Full Summary: "She was conflicted. Ever since last month, she has been having these strange visions. At first, Brooklynn just thought it was just a dream or that her imagination was getting the best of her. But more and more, those visions played out faithfully right in front of her eyes. A child losing hold of their stuffed animal and dropping it into the mud, a man getting splashed with roadwater by a speeding car.
As she began to realize that it wasn't just a hallucination, the visions seemed to grow in length and occurrence, plus the increase of gravitas in the situations she foresaw. Brooklynn shivered at the amount of coverups she had witnessed unwillingly, wishing to bleach many of the crime scenes from her mind."
Or, With her new ability to see into the future, Brooklynn Banks sets out to help her fellow Gothamites. Gathering allies and making enemies, huge waves lie just under the surface of Gotham's underbelly. Will she let her decision consume her life and face the repercussions or will she come out unscathed?
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters mentioned. This story was made with the sole purpose of entertainment and is not intended to be taken seriously in any social, political or religious context under any circumstances.
AN: Enjoy the chapter!
October 20, 20XX
Her phone sat heavily in her hand, the small light blinking innocently at her. Brooklynn sighed, shoving the damn phone in her pocket.
She was conflicted. Ever since last month, she has been having these strange visions. At first, Brooklynn just thought it was just a dream or that her imagination was getting the best of her. But more and more, those visions played out faithfully right in front of her eyes. A child losing hold of their stuffed animal and dropping it into the mud, a man getting splashed with roadwater by a speeding car.
As she began to realize that it wasn't just a hallucination, the visions seemed to grow in length and occurrence, plus the increase of gravitas in the situations she foresaw. Brooklynn shivered at the amount of coverups she had witnessed unwillingly, wishing to bleach many of the crime scenes from her mind.
She couldn't even control it when it happened, the visions appeared at any time it wished. It was inconvenient at best and troublesome at worst. Brooklynn had even broken one of her favorite mugs and accidently hurt herself because a vision suddenly materialized!
Even her family was beginning to notice something was wrong. They remarked about her becoming more absentminded and distant, worrying about how she was doing lately. Brooklynn just brushed off the concerns, stating that she had a rough couple of days and she would be fine soon. It was true that she was having a tough time acclimating to the visions and what occurred in them. She didn't mind some of the lighter-hearted visions, those of which small mishaps occurred in a person's everyday life, but dreaded the appearance of visions that showed her someone's brutal murder.
She was used to seeing some violence, she lived in Gotham for goodness sake, but murder wasn't something she was comfortable seeing. Of course, she saw the after effects, ghosts who roam around Gotham after having been murdered. They were surprisingly open to talk about said murders and who committed them. Brooklynn guessed it was the fact that she was willing to anonymously report it that made them so eager to tell her. They just wanted justice for their deaths after all.
Brooklynn managed to trace the beginning of the visions to when she pricked her finger on a strange figurine. The figurine, which she found in the alley near her house, looked old. Some pieces of it were chipped and rusty, others broken off entirely. Brooklynn had bet that if she cleaned it up nicely, it would have gleamed in the light. The pose it was in however, was odd. The figurine covered its eyes with its hands, while another pair of hands were cupped in front of it as if it was begging.
Of course, it intrigued her, and when she brought it home with her to restore it, she managed to hurt herself with it. With the pain in her finger brought forth a splitting headache that came out of nowhere, at least she thought so at the time. At that same moment, the figurine gained several more cracks, many of which Brooklynn fixed up when her headache wasn't present anymore and her finger wrapped up.
The next couple of weeks alerted her of the strangeness her life became after her encounter with the figurine, from which she deduced that the figurine was somehow magic. It looked much too old to be any type of technology, and she was sure it was made entirely of wood. Thus, magic. She guessed that the magic interfered with her meta gene, the ability to see and interact with ghosts, and somehow altered it for her to be able to see into the future.
Despite not being able to control the visions, Brooklynn wondered about the possibilities. Perhaps if she pushed the man further into the sidewalk, he wouldn't have been splashed with roadwater and taken his frustrations out on another person. Or if she grabbed the stuffed animal the child dropped, the child wouldn't have cried and caused a startled worker to fall from her ladder in surprise.
It was those thoughts that led to Brooklynn sitting in her room, phone in hand, feeling unsure about what to do. Should she help the city out and post future occurrences with the possibility that she would be tracked down if it went against some strangers' plot? Or should she just keep her head down and pretend to not see the visions, rejecting a freshly blossomed part of her?
"Brooklynn! It's time for school! Come down and eat!" A voice shouted from down the stairs.
"Okay, Destiny!" Brooklynn yelled back, resuming dressing herself. Smoothening her uniform vest, she headed down the stairs, passing her sharply dressed sister, Destiny. She made a face at Destiny who returned it with a silly expression. They both laughed at their expressions before Destiny gave her a light swat on the arm. "Mom already left for work. Go eat, doofus, or you'll be late."
"Alright, alright." Brooklynn rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips. She finally joined her brother, Jayden, at the breakfast table while Destiny went up the stairs to her room. Shoveling down her mother's amazing cooking in a few bites, Brooklynn went to wash her plate and drink a cup of water. She grabbed her bag when she was done, locating her laptop and shoving it in along with her charger and respirator mask. You never knew when Scarecrow or Joker decided to strike. Better safe than sorry, her father always said.
Brooklynn checked her watch, noting that they only had twenty minutes till the bus arrived, though knowing Gotham, it would either arrive ten minutes early or two hours late. Jayden finished his food, humming as he washed his dishes. Brooklynn grabbed their bikes and carried them to the front door, careful not to let them touch the clean floor. Mom hated when they tracked their muddy bikes on the floor after she cleaned them. She sat down on a step, lacing up her shoes next to Jayden who was doing the same.
Only one last step left. She gently strapped the respirator mask onto his face. Jayden was especially susceptible to Gotham's pollution, his weak lungs unable to properly filter the ever-present smog. Then, it was time to go.
They were lucky that day, the bus decided to arrive earlier than expected. Some days, they had to wait an extra twenty minutes before deciding to bike to school. Those days, they were usually late. Jayden chattered excitedly next to her, content with her entertaining him with one or two worded answers. Brooklynn focused on watching the world pass outside the window, still turning over the thought of her visions over in her mind.
All too quickly, their stop arrived. Brooklynn unloaded their bikes from the front of the bus, handing one to her brother. While both of them attended Gotham Academy, grades K-8 had a separate building than those who attended 9th to 12th grade. The building was to the right and further down the road to the high school building.
Dropping Jayden off with a kiss to his head and instruction on when to take the respirator off, which he rolled his eyes to, Brooklynn watched Jayden until he entered the building, then set off for her own school. On the way there, she recognized a few faces, waving at them in greeting. Those who weren't among the living, however, she simply nodded at. No need for others seeing her wave at an empty space, she didn't want to be labeled as crazy just yet.
Her first step into the building and Brooklynn fought back a disgusted face. Ugh, the first person she saw just had to be Alexander Stone. She wasn't sure what she had done to offend him that first week of school, but ever since, he hated her. He went out of his way to let her know it too, discrediting her to staff and students, vandalizing her locker, and just doing what he could without being caught. She tried to avoid him as best she could, but sometimes there were just situations where she couldn't, like now.
She quickly walked by him, making sure not to look in his direction and alert him to her presence, and said hello to Victor Moore, her classmate she was somewhat close to. A sudden weight on her back along with the pitched voice saying her name informed Brooklynn of her friend's presence. As she spun around to catch her balance, Brooklynn's eyes were covered, the voice behind her asking, "Guess who~?"
In the most deadpan voice Brooklynn could muster, she said, "Hello, Max."
The hands withdrew and a pouting redhead entered her vision, "Aww. How did you guess so fast?"
"Maybe it's because you do this every morning?" Aaliyah said primly, appearing behind them while Brooklynn straightened her rumpled vest.
"I've got to make my entrance special somehow." Max said humorously, crossing her arms and cocking her hips, eliciting a smile from her two friends.
Aaliyah frowned peering closer at Brooklynn, "Are you okay? You look tired."
Brooklynn opened her mouth to reply before she was cut off by Max, "She's right, Lynn. Are you feeling sick? Headache? Nausea?"
"I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep last night. We're going to be late if we don't hurry." Brooklynn pointed out, lightly swatting Max's hand away from her forehead. She didn't need her watch to know, there weren't many people left in the halls, only a couple groups like them lingered.
They said their goodbyes before separating as they had different homeroom classes. Max gave them both crushing hugs and advised her to drink some water and go to the nurse's office if she needed to. Brooklynn lightly agreed before heading off to class.
Brooklynn skulked into the classroom from the back door and slid into her seat, unnoticed except to her seatmate, Joseph Hayes. He gave her a small nod, to which she returned with a smile.
Classes flew by quickly, the teachers droning on monotonously about subjects they already learned. Brooklynn's only reprieve was during lunch when she chatted with her friends, but even then, her undecided decision weighed on her. The evening classes went about the same as the mornings, boring Brooklynn despite her extensive notes. Even her favorite class, Anatomy, couldn't rouse her attention for more than a couple minutes.
The ending bell shocked her out of her thoughts, blinking a couple of times as her classmates moved around her. She quickly packed her notes into her backpack and lugged it over her shoulder, making her way through the crowd to the entrance.
Waving goodbye to her departing friends, Brooklynn quickly grabbed her bike from where she stored it and made her way to Jayden's building. Jayden stood at the entrance of the building with his bike, smiling as he spoke excitedly with another student. The student stood with his back straight and his arms clasped behind his back, a solemn expression on his face. He was oddly familiar, Brooklynn felt as if she should know him.
Rolling up to the pair, Brooklynn began to speak when she noticed the cracked eaves above them. Her eyes widened, remembering suddenly where she saw her brother's new friend from. Dismounting her bike, she grabbed both of their arms and shoved them out of the way of falling concrete. The boy's disgruntled expression shifted as he eyed the broken pieces of concrete that landed where he stood just moments before. Jayden blinked in shock, still processing what had happened.
"Are you two alright?" Brooklynn asked worriedly, checking over her brother before she turned to his friend. He took a step back, brushing his vest clean from any dust he could find. "I am fine."
"How did you spot that so quickly?" Jayden asked, his eyes shining as he stared at his sister.
Brooklynn let her hands fall to her sides and looked at the pile of concrete. This was one of her earlier visions which is why it took her so long to realize. If she did, her brother's bike would have survived the encounter. It laid broken on its side, small pieces of concrete still atop it. "I was just lucky that I looked up. Who knows what would have happened if it didn't."
The child frowned and crossed his arms, huffing, "We would have been fine without your aid, woman."
Brooklynn blinked at the hostility, "Ah. You are…?"
"Oh! I can't believe I forgot!" Jayden said, facepalming, "This is Damian, my new friend."
"We are anything but friends!" Damian scowled. Brooklynn's lip twitched at their back and forth. Clearly, this one had trouble admitting his true feelings. She doubted he would stick around her brother if he truly didn't like him.
"Well, we have to go. It was nice meeting you Damian, even if the circumstances weren't as great."
Damian pursed his lips and nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Banks." He turned on his heel and marched away, Jayden waving goodbye enthusiastically. Cute kid, Brooklynn thought.
"Cmon Jayden, grab your bike and let's go. Let's hope it can be fixed by the local mechanic." Brooklynn added on as an afterthought, lifting her own bike upright. Jayden pouted at his broken bike and agreed, wheeling it over to her.
The walk to the bus station was filled with the sound of a squeaky wheel, it was a relief to finally board the bus and be rid of that sound. The ride home went by surprisingly quick, Brooklynn lost in thought.
In her vision, she was sure that Damian dodged the falling concrete by himself. Yet today, things went differently. She helped despite the fact that she knew he would have been fine. Perhaps the specific details don't matter to her new ability? The end goal stayed the same, Damian remaining unharmed, so perhaps it didn't matter that she interfered? Or maybe because it was her that intervened that made the vision obsolete? After all, she could see into the future and saw that specific event. She couldn't be sure though. At least, not without testing the limits of her new powers.
The bus rolled to a stop and Brooklynn helped unmount the bikes from the bus. It was only a couple minutes walk before they arrived home, their mother welcoming them enthusiastically.
"Mom!" Jayden whined, trying and failing to stop his mother from kissing his cheeks. Brooklynn laughed under her breath, feigning innocence when her brother pouted at her. Her mother moved on to Brooklynn, hugging her tightly. Brooklynn squeezed her mother just as tightly, pleased to see her after her long day. Jayden took his mother's distraction to dart to his room.
"What's got you so excited?" Her mother, Imani, laughed. They separated, Imani looking her daughter over in appraisal. Whatever she was looking for, she deemed it satisfactory with a smile.
"Nothing. I just missed you." Brooklynn grinned bashfully, "We don't see you as much now that you've got that new job."
Imani grabbed Brooklynn's hands, holding them in her own. "Oh Brooks, baby, you know I'll be here in the afternoons."
Brooklynn hummed in agreement, "I'm just used to seeing you earlier in the day. The change is… weird, I guess."
Imani narrowed her eyes in thought, "I can't switch jobs again since this one pays well…" She brightened, an idea forming, "But we can't spend more time together! How about next week, Saturday. We're all free then, right?"
"I think so. Jayden doesn't have practice next week and neither do I. We'll have to ask Destiny though." Imani gestured with her hand as she looked here and there, eventually marching over to the kitchen to grab a notepad, Brooklynn trailing behind her. She scratched down a couple of ideas before turning to Brooklynn, "What do you think we should do?"
"Umm." Brooklynn paused, thinking of places they should go for the outing. She picked the first that came to mind. "The park?"
Imani tapped the end of her pen on her chin contemplatively. "Hmm. That'll depend on whether Poison Ivy is running loose or not, but I'll add it to the list. Anything else?"
"The Zoo and Aquarium was fun when we last went. Or maybe the Observatory. Jayden would love that. You know how much he loves stars."
"Those are definitely some good ideas. We'll have to check if the Observatory is open on the weekends though." Imani nodded, noting down the places.
"Why are we checking if the Observatory is open? Are we going somewhere?" Destiny asked, closing the front door behind her. She shucked off her shoes and walked behind Imani, holding her mother in a quick hug. Imani caressed her daughter's face in greeting without looking away from her notepad. "We're planning a trip next Saturday, are you free then?"
"I'll have to check, but I might be." Destiny placed her head on her mother's shoulder, peering at the notepad.
Brooklynn smiled at the domestic scene, soaking in the presence of her family. Her smile waned at the thought of those in her visions who were suddenly cut off from their family for a variety of reasons. Some were unfortunately murdered, their lives cut short, or witnessed the death of a family member. Others were separated from siblings and family from corrupt officers and thrown in detention centers.
"Is something wrong?" Imani asked, giving Brooklynn a look at her sudden frown. Destiny looked over too, raising an eyebrow in question.
"It's nothing. I just forgot about the homework I was supposed to turn in. I'll go and do it now." Brooklynn beat a hasty retreat, her sister and mother sharing a bewildered glance behind her.
Brooklynn flopped face forward on her bed after locking the door behind her, letting out a groan of frustration. It was obvious that the right thing to do was to post the contents of her visions and help others. But some of the things she could post would just paint a target on her back. She didn't want her family to get into harm's way because of her.
She would have gone straight to the Bats with her information, but she had no idea how to contact them. They would've been able to help others faster, but she doubted it would be as widespread than if she just posted it for all to see.
Still, there was the matter of the account she makes being trackable. She bought an older model phone for that, with the hopes that it would be harder to trace than her WaynePhone. She doubted that an older phone would make it completely untraceable, but at least lessen the likelihood of her identity being exposed. She made sure to turn it completely off and take out the sim card each time she used it.
Brooklynn sighed, resting her head on her arms. Who was she kidding? It was obvious that she would post her visions eventually. Otherwise, why else would she buy the second phone and go through so many precautions while using it?
She reached over to her bottom drawer, pulling out a small, discreet pouch and rifling through it. She took out a thick sock, removing her second phone from the layers of cloth. Grabbing the notebook and pen that sat on her drawer, she flipped the notebook open to a blank page, setting the phone on the next page. That notebook was the one that she used to keep track of her visions.
Brooklynn penned down all the visions she had in the past two days, piecing them together with her older visions to figure out the approximate timeline of events. Many of her visions came out of order, but she had some clues. For example, the star of her recent vision had been reading a newspaper before vines attacked the populace. The newspaper was dated for the 28th of October, so assuming he was reading it the same day it was printed, then Poison Ivy would attack next Saturday. The same day her family would go on an outing…
Brooklynn shook her head, returning to her self-appointed task. She had to make the timeline and post it, for the safety of her family and Gotham. The task took hours, Brooklynn having to double back and redo some points of her timeline due to misinterpreting something or putting it in the wrong space. Her mother knocked on the door to call her for dinner, having to wrangle her down to the table when she didn't come in time.
Eventually, she managed to make a rough timeline of events, though it was missing a couple visions that she couldn't make the date out of. What surprised her while making it was the fact that she didn't only see into the future, she saw into the past too. One of her visions, she dated back to the early 1900s, the architecture, slang, and outfits made it pretty obvious. Another was closer to her time, taking place in the late 1990s, showing the marriage of a lovely couple that sadly ended in tragedy. She managed to track down the actual cathedral where the ceremony took place, along with the names of the couple.
Her timeline ranged from the 1800s to far in the future, the 30th century! Honestly, Broklynn didn't expect humanity to survive that far, least of all as such an advanced civilization. Though, those visions in the 30ths century ranged from few and far between.
Finally, it was time to compose a coherent post, using only the information that she learned about the next day. It was easier than she thought to compile the info and write it out, since nothing big happens tomorrow. All she had to do now was create the account.
Brooklynn unlocked the phone with a complex password she worked hard on to memorize, and paused. What social media platform should she use? She knew making her own blog would be putting too much energy into something that would have little payoff. Should she try Chirper? The algorithm there would make sure that her posts would go out to as many people as possible. Or maybe Tumbler, since the formatting and customization was very nice. She'll just do both, she decided after some thought. It'll spread her posts even farther if it's on both websites.
The name she chose was inspired from greek mythology, of which she was always a fan of. She always felt connected to the Oracle of Delphi since she could also see what others could not, but now it seems their similarities were more substantial.
All that was left was posting her vision. Brooklynn's hand hovered over the post button, she prayed she was doing the right thing.
PythiaPredicts
Good evening Gotham! I am your bearer of news, Pythia. Tomorrow, Saturday October 21, there is a 100% chance of rain, so make sure to bring your umbrellas or find shelter until the rain stops at around 3 pm. For the temperature, highs are in the forties and lows in the mid tens. However, with windchill in effect, expect the temperature to range from about 35 to 21 degrees Fahrenheit.
Big news for tomorrow is that Wayne Enterprise will announce their collaboration with the Department of Public Utilities to create a project that will clean our waters. The waters that are planned for decontamination are the Gotham Bay, Gotham River, Sprang River, and the Finger River. The program will create new jobs and pay an astounding 23 dollars per hour for every worker. This project will run for the course of three years, even less if the amount of workers is high enough. Please keep this offer in the back of your mind. After all, who doesn't want a cleaner Gotham?
Another smaller, yet just as great, news is a new cure for the recent strain of Joker Venom will be released tomorrow afternoon. The co-creators of this, which will not be named for their wellbeing, have managed to create a cure that will reach pharmacies tomorrow at the low, low price of just 10 dollars per bottle. If you or a loved one have come in contact with the most recent strain of Joker Venom, I urge you to buy a bottle if you are unable to afford hospitalization.
Some not so great news is that the rogues Killer Croc and Mad Hatter are still at large and unlikely to be caught anytime soon. Let us just hope that our protectors will find them soon and without any harm to the general public.
And finally, a new book shop in Cherry Hill will be opening for its first day tomorrow. If you are interested in cozy places to read and classical books, make sure to give it a visit soon at 4179 Otterford Road.
— Yours truly, Pythia
AN: Wow, Imani just steamrolled her way into this chapter. She wasn't even meant to appear, she was supposed to be mentioned only!
As far as I can tell, Chirper is the in-universe name for Twitter(or X) and I couldn't find an in-universe name for Tumblr, so I just called it Tumbler, as in from the inspiration for tumblr, tumblelogs.
Not much goes on in this but I wanted to introduce some plot points and recurring characters and settings. Don't worry, this fic will have canon characters as the focal point, I just needed to flesh out the people in Brooklynn's life.
Characters introduced in order are:
Brooklynn Banks - our main character! 18 years old, She/Her, Black
Destiny Banks - 25 years old, She/Her, Black
Jayden Banks - 12 years old, He/Him, Black
Alexander Stone - 18 years old, He/Him, Caucasian
Victor Moore - 17 years old, He/Him, Spanish
Maxwell "Max" Shepard - 17 years old, She/Her, Scottish
Aaliyah Price - 17 years old, She/Her, Black
Joseph Hayes - 16 years old, He/Him, French
Damian Wayne - 13 years old, He/Him, Chinese/Arab/White
Imani Banks - 43 years old, She/Her, Black
Also! This is going to be extremely slow to update. It's the first tag! Im just posting it so I don't forget about it while I'm working on my 10+ other wips. Thanks for the patience! ^^