#I've started playing gotham knights with him

[silenceoflink]

I love my dad, but GOD is he aggravating to play certain video games with.

[clockwayswrites]

Danny is a minx and I am not responsible for him.

Okay, so, you all voted and I, um, failed? We didn't get to cuddling. There should be cuddling coming? Idk, darlings, this was my third start on this and Danny took over. I've got no say in this anymore. Canon-typical violence, crude language, cross dressing, discussions of prostitution

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“You think you can fucking play us like that?!”

The shout carried easily through the crisp fall air. Red Hood sighed and changed direction away from his safe house and towards the noise.

“—fuck you up for that! Give us our fucking money back!”

“Fuck you,” snapped back a voice that Jason had come to recognize over the last several months. Right then the words dripped in fake, but damn convincing, heavy Crime Alley drawl, but Jason knew it all the same. “If yous don’t got it, don’t bet it. If yous don’t got game, don’t play it.”

“Yeah, no, I don’t think a little girl like you gets to say how this goes,” a third voice growled.

Hood clung to the edge of the roof just long enough to drop silently into the alleyway next to the dive bar. From the quick glance sent his way he was only noticed by the damn minx, so he leaned casually back against the grimy brick wall and unholstered his gun.

“Right? Yeah! Yeah, bitch! You don’t get to say how this goes!” the first voice shouted again. The guy’s shoulders were squared up as if he was some sort of threat in his overpriced, knock off bomber jacket and ill fitting jeans.

It almost made Jason want to sigh.

Actually, fuck it, Jason gave in and sighed loudly, knowing how it sounded through the modulation of his helmet. Bomber Jacket and his buddy, I Swear This is Real Italian Leather, spun around and then cowered so quick Jason swore they gave themselves whiplash.

“So,” Jason said with every ounce of disinterest he could put in his tone, “how does this go? Because right now, I’m thinking that it’s you two who are gonna be going before I put bullets between your eyes.”

“Right, um, yes Red Hood,” Bomber Jacket cowered and grabbed desperately at his friend’s pleather jacket to pull them out of there.

“And gentleman,” Jason said, making them freeze in their steps, “next time you lose your money to a pretty lady, you leave her the fuck alone about it.”

They nodded frantically as they backed the rest of the way out of alley and then took of running.

“I think you made one of ‘em piss himself,” the minx said, looking from the alley way to Jason with those striking aqua eyes.

Jason just shrugged and holstered his gun. “Probably.”

The short, tight skirt clung to the minx’s legs, pulling up enough with the sashaying steps that Jason had to wonder how everything stayed hidden. He kept still as fingers tipped in bright pink nails walked their way up his chest to the red bat. Aqua peered up from below thick, dark lashes. “And did I hear right? You think I’m a pretty lady?”

“Hair is nice like this,” Jason said brushing a gloved finger through the black strands that just brushed the edges of the chin. “But surprised your cock isn’t hanging out of that skirt with how short it is.”

Danny let out a started laugh, resting his forehead against Jason’s chest for a moment before he patted it and backed up to a more respectable distance.

“Duct tape and body shapers works miracles.” The fake Gotham accent was gone and replaced with the faint Midwestern drawl that Danny only seemed to let out around Red Hood. “And don’t make that face, the duct tape is outside of the panties.”

“You can’t see my face,” Jason pointed out, a bit grumpily because he had been grimacing at the thought.

“I was still right though,” Danny said with a smug little smiling pulling on his cherry red lips. It was a good color on him. He leaned back against the wall and spread his legs in a way that Jason couldn’t help but follow with this gaze. “Everything is fine down there, Boss, just a little squished. Offer’s still on the table if you want to check out the good. No charge for my darlin’ knight.”

Jason snorted at the continued offer from Danny; it was practically as good as ‘bye’ between them at this point since Danny seemed to offer it every time. “I’m not going to be one of your Johns, Danny.”

“Told you no charge. Could just be two people who like sex,” he offered with a little shrug, but pushed himself off the wall to leave. No, Danny pushed himself up off the wall with a wince.

Jason was at his side in an instant. “One of those fuckers get you?”

“No, so no hunting them down,” Danny said. His voice was confident, but the way he actually leaned on Jason’s offered arm was worrying. “Just a bad John— ex John. That’s why I’m sharking pool instead of working the corner.”

As if Danny had to work an actual corner anymore. He appealed to a very specific type of client that could pay to have something pretty and convincing on their arm and still get what they wanted between the legs and in the sheets.

“You taking anything for it?” Jason asked.

Danny just shrugged. “Nah, Boss, nothing over the counter works on me really.”

“Clinic?”

Danny snorted. “As if. They can test for STDs and that’s about as much as I want a clinic near me.”

Jason resisted the urge to cuss at Danny. He got it. After all, he only trusted Leslie or Alfred really— or a family member in a pinch.

Maybe he could just bluster Danny into getting some help. “Right, come on.”

“What?” Danny asked, digging his heels (and fuck those were some heels) into the ground.

Not willing to put with that right then, Jason just swung his arm under Danny’s legs and scooped him up like he was nothing. Fuck the Johns really had to be able to throw Danny around if they wanted that sort of thing.

“Boss, Hood, what the fuck?!” Danny hissed.

“Safe fucking house is what the fuck so I can check you over.”

“Boss, if you wanted in the skirt—”

“Danny, shut the fuck up and let me make sure you’re alright, alright?” Jason asked, looking down at him.

Danny stared back with a frown. Then his sighed, like it was the biggest concession in the world to make. Finally he rested his head against Jason’s chest. “Fine, Boss, whatever you say.”

“Thank you,” Jason said, more gently than he meant to.

-

Jason had to suck in several careful breaths as he took in the wound splashed across Danny’s ribs. “No fucking John did that to you and if they did—” if they took some sort of hot poker to Danny’s side— “I’ll kill them if they did.”

[dcxdpdabbles]

DC x DP: Game of Deadly Love

Danny is minding his business, flying through the ghost zone, mapping out areas, when he stumbles across a door that seems like it's between two giant cave walls.

He's never seen anything like it, so he gets curious. When he touches the handle, it is yanked open by a woman dressed in a classy Victorian-era dress made of what looks like grey smoke, pale moon skin and sharp icey black eyes.

He blushes as she smiles at- she's the prettiest ghost he's ever encountered, even though he feels a strange sense of danger from her.

"Hello, dear Prince." She says in a voice that has shivers running down his spine. He's never met anyone so obviously dangerous but hard to resist "I am Gotham, Ghost of misfortune, and my city is in need of a new player"

What?

Gotham flips open a fan, not bothering to hide her amused smile. "My Knights need more kind-hearted mischief. Misfortune of the heart is just what my City needs. Oh, and do me a favor. Get rid of that clown for me."

She taps her fan on his head and- Danny is suddenly falling, forcibly change into his human form.

He can't go Ghost!

He's going to die-er AGAIN!"

"Heeeeellllppppp!" He screams, and just as he is about to give, a body flings itself from the nearest building on a grabbing hook. He is caught in the arms of a man wearing a red helmet who effortlessly flips them in the air and lands on a roof.

He blinks up at the man who is holding him in his arms. "Ugh, hello?"

"Whatever the reason for jumping is, let me help you. " The man growls, and Danny frowns.

"Jump? I didn't jump! Gotham was the one that dragged me here!" He hisses as he struggles to get down. The man makes it hard to get out of his hold.

"Who the hell are you?" Danny snaps when he can't budge the other. Has he also lost his super strength?

"Im Red hood"

"That's the stupidest name I've ever heard."

Red Hood tilts his head "I can shoot you"

"So can unattended toddler; you ain't special."

Danny finally feels his ghost side and witha burst of light he's sinking through the roof away from the startled Red Hood.

He finds himself running through mout Gotham, his powers limited by the city limits and realizes with a horrible start that the only way home is to play Gotham's game.

The only thing is.....he has no idea what game she wants him to win. He'll just have to run around until the objective is found.

Red Hood watches the meta man run from the rooftop, watching his glow disappear around the corner. He sighs, pressing on his communicator to the various voices of his siblings.

"Hey, we may have a suicidal meta-lose in the city. I caught him trying to leap Wayne Tower." He says silencing the others.

Gotham watches her Knight inform his family with a chuckle. His affection rate for the boy is 5% already which means The prince manage to peak his interest with looks alone.

She wonders who will be next to fall for The Prince's Pretty Face and Deadly Might.

Oh what fun this will be to watch. She did enjoy giving her people a hard time.

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[lonleydweller]

Could I request yandere hcs for Riddler from arkham knight vr?

🥀Yandere Arkham Knight VR Riddler hcs🥀

OOOO- this got ideas flowing! This was super fun to write! I feel as if it's an underused concept too.

!Warnings!: this content contains toxic/forced relationship dynamic, yandere trope, kidnapping, reality shifting, being trapped in a videogame, self aware character, paranoia, cyberstalking

Yanderes are OK in fiction. They should stay fiction. They are not example of healthy relationships. These behaviors are NOT okay in real life. This is for entertainment purposes

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●It was all fun and games. Literally. You ran around the vr world of gotham with no thoughts of anything going on behind the scenes.

●When Riddler first popped up, taunting and challenging you like usual, it surprised you. Maybe even startled you a little with his greeting.

"So I've finally found you. Yes. You. The brains behind the brawn."

●You figured it was just a clever voiceline detail. Making him self aware and all. RIddler had broken the 4th wall in the past, and Arkham Knight VR wouldn't be the first game to do this kinda thing. Take DDLC for example. It was just a gag. Right?

●You found the riddlers secrets just fine, picking up little cube after cube, faster than most actually. It was fun, challenging rewarding. You'd talk throughout the game to yourself and make some witty jokes. You thought nothing of it, but something else surely did.

●You notice.. maybe after a month. The voicelines seem- they feel, more personal. More directed. More specific, but they're still vague. It was just a coincidence right? Maybe the game was just reading off the information from your VR and connected accounts.

●So the games coutinue! Nothing gets better. He starts talking during segments you know he isn't supposed be. You start to see glimpses of green out of the corner of your eye. Did you meerely get a buggy defective game? Was paranoia fogging your brain? Were you going insane?

●You take a break from the game. Hoping it will relive the stress you were under. You do some chores, go out on a walk, and play some games on your phone or PC.. which are running slower than usual. Strange, you could have sworn it fine yesterday. You check for viruses, nothing. You turn it on and off. It helps a bit. You free up some storage and It's back to working order for the most part.

●You find various electronics turned on when you could have sworn they were off. They're running slow again, barely working. The only thing that works is the VR game.. you reluctantly put the headset on.

●It was fine at first. Then it wasn't. He was talking directly to you. Referring to you by your name. Taunting you. Telling you personal information he couldn't have gotten. Appearing in the darkness of the out of bounds area in front of you. Your heart and mind racing as he gets closer, you desperately reach up to pull the headset off-

●Only to find nothing. There's nothing. No headset to pull off. No controllers in your hand. Nothing. Unable to go back. The only thing you're greeted which is the Riddler standing in front of you.. face to face. Only inches away.

"It's not so much of a game anymore is it?"

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

[klanced]

i just finally watched the batman (2022) and need a repository for my thoughts

anyway yes i know i am the voltron blog but you all must understand. and this is key to my lore. that i am an insane batman fan. i haven't kept up with comics in recent years but i am a total sleeper agent when it comes to batman and i've been waiting literal months to watch The Batman (2022) and i finally watched it last night and have been marinating in my thoughts since. and also my parents are tired of hearing my ranting and watching me walk around in circles.

ANYWAY.

-

cinematography

this is literally the best looking batman film in years, if not the best looking one ever. the color grading was like a balm to my eyes, especially after the slog fest that is some of the other superhero movies... even with the constant rain the city never looked washed out, reeves and his set designers made such awesome choices when it came to fluorescent and neon lighting... the DINER SCENE!!!!!!!!!!! also omfg the way they made battinson the Red and Black Batman like what an excellent color combination. i loved it. i need to buy some of the theatrical release posters post HASTE.

more than anything this movie was SHOT like a comic book and so many scenes looked like they were ripped straight from a comic book, like i could visualize the paneling and everything... so freaking baller.

my family wasn't super impressed but i think it's because they expected an action movie but No You Don't Get It. batman sees the world as a gritty detective noir movie but to everyone else in gotham they're living in a horror movie and that is BATMAN CINEMA!!!!

when the riddler was arrested i was like 'wait there's still 40 minutes?' and then i preceded to have my mind completely blown. i kept questioning what reeves was doing only for him to IMMEDIATELY correct me minutes later. literally, let this man cook he knows what he's doing. when bruce lit the flare i didn't immediately get it -- and then the little mayor's boy reached for batman without any hesitation. and then the crowd began to follow him, closing the distance. and then he began to lead them to higher crowd. And Then I Got It.

-

2. gotham

yes i'm devoting an entire section just to the city.

gotham city is one of the hardest things to get right in any kind of batman media. like gotham is Not Normal and that should always be something hovering in the background. but many directors just don't bother because gotham architecture is so fundamentally different from normal sensibilities that building lore accurate sets would be both incredibly costly and almost impossible to do. but matt reeves tried and the movie was so unbelievably better for it.

bvs gotham was basically just new york city and don't even get me STARTED on how futuristic minimalistic modern the nolan movies were. ugh.

but when bruce and alfred were in their penthouse suite surrounded by fifty layers of gothic style trim my dad verbally said 'are they in a fucking church or something' and like YES DAD! that's the POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotham is supposed to be borderline CAMPY GOTHIC like the city itself is not just a setting, it's a full blown supporting character. the city looking batshit is essential lore and PIVITOL to the world building that has produced a man dressed up as a bat to fight crime like you DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! batman is divorced from our reality but he is GROUNDED IN GOTHAM!!!!

actually side note i've been playing gotham knights on the PC and 1) the game is way better than critics gave it credit for and 2) GOTHAM LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS GAME. THE LIGHTING IS CRAZYYYY. best adaptation of gotham city fr, i loved the arkham video game series but the panache. the style. it became so diluted after arkham asylum fr.

my one criticism is that reeves needed to make one more rooftop set it was so silly that all the characters kept returning to the same gcpd roof with the bat signal on it.

-

3. plot

FINALLY A MOVIE WHERE BRUCE IS A DETECTIVE. i've waited literal years for this. i do wish batman had been a little bit more active/proactive in the plot, i.e. not strictly following with riddler's games, but this is also early batman so i'm more forgiving of his rookie mistakes... however in the second movie i expect him to be on his BALL GAME!!!! give me plot-armor-borderline-prescient batman PLEASE MR. REEVES I BEG OF THEE.

LOVED this adaptation of the riddler. using the zodiac killer as an inspiration for the riddler was amazing, brilliant, showstopping, spectacular. and they kept a little bit of camp in paul dano's performance which i appreciate. i don't think we'll ever go back to batman forever levels of camp, but that's okay </3

there was a nod to the character of hush in the movie (at least that's how i'm choosing to interpret it) but i don't think they could ever use hush in the future because they already adapted so much of his gimmick for the riddler... but that's okay tbh i don't think hush is that interesting anyway.

at its core the batman was a buddy cop movie and i LOVED that. jeffrey wright KILLED it as lieutenant gordon and the dynamic between batman and gordon was amazing. excellent usage of our favorite future-commissioner, you could really see they already had an established rapport but their bond was becoming even stronger... their conversation in the interrogation room was so amazing, as well as their scene with the penguin.

my one criticism is that alfred became non-existent after a certain point. also lowkey the lego batman movie did a better job at the 'bruce realizes that his trauma has made him reluctant to form bonds or deepen them because of his fear of losing anyone else' subplot. lego batman movie on top!

-

4. characterizations

everyone and their mom has already talked about how this version of bruce wayne is more focused on developing his identity as the batman versus his identity as brucie wayne so i won't repeat those essays. but i will say that i have such high hopes for bruce's development in the sequel. like the way the movie ended with him emphasizing how he needs to become a 'symbol of hope for the city' reads to me as him preparing to finally re-enter gotham society as Billionaire Bruce Wayne and i am SO READY FOR IT.

but what i actually want to talk about is how amazing catwoman's development is. i love how much backstory they gave her in this movie. i will always love the nolanverse version of catwoman but you really learn almost nothing about selina in TDKR. but in the batman selina's is this fully fleshed out character. you can immediately guess what her life has been like. and her motivations in the story... the way she was prepared to run until she found annika... and then she immediately changed gears and focused on vengeance for annika and her mother... god, i love it.

cobblepot's character was also so, so good. you can intimately tell that he's a two-faced bastard who's spent years being a yes-man purely so he can climb the social ladder. i know colin farrell is going to rock the HELL out of that monocle in the sequel.

-

5. hopes for the future

i know it's too late but i reallyyy don't want joker to be in the sequel. i unfortunately think that's more or less guaranteed though since they've already casted barry keoghan. and his performance was really good. i'm just tired of seeing the joker in batman media. (inb4 keoghan absolutely kills it in the sequel and makes me eat my hat). i don't really consider batman to have one arch nemesis, only that the joker has consistently ruined batman's life more often than all the other villains.

literally the one hill i will die on is that reeves NEEDS to include robin at some point. PLEASE. you can't have batman without a robin, he gets so lonely. literally that's all i want. i want battinson to become a dad so, so bad. you have no idea.

and (and this is key) robin must be a kid. a pre-teen aged 14 or younger. "oh but that's so unrealistic, child superheroes totally break the immersion" well I DON'T CARE. FULL THROTTLE ON THE CHILD ENDANGERMENT. let children fight crime, for the culture.

[okay, okay. make it a robin origin story where dick grayson is introduced and is plot-relevant but he doesn't actively patrol and fight crime and only becomes robin at the very end.]

introduce robin in batman 2, and then have robin be a participating older teen/adult in batman 3.

my incredibly indulgent ideal batman 2:

at least two years have passed (bruce is more or less settled and has finally hit his stride). he has mastered air gliding and now attacks villains from the rafters instead of just constantly walking out of the shadows. i want to see arkham-level combat So Bad.

selina is mentioned, but doesn't really appear (and there are no other love interests.

actually wait i change my mind about joker. joker can be included in the movie IF the red herring "main plot" is that he's using a circus as a base of operations (because clowns and circuses).

i say red herring "main plot" because the movie starts with a joker crime spree, so you think the movie is going to be all about the joker, but then he leads batman to his circus base and it turns out that PSYCH! THIS IS ACTUALLY A DICK GRAYSON ORIGIN STORY. because joker's base of operations is haly's circus.

batman is snooping around looking for evidence and that's when he comes across dick grayson, age 10.

kid dick grayson. PLEASE. PLEASE.

batman decides to visit the circus as bruce wayne. You Know What happens.

plot plot plot

COURT OF OWLS SUBPLOT.

bruce has to balance hunting down the joker while also protecting this little kid he pretends he isn't totally attached to.

this is incredibly indulgent because i have no idea how you would balance joker screentime with that of the court of owls. idk. that's what's fanfiction is for i guess c:

i have decided that over winter break i am going to rewatch all the batman movies from 1980s onwards so i can revise my Batman Cinema power rankings. i will create some kind of metric or spreadsheet so i can grade and quantify each movie.

hell i should also replay all my favorite batman video games. because those are basically just movies anyway. and i miss kevin conroy :(

thanks for reading. god i love batman.

[theredhoodedcryptid]

Alrighty, here's more notes from my Jason Gotham Knights playthrough. I'm not finished yet, but what I've found so far is interesting. Also here's the link to my other post about the Labyrinth which I'll be referencing.

Starting off with basic observations:

When Jason first encounters an Owl's nest he states "Hello? I'm selling owl scout cookies."

Jason can somewhat play the piano. We only encounter playable pianos in Gotham Knights whenever you're infiltrating either an Owl base or the Monarch Theater, regardless both are one time story plots, making the the ability to play them very limited. While I haven't tried this with Babs and Dick yet, Tim can't (or won't) play. He just takes his hand and swipes it down the keys, whereas Jason plays a small part of a song. I don't know which one though.

The cutscene where Jason and Tim are bonding and working on Jason's weapons. This one is pretty familiar, Jason's weapons are leaning a little to far on the dangerous side of non-lethal. When Tim brings this up Jason dismiss it, stating most of their enemies wear heavy armor so it's fine. To make his point, Tim gets in front of Jason when he goes to shoot at a practice dummy, stating that if he really believes they're safe then to shoot him. Now the major thing people will notice with this scene is that Jason hesitates for a moment (I think he's remembering something, perhaps Titan's Tower if that happened in this universe?) before pointing his weapon away. Another interesting thing I noticed in this scene is that after he points his weapon away, Jason goes as far as removing the clip and also removing the rubber bullets. It's possible he's just doing this so they can work on it, but I think Jason is going to these lengths to show to Tim he won't hurt him (again). It's clear from an earlier cutscene where Jason had a knife and he absentminded pointed it at Tim to make a point about the conversation , but Tim flinched back and Dick subtly intervened. Something along Titan's Tower happened here, but to what extent I have no clue.

So far during my League of Assassins stuff they've not ambushed Jason. If you've played or watched the game then you might remember The Court and the League sometimes set up little traps to attack you while you're patrolling. Sometimes it's a hostage, but mainly it's a few dead bodies of the local gangs and a trapped chest with a bomb. In my other play throughs I've encountered a lot of this from both sides, but Jason's a little different. The traps are still there from the League, but nothing happens. I open a chest and it doesn't go off, it's a normal chest. And it's clearly the LOA because you can see black smoke hanging around the scene, which indicates their presence. With Jason they just back off and only interact during the main storyline. Is this perhaps because he was in the League of Assassins after his little bath in the green jello? Or maybe I'm not far enough in the plot for the League to really start attacking me, or maybe I'm experiencing glitches. Whose to say, but I found it very interesting.

I was kinda disappointed with Harley's and Jason's interactions. I mean, Jason was pretty chill and civil around her which is totally fine, but I was hoping for a bit more backstory nods. We have a lot to assume about the Gotham Knights universe, so any little bit helps. But nothing really was mentioned between those two. Even stuff with Talia hasn't been very fruitful so far. If cutscenes don't show me anything I'll have to do a deep dive in the audio files, codex, wiki, and any written materiel about GK. I need to know these people's back stories!

(A small side note of how I had this whole theory written out on how Tim might have been apart of the family before Jason died based on a cutscene, but then I remembered that Bruce's audio files explicitly state otherwise. Also that'd make my Titan's Tower theory have to many holes.)

Now for my favorite part, The Labyrinth!

(This is where my previous post mentioned before comes into play)

Now, during my last few playthorughs I've been trying to map out the reason behind how certain hallucinations happen, whether it's truly random or if it depends on which direction you take in the labyrinth. I haven't cracked it yet, but I hope that after playing as Dick and Babs I'll figure it out. Right now this is just my observations.

Everything in general has stayed the same, except for the order of what happens. Here's how this time went: Turned right at the Spike room, turned left at the phonograph room, weird floating vision, (accidentally walked into some spikes and got sent to the beginning but it lead to the next room without backtracking), turned right at Bruce's Grave, turned left at the Table Room, Vision of Jason in an Owl mask, Turned right at the Pit Room, vision of Bruce and the ending sequence. I got a couple of things different then my last analysis for Jason, but I'm leaning more on the different paths direction then the randomized. We'll see though.

As for the things Fake!Bruce says, it's pretty much the same thing as he said to Tim, only in a slightly different order. The only thing that was different was in the Pit Room, where he says "You were the worst Robin, no better then a killer. Now you're just nothing."

Anywho, I'm not done with Jaybirds playthrough yet, so I'll add to this post if I find anything else.

[brucewaynehater101]

I wanna get into dc (I’m enjoying reading batfam fanfics) but don’t know where to start, any recs?

Hello! Two notes real quick. One, DC stands for Disregard Canon. I say this because DC has a hard time keeping their storylines, characterizations, and basic facts straight. If you switch between creators (even if the media is the same, such as two separate comic creators), you might get very different ideas.

Second, I'm going to organize this by media.

Comics

There are a ton of blogs on Tumblr that are dedicated specifically towards comics for DC. They would know the very specific details of comics that I wouldn't. I recommend choosing one character and searching for reading lists (e.g. searching "Roy Harper's comic list" in Tumblr's search bar).

Live Action TV Shows

Gotham is a great show for introducing Jim Gordon, various rogues, and the general consensus of how Gotham may work. It follows Bruce Wayne right after his parents died and pre-Batman

Titans follows Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and the Titans. Later seasons show Jason Todd and Tim Drake as Robin. I haven't seen past the first season, though.

The Flash or Arrow. Both shows obviously have little to do with the batfam. However, they give more perspective on heroes outside of the batfam. I personally enjoyed the first 2 or so seasons of both.

Animated Movies

There's too many for me to get into all of them, but HBO has a ton of animated DC movies and shows (from what I've heard).

I personally recommend Under the Red Hood as a must watch. It's hands down a masterpiece

Lego Batman

Video Games

The Arkham Series includes 3 games plus a prequel game. I've played the three regular ones, and I HIGHLY recommend them. The third one made me cry (for a lot of reasons)

Gotham Knights. I haven't gotten too far into the game yet, but it's good so far! I've seen videos of the interactions between the batfam (healthy batfam interactions!!!!) that I'm excited for.

There are other ones as well, but I haven't played them personally

I think there may be Lego Batman video games

Animated Shows

Teen Titans is a classic. Obviously, this focuses more on Robin and his team than the batfam

Harley Quinn Show focuses on Harley but shows a lot of the villains in Gotham. There's a ton of focus on various characters that are usually not given so much spotlight

I will not recommend Teen Titans Go

Young Justice is way different from the comics, but still good to watch

Live Action Movies

Suicide Squad

I'm sure there's a thread or two out there arguing the best live action Batman movies. I don't remember him having any kids in those, but you could still watch them for the lore ig

Joker.... I don't really consider that movie to be canon, but knock yourself out. It's a good film if you distance the idea of Joker from it.

I am most definitely forgetting stuff, but I'm also falling asleep (barely keeping my eyes open). Ask more questions if you want 👍

[gffa]

I noticed that you're diving into Batman comics recently, and I decided to ask you: do you think that Batman's relationship with his Robins is his "redemption" story? I mean, even though this wasn't the case when Dick was first introduced, the modern Robins are very much pulling the Dark Knight out of the shadows. It's not the same as Luke Skywalker unmasking Darth Vader in Episode VI, but it's kinda the same situation - they're causing Bruce Wayne to wake up under the Batman mask...

Ask a dozen different comics writers, all who are just as foundational/not foundational as each other because there's no singular creator here, and you'll get a dozen different answers to this question, but! I would say that, yes, Batman's relationship with Robins is a "you saved me from the dark" story--not that Bruce needs a redemption in the same way a villain does, but he does need pulling back from the light. Modern versions of the first Robin almost always come back to this--Dick Grayson brought light and laughter to Wayne Manor, that Bruce was in a dark place and Dick brought him out of those shadows:

(Robin: Year One + Detective Comics #1000) That when he starts wandering back into the dark, Robin is there to go, "Nah, that's bullshit." It's not always necessarily something that Bruce easily accepts, sometimes he feels guilty about what that cost Dick, to be that for him--though, Dick usually points out that he chooses what he wants to do and that he gained so much when Bruce saved him, just as much as he gave back to Bruce. It's not just when he was a kid, but even as an adult, Dick is still the one that most often does so as an adult--where sometimes he does have to back off that, because Bruce relies on him so heavily for it (and then winds up calling Bruce to talk to him about it anyway 😂) and Dick often just naturally steps into that role, like in the recent Gotham War storyline. That's how deeply embedded the theme is in their dynamic--that it's not just that Dick pulls him out of the dark, it's such a common occurrence that sometimes the question has to be asked, "Does this have a cost on Dick, to be the light to Bruce's darkness?"

(Batman: Urban Legends, "The Murder Club") Because that often is the role Dick plays in Batman's life--he's not the only one that Bruce trusts with this, he has a whole roster of friends (he's brightened by his friendship with Clark, for example, or Alfred emotionally supports him constantly and helps stabilize him), but if you have to pick one heart of the family, of Bruce's family, it's absolutely Dick Grayson:

(Batman: Urban Legends, "The Murder Club") To the point, that when others can't do it, they call in Dick to be the Bruce Whisperer like Tim did in that Urban Legends story or like Alfred does when Bruce is spiraling over Damian's death:

("Robin Rises") But honestly, it's true of all of them:

(Batman 2016) I'm focusing most on Dick here because a) that's the majority of what I've read since I came back to comics and b) because he does tend to be the one that falls into that role the most often, but all of the Robins generally are there to remind Bruce to be a better person, all of his friendships with the other superheroes like Clark and Diana and Barry are there to help him be a better person:

(Batman: Knight Terrors) While they're all inextricably tied to their costumed identities, these are people who keep him grounded as Bruce Wayne rather than stripping him down to just Batman, they're the ones who remind him that they're not just soldiers in a war, they're his sons, they're family, and he doesn't keep them around because he needs fighters, he keeps them around because he loves them. That, while it's rarely commented on directly, it is woven into the themes of Batman that his character arc is: he lost his parents, he lost the stability that family would give him, but he gained a son, he grew to accept people into his heart again, to love them, to grow into a better person for them, to come out of the dark for them, to not let what happened to his parents happen to his son:

(Nightwing 2016 #84) There's a ton more examples that I can't overload this post with (and also I'm still catching up) but, yeah, it's very, very much a theme with many authors that the Robins bring Batman out of the dark, they're his salvation, they're the healing of a little boy who lost his parents growing up and healing through taking in children of his own. Children teach you how to love, they teach you compassion, they make you a better person. In that, the story of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker is very much a sibling theme to Batman and the Robins.

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch: The Secret Origin of Batman's Trophys (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Batmarch, or celebrations of all things that go bump in the dark knight

Today we've got a special treat... and i'm not just talking the nice art Kev had comissioned! Looks really good and I really appcirated it. Thank you KEv and thank you Alan Patreon. It was a nice suprise gift.

As for what this is about, this was a fantastic idea Kev cooked up: the batcave is one of the coolest hero bases in all of fiction. The layout is never 100% consitant across media but your usually guaranteed a batmobile, a big ass computer at the center, water falls, and over time a display for various costumes from past sidekicks, alternate outfits etc.

What really spruces the place up are three distinct decorations that we almost always see in the comics and ocasionally in other media, if not live action since these bitches would be expensive to make: A giant dinosaur, a big ole penny, and a giant playing card of a joker. These three are staples of the bat cave, to the point when the original was caved in during the earthquakes that ravaged gotham in the build up to no man's land, Bruce made a point of fishing them out for the new cave he built after that traumatic year.

Yet most of us.... have no idea where he got these wonderful toys. Even I didn't. The Joker Card comes from an obvious grinning source, but what CASE did it come from? Where did he get that dinosaur? What was someone using that giant Penny for? It's a question i've asked once or twice but never looked into. Kevin did though, and while the through and lovely DC wiki helped him find each one, he went the extra mile, asking for a review. And I was entirely on board with this comission as I just.. never had those answers and I doubt i'm the only one whose wondered what the context for these things were. So today we're looking at three disntinct golden age batman stories, at a time when goofy nonsense reigned supreme, logic was optional, and weird shit like this was just another day in the batcave. IN other words, this is going to be a LOT of fun so join me under the cut as we look at gambling themed death traps, penny obessed gangsters and batman being hunted by the most dangerous game: mechanical dinosaurs.

The Giant Joker Playing Card:

(from Batman #44)

I love these old titles, such flair and cheese. It's incredible.

Anyways this one starts because Joker decides to hit an off the books casnio after his win. Luckily for them, he just wants to play which feels entirely like a joker move: instead of robbing an easy target that can't call the cops and that the mafia presumibly running it would be stupid to retaliate on, he decides "fuck it let's try this whole gambling thing men, sounds like a hoot and a half".

And sure enough.. it goes really well. He spends what's implied to be the whole night just winning and winning until he cleans house. This being the joker this gambling bug can only end one way

I just.. love everything about this. Joker just had fun at a casnio and turned it into a death trap. It's such a brilliant setup.. and one that while nicely goofy, is also well done: it fits the joker's unpredictablity to just go a gamblin and it fits him just as much to turn a new hobby into a death trap. I also love Lewis' reaction calling it SUPERGAMBLING., like he's some gambling expert and most dangerous game shit is a type of gambling.. which given we're in the dc universe, you probably DO need a name for this kind of thing in the crime world.

So he set shte perfect trap: he has a random balding middle aged man tell the two he has info on a recent raidum theft, raidum a hospital badly needs. To save the presumed orphans about to die without eating their radium, Batman and Robin go to a sketchy island with one house perched on a hill

The World's Greatest Detective.. sees NOTHING wrong with this and goes ahead and gets caught in the most devious trap imaginable.

Several head injuries later, our heroes wake and joker reveals the radium theives, who he captured for this scheme but have kept the radium's location to themselves. This is by deisgn: the joker wants the two and their "radium screts" as the ante here, along with Robin to make sure Batman does this. Batman repedately states "I don't gamble' as if logic suddenly works on the clown man who set up a gambling death trap, so Joker reveals if Batman won't play his three supergambling games, he'll just kill the hostages. Batman reluctantly agrees,

Game 1 is super pinball.

But when Batman proves to be an expert at the snes Joker goes with plan b.. his giant pinball table of death. Sorry his giant SUPER pinball table of death.

As you can see the same joker face from the card is here and you see it all over his lable. it seemed to be Joker's logo back the. I love this whole setup and mostly show it not only because it' sdope but because those pins must've been what bumpers were. I also had no idea PInball used to be a gambling thing. Makes sense, it's just fun to find out.

The game goes well mostly though one of the guys nearly slams into a pin. Thankfully Robin is an expert gymnist and batman smartly saved laucnhing robin till the last minute and Dick's able to save the goon.

Game two is super rolling some dice, which apparently used to land on numbers. This yugioh style death game involves our bait being tied to polls on three of the numbers. If Batman guesses wrong, someone dies. Or maybe not since the board is pretty damn big. Not every death trap can be super murder pinball. Batman spots some mud on the dice though and correctly guesses they'll pivot. This is the weakest of the death traps here, a bit convolunted, not really guranteed to be as deadly. I know the chance of nothing happening is part of it.. but with pinball there's really almost no chance you won't hit the bumpers. Here it feels like pure luck or simple cheating that both dice flew at the joker.

Next game and the one that introduces our prop, though the dice apparently are also in the cave sometimes which I love. The game is a game of cards.. batman has to correctly guess which face matches the door Robin and the hostage goons are in or they'll choke to death on the deadly gas released inside.. and naturally he figures out it's the Joker card. It's too joker not to work.

Turns out though, naturally the joker isn't playing fair both having a final one on one game ofr him and Batman and having his goon go to get robin behind the joker card door... and Robin dispatches him hilaroiusly and awesomely

With that the hostages are free and the final death game begins. A giant super roulette wheel with both batman and joker getting in a slot. looser gets crushed alive. It's an awesome finale, and it fits joker to put himself at risk: after all he risks his life all the time why wouldn't he for such a fun gag?

Batman's able to get the wheel to turn fairly and then escape it, leading to a chase. THe Radium Theives agree to give themselves and the radium up but there's still the matter of the joker and we get a short but neat final chase as Joker uses the dice against the heroes then jumps off a cliff, gambling his life one last time.. and rightfully batman isn't betting on the joker having died.

Gamble With Doom is an excellent story. While the trophy we get out of it is only in it briefly the story itself is pure fun. It has some fun dated elements like Bruce's opinon gambling is EVILLLL and the old fashioned designs on the traps, but it's pure fun. The traps are clever, the tension palpable and the climax great. The gambling motif's really fit the joker and it adds up to an all time great joker story with a suprise impact. The Trophy Itslef. is barely in it but Robin DID break a guy's face with it so i'll say it was still cave worthy.

(From World's Finest #30)

The Penny Plunderer is a name I had heard but had no real context for. I assumed he was some goofy silver age villian with pennies for eyes who drove around chucking pennies at everyone.

I am an artiste.

Instead it's just a guy in a suit. He has the backstory of any good golden or silver age villian to justify his gimmick

I love.. everything about this backstory. It reads like if a writer was given the thought exercise "Make the pettiest batman villian origin you can find.". I mean other villians gimmicks make sense: Poison Ivy was a botonist, Mr Freeze had a horrible accident, the penguin was born looking like a penguin with a lot of money, the Joker fell into a vat of chemicals and came out a clwon, the riddler liked puzzles.

Here Joe just... got screwed over by pennies a lot. Even funnier is that the last one has nothing to do with pennies. Like.. even if it'd had nickels he'd still be arrested.

So Joe vows since pennies runied his life, he'l lbecome the penny! Sadly this does not mean him dressing up like a giant penny with a cane and top hat.. nad now I can't show you it that last drawing put me too far behind and... oh fuck it.

Instead he just wears a suit but makes his gimmick pennies. Commit to the bit man. I do get it as some golden age villians were just guy in a suit, even Joker and Penguin technically counts but one is a clown and the other is a rich penguin man. They have mor ethan just "suit and a vendetta against pennies that somehowturns into stockholm syndrome.

So the penny plunderer begins his reign of terror, setting up a penny arcade as a front, and cashing in a roll of pennies in the most diabolical scheme ever devised by man.

A true criminal mastermind.

Batman picks up on this pattern because it's what he does and finds his next case, a coin and stamp exibiton with a rare one cent stamp. It's here we meet the reason we're here: the giant penny!

Yeah to my shock the penny had NOTHING to do with the penny plunderer other than being at the site of one of his robberies. He prefered just.. chucking pennies at people.. which is awesome and a truly great tactic only topped by Batman's use of said giant penny

I adore the fact that this iconic artifact is there not because it was seized from the villians or a police options.. but because, presumibly, Bruce thought this penny he found was kick ass and bought it off it's actual owner.

Most of the theives escape but they find one willing to squeal. Unfortunatley he dies for his hubris

Yup bet you weren't expecting the penny guy to kill someone and to see his corpse weren't you but here you are. Also batman is apparently a cop now. George Lopez tried to warn us...

But we didn't listen! We didn't listen!

A fight breaks out at the gambling parlour and we get two of the best moments in batman history that much like the blue beetle film, ar ehighly underated.

I just.. I get the sense that is how batman ALWAYS plays pinball. Just judo kicks it every time even as bruce wayne. Both bruce wayne and batman have been banned from so many arcades.. often the same ones. Perks of having a secret identity. We then get coyne once again THROWING pennies at someone and it working. I don't know why he hasn't been brought back with the telkeentic ability to contorl pennies. Give him a copper helmet and a proper costume and oh dammit..

Then Joe knocks batman out iwth his one weakness: a roll of pennies. He's trapped them in the parlor for your standard batman death trap, having removed their belts and ripped out the phone lines as usual. He then throws them a few pennies when then prove to be a mistake as it's time for SCIENCE WITH DR. BATMAN, who uses one old penny, copper, and one new penny, zinc to make a battery. Good thing jimmy didn't wish it away THIS week.

The cops arrive to free one of hteir own and batman finds a clue once the parlor is cleared of gas. Turns out Coyne was catering a penny slot party for a rich billinoare's houseboat, and naturally their filled with gas. I swear it's always gas with these golden age villians. Get another knockout device fellas.

With that our final chase enses as Batman and robin chase Coyne and while he nearly bests them with a good game of 1940's donkey kong

He's foiled by his own gimmick: he has only pennies but the pay telephone.. dosen't.. take 5 seperate pennies for some reason? the hell? I get payphones not taking pennies once they went up to a quarter but come the fuck on 1940's payed telephones. he's foiled.. and sentenced to death.

Yes folks that's the cannoical till some lucky fellow brings him back fate of the penny plunderer: PUT TO DEATH.

This story is as you can tell nonsense that's only gotten more hilarious with the passage of time and I loved every page on it and on getting the panels for this review, I only found MORE hilaroius nonsense to laugh at. We have a story where a guy with a penny gimmick smacks batman with a roll of pennies, trips robin with more, kills a man without pennies, is foiled by pennies yet somehow dosen't actually use the giant penny that's the only reason people know he exists. It's beautiful bollocks and worth your time.

(From Batman #35)

As I hope you are, this issue had me hooked from the first panel: Batman vs dinosaurs being forced to fashion a bow and arrow for some reason. Yes... fuck. Yes. Also nice of bruce to eat Ollie's lunch.

Okay so this story starts, as many real life stories do, with a billionare having a zany idea; Mr. Hart is a man who puts on shows: ice follies, aqua carnival, 40's razzle dazzle type stuff. For his latest idea though he's going above and beyond: a DINOSAUR ISLAND. With mechancail dinosaurs and cavemen who throw giant sponges at you. Thankfully spongebob wasn't born yet but his great great grandpappys quarepants did the honors. Honorable old fool.

To ramp up the insanity, Mr Hart is inviting a club of big game hunters to eat mammoth steak with batman.

If that weren't enough, and in any other golden age story it might be... our heroes get CHALLENGED at dinner by one of the rich assholes. Yeah turns out rich assholes who hunt innocent animals for sport and eat reheated mammoth aren't the most stable indviduals and Mr. Breech scoofs at the fact Mr. Hart says Man is the most dangerous game. He's hunted man, they went down like cowards. COWARDS. He feels Batman couldn't hut a dinosaur without his gadgets, and certainly not his bare hands... even though as this issue with prove and has already shown early man had tools.

To prove his point he challenges batman to a fucking challenge: survive on Dinosaur Island: no utility belt, no vehicles. If the dinosaurs touch him he looses. Mr Breech will man the controls. Honestly i'm convinced Breech knew hart well enough to know he'd both agree to this for the publiclity and why he'd invite batman and robin and just wants to play iwth giant mechanical dinosaurs and also batman. Which granted if I were invited to this sort of thing i'd also want to chase batman with mechanical dinosaurs for fun, who wouldn't, so I totally get it and respect the game.

Hart is on board, offering 5000 to the winner's charity and Batman is like "Why the bat-fuck not. Let's go".

Now you might suspect Breech's real motive is trying to kill batman. I mean you have a setup where batman will be without his weapons, the plausable deniablity of a machine malfunction and a secluded island with 24 hours to kill the batman. And you'd shockingly be wrong. Breech really just wants to prove dinosaurs are the most dangerous game so when that Jurassic Park he's working on opens no one will object to him hunting them for sport.

But his plans are foiled by Chase, anothe rich knob who wants to kill batman and robin to, as he says later form a "crime combine". So he wants a bunch of middle aged guys drinking beers to yell at him for not training the joker on tackling well enough. I see.. well played.

So the game is afoot and our heroes take a bit to catch up, first brushing off a real rock among the sponge rocks as a mistake. Theis ends when a Triceratops to trismash them into a tree. Batman calls for a war council on a nearbye island but naturally THAT'S NO ISLAND

Batman fought a mechanical fucking seamonster. That.. that's cannon. To almost every batman timeline. God bless you Golden Age, god, bless, youuuu. Also i'd be stupid if I didn't say that Tally Ho, Batman! is one of the greatest phrases in batman history up there with "I Am the night" , "I'm batman" and "Something something joker's boner".

So now the games for their lives, Batman and Robin don't have to play fair and start fashioning bows, arrows and knives out of mechanical dinosaur bones. You know.. sometimes this job can be draining: 2-3 reviews a week, many a plan having to be delayed due to a review taking longer than expected.. but then you get a review where Batman and robin have to outrun a manical billinoare who hyjacked dinosaurs from a diffrnet billionare who was having a charity dinosaur hunt with batman and robin using a third billionare's dinosaur, while fashoining weapons from mechanical dinosaur corpses and fashion a kite from a mechanical ptreadon and remember why you love reviewing stuff so mucH: sharinng a good story with the world and finding a good one or two yourself while your at it. And thanks to Kev i've found three truly wonderful, truly bonkers batman stories, with this one being the easy winner. It's both a decent enough concept for the time and hilariously insane.

And I ddin't make up the kite thing: when, after a night of survivial, Robin brings up the batplane, Batman has an idea: since the flying dinosaurs are on a programmed pattren rather than directly controled, they can use them to make themselves a kite yor style.

So to win the day Batman has a plan: he uses himself as bait since Robin's the more agile of the two, and has robin CATAPULT HIMSELF into the air after chase, who is riding on t-rex back with an army of dinosaurs.. and how does he defeat chase' smighty dino army?

It's both genuinely clever and wonderfully bonkers: Robin defeats an evil billionare RIDING a mechanical t-rex.. with water balloons.

Also props to this story: in the previous two the trophy was impressive.. but it was taken from what felt like a minor point in the story: the card flip game was fun as was batman slammin ga door on a guy, but it's sandwitched between far more elaborate death traps, while the penny, again awesome, wasn't even something the penny plunderer used. Batman just bought it off some offscreen character to relive fond memoreies of crushign some crimianls alive with it. Here the main villian ROAD IN on the thing. Granted he still had to likely buy it off his actual owner, but this time at least a criminal actually used it as a murder weapon. I can see Batman wanting this thing for his cave.

Batman chases chase over the now still dinosaurs and punches the guy out. With this Batman's saved the day AND won the bet. 5000 for batmobiles for kids, donate your batmobile today!

As for chase...

With that our story and this trilogy comes to an end.. and as I said, it's great. check out all three of these issues their a lot of fun. Next time dc puts some up for sale I may have to get some 40's batman, this stuff is golden.

Thanks for reading

To conclude batman month: Wait'll you get a load of this

[thesandsofelsweyr]

So I'm wondering. As far as I know GK!Jason is going to therapy and he has started his healing process about all the death and resurrection, and Bruce, and the batfam, etc etc

In case AK!Jay decided to go to therapy, what would be the things in common between him and the GK!Jason?

I've yet to play Gotham Knights so unfortunately I don't know much about Jay's story in that game.

In my 'verse, while he's recovering overseas after the events of the game, he begrudgingly starts therapy, and one of his therapist's suggestions is to pick up some new hobbies. I think I saw on Tumblr that GK Jay knits scarves for shelters? I'm totally stealing this for my AK Jay because the image of Mister Broody Brickhouse hunched over his knitting is beyond adorable.

Unlike GK Jay though, AK Jay doesn't reunite with the Batfam. Yeah, he tolerates Dick popping up outta nowhere with burgers for him while he's on patrol, or Barb's weekly check-in texts that sometimes include dinner invites to her and the replacement's place... that's as far as he'll let his former family back into his life. There are some wounds that will never heal... there are some walls that are never coming down again 😞

[about-faces]

Hi, I want to read some DC comics about how Harvey transformed from former DA to the criminal mastermind who ruled half of Gotham's Underworld (against the Penguin). I've already read/seen: Two-Face: A Celebration of 75 Years Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: Dark Victory (1999) Batman '89 Batman: The Animated Series Batman: The Audio Adventures

Any other reading recommendations? Thanks a lot for your help. :)

So you're looking for origin stories, or at least ones that shed more light on Two-Face's origin? Well first off, I'm glad you read the 75th Anniversary collection, because that has three of my very favorites: the original Harvey Kent trilogy from 1942-43, the Grace Dent story from Secret Origins Special (1989), and "Eye of the Beholder" from Batman Annual #14 (1990).

Besides those, and the ones you've listed, here are a few others to check out. Some are great, some are mixed bags, and some are downright lousy.

First and foremost, I STRONGLY recommend the 1989 Batman newspaper comic strip, which I loved so much that I posted the whole two-year saga on its own tumblr account. You can start from the very beginning right here, but keep in mind that Harvey's storyline--which runs all the way to the very last strip--doesn't really start until the second arc.

Next, Batman: Dual to the Death by Geary Gravel is a YA novelization of the BTAS origin, seamlessly combined with the two-part Batgirl origin episodes. It improves on both the animated versions in small but crucial ways, and it's highly recommended for BTAS fans. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to find.

On a similar note, Peter David's movie novelization of Batman Forever can be found more easily, either in used book form or on the Internet Archive, and it's absolutely worth reading. I love the movie of Batman Forever, but it's objectively a terrible take on Harvey. The novelization adds SO MUCH, including an original prequel scene with D.A. Harvey Dent, and his ending is far more satisfying.

Cartoon Network's CGI animated series Beware the Batman (2013) also features a series-long origin arc for Harvey Dent, but it's one of the worst takes I've ever seen on the character. He's a petty, selfish, ambitious little prick, an absolute scumbag, completely devoid of depth or tragedy. Thankfully, few have seen this arc, since the majority of Harvey's episodes were never aired after the series was cancelled, but they're all available to watch for those morbidly curious to see just how badly someone can screw up Harvey as a character.

"The Big Burn" from Batman and Robin, vol 2 #24-28 (2014), also collected in B&R volume 5. After the huge DC reboot, this was Harvey new origin, which tried some very different things with him. A VERY mixed bag, but one that ended in a hugely exciting way that makes the whole thing worth reading. Follow it up with its sequel, "Ugly Heart," from Detective Comics #1020-1024, collected in Detective Comics Vol 5: Joker War.

Finally, watch the entirety of the recently-released/cancelled CW series Gotham Knights, with Misha Collins performing a surprisingly rich, interesting, and flawed Harvey Dent origin arc. The show got a lot of shit, some of it undeserved, but Collins' Harvey was an intriguing surprise, and I fear nothing we see from Harvey in any Reevesverse media will bring half as much care and interest to Harvey as GK did, for better or worse. All 13 episodes can be watched for free on CW Seed, region permitting.

EDIT: Oh right also the Telltale Batman video game! I haven't actually played that yet because I know enough about what happens and the illusion of meaningful choice indicative of Telltale games that I just don't feel like putting myself through that. People seem to like it a lot, though! I just... don't put me in a position of choosing to save either Harvey or Selina if you're just going to cheat and have him go evil anyway.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Hair Trigger

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam, Superfam, YJ98

Summary: A junior at Gotham University, Jason finds it difficult to conceal his worsening mental health from his family and his friend, Jon Lane Kent. Family secrets are revealed and boundaries are pushed as Jason and Laney struggle to navigate through school, their romantic feelings, and their trauma. Could the reintroduction of Laney Kent be more trouble than it's worth, or is it just what Jason needed to confront the demons of his past?

I will also do trigger warnings for chapters and if there is smut I have the chapter(s) tagged so you don't have to worry about nsfw in the fic if you're just here for the story itself.

Chapters: 16/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Jonathan Lane Kent, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake, Conner Kent, Natalia Knight, Jonathan Samuel Kent, Cassie Sandsmark, Chris Kent, Bart Allen, Original Character(s)

Relationships: JayLaney, Clois, TimKon

Additional Tags: University AU, No Powers AU, Sharing A Bed, Romance, Angst

Chapter Sixteen: Familiar Ties

After Jason and Laney got back to Laney's apartment, they went straight back to Laney's room to talk in private. Jason played with Laney's hands, looking over each individual finger on his hand. "Laney, you can ask me anything... I sort of owe you after tonight," Jason whispered. He pressed a kiss to Laney's knuckles.

"Why was I the first?" Laney asked.

"Because I've never had to impress you... You're not the type of guy that likes to be impressed. So if I looked stupid or if I did something embarrassing, there was no pressure," Jason replied. Laney chuckled.

"I wasn't the smoothest last night... You held it together pretty well, though. I was a mess my first—." Laney closed his eyes.

"Lane, are you okay?" Jason asked. Laney nodded. "Hm?"

"It's not—. Jason, thanks for asking how I felt," Laney whispered. Jason kissed his palm and wrist. "I'm not tired."

"What do you want to do?" Jason asked. Laney shrugged, and he playfully flicked Jason's nose with his pointer finger. Jason laughed and pinned Laney down. "Stop," Jason chuckled. Laney smiled and nipped at him playfully. "Laney," Jason warned, struggling to hold back a laugh.

"I'll be good. I promise," Laney whispered, "Gimme a kiss." Laney giggled.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Jason laughed, still pinning Laney down.

"Scared?" Laney asked playfully. Jason nodded.

"If I let you go, are you gonna let me go to bed?" Jason asked. Laney nodded. "Laney."

"Jason... You know me," Laney replied softly, "It's getting late." Jason let go slowly, and Laney pinned him before starting to tickle him. "You never learn."

Jason laughed until tears fell from his eyes and Laney let go. He waited for Jason to catch his breath before pressing a kiss to his forehead. Jason's chest heaved up and down. "You're the worst," he panted.

"I had to get you this once," Laney whispered.

Jason waited for Laney to lay down next to him before cupping Laney's cheek and whispering, "Laney—."

"I'm sorry about tonight," Laney interrupted.

Jason furrowed his brows. "People don't tend to see me as fragile, so I appreciated how gentle you were," Jason whispered.

"So, you didn't have any complaints about how things went?" Laney asked. Jason shook his head.

"I wouldn't change a thing... Laney, are you tired yet?" Jason murmured. Laney nodded and curled up close by Jason. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just want to look at you for a little while," Laney whispered. Jason smiled and closed his eyes. "We still have to go to our brothers' gig tomorrow night."

"I know..." Jason smiled. Laney kissed Jason's nose. "Lane—."

"Shh, go to bed," Laney mumbled as he moved Jason's bangs out of the way. Jason's breathing slowed as he drifted off to sleep, leaving Laney alone with his thoughts. He sat up and looked at his phone for a little while.

As the night went on, Jason's face and hand twitched as he slept. He tossed and turned, only relaxing once Laney placed a steady hand on his back. "Shh, it's okay," Laney whispered. Jason made a soft whining noise in his sleep. "It's okay."

Jason woke up, taking in a sharp breath of air, and Laney shushed him. Jason held onto Laney's lap. "I've got you," Laney reassured as he set his phone aside and smoothed down Jason's hair. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I was a little kid again, and I couldn't see because I had blood in my eyes... And I could hear someone yelling at me," Jason's voice faded as he drifted back off to sleep. Laney yawned and put his mask on, still sitting up to make sure he didn't wake Jason.

Jason awakened early that morning, and he woke Laney gently. "Were you sitting up all night?" Jason asked. Laney nodded. "Lane—."

"You were sleeping," Laney interrupted as he stretched his limbs and rolled out of bed. His phone vibrated. "It's my dad... Hold on. Good morning, Dad," Laney answered, sitting back on his bed.

"Laney, are you still going to see Conner play tonight?" Clark asked. Laney made an affirmative noise.

"Don't tell him, but I got him something," Laney whispered, "I can't wait to give it to him tonight." Jason kissed Laney's forehead.

"Can you call him just to check in today?" Clark asked.

"Uh-huh, I can. Why, does Kon seem—?" Laney reached for Jason's hand. "Does he seem nervous or something? I was thinking of giving him his space until later, but Jay and I can drop by and bring everybody breakfast..."

Clark made an affirmative noise. "Jason's with you?" Clark asked.

"Uh-huh. We were just about to go out and get breakfast anyway," Laney answered, "And Dad? Conner and I are okay."

"I know. Have a wonderful day, Lane," Clark replied.

"Love you, Dad," Laney smiled.

"I love you too, Laney. Let me know how tonight went," Clark replied before hanging up.

Laney took Jason's other hand. "Move in with me," Laney requested.

"A little drastic, don't you think?" Jason chuckled.

"Fine, I'll settle for you dancing with me again tonight," Laney replied.

Jason smiled, "Is that a euphemism?" Laney chuckled.

"It wasn't a euphemism, but if you want to be..." Laney kissed Jason's hands.

"I think I'm gonna need some practice," Jason whispered. Laney stood up and threw his arms around Jason's neck. Jason placed a firm hand on Laney's lower back and pulled him in close. Laney hid his face in Jason's shoulder and giggled, prompting Jason to laugh. "What?"

"Jay," Laney replied as Jason took him in circles. "Jay? You don't mind if we take our brothers and their band out for breakfast this morning?"

"I don't mind... You might wanna go get dressed, though," Jason whispered before letting go of Laney. "I want french toast."

"We'll go somewhere where you can get french toast. Give me like fifteen minutes tops to get ready," Laney replied as he picked out something to wear and set it out on the bed before going to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Jason sat on Laney's bed and smiled to himself.

His phone rang, and he sighed before picking up the phone. "Good morning, Dick," Jason answered.

"Dad's looking for you. He stopped by your apartment this morning to talk to you," Dick replied.

"I'm at Lane's, and we're about to go to breakfast... Is he mad at me or something?" Jason asked. Dick sat in silence on the phone.

"Did you spend the night over there?" Dick asked.

"I asked if Dad was mad at me for something," Jason replied. Dick made a screeching noise over the phone. "Jesus, Dick! My question?"

"No, he had something for you. I'm just shocked," Dick replied, "But you didn't deny it—."

"I'm not going to address it... I'll call him later on," Jason whispered, "But probably not today because I'm going with Laney to see Tim and Conner's band play."

"You know Tim doesn't even think you're coming tonight, right?" Dick asked.

"I'll let him know during lunch that I'm coming. I'm kind of excited for it," Jason replied. Laney came back and fell on Jason, knocking him down. "Lane! Jesus Christ," Jason laughed. "Let's go get breakfast," Laney laughed as he rolled off of Jason.

"Sorry Dick, we gotta go. Bye," Jason chuckled as he hung up, and Laney showered him in kisses. "Lane... I thought you said we had to—." Laney groaned.

"Ughh! Fine," Laney replied as he sat up and grabbed his keys. As they were leaving, they ran into Sylvia, who was just getting in. "Hey Sylvie, wanna come with us to get breakfast?"

"I already ate, but I'll see you later," Sylvia smiled, "See you later, Jason."

After they greeted Sylvia, Jason followed Laney out to the car, and Laney nudged Jason. "Call your brother and tell him we're taking them out to eat, so they can get ready," Laney advised.

Jason called Tim and waited for a few rings before Tim answered. "Look, this is really not the best time—."

"Lane and I are gonna take you guys out for breakfast," Jason interrupted.

"We'll be ready when you guys get here," Tim replied.

"Okay, see you soon," Jason answered. Tim hung up. "Hey, Lane?"

"Yeah?" Laney asked.

"You know I didn't just say I loved you because of last night, right? I really do love you, Laney," Jason clarified. Laney didn't answer. "I just wanted you to know that just in case you thought that I only said it because of how you made me feel. My head was swimming, and I didn't think about the timing—."

"Jason, you told me you loved me twice last night—."

"And I'm telling you again right now. I love you," Jason interrupted sternly, "I know it hasn't been very long that we've been dating, but I know how I feel about you. It feels like we've been with you forever."

Laney smiled. "Jason, I could kiss you... I won't because I'm driving, but I definitely thought about kissing you," Laney responded softly, "And I love you too."

"Why'd you want to go into Music Therapy?" Jason asked.

"Marketing was boring, and I wanted to work with children... Actually, I kind of owe that to Conner. When he was home for this past New Year's, and we were messing around and playing music, he made this joke about music being our way of having a conversation," Laney replied.

Laney pulled into the parking lot for Conner's building, and Jason followed Laney up. Before they could knock on the door, the boys piled out and nearly ran into Jason and Laney. "Oh, fuck... Hi," Tim laughed. Conner whispered something to Tim, and he nodded.

"Jason, ride with us," Tim requested. Jason nodded. "Cassie! Cissie! We're leaving!" Both girls made their way out of the apartment, still trying to put their shoes on.

Conner got in Laney's car and sat in the front seat. "Lane, what if I—?"

"Conner, do you wanna know the saddest thing in the world?" Laney interrupted. Conner cocked his head. "You are incredible and creative and funny and such a considerate brother, and there will never be another you. It is the saddest reality that I've ever had to live with-. Wait, no, please don't cry."

Conner embraced Laney, and Laney softened and rubbed Conner's back. "I'm sorry," Conner mumbled.

"Don't be sorry, you're good. You're okay... Okay, but I'm gonna need you to let me go before this gets weird," Laney joked. Conner chuckled uncomfortably and wiped his tears away. "Don't put so much pressure on yourself."

Conner received a text and looked over at Laney. "Breakfast?" Conner asked.

Meanwhile, in the other car, Jason sat in the backseat between Tim and Bart. "Do you like college?" Bart asked Jason.

"Sometimes I do... I mean, it really depends on why you're there, though... Why?" Jason asked.

"I don't know, I was kind of thinking about taking some classes in the spring," Bart replied, "Is it too late for me to—?"

Jason shook his head. "No, it's not too late. Actually, I think next month is around the time you have to register for classes," Jason interrupted. Cissie hit the brakes abruptly and laid on her horn.

"Who the hell does that guy think he is?" Cissie exclaimed.

"That's Laney," Cassie whispered.

"Fuck," Cissie laughed, "Well, who wants to drive on the way back?"

"I'll drive us back," Tim answered as Cissie pulled into the parking lot. They all piled out of the car and sat at the little tables outside the restaurant. Laney and Jason offered to order for everyone before standing in line.

"How's your brother?" Jason asked.

"He was actually stressed out about something for once. I just had to remind him of who his biggest fan is," Laney smiled.

"Hey, Lane, would it be cool if I slipped away after breakfast to have lunch with my dad so that his head doesn't explode?" Jason asked.

Laney chuckled. "I'll give you a ride up there after breakfast. Is everything okay?" Laney asked. Jason nodded.

"Dick said Dad had something for me... I just haven't been inside the house since everything happened," Jason confessed.

"But it's not like someone else won't be home... Right? Like Damian or Alfred or Cass?" Laney asked. Jason shrugged.

"Lane... Can I stay over a few more nights?" Jason asked.

"Okay, if you can tolerate me for that long," Laney smiled.

Jason ordered everyone's food and paid before sitting at a table, and Laney sat down across from him. "You didn't have to pay for everyone—."

"It's okay. I used my dad's card," Jason replied.

"Smart," Laney whispered. Jason looked at Laney and cocked his head. "What?"

"What color is the other one?" Jason asked. Laney furrowed his brows.

"Are you talking about my eyes? One is just a weird blue, like a blue-ish gray," Laney answered, "Why?"

"I just never asked you that before," Jason replied.

[virtualtrashcollector]

🌼 Meeting the Joker

Joker x Female (Dark Knight Joker) 18+ only

Summary: This story takes place prior to 'Joker Comes for a Sleepover' and uses my same original character. Your name is Daisy and you are a young kinky British woman working as a gang member/ mechanic in Gotham City. Having previously worked for Chechen you now find yourself working for the Joker. As you work late one night in the garage your new boss decides to pay you a visit.

Warnings: 18+ VERY EXPLICIT. Reader discretion is STRONGLY advised. No minors please.

Word count: 4,988

Note #1: Each chapter is posted separately as they are quite long. 4 chapters total. Enjoy!!

Note #2: It is worth mentioning that my OC has a few body modifications (some are mentioned in the story and some are not.) They include a pierced septum, split tongue, and pierced naughty bits.

Chapter 1:

The garage was quiet except for a dusty radio playing a classic oldies station. Richie and Michael the other two grease monkeys had gone home over an hour ago, leaving you by yourself. You were lying on a metal creeper underneath of a large truck trying to figure out what the problem was. The clock on the wall read 11:15. Working on this stubborn bastard for an hour and a half now, there was no indication anything was wrong, yet it just would not start. Your mind began to drift to your new boss. Now that Chechen was finally out of the picture, you were excited to hear that you would be working for the Joker. You were very much looking forward to showing him all that you could do.

"Son of a bitch." You muttered as your hand slipped on the wrench causing you to nearly drop it on your face. Finally spotting what might possibly be the issue you heard someone nearby loudly clear their throat. A pair of dirty brown shoes slowly approached the side of the truck. You could also see matching multicolored socks, and the bottoms of purple pinstriped dress pants. Rolling back out you were met with the sight of your new boss standing above you. His head was cocked to the side curiously as he looked down.

"You...... must be Daisy." He said licking his lower lip as he abruptly thrust his hand out towards you. Taking it, he pulled you up off the creeper and onto your feet.

"At your service sir." You replied. Immediately you could tell that he was pleased with your response, and for the briefest of moments you saw a mischievous smile flash across his face.

Noticing your hands and forearms were smeared with oil, you secretly wished you had looked a little nicer. Your long dark green hair was tied up in a ponytail, and you were wearing black shop coveralls with light colored work boots. He looked you up and down seeming to admire your dirty work attire.

"I've heard a lot about you. Mechanic, marksman, hand to hand combat, and a pilot." He paused to lick his lips.

"You're quite impressive." He said while looking over the assortment of dirty tools sitting on top of the nearby rolling cart. Picking up a small sharp screw he inspected it closely then set it back down. Very curious as to where he was going with this, you grabbed a fresh rag and started to wipe off your dirty hands and arms. J watched as you cleaned yourself up, his tongue lingering in the corner of his mouth. A few more moments of silence passed before he spoke again.

"I also heard you're good at another particular task." As he said this, he stepped forward and leaned in a little closer.

"I heard ya like to suck dick." He said softly.

"Well......." He licked his bottom lip, looked down at his groin then back up at you. Actively fighting the urge to break out into a giant grin and tackle him, you restrained yourself. Moving closer you inquired,

"Are you asking me to suck on your cock?" He nodded his head quickly and emphatically. You slowly walked up to him while letting your eyes drift down his torso to his waist. Spotting the shiny metal chain that hung from his pants pocket, you gingerly grabbed ahold of it and pulled him towards you. He grinned slightly, his eyes burning with intensity and lust.

"Not here. Follow me." You said in little more than a whisper. Turning around, you both headed for the steel staircase in the back of the shop.

At the top of the stairs was a single solitary door. J stood beside you as you produced a large metal key from inside your pocket. He looked confused. Tilting his head to the side he asked,

"I thought the key to this storage room was lost?"

"It is." You replied coyly.

"And that is what I expect you to tell anyone who might ask." He grinned knowingly then clicked his tongue.

"You got it doll." Inserting the key you pushed open the metal door to reveal your secret sanctuary. It was a small room but the ceiling was tall, making it feel larger than it actually was. The walls were steel and the floors were concrete in typical warehouse fashion. In the room was a couch and a loveseat, an end table, and a desk with a chair. A green lava lamp sat atop the end table and you had hung tiny string lights all around the room. The only sound was a gentle hum coming from an air vent in the wall. You turned to look at J.

"Cozy." He said walking further in.

"Have a seat. I'm just going to freshen up." You told him. He sat down on the couch and leaned back, spreading his legs somewhat as he did so.

"Hurry back." He said eyes locked with yours.

In reality, you very much needed to wee. Heading for the washroom you were rounding a corner when you literally bumped into Rusty.

"Shit sorry Daisy. Have you seen the boss? I've been looking everywhere." He asked sounding frustrated.

"Sorry I haven't. I'm sure he's around here somewhere." You reassured him with a gentle pat on the back. You very much liked Rusty and hated lying to him, but there was no way you were missing out on the chance to have some private time with J. Continuing on to the bathroom you quickly did your business, washed your hands, and checked your reflection in the small cracked mirror. You then used a damp paper towel to rid yourself of a few oil smudges on your face. Unzipping your coveralls to just below your breasts, the white undershirt was a stark contrast against the dark dirty fabric on top. The black bra you were wearing was very thin so your nipple rings were visible through the material. Now happy with your appearance you started back for the storage room. Opening the door, J was just as you'd left him. He immediately noticed your altered attire, letting his eyes freely roam your chest. You approached and stood quietly before him. He was now exactly eye level with your breasts. You could clearly see the outline of his manhood underneath his trousers. Placing your hands gently on his broad shoulders, you sat down in his lap. He smelled like cigarettes and musky cologne.

"You can touch me if you like." You whispered in his ear while moving your hands to rest on his chest. He responded by grabbing your upper thigh and sliding his hand up to rest on your ass. His other hand did the same. After a moment or two he started upwards, moving his hands slowly up your hips, then to your waist, and then finally to your tits.

"Fuck....." J exhaled as he tenderly grabbed and squeezed your still covered breasts. You could now feel his throbbing erection pressing hard against you. Gripping your nipples through the thin fabric, his fingers pinched and pulled lightly.

"Mmmm yes." You moaned feeling a warm wetness forming between your thighs. He watched you closely, clearly enjoying your reaction.

"Heard you were pierced. Can I see 'em?" He asked in a deep tone, a somewhat hopeful expression on his face. You grinned placing your hands on top of his and removing them from your chest.

"Yes sir." You answered.

[fordarkisthesuede]

Fangs of Ourorboros - Chapter 1 - Ghosts of the Past

Good evening from the east coast! 🌇 I've brought you a proper chapter for you to chew on! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Last time:

Batman was playing a strange murder-mystery game with Joker when an explosion interrupted his investigation...

<start> | [Read on Ao3] | <next>

Rocky Hopper:  employed part-time in Xotic Construction, living in a two-bedroom apartment in midtown with a wife and two children. His criminal record showed he was a three-time parolee by the age of thirty-six for armed robbery, assault, DUI, and theft. No known association to any Gotham-based gang. An unremarkable small-time criminal Batman previously noted for rubbing shoulders with Oswald Cobblepot during his time in Gotham two years ago, before The Penguin was taken into custody.

To anyone else, such a fact was a mere blip on the radar. But to Bruce - to Batman - it was a flashing yellow mark on the edge of his mind. 

Richard Hartright. Vicki Vale. Penguin. One string leading to another on a cork board collage with a muddled picture of why. 

The GCPD touted BlackGate Penitentiary as a fortress; a prime example of modern security in spite of the building’s age. 

Heh. Not for Batman. The nighttime security were like any other lookout team, conversing on their radios or over their shoulders while paying mild attention to their surroundings.

It was practically a cake walk. Bruce grappled up to the roof and rolled over the railing with barely a swish of his cape. The guard by the rooftop door jabbered about the Knights’ chances in the league this year over the two-way as Bruce crept behind him and squirted all-purpose oil between the crack in the door where the hinges should be.

The door opened silently, and Bruce slipped in, breathing in the familiar smell of dusty hallways as he walked on the edges of his feet down the concrete steps.

Oswald would be in the C Block. It took no time to get down to the third floor. Even less time to find the section, painted in chunky white letters on the floor and wall as if the heavy metal door to the place was easy to miss.

The security lock was a simple hand scanner, meant to use the layout and size of the hand instead of a key or passcode. Bruce pulled out the luminous spray normally reserved for crime scenes and sprayed the scan bed. The Batsuit’s gauntlets scanned the imprint, and with a few taps on the key generator Tiffany had perfected last year, all he had to do was place his hand over the sensor and wait while for the lights to turn green.

The bolt lock slid open with a sudden thunk, and Bruce slipped into Cell Block C.

Three stories of prison cells stretched open before him, smelling like a public bathroom in the Narrows. He could see each barred door had two beds embedded into the walls, with only just enough room for two people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, bringing to mind a twisted shoebox diorama.

One long catwalk weaved throughout the place, spotted with rust and bits of peeling paint. The rush of air as he whizzed past rows of metal bars was only slightly satisfactory when he was still wincing at the slight sound of the metal clang of the grapple teeth hitting the railing.

The cell door was easy to unlock - all the doors were connected to an online grid for routine automatic unlocking, but had a manual override to use a physical key. A simple signal jammer was all that was needed to fool the cell into thinking it lost connection to the controller and let Bruce pick the lock.

Despite the cowl, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. He was being watched, but he wasn’t sure by who. At the very least, he knew an alarm hadn’t been tripped; his radio tuner wasn’t picking up any calls to action inside the prison…

The lock opened with too loud of a cha-clink. Oswald stirred.

The upper bunk was empty, despite the rumpled sheets. At least Bruce wouldn’t have to worry about potentially fighting off two prisoners at once.

Bruce chose to stay away from the cot to speak; there was no need to overstep and put either of them in harm’s way yet. He kicked the cot’s mattress instead to get attention.

Oswald jerked upward with a garbled sort of shout, flinching to press his back against the wall.

The direct approach was best. “Why did you want to destroy Richard Hartright’s files?”

Oswald glared at him, shoulders sagging as he relaxed into a sitting position. “Should’ve known you’d sneak your sorry-winged ass in here to give me the business one of these days. Or did the Commissioner give you your own Bat-pass?”

“I know Rocky Hopper worked for you,” Bruce said flatly, “The bomb he was setting in Hartright’s filing cabinet went off early. He’s dead.”

Oswald’s eyebrow rose a fraction, eyes widening in a sort of surprise that he was trying and failing to suppress. “Plenty of people worked for me,” he said with practiced casualty, casting a look at the cell door and waving away the issue. “I don’t care what they do with their spare time nowadays.”

Bruce had enough. He grabbed Oswald by the collar and hoisted him up to be more on his level. “I don’t play games,” he growled out, “You worked for Vicki Vale - you knew Richard was one of her sources during her time at the Gazette. One of your affiliates blew up his office with enough C4 to kill him. Why were you after him?”

“I thought you were supposed to be the detective,” Oswald scowled.

Bruce punched him hard in the jaw, holding him up so he didn’t fall back into the wall. “What did he have that you didn’t want getting out?”

“You can’t hurt me in a way that matters,” Oswald scowled in disgust, “You think I don’t see this every day in this hellhole?”

Bruce narrowed his eyes. A clanging noise came from outside the cell.

“SHUT UP or I’m going to come over there and chew your FACE off, Penguin!” came a gravelly hiss of a voice from a nearby cell. “SOME of us are trying to SLEEP!”

“Your neighbor sounds mad,” Bruce taunted, “Tell me what I want to know and maybe I won’t wake up the whole block.”

Bruce tossed him to the floor, only too late feeling his cape pull along with the motion. His shoulder smacked into the wall as Oswald skittered out the open door.

He chased after him, boots clanging on the metal of the catwalk, priming a bat-bola to throw. Oswald barely reached the staircase when the weighted rope whipped through the air and wrapped itself around the man’s calves in the nick of time.

Oswald hit the floor with a loud, reverberating thunk. Bruce was able to grab an arm and pin it around his back as he leaned over him, out of arm’s reach.

“You bastard, you’re no different from the pigs that run this place!” Oswald spat, voice echoing around the cell block.

“Why did Richard pose a threat to you?” Batman asked again, feeling more eyes on him. He could see several prisoners had risen in their beds. One was already pressed against the bars of the cell for a better look. He pulled on the arm he was holding, just enough to hurt.

“Because he’s just like your lot,” Oswald grunted, “Sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong. Vicki’s worth ten of him.”

Bruce’s brain buzzed, trying to parse through what information he had. The private detective’s only link to Oswald was through Vicki Vale; he had nothing to do with Penguin’s crew, before or after his arrest, that Bruce knew of. The mention of Penguin’s old leader in the present tense was jarring. “Vicki Vale’s been dead for two years.”

Penguin gave a light wheeze of a chuckle. “Killed her yourself, did you?” he taunted, “Buried her in a shallow grave with the last rites? They never did find a body in all that rubble, did they?”

Bruce had seen the rocks fall as he guided Alfred out of the underground catacomb. He’d doubled back later, on the off chance he could find her, and found the chamber practically blocked off by the collapse. There were no other tunnels, no secret rooms, no pockets she could have climbed out of. He’d checked.

But it bothered him all the same.

He could hear the inmates start to blabber and howl as he dragged Oswald ‘The Penguin’ Cobblepot back to his cell by his feet. 

Body slam him next! Body slaaam!

Not so tough now, are ya Peng’? Ha ha, oh man!

Fuck you! Fuck you, you hear me, Bat? Fuck you!

Let me out - I’ll drag your ass around the block, Bat! 

Come on, Penguin, get up and grab him-!

You think you’re so tough, you’re nothing without that fuckin’ armor!

He ignored it all, leaving Oz to nurse his wounds on the floor of his cell, winding the bola back up after he slammed the door behind him.

Deep down, he knew getting information out of Oz was a longshot to begin with. Any more questions would be met with more stubborn non-answers. He would have to check Oz’ mail, visitors, cell-mates, anything he could have used to send out the message to his cronies.

He leapt up and over the railing to glide back down to the first floor, feeling the eyes of awakened prisoners all around.

“Hey, Batman” a smooth, familiar voice called from his right. “You got a taste for beating up bird-dudes or what? I’d think you know he doesn’t like to talk about work.”

Bruce barely gave Roman Sionis and his cocky little smirk a second glance.

“I could tell you what he was up to,” Roman added.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Bruce ignored the cacophony of noise as he left the way he came in, the sound of the hinge on the metal door far more noticeable now that he was in a hurry to leave. “I doubt it,” Bruce muttered.

🜁

The bare facts stared out at him through black and white scans and data retrievals on the Batcomputer’s oversized screens.

Rocky Hopper communicated strictly through text messages. Simple instructions of picking up the bomb and a key from a contact he’d meet on the street, dropping it off in Detective Hartright’s office, and flicking the switch to let the countdown start. Said contact was never named, explained as being able to recognize Rocky on sight.

Oswald Cobblepot’s outgoing mail took a long time to be scanned and approved, up until a few months ago. Most likely he or someone who worked for him was paying off one of the officers in charge of the mail room. At first, the letters used an easy code of the first letter in each sentence spelling out a short command. Silence person, pick up this, sell that, mostly to one Cameron Van Cleer. As far as Bruce could tell, Cameron was one of Oz’ one-time cronies that - judging by the social media profile Bruce had gathered - had sympathies to the Children of Arkham. Oz must have entrusted them with a financial account, judging by shorthand instructions to buy and sell actual stock as well. No mention of Detective Hartright.

All of this would be easily digested, if it weren’t for the last line in the last letter to Cameron:  Our fair lady will be reaching out to you.

The incoming mail told a similar story of back-and-forth mob work disguised as friendly exchanges. And then there were the others. Arriving every week or two, short and to the point, like telegrams more than anything.

I know you must be surprised to hear from me. I know I’ve been away a long time, but I’ve kept a close eye on things. I can see things haven’t changed since I left… Wayne Enterprises is still standing, to my surprise. But I can see our friends aren’t all gone. Can I still count you as a friend, even though it’s been so long? -Your fair lady

Then, two weeks later:  

I’m glad we’re still friends after all this time. I have so many things I’d like to share with you! Do you remember Julian Day ? He had a whole article in the Gazette on page 4!  -Your fair lady

Bruce checked the date against the Gazette’s webpage. Julian Day was noted for causing a car crash that ended in his death and the destruction of a popular corner restaurant. The coroner’s report Bruce pulled up noted no street drugs in his system. One patron said they thought they saw someone else exit from the backseat of the vehicle, but no other person was found on CCTV.

And then the last letter, dated a week ago:

We need to catch up in person. I’ve got a little place downtown above the Iceberg Lounge. (I heard Roman Sionis tried to buy it once!) I’d love for you to visit… Drop me a line when you can. -Your fair lady

Bruce felt the impossible gnaw at him. But the strings he had were so easily put together. Oswald had been corresponding with Lady Arkham, despite the fact that Vicki Vale was buried under the rubble of Arkham’s underground catacombs.

She was dead. 

Had to be. 

He’d checked. 

They never did find a body in all that rubble, did they?

Bruce tried to breathe steadily into his hands. His elbows were sore from the near-constant perch on the metal console as he read and re-read. He sank further to rest his forehead on his arms, breathing in the cave air as he tried to focus. 

He saw that pile of rubble in his mind’s eye. Broken stone bricks were piled high in a seemingly endless mountain in the cool, musty darkness below Arkham. He moved through it, stepping on only the largest, sturdiest pieces to prevent an avalanche. Bruce climbed over a fallen column. The snakes winding around the stone seemed to shift in the light.

Even in the basement, he could feel the pull of the asylum on his psyche. The toxic energy that seeped into walls from years of madness and undoubtable abuse stirred down there like dust, swirling at his feet and seeming to stick to the edges of his cape. He tried to ignore it as he walked over the broken stone to the spot he saw Vicki last.

The opening she had tried to get to was completely sealed now. There was nothing but dead ends among long-dead bodies everywhere else underground.

He could see the top of the air-pulse weapon Lady Arkham had wielded sticking out between two stones. He reached down and pulled, straining against the rock until they started to tumble away; the weapon pulled free as if it were Excalibur, almost making him fall back.

His drone was too large to send into the fresh gap. He stooped down to shine his light into the crevice, dust swirling up to meet him and cover him in Arkham before could glimpse the gloved hand reaching up to snatch his cape, jerking his shoulder, trying to pull him down deeper into-

Bruce snapped awake, jolting in his seat. When had he fallen asleep…?

“Morning, honey-buns,” John greeted from behind, placing a cup of coffee next to Bruce’s elbow, “Rough night?”

Bruce watched a freshly dressed John lean his hip against the massive desk, taking a sip from his silly ‘clown juice’ mug with an expectant stare. He felt his mood sink upon realizing he hadn’t seen him since last night. He’d seemed surprised at the explosion interrupting the odd murder-game he’d made, but… He looked awfully casual right now, if not a little mad.

“I mean, I assume,” John added, squinting accusingly at Bruce, “you forgot to text me what happened.”

Ah. That explained the mood. “It was pretty long,” Bruce answered, his mouth tasting like old beef jerky. “I didn’t even know I fell asleep.”

“I could tell,” John teased with a snide little smirk, moving to sit on the flat surface so he could swing his feet in the air. “I haven’t seen you fall asleep in the suit before.”

The square cut of emerald and tiny amethysts on either side winked at Bruce from John’s ring finger, bringing Bruce back into the reality of the present. He pushed the thoughts of John’s involvement away, choosing to trust his fiancé and figuring that his mood was entirely due to Bruce keeping him in the dark. He finally gave into the urge to let his gloved fingers rest softly on the plum-purple corduroy covering John’s thigh. “That’s because someone keeps goading me out of it.”

John giggled, looking pleased. “If you weren’t so shy about mixing the other halves of our lives together, I wouldn’t have to.”

Bruce could feel the little smile in the corner of his mouth quirking up as John’s hand covered his. He relented in finally taking in some of the steaming caffeine John had brought him. The smooth bitter heat steeped into his chest, bringing him partially back to life.

“Soooo…Penguin, huh?” John craned his neck up to the monitor behind him, taking Bruce a little off guard. “Was he playing ‘Emperor’ in prison, or is it just another concrete jungle?”

Truthfully, Bruce wasn’t sure what to make of Oz’ predicament. “Hard to say,” he said, “He got out of the cell for a few minutes, but some of the prisoners had no problem with me fighting him. His neighbor certainly didn’t care about who he was talking to.”

“Could just be all that testosterone and sleep deprivation crammed in those two-by-fours,” John commented knowingly, legs moving steadily in the air, “Any fight gets ‘em all riled up! As you well know,” he said with a sly little grin.

Bruce remembered Zaaz’s fight with the orderly back in Arkham all too well. The orderly survived, but Bruce had felt the guilt of leaving him to fend for himself while he made the all-important call compound and sit in him for a long time. 

“Could be.”

“Those little letters sure are interesting, aren’t they? I’m guessing you didn’t find the replies.”

Bruce leaned back in the chair, looking at the whole picture again. “No. He must have had an in-between deliver them. I know he must have had someone in the mailroom on his payroll.” He stared at the offending final letter, pulled up square among the rest. “That last one bothers me.”

“Right? It’s hard to picture The Penguin meeting up with a zombie in a club! Ha ha ha haa! Ah, doesn’t that sound like a bad horror flick?”

Such a silly thing to say should have quelled the thought still pecking at the back of his skull. It only left a bad taste in his mouth. Coffee wasn’t washing it away.

The smile slipped from John’s face. “...she is dead, isn’t she? I remember that pile of rubble looked pretty big on T.V…”

For a moment, Bruce thought about shrugging it off with silence. Or just saying that Oz mentioning her couldn’t be a coincidence. But John had asked the question that kept casting shadows over everything else. And if there was anyone else who could look at those, it was John. “I never found her body,” he answered, staring hard at the digitized letter, “No one did.”

“Sooo…there’s a slim chance she’s back in Gotham, then,” John said with a squint, pinching his index finger and thumb together in front of Bruce’s face, the emerald on his ring glinting, “I mean, IF we put aside the fact she was likely heavily injured and would have to hitch a ride back to the city, where everyone definitely recognizes her, AFTER getting out of the secret underground chamber and swimming back to Gotham from the island.”

It was the kind of thing he’d hear from him across the visiting table at Arkham. He wanted to believe him. “It’s still a chance,” he said, unable to shake the feeling he was missing something important, “If it’s not her, then someone’s going out of their way to convince us it is.”

“There is another possibility.” John paused to take a loud slurp from his mug. “He’s trying to throw you off your rhythm.”

“To what end?”

“Who says there has to be an end?” John shrugged, a smile on the corners of his cherry-red mouth, “If I was really mad at you - like, ree-ally mad - ‘you betrayed me’ mad - I’d do it just to mess with you.”

Even now that they were engaged, he found himself not doubting that at all. John sometimes enjoyed needling him for little to no reason other than getting a reaction. Maybe, if John were different… If their lives had gone differently, then…

He swallowed the dark thought down with coffee and a non-committal hum as the cell phone left on the console buzzed. Once, twice, and on the third Bruce finally deigned to answer.

“Morning, Iman.”

“Bruce,” came Iman’s no-nonsense voice, “you need to get down to the office.”

“I wasn’t exactly planning on playing hooky,” Bruce said dryly.

“A few of my old colleagues are here,” Iman replied, her tone sharp and stable, “talking to our security team. They’re going to have a conference call with a few of our other branches. And I have a feeling they’ll want to talk to you personally.”

“Great. That’s all I need.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt he needed to know:  “What are you doing there so early, anyway?”

A slight pause. “I wanted to catch the Quick ‘Fast truck again,” she answered sheepishly, “I figured I would just come in and get some work done afterward.”

Ah. The early bird catches the pancake-burger, Bruce thought to himself. “Right. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

“Be careful,” she added, “they’ll likely put a tail on you after they talk with you here, but they might have one already watching the house.” A beat passed as he considered the small frame of time he might have unobserved. “I’ve gotta run. Any longer in here and they’ll suspect I’m talking to you.”

John set his mug down by the fabric flowers he’d made Bruce while he was still in Arkham. “Bad news? Let me guess – our latest wedding planner’s gone rogue.”

“No. Worse than that.”

“Good; Kimberly might not have much going for her, but after the last two…”

“John.”

John mimed zipping his mouth shut.

“The Agency is back in town. Some of them are waiting for me at the office.”

“The Agency?” Tiffany piped up from behind, “What do they want?”

“I don’t know yet,” Bruce said over his shoulder, “but considering they aren’t coming to the house, and are conversing with Wayne Enterprises’ entire security team, I’d say they’re waiting for someone to come in or out of one of our buildings.”

John was worrying the corner of his bottom lip as he looked at the steel floor, eyes darting over the squares like they held all the paths such a situation could go.

“John,” he said as gently as possible, putting a hand on his shoulder, “you don’t have to go to work if you don’t want to. I can talk to your social worker-”

“No!” he said suddenly, snatching hold of Bruce’s arm. He seemed to realize how frantic he seemed, because he quickly covered it by giving the armor plating a couple of pats and trying for a smile. “No. I’ll go. I shouldn’t…”  The smile wavered. “I don’t want to be alone here,” he muttered honestly.

“We’re going to have to get you to work early, then. It’s that or dropping you off at St. Dymphna’s…”

Tiffany was already taking over the console, pulling up the 3D-generated image of the bomb. “Have you looked through this?”

“Not quite.”

Tiffany pulled away the layers of it, eyes traveling over the interior. The drone cameras had taken the pictures of the pieces, and Bruce and the BatComputer worked together to piece it back like a three-dimensional puzzle. He didn’t pay as much attention to its construction as he should have; he had been combing over Oz’ mail not long before and thinking about any other possible explanation than the one that kept popping up.

“So, you missed the partial left behind?” Sure enough, a partial print of what might have been from the middle or index finger was barely visible on one of the inner slices of metal, somehow not entirely burned off. If Bruce hadn’t been present for the explosion, he wouldn’t wonder if it was somehow planted for him. 

Tiffany was already running a cross-check on the criminal database with one of her shortcut commands. “That’s not like you.” She squinted at him with a tilt of her head. “Are you okay?”

“I think the lure of the criminal chase was clearly too much last night; he fell asleep down here,” John excused for him.

Tiffany pulled a face. “I hope that’s not a euphemism for something.”

“He means I was distracted by case details,” Bruce butted in, “And I did fall asleep. But more importantly-”

“You need to go,” Tiffany and John said in unison. 

John pointed at Tiffany in delight. “Ooh-hoo, jinx!”

“I can easily look into this,” Tiffany pointed to the rapidly growing list of names, “and still be on time.”

“And I’ll help!” John gestured to himself importantly, “Four eyes are better than two! Um, as long as you don’t mind driving me to work on your way,” John added, casting Tiffany a friendly look. 

Tiffany pursed her lips in mock-thought. “Hmm… Alright. But only because I know I’m getting a seat of honor at your guys’ wedding. And this is a huge list.”

Bruce felt the usual itch to just take the important work with him. He knew he could only look at it at red lights, and knew he’d be thinking about it nonstop until he reached his office. But with the Agency back in town and speaking with his security team of all things, the sense of dread he’d felt last night was building higher. 

Something was going to happen.

And for once, Bruce felt that he shouldn’t try to go it alone.

“I expect to see you,” he pointed to Tiffany, “in the engineering offices by 9 A.M. sharp. I want a brief in my office at 9:30.” Tiffany seemed to stand a little straighter, and the smile on the edges of her mouth became more pronounced.

“And you,” he directed at John, who was already looking bright-eyed, “better be at All Stitched Up Alterations by 8:30. And you’re going to stay there for your whole shift, go back to St. Dymphna’s with the others, and wait until I pick you up at 5:30.”

“Sheesh, I leave early one time to follow a lead for your case, and you act like I’m some delinquent,” John poked with a toothy grin. “I’d make a joke about detention with you if Tiffy wasn’t here.”

Tiffany wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, please don’t.”

John giggled at her as he brushed off his pants like he’d gotten them dirty just by sitting. “Okay, Bruce, I promise I’ll be good,” he half-sang, “but I better be updated during the day this time.”

John looped his arms around Bruce’s neck and leaned in to kiss his cheek, but his lips didn’t make contact. 

“Don’t think any of this stops our game, Bruce,” John whispered in a low voice, the corner of his smiling mouth brushing over the fine hairs. Bruce wasn’t sure if it was the words or the soft movement that made the spike of heat in his gut. John’s lips barely brushed his skin in a soft peck. “Don’t make me sleep alone.” 

Bruce felt John’s nails dig slightly into his back with the last word, and then John pulled himself away like nothing happened. “Have a good day!” he added brightly. “Uh, you know, as much as you can.”

His heart thudded with the small rush of adrenaline at the threat still burning against his ear. It was unreasonable to try and play this…murder-game Joker had established while Bruce and Batman had enough on their plates.  

“I’ll be waiting,” John added, tilting his head to look at Bruce through his lashes with a challenging sort of smirk. The kind normally reserved for when he was moments away from being bound and on his knees.

Bruce reminded himself that this unreasonable, manipulative, handsome sneak of a man was who he was choosing to marry. He wouldn’t promise him anything; he couldn’t. But he wouldn’t deny him, either. If he was this hell-bent on playing, it was clearly important to him.

“I’ll…try.” Bruce heard the cape of his suit swish across the metal tiles as he made his way to the elevator.

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

Author Notes: Finally, we're at our proper start, having returned to the classic TellTale formula! The Whole Nine Yards sure was a nice romantic break in the series, but things can't stay that way forever. (If you hadn't read it, no worries, I'll summarize for you: Bruce and John talked about their feelings and further built their relationship, boinked a lot, Alfred left again, and Bruce spontaneously proposed to John on a romantic sunset-lit beach.) I'm sure you realize that our return to base means "choices" have an impact again - for example, if you romanced Selina throughout and only befriended John, it would be her waking Bruce but John butting his way in partway to deliver his last whispered lines with a hug…minus the threat of sending Bruce to the couch, of course. Selina would then stick around to help next chapter as well, but only so far. A villainous Joker would have had made a real crime scene for our prologue and thus made his game a lot more pressing of an issue and a way more reasonable excuse to follow up on it. (No matter who he romances, Bats can't stay away from Joker's ploys.)

Y'all know by now that I love jokes in my work as much as I love making clues. Penguin's dead goon, Rocky Hopper, is both! The name comes from the rockhopper penguin, which is famous for it's bushy "brows", weird spikey mullet-like "haircut", and red eyes. We also have a callback to Season 4, The Tolls of Justice, with Iman's excuse for showing up to work early - Quick 'Fast (like "quick breakfast"), the mysterious food truck that eludes John and home of his coveted Pancake Burger! Apparently, Iman tried it and liked it enough to chase after it. Somewhere, in the recesses of my brain, there's a short story taking place before this where Iman and John hunt down the truck together… But that's for another day.

Next time, we'll see things from a certain bird-girl's point of view. After all, her choices matter as much as the rest, and she really doesn't get enough love around here. Until then...thank you, as always, for joining me on this journey! (●´□`)♡

[sarah-nonaginta-novem]

Ego Sum Non Infirma: Chapter 1 Part 5

I turned my back on Jason, and walked away in a stiffened stride. “I love you, Jonathan. I'll see you tomorrow.” Jason said. I neither stopped nor turned around. “I love you too.” I hesitantly replied back. Jason and I parted ways for the evening.

One Week Later

“Patient session one hundred and fifty-six. Good afternoon, Jonathan. How are you doing today?” Jeremiah asked after he started the tape recorder. The obnoxiously bright blue-toned LED panel lights spread across the ceiling reflected off the white walls, which never had a single stain or speck of dust, and began to irritate my eyes due to lack of sleep. Jeremiah and I sat in his Italian leather therapy furnishings located in the usual session room I have been interviewed in for twelve years now. I could hardly believe it has been that long. I evaded Jeremiah's question. “Good afternoon, Jeremiah.” I said with no enthusiasm whatsoever. Jeremiah wrote down some notes under my mountain of paperwork of a profile. “I see. You're going to be like this again.” Jeremiah sighed. Ever since I was sent to Arkham with Jason, something about Jeremiah's supposed therapy sessions felt different. It was as if I could not muster up the energy to play psychological mind games with Jeremiah. I did not know why. I usually played around with Jeremiah's words, twisting and exploiting them. Perhaps it was my age catching up with me. At least I was not nearly as bad as Jeremiah. He looked like the life was sucked out of him. All I saw now was a haggard husk. A man who has been fighting a holy war he never stood a chance of winning from the start. Trying to cure the ailments that permeated all of Gotham was futile. Is there truly anyone who can become Gotham's Lord and Savior? Batman flies around, pretending he is Gotham's knight in dark armor, but Jason confessed to me, he is not. At times, I cannot help but wonder if there is some kind of dreadful curse choking the life out of Gotham. “Our previous session was short-lived. However, Jonathan, this time I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. Today, we'll be discussing your relationship with Jason Todd, also known as Red Hood.” Jeremiah said. I gritted my teeth. “Of course you do, Jeremiah. To be honest, I am surprised you have not brought up Jason yet.” I said. “I've been studying the two of you to get a deeper understanding of the extent of your relationship. Waiting for the right moment, you could say. Last week, I saw something interesting that one of my security guards showed me. It was Jason, let's say, showing an overwhelming amount of affection towards you in the cafeteria. Fascinating, really. Although I've heard various rumors about Selina Kyle and Batman, this is the first time I have personally seen a vigilante and one of you Rogues Gallery involved in an intimate relationship.” Jeremiah acknowledged. Damn you Jason, I told you not to expose us! As if Jeremiah read my mind, he continued, "I'm keeping it under wraps if you want to know. I ordered my security guard not to leak anything. Are you listening to me, Jonathan?” Jeremiah asked. “Yes, I'm listening.” I said as I gave Jeremiah a long, hard look. “Good. Now, to begin our discussion, my first question is how in the world you swayed Jason to be so infatuated with you? I never saw you, out of all my patients, to be the passionate type. You have never been involved in any recorded intimate relationships. During all your years as The Scarecrow, the only thing that you've shown to care about is your obsession with fear, and the only motivating factor in your life is your research.” Jeremiah said. I stayed silent and thought about my response. I will admit, I was never the type to show or share my emotions with others. Not even with those I have considered friends. I merely revealed my emotional side to Jason under rare circumstances. The fire in my belly unexpectedly lit back up. I knew exactly how to respond to Jeremiah. Instead of giving in to Jeremiah's mind games, I was going to exploit his ego. I slipped into my usual cold, calculating exterior.