batmanschmatman | 124 [voice/spam]

[Warden Filter]

[Dick's gone back and forth on saying something public about this, because while he's still kind of freaking out about this and knows this isn't his Bruce, he still feels weird basically siding with the other wardens/the good of the Barge instead of him. This wasn't exactly the father/son reunion he was expecting. :c] That isn't the Bruce Wayne from our world. If he says anything to anyone that gives you reason to be concerned, I want to know about it immediately.

[This is legitimate, okay, he's already talking about staging an escape attempt. B(]

[Filtered to the DC Cast]

I need you to tell me everything he told you. [This is an order, not a suggestion. :|]

[Private to Dean]

...

[Private to Sara]

...

[He was going to message you both, but he really doesn't know what he wants to say, and there's a pressing issue he needs to deal with right now.]

[Spam for Tim]

[Dick isn't honestly sure how he's processing all of this. He's angry, he's frustrated, he feels like he's running on adrenaline but doesn't have anything to do with it, which means he's been pacing and kind of shaky the entire time he's been talking to Bruce. It's stupid, he knows it's stupid to get this worked up over the Barge throwing something like this at him, and really, with all the different realities out there, he probably should have been anticipating it. But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with, and it doesn't change the fact that he's seen what that kind of psychotic break does to someone like them, and he's never really actually... dealt with the fact that he'd been killed by someone with a pretty similar mindset.

At least this time, the crazy murderous Batman apparently wasn't planning on holding a gun on him any time soon.

Which is actually the more pressing issue he needs to deal with right now, so, message composed and posted, Dick tosses his comm down and head out of his room down the hallway and knocks at Tim's door impatiently.]

It's me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Being a vigilante and being a hunter seems to have that in common; no one comes in whole. No one gets out whole. Dean nods, simple and silent agreement, because he can't say it any better than that - he gets it. He really, really gets it, and more.

Dick has worked himself into a unique position in Dean's life without the hunter realizing it; Dean operates, normally, on the Eye for an Eye policy and that means outside of violence, too. It means Dean knows about Dick's parents, Dick knows about Sam, they're even; it means Dean helped out in Gotham, Dick helped with Kon, it's fair. It means they don't talk about May 2nd and now here they are again, deeper than they would otherwise be if not for...

And to be honest, Dean doesn't have to check the calendar to know where the year is headed; he always knows when November is near. There's a familiar heaviness in his gut, a nameless, wary dread waiting for trouble; it's building strength now and it makes him think of Dad and he hates that a little bit it's true. Eye for an eye. Father for a father, and if Dean knows he would still never come out with it if Blake were still around, well; he's not looking at that either.]

Look, I know this is a shitty situation; I do. More than...

It's not exactly the same. I know that. I would probably set the whole damn ship on fire if I was in your currently civilian and not bulletproof at all shoes. But I do...

You know how sometimes, people show up? Who look exactly like other people? Like me and that nutball kid.

[Dick chuckles a little at the comment about setting the ship on fire, about to make a joke about what makes you think I'm not going to, but he stops when Dean continues, immediately running through a list of all the possible places this could be going and really not liking any of them.

It's not exactly the same, he knows that, but he also knows how shitty it is when someone turns up who looks like someone you knew, and while he'd gotten lucky in that Connor hadn't been a monster, that wasn't really a luxury everyone in the same situation got.]

Yeah.

[There's really no neat way to follow up where he's already started leading, so Dick prompts him and Dean flounders for a second, opening his mouth and closing it, looking down into his coffee and sipping it. Putting it down and picking it back up. He blows out a breath finally and abandons all pretense at being eloquent about it - blunt has always been his stronger suit, anyway.]

Blake. The Comedian. [He blurts the first name, sneers the second a little; even if Dick hadn't been fully aware of what Dean has to think about a man who could attempt to rape someone on board and staked Buffy as a way to announce his arrival, it's clear there in a flash before it's gone again and Dean glances over.]

My dad's nothing like that. Wasn't. Anything like that. But goddamn. [He breathes it on a chuckle with no humor, shakes his head and looks down again before repeating himself.] Goddamn.

[For a long moment, Dick just kind of stares at him while he explains, because while there have been a lot of really awful people on the Barge in Dick's time here, none of them had so successfully triggered his rage buttons as much as the Comedian had, not even Hoffman.

So Dean really doesn't need to explain himself, and Dick's honestly a little shocked Dean was able to hold himself in check so well while he'd been on board, because honestly? If Bruce ever pulled something like that - stabbed Sara within a couple hours of being on board and tried to rape someone - Dick honestly wasn't sure he'd have been able to stay on board. Or he might have killed him. Or both.]

Holy crap.

[The truth of the matter is that very few people will ever know that Dean actually has as much self control as he does; he had pointedly, deliberately decided he wasn't going to murder the asshole in his sleep because Sam is so much more important than taking out some hellspawn doppelganger. He'd had to completely ignore Blake's existence and everything about him to do it, but he had.

Just as much, though, he still really, really wishes the Comedian would've given him even half an excuse to fill him with lead and toss the body in Zero for revival, back when almost no one would've blamed him.

Now, the hunter pulls a face, tries not to let the serious look Dick is giving him kill the small smirk he's managed to pull up.]

You can see why I didn't say anything before. I don't...

Buffy's the only other one who knows, now. She saw a picture. And of course, he's gone, but...

I get it.

[Well, Dick's impressed, and while he already definitely respected Dean, it makes that already high esteem grow, because he knew what his triggers were. It was why he had been so insistent to know what had happened to Tim during the kid flood when he'd went to deal with Sara, and why he privately worried about another Mirrorverse event or something similar, because he knew what would and could push him over the edge, and the fact that Dean had been able to hold back facing something like that was impressive.

He scrubbed his hands over his face briefly, feeling tired and overwhelmed and not really sure of what the hell he was supposed to do now, but appreciating the sign of trust and understanding. At least a couple people on board wouldn't think he was totally losing his mind if he flipped out over this.]

I'm sorry.

That's not why I told you.

[Dean isn't sure what to do with it, either, and if he doesn't scrub at his face or neck in his usual tells, he does keep fidgeting with the coffee mug. But that much, at least, he knows: he meant it to be exactly what wasn't said. Solidarity. Dick's not alone, even if their situations aren't or wouldn't have been identical; the hunter wouldn't think he was losing his mind. He'd be right there with him, but until then, he's here.]

I'm not one of those it'll work out assholes; but you've got a lot of people on your side, here. A lot of scary, good people.

124 [voice/spam]

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