This really won’t make sense if you don’t read @rahndom‘s Mastermind.
So the last chapter has the Young Justice swoop in to save both of the Drakes’ lives–though they are hospitalized–and there is a Janet-Tim mother-son bonding moment. Very sweet and everything. And I always want to know more about Janet Drake and figure that the woman who told her toddler that he can be anything so long as he put his mind to it, would be very supportive of her son as the vigilante named Mastermind.
So I was thinking some more about this universe and had some world-building/brainstorm-y thoughts about what I would like to read in a Janet POV continuation/remix of the fic.
The main one being–why does Janet, immediately upon waking up post-Haiti, decide to divorce Jack? And in answer to that I figured, well, what if most of the time, his parents were gone separately?
Like, Janet goes off somewhere for business and would assume that Jack would stay at home. And she’d say, oh, I’ll be back in three weeks. Then, two and a half weeks later Jack is like, Tim can stay at home by himself for three days, there’s a dig I would like to go to, I’ll be back in a month. Except then Janet calls and is like–I have to extend my stay for another six weeks–not knowing that Jack has already left for his own trip. Etc. etc. I mean, neglect is neglect, but at least this way it kind of explains Janet’s complete 180 in that last chapter.
Because it wasn’t really a complete 180. I figure it was probably something like… Jack was the one who wanted a kid and Janet didn’t really, but of course when she had Tim she loved him–but she still wasn’t ready to be a mother. As opposed to Jack who, even after Tim was born, still liked the idea of a son more than actually having a son. So hence Janet wanting to divorce Jack and stay in Gotham. Because the entire time she thought Jack was staying at home with Tim and finding out that he wasn’t–to the point that Tim became a teenaged vigilante with all his spare time–made her realize that she cannot stay married to this man who is a terrible husband and father.
And then everything else was just in line with what Tim can do and the idea that a lot of what makes Tim Mastermind is actually stuff he got from Janet. Including annoying the crap out of Bruce Wayne.
So of course she’s going to stick up for Catwoman as her son’s godmother. Retroactively claiming friendship with Selina Kyle–why of course, Bruce, Selina and I have been friends forever. It’s shameful that you’ve forgotten. It must be that dreadful alcoholism of yours, it’s practically pickled your brain.
But then she figures maybe it’s not enough. And while she adores Selina, well, Catwoman is a thief, and thieves don’t fight. They run. As Mastermind, Tim may not have the luxury to run, so he’ll need a little extra… something. Thankfully, the Obeah Man thing happens way before Infinite Crisis (which, is the thereabouts of when Blue Beetle dies) so that means that Ted Kord is still alive. That last chapter also mentions Jaime as part of the team even though he doesn’t become Blue Beetle until after Ted Kord dies but… uh… maybe his timeline is a little sped up (like Damian’s).
Anyway. Janet is all for plausible deniability, so she just has Drake Industries begin dealing with KORD Industries… and if that means that Ted Kord interacts with her son, well, if Tim can appoint himself a godmother surely she can choose a godfather. And if Blue Beetle happens to train Mastermind in the ways of non-metahuman vigilante skills/gadgets, well, that has nothing to do with their companies, does it? And it certainly is no business of Wayne Enterprises, butt out, Bruce.
As a bonus, since anywhere Ted Kord goes, Michael Carter goes, she basically gets two godfathers for the price of one. Which is especially great since it’s canon that Batman is ridiculously irritated by Booster Gold’s existence. It makes Booster helping to train Mastermind just absolutely hilarious to Janet (and me).
And I have some other thoughts–like… if Janet had gone to school with Lex as a teenager/child, well of course she’s going to recognize Kon, and similarly annoy the crap out of Lex. Mostly by sort of adopting Kon–because she’s been meaning to get Tim a bodyguard, it might as well be someone he likes. And then whenever she interacts with Lex she’s just so ruthless–“The darling boy is so lucky to favor his other parent’s genes, goodness knows your shoddy business practices are better off not being passed down to the next generation.” and “Oh, I’m sorry Lex, I can’t hear you over the sound of Lex Corp stock prices plummeting.” Hehehe…
Like, I would want this to take over the actual fic, but be more like a… supplemental reading sort of thing.
Sorry, all of my Tim feelings spill over into Janet feelings so…
Although… I may actually write this? In a drabble-y choppy way. For now, though, here’s the brainstorm.
I would love to see what you can come up with in my humble AU, sweetie. While I am not well versed in the Ted/Michael dinamics I do have a headcanon in which Janet and Lex were schoolmates (academic rivals in Lex’s opinion, forced acquaintances in Janet’s) and of couse she’s gonna tease Alex (”Please Janet, we’ve gone over this for decades, call me Lex!”) the moment she takes one look at Kon and sees that stuborn chin on him.
As for her divorce request, canon-wise, she and Jack were having troubles by the time Haiti happened, a part of me wants to believe that she took one look at her son’s face (bruised, scratched and so terribly sad) and decided it was not worth it following her asshole of a husband around the globe to salvage a marriage that forced her away from her child.
She loves Tim, he is hers and he needs to come first for once at least in her book, if Jack wants to move away and find himself, fuck him, she is staying.
Also, she is going to troll Bruce so hard when she notices her baby boy has captured the heart of Brucie’s little monster, Damian is an adorable little cookie that knows perfection when he sees it – of course Tim is perfect, he is her son – and she will encourage their interactions as much as she can if only to see Bruce squirm.
OMG! I meant “I would NOT want this to take over the actual fic, but be more like a… supplemental reading sort of thing.” (ugh seriously of all the freaking typos I could inflict, I’m so sorry. Without the not it sounds so arrogant, I didn’t mean to sound like some kind of idea thief)
But, hi! Hello! I’m a big fan of your fic–I’m such a sucker for Tim Drake and his many heartbreaking adventures, and you’re probably the reason why I ship DamiTim.
I just super love the idea that Janet knows about everyone’s superhero/villain secret identity shenanigans but never outrightly says it. Probably because she grew up with those dweebs and is just like–”Alex, surely all this melodrama would be solved if you just propositioned the alien. It’s starting to get embarrassing–and I knew you in the 80s.” or “Bruce, running around in spandex doesn’t make you the bigger man. Far from it, in fact.”
Thankfully, her son knows better. If he’s going to be a vigilante, he’s at least going to be one that is both practically and fashionably dressed.
I actually don’t know that much about the Blue Beetle/Booster Gold storyline, either, but I figure that there aren’t too many non-metahuman vigilantes that aren’t also Bat-sanctioned/funded. So it was either BB+BG, who are independent of Batman and also have the added benefit of annoying the bejeezus out of Bruce, or… well… one of the assassins/mercenaries like Shiva or Deathstroke. Which… I mean, that would be pretty interesting, too.
Janet could easily hire Deathstroke to teach her son–unless Slade Wilson is also someone that Janet has had past experience with and she leverages some kind of blackmail against him so he will train Tim. (And, obligatory Janet trashtalk: “Orange and black scales, Slade? Need I say more?”)
As for Shiva, well, now I’m not saying Janet possibly did her a favor on the wrong side of the law a few years ago, but I do think that if such a thing did happen then it would definitely make sense for Shiva to repay her by training Tim. Just saying.
((I guess there’s also Green Arrow, but I figure that in Janet’s eyes Oliver Queen is even less tolerable than Bruce Wayne)).
Also, hell yeah Janet is going to encourage DamiTim. She believes in multi-tasking and not only will that give Bruce an aneurysm, but it will also neatly tie up the whole Wayne Enterprises vs Drake Industries thing, and confuse Ra’s al Ghul (who she considers a mild but persistent pest in her international business dealings).
You are making me blush so hard, dearest. I’m so glad you like my work (and are shamelessly tempting me to drable).
To be quite honest when I wrote Janet into the story without leting her die it was because I really wanted to see Tim surrounded by women and how different his vigilantism could evolve without Bruce’s sausage fest.
When he asked Kon and Bart for a year before becoming part of them, I think he met Lady Shiva (as canon) and she trained him, he lives with Catwoman who usually teaches him what he needs to know, and now his mother who will be wheel-chair bound for a while will be his oracle (methinks).
As for the heroes and villains, yes, Brucie, Ollie, Alex (Harvey) and Janet went to school together, I imagine she used to tease Alex and Bruce (and maybe even Harvey) by saying Ollie was better than them, and to her, he was, so uncomplicated, that man.. much easier to deal with. .. and you know what?
I think I wanna drable now.
I blame you for everything that comes out of this. :’D
OMG! I read this latest chapter and I absolutely loved it! Janet totally just owning the floor without having to move an inch. *sighs* I want to be her when I grow up
I am honored to accept that blame 😀
JackSGreyson Says 