#i feel like no man's land was potentially a way to explore this with bruce but unfortunately bc there was such a strong focus

[roobylavender]

Your post earlier made me think about how Bruce is really dedicated to learning and acquiring knowledge and how over the course of his life he has acquired a wide array of skills across multiple fields and it just really makes we want to see a version of Bruce who loses his wealth somehow and has to do a normal job in any field because I honestly think it'd pull him out of the doom and gloom mentality and make him genuinely happy. I'm not that far into my Batman reading but I really think it would be an interesting move to make Bruce a normal dude given all the discourse around billionaire superheroes right now and it's probably the best thing for his mental health/general issues to actually be around people.

I also would like to see how it would affect his relationships with his family, friends and allies because he would be out in a position to genuinely experience their reality. Also would love to see him get a job utilising one of his obscure skills that he genuinely likes. How do you think an arc of Bruce having to live like a normal person would go? I love your comic book insights and would love to hear your take

To clarify the previous ask I know he loses his money in current canon but he still seems to be a billionaire? I think? I don't know I cannot get through most modern comics. Anyways good luck with law school and I hope you have a nice day! 🌻🌻🌻

i'm not reading the current dc or batman run and haven't been for the past few years so i am as clueless as to that situation as you are! (and thank you for the well wishes hehe i am sat in criminal law right now utterly bored out of my mind)

i couldn't agree more though! a slight tangent to this idea but one criticism of the dark knight rises that i have noticed bleeds over into opinions of bruce's future in the comics is this idea that he can only ever be batman and if he does not intend to die as batman then the writer behind that decision has failed to understand his character. it's one i'm very confused by and heavily disagree with. before bruce is batman he's bruce. batman exists bc of bruce. it took at least a decade before the specific idea of batman was even implanted into bruce's head if we're going by classic takes on the batman origin story. he had interests before that! he had a life! we are able to see on several occasions that he still wants to have a life even though it grows increasingly difficult to do so while he takes responsibility for being the city's savior. which is what i think makes the concluding thesis of the dark knight rises (for all of its well-criticized flaws) so, so good bc it allows bruce to acknowledge that he doesn't have to carry the world on his shoulders alone, and that acknowledgment isn't reproachful in and of itself, esp where he has people to carry on the cause

i've talked here before about critics' attention to the nihilism of the nolan movies and their focus on the batman as a singular, crucial savior without whom the city falls to pieces, and i totally agree that criticism of building vigilantism on nihilism's foundations is viable. but i also think it's a criticism conveniently made for that movie bc the scope of bruce's immediate posse is incredibly limited. at most he is only ever closely accompanied by two people in any given movie so it's easier to be skeptical of the idea that gotham is presented to only ever need one savior bc there aren't many others to choose from. i do think the dark knight gets close at challenging that notion with the boats set-up towards the end but nolan fails to really see it through when he carries it forward via john blake, who is not only one person, but also a cop. there's a great idea there in bruce indirectly inspiring someone else to do good and act of his own volition but whether its impact is completely effective is debatable and i think most people would agree using the actual robin would have been a far better alternative. the novelty of batman comics in comparison to the nolan trilogy is that superheroes are everywhere. people who do good are everywhere. we are all heroes inherently if we so choose to be. bruce has an entire support system he can trust to carry forward the same faith and duty that he has been for years if he happens to lose it all or need a break or whatever

and i know you're only specifically talking about him losing his wealth so my sincere apologies for going off on such a wild tangent lol! but i do imagine the loss of wealth or even voluntary removal from it would be attached to a departure from batman as well, whether temporary or permanent. i think there's an interesting thread to follow there with how bruce's wealth not only isolates him from certain realities but also enables his dedication to being batman bc he simply always has material and resources at his disposal by way of that wealth (he kind of has to bc otherwise he's more exposedly human). what does he do when he doesn't have immediate access to those things? how does his awareness of ordinary people's circumstances increase and how does that in turn influence the way he chooses to live going forward? it's a really great way to connect him more deeply to people like selina and leslie whose entire survival is premised on their brutal understanding of normalcy and its tension with survival in a place that is anything but normal. bruce has a good head on his shoulders and an even more sympathetic heart but i want to see him really come face to face with the things that only ever exist in his periphery bc his attachment to resources always demands that he fights the foes to match those resources. get him involved with the community on the ground and lead his inclination towards good will to its natural conclusion of people interaction. bc bruce loves people! he craves companionship. if he could spend the rest of his life working with people and for people i think he would. so on the note of what i think he would do i genuinely feel like bruce would love anything to do with community service. involvement in things like student mentorship programs are great bc they're a huge well of creativity for teachers trying to inspire kids to be passionate about their interests and skills. and bruce definitely has the experience from how he trains his robins (esp how he used to in the olden days when it was all chummy gymnastics and boxing friendlies!)

[vechter]

Top 5 Dick headcanons?

1. dick having long term impacts from blüdhaven being bombed (n52 i'm furiously pretending you don't exist)- i just don't think dick should ever be able to talk about the city he chose to protect that got nuked bc he got under a cringe old man's skin. even years later, he wakes up from nightmares about chemo being dropped. he can't talk about it. it's his biggest failure, his biggest what-if. he can't talk about it still. the guilt occasionally threatens to eat him alive. if he had never vowed to protect it, would it still be standing? also i know continuity about where exactly he was at the time is confusing- infinite crisis puts him in new york but his own solo has him in the thick of the action in blüd, which is my personal preference. i would also like to see long term impacts from the level of radiation he was exposed to. a few chemical burns, possibly sterility (an interesting thing to explore that his parents' legacy biologically dies with him- he is the last grayson. but persists in the way he has taught those around him to fly and catch.) plus i want bruce to feel insane about this because no one else will understand how dick feels about a city like bruce does. also, bruce regretting not having stepped in earlier when dick was in the mob or the circus was burning down. it's one of his biggest regrets, too.

2. dick moves back to new york after bruce comes back bc new york has always shepherded and saved him. he went there when he lost robin, when he lost blüdhaven. preferably, he moves in with donna or roy because the year he spent being batman changed something intrinsically in his code and he needs to be around people who love him for him. he doesn't know how much of it was an act, how much of it was the mission, how much of it was grief. he never wanted to be like bruce and yet. yet. also a big fan of dick convincing tim to move to san francisco with young justice after bruce comes back because he is seeing what gotham, what batman is doing to his brother. tim stays there for a year, attends college before upping and moving to new york, instead. far enough from gotham but still tethered to batman. it is a little brother's prerogative to copy everything your big brother does <3

3. he and cass have a complicated dynamic. they both see and understand bruce in a way no one else does. it can sometimes be a good thing because they feel seen. but it also leads to conflict and subsequent resentment and hurt. and they both feel guilty about it because they know the other person has nothing but good intentions and their heart in the right place. also, dick is an intensely private person so for cass to be able to clock his lies, his performative nature- it often feels like too much. people are always watching him but cass sees him. and i don't imagine dick being too pleased about that. meanwhile, cass, to whom bruce and babs are probably the most important people, also feels a degree of resentment that they both are so intensely abnormal about dick, even when dick lashes out/hurts them. i miss cass throwing dick out of windows, it was so fun. but also, their entire approach to vigilantism and the concept of perfection. there is so much untapped potential for them to have excellent conflicts and resolutions. also idk where i saw this but cass being unable to do a quadruple and dick privately gloating about that. hilarious <3

4. recurrent knee pain. listen, the boy is an acrobat and he tends to stick his landings on unforgiving terrain like concrete and roof-tops. plus, firefly shot him in his right leg and he spent a big chunk of canon on crutches and wearing a brace. sometimes, your body recovers from an injury but it is never the same again. a notable part of the pain is also psychosomatic. it reminds him of one of the worst times in his life- the circus burning, his apartment being blown up, blockbuster, tarantula, etc. and how much of a failure he thinks he was during that time. like i said, the guilt often threatens to eat him alive so ofc the long-term, intermittent pain of an injury like that is mixed with immense mental stress as well.

5. his most intense and most private thoughts about jason and tim. things he hates himself for thinking, things even truth serum or magic or whacky comic shenanigans wouldn't pull out of him. bruce took on jason as robin to get over the pain of losing dick and somewhere deep, deep inside, dick resents both of them for it. because jason died in his colours, under his name. and now they all live in a post-jason world, jason included. and maybe if bruce had never had jason, he wouldn't have ever lost him and bruce could still be the man/god that dick unquestionably put his faith in.

building up on this, their first real interaction after bruce punches dick for confronting him about jason's death is primarily because of tim. tim is the catalyst for the events in a lonely place of dying.

and while i don't subscribe to the bruce-is-abusive-camp, i think exploring scenarios where dick leaves bruce for good is so compelling. like i don't fuck with batman beyond and don't claim to be super knowledgeable about those runs, but what is enough for dick? what would make him abandon bruce? what would make him come back? it's so neat to explore. and i think in a world where dick decides bruce is unforgivable, he would come back for the kids. in fact, he does come back for terry and bruce is perhaps the most expressive we see in terms of his regrets about dick, about missing dick, about hurting him but dick doesn't really want to listen.

and i think, that interaction post jason's death altered their dynamic fundamentally. it makes dick go to therapy lol. and we never see on-screen resolution of that, just a continued glimpse into bruce's worsening spiral. so, i think, it's interesting to consider how dick would view tim's role in this. like yes, he loves and adores tim (a thousand ninjas wouldn't be enough, the closest thing i have to a little brother).

but does he privately wonder what would have happened if tim hadn't come in and dragged them both in a situation where they have no option but to co-exist semi-harmoniously? it took tim for them to talk again but is that really for the better? or for the worse? because dick's devotion to bruce is not only detrimental to his mental health, it is often straight-up dangerous for him. and while dick may be unable to recognize the mental strain it puts him under, he would probably have a sort of inkling of the physical harm. taking back blackgate all alone for bruce, the time bruce hits him when he thinks gordon is dead, the time he jumps in front of a blast aimed for bruce, the time bruce has superman's powers and beats dick down when dick calls him out.

6. a fun, small one. he had a threesome with kory and roy in the outsiders era exactly once. it made sense because he loves them and he knows they loved donna just as much as he did. it was soft and fun and a very transparent attempt to get dick to let down his walls. dick left when they were both asleep, cried when he went home and they never spoke of it again.

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

The Crown Found in Rose Thorns - fic

Characters: Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Talia al Ghul, Jon Kent, Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne Pairing: jondami Summary: “My name is Jonathan Kent, of the Kingdom of Krypton. And I’m here to marry Prince Damian of the Kingdom of Gotham.” A/N: I told @berryfartsart some medieval jondami headcanons inspired by the DKOS announcement and they cyberbullied me into writing the AU for it. (Kidding, of course.) Anyway get ready for some old fashion slow burns and smoopy goopy love~ (but like...eventually, this won’t be fast updated haha)

~~

Damian huffed, crossing his arms, wincing as the Cassandra pulled the brush through his curls once more.

“This is a farce.” He droned. “A complete jester act.”

Talia chuckled, but didn’t look back at her son. Continued brushing her own hair.

“It’s going to be the same as the past three days.” Damian warned. “They’re all simpletons not worthy of my time, or anyone else’s.”

“Then I would at least like to remind you, my dear precious boy.” Talia hummed, effortlessly twirling her hair into a braid. “That I am not asking you to marry today. I am asking you to explore what traits might appeal to you, what kingdoms you trust, or don’t.”

Damian winced as his sister tugged gently at his hair, and scoffed. “It shouldn’t be up to me. My marriage is unimportant.” He mumbled. “You should be focusing on the heir’s marriage.”

Talia sighed, dropping her brush onto her vanity and standing. She stared into the mirror for a moment before leaning over and plucking Damian’s crown off its stand. She turned and slowly walked across the room, staring warmly down at Damian as she approached him.

“Richard does not have a threat hanging over his life.” She murmured, pushing his bangs back before carefully placing the crown on his head. “Richard does not need all the protection he can get.”

“And our brother already has a suitor.” Cassandra chimed in with a giggle. “That warrior princess from the Tamaranean lands.”

“Indeed.” Talia agreed. “So even if he needed any protection from something he could not handle himself, it appears he already has it.”

“Jason then.” Damian tried. He twisted to look at Cassandra. “Or you.” He sat up. “You’re already betrothed to that bard woman!” He turned back to his mother. “Why can’t we make a big deal about her nuptials instead!”

“Because her grandfather is not threatening to steal her away and hold her prisoner and eventually murder her for power.” Talia laughed, holding Damian’s face with a hand on his cheek. “And I am not above a political marriage if that means you have two kingdoms protecting you instead of just ours.”

Damian pursed his lips, ignored the heat rising through his face. “…And if I pick no one to attempt a courtship?”

“Like I said, my beloved.” Talia leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I am not above political marriage to protect you.” She smiled, eyes darting between his. “Even if you forever hate me for it.”

She stood back up, adjusted his crown, then Cassandra’s, then her own, and turned to glide out of the room.

~~

The throne room was abuzz with citizens of the town, and even visitors who had come to try their luck and win Prince Damian’s hand.

Damian sighed as he followed Richard onto their altar. Scanning the room, he could already see no one of merit, and no one of interest. So it was going to be another boring, pointless, wasted day.

“This should be for you.” Damian mumbled again.

Richard snorted, plopping into his seat. “Sorry I found love on my own, little one. Without Mother and Father’s help.” He smirked. “Besides, you should be nice to me. I don’t have to sit here with you all day. I’m just here out of the goodness of my heart, and fondness for my poor, sorrowful, lonely little brother.”

“Piss off. You’re here to amuse yourself at my expense.” Damian rolled his eyes, sitting more politely in the throne next to him. “And so you can go cackle at my misfortune with our brothers later.”

“Nonsense. We cackle at your misfortune on a normal day too.” Richard promised with a wink. “How’s that growth spurt treating you anyway?”

Damian frowned, tugging at his sleeves. “…I have requested a new fitting with Alfred after today’s…festivities.”

Dick smiled again, running his fingers through Damian’s neatly combed curls. “Your clothes will fit for longer than a week one day soon, kiddo.” He let his fingers fall from Damian’s hair to his cheek. “…I’m not just here to keep you company, you know.”

“…Oh?”

“Mhm.” Richard nodded. Damian watched as his blue eyes darted around the room. “I’m here to vet your potential suitors. Make sure they are good enough for you, strong enough to protect you-”

“I can protect myself, thank you.”

“-and this is the fourth day of the festivities. No doubt your grandfather has heard of them by now. Someone has to make sure no undesirables have snuck in, or attempt to make a move.”

“Do you truly think he would be so brash?” Damian questioned. “Besides, this whole thing was Mother’s doing. So, I thought that was why Father keeps attending, to keep watch.”

“He is. But like I said, this is the fourth day. Enough time to get word and move to strike. And forgive me if I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Richard smiled apologetically. “So Father and I are in here, Jason and Cassandra are running the perimeter and Timothy is monitoring the guard towers.”

Damian sighed, staring out into the crowd once more. A few of the guests were glancing their way now. Giggling and falling back into their whispers. Some of the less modest ones outright stared, giving Damian as flirty a smile as they could.

“…Well, as much as I appreciate your concern, I’m afraid it will all be for naught.” Damian drooped in his chair and crossed his arms. “If today is anything like the past three, it will be the most boring day of your life, and nothing will come to fruition.”

“Never say never, little one.” Richard offered dreamily. “Love strikes when you least expect it.”

“Love.” Damian scoffed, glancing over as Bruce and Talia entered the room, hands clasped between them. “Who said any of this was for love?”

“Well.” Richard hummed. “It is because we love you.” He offered. “And we’re hoping not to make this an arranged affair. That we can find you happiness in a partner as well as protection. That’s why we want you to choose.”

“And if I never choose anyone?”

Richard blinked, then offered a smile. But it was sad, almost pitying.

Damian crossed his arms tighter, glancing towards their parents as the King and Queen sat next to them.

“As I keep telling you all, I can protect myself.” Damian mumbled. “And I’m content being alone.”

Richard kept his sad smile. Damian refused to look at him anymore.

~~

Damian wanted to rip his hair out.

As he had predicted many times that day, it was just more of the same.

A blacksmith offering the best weapons, and the safest house on the continent.

A nomad promising a life of adventure and delicious foods.

A group of sisters offering as many heirs as they could carry, and their father as the sole brave knight to protect them all.

A witch and a wizard together, offering magic as protection and endless fertility to continue the kingdom’s bloodline.

A princess offering the best clothes and parties.

A duke who…wasn’t even sure why he was there. He was sent by his father, and didn’t even know Damian’s name.

A young woman who merely offered her humor and loyalty. She could make him laugh, and made it clear that was all she had.

Damian almost agreed to meet with her, if only because he appreciated her honesty.

The sun was dipping in the sky outside the western window, and Damian could feel his stomach starting to growl. He glanced to his brother, who had sat all but stock-still all day, doing exactly as he’d said he would. Watching the room, vetting the visitors. Making sure these potential suitors were good enough for his littlest brother.

“…How many more do you think Mother will have stroll through here?” Damian whispered. “I don’t think I can take much more of this mind-numbing torture.”

Richard chuckled. “I’ll give her four more, then push for a recess. Alright?”

“Thank you.” Damian breathed in relief, glancing out towards the room. The crowd had thinned slightly, with some parties departing when their candidate was politely rejected. Others were just the local townsfolk, remaining purely to stick their noses in royal business.

Talia called for the next suitor to step up, and on the far side of the room, Damian saw three people stepping forward. But before they could make it even a yard, one of the large doors across from the thrones groaned open.

“Am I late?” A male voice called. A wave of chuckles swam around the room, and even Damian found himself smirking.

“Depends on what you’re looking for, son.” Bruce called. Despite the normal nature of the interruption, Damian could already see both his father and brother had put their hands on the hilt of their swords.

“Apologies, Your Highnesses,” Alfred appeared behind the man. He sent a glare over his shoulder as he passed by him. “I had asked him to wait a few moments, but he clearly refused. I do hope we aren’t interrupting.”

“No.” Bruce waved to three people apologetically, who nodded and disappeared back into the crowd. “If he is here for Damian, then we can hear him out.”

“I am!” The stranger called. When he moved, the sound of armor clanked around him. “Um, yes. I mean. I am. I am here for Prince Damian.”

“…Though tardiness is not a good first impression, I must say.” Talia scolded quietly. Bruce gave her a gentle smile and patted her hand. “Bring him forward.”

“Great!” The man – young, by the sound of it, probably closer to a boy – called, leaping past Alfred. “I mean, uh, thank you, Your Highness. For the opportunity.”

Damian watched the man as he walked the long carpet forward, and he felt his eyes narrowing in curiosity. He had dark hair that seemed permanently windblown framing his face, and an awkward smile that almost seemed like it was about to burst from his face.

What really struck Damian’s interest, however, were his eyes. They were a sharp violet, a color Damian didn’t recall ever seeing on a human being before. They were fascinating. Beautiful, even, if he really had to describe them.

As he approached, Damian realized the man – boy, he truly was a boy – was around his age. Seventeen like himself at most, but more likely a year or two younger. What surprised him about that, though, was the armour he wore. While a sparkling silver and recently cleaned, Damian could see nicks and dents in it, even a few shadows that could easily be blood stains, if he got close enough to look.

Barely seventeen and already a battle-worn war veteran?

Attached to the shoulder plate of his armour was a brooch that fastened his bright red cloak together around his neck. It was gold, shaped like a freshly cut diamond, with a large S painted blue on the inside.

Damian didn’t recognize the coat of arms. And Damian knew all the coat of arms of every kingdom and town on the continent.

That was suspicious.

He glanced to his side again. Richard had not taken his hand off his sword.

The boy had reached their feet now, that large smile still adorning his face.

“Hello.” He said plainly. “My name is Jonathan Kent, of the Kingdom of Krypton.”

Talia huffed, raising her head. “And what are you here for, Sir Jonathan?”

Jonathan’s smile, impossibly, seemed to widen.

“Well, Your Highness.” He started, turning his head to stare directly at Damian. Damian found himself flinching under the intense gaze. “I’m here to marry Prince Damian of the Kingdom of Gotham.”

A wave of gasps rolled through the room, followed by an almost deathly silence. While they were all here to propose a courtship and future with the prince, no one had dared to be so forward! Just as no one should have. It was presumptuous and out of place. Everyone knew that. Everyone.

Bruce and Talia glanced at each other, and Richard had the gall to stifle a laugh in his fist.

But Damian.

He was tired, he was annoyed. He was fed up with this charade that had not only taken up almost a week of his life, but one he did not want to partake in, in the first place. He was fed up with people looking at him. Fed up with being treated like a thing, a prize.

So as his parents glanced at each other, and the court calmed themselves over the offense, Damian stood, moving to the front of the altar.

“I beg your pardon?” He spat, brushing off Richard’s fingers as he tried to grab him. “How dare you think I’d want to marry a nameless peasant such as yourself.”

“Well, past experience says you wouldn’t be that against it.” Jonathan shrugged, armor clanking. “But that also is a moot point, because I’m not a peasant. I’m Jonathan, from the Kingdom of Krypto-”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Damian declared. “And I know every kingdom here to the coasts. Which makes you a liar, dear knight.”

The moniker was all but sneered, but Jonathan just let his smile grow a little wider, a little…fonder.

Suddenly Jonathan glanced over Damian’s shoulder. “My father’s name is Clark Kent, but he also sometimes goes by Kal. You’ve fought at his side before, King Bruce.”

Damian whirled around to find his father nodding. “Indeed I have.” Bruce frowned. “I don’t recall him being from any kingdom though. He called himself a traveler.”

“A…recent development.” Jonathan admitted. “One we are still getting used to. But Krypton is his – our – home, and once the truth was discovered, they welcomed us back with open arms.”

“Your father is king?” Jonathan nodded. “Quite the…development, as you said.” Bruce murmured. He glanced at Dick, who shook his head. “He never mentioned a son.”

“He has two. Myself and my older brother, Connor.” A nervous chuckle. “He was…very protective of us as we traveled. Hid us in forests and with witches when he and mother had dealings in towns and villages. Apparently whatever ousted him from Krypton all those years ago, he was afraid we would be its next target.”

“None of this is relevant to today.” Damian cut in, whirling back around to face the suitor. “How long have you been under the title of prince?”

“A few years.”

“And in a few years you did not learn any manners?” Damian scolded, crossing his arms. “You do not enter another’s kingdom and demand someone’s hand in marriage.”

“I did not demand.” Jonathan countered. “I promised.”

Damian felt heat rise to his cheeks. “And who said I would choose you? How do you know I have not chosen anyone to court yet?”

“Past experience.”

“Past experience with who?”

“You.”

The room’s silence grew tense. Damian’s hands balled into fists.

“I have never met you for a second in my life.”

Jonathan lowered his voice. “Are you so sure?”

Damian narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by his mother.

“Damian.” She hummed. “…What do you think of this…gentleman? Are you interested in him?”

“I think he’s a complete buffoon.” Damian answered instantly. Jonathan chuckled to himself. “An arrogant, deceptive moron.”

Jonathan merely blinked. “Your Highness, that doesn’t answer her question.”

Damian felt a blush blossoming on his face. “You-”

“And if we’re going to marry within the year, perhaps you should answer quickly, so we can begin our courtship.”

“Again, who said I would ever want to marry you?” Damian demanded.

Jonathan shrugged again. “Well, so far, you haven’t said you don’t.”

Damian felt his jaw go rigid. This idiot. This disrespectful, uneducated boy who claims he fell into power. So sure of himself, so narcissistic. And he already thought Damian belonged to him? That Damian was already his?

That smile was still plastered to his face. It was mischievous, and held a secret.

Held a challenge.

Say no, it said. I dare you. Let me embarrass you in front of your court and walk away with your tail between your legs. I dare you.

Damian never could turn down a dare. A test. And if it was a challenge Jonathan Kent of Krypton wanted, it was a challenge he would get.

He wanted to court Damian? Fine. Let him court Damian. Damian would eat him alive. Emotionally tear him limb from limb. Send him crawling back to Krypton wondering why he ever even bothered with the youngest Prince of Gotham.

After a moment, Damian returned the smile, slowly walked down the altar steps, and moved towards the knight. Stopped only inches away, and stared up into those mystical purple eyes.

There was something in those eyes, Damian noted. Something just out of reach. Purposefully hidden. Hidden from everyone? Or just Damian?

This close, and Damian was reminded once more of the marks on his armor. The red shadows he’d noticed before, he could now confirm were blood. Old and flaking, and much more of it than he first realized. Not his own, Damian decided, based on their locations. Blood from others.

Mischievous…and dangerous.

(And beautiful!, his brain supplied. But he ignored that part. Stayed focused on the challenge at hand.)

He glanced down between them when he noticed Jonathan’s fingers twitch, like he wanted to reach out. Want to touch him. Damian let his gaze rise. Smirked, and reveled in the scene of Jonathan biting his lip, just slightly.

“Yes, Mother.” He whispered. But his voice was heard through the whole room. “I think I am interested.”

Jonathan kept his gaze. Whispered back, “I knew you would be.”

“Your arrogance will be the death of you, Traveler.” Damian hummed, turning away. He began back up the steps, was almost to the top, when he heard the quietest words ever spoken.

“No, I do believe only you will be, love.”

Damian spun back around at the tender sound, his face heating up. Jonathan was still staring, but now his gaze was softer, more adoring. Like he’d known Damian for years.

Like he really was here just to profess his eternal love and marry him on the spot.

…Curious.

Suddenly, a hand was on Damian’s shoulder, and he turned to find Richard above him, watching Jonathan as he tugged Damian back to his seat.

Talia began speaking to Jonathan, Bruce adding a word or two, as Richard and Damian sat back down. That look was gone from Jonathan’s face now, back to business as the queen set a time for him to return the next day to spend time with her son.

“…First impression?” Damian murmured to his brother. He felt himself twitching every so often, when Jonathan would glance his way.

“Honestly? Suspicious.” Richard returned. “I’ll need to look deeper into this history he’s claiming. See if Father and I can get a hold of Clark. Find out about the status of Krypton.” Richard paused, then looked over at him. “Are you honestly interested in him?”

Damian shrugged. “If not for love, then for my personal entertainment.”

“That’s cruel, if he’s genuine.”

“Do you think he is?”

Richard looked back. The knight was bowing to their parents now. Stood, and turned to the two of them to bow again. When he stood upright once more, he gave Damian a wink, then turned to walk back down the aisle and out of the room.

Richard clicked his tongue as Jonathan disappeared out the large door. Glanced at Damian with a sly smile. “…Ask me again after your first date tomorrow.”

Damian groaned and slumped in his throne.

[jostenneil]

How would you write Dick and Jason's relationship, if different from canon and fanon?

Personally, I really like the potential Dick being absent for most of (re-established) Jason's Robin run sets up, especially since he is upset when he finds out about Jason's death. He had a slew of responsibilities to tend to as an adult leading his own team, and that's understandable, but also, here's a kid he reached out to and told could rely on him if needed, and he obviously wasn't really there to do so. That's a fault that falls upon comic writers forgetting to do anything with the relationship between them beyond their initial meeting, but it's nonetheless fun to work with, and I like the conversation he has with Kory about it in The New Titans #55; it's also why I ignore the tidbits about Dick and Jason's pre-existing relationship established in The Joker's Last Laugh, because to me it makes things. . . too easy? I want a little tension and regret to fester from that absence of connection. It's more interesting to explore.

That being said, to me the primary issue with the way Dick and Jason's relationship thereafter is developed has to do with DC writers' overwhelming problem of blaming Jason's death on his own "recklessness". It's interesting that Dick is someone who has basically. . . never seen what Jason was actually like as a Robin beyond one shared mission between them, and yet we have him so easily ascribe to Bruce's interpretation of the events. This, after Dick had to do so much wheedling to get the truth out of Bruce about why he took upon Jason as a Robin to begin with. I like that Dick is someone who sees Bruce for who he really is, the isolation, the fears, etc., and that he challenges Bruce and his way of thinking often by way of that. Jason, to me, presented a perfect opportunity for Dick to once again ask more questions and get down to the actual root of one of Bruce's obscured half-truths. Maybe not when Jason initially died and Tim reached out to him, because he still had a lot on his plate at the time, but when he split from the Titans for a while and took upon the Batman mantle, it would have been interesting to see Dick dig deeper because he was back in that house and with those memories of Jason that he never got to share in. It could have added another dimension to him handing the mantle back to Bruce again, because we might have seen Dick challenge Bruce's complexes about Jason's death and how he was projecting onto Jason faults that weren't fair of him to project. As someone who literally created a name for himself within the Titans because he was tired of Bruce projecting his own (somewhat irrational) fears onto him, I feel like Dick would be more defensive of Robin era Jason if he knew all the facts about the way he died or why he died. (And I mean, come on, would it have been that hard for someone to do the detective work and find out the truth behind Sheila's drug dealings or her being blackmailed by the Joker? Probably not.) The fact that Jason was consistently framed as a failure within the Batman mythos for years, even after his resurrection, to me set up nearly all of his relationships to be doomed in terms of closure, especially since writers additionally committed to the idea by turning him into a homicidal maniac. And I'm not really looking for a fanon version of Dick where he coddles Jason as recompense; that's boring and it completely obliterates what makes Dick an interesting character, but I would have at least liked to see Dick contend with Jason's character outside of the homicidal maniac or "Bruce's failure" framework. I like that Dick is a well-meaning hard-ass who's upfront with people because he cares about them and he expects better of them; it's why the contrast between him and Bruce is so good, because where Bruce dismisses people out of fear, Dick refuses to give up on them (at least as far as I've seen in my reading so far; the Titans runs are long and I'm working my way through them slowly, lol) and holds them accountable to a standard he believes them capable of reaching. It's what makes him such a good leader and people person. And it's why I think that, while I do believe it'd make more sense for him to criticize the way Bruce contends with Jason's death, he'd also be upfront and straight with Jason about him potentially becoming someone he doesn't deserve to become, sort of a la Talia's lecture to Bruce in No Man's Land #0. Like, you’re here now and we lost you and I need you to know that it wasn’t your fault then, so don’t make it your fault now. Don't throw yourself into this near-suicidal harbinger of death agenda. You're not a failure, so quit acting like one.

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 30

First time reader click here

TRIGGER WARNING! This chapter is a horror movie. There's blood, gore and psychological horror elements. Lemme know if it was actually scary - I'm desensitized to this shit. This was written to come out on Halloween but I was too slow with writing.

Wooden floor creaking behind me, I couldn't feel the cold of it, not even a single splinter piercing the arches of them, I ran like my life depended on it. The darkness behind me was alive; it breathed, pulsated, spreading along the walls of the hallway like mold. The hallway seemed to be endless.

As soon as I realized that, I noticed that it, in fact, did have an end and not a door was in sight; that quickly proved to br also just a trick of the eye - there were doors, the hallway was riddled with them, each one dark, identical and placed neatly about five feet apart. With shaking hands, I turned the knob, slamming the door behind me with a loud bang.

Panting, I let myself slide against the door, eyes closed, sheet landing in a puddle of white fabric on the floor around me. First five seconds passed quietly; then, a noise interrupted my panicked thinking and my eyes flew open as the scene in front of me produced more confusion.

The familiar scene of the pond behind my grandparents' stables, the poppies - a splash of blood red against the dull greens and browns - swaying in the breeze. A Dora the Explorer bucket hat and a six-year-old me, hair in pigtails, poking at a spot of moist soil with a large stick.

I knew where this was going yet I couldn't pull my eyes away from the scene that was going to unfold. A stallion my parents had recently bought, ill-tempered and moody, jumping over the low fence and galloping noisily right at mini-me. The terrified animal was screaming yet I was oblivious to it's distress, too busy trying to fish out earthworms out of the wet ground. Almost in slo-mo, mini-me noticed the running, screaming animal and bolted for safety, its hooves missing my little body barely by a feet.

I felt the cold water of the pond on my skin. It was dirty and blooming at the time, musky smell assaulting my senses, murky water choking the life out of both versions of me. In the distance, I noticed a much younger and slimmer dad sprinting full-speed towards the splashing child in the pond. He was screaming something and I leaned in, trying to hear him better.

The scene vanished into thin, wispy smoke. My head was once again clear and the suffocating dread and panic subsided, letting me take in several deep breaths and try to assess the situation calmly. I had survived that accident, even successfully overcame my fear of swimming later on.

Hands shaking and heart fluttering like a frightened bird, I recoiled from the locked door when it began to rattle, the noise deafening in the eerie quiet of the house.

The shadows were taunting me. Trapping me in my worst fears, making me relive my worst memories. The artifact needed something from me - what was it? I wondered, tucking the sheet in some semblance of a toga and standing up to explore the room. Save for a few outdated pieces of furniture, it was cold and empty, void of life. Nowhere to hide.

I paced the room, coming to a halt next to the heavy, thick velvet curtains. Expecting to see a window behind them, I was surprised with another old wooden door with a bent handle that had gathered an impressive layer of dust. With rattling behind me increasingly growing in volume, I had no other option but to press it down and quickly dart into the next dark room.

Clint. Lifeless eyes wide open, his body laying at my feet, sheet-white and rust coloured stains adorning his mouth, nails black and broken as if he'd been clawing at the dilapidated wooden floors. I backed away from him, further into the room - the archer's body began to move and tremble, tiny little gashes appearing on every inch of exposed skin. The thing that was breaking out of him glowed, pale blue and sickly.

"That's not..." I whispered to myself. "Clint is alive," As if I had been doused with cold water, the images of MAFS incident seeped into my mind, the what-ifs of my past actions weighing heavily and clouding my mind with guilt.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Steph's voice appeared behind my back, loud and out of nowhere. I was rightfully sceptical about the reality of him - while his face was the usual, tense expression of boredom, he stood differently. I couldn't describe the difference if I tried; it just felt wrong. Like a puzzle piece was missing.

"I don't think so, demon dude," Squaring my shoulders once again, I prepared myself for the inevitable pain.

"Who?" The copycat asked, faking concern surprisingly well. "It's the artifact. It's making you see things that aren't real," With a wave of his hand, the door flew open, exposing the hallway filled with the void that was chasing me previously.

"Oh what I saw was real alright," I countered, tilting my head to examine the entity. Unknowingly, it had given itself away - Stephen's magic always glowed gold and orange, in the sense that he wasn't like Loki - Strange's spells were always visible. "I'd rather you kill me then spread your vile disease beyond this... Space," With none of the bravery I actually had, bluff came surprisingly easy. Perhaps, I really was ready to die so my friends and family could live.

Not-Stephen tsked and grinned maliciously, once again waving his hands about. "Killing you? So barbaric and an absolute waste of potential." The shadows pushed something into the gaping hole of the doorway, something curled up in a fetal position and whimpering. The entity picked up the man by the shoulders, forcing him to kneel in front of it, teary baby browns staring back at me, wide with terror.

Tony. My feet took an involuntary step forward, where my Tony was trembling, whimpering in the creature's grasp, unseeing eyes looking straight forward. As if I wasn't there.

"Submit and I will let him go. Right now, he's relieving the worst memories of his life," The entity raised an eyebrow, a mock imitation of Stephen's expression. I could hear Tony mumbling faintly, something about his chest and Afghanistan and bombs and Obadiah.

It pissed me off. Firstly, how dare this wannabe-Pennywise, this LOST-fog-monster-reject to lay his filthy metaphysical fingers on my Tony. And secondly, for the sloppy intelligence job - I had been woken up by Tony's nightmares more than enough to know his biggest fear wasn't Afghanistan. It wasn't Obadiah and it wasn't Bucky killing his parents, it wasn't even the vast, consuming black emptiness of the space behind the wormhole.

Anger burning my throat, I lunged at not-Stephen with a bloodcurdling scream, feeling my nails dig into the cold, clammy flesh of the thing's throat. Taken by surprise, both of us stumbled, falling into the abyss of the hallway, me kicking and scratching and screaming all the way, fingers squeezing deeply into the lifeless imitation of flesh. His screams mixed with mine and Tony's into a shrieking cacophony.

The darkness was laughing, cackling, noise sharp like nails on a chalkboard. It hurt, but the thing's grip on me hurt even more. "He'll never love you like you expect him to. They don't care about you. The mage said he'd help you and now you're dying here, alone," Black smoke began leaking out of the impostor's mouth along with the words, both acrid and venomous.

My head was pounding as more and more of the stuff came into contact with my body. My vision swam, bordering on unconsciousness. "If I'm dying, I'm taking you with me, bitch," I screamed out, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until I exploded together with my surroundings, in a short of white, blinding light.

And then, there was darkness. My limbs were once again filled with concrete, mouth dry and skin burning like I'd been branded with a hot iron.

I opened my eyes to the familiar sight of the room with the fireplace. The fire was roaring, crackling and and shooting noisy sparks, accompanied by heavy breathing to my left. Disregarding the nausea that followed my every movement, I hung my head over the side of the car coming to witness both sorcerers laying haphazardly on the floor, a thin river of blood seeping into the carpet from Wong's head.

Confused, disoriented and terrified, I called out for them, voice barely audible and terse. Had I been screaming?

The sorcerers' chests rose and fell rapidly; my panic subsided but not by much. I crawled out of the cot only to land ungracefully on my face, body refusing to cooperate and feeling about as well as after I'd ran a marathon. Inch by inch, I crawled over to the chair I had left my things on, fighting with my body for every movement I made.

Fumbling, l pulled out my phone and pressed the green call button on the one person one would call in this situation. My best friend.

"Yes, dear?" His baritone was tense but nonetheless calm.

"Help, some-something happened," I managed to say, no louder than a whisper. "Sanctum," I clarified, hearing a noise of things falling over and several distressed voices shouting in the background.

"I am coming, do not end the call," Loki replied immediately, barking out several commands I didn't quite catch. There were more noises of distress as I obediently stayed on the phone. "Darling, can you tell me what happened?"

"I- Killed?" I tried to articulate my thoughts, tongue becoming more and more uncooperative by the second.

"Oh my God, who's dead?!" I heard Bruce yell, probably, right in Loki's ear.

"The Thing," I clarified, hoping to calm him down.

Loki cursed in his native language, I heard him trying to wrestle the phone from someone - unsuccessfully so, I might say, as Tony's distraught voice was the next thing I heard. "Princess, listen to me. Are you okay? Where's Strange? We're gonna be there in 10 minutes. We're coming."

An avalanche of information for my overtaxed brain and aching body, I struggled to keep up with Tony's rambling and filtering out Loki's screeching in the background. So much noise. My head hurt. "No, Steph and Wong are down. Alive." I managed to convey the most important part, a terrified sob leaving my chest burning. "Please, talk," I begged Tony, not wanting to be left in that terrifying, consuming silence ever again.

And Tony talked. He babbled nonstop, things that I didn't really catch neither care about, having enough strength to give a hum of approval every few seconds or so. It appeared to be as calming to him as it was to me, I didn't hear any more complaints from the team, only brief increase in volume as one of them got closer to the phone. A part of me conceded I should've made at least one joke about being put on loudspeaker, however, my brain was exhausted.

Burnt out, rather. The emptiness settled in my bones, chilly, like the blood had been sucked out of me, making my body just a vessel for the darkness that stalked my nightmares. I dug my nails into the soft flesh of my bare thigh, feeling none of the pain, just the relief when blood seeped through the cuts, crimson and warm.

That's how they found me. Loki threw open the door, breaking one of the hinges, eyes immediately darting between me and the laying sorcerers, as he swiftly cast a bright golden spell on the room, warming us from the inside out. Carefully stepping over the two men, Loki kneeled in front of me, green eyes staring right into mine.

I heard cursing and thudding but all I could focus on was the shining emerald of Loki's eyes. "Oh, child," He whispered, reaching out with both arms to pull me into his chest. I couldn't have resisted even if I wanted to, my body was utterly drained of fight.

"What happened?" Tony asked, a hysterical pitch to his voice.

"I can assume there was a failsafe left behind by the artifact, it took out both sorcerers and attempted to finish the job it started," Loki spoke up, hand gently petting my hair, still clutching my limp body like I was dying. "She fought it off, I don't know how, but she fought it off. It has entered a dormant state again."

"What do you mean took them all out?" In his distress, Tony seemed to have lost all sensibility. "What happened to her?!" He was getting impatient, angry.

"With an artifact like that, it's a blessing they are still alive. It is ancient and unpredictable," Loki explained patiently, none of his usual vitriol present. "And she... You could say she was mind-raped," He stated, quieter.

I groaned in protest. Loki's spell of gold did what felt like a wonder: the light was slowly coming back into the room, into me, filling me with warmth I didn't know I could lack. "As if," I slurred. "As if that Pennywise wannabe could ever," My body was, nonetheless, exhausted. "I've swallowed more kids than he could ever," My eyelids dropped, the comforting noise of Tony's and Loki's combined chuckle amplifying the surplus of warmth within me.

Last thing I saw was Tony's watery smile, tears crinkling at the corners of his eyes as he lifted me from Loki's arms, hot rod red of his suit saturating the room with color. Feeling safe for the first time in what felt like forever, I let my eyes close voluntarily, a smile crawling onto my face. I was right. Tony was alright, it wasn't really him that was getting tortured in the nightmare-verse.

"What..." I heard Stephen croak from somewhere. "Baby?!" His voice raised a whole octave; Thor's fond chuckle followed the rustling of fabric and a few stronger choice words from the sorcerer as Loki briefed everyone on the situation at hand.

"How is she, Tones?" Bruce asked quietly from above me.

"Pretty out of it but on her way back to health," Tony replied with another watery laugh. "Cracking jokes and whatnot clownery."

Bruce exhaled in relief, stroking my face with the side of his fingers. It was almost palpable, the general atmosphere of respite in the room, the sudden free flow of oxygen to my lungs.

"I am so sorry," Stephen's whisper was more felt than heard by me; the spice of his cologne and copper of blood reached my nostrils, burning them, keeping the warmth from leaving my body ever again.

My fingers weakly held out to him, finally coming to grasp his more-than-usual shaking hand. "Not your fault," I breathed. "Persistent cursed box," Were my last words before my consciousness gave out. Sleep sweet sleep.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​@pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95

[thedeaditeslayer]

Greg Nicotero Talks ‘Creepshow’ Season Two, His ‘Evil Dead’ Love Letter And Exploring More Iconic Horror IPs.

This interview with Greg Nictorero covers the season premiere episode that is a homage to Evil Dead. Recommended reading below!

The first season of Creepshow was a monster hit for AMC’s horror streamer, Shudder.

Becoming the most-watched program in the platform’s history, it smashed several records in terms of viewership, total minutes streamed, and new subscriber sign-ups. The show’s second season is about to drop, and a third has already been confirmed.

I caught up with horror legend and Creepshow’s showrunner, Greg Nicotero, to discuss the show’s killer formula for success, paying tribute to iconic multimillion-dollar franchises and what stands in the way of a new Creepshow movie.

Simon Thompson: How does making season two compare to your experience on the first season?

Greg Nicotero: Well, we got the green light to do Creepshow while I was shooting The Walking Dead, so we had to develop the stories, get the scripts written, prep in six weeks, so the entirety of season one was done between January and April. It was fast and furious. I’ve been in The Walking Dead world for ten years, so I was like, ‘How hard can it be? You build a bunch of sets, get some cameras, you get a bunch of great actors and a good script, and you shoot it.’ Man, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. You’re creating an entirely new universe, all new sets, all new cast and crew every three and a half days. I felt like it was grabbing the horns of a bucking bull and just holding on for dear life. We made it through by sheer will. I had to deliver something that stayed true to the spirit of George A. Romero and Creepshow. If I screwed it up, I wasn’t going to get another chance. So, I don’t know if I had any fun on season one.

Thompson: Season one of Creepshow was a massive success for Shudder in so many ways, from viewership to subscriptions as well as critically. Did you soak that in?

Nicotero: I didn’t read many reviews because I didn’t want my heart to be broken. I’m a sensitive guy. I would probably find the one sh***y one and just be devastated. However, one thing that people saw across the board was that I had a passion for the material and put my heart into it. That gave me a lot of confidence to go into season two, stand up straight, grab those horns and control the show and fight for the stories I wanted to tell. I also wanted to have fun with it. I feel like season two has got that heart and passion, but it’s fun and pays tribute to everything important to me and my upbringing, from building monster models and watching TV horror hosts to the loving nod to Sam Raimi. These stories all meant something to me. I feel like I’ve matured 100 years between season one and season two.

Thompson: That’s the Public Television of the Dead story in the first episode of season two. It blew my mind a little bit.

Nicotero: That makes me so happy to hear that. I worked so closely with Sam on Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. When I read the script, I loved that it was a nod, but it became something else when we got into making it. There’s a  bit where Ted Raimi starts to float on the Appraisers Road Trip set; I put that in, and the camera work with the evil force going down the hallway; they weren’t in the script. I was like, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to go all the f***ing way.’ I even adjusted some of the dialogue, like when Ted Raimi talks about the book being in his family for years and gathering dust in the fruit cellar. Any opportunity I had to buy into the fact that maybe the Necronomicon is a real thing and that Sam and his brothers went off and made this movie with his book, I took it.  Sam was shooting the Dr. Strange movie, but I reached out to him right before shooting it. Without a doubt, it’s probably the most respectful send-up of the Evil Dead universe. Every one of the actors was like, ‘F**k, man, I love Evil Dead II. This is so much fun.’ It was always intended to be a love letter to Sam and Evil Dead. Creepshow is all about paying tribute, little love letters, to the likes of EC Comics, Stephen King, George A. Romero, and so many other things. We got to change the Necronomicon just a little bit. We still wanted it to feel like the original, but we also don’t want anyone to feel like we’d infringed copyright. Even the appraiser’s name, Goodman Tapert, is a tribute. David M. Goodman was the transportation coordinator on Evil Dead, and Rob Tapert was the producer. If only I could have got Bruce Campbell down there, steal him out of retirement, to do something on Creepshow, that would have been awesome.

Thompson: You got a great cast together for the first season, and you have raised the bar.

Nicotero: I feel fortunate that we were able to get the caliber of talent we did. Kevin Dillon, Justin Long, D’Arcy Carden, C. Thomas Howell, Ali Larter, the list of great people who jumped on board for season two goes on. Every one of them did a great job. They all showed up, were prepared, and knew their lines, and they were excited to be back to work. It’s always funny when you bring actors into your world. They show up, work for three days, and leave. And I remember in season one, I went through my phone, and I convinced Adrienne Barbeau and Giancarlo Esposito to do it because they all knew me, and I had worked with them on different projects. When they walked onto the set, they saw how fast we were moving and how immersive it was, and they had a really good time. Many actors find a tremendous amount of freedom in immersing themselves in a role that will take up their life for just three or four days.

Thompson: Going back to you paying homage to Evil Dead in an episode this season, would you like to do that with more iconic horror IPs or pick up on previous Creepshow stories?

Nicotero: The freedom is the greatest part about it. We talked about potentially revisiting stories from the first Creepshow movie, but that is convoluted in terms of the rights. You can’t clear it. There are stories that I guarantee you, especially after you see season two and season three, that we would love to revisit and pay tribute to those genres that we love. If I had a way to intertwine a Jason Voorhees story, a Michael Myers story, or a Freddy Krueger story without having the people that own the rights to those franchises jumping up and down and screaming, I would do it in a minute. For me, it’s really fun to be able to take a story and look at it from a different vantage point like we did with Evil Dead. So often now, the world is about taking material you think you know everything about and giving it to you from a different perspective. I think Wicked was probably the first piece of material that did that. It took The Wizard of Oz, a story that everybody knows and loves, and looked at it from the witch’s perspective. I read the screenplay before there was a show because I think the writers wanted it to be a movie first. I remember reading it and thinking, ‘Oh my God, it changes how we do look at everything related to The Wizard of Oz.’ The idea that we can take the horror genre and tell it from a perspective that gives us a completely new take is exciting and allows people to pay tribute to the original material and put a new spin on it. It gives fans something exciting that they can’t get from the original material.

Thompson: It was great to hear that there will be a third season but what’s the latest on a potential new Creepshow feature film?

Nicotero: I would love that. We’ve talked about it. When you do a show like this, you do it for the amount of money that we do it for, it becomes successful, and people want more, to get someone to turn around and give you more money to do a movie, they’re like, ‘Why would we do that when we’ve got a great show right here?’ I would love to do a Creepshow movie and expand the world with bigger stories and a little bit more money. I’m sure that down the road, that will become a reality, but right now, part of the beauty of Creepshow is that it gives you these bite-sized meals, these little appetizers. With today’s short attention span, you can watch 20 minutes and then go back later and watch another 20 minutes. I think that is very much in tune with how today’s society devours content. The beauty of Creepshow is that every story is so different, and every theme is so different that you’re getting an entirely new experience with each story.

The second season of Creepshow lands on Shudder on Thursday, April 1, 2021.

[maribatlife]

Lost Boys Pt 1

Apparently I never posted this over here. Whoops! Enjoy some Adrien and Damian Found Family

Summary:

Like Father Like Son: Damian starts Adopting at a Young age Nature vs Nurture: Bat Fam Edition "I’m fully aware of your adopting habits, this one is suitable and I will call him brother and he shall be my brother." - Damian al Ghul Wayne (probably)

Inspired by Lost Boys by Ruth B

AO3

Damian had heard about his father's unfortunate habit of adopting unsuitable heirs, however he never understood it. Why choose someone so obviously unworthy to continue on his legacy. It would change when he met his father. Batman would finally have a worthy heir and the others could be dismissed.

Currently he was in Paris, waiting for his mother to finish a mission. While she was busy, he was scouting out escape routes. No matter what anyone might say, he was in no way exploring the city. He was Damian Al Ghul and he was an accomplished assassin; he did not explore. There was an added difficulty with Paris' Akuma problem, he was more than up to the challenge. The heroes of Paris' were currently dealing with an akumatized baby on the other side of the city.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black steak drop into a nearby alleyway. He crept closer, not making a sound in the empty street. In the alley stood Chat Noir, then in a flash of green light the cat hero disappeared and in his place was the model you couldn't escape in Paris and a floating blob.

"Cheese, I need cheese." The blob whined.

Agreste fished some cheese out of his pocket. "Eat quickly Plagg. I need to get back before anyone notices I'm gone."

"Kid, don't rush me. You have to appreciate the cheese. Plus, you might want to worry about the kid that just discovered your identity."

"Wha~, oh Ladybug is going to kill me," he said finally spotting Damian.

"Probably," Plagg added helpfully. "Tikki's chosen are usually goody-goodies."

"Tt, like I care about your identity Agreste." The blob, now identified as "Plagg", flew into his face. Upon closer inspection it looked like a cat.

"Listen closely kid, I'm thousands of years old. You become a threat to my kitten, you'll find out what happened to the dinosaurs firsthand. Got it?"

"I am the heir of the Demon's Head. Is that supposed to scare me?"

"Wait, why are you alone in Paris? Where are your parents?" Adrien interrupted.

In the background Plagg muttered, "So that old man is still alive. Need to talk to Sugar cube about that."

"Mother is… finishing some business and then we are leaving Paris."

"But you're left alone a lot? With a parent that only cares about how you perform in public?" At Damian's hesitant nod, Adrien smiled. "Same," he paused as if weighing the potential consequences of the next words. "Want to do normal kid stuff with me? Honestly, my dad probably won't notice and you're already out sooooooo…."

Damian quickly analyzed the benefits. His father was well known and had a prolific public life. If he could blend in with "normal kid stuff", while it might be tedious now, it would benefit him in the long run. "That is acceptable, Mother will call with a rendezvous point when she is ready."

"Okay first rule of being normal kids, use less words. Talking with proper grammar all the time is 'not cool'." The last bit was punctuated by air quotes. "Also, what's your name?"

Ah, a test. He had this. "Damian."

" 'kay Dami," catching Damian's glare he hurriedly continued. "Nicknames are important in friendships. They show trust and affection. We're going to meet my friend Nino to hang." As they walked down the street Adrien conveyed other bits of wisdom like "There's a whole group of food that you eat with your hands, using a fork and knife with those is considered weird," and "some people give hugs to show how much they care about you."

Damian half wished he could write these tips down. After all, everyone in the league had lived in the world and it was second nature to them.

"Yo my dude, what's up?" A boy with a red cap jogged up to them.

"Not much." Adrien gave the other boy a first bump. "This is Damian," be shot Nino a significant look. "His mom's like my dad."

"Hey little dude, welcome to Normal Kid land." He held his fist out towards Damian.

Damian quickly realized it was not an attack, but a greeting ritual and he bumped his fist against Nino's with only the slightest hesitation.

"Alright my dudes, let's go pick up the girls and get this chill sesh going."

Adrien turned to Damian as they walked towards Rue Gotlieb. "Every time we can hang out, we rotate who decides the activity. This time it's Marinette's turn, right Nino?"

"Yup Dudette's deciding and word on the street is there's a UMS 3 tournament happening at an arcade nearby. So, it's either going to be that or the new fashion exhibit at the Louvre."

They arrived at the bakery just in time to see Nathalie's car pull away and hear a screech of "Oh my God." They entered the apartment upstairs only to see Alya kneeling before Marinette.

"Girl you have to calm down."

"Alya do you understand how big this is? I have to start designing now. Oh, what will I wear?" Not noticing the boys entering the room she rushed to her sketchbook. "Okay, it's black tie formal." She started flipping the pages. "Sun dress, day dress, semi-formal, too casual."

The boys moved over towards Alya. "Babe, what's going on?"

"Adrien's dad just invited Marinette to accompany Adrien to the donor and VIP party for the new exhibit at the Louvre."

"Oh yeah," Adrien sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I think Nathalie mentioned that to me."

"Sunshine," Alya said with her hands on her hips. "As my girl's bff I need advance notice of these things to avoid this." She gestured towards Marinette who was still frantically flipping through her sketchbook.

"Why do I have nothing black tie?" Marinette moaned.

During all of this Damian had made his way over to where Marinette was frantically going through her designs. "This one." He said with a commanding tone. "Make it longer and extend the embroidery on one side of the skirt.

Marinette screeched and clutched the sketchbook to her chest, while Damian looked on unimpressed.

"That was not necessary. You need to be more aware of your surroundings." Damian glanced at Adrien. "So, these are your… friends," the unfamiliar word heavy on his tongue. "What purpose do they serve?"

Adrien shot a panicked look towards Alya and Nino, when Marinette stepped in. "Friends don't need to serve a purpose. They support you when you're not feeling your best and you do the same for them. Friends are really just siblings that you choose for yourself.”

Damian was busy contemplating that thought when his phone beeped once, twice and then fell silent. Glancing at it he realized that Mother had finished her business and sent him the coordinates for their rendezvous point. He quickly left and it was only on the flight back to Namba Parat that he noticed the slip of paper in his pocket. Sneaking a glance he noticed a string of numbers and an email with a hastily scrawled note at the bottom that read “So we can keep in touch. -A.A.”

A few years had passed since that fateful day in Paris. Damian had been diligent in cultivating the relationship with Agreste. The biggest change came a few months after they met. It had been one of the few times Damian managed to get access to a web camera and slip away from his watchers for a few hours. He had quickly sent a video call request to Agreste. It had been the first time since they met in Paris and when the connection settled, he had used the title that only dwelled in the recesses of his mind. “Gēgē, I have been informed that I will be studying in London for the time being.” When he realized what he had called Agreste, he was quick to end the call. But his gēgē had not let him dwell on it and acknowledged the honor that came with the title.

Now, Damian stood in the shadows of the rooftop where Mother was confronting his father. As he surveyed the crowd before him, two fingers worried at that old worn piece of paper. The number it originally held was long faded from it's surface but forever imprinted in his mind. With a jolt he returned to the task he had been given. It would not do to miss Mother's signal and give Father a poor impression of his diligence, he thought. Father had only brought along his current Robin with him. That was fine. He could easily defeat him, and there was Mother's signal.

He strode forward with all the confidence he didn't feel. This was the easy part. All he had to do was defeat the charlatan in combat and claim his rightful place as his father's heir. Before he had time to prepare what he was going to say he was at Mother's side, her steadying hand on his shoulder. "Father," so far it was going well, "I thought you would be taller."

"Robin," his father's voice came out in a low growl. “Bring your brother to the Batmobile. I need a word with Talia."

Damian stalked past the impostor. Of course, Father would not have them fight there. There were too many potential witnesses. His face twisted into a grimace. Mother would never tolerate a beginner mistake like the one he just made. Father must be disappointed in him already.

He climbed into the black car Drake motioned to. He would correct his father's perception of him. He had to. Failure has never been an option for an al Ghul. Drake was talking to a Penny-One, who remotely enabled the vehicle's autopilot back to the "Cave".

The "Batmobile" parked just as two motorcycles roared into the cavern. One carried the familiar figure of Batman. The other, a bright red bike, carried another one of Damian's alleged brothers, according to the information Mother had given him. There was something about him, an important piece of information that Damian couldn't remember. Then Todd spotted him and hurled his helmet as hard as he could onto the cave floor with a sharp crack.

"Damnit Bruce! Another one?!" He roared as green started to tinge the blue of his eyes.

That was it. This was the one Grandfather permitted to use the Lazarus pool.

"Jason, Damian is my son."

"I thought we were all your sons you consarn sarding hypocrite."

"Jay-lad, I meant Damian is my biological son. With Talia."

Damian had used the momentary distraction of Todd losing his temper, -tt- amateur, to swipe Todd's phone. He raced into a sectioned off area of the cave. Not noticing his father's first ward descending into the cave. Dick quickly moved to calm Jason down. "Jay-bird, I get you're upset with Bruce, but we've got a bigger problem."

"And what would that be, dickhead?"

"Who's missing their phone? 'Cos the kid just ran into the changing room with one."

They all barreled after Damian, stopping just outside the door.

Inside Damian was listening to the ring of the phone, willing Adrien to pick up with every ounce of his body.

"Hello?"

"Gēgē, it's me."

"Dami, what's wrong?"

"I think I messed up." He paused, "Mother decided that I was ready to meet Father. To assume my rightful position as his heir." Adrien hummed and that was all the encouragement Damian needed. "I insulted him when I greeted him." He admitted. "Todd was angry about my existence and Drake is my competition. Grayson does not appear to be here. How can I possibly gain Father's approval now?"

"Dami, you're a good kid and no matter what happens you have me," he paused. "And I'm sure Mari would love for you to be her little brother. But why not try bonding with them over their interests. But if worst comes to worst, remember what Mari said friends are?"

"Yes, thank you, gēgē." Damian quickly deleted all traces of his phone call, before moving to rejoin his father and the rest. He opened the door only to see his father completely filling the frame.

"You have a brother?" He demanded.

"Due to your habits, father, I have a multitude."

"Who were you talking to?" He demanded again. “Your mother didn’t mention another child of ours.”

“That is none of your business.” Damian shot back, as his alleged brothers’ heads moved back and forth between the pair, looking like the strays they were. It appeared that Grayson had joined them while he was on the phone.

"Bruce, it’s been a long night for everyone.” Grayson started

“That is quite right Master Dick. This can all be discussed over breakfast tomorrow morning.” Pennyworth announced as he walked down the stairs to the cave. “Young Master Damian, if you would return Master Jason’s phone, I will show you to your room now.”

“That is acceptable, Pennyworth.” He handed the phone back to Jason and left the room after Pennyworth.

As soon as they were gone, “Jason, give the phone to Tim. Tim, trace who Damian just called, start looking for any connections to the League of Shadows.”

Fifteen minutes later Tim had to be the bearer of bad news. “Sorry Bruce, but according to the phone, no calls have been made on it all day. The only way we’ll find out who he was talking to anytime soon is if he tells us.”

“HA,” Jason barked out. “B, finally has a kid just as paranoid as him.”

“Damnit!” Bruce’s fist hit the table. “I need to know.”

“Bruce, why is it so important? It was his brother.” Dick questioned

“What if it was code? This could all be a part of Talia’s plot.”

“So, we keep an eye on the twerp. It’s not the end of the world.” Jason started to leave the cave.

The next morning, Damian descended for breakfast. Unfortunately, Father’s band of orphans had already assembled at the table. In addition to the group he had expected, a woman sat next to Father, laughing at something Grayson had said.

After he finished eating, the umbrage of questioning started.

“Who’s your brother?”

“It is not important to you; I am your only blood child.”

“Where does he live?”

“France,” Damian acquiesced. France was a large country, the odds of Father finding Gēgē were minimal.

“How is he connected to the League?”

Damian hesitated, if he did not answer this question, Father could ask Mother about Gēgē, which would endanger him. “He isn’t.” Damian used the resulting confusion to slip away.

He had been wandering the grounds for a few hours when Grayson found him.

After a while of walking in silence together, Grayson spoke. “So how’d you meet your brother?”

“Mother had a mission in France. She decided to test me on how well I could blend in. Gēgē found me while I was waiting for her to finish. He insisted on keeping in contact when I had to leave.”

“Any questions for me?”

“Who was the woman at breakfast?”

“Selina, she’s B’s fiancee. Why didn’t you want to tell B about your brother?”

“I’ve had to keep him secret for years from Mother and Grandfather. What does Father expect from me?”

“That’s complicated. Do you mean what does he expect right now, or what does he hope for from you?”

“Both.”

“B hasn’t said what he expects from you. I think he’s nervous about why your mom brought you here, now. But his hopes for you are the same as the rest of us. That you adapt to this change well and are happy here. Eventually, he’s hoping you trust him, but I think it’s a little soon for that.” They fell into silence again as Damian contemplated that answer. Eventually, Dick spoke again trying to steer the conversation into neutral territory. “What do you like to do?” Damian shot him a puzzled look. “In your spare time? What do you like to do?”

“I draw. When will Father set the trial by combat?”

“The what?”

“The trial by combat against Drake. For the position of Robin. It will be soon, correct?”

“Why would you fight Tim? That’s not how Robin works. When Tim is ready to become a solo hero, he will pass down the title.”

“I am Father’s rightful heir. It is my duty to fight by his side.”

“I’m pretty sure B doesn’t expect that.”

“-tt-,” Damian walked in silence back to the house with Grayson.

When they got inside, they separated. Damian headed back towards his room. Dick, however, walked like a man on a mission. “Alfred, do you know where Bruce is?”

“I believe Master Bruce went to the cave.”

“Thanks.” Taking the stairs two at a time, he rushed down to the cave. “Seriously, Bruce? You find out you have a son and instead of getting to know him, you’re down here doing the paranoid Bat routine?”

“Dick, this is important. Who knows what Talia is plotting? I can’t give him too much information.”

Tim looked at Dick and then at Bruce and quickly decided to make his exit.

“He has a name B. And maybe if you actually, I don’t know, talked to Damian, you could figure this out faster.” A bing came from the computer and Dick moved to investigate. “Really, a DNA check?” He picked up the file folder. “Well congrats Bruce, it’s a boy.” He threw the file into Bruce’s chest and stormed back up the stairs.

Just before Damian entered his room, that woman approached him. “Hey, Damian, right? I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I’m Selina Kyle.”

“Yes, Father’s latest paramour.”

She chuckled but before she could respond Drake stormed by. “What’s wrong Tim?”

“Dick and Bruce are at it again. I’m getting out of the blast zone.”

“Well, why don’t we all go out shopping? Damian, I’m sure you need to pick some stuff up.”

“-tt- That will do.”

As Dick stormed out of the cave, the group of three pulled out of the manor driveway.

“Dick, Chum, I’m just trying to be careful. He already knows everyone’s identity, and maybe he’s not a part of Talia’s plot but I can’t just accept that. Talia doesn’t do anything without a reason.”

“Fine, but you could at least talk to him.”

“I-“

“Talk to, not interrogate him. I bet I know more about his brother than you do.”

“How?”

“We played 20 questions. Damian met his brother while Talia was on a mission in France. His brother insisted on keeping in touch, and Damian believes that Talia and Ra’s didn’t know about this brother.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me this?”

“Because he doesn’t know you.” Dick was exasperated. “You didn’t even introduce Selina to him.”

“I didn’t?”

“No, B you didn’t. I get that it’s important for you to make sure we’re safe but you have to remember that he’s 10. His life has just been completely uprooted. On another note…”

“Jason?”

“Jason, you really need to let him know you don’t hate him.”

“I could never!”

“I know that, and you know that, but does Jay know that?”

At the mall Damian had selected some civilian attire, thanks to a surprise shopping trip with his Gēgē and Mari he learnt how to shop for clothes. That woman was well suited to help him pick out clothes. Then Drake dragged them into a nearby technology store. “What are we here for?”

“Well, you’re going to need a phone, Babs and I’ll make sure it’s secure tonight,” Drake started. “Plus, a laptop, for school, game systems, so you know what the other kids are talking about- “

“Wait,” Damian interrupted. “Father is going to send me to school. With children?!” He was incredulous and aghast.

“Well, yeah,” Drake replied. “It’s the law.”

“I am so far beyond whatever those incompetents could possibly teach. I have a Doctorate!”

“Then B will say it’s for social skills. Point is you’re going to have to go and the laptop will let you Skype your brother.”

“Alright, but I will fight Father about school.”

“Been there, tried that, have the commemorative Mug.” Drake continued as he peered at specifications. “One of the first things you’ll learn about Bruce, is that us appearing to be well-adjusted people is very important to him. If it helps think of school as being undercover. You need to convince people that you’re a typical 10-year-old, not someone who has a PhD.” With that Drake selected a laptop and moved on to grab a Switch system and some Pokémon games.

As they left the store, she asked, “Need anything else, Kitten?”

Damian hesitated. Should he trust them with this? “If there is an art store…” he trailed off.

“Sure Kitten,” Kyle said. “What type? Drawing, painting, knitting? Whatcha like?”

“Primarily drawing and oil painting.”

“Well if you ever want to try knitting…”

“Selina stop trying to induct another person into your knitting cult. You already got Jay, isn’t that enough?”

“Nope,” they walked into the craft store. “Kitten, I’ll be in the yarn section, just grab what you want.”

“You don’t even like the yarn here!” Drake shouted after her.

Selina ignored him as she walked off. Damian looked at him questioningly as he grabbed sketch pads and canvases. “Why did you not go with her?”

“She’s going to be over there for a while. Plus, I’ve spent tons of time with Selina, I haven’t spent time with you.”

“Why would you want to? I am a threat to your position. Unless, this is to learn my weaknesses. I see you possess a superior sense of strategy than I had originally suspected Drake.”

“Wha-No, why? You’re my new brother, I want to know more about you.”

Damian headed off to find Kyle with Drake tailing after him. “You can admit to the ruse. I have found you out.”

“You’ve found nothing.”

“Being disingenuous is unbecoming. I have discovered your scheme.”

“Damian, I literally just want to get to know my younger brother but go off I guess.”

Damian’s confusion from that statement only grew as they found Selina with a cart full of yarn.

“We left you alone for 5 minutes.”

“I have zero impulse control. I don’t know how you keep forgetting this.” She replied plucking Damian’s choices from his hands and adding it to the cart.

They drove back, only to be greeted by a very confused Bruce as Selina carried bags filled with yarn into the house. “Come on Baby Bat, you need to know where the craft room is.”

“What happened?” Bruce asked Tim.

“We took Damian shopping; I think we bonded but apparently he thinks I have some scheme to defeat him in a fight. Don’t know what that’s about, but I need coffee.” Tim replied going into the kitchen.

That night was the start of regularly scheduled calls between Damian and Adrien. Damian took extreme precautions to keep the calls private. They where never the same night of the week or the same time of evening, and while he locked the door to his room, he never called from there. Despite bets to the opposite, Jason was the first to find Damian while he was on a call.

“Yo, Gremlin, whatcha up to?”

“None of your business, Todd.”

“Dami, is that one of your brothers?” Came an unfamiliar voice.

“-tt-, it is no one important.”

“Aw, Gremlin, I thought we were closer than that.” He captured Damian in a headlock and got a good look at the screen. “Oh, you’re that teen model…” He snapped trying to remember the name.

“Adrien.” Adrien supplied.

“Yeah, that’s it! You’re the Gremlin’s brother?”

“Todd, remove your hands before I remove them for you.”

“Touchy, touchy Baby Bat.” Damian snarled at him, while Jason pulled out his phone and took a selfie with the computer and Damian.

“Delete that Todd.”

“No can do, you know how the others are. I won and now I have proof.”

“TODD,” Damian screamed, as Jason ran back to the house.

After that, all the Wayne boys made consistent interruptions in Damian’s calls. Grayson was the most frequent. Drake was second and the most annoying, constantly pestering Adrien with questions, that varied from how often he sees his father to how many hours he worked modeling for his father’s brand.

“Hey Dami, why does your brother keep asking all those questions?” Adrien asked one day.

“It is Drake, I try not to delve into his potential thought process.”

“Well, Damian, that sounds like a you problem.” Drake shot back as he continued to type on his laptop.

“Anyways, Dami school got out early today.”

“Oh, what was the reason this time?”

“Mr. Pigeon again. Poor Mr. Ramier, all he wants is to feed the pigeons.”

“Wait, what?” Drake interrupted again.

“Drake, Gēgē is trying to tell me about his day and complain about Hawkmoth. Stop interrupting.”

“Who’s Hawkmoth?”

“Wait,” Adrien interrupted, “You don’t know about Hawkmoth? Paris’ supervillain? Attacks at least 4 times a week for the past 4 years? His Akumas are always defeated by Ladybug and Chat Noir? None of this rings a bell?”

“No,” Drake said slowly.

“Ugh,” Damian rolled his eyes. “Here research away to your heart’s content and let me talk to Gēgē!”

[phantomchick]

List of wips - aka struggles

Call Me A Jason Todd fic I started two years ago and still go back to poke at longingly, will the second and final chapter ever be posted? Who can know for sure.

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I tell myself that I don't need Anyone (But the truth is no one needs Me) Another Jason Todd fic I haven't completed, posted two years ago for whumptober, it was the only day of whumptober I participated in, intended to be full of Captain Atom and Jason Todd interacting during the fall out of Bludhaven getting chemo'd but he doesn't show up in the first chapter and have you ever tried to read Infinite Crisis? It's a fucking mess. With this wip I have a close to justifiable excuse in that I refuse to write without knowing the canon, and reading through all the canon that's relevant is A Task.

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The Monster in The Man A Merlin fic floating around my drafts, currently at a good bit over 5k wherein Merlin gets POSSESSED by an old enchantment gone mad. Written because a Merlin fic I read ended on a horror style cliffhanger and I couldn't handle it so I charged my way through the first 2k of a sequel and I've been adding to it ever since. Angst with a hopefully happy ending, if I ever frikking finish it.

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The Dragon Lord In the aftermath of his father's death after Merlin inherits his father's dragon lord abilities he notices some minor changes to his interactions with his friends, the thing is that Merlin is a dragon lord and unusually what he hoards is people, things might just turn out the better for it.

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Maelstrom A Naruto time travel fix it fic that wouldn't leave me alone until I got the first chapter out, ironically it has left me entirely alone since I finished the first chapter and I have no idea if inspiration for it will ever return or when that will be.

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You Don't Know Anything Long long ago in a land of asks and a time of legend @paradise-runway sent me a fic request for "one where the other Bat boys find out the circumstances of Jason's death and resurrection and their reaction?" it has been lingering in my drafts haunting me ever since, someday, someday I shall fulfill what has been promised.

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Of Curses and Covenants A longfic exploring the magical underbelly of Gotham's history, focuses on the intertwined relationship of the Wayne Family and the Zatara Family brought about by how often Waynes through the generations have ended up being cursed. I have an index of all the curses ready, the problem with this one is the plot and the story.

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Vicki Finds a Bat (temporary title) Vicki Vale stumbles upon a still alive young adult Jason Todd at a wafflehouse on the way back from snooping into Cobblepot's latest criminal schemes. Convincing the young man to go back home to his loving father might prove more of a challenge than she thinks however. (will have a happy ending if I ever fucking finish it, for now it looms in my drafts like an unhappy gargoyle)

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Hug Deficit A fic about Jason being touch starved and his family fixing it, hurt/comfort all the way, post resurrection.

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Stephanie Brown and The Mansion of Man Pain Robin Era Steph, she and Alfred have pumpkin spice lattes together, it's their thing because I say it is. Includes, Alfred raised 5 boys counting Bruce, he's not sure how to handle a little girl and Bruce trying to dad plus Steph trying her best. Would be a lot easier to write if I was any good at comedy.

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Another Time, Another Place Some twenty years or so after their death, Martha and Thomas Wayne appear in the middle of Wayne Manor's ground floor parlour room, the major problem with this? Not only are Bruce and Dick away, Alfred's on holiday in England! Which is why Jason as the eldest has been unwillingly nominated by his younger siblings to deal with the situation at hand. Martha and Thomas in this are heavily inspired by @unpretty's amazing portrayals in her fics with them.

- Queen Blackfire and the Lazarus Lord An au with Soulmate identifying marks: Jason Todd was having an okay time as de-facto leader of The Outlaws, a band of misfits and rebels with hearts of gold (or at least silver) saving the world the best they could and filling in the gaps the more straightforward heroes tended to miss while they were at it. Then he found out he was soulmates with the Alien Warrior Queen bent on declaring war on planet Earth if the Justice League didn't find her soulmate for her. Things with his friend, team mate and potential future sister in law Kori just got super awkward and the only good thing he can find about this situation is how angry (and protective? But maybe he's just imagining that) Bruce seems over the whole thing.

Side note: Kommand'r freaked out during the years Jason was 'dead' and accidentally brought peace to a huge chunk of space and intergalactic society via building up her empire after throwing herself into work to escape the grief.

- To Grasp The Hand of a Fox Naruto and Kurama travel back in time to save the world but unfortunately they land in the same moment that Kurama's just been put under a genjutsu by Madara Uchiha, Naruto has to make his way to Konoha and wake Kurama up before the villagers seal him away inside Mito. Can he save his friend in time to save them all?

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Those Winter Sundays Mcu fic. Snapshots of Tony working hard for the avengers and no one noticing. Civil War Team Iron Man.

- Salvation Rides a Solar Wind Iron Man fic in a Science fiction / Western style fic where Tony's presence is described through the eyes of the aliens he helps. Au where the war with Thanos goes very differently. The type of fic that needs like 5 multi chapter fics in a single series to truly shine, hence why I will likely never finish it.

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And We Break Away Again Jason goes back to Talia after Damian is brought back from the dead by Bruce. It's not that he begrudges his little brother his resurrection, the opposite, but he can't ignore what Bruce did to him by taking him to the magdala valley and he can't ignore what Bruce doing for Damian what he didn't do for him, (do for Dick, do for any of them besides the blood related one) means. So he decides to go back to the only person who ever seemed to understand why he wanted to avenge himself in the first place, the only person who seemed to agree that he had a right to be angry that he'd died at all, the only person he can trust to hold him together while he feels like he's falling apart that won't judge him against the heroic mold while they're at it. Not sure if this will be a oneshot or a series but we're going good Talia with this one regardless, DC's been ruining her lately but through fanfic all things are possible so fuck them.

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Fan The Flames In the aftermath of a magical fire taking hold of the Daily Planet in Metropolis, Superman is missing, can Batman and the rest of the Justice League find their friend as well as the identity of the evil arsonist before Lex Luther does it first?

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In a Whisper (In a Wish) Ichigo Kurosaki protects people, it's not just who he is, it's what he is, down to the core of his very soul. The only problem is, that a few weeks ago he sacrificed half his soul to protect the world. It aches inside where he knows something important used to be. When everyone he cares for is avoiding him and he's starting to feel more like a shadow than a person, that aches at him too and he can't help but wish, quietly, privately, painfully, to himself if no one else that things were different, that he wasn't so broken or so alone. But if wishes were fishes they'd fill a whole sea (just be careful not to whisper them within the hearing range of the Hōgyoku).

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An Honest Conversation (Is A Bitter Thing To Crave) Jason kidnaps Bruce but things don't go as Bruce expects. First of all the reason Jason was able to kidnap him was because Stephanie of all people was his insider, why would she support someone Batman knows she's only met once. And second of all the reason he's been abducted - So that Jason can drug them both with the same substance. And when Bruce asks what he's doing this for Jason only responds, "We don't trust each other enough to have a truthful conversation otherwise" and refuses to say anything more while they wait for it to kick in. What will be revealed by this forced honest encounter on both sides? -

carrying the world on thin shoulders Midoriya Izuku deserves better from literally all the adults in his life so this is part whump part hurt comfort part fix it fic that sprawls out from time to time but it's pretty bad tbh, at some point I'll probably make it neater and give it something resembling a coherent plot. Hopefully. -

Trust Issues HP fic. Harry gets dosed with a potion that's supposed to reinforce your strongest survival instinct, the person who drugged him might've intended to be helpful but said potion happened to be at extra strength and he was given what would be a normal fix for the regular version but for this one is twice the recommended amount. Great.. The biggest problem about all this - beyond his internationally wanted godfather Sirius endangering himself by hiding out in a cave near Hogsmeade against all rational advice, his best friend Ron hating him, everyone in school besides his other best friend Hermione also hating him or avoiding him and the entire Goblet of Fire problem - is that he can't bring himself to trust anyone enough to tell them what's wrong.

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Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies A post marvel avengers story, thor pov probably, made because I like to dive into a pool of thor & loki sibling feels sometimes: Starts off as Thor regales his new human shield brothers with the story of his banishment and return to Asgard ending with Loki falling into the Void and the Avengers have some questions, questions Thor had not thought of, remarks on things that Thor doesn’t know how to explain away.  After he goes to Loki’s cell and asks him some things he becomes more and more angry despite having no one he can punch > Gets drunk and criticises Sif and The Warriors Three after they try to calm him down > mention of Loki still being underage by Aesir standards during Thor 1 seeing as Thor was being crowned due to being of age in the movie > heavy inspiration drawn from queen regnant by peaceheather. “For while the Treason I detest, the Traitor I love still.” Currently just an outline.

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Separation Split personality disorder Red Hood and Jason Todd, alternatively, Red Hood is a demon/parasite latched on to Jay. A lot of work necessary considering right now it’s currently just an idea inspired by a cool tumblr fanart.

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A Trinity of Head Wounds The dcu trinity in the aftermath of a fight against some alien invaders (or something along those lines), whump, hurt/comfort, starts with them arguing, ends with them bleeding on each other in a friendship way, whole thing should take place in a single room on the watchtower and be a oneshot so it's gotta be a short and sweet one-two gut punch with the feelings which is difficuuult.

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A Stark in The Stars an mcu fic, a really over complicated mcu fic, mostly because of Steve Roger's timeline fuckery, Tony's alive but he's not supposed to be, but so are a lot of people who were dead but aren't now you might say what with the snap and the blip. The thing is that Steve's timeline fuckery is making it so that everyone keeps getting confused between the two different timelines of events, obviously more confused the more that their characters were connected to the films/the events that were altered, the punchline of this particular fic though is that Tony's still alive and he's unaware of the timeline of events where he died. And as he's currently in space he's also unaware that everyone on Earth thinks he's dead (because why wouldn't they? he died in endgame after all). That makes this fic super tough to write because like ultimate unreliable narrator right here and not sure how to tie in the whole 'oh wait actually everyone on Earth thinks I'm dead because of the canon timelines' thing in or at what point of the story to do that at. The fuckery of it all gives me a headache. Plot is hard. Also all of that's basically background to the actual focus of most of the fic thus far which is Tony travelling around space in an Iron Man suit up until the point where it won't be background.

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Magic Chained Merlin au. When you put magic restraining cuffs on Magic himself you don't just bind him you bind all magic the world over. It is therefore, infinitely lucky that Uther Pendragon never became aware of this fact.

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A Child in The Cold bnha Midoriya deserves better also Recovery Girl and Aizawa have shit to answer for as far as I'm concerned.

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[exauhstedsunflower]

So, I’m writing Marvel now…

The thing is, Marvel is a special interest for me. Has been for a long time. The MCU while it has its downsides (I will never forgive them for what they did to Steve Rogers.) is one of my favorite movie franchises of all time. It’s a crime that I haven’t written any fics for it yet, honestly.

This isn’t nearly finished, and I have no idea when it will be or how long it’ll be. It doesn’t even have a name or full plan yet. But it’s a fun project for me. I want to explore the fact that Captain America is from the 40’s, however when he wakes up he is still in his twenties. He’s technically the youngest on the team while simultaneously being way older and being treated as way older than everyone around him. It picks up during the first Avengers film and is written from Tony’s POV. (Again, so far. It’s not done and I could still switch POV’s every once in a while.)

All that being said, enjoy!

Steve hates him. He hates Tony. Tony Stark. Son of his old friend, Howard Stark.

The old bastard was right, isn’t that just ironic.

Endless fights over Tony being a disappointment. Being nothing like the Greatest Man Howard Ever Knew. Howard never shut up about the great Captain America, so of course Tony knew this was coming.

Tony had tried when he was younger, he did. He’d tried to be better, braver, stronger, faster, witty in a way Howard would appreciate. But after a while he’d realized that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he’d never live up to what Howard wanted from him. Howard said daily that Captain America, Steve Rogers, would be disgusted by Tony. And Tony had just about recently decided that he was moving on from all of his daddy issues and metaphorically telling Howard to shove his criticisms very far up his ass. And, isn’t this just the kicker, Steve Rogers is right in front of him confirming it all.

“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

Exactly what everyone thinks I am, obviously.

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

What? He’s not about to make it easy on Captain America of all people. If anyone can handle his sass, it’s the so called bravest man who ever lived.

“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”

Wow, okay. He’s really laying it on, isn't he? He must be really pissed. In all honesty, Tony hadn’t thought it would be so easy to get to him. Or, rather, to get him to a point where he’s actually making personal, cutting blows.

Still, Tony doesn’t want to cause an actual fight. If he wanted that he’d have started off a little more strong, like how Rogers is. What with all the steam coming from his ears. Howard hadn’t mentioned the potentially problematic short fuse in all his ramblings. Whatever, just keep deflecting and find a way to defuse, then. He’s been around long enough to know when the right time to fight is. Currently they have a volatile, murderous psychopath who obviously wants them all fighting on board, so now is not a good time.

“I think I would just cut the wire.”

There, nice and simple. There’s no way Mr. Short Fuse can turn that into-

“Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”

Now he’s done it. He’s honestly tempted to say ‘Or what?’. Just curiosity speaking, what would Rogers do? And, another thing, Tony has never claimed to be a hero. Sure, he’s saved a few people, and yeah, he’s trying to save the world currently, but the hero label was all but thrown at him the moment he came out to the world as Iron Man. He doesn’t want to be a hero, all he wants right now is for Rogers to get off his damn high horse.

“A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!”

He hadn’t meant to say that. Truly, he hadn’t. He’s supposed to be actively diffusing the situation. But honestly it was an achievement he’d gone that long without actually retaliating. You can only push a man so far-

“Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.”

He’s not succeeding in his endeavor to not fight Captain America. His dad is likely screeching from his penthouse in hell.

He moves away from Rogers just in time for the locator to go off, signifying that they’ve found what they were looking for. This is followed by an argument about who is going to get it, a rather horrifying revelation that his new best friend besides Rhodey, Pepper and Happy, (Yes, he has claimed this already, he just has to convince Bruce.) has tried to kill himself, and then suddenly Captain America is trying to fight him, again.

“Put on the suit, let’s find out!”

“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” He replies calmly, though a little heated.

It’s just oh so ironic, (This whole conversation has been filled to the brim with irony.) that as Tony says that he laments how immature they’re acting. Seriously, the guy’s in his nineties, why is he pulling Tony into this? The irony strikes him then and there, as he’s watching Rogers get all riled up. Captain America is practically a kid.

It’s kind of funny to think about. Captain America, the man out of time, he’s only in his twenties. Tony is twenty years older than him, mentally. Now it’s not about fighting his fathers old friend. It’s not even about the fact that this is Captain America, and how anti-patriotic it would be to deck him.

No, Tony wont fight a twenty-something year old. It’s not dignified. It wouldn’t even be fair. Rogers hasn’t had the time to fully develop patience like Tony has. His brain hasn’t aged just as his body hasn’t. No wonder he has such a short fuse, Tony was the same way when he was young.

Something explodes while his brain is having this revelation, and he realizes that this is an attack. Good thing they weren’t fighting each other, then.

Steve helps him up after they’re both thrown across the room from the blast.

“Put on the suit.”

Tony nods, finally agreeing with the man on something.

“Yep.”

-

Of course they would end up working together to fix the turbine. That’s the way the world works. Rogers hates Tony, and Tony won’t fight him, which seems to be making Rogers more angry. But now all of that has to be put aside for the greater good. Hopefully they’ll be able to do this before another turbine goes down and the whole boat falls from the sky.

“What’s it look like in there?”

Tony really needs this to go well. Surely Rogers can’t be too inept with technology. He’s young, young people are the future of technology! He even understood the Wizard of Oz reference earlier, so he’s sort of up to date, right?

“It seems to run on some form of electricity!”

So much for his optimism. Despite the feeling that this is going to end horribly, his mouth quirks a bit. That’s why it had taken him so long to put together how young Rogers actually is.

Still, this has to be tough for the guy, he’s clearly out of his depth here and is trying to help.

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

He teaches Rogers how to fix the relays, which takes some time given that he can’t personally guide the project. He’s a bit busy clearing the debris from the turbine and trying to keep up with the flying boat’s speed enough to stay beside it. You would think they’d stop moving so he can just hover and do repairs, but no! Although he does suppose that there is quite a bit of commotion happening inside too. Enough to warrant not slowing down, maybe.

“Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push.”

“Well if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!”

Aw, he’s worried. Asshole.

Does this count as laying on the wire? Is this technically superhero-ing right now? Is this enough to prove to Rogers he has the right intentions? He hopes so.

“Then stay in the control unit and reverse polarity long enough to disengage mag-“

“Speak! English!”

Tony nearly laughs. He hadn’t realized how charming Rogers actually is, underneath all of the high and mighty hero stuff.

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect”.

“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce responds, understanding every word. Oh, Tony might just be in love.

“Finally, someone who speaks English.”

“Is that what just happened?”

It was a sly little comment, but it was there. He should have picked up on it at the time. Captain Rogers is funny.

“See that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word.”

He watches the man jump over to the lever, landing a little too close to the edge for comfort. Then instead of dwelling on the fact that he was concerned for Captain America’s safety, he goes into the turbine and starts to push.

While he’s pushing, there’s some gunfire. Also some rushing coming from Director Fury in his earpiece. He wonders if anyone has come out to help Rogers, and then realizes that obviously Rogers can handle himself, so why would anyone? Eventually the turbine feels like it's moving faster than him, so it’s time to get out.

“Cap, I need the lever!”

“I need a minute here!”

Uh oh. That won’t do at all.

“Lever! Now!”

This is so not how he wanted this to go. He falls into a rotor, and slides down into the bottom part of the turbine. He is so screwed. He’s going to break his spine, or his neck. He’s going to die fixing a boat engine. Engine’s are his bitch, he can’t die fixing an engine!

Suddenly the rotors let up, and it only takes Tony a split second to fly out and assess his damage. His suit’s going to give out on him. Any second now surely. He should get out of the air-

Loki’s men are on Rogers with guns, how is that a fair fight?

At least, that’s what he thinks before he tackles one and takes them right through the side of the boat with him, finally hitting the ground and letting the suit turn off.

He can’t quite see anymore, and he can’t quite tell if it's the suit or his eyes that are damaged. He was knocked around quite a bit. Maybe it’s a concussion? He hopes it’s temporary, he can’t work if he’s blind.

Actually, scratch that. That sounds ableist. It also sounds like he’s doubting himself, which he’d never do. He very much can work if he’s blind. Plenty of people do it every day.

He feels tired, a bit hazy. He’d been knocked around maybe too much. Is Steve okay? He looks up, and the captain is jumping back into the ship. Good.

Definitely a concussion, he thinks, letting his head fall back and passing out.

-

Coulson died. Loki killed him.

Tony hasn’t been on this boat for too long now, but he’s starting to think this is a suicide mission. Agent Coulson was Pepper’s friend; how’s he going to tell her? How will the news reach the cellist he was involved with?

“There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative-”

He hasn’t been listening, and was honestly okay with the numb indifference of his thoughts. Anything not to hear Fury’s words. Lies, honestly. There’s no excuse for the arsenal that was being built, regardless of if Fury hadn’t bet on it in the first place. And now- what? He wants to use Tony and the others as the replacement arsenal? They can’t even save one agent, let alone the world.

“…to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes.”

Tony stands, unable to hear anymore of this. Tony’s no hero. If Coulson was smarter, he never would have believed in heroes in the first place.

-

“Was he married?”

He looks at Rogers, at his attempt at starting a tough conversation. He sees why everyone likes the guy, really. Even after their almost-fight he comes to attempt to comfort Tony. Tony, for his part, isn’t even sure why he’s taking Coulson’s death so hard. It’s not like they were friends.

He just- well, it feels like this death is on him.

“No. There was a uh...cellist, I think.”

There’s no one to inform about his death. No one to send condolence flowers to. Pepper might mourn, his coworkers may also. The cellist… well, she won't be able to pick up their fling again.

.

“I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man.”

Steve Rogers has a good heart. He may be quick tempered, but he has a good heart.

“He was an idiot.”

“Why? For believing?”

For believing in them. Believing in this stupid, sorry excuse for a team.

“For taking on Loki alone.”

“He was doing his job.”

Oh, yes, defend the dead guy. Make this argument harder. It was easier to hate Rogers earlier, when he was being irrational.

It circles back to there not always being a way out, and Tony thinks that’s bullshit. He doesn’t take well to being told things are impossible or unavoidable. If something isn’t going to work, he makes it work. Coulson should have thought ahead. He should have waited. He should have-

Better not go down that avenue.

He starts to walk away, and Rogers compares them to soldiers. Right, that makes sense. That’s why Rogers took the death so calmly. He was a soldier in a war. He’s used to losing people and having to move forward immediately. He probably has already figured out how not to blame himself for every death he’s ever witnessed.

“Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list…”

Tony briefly wonders if it's healthy to compartmentalize like that. It can’t be. But then he spots the blood on the wall and his brain moves on to another thought. Rogers is right, anyway. They need to focus.

“He made it personal.”

“That’s not the point.” Rogers replies, not catching the point just yet.

“That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?” He needs to explain. The man will get it if he explains. Sometimes he forgets that not everyone’s brain does the jumps his own does.

“To tear us apart.”

“Yes! Divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us

out to -

win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.”

“Right,” He’s catching on, thankfully. “I caught his act at Stuttengart.”

“Yeah. That's just previews, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered…” Tony stops, revelation forming. Steve looks fully interested in wherever this is going.

“Son of a bitch!”

“What?”

“Big ugly building in New York!”

Rogers’ eyes go wide, “Let's go.” He orders, Tony already moving.

-

The battle was terrifying. There were aliens, gigantic half mechanical half flesh monsters flying around, and a murderous Norse god intent on taking control of the chaos and coming out on top. Tony wonders why NASA or SHEILD has never claimed to have seen the species this army is made up of before. These guys don’t seem very low key, what with all the planetary destruction. He doesn’t believe for a second that no one knew these things were out there.

He makes a mental note to hack the department of defense after he’s eaten his shawarma.

Tony never prepared for this. The only people who were even remotely prepared tried to nuke New York. And then Tony the not-hero, thank you very much, had to fix that problem on top of the other very pressing one. The other problem being aliens. Aliens invading the earth.

Aliens, Jesus Christ.

Afterwards, Loki gets taken to Asgard with Thor via Beam Of Light™️. Fury says the Avengers are all free to go. But Tony does extend the offer for the others to stay at the tower. They can if they need to, not forever or anything. But, if they want to stick around and help clean up the mess. Someone’s gotta, you know?

Romanoff took the offer. Then Bruce because he wants access to a lab like Tony can offer and totally not because he’s excited about their new friendship. Then Clint, who would like to stay close to SHEILD; then begrudgingly, Steve Rogers, who admits that he can’t quite afford life in New York City but would like to stay here. And suddenly the Avengers are piling into Tony’s penthouse, exhausted but still helping get rid of all the broken glass.

He goes to his lab as soon as sleeping situations are settled. (Natasha takes a guest room, Bruce gets another one, Clint and Rogers take the living room.) There’s no need to stick around. The superhero’s crashing in his guest rooms and living room are cleaned and fed, New York is saved (and subsequently the world.). Besides, he needs to start working on better living arrangements if these guys are going to stay. He gets half way through Natasha’s layout for her floor, when Jarvis lowers his music.

“What gives? I was just getting into a groove here!”

“It seems you have a visitor, sir.”

His head whips around, expecting Pepper, but instead he finds Steve Rogers standing on the outside of the glass door looking like a lost puppy in designer hand-me-down sweatpants. Tony sighs, Pepper won't be in until tomorrow. He’d had to do a lot of bribing to get the New York Airport to let his jet land. They have to clear some debris from the runway, fix some of the landing gear, that stuff.

“Shall I let him in, sir?”

“What? Yeah, yeah. Yes. Let the captain in, open the door.”

The door unlocks, allowing Rogers to step into the lab. He looks around in wonder, the exhaustion from the day being covered by the inquisitive nature of humans.

“What’s up, Cap?”

Rogers startles, having gotten distracted by the tech in the room. Then hesitantly, he speaks up.

“This place is really swell, Tony.”

He sounds like he means it so genuinely that Tony doesn’t make a remark about the outdated word choice.

“Well, it’s no flying boat, but it’s home. Speaking of, you’ll love this. Dum-e! C’mere boy!”

If Rogers looked amazed before, he looks absolutely awestruck now.

“Did you make him?” He questions as he reaches out to pet the robot. Dum-E nuzzles his hand and Tony smiles a bit at the sight.

“Yeah. Made Jarvis too, right J?”

“Yes, sir.” Rogers jumps at the sound of Jarvis’ disembodied voice.

“See? They get along too well though. They’ll surpass their old man one day. Too much plotting happening while I’m gone.”

Rogers laughs, “See, now, I would have thought you'd be all for the minds of the future.” He comments sarcastically.

“And usually I’d agree, but I don’t think I’d be happy if the new robot overlord was Dum-E. And hearing you, a twenty-something year old, tell me that the flying boat engine ‘runs on some kind of electricity’, settled it for me. I have no faith in the future of technology.”

The other man snorts, “I’m not exactly a prime example of the youth, man.”

Tony puts up a finger, “Ah, see, I’d believe you if you didn’t just call me ‘man’. I’m gonna start calling you kid.”

Rogers rolls his eyes, ignoring how that prompted a mock scolding on rolling his eyes at his elders. He then sees the current work in progress on Tony’s work space.

“Is this what you’ve been doing down here?”

Tony’s eyes follow Rogers as he walks over to the plans and starts reading them over.

“This is so nice. There’s a floor for each of the Avengers in here! Even Thor and I!”

“Yes, God’s need sleep too. At least I think they do. I’ll have to ask, actually. -And, also, why wouldn’t you have one?”

Tony watches the man's eyes widen as if being caught saying something he hadn’t meant to say out loud. Although as soon as the look of panic shows it’s gone, Rogers turns to hide himself in the plans again.

“Look, I know we didn’t start off on the right foot.” He starts, quieter than before.

Is… is Rogers attempting a reconciliation right now? Tony thinks back to all the thoughts he had earlier, where Howard may have had a fit. And how fitting he thought it was that Captain America hated him, although he wasn’t entirely happy about it. But this might be worse, actually.

“I believe you were being beaten up when we met, actually. And then I swooped in and saved you.”

Rogers immediately regains his volume, “Swooped in and saved me doesn’t sound entirely right.”

“This. Coming from the guy who still calls things swell? I think I’ll keep my phrasing.”

“I had him! You can't save someone who is in control of the situation!”

“You call being beaten up being in control? Please elaborate.”

“I was not getting beat up. I was holding my own.”

“Sure, kid. Is that a bruise?”

Rogers immediately starts feeling around his face. This is hilarious for a number of reasons. One, he has super healing and any bruise would have been gone by now. Two, Captain America looks far more worried about a bruise on his perfect face than when he was saving the world.

“Where?”

“Right- yeah, right there. Where Loki absolutely had the upper hand!”

That comment startles the older/younger man into stunned laughter.

And thats all I’ve got!! Thank you if you made it this far.

[iblue-kitzune]

Of Rising Calamities Beyond the Cosmos: Chapter 10

A/N: And now we have arrived at the final chapter guys! This one is a bit special because it serves as both a regular epilogue (NOTE: There’s a bit of time-skip in here just to let y’all know) and a Halloween chapter, so it’s a half-and-half kind of deal if you want to look at it that way. 

So, with that out of the way now, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Happy Halloween everyone!

Droplets of water fell from the air and onto the rocky floor below, which was littered with puddles in every direction Jane looked. And the young woman took care to avoid stepping in one as she walked deeper and deeper into the darkness, a single blue flame lit in the palm of her hand to light her path up ahead.

“[Tell me again why are we exploring this dingy and damp dungeon?]”

“[Jane said she wanted to investigate this place a little bit more thoroughly this time.]”

“[Then why did she send a clone in place of herself and have the three of us accompany it?]”

“[Maybe she thought the monsters and wild animals wouldn’t dare approach her at the sight of us being by her side? I don’t know! I’m not exactly a mind reader or know the woman’s thoughts like you two think I do just because I spend more time with—]”

“Raiden! Gale! Inferno!” the three great spirits went quiet at the sharp voice of the clone and looked up. “I can hear you three you know...despite your whispering,” the trio sweat-dropped and turned their heads away from the moody half-spirit.

‘Finally...’ Jane let out an inaudible sigh when her great spirit companions switched to a different topic. Thank god for that. She didn’t have to listen to either of them complain anymore—even though most of it came from Raiden.

But she wasn’t focused on that. Right now, she just wanted to pass this section of dungeon and get to the next level. 

And sure, it’s been a while since she’s last been down here, but it’s not like Jane had forgotten the layout of the cavern. 

The floor above her, she knew by heart now. This one, however, not so much.

‘All the more reason to check it out.’

When the young woman found this cave two months ago and started to explore it, she made sure that she memorized all of the pathways and secret crevices in this area—well this floor at least, before she left. But now that there weren’t any pressing issues at hand here or any type of commotion happening outside of the cave, she was free to investigate this place without worry for the time being.

There was just so much energy she could feel in here, and so many shiny objects she could see around her, twinkling within the cracks embedded into the walls, and ceiling. All of them had an iridescent glow to them, and all of them were glowing a different color—from golden white, seafoam green, and baby blue to periwinkle, alexandrite, and coral pink. Any one of these could a rare item or ingredient for something; however, Jane wasn’t so sure about that.

‘Maybe I should take a look first.’

The young half-spirit stopped to pull out an empty transparent container with a handle on the top, and set it on the ground. She kneeled, and with her free hand, Jane tapped on it. A small section of the container glowed white and opened up with a chilling swoosh. Then she carefully stuck her fireball inside before pulling her hand back out, watching the hole close up and disappear. 

Satisfied with her work, she moved away from her makeshift lantern and stood halfway up, making sure to crouch on the balls of her feet. And once she did, the clone of Jane bounded high into the air with just a single leap and latched onto one of the stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. 

‘Wow!’ her eyes turned into stars at the sight of many items and gems staring at her right in the face. ‘There’s so stuff...huh?’ she trailed off with a silent gasp. But that didn’t last long as the look of excitement entered her golden brown-amber eyes, and replaced her awe.

‘Oh my god! Is that what I think it is?!’

She was in heaven right now, and rightfully so because she could see a bunch of stuff on the ceiling and higher end of the walls ranging from bottle based items: 

Holy Bottle, Dark Bottle, Life Bottle, Panacea Bottle, and Syrup Bottle 

To tool based items: 

Banrea, All-Divide, Hourglass, Spectacles, Dried Peels, and Goat Horn

And medicine based items:

 Lemon Gel, Melange Gel, Miracle Gel, Pine Gel, and Elixir

It was hard to believe that she was seeing all of this in one place since they would normally be spread out throughout the cave, or just be hidden in some obscure spot no one would bother to check, especially if it’s not sticking out in the open. But Jane wasn’t like others, and she wasn’t the type to pass up on stuff like this just sitting out here. 

She was like a collector of sorts, and sometimes she likes to stock up on these items for future use. And whatever’s left that she doesn’t use, she mixes them together—much to the surprise of her friends who thought she was crazy for doing something potentially dangerous like that.

To her and everyone else’s shock, the mixed components come out looking totally different. They become a completely new item, medicine, or tool. One with brand new properties that changes after each use. It was something her and her friends had never seen before, and Jane loved it—so did Tony, Bruce, Peter, Shuri, and Strange (to some extent), who were like scientists in their own way as they, too, tended to experiments with things from time to time, magic or not.

Plus, it’s not like she can help it. She was a scientist—and a brilliant one who won the Nobel Prize many years ago at that! 

And as such, Jane felt obligated to mix components with others and see what comes out of it. If the experiment turned out to be a successful one, then the next logical step would be the test the bad boy out and see what it does. If she likes the results of her fruits of her labor, she will keep the finished product and think about making duplicates in the future—which, nine times out of ten, she does.

However, if the whole thing turned out to be a failure in the end, then Jane saw no reason to continue working with the components. She would just dispose of them in the biohazard bin she keeps in her lab.

‘It’s a good thing I found these things. I was just beginning to get low on all of this stuff,’ the clone said as she proceeded to pick them all out of the cracks of the walls and ceilings with her telekinesis.

Two minutes later after gathering all sixteen items and arranging them in a giant ball, the young half spirit took out a black-light blue accented bag that had a star shaped zipper on it, and unzipped the thing. The pile fell neatly inside, and Jane zipped the bag up before making it vanish back into her pocket dimension.

“[Are you done with collecting items, Jane?]” she heard Gale ask, and looked down at him and the other two great spirits, who were all patiently waiting on her.

“Yeah!” she answered and let go of the stalagmite. “For now I am,” the young woman quickly added once she landed safely on the rocky ground.

Raiden pinched the bridge of his nose while Inferno and Gale sighed to themselves. 

The clone gave them an apologetic smile before she picked up her lantern, turned on her heel, and took off with a light dash, then heard the three flying after her seconds later.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thousands upon thousands of miles away from Snow Lunar Island, and somewhere in London, two animals sat on the front lawn of a huge two-story, thirty-eight hundred square-foot home that had a large walkway area leading over to the garage on the other side, and leading down to the sidewalk where a mailbox stood in place. 

The first animal was a large midnight blue and pale yellow dog with extra fur that was colored black on its back and fluffy tail, which was tipped magenta at the end, black hind paws, black tipped pointy ears, and magenta eyes while the second animal was a large royal purple and white bird with teal colored markings on the sides of its cheeks, the inner lining of its wings and the tips of its feathered tails, which were also tipped white, yellow talons, and teal eyes.

The two were currently playing a game of fetch with Darcy, who decided to come out here and play with Jane’s pets. No offense to her friend or anything, but she got tired of waiting in the lab on Jane to finish streaming the mini expedition her clone, Inferno, Gale, and Raiden were on. 

As exciting as it was to see what the inside of that mysterious cave was like on one of the three twenty-four inch screen desktop computers of Jane’s, she got really bored thirty minutes into the video when nothing of interest was happening. And so, she told Jane that she’ll be outside with Luna and Raymond, who is called Ray for short, sometimes—but only by his owner and her closest friends.

And that happened an hour ago.

“Luna!” she shouted, grabbing the dog’s attention, “Fetch!” and tossed a red ball with a white strip filled with black diamonds on it up in the air.

Luna barked and ran after it; however, Raymond, who she thought of like a little brother to her, swooped down and quickly yet carefully caught the ball with his talons. She stared in disbelief at the bird, who gave her a bird-like cry of laughter, and flew over to the human woman.

Darcy sweat-dropped and caught the ball Raymond dropped in her right hand. “Sorry Luna! I guess Ray beat ya to it!” she said to dog and almost rolled her eyes at the display of Ray puffing his chest out in pride. “Wanna try again?”

Luna narrowed her magenta eyes and nodded in determination. 

“Woof!”

Before she could get ready, however, her ears perked up at the sound of an engine from a vehicle pulling up in front of the house. When she turned around and saw a dark haired man and light haired woman get out of a red SUV, her eyes lit up at the sight of them and three other people climbing out from the backseat.

“Woof, woof!” she ran over to them with Raymond flying overhead not too far from her.

Darcy looked up to see the two getting petted by Kagome, Sota, Morgan, Pepper, and Tony. Then all of a sudden, she remembered what today was and what was supposed to take place at the Devil May Cry shop tonight.

‘Oh shit! I totally forgot about that!’ she panicked a bit on the inside, and before she could say anything, the Stark family walked up to her with Luna and Raymond in tow.

“Hello Darcy. How are you doing this evening?” Pepper, who was dressed up in a modest-looking devil costume, greeted her with a small smile.

“Splendid,” she answered part truthfully before looking down to see Morgan, who was in a cute little fairy costume. The little girl ran up to her and hugged her. “Oh you look adorable, Morgan!” she cooed.

“Thank you Auntie Darce!” the little six year old said with a big smile on her face.

The young woman grinned down and patted the young girl on her head with her left hand. Though she laughed when Morgan pulled back and gave her a pout before deciding to turn away in the other direction, as if she was saying “don’t look”, to fix her hair. 

“So are you, Jane, and Lady ready for the Halloween party yet?” Tony, who was dressed up in a handsome pirate costume, asked, raising a brow at her casual state of her appearance.

Darcy sweat-dropped. “Eh, not exactly,” she said with a slow shrug until she brightened up and waved her hand in reassurance. “But you guys can wait inside the living room while Jane, Lady, and I go get ready.”

The Stark family looked at each other then back at the young woman.

“That’s fine with us,” Pepper replied.

Darcy nodded and led the family along with Jane’s pets up the walkway to the house.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jane stared at her desktop monitor, watching her clone and the three great spirits arrive inside of a brightly lit room filled with shiny gems that were embedded in the stalagmites hanging from the cavern ceiling. There was also some kind of runes, black in color, etched onto the walls, giant potholes that were either filled up with water or had a large glowing gem stuck inside of it on the ground, and a bunch of floating platforms gathered around a circle of sharp pillars that contained an unidentified rune inside.

“I sense a large amount of mana and some other kind of energy in this room,” she heard her clone speak.

“[Yes, I sense it too. And it seems to be coming from both the rune behind those pillars and further down the path I see up ahead.]”

‘In that case...’ Jane narrowed her eyes before pressing a button on the side of the wireless headphones she had on her head. “Alright, listen up you four!” she spoke into the built-in mic of her headphones. “Inferno, I want you and my clone to stay there and check out the rune. Run an analysis on it with the Magi Analyzer Spectro-Rod. And in the meantime, Raiden and Gale can go further into the cave and check the other sections out with the other six MASRs. Got it?”

“Yeah! / [Yes!]”

The young half spirit watched her clone pull out twelve intricate-looking silver and violet colored rods with shiny red gems on top of them, and distribute the items amongst her companions evenly. 

With their equipment in hand, the group fanned out and got to work.

‘This will take a while.’

Jane pushed away from her computer desk and leaned back in her rolling chair. Seeing as the young woman had no further instructions to give to the group, she was in the mood for a little break. Maybe she can sneak in a small nap while she was at it too?

“Hey Jane!”

Well so much for that idea.

‘Aw screw it! I’ll just have another me take over.”

With a few simple gestures of her hand, Jane summoned another clone, making it appear by her side in a flash of red flames. Then she took off her headphones and turned to face the second clone. “Since there’s a high chance that Darcy is calling me to either come do something for her or drag me out of the house with her somewhere, stay here and watch the video and the other desktop monitor. Give more instructions to the group if you have to, okay?” she told her and handed them over to her.

Her second clone nodded and took the headphones, putting them on right away.

“Jane!”

A small sigh left the young astrophysicist’s mouth as she rolled around in her chair and faced her ex-intern and best friend, who was standing in the doorway of her lab and panting out of exhaustion.

“I thought you said you were going to be outside with Luna and Ray for a while? And why in the world do you look so out of breath?” she frowned at her.

“I was at first but then Tony and his family stopped by, so I told them they can wait in the living room while I come get you,” Darcy answered. “Oh and the reason why I’m so tired is because I ran up the stairs to put your pets in your room then ran back downstairs and came over here.”

Jane sat up. “Huh? Why didn’t they call—oh...” she leaped from her chair, her eyes wide in shock. “Oh god! They came to pick us up for the party at Dante’s place tonight, right?” the young woman grabbed her clone, who was looking so puzzled by what was going on, and sat her down in the chair. “Darcy! Why didn’t you remind me?” she moved away and rushed past her best friend.

Thankfully, Darcy moved out of the way in time to avoid getting ran over by her former boss who already bolted out the door and into the hallway. 

“Hell if I know! Look, how the heck was I supposed to remind you if I forget about the whole thing myself?” she whined at the older woman and ran after her, but not before shutting the lab door closed.

“That’s surprising to hear coming from someone like you who loves parties,” Jane said over shoulder at Darcy, who caught up with her.

Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Let’s just hurry up and get dressed in our rooms then see if Lady’s up yet—”

“There’s no need for that,” came the muffled voice of Lady.

The two women looked up to see their other roommate standing at the end of the hallway, already decked out in an elegant kitsune costume she was wearing for the night. And to complete the look, she had a mask on her face that came with it too.

“You two are the only ones that are not ready. We have three hours until the party starts at seven. I suggest you hurry up on upstairs to your rooms and get dressed so that all eight of us can leave the house and get there on time,” she continued and turned around. “I’ll be waiting in the living room with Tony and his family in the meantime.”

Then she was gone.

“Let’s go before she comes back here and yells at us.”

“Yeah, good idea.” 

The two quickly made it out of the hall, passing through the lobby area, and headed up the long stairs.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours have gone by since Lady had last seen her two roommates on the first floor hallway, and she was starting to get a little anxious now. They were starting to run out of time. Sure the drive from here to the shop wasn’t far—just a thirty minute drive...if you don’t count running into any traffic along the way, but she rather be safe than sorry, and show up at the party on time. It was a routine of sorts she got into since she started working as a devil hunter all those years back and had to meet up with her clients at the destination on time, something that they —and even Vergil, who teamed up with her a few times in the past on missions, and he always made a point to meet up with her halfway so that they can head over to their client’s destination together— appreciated her greatly about.

‘Unbelievable...what are those two taking so long for?’ Lady thought to herself in irritation as she sat on the couch in between Kagome and Sota, who were watching and laughing in joy at their little sister standing in the middle of the living room, posing for the pictures that Pepper and Tony were taking on their phones.

Just when the devil huntress was thinking about getting up from the couch to check up on Jane and Darcy, she felt both of their presences walked into the room.

“Okay guys, we’re ready!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the two, a collective gasp leaving their mouths at the sight of them.

First up was Jane. The young woman wore a long dark robe with pale yellow accents and a star symbol on the hood over a midnight bluish-black skin tight sleeveless tunic that had a glowing white star (with a black diamond inside of it) marking on top of an upside glowing white crescent moon sitting on her chest, which had a few stars scattered about. She also wore a full lavender and glowing white accented waist cape-like cloth —that had a slit in the front, back, and both sides— with an intricate pale yellow metallic belt on top, some black tights that were tucked into her tall brown heeled boots, and a long light purple vest with a pale yellow accented high collar that also had a transparent vest in the form of a cloth attached to it on top, and it stopped just a few inches above her ankles.

Then finally, to top the whole look off, Jane wore some large curled dark horns on top of her long stylized white wig, pale yellow contacts over her eyes, and fake elven midnight blue ears over her real ones. She also painted her eyebrows white, painted both her face and whole body midnight blue, and painted some white stars on her bare arms, hands, cheeks, and the bridge of her nose.

“So, what do you think?”

Up next was Darcy. She wore modest-looking one-piece black tube top and purple tights outfit that had small violet bat symbols on her legs, brown arm warmers with white fluff over her bare arms, and some black high-heeled boots on her feet. 

Then to top the whole look off, Darcy wore some black-purple bat wings on the sides of her long stylized green wig and her waist, and green contacts over her eyes.

“Beautiful / Pretty costumes!” Pepper and Morgan cooed in unison.

Sota, who was dressed up in a jester costume, and Kagome, who was dressed up in a witch costume, looked at the two with impressed eyes.

“So cool! You nailed that one star-touched dude from The Dragon Prince down pretty well, Auntie!” Sota said with a grin.

Kagome rolled her eyes at her brother, “His name was Aaravos I believe, Sota...” and turned to her other aunt with a smile. “Anyway, your Morrigan looks wonderful, Auntie Darcy.”

The two said nothing as they beamed under their praises and compliments.

“Well...” Lady began as she and the Starks stood from the couch. “I think it’s about time we head out now.”

They all nodded and headed out of the living room, making their way over to the front door. Jane opened it, letting everyone else out first before stepping outside herself and locked the door behind her. Then she ran to catch up with the others who were waiting for her by Tony’s rental SUV. 

It only took a few minutes for everyone to pile in the vehicle and buckle themselves in before taking off down the road.

                                             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The made it to Devil May Cry, which had been heavily remodeled since anyone’s (except for Lady) last been there, with two minutes left to spare. And the group met up with Nero along with Jude, Elize, Teepo, and Alvin, who were all wearing costumes, inside. 

Then after walking further into the shop, they came across the Sparda twins, Trish, Patty, Nico, Nero’s wife: Kyrie, Jude’s childhood friend: Leia, Kagome’s friends: Shippo, Miroku, and Sango, Clint and his family, Bruce, Bucky, and Peter hanging out in the huge living room.

And since everyone was here now—at least the ones who were invited and able to attend, music started blasting through the speakers that were set up by the wall, signifying that the party has begun. It was also at this time the kids and teenagers went upstairs on the second floor to have their own party in one of the back rooms while the adults stayed downstairs and had their own.

Throughout the whole night, Jane and all the other adults played many games: 

First, they bobbed for apples. And Dante was the only one out of everyone else that was able to snag the most apples from the bucket with Nero coming in second place, Clint in third, Tony and Jane tying in fourth, and everyone else following up after.

Second, they had a drinking contest. And surprisingly enough, Jane and Lady —who weren’t really casual drinkers compared to some of their friends— along with Bucky drank those who participated (Nico, Nero, Alvin, Clint, Tony, Miroku, Sango, Leia, and Trish) under the table.

Third, they all participated in a dance off competition that was held in one of the rooms next over after drinking some water and eating some snacks, which were laced with magic, that sobered them up. Too bad the whole dance thing ended up being awkward for some since they weren’t dancers; however, Dante, Darcy, and Sota slayed the competition with their smooth moves. So in the end, they ended up out dancing them and the ones who already knew how to dance.

And finally, they held a quick costume competition to see who had the best one of them all. It was no surprise that Jane ended being first place winner with Lady coming in second place and Darcy coming in third place.

The party started winding down near ten o’ clock, and by the time eleven o’ clock rolled around, everyone started cleaning up their mess. Due to their combined efforts, the whole group finished putting everything back where they belonged twenty minutes. Then everyone said their goodbyes to each other, and the Sparda twins along with Trish escorted their friends out the door.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Hey Jane...” 

The young woman stopped in her tracks, letting Darcy and Lady walk past her towards their home, and turned around to see Tony rolling the passenger window down.

“Yes?” she asked, walking up to the vehicle. Then she blinked in shock when the man picked up a metallic case and held it out to her out the window. “What’s this?” the young half-spirit took the case and looked at it curiously. “What’s in here—” Jane trailed off with wide eyes when she felt the familiar presence of a certain infinity stone inside.

“Think of it as a “trick-or-treat” from me. I want you to look after the thing from now on—at least for a little while until we find a better place to stash the stone...” at Jane's confused look, Tony went ahead and told the woman point blank, “Reindeer Games’ been looking for it. Well, only after he left that morning before you and the others did and came back two weeks later.”

“I see...” Jane mumbled, taking a look around the area to make sure there weren’t any lurkers nearby. When she sensed none, she vanished the case away and asked, “Has he been causing you guys any trouble or bothering you?” in a serious voice.

Pepper frowned from her spot in the driver’s seat. “Other than the few unannounced visits he’s made here and there at our home, no. He’s been strangely compliant with us after Tony and I discovered him playing with Morgan out in our front yard, disguised as a black cat with green eyes no less, one day. Then, we sat him down before he could make his escape and had a nice, long chat with him after that,” she explained.

“That is strange,” Jane looked down with a muse.

“We haven’t heard anything “disastrous” on the news this past month-and-a half, so we assume the guy isn’t causing any trouble,” Tony added. “Then again, as long as Rock of Ages isn’t trying to cause chaos anywhere, take over a city, or kill anyone, Pep and I don’t care what he does in his free time. He can stay here on Earth without any complaints from us. And we won’t take any action against him either as long as he doesn't do any of those three things I listed there.”

Jane nodded. “Do the other Avengers know? And did they agree with this decision?” 

Tony gave her a sly smile. “They do now. I told them during our little “get together” kind of meeting we held at the Tower last week, but that was only after the guy appeared and played a little harmless prank on us before disappearing. The gang weren’t too happy about it in the beginning, which I can understand. But in the end, they reluctantly agreed with my wife and I’s decision,” he explained. “I have no idea what Reindeer Games wants with the Tesseract—which the team also knows about too by the way. But anyhow, that’s not the point! From what Nero, Lady, and Kagome told me, he seems to gets along with you pretty well...” there was something in his tone of voice that made Jane want to glare at him. 

But before she could do so, Tony continued on—and in a normal voice this time. “So, if you happen to run into him in the future, can you try to get an idea of what his motives for the stone are?”

Jane looked up. “I was already thinking about doing that actually,” she replied, repressing a sigh back.

“Oh good!” he sighed in relief. Then he cheered up and gave her a grin. “Well, have a good night Jane!”

“You too! And thanks for dropping me and the girls off, Pepper!” she waved at them both with a smile on her face. “Have a safe trip back to the hotel!”

The two waved back before the window rolled up and the SUV took off.

Three minutes passed by with nothing but serene silence. And once she no longer saw her friend’s rental vehicle in the distance, Jane turned around and started walking towards her home, the one she shared with Lady and Darcy.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The clone slowly looked up at the sound of door opening up behind her, and she turned around to see Jane, who was still in her Aaravos costume, standing in the doorway of the lab.

“Did you capture anything good?” she asked, watching over to her.

Without saying anything, the second clone nodded and stood up from the chair, removing the headphones from her head as she did so with a sleepy look on her face.

Jane took the headphones from her then walked right past the clone and stopped in front of the desk. She raised a brow and leaned down to take a closer look at her screen monitor. Even though there was no video showing now, she could see that it had been downloaded and saved right to her desktop along with a new file that she never seen before right next to it. “Hmm...” her eyes narrowed at the title typed on it. “Data Findings from The Cave on Snow Lunar Island,” she quietly read out loud.

‘This will be interesting to look through...’

The young woman placed her headphones down before straightening herself back up. And she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, slowly going over what she read in her head. ‘But I’ll do that another day. Too damn tired at the moment to do really anything productive,’ she said to herself while covering up a yawn. ‘Now then...’ she uncrossed her arms and turned her attention back on the silent clone. “Since I felt my first clone dismiss herself about an hour ago, I’m gonna assume that Inferno and the other two went home already. Am I right?” at her nod, Jane continued. “Alright then, nice work. I don’t need you anymore for the night,” she said to the clone before sending her off as well.

Once she vanished, Jane shut her computer down and turned it off. “Time to go shower now then head to bed,” she mumbled, sleepily, and walked away.

However, in the midst of her wanting to hurry up and leave the room, there were a few strands of black fur and faint claw marks left behind on the floor, sitting oh-so innocently next to the computer desk that she completely missed earlier.

CLICK!

The door shut closed.

[roobylavender]

If you could take over Bruce’s canon, starting at any point in continuity with full creative freedom, where would you start & what would you do w mr. batsie??

admittedly there are small nitpicky problems i have with the rucka collective of no man's land / murderer / fugitive (which i am in the slow.. grueling.. process of rereading so i can gather my thoughts more conclusively bc i truly don't remember shite) but i feel like the conclusion to those arcs is where i would pick up. and ideally main things i would want to explore are like

under the red hood stuff but rewritten the way i have talked about it: talia kills the joker / talia breaks the red hood mask and effectively ends the identity / jason goes to stay with leslie thompkins so he can start reassessing his life / talia reveals to bruce the depth of her (well-intentioned) lies re: jason, which can also set the stage for her ultimately selling lex corp to him for pennies / bruce and jason start to (awkwardly) rebuild not as batman and robin but as bruce and jason, within the sphere of leslie's clinic / etcccc

search for damian once it's revealed that ra's killed his adoptive parents and has taken him under his wing. obv have talked before about how such an arc would be of import to damian bc of like the reversal of the robin phenomenon and needing to decide whether or not he wants to impose the same burden of duty upon himself that his parents do upon themselves. but i would also ideally want to use this as an arc to explore the relationships ra's has with bruce and talia too like the strained parental relationship there has a lot of potential and i've talked about it wrt talia obv but with bruce it's very underscored and idk i wish they had a proper arc about them and what they could have been to each other by way of father and son yknow. so this would definitely tie into that. and it would end with ra's living in wayne manor near broken from the strain of all of his self imposed ego and isolation and anger but with a small sliver of hope there for something to heal in the last years of his life. they'll play chess together and trade endearing taunts and quips and damian will be there on the weekends from talia's place like god the men in my family are such weirdos. i hope i never turn out like them (but he will. we all know he will)

somewhere in the midst of all of this i def want cass and steph to be increasingly impt presences in bruce's life like to me.. they have to be the ones who signify hope for the mythos. there is a unique humanity and persistent belief in goodness that both girls possess that to me should circle back to why bruce started this in the first place: pure, simple belief. idealism. the whole reason any of them are heroes in the first place

also like just more of a return to why bruce wayne as an identity and means for change is so endlessly impt. that's the good thing about those rucka arcs is the aim is to bring it all back to bruce wayne so carrying that in stride and exploring more of what he does as bruce wayne would be very impt. whether that's through reconciling with and learning more from jason or through his increased exposure to selina's world or through his friendship with barbara and understanding the things she's had to put aside in order to fulfill this role in the watchtower etc etc. so many of his relationships with people are built on his capacity for empathy as bruce wayne the man, the human being. so it would be nice to actually capitalize on that

and ultimately i would want to take it to the natural conclusion. death. hush is the stupidest arc ever to me but my one takeaway from it is wondering why loeb chose to create this entirely new character whose neurosis was centered around his indignance over bruce's identity when he could literally have accomplished all of this with two face. like hello sir you even wrote the long halloween and hush was supposed to act like a sequel to it so why did you do this.. but anyway. i think somehow harvey should find out bruce's identity and descend into hysteria bc of the betrayal and entailed emotional crisis of it all and then wake up one day and walk over to the manor totally normal totally nonchalant and act like he's a changed man or whatever bc now he knows who batman, his best friend, his confidant, was, and he wants to believe in bruce wayne. and bc bruce is always one for compassion and second chances he lets him in. and then harvey blows them up together (logistics and detection systems wise we can figure this out later. xoxo)

this is probably where i would do dick closure like i know it's sick to do the whole child achieves closure re: their strained relationship with a parent in death but idk i'm obsessed with it personally like i want to explore dick who has worked so hard to build a life for himself outside of bruce and bruce not stopping him from doing so but that only driving a wedge further between them bc even if dick has always wanted to be independent he has also always wanted to be acknowledged as bruce's equal.. and having to contend with whether you feel like you've ultimately been given that or not in the end would be kinda crazy yknow. good opportunity to see what bruce has written for each of his kids but esp dick in his will but like executed way better and on a more personable level than whatever shite that was in battle for the cowl. something as simple as bruce expressing his individual love and pride for each of his children bc at the end of the day all he ever wanted for any of them to be was happy and that's why he progressively took upon all burdens even if it subsequently drove them further away bc they felt like they weren't of enough use. and idk from there just yknow your standard fare contention with grief and moving on bc that's all you can do. and maybe that's where you see the bat fam really become something. bc they're finally united in that ideal bruce wanted to follow so long ago and they know what has to change going forward and in what ways they can be and have to be better. idkkk this is so corny i'm sorry i love well done tragicorn

[squiddybeifong]

A Page Turner

Fun fact: if you go to @ravensflockofrobins and search Bette’s name, there’s one (1) post at the time I’m posting this. And it’s not even a shippy thing rip this drowning paper boat

--

She didn’t know what compelled her to take a quick vacation, exactly.

Maybe it was the lack of crime. Maybe it was the disgustingly scorching heat that summer brought. Maybe it was that she needed a break before she accidentally zapped the TV and the horrid romance movie that Starfire was playing.

Whatever the reason, Raven made up her mind. opened her eyes and moved Silkie off her lap, teleporting to her room. She considered her options and started a particular spell, one that she’d admittedly used many times before. One of the few (very few, incredibly miniscule) perks of being Trigon’s daughter: interdimensional travel.

Sliding through the dimensions as easily as flipping pages of a book, a particular timeline called to her. It smelled of bookstores and crumpled daisies and Raven blinked as she stepped into this particular universe.

The Golden Age, she reminded herself, taking in the not-so-golden scenery around her. The world around her was the sheer definition of nostalgia: the colors muted in the most charming of ways, the whimsy of the backgrounds (she simply took the buildings fading into space at the edges as a perk), the blocked off rectangles where additions would be written.

Surely more of a comic book feel than the animated life she knew, but it felt right.

What didn’t feel right was the lack of yellow. Sure, some of the stores had signs with bold letters the color of pineapple flesh. And, yeah, the lemon paint job on some of the cars was impressive. But aside from the sprinkling of pollen from the just barely blooming flowers, Golden Age Gotham wasn’t the most golden of scenes.

Honestly, with such a heavy title this ‘golden age’ was falling flat.

Raven pulled her cloak around herself and sunk into the shadows, casually setting out to explore. She avoided the areas she already knew and delved into the thick of the city, grateful that their emotions didn’t press on her as strongly as her own dimension’s did. Food vendors, students clamoring on the sidewalks as they got the most of that wonderful time between school being let out and their parents calling them in for dinner, even some rats who scurried out from the sewers, all but sunbathing as they dragged dropped pieces of food and cigarette buds back to their hovels.

Not too different from the Gotham Raven knew, but she still stayed hidden, watching all that she could. A pout involuntarily curled her lips at the sight of her favorite pretzel food-truck, replaced with a dual newspaper and ‘shoe polishing on the go!’ stand.

There was a simultaneous groan from all the kids as a clock rang, their disappointment mingling with the adults’ sighs of relief.

Raven felt the muted mix of their emotions, her lips quirking up at how similar people were in their complaints, dimensionally different or not: “Man I can’t wait to get home,” a mustached man breathed as he observed his freshly polished loafers and tucked the afternoon paper under his arm; “What? You’re betting on the Yankees? Get outta here, ya freakin’ jag!” an incredulous teen cried at his friend, shoving his shoulder in horrified disbelief; “I swear, Debbie, all he ever says is ‘Aspic’s lookin’ good as you.’ Not tasty, or even pretty, but good! That carrot cake looks good but my aspics are gorgeous. The nerve of that man!” a big-haired woman bemoaned to her pencil skirt-clad companion.

Raven’s head tilted in confusion; what was aspic?

Before she could dwell on whatever food trends she obviously wasn’t privy to, the Bat symbol lit up the sky. At its appearance the crowd seemed to hustle home even quicker, the conversations muting to a murmur as the clouds darkened over Gotham.

The symbol was bright against the sky; one flicker, only a simple fix if this dimension was the same as her home. Raven hummed at the sight and melted even further into the inked on shadows, following the panels as she landed just beyond a bank.

An explosion sounded halfway across the city.

Half of the officers hesitated and the other half jumped into their cruisers, speeding towards the pillar of smoke. The rest glanced among themselves and followed. Raven frowned at them; it was probably a diversion.

Sure enough, she felt the giddy nerves of the bank robbers inside a few seconds later. The Titan laid her cheek in her fist and merely watched as they scrambled about, her head turning as she felt Batman’s unmistakable aura enter the page. A brow raised at the youth of his visible face, then her eyes widened to a comical size.

Oh. Oh.

The demoness froze in her spot, watching as Batman went gliding over the rooftops. But Robin wasn’t by his side. Neither was either of the Batgirls that she knew. No, this one must have been one she’d never met. Surprisingly, she didn’t display the Bat symbol on her chest at all; in fact, her crimsons and emeralds were a stark contrast to the rest of the comic, but her fit was odd.

Not quite made for being Batgirl, but inexplicably belonging in this golden age. How odd.

But her hair…

Raven swallowed the air in her throat. Well, that certainly answered why this place was the golden age.

Admonishing herself at the beginnings of a schoolyard crush that she could feel starting, Raven shifted in her spot. This wasn’t her dimension, she could potentially indulge with screwing everything up, right?

So, despite wanting to keep a low profile as she watched them fight, the empath turned into a bird and phased in just behind them, watching as this Batgirl fought. Not quite as endlessly sarcastic as Steph, not as eagerly critical as Babs, not as intense or skilled as Cass, but as excited as any Batgirl for the ability to fight alongside the Batman.

She didn’t even seemed fazed when bolded words popped up in unison with their punched and kicks. Both she and this Batman slid along the BAM!s, BIFF!s, POW!s, and WHAM!s that described their attacks without any hesitation, and within a few pages all the bank robbers were apprehended.

The blonde nodded at the police as they cuffed the men, tossing her pine cape over her shoulders. “Aw, too bad Robin missed this,” Batgirl grinned up at the cloaked vigilante, her bright smile making Raven’s heart flutter.

“We should team up more often, Batman!”

He glanced down at his sidekick for this fight, “Batwoman needs you far more than I do.”

The rejection didn’t deter her, although her grin did falter. Her hands went to her hips, “Then at least until Robin’s arm heals up. You shouldn’t have to fight alone.”

The dark knight’s head tilted in silent agreement.. “Hmmm, very well.” His masked eyes took in the groaning bodies and the sound of approaching police sirens, “Go continue patrol while I find out what these robbers know about that explosion.”

“On it!” She gave him a salute and sprinted off, a flash of blonde hair and christmas colors. She got a block away without trouble, her eyes glancing at the police as they zoomed by and her fingers curling into fists as she noted a bird following her.

Batgirl frowned. She zig-zagged through the panels but no amount of speed lines or ducking into the fading buildings stopped the little avian. So, the Gothamite dove just behind the city’s library. The secluded setting made the bird sloppy and the hero tossed two smoking batarangs, leaping and pinning the raven in place. There was a shift like one page flipping to the next and the bird’s eyes turned red. Batgirl gasped and jumped back, her fists up in a fighting stance as the bird morphed into a woman.

Blue eyes blinked, skeptical and amazed at the plum cloak and stunning lilac eyes. No, not a woman. A teenage girl, just about her own age. But Batgirl didn’t let this mystery girl’s looks perplex her for too long; she immediately sized Raven up, carefully watching how the shadows followed her every move.

This little excursion certainly wasn’t going to plan but something in the Gothamite’s face made the demoness decide to be honest, consequences be damned. A sigh escaped, then she awkwardly met the blonde’s gaze, “Uh, hello. I’m Raven.”

A stormy glare was her answer, then a terse introduction, “Bat-Girl.”

They both jumped as the Bat’s comm blared out. The empath let out a sigh, her words a bit strained, “I promise I’m not a threat.”

Bat-Girl narrowed her eyes and took out her comm. She kept the mystic out of the screen’s view as she nodded at Batman’s instructions. She noted how Raven paused as she quickly gave Batman her report, her stoic features blanching at the sound of the hero’s voice.

Raven bit back a shudder at how young the dark knight was, Certainly not quite to the point of being the gruff, sandpapery tough guy that he was in her dimension. For the first time Raven wondered if the Golden Age was on the same age basis as her reality was.

Bat-Girl signed off and tucked her comm away, muffling the one link back to the BatCave under three layers of pockets. Raven shook her head at the familiar sight, quietly musing to herself, “Figures Bruce would still be so obsessive this early on.”

She just barely dodged the kick Bat-Girl aimed her way, strands of black magic swirling around them and pinning the mortal to the bricks. Raven stayed out of arms’ reach and narrowed her eyes at the hero, trying not to spend any time taking too much stock in how defined her bare forearms were.

Refocusing, amethyst eyes searched the vigilante’s face. Raven crossed her arms over her chest, making sure that her magic didn’t squeeze the blonde to the point of discomfort. “Does Robin exist?”

A derisive snort was her answer, “You mean birds?”

“I mean Dick Grayson.”

Bat-Girl’s eyes glared behind her mask, the muscles in her arm twitching. Raven took that as an invitation to speak, “I’m a part of his team.”

“In the future?”

Raven shrugged, “Something like that.” She considered pulling back but the pulse of Bat-Girl’s emotions kept her close. The demoness raised a brow, “You don’t seem too surprised.”

“This is the golden age,” Her voice raised half a pitch as she let out an exasperated laugh, shifting under the tendril of magic pressed painfully snug to her throat. “We still get a narrator during our fights sometimes.”

She looked her animated visitor over, “Didn’t think Richie would team up with a…” She paused, taking a moment to consider just what kind of powers described Raven. “A spirit of some sort--no…” Her lips spread as she guessed, “A demon?”

“You’re perceptive.”

Blue eyes rolled but Bat-Girl didn’t stop the cocky grin from brightening her face, nonchalant to the hold she was in, “And you aren’t a threat.”

“I’m not.” The shadows that held her slunk away, “Dick and I are heroes in our dimension.”

She could feel the concern seeping out of the heroine, but still the blonde let out a sigh and rolled her fingers. If this Raven character really was a teammate of Richie’s, then perhaps she could let her guard down just a little. Although Batwoman and Batman would be disappointed in how quickly she was trusting this pretty face.

Bat-Girl rolled her jaw, “Well in this dimension I’m Bette. Bette Kane.”

Recognition lit up amethyst eyes but Raven didn’t speak and Bette didn’t question her. In fact, the not-yet retconned hero seemed to be opening up to the prospect of Raven being in her dimension, if just for a visit.

So the empath decided to test her luck. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, “Would you mind showing me around, Bette? I’m not used to having to turn the page.”

“Pfft,” Bat-Girl snorted and Raven got the impression that she realized her words weren’t a metaphor. Instead, the teen readjusted her mask and motioned for Raven to follow, “Already got one sack of feathers to look after.”

“Well this one can take care of herself just fine.”

Her sleeved shoulders straightened at Raven’s words, affronted at the mere idea of not helping someone she could, “Doesn’t mean you should.”

“Spoken like a true bird, Miss Kane.”

Bette raised a brow, the movement moving her mask. But Raven didn’t explain and she shrugged, “Anywhere you want to see?”

“Anyplace with you there is fine with me.”

Bat-Girl ran a tongue over her teeth at the demon’s shameless attempt at flirting, trying and failing to keep a straight (hah!) face. An idea came to mind and her eyes lit up, watching as Raven’s gaze flicked to her mouth.

“You’re okay with other birds, right?”  

When the superpowered teen merely shrugged she continued, “There’s a bunch of nests over on the gates around Wedgwood Museum. Gotham Academy’s music class has been holding their practices out in front.”

Raven smirked at that, “Taking advantage of tourist season?”

“Hey, tubas are expensive!” The blonde chuckled as she motioned for the Titan to follow her, the two of them easily gliding past the stiff backgrounds. Bette grinned at her flying guest as a flick of magic kept her grapple hook from falling out of a crumbling rooftop.

The sound of music got louder as they neared the gated house. Violet eyes shut as she tried to place where she’d heard that jazzy tune before, her attention on Bat-Girl as she murmured, “But they’ve really been getting better. Sometimes I like to listen in, feed some birds when crime is pretty low.” 

Raven clicked her tongue at that. “Well I have some free time for a picnic, if you’d want.”

She glanced at Bette from the corner of her eye and felt that urge to be honest curl in her stomach again. A breath quickly escaped her before she was reminded of Batman’s instructions, “I read ahead. Apparently the robbers bought off the Riddler for a few of his bombs. Just a classic distraction case so they could get away clean.”

Bat-Girl tilted her head as Wedgwood came into view, lengthening her grappling hook until she skipped onto the ground. The two made their way towards the house in silence as Bette mused over her words, the mage’s shadows mingling with the tree’s shade to keep them from being spotted by any civilians.

“A picnic does sound nice,” Bette aimed a lazy smile Raven’s way, fiddling with the green triangles that adorned the ends of her sleeves. A gasp escaped as a disk of black magic appeared under her feet, lifting them up and levitating up to the large tree that hung just outside of Wedgewood’s gates.

Bat-Girl leaned against the mystic’s shoulder as they got settled just beyond the tree’s branches, hidden by the tulip tree’s waxy leaves. The tuba-heavy refrain started up again and Raven let herself get comfortable, clinging to the calming nerves that washed out of Bette. Her eyes slid open at the wave of nervousness and she turned to the Gothamite, “Is something wrong?”

She started to pull away, horrified that she might have made Bette uncomfortable. Bat-Girl’s hand wrapped around her wrist, preventing her from going too far. The blonde licked her lips, her words coming out faster than normal, “No, this is okay. But do you have to go after this?”

“Yeah, it’s probably getting late back at the Tower.” The cloaked teen sighed, sliding her hand down until her palm pressed against Bette’s. She weakly smiled, a lilt in her voice, “But I can always come back.”

Bette squeezed their hands, “Just to see me?”

“Just to see you.”

“Hmm,” Bat-Girl felt her smile widen as she guessed, “Perks of being a demon?”

She felt a heat curl up her face as Raven’s eyes flicked from her eyes to her lips and back again, “Something like that.”

[bluering8]

TNG S02

TNG S02 roundup let’s do this let’s make it happen!

Data - I still love Data!! That’s it that’s all you’re getting on the topic because I love Data so much that if you let me talk about him at all I’ll Talk Forever and there are non-Data things in this show which  need to talk about.

Geordi la Forge - I’m glad that Geordi’s the chief engineer now. Last season was kind of weird in that there wasn’t a dedicated engineer character so they were pulling out a new random yellowshirt every time they needed someone to explain a thing to the main cast. If I’m yelling something at the screen (use a shuttle! fly in a different direction! fate is bullshit shut up riker!) then usually Geordi will be the one to say it. This is like, one of the fastest ways you can possibly endear a character to me.

Anyway, I love Geordi and I love his friendship with Data and honestly, you could give me an entire show entirely about these two being bros and I would adore it. I forgot that Geordi likes to build model ships, but now I remember and it delights me that he’s just like, a huge fucking dork in his own right.

...it occurs to me that I’m better-disposed to characters when I know what their hobbies are. Part of the reason I love Data and Geordi so much both as individuals and as a brotp is that the show devotes a lot of time to showing them fucking around and getting into shenanigans outside of their duties. Contrast that with the characters I’m more ambivalent towards, such as Riker or Dr Crusher, and it becomes really obvious that part of the reason I’m ambivalent towards them is that I have no real idea what they do when they’re not doing their jobs.

Kate Pulaski - I hated Pulaski the first time I watched TNG and now, several years later, it turns out that I still hate Pulaski!! I talked about her before and tl;dr: my issue with her isn’t how she treats Data or that she’s decided he isn’t a person, but that she thinks treating someone that way is acceptable as long as she’s decided they’re not a person. Listen, mate, I’m not here to insist that everyone should be a perfect morally-pure cinnamon roll (all my faves are problematic as Hecke). I hate Pulaski because it would be so so easy for me to love her as a character, but she simply doesn’t fit the universe. In a grittier setting? Fantastic, splendid, superlative, I’ll take ten. In spacefuture utopia? I can believe in Pulaski as a person who might exist, sure, but I cannot believe that the rest of the Enterprise crew would stand there and watch her treat Data the way she treats Data, and not respond by hauling her off for sensitivity training. I hate Pulaski not because there’s anything wrong with Pulaski, but because the way the rest of the characters let her get away with it feels like a betrayal of everything I believed in about Star Trek.

Wesley Crusher - Alias FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER, because he is the absolute worst. Why is he wearing a uniform now? I am not usually a guy with strong opinions about wardrobe choices, but I actually really liked his collection of ugly-ass sweaters. If Wesley adds anything to the cast it’s his identity as someone who, despite all his smarts, is still just a teenaged civilian, and as a result lacks both the experience and the training of the other characters. Once you stick him in a uniform you start to lose the impact of that difference. I mean yes the difference will inevitably be lost as he embarks on his Starfleet career but at this point he’s still not even a real cadet yet, let me have the one thing I actually kind of like about the character.

Also why is he on the bridge. Seriously why. Why why why. Stop this!!

William Riker - Somehow it took me until halfway through this season to realise that Riker is mostly just a clone of Kirk? I think this contributes to how bland I find him, all Kirk’s philosophical inclinations got given to Picard instead so Riker ends up feeling super flat and underdeveloped. He’s, like, generally a decentish person (sometimes), and he’s good at his job (sometimes), and he flirts with pretty ladies (often), and his dad is a piece of shit? That’s all I’ve got on him. Dude could use another personality trait or three.

S02E02 Where Silence Has Lease - I have very mixed feelings about this episode. The first half was excellent horror, the kind of thing I love about the SCP Foundation or the Sick Land, that scenario where you’re trying to look at a thing from the perspective of a researcher but you’re in a situation where research simply doesn’t work because the thing is a fundamental violation of the way you interact with reality, and you’ve reached the point where all you can do is look at it and describe what you’re seeing and hope really, really hard that someone will figure something out eventually maybe. (The exploration of the Yamato reminded me a lot of House of Leaves, which also has that delicious sense of nightmarish slowburn reality-breakdown even if it lacks the desperate attempts to Do Science to something which completely resists the application of the scientific method.) Horror is an incredibly subjective genre, but for me a vital part of it is denying me any explanation while maintaining the illusion that if I go just a little further, learn just a little more, suddenly I’ll have my explanation and everything will make sense.

This episode not only gives an explanation, but salts the wound by giving an incredibly shitty explanation. See, something something rats in a maze and then there’s a face in the sky and I don’t give a shit. It was Whatsisface all along!! All it achieves is making me super super confused about what are Whatsisface’s capabilities even. He can make fake ships and fake people and instakill a dude, but he can’t deactivate the ship’s autodestruct or prevent Picard from activating the autodestruct in the first place?

S02E03 Elementary, Dear Data - What the fuck is up with the holodeck? My friend pointed out that “bear in mind they probably have a thousand problem free uses of the holodeck for every freak issue” but like, that’s not the fucking issue here, the issue is that regardless of how many problem-free uses they’ve had, they’ve also had an alarmingly high number of potentially-fatal malfunctions in a relatively short span of time. Why is overriding the mortality failsafe even a thing which is possible?? I can completely buy the holodeck being too useful as a training tool to get rid of it, but they should really have some kind of restrictions or guidelines on the thing for recreational use. You’ve had it demonstrated to you multiple times over that holodeck malfunctions can end in corpses, why are you not doing something about this! Why is there apparently no Health & Safety department on this ship!!

S02E07 Unnatural Selection - Philosophical argument time: do transporters kill people? Normally I’m happy to put this question in a box labelled “let’s not think about that too hard” but the ending of this episode makes more sense to me if the answer is yes. Instead of some bullshit technobabble de-aging nonsense, what they’re actually doing is replicating a new body using the hair as reference and jamming Pulaski’s memories into it then destroying the old body.

S02E09 The Measure of a Man - See, Bruce Maddox is Pulaski done right. I’m straight-up incandescently mad that this episode was Pulaski-free, because whenever she never misses the opportunity to remind Data that he’s not a person, and I super wanted Pulaski and Maddox to interact. Pulaski’s absence here makes the issue with how casually the show treats her attitude towards Data even worse. I feel like if you’re going to spend an episode debating whether Data counts as a person you should at least have the decency to acknowledge the cast member who comes down firmly on the “no” side. You can’t have Data’s personhood as a serious topic for serious debate while simultaneously shrugging your shoulders and going yeah well Pulaski’s just Like That I guess nbd. It doesn’t work that way!

S02E10 The Dauphin - “She’s perfect, absolutely perfect,” says FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER about a girl he’s only met once and barely exchanged a dozen words with, and then he gets super super mad when it turns out she’s a weird space alien shapeshifted into a human which just goes to prove that her personality mattered to him not one iota and he only liked her because she was hot and gave him a boner. And... that’s it, that’s the episode. There’s no subplot, nothing else happens, the entire episode is about FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER having a crush. In conclusion: FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER.

S02E15 Pen Pals - If anyone ever attempts to fight me on the topic of Does Data Is Emotions?, this is the episode I’m pointing them to. I’m pretty sure there’s not a single action Data takes in this entire episode which can be justified from a completely unemotionless point of view. He goes from “I’m too focused on my personal project to spend two seconds stacking this crap neatly so I’ll just leave it lying around as a trip hazard” to “hey Captain remember when you said I could break the Prime Directive a little bit, is it okay if I break it twice that much? actually I broke it ten times that much sorry not sorry” to “so I know this kid has no memory of me or our interactions now but I stole Pulaski’s weird space rock to give to her anyway because sentiment is important to me”.

S02E17 Samitarian Snare - The a-plot of this episode is that multiple people tell Riker that sending their chief engineer over to some random alien vessel is a bad idea while Riker tries to insist that it is a great idea and will be totally fine and then is completely fucking blindsided when it turns out to have been a terrible idea. I’m pretty sure this is the first time Troi’s said anything useful so of course Riker ignored her because she’s not allowed to be a worthwhile character.

The b-plot is that Picard and Wesley take a shuttle trip together and Wesley is so incapable of taking a fucking hint that even when Picard gets up and moves seats to be away from him Wesley doesn’t realise that his constant stream of personal questions might not be welcome. In conclusion: FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER.

S02E18 Up the Long Ladder - Oh my god it’s like they listened to my complaints about S01E17 and somehow managed to fuck it up even worse!! WHY ARE YOU ALL SO WEIRD ABOUT CLONING.

tl;dr: Direct from my liveblogging of S02E03: “DATA CHANGED HIS OUTFIT data my boy my son my precious cinnamon roll how many sherlock holmes cosplay outfits do you own”. I know the reasonable explanation would be that he replicates one fresh each time, but I choose to believe that Data owns an entire closetful of Sherlock Holmes cosplay outfits.

[miobambiino]

‘Taking Slow Steps’ Chapter I

After considering it for a while and it being requested on AO3, I’ve decided to make a part II to my fic Hold On Back (Before Stepping Forward). This is going to explore Steve and Tony’s relationship more now that they’ve actually gotten together, and will look into Bucky and Nat’s developing dynamic - this fic will have a few chapters, I think, so this is the first instalment!

Steve jerked back from Tony, casting a regretful look at the brunette’s way when the hands that were cradling his face were snatched away and set into fists, firmly place at his side.

“Daddy, you said we couldn’t sit n’the counter!”

Clint’s daughter, Lila, had a wry look on her face when she looked back at them. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“You,” Tony pointed at her playfully, ignoring Lila’s tongue poking out at him between a gap-toothed smile. “I thought we were friends,” he hissed.

“You can’t!” Clint’s voice piped up.

Steve gave her a steady look, hands out as if approaching a wild animal in submission - not a seven-year-old.

“How come they gets to do it and’er bein’ all gross ‘n kissing as well?”

There was an uproar from the living room, and Steve squeezed balled his outstretched has into fists, wincing at the sound of footsteps clattering towards the doorway. Tony awkwardly slung his legs from where they hung over the edge of the counter.

Clint practically fell through the doorway, followed by Rhodey and Bucky, who had gleeful expressions plastered over their face.

“Get off my damn kitchen-worktop.”

Tony was brilliant.

Sure, Steve had been aware of that the moment he met the other man on the Helicarrier - despite their first introductions being relatively bitter.

It was only enhanced by the fact that he now gazed at the man through rose-tinted glasses. Well, that was a stretch, because glasses or not, Tony was astonishing.

“You one say that because he gets you off,”

“-C’mon man!” Sam groaned, disgust evident in his tone, while Steve ran a hand over the back of his neck, which prickled with warmth. His cheeks probably weren't any better.

They were hovered round Clint’s dining room table, freshly patched up after a few days rest on the farm. Laura was as welcoming as ever, not caring in the slightest when she interrupted a highly-confidential briefing, or a potentially fatal sparring session outside in her barn, pitchers of home-made lemonade in hand.

Sam just shook his head, and flicked around the schematics that floated in the air from the small device Tony had slipped into his pocket before the mission. It acted like a Cloud, storing essential data, as well as receiving updates from Maria Hill and Nick Fury themselves.

Nat strode in, looking devastatingly menacing even in just a baggy yellow shirt and pyjama bottoms - pink with cats on.

Bucky stared at her, unable to figure out just how she could still maintain an air of intimidation while dressed like… well, like that. She made his mind roll over, but each time it came up blank.

He knew her, better than anyone here. But that was all he knew. He was missing the vital pieces. Occasionally, she appeared in his dreams - just as flashes of red hair and gunfire. But she was in his nightmares too, pulling his head back, exploring his throat, the cold press of metal gently edging into his flesh.

She merely cocked an eyebrow at him. It was like she knew what he was thinking - was in his head, running circles around him. That woman was an anomaly to him, totally unpredictable, unreadable - perhaps the only person he’d ever met that made him feel exposed. Even when he wore a mask - literally and figuratively.

What’s your game, Romanova?

“Right,” Clint announced, clapping his hands together and rubbing them profusely as he strode in, Tony and Rhodey in tow, “What’d we get from Norway, then - other than a cold?”

Sam and Bucky waggled their eyebrows at the Captain, who resolutely ignored them, regarding his team with  a firm nod. None of them bought it, but pitied him, and let him carry on acting like He Was Totally Not Flustered.

“Hydra intel from this place is exceptional,” Steve spoke, causing the others to straighten up and regard the projections intently. “The system from the base acted as a kind of hub, gathering information from hundreds of other branches of Hydra.”

“Why was it not guarded more heavily?” Clint asked, voice flat like it was out on the field. Natasha huffed out a laugh at that.

“Were the alien cannons not good enough for you, Barton?”

“Well - theres that,” the archer mused, the corner of his lip turning upwards, “But I mean, if the base was so important, why didn’t they get more backup out there after the first strike? Why was it so… deserted, almost, the second time we - you - got in,” he amended himself, recalling the fact his ribs were too broken to actually go out into the field the second time.

The room hung in a contemplative silence, before Tony spoke up, leaving across the table intently.

“Because it wasn’t the most important thing Hydra has on their agenda,”

His calloused fingers spun through the projections, pinching and flicking through the data, seemingly randomly, before he scaled up a discrete file blandly labeled as ‘Filtration Systems’.

“Why the hell are we looking at this?” Bucky snorted, furrowing his brow at the folder, which was password-protected.

“Was I the only one that noticed?” Tony asked casually, not taking his eyes of the projection, which he was currently trying to decode with lightning-fast finger strokes.

“Noticed what?” Nat asked, gaze flicking intently between the engineer and the schematics hovering between them all.

“Hydra’s filtration systems are funded by a company - a very shady, off-shore company -  called Union Tech and Co.” he stated matter of factly.

“Your point being…?”

“Theres a folder labeled Union Tech and Co. over there,” he pointed at the corner of one of the many floating screens, and just as he said, the folder glared back at them unimpressively, “So, we’re left with the question, why does an incredibly advanced computer system from an equally advanced illegal agency have duplicate files that aren’t even under the same tags?”

“Because one of them is a fake,” Natasha finished for him, quirking her head to the side and offering a small yet impressed smile.

As soon as she spoke, Tony had decoded the file, which exploded into hundreds of top secret documents, all of which had been produced in the last six months.

The room was cast in a brilliant blue, swimming in projections of blue-prints, transcripts, photographs of mission sites, of them, of Hydra’s top agents, of Pierce’s scheme, of the Winter Soldier. Steve and Bucky involuntarily stepped back slightly, as if avoiding being struck by a hologram - knowing full well it would merely phrase through them, made solely of light.

Rhodey unfolded his arms and reached for his phone in his pocket, not taking his gaze off the files, taking them in.

“I’ll call down Doctor Banner and the rest of the gang,”

“You can get hold of Thor?” Sam asked, voice distant as his attention was mostly drawn to reading the transcripts before him.

“I can sure as hell try,” the Colonel breathed with a huff of determination, stalking out onto the outside porch for better reception.

Nat had pulled down video footage of conferences shared between the heads of Hydra, Clint glossing over them which craning his neck over her shoulder.

Bucky flicked through the files on him, the other Winter Soldier projects, tossing relevant ones over the Steve, who was mostly engrossed in them, but kept flicking his gaze up to Tony.

The smaller man was sat cross-legged on the oak table, curiously tapping away at the blue-prints for weapons, buildings, armours, aircraft - anything remotely engineer-y. Tony’s intelligence was greatly underestimated; people had this conception that, because he didn’t act like a mild-mannered introvert, that he must not be a ‘Real Genius’.

How wrong they were. This man was brilliant, so fiercely intelligent he’d managed to pick out a needle in a haystack of intel - hell, it was a needle disguised as a stand of hay, if they were sticking with he metaphor. He didn’t think Tony would ever stop surprising him, and the thought of it made his stomach leap in a way that sent warmth etching into is bones. By some stroke of luck, Tony wanted him - the grunt who barked out orders and punched bad guys in the face.

“Banner is loading onto a jet - he’s got Maximoff and Vision with him, too,” Rhodey said, coming into the room and already flicking through the files Tony had put to the side to look at more closely later - the two MIT graduates took the data by a storm, both acting as pieces of a well-oiled machine. Steve couldn’t help but be wistful to have Rhodey’s mind, to have the intelligence to keep up with his best friend.

“Is he flying the jet?” Clint asked dubiously, a flutter of panic crossing his face.

“God, no, S.H.I.E.L.D’s dropping them off,”

“Oh, thank fuck… me n’ Laura only just finished patching up the barn the last time he landed the jet into it.”

“What’s this I hear of yourself and Tony Stark?”

Thor was beaming at hims he strode across the living room, nodding a thanks to Laura and Clint as they welcomed the rest of their team inside their home.

Steve pulled the Asguardian into a hug, huffing out a sigh when they pulled back.

“Its… its barely anything, we just…”

“They were fucking on Clint’s kitchen counter,” Bucky said flatly, expression not betraying any form of lie.

At the same time Thor laughed outrageously and Clint scowled at the man, covering Lila and Cooper’s ears, Steve shoved is friend good-naturedly, breaking the other man’s stoic expression into a devious smirk.

“We were just kissing, for christ’s sake!”

“You kissed Steve?” Bruce spluttered at Tony, who was leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen, much louder than he had intended. Steve shot a look at the man, who had the good grace to look apologetic. He quickly coughed awkwardly, before trying again.

“I mean, cool, you kissed Steve-”

“Save it, Banner” Steve sighed, though it was with a touch of humour.

“As lovely as it is to see you all again - Wanda, I put some of those books you liked on the coffee table - I think I districtly remember you saying there was some urgent Hydra business involving secret Nazi programmes from World War Two,” Laura said, waving a hand around around too casually for the topic of conversation.

The team looked at her in varying stages of amused shock and admonishment.

“Not that Clint told me, or anything,” she shrugged lamely, taking her cue to guide Cooper and Lila out of the room, tossing a playful smirk at her husband, who just shook his head fondly.

“Oh, please - like you never told Pepper shit,” the archer threw at Tony, who looked mildly affronted.

“Why am I being singled out here? Thor tells Jane everything!”

“…I’m not from Earth, I can do as I like.”

“Hydra is pulling together its major Think Tanks from across the globe, pooling all their resources into digging up all the lost information of the serum used on Cap back in the good ol’ days of Polio. Doctor Abraham Erskine ensured he was the only man alive who knew the formula for a successful serum, but he wanted to ensure that he kept all of findings safe for when he needed to refer back to it.”

Tony motioned his wrist, sweeping up images of attempted remakes of the serum, and various documents Erskine had allowed the military to obtain.

“They recently began to make ground in Siberia, after the programme was dug-up again,” the brunette said, mind going a mile a minute.

“The site in Siberia was put on lockdown by the UN, theres no way Hydra can infiltrate it - no one has clearance to enter the premises,” Natasha prompted, arms folded as she leant over the wooden table they were all seated around.

“Yes, and I agree - no way in hell are Hydra managing to sneak past about one hundred armed soldiers defending every entrance to the place,” he then pulled up another file, “But, they were there long enough to find journals from the original team on the programme, many of whom firmly believed that Erskine collated all his data in some vault in Switzerland - the only place not teeming with special interest,”

“Why wouldn’t he have given the US Army access to the vault - if there is one - in the case of his death?” Bruce questioned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Even I wouldn’t have trusted the US Army back then,” Steve quipped, strolling over to stand next to Tony, taking over the schematics.

“Hydra is adamant this vault exists, they’re even betting all their resources on it, so thats enough to earn our attention. The idea’d been laughed at before, but I’ve go a funny feelin’ that its a bit too familiar to when the US was laughing at Schmidt for believing in Norse Gods,” the blonde said, earning the attention of the room.

Thor shifted awkwardly in his seat, sniffing loudly.

“So, if they’re treating it as a top priority, so are we?” Rhodes questioned, nodding his head in approval when Steve gave an affirmative nod.

“Well, were off to Switzerland, I see,” Wanda smiled at him, just as Sam threw his head back and sighed something forlorn about not even getting over jet-lag from Norway, yet.

They’d decided to head off the following evening, getting one last day of rest before heading over to Switzerland, where they were sure they’d find Hydra sticking their noses into other people’s business.

Of course, not all of them would be going. Sam and Clint still had broken bones, and Rhodey needed more time between missions than the others at the moment; field work was out of the question. Instead, they would stay at the farm, sifting through the data and using their resources to see if they could find any leads on this rumoured vault Hydra had been infatuated in for over seventy years.

Steve wiped at the steamed-up mirror in the bathroom, hair wet and dripping not his shoulders from the shower he’d just taken. He stared at himself, droplets of water hugging his eyelashes, and face recovered from any scraped and bruising they got in Norway; but his eyes were heavy.

God, if he could wake up in a world where they’d finally, finally gotten rid of Hydra, he might be able to walk around with a lighter weight on his shoulders.

He pushed open the bathroom door, stopping short when he saw Tony waiting outside.

The smaller man’s hair was damp, appearing black in the dim lighting of the upstairs hallway, and he had shuffled into a large baggy sweatshirt and boxers, trying to appear nonchalant as he leant against the banister.

“Hey,”

“Hey, yourself,” Steve mumbled around a smile, glancing over the other man’s shoulder to see if they were alone. They were.

“Were you waiting for the bathroom, or?”

“No! Ah, no, actually, I was… I was actually waiting for you,”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, well,” the brunette shrugged aloofly, but the way his feet were fidgeting ever so slightly gave him away; he was nervous.

“Thing is, there are, like, three guest rooms in this place - not that I need to tell you, we’ve been here before and have been staying here, but…”

“But?” Steve smiled, leaning heavily against the doorframe, completely comfortable in his own skin, clad in just a bath-towel wrapped round his waist.

“But, there are four couches, and most if the guys have taken them, then your buddies - Wilson and Barnes, they’re in the spare room round the front of the house, then theres the girls, in the other one-”

“Tony?”

“Yah?” the brunette bit out tensely, trying to pass off nonchalance, but wincing at himself for saying yah.

“I’d be happy to share a room with you,” and the beautiful, crooked smile the smaller man gave him made all the rambling worth it, even if Steve found he didn’t and it much at all in the first place.

Of course, the others had left them with one of the two guest bedrooms with a double bed. Nat and Wanda had nabbed the room with two large singles - they’d spread out on them exaggeratedly much to the digression of Sam and Bucky, who grumbled as they squeezed into one small double bed together in the opposite room.

Steve grinned into Tony’s hair when the smaller man shuffled himself into Steve when they’d gotten into bed, making himself the little spoon. Contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark did like affection; he just had to be certain it would be mutual, save embarrassing himself.

And given that Steve had been kissing the life out of him in the kitchen a few hours ago, he was fairly certain it was mutual.

Steve wound his arm around the smaller man’s waist, pulling him in closely, enjoying the way Tony’s breath blew softly into his forearm - reassuring him of his presence.

Steve found that, for the first time since the accords, he fell asleep with a warmth embracing his body, and the weight on his shoulders didn’t feel so bad.

End of chapter one! Next one will be focused on Nat and Bucky, I promise

Please reblog/like/comment or leave kudos on my new AO3 account, miobambiino 

[27dragons]

So if you wanted some prompts I have some for AvAc Winteriron: 1) Bucky is crushing hard on Tony and is irrationally jealous of Misty, whose arm Tony made her. He also wants an arm spesifically made for him by Tony! Even if the one he has is working perfectly fine already!

2) After arriving at the Academy, Bucky is shown around by Tony, and is really drawn to him. He’s so impressed by everything Tony has done for the academy (not that Tony likes to mention it, he only does so in passing as if it isn’t important), and after staying there for a while he is slightly horrified by how some people treat him/take advantage of him all the time.

3) Every new song Bucky writes has subtle hints about how he is in love with Tony, not that Tony ever notices. Janet, however, does, and confronts Bucky about it to be sure he won’t break Tony’s heart, because she knows how Tony feels about Bucky as well.

These were so cute, I combined all three. This is nearly 6k, so ‘ware the readmore! (I’ll put it up on Ao3 as soon as I get a chance, for easier reading/bookmarking…)

—

“Hi,welcome to Avengers Academy!”

Buckyturned toward the voice, wary. When someone said “welcome” atHydra, it usually meant they were planning to humiliate you or getthe drop on you with an ambush.

Well,they could try. The Winter Soldier had carved out a niche of respectat Hydra, and he would make one here, if he had to.

“Usuallyit’s Jan or Pepper doing the welcome tour, but Pep’s offinterviewing some potential recruits and Jan’s right in the middleof planning next month’s parties, so I said I’d do it. So hi,welcome – I said that already, didn’t I? – um, I’m Tony Stark,nice to meet you!”

Buckylooked him over. Tony Stark had armored boots and a gauntlet on hisextended hand, and was wearing a garish red and yellow jacket overskin-tight jeans. Those jeans did not look practical for combat, butthey did an excellent job of showing off Tony’s legs. Tony hadartfully fluffy hair that made Bucky want to mess it up, and ascraggly attempt at facial hair that was kind of cute in its utterfailure. He’d started off with a bright smile, but it was beginningto fade, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

“Uh,okay,” Tony said, dropping the extended hand and rubbing it on hisother arm uncertainly. “So you’re the Winter Soldier, huh? Isthat… what you want us to call you? I mean, most everyone’s got acodename and, you know, a real name, but we’re pretty divided onwhat we want people to call us. I’m Tony and Jan is Jan and Pepperis Pepper unless she’s reallymadat you in which case she’s Ms. Potts. But you should see how madEnchantress gets if you try to call her Amora, and man, do notcallHulk Bruce, he smashes extrahardif you do that. And ‘Spider-Man’ thinks he’s maintaining asecret identity, so we pretty much humor him and call him that ifhe’s got his mask on, you know?”

Buckyconsidered this. “Names are nothing but words / it is the soulwithin that hurts,” he tried. Not the best meter or rhyme, butthere was a theme there worth exploring.

Tonystared at him blankly for a moment. “Um. So you’re… cool withwhatever, I guess. Okay. Well, I’m supposed to show you around thecampus, so come on, I’ll make sure you know where everythingimportant is!”

Tonyled Bucky around the campus in a wide arc. Bucky already knew thecampus layout, of course, having studied it in preparation forattack. But it was very different, seeing things with his own eyes,and Tony’s constant stream of chatter was often amusing.

“Twonightclubs, in fact,” Tony was saying proudly. “There’s theGalaxy club there–” He pointed toward a garish neon building.“–and the Guardians put on a mean death metal show, I gotta say.But a lot of us prefer something a little more homey, and that’sClub A. Pool table, jukebox, great dance floor.” He looked sidelongat Bucky, then shrugged. “Cap spends a lot of time in there, so…”

Buckydidn’t let himself wince, but he wanted to. His feelings about Cap– Steve – were… complicated. But Tony was looking at himhopefully, waiting for some sort of reaction, and Bucky was oddlydisinclined to disappoint him. “The bartender is a robot,” heobserved.

“What?Oh, yeah, I made him.”

“Byyourself?” It took – hadtaken–a team of three Hydra scientists to merely perform maintenance on Bucky’sarm.

“Oh,sure, robots are easy. The challenging bit was upgrading him so itdidn’t cause any long-term damage when his head comes off.”

Buckystared at Tony.

Tonyshrugged. “Crossbones keeps ripping his head off, and I don’tknow how many times I’ve tried to tell him they don’t like that,but he won’t listen, so it seemed easier to just make it so itwouldn’t hurt them too much, you know?” Bucky had no trouble believingthat. Crossbones was… unpleasant. It wasn’t enough for him toaccomplish his missions. He made it personal.

Tonywas still talking about the robot. “… already had someeasy-repair joints for the robots at the blasting range, so I justhad to find a way to–”

Nowthatsoundedlike something Bucky would enjoy. “Blasting range?” He swung hisfavorite rifle off his shoulder. “Show me.”

Tony’ssmile was all teeth. “This way.”

Janfound Tony in the library. She was supposed to be studyingentomology, which was usually one of her favorite subjects, but shecouldn’t help watching Tony. He was listlessly turning page afterpage without even really looking at what was on them. Instead, hisgaze kept drifting out the window toward the food court.

Maybehe was hungry; it wouldn’t be the first time Tony had gottenwrapped up in what he was working on and forgotten to eat. Though hedidn’t look particularly absorbed now, which meant he was brooding.Stewing. Maybe even sulking.

Janbrought up the social media aggregator on her phone and scrolledthrough it with a few flicks of her fingers. There had to be a reasonTony was acting so weird. He hadn’t gotten into a fight with Stevefor weeks; Jan had personally been making sure to take down all ofProfessor Pym’s posts on the message board calling for “volunteers”for his electricity experiments (honestly, Pym was cute but sometimeskind of thoughtless); there weren’t any new selfies from Crossbonesposing with Club A’s headless bartender or from Hulk showing off astolen cheese fridge.

Janscowled at her phone. If social media was failing her, it had to besomething huge. The last time Tony had been this listless was whenhe’d been moping about his dad, but he didn’t have thatguilty/anxious look that always gave him. The only other thing Jancould recall was when he’d been trying to convince Natasha to datehim and Nat had been–

Wait.

Waitwait wait.

Thatwasn’t Tony’s sulkingface.That was pining.

Janclapped both hands over her mouth so he wouldn’t hear her squee ofexcitement and realize she was watching him. This was something shecould help with! She would have to be crafty. Subtle. Tony sometimesobjected to her help.

First,she had to figure out who it was. She couldn’t have someoneunworthyattachedto her best friend.

Subtle,she reminded herself. She shrank down into her Wasp form and flittedthrough the library to land on Tony’s shoulder. “Hi!”

Tonyflinched a little at the buzz of her wings, but relaxed when he sawit was her. “Hey, Jan. Were you going to try to study? I can clearout.”

“Nah,I’ve got some entomology homework, but it’ll wait.” Shecritically examined the stitching on the collar of his jacket. It wasstarting to fray; she’d have to make him a new one soon. Heroeswere so hard on their clothes. “So, who’re we spying on?” Shepeered through the window, trying to see who was in the food courtthat Tony might be watching.

“I’mnot spying on anyone,” Tony said. Jan could heartheeye-roll; she was definitely on the right track.

MariaHill was at the coffee kiosk, but– ew, no. She was far too seriousfor Tony, and didn’t have much in the way of fashion sense, either.Tigra ran past, but she was obviously on her way to a fashion shootor an important nap or something, not someone Tony had been watchingfor the last half hour while pretending to read up on the latestengineering developments. Anyway, Tigra had a huge crush on Cap.Misty Knight was considering her options for lunch, but if Tony had acrush on Misty, Jan would’ve thought she’d have noticed earlier,since Tony had been working on Misty’s artificial arm for months.

Pepperand Kamala were chatting in the line for the shwarma stand, butKamala was basically everyone’s kid sister, and while Tony flirtedendlessly with Pepper, everyone – including Tony and Pepper – knewthere was nothing to that. Natasha was deep in discussion with Union Jackon one of the benches, probably listing all the different ways theycould kill a man with the hot dog she was holding. But Tony waspretty much over Natasha these days, Jan thought.

Ormaybe it was Union Jack? Jan considered that for a moment. Union Jack wasabout as gay as a guy could be without actually skipping everywhereand leaving daisy petals in his wake, and he’d never tried to hidethe way his eyes lingered on Tony sometimes. But Tony had alreadyturned him down (except for the body shots thing, and no one wascounting that),so it wasn’t him, either.

“Jan,”Tony sighed. “Really, it’s nothing.”

“Don’tbe an idiot,” Jan said, patting his ear. “You’re not that goodof an actor. This will go much faster if you just tell me who you’reso obsessed with!” Well, she’d never been that good at subtle, anyway.

Tonygroaned and nearly unseated her by dropping his face into his hands.Jan hovered for a moment and then re-settled on his shoulder,frowning out the window. “Come on,” she wheedled. “Don’t makeme beat it out of you. Is it Misty?”

“No,”Tony groaned.

“Areyou chasing Natasha again?”

“No.”

Janwas running out of options. “God, don’t tell me it’s Maria,”she begged.

Tonylifted his head to give her a disgusted look. “She’s even lessfun than Cap,” he protested. “Why would I even.”

“That’swhat I thought, but– Ooh, did you change your mind about Union Jack?”She could work with that. He was super-cute, and his colors wouldblend acceptably with Tony’s for couple-themed events. “I mean, Iknow you want everyone to think you’re straight, but–”

“Iamstraight,”Tony said firmly.

“Youdated Loki,”Jan pointed out.

“Onlyfor a couple of weeks,” Tony pouted. He dropped his face back intohis hands. “Anyway, Loki’s a girl sometimes.”

“Thatmight make you lessstraight,not more,”Jan mused. “We’ve talkedaboutthis, Tony. It’s good you want to make your dad proud and all, buthiding who you are is not the way to go about it! It’s not like hecan disown you for being bisexual.”

Tonywas quiet for a long minute, but the back of his neck was turningred. “Pansexual,” he corrected in the tiniest voice Jan had everheard from him. “I think.”

“Youdon’t have to know for sure,” she said, and patted his ear again.“I won’t out you, I promise.” He didn’t lift his head though,so Jan went back to looking out the window. “Except I still don’tknow who it is you’re–”

Oh.

Oh.

OH.

Tonywasn’t looking at anyone in the food court after all. Past the foodcourt was the Quad. And on the Quad was the Winter Soldier, soulfullystrumming his guitar.

“Ohmy god.”

“Jan–”

“Ohmy god.”

“Don’t.”

“You’vegot a crush on BuckyBarnes.”

Tonygroaned, but didn’t deny it, which was confirmation enough for Jan.She was so excited that she couldn’t resist zipping around the rooma few times, trailing a barely-repressed “Eeeeeeee!” ofexcitement behind her like a banner. “Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!”

“Itdoesn’t matter,” Tony said, voice muffled by his hands. “Hebarely even lookedatme the whole time we were on the school tour. And maybe I’m notstraight, but he hastobe.”

“Whydoes he have to be straight?”

Tonygave her a despairing look. “He’s Captain Perfect’s best friendfrom the Stone Ages! Rogers is so straight that even my dad wouldprobably tell him to relax a little.”

Janfolded her arms and gave Tony her best glare. The one she practicedin the mirror to use on Enchantress, and people who mixed plaids.“Anthony Edward Stark, are you suggesting that straight andnot-straight people can’t be friends?”

“No!”Tony backpedaled. “He’s just so…” He trailed off, looking atBucky through the window again. Bucky had put his guitar away and wasplaying catch with a football-throwing device now.

Janwatched with Tony for a moment. “…Dreamy?” she suggested slyly.

“Yeah…”Tony shook himself, then shoved her, playfully. “Stop that! Youknow what I mean.”

Jandid know. There were a handful of students at the Academy who wereout of the closet, but not many. Certainly not as many as,statistically, there should have been. But that didn’t make it anyeasier to ask someone out, not knowing if they even liked whateveryou were. “Lucky for you,” Jan said, “you have me.I’ll find out for you!”

“Youwill?” The look of gratitude on Tony’s face was a testament totheir friendship. Or to his desperation. She wasn’t sure which.

TheQuad was a great place to hang out. It was wide open, not crammedwith buildings and other clutter. There was always a quiet spot forBucky to work on his music or practice throwing and catching.

Sometimes,there would be a new prospective student in the Quad, looking aroundand talking to everyone who passed. New students made the Academystronger, more able to stand against their enemies, so that was okay,even if Bucky didn’t always trust the candidates, especially theones who had recently fought against the Academy. Perhaps that washypocritical. But Bucky knew his own reasons for turning against hisformer institution. He didn’t know theirs.

Therewas frequently a challenger in the Quad as well, daring Academystudents to fight them. Sometimes, they triumphed, but Bucky’sclassmates banded together again and again, relentless and fierce,until the challenger retreated in disgrace. Bucky had not yet beencalled to stand against a challenger, but he took satisfaction inrefusing to allow them to disrupt his routine, in continuing to workout on the Quad, and showing off his arm so that the challengerscould see it and know what they might face.

(Hewasn’t the only one who enjoyed such tactics. The alien woman,Gamora, would sit on one of the benches for hours at a time, honingher sword and flipping it into the air, her cold gaze lockedrelentlessly on the challenger as it fell easily back into her hand.The Wakandan prince often chose the Quad to practice hislightning-quick fighting style, and the Black Widow, who wasintimidating even at her most friendly, had been known to don acostume of eldritch horror and… loom.)

Sothere was every reason for Bucky to spend almost as much time in theQuad as training at the blasting range. It certainly had nothing todo with the fact that Stark Tower overlooked the Quad, or that itsowner could often be seen through the windows, hard at work or evenlounging in the decadent rooftop hot tub.

Still,when a slender, red-clad figure emerged from Stark Tower’s mainentrance, Bucky noticed. He was a sniper; it was his job to noticethings. It was perfectly understandable that his heart rate wouldincrease as he evaluated a possible threat.

Somewhatless understandable was the sense of disappointment he felt when heidentified the figure as Misty Knight, but there was no one nearbywho knew him well enough to know what the subtle shift in hisshoulders or the tip of his head meant. Or to spot the way he tensedagain with the realization that he’d been out here on the Quad fora couple of hours, now, and he hadn’t seen Misty go in,which meant she’d been in Stark Tower that whole time. Perhapseven… overnight?

Helooked down at his guitar, but she had already spotted him watchingand changed the angle of her path.

“Heythere,” she said when she reached him. “You’re Bucky Barnes,right? I’m Misty. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

Wasshe going to warn him off? Her hand was extended as if to shake, butit was her artificial arm. Bucky knew how much damage hisarmcould do. But Steve had been trying to convince him that AvengersAcademy was different. That he could trust – well, maybe not allthestudents here, but mostofthem. He took her hand cautiously.

“It’swarm,” he said, startled.

Mistysmiled, wide and bright and not at all offended. “Yeah, that was acouple of upgrades back. Actually, I thought we could hang out alittle and compare notes, if you want?” She wiggled the fingers ofher prosthetic hand to indicate what she meant.

Thatseemed… good, actually. Talking to someone who knew what it waslike. Still, he hesitated. He’d meant to practice his guitar for awhile longer.

Tonyburst out of Stark Tower, running hell bent for leather. He grinnedand waved at them as he passed, late to Professor Pym’s class yetagain.

“Wecan swing through the food court and go have lunch in the park,”Misty was saying. “Have you tried the new pizza place?”

Therereally wasn’t anything keeping him in the Quad. He could practicelater. “Not yet,” he said, trying to remember how to smile, andgestured for Misty to proceed him down the path.

Thepizza was pretty good, but Bucky was less interested in that than inlearning more about Misty’s arm. It turned out that Tony had builtthat, too, and kept her supplied with upgrades on a regular basis.Much more frequently than Hydra had upgraded Bucky’s arm, which hadbeen whenever he’d managed to get it so damaged that it was easierto replace than repair.

“Oh,all sorts of things,” she answered when he asked. “There’s thetemperature thing – it’s not just cosmetic; the metal used to pullheat from my body in the winter and overheat me in the summer, and mywhole shoulder just achedfromit, you know?”

Buckydid know. He was used to ignoring it, but… he knew.

He wondered if Tony would take over maintenance to his arm, now. Maybe even upgrade it some. He thought about having Tony close enough to touch, warm breath spilling over his shoulder, strong hands delicately caressing Bucky’s innermost circuits... He shivered. He hadn’t allowed anyone so close since Hydra. It was a little terrifying.

Misty was still talking, heedless of Bucky’s wandering thoughts. “Andhe’s always got a new trick for smoother function or faster neuralresponse. Better waterproofing, a filter system to keep out dirt andstuff, power upgrades… All kinds of stuff. Seriously, Tony’s thebest.”

Hercolors were similar to Tony’s, Bucky couldn’t help but noticing– mostly red with black accents, and the arm was gold… Somethingturned over high in Bucky’s gut, oily and uncomfortable. Maybe thepizza wasn’t as good as he’d thought. “Are you and Tony…together?”

Mistysnorted indelicately. “No,” she said shortly. “He’sbrilliant, and he’s funny when he’s not trying too hard, and Iowe him more than I’ll probably ever be able to repay. But no waywould I date a boy who acts like Tony does.”

“Idon’t… understand,” Bucky confessed. Tony seemed like he wouldbe an excellent partner, clever and attentive and generous, eager toplease and adventurous, and handsome–

Oh.Oh no.

Itwasn’t fear, or the pizza. It was something much, much worse:

Acrush.

“Idon’t have anything against the guy,” Steve said as he lined uphis shot, which was utter hooey, because Steve obviously didhavesome kind of beef with Tony. “He’s just kind of… flighty.”

Buckyleaned against Club A’s bar and calculated Steve’s shot in hishead, the geometry of collisions blooming there almost as neatly asthe arc of a clean shot. If there was one thing Steve did well, itwas calculate ricochet. All that work with the shield, Buckysupposed. “He’s not flighty,” Bucky said.

“Maybethat’s the wrong word,” Steve allowed. He paused to take theshot, sending pool balls spinning across the felt. Two of themdropped into the waiting pockets. “He just never takes anythingvery seriously.”

Whateverhis eye for angles, Steve’s eye for people – or at least Tony –was obviously half-blind. “Are you kidding me?” Bucky asked. “Hedoes so much here – he built the blasting range, and he’s upgradedit at least twice! And the sparring ring–”

“Excusesto play with robots,” Steve snorted, walking slowly around thetable. “Just happened to work out for us.”

Buckyrolled his eyes. “Plushestill runs his business.”

“He’sgonna run it right into the ground if he doesn’t buckle down,”Steve said. “The last thing I saw him testing was some kind ofhoverboard toy. And then he comes in here playing big-shot, throwinghis money around.”

“Hey,it’s his money,” Bucky said mildly. He didn’t ask if thehoverboards were a thing he could get for himself, because honestly,that sounded a hell of a lot more fun than playing pool allafternoon. “And staying on top of his classes. He’s got straightA’s, you know, even though I think Pym’s got it out for him.”

“Just‘cause Tony won’t follow the standard safety precautions,”Steve muttered. “That’s not Professor Pym’s fault. Maybe hewouldn’t have such a hard time if he didn’t spend all his librarytime looking for books with pictures of pretty dames, or mockingeverything in the engineering journals.” Steve made another shot,then looked up at Bucky across the pool table. “Look, I’m nottelling you who you can or can’t like–”

“Gee,thanks, pal,” Bucky drawled.

“Ijust don’t want to see you get hurt,” Steve said, all earnestpuppy eyes. “I mean, I know you weren’t back yet when ithappened, but there was that incident a few months back where he wasin here letting Union Jack do bodyshotsoffhim. That’s not relationship material.”

Christ,Rogers was so full of bullshit, Bucky wasn’t sure why hedidn’t stink. If Tony had anything going with Jack, it would’vebeen all over campus. Hell, Bucky’d had lunch with Misty at thepark onceandit had taken three days to quash the immediate rumor that theyweredating. You’d think, between classes and jobs and superheroing,these folks wouldn’t have so much time to gossip. Bucky was aboutto mention that to Steve when the door opened and Steve’s face litup.

Peggy.Of course. The only person on campus who could make Bucky turninvisible. Steve put up his cue and jogged over to join her at thejukebox.

Buckytook another swig of his drink as he watched them dance. At leastSteve had finally learned a couple of moves. But god, it made himache with the desire to pull someone onto the dance floor himself.Someone slender and strong and unafraid of Bucky’s arm. Someonewho’d laugh and rise to the challenge, ready to risk failure forthe possibility of glory…

Buckysighed and finished his drink. He waved off the robot bartender whenit reached for a new can, and slumped out the door.

“Iheard the most interesting thing,” Natasha said in Tony’s ear.

“Gah!”said Tony, because she hadn’t been there just a second ago, andthen, “Why do you do that. Why.”

Natashasmirked. “Because it’s funny.” She stepped out of the cardboardbox she’d used to sneak up on him and dropped into the seat next tohis on the dorm patio. “I heard the most interesting thing,” sherepeated, somewhat more conversationally this time.

“Heard,or overheard?” Tony teased. He pried open the back of the gadget hewas tinkering with and examined the wiring.

“Heard,”Natasha said, faux-wounded. “Are you going to ask me what it was?”

Tonylooked at her sidelong, then fished the multitool out of his pocketand started unscrewing the circuit board. “I don’t know,” hesaid. “If it’s about how Loki and Enchantress got into anotherfight, you can save it. I heard about it already from Jan.”

“No,I got it from Jan already, too,” Natasha said. “Did she tell youthey were fighting about you?”

Tonyrolled his eyes. “Of course she did. I don’t know what she thinksI’m going to do about it. I dated Loki for, like, twoweeksbeforeI got sick of his attitude, and Enchantress only wants me because Idon’twanther.I really wish I hadn’t given her a key to the hot tub.” He heldthe circuit board up, checking the connections and switches. “Howcome the only people on this campus who are interested in me areex-villains?”He did some quick calculations in his head and flipped a couple ofswitches.

“Well,there’s Union Jack,” Natasha offered.

Tonyrolled his eyes. “He’s not actually interested in me, you know.He just spreads that around to make himself look more attractivelyunavailable. He only really wants me for the tech, to be the Q to his Bond.”

Natashadidn’t say anything. Tony finished screwing the circuit board backinto place, then hit the power switch. Well, thatdidn’twork. He turned it back off and reached for the multitool again. Heglanced at Natasha. She was watching him like he was one of themysteries of the universe. “What?”

“Nothing.”She leaned back in her chair. “Ask me what I heard.”

“Fine,whatever, tell me what you heard.”

“Iwas at the Winter Soldier’s open mic last night–”

“Oh,shit, that was last night?” Damn it. He’d been meaning to go tothat. What had he been doing last night? …Oh, right, he’d gottencaught up studying that alien armor down in SHIELD HQ’s basement.He really should start setting alarms for himself when he was downthere.

“Yes,”Natasha said. “And he had some great new lyrics to try out.”

“Well,that’s what open mic night is for, I guess.” Tony fidgetedaimlessly with the gadget, not wanting to telegraph his feelings tooobviously, even though it was Natasha and she probably already kneweverything just from the way he’d combed his hair this morning, orsomething. “I’m sorry I missed it.”

“Youshould be,” she told him smugly. “I think my favorite was the oneabout the ‘stark beauty of winter’ and the ‘red glow of dawn’,myself. Sif really liked the new ‘Snowmelt’ song, but I thoughtthe bit about it dripping into the forge’s fire was a littleoverdone. Also, the rhyme was a bit forced. It could use work.”

Tonylooked up at her. “He’s… really kind of impressed with the IcePalace, I guess?”

Natasha’smouth actually fell open. “You’re being even dumber than usualtoday,” she finally said. “That’s not what they’re about.”

Whatthe hell did that mean? “But the forge at the Ice Palace is theonly one we’ve got,” Tony pointed out.

Natashadropped her head into her hands. “You’re hopeless, Stark.Completely hopeless.”

“Excuseyou, I am fullofhope,” Tony shot back, grinning.

Natashashot him a Look that made him fear for his life, or at least hiskidneys, and stalked off, muttering under her breath.

So,Bucky liked the forge at the Ice Palace, did he? Maybe Tony shouldtry to spend a little more timethere. His blacksmith costume was pretty sexy, if he did say sohimself.

Janfound Bucky at the blasting range. “So, you’ve been here forwhat, a month now?” she said between zaps. “How’re you settlingin?”

“Fine,”Bucky said, absently taking aim. The strange thing was, he actuallymeant it. His memories had been steadily trickling back, and no onehad even hinted at taking them away again. There were people here whowere actually interested in his music, who attended open mic nightand invited him to jam sessions and sought his advice aboutharmonies. The classes were interesting – well, most of them. Thestaff seemed to think of the students’ well-being as people as muchas their value as assets. And while not everyone was friendly –Bucky and Crossbones both still went out of their way to sneer at eachother whenever they crossed paths – the atmosphere was much morerelaxed and easygoing than Hydra had ever been.

Andthere was Tony, of course. Bucky’s mouth curved in a small,unwitting smile.

Heactually likedithere.

“Youknow, Tony and I have been friends forever,”Jan said.

Buckyflinched, just a bit, and his shot went off-center, wide by a whole handspan.Damn it. He made himself take a slow breath and aim again. “I’veheard that,” he said neutrally.

“Soyou know that if you break his heart, I’ll have nomercy,”she said. She shot him a glare, and it should’ve been cute andeasily-dismissed, that stubborn pout and furrowed brow, but Bucky hadseen what her stings had done to the target ‘bots, and her tinyWasp form would be ideal for ambush. It was generally acknowledgedthat despite her fixation on fashion and social media, she was one ofthe more formidable students here. “And I don’t just meancheating,” she said fiercely. “He’s sensitive,you have to be nice to him!  Don’t yell at him for working toohard because he tries to act all ‘man of leisure’ but he’sactually superbusyall the time, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll respectthat. And don’t take him for granted because he’s already had todeal with just too many people who only want his money or his tech.And you’d better appreciate his genius, too! He’s the smartestguy on campus!”

Buckyknew better than to show fear. “We’re not dating,” hepointed out when she finally had to pause to draw a breath.

Jandemolished her target and huffed in exasperation as she waited for itto reset. “Well, that’s because he’s also kind of an idiotsometimes. You just need to be a little more obvious.”

Buckyactually lowered his gun to stare at her. “More obvious.”

“Yep!”She shrank and took to wing, and destroyed the target again withthree quick shots.

“Isthere a single student on this campus who hasn’t figured out how Ifeel about him?” Bucky asked.

“Um…”She resumed her human size and thought about it. “Well… Danny canbe a little oblivious sometimes,” she said. “And Rocket doesn’tcare about anyone’s love life.” She sniffed indignantly.

“AndTony, of course,” Bucky added. Just saying the name sent a shiverthrough him, as if it were forbidden. “He came to open mic threedays ago and I sang the song I’ve been saving for him, ‘TheGlowing Heart’. I don’t know how much more obvious I can get.”

Jansmiled and reached up to pat his shoulder. “You’ll figure itout,” she said. Her eyes narrowed. “You’d better.”

“Ug,she’s at it again,” Taskmaster growled as he stomped through thedoor into Club A.

Buckyglanced up, then looked away again. Taskmaster was supposedlyreformed, but Bucky didn’t trust him. He spent too much timehanging out with Loki and Enchantress.

“Who?”Crossbones demanded from the spot he’d commandeered on the dancefloor.

Buckyhad almost turned around and left when he’d spotted Crossbonesalready in the place, but they both came from Hydra. Crossboneswouldn’t see it as Bucky simply wanting peace and quiet; instead,it would read as weakness.

Whatever.He’d only wanted a drink, anyway, before band practice.

“Amora,”Taskmaster snorted. He refused to call her Enchantress, even when shefumed at him. It was one of the few things that Bucky liked abouthim. “She’s trying to hypnotize Stark again. What the hell doeseveryone see in him, anyway?”

Buckycould have answered that, but why would he? If they couldn’tappreciate Tony without being told–

Wait.Hypnotize?

Buckythrew back the rest of his drink and barrelled out of the club,heading for the Quad at not quitehistop speed. He slammed to a halt when he saw them, the Enchantress’magic a sickly green aura that slithered into Tony’s mouth andeyes.

Tonystaggered under it, weak, and stared at Enchantress with wide,adoring eyes that made Bucky’s stomach churn with anger and disgustand fear.

Evenas Bucky watched, however, Tony shook off the effects of the magic,his dopey grin curling into a sneer. He turned his back with a rudegesture and started to walk away, but the Enchantress was alreadysending out her magic again, dragging him back in again.

Bucky’shands curled into fists. Atit again,Taskmaster had said, which meant this wasn’t anything new.The Enchantress tried to drag Tony into her trap often. And despitehaving no protection from magic – certainly not Asgardian magic –Tony had so far managed to resist her.

God,the strength of will that must take… Coulda flightymando that, Steve?Buckymentally challenged.

Butwhy the hell hadn’t anyone put a stop to this? Fury, or even Odin?Did it amuse them to see Tony so weakened? There were students, aswell, fully capable of blocking the Enchantress’ lure.

Buckygrowled, anger rising, and pushed himself into motion, stalkingtoward the tableau. “Leave him alone, witch,” he snarled at theEnchantress. He wrapped his hand around Tony’s arm and tugged himaway, making straight for Stark Tower.

Buckyfelt it, the instant the last tendrils of the Enchantress’ magicsnapped. Tony stumbled a few steps and straightened, then looked atBucky in surprise. “What…?”

“Hadto get you away from her,” Bucky said through clenched teeth. Hedidn’t stop moving until they’d pushed into the lobby of StarkTower.

“Awayfrom…” Tony turned around to look behind them, though he didn’ttwist hard enough to free his arm from Bucky’s grasp. His eyeswidened. “Enchantress? Really? You… rescued me?”

Heatflooded Bucky’s neck and cheeks. “I dunno ‘bout that,” hesaid. “You seemed to be holdin’ your own. I just… couldn’tstand to watch it.”

Tonywas looking at him, now. “No one’s ever done that for me before,”he said, voice soft with wonder.

Buckybit back the first half-dozen comments that sprang to mind. (“Yourstrength does not obligate / you to carry all the weight” wasn’ta bad starting point for a lyric, maybe a song.) Tony didn’tstop looking at him, though, his eyes wide and warm. “Well, I did,”Bucky finally said.

“Yousure did,” Tony said. “Thanks.” He smiled, and it lit up hisface like the sun. Bucky swayed into it like a plant seeking themorning light.

Moreobvious,he thought, and said, “Don’t suppose you’d like to go get adrink?”

“What?Oh, uh, sure, yeah,” Tony stammered. “Victory drink, thatsounds–”

“Imean like a date,” Bucky said, and Tony’s eyes rounded. Wow, Janhad not been kidding atallaboutTony’s level of obliviousness. “I really like you,” he added, just to be sure.It came out a little too loud, verging on panicked. If Natasha was sneaking into Tony’s cheese fridge again, she was going tobust something laughing at them.

Buckydecided he didn’t much care. He let go of Tony’s arm, finally,and instead lightly brushed back the tips of Tony’s hair where theywere drooping toward his face. “I like you a lot,” he said.

Tonyswallowed, but he didn’t back away. He just kept staring at Buckywith those pretty, warm eyes. “You’re not– Really?”

“Yeah,Tony,” Bucky said. He dug deep and dredged up a smile that wasnearly a grin. “Come on, doll, let’s paint the town red.”

“IronMan red?” Tony asked, teasing.

“Youbet,” Bucky agreed.

Tonyslipped his arm through Bucky’s. “You’re on, hot stuff.” Helaughed briefly. “Oh, man, wait’ll I tell Jan she doesn’t haveto stick her nose in it, after all!”

[justgotham]

This Monday, Fox’s pre-Batman drama series “Gotham” wraps its winter run with the full, ferocious return of Jerome. Now, fans of the show are undoubtedly excited about the development, but casual comic book types are likely asking a simple question. “Who the Hell is Jerome?”

This is what you’d call a problem.

For three years, “Gotham” has worked hard to prevent itself from committing to any one portrayal of the Joker – the Dark Knight’s indisputable arch nemesis and perhaps the fan favorite supervillain of all time. But over the past two seasons, the show has also elevated recurring guest star Cameron Monaghan’s unhinged, circus-born serial killer Jerome Valeska to a major foe. With pasty-white skin, an ear-to-ear grin and a cackle that could curdle blood, Jerome has been one of the most memorable additions to a show that’s often in desperate need of crowd-pleasing moments.

So why not just call him the Joker? Despite “Gotham’s” insistence that it’s entire run will be an origin story for the Batman’s world, there are plenty of reasons that this one particular piece be put in place now. Below, CBR runs down six reasons why turning Jerome into the purple-suited Clown Prince of Crime will make the character and the TV show stronger.

Joker’s Nonexistent Past Is Hardly Canon

It can be argued that there’s never been a definitive origin story for who the Joker was before he gained his repulsive rictus. But don’t believe people who tell you that the villain has never had or should never have an origin tale. It’s not just that “Detective Comics” #168’s legendary story “The Man Behind The Red Hood!” gave us the most accepted version of Joker’s “thrown in a vat of acid by Batman” origin (written by co-creator Bill Finger, no less). Over the years, dozens of comic creators have filled in bits of Joker’s backstory, from Alan Moore to J. Michael Straczynski, though they’ve often left specific details vague.

Only since Christopher Nolan’s film “The Dark Knight” have people embraced the idea of a Joker who aggressively denies any true past as canonical. This may have been inspired by his initial, origin-less appearances, but back then, such things simply weren’t stated — like most comic villains of the era. So anyone who claims that Jerome’s origin of murdering his mother before going kill-crazy breaks some kind of rule established by the villain’s creators is missing a whole lot.

More importantly, film and TV versions of the character have been happy to create the character’s full backstory when it suits them – most famously the “mobster who murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents” angle in Tim Burton’s classic 1989 “Batman” movie. And stories like that – while usually much more widely seen than any comic book – have done little to blunt the impact of the Joker as a character all his own. Nobody today expects that making Jerome the Joker full-on would somehow taint the character or irrevocably alter how he’s portrayed in the comics.

Every Other Faux-Joker On “Gotham” Has Failed

Aside from the “making Jerome the Joker wouldn’t really hurt the character” case, there are plenty of great reasons why making this happen is a positive thing. First and foremost is the fact that ever other attempt “Gotham” has made at channeling the Ace of Knaves has fallen way flat.

Longtime viewers of the show will recall that in its early episodes, “Gotham” peppered in “potential Jokers” all over the place from failing comedians to frustrated family men. It was such an awkward, story-killing bit of business that the producers soon dropped it all together from their creative arsenal. Later, when the series attempted to revive a piece of Joker canon with the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo-inspired Red Hood gang, the resulting mask mobsters were completely devoid of personality. Recent attempts to revive the Red Hood angle have fared no better.

Worst of all, since Jerome landed on the show and totally stole the scene from nearly every other plotline, the writers’ initial premise that his (since overturned) death would inspire mass insanity across the city has been a dropped ball. Even when they picked that idea back up as a way to reintroduce Jerome, the story pretty much went out of its way to show how no one would ever be as good as him.

So if the acid-squirting flower fits this guy so well, why not let him wear it?

Harley Quinn’s Impending Intro Is Flawless Timing

The producers of “Gotham” have made it no secret that they’ll be introducing their version of DC’s most popular female character later this season (sorry, Diana, but you know that Truth is Truth). But with some version of Harley Quinn in the offing, the big question becomes, what is there even worth doing with this character before there’s a Joker on the scene? In almost every major Harley story of all-time, the character is played as mild-mannered public servant until Joker unleashes the crazy within her. If “Gotham’s” past is any indication, their solution could be something as bland as a forgettable psychiatrist who occasionally says things like, “I can’t wear red lipstick…that’d be crazy!”

But putting Harley center stage right when Jerome steps into the real Joker role not only solves these problems, it opens up some scary good story directions. Imagine a season of the show where fans get to see the famous Harley origin story “Mad Love” writ large – a mash-up of “Natural Born Killers” and Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie where Jim Gordon and company are hopelessly outmatched? It leans into “Gotham’s” very best tendency for absurd action (and over-acting) rather than more lame attempts at making this madcap world feel “real” (whatever that means).

The Show Is At Its Best When It Goes Full Comic Book

Cementing the argument for Jerome as Joker is the fact that “Gotham” only really connects with the wider fandom when it fully embraces comic book identities. Remember when Ed Nygma was a nerdy annoyance who just said the word “Riddle” three times in a scene before being totally forgotten? That all ended when he finally was given motivation to strike back at Jim Gordon and went all-in planting Riddler-inspired clues and bombs across the city. Since then, the villain has been one of the most enjoyable members of the show’s ensemble.

And it’s not an accident that Oswald Cobblepot has remained both the most beloved member of the show’s cast at the same time as he’s been the only character graced with his comic book alter ego of the Penguin. From his crafty takeover of Gotham’s mayoralty to the way he’s weaseled through a crime world that considers him an outsider, this Oswald is virtually indistinguishable form his four-color counterpart. (Okay, maybe add 60 pounds, but otherwise…)

When you compare these fully fledged supervillain turns to the numerous also-rans in “Gotham’s” history (Balloonman, that awful Wall Street reinvention of Black Mask, the dead end Scarecrow story), it’s clear that the show’s creators find more fun to be had when tweaking comic book character’s identities – not just teasing them. At this point, Jerome doesn’t have to be quite the dapper danger we think of when we see the classic Joker. But giving him a name and a “first draft” version of the purple costume would feel earned after so much pussyfooting.

The Supervillain’s Influence Would Cement The Need For Batman

From the first episode of “Gotham,” the show has been caught in a massive Catch-22 scenario. If the series main plot is ostensibly about Jim Gordon and company’s attempts to be white knights in a city full of black-hearted crooks, how could it possibly end in a satisfying manner? On the one hand, Jim fails, and the entire show is a tragic waste of the audience’s time. On the other hand, if Gordon succeeds there’s actually no reason for Bruce to become Batman.

Watching the Joker fully rise up as a new kind of criminal threat alters this landscape in a way that truly prepares viewers for the birth of the Dark Knight. If Jerome takes charge in turning the show’s drab mobsters into insane supervillains, then Jim Gordon totally realigning the GCPD into a fighting force for good still comes up short without totally undercutting its ultimate redemption arc. Plus, the young Bruce Wayne will be given sufficient motivation for taking his quest for justice outside the law (right now, he’s got a pretty good example of police work being a righteous path in Jim). It’s a win-win for the show’s ultimate endgame.

This Show Needs the Lift That Joker Could Provide

Finally, “Gotham” needs to make Jerome the Joker because it needs to finally give people a reason to care about it. The Fox network is traditionally pretty shifty on supporting genre entertainment over the long haul, and while this DC series has fared better than the average “Dollhouse” due to its comic book roots, the show has slipped in the ratings compared to the rock-solid (and admittedly more forgiving) numbers its CW counterparts pull. With an impending “X-Men” TV series that Fox will own a bigger part of in the works, there’s no reason for the network to support the Batman’s world over many more seasons unless it delivers something big for ratings and buzz.

Plastering a fully-fledged Joker on the side of a bus at San Diego Comic-Con might seem like a shameless cash grab (because it would be!), but in the cold hard facts of the crowded superhero TV marketplace, it’s also a no-brainer.

Plus, for all the reasons explored above, adding the Joker to the show full time will be a major creative boon as well, and “Gotham” needs that more than any other show in years. While the series has undoubtedly improved from its absolutely wretched first season, it’s never gotten more than mediocre in quality. Jerome as the Joker provides the wild energy that the series has always flirted with and a marketing shot in the arm that could let this series go down as a worthy piece of Batman storytelling.