Jane Hart

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 20: Bad Days & More Plans

Nope. The rest of the day was no lighter than the morning.

After the incident with Timonthy, the following classes were dull. Olive kept talking to Arthur, while the latter kept looking at the clock at the back of the room. Anyone would say that he was watching it waiting for the time to leave, but his look was something else.

When we left the classroom, the last one to pick up his things was Arthur, for some reason. He looked quite anxious when we met James and Damian at the entrance. He even looked like he wanted to tell us something. We said our goodbyes politely, or at least tried to.

On the way home with James, we stopped at an ice cream shop, the weather wasn't that hot and after all the money we always used was grandpa's.

When we got home we decided to put a series on the TV, while Dad arrived or Jim would let us know about the patrol or the meeting we told him about the day before. Homework could wait.

"I'm surprised the principal didn't introduce Arthur to your class like he always does with new students," my brother said, then shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth.

"What surprises me is that I've never heard his last name before. Who's last name is Purple? A color," I said a few minutes later. We had been talking about anything for a while now, and we both knew we couldn't avoid the new guy in the conversation.

"For a moment I thought it was... you know who. You know who," he said quietly as if trying not to let anyone else hear him, even though it was just the two of us.

"I thought so too, but it's impossible, he's older than me, he should be in your group, not mine," I began to look for something more interesting on TV, "And believe me, if it really was that traitor, I won't hesitate to end his life.

We both fell into a deep silence. If I really wanted to expose the boy's identity, I had to ask Assana or Malowe for help.

James' cell phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts to pay attention to the conversation, then I realized that my glasses were dirty, I started to clean them when my brother answered.

"Jim, what happened?" I heard my brother say.

"I wanted to ask your sister if we're going to have the meeting about the neutralizer," I heard on the other end of the line.

Damn, I forgot to turn on my phone, I'm sure Andrew had already sent me the formula for the gas. I put on my glasses to run back to my room.

When I got back to the living room, James was still talking.

"If you're not with her, I'll try to contact Shade," he said over the speakerphone.

"Text her, I'm sure she'll answer," was the last thing he said before hanging up. Then he turned to look at me, "I mean, I know I'm not supposed to get into your private life and not ask you who you talk to all the time, but you talked to Andrew, right? he asked me.

"I called him last night, you and I both know he's a genius and he was the one who created the weapon that helped us win against bane last time," I said, opening my messenger on my phone.

James formed a perfect "o" with his mouth, showing me that he already knew what I meant. I read the messages from that morning and smiled to myself.

Jim's message came in a few minutes later, I replied that we would have a small meeting the next day to work everything out and find someone to help us with the gas, but that the meeting that day was still on.

The hours went by and Jason didn't show up, we didn't worry, we knew he could take care of himself even if he was drunk. But we had to go out and we didn't want him to worry about us.

At 11 p.m., James and I put on our suits, left a note for our father, and went out the window of my room, as it was the one facing the street.

We walked for a while through the streets and at one point we climbed onto the rooftops to start running back to our base. We had to put the plan to destroy Deathstroke into action, I was running out of time.

We arrived at the building and the first thing I did was to contact the team, we had to clarify some points. By the way, I also called Superboy, so that he could help us with some points of the plan.

"Unlike Gotham, Metropolis doesn't have so many places where ambushes can be made," said Superboy, who even if he wasn't going to go with us, helped us a lot with his knowledge of the city.

"There are many houses and buildings in ruins, but we would have to place ourselves in strategic points so that he doesn't see us and we can attack him at the best moment," said Sam, pointing out some places on the support map we had on a table.

"The notes should sound convincing so that, if necessary, he doesn't feel that Shade is controlling him," Jared was one of those people who, even if they didn't pay much attention to the overall plan, always noticed small details.

"Hey, I don't control people," Asset, who was standing next to me, shouted.

"Really?" asked Poison sarcastically.

"We'll need to expand our arsenal. I can make more arrows but I don't know if you guys have anything up your sleeves. I could combine your skills with darts or arrows, in case they are needed," Scorpion said, looking at most of us.

"And...you don't have...by any chance...a way to become a little more...you know...powerful, do you?" asked Jared timidly, "A bigger shadow, infect 10 people at once, a bigger wolf, Shade," he suggested.

"I can't do that even if I want to, I could kill you guys in the process, I would need a lot of time to perfect that technique," said Pandora, looking at her silver hand.

"The process to make a shadow is painful and I need a special weapon which at the moment is not in my power. Besides, I refuse to bring back the thousand nights," I said, looking at the map, locating other important points with the help of the visor.

The thousand nights appeared after a small group of new villains infected me and began to control me. I caused so much damage that only with Shade's help did most of the affected people forget those catastrophes. I felt that if I used my shadow as much as I did back then, I would lose control over myself again.

Terrors of Gotham

Chapter 1: The Warehouse

The south side of Gotham, where crime and international business came together. Plus the proximity to Black Gate meant that many people avoided living near the ports and let hero groups, like this one, settle in and keep a close eye on the arms trade.

The Warriors Society held its meetings on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it was patrolling in the other sectors of the city and from the afternoons the teams were organized to keep everything in order and avoid intervening in Batman's affairs.

That day, Thursday, only 8 members of the then almost 20 were around the main table, with Jim directing the business to be transacted.

"I'd call the roll, but I'm too lazy," he said, tossing the sheets containing our names to the floor, "Next week is Casper's birthday, we'd give him the day off but...

"...But I have nothing to do that day, so, patrolling with my brothers?" interrupted Lightningale, trying to talk at average speed and not like he always talked to Mike or the League speedsters.

"We've got Bruce Wayne's granddaughter, and we're not even going to buy her a cake?" Jim asked after he pulled a paper clip out of one of the table drawers and threw it in my face, as a sign for me to settle my feet on the ground, although this time I was paying attention and the shadow stopped the small metal object and absorbed it.

"Thanks for ruining my plans, Bullock," I said, throwing the paper clip back at him.

Actually, it had all occurred to me in those few seconds. I had completely forgotten the date of that day. And with Casper's birthday came Jason's birthday. That month was all about spending money on gifts.

And with it came asking Grandpa for money, which was funny but I didn't like doing it. In the future, I would ask him to get me into his company in some small job to make good money.

"I'm sorry, now... I have three missions, one in Star City, one in Qurac, and one last one here," Jim continued, tossing the three folders on the table, a quick inspection of the table and starting to rule out options for the mission in Qurac.

Oswald, Casper, James, Henry, Sam, Alice, Jim and me. Bullock didn't like or find the missions in the field intriguing, preferring to stay behind the screen coordinating the missions. Henry was out of the question, he would probably be better off at Star, and with Oswald, who knew the city well and could keep him in his sights. Casper, James, Angie, and I, plus everyone who was missing, minus the team that was going to Lexcorp.

"I'm sure Arthur will ask for Qurac, and with him will obviously go Alice," Alice commented in front of me, playing with a stream of air in her hands.

"How are you so sure about that?" asked Sam, who for some time now has been even more attached to me and a thousand times more alert than before, maybe I should follow her example.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Alice, leaving the little clean air in the area alone, making the papers on the floor fly around us, "Those two have something, and I'm sure they like each other.

The reaction of more than one was the same, turning to look at me with intrigue. By way of distraction and to avoid yelling at my friend I decided to pull out some of the shade and play as she was doing a few moments before.

"As long as the little romance doesn't interfere with our affairs," I said, answering the silent questions of my companions.

And with that Angie, Arthur and Alice were ruled out of the mission to the Qurac. The situation was only getting more stressful as time went on. I had to think things through clearly, look at things from every possible angle, and analyze the results.

"I suggest that Jane and the 3 warriors talk it over calmly and give me the members of each team for the next meeting, where I hope we will all be there," said Jim, probably noticing how overwhelmed I was by all of this.

The Warriors Society was a very large group, so from the beginning, it was divided into 4 teams, with a leader each called a Warrior. James, Oswald, and Sam were all capable enough to control their team on patrols and simple missions, but with new developments, it had become common to start breaking these teams up.

The meeting was adjourned as soon as the sun went down, shortly after Alice reminded us that the courtyard was no longer an available place for training.

We all got up with masks, visors, face shields, or weapons in hand and slowly made our way out the front door, some on foot and others on one of the motorcycles. For my part, I stood near one of the computer screens, pressing a couple of keys, a new window opened, showing the location of the rest of my colleagues who did not show up that day.

I quickly passed that information to the visor and left the warehouse, closing the door behind me. The harbor at that time of night seemed a quiet place. The sound of the water lapping against the boats could lull anyone to sleep. I walked slowly through the alleys until I came out onto one of the busy streets near the Fashion District.

Arriving at Wayne Manor this early in the night wasn't an idea I was too fond of, especially knowing who was staying that night, but I had nothing else to do, and postponing a problem wouldn't make it go away.

Walking slowly to the train tracks, watching the night sky for a moment I thought about what it would be like to disappear, to fake my death, and make everything I worked for these past few years go to waste. When I least noticed, I was already crossing the Robert Kane Bridge, from Gotham to Bristol. I had crossed almost the entire city in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, the cape of the suit had transformed into a long coat, I was grateful for it, but I hoped no one had seen me do that.

If James decided to end his patrol early, we could get down to discussing the missions and who knows, ask Tim, who was also leading a team of heroes, for some advice.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 9: Plan

Fortunately in that building, we had a specific floor with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and television. This had several functions, among them was to be a living and meeting room. And at that time, that was its main function.

"I found Slade near a subway station in Star City. I thought the problem would be solved by the league or the heroes residing in that city, even by the Titans. But they have been slow to act. Later I found him in Metropolis thanks to a mission I had in the company of Superboy." Oswald commented as he paced in front of the sofas where the rest of us were seated.

"And you thought Superman would take on a former member of the League of Assassins," said Olive, who had been silent so far, eating the snack Jim had put on the coffee table to keep us awake.

"I thought that being in a safer area, Deathstroke wouldn't make a mess. These are cities where crime is down." Oswald continued, looking at Olive and pointing at her so that she would pay attention to him and try to understand the reason for his actions. "My problem was that I was too trusting, and now the number of missing people not only in Metropolis but also in the neighboring cities has increased." He said.

"Conclusion: he has kidnapped people and surely he has also killed them, and we don't know the reason, as usual," said Jared, throwing a handful of potatoes in his mouth and almost choking after that.

"We must be clear about our purpose. Catch Slade, send him to prison, and free those people if they're still alive." My brother said, crushing a stress ball and helping Jared breathe again. Even though we'd been at this hero thing for a while now, he had a severe problem when it came to big attack plans and team meetings.

"Shouldn't we focus on saving those lives," Superboy said, staring at the numbers on the screen in front of us. "After all, they're innocent."

"That's according to your moral code. If you think about it, all of us here are innocent and have suffered more in these five years than they have in our entire lives. We have been chasing him for months, and we must not let him get away this time." Olive said, getting up to get a glass of water from the dispenser.

"Nightwing and Red Hood will try to stop us by telling Batman. And I bet you anything Richard will beat us to the punch at some point and we won't be able to do much to stop Red Hood." Said James, still not letting go of the ball. "Having kids does make you overprotective."

"You'd better call Robin and Red Robin." Claimed Oswald. He had a firm idea that the Batfamily should not get involved in our problems.

"Believe it or not, Robin has a problem with Slade, he has a problem with the League of Assassins and his grandfather. And Red Robin will get into it because of Eclipse or a problem with Ra's al Ghul." Olive said, tossing her plastic cup into the trash can across the room.

"Jane, don't you have anything to say about that?" Jim asked, pushing me out of my seat. I stood in the center of the room, getting everyone to look at me.

"Oswald, I've spent the whole way here thinking about how to keep Red Hood and Nightwing from finding out what we're talking about here." I said, pointing to my hooded partner, "I don't want them to be on our necks asking what we do 24/7. I want to stand in front of him when we are done with everything and tell him that it was us who stopped this river of blood." I said, pacing back and forth. "And as for the other two little birds, my only solution would be to send them to Japan, and even then they will insist on going with us," I almost started to scream from how desperate I was, making gestures with my hands in an attempt to calm my nerves.

"Let's do this." Oswald began to say when the silence had stretched a little longer than it should have, noticing Olive's, James' and my nervousness. "I don't think he's going to move from where he is. Let's talk tomorrow, in the afternoon, more calmly and with a cool head. It's late and I know more than a few of us are tired. Let's let the rest of the team know. Let's put all the cards on the table and we will start to come up with a plan." He said. "Jim, Callan, prepare the other room, we will need space." It was after 5:00 a.m. and we hadn't slept a wink. I was internally grateful that Oswald understood our situation.

"To sleep," Assana ordered, getting up from her seat and signaling to evacuate the room.

The only ones left there were Oswald and me. He began to pick up the dishes to leave them in the kitchen.

"I owe you one," I said, taking off my visor for a moment.

"We are even. The last time we met you prevented me from committing the embarrassment of my life." He said, sitting down next to me, "I know that situations like this are difficult for you.

"How am I supposed to argue against Tim, if in difficult situations I can't even think straight," I whispered, cupping my face in my hands.

"Are they still at odds?" My partner asked.

"We've been going at it for over two months now."

"Well, I never thought you would last so long fighting, a few years ago yes, but not now." we both plunged into silence, not at all uncomfortable. "Go to sleep, I'm sure Shade must be waiting for you." he patted me on the back, trying to cheer me up.

I put my visor back on and got up, said goodbye, and headed for the elevator, still thinking about everything I would have to do in the next few days.

Batman spoilers

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BRUCE WAYNE IS BATMAN???????!!!!!!!???!!!??!!!!?!

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(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

I love being queer, reblog if you too love being queer

Yeah, that´s me trying to explain it to my mom

Me, 5 years ago new to dc comics: Isn’t Robin dead or something?

My veteran dc fan friend:

U-U

Jane/Eclipse: I gave Bruce a get better soon card

Oswald/Scorpion: that´s so nice of you...

Jane: no he wasn't sick, I just thought he should do better

I don't know why I always remember those moments... Am I still afraid of having a couple? Am I sacred of telling them I'm demi or asexual? Am I actually sacred of even thinking about having a couple?

I don't know, I only only want to erase those moments. I want to give me a chance or the person that likes me. But im scared that those things can happen again, even with totally different people.

I don't know why I have the luck that every person I get to have genuine interest in ends up being shit at the end.

I'm scared to like someone because they might end like the others.

Why am I scared of someone having a crush on me? What is it impossible for me to believe that something like that can happen?

Why am I scared of even thinking about a kiss? There's nothing wrong with it, but why am I scared?

A little poem, or brain dump poem, that one of my friends wrote and gave me authorization to publish here

Terrors of Gotham

Chapter 2: Pretend and Wait

The Wayne Manor was distinguished from others in Bristol for being the biggest and most luxurious of all, the enormous steel doors, the wide gardens, the garage with dozens of cars, the floral bushes, and the occasional motorcycles were characteristic marks.

Upon entering the mansion, the first to greet me as always was Alfred, although on this occasion his face denoted confusion, and looking me over from head to toe he told me to go upstairs to my room to change if I wanted to have dinner with the rest of the family.

On my way upstairs, exchanging my visor for my glasses, I couldn't help overhearing parts of the conversation in the library and resisting my curiosity, I went straight to my door.

As usual, my room was dark, curtains closed and my mess was on the floor. I turned on the lights and with the help of another switch adjusted their intensity. From the piles of clothes on the floor I grabbed a baggy, closed sweatshirt and jeans. The shadow got rid of the coat, boots, and gloves. Before I went into the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes, my phone rang from somewhere between my desk and my bed. I ignored it, I didn't have the energy to argue with someone on the phone.

I needed to organize all the thoughts in my mind, to start distributing my time among the most important tasks. Organize the three missions leaving available the team that would be dedicated to infiltrating LexCorp, look for a distraction for Angie, and see if I could escape to the forest for half an hour. On top of that, I had to talk to Roy Harper, and ask him to lend me an island.

The mere thought that in the long run, I would have to throw away years of friendship made me sick, I tried to think about it as little as possible, but my mind always betrayed me. At one point I didn't know if what was running down my face was water droplets from the shower or tears.

The idea was to simply take a lukewarm shower, no longer than 15 minutes. However, I was so stressed that the water came out almost boiling and I was under the stream of water for almost an hour, and it would have lasted longer if it wasn't for that person screaming and almost knocking on the door of my room to the floor.

"Pasley, dinner is ready," I couldn't quite identify whose voice it was, but I thanked him for silencing my mind, even for a few seconds.

I didn't answer, I didn't expect him to have been waiting for one either.

When I entered the dining room, it was already full. Grayson, Drake, the two Wayne's, to no one's surprise, Arthur Johnes, my father, and my brother, sitting in their respective chairs. Alfred had already served everything and some were even beginning to serve themselves and eat.

"You're early." And my plans to go unnoticed were ruined at that moment. Bruce looked up from his plate and turned to look at me, Jay mimicked his action.

"The meeting," I said to see if the girl sitting across from me noticed the intentions behind my tone of voice, "took less time than expected due to the, at least to me, surprising absence of everyone. And I didn't feel the need to stay on patrol," Angie and Arthur were still engrossed in their world, talking to each other almost in whispers, as if they knew everyone at that table could read lips, pretending it was just them alone in that room.

"I'm glad you're all here, how about a training session?" asked Dick, not noticing or ignoring the tense atmosphere between me, my cousin, and what I thought was my boyfriend.

"Sorry dad, we have classes tomorrow," Angie replied, taking a bite of food.

"They gave us a day," James contradicted.

"Hm, then I forgot."

The rest of the dinner was harmonized by the Wayne brothers and their harmless bickering and complaining towards Batman. As soon as everyone was satisfied they began to retire one by one to different rooms in the mansion.

Angie and Arthur sat for a while in the dining room, still talking about their things and pretending that neither my brother nor I were there. It was strange, they had never behaved that way before, in all those years I knew them they had never behaved so irresponsibly.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Drake," I reported before getting up from the table and leaving the dining room.

Any stranger would get lost in the hallway. If my memory served me correctly, which often failed me, I also got lost in so many rooms. Nowadays I knew every hallway like the back of my hand, which made tasks like that easier.

"Tim, can you help me with something?" I said, knocking on the door. I waited for an answer, probably a no, but what I got was the sound of something banging against the door, the floor, and some of the furniture, so that finally someone opened the door.

"Hi, I'm sorry, I was organizing some things and by accident, I knocked everything over. Come in, come in, sorry for the mess," he said quickly, letting me into his personal sanctuary.

"I'm the one who's sorry, this isn't even important it can wait," I said, starting to turn around to leave.

"What do you say we talk about it tomorrow?" he asked scratching the back of his head, his room wasn't really a mess, if we didn't count the clothes on the floor, the pile of wires on his bed, and desk.

"That's fine with me," I told him, once I left his room.

Sleeping with so much on my mind was almost impossible. That's why as soon as my cell phone started to ring, still in my clothes, I deigned to look for it, not in such a hurry because I knew that if it was urgent they would leave a message or communicate directly through Oracle's systems.

To my surprise, it was only Cheis, asking me if I had time to go for a walk in Row Park, walks that I was grateful for and that meant more than just that. Escaping from the mansion at night, when the security systems were activated, was much more difficult than entering, but the shadow was of some use.

Walking the streets of Gotham again, more aware than a few hours ago, made everything feel more real. My problems, my life, everything.

The streets on the East Side were horrendous, the floor was sticky, the air felt humid, maybe it was just my imagination. I had spent my entire childhood going back and forth from alley to alley, stealing from anything that moved and in all those years I had never complained about the environment, surely I had become weaker after living so long in the mansion, surrounded by luxuries with always clean floors and food on the table.

As I turned right at one of the corners, I could finally see the face of my companion, who by the trash on the floor I could tell had started the fun without me.

"You are late," they said, without even turning to look at me.

"Too early, too late, why nowadays people don't settle for anything?" I asked, taking the cigarette and puffing on it.

"Do you want to get philosophical with me or do you want another dose of the toxin?" asked Cheis, rummaging through his suit pockets.

"The last thing I want right now is to think."