Current Obession: HOTD and GOT

House Of The Dragon

Aegon I Targaryen

Maegor I Targaryen

Viserys I Targaryen

Jacaerys Velaryon

Lucerys Velaryon

Cregane Stark

Daemon Targaryen

Aegon II Targaryen

Aemond Targaryen

Aegon III Targaryen

Daeron I Targaryen

Game Of Thrones

Robb Stark

Modern Family

Luke Dunphy

Sinners

Remmick

Jujutsu Kaisen

Gojo Satoru

Yuji Itadori

Nanami Kento

Detroit Become Human

Gavin Reed

Connor RK800

Stardew Valley

Sam

DC

Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet)

Demon Slayer

Giyu Tomioka

Tengen Uzui

Black Clover

Yami Sukehiro

Kink-tober

Zatanna opens a portal from the estate, straight into the batcave. 

“(Y/n), you are not to leave our sides.” Giovanni reiterates. 

“We’re going there on business, the last thing we need is a random magician in Gotham getting turned inside out because they tried messing with you.” Zatanna chortles. 

“Okaaaay.” You groan loudly. 

“Good.” Giovanni utters as you all walk through the portal. 

In an instant you’re all by the Batcomputer.

It towers and surrounds all three of you, large and imposing like a cybernetic god, humming like it’s alive. 

“Zatanna, Giovanni, (Y/n).” Bruce greets. 

“Hi Bruce.” You yawn as you greet. 

“(Y/n).” Giovanni shakes his head. 

“We said code names only.” Zatanna reminds you. 

“Oh oops.” You wince. “Hi Batman.”

“It’s fine. We have more urgent matters.” Bruce states walking over and handing them a scroll. 

“Eugh. The magic coming off of that thing’s disgusting.” You gag. 

“Yeah.” Zatanna says concerned. 

“I’ll show you where Tim found it.” Bruce says getting into the Batmobile. 

“Oh my god we get to ride in the Batmobile!” You fanboy out to Zatanna, bouncing on your heels. 

“Is this your first time?” Zatanna asks. 

“Yeah?” You answer confused. “Is this what you were doing when you were a part of Young Justice?!”

“(Y/n).” Bruce says clipped. 

“Sorry.” You whisper getting into the back of his car. 

You shoot daggers at Zatanna as she laughs quietly. 

You ‘ooo’ and ‘aaah’ at Gotham City nightlife, you can spot hundreds of clubs, and feel the pulse of music through the air. 

“Don’t even think about it, (Y/n).” Bruce says. “You’re here on business, not fun.”

“I know.” You sulk crossing your arms and leaning back. 

“You’re not even old enough to get in.” Zatanna snorts. 

“I could be!” You snap. “For a few hours at least.”

“Anyway—“ Your voice drops as you feel the hum of radiation. 

It makes your skin crawl.

You can almost hear, feel the warmth of the screams of the damned on your neck. 

“What is that?” You ask softly. “It’s…invasive…it’s wrong…”

“It’s a Lazarus Pit.” Bruce answers plainly. 

“People don’t use them do they?” You ask horrified. 

Bruce’s jaw tightens.

His hands turn into vices around the steering wheel. 

“Not by choice.” He says sternly. 

Bruce accelerates driving faster until he reaches the center of the magical anomaly. 

“It’s a graveyard.” You mutter unimpressed as Bruce parks. 

“It’s not the setting, it’s what’s going on in the graveyard.” Bruce utters as he gets out. 

He walks deeper into the cemetery, with you all following until he stops just short of a barrier. 

“None of us can breach it. Only Jason has so far and his report mentioned zombies. I thought it best if you three went in to see it.” He adds. 

“Woah.” You whisper walking over and touching the magical boundary. 

“(Y/n).” Giovanni utters. 

“I know, I’m making a hole in it so we can all go in.” You whisper. 

You close your eyes. 

You stretch your hand out, making contact with the boundary. 

In an instant, a red line traces from the ground up in a rectangular shape, before meeting the ground again. 

The whole cemetery shakes as a doorway stretches open. 

“Well…”, You turn to them, “last one in owes the rest of us dinner.” You chortle running in. 

“God help us.” Bruce mutters. 

He lets Zatanna and Giovanni run through before he follows, stopping just short of the threshold. 

He clenches his hands into fists, he sets his jaw before walking through. 

“Yuck.” You pinch your nose shut, before your other hand covers your mouth, suppressing a gag. 

“Is he okay, Giovanni?” Bruce asks, eyeing your reaction. 

“He’s fine.” Giovanni assures. “Yfirup ria.” 

Your nose twitches as that disgusting scent is exorcised from the atmosphere. 

Giovanni smiles softly.  

“Thanks dad.” You beam. 

“He’s more sensitive to magic.” Giovanni reveals. 

“Mm.” Bruce grunts. 

“Huh.” Zatanna says, levitating and flying overhead. “No zombies…but the magic is there.” 

You hold your hand out, magic already glowing and condensing.

“Yeah. Let me amp it—“

”No.” Giovanni states, cutting you off. “We’re far from home. No wards to nullify your magic signature. Zatanna and I can handle this.” 

“Then why did I even come along?” You whine.

The scarlet hue fades as you cross your arms. 

“The last time we left you home alone, you and Klarion turned the inside into a shifting labyrinth.” Zatanna reminds. “It took days to undo the spell.” 

“Fine.” You murmur, sitting down on a headstone. “I’ll just be here then…watching.”

“Thank you, (Y/n).” Giovanni smiles warmly before turning his focus back to the matter at hand. 

You watch them work spouting magical theory you’ve learned countless times over. 

Rolling your eyes as Bruce talks about magic being dangerous, wildly unpredictable. 

Before you respond the words die on your tongue as you feel someone pulling on plant life, halfway across the city. 

“That’s not magic…that’s something else.” You think, smirking to yourself. 

You look at Zatanna, Bruce, and your dad all distracted with the task at hand.

“They won’t notice if I just…slip away for a few minutes.” You giggle to yourself. 

Your lips move slowly, carefully, your hand briefly glows red as you set up a projection of yourself, still sitting. 

You bury your magic signature under that disgusting Lazarus hum you still feel, while you slip away unnoticed. 

“Now where did I feel it from…” You murmur to yourself from the roof of a skyscraper. 

You close your eyes, a thin scarlet sheet blankets over the city, riding just underneath that Lazarus noise floor. 

You can feel every minute movement.

Every breath taken and exhaled.

Every footstep.

Every heartbeat.

You zero in, narrowing down your focus until you feel two heartbeats side by side. 

You tilt your head unsure, until one of the heartbeats is encased by the silent hum of foliage and greenery. 

“Bingo.” You smirk, your hand draws a line downward in the space in front of you. 

As though the fabric of space and time were an elevator, another portal slides open in front of you.

You walk through landing behind a redhead clad in green, and a blonde with pigtails, holding a giant mallet. 

The blonde’s sentence dies on her tongue. 

She tenses, spinning around, and swinging her mallet at you. 

Your hand catches it, a buffer of red magic between it and your palm. 

“Oh you’re strong.” You compliment. 

You can feel her pushing harder and harder, despite your hand not moving even a centimeter.

“Ivy! We got company.” She says straining against your hand and magic.

“On it, Harley.” Ivy says, kneeling down, hand flat against the ground. 

It’s near instantaneous.

You can feel the sudden spike in primordial energy.

The ground barely shakes for half a second before giant vines rip from the ground and tangle around you. 

They lift you up in the air, Harley approaches mallet resting on her shoulder.

“Look Red, we caught ourselves a lil’ magician.” She laughs looking you up and down. 

“Or a witch.” Ivy adds coming closer. “Newbie vigilante?” She asks. 

“Well…kinda? Not really a newbie though…and not here to stop…” You look around finally taking in the scene, “animal liberation?” You say confused. 

The animals don’t seem particularly in distress anymore. 

Not with the broken cages littering the ground. 

“You two look more heroic than I do.” You snort. 

“Look witch boy run back to wherever you—“

“That’s Klarion’s moniker.” You interject. 

”Ivy, protect the kid!” Harley yells as she dives behind a crate. 

“Open fire!” A man’s voice cuts through the silence. 

They all draw their weapons.

Aiming for center mass, vital organs, and heads. 

Another torrent of vines shoot out of the ground encasing you fully. 

Ivy gets into a defensive position, a wall of thick foliage between her, Harley, you, and the armed men. 

In a split second the muzzles flash, before bullet casings hit the ground in quick succession. 

“Hold your fire! Penguin’s money is tied up in those animals.” The same man’s voice cuts through halting the fire immediately. 

Ivy’s vines shoot out of the ground, whipping wildly.

They smack guns out of hands and men into walls. 

She doesn’t notice one of them taking aim in her blind spot. 

“Ivy!” Harley shouts as she backflips, and brings her mallet down on his head. 

Ivy’s expression goes blank. 

She turns around feeling the vines she put around you be wrestled—

Not wrestled. 

Gently taken, pried from her control. 

They slowly recede into the ground.

“Ooooh… so that’s how you do it?” You say excitedly. 

“Kid?” Ivy says confused, anxious as Penguin’s men recover. 

“Oh! I’ve got this.” You smirk as they take aim. 

Ivy lifts a hand, constructing a barrier of plant life.

She doesn’t hesitate, she doesn’t even blink. In the span of a few seconds another wall erupts from the ground.

Then another.

And another.

Overlaid one in front of the other, expecting the bullets to come clean through, and making sure they never reach their target. 

Harley gets ready, putting herself between you and the gunfire. 

Her fingers trill and tap in place along the handle of her mallet, seemingly hyping herself up for when the fire ends. 

Penguin’s goons’ fingers pull the trigger.

They all fire without rest, only stopping when their clips are empty. 

Ivy slowly opens a hole in her defense to see what’s happening. 

Harley approaches right behind her, coming cheek to cheek. 

Their eyes widen as they see the innumerable bullets just hovering in the air around you all, held in place by your scarlet magic. 

“Wanna handle clean up?” You giggle looking to them.

Ivy’s eyes go to your hand, as you drop it, the bullets follow suit and fall to the ground.

Her eyes widen as she sees the red wisps of your magic coil and curl around her vines.

They seem to breathe new life into them. 

Make them strong. 

Stronger.

The plant life, perhaps even the Green itself, seems to react to you. 

To the magic you hold. 

To the magic that seems older and more primordial than even creation itself. 

“Look alive Ivy!” Harley giggles as she starts her offensive response. 

She twirls around swinging her mallet indiscriminately, nailing goon after goon. 

Ivy shakes her head, a smirk tugging at her lips.

“You’re not half-bad kid.” She says under her breath. 

In an instant more vines shoot out of the concrete, stringing up the knocked-out men, and hanging them upside down.

You sit on a crate, legs kicking, watching as Harley and Ivy move animal after animal out of the warehouse and onto Harley’s truck. 

“Kid, we gotta get outta here.” Harley says tugging your arm. 

“Just a sec’.” You say, rising to your feet. 

You take a breath, red magic starts diffusing off of you, curling and coiling before slowly enveloping the area. 

Your lips twitch quickly as you cast a spell. 

In an instant the scarlet smoke enters the head of every single man present. 

Still through the act you stay aware of hiding your magic signature. 

All of their eyes snap open in unison, they all glow red, before slowly fluttering shut.

“Whaddya do ta’ ‘em?” Harley asks. 

“Just erased their memory.” You shrug your shoulder. 

Harley snorts. “I like you kid.” She puts a hand on your shoulder, as she leads you to the getaway car. 

“So what are you guys doing next?” You ask excitedly, getting into the back. 

“Guess we oughta tuck ya in, squirt…” Harley says aloud. “We already hit Penguin’s animal trade, left them at a sanctuary, s’not much left for tonight, unless yer willin’ tah help us rob a bank?”

“Harley.” Ivy warns. 

She looks at you with mistrust, but you don’t seem to notice. The red magic and aura about you unsettle her.

She can almost trace the way it seems to pulse and thrum just under your skin…by the same blade, the scarlet magic also puts her at ease. 

“I mean…”, your hand goes to the back of your head, “I was bored earlier…a bank robbery…”

The hesitation reminds Ivy you’re still just a kid, not exactly— or entirely— someone untrustworthy. 

“Don’t think of it as a bank robbery kid.” Ivy interjects. “We’re going to take the cash Penguin got selling these animals and put it into the environment. Give it to an animal reserve.”

“Yeah squirt, it’s more about the rush than anything.” Harley laughs. 

“Yeah…I guess so…it’s for a good cause right?” You say rationalizing it. 

“Exactly, it’s for a good cause.” Ivy reiterates. 

“So kid, you got a name?” Harley asks as the engine roars to life. 

“(Y/n). (Y/n) Zatara.” You answer leaning back. 

“Harley Quinn.” She answers. 

“Poison Ivy.” The redhead adds. 

“Let’s hit it!” Harley beams, as the tires squeal. 

She hits a few trash cans, and more of the Penguin’s men as she peels out of the docks and deep into the city. 

It started simple really. 

In and out. 

With you tagging along, they didn’t have to break in. 

The doors were already unlocked.

The security system deactivated for the night. 

Ivy and Harley put the guards you left over to sleep. 

“Alright squirt, outta the way. I got a safe to crack.” Harley laughs, getting close to the metal knob. 

She twists the dial a few times, ear pressed against the door. 

“Open sesame!” She tries pulling it open, sighing dramatically when it doesn’t. 

“Well, I gave it my best shot.” She shrugs, before pulling out a pipe bomb colored in red and black diamonds. 

She attaches it to the locking mechanism, before running behind you and Ivy for cover. 

You snicker lifting a hand. 

Red magic envelops the door and bomb, isolating it from everything else. 

“God I love ya already kid.” She sighs, as the bomb detonates but makes no sound, and leaves no lasting damage to anything other the safe’s lock. 

“I’ll wait out here.” You say softly. “Let me know if you need help carrying bags.” 

“Well toots’, we do need a hand.” Harley says pulling you into the safe. 

“Okay.” You snicker, your hand glows red as a portal opens up underneath the money. 

It all gets siphoned through, like water down a drain, right into Harley’s car, before you jump in after it. 

“Come on Red.” Harley giggles following you. 

Ivy wordlessly travels through trying to take some of your magic.

It feels warm to the touch as it dissipates on her palm. 

“Let’s go!” Harley shouts, laughing as she hits the gas. 

You laugh, leaning out the window as she does. 

Your joy dies in your throat as you see innumerable red and blue flashes rushing up behind you all. 

“Ah shit.” Harley sucks her teeth. “Buckle up kid.” 

Harley tugs your seat belt tighter before she puts both hands on the wheel.

“Ivy.” Harley calls out. 

She doesn’t respond, but instantly, giant vines pop out of the ground giving Harley’s truck a new escape route. 

“Ugh, they’re still on us?” Harley whispers adjusting her mirror. “Ivy, bury the car, let’s move this on foot.” 

Vines reach into her truck, pulling her, Ivy, and you out, placing you on the nearest roof, while the car is pulled under, covered by countless vines. 

“What now?” You ask, looking down, hand glowing as you fix the concrete.

“Well now—“ the sound of a helicopter cuts off Harley. 

“We run!” She shouts with a laugh, taking off. 

You smirk to yourself chasing after her.

You can barely keep up.

Your face flashes as an idea crosses your mind. 

Portals start to blink in and out of existence.

You jump through each, putting you at pace with them. 

“Geez kid you’re playing with some serious firepower.” Harley laughs watching as you jump in and out of the holes in reality. 

“There they are!” Another voice rips through. 

“Penguin’s men found us.” Ivy remarks, using her vines to keep pace. “We need to move faster.” 

She grabs Harley, but before she can grab you, you flicker out of existence before appearing again even further in front of her. 

“Don’t gotta tell me twice!” You laugh, outrunning them. 

“Don’t be greedy (Y/n)!” Harley laughs. “Share some of that with us!”

“Huh? Sure.” You say, you aim at them with your hand.

They see your scarlet magic flowing towards them.

Their breathing hitches as their energy swells.

Your scarlet magic burrows in, sinking into muscle and bone. 

Making them stronger, faster. 

Their earlier fatigue gone.

Harley’s eyes seem clearer, while Ivy can feel the thrum of even the smallest plant life all around her. 

“Oh my god.” Ivy whispers. 

“I know, Red.” Harley answers just as quiet. 

They’re both finally keeping up with you. 

Harley has a clarity she hasn’t had in ages. 

Ivy can feel and sense even the tiniest, deepest root.

It’s intoxicating. 

And yet they don’t lust for your power. 

“They’re still on us.” Harley says looking over her shoulder. 

“I think I can fix that.” You say. 

You stop short, before turning towards the helicopter. 

Your lips move in tandem with your hands. 

“Don’t move!” The PA system on the helicopter booms. 

Scarlet sigils move with purpose, slithering through the air and arranging themselves in an intricate lattice around the helicopter. 

“Huh?” The sound system goes off again. 

The floodlight sweeps across the rooftop in wide arcs.

“We’ve lost sight of them!” 

The helicopter tilts left, before turning around and searching in a different area of Gotham. 

“See that wasn’t—“ You gasp sharply. 

A gunshot echoes as you hit the ground.

“Kid!” Harley yells, kneeling beside you.

In a fraction of a second Ivy’s vines rip apart the gun and pin the shooter to the wall. 

“Ow…” you groan. “That hurt…” 

Your hand hovers over your wound.

Red wisps drift down, gently reaching into the wound.

When the wisps pull taut, they snap back.

“Fuck!” You shout turning over, as the bullet clatters across the ground.

“Lemme see it, (Y/n).” Harley says turning you back to her, but all she manages to catch is red wisps sealing the wound. 

Her eyes snap to Ivy’s before back down to you. 

“So…a witch huh?” Harley laughs softly. 

“Yeah…” You groan softly, stretching your arm before you stand up. 

“Something like that…don’t know exactly myself either.” You laugh nervously. 

“You’re still you, ya know.” Harley says punching the shoulder you just got shot in. 

Ivy’s hands twitch, she could just…poke you. 

Some thorns catching on your skin, some blood her plants could absorb and hold before it vaporizes. 

She shakes her head, she can only imagine the amount of control it takes. 

The amount of restraint you must be exercising. 

“Yeah. You’re still you, (Y/n). Crazy powers or not.” Ivy says patting your back. 

“Thanks Ivy.” You smile warmly. 

“We should go.” You say looking over your shoulder. “They’re coming.”

Before either of them can respond, you’re already flickering to the next rooftop. 

“What do you think Harley?” Ivy asks as they try to keep up. 

“Kid’s got spunk, I tell ya.” Harley laughs, before she makes a face, deep in thought. 

“You’ve been spacing out a lot Harley.” Ivy says softly. 

“With how much chaos (Y/n) brings with him I thought you’d be having a ball.” She laughs.

“Yeah, Red…just thinkin’…” Harley responds. 

“What about?” Ivy presses, but before Harley can respond, you all freeze hearing that god awful, blood curdling laugh. 

“Him.” Harley snarls. “The kid’s magic is doin’ something to my brain…it doesn’t feel as fuzzy.” 

“And it’s tellin’ me I need to get even with Mistah J’ for all he’s done tah me.” She adds. 

“I’ve been waiting for an excuse.” Ivy says stretching. “Let’s do it?” 

Harley looks over the roof’s edge to spot the Joker. 

He seems to be in his element, terrorizing the public with no discernible goal in mind. 

Chaos for the sake of chaos.

Wanton destruction for the hell of it, no larger motive or purpose, other than pissing off Batman, and ruining the lives of the general public. 

The air shifts as you pop back to them.

“You guys know him?” You ask peering over the edge. 

“Not really.” Ivy says disgusted. 

“Not for much longer.” Harley laughs, gripping her mallet tighter. “Let’s give them a show.” 

“Alright, I’ll make sure you two can keep up.” You laugh, funneling more magic into buffing them. 

“Last one down there’s a rotten Bat!” Harley laughs, as she dives downward, mallet raised, already primed to smash someone’s head into the ground. 

Her mallet lands with a sickening thud. “One down.” She singsongs. 

“Let’s?” You giggle jumping down after her. 

Ivy’s smile is harder to hide as she follows suit.

“Hmm guns are hardly fair, it’s a shame they’re all jammed.” You declare, both hands glowing red as you get ready to provide cover. 

“Fire, you nitwits!” Joker demands, every gun clicks but no rounds go off. 

“I needed fertilizer.” Ivy states pragmatically as her vines turn sharper.

They slice in wide arcs, cutting through barrels and firing chambers. 

She twists around each vine independently whipping a goon into the wall.  

“He’s mine.” Harley reminds you both.

“I don’t want him.” You laugh, hands glowing as you fight off and puppeteer some of his henchmen.

“I wouldn’t take this from you.” Ivy assures, as she makes sure the Joker’s goons don’t get up again. 

“H-Harley!” Joker stammers, falling on his ass as he backs up. 

“Mistah J’.” She icily responds. 

“Come to beg for me to take you back?” Joker taunts. 

“Hand that overgrown weed and street kid over, and I just might—“ 

The words don’t get to leave his mouth as her mallet crashes against the side of his head. 

“I never did pay ya’ back fer everything, did I Puddin’?” She asks coldly. 

The voice in her head that wanted his approval, his attention, his love, fades even deeper into the scarlet patchwork that’s enhancing her. 

Gone.

Silenced forever. 

All that remains is her voice.

The one he buried.

The one that was telling her to get even.

To make The Joker pay. 

“H-Harley— I know we haven’t seen eye to eye lately.” Joker says through a crazed laugh. 

“And we never will again puddin’.” Harley states with finality, as she brings her mallet down on the crown of his head. 

Your throat works. 

The Joker’s head makes a sickening crunch as it meets the pavement. 

The Joker’s body twitches, once, twice, before seizing as Harley brings her mallet down. 

Again. 

And again. 

And again. 

The Joker’s blood pools across the streets of Gotham. 

“Is he….?” You ask softly. 

“Yeah. He is. Sorry kid.” Harley says broken up. 

“Had to. He was never going to make Bats laugh.” She adds with a forced laugh. 

You take a look around. 

The mental math is easy. 

The Joker’s goons opened fire, ready to kill. 

Harley and Ivy obviously had a score to settle with him. 

The Joker is a nuisance— to put it gently.

His death means hundreds, if not thousands of other people do not die.

“Well…” You wince.

“No use crying over spilled seltzer?” You laugh awkwardly. 

Harley’s eyes meet yours.

She sputters, she nearly doubles over from the laughter that rips through her.

“Oh yer funny kid.” She puts an arm around your shoulder. “Why don’t we go get some milkshakes? On me.” 

“Or on the house really…people usually give me free things when I walk in to places.” She chortles. “I don’t even hav’ ta’ hold my mallet too high!” 

“What about them?” You ask looking back up to the rooftop where Penguin’s men watch. 

All of them slack jawed at what they witnessed, before screaming and running away when Ivy and Harley look up at them. 

“They’re not gonna touch us after this.” Ivy assures you. “Harley just killed the Joker, and I helped.” 

“Ivy and I get to hold court the next few days around ‘ere.” Harley laughs. 

“Well I—“ 

“Watched.” Harley interrupts you. “You didn’t do anything.” 

“Alright, then.” You giggle, following their lead. 

"Go ahead.” Bruce says hand to his ear. “What?”

“Let Nightwing handle it. No one else.” He stresses. “Hold him off until I get there.” 

“How much longer?” He approaches the Zataras. 

“Well…kind of?” Zatanna says trying to pin down the original magic signature. 

“Why?” Giovanni asks. 

“The Joker is attacking downtown Gotham. I sent Nightwing to take care of it for now.” He says pacing back and forth. 

“Go handle it, we’ve got this covered. Not much we can do to speed this up, and dad is refusing to get (Y/n) to help us.” Zatanna rolls her eyes. 

“He’s made good progress but bringing him wasn’t for an extra set of hands. It’s so he gets experience out in the field.” Giovanni reiterates. 

“Hm.” Bruce grunts, looking over to you. 

You seem relaxed. 

Too relaxed. 

Far too casual for someone who gagged earlier when they caught a whiff of the Lazarus Pit. 

Bruce shakes his head, he knows what you’re capable of and yet it doesn’t make him feel any better. 

Bruce feels like he’s aged 10 years in the time it’s taking Giovanni and Zatanna to find the source. 

“Go for me.” Bruce says hand on his ear again, pacing back and forth with more fervor. 

“What’s the Joker doing? How many hostages? How many—“ Bruce stops in his tracks, ice in his veins, throat too dry to speak. “What?” 

“Confirm it, Oracle.” He grits out. “Yes, Nightwing. Transport the body. Find out what you can.” 

“I can handle it too, B. I’m close by.” Jason’s voice cuts in. 

Bruce’s jaw tightens. “Join Nightwing. Don’t force yourself. You have nothing to prove.”

He stares at the ground, hands clenching into fists. 

“What’s going on Batman?” Zatanna asks. 

“The Joker is dead.” He says lowly. “Someone got to him before Nightwing did.”

“Are you sure it’s a smart idea to cut through alleyways?” You say looking around. 

The air feels weird.

Granted… it is Gotham. 

And you’ve never been in an alleyway.

It just feels… off. 

“Yeah, squirt. You’re bein’ a worrywart.” Harley waves you off. 

As you all continue to walk, you notice it first. 

A Batman logo, encircled in red, a red line diagonally across.

It hasn’t changed. 

You kept track of your steps. 

Every two hundred and forty nine steps it appears again. 

Always on your left side.

Always in the same position.

Always the same size.

The more you think about it the more things you notice.

You all keep stepping in the same puddles.

The air smells acrid. 

You suppress your gag this time, but it’s familiar.

It’s humming through the air, that same energy you felt earlier. 

The static, the siren call of the Lazarus Pit. 

You’re all looping and someone is causing it. 

“Perceptive, child. Unusually so.” A woman’s voice cuts through the thickened air. 

Ivy and Harley tense, both ready for what’s coming.

“Yeah, I am.” You put a red wall in front of you all. “Seems like you are too.”

“You’re the cause of the zombies in the cemetery…aren’t you?” You directly accuse. 

Footsteps echo in the alley, as a woman’s silhouette comes into view. 

“A little experiment, really.” The woman shrugs like it’s nothing. 

Your eyes drag over every inch of her. 

“That’s why it’s hard to pin down the source.” You think to yourself. 

Her magic signature is near identical to the hum of the Lazarus Pit. 

The alleyway seems to narrow, the walls feel like they’re closing in.

“You have a magic older than time itself.” She speaks already approaching. 

“Kid, run!” Harley shouts as she tries to strike the woman with her mallet. 

It bounces off of a wall that shines green briefly, before a shock wave knocks Harley and Ivy out cold. 

“I am Mother Soul.” She states. “(Y/n) Zatara, you will make a fine gift and addition to the Lazarus Pit.”

She stares you down, eyes briefly glowing with that same ominous verdant color.

“With your essence I could unmake death itself.” She says with regality, as if it’s an honor for you. 

“No thanks.” Your hands coat themselves in your magic, you take a breath. 

“Let’s begin.” She fires a concentrated blast of magic towards you. 

On instinct your hand draws a wide arc in front of you, breaking the magic she cast. 

“Llaf.” Your voice echoes and bounces around the alleyway. 

Mother Soul bends, dropping to one knee, before a wave of green erupts and she stands tall once more. 

“Enough parlor tricks.” She says derisively, launching another blast at you. 

You open a portal in front of you and another behind her. 

The blast hits her but scatters across the air in front of her like she’s absorbing it. 

“Alright then.” You mutter to yourself. 

You fling charged magic blasts at her without stopping, she moves and weaves through them, only some singeing her clothes before melting into the walls. 

She throws another green blast right at you. 

You plant your feet, that scarlet hue dies down. 

Instead of dodging, or redirecting, you let it hit. 

You gag immediately, nearly doubling over as it sinks into your marrow. 

The lichen-colored magic travels across your skin ripping into your flesh reminiscent of cracks across porcelain. 

Your scarlet magic erupts in waves out of you.

Taking the shape of fire as if to burn and purge out the invasive force. 

You fall to your knees, breathing heavily, face slick a sheen of sweat. 

“I anticipated more of a fight. It would seem Zatara’s teachings are wasted on you.” Mother Soul says disappointed. “Very well then, I’ll just take what I came for.” 

She approaches hand outstretched, but before she can touch the crown of your head, she freezes. 

Her body trembles.

She clutches her abdomen, before random sections of her body swell. 

First her right arm, she wills it away.

 The mass shifts to her left leg. 

She tries to expel the excess energy but it makes her body swell further. 

Your breathing evens out, as you stand up again. 

“Y-You keep siphoning energy from that horrible pit.” You say, stuttering. 

Her eyes widen as your words register, you’ve seen through her. 

“You’re leaving yourself unguarded.” You say mockingly. 

She purses her lips.

It’s refined but it feels like a snarl.

As though she’s bearing her teeth.

“Child, you’re full of yourself.” She says calmly. “I need only expend the excess, and what better way than burying you with it.” 

She takes aim at you, trying to condense and give shape to her next strike, but only sparks fly. 

She tries again but this time nothing springs from her hand. 

She makes the attempt again and again, stuttering with her incantations.

When she does manage to get through a single phrase the spell fails.

She’s losing magic— hemorrhaging really. 

She can extrapolate from her body deflating, but she isn’t— can’t cast anything. 

“What have you done to me?!” She snarls, the mask finally falling.

She can feel her body aging rapidly. 

“Rewriting reality is kinda my thing.” You laugh. “You’re siphoning inward, so I just shifted it outwards.” 

“But it doesn’t matter anymore.” You shake your head. 

Mother Soul’s head whips around, looking at the space, she can see the faint red runes. 

They’re not burned onto the walls. 

They couldn’t be, she knew you were a Zatara.

She knew Giovanni or Zatanna would’ve taught them to you.

It was the simplest thing she thought to counter. 

She knew you would try something like that. 

And yet they still warble with live magic. 

She eyes them closer, seeing the edges of reality fray around each rune and ward. 

She can only see the mere edges of the vast white void that sits under creation.

You’ve burned them into existence. 

“Runes.” She snaps. 

“Yeah.” You say smugly. “Try erasing them, you’ll just burn through your limited magic.” 

Mother Soul’s nails drag against the concrete as she stews. 

You watch and wait. 

Half expecting her to have something else up her sleeve.

But she doesn’t. 

You can hear it. 

The thing that lives in the Pit. 

It’s whispering.

Your eyes widen. 

It’s whispering to you.

“This is getting boring Ruh Al Ghul.” You yawn. “And that thing isn’t nearly as loyal as you think it is.”

Her eyes widen, she can feel the being in the Pits measure her worth. 

She can feel her soul resting in the palm of your hands. 

Your fingers twitch and crack as red chains rip through the fabric of reality, locking around each of her wrists and ankles. 

You spread your fingers, she groans as she’s strung up, arms and legs nearly pulled clean from her body. 

She’s only saved by her Lazarus Pit enhancements. 

“I could just undo your spell and put those people back to rest…” you drag out the last word. 

“Or I could just take your head.” You say nonchalantly. 

“It’s all the same really.” You shrug your shoulders. 

A saw blade made of your scarlet magic, manifests in front of you. 

You twist your hand forward. 

The blade spins and spins, until it seems to cut the air itself. 

“(Y/n) Zatara—!” She shouts as the blade flies at her. 

Her eyes slowly shut as she accepts her fate, but the blade never digs into her flesh. 

She opens her eyes, watching as strands of her hair fall. 

The saw keeps spinning, fast enough each serrated edge blurs into one continuous blade.

“Undo your spell, and retreat to wherever you’re from. ‘Cause I only forgive once.” You state, as your magic dissipates. 

The chains that strung her up release her immediately as they dissipate. 

She falls to the ground taking deep heaving breaths. 

She speaks in a language you don’t bother translating, or memorizing. She spouts on about purification, or consecrated blood, or rather how the boundary between life and death is arbitrary. 

You take it with a grain of salt.

The alleyway enchantment breaks. A second later her projected form follows. 

Her form glitches, like a computer encountering a bug. 

“No fucking way…” You scoff. “…I was struggling against a fucking projection?”

Her form cracks and falls in pieces turning into gangrenous ashes.

Before her projection can fully dissolve you catch the faintest thread. 

Your eyes narrow, as you turn to face Gotham Harbor.

Your consciousness pushes far beyond the harbor, further beyond the black water, landing upon an island.

You almost retch. The island is even more contaminated than the Lazarus Pit here in Gotham. 

You push through, fighting through the Lazarus hum, until your awareness homes in on Mother Soul’s physical body.

You watch as she jerks forward, one hand clutching her chest while ragged breaths tear through her. 

“Well… as long as she stays on that fuck-ass island… we shouldn’t have a problem.” You say annoyed. 

“(Y/n)…” Ivy whispers as she stands, offering Harley a shoulder. 

“Did you say Al Ghul?” Harley asks tired, wincing as her hand tentatively goes to her ribs. 

“Maybe.” You shrug, hand glowing as your magic diffuses into Harley’s body. “This might hurt. Sorry Harley.” 

“What might-“ Harley’s voice erupts into a scream.

Her skin seems to pulse and stretch as her ribs snap back into place and her arm sets itself. 

“Geez kid, give me a heads up next time…” She whines softly, stretching to ease her muscles. 

“Sorry. I kinda forget it hurts normally.” You say offhandedly. 

“I feel like I owe ya more than a milkshake now.” Harley laughs. 

“Add a burger and we’re even.” You snort. 

“A deal’s a deal! No take backs.” Harley laughs. 

Ivy looks to the half-melted ground, before looking back to you. 

The thorn prick comes back to the forefront of her mind. 

She shakes her head, before catching up, laughing with the two of you. 

Bruce watches as Zatanna and Giovanni pore over magical theory again, trying to find a solution. 

“But dad—“ Zatanna’s voice stops abruptly. 

“Zatanna, Zatara, report.” Bruce states approaching.

“It’s…gone…” Zatanna whispers. 

“What is?” Bruce asks pointedly. 

“The spell. The magic…it just..it just vanished.” She adds. 

“I can already feel the dead returning to their graves.” Giovanni utters. 

“Good work.” Bruce says watching as the barrier falls on its own. 

“No Bruce we didn’t do that.” Zatanna says shaken. 

“We need—“ Giovanni’s head snaps to where you’re sitting. 

“He didn’t.” Zatanna whispers. 

Giovanni walks over to you. 

“Hi dad.” You say sweetly. 

“Lepsid Tnemtnahcne.” Giovanni utters. 

You seem to glitch once, twice, before you fade from view. 

“Heavens above.” Giovanni utters. 

Giovanni’s fingers rub at his temples. 

“How long has he been gone?” Bruce asks pragmatically. 

“Knowing him…probably from the moment he sat down.” Zatanna pinches the bridge of her nose. 

Her head jerks up, she stares off into the city. 

“Found him.” She utters. 

Giovanni sighs exhaustedly. “That burst of magic is probably why this was easy to dispel.” 

Giovanni shakes his head as Zatanna opens a portal. 

Bruce joins them as they walk through.

They all squint, as their eyes adjust to the light of a burger joint. 

“Today was so much fun (Y/n)!” Harley squeals.

“Right! I haven’t had this much fun in ages!” You giggle, taking a huge bite out of your burger.

You don’t seem to notice how badly the workers are shaking.

“You were right, by the way.” You say in between bites. 

“Don’t chew with yer mouth open squirt.” Harley chides. “What about?” 

“It was on the house they really did just give you the burgers.” You snort. 

“See, kid? That’s my typa magic.” Harley laughs. 

“(Y/n) Zatara.” Giovanni says clipped. 

You squeak, the burger falls from your hand. 

“Uh— uhm— hi, Dad.” You sheepishly say. 

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?!” He snarls. 

You bear your neck, bristling under your alpha father’s anger. 

“I stopped the source.” You say meekly. 

“Yeah, yer little magician’s got spunk.” Harley says candidly, kicking her legs up. 

“Harley. Ivy.” Bruce says annoyed. 

“Hey Bats!” Harley beams. 

“Batman.” Ivy says measured. 

“(Y/n) you are so grounded.” Zatanna crosses her arms.

“Let’s go.” Giovanni says icily. 

“But—“

”No buts!” He snaps. 

“Aww geez go easy on him, he was just havin’ fun.” Harley whines. 

“Stay out of it, clown.” Giovanni demeans. 

“Dad.” You say sternly. “Be nice to her.”

“God (Y/n) what is it with you and befriending villains? ” Zatanna whispers. 

“Excuse me?” Bruce says. 

“Nothing Batman.” Giovanni interjects. “The magical anomaly seems to be handled, so we’re taking our leave.” 

Giovanni puts a hand on your shoulder and pushes you through a portal home. 

“Bye Ivy! Bye Harley!” You manage to get out before you’re in the Zatara estate library. 

“Pamela, Harleen.” Bruce says clipped. “Any explanation for how (Y/n) Zatara ended up in your presence?” 

“None we wanna give you, Bats.” Harley tosses a smoke bomb.

By the time Bruce confirms the workers are unharmed, Harley and Ivy are gone.

Bruce stands in the burger joint.

He looks towards the staff who seem to be breathing easier.

He takes a deep breath before calling the Batmobile to his location, and speeding off to the Batcave. 

“Oracle, report.” Bruce demands as he sits down. 

“I’m sending the video over. I think it’s easier to see than it is to hear.” Barbara says uneasy. 

“Very well.” Bruce says. 

Bruce watches with wide eyes as you empower two of the most dangerous villains in his town.

 His mouth drops open watching Harley Quinn decorate the streets with the Joker’s brains. 

“He caused this.” Bruce snaps. “I let him into my city and—“

The leather of his gloves screeches as he tightens his hands into fists. 

He doesn’t wait, he moves first. 

With the guest token Giovanni provided Bruce, he enters the estate with ease. 

“Giovanni.” He says startling the magician. 

“God—! Bruce.” He says exhaling. 

“We need to talk.” Bruce says angrily. “Your son killed the Joker.”

“What…?” Giovanni whispers. “No. (Y/n) wouldn’t.”

Bruce doesn’t answer, simply pulling his phone out and showing the video.

“That is Harley Quinn, killing the Joker, Bruce.” Giovanni waves him off. “I will not allow you to blame my son for the actions of two of your headaches.” 

“Something she’d never have done if (Y/n) didn’t boost her.” Bruce says through gritted teeth. 

Giovanni’s jaw tightens. 

He pings you telepathically. 

Bruce waits, fists still clenched. 

“Hi Bruce.” You and Zatanna greet both walking past him. “Yeah dad?” 

“Son, do you have anything you want to confess to?” Giovanni prompts you. 

“No…? I haven’t done anything… I think” You say confused. 

“The Joker, (Y/n).” Bruce cuts in.

“Oh.” You wring your hands together. “I mean…is that really something to apologize for?” 

“I’m sure Gotham breathes easier.” You say pragmatically, eyes darting to the side. “Besides that wasn’t me Harley Quinn did that.” 

“(Y/n), you caused that.” Bruce starts. “I am certain, you, with your powers, understand causality.” 

You make a face at his assumption.

“Well if you miss him that much…” you hold out your hand, fingers curling like you’re holding something. 

A few seconds pass as tufts of green hair spill out between your fingers. 

A man’s head begins to form. 

That same shade of sickly white face paint drips down. 

That sickening laugh echoing in the library as the shadows themselves retreat from you. 

“(Y/n).” Giovanni says sternly. 

“Sorry— I’m sorry.” You whisper, letting the Joker’s half formed head fade into red wisps. 

“(Y/n) your actions have consequences.” Bruce starts again. 

“I really don’t understand why you’re so upset.” You cross your arms making a face. “Didn’t he kill one of your sons? Jason Todd?”

You can hear a pin drop in the library.

Bruce stands straighter, spine made of steel.

“Right?”

Zatanna’s face pales as she starts to understand the land mine you’ve stepped on. 

“Why aren’t you happy he’s dead?” You ask with genuine curiosity. 

Bruce’s eyes widen, his jaw drops before he closes his mouth, his teeth grinding against each other. “What?” 

“Bruce he doesn’t understand what he’s saying!” Zatanna stands in front of you. 

Giovanni pulls Bruce back by his arm. 

“(Y/n) is young, please forgive him Bruce.” He whispers. “I’ll make sure there are consequences for this.” 

“He is never to set foot in Gotham again. Never.” Bruce snarls. 

“Of course Bruce—“

“He should be sealed, or banished.” Bruce spits. 

Giovanni’s face hardens. 

His pheromones sharpen, his magic seems to spark and dance across his hands.

“Say that again, and I’ll show you what banishment feels like.” Giovanni icily says. “He stopped the next few hundred funerals.”

Bruce scoffs. 

“How many Robins have you buried, Bruce?” Giovanni snaps. 

“Watch your mouth, Giovanni.” Bruce seethes taking a step close. 

“Reirrab.” Zatanna utters bringing down a wall between the two alphas. 

“Keep him out of Gotham. Or else.” Bruce reiterates, he turns around abruptly, shadows clinging to him and his cowl as he leaves. 

“You don’t get to ban my brother from a city he saved!” Zatanna shouts out behind him. 

“I still don’t get why he’s upset.” You murmur. 

“Bruce, think about this—” Barbara’s voice comes through Bruce’s earpiece. 

“I’m terminating comms for now, Oracle.” Bruce says getting into his jet. 

The moment the doors close behind him he backhands the nearest wall, denting it. 

“He nearly brought the Joker back to life, Bruce?” Clark asks, mouth agape.

“He did. He was flippant, as most teens are.” Bruce says candidly. 

“He didn’t plan to fully resurrect the Joker.” Bruce murmurs. “I may not know what point he was making, but that much, I know.”

“He was a teen with unfathomable power at his fingertips.” He sighs. 

“Even when he brought up Jason…” Bruce’s hands tighten, before relaxing, “that wasn’t malice. That wasn’t cruelty. That was blunt naïveté.”

“He’s grown since then.” Bruce smiles softly. 

“This story doesn’t make me feel better, Bruce.” Clark says defeated. 

“It’s not supposed to.” Bruce answers, meeting Clark’s gaze. 

“It’s supposed to establish that (Y/n) is not exempt from morality.” Bruce reveals. “He is operating under responsibilities our laws were never written to comprehend.”

“So, what?” Clark scoffs. “You allow the little red terrorist free rein as though the universe is his sandbox?” 

Bruce raises an eyebrow. 

Clark sighs. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just— I am frustrated. Why does the League allow the multiversal custodian such liberties?” 

“No.” Bruce says sternly. “It means we judge him by his scale. By the responsibility creation placed in his hands when it made him capable of unilaterally enacting his will upon it.”

Clark turns to look out the viewport. His hands clench into fists at his sides. “(Y/n) is not a god.” 

“He isn’t.” Bruce immediately agrees. “Nor does he want to be. The strain is already enormous. Put yourself in his shoes. If you could see every single branch, every Lex Luthor, those who choose redemption, and those who choose destruction, what choice would you make?” 

Clark turns back to face Bruce again. “I would—“ 

Clark’s face pales. His jaw sets.

“I would… not erase him. He could’ve grown and learned.” He manages to get out. 

“And thus you’ve potentially condemned countless universes.” Bruce states. “(Y/n) saw every Lex Luthor—the good, the heroes, even the evil ones who never crossed that boundary. He left them untouched. He erased only the versions whose choices had already endangered creation, or whose branches had converged on that outcome.”

Bruce steps closer. “I admire this quality about you, Clark, don’t misunderstand. You simply can’t imagine the scope. In our universe, Lex Luthor died and trillions of others live. Multiply that by the infinite expanse of creation. The number of Lex Luthors erased is beyond calculation. The number of lives saved is greater still.”  

Clark shakes his head. “I still wouldn’t have erased them. They were alive. They were people. They could’ve changed.” 

The one I saw on Twitter like… this morning was about Rhaegar and lyanna???

apparently if cannon Arya takes after lyanna cause she knows more about swordplay than she does dancing??