#batman wins custody no problem

[nerdpoe]

When Danny decides to reincarnate, centuries after his adventures, he chooses a random Dimension of Heroes and Villains.

He's expecting adventure! Heroics! A life worth bragging about in the Afterlife!

He wakes up in a tube, staring down at surprised teen heroes as they release him and another person.

Later, he finds out that he's a clone of Batman and Superman, and the other clone is of Superman and Lex Luthor.

He came into this world expecting adventures, not a weird custody battle about him and his brother (because that's what Conner is) between two A-List superheroes.

[tourettesdog]

DP x DC prompt where, after an identity reveal gone wrong, Jazz (who is freshly 18) grabs Danny and takes him to live in Gotham where she has a scholarship. Between Danny’s ghost powers and their parents’ hatred of Gotham (something about a ghost convention gone Very Badly, and Bruce Wayne refusing to fund their research), they’re willing to risk the crime rates. 

Danny can’t resist doing his Phantom thing because of his Obsession, and within about 2.5 weeks Bruce is fighting Jazz for custody rights of him. Well, not really fighting since they could absolutely use a financial backer so Jazz can focus on school. Jazz also likes the idea of Danny getting proper training from Batman to keep him safe, since she can’t just make him stop fulfilling his Obsession.

They’ve been staying in the manor for about a week when Danny and Jazz realize that they’ve completely forgotten to address Dani. She’s continued her traveling for the last several months, but Dani told them on her last visit she was getting a bit lonely and wanted to try schooling-- after first visiting Australia, that is. 

Danny and Jazz have kept in touch with Sam and Tucker, so they know that their friends will be able to steer Dani away from Amity Park and in their direction once she gets back... But, oh Ancients, now they have to actually address the clone in the room. And probably face a massive lecture from Bruce once he realizes they never mentioned their youngest sibling (and that they also just let her fly off to Australia by herself for two months without even a cellphone).

They’re not really concerned about the bats accepting Dani (they’ve already accepted that Danny is half ghost, which is a pretty high bar to cross), but they are Very concerned about the Questions her presence will invoke. 

Danny and Jazz have managed to keep a lot of Danny’s Bigger ghost exploits under wraps (especially the time travel), but they know Bruce is going to take one look at Dani and it’s going to open up the “Hey so my arch nemesis is Vlad Masters-- yes I have an arch nemesis, and yes that Vlad Masters-- he cloned me-- why? Oh, he’s a halfa like me haha funny story-- oh and it Might be a problem if he ever finds out we’re here so you can’t confront him about any of this” can of worms.

Danny can’t be sure if Bruce will respect his tentative truce with Vlad. He’s pretty sure his new brothers and sisters will want to flog the man within an inch of his fruitloop (after)life if they ever find out about how many times he’s electrocuted Danny.

So at this point they’re just waiting for Sam and Tucker to warn them of Dani’s arrival— and trying to come up with a good cover story in the meantime. They MIGHT be able to pass Dani off as his twin (between Danny being trans and Dani mercilessly catching up to him in height, it seems doable). Only... they’re pretty sure Bruce will call immediate bullshit on them being twins once he tries to find paperwork about Dani. Hell, he probably already has access to Danny and Jazz’s birth certificates and would definitely notice a third one just magically appear (if they even managed to falsify one).

Their next idea (and the winning plan) is to be truthful about Dani being a clone, but to lie about her origins. They decide to pin all of the blame on Pariah Dark since he can’t exactly dispute clone fatherhood rights from his sarcophagus. Boom-- scapegoat.

Within the week, they get a text from Tucker saying Dani is on her way. Within the day, she’s on the front step of Wayne Manor. Dani’s hair is shorter than last time, she’s now exactly Danny’s height, and she looks a little too like him for it to not raise immediate red flags with a family of paranoid bats and birds.

It’s an absolute mess as they try to introduce Dani to the family. Just an absolute plethora of questions about clones and twins. (Apparently, the Waynes have dealt with clones before and are Very concerned? Danny didn’t even mention the word clone, they just brought that shit up in the foyer like it was common knowledge. He has to unpack that later.) 

Jason happens to be there, and he’s just staring at Dani the entire time, trying to decide if it’s worth asking why Danny’s new twin(?) feels as dead as he does.

Dani, meanwhile, hears clones mentioned and just blurts out:

“Wait, did Vlad clone you guys too?”

Danny and Jazz belatedly realize they should have ran their plan by Sam and Tucker first. In a panic, they try to pass Vlad off as Pariah Dark’s real name.

Tim just looks up the one (1) Vlad in Amity Park and it spirals from there.

[vermiculated]

Strange Adventures (2020)

A primer:

Strange Adventures (2020) is a comic book about an adventure story, drawn by Evan Shaner, and a political thriller, drawn by Mitch Gerads. In the end, the stories become one another and the hero dies. The premise of all of these stories is Adam Strange, with his jet pack and ray gun, is trying to win a war against the Pykkts, who have attacked the planet he lives on some of the time, called Rann. The original Adam Strange comics are treated as backstory to this war, and Strange Adventures is partly meant to emphasize how brutal and lonely war really is, even in a planetary romance setting: Adam’s been fighting pointless wars for decades, but this is the saddest of them all. 

source: why-i-love-comics

The several parallel stories that make up this comic are meant, at least partly, to give two underwritten characters some depth: Adam’s squeeze, Alanna of Rann and Mister Terrific, Michael Holt. Alanna is a scientist who meets Adam when he is transported to Rann by the zeta beams, which run on an irregular but predictable schedule, serving the same purpose as the sword between Tristan and Isolde. In most Adam Strange comics, Alanna is lovely and smart: the general arc is that Rann has been put in danger, Adam shows up, Alanna provides the necessary exposition, and she plays lovely assistant to Adam’s science hero. There’s some later complications to this, including the addition and subtraction of Adam and Alanna’s daughter, Aleea, and their appearance in other superhero stories, usually to indicate that all of space is looking in on this conflict. 

source: why-i-love-comics

Michael Holt is a genius decathlete polymath who, after the death of his wife Paula, took up the mantle of Mister Terrific, vacant after the initiator of the title died, and started working with the JSA. His “superpower” is being naturally good at everything and usually in stories, his role is to provide background information on whatever threat the heroes are facing, and explains whatever science is being used to fight the bad guys. He works with the T-spheres, robots who further his pedagogical theme/approach, and allow him to test his knowledge at random.

source: why-i-love-comics

Michael and Alanna have chemistry, they visit the Walker Art Institute’s sculpture garden together and talk about their problems:

source: why-i-love-comics

The twist to Strange Adventures is that Adam, to save Rann, bargains away Earth. He does this by promising to the Pykkt that he will sabotage the Justice League’s efforts to defend Earth, which is the next planet that the Pykkt intend to invade. The Pykkt guarantee this bargain by holding Aleea hostage. In order to keep this deal and its condition secret, Adam lies and says that the Pykkt killed Aleea. He and Alanna come to Earth in the wake of this deal and publish an autobiography of Adam’s time at war, and try to raise the alarm about the invasion. Adam, out of hallucinatory guilt, shoots a guy who he interprets to be a Pykkt scout: he goes to Batman and asks to be investigated, and Batman sets Mister Terrific the task of figuring out what happened. Mister Terrific goes to Rann and figures out that the Pykkt made a deal with Adam, and that Aleea is still alive. When the Pykkt do invade, Adam allows them to break the cordon and bomb Phoenix, Arizona. The war goes poorly, and Michael tells Alanna what really happened to Aleea. Alanna confronts Adam, they fight, and Adam is killed. Mister Terrific takes custody of Aleea when Alanna returns to Rann to face a renewed Pykkt attack. 

you may say, these themes seem very familiar to me as a person who enjoys nine panel therapy comics. THOMAS. This is substantially darker than Mister Miracle (2017) or The Omega Men, as the nature of the story itself is deconstructed, and the hero is pushed to make a deal that is antithetical to continued heroics, so what is he; whereas Mister Miracle answers that question by saying, he’s a good person who doesn’t care about the story in the end, Strange Adventures says when a hero’s no longer heroic he is dead. 

shorter: I would have made this amazing transformative work my summary.

This is how I win: after the fixit, Adam’s back on Earth in time for 2022’s vampire-fighting arc and the promised dinner party at the Frees’. 

[rpmemestorehouse]

Monster Island Buddies Starters: Season 3

Change wording as needed

“A long, long time ago, at your fat, fat mom’s house...”

“Ah, the great outdoors. Finally, I can enjoy some peace and quiet, and I can be alone with my thoughts.”

“What the f- what did I do?!”

“Come on, what’re you doing?! Put me down!”

“I’m gonna hunt down every monster responsible for [Name]’s death, one by one.”

“Come on, listen. The leader played us all!”

“Now let’s have a roll call!”

“Thou thus thee! Thou thou, thus!”

“How did he know burning my flesh was my weakness?!”

“I mean, obviously the bad guys keep escaping custody and causing problems, so, doesn’t it just make sense to kill them and end it there?”

“Hulk WEEPS for fallen foes!”

“Can I still use the team’s dental plan?”

“I got a cameraaa!”

“Tell us about your new movie!”

“Nyeah, look boss! The kid’s taping us!”

“[Name], finish with the transdimensional portal. And put a shirt on!”

“Wait, hold on I can do this.”

“Please, Master! Save me! Why are you just standing there watching?!”

“Hehehe, Turtle Power!”

“We’re ninjas! This is what we do!”

“You’re holding a sword! Drive it through his heart!”

“*whispering* Dude, he’s fucked up.”

“[Name], listen. What happened to [Name] isn’t your fault.”

“...must...keep...going...”

“That hurts even though I’m metal!”

“Hello. My name is [Name]. You killed my friend. Prepare to die.”

“I come from a planet behind Jupiter.”

“Ah, you must be the great [Name].”

“I know everything. I know that you seek revenge.”

“I want what you want: revenge for an unjust death.”

“Hooooly SHIT, Batman!”

“I’m just gonna drink until I die.”

“Alright alright alright! We don’t have to watch that again!”

“[Name] why you talkin’ like that? That ain’t your motherfuckin’ voice.”

“I’m just in-character. I’m a professional actor, see?”

“What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll win another fight against you?”

“...You know as well as I do that our fight was a tie.”

“Aaah shit, I smell a rematch y’all.”

“Yeah, here’s your rematch.”

“Trick-or-treat, smell my ass, give me candy!”

“Whatever you do, don’t go the old mansion on Elm Street. It’s haunted by nutcrackers, you know!”

“*incomprehensible, possessed babbling*

“I played a priest once on a daytime soap opera!”

“I vant to suck your nuts!”

“Aah, Frankenstein, we meet again.”

“Even in the afterlife, I want you dead!”

“...Thanks for taking one for the team, man.”

“Don’t you ever fucking talk to me again.”

“It’s HAMLET! Read a book!”

“Isn’t it FUN doing group activities TOGETHER?!”

“We’ve found you at last!”

“Now you guys chase US!”

“FIRE POWERRR!!!”

“There’s no need for things to ever get awkward!”

“Now I’m in the past again!”

“Looks like you’re in quite the pickle, old sport!”

“Why are you always breaking in and stealing my sock?!”

“What? How did you find me?!”

“We finally got you! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

“...Fuck you.”

“Think I threw out my back on that one.”

“You and I now share a bond. You should stay with me.

“My place is with my friends.”

“Oh, hey [Nickname]. [Name]’s helping me do my taxes.”

“Yeah, apparently everyone wants me dead.”

“You idiots. Guns can’t hur- OOWWW!!!”

“Jesus [Name]! How do you manage to piss everyone off all the time?!”

“You owe the IRS 317 dollars″.

“Complete this scientific equation: E=mc...”

“HAMMER!”

“Raymond Burr was spliced into this Japanese movie for it’s American release...”

“Weren’t you supposed to be with [Name]?”

“I’ll stick my hand up your butt and pull you inside out! I’m gettin’ better at it! I’ve had practice!”

“I’m more powerful than you now!”

“I’m fine! Just a little tummy ache!”

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #506 (November 1993)

Superman vs. Superboy! I mean, vs. Superman, since the Kid still insists that Superboy is definitely NOT his name and never will be. The two Supermen meet while the younger, radder one is dealing with some sort of deformed flying babies that are trying to kill him, which is the sort of thing that happens to you when you wear an “S” emblem on your chest.

These turn out to be deformed flying babies THAT EXPLODE, but the Kid is able to push them away with his (very non-Superman-esque) telekinesis powers. He then deduces that these things must have come out of Project Cadmus, the top secret genetic experimentation facility that created him, and brushes off the elder Superman to get back at those geeks by doing what he does best: being a brat on live TV.

So I guess the “top secret” part of Cadmus’ description is no longer accurate, thanks to the Kid. On the other hand, I kinda feel like the people of Metropolis deserved to know that there's a nearby government facility churning out genetic atrocities into their sewers.

The Cadmus gang sends Guardian to bring their wayward creation home so they can talk to him. Obviously the Kid isn't very interested, and for a while it looks like we might get the fight scene teased in the cover, but then Superman the First convinces Superman the Second that he should at least hear them out. And, while at it, ask Cadmus to tell him exactly what the hell he is. If he’s Superman’s clone, why does he have those weird TK powers? The Kid agrees, but... he doesn't like the answers he gets.

The Kid finds out that he's NOT a clone of Superman since, as established a while back, Kryptonians are damn hard to clone. So, since Cadmus was determined to create a new Superman after the original appeared to be dead, they instead took a clone of a regular, non-super man and genetically modified it to approximate Superman's powers (for instance, translating Superman’s “aura” into a telekinetic field). But who was that human DNA donor? Surely it was someone good and cool!

Just after the Kid wonders that, the quite evil and deeply uncool Director Westfield bursts into the lab and demands that this "super-punk" be taken into custody, probably so they can flush him down the toilet like Cadmus' other failed experiments. Superman makes Westfield see that making Cadmus' whistleblower disappear wouldn't look very good right now, but they can't just let him run around unsupervised. So, at Guardian's recommendation, the esteemed telepath Dubbilex is assigned to follow the Kid wherever he goes. I smell a sitcom! (Or a spin-off comic.)

As a last order of business, the Kid decides to give Superman his trademark to the Superman name, which his manager Rex Leech doesn't take too well. So what are they gonna call this teenage “S” emblem-wearing hero now? Superman has an interesting suggestion: SUPERBOY. Our young friend still isn't a fan.

But after storming out and thinking about it for a couple of pages (and trying out the name on some guys robbing a jewelry shop), the Kid realizes he's "earned" the title of Superboy and accepts it. Character development! And just in time for his solo series. ("That Non-Superman Clone Who Also Calls Himself Superman" wouldn't look good on a cover.)

Plotline-Watch:

The final page shows a shadowy figure shaped like the recently introduced Bloodthirst outfitting someone with a weapon-teleporting gizmo, then calling him "Bloodsport"... except that this dude is quite paler than the Bloodsport we met way back in Superman #4 (in an issue inked by current writer Karl Kesel, so you'd think he'd remember the character). This looks nothing like Idris Elba! What gives?!

Superboy is still bummed out because his friend Tana Moon left Metropolis without telling him where she was going, which is now known as "ghosting". In the end, Rex talks about sending Superboy on a promotional tour to establish his new brand, and the first destination of that tour will be... exactly where Tana went to hide from Superboy. This is now known as "time to get a restraining order."

Clark Kent is slowly morphing into a hipster the longer he rooms with Jimmy Olsen. For a long time I assumed all the bands listed in the panel below were made up, but turns out the only non-existing ones are “James Rock” and "Axel Rose". Luckily, Superboy was happy to give Clark's old apartment back to him (apparently only Pulitzer-winning journalists can afford it), so Jimmy won't hipsterize him for much longer.

Westfield gladly assigns Dubbilex to Superboy because it means there won't be a telepath at Cadmus to read his thoughts and find out about his evil plans (like sending the ugly flying babies after Superboy). Very clever, Westfield! Except for the fact that he thought that right in front of Dubbilex, who clearly "heard" the whole thing.

Incidentally, there's an apparent error in this issue when Superboy thinks "They won't take me without a fight!" and Guardian shows up and says "That's too bad, son. Because I don't want to fight you." How did Guardian know what Superboy was thinking? Obviously, Dubbilex patched Guardian through to Superboy's mind to assist in finding him. Now where's my damn Baldy Award?!

Is it me or is this page reminiscent of the cover to Superboy Prime's first appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Patreon-Watch:

Special thanks to your Patreon pals Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, and Samuel Doran, and welcome aboard to Bheki Latha (our first $6.50 patron ever!), Mark Syp, and Ryan Bush! You are all excellent. This month they got to read a long-ass post entitled 45 Things I Learned by Reading the “Death of Superman” Novel (Part 1), in which I talked about the stuff Roger Stern added to the canon in the first part of the Death and Life of Superman book. This includes Superman’s private thoughts on the JLI (and Guy Gardner in particular), what Lex Jr. calls Supergirl in bed, and Professor Hamilton getting romantic. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

But now: the Don Sparrow show! Take it away, Don.

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

The end of an era, at least temporarily, as Tom Grummett draws his last Adventures of Superman issue, moving onto Superboy (and I think still doing Robin at this time?) with Karl Kesel.  He’ll return for the quarterly Superman: Man of Tomorrow and other things, but it’s a long gap until he does.

A pretty good cover, with Superman and Superboy about to tussle.   Though it can be seen as cheaping out on the backgrounds, I always love radial rays as an effect.  

Inside the issue, we have a great splash page of Superboy getting attacked by botched clones, and I love the gesture here—having his head snapping away from the camera adds to the motion and action.  Great stuff. 

Though he won’t be drawing her again for a while, Grummett excels at the new, shorter-haired Lois in these pages.  Superman soaring to the skies is a great panel as well, and I especially like the way his cape and fist slightly break the panel barrier, giving it a sense of motion, again.

The sequence of Guardian acrobatically flipping from one ledge to another is very well drawn.  Ditto the splash on page 13, where Superboy loses his temper.  The body language in this whole sequence tells the story very well, as Superman is calm and patient, confident in his ability not only to reach Superboy with his words, but also withstand him physically.  

The way Superboy snaps the carpet, but controls it mentally with his Tactile Telekinesis is a great example of his unique powers in use.  It reminds me of a technique they tried on the CW Supergirl show (but almost immediately abandoned) where they made like the Kryptonian fabric of their capes was like “smart fabric” and could be used as a weapon.  

Lastly, the dreamy, child-like expression on Superboy’s face during the Peter Pan exchange is wonderful, and a fitting end for Tom’s run on the book. [Max: You mean the William Shatner exchange, Don.]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I almost never like it when they reference pop culture stuff in Superman comics, particularly music.  Karl Kesel isn’t the worst offender in that department (that would be JM DeMatties a few years down the line, who had Clark Kent bizarrely asserting he loved the Beastie Boys) but Clark’s discussion with Jimmy about an apparently fictional musician working with a rolodex of early nineties names makes me cringe (as does trying to imagine how awful a “Hip Hop Lyle Lovett” or “Grunge Frank Sinatra” would sound).

The car poster on the wall of Jimmy’s bachelor pad looks for all the world like Robin’s Redbird, also a Tom Grummett creation.  (Fun fact:  Tom once told me he still gets {very small} royalty cheques from the Batman & Robin movie, because Robin’s motorcycle was called the Redbird, though that might no longer be true with Paul Levitz no longer in charge of such matters.)

Superboy (in no less than his third time calling those pink creatures “spuds”) references John Candy and Joe Flaherty’s “Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up” where the guests would frequently “blow up real good” and it does my SCTV loving Canadian heart good.  

It’s interesting (and a little sad) that they again note that Superboy knows things (pop culture, etc) without ever having experienced it.  I feel like there’s a lot they could do with this concept.

This issue reads very much like the end of the Superboy “Reign” issues, as Superman is more of a secondary character to the kid.  All of it begs the question of why Superman, or Guardian put up with Cadmus.  Superman has said in previous issues that he has moral problems with how Cadmus treats life with their cloning experiments, and they’ve attacked him in the past (and also stole his corpse!) so other than the fact that it’s a launchpad for Superboy’s series, there’s really no reason any of these heroes should associate with Cadmus.  Especially Guardian, who comes off as little more than an errand boy here.  He wants to bring Superboy in, but won’t promise Superboy won’t be harmed or imprisoned?  

Nice to see Superboy return to his “Slammin’” catch phrase!

An interesting bit of foreshadowing when Superboy asks Big Words whose clone he is, and who immediately enters but Westfield. [Max: That’s right, Westfield! Not Luthor! Sorry, sorry.]

[anotheronechicagobog]

Antonio Dawson x Reader Begin Again

written by @anotheronechicagobog​

requested by: @lifesaclimb-buttheviewisgreat​

(I hope you like this one too!)

When your ex left it was like someone hastily dropped an anvil on your chest. Your marriage fell apart and he didn’t even want to try to fix it. He just... left. When you were going through divorce proceedings he wouldn’t even look at you. He tried to get full custody of your kids. It wasn’t until you saw him getting picked up by his secretary that you understood everything. The way she cooed at your children and slid her hand down his arm while smirking at you made you sick. 

The divorce proceedings were long and tedious and nearly broke you. Watching your ex and his secretary try and play house was hell. You had been so unaware that your husband didn’t love you anymore, that he had fallen in love with his big breasted blonde secretary, that you had been caught completely blindsided. 

Your kids, however, had been your saving grace. They questioned their father and his new girlfriend. They didn’t like her, just said that they sensed something fake about her. In the end, it had been their testimonies to the judge that won you full custody with your husband only getting minimal visitation rights. Shockingly when the judge made the decision it was your ex’s girlfriend, or mistress, as the judge put it when they accidentally admitted to being together for a year, lost her damn mind.

Meeting Antonio was really something different. You’d been on the subway heading to med to for an appointment when you noticed a girl, probably about 10 or 11 being harassed by a forty-year-old man. Your mama bear instincts kicked in, you marched over and glared and seethed at him, calling him a pedophile a couple of times, and made sure he kept his hands to himself until he left. The girl, Eva Dawson, was grateful for you scaring him away, and when you figured out that neither of her parents knew where she was or where she was going, you called into your doctor’s office to say there’d been an emergency and you were going to be late, before escorting Eva to the 21st police district.

“Eva! What are you doing here?! Does your mom know?” He ranted and raved for several minutes before his eyes narrowed on you. “And who are you?”

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N, I found your daughter on the subway and she looked like she needed help, so I offered to make sure she got here okay.” He nodded. “Alright, Eva, wait here, I’ll tell your mom you’re here. I have to go follow a lead, stay within eyesight of Trudy.” He then turned around and marched out the door of the precinct mumbling under his breath in Spanish followed by a man wearing a fedora. You sighed and watched Eva crying and curling into herself for a minute before you decided to inervene. You sat down beside her. “Hey, He could have said it better, and let you say your piece, but he has a point and it’s because he loves you. Your dad is a detective, you are never going to understand everything about him and his job, and that’s probably a good thing. He sees all of the dark and twisty things about Chicago.”

You ran into Antonio again when you went to visit your uncle/father figure at firehouse 51 while he was visiting his sister. He seemed a little tense at first when he recognized you, but warmed up to you when Gabby threw him a glare. You became quick friends much to uncle Chris’s chagrin, and a few months later your kids were making kissey faces at you whenever Antonio was mentioned.

It ended up being your and Antonio’s kids that got the two of you together. You’d all been hanging out at a first responders picnic when the kids started playing matchmaker. It had been a little embarrassing at first but after the third time you tripped and fell into Antonio’s arms you both decided to humour them. While neither of you intended to go as well as it had you couldn’t be happier about it.

You’d been dating Antonio for eight months when you got a call from Gabby. “Hey, is it okay if I dropped Eva and Diego off at your place? Laura missed picking them up and Antonio couldn’t but I’m still on shift.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Internally you were freaking out. You’d never been alone with them and your kids before. Twelve minutes later they’d been dropped off and you were nervously clenching and unclenching your hands. “So, do you guys want to play Mario cart?”

“That sounds great!” Eva, Diego, and your daughter Katrina, all sat very content selecting their characters and giggling. “I’ll make some snacks, before I forget does anyone have homework?”

Diego and Katrina shook their heads, they were in the same class and their teacher usually gave them twenty minutes at the end of the day to do homework. So it wasn’t really shocking that they didn’t have any. “Eva?”

“No, we’re learning about how to write essays right now so we do a lot of that in class. I’m really good at math so I’ve already done that, but if I could get your advice on a lab I did that would make me more confident in it.”

“Sure, how about after dinner?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome.”

“Mind if I join you guys for a few rounds before I have to start making dinner?”

Three wins and two losses later you got up and proceeded to start dinner. Just as you finished with a large Asian stir fry there was a knock on the door. “Alright guys, go wash up. Antonio should be here soon for dinner.” You hundred up your apron before making your way to the door and looking through the peephole. You smiled when you saw your boyfriend nervously standing outside your door with a bouquet of your favourite flowers. You swung the door open with a “hello handsome.”

“Hola mi amor.”

“Dinners ready, the kids are just washing up. I’m gonna go find a vase for these. Thank you, honey.”

“Dinner smells great. Don’t you guys think so?”

“Yeah, mom used my favourite rice noodles and she made it spicy so I’m really excited.”

“YES! I LOVE SPICY FOOD!”

“Calm down Diego, use your inside voice please.”

“Thanks for dinner, Y/N, it’s really good.”

“No problem Eva, I love having you guys over.” Diego went for his second helping as Eva and Katrina were talking about Captain Marvel when Antonio’s phone rang. All of your heads snapped to look at him, the image of him leaving to go to work popping into your heads. He sighed when he saw the caller ID. “It’s Laura. I should probably take this.” You looked at Eva and Diego, both of their heads were bowed and while Diego looked like he was about to burst into tears Eva looked like she wanted to punch something while shouting every swear word she isn’t supposed to know. He stood up from the table and answered the phone as he walked to the entryway, out of earshot. “I made coffee cake the other day and we have vanilla ice cream in the freezer, so we could do that for dessert if you guys are up to it. Diego and Kat nodded while silently and solemnly eating their food. “That sounds really good Y/N. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, sweetie.”

“Y/N?”

“Yeah, Diego?”

“The swim team is having a bake sale on Friday, would you mind making something? Mom forgot to make something for Eva’s cross country team bake sale, and she, you know, forgot us today.”

“Sure thing, what did you have in mind?”

“Your lemon squares are really good, can you make those?”

“Yes, absolutely, I’ll make some extra so that we can all have some too.”

“Thanks.” The kids started to smile again and the mood was lifting when Antonio came back. He was tense but started to loosen up when he heard the kids debating about who was cooler, Batman or Ironman. “Personally,” Antonio drawled out, “I prefer Batman.”

“What? Why?”

“Batmobile. Enough said.” You laughed, “fair enough.” You kissed him on the cheek, he looked at you tenderly, his face close to yours. He didn’t have to lean in far to kiss you soundly on the lips.

Antonio and the kids were cleaning up fro dinner while you were looking over Eva’s lab report. It was well-formatted, and while she did use some contractions her report was definitely worthy of a high mark. She beamed when you told her that her only mistake was using the word “couldn’t” instead of “could not”. She skipped back to the kitchen and back to her cake and ice cream. Antonio chuckled as he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind. “I talked to Laura, if you’re okay with it I’d like to list you as one of Eva and Diego’s guardians with the school and med. If you’re okay with it. You don’t have to-“

“Yes. That sounds great. You know I love them, I’ll do anything to help them.”

“Te amo mi amor.”

[ellana-ravenwood]

“I’m in, I’m all in” - Jason Todd x Single!Mom reader part 5/5

And here we are, the end of this series. I really enjoyed writing it haha. Well, obviously since this was supposed to be a ONE SHOT and turned into a...Five part series haha. Anyway, I really hope you like this last part, and thanks to y’all for all the reactions to this series, it was really motivating and encouraging <3.

FINISHED SERIES : PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4  NEWLY ADDED EPILOGUE : PART 1/3

My masterlist blog : @ella-ravenwood-archives

________________________________________________

A few weeks before Viggo’s kidnapping :

Jess’ can’t catch his breath, as they take his head out of the dirty rain water they were drowning him in. He coughs some filthy liquid, but just as he barely catches his breath they dip him in once more. 

And again. And again. And again. 

Each time, he almost drowns, but not completely. It’s pure torture. 

“This’ll teach you to not pay your debt.” 

He hears one of the thug who keeps plunging his head into the water say. And here we go again, face first into the shallow puddle. 

How humiliating it is as well, to be drowned in that way, in a dirty puddle, behind an old warehouse...Oh ? This time, the thugs don’t hold his head under water as long as the others, and Jess is able to catch his breath faster. 

His mind is racing as he begs : 

“Wait wait wait !” 

He didn’t actually want to do that but...This was his last chance of survival. His last chance to get out of the mess he put himself in. So what if others have to suffer because of him ? 

Now sure, he never wanted to ever involve you in his life again, not after he left without a word, but right now..The situation was hopeless, without you. 

And so, Jess heard himself say : 

“Wait wait wait ! I-I have an old buddy of mine who recently got in contact with me ! He wanted some- cough - some information about my ex fiancee !” 

The two thugs who were waterboarding him look at their boss, a sinister smirk on their faces. Said boss, Antonio Falcone of the Falcone family, arguably the most powerful mafia in Gotham (if it wasn’t for those damn Maronis), shakes his head, exasperated at the poor attempt of this guy to save his life.

He owed them hundred of thousands of dollars, and couldn’t pay them. If it was just a couple thousands, they would have broken his legs and made him do odd jobs for them to make it up to them once he healed...But that Jess ? 

He owed them more than most of the people that borrowed money from them REUNITED ! It was outrageous. And somehow, that sleazy motherfucker always got away with getting more and more money, while never paying it back. 

But it had been going on for long enough. 

Antonio wouldn’t let that go. Couldn’t. Especially not since he was in a good line to get up in ranks. At least, according to his uncle, Carmine Falcone, the Don of the family ! 

Having a guy owing them that much money in his district was bad publicity. He couldn’t let that go. He gestured for his thugs to waterboard him some more before finally ending it, but that annoying little man kept on going : 

“He’s a paparazzo you see ? He takes picture of...Well you know what paparazzi are ! Well he took picture of that woman, who was hanging out with the Waynes, you see ?” 

The Waynes ? As in “Bruce Wayne” ? Richest family in Gotham ? Antonio Falcone stopped the thugs from drowning that poor excuse of a man and said :

“What about them ?” 

“Well my buddy wanted to know if- cough- if the woman was her. My ex. My ex fiancee. And it was, it was ! He had pictures of her kissing one of the eldest Wayne boys, that Jason guy, the one whom everyone thought died ! And she has a son ! I mean...”

A light came on in Jess’ minds. Yes. Of course. Why didn’t he think of that before ? Yes. They would be his salvation ! 

“Yeah ! It was her ! And my son ! And they were close to the Waynes ! I have pictures, I can prove it to you ! I’m sure we can...I’m sure we can come up with some sort of a plan so I can get your money, and even more, thanks to them ! I have hundreds of pictures taken of them being the entire day together, and clearly being close ! We know Bruce Wayne already paid ransom before, even if Batman had to get into it and ruined things but...I’m sure we can be smarter ! I’m sure we can have a plan ! A man like you, mister Falcone, surely is smart enough to get away with it ! As long as nobody gets hurt and we plan things smoothly, it should be fine, right ? We-I mean you, could go away from this much richer than you were before !”

Jess surely had a good self-preservation instinct, as he instantly switched to flattery and...Well, it always worked very well on “Mister Falcone”.  

Antonio Falcone looked upon that miserable man with disdain, but with also some kind of new found respect. A man willing to sell his own kid to save his life ? Well, it was someone he could relate to haha. After all, he didn’t hesitate to kill his own father to climb up in ranks...

And Jess said his ex-fiancee and his son were hanging out with the Waynes huh ? Well. Well well well. 

As much as he disliked that that asshole would get away with owing them that much money once again, Antonio had to admit that they needed Jess to come up with a plan that would keep everything “bat free” and smooth...

Oh, this could actually turn an embarrassing situation into a way of shining in front of the boss ! 

************

A few hours before Red Hood tries to save Viggo : 

And this is how a plan came to life. A nasty plan, made by cowards. A plan to steal a child from his family, just so they could have money. 

But for what it was worth, Viggo was never supposed to be hurt. Plus the Waynes ? What would a couple of millions do to their bank accounts ? They were all filthy rich ! 

Jess tried to rationalize his bad decisions after bad decisions, tried to shift the blame on others, as he always did. Besides in the end, he was still alive. And that’s really all that mattered to him right now. So what if they bribed a couple of judges and lawyer, and go the kid’s custody thanks to that ? 

Only there was a little problem in their perfectly laid out plan...That goddamn child being way too curious and hearing things he shouldn’t have ! 

“COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT !!”

Never before Viggo had been that afraid, as he heard “his father”’s steps grow closer and closer. He rushed as fast as he could down the stairs, almost falling over and breaking his neck. He jumped over the last two steps, and ran to the bathroom he saw when he first came in the house. 

He snatched the home phone on his way. He figured that trying to escape through the front door was stupid, as he saw Jess closing it earlier. Plus where was he gonna run to anyway ? In Gotham’s street ? At this hour, no one would take notice of him and Jess would catch up too fast...

But barricading himself in the bathroom with the phone ? He had a chance to warn someone ! To say what was happening, and get some help !

Jess was right on his heels as Viggo closed the bathroom door. 

“Open up right now, Viggo ! This isn’t what you think !” 

Jess said, banging loudly on the door. Viggo scoffed and answered : 

“Oh yeah ? Well what is it then ?!” 

Silence. Two more bangs, grunts and bad words, and then...total silence. 

Viggo didn’t wait for an answer or anything, as he typed his mom’s number on the home phone. He also figured that there was no point in calling 911. 

First, in Gotham, they were always very slow. And second, what was gonna happen once they arrived ? Jess would tell them about winning custody not long ago, about being his dad, and the cops wouldn’t believe anything he would say. Because custody battles ? They were always pretty nasty so...

If anything could be said about Viggo (Y/L/N), it was that he wasn’t stupid. 

Jess was quiet outside of the room, which was pretty worrying. He gave up way too fast trying to open the door...But Viggo’s mind, no matter how smart that little boy was, wasn’t thinking about that right now. 

No, instead, he was praying for you to just pick up and quick ! Tears were slowly gathering in his eyes, as he was slowly realizing that he might be in really big troubles, and he just wanted to see you...

Your phone rung a  few times before it went to your voice mail. Viggo’s heart stopped. No. No already ?! 

It was late, you were at work. You didn’t answer your phone when at work. At least not when it was an unknown number. If it was your best friend, or whoever babysat your son, you’d answer immediately, but a random number you never saw before, such as Jess’ home phone ? Nope...

Especially when working at the bar, like tonight. You might have not even heard your phone ringing ! 

He left a message, hurriedly talking about what he heard Jess say on the phone, talking about the Falcone and all. And then hung up. He tried to call a few times, but he knew there was not much hope...

Now, Viggo really wanted to cry. He felt so helpless, and it had been such a tough day ! Making his luggage to follow a dad he never even met before, only to realize that this was all a scam of some sort...

It was a lot, for a little eight years old boy ! 

But that said little eight year old wasn’t one to give up easily, and so he started to call the next person he first thought of. 

Jason.

He knew Jason’s number by heart, and typed it on the phone, sure that the man would rush to his aid no matter what he said ! There was NO WAY Jason wouldn’t come to help. Even if he wasn’t with his mom anymore, Viggo was convinced that he’d rush to his aid anyway ! 

And if Jason didn’t pick up, cause it was late ? He could always call the Manor ! Or Bruce ! The man gave him his number last time, when they ate ice cream and all, before his mom came back. He said : “call whenever you want, whenever you need” ! Yes, Yes Viggo would just...

A loud bang, a gunshot, made him jump in the air, scared and...What ? 

The door handle fell on the floor, fuming slowly. Smoke filled the small bathroom quickly, as the door opened on two large men holding guns and...

“Are you kidding us, Jess ? Really ?” 

“What ? The little fucker is fast ok ? I couldn’t grab him before he locked himself in there. I tried to bust the door open but I couldn’t.”

The two men shook their head, exasperated. One grabs Viggo, but the little one wasn't ready to get caught without a fight. He kicked him as hard as he could in-between his legs. The man let him go, and fell to his knees, holding his crotch and whining something along the line of “motherfucker”.  

Viggo tried to escape again, and he almost succeeded as Jess was just staring at him dumbly but...The second stranger grabbed him. He laughed and said : 

“Haha that kid has more courage than you’ll ever have Jess ! And he’s definitely smarter than you. Are you sure he’s yours ?” 

Jess just glared back but didn’t say anything. Now the man was pointing at the phone that escaped Viggo’s hand when he got surprised, understanding that the kid tried to call someone. 

“Did you manage to get anyone on the line ?” 

He asked, as he roughly lifted Viggo by his shirt. Your boy tried to struggle more, but the man was too strong and with his free hand stopped him from squirming. Keeping a face full of pride, and trying to look very unimpressed, Viggo said : 

“Yeah I did. And they’ll be here to kick your ass very soon !” 

Of course, that was a lie. But they didn't know that, did they ? 

The man took the phone from the floor and lifted it to his ear. The answering machine from Wayne Manor was just ending on a “Wayne are not here, please leave a message if you must”. The man hung up, whistled, and said : 

“Ah, well damn, he’s really related to the Waynes too somehow ! Damn Jess, who would’ve thought you’d be the one leading us to a treasure like that huh ?”

“I told you didn’t I ? There literally were hundreds of pictures of her kissing that Jason Todd guy, and of my boy here playing with the two youngest Waynes !” 

“I’m not your boy !” 

Viggo yelled, angry, twisting his head to look at Jess, daggers shooting out of his eyes while still being stuck in that man’s arms. Said man laughed again and said : 

“Well kid, if it’s any consolation, you’re definitely nothing like that coward. You, have got spirit. He, sold you to save his own life haha. How’d that make you feel ?” 

Why ? Why was that man twisting the knife further into Viggo’s heart ? The little boy already understood that his own father was doing something very fishy, but knowing that he was selling him to those guys ? That was...well, actually, that didn’t feel as bad as Viggo thought it would. 

It was in fact some sort of relief ? To know that that Jess was nothing of a father ! To know that he didn’t actually want to be part of his life, and that he didn’t have to forget...Oh, but THAT did hurt. The pang in his chest as he realized he wished Jason was there, that HE was the dad he always wanted. 

But hey, maybe that it was clear that Jess was an asshole, Jason would come back, realizing that he still had his place in the picture ? 

It was funny, that Viggo’s mind wandered to the one he wanted so bad to be his dad, as he was carried away by two scary strangers, and thrown in a car. 

“So what am I doing now ?” 

Jess asked, and one of the thug turned to him and said : 

“You call her tomorrow and then...Nothing. If this all deal goes well you’ll never hear from us again. If it goes sideways however...”

Leaving the threats flying in the air, he climbed into the front seat with a dangerous smirk, and Jess gulped. The other man, the one whose balls’ Viggo kicked, rubbed his crotch a bit and was about to climb in the car too, in front of the wheel, when Jess stopped him : 

“Hey, you’re not gonna hurt the kid right ?”

“Why, you got attached to him or something ?”

“No, I never wanted kids. But he...He didn't do anything ok ?” 

“No he didn’t, and yet he’s paying for his father’s sins. How unfair life is right ?”

“But you’re not gonna hurt him right ? It’s not part of the plan.” 

“Him kicking me in the nuts wasn’t part of the plan either. And him knowing our plan, wasn’t part of the plan. Oh, and us being here that early to pick the kid up ? Definitely not part of the plan. All that because you couldn’t find a quiet place to call Antonio. You fucking idiot. So now, who knows what will happen right ?” 

There’s a silence, and Jess suddenly feels sick. Sure, so far he didn’t really think of anything else but saving his own skin, and he worked so hard to try and get close to you again...but then you destroyed all his attempts and they had to retort to going to court and now...Now slowly, Jess realized what he had done. 

But it was too late now. Anyway, was it really that big of a secret, that he was a piece of shit ? After all, he left his pregnant fiancee fending on her own just because he couldn’t face her and say it was too much for him ! Still, one last time Jess says : 

“Nothing will go according to plan, if you hurt the kid.” 

The man doesn’t answer, as he just smiles and climb into the front seat. And slowly, they drive away. Jess’ eyes caught Viggo’s terrified gaze as he was taken away, and a sudden pang of regret took over his heart...

Up until he realized that he still was able to feel his heart beating thanks to that kid. And to his ex, you, who happened to be linked to the Waynes. Plus, that guy was just trying to scare him, of course they weren’t going to hurt the kid ! They needed him in one piece, if they wanted the money ! 

And with a sigh, Jess went back into his house. He just had to wait until the next day to call you and say they had your son and all that, and this all nightmare would finally be over. FiNALLY. 

************

The present : 

Jason’s heart drops. His blood freeze. His mind goes blank.

Viggo wasn’t breathing. And his skin was so cold.

No. No no no no no. Please god no. Everything but this.

Not Viggo. Not his precious little boy. No…

But no matter what Jason was doing, his CPR didn’t seem to work. And the kid was growing colder and colder.

“No ! No ! Come on Viggo ! Come on boy, please ! Please don’t leave me !”

The boy was unresponding. His lips were blue.

“Don’t go please don’t go ! You can’t go ! You can’t leave your mom ! You can’t leave me ! Please, please !”

But Viggo wasn’t breathing. Wasn’t moving. And his skin was know frighteningly cold. His eyes weren’t opening…and he wasn’t breathing.

“Come on, come on breathe. Breathe…Come on, son, BREATHE !!”

A minute went by, and Jason knew the situation was dire. How many more minutes until the boy would have permanent brain damage ? And...What if he didn’t wake up ? 

No. No no no. This wasn’t possible. Viggo couldn’t die ! His little boy couldn’t die !! 

Jason, tears in his eyes, kept on giving him CPR, with the desperation of a man who would do anything to save his child. 

“Come on, come one Viggo, come back to me ! Come on, you’re a fighter right ! Come on, come back ! Please ! Please son, come back !” 

Another minute went by. And Viggo was still not breathing, growing colder and colder and...

Three little coughs. 

Jason’s breath caught. 

************

A few hours before Jason tries to desperately revive Viggo : 

Coming home to an empty house was odd. This was the first time you were alone in your apartment, without Viggo welcoming you back cheerfully (the little fucker never listened to his babysitter about his “bed time”, and would always wake up to come and jump in your arms). The first time in eight years. 

You didn’t like it. You didn’t like it at all. 

You felt as tears came back to your eyes, at how unfair this all situation was. 

You knew that this trial to get Viggo’s custody was bogus. That somehow, Jess had rigged it. You had no idea why, but you knew there was no way any sane judge would give custody of a child to a father who wasn’t there for the first eight years of his life. 

Even more so since everything went so fast, every paperworks was signed in a matter of a few days ! And they took him away from you and...

The tears spilled over. This was starting to be too much. And you caught yourself wishing Jason was here...You knew that he would know exactly what to do, in that situation. You knew he would never let it happened in the first place ! 

But Jason wasn’t here. Jason broke up with you. Because it was “too much” for him and...Yup, you were definitely crying again. 

It was fine though, this time, Viggo wasn’t there to witness it...The thought of your son not being peacefully asleep in his bedroom made you cry even more.

You went to his room, and laid in his empty bed. Holding his pillow tight in your arms, you cried and cried, smelling his odor as it was already starting to disappear...When would you be able to see Viggo again ? 

Jess didn’t seem to want you to see him much. Actually, you were pretty sure he was planning on making you regret those weeks of him trying to come back into your life, and you pushing him away. 

And so you cried. Without anyone to comfort you, not even your little precious son...That’s when your phone rung. 

Uh ? A text. You just received a text. You quickly looked at it and “a new voice message is waiting on your voice mail”. Oh right. Probably from that unknown number that called a few times before, when you were at work. 

You never answered those calls, especially not at work, but messages ? Sure, you listened to them. You never know, some could be good news. 

“Mom !”

Your heart skipped a beat. That was Viggo’s voice ! And he seemed scared ! You had no idea how you knew, but you could feel how your son felt even through the phone ! 

“Mom ! Jess didn’t want me still mom ! He’s with them Falcone people ! The ones in the paper ! And I don’t know why but he wants to take me to them and he wants to call you after mom ! Mom come please !” 

This send a rush of adrenaline to your brain, and you jumped on your feet, grabbing your bag before running out of your apartment. 

You didn’t go far though, realizing you had no idea where Jess lived. Motherfucker didn’t even give you an address. For “his own safety” they dared to tell you...But you had his number ! 

Without thinking twice, you called him. It rung three time before he picked up : 

“Hello ?” 

“What the fuck is happening Jess ?!” 

“Ah, (Y/N). Well, hello to you too. I’m doing great, what about you ? Why are you calling so late anyway ?” 

Of course he recognized you instantly. Just like you recognized his unpleasant sniveling little voice ! How did you even date that guy again ?! You barked : 

“What do you mean ? I just received a panicked message from Viggo telling me some pretty concerning things ?! What is happening ? Where are you ? I’m coming over.” 

“Calm down please (Y/N). I’ll have you know all our conversations are recorded, in case I need further evidence for the court that you’re unfit to be a mothe...”

“Shut the fuck up and answer me.”

“Answer you what ? Nothing is happening ok ? Viggo missed you and called you, if he sounds a little distressed it’s no big deal. He’s just a kid who misses his mom alright ?” 

Oh. It was clear Jess had actually no idea what your son could have possibly said to you in his message, or he wouldn’t be so chilled about it all. You continue : 

“You say those conversations are recorded right ?” 

“Yup.” 

You wished he was right in front of you right now, so you could bash his stupid face in. You hated the way he just said “yup”, so proud and satisfied of himself. So you delivered your fatal blow quickly : 

“Oh ? And what would they think when I’ll tell them Viggo said you had something to do with the Falcones ?” 

There’s a silence at the other end of the line, and you’re pretty sure you heard his breath catch as you said your last words. Finally, he says : 

“Ok well, I guess I won’t play more games then.”

************

The present : 

Three little coughs. 

Jason’s breath caught...to finally let a long relieved sigh when Viggo started to vomit some water, and breathe again. 

“Yes, yes that’s good my boy, that’s good, let it all out. Let it all out...” 

Jason said, helping Viggo to sit up, patting his back soothingly as the little boy coughed the rest of the water that were stuck in his lungs. 

Jason never felt so relieved. So light. So...He was going to be ok. The boy was going to be ok. Right ? He turned his face to him, and was suddenly worried again as Viggo’s eyes seem to have trouble focusing on his face. 

And the kid was still so cold. 

Without thinking about it twice, Jason took his jacket off, thanking his father for creating all their costumes waterproofed ! Even though Jason jumped into the freezing water too, his clothes were still dry and he therefor wasn’t as cold as the poor kid. 

Jason wrapped Viggo’s small body in his heavy leather jacket. He helped him put his legs where the arms were suppose to go, so as to create some kind of pants for him, and wrapped his upper body with the rest of his jacket. 

Jason was a tall man, and Viggo ? A rather short eight year old. The Red Hood’s jacket fitted around him perfectly, big enough to wrap all around him. 

The boy took a few deep breath, but was still not speaking. And his teeth were clacking against each others...

Jason took him in his arms, and held him close, rubbing his back and legs in an attempt to warm him. 

“Come on Viggo, you’re ok son, you’re ok. Right ? You’re ok. You’re breathing. You just need to warm up, you’ll be fine. Right ? You’re ok, you’re ok.” 

Jason heard himself chant, more trying to convince himself than anything else. And Viggo was still not talking...but his teeth and shaking were slowly disappearing. 

Until finally, he calmed down and snuck closer to Jason, snuggling his little face in the man’s warm chest. 

“Viggo ? Are you ok ?” 

“The Jason...”

Fuck. He recognized him. Well, duh, of course he did, Jason had to take his helmet off to give him CPR, and didn’t put it back on. Obviously he was going to recognize him ! Well. Too fucking bad. It was too late now to do anything about it anyway. 

So what if he knew his secret identity ? Jason trusted that kid enough to know he’ll never tell anyone else. Viggo pulled away from Jason slightly, and, still wrap tightly in the leather jacket, he managed to free an arm and reached up to lay a small cold hand on the man’s tears riddled cheek. 

“This explains a lot.” 

For a second, Jason lost himself to the touch of his little boy. Yes. “His”. He didn’t even want to hide how he felt about that kid anymore. In his heart, Viggo had been his son for a long time. And finally being able to be near him again made Jason feel lightheaded. 

He had dreamt for so long, to be able to talk, play with and hug that little one. Just like when he was still dating you. Putting him in bed, and telling him bedtime stories, as you looked upon the both of them fondly. 

Jason had craved, without even realizing it, to see that kid again. And so here, as he laid his small hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears...Jason couldn’t help but feel a little helpless. A little overwhelmed. 

He was suppose to be the one reassuring the kid right now, after that traumatic experience. And yet, here was Viggo, wrapped like a little bundle of hay in his leather jacket, comforting him by his mere touch. 

For a few seconds, his words didn’t register quite well in Jason’s head until...What ? Uh ? What does “this” explain ? But before Jason could ask, Viggo continues :

“That’s why you left right ? Because you’re Red Hood. You didn’t want us to get involved in all that right ?” 

Viggo said, showing the three unconscious men around him. And there’s hope in his eyes, and for a moment, Jason thinks about breaking that kid’s heart forever...but he can’t. 

He was planing on just saving him and then bringing him home to his mom, but stay cold and distant with him. Stay away. Make him hate him. Not leaving any hope that Jason cared...But here he was, crying his eyes out as he cradled that small boy in his arms, paternal instinct seeping out of his every pore. 

And so he couldn’t. He couldn’t stay away from that boy, he knew now. Just like he knew since the beginning that he couldn’t stay away from you forever. 

Seeing this hopeful little boy. He just can’t break Viggo’s heart, not after what just happened to him. And damn, why did that kid had to be so insightful and smart ? So observant, too ? Suddenly, he was reminded of all the time you told him that sometimes, having an intelligent kid wasn’t that great. 

Because Viggo always seemed to understand what he wasn’t suppose to understand. Always seem to know when things were up, and figured things out way too fast (for real, the easter egg chase wasn’t even fun as he quickly figured out wherever the “easter Bunny” could have put eggs...). 

And so Jason looks at Viggo, and he can’t. He just can’t. He can't decide to leave for good. Even more so because even as he thought he was safe if he left his life, he got hurt tonight and...

“You know, we’d be safer if you were with us right ? See, you left us and for the first time in my life I almost died. You should stick around...” 

Jason couldn’t do that to him. He couldn’t do that to that cute little one...He couldn’t resolve himself to definitely break his heart and shove him out of his life. Because he loved that kid. To death. And when he got hurt he got so angry, so sick with worries, so helpless, so...so... 

Jason couldn’t do that to him. But he also couldn’t do that to himself. He couldn’t stay away like that. He couldn't...Maybe it was selfish, but he didn’t want to not be part of your life, of Viggo’s life. He...He wanted to...he...

Viggo, thoughtfully, was still wiping away Jason’s tears. Not missing one. Focused on his task, as he continued : 

”If we’re with you, you can protect us. It’s easier. Cause you’re already there. And you’re Red Hood. So you will always protect us. I’m guessing your family are the rest of the people ? Batman and all ? If we stick around with you, and with them, we’ll be safe for sure. Right ? So you should really come back. And stay with us. Stay with me.”

Jason’s breath caught, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes again. But this time, they were happy ones. Because here, in front of that brave, smart little boy, he never felt so joyful before in his life. 

Here, as he finally decided what the actual right thing to do was. 

“Smart cookie...” 

He says, and then he grabs Viggo by the shoulder before hugging him tight against his heart. Not letting go. Not ever planing on letting go again. 

“Don’t leave me alone again, Jason...” 

“I won’t, I promise.” 

Viggo wraps his little arms around Jason’s neck, and hold him with all his force. Hugging him like he never hugged anyone before, refusing to let go.

Jason doesn’t mind, of course. On the contrary. He gives the embrace back, and stands up, holding the kid against him. Viggo clings to him for dear life, and Jason has absolutely no intention of letting go.

Not this time.

Not ever. 

“I’ll never leave you alone again.”

This time, Viggo knows that Jason won’t ever go back on his words. Because there’s so much strength, so much certainty in his few words...Yes. Viggo knows. He knows he finally found what he had been looking for for so long. 

And so the little boy lays his head against Jason, and says, right before falling asleep after all those emotions he went through : 

“Thank you, dad.” 

************

An hour before Red hood saves Viggo : 

Jess owed money to the Falcone family. And they took your kid in hope to ask for a ransom to Bruce Wayne. 

When you explained you weren't with Jason anymore, Jess panicked and got angry...But then he remembered that Bruce Wayne had paid for the release of total strangers before. Of people he didn’t even know, helping out just because he could. So paying for his son’s ex girlfriend ? He’ll do it. 

You tried to tell him this was a ridiculous plan, and to give Viggo back to you before anything could happen but...that’s when he shattered your heart as he explained that your son was already in the Falcones’ hands. 

Your mind went blank. You’re pretty sure you insulted and threatened him some more, until you realized there was no point in doing so, right now, you unfortunately had to work with him. 

You obviously agreed to not call the police. Not that they’d help much anyway. Plus them knowing would most likely involve the “Bats”, and neither you nor Jess wanted that. 

Because no matter how much you admired those night vigilante, and how much you were sure they were needed in Gotham, you were too worried for your son’s safety to want them involved ! 

And so the obvious next step was...To go to Wayne Manor, and beg for their help. Deep down, you were pretty sure you wouldn’t have to beg that much anyway, knowing how Bruce had been a few days before, when Viggo skipped school to bring back his birthday present to the Manor. 

They had ice cream. They played together. They talked. They...They bonded. You knew Bruce really liked Viggo. And really liked you. You knew he would help. But it’s still very nervous that you drove to there. 

************

A few minutes before Red Hood saves Viggo : 

It was rather late, when you arrived at the Manor and rung the bell. To your surprise, Alfred didn’t answer the door. Bruce did (it was rather late at night, and Gotham had been quiet. He came home early that day, taking advantage of the quietness to take care of Wayne Inc business). 

“Wait wait, (Y/N) calm down, calm down. I don’t understand anything you say. Please breathe, and start over.” 

He listened to you, a serious face on. Asking you questions sometimes, to have more details. He listened to your entire story, and he felt his blood boil. 

That Jess...How dare he ?! Bruce felt an intense urge to hurt him. To make him regret, to make him suffer, for what he did to you and Viggo. It kind of surprised him, to realize how strongly he felt about this entire issue. 

It made him realize, in that moment, that you and your son were already holding a special place in his heart. That all he was waiting for up until now, was for his son to wake up and get back together with you ! 

It made him realize, as some of his worst side surface, thinking of all the ways he could make Jess suffer, that you two were already family to him. And the would do anything to protect you. So when he listened to you, hearing that Jess gave Viggo to the Falcones’ to pay off his debt, int he hope that your tie to the Wayne family would be enough...His blood boiled. 

He, of course, did not hesitate one second to accompany you to the address Jess gave you, “taking his checkbook” with him...Though he had no intention of letting that sleazy ball off the hook that easily. 

************

The present : 

It was infuriating, to see Jess smile as he opened the door to see you and Bruce Wayne himself. 

The little shit was so sure he’d won...it drove you crazy, that he actually did. Because you were here, with Bruce Wayne himself. So of course he won. Bruce was going to give him money to get Viggo back, and Jess would get away with it (again). 

The man was actually pretty proud of himself. He handled the situation perfectly, he thought. He came a long way, since having his head shoved in a puddle of water huh ? 

Ugh. But he was so obviously proud of himself, it made you furious. And if you weren’t so worried about your son’s safety, you would have already punched him and told Bruce it was time to go. 

However, Viggo’s life was on the line. You could feel your son being in genuine danger. And so you did not do anything when he said : 

“Please, come on in.” 

You followed him in the living room, noticing that your boy’s luggage hadn’t even been unpacked...Your poor baby must have been so scared. Must still be so scared right now, surrounded with strangers ! 

You hoped to everything you held holly that he was ok. That you’d be able to take him in your arms soon. That things would go back to normal. 

And your heart bled at the mere thought of your son all alone, with strangers, and scared. You wanted to hold him against you, you wanted to-wanted to...Bruce’s gaze was fixed on you, and his jaw visibly clenched as he saw tears starting to well up in your eyes. 

It was fairly easy to know what was running through your brain right now. He had been in somewhat similar situations than yours before, with his own children. Each and everyone of them had been in danger at some point, and everything had relied on his shoulder to save them. 

More than once, he failed to...Jason suffered the consequences of him not being fast enough...The anger this entire situation provoked in Bruce came rushing back, and he turned to Jess, glaring at him. 

All of a sudden, the man lost his color, as the famous Bruce Wayne gave him a threatening look. Yo. What was up with that guy ? He always seemed so charming on Tv ? Now sure the situation wasn’t really one to be happy about, of course, but everything would go well if Bruce signed that check. Like chill, it was fine, the situation was handled perfectly well ! 

You were about to say something, but Bruce didn’t let you. Because there, right now, faced with Jess’ infuriating satisfied smile, Bruce took a decision. And so he says : 

“(Y/N) wait for me outside. This is a business transaction between Mister...I do not know your last name. Mister Jess here, and I.”

You look at him, surprise, and starts to say a  “But-” but he cuts you off instantly : 

“I insist, please.” 

You don’t know what made you listen to him, but you can’t find the energy inside you not to. Usually, you would have argued. Say that there was no way, and that you were gonna stay. But...

Bruce had a tone of voice that was hard to resist to. 

Plus, you realized that you were completely and utterly trusting him, and if he said you should wait outside, there must be a reason. So without arguing further, you gave him a knowing look and exited the house, going back to the car. 

Bruce turns to Jess, and smiles. A dangerous, scary smile. A “Batman” smile. Jess takes an unsure step back, and says : 

“So um...are you writing that check or what ? The soonest we’re done with it, the soonest we can get Viggo back.” 

That was the straw that broke the camel. The moment Jess should have shut up. Too bad for him now. In a swift move, not letting Jess the time to even know what was happening, Bruce caught him by the collar of his shirt and brought him up to his face. 

Bruce was much taller than Jess, and quickly, Jess’ feet left the ground. 

“Oh what the fuck man ? What are you-”

“How dare you ? Your own son ?! How dare you use him like that ?!” 

“Put me down man ok ? I’m sorry but I didn’t have a choice, I-” 

Bruce did not want to hear it. He knew what was going to happen, if he let go. Jess was going to find himself excuses. He was going to justify his disgusting actions. And he was going to stall, and not tell him where Viggo truly was. 

And Bruce didn’t want to hear any of it. He was about to cut to the chase. No beating around the bush on that one. “Beating”, what an interesting word...

Bruce threw Jess against his fridge, and the man fell on his ass, the wind knocked out of his lungs. Maybe a few cracked ribs. Definitely lots of bruises.

But Bruce wasn’t finished yet, oh no. He took hold of the man’s collar again, and dragged him to the kitchen’s table, where he smashed his back on said table and head butted him. Hard. Pretty sure he broke his nose. 

Jess yelled in pain and fear, and tried to squirm his way out of Bruce’s grasp, but he clearly had no idea who he was facing. 

“Where is Viggo ?” 

Bruce asked, holding Jess against the table with even more force. 

“I don’t know ok ! They took him and I-” 

Bruce rolled his eyes and straightened Jess back up, before punching him in the face. Not using his full force, of course. After all, he needed the man conscious for his interrogation... 

“Enough bullshit, where is he ?” 

“I don’t-” 

“Tell me you don’t know one more time, lie to me one more time, and I’ll break your knee cap.” 

Bruce says, setting Jess on the floor in front of him and taking hold of one of his leg. Bruce laid a foot on Jess’ chest, making sure the man couldn’t move, and slowly twisted his knee. 

“Outch outch outch please, please stop !” 

“Tell me where the boy is.” 

“Stop ! Please stop !” 

But Bruce had no intention to stop. He was sure (gut feelings) that Jess knew where Viggo was, and he wasn’t about to let that asshole get away with all this.

Punching him felt incredibly satisfying. And right now ? Crushing his ribs cage under his foot so he wouldn’t move, and slowly twisting his leg as to give him as much pain as possible ? Well, Bruce didn’t know he could feel such pleasure hurting others. 

But when someone touched his family, he tended to lose control... 

“Alright fine fine !! Ok ok stop ! I know where he is ! I know where he is ! I’ll tell you everything ok ? I’ll tell you everything !” 

But Bruce doesn’t quite let go of the leg yet, instead, he raises an eyebrow and says : 

“Start talking.” 

And Jess indeed started to talk. He gave all the informations Bruce needed, and there, laid on the floor of his kitchen, looking miserable and pitiable, face bloodied and bruised...Bruce couldn’t help himself. 

As soon as he got the informations, he made a quick snapping motion and broke Jess’ leg. And he would have done more, if it wasn’t for you waiting, impatiently in his car. 

He was worried that you’d worry too much. He wanted this to be over quick, but he also wanted to give Jess something to think about. 

Jess’ scream resonated inside the house, and he grabbed at his limped leg screaming : 

“WHAT THE FUCK YOU FUCKING PSYCHO !!??” 

But Bruce only looked at him with hatred in his eyes, scoffing once more and saying : 

“I’m the psycho ? Maybe. But I never sold my own children to the mafia. I never ran away from taking care of my kids once. Sure I have many flaws, I might have liked a bit too much snapping your leg like a twig, but at least I’m not a piece of shit like you who doesn’t even care in the least about his own son.” 

Ah. So that was it. More than Jess attacking his family, it was the fact that he dared to give away his son that easily, that infuriated Bruce. Now he realized it. And of course, to Bruce, his children were everything. 

So seeing a man as despicable as Jess, never even wanting to meet his son up until he owed money, and used him...It drove him mad. 

“What does it matter to you anyway ? I never even wanted kids ! She forced it on me you know !” 

Jess whined, and he immediately realized once again, he should have shut up. Because now Bruce, who was about to leave, was kneeling down next to him and grabbing him by the collar again : 

“She forced it on you ? Please, tell me the story. I heard her side, I’m sure you have a lot to say about yours.” 

Never in his life would Jess have think that the charming and smiling Bruce Wayne he saw on TV could be that scary, but there he was, staring at him with dead eyes and talking in that creepy voice... 

“I mean I...She didn’t quite force it it’s just...Ok maybe when she got pregnant I said we should keep it, and maybe I acted like I was excited but it’s because of the...pressure, you know ? Of the...um...I...” 

“Say you’re sorry.” 

“You just broke my leg and you want me to-outch outch outch SORRY !”

Bruce was pushing down on Jess’ broken legs, pressing exactly where the bones broke, and got what he wanted out of him. With a last look full of disgust, Bruce stood back up and started to leave, saying : 

“You don’t deserve to have a child like Viggo. Or a girl like (Y/N) in your life. I suggest you never enter in contact with them again, or I’ll come back. Better yet, my son, Jason, who’s dating (Y/N) ? He’ll come back. And believe me when I say he’s much less patient than I am.” 

Bruce was about to leave but Jess desperately threw himself in his legs and grabbed at the bottom of his pants. Whining, in pain, he managed to say : 

“Wait man, you can’t-You can’t just leave like that ! If they know I told you anything, they’re going to kill me ! You hear, kill me !” 

Bruce looked down upon Jess with great disdain, and scoffed. 

“And how is that my problem ?” 

He said, before leaving the room. 

Now, of course, his “no killing” rule applied to “not letting someone kill another person”. If he could avoid any death, Bruce would do it, and most likely, he’ll set up a surveillance of some sort to make sure Jess wouldn’t get killed. 

Well, to be honest, Bruce was actually planing on getting Jess behind bars. It would be somewhat easier to make sure he wouldn’t die that way, plus he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. He was pretty sure that the charge of kidnapping, and in a way attempted murder would be enough to let him rot in prison for a long time. Plus if he had ties with the Falcones...

Yes. Bruce obviously wouldn’t let Jess die, no matter how scummy he was. But hey, Jess himself didn’t know that, did he ? He had no idea that Bruce Wayne was the famous Batman. 

And you know what ? It was utterly satisfying, to see a bloodied Jess weeping on his floor, scared to death, so sure he was going to die...Very satisfying indeed. 

************

When Bruce came back in the car, the first thing you noticed was his bruised knuckles. But you didn’t say anything. 

You listened to him filling you in, listening to him saying that they were holding your son in an old warehouse and that was the rendezvous point, and didn’t mention the bloodied hands. 

You could only imagine Jess’ state, by the look of Bruce’s damaged knuckles. And so you just smiled lowly, knowing that at least for this once, justice was somewhat served...

************

Bruce goes in the warehouse alone, leaving you in the car. He convinced you that it was better if he went alone, as they would expect him anyway more than you...But the truth was, he didn’t want to put your life in danger. 

He wasn’t about to come in from the front door, if Falcone’s guys were involved, they were most certainly armed and dangerous. He couldn’t risk an entrance obvious like that, Viggo’s life could be in jeopardy. 

Bruce noticed a window open on the first floor, and made his way up there quick, lifting himself up thanks to his arms’ strength and agility. He raised his turtle neck all the way to his eyes, so they wouldn’t recognize his face, and slip into the warehouse...

To discover that someone came here before. 

Viggo was nowhere to be seen, and three men were laying on the floor, definitely not in a great shape. 

Bruce let himself fall on the ground, and went to check the men. 

They were definitely Falcone’s. He recognized their guns, no other used this specific build. The two men had been roughed up pretty bad, and were unconscious. Not much infos to get out of them. 

But a bit further, was a third man. He was soaked from head to toe, and barely breathing. A batarang was stuck in his shoulder. 

Bruce knelt down and made sure the man was actually still alive. He was, but he was definitely weak. Bruce quickly made an anonymous call to the closest hospital and to the police, and gave them the address to the warehouse. 

But the men didn’t interest Bruce further. No. What interested him was those water marks, there, near the unconscious-batarang-to-the-shoulder-man. It was shape like someone kneeling next to a small person. 

Or rather. A child. Viggo. 

Bruce felt his heart beating faster, what happened ? Was he too late ? Did the worst happen ? 

Next to the water marks, he found a little piece of fabric...Brown leather...

“Jason...” 

Bruce said out loud, recognizing from where this piece of fabric came from. His son’s leather Red Hood jacket. Ah. So he got here first. But how did he know ? 

Suddenly however, Bruce felt more at ease. 

Because of Jason managed to get here and Viggo wasn’t around anymore, it surely meant that...He saved him, right ? The fact that there was water everywhere was a bit alarming, but Jason would never give up on that little boy...Just like Bruce would never give up on his son. 

He stood up, and went straight to the exit of the warehouse and to his car, where you were waiting. 

“What happened ? Where is Viggo ?!” 

You asked, full of panic. But strangely, Bruce’s words calmed you down (even though he was freaking out internally as well, he hid it well) : 

“He’s with Jason.” 

“What ?” 

“I’ll explain on the way, ok ? And please...bear with me.” 

************

Viggo couldn’t believe it. Wow. WOW ! So THIS was the Batcave huh ? 

That was crazy. There were so many things, Viggo just didn’t know where to look ! Was that a dinosaur ? AN ACTUAL FUCKING DINOSAUR ?! And what was up with that giant coins anyway ? 

Jason had brought him here a few minutes ago, and sat him up on the infirmary table. And though at first Viggo felt very sleepy (he slept most of the way, curled up against Jason even as Jay was driving back to the bat cave), being there, in the middle of this amazing place (the infirmary was where there was most lights, in the center of the cave) woke him up instantly ! 

But when it seemed like Jason was leaving, Viggo had clutched to his sleeve, scared to be alone again, but Jason reassured him that he was just going to fetch some clothes for him. 

At the same time, Jason took advantage of this to fill his brothers in on what was happening. The night had indeed been calm for them, and they were all already home. 

Their father had gone earlier, without telling them where, which was surprising but...he could tell him everything later. He knew that he wouldn’t be mad that he brought Viggo back to the cave.

Once everyone knew what was up, they surrounded Viggo and gave him words of support and encouragement, making him feel like he was...part of the family. 

Like they really were his super cool and dedicated uncles and aunt. 

Damian especially, tried to cheer the little boy up, knowing how traumatic this kind of experience could be. Cassandra was the only one that didn’t say much, but she clutched his hand and Viggo felt instantly better just with this. 

A few minutes later, Jason came back with some of his old clothes (that every single kid after him wore, including Cassandra) and gave them to Viggo. They were still a bit too big for the boy, but it was good enough. 

A red hoodie (of course), some sweatpants they all wore during training (they were in remarkable condition really), and socks. He couldn’t find shoes that would fit him, so he just brought some slippers that were too big but with which he could still walk. 

However, right now, Jason forbid the boy to walk, as he still had to get over the shock of almost drowning...Well to be honest, Jason had to get over the shock of almost losing his boy. Because Viggo ? 

He kept gawking at everything in the cave, and asking hundreds of questions to everyone, and seemed completely fine. Jason however needed to-

“MOM !” 

Viggo jumped from the table he was sitting on, and started running towards the entrance of the cave. The entrance coming from the house. 

Confused, Jason turned back and...his heart clenched. 

There you were. With his father ? 

The hell just happened ? Wait, doesn’t matter, because you were there. And Jason found himself, despite how awful those past few days had been, smiling like an idiot just by seeing you. 

But...Were you going to forgive him for leaving you like he did ? 

Viggo was almost to you now. On the way, he lost both his slippers but it didn’t matter. You closed up the rest of the way, running to him, and grabbed him in your arms, clutching him against your heart as he returned your embrace. 

You took a good look at him, looking at his face, arms, legs, making sure he wasn’t hurt. But the only thing he seemed to have was a few bad bruise on his face, and a swollen eye. Other than that, he seemed perfectly healthy. 

The batfamily gave you and your son time to hug each other, kiss each other and whisper promises that you’ll never leave each others again. And then, slowly, you turned to Jason. 

The man was pretty sure that he heard Viggo say “be nice” to you as you walked towards him. 

Jason saw Viggo go to Bruce, but he barely register how cute it was that Bruce just instantly picked up the kid as if it was normal, as if he had always been his grandkid, and mentioned something about...ice cream ?

Because you were in front of him now, and he couldn’t read your face at all. Were you happy ? Relieved ? Mad ? Sad ? Furious ? 

It seems like you’re about to reach for him, but then, at the last second, your hand bunch up in a fist and you punch him in the guts instead. With all your might. 

In the background, you’re pretty sure you heard Damian exclaiming : “Haha yeah ! Serves him right !” and his siblings half-heartedly telling him to not say such things, even if they kinda agreed. 

Ok. So you were definitely mad. Jason was straightening back up and ready to apologize profusely to you, when you grabbed him by the back of his neck and crashed your mouth against his. 

Savagely. Fiercely. Whole heartedly. 

Passed the first few seconds of surprise, Jason kissed you back. 

With all his heart too, passionately, fervently. 

The world around you dissolved slowly, as there was just you and Jason now. Just his lips moving against yours. Just his tongue licking your mouth open, and then tangling with yours ardently. 

You don’t even hear your son asking Bruce to take him away to get some ice cream because this was getting gross, and everyone slowly leaving to go upstairs, in the Manor to leave you two alone to...Figure things out. 

The kiss dragged for long minutes, his arms were now tightly wrapped around your waist, as yours were around his neck. 

Days of heartbreak, of regrets, of sadness and frustration...vanished in the force of this beautiful kiss. 

When finally you separated from each other, you whispered : 

“Don’t ever decide something for me like that again, Jason...” 

Ah. Of course, just like your son, you figured out why he left. Jason figured that his father probably told you about this all...”Batman/vigilante” thing while driving you here. Eh, he’ll ask him about details later, right now, it wasn’t important, as he answers : 

“I thought you’d be safer without me. That you deserved better.”

“I decide what I deserve.” 

The way you sound so sure of yourself, so adamant...it makes him feel lightheaded once again. Just like when Viggo touched his cheek, wiping his tears again. 

It makes him feel so utterly happy, that he doesn’t know how to react. And he finds himself kissing you again, his lips reluctant to let go of yours. His arms definitely not letting go of you. 

“I decide what I deserve.”...Yes, yes you do. How foolish was he, to think he could ever stay away from you anyway ? When you were so strong and...Everything he ever wanted ? 

He pulls away from the kiss, and says : 

“I have to tell you, (Y/N)-”

“If you’re about to tell me how dangerous it is for me to stay with you, or some bullshit like that, I’ll punch you again. I’ll have you know that as soon as you left us, that’s when we started to be in danger...” 

The exact same words your son used. Well, like mother like son. After all, your boy had to inherit all his greatness from someone. And it was certainly not from Jess. ...Jess, whatever happened to him ? 

Jason figured that if you were with his dad, it probably meant you went to see Jess and retraced Viggo’s whereabouts and...It didn’t matter for now. He’ll ask his dad later. And he’ll pay a little visit to Jess later, too. 

“No, I wasn’t about to say that.” 

“Oh. Sorry. Ok, well go on then.”  

“Ok - deep breath - I...I want you to know. That this. You and I. I’m in. I’m all in. I’ve always been all in, but I was also an idiot. But now ? Tonight has been eye opening. And from now on, I’ll be there. I won’t leave, unless you want me to. Ever. I’ll never even think, of leaving. I love you. I love you so much. And I know now that I...I can’t live without you. And without Viggo. You two, are my life. I realized that when dumbass me broke up with you, it felt like dying...And I would know how that feels like, believe me. I...I just love you. And you’ll never be “too much” for me, never. In fact, every seconds with you aren’t enough. I love you.”

Wow. You were...certainly not expecting such a love confession. You found yourself speechless, while you wished you could tell him so much. But right now, the shock and joy you felt stopped you from saying anything. 

And so you kissed him again, whispering a “I love you” against his lips. And he smiled in the kiss, dragging you with him to the elevator leading up to Wayne Manor. 

That night, maybe you were unable to tell him how much you truly loved him, but you definitely showed it to him, rolling around with him in his sheets all night long...

All the while, Bruce and his other kids were having ice cream with Viggo, living their best life binge watching fails video on YouTube. Bruce figured he should give you and Jason some private time...Plus, he really didn’t mind at all spending time with that little boy. 

On the contrary... 

************

Two years later : 

“Dada !” 

The little girl exclaims excitedly, moving her arms and legs around and grabbing at the man’s face lovingly. She repeats the word a few times, almost singing it, and then giggles happily.

“No Laura, granddada ! I’m GRAND-dada, not dada !” 

Bruce says for the hundred times, as Jason’s daughter is sitting on his lap, facing him and now apparently very interested in his eyebrows. 

She stands clumsily on his lap, and reaches up, giggling to herself, and Bruce can’t help but give her a fond look full of love, letting her pulling his eyebrows even if it’s painful. Ah, he’d let that little girl do anything really. The joy of being a grandfather. You could spoil rotten the kids, without fear of any consequences ! 

Except maybe for a few mis-plucked eyebrows...

“Don’t bother dad, Except for her mom whom she calls “mama” and for Viggo that she calls “ ‘igo”, she calls everyone she likes “Dada.””

Jason says sadly, plopping down in the couch next to his dad. 

You, Jason, Viggo and little Laura were visiting the mansion today, to the rest of the family’s greatest pleasure. Dick came by too, just to see everyone, and it quickly became a very pleasant family day. 

“How is it fair that she calls her and only her mama ? But then as soon as she kind of like someone she calls them “dada” ? I swear Roy is annoying the hell out of me with that, and he’s telling her that he is indeed, her dada !” 

Jason continues, a bit of frustration in his voice. Bruce laughs, unable to stop himself at how sweet it is to see his son get upset at such a trivial thing. Happy, too, that his son can get upset at such a trivial, normal thing, and that his worries aren’t always related to his...”night life”.

“But isn’t it good, dad, that she calls everyone she likes “dada” ? It means that she decided that your name fitted the best the people she loves, because you know, you’re someone she loves very much !” 

Jason turns to his son’s voice, and Viggo smiles at him brightly. 

Sometimes, like right now, Jason couldn’t quite believe that this was real life. That he really had a family now, and that they were just so...so...So perfect. 

You’re walking behind Viggo, and you smile mischievously as you see how upset Jason is that your daughter calls basically everyone nice to her “dada”, and go to him. He grabs you by the waist and drag you on top of his lap, to then kiss you. 

Viggo immediately looks away, and goes to his grandfather to hide both his sister’s AND Bruce’s eyes, that sweet little man. He then says : 

“Ew, I try to cheer you up and you answer with a sneak kiss attack on mom. So gross !” 

Once again, Bruce chuckles. He never laughed so much than in the presence of his grandchildren...But both Viggo and tiny little Laura were extremely funny and sweet, he couldn’t help but smile and laugh when with them ! 

Damian was coming in now, with a plate full of cookies (made specifically by Alfred so that a one year old little girl could eat them without any danger), and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch, before going to seat in-between his father and Jason, making the latter growl because it meant that he had to shift you in his lap and damn, the little sucker couldn’t sit elsewhere ? 

But Damian wanted to sit next to his beloved niece. He had a cookie in his hand, and with a fond smile that appeared on his face only when in the presence of his niece and nephew (like father, like son), Damian gave the cookie to Laura. 

The little girl reached for it cheerfully, and patted Damian on the head as a “thank you” (and if it was anyone else but her, Damian would have been furious), and raised the cookie up in the air. She pointed at it and, with a voice full joy and excitement said : 

“DADA !” 

Everyone in the room burst into laughter, as Jason’s smile was replaced with a vexed frown when he realized his daughter was calling a damn cookie “dada”...

The End (?). 

________________________________________________

AND BAM ! The end. I hope you liked it ? Don’t hesitate to leave a feedback and/or reblog ! It’s always very appreciated and encouraging <3 ! Also, I’m thinking of making a little “epilogue” to this story, just fluffiness and cuteness with Jason’s new little family. I mean, I’m convinced he’d be a great dad, so...kinda wanna write more about him with Viggo, and his little girl :). Anyway. Tell me what ya think about that too, and thanks for reading ! This was a blast to write.

Oh and I hope that all Jess story isn't confusing. I didn’t want to go into details about his backstory, so I hope it’s clear enough that he just basically owes money to the wrong people, and bam. That he had been living in Gotham all those years, just avoiding to see reader or Viggo. And that he did some stupid shit...Which prompted him to use reader and his own son ! And bam. Piece of shit alright. I just hope it’s not confusing and was clear enough, as I tried to make it understandable without going into boring details cause the story definitely isn’t about that asshole.  

[huilian]

Seemed Like Lifetimes Ago

Characters: Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown

Summary:  "Do you want to be considered a Robin?" Nightwing asked. Steph blinked once, twice. She had no idea how to reply to that question.

A/N: Blame my 1 am brain for this. I’m supposed to study for English Midterms, but this counts as studying English? No? 

title from In the Heights by Lin Manuel-Miranda

"Do you want to be considered a Robin?" Nightwing asked. Steph blinked once, twice. She had no idea how to reply to that question. 

She met Nightwing when she found a thug running away from a scene. Apparently, Dick followed a drug trail from Blüd to Gotham and decided to do a bust there. One thug managed to escape, but not really, because he met with yours truly. 

After all was said and done (by said and done, Steph meant that all the thugs have been apprehended, tied up, and left strung for GCPD. Dick had collected some evidence, but hey, that was hardly Steph's business. It was from Blüd.), Nightwing had challenged Spoiler to a building climbing contest. 

Steph didn't really know why he bothered asking her. It's not like she would give him any hardship in winning. Steph couldn't win. She couldn't win against Cass, she couldn't win againts Tim, she especially couldn't win against Nightwing. However, a challenge was never to be declined in this family, and so they climbed a building. 

As predicted, Nightwing won. (Of course he won. Steph didn't know why she even bothered.) Steph found him lounging on the roof when she managed to (finally, painstakingly) climbed the building. 

(The challenge was issued with the condition of no grapple gun use. What kind of lunatic does that?

Nightwing. Nightwing is exactly the kind of lunatic that will do it. Now she could see where Tim got his reckless streak from.)

Still out of breath from climbing a fucking building, thank you very much, Steph was then faced with a question she had asked herself for years, now. Does she want to be considered a Robin? 

"I know you were only Robin for what? A few weeks? I also know B was an ass during your time as Robin.”

The statement that Bruce was an ass was such a universal truth that it managed to unlock Steph's mouth. "Batman didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"Consider me Robin."

Dick huffed out an almost laugh. "Did no one tell you?" He turned around to face Steph, and even though his eyes were covered with his domino, Steph tell that the smile he gave her was genuine. "B does not get to decide who gets to become Robin. I do."

"So?"

"Hmm?"

It's like he didn't even noticed. It was never her call whether or not she was Robin. It was always someone else's. "Have you decided whether or not I am Robin?" Steph spat out. 

"That's up to you to decide. Do you want to be considered a Robin?"

Wait. Was he really asking her if she wants to be considered Robin?

Steph stopped. Sat down. Thought out the question for real for the first time ever. 

She thought of weeks of training, with Bruce always behind her shoulder, telling her she was not good enough. Steph thought of always being scrutinized- what was the saying Bruce always told her?  Ah. One strike and you're out. Steph thought of people constantly underestimating her, of people saying she was not the real Robin. 

Being Robin was the best weeks of her life. She knew without a doubt what to say. 

"Yes."

Nightwing shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Then you're Robin. Welcome to the club, sister."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. I have seen you in action, you know."

Oh. That was actually quite reassuring. The seal of approval from Richard John Grayson, first Robin, once Batman, and current Nightwing. Unfortunately, the Bat had trained her too well to accept compliments. (It's a Problem for everyone in the family. Ask anyone.)

"So not every kid saying they want to be Robin gets to be a Robin?" Steph teased. (Teasing is good. Teasing is familiar.)

"Of course not." Dick looked so indignant that Steph had (i) to laugh. 

"Hey! Why are you laughing?" Oh god. He looked even more indignant now. Steph could see why Babs was so entranced with him. 

"It's just…pffftt, your face!"

"What's wrong with my face? Is it too handsome for you?" God. Who knew Dick could be so, so, relaxed. Steph had minimal interactions with him when she was Spoiler, and when she was Batgirl, well. He was Batman. That's really all that can be said about it. 

After Steph's laughter had died down, Dick spoke up again. "I should ask O for shared custody of you."

Wait. Hold up. "Shared custody?"

Dick gestured with his hands. "You know. You're Robin. But you're also Batgirl. So, I should ask for shared custody."

"Does that means you have custody of Hood? And Red Robin?"

"Don't you know?"

What. "And O has custody of, what? BB and me?"

"Well, now that you said you're Robin, I should get custody of you too."

What. 

And then Dick burst out laughing. That jerk. 

"I got you back, Spoiler."

Steph punched him in the shoulder. Dick let her do it. 

"Was it good? Being Robin?" he asked. He sounded so concerned about the answer that Stephanie decided to answer truthfully. 

"Yes." Being Robin was exhausting. It was frustrating. It was being pushed to the absolute limit, yet still being told you're not good enough. But by the grace of God, it was good. 

"I'm glad."

It was silent for a while before Steph said, "So, when are you going to teach me your moves, N?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, come on!" Steph let her arms go over her head. "I've heard stories, you know. From Red. From the little brat. Even from Hood. When are you going to teach me?"

"You want me to teach you… what? My moves?"

"Duh! Of course I want you to teach me your moves. It's practically legendary, by now."

"Who told you that?" 

"Everybody." Steph raised her eyebrows. The good thing about wearing a mask on the bottom half of her face was that her eyebrows are visible, and therefore she can enunciate her expressions much, much better than if she were wearing a domino. 

Dick put a hand on his face. "O told you, didn't she?"

"With great remarks of the quality of your, ahem, moves, while doing so." The downside of wearing a mask on the bottom half of her face was that her mouth was not visible, and therefore Dick couldn't see the smirk she had spent so long perfecting. 

With a hand still on his face, Dick said, "Just for that, your training starts now." Suddenly he was not lounging next to her on the roof, but already preparing to jump to the next. "Catch me, Spoiler!"

Steph groaned. This was going to be a long night.

[88y53]

Batman v. Superman: World’s Finest — What I Would’ve Done

It’s safe to say whatever plan Z*ck S*yder had in mind for the DCEU isn’t going to happen. How we got to this point is really a matter of opinion, but if you ask me, it all comes down to Batman v Superman. 

I really don’t care what people have to say in defense of it because I’ve read the essays, I’ve listened to the podcasts, I’ve talked to fans — I’ve heard it all. None of that changes the fact that general audiences rejected this movie. Flatly rejected it. You can argue that this rejection was indicative of the audience being too stupid, spoiled, obstinate, brainwashed by Marvel, whatever — that doesn’t change anything.

So, how could this reaction have been avoided? I’m glad you asked, Nobody.

Before Chris Terrio was brought on board, David S. Goyer wrote a script for what seemed to be a pretty by-the-numbers World’s Finest movie — Superman and Batman teaming up and parting on good terms. 

Basically. I took that outline, cut out a lot of bits that made the film an Idiot Plot (see here: “https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/IdiotPlot/DCExtendedUniverse”), and came up with this:

[If you read to the end I try to give a fair and balanced view on the original film and I why I felt the way I did, if that’s any incentive]

-----------

The film opens with Batman chasing down the Joker, accompanied by a solemn narration from the hero. Finally catching up, Batman just starts pummeling Joker without holding anything back, and wrapping his hands around the clown’s throat. The scene ends before anything definitive happens.

The next scene starts with a little girl trapped under rubble and rebar, weeping and choking out a cry for help through the dust and darkness, but no one can hear her. Suddenly the rubble starts shifting, and she braces herself to be crushed and entombed where no one will ever find her, only for the concrete to lift away as Superman reaches for her. Haloed by a beam of light, he smiles and simply says, “it’s okay. I’ve got you.” Handing her off to the firefighters, we see that this is still in the aftermath of the Black Zero event, and Superman is using his x-ray vision and super-hearing to find any survivors in the ruins of Metropolis.

One of these survivors is a man who was horribly mangled by debris. His name is John Corben, ex-special forces turned private security officer. [I’m eliminating the Nirobe scene because it makes the plot over-complicated and is just kind of dumb: so, the CIA sends in a secret agent but can’t invest in better tracking equipment, like phones? Specially designed bullets (that can easily be traced back to the owners because they were part of a government contract) can punch through meat and bone but gets stuck in a reporter’s journal? The bodies are burned in such a way that it gets rid of bullet holes in autopsies? Superman can push a man through a wall at the speed of a bullet without the man being obliterated by the violently sudden inertia? The aerial footage from government drones weren’t consulted to prove if Superman did indeed kill those people? And when the single witness that badmouths Sups changes her heart, the senator doesn’t put her into protective custody?]

Jumping forward, we see an older Bruce Wayne attending a retirement party for Commissioner Gordon. They chat for a bit, making veiled references to Batman and the Joker "still" being in a coma. Bruce, however, is fixated on "the alien," arguing that he has trouble trusting someone so powerful who nonetheless had to resort to murder to beat his opponent. [If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t really have a problem with how Batman was presented in the film, so that doesn’t really need to change. My main problem is his callous indifference to the wanton slaughter of the random criminals in his way: Batman is allowed to play fast and loose with his One Rule (the branding I don’t mind, for example), but his arc relies on him coming that close to becoming no different from the evil he fights, but if he kills people before that moment, then the arc is ruined. There’s a big difference between callous indifference to someone’s survival and safety, and machine-gunning an SUV full of people and bulldozing the wreckage. He’s just a deluded murderer that literally brands criminals so they can potentially get stabbed in jail (it’s a good thing they showed him branding white thugs; it would be pretty hard for people to claim he has some kind of moral high-ground if he was branding people of color).]

At the Daily Planet, Perry White addresses his writing staff - consisting of Ron Troupe (political editor), Lois Lane (field reporter), Cat Grant (fashion columnist), Steve Lombard (sports editor), trainee Jenny Jurwich, and new photographer, Jimmy Olsen (played by Jesse Eisenberg) — he’s handing out jobs, when he notices that Clark Kent isn’t here . . . until Lois reminds him that he’s busy doing a fluff-piece.

That “fluff-piece" is actually delivering giant shipping containers of food and water to an African country (ala Peace on Earth). During this, talk-show host Jack Ryder (played by Stephen Colbert), is doing a point-counterpoint with G. Gordon Godfrey (who is basically Alex Jones meets Tucker Carlson) where they argue about Superman’s agenda and his presence in the world (and maybe taking a few calls from regular people, like Bibbo Bibbowski). It’s here we are treated to a montage of the various heroic acts Superman’s performed over the past two years, and we see a 99% formed Superman: he’s saving people as often as he can and he does it with a smile (even his harshest critics don’t have much of a leg to stand on). He already resolved his issues over being a public figure in the previous movie, so continuing the arc is just redundant. As we shall see later, there is, however, one thing still holding him back.)

Weighing in on the talk-show discussion is tech entrepreneur, Lex Luthor of LuthorCorp (Elon Musk meets young Donald Trump played by, lets say, Mark Strong) who actually supports Superman. 

However, after the interview is over, Lex is confronted by his father, Lionel (played by Bryan Cranston), who viciously ridicules him for being such a “media-whore.” As the two talk, we get more information on Lex’s situation — years before the Black Zero event, Metropolis was in a state of bankruptcy; it was a slowly crumbling hellhole, no better than Gotham . . . until Lex was sent to the Metropolis branch of the company as a punishment from his father. Lex retaliated by using his business acumen to create jobs and new industries, which single handedly revived the city. So, after Zod’s failed invasion, LuthorCorp started shifting funds towards Metropolis’ reconstruction. But because Superman personally stopped the invasion and helped rebuild the city (including taking the kryptonian spaceship and hiding it on the moon [because it never made sense to me why Superman would just allow an alien ship — which, by all rights, belongs to him — to be studied by the government in the middle of a major American city. He also took Zod’s body, so no one could dissect him]), he received pretty much all the credit and became “Metropolis’ favorite (if controversial) son." So Lex hates him for stealing his thunder, even if he publicly supports him.

Meanwhile, John Corben has Wallace Keefe’s arc from the original movie and graffitis the Superman statue, because he blames him for his disfigurement.

Clark has dinner with Lois, and the topic of Superman’s reputation comes up; the general public may have largely embraced him, but he still has very loud detractors (like Godfrey), and she’s worried how this negativity is affecting him. Clark reassures her that he isn’t bothered by the controversy, because it was more-or-less his fault that Zod invaded in the first place, “I understand why they're angry with me,” he says. “But they don't who I am and their anger doesn't change my opinion about myself. I know who I am.”

Later that night, Clark has a nightmare about Zod and we now see the only thing still holding him back from being the archetypal Superman is his guilt and PTSD over having to take a life to save the day — a violent act he considers to be his greatest failure, a brutality he can’t cleanse from his mind. [I think it’s best if the “isolation arc” wasn’t included in this movie, because it was pretty much resolved by the end of MoS. We have a more pressing issue for Sups to worry about — He literally murdered someone. You can argue if he was justified or not, but that doesn’t change the fact that the only way Superman could defeat Zod was by stooping to his level and losing where it counted. And Superman knows this. That’s gotta leave some lingering trauma.] 

Corben is bailed out of jail and given a ride in a limo driven by Mercy Graves, and delivered (not to the villain we are expecting — Lex, but — ) to Lionel who tells him that he want to help Corben “stand for something."

Elsewhere, Bruce is on his “White Portuguese" hunt [which includes a Batmobile chase, but no one dies, or if they do, it’s not Batman’s fault], and he has his confrontation with Superman, but it plays out differently: rather than threatening Batman, Superman tries to appeal to his humanity, pointing out that he used to be the "caped crusader" before he became the "dark knight." Batman, however, doesn’t care what he has to say, and asks Superman if he "bleeds."

Later that night, Bruce has a dream about his last run-in with the Joker; his hands still wrapped around his neck, pressing harder and harder, while a small voice tells him, "You’re letting him win." Bruce wakes from his dream before anything more definitive happens.

The next day, Lois and Jimmy attend a charity gala hosted by the Luthors (who appear with Lionel’s assistant, Mercy Graves, and Lex’s bodyguard, Otis Graves), where they celebrate the recent joint venture between LuthorCorp and Wayne Enterprises on cybernetic prosthetics. Here we see that Lex has a brilliant way with people that his father sorely lacks, and the latter is clearly envious of.

Lex actually starts hitting on Lois until Clark appears, and we get to witness the first interaction between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent. Lois continues with her questioning, asking what compelled Luthor to pour so much funding into this program; Lex explains that many people lost limbs during Black Zero, and the program is meant to address that.  While there, Clark has a run-in with Bruce, and the interaction basically breaks down as it does in the movie.

Thoroughly rattled, Superman then flies over Metropolis to clear his head and lands on an inconsequential building, where he actually meets Bibbo Bibbobowski — a big fan of Sups. Superman expresses lingering guilt over Zod’s death leading up to a “Hitman” monologue about his inability to save everyone. [https://m.imgur.com/gallery/w7BCA] Bibbo tries to change his mind, but Superman remains conflicted on the subject.

From Batman’s hunt for the White Portuguese, Alfred learns the truth about Bruce’s plans for the Kryptonite. He gives Bruce an ultimatum: either Bruce destroys the Kryptonite, or Alfred will quit. Bruce is committed to this crusade, so Alfred leaves in disappointment. After the fight, Bruce looks longingly at a Robin suit, and we get closure on the Joker flashback — Joker beat Jason Todd to death and crippled Barbara Gordon (Death in the Family meets The Killing Joke), Batman caught him and nearly strangled him to death, only stopping when Alfred yelled at him through the radio that he was "letting [Joker] win." 

Cut to Lionel talking to Corben privately; we get a little more insight into why he is so disdainful towards his son. When Lex was born, Lionel expected nothing but perfection from him, and for the most part, Lex delivered. In his youth, Lex excelled at everything, and was constantly held up as the pinnacle of human excellence. However, everything changed the day his mother died in a car accident Lex inadvertently caused, and the stress of it made his hair fall out. From that point on, Lionel saw Lex as less than dirt and “failure.” So, Lionel has begun looking for other avenues to achieve “perfection.” With his story over, we find out that Corban is being prepped for an operation involving something called “Metal-10.”

Now completely alone, Bruce throws himself into stealing and building a battle suit using the Wayne/LuthorCorp designed cybernetic prosthetics, a sonic gun, and a single bullet made out of Kryptonite.

Now in the third act, Lois is kidnapped by Jimmy who is then revealed to be Sebastian Mallory, and has been spying on Lois and Clark this whole time and figured out the latter’s secret identity. Clark then receives a high-frequency message to meet Lionel at the top of LuthorCorp tower. 

The plot then plays out basically how it did in the real movie, with Lionel threatening to kill Lois if Clark doesn't kill Batman first, and Luthor’s high-frequency howl will keep Sups from finding her if he tries to use his super-hearing. 

Superman goes and basically begs Batman to help him, but there’s one problem; Batman’s helmet is fully covered and completely soundproof, to protect his ears from the sonic gun. [See? Superman has been trying to offer the olive branch to Bats this whole time and is constantly shot down. So when his multiple attempts at appealing to Batman’s better nature fail, that’s when Clark snaps.]

Meanwhile, Luthor is watching the whole fight through small drones. Also watching are Luthor’s goons, who are taking bets on who’ll win. Lois, seeing the fight, manages to break free and escape on her own using the skills she picked up as a military-brat. [If there’s one thing I resent most about the S*yder films, it’s how much they neutered Lois Lane. She’s the daughter of a military general for crying out loud and yet she acts so passive and demure it makes me want to spit. It’s tantamount to making Scout Finch act like Sansa Stark. It’s against everything about her character. So I decided to change that and give a variation on the “warehouse scene” to Lois.]

The fight continues until Superman manages to get Batman into a head-lock, which then triggers a flashback to Zod’s death. This moment of hesitation allows Bats to get the upper-hand, but in the struggle, Batman’s helmet is cracked open. He makes the same grand speech as he does in the film as he loads the kryptonite bullet into the gun and aims it at Superman’s heart … only for the latter to say:

“You’re … letting … him … win.” 

[The death of Batman’s parents was a seminal moment in Bruce Wayne’s life, but it would realistically be a well-healed wound at this point. However the death of Jason and the crippling of Barbara are more recent and fresh traumas that (even in the books) actually did drive him to be an even darker vigilante.]

So we get a slight variation on “why’d you say that name!” to just “why’d you say that!” Only for Lois to chime in by commandeering one of Luthor’s drones and using the built-in speaker to talk through it and explain the situation. Then Batman has his moment of horror as he realizes how close he came to becoming what he hates, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Then…

Metallo bursts in. 

Luthor’s Plan B in case something like this happened, complete with a solid kryptonite power-core and a body made of Metal-10 -- an alloy made from titanium and recovered kryptonian metal.

They fight, Superman tries to reason with Corban but he doesn’t listen, and Batman’s armor allows him to stay in the game for as long as he can (but he’ll eventually have to abandon it and rely on Alfred - whom Bruce calls - for help)

Eventually the two heroes work together and immobilize him. 

With Corban at their mercy, the heroes begin to work out a deal with him that will ensure he help them trace all of this back to Lionel … only for Corban’s robot body to self-destruct, which they both conclude was Luthor’s doing.

At dawn, Superman and Batman exchange pleasantries, and Clark offers one final olive branch -- the kryptonite bullet, which he entrusts to Bruce. This gesture rocks Batman to his core and he admits he was wrong about Superman, and that he is a “good man,” which gives Clark the reassurance he needed to move on from Zod’s death.

Cut to a few months later, and we see Lex being remote-interviewed by Jack Ryder, and we learn that during the time-skip, Lionel died of a heart attack. Lex makes some token soundbytes about his “loss,” and - in light of the scandalous rumors surrounding his father and his connection to Lois Lane (even though nothing could be conclusively proven) - has taken the opportunity to “rebrand” the company from LuthorCorp to LexCorp, as a sign of “good faith” and “change.” Ryder also makes an off-handed reference to Lex taking an interest in politics.

After the interview, Lex watches a video on his computer which shows security footage of his last conversation with his father: Lionel is unconcerned with the charges Lois is throwing at him, because he now has something that literally everybody in the world will pay through the nose to get … Superman’s genetic code. SInce Zod’s body was gone, Lionel set up the whole fight just so Superman would spill some blood, which Luthor picked up using one of his drones (he was hoping Superman would die so he could be dissected). Lionel then goes on and on about the potential applications of kryptonian genetics (including something called “Project: B2-R-0”) and how they’ll someday be able to splice them into the human genome, so that “everyone can be Superman.”

Lex chews on those words for a moment … and then offers his father a celebratory glass of brandy, which Lionel - too excited by his own prospects - readily drinks, but Lex doesn’t.

As Lionel starts coughing and keeling over, Lex apologizes and wished it “wouldn’t come to this,” but that “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

And the recording ends… and Lex sees Superman in the reflection on his computer monitor, floating outside his window.

Confidently, Lex delete the footage and speaks to Superman directly. Going off on this big monologue about he’s the best, he’s “figured out” Superman’s little scheme, how when the “war is over,” the people of the world will finally acknowledge that “Lex Luthor was right.”

Superman wordlessly flies down to Luthor’s level, and simply says, “I’ll pray for you, Lex. Every day.” And flies off. Lex is left with an intense anger at his enemy’s nobility, he has now fully embraced his narcissism and even if he has to prove it to the whole world, he won’t stop until everyone recognizes that he alone is the best.

The final scene is Clark traveling to the arctic, and digging up Zod’s corpse. Finally, after this whole time, Superman has the strength to face his worst mistake and put it to rest. Clark takes Zod’s body, builds him a coffin, and gives the old soldier a proper “burial at space” into the sun.

He’s come to terms with who he is and what he is, and the film closes on him orbiting Earth - using his super-senses to see and hear millions of experiences that we could only dream of (babies being born, people celebrating, animals frolicking, monks peacefully meditating, etc.) - in full grip of the Overview Effect, smiling a perfectly contented smile at this strange little blue rock that he loves, with all his heart. (kind of like here: https://comicsalliance.com/originals-garth-ennis-dialogue-hitman-303-war-comics-creator-owned)

He’s finally the super-man.

-----------

So, if you managed to make it this far, it’s worth noting that a movie like this was never in the cards.  

When Man of Steel was being made, it came off the heels of the very underwhelming Superman Returns and the epic Dark Knight Trilogy (so a more action-packed remake was a no-brainer from a marketing perspective) and the abject failure that was Green Lantern (which was supposed to be DC’s platform for a cinematic universe). So, when WB gave Z*ck S*yder the reins they weren’t interested in making a cinematic universe. It’s only natural that they’d fall back on their strong suits and try to recreate the Dark Knight Trilogy, only with Superman this time. They wanted Chris Nolan to helm it, but he never wanted to be known as the “Superhero Director,” so he hand-picked S*yder for the job (WB agreed because they trusted Nolan and they wanted that sweet, sweet, auteur creativity that worked so well before, despite the fact that the DK series was more or less a fluke). However, when MoS proved to be a moderate success (and because there’s no such thing as bad publicity) the executives got ambitious and pushed for a franchise, but Snyder was always more interested in telling his own story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that just couldn’t happen in a cinematic universe designed to go on for as long as it keeps making money. So they naively tried to have their cake and eat it too. Whereas in the real world, one doesn’t try to mix chocolate-chip ice-cream, lasagna, and chimichangas into one dish, unless you’re aiming for a disappointing afternoon and a lot of wasted effort (even then, there will always be that one person who’ll love it for reasons completely unique to them).

This is all to say that I think the “Snyderverse” was more or less destined to fail, because it tried to be too many things and wasn’t any of them. 

I once read something on a Reddit post that I think is applicable to this whole situation: “Unfortunately, some writers try to shoot for crafting a Memento before they’ve mastered St. Peter and the Dragon.”

But more importantly, I’ve recently had a breakthrough in my ponderings about it that I think finally, finally, finally explains why people like me couldn’t like it …

The film wasn’t meant for people like me.

Anticlimactic, I know.

You can argue movie critic payoffs, stubborn audiences that demanded different things, the fact that the studio didn’t release the full film (I don’t think that would’ve helped), the over saturation of Marvel-style films, but in the end Z*ck Sn*der is a cult filmmaker, best suited for more low-risk niche properties. The only film he made that ever received mainstream success was 300, arguably for the wrong reasons.

The only crime you can really hold against this movie was that it failed to connect with enough people. It’s kind of sad in a way.

Without him, the DCEU seems to be moving in the direction of Adaptation Distillation, and I think that’s for the best.

[ninetyfivepercentdantomasik]

Great Series: My Hero Academia

Characters of Note:

Tsuyu Asui, aka Sue, aka “Froppy”

Katsuki Bakugo, aka Kacchan, aka “King/Lord Explosion Murder”

Toshinori Yagi, aka “All Might”

Chizome Akaguro, aka “Hero Killer Stain”

Here’s a series that’s going places. And you’re going to underestimate it. Trust me. How do I know? I sure as hell underestimated it. I saw the covers, then read a chapter and then dismissed it completely. Every so-called “Quirk” seemed either useless or just boring. From that brief glance the series came off as generic, bland, corny, cheesy, and ultimately unimpressive. Boy do I feel foolish.

From the very first chapter this series proved itself a cut above the rest; offering a clear sense of direction & purpose, interesting character development, excellent action, and a timeless and well-executed moral about being a hero. Definitely one of the strongest pilots I’ve read. Shame that couldn’t have been the chapter I first found of it so I could have given this series the attention it deserved a year ago. The chapter I actually read was in the first volume, but lacked the momentum and background established in the chapters before it, making it come off as very weak.

(It was the Quirk-Enhanced Standard Fitness Exam)

We live in an age of superheroes. Movies, television, books, clothing, amusement parks, video games; they’re friggin’ everywhere. Where do we trace this New Age of Heroes back to? 5 years ago for The Avengers? 10 years to Iron Man and The Dark Knight? 18 years to X-Men and Spiderman? 20+ years ago to the Batman and Superman Animated Series? Hell, this is just my timeline for my age, it keeps going for others. I guess the point that needs to be made is superheroes haven’t just been popular recently, this has been going on for decades. New heroes, new stories, new genres, new breakthroughs; so much has been explored and continues to be explored. How does a series stand out in an ocean of similar products all vying for reader attention? Quality.

So many hero stories put the cart before the horse; the superpowers before the heroes. We judge heroes by how powerful they are, paying much less attention to the person behind the power. What makes each of the characters below great is not their Quirks, but their character. Yes, that sounds redundant. Bear with me.

A fantastic model for not judging a book by its cover, Tsuyu Asui comes off as a trivial, even silly character. Her Quirk is “Frog Girl”; akin to Spiderman, The Lizard, or Squirrel Girl. She can do basically whatever a frog can. Stick to surfaces, stretch out her tongue, leap great distances, move quickly underwater, and regurgitate her stomach. Sounds comical, menial, and in one case unnecessarily gross. Keep laughing, she’s one of the top students in her class and more likely than many to go pro as a hero. She’s level-headed, quick to react, perceptive, and takes initiative. This applies to everything from sudden disasters in real time to smacking perverted classmates in the classroom. Split-second decision making and the ability to flexibly adapt to every situation that presents itself, no matter how unexpected, has revealed her to be a young heroine of great promise. What’s more, being constantly underestimated and disregarded by friend & foe alike provides her with a never-ending supply of openings to act. That adorable froggy face is the last one you’d expect to kick your ass or get the better of you. You see a comic relief hero, a fun idea but not a character you’d ever take seriously without a more standard ability like super strength. The reality of hero situations is that there’s much more to it than power vs power. Outside influences, environmental factors, tactical oversights, motive or lack thereof, state of mind, power scale; any one of these factors can be the difference between victory and defeat. Only the foolish try to settle everything with overwhelming power.

....Which brings us to our next hero, Katsuki Bakugo, better known as Kacchan. A great take on the antihero rival, Kacchan is one of the most explosive personalities you’ll ever meet, to good effect. He starts out as a bully with a particularly powerful and intimidating Quirk (quite fittingly, “Explosions”), but by the end of the pilot had already begun transforming into the conflicting and unstable young man we know and love. Kacchan shoulders the responsibilities of the Rival, the Genius, the Antihero, the Rebel, and the Angry Comic Relief; all in one package. The result is a hot-headed teenager who gets on a lot of people’s nerves with his confidence and attitude, but earns his title of “genius”. His solution to almost everything is battle; same time, he actually has a good head for resolving all of his problems this way. As a student he performs well, albeit with a cocky attitude towards everyone else, and as a hero he can think up new strategies and inventive uses of his Quirk on the fly. No matter what test or challenge they throw at him, he acts decisively and without hesitation. To be honest, he’s found very few challenges that cannot be resolved with some variation on a handful of exploding pain, but he’s definitely someone who belongs in the superhero industry. Even so, his powers are only an extension of his natural combat ability, which allows him to outthink and outmaneuver almost every foe, and turns his exploding blows into a strong argument for the opponent to stay down and accept the loss. His biggest weakness, not surprisingly, is his temper, which has only three settings:

1. Casual Death Threats

2. Focused Anger

3. DIE!!!!

Kacchan is so used to winning and beating anyone who opposes him that he reacts very poorly to people that continue getting up. He disregards strategy and goes straight for the kill, or overkill. And if he gets fooled or cheated by any opponent, he becomes absolutely livid. Which is also hilarious. Gotta love a guy who threatens to set you on fire if you don’t move.

Then there’s the Big Guy. The Symbol of Peace in our time, the #1 Hero in the world, All Might. A big part of my staying away from this series was this guy. He just looks so goofy and unbearably cheesy, a big, smiling mix-up of Thor, Superman, and Captain Falcon. God he seems so stupid. FOOL! What instantly won me over in this series was actually meeting All Might in the pilot. When his facade fades away and you see the man underneath the blustering model of super-manliness, something immediately clicked. From the model of almighty (oh.... that’s where the name comes from), he becomes the epitome of weakness. This guy probably couldn’t take Billy Bat in a schoolyard fight. The truth behind All Might is that he’s barely hanging on. A debilitating wound from an enemy 5 years prior to the series nearly destroyed his respiratory system and necessitated his stomach being removed. Every day he can hold his hero form a little less, every time he pushes himself he shortens his life, and soon he may not be able to transform at all. It’s feeling the weight of how far an injury can take you that really adds depth to All Might. In his normal form, he’s practically a skeleton, prone to coughing up blood every time he laughs or opens his mouth. We judge most heroes by the battles at the peak of their strength, but All Might’s greatest battle is just surviving with his gaunt, emaciated body. It’s devastating to think that someone so iconic of power and durability, with nothing else besides them, could die on a hospital bed a shriveled-up thing. We don’t want Superman to die of cancer, we want him to die in battle giving his all against the greatest foe of his superhero career. Preferably a god or something.

Last but not least we have the Hero Killer Stain. Imagine Slade Wilson with more conviction but less stability. Before he was caught, Stain had murdered 17 heroes and seriously injured dozens more. His Quirk allows him to temporarily paralyze anyone once he’s tasted their blood. A Quirk that only has tactical application if you can get in close, wound your opponent, and lick them. What’s that mean for Stain? Means he’s a tough-ass motherf***er. Since his Quirk can only be used as an endgame, he’s taking on all these professional heroes with nothing but skill and stamina. The guy is a blur of blades and unpredictable movements, setting up multiple attacks with every move he makes while dodging and avoiding his enemies attacks. Unlike others, there’s no hint that he plans out his attacks beforehand, no studying or researching his targets, no strategy besides find ‘em, cut ‘em, and kill ‘em. If such a frightening level of combat skill weren’t enough, his dedication and resolve have shaken many heroes and even villains. Stain was a former hero who dropped out after perceiving what he saw as a perversion of true heroism. Heroes in it for attention, status, wealth, or glory; heroes in it for themselves, not for doing good. He preached this for some time, then decided words alone weren’t enough. Thus began his purge. If anything could be more terrifying for a hero than dying to a crazy villain, it would be dying to a crazy villain who sees you more clearly than you see yourself. That’s the last stone in the temple of Stain, that conviction that lets him clearly see some for heroes worth respecting and others for posers only deserving death. Seeing him escape custody to kill a monster and save a teenage hero who helped bring him down, then stand, broken ribs, punctured lung, burned head, and broken weapons, against pros and amateur heroes alike, ready to take them all on. Seeing him refuse to go down except to a true hero. As his moniker applies, Stain has left a mark on heroes and villains everywhere.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1156

Monday, March 20, 2017

 It's the first day of spring but you would still think it's the dead of winter here in Ottawa. I hear it snowed in Vancouver recently too. I don't consider spring starting until I can't see anymore snow on the ground around our neighbourhood. I figure that will be the middle of April this year. I've already seen a robin at our house though. We put up a bird feeder last fall and it attracts many birds. Mostly house sparrows but we see finches, juncos, nuthatches, chickadee-dee-dees and our favourites the cardinals and woodpeckers. The male cardinals are bright red-orange and the females are a mocha coffee colour. We have had downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers come and feed. Watching the birds outside our window is like watching fish swim around an aquarium. Very calming. Until the undesirables show up. Starlings and squirrels snark up a lot of feed and scare away the little birdies. The squirrels have gotten so brazen now that I have to go outside to shoo them off the feeder. I used to be able to do that just by banging on the window. Stupid squirrels.

 We lost one of the greatest comic book artists on March 18 when Bernie Wrightson succumbed to cancer and passed away. I have always been a bigger fan of the art side of our hobby and Bernie's art gave me goosebumps. His pen and ink work was stunning. Rest in peace Mr. Wrightson.

 Punisher #10 - Becky Cloonan (writer) Matt Horak (art) Frank Martin with Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I'm disappointed in Matt. This whole issue takes place at a sea port in Newfoundland and he didn't put one Canadian flag in any of the panels. Even a little one would have been nice. It looks like another dire situation for Frank but the bad guys screwed themselves. You'll see the obvious giveaway, but maybe I'm wrong.

 Uncanny Avengers #21 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Kevin Libranda (art) Dono Sanchez Almara with Protobunker (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). If there's a fill-in artist who makes me just as happy to read this book as when regular artist Pepe Larraz draws it, then it's Kevin Libranda. I liked how Deadpool found a way to defeat the Red Skull's Professor X powers. I wonder if they're going to bring back old Charles.

 Batman #19 - Tom King (writer) David Finch (pencils) Danny Miki, Trevor Scott & Sandra Hope (inks) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). The art in this issue is pretty awesome. Part 4 of "I Am Bane" has the big bad guy wading through Batman's rogues gallery one by one. Almost every Bat villain you can think of get's his licks in. odd that there are no women. I was also bothered by the fact that they're all loose inside Arkham asylum. How are they going to be get back in custody? The last page leads into the inevitable final battle between Bane and Batman and I want to see who wins. Like I couldn't guess.

 American Gods #1 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Rick Parker (letters). I started a list of books I want to read after the Snail closed because I found myself with a lot of extra time. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is on that list. I've been told what the premise of the book is so I had a bit of background going into reading this first issue of the comic book adaptation. Reading the comic book is going to enhance my reading of the novel when I get around to it because I will visualize Scott's depictions of the characters in my head and they are very nice ones. The back-up story "Somewhere in America" by P. Craig Russell (script & art) and Lovern Kindzierski (colours) was a hot piece of erotica about unsafe sex. This gets added to my "must read" list.

 Totally Awesome Hulk #17 - Greg Pak (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) Cory Petit (letters). This hasn't been a solo book for the last few issues with Amadeus hanging out with his friends but I am still enjoying it. This issue is a good place to start as the team has to figure out a way to save themselves and some civilians from being eaten by aliens. You could call these guys the Asian Avengers because what happens in this issue gives them something to avenge. If you jump on here you won't want to jump off until you read the next issue.

 Batwoman #1 - Marguerite Bennett & James Tynion IV (writers) Steve Epting (art) Jeromy Cox (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). Kate chases after a mystery woman from her past after dealing with a terrorist in Istanbul. I like how she's teamed up with Julia Pennyworth.

 Kill or be Killed #7 - Ed Brubaker (writer) Sean Phillips (art) Elizabeth Breitweiser (colours). This issue features Dylan's ex-girlfriend Kira, now with purple hair instead of red. I'm glad she's still hanging around because boy does she have problems. We start off during a session with her therapist and get a lot of background. I love this kind of stuff because it makes the characters more engaging. Kira might need an emergency session after she decides to do something stupid at Dylan's place.

 Monsters Unleashed #5 - Cullen Bunn (writer) Adam Kubert (art) David Curiel & Michael Garland (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Okay, Kid Kaiju comes through to save the world from the Leviathon Mother, showing up all the Marvel super heroes. I guess that's why he's getting his own book. Look for it to hit the racks on April 19. Unless it's drawn by an artist that I really like I will take a pass. The Kid's creations are more suited to fans of action figures or Saturday morning cartoons than an old coot like me.

 Super Sons #2 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Jorge Jimenez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). This is great. I don't know why but I love really well written comics about young super heroes like this and Champions. Maybe it's because I can't let go of being a kid. Damian and Jonathan have to deal with Super Lex in order to get a lead on Kid Amazo, the very bad boy they're after. Everything doesn't go smoothly and then, uh-oh, their dads find out about what they're doing. I can't wait to see what happens next.

 Wild Storm #2 - Warren Ellis (writer) John Davis-Hunt (art) Steve Buccellato (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). This 24 issue series is very ambitious and there are a lot of players involved. If I was a new reader I would be wondering who are these people? Some people work for International Operations (IO) and some people work for Halo. The two organisations don't like each other and they're both after Angela Spica, the Engineer. I hope that helps with getting into this story. One of my favourite things from the old series was the Door which could transport people to different places. I think we're introduced to a new Door this issue and she's a lot better looking than Lockjaw.

 Ms. Marvel #16 - G. Willow Wilson (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Ian Herring (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I like this story about a malevolent computer virus and it looks like Kamala can't defeat it. That is until she gets a clue from her old pal Bruno. I can't wait to find out how Doc.x gets deleted.

 Superman #19 - Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason (writers) Patrick Gleason (pencils) Mick Gray (inks) John Kalisz (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Part 3 of "Superman Reborn" looks like it might resurrect the pre-New 52 Lois and Clark. I hope not. That would confuse me to no end and then I would get annoyed and stop reading these amazing Superman books. Patrick draws the creepiest Mr. Mxyzptlk ever. I wonder if they're going to do the saying the imp's name backwards thing?

 Guardians of the Galaxy #18 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Richard Isanove (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I love these issues featuring one team member. Angela's up this time around and it's a beautifully drawn fight scene between her and some alien bounty hunter. The issue ends with a major threat heading for Earth. It starts with Th and rhymes with anus.

 Spider-Man #14 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Nothing serious between Miles and Gwen despite what the cover shows. This is one of those issues that annoy Bendis detractors because nothing really happens. The heroes hop from one dimension to another and each wind up in different ones by the end of this issue. I can easily forgive because of Sara's art.

 Mighty Thor #17 - Jason Aaron (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The gods of Asgard and the Imperial Guard of the Shi'Ar finally come to blows in part 3 of "The Asgard/Shi'Ar War". Meanwhile Thor can't seem to win much in the challenge of the gads against the Shi'Ar gods Sharra and K'ythri. Mjolnir is sure getting a workout though. This book is not only chock full of action but it's visually stunning as well.

 Amazing Spider-Man #25 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I wish you didn't have to pay $9.99 US for this one issue starting off "The Osborn Identity" story. That's a bit much for one comic book don't you think? Sure you get a bunch of back-up stories but none of those really matter to the main story. You do get 40 pages of Stuart and Wade goodness though, so why couldn't they have printed just that and charged $4.99 US? As you can probably tell Norman Osborn is back so the Green Goblin can't be far behind. I did like the team-up with Mockingbird with a hint of Peter and Bobbi possibly becoming more than friends. Here are the other stories that pad this issue. A fight with Clash by Christos Gage (writer) Todd Nauck (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters) which has the old "it's not what you think" twist at the end. A silly Tsum-Tsum story for the younger readers by Jacob Chabot (writer) Ray-Anthony Height (pencils) Walden Wong (inks) Jim Campbell (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Thank Thor that was a blessedly short 6 pages. A Parker Industries mishap at their Shanghai facility by James Asmus (writer) Tana Ford (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). A young Spider-Man story about a boy and his dog by Hannah Blumenreich (writer & pencils) Jordan Gibson (inks) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Some Aunt May gags by Cale Atkinson which were even sillier than the Tsum-Tsum story. And finally to ease the pain of having to buy an overpriced comic book, the return of another Spider-Man nemesis. One thing that "The Clone Conspiracy" did was bring back Otto Octavius, Doc Ock. He now has a youthful body thanks to Miles Warren's cloning process. So meet The Superior Octopus by Dan Slott (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Cam Smith (inks) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). He's bad-ass now plus he's got Hydra backing. Here's a prediction: Somewhere in the future Peter and Norman have to team up to fight Otto and Hydra.

 Archie #18 - Mark Waid (writer) Pete Woods (art & colours) Jack Morelli (letters). This issue proves that love is blind. Archie and Veronica have nothing in common and should not be together. Betty and Dilton Doiley are more compatible. I wish I was Dilton Doiley.