#I always change around their story a bit but they always end up a riddler henchman

[theshadowrealmitself]

Current thoughts: Scarecrow henchman who is super into scaring people and analyzing them and chemical stuff way more than Scarecrow himself and spends so many missions abandoning whatever they were supposed to be actually doing to go harass other henchmen

Anyways they have a huge crush on Henchman 11 (riddler henchman oc) and always say stuff like “only I’m allowed to traumatize them” and thinks of their relationship as enemies with unresolved romantic/sexual tension who’d do anything to “take the other person out” in both senses, but because of their crush they’re actually super sweet to Henchman 11 and at most they just tease H11 about their fear of needles, absolutely no one thinks of those two as enemies

Henchman 11 is someone in their early 20’s who can’t fight for shit and has no where near the level of intelligence that the Riddler has (they’re a lil bit smart but they’re definitely not a genius, more average with great pattern recognition and great at bullshitting), they’ve only survived as a henchman so far because hardly anyone notices they’re there, their main job is usually breaking into abandoned warehouses beforehand to make sure there’s tv’s and computers set up so that the Riddler can taunt Batman through them

Their job wouldn’t be so tough at all if it wasn’t for that really terrifying Scarecrow henchman who seems like they want to help? But then says stuff like “I wanna hear you scream” while taunting them with needles. it just makes their job harder.

#one day I’m gonna do little ‘introducing my ocs’ posts #but it’s so tough to come up with names #and have the energy to draw #but especially the fycking names #henchman 11 is the only one I have picked out because it’s a joke on ‘Elle Vaughn’ #a fake name they go by #anyways they bounced around a lot of villains before settling in as one of the Riddler’s #just complains about other people bullying them cause they can’t fight and the Riddler picked them up by the back of their neck #and was like this one is mine now hell yeah bullies suck #Batman #the riddler #scarecrow #those two are more just mentioned since this is a post about my ocs #I love these two specific ones but I’m so bad at coming up with names 😭 #calling the other one ‘Nightmare’ is just stupid right? #I feel like that might have already been used anyways I gotta check at some point #I think I mentioned henchman 11 before #I always change around their story a bit but they always end up a riddler henchman #batman ocs

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

TADC Gotham Rogues AU

I know, a digital circus au, completely unheard of and original, but I was dressing the cast up as batman villains and liked the designs so much I've decided to make it its own au. This is not something that happened of my own free will, mind you. The demons forced my hand.

I don't have everyone so far, as I still haven't assigned villains to Kinger and Zooble, and I haven't drawn Jax as the Creeper yet, so if any of you have ideas on what to do with those two it would be highly appreciated.

Anyway, here's the designs and some paragraphs on the current stories I have for them.

First up is Gangle as Two Face! Her design is probably my favourite so far.

Once a respected lawyer, Gangle is a dangerous criminal with an obsession with pairs and an inability to make decisions without her beloved coin. Before that, she was a mayoral candidate and looking to properly expose the Falcone crime family. Rather miraculously, a man who used to work with the Falcones was willing to make a full confession, first to her and then in court. When the court date rolled around, however, he denied ever working with the Falcones at all, making Gangle look a fool.

Her temper was something she had always tried to keep from the press, knowing what it would do to her reputation. It came in the form of her second mask, which while seeming happy, expressed a severe desire for revenge and a sadistic joy. This mask was getting closer to showing the more she pressed the man to fully confess. Suddenly, he cried to the security guards to attack, causing them to jump her and break her mask into dust and tear apart her ribbons.

Unbeknownst to the people in the court, the Falcones had managed to replace the court's guards with their own to attack and hopefully kill Gangle. While they were arrested and Gangle survived, her mask could not be put back together. She never recovered physically nor mentally, her duelling personalities now having to occupy the same body at the same time. She did everything right, and still suffered. Law held no justice. Justice held no law. Someone's fate may as well be left to the simple toss of a coin.

Caine plays the role of the Riddler, although a bit less narcissistic than the original. He's also not an AI here, as this au is set in the 'real world', but more in a 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' sense. (Humans and cartoony creatures occupying the same world)

Caine did his best to thrive in whatever workplace he could, thinking his abnormally high IQ would surely make life a breeze for him. However, his lack of money made things very difficult for him. He wasn't close with any higher-ups, his constant insistence on changing and improving ideas was found annoying, and his high intelligence was far less appreciated by his co-workers than he thought it would be.

Left alone with his genius and desire for power and respect, he turned to making gadgets of his own, selling them to gain money for more materials to make more overly complicated machines. Alas, he was plagued by his desire to show off and prove himself, so his contraptions became more violent as he turned to selling to the many crime leagues of Gotham. The public barely ever understood his perfectly mind-bending creations, anyway.

Caine was lonely, though, in his brilliance, so he decided to set up what seemed like a harmless intelligence test online, recruiting the top five performers to meet him for one final test. He put them through puzzle after puzzle, watching how they worked under stress and timers, and how they managed with his adventures. To his disappointment, none survived.

Ready to accept being alone at the top, and relatively unaffected by the deaths considering how little of a purpose those victims ended up serving, he was unexpectedly found and apprehended by police. A certain mob boss he had sold some of his best torture devices to had ratted him out in an attempt to lessen his own sentence.

Thrown in Arkham Asylum, Caine realised that this was the path he had to take. Society wasn't ready for his genius. They simply couldn't fathom using it for good, if at all. Perhaps if he showed just how dangerous it could be, his intelligence would finally be given the respect it deserved.

Next, there's Ragatha as the Ventriloquist. I decided to use Terrible!Ragatha as a replacement for Scarface, who was originally created by @obamerzslop ! I highly recommend checking out his au's, they're what indirectly convinced me to make this. She admittedly doesn't really have T!Ragatha's personality, but she does keep the design.

Ragatha is a meek and relatively gentle woman, her talent for altering and throwing her voice giving her some very good job opportunities in entertainment. Unfortunately, she was always haunted by a voice in the back of her mind. It wanted power. It wanted bloodshed. It was a part of her, yet the two couldn't be more different.

Unable to bare it any longer, Ragatha stole some materials from the studio she worked in and built her own puppet, made from wood and rags. When she was building it, she finally relented to her separate personality and let it control her. It was going to be its body, so it deserved a say in it.

Looking down at the puppet, Ragatha's mind felt less crowded. She put it on her hand, and it immediately started speaking. The puppet now held her separate personality, speaking in its voice. Ragatha thought that maybe now it would be less bloodthirsty, the body being a gift of sorts that would appease it. If anything, the personality got worse.

Going by the name of Dollface, the puppet quickly took control of Ragatha's life. She was a servant to her now. That was when she was forced into a life of crime, serving the now mafia boss, Dollface, and her greedy pursuit of power. Many have made the mistake of claiming the two are the same. That Dollface is a mere puppet that Ragatha could simply remove. None make that mistake twice, as they typically don't live long enough to do so.

Finally, it's Pomni as the Great White Shark. These villains keep getting progressively more obscure- Whilst she is far more threatening, this Pomni does still obey cartoon logics and physics, much to her displeasure. A part of that is her teeth becoming sharp when stressed/angry, which is why they're always like that now.

Pomni started out as a low-level criminal, pleading insanity at her court case to avoid being sent to prison. Miraculously, it was allowed, although now she thinks it was less because they believed her insane, but more because they thought it would be a good show of the consequences for such lies.

Rather naively, Pomni assumed the insanity of the inmates at Arkham Asylum would make them easy to manipulate, ready to be lead by someone with their head on straight yet an equal desire for chaos and power. She was too confident that she would get respect as 'the Great White Shark', or even be feared. She couldn't have been more wrong.

The prisoners in Arkham tormented her, never letting her forget that she had chosen this hell that they were locked in. It was absurd to have a sane person amongst Gotham's criminally insane, anyway, and they just couldn't stand for that.

As much as she begged, Pomni was given no mercy from the authorities, being written off as just as insane as she had claimed to be in court that day. Over the course of her stay, she began to break more and more, needing a way out before she lost herself completely.

One day, some prisoners organised an escape. Pomni scrambled to leave with them, but was quickly pushed aside. Since they knew how weak she was, she was ignored by the guards, but not by the inmates. In order to completely get her out of the way, she was thrown in the large freezer where most of Mr Freeze's items and weapons were kept. Unfortunately, the weapons were removed first, leaving her with no way out.

Frostbite began to set in. Her nose froze and fell off. She lost a finger on each hand as well as parts of her lips. Her skin turned blue. Eventually, when Mr Freeze was recaptured, one of the police officers went to put his weapons away. That was when they found her.

Pomni had finally snapped. Rather than thank the officer like she once might have done, she pushed through her frozen blood and knocked him down, tearing apart his flesh with her sharpened teeth. She couldn't do much because of her state at the time, but it did mean she was finally viewed as a threat. Her title as the Great White Shark was finally being used. She had lost her mind, but had become far more formidable than she was before. The next time they escaped, she fought her way through. While she is now relatively business-oriented, that violent anger is always there, waiting for the water to be tainted with blood.

That's all I've got for now, which was really long whoops-

I'm pretty proud of this, and hopefully I never make another because good god. This is a lot.

#tadc au #batman #gotham rogues #the amazing digital circus #tadc caine #tadc pomni #tadc ragatha #tadc gangle

[dercolaris]

Ally

The story is way too short for any kind of summary. Well, it’s probably wholesome and a bit funny. Enjoy!

Edward gripped the whisky glass tighter in his hand, snapping his fingers menacingly in the process. His psychologist had warned him at the last session not to give in to his temper again and to accept other people's opinions - even if they were horribly wrong. The Riddler gritted his teeth. "Well, honestly," said the person next to him at the counter arrogantly, "such nail polish in your demeanour. With this you’re the definition of walking eye cancer! This neon green just doesn't suit your feminine face at all and bowler hats have been out for ages. You desperately need a good stylist, my friend.”

The villain inhaled sharply and slammed his fist on the counter, spilling some of his drink on the rancid wood. He turned to the voice and spat in exasperation: "I, Edward Nygma, certainly don't need half-hearted fashion advice from a greased-up wannabe beauty doll, Angela! My style is still unrivalled in Gotham and a trans lady like you will certainly not change that any time soon!” The woman addressed rolled her eyes disparagingly and took a sip of her cocktail. It seemed like the argument ended with that comment.

Edward turned back to his drink and just put the glass to his lips when Angela spoke loudly to her female companions: "I guess I touched a sore spot with him, girls. Such a shame." The Riddler accidentally threw his glass off the counter while getting up, and his hand disappeared into his jacket. Angela was about to sneer at the angry reaction when Edward aimed his revolver suddenly at the cheeky woman and pulled the trigger without any warning. Angela fell to the ground with a loud scream, staring at her right thigh with wide eyes. There was a big, heavy bleeding wound.

Edward took a ragged breath and yelled angrily: "That was your sore spot or wasn't it, Angela?" Out of nowhere, two police officers stormed into the bar. Both rushed towards the two brawlers. One of them tended to the injured person while the other aimed his own gun at the Riddler. He growled angrily: "Don't dare to move, Nygma! You are arrested! Anything you say can and will be used against you!” Edward rolled his eyes and murmured under his breath: "Yeah yeah, cut the fuss. You're not telling me anything new."

The other policeman suddenly shouted in panic: "The victim is losing far too much blood! The gentleman has to go to a hospital urgently!” Distracted by the voice of his colleague, the first policeman didn't notice how Edward had once again pointed his gun on a new target. Another shot pierced the tense silence in the bar. Angela watched in shock as the policeman landed on the floor next to her, his face contorted in pain. All eyes were on the Riddler again.

He shook his head slightly and asked the surrounding group loudly: "Is there anyone else who would like to misgender Angela in the next five minutes? This person may step forward, because I don't tolerate such shitty behaviour around me! I always have a few bullets left for intolerant assholes.” Embarrassed silence. Edward nodded to the injured woman and said calmly: "No one treats people from the rainbow community like shit. I got your back, lady.”

In the next moment, the first policeman threw himself on the villain and brought him to the ground, quickly followed by other uniformed men.

#DC #Batman #Riddler #Edward Nygma #LGBT #Ally #Transwoman #Funny

[devilfic]

Hey its me again!!! I read your dm but for some reason i cant reply?? Like, i wrote and clicked the send button but my message just... disappeared??? Tumblr is so weird so uhhh im just gonna reply through here, if you dont mind!!!

First of all, you're welcome!!! Like i said in my previous ask, i have a very specific taste in fanfics so when i finally do find the stuff i like (which is rare), i always try to express how much i love it!! Because im just so thankful to have it!!! Also because i cant keep this giddy feeling to myself!!! Other than that, im also aware of how much these comments affect writers so yeah, its a win-win situation!!!

Anyway, you've been writing for 13 years?!?!?!?! Thats.... thats a really long time... no wonder you're so great!!! You've written for longer than my nephew has been living lol!!

Oh and im not sure if you've seen that i love that riddler fic too, but i just wanna say again that its just SO GOOD. Here's some of my fav parts that i forgot to put in my reblog tag!!

[You’ve acquired a shadow. He had stomped out the one you were born with and fit himself into its place.]

[You imagined what it would have been like to be Commissioner Savage in that rat trap, the agony of a thousand teeth tearing into the veins of your throat, all while this voice read you your sins.]

[“Have you given up on salvation already, detective? And after all our progress! Why, it’d be a shame if you accepted defeat so soon.” 

The mocking lilt to his voice does irk you a bit. “What do you expect me to do, exactly?”

“Lie.”

“He’s too smart for that.”

“Lie better. Isn’t that what your precious Lieutenant taught you to do before I dropped him in the harbor?”]

I just love how in the movie, the riddler's whole deal is like 'no more lies' but then in your fic he encourages reader to lie so like hfdsjgfsjh idk my brain loves it a lot!!! I thought eddie munson is the only one that can be on my mind right now, but you brought back my feelings for riddler and now i just dont know what to do with myself.... ugh... sorry this ask is getting very long... well then, here's an actual question: what is your process of writing?? like how does it usually go?? okay thats it, love you!!!

OOPS that’s my bad. I had dms turned off for blogs I don’t follow but I thought that got negated if I messaged the other blog first, sorry!! and that’s so very sweet of you!! I know some readers are a bit shy about commenting but yeah, it’s great to see. also oh boy, that makes me feel so old LMAO but yeah, it’s been quite a while. thank you ;-;

ALSO YES!! I’m happy you picked up on the way he switched up about lies. I really liked the idea of edward trying to do things differently, realizing he cannot necessarily purge the evil in gotham, but he can try to use it for his own benefit. he’s got this weird obsession with the reader’s guilt and sees himself as less of a executioner and more of a savior this time around. if I were to continue it, I probably would have talked more about the lore behind it but I had the idea that edward uses the reader as his sword in a way? and tries to prove to them that he’s right about the way he goes about punishing people.

and that’s a good question 🤔 I’ve had a habit of writing my stories chronologically. I start with an idea, then I try to find a good beginning and end, and then feel out if I can write a good middle. I never do outlines unless I have a lot of ideas or I’m planning on writing more parts.

then I just sit down and literally write everything from the title to the ending in order akdhsks (of course editing comes into play later, and I end up changing things, but I like being able to follow the story from start to finish). I’ve never been a… scene by scene person sndhsjs

#cainsau #mjanswers

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: “i thought you were dead? for years, i thought you were dead! and i hate that i still love you and never moved on!” 

♡ pairing: tim drake (red robin) x fem! reader

♡ lyric inspiration: “you’re riding high in April, shot down in May but I know I’m going to change that tune when I’m back on top in June. I said that’s life and as funny as that may seem, some people get their kicks stomping on a dream.”

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / please check the pinned tweet please! since i’m very low on inspiration.

Tim Drake stared at you, mouth wide open, not knowing what to say or do. he felt like he saw a ghost. you were standing across the room, talking amongst others as they instantly crowded around you. everyone had thought the same thing Tim did and only a selective few knew about your whereabouts. 

you were giving Dick a hug, whispering in his ear about how much you missed him as Damian stood there dumbfounded. Jason was not in the room or else you knew that he would be giving you an earful about the entire situation. Jason always did think of you as a sister when you first started dating Tim. 

“what the fuck happened to you?” Damian screamed, finally coming into the realization of the situation, “you were dead! we saw you die! all of us did!” he continued. you bent down, giving him a hug as he didn’t bother to try and deny it. 

“it’s a long story. i was under secrecy for a long time and couldn’t tell or say anything without me getting caught,” you told him. you looked to Dick who still couldn’t believe what was going on, “it must’ve been a monumental mission if you were technically dead for three years and I couldn’t know about it,” he replied. 

you nodded, whispering to him that you’d tell them the details later, “is...he around?” you asked, referencing Tim. Dick moved a bit to the left, revealing the man you were still madly in love with. you felt yourself gulp, scared on his reaction, “oh god, I never realized how bad this is,” Dick whispered to himself, sensing the tension immediately. 

+

you swinging around the Batcave, Batman clearly annoyed with your antics as you finally plopped down next to him, “aww c’mon Bruce! live a little! this Batcave is so depressing and need I say, dark?” you said, hearing the door jingle open. 

“great, the boys are here,” he murmured, realizing that introductions had to happen between you and his sons. Bruce had taken you in a few months ago, under the guise that you needed a better mentor, “you haven’t met them, right?” he asked. 

you shook your head no, “course I haven’t! it’s my first week in Gotham!” you exclaimed happily. you did hero work out of the west coast and happened to finally land in Gotham for the first time ever, “although I did run into Damian earlier in the week so I think he’ll recognize me!” 

Tim and Dick were the ones who walked in, conversing about some Gotham football game. you smiled at the two boys as they stopped dead in their tracks, “uh....Bruce, who is this?” Dick asked, pointing at you. you stood up, shaking their hands, “I’m ( your name )! Bruce’s new apprentice!” you explained. 

the two sighed, Dick’s first thought being if Alfred knew about you. Tim on the other hand didn’t exactly respond as quick. you were oddly excitable, not exactly the personality that ran rampant across the ‘family’, “apprentice or daughter?” Dick asked, a bit playfully. 

“she’s an apprentice. no need to adopt someone who’s already an adult,” he replied as he stood up himself, “she came from the west coast so she doesn’t exactly know her way around here. it’d be helpful if one of you showed her around. I don’t trust Jason or Damian enough,” he said, walking to another one of the computers. 

“Stephanie isn’t around?” Damian asked, walking inside of the cave, “she’s already acquainted with her and she isn’t available to do it right now so it’s up to Dick or you Tim,” Bruce repeated. Dick looked to his brother with his eyebrow lifted up, “well?” he asked Tim. 

the two of them went to look at you who was already not paying attention to what was going on. you were nose deep into a computer with music blaring inside of your headphones, “I swear that girl has ADHD or something,” Damian murmured to his brothers, “but I think Drake should do it! you just love getting to know people, don’t you?” Damian pressured. 

Bruce nodded in agreement, “it’s settled, you’re showing her around!” Tim stared at Damian, ready to attack the gremlin with his bare hands, “appreciate it Tim!” you yelled from your seat, surprising the three who thought you couldn’t hear what they were saying. 

+

it was already a few months into your internship with the Batfamily. you had gotten closer with Jason, Stephanie, and because of your relationship with Dick, you befriended Starfire as well. even though your work was constantly surrounding you around Tim, you weren’t around him much unless it had to do with work. 

“where you heading off too?” Jason asked, seeing you all dressed up, “Star, Barbara, and Steph wanted to go out for the night since we aren’t on duty so we’re going to get drinks up the street,” you told him. he nodded, looking to Tim and seeing the way he was checking you out, “why do you go with them, Tim?” he asked. 

Tim looked at Jason with a bewildered expression, “why would I be the only guy in the group?” he asked sarcastically. you on the other hand jumped up in joy, “you should!” you exclaimed, “come on! it would be amazing! you know you want too!” you poked Tim’s side in anticipation. 

he sighed, slipping a bit on the couch, “fine,” he muttered, making you excited all over again. you gave him a few minutes to get himself together, “you know he likes you, right?” Jason told you. you laughed out of genuine shock, “who? Tim? yeah right!” you let out another laugh, not believing he was lying to your face, “fine, don’t believe me but it’s pretty obvious.” 

you couldn’t say much else as Tim walked out, hair restyled and threw on a different jacket, “ready?” he asked, hands deep in his pockets. you nodded, throwing Jason a scrap piece of paper before heading out the door as Dick walked inside, “meeting the girls?” he asked. 

“yeah and I’m taking your brother as a hostage,” Dick was surprised, “did you finally?” he started to ask before Tim screamed at him to shut up, “how about we leave,” Tim told you, discreetly hitting Dick on the back of his leg as retaliation. 

the two of you walked out as you told Tim that the place you usually went out with the girls was in walking distance, “I think they’re going to be surprised you even decided to leave your apartment,” you joked as he rolled his eyes playfully, “I don’t think they’ll mind. at least Stephanie can stop saying that I never go out,” he said. 

you laughed softly, “yeah you might be going out with a bunch of girls but it sure beats being stuck inside playing video games or doing work,” you replied, “yeah, guess your right,” you two walked inside of the restaurant, already seeing Steph, Starfire, and Barbara sitting at the usual table. 

the three girls had their mouth hanging as they saw you walking in with Tim, “he actually came out?” Barbara screamed, not believing Tim was actually out, “yeah, figured it was better than staying in for the night!” you said excitedly. 

“I couldn’t even get him to come out with me at times and I dated him,” Steph murmured under her breath to Star. she laughed as you pulled chairs for you and Tim, “I’m getting first round of shots!” you told the group excitedly. Star and Barbara had followed you to the bar, leaving Steph and Tim in a small awkward silence 

“you like her don’t you?” she asked. Tim nodded, figuring it was better to just tell the truth than to lie, “that’s cute! she’s a great girl. I’m happy you finally found someone else but I will say one thing, I think you better get a move on with your feels with her because I know a few others who have an interest in her and one might be on your team,” she said, not so subtly hinting at Connor. 

Tim was taken back by what Stephanie was telling her but remained silent, “and I think she’d say yes on Connor so you better be quick,” she laughed, seeing Tim’s slightly jealous eyes. you returned to the table, giving everyone their glass as you raised yours in the air, “to Tim! for actually leaving his house for once!” you screamed as they all raised their glass and took the shot down.

throughout the night, Tim saw the way you were singing and dancing with Steph and Star, your terrible drunk singing voice getting louder as they played ‘poker face’ by lady gaga towards the end of the night. 

+

you stared at Riddler, seeing that he was ready to attack Tim with full intentions to kill him. you debated for a moment, saving a few civilians from getting mildly hurt or seeing your boyfriend get killed? you chose the latter and ran to Tim who was not paying attention in the slightest at what Riddler was doing. 

“Red!” you screamed, your feet moving as fast as they could and pushing him out of the way. you felt the slice of the knife into your stomach as you had successfully pushed Tim to safety, “fuck,” you whispered, seeing the blood already pooling underneath you. 

although you getting hurt was already pre-planned, you had no intentions of getting hurt this badly, “fuck, fuck, fuck,” you continued, trying to grab your cape to stop the bleeding, Tim stared down at you, seeing the blood gushing at a rate too dangerous for his liking, “hold on, please hold on!” he screamed, moving you out of harms way. 

Bruce had saw you giving him the signal, weakly but you still gave it to him. it was your only chance for your pre-planned mission to actually succeed and the start of that plan was to make you die in front of everyone. Bruce had swung down from the stairs, seeing the way your eyes closed. 

“she needs to go to the hospital,” he told Tim, making him rush you to the hospital himself. he knew this was the only time he would be able to say his goodbyes to you and he need to make it count, “go now!” he yelled. 

Tim dragged your almost lifeless body to the nearest hospital, screaming at the staff that you needed help immediately. the nurses grabbed your body, hauling it to the OR as Tim sat there, blood all over his uniform as he watched you get wheeled into the hallway. 

it felt like hours by the time they gave an update to all of them. Bruce, Tim, Dick, Jason, Steph, Barbara, and Damian, were sitting in the waiting area, munching on food nervously as the nurse came out of the hallway, eyes bleary with tears. 

“she didn’t make it out of surgery. she passed.” 

all of them (for the exception of Bruce), immediately bursted into tears. Tim more than anyone had fell to the ground, having no control of his body as he screamed that it couldn’t be true and that you weren’t actually gone. a part of Bruce’s heart broke seeing his son having a mental breakdown but he knew for their safety and yours, he couldn’t say a word. 

the following days were left to plan your funeral as the nurses who relied your wishes stated that you wanted a closed casket for no one, not even Tim, to see your dead body. Tim hadn’t spoken a word to anyone as he only spoke up when it came for him to plan your arrangements. 

they buried your casket with your uniform laying on top of it as they all saw your casket get lower and lower to the ground. Tim was by this point sobbing as he couldn’t have cared who saw and who didn’t. 

+

Dick grabbed Damian, moving themselves to another part of the room as you walked slowly to Tim. he had yet to say anything but as soon as you locked eyes with him, you both let out sobs to each other. Tim grabbed you by the arms, bringing you into a hug as he sobbed into your shoulders. 

“what the fuck is going on?” he yelled, not knowing what to say, “I’m alive Timmy. I didn’t die that night,” you practically sobbed back to him. he released you, now anger and sadness crossing over him, “what the fuck do you mean you didn’t die?” he screamed, scaring Dick and Damian in the process. 

you sat on the ground, trying to compose yourself, “I went on an undercover mission for league. I had to die in order to protect not only myself but all of you and the entire league. which explains why I look different,” you murmured the last part. 

“I thought you were dead. for years, I thought you were dead! and I hate that I still love you and never moved on!” he exclaimed, seeing the way you stared at him heartbrokenly, “you think I wanted this to happen? it was for the betterment of the league if I took on this mission. I never wanted to leave you or Steph, hell I didn’t want to leave any of you but I had too! it broke my heart knowing what I had to do!” you yelled back. 

Tim bent down, taking you into his arms, “what the hell are we going to do?” he whispered in your ear, not knowing how to respond to any of this rationally. you shrugged as the two of you tried to calm yourselves down from the hysterics you both were throwing, “I just need you here with me,” you whispered back. 

Tim nodded, not releasing you from the hug you were giving him. “I won’t. I won’t let you go! not anymore!” he replied. you laughed through your tears as you heard someone else walk into the room. 

“what the fuck.....” you heard Steph and Jason’s voice scream through the Batcave, “what the FUCK is going on?” they screamed in panic. 

hehehe a cliffhanger 

#DC comics #DC imagines #dc x reader #dc imagine #dc #Tim Drake #tim drake imagine #tim drake x reader #Tim Drake x Y/n #Red Robin #red robin x reader #comics #red robin imagine #red robin x y/n

[archived-zombbean]

Yoooo do you have a post somewhere about your Gotham sona's info?

I have an official post on my RP blog but I can put it here! (I'm debating on removing the tattoos on the ref sheet tbh, but I'm not sure yet X'D)

Name: Sona Bean Xueen

Height: 5'0

Weight: 200lbs

Blood Type: B+

Education: Associates Degree

Which Batman Verse is she from?

My own universe called "Death's Child" I take a mixture of my favorite versions of Batman villains, and heroes and mix them.

Relationships:

Victor Zsasz (Sexual and Romantic)

Edward Nygma (Sexual and Romantic)

Jonathan Crane (Romantic)

Oswald Cobblepot (Friend)

Harley Quinn (Friend)

Waylon Jones (Friend)

Jervis Tetch (Friend)

Harvey Dent (Friend)

Victor Fries (Familial)

Pamela Isley (Friend)

Jim Gordon (Very rocky friendship; He would jail her if given the chance.)

Background:

Sona grew up in normal comfort for the first ten years of her life. The daughter of a low tier mafia henchmen, who ran a red light district building by the name of the "Bucking Bronco" where anyone could get their rocks off for the night, for a price. Her father was a man by the name of Jeorge King.

She was spoiled rotten, but never seemed to quite understand that she was. Clothes, toys, treats, and the like were given to her freely, even by men and women her father worked with. She was happy.

However, one day it all changed. She became ill.

Everyone at birth is scanned in this universe. When you are, it's determined what insurances will cover you, what surgery will be allowed to you, and how expensive treatment costs would be. Sona had contracted an easily curable illness, however her scans at birth showed that she stood a 5% chance of contracting said illness. Treatment was expensive, her father's insurance wouldn't cover the cost, and he began to seek out ways to get money to cover it.

This was the first step into a dark era.

Her father began stealing money behind his boss's back, trying to hit up places that wasn't on the list, and even began selling drugs and illegal weaponry to rival gangs.

One night when Sona was asleep, she awoke to gunshots in her living room. Scared the, now thirteen year old, girl walked down the hall and into the room to see three men in black over her fathers body, a bullet through his head. She held in her scream, her voice a whimper between her fingers. But their ears were sharp, and their voices like venom.

"Hey there little girl," one purred, advancing on the young girl who could only cry, "It's okay... I'm not gonna hurt you... okay well, that's a lie... you see your father's been very, very naughty~ Which means you have just as much to pay for as he does, you know? No hard feelings~"

That night the screams that ebbed from her lips were muffled by the rough assault of her intruders. It ended with a bullet to her gut, in hopes she would suffer as a final 'fuck you' to the King line.

As she lay in a mess of blood, sweat and tears, she choked back her whimpers. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair!

She got up, shaking on her hands and knees, crawling over to her father's corpse. She shook him, desperately trying to wake him, but to no avail. She shook harder.

"Please! Please.... dad, wake up! Please.... I... I need you... I can't.... I can't breath..." she felt blood in the back of her throat, but she refused to die. She had to live. She had to!

The memory is a blur, but that day she was rescued by a young man. A police officer of all things. Peter Gordon. She was alone. She had a decent amount of wealth left behind by her father, an inheritance of sorts. she had to change her name. Leave the old behind. They'd find her if she didn't. So she changed her name to Xueen.

It took six months to repair the damage. She was told she would never be able to have children, but it didn't seem to phase her. She didn't care about starting a family. To hell with what little future she had left. What she craved was revenge.

Revenge came on her 16th birthday. After a few years of underground training, paying hired guns to teach her to use high caliber weapons, and pistols, she finally shot her shot. The men that raided her family home and murdered her father died at her hands. She shot out their knees, broke elbows with sledge hammers, gutted one and slung his entrails over another, she pulled eyes from their sockets, used adrenaline to keep them alive for 48 hours. When the screams finally faded, she sobbed. She finally killed the people that murdered her father.

She had no purpose. She was still going to die. It was just a matter of how long it would take until she died.

But a thought occurred. Those three were just following orders. They were just pawns on a much larger board. There was still a king to overthrow. Her hands clenched into fists, and a snarl laced her lips. There was more to do. She had nothing to lose. Death was already at her doorstep, might as well greet him with an open hand.

She no longer feared death.

Sona invested in stocks which only served to increase her wealth, but by this point her illness had progressed to the point of no recovery. If she'd just gotten the treatment as a child, it wouldn't have progressed this far. She was eighteen.

She hired her own group of thugs, her own gang beginning to form. But they weren't quite up to snuff. She needed someone with more experience in killing... someone who wouldn't hesitate. Someone who would be loyal, and follow her every command. She was getting sicker. She needed someone to be her weapon when she was unable to lift one herself.

A few weeks later she hears of a serial killer. Very proficient. Very lethal. He's taken out a few of her men already, so she dared to see just whom this man was.

And it was then she came face to face with the mass murderer himself. A man decorated in scars along his arms and chest, a sadistic smile trailing over his lips. His eyes had a murderous lust to them, but she could only smile back. He was perfect.

"Hello there, my name is Sona Xueen. Did you know you've been causing me a lot of trouble lately?" she hummed, resting a hand on her chin.

The man advanced slowly his curiosity piqued. Why wasn't she afraid of him? Why wasn't she running?

"Hmm..." he looked her over, a glimmer of a knife in his hand, "Aren't you cute~ what would bring a vulnerable, sweet, young woman all teh way out here~?"

She grinned even wider, "I have a proposition for you... you work for me, you get paid, and you get to kill more than just junkies and my men for a living... work for me and you'll never have to live in filth again! You'll be able to live out any perverted violent fantasy you set your sights on!"

He paused, glancing over the other, then at the knife. After a long train of thought he tossed the knife to the side.

"What'cha got in mind boss?" he chuckled, a dark tone to his voice.

"How does targeting corporate heads sound? They've been very, very naughty, and I think it's about time we send those pig headed shits packing," she smirked.

The other's eyes widened, "A challenge~? I like it!"

"What's your name?"

"Victor. Victor Zsasz,"

She was twenty one.

She now stands at the epiphany of her career. There are ten corporate heads that need to roll, and five have already crumbled. There are five left to snuff out. She grins at the thought. The thought that her revenge will not only satisfy the violent lust in her stomach, but that there will never be children that are forced to go through what she had. Parents will never have to suffer losing their children. Parents will never be forced to resort to extreme measures to ensure their safety and well being. People won't have to die over a system designed to kill them.

She coughs. Her chest hurts. A pain shoots through her entire body. She's surprised she's lived this long. Perhaps it's spite? Or anger? Perhaps it's her wanting to live just a bit longer so she can spend time with the friends she's made along the way.

She feels a hand on her shoulder as she's lifted into a strong pair of arms. It's Victor. He wears a goofy smile as he always does around her. She lets out a satisfied sigh. For now everything is okay. For now everything is normal. One day she'll die. One day Victor will make sure that he's the one to do it. He's vowed. He's promised.

She's somehow made it to thirty.

That's basically everything I have on her so far! I have a few comics planned to go into detail of her relationships with some of the rouges she's closer to. Like Victor as her lover and weapon, Riddler as her informant and occasional sex partner, Mr. Freeze as her father figure, Penguin as a very dear close friend, and her strange friendship with Jim Gordon because of his father saving her life. There's a lot of puzzle pieces I'd rather fill in with art and pictures rather than story format, but I hope you enjoy her lore!

#sona #sona's backstory #lore #devil's child au #batman #oc

[danny-chase]

Hello! May I request the pneumonia square on your bthb card for Dick with Bruce taking care of him?

Thanks for the request!

Pneumonia - read on AO3

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne Characters: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Additional Tags: bruce wayne centric, Dick grayson centric, Sickfic, Pneumonia, Blood, Stitches, Dick Grayson is Batman, Damian Wayne is Robin, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Damian Wayne, Sick/hurt Dick Grayson, mentions past passive suicidal attempt, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, what a surprise they hug each other Series: Part 9 of Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

Bruce hasn't been sure where he stands in sons' lives after returning from the timestream, but a case of pneumonia provides an excuse to sort some things out.

Full story under cut

Bruce only meant to drop by briefly, hand off some papers, and be on his way. He wasn’t exactly sure what made him pause in front of the display case.

Well. That wasn’t exactly true. He did know. How could he not know by the way his eyes gravitated towards the hood on the back of the Robin suit’s cape. By the way his heart sank at the sight of it.

He still thought it unnecessary – a distraction in the fight – it could easily obscure vision. He would have never allowed his partners to wear one.

And that was the trouble, wasn’t it? Damian wasn’t his partner, the hood a visual reminder. Dick knew Damian’s abilities better than anyone, knew whether or not the hood was appropriate. He trusted Dick’s judgment – no – had to rely on it when it came to his youngest.

He’d considered stepping in at first, but it made sense to keep Dick and Damian as partners – they worked well together, provided results. Damian rarely got along with anyone else… and that was changing under Dick’s mentorship. Gotham was doing well, crime rates were dropping, and public approval had risen significantly. By all accounts, Batman and Robin were doing an excellent job.

It was an odd feeling, to be surpassed by your son, at wearing the mantle you created.

It was an odd feeling, to be surpassed by your son, in being loved by your youngest. To have missed out on so much, to have been dead a year and come back with things running (mostly) smoothly, as if the world hadn’t really needed him anyways. He couldn’t quite tell if it was humbling or humiliating when he heard whispers from officers of the new Batman being better than the old one.

But if there was one thing he was sure of, it was-

The walls of the bunker shook slightly, the floor trembling beneath his feet as the roar of an engine reverberated through the entrance tunnel. Swept out of his thoughts, he swiftly placed the stack of documents by the main computer and doubled back to his car.

He didn’t plan on being here long, wasn’t keen on talking – he had the computer back at the manor running narrowing down possible combinations for one of Riddler’s games – he’d already lingered much to long.

With that thought, he opened the door his of car, giving a brief nod of acknowledgement as Dick entered on his bike. Dick didn’t wave back – he always waved when he saw him – unless something was wrong – or maybe he hadn’t seen him – that was the logical answer –

But Bruce still found himself frozen in place, his pulse increasing, heart leaping into his throat as Dick got closer, his mind scrutinizing every detail he could see – the way Dick was hunched over too much – his posture was normally perfect, his left arm was wrapped around his middle – Bruce slammed his car door shut, jogging forward as Dick parked.

“What’s wrong?” He reached up, pulling off the damn cowl, revealing tired watery, reddish eyes. Dick blinked, frowning, his eyes adjusting to the light.

“Nothing.” He pulled back, refusing Bruce’s arm, dismounting the bike himself. The cape obscured whatever Dick was putting pressure on. Dick strode forward, his shoulder squared as he started up the stairs. He felt oddly small looking up at the stark silhouette – and he had to wonder – was this how his kids felt when staring up at his back?

And then Dick succumbed to a nasty coughing fit halfway up the stairs. Bruce bolted up beside him, offering an arm again, swiftly finding blood trickling from a deep gash on his side. Instinctively he tore off a piece of his shirt, pressing it to the wound. Dick looked at him judgmentally, speaking through coughs.

“If you – waited like -” He doubled over again, pausing their trip up the stairs. He put up a hand, as Bruce moved in to simply carry him up the rest of the way. “- m’ fine.” Dick sucked in a shallow breath and they continued on. “ – didn’t have to ruin your shirt. We have gauze.” He mumbled as they reached the top.

Bruce looked down at his shirt, then back at Dick, feeling like a dumbass, but nonetheless glad he hadn’t left him behind. “You would have fallen down the stairs.” He noted, before moving onto the more pressing matter. “Were you gassed? Poisoned? Dick, repo-”

“I’m-” Dick cut him off, only for Damian to drop from the rafters, dramatically landing a few feet away.

“He’s been ill.” He crossed his arms in annoyance, pouting in his pajama pants, wearing an oversized shirt he’d sworn he’d gotten for Dick years ago. “And insisted on benching me even though I am perfectly capable of-”

“Damian, you’re supposed to be in-” Dick stumbled over his own feet – another alarm going off in his mind – Dick was normally graceful. Bruce was tired of this – he made eye contact with Damian, nodding towards their medical closet.

“Grab gauze and a suturing kit.” He commanded, Damian scurrying off ahead. He slipped his free hand beneath Dick’s knees, scooping him up – rushing him the rest of the way to the table as Dick succumbed to a hacking fit. Memories from years ago bubbled in the back of his mind, from a time Dick was smaller, in a brightly colored costume, fading quickly in his arms after a run in with Harvey Dent.

He couldn’t call for Alfred this time. He was halfway across the world assisting Kate, spending well deserved time with his daughter.

Biting back the panic, he did his best to gently set him down, but Dick was heavier than he used to be, and he was a bit older himself. Bruce cringed as Dick hit the table with a bit of a thud – though it seemed Dick hardly noticed – but Damian hissed in disapproval.

“Sorry.” Dick murmured, once he caught his breath, sounding far away – as if standing on the other end of a tunnel. Bruce couldn’t tell if he was spacing out, or if Dick was simply quiet, either way, he ignored the interruption, holding out a hand.

Damian materialized beside him placing the kit in his hands before pressing clean gauze to Dick’s. Bruce yanked off the costume in tandem. Neither spoke as they worked like a well-oiled machine, Bruce sewing up the wound as Damian kept Dick still. He could fix this – it wasn’t like before – the cut wasn’t too bad, he had the skills – he just needed to focus.

Bruce fought to keep his hands steady, as he tied off the end. Dick stared aimlessly at the ceiling, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, rolling down the side of his face and dripping in his eyes. Damian kept him propped upright, from atop the other side of the table.

Dick paused to cough for a moment, Damian pounding his back with furious eyes, as if he was attacking the congestion himself. “Don’t tear the stiches.” Bruce chided, Damian glared, but lightened his taps. Bruce held Dick by the shoulders until he was ready to continue.

Moments later, the bandage was applied, and Bruce scanned for more injuries.

“That was it, I’m fine.” Dick muttered, though Bruce couldn’t tear his eyes away – he could feel the blood on his hands – drying at the edges, slimy under his latex gloves. Dick was too pale, too warm to the touch, too- “Quit looking at me like I died.” He grumbled exasperatedly, his voice painfully horse. The tone snapped Bruce out of his inspection. “I’m fine.”

He turned to Damian – because at least one of his kids was being honest. “How long has he been sick?” He turned, grabbing a thermometer off a shelf.

“Since last Monday.” He replied, critically scanning Dick as well, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

Dick scoffed at the remark, looking offended. “Liar, that was just allergies.” He reached up, moving to ruffle Damian’s hair – unsuccessful, Damian easily dodging the attempt.

“Obviously, it was more than just allergies, seeing as you’re still under the weather.” He rolled his eyes. “Likely something viral, the flu perhaps?”

Bruce gave Dick a pointed look, cocking an eyebrow. “You know better than to go out while sick.” That’s how people get killed, how Dick could have gotten killed, how he would have been left to bleed out on the floor if he hadn’t been there, how –

“I thought I’d turned the corner.” Dick’s tone was cool, but his eyes were laser focused on him – he had this way of looking at people, as if he was staring into your soul. “I felt fine when I left.”

“He was doing better earlier.” Damian begrudgingly mentioned, taking some small amount of pity on his brother. He gazed up quizzically, matching Dick’s expression. Bruce shifted his gaze between the two sets of searching eyes.

A moment passed in silence. The weight in his hand finally reminding him of his purpose, he stuck the ear thermometer in Dick’s ear.

“I can do the rest myself.” Dick noted, placing a hand atop the thermometer as well – which Bruce subsequently ignored.

“Mmm.” He noted, checking the temperature. “Almost hundred and three. And you felt fine enough to go out?” He asked, dropping notes of disbelief into his voice. Dick gazed back at him, unamused.

“I meant what I said. It was only supposed be a stakeout anyways.” Irritation was clear, despite his scratchy tone. Damian hoped off the table behind him. “You’ve gone out way worse than this!” Dick broke into raspy coughs, Bruce catching his shoulders.

“I’m going to prepare tea.” Damian muttered, dashing up the stairs, leaving him alone with the sound of Dick’s wheezing.

“Any other symptoms?” Bruce grabbed a stethoscope, snapping a pulse oximeter to Dick’s index finger. “Be honest.” He reminded, Dick avoiding his gaze.

“Bruce, you don’t seriously think I would have gone out if-”

“I know you know your limits.” He acknowledged. He also knew his family (and occasionally himself) liked pretending the limits weren’t there. He slipped the stethoscope against Dick’s chest, listening to his lungs. “Breath in.” Something crackled deep in his lungs. “Chest x-ray.” Bruce noted.

“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” If Bruce closed his eyes, he could pretend it was 9-year-old Dick, complaining about having to be swabbed for strep throat.

“If I’m right, no.” Dick unhappily mimicked his voice. Bruce cocked an eyebrow, giving him an unamused stare. “A list of symptoms would help.”

“I hate it when you’re like this – just tell me what you think.” Dick slid off the table. Bruce caught him by the shoulders, they were burning up. Dick shivered, shaking underneath his hands.

“I think you already know.” He slipped an arm under his son’s shoulders, slowly walking him towards the machine. “Shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, fever, chills, recently viral illness. Chest pain likely.”

Dick groaned. “It’s just a cold.” Bruce pulled a blanket a nearby shelf, wrapping it around his shoulders. “I’ll be fine with a good night’s sleep. You don’t have to do this; I’ll go to Leslie’s tomorrow.”

“Dick.” He sighed exasperatedly. They could do the x-ray here or drive to the clinic at 2am.

“Don’t, Dick, me. You have stuff to do, thanks for stitching me up but I can handle myself, I thought you were supposed to-”

“Richard.” Dick paused for a moment. Bruce took it as an opportunity to half carry him the rest of the way to the machine. “I’ll take a culture when this is done and send it to Leslie. I don’t mind.”

Dick hesitated before responding. “Fine.”

A few aspirin, couple of tests, and a trip to Leslie’s later, Bruce found himself walking in through the front door of the penthouse, antibiotics in hand. He nearly tripped over Damian’s sneakers, scattered carelessly in the little mud room. Kicking of his own shoes, he moved the little sneakers to the shoe rack, struck for a moment by how small they were.

Making his way into the living room, he found Dick, half asleep on the caramel-colored couch. He clicked off the television, turning off some nature show, Dick’s attention pivoting to him.

“You came back?” He whispered, almost too quiet to hear, but surprise evident all the same – eyes widening, jaw dropping, before he caught himself and returned to a blank expression. Bruce nodded, passing him the medication before settling in a nearby armchair. Two empty mugs sat on the low table, rich aroma still lingering in the air (ginger if his nose was right), though Damian was nowhere to be seen.

His eyes lingered on the mugs – they were handmade, one in the Batman color scheme, the other matching the Robin costume. He’d taken a sculpting class with Dick years ago; they’d made similar ones together. Dick’s was likely in pieces, lost under the rubble of his old apartment, and Tim accidentally knocked his off a table years ago. He tore his eyes away – it made since for Dick to carry on the tradition with his Robin, he just… regretted never making another.

He watched as Dick fumbled with the container, his heart sinking at the uncoordinated attempts to twist off the lid. Bruce swiped it back, popping off the lid, and passing him a pill along with a bottle of water.

The surprise in Dick’s voice weighed on his mind – surely – Dick didn’t expect for him to leave him alone in such a state? Yes – he knew Dick was an adult – knew he could take care of himself – but Alfred wasn’t around if he took a turn for the worse, he couldn’t just leave that for Damian. Worry crept into the pit of his stomach, Alfred had been gone weeks, were there more illnesses Dick hadn’t been reporting? More injuries? Why? Because he didn’t think he would care? He didn’t want to burden Damian? He was too busy to-

“Bruce, quit brooding, I was just surprised you got back so fast.” Dick spoke slowly in carefully low tones, scooting back into a sitting position on the further end of the couch. Curling into a ball, he wrapped the blanket he’d grabbed early tighter, shivering under it. Internally, Bruce cringed at the sight before turning back to his thoughts.

“Hmm.” That wasn’t what Dick said, or why he was surprised. “You didn’t think I was coming back.” It came out more statement than question. Dick coughed lightly, avoiding a response. “I’d like to know why.”

Dick shrugged, too timed to be nonchalant. “You have casework to do.” He wouldn’t meet his gaze, busying himself pulling the blanket even tighter around his shoulders. “I’m an adult. I can handle being sick.”

“I know.” He hummed disbelievingly, his worry growing – Dick had a knack for lying – he really wasn’t feeling well if he was this easy to read. “You know I wouldn’t-”

“Don’t.” Dick warned, cutting him off with a glare. “If Alfred was here, you’d already be gone.” There was an edge of bitterness to his voice, a knowing look in his eyes.

“I…” <em>Haven’t visited in weeks because I feel strange around you and Damian,</em> his mind supplied helpfully.

“I know it hurts to see your…” Dick paused for a moment, catching his breath. “Family like this. Just don’t try to deny it, you disappear every time I get hurt.” <em>Or kick you me out,</em> went unsaid.

Bruce threw an arm over his eyes, taking a moment to lean back against the recliner. For so long, he’d been focused on just getting back to the present, getting back to his kids. But… coming back meant facing up to the times he’d been less than a good father… or older brother… whatever he and Dick had all those years ago.

He took a moment, examining a few memories, his behavior after the Two-Face case, the time Dick was shot in the shoulder, even how he’d acted the first few weeks Dick was at the manor – relentlessly pursuing justice rather than spend time with his ward. It was no secret to most he had regrets. He’d changed since then – never acted like that with Jason. Didn’t disappear after Tim’s father died. He’d changed, but he never –

“I’m sorry.” They stared at each other, speaking in tandem. Bruce’s jaw dropped as Dick continued.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your standards, I know I disappointed you tonight, I shouldn’t have brought the past up, you don’t have to stay-” His words came out hurriedly, rushed and pained.

“Dick.” Bruce hadn’t thought his heart could sink any lower, but somehow, it dropped to the bottom of his gut, his throat closing uncomfortably.

“I’m doing my best, I thought I’d be fine, I just really needed information tonight and I couldn’t go out tomorrow because I need to help Tim, and now I’m going to have to call in Steph, and Barbara’s gonna be upset, and Tim’ll be mad, and it’s Damian’s first week of school, I took him out of homeschool because you wanted him to go to Gotham Academy, but he hates it and he won’t go to bed on time, and I have a board meeting in the morning I’m not prepared for-”

“Richard.” Bruce tried to interrupt, but Dick was rambling, his hands shaking as he pressed one to his forehead, his voice growing frantic. Bruce moved to sit next to the mugs.

“-I know I’m letting you down, you came back to a mess and I’m still trying to get everything settled, and Jason’s still loose god knows where, and I can���t take three steps off this couch without feeling like I’m about to collapse and now I’m taking up your time too for nothing because I’m fine and I can handle this and you should just go back to your case because it’s more important and-”

“Richard John Grayson.” He squeezed Dick’s shoulder, waiting for him to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.” Dick bit his lip, face flushed. Bruce froze, not sure where to go from here. He had more to say, but for some reason, he couldn’t speak. Dick blinked, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, and for a moment Bruce could pretend he was eight years old again – and just like that, he knew what to do.

Leaning forward, he wrapped Dick in a hug, gently patting his back (hopefully breaking some mucus loose). Alarm bells rang in his mind – Dick was warm – too warm, but he ignored them, just holding his son steady as his ragged breath went smooth.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stick around before, I know better now, and I’ll stay this time if you’ll let me.” He paused, gathering his thoughts, releasing Dick back against a stack of pillows. He dropped his elbows to his knees, letting his head drop into his hands. He could fix this.

“You’ve done better than I could have imagined, given the circumstances. Better than I did when I was your age.” He ran Dick’s words through his mind again. “I’ll stay until you’re well. I’ll talk to Tim and Barbara. I’ll figure out where Jason went. I’ll talk to Damian about school, though you might have better luck than me on that one-”

“You’re kidding me he listened to you perfectly earlier.” Dick muttered, tucking his chin between his knees.

“-only because we had a shared goal, and that goal was assisting you.” Bruce continued. “I’ll call Lucius, get him to reduce your hours. I-we can fix this. Just…” his voice caught in his throat. “Get well soon.” Dick, well he was right, it was painful to see him so worn out. It seemed… unnatural, seeing him sick, though he’d seen him ill plenty of times before.

Dick glanced at him, then dropped his gaze, fidgeting with the corner of a little throw blanket. “I’m being pathetic. Bruce. I’m sorry, I can handle this.” He looked back up, determination swimming in his bleary blue eyes. “You don’t need to stay.”

Bruce sighed exasperatedly. “I know. Do you remember the time I got mono? Back when you were a kid?” Dick thought for a moment before nodding.

“Alfred wouldn’t let you leave your room. We played Uno.” He noted.

“And Go-Fish, checkers, chess, and every other game we own. And Clark and Lucius covered for me for two months. And I hated staying put but playing games with you made time fly.” He leaned forward, slipping an arm around Dick, pulling him up again, and heading towards his room. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I would have cut the recovery time in half if I didn’t escape out the window two weeks in. Dick… you aren’t letting me down if you let me cover for you, consider it payback.”

Dick gasped dramatically, only to let out a few weak coughs. “You didn’t! …Actually, I already knew. Alfred and I picked you up after you got your ass kicked, remember?” He shook his head. “I know it’s stupid to go out sick, I saw you do it and I hated it I wouldn’t do that to Damian or you.” He paused, leaving them in uncomfortable silence. “Uh. No offense. Just… you believe me, right? I wouldn’t have gone out if I thought I wouldn’t come back.”

Bruce paused, giving Dick a long look. Memories of Superman’s panicked call coming over his comms, Dick rushing into nuclear wastelands without protection. They’d come a long way since then, Dick had come a long way in the year he’d been gone. “I believe you.”

Dick let out a long breath as they turned into his bedroom. “Okay.” Bruce propped pillows as Dick faceplanted into bed.

“Sleep well.” He murmured, throwing the comforter over him. Dick turned, shooting him a half smile, not making any moves towards the nice stack of pillows. He clicked on a humidifier on his way towards the door, shutting off the lights as he left. “I’m proud of you.”

As he closed the door, leaving it open just a crack, he heard a tired voice whisper “Thanks.”

#bad things happen bingo #batman #batfam #batman and robin #bruce wayne #dick grayson #damian wayne #my writing

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

A thing of honour

Warning: This one got super angsty super fast and I had no idea how it happened but here we are Word count: ~3k (sis snapped) Summary: Keeping your alter ego a secret from Damian was all fun and games, especially since he seemed to hate your superhero persona while loving your "normal" you, but what happenes when he finds out about the whole thing in the worst way possible...

This was a request by a wonderous Anon:  Hiii, i’d like to request a damian x reader, where the reader also fights alongside damian and jon as their alter ego. Damian and the reader don’t get along as superheroes, but as their normal selves they do. The only one who doesn’t know of the other person’s identity is Damian, which makes it all even more amusing for jon and the reader. But when the reader is brought back to the batcave after being injured, he finds out. Ty 💕

You hadn't meant for it to go this far. Really, you didn't. You had wanted to tell him as soon as possible, but then Jon had told you about how he talked about you-well, about your alter-ego- behind your back. But to be fair, it didn't keep on being behind your back for long, even though Damian didn't know that. "Tt, she'd do us all a favour if she'd stay at home," Damian grumbled when the muted Tv in the corner of the small coffee shop that he, Jon and you visited frequently, showed a picture of Ace, or rather you in your vigilante outfit (kindly donated by your god-aunt Diana who supported you with everything you did and was the reason you were now best friends with Jon and Damian's girlfriend). You couldn't help but roll your eyes. "What's your problem with her anyways? Shouldn't you be thankful that she helped you?" you sighed while picking at your piece of pie with the fork. You could feel Jon's knowing look on you, but you paid it no mind. "I could have very well handled it without her, she was just a bother anyways," he huffed and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He'd eat his words sooner or later. "I was on a case with her earlier that month and I really thought she was great. She has fighting skills on the same level as Diana, don't you think so too Y/N?" Jon sent you a bright, great smile and you could've sworn he winked at you. "I'm not sure I'd go that far," you answered with a small smirk and shrugged your shoulders, "It's not like I've seen her in action yet anyways, only know her on Tv and from what you guys tell me." Damian looked between the two of you slightly confused and highly annoyed, but you were sure that he wouldn't be able to put two and two together. For him, you were his sweet, but otherwise defenceless girlfriend that couldn't knock a two-year-old out and, to be fair, for the first years of your relationship that was exactly what you were. A normal girl in love with the great detective's son and best friend with Superman's. But then Diana (after years upon years of begging) took you with her to Themyscira and there something changed. Obviously you wouldn't be able to learn to fight in the two weeks you'd stay there, but somehow, after watching Diana train with the other Amazons, you felt like your muscles were burning with energy and every fibre of your being was urging to fight. Diana almost lost her mind when you stormed onto the training field, afraid that you'd get hurt on her watch, but she froze in her tracks when she saw you defeating one of the amazons as if you've been fighting for all your life. That's how you found out that somehow you had the power to copy the fighting style of anyone you watched. When you came back from your trip you spend a good three months watching every piece of realistic fighting that you could get your hand on and soon you were, in terms of fighting without powers, even besting Diana. Even though you knew you would never seriously be able to defeat her it was still a good feeling to know you were pretty good. So you became Ace. At first, it was great and you liked being a hero more than you ever thought you did, but soon you started feeling bad for keeping such a big secret from your best friends, especially knowing that they had told you about their secret as soon as they completely trusted you. So you had been planning to tell them when Jon called you to whine about Damian annoying him about some new vigilante who he had seen fighting in "his area" earlier that week. The look on your face when you realized that it had to be you. That was when a wicked thought planted itself in your head. Not soon after you had told Jon- and Jon being Jon, soon his family new about you and your plan too and that somehow ended in Damian's family knowing about both too. That's how you ended up being in the situation you were right now. Jon sitting there, having to hold back laughter and Damian being as clueless as ever. Did you feel bad about basically lying to him? Yes, somewhat you did. Was it really funny? Yes, yes it really really was. "But anyways," you restarted the conversation, finally taking a bite out of your abused cake, "I read somewhere recently that she was working with Batman against the Riddler two weeks ago." You smiled at the memory of how petrified you had been when your boyfriend father caught you running through Gotham, hunting after the Riddler, and how amazing it was to fight alongside him after he told you that he trusted Diana's judgement and would welcome you to become an ally to his team(/family), especially considering your relationship to Damian, but he also respected your "prank" and that you'd keep your distance until you'd finally tell him. "Tt, he wouldn't have needed her anyways. Especially not if I'd been there, but just because I lightly stab Jason once, I have to stay at home for patrol," he pouted and, even though you couldn't help smiling at his cluelessness, you also couldn't help yourself from giving him a small peck on the corner of his still pouting lip, making a small blush crawl onto his face at your PDA. "Uhm," Jon, who was still always extremely awkward at seeing the two of you kiss or- god forbid- actually make out, even though he himself called himself your biggest shipper, stammered, "H-hey Damian if your father works with her, why don't you ask him who she is?" His eyes widened as soon as the words left his mouth and he had to actively look away from you because he thought that he'd maybe start to cry if he'd saw the fury filled glare you sent his way. "Don't you think I did?" Damian huffed but didn't notice your angry eyes. "A-and what'd he say?" "He said it wasn't 'his secret to share,'" he scoffed, underlining how ridiculous he thought it was by making air-quotes. "But anyway, what did you guys plan on doing this weekend? I've heard there a really cool new movie in theatres right now. Damian's treat?"

It was two weeks after the conversation in the coffee shop when your guilt about keeping such a big secret from your boyfriend slowly started eating you up from inside. The fact that the movie's side story was about the main character and his love interest almost losing each other forever because of a secret that stood between that didn't really help much, did it now? So you've been planning how to do it for hours when your phone vibrated and twitter notification showed you that Robin was seen on his way through Gotham, most likely on patrol. It was really a short circuit reaction to get into your suit and jump out your window into the direction of where you thought the picture might have been taken. You were almost put off by how quickly you found him. Maybe it was because of how well you knew him, but it still surprised you to no end. "I heard you had something you have a bone to pick with me," you said, having no real plan on how to handle this. Damian span around at an unbelievable pace and you would have certainly been cut by the Batarang that was thrown your way, had it not been Diana's extra training in the area of "people will definitely throw sharp objects your way when you least expect it". For a second your eyes stayed on the Batarang that you held in your hand until they wandered back up at your unknowing boyfriend who looked at you like you were evil as a person. "Listen, I don't want to fight you, we're on the same team, remember?" you tried to somewhat clear the water. "Tt, you're nowhere near my team. You're just a little girl who thinks she can play superhero." "Okay, isn't that a little sexist?" you couldn't help the snarky comment, "And nevertheless, I've defeated real criminals, I've helped the city. What's your damn problem with me anyway. What have I ever done to upset you?" Your voice was raising and you were slightly afraid that he could recognize your voice, now not being too sure if you actually wanted him to know who you were anymore. "You're just an imposter. Don't you think I've noticed that your fighting style, as multifaceted as it may be, is just an exact copy of other peoples, mainly Wonder Women? Does she know that she has a seemingly shameless copycat running around?" You took a small step back out of surprise. He had never talked with your persona before and he still figured you out like an open book. You were fascinated and at the same time extremely annoyed and angry at his lack of empathy and him not even trying to find out who you were. "So what? Do I have to have my own style just to fight crime? Is it wrong of me to try and help people?" "It's a thing of hono-" "Oh shut the hell up and get that giant stick out of your ass," you huffed and made a sweeping gesture, "This city needs all the help it can get. Hell, this world needs all the help it can get! So excuse me for trying to be part of this help." You saw that he wanted to say something, but you didn't let him. "And if you are so invested in my honour, I have you know that Wonder Women is well aware of my fighting style! She was the one who thought it too me after all." With that, you turned around and jumped off of the building onto the balcony below it, keeping on climbing down the building until you were on the ground. All the frustration inside you made you feel your bone ache with the tears that you held in, while you stormed through the allies of Gotham, only stopping when you stood in front of an abandoned warehouse that was a hotspot for crime, that you'd usually keep away from, but right now you needed a ventile to get the anger out of you. When you entered, it was completely empty. "Well, so much for that," you muttered to yourself. You turned around, ready to leave and look somewhere else when you felt something pierce simultaneously through your back and your stomach. Your breath hitched in pain and shock when you looked down to see the tip of a short sword or a long knife standing out of your abdomen. "What a shame, I had planned for that to enter someone else's body. Too bad," a male voice echoed through the large empty hall, followed by the sound of a closing door. For a moment you thought about trying to follow him, but when you slightly turned around and the pain shot through you, you decided against it. You had to get medical attention. And that as soon as possible.

You had no idea how, but somehow, as unlikely as it seemed, you had managed to end up at the manor, your suit drenched with your own blood and every step painfully. The world was spinning around you and there were more black points in your sight than the actual world. With the last energy you could manage to gather, you pushed the doorbell and managed to stand straight while waiting for it to open. "Miss Y/L/N, what a surprise to see you here, especially in this attire. It is not wise to come in this way when you're wearing this," he welcomed you with a scolding look, not noticing the silver blade that was still stuck in your stomach, in his eyes, your mask seemingly covering how pale, tired and lifeless you already looked. Even if you were still awake enough to think straight, you wouldn't exactly have been surprised by him knowing who you were. He was still looking at you expectedly when you suddenly dropped forward against Alfred, managing with the last of your lifeforce to keep your stomach back a bit as to not to stab him with the tip of the long knife. The Butler tried to steady you by draping his arm around you when he suddenly took in a sharp breath as he felt the warm liquid that was your blood cover his hand and forearm, and his hand touching the handle of the weapon that might cause your ultimate demise. As quick as possible he picked you up, careful to keep your stomach as straight as possible so that the knife wouldn't cause more damage than necessary, and brought you down into the Batcave, not paying any mind to Damian who was sitting in the seat in front of the Batcomputer, sharpening his Katanas. Alfred carefully laid you down onto one of the medical beds on your side, quickly pulled up your medical file and sorted through one of their emergency 'blood-banks' to give you a transfusion. By the time he had you connected to all the medical machines- he was extremely quick after years of training, Damian came rushing to his side. He had a worried look on his face until he caught sight of your suit. "What is she-" "We have no time for that. Call Dr. Thompkins! Now!" Damian didn't dare to oppose Alfred's command and quickly did as he told before he came back to Alfred who did his best to keep you alive, your heartbeat way too slow. "She's on her way, I told her it was urgent," Damian grumbled. He was, of course, somewhat worried about you- well, about Ace- but seeing his object of daily annoyment laying there in front of him, basically dead, he couldn't help but feel validated in his hate towards her. That was until Alfred took your mask off to check your reaction towards light to see if you were still responsive. Damian could hear his heart break and stop when he saw who he felt was maybe the love of his life lay there, hair dull and dishevelled around your head, skin almost wide and your face so lifeless. His brain couldn't comprehend what was going on and it was like time froze. He only started to realize anything was happening again when he felt his father's arm pull him away from where Dr. Thompkins, who he hadn't even notice coming in, and Alfred closed the makeshift medical curtain to start operating you. Damian looked up at Bruce, his tearstained cheeks still wet, no sign of his eyes stopping to cry anytime soon, and saw the look in his eyes. That look of sorriness. That look of hopelessness. That look like he was sure, that you wouldn't make it out of the cave alive.

The tension in the cave was so explosive that no one dared to say a word. Besides the members of the Batfamily that were gathered there, Diana was pacing through the room and Jon and Clark were silent beside their best friends- Clark with a hand on Bruce's shoulder and Jon holding Damian's hand, another thing no one dared to speak about, not budging at the strength of his grin that would break a normal humans hand. It was nothing against what he had to endure when he had first entered the cave. A completely livid and messy, tired-looking Damian came at him, pushing his chest while screaming at him, asking him if he knew. When Jon didn't answer, just a look of extreme guilt in his eyes, Damian snapped. It took Clark and Bruce together too rip him off of his best friend who just stood there and silently took every blow. When Damian had finally calmed down, his eyes slowly watering again, Jon dared too move closer to him, his worry over his best friend greater than the shame he felt for being- in his eyes- partly responsible for your state. Damian, who deep inside knew that it wasn't Jon's fault- that it wasn't anyone's fault but the persons who had thrown that knife- clutched onto his best friend and cried onto his shoulder, which was all it took for Jon to break and the tears to roll down his cheeks too. When it felt like they were both dry of tears they sat down, hand in hand. With Diana, it wasn't too different, just less violent. She came rushing in and demanded to see you. When Bruce made it clear that you were still operated on, she wanted to storm out of the cave and comb through the city for the person who was responsible for that. Bruce somehow managed to talk her out of it, but he knew that she wouldn't be the only one who'd started wreaking havoc when Dr. Thompkins came out of the medical area with the bad news he already expected. He just hoped he would manage to be a good father for Damian when it'd count most. Almost nine hours of nearly complete silence had passed before Alfred came to them, still in his scrubs. Everyone stopped what they were doing and you could've heard a pin drop. "She's through and will make it. No permanent damage, but she won't be able to do any physical straining activities for the next few months. It was a very close shot." A collective breath of relief went through the room and a lot of tense shoulders relaxed. "Can I- Can we see her?" Damian's voice, that was so much timider than anyone was used to, asked and Alfred could see the desperation on his face. "Yes, but she probably won't wake up very soon. Her body is thoroughly and utterly exhausted." Damian didn't care. He sat beside your bed for the next two days. The others would come in for a while, either to make sure Damian isn't completely alone or to be with you but left after a few hours, not being able to abandon their lives forever. It was around midnight, Jon and Clark had just left to get back to Smallville for a change of clothes and a goodnight sleep in their own beds a few hours ago when Damian shot up from being half-asleep at the sound of a groan echoing through the empty room. His eyes looked around frantically, searching for any sort of danger when a small cough turned his attention to you. Your eyes were still closed but your face was pinched together in pain. "Hey," Damian whispered and took hold of your hand, his demeanour easing a bit when you pressed it. "Dami?" you whispered back with a coarse voice and slowly your eyes fluttered open. When you saw into his face, worry and sorrow marked onto it, you couldn't help the tears from welling up, everything that had happened and the realization of almost losing everything came crashing down onto you. "Shhhh, it's okay, everything okay," Damian mumbled soothingly and quickly sat onto the side of your bed to take you into his arms. For the last 48 hours, he had imagined every sort of conversation about why you didn't tell him about your alter ego, about how you could've been so careless, about why you even became a vigilante when you knew how dangerous it was, but at that moment he realized that all that was unimportant. Of course, he'd have to talk about it with you sooner or later, but after almost losing you, the fact that you were still there in his arms was the most he could want.

#damian way #damian #Damian wayne x reader #robin #robin x reader #jon kent #jonathan kent #jon kent x reader #superboy #superboy x reader #dc x reader #bruce wayne x you #batman #Diana prince #Wonder woman #clark kent #superman #batfam #batboys #batfamily #oneshot

[lostplay]

Game 21: Batman The Telltale Series: The Enemy Within To say Telltale got around when it came to licenses is an understatement. One of the biggest reasons it fail was because it was always taking on too many projects, and for a long time, I thought it was because Telltale didn’t actually care about making a good choice system or care about the material at hand. On revisit, I have found time and time again, the opposite is indeed true. Telltale crafts a lot of these stories well, and try to help set up their own versions of characters, plots, and world building. While The Enemy Within is a great example of Telltale creating something new from old, it sadly still has a lot of technical problems and decision issues that plague it’s otherwise great tale. Enemy Within being effectively the second season of the Telltale Batman universe, we are given a small glimpse of what happened and what choices we made during the first game. Aside from a few off handed mentions in the first episode, the choices you made in the first game just feel irrelevant after the fact, and the choices that did matter, matter very little. This isn’t much of a testament of the choice system in this game, as it kinda has a similar, but different problem. The majority of choices in Enemy Within just don’t really feel they impact much or really feel like conflicting choices. Most of the choices seen either contribute to an overall relationship dynamic or just feel so weighted one way that it’s a clear choice for most people to go with the other option, often leaving 70/30 polls at the end of these episodes. On the technical side of things, Enemy Within does look better than it’s previous season, but sometimes models can feel a bit off pending on movement timing. Fighting has been far more refined to feel like a fighting sequence, but there is still a lot of one missed key deaths that have seemed to cause Telltale to increase the leeway on key accusation instead of Heavy Rain’s far more interesting flown combat script system. It does feel like Enemy With takes 1 step forward tho and 2 steps back; as they have a number of fights that do feel pretty stunning to actually playthrough compared to the stilt action of most telltale games. Detective work is pretty much thrown away after the first episode too, as the second season is far more interested in a certain dynamic more than anything else.

Relationship dynamics are always the most interesting part of telltale game’s as the iconic, “____ will remember that” is often a trope found in a lot of them. So, of course, the iconic duo, Joker and Batman would have a larger focus on their relationship dynamic compared to everyone else in this series. While Joker, aka John Doe, played a minimal role in the last season, he is brought in heavily for the second season. Perhaps what is the most compiling thing about John Doe and Batman is more so how there relationship dynamic can change so drastically pending on your actions as both Bruce or Batman, making the origins of Joker itself far more multiple choice, and either far more connected to Batman than before or someone that was simply a lost cause. While the relationship with Joker and Batman has always been a prominent dynamic in the series, it was never something that was established with Bruce/Batman having all the power. John Doe is honestly just a really mentality unstable patient that is looking for support, and in this way telltale actually makes us empathize with him. Not to say that their isn’t other relationships or characters in this story that aren’t interesting, as I do enjoy these versions of the Riddler and Harley compared to how we usually get them. Still every relationship takes a backseat to John Doe and Bruce/Batman, and really that’s what makes this season far more interesting than the last.

While I don’t think we will find this version of Telltale’s Batman any time soon, I honestly enjoy my time with both games, and consider the overall experience a positive one. Any problems I had with this season were often minimal in comparison to the majority of Telltale’s other works, and while I do think it was both enhanced and suffered from the focus of one relationship, I don’t think I would trade that unique approach with the usual same old same old. It’s both a testament to Telltale’s writing skills and the staying power of these DC characters.

#Batman Telltale Season 2 #Batman Telltale #John Doe Batman #Batman The Enemy Within #LOSTLEAD8R #Lost Reviews #lostleader

[hotdadslade]

DC’s Failed Shared Continuity

This is a subject that I see touched on a lot but not really addressed, so I wanted to break it down.

DC’s core comics (That is, Batman, Superman, Justice League, etc, and not the elseworld style books like DCeased or White Knight) are generally understood to be happening in a shared continuity. That is, what happens in one book reflects in the other. The series cross over, because they take place in the same universe.

Only that isn’t true anymore.

There are a lot of plot holes that don’t really make sense, but that isn’t what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to talk about the fact that DC has absolutely no timeline, the absolute glut of events happening in and out of main books, and the fact that each DC comic is effectively its own universe, rather than shared between it.

I’m going to address the following examples, just to give people an idea of what’s going on and exactly what I mean when I talk about a shared continuity:

The fact that Alfred Pennyworth’s funeral happened before he died.

The fact that Bruce Wayne was in at least three places at once at the start of Perpetua’s invasion.

DC’s insane event schedule through 2019.

The lack of impact events are having with the readers, such as the fact that fact that the entire of South America went to war, China engaged in mass orgies, and the entire of Britain stared at the sky for days on end and almost no reader has heard about it.

City of Bane’s complete lack of impact in the larger DC universe

And last but not least: Why does this matter, and where does DC go from here?

Alfred’s Funeral is before his Death:

Alfred Pennyworth dies during City of Bane. We see his funeral in Pennyworth: R.I.P., where we see the family come together and share stories before immediately getting into a slap fight over it.

This unquestionably happens after City of Bane, because City of Bane is when Alfred died. Despite this, Ric is still around:

That little note in the bottom left makes it clear that this happens before Nightwing Annual #2.

The majority of Annual #2 is a flashback, but it specifically ends with the Court of Owls telling Cobb (that is, Talon) that Dick will soon be his, and telling him to move in. This happens in Nightwing 63, when Cobb shows up (aided by Apex Lex’s gift), and starts screwing with Dick’s life. I’ll skip over the most of it: what matters is that Talon brainwashing Dick Grayson appears the same night Perpetua’s symbol appears over the city (in Nightwing 66 and a number of other issues), Dick attacks the Nightwings, fights Condor Red, and then is freed from the mind control all in one night.

Which is great. Except this can’t happen after Alfred’s death, because the symbol of Perpetua (which appears everywhere at once) appears over Gotham during City of Bane (in Batman 81):

So we have one event happening simultaneously in Nightwing and Batman, only one happens before/during Alfred’s death, and the other supposedly happens well after.

Which leads us into...

Batman apparently can be everywhere at once

So up above we have Batman 81. Bruce is, at this point, in the city rushing to beat Bane when the symbol pops up.

Here’s the symbol popping up in Detective Comics (1014) while fighting the Freezes (the city, I’ll note, is normal Gotham at this point, not controlled by Bane):

Bruce is in Paris (in theory, after his coma) in Outsiders #6, and then arrives back in Gotham just in time for the symbol to appear in the sky in issue 7:

Even just while researching this, I realized that it happened in other issues too. The symbol appears in the sky in Batman/Superman issue 3 while Bruce is being attacked by the infected:

It also happens in Justice League, but I can’t be bothered to get pages.

This is all taking place in a shared universe, so the fact that there’s three or four different Bruce’s in three or four different books who are all doing completely different things in different areas is... baffling. DC has always played a bit fast and lose with Detective Comics and Batman, rarely defining which is happening first or what their exact order of events is, but this takes it a step beyond that.

It also leads into...

DC has how many events? and What happened to the infected?

2019 was a year. Specifically, it was the year of the Villain, but it really should have been year of the event, because DC had so many events happening almost concurrently that it was impossible to figure out what was going on when.

You had Heroes in Crisis running from late September 2018 to May 2019 (acknowledged in Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Red Hood, and Titans, but largely inconsequential and rarely referenced again).

Year of the Villain itself spanned the whole year, with two dedicated series (YoTV and YoTV: Hell Arisen), a huge Justice League arc (14 issues!), literally dozens of tie in issues in main books, and 8 oneshots focusing on specific villains and their upgrades. 

This also tied into The Infected storline, where the Batman who Laughs infected six heroes and sent them out into the universe to torment people. This, too, got a number of oneshots and tie-in issues.

You had Event Leviathan, a six issue series which then got a spinoff and soon a sequel through the second half of 2019, which promised to ‘stretch across the DC universe and touch every character’, which has been, outside of Action Comics (which spun it off), a complete non-entity.

You also had Doomsday Clock, which launched all the way back in 2017 and only finished in late 2019. This was intended to ‘impact the entire DC universe’, with the idea that when the series ended, the rest of the continuity would catch up to it and you’d see the repercussions. It’s effectively been rendered non-canon, taking place outside the universe in a single line in Justice League.

So many things were happening, and they were all stressed as extremely important, but when the chips were down...

Most of them weren’t.

Half the Villain upgrades went away with the blink of an eye (Black Mask hasn’t shown up since his oneshot, and Riddler threw his retirement out in favor of being cRaZy in Batman). Heroes in Crisis had almost no affect. Event Leviathan is waiting on its sequel, having meant almost nothing despite the fact that an entire country was taken over. Doomsday Clock is now effectively out of canon.

Many of these (mostly YOTV itself) lead into the Death Metal event happening now, but that’s the thing: they only lead into that. There’s minimal acknowledgement of those events happening in other books. Even when huge things that should be impossible to ignore happen, they have minimal to no effect on the wider continuity. When is Death Metal happening, in continuity? No idea. What about the infected arc? What about Justice League?

Who knows? DC doesn’t seem to.

Which leads into the finale, the great big ‘are you kidding me’ moment:

Remember that time hundreds of thousands of people died, the whole of South America went to war, and China descended into mass orgies?

No?

Neither does anyone else.

In Wonder Woman issue 50 (and some issues around it), a series of dark gods emerge from (you guessed it) the dark multiverse. Each takes control over a single country, enacting their dark bidding. 

(Brief Suicide CW in the description below)

The goddess of war causes the entire of South America to literally go to war, invading and murdering each other. The mob god causes the whole of Britain to walk outside and stare up at the sky, not eating or drinking until they started to drop dead. A god of indulgence causes the entire of China to engage in bacchanalia, which is effectively a frenzied orgy of celebration and dancing. The nameless god has taken over Saint Petersburg, causing those within to commit mass-suicide impulsively.

And of course this has been happening world wide. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands are dead. We see shots of other places - mass murder in the streets of Hong Kong, for example.

We actually see other heroes in this. The whole arc actually starts with Supergirl fighting Diana, and then while she's briefly out of commission, the Justice League (Bruce, Arthur, Barry, J’onn, Victor, and Kendra) show up to help only to get absorbed by the big bad. That’s when the above panel happens, and then even more heroes get thrown at the problem.

In the end, Diana ‘wins’ - by sacrificing her brother Jason to the Dark Gods. The gods return the Justice League, and undo the damage they’ve caused on Earth. Those dead aren’t actually dead, for example. Time gets rewound... partially. We see the Justice League who only partially remember what happened, but the damage around the area is still there.

This should be, by any metric, a huge fucking deal. Literal gods appeared from the multiverse and fucked over huge chunks of the planet. Hundreds of thousands died and then were, in theory, un-killed. The heroes are aware of this, and have at least partial memories.

And yet it’s never acknowledged. 

This is supposed to be a huge event. The stakes literally could not be higher, and yet I’ve never seen this arc even acknowledged in any other book. This isn’t even a unique thing, either: all of New York (and most of the world) flooded in Doctor Fate and no one noticed outside that book.

So what about City of Bane?

But by far the most significant example of this is City of Bane itself. City of Bane was a huge event. Some of the top selling issues of 2019 were the City of Bane issues. It received numerous ads in other books, as well as major attention. It was the culmination of Tom King’s entire run, and lasted for more than half a year. It involved Gotham taken over by the titular Bane, ruling it with an iron fist and using mind-controlled villains as his own personal police force. It was a huge, game-changing event.

And outside of the pages of Batman (and Gotham City Monsters), it might as well not have happened. Any time it is acknowledged, it’s in the most awkward and confusing manner possible.

Batman and the Outsiders, Issue 6, Bruce is in Paris, Alfred gets a callout from Ra’s, and calls Bruce home: 

Bruce immediately gets on a plane and flies home, landing at the end of issue 7 when the Perpetua symbol goes up.

In issue eight, taking place immediately after, we are lead to believe that the entire City of Bane arc happened in between Bruce flying home from Paris and arriving in time to help:

This is far from the only example. City of Bane tends to be acknowledged exclusively in terms of ‘this issue takes place before City of Bane’ editor notes. The only real thing that gets acknowledged is Alfred’s absence: Detective Comics skips over City of Bane entirely (The YOTV issues taking place before, and then going straight to ‘after), Red Hood and the Outlaws ignores it, and Batgirls acknowledgement is effectively skipping City of Bane itself to go right back to talking about ‘cleaning up the city’ with a one line mention of ‘what Bane did to Gotham’. Plenty of other books either don’t mention it at all, or the mention is so minor I completely missed it.

So why does this matter?

Early on in my time in this fandom, I noted that the more a fan is into DC comics (not the fandom, but specifically the comics), the more they’d hate the comics themselves. This extends beyond what most people on tumblr would consider the ‘fandom space’ - I’m talking reddit, league of comic geeks, comic review sites, etc. The fact is that DC has created a scenario where the more you read their work, the worse it gets. Any individual comic from the examples above reads just fine on its own, but when you read multiple comics you start getting confused about why nothing makes sense. There’s no order to things, no continuity. Things are said in one issue and ignored in the next. Major events are trumpeted as changing the status quo but don’t change a thing. DC is actively pushing away their most dedicated readers, the ones who are going out and buying 5+ issues a week.

So what comes next?

The original reason this all came up was the news that DC’s upper editorial staff had been hit with major layoffs. While nothing yet has been confirmed (this happened only three days ago), the general rumors is that DC is going to be majorly cutting back the number of titles. With Death Metal almost certainly heralding a continuity reboot ala Flashpoint, now is the perfect time for DC to figure out what it’s doing with its continuity, and realistically, they have two options.

Option One: Forsake Shared Continuity.

I’m sure a lot of people would hate this idea, because shared continuity is such an intrinsic part of DC’s history, but looking realistically at sales numbers, there’s some major appeal. There’s far less work to it (important with the loss of their editors), and this isn’t to say all the books will be separate, just that they won’t all be inherently linked. Maybe they keep TEC and JL in the same canon. Maybe Nightwing, Batman, and Batgirl share too. The point is, though, that the fact that Gotham is burning to the ground will no longer reflect on Clark, who is apparently just out of earshot with his thumb up his ass doing nothing.

There’s precedent for this as well. Injustice, DCeased, Criminal Sanity, and White Knight are all stories in their own world that are selling (or have sold) extremely well. DC’s top fifteen issues sold for January to March of this year include seven issues of Batman, one issue of Wonder Woman, one issue of Flash, and then two issues of Unkillables, the Robin 80th oneshot, Strange Adventures (its own continuity), and an issue of Batman: Curse of the White Knight. If you go farther down, it’s more of the same - you have to go through every issue of Curse of the White Knight released, as well as Criminal Sanity, to get to Batman/Superman, Detective Comics, Justice League, and Superman.

I’m not sure this is the best choice, but I can’t imagine it’s not an appealing choice just the same.

Option Two: Fix Shared Continuity.

Without question, DC’s going to be (at least temporarily) paring down the number of books they have, and there’s never been a better time for figuring out what’s going on with their continuity. Less books means less to organize. A reboot and one very determined editor could help establish a baseline to work from, but that would require DC to focus on it as a priority.

I’m sure this is the choice most people will lean for, but it’s definitely the more intensive option, and we can only hope DC decides it’s worth it.

#analysis #dc critical

[silverdecepticon93]

Obsessions

Request by @datramencookie​: May I request a oneshot with some Yandere Telltale Riddler, with a cop or fed s/o. Pretty sure that's quite an... interesting picture already on its own!

A/n: This is my first time for writing Telltale Riddler so I get it if he’s not as sadistic or whatever and I’m pretty iffy about the ending but I hope you enjoy it!

   As long as you could remember, right from when you joined the police force, you had always been in some sort of dangerous game of “Cat and Mouse” with none other than the notorious Riddler. Sometimes it was hard to distinguish which one of you was the cat and which one of you was the mouse, especially when you looked back at your past with him where he’d hold you hostage only for you to escape on your own or when you’d go around town solving his puzzles and riddles but only managing to catch his minions and other criminals but never him.

    However, there was a week where the GCPD no longer heard from him which had everyone including you on high alert. You shook your head remembering the sleepless nights you spent trying to figure out where he was hiding or what he was planning next that could cause such a long hiatus.

    Soon, the weeks spanned into a month, then that month would turn into a year, and that year would become more and more years. Throughout those years, you had traveled higher and higher in status of the GCPD before once more going to your very first status as a police officer. Still, throughout those years, there was one question on your mind.

     How long would The Riddler keep hiding?

     It was a lingering thought, one that kept you up at night, despite everyone telling you not to worry about it. After all, it had been a long time since you were chasing him down through alleyways and the backstreets of Gotham City, but you knew him better than that. You knew that he wouldn’t just up and disappear for good, it just wasn’t his style.

     He was a showy bastard so if he wanted to give up crime for good, he’d announce it in a way that everyone from Gotham City to Bludhaven would know.

     So it wasn’t exactly a surprise for you when you came home to see him sitting in your favorite chair, one leg crossed over the other as his cane was leaned against him. He was looking through a binder, one that you recognized very well.

    Every encounter you had with him, every story that was written on him, and everything else of that sort was stored in there. You had made it yourself to try and understand the living puzzle that is The Riddler and it had proven to be rather helpful during your earlier years of being a police officer and helped you barely keep up with him.

    He looked up at you and smiled and while you were certainly old for your age, you don’t ever remember him ever smiling at you like that. Yes, perhaps a smug smirk here and a devious grin there, but never the smile that he was giving you. It was the kind of smile you’d give an old friend or seeing someone who was near and dear to you after a lengthy amount of time and realizing that time hadn’t changed how much they meant to you.

    That was the kind of smile he was giving you and it confused you.

    “Officer (L/n), good to see you again,” He greeted as he set down the book before gesturing for you to sit down, “Take a seat, it’s been so long since we’ve last talked.”

    “I agree,” You said in a slow voice as you hesitantly walked over to him, looking suspiciously at the chair he was gesturing for you to sit on. He stared at you for a bit as his head rested on his hand, “Well? Go on. I haven’t done anything to it.”

    “Of course not,” You finally answered before sitting down, “this is just...rather unexpected is all.”

    “Oh please, Officer,” He scoffed as he waved his hand dismissively towards you , “We both know I was going to come back at some point.”

     “And the first thing you did was stop by to visit your favorite officer?” You asked, sarcasm dripping from your words. His smile began to grow, “Precisely and you’re just as lovely as the day I met you.”

    He made it sound like you had been lovers or something who were seeing each other after a longtime when you two were anything but that.

     “Spare me the flattery, we both know that it doesn’t work.” You frowned. This only made him chuckle slightly, “and just as filled with fire, too, it seems. Delightful.”

     “Eddie, can we just...please cut to the chase where you tell me what you’re doing here? I think you’re old enough to skip the drama and be straightforward,” then you mumbled another sentence quietly to yourself, “for once.”

    He merely chuckled again and shook his head slightly and you knew that he wasn’t going to be straight-forward like you had asked. Then again, it was The Riddler, you were thoroughly convinced that being straightforward would kill him at this point. However, the reason that The Riddler was chuckling was because of what he had felt when you called him ‘Eddie’, after all, he was thought he was too old to be feeling such giddiness but you always had a way of making Eddie feel things he never expected to feel.

     Love was among one of the feelings. He might not’ve showed it during his younger years but he did fall hard for you, it was so fast and sudden that even a mind like his couldn’t find the exact moment he started feeling these things for you, and trust me, he tried to pinpoint the exact moment when he fell in love with you multiple times.

    Frustration was also one of them, Edward constantly had to be in control, yet, you always threatened that control. You were always a step behind him but yet still too close for Edward to see you as a threat but that’s not what frustrated him. There were times where he had the upper hand, where he could’ve finished you once and for all, yet he never did. He’d make one miniscule mistake on purpose, to give you a chance to escape whatever life-threatening situation he had you in, and you never failed to exploit that mistake. He just couldn’t bring himself to actually kill you.

    Then there was hopelessness, an empty yet heavy feeling in his chest whenever he thought about how you two could never be together. That you were simply too different from each other, that your own morals and beliefs went against his own but it didn’t stop his overwhelming urge to want you. He’d fall into despair just thinking about it, that the only way he could be with you was to commit crimes and have you chase him down only for him to make a miraculous escape and to restart the whole process again. He was young, of course, and had thought that maybe if he was patient enough and continued this cycle that eventually something was going to change on your part.

     Now?

     Now he had run out of patience and all those years of wanting you now twisted by obsession turned into need. He needed to have you at his side, he needed you to finally accept his feelings, he needed you to be his and his alone.

     “Drama was one of the things that made our relationship so special, darling,” He finally said, “that and our obsession with each other.”

     You felt yourself stiffen at those words and he seemed to notice it because he once more let out a low and dark chuckle.

     “I’m right, aren’t I? We were both so infatuated with each other,” He began, “I know for a fact that you lost sleep over me, that you still do. That you always waited for me to come back, frankly, I’m delighted that you, not for one second, never doubted my return. Do you know why you did that?”

     “If I didn’t know any better, Eddie,” You growled before standing up from your spot, “I’d think that you’re accusing me of falling in love with you.”

     “Not accusing, darling,” He said as he stood up as well, “Proving. I know you love me, that I never once left your mind, and you’ll be happy to know that you never left mine as well.”

     “I don’t care if I haunted your dreams or some other poetic crap, I know how I feel towards you, Eddie, and love certainly isn’t it!” You shouted, taking one step closer to him. He rolled his eyes before holding up the binder you had of him, “Are you sure? You obsessively gained more information on me, recalled every detail of our little encounters, and that you never thought twice about getting rid of this old thing. You kept it, even when I disappeared, and I can tell by how worn out it is that you looked over it. Over and over again.”

     You opened your mouth to argue with him, to shout and scream about how wrong he was, and to demand that he leave. However, nothing came out, almost as if you were no longer capable of speaking. He seemed to anticipate this by the smug smirk on his face, it wasn’t that surprising if he did.

     “See? You might’ve thought you were just trying to stay one step ahead of a dangerous criminal but in reality,” He leaned down low and into your ear, “You were utterly, purely obsessed with me.”

      “Obsession and love aren’t the same thing.” You responded, now being able to find your voice.

     “It’s hard to tell with us though, isn’t it?” He grinned as he pulled away from you, “The only reason you won’t admit it is because of your job, your duty, and that’s to protect Gotham.”

      “Exactly,” You nodded before glaring at him, “I wasn’t obsessed with you, I was obsessed with protecting Gotham. Protecting the city I love.”

      He shook his head slightly at his words before swifty grabbing his cane, the sharp edge now dangerously close to your throat. You blinked dumbfoundedly, surprised that he was still so quick despite how much time had passed.

      “Well that ‘love’ for this accursed city was, still is, the one thing that keeps you in denial about your love for me,” He growled, now pressing the blade closer to your throat as you looked up and glared at him as fear and irritation began to spiral within you, “and frankly, (Y/n)...”

      “I’m getting tired of having to share you with this city.”

#Yandere Riddler x reader #Yandere Riddler x you #Yandere Edward Nygma x reader #Yandere Edward Nygma x you #Yandere Dc villains x reader #Yandere Dc villains x you #The Riddler x reader #The Riddler x you #Edward Nygma x reader #Edward Nygma x you #Dc villains x reader #Dc villains x you #Telltale Riddler x reader #Telltale Riddler x you

[roguish-gallery]

Did you ever make that joker tier list, I always like seeing what people think of all the different ones. Though if they put Romero last I can no longer respect them.

LMAO I DID! I think I’ve made it kind of obvious in this blog but I... don’t... particularly... care... for... the joker.... unless he’s, y’know, fun to watch. Cause he’s a clown, and clowns are supposed to be entertaining. But since you politely brought it up, and and because I have a deep respect for mutual Romero-lovers, I guess this would be a good time to explain my rankings and just discuss my general thoughts on each clown:

General Thoughts:

For the most part, I don’t really care for the Joker. This is hardly an uncommon opinion here on tumblr, but I definitely fall on the side of the fandom that feels that he gets too much attention from DC. I get WHY they use him so often for films and comics, and I don’t have anything against *most* folks who consider them their favorite Batman villain, but at this point he’s used more for shock value and as a crutch instead of anything interesting. Like, instead of giving attention to the other Rogues, writers (at least for the comics) will try and make up some bullshit story that they can shoehorn the Joker into, ‘cause it sells. It’s tiring, and I feel like the character has lost his meaning; I can only read so many stories about the Joker, I don’t fucking know, wearing a suit made from dead babies and Jason Todd’s flayed corpse before I get sick of it.

I’m at the point where I’ll like any Joker who’s just fun to watch. I genuinely respect those who prefer darker interpretations of the character, but that isn’t me; I vastly prefer the lighthearted takes on him, because... at this point... writers who use the “cleaner” version of him tend to be more creative, since they actually have to write a Joker story that doesn’t rely on gore/torture porn.

TIER ONE:

Joker Baby: Self explanatory. Joker Baby is thematic, thoughtful, and intense. Everytime I watch this video, I shiver with fear and pleasure; something primal in me awakens whenever Joker Baby runs his fingers through his spray-on dyed hair, and ends up smearing green paint on his forehead- it represents the inner turmoil, the chaos, that resides within the disturbed body that is Joker Baby. Nothing can ever hope to top the artistic and cultural impact Joker Baby has had on society.

TIER TWO:

Batman Ninja: I genuinely believe that Batman Ninja is one of the most fun, organic, and creative things to come out from the Batman side of DC comics in like... hmmm... a decade, maybe (I could talk for hours about how much I love this movie but that’s something for a future post). This Joker is easily, and unironically my favorite interpretation of the character, period. I love his energy, his design, everything. This is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a Joker on-screen, and for that I’ve gotta give the film credit where it is due.

Batman ‘66: I looooove Caesar Romero. Batman ‘66 in general is one of my favorite pieces of Batman media, and I absolutely adore this Joker. The show is pure, genuine fun, and it’s nice to turn my brain off and watch a show where the entire cast was allowed to goof around. This Joker is just a cute, goofy little clown-man who likes to commit crimes, go surfing, turn Gotham’s water reserve into gelatin, and have wild orgies with Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. I massively appreciate the hustle. I love his little mustache and his facial expressions. I’d give him a chaste little kiss on the cheek if I could.

The Batman: EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL TAKE BUT. I think TB!Joker is better than what people will give him credit for. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been to be the first Batman cartoon to follow BTAS and the writers for this show knew they were gonna be fucked no matter what they did with the Joker, so they just decided to try something completely different with him. Personally, I appreciate the new direction- he has a fun, unhinged energy. I’ve placed him higher than BTAS/BTNA!Joker simply because The Batman was the show that got me into the Rogues in the first place, and I’m just a bit closer to this Joker because of it. Also his vampire form was cool as FUCK in Batman Vs. Dracula and the scene where he gets drenched in blood at a blood bank is fucking awesome.

Batman the Animated Series/The New Adventures: Everyone loves BTAS’s Joker, and I’m no exception. Mark Hamill is fucking great, and the writers clearly knew the character well enough to create a version of him that can be fun and threatening. As an aside, I unironically like his redesign in BTNA- I remember Hamill mentioning somewhere that he thought it was neat that this Joker looked more like a shark (I’ll see if I can find a source on that... I think he said it in an interview with Kevin Smith?) and I kinda agree with him. the redesigns in the final season are hit or miss, but I didn’t get why so many people bitched about the Joker’s new look.

Batman Unlimited: Hear me out... Hear me out... Clown... funny... and cute... He wears a little crown and gives Solomon Grundy a little smooch on the cheek and it is as delightful as it sounds. Yes the Batman Unlimited films literally only exist to sell toys but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them on some ironic level.

TIER THREE:

Lego Batman: He’s a gay icon. He has the range. Enough said.

White Knight: This is just a genuinely good, original take on the character, and the art in White Knight is absolutely gorgeous. 

Arkham: My friends and I joke that this Joker is basically a more unhinged version of BTAS! Joker and... yeah. I’m glad Hamill and Paul Dini got to fuck around with the character more, but I never really dwelled on the Joker parts of the games like I might have for other characters. I definitely liked him the most in Arkham Asylum, as he was more fun to watch. Arkham City was fiiiiine, but I think I replayed the game so much that I kinda got fatigued with everything about it. Genuinely hated his part in Origins, and I was pissed that he stole the attention from Black Mask and Bane (who’s the best fucking part of Origins IMO). I’ll admit that I... Haven’t... played... Knight yet (I have it on PC but my laptop is too wimpy to run it) but like... He’s dead at that point, so I’d assume he isn’t the main point of that game anyway. I love Mark Hamill and the fact I can personally beat the shit out of this Joker, so he’s ranked up pretty high for those reasons.

TIER FOUR:

Batman ‘89: TBH this Joker should be a rank higher, but I’m too lazy to hop onto PicsArt to change it. NIcholson was an excellent choice, and I apprecaite how this Joker makes use of the playful and unhinged aspects of the character. Also, his outfits are cute, and I love the museum scene.

Brave and the Bold: Technically this Joker SHOULD be ranked higher since he’s literally based on the more lighthearted comics in the 60′s but... ehhh... I haven’t really watched BATB so I don’t have any strong opinions on the show and how it handles the character. he’s ranked this high through beause I appreciate what they were going for.

Golden Age: The quality of comics are always subjective, based on the creative team behind them. Some I’ll like more, others less so, It’s kind of hard to rank the pre-52 comic version of the Joker because of this.

TIER FIVE:

Killing Joke: Read it, didn’t care for it. I acknowledge how massive the impact this comic had on... everything, but just because I recognize how important this graphic novel is, doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Dark Knight: Ledger did an excellent job with the role, but uhh... I’m kind of sick of the alt-right chuds who are out there sucking this Joker’s dick. The fanbase definitely ruined the character for me.

TIER SIX:

99′: Eh

Endgame: No

Suicide Squad: NO

Death of the Family: Hate him. Despise him. Lame stupid dumb little edgy bitch.

Gotham (Jeremiah): I don’t particulary care for Gotham in general, but the only reason I ranked this Joker over Jerome is beause I thought it was kinda funny to see that they made him a little rat-man, and I liked watching all the fujoshi on here cry and complain that they can’t ship this version of the joker with the pre-pubescent Bruce Wayne in the show bc he’s too ugly.

Gotham (Jerome): stop shippping this freak (who is fucking eighteen years old) with a literal twelve year old child. what the FUCK is wrong with yall.

UNRANKED:

The Joker (2019): I don’t plan on watching this film, nor will I ever. I know this is ironic, coming from someone who runs a Rogue blog, but stuff that focuses primarily on a character’s deteriorating mental health makes me reaaaaallllllyyyyy anxious (it’s kind of a phobia) and considering that I don’t particularly the Joker, I have no reason to watch something I know will only give my dumb ADHD-ass intrusive throughts.

#tier list #this was nice to finally write out- I don't typically write Joker stuff unless someone prompts it #the joker #gonna tag this as discourse just to hopefully keep it out of ppl's feed #bc i know how... defensive... joker fans... can get... #discourse #long post

[dercolaris]

The Tower

Fandom: Batman Arkham Verse

Characters: Edward Nygma, Jonathan Crane

Relationship: Edward Nygma & Jonathan Crane (Lovers)

Genre: Angst, Drama

Word length: 2140

Warnings: Religious content

Status: Complete

Short summary: The Riddler is visiting Scarecrow in his study and catches a glimpse into his lovers mind.

Enjoy!

The small brushes of the paintbrush timidly touched the barely visible details on the meeple, giving the imposing armour some individual highlights with the silver paint. Edward pushed the bulky magnifying glasses over his forehead and carefully turned the plastic around, studying each side with sceptical eyes. It didn't seem like there really was much work left to do. The tinkerer looked up from the figure and stared a little lost at his almost finished masterpiece in front of him. For the past two months he had dealt almost non-stop with the role-play game, eagerly learned the rules by heart and bought all the necessary add-on sets in order to be able to experience the adventure visually. The Riddler stroked his tangled hair. It had been a hell of a job painting all the small little objects himself. The black-haired man put his work on the table and stretched slightly, then rose from his stool. It was time for a well deserved break. The paint had to dry first anyway. Edward shook his hands out to relax them a bit and glanced at the clock in his workshop. Almost midnight. Time always flew by when he was absorbed in his work and not distracted by unnecessary disturbances every two minutes. The younger yawned heartily. A coffee would surely work wonders on him now. The tinkerer didn't bother to be quiet walking around the old house. He had no doubt that his partner would still be awake. Understanding Jonathan Crane's daily rhythm was an almost impossible task. Edward had tried often enough to memorize certain key points in the older man's daily life, but the longer he lived with the dark professor, the more the initial logic eluded his observations. Whenever the Riddler woke up from nightmares during the night, Jonathan was wide awake too. The inventor rarely saw his partner actually sleep or eat.

This only raised further questions. Questions, Edward hadn't yet had a plausible answer to. Anyway, there were a number of other things that puzzled him in dealing with the former psychiatrist and preoccupied him more than he wanted to admit. They had been living together in the old mansion for three months and every day brought out a new, interesting detail about the older man, which at the same time literally begged for further explanations about it. Already the first week in the own four walls was enough to show the black-haired man painfully that he actually knew next to nothing about his lover – despite one whole year of a stable relationship. The Master of Fear evaded a meaningful categorization and seemed to want to hold on to it, much to the displeasure of his curious partner. The tinkerer grumbled quietly as he washed his beloved coffee mug thoroughly in the sink. The formerly bronze gears, which served as a special handle, slowly faded to a matt grey. To his astonishment, the coffee machine had just finished running and was still full of hot, well smelling coffee. The Riddler poured himself some of the black gold, then hesitated a little. He stared at his distorted reflection in the cloudy liquid. For a moment, the inventor had the feeling that he was being dragged deeper into the broth and was facing an unknown abyss. Strange. The younger one broke away from this thought and left the kitchen with the mug, sipping the coffee lightly from time to time. Should he visit Jonathan for a moment? Mostly, the older one was busy day and night perfecting his fear toxin. The black-haired man shrugged his shoulders slightly and made his way to his partner's small study. When moving into the house, the former psychiatrist only insisted on being able to work as far away from his workshop as possible so as not to be suddenly interrupted by noise during complicated calculations.

The tinkerer took another sip of his coffee. In general, the Master of Fear was the definition of the word calmness itself, clearly enjoying the silence around them. Edward knocked on the sturdy study door, then waited a few seconds. He would probably have to wait an eternity for an answer or invitation, but the inventor respected the dark professor's privacy and gave him time to prepare for an unexpected visitor. After a while the younger entered slowly. The air in the study was unnaturally difficult to breathe. Even if Jonathan hadn't handled chemicals today, there was a constant, almost odourless haze in the air. The subdued light in the room also had visible difficulties penetrating the small particles. This didn't seem to bother the elderly in the least. The Riddler looked at his partner, who was probably brooding over a complicated text. The pitted forehead was furrowed and the bony fingers fidgeted restlessly on the yellow page of the book. Before the black-haired man could say anything, the former psychiatrist anticipated him coolly: "Can I help you with something, Edward?"

The person addressed winced slightly. Why did he still feel not welcome in this room? Despite the uncomfortable feeling, the inventor pushed the second chair at the table back slightly and sat down on it, then cast a cautious look at the text. The letters didn't look familiar to him in any way. The low voice of the Master of Fear rang out quietly next to him: “Please don't bother trying. The book is written in Hebrew.” The Riddler frowned. His partner placed a bookmark in the book and slowly closed it, revealing the cover. This was in a simple blue tone, but the gold letters seemed to be in Hebrew as well. Unreadable for the inventor. Jonathan sighed cautiously and said calmly: "The word Tanach is a name for the Hebrew Bible." The Riddler had to hold back a laugh. That had to be a really bad joke from his partner. Edward smiled a little and replied, slightly amused: “Why in the world are you reading the Bible, John? I thought you were a passionate scientist. Don't waste your time on theological nonsense.” The thin man literally froze into a pillar of salt. His eyes were half closed and fixed the letters on the simple cover. An unbearable silence returned between them. The tinkerer felt that something had suddenly changed in the room. Something started raging and reaching for them. Jonathan's body in total still didn't move, but the sinister professor spoke in his scratchy voice: "Your words in connection with this book can stir restless spirits, Edward." His heart was suddenly beating louder in his chest. What was going on here? Had the brown-haired man poisoned him again? The Master of Fear picked up a second book on the table and opened it, turning slowly to the desired page. A monstrous structure could be seen on it. The former psychiatrist stroked the picture and went on almost in a whisper: “The Tower of Babel. A presumed plan of mankind to reach the heaven of God without his help, which forced the almighty Being to confuse the peoples with different languages. They couldn't longer communicate with each other and were scattered all around the world in anger and hate about their failure. An impressive story of pure arrogance.”

Edward looked at the structure and gave a slight shudder. He still didn't understand what his partner wanted to point out. After a while the sinister professor asked without any emotion: “Aren't we all prisoners of this deceptive arrogance in the end?” The Riddler slightly scratched his three-day beard and replied insecurely: “Why do you call the behaviour arrogant, John? If people were able to build the tower successfully back then, weren't they entitled to be proud of it or what?” Scarecrow sank deeper into his thoughts. His fingers grasped the pencil with which he slowly drew his own building on the paper. After a while he said quietly: “Should we really be proud of it just because we supposedly can do things like the Tower of Babel? Isn't it more the case that we humans dare to tackle projects that sooner or later grow over our heads and throw us back when they ultimately fail? The construct of humanity is fragile. Way too fragile to even come close to doing justice to the word God.” The inventor thought hard about what had been said. He finally shook his head and hesitantly replied: “Why all these weird questions right now? They make me depressed just listening to them.” The sinister professor snorted in amusement. He took the mug next to him and took a sip of the coffee, warming himself on the porcelain. The Master of Fear ran his free hand through his straw hair, replied in a whisper: "I am only thinking critically about whether I am not creeping up on the same arrogance of the people of Babylon in my research and whether this arrogance will bring me down at some point, if I don't stop striving for senseless perfection in life."

Another minute of silence came between them. That was clearly a way too difficult topic for a harmonious evening. Edward looked almost concerned at the older man's petrified face. Pride. Arrogance. Perfection. These topics were not unknown to him either. The Riddler looked down at the picture again and replied meekly: “I don't think so, John. You're not trying to reach God or even be God. Or are you trying to do that?” The person addressed began to laugh softly. Again something in this room seemed to want to reach for those present. The former psychiatrist tapped the building on the paper a few times with the pencil and mumbled, barely understandable: “Who decides who is God and who is not? In the end, a god is only a supernatural being in the simple definition, who has a great and not scientifically describable transcendent power. For my victims, this may apply to me at a certain moment also, so we are faced with an insoluble dilemma.” The inventor gradually got a headache. He massaged his temples lightly and closed his eyes for a moment. These in-depth conversations with the former psychiatrist made him absolutely fearful. Jonathan loved to deal with his own impermanence and at the same time to consciously question others – in fact, he did not show any consideration for the poor souls he met on those days. The younger one sighed lightly, tried hard to put words together in a meaningful way. The gaunt man suddenly opened a drawer on his desk and took out a small box, carefully lifted the lid. There were innumerable pieces of broken glass in the box in different shapes and colours. The Master of Fear began carefully to pile the pieces on top of each other. He said calmly: “I often have to remind myself that I am only human, Edward. My existence alone serves no higher purpose and any interpretation is a disastrous mistake. Also in my body there is only a weak heart that will stop beating at some point. My shell is ruled by a cold soul and an irrepressible spirit that is looking for more in this bleak life. For years I have been hungry for knowledge without knowing what I actually want to know and every search ended in an unsatisfactory compromise of the all-encompassing ignorance of human existence when no answer can be found."

The tower grew taller and taller with every word spoken. The black-haired man remained silent even after this explanation. Only rarely did the elder give insights into his thinking and his motives. He appreciated it all the more when Jonathan volunteered to tell him what was going on in his mind. This didn't make the thoughts any less terrifying or disturbing. The next words, however, caught the younger one completely unprepared: “The Bible helps me to recognize my own humanity and to accept it grudgingly. The scriptures show where we come to our limits with our intelligence and where conjecture finds its place, no matter how confused and tumultuous it may be. Everyone has the right to believe what they want and scientists also have the right to believe, whether in current laws of physic or long-outdated theories. So it is not my right to stand over it in my inadmissible arrogance.” The tinkerer nodded slightly and stroked his beard again. It all made sense somehow, even if the choice of words bothered him a lot. He still had a question on the tip of his tongue: “I understand somehow what you want to tell me, John, but why do you know how to read Hebrew? Where the hell did you learn that?” The sinister professor smiled mysteriously and closed the book with the illustration. He put another mosaic on the erected tower and replied calmly: "Some questions don't always have to be answered immediately, Edward."

#DC #Batman #Riddler #Scarecrow #Edward Nygma #Jonathan Crane #Scirddler #Riddlecrow #Tower of Babel #Religious #Meaning #Deep stuff

[persephonescat]

Birds and Other Supernatural Phenomenons

Okay, so the first two chapters turned out to be a little dry, but I have big hopes for the third one, so... hang on there! Yes, I know the first few paragraphs are flat, I tried to make them better, and I failed miserably.

IMPORTANT: This is an AU, so things are a teeny bit different. The Francoise-Dupont is an eight-year grammar school (those are a thing in Europe, or at least in a few countries. The kids start middle school and go to the same school until high school graduation, so its both a middle school and a high school in one. Foreign languages are usually thaught there on a higher level, so that explains Marinette's and her class' language skills.)

That's it so far, most changes will be written down in the story, but keep an eye on the summaries! ;) (Even though no one reads these.)

This is also posted on my AO3 account, under the same name.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21187025/chapters/50674913

Follow #Birds and Other Supernatural Phenomenons if you don’t want to miss any of the new chapters. ;)

Ch. 1      Next    Masterpost    AO3

________________

Ch. 2: This Was a Bad Idea

Their plane didn't crash.

That was about the only good thing Marinette could think of.

It all started when she and Adrien were forced to sit next to each other during the flight. It wasn't that bad, but things have been a little... tense between them lately. Even though Marinette forgave him a long time ago, she still felt a sense of betrayal every time she had to fight an akuma alone. She knew it was wrong. She had no right to prevent others from being happy. Especially not her friends, but she couldn't help it.

So they sat next to each other, and the first half-hour was spent with Marinette awkwardly staring out of the window and playing with her braid nervously, while Adrien was pretending to read a book, - very poorly, given that he only turned the page five times in thirty minutes. Marinette was counting it.

What a pleasing situation.

Then, of course, Lila got bored of talking about her experience with planes and started throwing around phrases like 'helping defeat the Joker', 'out-riddling the Riddler' and 'knowing who Red Robin is'.

During the past two years, her lies have gotten smaller. Smarter. More innocent. They were no longer fourteen, they didn't believe anything she said, and she realized that. After Lila swore to ruin Marinette's life, Hawkmoth's attacks got stronger and Marinette got... well, older, probably. Wiser. ( Sadder. ) Sometimes she still called her out on her lies, and on a few blissful occasions, her classmates believed her. She wasn't the only one who got wiser, as it turned out. Adrien started to see the wrong in his ways not long after he told Marinette that Lila was harmless and stood up for her almost every time the Italian girl's lies got too toxic to ignore.

There was some kind of quiet compromise between her classmates. They liked Lila, even if she wasn't always "completely honest" - that was the understatement of the year -, and they all had this "proceed with care but do no harm" attitude towards the girl.

So Marinette was pretty surprised when sitting only two seats behind her, Lila once again started feeding them lies so blatant and stupid that they almost managed to make her laugh. It would've been a long and sarcastic laugh, but a laugh nevertheless.

She turned to Adrien who was looking back at her with an expression somewhere between angry and surprised. They stared at each other for a few seconds before they both started grinning uncontrollably.

Then Nino interrupted Lila by showing the group his newest playlist, and the moment was gone.

The awkward silence was threatening to drown them, but Marinette was familiar with drowning and decided she didn't like it.

"What are you pretending to read?" Adrien's ears turned red at the question but being himself, he tried to play it off cool.

" Armada  by Ernest Cline."

She raised a brow, clearly amused by that. "Since when are you into sci-fi?"

"Since it was the first thing I could grab from the bookshelf this morning," he told her with a shrug and closed the book moodily.

Marinette grimaced at him and took a small copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's  Sherlock Holmes out of her bag. Adrien told her to check it out a long time ago, but given her lack of free time, she's only read two stories so far.

She gave it to him without a word.

"Thanks," he said brightly, and actually started reading this time.

Marinette gave him the ghost of a smile, then pulled out her sketchbook hesitantly. She hasn't designed a decent piece of clothing in ages. One would've called it a year-long artist's block, but she preferred "idiocy". It was shorter.

She fell asleep like that, with an empty sketchbook on her lap and a pencil in her hand.

***

Their hotel was near the Gotham Academy, which was near Arkham Asylum, which sucked. Seriously, Gotham? Yeah, let's put the kids next to the murderous psychopaths.

Once they arrived, it was already well past nine PM, so they were sent to their rooms to sleep. They had three rooms for the girls, two with four beds and one with two. Luckily, Marinette managed to occupy the double-room all to herself - Mylene, Chloe, Juleka, and Alix got a room together, and Alya, Rose, Lila, and Sabrina got the other-, so it was pretty easy to sneak out after she realized there was no way for her to stay still after sleeping on the plane.

Being inside past ten o'clock felt weird. She missed the patrols and the light breeze on her face while she swang around Paris, the sensation of falling freely from hundreds of meters, the calm of the environment as she made impossible leaps and jumps in a graceful rhythm.

With no better things to do, she pulled a blanket out of the closet and climbed to the roof.

That night, the sky was more blue than black, and the stars were dull from the city's polluted air. She sat there for who-knows-how-long, wrapped in a blanket, looking upwards, listening to the unfamiliar city beneath. Then she heard quiet footsteps behind her back.

Over the years, she learned the difference between the sounds of someone walking casually and someone trying to muffle their steps, just like she usually knew what kind of shoes they wore, their gender, and approximate height too. These were the steps of a thin man, probably young in leatherette boots, trying to sneak up on her and failing miserably. She let him come close and didn't bother to let him know she was aware of his presence.

"What does a young lady like you do here at this time of the day?" he asked in a charming but threatening voice, and Marinette had to suppress a smile at how badly he did it. She knew she should send him away, or go back to her room before he tries something that gets him ended up on the asphalt beneath them, but she was bored, and he seemed like a very entertaining person.

Instead, she answered just tonelessly enough for it to be challenging, but innocently enough to make him question it.

"Stargazing."

The man - more like a boy - stopped just a step behind her back, unsure how to proceed. Then he let out a resigned sigh and sat down next to her, far enough to not be in stabbing range -  smart decision.

"No, seriously, it's past midnight and you're sitting on a roof, eighteen stories from the ground, in  Gotham," he said, swinging his legs over the edge of the building and looking at her with genuine concern.

Marinette finally looked at him and recognized him almost immediately. He was wearing a black hoodie and a ski mask, with jeans and dark boots.

"Oh, you're the Dark Nomad, right?" She's read about him on the plane, just like she checked out and memorized every hero and villain in Gotham. There were a few.

The Dark Nomad was one of the small, relatively harmless ones. His mother worked in the Asylum - they didn't know who she was exactly, just that she worked there -, he didn't actually do much except for exiguous vandalism, but it was enough to get him on the " List of Gotham's Villains (updated every week) " published by the city's very own newspaper, the  Gotham Gazette .

"The one and only," he saluted awkwardly.

"Then you're pretty good with psychology, right?"

He seemed a little taken back by the question.

"Yes, I mean... I guess."

Marinette turned to him with her whole body, sitting cross-legged, looking like someone who is looking forward to a great conversation. This was so much better than she thought.

"What do you think about the phenomenon where the people with higher-than-average IQ have lower-than-average EQ, but if someone has lower-than-average IQ, they most likely have average or lower-than-average EQ?"

Dark Nomad just stared at her for a moment but then decided to roll with it. It really was a good topic.

"Well, it's interesting because... it's not like you have a maximum of quotient points, and you've to live with what you have. It depends on a lot of things, and we still don't even  know  what half of those things are."

"Exactly! It could mean you need a high IQ to be able to understand and feel emotions healthily, but it's not always necessary, plus the trope of the genius robot-person is way too overused in media. That's not how smart people think!"

"Yeah, and in some cases, the low EQ could be the consequence of loneliness and isolation from a young age because of the differences in one's and the environment's thinking," Dark Nomad said, gesticulating widely.

"And by the way, EQ is pretty hard to express with numbers. If you give a test to someone, they might know what the appropriate responses to a situation are, but they might never actually... do them in practice."

Dark Nomad nodded.

"Have you read Daniel Goleman's books about emotional intelligence? It's pretty dope."

"Not yet, but I'm planning on it."

"By the way... I'm Jeremy," said the boy, sitting closer to her and reaching out for a handshake.

"Marinette," she told him with a genuine smile, accepting his hand.

________________

Comments and coffee are my life-juice, so please, share your thoughts. I'm sorry for any possible mistakes and feel free to point them out. 

Ch. 1      Next     Masterpost    AO3

#damari #damiette #daminette #maribat #damimari #fanfiction #dcu #mcb #Birds and Other Supernatural Phenomenons #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #marinette dupain-cheng #damian wayne #batman #AU #This Was a Bad Idea

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 1. Detective Mode – Batman’s Worst Enemy is Himself

In our first Detective Mode episode, we discuss why Batman is his own worst enemy, and consequently, bad for Gotham City, and the Bat-Family.

Listen to the Episode on Anchor.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Today we're talking about Batman.

Mon: Yes, welcome to our first episode of Detective Mode.

Ron: Batman is a starting point for all superhero fans and he was for us. Mon: Yeah, we started off by watching the 1960s show with Adam West, and that really shaped our love for superheroes. It was camp but it was fun.

Ron: Yes, we struggled with the other versions of Batman because we loved the Adam West show so much. But once we started reading the comics, we definitely changed our minds about how we felt about Batman yeah exactly because Mon: Bruce himself is a complicated character but also a very inflexible person.

Ron: Yeah, that's a good point. Well, Shelfdust has this whole series about Batman's worst enemies, and he has a huge rogues gallery. But finally, we decided that Batman's greatest enemy is himself.

Mon: Yeah, and in this episode, we’re really going to be discussing why we think that.

Ron: Because, as much as everybody loves Batman, and we do love Batman, there are a lot of flaws with this character. In many ways he's making his own life, and the life of the citizens of Gotham, nd the people of the Bat-Family, very difficult.

Mon: Exactly. I mean, when we talk about Batman's enemies, we have Riddler, Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Bane. these are just the compelling ones. There are so many more. But they are his own enemies, his personal enemies, and yes, they wreak havoc on Gotham. But why do they keep coming back?

Ron: And that's actually the only way to look at Gotham City. It's a place where crime happens but justice is never really served. And that's the whole point of Batman to actually bring justice to his city, and looking back at his past, Batman lost his parents. They were killed right in front of his eyes when he was a small boy, and that shaped his future. That shaped the person that he was going to grow up to be, and that shaped Batman. But the set of rules that he set for himself when he was a child… He was a traumatized child, and that completely colored the way he looked at justice, and that's shaped the way he's tackling the villains that attack him, and the city.

Mon: Yeah, that's true. I mean, it's a child's point of view. It's good. I mean, he's innately a good person. He has a code of honour which he usually doesn't break. There's always going to be a chance here and there, where it's going to change.

But while I like that code of honor, I feel like Bruce is working on crime in Gotham from the top down. It's easier for him to be Batman, to use his face to beat up these bad guys and throw them in Arkham. But what is he doing to make the city better?

Bruce is the wealthiest guy in the whole of Gotham. I mean, he comes from the wealthiest family, who have a history of wealth and a history of power and influence over people. So why isn't he using that? Instead he's just, you know, putting these bad guys away in Arkham, and they're breaking out of there, like every three weeks or so.

Ron: Yes. Nobody really stays in Arkham for very long. It's really a revolving door.

Mon: Yeah, and let's talk about Arkham for a minute. Like every iteration of Arkham, be it in the comics, in the games, in the TV shows and films. It's this horrible, wretched place. All it does is re-traumatizes anybody who goes in there. And it makes them worse.

Ron: So, where does the rehabilitation happen? Can you get justice in a city like Gotham without actually rehabilitating these people? All these criminals, you know, Poison Ivy, Joker, Bane, they come from great poverty, great deprivation, and they're trying to make sure that not only they can have some kind of luxury, but they can give it to their cohorts that they work with. So, where is Bruce Wayne? And where is Batman? When those people need help, before they become Joker and Poison Ivy. Mon: Yeah. And another way that I feel that Batman is not only his own worst enemy, he's also Gotham’s worst enemy is that he's fighting bad guys, he's putting them away, they come back out way stronger. But all he is doing all the time, is using his power and wealth to give himself and the Bat-Family better tech, better weapons. And that's something that's alluded to in the Christopher Nolan films. In Batman Begins where detective James Gordon says that if you're more invincible, they're going to start bringing out more powerful weapons.

Ron: Exactly. And that's actually a concerning issue, especially as we look at the world in 2020. There's so much money being spent on the police force, they have tanks, they have Kevlar, and the kind of weapons that they have access to, they could do real harm. And that's just to protect the city. I mean, that's exactly what we've been seeing in Batman. He has a suit that protects him. He has a utility belt that has all sorts of gadgets. But these are not just for him, he's making the same things for the GCPD. So, what we've seen in real life has actually been reflected in the Batman books for a very, very long time. He's actually making a world around him that allows for, even gives permission to, people to create super weapons, and that becomes dangerous for the common man.

Mon: Absolutely. The most recent arc in the Batman comic series deals with a new character called Clown Hunter, who has been killing Joker's henchmen. And Batman is dead set against it. When the Clown Hunter is introduced, Batman speaks to him about his murderous ways and Clown Hunter tries to explain to him that he lost his parents and he was orphaned. He's homeless, he's squatting in this place because of a fight between Batman and Joker. So, this young boy is collateral damage. And these are the characters that we don't often see, or we don't often see Batman engage with. But this clown hunter character, he's presented as a villain, or a villain-to-be. But he's just collateral damage in a fight that really shouldn't have happened.

Ron: We see that quite often. Even Kite-Man, he’s probably one of my least favorite characters in the DC Universe, he's extremely irritating.

Mon: I can’t believe he's such a huge part of the Harley Quinn TV show!

Ron: It actually did a really good job with him in that show. I was quite impressed. But otherwise, he's not a very good character; he's not very interesting. But his villain origin story comes from Batman. He lost somebody in his life because of Batman. It comes back to the same thing. Is Batman really helping the people of his city? What is he doing for people like Clown Hunter, for Kite-Man so that they don't end up on a path to villainy? How many heroes are in Gotham City, that will actually bring about something good? Apart from the Bat-Family. Even Nightwing, he's left, he's gone to Bludhaven. There's Red Robin. He's usually with his group of superheroes. There's Robin, who well, he doesn't really have a choice. He's Batman’s son. There’s Batgirl. At least, she is trying to do something. But she has a connection to the GCPD, because Gordon is her father. So, in a way, she has a very blinkered view of crime fighting, as well. Again, it comes back to the same thing. What are they doing to actually rehabilitate these people? What are they doing to mitigate the kind of collateral damage that they're causing?

Mon: Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, Batman is working on a surface level. He's not trying to structurally make a change to Gotham itself, and he's one of the rare people who has the power to do that.

Ron: Exactly. I mean he does have limited unlimited resources. So, what is he doing with that money?

Mon: Exactly. And we're always hearing about the corrupt cops in the GCPD and the mayor, who's usually being bribed by the Penguin or whoever. I mean, Penguin becomes mayor in several iterations of Batman series. So, we have to ask ourselves: why is Bruce just standing by and letting all this happen? And, of course, we're talking about a comic book character here, and he is just a reflection of the people who create him or writing. So, is it that much harder to think of a good character, a heroic character, who does the dirty work, but doesn't necessarily do it with his fists? Ron: Yeah. Gail Simone had an interesting Twitter chat with a few people some time ago about Batman. Quite a few people were asking, why does Bruce Wayne not do something with his money to save the city of Gotham and actually put an end to crime? And she was saying, it doesn't really make for great comic book writing, because the visceral action of somebody hitting somebody's face, or punching them in the solar plexus, that makes for great art, that makes for great reading. Somebody sitting behind a desk crunching numbers, trying to run an orphanage, or pay off some bills, that's not very exciting.

Mon: And also, I know that the diktat from up above in DC is that every comic book needs to have an action scene. It’s something Tom King alluded to a couple of years ago about his series, which is a little bit more cerebral from time to time. But yeah, he said basically every issue must have some action in it.

Ron: I think you can still have some kind of action. While also acknowledging the fact that Bruce Wayne has to do something with the money he has.

Mon: Something more. Because at the moment, what he's doing is, it looks like he's hoarding it.

Ron: It's actually quite interesting because the current Rebirth run has Bruce pretty much losing all his money. All of its been transferred to Lucius Fox. So, what is he going to do now? And another thing that we're seeing is Bruce is actually being questioned about what he's done for the city. He's actually having to rethink his war on crime, and whether it's actually brought anything to the plate.

Mon: Exactly. How effective is Batman?

Ron: We haven't seen him be very effective at all. Somebody like Joker; he's been around for quite a while. There used to be kind of comedic elements to him and the Adam West shows and. And we've seen that character become darker and darker. We've seen The Killing Joke, where he maimed Barbara. He was one of the more terrifying villains that we saw, when he was portrayed by Jack Nicholson, and he was portrayed by Heath Ledger. Let's not go into the Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie, which was not good.

But this is a person who is still a mystery in many ways, but he keeps harming the city, he keeps coming back. He harms people he causes damage, and he ends people's lives. And he causes a lot of pain in the process.

Mon: Exactly. And the worst thing is, at the end of it all, because the DC executives are so keen on keeping the Joker alive in some form or the other, it almost seems like Batman forgives the Joker. Yeah, that's why he always lets him live or sends him to Arkham, but it's not enough. Something more needs to be done about somebody who constantly returns and destroys the city.

Ron: Yes, I mean, he's a dangerous, dangerous man, and he has shown time and time again that he does not care about getting better.

Mon: So, something needs to be done. Maybe Arkham needs to be redone or restructured completely. Bruce has the power to do that. And unfortunately, he really just hasn't. So, in a way, you have to ask, is Bruce enjoying this? Maybe Bruce just keeps these people around so that he remains relevant.

Ron: Yes, it does. But in a way it makes sense because if there are no criminals, what's Batman going to do? There is no need for Batman. The whole point of Bruce becoming Batman was that he would make a city that would one day not need him. But it's been, what, eighty years of Batman and he’s still needed. Mon: Exactly. In fact, more so, because every time there's a colossal fight or battle, it seems like the city is completely at its end and there are even more new villains coming up. Just now, we've got two new different iterations of villains who are out to take on Batman and able to fight him toe to toe.

Ron: And the other thing is that, the newest villain that's been introduced, we don't really know very much about him, but it seems that he has history with Bruce. So, this is a personal battle that is being fought, and the victim is once again Gotham City.

Mon: There's so much collateral damage in the city, but even if we don't care about the poor faceless Gotham-ites, Batman's own family have been affected by his incompetence.

Ron: How can we forget Jason Todd, his second Robin, a feisty character, in many ways, but he ended up being murdered by the Joker. And because comics, he came back to life; he was resurrected. And he is still, after very many issues, very angry with Batman, who basically is a father figure to him. Because Batman never did anything to the Joker despite Jason dying. And that ended up leading to Jason becoming Red Hood, and he was a villain for quite a while.

Mon: Yeah, and it's funny because Batman basically saved Jason from being a villain. When he was young, his greatest concern was, if he left Jason out on the streets, then Jason would just become a bad guy. He would just be another one of Batman's rogues’ gallery. So, he invited him to the mansion, taught him to become the Robin. And that was great. And then, because of Batman's forgiveness of the Joker, when Jason does come back, he comes back angry, because it's constantly fueled by the fact that Batman refuses to act on what happened to him. Ron: That's how he keeps going. It's this vengeance that has shaped his relationships with almost everybody around him. And it's made him a very, very despondent, angry young man. We've had an issue with writing for Jason. It's not been good for a long time, but he can't grieve properly, he can't be a relatable person.

It seems like, because Batman is basically the flagship of DC, to make him as interesting as possible, everybody else around him is suffering.

Mon: Yeah. And let’s take Barbara Gordon, for example. We, especially nowadays, everybody talks about Jason's pain and Jason's anguish about what happened with the Joker. But people tend to forget what happened to Barbara Gordon. In The Killing Joke, which is a huge favorite among a lot of people.

Ron: It's not a very good book, actually.

Mon: It's quite problematic by today's standards, anyway. But for Barbara, she was left in a wheelchair after being shot by the Joker. And she took that opportunity. She saw it as an opportunity and became Oracle, still a very, very helpful superhero to the Bat-Family. And in the Rebirth comics, she was able to get some surgery, and she's back to being Batgirl.

But the writers, in general, tend to forget that the Joker had a lasting impact on her, as well. And while with Jason, it’s very much about his anger, with Barbara, she has to deal with it. And I don't think she's allowed to be angry at Batman. Even though she should be.

Ron: Yes, exactly! She's always been by Batman’s side, but has he earned that? Has Joker earned her forgiveness? Of course, it comes back to writing, and how female characters are never… It's a huge problem with the big two, that female characters have had certain personality traits that are not very realistic, at all.

Mon: So, it's hard to see them as rounded, fleshed out characters because that's not how the people see them.

Ron: And they have largely been written by men who seem to have very strange views on women. So that's also quite unhelpful. But again, it comes back to the same thing. What is Batman doing for his city, for his people, for himself? Because people are getting hurt. And nothing's being done about it.

Mon: There's the old adage that goes: violence begets violence. And, in essence, that's exactly what Batman is doing. Because every time he brings out his Kevlar and his armor and his fancy batmobiles, somebody is trying to figure out a new way to get through all that.

Ron: You don't want to say that it is an invitation, but because nothing is being done to keep these people behind bars or to find a way to make them better, then, it does become an invitation. Because they know that they're not going to be in Arkham for very long. Somebody is going to break them out or they're going to find a way to break themselves out. And they're going to have an upper hand because they've already fought Batman and now, they've actually learned the things that Batman seems to be working on

The principle that all the henchmen, they're desperate people so they're aligning themselves with the Riddler or Joker or whoever is the villain of the week. But those people, they're easy to grab. They're easy to punch, they're easy to put behind bars. What happens to the bosses?

Mon: Also, we have to ask ourselves: why are there so many henchmen lining up for these jobs with the Penguin and whoever? Where are the other jobs?

Ron: Exactly! That means there’s a high rate of unemployment in Gotham.

Mon: And again, that comes down to structural, systemic issues. Even if the bosses, none of them really do any work, all the henchmen have to do all the hard work and dirty work. So, if they didn't have a huge rotating door of henchmen coming in and out, they wouldn't be too effective.

Ron: We know that Bruce Wayne has a very large corporation, and obviously people are working there. Maybe there are opportunities to make new jobs. Why isn't he taking that up?

Mon: Exactly, exactly. It seems wrong to lambaste Bruce Wayne and Batman so thoroughly, since he is definitely one of our favorite superheroes. But at the same time, I feel like after 80 years of reading pretty much the same thing over and over, I think that, especially the most recent disappointment would have to be when The Joker War was happening in the Batman: Rebirth series. And by the end of it, he’s still a threat, an insidious threat, but he's still a threat.

And it just makes us wonder why DC is so against letting go of this character. Its comics. If a character dies, they'll be back in a year. It's fine. But give us a year where we do something different with Bruce Wayne.

Ron: Yes. And you know what, I would say, make a huge change. You know what this is making me think about? There's been a lot of discussion about colorblind casting in films. And we have seen different versions of certain characters. We've seen Thor, the mantle was taken up by Jane Foster. We've seen Miles Morales’ Spider-Man. Maybe we need a Bruce Wayne who is not so white.

Mon: In fact, we are going to get a few. I don't think they’re canon versions, but we do have a few things coming up in the DC future slate. The publications which will try and expand the variety and diversity of characters, even characters that we are familiar with. I hear that there's going to be a Batman who isn't exactly all white. Ron: Okay, but again, that's not the main title. That's always going to be a problem because I think, up until this year, we felt like whatever Batman was doing, it was fine. We were okay with it.

Mon: Yeah, as long as the stories are entertaining, we will keep coming back.

Ron: The stories have not been entertaining, that's a different matter altogether.

Mon: Yeah, that's it.

Ron: But since 2020 has happened. Since we’ve seen what an extremely rich, white man can do when he is in a position of power, right now, Bruce Wayne's entire arc really needs to be rethought. Because it is very difficult. The two of us are women of color. We're immigrants. Reading Batman do what he does, it's not relevant anymore. It's actually a slog for me to read Bruce Wayne’s stories. I feel really bad saying that because Batman has been in our lives forever.

Mon: Yeah. Can't remember a memory without Batman in the background

Ron: I have to really prepare myself to be like, okay a new issue of Batman has come out, let me read it. It is really difficult, because there is nothing about this man that I'm interested in or that I care about.

Mon: Yeah, I mean, he's gruff, he's rugged, he's always talking about how he works solo, and he must work alone. He has a gigantic Bat-Family. He would be so much more effective if he actually invited them to help him, instead of fighting on his own. I can't say I look forward to reading the Batman title, either. Which, again I feel really bad. But I think it's because there's a predictability that has crept into his comics. And it's because it's the safety net.

Ron: And it's the same kind of people writing the same kind of stories over and over again. I think, now is the time to really make a change.

Mon: Yeah, behind the scenes. And on the page. To really shake things up and make Bruce a compelling character again and even if it means a romantic getaway with Catwoman for seven-eight issues, we’re fine with it. It's okay! It's still different. If that makes him change his mind about how he does this war on crime.

Ron: Because Catwoman comes from nothing. Maybe that's what he needs. I do like BatCat, and I did like those issues in the Rebirth comics, but we haven't gone anywhere with it. That is the problem. There is so much that can be done with it.

Mon: Catwoman is far too restrained in her relationship with Batman. I think it again comes back to the safety of not pushing the boundaries of what Catwoman can do or can say to Batman. Because half the time I'm like, really? Why is she with this guy? He's Batman but, she deserves better.

Ron: Yeah, she's smart. She's seen a lot of the really bad parts of the city. She knows what can be done to make things better, because she's been on both sides. She's fought by Batman’s side. She's fought to save Gotham City. But she's also fought to steal stuff.

Mon: So that she can survive!

Ron: Exactly. She changes the perspective. Batman has not really had to do that. In a way, I kind of like the Christopher Nolan movies because we saw him leave Gotham City behind, leave his life behind, and actually have to be out on the streets. We see him trying to steal an apple. sharing it with another fellow thief, because he had nothing.

Mon: But in the comics, it feels like he hasn't learned from any of those kinds of experiences, or at least he's so far removed from those experiences now that he can’t really put himself in the shoes of anybody who is in that state. Ron: Yes, that's true. You were mentioning how we're going to have a future DC book where we're going to see a different version of Bruce Wayne, but I'm not sure what that's going to give us. Because I just read Batman: Overdrive which was quite enjoyable. And it wasn't written by a white man, but the ethos of Batman is somebody who has money, who has privilege. And it doesn't seem like he is able to see beyond that. And that is the problem that we have in 2020.

Mon: Interesting. So even in this Batman? I haven't read it yet.

Ron: Yes, it's a YA book, it's quite enjoyable. He's a young man. This is teenage Bruce Wayne, but he just doesn't see the privilege that he has. And it's a bit jarring when you're reading it, because… Yes he has friends who come from the wrong side of the tracks, who don't have as much money as he does, but he is just so self-absorbed. I think that's what's the problem with Bruce Wayne's money and privilege. He can't see beyond himself, even in his crime fighting. It's not how much of it is for Gotham City, and how much of it is for revenge for what happened to his parents. Mon: Wow. Yeah, that's it. I'm a little disappointed to hear that, because I was quite excited to read it. I kind of agree with you because , the problem with a character who is self absorbed or the issue with such characters, it's about them being—not being apathetic towards other people's pain and suffering, and their situation.

I think therein lies the problem with Batman. He is so absorbed with him being the sole protector of Gotham when he has so many people he can rely on. He's got Lucius Fox backing him up right now. He has Barbara who is back in the Oracle chair when she really should be fighting as Batgirl. He has all these safety nets. And he's not really doing anything with these partners that he has. And it really just comes back to the same thing that he doesn't see beyond himself. And that has repercussions on the people around him, on his city, and on the villains that he's been fighting all these years.

Ron: Exactly.

Mon: They're always saying, yeah, Batman he has his rules which is why he can't step over the boundaries. But that's not the point. Batman doesn't have to go around killing people to make a point. He needs to just make sure that Gotham isn't a breeding ground for these people.

Ron: Make structural changes when you have the ability to make those structural changes. And we're not really seeing that. I'm not saying that we need entire issues dedicated to Batman trying to build the halfway houses or something. but at least give us an inkling that he is doing something like that. And when they are introducing new villains like Clown Hunter, this is a boy who is murdering people, because of the deaths that have been caused by Batman.

Mon: And he's not just murdering common people. He's murdering people who worked with the Joker.

Ron: And who are also in some way, just regular people in difficult circumstances. So, it's such a vicious cycle.

Mon: Well, it actually reminds me off the first season of Batwoman on The CW. In Batwoman, where Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane, she's Bruce’s cousin, so she's also a person of wealth. She returns to the city and while at first, she really does want to fight as Batman, and then as Batwoman, she also starts making little changes. She buys those halfway houses, she's making a little club, which is friendly towards queer people. So, she makes her own little changes. Unfortunately, we won't be able to see more of that.

But we have a new hero in Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder who is going to be debuting next year. 2021. And she is also affected by the structural issues, the systemic problems of Gotham. And she will be fighting for those people.

Ron: Javicia Leslie is a Black woman. She's playing the first Black Batwoman. And this is the kind of change that we need to see.

Mon: Exactly. Who knows, if Rose had remained as Batwoman into the second season, we probably wouldn't have seen this. But she stepped back and they saw what was happening around the world, and they made a positive change by bringing in a Black woman who can give us a completely different idea of what it is like to fight crime in Gotham. Ron: And is this something similar with Sophie Moore. They didn't have to have a Black woman in that role, but they did, and we get a completely different perspective because she's a Black, queer woman. We don't get to see characters like that. So for me, the Batman comics, if they really want to make Batman more relevant, maybe, to make sure that Batman doesn't seem like an enemy to his own people, maybe start making a big change like that.

Mon: Yeah, I, for a very long time, I've always wanted to make a sort of Elseworlds story where Batman is like sort of, half-Asian or full Asian, who knows. And the problem is that they will be rich, but because of the systemic racism and societal racism, he's not quite accepted by everybody else which is why he works alone so often. You need to sort of mold it, so it makes a little bit more sense.

Ron: But I would take that even further. What if Batman, an Asian Batman, whose parents built Gotham City, ended up seeing his parents being killed in front of him, because they were immigrants, because they were doing something for the city. We've managed to get a completely new perspective. I'm looking at it this way: we were in Dubai for so long, and there were so many South Asians who stayed there and built the city from the ground up. And it makes a difference to what the outcome of the city is. So, maybe that's what Gotham needs. Maybe that's what Batman needs. His titles need a refreshing change in point of view. Mon: Exactly.

Ron: Unfortunately for us, though we really do love Batman, we do have to admit that he has not been good for his city, for his close friends and relatives. Or for himself. He's not healing, he's not getting better. He's doing the same thing over and over again, which is quite literally the definition of madness. So, we need to see something new in Batman. We need to see him change. We need to see him held accountable for what he's been doing wrong. And maybe we just need a new Batman.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Ron.

#batman #podcast #geek #dc comics #stereo geeks

[tomhollandthing]

Betrayed

Summary: You and Tom have to escape to one of his safe houses, because one of the other mobs know about you.

Paring: mob!Tom x reader

Warning: death, blood, cursing, mention of rape, angst??

Word count: 5500

Authors note: This is actually a school assignment I wrote. We had to writ a action story (there is little to none action in this story ironically) and I write this, only I changed the names so my teacher didn’t think I was crazy. Enjoy

------------

Y/N Y/L/N/ was no stranger when it came to the mobs in England. Her uncle used to work in the Holland mob, England’s biggest mob. He worked there his whole life until he got killed in a car chase last year. Actually, he and her father, Caspar,  grew up in the mob. Her father did not want anything to do with the mob or the mafia so he left at an early age. Even when he left his family was never really safe. The one he had, and the one he would have in the future.

Y/N grew up well aware of the mob and that her life could be in danger one day. All because of her last name. So she learned self defence growing up. As well as how to control several different guns and how to defend herself with knives. All this and her father did everything in his power to make sure his daughter knew as little as possible about the mob. So her father wasn’t that happy when she came home telling him she was dating the leader of the biggest mob in London.

She remember one specific incident when she was younger that involved the mob. Her mother and father being attacked by some really scary men dressed in all black with small handguns. Guns that were a dark brown color at the handel, and golden at the barrel. Kaelynn will never forget the dreadful sound of the gun shoot that murdered her mother.

After Y/N’s mother died when she was four and a half, Caspar did something he thought he never would do. He contacted Dominic Holland. The leader for the mob his brother worked in. He made a deal with Dom to protect his daughter from the other mobs. Dom had a little soft spot for Caspar. He knew Caspar personally, and knew he did not want to lose the only important thing he had left. The mob leader could relate to him to certain point, thinking about his eight years old son Tom.

The now twenty two year old Y/N knew about the arrangement her father made with the previous mob leader. When she found out about the deal, saying the young woman was furious was an understatement. You could practically see flames in her eyes. She was yelling and cursing at both her father and her boyfriend for not telling her.  

…

Y/n was sitting on the red couch in her boyfriend’s living room. Tom’s living room alone was bigger than her whole apartment. Probably twice the size actually. She tried to watch what was on the TVtv, but found herself focusing more on the screams that came from Tom’s office. The young girl knew hurting and killing people was a part of his job. She was not so happy about the thought of her sweet and gentle boyfriend killing people, but she knew how the mob worked. You either kill or get killed.

The horrific screams from the office became louder and louder. Until they suddenly stopped. She turned down the volume on the TV, hoping she would hear something. She listened closely. Nothing. She got off the red couch and started walking towards Tom’s office. She knew she should not go there. Tom said multiple times a week that he wants her as far away from the mob as possible. Y/n knew he only meant it well, but she got tired and just annoyed when he had his guards follow her around all the time. So she decided that listening in on his meeting could be a sort of… punishment.  

…

On the other side of the large wooden doors Tom was almost red with anger. All he could see was red. He had been in this meeting for three hours trying to get some information out of the man who sat in front of him. Harrison his best friend and right hand man, was standing behind the man in the leather chair near the door. Tom trusted Harrison with his life. Sometimes he felt he trusted him to much. The mob leaders men caught him at one of his warehouses sneaking around. So Tom decided to show him what happens if you messed with the Holland mob.

“Now! I’m going to ask you one more time. What were you doing at my wearhouse!?” Tom sent the guy a look that could kill. The man that was strapped to the leather chair was just shaking his head. Eyes full of pain. The brown haired mobster loved a challenge, but he hated when he did not get things his way. He pulled out his gun from under the table and loaded it. The man’s eyes widened at the sight of the gun. He struggled against the cuffs on his wrists. The cuffs brushing his wrists. Tom leaned back, throwing his head back in annoyance. He let out a breath and gave his best friend a glare.

“Ok,” Tom looked around his office. Looked at the expensive alcohol next to a cabinet filled with fancy looking glass. Pictures of him and his family hanging on the wall above the cabinet. Him, his mother and father, and his three younger brothers. Turning his head towards the crappy looking man in front of him again with a smirk.  

“if your not going to talk… then I should just end you. Right here, right now!” The mob leader smirked at the man in front of him. Waiting to get a reaction out of him. Blood running down his face, and soon his wrists as well. He once again struggled against the handcuffs on his bruised wrist, throwing his head down, looking at his lap.

“Sinister,” he said quietly. Almost a whisper. You could barely hear his voice but you heard the fair in his voice, clearly terrified knowing Tom

hated that name.

“And what the hell does Joe Sinister, that devil, has to do with you sneaking around my wearhouse!” Tom  yelled this time. Screaming practically, having no idea his love was on the other side of the mahogany doors.

“Joe… I-I work for him… or I u-used to. H-he said if I-I-I got caught I was fie-”

“Get to the fucking point already” the mob leader shouted cutting off the man in front of him. “What’s your fucking name! Why the hell were you at my warehouse! What do you want! And what does Joe have to do with it!” Tom stood up slamming his hands down at the overpriced wood table, giving the man in front of him a nasty glare. Harrison caught uncomfortably getting eye contact with his mates coffee brown eyes.  

“H… he, I..”

“Words!”

“ I’m Steve… He knows about your girl!” he rushed out, looking down at his lap again. Not daring to look Tom’s in the eyes. Scared to death of what would happen. The brown haired mobster froze for a second. His expression softens. Confused on how he knew about you. Only for a second. After that he was back to his usual stone face. The mob leader chuckled.

“What are you talking about!?” he said in a strong but silent voice.

“That… That y/n g-girl. H-her uncle k-kill someone from u-us, so Joe killed him. Now he wants to get rid of this girl.”

“And what makes you, and that little boss of yours to think that I know this girl? Hu?” Tom spat the words at Steve. Venom was all you could hear from his voice. While inside, he was terrified about them knowing who you was. Frighten of what would happen to her if they got there hands on her.

“Well… first of all you have a picture of her on your desk,” Steve said looking at the picture. Tom looked down at the picture of the girl he loved. The picture he took of her while they were on vacation. He cursed under his breath for not putting that picture away before the meeting.

“Again, what makes you think this is that y/n girl you were talking about. This could just as easily be my sister for all you know?” just as he said that he realised he fucked up. He knew all the other mobs in the aria knew the Holland household only had four boys.

“You know, just as well as I, that I know you have three younger brothers. The only girl in your family is your mum! Pluss, don’t you think the Sinister mob have some sort of record of her?” he questions. Getting more and more confident. He actually dared to look Tom strait in the eyes.

“Ok,” Tom said a bit defeated. Looking at the now smirking man in front of him. Tom really wanted to knock his teeth out. He got discussed by Steve’s yellow colored teeth. “so what if I got a girlfriend. What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m not going to do anything to your girl Holland… But I can’t say the same for Joe. He know you got a weakness now. Something you never had before.” Tom listens closely to every word he says. He looked in Steve’s eyes to try and see if he was lying about anything. Nothing. He started for the first time in years to get worried.

The mob leader looked at Harrison who still stood silently by the door. Harrison could see in his friends  eyes that he was worried. His chocolate brown eyes, looking terrified. Harrison was not used to see his friend this… shakey. He always was so confident, knowing exactly what he wanted and what he had to do to get it. While know… he seems lost. Not sure what to do, he’s probably thinking of every worst possibility that could happen too.

It probably does not help that y/n was on the other side of the door listening to everything. She heard every single word. She started to shake a little. The thought of running in the door and into Tom’s armes crosses her mind. Wanting him to tell her that no one is going lay a finger on her. Wanting him to tell her that she is safe.

“This girl of yours… she is not safe. Not outside! Not here! Not anywhere!” Steve barker at the mob leader, who slowly broke down in front of him. “You remember the Riddler mob? They got destroyed by Joe because he knew about Billy’s girlfriend,” Tom listened carefully to every word Steve said. Thinking back to the day’s were the Riddler Mob was the biggest mob in England. He was twenty one back then.

“Joe killed Billy’s girlfriend, right in front of him, and killed him a few days later! And you do realise he is going to do the same to you and your girl if he gets his hands on her!” Steve looked Tom straight in the eyes, to show him he was serious. He had a straight face, his lips pressed in to a thin line.

“What did that devil do to Billy’s girl? Like before he killed her?” Tom asked looking down at his lap.

“Oh. The worst kind of torture you could imagine,” Steve answers in a dark tone that could kill. “We looked her up in a room, then each day we did the most horrible things that came to our minds. Someone pulled her hair out. Some cut her… everywhere! Her face, her arms, her feet. Some even went to the extreme length and raped her.” Tom flinched at the last comment. Imagining that it was y/n. His blood startet to boil. Anger grow in him again.

“And why exactly are you telling me all this? Why are you telling me your mobs plans?!” Tom shout at him.

“Because I don’t want to die!” Steve roars back. “You should be thankful that I am telling you all this! Now you know Joe wants to kill that slut of yours!” Tom picks up the gun that was laying on the table and slams it in Steve’s already bruised face. He hits him again, and again, not stopping until he saw blood running down his face. Yet, he was still not satisfied. All he could see was red. His anger boiling over, wanting to do so much worse with the man in front of him.  He puts his gun in the little gun pocket on his belt.  

Tom turn around and pulls out a knife from his desk. A throwing knife to be exact. He looks at the mat black handle, and the short blade that shows his reflection. He moves his gaze from the knife to Steve. He stands there for a second. Admiring the blood that runs down his nose towards his mouth. Them suddenly he launches forwards grabbing Steve’s jaw. Steve tries to jerk his head back, but Tom holds him to tight. Tom takse the little throwing knife up to Steve’s cheek bone, cutting a straight, deep line from his ear to the corner of his mouth. He looks satisfied at the cut he made. Feeling a tiny bit of his anger disappear.        

“Joe is going to kill that little slut of yours! He is planning on doing it tomorrow you moron!” Steve screams in the brown haired mobster face. Tom takes the knife up to his other cheek, reddy to cut down it. When all of a sudden the doors fly open. Tom grab his gun ready to shoot whoever dared to disturbed him. He looks up at the pearson who he was ready to shoot, when he meet y/n’s tearfield gaze.

“y/n?” He immediately dropped the knife and the gun. All the anger he previously had disappeared, and his expression softens. He goes from being this angry lion that wants to kill everything he sees, to this soft rabbit that is scared to death. Tom was terrified that he scared the girl he promised he would never hurt.

Tom launch forward, towards y/m. He wraps his arms around her, which she immediately responds by wrapping hers around him. She hides her face in his chest wanting everything else in the world to fade away. She sobs in his chest, trying to calm herself down. At the same time the mob leader that everybody thought had no feelings, stood there with y/n in his arms, holding on to her like she was his whole world. Because she was. He didn’t like to admit it, but he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.    

Harrison stood there, watching his friend comfort his girl. He stood there with a grin on his face, wishing Tom could show this side of himself more often. He remember the good old days when him and Tom was young. They never had a normal childhood, because they both had to train. Tom mostly. Did everything his father told him to do. And Do  wasn’t exactly the most loving father in the world.

Harrison glanced away from his friend to see Steve struggling in the leather chair he sat in. He threw his blond head side to side. Tryde to push his tiny body out of the chair. He did not want to interrupt Tom and y/n’s moment. On the other side he couldn’t touche Steve or… Tom would have his head on a silver platter.      

What Harrison didn’t notice was the small pocket phone Steve had in his hands. He types a message to Joe about getting some backup. He also confirmed that Tom was a total wreck without y/n. He sat there smirking like crazy. Throwing his head around to pretend he tried to get out. Begging the other guys would get here in time before he got killed.

The couple stood there hugging each other. Y/n was the first one to pull away. She instantly missed his touche. Missed the warmth his body gave her. She looked him deep in the eyes, feeling more comfortable knowing he was so close to her. Then her gaze moved from Tom’s eyes to the man in the chair. She noticed his muscles in his right arm tensed more than the other. She walked past Tom, who stood there confused as hell. She walked behind the bad looking man, seeing something in his hand. A small gray device almost. She took the last stepps and snatched the device from him.

He was shocked. Looking up at her with wide eyes. And struggled against the chair for real now. He tried to get out of the chair glancing up at y/n with fair in his eyes, as she read the text he had sent Joe

Y/n read the texts. Her head spinning from all the things that have happened today. She wanted to scream. Scream at everything that had happened. The curly headed girl wanted to scream in that guys face, but her voice wouldn’t allow her.

“Tom?”

“What? What is it?” he answered in a soft tone, walking towards her.

“Joe… i-is o-on his w-way,” she stutters. She reads through the texts again to make sure she read right. She stumbles towards Tom, but hesitates, wondering if its a good idea to show him the texts. Y/n hands Tom the phone, watching him read through words, taking in the content. He throws the phone to Harrison, letting him read through the conversation Steve and Joe had had.

“Get rid of this guy, y/n and I are getting out of here,” Tom reaches forwards taking y/n’s wrist and starts dragging her out of the rom.

“When your done with this guy take a car and meet us at the safe house in George street.” Tom is already halfway through the door when he finishes his sentence. Not caring enough to look back to make sure harry heard what he said.

Tom drags y/n through the long halls in his house, all the way to the garage. The garage is hug, with over 50, way to expensive cars. They get in a black Toyota SUV. Tom does not even wait for y/n to close the door before he starts to speed of. When they get out of the garage, and away from the house, Tom starts to speed out of London, towards the safe house in George street. His heart is pounding hard, and his breath is quick. Still thinking about all the worst possible outcomes of this … scenario.

Y/n is sitting in the passenger’s seat. Her heart pounding like crazy. She could feel the adrenalin flow through her body like a tsunami coming towards land. She looked at her boyfriend who sat next to her. She could see the tight grip he had on the steering wheel. His teeth clenched, and muscles tens from everything. She assumed it was mostly because of that Steve dude calling her a slut. When y/n and Tom got on the motorway he moved on of his hands to her thigh. Squeezing it gently.

“Everything is going to be fine.” he insured her, and himself.

…

Harrison stood in front of Steve. Blood running down from his face onto his expensive looking clothes. What used to be a white button up shirt was now a crimson red color. His hair messed up, and stood out to every direction. Head hanging low in defeat.

“Now… was it such a good idea to come her?” Harrison questions Steve. Steve looks up at Harrison with a smirk. He sees Harrison raising his eyebrows at him and chuckles. Harrison grabs the little knife Tom used earlier to cut Steve’s jawline. He plays with it between his fingers and bends down, so his at the same eye level as Steve.

“I really don’t know what Joe is thinking now a days,” he took the knife to his cheek that Tom never cut. He dragged it down his cheek, not hard enough to cut through the flesh. He continued to drag the knife down his face, to his shoulders, and down to his bruised wrists.

“I don’t remember you coming here was a part of the plan.” he dropped the knife to the floor and reached into his pocket getting out a key. He took the key to the handcuffs on his left hand, and slide the tiny key inside the small hole. He twisted the key and opened the handcuffs on his left hand, and then his right hand. Steve looked at Harrison with wide eyes and a smirk plastered on his lips.

“Well, Joe can’t tell you everything with the thought of you being so close to Tom at all times,” Steve chuckled looking straight at Harrison who had a straight face.

“Now… where are they? Joe is meeting us here in a bit under ten minutes.”

“Their traveling to Tom’s safe house in George street! I’ll be driving there because none of you know where it is.”

“You really think Joe is going to let you drive?”

“If he wants Tom and y/n gone. Yes! He will let me drive.” Harrison snapped at Steve. He picked up a gun from Tom’s desk and started walking toward the dark doors.

“You coming?” he asked with a cold voice feeling nothing good could come out of this. He continued walking. Steve right at his heels. They walked all the way out of the mansion waiting for Joe to show up. Steve had trouble focusing with the pain that shoot through his body. He could not even stand still because of the stinging that came from the bruises and cuts he had gotten over the last three and a half hours.

They stood there in silence, waiting. They only waited five minutes for Joe to come rolling into the driveway in front of the house. He stopped the red SUV, and got out of the car.  He walked up to Harrison and Steve in a dark blue suit, a black button up shirt underneath the suit jacket. He smiled at his men standing there, one tall and proud, one beaten up and excasted.

“Hello Harrison. Long time no see.” Joe said checky.

“Their on there way to one of Tom’s safehouses in George street.”

“Excellent work Harrison! You, unlike others,” Joe glanced at Steve with a look of disgust.

“You make the rest of the mob proud!” Joe smiled at Harrison and turned on his heels.

“Show me the way to that fucker, and then there’s nothing stopping us from taking over the biggest mob in all of England.” he walked toward the car, throwing the car keys behind himself for Harrison to catch them. Harrison and Joe sit down in the car, while Steve can’t get the back door open.

“Em? The door doesn’t open.”

“Don’t you remember what I told you, you get caught, you get fired,” Steve started to panic. His heartbeat picking up speed, and breath heavy. He tried to open the door, but it did not move. Joe pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at him. Steve’s eyes widened.

“It was nice knowing you. To bad you couldn’t get the job done.” Joe said and shoot Steve straight in the head. Red blood dripping down the already red car.

“Drive!” Joe said and looked at the road in front of him. Ready to beat the living shit out of Tom Holland’s girl.

…

Tom and y/n arrived safely at the safe house. Only waiting for Harrison to show up now. The house was a lot smaller than what they were used to. Or what Tom what used to. Y/n grew up in a small house.

“Why are they after us?” y/n asked quietly. Connecting her eyes with Tom'ss sad ones. He hates to see her scared. No she was not scared, she was terrified. Her hole body shaking with fear. Here eyes shining with what he assumed to be tears.

“Apparently your uncle killed one of theirs, and he wants revenge on your family by killing you. Joe and I have always been competing against each other.” Tom said calmly. His gaze wanders from her to his phone. He goes through his contacts until he finds Harrison’s number. He presses Harrison’s name and the phone starts to ring. He answers on the second beeb.

“Hello.”

“Where are you?”

“On my way, maybe… seven minutes. Why?

“We need to figure out what to do with this hole Joe situation. Y/n is terrified.” none of them says anything for a while until Tom speaks up again.

“You know, I’m grateful that you always have my back. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Harrison sits in the car, trying to focus on the road. Feeling the guilty train coming to him. He always worked for Joe, but he grew up with Tom. Tom was his best friend, and he was betraying him.

“Yep… I just want to say… I’m sorry”

“Sorry for what”

“Everything” and with that Harrison hung up. Tom stood there confused to what he would have been sorry for. He looked at y/n who was laying down on the loveseat, curled up in a little ball, trying to be as small as possible. She looked up at him, and he gave her a weak smil. Tom had this weird feeling that something was wrong. No idea what was wrong, but something was definitely wrong.

Tom and y/n sat on the couch and cuddle, just enjoying the presence of each other. When they suddenly heard a knock on the door.

“That should be Harrison.” Tom stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the door.

“Why would Harrison knock?” y/n asked, knowing Harrison never knocked on the door before he walked in a room Tom was in. She started to panic again, her breath getting faster, sensing something was wrong. She wanted to get out. She wanted to get out of the country. Tom did not think that way.

Tom opened the door to hopefully meet the eyes of his best friend, but didn’t. It was no one there. He looked back inside to see y/n looking at him. He could see the fear in her eyes, see the way she was shivering. He looked back out again and walked out of the door, closing it behind himself. He walked to the front of the house where he saw Harrison leaning on a red SUV. Harrison looking down at the ground. He was ashamed of himself for doing all this for all these years.

“Harrison? What is going on?” Tom asked. He recognized that Harrison only looked down like that when something was wrong, or he was ashamed. Little did Tom know both of those thing were wright.

“I’m sorry Tom,” Harrison said in a low voice. Tom looked confused at his best friend. Not understanding what was going on.

“What’s going on Harrison?” Tom asked in a more hard and heartless voice.

“I should not be your main priority!” Harrison snapped back at Tom.

“What do you mean-”

“He means you should watch out for that little girlfriend of yours!” Tom turned around seeing y/n with tears streaming down her face, as Joe was holding a gun to her head. Joe smirked at Conor, knowing he was not going to take any chances on him hurting y/n. Tom’s anger grew for the thousand time that day. He could not stand seeing his girl like this.

“You missed me Tom?”

“Shut the fuck up Joe! What the fuck do you want!” he screams back at him. Joe only smirked at this and tightened his grip on y/n’s arm, making her scream in pain.

“Now, is that a nice way to speak to someone? I don’t think so.”

“What do you want Joe” Tom asked again through clenched teeth.

“I want what you have. I want to rule the biggest mob in England… I will be a much better leader than you. I’m not as weak as you who falls in love.”

“If you just drop the gun you can get the mob. Just… don’t hurt her.” Tom looked at y/n feeling a stinging in his chest as he saw the pain in her eyes. He saw the broken, scared girl behind those eyes, and he did not like it.

“I don’t believe you that it’s supposed to be that easy to get the mob from you. You worked your whole life for it, and your supposed to give it all away for a girl you claim to love.” Harrison stood behind Tom. Shocked that he was willing to give away the mob that easily. He used to wake up at six in the morning to train. He was determined as a kid that nothing was going to get in his way of becoming the most feared man in all of England. Here he was, giving it away so easily.

“Feelings are messed up, and I belive you know that.” Tom said. Joe put down the gun, but he still had a tight grip around her. Y/n did not calm down however. She was the peace in the middle. The puzzle piece for Joe to take over all of Tom’s life long work. She hated this feeling in her chest. It was almost like guilt, but not quit that. She felt everything was her fault.

Y/n glanced down at the gun that was hanging loosely in Joe’s hand. She looked at Tom trying to signal to him what she was thinking. He caught on fast, but did not approve of her idea. She just took her gaze away from him and focused on the gun again. The gun reminding her awfully a lot of the guns that were used to kill her mother so many years ago.

In a quick movement she kicked her leg on his thigh and got out of his tight grip. Joe dropped the gun, which he and y/n launched forward for. He got his hands on the handle of the gun, while she tried to rip it out of his hand by the barrel of the gun. She tried to kick him away from her but failed. When he got the the gun away from her hands, he wasted no time and shot her right under her rib cage.

The shoot was loud. Really loud. You could probably hear it all the way to London. For y/n it felt like time stopped. Everything moving in slow motion. She leaned back holding her hand over the hole in her chest as she was bleeding out.

Tom had heard a lot of gun shoots in his life but not one so dreadful before. The sound was the worst thing he has ever heard. He rushes toward her, and scops her up in his arms. He completely forgets that Joe is right next to him with a gun. All he cared about was the bleeding girl in his arms. Tears started to form in his eyes as he looked down at her.

“Why did you do that?” he gets out, his voice breaking as he speaks. Joe smirks at the situation and chuckles. He stands up moving towards the car that Harrison no longer was leaning on. He gets in the driver seat.

“See you at the next mafia meeting Tom.” He screams to Tom and drives away, leaving Tom, Harrison and the dying girl behind.

Tom grabs the side of y/n’s head in his hand, and starts to play with her hair. He looks her deep in the eyes, letting his own tears fall from his face for the first time in twenty four years. Y/n uses all the powers she got left and grabs his hand holding on to it. Tightly. She brings his hand to her lips and kiss his knuckles. She squeezes his hand and leans her head back and takes her last breath.

Tom looks at her with wide eyes full of tears. He never thought that one day he would be sitting on the brown-green grass crying over a girl. He had never wished so much before that he was the one that got the bullet in his chest.

Harrison stands there watching, what he assumed to be his ex best friend, crying. He felt everything was his fault, because everything was his fault. The girl his best mate loved would have lived if he did not bring Joe here. And he and Tom would probably still be friends.

“I’m sorry”

“You can just get lost, and get the fuck away from me Osterfield!” Tom screams in Harrison’s face.

“Why Harrison? Why? I trusted you with her and my life… and you just kills us both.”      

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