“I don’t have eyes on Spoiler,” Oracle said, crisply.
“When did you lose her?” Batman asked.
“Ten minutes ago. I don’t know what’s going on.” Oracle hesitated. “I’m not sure, Batman, but I think she might be in distress.”
“Understood.”
***
Bruce followed the real-time trail of breadcrumbs Oracle was assembling for him. It seemed as arbitrary and as careless as she was, going everywhere and nowhere.
And then it landed there. On the roof of a hospital. Spoiler was
there, sitting back against a chimney, the cape pooling around her as
she bent over her knees, head cradled in her hands, her forearms resting
along her thighs.She was shaking, sobbing, helplessly.
Bruce knelt by her. “Spoiler?”
“Don’t touch me,” Spoiler managed, her chest heaving. “Don’t you come near me.”
Bruce stood up and carefully retreated a few feet away. “Oracle is worried about you.”
Spoiler shook her head violently, and pushed herself upwards,
dragging her mask off her face and wiping her eyes, still sagging back
against the chimney. “Oracle doesn’t like me.”“She’s worried about you,” Bruce repeated.
Stephanie straightened her back and tilted her head up, so that she
was looking straight up into oblivion. “You know what I’m starting to
figure out?” she said. “That worry and love and like aren’t all the same.”“Spoiler…”
“That girl,” Stephanie said, her voice full of anguish. “That little girl.”
“She’s going to be all right, Spoiler.”
Stephanie shoved her face into Bruce’s, her bare nose right up against the tip of the thick kevlar cowl. “She’s not,” Stephanie said, with their faces not an inch apart. “They cut her foot off, Batman. She’s never going to be okay.”
Tag: stephanie brown
Enter Spoiler
There are probably worse ways to make a first impression on Batman,
Steph thought giddily, pressing her wadded up cape against the bullet
graze on Robin’s skull. The blow had knocked him unconscious, and the
bullet had cut away hair and skin, leaving a long, jagged scrape that
was currently bleeding copiously over her thighs. She looked down at
her lap and was suddenly reminded of the time when she was thirteen and
she got caught unawares without a tampon or a pad or anything.A dark and ominous presence dropped down beside her.
“Robin,” Batman said, in a voice that crept in the shadows. She totally wasn’t intimidated by it, not even a little bit.
“It’s just a graze, it’s not too deep,” Steph said, lifting her cape
from the wound long enough to let him see for himself. “My, uh, my mom,
she’s a nurse. I know first aid. I think he’s just gonna needs
stitches or staples?”Batman stood, but he kept looking down at Robin, lying in her lap.
“You should go,” Steph blurted. “You’ve got to catch them, Batman!”
Hey Jersey! Can you tell me about Steph’s relationship with Bruce? I don’t know a lot about her, but the panels I see online seem quite antagonistic and fandom seems to think they don’t get along…what’s the deal?
the panels are antagonistic, and they don’t get along; for most of steph’s existence, bruce is an immeasurable asshole to her. he uses her to lure tim back as robin, leads her directly into the trap that gets her killed, and at every turn in the road tells her that he doesn’t think she’s capable, and that she should turn back now. why? because war games and the associated storylines were written by infinite monkeys with infinite bananas throwing the peels at a single typewriter, is why. the peels are symbolic of sexism in writing and how no one could dare think for a minute that steph could be more important in batman comics than penis-having tim drake, even though steph had much more promise and would generate much more interesting stories. it fucking sucks to suck, right. now, steph and bruce have had nice moments. in gotham knights, there’s a panel where bruce tells steph he doesn’t mind her chatter, and there’s a bit where steph goes, “mock me at your peril, masked man,” which is very dear to me.
from what i can extrapolate from there, she would’ve been much like dick was as a robin, filled with chatter and cheesy commentary; which i think is an interesting idea, because her background is much more similar to jason’s. i think bruce and steph together as batman and robin could’ve created a powerful story about healing; tim kept batman alive, but steph would be the one to teach batman to live again. because steph’s will to survive, to keep going, to adapt and thrive even when no one wants her to is inspiring. that’s something that people look at and say, wow, maybe i want to be like that. and in that time steph becomes robin, batman’s been through a whole fucking lot – i’d love to see a burnt out batman get inspired again by looking at this spitfire little girl who refuses to stop. i think having a robin who inspires batman is a whole new sort of thing altogether.
but 🙂 i never 🙂 fucking 🙂 got it 🙂
#they hugged in tynion ‘tec but tynion ‘tec’s steph is a cardboard cut-out #labelled with ‘tim’s girlfriend’ #god mocks me still with steph’s potential
Jason: [bursting into the Manor kitchen] Quick! We need to celebrate!
Bruce: Celebrate what?
Jason: Shhh, I brought wine, have a glass. Here, Alfie, pop that bubbly.
Alfred: Very well, sir.
Everyone: [accepts a glass, settles down]
Bruce: Now, what are we celebrating?
Jason: Did you like the wine?
Bruce: Yes, it was fine.
Jason: Just fine?
Bruce: Rather on the better side, I believe.
Jason: Excellent. Well, now I can tell you what we’re celebrating.
Jason: This isn’t fine wine.
Jason: I bought this bottle from Walmart.
Bruce: no
Jason: It was five dollars
Bruce: stop
Jason: But it was on sale for THREE NINETY-SEVEN
Jason: YOUR SNOBBERY IS NOTHING COMPARED TO MY PLEBEIAN NATURE. I HAVE CONQUERED YOUR DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR.
Jason: [lifts glass] May the bourgeoisie rise again.
Bruce:
Bruce:
Bruce:
Bruce:
Tim: [lifts glass] Ahem. Well. Vive la France.
Jason: You’re rich, you can’t say “vive la France,” shut up.
Jason: [searches room, sees Stephanie] You. You can say “vive la France.”
Stephanie: Heck yeah! VIVE LA FRANCE!
Jason: [sipping wine] Damn right.
It’s really wild how Gotham’s finest are a bunch of hooligans led by an old man who’s a fucking furry! (Peter Nguyen)
Jason “Grab the samples, grab the samples!” Todd
Stephanie “They’re in my purse already, shut up!” Brown
Bruce: We can afford those just FYI.
“Silence rich boy, and put some in your jacket pockets!”
Bruce wasn’t entirely sure how he’d found himself in this
situation. He was standing in Costco, staring at Jason and Stephanie as they
stole (for that was the only word he could come up with to describe the scene
before him) samples. Steph with her purse open wide, and Jason scooping still
hot chicken sliders into wax paper before tucking them into her bag.They’d made their rounds as they collected the groceries
Alfred had sent them for, trying everything once before moving on. Some of the
boxed foods even ended up in their cart, edamame chosen by Damian, fried tacos
for Steph, and some kind of instant coffee Jason swore Tim would love.When they’d circled back a second time Bruce had assumed it
was because one of his kids had forgotten something they actually wanted. That’s
when his two supposedly responsible (and well fed) wards started stuffing their
pockets.He cleared his throat, “You do know we can just buy a
package, right?”Jason had moved down the line to the pot sticker samples
Bruce had favored fifteen minutes earlier. He glanced up at Bruce and rolled
his eyes. From behind him Steph shoved him forward, towards the table and his second
eldest.“Hush rich boy and open your pockets.”
Caught by surprise, Bruce found himself opening up his
jacket for Jason to dump food into his inside pocket. He squirmed a bit, trying
to pull away from them without stepping on any toes or knocking the food all
over the place.“Careful when you walk so you don’t break anything open.”
Jason grinned at him before holding up a hand for a high five.Bruce gave it to him, still a bit stunned by the events
taking place around him. Jason’s grin widened before he turned and strolled
further down the aisle towards another table empty of employee but filled with
still steaming food.Where was everyone? Minutes ago Bruce hadn’t been able to
walk without stepping over red vested people. Now everywhere he looked there
were only shoppers, not a single helpful employee in sight.Bruce’s heart jumped not quite to double, but close enough
as he realized that Damian was nowhere to be seen. He’d been by his side the
entire trip, even allowing Bruce to hold his hand when they ran into
overexcited people, eager to meet The Bruce Wayne and doubly eager to pinch the
cheeks of the ten year old by his side.“Where’s Dam—” the words broke as a laugh broke through the
90s rock playing overhead.Bruce swiveled his head to see a cart hurtling towards them,
empty of anything but his youngest. Damian’s face was light with a wild grin as
he blew past Bruce, Jason, and Steph. Behind him came a stampede of red,
employees chasing breathlessly after the kid.From his side, Bruce heard Jason whistle. “Remind me to get
the kid double what I promised him.”“Promised him?” Bruce turned on Jason and Steph, unsurprised
to find Steph in the middle of eating one of the sliders from her purse.Jason’s expression read ‘oh crap’ and Steph shrugged, still
chewing. Bruce ran a hand through his hair.“This is why Alfred doesn’t take you to the store anymore,
you know that right?” he said instead of a reprimand. Maybe this wouldn’t fall
on deaf ears.“And it’s why he sent you. Though heaven knows why he
thought you could stop it.” Steph grinned.“He didn’t. He just knew B would bail us out when we got
caught.” Jason picked up the remaining tray of pot stickers and eyed it, like
he was trying to decide if they had room for the rest or not.They were both right, and Bruce hated them a bit for it, but
it was tempered by the image of Damian racing past them on the cart, and the
bright sound of his laughter as he caused chaos. What would it take to get a
copy of today’s footage? He was sure Costco didn’t have any kind of real security,
which made getting a copy of Damian’s smile and Jason’s high five easy. Maybe
he’d take his kids shopping more often.“Flood in the seafood section and all employees be on the
lookout for a boy carrying a bag of live crawfish.”Then again, maybe he’d just ground them all for the rest of
their lives.
Bored again, so: The BatFamily!
If you like this please reblog, y’know, you only have to press your finger riiight there❤
heget's WordPress 