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lordgrimoire · 1 year

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The Goonion would like a Word

Bruce had never had an experience like this before, letters of ransom from any of his rogues? Certainly! But the Goonion only ever left messages when they were paying bail for their own, and he was becoming worried as to why Jason’s Goons had posted a message to him via The Goonion.

“To Batman of Gotham, New Jersey, United States of America, We would like to have a word with you in regards to a pair of Meta Adjacent individuals we would like to harbor here in Gotham, we are only extending the courtesy to you regarding them due to the fact that the United States Government refuses to acknowledge them as people due to their conditions, the Boss said he would tell you himself, if he has not already he likely will soon. Suffice to say a family of three is coming to Gotham as their last chance at a safe harbor and we would prefer it if you did not get on their cases. We hope to receive your response without any broken bones, The Goonion, Gotham, New Jersey Branch.” Tim was staring at the paper, the stationary of The Goonion, with confusion, Dick, Barbara, Cass, and Stephany seemed rather accepting of it, and Damian was confused.

“What is this, Goonion?” His youngest asked, staring at the paper as Bruce read over the return address, the Iceberg Lounge, a server named Thomas.

“Ah, we haven’t told you about them yet have we?” Dick began, sitting back. “They’re nice folks, help get the Goons payed and are usually the ones to put their feet down when Rogues get outta hand for normal folks, for instance, the Joker does not have the stamp of approval for, many reasons. But primarily it’s due to his former Henchmen, including Harley, snitching on him to the Goonion.” Dick typed something into his phone, Damian’s own device pinging in his pocket, likely more info. “The Goonion has an odd relationship with us, we don’t go after them and they try to keep things regulated, Jason could probably tell you more, and it seems from the letter we do have to talk to him.” The door to the cave opened, and while Bruce looked up to see his second son come walking down the steps he seemed, tired, run down even.

“The Goonion already got to you? Good on them.” Jason huffed as he sat next to Damian, ruffling the boy’s head much to his exasperation and attempted swatting. “Situations fucked, the letter doesn’t even touch on the bigger parts but it gets, real fucky like, possibly gonna want to get Uncle Clark and Aunt Diana in on it fucky, definitely Constantine as well.” Well Bruce knew his flags rather well and if Jason was advocating for not only a League intervention but one headed by John Constantine? Bruce decided to address the original topic first.

“They can stay, but they will have to answer questions.” Jason huffed and leaned back.

“Ground rules then, the two younger kids? Meta Adjacent? They have a similar situation to me, and it turns out Ra’s is playing with not even a tenth of a full puzzle with the Lazarus Pit.” Everyone around the table stiffened, save Alfred who had come in behind Jason with a tea service, as Jason took a sip from the mug placed before him and nodding to Alfred. “Thank you. The details are spotty but the abridged form is this, the Lazarus pit is the remains of a bunch of people from a dimension to which we all go when we die, the residents therein call it the Infinite Realms since it services everyone that means every Person who has a faith or doesn’t has a place there. Furthermore these three’s parents who passed recently in a Government Sanctioned raid made a Portal to the Infinite Realms, and Lazarus Water? Corrupted, dirty, a literally soul eroding form of what makes up matter on that end of the divide, Ectoplasm.” Jason withdrew a vial from his pocket, a bright green and sluggish substances was held within. “This is pure ectoplasm, The Parents, a pair known as Doctors Jack and Madeline Fenton, introduced me to a Doctor from the Infinite Realms, suffice to say I am feeling much less angry and far more at peace with things, though apparently being angry is normal for the type of “Dead but Brought Back” I am.” Jason placed the vial on the table and slowly pushed it to Bruce, taking his hand back when he reached for it.

“Jazz, the eldest, is a student at Gotham University, or she is now, identities and the like will be handled later but for the younger two it’s time for some non starters, because apparenlty if you ask an Ecto Entity or anyone touched by the Infinite Realms how they died it sets off a “I Must Kill You Now” trigger in their head, essentially forcing them to suffer their deaths all over again until they deal with who or whatever asked the question, so no being a little nosey punk about it Tim.” Tim jolted at his name being said instead of Jason’s nickname for him but he nodded when he realized that his elder brother hadn’t looked away from him. Bruce was still proud the two had started to mend things so well, but as he stared at the vial a question swirled in his mind.

“Why did the Goonion send a letter then?” Jason stiffened slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Alrighty, so you know how I’ve been going to College classes since a year ago? I met Jazz at one of them, as Jason Todd, son of Bruce Wayne and card carrying member of Red Hood’s Goonion. This was, sometime around Spring Semester, soooooo” Steph lunged up, mouth open with a squeak until Cass pulled her back down. Jason sighed and continued. “We started dating last year, she wants to be a psychiatrist and maay have started working for The Goonion in Star City when one of their guys ended up on her mentor’s patient bench. Her academics are already transferred to Gotham U but she’s still looking for a new Mentor.” Bruce made an affirmative noise at that, encouraging, Jason was holding something back, the younger siblings hadn’t been named yet. “The Goonion hired her former mentor and Jazz followed them in since they have really good benefits, and she has experience with the whole Capes and Crooks thing already. Though she told me she would rather she and her siblings explain that.”

So, Jasmine Fenton, after being a student for at least a year in Psychiatry, became a Goonion Psychiatrist, and then when her Parents died she takes her younger siblings, one of whom is rather recently adopted into the family by the looks of it, and flees her hometown, one Amity Park Illinois, which has a disturbingly blank file in the League databanks. “Yeah,” Jason began, looking over at the Batcomputer, scanning the total lack of data from two year ago on. “The Government locked their hometown down quick, they have a branch called the Ghost Investigation Ward, who managed to get a law in before our current Shining Dome of a President, was sworn in, apparenlty old Lex has been trying to rip that law to shredds since he found out about it and there’s something akin to a coup attempt going on from the GIW towards Lex. I looked into those guys already, I think it would be wiser to side with the current President and not a bunch of Loons who would dissect Uncle Clark and his kids if they got the chance.” Damian jerked slightly, turning to face Jason.

“What?”

“Yeah, Krypton is dead it’s a dead world, by some of the smaller parts of the Anti-Ecto Acts that means that all Kryptonians are ecto-beings and by that law have no sentience, and are just emotions imprinted on ectoplasm, given the fact I died once they would pick me up as well in a heartbeat, for “disposal” as they call it.” The room had become Still, Dick seemed furious, staring at the damning lack of info alongside a pale Tim, Damian who was still staring at Jason realized just why his brother had looked back to him and was also looking at Cass, they had been brought back by the pit, they were by Federal Law non-sentient. Bruce felt the arms of his chair bend slightly under his grip before breathing out his frustration.

“You have a plan?” Jason nodded, he seemed to be expecting worse, you really didn’t give him a reason not to, and began speaking.

“The Goonion will be dealing with protecting people who fall under the acts, we just need the JL to take this problem and light it on fire, drag it into the public eye and raid a few of the GIW’s bases that may have people, both from our side and theirs, in captivity. I will be going tonight to get Jazz and her Siblings from a bolt hole of theirs, an Aunt in Arkansas whose bound to be investigated is hiding them, I just need to borrow something.” Bruce allowed an eyebrow to climb up his forehead, he wants to borrow the Batplane for it.

“I’ll allow it, go and get them once it starts to become dark out, I’ll expect you back by dawn, do you have a place set up?” Jason blinked at him before nodding.

“Yeah, one of the safer corners of Crime Alley, closest part to Gotham University, three bedrooms, two bath, someone maaay have helped me pick it out.” Bruce nodded, he would get nowhere in trying to guess which of his other children, Alfred, or any of Jason’s friends, or even some of their own collectively reformed Rogues could have helped Jason in this, but suffice to say it was a safe harbor and one backed by some rather tough figures. The Goonion alone would give anyone trouble, but with them being in Crime Alley that meant that they were essentially in an invaders nightmare. Dead ends, construction, dilapidated or abandoned buildings, it was a natural ambush site. Jason then put a box on the table, it was a scanner of some sort.

“One of the reasons they’re coming here is this,” he flipped a switch and the machine began to frantically beep, practically sounding a long tone before Jason flipped it off again, “Gotham sits on a similar point to Amity Park, and as such we are LOADED with ambient ectoplasm, constantly stirred up by magic based curses of one sort or another it essentially blinds ectoplasmic tracking devices.” Bruce nodded, accepting the device as it was pushed down the table to him. “Jazz had apparently decided that they would run to Gotham if things went sideways like this anyways, we’re the closest ambiently effected city to Amity not ringed by GIW outposts and scanners.” Bruce paused in his observing of the machine, the GIW had surrounded other cities that had high ambient ectoplasm?

“Where?” Jason pulled out a small notepad.

“Well, Jazz wouldn’t tell us, but the Goonion has it’s ways, The GIW has encircled the following cities, Salem, Boston, and Springfield of Massachusetts, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Gettysburg of Pennsylvania, Chicago Illinois, Savanah Georgia, D.C., and then San Francisco and San Antonio of California and Texas respectively, I asked for this list at 6 this morning, I was handed this current version at Noon, these were just the overt ones. Metropolis, Bludhaven, and Gotham, are currently not surrounded, there are locations between them but not many.” Bruce stood, watching as addresses were placed on the table, each assigned a sticky note and details.

“You should get ready to go get Jazz and her siblings, we’ll deal with this.” Bruce tapped on the sticky note closest to him. Jason nodded and stood, following Alfred out of the Batcave as Bruce looked to the rest of his family. “We have targets, we have details, Tim, dig up what you can on the GIW, Damian, Dick, Cass, Stephanie, your with me, we’re going to raid as many of these places as we can tonight, Barbara,”

“I’ve got comms, got it.” She interrupted, rolling over to the Bat computer and preparing for daylight operations

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suzukiblu · 8 months

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what do you have for Clark kent?

Clark is the last son of Krypton.

Clark is the last of Krypton.

At least, that's what he thought thirty seconds ago.

"Uh," the kid standing in the middle of the broken-up Metropolis street in front of him says awkwardly, a gloved hand half-covering the bright and bold and undeniable emblem on his chest. There's a lot of surrounding property damage, a lot of staring civilians hovering on the sidewalk, and some very upset police officers cuffing up some very unconscious metahuman gang members. Clark can't even begin to bring himself to care about any of it. "Hey . . . ?"

"Hello," Diana says, raising a curious eyebrow at both the kid and the ridiculous mess that's somehow been made of the street. From the look of it maybe one of those gang members had some kind of tectonic-based abilities or something similar, but Clark continues not to care. "It seems we've encountered an admirer of yours, Kal."

"You're wearing that crest without permission," Bruce says flatly, looking less amused than Clark has seen him since the last time someone died on the League's watch.

Clark, meanwhile, can't say anything at all.

"Hey, Superman gave me permission, okay?!" the kid protests, bristling defensively. Clutching the emblem . . . protectively. Like he's afraid to have it taken away. "Just not, uh . . . this one."

"This one." Bruce frowns. The kid flattens his hand against his chest and just . . . shrugs, looking away. Clark can't look away from him at all. He looks like . . . he looks . . .

"Yeah," the kid says, gesturing a little directionlessly with his free hand. "I'm kinda not, like . . . local? There was like this whole thing, like with Hypertime and–it's complicated, okay? Just, like, it's an alternate reality issue. I'm sort of, uh . . . lost. Or–stranded, more like. I guess more like . . . stranded."

The kid swallows. Drops his hand away from the emblem and folds his arms over it instead.

Keeps standing there, looking like . . .

"Are you, now," Bruce says neutrally, and he's definitely going somewhere with that, but–

"You're Kryptonian," Clark blurts, because he can't hold the words back a moment longer. Diana and Bruce both go very still beside him. The kid just looks surprised.

"Uh, not really?" he says. "I mean, okay, sort of. I'm a binary clone of . . . you know, like a hybrid? Um, they based me off, well . . . our Superman. And then, like, stitched me up with human DNA to hold me together 'cuz the Kryptonian genome is a freaking nightmare and they couldn't really figure it out all that well, so otherwise I would've degraded and–uh. Sorry."

Clark feels something he doesn't think he's ever felt in his life, looking at this kid. Feels like he's been dragging himself through the uncanny valley and finally seen the other side of the thing; like he's finally crossed through the fog and darkness and come out into the clear light of day and seen what people are actually supposed to look like. Everything about him is just . . . right. The pitch of his voice, the slope of his shoulders, the way the sunlight reflects off his skin, the pattern of spokes in his irises, the color of his eyes, the weight of him in the world . . .

Clark wants to snatch this kid up and wrap him in his cape and never let anything else touch him. Never let him be hurt or upset or–or alone. Never. Not for anything.

He feels the way he's heard people describe feeling when they first met . . . when they first . . .

He feels the way he's heard people describe feeling when they first met their child. A sense of awe and wonder and . . . and . . .

He feels like he felt the first time he left the atmosphere and saw all of Earth all at once. Everything on it, everyone on it. The whole thing all together, all the same. Perfect.

Complete.

He's never loved anything this immediately, Clark realizes distantly. Not even that first full glimpse of Earth.

He can't imagine how he ever, ever could have.

"What's your name?" he asks, unable to shake the intensity of emotion held painfully tight in his chest. Not even wanting to shake it.

The kid looks–worried, almost. Puts his hands behind his back. Clark can see the full image of the El crest emblazoned in pride of place across his chest for the first time, and it makes him feel weak.

"Superboy," the kid says. "Um . . . Kon-El."

Clark's heart could burst, hearing that.

Or break.

"Kon-El," he echoes, forcing himself not to step in closer; not to crowd the kid. "I had a . . . on Krypton, before it was destroyed, there was . . ."

"A cousin. From the, uh, second house of El," the kid–Kon-El–agrees, shifting just barely anxiously. "My Superman said I . . . reminded him of him, like from what he saw in the recordings and all? So, uh . . ."

"I named you after him?" Clark asks wonderingly. He would've given the kid a human name over a Kryptonian one, himself, but then again, a public street in an alternate dimension isn't really the place for him to be introducing himself as "Jon Kent" or anything similar. Kon nods stiffly, drawing himself up a bit.

"Yeah," he says. "He said, uh–um. He said Kon-El was strong-willed. And . . . uh . . ."

He trails off, looking nervous, and then visibly steels himself and looks defensive again instead.

"He said I was family," he says, squaring his shoulders and lifting his jaw, like he's actually expecting someone to argue with him or something. "So he gave me that name."

Clark doesn't know who the hell made this kid so much as hesitate over saying that to any version of him that isn't an active supervillain, but he thinks he'd like to throw them into the Phantom Zone for a century or two. Just . . . that's all.

Or maybe three.

#clark kent #kon el #superman #superboy #superfamily #plotbunny-bundle #rinfic #long post #wip: the last son of krypton meets hypertime kon

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theglamorousferal · 16 days

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Things I want in one fic:

Redeemed Vlad, Good Fenton Parents, Fentons/Vlad polycule

Liminal Amity Park

Redeemed Dark Danny, weird cousin?

Ellie as part of the family, sorta step sibling?

Defect quartet

The Class as a team deferring to Team Phantom

Jazz is Big Sister

Amity Park knows the secret

The Class moving to Gotham for college

Vlad giving them enough money to purchase Drake Manor

Tim has closed off the tunnel between the Manor and the Batcave

Tim was the one to hand the keys over to Danny, whose name was on the deed, courtesy of his new step-dad

They end up keeping in touch and Tim is a frequent visitor at the manor and befriends the majority of the Class

They all still keep up with their training, Sam and Valerie put together an obstacle course with the help of the jocks and every Saturday is a free-for-all battle royale with ecto guns set to their lowest setting across all of the grounds.

The last one standing gets to pick what restaurant dinner is from that night and the movie for movie night.

Tim does find all of this rather unusual, but mostly he finds that they remind him of all his hero friends.

This, more than anything else they do, makes him very concerned.

Why do these random midwesterners train like heroes? Why do they have a camaraderie he’s only seen forged on the same battlefield? He’s noticed they mostly defer to a group of five individuals. The pair of siblings who now own the Manor and the partners of one of said siblings. More than that, they all defer to Danny, the one he gave the keys to.

Luckily for him, Two Face happened to attack the bank that Danny was at and Danny did something he’d only ever seen Bruce manage to do and talked the villain down from the attack.

When asked, Dent just said that he saw a kinship in the kid, said he’d understood duality in a way that resonated with him.

Later that night Red Robin reopened the tunnels and paid one Daniel Fenton a visit. Tim found him in his father’s old study, using a brand new telescope through the window. He knocked and waited before entering.

“Ah, I expected one of you to show up. It’s why I decided to stay up tonight actually. We have a lot to talk about if you’ll take a seat? I’ll get us some energy drinks. You’ll be able to confirm they’re sealed and not poisoned that way. What’s your favorite flavor? Between the fifteen of us we’ve got to have the right flavor.”

Red Robin stood there for a moment, processing before following the man to his pantry. Once there he opened a new package of his favorite energy drink and opened it himself; not once did Danny make a fuss about him opening a whole new package. He grabbed a second one to bring with him back to the office. Danny grabbed a couple himself.

Once back in the office, they sat in two chairs across from each other. Danny leaned on his elbows with his fingers steepled. “What I am about to tell you is an incredible risk to everyone in this house, and likely yourself included. I need you to promise me to listen to everything I tell you before you start asking questions. I will answer them to the best of my ability after I have gone over the basics. What I am about to tell you is going to sound unbelievable, but I’m banking on the fact that you have likely frequently experienced impossible things and therefore may take me seriously.” Danny stared at the mask. “Now, what do you know about ghosts?”

Tim’s hair trigger was of disbelief, but then he paused and considered. Clark’s an alien, Diana’s a god, Conner’s a clone, at least half the family has come back to life. Why couldn’t ghosts exist? “Not much besides fairy tales.” He braced himself for what was to come.

Danny narrowed his eyes appraisingly. “Hmm. Well. They are, in fact, real. I’ll show evidence in a little bit. A Ghost as we know them is generally formed when a person’s emotions during death produce enough ectoplasm to give their sentience form. They then become residents of a place known by two names; the Ghost Zone, or the Infinite Realms. The Ghost Zone is what it’s known as on Earth, and the residents of the place itself call it the Infinite Realms.” Danny pauses here for a moment and then claps his hands. “Now, all ghosts are members of the Infinite Realms, but not all beings of the Infinite Realms are ghosts. The Realms is a dimension mirroring our own that is entirely made of ectoplasm. It’s where the residue from the emotions of all beings in our universe go and then are given form. There are beings there that are basically gods and are aspects given form. I can go on and on about the Realms later. What’s important is that throughout history there have been unstable naturally occurring portals between the two dimensions, but around five years ago, a pair of scientists managed to open a stable portal to this dimension. A few months later, a former college friend of theirs made a second stable portal, but I’ll get to him in a minute. Once this portal was established, it made it so that ghosts could now freely come into our world. A young hero took up protecting the city, but his first few attempts had quite a bit of misunderstanding to them and so he was villainized for a while. This resulted in the government establishing an agency to combat these threats. All well and good, right?” He raised an eyebrow at Tim. “You would think so. However, the laws passed to make this agency had some clauses that are questionable. I’ll just hand you a copy of the documentation so that you can read it.”

He handed Tim a folder labeled “Anti-Ecto Acts”. He began to peruse them and came upon the clause that declared any being that can process or contains ectoplasm is considered non-sentient or sapient and called for the capture, eradication, or experimentation of all such “ecto-beings”. “This, can’t be right. This is a blatant contradiction to the Meta Protection Acts.”

Danny smirked a sad smile. “You’d think, right?” He gave him a moment to process that. “You can read up more on that later. I have other things to say.” Tim set aside the folder and took a deep chug of his energy drink.

“Alright, hit me.” he said as he leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees, giving Danny his full attention.

“Kay, so, you notice the ‘any being that can process ectoplasm’ bit? Yeah, well that can apply to some humans too. Humans that are considered death-touched or Liminal. People who have been surrounded by death, have died even if momentarily on the operating table, but especially people who have been exposed to high levels of ectoplasm. Here’s the thing about living in a town with a stable portal to effectively the afterlife: it kinda does some stuff to you.” He flashed his eyes a Lazerus green as he set his right palm on the desk. He’s quiet for a moment before he leaned back with a sigh, then closed his eyes so they returned to their normal blue.

“Every individual in my hometown is ecto-contaminated.” He said quietly, like, Tim supposes, he was telling a secret. Tim guesses he was. “Every person there is death-touched. Every person there is Liminal. Every person pings as an ecto-entity to the GIW. We’re all at risk. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the heroes would ping too. I need your help.” Danny turned begging eyes upon Red Robin. “I need your help, and you need this too because I noticed it when we first met, Tim, that you are too.”

Tim reeled, he stood and knocked his chair over. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“How many times have you been near-death? How many times have you been around the dying? That sort of stuff leaves a mark on people. They begin to metabolize ectoplasm. I reckon that the majority of the Justice League apply. I’d argue that soldiers who have seen active combat would register on some sensors. According to those laws, you can be captured and experimented on. They’re luckily focusing on ghosts and have been ignoring people, but it’s only a matter of time. I need you to bring this to Batman, to the League. I need these Acts removed. They call for the eradication of my People” His eyes flashed a green again as the word resonated. “This calls for the eradication of an entire dimension, they’ve already tried it once, and if they had, it would have torn this universe apart. Luckily the nuke they had was a dud.”

Tim swallowed at that. “Nuke? They tried to nuke an entire dimension?” Tim picked up the chair and sat heavily in it. “I’m going to guess that this somehow gets worse?”

Danny nodded solemnly. “You see, the Infinite Realms has a council and a king. A good majority of the council rightfully believes that these Acts are calling for the genocide of our people. The king has kept them at bay for now, but they’re calling for war.”

Tim put his head in his hands and groaned. “And the king?” Danny looked at him, debating something for a moment. Then he stood and there was a flash of bright light. Stood in front of Red Robin could only be the King. Danny now had bright white hair and eyes that glowed with a familiar Lazarus green. He wore a cloak of stars and his crown looked like the Northern Lights. He wore armor that seemed to be a combination of the ancient Norse and Greeks. “I just want my people safe.”

#dpxdc #fanfic #ghost king danny #liminal amity park #defect quartet #listfic become fic #long post

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audhd-nightwing · 3 months

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au where when tim finds dick and asks him to be robin again, dick is like “no but also are you okay?? where are your parents?” and proceeds to adopt/kidnap him

dick sends clark and diana to babysit bruce and tries to dissuade tim from being robin, but he’s a stubborn little shit so blüdhaven gains a new vigilante alongside nightwing (dick won’t let tim be bruce’s robin, not robin in general)

dick isn’t a cop because fuck you dc he would never idgaf what you think it’s wrong and goes against so much of his character!!! i hate cop!dick so much, he isn’t real to me

dick is a part-time college student majoring in human biology and minoring in psychology while training to be a paramedic. tim moves in with him (a small studio apartment) and they forge some records and IDs so tim can go to school in blüdhaven (not that the schools really care)

tim likes to read dick’s college textbooks & notes (if eligible) and spends most of his free time in the library or taking photos across the city. dick is 19 and tim is 14. jack and janet don’t even notice tim is gone

they both have enough to live comfortably but dick only uses his own money (from his parents) and tries to teach tim about like. class differences and how much normal stuff costs (i love timmy but he is a lil rich boy)

dick can cook and clean (which is CANON thank you very much), but his room is basically an organized mess (adhd-ass), while tim is used to needing his room to look perfect and deep cleans like once a week (trauma & he has a touch of the ‘tism)

when dick kills the joker, thinking tim is dead, tim gets to him in time but dick doesn’t let bruce resuscitate him and joker stays dead. this leads to post-pit jason going to blüdhaven instead of gotham.

part of him feels vindicated that his big brother the golden boy killed the clown, but part of him feels like he was replaced by tim. either way it drives him to blüdhaven. he observes nightwing and the new robin for a while, realizing that shit, this robin is just a kid. he can’t hate the new robin for something that’s not even the kid’s fault

he has a mess of complicated emotions about dick, though. again, he’s glad dick avenged him, but is mad he replaced him, and is a better brother to this robin than he was to jason. jason wanted that fun older brother. he got it for a little bit but it wasn’t nearly enough time, and then he fucking died

anyway, this of course leads to a confrontation between red hood & nightwing and robin. jason considers messing with them but decides to just get it over with (so he can yell at dick) and takes off the helmet. dick recognizes him immediately, and tim figures out who he is by dick’s reaction.

queue jason failing to be mad at dick when he starts sobbing and hugging him, and tim jumping in and making it a group hug. they bring him back to their apartment and give jason the guest room (they often have titans friends over), while jason is still like “…what just happened”

him and dick do talk later that night, and dick pretty much tells him everything. jason does the same “so they’re even”

jason goes back to gotham to protect crime alley, he has a couple safe houses set up around the city, but he visits blüdhaven whenever he can. similarly, when dick and tim are free they visit jason in gotham, at his main safe house that only they know about

going back a while, tim is kidnapped by joker while helping bruce with a case in gotham. he goes missing and bruce calls dick to see if he went back to blüdhaven, which he obviously didn’t, and dick speeds to gotham and finds joker, who tells him tim is dead and taunts him about jason. dick beats the joker to death, and doesn’t let bruce revive him, even if he has to live with what he did

after that bruce cuts contact with dick, but tries to stay in contact with tim. tim, however, is pissed at bruce for how he is treating dick and similarly cuts contact with bruce. both boys stay in contact with alfred, though, and sometimes he will update bruce on how they are doing

after jason settles into gotham, he joins dick and tim on one of their visits to alfred (while bruce is away/at work) and gets to reunite with him. alfred agrees to keep red hood’s identity a secret from bruce until jason is ready to tell him, but encourages him to do it soon because bruce misses him terribly

after blüdhaven is destroyed, dick is a wreck, so they move in with jason at his apartment near crime alley. nightwing is out of commission for a while (mentally AND physically) so robin patrols with red hood, who agrees to be as non-lethal as possible around him

dick is in a depressive episode for a while, so jason plays the role of Big Brother to tim (and dick if he’s being honest) until he feels a bit better. he’s actually the best at helping dick when he’s upset (aside from alfred ofc) and forces his ass into therapy with dinah

therapy and spending time with his brothers helps dick a lot, and he manages to force both of them to see therapists as well (not dinah cuz like. bias and legal stuff. but they find some good ones)

jason actually talks to harley sometimes (she’s calmed down a lot since the joker died and she started dating ivy), and she’s stable enough to give him solid advice occasionally. regardless, she’s a great listener and will always let him rant to her

okay flashback time again: when dick was living in titans tower in nyc, he attended college at hudson university. after about a year there, he moved to blüdhaven and transferred to blüdhaven university

tim moves in with him after dick’s been in blüdhaven for a few months. he finishes sophomore year at BU and starts paramedic training, deciding not to return to college. he’s 20 as of March and tim is almost 15

it’s around this time that jason (18) shows up- after dick’s finished sophomore year at BU but before he finishes paramedic training. after blüdhaven is destroyed, dick stops his paramedic training but eventually picks it back up again in gotham

ANYWAY so yeah the three of them share an apartment in park row

dick finishes paramedic training and starts working with gotham emergency services / thomas wayne memorial hospital (leslie’s clinic), and often helps anyone he comes across for free (he always has first aid supplies on hand & their apartment is hella stocked up)

dick and jason also often make meals for nearby homeless shelters (tim would help but he is a terrible cook, instead he manages to trick rich assholes into donating to and funding shelters, food pantries, schools, etc. in park row)

idek where i’m going with this anymore, just the three of them being brothers and visiting alfred. bruce focuses more on damian and cass, but occasionally they will all work together on a case (bruce has given up trying to get any of them- mostly jason- to move back to the manor)

damian and cass will drop by their apartment from time to time, as will alfred. jason, after watching over robin while nightwing was down, has stopped killing (for the most part) and focuses more on community support than beating up criminals

nightwing has become a sort of medic vigilante of sorts, he bounces across the city helping anyone who is injured (mostly abusive victims / those who can’t afford healthcare and are too far from leslie’s clinic to go there / homeless kids who can’t go there without having CPS called / etc)

he mainly patrols park row, but if he has time he will venture further out into the rest of gotham. tim is still robin atp, but he eventually changes his vigilante identity from robin

tim and steph still meet and become friends, but instead of working with batman as spoiler, she works with nightwing, red hood and robin. also, she is never robin, but she is batgirl for a bit

babs is oracle (okay timeline wise idk if she gets shot by joker before or after dick kills him soo i’m just gonna say before) and she helps out both the bats (bruce, dami, cass) and the birds (dick, jay, tim, steph)

steph ends up moving in with babs (who is very excited to have a little sister). this is when babs gives her batgirl, which she eventually (with permission) gives to cass.

sidenote: babs & dick are Best Friends like ride or die and that’s part of the reason dick killed joker- tho he doesn’t tell her that. they see each other all the time (the boys’ apartment building has an elevator) and stay in contact throughout all of this

robin and spoiler meet when the boys move back to gotham, and the two become fast friends. spoiler runs into red hood and robin one time and tim is like “hi S, this is my big brother!” and she’s like “your what.”

once dick is back as nightwing, he meets spoiler as well (who has told them her name is steph atp) and she’s like “i’ve heard all about you from your brothers :)” and dick is like “🥹 really?”

after that the boys tell steph their identities- “didn’t you die?!” “yeah, long story”- and she does the same- “wait is your dad that knockoff riddler guy?” “unfortunately, yeah”- and she crashes at their apartment sometimes after long nights of patrolling

it’s MY au so i say that cass found damian, understood what talia was trying to say when she saw her, and steals lil dami to arrive on bruce wayne’s doorstep. alfred opens the door and she basically shoves damian at him and then runs into the manor and launches herself at a very confused bruce with a hug. bruce is just like ‘okay i guess this is my daughter now’ and then alfred walks in with damian and he’s like ‘…i guess i have another son now too’

this all happens while tim and dick are in blüdhaven and jason is in gotham avoiding bruce like the plague. babs doesn’t tell them because she can be evil sometimes and wants to see their live reactions. imagine their surprise when the boys go to visit alfred and find two assassin children (cass is 19 but shush)

when bruce is lost in time, jace fox takes over as batman while tim, dick and cass go look for him. jason and steph stay and guard gotham and tim gives robin to damian so he can help them (and not go stir crazy without his dad). huntress and the sirens also help out in place of the three vigilantes looking for bruce

they find him faster since there’s three people looking, and everything pretty much goes back to normal after that, aside from jason being damian’s favorite older brother (instead of dick, bc he was never the batman to damian’s robin)

another sidenote: i am totally just ignoring jack and janet drake’s existence bc i don’t wanna deal with them yk? also crystal brown is alive and a decent mom, steph just moved out cuz she wanted more independence

rough age timeline rq

dick is 19 when he kidnaps adopts tim who is 14

jason (18) confronts dick (20) and tim (15)

cass (17) & dami (7) - jay (19), dick (21), tim (16)

blüd destroyed - dick (22), jason (20), tim (17)

tim (17) and steph (17) meet as vigilantes

cass (18) becomes orphan

dick (23) returns to nightwing - jason (21), tim (18)

tim becomes sparrow- robin is put in storage

the boys meet cass (19) & damian (9)

steph (18) moves in w babs (26)

steph becomes batgirl

future timeline

steph (19) gives batgirl to cass (20)

cass (21) becomes black bat

bruce gets lost in time

dick (25) jay (23) & tim (20) give damian (11) robin

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tomboy014 · 1 year

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The Prince's

So, I hadn’t originally planned on doing anything for Dani, but this post from @aziraphale-is-a-cats-a-cat got me thinking about things, and I ended up writing this.

So, while the men of the Justice League are trying to figure out who Dani is a clone of, Wonder Woman takes one look at the black haired, blue eyed, mischievous girl and can’t help but see herself in her and claim, “Mine.”

The rest of the League try, but there’s no arguing with Diana now that she’s set her mind on something, but Bruce and Clark have kids and know it’s not as easy as it looks to take care of them. She’s only ever been the “fun aunt;” she’s never had to get into the dirty, exhausting parts of parenthood before. It escalates to a full-blown argument, but if Dani has any say in it, she’d rather chill at Wonder Woman’s place for a while. It sounds better than staying in some gross cave or ice castle, and space isn’t her thing (the same way it’s Danny’s), so she’d rather not stay in the Watchtower.

Arguments about clones and custody continue over the next few weeks, not helped by the fact that Dani is still pretty unconcerned about the whole situation. Or, she was unconcerned until Vlad showed up. He’d decided enough was enough and it was long past time he collect his property.

It only takes a single scream.

Diana bursts into the room, fist connecting with Vlad’s jaw, and he’s knocked across the room.

“Don’t. Touch. My child.”

She proceeds to hand his ass to him on a bronze platter before he flees into the night, bruised and bloody.

Now it’s Dani’s turn to latch onto Diana’s leg, shouting “Mine!” This is her new, kick-ass mommy and no one else can have her. Dibs! No take backs! Well, it’s settled, now. Diana is officially Dani’s mom, and no member of the JLA can stop it. She scoops Dani up in her arms, and before she’s even out the door, she’s already telling the other Amazon’s the good news and making plans to take Dani to Themyscira to meet her γιαγιά Hippolyta.

The two work on figuring out family life, and all’s good for a while. Dani’s got a (relatively) stable home life and is quickly adapting to life as “Danielle Prince.” She likes that the name sounds similar to Diana’s, like it was on purposeful choice rather than a cheap knockoff of her original’s name, and she’s getting a lot more comfortable with it. Bruce, thoroughly defeated and resigned to put away the adoption papers, helps her enroll is a good school and finds tutors to catch her up on the years of schooling she didn’t live through. (This includes Jason Todd, who has volunteered himself as an excuse to hang out with Wonder Woman more.) Louis helps her get legal paperwork and documents for Dani (something she helped do for Kon). She makes friends with Damian and Jon. And she’s just as skilled as Danny with language, so she’s picking up Greek rapidly.

Since Diana’s adopted her and she’s gained an army of superpowered babysitters, Dani is finally starting to feel comfortable enough to share some information with the League. It’s not much, but she lets them know Plasmius is the one who cloned her, and her last name used to be Fenton.

Oh, no. Between those colors and facial features, Clark has a pretty good guess at which Fenton family she came from. Still, the family is enormous, so he doesn’t know which Fenton exactly was cloned, but the family reunion is this year, and wouldn’t hurt to give Dani a bigger support system. Would she and Diana like to come?

Vlad, meanwhile, has recovered and is pissed. After shadowing Wonder Woman from a healthy distance, he finds out she’s supermodel Diana Prince. Plasmius may not have been a match for Wonder Woman, but billionaire Vlad Masters is more than capable of taking some supermodel down a peg or two.

So, he approaches Diana at work, telling her he knows who she is and that he wants his “daughter” back. His “minion” might not have been a match for her, but if she refuses to comply, he’ll ruin her career.

And she laughs. Laughs right in his face. Loudly. Because she knows he’s bluffing. A billionaire and supermodel isn’t anything new as far as the media is concerned; it’s a cliché. But a deadbeat billionaire dad threatening to steal back an illegitimate child from an abandoned single mother? After years of not paying any child support? The media would eat something like that right up. Something that could drop stock prices and ruin political careers. That’s something anyone would be desperate to keep hushed up and out of the media spotlight, and she’ll drag him kicking and screaming into said spotlight if he comes anywhere near her daughter. Or maybe the media would prefer to know the real story about his illegal cloning? After all, that went over so well for Lex Luthor.

Vlad leaves, and Diana makes a few calls. First, she makes sure Clark heard everything in that conversation and sets him on the warpath against DalvCo if need be. She gets Bruce up to speed, and if there’s one thing he’s in the best position to do, it’s to hit Vlad where it really hurts: his wallet. Vlad was already a pretty scummy businessman. Wayne Enterprises didn’t need much of an excuse to cancel or back out of business deals with him.

But Diana is still shaken up by the event, even if she’s not going to let it show. Right now, she wants to send Dani away to Themyscira behind a wall of Amazons where she knows no one will be able to touch her, but Bruce and Louis talk her down. Dani’s finally settling into a normal-ish life, and uprooting her now will not help her, and if push comes to shove, trying to whisk her away will not look good to the courts. Louis knows a great lawyer, and Bruce is willing to foot the bill.

For Vlad, that did not go as expected at all. He hadn’t expected her to know Danielle was a clone, and he doesn’t want Danielle to be public knowledge. However, he has no intention of getting lawyers involved; she’d be expecting that. No, he has something far more insidious planned. It’s been decades since he’s attended one, but the Fenton Family Reunion should be coming up soon, and as far at that family is concerned, once a Fenton, always a Fenton. She’s prepared to fight lawyers? Well, Let’s see how she fares against an army of angry grandparents and disapproving aunts demanding that his poor child be returned to him once he sets the family on the warpath.

#dp x dc #dani phantom #wonder woman #dani fenton #danielle prince #diana prince #extended family au #this idea sorta threw a wrench into how i'd originally planned to post the stuff for this au #but i think the new order will work out better this way #no one's getting forgotten #they'll all be addressed in time #and i think the new post order will work out much better #at this point #dani is the only kid from amity park who's “out” to the supers #no one else knows about each other #it's all gonna go down at the family reunion

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frownyalfred · 11 months

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You brought this upon yourself, Res.

it's late evening and bruce has taken the rare chance to relax in the gigantic pool that/jacuzzi that he's got bc he's rich enough to buy the entire solar system

clark and diana are with him too, enjoying themselves and splashing around in the water. they try to get bruce to join them but he refuses so after a bit they gang up against him and push him into the shallow end.

they hold him down under the water but it's fine bc he's batman and he can hold his breath for longer than a normal person can

but eventually the lack of oxygen gets to him and he starts to struggle a bit, but diana and clark don't let him bc they forget he's, well, y'know, human

bruce is getting light-headed and is about to pass out when the two realize he's actually drowning and pull him out. he's breathing heavily and the two are apologizing profusely but he's got the biggest blush on his face and they realize he's hard

joke's on you. I gave him a strength kink. after all, how many people has he met that are stronger than him? (that are not villains or his children)

diana takes advantage of this. starts dirty-talking him. tells him about how good he was and praises him for staying under the water for so long. "that's my bat-boy." she says. he whimpers 🥺

clark runs his hands down his sides, pressing his face into bruce's shoulders, nibbling a bit at his collarbone. bruce melts into his arms, shivering at the treatment.

diana kisses him, making him every more light-headed than he already was. he kisses back against her desperately, eager for more.

bruce moans, bucking up against her. she grins menacingly, reaching down to grab his election through his swimming trunks, teasing him.

bruce begs for her to touch him before she shushes him, telling him she calls the shots here. clark kisses him next, reaching down to grab his ass, a vague promise of what will happen next.

diana reaches into his shorts, grabbing his dick and pulling it out. she strokes it with feather-light touches, calmly listening to his whimpers and whines as she pleasures him.

"clark, take over?" she asks attaching herself to bruce's nipples. clark's firm grip is wider and stronger than her's, stroking bruce faster than diana did.

bruce is very loud at this point.

"shhh." clark croons. "don't want anyone hearing, do you? aren't the kids still around?" he shuts bruce up with his mouth.

bruce is holding on buy a thread now. diana reaches down and prods at his hole, gently pushing in shallowly, aware of the lack of lube.

bruce cums, seeing stars. he's laying limp against clark, who chuckles, holding him close.

"we're not done yet, bruce." He says.

Do I continue???

Okay anon 👀 I see you. I don’t think I’ve ever run into a drowning kink before but I can see where you’re going.

If you want to write it, you should! There’s a dearth of superwonderbat fics out there.

#asks #anon #mini fic #smut #bruce wayne #batman #dc #clark kent #superbat #superman #diana prince #wonderbat #superwonderbat #Wonder Woman

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aethertetsuya · 1 year

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DP x DC Ideas/Rant

I just wanna throw ideas for fic plots. Im so much over the "Bad Fenton Parents" and "Vivisection" for Danny. It's been proven that if Danny's secret got out, his parents would love him anyway. Anyway. Here are some ideas and / or prompts. Credit and tag me if you are inspired.

Ideas 💡

(Each bullet is a separate idea)

Fentons go into the witness protection program until the JL gets the GIW down. They are stationed in the watch tower since the US has extradition treaties with most countries but not in space or with the JL.

Danny is Bruce's uncle, who helped raise him after his parents' death. Bruce and Alfred know his past and Vlad thas the inspiration behind batman. If it can scare Danny, who is the King of Ghost, then it should scare criminals too. Right?

Danny is the son of Barry Allen (Flash)and Diana Prince (WonderWoman). Maddie is an Amazonian who was charged of keeping Danny safe.

Damian is rescued by the Fentons during a mission gone wrong and decides to adopt-block Bruce by setting Danny up with one of his siblings. (Dick, Jason, Tim -you chose). Too bad Damian didn't account for all 3 brothers developing a crush and fighting over Danny. (But he can only end up with one)

Jon Kent and Danny Fenton were childhood buddies (sweethearts) who met at Space Camp (Kansas and Illinois are just 1 state apart). They made a promise to be there for each other one night under the stars (even carved their initials on a tree) they kept in touch and had summer visits. They discover each others identity during Class reunion episode (Lois was sent to cover and Interview Vlad Masters). Jon knows Danny's heartrate to the milliseconds, so he connects the two easily (it helps that Danny shouts "Going Ghost"). Damian gets jealous/annoyed that Jon's attention is elsewhere when they hangout (he is his first friend, so he doesn't know how to act/boundaries, so he decides to investigate which draws the attention of Bruce) Bruce then decides to ask Clark about this Danny person and Clark is is just all smiles and says he's a great kid and that he (Clark) has got Amity covered. (Apparently, he's been training Jon and Danny, his future son-in-law) Danny is an easy guy who trusts the Kents. Mainly because he witnessed how they heavily critiqued Jack and Maddie's Ghost papers for being biased and taught him and Jazz the most effective way to fight sentient food.

Danny is the oldest blood wayne son. During Bruce's college days, he helped out Jack and Maddie to have Danny. Jack can't have kids anymore due to ectoplasmic radiation (let's face it he is much more lose on lab safety than Maddie) Danny knows the truth from a young age but still treats Jack as his Dad. Bruce becomes the Distant Uncle (Batman and Wayne company keeps him tied). Despite this, he and alfred never missed Danny's Birthday. Every year, he goes to pain staking lengths to lose his kids for a day to go to Amity. Imagine everyones surprise when one day they came back after an extended mission, and Bruce rushed to get dressed to the nines and open a hidden zeta tube (only he and Alfred know) with a stucky note from Alfred which says "I'll reserve you a seat, Master Bruce". The Bat fam only has time for one question "Bruce/Father! What is going on" to which Bruce responds "Its Danny's 25th Birthday" and he's gone. The Bat fam is in shock. Who is this Danny they have never heard of. The Zeta tube is locked out that even oracle cant access or trace its destination. Dick, Steph, Cass, Duke all discuss the potential new brother, Damian, and Jason are fuming, Tim is working with Oracle.

If any decides or is inspired to expand or write with these ideas. All I ask is to be tagged and credited.

#dp x dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #dc x dp #justice league #batman #bruce wayne #jason todd #damien wayne #dick grayson #jon kent #wonder woman #flashfam #barry allen #diana of themiscyra #lois and clark #lois lane

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little-pondhead · 1 year

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Rejected Threads Pt. 2

[This is a series where I post the bits and pieces I decided to cut out of their final fics due to various reasons. I welcome anyone who wants to pick this up and make it their own. You do not need to ask for permission to use it, but I would like to be tagged in whatever you make. Just so I can see it :) ]

[Everything here is unedited and may ramble at times. Enjoy!]

---

For some reason, it never occurred to the Justice League that their resident Wonder Woman could have a living family. One that wasn’t from Themyscria, that is. It just never really crossed their minds. Diana Prince was a demigod, after all. But lo and behold, sitting before them was a smiling Diana with a small child on her lap. Someone sighed. This meeting just had an extra hour added to it.

“Wonder Woman,” Batman said as a way of greeting. Sitting down next to his colleague, giving the little boy she was holding the side eye. The child looked no older than five, with pitch-black hair and clear blue eyes. He wore a pair of little yellow sneakers and a space suit costume-one of those orange ones from NASA. He had a death grip on a kid’s book about the solar system and was staring at the pages intensely. Overall, the child was adorable and seemed very focused on his book. But why was he here, in the Watchtower?

Diana shook her head adamantly and wrapped her arms tighter around the boy’s torso. “Absolutely not, Bruce.” She declared with a smug grin. “You can’t adopt this one. He’s mine.”

“I didn’t say anything about adoption.”

“You were thinking it,” She accused. And Diana was right. Bruce had been thinking about it, but who could blame him? At this point, adoption was a knee-jerk reaction.

Barry Allen, also known as the Flash, blurred right before their eyes as he dashed away to fetch something quickly and came back. “He’s so cute!” Barry cooed, crouching down to the kid’s eye level. The child, finally noticing the people in the room, blinked at Barry’s sudden appearance. “Hi, kiddo. What’s your name?”

The child stared at Barry for a tad too long before he looked up at Diana for direction. “It’s okay,” she smiled, taking the book from the kid’s hands so they could face Barry completely. “This is Flash, one of my coworkers, remember?”

The kid nodded, turning back to Barry. “I’m Danny.” He said shyly. “ ‘s nice to meet you.”

“Hi, Danny.” Barry gave the kid a blinding smile and fished something wrapped in napkins out of his pocket. “I’m the Flash, like WW said. I saw you reading that space book. Do you like space?” Danny nodded again fervently. “Would you like a moon cake?” He unwrapped the napkins carefully to reveal a slightly squished moon cake cut into four equal pieces.

“But…” Danny looked confused. “ ‘s not the new year anymore.”

“Well, how smart are you!” Barry sounded genuinely impressed, and the whole room focused on Danny. “It’s okay. There are just some leftovers from the cafeteria. This one has mango filling. Do you like mangos?”

“Yeah!” Danny’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he bounced a little on Diana’s lap. “I like mangos, an’ strawberries, an’ razz-berries, but I never eat the razz-berries ‘cause tha’s Jazz’s favorite fruit.”

“Raspberries? Jazz?” Barry shot a glance at Diana, but she ignored him in favor of helping Danny keep all the crumbs on the napkins as he devoured the moon cake.

“Wonder Woman, who is this child?” Clark Kent piped up, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Is he your son?”

Diana wrinkled her nose. “Ancients, no! No, Donna is enough for me, thank you. Danny is my little cousin. Unfortunately, he got caught up in some nasty old magic spell, so I’m babysitting while his grandfather and guardians can reverse it.”

“Spell?!” Clark was alarmed.

Oliver Queen snorted and sat back in his chair, seemingly unimpressed. “Have fun with that. I’m not touching this issue with a ten-foot pole. I do not want to deal with any more magic hijinks this week.”

“No, seriously guys.”

“Yeah, the giant green mealworms yesterday were enough for me.” Hal Jordan scratched his head. “I gotta admit, though, I never thought you’d have any relatives in the mortal world.”

“Am I the only one concerned about the magic spell part?”

Diana simply shrugged. “Danny isn’t exactly blood-related, per se. But it’s close enough.” Everyone could tell Bruce was just itching to grill her about what she meant.

Martian Manhunter and Captain Marvel, who had both been absent until now, chose that exact moment to walk into the room, deep in discussion about intergalactic policies or something. As soon as Danny spotted them, he shot out of Diana’s lap with incredible speed and slammed straight into Captain Marvel. “MARVEL!” He shouted gleefully, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. Captain Marvel, for his part, didn’t stumble and immediately brought up his hands to catch whatever had just assaulted him, but to everyone’s shock, Danny was freely floating with no issue.

“What the-” Captain Marvel grabbed Danny by his torso and held him straight out in front of him. He squinted. “Danny?!”

“HE CAN FLY?!”

“Bruce put the adoption papers down.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on?”

“Yeah, I feel like we’re missing a few steps here.”

“It’s like the author forgot her ADHD meds or something.”

“The what?”

Diana stood up, silencing the room. “Danny, we talked about this. No zooming in the Watchtower.” She scolded. Danny visibly drooped and floated away from Marvel’s grasp.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

Clark made the time-out sign with his hands, desperately trying to turn everyone’s attention back to something important. “Okay, pause.” He insisted. “Let’s backtrack. Danny is your little cousin, and he got hit with a spell??”

“That would explain it,” Marvel mumbled, which was entirely unhelpful.

Danny, bless his heart, had gotten over the scolding quickly and floated back over to Diana, snatching a box of space stickers from a baby bag that had gone unnoticed until now. He bobbed around, giggling and putting little stars and planets everywhere, especially the ceiling. Of course, he completely ignored the situation he had just created. Diana just sighed and rubbed her forehead, seeming to age ten years.

“Yes, sorry, Clark.” Diana apologized. “Danny is sometimes hard to keep up with, and I have been a little scatterbrained this week. But, to start from the top, Danny is a superhero, and one of his rouges thought it funny to turn him into a little kid.”

Hal frowned. “A hero? What’s his name, do we know him?”

Diana shook her head. “No, probably not. He only protects his home and rarely gets involved in mortal realm affairs. His work is of the supernatural kind, so the JL Dark would have heard of him more than we might have. Well, aside from Captain Marvel, apparently.”

Marvel just shrugged in answer to the quizzical looks he was getting. “I’m the Champion of Magic. I work with the supernatural all the time. Danny and I are good friends.”

“Hn.” Bruce grunted. “What does the magic spell entail? You said his grandfather and guardians are working on reversing it?”

Diana pointedly ignored the latter part of the question, which did not go unnoticed. “Well, the spell itself isn’t all that complicated. It bends the timestream to make a bubble and then reverses whatever is caught in the bubble. This time, the victim happened to be Danny. So, in theory, we just need to find a way to pop the bubble.”

“But…” Clark prompted.

“But, Danny’s work with the supernatural has caused a few issues. He was granted to ability to work outside the timestream via a Time Medallion. Unfortunately, it was fused with his very being at some point, so the medallion and the spell are at odds with each other.”

J’onn, who had flown up to join Danny on the ceiling, hummed. “That does sound like a conundrum, as one would say.” It was odd looking at the two sit cross-legged upside down, but no one commented. Danny put a sun sticker on J’onn's forehead.

“Sorry, can we go back to the part where Danny has a Time Medallion?” Barry raised his hand.

“No. Anyway,” Diana smiled a little at the speedster’s offended gasp. Truth be told, she didn’t know much about the timestream, so answering his questions would be difficult. Time stuff always gave her a headache. “Danny keeps getting yanked in and out of the timestream, which makes it difficult to attend to his duties. So for his safety, our grandfather left him with me.”

The room was quiet as everyone digested this information. Diana was silently thankful that today’s meeting was a small one. The other heroes, like Aquaman and Cyborg, were out on their own missions. Not even one of Bruce’s many children was around, meaning questioning would be much shorter than if they were here.

Finally, Oliver lifted his head as something occurred to him. “Did you just say ‘our grandfather’?”

The demigoddess merely smiled.

“Oh my god, Diana.” Hal was twisting his ring anxiously as he caught onto what Oliver was thinking.

Clark groaned, plopping down into a chair with his head in his hands. “Diana,” Clark really didn’t want this to be true. “Diana, isn’t your grandfather Kronos? The God of Time??”

Danny hiccuped and abandoned his makeshift solar system. Clark’s words had caught his attention. “Is grandpa here?” He asked excitedly. That was all the confirmation the League needed, and everyone sighed collectively. Honestly, no one knew how Wonder Woman got the reputation as the responsible one. She loved causing petty chaos, and it showed during times like this.

“No, sweetie-” Diana began but suddenly cut herself off with an odd look. A moment later, Barry felt it. Something big was heading towards the Watchtower, using the timestream as a shortcut. He didn’t even get to shout out a warning before a swirling green portal opened up, and out stepped an elderly man with a purple cloak and a clock embedded into his chest. The whole room froze up. This was…something powerful. Ancient.

That didn’t seem to matter to Danny and Diana, however. They were the only two to get up and approach the old man. “I stand corrected. Hello, grandfather.” Diana bent down to give her grandfather a hug. As she did, the man’s body shrank and morphed into that of a baby’s.

“It is wonderful to see you again, my dear.” Kronos, the literal King of Titans and God of Time, hugged her back with his tiny arms, morphing into the form of a young adult as she let go. “Now, how is that rascal, Danny? Pandora has found something to fix this whole mess.”

“Sorry, uh, Lord Kronos?” Clark winced at how weak and unsure he sounded. “Did you say, Pandora? As in, Pandora’s Box?”

“Call me Clockwork, Kal-El.” Clockwork turned into an old man again, and the cycle repeated itself. “I am not truly the Titan King you know of. Kronos was split upon his defeat, and I am the piece that became the physical manifestation of time. But yes, Pandora from legends. She is one of Daniel’s guardians and has been scouring her archives for some time now. She believes to have found a solution to this matter, so I have come to retrieve the young king.”

“Sorry, young king?!” Oliver screeched.

“Yeah! ‘m a king!” Danny crowed, practically glowing at this point. Wait, he was glowing. “I beat the bad king an’ put him to nap. Now I get to play until nap time is over!”

Clockwork just sighed fondly. “Sure, Daniel. Let’s go with that. Say goodbye, Pandora is waiting.”

“Buh-bye!” Danny waved enthusiastically, and before anyone could move, the room was engulfed in a bright green light. When they finally blinked the stars out of their eyes, Diana, Danny, and Clockwork were all gone. So were the baby bag and stickers coating every surface Danny had reached. The only sign that they had been there at all was the little sun sticker still on J’onn’s head and the crumb-filled napkin on the table.

Bruce sighed. Obviously, the day’s meeting was going to take much longer than planned. “I’ll get Constantine on the phone.”

---

Final ficlet can be found here: Time Gives And Takes

#rejected threads #danny phantom #dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc

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filthy-vigilante · 1 year

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I know I tend to be negative about the fandom's obsession with the batfamily and they way characters are bastardized because of it so here is my Batfamily AU (Bittersweet AU) premise:

Bruce living in his Brownstone in the middle of Gotham, is able to see more clearly the troubles in the city that he wasn't aware of before. He's working with local foundations and charities to keep kids off of the streets and out of crime at a young age.

He was primarily alone for a while, Dick's doing his thing in Bludhaven, Jason won't talk to him, Tim's off finding his place in the heroing world, and Damian has decided to take his place at Dick's side.

Barbara and the birds of prey still help out from time to time, for which he is thankful. And of course Kate is always around somewhere. Duke, he's especially grateful for, has stuck it out by his side. He also kept in touch with the 'we are Robin' kids and Bruce is given a chance to mentor more youths who need and want it.

Bruce has realized that it's hard for him to be a mentor and a father. He has a hard time knowing where the line between son and soldier is and found it easier and better to not blur the two. Having young adults that go home to their own families allows him to make that line. Having multiple Robin also means that they aren't having to devote their lives to the war. They can be happier and it makes Bruce happier to know that he's doing right by them.

He's also been focusing more on the Justice League, improving his relationships with other heros, trying to get back to how they were in the past. Diana and Clark are very proud of how much he's changed, and can see he's working to be a better man and not just a better hero.

#Batfamily AU #bruce wayne #batman #jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #damian wayne #Bittersweet AU

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bloody-teared-angel · 1 year

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We had some wholesome HC with Bruce/Batman now get ready for some angst.

(I also kinda blame Tumblr and fanfic for this bc they in majority of Batfamily leave Bruce out so┐(￣ヮ￣)┌ - no hate. No hate.)

!!!!TW: SH AND SU*C*DE ATTEMPT - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!

Bruce tries to be a good father to all of his kids, he really does - it doesn't come to him easily, he knows - he doesn't blame them when they stop talking to him and gravitate towards Dick, for whom giving affection is like giving out candy.

Doesn't blame them, when he comes into a room and the conversation dies down, them shifting uncomfortably or looking away - he doesn't pry what's wrong.

They all grow up eventually, having their own cities to protect, their own teams - Dick in Bludhaven - with Damian - Bruce is still heavy with guilt since their last conversation, Jason cities or continents away, Tim with Titans, Steph and Cass with his cousin.

Even with Alfred still here, the Manor is empty and cold - Bruce ignores Alfred's worried looks, reassuring touches that last a bit too long, the soft, pleading "Son."

Bruce never forgets to send gifts on their birthdays and Christmas, not even to Barbara and Jim, to Jason to many of his safehouses in Gotham. The texts get sent to him less and less until they stop completely - Bruce would like to say he's surprised or sad but he's not.

He feels like the patrols are longer, that there are more goons spawning in Gotham, he feels tired and out of energy.

The dam breaks when he's fighting with Bane, the mountain of a man keeping him at arms length, telling him, "There's no spirit in you, Batman. There's no honor in fighting you in this state." Batman retaliates, wants to show Bane that he's still got his spirit, that he can still take him down, yet Bane keeps talking and Batman....has to retreat - runs away like a coward.

Alfred is worried sick - Bruce feels guilty about worrying the old butler - and he tells him that he just needs to be alone, only taking off his suit once he's safely locked in his room.

The batarangs are sharp enough and Bruce feels numb trough it all, watching precious ruby fall down his arm. Once the world starts to fade away around him, he can hear his parents calling out to him.

No more worrying Alfred. No more being a bother and a nuisance to his kids. No more being the heavy weight to the Justice League.

Bruce wakes up in a hospital with Alfred by his side, face pale and eyes red from crying. Clark is hovering at the back, holding his own wrist. Oliver is there too and with quick steps, he's by his side, saying, "What were you thinking? Why Didn't you tell us?" Bruce is feeling sluggish, everything is being processed too slow and he wants to sleep again. Alfred leads them out of the room, soon returning to stay by his side.

It must've hit the news because his room is slowly being filled with bouquets of flowers, 'Get well soon' balloons and postcards and chocolates. He doesn't check who it is from - he lies to himself when he tells himself that he isn't because he would see his kid's names on it.

Diana visits him a few times, talks about her day as she strokes his hair, tells him that Barry and Hal are waiting outside, waiting for his permission to come inside.

He still feels weak to say 'yes' to them.

Barbara and Jim come visit too, Barbara holding his hand trough the entire visit, Jim sitting in a chair, far away look in his eyes, not looking at him. They don't talk.

The dam breaks again when Dick and Damian come visit him with roses, Damian masking his nervousness with a frown, Dick having a soft smile on his face. It's when Dick opens his mouth to speak does Bruce roll away from them, looking out the window.

"Bruce-" It's the soft plea, that makes Bruce not say it, just be there in silence but he's in this situation in the first place because of them. "Get out. Both of you."

"Father-"

"I don't want to see you ever again."

The roses fall to the floor and he doesn't know how long they just stand there - he's surprised they are not trying to convince him to let them stay.

When they eventually leave - roses forgotten - the nurse comes to check on him, he tells her to not let any of his kids in. She seems reluctant at first but she must've told them because he doesn't see any of them for the rest of his stay at the hospital.

(Ok. Long post enough but feel free to add)

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ragingbookdragon · 2 years

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Don't You Draw The Queen of Diamonds, Boy, She'll Beat You If She's Able, You Know The Queen of Hearts Is Always Your Best Bet

Hal Jordan x Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 1.2K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: This wasn't supposed to be 1.2K??? Enjoy! -Thorne

**********************************************************************

She let Bruce have his merry way with slandering her husband in front of her. Had she been a lesser woman, she probably would’ve snapped and broken the man’s back in two, but she forced herself to ignore it. The meeting was almost over anyways and then she’d be flying back to Coast City, away from Bruce and away from his stupid—but truthfully, not very far off—insults.

Barry frowned from his seat. “Hal’s trying his best to be here and be a part of the League, Bruce,” he explained. “But Hal’s pulled in all directions. Here, the Air Force, and the Corps. You can’t expect him to always be at every meeting.”

“I am,” Bruce retorted. “And I have seven kids who all attend extracurricular activities that I go to.”

Barry didn’t have a counter to that, and he looked away, meeting her eyes; she merely blinked and murmured, “I relay information to Hal whenever he isn’t here, Bruce. You don’t have to shove the stick farther up your ass about it.”

The vigilante turned his darkened glare onto her, but she simply gazed back at him. “He’s missed the last six meetings.”

“My husband’s a busy man, Bruce,” she replied. “He’s a Captain and a high-ranking Green Lantern. Edward’s Air Force Base and Oa call on him quite a lot.” Her expression didn’t change as she added, “Perhaps a man who’s had everything handed to him wouldn’t understand the meaning of demanding work and responsibility.”

Even Diana and Clark were shocked when the words came out of her mouth. “That’s a little far, Aurorus,” Clark admonished. “Even for you.”

She cocked a brow. “Oh? I thought we were insulting our fellow league members in front of one another right now. Or are Bruce’s words of Hal merely compliments disguised as cruel slights?”

Standing from her seat, she calmly rounded the table and stood in front of Bruce. “See, the thing about you, Bruce, is that you like to insult those your think are less intelligent than you. Less skilled. If they don’t operate on Batman’s level, they don’t deserve his time. If they’re not afraid of you, you can’t stand it.” She searched his gaze. “And that’s the thing you don’t like about my husband. As John once said, ‘Hal was the man without fear, and what’s the Batman when you’re not afraid of him? Just. A. Man.”

Bruce glowered at her, and she could see the annoyance in his eyes.

“My husband isn’t an idiot, Bruce. He’s got a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science. He can explain the laws of motion and solve physics problems with a breeze. He’s a strong, capable leader who commands a squadron in the Air Force and is considered to be one of the greatest Green Lanterns alive if not the greatest.”

With each support, her voice grew stronger, more righteous.

“My husband has given his life for the people he cared about and yes, he’s fucked up. Many times. But he paid for his sins. He repaid his debts to those he owed and to those he couldn’t, he has driven himself almost insane trying to do better. To never make the same mistakes again.” She took a step closer. “My husband has flown to the edges of the galaxy, seen time in ways no mortal has ever seen it before, has watched stars die and life revive.”

Getting nose to nose with Bruce, she affirmed, “My husband is flawed. But rest assured, the man I stand before is a lesser man than Hal Jordan.” Her eyes narrowed, and she spat, “And he always will be.”

They glared one another down, a pen could be heard dropping, and someone cleared their throat. “Okay…uh…meeting adjourned until next week.”

The League members around started leaving but the two of them stood there, glaring at one another with hatred until someone touched her arm. “Aurorus…do you want to come back with me?”

“Of course, Barry,” she replied, not taking her eyes off Bruce until the Dark Knight scowled even harder and turned away with the flip of his cape and stalked off.

She almost yelled another insult at him, but she didn’t and merely pursed her lips as she looked at Barry. “Come, let us go to Central City. I could use a good milkshake.”

Barry followed like a puppy. “You really did Hal justice in there. He’d probably be crying if he heard what you said.”

“Hmm. Hal probably would’ve stuck his face against my cheek and cooed, ‘Aww, babe you do care!’.” She looked at him. “I shouldn’t’ve said anything. I’ve only rocked the boat more doing that.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “But you did defend your husband, so I think it’s okay.” She didn’t reply as they walked up to the Zeta-tube. “But I do think Hal would be happy to know what you said.”

She ignored it. “I’m thinking of a cheeseburger with my milkshake. A big, greasy, bacon-cheeseburger with loaded fries.” Glancing at him, she asked, “I’m buying, want anything?”

Barry’s face lit up and he started bouncing on his heels, nodding his head like a child. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes.”

***

Within the little apartment on Oa that Hal had been given, most of the furniture resembled that of his and his wife’s apartment back in Coast City, complete with a sixty-five-inch flat screen TV and a sectional that he may or may have not bribed Clark on flying to Oa.

Hal laid down on the couch and flicked through the TV channels, trying to find something of interest that would make him tired enough to sleep. Two more weeks of scouring the Andromeda galaxy and he would be able to go back home; all he wanted to do was hold his wife in his arms and sink into their bed, buried in comfy pillows and blankets.

Speaking of his wife, his phone buzzed on the coffee table, and he leaned over, fumbling for it; lifting it into his vision he saw the text from Barry.

Watch this. You won’t be disappointed :)

Hal rolled his eyes. Barry and his emoticons. He flicked the video on, eyes slowly widening, jaw going slack as he watched his wife wiped the floor with Bruce.

My husband is flawed. But rest assured, the man I stand before is a lesser man than Hal Jordan. And he always will be.

The video came to an end and his phone buzzed in his hand.

Did you watch it?

He tapped his own response. Yeah…I’ve never seen her that enthusiastic before. Hal could sense Barry’s grin.

She might be the Fairy Queen, but you and I both know she’s actually the Queen of Diamonds, isn’t she?

Queen of Hearts, Barry. My wife is the Queen of Hearts.

XD Whatever you say, Harold! Goodnight! Or Morning! See you when you get back! I know she’s ready to see you too!

Hal clicked the phone off and he set it on the coffee table again, heart fluttering in his chest as he threw an arm over his eyes, trying to ignore the burning in them; even if he couldn’t, a mile-wide smile was on his lips, wobbly, but there and thankful someone saw the worst in him and still loved him more than the world.

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creatureofmystry · 3 years

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MLB x DC Universe Headcannons

I just love the idea of MLB and DC (expecially Batfam cuz Mari is such a Wayne) being in the same universe and crossing over. So one night, I just had an idea overload of different ways the Marinette would know the batfam/be a part of the DC universe. And if any of my shitty ideas somehow inspire or prompt you, then please be my guest. 😊 _

1) “Ladybugs of Past and Present”

Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, was once a previous holder of the ladybug miraculous. When Fu activated the miraculous and put them in circulation, Hippolyta could feel its magic waking back up. Knowing there must a reason for it to be out, she sent a message to her daughter. Diana searched, finding Marinette and Adrien as the present holders of the ladybug and cat miraculous. She vouched and brought them into the Young Justice program while they also made their own team, Project: Zodiac (or something like that).

[Sometime when Diana takes Marinette to meet Hippolyta]

“Great Hera, Tikki, you have not aged a day” -Hippolyta, cause she does know how to make joke.

“And I would say the same to you” -Tikki

“Mother, you can make a laugh?” -Wonder Woman, honestly a bit confused cause her mom have never not been serious before.

And Marinette is just speechless cause she’s starstruck meeting Wonder Woman’s mom AND a previous Ladybug holder.

2) “Rockstar Niece”

Jagged Stone is Marinette’s Sweet Uncle J. During the summers, Jagged Stone would take Mari with him on tour. HIs summer tours are throughout America, so Mari gets to sightsee the country. Jagged’s first tour that he gets to take Mari on (5-ish), he’s also booked for the annual (for whatever reason) Wayne Summer Gala. When Marinette meets the Waynes, they are so enamoured (Dick and Tim couldn’t help it) that they tell Jagged he’s always invited as a guest, Mari of course being added to the permanent guest list too. About 6 years later, Mari is practically adopted, spending the first half of her summers with Jagged, going to the Wayne Gala, then spending the rest of her summer with the Waynes. Overtime, she figured out the secrets of the family and was there to welcome Jason back from the dead (when that happens). Anyways, now 11(-ish?) Mari meets Damian and the two become good friends… after an… impressionable first meeting.

“Tch, let me guess, you’re another one of father’s adopted strays” -Dami

“YOU MUST BE DAMIAN!!! DICK TOLD ME ABOUT YOU!!” -Marinette, who just ignores what he said for a hug.

“hiiiiiiiiissssssss” -Dami, touchy with touch

“...” sprays water in his face since he decided to act like a cat.

“I say, Master Bruce, the children are getting along quite well” -Alfred

3) “Pen Pals”

Jon Kent and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are part of an international pen-pal program, starting when they were very young (maybe like 4 or 5-ish, super super young) where they told each other everything (Jon can’t just say that his older bro is a clone made from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA, or that his dad is Superman, or that his best friend is Robin, but yea. Lois and Clark probably proofread his stuff until he’s like 9) with pictures and everything. When they’re old enough to get phones & stuff, they call, text and vid-chat along with their letters (love without blood). When Mari is maybe 9-11 (somewhere around there) she starts flying over during the summers to hangout with Jon (and his friends and big brother). While there, she meets Kon, Bat fam, and Clark (some who she already knew, some who she didn’t) & lightly hints that she knows who all they are once she figures it out (it didn’t take her long to do so).

Now whenever she visits and is at Wayne Manor (Jon likes to have sleepovers practically every weekend) while they’re on patrol, Mari subtly messes with their minds (super subtle, they’re the world’s best detectives after all) until they finally look through the cams and see Mari giving them one of those smiles (those shit-grinning cause it’s just so hilarious how it’s gone on for so long) & and a playful wink.

[5 seconds later]

“Mari!” “Pixie-pop!” “Angel!” “Teacup!”

“Seriously, am I the only one with a normal nickname for her?” -Tim

“Ms. Marinette would like to inform you that ‘it took you long enough’” -Alfred (who so knows that the girl has been playing them since the third night she stayed at the Wayne’s)

“Where are my adoption papers?” -Bruce (who is seriously adopting any talented black-haired child)

4) “Mari and Mar’i”

When Mar’i is young, Dick and Kori take her with them to see Paris (btw, this would be during the winter). They’re strolling along through a park and lose track of Mar’i who finds Marinette (9-10 ish). Marinette comforts and distracts Mar’i while noticing the young(er) girl is Tameranian (her hair is very warm and she’s wearing significantly less layers than should be worn for a human of that age during the winter, plus that sun-kissed skin tone. She’s seen Kori in her fashion magazines (and, from time to time, on the news as an ambassador) so she easily make the connections). Dick and Kori finally spot Mar’i with Mari who introduces herself to them. Mar’i asks if she can see her “Auntinette” again and Marinette just goes “if your parents are okay with it.” Dick and Kori are totally cool with it (not many are willing to watch her and have the time to do it) so they ask Marinette if she can babysit Mar’i whenever (with good pay of course) if she’s up to it (cause she’s still pretty young). Marinette can’t say no to Mar’i’s babydoll eyes (and she’s so much easier compared to Manon, who’s only 2 rn), so of course, she says yes.

Now Marinette is Mar’is official babysitter and sees Mar’i often whenever her parents drop her off (using zeta tubes to quickly get to Paris and back). Marinette gets treated like an honorary Wayne (cause she’s the most responsible) and gets invited to their family stuff (w/ travel pay taken care of, of course). It doesn’t take her long to realize the fact that she babysits Bruce Wayne’s & BATMAN’S granddaughter, but of course, being the responsible one she is, keeps the secret… while also playing with them via Mar’i.

[One Day]

After Marinette leaves for her plane…

“Uncle Dami!”

“Yes, Spawn?”

“Auntinette said to tell you after she left that Robin’s sut needs a major upgrade & that you look like a traffic light… whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

[Another Day]

“Uncle Jay!”

“What’s up kid?’

“Auntinette said that to let you know that Red Hood doesn’t make any sense ‘cause Red Hood wears a helmet. Not a hood.”

[The next time]

“Uncle Tim!”

Yawn. “yea?”

“Auntie told me to give you this” (pulls out super caffeinated coffee) “and that Red Robin’s cowl is a menace to all things fashion”

[Again…]

“Daddy!”

“Yes, Starshine?”

“Auntienette said she’s proud of Nightwing’s costume ‘cause it’s one of the only in the batfam that isn’t an astro-city to the fashion society.”

5) “Marinette, the one who’s always getting chosen”

Before Mari became (becomes(?)) LB, she comes across a different powerful piece of jewelry, from a different order of guardians where her will of mind is not only her shield from being akumatized, but it is also what drives her powers. That’s right, Mari walks past a flea market and activates a GL ring. The guardians pick up on this activity and send Hal (it is his sector) to check it out. Hal finds the ring with Mari but it still needs the light of a GL to charge and fully work.

[During the explanation]

“Look, kid-”

“Marinette.”

“Look, kid, I just need to know why you have that ring.”

“You think I know? I was just walking through the market and all of a sudden, this possessed ring, if that’s even what this is, started following me, then zipped in front of my face til i held my hand up so it can put itself on my finger.”

“Kid-”

“It’s MARINETTE. Get it wrong one more time and you’ll see why I don’t need a possessed piece of alien jewelry.” -Marinette, making sure you get her name right. “Besides, if I stole it, I would remember. I’m a klepto” -Marinette, probably holding his ring too at this point.

Hal obviously doesn’t want the wrath of the Dupain-Chengs (just the kid Marinette scares him enough), so he tells the guardians that JL will take care of most of Mari’s training (once they get her a lamp for her ring, of course) & has her take part in training at Mt. Justice with the Young Justice team and special training with the Bats. Mari does all this under the guise of an international student exchange program for Mari to stay with the Waynes (not yet knowing that it’s the bat fam) and attends G.A. Mari doesn’t do much, but it takes her 24-36 hours to know who EVERYONE is.

[the next week after settling in]

“Hey, Mars,” -Dick, in his Nightwing gear

“Hey, Di-is the GREATEST SHOW!” -Mari, changing the subject(… not really)

“How long did it take you?”

“Not as long as the Kryptonians…” -Mari, going off into a tangent (still trying to change the subject”

[When Marinette meets Tikki]

Back in Paris:

“Sooo… I’m getting powerful jewelry that gives me powers and a suit, needs to be recharged, and comes from some Order of the Guardians? What’s the difference between you and my ring?” -Marinette, who at this point is very confused as to why she keeps getting picked on for this kind of stuff.

“One’s alien, one’s magic” -Tikki, hoping Mari will end it there & lowkey hates that the GL Corp. got to her first.

“They’re both non-human made energy sources” -Mari, cause once you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all before.

“You can’t heal the Akuma without the miraculous, and there are more than just rings. Yours are earrings, there are hair clips, bracelets, necklaces and more” -Tikki, after having a minute to think

“Fine, only because you said they’re the only way to heal the, what was it again, akuma?”

6) “Their Unofficial Official Barista”

Part of Tim’s job as Co-CEO, is to make sure all the branches are running smoothly, sometimes that means he has to fly abroad to manually check in. Tim goes to Paris to check on the W.E. Paris branch. He goes to a nearby Patisserie (Tom and Sabine’s) to see a young Marinette (somewhere from 8-11) drawing in her sketchbook at the counter. She explains that her parents are at a catering event, but she’s there to man the little bakery. Tim asks for a super caffeinated coffee and Marinette makes it with ease, claiming it was on the house with how bad he looks (and how much sleep the man clearly needs). Tim begs for her knowledge and asks if she can teach his butler. Mari’s willing to show him the next time he comes, so he gets the whole fam to go (viz tubes so they don’t waste time) maybe a week later. Everyone gets their own drink (plus a free pastries) and Marinette teaches Alfred her coffee, but it’s just not the same so Tim, using the tubes, goes to get coffee from the girl whenever he can.

Mari is horrible at getting up on time (the life of an insomniac, never getting to sleep even if you want and then barely waking up on time) that she is up super early, makes Tim his coffee (plus a croissant) and tries to go back to sleep (making her inevitably late). Tim would walk up to the pick-up counter where his cup and to-go bag is while Marinette runs out of the house to get to school. Eventually, the rest of the Batfam (as well as the Laegue, TT, and YJ) frequent the place, slowly becoming (Dami too) Mari hides it, but she knew all the batfam the first day they came and she showed Alfred how to make the coffee. When the others start making more regular appearances, she learns the identities of YJ team, WW, GLs, and others. Obviously when LB and CN appear as heroes with HM as their villain, they immediately reach out to help. Because 1. Batfam clearly notices that it’s Mari and they sure as heck won’t let her deal with that by herself, and 2. The JL is worrying too much about their favorite barista (even though she’s not really one), especially with the Gigantitan scare. So, of course LB & CN (can’t make him bad everytime) get inducted into YJ.

[After Ladybug finishes defeating Gigantitan and detransforms]

“Bean! Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” -Tim, being an even more protective older brother than Dick, which shouldn’t be possible

“Yes, I promise. I’m fine” -Marinette, who just accepts the fact that she’s adopted an older brother (and his famliy)

“Tube over, we’ll have Alfred make sure” -Dick, already pulling out the medical supplies for Alfred.

“I-”

“You shouldn’t worry your brothers like that, Marinette. Now come over so Alfred can clear you,” -Bruce, who just happens to overhear the conversation

“I’m sorry, Miss Marinette, they are very adamant that you’re in pitch perfect health before going out again,” -Alfred, who’s not actually sorry

“Fine” -Marinette, accepting her fate of her adopted, protective family.

7) “Thicker Than the Blood We’ve Shed”

Why is Marinette so freakishly strong? Because she was trained to be. Before she could even talk, Mari was taught to be an assassin. She and Damian were frenemies, both competing for top spot as best in the League (of Assassins). They often spared together and became rivals who pushed each other (which sounds great in that context if you forget about the fact that they’re killing people and turning it into a competition). When Damian’s care is turned over to Batsy, Mari also comes along for the ride. She implements herself into Dami’s classes at G.A. & watches him from afar. (Damian, not being an idiot, of course knows all this and knows that it’s probably for Mari to give a report to Talia.) When he becomes Robin, Mari obviously knows, but waits to see if anything drastic would happen (his care was given to the Batfam, they had already expected this to happen.) She then heard word of the bounty Talia put on Damian’s head. Marinette knew there wouldn’t be much she could do to help, but she ave Dami a warning about the upcoming situation before fleeing the country.

From there she got to France, changed her name (it wasn’t originally Marinette, it was Shénqí, chinese for miraculous/magical (or something else if you want)), was adopted by Tom & Sabine, and left her time in the League in the past. When she received Tikki, she didn’t want to be a hero because she didn’t think she deserved it after her up-bringing. Eventually, she did become LB (being a trained assassin does help with lucky charms, considering she was taught how to kill with basically every and anything), and life was good for her. Then Rossi came.

[Gotham field trip]

While at Wayne Tower…

“How idiotic are they?” -Damian, who after reuniting with his long-lost sister-from-a-different-mister (yes, Marinette was able to convince him to say it once), can’t understand the stupidity she has to deal with.

“Are you Robin?” -Mari, who is too tired, so just goes straight into the analogy

“Yes.” -Obvious and simply is.

“Exactly” -Mari, who can’t even put a limit to the amount of thought the one brain cell the class shares doesn’t use. I mean please, the so-called “reporter” believed that the first cosplayer she saw was the actual LB when they don’t even have the same hair! And let’s not forget the origins arc, where LB’s first citizen save was Chloe.

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whetstonefires · 4 years

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in the shadows

hey guess who has two thumbs and just spent 5 hours straight writing another batman AU?

Batman wasn’t a person.

He faked it very well. When the League gathered, the line of his mask against pale skin looked natural and human, a little more perfectly fitted than the Flash’s but not quite as perfect as Green Lantern’s, which was an energy projection and not a real object and thus lay against his face flawlessly, without shift or gap.

His mouth didn’t bend into many expressions and his body language wasn’t voluble, but the emotive gestures that he did make were pretty normal. The rare smile seemed honest. He had a heartbeat, perfectly steady. His shadow (almost) always matched the shape that was blocking the light.

The stories that came out of Gotham, about the Bat—those could be exaggerations, born of terror and manipulated perception. Clark, of all people, knew how much you could convince people to believe things that weren’t real, because they made a better story. Even the scraps of photography and film showing a towering thing of black fog and long fangs could have been some clever trick with projectors.

The fact that Superman couldn’t see through his suit just meant it was well made.

He’d had to pool his observations with Diana and J’onn before he’d been sure he wasn’t imagining things. But Martian Manhunter knew shapeshifting, and said the block against his mind when he tried to touch Batman’s thoughts did not feel quite human. And Superman knew what posing as human looked like. And Wonder Woman knew truth, and its absence.

Batman wasn’t human. Which wasn’t the problem, of course.

The problem was that he was pretending he was. Pretending it rigorously in a situation where there shouldn’t be any need, unless he had something worse to hide. Pretending it in a way that overlaid on a certain inhuman predatory grace began to look very dangerous indeed.

Superman could see both things in him now, watching narrow-eyed through a roof into the room where Batman bent over a child’s bed, cape swirling up larger and darker than he let it get around them. The man and the hungry creature, flipping in and out of focus, neither ever gone but superimposed, like a trick picture that was two things at once.

Knuckles ghosted over the boy’s cheek, claws turned inward, and the child sighed softly, and sunk deeper into sleep. Batman’s heart wasn’t beating, but Clark could monitor the child’s vitals easily from here.

Batman drew his hand back, and tipped his head up—looking back at Superman as though the roof was no more a barrier to his perceptions than to Clark’s. Waited a beat, as if making sure his attention had been noticed, and then passed soundlessly between the other beds to the window, slid it open, and launched himself out through it and up onto the roof.

He didn’t bother to restrain himself to even a plausible approximation of human limits, now. The arm he reached up to the edge of the roof to pivot himself up by was too long, and his shoulder rotated further than it should have been able to, and he landed with impossible soundlessness in a billow of cape that was far, far larger than any cape that only reached to his heels should have managed, and which faded out at the edges into shadow. He knew he was found out.

Superman took the obvious invitation, and sunk down to join him. It was better, sitting like this, facing the same way on the ridgepole of a two-story building. Batman hadn’t hurt that child, that he could tell. There was no need to make this a confrontation.

“I don’t understand why,” he said at last. Out of deference for sleeping children, he kept his voice soft—he would have worried about a human being able to hear it, but now he knew he didn’t have to worry about that with Batman. “Why go to so much trouble to deceive us? We haven’t kept secret what we are. Not from you.”

Alien, alien, user of alien weapon, magical princess…

Batman sighed. He spoke almost as softly as Clark had, and his voice sounded the same as ever, except for the fact that a human voice couldn’t get this quiet without falling into a whisper. “I’m not like you.” He turned.

He’d let some of the details of his human mask fall away—what must have been the exhaustively rendered texture of skin, the flakes of dry skin on chapping lips, a crease at the corner of his mouth that had suggested he scowled or smiled more, outside of his costume. There was no pretense of a jawbone, under the skin, though the jawline externally hadn’t changed. The cowl still looked like something he was wearing, but Clark knew it was not. It flexed like skin when Batman narrowed his blank white eyes and said, “I can see you know that.”

“You’ve visited that kid every day for weeks,” Clark said. “Why?”

Batman stared at him. “How long have you known?”

“Batman…”

“You’re confronting me now because you’re worried about my intentions toward Dick. He changed your mind about something. Ergo, you’ve been sitting on this for a while. How long have you known I wasn’t real?”

That was such a bizarre choice of words Clark almost skipped answering the question to chase it down, but he held himself back. This wasn’t a story, and Batman wasn’t even a hostile source so far, if it had been. “Wonder Woman, J’onn and I pooled our observations about four months ago, in April. We were pretty sure by the time we finished comparing notes.” He shrugged. “I suspected something a long time before that, but it’s hard to say when it started to be more than…a feeling.”

“A feeling,” Batman echoed. “Yes, it would start there.”

“So?” Superman prompted. He had liked Batman. He was the last person who could insist that someone hiding the truth of his own nature was reprehensible, though the sting he’d felt about it was an uncomfortable reminder of how much most of his friends would resent him, if they knew the truth. So he’d meant to let it lie, until Batman chose to trust them, or gave them a reason not to trust him. “Why have you been visiting…Dick?”

It wouldn’t be suspicious on its own—well, not very suspicious, all things considered, in context—except that Batman had changed, around the same time. Diana said his presence seemed deeper, Clark thought he seemed to be having trouble staying within the outlines of his human mask. J’onn agreed that he seemed somehow more powerful.

Batman stayed silent a long time. Eighteen heartbeats from the boy below them, slower than those of his peers because he had an athlete’s conditioning already and was more deeply asleep than most of them. At last, the being beside him confessed, “He’s carrying me.”

“What?”

“You noticed I’m stronger now,” Batman said matter-of-factly, in a way that almost managed to cover up emotion. “That’s his doing. I was…fading, when you met me. Not up to capacity. I’m not really meant to exist that way.” He glanced over at Superman again, as though evaluating his reaction, and Clark wondered if he had really needed to do that—if he really only saw out of his eyes. J’onn could make eyes anywhere he wanted some, but he needed them to see. Batman seemed somehow less constrained by biology than that.

“Is it hurting him?”

“No! No. It…shouldn’t.” Batman ghosted a sigh, voiceless, inhuman as the wind. “I don’t know that it’s good for a child to be around me. But I’m not…taking anything from him. I’m not…feeding on him, if that’s what you think.”

It was what Clark had feared. And probably anything that would eat a child would also lie about it, but Batman was his teammate and very nearly his friend. So it was reassuring to have it so firmly denied. He’d come braced for only a little and no lasting damage and he said it was fine.

“Please,” he said. “Can you explain it to me?”

“I suppose I have to.” Batman tipped his head back, to look up at the few stars that smudged themselves visible through the red blanket of light-polluted smog overhead. Clark could make out more of them, even with his ordinary visible-light vision, than a human could have. He wondered what Batman saw. “Will you tell the others for me? Your little conspiracy?”

“Not Green Lantern and Flash?”

“Hal and Barry can figure me out on their own.” That dry sense of humor was the same, even if it was bending amusement onto a mouth that could no longer pass as human.

A breath Clark suspected he didn’t need was drawn. “A different little boy made me up,” Batman said. “Bruce Wayne. You can look the story up in the newspaper archives.

“It was a little over twenty years ago, in Gotham. A mugger shot his parents in front of him.” Another slanted glance, and then he looked away again. He certainly acted like he needed his eyes to see. “It wasn’t more terrible than things that happen to a hundred other people every day, really. But he was the right kind of terrified and angry, in the right place, at the right moment…the police reports all say he tackled the mugger from behind, and got lucky that the man hit his head. But it was me. I took him down.”

He raised his face back toward the smudged stars. “I was such a small thing, then. If that vengeance had been enough—the killer taken in and sentenced, brought to justice—I would have faded away again. Things like me are summoned and dispelled that way all the time. Or he could have taken me back into himself—the danger was past, it wasn’t a chronic part of his existence, so I would have reintegrated, probably, and not hung around rising up to protect him for the rest of his life, and probably disrupting it in the process.”

That amused quirk to the horizontal slash of a mouth, again. “But it wasn’t enough. Not for him. He clung. He brooded. He wanted to protect everyone. And I grew.” Bittersweet and fond. “I grew until I really could help. Until anyone could see me, any time I liked. Until I was solid enough to get in half a dozen fights in one night without my blows starting to go right through the enemy.”

There was no way Batman was letting him know these things about how he worked, when he wasn’t holding back, by accident. They were being given.

“Where’s Bruce now?” Clark asked. Knowing it was probably a painful topic, but hoping to hear it was some rule of magic out of a storybook, that only a child had the right kind of belief to sustain a projection of this nature. That Bruce Wayne had grown up and moved on and had a career and a family, and perhaps didn’t remember that Batman was something he’d made.

Batman’s eyes closed, and vanished completely into the black of his head. He’d kept unspooling all the while he��d been talking, Clark realized, and the gouts and folds and flame-like flickers of his cape now sprawled over more than half the roof, leaving a great circle of open space around Superman himself, and a broad open route away from Batman, as though he couldn’t just go straight up if he wanted to get away. The billows of it had now collapsed in on themselves. His voice, when he spoke, was hushed and solemn, but calm. “He didn’t make it to sixteen. He died tackling a gunman who’d been holding up a corner store where he happened to be, buying junk food he wasn’t supposed to have. The cashier fumbled the register key and bent over to pick it up, and the man panicked and started shooting. Bruce saved lives, that night. But he didn’t survive. Because I wasn’t there. I was away protecting other people, like he’d asked me to.”

“I’m sorry,” Clark said. Inadequate as always, but more so, when he’d pushed for this truth and didn’t even understand enough to know how to offer comfort. He reached out to offer a comforting, boundary-respecting brief pat on the shoulder, like he might have when he had less idea what Batman was, and his hand hung still in the air, as the face Batman turned toward him was human again, so abruptly that even to his accelerated visual perceptions it looked like some sort of glitch.

“This is his face,” Batman told him, and the grief that hadn’t been in his voice before was worn on it, in the pull of the mouth and the bend of pain around the blank white eyes. He looked like he might cry. “The way he would have looked. He never…grew this far, but…”

“In memory of him, then,” Superman said, soothing, and was able to deliver the pat on the shoulder and withdraw. It sounded like Batman was in some ways the only surviving part of Bruce Wayne, and as such had every right to his appearance, but he clearly didn’t think of himself that way, and it wasn’t Clark’s place to try to alter his self-concept, or even make comment when he’d only just been introduced to it. “That seems appropriate.”

Batman shrugged. It looked very human, except for the way the cape parts of him reacted. “I knew it best.”

Had he held the memory of his…creator’s face in his head, updating it carefully to how he would have looked with every year or month that passed? That couldn’t be healthy. It also might be unavoidable, considering Batman’s origins.

“You went on protecting Gotham, afterward?”

“What else would I do?”

“And you joined us. When Starro came.” Batman nodded, as though that was only obvious. Clark supposed it was—when you were a supernatural entity created to protect human beings, why would you not answer a call to band together with other superpowered beings to save the world? “Why did you pretend?” he asked. “To be…”

“Human?” Batman asked. He snorted in derision, either at Clark’s inability to choose a word or his own deceit. “It wasn’t the first time. I talk to the police like this, sometimes. Witnesses. It reassures people, to be talking to a…person.”

That was the same reason J’onn made himself look more human, even in blatant green—it wasn’t entirely unlike why Clark kept his own life as Clark, why Superman didn’t wear a mask. “But why…” He’d gone to such lengths, to maintain the façade. Human jaw and teeth, sculpted solid to catch X-ray vision behind flesh he’d carefully made permeable to it, when even now with the image of Bruce Wayne’s face restored he wasn’t bothering. Consistent physical proportions. Always running close against the edge of normal human limits, of strength and speed and length of jump—not hanging back, but not throwing himself onto the front line either, contributing as much with tactics and analysis as actual combat. “Why try so hard to convince us?”

Batman shrugged. “I wasn’t holding back that much. I told you. I was fading. I was never meant to last. Once it turned out the team wasn’t a one-time thing, I still didn’t want to go through the whole…process of revelation.”

“But you’re doing it now.” Clark found he was grinding his teeth, because he was putting together a picture he didn’t like. “Because. Now you’re expecting to survive.” Batman had been dying. He hadn’t thought it was worth the stress of being honest with them, because he hadn’t expected to exist long enough for their relationships to matter.

Superman glanced down through the roof at the sleeping children, and one child in particular.

“I wasn’t there in time to save his parents, either,” Batman said, and Clark knew that feeling—all this power and yet you could still arrive too late, and be too little. But Batman was defined by that feeling, founded upon it almost, so it probably struck him deeper. “But I was there afterward. I protected him from the followup attacks, meant to stop him testifying about the sabotage he’d witnessed.

“And he clung to me, whenever I came…I do try to comfort them, especially when it’s children, but usually they’re at least a little bit afraid. He wasn’t. And he didn’t have anyone else to cling to. They wouldn’t let his parents’ friends in to see him more than once, and then they left town. And then, after I came to tell him that Zucco and his men were taken care of for good, when I left I felt the distance opening…I realized I was…his, now.”

There was a strange, wondering ache in the way he said it that made it easy for Clark to repress his own discomfort with the idea of anyone belonging to anyone else, and of something that looked like a grown man asserting an intimate personal bond with an unrelated child. Batman was supposed to belong to a child, it was how he’d been made, and he’d expected to die by inches in the absence of the one who’d made him, and now he suddenly wasn’t. This little orphan was the most precious thing in his world, that was plain, and to Clark at least it was equally plain that he felt a deep guilt at replacing the boy who had been his world before.

He wondered, suddenly, if Batman had ever been this honest with anyone in his existence. Had he been this open even with his Bruce, or had his need to protect led him to put on a front, and conceal every uncertainty?

The pale smudge of Batman’s face was still and remote, and his voice was nearly calm, but the darkness of his cape had spilled out over the whole roof now, and it was gently writhing. The route out for Superman, opposite Batman’s main body, had shrunk to the merest footpath. Was that there out of instinct, or a more conscious courtesy?

“You don’t have to leave that,” Superman said quietly, flipping his thumb toward the corridor of open shingle and beam. “I know you aren’t trying to trap me, and it won’t anyway.”

The path snapped shut almost instantaneously, and a little of the strain in the atmosphere faded—Batman had been holding himself back from encircling him completely only with continuous effort. Why? Did he naturally expand to fill the available space? Or was expanding in the form of the cape an expression of emotion that was uncomfortable to suppress, in the same way it was hard to sit still when you felt anxious, or hold your tongue when you got mad?

His teammate’s whole torso was turned away, now, and this too was easy to read—shame at his own inhumanity. In front of Clark, of all people. But then, Clark made it look easy, didn’t he? It even was easy for him, when it came to things like looking like he fit in.

J’onn should have been the one to come. But it disconcerted him not to be able to pick up anything Batman did not intentionally share—Clark didn’t think he’d learned to read human body language yet, beyond the most obvious things—and Batman had been known to use fire.

“It didn’t seem wise to seem to be trying to threaten you,” Batman said flatly, into the night.

“Thank you,” said Superman, because while he didn’t mind at this point, it would definitely have made him uncomfortable earlier, before Batman had made himself so vulnerable. “Could you, do you think?”

A sidelong look. “You’re less invulnerable to magic,” Batman said. “Probably.”

Something to keep in mind. The Flash was the only teammate he had now that he was reasonably sure he could take three falls out of three. Maybe they could start practicing against each other, if they could find somewhere they could risk making a mess on that scale. Sparring—he and Diana had tried it out, gingerly. If Batman wanted to stretch out his re-expanding powers in a secure environment…

“Do you have any plans, going forward?” Now that he had a future to plan for.

“I have someone who helps me,” Batman replied. “Bruce’s guardian, after his parents died. He wanted to leave Gotham, after…but he stayed. To try to help the city, in Bruce’s memory. And to keep an eye on me.” The amusement this time was bitter. “We don’t really get along. He thinks Bruce died because of me—that I made him feel invulnerable, and then didn’t protect him. He’s projecting. But I suppose that’s what I’m for.”

Clark made a face; he didn’t like the idea of people being for purposes. Even people who’d been made. This wasn’t the time to argue about it. “But he helps you?”

“He helps.” Batman glanced down, toward Dick’s bed, as though once again he could see through the roof. “I’m trying to get him to agree to take Dick in. He did a good job with Bruce, even if he doesn’t think so.”

“Will that be the best for Dick?” Clark asked, as neutrally as he could manage. He could tell Batman’s intentions were good, but he didn’t know if putting a child entirely within the influence of a supernatural being that had latched onto him, without an external line of support, was a good idea. On the other hand, putting him in the care of an adult who would know he wasn’t delusional could only help. And Clark could be the outside support, if necessary—not that he wasn’t under Batman’s influence himself, but he wasn’t within his circle of it the way this Alfred seemed to be, resentment or not. The resentment might be the most dangerous part.

What part of this train of thought Batman sensed, he couldn’t tell, as his comrade only retorted, “It can’t be worse than here!”

A group home with four beds to a room certainly wasn’t the best environment, but surely he couldn’t be here much longer. “Have you talked to him about it?”

“He doesn’t get much privacy. He agreed to meet with Alfred last time he ducked into a closet while I was there, so now Alfred’s the focus of the plan.” Batman sighed again. “He’s so brave,” he said fondly. “It worries me. I wish he were somewhere safe.”

The wild impulse rose to offer to step in, to take the role of legal guardian if this Alfred wouldn’t. Clark sat on it. He didn’t want a child, he wasn’t equipped to care for a child, CPS would be able to see that perfectly well in a single reporter in his 20s living in a one-bedroom apartment in a somewhat run-down building. He didn’t even live in the same state, and child placement was handled on a state-by-state basis so even petitioning for custody would be horrifically involved, never mind obtaining it. Also, he had a secret identity to protect.

He couldn’t always help. The hardest lesson in life, and one he had to keep relearning.

“So your plans are…to get Dick into a safe home environment.”

“And keep him alive,” Batman affirmed. Quick, and firm, and almost not obvious about what a vital goal this was to him. Keeping this child alive, the way he’d failed to keep the one before.

“Of course.” Clark nodded. If everything he’d been told was true—and he thought it was, it felt true—then there was no need for the League to intervene. Gotham was probably safer than it had ever been. “Can I meet him, sometime?” Partly to do his part as an outside support network. Partly because he was curious, to meet this child who’d been able to reach his hand into Batman’s chest and close his fingers around his heart.

Batman glanced over, and then seemed to relax. Even the endless piles of his cape seemed suddenly to behave more like ordinary fabric. “I passed, then?”

“What?” Oh. Of course he’d known. Clark had hardly been sneaky. “Yes.”

“Not that I know what you were planning to do if I hadn’t.”

Clark didn’t know either, other than get Dick away of he seemed to need it.

“All of this is off the record, of course,” Batman added. It was a testament to how distracted Superman was by Batman’s problems that it took a long second for him to realize the potential implications of that choice of words, and read in Batman’s posture and the way his cape had developed hooks of tension in some of its folds that they were entirely intentional.

“How long have you known?” he asked.

“You attended a press event in Gotham two years ago. You still feel like you, no matter how you dress.”

“Well.” Superman tried to shake the sudden tension out of his shoulders. Batman was a good detective and data analyst, that hadn’t changed with the rest of it. He’d certainly tracked down the name of the gentleman from the Planet. “I guess that’s fair. And of course it’s off the record. I won’t even tell J’onn and Diana anything but the basics without your permission.”

“Oh.” Batman clearly hadn’t expected that. “Why?”

“You have a right to your privacy.” Clark thought back over his own approach to the whole situation and said, with a gentleness born somewhat of guilt, “You are a person, after all.”

“I’m really not,” Batman said, corner of his mouth ticking up just slightly to underline the easy irony in his voice. But the great spread of cape had fallen into easier, more geometric wrinkles, and Clark was beginning to learn to trust that over what he said with his borrowed face. Though he could almost definitely lie with the cape part of himself, too, if he needed to.

“Don’t…” His tongue flickered across the back of his teeth; be brave, Kent. “Don’t talk about my friend that way, huh?”

#hoc est meum #my fic #batman #imaginary friend batman #world's finest #somewhat to my surprise #protective batman #inhuman batman #superman #people talking on roofs

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h-i-raeth · 3 years

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The Animated Batfam Show I’ll Probably Never Write

(But have in fact plotted out. Extensively.)

So I made a post that seemed to generate some interest based on the evidently relatable scenario of plotting out an extremely self indulgent Batfam Animated Show

(Because we all know that if DC so much as hinted that they were going to release such a thing an astronomical number of people would go absolutely feral, myself included.)

....& In lieu of the qualifications or artistic ability required to get in touch with a DC executive and make an elevator pitch, I’m going to go ahead & post my outline for The Batfam Animated Show I Wish There Was.

Each season will have its own post that goes episode-by-episode later but here’s an overview:

[Disclaimer: The DC timeline is, frankly, a mess & tough to find an easy reference for. Trying to be married to it would only ever be an exercise in both futility and frustration. Lots of things are referenced and/or changed loosely and it’s largely canon compliant pre-series start, but once the series gets going things are ignored or shifted around for the purposes of self-indulgence, in favor of original plots, or to streamline the narrative. I’m open to crowdsourced “Um Actually--”s re:the timeline/canon events, but my disclaimer stands. I also simply do not care about the distinctions between separate timelines if events are not mutually exclusive.]

Structure is aiming more for Teen Titans than Young Justice, with a slightly more serious tone but plenty of shenanigans as well. Focuses on Dick, Cass, Jason, Tim, and Damian (and Duke when we reach him) with Bruce, Alfred, Babs, and Steph featuring more peripherally because there’s only so much you can fit into one project.

But it aims to at least touch on all of the extended Bat Family either through cameos, references, guest appearances, or shenanigans.

Season One:

We start off with Damian’s intro to the family because A) it’s a good jumping off point & B) one of the whole reasons I wrote this was the idea of a Gala episode where Damian gets introduced to society (while at the same time Bruce tells Clark & Diana about his having a son) titled “Debutante” because, c’mon, that’s a snazzy idea.

In any case, it’s a Dami-centric season. Starts with Damian showing up, goes into his backstory, has shenanigans as he adjusts to life at the manor, clashes about moral codes, and culminates in events based on Ra’s trying to snatch Damian’s body as a vessel & Damian deciding to go all in on staying with the family.

Season Two:

We are ignoring canon events to give you a season that focuses on Cass, because I wanted to do the first five seasons in reverse-acquisition order (as opposed to reverse-age order, because I like Cass being Just A Little Bit Older than Jason, and I have plans for Tim’s season that need some distance between the start of his season & the end of Damian’s).

Highlights include: Steph comes back to Gotham, an adventure with the Birds of Prey, Bring Your Kid To Work Day, & an ongoing original plotline featuring Cass, the Titans, and Deathstroke that sparks the end-of-season episodes, while offscreen on the last episode, Bruce is “killed” by Darkseid because the next season...

Season Three:

...Focuses on Tim, and starts after Bruce gets back from his little adventure in time, because I want to address Tim’s little field trip, but fitting that and Battle for the Cowl and just... All of that, into a single season in real time? Does not spark joy. So, we do a sexy little time skip.

Events that happened during the time skip get addressed in a condensed manner through enlightening conversations and flashbacks, everyone adjusts to the new family dynamics and actually communicates (with shenanigans as the framing device.) Canon is cherry picked and Ra’s is the villain for the finale episodes because it ties everything into a neat little bow.

Season Four:

Jason-centric, and ignores canon events in favor of an Arkham breakout of all the heavy hitters in the Rogues Gallery, including the clown, who has been almost entirely absent of the narrative up until this point except as a reference, primarily so that I could have a fear toxin episode where Dick reveals that he once, however temporarily, killed the Joker, but also because I thought it could be fun & that it fits.

We get a fair number of flashbacks, cycle through some of the more notable rogues and their shenanigans, Duke Thomas’s parents meet their unfortunate fates (modified to streamline the narrative), there are allusions to but not direct inspiration from Death of the Family, and the Joker sets the kids up in a giant board game of death in the finale which culminates in some very therapeutic violence.

Season Five:

Dick-centric, and we’re going for a very Grayson focused Night Of The Owls inspired season, because I like the Court & it sets us up for allowing Duke to join the family. (This one’s not properly plotted out yet because I’m planning on actually reading the source material before I do so, and I’m also still deciding whether to include the Robin War in this season or leave that arc for season six. Leaning on including Robin War in season five & having season six have a finale with multiversal stakes but with the bulk of the season being shenanigans including Duke, though.)

Season Six:

(….Is also not plotted out on account of not having made a definite decision about the culmination of season five, and on account of needing to do more research, but rest assured that it’ll focus on Duke & feature the Row siblings in at least one episode. Leaning towards multiversal stakes for the finale episodes that’ll allow cameos for extended Batfam members that otherwise wouldn’t be featured, and intended as the wrap-up for the series.)

Thus Concludes The Overview Of My Purely Notional Batfam Animated Elevator Pitch

#gonna come up with a tag for this uh....#The Purely Notional Batfam Animated Series #anyway. more to come later as I clean up and format the individual season outlines for public consumption.#do keep in mind also? this is Incredibly self indulgent #also I really wanted to do something with Dick's death re: the crime syndicate & the fallout of the events that follow #but unfortunately fitting it in means shoving a lot of other things in for context & besides it does not precisely vibe in any case #batfam #dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #jason todd #cassandra cain #duke thomas

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fickle-tiction · 3 years

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Birthday Tickles

Brucie Wayne's birthday is considered a big deal within his social circle. Every year he throws a HUGE party the weekend of, and everyone who's anyone shows up. He's never not on the cover of a tabloid the following morning. He's used to it, but he hates it. Sometimes he regrets making up his Brucie Wayne persona, but he knows that it's a necessary evil if he wants to take that extra step to make sure no one ever connects him to the batman.

Bruce is dreading thinking about the party he has to attend this weekend (because, let’s face it, Alfred is the brains of the operation and is the one actually throwing these parties) when he heads into the Hall of Justice. If he didn't spend his nights perched on top of buildings, waiting in silence to hear any sign of crime in Gotham, he wouldn’t have noticed the soft shushing coming from the other side of the meeting room doors. He stops just outside of the doors and strains his ears, noting the suspicious lack of sound coming from the other side of the door. The league is never this quiet. Bruce is bracing himself for a fight, uncomfortably aware of how vulnerable he is without his suit on, when someone let's out a huff on the other side of the door.

"B, you're ruining the surprise. Get in here!" Clark calls out. Under normal circumstances Bruce would scowl and complain about Clark using his x-ray vision on him, but he’s too distracted to care.

Surprise?

‘Oh, please tell me they didn’t.’

Bruce spins on his heel, ready to hightail it out of the manor when Clark speaks up again. “Don’t make me come get you.”

Bruce glares at the door, knowing Clark is watching him and can see it. He waits a few seconds, trying to gather his sanity, before slowly pushing the doors open. He blinks, unmoving, as he’s met with a face-full confetti, courtesy of a smirking Arthur, and shouts of “Surprise!”

Bruce spits out a small mouthful of the brightly colored paper as Diana comes over and wraps him in a hug. “Be thankful, I talked him out of the glitter.” She whispers into his ear, reveling in the amused huff Bruce lets out. It’s almost enough to make up for the fact that he makes no move to hug her back, arms hanging stiffly at his sides.

“Guys, you shouldn’t have.” Bruce says, dead-pan, as Diana releases him. It’s at that moment that he notices the party hats rapidly appearing on everyone’s heads. Bruce glares at the empty air in front of himself just as Barry skids to a stop, party hat clutched in his hands, eyes wide.

“.....Happy birthday?” Barry offers, holding the hat out to Bruce with a hopeful smile on his face. Bruce continues staring at Barry in silence, secretly amused at the way the kid’s eyes start darting around the room, as though he’s plotting his escape.

Just when Barry starts to stammer and take the hat away Bruce reaches out and takes hold of it, effectively shutting the speedster up. “Thank you.” He says dryly, holding the hat in his hands. Upon closer inspection he realizes it’s a justice league themed party hat, the kind stores recently started carrying for kid’s birthday parties, and it’s almost enough to make him laugh, his mouth quirking up to one side against his will. Barry’s eyes go even wider at his smile and he melts back into their small crowd of friends.

“There is no meeting, is there?” Bruce asks Clark, just before he’s enveloped in yet another superpowered hug. What was it with people and hugging him today? Was he losing his menacing edge in his old age?

“Nope!” Clark said, giving Bruce’s stiff form an extra squeeze before laughing and letting him go. “Gosh B, don’t enjoy yourself too much.” He teased, clapping his friend on the shoulder despite Bruce’s narrowed eyes at all the touching. Clark and Diana knew better than anyone that Bruce didn’t actually mind all the touching, he was just bad at reciprocating it so he tended to act like he didn’t want or need it.

Bruce looked at Clark for a few more seconds, as if studying him, before directing his attention back to everyone else. “Thank you.” He said, somehow sounding more sincere this time even though he was still somewhat stiff. “This is...really nice.” And then, as if this wasn’t bizarre enough already, a small smile made it’s way onto Bruce’s face. “But if you come near me with glitter,” He added to Arthur, smile still on his face despite his threatening words. “I will end you.”

The six of them are soon joined by Alfred, who comes in bearing a cake in the shape of the bat symbol. Bruce gives Barry a lopsided smile and a heart attack assuming correctly that it was once again his doing. He scowls his way through a round of off-key “Happy Birthday” and maintains steely eye contact with his amused butler as he blows out the giant question mark candle.

“I feel like we’re forgetting something.” Clark’s smirking as he says it, which is never a good sign. Clark making eye contact with Diana, who is wearing a matching mischievous expression is even worse.

“Birthday punches?” Barry asks, eyebrows furrowed as he licks the last of the icing off his spoon. Judging by their expressions, he’s clearly not in one whatever Clark and Diana have planned.

“A punch from anyone here would end Batsy’s life.” Arthur was smirking at Bruce’s scowl, enjoying teasing the stoic man. “A birthday tickle would probably suit him better.”

“You want to try it and find out?” Bruce asked, voice light but his body stiff as Arthur chuckled and ate another bite of his cake.

"Boys.” Diana called out, and you could practically hear the eyeroll in her voice as she did. Bruce glared at Arthur for a few more seconds, making a mental note to spar with him soon and put him in his place, before looking over at Diana and Clark.

“Your present!” Clark said, practically vibrating with excitement as he held a neatly wrapped package out to Bruce.

“Oh.” They actually managed to surprise Bruce; he hadn’t been expecting a party, let alone a gift. “Thank you.” He fought down the sappy smile that tried to make it’s way onto his face, angling his head down so no one could see it as he began carefully unwrapping the box in his lap.

“OhMyGod” Barry groaned, gaining Bruce’s attention. “Just tear it!”

Just for that, Bruce went even slower, peeling each piece of tape off and making sure not to tear the shiny black paper it was wrapped in. He could see Barry literally vibrating out of the corner of his eye, and it was endlessly amusing. Once he carefully unwrapped what turned out to be a plain black box, Bruce balled the paper up and whipped it at Barry’s head. Barry reflexively caught the ball of paper and pouted at the smirk Bruce was sending his way.

Bruce opened the box, took one look at the contents, and slammed the lid back down. “Thanks.” He said flatly, narrowing his eyes at Clark and Diana’s twin looks of evil glee.

“Master Bruce, show everyone what you’ve got.” Alfred chided, smiling wide at the betrayed look Bruce sent his way.

“Traitor.” Bruce scowled, even as he opened the box back up. He gave Clark and Diana one more dirty look before he pulled six neatly folded t-shirts out of the box.

The top shirt was designed to look like the top half of Wonder Woman, so when he put it on it’d look like he was wearing a bad costume, exposed skin and all. Beneath that was a shirt that looked like the top half of Superman’s costume, complete with fake abs. There was one for each of their superhero personas; even Victor laughed when he held up the Cyborg shirt.

All in all, Bruce is a surprisingly good sport throughout the small party. His hat remains untouched on the edge of the table, but no one mentions it. His shirts found their way back into the box they came in, but unlike the hat they’d be going back to the lake house with him. Not that anyone needed to know that.

Alfred excused himself to another room as the party wound down, and Victor nodded his good bye. Arthur clapped Bruce on the shoulder as he left, harder than was strictly necessary, and oh Bruce was going to wreck him in a sparring match pretty soon.

Barry approached Bruce next, smiling nervously, his hands twitching at his sides as if he didn’t know what to do with them. “Bye Bruce--uh--happy birthday!” He stammered, making an aborted motion to clap Bruce on the shoulder like Arthur had, his hand darting back down to his side before it made contact. Bruce’s mouth twitched up into another rare smile before he reached out and wrapped Barry in a quick hug.

Bruce simply said “Thanks.” as he pulled back, almost losing his composure at Barry’s gob-smacked expression. The speedster mumbled something unintelligible before streaking out of the room.

“You have to stop messing with him.” Clark laughed. “You’re going to give him a heart attack.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bruce said innocently, sitting on the edge of the meeting table since it was just the three of them left. “Thanks for this.” He added, a soft smile on his face as Diana came up and leaned a hip on the table next to his knee. “It was nice.”

“There was one part of this party I did not understand.” Bruce was instantly suspicious of Diana’s tone. That was her “I’m going to pretend to misunderstand something so I can mess with Bruce” voice. A voice he’s heard way too many times. “What are ‘Birthday Tickles’?”

And now Clark was standing on Bruce’s other side, and they were effectively boxing him in. His only escape would be to climb over the large meeting table, which would be ridiculous and undignified.

“That’s not a real thing.” Bruce said, valiantly resisting the urge to fold his arms over his chest.

“Really?” Diana asked, her hand coming to rest lightly on Bruce’s knee. “Arthur seemed so sure of it.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be ticklish, would you Bruce?” Clark asked, looming over Bruce with a mischievous smile on his face.

“What do you think?” Bruce asked, forcing himself to stay still even as Diana’s fingers gently danced around his kneecap.

“I think...” Clark’s hand had found it’s way to Bruce’s right knee, and Bruce was regretting sticking around for his own birthday party now. “You forget that I can hear your heartbeat.”

Bruce slowly met Clark’s eyes and knew that he was screwed. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, the only sign that he was nervous. There were a few seconds of absolute stillness from the three of them, before all hell broke loose.

Bruce tried to throw himself backwards over the table he was sitting on, dignity be damned. As soon as he tried to make a move Clark and Diana simultaneously each grabbed a thigh and dragged him back towards themselves. Before he could really register what was happening, Bruce found himself laying on his back on the table, his legs dangling over the edge, shirt riding up and four hands wiggling all over his torso.

“This-is-so-childish!” Bruce ground out through clenched teeth, trying to catch the fast-moving hands. Because his legs were bent over the edge of the table and couldn’t reach the ground, he had no leverage and thus couldn’t go anywhere.

“We wouldn’t be forced to do this, if you just smiled more.” Diana said, as though it were a travesty that Bruce forced them to tickle him.

“Yeah B, you brought this one on yourself.” Clark was trying to sound sad, but he had a huge dorky smile on his face and it was ruining the affect.

“M’not even ticklish.” Bruce protested, squirming away from Clark’s fingers that were being lightly dragged over his bare side.

“If you weren’t ticklish you wouldn’t be fighting this hard.” Clark pointed out, trying to find the spot that would crack the bat.

“Shut up.” Was Bruce’s oh-so-original comeback. He jolted when Diana pinched the muscle above his left knee, reflexively sitting up slightly to knock her hands away.

“We’ve got him.” Diana grinned triumphantly.

“Don’t--!” Was all Bruce could get out before Diana and Clark both started pinching and squeezing the muscle above his knee. He clamped his mouth shut, trying to keep his laughter in as Clark gently squeezed his way up to the muscles in Bruce’s thigh. That, coupled with Diana switching to tickling under his knee had him breaking in no time.

“Guys!” Bruce laughed as Clark pushed him back onto the table with one hand, as his other hand kept up it’s steady and gentle massage of his thigh muscle. “Guys! G-hahahahahaha-guys!” Bruce babbled, head thrown back as laughter was forced from his throat. “Kn-hahahahaha-knock it ohohohohoh-off!”

“I thought you weren’t ticklish.” Diana smirked. Taking advantage of the fact that Clark was holding Bruce down with one hand, she gently wiggled her fingers up Bruce’s thigh and over his hips. When she got to the delicate skin just above Bruce’s hipbones he squeaked, earing them some extra attention.

“Th-hihihihihi-this is bullsh--hihihihihi--it!” Bruce laughed, trying to fight against Clark’s hand on his chest as Diana teased and tickled the very bottom of his stomach.

“What’s wrong B?” Clark asked, alternating legs as he switched from gentle squeezes to light wiggles of his fingers. “Something bothering you?”

“He’s not ticklish, so it can’t be that.” Diana was now tickling slowly but steadily up Bruce’s sides, making her way under his shirt and tormenting bare skin.

“I ha--hahahahahaha--te you both!” Bruce cackled, cheeks turning pink as Diana used her nails to lightly scratch over every bit of skin she could reach.

“Well that’s not something someone who wants mercy should be saying.” Clark smirked, quickly abandoning Bruce’s legs to latch onto his hipbones. Bruce nearly shot off the table the second Clark’s hand left his chest, but he couldn’t push past the two of them hovering over him.

“Do you think his feet are ticklish?” Diana asked, trying to wiggle her fingers beneath Bruce’s tightly clamped down arms.

Bruce started shaking his head back and forth, laughter nearly silent as Diana finally managed to poke her fingers into his uppermost ribs. He had no idea if his feet were ticklish, but judging by the rest of his body, he was sure they would be. “Nonononono.” He mumbled, laughing and trying to curl his body inwards to protect himself from their assault.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Clark said happily, dancing his fingers back down to Bruce’s thighs.

“Nooooo! Please!” Bruce laughed, eyes flying open (Hello, when did they even close?) “Ple--hehehehe-ease! Please!”

“Oh my.” Diana laughed, surprise written on her face as she stopped her assault on Bruce’s ribs. “I think we’ve broken him.” She commented, noting Bruce’s pink face and wide smile.

“Did he just say ‘please’?” Clark asked in disbelief, also stopping his torturous squeezes. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say that.”

Bruce’s body might feel like one giant exposed nerve, and he might be completely worn out from all that laughter, but he still managed to flip Clark the bird.

“Oh, so you do want me to try your feet?” Clark, asked, grabbing hold of Bruce’s calf to raise his foot into the air.

“No!” Bruce shouted, shooting into a sitting position as he tried to yank his leg back.

“Oh, they must be bad.” Clark said gleefully, letting Bruce snatch his foot back. He couldn’t help but laugh at the glare the billionaire was sending his way. Bruce was sitting criss-crossed on the table, arms drawn into himself, cheeks still pink, his hair a mess.

“I don’t know if they are.” Bruce admitted, having caught his breath. “And I don’t want to find out.” He added quickly, as Clark and Diana shared another evil smile.

“Fine.” Diana said, straightening her clothes. “We’ll save it for next time.”

“Next time...?” Bruce asked warily, resisting the urge to scoot himself to the middle of the conference table and out of their reach.

“Next time.” Clark agreed happily.

“There isn’t going to be a next time.” Bruce growled, but the effect was ruined by his messy hair, pink cheeks and rucked up shirt.

Clark and Diana just shared another smile that Bruce was learning to hate. He’d have to start wearing the suit to meetings from now on.

#tickling #fanfiction #tickling fanfction #ticklish!batman #ticklish!brucewayn #ticklish!bruce wayne #superwonderbat #could be friendship or romance #batman #superman #wonder woman #flash #bruce secretly loves barry ok #it's a hill i will die on #platonic love that is

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