Yes, this goes exactly as well as you think it will.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three
Masterlist
Luz, picking King up from his first day of school (Eda would've been there but she's busy getting a teaching certificate): hey buddy how was your day!
King: ...I think my liaison's the school bully
Luz: what makes you say that?
King, reflecting on Damian's death stares and the general inability of classmates to approach King whenever Damian was nearby: just a hunch
(Luz and King, walking towards Crime Alley because that's where their apartment is)
Luz, seeing some other high schoolers walking the same way: hey do you know those guys? If we're in the same neighborhood you could probably make friends with them!
King, who was essentially bodyguarded by a very sour Damian the entire day: I don't know anyone
Luz: well now's your chance! Hey! Over here!
King, who already had to suffer through an entire day of awkward social interaction with Damian and just wants to take a nap: (-_-)
(Luz manages to flag down the group)
The group, suspicious of these random people: what do you want?
Luz, not picking up on their hostility: well I'm Luz and this is my brother King! He just started at your school :D
The group, unsure of how this relates to them: o...kay?
Luz: I think we live in the same neighborhood too!
The group: ...
King, used to Luz aggressively pack bonding with everyone in sight: just let her have this
(Luz, being Luz, actually manages to get the teens to talk)
One of the teens, actually kinda matching Luz's energy after Luz correctly vibe checked their gender: I'm Alex Nygma, and this is Peter, Alice, and Wallace
Luz, certified bi disaster, completely missing the hint to "Alex Nygma" and "Edward Nygma aka The Riddler": nice to meet you! (^u^)
Rogue kids: *squint against the bright light of Luz's unbiased personality*
Wallace: ...so we're gonna go do homework at my dad's club, wanna come with?
Luz, grinning excitedly at King like "look! I made friends for us!":
King, sighing: yeah sure
(the group goes to Wallace's dad's club...which turns out to be the Iceberg Lounge)
Luz, who is aware of what the Iceberg Lounge is: *sweats nervously* haha your dad owns this club?
Wallace, still unsure of how Luz and King will react to this: ...yeah
King, trying not to walk into another death trap after the Titan Trapper Fiasco: wouldn't that make your dad the Penguin?
Wallace: ...yeah
Luz and King: *processing*
Wallace: ...he's an okay dad
Alice, helpfully: he lets me stay in the back rooms whenever my dad gets out of Arkham!
Luz: haha and who would your dad be?
Alice, energy switching from "the last ray of Gotham's sunshine" to "someone is going to die and it's not gonna be me": Mad Hatter
Luz and King, immediately understanding: *shudder*
The Penguin, territorial and trying to make sure the new kids aren't there to cause trouble: you scraps seem too soft to hang out with imps. Why should I let you stick around?
Alex, whispering to Wallace: you sure your dad's gonna let 'em in?
King, who has watched Luz assimilate 90% of enemies into her found family: don't worry she's got this
Luz "I Turn Enemies Into Friends Or Corpses" Noceda: well, Mr. Penguin sir, Wallace seems like a good kid and my brother just transferred to his school so we figured it'd be a good opportunity to make friends!
The Penguin, still suspicious and trying to root out any disingenuous intentions: you sure you wanna be hanging out with Rogues' kids?
Luz, flippantly: my whole family is made of weirdos who don't fit in anywhere
Luz: I mean, half of us used to work for a genocidal dictator! Who am I to judge?
The Penguin:
Wallace & Co:
Luz: the important thing is that everyone should get to choose their own destiny, not one their parents throw on them
The Penguin, finally recognizing Luz as the girl who got out of Riddler's escape room in under ten seconds (Nygma ranted for hours): ...don't cause any trouble.
Luz and King, knowing trouble loves them as Spoiler loves purple: *salute*
King, once they're in the back rooms: so all your parents are...prominent?
Alex, taking a swig of Luz-hopes-that's-orange-juice: yeah, our group's called the Imps cause we're like smaller and more harmless versions of our parents. Like, my dad's the Riddler and I use everything he taught me to mess with people
Alex, to Luz: my dad's mad at you by the way
Luz: ???
Alex, explaining: you beat his escape room in record time
Luz:
Luz, vaguely recalling the incident from her and Amity's first date in Gotham: ah
Peter: my dad's Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow, he's a decent parent when he gets his meds
Luz "I Turned Fear Into A Tree For My Gf And I To Have Dates Under" Noceda: cool. Yeah the healthcare industry is kinda bad at making life-changing medication widely accessible
Peter, about to go on a rant: I know right??
(one rant later, homework completion is looking bleak)
Alice: so what's your family trauma?
King and Luz, looking at each other: uhhhh
King: so like
King: I never knew my dad, he died before I - [almost says hatched] - was born
King, having a crisis: and then I thought I found my family but I actually found the people who killed my family
King: and it turned out some guy was using my dad's name to gain religious/political power :/
The Imps:
King, trying to skip past all that: anyways your turn Luz!
Luz, not sure how to follow that cause she's literally just some Normal Human Girl: oh my mom's a veterinarian
The Imps, thinking this might be a normal story after the lore dump they just heard: *breathing a sigh of relief*
Luz: but one time I ran away and ended up gaining an aunt
Luz, counting on her fingers: plus her partner and another aunt, also King became my brother!
Luz: in the meantime my mom accidentally adopted another kid,
The Imps, trying to comprehend "accidentally adopted another kid":
Luz: then this guy tried to kill me a couple times and he ended up becoming my other brother,
Luz: I had to kill his uncle,
Luz: and I made a few friends along the way!
The Imps:
Luz: plus I got a girlfriend :D she's literally amazing
Alice, whispering to Peter: are we sure they're not the Batfamily?
King, trying to bond: so what's more your style, traps or riddles?
Alex, while working on their calculus homework: I prefer to imitate fae tricksters
Alex: the more queerphobics I can cause to descend into madness the better
King: cheers I'll drink to that *pours a glass of whatever Alex was drinking*
(the Imps' phones start buzzing with a message from Arkham Alerts)
Alice, groaning loudly: oh my god he's out again!
King: who, your dad?
Alice, gritting her teeth: unfortunately.
King, who doesn't want to see his new friend suffering: *tugs on Luz's sleeve* can we do something?
Luz, already forming a plan: alright everyone, fasten your seatbelts and leave your mortality at the door because we're not gonna stand by while this son of a ratworm traumatizes his daughter!
The Imps:
Alex, grabbing a baseball bat: sick
Eda, coming home that night and realizing her kids aren't there: they better not be on the news without me
Eda: *turns on the TV*
Reporter: -and it looks like a group of teens have Mad Hatter cornered on the roof of Gotham Medical-
Eda, seeing Luz and King at the forefront of the group: *grabs Owlbert and runs out the door*
Hatter, getting whack-a-mole'd by a group of kids: *having a bit of a bad day*
Luz, who already blasted Hatter's mind-control hat before he even knew what was going on: not so high-and-mighty now, huh?
Alice, still a bit apprehensive about approaching #1 Worst Parent of the Year: hey you got any of those flashbang things left?
Luz, pulling a fire glyph out of her pocket: here throw this at him!
Alice, confused: this is paper?
Luz: yeah just keep your arm straight when you throw, you got this!
Alice:
Luz: *thumbs-up*
Alice, when Hatter is distracted (due to getting smacked by Alex's bat): *yeets the glyph*
Mad Hatter and part of the railing on the roof: *explodes, Hatter screaming in terror, wow they really didn't get much homework done huh*
Alice: (°-°)
The Imps:
Luz, patting Alice on the back: woah nice shot!
Alex:
Alex: that was sick do it again
Current Standings for Vigilante Bingo:
Lumity:
Both Luz and King were awarded the "befriend a rogue" square on account of them now being under the Penguin's protection.
Huntlow:
Willow is starting to argue that Ivy and Harley should count as vigilantes since they're no longer quite rogues (and are friendly), but the original rules were very specific on the distinctions between vigilantes and rogues.
Gus and King:
Gus and King are tied for first with Lumity.
Eda and Vee:
Eda and Vee, despite having a deal with Spoiler, have yet to complete any more challenges and are in last place.
Content: Gore, death, bodily fluids, guns, trappers/slavers, broken bones, its/its pronouns (positive), being hunted, being drugged, loss of autonomy, concussion, punctured lung, trouble breathing, (let me know if I missed any)
—-
The net clung to his skin like a web of hands holding him down. He was pinned against the hard ground, gravel and twigs scraping against his exposed back.
Human feet marched all around him, holding nets.
Turning his head to the side, he saw the mesh being tossed onto scrambling imps. Some of the imps who attempted to float away had traps thrown on them midair. They were falling all around Demon like birds dropping from the sky. They fell hard and landed with incredible thuds.
The hunters dragged the imps across the ground towards a pile of cages that sat on top of carts. The imps kicked and struggled against the nets but it just caused them to become more tangled. They couldn’t free themselves on their own.
Their screams pierced through Demon’s ears, but he couldn’t move fast enough to help them. The rope around him constricted him even more every time he tried to move. He felt a harsh prick on the side of his arm, made by a human hovering over him. He jerked his arm sideways with a growl, almost throwing the person off of him, and looked to his side to try to see his imps better.
His eyes focused on the one that was crying in broken bursts. A boot was stomping down on it repeatedly and the poor imp couldn’t even shield its face to protect itself. Blood burst from the imp’s nose, and seeing this sent a surge of energy into Demon’s body. The rage he felt was unbearable.
All of his adrenaline streamed to his muscles, and he ripped a part of the net loose from him. His arm became free, and he swung it back. Feeling a soft tissue of a person’s middle collide with his forearm.
He sent the hunter flying across the yard, and when they landed, they didn’t get up.
Demon screamed deep from his lungs. He ripped the net completely loose, and anyone who tried to grab at him, he toppled over like a line of dominoes.
The one who was kicking the helpless imp had long stopped, frozen in place while watching Demon stand up to his full height. He easily towered over any of the humans there.
In half of a second, Demon had broken the distance between the hunter and himself. He grabbed the hunter by the head and smashed their face into the ground. The human’s skull shattered like a vase under his palm. Their brain matter squished through his fingers, hot and wet.
That hunter was never going to hurt his imps again.
A hard, piercing slap smacked against his back, again and again. He turned around and grabbed the hunter wielding the puny, weak gun. He ripped their arm clean out of the socket, then kept pulling. The human’s arm tore away from their shoulder. Blood squirted out, and tendons barely clung together in strings of flesh. Their screams drowned with the rest of the deafening noise.
He threw that person hard against another while blood sprayed across several more. Including himself.
He whipped several of them down into the dirt with his tail at the same time as swinging at another bunch of them with his arm. The smart ones didn’t try to get up after they were slammed to the ground.
In the second of a pause. When no one else was attacking him. He jumped to the injured imp in the net. He ripped the mesh trap into pieces, freeing the imp from its place. The imp appeared concussed, its eyes fluttering in and out of focus.
Demon nudged it, pushing it to get up but it wouldn’t. He called to it, but it barely moved its head. A gurgling sound was coming out of its lungs. It was acting as if Demon wasn’t even there. Demon let out another primal scream, swinging his head back to the humans. They did this.
He charged them, striking some with his shoulder, and stomping down on their legs to break them. Feeling the crunch of bone under crushed flesh. He grabbed another person and twisted their head backwards with the bone snapping quickly out of place. He threw that person into another.
When he turned around and reached for the next victim he saw a very small hunter. They couldn’t have looked older than twenty. They were shaking in their boots with tears streaming down their face. Their weapon dropped at their feet. Their pants soaked.
When Demon reached for them, they jerked backwards with a desperate cry for help.
He hesitated.
He was covered in hot sticky blood, reaching for what he would consider a child, in intent to harm them. All while his imps were still scattered about trapped in the nets. The look in their eyes were the same, this human and his frightened imps.
His hesitation was enough for the humans to throw a second net over him. One with barbed wire and weights that cut into his blood soaked skin.
He screamed in ancient tongue while fighting against it. The barbed wire hooking and dragging his skin into jagged open wounds.
His energy was depleting.
It couldn’t be that he tired himself out… It was something more. Something the humans did to him. His tail whipped around uselessly, not hitting anything except getting snagged on the barbs. Cutting flesh open and spraying blood around while he thrashed uselessly.
The imps were crying for him. So many voices overlapping, calling for help, calling for him to help them.
The imps were crying for him, and he was useless. He was fading. He couldn’t save all of them.
How many got away? Was his outburst enough to save a few of them? He wouldn’t find out. Sounds were narrowing, his vision was tunneling. The last thing he could remember was being dragged across the blood mixed mud while the barbwire hooked deeper and deeper into his skin.
So, Eda has a great character arc where she recognizes a problem in society (school) and makes it better when she becomes an adult (by opening her own super cool school). But she needs a job while she and her various kids are hanging out in Gotham because the landlord doesn't accept snails. And since Gotham is famous for people disappearing and/or going rogue, there's usually jobs to be found in many schools but particularly in the chemistry department since chemicals - and the know-how of how to mix them - is a hot commodity among rogues.
Anyways, Eda gets a human teaching certificate and becomes a chem teacher. The problem? She makes potions, not reactions and solutions. The other, much larger problem? She is learning human chem - which should be a good thing, right? - but you forget that this is Eda we're talking about. AKA Wild Witch No. 1 for decades, queen of mixing magic and blowing stuff up.
Eda, during her first class: hello everyone, I'll be your teacher this year, my name is Eda, please don't call me Ms. Clawthorne cause it makes me feel old
One particularly bold student who Does Not Care Because This Is Gotham: yeah but aren't you?
Eda, slightly miffed but proud that someone's standing up to a teacher/authority figure: oh perfect, a volunteer
Duke, who knows Eda as Signal: *starts freaking out because what does she mean by volunteer*
Eda: there are no wrong answers in this class and experimentation is encouraged, just run your plan by me so you don't lose any limbs
Eda, staring ominously into the distance: Titan knows I've lost enough of those already
Class: *is silent because when the lady with a hook for an arm tells you to talk to her before you start experimenting, you listen*
Eda, ignoring the panicked faces of students who have watched waaaay too many people go rogue: so today you'll all be learning how to make sleeping poti-um, solutions
(Cue confused whispering)
Eda: so the main ingredient you'll need is sleeping nettle, but I've found that concentrated valerian root works as a good substitute-
Student, raising their hand: what's sleeping nettle?
Eda, waving her hook vaguely: don't worry about it, it's not native. We will need a few chunks of water though as that will eventually vaporize and help the solution disperse as a gas - can anyone tell me what we might use to trigger a vaporization reaction?
Duke is pleasantly surprised to discover that despite Eda's...chaotic tendencies, she's actually a good teacher. The demonstration ends with her instructing the "volunteer" to wake her with a different brew sitting on her desk when she takes a whiff of the freshly-brewed sleeping solution. And sure enough, it only takes one whiff before she's slumped over her desk, snoring comedically loudly. The antidote, which she promised to teach next class before having the students brew their own sleeping solutions, works perfectly. The main problems are a) Eda doesn't use measurements and b) she's either on her way to becoming a rogue or is content to help others become rogues.
She gets a visit from Batman that night.
Batman, perched on the balcony of Eda's apartment:
Eda, trying to have a nice evening in with King and Luz: do you have a warrant?
Batman: no.
Eda: good, cause I wouldn't let you in even if you did. Anyways, what can I say to make you go away faster?
Batman: ...you started teaching.
Eda: astute observation from the master detective. You see that, kids?
King and Luz: *snickering*
Batman, used to the Batkids being similarly blasphemous: do you really think it's a good idea to teach people how to make potions? Especially in Gotham where the turnover rates are correlated to how many new villains there are?
Luz, very passionate: people only turn into villains if you treat them like villains!
Batman:
Luz: (•`-'•)
Batman, wondering when someone barely in their 20s got wiser than him (it was when he adopted a kid on impulse):
Eda, sticking to her (thankfully metaphorical) guns: look, people are going to do good things or bad things regardless of what they know or don't know how to do. The least I can do is help them learn to defend themselves! Besides, why should knowledge be restricted to the upper class? Everyone knows that if you're rich or famous enough there's only so many roadblocks that will actually be...y'know. Roadblocks. I'm just evening the playing field!
Eda continues teaching.
She teaches how to accelerate healing, how to ease chronic conditions, how to make darkness appear at one's fingertips. She shows students how to condense water molecules in the air and turn them into ice shards or even whole blocks of ice. She invites questions and discussions and new ideas. She gives bonus points for improving or modifying recipes.
Her class quickly becomes the school favorite. It's a mix between "easy A" and "learn how to make things go boom". Exam days are literally just "brew something new". It can be a variation on a recipe from class or a completely new one. The only requirement is that students tell Eda what they're doing before they do it. At the end of the exam, everyone grabs their concoctions and goes outside for a mock battle. (Technically, this part is optional and Eda retains the right to ban any student's creation if she thinks it's unsafe, but she supplies plenty of her own "relatively harmless" potions they can use.)
Things spiral when one student walks into her room during lunch (in their defense they just wanted to ask a question) and sees her talking to the weird new freshman, King, while her non-hook arm stirs a pot...on a counter six feet away from her.
Cue freak-outs, debates, and many, many more theories. Bets are placed among the student population (minus King - the entire school worked together to make sure neither he nor his "buddy" Damian Wayne found out about the betting pool). Most popular bets include Eda has several hyper-realistic prosthetic limbs aside from the hook, Eda is just a straight up witch, and King is weird because his mom is Eda who is a witch.
The betting pool gets even more chaotic when they're working on brewing blabber serums and Eda warns the class that a blabber serum is just a few degrees shy of a horrifying monster serum. Nobody really knows what to do with that information, but a student who tries to make said horrifying monster serum during the next exam doesn't get to drink it during the mock battle because Eda snatches it out of their hands when they try to walk outside. She brings the vial to the front of the classroom and explains what the student did, the expected effectiveness of it, and the fastest way to reverse the effects, which turns out just involves exposing the subject to copious amounts of ice.
Betting pool expands to include "Eda lost her arm to a horrifying monster that she created" and "Eda was force-fed an overcooked blabber serum and turned into a horrifying monster".
Then Eda caught and ate a mouse that had gotten loose in the cafeteria, and the betting pool immediately split between "Eda is a witch and does weird witchy things as a result" and "Eda turned into a horrifying monster and still has some of the horrifying monster urges"...which are both technically true.
The students collectively agree that whether or not Eda's a witch or a monster or just a really weird lady from Connecticut, she's the most fun - and most relevant (this is Gotham) - chem teacher they've ever had. No one tells their parents about the mock battles. If the school does an inspection of the class, everyone is on their best behavior and talks loudly about how much they love the class. Someone sees the mock battle on exam day? Don't worry, it's definitely just a water balloon fight with special effects.
The school board doesn't know what to do. She's borderline unhinged, and the reactions she's teaching definitely shouldn't be possible. Is the school going to get targeted for her skills? Should they get rid of her before she inevitably goes rogue? But they can't fire her because where are they going to get a replacement?
Turns out, this is the safest the school has ever been. Not only did Luz and King befriend Wallace Cobblepot*, aka the Penguin's kid, Eda also befriended Wallace because he's in her chem class. The other Imps really like Eda, too, so their parents are in on it as well (minus Mad Hatter, who is currently in Arkham's hospital wing recovering from burns). Any rogue that so much as sniffs near the chem lab gets a house call from the Penguin, if not the Riddler and Scarecrow, too.
*See Part Four
But rogues aren't the only ones protecting the school anymore. Most students who have taken Eda's class carry around sleeping solutions, flash freeze potions (referred to as Mr. Freeze Could Never if another teacher is nearby), instant darkness brews (lovingly called Batman-in-a-Bottle), mini-bombs, and various healing potions. Also, with all the mock battles they do, their aim is getting really good.
Overall, the school board and students think they have a handle on things, albeit in vastly different ways...until someone else from Connecticut applies for the band and orchestra teacher positions, which have been open since the beginning of the year.
