Title: Rogues and Heroes Meme.
Disclaimer: If I really owned these characters, there would be a lot of problems… So no, I don't own Batman Beyond.
Warnings: Odd pairings galore, mentions of smex, may be slash, etc. You have been warned.
Summary: Drabbles that ping-pong among the new rogues and heroes of Gotham, from childhood to adulthood.
Without our flaws, faults and foibles, we would be less lovable. Much less lovable. –Sark.
32 Flavors- Ani DiFranco:
Big blue eyes looked over the old, yellowed papers found in the house that Deidre and Delia had grown up in since they were born. They were hidden under the planks that made up the floor of Nanna Harley's room and read like a journal written by someone who had been through heaven and hell.
Deidre, admittedly, had not told her sister that she had come to the house to sort through their grandmother's belongings alone. She didn't think Delia would really care, but Deidre had to be sure that there was nothing here that Delia could use against Harley's memory.
Turns out, there was a lot. Their grandmother had a secret life they had known nothing about. Deidre intended to keep it that way as far as Delia was concerned. Harley's secrets, and in some cases, the first Batman's secrets, the first generation Rogues of Gotham and a large portion of the members of the Justice League's secrets would remain just that. Secrets. Dee Dee could do that for Harley Quinn.
Blue Moon:
Melanie stared up uncertainly at the young man who was much taller than her. The umbrella in his hand was a welcomed reprieve from the rain that had been pouring on her and the bench she had been sitting on for an hour or so. Damn train was late as usual, but this was new.
The young man was at least six and a half feet tall, dark and wearing a black trench coat that amplified his mystique as he stood over with a serious look on his face. It almost reminded the former Ten of the Royal Flush Gang, of Batman whenever he caught her.
"I'm afraid that if you're waiting for the train," The young man spoke, his voice as thick as she supposed it would be, "It won't be showing tonight. It broke down uptown an hour ago."
Melanie's big blue eyes rolled with a sigh. Go figure the above ground horror would breakdown during one of the few nights it rained in summer.
"Thank you for telling me, Mr…?
"Oh, sorry," He apologized, offering her a hand so she could get out of the puddle the bench had formed, "I'm Rex. It's nice to meet you, Melanie."
Accepting the hand, the blond girl didn't exactly register that the man knew her name when she hadn't told it to him until she was standing a foot shy of his chest and blinking up at him, "….I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
"No, but you know Terry. I'm an acquaintance of his."
"…Oh."
Bluebell:
Large, sharp teeth were exposed as Woof watched the Chimera institutes' favorite pets talk with Chucko and Ghoul about an intended target for a joint operation among the top Jokerz and Splicers.
Woof didn't like it. Dr. Cuvier had been one of the factors that led to Woof's current condition. The man didn't know it, but one of his old acquaintances had shot Woof up with too high a dose of hyena serum and hadn't checked to see if it was experimental or not. It was, and now Woof was stuck like this forever. Not that the doctor would really care if he ever found out. It didn't mean that the hybrid had to like the lot of them being there, though.
"You know, my dear," Cuvier spoke lightly towards Deidre, Woof turning his head to get a better look at the man who was at the moment running a clawed finger over the younger clown girl's arm, "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but I think you'd be perfect for the latest batch of snow hare serum I just brought in. Would you be interested?"
Deidre flinched under the man's touch, but kept her false smile in place, "Sounds tempting, but no thanks. It wouldn't match my wardrobe."
Woof couldn't help the snort that left him to be accompanied by laughter at the man's face. The hyena boy always liked it when the doctor failed at something, even more so when he got a close up look.
Cuvier still tried to get one of the twins to try out his latest formula, though. All night long he made little suggestions towards Delia and Deidre, but neither one of them took the bait. Delia seemed interested, asking if he had anything in march hare, but nothing serious. Woof was glad, he wouldn't admit to liking the girls at all, but if he did, he preferred them without fur or fangs. Lord only knew what he'd do to the man if he tried anything on them.
Are We Having Fun Yet?:
It would take a very long, exhausting time, filled with murmured endearments and expensive gifts bought from hard earned (more or less) money, but Terry was pretty sure he could get Dana to forgive him.
True, he had forgotten their anniversary and her birthday and was most likely going to suffer for it forever and ever amen, but when it came down to it, he was pretty sure she loved him enough to eventually accept his apologies. Max said he was worrying over nothing and that he was blowing the situation way out of proportion, but if he didn't Dana would actually think he'd forgotten she even existed. Better to prostrate before the girl now, then be out in the world alone later.
And besides, Max didn't know that he did feel as bad, and worse, than he said. He left Dana waiting at a classy dance club alone for several hours before he'd even remembered to call and tell her to cancel plans for the day after, when he thought it was their anniversary. Who doesn't get the fifteenth and the fourteenth of October mixed up? ...Okay, anyone who's not a man?
To top off that little incident, Bruce, former caped crusader himself, had the young man go to Japan to hunt down that son of a bitch Blight before he kidnapped an acquaintance of the old man's. Thus leaving Dana alone again to wait in a more disco oriented club with nothing but a Virgin Mary and a chocolate explosion fudge pie with a completely melted birthday candle, compliments of the house.
He actually has the balls to judge her for not borrowing one of Chelsea's cars and running him over.
Gold Punch Buggy:
"Oh for the love of… Where did you even get this tired piece of trash?"
Despite Bonk's sarcasm, nothing could spoil Ghoul's mood as he hung off the front of the car he'd swiped from a vacant lot. A tan and gold 1970's Vista Cruiser! And it was his now! One would have thought that a person with a national treasure like this would keep it in a vault or somewhere safe, but it was just idling next to the cinema practically begging to be stolen.
"Who cares?" Ghoul snorted, still hugging the car's front end like it was a giant puppy on wheels. The effect left most of the other Jokerz cringing. Ghoul didn't really get happy.
Don' Worry, Be Happy:
"Oooh!" J-Man squealed as Chucko unfolded before the Clown Prince-wannabe a genuine collector's item among most of the new generation rogues of Gotham. The actual laughing gas bazooka the Joker used a few dozen days back in his prime. It was a little dusty on account of being in the storage of the GPD's evidence room for so long, but it was still fully functional and just as lethal.
The teen ran his gloved hands over the shell of the weapon in wonder before looking back up at the white mask that served permanently as the round man's face.
"How much?"
Chucko gave a loose, phlegm filled chuckle at the younger male's eagerness but he already had the price set, "Two-hundred thousand. Plus three of the actual laughing gas bombs it comes with. Take it or leave it."
J-Man wasted no time in closing the deal. By the end of the hour, he had the bazooka, the gas bombs and a very happy smile that would make his face hurt later. Chucko left with all the money promised and the guarantee of being contacted again for his services. None of the others of his own gang knew of his dealings with the other Jokerz of Gotham, but that was alright. What they didn't know wouldn't lead to them getting greedy.
Pimpin'- Hollywood Undead:
With all the sex appeal Wonder Woman would envy, Inque moved through the mass of writhing bodies stirring to the incessant beat around them and over to her client. Lucky for everyone in the general area, he actually wore his synthetic skin that made him look like his normal self. Although, quite frankly, in this mass of teenagers, hookers and drug dealers, he probably would have drawn less attention of he was glowing green. Slimy businessmen belonged uptown stuffing themselves with bite sized French food and expensive liquor.
"Mr. Powers," Inque greeted pleasantly enough, accepting the glass of wine he had kept at the far corner of his table so as not to affect it, "I'm a little surprised you asked us to meet here. This isn't exactly your element."
"No," Powers replied lightly, "It isn't. But that simply means we'll be left alone and nobody I know will actually see me talking to a hired gun. Besides," Powers grinned, "The music isn't half bad when all you here generally is Bach and Mozart."
A Difference in Opinions:
"Come on Dee Dee, the Joker was the best of all the Rogues of Gotham! He practically has a cult following now, years after his death!"
"Dee Dee, that's just not true. He was more or less just walking toxic waste, who beat up his long time girlfriend on a regular basis and had a fascination with the first Batman that was borderline homosexual!"
Bonk wasn't one to get mixed up in any conversations between any members of his team besides Chucko, if anything he simply turned up the volume on the television, but when it came to the Deeds, he made it a point to be in the room in the tiny event that they should get into a real catfight.
Tonight, that really didn't seem like it was going to happen.
Delia had spoken one of her night fantasies out loud and started speaking the Joker's praises to her sister. For once, Deidre didn't want to hear it. Instead of just ignoring her sister, she started in on all the reasons why Delia was wrong to follow the ideals of that particular Rogue.
'You'd think she'd have at least one nice thing to say about him,' The bald headed muscle thought absently, 'She is one of the Jokerz after all.'
Bonk was, truthfully, not an observant guy, but after spending months listening to the feminine clowns, he had gotten to know them pretty well and he stored away small tid-bits of information on them if he felt it could be useful for black-mail. The info proved to be useless as of yet, but he had hopes.
Sitting in the living room the Jokerz had made within the Jolly Jack candy warehouse, Bonk had come to observe that the twins may have been identical on the outside all around, but on the inside, their personalities were as different as night and day.
Delia was the obvious extroverted, social butterfly. She had hooked up with almost all the attractive Jokerz in town on a whim, except Ghoul of course (the guy had "morals" apparently) and was quite the fighter on her own merits. She adored everything about the original Joker. His looks, his voice, his personality, his deadly slyness, etc. Bonk was willing to bet money that she had become a thief and criminal just because she'd watched an old documentary on the guy. She rarely, if ever, took off her make-up and outfit and as a result had been dubbed by most of the males that ran in their circles as Joker's Daughter. This was the one thing she was totally and unequivocally proud of.
Deidre, the tall strong man had come to realize, was the exact opposite. She felt nothing but contempt for most of the things the original Joker stood for and had come to wish pain and suffering on Delia's new boy toy, J-Man, because of that. Whenever she caught the wannabe Clown Prince in their warehouse, she bribed Woof to chase him out, or did it on her own with a heavy mallet she'd gotten from who knew where. She hated wearing her make-up and outfit for long periods and actually really liked wearing outfits Bonk remembered seeing on very old shows. If he listened hard enough, he also took note that she only cared about three things; her sister, their Jokerz group and her grandmother. Everything else was immaterial. In fact, the one time he ever saw her lash out at two of the things she cared about, was when Delia wanted to introduce J-Man to their Nanna Harley and Chucko wanted to meet the old woman as well.
Bonk remembered that particular fight vividly. He still had the recording of it in his room, under the floor boards, in a box, locked in chains. He only took it out when he was sure he was alone and unlikely to get walked in on doing… stuff. It was truly the most awesome fight ever to take place in the history of the world. It was the very definition of a catfight. Bonk vaguely made a mental note to have someone bury the recording with him…
Whoops, he had to leave the couch now. It wouldn't do to let them see him get excited over something in his head.
Good Boy:
Absently, Woof wondered if a few dozen racks of lamb were worth all the trouble of going through this. He didn't like J-Man, not even a little. But taking a bribe of promised food to slash his tires and steel the money he had hidden in the old Gotham herald building was a little extreme.
Oh well. He'd already slashed the tires while the guy was screwing Delia in the even older Gotham police station, might as well go all the way with the money.
Waves of Blood:
Standing amidst the bloody bodies of the police stupid enough to get in her way, Tigress relished in the scent of the red fluids on the ground, on her clothes and on her hands. Dr. Cuvier was right, the hunt was all well and good, but the kill was all the more satisfying.
Holding her hand up to her lips, she licked off the extra blood, body heating up at the taste on her newly developed sense in taste and smiled wickedly. These small fries were wonderful appetizers, but the DA was the main course. Time to get down to business.
Feels Like Rain:
The cold air blended with the scent of dead leaves around her ankles and Max enjoyed it. Terry was late, but that wasn't unusual with their line of work. For now, she could enjoy a moment of Gotham's rare times of peace. The early morning, where most villains were finishing their exploits and the general public were still asleep or only just waking up to their alarms.