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hains-mae · 4 years

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Flowers - Pt. 2

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 (end)

(Damian x Reader) Soulmate AU

Rating: T

Ages: Damian and you are 16, everyone’s ages follow after.

Summary: Soulmate AU where the wounds on your soulmate turns into a flower tattoo on your skin, if it heals with no scars the tattoo goes away, if it heals with a scar then the tattoo stays. You know who your soulmate is. It’s Robin. The vigilante. The crime-fighter and protector of Gotham who runs along side the Dark Knight himself – Batman. And you’re still you. This couldn’t possibly work, could it?

Notes: I did not expect my last fic to gain as much popularity as it had, and I am so thankful. @grincheveryday said there had to be a part 2, and although I wasn’t planning on it – I relented. And now here we are, with part 2.

Anyway, thank you again so much for the lovely comments. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC. If I did, I wouldn’t make it as confusing as it is now.

Metropolis. The convention was to be held in Metropolis. The city of Superman! I was more than excited when the school informed us, and it turned out that Lex Corp. was sponsoring our transport and accommodations.

Gotham Academy instructed us to pack a week’s worth. The actual event was going to run for a total of one week. 3 days to try and impress during the showcase. After that they scheduled a meeting for students and companies who were interested in internships and mentoring, which would last another 2 days. On the last day Wayne Ent. promised a gala to finish off with a bang.

“Oh, my baby is growing up.” Mom said as she helped me pack.

“It’ll only be a week, mom. You’re not getting rid of me that easy.” I laughed.

It was a decent trip going to the big city of Metropolis. What I noticed first were the clean streets and bright colours. The sun was actually out of the clouds (something that only happened a handful of times during the year back at Gotham). There was a lot of excited chatter on the bus as soon as we entered.

“Alright children, you know the rules. Keep close and stay in sight.” Our science professor spoke up over the murmurs.

“Ah, Gotham Academy I’m presuming!” A boisterous voice caught our attention and successfully made us all quiet.

It was Mr. Lex Luthor.

“Mr. Luthor, it’s an honour. May I just say on behalf of our school we’d like to thank you for the generous hospitality.”

“The honour is mine.” He replied to our guide and professor as he shook her hand. “With such young and brilliant minds, how can I refuse?”

It felt surreal to be there. To be meeting with one of the most famous inventors and businessmen on the planet. I thought about pinching myself but if this was a dream, I didn’t want it to end.

We were ushered into the building that we were going to be staying at for the next week. It looked amazing on the inside just as it did on the outside. The receptionist smiled warmly at us when we entered. As the adults talked about where to place us, my schoolmates and I were left in a waiting area with large, soft sofas. I sighed in delight thinking this day couldn’t get any better.

The briefing was short, and we were sent to our rooms to freshen up before dinner. If I thought the lounge was awesome, the bedrooms were 5 times more. The walls were cream in colour, and the furniture’s light tan tint complimented the aesthetic. Two queen sized beds since were to stay in pairs. Bright yellow flowers on beautifully painted vases stood on each of our bedside tables.

I took the bed closest to the window, and placed my bags on the floor. My roommate didn’t mind as she unzipped her suitcase and began to make herself at home. As we shuffled around placing our belongings in their respective areas, I couldn’t help but wonder if Robin would be here. It was a million to one chance since many schools from Gotham were involved, but still, I hoped.

You don’t even who he is, or even how he looks like under that mask — my inner muse said pointedly. I sighed, knowing it was right.

That evening I opted to go to the dining hall a little earlier than expected. I didn’t have any friends around, since it was limited to one student per section. So I found myself alone sitting on a table with my name printed all fancy on a card. I sighed, pulling out my phone and going over the slides of my presentation for the invention.

“Good evening.” A presence alerted me and I fumbled as my phone slipped from my hands.

They caught it in one swoop.

I looked up and found myself face to face with a pair of clear forest green eyes.

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you. My name is Damian Wayne.” His tone was clipped as he handed me my phone, like he wanted to be anywhere else but here.

I swallowed thickly, I’m sure I looked flustered, he seemed like he was in a bad mood. Quickly clearing my throat I took my phone from him and introduced myself as quickly as I could.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He said stiffly and sat down beside me.

There must’ve been a mistake on the placement of the name cards. Usually they would assign our seats in accordance to our sections. Mine should be at the last... and oh my god his name is next to mine?! How did I not notice this???

“The - the pleasure is mine.” I said nervously and tucked my phone back in my pocket.

I may not be part of any of his (or his brothers’) fan club, but I wasn’t living under a rock. Damian Wayne. Son of Bruce Wayne; the one who organised this entire endeavour. The son of a multi-billionaire business man. The prince of Gotham! What in the world was he doing here — next to me?!

There was a painfully thick awkward silence between us, or maybe it's just me — I bit my lip and looked everywhere else in the room but the boy who was sitting beside me.

Taking deep breaths to calm myself down, I noticed a pleasant aroma in the air. I must’ve missed it after our surprising introductions, but his perfume smelled good. It wasn’t a scent I would normally smell nowadays, but I immediately recognised it.

“Arabian oud.” I said out loud. Unintentionally mind you, to which I mentally facepalmed.

I quickly covered my mouth and apologised. Great, now he’ll think you’re a creep, way to go.

“Yeah.” Damian cocked a brow at me and narrowed his eyes. “It is, not many people know.”

“My dad. He liked those kinds of scents. Came a cross it one time during a case he was working on. I guess it grew on me too.”

Talking about my dad to a complete stranger, it was nerve wrecking but at the same time the memory calmed me, and the scent dancing between us only lulled me further into memory lane.

“It sticks better than regular perfume.” He said nonchalantly.

I had to giggle at that. “Well you get what you pay for.” He scoffed, and I reminded myself that this guy was probably rolling in money every day.

There was silence again, but this time a little less awkward. I still hoped everyone would be here soon though.

My wish was granted. Not five minutes later, the room started to get filled. Everyone took their respective places and made quick chatter. Damian and I stayed quiet though. Perhaps his friends weren’t able to come either, well we had that in common.

Damian was introduced to us before the waiters served our food. Apparently he wasn’t part of the convention but because Wayne Ent. was the one sponsoring, Mr. Wayne deemed it necessary for him to make an appearance.

I sighed to myself and looked around, this really was nothing like I expected it to be.

-x-x-x-

Dinner was delicious. Everyone was happily stuffed and ready for bed. Everyone but me. I couldn’t relax after sitting next to Damian the whole night. I felt his stares multiple times but every time I try to catch him I fail.

As soon as we were done an old man wearing formal attire came to pick him up. Didn’t know where to, but I heard “father” and “penthouse”. Rich kids...

Maybe it was just me who was getting a little paranoid. Maybe it was because of all the rumours I heard of how fan clubs treat other girls who even dared to talk to him other than a polite hi or wave. I shuddered at the thought. Our professor was droning on about the rules (again) and the importance of the buddy system. I briefly wondered if I could sneak out for a small walk around the block or something to release some energy.

And that was exactly where I found myself later that evening. I managed to pass the receptionist and walk a couple of minutes around the area. Not too far, the hotel was still in view. There were people around minding their own business, which was new for me since around this time in Gotham, everyone would be at home. The crisp air felt good, and I was finally able to relax. It was too stuffy being next to him. His smell, it reminded me too much of dad. The memory made a lump form in my throat.

I looked up at the starless sky and blinked back tears. Mom said he’d be proud, I wanted to believe it was true.

“Aw little girl. Why so upset?”

I whirled around and saw a man all dressed in baggy black clothes inch closer at me. “How about you come with me and I can make you feel all better.”

I took a step back as my heart started to race. This was probably not the best idea, even though this was Superman’s City, it didn’t mean crime didn’t exist.

A heavy hand gripped tightly at my shoulder and I realised with utter dread that I was surrounded. Only one way to run and it was through the alley. Every instinct in me shouted that it would be a really bad idea, first off I didn’t know the place, and if I just ran I could very well get lost.

But the grip on my shoulder was worse than anything I could’ve imagined at the moment.

“You’re a pretty little thing aren’t ya.” Another man came in and slid his hands across my cheek before covering my mouth.

His breath smelled of alcohol and smoke. It made me gag.

“I’ve got some great ideas on what I can do with you.” He snickered and dropped his other hand lower onto my chest. I gasped in fear.

No, this isn’t happening.

They pushed me further into the alley, away from prying eyes, and into to the shadows. The man started to grope my waist and hips.

This isn’t happening!

I wanted to fight back, wanted to bite his hand and shout, but my body was frozen. I was in shock. My inner voice was yelling at me to do something, to do anything! But fear clasped me tight and hard.

Then he forced his dirt calloused hand under my shirt and touched my breast.

That snapped me out of it.

With a sense of need to survive I dug my elbow into the man who was holding me and shoved the one in front with as much force as I could muster, exactly how dad taught me. They grunted in pain, and their hold on me lifted. I bolted down the dimly lit passage as soon as I was free.

But they didn’t stop. They called after me, swearing and cursing slurs as they ran. Their footsteps echoed along the tight alley. How many of them were there? 4?

They chanted along what they were planning on doing with me once they catch me. It was horrible. My throat tightening in disgust. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how their minds worked. The tears were beginning to fall as every turn I took only lead deeper into the maze.

I kept running, taking quick sharp turns in the hopes to loose them. I refused to go like this. But my heart plummeted as soon as I faced a dead end.

They were all laughing at my demise, taking their time to get to me so the fear really soaked in. They strolled and taunted. Taking out their ropes and knives from their coat pockets.

“This was a really stupid idea...” I whimpered to myself, wiping my wet cheeks furiously as I did.

“No shit.” I instantly recognised the voice. “We really need to stop meeting like this.”

A figure dropped in front of me, clad in familiar colours. I felt my knees go weak and a new wave of tears started to fall. I sobbed in relief.

Robin pulled out his katana and growled at the men.

“Do not touch her.” He spat at them.

“Robin? But isn’t he supposed to be with the Bat?” One of them questioned, but he was outright ignored.

Their leader, the one who groped me, laughed. A loud barking sort of laughter.

“Don’t touch her?” He mimicked. “But I already have. Must say, she’s quite soft.” He leered at me, I could feel him undressing me with his eyes and I instantly clutched my jacket tighter.

“Bastard!” Robin shouted and threw himself into battle.

They didn’t look worried though.

“You’re just a boy!” They yelled at him as they aimed to kill.

It didn’t phase him as he attacked with the same precision as he did before. Their bullets were evaded with his quick movements. I protected my head with my arms and dashed behind a corner full of crates.

“Excuse me.”

I turned to the person next to me.

He offered a smile, and I noticed his feet weren’t touching the ground. He was hovering over the air.

“Quit stalling Superboy!” Robin grunted. “Take her someplace safe!”

“You heard him.” He told me, and carried me bridal style before flying away.

I clutched on to him as the ground became further and further away.

“Wait — what about Robin?” My voice sounded weak but I didn’t want to just leave him behind.

Superboy looked at me and grinned. “He’ll be okay.”

He set me down on the roof of a building just above the fight.

“Can you wait here a moment? We’ll be right back.”

He looked a few years older, dressed in his father’s colors and symbol proudly plastered on the middle of his chest.

I managed a small nod before he zipped back down and joined the fight. With a bit more courage I peered down and watched as they bravely fought the men. Superboy withheld from using his lasers too much, I suppose since they were in such an enclosed space. Robin on the other hand looked like he was putting everything he had out there.

It ended quite fast, with the men tied up in a rope. Robin seemed to be talking to Superboy, the metahuman nodded once and pointed up where I was standing. I quickly looked away and walked back.

A grappling hook shot up before hooking itself to the side of the building. Robin swung forward and landed gracefully in front of me. He looked angry.

I tried not to look at him straight in the eye, hoping to make myself smaller.

“Did they hurt you?” He asked, his voice filled with concern but still laced with a little venom.

I bit my bottom lip to keep it from quivering, I felt so ashamed, and so used. I felt dirty.

“He touched me...” I chocked out, trying to keep the tears at bay and failing.

Robin clenched his fists.

“What were you doing outside at this hour?”

“I - I just wanted to take a walk. I didn’t - it wasn’t -“ I was shaking. All I wanted to do was go back home and hide under my covers.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. I heard him walk up to me and hold my chin, turning it towards him as he wiped the tears.

“Stop crying.” He said. “You’re safe now.”

Not being able to help it, I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. I wasn’t an overly physical type of person but I needed something solid, something safe, to clutch on to after what just happened. I wished my mom was here, but then I also didn’t since all this would do would only worry her more. I dreaded the fact that I needed to tell her what happened. But for now I just breathed in and out, trying to calm myself. Robins arms slowly encircled me, and he patted my shoulder awkwardly.

Wait — this smell…

Arabian oud.

I tensed, and pushed back. Robin looked a little confused at the suddenly change but loosened the hug.

My heart started to race as I looked up at his face. No way, there has to be hundreds with the same perfume, right? I couldn’t, or rather didn’t want to believe it. Was it really him under this mask? I wish I could give myself an answer but I was terrified of what I would find if I looked. I was both mad yet relieved that I didn’t look too closely at his face during dinner or else it might be too easy to pick apart his features. The mask only hid so much. I must’ve been eyeing him for too long because Robin gave me a questioning look.

“I -“ I quickly put a slight distance between us and cleared my throat, hoping the heat on my cheeks would cool down, and my head to stop spinning. “Sorry, and thank you! I... probably should get back.” I finished lamely.

The time it took us to get from where we were to the hotel was filled with silence. I made sure not to make eye contact for too long and when I had to I made sure to ignore everything else. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to piece the puzzle together... It felt risky. I thanked him again, and asked him to thank Superboy.

Sneaking back into my room was a lot more difficult that sneaking out. Thankfully my roommate and I had separate keys so going in was a breeze. She was already asleep when I got there much to my relief. I headed straight to the shower, eager to scrub off the mans filthy hold on me. I grimaced as I caught my reflection in the mirror, my skin was bright red from all the scrubbing and my eyes were puffy. I sniffed and looked away.

I didn’t sleep that night, not well anyway, but that was to be expected.

...

... to be continued ...

#dc #dc comics #batman #son of batman #damian wayne #Damian Wayne x Reader #fanfiction #my fanfiction #robin #superboy #superman #lex luthor #metropolis #Soulmate AU #My Fan Fiction

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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Hi!! 💕I was reading across your medieval queer history tag, and I came to the part of Muslims and homosexuality where you mention the active / passive narrative that this activity had.

I had two questions and I don't know if you can help me with them. I was wondering if there was something similar to that position in Nicky's time (?) at the European part of the world. And based on that, would it be a problem for the sexual activities that Nicky and Joe might have had? (sorry for this insane curiosity) I don't know if I'm being clear, haha. I mean, would it be a problem being active/passive for Nicky and Joe? ( based on common Islamic and/or European thought of the 11th century)

Thank you!!

Hmm. I feel like this is a better subject for fanfic (i.e. how Nicky and Joe viewed their relationship in the early days) because it touches on something historians can’t answer: how historical individuals privately viewed their own internal/emotional decisions and preferences. Obviously, Nicky and Joe themselves are fictional, so the only inner feelings they themselves had about how their relationship first developed, whether in its sexual components or otherwise, are the ones that are created for them by a team of modern writers and showrunners. As a historian, I can offer some perspective on the institutional, legal, and societal mores and customs that influenced how queer behavior was collectively viewed, tolerated, or restricted, but I can’t say how any given individual would have then interpreted that to themselves. Obviously, some gay people have been raised in such deeply self-hating environments that their internalized homophobia is very embedded and they struggle for years to get over it. Some others have been raised in the same environment but have never actually accepted any of it and have less difficulty in leaving it behind. Once again, this goes into the realm of speculation rather than strictly provable history, and which goes double for fictional characters.

Queer people have always existed in a complicated and sometimes contradictory relationship with the mainstream (that is, often heteronormative) dominant society. Sometimes they accept all of it in an attempt to “pass” or because they have been taught to be homophobic, sometimes they choose to selectively adopt parts of it but try to live a secret “second life,” sometimes they reject all of it. These choices are conditioned by personal safety/family background, political, cultural, religious, and social environments, formal and informal education, kinship and friendship networks, positive/negative reinforcement, individual character, and so on. There is not necessarily a “wrong” choice for a queer person to make, because each course of action comes with its own risks and rewards, but if you’re choosing to embrace your queer identity and to live out its truth (as Joe and Nicky seem to have done relatively soon after they met), then that will involve an element of rejecting whatever constraints heteronormative society has placed on you. After all, the formal legal conventions about sodomy in the Middle Ages weren’t developed in consultation with actual queer people. They reflected the concerns of conservative establishment clergymen, who weren’t interested in promoting social acceptance of it (and yet again, this doesn’t touch on THEIR actual feelings or whatever they might have done in private). I’ve discussed the complexity of disentangling historical homoromanticism (which was pretty widely celebrated in the medieval era) and historical homosexuality (which had a rockier time, but as I wrote about in this ask, the attempted policing of sexuality and sexual behavior was as much the case for m/f relationships as m/m or f/f ones -- nobody got away from this and it wasn’t just for the gays.)

Basically, I personally don’t think that either Joe or Nicky would have had a problem with sex or certain sexual positions, just because if both of them had reached the point of deciding that a Catholic/Muslim was their true love and they were going to run off together and be a couple no matter what anyone said about it, that already entailed rejecting a huge amount of the ideology they were originally taught and grew up with. It’s again a subject for fanfic how much Joe and Nicky were personally comfortable with being queer before they met each other, so this would more likely be a rejection of religious teaching about the unworthiness/evilness of the rival faith (as Nicky says, the love of his life was from the people he had been taught to hate). Since almost all medieval queer behavior and views on queer people had a religious component, if Joe/Nicky had gotten as far as rejecting the religious tenet that told them the other was Evil, they were (again, in my opinion) extremely unlikely to use any of those old religious arguments for prohibiting or proscribing certain kinds of sexual activity. I’m sure they had to negotiate many issues in the early days of their relationship (as I write about in DVLA), but they’re clearly head over heels in love with each other, wildly attracted to each other and have been for almost a millennium, and eager to embrace the physicality of that relationship, so I don’t personally see this as being a major stumbling block.

That said, you did ask about European views on sodomy in the 11th century and whether there was a parallel to Islamic views on the moral acceptability of the active vis-a-vis the passive partner. Since antiquity, there has always been less “shame” attached to the penetrative/top partner in sex, no matter whether the receiving partner is male or female. Ancient Greece is another example of this, where the adult man could not be penetrated without insult to his manhood and dignity, but the fact of him penetrating a younger man/teenage boy was a fine and even accepted rite of passage. We can obviously talk about how this is related to phallocentrism and misogyny, because the person “receiving” sex is usually expected to be a woman or a woman-equivalent person, which entails lower social status. The dominant male can take whichever sexual partner he pleases, and it’s a mark of honor and status for him to be virile (the very, very ancient chestnut about why playboys are tolerated and admired while sexually active women are “sluts.”) The gender of his partners might not matter as much as their social class, their status in relation to his, his “right” to expect sexual availability from them, and a whole lot of other factors. This could be and also was the case in medieval Europe. But may we point out that the men engaging in these kind of explicitly unequal relationships, which are more about reinforcing power and control than real desire, are very, very unlike the equal and loving mutual partnership between Joe and Nicky, where they were clearly happy to please and respect the other in whatever way.

It has not always been the case that same-sex activity would automatically be defined and suspect, though yes, there has never been an instance in Western history where it was placed uncomplicatedly on the same level as opposite-sex activity. It had to be constructed that way. As I keep saying, modern homophobia is a lot more stringent and explicit than any medieval expressions thereof, because if “homosexuality” was not constructed as a clearly recognized identity, there was less ability to rail against it. In fact, the usual rhetorical tactic was to just ignore it. Sodomy is known as the “silent sin” or “peccatum mutum” in Latin, because moralists usually didn’t talk about it or discuss it or give it an actual framework for debate and thus implied legitimacy. There were obvious exceptions (Peter Damian, Peter the Chanter, Bernardino of Siena, Heinrich Kramer, etc, etc) and as the medieval era went on, homosexuality became more grouped in with other undesirables. But that also reflected a growing visibility/awareness among people as to what it was. As I keep saying, you can’t be anxious about something, you can’t be worried about people being susceptible to it, you can’t be worried that it’s happening in reality, if it’s just an abstract concern of rhetoric that only a handful of churchmen know about. The increasing visibility of queerness as a category of exclusion in late medieval polemics reflected a) the social stress of the crises of the late medieval world and the usual function of Others as a scapegoat and b) the fact that by then, people must have had enough awareness of it as a pattern of consistent behavior for clerics to get mileage out of attacking it.

Anyway. In an attempt to summarize: historians can’t possibly know how historical queer people felt about themselves, if they were influenced by societal or internalized homophobia (itself quite different from modern homophobia), how much of the dominant social narrative they accepted, the reasons for the choices that they made, if they saw their queer preferences as a sin or as a valid lifestyle, and so on. But it seems unlikely that historical queer people specifically in loving long-term relationships, such as Joe and Nicky, would be unduly tied to much of that, and that has always been the case.

#history #medieval history #queer history #history of sexuality #the old guard meta #anonymous #ask

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princessozera · 3 years

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Not OM, I just wanted to post here the first ever fic I actually wrote and published

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY AS A DISCLAIMER EVEN THOUGH I PUBLISHED IT LAST YEAR (2 years ago?) I WAS ACTUALLY YOUNGER WHEN I WROTE THIS. I DO NOT SIMP FOR DAMIAN LIKE THAT ANYMORE, HE IS MY SON.

The Only Exception

(Aged up/Older Damian Wayne x OC)

The seats are filled, the air is comforting, music and perfume floating in the air. Today Rosella Anderson is to be wed to Damian Wayne. But, weddings never quite go according to plan. Talia and Ra's Al Ghul have made it clear they don't like her, on multiple occasions. But with no less than 50 trained fighters and investigators on both sides of the aisle, nothing can interrupt or ruin her special day...... Right?

Chapter 1: Getting Married Today

"Come on, suck it in!"

"I HAVEN'T EVEN EATEN TODAY!" I whined as Alice yanked the ribbons on my corset tighter.

"WATCH IT!" Crystal swats away Alice's hands and undoes the ribbons a bit. "Suffocate her and she doesn't make it down the aisle, pack her like a sausage and my hours of makeup will have gone to waste!" She huffed and finish tying the ribbons, satisfied that they weren't too tight.

"I don't think I ever really appreciated the amount of work it takes to make curly hair not be frizzy," Barbra Gordon says between sips of champagne, lounging on the hotel bed.

"That's why I don't do my hair that often," I laugh, sitting on an ottoman so Alice can put my veil on and Crystal can help me put on my garter. My maid of honor, Cassandra Cain, came over and tried to feed me some fruit slices. I tried to argue, but I couldn't hold my own as she stared me down. I let her feed me some cantaloupe slices until she was satisfied and went off to finish getting ready.

"You really are a queen today!" Stephanie laughed as she walked around the room again, holding a video recorder. I tried to hide my face, but she grabbed my hand and swung it around. "A beautiful princess for Gotham's own prince! Tell us, your majesty, how are you feeling, about to be married off to Gotham's richest stone statue?" The girls laughed but I just shook my head at her. "Me, Tim, and Dick are making a documentary for you two. Any words for the lucky man? Anything you want to say to your future self, your family, your future kids? " Whistles and laughs went around the room and I couldn't help but blush.

"Well, let's take this one step at a time," I laughed to hide my own embarrassment. "Damian," I started, looking directly into the camera, "I don't believe in love at first sight, but damn did we square up on first sight. Not many people can say they had a full on MMA fight with their future spouse within minutes of meeting them. Yet, after that whole fiasco was solved, you've never been anything but gentle with me. People always said we wouldn't last; lava and ice. Water and a drought. Incompatible. But you were the first to look past who I had to be, to see who I was trying to be. You brought me a family, and I like to think I've brought you some serenity. I don't believe in destiny, and I'm not too sure about fate, but I believe in us. I believe that I'll fight for you until the end of time because you'd do the same for me. Because you are my home, and there's no place I'd rather be." I get choked up, wanting nothing more than to have him in my arms right now. I missed him like hell, even though it's only been 2 days since I've seen him.

"This isn't the time to start reciting your wedding vows silly," Cass said and I couldn't help but giggle. She wipes away the tears that I hadn't felt form, making sure to not mess with my mascara. Stephanie sighs happily and puts the camcorder down, reaching over to hug me.

"I'm so glad I get to be your sister," she whispered to me, and I hugged back tighter. We both jerked in surprise at the knock at the door. I immediately reached for my bag, looking for my well-worn notebook, but Cass's hand steadied me. Barbra got up, fixed her dress and went over to the door.

"Who is-" She stiffens up immediately, hand pulling back from the handle. "It's Talia." Stephanie immediately got in front of me, and I grabbed Cass's hand as she reached for her own bag, searching for her gun. I'd never told my friends about Talia, but they took the hint found their way to their respective bags, throwing knives and whips at the ready. Truthfully, I was finding it a little hard to breathe and I doubt it was the dress. The knock came again, more insistent, but no one moved.

"It's your call Rose," Barbra said, her eyes never leaving the door.

"Let her in," I tug on Cass's arm and she helps me stand up. "If she wanted me offed, she would have gotten someone else to do it. Or at least she wouldn't have knocked." Crystal and Alice look between all of us in alarm and decide to take the window as Stephanie goes to back up Babs by the door. The door opens, and there stands Talia, as beautiful and regal as ever. She glances over everyone before finally meeting my eyes.

"Lady Al Ghul, please come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I said, fidgeting with my dress. She steps in, nodding to Babs and Stephanie.

"I'd like to have a word with you before the ceremony," She says, running her hand along the wet counter cluttered with makeup. "Alone," She said with a pointed look when no one moved. That harsh edge was enough to get everyone to cover or flank me again. She didn't respond to this, simply staring at me. I put my hand on each girl's back, one by one.

"Go, I'll be fine. We'll be right here," Babs stares me down, but I nod back. She caves and starts to leave; Alice, Crystal and eventually Stephanie following behind, after she grabs something off the bed. Cass refused to move.

"Do I need to remind you that you can barely move your waist in that monstrous dress? She'd get to you before any of us were the wiser," She whispered in my ear, holding my arm pretty tightly. I wormed my way out of her grasp and grabbed the worn notebook from my bag.

"I promise, it'll be fine. Anyways, I forgot there were 2 more things I needed to do," I flipped through the pages quickly, finding what I needed and handing it to her. "If you could please take care of it? You should be done by the time we're done talking and we can head to the venue." Cass read through it quickly, then looked at me again. She gave a curt nod and walked out as well.

"We'll be right outside," Babs says pointedly before closing the door. Talia and I stood in silence for a moment, before she slowly stalked towards me until she was less than 6 feet away.

"Lady Al-"

"Your still not worthy of my son." oop. Right to the point, as always. Can't say it didn't hurt.

"You're a commoner, a nobody. No title, no land, not even superior health to your name. You failed classes in high school, went to college on scholarships, and couldn't land a proper role in your field until a year in. Failure, after pitfall, after failure." JESUS CHRIST THIS LADY DID HER RESEARCH. My face burned in humiliation, but nothing I could say now would justify everything she just listed out. "And yet... Damian loves you."

"I may not like you, but I know how I raised him, and Bruce has done a good job of bringing up a boy worth more than the names he was born into. Wayne. Al Ghul. Damian. I will have faith in his choice, he is not a stupid boy. Foolish and stubborn yes, but not stupid. If he thinks you are worthy, there may be hope for you yet." holy shit, no way, is this actually happening? I'm too stunned to say anything, just grateful that my mouth isn't hanging open.

"When you return from your honeymoon I expect you to face me in a formal duel and undergo training as necessary," she puts her hands on her hips, challenging me to argue with her, but I was so happy I had to restrain myself from hugging her.

"It would be an honor to battle you Lady Al Ghul," I say, finding my tongue, stifling my giddiness with a bow, and a hand over my chest.

"Talia is also acceptable." She says with a nod, taking another step forward and adjusting the skirt of my dress and finally my veil before turning starting to walk back to the door. "My father and I will also be in attendance to this event, but if you ever wish to gain even an ounce of his approval, you'll need to do another more traditional ceremony at a later date." My heart swelled, and for a second, I legitimately thought I was going to break down crying. This was better than anything I could have prepared for. I couldn't just let her walk out like that.

"Damian'll be elated!" I yelled out to keep my voice from cracking. Talia stops, and I gush on. "I know you haven't had the easiest of relationships, with conflicting ideology and all, but he really does love you, and Ra's, even if he doesn't say it. He looks up to you guys and wants to make you proud. You being here will mean the world to him." I force myself to stop talking before I say something weird or bad. Talia turns back to me, walks up swiftly, and hugs me. I'm stiff in surprise, but manage to hug her back before she gives me one last nod and walks out. Everyone runs back in the second Talia is out.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Babs immediately grabs my arms and starts inspecting me up and down for any sign of injury.

"Don't cry don't cry!" Alice pleads with me, fanning my face to prevent the tears from falling.

"Talia hugged her, check her back and skirt for anything weird," I look over to Stephanie, who was staring down at her camcorder. Had she left that hidden on the bed? I didn't even notice. But it was so sweet. I could show Damian later all the sweet words his mother said about him.

"Jesus, you're so teary today," Cass mumbles as she does her own inspection of my dress. When she's done, she sees my tears are of joy, so she hugs me. "Your journal's impressive," she says handing back my heart covered notebook. I'm still choked up and trying not to bawl in relief so once everyone was satisfied that I wasn't going to drop dead in the middle of the aisle, they sat me down so I could calm down while they finished up. I collected myself, the extremity of these emotions leaving me exhausted. I drifted off with the warm glow of my friend's laughter and love filling the air.

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

"No way, you did not fall asleep!"

"Get up get up get up!"

"Cass, I'm fully warning you right now. If she falls asleep at the ceremony like this, I'm throwing my bouquet at her head"

"You might have to beat Stephanie to it," Cass giggles, as she gently shakes me awake. I take a second to reorient myself, blinking the drowsiness out of my eyes, and stretching.

"Ooh, we could coordinate it though!" Stephanie perks up, "if she falls asleep; Alice and Crystal, take your flowers and make it rain, and then Babs, Cass and I hit her in the head. Guaranteed it'll wake her up!" We all laugh and I get up, taking a minute to appreciate my beautiful friends. It was a debated choice, but the deep purple fit everyone perfectly. We did have to make a few adjustments to Stephanie's overall look though, to keep her from looking too similar to her alter ego, Spoiler. Bouquet in every pair of hands, key cards in garter wallets and phones on silent, we made our way down to the venue.

"We're only running 10 minutes behind, it couldn't be helped," Babs tries to calm my nerves as I all but start jumping in the elevator. Cass also had to put a hand on my waist to pull me back when I almost ran to my place. She escorted me around to the side doors; the girls and I were coming in from the right, Damian and his groomsmen were coming in from the left. He had wanted to avoid any issue of who should walk him down the aisle; I thought it was cute how he couldn't choose between Dick and Bruce. Cass and I were slow dancing to calm my nerves when the rest of the girls came back.

"Pianist and minister are ready" -Babs

"Decorations are gorgeous and on point, everyone is in their seat and there are no fussy children" -Alice

"Lights, audio and AC are perfect and photographers are also ready" - Crystal.

I nodded, yes, everything was going smoothly. Of course, I had used everything I had when planning this. I was floating on cloud nine, simply nodding along when Babs spoke up.

"Has anyone seen Stephanie?" she asks, grip tightening on her bouquet. No one knew so we all just waited around for 5 minutes, everyone starting to get fidgety. Stephanie came back, 10 minutes later, looking a little out of breath and a bit pale, even under her makeup.

"Ok so there's a situation,- the guys are running late but it's okay they're o their way, they'll be here in 20 minutes!" Stephanie sped through the second half of her sentence when she saw that I was going to panic. I breathed out in relief and nodded, satisfied.

"I'll make the announcement, Dick probably went overboard trying to do his hair again," Babs snickered and headed into the ceremony hall. We played a light game of ninja as we waited to hear from the guys, but I soon became hyper-aware of time passing. I don't have the best perception of time, I don't even have a good memory, but I caught the looks my bridesmaids were giving each other.

The questioning looks.

The worry.

I let myself get kicked out of the next round and walked a little ways off, pulling my phone out and calling the number I knew by heart, ignoring the time that read that I was now almost 40 minutes late to my own wedding. The phone rang 3 times, and I turned away from my girls who were really getting into this game, rooting for Cass or Alice to win.

"Damian!" I sighed in relief when the line clicked. "hey, how much longer do you think you guys will be in traffic? If it's going to be another while, I can have it arranged so snacks and drinks are handed out so no one gets restless. I could also give the pianist a break, he's been playing the same chorus on repeat for the last half hour-" I let my voice trail off as I was met by a stone wall of silence. Not even a joke from Dick or Tim or Duke. I waited him out, after a minute of silence, Damian spoke up.

"I'm sorry beloved, I can't do this."

"What?" I asked, but my voice was so thin and breathy I doubt he heard me.

"I can't go through with this. This marriage, this wedding. It's all a joke. Who even cares about this mess? It's all so... stupid. Pointless." not a hint of hesitation, voice more ruthless than I had ever heard it. No. No way. was he serious!? I struggled to find my words, I shook with the pure effort of breathing normally even though I felt like I was having an actual heart attack; tight chest, palpitations, the whole 9 yards. Tremors ran through my body and I finally managed to choke out "Damian-"

"Goodbye Rosella" the line clicked off and I take a shuddering breath.

"Rose?" Cass says, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

"He's not coming."

"What?"

"He's not coming!" I shriek, clutching my waist to stop my stomach from churning but to no avail; at least I didn't have much of lunch to throw up.

"What do you mean he's not coming!" Babs demands, yelling from where she was

"shit"

We all turn and there stands Jason, looking uncomfortable as hell and very much like he didn't want to be here. That confirmed it for everyone. Alice, Crystal, and Babs started yelling questions at Jason. Stephanie pulled out her own phone and started dialing a bunch of numbers but it seemed like no one was answering. Cass tried to speak with me, but my ears were ringing, it all sounded like white noise. And I felt cold. but hot. but freezing. I raise my hand and draw everyone's attention, all becoming deadly silent.

"Alice, Crystal. please go tell the pianist, the minister, and the photographer. Give them my email so I can settle up the charges later. Stephanie and Cass, please go see if we can keep the party reservations for tonight. Everyone else should enjoy them, even if there is no.... Barbra, could you please break the news that I... we..." everything got really blurry for a second and the floor rushed up to meet me, but I caught myself on the table before I could pass out completely.

Not here, not in front of them. Don't put them through a breakdown.

Everyone was fussing, but I couldn't stand here for another second. "Go. I just want to be alone. Please. go. GO!" I yelled and they all dispersed, shooting me worried looks. Cass gave me a long hug before she decided I needed a moment alone.

"Don't move from here." She instructed me. "Go get the guys," she demanded to Jason before going off. Jason looked at me sadly, trying to find the right words to say.

"Rose-"

"Please leave." he walked away without another word. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I ran with everything I had out of the hallway.

Pardon me is everybody there

because if everybody's there id like to thank you all for coming to the wedding

I appreciate you going even more

I mean you must have had better things to do.

Thank you all for the gifts and the flowers,

Thank you all, now it's back to the showers

but I guess I'm not getting married today

The perfume is suffocating, overly sweet, fake as plastic, thick as sugar. I can't breathe, but I don't need air to run. Don't stop, move. Move. Move. The ribbons are strangling me. The garter is cutting off my circulation. Gloves are hurting me. High heels, weak ankles. My rolls of fat spilling out of the dress. rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. can't stand. can't wait, I throw open the door to the stairs and take them in 3s.

Listen, everybody,

look, I don't know what you're waiting for.

A wedding. What's a wedding?

It's a prehistoric ritual

Where everybody promises fidelity forever,

Which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of,

Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize

He's saddled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should.

Thanks a bunch, but I'm not getting married

I scream as my veil gets caught in the handrail, yanking my head back, falling down a couple of stairs. No question, I rip it off. It stings, it hurts, bobby pins forcefully ripped out. The shoes go too, heels are stupid, why are they so tall. Tall and tall and make my knees wobbly. The taller they are the harder they fall. Up the stairs, 3 at a time, legs on fire. Don't stop, don't stop, hike the dress up and keep running all the way to the 50th floor.

Go have lunch, 'cause I'm not getting married

You've been grand, but I'm not getting married

Don't just stand there, I'm not getting married

But I'm not getting married today.

I slam open the hotel room door, to hell with neighbors. Suffocating, burning, melting heat. I rip off the gloves, scream as I can't get the ribbons out of my dress. I scream, jump, squirm and throw myself around until it finally comes off.

He didn't come. shut up.

He didn't want to. SHUT THE HELL UP

I felt everything to an extreme degree. Too much. Why am I breathing so heavily? Why am I sweating bullets!? I throw my hair up in a ponytail, yank the garter off, tripping over my own two feet. My phone falls next to my head and the only thing I can think to do is to throw it into the toilet. I grab my honeymoon bag- no, my emergency bag that happened to have cute clothes instead of food, and switch into my leggings and a t-shirt. It's all I had. It's all I could ask for.

Go! Can't you go?

Why is nobody listening?

Goodbye! Go and cry

At another person's wake.

If you're quick, for a kick

You could pick up a christening

But please, on my knees,

There's a human life at stake!

I'm parkouring down the stairs, jumping entire sections, falling on knees, but ignoring the pain to jump again. Emergency phone in one hand, I order the uber, start the bank transaction, even though I have to read everything 10 times for it to make sense. What do? where go? don't know. not here. One bad jump and I collapsed entirely, but as I scrambled to throw everything back in my bag, I see the plane tickets. yes. away. out. not here. leave.

Go! Can't you go?

Look, you know I adore you all

But why watch me die

Like Eliza on the ice?

Look, perhaps I'll collapse

In the apse right before you all

So take back the cake

Burn the shoes, and boil the rice

Out of the stairway, but slammed into a wall. Around the corner, Alice and Babs and Crystal and Jason and Stephanie and Cass and Bruce and Selina and Duke and Tim and Dick and Alfred.

Remember when you first met them? He swore he'd protect you but that they'd love you. please stop! I begged myself, think of anything, anything but him. anything but this. Get out, then we can cry, but not here, not now. I watched them split up, so I hid behind a corner farther back. Steph and Cass took up the stairs. Everyone else was gone so I ran out the back door. Out of the hotel, away from the perfume, away from the flowers, the candles, the dresses. From them. And by some small miracle, the car was already here. I jump in, only taking a second to notice that it was, in fact, an uber.

"Hello, ma'am! How are-"

"Please! Just go!" my voice breaks and the tears start up again. I brush them aside furiously/ doing everything in my power not to start sobbing, but he listens to me and speeds off.

BECAUSE I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED TODAY

(A twist on this song that actually inspired this whole fic)

Chapter 2: On The Run

I'm going to kill him

Why didn't he show up?

How fucking dare he

Was it something I did?

I was nervous too bitch; I drank a shot of tequila and sucked it up!

Was it something HE did? Was Talia lying? Did Ra's kidnap Damian? Why did the boys wait to tell us? Did Stephanie know that something was up? Do any of them even-

"Ughhhh," I groaned audibly as my thoughts and emotions started to run together. It had been a while since anything left me this.... discombobulated. Exhausted. A mess. I'd almost forgotten how awfully I reacted to being overwhelmed and out of control. The uber driver shot me a curious look but didn't say anything. Keep it together Rosella. Just, go home and.. I flinched, chagrined at my own stupidity. "Get somewhere safe" I amended under my breath, "and then you can have as big of a breakdown as you want. Just, be a stone again. Close it all out. Suppress the fire, drown the noise." I rubbed my eyes, the dry burn giving me the weirdest throbbing headache.

The ride to the airport was stiff, to say the least. My driver kept trying to talk to me, but my responses were so dry he gave up. He didn't question the extra stop at the bank, even while he waited outside for half an hour while I verified with tellers inside that I was, in fact, the owner of the account and that I was draining it.

Erase your tracks. You were never here. Are you even alive?

Still, we got to the airport as quickly as I could have hoped for and made sure to give him a large tip for his troubles. I walked through the airport, undoubtedly looking like some pompous bitch with only a stone face and backpack, my actual suitcase left behind in my whirlwind out. I only had some snacks, a Nintendo ds, some stationary things, deodorant, and a toothbrush. I hadn't even remembered to grab my disposable water bottle, toothpaste, or hair brush before leaving. Whatever.

It was almost flawless. I bypassed the checked bag lines, slid right through TSA (bless you TSA Pre-check), although I did get some looks when they checked my bag. I guess overall I looked like I should be getting on a school bus instead. I sat down at a cafe and pulled out the tickets, 2 first class tickets to Malaga, Spain.

I'd set up our honeymoon as a complete surprise to Damian. Bruce and the boys had worked so hard to help me clear out a whole month from his schedule. I'd gone through hell and back to make sure all of my project managers could handle any situation that could happen either in making or transporting our different projects out... We were supposed to be jumping cities for a month in Europe. Cities with small populations, so we could avoid drawing attention, but full of gorgeous architecture and delicious food for me; significant art history and cultural relevance for Damian.

It's going to be a technical nightmare to cancel all of those reservations and getting the tickets switched and sold. Do people even actually do that? But I have to, I don't know where I'm going but I don't want any of them to tra- SHIT. My head snaps up and one quick look around tells me I'm already too late. I spot 5 cameras easily.

I grab my things and head over to a gift shop. I grab bunches of clothes and accessories off of the shelves, hurrying off to pay and doing my best to avoid cameras now as I sneak off into the restroom. I throw on some atrocious sundress, flats, and a baseball cap, flipping my hair twice in an attempt to make it look like a pixie cut. For a second I consider actually finding something sharp to hack my hair off.

I need you to not be a social breakdown cliche for a minute, it took you years to properly grow those curls out. Please don't waste my efforts. Yeah, it's for the better, I look like Dora the Explorer with short hair anyway. Tim wouldn't sell me out to Damian, right? LMAOO he bailed at the wedding you really think he wants to hunt you down?? Or what if Tim wants to find me? Or anyone else? Damian's pretty good at following people. Even then, Babs, Cass, Roy are competent hackers, any of them could find my data and track me down... Are any of them even on my side?... I couldn't help but let out a whimper. I pursed my lips, placing my hands on the cold sink to calm myself. What's my plan anyways? I can't go to any of the cities in Europe where I already have reservations. Too easy. I could go to the Netherlands...

"But Damian knows where I lived there, because of the time we visited my friends," I sigh out loud, facepalming. "But not entirely a bad idea..." I say as I start flipping through the different cities I've lived through. Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, Romania, Hungary, Austria, are all out. We'd either been there or they were part of the honeymoon plan. I didn't want any reminder of him.

Actually, all of Europe is out. I've raved about it too much. We've been too many places, we both had too many ties scattered throughout Europe. I can't speak Russian, Talia and Ra's have connections all across the middle east, and the north half of Africa. Jason and Cass had some unexplainable ties across north and south america. With every city I named, I hated myself more for talking so much. For trusting him with these memories.

Honeysuckle kisses on cotton candy memories.

shut up.

Isn't there ANYWHERE I've lived and worked that my big mouth hadn't mentioned? As I was starting to get desperate and the headache started acting up again, I found actually ecstatic relief. That would be actually literally perfect. God bless my forgetful memory. The apartment I'd never sold. The country I actively avoided talking about because Damian would get jealous.

I snuck out of the bathrooms and headed over to customer service. I had to work my way past a large group of people. Overhearing snippets of conversation, apparently, their flight is somewhere between delayed or canceled. Inspiration hit me. Give the ticket to someone here. Send them to Spain, let them stay at the hotel. He could follow a cold lead. This would give me enough time to go to one country and get a ticket to where I actually wanted to go.

I look around the group. Too many were in pair or more. Some looked very buisness-y type. There! A girl who looked like a backpacker was chilling, glancing through her phone. You're going to sound absolutely mental. I approach her nevertheless. I pitched her my idea, but she was rightfully skeptical. I swallowed my pride and told her a cold version of the truth.

"My fiancee left me at the altar. I'm going to Mongolia. I don't want his ticket, I don't want the hotel. Either take it or I'll give it to someone else. Or let it go to waste. I don't care. I don't want it. I'll even pay the name change charge." The anger in my voice came out clear, and by another miracle, she accepted it. We walked over to the help desk and I spoke with the dude behind the counter. He seemed hesitant at first, but he gave me a double take when he checked my reservations. With a brighter smile, he got me on the first flight he could to Mongolia.

"Will that be for both tickets Mrs.Wayne?" He asked cheerfully before reeling back, caught off guard by my watering eyes.

"Anderson. And no," I managed to spit out. I signaled for the girl from earlier to come closer. "I'm transferring the other ticket to her, we need to get the name changed." He looked uncertain but went ahead. If he was accommodating before, I could tell he was bending over backwards now to get everything situated. I could see his concentration as he tried to bypass things without having to question me again.

"Umm, your profile says you've actually been to Belgium before, how was it?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Beautiful and quaint. Great place to relax and enjoy nature if that's your thing. I'd recommend Lithuania too, or Leinchestein." I say, trying to keep a light tone. He nodded happily, seeming to take my recommendations seriously before handing the girl the new plane tickets. We thanked him and headed off on our respective paths, the girl taking a minute to hug me.

" I hope you can heal soon, and wish you a bright future" she whispered to me. I hugged back, trying not to cry again. She bought me a bag of peach gummy rings and left me at my terminal. I dropped some calls out to friends, blessed that they all decided to take one or more of the reservations around Europe I'd had. I kept the details to a minimum but they figured out pretty quickly not to mention me to Damian if they happened to see him. Some small part of me, thankfully more aware than the rest had the foresight to call some utility companies and get everything at my apartment working again.

The help desk attendant worked miracles, my nonstop flight boarded less than an hour later and I had managed to keep a first class seat. I sat down and started doodling nonsense in my journal, blasting music in my headphones. But around 6 hours into this 19-hour flight, exhaustion overcame me and I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Beloved," Damian sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "It's almost 11, we need to get out of bed," he murmured into my hair.

"Nooooooo" I whined, stretching further into the sunlight. The doors were ajar, a nice breeze keeping us cool. I snuggled into him. "We're on a vacation, orders from Bruce. And on vacation, you can stay in bed all day."

"But there might be monsters nearby-" He said mysteriously, catching my attention.

"I didn't get reports of any- AH!" I scream as Damian proceeds to tickle me. "No! Sto-" I try to gasp out between laughing. I manage to fight him, tumbling out of bed. He laughed at me as I tried to untangle myself from the blankets.

"That's a dirty trick Wayne!" I gasp, trying to catch my breath. I grab a pillow and chuck it at him, but he just catches it and throws it back. We have a small impromptu pillow war before he taps out after a good hit knocks him onto the balcony. "BOW TO MY PROWESS!" I jokingly declare, jumping up and down on the ottoman. Damian runs over and sweeps me down.

"Please. Don't. Fall. And. Break. Your. Head" He accentuates every word with a kiss, making me giggle. He lets me go and takes the bathroom to shower first. I head out into the kitchen, humming to myself. I grab some of the fruit we bought yesterday and start making a fruit bowl. I'm halfway through cutting the Jicama when Damian's arms are around my waist again.

"What are you doing?" He asks, resting his chin on my shoulder. Before I could answer, his grip around me tightened. "Be careful!" He whispered harshly, putting his hands over mine. "Your knife skills could use some work, you could have cut your finger off like that!" He scolded me but I scoffed.

"Haven't lost a finger yet"

"No, but you did set your oven on fire. THREE TIMES" He elbowed my side and I pouted.

"Excuse you, that 2nd time wasn't my fault, remember? Dick broke into my place and fell asleep making fish sticks," I retaliated, squirming out of his grip and started making some sandwiches for lunch.

"I really should improve the security at your apartment," Damian says as he finished cutting up the Jicama and strawberries, plating them and dropping them off at the table.

"As if that would stop every vigilante from the northern hemisphere from breaking in," I snorted, bringing over the sandwiches. We ate in peace, letting the soft instrumental music from the radio fill the silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sigh happily, turning in my chair, reaching out for Damian's hand. The second I touched the cold seat next to me, my body freezes too. "Damian?" I muttered drowsily, sitting up straight. His bag isn't under his chair. Why am I wearing a dress? Why are my leggings rolled up? I start to panic, breathing rapidly and trying to blink away the tears in my eyes. It's enough to pull me awake and I remember what happened.

"Oh... oh" I hiccup and bite my lip, looking back out the window into the starry night. The tears start falling, but I'm being quiet so I let them. My skin itches. My neck, my wrists, under my eyes. I start scratching, trying to ignore my memories. The trip to Italy, our joint project to improve the villain resistance of the infrastructure of Gotham, the charity events we attended.

"Ma'am?" I look up, a stewardess in the aisle leaning over. I wipe my eyes, catching the furious red color my wrists had become, before turning to her. "Uh, you missed your meal earlier and I was wondering if there was anything I could get you?" She looked uncomfortable now, glancing between my red eyes, red nose, and now red wrists and presumably red neck. I glanced over the menu she handed me, ordering a full meal. She dropped the food off and scurried away, not meeting my eyes.

The meal was laid out beautifully; tomato soup, grilled cheese and grilled chicken with a slice of cheesecake. Yet, I couldn't seem to muster the strength to eat. It didn't really seem appetizing, and I wasn't hungry.

The last time you ate was over 10 HOURS ago, and that wasn't even a full meal. C'mon, one bite. I picked up the fork, but simply twirled it in my hand, watching the metal catch the light. You'll get a raging headache if you don't eat soon. Might get that deep vein thrombosis. I take a bite of the chicken, tasting nothing despite its obvious layer of seasoning. I swallowed it with half a glass of water. It felt thick, heavy, almost like swallowing a rock. But I had to eat. When I didn't immediately throw up, I set up my phone to play a cache of 65 action movies to distract myself and started eating bit by bit. I could tell I was drinking a ridiculous amount of water, but the stewardess replaced my glass without it ever going entirely empty so I didn't really notice how much I had downed. She cleared my tray when I was done, and I just kept watching movies. Whenever I thought I was going to fall asleep, I'd crank the volume up, scroll forward to fight scenes and take a drink of sprite. I was about 4 movies in when I threw off my headphones, whimpering with how severe my headache had gotten despite eating and drinking water.

"Good morning passengers, it is 10 pm and we're about to start our final descent so if you could all please put up your trays and turn off the wifi in your electronics, we'll be landing shortly." Not gonna lie, the time zone jump threw me for a minute, I had taken a second to figure out how we made the flight in 8 hours instead of 19. I shoved everything into my bag, forcing the zipper closed. I wanted to put on some rock or pop punk songs, “Battle On!” seeming weirdly appealing, even though I hadn't heard it in a while. I felt a vein in my neck twitch, so I settled on music from the swan lake instead.

The second we touched down I was up. I only had my backpack so I was able to squeeze by people, ignoring protests and complaints to get off the plane. Off the plane, past the luggage claim, I was going down the escalator when I spotted them. Advika was talking to Zay, looking mad as hell, but she noticed me first. She ran over and almost tackled me to hug me, Zay taking my bag. "Princessa, baby girl, I'm so sorry." She cries into my hair, "I didn't think he was an asshole, oh god, how could he do that to you!"

"We have the plane ready to go," Zay says, joining in on the hug. I let Advika cling to me as we make our way to the opposite side of the airport. Once we're in a more private area, Advika speaks up again.

"I'm going to kill him. How fucking dare he!" She squeezed my hand, and now started pulling me towards the airplane.

"Isn't that Rosella's line?" Zay prods before looking back at me. "But in all seriousness, we will absolutely end him, just say the word. Don't even say it, blink morse code, ASL, anything." I keep my mouth shut and let Advika continue to rave about the different ways she'll end Damian; financially, socially, whatever I wanted. We went out onto the runway and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"The company jet? Isn't that a bit much?" I say as Zay escorts us in, before heading to the back.

"The boss said it's okay. Nearly bit my head off when I called to ask but said it was ok. You did help establish our company in the foreign market," Advika takes a seat but gestures for me to lay down on the couch. "No offense mi princessa, but you look like a fucking mess. Please take a nap."

"I don't know if I can do that," I say, letting out a long sigh. Zay comes back, handing Advika a small purse and laying a platter of cheese and crackers on the table across from us. He sets up instrumental music, from “Carmen” if I'm not mistaken, as Advika takes my hat off and starts combing my hair. I lay back into her, letting her brush out my hair, counting her impeccable pattern. 2 squirts from a spray bottle to moisten my hair, 10 brush strokes. 2 then 10 then 2 then 10. My eyes started feeling heavy so I forced myself to take a deep breath and sit up. The motion made her accidentally yank my hair and woke me a bit. As she apologized I alternated my breathing patterns to try to stay awake, noticing for the first time that we were already in the air.

"Please, just go to sleep," Advika begged, grabbing my hands and forcing me to look at her. I stared at her for a moment before answering.

"I did... on the plane. I dreamed of him. The disorientation of waking up made me think I was on my way to my honeymoon," I let out a bitter laugh and she flinches, looking over to Zay, unsure what to say.

"You look pale," Zay interjects. He comes over to me, placing a hand on my head and then my neck. He doesn't comment on the marks, but he and Advika share a look. "Change your clothes, drink some water, then these, we don't want you getting sick." He puts 2 pills in my hands before going off to find me some water.

"Yeah, getting sick is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me right now. How silly of me," I roll my eyes and Advika snorts, trying to mask her laughter. I leave the Nyquil pills on the couch and get changed. I come back and take the pills, leaning into Advika again so she can continue to play with my hair. She spoke about anything and everything, filling the silence with her happy chatter. Undoubtedly, she was trying to distract my conscious so if I did dream again, it wouldn't be about him. It worked, her happy banter following me into my dreamless slumber.

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

I awoke to Zay gently shaking me, thankfully a lot less disoriented than last time. I gather up my things, helping myself to the bottles of water they had around. I ignore the bandages wrapped around my wrist, but the one on my throat was quickly starting to freak me out. Advika seemed to sense my discomfort, immediately coming over and cutting the bandages off.

"Sorry, your skin seemed a bit raw so we wrapped it up," she explains calmly, alternating to rubbing her hand up and down my arm to soothe me.

"S'ok," I mumble, taking my bag from Zay.

"We called you a cab -it got here a couple of minutes ago-, but you're more than welcome to stay with either of us back in Mongolia. Neha and Juniper also moved here ya know, I'm sure she'd-" I cut Zay off with a shake of my head, and follow him out of the plane.

"I just really want to be alone for a while, ya know?" As alone as I can be with my differing opinions yelling at me and my endless train of thought that does NOT SHUT UP. Zay nodded but Advika grabbed my arm before I could hail the cab closer to the plane.

"I know you want to be alone- and you absolutely do need some time alone, this is going to be a lot to process- but...." She hesitated, biting her lip. "I know how you can get Ro. don't even try to argue with me on this. Please, take some time, but do not hesitate to call me or anyone else." Would this be a bad time to throw up? That's one way to diverge the conversation. Advika held me but I wouldn't meet her eyes. "You know what? If you don't check in with me in a week I will track you down and drag you to live with me. I'm not joking. Do you understand" I want to protest, but then I remember she didn't even have my phone number. Game on. I agree and they both give me a hug before I board the cab.

"Good morning"

"Good morning, where should I take you?" ah. another thing that I hadn't thought of. Without even bothering to check my bag, I knew I didn't have my keys. But I knew someone who might. I give the cab driver an address and I pull out my phone. But I can't even ask because I don't remember her number. I sigh, hoping things hadn't changed as much as I thought.

We're in downtown Seoul before I can start properly stressing myself with the "what ifs". Had she moved? What if she didn't have the key? Would she yell at me for arriving at... Almost 3 am? I decided to do the math to distract myself, reworking the math on how a 4-hour flight turned into a 5-hour flight for a solid 10 minutes before I realized that I had not taken another time zone into play. Small miracles were on my side today. Yesterday? Tomorrow? Whatever the fuck day it is. Since it was so early, there wasn't much in the way of traffic, and the doorman was the same one that had been here when I lived her for however long it was. I explained to him that I was here to see Hong and after some reluctance, he let me in.

Up the elevator to the fifth door, doors opening to crisp air, reminiscent of fall. Exactly 30 steps forward to a door with 4 pastel sierra sunset decorations on the door. I knock, timidly at first as to not wake the neighbors. In 5 minutes, again, a little louder. I did this for an hour before I gave up and simply stood there with my head on the door.

"Hong. Hooooonnnngggggg" I whined quietly. Wow, thank goodness it's so early, everyone would think you're a creeper. lmaooo just imagine getting arrested your first day back. I whined into the door, contemplating just sleeping out here.

"Rosella?" a soft voice came from behind me. I turn to see Hong with Geo's arm around her. There were 2 more people behind her but I barely had the awareness to nod as a greeting. "What are you doing here? Wasn't yesterday your-" She stops, noticing that my lip had begun to tremble.

"Rosella-" she comes over and wraps her arms around me, hiding my face from view of the others. Someone unlocks the door and she drags me inside. The sequins on her dress start to itch, but I continue to hug her. Once I'm ready to let go, she sits me down and goes to change her outfit while Geo sits with me. in awkward silence for a while.

"Rose, what happened?" He eventually asks, sliding over a glass of ice water. "I thought your wedding was yesterday. Wasn't your honeymoon suppose to be in Europe?" I couldn't seem to muster the strength to answer, simply staring at him and sighing.

"You have no tact," Hong comments, combing back in her usual floral pjs. She flops down next to me, placing her hand on mine. "You don't have to tell us now, but I would like for you to tell us eventually." I can't help but smile, she always has a soothing air to her. It's impossible to be mad or upset near her. " I have some clothes you can borrow; I have friends over today so you'll have to take the couch, but you can have the guest room tomorrow." I shake my head, forcing myself to pull away from her motherly touch.

"I could never impose on you, I was just wondering if you have my spare key? I really want to go home." I let my voice crack at the end, hoping she wouldn't push for me to stay here. Geo looked at me like I was crazy, staring particularly long at my single backpack.

"Okay. Geo, could you get her key? It's in the top dresser with a purple tip," Hong nods to him and he leaves. " I do feel the need to remind you that you pretty much purged the place when you left. I don't remember the last time I visited either, so its probably super dusty too."

"I'll make do for tonight. I'll go to the store tomorrow for food and cleaning supplies, ok?"

"You'd better, you forgetful dip stick," Geo grunts as he hands me the key. "Actually, we could probably find somewhere open rn. We could swing by and-"

"I was actually going to walk home it's a nice night and-"

"Absolutely not." Hong interrupted me, sounding her top tier forceful. "I know you've been through some shit in the last 48 hours but I'm not going to let you commit suicide by stupidity!" I took a minute to process this, for a second I thought I was back in Gotham.

"It's not far... I only have my backpack and the crime rates here aren't even that high Hong. You know I took mi-"

"Yes yes, I know about your MMA history, but I draw the line. I don't know how much the others have let you get away with but you are not walking alone at night!" I don't fight her, letting her drag me to her car, Geo driving. We're at my complex within minutes.

"Take care of yourself Rosie." Hong says, giving me a half hug through the car window, Geo simply putting a hand on my head. "I'll come to check up on you- and if you don't answer the door I'll call the cops" she threatened before letting go.

"Thank you, seriously, this is so great that you had my key, and for dropping me off." I hesitate before heading up. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been dating?" Geo's blush was extremely visible against his skin, even in the shadows.

"It's that obvious huh? We've been together for about 5 months," Hong replied, blushing as well.

"I always thought you two would look cute together," I said, this time with a genuine smile. I wave them off and opt to take the stairs up. I opened the door to my apartment.

It's freezing, dust dancing in the waning moonlight. I set my bag down, pulling out another change of clothing from what I had bought at the airport. I threw it into the bathroom before heading over to my emergency closet. Never though the emergency stash would be used like this. Maybe we shouldn't use it? Earth shattering heartbreak is too an emergency, fuck off. I'll restock it anyways. I pull out some towels and bath supplies. I get in the shower, letting the steaming hot water run over me.

Since when have I not been able to feel my fingers? I ask myself, flexing them one by one. It's like the stakeout in Boston that one winter, Dick brought us hot chocolate-

No. Don't even. Dust! This place is messy and I want to properly disinfect it- unconsciously increasing the pressure with my loofah- I'll need Lysol, tide pods, scrubs, dish rags. Probably should buy more plates too. Damian always had a peculiar adoration for matching cutlery sets, when he bought me some ramen bowls-

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! I jerk up, my hand immediately going to my upper spine. I breathe in too quickly, taking in some water. I pull open the curtain and lean over the tub, cough and sputtering, trying to catch my breath.

"What- the- fuck-" I manage to gasp out. I was sitting down in the tub, I guess I had fallen asleep???? I shake the drowsiness off, turning off the water and getting out. Despite, or maybe because of, my broken sleep this last day I was still exhausted once I had gotten changed and my heartbeat had slowed down. I looked to my room door, but collapsed on the sofa, letting the musty leather suffocate me to sleep as my bones sunk into the couch.

Chapter 3: Safehouse

I awoke the same way I fell asleep.

Suffocating.

I wanted to get up, find a tissue to blow my nose, but every muscle in me ached a million ways. Did I fall off the empire state building while I was asleep? Did some cannibal beat me with a meat tenderizer for hours and just leave me on this couch? Holy FUCK.

Even twisting my face away from the couch so I could get some fresh air strained my neck. Every joint felt dislocated, limbs lifeless like a broken marionette. The dust. Allergies. I can't breathe...

Can't breathe

Suffocating! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE- I panic, throwing myself off the couch. Landing on the ground actually didn't cause any more pain. I laid there for a minute, mentally trying to put my joints back in their sockets. It isn't a large enough distraction, and I'm soon hyper-aware of everything. My skin was burning where the sunlight touched, the dust in the air was so heavy I could have sworn I lost my vision again. I could hear the meaningless hustle of cars and people outside on the sidewalk, but worst of all was my pounding heartbeat in my ears.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

I forced myself to get up, groaning as all my muscles pinched as they got back into place. I made a lot of unnecessary noise as I cleaned up my mess from last night. Throwing the shower caddy under the sink, flipping my backpack and letting everything fall out, slamming my dirty clothes into a pile in a corner. And I couldn't help but look around every couple of minutes, not entirely understanding where I was. Trying and failing to compensate for the noises that usually find me when I wake up. When I threw open the balcony windows, I realized I was still waiting to hear another window slide open and a soft "I'm home", even though it was well past noon.

How wild would it be if he actually went on parole after all that? Would a fight have broken out? Would it have been like the whole Owls mishap again?

Get your head out of your ass, they're his family; blood is thicker than water.

Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

He's been helping and fighting alongside them much longer than you have you dip. I storm into the kitchen, only grunting as I smash my hip against the counter. I set out 4 pages of stationary in front of me and made lists; food, clothes, furniture, extra. I took my papers and started walking around, jotting notes of what I needed. Talking to fill the void.

"More toilet paper, hand soap, towels," I hum under my breath, not really checking the cabinets. "As for clothes I should-" my voice caught when I walked into the bedroom. It was freezing. I reflexively bit my lip, eyes watering. Instead of goosebumps, this cold sat in my stomach. The same cold in my hands, from the airplane seat, returned- lacing up my arms, down my stomach and legs. Stabbing my heart and restricting my lungs.

I'm alone.

"I should buy like 4 interchangeable outfits," the whimper barely sounded through the silent tears. I shut the door tight, almost running back to the living room. I sat just outside the ring of light, hunching over my paper. "Jeans, underwear, toothpasTE-" I sniffled but my vision only got blurrier.

"BoOKcASes, a bEd, mayBE a BeAr," my heart squeezed every time my voice broke, and in seconds I couldn't write on the soaked paper. The hiccups were my only air, snot streaking my trembling chin.

"What did I do? What. diD. I DOOO?" I sobbed, wailing into my hands. I curled around a leg of the coffee table, letting its corners cut into my stomach. Wailing until I was dry heaving, scratching my eyes to get rid of these acidic tears, blowing my nose with my shirt- moist blotches sticking to my skin. "Day- Damian" I cried to myself until I passed out again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Afternoons spent silently reading with each other

Matching outfits for galas, some he designed himself, just for me

Our home downtown- bought to have some peace and quiet from his family. Although half the time they broke in, the other half we ended up back in the manor.

Traveling for work, for fun, for missions he didn't think were dangerous.

Sparring with Jason and Cass.

Jason showing me a hundred new bands when I got him into new music genres, trying to help each other find less aggressive ways to vent. Giving him the cream to completely erase the J from his cheek was different, the first time I saw him cry. He understood that blood family wasn't always loyal, and that I didn't mean it when I'd punch or insult someone to hide softer feelings.

Cass just vibing, understanding me and letting me get close. She was always the first to come help me when I was hurt, I became the person she could cry to. The way her face lit up when we were just able to chill a whole night, singing, watching movies and simply understanding each other on a fundamental level.

Barbra growing aggravated as she tried to teach me how to do more with technology than just googling things. Her forgiving my stupidity after I built her a new computer.

The long talks I had with Dick. Anything and everything. The first time hurt, when I called him out. He was giddy and chipper, dramatic as ever but when he caught me staring and stopped for long enough to look back, the pain in his eyes was clear as day. He had just broken up with Kory after all. He didn't need to lie, he didn't need to lighten the mood, he just needed to be honest. But once he could smile honestly again, I couldn't help but remember that he was the one who found out about me and Damian first. He'd been there to spy on our first date, hiding it from Bruce. He was the first to take me out for ice cream then subtly threaten my life if I harmed Damian, the first to swing by for spontaneous days out. To get to know me, to see if I was right for Damian.

Stephanie, Tim and I bonding over teasing and pranking Damian.

Tim and I being forced into caffeine and sleep interventions. Coffee and Coke. And then the beautiful irony of us falling asleep halfway through, especially after I taught him how to sleep with his eyes open.

Cooking with Alfred, learning his famous cookie recipes. Showing him more authentic Hispanic recipes, and him comforting me and being the first to compliment me after I was duped into cooking for the ENTIRE family.

Philosophical and political discussions with Bruce. Talks about war and power, cultural similarities and their origins. Talks about Damian as a child to mess with him. Opening up about paranoia, fear of losing loved ones, the controversies of being "too much" for some people. He understood, sometimes the ultimate sacrifices had to be made in a second. He understood because he was the same. We'd give up our lives before anyone else.

It's all gone.

So much of my past, and now, my whole future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's cold. i stripped off my shirt and blew my nose.

blood. eww, it's hot. i hold my shirt to my nose, crawling under the table, balling up until i could feel all 4 legs pressing into me.

tuneless humming, watching the room light up until my eyes burn.

I have to pee.

I wash my hands, the water making me aware of my bone dry mouth. My tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. I let the water pour through my fingers for another minute before walking away, laying back under the coffee table.

long grains. shades of brown. like dead grass. my fingers run over the million tiny bumps watching the wood fade from a blurry brown to a million tiny wooden grains.

My hair is on fire. The sun reaches it from under the table.

There are people in the hallway. They're as loud as the cars outside.

the ac is running. i start humming to drown it out.

i'm melting. i force my eyes to blink but they continue to burn.

I can't breathe. I stagger to the bathroom and after a few minutes of moving my jaw up and down, my mouth manages to open. I swig some water before throwing some on my face. fever? headache at least. I grab a towel to wipe my face, fumbling back into the hall. fuck was i looking directly at the sun? there is only one place colder than the sun. i walk to my bedroom, the cold imperceptible to me now.

but the second i put my eyes directly onto the empty bed frame, i could almost hear them sizzle. it exhausted me. I hadn't realized how hot my face was until i laid it on the floor. like a refreshing bath, calming. i just focused on my heat being transferred to the floor, unaware that I was falling asleep again.

((The writing for the last chapter is intentionally like that, I was attempting to write Rose being in a type of disassociated kind of state; where you aren't aware of time passing, noting seems real, even things in your immediate vicinity. Knowing that you should be doing something, drinking water, changing clothes, listening to music, ANYTHING-but still not doing it. The capitalization/simple sentences and repetition on the latter part was intentional. ))

#I dont know #i guess i wanted to see how/if my writing's changed #YES THIS IS WHERE I GOT THE THING FOR DIAVOLO'S DADS LETTER I REALLY LIKED IT SO I REUSED IT #I couldnt come up with a nice transitory chapter about Rose's friends coming to check on her/ reminding her that she's her own person/#coming back to gotham #BUT THEY DEF DONT GET BACK TOGETHER #not obey me!#NOT OBEY ME #Not OM!#Ozera nonsense

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dilfdoctordoom · 4 years

Note

What would Bette’s first impressions of the Robins be? (Steph included)

Yet another lengthy one, so under the cut we go.

Dick:

Okay, hottest of takes here, but we’re gonna follow the original Bat-Girl origin for Bette (ie. she didn’t become a hero because of Robin)

She does have a crush on Robin, mainly because like... I think she feels that she has to??? If that makes sense???

Bette will do whatever it takes to fit in and she assumes that to fit in, she has to be with Robin. It’s a mess born of extreme insecurities & I don’t think it’d happen is somebody had sat her down and explained... she doesn’t need to

But yeah!!! She does genuinely think she’s cool

Technically her first impression of him is made when she saves him, Batwoman & Batman... she keeps on calling him Damsel after that

He hates it but she thinks it’s funny

As for Dick Grayson...

She thinks Dick Grayson is a dork, but he can do cool flips so maybe he isn’t all bad

Probably one of his first friends in Gotham, if we’re being honest? I think Bruce would’ve wanted someone Dick’s age around him, so Bette got invited over a lot & they became friends eventually

Bette and Dick get along far better than Bat-Girl and Robin, okay, I don’t make the rules. They’re just dumbasses together... absolutely no brain cells... the chaos they unleashed, utterly unparalleled

Jason:

So Bette actually knows he’s Robin, so no weird two first meetings

Bette arrives the second she reads on the Gotham Gazette that Bruce got a kid. How could he not tell her? They’re supposed to be family, she should be informed if she has new family, did you know the kid’s birthday is soon? He’s left her in an awkward position on getting a gift but this is Bette Kane. She is inhumanly persistent

Jason is quizzed on his interests the second she arrives at Wayne Manor. And her arrival is... wow. He didn’t know people could drop glitter with every step but apparently, that’s a superpower beauty pageants give you. Weird.

Oh, you like books? What kind of books? Classical, huh... thank god Bette knows Bruce’s library inside and out, she might actually be able to get him something that isn’t already there

Bette’s general impression of Jason is holy shit, this kid is adorable? Literally so cute? She wants to pinch his lil cheeks. 10/10 excellent decision on Bruce’s part, she will support this

Jason thinks Bette is... a lot. Which she is, to be fair. Not, like, the worst person he’s ever met, but he seriously doubts he’d be able to handle her in large bouts

Tim:

This one is actually kinda fun because I’m headcanoning that they meet before he ever becomes a hero! They’re both a part of Gotham’s elite, they meet before he starts kicking people’s heads in

They’re very formal with each other. The Kanes & the Drakes aren’t exactly close so...yeah

Bette always does kinda try to help him out when she can

She actually ends up being hired as his tutor for a few subjects. It’s a case of unstoppable force, immovable object; Tim Drake’s hatred of school vs Bette Kane’s inability to give up on anything

He does actually end up learning stuff. He places it down to the fear

Bette thinks he’s just a sweet little kid

Tim doesn’t actually find out she was the original Bat-Girl, or that she’s Flamebird until he becomes Robin. He was too focused on Batman and he just... loses his mind when he realizes it. It makes so much sense but also what? What? Bruce explain it huts his head make it make sense but also make it make less sense

Steph:

They first meet when Steph is Spoiler. Bette is Flamebird at the time & they team up to take on the Joker & insult Batman

It is pure unadulterated chaos

Who let this happen? Unclear, but Batman’s already got a migraine & Eddie wishes that this never occurred. He wants to go back to a time before they knew each other

Steph throws bricks, Bette is surprisingly good at riddles, this was a disaster in the making. Have you met them? Can you imagine them working together? God. I fear for Gotham

Bette thinks Steph is super cool... and like, hey, maybe she does relate a little to the whole ‘Batman and Robin disapprove’ thing...

She kinda breaks a lot of rules & tells Steph her identity that night because look. Bette gets how important a proper support system is. If Bruce had been a little more honest with her a little earlier, things in her Bat-Girl era probably would’ve gone better

So Flamebird lets Spoiler know her secret identity. She hasn’t said anything that links her to Bruce or anybody else so it’s probably fine and even if it isn’t... Bette doesn’t see it as a bad thing if a kid that wants to do good knows where to find more help

The next morning, Stephanie Brown meets up with Bette Kane for waffles and is taught the importance of being underestimated, how to weaponize it

Damian:

Bruce is dead. They both go to his funeral but they don’t meet then

Bette goes completely silent for a week after his death and then she shows up at Wayne Manor, the entirety of the Gray Ghost in hand

As far as she knows, Bruce is never gonna get to show his son this and that’s... not fair, in her mind

So they watch it together. Sometimes Damian paints, sometimes one of his pets is there, but most of the time, it’s just the two of them

It takes him a while to start talking to her. His information on Bette Kane doesn’t paint an overly flattering picture and he’s extremely dismissive of her, but also, Dick’s been changing how he sees things and she’s actually trying to let him know Bruce, not Batman

Sometimes, completely unprompted, she’ll tell him stories about his father. It’s never about Batman (because that wasn’t all her cousin was and his son deserves to know that), always Bruce Wayne. The Bruce that she knew, not the playboy facade

He... he isn’t mad about it. It’s different from anything that Dick or Talia has ever told him

Robin V & Flamebird don’t ever work together but. The second he’s in danger, in genuine danger, and Dick has sent out the call... she’s there

I wouldn’t say Bette is in the best place when Damian arrives (her cousin is dead, like, that’s gonna hurt) but she sees a kid that needs help and that overrides everything else. Besides, Bruce would be disappointed in her if she didn’t give Dick a little assistance

She sees a lot of her cousin in him and it takes her a while not to be awkward about it

It takes a lot of time, but eventually, they do get along much better and aren’t always so silent around each other

Duke:

Duke is Bette’s favourite Robin, even if she first meets him when he’s the Signal

Like, sorry, there’s absolutely no doubt about this. He’s got cool light powers, she loves that he doesn’t take Bruce’s shit and she just... she thinks he’s awesome, you know?

Sometimes she’ll help him patrol during the day. It’s actually what gets her back into the Flamebird costume, it’s a lot of fun

They have a different dynamic than any of the ones she has with the other Robins for a lot of reasons. Like, it’s never gonna be how it is with the first three, because Bette is so much older now. It’s not gonna be how it was with Steph, because she & Steph bonded over how Batman and Robin shoved them aside. Damian is Bruce’s kid and that added a different element to their dynamic

But Duke. Duke’s got this light in him and Bette is fiercely protective of him. They have a different dynamic -- because Bette has seen what usually happens to Robins, to anyone that wore that mantle. She won’t see it happen again

#q & a #bette kane

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aliypop · 4 years

Text

Some Things Never Change

Word Count : 1,319

Character Count: 7,247

A/N: A bit of a family story

"Master Bruce stop it this instant and your royal highness," Alfred sighed watching the two teens roam all over the mansion, it was Christmas the usual time Martha and Thomas would have had the annual Christmas gala which was now hosted by Bruce. "If you must know, Bruce started it!" she pointed at him turning her back towards Bruce, Bruce only sighed watching the way she looked in her dress that was covered in sequence, "Can you two just behave for the photo," Alfred asked,

CLINK!

"Master Bruce, are you sure you want this painted?" Alfred asked watching him nod, Alfred, sighed at how extra Bruce was being, He wanted a painting as a wedding and welcoming gift for Yazela as a Wayne and woman of the manor, His plan was to put it right next to the Wayne family portrait. Yazela walked down the steps wearing a purple dress almost as similar to the one his mother once wore,

"Bruce, are you sure she'd mind me wearing her pearls?" Yazela asked standing beside Bruce who was sitting in a very lavish chair,

"I'm highly sure. you look radiant in them," he smiled holding her hand Alfred stood behind the couple just like he did when both Martha and Thomas were alive, memories were already flooding back in his mind as they stood there for hours on end, he enjoyed the fact that Bruce was happy for once in his life.

" THE PAINTINGS DRY!"

"You realize when you both have a little Heiress, you'll have to do another.." Alfred joked watching the gleam in their eyes, "Well don't tell me," he gushed at the two, both Bruce and Yazela nodded excitedly as Alfred almost fainted,

"Mr. Alfred! Mr. Alfred this dress is icky and itchy," the young 5-year-old girl grumbled and pouted walking down the steps a cranky look on her face, Alfred only shook his head laughing at the young heiress of Wayne Manor, "My dear .. you've managed to mess up your hair already.." he groaned tying the bow in her hair, it was pink, knowing that it was her favorite color,

" I wanna wear a princess dress!"

"Ms. Yonah, please keep your temper down.." he picked her up as he handed her to Bruce who was sitting down at his once more lavish chair, "Please take her," he mumbled rubbing his temples, Bruce took the small child as he sat her on his lap, "Daddy this dress is ITCHY, " she screamed from the top of her lungs, "Alfred was I this bad as a child," he looked to the butler for a hopeful no.

"Yes.." Alfred laughed as he got into position, he was, however, a bit sad that Yazela wasn't apart of the portrait, one that Bruce had removed the day she left out of his life, there would stand the painting of his daughter, himself, and Alfred.

Yonah finally calmed down as Bruce smiled pleased with the idea of the picture... but he still felt empty about it.

"MISSTRESS YONAH !!!" Alfred shouted waiting for the teenager to come downstairs, "MASTER GRAYSON," Alfred groaned watching Bruce who was already in position for the potrait, Bruce felt that it was time for a new one with not only Yonah but also Dick, it was Christmas snow was falling from out the window and Bruce was inspired by doing two portraits, a holiday one for the gala and the usual formal one for the Wayne family portrait hall,

Standing behind Bruce was his new girlfriend Selina, she had short hair.. short everything was how Alfred put it when he was talking to Yonah,

"Oh don't you look dashing Richard," Selina said with a purr as he blushed,

"You think so.," Dick asked as he stood on one end of the chair,

"What on God's green earth do you have on Yonah!" Alfred shouted from across the room,

"I didn't want to blend with that thing so. It's a suit I tailored it myself.. figured hey why not.." she shrugged standing on the other side of Bruce as she sat on the armchair to the right side of Bruce,

"You look like your cousin Kate.." Bruce whispered at her. "So a badass," she smirked, "Hey artist start painting," Dick began to giggle while Bruce started to turn red,

"Teenage rebelion at it's... Is that a hickey?!" Alfred noticed on both their necks almost wanting to faint,

"You know what they say.."

"No, I don't..."

"A hickey from Oliver goes all over." she winked watching Bruce get angry,

"Are you even going to try to smile Master Bruce," Bruce sighed sitting down not even answering Alfred standing next to him was Jason Todd, Bruce tried to smile but he couldn't, both Yonah and Dick had now fallen off the face of the family Yonah went into villainy and college double dipped in sin while Dick had a falling out with Bruce, his only hope now was Jason something he could put the remaining into,

"Mr. Bruce.. dad ?" Jason said walking towards him as he stood next to him, "It's an honor to do this," Bruce smiled at how polite the young boy was, but it didn't compare to the banter of Yonah and Dick, in fact, he felt lonely without their company. "Mr. Wayne? " he tapped him on the shoulder. "Yes, sorry I .. Jason promise me you be kind.."

"I promise!"

THWACK!

"So what happened to the other guy.." Tim asked looking at the vailed picture of Bruce and Jason, Yonah shrugged her shoulder chugging a bottle of Burbon, "Isn't it early for that,"

"You want some kid?" she asked, stumbling around in her purple dress white pearls on her neck as she sat in a chair next to Bruce's, "It's from I don't even know that kid his name was Jo- HEY!" she shouted as Bruce took the bottle from her handing it to Alfred who felt pity for Yonah. He had the idea of putting her in rehab but after the picture of course,

"Can you try not to be drunk.." Bruce whispered holding back a tear, it was almost as if she had been removed from the Lazarus pit as a whole new person,

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Yonah shouted at Dick who then held Damian behind him while Tim and Jason watched the screaming match between the two go on for what felt like ages, Alfred stood in the middle as Bruce rolled his eyes at the two.

"I'm Bruce's favorite!" He shouted. "No, I'm his favorite!" Yonah shouted back, "It's a fact!" she growled at him. Bruce looked at Damian who was wearing a sweater that seemed to be making him itch badly, Jason was in the backing making faces,

"You can suck my Dick! Grayson" she shouted punching him the arm, Bruce sighed shaking his head, "All of this for cereal, You're both my favorite now shut up and take the picture,"

"So .." Ezra said looking down at the portraits from start finish as Alfred explained the story of every individual one, "You think Bruce, I mean dad will be okay with me wearing gold, I don't want him to think I'm being flashy,"

"You'll be fine.." he nodded ushering her into the living room "Has anyone seen Duke, Cassie, or Stephanie," Alfred asked watching the way Alfred looked a little relieved, this portrait was special, not because the family was together but because,

"Bruce sweetheart your tie isn't straight," Yazela said coming down in an elegant black gown,

"Yazela it's fine, " he blushed as she kissed his cheek, Bruce laughed as he pulled her into a kiss many yucks and ew's were heard,

"DAD cut that out!!" Yonah shouted standing next to Barry "This suit itches!" Damian shouted... "I Have to PEE!!!" Jason grumbled. "Can I keep my coffee ?"

"PLEASE start painting!"

#fanfiction #new stuff #yonah shanel wayne #ezra shanel wayne #bruce wayne #batfamily

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htfanimevocagirl02 · 5 years

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DickDami (DickXfem!Damian)

-In my headcanons, Damian takes more of Talia’s personality so she isn’t openly self-centered, always angry, and doesn’t jump or snap on anyone randomly. She’s a intelligent, manneredly princess, level headed, cheeky and considerate but is incredibly sadistic, manipulative and mentally unstable.

-Dick and Damian get along well and are close as they normally are. Dick thinks of her as his little sister and his daughter as Damian does looks up to him as a big brother/big figure.

-Unlike Damian’s POV in relationship with Tim and Jason which is casual, she’s more formal with him like in respect. When he saw her for the first time Dick just looked at the cute innocent face she makes up in front of him and he decides he is destined to be her big brother and second dad.

-Dick gets headaches and flustered due to how she can manage to wrap anyone (poor Bruce, Tim and Jason and pretty much everyone else) around her finger by acting cute, to which she really actually is very adorable although it causes lots of trouble for people. Even when she’s sadistically smirking. But he can never say anything about it, because she’s the THE most cutest living thing he has ever laid his eyes on, and he'd cuddle and protect her with his whole life if he had to.

-But he sometimes gets tired and geniunely terrified of her little devilish-side as said before. She is almost like Jason, except 10 times worse. She sometimes gives off a widow-spider aura and not even one criminal is left at least with gash and cuts from her sword, and looking at her eery black shadow with glowing green eyes in the dark, he doesn’t have the guts to interfere her. Neither does Bruce. But then at the end she comes up to him, drenched in blood, asking him a cute face ‘so? how did I do? did I do good’ and Dick just forgets what happens and cooes, squishing her cheeks like ‘yeah you did! wanna go eat some ice cream for a victory snack?’

-Like Tim, he likes to get closer to her into liking him and goes against his morals by spoiling her like buying her cosmetics and new clothes, always ask her to dance with her at galas, brush her hair for her, teaching her new moves, glare at any guys who go near her, do the dirty part of the job on missions so she won’t have to, find a jewelry during his mission and give it to her, never say to no to her when she asks if she can join him on patrol....etc. And Damian would secretly laugh at how quick he falls for her, but still appreciate him.

-Even though he’s glad that she’s getting along with Jason and Tim, he would try to sneak Damian away from them and to take her out, only for Tim and Jason to bust his ass by tracking him down and they would battle over her of who would hang out with her. And then the rest of the batfamily battle over her.

-But then there are times where he’s overdoing it and constantly worries about Damian so much, Barbara gets very annoyed at his constant attention towards her, but also at the same time finds it very endearing. She ends up paying her attention on Damian too.

-Damian thinks that Dick is a very good person, who tries their best and is a good figure in the hero league, but is concerned about how he cares for others than himself and would always do her best to make him realize that. Other than that, whenever he is down, she’s always there to cheer him up with genuine words of her own.

-She lets Dick choose what clothes for her to wear, making him so confused because her clothes are all frilly, cute and all and he finds himself just choosing randomly or else he gives up at the end, making her laugh. And here’s the thing, she likes to confuse him and her brothers with clothing and girly stuff. And that’s the real problem; she makes him pick which colour of nail polish to choose for her, and the choice of colours are just random shades of one colour and he’s like ‘…okaaay, so, again, they’re different shades right? well, don’t get mad but I don’t think I see any difference.’ and knowing that he’s very confused, she only innerly smirks and says ‘don’t be ridiculous, Dick. see, this one here is watermelon pink, and this one here, is magenta…..’ and so on and Dick just sits there visibly struggling as he puts his hands on his forehead and Damian loves every second of his reactions and expressions.

-Because they’re comfortable with each other, they talk about everything. No hidden feelings. And Dick likes to squish her cheeks because they are s o f t baby skin and likes to nuzzle and huddle against her because she’s warm and cuddly like a ‘baby kitten’ and Damian lowkey lets him because he seems to enjoy doing it. Dick does it as soon as his eyes lies down on her, even when he’s scolding her and it makes everyone crack up.

-Damian likes to buy cosmetics online and test them on him and her other brothers–which, as usual, they cannot say no to her. They never can. And so Dick sits there in her room, patiently, sitting against her bed while she puts facial cream on him and he be like; ‘so, what’s this thing you’re putting on me again?’ and then later actually enjoys the effect of it, feeling the softness and refreshing touch of his face every hour and would just feel great when someone questions about. He ends up being the only one who really enjoys all her experiments.

-Dick is always highly protective of her. Like Tim, if she were to go out alone to buy or get something, he would join her just to guard her from anyone. And he reaches his breaking point when he sees Jonathan blushing and looking at Damian, and would just be spiteful and intimidating towards the poor kid, to make it clear he doesn’t want him anywhere near her. And Damian just sighs and shoos him away despite his whining.

-When Damian is dead, Dick goes through a depressed state and tries his best to get over it but he just can’t. He wants to go and give Talia a life lesson, but he can’t. He has lost friends before, nothing like this had ever made him feel so empty and sad. And boy was he glad and happy to see her again, happy to know that he'd be still able to brush her hair, squish her cheeks....everything.

-Bruce, Dick and Tim don’t like it when Damian hangs out with Jason, thinking that ‘he was going to encourage bad behaviour’ (even despite her sadistic side) and gets super annoyed when he sneaks her out of the mansion and goes for a ride on his motorcycle with her, and even though he isn’t as agitated as Tim is, he still goes to chase them down. At the end they get her back and leaves Tim to put a surveilance camera outside of her room so they could see if Jason come or no, which is a fail because Jason hijacks it without letting the two know.

-Due to Dick’s unhealthy addiction to feeding himself off cereal, Damian cooks and bakes with Alfred so she could make food for him to eat. She also sews often so she makes sweaters and shirts and other clothings for him. He never even minded the time she purposely made ugly christmas sweaters for everyone just for laughs and wore his with pride that his dear little sister made it for him. He stills keeps it even until to this day.

-if Dick and Damian were to be a couple, it would be very cute although it takes AGES for Damien to accept Dick's confession--a happy man being a puppy over his two faced queen. Lots of training, doing acrobats for fun, cooking food together, Dick dreamily watching Damian sew and hum on the couch....etc. it would consist of them just relaxing and being happy, they hardly ever fight.

#dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #jason todd #batman #bruce wayne #red robin #robin #red hood #nightwing #my headcanons #dc #batfamily #bat family

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argyle-s · 6 years

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THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME CHAPTER 18/38

Rating: Mature

Read at Ao3

Start at the Beginning

Everyone Attends The CatCo Supergirl Issue Release Gala, Including a Few Uninvited Guests.

ETA: I'm so sorry, I forgot to include a note about this. Penelope Wayne is the Creation of @unpretty. If you like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, or any DC character, you owe it to yourself to check out her work.

Thanks to @ifourmindbeso for her great work as a beta. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.

Chapter 18 – The Dance of Diplomacy

Kara smiled as Kal touched down on the balcony of the hotel suite CatCo had rented for their use. She’d picked up the keys early that morning as Kara Danvers and gone to the room just long enough to unlock the balcony. She’d arrived a second time, carrying outfits for herself and Kal about two hours before Kal was set to arrive, and spent the time showering, fixing her hair and doing her makeup with the help of a DEO agent who was cross trained as a cosmetologist and aesthetician. She didn’t really ask why they had agents with that particular type of cross training any more than she asked why they had bullet proof evening gowns.

“Hey, Cous’,” Kal said as he landed. “Nice dress.”

Kara smiled. The dress was based on her mother’s robes. She’d taken the basic design, a blue ankle-length gown with a mantle that came down roughly to her elbows, and had Konex remove everything from the shoulder up, creating an off-the-shoulder gown that was still reflective of Kryptonian styling, even if it were far more daring than anything that would have ever been worn back in Argo City. She’d kept the gold belt, and instead of the simple embossing of the house crest her mother’s robes had carried, she’d added the raised red and gold from her normal costume. She’d also added a red drape which connected along a three-inch seam at the upper edge of the back of the dress, and at the wrists, giving the impression of both a cape, and of wings. With her arms down, the bottom edge of the drape hung even with the hem of her gown. She boots she wore under the dress were blue, instead of her customary red.

“Thanks,” she said. “Your outfit is hung in the bedroom.”

He frowned. “You don’t want me to wear the suit?”

Kara shook her head. “We’re here as the ambassadors of our people tonight. We’re not going down dressed for war.”

“I don’t really think of the suit that way,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “I don’t think of mine that way either. But we do wear them when we fight and tonight is about diplomacy.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Make sure you wear the kryptonite shield,” she said.

He gave her a sharp look, but finally just nodded and headed into the other room. He came out a moment later wearing the outfit she’d designed for him. It was based on her father’s Science Guild uniform. An asymmetrical jacket that opened down the right-hand side, with a smaller version of the House of El Coat of Arms Kal wore on his suit emblazoned on the chest. She’d topped it with a red cape, with round gold medallions fixed to the upper corners, and a braided gold cord running between them. She’d gotten the design for the cape from herself. At least, from Kara Zor-El of Earth 46, who’d been dubbed Powergirl by that world’s Cat Grant.

The effect was fantastic. It made him look like a prince out of some Earth fairytale. Dashing, handsome. She couldn’t help but smile, feeling the pride swell in her chest. Her baby cousin looked, for the first time in her memory, like the leader of his people he should have been, had their world not been murdered.

“Do I look okay?” he asked.

Kara nodded. “You look like your father,” she said. She stepped forward, and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I know I’ve never told you this before, Kal, but they would be so proud if they could see you.”

“You think so?” he asked, and she could hear the rare moment of hesitation and doubt in his voice.

“I know it,” she said, and there was no doubt in her voice. “They weren’t perfect people, your parents or mine, but they would have been so very, very proud of the man you’ve become. Whatever happens tonight, I want you to know that I’m proud of you as well.”

He smiled, and if it was a little watery, she pretended not to notice. “Thank you, Kara.”

She nodded. “I need you to follow my lead tonight Kal. I know that goes against the grain, but what’s happening here is important. It matters for so many reasons and I promise you, I’ll explain them all in time, but please, trust me tonight?”

“Of course,” he said. “Though I’ve got to admit, inviting Jason might not have been your best idea.”

Kara laughed. “I invited Damian too,” she said.

“Are you trying to start an interplanetary incident?” Kal asked.

“Bruce promised to keep them in line,” Kara said.

An alarmed look spread over Kal’s face. “We should probably get downstairs, right now.”

Kara smiled as they entered the ballroom. The original launch gala for the Supergirl issue had been, all things considered, a tacky affair. No matter how much she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to plan around the inherent tackiness of the hostesses Supergirl outfits. This time was different. This time, she’d worked to make everything as elegant as possible. The servant’s guild robes did bring a minor twinge of guilt, simply because being older and wiser, she could look at Kryptonian culture without the rose-colored glasses she’d worn in the past and recognize that the servant’s guild were little better than slaves. It was momentary though, because she was too swept away in the décor, which would not have been out of place in Argo City, and the music, which was one of Lara’s favorite pieces.

“Your mother loved this song,” she whispered to Kal as she noticed people start to turn to look at them.

“She did?” Kal asked.

Kara nodded slightly, her next words coming in Kryptonian, to avoid anyone listening in. “She would sing it to you, while she was pregnant. I used to sit next to her and she’d let me put my hand on her stomach so I could feel you kick. She’d sing this song and it would calm you down.”

“I had no idea,” Kal said.

She turned and looked at him and could see the watery look in his eyes again, so she reached down and gripped his hand. “/.uchahvia ,kahl,ehl,/” she said. He squeezed her hand tightly.

“/.Nahkluv/” he answered in his own, heavily accented Kryptonian.

She looked around the room and smiled when she saw Cat and Kaldur’ahm among the crowd, all of whom were looking at them, except for a handful of people she picked up as either DEO, Secret Service, or private bodyguards.

A small grin tugged at her lips at the way Alex and Maggie stood together. Winn was close to them and James and Lois were by his side. The three of them had obviously been talking.

“This is why I don’t do these,” Kal said.

“You’re the heir of nearly half of the great houses of Krypton, Kal, including the House of El. You need to get used to it,” she said. Before he could reply, she released his hand and stepped forward, giving a formal bow, in the Kryptonian style. When she spoke again, her voice was no longer a whisper. Instead, she pitched it to carry through the room.

“On behalf of the House of El, we thank you for your invitation here, tonight. We come in peace, under the banner of Concord, seeking the gift of hospitality and sanctuary, and offering our service as champions and protectors to your people and your world in return. May Father Rao light our way, guard our steps, and reveal that we are, as always, stronger together than we are apart and remind us that we are never whole when we are alone.”

The room was silent for a moment, but then the applause began, and Kara’s eyes followed the sound, spotting President Marsdin. She was standing next to Senator Miranda Crane and Senator Clancy Shoemaker. President Marsdin was the first one to clap, but Kara watched as Senator Shoemaker joined her. His enthusiasm was clear, and she wasn’t surprised. He had offices in Metropolis and knew Kal fairly well, both as Superman and as Clark Kent. Crane was a lot slower to join in. She did, because when the President of the United State clapped, you did too, but she looked like she was sucking a lemon the whole time. Her and Sam Lane both. Pretty soon, the whole room was clapping, except for Maxwell Lord, and she wondered how the hell he even got here, because she knew he wasn’t on the approved guest list.

She waited until the applause died down before she started towards the President, moving slowly so the Secret Service agents shadowing President Marsdin had plenty of time to see her coming.

“Supergirl,” President Marsdin said, before turning and nodding to Kal, “Superman.”

Kara smiled, and held out her hand, “Madame President,” she said.

“Please,” President Marsdin said, “Call me Olivia.”

“I’m afraid I couldn’t” Kara said. “Not when I can’t extend you the same courtesy.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Oliva replied. “I understand, and I insist.”

Kara laughed. “Okay, Olivia.”

“For someone who’s only been in the public eye for three weeks, you’ve made quite a splash,” President Marsdin said.

“Yes she has,” Cat said from somewhere behind Kara. Kara turned around, a smile on her face.

“Ms. Grant,” she said. “No Kara this evening?”

“No,” Cat said. “This is Jacob,” she said, gesturing to Kaldur’ahm. “Kiera’s off doing… whatever it is Millennials do on a Friday night.” Cat stepped around Kara. “Hello, Olivia,” she said.

Kara watched the interaction closely. It was pleasant enough, on the surface, but she could tell there was an undercurrent she was missing.

“Oh?” President Marsdin asked. “That’s a shame. My assistant swore she’d book me interviews with every single reporter at Fox News if I didn’t tell Kara she said hello.”

Kara laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t be much of a Superhero if I let that happen,” she said. “I’m supposed to meet with her on Monday regarding a community outreach project. Perhaps I could pass the message along?”

“Thank you,” President Marsdin said.

“Of course,” Kara said.

“Now I’m being rude,” President Marsdin said. “This is Senator Shoemaker from New York, and Senator Crane from California.”

Kara turned and bowed. “Thank you for coming,” she said.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Shoemaker said. “You cousin has been nothing but a blessing to Metropolis, and the whole world, really. I see you’re following in his footsteps.”

“I hope so, Senator” Kara said. “This world and its people have given me so much and I want nothing more than to give back.”

“Well,” Crane said, “perhaps you should have started by not arriving here illegally.”

“Miranda,” President Marsdin said in a warning tone.

“No, it’s okay,” Kara said, holding her hand up to forestall any further response from the President. “She has a valid point. After all, I did, technically, arrive as an undocumented immigrant. Of course, I was unconscious, and my ship’s navigation system were damaged at the time. But even if I had been awake, what could I have done? I knew nothing of Earth. If I’d walked into an Immigration and Naturalization Office and requested refugee status, what do you think would have happened? I can only see two possible outcomes. Either they thought I was crazy, and I ended up some place like Arkham, or they believed me, and I ended up in the custody of someone like Simon Tycho, or Mr. Lord over there. After a few days at their tender mercies, Senator Crane, you would have created the very thing you fear. A powerful alien with every reason to hate and fear humans.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you are a threat?” Crane asked.

“I’m saying that the policies you espouse could have made me a threat, Senator. My cousin hid me away to protect me from people who would fear me or hurt me or try to use me to their own advantage. People who wouldn’t care that I was a little girl who’d just watched her mother, father, aunts and uncles, and everything she cared about die right in front of her eyes. And I’m not the only one who’s arrived here like that, Senator. Contrary to popular belief, Earth’s not so special that every alien in the Galaxy is rushing to get here. Most of us are refugees, stranded here with no way back home, or in my case, no home to go back to, or in Kal’s case, stranded here so early in life this is the only home they’ve ever known. A few were even born here.”

“The people who took my cousin in, as well as the people who helped my cousin hide me may have violated the letter of the law, Senator Crane, but they and people like them are the best examples of humanity. People who are willing to give succor and refuge to those who are lost, alone and most in need of kindness. The President’s Alien Amnesty Act, the one you so vehemently oppose, creates a framework in which they can do so legally. It provides a way that the aliens you fear can join society and become people who contribute to and protect it, instead of outsiders who violate your laws out of sheer necessity in order to survive.”

“Well put,” Senator Shoemaker said, cutting Crane off before she could speak again.

“Agreed,” President Marsdin said.

“You know,” Kal said, “sometimes I forget that your mother was one of the most highly ranked Adjudicators on Krypton. Then I hear you say something like that.”

Kara grinned. “Oh, you should have listened to me lay out an argument as to why there should be chocolate pecan pie for Thanksgiving,” she said. She turned back and directed a mock whisper towards President Marsdin. “One year there was a powerpoint presentation.”

President Marsdin laughed. “I’m more of a sweet potato pie woman myself, but I’ll keep that in mind for when you visit the White House, which I hope will be a bit more often than your cousin does.”

Kara nodded her head. “We’ll have to see. National City has been keeping me busy, and I hope that I’ll eventually be able to expand my contributions beyond the City in the same way my cousin has.”

“I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully,” President Marsdin said.

“I hope so,” Kara said. “Did you have a chance to read the new issue of CatCo Magazine?” she asked.

President Marsdin nodded. “I did. Another reason I wanted to thank Ms. Danvers. She had a copy couriered to the White House yesterday afternoon.”

“What did you think?” Kara asked.

“I thought Cat’s writing was brilliant, as always,” President Marsdin replied. “I also think you did your fellow aliens an enormous favor. Your words might be the very push we need to get the Alien Amnesty Act out of committee and onto the floor of both the House and the Senate.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kara said, before turning back to Senator Crane. “Perhaps, Senator, before you pass judgement on us, you could allow me to introduce you to some of the aliens you rail against. Give us the chance to show that we’re not really so different.”

“I doubt you’ll have much luck with that,” Crane said. “But next time I’m in town, I’ll make some time in my schedule.”

“A fair hearing is all I’m asking Senator,” Kara said. She turned back to President Marsdin. “I hope you’ll excuse me, Olivia, but there are a number of people here I’d like to speak with before they decide that it’s safe to skip out.”

“Of course,” President Marsdin said, “but see me again before you vanish for the evening yourself.”

The next hour was a blur. Kara had never been especially good at schmoozing, though her time spent as Cat Grant’s assistant in both timelines had given her a lot of pointers and her time spent leading the defense of Earth in the wake of Clark and J’onn’s deaths had taught her a few lessons that applied on the field of politics as well as the field of battle. Even so, the night was hard. She had to measure every word, listen carefully to the information Konex was feeding her through the modified DEO ear piece she was wearing and at the same time, avoid anything that could link her back to Kara Danvers. It was a challenge to say the least, but by the end of the hour, she’d talked to most of the guests who she thought could be persuaded to help their cause, had Kal talk to the ones she thought would respond better to him than her, and avoided Maxwell Lord, Simon Tycho and General Lane like the plague.

She made a note to find out how Lord and Tycho had gotten invitations in the first place, because she had specifically excluded both of them from the guest list. Which meant someone had gone behind her back and added them, or they’d somehow gotten in without invitations. Either way, someone was going to get an earful. Maybe even lose their job.

But first, she needed food. Her metabolism was running high with all the stress and it had been at least two hours since she ate, so she was making her way towards the buffet line, smiling and shaking the odd hand here and there, all the while keeping an eye on the crowd, hoping to see the one person she’d added to the guest list who hadn’t shown up.

“Looking for someone?” a voice asked, making Kara jump slightly. She turned, smiling as she saw Lois.

“Yeah,” Kara said. “I don’t think she’s coming though. It was a bit of a long shot.”

“I can’t imagine who’d turn down the girl of the hour,” Lois said.

Kara smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “You’d be surprised.”

“One superhero not enough for you Lois?” Cat said, and Kara turned, spotting her approaching. Kaldur’ahm was following closely behind, carrying a plate piled high with Pot Stickers, which was only one of two non-Kryptonian dishes on the menu. She winced, because her stomach growled at the smell, but getting away from Cat and Lois was going to take time.

Except Cat turned and took the plate from Kaldur’ahm and passed it over to Kara.

“I thought you might like some food,” Cat said. “Kiera told me you were fond of these.”

Which was a bald-faced lie, but not one she could call Cat on, so instead she took the plate, and the small stack of napkins Cat passed her with it and nodded.

“Thank you,” she said, as she used her heat vision to quickly rewarm the dumplings before taking one and popping it in her mouth. The moan she made was only slightly obscene, but when she looked up, she saw two indulgent smiles directed her way.

“It’s a little like watching a puppy eat a treat,” Lois said.

“Mmmm. I’d made the same connection myself,” Cat replied.

“Hey!” Kara said. “I’m standing right here.”

“I take it yours is the same way?” Cat asked, completely ignoring her.

“Not with Pot Stickers,” Lois said, “but Superman ate two entire trays of the Swedish meatballs about ten minutes ago. I’m pretty sure you could have used the sounds he was making to score a porn film.”

Kara grumbled as she popped another pot sticker in her mouth, then pointedly turned and walked towards the bar, where Winn was sitting, nursing a beer.

“Do you mind if I sit?” she asked.

Winn shook his head, his eyes never leaving something out in the middle of the room. Kara took the seat next to him, and smiled at the bar tender. “Could I get a Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri please?”

The bartender nodded and turned to fix her drink as Kara downed another pot sticker.

“Who’s that following Cat around?” Winn asked.

“That’s her new assistant,” Kara said. “She introduced him as Jacob, but I’m pretty sure his name is Jackson Hyde.”

Winn sighed and turned towards her. “With my luck, he’s probably got a girlfriend.”

Kara shrugged, then swallowed the pot sticker she was chewing on. “I’m Supergirl, by the way. But you probably knew that.”

Winn stared at her for a moment before it clicked that they’d never officially met before. “Yes,” he said. “I did. Sorry. I didn’t mean to… um.”

Kara laughed as she turned to accept her drink from the bar tender. “It’s okay. He is kind of cute, you know, if you’re into unreasonably handsome men who look like they’re cut from marble by the divine light of Rao itself.”

Winn smiled. “No, I can’t imagine anyone who’d be into that,” he said. “I’m Winn Schott, by the way. I’m Cat Grant’s computer nerd. At least until Monday. Then I’m Kara Danvers’ computer nerd.”

“A pleasure,” she said, turning back to her plate. She made short work of the rest of the pot stickers and went through two more Daiquiris before she turned back to Winn. “Mr. Schott, would you do me the pleasure of a dance?”

Winn smiled and stood up, offering his arm. “I would be delighted,” he said.

She took his arm, and allowed him to lead the way. He took her hand once they reached the dance floor and led her through a couple of songs. For the first time that night, she felt the stress start to melt away. It felt good to be dancing with Winn again. He had always been good for her. He made her laugh and despite a bit of awkwardness after he’d kissed her in the original timeline, he’d been her best friend, right up until Indigo had killed him. Something she wasn’t going to let happen this time. The songs were all Kryptonian, the music structured, rhythmic and good for dancing. Some Kryptonian music did dabble in some odd timing, but she didn’t really think, when she’d selected the play list, that the political leaders of Earth were ready for the Kryptonian equivalent of German Death Metal.

“Excuse me,” a deep bass voice said. One Kara would recognize anywhere. She turned slightly, smiling at the solidly built man standing in front of her. Six foot two, two hundred and ten pounds of solid muscle, and a jaw line you could cut glass with. Bruce Wayne was hard to mistake. “Mind if I cut in?”

Winn, Rao love him, turned to her, the question written on his face. Kara smiled and nodded.

“Thank you for the dance,” she said.

“Any time,” Winn said, before stepping back.

Kara turned to Bruce. “Mr. Wayne,” she said.

“You know who I am?” he asked with a smile as he offered her his hand.

“I may not have been born on this planet Mr. Wayne, but I have read a few of its newspapers, and seen more than a handful of its news broadcasts.”

“Oh. I suppose my reputation precedes me then?”

Kara had to work to suppress a giggle at that. “Somewhat, but I prefer to make my own judgements about people.”

“And what judgements are you making about me?”

“That you’re a better dancer than I expected,” she said, then leaned up and whispered in his ear, “and that you have at least a dozen ceramic batarangs hidden on your person.”

He shrugged as she pulled back. “Better safe than sorry,” he said.

Kara grinned as he led them through a complicated turn. “What did you want to speak to me about?” she asked.

“Can’t a man simply want to dance with a lovely young lady?” he asked.

“Yes, though you’re rather notorious for keeping your hands off *young* ladies,” Kara said.

“Well, I may be a debauched billionaire playboy, but dating someone the same age as one of my children does seem a bit gauche.”

Kara laughed. “Considering the oldest of the boys you’ve adopted is only ten years younger than you, I imagine that limits the dating pool a bit.”

“Just a bit.”

“I could also point out that I’m technically fourteen years older than you, so your age restriction wouldn’t apply.”

“If I didn’t know better,” Bruce said, “I’d be inclined to think you were trying to seduce me.”

Kara smiled up at him. “I’m definitely not, but I am enjoying the horrified faces your youngest is making,” she said as she slipped a hand into the handkerchief pocket of his tuxedo and pulled out a small listening device. She crushed it between her thumb and forefinger, smiling as she saw Damien wince and claw at the ear piece with a pained look on his face. She turned back to Bruce. “Now, what did you want to say to me?”

Bruce turned and glared at Damian for a moment, then turned back to Kara. “I just wanted to assure you that the Alien Amnesty Act has the full support of both Wayne Enterprises, and the Wayne Foundations.”

“Thank you, Bruce. That means a lot to me. Now if you could just teach your son to respect boundaries,” she said.

“I’m trying,” Bruce said with a sigh, “it’s hard getting around the things his mother taught him.”

Kara winced. “Okay, not something I intended to bring up.”

Bruce shrugged as he led her through another turn. “Don’t worry about it.”

“How’s the cow?”

“Expensive,” Bruce said. “I preferred it when Dick, Jason and Tim were bringing home stray dogs, cats, turtles and the odd duck.”

Kara raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that Bruce was the one who brought home the duck. “How is Penelope?” she asked.

“Why does everyone know the duck’s name?” Bruce asked.

“I’m pretty sure it was the Forbes interview,” Kara replied.

“That was an excellent interview,” Bruce said.

“It was definitely memorable,” Kara replied. She tilted her head slightly as a voice caught her attention, and in an instant, she was focused on what it was saying as her eyes scanned the room, and spotted Maxwell Lord talking to Cat.

“Excuse me, Bruce,” she said. “Duty calls.”

Without waiting for his reply, she started across the room, moving as fast as she could without using her powers, her attention focused entirely on the conversation between Max and Cat.

“You look ravishing, as always,” he said.

“And you look like someone who crashed a party you weren’t invited to,” Cat replied.

Kara smiled.

“Oh, that,” Max said. “I just called the correspondence office at Catco and asked why my invitation hadn’t arrived. They assured me it was an oversight and had one printed and couriered over.”

“Mmmm… I’ll have to fire whoever fell for that trick,” Cat said.

“Cat, you wound me,” Max said.

“Oh, when I wound you, Max, you’ll know it,” Cat said. “Your stock will be hemorrhaging value.”

Max laughed. “You over estimate how much the public cares about my little indiscretions, as long as I keep giving them new electronic doodads and gizmos to keep them occupied.” He held out his hand. “Are we dancing?”

“I’m afraid not,” Kara said as she stepped through the last bit of the crowd separating her from Cat and Max. “Ms. Grant promised me the next dance.”

Max turned to her, smile still fixed on his face. “Did she now?”

Kara smiled back at him, a smile made all the brighter by imagining setting the product in his hair on fire with her heat vision. She held her hand out to Cat, and Cat took it firmly, drawing Kara after her as she started towards the dance floor.

“Sorry, Max, looks like I have a better offer,” Cat said.

Kara followed Cat as she led them out onto the dance floor, smiling as Cat took the lead and starting guiding her through a waltz.

“Coming to my rescue, Supergirl?” Cat asked.

“Always, Ms. Grant,” Kara replied.

“Oh,” Cat said. “Charming, but you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Kara did her best not to react to the sting of those words, because she remembered very clearly the day she hadn’t been able to save Cat. Instead she took a deep breath, and forced herself to smile.

“The city needs you,” she said. “The whole world needs you. Probably more than they need me.”

“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Cat said. “I mean, I know I’m magnificent, of course…”

“And so modest,” Kara replied.

“I prefer honesty to modesty,” Cat replied.

“Well, as it happens, I agree. You are magnificent,” Kara said. “You are also inspirational, Ms. Grant. You see the world as it is, but you also see it as it could be and not a lot of people can do that.”

Cat turned her head, looking away slightly. “I’ve already put your face on the cover of a Magazine. I think we’re a bit past flattery.”

“It’s not flattery, Ms. Grant. You’ve been one of my heroes for a long time. The way you…” Kara stopped dancing as a new song started. She hadn’t even remembered adding this particular song to the play list. But she wasn’t about to miss it. She looked at Cat and smiled.

“May I lead?” she asked.

Cat nodded, shifting her hands, letting Kara take the lead. She was surprised when Kara pulled her closer, her hand slipping around behind Cat’s back, and Kara started leading her through a much slower, and more intimate dance.

“It’s been years since I’ve heard this song,” she said as she led them through a turn.

“Old favorite?” Cat asked, gasping a moment later when Kara dipped her, before pulling her back up, and moving through a lifted turn.

“Very old,” Kara said. “This song was composed by Erok-El as a wedding gift to his wife Milia almost ten thousand years ago.” She led Cat through another turn, before pulling her close, and leading her through four back steps, then another turn. “Erok was the founder of our house,” she said, “and this is the first song all newlywed couples in my house dance to.” She closed her eyes, pulling Cat in close and dipping her again. She smiled as she lifted Cat out of the dip. She opened her eyes and gasped slightly, as she found herself staring into Cat’s eyes, getting a look she didn’t quite understand, but one she found herself wanting to drown in.

She wasn’t sure how long it took her to realize they’d stopped dancing, or that the song had changed, but when she did, she felt the blush creeping up her neck, felt painfully aware of every place she was touching Cat, and of how close her lips were to Cat’s. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to let go, making sure Cat was steady on her feet before she backed up a step.

“I should… um…”

Cat nodded, “Yes,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “That’s probably a good idea.”

Kara didn’t say anything else, not to Cat, but she kicked herself the whole time as she walked away from her.

Kara seriously considered skipping out on the rest of the party and heading over to Darla’s for enough Aldebaran Rub to put her in a coma. She’d stayed away from the place for the past year, afraid of leading the DEO to the place at a time when their only response would have been to raid it and arrest all the aliens. Unfortunately, that meant she’d been cut off from the only place in the city that served Kryptonian-strength booze. The problem was, no matter how much she needed a good, stiff drink, she couldn’t really bail on the party, so instead, she headed for the bar, and ordered a glass of Ardbeg 10 Year. Something she’d made sure the bar company added to their usual stock in case Lena Luthor accepted the invitation that had been sent. She’s just accepted the drink from the bar tender when she heard one of the least welcome voices she could think of.

“I didn’t think alcohol affected your kind,” Sam Lane said.

Kara took a deep breath, steadying her nerves before she turned to face him. “It doesn’t,” she said. “Not the way you mean. But the taste has a pleasant association. One that helps calm my nerves.”

“Nervous about something?” he asked.

“Not a huge fan of playing politics,” Kara said.

He snorted and waved his left hand towards the room. “But all this is your doing,” he said.

“I said I wasn’t a fan, General and I’m not. I’m more comfortable out there, helping people, or protecting them. Politics was my mother’s arena. I was supposed to be a scientist.”

Lane made a dismissive noise. “What you are is a threat. Trying to convince people that aliens are perfectly safe. Tell me, how many more like you are out there hiding while you try to make it safe for them to reveal themselves?”

Kara raised her glass and downed the Scotch in one go, not taking time to relish the taste like she normally would have. She sat the glass down on the bar and focused her attention on Lane. “Maybe we should trade. I’ll tell you how many aliens are on Earth, and you tell me how many butchers you’ve got working in hidden labs, dissecting people who are no threat to you or anyone else.”

She saw him flinch, and knew the accusation had hit home. She could have driven the point further with a few more words, but she didn’t want to give any clues that she knew anything more about Cadmus than she could have learned from Clark.

“A word of advice, General. It’s not too late for you to be a decent human being. I think Lois would even forgive you. You should take the chance while you still have it, because sooner or later you won’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a whole list of people I actually want to talk to.”

Before he could say anything else, Kara turned and walked away, already focused on what she was about to do.

She approached James and Lucy, where they were dancing, plastering a smile on her face that would convince anyone except Alex that she was having a wonderful time.

“Excuse me,” she said.

James and Lucy both stopped, and looked at her.

“Hey, Supergirl,” James said, the question obvious in her voice.

“Hey,” she said. “Mind if I cut in?”

James frowned a little. “Um, I…” He turned to Lucy, and Kara had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from laughing at the disgusted look on Lucy’s face.

Lucy shook her head slightly, “No,” she said, “it’s okay.” She stepped back away from James.

Kara smiled a little wider. “Thanks,” she said to James as she stepped between the two of them. Then she turned and took a surprised Lucy’s hand. “I’ve been wanting to dance with you all evening.”

Lucy, looking slightly dazed, placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder as Kara started to dance. They were a good minute into the first song before Lucy said anything, but when she did speak, there was a smile on her face.

“This isn’t what I thought you meant,” she said.

“I know,” Kara said.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Honestly?”

“Please,” Lucy said.

“I got enough of your and James’ break-up story from my cousin that I knew how you’d react, and I wanted to see the look on your face,” Kara said. “Though, I would give up my spare cape to have seen the look on James’ face.”

Lucy laughed. “Oh, that would have definitely been worth the trade,” she said. “Though I have to wonder why you cared enough about James to talk to your cousin about who he’s dating.”

Kara gave a small shrug as she led Lucy through a turn. “Just family chit-chat,” she said. “How’s Metropolis? How are your friends doing? Seeing anyone? Has the dog fetched any cars lately?”

Lucy gave her a look. “Superman doesn’t have a dog.”

Kara just smiled.

“What about you?” Lucy asked.

“I love dogs, but I’m more of a cat person really,” she said. “Sadly, my apartment building has a very strict no pets policy.”

Lucy started laughing so hard for a moment Kara was worried about she’d broken the woman.

“I’m sorry, I just… The mental image…” By the time Lucy had stopped laughing more than a few people were staring at them, including Lucy’s dad. “You’re not what I expected, at all,” she said.

“Is that a good thing?” Kara asked.

Lucy nodded. “It is,” she said. “Your cousin is a little bit full of himself, to be honest.”

Kara glanced over at Kal, and had to fight not to giggle at the wounded look on his face. “I think he heard you,” she said.

Lucy shrugged. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“I’d rather not lie to you,” Kara said. “I have a feeling you wouldn’t like that very much.”

“I… No. I wouldn’t like that at all,” Lucy said.

“It’s necessary sometimes,” Kara said. “Lying, I mean.”

“It’s never necessary,” Lucy replied, and Kara could feel the heat in her tone.

“I wish it wasn’t,” Kara said, “but sometime, when we’re somewhere more private, ask me why my foster sister had to grow up without a father.”

“What makes you think we’re ever going to be somewhere private?” Lucy asked, challenge in her voice.

Kara grinned. “Maybe I’m still hoping to get your phone number,” she said.

It took a second, but Kara saw the exact moment Lucy made the connection. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Kara had to physically carry her through the next turn in the dance before her feet started moving again.

“Why?” Lucy finally asked.

“Because I trust you,” Kara said.

“You don’t even know me,” Lucy replied.

“Trust is a choice,” Kara said. “We can make that choice based on hope or we can make it based on fear. Someone I care for a very great deal once told me that hope is stronger than fear. I chose to believe she’s right. So I’m trusting you. In part, because James is my friend and as much as I might get a kick out of flirting with you in front of him, I don’t want to be what comes between the two of you. Not the way my cousin did. But also because everyone I’ve talked to about you has told me how amazing you are. How you’re smart and funny and fun to be around. How loyal you are, how kind. I want to be your friend. James or no James, I think you’re someone worthwhile.”

Lucy was giving her a look she couldn’t quite make out and Kara was about to ask what was wrong when she heard it. The sound of someone coming in for a landing. She looked up and saw that Kal had noticed as well.

“Excuse me,” she said. She let go of Lucy and started towards the door, using her X-ray vision to peel away the walls and confirm what she already knew.

Non was outside.

“Let me handle this, Kal,” she said as she slipped a hand into the pocket of her dress and touched a button on the small remote she was carrying. Holographic Concord Glyphs appeared on every wall, with a giant one floating in the center of the room.

“Kara,” Kal said.

“/.zha ,kahl,ehl, ;duahzu khuhp w voiehd,/” she said, her tone unyielding. She reached up and touched her ear piece. “Alex, I need you near the President. Non’s here.” She didn’t check to see if Alex was moving. She didn’t have to. She knew her sister and her sister would do exactly what she needed her to.

The crowd had picked up on the fact that something was going on at the door and were starting to back away when Non walked in.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he said.

“A parlay, protected by Concord Law,” Kara said. “You do remember the law, don’t you?”

“You dare to speak to me of the Law, you pretentious child?” Non asked. “You come here, wearing an imitation of your mother’s robes-“

“My mother’s been dead for thirty-seven years, Non,” Kara said.

“And the Galaxy’s a better place without her,” Non shot back. “If not for her interference, we might have saved Krypton.”

Kara shook her head. “Why don’t you ask your Coluan friend about that? While you’re at it, ask her what triggered the runaway reaction in the core.”

“I don’t need to ask,” Non said. “Arrogance. Greed. The hubris of the members of the Council. The same hubris I see in these small creatures that infest this planet.”

“That sounds an awful lot like the pot calling the kettle black,” President Marsdin said from somewhere behind Kara.

Kara turned around, only to find President Marsdin standing in front of the rest of the crowd, J’onn, Alex, Maggie, Kal, and a pair of very annoyed-looking secret service agents beside her. Of course, Cat Grant wasn’t more than two steps behind President Marsdin, with Lois and Kaldur’ahm on either side of her. Diana, Bruce, and Bruce’s entire team were all positioned with clear lines of fire, and all of them looked perfectly ready to throw down. Even James, Winn, Lucy and General Lane were all there.

“Oh, this *is* amusing,” Non said. Kara turned back around to face him. “You’re their leader, aren’t you? President Olivia Marsdin, isn’t it? Tell me, what’s it like, being an insect, watching as gods quibble over your fate?”

“I wouldn’t know. All I see is a small man posturing in a situation where he’s powerless,” President Marsdin said.

“Brave words,” Non said. “I wonder how brave-“

Kara picked it up a split second before Non, the sound of three people coming in for a landing, and smiled.

“You were saying something about ‘brave words’…” Kara said.

“I would rather hear an explanation as to why one of my Lieutenants has violated my orders,” Astra said as she stepped through the entry way, followed by Mur and Gor.

“I came here-“ Non started to say, but Astra cut himself off.

“You came here because your pride is wounded,” Astra said. “You were bested before by Alura and your pride has never recovered from it. Now her daughter has thwarted your intentions and you seek to humiliate her and undermine what she is attempting to accomplish out of spite. Worse, you chose to do it here and now, after I gave specific orders that our people would not interfere with her parlay. Some might even interpret what you’ve done as an attack on a meeting conducted under the Glyph of Concord.” Astra took a step towards him. “I cannot allow this to go unanswered,” she said.

“What’s it to be, then, my dear wife?” Non asked. “Will you give me over to these savages, to be locked away in one of their cages?”

“No,” Astra said. “You are still Kryptonian, so you will receive a Kryptonian punishment. /.chadi suzh zehtiaro vahsah rraop w dovrrosh vo/”

Kara shuddered. Much as she disliked Non, she had to stop herself from stepping in. Five days in absolute darkness was… She closed her eyes, trying to push down memories of the Phantom Zone.

“You would condemn me to that for-“

“You disobeyed an order,” Astra snapped. Kara opened her eyes to watch her aunt. “You very nearly violated a Concord. Were we not standing under that very same Concord Glyph,” She took a step towards Non, “I would remind you how I earned the rank of General.”

Non stepped back, his whole body language changing, becoming submissive. If Kara didn’t know better, she would have sworn he actually got smaller, but there was fear in his eyes.

“Take him,” Astra said, and Mur and Gor stepped forward, grabbing Non by the arms. Astra turned towards Kara. “I am sorry. One of my people was injured. While I attended to her, Non used the distraction to slip away. I hope it will not cause any undue difficulty.”

Kara knew she had to be careful with the crowd listening to every word and she really wanted to ask Alex, or maybe Cat, for advice on how to spin it, but that wasn’t possible and only one thing really came to mind. “I doubt this is the first time these people have seen a family squabble played out in public. Be well, General Astra. May Rao light your way.” Kara ignored the murmurs that went through the crowd behind her.

“And yours, Little One. We will speak again soon,” Astra said.

“A moment, please,” President Marsdin said.

Astra turned to look at her and before she could say anything, Kara spoke. “This is President Olivia Marsdin. She’s one of this world’s most powerful leaders and she has been a friend to our people.”

“Of course,” Astra said, giving Kara a small nod. “What do you ask of me, President Olivia?”

President Marsdin stepped forward. “I can see that you have matters to attend to, General, but if you could spare me perhaps five or ten minutes of your time for a word in private?”

Astra glanced over to Kara and Kara gave a small nod.

Astra turned to Mur and Gor. “Take him. Place him in one of the Shadow Cells. Five days. Tell Fendra to continue as we’d discussed. I will follow soon.”

Mur and Gor lead Non outside, as Astra turned back to President Marsdin. Marsdin turned to Cat. “Is there somewhere more private we can go?”

Alex answered. “We have another ballroom set up next door, Madam President. I think the space would work.”

President Marsdin nodded. “Please,” she said, indicating Alex should lead the way. “General, Supergirl, Superman, if you would.”

Alex turned and started towards the ballroom they’d set up earlier as part of the evacuation route. Supergirl took a moment to give Maggie a glance and motion for her to follow before heading towards the ballroom herself. She turned around as everyone else filed through the door, unsurprised at who was following. Cat Grant was right behind her, and Kaldur’ahm just a step behind Cat, but in front of Maxwell Lord, Sam Lane, and Simon Tycho.

“Not this time, Miss Grant,” Kara said.

“Are you telling me I have to miss the most interesting part of my own party?” Cat replied.

Kara smiled. “I’m afraid so,” she said. “But we’ll talk again soon.” She looked over to Kaldur’ahm. “Why don’t you take her over and introduce her to Mr. Wayne and Ms. Prince?” She saw the small nod of understanding from Kaldur’ahm at her implicit instructions to keep Cat close to Bruce and Diana.

“Well, Cat,” Max said as he started around her. “Better luck next-”

Max stopped talking when he walked right into Kara’s hand, which stopped him dead in his tracks, and unless Kara missed her guess, actually knocked the wind out of him.

“Not you,” she said. “/.nim zhadif rraop w :bezhgam/” Kara turned to Simon Tycho. “You can turn right around as well.”

“Now just a minute,” General Lane said. “You don’t get to make those decisions.”

“General Lane,” President Marsdin said from behind Kara, “why don’t you take your friends and go get a drink. We won’t be needing you for this meeting.”

Kara smiled at General Lane, getting a glare in return, but Lord, Tycho and Lane all seemed to realize there was no point arguing the matter, and turned around to walk away. She did notice the smug grin Cat gave her before turning around and letting Kaldur’ahm lead her away.

“Now,” President Marsdin said, “Who’s this?”

Kara turned around to find President Marsdin staring at Maggie. “This is Detective Maggie Sawyer, NCPD. She’s one of the leading experts we have on alien refugees.”

“Really,” President Marsdin said. She motioned towards the doors of the ballroom where Astra, Alex, J’onn, and Kal had already disappeared. “By all means.”

Maggie went inside, and President Marsdin and her Secret Service detail followed, leaving Kara to bring up the rear. She closed the doors behind them, locked it, and tripped the anti-eavesdropping devices they’d attached earlier.

“We’re clear,” Kara said as she turned around to face the small crowd.

“Thank you, Supergirl,” President Marsdin said.

“No problem,” Kara replied.

President Marsdin turned to Astra. “You’re Supergirl’s aunt?”

“Yes,” Astra said.

“I’m guessing based on what I just saw, you’re the leader of the Fort Rozz prisoners.”

“Very astute,” Astra said. “I suppose I should not be surprised by that, but given your predecessor…”

President Marsdin let out a small laugh. “Not one of my country’s finest moments, admittedly.”

“He was very much like the leaders who governed Krypton at the end. Small, short sighted, unwilling to believe evidence of the disaster rushing towards us all.”

“She’s referring to Climate change and the resulting ecological collapse,” Kara said.

“Yes,” Astra said. “Your world faces an end less spectacular than Krypton’s, but no less real.”

“You’re an environmentalist?” President Marsdin asked.

“Yes,” Astra said.

“How did you end up in Fort Rozz?” President Marsdin asked.

“Our world was dying. Appeals to our leaders did nothing and time was running out. I devised a method I believed would allow us to save our world. It was horrible, but I believed it to be less horrible than watching thirty billion souls be immolated. Unfortunately, while we were working to implement my plan, someone was killed. There were fifty of us, in total. Kara’s mother captured me and my capture led to the capture of the twenty-nine others. The rest died trying to escape. We were sentenced to life in Fort Rozz for our crimes.”

“But now you’re here,” President Marsdin said.

“Now we’re here,” Astra said, calmly.

“I’ve been talking to Aunt Astra for weeks, Olivia,” Kara said. “Trying to get her to surrender to the DEO so we can integrate them.”

“They’re criminals,” Olivia said.

“Yes,” Kara said.

“Eco-terrorists is the term you would use,” Astra said. “Our world was dying and we committed crimes trying to stop it. For those crimes, we were sentenced to life in prison.”

“What crimes?” President Marsdin asked.

“Murder,” Astra said. “We killed a guard during a raid.”

“*Non* killed a guard,” Kara said.

“It doesn’t matter whose hand held the weapon, Little One,” Astra said. “I was the leader. Her death was my responsibility.” Astra turned back to President Marsdin. “I will not apologize, nor ask forgiveness for what I did on Krypton. I thought we could have stopped the destruction of our world, prevent the deaths of thirty billion souls, including a girl I loved like a daughter. I swore an oath, much like the one you did. ‘All enemies, foreign or domestic’. Is that not how your oath goes?”

“It is,” President Marsdin said.

“Our own council was leading us down the path to destruction. I took the best of my people, the brightest, the ones who would follow me anywhere, and I tried to save my world.”

“What happened?” President Marsdin asked.

“She was betrayed,” Kara said. “I didn’t know what was going on. No one told me. All I knew was that everyone I loved was scared, speaking in whispers that stopped when I came into the room and my aunt, my best friend, was gone. When my mother suggested I send a signal to her, I…” Kara closed her eyes. “I didn’t know what my mother was planning. I didn’t find out for years afterwards what she’d done.” She took a deep breath and looked at Astra. “I would never have turned on the beacon.”

“It doesn’t matter, Little One,” Astra said. “In the end, you saved my life. If I hadn’t been on Fort Rozz, I would have died on Krypton.”

“You couldn’t have stopped the destruction of your planet?” President Marsdin asked.

“No,” Astra said. She turned to look at President Marsdin. “Kara showed me the proof, just recently. We always believed that we were responsible for our own end, but-“

“The Coluans conspired against us,” Kara said, cutting Astra off. President Marsdin turned towards her, missing the frown on Astra’s face. “They’re a race of what you would call artificial intelligences. Data constructs capable of taking a physical form when they wish. Immensely intelligent and incredibly strong. We hired the Brainiac Clan to administer our digital infrastructure. Brainiac One, the being Kal has fought several times, ran the Kandor network. He stole the entire city, along with its people. Suspended forever in time and compressed into a pocket dimension as some kind of sick museum. We caught Brainiac Eight. She tried to shut down our defensive network so Czarian mercenaries could kill us all. It was Brainiac Twelve that killed us. He altered the specifications for our mining machines, made small changes to surveys and proposed mining routes. Tricked us into causing, then accelerating the chain reaction in the core of our world.”

“Your people were murdered?” President Marsdin asked.

Kara frowned. “We’re not guiltless,” she said. “The Brainiacs just turned our greed against us, held the knife while we pushed it in. If the disaster had really been natural, Astra might have been able to stop it, or Kal’s father. But with the Brainiacs helping it along, our world was doomed long before anyone even realized it.”

President Marsdin turned back to Astra. “And you and your followers survived because you were in an off-world prison?”

“Yes,” Astra said.

“And what have you been doing on Earth the last eleven years?” President Marsdin asked.

“We’ve been planning to use the technology we were going to deploy on Krypton here,” Astra said. “I saw what you were doing to this world, the way you were destroying yourselves. I could not stand it.”

“Something’s changed, though,” President Marsdin said.

“My niece,” Astra said. “She’s convinced me to surrender to your DEO. There was a fight when I announced the decision. That’s how one of my other Lieutenants was injured, and why Non decided to seek out my niece.”

“And this technology?”

“I will destroy it,” Astra said. “My niece has convinced me it’s far too dangerous to ever allow it to be used.”

“What do you expect, when you surrender?” President Marsdin asked.

“My niece said she’d try to persuade your DEO to allow me to pay for my crimes with service to your world. She’s grown a great deal, but I suspect she over estimates the generosity of your people. I expect to stand for the crimes my people have committed on my orders. I expect to spend the rest of my life in a cage. As long as I am allowed to see my niece from time to time, I will be content with that fate. But I will not order my people to surrender to you if mean to cage them as well. Aside from my husband, most of them have committed no crime, save those carried out on my orders, and I will not allow them to pay for my sins a second time.”

The room was silent for a long time. Seconds stretched into one minute, then two as Astra and President Marsdin stared at each other. Finally, President Marsdin looked over at Kal.

“Superman, what’s your opinion?” she asked.

“Honestly, Madam President, I’m the wrong person to ask,” Kal said. “I only know Astra from the records my father sent along with me. I’m inclined to accept Supergirl’s judgement on this one.”

She turned to Hank. “Director Henshaw?”

“I’m with Kal on this one, Madam President. Ask Supergirl.”

She turned to Kara. “You understand the magnitude of the decision I’m making here,” she said. “One of you is so powerful it’s terrifying. There are thirty of them.”

Kara looked up at her Aunt for a moment. “I’m sorry, Aunt Astra,” she said, before turning back to President Marsdin. “Olivia, I can’t recommend allowing the release of all of them. Non is a murderer and more, I believe he may still be conspiring with Brainiac Eight. I don’t trust him. I believe he belongs in a cell. But the rest of them… If Astra vouches for them, if she orders them to follow our laws, I believe it would be safe to allow them their freedom. The crimes they committed both here and on Krypton were meant to save lives, not take them. They are soldiers. Honorable men and women, who spent more than two decades paying for what they’ve done and who can never, ever go home again. Please, give them a chance.”

President Marsdin took a deep breath, and turned to Kara.

“You have a way to contact her?” she asked.

Kara nodded. “Yes.”

Marsdin turned to Astra “Give me few days. A week at most,” she said. “When Supergirl contacts you, surrender to Director Henshaw. You and your people will be treated fairly.”

“And Non?” she asked.

“He will be comfortable, and well treated.”

Astra nodded, and turned to Kara. “I understand,” she said. “And you’re right.”

Kara walked forward and wrapped her arms around Astra, hugging her tightly. “/.ukiemodh w rraop , eh ,astruh,/”

“/.ukiem w rrip , eh shed kir/” Astra said. “Your mother would be proud of you.”

Kara squeezed her tighter. “I’d rather you be proud of me,” she said.

“I am,” Astra replied. “I am so very, very proud of you, Little One.” She pulled back, breaking the hug. “I have to go. Things are still unstable.”

Kara nodded.

Astra turned to Kal. “Take care of her for me.”

“Of course,” Kal said.

“He’ll have to get in line for the job,” Kara said. “This is Alex,” she said, pointing to her sister.

A smile spread across Astra’s face, and before Alex could say anything, Astra stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Alex. “Thank you,” she said. “I owe you a debt I cannot repay.”

Kara laughed at the completely dumbstruck look on Alex’s face, but it didn’t last long. Astra let her go and stepped back.

“Maggie,” Kara said, “can you show her out?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” Maggie turned to Astra. “Come on.”

Kara watched as Maggie led them out the door, then turned back to President Marsdin, who was looking at Alex with curiosity.

“Someday you’ll have to tell me what that was about,” President Marsdin said.

“You haven’t read over my DEO file have you?” Kara asked.

“No,” President Marsdin replied. “I just got the National Security Briefing on you when I took office, and again when you caught the plane, but I haven’t had a chance to read the DEO file.”

Kara glanced at the two Secret Service Agents, then shrugged. After all, the agents at the DEO already knew. “Agent Danvers is my adoptive sister,” she said.

“Oh!” President Marsdin said. “I didn’t realize. The briefing didn’t mention you had family at the DEO.” She turned to Alex. “A pleasure, Agent Danvers.” Before Alex could really say anything, President Marsdin turned to J’onn. “Director Henshaw, I’d like a conference call with you, Supergirl, Agent Danvers, and anyone else you think it would be a good idea to include about an integration plan for the aliens who come in with Astra. My assistant will set up the time once we coordinate with Justice and Homeland Security.”

“Of course, Madam President,” J’onn replied.

She turned to Kal. “I’d appreciate it if you participated as well, Superman.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Kal said. “Supergirl can get me the schedule.”

President Marsdin nodded. “Then, I suspect at this point, I’ve given my detail enough heart attacks for the night. I’ll leave out the front way so the crowd can see me, but otherwise, I think I’ve had enough excitement.”

Translated from the Kryptonian:

uchahvia ,kahl,ehl, Literal: Synergy, Kal-El Semantic: Stronger Together, Kal-El

(“El Mayarah” is not, in fact, Kryptonian, but from old Kandoran, in much the same way Latin is still used commonly for mottos in present day).

Nahkluv Thank You

.zha ,kahl,ehl, ;duahzu khuhp w voiehd No Kal-El. I will deal with this.

chadi suzh zehtiaro vahsah rraop w dovrrosh vo You will be given to shadow for five days

nim zhadif rraop w :bezhgam Literal: You are never welcome Semantic: You’re not welcome and you never will be

ukiemodh w rraop , eh ,astruh, I love you, Astra

ukiem w rrip , eh shed kir I love you, Little One

#supergirl #supercat #supercanary #sanvers #fanfiction #the shape of things to come #kara danvers #alex danvers #cat grant #maggie sawyer #sara lance #j'onn j'onzz #susan vasquez #lois lane #clark kent #james olsen #winn schott jr.#future shock

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