#Gotham Recap

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

1x6 | Spirit of the Goat

The way that Oswald absolutely revels in the drama of this reveal

This moment should also be noted for being the first time Ed saw - and quite possibly heard of - Oswald. And it was love at first sight

[wanderingmind867]

Part Two of my take on Clayface II (Matt Hagen): With his face disfigured and his career as an actor ruined, Matt goes back to being an adventurer. He knows there's gotta be some kind of treasure out there capable of curing his deformities, so he goes hunting the globe for it. He does it all by his lonesome. Just him alone, exploring the seas and the lands and the skies. For years matt wasted away on this seemingly hopeless task, but eventually he finds something. A pool of protoplasm buried in a cave somewhere just outside of Gotham City. Tripping over a rock in the cave, matt hits his head hard against the wall and then falls unconscious, his sleeping body submerged in the pool.

When Matt wakes up (some 2-3 hours later), he finds that his body has been transformed into some sort of clay like substance. Now capable of molding his body to resemble anything, matt decides to test his new powers by commiting a crime wave (to recoup all the money he had lost in this years long treasure hunt). He was a big threat in Gotham City, and he nearly dealt Batman and Robin a solid and complete loss.

But Matt Hagen quickly found out the one drawback to his new powers: they only lasted 48 hours. Then his body returned to it's normal, disfigured shape. So he had to keep returning to his pool of protoplasm, ritualistically bathing in it to keep his powers. Eventually though, Batman and Robin discover his secret cave. And after a long and tense battle, they manage to block the cave from hagen by causing a massive rockslide within the cave. Luckily for Matt, he had already stolen a flask of gel from the pool, and he spent his time in jail studying up on how to make a synthetic copy of the pool's protoplasm. It gave him far more limited abilities, but he was successfully able to use this to continue his crime speed as Clayface.

But this was really where matt hagen's story ends, for the most part. He ends up obsessed with trying to find a way back to the protoplasm pool, which puts him in constant conflict with Batman. He never managed to find a permanent path back there, but overexposure to the chemicals in his synthetic protoplasm eventually made him a permanent shapeshifter anyways. He's tried to get back into the acting game since then, but it's just not been easy. So most of the time he's just a common criminal, one of five clayfaces batman has dealt with over the years.

PS: Oh, and before I forget, let me finally fill in the details on Matt Hagen's two main shows/roles: Martin Kennedy III and Anthony Carlson on "Welcome Back, Daddy!". The role of Martin Kennedy III was permanently retired after Matt's accident. It left behind a legacy of four seasons, a feature film and three tv movies. Meanwhile, "Welcome Back, Daddy!" was cancelled after season five, only to be replaced by new shows with some of the old cast.

With Matt Hagen gone, the network realizes that Mary Louise Dahl and Buddy Standler are their most popular solo stars. So they give Mary Louise her own show, a very kitschy and wholesome style show where she pretty much just plays a combination of shirley temple and dennis the menace. This was the show she became known for: "Love that Baby!"

It was a decent show, but the fame of it all went to Mary Louise's head. It ran for 4 seasons. It would've done more, but in season four Mary began to hate it. She was now 14, stuck in a 7-9 year old's body. It was hell. So when the network threatened to add a new child star, mary quit and chose to explore other film and tv options. This can be talked about more if I ever give Baby Doll a solo note, however.

Meanwhile, Buddy Standler got a spin-off show where his character got divorced from his wife, and then moved back to his hometown in providence, rhode island. The show did really poorly, and it barely got a full season. So that pretty much put an end to Buddy Standler's career, leading him to waste away in a purgatory hell all his own. But I'll discuss this more too if i ever make a condiment king note.

[navree]

anyway this is why, despite the fact that i firmly believe that dc has the better characters and the better stories and, for me at least, is the one that engages me more and that i'm the most emotionally invested in, marvel's the one that i'm currently even attempting to follow current continuity on, because i know they're doing fuckery with spiderman but doctor strange is my main marvel guy okay, and they brought clea back when she's my fave character of their's, and jed mackay is a good writer who both likes and understands these characters, so i'm really only interested in modern doctor strange and refusing to even look too closely at dc's current train wreck beyond what my mutuals are telling me is happening

[evilhorse936]

Rewatching random episodes because I don't want to start season 5 and young bruce bat looks so young :_((((

[esonetwork]

The Earth Station DCU Episode 402 – The Penguin Season Finale

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/the-earth-station-dcu-episode-402-the-penguin-season-finale/

The Earth Station DCU Episode 402 – The Penguin Season Finale

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs are joined by Mike Gordon, co-host of the BatChums podcast, for an in-depth discussion about the thrilling season finale of The Penguin. Together, they dive into the twists, turns, and standout moments of the show, sharing their insights and opinions on how the season wrapped up and what it could mean for the future of the series. All this plus, DC News, Shout Outs, and much, much more!

————————

Table of Contents

0:00:00 Show Open

0:01:38 DC News

0:06:00 The Penguin S1 Ep8 – A Great or Little Thing

1:11:05 Show Close

Links

BatChums (Mike’s Shout Out)

The Penguin Vol. 1: The Prodigal Bird (Cletus’s Read More Comics Pick)

The Penguin Vol 2: All Bad Things (Cletus’s Read More Comics Pick)

The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (Drew’s Read More Comics Pick

Earth Station DCU Website

The ESO Network

If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 455-8411 or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

[casscainmainly]

Tate Brombal AMA Recap!!

He'd love to explore Cass + Bruce's relationship in the future (he's the parent she chose 😭)

Shiva is important to the book overall

More about Talia and Nyssa's relationship will be revealed

Cass and Steph are each other's rock + Cass feels safest and most comfortable with her + they share the Batgirl mantle like sharing a hoodie 😭

He loves Lady Shiva a lot!!

Batgirl 2024 was made an ongoing because of strong sales ❤️

Cass with bandage wraps is his fav outfit besides the main Batgirl one! He also loves the black lenses

David Cain may be showing up soon...

Cass' struggle with words is based on his own experiences

"Hm... a sidekick...somebody for Cass to mentor....would be a good idea, wouldn't it.....?" 👀

If the series continues Cass will definitely return to Gotham and interact with Batman and co!

He reads Cass as in her early to mid twenties

He's interested in writing for another Batfam member

He'd love to see stories from Cass' lost days!!! (between running away and NML), but he doesn't have plans for that right now

He says not to rule anyone out from upcoming stories

Arcs will vary in length

If you like Batgirl, check out his other work Christopher Chaos!

He hasn't forgotten about Marque

He likes Cass' relationships to Barda, Xanthe, Clayface, and Tai'Darshan!!!! He also wants to write Onyx.

In her spare time Cass likes to go on food tours of cities she's in

Cass wasn't raised on spicy food but because she loves a challenge, she's trained her spice tolerance to high levels since then

He also answered questions about Green Lantern Dark and some other stuff, so I'd recommend checking out the full thing here (plus I may have paraphrased some of this wrong). Shoutout to @stephexmachina for the Steph question, @intraterrestriall for the Lost Days/side character question, @getthembees for the age/returning to Gotham question, and anyone else who participated!!!!

[artbyblastweave]

Haven’t read many comics, but I’ve started reading stuff you post about, so I’ve read immortal hulk and 20th century men, and am going to start ultimate spiderman. Do you have any recommendations?

Here's a few that run the gamut from "quasi-foundational" to "I personally thought it was neat:"

Superhero:

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons- the comic every superhero comic published since the 1980s has had to reckon with in some way, and which half the genre spent the 90s trying to emulate.

Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid and Lenil Yu- the bespoke canon origin story for Superman that was canon in the early 2000s through the twenty-tens. Remains one of the stronger attempts to do a retelling of his origin.

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli- a four-issue storyline covering Batman's extremely early career in Gotham.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Conceived as "The last Batman Story," features a fifty-something Bruce Wayne after he comes out of retirement to fight against an enormous crime wave against the backdrop of incipient nuclear war with the Soviet Union. This is the other grim and gritty superhero deconstruction that half the genre spent the 90s trying to emulate, and although it hasn't aged as well it's a useful read for context.

Runaways by Brian K Vaughn and Adrian Alphona. A marvel-universe excursion about a group of six teens and tweens who learn that their parents are actually a coven of incredibly powerful supervillains functionally running the entire west coast. They proceed to, well. This was one of those franchises that got zombified and pingponged between different creative teams, but the Vaughn parts are pretty strong.

Ex Machina By Brian K Vaughn and Tony Harris: The world's first and only superhero stops one of the twin towers from being destroyed and parlays this into a successful bid for mayor of New York.

Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Corey Walker and Ryan Ottley. Son of the most powerful superhero, yadda yadda, if you'd dodged awareness of the amazon adaptation I'm not sure how

Astro City by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross- an anthology set in a constructed superhero universe, alternating between one-shots and longer arcs covering an enormous cast of characters over the settings 80-year internal chronology.

Rising Stars by J. Michael Strazynski- follows the rise and fall of the Pederson Specials, 113 children who were granted superpowers in utero when a meteor exploded over their home town-narrated decades later by the last of their number standing.

Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. A retelling of the first 30 years of the Marvel Universe from the perspective of photojournalist Phil Sheldon. On top of being an excellent story it's useful as a recap/primer for much of golden and silver age marvel.

Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. In the future of the DC universe, A jaded Superman comes out of retirement after the superhuman population balloons out of control and causes a nuclear detonation as a consequence of their cavalier approach to heroics. Unfortunately, his old-school approach isn't much better...

DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Retells the founding of the silver-age justice league against the backdrop of the red scare and following the collapse of the golden-age superheroic community after world war two.

Non-Superhero

Bone By Jeff Smith- Lord of the Rings by way of Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Three cartoon-creature cousins are run out of town and into a remote valley that's the site of a sprawling fantasy epic.

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard- The zombie comic. There really hasn't ever been a runner-up

Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. Steampunk Dark Fantasy thing about a woman forced to share a body with a horrifying elder-parasite thing. Hard to summarize. If you thought RWBY handled the Faunus with insufficient gravity and thoughtfulness this is a good comic for you

East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. Weird-west alternate history where the U.S. balkanized after the Civil War. In the resultant cyberpunk urban-fantasy dystopia, three of the four horsemen are attempting to end the world; Death has defected and is attempting to stop them, in the hopes of reuniting with his missing wife and child.

Once and Future by Keiron Gillen and Dan Mora. A seventy-something retired monster hunter breaks out of her nursing home and press-gangs her hapless academic grandson into helping her prevent the return of King Arthur.

The Department of Truth By James Tynion and Martin Simmonds: In a world where reality is affected by consensus by collective belief, a deep state organization works to prevent conspiracy theories from being willed into existence by weirdos on the internet. Notable in that it's very visibly an exercise in trying to grapple with the uglier implications of the postmodern "reality-shaped-by-belief" tropes present in works like American Gods.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. The indie comic everyone wouldn't shut the fuck up about. Star crossed lovers attempting to navigate their mutual defection from two star-spanning empires locked in an eternal galactic turbowar.

Chew By John Layman and Rob Guillory. Tony Chu is a police detective with the power of Chibopathy- the ability to gain psychometric impressions from whatever he eats. Kept on retainer to partially cannibalize the corpses of murder victims to find out who killed them, his abilities ultimately see him drawn into a bizarre conspiracy surrounding an outbreak of bird flu that killed millions and resulted in the criminalization of poultry products.

Atomic Robo by Brian Clevenger and Scott Wegener The high-octane adventures of action-scientist Atomic Robo, an android constructed by Nikola Tesla in the 1920s who runs a think-tank of science-heroes. Described as "applying the Indiana Jones model to every other field of study." Very fun comic.

We Only Find Them When They're Dead By Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo: follows the exploits of a freelance crew of miners who work to extract tissues from the corpses of gigantic humanoid entities found floating in space, and their captain's heretical goal of being the first to find a living specimen.

Literally Any Comic Written By Kyle Starks, including (lightning round time) Rock Candy Mountain, Old Head, Sexcastle, Kill Them All, Assassin Nation, and Fuck this Place/I Hate This Place (title dependent on retailer squeamishness)

This list isn't exhaustive but I've been typing for a really really long time here

[the-dynamic-duo]

A brief recap of all recent Dick-related news ⏬

▶️ Announced Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween, a ten parts sequel to both Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, by writer Jeph Loeb and a cast of rotating artists such as Klaus Janson, Mark Chiarello and other unnamed ones.

Here’s the summary:

“Gotham City learns to fear Halloween once more as a terrible event threatens to destroy Jim Gordon’s life and puts Batman and Robin’s teamwork to the test more than ever before. In a city of liars, masked vigilantes, and criminals…can anyone be trusted?”

▶️ According to Mark Waid, Dick will be one of the major characters in the upcoming Absolute Power event and the leader of the resistance. Other characters confirmed to be prominent or have spotlight moments are the leaguers, Dreamer and Jon Kent. Less prominent characters are hinted to play important roles too, but have yet to be named. Absolute Power #1 will be released on July 2.

I highly recommend all Nightwing fans to give the event a chance, not only for Waid and Mora’s brilliant partnership and for potential big changes coming, but because of how good Waid is at writing Dick in particular; he has Dick’s voice to a T, and core knowledge of the character, on top of being a good writer.

Batfamily fans might want to check it out too, Bruce will obviously be an important character in the event. Tim, Damian and Jason have all been spotted in some of the covers, and while we don't know the extent of their involvement, Damian has been seen in the trailer of Absolute Power with Bruce and will have a team up with Diana in Wonder Woman #12, which ties into the event. Tim seems to be a part of Dick’s team in Absolute Power: Task Force VII #4 too.

[nemesis-writer]

[Unwanted Ransom(Chapter 3)]

Masquerade

TW- None, for now... Age- 18

Masterlist

Dress

HEADLINES TODAY!!!! (CNN)

THE STARKS AND THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS ARE GOING TO THE AUCTION.

HEADLINES TODAY!!!! (Gotham News)

THE WAYNES ARE GOING TO THE AUCTION.

"UGH, why are we going to the auction." I yelled, I always hated wearing dresses, I never knew why, I felt comfortable in a suit.

"Honey, it's an annual event we have to." Pepper rebutted.

"But mom!" I sighed.

"I said no." She replied, I could feel the daggers in her eyes.

"Ugh. Fine." I muttered. I mean the dress is cute, but not something I'd wanna wear all the time. So far, the only reason I'm wearing it is because of this stupid event.

At the party...

The auction is overflowing with journalists and newscasters.

"Mr Stark are you going to make another generous donation again?"

"Ms Jennifer, Ms Morgan, look at the camera"

"Ms Jennifer is it true you were part of the Wayne family before?"

By the time I heard that question all I could muster out was, "No, I was a Pennyworth then a Stark. I have no part of this scandal you accuse me of."

I am to be called a Pennyworth, Amala, or a Stark. But I will never be addressed as a Wayne.

"Uhm dad, can I go out for now, I can't breathe." I asked.

He looked at me and said, "Sure honey don't take too long."

At the balcony...

I decided to bring out my phone and text my friends.

Jen- P, you there?

Spidey- Yep I'm here, how is the auction so far?

Jen- I mean it's alright, I am donating $5,000,000 for the Paris trip

D.P- Can I come? We can do a Ménage à trois

Jen, Spidey- NO!!!

I giggled a bit then turned off my phone.

"Watcha readin there?"

I gasped then turned around. It was him...

2 years ago...

Alright so let's take a little recap here...

I was like 16 and I'm in my 5th year of law, that's when I met him. He is taking political business.. We bumped into each other at the hallway when we were heading for the library.

He is brunette with dark eyes that could see through your soul if you look at them too long. He has a boyish charm in him, and I thought to myself, there is no way he is single.

"I'm so sorry" I stuttered, I tried picking up my books. But, he went down faster and gave them to me.

"I'm uh kinda new here, I just transfered from Dartmouth." He explained.

"Oh that's great what brings you here?" I wondered, I actually got a bit frightened because I didn't want him to look at me the wrong way.

"My girlfriend is here and uh my dad is kind of a pezzonovante" He explained.

"Immagino che tu sia italiano?"(You're Italian I presume.) I asked.

"Si." (Yes) He said.

"Well I can tell you lived here your whole life." I said.

"Yeah."

Of course he's got a girlfriend, him being single, is like me being a Wayne...

Ha! The irony.

So anyways, his girlfriend is planning to become a biologist or some shit like that... Ugh, all the hot guys are taken, I wish I could be them.

Present

But remember, that was two years ago, I realised that they were just fwb and he broke it off. He has a dorm next to mine and Katherine's oh yeh I forgot to mention, Katherine.

She is like the closest thing I got to a big sister, Morgan is my baby sister so no problem with that part.

Anyway we are getting off fetch here...

"Good to see you." He said.

"I didn't expect to see you here in all places." I replied

"Well sweetheart, I never expected a pretty girl like you to be here of all places." He replied.

"Guess I've been getting unwanted attention." I rebutted.

"Per cosa stai offrendo all'asta?"(What are you bidding for in this silent auction?) He asked, gosh I could see the ghost of a smirk on him.

"Un viaggio a Parigi." (A trip to Paris.) I said.

"You want me to come with you there, I've been to many places so I can show you around." He said.

"No, you don't have to." I replied

"If you don't want me there then say so." He smirked.

"It's just that I want to go solo for now." I revealed.

"Ok, well sweetheart, just give me a call if you need me."

"I will." I said as I went back inside.

The bids were being made...

"The winner of the yacht made a donation of 18 whopping thousand dollars. This bid is made by the Mr Bowmont in table 47."

"The next one is the winner of the Paris trip, sold to the lady in red, Ms Jennifer Stark! Her bid is 5 million dollars" I stood up and bowed my head a bit.

"We have a final one for the blade holding the gems of the Orient, and it goes to..."

The crowd waited in expectation...

"MR BRUCE WAYNE WITH AN OUTSTANDING 3 MILLION DOLLARS!"

Bruce...

Bruce...

Wayne!?

I didn't realise how strong I was holding my Scotch till the glass broke. Luckily everyone is clapping so they wouldn't notice the blood starting to drip from the shards of glass.

"Jen come on let's get out of here." Pepper stated, getting her phone to call our bodyguards.

I grabbed another glass of scotch then downed it due to stress. We quickly ran outside, but then we were bombarded with so much interviewers that I didn't notice someone was following me.

Until I heard something...

"Xerxes?"

I started to lose conciousness, shades of black and red covered my eyes. It continued until the darkness embraced me.

[holy-obsession-batman]

UDRH but Nightwing is trying to 1) hide that he’s still Renegade 2) babysit Rose Wilson

Quick recap for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, after some very bad no good events happening to Nightwing in Blüdhaven, Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke offers Dick a deal to make the city neutral, free of both superheroes and supervillains. In exchange, Dick is to help train Deathstroke’s daughter, Rose aka the second Ravager.

However, Dick ends breaking the deal, turning Rose against her father and to the heroic side. Slade gets his revenge some time later by literally wiping Blud’ off the map via nuclear bombing — and that bit happens right at the same time as the events of Under the Hood. Now. What if Dick didn’t break his deal with Slade, and is still being Renegade, Deathstroke associate and Ravager’s tutor when UDRH happens?

Imagine Nightwing coming to Gotham to help with the Red Hood situation, except he’s got Rose on tow, because that was the only way Slade let him go: taking part in or at least watching a bat operation will be a meaningful experience for her. (Also dad-ing really doesn’t come naturally to this dude and he really, really need a brat-free vacation least he ends up snaping and eviscerating her)

The Bats have NO IDEA what Dick has been up to since Blockbuster’s death 8 months ago.

Feats:

Dick still too chicken to explain his last 8 months to Batman (Blockbuster’sdeath-Tarantula-jail-joiningthemob-Slade’sdeal), doing a bad job of dodging everyone’s question about why the fuck he was MIA for huit months

Tries (and fail) to hide Rose’s whole existence from the bats, ends up panicking and blurting out that she’s his sidekick (then has to pay her to play along)

the good, old, linear buildup in tension in the Red Hood investigation for the dramatic confrontation with Batman gets kinda thrown off as both the Batfam AND Jason keep getting distracted by the bits they learn about Nightwing’s MIA months

They all find out different bits separately

Babs thinks Rose is Dick’s new girlfriend and Rose gleefully plays into it. Actually angst topic because this is Tarantula trigger for Dick.

Red Hood watches in amusement Dick’s utter failure at damage control with Rose ‘Father, I crave violence’ Wilson ("No, you don’t get to gut the goons!"), finds it funny and goads her on.

Rose and Jason feed on each other’s menace gremlin energy and everyone suffer through ten times the drama. (The combined chaos is the only reason Dick manages to dodge the bat-inquiries for as long as he does)

"Are- are they—oh god, they’re flirting—"

If I were to do it character by character:

Dick: too chicken, desperately tries to believe he can dodge everything and just leave again

Rose: spends her unending feral energy in equal part on making Dick’s life a living hell and enthusiastically flirting with him, (he’s gentleman-ing the hell outa dodge). Match with Jason in freak, daddy issues, blood craving, secret longing for love, mental age, edginess and terrible flirting skill.

Bruce: hasn’t had access to his emotional support Dick Grayson for nearly a year, his communication skill has regressed to inarticulate. Distressed Fussing Hovering Brooding. He’s trying to investigate what happened to Nightwing but at the same is afraid to cross some boundary and have him go to ground again so he’s holding back a lot.

Babs: awkward mixed feelings between worry for Dick and the ex-girlfriend package of bitterness and suspicion. Suspects that Rose is Dick’s latest love interest.

Jason: in all his freshly-bathed Red Hood glory, at peak angst potential. Still a chaos gremlin who finds Nightwing’s hardships with the Ravager hilarious, and eggs her on. Also still concerned curious about wtf got to Nightwing, and trying unsuccessfully to investigate. Match with Rose in freak, daddy issues, blood craving, secret longing for love, mental age, edginess and terrible flirting skill.

Tim: has just spent the last few months with the Titans under violent attacks of Joey Wilson (check out this post it’s hilarious). Subsequently not impressed with Red Hood’s attempt in Titan Tower, also very up to date on Wilson family lore. He’s the one to figure out the shit.

Also this proposed fic ends with everyone and their mother father getting their asses kicked by Cass—as it should be.

Bonus: dialogue snippets

(Masterlist)

[fractualized]

So in Superman: Space Age #3, Mark Russell had Batman and Joker die in a murder-suicide on their first encounter.

And in Batman: Dark Age #6, he does basically the opposite!

There is a fake out first. In Batman: Dark Age, an elderly Bruce is thinking back on the past as part of managing memory loss, and he remembers a night when a beleaguered comedian-turned-terrorist set Wayne Tower on fire.

This Joker is someone Bruce previously hadn't had many close encounters with in his memories, so I saw this as mere crumbs.

AND THEN I KEPT READING

Get in, loser, we're old man batjokes!

Joker recaps what actually happened after the tower burned, which includes the world ending and Superman putting Gotham into a jar like Kandor, blah blah blah, and then back to Joker and Bruce.

The End with Joker and Bruce both living at Wayne Manors, buddies at an old folks home, Bruce made Joker want to LIVE, oh my god.

And then I was like, WAIT, this reveal means I must go back, and there is MORE!

From Batman: Dark Age #1:

Cranky old man banter.

Then in Batman: Dark Age #4:

SWIM CLASS TOGETHER

Er, like I said, Bruce is dealing with some stuff. He's fine! He's fine! Joker is keeping an eye on him!

But yeah, this was a fun read today. :)

Please don't ask me about the rest of the story apologies to Mr. Russell I was there for one thing

[fancyfade]

I think this panel is the closest we get to acknowledging *how* inconsistent a presence Bruce was in Damian's life pre Batman 2011

Batman and Robin #5

Like oK recap mostly based on memory but:

Batman and Son: Damian shows up, Bruce makes it clear he wants to take Damian out fighting crime Damian tries to do this by killing Spook (and tries to establish his place by taking out Tim). He's following League of Assassins rules, Bruce gets very mad (understandably) and Damian tries to prove himself to Bruce by saying where Talia is. Then, Damian is presumed dead.

Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul. Damain seeks Bruce out for help because Ra's wants to possess him, but Bruce is not there and he gets Dick and Tim. Bruce eventually orders damian to fight when they're in a battle situation against LoA and Sensei's dude, Damian leaps to prove himself but Talia knocks him out and removes him from the action b/c she thinks they're all going to die. Bruce decides not to go look for Damian and Talia b/c he says Damian needs to be free of destiny - Ra's' or his. But Damian does not know about this.

Bruce "dies"

Bruce comes back from his trip in time, surprised that Damian is Robin but they work together well when stopping Dr Hurt's guys. Later, in a mission damian disobeys Bruce's orders to find out more about the bad guys and Bruce says it won't work out, but he's not firing Damian as Robin, he just wants Damian to keep working with Dick in Gotham while he does his globetrotting batman and robin thing.

like, from Damian's POV Bruce just does duck in and out of his life (sometimes with a reason, sometimes not) and then shows up and tries very hard to be a 'real father' with strict rules but he has not put in the work to establish himself as someone who actually wants to be there beforehand... no wonder Damian feels stifled

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

Bumping Into Them at a Halloween Party - Scarecrow and Riddler (x Reader)

Summary: Despite the recent major jailbreak from Gotham's Arkham Asylum, all of Gotham's usual drunken Halloween shenanigans seem to be in full swing. Some folks seem to be mocking the criminals at large, with almost half of all partygoers dressed up in their rendition of an infamous Gotham villain. Reluctantly dragged by your friend to one of the more hole-in-the-wall type parties in The Narrows, you expect another typical night of bad flirting that would lead nowhere and holding your friend’s hair back when she pukes. Little did you know you would manage to catch one of the rogues’ eyes when you bump into two of them in disguise. 

Characters: Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow); Edward Nashton (Riddler)

Pairings: Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow)/Female!Reader; Edward Nashton (Riddler)/Female!Reader

Word Count: Approx 1,000 per Character  

Rating: T+ (Some talk of alcohol and partying and stuff but nothing mature & nothing explicit) 

A/N: Of course, I was in the mood to write something Halloween-y tonight, and this came from that. Yes, I’m still working on the other asks as well as two more Kinktobers people suggested in my comments/messages. 

Enter Fear (Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow)

Crane had originally planned on dressing up in his own Scarecrow costume to teach a lesson to any drunken imbecile stupid enough to try and impersonate him. Fortunately for the Gotham populace, Edward had made Crane promise not to blow their cover by torturing anyone with fear gas this evening. So instead, Jonathan opted for a more subtle look. 

Seated at the bar and bored out of his mind, Jonathan chose to observe a couple in a booth further back. The clearly inebriated woman was dressed up like an angel, wearing those fuzzy cheap mini-wings and what amounted to a white bikini as she nuzzled up to a guy in jeans and a t-shirt that read ‘This is my costume’. 

‘How typical,’ Jonathan thought. 

“Three bucks she pukes in his lap before the next half-hour.” 

Turning to his right, Jonathan came face to face with you, someone who, judging by your expression, was just as annoyed by this kind of scene as he was. He turned back to view the woman and man in the corner booth, pursing his lips as he did so before turning back to you. 

“Five she passes out in the next ten.” 

You smiled, showing off your teeth in a devilish grin before joining him at the bar. 

“Deal.” 

Jonathan sat silent, watching you out of the corner of his eye as you ordered a drink. Interestingly enough, on a night made for boozing and treats, you opted for a Cherry Coke. In his mind, Jonathan couldn’t help but run through the potential implications of your actions. Perhaps you were an alcoholic or an addict. Or maybe you were someone’s designated driver which meant you hadn't come here alone. Or perhaps, you were correctly worried that on a night like this, too many people would be looking to take advantage. 

After thanking the bartender for your drink, you swiveled your bar-stool in Crane’s direction. 

“So, just to recap. If I lose I owe five bucks, and if you lose, you owe five bucks and three Hail Marys,” you said, gesturing to the gentleman’s costume. 

“Only three Hail Mary’s?” 

“Well,” you took a sip of your drink and paused for dramatic effect, “Maybe one Our Fathers, ya know, just in case.” 

Jonathan couldn't help the small smile that graced his lips. Despite his earlier assumptions, he found speaking with you wasn’t as tedious as he previously thought it’d be. Your company was oddly welcome, and the man known to the world as Scarecrow found himself loosening his typically uptight composure. 

“I’m not a real Priest.” Crane avouched somewhat sharply, finishing what was left of his scotch in a single harsh swallow. 

“Wow. You know that’s a shame because I am actually a witch.” You gestured to your own outfit, complete with a black cape and pointed hat. “And now that I know you're utterly defenseless against my powers, I have no choice but to put a spell on you.”

“That so?” 

Jonathan bit the inside of his mouth, trying to suppress the smirk threatening to break through. If anyone was the master of curses, it’d be him. Of course, you had no way of knowing that, without him being in his usual get-up and all. 

Besides, he found himself surprised he was indulging in such a conversation, but he had to admit that your forwardness and banter possessed a fair amount of charm. It was hardly time to ruin this distracting, rather quaint conversation with a surprise dose of his fear gas. 

“I’m afraid so,” you sighed, dramatically. “And now,” using both of your hands, you wiggled your fingers around, pretending to weave a spell, “I sentence you to an eternity of finding lucky pennies only wrong side up.” 

With a flourish and a subsequent ‘poof’ sound effect from you, you ended your great curse with a little boop to The Father’s nose. 

“That’s a pathetic curse,” Jonathan said, more disappointed than amused after the effort you went through with such a display. Were you simple or simply kind-hearted? 

You shrugged your shoulders. 

“Never said I was a good witch.” 

‘Huh, well there was a fascinating complex,’ Jonathan thought.

“Come on,” he said, turning on the practiced psychologist charm, hoping you’d take the bait, “You can do better than that. If someone was really going to curse you, what would you hate for them to do?” 

You continued sipping your drink, unbothered by the not-real priest's current line of questioning. 

“What do you mean?”

“If someone were to utilize your worst fear against you, what would it be?” 

You thought for a moment. 

“Hmm, you mean apocalyptic-level fear as in like the fear of complete and utter failure or something really stupid but tangible?” 

Jonathan took in a deep breath, hiding the anticipation he felt slowly rising inside. 

“Whichever you’d prefer.” 

“I guess I’d have to say…”

“Go on.” 

“Escalators.” 

Jonathan did a double-take. 

“I’m sorry, did you say escalators?” 

“Yes!” You practically shouted. “They’re literally stairs that move! Stairs are supposed to be stationary, that’s what makes them stairs! I mean,” you coughed, clearing your throat in between animated sentences, “How fucking shifty is that?” 

Jonathan nodded, finding himself more curious about you by the minute. You were certainly a very unique person, with a very distinct psyche, he’d have to give you that. 

“Sorry,” you apologized for your outburst. “They just drive me nuts. Anyway… What about you? What freaks you out so much?” 

The way your eyes looked so open, so unguarded drew him in. You looked like this little cartoon character from some after-school special, genuinely interested in listening to what he had to say. 

Had you been anyone else, The Scarecrow would’ve given you some bullshit benign answer: heights, the dark, spiders, something of that sort. But seeing you wait for his answer, sipping on your Cherry Coke in hand, Jonathan felt he could be honest with you. After all, it was Halloween, and he was in costume. There was a very likely chance the two of you would never see each other again. 

Jonathan leaned in closer to you, lowering his voice, and drawing you in. 

“I’ve never been fond of Priests.” 

You leaned your head in even further and matched his whispered tone. 

“Can I tell you something else?” You asked. 

The raven-haired stranger nodded, his captivating blue eyes watching you intensely as he waited for your answer. 

“You make a super hot Priest, though.” You couldn't help but bite your lip as soon as you finished your sentence, feeling a little playful with the decent buzz of alcohol floating through your veins. 

The man licked his own lush lips before smiling. 

“You’ve heard that one before, huh?” You asked, gauging his reaction. 

“Honestly, no.” He answered, rising to meet your teasing manner. 

You put your hands up defensively. 

“Okay, okay. Coming on a little strong, I get it.” 

“It would be interesting, however.” Crane voiced his inner musings out loud. 

“Hmm? What was that?” You asked, feigning coy. 

“A witch and a priest…” he tempted. 

“Probably piss God off,” you added, nonchalantly. 

For the first time that night, Jonathan Crane smiled a genuinely devilish smile, revealing a set of pearly white teeth under those plush lips of his. 

It would seem after hours of ungodly conversation with imbecile after imbecile, it had only taken you a good half hour, to lighten the former psychologist's mood and Jonathan found himself up to the task of matching your titillating nature. 

Perhaps it was a good thing Edward had dragged him out here after all. 

Enter Mystery - Edward Nashton (The Riddler)

You were positively exhausted. All you wanted to do was go to your favorite little coffee spot, get a hot chocolate, and head home. But of course, you had forgotten that today of all days was Halloween, and to be out and about on the streets of Gotham on Halloween night was always a busy, crowded disaster. 

Ugh, you detested crowds. And to make matters worse, your friend hadn’t stopped blowing up your phone, practically demanding you come meet here at this party in The Narrows. 

Sighing, you realized hot chocolate was out of the question, and bitterly texted your friend that you’d meet her there in an hour. 

Much to your chagrin, your friend was waiting for you with a gimmicky devil horns headband for you to wear. Of course, she would have known you wouldn't bother dressing in costume. 

To make matters worse, her costume was that of a sexy angel, complete with a headband halo and feathered wings, which made it look as if you had planned to come to this thing together. 

“I look ridiculous!” You yelled to her over the blaring house music.

“What? No! You look super cute!” She yelled back, pulling you behind her as she weaved through the crowd. 

Finding a table was easier than you thought, mainly because it was still early evening and everyone was either sitting at the bar or mingling on the dance floor. Thankfully, it was a little rounded table in between the booths and the bar, which meant less traffic. 

Plopping down into your seat you made a mental promise to yourself that you’d head home within the hour, the music already creating an unpleasant pressure in your head. 

“You stay here,” your friend instructed, handing you her mini-purse. “I’m gonna go see if those hot guys over there will buy us drinks!” 

Before you could voice your discouragement, your friend had bounded off, no doubt running up to a group of jockey, fratboy-type guys. You sighed, slumping in your seat. 

Even with the annoying music and movement around you, you couldn't help but wish you had a book or magazine or something to pass the time. You know, something other than sitting there looking like a fool in a last-minute Halloween costume at a party you undoubtedly stood out in. 

Looking out at all the people lined up at the bar, you noticed a younger-looking man, shy trying to get the Bartender’s attention. Not having any luck, the man paused and looked up, catching your eye. 

You offered a sympathetic smile. 

The man offered one back along with a raised hand in a half-wave. 

“Try yelling,” you mouthed over to him. 

“What?” You could see him ask. 

“Yell,” you mouthed again, slower this time. “They can’t hear you,” you added pointing to the bartenders and then to your ears. 

You weren’t able to see if the man was successful in his endeavor because, at that moment, your friend had come skipping back, an armful of drinks in hand. 

“Woah there,” you said, helping her place them on the table. “Exactly how many did those guys get you?” 

“Not me,” your friend countered. “Us!” 

You looked over to the group of men she was talking about, singling out the one wearing a ‘This is my costume’. He looked like your friend’s type alright: unassumingly mediocre. 

“They’ve got a booth if we want to move tables,” she said, taking back her purse and tucking it under her arm. “But I wanna dance first, sounds good?” 

You nodded, gesturing to the mass of sweaty bodies beyond the bar. 

“Be my guest. I’m gonna stay here. Wouldn’t want anyone to take our table. Or our drinks,” you added, hoping your friend would accept your lame excuse not because she believed it, but because she was never one to turn down free booze. 

“Fine!” She wagged a finger in your face. “But don’t come crying to me that you didn’t have any fun tonight when you chose to sit here with a sourpuss the whole time.” 

And with that, she vanished into the crowd of bodies jumping up and down to the rhythm of some song you had never heard before. 

Looking at the array of drinks before you, you figured you’d pick the most colorful one with some sort of fruity-looking thing in it. That at least had some solid food in it to counter the effects of the alcohol. 

You took a sip, and licked your lips, surprised at how easy the drink went down. It was extremely sweet, almost sickly sweet, and you couldn’t hardly taste the rum. You took another sip. No, it wasn’t hot chocolate, but it wasn’t as awful as you were expecting either. 

Looking to your left, you saw the shy man from earlier, awkwardly hanging out between the dance floor and the bar, looking just as out of place as you had felt when your friend had dragged you inside. 

Catching his eye for a second time that night, you smiled and waved him over, inviting him to come and sit down next to you. 

The man looked behind him, checking to see that you were in fact talking to him. Turning back to you he was pleasantly surprised to see that yes, it had been true. You were asking him to come join you. 

“Thank you,” the man mumbled, as he took the seat next to you. “It’s more crowded than I was expecting.” 

You nodded, sympathetic. 

“Yeah, I’m an introvert,” you confessed, “So like five people is a crowd to me.” 

The man smiled, a faint blush crossing his cheeks. 

“Same,” he said, letting out a huff of hot air as he laughed. 

“So, ah, what’s your costume?” You asked, gesturing to his trenchcoat and fedora. “Some kind of mafia gangster?” 

The man let out a full chuckle now at your incredulous suggestion. 

“No, no. I’m supposed to be an old-time detective, like ah Dick Tracy or-”

“Philip Marlowe!” You said, a knowing smile spreading across your face. “Like in The Big Sleep!” 

“Yes!” He nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, that’s exactly it!” 

Finding himself feeling shy once more after his joyful outburst, he turned his eyes downcast, looking at the table and the array of drinks gathered on it. 

“You’re the first person I’ve met to know who Detective Marlowe is. Not many people our age have read the books, I guess.” 

“Or seen the movie,” you added, referring to the 1946 black and white picture. “I’ll confess I haven’t actually read the book. But I do enjoy mystery novels. Um, James Patterson is one of my go-to authors, if you can call him that. His stuff is pretty easy to get through and it’s nice to be able to just sink into something mysterious but simple like that.” 

You noticed his eyes still weren’t meeting yours, but you didn’t mind. It’s not like the lighting was very good inside anyway, you wouldn't be able to see his face in great detail. 

“Um, you can take one if you’d like,” you said, gesturing to the drinks. “My friend got a bunch of guys to buy us some, but I don’t really drink a ton, and she hasn’t been back since she went to go ‘dancing’ with one of them, so...”

The man bobbed his head, gratefully accepting one of the drinks. 

After a few hard sips of that liquid courage, his confidence had returned to him along with a nice pink flush of his cheeks.

“I have a copy of the Big Sleep and its sequels, the books, not the movie,” he said. “Back at my apartment, if you’d ever want to borrow it or… anything.” 

You smiled, your cheeks turning a shade of pink as well. 

“I think I’d like that,” you answered. 

A/N: AHHH! Happy Halloween! And Happy Booping!

[that1emowitch]

here me out

AU where instead of doing the whole red hood thing, jason just stays with the all caste. he finally meets the batfam when the justice league is facing a threat and need the help of the all caste. could be pretty good angst, since it directly disproves every shitty thing bruce said about jay, and bruce realises that his son was alive like way later than in canon

also it's a crime that jayessence basically doesn't exist, there are 11 fics on ao3. i want jayessence and competent!jason pls

That'll be so interesting, ur right! I'm definitely gonna go read RHATO issues again so I refresh my memory (if there r any other issues with the all-caste story PLEASE lmk cuz i have a very tumultuous love/hate relationship with RHATO lol)

I think Jason would've been happier, with the All-Caste. Talia would've visited him when she could (let's make her a mom not a pedo), Ducra would've trained him in every single war form she knew, putting hum on a path to surpass even her

Essence and Jay would've been her top students (if u don't mind, could u pls give me a lil recap on what Essence's story is? I kinda got confused in that part. Was she banished? She's one of the Untitled, technically, is she not? I don't rmbr 😭)

But basically, Jayessence! I've never read a fic about it or written one, but I've always thought it was an interesting dynamic! It'd be fun to try writing it out. Maybe I'll make a happier AU, where Essence and Jason train together under Ducra, both of them named her heirs. That kinda makes them play-fight with each other which ends up with them kissing. Oh god Jason would be so smitten by her, he'd pretend to be annoyed but he knows she's a goddess, knows she could kill him in a blink, knows his blade could kill her—but they both choose to love. AAHHABSBSHS I'm dying

Then the Untitled attack.

I love Ducra so much, she's their BAMF Granny, so let's not kill her. Maybe instead, she is kidnapped, in hopes of getting Jason and Essence to surrender (They know these two could destroy them). And at the same time, the Untitled are also attacking JLA outposts, for a reason I'll come up with later. Bruce remembers, back when he trained under the League, Ra's mentioning evil beings of this type, immortal and unstoppable by all but the All-Caste. Hence they seek their help.

And with Ducra gone, Jason and Essence are in charge, and they have to meet with the JLA—with Batman, Superman, and WW, specifically.

Jason makes sure to cover himself completely. Puts white nose generators in his mask and chest plate to ward off Supes. Makes sure to double, triple check his voice modulator. He cannot risk them finding out his true identity.

Not when he's finally recovering from his past as Robin.

I'm imaging they work together for a while, with everyone noticing the Red Hood (would he still be called Red Hood, if he never returned to Gotham? Maybe? Maybe he was reclaiming it, as a way to heal himself instead of for getting revenge) basically everyone notices RH being antsy around Batman. The amount of effort he puts into concealing his identity, unlike the other members of All-Caste. His name being Joker’s old name, something deeply meaningful to Gothamites.

Batman thinks RH is a reformed Gotham villain, who he's dealt with before. He thinks that's why RH doesn't ever face him, doesn't look him in the eye. He feels bad for him, but is strangely proud (just feel like mentioning, the thing about Batman is, he cares SO MUCH. About everyone. He feels sorrow when they lose themselves to their insanity, feels guilt over it. And he feels pride when they bounce back, grow better, like Harley Quinn did.) Like, this man, this absolute machine, clearly well honed and trained, who seems more than capable of taking on the entire Justice League by himself. Clearly he has experience.

Essence helps Jason through it. Soothes him at night when he has panic attacks, because his Dad is two rooms away from him. Helps him cope. Helps him calm down.

Then one day in some battle, one of the Untitled fatally injures Jason, and Batman is the only one nearby. Batman takes a hasty decision, rips Jason's mask off to save him.

And freezes.

That... that's his son. He looks older, more scarred, but thats... that's his SON!

(ALSO another addition: when they find Ducra she's like "uncuff me, and I'll show you just who Essence and Jason learnt from" BAMF!DUCRA FOR LIFEE)

Sorry for the rambling I just kept getting ideas and I kept writing lol

I promise I'll write this as a proper story as soon as I can, thanks so much for the ask! As usual, lmk in the comments if you'd like me to tag u in updates, also feel free to share any ideas u have! I'm just writing what yall want to read that makes me happy hehe

[about-faces]

[jnnul]

the right side of wrong (part 3)

TAGS ▸ uhhh an accidental kiss, some fighting/sparring, sunghoon boxes bc i said so, stalking but you don't know that yet

PLAYLIST ▸ yosemite - travis scott, back - jey, stay - ari abdul, element - pop smoke, dirty laundry - blackbear

WORD COUNT ▸ 4.8k

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ so i've been sitting on this chapter for quite some time (motivation to finally post has come from @dojunie for updating the masterpiece misdial) and i originally wanted to include a lot more plot in this chapter but i figured that it would better to get it out than ruminate about the plot too much more. quick note: feedback, comments, etc. GREATLY encourage writers! if you felt any sort of way (in a good or bad way!) about this fic, pls leave feedback!

TAGLIST ▸ @hybeboyenthusisast

[march 19, 20XX, 12:19 P.M.] [copenhagen, denmark]

“teekl!” klarion exclaims, taking in his surroundings with a sneer. “i wanted to teleport to where y/n is! why’d you bring me to copenhagen?”

teekl meows, as if to rebuke klarion’s displeasure of being dropped in copenhagen - a place with beautiful scenery and fresh air, mind you - compared to the exact location of where y/n was, which was something that teekl was not only incapable of doing at the current energy levels that he was at, but also something that was difficult for klarion himself to do.

“if only i had her exact energy signature…,” klarion mutters under his breath, trying to hone in on y/n’s energy signature. he feels a quick zap against his skull, almost as if he’s made a breakthrough before it vanishes and klarion sighs.

“might as well take a cat nap, before i recharge and find that stupid runaway,” klarion says and teekl meows in almost malicious agreement. neither of them realize that they aren’t the only ones looking for her as felix faust slinks back into the shadows, the two of them never leaving his sight.

[march 19, 20XX, 12:27 A.M.] [mount justice, happy harbor, rhode island]

“let me get this straight and please, feel free to stop me at any point you think that this is batshit insane: you landed in ace chemical factory, and in your panic, you screamed at supersonic levels and everything around you shattered. after that, you didn’t want to be put in jail or whatever you thought was going to happen so you ran and wandered aimlessly around gotham before you ended up at the bank and met artemis. oh, and how could i forget, you didn’t know you could do that?” sunghoon recaps in an almost satirical voice, rubbing the outside of his ear, having just recovered his sense of hearing. y/n nods, somewhat sheepishly, having been pacified when yuna shin, the magician from the justice league, had been called in to fix the necklace using a spell. yujin sighs, rubbing her forehead as the two of them start to piece together what had happened that night.

“still doesn’t explain how icicle sr. managed to get from the yacht bridge to the bank in that time frame,” yujin says and y/n raises her hand hesitatingly.

“i don’t know if this is relevant but there was some guy wearing a huge parka in the middle of march that was riding down a huge…bobsled with ice that kinda appeared wherever he moved? i wasn’t sure if that was normal in this dimension so i didn’t say anything but they’re both icy,” she says, fidgeting with her hands. 

“did you see anyone else with him?” sunghoon asks, and y/n wracks her brain, trying to think if she saw anyone else that night.

“some really pale lady with spiky blue hair?”

yujin and sunghoon exchange a look before yujin groans, pulling out her phone to call belrev and let the maximum security prison wasn’t nearly as high security as they thought it was. 

“those three are all money hungry people who ally with each other every time they want to pull off a serious heist since they all use ice as their method of attack. they were probably all working together to pull off the yacht bridge incident,” sunghoon explains as a lightbulb goes off in his head. “that’s why we only saw shattered glass and nothing else. the ice probably melted by the time that we got there.”

“well that explains that. what that doesn’t explain is the canary cry. no one else in the justice league - or the injustice league, for that matter - has the canary cry. at least not since that impersonator was put into prison but even she couldn’t use the canary cry well enough to make stone break,” yujin says once she gets off the phone.

“right…” sunghoon turns to y/n, who’s fidgeting with the necklace in her hand. “do you mind if i look at that for a second?”

y/n stares at the necklace for a moment before handing it over somewhat reluctantly.

the necklace itself seems rather plain. it’s a gold necklace, with a single pearl dangling off of it but other than that, it had no identifiers to suggest why this necklace was so important to y/n.

“it was my mother’s,” she says softly and sunghoon hears yujin have to contain her gasp where she was standing. “it’s the only thing i have from her and the only thing that my father hasn’t tried to take from me when it comes to memories of my mom.”

that would explain the sentimental attachment.

sunghoon eyes the pearl, which seems to be dazzling in the light, even though there was very little in y/n’s room, as though it were exuding light, rather than reflecting it. well. unless pearls operated differently in y/n’s dimension (which, at this point, sunghoon couldn’t even say definitively that they didn’t), there was something about this necklace…

“you don’t know who exactly your mother is, right?” yujin asks and y/n nods, hands twitching as she watches sunghoon fidget with the necklace before he drops it back onto the nightstand. she snatches it up quickly, putting it back around her neck, seeming much more calm now that the necklace was on her.

“no. all i know is that my father and my mother went to the same high school and that i was born when they were both still in school, which is probably why i ended up with my dad instead of my mom,” y/n says, thumbing at the pearl. yujin exchanges a look with sunghoon, and this time, sunghoon is the one to leave the room, pressing buttons on a flip phone to call someone.

“look, i don’t want to give you any false hope or even give you any information that you don’t need right now,” yujin starts, taking a deep breath. y/n doesn’t say anything, just watching yujin as the taller girl gets up to start pacing around the room that suddenly feels surprisingly cramped.

“but with the cry and everything that she’s told us about how she discovered her powers and everything…we have good reason to believe that your mother is black canary.”

y/n’s breath comes out as a staccato as it catches in her throat.

“…and we don’t know if she knows you exist."

[march 19, 20XX, 1:02 A.M.] [mount justice, happy harbor, rhode island]

“what did the bat say?” yujin asks a disheveled looking sunghoon. the tall man just shakes his head, sitting down next to her on y/n’s bed, the owner of said bed watching him from the other side of the room on her beanbag chair.

“he can’t confirm or deny anything right now because black canary’s not in the u.s. right now. she’s out of the country on some top secret mission and cannot be called back under any circumstances,” sunghoon sighs and yujin’s eyebrows furrow.

“it took you half an hour to find out that we can’t get in touch with black canary?” 

“there were…other things. just alpha clearance level things,” sunghoon says and yujin immediately leans back. y/n’s eyes bounce back and forth between sunghoon and yujin before clearing her throat nervously.

“uh, what does alpha clearance mean?”

“it’s just our classification system to ensure that the information from the team and the justice league is kept safe,” sunghoon explains. “each person has a certain clearance level they request or are approved for. more than anything, it’s so that people in the league or on the team don’t bite off more than what they can chew.”

“for example, superboy has the lowest clearance level - level eight. we trust him with our lives and know that he’s the first person to run headfirst into danger if he felt that was right,” yujin starts and y/n nods slowly, following where yujin was going with her logic.

“but if someone who was that quick to action were to be given higher clearance knowledge, then it would be hard to reestablish which missions are his priority and which aren’t, since he would probably feel they were all important,” y/n continues.

“and while they are all important, some require more planning than brute force. it’s hard to explain that to someone when they’re already extremely emotionally invested in a mission,” sunghoon finishes.

“it’s really more about how emotionally detached someone can get from the mission to ensure that actions are being put in place for the greater good,” y/n summarizes and yujin and sunghoon both shrug.

“that’s one way of thinking about it. it’s like a chain of command, honestly. if something were to happen to me, there needs to be someone who would be next in the chain of command so that the team doesn’t get split into five different directions because five different people think that the team should operate differently,” sunghoon says and y/n nods, leaning backwards into the plushiness of the beanbag chair.

“is it alright that you’re telling me all of this though? i asked because i was curious - but i’m curious about a lot of things. things that are probably less confidential than the inner workings of how an espionage and covert operations team works,” y/n asks, and although her words would set sunghoon on high alert coming from anyone else, he feels strangely understanding when it comes from her.

which had implications that he wasn’t ready to think about just yet.

“well, if you want the truth, there’s two aspects to it: a) it’s in our best interest to be as honest with you as possible so that you can be as honest as possible with us to help us with stopping the light. and b) i’ve been having private conversations with various members of the team about you joining the team - if that’s what you want - and everyone’s on board with the idea,” yujin says, watching y/n’s reaction to this (what she thinks is, at least) bombshell of information. “that’s actually part of what sunghoon and i wanted to talk to you about before the whole canary cry situation.”

“join the team?” y/n repeats slowly, her posture growing more timid as she sinks even further backwards into the chair. sunghoon refrains from reaching forward to comfort her, for fear that he might scare her even more.

“it’s not an obligation and we’d definitely understand if that’s not something that you want. but we figured that we’d present the option to you whenever you’re ready. i think that you’d be a great addition to the team,” sunghoon says gently, his eyes never leaving y/n’s.

“you do? but i don’t have any combat experience; i’d just drag you all down and put you in danger,” y/n murmurs softly, and yujin catches the faint blush on her cheeks as her eyes dart to the floor for a moment’s reprieve from sunghoon’s gaze. cute.

“we all started from somewhere, y/n,” sunghoon reminds her.

“yeah. boy wonder’s the only one out of all of us who came out of the womb fighting,” yujin snorts, punching sunghoon in the shoulder. “and besides, i saw you hold your own in front of icicle and his stupid gang. anyone who can blast that frosty old snowball into a sedan is someone i want on my team.”

y/n smiles softly, her thumb rubbing over her knuckles as she’s lost in thought, weighing her options in front of her almost plainly on her face. sunghoon taps yujin’s knee slightly and the two of them get up from where they were perched on her bed and begin to make their way to the door to leave y/n to her thoughts.

“can i - could i, maybe, watch you guys train tomorrow? soojin said that you guys are training altogether tomorrow and maybe that’ll help me make a decision?” y/n asks and sunghoon’s nodding his head before he even fully processes the question.

“whatever you need, y/n. just be sure to bring an ice pack in case you decide to join the fight,” yujin says with a wink as she walks away. sunghoon rolls his eyes before shaking his head when he see’s y/n’s eyes widened with worry.

“she’s joking. you absolutely don’t need to spar with us to watch, y/n,” sunghoon says softly and he sees some of the tension in her shoulders visibly melt.

“thanks, sunghoon,” she murmurs back, getting up to close the door as sunghoon retreats as well, a small smile on his face.

sunghoon. he liked the way that his name sounded on her lips.

[march 19, 20XX, 9:52 A.M.] [mount justice, happy harbor, rhode island]

y/n winces as superboy crashes to the floor with a resounding thud. jay huffs as he lays on his back for just a moment, the mat sounding out a depressing ‘SUPERBOY - LOSS’ as he stares up at the ceiling.

“i’m getting really tired of getting beat up by people half my size,” jay groans as he accepts yujin’s hand as she hoists him up back onto his feet. 

“to be fair, yujin is pretty much your height,” jake points out, hand deep into a family size bag of chips. he was already well past his first defeat at the hands of his girlfriend and had wisely decided to spend the rest of training with some form of food shoved into his mouth.

“i don’t think that’s gonna make him feel better, kid. and he’s pretty tall,” soojin says but jay just shrugs.

“eh, i’ve only got two or three inches on her but if there’s anything i’ve learned from training with artemis and black canary, it’s that you should never judge a book by its cover. especially a girl. those are books you could read your entire life and never understand,” jay snorts, and soojin and yujin exchange an exasperated look when jake hollers out an ‘amen brother!’.

“i don’t know. i don’t think girls are really all that hard to understand,” sunghoon announces his presence, unwrapping the bandages on his knuckles as he joined the team in the sparring room. he was a boxing aficionado as of late and had taken to doing some boxing training in solitude before training with the rest of the team.

he’d tried to hook soojin and jake on it but soojin had incinerated the boxing gloves and jake had accidentally phased right though the sandbag. needless to say, boxing became more of a sport of solitude after that.

“of course our resident player says that; that’s how he gets all the girls to fall for him,” jake teases and sunghoon just rolls his eyes.

“i’m not a player.”

“says the man who hasn’t dated a woman for longer than three months at a time.” yujin crosses her arms over her chest as though she was daring sunghoon to challenge her statement.

“that doesn’t mean i’m a player.”

“can you count the number of women you’ve dated on all of your appendages?”

“does my tongue count?”

“gross.”

y/n’s eyes dart back and forth between yujin and sunghoon, and sunghoon is almost taken aback to the night before, with artemis and him going back and forth with their usual banter. ah. while the other members of the team knew to just ignore the two of them (or watch, if they wanted some entertainment for the day), y/n probably thought they were genuinely fighting. 

it wasn’t as though she had many friends to banter with and the ‘friends’ that she did have weren’t exactly the bantering type. sunghoon shudders as he tries to imagine vandal savage engaging in harmless banter.

“did you hurt yourself?” y/n says softly, nodding at sunghoon’s bandages that were balled up in his fist. he looks down, eyebrows furrowed before realization strikes him.

“oh no, these aren’t bandages because i’m hurt; these are wraps that boxers wear to keep their fists protected when they’re boxing,” sunghoon says and even jake (who’s usually the most oblivious one of them all) can sense the shift in sunghoon’s tone when addressing y/n. where sunghoon was prone to having a rather stoic first impression, he was soft and gentle when speaking to y/n.

my bet’s that they’re gonna kiss in the next three weeks,jake says through the mind link.

i’m going for four, jay contests. sunghoon tries not to make the indignant feeling bubbling in his chest too obvious on his face.

i wouldn’t put it past sunghoon, but i’m giving the girl two months. i don’t think she really understands how romance works, yujin points out.

she’s watched the notebook. she knows what romance is, soojin disagrees.

“are you guys having a conversation without me in your minds?” y/n asks, glancing between them, and the team belatedly realizes that the room had been silent for too long to be appropriate. especially not with sunghoon looking at the rest of them as though he wanted to throw something sharp and pointy at them.

y/n crosses her arms over her chest and for the first time, sunghoon saw sheer disappointment on her face. the look made his chest tight and for some reason, he really didn’t want to see that look on her face directed towards him ever again. ever. “i really can’t tell if that’s really cool or…really, really rude.”

“sorry, it was something really stupid,” yujin says, trying appease y/n. her expression doesn’t give any leeway, and soojin makes her way over to y/n to nudge her slightly.

“really, it was super stupid. but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t rude. sorry y/n. we’ve grown rusty with welcoming new people when all of us are together since we haven’t had a new member since…well, since yujin,” she explains and y/n finally uncrosses her arms and sighs.

“it’s fine - i mean, i get that you guys have a super important history together and i would never do anything to try and intrude on that,” y/n concedes. 

“look, i’m really sorry,” sunghoon says and y/n’s shoulders melt in the slightest when he does - something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the group.

“it’s okay. now - uh, who do i shoot with a fireball first?”

“i thought you were just watching?”

“what can i say? i’m all fired up.”

“you and i are going to get along just fine.”

“shut up, kid.”

[march 19, 20XX, 10:21 A.M.] [mount justice, happy harbor, rhode island]

“break - break! jesus christ, what have they been feeding you in that other dimension?” jake wheezes, pressing a hand to his chest as he tries to catch his breath. y/n blinks innocently from where she’s standing on the other side of the mat, looking rather unfazed by the whole experience.

“uh, human food, i’m pretty sure. no ovens or refrigerators, remember?” y/n points out and jake blinks, now on the other side of the room, mid-bite as he was scarfing down a 7,000 calorie protein bar made specially for him.

“it was a rhetoric question,” he says in between bites and y/n nods as though she were taking mental note. 

“right. uh - so who am i sparring next?” she says, awkwardly holding her hands out in the same position as she had done so before - effective, if jake’s wheezing is to say anything, but clearly off in practicality and skill.

“how about you spar with me?” sunghoon offers, casting his boxing gloves on the bench. he’d taken a break to watch y/n and see how she would adapt to a sudden situation where she could only rely on instinct rather than her underdeveloped pyretic skills, only to realize just how far behind she was in technical skill.

but if there was anything that her match with jake had indicated, what she lacked in technical skill, she made up for in sheer ability, with her ability to nearly predict what her opponent was going to do - even if said opponent was operating at superhuman speeds.

sunghoon figures that it’s a trauma response developed to sort of predict the behaviors of those around her in such an unpredictable environment. she also had a tendency to rely on her feet instead of her hands, which was a good thing when facing an opponent such as kid flash, who relies on his speed and arm skills and disadvantageous for pretty much everyone else.

“be careful, newbie. sunghoon’s undefeated against all of us except for yujin,” jay warns from where he’s also taking a break next to jake, soojin not far from him.

“i only beat him that one time he broke his leg,” yujin points out, but she’s quickly shushed by jake, who says something along the lines of, “don’t lose your street cred in front of your girlfriend.”

yujin, of course, lobs a sweaty towel at him shortly thereafter, but it was the thought that counted.

“should i be nervous?” y/n asks, and sunghoon shakes his head before stepping into the ring.

“don’t worry - i’m not trying to beat you or anything; i just want to correct a few small mistakes i’ve been seeing,” sunghoon explains gently, watching y/n’s worried expression melt off her face, although her limbs were still stiff with anticipation.

sunghoon steps one foot forward, to which y/n lunges backwards, wary and apprehensive of every move sunghoon made. “i’ m not going to hurt you, y/n.”

y/n nods, but it’s clear that she’s scared witless and sunghoon crosses his hands over each other to form a ‘t’ to indicate a time-out, casually walking forward towards y/n in hopes of making her feel more at ease.

but no sooner does he get within a foot of her does she lunge forward rather brashly, causing sunghoon to stumble backwards and toppling downwards - just barely saving himself by flipping over so that he was in a pushup position.

“get him while he’s down!” he hears yujin cry.

“i can’t believe a noob is about to beat sunghoon!” jake exclaims. 

“oh my god, i can’t watch,” soojin says, her fingers crossed in front of her face with enough space that it was clear her eyes were 100% still watching.

“i might have never been taught how to fight - ” y/n begins, sweeping at sunghoon’s arms so that he would fall. he just barely avoids it by rolling forward, crouched on the balls of his feet as he watches y/n carefully. “ - but i did learn a thing or two about how to stay unsuspicious.”

“i’ll give you that,” sunghoon concedes after standing up, dipping into a gentleman’s bow, twirling out of the way when y/n tries to take the moment to push sunghoon down. “but it’s not enough to take me down.”

“i don’t doubt it,” y/n admits, awkwardly holding her arms out in what it she deemed to be a ‘threatening offense’ as she carefully circled the fight space, mirroring sunghoon’s movements.

“you don’t seem very bogged down by the truth,” he remarks and a catty smile flashes across y/n’s lips before disappearing just as soon as it had appeared.

“you don’t seem to be very discontent in my inability to take you down,” y/n throws back lightly.

“how long are they going to keep doing that?” jay whispers to soojin, who still has her fingers spread across her face, her face strangely tinted pink rather than her usual pale pallor.

“keep flirting or keep fighting?” yujin snorts from the other side of jay, ducking out of reach when soojin leans over to push yujin.

“they’ll hear you!” soojin shushes and jake rolls his eyes with a goodnatured shake of the head.

“the only person who has super hearing is jay and he’s sitting right next to you. i doubt they’re going to be able to hear us from forty feet away,” jake points out and soojin harrumphs, crossing her arms over her chest.

“we don’t know if y/n has super hearing,” soojin reminds the group and the three of them simultaneously face forward to see if y/n was listening to their conversation. either she was an incredible actress or she genuinely couldn’t hear anything because by the time they refocus on the scene in front of them, sunghoon’s warding off another well timed kick and the succeeding side swipe.

but what he doesn’t account for is y/n’s ability to turn around nearly as fast as sunghoon to try and land a punch. and while sunghoon does manage to swat away y/n’s fist, she’s unable to recover as quickly as sunghoon as she loses her balance trying to beat sunghoon. and sunghoon, in his panic to try and shield y/n’s fall, manages to topple downwards with her.

down, down, down until suddenly, every inch of y/n’s body is pressed against his own. from her toes to her - to her lips, pressed against sunghoon’s and although y/n’s powers are pyrokinetics, sunghoon feels as though his entire body has been doused in cold water as he realizes that technically, he is kissing y/n. or honestly, she’s kissing him but somehow the logistics of the situation are lost on sunghoon when he looks into her eyes, wide-eyed and confused. 

have y/n’s eyes always been so…so bright? 

it’s only when jay coughs obnoxiously loudly that he remembers his audience, and it seems that this is an adequate reminder for y/n as well, who rolls off of him rather unceremoniously.

the room is silent, almost painfully so as sunghoon and y/n seemingly process what just happened. 

ardor - win. sunghoon - loss. the mat rings out unhelpfully and y/n looks as though she’s rebooting as she rises to her feet.

“is there any way to correct the system? i - i don’t think i actually won. not with conventional tactics anyway,” she splutters as sunghoon also composes himself enough to get off the floor.

“a win is a win!” jake calls out, wincing when sunghoon shoots him a withering look. this seems to kickstart the rest of the team back to life as jay offers y/n a water bottle and soojin flashes an award-winning smile at her.

“not bad for your first day on the training mat,” yujin says, casually throwing an arm around y/n’s shoulders.

jake, seemingly haven shaken off sunghoon’s nonverbal warning rather quickly, turns to the still somewhat confused man with a shit-eating grin. “you lost. you know what that means, right?”

this catches jay’s attention as well as he appears at the scene of the crime with an equally frightening smirk. “i vaguely recall someone saying that if someone beat him - ”

“ - he’d be their personal servant for a month?” yujin finishes and soojin giggles, quickly trying to hide her grin when sunghoon’s glare transfers from the terrible threes and lands on her instead.

“oh, oh no - i’m so sorry!” y/n exclaims, her face twisted into an expression somewhere in between guilt, shame, confusion, and anxiety. “please don’t regard this as a loss; the…accident from before was completely my fault and that wasn’t an official sparring match so - so that shouldn’t count as a win and you shouldn’t be held to those conditions.”

yujin watches as sunghoon turns to her, his gaze growing soft but somewhat guarded as he shakes his head with a good-natured smile. 

“you won. there is no changing the system. and besides, in the field, one must be prepared for sorts of conditions and trials; it was my own fault that i lost so i must uphold the conditions i proposed,” sunghoon says but the words don’t seem to appease y/n’s mind at all.

soojin seems to notice as she steers y/n towards the exit of the training room.

“y/n, trust me. when it comes to wins from sunghoon, you take them where you can get them,” she says and y/n just nods, which is as much of a concession of her victory as soojin figures she’s gonna get. 

yujin’s left in the training room with sunghoon by the time jake and jay gather their belongings also start to file out the training room (but not before jake smirks at sunghoon, indicating that they were gonna talk later).

“stop thinking so much,” yujin says, arms folded across her chest. sunghoon rolls his eyes before heading over to the bench to pick up his bandages and boxing gear.

“i’m not thinking,” sunghoon says and yujin snorts.

“normally, i’d love to agree with that statement but you’re overthinking and every single one of us can tell. including y/n.” yujin nods to y/n’s receding figure before turning back to sunghoon with an unimpressed look. “it was an accident.”

“i know,” sunghoon says, a little too quickly. “i mean, i know.”

yujin fixes him with a probing look before giving up, shrugging as she also starts to head out of the training room. 

but it seems the surprises for the day are still abundant as y/n bursts into the room, looking more alarmed than yujin’s ever seen her before.

“don’t ask me how i know this but klarion’s back in town,” y/n trembles, eyes full of panic.

“and i think he knows where i am.”