DUKE THOMAS

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“Let me go,” Elysia warned. Her teeth were grit and jaw set tightly; her free hand was balled into a fist and she was ready to do something if this Neanderthal of a man would release her arm. He saw her do something with the water. She moved the water, he raved, but no one would listen. So he tried to drag her away from the arts and crafts store. There was no cop in sight to stop the man from pulling Elysia down the street towards the police station - like they would help him anyway. Still, she was close to making him rip his hand off herself with only a little persuading.

That was something she told herself she wouldn’t do, not after the massacre she left in that warehouse, but this guy was making it hard not to. Elysia lifted her free hand, fingers outstretched and focused on the water in the man’s blood, forcing his grip off of her wrist.

-

There were some people who saw fit to take the law into their own hands now that NOVA was no longer in the city. Duke had witnessed a few of those instances firsthand, typically involving anyone with any physical difference that marked them not human, but he caught the tail end of this altercation. He had no idea what the girl did or didn’t do. Additionally, he knew the SCPD wasn’t acting under NOVA orders and would separate the two of them, although he had to wonder if the man would make it there alive.

“Hey, man, back off, or you’re the one we’re taking to the cops.” He wasn’t in costume, but his identity was public. His name, at least - not the fact that he was metahuman. The man seemed to decide he did not want to challenge the girl’s power and one of Bruce Wayne’s adopted children, so the threat was enough to make him let go. “What an ass,” he said to the girl offhandedly, frowning as he watched the man stalk away.

“I’m just saying that if you toss me in jail like all your little friends do, I’m just going to pop back out, and Waller is going to be up your ass,” he said. It was his favorite threat, bringing up Amanda Waller. If he was going to be stuck under her thumb, he might as well use it to his advantage, and even members of the so-called Batfamily, aka the constant thorn in Floyd’s side, knew to be wary of her. 

Floyd scoffed. “Wouldn’t you like to fucking know,” Floyd replied simply, not saying anything else for a moment. “Ouch. I’m great for public-fucking-image, thanks.” Floyd wasn’t, and he knew that, but it wasn’t like he was willing to give up any information about NOVA. Sure, he hated the slimy bastards, but he hated the Batfamily more.

-

“Yeah, well, Waller doesn’t cut my check, so I’ll live.” Duke knew Waller was a pain in the ass. Not a woman he wanted to contend with if he could avoid it. That didn’t mean he was going to skip off and leave Floyd lurking suspiciously. “So what am I tossing you in jail for? Might as well tell me now, man. I can start filling out the paperwork in my head.”

It figured. The whole enemy of my enemy is my friend couldn’t be more cliché if it tried. “What do you get out of it?” He asked abruptly. “Something tells me Waller isn’t about early release or extra commissary.”

“Excellent, I suspect it will be to your liking Sir.” he nodded. Alfred did appreciate when the young men in the house tried to help with the cooking but their skill in the kitchen was variable; Master Jason he would allow but Master Dick was expressly forbidden to touch anything other than the cereal boxes and the milk.

He sighed and nodded as he began to gather the leftovers and turned the oven on, “That he is, Master Duke. I think I shall have to drug him again to make him sleep.” He’d drugged almost all members of the household at one time or another to make them look after themselves and he didn’t feel any guilt over it whatsoever. It was for their safety and whatever he deemed necessary to keep them safe he did; regardless of whether or not they’d thank him for it. “I do so hope you are looking after yourself well in the city, sir?” he asked.

-

“Pretty sure we don’t even need the World’s Greatest Detective to know that,” Duke pointed out with a grin. He had a lot of respect for Bruce, even though he wasn’t blind to is shortcomings. He’d been around long enough and butted heads with him plenty of times, but that hadn’t ever changed. 

If there were anyone who could get away with drugging the whole family, it’d be Alfred. Everyone trusted him, Duke included, and trust (he’d learned) wasn’t an easy thing to earn around here. Alfred even had Bruce’s trust. “Let me know if I can be a decoy. I’m good at that sorta thing.” Nodding slowly, he sighed and folded his arms on the edge of the table, careful not to let his elbows touch the surface. “Yeah, it’s better. You know? Without those patrols around, we can actually focus on crime.”

@missed-signals

Babs was tired, but she was too busy to be tired, honestly. And that was pretty much always the way things went. The way things had been going since she had put on the Batgirl suit she made in her bedroom just to piss off her dad. If she ever did get a break, then she would just spend it thinking there must be something wrong because there was a break.

She looked up from what she was working on, knowing that she was supposed to go to lunch with Duke. “Oh, shit,” she bit out. She was late. Sending a text, she apologized and told him she’d be right down.

When she made it to the street, she was heated about how slow the damn elevator was at the station. When she saw Duke, Babs made her way out the door. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting, Duke. I just got caught up.”

Lunch with Babs was the only thing Duke had planned for the day. There hadn’t been a free moment for them to catch up since he arrived. Everything that happened with NOVA had definitely taken everyone’s full attention in the weeks that followed. He was still playing catch-up in a lot of ways. Tim filled a lot of the gaps but, if anything, it made the situation feel even more dire. 

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Selina was perched on a nearby rooftop as she watched Duke take out the robbers easily. It didn’t matter anyway—Selina had made off with the jewels hours ago, while the store was still open and she was able to exchange the jewelry for the fakes that she had carefully crafted—and it was definitely more fun to watch someone else get caught for a crime than to be the one getting caught. And, on top of that, she was impressed with how much Duke had grown and improved in the time she had been gone. She had always been impressed with Duke—not that she showed it. 

She kicked her leg lightly against the brick facade of the building. “You know, it’d be easier on you if you just let them tire themselves out,” Selina said, lazily leaning back on one palm. “You’re quicker. They’ll get too tired to put up a real fight if you dodge them enough.” 

-

Being left in Gotham while the others took on Star City had given Duke the independence and space he needed to develop into his own hero. The Signal might not have the same clout as Robin or Batman, but it wasn’t clout that he was after. That was never the motivation behind why he did what he did. What mattered more was doing it on his own terms and being in line with what he believed in. He’d seen what happened to the Robins that had fallen behind Bruce’s impossible standards. That wasn’t going to be him. Being just a sidekick was never in the cards, even though he was thankful for what Bruce had given him. 

“Why would I do that?” He’d been on high alert and knew someone was on the rooftop next to him. The shadows’ movements were what tipped him off. “Maybe I want to get rid of some pent-up aggression.” Compared to the rest of the batkids he might be more reticent to involve himself where he shouldn’t, but he never turned away from a fight.