Hi! Is the world of "Mage in a Wolfpack" an open sandbox for others to write in? I have some Ideas (because I've been reading all the fics and my writer brain said "put that mage in a Situation!") and I know there's a lot of related fics, but I wanted to check. I wasn't sure what the etiquette was for this type of situation.
Bruce woke slowly and groggily, though long years of practice kept him still and limp as he returned to consciousness.ย He was bound to a chair, he identified easily by the points of pressure around him.ย He'd been drugged, by the mouth full of cotton.ย Still in his suit, the distinctive over-soured stink of body armor that no amount of baking soda could make a dent in.ย A small room, judging by the lack of echoes, and mostly alone.ย One other person was all he could detect, minute shifting and breathing and the occasional clink of metal kept deliberately quiet.
He didn't remember what had happened.ย His memories of patrol were fuzzy and out of orderโhe remembered Gordon asking for help with a new drug lord that had risen to prominence in Gotham's underworld with alarming speed and vicious ruthlessness, a mugging in Burnley, touching base with Robin in San Francisco.ย He'd spotted the distinctive red helmet on patrol, remembered chasing Red Hood into Somerset, but the Rogue was as good as any Bat in traversing the cityscape.ย Bruce had almost lost him twice, but he'd cornered him eventually, on the verge of Crime Alley's borders, and thenโ
A louder clank of metal and a muffled groan.
Bruce finally cracked his eyes open, blinking to adjust to the naked bulb as his head groaned with a heavy, dull ache.ย His head was slumped to the right as far as it could in the confines of his cowl and Bruce scanned his surroundings with slowly clearing vision.
The room was windowless and dark, with a singular set of steps leading up to a reinforced metal door.ย Bruce was bound to a metal chair welded to the floor, his hands manacled together and his feet shackled to another hook in the floor.ย He was missing his boots, his belt, and his gauntlets.ย There were unidentifiable stains on the floor and wall, all a rusty brown.
And in the center of the room, slightly to the left of the drain in the sloping floor, shackled to a hook that curved inches below the ceiling, was his target.
Hood had lost his jacket, his belt, and his boots, socked feet on tiptoes as he strained against the chains that kept him strung up.ย He'd kept the distinctive red helmet, which was now tilted towards Bruce.
Hood was keeping a low profile at the moment, which was admittedly not difficult to do in Burnley.ย All of Crime Alley had gotten used to checking over their shoulder for a flash of red whenever they were up to no good, but their increased caution hadn't percolated beyond Somerset.ย Out here, Hood was free to casually stalk a group of dealers as they discussed their plans for selling new product.
Gotham's chemistry education had gotten out of hand while Hood had been gone.ย There was a new designer drug on street corners every few weeks, half of them byproducts of the Rogues' experimentation and all of them lethal.ย They didn't start in Crime Alley, no, the criminals had gotten a little too smart for that, but they ended up there all the same.ย Clogging up his streets and poisoning his people with their toxic castoffs.
Hood watched the pack of lowlife scum tasting the bright pink crystals and eagerly plotting to flood every rave for the next week with little baggies and wondered if it wouldn't be easier to have a little chat with the head of Gotham U's chemistry department.
But since he was already here and his guns were loaded...
Hood straightened from his crouch and braced a foot on the parapet.ย The decorative facade of the next building over gave plenty of notches to lock his grapple and descend into the pack.ย The idiots hadn't looked up onceโit would be child's play to shoot them before his boots touched the ground.ย Maybe he'd miss one, let the man think he'd escaped death by the skin of his teeth.ย Let him beg for mercy.ย Let him flee, fast enough to carry the tales of Hood's vengeance to enough ears so that by the time Hood caught up to him and murdered him in his own home, all of Gotham would understand what Crime Alley had already taken to heart.
The Red Hood ruled crime in Gotham and no oneโnot the cops, not Black Mask, and certainly not Batmanโcould stop him.
Before Hood could unholster his grapple, his attention was caught in the distance by a building a block away.ย The yellow cape he recognized, fingers tightening painfully on his grapple, the purple one less so, and the last, a shadow dark enough to be mistaken as a trick of the lightโthat one made a jagged smile split his face under the helmet.
Batman was a block away.ย A block too far to save the criminals Hood had marked for death.ย Too late.ย As always.
They hadn't noticed him, the Bat or his brightly feathered flock, and Hood paused for a moment.ย Something about the scene was niggling at him like a popcorn kernel stuck between his teeth and he couldn't quite put a finger on it.ย The three figures were arrayed facing each other instead of peering into the night and as he watched, the shadow unfurled, a dark smudge on the horizon.ย The other two fell back slightly.
All three fixed on each other with no attention to their surroundings.
Shame that.ย You never knew when a murderous crime lord was watching you.ย When an enemy was lurking in the shadows, justย waiting to break some wings.ย It was practically Hood's civic duty to remind them of the consequences.
When the Bats stopped paying attention, people died.
Hood made to the last building before the street split without notice, pressed against the HVAC with his gun pointing around the side.ย He was close enough to hear snatches of their conversationโthe Replacement's voice shrill, the new Batgirl almost angry, the Bat's inaudible growlโand close enough to make the shot.
The only question was who first?ย The Replacement Robin, who'd left his back unguarded so foolishly after Hood had proven in Titans Tower that nowhere was safe?ย The Replacement Batgirl, who Hood didn't know much about, but who certainly should've taken the lesson the old Batgirl had learned the hard way?ย Or Batman himselfโHood still seethed with rage at the memory of how Br-Batman had dismissed him in the same breath as the Joker, just two Rogues fighting for his attention, as though Jason hadn't died, as though Robin never mattered, as though he and the Joker were one and the same.
"โyou both jeopardized the mission and each other," Batman's growl reached his way, the argument growing louder.ย "Never in all my years have I seen such rampant disobedience and here are the consequences.ย Our objective is fled, his base lies in ruins, his plans are unknown, and when he finally puts them into action we will be too late to stop it.ย Because of you."
Hood paused.ย It was mighty satisfying to hear Batman yelling at someone else, especially his shiny new Robin.ย The Replacement stepped forward to protest and Hood holstered his gun.ย This was too entertaining to spoil.
"B, weโ"
"Enough."ย It was the night air that sent a chill down Hood's spine, not that icy tone.ย "I do not want to hear your excuses."
"It's not an excuse!" Batgirl shouted, voice almost cracking.ย "We were handling it until you dropped in!ย You were the one who ruined it, just because you couldn't comprehend that we're just as capable as you."
Batman loomed over the girl, frustration evident in the stiff movements of his cape.ย "You weren't handling it.ย You aren't capable of handling it."ย ย Ouch, Hood felt that one and judging by Batgirl's balled fists, she had too.ย "You are nothing but a bad influence."
That felt a bit harsh, but who was Hood to judge?
Batman rounded on the Replacement and cut him off before he could speak.ย "And youโI expected better of you, not to be so easily led astray by base manipulation."ย Both the kids reared back at that.ย Batman's voice was cold and final, "You're clearly not the detective I thought you were."
Something about the scene was making Hood uneasy.ย It was a pit in his stomach he couldn't name, a feeling achingly familiar but lost to the sands of his memory.ย Something about the way Batman postured, big and broad and towering over the two smaller vigilantes.ย Something about the way the two replacements faced him, carefully keeping him in their line of sight as they covered each other.ย Something about the tenor of the argument, the kids defensive, the Bat angry.
The Replacement recovered first and stepped forward, empty hands open and out, posture conciliatory.ย "Batmanโ"
"Enough.ย I don't want to hear it."
"B, I think there's something wrong.ย You were closest to the explosion.ย Youโ"
"I saidย enough."
"You need to come back to the Cave, Bโ"
Hood was close enough to see the flash of his gauntlet.ย See the way the Replacement's head snapped to the side.
Hear the sharp crack of kevlar on skin.
Hood's fingers creaked on the HVAC and he realized he'd straightened to his feet.ย The Bats weren't paying attention thoughโBatgirl had advanced on the Bat with a shout as the Replacement fell back.ย It wasn't his problem.ย The Bat swung at Batgirl but she ducked, though not fast enough to avoid the second punch.ย It wasn't his problem.ย The Replacement grabbed her and pulled her back, covering her as they both stumbled too close to the edge of the roof.ย ย It wasn't his fucking problem.
So Batman had decided to start hitting his kids.ย So what?ย They weren't special.ย Plenty of children in Crime Alley had learned to fear their fathers.ย Plenty of children in Crime Alley learned to fear Batman.ย And these kids would learn that fear as one and the same.
Batman advanced on the two little birds as they shrank back away from him, all of them too involved to notice Hood standing there in plain view.
It wasn't his goddamn problem.
Except for the voice in the back of his head, the kid he'd long thought dead or drowned, the kid who stared appalled at a man he'd trusted succumbing to violence.
Jason thought he had nothing left for Batman to betray, but he was clearly wrong.
The shouts and scrabbles paused in perfect unison when Jason's boots touched down on the rooftop and three pairs of white lenses landed on him.
Batman's focus immediately shifted, lasering in on his helmet, but both replacements backed up, keeping him and Batman still in their view.ย As though the both of them were threats.
"Hey, old man," Jason greeted, "you wanna take on someone your own size?"
peculiar question for you, but I wanted to see if you knew of this fic? I could've sworn it was yours, but I've been completely unable to find it. I think that the main fic was Jason being forced to pretend to be interested in Tim (who I think had been captured and raped already) and possibly buying him. What I thought was one of your extras was something after that, where Dick had sounded a little too knowing about it and they'd clocked that he'd been raped and he mentioned Catalina and soon after Jason broke into jail to kill her. The closest to an exact line that I can remember is Dick saying something about how he understand why Jason killed Tim's rapists bc he'd had to pretend to be interested but he was surprised that Jason did the same to Dick's. I don't think that they had a conversation about it and it ended with Dick cuddling up with Tim, I think? But I could've SWORN it was one of yours bc I thought that the part with Dick and Jason killing Catalina was an extra but I checked both your and greenie's accounts and couldn't find it!
Main fic is https://archiveofourown.org/works/30551967 followed by https://archiveofourown.org/works/30552099.
With Discord's age verification rolling out globally next month and given that some whump themes end up dancing on the line of being 18+ content, I wanted to see what other whump communities are planning.
Are you trying to keep Discord communities with non-age-restricted content only?
Are you planning to move to alternative platforms? (If so, which ones and any suggestions for how to download/import Discord history?)
We are aware that Yahoo Mail is not currently accepting emails from AO3, and we are actively working to resolve the issue. We will update you when we know more!
Look who finally popped up, penguins in tow, rounding up the last of Arkham's escaped prisoners.
With a few finishing touches, the reconstruction is complete. Arkham Asylum is officially back in business!
Wait--Mr. Freeze can't ice over the doors, we just built them! We need to fix that fence before the Riddler can escape! Where does the Penguin think he's going?!
(*deepbreath*)
Well, I'm sure it'll all turn out alright. The Bats are here and once we get these gates closed, all the villains will be nice and locked up!
Catwoman's put in an appearance, though she claims she's only here to search for a missing kitten. The bag of treats she's holding support her case, but she refuses to explain why she's in full costume.
Meanwhile, tucked in the corner, a couple of lovebirds have made their mark as well.
The rafters of Arkham have all sorts of hidey holes. Condiment King's left some supplies behind and the Riddler's tucked away a crossword puzzle where no one (*coughJokercough*) can yell out answers at him.
More than one villain's made their mark here. The rafters are, after all, the perfect place to sneak, whether you're a Rogue, a Bat, or perhaps even a Cat....
For Lego Arkham Asylum references! Right next to the owl is the Erasers helmet(I think)! Very random Batman villain but that helmet can erase even the smallest physical trace evidence of a crime. A great thing for some of the unsavoury doctors of the Asylum to have I guess xD
Oh yeah, an eraser that can erase any evidence of a crime is NOT something we want around our loosely secured villains.
There's Bill, our longtime veteran Arkham guard! Bill's survived this long by knowing when to take a strategic coffee break. He's returning from one now, just in time for the watchtower to finish reconstruction.
Bill's also been around long enough to know when the water cooler's been poisoned, but it looks like someone else has made that mistake.
The second floor of Arkham is officially complete!
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