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ectonurites · 4 years

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idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person.

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!”

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero.

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks”

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned.

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been.

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event.

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark.

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team.

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes.

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy.

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon?

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact!

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it.

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals.

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends.

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person.

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is.

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start.

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things)

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age.

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion.

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized.

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

#rainbowroadimpulse #sam writes #conner kent #superboy

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nightwingmyboi · 4 years

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Hello, I love your blog and I had a question that I felt you and might be able to help shed some light on for me. When Dick's friends died (ex: Wally, Donna, etc) did any one ever comfort him or was it ever shown how he coped with it? Was it ever explored at all or brushed off after an issue? I just want to know because Dick is usually there for his friends when they lose someone but have anyone been there for him when he lost someone? I'm curious...

Sure! I can think of three times in particular where people really stepped up for Dick to help him out when he was grieving.

Donna’s Death

When Donna died (saving him), Dick was devastated. Their relationship is often overlooked in more recent comics, but these two were incredibly close. They were so candid in loving and supporting each other, and there really wasn’t anyone quite like Donna in Dick’s life. Platonic soulmates. So Donna’s death really hit him hard. He disbanded the Titans.

Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day #3

And spent several weeks in mourning. He completely isolated from his friends and family in his apartment in Bludhaven.

Outsiders Secret Files

He was seriously depressed. I’d say Roy was the person that kept Dick going during this time. I mean, you can already see in these panels...Roy reached out over and over to make sure that Dick didn’t suffer through this all alone. And when nothing seemed to get through to him, Roy formed the Outsiders and pushed Dick into joining, to try and draw him out of his own head.

One thing I like about this period of time is that Roy lets Dick grieve. Even when Dick is unpleasant and angry and sad, Roy stays by his side. He lets Dick be less than perfect, which is nice.

And I think it’s very telling that even as Dick tries to push everyone away, the one connection that he allows himself (or can’t help but allow himself) is his bond with Roy. Some of the only times Dick even smiles during this period of time are because of Roy being cheesy and joking around to cheer him up.

Outsiders #1

And Dick seems most like himself in those moments where they are together.

Outsiders #11

But, even when Dick’s joined the group, he isn’t magically better. Throughout his time as an Outsider, you can tell he’s really struggling. He’s harsher, his temper’s shorter, and he generally isn’t fun to be around. Dick is still in so much pain over Donna’s death that he thinks cutting himself off from everyone will protect him from that pain in the future...

...but his “never become close to another human again” plan is clearly unreasonable, and backfires right in his face over and over. Comics (especially recently) rarely allow death to have such an impact, but Dick was really allowed to struggle with Donna’s passing for an extended period of time.

The Return of Donna Troy #2

He really only recovers once Donna returns from the dead.

Jason’s Death

Jason’s death was also something Dick really struggled with. He felt a lot of guilt for allowing Jason to be Robin and not being there to prevent his death.

New Teen Titans (1988) #55

When he went to Batman, so that they could support each other in their grief, Bruce really only added to his distress...punching him and exiling him from the manor. So, Dick’s main source of support was the Titans, particularly Starfire.

Dick felt comfortable enough with Kory that he could open up and talk about how Jason’s death effected him. Starfire in turn did her best to support and reassure him. All his friends really banded together to be there for him best they could.

Dick also went to therapy in the aftermath of Jason’s death. He tried to talk through some of his grief and guilt. While there, he once again cites Kory’s forthrightness with her emotions as helping him come to terms with his own feelings.

New Teen Titans #57

But even with his friends support, Jason’s death is something that really stuck with Dick for a long time...there are several times over the years that he talks about his guilt surrounding the event. Jason remained a common element of many of Dick’s nightmares, even years later when he was solo in Bludhaven. I think because Bruce and Dick never talked about things, it was harder for either of them to move past things. Dick did make peace with Jason’s death over time.

Secret Origins Annual #3

Nightwing Secret Files

Batman #691

Like how he made peace with his parents deaths...Dick moved forward and tried to remember the positives, rather than treat Jason’s death like a burden like Bruce. Though there were certainly relapses, like how he beat the Joker to death for Jason’s sake for example. Grief is complicated.

Bruce’s death

Bruce’s death was of course...a very big deal. I’d say that Alfred was Dick’s main source of support in the aftermath.

Batman #687

Dick had to be strong, for Gotham and his brothers and the League. To prove that he could be Batman. But Alfred was the one who Dick was able to grieve with. In a lot of ways, they really supported each other. And Alfred’s help and advice eased Dick’s transition from Nightwing to Batman.

Batman #687

Batman and Robin #2

I am very much of the belief that Dick would not have been able to handle being Batman without Alfred’s support. They were really thick as thieves during this time. The rest of the family, and even a lot of the wider superhero community, was not giving Dick an easy time lmao. I also think that the work (and Damian) kept Dick very busy, and helped him keep a lot of his grief at bay.

That’s all I got.

I’m sure you can kind of get a sense of this, but the Titans were a huge part of Dick’s support system in a lot of ways? It’s part of why I feel their absence so keenly in recent comics...

Nightwing Secret Files

Missing them hours again.

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all-the-names-are-taken-aaaaa · 4 years

Text

Miraculous ladybug prombt

Tag or message me if you use please

Jagged finding out that Marinette is Ladybug. At some point the Justice League comes up in conversation.

"THEY IGNORED YOU! I THOUGHT THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED INCASE THEY WERE AKUMATIZED!"

Jagged calling someone before Marinette can stop him

"BRUCE YOU BETTER HAVE A FANTASICAL EXPLINATION FOR IGNORING PARIS HEROS! I KNOW YOU ARE BATMAN DON'T EVEN TRY THIS BULL WITH ME" as it turns out Jagged and Bruce Wayne are childhood best friends.

Bruce sends Dick, Damian, and Tim to help in Paris while he figures out when exactly is responsible for Paris getting ignored. Redhood randomly shows up. Jason and Marinette become like siblings. Damian has a huge crush on Marinette.

Robin snaps and beats the sh*t out of Gabriel in public after watching ladybug and Marinette die multiple times during an akuma attack. Dick had the snake miraculous but both Robin and redhood remember every second because of the lazarus pits. Luckily they had enough proof at that point but the Paris Mayor has Robin attend group therapy with all the Paris hero for a few weeks.

Damian had to be tranquilized when he found out Ladybug's identity. No one doubted his ability to break into prison to get to the idiot.

Marinette is able to heal Emilie Agreste so Adrian lives with her now.

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imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl · 4 years

Text

Dangerous Love (Pt. 05 of 13)

Pairing: Bruce Wayne (Batman) X Harley Quinn's sister!Reader

Word count: 2.5K

Summary: You're Harley Quinn's sister, Havoc, one of the many villain's of Gotham. But you've been caught, and has been tortured constantly for an year in Belle Reve. But when your think your life can't be anything else than the nightmare you find yourself into, Bruce Wayne, the Batman, takes you in for a project. He has a program to rehabilitate villains, and you're his lab rat. But soon enough confusing feelings start getting in the way. You know falling for Bruce is stupid. But can you keep your heart under control?

<- Previous part (04)

Next part (06)->

{Justice League - DC Masterlist}

You just finished the book. Four days must be a world record. So you put it down on the nightstand, going to the window. Your heart starts beating fast when you see Bruce down there. He told you he'd have a busy day today, so Alfred will be bringing the meals. Bruce looks good, suit and tie. A small group of people is with him, with cameras and microphones. Another interview.

Dreams Are Better Than Reality

He suddenly looks up, straight at you. The smile that comes to your lips can't be controlled. And... There's a small smile on his lips too. Hesitantly, you wave at him, placing your hand on the glass. He nods, slightly. But his attention is claimed by a woman. She comes walking, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. She's beautiful, blonde hair and a dark red dress.

There's a knot on your stomach, and you quickly step away, closing the curtains. A man like Bruce is never alone. He can have anyone he wants, and many women want him, you're sure. It's stupid to feel this way. Bruce is a free man and you... You're a criminal.

Deciding not to think about it, you take the book, reading some parts again. Hours later, after dinner, when you're curled up in bed, you take the drawing you made of Bruce. It's hard to see the details in the darkness, but you already memorized his features. But you force yourself to put it away, back inside the book. Closing your eyes, you try to get a little bit of sleep.

• Bruce's POV •

The reporters follow me, and I tell them to choose a place for the interview. Today had been a hectic day, and it's far from over yet. Guiding them through the gardens, I look down at my feet. Did she eat something already? Did Alfred remind her that I won't be able to visit today?

“By the pool seems like a good place.”

“Maybe over there.”

Nodding, I don't pay attention to the chattering. I suddenly realize I'm by her room, and something makes me look up, at her window. My heart starts beating faster when I see her face, looking down at me. (Y/N) seems so different from when she got here, more innocent. Even though the distance, I take in her beautiful eyes, and her lips, breaking into a smile. I'm smiling back before I can notice, admiring her delicate face. She waves, her hand laying on the glass.

“Bruce.” Angela, today's interviewer, gets my attention. Our long term friendship gives her the opening to hug me, and place a kiss on my cheek. But as I loosely return her embrace, I'm aware of (Y/N), looking at me. At Angela and I. What will she think of it?

“Angela. I hope you're having a good day.” I tell her, my eyes quickly going back at the window when she pulls away. But the curtains are closed. She's gone.

The interview is the same as many others. I smile politely, answering the same generic questions. Hours later, I'm at the gala I'm forced to attend. The music, the people, nothing makes me stop thinking about her.

My mind starts wandering, and I picture her here, with me, in a beautiful dress, with her hair rolling down her shoulders. I would have her by my arm all night, show her around this place. Something tells me she would like it.

I can't think of (Y/N) like that. I've been telling myself over and over again, but it doesn't seem to work. I even considered the possibility of stop visiting her for a while again, but I couldn't. I have to see her.

It's past midnight when I'm back home, after leaving the gala earlier than usual. I go straight to my room to shower and check Gotham streets before deciding if I should go out today. But on my way to the cave, I walk by her room. Stopping on my tracks, I look at the closed door. Maybe she's awake.

Careful not to make any noises in case she's asleep, I unlock the door. (Y/N) is lied down, curled up. Slowly, I walk in. Her book is opened beside her, and a piece of paper is coming out from among the pages. Walking closer to the bed, I bend over to take it. The paper is from the book, folded. Opening it, I hold my breath to see a drawing of my face. She's talented. But why is she drawing me?

Putting the paper back where I found it, I walk around the bed so I can see her face. She's not peaceful. It looks like she's in pain. The nightmares. (Y/N) must be having another one. Carefully, I sit on the bed, trying not to move the mattress too much. I need to give her something for a dreamless sleep. She furrows her eyebrows, clenching her fist. She's scared.

I want to tell her I'm here, that whatever is happening in her head, it can't hurt her. What haunts her? And how can I chase it away? Reaching out my hand, I touch her cheek, softly. Her skin feels so delicate under my touch, so fragile. It kills me to imagine everything they did to her. The image of Belle Reve's guards beating her is too much to handle. Rubbing my thumb on her chin, a smile comes to my lips. I was right. (Y/N) is improving, and I meant what I said when I promised I'd never let her go back to that prison.

My eyes wander through her face. The roots of her hair, and all the rest, in a light shade of lilac. Her eyebrows, nose, and lips. When I look at her eyes, I find them open, innocently looking at me. I freeze, unable to move my hand away from her face.

• (Y/N's) POV •

In your sleep, you're drowning in darkness. You're struggling to breathe, but suddenly, you feel something. Whatever it is, it brings you back, slowly returning into consciousness. You feel something on your face, so softly, that it can only be a dream. It must be a good dream this time because when you open your eyes, it's Bruce you see.

Not Joker, or Harley, or some of the guards... Bruce. You're finally having a good dream. His touch feels so delicate, like it's not even there. Smiling, you take his hand.

“Bruce,” you say, pulling him. “Stay with me.”

He doesn't resist, so you keep pulling him until he's lying down, your head on his chest. You know this may turn into a nightmare any time soon, but for now, you can enjoy it. It feels so good... So peaceful. You hold onto him as if you could force the good dream to remain for a while longer.

“If you stay here I won't have nightmares,” you mutter, taking in his scent. You love his cologne, it's familiar. You wish it was real. You're listening to his heartbeat, feeling his chest moving as he breaths. You wish it was real, that this was really him. But it's ok. At least in your dreams, you can have him this close.

“I think I could fall in love with you.” It comes out, as you close your eyes again, bracing yourself for whatever may happen next.

“Me too.” His illusion answers and you giggle.

You really wish this could be real.

•••

You're happy. Beyond happy. Maybe, whatever Bruce is doing is actually working. Brushing your hair, you need to tell him about last night. He will be happy, right? To know his project is going well. You hear the door opening and run out of the bathroom, as fast as you can despite the pain, smiling to see Bruce.

“Hi.”

“Good morning, (Y/N). How do you feel?”

“Good.” Taking the cup of juice from the tray he's carrying, you take a sip.

“We need to talk about something.” He sounds serious, and whatever is it, it might just ruin the mood.

“Sure. But I need to tell you something first.” You sit on the bed crossing your legs. “Yesterday, I had a good dream. A really good dream.” Of course, you would never tell him what it was about. How you held on to him, your head on his chest... That he can never know. “It started bad but... It changed and then it was good. I can't even remember the last time I actually had a nice dream.”

Bruce seems confused, thinking. You watch as the puts the tray on the nightstand, as usual. He doesn't seem so serious anymore, just... Different. “That's very good to know.”

“What is it that you wanna talk about?”

“Nothing. Let's begin with your therapy session, as you like to call. Eat.”

Weird to say the least. Shrugging your shoulders, you eat the sandwich before sitting on the armchair before him.

“Alfred told me you went to a party yesterday. How was it?” You take a blanket with you, wrapping it around your shoulders.

“Boring, as usual. But the place was beautiful, I think you would like it. The Hall had high walls, with a huge crystal chandelier and its light reflected through the place as if starts had fallen to Earth.”

The image fills your heart and you smile. It sounds amazing, but... The people there would make you nervous, you're sure. “Did you dance?” You ask him, and the memory of that woman comes back to your mind. How she hugged and kissed him. “With that friend.”

“I didn't dance at all. I had a lot in my head. By the way, I'll be hosting a gala next Saturday. So Alfred will be the one to bring you dinner.”

“Alright... So... Batman does know how to dance. That's impressive.” Smirking, you tease him.

“You must be a great dancer too, to speak like that.” A smile crosses his face.

“Not really. Someone like me doesn't get the chance to go to parties like that... All we have are the night clubs. And I never enjoyed night clubs.” Every passing day, you take less pleasure in remembering your life. Before coming here, before Belle Reve. The adrenaline of some moments still get to you sometimes, and you find yourself missing it. But sometimes... You feel embarrassed to tell Bruce those things. You're starting to see that what you used to do wasn't right. But then again, how were you supposed to have anything in life? You're supposed to be graduated from college, and maybe be in a good job. But the truth is that you don't have anything but the money you stole. Being a villain is the only thing you know how to do.

“You're different from the others. It gets more clear every day.”

“Then you must be proud of yourself for choosing me.”

“No, I'm proud of you. When I first got in touch with the direction of Belle Reve and exposed what I wanted to do and who I wanted to try it on, they told me I'd fail.” Bruce's stare is intense, like fire. Not the type that burns, but the type that keeps people warm... Or maybe you're just cold today. “That you fight and run, constantly, never allowing any human being but those you command to approach. Never would open up, because they think there's nothing in you.”

“Maybe they're right.” Looking down, you pull your legs up, hugging your knees. “When nobody believes in you, you stop believing too. So that's what I did. They treated me like an animal, so I became an animal.”

“I believe in you.”

Your eyes meet his again, and you can't control the smile that comes to your lips. “I did give you a hard time, didn't I? In the beginning.”

“You definitely did. But I'm glad I didn't give up on you. It would be a huge mistake.”

Nervously, you run a hand through your hair. It's hard to admit, even to yourself, that you're glad too. “Well, Bruce Wayne. What is it we'll talk about today?”

“Harley.” He simply says.

“My dear sister. Is she still out there?”

“Yes, but I'm closing in. How's your relationship with her?”

You wanna tell him about the dream... The last thing you want now is to talk about Harley. What the hell is happening to you? Why did you dream of Bruce in that way in the first place? Was it because you got jealous of that woman? A beautiful, normal, mentally healthy woman Bruce could fall for? Wait, were you jealous? Is that what jealousy feels like? Like you want to punch that woman in the face until she's bleeding mess? No, you shouldn't do that. How do normal people deal with jealousy?

It doesn't really matter because you can't feel this way towards Bruce. It's like emotional suicide. Focus on Harley, focus on the therapy. “Harley cares about me. In her own way. She just cares more about herself. We...” Closing your eyes, you can't shake the image off my head.

Bruce's fingers caressing your cheek, so delicately. Your head on his chest, his arms holding you. It felt like... Home. How can someone feel like home? It's illogical.

“(Y/N)?” Bruce's voice gets your attention and you open your eyes again. “What are you thinking about?”

“The dream, I... It was good to have a nice dream, that's all.” His expression softens as if he's remembering something too. Maybe he remembered a good dream he had. “Harley and I were close when she started taking me out with her. As I learned things for my own, we eventually parted ways. It didn't help that I was in constant war with her beloved Joker.”

“Don't you have anyone who's a friend? Someone you would trust?”

“Boomy is like my best friend, I guess.”

“Boomy?”

“Captain Boomerang. We're rarely in touch, but whenever we bump into each other, I know he'll have my back.” You smile to remember him. He's a nice guy. At least to you. “Deadshot too. He's the one you look for when you need some actual advice.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Yeah, a little...” Why is he asking that? “It-It doesn't mean I want to go back–”

“You're not going back to Belle Reve,” Bruce reassures you, reaching out his hand, which you're quick to take. “Never doubt that.”

His touch is warm, and it burns like pure electricity. You don't know why he doesn't let go, his fingers caressing the back on your hand. “Thank you for... For not believing them. For... Everything. Everything you did for me, I... I never thought anyone would be this kind to me.”

“You deserve it. You deserve more than being treated like...”

“It's ok. I get it.” Smiling, your eyes fall on your hands, still together.

You have to be careful not to misread the signs. Careful not to confuse gentleness with something else... Bruce would never look at you differently. He needs a woman like the one you saw. Elegant, beautiful... Normal. You're too much of a trouble, and you always will be.

@redwolf-7 @glitterypinkkitty @mybabyboytony @chipster-21 @agustdpeach @yaakimoon2 @chloe-skywalker

#bruce wayne #bruce wayne x you #bruce wayne x reader #imagine bruce wayne #bruce wayne imagine #imagine batman #batman imagine #ben affleck batman #batman x reader #batman x you

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vln-vibes · 4 years

Text

Unwanted, Unreliable, Unstoppable

Yeah so this thing is crazy long so I’m dividing it into three parts. Anyways this is very self indulgent but I hope you like the content.

Summary: They were tired, they were so so tired. This fight has been going on long enough, this war was getting harder and harder to fight as the years went on but no one ever helped; Not the citizens of Paris, not the French government and certainly not the Justice League. But what is they received help from a man that was practically a myth himself; the Batman. Is this exactly what the Miraculous Team needs or will this lead to their falling from grace?

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“I’m so tired of this!” Ladybug scratched at her head feverishly. Currently she was standing at the second most top of the Eiffel Tower with her team: Chat Noir, Ryuuko and Viperion.

“I know m’lady” Chat sighed, letting his cheerful mask take a break as he stood next to her, leaning into the railings.

“Those— Those assholes that call themselves the Justice League just keep ignoring us; it's like they just don’t give a shit about us” Viperion rolled his eyes. They had tried, time and time again, to get help from older, more experienced heroes with their situation in Paris; they were fucking teenagers thrust into an adult’s war. One they didn’t even care for anymore.

“They don’t care for Paris… Why should we?” Ryuuko spoke up, cold fury clear in her eyes. “If they cannot find the need to handle the Paris situation themselves then why must we be the ones to? No one even appreciates out efforts, its like they just want us to have everything handled”

It was true.

At first the Parisians praised the Dynamic Duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir, for stepping up and saving the city from the terrifying Akumas they had no way of handling. They even got the heroes to help out with things not in their jurisdiction; suddenly any crime, as minor or major as it could get, required their attention, any fire could not be handled by the fire department alone, schools needed the heroes to make guest appearances, they were wanted in television interviews, everyone needed to know everything about them. It was fine, for a while, they didn’t mind helping out.

Then Heroes’ Day happened.

Suddenly they were pathetic.

If they were supposed to be so strong then how come other heroes had to come to help? It had never occurred to them that they were chosen by Ladybug and Chat Noir, all they knew was that the duo was not as strong as they once believed.

After all it was just one criminal,

How hard could it be?

Sometimes, Ladybug wishes, she had just let Alya keep the stupid earrings. She was sure the girl would have taken them immediately at the time but, given her brashness and temperamental nature, she would have already lost to Hawkmoth.

Plus she didn’t blame the small kwami or even Master Fu all that much: She resented the man but still respected him very much and knew he went through the same thing as she did at an even younger age with absolutely no way out. She was aware that if she truly wanted to all she could do was just give the earrings to someone else or even hand them over. But Ladybug was stubborn and the earrings were her’s now, just like the ring was Chat’s, the choker was Ryuuko’s and the bangle was Viperion’s.

That didn’t mean this battle was theirs to fight.

“... Why don’t we leave?” Viperion asked, disturbing their silence. The trio looked at him curiously, as though he broke an unspoken rule.

“Why would we?” Ladybug responded, knowing fully well that Viperion didn’t tend to speak up unless he was certain of his words.

“Because they’re running us dry, this city is killing us” Viperion raised his voice, aware that they could already, “Adrien and Kagami are living shitty home lives with abusive assholes that want to call themselves parents. Mari, you’re being burdened with too much responsibility by that bitch Bustier and that class full of sheep! I hate seeing you all kill yourselves for people that will never appreciate it because they think they’re above it!”

At the end of his rant Viperion’s eyes were nearly glowing, his breathing a bit more rough than normal, looking away from his teammates knowing he stepped too far. “Sorry, but I don’t want my friends to die on me when I can do something to stop it”

Ryuuko, Chat Noir and Ladybug understood where he was coming from but it was like a slap on the face, a reminder of what civilian life was like for them. Ryuuko could feel the sting coming from her leg, where mother had hit with her shinai after failing to be in proper form. Chat Noir still felt the ache of having to do photoshoots all day and then staying up at night to have to do his make-up work; not that his father cared with his disregard of child labor laws. Ladybug still had some redness from bruises Alya had caused by tripping her on her way to class.

“... Okay so these are the sad gang hours” the group turned back seeing Roter Fochs land, Roi Singe and Pegasus landing behind them. The Parisians were really only aware of ‘The Core Four’ as they’d rather have some aces up their sleeves; not that the three were ready to confront the Parisian backlash just yet. They didn’t want to deal with anymore bullshit than they had to in their civilian lives.

“Is everything alright? Or is it just Life™?” Roi Singe asked, leaning onto his bo-staff next to Viperion.

“It takes 60 euroes to go to therapy but no money to say it just be like that sometimes” Roter Fochs shrugged, much to the dismay of Viperion, Roi Singe and Pegasus.

“Can you please stop joking about your mental health” Pegasus found himself groaning. A small hovering screen appeared next to him, a cowboy hat firmly attached to the top with an antenna sticking out.

“Yes studies show that LGBT youth have a higher percentage to suffer from depression, some even to the point that they𑁋”

“Thanks for the concern CowBot but, really, I’m fine; let me have my fun” Roter softly tapped the little robot. It was nice having people, well sentient beings, still concerned with his well being.

Suddenly the group tensed, their artificial ears and enhanced senses picking up a light clink, the sound of something quickly winding up followed. Two male figures landed in front of them, quickly surrounded by the Parisians. The taller one of the two quipped:

“Well aren’t you a merry bunch”

“Who are you and why are you here?” Chat Noir kept an icy cold edge to his voice, emulating how his father would talk to employees that weren’t Natalie.

“They’re not Akumas, no magic radiating off of them” Ladybug analyzed, looking closely at the duo but she couldn’t recognize them at all. The male that had spoken had a lean and relatively tall body, he couldn’t be more than four years older than her team, so around his late teens early twenties. He had long raven hair, his bangs framing his face perfectly, even in the moonlight she could tell he had a pale complexion though the black domino mask he sported helped hide most of it and his eyes. His uniform wasn’t one she recognized from any superhero from the League; black kevlar, if she had to guess, made up nearly the entirety of his suit, from his boots, pants and even gauntlets, heck she wouldn’t be surprised if his cape was bulletproof. One of the only things to bring color was his crimson chest piece, with two belts across it holding up a golden bird symbol, the same one on his canary utility belt.

“Tt, we just came here to talk” the smaller male scoffed, his posture not looking any more tense or relaxed, just attentive. His build was also lean like his taller partner though she could tell his body would be able to build more muscles with his broader shoulders. She assumed they were around the same age, his jawline defined but not to the same extent an adult’s would be. His hair seemed almost darker than that of his partner’s and was slicked back though maintaining most of its volume, a naturally tan skin was found beneath a green domino mask, much like his companion’s. His uniform was definitely more colorful, almost as if he was meant to garner attention(and boy wasn’t that concerning); black seemed to be the main color in his suit with the outer cape, pants and sleeves being that color, ruby red tunic that went beyond his belt with dandelion accents on its edges and a golden R over his heart, pine boots and gauntlets matching the shade of his mask with dandelion yellow covering the inside of his cape and hood as well as his own utility belt.

She had no clue who they were.

“And why should we trust you?”

“Because we don’t like the Justice League any more than you do”

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

One Week Ago

“Hey B, we found something interesting while reading the League’s data” Barbara Gordon’s voice echoed in the BatCave. Currently she and Tim were doing the weekly check-in on the League, something those heroes never seemed to notice. Not that they were surprised.

“What did you find?” Bruce asked, telling Duke and Damian to take a break from combat training while he did.

“There’s an alarming amount of distress calls from France, specifically Paris, that the League has been either ignoring or not receiving” Tim showed him the graph of all the history, going back at least three years closer. It was small at first, once every two months at the beginning, once a month when the second year began, every two weeks bordering on weekly near the end of it, by the start of the third it was daily until some time three months ago they just stopped.

Well wasn’t that cause for concern?

“Can we get any audio of the calls?” Bruce’s detective side coming up as Barbara was able to bring up a few that hadn’t been automatically deleted by the Justice League’s system. The first one was the very first from three years ago, a video call.

“Uh hello!” the girl on the video said awkwardly, clearly nervous but determined to get her message out, “My name is Ladybug”

Her costume looked like it was simply made by spandex, a rather plain design of red with black spots around, a domino mask with open lenses was the only thing really concealing her identity.

“Paris has a supervillain, his name is Hawkmoth and he feeds off of negative emotions. His power can turn anyone into his enslaved champion and we- my partner and I are the only ones really fighting this. I- I know you’re all really busy saving the world and all that but- but we’re just kids! We have no experience and well, we were hoping you can send someone to help? We’ve only confronted him three times now but well, we were just pushed into this”

Bruce could feel his blood growing cold, she couldn’t have been older than thirteen when this was recorded. He knew no Leaguers went on missions to Paris for the past five years… He told them to play the next video, from two years ago.

“Hello Justice League” Ladybug still wore her simple spandex though now standing tall next to a boy with a black cat leather outfit. Behind them was a girl with a bee themed outfit, a girl with a fox themed outfit and a boy with a turtle theme.

“We just came out of this Heroes Day disaster”

“No thanks to their help” the bee girl snapped before looking away.

“Look, Hawkmoth is getting more and more dangerous. He was able to transform half of Paris into his minions, they took over Paris and nearly won”

“What is it going to take you for you guys to finally help?” the cat boy growled much to the surprise of the others.

“Chat Noir!”

“Oh please we can totally handle Hawkmoth without them; you two should be enough already. With us three helping you, defeating him should be easy, power of teamwork and all that” the fox girl waved off, much to the surprise of the turtle.

“Rena did you seriously not remember what just happened. We were compromised, we nearly let Paris fall. We’re not trained for this, not even LB and Chat, and they’ve been doing this for the past year”

“Whatever”

“What was the last transmission?” Bruce found himself asking as the cave suddenly grew silent, all eyes on the monitor as their last transmission played.

“Why are we even bothering with this?” a new male voice asked, the video was shaky before finally pointing at the Parisian streets. If you could even call what was essentially a river of water, reaching to the top of most rooftops streets anymore. Items were floating about, bodies littered around them.

“They’ll never listen, they never did” another female voice agreed, they assumed it was the girl at the corner of the screen, looking down on the streets in what could be described as pity.

“I know” Ladybug’s voice sighed from behind the camera. “But they should at least see the consequences of their actions”

“If they even bother watching these, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just delete these as soon as we send them” Chat Noir entered the screen, eyes cold and calculating.

“Paris should be thankful that Lucky Charm is able to bring them back” the male with the snake themed outfit shook his head. “This is probably the 1,000 time most of Paris died with an akuma, second with Syren”

“Super lucky” the dragon female rolled her eyes “It’s not even worth trying to save citizens since all they do is cretique us”

“And the officers; Apparently we should be able to deal with city-destroying being and protect the people at the same time while officers just stand behind the lines waiting for us to do both” Chat Noir hissed

“What's done is done. This will be our last call for the Justice League; I hope you’re all happy, knowing that you’ve forced children to grow up and fight in a man’s war. Bug Out”

“There are no records of these videos even being played, or even of these events happening as far as Parisian government records say. But there’s clearly a lot of cover up going on, most of Paris’ emergency broadcasting doesn’t make it out of its borders, heavy encouragement of tourism even though there have been complaints by the people about… akumas?” Tim reported as soon as the video finished playing.

“There’s even records of a city-funded statue being made for Ladybug and Chat Noir yet no indication of where it is or what its for” Barbara continued “This blog keeps coming up, it used to be called the Ladyblog before it switched to Fox Tea. Look at these videos”

The screens were suddenly filled with shots of these Akuma; one that froze the city over, one who controlled the weather, one who began dropping adults from the sky, Syren, Heroes’ Day… All of them had to be handled by scared children.

“These look too real to be edited” Duke said in awe. He was very aware of his children all surrounding the screens, looking at the countless destruction of one of the major cities in the world.

And none of them had ever heard of them or these children who were forced to deal with it.

Ones who seeked out help and were never given the time of day.

“Red Robin, Robin” his two sons standing in attention “I want you to investigate the matter and offer our help; convince them that we’re on their side on not aligned with the League”

“We’re on it, Batman”

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“So you just want us to believe you found out about us and suddenly want to help?” Roter Fochs looked at the duo skeptically.

“We wish to assist you with this whole… situation. No one has heard of Akumas or of Parisian heroes before, we concluded that it may be the government attempting to keep tourism up” the shorter male, Robin, they later learned, spoke up while keeping his hands in the air.

“Though that doesn’t excuse the League, who we know you personally sent distress messages” Red Robin echoed the message “We understand the incompetence of the League better than anyone else. Did you know they never bothered to even open most of those messages?”

Red Robin was surprised by the sudden animalistic growling coming from the group, some of their eyes glowing while others looked disappointed.

Ladybug looked hurt.

“Who do you work for?” Ryuuko asked, curious but not letting her sword lower from its position.

“We’re Robin and Red Robin”

“Like the food chain?”

“.... Yes. Anyway we’re vigilantes sanctioned in Gotham, New Jersey in the United States; we’re both proteges of the Batman” Red Robin held back the need to roll his eyes at the monkey boy’s statement.

“Never heard of him” the French heroes turned to each other, trying to see if the name rang any bells.

“According to the internet the Batman is almost a folklore for Gotham; people claim to see him and his array of birds and bats but none could ever get clear photos” CowBot replied after a quick search.

“If the League never saw our messages then how do you know about them?” Chat Noir stared right at them, as though he’d know they were lying, which he couldn’t but Roter Fochs could and would.

“Because we’re better than the League” Robin said with the same certainty one would say the grass was green.

“Why should we believe you?” Ladybug asked skeptically, if they were so good then why didn’t they handle what the League wouldn’t? Why didn’t they just try to take over the Hawkmoth situation without their input? Why didn’t they just take down the League by themselves?

“You shouldn’t, “ Robin shrugged once more “But we’ll actually help where the League wouldn’t”

Ladybug stole a look from Chat Noir, both turning to Roter Fochs, who shook his head softly indicating the duo wasn’t lying.

“If you really want us to talk then give us the coordinates to meet with the Batman” Ladybug demanded, Robin looked outraged at the implication while Red Robin nodded.

“Alright, but how will you know if we’re lying to you?” he asked curiously, typing something in his communicator, the center of his utility belt, before handing it over to her.

“Trust me, we know when you’re lying plus we’d know when we get there” Viperion smirked, “Also you can stand down now Bunnix, MultiMouse”

The duo were not surprised to see two figures standing behind them, one male with a mouse theme and rope wrapped around his hands, and a petite girl with a bunny theme and a sharp looking umbrella pointing straight at their backs. They were just surprised that they hadn't sensed them before.

“Did you get those coordinates, Pegasus?”

“Yes Ladybug, waiting for your signal”

“Well then birdies, we better hope you weren’t lying or you’ll find Hawkmoth won’t be your biggest problem”

“Voyage!”

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“Why don’t you guys like the League?”

The meeting between the Bats and Team Miraculous had gone much better than any of them had expected; it had certainly helped when they found out one of their own, Agent A as they called him, was once a wielder.

They had both been surprised by the amount of members each team had: The Bats had expected Ladybug, Chat Noir, Ryuuko and Viperion; Roter Fochs, Pegasus, Roi Singe, Bunnix and MultiMouse had been a surprise.

Meanwhile Team Miraculous had only heard of whispers of Batman and many Robins, even a theory on a bat girl of sorts from their brief research; having Batman, Robin (V), Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Signal, Batgirl, Batwoman, and Black Bat not to mention Oracle and Agent A; they had almost thought it was an ambush.

They supposed they each knew how to keep certain secrets tight.

“The Justice League, though still consisting of some of the most powerful people in this Earth, are too high and mighty; none of them really consider the consequences of their actions and are too reliant on their powers to be able to resolve all their problems. None of them have any contingency plans if their enemies find out their weaknesses and exploit them. Not a single member is a ‘normal human’”

He pulled up a hologram in the middle of the meeting table, every person who's worked with Justice League showing up, each showing their array of powers and abilities before showing their membership status.

Batman, Green Arrow, Speedy, Robin, Artemis; Non-Members

Two Green Lanterns, Captain Marvel, Black Canary, Bumblebee, Rocket, the Atom, Blue Beetle (II), Superboy; Reserve members with clearance.

“That does seem pretty discriminatory” Viperion hummed as he thought of the people on the list, those on the Non-member list had no power or enhancement at all while those on the reserve, with the exception of Captain Marvel and Superboy, had powers or suits but the vulnerability of humans.

They weren’t considered strong enough, or maybe even reliable enough.

“We’d probably be considered in the same capacity as a Green Lantern” Pegasus concluded “Take away their ring and their powers go away”

“Which brings us to the next question” Batgirl chimed cheerfully “What is it exactly that you’re facing off against?”

“The Miraculous are ancient artifacts that lend you the powers of certain godlings named Kwami. Kwamis are the essence of concepts and ideas: The Ladybug who represents Luck and Creation, the Black Cat who represents Misfortune and Destruction and Horse who represents Transportation and Innovation are just some examples” Ryuuko explained for them

“Hawkmoth is in possession of the Butterfly Miraculous of Metamorphosis and Desire along with the Peacock of Emotion and Will” Ladybug paused briefly as she saw the look of surprise on Agent A’s face, wondering if she’d feel that way if she found out Tikki was being used for evil in the future. “Both were thought to be missing, possibly destroyed, when the last Master of the Order was able to salvage them from the attack to the Temple of Miracles. He was only a child when the Temple was attacked, thus he was able to escape without being detected by the enemy”

“If I remember correctly,” Chat Noir interrupted “I believe Master Fu said their name was “The Shadows” or I think he said they now go by𑁋”

“The League of Shadows” Nightwing softly added, the air tensing immediately.

“You know of them?” MultiMouse was weary considering the Shadows were very keen on keeping to, well, shadows. That had to mean that the Bats had confronted them.

“Intimately so” Batman growled out.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bunnix’s brows furrowed underneath her mask, feeling as though they wouldn’t like the answer.

“The Shadows have been a pain in Gotham’s ass in the past” Batgirl explained before turning to Batman “Especially since the Demon’s Head was interested in having Batman as a Son-in Law, though his daughter is sometimes an ally”

“Batgirl!” Red Robin admonished

“Don’t forget the little demon over here” Red Hood joked, missing the look of shock in the Parisian heroes.

“Or the fact that it sometimes seems like he wants to get on Red Robin’s dick and have his babies”

“Batgirl, Red Hood that’s enough” Batwoman sternly looked at the duo.

“You’re saying Robin is related to the Shadows” the Parisian heroes in the Reserve Team looked at them suspiciously while the Core Four just patiently waited to see what the Bats would say.

“That’s in the past” Nightwing steely stated “He was born into that lifestyle, but his mother let him chose to leave and live a different life”

“We had no choice of who our parents were” Black Bat reinforced, the team taking a mental note that she was once a shadow as well.

“Noted” Chat Noir said cooly “Though you must understand our reluctance when hearing the Shadows; like we said the Shadows destroyed the temple that was meant to safeguard the Miraculous and killed off every Guardian in the process”

“It would be foolish of us to not be on guard when hearing of them being so close to us again” Ryuuko explained “Though we will give the benefit of the doubt”

And so was the beginning of their partnership.

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“You’re all skilled fighters for not having any proper training” Oracle commended, looking at the statistics of the spars they all had, by far the Core Four had the strongest stats but it wasn’t because of the others’ lack of skill.

“Thank you, Oracle” Ryuuko bowed after finishing her match with Robin, an intense sword fight having just finished. If she had truly wanted to she could have ended it by cutting Robin’s katana but she found it both dishonorable and the easy way out considering they were testing skill sets. On the other side of the room was Red Robin and Roi Singe’s fight, bo-staff against bo-staff, being monitored by Black Bat.

“Oh kwami” Ladybug whispered as she and Chat Noir were called for the next match… against Batman and Batwoman.

“This is where we die Noir”

“It’s been an honor m’lady”

The fight had been entertaining, each side coming in with an array of attacks. At first the Bats had played offensive with the Miraculous duo playing defensive, dodging Batarangs and all their little gadgets. The Bats hadn’t expected just how durable the simple looking yo-yo and staff would be or any of its features.

At some point there had been a flash bomb, Chat Noir blocking it from Ladybug and getting temporarily blinded, Batwoman had planned on attacking while he was disoriented however the attack amplified his enhanced hearing, extending his staff and tripping her in the process.

In the end the Bats had won but it had been a close victory considering the Miraculous Team had not bothered to use their special abilities during any of the fights.

As they were taking a breather, resting and getting drinks, Robin spoke up.

“How are you allowing your city to step all over you?” Team Miraculous looked at him briskly before Red Hood, of all people, continued for him.

“We’ve seen the reports and the Parisian news, they’re relying on your team of four, considering they aren’t aware of the others, to be there to solve all their problems”

“It’s okay for your people to put so much trust in you but it's gotten to the point where they expect it of you” Robin concluded.

“I’ve tried telling them” Viperion sighed, facing his group “We really should be leaving Paris to handle their own problems, we’re busy enough in civilian life and akuma fights as it is”

“How do you suppose we do that when we already face scrutiny for not dealing with Akumas fast enough?” Chat Noir asked, his tail flickering behind him.

“You could always stop patrolling in broad daylight if you don’t want to leave the city altogether” Red Robin suggested, “Hiding in the night is easier to avoid any authority or anyone trying to get interviews. Plus this way it's less predictable where you’ll be certain hours of the day”

“He does make a good point” Ladybug said, mostly to herself, before nodding “I think it's a good idea”

“You heard her team,” Chat Noir turned to face the others “All for stopping daylight patrol?”

All of them nodded in agreement, the beginning of a long list of necessary changes in their lives.

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“My father is planning a press conference to talk about his ‘concerns’ with the lack of your appearances” Chloe rolled her eyes. A year ago, after the Heroes’ Day Disaster, she and Carapace had chosen to stand down while Rena was ultimately retired. She’d found out about Adrien when she went for a visit only for him to jump in through the window.

It was awkward between the two of them before they called for Ladybug.

She gave her neutral face of disappointment first before making a plan.

They were all aware that Lila must have been the one to start the disaster, being Volpina was the only explanation, as Ladybug confessed that Lila had a vendetta against her. Chloe also figured she must have been lying, something she had already suspected before, about being in another country considering Hawkmoth’s attacks only stayed in Paris.

Due to Chloe’s secret identity being out in the open they realized Hawkmoth wouldn’t be above targeting her family again. Thus Chloe became Ladybug’s spy.

Meanwhile in civilian life Nino was getting tired of Alya and Lila’s antics, especially the ones against his bros Adrien and Marinette. Well more against Marinette and more sexual harassment/getting together with Adrien. That’s not even touching on their newest content on the blog which was just criticizing the Miraculous Team for all their weaknesses and shortcomings, in the guise of offering “suggestions” on how to get better.

They thought it’d be good to have an inside man, someone who could warn them of anything Lila and Alya might come up to.

They were both the secret members of Team Miraculous.

“Holy shit are you serious?” Nino exclaimed in Chloe’s room. They’d all come in secretly and by different entries to meet up in case certain nosy classmates had spotted them.

“Yep, I may or may not have threatened my father with a lawsuit against his violation of child labor laws and me not receiving my paychecks” Adrien said excitedly.

Chat Noir had made an off-hand comment on how his father had tired him out with a packed work schedule. This resulted in prodding from the mother hen known as Nightwing asking for details which ended in Chat Noir confessing that he works for his father’s company, had been homeschooled most of his life and often had a packed schedule full of extracurriculars, including up to around 12-hour work days sometimes. Turns out with that brief information Oracle informed them that his father was violating child labor laws due to the fact that he had worked more than thirty five hours a week since he was fourteen.

“Holy shit” he’d say in awe at the moment “My father is rich though… who knows if this would even go through with his influence”

“No man is truly above the law” Nightwing had given him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “But… is everything alright in your home life?”

“I- I shouldn’t say anything that reveals my identity… '' the usually chaotic boy said solemnly, his cat ears downcast.

“Chat Noir,” the group turned to Ladybug, the one who’d help introduce her team to the life of masks and magic “Your own safety is much more important than keeping your identity safe. We both know the kind of person your father is… I’d rather you have the best options possible to face this”

“How come you’re so fast to trust us?” Robin asked, surprised but keeping a stern face.

“You do realize that she has the coordinates to this place, right?” Viperion smirked “She’s known who you are for a while and never mentioned anything. We just expect you to return the courtesy”

“That seems about right” Red Robin sighed before taking off his mask, the others of the Bat Clan following suit. Team Miraculous gave Ladybug one last look before dropping their own transformations, some of them looking familiar to the Gothamites.

“Marcus is that you my boy?” Agent A, otherwise known as the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth made his way to MultiMouse who nodded shyly.

“I actually go by Marc now great-uncle Alfred”

“Wait what, Al has siblings?” Stephanie exclaimed, Jason was whispering for Tim to write it down in The Book.

“Yes, an older half-sister” he said with an impeccable raised brow “I would have never thought you’d follow after my footsteps Marc”

“I guess it does run in the family”

“Adrien Agreste! Like son of the fashion mongul Gabriel and late actress Emellie Grande de Venily?!” Stephanie exclaimed as soon as she focused on the blonde teen.

“Yep” was all he could find himself saying, taking comfort in Marinette’s presence next to him.

“Don’t worry Adrien,” the boy looked up to the slightly intimidating looming figure of Bruce Wayne “We’ll help you deal with your father”

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“Boys” Bruce had said as soon as he entered the living room, where the group had devolved into a video game competition. “Remember tomorrow is your monthly therapy session”

“Already?” Damian groaned, his brothers, with the exception of Dick, looking like they would rather not go.

“Timmy isn’t prepared to face his inner demons”

“And it seems Timmy hasn’t slept in some time again, hasn’t he?” Luka teased, continuing to run his hand through Tim’s hair, the boy practically purring in response.

“You have a therapist?” Marinette asked Bruce skeptically.

“We’ve all… gone through things growing up. Alfred made me realize that we were all in need of some help”

“And do you umm… talk about your nightly activities?”

“They’re trustworthy and confidential, yes”

“Do you think you could give me their information?”

That’s how Team Miraculous found themselves on the day after another akuma attack, in a private room within Wayne Tower, each waiting their turn to see the doctor.

“You’ve been through alot Luka” the teen was lying on his back, facing the ceiling as the psychologist who worked with Bruce talked. “Losing what you’ve come to accept as your family, watching your friends die, even though you knew you could change the outcome. Doing it over and over again in order to save the city… It's not something anyone could be expected to handle, let alone a child your age”

“I… I know Dr.Quinzel. But I can’t allow myself to feel guilty over everything or even get overly emotional. If Hawkmoth found out it’d be a disaster, especially because Marinette trusted me with the miraculous… the first for her to assign full time as the Guardian…. I can’t let her down” Luka gave her a lost look, one rarely seen on the charming boy before.

“Keeping all of that inside… It could fester up and explode if you’re not careful Luka”

“So you’re telling me that you are perfectly fine with how your life at home is going, Nathaniel? Even after everything we’ve discussed”

“Look I’ve tried telling my parents they were wrong but they just keep saying I’m confused, not to mention think my art is a joke… and maybe they’re right”

“Those are important parts to who you are. Saying that would be like considering yourself a mistake… Do you feel that way Nathaniel?”

“I…”

“I think I have pretty bad taste in girls, though my friends usually call me a himbo for not really thinking things through. Maybe I should think before acting more?”

“I’ve known I was going to become Bunnix ever since I was fourteen, it was always just a matter of when. So when I was finally called to action I was so excited but… I can’t help but wonder if I’m cut out for this”

“My mother has groomed and taught me to be perfect at all I do. It was something ingrained to me since I was a child; It wasn’t until recently that I learned that is impossible to achieve. Why was mother so pertained to me being it?”

“I know I’m the smart guy but I shouldn’t be expected to have all the answers, especially for my classmates who refuse to look at evidence as it is. Seriously, if I had known they would have taken my comment about how dangerous a napkin can be as pure fact then I would have not said anything that day”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m not enough for my grandmother. She’s getting older, she’s starting to forget a lot. I help by telling her things like stories but I’m not sure how long that will last… She’s the only family I have left in Paris, I don’t want to leave my friends or boyfriend behind”

“My father has always been a distant man but ever since my mother… I’m not sure if he even sees me as his son at this point. There are some days I’m treated as nothing more than a trophy boy or a regular employee. I wonder if this would have happened regardless of my mother’s passing”

“I am Ladybug, I am also the last Guardian. But I’m just a teenager! I have a life I want to live outside of Paris… I want to be a designer, start my own brand, find love and have my own family… But Hawkmoth is in the way of all that”

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“Are you sure about this LB?” Nino asked from the terrace of Chloe’s penthouse. They’d been talking strategy when an Akuma attacked, given the chaos displayed by the news via LadyBugOut livestream, they could only assume it was another Volpina attack.

Unfortunately Volpina had a Sentimonster to help, Reality Check. A glorified 3D printer who could temporarily make Volpina’s illusions tangible and real.

It had proven to be a difficult battle, especially since Luka and Adrien had been caught up as civilians and couldn’t help Ryuuko and Ladybug. The others still had to wait for Ladybug to give the signal before they’d consider going out to help in broad daylight lest their hidden cards be revealed too soon.

In the middle of the fight the two heroines had made a strategic retreat, one the Fox Tea blogger did not hesitate to call the coward’s way out. Suddenly the two appeared at Chloe’s along with Roter Fochs. The scarlet hero had taken out two familiar boxes with extremely familiar jewelry inside.

“I’m certain of it” she said with a determined smile, “Besides this could finally get Hawkmoth and maybe even Alya off your backs if I introduce new heroes; Of course your costumes will have to be different, as will your codenames, but I trust that you’ll know what to do”

“Hello my queen!”

“What’s up dude”

Paris was in uproar when they heard of the new heroes; Abeille and Anselm.

Abeille’s costume was much more armored than that of Queen Bee’s; the whole suit had a honey yellow bodysuit with black armor pieces, her chest piece in the shape of a bee’s face, black elbow length gloves with some honey stripes, thigh high black boots with honey kneepads. Her own mask was different from her former as it changed her eyes to royal blue like Pollen’s while being honey colored with black v shaped lines. The golden gauntlets on top of her gloves would be able to send out small shocks, capable of stunning enemies for small intervals at the time, nowhere near as potent as Venom.

Anselm’s own attire was not so different from Carapace; Anselm still kept the hoodie his predecessor did though beneath it is where the differences began. Anselm wore a pine green helmet, yellow tinted goggles on top of his red eyes, with pale thin daffodile lines going from the top to the bottom of his hood. The hoodie and his undersuit was sacramento green, bordering on black, though the majority of the suit was also armored with pine pieces like the hexagonal chest piece, shoulder, thigh, shin, knee and elbow pads. He also had much thicker gauntlets than Abeille’s along with armored gloves and reinforced sneakers.

Of course, Chloe Bourgeois and Nino Lahiffe were quickly off of the suspect list when the two were spotted separately looking for shelter amongst the Akuma attack during Fox Tea’s livestream.

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“So you’re part of the OG Team huh?” Stephanie asked as she gave a once over to the two newcomers.

“Deep undercover missions, you know how they go” Abeille scoffed, her honey blonde hair swaying along with her five black streaks around it.

“What she said. We couldn’t help as Queen Bee and Carapace anymore, compromised identities, so we helped as civilians before covering our tracks and coming back” Anselm tried to keep back Chloe’s prickly personality.

“Like what?” Cass’ appearance startled the two, though both looked like they were about to draw out their weapons.

“Well I get them intel from what’s happening in the mayor’s office that Max and Markov can’t get out from the computers, daddy is a bit of a pushover and squeals pretty easily”

“While I get intel from Fox Tea’s disastrous dude duo. I’m usually among the first to find out about anything their plotting… though I’ve had to drop that. It was getting too much for me to continue being with Alya so we broke up”

“So you kept dating Cesaire just to gather intel? Doesn’t that seem manipulative?” Duke asked from his seat on the monitor, the two Parisians looked at one another before beginning to laugh.

“Not compared to what those two are capable of”

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“Are you sure about this?”

Currently Viperion, Ladybug and Bunnix were on the Gotham rooftops, shadowing the Bats for the night. The three were honored to be trusted with the responsibility but still felt foreign in the much darker environment, literally and metaphorically.

“It’ll be a good experience” Oracle said in their ears, their comms being synced to those of the Bats “And you won’t be alone, I’ll be here and so will your partners”

Right on cue Robin, Red Robin and Black Bat landed on the same rooftop. The plan was for the six to cover the patrol for the night, the others would be getting rest or doing specialty training with their abilities. It was a surprise for the Miraculous gang when it was revealed that Signal and Red Hood would be joining them as fellow trainees. Alfred and Black Canary, a metahuman who often worked together with Green Arrow in Central City, would be in charge of the training while Bruce also oversaw their progress.

Honestly they hadn’t known what surprised them more: the fact that Batman had metas on his team or that he trusted other heroes with the training of his children.

“It should be a regular night; standard mugging, gang fights and possible robberies should be all that happen tonight”

Of course that was not what happened.

As it turned out Riddler had escaped Arkham, no surprise, and had gone too long without his medication. Edward Nygma was usually a pretty tame man, if a little eccentric with his love of riddles and his brilliant mind.

He decided to hold Gotham Grand Terminal hostage.

Ladybug was decidedly trying not to panic as she saw the very obvious bombs spread across different sections of the terminal. There were too many for them to deactivate in less than three minutes and there were probably more hidden around.

“Riddle me this; What is Joan of Arc made of ?” Ladybug and Robin were the first to arrive at the scene, Viperion and Red Robin being the closest to coming as back up. Robin seemed as confused as she felt but decided to really think about it…

This was so stupid.

“Maid of Orleans” the look Robin gave her, like she just made the most foolish decision of her life, was seen spread across the faces of hostages before Riddler began to laugh.

“Why you are correct, little red” he wiped a tear from his eye “Bats would never think of something so punny like that!”

“Yeah well I’ve had a lot of experience with annoying puns”

“What’s colorful, loud and is a mess to clean up?” Ladybug’s eyes widened as he pressed the big red button on the remote control, Robin bringing Ladybug down and shielding her as the hostages began to scream.

BOOM!

“...Confetti cannons” Ladybug muttered, her whole body covered in the colorful paper pieces with glitter in the mix.

That son of a bitch!

It was April 1st.

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“So what is it that we’ll be doing?” Bunnix asked as Black Bat silently leaped through the Gotham rooftops, camouflaging effortlessly with the shadows unlike her because of the white and baby blue costume she had on.

“You two will be checking up on Red Hood’s sector for the night, Crime Alley” Oracle’s voice responded for her.

“Right, so is this just a standard patrol?”

“Something like that”

Bunnix was admittedly a bit nervous about being with Black Bat, Cass didn’t really talk much and was kinda hot. Bunnix had just dutifully shadowed her, staying as quiet as she could even if she did more parkour than necessary, when they stumbled upon a drug deal. Bunnix was about to go down to smack some people around with her umbrella when Black Bat shook her head.

“One of Red Hood’s men, let’s wait to see the deal go through”

Bunnix wasn’t sure what to think as she watched the deal go down. Weren’t they supposed to be the ones to stop this from happening and not helping them? It was a bit confusing and against her moral code…

“We do this to keep the kids out of the involvement” Oracle seemed to read her mind, explaining their reasoning “Before Red Hood decided to get involved with drug trafficking Crime Alley was full of children who would be taken advantage of by dealers; whether it meant getting them addicted or becoming their messengers and delivery boys. He made it very clear to his ‘allies’ that no child from Crime Alley was getting involved in their plans again or else the deals were off. Those who tried going above him… well they’re no longer around to try and take him down”

Still that did not help ease Alix’s worries as the night continued on. Black Bat came to a sudden stop on top of a warehouse, gesturing for Bunnix to follow behind her, and climbing in through a shattered window. Inside were dozens of wooden crates, each with cameras pointed at them and only one with an open lid. Black Bat walked towards the open crate with ease, going inside and taking out three duffle bags from inside. She placed two on her, criss-crossing each other before handing the other one to a reluctant Bunnix.

The tow then headed to a hidden tunnel underneath one of the empty crates, making their way in a closed (?) Gotham sewer. It didn’t smell as disgusting as Alix imagined it would be, musky at best, though she thought that it may be due to the fact that there was no dirty sewage water there. They walked in relative ease, essentially walking for what had to be at least 15 minutes in numerous twists and turns before reaching a ladder. The two got out, Bunnix recognizing it as part of Crime Alley with how run down the area looked.

Black Bat knocked on a rusting steel door, three times, five, once and then a tap with her palm.

The door opened up, a boy no older than 12 being the ones to greet them.

“Where’s R.H?” he questioned, he looked disappointed but not alarmed, clearly he had met Black Bat before.

“Was busy. This is Bunnix, she’s helping for the night” The boy was clearly unimpressed with her but he closed the door and led them down the long hallway. She noticed the few scattered toys along the way, with some open doors showing mountains of writing supplies and even a little library.

What was this place?

“This is Red Hood’s sanctuary for the kids of Crime Alley” Black Bat whispered next to her “Batgirl and Red Hood are usually the ones to come here though all of us have come at some point.” they entered the large room showing children of all ages, some as young as infants and others looking close to early adulthood. They dropped the duffle bags in front of what she thought was the leader of the pack when Red Hood wasn’t around.

They were filled with non-perishable food, wads of money that will probably be used to provide for the group of 30 or even more for the next month, toys, books and some new clothes.

As the children gathered around, each a little dirtier than Alix remembered ever being as a child, lining up to get a new something that Red Hood got for them she couldn’t help but think;

… Maybe things were never so black and white.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“I know it may seem frightening, even unnerving, to let go of your control but if you keep your powers bottled up it may prove to be disastrous in the future” Black Canary told the group of teens.

“With abilities bestowed to you like those of the Miraculous are left untrained then it may prove to lead to your downfall” Alfred nodded along to Dinah’s words.

“As capable as Ms.Lance and I are, we have realized that we would need further assistance to properly be able to train each of your abilities”

From one of the Batcave’s entrances they could hear the screech of tires before a slick black car parked next to the Batmobile and Hoodcycle.

“Sorry, we’re late” a red headed woman said as she stepped out of the car, her pale freckled skin slowly gaining a green tint to it as she removed her lab coat and glasses, “Selina here thought she could make a quick steal on our way here”

“Oh c’mon Pam, you know you love the rush as much as I do” a tanned woman laughed, twirling around a golden necklace with one of the biggest rubies they had ever seen in its center.

“Now, ladies; Pam-a-lamb has a class of powered kids to teach” they recognized Dr.Quinzel belatedly as she was missing her glasses and uniform. She was now wearing a much more colorful array of clothes with the consistent theme of red,black, and white. Her skin seemed paler than they remembered and her blonde hair had red tips on one side and blue on the other.

“Hey girls” Barbara came down the elevator at the same time as Stephanie and Cass, seemingly cutting their conversation when she saw the newcomers”

“Babs!” Dr.Quinzel exclaimed, making her way to the other girls after giving a quick kiss to the green skinned woman.

“Well you’re right on time Pam” Dinah sighed, cocking her hip before pointing at the newcomers “These are Dr.Pamela Isley otherwise known as the Gotham Rogue Poison Ivy, Selina Kyle a more vigilante type thief Catwoman, and, of course, you know Dr.Harleen Quinzel or as she prefers to go by Harley Quinn”

“Hey kittens” Selina waved at the group “By the way it's been too long since we girls have hung out; how’s about a Birds of Prey raid? You in?”

“Only if Oracle agrees”

“Oh pleasepleasepleaseplease!” Stephanie and Harley’s persistent pleading could be heard immediately afterwards. A polite cough interrupted the chaos.

“As enthusiastic as you ladies are for your plans, may I remind you that we have prior plans to care for first. Namely the training”

“Sorry Alfie” Harley said, chastised, “We’ll get out of your hair. C’mon ladies!”

“...So training?” Marc asked

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“What happened to you?” was the first thing Kim laughed out as the duo stepped into the cave, leaving a trail of confetti and glitter behind. Marinette looked back at her team, unimpressed, in their own state of disarray.

Chloe, Max, Marc and Nathaniel seemed to be nursing their own cases of migraines; most likely having pushed the limits of their own new abilities which relied on mental fortitude. Chloe and Jason’s powers were the most similar to Alfred’s which involved manipulating and projecting thoughts and ideas to the people around them or to specific targets. Nathaniel was developing the power to create illusions that only his target would be allowed to see. Marc could create intangible clones of himself but could still project what they were seeing and hearing to him. Max could teleport objects a few meters away from or towards him.

Kagami, Kim, Adrien and Nino seemed the most physically exhausted. Kagami was beginning to have slight control of fire, wind and water but not yet conjuring it; given her slight burn marks, wet clothes and messy hair Marinette would guess that she still hadn’t fully grasped the manipulation aspect outside of being Ryuuko. Kim’s own face was dirty and slightly bruised and matched that of Adrien’s. Kim had begun to use his chaotic energy to make the wackiest things happen but to have the outcome he wanted while Adrien could suck the luck out of people for small intervals lest he want to have the misfortune backlash cling on him. Nino’s was more tame though he now had to focus on two things since he could now use his energy to both heal and to create a shield that encompased his body like armor.

“Oh god you guys look like messes!” Alix laughed along with Luka, the only two that looked fine as they had a fairly tame patrol with Cass and Tim.

“Next time I see Riddler remind me to throw a glitter bomb” Marinette grumbled as she made her way to the showers.

“Not before I stab him with his stupid cane” Damian growled heading for the male showers.

“So how long till Daminette guys?” Adrien asked

“Definitely before the end of the year” Duke concluded, the others not being sure if he used his power or not.

“I’ll take you up on that. I’ll bet we make more money than with Red Scales” Stephanie laughed.

“Red Scales?” Luka asked curiously before the others yelled out.

“Nothing!”

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Okay how come no one warned me about that!” Jason yelled as he came out of the Cave’s entrance. The group either gave questioning or amused looks.

“Oh, so you saw that too?” Alix asked, perched from one of the sofa’s armrests.

“You assholes could have given me a heads up” he complained before groaning into a sofa “God, someone get me some bleach”

“What’s Jaybird talking about?” Dick asked, coming in from the kitchen with an array of snacks for the rowdy bunch of teeneagers.

“Oh just Timbers getting some with the big bad snake boi” Stephanie sang, causing Jason to groan and Dick to choke on his own spit.

“More like trying to eat each other’s tongue out” Nathaniel responded in disgust.

“Timmy, no!” were the words the oldest yelled out before heading into the Batcave in record time.

“Anyway,” Stephanie began “It’s time to pay up bitches. Marinette and Cass get the loot”

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“Hmm, so I guess that’s what fresh blood splatters looks like” Chat Noir said in morbid interest.

“Well it's certainly more noticeable than dried blood” Viperion nodded along, watching as Red Robin and Red Hood carried out the interrogation from a one-way mirror. There was a new gang who specialized in child trafficking, most of the kids coming from Crime Alley and therefore not getting reported to the police; luckily they had Red Hood looking out for them.

“Yes, well we are here to see how they carry out their investigation and get used to all the squeamish things” Ladybug gave a calculated look, as though she herself were in there and what she would do to get the information out of the man they captured earlier that night.

“Do you guys think this sort of thing is going too far?” MultiMouse asked curiously, he was beginning to grow a bit uncomfortable with the amount of blood the man had begun to lose.

“I mean this asshole deserves it” Roter Fochs glared “I don’t think it's too much if it means saving all those kids”

“Standing on the edge of what is seen as a hero𑁋”

BANG

“Let’s you see all the things you can’t from the center” Ryuuko watched as the man was forcibly being held back up by Red Robin after Red Hood slammed his face on the interrogation table.

“World is not black and white” Black Bat spoke from next to them “Many shades of gray in between; We are in the gray”

Ko-Fi

245 notes · View notes

middleinthenight21 · 4 years

Text

Damirae 2020- Day 4

Forbidden fruit

(Inspired by Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

How has your marriage been?

Damian: Alright.

Rachel: Not so much… We are busy people, we have a job to keep and issues to resolve, it may not be going as we want, but it happens to everyone. It is normal.

He needed to know how they feel about each other. Can you summarize your partner in three words?

Rachel: Damian is ... Distant, arrogant and insufferable.

Damian: His judgment is terrible, difficult to read and is sarcastic.

How long have you been married?

Rachel: We've been three years.

Damian: Three years, eleven months and one day. That is more than three years.

This may be a question that will surprise you, but I need to know. If you would rate your sex what numbers would you give it?

Rachel: Excuse me?

Damian: What does that have to do with it?

You came to couples’ therapy; I am also a sex therapist. My diplomas are hanging on the wall, I thought you had seen them.

Rachel: Isn't it wrong to rate sexual intercourse?

Damian: It would be a 3, or a 4. What, Rachel? We have been without sex for months.

That is not a good thing, Mrs. Wayne. Let's move on to another question, are you honest with one another?

Rachel: Yes. Quit.

Damian: I am honest, but I am also a believer that not everything can be counted.

***

Damian was running late. Lying in bed she looked askance at the clock that read 3:35 AM, there was no trace of his presence and she tries to give her an excuse; Maybe he was late for his job at the company or delayed because the trip from Gotham to Jump City is long.

Their marriage may not be having a good time, but that does not make them precisely unfaithful. Rachel still loves him, he still has his heart in her hands, but she feels how the wall that separates them becomes thicker.

How long before it’s too late for apologies? because one of the two would get tired.

She wants a home, a place to call her own, but she gets an empty bed, hollow glances, and short answers. Damian could call her whenever he wanted, he would have her, but he knows it doesn't work like that, because the last time they opened their hearts to each other was to admit that this marriage was not going as they wanted and they agreed that they would work on their relationship, they would do their part.

By being late without justification, was he doing your part?

Damian had given her a beautiful house, stability, and a love match. He is an ordinary civilian, they had promised not to be left alone, but she was. Maybe she was more sincere….

Looking at his empty spot, his side of the bed has the sheets intact and a small pile of poetry books on the nightstand, she feels her heart drop to her stomach. She can't help but feel hurt with him for leaving her with the uncertainty itching inside her, her mind flies to directions she doesn't want, and everything is about to fall apart.

Her phone rings, and it's not personal.

"We need you here. Now. "

Kory's voice is clear, it sounds urgent and there is a sound of explosions in the distance. Her mind clears, she has to go help her friends now.

With a gesture she summons her uniform, her hood is over her head and his identity as a superhero takes place, he sticks the cell phone to his ear "Who attacks? "

"It is the League of Assassins."

She frowns.

And opens a portal to the area where the fight is.

***

I won't be able to go to sleep.

Family problems.

-Damian.

***

Starfire asks them to meet in the tower when the fight ends. The sun caresses the mountains dyeing the sky a pink tone, and sighs watching the message on his phone, at least, she would not have to give an explanation why she did not spend the night at home.

The battle with the League of Assassins was not so long, she had stayed in a hiding place where she could control, while the young Titans fought with the criminals, she covered the team's back. Something about this group made her uneasy, it was like walking in the dark only guided by movement, she compared them with the followers of HIV, there was no soul or feelings to manipulate, they seemed like empty bodies. It gave her the chills just remembering it.

They congregate around the central panel, where an image of a dagger sheltered in the cellars of the bank is observed, it has a transparent reddish blade and it looks sharp, along with a leather handle. At first glance it does not seem harmless, dare to say that the dagger is for decoration, that it is intended to be beautiful, but to not be used.

It is not true.

According to the investigation of the Titans, the League of Assassins is behind a dagger made of a precious stone called ´´The Blood Diamond´´, it belonged to Ra´s Al Ghul and ended up in the cellars of the Bank of Jump City, after the Dark Justice League destroyed his plans to eliminate all magical beings, at the request of the Justice League.

It is said that the blood diamond is made from the bone and cartilage of the defeated, these are cooked in an oven to the ashes, the ash is compressed and the diamond is obtained, a single cut of that gemstone could invalidate beings magical, like her.

She can't imagine how many bones it took to forge a dagger.

Heroes that their powers are born from magic would be affected by the diamond cut, most magical beings have accelerated healing abilities and with a single cut they could never heal.

Raven flinches.

Kory's gaze pierces her "We've already relocated it to our warehouses. They must know that it is imperative that it be protected from all threats. "

There is an assent, she feels the fear of Halo, that her powers of regeneration also come from magic, without them she would have died a long time ago. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty when the new members leave, it is dangerous to keep such a dangerous object in their warehouses; they had made the tower of the titans a target for the league of assassins.

"Where's Dick?" Beast Boy asks. He hadn't seen him in two weeks, as he is currently an active member of the young justice team, he is surprised at how little has changed since he was a teenager. He looks at Kory. She was not here.

The alien keeps her gaze on the screens.

"He had a private matter to solve," he answers softly.

Richard can be as reserved as Batman when he wants, but he shows more emotions and had received her with open arms when he felt lost, when he was a girl who had escaped from a hellish dimension carrying pain and suffering that she wants to bury in the deepest Deep in her being, he had helped her, given her a family and showed a way of life: Protect the innocent, but he is also an idiot, dense as a brick and emotionally hurt by a past that he cannot push aside.

She knows that Kory will not share information about Dick, she would keep his secrets, although they will beg her to open up, she wants to ask her how she is carrying him; Marriages are complicated and she did not expect a path covered in rose petals, still they make it look so easy.

"How's your husband doing, Rae?"

His eyes are on her and she can't tell them he hadn't gotten to sleep, that she ran away as soon as they contacted her to run away from an empty bed and the feeling of loneliness that was killing her. She had that whole huge house to herself in that posh neighborhood, but she felt trapped.

He wanted to go back to the moment they met on the undercover mission in that bar in Miami. Raven was on a covert mission with the Titans, they had to gather information about a merchant in the open market, and they knew that the man used to enjoy the city's nightlife.

She met him in a bar, when she entered the terrace he had looked at her, she felt him like the flames on her skin and when he leaned down to ask her to dance he did not think twice; She'd never let anyone touch her like that in one dance and she wondered what their hands would do if they shared more time together. She learned his name is Damian Wayne, the son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, she bit her tongue not to mention Dick's relationship with the millionaire, he has other things on his mind anyway. She had never moved like that against another person, but he had made her feel like a dangerous woman.

Damian had woven a web around her, but if he is a spider, then Raven is his predator.

They had moved against each other, together her hands behind his neck caressing from the nape to the waist, she was surprised to feel the muscles through the clothes and wanted more. Damian touched the contour of her torso, one of his hands slipping under the shirt circling her skin, she continued to rock to the rhythm of the song, as if his touch wasn't driving her crazy.

She brushed her lips to his neck and felt him tense up.

They were so close together that they felt each other's breath on their faces. Looking at it from the outside it was fortunate that they had been in a dark place, because it would have been uncomfortable for others.

After the dance they exchanged phones, and each left.

She was surprised when she could not stop loving him in her life, she became a hungry person for being touched, for feeling loved and every time he put a hand on her, the chills ran through her. There was a first date, a second and when she least thought she wondered which part of her he hadn't touched. Every time she was with Damian, he put her to sleep, her life had been full of missions, thinking about the innocent and stopping the sea, but she found a rest with this man.

Maybe they would have known each other better ... If everything had been slower, but they were a whirlwind of emotions and feelings.

Now she wonders what would have happened to her if she had not accepted his call a few days later, she knew something clear and that was that she had lost her mind for this man, only one dance and one look had been enough for him to decide to continue with this, as it was the first chapter of a novel and she needed to see what happened to the rest. Maybe she had thought he was a masterpiece, maybe he was made to be an adventure and not a marriage.

He finds himself returning to that summer night in Miami, wondering if there was any difference that could have been.

"He's fine." She can't tell them about the distance, the couple’s therapy they were attending, and the loneliness. "Everything is great."

Kory gives her a sympathetic look, like she knows something she, herself doesn't. For a second, her heart skips, she thinks Damian said something to his brother, but knowing her husband, she doesn't believe it.

"I haven't seen him a while," Jaime says, scratching his hair.

"He's been busy," she replies.

"Yes. "

Kory looks down, looks distant. The team leader and surrogate mother had been an important point of support in Raven's life, she thought that when she told her about her relationship with Dick's younger brother she would be happy, then everyone would be a small family, but she did not have a good or bad to comment. It was weird.

"I have an interview in ... "

"Silence, Garfield."

They exchange glances. Kory had rarely been spoken like this, only when they had something important that ...

"They're robbing us!"

The camera shows the cellars, figures dressed completely in black escape through the ventilation and run towards the cellars, Kory runs, and she follows her. Her heart is a time bomb, and she thinks how dangerous the dagger would be, he feels guilty for trusting herself.

Observing around and taking care that there were no more roaming assassins.

Starfire shoots fire at the cellar door, the door crashes to the floor, and the place is quiet. Alarms sound throughout the tower, there are red lights that prevent them from seeing normally.

"Why did you do that? " Garfield observes the destroyed door, he is transformed into a snake trying to track the intruders.

"The quarantine protocol will be activated, nobody will be able to leave or enter," Raven responds. His eyes move, she summons her powers and tries to search for the assassins; they should be trapped by the ventilation duct. "They will be trapped. "

"I have a visual! " He yells from somewhere.

Suddenly the room filled with gas, and she felt her throat close and her eyes turn glassy, it was impossible to keep them open. She tried to call her companions, but she did not hear or see anything, her hands traveled to his neck if it would clear her lungs, her head hurt, and she supported her hand against a wall.

They were trying to get out, out of the corner of her eye she saw bodies breaking the glass of a window with a piece of furniture. She stretched out her hand with difficulty, a black spider web shot out in a burst of energy and caught one of the assassins before he escaped through the broken window, the intruder gasped, fell to the ground with a loud sound, and writhed.

He was strong.

He was not going to be able to resist; he could hardly breathe ... His mouth felt dry, his throat was sandpaper and he had trouble standing up.

The killer curses and another returns, pulling so hard that he has to give in. The larger shadow burdens the laggard by wrapping his arm around his shoulders and throws himself out the window.

"No, no, no…"

By then her vision is clouded and she falls into unconsciousness.

***

Raven is angry when she wakes up, because it is 7 AM and she is still not allowed to go home. The dagger made from the blood diamond was stolen from the Titan's cellars under their own noses, Starfire paces back and forth thinking how strangers had not triggered the tower's sensitive alarm system.

The leader looks tired, she thinks it looks like when Nightwing becomes obsessed with a criminal repeating the robbery video repeatedly. If Raven hadn't had coffee, she'd already be yelling at her to stop, because she was freaking her out.

"Kory, you won't find anything. We can go to Nanda Parbat to retrieve the dagger" she offers. She takes a long drink at the coffee, holding the bitterness. "Please. "

The other members give her appreciative glances, knowing that it would be impossible for the leader to rest.

Starfire can be more stubborn than Nightwing or Damian when she wants.

Chance, Damian!

"I have to go." Raven stands up. "Damian should already be in the ... "

"Back up there!"

Garfield sighs, but heeds her. Starfire makes the image stop that shows the killer that Raven made fall to the ground, her hood had slipped off her head, but the image is blurred and is only a black stain, she orders the image to be clarified and brought closer to her face .

Raven comes up carrying her coffee, now interested in the results, but he's just a pixelated face. It does not prove anything.

"I'll clarify the image again."

Now there is the computer charging. Starfire twists her hands, at least she is going to have a goal, Raven is happy because at least they would have a face that could be guided, it is better than being guided only in assumptions and in paranoia.

When the face appears on the screen, she holds her breath and the cup almost falls from her hands ...

Damian Wayne's face appears on the screen like a red flag, and the whole room stops, like paralyzed.

***

Are you waiting for me for breakfast? -Rachel.

Yes- Damian.

***

"Did they bring the dagger?"

Richard leaves the dagger in Batman’s possession. He doesn't like the idea of having to rob the young Titans, after all, they were his team and he has personal attachments with members, he doesn't want to hurt them. They are also heroes.

Damian understands his father, knows how the assassin's league operates. They would soon attack the tower without caring if there were teenagers who depend on the team and the news of the infiltration of strangers would spread faster, that Batman had asked to keep the weapon. The Batcave had been compromised before and his father was not trusting, so he ordered them to infiltrate, pretend to be part of the Shadow League, thus diverting the attention of the young Titans.

He takes off his boots, finding a bruise around his ankle, he growls, "That witch girl."

"Something happened? " His father narrows his eyes.

"Nothing. "

"Raven attacked Robin," says Dick.

"Try to pretend you're not proud."

Richard smiles.

Batman growls and heads to the bat computer, entering a code that gives him access to the tower cameras a few hours ago. The security guard leans over the screens looking at the images frame by frame, Damian looks away in response to his wife's message and crosses his arms.

He's not interested in anything to do with the young Titans, so infiltrating the tower isn't a problem for him, but he hadn't expected Raven to have intercepted him. The smoke they used to neutralize the Titans was medium intensity, but the heroin had withstood it.

He growls when his foot hits the floor, he will have to justify to his wife the bruise on his ankle.

"I have to go, father."

"Damian, come here." Dick gives him a worried look. His father's back is to him, he's bent over the bat computer. "You’ve got to see this. "

"Bruce ... "

Damian approaches the screen and is surprised.

***

Both arrive at the same time. Raven squeezes her hands on the wheel, she has a grocery bag next to her on the passenger seat, and her head is a tangle of emotions; she had taken care of her whole life so that the feelings did not overwhelm her, a part of herself was always contained, but this time she wanted to scream and pull her hair.

Damian had lied to her. He entered the tower of the Titans, stole a dagger that could surely affect her in the name of the League of Shadows. She had lived with a murderer the past two years.

She feels betrayed, although that sounds hypocritical because she also hid her identity as a heroine; her mind fights with her, half reminds her of guilt and the other shouts at her to run.

No, she needs to stop him.

She taps her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting until he pulls up and tries to remember Starfire's words: I’m sorry, Raven. We have to know where the dagger is. We need to know if he is working for the League of Shadows.

He opened the car door, his black jaguar had been a wedding gift from his father and when Damian walks into the house, there is a frown on his face that only appears when something is bothering him, but it is like a shadow and disappears instantly. Titus makes his way through the front yard, jumps on the grass, and his tail wags, excited to see his master.

Damian caresses the Great Dane and now there is a small smile on his lips.

She looks away, reminding herself that he can be an enemy, but the man she lives with every day has never made a single move to hurt her, he did not behave like an assassin would. Perhaps she is underestimating him, her mother spoke as she had been taught by her demonic father, at first, he had shown himself as a desirable man, the one they write in novels, but her is far from being so.

Not everything is as they paint it.

When she gets out of the car and looks at her own house, she did not expect her heart to squeeze in her chest, they had looked for this house in the suburbs of Jump City, decorated it and dreamed of a future together, Raven had fallen in love with normality. Choosing a carpet for the living room, worrying about repairing the leak that wet the floor in the hallway and the quiet dinners, but it had been too silly.

Her old anger turned into a nostalgia that threatens to eat her up inside.

As much as she thinks he lied to her, that they were built from a web of falsehood, she still loved him.

He was looking at her from a few meters away, she gave a greeting and carried the supermarket bags ready to prepare breakfast.

Titus follows her into the house, she can feel Damian's eyes on her body, and decides to ignore it.

Raven walks to the kitchen, places the bag on the counter and strokes Alfred, the cat rubs himself on her legs, she swears she has never seen a cat this big; he is so fed that his belly is like a balloon.

"You bought strawberries," Damian says.

She puts on a kitchen apron, brews hot water in a kettle, and leaves two cups on the counter.

She sits on the stool, Damian is now chopping the strawberries and the knife in his hands is small, she almost gulps when she sees the instrument and remains alert.

"How did it go last night? "

The cuts are now louder "well, how did it go for you? "

They looked at each other and she knows those eyes, it's like he was going through her, wanting to see beyond appearances. Damian had rarely looked at her this way, it was when he knew she was hiding something from him and that she would not admit it unless he pushed her.

A panic button is activated inside her. He couldn't know, how? It is impossible.

"I was waiting for you all night."

His muscles relax and he looks up, the lines of expression on his face are neutral.

"Sure." Cut half a strawberry. "You always get up very early" emphasized the word "very".

Raven looks at him.

Damian looks at her.

The atmosphere feels tense, it is as if an electric current dances through the oxygen ready to ignite everything in a short circuit and she finds herself standing up to store each of the groceries, prefers to focus her attention on something more productive than having a fight of looks.

"You must be tired; it would do you good to rest" she gets a box of tea and sugar.

Damian keeps his eyes on the fruit "I'm not tired. "

Why was everything so difficult? It is she who should be angrier, if it were not so complex perhaps this marriage would go for better ways, perhaps she would have been sincere before and would have already revealed her true identity, so they can save this shit.

He can't be acting like she's the one who made a mistake, he's surely a murderer!

She can no longer bear this silence. Raven is in charge of putting on music, does not care what it is and leans against a piece of furniture. He may be a dangerous person, but she is too, and she would get the location of that dagger made from the red diamond and save the day.

If he can lie, then Raven too.

"Of course not, my dear."

Damian frowns and the knife stops, as if suspended in midair. They are not a sentimental couple, the number of times they have been named affectionately are few, they were always formal.

She turns to look into his eyes. She never used her powers over her husband, she knows that they share a bond, her soul had intertwined, but she did not dare to see further; now it could be different.

"I am a strong man," he pauses. He slides the fruit into a bowl with the flick of his knife, setting it aside, "my dear."

She raised an eyebrow.

The music and their pets are the only thing that is moving, the melody is jazz, and it feels very different from the energy in this room. Raven rests her hands on the counter, inches from Damian's knife and her hands, if she made a single movement, she could change the atmosphere in a second.

She is more interested in concentrating on the color of her husband's eyes, since it would be easier for her to use her powers on him, if he was lucky she would hardly notice it, she only needs to go into his mind to return to the moment he infiltrated the tower and find out where the dagger is located.

Damian smiles and of course she has seen that smile on his stupid face before.

He puts a hand on top of hers. "Do you think I'm a fool?"

Had he noticed?

The line hints that he is angry, yet the smile lingers on his lips and his hand glides to her forearm gently stroking his fingertips against the skin. Raven feels as if a chill ran down her back to her feet, and this shouldn't be happening.

She has work to do.

"I would never think that."

He narrows his eyes, abandons the touch and she think that he is going to move away, however, he walks to her side, looks her in the eye. She holds her breath, her hormones appear out of nowhere, and this is a bad time for her body to remind her that they haven't touched in months.

Damian does nothing, burns her with his gaze and can't think of anything else to where this scene can end.

It is she who first leans over, stands on tiptoe and places a kiss against his lower lip, it’s soft and subtly feels proper. He shouldn't slide so simply, he still has to answer the Titans, even after all his criticism of their bad judgment, he was still wrong.

Damian caresses her neck and his hands are familiar, safe.

Her interior cries.

How can she live without this? How can she be with someone who she thinks they belong to be part of such a dangerous organization? She is the daughter of an intergalactic demon, a conqueror of worlds, a genocide, she is no one to judge the past or the life of another person, she curses her own bad luck for getting involved with someone dangerous.

Damian knows how to play in the right places, knows her weak points, her erogenous zones, slides a hand under her shirt right on his hip, her hand remains in circles and she is sighing against his lips.

Raven caresses his torso, from the hips to his heart, her hand remains on the organ and she feels his heartbeat, kisses him so hard that he stumbles and one of hid hands wraps around her waist raising her a few centimeters. Now they are face to face.

He kisses her back with the same intensity, caresses her hair and pulls her ponytail leaving loose on her back. Raven growls but is silenced when he meets her lips again and now it's like a fight.

She remembers the moment when she realized that she could live her whole life with Damian, when the lights had adorned the city at night, and they met for dinner at his apartment in Gotham. They had only known each other for two months and she had escaped in a portal at night just to see him, because a voice she did not know begged her because she wanted to have more of him.

He has the look of a bad boy, an arrogant posture, full of pridefulness, at first glance the type of man you do not want to run into because he will steal your heart without a drop of remorse. He will run away with your heart in his hands and he will throw it away, but he thinks she is a generous soul, she believes that Damian Wayne can be a beautiful person, difficult to find, one of those who prefers actions to words.

Everything is going so well that it scares her too much, but she doesn't want to run away. She thinks how difficult it is to maintain a relationship with her other identities, the dangers and death that surround them, she really wants to be honest and tell her story, but it would also be something harmful for someone with Damian Wayne, son of a billionaire, who has had stability all his life (Later she would find out that he did not always have a privileged life). She would screw it up and she doesn't want to.

They had been talking about Oliver Twist, oriental spices and new tea that she wants to try while drinking wine in glasses. This is comfortable, she could feed on his company alone, she would be happy; her life had not been fun, she thought that her twenty-one years was beyond her expectations, but she found himself wishing for this.

He now holds a glass of wine in his hand, sitting on the couch with his eyes fixed on the city lights, she thinks she has not seen anyone more beautiful.

What?

She smiles "I'm in love with you. "

Damian raises an eyebrow, leaves the wine glass on the table, and smiles at her. "Me too."

Raven feels something melt in her heart. It would never be the same.

She walks towards the sofa where he is, sits on his lap and Damian surrounds her waist interlacing his hands on her waist, they press their bodies together and Raven rests her head on his chest, contemplating the set of buildings that make up the city.

Her heart feels full.

She looks him in the eyes "Hello, stranger," Raven says with a small glance, it is as if they were looking at each other for the first time, she remembers that stranger in the bar who had tied her up with just a dance.

Damian smiles.

Raven remembers that moment.

Now everything has changed, they have been married for years with a commitment that was breaking in front of their eyes, perhaps if they had been more honest with each other, but still taking her breath away when looking at him, Damian's kisses make her feel that others do not compare with him.

They are kissing in the kitchen without caring about the sound from the outside. Raven can melt right now, stroking his short hair through her fingers and pulling, wanting them to pressed closed together even more.

Lust fills the room with a carmine red color. Many had thought of passion and lust is a fiery red, like anger, but it is carmine like the shade of blood, just as dangerous.

Suddenly they are struggling to remove the other's clothes, pulling so hard that they pull buttons, new threads form and when she struggles with his shirt. She feels like he growls when he feels the pinch of a nail on his skin, but only pushes him to want to kiss her with more strength.

"I know about you," Damian growls between kisses. His palms run over her collarbone, between her breasts and down to the base of her stomach, he stops there as if he was mocking her. "I know who you are. "

What?!

Raven gives him a push, putting distance between their bodies, as if she wanted to establish distance. She needs distance, she knows that the sight of their bodies could be tempting, so she struggles to focus on what is important and not on his bare torso, his skin is golden and strong. He had recently kissed her mouth and tried to touch every part of her body.

They gasp for air.

Raven's skirt is torn, he had made a cut at the waist and now she has to hold it so that it falls to the ground, the shirt she had worn is open revealing a bodice made of lace. It is a disaster; they are a disaster.

"How do you know that?"

Damian frowns "I saw you. My father reviewed the recordings, as I think the Titans did. "

"Your father? "

"Batman."

He is not a murderer, but the son of Batman, how ...

"My father wanted the dagger made of the blood diamond. He needed to trick the Titans into not becoming a target for the league."

She is not surprised by Batman, he is always one step ahead of the other heroes, playing their battles and establishing plans that would make them pawns with a one-piece move.

Her father-in-law is Batman.

"He could have asked us for the dagger."

A smile glides over his lips. "Where would the fun be in that, Raven?"

His voice takes on a dangerous tone, it is like an animal preparing to attack its prey from the unknown, but she does not intend to fall for this. This day started in a strange way, she could pray to Azarath for normality to return to her life, but was it ever?

The world is a small place, of all the men that she could have ended up with, she chose the son of Bruce Wayne, who also acts as a vigilante. She should have known.

She is glad that the dagger is in the hands of Batman, she is glad that he is not a murderer, but she still feels that they have to fill empty spaces in her story.

If only the mind will not travel to dangerous places, perhaps they could have a moment to confess, they would take their time to explain their story and listen, but their imagination is like a closed room, it cannot escape.

He extends his hand caressing her cheek, traces the line of her lips with his thumb and is looking directly into her eyes, they look as if they have just met. She returns to that apartment in Gotham City when they behave like two heated teenagers for maintaining physical and emotional contact for the other. His eyes had been like jade, shiny and new, the color of hope and life, it represented a new beginning and she had thought that he had bewitched her because every time he gave her a look, she felt that he has her in his hands.

At what point had they cooled down?

She runs her hands on his shoulders, she feels like he relaxes instantly. She leaves a palm over his heart; it still beats with the same intensity.

They look into each other's eyes "Hello, stranger. "

Damian raises his eyebrows recognizing that phrase and captures her lips in a deep kiss, pressing hard on her lips.

She was getting lost; they could set the end of the world and she would only care about holding this moment together with Damian. Holding him in her arms and kissing his lips is her vice, he would not leave him for anything.

Hours later they are crammed on the sofa, Raven is wearing a shirt that she had found in the closet, it is not hers, she had been too lazy to dress in her own clothes and they decide to spend the afternoon lying down ordering food at home and they eat from the leftovers of the breakfast strawberries.

It touches her lips, it is something subtle, almost accidental, but she gets his full attention and rolls her eyes because she feels Damian is like the forbidden fruit to her. Every time he feels that she perceives herself as a dangerous woman, he would never get bored of this and he is willing If he break the rules, he can't resist Raven's touch.

He doesn't care what his father has to say.

She doesn't care what the Titans say.

#damirae week 2020 #damirae week #damirae #demonbirds #Damian Wayne #raven #rachel roth #damian x raven #DC animated universe

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delusionland · 3 years

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@obats [ BRUCE & CASS ]

Being Batman is strange at the best of times---he quite regularly and with some frequency takes trips into a secret space station that orbits the Earth, has a group text including an Amazon warrior, an alien, a cyborg, and a little boy who can grow into a grown man with wizard powers that he quite regularly and frequently pretends to ignore---and that’s not even counting the amount of strange and precarious situations he finds himself in in the Greatest love of his life---Gotham City, his home, his heart, his reason for still living.

Still, the times have changed. It was ‘89 when Bruce officially started stalking the streets dressed as a Bat. So much has changed in the past 32 years. Dick had been so impressed with his the bulky car phone in his Rolls Royce.

Now, Bruce uses a phone that fits in his pocket to do online therapy. With an overworked therapist who believes the billionaire playboy philanthropist simply has the delusion that he is Batman, that he has a compulsive desire to protect the city & his family that manifests in an obsessive state of dissociation in which he projects an imaginary Batman persona.

(Because he fears being ordinary. He fears being trapped in a body and a position where he cannot protect anyone or control the streetlife of Gotham---just like he could not protect his parents, or control the criminal who murdered them, and tanked Gotham’s reputation. But moreso, she thinks that Bruce projects the persona of Batman because he wants to push his family & his age & his rapidly deteriotating relationships away from his real life and into a ‘box’ he can label ‘more important responsibilities.’ So that he can blame that box on any hurt feelings he causes them because of his mental illnesss and actions and reactions he believes he cannot control.)

He thinks she may be more correct than he would like her to be.

He misses his carphone. (And when Dick was small, and not so sarcastic & “witty”. Innocent. With faith&trust in his Father. But that was four Robins ago, and all four of them have ‘died’ and come back since. Come to think of it, they’re all sarastic, now. Are the two things related? Impossible, however likely.)

His therapist is right about one thing most of all---regardless of the timelessness of Batman, Bruce is getting old. And while Bruce (and his therapist, and she’s said as much) know that it will be hard to ever put the Batman ‘mantle’ down. Bruce knows that he’s only ever going to get older & grumpier & more confused, and his body is only going to get more broken. The last time he got taken out for the count---it had taken him a whole month to heal.

Batman can’t be out that long. Not from The Justice League, not from Gotham, and definitely not from his work---(and the anxiety and boredom that month had caused is the number one reason he had looked the therapy app up in the first place). Regardless of what his therapist thinks, or what Bruce thinks... He needs a successor.

Cass, his much-discussed-with-his-therapist favorite, most fits the bill.

But even with her excellence in combat, Batman has become so much more than a vigilante. She needs special training. Which is why Batman currently has her doing, of all things, what amounts to flashcard memorization on the Batcomputer.

“I know you spent time training in Investigation Techniques with Red Robin,” Bruce says, with the clear intention of implying, ‘But that’s not good enough and it never will be for me.’

“But the most valuable asset you have as an investigator is access to all of my files & surveillance equipment. Using The Official Batcomputer needs to be as easy to you as using your iPhone.”

“Morover, your combat expertise can only be improved upon by understanding the most frequent suspects & organizations and their preferred weapons & location changes, and how to neutralize their threats in any given situation.”

“You always need to have a contigency plan. Always need to be prepared for the worst possible situation. Always need to know exactly what you’re getting into---so you can respond accordingly.”

“... Are you listening to me, young lady? Multi-tasking is an essential skill for everyday operations.”

#obats #half of this was just an excuse to talk about my hc where bruce is going to therpay now but ITS ESSENTIAL SO ITS FINE #this is so long rip #ch: batman #hc: batman #ooc: hc #fandom: batfam #fandom: dc #fandom: superhero

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tessatechaitea · 4 years

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Justice League International #8 (1987)

Is it weird that I have a newsstand copy of a comic book when I definitely was shopping at my local comic shop in 1987?

This cover has so many jokes to talk about that I probably won't have time to review the entire issue. My stomach is already sore for laughing so hard! Look at how the box marked "fragile" is about to fall onto the floor thanks to the carelessness of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold! Ha ha! And they're carrying the large box upside down! According to the label on the upside down box, it's going to Paris, France so it must contain Crimson Fox who is almost certainly swearing in French because have you ever tried to masturbate while upside down in a box being jiggled by two men?! The incompetence of those guys is hilarious! But the best joke is the one where the only woman on the team doesn't lift a finger to help and also can't make up her mind about the placement of a gigantic box that hasn't been opened yet! See how funny that is? Because who cares where the box is placed?! It's not like they're moving a desk or an end table and Black Canary is coming up with a floor plan! It's just a box that will need to be opened and then broken down and then thrown out! The other funny part is that yellow spray around Beetle's head and the shape of his mouth because I think it suggests he's about to call Black Canary a bitch! Ha ha! I probably left out the joke about the hernia although that one might just be implied. Also, it'll probably be a blatant joke later in the story. The issue begins with Jack Ryder on his right-wing radio call-in television "news" program fiasco of a show Hot Seat trying to get the masses to shit blood over the Justice League. It'll work because the masses in comic books (as well as the masses not in comic books because we've all seen how people who listen to and watch right-wing radio call-in television "news" programs easily believe the alternate reality fed to them because it speaks to their inherent biases and selfishness) are idiots. (That might be my favorite interruption by parenthetical reference I've ever written.) I also know that it will work because Glorious Godfrey only recently did the same thing a year or two ago and it worked. But comic books don't recognize time and space in the same way that we more logical and real readers do so the masses won't remember that they were fooled just a year ago by idiotic television pundits who don't mind seeing the world burn as long as they can cash a fat check over it. I doubly also know it will work because Millennium is coming up and I think that might be proof that maybe Jack Ryder was sort of right because aliens have infiltrated Earth and are pretending to be heroes and possibly even right-wing radio call-in television "news" hosts. I don't really remember much about Millennium except that it was weekly and there were Manhunters in it.

My favorite comic book characters when I was a kid were Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. I bet Jack Ryder was Sean Hannity's favorite. Tucker Carlson's favorite was probably Hitler.

This issue begins the long running joke that Martian Manhunter is addicted to Oreos. I fucking get it, man. Have you ever tried to melt an Oreo into a spoon, fill a needle with the liquid contents, and inject it straight into your bloodstream? Me neither because that's stupid, you dumb idiot. Why would you even suggest it? You need to inject them straight into your taste buds. J'onn, Mister Miracle, and Captain Atom are setting up the New York Embassy which leads to lots of jokes about shoddy construction and terrible wiring and lazy movers. At one point Captain Atom electrocutes himself and then destroys all of the wiring because he's the guy the United States wanted to represent them on the new international team. I'd say his penchant to escalate a situation straight to violence proves the United States made the right decision. Batman and Guy Gardner oversee the outfitting of the Russian Embassy with a little help from Rocket Manhunter #7.

Even Rocket Red has heard about Guy's serious brain trauma and yet nobody has even discussed getting him a medical check-up. What a bunch of bastards!

This is also the issue that begins the "Bwa-ha-ha-ha" gag (I think. Did it happen in an issue previously? Maybe?! Anyway, it really gets going here). That's the gag where somebody laughs when something terrible happens to somebody else. It's a great team building exercise, to laugh at a co-worker's pain! Or if it isn't, it, at the very least, helps develop personal morale. Nothing better than laughing at your manager after her credit card was stolen by a prospective new employee while the entire company was in a meeting, especially after learning that said card was pretty much just used at The Honey Baked Ham. Does that make if funnier? Or is this one of those dark humor things like when the same manager was super pissed at an employee I was training for not showing up for work the day before Thanksgiving only to learn later that she had died of carbon monoxide poisoning the previous night which caused her to erupt into crying jags for the rest of the day which I'm positive weren't for my poor co-worker but for her guilty feelings of being so angry at her. That's dark humor, right? The "Bwa-ha-ha-ha" gag begins when Booster tries to hit on a Parisian woman and gets shot down. Later, she winds up being the League's Paris Bureau Chief. And also maybe Crimson Fox?

This scene is well done in a book that often tries too hard for stupidly silly humor.

I'd say that these three pages (the scanned page being the third of the three) of interaction between Blue Beetle and Booster Gold is ground zero for what would become a great best friend relationship. Any interaction before this was just of the generic Blue Beetle making a stupid class clown comment to the group. But this foundational scene in Paris already feels like these two at their closest which, admittedly, is mostly Blue Beetle laughing at something dumb Booster Gold did. But I like to view this entire relationship through the lens of a Booster Gold mostly driven mad and insane from having to live through so many alternate timelines. Sure, the reader doesn't know about that aspect of Booster Gold yet (and won't for more than a decade). But I can't help but understand Booster Gold through that lens now. And his need for some kind of consistency and whimsy and, almost certainly, a need to be able to laugh at himself must be expressed through this relationship as a kind of therapy. In a universe where not even the timeline lacks consistency, Booster Gold finds solace in getting his balls busted by Blue Beetle.

Maybe I'm a dick who doesn't understand true friendship but this is totally what it looks like, right?

The issue ends with a Keith Giffen drawn story about the end of the Global Guardians, or at least the end of their United Nations backing. I'm sure it's a set-up for a future story but even if it were just a couple page story acknowledging the Global Guardians and how they're affected by a new United Nations backed team, it would remain an interesting moment. I don't need iron clad continuity in my comic book universe but I am entertained when writers acknowledge the waves their stories are making in that continuity. Plus it's drawn by Giffen which always makes it seem like I'm reading a story from the perspective of a madman. Justice League International #8 Rating: B+. How come when I publish a manifesto, people refer to it as a 'zine?! How do you get the fucking power to have your photo-copied screed with "art" considered a manifesto?! How many people do I have to rant at to get some Goddamned recognition?! "The Truth About Star Trek Transporters" is not a fucking fanzine, people! It's a manifesto of the alternate reality we're being asked to accept! The alternate reality of an alternate reality where people are being sent to their deaths every fucking mission only to be replaced by clones of themselves and nobody fucking cares! Probably because they're all clones of clones of clones and their ability to think rationally has diminished to the point of dogmatic stupidity! Am I the only one witnessing this while others simply think its some kind of retrograde perspective?! Does my antediluvian intellect subquester the means of proliferating the parallax of reality?! Does the inclusion of three hilarious dick jokes deny me the mantle of manifesto writer, oublietting my ego into an infinite mirror trick of endless zineian declarations?! Fuck this shit! And fuck that satellite that's been following me throughout this meandering conclusion!

#Justice League #Justice League International #Kevin Maguire #Keith Giffen #J.M. DeMatteis #DC #DC Comics

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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 5 years

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we’re partners in this.

so titans 2.12 was mostly about (awkwardly) moving pieces around to get them in place for a grand finale. it was great! but also awkward. but great! let’s talk about it, if you don’t mind:

SPOILERS ahead.

1. i apologise for going off on a tangent right off the bat, but i just had this weird bit of insight about this show’s universe and it’s kind of hilarious. so you know those clickbaity articles about titans fucking up its worldbuilding by having its characters be so blase about protecting their superhero identities? (screenrant and cbr have inundated my newsfeed. oh good lord the pain. the agony.) maybe that’s just how It’s Meant To Be. batman and robin have been around for at least a decade and a half; the big bat’s likely been around for longer. the justice league is a sophisticated organisation with connections, representation and influence on worldly affairs. no doubt there has been countless battles and alien invasions--to the point where superheroes have become so ingrained in public life that their identities are semi-public knowledge but Nobody Gives A Shit. it’s like asking folks about their local legislators--people are aware that they exist and perform a Function in society and that a minimal amount of research would reveal who they are, but most aren’t keen on/interested in doing that. as a result, keeping up a secret identity isn’t the priority it used to be. and That’s Fine! the titans universe is its own beast with its own internal mechanics and as long as it’s internally consistent, let it deviate from its comic origins as much as it wants to.

oh typical emmram, i can hear you say. scrambling for explanations to excuse careless writing and plot holes. well, dear Strawman I Just Made Up, you may be partially right--there was a time when i would’ve waved my ‘the author is dead’ flag, but (i like to think) i’ve matured since then. but also: have you considered that plot holes aren’t really plot holes if you can successfully use what’s been established about a story’s universe to explain them away and that it’s significantly more fun?

with this background in mind, i can appreciate more than ever that titans plays out more like an intense, soapy family drama (with perhaps higher stakes than your average soap). this was never a show about a bunch of disparate heroes coming together and finding purpose in order to defeat a common enemy. this was always about a bunch of kids who grew up in a world where vigilantism and superheroing and magic and alien invasions are just an accepted part of life, and the deeply dysfunctional ways they keep coming together and pinballing away, over and over again. there’s no point where each of the characters have definitely Gotten Over Their Issues so they can all gather together to defeat the big bad; it’s why this late in the game we can have rachel looking for people to connect to and relate with that aren’t a series of adults who claim to protect her but only keep her in the dark; hank at the bottom of a self-destructive spiral; dick barely picking himself up from rock bottom, and kory falling apart at the seams.

so anyway, that’s it on this edition of Emmram Tries To Give A Grand Unifying Theory of Titans; let’s move on to the actual episode.

2. rose’s story could’ve been so good, you guys. actually you know what, scratch that (she types, on a computer while having 20+ years’ experience in knowing how to use the backspace key), it’s a great story that got muddled in the process of the show trying to tell a number of great stories all at once. this season has been inexorably building up to dick grayson becoming nightwing, using his unreliable narration to build up suspense as we see him battle personal hangups and the fallout from literal decades of trauma to gain a sense of equilibrium and a renewal of purpose (it can be argued that even now, on the cusp of actually putting on that dang costume, he hasn’t really learned anything--but i’ll get to that later). if this is the main story that this season is trying to tell, then taking two gigantic detours for episode-long flashbacks and building up to jericho’s death as much as they did makes perfect sense. it also makes sense to set slade up as a foil to dick, in that they are both caught up in their heads and make self-absorbed decisions to protect their ‘children’ but dick comes through with the realisation that that’s a crock of bullshit.

but that’s not the case, is it? there are so many things going on at once but they’re all orbiting around this throughline of ‘dick becoming nightwing’ and so we only get the barest glimpses of some relatively complex character motivations and development going on with the others.

2.25. in this episode’s flashback (we’re still getting flashbacks! in literally the penultimate episode of the season! god i have never wanted to take a red pen to anything more) we come to a number of weighty realisations: the extent of rose’s powers, her feelings of otherness, her desire to connect with her father so that she doesn’t feel alone in her otherness, how desperate she is to connect with him--so much so that she’s willing to throw away her entire life and undergo physical mutilation in service of his revenge plan--and how...learning exactly how her brother died and... being with jason??? made her change her mind??? ok that last one’s a bit muddled, but i’ll try and make sense of it.

as far as i can see, there are four big turning points in rose’s story so far:

a) that moment in the car when slade invites rose to join him and reveals that he’s basically been funding her ‘normal’ middle class life till that point. i can imagine how destabilising that realisation might be to rose, and why she might think going along with slade, no matter how weird and how abrupt, is how she’s going to live a life true to who she is

b) but imagine actually being taken in by the titans, being given shelter and support and succour by a group that her father had described as ruthless and manipulative. i can imagine her still being on board with slade’s plan, but maybe the reason she didn’t do all that she could’ve possibly done while at the tower to sabotage the titans might be because she’s actually interacting with these people, and while they might be a Hot Mess, they aren’t actively cruel or vindictive. i wish the show had woven in more scenes of rose interacting with the others, of her learning intimate things about their pasts, of her bonding with the younger titans’ struggle with their own ‘freakish’ natures. rose hardly seems to have any presence at all after her intro episode, and that’s a pity.

c) dick’s confession about what actually happened with slade and jericho. it’s more complicated than she was lead to believe--her father was actually complicit in her brother’s death. it’s a very confusing moment for rose, who’s already (probably) feeling the first stirrings of guilt, unsure, really, about her devotion to the father and brother that she’s known only for a little longer than the titans themselves, and slowly coming to the sick realisation that slade used her as a pawn in his game against the titans.

d) jason latching onto rose is understandable--he saw her as the only person making the effort to connect with him when he was feeling vulnerable and rejected by almost everybody else. jason practically bleeds a need for connection and acceptance. i don’t think rose anticipated that jason would come with her, or be as attached to her as he is--but she sees in him a sensitive and struggling soul baring his heart to her, and in herself the kind of deception and secrecy that she’d originally wanted to rebel against. so she finally comes clean with him, and thinks they should help the titans against her father.

i mean. i might be making some assumptions (actually i’m making a lot of assumptions, to be fair), but i’m just trying to work with what the show’s given us, which is... not insubstantial, but haphazard enough that it’s easy to forget that rose exists sometimes.

3. i fell asleep right after watching this episode for the first time, and apparently at some point before actually sleeping i appear to have had some kind of Great Insight about it because in the notes app on my phone i typed in “dick bruce concept of justice” with no further explanation.

i’ve spent the better part of this evening trying to retrace my train of thought, and i think it went like this: essentially, i was curious that dick was so broken up about jericho dying that he banished himself to a five year long lonely journey to seek penance that ended with him voluntarily getting himself arrested, but didn’t seem all that cut up about zucco dying or basically ordering the deaths of the scientists at the asylum in 1.07. betraying jericho and the older titans’ trust in him is a far greater burden on him than being responsible for the death of people who have wronged him or hurt the people he loves. but this is also a man who has internalised batman’s mission and ethos for the better part of his life, so he can’t actually come out and admit that. instead the two things come together to form one conclusion: he killed jericho, and he must be punished for it.

(i also imagine locking himself away in prison was a result of growing up under the influence of batman--who responded to trauma by embarking on rigorous, brutal, solitary journey of penance and extreme self-discipline. batman doesn’t ask for help. batman goes to the batcave and rides it out.)

so when dick finally breaks himself out of jail, it isn’t because he’s come to a great realisation about his self-destructive behaviour (although he’s aware of it on some subconscious level); it’s because he realised the thing he was punishing himself for didn’t actually happen. he hasn’t really learnt a lesson. to be fair, he would need some pretty intensive therapy to untangle the things running through his head, so it seems quite believable that this is the way he gets back on his feet in time to be nightwing.

4. i know people think that the conversation between rachel and kory was awkward, and uh, it kinda was a little bit, but it makes sense that they can talk like that to each other. rachel wants to protect dick but feels confident enough with kory to lash out at her; kory is unafraid to be vulnerable or sad around rachel which just feeds into the trust that rachel has in kory. i don’t know, i thought that conversation was a nice way to both re-establish this dynamic and give some insight into what kory’s feeling.

5. god, mercy graves--a family woman!--tenderly wiping the blood off gar’s chin after having turned him into her own personal killing machine is just... so unsettling on so many levels.

5.5. it continues to KILL me that gar had so much faith in the titans right up to the very moment he had his fucking skull opened up and his brains messed with against his will: an undeserving loyalty to a family who took his easygoing acceptance of their shitty treatment of him at face value and essentially threw him to the wolves. how do you even start recovering from this? i feel like we’ve gone past the point where a few heart-to-hearts could help.

6. man, hank spiralling the way he did was too brutal to be anything but deeply uncomfortable. i’m sure the teenager who bought hank’s suit from him was supposed to inspire hank and remind him of his place and purpose as a titan, but it came off as kind of a cruel joke. hank has been putting his body out on the firing line over and over and over again, and his lesson is to be told that he isn’t putting himself out there enough? yikes.

7. stu and lily and their collective disdain for dick grayson’s drama are my new favourite characters on the show and deserve their own damn spin-off. MAKE IT HAPPEN DC

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #rose wilson #dick grayson #koriand'r #jason todd #rachel roth #hank hall #garfield logan

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