#Tim doesn't know her

[bluerosefox]

Eldritch Kidnappings

hmmmm a Kon/Danny/Tim idea? Maybe? Depends if anyone wanna ship all three but leaving it open ended (or if Tim is already dating Bernard just make it a Kon/Danny only?). AND a deaged Ellie.

Red Robin and Superboy (the original) were at a JL meeting. It was boring to be honest. Nothing to much was happening besides the normal stuff for all the heroes there. No big crises or world/universe ending danger.

Or at least it was...

Because not soon after a glowing green portal ripped opened and a large eldritch creature stuck its huge head and half of its body out. Every hero there went on high alert and into fighting stances, ready to defend the Watchtower. Once the creature was halfway in the room its eyes snapped opened, glowing near Lazarus Pit green colored but like brighter? neon?, and darted around the room before stopping right on Superboy.

Without warning or words the creature quickly reached out, using at first two arms/hands before more sprang out and swatted away heroes in the room that attacked. It quickly took a hold of Superboy who tired use his strength to get free but found the being stronger than him. Red Robin, in a panic to save his best friend (and crush, shhh maybe) quickly joined in but instead of being swatted away like the others gets snagged by a hand and soon found himself captured as well.

Just as quickly as the creature appeared, it retreated back into the still open portal, dragging the two with and not caring at all of the powers, fists, or shouting being thrown at it.

Then it was gone.

Leaving the JL in a panic.

-x-x-

"-And thats why I need your help! I understand its a lot to ask but please, any help will be welcomed." the eldritch being, or rather Danny Phantom begged as he worriedly glanced at them.

So... It turns out the eldritch being was a young halfa ghost hero named Phantom that needed their help stabilizing his clone/sister/maybe daughter?

She was apparently melting and needed stable DNA when he had rushed her to a ghost doctor and was told. But Danny had no clue how to stabilize a clone and the fruitloop that cloned him the notes were bare bones and frankly terrible. In his desperate need for help Danny had sought out clues/advice from his mentor who basically pointed him to Superboy and Red Robin in his frustrating riddling way.

Superboy's DNA had the stable cloning gene/code they needed. Red Robin was smart enough to help figure out a way to put it Danielle 'Elle' Phantom. (it also helped that he had dabbled into cloning during his... bad year)

So yeah, Danny in his panic to save his clone went full on eldritch monster and opened a portal during their meeting and dragged them to the Far Frozen where Ellie was currently suspended in a ecto healing pod and was now begging for their help, promising them anything if they helped out.

The catch? If they put Superboy's DNA in Ellie she'll de-age to her true age and no longer be a 'pure' clone.

Instead she'll be their (Danny and Conner's) kid.

[flwrkid14]

Tim Drake Accidentally Takes Over the World (and Didn’t Think to Mention It)

So, Janet somehow spent decades climbing her way into every government worth a damn, ruling the entire world from behind the scenes. And then, because the universe is apparently wild, she left it all to Tim.

Cut to Tim Drake, the brand-new, completely reluctant secret ruler of the entire planet. And he just… never really thought it was worth mentioning?

The Batfam finds out when Bruce stumbles across an encrypted memo traced to a mysterious Gotham office with Tim’s name on it.

Bruce, holding up the memo: “Tim. Want to explain why this document about, oh, international finance reforms is signed with your encryption key?”

Tim, not even looking up from his laptop: “Oh, yeah. That. Janet left me her ‘global influence portfolio’ or whatever. Mostly paperwork.”

The Batfam stares in total shock.

Dick sputters nearly dropping his coffee: "Wait—you’ve been managing world policies?!”

Tim, shrugging, barely paying attention as he emails the president of Germany: “Well, yeah. I figured someone had to keep things running. It's not that big a deal. I mostly just redirect some policies. You know, keep things running smoothly.”

Jason, absolutely cackling: “Are you telling me that little Replacement here is the reason for half the ‘global cooperation’ headlines?”

Tim, scrolling through emails: “They send me reports; I send suggestions. And honestly, they make it way more dramatic than it is. It's not that hard."

Barbara stares at him, half horrified, half impressed. “How did we not notice this?”

Tim blinks. “I mean, it’s not like I was actively hiding it. I assumed you guys knew I was… kind of managing these things?”

Cue utter disbelief.

Stephanie, laughing too hard to breathe: “Tim, do you have world leaders on speed dial?”

Tim, completely unfazed: “Only the important ones. They text, mostly. Oh—by the way, I might’ve influenced a minor arms control thing last week. Don’t worry; it’s all sorted.”

Bruce, looking like he’s two seconds from fainting: “Sorted? Tim, we're talking about you having global authority here. People notice these things."

Tim shrugs again as his phone buzzes with notifications. “Sure, but it’s not like they’re going to do anything too crazy. I just suggest stuff, and they listen. Honestly, it’s like herding really powerful, really overdramatic cats.”

Damian, scandalized: “You mean to tell me, Drake, that you’re manipulating world politics like it’s a game of checkers?”

Tim, still casual: “Manipulating’s a strong word. Like I said, it’s more just nudging things along.” His phone buzzes again. “Oh, hang on. France is panicking about their energy policy again.”

The Batfam tries to process the fact that Tim—Tim, who routinely forgets what day it is—is now, somehow, running the world.

And then his phone buzzes with a message from the UN Security Council.

Tim sighs, glancing down. “Oh, great. Looks like they’re debating nuclear arms again. Be right back.”

Meanwhile, the Batfam is left absolutely speechless, processing the fact that their Tim—scrawny, coffee-fueled Tim—is apparently one of the most powerful people on the planet. And to him its just another tuesday.

[sgtbradfords]

Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen in the promo for 7x06 - The Gala

[methoughtsphantom]

Jason “my family doesn’t know im alive” Todd and Danny “my family doesn’t know I’m dead” Fenton going alongside each of their plans my beloved. like Danny will absolutely go head-to-head with all of Gotham to support his new best friend on all his crime lord endeavors while he drags Jason to also attend collage with him. They are roommates and there never seems to a mention of family from either side. It’s an unspoken understanding they have. They met because Crime alley as a ghost lair thrummed with so much loneliness, it was at first the perfect place for Danny to hide his ecto signature in. But then he saw the dumbass whose lair it was lean his motorcycle just a tad too much when making a sharp turn to an alley, he sweeped the floor through a lifted chain link that passed his body but not his helmet. Yep that’s right the red thing got stuck. Danny who at the moment happened to be watching through his window snorted. Much to his horror because if not a ghost that dude could’ve gotten his head flung off.

Still, the scene was ridiculous.

On a whim he irrationally sees the police closing in on the guy and panicked at the thought of the guy using intangibility to free himself so Danny phased them both through his apartment wall and left the guy sprawled in his couch. Jason didn’t freak out but that’s normal when one’s got a concussion, one the guy immediately denied having as Danny laid out the medical supplies. The idiot proceeded to almost flatten four steps to the door with his stubbornness. He also said “I’m asexual” in the most deadpan voice as Danny dropped him back in the couch.

Danny sighed. Clearly though, he’d done so too early in the night because the guy kept trying to go, kept trying to knock Danny out, kept trying to slash him with knifes Danny didn’t know he had stashed. He’d only disarmed the guy from his guns. The visible ones apparently, cause at one point the guy did take out a gun and shoot until the ammo ran out and then teetered the thing like it was an art prop and hit his moon lamp.

Danny "yeah you aren’t officially my friend until you’ve tried to kill me" fenton my guys.

Anyways both keep having the same argument over if Danny technically kidnapped Jason or not. Danny holds the fact that the police at least didn’t see the guy make the ridicule. Jason argued that happened cause he was sporting a concussion. Danny argued he got that after.

Jason at first thinks the guy's a meta, but no. Danny introduces himself, sheepily now that he recognizes this is who the lair he invaded is from. He bandages him and tries to cook for him. If Danny didn’t have ice powers he most certainly would’ve burned the apartment. Jason then proceeds to kick him out of his own kitchen and make them both enchiladas. It’s the most normal both had in a while with another person and the air seems oddly settled. From then on, Jason constantly invited himself over, under the pretense that this was his territory and therefore he could drop in unannounced. Danny who has actual powers says he only allows this because Jason cooks very well.

Danny stays away from the crime fighting business unless his buddy is in deep shit he can’t get himself out. Also it’s Danny’s turn to cover for his vigilante friend which Sam and Tucker give him so much shit for. (but also advice)

And they were roommates. (omg) Danny effectively derails Jason’s big comeback plans by casually dropping ghost lore every two days. Like,

Jason, talking about how he doesn’t want Bats snooping on his territory:

Danny: Just don’t let them in

Jason: ??

Danny: yeah!! Hasn’t Batman died and got revived??? You can totally kick out death touched people you don’t want entering on your lair.

Jason: …I can?

Danny: Yep dude, your lair’s supposed to feel safe.

Jason: wait does that mean I can kick you out?

Danny: First this is my apartment. Second, im dead, not dead touched. Third, it’s too late to get rid of me. bitch.

Anyways Jason is super excited. You mean to tell him he can actually deny people over to his territory haunt?? (Yes it’s only to people who have died and came back but still!! The sample size is exactly the type of people he doesn’t want to see—!)

Joker my beloathed can’t step foot in Crime Alley.

(Jason’d feel a lot safer if the clown was dead but the possibility of his murderer turning into a ghost and their little loophole not applying on the clown is too scary to contemplate.)

Anyways, Jason loves experimenting with the power. It can go from simply making people shudder and not want to enter crime Alley to straight up not letting them enter like there’s an invisible wall blocking the way.

Jason because he’s hurt that Bruce never even patrols Crime Alley and also because he’s petty put B under the category of “invisible wall” blacklist. His reasoning is that the man doesn’t even attempt to enter Crime Alley. To him it’s surely just a place shadowed in tragedy. (anyways that’s it’s the place he met Jason)

Ironically, Jason totally forgets that Batman does venture into Crime Alley one day in the whole year. The day he met Jason.

Okay. He didn’t forget at first. The first year Jason remembers cause it was only a few months till then but then the next— Jason forgets that today’s the anniversary of the day’s Bruce’s parents died. He forgets to allow B in when he feels a slight tug and dismiss the feeling that prompts Bruce to investigate because he literally can’t enter Crime Alley. He starts the trialsTM, he scouts on the very edge and sees people the whole day enter and get out and cross with no problem but Bruce can’t.

It’s literally just Bruce.

Time to call Constantine, i guess.

[gaywineauntsstuff]

the reason I hate the "Tim doesn't trust Dick after Damian/spyral/ric" is because they are besties your honour.

Like there's a post going around that I cannot for the life of me find that says Dick is Tims trusted adult and they are so right fr ong.

Because despite what Fanon believes Dick is a pretty chill guy and people take one look at him and go "let me unload my emotional baggage on you"

There's like a very famous panel (that im too lazy to find or remember the name of the run its in okay don't yell at me) where Tim basically goes "soooo my girlfriends pregnant" and Dick nearly falls off the roof.

Tim is calling Dick for the dumbest shit imaginable to the world ending and so are the rest of the batkids.

so I have taken the Canon that Dick knows if not all but most and generalised it to hell.

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

Jason has been on a team with like 80% of OG titan members

they're having gossip session

Jason in a war zone dodging bullets with his bat travel mug in his hand: And THEN! Kori and Roy shared this look and you know the look they give you when they're judging you for bat reasons and you're like tell me why you're mad I was raised by a crazy person my normal levels are skewed.

Dick in NYC with a blueberry bagel In one hand, his Turkish coffee in another, just finished meeting up with Donna who gave him THAT exact look: No REALLLLL why are they like that, just tell me which one of the creepy traits I internalised as a child is bothering you.

Jason: omg you get it anyway so I grab the bomb and start playing soccer with it because its round and im bored and starfire takes it away like idk what im doing? bro ive been bombed I know how to work with a bomb..

Dick: hmmm and then what happened

Jason: and then.....

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

Tim: Dickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Dick: yea Tim

Tim: Kon is being a dick

Dick: oh?

Tim: yeah and its really starting to bother me man

Dick who knows Kon is dead and Tim is either hallucinating or drugged to be more susceptible to manipulation and is already on his way: hmm tell me more babybird whys he upsetting my lil brother

Tim about to tell Dick what is a fever dream bc he contracted pneumonia and is loopy off his ass on painkillers:

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

steph does this more with babs in the hero scene but its just... so easy and totally gets into the habit of it after Dick is her Batman for a bit and now she uses him as her civilian life therapist

Steph on her way back from campus: and then this bitch looks me up and down and pours her coffee cup down my shirt!

Dick on his way back to blud after decking bruce in the face: hold on hold on hold on she did what??

Steph nodding vigorously even though he can't see her: pulls my whole ass sweater away from my body and pours her peats coffee down my goddamn shirt Dick.

Dick: omg she didnt

Steph still nodding: she DID and then I found out from Jonny who found out from Vivian that someone told her I made out with her boyfriend at Leos house party

Dick who has no idea who any of these people are: wait but you were at Leos for like an hour max last week. we has smoothies after.

StepH: exactly so I had proof that I wasn't there and confronted her and went like. I don't want your crusty ass alt white boy whose favourite 'indie' band is the neighbourhood. I dated Tim fucking Drake the OG crusty ass white boy and I don't do repeats

Dick choking on his coffee:

Steph: anyway we are besties now and planning on getting her boyfriend back because apparently he cheated on her with this drop dead gorgeous girl and im high key a lil complimented she thought we were the same person.

Dick who initially called for casework and is actually so happy one of the people he calls siblings is actually like living a life outside of vigilantism: tell me more

Steph: you sound a little teary

dick: don't worry about it

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

Damian: Richard

Dick: Damian

Damian: so I might be skipping patrol with father

Dick:? what you love patrol??

Damian: and school

Dick: Dames? what's going on:? is everything okay? you can talk to me

Damian: I am volunteering at a hospital

Dick: kid

Damian: Listen before you sAY anything I know what we do is important but I think I can help in another way and -

Dick had brown parents and was training for the olympics at 8, totally knows what its like to have insane expectations and rebel with a day job: kid kid calm down okay? you wanna be a doctor? is that it?

Damian: well? I dont really know but I just? there has to be another way to help people. besides what we do I mean-

Dick: Alfred left me Thomas waynes journals I initially thought they were to bash your fathers head in when he was being stupid but it seems the old man was looking out for us. Wanna take a stab at your other grandpas legacy when you come over next weekend. I'll tell Bruce we patrolled so you get a few more days off.

Damian: you're the best

[mamawasatesttube]

beef no one at dc thought about but that i would love to see: cassie sandsmark finds out steph (on bruce's orders) nearly got tim exploded to death, when he is the very last one of her emotional support idiots alive, and she does NOT forgive, and she does NOT forget. she will be holding this against steph (and bruce, but that's a whole other list and also this ain't about him) until her dying day. Fucka You, Basard.............. if this moron gets exploded she'll fucking snap because she can't take any more grief. did you even think of that..... no!!!! smh!!!!!!

[glitter-stained]

Are the people who keep complaining that jason got away with what he did completely unscathed actually okay? Like, did we read the same comics? There's extremely little I can think of that didn't happen to Jason as "punishment"

like why are the people who want him to be punished forever not happy he is already getting punished forever what else do you want

[gnomewithalaptop]

Rereading the Our Worlds at War tie-in again and God I miss their friendship every day

[nelkcats]

Roomba

Honestly Danny would be the first to admit that trying to overshadow anything after the Technus incident was a bad idea. But he was also a very bored teenager, visiting a strange city at the request of his older sister so, can you blame him?

It had seemed like a fun idea to the halfa the moment he saw a small roomba in a store window in Gotham. It didn't look like many wanted to buy it but it was there anyway.

So yes, Danny could admit that it was all a strange combination of his boredom and lack of sleep because before he knew it he had overshadowed the damn roomba, causing the light above it to glow bright green.

It was just luck that some of his powers worked, because he made it through the store window with no problems, and had some fun chasing the denizens of Gotham all over the place.

It wasn't so much fun when he realized he was stuck inside the roomba; or when some people started to look at the machine curiously, trying to catch it.

He managed to escape with some luck and set about being a real nuisance to anyone he came across, including the clown laughing like a maniac and the live scarecrow, because well, what other option did he have besides waiting for it to sort itself out?

It wasn't long before the bats heard the report of "a roomba on the loose" in disbelief. Dick wondered if Alfred would appreciate them bringing the machine to the mansion to help him with cleaning.

[lelslizzylebs]

I think that the Succubi didn't look like Chilchuck's wife because then he wouldn't have frozen. (concept @tallgirl14)

[belfry-ghost]

some enrichment outside our discord dms just for you bestie <3

anyway,,can i have some batgirl tim timkon thoughts pretty please? you know how much im obsessed with them

I can't remember if I shared this with you yet but!

“There was a bomb,” she says finally over the soft click-click-click of the cube. “Impulse defused it. We got all the civilians out safely. Kon kissed me. We caught the culprit, too—some wackjob dressed like a bug. Not even a cool one.”  Barbara’s fingers stutter to a stop over her keys after a brief delay while the information sinks in. She turns slowly. “Superboy did what?”  Batgirl is suspiciously focused on the puzzle cube.  “Okay,” Barbara reorganizes her list of priorities in her head, “and what did you do?”  There’s a brief stutter, and then the clicking increases in speed. Batgirl mumbles something she can’t make out across the room and over the sound of her computers. “What?”  “I thanked him,” she finally squeaks out. “He kissed me and I thanked him. In the middle of a mission. And then I walked away.”  You can’t laugh, she thinks desperately, it’s hilarious, but if you laugh she’ll never forgive you.

[spacedace]

Dick dropped down from the skylight into the kitchen soundlessly, one hand already gripping one of his escrima rods in preparation for a fight as he worked on getting his barrings.

Babs had said that none of the apartment’s security measures had been tripped and that her system hadn’t detected anyone entering the apartment building that shouldn’t be there, but it was better safe than sorry. The kind of mercenaries that had been hired and the kind of tracking they had already done on Elle meant that they very well could have found a way around the security measures. Hell, if Jason was right about this Marcus Hunter guy - and he most definitely was - then even the additional security Damian had added over the years might not have been enough.

Behind him there was the soft click of a switch and suddenly the kitchen was flooded with light.

Shit, that was bad. He hadn’t heard anyone behind him, hadn’t even registered another person in the immediate area despite the readings in his mask and his finely honed senses. Either he was getting rusty or whoever had flipped on the lights in an attempt to blind him was, if not as good, than at least in the same league as Cass when it came to stealth.

The fact that they were confident enough about not having to worry about Elle that they would try to blind him by turning on the lights rather than for a quieter take-down in the dark also was a bad sign. Either the intruder was confident enough about their plan that Elle calling the cops or trying to run away wouldn’t interfere, or they knew for a fact that she couldn’t. That they had ensured that she was not able to do anything as a dangerous stranger wandered her house and tried to jump the vigilante that had just entered her home.

Thankfully his domino was in top form and ready for things like this, specially designed by Lucius with software finely honed by Babs. As quickly as the switch was flipped, his mask adjusted to account for the sudden change in light levels, keeping him fully aware of the world around him. A chance at surprising the person trying to get the drop on him in return, if he was fast enough to pull it off.

And if it meant saving the young woman his little brother was in love with, that had become another member of the family over the past couple of years?

Dick would be more than fast enough.

He dropped low and spun, flicking the taser function of his escrima on as he did. He still hadn’t heard anyone move, but he knew odds were good that the person behind him would likely be aiming for center mass while he was standing if they had a fire arm and lunging at him before he could realize what happened if they weren’t.

Body flowing like water, Dick turned and moved to slam the sparking business end of his weapon into his opponent coming face to face with -

A bleary and half asleep Elle.

Dick stumbled as he rapidly fought his own momentum, nearly crashing to the floor in his attempt to not hurt the very woman he had shown up to save. He still ended up knocking a familiar battered bag from off the table in his - totally not wild and undignified at all thank you - pinwheeling.

At least he managed to not bump the pretty, hand-painted vase sitting next to Elle’s normal traveling pack. It had been a gift from Ma Kent when Damian, Jon and Elle had all three moved in together and Dick did not want to face the wrath of three if anything happened to it.

Or the wrath of Ma Kent, for that matter.

Elle, for her part, just watched him from where she was swaying blearily in the kitchen doorway, eyes squinting into the bright light that she had flipped on. She seemed unbothered by the vigilante that had appeared in her home and nearly tazedd the shit out of her the second she’d made her presence known.

“Mmp?” She…said? Mumbled, really, sleep blurred and muzzy. “Nigh’wing?” She slurred, lifting a hand to rub tiredly at an aching eye. “Why’re you in my kitchen?”

“Uh…” Dick stared at her, still mentally scrambling to get his feet under him as he tried to wrangle the sudden flip between fighting a dangerous foe to talking with his brother’s exhausted, jet-lagged and very much out of the loop civilian girlfriend in his vigilante persona.

Elle gave a yawn so massive and wide Dick was fairly certain he would need to take her to the ER to get her jaw re-attached afterwards. Instead of screaming in pain at suddenly dislocating a bone, she just leaned against the door jam tiredly as she looked him up and down. “Are you bleedin’ out?”

Dick blinked.

“Um, no.”

“Any broken bones, internal injuries or concussions?”

“No.”

“Villain chasing you about to bust in and destroy half the apartment building?”

“God I hope not.”

“Mmm-kay.”

Elle gave a slow nod, shifting so she was standing fully again - if slightly at a sleepy, drooping angle - as she lazily waved a hand in the general direction of one cabinet.

“Everything but what’s in there and on the bottom shelf of the fridge is free game - that stuff is gonna be gifts for Damian and Jon’s families, so don’t eat ‘em.” Her hand shifted, vaguely motioning down the hall in the direction opposite of where her and the boys’ bedroom was. “Guest room is second on the left, bathroom across from that. If you need anything else…”

She trailed off, head lolling and unruly mess of black curls falling in an even wilder frenzy around her, “Honestly, like, call someone else about it. I just spent the last 84 hours digging people out of a mudslide on the other side of the globe explicitly against my doctor’s orders. I’m going to go have a coma for awhile about it to recover. As a treat.”

As had often been the case over the years, Elle had zagged when he had expected her to zig. It was a hallmark of her as a person, he’d learned from Dami’s stories and his own experience with her. Instead of being freaked by one of Gotham’s vigilantes breaking into her home and nearly taking her head off, she just… rolled with it. Made sure he wasn’t dying and decided at that point that whatever he was doing there was just not her problem to deal with.

Nightwing wasn’t even one of the heroes she’d worked with before as part of her search and rescue work. Elle had never officially met him as his vigilante persona, she’d barely met Damian and Jon as Phoenix and Flamebird. And yet she just didn’t give a single fuck about anything happening currently. Too exhausted to care beyond ensuring no one was about to die, most likely, after just getting back from an SAR mission.

Which made sense. The physical and emotional toll of rescue work was worse than any fight Dick had ever been in, and wore on those who made it their life’s work to that particular kind of emergency service hard. Especially one like Elle who had a widely known reputation for her dogged determination to keep going well past the point other rescuers would hit their limit and have to stop for the sake of their health.

Actually wait, speaking of health, did she just say -

“Doctor’s orders?” He asked, shoving his escrima back in place on his back as he straightened out and stepped forward, hands worriedly reaching for her. “Are you okay?”

He knew that Elle had ended up in the hospital for a bit about six or seven months ago when she’d been visiting family. He wasn’t totally sure of all the details, but he knew there’d been some kind of freak accident that had resulted in Elle needing emergency surgery. Whatever had happened - which, considering she’d been in Amity Park could have been literally anything - she’d ended up with a pretty intense looking scar on her chest above her heart and some intensely worried boyfriends once Damian and Jon had found out what had happened.

Thankfully, with Amity Park’s deep connection with the Infinite Realms and as the seat of King Phantom’s rule, Elle had been in the care of the best healers in the multiverse. She’d been irritable about the whole recovery process he remembered, grumpy at having to be stuck in one place for so long. But considering she’d had to have surgery to remove something pretty sizable from her heart Dick felt four weeks in the hospital and a further six of bed rest and home care was a pretty short recovery time.

Though… maybe she wasn’t as recovered as she’d made everyone think.

Sure, the Yetis could be a bit much in how they fussed over living humans in their care, but there was every chance that Elle really wasn’t as back in action as she’d led people to believe. She was a little too like Dami and Jon that way - like just about everyone Dick knew that way. It wouldn’t matter if she was wheezing through a flail chest or missing a damn limb, if it involved something or someone important to her, she wasn’t going to be stopped. And with Elle, the only thing as important to her as Dami and Jon, was traveling the world to feed her eternal wanderlust and saving people through her search and rescue work. Neither of which was possible if the people that cared about her knew she was still dealing with the effects of her brush with death earlier in the year.

Then again, there was every chance that something else had happened. Between her travels and her SAR work, Elle got into a lot of dicey situations. Not even getting into the fact that she’d put down roots in Gotham and Metropolis - two places known for their high danger rate thanks to regular villain attacks and other crazy bullshit. Had something happened that he hadn’t heard about?

Elle gave another terrifyingly wide yawn.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” She waved his concern off blandly, “It’s all gravy my dude. Just had a bit of a thing not too long ago and my doc is a bit on the over-cautious side. If it was up to him I’d be on bed rest ‘til I’m ninety.”

Dick frowned, not totally convinced. Elle either was ignoring him or was just too tired to notice he was still worried. Instead of acknowledging it she just began swaying back in the direction of her bedroom. “Right, now that’s settled, I’m gonna go crash. Mind the cat when you go to leave, he’s gotten obsessed with the pigeons recently and keeps trying to escape to go after them.”

“Wait, no, I need to talk to you.” He said, moving to follow her as she turned away from him and began shuffling down the hall.

She made a vague, incomprehensible noise, not bothering to turn back to face him. “Mmm, later.”

“No, this really can’t wait.” He insisted, reaching out and catching her arm before she shuffled any further away. “You’re in danger.”

He expected that to be the moment that Elle locked in and started seriously listening to him. That she’d shake off the heavy drowsiness she was caught in and snap to attention and focus on what he was saying and why he was there.

As usual though, Elle zigged when he thought she’d zag.

Instead of doing any of the normal things people do when told by a vigilante that their lives were in danger, she just gave a ridiculous, tired whine and shook his hand off. “Yeah, in danger of not getting any more sleep.” She said, petulant and pouting. “I’m fine, let me go back to bed.”

Over his comms he heard Steph huff a soft laugh, “Damn, Little D wasn’t kidding when he said she was a mess after missions. Might have to bring out the big guns and tell her what we found.”

She had a point. Both in that Dami had talked about Elle being practically a mindless zombie after prolonged SAR stints and in needing to up the ante in explaining the situation. He’d hoped to get her to a safe house first so that he knew she was secure before breaking the news that someone wanted her dead, but if she was going to just ignore everything he said in her dogged attempt to crawl back into bed he might just have to lay it out to her now.

“No, I need you to listen to me.” He said firmly, grabbing onto her arm again and tugging her to face him. “A group of elite mercenaries has been hired to kill you. They’ve been tracking your movements for awhile now, they know where you live, they know your schedule, the places you go.” He gave her arm a small squeeze, heart aching a little as he looked down at the worn, exhausted face of the woman that very likely would be his sister-in-law before too much longer. “The others and I can help protect you, but you need to come with me now.”

For a long, quiet moment Elle just stood there and stared at him. Uncanny white-blue eyes taking him in, the seriousness of his expression beneath his domino, the tense line of his shoulders, his firm grip on her arm. Her usually bright and exuberant expression unreadable and still in the dim light of the hallway. Some of the anxiety in his chest unwound a little as the seriousness of the situation seemed to finally settle in to her sleep deprived mind.

And then Elle zagged.

“...Okay… and?”

---

Elle groaned as Duke dropped down from the skylight.

“Seriously? You’re pulling Signal in to this? In the middle of the night?” She gave Dick a look that edged on scathing, scrubbing her face tiredly before turning her attention on Duke. “Dude, what are you doing here? You have the day shift, shouldn’t you be sleeping right now?”

She shook her head before either of them could try and get a word in, waving her hands at them irritably. “Wait, scratch that, I should be sleeping right now and you,” She pointed at Signal with an annoyed frown, “Should know how fucking tired I am. You had to drag my ass all the way to the Opps tent enough times after finishing up an SAR mission to know how hard I crash.”

Duke held up his hands in a motion that felt less like a I come in peace and more of a I surrender to Dick’s mind, though he was still smiling a little. “And hello and good morning to you too Ms. Nightingale. Yes it has been a minute since we last saw each other, and it is nice to get to chat when we’re not running around trying to pull people out of rubble or half dead in the crash tent.”

Elle flipped him off, which just made Duke laugh in turn.

Dick might have felt the need to intervene and try and smooth things over, but he could see that - clearly despite herself - Elle was happy to see him. Some of the tension in her frame had eased up, the lines of irritation on her tired face easing up into a fond kind of annoyance.

Yeah, alright, Duke was right that they should have just let him handle the whole thing from the jump - even with having to wait a few minutes. Dick and Elle got along like a house on fire when he was in his civilian ID, but his interactions with Elle as Nightwing - though positive - were limited. Signal on the other hand, she’d worked with fairly regularly and she and Duke had developed a solid, friendly working relationship over the past couple of years.

“Alright, alright. Yes, it’s nice to see you Lighthouse.” Elle rolled her eyes, amused fondness in the motion, “Seriously though dude, I just got back home like, two hours ago. Can’t this wait?”

The dark visor of Duke’s helmet hid it, but the look he was giving Elle was clear enough anyway. “Sorry, think I might have missed that,” he said, not at all sounding apologetic, “Did you just ask if us trying to save you from the crew of incredibly dangerous mercenaries hired to kill you could wait? Was I hearing that right?”

Elle groaned, “Ugh, look I already told him,” she waved a hand vaguely at Dick, not bothering to glance in his direction, “That while I appreciate the concern, that it’s all good. Seriously,” she said, sounding every inch the as exhausted as she looked, “This shit happens, like, all the time, it’s fine. Can I please go back to sleep now? We can catch up later. I got that awesome coffee Julietta makes the last time I visited and Sal gave me some of his husband’s fresh made donuts when I swung by the bodega on my way home. We can have a nice breakfast chat later.”

Dick tensed, rocking forward as he said “This has happened before?” at the same time Duke asked, “You have some more of that coffee?”

“Signal, focus.” Oracle snapped over comm line, and even without seeing her Dick knew she was pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

Pulling in Duke to help him get Elle out of there had been a good call, but they’d forgotten that it came at the cost of the two being entirely unserious about dangers to their persons. Dick didn’t know all the details, but he knew enough to say that there was a reason the two teamed up on SAR missions so often - and it wasn’t just how skilled they both were when it came to rescuing people.

“Right, coffee can wait…” Duke said, offering Dick a bare impression of a sheepish grin. As much as he thought he needed to placate Dick’s unimpressed stare. He was annoyed with himself that even knowing how low effort it was, the grin was still working.

“Mmm.” Elle said, muzzy and unamused by the both of them. “You’re right. It can wait, for the morning, after I’ve gotten some sleep.” She made a shooing motion at them with her hands, “Go on then, get. Let me get my beauty rest.”

“I don’t know if we have time for you to sleep that long.” Duke mused, laughing as Elle flipped him off again. “Seriously Whammy, you can’t stay here. It’s not safe.”

“You’re face isn’t safe.”

“You’re face isn’t safe if you don't move your ass.”

Maybe involving Duke was a bad idea after all, Dick thought, giving into the urge to scrub at his face. While he was his civilian identity, Duke and Elle were friendly enough. She got along with him as well as she got along with everyone else in the family. But the two had clearly developed a strong, almost sibling-like relationship out in the field when Duke was on duty as Signal. Useful in imparting the dangers, useless in getting the two to not bicker like overtired siblings while they were in the middle of something.

Dick sighed, “Can we do this later, please?” He met Elle’s eye from behind his mask, “Look, we wouldn’t be here unless we had serious concerns about your safety. I know you’re tired and think it’s not a big deal but it is. Can you please go pack a bag and come with us so we can get you setup somewhere more secure?”

There was a long beat of silence as Elle looked at him. Her exhausted face becoming contemplative as she met his eye and took in his serious expression. He felt hope swell in him that she was finally taking all of this seriously when -

“Nah. Not happening.” She waved him off, unbothered, and turned to start heading down the hall again towards her room. “I’m going back to sleep. Feel free to hang out here if you want to. I already told Sparky here which snacks were off limits, just keep the volume on the TV down if you decide to watch anything.”

Okay. They might just have to kidnap her. Unfortunate, but Dick wasn’t seeing a lot of options left to them.

Duke, thankfully, seemed to have one more trick up his sleeve.

Crossing his arms and leaning a little too casually against the kitchen counter he made a show of looking at his nails - well hidden beneath his gloves - as he called out, “Alright, I guess we’ll tell Supernova you weren’t interested in meeting him after all.”

Elle froze. Truly froze. Foot still hovering in the air mid-step, entire body trapped in comical stillness. Slowly, painfully slowly, her head turned towards where Duke was. Eyes so intensely wide that they hurt Dick to look at a little, her already slightly off-putting white-blue irises almost swallowing the tiny black pinpricks of her pupils.

“Supernova?” She spun, body almost shaking as she scuttled over to where Duke was like a deranged little crab, “He’s in Gotham?”

Duke made a show of shrugging, “Eh, I mean, he was going to be in Gotham. Help make sure the safehouse we were going to have you stay in is secure and all that.” No amount of cover from Duke’s visor could hide the gleam in his eye, the shit eating grin he flashed Elle said it all. “But if you want to stay here, I guess we’ll have to tell him to not bother coming.”

Dick blinked as Elle seemed to start vibrating in place. He wasn’t entirely certain she wouldn’t take off like a god damn rocket with the way her clear excitement at the idea was rattling around inside her, body likely to combust from the energy of it all.

“I guess I’m calling Kon.” Tim mused from over the comms. “Who knew she was such a big Supernova fan?”

“Holy shit, do you think she has a crush on him?” Steph asked, clear delight at the absolute horror and chaos that would rock Jon if that was the case.

----

^ random incomplete dpxdc snippet thing from a fic I'm working on where the Batfam & Superfam have to try and keep Damian & Jon's supposed-civilian girlfriend Elle safe while the boys are off planet.

Just a lot of fun pre-identity reveal shinanigans, Elle having absolutely zero self-preservation instincts (even by Fenton standards) and the Bats & Supers trying to deal with the chaos inherint in dealing with ghost shit while not revealing anything before Damian & Jon get the chance to. Also some fun painful angst as things start going off the rails and Infinite Realm conspiracies start popping off involving Ancient of the Speedforce Pariah Dark and Elle's ongoing struggle to controll her Obsession. Most importantly, it involves Duke & Elle getting to be chaotic besties because they deserve to be unhinged gremlins that worry those around them with their shinanigans on the regular haha

Sidenote that is entirely unncessary but I put in the research so I'm going to make it everyone else's problem: When Duke calls Elle "Whammy" above, he's actually calling her "W.A.M.I" which stands for Wide Area Motion Imagery, which is a newer type of technology search and rescue teams use.

[seleneprince]

Love this idea! Also now i can't stop to imagine how tim and N!kitty! Reader would interract.

The brainrot is getting worse for me, unfortunately. I'm one positive comment about the idea away from actually including it in the series.

Oh, I thought of that too. You know the character called Lynx? She's faced against Tim before, but if you look at the Red Robin runs they have an...interesting dynamic. Kinda like Batman and Catwoman 2.0, except Lynx is more proactive. Look it up if you don't know her yet👀

That's basically how the dynamic between Tim and Catgirl would be (she hates that name but I'm afraid it fits her too well lol), except Catgirl doesn't really like to be chased. Not like her mentor or Lynx does. She takes her heists very seriously, she's a huge perfectionist, and last thing she needs is an annoyingly persistent detective distracting her by trying to catch her.

Catgirl is only in it to learn from Selina, and improve her stealth and thievery skills until she's confident enough to go solo, because as brilliant of a hacker she is, there are places she can't reach through hacking alone. She has to sneak in and handle things manually sometimes, and she needs to move like a cat burglar to do it. And well, if she does actually steal some stuff here and there, only Catwoman is witness and she's no snitch.

Plus, since she's actively separating herself from the Batfamily as a whole, having the most brilliant member interested in her is a headache. She's trying really hard to keep her civilian identity as the clueless, spoiled rich daughter of Bruce Wayne that knows nothing of their world. But if she lets Tim Drake out of all people get close enough to Catgirl, how long until he guesses it? Until he begins to pay attention to her outside the suit too and notices the similarities, the mannerisms? The coincidences? She knows how he is when it comes to solving enigmas. Batman himself said Tim was a better detective than him. Catgirl is paranoid to say the least. She despises him. No matter how witty he is, how stimulating their arguments/fights are, how he's so damn intelligent that he's a threat but also can keep up with her in conversations, the smugness that he hardly conceals when he overpowers her (and how stupidly hot he looks in those moments)

Meanwhile, Red Robin treats her like a particularly tricky case. Catwoman doesn't take sidekicks, she works alone, everyone knows that. So who's Catgirl? Why did Selina take her in? What's her purpose? What's her ultimate goal? And why is he enjoying their encounters more than he should? Why doesn't he pull apart when she kisses him? The more she dodges him, the more determined he is to get her. He has ended with a few scars from her claws when she had enough of his presence, but those only increase his interest. How far can he push her? How long until she takes a wrong step and falls into his hands? He hates to admit he's a bit of eager for that to happen...because he's not entirely sure he wants to arrest her afterwards.

So, in short, Catgirl and Red Robin's dynamic is basically a cat-and-mouse game, except the roles are reversed because it feels like he's the cat more often than not. They're Batman and Catwoman second generation, except Catgirl refuses to admit they have that kind of tension and avoids him, while Red Robin wants to catch the kitty and maybe put a collar on her.

[timothyslucy]

if tim doesn't pick lucy up and spin her around when she passes the sergeants exam..... IF TIM DOESN'T PICK LUCY UP AND SPIN HER AROUND WHEN SHE PASSES THE SERGEANTS EXAM!!!!!!!!

[violent138]

Out of the Batfam, Jason is one of the most atrocious liars. He can make it work when he absolutely has to, but usually I think whenever he lies he does with little motivation and with emphasis on irony to make it funny for himself. In comparison Dick is a phenomenal liar and can sell outrage so well before hanging up and reverting to normal that Jason sprays him with holy water and never believes a word out of his mouth.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I think more media should work with the concept that you can still love someone you never forgave. You can still rebuild and create a new relationship with someone but also be "what you did to me was wrong and I trust you to not be like that again and want you in my life but I can't won't forgive that, won't forget the hurt you caused. I love you but there will be days I won't be able to see you because the trauma you gave me is back and I'm just so angry and sad and at least you never asked for forgiviness just to be here, just for friendship, because you know that this are things I can give you."