways in which America was very different from France. “First of all, they call the 24 hour clock ‘military time’, I never understood that.” she explained before taking a bite of her pancakes. Americans made pancakes a lot thicker and fluffier compared to crepes, was another thing Marinette noticed. “Oh, no more 2 hour lunch breaks, and as a French person, you will get made fun of for having more time off work than the Americans.” she said.

As the two finished breakfast, Zoe paid the bill and left a tip. Marinette raised an eyebrow at Zoe for paying what was higher than the bill. “Marinette, remember, always tip whenever you go eat at a restaurant or a diner.” She explained.

“Why? Isn’t there a service charge added? Don’t the servers get paid?” Marinette asked.

“Not at all.” Zoe deadpanned.

“What?” Marinette exclaimed in shock, she quickly covered her mouth as eyes turned to face her for her outburst.

Zoe beckoned Marinette to follow her, “Come on, I’ll show you all the hotspots in Gotham City.”

The two walked out onto the street and across several blocks. Zoe stopped as the two reached their destination. She then pointed to an old gothic tower, “That there is the old Wayne Tower, creepy isn’t it? Built in 1888 by Cyrus Pinkey for the Waynes right at the heart of Gotham City. It’s been closed for a few years now, since Wayne Enterprise moved to the New Wayne Tower in the financial district.”

Marinette’s eyes widened in recognition, it was where the Belfry was located. She remembered the gothic tower, but she had no idea it was the old Wayne Tower. She decided it would be best to keep quiet about this revelation.

The two continued sightseeing as they ventured into Robinson Park. “This park is amazing, the biggest park in the heart of Gotham. Also it's very close to Gotham U, I’d love to come here everyday after class to unwind.” Zoe explained. The two calmly walked across the park, enjoying the scenery and stopping by to feed some ducks.

“Anyway I need to get some things on the way back,” the two then walked to a nearby grocery store and bought groceries. Being on a budget, Marinette eyed the price tags frugally, calculating how much it would cost her. Zoe smirked at Marinette, knowing what would come next when the two went to the cash register. Marinette was thrown into a loop as the total amount did not match the price tags. Marinette tried to ask for an explanation from the cashier, but they were not helpful. The cashier only said that it was tax, “Why isn’t tax included in the price tags?” she pleaded to the cashier.

The cashier gave Marinette a light shrug. “That's just the way things are.”

Marinette pulled her pigtails in frustration as to why the final price doesn’t match the price tag. “Ok fine, what's the tax in America?”

Zoe took the chance to intervene and explain it to her friend. “It depends, it varies between states, counties and even cities.”

Marinette banged her head against the counter in frustration. “Why? Why is it so crazy here?”

Zoe and the cashier laughed at Marinette's antics. The cashier asked “You new here?”

Marinette did not lift her head up, “How could you tell?”

The two made their purchase and walked home, Marinette had to do a double take on the loaf of bread she bought. She stopped Zoem and said that they needed to go back to the grocery store for another loaf of bread, because this one had expired. Zoe snatched the loaf from Marinette’s hands and took another look. “Nope it's fine, remember America uses Month/Day/Year here.” Zoe explained. Marinette’s eye twitched as the two walked back to their apartment.

The semester began the following Monday at Gotham University. As a Fashion & Design student, Marinette had long studio classes which usually kept her busy during the day. She would have to spend even longer hours in the studio if she had a project due. When Zoe wasn’t attending lectures, she had a part-time job that kept her busy as well. So Marinette didn’t see much of her by the time she managed to return to their apartment.

Over the course of the next few days, she would go to her classes by day and go out every night to search for her soulmate. However, the Red Hood had proved to be elusive, always alert to the movement of the red thread that tied them together. Marinette found that the thread changed wildly. Some nights she stopped by the Belfry, exhausted and dejected. Barbara had noticed this and decided that she had to know about Jason, it might change her mind or it might not. She deserved to know if she was going to go looking for him every night.

One night when she entered the Belfry, Barbara gestured to Marinette, “Come over and pull up a chair.” Marinette followed and brought a chair to the computer. The two sat side by side, “Mari, you deserve to know more about Jason...the Red Hood.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the mention of her soulmate, “Please tell me more about him.” she begged.

“Marinette, I’m sorry, we knew more about him but we didn’t tell you.” Barbara apologised.

Marinette was hurt at how they were withholding information about her soulmate from her. “Why?” was all that she was able to say.

Barbara took a deep breath, “Because Jason was the second Robin.”

Marinette’s jaw dropped at this bombshell, her soulmate used to be Robin. It would explain the skills he displayed out in their last encounter. Marinette wondered how tough his life was, how he suffered at the hands of the criminals of Gotham at such a young age. Some of the things he said back at the dockyards were now sounding like they came from experience. “What was he like?” she asked, wanting to know what her soulmate was like before his death.

“Angry, rebellious, Jason always felt like it was him against the world. He was caught trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, that's how Batman found him and brought him in.” Barbara explained.

“How did he die?” Marinette asked.

Barbara grew silent at the mention of Jason’s death. “He tried to pursue the Joker, but it was a trap. The Joker caught him, tortured him for god knows how long. I saw his bruises, it-it was as if he was beaten over and over again with a crowbar.” Marinette covered her mouth and her eyes welled with tears as she heard the gruesome details of her soulmate's unfortunate end.

“To make matters worse, he locked Jason in the room with a bomb.” “What about the Red Hood?” she asked. “We...we buried a mannequin in a wig,” Barbara explained, “the real body was taken by the League of Assassins, trying to make up for what happened.”

Marinette stood up and rushed to the guest room, she had heard enough. She could not imagine the pain and suffering her soulmate had been through his entire life.

Jason had been constantly on the move, knowing that his soulmate was out looking for him. He tried to shut off the part of him that wanted to get close. He was honestly surprised the Bat clan hadn't told her every horrific story they had about him. Either they didn't know they were soulmates or she was knowingly walking head first into the lion's mouth. If she didn't find him, then she might stumble upon a group of his men at work, and they might be a lot less forgiving. If he was constantly checking over his shoulder, making sure the girl wasn't close by, things were bound to start slipping through the cracks.

He himself had various safehouses scattered around the city, but he couldn't keep running forever. It was getting ridiculous, he had faced crime lords, assassins and even gone toe-to-toe with Batman multiple times. Yet here he was, running and hiding from a girl who was about a foot shorter than he was. He knew why, of course, he wasn't afraid of her but she should be very afraid of him. He had hoped that she would give up the search, as she drew closer and closer to finding out the truth about what happened to him. But life had never been that easy for Jason, and sooner or later she was going to get too close to the untamed monster beneath. If she got hurt because of him, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Not even his old self could forgive that. He would have no trouble protecting her from other criminals, not that she really needed it. However, whatever came crawling out of the pits was something else.

After putting a swift end to some people who were causing trouble in his territory, his mind wandered back to Ladybug. Specifically, the sad look in her eyes when he explained how brutal and unforgiving Gotham could be. He tried not to think about it, because that look made him want to hold her close, and reassure her that everything would be okay. Thoughts of how the idea of her gave him hope all those years ago would come bubbling to the surface. It made him want to protect her, to ensure that this world wouldn’t hurt her the way it hurt him. When she looked at him with those eyes, it made him want to believe that she trusted him to do just that. He shook his head, and told himself that what he was also the very thing she needed protecting from.

Most nights Jason had nightmares about failing to save her. There were even nightmares where she died by his hands. Her blue eyes would become lifeless and vacant, her skin would feel ice cold, and he would end up cradling her limp form in his arms. Batman would just love it if those nightmares came true. It would only prove to him that Jason was nothing more than an unhinged monster he couldn’t cage. It wasn’t as though the Bat had much luck caging the real monsters in Gotham anyhow. Most days, Jason’s skin crawled as he remembered the feeling of the Lazarus pit’s waters. The creatures she was palling around with were the ones who made it. They probably didn’t give a damn about the evil they had inflicted on the world because of it. For all he knew, being around her little fairy friends would make the effects much worse. Still, when he snapped back to reality, he would see the string glowing red, just as it had always done. Occasionally moving and twitching as his soulmate searched high and low for him. Maybe the time had come to have a little talk, soulmate to soulmate...

#maribat #jasonette #ml x dc

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danny-chase · 3 years

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Do you think that Tim saved Dick in a way? Because we see Dick getting better as he gets closer to Tim and healing and getting back into the family, and ig it’s Tim who initiated that.

I literally don't have a yes or no answer for this... like most things in the Batfam - it's complicated. (Following answer is informed by 90s-00s comics, i can't really speak for new52 because it just... has so many issues one of which being erasing the relationship between Dick and Tim for *checks note* no discernable reason other than possibly *checks note* Didio hates legacy characters and wants only bad things for them so he could have excuses to kill them off or cancel their comics... idk just a guess)

Warnings: for Bruce stans - just look away i'm about to bring up bits of canon you most likely don't like, for Dick stans - Devin Grayson's run is mentioned, for the lovely anon - i wrote an essay, hope you are prepared

Tim coming into the family gave Dick a reason to occasionally hang around Bruce and i'm not sure if this is an exaggeration or not but he did sort of save that relationship - but whether that was a good or bad thing at the time, i can't really say. For sure - it starts off good, Bruce is actually trying to be a good dad (he comes down to Blud to check on Dick, adopts him, trusts him with his own city, calls him for backup, etc.). But we also see throughout Bruce Wayne: Fugitive/Murderer how unhealthy the relationship between the two can be. Dick built his core values around Bruce - if Bruce had actually killed here it would have been devastating for Dick (he was pretty much on the verge of a mental breakdown simply because they couldn't find proof Bruce wasn't guilty). The two literally got in a fist fight during the arc because Bruce was being uncommunicative and Dick couldn't take it anymore, snapped, and punched him when Bruce said "Bruce Wayne is dead only Batman now" - this tied into Dick finally having the relief and validation of being adopted and he couldn't handle Bruce stripping himself (and by extension, his fatherhood of Dick) away. In this era of comics Bruce had gotten physical with Dick before (here's me venting like an annoyed loser), and here's a clip from Bruce Wayne Fugitive that i just, *sigh*, canon Bruce, my detested.

Now on the other hand - getting Dick involved in the batfam more doesn't just mean he was hanging out with Bruce. His relationship with Tim is pretty great and I can definitely see where it was healing for a while - but also - to give credit where credit is due, the healing he goes through during this era of comics can also be attributed to Barbara and the Titans (the fab five specifically). Wally literally joins the Titans to give Dick a "social life" (me - it's because he's gay and wants to spend more time with Dick, actually, screw you DC you know i'm right). Donna plays a major part in keeping Dick's emotional well being in check. So like everything was going fine - Dick was healing, spending more time with friends, spending a lot of time with people he loved, like Tim, except he was neglecting his health and not sleeping - but overall he was in fact, managing, and moving past the deaths of Jason and some of the other Titans. With the current Titans - he was a hardass (which like ~trauma~ so I understand), but like things were going relatively okay.

And then Donna and Lilith died. And hooof Donna dying was like really really bad for his mental health.

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files (2003) #1

[Image ID: Dick sits in a room staring at a photo, the phone rings in the background, and he doesn't even acknowledge it, the voice mail plays: "I'm not here. Leave a message after the beep." The photo is shown closer in the next frame, it's of the five original Teen Titans - Roy kisses Donna on the cheek, tipping his hat his other hand making the okay sign, Donna has an arm around Roy, the other hand on Dick's shoulder, Garth proudly stands beaming with his hands on his hips, and Dick has both his arms around Wally's neck. Everyone is smiling in the photo. A voice plays over the answering machine: "Dick, it's Roy - pick up the phone... c'mon... please... I know you're there... just pick up. Dick, we need to talk... you can't just... please..." End ID]

For context - the previous page noted that this is Dick SIX WEEKS after Donna died. Usually Dick's the one who moves on quickly, but Donna dying broke him in a way nothing else had before - and that could be partly because he was still recovering from everyone else's death.

Up to this point, Dick had been healing and Tim was definitely a part of that, but then DC decided to throw the absolute book, bookshelf, and library at him. Reading Outsiders (2003) it's very clear he's very traumatized, and around the same time, Devin is literally whumping him like it's the whump Olympics, breaking him and Babs up, burning down his childhood home, blowing up his apartment complex (killing all but like two of his neighbors), he's literally sleeping on fire escapes using newspapers as covering because he has nothing, and the bad thing i don't like to think about (i'll let you know if you ask but that one needs lots of tw, but if you know where i'm going you know what it is already), Blockbuster is killed and he blames himself - and loses it over breaking Bruce's one rule, Bludhaven is nuked, and he pretty much tries to kill himself.

So basically, he was on the path to healing (with Tim as part of that) before he got absolutely destroyed (and almost killed off by Didio in one of the crisis). Tim in his own right, was also going through a lot in the meantime, his dad died, Steph died, Kon and Bart died, i don't remember what else happened and i haven't read that era of Robin yet. Things were good until they weren't anymore, and sometimes i think Dick would regret ever exposing Tim to the life they live, and questions whether he should have just sent Tim packing x2. They do get to spend a year together on a mental health cruise, but then Damian comes into the picture, Battle for the Cowl happens, and they have their falling out. But whatever happened on that cruise must have been really healing for Dick because he actually kind of rocks it in this era - he keeps things light with Damian, Alfred notes at one point how he makes things easy because he has lightness in him, and he patches things up with Tim - catching him in that panel of Red Robin - from there they kind of go back to normal, there's a lightness to the way they banter with each other (also here) and Tim returns the favor (from the Red Robin incident) by pulling Dick out of the water.

They've saved each other multiple times over (physically), and in both in the Black Mirror and Gates of Gotham, Tim helps out in a period where Dick is starting to fall apart from the pressure of holding things together for so long (something Tim might feel guilty for, because he did run away from Gotham on a wild goose chase for Bruce). In that period, it's really clear that Dick saves Tim (he reminds him in RR, that someone does actually care for him) and then Tim saves Dick from being torn apart by Gotham.

I should point out - Damian, while starting off as kind of a hinderance, does eventually start helping Dick as well. By the end of their relationship (before the New52 destroys everything i love), Dick has helped Damian grow emotionally, and through that process Dick probably finds meaning and value in their time together, probably a lot like he used to feel with Tim. And of course, physically, they've both saved each other multiple times by the end of the run.

So yeah. I think Dick finds meaning in growth in mentoring his younger brothers, and it's likely a healing process, that healing just has some twists and turns along the way, and sometimes, on bad days, he probably feels like maybe he shouldn't have intervened at all, but i think on most days, he's proud of what Tim's become.

...I hope this is coherent lmao

#the old: blame everything i hate about comics on Didio #thank god he got fired #tw suicide #i am so long winded oop #i'm in too deep #does this count as character meta?#maybe #Dick Grayson meta #Dick Grayson #Tim Drake #i'm kinda sad that Dick and Tim's relationship is misunderstood in a lot of fanon - because it's something that can be so personal #it's not as black and white as people seem to think #as in like... they're usually really good for each other and have a healthy dynamic #even in RR (I haven't read all of it) people take things out of context and just... ignore that Dick reached out to Tim afterwards #and like asked him to go to therapy (not arkham why are y'all obsessed with Dick throwing his brothers in arkham get help)#Tim also straight up throws Dick over his shoulder and starts a physical fight in that series #so... it can be a toxic relationship too but idk i like to highlight the good parts #i see a lot of - Dick begs for Tim's forgiveness for taking Robin away fics out there #but like there relationship isn't that simple #if they ever talked it out in canon - they'd have to address Tim lashing out physically at Dick (Dick would probably not be having it)#and the writers might then be like - hmm maybe we should address all the times we had Bruce hit him too #so like yeah i get why we never saw their reconciliation on panel (they just kinda were like okay we're fine now :D)#but still it's something i'd like to see explored from a more balanced perspective - instead of a - i project on Tim so he's always right #i probably also wouldn't be the best person to write it because i project on Dick too much #not that i would make Tim beg for Dick's forgiveness - Dick would forgive him in like .000001 seconds and def doesn't hold it against him #that's just how Dick is (he'd probably prefer if it wasn't brought up and they just pretend it never happened)#but also knowing Dick he probably feels guilty as fuck for the way RR went - which like *sigh* martyr #batfam #batfamily #batfam meta

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alecmagnuslwb · 4 years

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Halloween Wonder

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“I wanna be the wonder ladies for Halloween,” Lian says coloring a picture of Princess Diana herself on the coffee table in the living room. Roy pops his head up from where he’s reading a magazine on the couch. Jason’s out patrolling for the night so it’s just the two of them. It’s nearing her bedtime, but she gave him the doe eyes around eight o’clock requesting she have just one more hour to see JayJay.

“You mean you wanna be Wonder Woman?” he asks leaning forward and looking at the picture she’s coloring. She’s taken some liberties with Wonder Woman’s costume design trading the usual red, blue and gold for pink, purple and silver.

“Yeah! But you and JayJay gotta be the other two,” she declares. She flips through her coloring pages pulling out one of Donna and another of Cassie, the current Wonder Girl. She waves them in his face. “You can be Aunt Donna and JayJay can be Wonder Girl!” she says with glee.

Roy eyes the coloring page and remembers Donna’s old red costume, he’s not sure he’s got the curves to pull it off quite the same way his old flame and dear friend did.

“You sure you don’t want us to be Green Lantern and Superman, make the Justice League or something, kiddo?” he asks, pointedly not mentioning Batman, Jason would never go as Batman no matter how much Lian begs.

“Nope,” she says happily turning back to her own coloring page with a beaming smile. “Wonder ladies!”

Roy sighs looking down at the pictures in his hands, the things they do for their little girl.

***

Jason doesn’t make it home early, so much against her protests Lian is sent to bed only complaining lightly after Roy promises that they’ll be doing her requested Halloween costumes. Jason slips into their bedroom hours later, shower fresh and free of his gear.

Roy sits up from where he’d slumped down into bed trying to stay awake to see him. Jason smiles walking over to the bed and kissing Roy lightly once before flopping over him and onto his side of the bed.

“Lian picked her Halloween costume tonight,” Roy says as Jason pulls the covers up.

“Oh yeah, what dynamic trio will we be this year?” Jason says smiling. They’ve been letting Lian pick what they’ll all be since she was three, surprisingly this is the first year she’s picked any other supers usually sticking more to animated characters. Last year was particularly memorable when she begged to be Maleficent and Jason and Roy sported their best Scar and Gaston. Alfred had made the most elaborate and movie accurate costumes Roy had ever seen which was saying something since he’d done so well with other duos the years before.

“The Wonder fam,” he says with a smirk.

“As in?” Jason asks and Roy smirks.

“Diana,” he says pointing to the wall where two rooms down Lian is sleeping peacefully. “Donna,” he says gesturing to himself. “And Cassie,” he finishes pointing at Jason.

“And before you ask there’s no changing her mind,” he says.

Jason huffs. “Well at least she didn’t want me to Batman,” he says with a shrug. He grabs his phone from where he’d tossed it on the nightstand and sends off some text. It dings almost immediately with a response. “Alfred said he’s on it, we just have to swing by the manor tomorrow so he can get updated measurements for Lian since she’s gotten taller since last year.”

Not for the first time in his life Roy wonders if Alfred ever sleeps considering the late hour.

***

“You know Donna is never going to speak to you again if she finds out about this, right?” Jason says enjoying the view of Roy in his tight red one piece costume, but obviously holding back laughter as well. Roy adjusts his dark wig flipping the hair over his shoulder.

“Yup,” Roy says eyeing himself from every angle in the mirror. He looks good dammit, turns out he does have the curves to pull of the look, Donna can get over it if she finds out. Alfred’s really outdone himself with his seam work this year.

“And you know that there’s a 98% chance we run into Dick and Babs tonight and they’ll tell absolutely everyone?” Jason adds on from where he’s sat on the bed.

“Yup,” Roy says turning away from the mirror to face Jason. Lian had chosen Cassie’s most recent costume for Jason and Roy would be lying if he said Jason isn’t making the black leggings and skirt combo work. “You know they’re gonna see you in this get up and tell everyone too, right?”

Jason just shrugs. “Yeah, but everyone’s afraid of me, so the jokes will end real quick.”

Roy hums conceding the point. Lian comes barreling in a moment later, a pair of black wireless headphones in hand. She crawls up onto the bed next to Jason and settles the headphones around his neck. He flips his blonde wig out from under them and smiles at her.

“You look great Wonder Woman,” he says fixing her crooked tiara.

She smiles toothily at him and flexes her arms kissing her tiny biceps, the little ham.

“Can we go get candy now?” she says hopping off the bed and pulling Jason along to where Roy is still admiring himself in the mirror and grabbing his hand too.

“Yeah, yeah,” Roy says giving himself one last glance as they’re dragged out of the room. “Let’s go get candy.”

***

Trick or treating is a success. Thanks to Dick and Barbara’s well thought out Halloween safety plan for all the kids of Gotham Lian hits half the city before finally tiring out.

They run into Nightwing and Batgirl about halfway through their journey Roy already carrying a damn near full pillowcase of candy and he’s fairly certain Dick’s laughter can be heard from outer space once he’s taken in their costumes. He doesn’t get to cackle long though Lian declaring there’s no time for laughing when candies on the line and skipping away from the silly adults.

Roy’s carrying two nearly full pillow cases of candy now and Jason, wig discarded into one of the bags, is carrying Lian easily like she’s still two weighing barely a thing and not eight. Her little lasso is wrapped around Jason’s arm and her head resting on his shoulder.

“I’ll put her to bed,” he says quietly once they’ve made it into the apartment Roy plopping the two sacks of candy down heavily onto the table. Roy nods, kissing Lian’s hair once.

“Goodnight, Wondy,” he says and she snuggles in closer to Jason. Jason heads upstairs while Roy drags the two bags of candy over to the couch. He throws his slightly aching feet up onto the coffee table and starts digging in knowing there’s no way Lian will notice if a few pieces are gone.

He grins triumphantly when he finds a double pack of Reese’s cups tearing into them. He’s working on the second one when Jason finally comes down the stairs, hoodie, headphones, high tops and skirt now gone. If it weren’t for the Wonder Woman insignia on his top and the star pattern on the leggings he’d just look like he was about to go for a run.

“She all good?” Roy asks as Jason sits down next to him digging into the open pillowcase. He pulls out a long Twizzler opening the plastic with his teeth. Jason nods.

“Our little Wonder Woman is out cold,” he says before taking a bite of the candy twirling it around on his finger. Roy smiles digging back in and taking out a Hershey’s bar this time.

“You and your chocolate obsession,” Jason says shaking his head as he grabs a tiny box of nerds and pours them directly into his mouth.

“At least I have taste,” Roy grumbles eyeing the box of nerds in disgust. Jason shoves at him lightly making direct eye contact as he pours the box of nerds onto his tongue. Roy moves the bag of candy out of his way popping the last piece of chocolate bar in his mouth before crawling over and placing himself in Jason’s lap, bracketing his hips.

Roy leans in about to kiss Jason when he puts a strong hand to his chest and stops him.

“Sure you want to kiss me with this terrible flavored candy in my mouth,” he says feigning annoyance sticking out his tongue that’s now tinged blue. Roy shrugs.

“I’ll risk it,” he says leaning in to kiss him slow and deep the taste of tart Nerds and chocolate mixing together on their tongues. Jason moans his hands going to Roy’s thighs and trailing up along the stars on the side of his costume. He freezes when he reaches the lasso tied to his belt.

He pulls back abruptly leaving Roy chasing after his lips.

“We really have to take off these costumes,” Jason says still out of Roy’s reach.

“That was the plan,” Roy says with a smirk attempting to lean back in, but Jason stops him once again.

“No I mean like before we continue this in any way,” he looks down between them and pulls the long dark wig off of Roy’s head tossing it to the other end of the couch. “It’s too weird.”

Roy looks down himself and can see what Jason means, Gaston and Scar getting it on last year was fine, but being dressed like very real people they know is a different game when the haze of lust clears.

“Good point,” he says settling back on Jason’s thighs. “But you’re carrying me upstairs, my feet hurt.”

Jason rolls his eyes, “You’re the one who chose to wear high heeled boots.”

“Costume accuracy Jaybird, not everyone gets to be the super gal who wears sneakers,” he defends with a smile. Jason leans in pecking him once on the corner of his lips.

“Fine princess,” he says hefting up off the couch with Roy in his arms not even faltering a bit. “Hold on.” He says as he heads for the stairs carrying Roy like he weighs nothing. Roy can’t wait to get these costumes off and continue what he started on the couch.

Hours later, costumes long gone and both sweaty and sated Roy’s phone dings with a message from Donna, it’s a photo form Dick attached with a series of crying emojis.

He smirks, she’s just jealous he looked so good.

#my fic #jayroy #jason todd #roy harper

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whothefuckiscassandracain · 6 years

Text

Post Crisis Cassandra Cain - A Summary

Well, folks, this is it – we have gone through all of Cassandra’s Post Crisis material (at least that of certain chronology)! What a ride! Now it is time to take one more look at the tag counter, before we reset everything for the New 52/Rebirth. Without further ado, here’s the final tally (with changes from the previous counter summary in brackets):

Aphasia: 88 (+16)

Living Emoji: 78 (+2)

Little Lady Of War: 53 (+13)

Batdad: 52 (+6)

Batmom: 50 (+6)

Dubious Characterization: 49 (+33)

Fast As Lightning: 45 (+3)

Fiercely Assertive Protector: 26 (+1)

Ghost Of Failures Past: 25 (+9)

Symbolism!: 24 (+6)

Creepy Bat: 24 (+8)

Cass Sass: 23 (+9)

Plight Of Permanent Perfectionism: 14

Better Off Dead: 13

Unusual mannerisms: 9

Made Of Steel: 9

Retchcon: 9 (+9)

Ballet Battler: 2

Spells ‘Team’ With An ‘I’: 2

First of all, as we can see, there were some traits to Cass’ character that can best be labelled as a case of Early Installment Weirdness and disappeared from her characterization after her defeat of Shiva.

Secondly, damn that Retchcon and Dubious Characterization counter! Late Post Crisis was really not kind to Cass, with Beechen in particular running her into the ground at every opportunity. Even just looking at it now hurts.

Thirdly, ignoring all the crappy Retchcons and Dubious Characterization, we now have a very clear picture of who Cass is. Her most defining traits remain:

Her aphasia, which resulted in her being very expressive with her body language and continued being an issue of varying degrees of severity, even after she learned to understand spoken language. Cass does not give grand speeches and reading is a very taxing process for her, but she did improve over the course of her Post Crisis history.

Her insane combat skills (Little Lady Of War), which, combined with her very assertive style of handling problems, her insane speed, and her very tacit nature, often caused people to be at least intimidated and sometimes even downright terrified of her.

Her tendency to blame herself for past failures, whether they are people she failed to save or mistakes she made while on the job. This is especially relevant since Cass’ loyalty is not towards any one person, but towards what the bat symbol represents.

Her tendency to sass out her opponents (and sometimes allies) with what little words she uses.

Now, as for her relationship with the Batfam, the following can be said in summary:

Bruce was both a mentor and a father figure to her, from the beginning to the end, with varying degrees of heartwarming/jerkish behavior. The latter was usually a result of post Jason’s death causing Bruce to be an emotional brick and put the mission before everything else. For most of the story… Cass did not mind all too much, at least if you can ignore Beechen’s retcons, although she was still happy about her eventual adoption. That said: if you ever want to trigger the Batdad in Bruce, let someone catcall after Cass and he’ll probably break the guy’s jaw.

Barbara was essentially Cass’s mother figure and trying very hard to nurture Cass’ civilian identity, much in contrast to Bruce’s and Cassandra’s approach. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Cass established a similar, if brief, relationship with Brenda while in Blüdhaven – another redhead with a kind, but firm approach to encouraging Cass to actually live her life for her own sake. It is a crying shame that the Barb and Cass had very few interactions after War Games, but it is hardly surprising, given that DC was in the process of writing almost every single woman/girl in the Batman stories out of these stories. One thing that should be mentioned: barring that single brain fart in Birds of Prey Vol 2, Barbara has always had Cass’ back, even during times when other members of the family did not trust her.

Speaking of which: Dick Grayson. Oh boy. This relationship started relatively neutral, with Dick being very much ok with Cass in their first interaction, despite Cass’ disability and her related quirks. Then it became heartwarming on screen, with Dick quickly coming to Cassandra’s aid and making sure she was okay during the “Soul” drug storyline in Batgirl and being very upset when she let him hit her during the Bruce Wayne: Murderer? storyline, as well as off screen, since he apparently acted out all the parts of Cinderella for her at one point. Then it took a complete nose dive into the opposite direction following Cass’ asinine turn to evil, which led to Dick being openly hostile towards her and not trusting her with… well, pretty much anything. It took Alfred shouting at him to reconcile the two and while their last few interactions were of the reasonably friendly nature again, it was too little too late. What a mess.

As for Tim, he went from not trusting her during their initial interaction to gradually accepting her as a member of the family to being very supportive of her and a very good friend, especially following War Games, when the two of them worked together in Blüdhaven. In contrast to Dick, Tim was much more willing to forgive Cass for her actions during her turn to evil and maintained a good, friendly relationship with her, even after she moved to Hong Kong. He was the one who gave her the Blackbat suit and reminded her that she was family and he was also the one who worked with her the most. Last but not least, he did not put up with Damian’s bullshit about Cass in Gates of Gotham. Good job, Tim! You’ve been a very good brother to Cass.

Speaking of Damian, he had very little interaction with her and went from “she sounds wonderful” before they met to being very abrasive towards her after they met and calling her “spineless, naïve and fragile”. Honestly, it comes across very unconvincingly and much more like Damian’s bruised ego trying to defend himself from someone who does actually live up to her reputation may be legitimately better than him in certain aspects. Either way, there is not much love lost between the two of them.

Next up: Stephanie. During their first meeting, Cass was rather cold towards Stephanie, mostly because of their difference in skill level. Cass’ concern about Stephanie not being strong enough to do the job remained for a long time, but she still grew to like and respect her as a friend and partner eventually, to the point where Stephanie could arguably be called Cass’ best friend. They chatted about boys, they played rooftop tag together, they discussed important changes in their lives, such as Stephanie becoming Robin. During War Games, Cass wanted to go looking for Steph because she was worried about her and only didn’t because Bruce promised he’d do it instead. Steph’s ‘death’ hit Cassandra hard, to the point where she hallucinated Stephanie being the one to greet her and comfort her on the other side of the pearly gates during two (near)death experiences. During Convergence, Stephanie and Cass lived together for a full year, supporting each other both physically and emotionally. Stephanie is, without the doubt, the best friend Cassandra ever had.

Finally, there is Alfred (because DC were cowards and never gave us Cass & Jason). Alfred, as always, was a real treasure. At first, he merely took care of Cass’ own Batcave home and later her apartment near Gotham U as per Bruce’s request. Then he went through the trouble of finding her the perfect apartment/secret cave combination in Blüdhaven. He was shocked to hear of her supposed death and upon her return to the Batfam and her moving into Wayne Manor was quick to point out that Cass felt like she did not belong there and that they should do more to reassure her that this was really her home and her family now, with no strings attached. More than anybody else in the family, Alfred recognized the often self-destructive need Cass felt to redeem herself for past failings and it is only thanks to his intervention that Dick reconciled with Cass. In short, over time, Alfred has come to care deeply about Cass, as he does about all the children that ever fought alongside Bruce/Batman.

Last but not least, a few notable mentions about other relationships Cass had with various people:

Cassandra has a complicated relationship with her father, if you ignore Adam Beechen’s horrible retcons. For eight years, Cain was all she had, and while she recognizes that he is a horrible human being and a lousy father (she beat him into a pulp over this), she also recognizes that he does actually care about her. As a result, Cass is not friendly with him, but she is not cruel towards him either.

Her mother, Lady Shiva, barely had anything to do with her and left her in Cain’s hands an hour after Cass was born. She mainly saw Cass as a tool (someone to finally defeat her in combat and later someone to help Nyssa Raatko lead the League Of Assassins), but showed at least some motherly concern when it was believed that Cassandra had been killed and Shiva helped Tim investigate her murder.

One of the few people she was close to before operating independently as Batgirl was Leslie Thompkins. Cass has insane respect for Leslie, because of her iron pacifist nature and was deeply saddened when Leslie broke ties with her during War Games. We sadly never got to see reunite on page.

Cassandra has had a rocky relationship with Huntress, mostly because Cass is staunchly anti-killing and because Batman took the Batgirl mantle from Huntress and gave it to Cass. Mind you, Barbara never approved of Helena as Batgirl.

She got along very well with Onyx, thanks to Onyx having been with the League Of Assassins before and thus actually being a challenge for Cass, while being a genuinely good person. Sad we didn’t get to see much of these two together.

Azrael (Jean-Paul) had a crush on her, which Cass did not quite reciprocate, but she wasn’t unfriendly to him either.

The first boy she ever kissed was Connor Kent (Superboy), even though she was annoyed with his way-too-carefree nature and his focus on her physical attractiveness. They broke up amicably.

She had three more dates with guys, none of which went anywhere.

And to round off our summary, here are some nice little bits and pieces of Cass

The first words she learned were, in chronological order: (thanks - incomplete), (goodbye - incomplete), stop, no, me, shutup, what, why, stay, instinct

She was 17 years old at the time of her introduction. Her birthday is January 26th.

Her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.

Cass is a big and messy eater.

Her home is very untidy and while in the manor she did not customize her room at all (no pictures or other mementos).

She likes horror movies (she really enjoyed Alien).

She is probably the only person in the family who really wants to be the next Batman and actually became Batman in some timelines/alternate universes.

She likes rice krispies, Assam tea, and long showers.

Cass can’t hold her liquor.

#Cassandra Cain #master post #counter summary #Post Crisis Cass summary

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rason-rodd · 7 years

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Can you write a fic about Jason finding out he has a daughter? Maybe Jason x Reader? IDK, you can spin that however you want.

Sorry it took some time but I was definitely inspired by the idea that I wrote a lot of pages. So this is the first part of the fanfic hoping you’ll like it. I tried to make something a bit different that what I used to read on the same theme.

The Child of The Red Hood/Jason Todd x Reader (PART 1)

He had failed. He had failedeverything. He had failed Gotham. He had failed his friends. He had failed hisfamily. The Red Hood was a failure. Jason Todd was a failure.

Helooked at his red dusty mask between his hand, staring at his own reflection.He was not the handsome young vigilante he used to be. He had salt and pepperhair now and even some crow’s feet in the corner of his blue eyes. Hell, evenhis brown leather jacket looked old and damaged. But most of all he had lost allof his mischief and his signature sarcasm.It made him laugh mirthlessly. Howpathetic he was. Time had definitely fucked him up. Or was it rather thealcohol? or his miserable life? or perhaps a bit of everything?

Heput down the mask on the table nearby when he heard the sound of footstepsbehind him.

“ Todd. Believe it or not I’m gladyou are here” Damian Wayne. He had changed too, but in a good way. Lucky him.He was not the little obnoxious brat anymore. He was a tall man with broadshoulders and an undeniable self-confidence, the spitting image of his father.No wonder people believed Batman was immortal. In that costume, Damian couldfool anyone. Bruce would have been proud.“ I still don’t get why I’m here though.” “ You know Grayson. He’s never been good at making plans but he wouldn’t havecalled you with no reason.”“ And I do have a reason.” A weirdlycroaky voice said in the back.

Jason’seyes widened when he saw the man he used to envy back in the days he was young andreckless. Dick Grayson. What had happened to him? Condemned to spend his lastdays in a wheel chair with an amputated leg and the memories of the good old timeswhen he was still able to jump from rooftops. Time had screwed Jason up but thebattle had made Dick lose his wings. Nightwing was no more. But he was stillfighting and this is why Jason thought he was still better than him.

Andhe still had people by his side contrary to him.

Jasonglanced at you. You were accompanying Dick; a beautiful young lady, probably in her early twenties, withlong [Y/HC] hair tied in a silk ponytail. You were wearing a black, red and yellow costume with a bird symbol on the chest. The similarity with Nightwing’s costumewas striking and that is why Jason immediately assumed you were Flamebird, thegirl Dick had taken under his wing few years ago. He had heard a lot of rumoursabout you. Apparently you were not the kind of girl that tends to do things byhalf.You went to stand by Damian whileDick approached a table placed in the middle of the room. The new Batmanglanced at you with a smile. A smily Damian? That was new.

Ahologram of Gotham appeared on the table.“ Luke sent me information concerningthe Kanes’ new project. Apparently they released their robotic soldiers inGotham’s underground to flush us out.” “ How could they find us? Drake conceived this hideout so that no one couldenter without prior authorisation.” “ I guess they somehow found a breach when they tortured Tim to death. They aimto blow us all with a bomb” “ So what’s the plan. We leave?” “ We could but the explosion will make the underground foundations collapse andArkham Asylum along with them.” The mention of a potential explosion made Jason shiver. “Thebomb is remote controlled from Wayne Tower according to Luke. I need a team toinfiltrate the tower and hacked the system to prevent the explosion.” “ That doesn’t explain why I’m here.” Jason said a bit annoyed. You glared athim, definitely not happy to have him here. “ That should reassure you. Perhapsyou won’t be needed after all.” “[Y/N]” Dick sighed. “What? I don’t see why we would need this coward.” “ A coward?” Jason was offended. “Listen to me, little girl. I was doing this jobway before you were born and I lost so many things, so many people I loved todo it. You can tell me I failed them all but don’t you ever call me a cowardagain.” You remained still and stern, definitely not affected at all by hiswords or ready to give him right.“ Tim died. So did Bruce and Barbara. Dick lost his leg and God knows what happened to Stephanie. Butyou, you left the fight, you abandoned us. If that’s not being a coward, whatis it? You don’t deserve to be among us.”“ All right that’s enough” Dickyelled. He immediately coughed and started hyperventilated. You ran towards himto give him his Ventolin. “I’m sorry.” Dick patted your shoulder and kissed yourforehead tenderly. “It’s okay [Y/N]. Damian can you keep going?” “ Sure. I’ll lead the infiltration with Cassandra. I know the place by heart.We should be able to defuse the bomb and handle both Colonel Kane and Kate.[Y/N] and Todd you’ll stay here to repel the enemy and prevent them fromsetting the bomb.”

You groaned discreetly not likingthis plan. “Why can’t I come with you?” You asked disappointed and bit offended not to be part of the biggest part of the mission. Jason raised an eyebrow. Okay youdidn’t like him but that didn’t mean you had to be so despicable. “ I’d rather want you here.” Damian said grabbing you by the hands and staringat you right in the eye. Talking about proximity. “Fine.” “ I didn’t say I agreed to do it.” Jason said. You had this defying look thateveryone noticed though you decided to remain silent by respect for Dick. Hewas like the father you never had. He had taken you in when you were still aninfant, raised you and taught you everything.“ Jason,you’re the only one I trust that can do this. If there had been someone elsethen I would not have bothered you.” “ Pretty sure I can handle the A.I robots on my own.” “ Oh really little bird. How?” “ I can fight. I don’t need some old outlaw with two guns to back me up.” “ You mean you’re the one who’s gonna back me up, kiddo”“ We’ll see that, old man” You said before leaving the room with a defying andsatisfied smile.

When youleft, Jason frowned a bit dubious. “Did I just accidentally accepted just toshut that little girl’s mouth?” “ I believe you did, Todd.” Damian said. “ But don’t worry [Y/N] often tend tomake everyone do that.” And he left with a smile that let Jason a bitsceptical. “ I’m glad you’re in and I’m sure [Y/N] is too.”“ I doubtit. That kid despises me.” “ Just give her a chance. She might surprise you.” Jason stayed silent for ashort while. Bruce had told him the same thing: Give people a chance. Theymight surprise you. That’s how he ended up being a member of a family again. “ She got spunk. You’ve got to admit it.”“ Yes it’s even surprising for someone who’s your sidekick.” “ She inherited it from her father. The power of the genes.”“ … doesn’t always do people good.” It made Dick chuckle. “What?” Jason asked. “ Doesn’t she remind you of someone?”

Yes, youreminded him of someone. You reminded him of him, when he was playing sidekick onrooftops with the big bad bat: same youth, same boldness, same problematictemper. His beloved wife had told him when she was pregnant that their daughterwould be just like that too, that she could feel it in the way she was kickingin the womb. “We’ll have to manage.” He had joked. Though he never got thechange to manage, as they were both taken away from him in a tragic explosion.After that,he just threw the towel and packed up his red hood in a box.And today, he had it back in his hands and had just agreed to wear it again becauseof an insolent little brat. What the hell?

(PART2)

#jason todd #red hood #jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #dick grayson #nightwing #damian wayne #robin #batman #fanfic

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abiik · 4 years

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LET'S DO THIS! [rubs my little hands together gleefully] what was the best day of zoe's life (to date)? what about the worst day? how did she become close(r) with the batfam? any heroes she Doesn't get along with? where's the strangest place she's ever been? the farthest from home she's ever been? which villains does she have particular grudges against, if any? does she have a history with any specific villains/criminals? favorite animal? what music does she listen to? any tats/piercings?

my!! heart!! is!! soaring!! im so excited to gush!!

- what was the best day of zoe's life?

hmmm. this one's kind of hard. she's had plenty of amazing days in her life: the twins being born, beating donna in a fight for the first time, the day she remembered jason and realized he was alive. i think one particular best day was the first time she ever managed to fly without crashing.

- worst day?

zoe's had a few bad days in her life. probably about four or five have been the worst days of her life: the day her younger brothers died, the day her mother disappeared, the day she found out jason died, the day kai disappearee, and the day she returned to gotham to tell everyone she was back - but most importantly, dick. the first two happened within about a year or two of each other. her baby brothers - twins and the absolute lights of her life - were murdered by the joker before zoe officially moved to gotham. her mother left soon after, fucking distraught over their deaths, and then z was left with her older brother, her uncle, and her gran-gran. then life just went on. and then jason's death happened and it hurt even worse bc one) once again, that fucking CLOWN was taking away someone she cared about so much, and two) bruce didn't tell her when it first happened. she found out after the funeral and fucking blew up. needless to say, that began her downward spiral before her own 'death.' then, she found out, that kai had disappeared. just up and left where he was going to school and was never seen again. zoe didn't know about it soonet bc someone was posing as him, sending her messages as kai, posting pictures, pretending to be kai. and then she found out it wasn't kai. this too kind of led to zoe's own disappearance.

and then the day she returned to announce she was back. zoe probably dreaded this day the most. she knew what she'd done, that she'd just up and left - yeah, sure, it was to save the people of her home planet and to stop her father's reign - but then she'd started drinking to forget. she didn't die from the fight with her father like they said she did, but she was pretty injured, and one of the worst injuries was her head. drinking to forget the people she loved, willingly, instead of letting it all come back, no matter how painful, emotionally and physically, was a dick move. and then to come back to people who thought she was dead, who mourned her, and hope that everything could go back to a semblance of what was before? dick, most specifically, was pissed. not only at zoe, but bruce and diana and everyone involved in the cover up of zoe's 'death.' it hurt zoe to have hurt dick like that and then he said he needed space to think it over and reality kind of hit zoe then, that things wouldn't be the same between them.

- how did she become close(r) with the batfam?

she became closer to the batfam through diana - and by becoming a vigilante herself! zoe's great grandfather is chief who diana was close with in my verse, and diana has always just kind of been present in zoe's family history ever since. so when z's mom left and her uncle took her and kai in, diana was also there to help. diana was the one who got her uncle a job in gotham and enrolled them in school. diana also started training zoe more closely and thus, zoe grew closer to donna, who knew dick, as robin.

zoe became a vigilante on her own when she moved to gotham and it mostly started with protecting sex workers on the streets or people walking home. it's easy for a grown man to underestimate a tiny 12 year old girl and all of them were in for a pretty big surprise when she manages to knock them out with a single punch. diana started training zoe more exclusively then and during breaks, zoe would usually go to themyscira while kai would go home to the ranch. she kind of got on bruce's radar through both diana and her own chaotic antics around gotham. we all know bruce's anti-meta rule that he had before duke and we all know how territorial he is, so and when he decided to test her and she passed, only to say "you're not the boss of me!" and run off to continue doing her own thing, bruce was...kinda peeved but also definitely intrigued.

her main link to the batfam before jason, was dick, through donna, through the titans. z wasn't an official member of the og titans -- she didn't necessarily have a mentor/boss/parent figure as a superhero -- but she tagged along on some missions. she became friends with dick, started hanging out with him outside of vigilante work, and then because bruce was a little annoyed by ALL OF IT, decided to stick around to watch the old man squirm.

and then jason came around and they didn't necessarily hit it off right away, but eventually they both came around. z cracked enough jokes and they finally had a heart to heart about some shit, and then it was like they were connected at the hip. and THEN jason got his own titans group - it wasn't very long, but they all formed a close bond very quickly - and zoe just got more tied up in everything.

after his death, zoe stuck around for dick and alfred and bc even tho bruce kept it from her and refused to do anything about the joker, she respected his code and that he too was mourning. tim was robin almost directly after jason and z liked him well enough, they got along. she wasn't around for tim's run as robin for very long, however, after snapping and killing the joker (who for the sake of the story, did NOT atay dead), zoe wasn't really around bruce a lot. she mostly did her own thing like looking for kai and her mother.

and then her dad arrived. zoe sacrificed herself to protect the earth, ended up 'dying' to the rest of the world, and then wandered in space as a drunken amnesiac for like,,, six years fighting off her dad's attempts at fucking with the universe before she ended up back on earth tracking down info about her dad and kai. that's when jason, as red hood, alongside rose wilson (bc i fucks with her and eddie as jason's outlaws moreso than roy and kory) runs into her. there's a whole lot of other shit that happens; the reason z and jason run into each other again has to do with a missing ex-titans member and then z, being z, offers to help them find this ex-member and they all kind of help her get her memories back.

shit is kind of tough after coming back when everyone thinks you've been dead but really you've just been drinking away all of your thoughts of the people you loved ans who loved you and you left behind so that they cant be used against you. like zoe def thinks ACTUALLY DYING and coming back would be so much better than what she did.

dick is....reasonably upset when she comes back and explains what happened, even if he does understand what kind of shit head her dad is. and damian takes dick's side on it and kind of shuns zoe. so z ends up hanging out with jason and tim's horde of friends where she ends up adopting conner as her brother and becoming good friends with cass and steph.

damian comes around much later and it's only because he found out she could talk to animals and spent like his whole afternoon having her translate what each of his pets thinks of him and the rest of the family. and when duke comes around, he and zoe hit it off pretty quickly and he, jason, cass, and zoe all hang out often.

- any heroes she doesn't get along with?

bruce. kind of. they've got like a love hate relationship. she doesn't tolerate his bullshit and she's very protective of all of his kids when he starts isolating himself.

barbara at times bc zoe has a tendency to go off track and do what she thinks needs to be done and that can piss barbara off. other than that, though, they're cool with each other.

rose, at first. but then both of them were like "...cool girl....with a cool fucking sword....okay....i can fuck with that."

zoe gets along with a lot of people in general. there are probably a few that im missing but usually zoe's only got a problem with you if you've done something to hurt her, her family/friends, or you're a downright dick. she looks for the good in people and once you've lost her trust, it's really hard to win it back. so any hero that's done any of those things, zoe probably doesn't even acknowledge they exist.

- where's the strangest place she's ever been?

hmmm. def some far away planet in the galaxy. i do have a hc that she ends up going to a certain planet, gets jumped by bounty hunters while in the middle of a one night stand, fights them off, and her one night stand STILL wanted to have sex with her, covered in blood and guts. it was a strange night for sure.

(also i havent mapped out a lot of zoe's off world adventures so i cant give you more! sorry!)

- the farthest from home she's ever been?

zoe's made it to the edge of the galaxy.

- which villains does she have particular grudges against, if any?

THE JOKER. zoe hates that bitch with a burning passion.

harley. zoe is sympathetic towards her for the shit she went through with the joker but zoe also can't forgive that she did nothing when it came to her brothers' deaths.

her father.

ra's al ghul. just kind of in general with this guy.

lex luthor! bc of the shit that conner's been through with that dude

oh! and like trigon. fuck that guy!

scarecrow. the fear gas has worked on her once and she still has nightmares about it.

- does she have any history with any specific villians/criminals?

those mentioned above. her dad's associates.

selina kyle. but... in a good way. they're friends.

kai.

slade wilson.

ares.

she broke the penguin's nose once and it made jason lose his composure and giggle snort which led to zoe falling over laughing for like five minutes.

black mask.

- favorite animal?

zoe, honestly, would probably not be able to choose just one! i'm gonna choose three and say horses, bears, and eagles.

- what music does she listen to?

honestly tbh, anything! her playlists are full of a whole bunch of shit across the board. sometimes she'll listen to classics, sometimes she'll listen to obscure sea shanties, other times she'll dance around to the 2000s top hundred on repeat for three days straight. it's mostly just about what she's feeling.

- any tats/piercings?

yes!! she has a few ear piercings - two in the lobe and two in the cartilage on both sides - and a septum piercing!

she also has a tattoo along her left shoulder blade and down her back. it's of a chinese dragon with floral designs, particularly lillies and a cherry blossom tree. the design is mixed with chinese and navajo influence to represent both cultures.

send asks about zoe!

#enckeeksken this got so long and im on mobile #so sorry about the lack of a read more #imma tag this #long post #oc: zoe huang #i basicslly did like a run down of zoe's background for you!#im so excited to do more bc i love talking about her #h talks.#oc ramblings #oc asks #mutuals

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zombiesbecrazy · 7 years

Text

Regular People

Summary: All sorts of people can enjoy a good sunrise over the city after a long night. Why should heroes of Gotham be any different? (Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon).

ao3

Robert Lee looked up and smiled.

It was just before five in the morning and he was walking to work, just as he did every day. Even though he lived quite a way out of the downtown core he knew that it had been a rough night in the city. He had seen some highlights on the TV while he drank his coffee, and even now he could still hear the sirens in the distance. There had been a big throw down on the East Side last night. Riddler or Joker or some other psycho did something that hurt a lot of people. Or was going to hurt a lot of people. Or something.

Sometimes when you live in Gotham you can lose track of which villain is doing what and why. You just always have to assume that there is something going on and to be prepared.

Robert kept a gas mask in his bag, just in case.

Seeing a few heroes together was pretty commonplace and over the years he had witnessed all sorts of team ups. The regular Batman and Robin. The shorter Batman and Robin. Nightwing and Red Robin. Batgirl and Black Canary. Red Hood and Catwoman, though even Robert thought that one was a little weird. However, everyone in Gotham knew that if you saw more than five vigilantes together that things were probably bad. Very bad. But they also knew that those caped crazies were going to do everything they could to keep them safe.

That morning he had seen from the TV that it was one of those battles, when all the masks showed up to work together. All of the Bats and Birds as local television stations liked to call them. He wondered what the group called themselves privately, like the Church of the Sacred Bat or something equally weird.

On early mornings after such an event like that it wasn’t uncommon for him to see outlines of two familiar figures sitting on top of Brown Bridge, watching the sun come up together. It was this that made him smile because he knew that it meant the city had to be safe, at least for now.

Nightwing and Batgirl only went up there after a battle was done and Gotham was safe again.

The location made sense in Robert’s mind. Nightwing now worked out of Bludhaven to the south and Batgirl seemed to be stationed in Burnside or Sommerset from what he could tell from the internet sightings. While definitely closer to Burnside, the bridge was sort of half way between the two.

Though the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had been seeing them on the bridge far longer than that.

Early on, when he first started the morning crew shift, he use to see Batgirl up there with Robin after a long night, her red hair and his yellow cape flying around in the wind. Robin gave way to Nightwing over time, and now Robert could no longer count how many times he had seen them up there, having a moment of calm after what was probably a long night. He had seen them sit close together. Far apart. Having what looked like heated arguments, chatting amicably or sitting in content silence. There had been a few years where he had seen Nightwing there by himself and it made Robert sad to see him sitting there solo, until one day Batgirl was back with him. Robert had felt like he was able to release a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. They were sitting closer than ever that day and it looked like Nightwing had his arms wrapped tight around her.

Once he thought he saw them kiss and part of him wanted to applaud but stopped himself before he spoiled the moment. It was a very private moment he was trespassing on, after all.

As he approached the foot of the bridge, he gazed up and saw them watching him, as they sometimes did. So he waved.

They waved back, as usual. They were sitting very close today. He hoped that they were happy. They looked it right now.

He had never mentioned these sightings to anyone, not even his wife. It felt like something secret and personal and not really anyone else’s business. What those heroes did in their downtime was their own prerogative and they deserved a bit of peace after a long night. He could give them that after all they did for him and the rest of the city.

Robert smiled and continued on his way to work. It was a good morning.

***

Dick and Barbara sat with their coffees on the beam over Brown Bridge, legs dangling beneath them. It was something of a tradition that they had been doing since they were kids after a long battle. As a young Batgirl and Robin this point was the farthest they were allowed to go from the cave while still being ‘in bounds’ according to Batman’s rules. It was far enough away that they felt independent but close enough that if something were to happen, they could make it to the closest safehouse. Now, it was pretty much halfway between their homes and it gave them the perfect place to catch up before calling it a night.

“I’m going to need some ice later,” groaned Barbara. She kept flexing and extending her left knee gingerly. She had tweaked it when she kicked one of the Talons during the fight; she hadn’t noticed then but it was protesting a lot now. “I really hate The Court of Owls.”

Dick gave a little smirk, “I’m starting to get the impression that they don’t like us too much either.”

“I think they might like you a little too much.” Barbara eyed Dick carefully but he pretended to ignore her comment. She knew he didn’t like talking about his connection to the Court and thankfully she pivoted the conversation. “That’s going to leave a mark.” She pointed to Dick’s jaw and he moved it slowly and grimacing at the large crack the joint made.

He raised his hand and touched it, wincing slightly. “It’s a good thing that a girl I once knew taught me how to use concealer so that I can stay pretty even after getting my ass handed to me.”

“We both know that Bruce is better at makeup than me and he taught you the secret art of contouring way before it became cool.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes and watched the city start to come alive as the sun began to light up the sky. It was one of Dick’s favourite things to do; watch the sunrise from up high and just bask in the simple sense of calm post fight with Barbara at his side.

Seeing a familiar sight below, Dick set his coffee down beside him. “Hey, Babs. Look.”

“Is it Robert? I haven’t seen him in ages.” Barbara turned her head to the direction that she knew he would be coming from and a smile broke out over her face when she spotted him on the dark sidewalk below.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve been here on a weekday.” Robert was a morning person, with an unusual spring in his step for a time of day that most people were still asleep. There was a little more grey in his hair than last time Dick had seen him, but he looked fit and happy. “He looks good. I hope he’s doing alright. His wife wasn’t doing well last time I checked.”

Barbara nodded, “I checked her hospital files. She’s in remission. All signs are good.”

“That’s great news.” Dick poked Barbara in the side, “Stop hacking hospitals, Oracle.” But he was glad that she had. It was probably strange that they knew so much about a man they had never met and didn’t have any ties to Gotham baddies. In all ways, he was just a regular man. But he was their regular man and they had to make sure he was alright.

The regular people were the whole point of their irregular night jobs.

“It was important,” she said unapologetically and then took a long sip of her coffee, “He’s our friend.”

“A friend that we’ve never spoken to. Or seen at street level.”

“He’s a friend that keeps our secret spot a secret. Has for years. As far as I can tell, he’s never said a word to anyone.” Barbara nudged his leg a bit with her own and he smiled back. “He’s watched us grow up, Boy Wonder.”

Dick eyes grew large at the thought of what that must have looked like from Robert’s point of view, the things he could have seen between them. “Do you think he knows that Robin grew up to be Nightwing?”

“Oh, sweetie,” Barbara reached over and messed up Dick’s hair, “Everybody knows that. Worst kept secret in Gotham.”

Dick wondered what other secrets the man knows about them from just a few glances over the years, besides codenames and hair colour. Not real identities, obviously, but does he know how much they mean to each other? How much it hurt when Barbara couldn’t join him up here? How he’s glad that she’s back in the field but terrified that something will happen to her again? How he’s head over heels in love with her but they could never get the timing right?

He sighed to himself. That’s probably the second worst kept secret in Gotham.

Dick leaned over a little so that his shoulder touched Barbara’s, placed his hand on hers and smiled as she squeezed back. He could see the small grin on her face as well.

Robert looked up as he crossed underneath and waved in greeting.

They waved back, smiling, still holding hands.

This was a good morning.

#batfic #dick grayson #barbara gordon #nightwing #batgirl #fanfiction #batman fanfiction

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vampykitty-kun · 7 years

Note

Hi! I'm really interested in reading comics/graphic novels about or featuring the Batkids, and you seem like you know about that kind of thing (or at least more than I do, although it's a low bar), so do you think you could give me some suggestions to get started with? Also, I've seen some DC stuff at the library with "Death of the Family" on it but some is Batman and some is Batgirl and I think I saw a Teen Titans one and are they all connected or something? I'm confused. Thanks!

Yes! I do know quite a bit about comicsin the BatFam area, I just unfortunately can’t recommend anythingthat came out in the last 2 years as I’ve not read it. But 1989-2015I can give LOTS of recommendations.

For the most part any title can be astandalone, but titles do unfortunately get wrapped up in companywide events at times. But if you read the GN rather than theindividual comics they try and keep events to their own combo storybooks and character titles to their own.

This is such a huge list that I’mputting it under the cut so you click to read it instead of everyonegetting spammed with a HUGE list of things…

Here is what I’d recommend:

-Jason Todd as Robin II (Later known asRed Hood): It seems as though the majority of Jason writers presentday neglected to actually read his original issues, because they basetheir knowledge and opinion of him on what readers in the 80’sTHOUGHT of him, and unfortunately at the time many people hatedJason. Much of the hate was for a Robin in general as at the timeplenty of people thought Bruce should be on his own. No Batgirl (seethe Killing Joke) and no Robin. So the hate was for the role ingeneral. And then you had Robin fans that hated him just because theydidn’t want anyone trying to replace Dick’s role even though Dick hadmoved on to Nightwing. Jason as Robin issues are Batman #408-428, andNew Teen Titans Vol2 #19-21, 24, 28-31. I’m sure there were issues ofDetective Comics, but I have no idea which. In recent years much ofthese issues are in GNs but some of the issues are not, so you mayhave to look those up individually to read online or buy them instores with older issues. These GN are- Batman: Second Chances(Batman Issues #402-403, 408-416, and Annual #11), Batman Ten NightsOf The Beast (Batman Issues #417-420), DC Comics Classics Library:Batman- A Death In The Family, Hard Cover (Batman Issues #426-429,440-442, New Teen Titans Vol2 #60-61). this edition of “A Death InThe Family” contains both the death of Jason and the introductionof Tim, which was a story focused around Jason. So it’s a 2-for-1deal. There’s also a GN called Batman: The Cult and Jason’s the Robinwith Bruce in that story as well though I’m not sure where to placethat in the chronology.

-Tim as Robin III (Later known as RedRobin): Tim had an excellent run as Robin. He had 3 mini-seriesbefore he had an entire run of his own that spanned 183 main issues,not counting team ups or annuals. All while also appearing in theother Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl titles. Plenty of issues werecompany wide tie-in issues but the rest were all put into their ownGNs. Robin: A Hero Reborn (Batman #455-457, Robin Mini-series1 #1-5),Robin: Tragedy & Triumph (Detective Comics #618-621, RobinMini-series2 #1-4), Robin Mini-series3: Cry Of the Huntress #1-6 isnot in a GN that I know of, then the rest of his main run in FlyingSolo, Unmasked!, Fresh Blood, To Kill a Bird, Days of Fire andMadness, The Virtual Cell, Wanted, Teenage Wasteland, The BigLeagues, Violent Tendencies, and Search for a Hero.

Likewise…

-Dick as Nightwing in his solo title(Vol2): 153 issues not counting team ups or annuals. Like with Robinmany of these issues are tied in with company wide events, and therest are in their own GNs. I recommend the 2014-present editions asthey have a bit more in them, better paper/graphics, and are wayeasier to find, but they haven’t remade all of them yet. Nightwing:Blüdhaven, Nightwing: Rough Justice, Nightwing: False Starts,Nightwing: Love and Bullets, Nightwing: The Hunt For Oracle are thenew editions. Continuing from there the older editions are:Nightwing: Big Guns, Nightwing: On the Razor’s Edge, Nightwing: YearOne, Nightwing: Mobbed Up, Nightwing: Renegade, Nightwing: Brothersin Blood, Nightwing: Love and War, Nightwing: The Lost Year,Nightwing: Freefall.

-Batman Knightfall: One of the classicBatman stories, in which the main bad is the villain Bane, whoseriously injures Bruce. This story spans three GNs: Broken Bat, WhoRules The Night, and Knightsend

-Batman Cataclysm: Another classic. Amassive earthquake hits Gotham and decimates the city. This can befound in one GN, thought look for what I think is the 2012 edition ofthe book not the one one as they included a lot of previous cut storyin the newer edition.

-Batman No Man’s Land: FollowsCataclysm. Essentially Gotham is covered in rubble and a massiveterritory war breaks out between BatFam, GSPD, and several separategroups of Gotham’s baddies. It spans 4 super thick GNs in the 2012newer edition (don’t bother with the older editions) but also has areally enjoyable novelization if you would prefer to read it inwritten format!

-Batman Hush: Essentially Bruce vs Hushand sometimes Clayface, and a story that unintentionally set up JuddWinick to bring Jason back to life lol…one GN in more recenteditions but was previously 2 smaller GNs. I do not know if there isa difference but generally larger book versions have a bit extra inthem.

-Batman Under the Red Hood: Jasonreturns as the Red Hood, sending Bruce on an emotional rollercoaster, while Joker and Black Mask end up roped in. Lots of peopleinvolved. Like Hush this come in one or two book format. I have thesingle book format. This story was adapted into an animated movie,one that also takes a few moments from “A Death In The Family”,but the beginning part was highly modified to make it a stand alonefilm, so several key details are removed. I do recommend watching themovie, but after reading both “A Death In The Family” and thecomic version of “Under The Red Hood”, so you get the fullexperience.

-Batman War Crimes, War Drums, and WarGames (WG is three GNs long): this connects into both Robin and RedHood. This is unfortunately where Stephanie (Spoiler, brief Robin IV,Batgirl) “dies” and there’s a massive war against Black mask.It’s five GNs total.

I pretty much have to recommend anyBatman Titled GN that comes after that as it goes more into Hush,Damian comes in and there’s a lot of plot to cover there, Bruce“dies” and the mantle is picked up by Dick, and it was a heck ofride until the reboot happened.

Outside of main Batman titles aroundthat time I have to HIGHLY recommend the following:-Batmanand Robin: Basically Dick and Damian’s team-up book series. Itspanned three GN with Morrison, and one after him totaling four. Wealso got more Jason here, and his sorta Batgirl type sidekickSasha/Scarlet. Admittedly it was weird because Morrison thought itwould be fun to give Jason red hair (something the main version ofJason never had, but had in issues for another version of Jason thatwas scrapped before any issues I mentioned in this post) and bulk himup. But if you can gt around that the actual plot on the Jason endwasn’t too bad and had some gems. But the Dick and Damian interactionand banter is the treasure here.

-Batman Streets Of Gotham: Again moreof Dick and Damian as Batman and Robin. But here we get Thomas Elliot(Hush) who surgically had his face changed to look like Bruce, and hefill Bruce’s public role under very close watch. We also get Damian’slittle friend Colin Wilkes (Abuse) who ends up close to him. He turnsinto a giant bulky rage man good guy :)

-Red Robin: Tim’s new solo series thatstarted after Damian took up being Robin and Dick went from Nightwingto being Batman. It’s 4 GNs long and was amazing. I can’t stress thatenough. I still mourn it ending. You get Tim on his own, you get himgoing up against/working with/outsmarting/impressing Ra’s al Ghul.You get Prudence Wood, one of Ra’s assassins that ends up liking andworking with Tim. You get Tam Fox, and Stephanie, and Conner Kent.

-Batgirl Vol3 (Stephanie Brown asBatgirl): Stephanie came back from faking her death, took back upSpoiler, only for Tim to demand she stop being Spoiler. He shouldhave been more specific, and she DOES drop Spoiler but then becomesBatgirl with previous Batgirl’s (Casandra) blessing lol. Spanned 24issues in three GNs but they are hard to find. Obviously there isCasandra’s run as Batgirl but i’ve never actually read it so I findit wrong of me to suggest it before I have so it’s up to you if youwant to hunt those down as well. But Casandra’s run was 73 issuesVol-1 (7 GN) sand 6 issues Vol-2 (which is in a single GN)

-Teen Titans Vol3 (Tim, Conner, Bart,etc) spans twelve GNs and had its ups and downs, but if you’re a teamfan this is a good series to read.

-Catwoman: A few different runs, andsome stand alone books. They’re all good pre-reboot. Read them ifyou’re a Catwoman fan :)

Now as far as books NOT in the main runof pre-reboot comics I also REALLY need to recommend the following:

Batman Year One: Bruce’s first year asBatman. Also Gordon’s first year on the job. One GN. Awesome and alsoadapted into an animated movie.

-Robin Year One & Batgirl Year One:These come in separate books or both in one big book. The Robin inmention is Dick and the Batgirl is Barbara. Both are fantasticstories.

-Huntress Year One: Huntress’ originstory. This is the Huntress that is NOT Bruce’s daughter from anotherEarth, this is the Mob associated one that was also featured in theTV series Arrow.

Superboy / Robin World’s Finest Three:two tiny GNs that tell the story of Tim and Conner’s first meeting.They end up going against Metallo and Poison Ivy.

JLA: World Without Grown-ups: This is astory spanning again two tiny GNs. Where Tim (Robin), Conner(Superboy), and Bart (Impulse, later known as Kid Flash) team up whensuddenly all the adults are in one dimension and all the underagepeople are in another.

Red Hood: The Lost Days: the story ofwhat happened between Jason’s resurrection and when he came back toGotham in Under The Red Hood. It’s one GN.

There are also some alternate universe stories that came out pre-reboot called Elseworld’s stories. Here are some good ones:

Batman:Brotherhood of the Bat: Alternate Universe what-if type story. Thisstory is if Talia had joined Bruce in Gotham and abandoned her fatherRa’s and his ways. The story is centered around their son, TallantWayne. This was an AU created before Damian entered the comics andthus one of many stories where Bruce and Talia’s son had a differentname. Bruce is dead and Tallant has to face his grandfather. This wasone thin GN but did have a sequel…

Batman: League ofBatmen: takes place after the above and spans two GNs to finish thestory.

Thrillkiller Batgirl & Robin: 3 issue AU where Barbara and Dick are the first vigilantes in Gotham in the 1960′s and go up against a FEMALE Joker. Bruce is a legit Detective. Every bit of this story is PAINTED and it’s amazing. It is followed up by a sequel.

Thrillkiller ‘62: Takes place where the above left off. But now Bruce is Batman alongside ‘Batgirl’. I won’t spoil the events of the above to give goo detail here lol.

Superman: Speeding Bullets: AU where Baby Kal-El crashes into Earth, where he is discovered by Thomas and Martha Wayne. The couple decide to adopt Kal-El, and name him Bruce. Fuses the two characters together. Thomas and Martha still die. “Bruce” becomes a flying Batman and later Superman.Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Pretty much the most popular and longest AU that DC did. Spans 1 thick GN or multiple tiny ones. Not the greatest of art/setup but still good. Think of this as an AU Future Fic taking place after Jason died and Bruce retired instead of Tim coming along. Then he comes out of retirement to be a total badass. I do NOT however recommend any of the sequels or prequels because they are just BAD. This was adapted into TWO animated films which I honestly think I recommend more than the GNs due to the art.Post Reboot we hit the New 52. It had its up and downs. Nothing BatFam was particularly terrible but very little was amazing. personally the first 4-6 volumes of GNs for any given series was worth a read but not necessarily a buy. I read all the BatFam titles and the only ones that were MEH for me were Catwoman and Teen Titans. Red Hood and the Outlaws wasn’t for everyone, but I personally enjoyed it other than some details like Jason suddenly having magic??? and Kori having some personality issues but I was glas she wasn’t ditzy if that makes sense, and I really loved her character design even if I wish she at least had a touch more clothing on (once she was in a space suit and it was amazing). Suicide Squad isn’t technically BatFam but it had Harley in it in the New 52 and it was amazing even if I hated her visual re-design. Talon was a branch off of a Batman story line, and a specific character got his own title that spanned 2 GNs and was enjoyable.

Past that any Gns involving Batman The Animated Series are great, so are the Young Justice GNs.

I also have a huge love for the Batman Beyond show and Comics, but after the reboot they messed that up too.

#BatFam

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hamlet-writes · 7 years

Text

Epistemophobia- Pt. 1

Sometimes, the best discoveries happen completely on accident.

Three gunshots rang through the heavily perfumed air, and socialites shrieked and swore as Jonathan and his hired grunts strode calmly through the front door. Women clutched pearls to their chests with an aghast gasp and scrambled out of the way, leaving a clear path leading directly underneath the huge yellow diamond chandelier hanging over the gala like a spider in its web.

Why do they still hold these things? Jonathan thought. They always get robbed. He stopped just before the chandelier, holding up a hand to signal his henches to do the same.

"Evenin' ladies and gentlemen," Jonathan said, adjusting his mask. The whole room fell silent, all eyes fixed fearfully on him. Excellent.

"Lovely time you're havin' here, isn't it? No expense spared, I see. Even had this specially made and shipped in, didn't you?" Jonathan continued, gesturing towards the chandelier. "From...Italy, I believe?" One of the partygoers stepped forward, raising his hands in the air as Jonathan's henches trained their weapons on him. Jonathan smirked when he saw who it was- the host himself, Bruce Wayne.

"Please, gentlemen," Wayne said, hazarding another step forward. "There's no need for violence. We'll give you whatever it is you want."

"Oh, I'm certain you will, Mr. Wayne," Jonathan said, slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out the trigger mechanism. After a moment's hesitation he added, "You may want to take a step back." With a brief glance behind him to make sure all his henches were wearing their gas masks Jonathan pressed the trigger. The nanoexplosive planted on the chain of the chandelier blew, and Wayne dove back into the crowd as it crashed to the floor.

The discovery of frozen fear toxin, like many other great discoveries, had happened purely by accident. In an intellectual discussion with Freeze gone wrong Jonathan had made the mistake of mentioning Nora. Victor had attacked, Jonathan had retaliated, and the frozen fear toxin had shattered on the floor and been released just as it was now. Gotham's richest and most influential screamed as fear gas billowed through the room, trying to no avail to escape their own personal nightmares. Jonathan allowed himself to grin underneath his mask, observing the chaos for a moment before turning to his henches.

"Grab anything of value and load it in the van," he said. "Quickly." They nodded, fanning out through the crowd and relieving the now-incoherent partygoers of their possessions. He turned his attention back to the crowd.

"Bruce Wayne," he mused, stepping over the twisted remains of the chandelier and kneeling in front of Wayne, who stared ahead in muted terror. Jonathan grabbed him by the face, studying him carefully.

"What could a spoiled little brat like you possibly be afraid of?" he wondered aloud. Wayne murmured in his delirium, fixated on something (or someone) that wasn't there. Jonathan leaned forward so that his ear was at Wayne's lips, listening intently to his words.

"Father...no, I'm- I couldn't- Mom..." he whispered.

"Yes, always the parents, isn't it," Jonathan noted, his lips twitching upwards in the ghost of a smile.

"No...Harvey! You don't- Barbara! Jason! Jason!"

Jonathan's smile died as the realization dawned on him. He'd heard these words all before, but someone else has been saying them.

Or else he hadn't.

"Jesus christ on a cross," Jonathan breathed, releasing Wayne and leaning back. Hardly daring to believe it he raised one hand in the air, covering the top half of Wayne's face. The resemblance was unmistakable. Jonathan stood, thankful his henches couldn't see his shocked expression beneath his mask. He gestured for the one nearest him to approach, and she did so apprehensively.

"What is it, boss?" she asked, pulling her gas mask farther up onto her face.

"Take Mr. Wayne here and load him into the back of the van with the rest of the valuables," Jonathan ordered. "And make doubly sure he's unconscious once you do."

"Not to pry, but why, sir?" she asked, grabbing Wayne by the arm and forcing him to his feet. "What do you think he's capable of?"

"Infinitely more than I realized just a moment ago," Jonathan said. He watched numbly as the woman half lead, half dragged Wayne away, lost in thought. It seemed the greatest discoveries really did happen by accident. He would have to remember to thank Victor. - Bruce groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, squeezing his eyes shut against what he was sure were going to be the blinding white lights of a hospital. He couldn't remember what he'd been doing last. Had he fallen off a building again? Was that why his head was throbbing with steady pulses of pain?

"Evenin', Batman," a mild voice greeted him.

Crane.

Bruce forced his eyes open, taking in his surroundings. Crane had his back to him, still dressed in his full Scarecrow getup, save his mask. He was bent over a long mahogany desk, covered in loose papers and notebooks no doubt filled to the brim with his "research." The only light came from the sickly yellow glow of the beakers of fear toxin lining the shelf on the far wall, dimly illuminating the ragged and dilapidated brick walls cramping him in on all sides. He glanced down at the cracked and discolored concrete floor, covered in water and ill-removed blood stains. The only exit was a rusty metal door in the farthest corner away from him. Bruce tried to shift in his seat, and noted that extra precautions had been made to secure him. His legs had been shackled and chained around the legs of the cold steel chair he was tied to (which was bolted to the floor), and Crane had somehow managed to put him in a full-body straitjacket, which he could've easily escaped from if it weren't for the chains wrapped five times around his torso. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Bruce wondered numbly how Crane had managed to fit the straitjacket over his batsuit, then started as if he'd been struck as the realization dawned on him.

He wasn't wearing his mask.

"Or is it morning?" Crane continued, turning from his work to face him. "Well, I don't suppose you'd know, now would you?"

He'd called him Batman. He knew.

"Starting to remember it now, are we?" Crane asked, a contemptuous smile forming on his face. "You really shouldn't hold so many parties, Mr. Wayne. They'll be the death of you." Bruce said nothing, setting his jaw resolutely and glaring ahead. Crane chuckled, turning back to his desk and lifting a vial of some clear liquid in delicate fingers. In one stride he'd crossed the distance between them, and Bruce couldn't help but notice just how much he towered over him.

"This should ease the headache," Crane said, holding it out as if offering it to him.

"How can I trust you?" Bruce managed to croak out. His throat was dry and cracked- an after effect of fear gas he'd come to expect.

"If I were tryin' to poison you right now, would I really have to trick you to do it?" Crane asked. "No," Bruce admitted. Without another word Crane tilted his chin up with one hand, pressing the vial to his lips and pouring it down his throat. Bruce winced as the bitter taste hit his tongue, pulling a face that would've sent Dick into hysterics, because Crane actually let out an audible laugh. He half-expected the hallucinations to start anew but, sure enough, the pulsing agony in his head dulled to a distant migraine.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Me?" Crane asked, pulling up the wooden chair that had been tucked beneath his desk and sitting on it backwards, straddling the seat and resting his arms on the back as he leaned towards Bruce. "Why, I just want to talk, Bruce." That rag-doll pose made Bruce uneasy- it reminded him much more of Scarecrow than Crane. If he had to be chained and taken hostage in a tiny room by one of them, he would much rather Crane be in control.

"Fine, let's...talk," Bruce said guardedly.

"Y'know," Crane said with a bewildered laugh. "This was just supposed to be a cash grab. In and out before the GCPD or the Bat- well, before you could get there."

"Oh really?" Bruce said. Crane might not have been the most boisterous out of the rogues gallery, but old habits died hard- he liked to lecture. If Bruce could just keep him talking for as long as possible, he might be able to get out of here.

"Oh yes," Crane continued. "They say some of the greatest discoveries happen completely by accident, and that's exactly what this was. Someone more...superstitious, might call it an act of God, but I'm inclined to believe this is just an incredible stroke of luck. Well, on my behalf, that is." Crane leaned forward, studying Bruce with a look of mock sympathy that made his skin crawl.

"It all makes perfect sense now, though, doesn't it?" Crane said. "Such a tragedy, to lose one's parents at such a young age. You musta been angry. Alone. Terrified."

"If you think you're gonna get me to talk about that, you're even more delusional than I thought," Bruce said, glaring. Crane chuckled.

"Oh, you will, Bruce," he said, folding his hands together. "All in due time." Bruce clenched his jaw, glaring wordlessly ahead.

"I will admit, this is quite the clever disguise you've crafted for yourself," Crane said. "The cowl?" Bruce asked. "The co- don't be absurd, Bruce," Crane scoffed. "You and I both know I'm talkin' 'bout your public persona." He leaned back in his chair, raising one hand as if outlining one of Gotham's dazzling bulletins.

"Bruce Wayne- carefree billionaire playboy," he announced with a derisive laugh. "And I fell for it, along with the rest of Gotham City.

"That's not the only one, either," Crane continued. "What was that other one...oh, that's right! 'Do the butts match?' Did you start that one?"

"...Oracle," Bruce admitted. Crane chuckled.

"Ah yes, Oracle," he mused. "I never could figure out what made her tick...that's the benefit of hiding behind a computer screen, I suppose." Crane straightened his back, gripping the back of his chair in claw-like hands and studying Bruce with a predatory intensity.

"But we know what makes you tick, don't we, Bruce?" he asked, smirking. "Just you and I."

"We're nothing alike," Bruce growled. Crane sighed deeply, rising from his chair and turning to root around in one of the long, narrow drawers of his desk. "You're right, we're not," he said. "I know now the only way to overcome fear is to face it head-on. You run from it every night, hide behind your fancy little toys, paint yourself a martyr just to hide the fact that you're terrified." He turned back to Bruce, some sort of device made of coiled wire and electrodes dangling from his hand.

"I suppose I could hold you for ransom," Crane mused, bending over Bruce. Cold fingers brushed the hair deliberately from his forehead as Crane set to work securing the two electrodes to Bruce's temples.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked, dreading the answer. Nothing good, that was certain.

"These are psychoneurotic analysis and projection instruments," Crane explained, not looking away from his work. "A gift from Tetch. They allow me to record your brain patterns and see what you see." He stood, working the second device over his own forehead and producing a small remote from his pocket. Bruce glared stoically forward as Crane turned, dipping an empty syringe into one of the beakers of fear toxin and carefully filling it to the amount he'd apparently calculated. He turned back to Bruce, lifting his chin up with one delicate hand as the ghost of a smile twitched at his lips.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" he said. Bruce stiffened as the needle found the vein in his neck, clenching every muscle in his body as the toxin slid like ice through his blood. Immediately he felt his heart begin to race, pounding against the inside of his chest, and his vision swam with tendrils of winding pitch that wound steadily around his throat, slowly squeezing the air from his lungs.

"See you in your nightmares, Bruce," Crane whispered. His satisfied smile grew wider and wider, until it was a gaping abyss, waiting to swallow him whole. The floor crumbled beneath Bruce's feet, and he plunged into the depths.

#hannah writes #jonathan crane #bruce wayne #batman #jon plz

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