#using their powers for good

[thevoidstaredback]

The week after the Gala, there was another meeting at the Watchtower. Just as they had before, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Aquaman stayed behind after everyone else left.

No chatter started up as the door closed with a final sounding noise. Like a Death Knull in the ears of five of the seven present heroes.

An eternity passed between one second and the next, everyone waiting for someone else to say something. No one knew why no one else was saying anything, but they all knew they didn't want to be the ones to drop whatever shoe was being held over their heads.

All except Batman, the epitome of stoicism, and Green Arrow, the epitome of suspense.

Eventually, Batman said, "So, how did you enjoy your trip to Gotham?" He didn't address a single person, prompting everyone to speak over themselves at once, all trying to explain away their presence in his city. Soon, though, their anxiety gave way to confusion as everyone realised that everyone else was saying the same thing as them.

"What?" Wonder Woman asked, "What's going on?"

"I asked how your trip to Gotham was."

"Um," Green Lantern said, "Care to address who you're talking to?"

"Why would I? You all know who I'm talking to."

There was a beat. "All of us?" Aquaman asked, "Were all of us in Gotham?"

"Yes." Batman says. "How did you enjoy your trip?"

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait!" The Flash said, "First of all, how would you know that?"

"Nothing happens in Gotham without my knowledge. No one or thing enters or leaves the city without me knowing."

"Right," The Flash relented, "That's creepy as hell, and a huge privacy violation! Second of all," he directs this at the rest of the room, "When were you all in Gotham? I was invited to a gala at Wayne Manor last weekend."

The round of agreements from around the room only confused everyone further.

"Wait, you mean we were all in one space as civilians?" Superman asked.

"There's no way that's a coincidence!" Green Lantern yelled, "What the hell, Batman?!"

"Arrow?" Wonder Woman's voice hushed everyone else's. "You've been awfully quiet."

Green Arrow took another moment before he moved. He chuckled lightly, "I see what you're doing, B. I can't believe I didn't notice earlier!" As he spoke, he reached up and removed his mask and hat, ignoring the others' disbelief. "It's nice to meet you all formally, I guess. I'm Oliver Queen."

The Flash blinked.

Superman spun to face Batman, anger in his expression. "You had Wayne throw a party to force us to reveal our identities to each other?!"

"I've known who you all are since just after you all made names for yourselves." Batman said.

Oliver shook his head. "You're horrible at this, man."

"We didn't tell you our names." Aquaman growled, "At least I didn't."

"No," The Flash agreed, "I didn't either."

"I am a detective first and foremost. I needed to know who you all are before I could trust you with the safety of this world."

Green Lantern got right up in Batman's face as he said, "You don't get a say in that, Batman. That's not up to you to decide."

"Not to mention that Wayne, who is a very well known civilian, knows who we are now. " Wonder Woman said, "Or, at least, I assume he does."

"He does," Batman affirmed.

Superman grabbed Batman's cape and picked him up out of his chair. "We were good friends, Bats, ut you've crossed a line."

"We can still be friends." Batman says.

"Oh, yeah?" Aquaman asks, "How?"

Ignoring how he was still suspended in the air, Batman, too, removed his cowl. Superman dropped him as soon as he realised who he was holding, backing away so everyone had a view of Batman. "Because I'm Batman."

Part 17 Storyboard Alt. Ending

[fly-chicken]

A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU

***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***

Blacked out part is my name.

I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too

AND

I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.

And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.

A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am

[avaantares]

Yet another AO3 bot situation - please spread the word!

Hi, it's me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I'm here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.

There's currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people's fics. This isn't the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they're using real AO3 usernames to do it.

I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:

Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.

The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.

The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it's most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.

If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under "Privacy," select the radio button that says "Only registered users can comment," as shown below.

Please spread the word to other AO3 users! And if you see mean guest comments on other fics, maybe let the author know that it's probably from a bot and not a real person who thinks their writing is bad.

[egophiliac]

(this one's been getting stolen a lot, so please be aware that if you see this anywhere else (even with credit), it's been reposted against my wishes! please do not use my art in your videos/reupload to pinterest/etc., thanks!)

--

gargoyle Mal is everything I've ever dreamed of and more. his little raincoat! his umbrella! I hope he really does have big ol' stompy rainboots to splash around in puddles in. I hope they have little faces on them.

(Twst please give me Malleus having a rainy day adventure, this is everything I need right now)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dog Meshi.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

hero/villain showdown but one of them has a spontaneous medical emergency and the battle gets put on hold while their archnemesis drives them to Urgent Care

[grntaire]

“their miracle was so big bc crowley used to be an archangel” have u considered that aziraphale and crowley love each other so much that their love alone could move the tides just by staring at the ocean for too long. have u considered that they did the miracle not really to protect gabriel but to protect what they had, what they’d built with each other. and that was them barely even trying

[reasonsforhope]

"The man who has called climate change a “hoax” also can be expected to wreak havoc on federal agencies central to understanding, and combating, climate change. But plenty of climate action would be very difficult for a second Trump administration to unravel, and the 47th president won’t be able to stop the inevitable economy-wide shift from fossil fuels to renewables. 

“This is bad for the climate, full stop,” said Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at the Columbia Business School. “That said, this will be yet another wall that never gets built. Fundamental market forces are at play.”

A core irony of climate change is that markets incentivized the wide-scale burning of fossil fuels beginning in the Industrial Revolution, creating the mess humanity is mired in, and now those markets are driving a renewables revolution that will help fix it. Coal, oil, and gas are commodities whose prices fluctuate. As natural resources that humans pull from the ground, there’s really no improving on them — engineers can’t engineer new versions of coal. 

By contrast, solar panels, wind turbines, and appliances like induction stoves only get better — more efficient and cheaper — with time. Energy experts believe solar power, the price of which fell 90 percent between 2010 and 2020, will continue to proliferate across the landscape. (Last year, the United States added three times as much solar capacity as natural gas.) Heat pumps now outsell gas furnaces in the U.S., due in part to government incentives. Last year, Maine announced it had reached its goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps two years ahead of schedule, in part thanks to state rebates. So if the Trump administration cut off the funding for heat pumps that the IRA provides, states could pick up the slack. 

Local utilities are also finding novel ways to use heat pumps. Over in Massachusetts, for example, the utility Eversource Energy is experimenting with “networked geothermal,” in which the homes within a given neighborhood tap into water pumped from underground. Heat pumps use that water to heat or cool a space, which is vastly more efficient than burning natural gas. Eversource and two dozen other utilities, representing about half of the country’s natural gas customers, have formed a coalition to deploy more networked geothermal systems.

Beyond being more efficient, green tech is simply cheaper to adopt. Consider Texas, which long ago divorced its electrical grid from the national grid so it could skirt federal regulation. The Lone Star State is the nation’s biggest oil and gas producer, but it gets 40 percent of its total energy from carbon-free sources. “Texas has the most solar and wind of any state, not because Republicans in Texas love renewables, but because it’s the cheapest form of electricity there,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, a climate research nonprofit. The next top three states for producing wind power — Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas — are red, too.

State regulators are also pressuring utilities to slash emissions, further driving the adoption of wind and solar power. As part of California’s goal of decarbonizing its power by 2045, the state increased battery storage by 757 percent between 2019 and 2023. Even electric cars and electric school buses can provide backup power for the grid. That allows utilities to load up on bountiful solar energy during the day, then drain those batteries at night — essential for weaning off fossil fuel power plants. Trump could slap tariffs on imported solar panels and thereby increase their price, but that would likely boost domestic manufacturing of those panels, helping the fledgling photovoltaic manufacturing industry in red states like Georgia and Texas.

The irony of Biden’s signature climate bill is states that overwhelmingly support Trump are some of the largest recipients of its funding. That means tampering with the IRA could land a Trump administration in political peril even with Republican control of the Senate, if not Congress. In addition to providing incentives to households (last year alone, 3.4 million American families claimed more than $8 billion in tax credits for home energy improvements), the legislation has so far resulted in $150 billion of new investment in the green economy since it was passed in 2022, boosting the manufacturing of technologies like batteries and solar panels. According to Atlas Public Policy, a research group, that could eventually create 160,000 jobs. “Something like 66 percent of all of the spending in the IRA has gone to red states,” Hausfather said. “There certainly is a contingency in the Republican party now that’s going to support keeping some of those subsidies around.”

Before Biden’s climate legislation passed, much more progress was happening at a state and local level. New York, for instance, set a goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 40 percent by 2030, and 85 percent by 2050. Colorado, too, is aiming to slash emissions by at least 90 percent by 2050. The automaker Stellantis has signed an agreement with the state of California promising to meet the state’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate even if a judicial or federal action overturns it. It then sells those same cars in other states. 

“State governments are going to be the clearest counterbalance to the direction that Donald Trump will take the country on environmental policy,” said Thad Kousser, co-director of the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research at the University of California, San Diego. “California and the states that ally with it are going to try to adhere to tighter standards if the Trump administration lowers national standards.”

[Note: One of the obscure but great things about how emissions regulations/markets work in the US is that automakers generally all follow California's emissions standards, and those standards are substantially higher than federal standards. Source]

Last week, 62 percent of Washington state voters soundly rejected a ballot initiative seeking to repeal a landmark law that raised funds to fight climate change. “Donald Trump’s going to learn something that our opponents in our initiative battle learned: Once people have a benefit, you can’t take it away,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee said in a press call Friday. “He is going to lose in his efforts to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, because governors, mayors of both parties, are going to say, ‘This belongs to me, and you’re not going to get your grubby hands on it.’”

Even without federal funding, states regularly embark on their own large-scale projects to adapt to climate change. California voters, for instance, just overwhelmingly approved a $10 billion bond to fund water, climate, and wildfire prevention projects. “That will be an example,” said Saharnaz Mirzazad, executive director of the U.S. branch of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability. “You can use that on a state level or local level to have [more of] these types of bonds. You can help build some infrastructure that is more resilient.”

Urban areas, too, have been major drivers of climate action: In 2021, 130 U.S. cities signed a U.N.-backed pledge to accelerate their decarbonization. “Having an unsupportive federal government, to say the least, will be not helpful,” said David Miller, managing director at the Centre for Urban Climate Policy and Economy at C40, a global network of mayors fighting climate change. “It doesn’t mean at all that climate action will stop. It won’t, and we’ve already seen that twice in recent U.S. history, when Republican administrations pulled out of international agreements. Cities step to the fore.”

And not in isolation, because mayors talk: Cities share information about how to write legislation, such as laws that reduce carbon emissions in buildings and ensure that new developments are connected to public transportation. They transform their food systems to grow more crops locally, providing jobs and reducing emissions associated with shipping produce from afar. “If anything,” Miller said, “having to push against an administration, like that we imagine is coming, will redouble the efforts to push at the local level.” 

Federal funding — like how the U.S. Forest Service has been handing out $1.5 billion for planting trees in urban areas, made possible by the IRA — might dry up for many local projects, but city governments, community groups, and philanthropies will still be there. “You picture a web, and we’re taking scissors or a machete or something, and chopping one part of that web out,” said Elizabeth Sawin, the director of the Multisolving Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes climate solutions. “There’s this resilience of having all these layers of partners.”

All told, climate progress has been unfolding on so many fronts for so many years — often without enough support from the federal government — that it will persist regardless of who occupies the White House. “This too shall pass, and hopefully we will be in a more favorable policy environment in four years,” Hausfather said. “In the meantime, we’ll have to keep trying to make clean energy cheap and hope that it wins on its merits.”"

-via Grist, November 11, 2024. A timely reminder.

[min-play]

quiet one of the group

Animation by Vic

[totally-here]

3 times Phantom's Guardian was Mentioned + 1 Time He Showed Up

One

Phantom’s introduction to Young Justice wasn’t as dramatic as Empress’ or Slobo’s, or even Arrowette’s first introduction to the cave. No, it wasn’t during the Olympics, or on a battlefield, and he didn’t come in injured and looking for help. 

Impulse just brought Phantom in one day and insisted that he should join because he’s their age, interested in justice, and now that Greta’s human again they need another ghost member. So Phantom stayed, popping in and out for missions but never really sticking around all that long. 

Today is one of the days that Phantom’s with them on a mission, that being looking around a lab of the Brain’s that had an energy surge recently, despite it being presumably abandoned. 

Kon got paired up with Phantom to check the rest out first, since they both have better hearing than Anita and Tim, who were both still in the main room working on checking the computers for previous activity. 

The room is dark except for the light green ball glowing slightly above Phantom’s hand. He waves it around enough for it to reflect off of glass, then throws it up to the ceiling. The light expands enough to illuminate the room. 

Phantom mumbles about not knowing he could do that. Kon ignores him and moves closer to inspect the glass tubes to the side of several monitors set up. 

“Looks like cloning equipment,” Phantom says, casually. He drags a finger through the dust gathering on one of the monitors. “Don’t think they’ve been activated recently, though, so that’s good.”

“What? You got a problem with clones or something?” It’s a quick and defensive answer, and Phantom puts his hands up in surrender. 

“Not in concept.” He shrugs and joins Kon near the tubes. “But not a lot of people ask before making clones.”

“So I don’t need to sic Superman on you?” Obviously Kon could chew Phantom out himself, but few can do a “not mad, just disappointed” face better than Clark. 

Phantom scrunches his face. “Why would you need to?” 

Kon stops pretending to inspect the tube and stares at Phantom. “You do know I’m a clone, right?” The blank look on Phantom’s face tells him that no, he did not. “Well I am. Clone of Superman, though we’re pretty much brothers now.”

“Cool,” Phantom says, not a bit less friendly. He hesitates for a second before continuing, “Could I maybe ask you how you got there? Me and my clone have landed on cousins, but that was also, like, given to us by her evil dad. So.”

Phantom trails off. Huh, that makes three members of the team that have been cloned. Not a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened three times. 

“You’re making sure she feels accepted, right?” 

“Yeah! Well, whenever she’s around. She,” Phantom waves his hand around, looking for the right word, “She’s a wanderer. Exploring the world and stuff. But Richard has a room for her at home, and I remind her of that whenever she does stop by.” 

“Well, first of all, don’t push it so hard,” Kon says. Phantom nods enthusiastically. “And second, who’s Richard?”

Kon doesn’t know a lot of Richards, and he doesn’t think that Phantom ever mentioned one before. Or even if he remembers his living life. 

“Oh, he’s my, uh, guardian? I guess that’s the best term. The guy I’m living with who forces me to go to school sometimes.” Phantom looks away and back to the tubes. 

Before Kon can ask for more details, Robin and Empress come in with a report of dead computers and wanting to know where they’re at with the cloning room.

They’re unimpressed with their lack of progress.

Two

Wally doesn’t really need to come by the Hamilton Lodge that often, not when that’s Young Justice’s territory and he doesn’t want to get involved in all of That.

But Red Tornado said that the team has a file on a planet that’s very quickly becoming a league problem, and he figured it might be a good time to try to check in with Bart, anyway. Make sure he hasn’t run any cars off cliffs again and all that. 

So he stops by Manchester to ask Bart about the file, then they both head East to actually find it. 

When they arrive at the hotel minutes later, Wally’s surprised to actually find it… clean? There’s no visible trash or overturned furniture or anything else he’d expect from an abandoned hotel filled with teenagers. Well, maybe not filled, lately. He doesn’t think anyone’s living here currently, with Greta at Elias’ for the school year and Slobo gone. 

Still, the room smells slightly of artificial pine scent, and Bart perks up before disappearing and reappearing rapidly, holding a teammate up by his armpits. Said teammate just accepts this, his legs folding into a wispy tail, and head rolling against his shoulders. 

“This is Phantom!” Bart holds him up higher. Phantom waves. Wally’s only heard of him through Max’s updates, the same way he would hear about Preston or Carol, but with more wariness about the supposed ghost. 

Actually looking at the pale face and glowing green eyes contrasting against the darker than dark jumpsuit, Wally’s a little more ready to accept his claim at being undead. 

“He stress cleans,” Bart explains, moving to carry Phantom under his arm. Wally bites down the urge to tell him to put him down, but only because Phantom doesn’t resist the hold, only moving to get into a more comfortable position. His hands are touching the floor. “So what happened?” 

Bart directs the question downwards, and Phantom heaves a very dramatic sigh. Definitely a teenager. It does raise the question of who exactly this kid’s mentor is. Hopefully he does have one. Maybe he’s the Spectre’s kid?

Phantom phases through the arm holding him only to lay on top of Bart’s hair. “I accidentally called Richard dad. And then fled.” 

Bart nods sagely. “Classic. One time I accidentally called Max dad, so I had to start a fire to distract him.”

Phantom sighs again, almost dreamily. “Genius.” 

Wally doesn’t have time to unpack all of that. Well he does, but he’s not going to, because there’s really only one Richard that comes to mind that might have the heart to take in a dead kid, even if he doesn’t go by his full name.

But surely Dick would have told him, or any other Titan, if he had adopted a kid. Right?

But there’s still a little shadow of doubt. Maybe Dick wanted it to be a secret, or it was really new or had a rocky start. Phantom doesn’t seem to hold himself like a Bat, but it’s not a guarantee Dick would have trained him. 

“The lodge looks nice,” Wally offers out loud, which Phantom shrugs at and wraps his tail around Bart’s head to keep secure. “Anyway, Impulse. The file on Myrg?” 

“Oh yeah!” Again, Bart disappears then reappears a few seconds later with a paper file. They really need to start digitizing more of these things. “That’s the planet where we played baseball so that they wouldn’t destroy Earth!” 

“You what.” 

The prospect of Dick following in his dad’s footsteps is forgotten in the face of what the hell Young Justice got up to on Myrg. 

Three

Tim may be in a…Predicament. 

It’s not his fault. Really. He knew what he was doing. He couldn’t let a civilian fall for the trap. But they were already so close, so he just, kinda, pushed himself into the rope instead. 

So there Robin is, tied upside down in a warehouse, with the Joker below next to an overly complicated control panel. The clown’s rambling about bombs hidden all over the city that Tim knows Batman is already tracking down with Batgirl. 

Tim’s not really paying attention to the rant because of that, more focused on wiggling enough to get the spare mini-birdarang out of his glove to cut the rope without notifying the Joker. 

“Yikes, bad time?” Asks Phantom’s voice beside him. Based on the source and accounting for the slight echo, he’s floating with his head near Tim’s, likely upside down. “Want some help?” 

Tim gets the birdarang out and starts sawing at the thick rope. They should be fine anyway, but stalling the Joker for extra time would be helpful. “Can you possess the Joker? Just hold him still.”

“The correct term is overshadow, but sure.” The voice disappears, and a few seconds later the Joker freezes. 

His body jerks forward, then backward, and a laugh chokes out of his throat. His hand claws over his mouth at the noise and he hunches over. All movement halts before he rights himself, shaking out his hands and rolling his shoulders. Phantom looks up at Tim and his eyes are glowing. 

Tim cuts through the rope, kicking and using the momentum to right himself and land on his feet. He brushes past Phantom in Joker’s body to handle the control panel. He turns off the radio broadcast and dismantles the bomb strapped to the panel.

Threat handled, he turns to Phantom and holds up some handcuffs. “Let me arrest you?”

Phantom obliges, turning the Joker’s body around and putting his hands behind his back. Tim lets him walk by himself out of the warehouse and moves the handcuffs around a lamppost. The Joker’s body jerks again, then slumps forward, just as Phantom reappears next to him, scowling down at the unconscious body. 

“That felt really slimy. Zero out of ten, would not do again,” Phantom grouches. 

“Why’re you in Gotham?” Tim asks. It’s not like Phantom makes a habit of visiting. The last time he came into the city, he complained about feeling the dead under the streets. Fortunately, that let Tim uncover a few tunnels that Talons travel through. Phantom, however, was unnerved by the Talons and left quickly. 

“Oh, Solomon Grundy’s back in our sewers. Richard said I should probably tell one of you Gotham heroes, since you keep track of those guys.” He shakes out his hands like they were cramped in the Joker. 

They hadn’t seen Grundy in a while. Tim assumed he was currently in a less violent personality. “What’s he doing?” 

Phantom shrugs. “Just chilling. Mostly underground. I tried to talk to him but he only grunted back at me. He also tried to pick me up, dunno what that was about.”

“Maybe because you’re both dead?” Tim guessed. That would be a surface level connection. Ivy and Woodrue have had more luck working with Grundy than anyone, and Phantom definitely doesn’t have the connection to the Green that’d help with that. 

Police lights turn around the corner, and Tim shoots a grapple to get to the roof above them. Phantom follows, but disappears as soon as they’re on the roof. Going back home, probably. 

Cass drops down from the roof she was listening on. “Richard?”

“Not the same one.”

They both stick around long enough to watch the Joker get put into the cop car. 

Plus one

A spaceship landed in the forests of New York, and Cassie’s team was the first to respond to it. Technically not respond, but check it out, since there wasn’t any alert or anything. 

Still, Wonder Girl has Empress, Robin, and Superboy on the other side of the ship, watching what looks like the back door, while she, Impulse, and Phantom watch the other door and main window. She has binoculars, but the windows are so tinted she can’t quite make anything out. 

No aliens have come out yet, and she hesitates to have anyone go in, in case whoever inside does turn hostile. 

Impulse has offered to run through a total of five times already, and it’s a testament to his restraint that he hasn’t, and a testament to Cassie’s that she hasn’t yelled at him yet. Phantom at least isn’t being annoying, but he’s not necessarily helpful, either. He’s not even watching the spaceship anymore. Now he’s trying to make a flower crown out of dandelions. 

“Door’s opening on our side,” Robin says from the comms. “But no one’s coming out.” 

“Alright, good enough to try to get in,” Cassie decides. She turns to Phantom, who’s closing off the circle of flowers. Beside him, Impulse has since pulled out a gameboy. “Phantom, go in invisibly through the open door and report back. Try to see what their plans are.” 

“Oh, sure. One second.” Phantom finishes the crown and tries to put it on Bart’s head. It doesn’t quite fit over his mane of hair, but Phantom shrugs and leaves it sitting there anyway before going invisible. 

“Maybe I should shave my head again,” Bart says as his game character dies. 

He gets a resounding no in response. 

Half an hour later they have a very annoyed Green Lantern lecturing them about league jurisdiction and knowing when to call someone else. 

Apparently, the alien ship was just stopping to complete some maintenance, and did not appreciate any spying on them, and especially did not appreciate who did it. Green Lantern was more than happy to explain that Wonder Girl’s team is not really a part of the Justice League and he can help with their maintenance. They denied his help and left to find a place with less people in it. 

“-and you!” Green Lantern rounds on Phantom next, but Cassie knows none of them are really listening. Sure, they messed up by freaking out the visiting aliens, and yeah maybe they should have contacted the league about it, but they’ve dealt with stuff worse than this! It’s not Cassie’s fault she thought that this would have stuck to the formula. 

“Who even are you?” Green Lantern runs a hand through his black hair, stupid green gauntlets shining in the sunlight. “Do I need to call your mentor?” He frowns. “Or do they know you mess up alien technology by just being around it?” 

Phantom scoffs and rolls his eyes. “How was I supposed to know their tech would go all fuzzy when I came in?” 

“You wouldn’t have to know if you just stayed out of the spaceship!” 

“Hey!” Cassie cuts in. “Technically that was my call. It’s not all on Phantom.”

“I still could've been more careful,” Phantom says to her, ignoring Green Lantern as they argue about blame. 

“Cut it out for a second, okay?” Green Lantern puts a hand between them and they stop to glare at him. He pulls the hand back. “Look, can I just talk to one of your adults about this?” 

Robin glares. “We don’t need an adult. We have this under control.”

“Only because I’m here now.” 

“I’ll call my mentor,” Phantom says. Kon opens his mouth, most likely to offer to call Superman instead in hopes of a lighter sentence, but Bart covers his mouth, smiling like he knows something Cassie doesn’t. Tim and Anita share a look, and don’t intervene as Phantom pulls out a phone from his chest. 

It rings once before it’s picked up. Cassie can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Kon’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “Hey, do you think you can pick me up? Green Lantern wants to talk to you.” Phantom looks Green Lantern up and down then says, “No, this one doesn’t have a cape.”

Phantom says goodbye after rattling off their coordinates, hangs up, and stares at Green Lantern in silence for a few seconds. 

And then a swirling mass of black seeps into the space next to Phantom. The end of a cane steps out of it, followed by a leg, then the rest of the immaculately dressed man holding the handle of the cane that’s shaped like a bird’s head. 

“Phantom,” The man says. His voice drips with condescension in only a way a british accent can, yet Phantom smiles up at him. The shadowy portal behind him disappears. “What, exactly, happened?”

“That’s the fucking Shade,” Anita hisses to Robin, who shrugs noncommittedly at her. Green Lantern seems to recognise him too, taking a step back and clenching his hand that holds his ring. 

“Well, the team and I were staking out this spaceship–super cool, by the way–and I went inside to check it out, but my presence messed with their tech–which was an accident–and they freaked out, so I freaked out, and then we kinda got into a little fight until Green Lantern came to mediate.”

“Hm. Is that right?” The Shade asks Green Lantern, who nods slowly, still anticipating an attack. “It seems like the problem’s fixed, then.”

“Well, yes, but–”

“And it does seem about time for these kids to get home, doesn't it?” The Shade pulls out an actual pocket watch, chain and all, from his suit pocket and takes his time in checking it. “I’ll see them home.” 

Shadows grow from behind the team, swirling until they become a giant, gaping maw that swallows them up and spits them out in a different forest, or maybe just a different part of the same forest. 

Either way, Cassie has to take a moment to make sure she doesn’t throw up from the sudden vertigo the shadow portal caused. 

The Shade looks at Phantom, and raises an eyebrow. “You can’t expect me to always bail you out.” 

Phantom shrugs, looking guilty. “I know. Thanks, Richard.”

Oh, so that’s who Richard is. Annoyingly, neither Tim or Bart look surprised by this revelation.

[thevoidstaredback]

"Don't you find it suspicious?" Barry asks Wally.

"Hm?"

"The attendees. It's such a weird hodgepodge of people."

"Really? Everyone here is well known in their fields of work."

Barry doesn't seem to believe him. Rude.

"It's true!" he insists, "Everyone here has at least two articles written about them."

"And how would you know that?" Bart asks.

"Because I actually read the news?" Wally says. That, and Dick let him in on the whole plan that's been cooked up. He's upset that he wasn't brought in earlier, but he's more than excited to watch the security footage from 'Phase One'.

Iris gasps mockingly. "You do? I don't believe it!"

Wally sniffs. "Believe it or not, Iris, I don't live under a rock."

"Could've fooled me!" Dick snorts from behind him.

Whirling around, Wally grins at his best friend. "Dick!"

"Hey, loser." He directs his attention to the other three at the table, "Mister and Misses Allen, it's nice to meet you. I'm Richard Grayson, but everyone calls me 'Dick'."

Bart snickers. "Unfortunate."

Dick grins and ruffles his hair. "What's your name, little man?"

"'m Bart Allen!"

"Nice to meet ya, Bart." Crouching down, Dick stage whispers, "Can I let you in on a secret?"

Bart nods.

"If you go back out the doors, turn left and there's another room there."

Bart playfully glares at him. "Try'n to get me to a secondary location?"

Dick shakes his head. "Well, if you want to hang out here with the boring adults..."

"Bye, Barry, Iris!" he calls, running - though it's closer to a slow jog for a non-powered person - off, leaving the room.

"You guys set up another room?" Wally asks.

Dick shrugs. "I know, when I was a kid, that I would've done anything to get out of this stuffy atmosphere."

"That's fair."

"Sorry to interrupt," Iris says, "But where did you two meet?"

The duo share a look. It's Dick who says, "I met him when he was visiting Bludhaven a while back."

Wally nods. "Yeah, he's with the BHPD; He got me outta some trouble while I was there."

"Trouble?" Barry almost laughs, "What happened?"

Wally blushes, clearly embarrassed. "Let's, um, not get into this right now."

Iris smirks. "Now, Wally, what do you have to be so shy about?"

This was not a story Wally wanted out. Fortunately, Dick was on his side. For now, at least.

"As much as I'd love to tell you how much cocaine got popped over his head," -he ignores Wally's indignant shout and punch to his shoulder- "I've got a few other people to meet. It was nice meeting you both. Please, I hope you enjoy."

***

There's a group surrounding Bruce, as is normal for galas, though it isn't intentional this time. Most of them are the One Percenter's that were invited to shift suspicions, but there are a few heroes and their families with him. Lois and Clark Kent being the most notable, though Oliver and Diana are here, too.

He's got eyes on his kids, too, making sure they're all okay. Like before, they all have comms in, but they're all umutted unless something happens. The noise, otherwise, would've been too much and obvious to the Supers.

Dick's just finished talking with the Allens, excusing himself and heading over to Donna Troy and Jackson Hyde are talking. Wally looks to be trying to follow after him.

Jason's off talking to Roy and Lian, though Dinah has her eye on them while Oliver's distracted.

Damian and Jon Kent are already walking out of the room. Because dinner's been served and eaten, he doesn't call his son back.

Tim and Duke have been gone for the past few minutes. They'd both left the ballroom as soon as they could, probably off to the room they'd set up away from the boring monotony of the gala. Most of the teen heroes were gone, too.

Cass and Steph are oth talking to the three reporters, though the two from social media seem more interested in online gossip than the Daily Profit reporter.

"Mister Wayne!" Lois greets, pulling his attention back to the group around him, "Are the rumors about you and Batman true?" There's a gleam in her eyes as she speaks. She knows something. She probably knew his secret the second she saw the wax seal. Good. More things to hold over Clark's head.

Bruce smiles at her. "What rumors?"

"That you hate each other." she says, "You've said, on record, that you think Batman does good for this city just in the wrong way; and there's rumors that he's said that you do good work, too, but he just doesn't like you."

He fakes hurt so obviously that everyone can tell he's either joking or he doesn't care, "Batman doesn't like me?" Shocking information, that is. Imagine that.

"That's only speculation, Mister Wayne."

"Please, Mister Wayne was my father, just as Misses Wayne was my mother. Please, call me 'Bruce'."

"Alright, Bruce. Would you mind explaining your thoughts on Batman? He's Gotham's hero, so why don't you like him."

"What is this, an interview?" he jokes. It falls flat, though the people around him chuckle, as social rules demand. "Miss Lane,"

"Please, it's 'Lois'."

"Lois, then. You're here as a guest, so why do you insist on working?"

She smiles sheepishly, though she doesn't back down. "I'm a reporter through and through, Burce, I can't help it."

He chuckles, "Well, then I guess I can help you put these rumors to rest." He pauses for a moment, feigning putting his thoughts together. "While I do think that Batman is doing good for Gotham, I can also see the flaws in his design. After all, he's only one man."

"Oh?" one of the others in the crowd around him asks, "Have you met him?"

"Only once; he saved me when I had been kidnapped a few years ago," the Gothamites in the crowd nod knowingly, though Luther - who's sneering not-so-subtly - shakes his head, "just after Robin appeared, I believe. And I think that's the thing I hate about him the most."

"Hate?" Oliver, who's near the back of the group, wonders. Diana must recognise his voice because she looks over at him and doesn't look away. Point Bruce.

"He never should've brought a child into his line of work. I can never forgive him for that." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Dick and Jason both share a look. He's speaking loudly, so he isn't surprised they hear. He means it, though. "Back to what I was saying, though! Batman does good work, but there are other solutions he's either overlooking or choosing to ignore."

"Such as..?" Lois prods.

Such as murder. That goes against his Code, but he's considered it. Though he walks a gray line, Kal is there as his moral compass. It wouldn't do to upset his best friend like that. Torture is also a solution, but that's also off the table, though Diana is the reason for that.

"Now, now, Miss Lois, I think it' time we leave this discussion for now. It's been a while since I was last in Metropolis; how's your own city's hero doing?"

Subtle, Bruce.

Lois looks deeply into his eyes, and whatever pieces she'd been missing click into place. She laughs, "He's doing well, though I haven't been reporting on him lately. That's all Clark."

"Have you met Superman?" Miss. Crowne asks, pulling the conversation along.

Clark shakes his head. "Only once, but not nearly long enough to get a comment." Luther looks slightly upset. Loser. "Though I'd love to talk to him some more. Have you ever met Batman?"

The answer is no. Batman makes a point to avoid civilians who aren't victims or Commissioner Gordon. However, Miss. Crowne says, yes, she has met Batman, though he didn't stay long for a talk. She seems to be proud of [not] meeting Gotham's resident cryptid, though her wording entices Oliver to speak up.

"Cryptid?" Oliver asks.

Miss. Crowne nods enthusiastically. "Yes! No one knows where he came from or where he goes at the end of each night. One day, he just showed up, and he's been here ever since."

She continues to spin a fantastical tale about what Gothamites think about Batman and his Birds. Bruce smirks behind his drink. This reveal is going to be really funny.

***

Down the left hallway from the ballroom, by the bathroom, is the sitting room that was chosen as the 'kid's room'. As soon as dinner had ended and the mingling had started, the Wayne children had spread the information about the second room to all of the heroes that had kids with them. Arguably, this room was much more fun than the ballroom.

Tim and Duke had been the first two to leave the ballroom, mostly so that there was actual security in the sitting room. Duke didn't have a team affiliated with the Justice League, so he mostly floated between the sitting room and the ballroom, like Cass and Steph, but Tim was almost a permanent fixture in the sitting room.

The entire team knows who Kon and Bart are, so thy stuck pretty close to each other as the only familiar faces in the party aside from their families. They left the ballroom soon after Tim and Duke did.

Cassie came in a few minutes later, Andy Curry toddling after her, though it didn't seem like she'd noticed.

Tim meet Cassie at the snack table. "Cute kid," he said, looking over her shoulder, "She related to you?"

Cassie didn't jump, though it was a close thing. She turned to Tim before looking behind her. "Nope."

Humming, Tim crouched down to pick up the toddler. Andrina 'Andy' Curry. Arthur and Mera will be missing her soon. "My name's Tim Drake," he says to both Andy and Cassie, though he coos, "What's your name, hun?"

Andy giggles as e boops her nose before picking her up and standing. "A-dy!"

"'Andy'?" he repeats, "Where're your parents, Andy?"

She points to the door. "Dat way!"

"That way?" Cassie says, also pointing to the door, "Why'd you leave them?"

Andy stuck her tongue out. "Bo'ing!"

Tim stifles a laugh. "Can you tell me your last name, sweety?"

"Cuwy!"

"Curry?" Cassie guesses.

"Yeah!" Andy nods happily.

Tim nods. "Let's get you back to your momma, okay, Andy?"

"Boo!" she shouts, gripping his shirt tighter. Cassie laughs.

Shooting his friend a small glare, he says, "You gotta tell your momma where you are or she's gonna worry!"

Andy's face fell, distraught. "Momma sad?"

Seeing the tears, Tim hurries to say, "No! No, no,no! Hunny, she's not sad, but she will be if we don't go say 'hi', okay?"

Andy nods, her eyes still watery, but she wasn't crying, so Tim would take the win."

Cassie follows as Tim leaves the room. "You're pretty good with kids."

"You think?" Tim chuckles. It was part of his Robin training.

"Yeah, though I don't know how you're going to find her parents in a room of people."

Tim looked at her from the corner of his eye. "I memorise faces pretty easily," he says, "And I made the guest list, so they should be easy to spot. Especially if they've noticed Andy here missing."

He nods at Duke as he passes into the ballroom. Cassie waits outside for him.

Just as he said finding Arthur and Mera Curry was pretty easy. They were talking to Dinah Lance, Mister and Misses Elliot, Jason, and Roy and Lian Harper. It didn't seem like they'd realised Andy was missing yet, so this was going to be a fun conversation.

"Excuse me?" he said, placing his hand on Arthur's shoulder, "Sorry to interrupt, but Andy here was wandering off on her own, so I figured I should bring her back to you."

Mera turned, gasping a bit, though it was probably mostly for dramatics. "Andrina!" Gently, she takes the toddler from Tim's arms, "You were supposed to be with Jackson! Why did you wander off?"

"Bo'ed." Andy huffs.

Arthur chuckles. "Thanks for bringing her back, ..?"

"Tim Drake," he offers his hand for a handshake, "I'm Jason's little brother."

"Squirt," Jason acknowledges, "You sticking around?"

He shakes his head. "Nah. I'm gonna go back to the sitting room."

"What?" Roy chuckles, "Too important to stay with adults?"

Tim raises his eyebrow challengingly. "Andy had the right idea. You adults are pretty boring."

The entire group laughs as he excuses himself, leaving the room quickly. He meets Cassie just outside the door.

"I'm Cassie Sandsmark," she says, holding her hand for a handshake.

Tim accepts, "Tim Drake."

"I know. You're pretty famous, y'know?"

He groans. "Don't remind me, man."

"Not all it's cracked up to be?"

"Not even close."

Cassie laughs and Tim joins her. It'll be a weight off his shoulders when his team finally knows him in and out of costume. Though, he knows they'll be hurt at first, they'll more likely find this prank hilarious, especially when he shows them the Cave footage of Phase One.

He and Cassie find Bart and Kon in the same corner as before, though they both have food and there's more people in the room.

"Hi," Tim greets, "I'm Tim Drake. I'm glad you could make it!"

"Connor Kent," he then points to Bart, "That's Bart Allen."

"Cassie Sandsmark," she says.

They all shake hands and merge conversations. For a moment, Tim can imagine that there's no secrets between them.

Eventually, the conversation turns to the Gotham Vigilantes.

"You know the rumors, don't you?" Tim says.

"What rumors?" Kon asks.

He watches his teammates for a seconds before glancing around the room and leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. They lean in as well. "That the Bats and his Birds aren't human."

There's a pause.

"Excuse me?" Cassie blinks.

Tim nods. "No one's quite sure where or when Batman showed up. And the others? None of them seem quite human. Some people think that Batman was created by the sheer amount of magic that's cursed the city."

Bart tilts his head to the side. "Gotham's cured?"

"Yep! Didn't you know that? Can't you feel it?"

"Drake," Damian says from behind the three heroes, startling them, "What are you doing?"

Tim shrugs, leaning away from his friends, "Telling my friends about the magic in Gotham."

"Tt. Baseless assumptions."

"Half of the rogues in the city are undead."

"What?" Kon half exclaims.

"The other half have PhDs in different fields." Damian refutes, "Your point?"

"Yeah, that's fair." Tim agrees, "Konnor, Cassie, Bart; this is my little brother Damian. Damian, this is Konnor Kent, Cassie Sandsmark, and Bart Allen."

"Pleasure to meet you." He was not convincing in the least.

"Nice to meet ya, little dude," Kon smiles.

Damian scowls. "Do not call me little."

"Aww!" Bart coos, laughing, "He's so cute!"

Damian bristles like a cat. "I am not-!"

He's cut off by Jon Kent throwing an arm over his shoulder. "Dami!" he smiles, "You've met my uncle now!"

Cassie does a double take. "You're an uncle?"

Kon shakes his head. "Yep."

"Jon," Damian says, significantly calmer now that his friend is here. "Remove your arm from my shoulder or I will remove it from yours."

Tim clicks his tongue. "Don't be like that, Dami. Who's your friend?"

"This is my nephew, as your heard," Kon introduces, "Jon Kent."

"You're Clark and Lois's kid, huh?" Tim asks.

"You know my parents?"

"'Course," he shrugs, "They've covered quite a few of the events that I've been to."

"You say that as though that's something to be proud of," Damian snarks.

"Shove off, Baby Bat."

If anyone asks, the slip was purposeful.

The group freezes.

For a long moment, their little corner is silent.

"No fucking way." Kon swears. "Red?!"

Tim barely hides his snort. "Surprise."

Damian sighs. "Nice going, Drake."

"Oh, shove off, brat. I was gonna tell them anyway." Quieter, he says, "Though, the meeting I was arranging is redundant now."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on!" Bart interrupts, 'What's going on?"

Sighing, Tim leans against the wall. "B decided it was time to tell our teams our real names, but, in true B fashion, he's being dramatic about it. We've pranked the Justice League, and I have the footage if you wanna see."

Cassie holds up her hand to make him stop talking. It works. "You're Red Robin. Which means you're Robin."

"Yes." Damian confirms.

"That means that Batman is Bruce Wayne." she says. It takes a second for her words to really sink in. "What the hell!"

"Are you gonna keep freaking out, or do you wanna see what we did to the Justice League last month?"

"Are you bribing us?" Bart asks, almost apauld.

"Is it working?"

"Yes."

Part 15 Part 17

[tackykachowch]

Silco SO should've haunted the narrative in s2 I can't stress this enough. Like, we knew Vander, Mylo and Claggor only for 3 episodes, but their presence was felt aaaall throughout s1. And now you're telling me that a PRIMARY ANTAGONIST of s1, a leader of Zaun, Jinx's dad and The person who started the negotiations with Piltover for Zaun's independence only got a couple of mentions?? Which aren't even relevant to the plot or character motivations??? Are you LEGIT FOR REAL kidding me???? I still can't believe this happened chat.

He's literally a part of the main cast. He literally was present in every single episode of s1. And again, given just How Much was tied directly to him his death should've had just. Massive consequences. For almost every single character. And yet.

My honest reaction to this information:

[hypewinter]

Firefighting hadn't been the first job on Danny's list but it was surprisingly well suited for him. Toxic smoke and blazing fires were nothing to a guy who didn't need to breathe and could phase through anything after all. Plus it gave him a way to feel useful without catching the attention of the big bat himself. At least.... it was supposed to. But Danny supposes that ship has sailed considering Batman is standing in front of him at this very moment.

[egophiliac]

idia was an absolute treasure this update. you agree.

Idia really went "time for me to be a hero! but in, like, a super meta way" and if that isn't incredibly in-character then what is.

and of course we can't forget

I kinda hope he and Riddle get to do another game jam again sometime! it's nice to see them get along! and now they have, inexplicably...shared skills and interests???

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

News spreads fast.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Young Hero Sent On A Quest meets other young heroes also sent on various quests—only to discover they're all being used as free child labor by the same flaky wizard as a scam to collect magical artifacts.

the Young Heroes' collective new "Quest" is now to Unionize.....