#the hood's crime syndicate | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

simmerandwrite · 1 year

Text

Sink Into Me - 02 - mob!Steve Rogers x plus size! reader

Pairing: mob boss!Steve Rogers x plus size female reader

Summary: You were simply doing a good deed, pulling the handsome stranger out of the way when a car jumped the curb. Little did you know that the life you saved belonged to Steve Rogers, the Army veteran turned art dealer with connections to the Brooklyn crime syndicate.

Steve Rogers, who won’t stop calling you his guardian angel.

Steve Rogers, whose new goal in life just might be repaying his debt to you.

Steve Rogers, who isn’t shy until it comes to his feelings and will stop at nothing to keep you safe.

Chapters: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Wordcount: 6k

Warnings: canon level violence (series), body image issues (series), very brief mentions of animal abuse

Notes: hello! meet your friends - Maria Hill, Claire Temple and Wanda Maximoff. thank you all for being here and reading!! I appreciate your enthusiasm soooo much. things are :) about to get :) complicated :) if you see me out in the wild, my main blog is @simmerandcry

---

The skyline view from the floor to ceiling windows had been the real selling point to Steve taking the penthouse apartment at his latest investment property. Truthfully, he had been growing tired of the brick walls of his old place, despite their aesthetic charm. The new renters could live with that red dust now.

But the view into both Brooklyn and downtown towards Manhattan made him feel like he was exactly where he needed to be. Like he was on top of the world, his own little empire carved out in the heart of the borough. Most importantly, his apartment was his home. And that meant work didn’t come home with him, ever.

He drew that line very cleanly, even leaving the second bedroom fully intact as a guest room instead of converting to an office. Because this is where he needed to clear his head, to be Steve Rogers, the plain and simple Brooklyn born boy who loved his city.

Steve Rogers, the war veteran turned real estate mogul and art dealer, who sat at the top of what remained of an old Irish crime syndicate - that man worked on the streets, in the office, in his clubs and galleries and restaurants. That shit was not supposed to come home with him.

Though recently, it seemed to have started to bleed into what little time he spent at home. Mainly because of you and the whole incident outside the restaurant.

“Well, what’s the plan?”

“I already told you, Buck. I’m not retaliating.”

Bucky Barnes, Steve’s right hand man, his oldest friend and main confidant, the literal fist and brawn behind their organization, scoffed. “Someone sent an amateur barrelling into our territory to try and pin you between the hood of a car and your new restaurant - and you don’t want to retaliate? We coulda been weeping over your body right now, Steve.”

“I can recognize an act of aggression when I see it, I’m not an idiot.” Steve tipped his rocks glass against his lips once more, the scent of scotch lingering as he stood from the couch. “We don’t know if it was Rumlow or that new idiot creeping in from Staten Island.”

Steve rolled his eyes and cut off Bucky before he tried to add in his two cents again. “And if someone wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t hit me with a car. You know what. This was some stupid message that was poorly planned and equally poorly executed.”

Sam Wilson, who had been sipping his own concoction from the kitchen table, finally looked up from his phone and piped in. “I mean, I hate to admit it but Bucky is right. You would have been dead if it wasn’t for that beautiful woman saving your ass.”

“Sam.” Steve turned his head, eyes narrowed in a pointed glare.

“What? I’m not blind. The hips on her were-”

Steve took another step towards his friend and trusted colleague, who had a particularly loud mouth and a flair for getting on Steve’s nerves, and held up a steady hand. “Stop.”

He wasn’t inclined to admit it, but the entire thing had been replaying in Steve’s minds for days now. Ever since you had saved him on that sidewalk, throwing yourself into a dangerous situation for him, a total stranger, something had changed. He was still living, breathing, surviving. And although he was dead set on figuring out just who was driving that vehicle and ensuring they paid for their actions, it was you he couldn’t stop thinking about.

You. Who had been in the right place at the right time, who had risked your own personal safety to make sure he didn’t get hit, who was insistent that it had been an act of good faith, a simple act of kindness.

You, with the kind smile and generous curves. You, who swept off your actions as innocent and selfless, concerned more about the happiness of your dog than your own well being. You, who left Steve feeling curious and longing to get to know you, to make you smile, to hear you laugh.

God, what he wouldn’t give to have someone like you in his life. While he couldn’t stop thinking about the kind of person you were, he also had your face playing over and over again in his mind too. It didn’t help that his mom called him a few days ago, asking how you were doing and reiterating how much she enjoyed talking to you and…

“Still no news from Hammond?”

Steve knew Bucky couldn’t help but prodding, as if his fingers were itching to find a quick, efficient solution.

“He said their tech department is behind. I’m inclined to believe him but my insisting this is a priority hasn’t been successful this time. I’m trying to play nice.” Steve gritted his teeth, finishing the last sip of his drink as he stood, tugging on the lapel of his suit. “So I asked Stark to help instead. We’re meeting him at the club.”

---

The only good thing about your dreadful basement apartment was the private patio space in the backyard. You had high hopes for it when you rented the garden level unit but once your lease had been signed, everything about the place seemed a lot less shiny. From the shared laundry with the loud, obnoxious upstairs apartment to the inconsistent water pressure and flickering lights, you were counting down the days until your lease was over.

But the backyard - you had done what you could to make it a safe oasis for you and Hercules, with a few pieces of thrifted outdoor furniture and string lights making it a bit more magical. It was a nice location when hosting your girlfriends, especially when such a thing happened so rarely now that your schedules seemed to conflict all the time.

You were so grateful to have your girls. Because at any moment, they all loved to share their opinions on the weird chaos that seemed to stir up in your life. While you had known Maria since college, you had collected Wanda and Claire into your life since starting your new job in the city. You had worked as a server at the same restaurant as Wanda a few summers ago and Claire, an ER nurse, had dropped into your life by chance one night when you were stood up on a date at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen. Your group had been solid since then - although girls nights were few and far between now, with jobs and the general grind of life making it hard to get together often.

“I’m not saying the man isn’t attractive. Because I have eyes,” Maria was on her third glass of sangria, legs extended out on the brick patio outside. “I just have no reason to trust him.” She squinted down at her phone screen. “What did he say he did for work again?”

You sighed. Perhaps it was a mistake to share Steve’s name and photo - that you found after an extensive internet search - with your friends, but you valued their perspectives. It’s not like anything had happened with the guy. You hadn’t seen him since that day you saved his life and hadn’t communicated either, outside of you emailing him the stupid photo you took.

You had added his number to your phone, though. Just in case. Just in case what? You had no clue. But he had written it down for you and all.

And he said he owed you a thousand favours…

Officer Hammond, though, had reached out to you a few days after the event - asking you to come in and try and ID the driver in a police lineup. It made you feel a bit uncomfortable but you supposed it was your civic duty to do it, if it could help stop this from happening again or to help in delivering justice for wrongdoing. You pointed out the person you best recognized from your blurry memory and moved on, trying not to think any further about the situation.

Although a few strange things seemed to happen since then, if you just used your head it could all be justified. Like seeing the same black, unfamiliar SUV on your street multiple times this week. That was probably just a new vehicle belonging to one of your neighbours.

And that one time you were walking Hercules and a stranger who seemed to be lingering outside your apartment asked to borrow your phone.

Which you promptly said no to, because you aren’t dumb enough to let someone run off with your phone. But instead of going inside with Herc, you continued to circle the block until the blond stranger disappeared. You wouldn’t consider your neighbourhood the safest place after dark, but in the daytime you never felt concerned.

It was all just sort of weird.

But completely unrelated to anything else, you were sure.

That was all behind you now anyway, a strange footnote in the chapter of your life that was playing out. You’d probably never have to see Steve again, though he had crossed your mind a few times…

Okay, you had been thinking about him a lot. Which is why you had told your three closest friends about everything that had occurred.

You replied to Maria, who was nudging you with her elbow. “Oh. Uhm, he works in real estate, I think. He owns an art gallery and some apartments. Oh, and that club on Morgan Ave - Shield .”

“Sounds like a professional landlord. Thumbs down.” Claire chimed in from her chair too, shaking her head and dismissing the entire concept of Steve with a wave of her hand. “Rich at best, financially questionable at worst.”

“And he owns that restaurant the car smashed into?” Maria reached for her own phone. “The one owned by the mob. Okay, that settles it - he’s in the mob then.”

You laughed and shook your head. “The mob isn’t a thing, Hill. What’s your source on that again?”

Wanda shrugged and finally chimed in, fingers tapping idly against her wine glass as she turned towards you. “Describe his aura to me.”

You groaned, smirking as Claire rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. “His aura?”

“You know, what kind of energy did he have?”

“Is that your way of determining the kind of person he is?” Maria got up from her chair to toss a small toy for Hercules to chase after. “I’d love to know the science between your aura theories, Wan.”

You delayed answering by grabbing the nearby bowl of popcorn and cradling it in your lap, leaving your phone and the thought of Steve on the small crate that sat between you and your friends. “He was very confident.” How could you do any justice to Steve’s intimidating Big Dick Energy without admitting your attraction to him? That last thing you wanted to do was bait your friends with any material to tease you with. Plus, really, it didn’t matter. You had no plans to ever see Steve again. And AND and, even if you did, what made you think it would be romantic in any way?

Steve was beyond hot - from the trimmed beard and deep blue eyes, to his easy charm and well dressed body. You had no doubt in your mind that the man probably had some equally hot partner. If not, he could have his pick of the entire city. There was no way you would be on his radar.

“I don’t know,” Maria chimed in once more, clapping her hands quickly. “This is the wildest meet cute story I’ve ever heard. If the man is so willing to do you some favours, maybe you should cash in on it, mob be damned. You know what they say about tall guys..”

“You just said you don’t trust him!” You laughed, tossing a piece of popcorn at her.

Maria just scooped it up and popped it into her mouth with a shrug. “I don’t trust any man. I trust you and your judge of character, though. Plus, you haven’t been on a date in forever so maybe this was some sort of fate driven happenstance.”

“The universe does work in weird ways,” Wanda agreed. “And you said he really filled out that suit so…”

“You should text him!” Claire sat up tall and straight, pushing her hair over one shoulder as an idea formulated in her brain. You were nervous. “I think how he reacts to a sudden text will be a perfect test.”

“It’s a Saturday night, I can’t text him! And a test of what? All I did was save the man’s life, there is nothing else to..” This was not how you wanted this to go. The last logical thing you could think of doing right now was messaging Steve Rogers anything. What would he think if you texted him out of nowhere on a Saturday night? “What would I even say?”

“Here, allow me.” Maria plucked your phone off the table and damnit, why did you ever tell her your passcode?

“Maria-”

“It’ll be harmless, I promise!” She glanced up from your phone and opened her eyes wide. “You need to stop playing safe. What’s the worst that could happen? He doesn’t reply?”

You sighed. YES. The fear of rejection crept up like a weird pain in your chest. “Yeah, I guess. He might think it’s a wrong number or some sort of spam message...”

“Then no harm, no foul.” Her grin grew even wider as she typed something out on the screen. She took a deep breath. You leaned over to see what she had crafted together and sighed. “It’s just a simple little push..”

---

Normally Steve would ignore then block an unfamiliar phone number, but this had been intriguing. Given that you hadn’t reached out to him at all, he had tried not to give much of his time to thinking about you. But when the text came in, without a lot of context or forewarning, he figured it was a small gamble to see how it could play out.

Unknown number [10:47PM]: hey, I need to cash in a favour S Rogers [10:49PM]: who is this? Unknown number [10:51PM]: 👀 🍑 🎁 🔄 🥞 S Rogers [10:55PM]: am I supposed to just guess what this means? Unknown number [10:59PM]: yes ;) S Rogers [11:02P:M]: it’ll be easier if you just tell me what you want, angel ;)

You hadn’t struck Steve as the type to flirt like this. If it was you, of course. He could really only safely assume, considering only a certain number of people had his phone number. And now, he finally had yours.

Tony had consolidated all the info he could find about you earlier that week. Steve didn’t feel great about asking Tony to dig into you, but since he had sent your picture for analysis after the delay at the police station, it sort of just happened. Frankly, Tony said your online presence was minimal. You were smart about keeping your social media secure and had a very thorough CV on LinkedIn. Otherwise, he didn’t have much information that you hadn’t already shared. And Steve had no intentions of doing anything suspicious with any of it, it just helped him understand who he had invited into a small corner of his life.

If that’s what he could call it. But you had crossed his mind over and over, and it didn’t help that Bucky kept bringing you up. Especially the part about Steve taking you to the clinic for help from Sarah. That resource was a well kept secret in their family and the fact that Steve took you there had been a big risk.

Beyond Steve’s unavoidable racing thoughts about you, he had been deep into a plan to deal with the actual problem - the group of idiots spilling into his Brooklyn territory. Tony had helped him with that too, finding names and dossiers on everyone who belonged to Rumlow’s extended Stryke gang causing a mess in the boroughs between Queens and Brooklyn.

For years, Steve had worked hard to make a respectable reputation for himself and now things were getting shaky. And it annoyed the shit out of him, especially when a few of the names Tony pulled were on the NYPD payroll.

“It’s messy,” Tony had said with a shrug, leaning back into the leather seat from their place at the top of the club.

Another property on Steve’s growing list - Shield was a popular nightclub in Brooklyn, which served as a perfect location for arms deals and financial transactions to float. For Steve and his old friend, tech mogul Tony Stark, it was a safe place to share theories and secrets. The upper level served as a secure hideout from the general population while the downstairs dance floor catered to obnoxious crowds looking for a drink or something else to roll on.

It was lucrative for Steve, to say the least.

“Let me know if you want me to get Rhodes involved.”

Steve shook his head. “He’s got enough on his plate. Is he ready for the campaign announcement?” Steve had a serious interest in the upcoming Mayoral election, especially if James Rhodes, former DA, planned on running. And with Tony bankrolling the campaign and some additional under the table support from Steve, it was going to be a shoe in.

“Oh, we’re just getting started, big guy,” Tony stood up and patted Steve on the shoulder as he left the corner area, flitting off in search of whoever might be going home with him soon enough.

Usually that would be Steve’s next step too, but damnit, if he couldn’t stop glancing at his phone for a response from you. Maybe calling you ‘angel’ again had been out of line. He contemplated sending another message, but no, he had to wait. He knew how to play this game.

The rest of the night carried on, with certain reports popping in with updates for Steve on what was happening out on the streets. Things like confirmed shipments at the dock and successful cash pickups. He had eyes across the whole of Brooklyn, with his growing syndicate working beneath him. Things mostly operated smoothly and this night was carrying on as normal.

Bucky showed up eventually, grumbling about getting turned down by some smart mouthed girl outside the club. Sam corroborated the story, lauding the woman and her tone.

Steve checked his phone, again.

“I saw Sharon downstairs,” Sam nudged Steve, eyebrows raised curiously. “Unless you’re off again-”

“We’re permanently off-again,” Steve rolled his eyes. “You have my blessing if you want to pursue, Sam. But good luck, don’t say I didn’t warn you..” That was all Sam needed apparently, finishing off his glass and heading back down to the dance floor below. Steve didn’t miss his cheeky grin.

“You’re thinking about that girl again, huh?” Bucky nodded and tried to hide his mischievous smirk as he scanned Steve’s face.

Steve scoffed. “No, no. I’m not..”

Bucky laughed, hard and incredulous. “I haven’t seen your head in the clouds like this in ages. Since whatsername in high school, maybe. What was her name?”

Then as if by some weird shift in the universe, Steve’s phone started to buzz. He left Bucky’s commentary lingering as he looked at the screen. You.

Ah, no text reply but a phone call? Okay, he could get on board. Standing, he headed a few steps from the lounge and brought his phone up to his ear, with a small smile. “Rogers.”

The first thing he heard was your frightened yelling. “Leave me alone! Jesus - oh my god, Steve? Is this Steve?”

He said your name quickly to confirm who he was speaking too but raised his eyebrows in concern. “What’s going on?”

“Someone is trying to - HEY! Stop -” Steve could hear banging in the background. “--trying to break into my fuckin - I’m going to CALL THE COPS! Leave me alone! Please, just..”

Steve closed his eyes, doing his best to focus on the background noise. Behind your defensive yelling and the attentive reactions of your dog, there was a mixture of other voices. Something about the voices felt familiar.

“We just want to talk.. Did someone offer you something for that statement? Was it Rogers?”

“If you tell Hammond you got the wrong guy, this will all be over very quickly, honey.”

“Walker, move, let me – Open the door, or we’ll open it for you. Let’s talk..”

“He didn’t offer me - Stop, please! I swear I -”

Steve nearly crushed his phone when the call dropped. He was off like a bullet train, shouting for Bucky to follow him as he pushed past his security guards on the stairs and rushed down towards the back exit of the club. He tried to call you back as he sped through traffic, blatantly bypassing stop signs and treating red lights like suggestions.

A heavy twisting feeling in Steve’s gut had told him that the aftermath of this entire situation wasn’t going to go smoothly. Especially with dumbass dirty cops on the inside who could share information to the highest bidder.

Steve felt a new responsibility to keep you safe, until this whole mess had been taken care of. He had plans to deal with it all on his own but now, if he hadn’t acted quickly enough and something had happened to you.. God, he couldn’t live with himself. How could he explain that to his mother?

He got to your apartment first, hoping Bucky was close behind. Steve didn’t know what he might be walking into but having backup was never a bad idea.

Steve had not only visited but had also lived in a lot of seedy neighbourhoods over the years. The street you lived on didn’t strike him as anything especially dangerous, but that thought enough couldn’t squash the unsettled feeling in his stomach as he approached. He pushed his way through the small metal gate beside the front stairs, towards the door to your garden level apartment.

His jaw clenched when he saw the damage to your door, clearly kicked in with plenty of force before being shoved closed. He glanced to the front window, nearby - that had been smashed, too. He tried to contain the growing fury and pressed on the door, calling out your name as he made his way inside.

As someone more than familiar with the real estate market, Steve could tell the bones of your apartment weren’t in the best shape. The entire townhouse was in desperate need of updating. But what concerned him more, outside of the low ceiling and old light fixtures, was what he could only assume was a new mess. Your coffee table had been smashed, creating a pile of kindling in your tiny living room. Papers were thrown about, a coffee cup sat shattered on the floor.

He called your name again as he went in, reaching inside his jacket to pull out his concealed handgun as he listened carefully. Once he stepped into the hallway leading to your tiny kitchen, he took a step back at the sudden lurch of your dog heading in his direction.

Then Steve heard your quiet voice. The dog retreated into the kitchen, planting himself in front of you as Steve turned to look in. His heart sank.

You were seated on the floor, back pressed against the wall. It was clear you were trying to hide, make yourself small. And was that… some sort of steak knife in your hand? When you finally looked up at him, your eyes were wide.

When you tried to press yourself even further back, eyeing down the gun in Steve’s hand, he slowly put it down on the counter and said your name. “Hey, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was just a precaution.” Shit. The way you reacted to the gun wasn’t a surprise but it made Steve even angrier. Whoever had been here, whoever had done this, well, they probably had guns too.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Steve crouched down, keeping his distance while Hercules acted as your bodyguard. He was trying everything in his power to maintain his composure but god fucking damnit, Steve needed to know who did this and he needed to deal with it. “Are you hurt?”

You took in a deep breath then just shrugged, relaxing just a fraction when Hercules circled around and flopped down to rest his head on your knee. “There were two guys, they had.. They had guns with them. They said they just wanted to talk to me, to … they kept talking about whoever the guy was who drove that SUV.” Your breath picked up as you recounted what had happened. “They..they smashed my phone and..” Slowly, you moved your hand up towards your neck, gently dragging your fingers against the tender skin on your collarbone. “..One guy he..” You winced at the memory.

The heat grew more and more in his stomach as he saw you shaking with fear, recounting whatever the fuck had just happened. How dare any of those fucking imbeciles lay their hand on you? And because of him? If he wasn’t sure of his next steps before, he was going to figure them out now. Because someone needed to pay for this.

His phone buzzed. He stood up and saw a message from Bucky, wondering if Steve needed his help inside. Steve took a step back, turning towards the front door.

“Don’t go,” you pleaded quietly, letting your hand linger in the air as you reached for him. “Steve, please..”

Steve stopped and turned back to you, giving his head a firm shake. “Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere.”

---

A few hours ago you were saying goodbye to your friends as your sangria pitcher finally ran dry. And now? You and Hercules were in an elevator with Steve and his friend Bucky, heading to Steve’s apartment.

Everything that had just happened felt like a bit of a dream - a bad dream. A break in at your own apartment, being intimidated, harassed and assaulted by men with guns, zipping through Brooklyn with Steve as he promised you a safe space to stay for the night.

You didn’t say much to each other once you had left, but you could see the twist of concern and small decisions Steve started to make to ensure you felt secure. A hand at your back, a soft smile, extra attention being given to Hercules to make sure he was okay, too.

You hadn’t gotten into much detail yet but you knew Steve wanted to figure out who the men were who had done this. You were already dreading talking about it again. And god, you likely had another police experience coming your way. What was happening in your life and how could it go back to normal again?

“Hey,” Steve tipped his head towards the door as the elevator opened. You took the lead as you stepped out into the hallway, where just a small handful of apartment doors were spread out.

Steve’s building was a place you could only daydream about living in. You followed him through the door to his apartment, checking over your shoulder to see Bucky guiding Hercules behind you.

Bucky was incredibly kind to you throughout this whole thing, especially back at your apartment. He had patiently directed you as Steve made some phone calls, carefully standing outside your room as you packed a quick overnight bag. And he was very taken to Hercules, which you really appreciated.

Once inside Steve’s place, you made your way into the living room just past the foyer. Steve and Bucky moved into the kitchen briefly, exchanging a few hushed sentences out of your earshot.

When they joined you in the living room, they found you crouched down on the floor with Hercules. You tipped your head up to look at them. Bucky’s gaze was on his phone but Steve was watching you with a soft smile.

“Do you think he’ll be okay here tonight?” Steve took a knee on the other side of Hercules, slowly reaching his hand out to scratch behind his ear.

You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling, just a bit, as you nodded. “Yeah, he’s pretty easy going usually.” As if on cue, your dog nudged his head against Steve’s hand for one more quick pet then trotted further into the living room, flopping down on the rug between the couch and windows. “All his adrenaline seems to have worn off.”

And so it seemed had yours.

A few minutes later you were sitting on the couch, with Steve planted in the chair across from you and Bucky standing over his shoulder, arms crossed. Steve leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he took you in.

God, even in the low light of his living room, the man was handsome. Wearing just a navy blazer and matching dress pants, over a black button up with no tie, he managed to look effortlessly intimidating and strangely welcoming. Like you had no reason not to trust him, as if the dark shadows behind his eyes were a sign of protection instead of a signal of something to be feared.

You took in a long breath and leaned back into the couch.

Steve dragged his tongue over his lips then let out a sharp breath. “Okay, so I need you to walk me through exactly what happened.”

You knew this was coming. The moment Steve insisted on not calling the cops, something shifted for you. This whole situation had escalated beyond what you were used to, that whomever these men were to Steve - it probably wasn’t good.

But when you looked over at Steve, as much as you wanted to shake with worry about what might happen next, you couldn’t. Despite being way out of your comfort zone, scared out of your mind, coming down from your own rush of adrenaline, you weren’t scared. Not anymore, not in his presence and under the additional watchful eye of his right hand man.

And so you told him and Bucky exactly what had happened. How your girlfriends had left, how you were finding the next episode of your favourite show to watch, how you had some writing to catch up on and planned on staying up late. Then you heard a noise outside, then a knock at your door.

Then… well, then you had called Steve when everything started unfolding.

And after the men managed to get beyond the door and push their way through to you, you had nowhere to hide. Once they smashed your phone, you were going to comply and do whatever they needed to, to get them out of your home but then one of them threatened Hercules, and even kicked him-

“Jesus,” Bucky muttered, teeth clenched. Before he could get his true feelings out, Steve held up his hand and had you continue.

“I shoved the guy who was closest to me, trying to go for the other idiot before he hurt Herc and then..” You closed your eyes, going into vague details about how the man pushed you back, how he shoved you into the wall, the kitchen counter. How he pulled out his gun and put his hand around your throat and..

When you opened your eyes again, taking in the silence of the room as you trailed off, Steve was watching you carefully. Though you safely assumed he was an expert at hiding his emotions, you could see a twitch in his jaw. His fists rested on his knees, clenched and turning white with tension.

“One of them got a phone call and I guess they were beckoned to leave. They had enough time to make more of a mess while I cowered away but..” You gulped, shaking your head. “What if they come back? I think I should just call Officer Hammond and-”

“No.” Steve stood up, taking barely a stride to make his way towards the couch. He took a seat beside you, extending his hand to ever so gently cradle your jaw, turning your head to look at him. He said your name softly, barely.. “I’m going to take care of this.”

Your safe feeling was depleting and as much as you wanted to argue, to put a stop to all of this, to do it the correct way, you couldn’t. Earlier, when the threat was outside your door, you didn’t think of calling the police. It was Steve who had crossed your mind. For some unknown reason, you had a feeling he would help you.

Steve pulled his hand away and stood again, shooting a glance to his friend.

Bucky cleared his throat, taking a step forward. “Doll, can you tell me what the guys looked like? Identifying features?”

You wanted to ask a thousand questions about what happened now, about what Bucky was planning on doing, about his metal arm and lack of hesitation to help Steve. But you just played along, delivering all the details you could. Once you repeated it all and answered a few of his questions, you sat up and leaned forward. “Oh. One of them went by Walker. I’m not sure if that’s a first name or..”

“Last name.” Bucky gave one nod before muttering out a tired laugh. “That fucking moron.” He looked at Steve. “Okay, I know where to go. Nat’s gonna meet me downstairs.”

Steve followed him to the door and you could hear their quiet conversation once more.

Twisting your hands together, you sat on the couch with your thoughts. You couldn’t believe how your night had played out. Really, if you thought about the last week of your life you’d be hard pressed to believe it was real life. How could the simple act of getting a person out of harm’s way lead to this?

When you heard Steve’s footsteps heading back towards you, after the door shut behind Bucky, you stood up and looked at him.

Okay, you had to ask. Because a lot of this felt nonsensical, impossible even.

“You don’t really work in real estate, do you?” With the most courage you could muster you met his gaze, which was stoic as he watched you. “My friend Maria had this crazy theory and.. I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into here, Steve. But this isn’t… I just did the right thing and saved you from being hit by a car and.. Now what? People with guns are breaking into my home and threatening my dog? And instead of going to the police.. I’m right here in your apartment - with you, a kind, handsome stranger who keeps offering to help and take care of me and I just don’t get it. Is this real?”

He didn’t falter or let his facade break when you spiraled. Instead, he motioned towards his kitchen. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

You sat with a steaming mug of chamomile at Steve’s kitchen island. His kitchen felt impressively Steve somehow too, with dark granite counters and cool grey tones decorating the tall cabinets. The light blue kettle that sat on his stove somehow humanized him even more though.

Steve opted to lean against the counter, shrugging off his suit jacket as he met your eyes. “So. First, let me just say - I don’t want you to feel like I brought you here for any other reason than keeping you safe tonight. I want you to feel safe here, with me. But if you don’t feel comfortable, you can leave. I will put you up in a hotel somewhere or if you have a friend you can stay with-”

You swallowed hard and brought your hand up. “No, that’s not.. I’m sorry for, uhm, going off a bit there. I just..” You left your mug on the island and leaned forward, balancing your chin on your hand while your elbow propped you up. You matched his gaze, somehow both honest and shy. “In college, my friends and I did this thing called honesty hour. Usually after a really late night or when we were a bit drunk. But the point is to be as honest as possible, but gentle, I guess. Feelings were always at risk but if it was after 2am, it was honesty only.”

A small smirk tugged at Steve’s lips as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. “Okay.”

“So. Honesty hour.” You nodded.

“What do you want to know?”

“Do you always carry a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“There are often dangerous, poorly- intentioned people in my line of work.”

You narrowed your eyes, pausing to take a small sip from your mug. “Your line of work - in real estate and art gallery ownership?”

Steve let out a quiet laugh. “The scope of my day to day work goes well beyond that.”

God, you had so many other questions but you had a feeling Steve was not going to share any details with you. Maybe it was better that way for both of you. Because answering some of your questions might ruin everything. “Would you rather I not ask about that? Your.. full scope?”

“I don’t think it qualifies for your honesty hour, no.”

You were ready to counter with something but you figured it wasn’t worth pushing his buttons. After another big breath, you closed your eyes. “Do you think those guys are going to show up again? At my apartment?”

The mug that had been resting in Steve’s hand found a careful spot on the counter. He took a big step forward and leaned onto the island opposite you.

Your name left his lips. You opened your eyes.

“I promise they won’t.” It was clear some things were being left unsaid, hidden behind his reassuring smile. His hand landed on yours as it rested on the table. “Trust me when I say I’ll never let that sort of thing happen again.” You looked from him, focusing on the warmth in his eyes and how his palm felt against your skin and…

“My turn.” Steve ran his thumb over the top of your hand, as if searching for the softest spot. “You called me. How come?”

You had never been so grateful to hear someone’s phone ring, because you did not want to answer that question. He tried to ignore it but the buzzing in his pocket filled in the quiet that lingered between you. Just like that, whatever that moment was or could have been - vanished. He gave you an apologetic glance as he stepped away.

You sipped on your tea, feeling more and more run down by this whole situation. You were tired, finally and Steve’s big sweeping statements gave you some peace of mind. You trusted him, that was the only thing you were certain about.

Despite everything, including the silly rumours from Maria and the broken remains of your apartment on the other side of Brooklyn… There was something about Steve that made you feel okay about all of this.

But the thought of talking any more about it now made your thoughts spiral out of control. Truthfully, you needed to sleep. And you really needed to talk all of this through in the group chat with the girls. You desperately wished your phone was still functioning.

Before you could even let your train of thoughts derail, you heard Hercules’ feet tapping against the floors in search of you. You took one final sip of your tea and met him in the living room. Your boy was ready for bed too.

You hesitated though, glancing from him to the door. He looked that way too. Maybe it would be smart to take him out one more time before you headed to bed.

Steve found you near the door and reached his hand out to stop you before you could even grab your coat. “Hey. I can take him out, if you want to get ready for bed.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Please, I insist.” He grabbed Hercules’ leash from the small entry table and rested his hand on your shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about adopting a dog for months now so this is a nice reminder about responsibilities.”

Steve’s genuine smile was unmatched and, well, Hercules just looked excited for one last moment of fresh air. “Okay, fine. For your own research purposes. Thanks Steve.”

He waved his hand and pulled on a coat from the hanging rack. “The guest room is just down there.” With his free hand he pointed down the hall behind you. “First door on the right. Bathroom across the hall.”

The minute Steve was outside the door with Hercules, you made your way to the bedroom. You nearly gasped when you opened the door, considering the space was practically the same size as your entire apartment. And god, the view from the windows. A full floor to ceiling piece of glass illuminated Brooklyn below.

The bathroom was just as impressive. After finding a fluffy towel and figuring out how the shower and faucet functioned, you let yourself get consumed by the water. Though you felt far past your breaking point, you held back your tears. Yes, the entire night behind you had been a rollercoaster. And yes, you were nervous about what tomorrow was going to bring.

But you were safe. That’s all that mattered.

Chapter 01 - Chapter 03

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x plus size reader #mob boss steve rogers #stever rogers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfic #plus size reader #stever rogers x plus sized reader #mob boss stever rogers x reader #simmerandcry #simmerandwrite #simmer writes #story: sink into me

628 notes · View notes

lovelyyandereaddictionpoint · 1 year

Text

Yandere Imposter: Tomura Shigaraki

He’s often a subject of suspect during meetings

Always backed up by one of his groupies

With the white or cyan suit, you have every right to be wary of him

He’s the heir to a massive galactic crime syndicate

That needs the majority of this crew gone

Whether they’re ejected or eliminated by him and his team

It will be done

But he’s allowed to have a prize for himself

The cute and haughty navigator who he wants nothing more than to see you crying his name out will suffice

Since you met he’s wanted to break you down

To put you in your place next to him as a power

To own the bossy navigator that has no problem telling him how you feel about his work ethic

Always nitpicking in that adorable bossy voice of yours

Wagging your little finger in his face teasing him to no end

He’s always felt especially steamy in his suit when you’re critiquing his tasks over his shoulder

Just reach over and kiss him, why don't you

But he thinks it’ll feel even better when he’s the one calling the shots

With permission from his father, you are his reward

As long your not working for the enemy you’re all his:

“Geez could this night get any worse!?”

You called out to the echoing chamber of the control room. Awoken in the heat of the night by your captain you rushed to try and fix the malfunctioning system. Your crew was dwindling leaving the few of you to divide and conquer. Splitting apart to fix the most vital inner workings of the Innersloth ship which conveniently have all begun to malfunction at the same time. You were given your original station–Navigation, only for the adjacent system of communication to also be glitching. Trying to manage both systems you're running back and forth throughout the room you were so frazzled you almost missed the entry of your assistant.

“Shigaraki?! Good, I’m glad that your here. I need help stabilizing communications and navigation, take your pick.”

You continued working, stopping to yell at him when you heard no movement or response. But when you turned the confusion of his appearance was enough to make you stop.

“What are you wearing? And why are you smiling like that?”

He indeed was smiling as he continued to walk into the room; wearing a red-hooded cape over a black skintight suit that reminded you of the elite space heroes uniform. He moved to the communication panel took out a flash drive and plugged it into the port. You opened your mouth to reprimand him for this bizarre behavior but you were stopped by the feedback from the public announcement system.

“As of now we have control over all communications and in a bit, we will have….navigation. In three...two...one.”

At the mention of the word the red blinking lights changed to green, indicative of the remote access that was apparently being used. You wished that was the end of it but it was not.

“Done! Oh and in a lil’ bit we’ll begin our little,” the speaker laughed before continuing,” firing squad courtesy of Dabi!! Would you like to hear from the lucky contestants?”

“Mmmf agh No please you can’t do this, please–mmmmf”

The voice of your captain pleaded to shrink as she was pulled away with a hand covering her mouth. Listening you could hear similar silenced noises of the remaining crew struggling.

“And that’s all from them! We’re going to have a great show! Do you want to join us Shiggy-boss man?”

The click of a walkie-talkie from behind you and the smug response of your former assistant solidified any doubts that might have lingered on.

“You guys can start without me. I’ll just be getting my prize…”

Hollering and muffled screams on the PA were the last you heard before it was clicked off. A cold sweat formed on your neck and a bubble of fear formed in your mouth. You refused to turn, to look the man in his blood-hungry eyes.

“So are you going to kill me now…?”

“You know that’s not what I want.”

“Than the prize you want…?”

“It's you. It’s always been you.”

277 notes · View notes

ao3feed-brucewayne · 25 days

Text

Lifelines

by SomebodyIUsetoKnow After everything that went down with the Crime Syndicate and then Spyral, Nightwing couldn't do it anymore. Five years after retiring the mask, five years after Bruce had once again cut him out of the family, Dick Grayson returns to Gotham. But Detective Grayson is not the only transfer from Bludhaven. An enemy from across the bay makes an explosive debut onto the scene of Gotham's organized crime that has the GCPD racing against a clock that could cost the lives of thousands. Including one of their own. The Batfamily has only seventeen hours before it is too late to reclaim the piece their family had been missing for far too many years. Words: 4365, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English Series: Part 4 of Must Be Tuesday Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Gotham Knights (Video Game 2022), DCU, DCU (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Dick Grayson, Kate Kane (DCU), Renee Montoya, Bruce Wayne, Dinah Lance, Duke Thomas, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Jim Gordon (mentioned), Maggie Sawyer (mentioned), Amy Rohrbach (Mentioned), Harley Quinn (mentioned), Poison Ivy (mentioned), Original Main Villain Character, Justice League Characters (Mentioned and Brief appearances) Relationships: Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Everyone, Kate Kane/Renee Montoya Additional Tags: Post-Forever Evil (Comics), Post-Spyral Arc (Comics), Dick Grayson is Not Nightwing, Detective Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Dinah Lance is Black Canary, Duke Thomas is Signal, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl and Oracle, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Damian Wayne is Robin, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Non-Consensual Touching, Non-Consensual Bondage, Canon-Typical Violence, Kidnapping, Hostage Situations, Bombs, Dick Grayson Whump, Hurt Dick Grayson, Romani Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne Gets Therapy, Trying to Explain why Bruce is/was a Bad Parent, Bruce Wayne Tries, he's getting better, Batfamily gets their heads out of their asses, Protective Batfamily, Batfamily on the Warpath, Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth is So Done, Protective Alfred Pennyworth via https://ift.tt/8sXa3ED

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the caped crusader #gotham #dcu #dc #ao3 #ao3feed

21 notes · View notes

nicolabarth · 4 months

Text

A hooded figure accompanied by a missmatched child wasn't a rare sight when you worked the hidden path, so when the zabrak and the human girl entered the hideout where everyone waited for the shuttle to take them off planet, Jen didn't look twice.

She did start to look closer when everyone gave the zabrak a wide berth, as if afraid. Jen wasn't force sensitive herself, but most of the fleeing children were, obviously, and she'd started trusting their instincts.

Something was wrong about them.

Well, maybe not them. The girl was a sweet thing, chatting with the other kids, showing off her toy droid. But the zabrak ... He just sat there in the darkest corner he could find, and his eyes were glowing faintly yellow. And when one of the adults tried to approach his protegé he stared until they backed off.

It was by the end of Jen's shift when Kob came to her, looking worried. "That zabrak," he said.

"Gives you the creeps, doesn't he?" Jen agreed.

Kob nodded. "But not just that. That symbol he's wearing around his neck? I've seen it before."

Jen cocked her head curiously.

"Crime syndicate," Kob said. "Crimson Dawn."

Fuck.

Jen didn't dare look directly at the zabrak but risked another glance from the corner of her eyes. The girl was telling him something, smiling, half climbing into his lap, and her bore it patiently, replied in a soft voice, barely audible where Jen was standing.

"You know what," Jen said finally. "If someone from a crime syndicate wants to get a force sensitive child to safety, I'm not going to be the one to tell them to fuck off."

"I don't mean just anyone from a crime syndicate," Kob insisted. "I mean their leader. I heard he was a red zabrak with black tattoos. Most vicious bastard in the galaxy's underworld."

Jen swallowed, risked another glance. The girl said something and the zabrak scowled, but that only made her laugh. He lifted a finger at her, clearly trying to chide her, and she shook her head, not impressed.

"Well," Jen said, "we have two options here. Either we tell the leader of the crimson dawn that he's not welcome here or we help him like we help everyone else."

"You don't understand!" Kob said. "That guy's body count is insane! He's dangerous."

"Oh, I do understand," Jen said. "That's exactly why I won't be the one telling him to fuck off."

"Hm ..." Now Kob risked a glance too. "That girl seems to like him."

Jen nodded.

"Doesn't look like he's abducting her or anything."

Jen nodded again.

"Maybe she's lucky, having someone like that protecting her."

Jen nodded a third time.

"I guess the less we know the better, hm?" Kob tried to sound cheerful.

"I guess you're right," Jen agreed.

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

Inspired by this post. And therefore entirely @dathomirdumpsterfires fault

#darth maul #leia organa #star wars #kenobi show but kenobi is dead and his force ghost bullies maul into taking over

46 notes · View notes

spr1ng1ocked · 2 months

Text

“we have robin at home” WHAT THE HELL IS THIS 😭‼️‼️ (get this loser’s story below the cut)

Crow is my Gothamsona/Batsona. He is a batman fan turned hopeful vigilante. With little crime fighting experience, no formal training, and much harsher views on justice than the bat, they clash when they first meet. He has more of a Red Hood-esque view on Gotham, adopting guns in favor of martial weapons (this is also largely due to his lack of combat experience). He desperately wants to be Batman’s next sidekick, doing everything he can to impress him. He emulates the Bat (more accurately, attempts to) in both fighting style and costume design, even designing his logo to look similar to his idol’s. For years Batman will turn him down, scold him for his reckless behavior and use of firearms, but, eventually, the two come to a sort of middle ground when Bruce finds himself without a Robin. In Dick Grayson’s absence while he lead the titan’s the Bat was without a sidekick, but that was a role Crow was more than willing to fulfill. Crow is always the second option, if Dick is in the picture, Crow is hardly relevant. He’s just the backup when Batman’s real help isn’t available. In time he manages to establish himself as his own hero, a Batman who is willing to do what’s necessary. Though he is much less extreme than the Red Hood, only advocating for permanent solutions to more unfixable problems (I.E. the Joker), the fact he thinks of gunning them down at all does lead to the occasional argument between him and Bruce. while attempting to make more of a name for himself in Gotham and establish that he’s not just some wannabe superhero, he starts his own team, the syndicate. He is primarily based in Gotham, and in time, a more accepted member of the Bat-Family, he plays a sort of Nightwing or BatWoman type of role, he is his own hero but will work with Bruce. However, despite his attachment to the city and adoration for Batman and Robin, he is known to travel between cities alongside the syndicate, primarily between Central and Metropolis. Even when working with Batman he never quite shakes his adoration of the hero, he always sees him as his idol, his goal, everything he strives to be even if Batman doesn’t take him under his wing the same way he did the Robins. He and Dick Grayson were close in age, and in time decently close friends, but for the Robins following Grayson, he tried to act as more of a mentor. He especially connected with Damian Wayne, who he tried to understand despite the boy’s clear disdain for others when he first arrived in Gotham. He is perhaps Gotham’s lamest hero, having donned his cape purely for the Batman’s attention, but in time he found himself growing into his own hero, due in no small part to his team and the Bat family.

#digital artist #artists on tumblr #digital art #queer artist #fanart #batman #batman fanart #batman fandom #dc fanart #my persona #batsona #spr1ng1ocked ocs

21 notes · View notes

50cal-fullauto-astarion · 8 months

Text

⥇ rags / 30 / MDNI 18+ / ao3 / ask box (anon on)

[ 01/03/2024 ]: Went ahead and posted a Gone Fishin' sign on the door because I've been non-stop wringing my hands over not writing the last few months. Just got burned out between working retail hell season and some home-life stress, and decided, eh, fuck it, might as well take the pressure off myself to start off the year. Love y'all! <33

Follows and somtimes replies from @vide0-nasties!

Tags: My Work / Fic Recommendations / Inspiration (Quotes & Art) / WIP Previews / Housekeeping / Answered Asks

⥇ masterlist under the cut

⥇ recently posted

hot in sarajevo ii

x f!operator!reader - NSFW! pwp

After a successful assassination, König is in a foul mood after being forced into the role of spotter. He takes his pound of flesh in the form of frustrated sex. After an intoxicating string of kills behind your anti-material rifle, like hell are you going down without baring your teeth and snapping. Part II: sweet to the sour, with a surprise ending.

⥇ all works

call of duty: modern warfare

⥇ captain price

for the sake of having you near [ part: i / ii / iii ]

x f!veteran!reader - divorce au

Twenty years you had known John, and for seventeen of them you were married. After a career-ruining injury in the field, you were forced out of the service, and the marriage did not survive your survival. But: when John goes on leave, he always finds his way home to you.

⥇ könig

hot in sarajevo [ part i / ii ]

x f!operator!reader - NSFW! pwp

to leave the blood stay in the veins [ part i, ii ]

monster!könig x f!cursed!reader - NSFW! monsterfucker au

There is a beast in the woods, and it leaves so little meat on the bone that not even carrion birds find value in the corpses it leaves behind. Your boyfriend thinks it’s funny. König, under his ever-present hood, laughs, sharp in the tooth. “Anyone dumb enough to head into the trees is dumb enough to die,” he teases, but there is an arrogance and a contempt swimming deep in his bloodshot blue eyes.

⥇ nikto

your bones singing into mine [ part i / ii / iii / iv ]

x gn!bioweapons engineer!reader - slice of life

You were once a brilliant thing, a creator of terrible and powerful miracles of modern science that could bring the world to its knees. A Russian crime syndicate that swept you up tucked you away in a small, dark place to keep you safe while they moved, leaving you to die a slow death in a forgotten hole. Nikto arrives at this barren corner looking for information and resources, and he finds exactly that in you. He decides that he will keep you, put you back to rights.

#masterlist #housekeeping

38 notes · View notes

808airsoftbros · 7 months

Text

Painful Ressurection (Lusi Zhao)

Author: Another AI written story that I made when I was playing around with during my hiatus. Hope you enjoy and do check out my Masterlist

Author's POV

Lusi stood by the alleyway, her gaze fixed on the young boy, Y/N Todd, as he frantically tried to remove the tires from her car. A mix of anger and curiosity stirred within her. "Hey, kid!" She called out, her voice cold and commanding. "What do you think you're doing?"

Startled, Y/N froze and slowly turned to face Lana, his big, innocent eyes filled with fear. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I was just hungry," he stammered, his voice barely audible.

Lusi's stern expression softened as she noticed the hunger etched into the boy's face. She sighed, realizing the struggles he must have faced as an orphan. "Hungry, huh? Come with me," she said, extending her hand. "I don't tolerate thieves, but I'm not heartless either."

Y/N hesitated for a moment before reaching out and clasping Lasi's outstretched hand. He felt a strange mixture of apprehension and gratitude as he followed her.

Weeks turned into months, and Y/N was settled into his new life with Lusi and her vampire clan. But instead of clapping erasers and solving quadratic equations, Y/N was learning to fight.

"You need to be able to protect yourself, Y/N," Lusi insisted, her voice firm as she trained him in the art of combat. "The world out there is dangerous, and you need to be ready."

Y/N sparred with Lusi tirelessly, his determination fueled by his desire to prove himself. Slowly, he began to develop an uncanny skill for fighting.

One fateful night, Y/N grew tired of the crime plaguing the city. His blood boiled with righteous fury, and he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Lusi, I have to do this," Y/N pleaded, his jaw set with determination. "I want to take down the mafia clan that killed my parents."

Lusi's eyes filled with worry as she observed her young protege. She understood his thirst for vengeance but feared the consequences. "Please, Y/N, let us help you. You're not ready to take on the entire mafia alone."

Y/N's eyes hardened, and he shook his head. "I have to do this on my own. Don't worry. I'll be back."

As Y/N ventured into the den of the mafia clan, Lusi fought off a horde of goons who attempted to prevent her from following him. A fierce battle raged, but she knew time was running out.

Inside the warehouse, Y/N found himself outnumbered and overwhelmed. He fought valiantly, but the boss of the mafia clan proved to be his match.

The boss smirked, bloodlust gleaming in his eyes. "You think you can take me down, kid? You're nothing but a rat caught in a trap.

Though battered and bruised, Y/N refused to succumb to fear. He locked eyes with the boss, a defiant fire burning within him. "I may be a rat, but even rats bite back."

Just as Y/N was about to deliver a final blow to the mafia boss, an explosion ripped through the warehouse. Chaos ensued, engulfing Y/N in a sea of flames.

Lusi fought her way toward the warehouse, her heart pounding in her chest. But as she finally reached the entrance, the sight before her shattered her soul.

Flames danced in her tear-filled eyes as she saw the lifeless body of Y/N amid the wreckage. Grief washed over her, consuming her entirely.

As the years passed, Lusi mourned for the loss of Y/N, berating herself for not being able to save him. The world grew darker, and crime seized the city tighter in its clutches.

Until one day, news reached Lusi's ears of an enigmatic anti-hero known as the Red Hood, who had miraculously taken control of the city's crime syndicates

Intrigued and suspicious, Lusi set out to uncover the truth behind the Red Hood's sudden rise to power. Her instincts told her there was more to this vigilante than met the eye.

The streets of Beijing were shrouded in darkness as the Red Hood emerged from the shadows. Lusi observed him from a distance, her senses heightened, ready to strike. The Red Hood turned, his piercing gaze meeting Lusi's eyes. A smirk played on his lips as he twirled a silver dagger in his hand. "You still haven't lost your touch, Lusi," he taunted.

The sound of her real name falling from the Red Hood's lips sent a chill down Lusi's spine. How did he know? Who was this mysterious figure, taunting her with familiarity?

Determined to uncover the truth, Lusi set about examining surveillance footage, hoping to catch any glimpse of the Red Hood's true identity.

Days melded into nights, as Lusi meticulously studied every frame, every movement, determined to find the key that unlocked the identity of the Red Hood.

A sudden gasp escaped Lusi's lips as she stumbled upon a significant revelation. The Red Hood's blood stained her sword during their last encounter - a source of DNA to be tested. Shen Xiaoting, the clan's expert in all things scientific, took charge of the DNA testing.

Excitement and apprehension mingled within the group as they awaited the results.

Time seemed to stretch into eternity as the DNA results finally arrived. The clan gathered, their eyes fixated on the paper in Shen Xiaoting's trembling hands.

Shen Xiaoting's voice trembled as she spoke. "The DNA results... they match. The Red Hood is Y/N. He's still alive."

Shock rippled through the clan, their emotions a chaotic whirlwind of joy, confusion, and apprehension. Their lost brother, their fallen comrade, had returned to them, but in what state?

Determined to find answers, Lusi sought out the person she believed held the key to this cruel twist of fate - Ra's al Ghul, the mastermind behind the Lazarus Pit.

Ra's al Ghul, cloaked in shadows, offered a melancholic smile as he revealed the truth. "I stole Y/N's body, dipped it in the Lazarus Pit, but I did not foresee the monstrous result."

The weight of Ra's al Ghul's revelation pressed heavy upon Lucy's shoulders. Thoughts of vengeance and redemption warred within her mind.

Against her sister's cautionary advice, Lusi made the difficult decision to confront Y/N, to face the monster he had become and bring him back into the light.

The alleyway was filled with an eerie silence as Lusi ventured into the night, her heart pounding with equal parts fear and hope. She called out Y/N's name, her voice laced with desperation.

The Red Hood emerged from the darkness, his eyes cold and devoid of the warmth Lucy once knew. "So, you came to face the monster I've become, Lusi?" he sneered.

Determined to reach the remnants of the Y/N she once knew, Lusi stood her ground. "You are not a monster, Y/N. I won't let you believe that lie. You're still my family."

The air crackled with tension as the two clashed, their skills matched with an eerie synchronicity. Each strike and parry echoed the bond that once bound them together.

Sweat drenched Lusi's brow as she fought against the Red Hood's relentless assault. Her heart ached with each blow, longing for the gentle soul she had lost.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, Y/N's expression faltered. The light of recognition flickered within his eyes as Lucy managed to cut his arm, their blood mingling on her sword.

The pain of the wound seemed to jolt Y/N's consciousness back, if only for a fleeting moment. He faltered and stared at Lusi, his voice laced with confusion. "Lusi...?"

Tears welled in Lusi's eyes as she whispered, her words a bittersweet plea. "Come back to me, Y/N. Fight against the darkness that consumes you. Remember who you once were."

The weight of his sister's words bore down upon Y/N's fragmented mind. Emotions long buried beneath the monster's façade began to resurface.

Days turned into weeks, and Y/N woke up with a throbbing headache, his memories slowly returning. The atrocities he had committed haunted him, leaving him plagued by regret and guilt.

Surrounding him, the clan welcomed him back, overjoyed to have him once again, even if the price paid was steep. Yet, their smiles held a tinge of sadness, for they knew he would never be the same.

Lusi embraced Y/N with open arms, her tears mingling with his own. Grief and relief intertwined, creating a bittersweet symphony within their hearts.

he city began to heal, but the scars from Y/N's reign as the Red Hood remained, a reminder of the darkness he had once become.

Over time, Y/N focused on redemption, using his newfound skills to protect and serve, to ensure others didn't succumb to the same path he had walked.

As the years rolled by, Y/N's journey became a legend whispered among the citizens of Beijing. The Red Hood's name synonymous with redemption and hope.

Lusi watched from afar, her heart filled with a mixture of pride and sorrow. She had succeeded in bringing Y/N back, but a part of her mourned the loss of the innocent boy he once was.

Lana stood beside Lusi, her gaze fixed on Y/N as he fought off the criminals that plagued their city. She nudged her sister playfully. "Well, I must say, sis, we did a pretty good job raising a monster."

Lusi smirked, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. "Oh, Lana, they say the best monsters are the ones you create yourself."

Shen Xiaoting joined in with a chuckle. "Indeed, and I suppose we can claim the title of 'Monster Creators Extraordinaire.'"

The lighthearted banter brought a much-needed respite from the weight of their shared past. The world had turned dark, but the bond between the Zhao siblings remained a beacon of light.

Surrounded by her clan, Lucy found solace in their unwavering support. Together, they stood tall, guardians of the city, forever united in their eternal dance of shadows and redemption.

And so, the story of Y/N Todd, the boy caught stealing tires, the monster that emerged from the Lazarus Pit, and the hero reborn as the Red Hood, came to a bittersweet close. The echoes of his legacy whispered through the city's streets, reminding all who heard of the power of redemption and the strength that lies within the bonds of family.

#cdrama #zhao lusi #x male reader #bxg #xiaoting #shen xiaoting #red hood #vampire au #vampire #dc comics

37 notes · View notes

sanjuwrites · 6 months

Text

wip wednesday

IM BACK! i have been gone for a hot minute because my life caught on actual fire, but im back and better than ever baby <3

to make up for it, i'm posting two different snippets from two different fics, one firstprince and one tarlos! enjoy! thanks to @alrightbuckaroo, @birdclowns, and @inflarescent for the tag!

agent reyes

TK greets him in the morning with a cup of coffee.

The cup is made to perfection, and Carlos is seriously starting to doubt how much Paul is really involved in TK’s agenda here.

Carlos murmurs a quiet thank you instead of screaming like he really wants to and approaches Marjan, who’s in a hoodie with the hood up, furiously typing.

“Marj, have you even slept today?”

“No sleep when we have a crime syndicate to take down.”

“Okay,” he says slowly, “but I have access to information that the CIA has spent years compiling. Why are you botheri- oh.”

Marjan flips her laptop around and Carlos is startled to find a clone of Sean Cunningham’s l staring back at him. “Marjan, what the fuck? How the hell did you – what?”

“Turns out Cunningham’s lackeys are kind of idiots because the video was sent from Cunningham’s main compound, where he stays. Really, the asshole apparently hasn’t ever heard of a firewall–”

Paul, who’s wandered over, interrupts her. “Marj, get to the point. You do this every time.”

Marjan rolls her eyes but continues. “I traced IP addresses back from the ransom video that was sent to TK’s email address and from there I hacked into his Wi-Fi connection–”

“Marjan, I don’t think any of the intel departments at Langley can do this.” Carlos is staring at her in awe.

She smirks at him, before continuing. “You fools need to stop interrupting me. Anyway, I just hacked through the four laptops hooked up to the Wi-Fi connection until I figured out which one was his. Voila!”

Carlos ducks down, pressing a palm flat to the table as he scrolls through the laptop. “Marjan, this is insane – we have data here that I could only dream of having.”

Marjan smiles tiredly, sipping at the mug of coffee Nancy hands her. “Babe, I think coffee is the last thing I need right now, but thank you. I love you very much,” she says while pressing the mug into Paul’s hands, “but Paul and Carlos are going to play now. We,” Marjan says, pulling Nancy close, “are going to go to bed now. ” Judd whistles from where he is in the kitchen, drawing a laugh out of everyone in the room.

Nancy wraps her arms around Marjan in reply, “You heard her, gentlemen. I will be taking my girlfriend to bed now, and I expect no interruptions. My girlfriend needs her beauty sleep. It’s decaf, by the way!” she says, her voice faraway now.

alex runs for congress

“Politics hasn’t been my dream for almost twelve years, sweetheart,” Alex says softly, not really making eye contact with Henry.

“Alex, I know what happened with Richards and the emails was brutal, but we have nothing holding us back like that anymore and –”

“It’s not Richards, Hen, it’s you.”

That stops Henry cold, and he looks at Alex, mouth open in shock. “What do you mean?” Alex stays quiet, and Henry pushes further. “Alex, what do you mean?”

Alex continues to avoid eye contact with Henry as he starts talking again. “That night I came to Kensington Palace, you told me you wouldn’t trade one prison for another. You’re barely free from the Crown, Henry, and I don’t want to drag you into the circus of American politics, not when you hated being in the public eye so much, to the point that it almost cost me you. I refuse to let anything cost me you again, so I put all my dreams in a little box and locked it away, because I would rather live a quiet life with you and immigration law than a loud one alone in Congress. I was wine drunk at one of Mom’s fundraisers when I was talking to Erica about wanting to flip Texas again, and I didn’t think it would ever really come up again.”

Henry doesn’t answer, grabbing Alex’s face between his hands and pressing a featherlight kiss to his lips before resting their foreheads together. “Love, I didn’t realize you had that in the back of your mind, and that this was what is stopping you from entering politics. Listen to me,” he says, moving them so he’s looking at Alex eye to eye, “nothing is going to stop me from spending the rest of my goddamn life with you. You could lose your job, become a house husband, or go on to become the president of the United States, and I would not care.” Henry takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. “Do you want this, Alex? Like without the influence of anything else, deep down, do you want this? Do you want to run?”

i'm gonna tag @carlos-in-glasses, @catanisspicy, @theghostofashton, @welcometololaland, @rmd-writes, @paperstorm, @bonheur-cafe, @chaotictarlos and @lightningboltreader!

#sanjuwrites #agent reyes 👀#sanjuwrites rwrb

27 notes · View notes

the-antiapocalyptic-man · 10 months

Note

Do you have any headcanon's for any heroic character on Earth 3?

The big two--World's Finest, if you will--are Captain Alexander Luthor of the Imperial Amerikan Marines and Jack "Jokester" Dent, Clown Prince of Justice.

Alex, despite this family's immense wealth, grew up in the shadow of his foster brother, Clark, through to their adulthood and the day Colonel Kent left for the stars and returned as Earth's new self-proclaimed ruler, Kil-Vex the Ultraman (no relation, obvs). Alex had risen to Captain under the Wilson Regime and personally requested point on the anti-Ultraman offensive. President Wilson's denial of that request and subsequent deal with Kil-Vex led Alex to defect, quickly burning through his personal wealth to build up an Anti-Ultraman Army. It was a disaster. Luthor's personal tragedies continued from there, as his wife, his sister, and eventually his own child all betrayed him for the Crime Syndicate. As his family collapsed, Luthor fully committed himself to his Legion of Justice, even as they were demoralized by defeat after defeat. In a moment of weakness, he tried to even the playing field by stealing geriatric villain Will Batson's dark lightning of MAZAHS, but the cursed magic erased his consciousness and replaced with a warped personality similar to his multiversal counterparts. He was eventually freed from the Curse of Mazahs, his belief in justice strengthened by the shame of the hunger for power he now knew slept deep within his very being.

Jack came from much less auspicious beginnings, a struggling actor and comedian whose act got him the wrong kind of attention of Owlman and his Talons. Viciously beaten and scarred, Jack took to wearing clown make-up and joined up with his ex-wife Evelyn Gold's Justice Underground. As Jokester and Three-Face, they worked with a loose network of other costumed heroes--Quizmaster, King Croc, Tick-Tockman, Mister Moth, Red Hood, and Jack and Evelyn's daughter Duela--to wage an asymmetrical war with Owlman and the fascist Council of Owls that had ruled Gotham for centuries. After killing one of the Talons in self-defense and attempting to return the body to Owlman, Jack was promptly executed, making the return of the Jokester not long after something of a personal annoyance to the Owl. As for Jack himself, even he couldn't explain why he was alive again...but then he always preferred multi-choice questions.

#dc #headverse #ask #minie-mastermind #earth-3 #crime syndicate #justice underground #legion of justice #captain alexander luthor #mazahs #jack dent #jokester

29 notes · View notes

klbwriting · 1 year

Text

The Jason Todd Anomaly

Chapter 1: A Dumbass Playing Vigilante

Fandom: Jason Todd, Bat Family

Warnings: This involves Gotham so I mean, its a shitshow

Summary: Gotham is in pieces, run in sections by different crime syndicates. Batman is dead and his children are trying to pick up the pieces. The only one of them who has established himself in this new hierarchy is Jason Todd who has a whole section of Gotham run by Red Hood, feared, respected, and loved. He is slowly taking the city back when another vigilante comes to play. Anomaly isn't something new in the realm of pretend heroes but she is something new for Jason.

Notes: Once again I am rising from the dead with another fic about a character who deserves love. I’m going to be using GIFs of Red Hood/Jason Todd from all over the place so sorry if he looks different every time or hell, maybe I’ll just use my fan cast of him (Lewis Tan), ya we’ll go with him for now

Gotham had been languishing in the gutter for years. The Batman had apparently died, or disappeared, either way, he wasn't around anymore and the Robins were just not able to control all the criminals in the city. It had been carved up, leaving only a few blocks around the police headquarters safe, the area protected by the few just officers, led by Commissioner Gordan, and the Robins. Dick was trying to lead the four Batman apprentices, but they were all vastly different people. He was the original, the one who was most like Bruce had been, dead parents and all that, Tim was the optimist, the kindest of them all, Damian was the smart one, all brains and ruthless logic, and Jason was well, Jason. He had his own section of Gotham, next to the safe zone where you could pay his toll and he would keep you safe, him and the small band on goons he had hired to patrol his area. It drove the other Robins crazy but they didn't see many options, they had to work with him and his band of mercenaries to keep safe as many people as they could.

So they put up with it.

And so did everyone in Gotham's Central Safe Zone, including one young woman named Y/N. She put up with it. Put up with the tolls to go from the Safe Zone to the Hood Compound, put up with hiding as much as she could to visit and help those stuck in the criminals sections of the city, put up with everything. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. She was done putting up with everything. She had been training for a few years now, finding all the teachers she could, studying science and strategy as much as she studied weapons and hand to hand combat, doing everything she could to get ready for what she needed to do. Now she was prepared.

She had been following Penguin for days now, watching his movements, tracking shipments into and out of his territory. His territory was right next to the Safe Zone and if she could take him in then they would finally have access to the school and the hotel, offering some accommodations and comfort for the ever increasing population near the police station. So here she was, waiting in the rafters for Penguin and his loyal attendants to appear, face covered by a halloween mask. She watched silently as the SUV drove into the warehouse, meeting the waiting tanker truck carrying gas. The driver stayed in the tanker, not daring to move as the Penguin oversaw his cronies syphoning their share of the gas. He stood on a box, trying to make his stature seem as towering as he imagined himself to be, rubbing his protruding stomach and giggling as his men worked. He sure was excited about this tanker.

Y/N waited for her moment, when the guys had gotten the gas and were carrying it towards the SUV, their hands occupied and unable to quickly get their weapons. She dropped from her hiding spot, landing just behind the goons, unleashing her smoke canisters. While the smoke hid her figure she kicked back, knocking the Penguin off his box, before moving forward and landing a solid right hook into the nose of the nearest henchman. She was moving on to the next one when someone else moved past her, taking down one of the other guys. She frowned and found herself in a headlock from the Penguin himself. She growled as she threw him over her shoulder, hearing him oomph as he landed hard on his back.

"What the fuck!" she said, voice modulator making her voice come out deep, as she was shoved aside by the other guy. Red Hood. He went for Penguin but the slippery bird was being yanked away by his cronies, who now all had their weapons aimed at them. Y/N didn't have bulletproof clothing so she ran and dove behind a stack of boxes as Red Hood used a grappling hook and ascended to the roof, disappearing. Y/N heard the SUV squealing as it drove out of the warehouse and she vowed to find Red Hood and demolish him as soon as she could.

-------

Jason threw his helmet onto the couch as he entered his penthouse, dark hair falling over his dark eyes. He slammed the door, setting the security code and flipping on the cameras. Who the hell was that random idiot trying to play with the Penguin? What were they thinking? He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and drenched his sweating face, shaking his hair out, not caring about the mess he was leaving. A shower, he needed a shower and to call those other assholes, see if they had been having problems with some dumbass playing vigilante.

In the shower Jason considered his options. He would call the other Robins, have them meet him somewhere in his territory, give them a free pass for the day. Even though several criminals were suspicious of who the Robins were it wasn't like they all needed to meet in Red Hood's home base, might as well put a neon sign over his head saying 'Hi I'm Jason Todd and I'm Red Hood'. No, might as well have them meet him at the diner near the border, no one would really care about 4 'friends' getting together, especially considering they were all 'Bruce Wayne's sons'. What a crock of shit. He turned off the water, wrapping a towel around his waist and asking his system to call Dick and the others.

"What is it Jason?" Dick asked, sounding worried. It made sense, Jason never called, something had to be wrong.

"Let's wait til the others answer," he said, sitting on his couch and grabbing his mask. The other two Robins picked up, greeting them with equal amounts of annoyance. Some family, none of them liked each other.

"What do you want?" Damian asked, voice shrill like the snotrag he was.

"Any of you guys have an annoying amateur show up at any of your jobs?" Jason asked, getting right to the point. There was silence on the other end.

"What the fuck are you on about?" Damian asked. Jason gritted his teeth, if only Damian was here so he could put a bullet in his head so he could never hear that voice again.

"I went to steal some gas from Penguin tonight..."

"You know we're supposed to be jailing them not..." Tim started to interject.

"Shut the fuck up and let me talk," Jason snapped. "I was robbing Penguin, but when I arrived someone had already started smoking the place out. I thought it was one of you idiots until I got into the mix. It was some rando, ski mask on, decent skills, but they fucked everything up and Penguin and the gas got away."

"Well I've never had someone else show up on missions before," Dick said. The others agreed.

"Meet tomorrow at the diner on the border of the safe zone, 9AM. We need to talk about this interloper," Jason said.

"We'll see if I'm we're not busy," Damian said. Jason pursed his lips and hung up, no reason for goodbyes and pleasantries. He stood up and brought up security footage of the warehouse, trying to figure out where this girl came from. It would be well into the early morning before he went to bed still trying to figure out who she was.

#Jason Todd #jason todd x plus size reader #jason todd x reader #gotham knights #lewis tan fancast #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood x plus size reader #jasontoddanomaly

95 notes · View notes

mellorphic · 1 year

Text

Chaotic DSMP headcanons

Jack hosted these massive barbecues in original L’Manberg

Wilbur and Techno (who are twins) have naturally pink hair. Wilbur is the one who dyes it, not Techno

Tommy is vegan

Puffy was so sick of being asked if he was related to Schlatt that they just started saying they were

There was a law in original L’Manberg that stealing wasn’t a crime. This was because Tommy did it so often that Wilbur had to make stealing legal so that he wouldn’t get thrown in jail

Niki is a scene kid.

Tommy used to read presidential paperwork stuff for Tubbo before he was exiled from New L’Manberg. Sometimes he read it wrong on purpose

The rest of the spineless syndicate is in awe of Niki and her ability to stand up for herself. They do not understand how she does that

Eret grows a foot every time a gay couple forms on the server

Ranboo’s other half is a skeleton but only Tubbo’s worked that out somehow

Quackity has a tree that literally grows emeralds but it’s useless because currency isn’t a thing on the server

Tubbo is ticklish

Niki paints her nails red sometimes and then gets jump scared thinking her fingers are bleeding

Tommy is in denial about being into cottagecore

In Pogtopia Wilbur put the hood of his cloak up once while he was like on the outskirts of Manberg and everyone thought he was Badboyhalo. The cloak is brown.

Fundy carries things in his mouth

#dream smp #dsmp #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #jack manifold #Niki nihachu #captain puffy #fundy #eret #Ranboo #technoblade #tubbo #quackity

50 notes · View notes

bilbosmom-belladonna · 4 months

Note

OMG So much interesting titles, so hard to choose! Can you share something about Amnesia/Reconditioning and/or Fox as mafia, please?

Haha, I am realizing I am kind of a weirdo who comes up with titles waaayyyy before the fic is finished (or sometimes, even started).

The amnesia/reconditioning fic is a Cody/Wooley (Cohawk!) story I've been toying with. The basic premise is that the head injury that caused Cody's scar just before the war gets him reconditioned as a CT grunt in the 212th. He and Wooley get together while they are on the same squad, but then Wooley becomes a POW (and is presumed dead) and Cody regains his memory and is unconditioned (re-re-conditioned?) back to a CC and takes command of the 212th. But then Wooley is found alive and drama ensues!

The Fox as mafia is an idea born from a Discord server discussion. I'm thinking of it as a Quinlan/Fox story. Loosely, in a post-war world (either no-Order-66 or a semi-fix-it) where the clones get a raw deal from the Republic, some head out to the Outer Rim to scratch out a living while a bunch of others (including Fox) just sort of disappear. A year or so later, Quinlan Vos is tasked with investigating a new crime syndicate on Coruscant; various corrupt politicians and business leaders have started turning up dead with their crimes laid bare and their bank accounts empty. Quinlan ends up finding that Fox has become the leader of a sort of clone mafia, who operate on a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and undermine their businesses with Robin Hood tactics" policy. Uh, and then drama ensues! Again!

Sorry I don't have snippets of either of those 😝 But having to write this out did make me think a little more about their respective plots and that gets them that much closer to being written!

#my writing #wip tag game #tag game #cloneshipping #cody/wooley #cohawk #quinlan x fox #fox/quinlan #quinfox #bella replies

10 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 1 month

Text

Through a Mirror Darkly/Batmarch: Brave and the Bold: Deep Cover for Batman!/Game Over for Owlman! (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people. Welcome back to Batmarch after a long unintended break from it and welcome one and all to Through a Mirror Darkly, a new mini retrospective that goes through the looking glass and sees what dark reflections of our heroes could be. Or in less pretty words: We're taking a look at a bunch of mirror universe episodes in animation using kev's patreon slots while we wait for Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse.

It's a familiar concept: a parallel universe where for one reason or another, either they were just born worse or something happened that pivoted them in the other direction, our heroes are evil, our villians are good and usually the universe is a hell hole. I also can't say we won't ever return to this idea as there's plenty of mirror universe stories out there. For now though we're focusing on the four best we found in the genre.

Starting off we have a unique spin on one of the more iconic mirror universes with Dc Comics Earth 3. DC started exploring the multiverse to simply clear up an issue: there were two flashes, Golden Age Hero Jay Garrick and Silver Age Hero Barry Allen. Since Allen was seen reading a flash comic, they used that springboard to make a parallel earth Barry acciidently went through while tying nots for a class of school children.

Fan Reception was great so DC went to the next logical step, bringing back the rest of the golden age heroes for earth 2 and having a proper crossover, one so big, bold and fun that DC made it an annual thing: every year the JLA would unite wtih the JSA and every year another earth would be involved. So for the second the next course was obvious: a bad guy earth where up was down, black was white, John Wilkes booth was shot by Abe Lincoln, and instead of a variety of heroes protecting it, a group of the worst of the worst had conquered it.

Earth 3 has been revisited a lot and it's something I'll likely be going back to again as there's a lot to dig into: Grant MOrrison brought it back, infnite crisis brought the origianl back, ther'es been a few rebooted versions since, there's a lot of takes on this, and that naturally spreads to animation with superfriends, justice league and the film justice league: Crisis on two worlds, all taking a swing at it.

And the swing we're looking at today is Batman Brave and the BOld's take. This was Brave and the Bold's mid season finale, taking the crime syndicate and swapping out it's members for the various heroes batman had teamed up with, ironicallys howing up BEFORE the justice league itself ever did. Also for some reason their earth 3 is earth 23.

This two parter was the first in Brave and the Bold, one of only two in the series history, the other finishing off the starro saga. It's also one of those two parters where part one and part two are basically their own episodes rather than one big episode split up into multiple parts. It's something I notice more after binging X-Men the animated series recently, as most of thier two parters are of the "one big episode" variety, with exceptions like the brilliant time fugitives.

SO under the cut we have two distinct connected stories at Batman staves off an attack from Owlman, takes his identity to go undercover and figure out his world.. then is forced on the lmab and to team up with his greatest foe when Owlman returns the favor. It's a fun, furious two parter and it's under the cut.

Deep Cover for Batman!

We begin on Earth... 23.

I get putting your own spin on things but when it's earth 3 in all but name.. just do what i'm doing and call it earth 3.

ON this blighted earth, it's last hero makes a last ditch Gamble: use a device called the Phase Oscelator and escape this earth to find help. This last hero is the Red Hood and most people familiar with this identity either know where this going or are confused why it's not jason tod but the joker in a dope suit and an expresionless mask.

The Red Hood was the Joker's first identity, revealed in a silver age story as what he did before falling in that vat and made canon again post crisis with the killing joke. How much of the story leading UP to joker becoming red hood in this version is vague if it's true or just one of Joker's many backstories, but the fact he was the hood and fell in acid isn't. Jason later took the identity for his own post ressurection, his own ironic sick joke on his murderer.

Given it's silver age stylings, it's a perfect fit here and a neat way to introduce JOker: not through the clown prince himself.. but through the hero he could've been as he makes his last stand. The series does obscure the cast in shadows.. though their shadier behavior tips that something's off. that and the whole "wreathed in shadow thing". It looks utterly neat and is staged beautifully, it just makes it painfully obvious their building up to so mething. That something is the reveal of the Injustice Syndicate. Why not crime syndicate, I dunno. The change in lineup is more fair as most leaguers hadn't been introduced yet so while Owlman, batman's evil counterpart stays, this version focuses on Owls and three brand new evil counterparts: Silver Cyclone, Blue Bowman and Crimson Scarab. The designs.. are really just recolors of their heroic counterparts, which I accept for the ones we see for like a scene later, but question hwy they put no real effort into these.

This sadly extends to the villians themselves as outside of Cyclone, most of them.. are just the character but EVIL. Even Owlman, despite getting two episodes is just "batman but evil" and mostly coasts on the fact that batman but evil is a chilling concept.

Part of the problem is, while I do LIKE these episodes... I feel they pulled the trigger way too early to do a parallel universe story. The other ones we'll be tackling are a decent ways into the shows run pulling from seasons 4 and 5 of two of them, and the middle of a truly MASSIVE season one for one of them. It's far enough in to know who these people are and thus get used to the opposiite. While we know Batman well enoguh at this point to get that, we really don't know most of the other heroes here well enougH: Green Arrow.. never really grows beyond "douchebag rival". Beetle however had a whole episode fleshing him out and is one of the only heroes with two so far so they have no excuse there. Red Tornado at least had a deep enough first episode to give them just enogu hto make a chilling evil versoin: Red badly wants to be part of humanity.. while Silver's cast his aside, being cold, emotionless and pure evil as he later tortures the Red Hood. IT's the lazy way to do a mirror universe: just that character but on the wrong side and it feels disapointing the show never went back and corrected this with a followup once we got to know the cast better. I really woudl've loved an evil aquaman once we got to know ours better.

Thankfully though while the evil dopplegangers are one note, the episode itself isn't as it's a fun tense ride starting with Owlman invading the bat cave. ANd as I said Owlman may bea bit thin as a villian.. but he works simply because "evil batman" itself is intriguing. It can be done poorly

And sometimes won't go th efuck away, but the idea of someone as capable as batman using that power against us is chilling and the episodes use it well, this one having a cool parallel fight between the two, with the two evenly match, the animation flowign gorgeously and Batman winning simply because his counterpart has something he dosen't: arrogance. He pulls up night vision goggles after Batman takes out the lights... and Bats uses a MAGNEISUM FLAIR. He knows himself well enough to know his counterpart would have night vision and used that against him , locking Owlman up.

Having been left Red Hood's version of the batterang, a test run before he got captured and a calling card, Batman decides to investigate hence the deep cover and what makes this episode really work despite the thin characterization of most of the bad guys: Batman has to pretend to be his evil self, and it's clear from their actions both Silver Cyclone and Blue Bowman are suspcious from the get go, so it's a tense well done game of "how long can he keep this up"

Batman tries to spare his world by lying and saying everyone had powers there.. but this just gets Cyclone to go with option B: use a bomb to empty the world out. So not only does bats have tos tay under cover and try to minimize damage, he also has to save Earth 1 from annhilation without blowing said cover.

THankfully he has help as he gives an escaping red hood a mike and while hood is captured, Batman now has an ally. The Injustice Synidcate takes flight in a really cool scene, not just for the visuals.. but for how it's unsettling. Unlike most mirror universes at worst Earth 23 just has a bit more orange in the sky. Orange and Red skies: your sign we're all fucked!

What makes it actually unsettling is the civilians reactions.. they all run in terror and Batman's internal monologue makes it clear this is a world without heroes.. without hope. Instead of looking up at the sky in a we and at what they could be... they run in terror and pray their cruel gods don't see them.

The theft goes well though Bowman is getting more and more suspcious and has batman tailed by someone we can't see. GEE I WONDER WHAT HERO WE'VE MET IN SEASON 1 IS OUT OF SIGHT. SURELY IT MUST BE SOME NEW TAKE ON A HERO AND NOT THE ATOM. Meanwhile Cyclone tortures the red hood, saying he'll break him and showing a cruelty and lack of care that's just.. chilling coming from someone whose counterpart is noble and badly wants to be emapthetic. We also get a chilling recitation of Hood's history.. and just how determined this poor guy is: they knocked him into the chemicals, he presses on. They take out his allies after he finally gets some he continues. he won't break even in the face of this torture and it's WHY Cyclone wants to break him so bad.

Oh look it's the atom, who catches Batman just as he's about to free the prisoners sending him on the run. This sequences is the best of the episode, as Red Hood claims to be willing to finally talk.. while giving batman directions. Cyclone eventually figures this out and sends Bowman and Scarab to go finish this imposter. Unfortunately for them.... he's batman. He even says the line after he finishes them and finally can drop the disguise.

Unforutnately while the syndicate APPEARED to be just those 4 guys, it's actually a larger group and Cyclone called backup. Maybe they were in the INjustice Pool having an Injustice Mojito while playing INjustice.

They aren't named so we'll go with The Molocule, Stretch Man, Aquamenace and Flare. I REALLY wish we got to hear evil Aquaman speak and my primary reason for being dispaointed we never got a followup is that Aquaman became so integral to the show it's weird to see his evil counterpart as one of the extras.

Thankfully Batman dosen't have to fight this alone and frees the other heroes, leading to a fun fight between the Injustice Synidcate and the Justice Society... wait no that dosen't work.. the Freedom Pals? Super Friends? Super Duper Justice Parade. Yeah that's the ticket.

So the Super Duper Justice Parade and the INjustice Synidcate have a scrap and since having a master stratgeist, or batigest if you will, on your side can tip the scales and the Synidcate lack theres, they loose.. all except Cyclone who triggers the bomb.

We then get an excellent twist: Cyclone.. is the DC version of Ultron in this reality, wanting to wipe out all humans and only having worked with them for his own gain, a truly sad contrast to his counterpart who simply wants to be accepted by humanity and tries his best to understand them. The bomb was ALWAYS intended to just kill the squishes and he dosen't care which earth he gets to rebuild in his image. Thankfully Red Hood shows up and... blows up his head. Jesus. I mean he deserved it, but it's a reminder this IS the joker, down to ending with a pun.. he's just a hero. He has his evil alternate reality counter part's style, skill and determination.. but not the madness that drives him. Simply a desire to do good

So with that earth 23 minus 20 is saved, Batman goes home.. and finds that he's now the most wanted man alive.

Deep Cover for Batman is a decent episode. Like I said it's hampered by the fact only ONE of the syndicate is fleshed out.. but that one is just enoguh to help this and the well done sequences it does have along with the gorgeous animatoin make up for the lak of worldbuilding and character building for the baddies as does Jeff Bennet, Johnny Bravo himself, as Red Hood, proding an operating yet utterly heroic and loveable performance. And it'd be his best in the series... if he didn't get to top himself right after

Game Over For Owlman!

So yeah while it's only been like.. a day for batman, it's been three weeks. Owlman broke out and using Batman's first outfit, such a cool little mythology gag complete with the purple gloves he really did have.

They even made an action figure of it multiple times. It's great. I need me one of those at some point.

For now though this means all of Batman's friends are against him and it's the one part of this episode that I REALLY don't like as it feels REALLY sloppy, not to mention most of them don't seem torn up about this. It makes sense for Green Arrow: his greatest rival turning out to be evil? It's his goddamn birthday. But only Plastic Man seems REALLY hurt, which works well as Batman rode him so hard about being a reformed criminal so seeing him bein ga hypocrite clearly breaks the poor guy a bit. But everyone else just accepts this. And I get it's been 4 weeks but like.. not only is he wearing an older costume now.. but NONE OF you in a world with, up to this point in the series: Aliens, Ghosts, Super Intelligent Gorillas, Sorcerers, Atlantis, Atlanteans, Time Travel, Power Rings, my boy Mogo the living planet, Deadman, martial arts magic and fucking Bwana Beast, who I love but is objectively weird as shit which is why I love him, same for Mogo. And the bulk of this these guys were THERE FOR.. and not one of you thinks the obvious: that Batman's being mind controlled or has been replaced by a double. It's fucking agrivating. Again Ollie gets a pass as his reactoin to getting to fight batman and have a valid excuse is clear and true

But the fact Beetle, who idolizes batman or Red Tornado, whose logical as fuck don't spot the obvious bothers me, it bothers me a lot

Thankfully after this less than great start, we get to the meat of the episode and what makes this ep so damn memorable: Batman is dropped into a warehouse where he meets his unlikely savior: The Joker. And for added pizaz to this reveal this was the clown prince's first apperance all season and the first time we've seen ANY of batman's foes all series. Every previous show is a b or c list villian attached to someone else, usually not the guest hero of the episode for added points. It's part of the series charm: instead of focusing on Batman's iconic but well used foes, it uses the wide scope of the dc plucking out every other villian great and small to get some spotlight.

Not only did this allow some villians even I didn't know existed like Babyface or Fun Haus to get spotlighted.. but it also meant when one of Batman's usual rogues DID show up it felt like a big event. Here especailly as after all this time we finally get to see one of Batman's own foes.. and it is glorious.

Jeff Bennet plays the Joker.. and he is utterly delightful. This Joker, while still vile and villanous fully leans into the silver age astetic of the show: he's still implied to kill people, still does over the top schemes, but it's in that classic golden and silver age way of more IMPLYING the death than showing the carnage he does. While other jokers can be funny this one, at least for this ep is almost entirley played for comedy, more an overgrown kid at play than the dangerous monster he usually is that's also an overgrown child just one who'd burn ants, whlie never really letting up on his competence, best shown subtly when Batman handcuffs him.. only fo rhim to have used the false wrists gag. Bennet plays it perfectly, using a posh accent to both seperate the joker from previous versoins and play into the old timey astetics the series loves.

Turns out Joker isn't happy with the new status quo as he loved the game as was and wants to partner with Batman instead.. the real batman. Unlike Batman's friends, Joker can actually TELL the other one's an imposter and can you know, tell that Batman suddenly doing crimes is weird and probably isn't him. It's not helped by the fact Owlman is horning in on his own crimes, ruining his fun.

So Joker offers batman his help: they team up and take out a mututal headache. Batman's first response is

Joker makes a valid point that sways him though: Batman is fighting someone as obessive, well thought out and type A as himself. Neither he nor Owlman really have the advantage, something backed up by their fight earlier and Owlman easily escaping the second Batman was gone: Their SO much alike that the odds of Batman actually beating him are low, as is the opposite. It's a clever way to use the mirorr gimmick.. and the joker: As Joker points out not only is he pure chaos, something harder to predict, he's also come the closest out of anyone to actually beating Batman.

Batman is forced to Acknolwdge he's right and they Take joker's car. It's a brilliant concept too: Batman and the Joker are usually so diffrent they CAN'T work together, but the stakes here are perfect to force the issue. it's also a delightful dynamic as Batman is a perfect straight man to his arch enemy's goofy antics, with joker soaking up every minute of this teamup, from saving a child then milking it for all ti's worth when the kid turns out to be afraid of batman, to , when they have to call in a batmobile after thier car gets wrecked (Batman naturally keeps a spare and in another nice nod it's the one he used in the 50s), tries to press all the buttons like a deranged 7 year old. It's fucknig great.

They had back to the bat cave after a chase form team dumbass, and Batman finds out something horrifying: Owlman found all his contenginces and is using them. This is something taken from the comics: Batman has a bunch of diffrent plans in case his justice pals are brainwashed or mind controlled. It lead to the brilliant story tower of Babel as Ras Ah Ghul got a hold of them and turned them up to lethal. It's something they SHOULD know he has and should have more consequences here like that comic, but it dosen't. It is however resonable: unlike his friends Batman again is well aware brainwashing happens and we now know there's evil dopplegangers in at least one other universe. It's smart to have a plan, some of them should just bea ware of that and for all we know they might be. They don't , and shoudln't, know what that backup IS, but they should be trusted to know he has a plan if something happens.

Ethics aside this gives Owlman everything he needs to take out all of batman's major allies thus far, and gather his own injustice league of all the various vilians, who apparently completely trust a guy pretending to be batman meaning the villians are the only ones in this episdoe who actually get that multiverse theroies a bitch and don't just go "oh this paragon of justice is evil now. Cool. That happened".

Batman and the Joker bust in to save the day.. but Owlman's already prepared for this , and after batman looses the numbers game.. offers Joker something he can't reisist.. his own trap. Batman dunked in wax. The spiral effects as he looks at the button and his eulogy after are hilarous.

Thankfully Batman , like Owlman, saw this coming and thus had the phase oscelatior repared. I also love that in hindsight, the time diffrences in dimensions.. was a chekovs gun: Batman spents some time in the multiverse finding himself.. and himself.. and himself.. and also himself, and himself once again, and oh look him as a cowboy.

It's a great reveal and one i'd forgotten: Batman found the joker was right, he can't beat himself alone.. but himselfves can.

It also speaks to the Brave and the Bold staff's love of the comics and heavy penchant for research as ALL of these batmen with exactly one exception are based on existing stories. That's the armored batman who even then still SOMEWHAT resembles Jean Paul's armor during his time of batman, but isn't close enough for me to fully think that's what they were going for

Thanks to the dc wiki though I know where the rest come from so settle in:

Going from left to right, we have the cowboy batman. Because everythings better when you make it a cowboy. It's just science.

Cowboy Batman is based on Nighthawk, a western hero I hadn't heard of before Kev showed me this wiki page. This is neat as the next year we COULD get a full cowboy look for batman during the return of bruce wayne after Darkseid seemingly killed him but thanks to a time gun he actually got sent through time and space, recarnating each time and each time becoming a new batman

Next we have Bat Creature, a giant hulking batman that came out of batman getting hit by an evolution ray meant fo rmonkeys that somehow turned him into the hulk

We then have vampire batman, the one variant I recognized as the dc 60 years of history book I read as a kid, and now have thanks to the kindnes of my mom's friend LIsa, had a section on it. It was a trilogy of elseworlds stories where Batman fought dracula and became a vampire as a result then lord of vampires. I.. really need to cover that one sometime.

Easing down past regular batman and ?????? Batman we have Captain Leatherwing, an alternate timeline bruce who became a pirate captin in a one off annual done by Chuck Dixon.

Finally we have hyper evolved batman, based off another wacky silver age transformatoin. During an issue of WOrld's Finest batman and superman found a satilite that crashed ot earth that evolves of devolves creatures. Unforutnately Hyper Evolved Batman, what was seen as 800,000 years of evolution hitting him at once, apparently ended up cold and evil and devolved superman as a result. And why yes Cave Superman versus Big Head Batman is something I should look at sometime. This version is heroic instead thankfully.

So a big ole bat-brawl insues and it's the highlight of the two parter... mostly because Joker spends the bulk of it running around with a round bomb with the biggest giggly smile on his face. The fighting though is great, with each batman getting to show off and freeing a hero. My faviorites are Aquaman's rescue, which has Black manta trying to turn up the giant sunlamp he's trapped under like he's turning up the volume on a tv before one of the batmen breaks a sprinkler allowing Aquaman to kick some ass, and Brain Batman Vs my boy THE Brain, which is won by Plastic man stretching his free arm to distract the brain. It's a well crafted wonderful fight scene that really leans into the craziness of the situation and has a lot of fun with tiself, which really sums up the show as a whole.

As for our big bad and his new best buddy, their defeated by their ego: both think they should finish off batman.. and thus bats is able to drop the wax thing on them.

One de waxing and a lot of handcuffs later

The villians are all arested, none of the heroes bother to apologize, and Batman geninely wonders if Red Hood means Joker has good in him. As for Owlman the other batmen take him back with him giving an omnious vow to return.. which let me check what episode that happens in.

..... you maybe see why I think this needed a followup.

At any rate while it has a bumpy start, Game Over for Owlman is pure fun once the joker gets involved and a good romp as Batman's forced to babysit his arch enemy to beat himself, and the finale encapuslates the shows "anything goes" style. You want a pirate, cowboy, hyper evolved, devolved, and armored batman beating up a bunch of foes while Joker runs around with a bomb? Yes let's do that. The show's love of just how fucking weird comics are will never not be endearing and this episode encapsulates that. These two eps aren't brave and the bold's best, but their still a LOT of fun and a decent enough story. NOt the best mirror universe story

Next in Bat Month: We have some more goofy classic goodness as we go to the golden age to find out where some of batman's most famous trophies come from as Bats must deal with gambling themed death traps, a man screwed over by pennies, and being hunted my mechanical dinosaurs on a billionares island. So a standard week fo rbatman, a good review for you

Next time Through a Mirror Darkly: We see just exactly where Darkwing Duck's arch enemy comes from as Darkwing tries to bring hope to a hopleless world. Get used to that it's goign to be a running theme.

Thanks for reading

#batman #the joker #batman the brave and the bold #earth 3 #green arrow #blue beetle #batman red rain #vampi #plastic man #red tornado #owlman #comics #animation

5 notes · View notes