Tag: ted kord

Mastermind (The Mother Knows Best Remix), brainstorm (2015-10-14)

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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 not 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.

Untitled DCU drabble (2015-09-25)

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A/N1: Apparently I want to continue the story from this drabble? So you should probably check that out, first.

~

The problem is, they can’t find the woman after running the test. She has effectively disappeared and in a city like Gotham, even with all of the Oracle’s cameras, a single person isn’t going to be so easily found.

Especially when they don’t even have a real name to base their search on.

“Fiona Hill,” Tim murmurs, as he pulls up every single trace of his Caroline Hill identity. Her fake school and employment records, every time he used the alias for a mission, the lease under her name that serves as one of his Nests, “Why would she use that one?”

Why not Alvin Draper, Tim’s most frequently used alias? Why not Timothy Drake-Wayne, officially linked to the Wayne family and thus the Wayne manor?

Why not just Tim?

—

As it is, they don’t find her so much as she comes to them. Again.

It takes an embarrassingly long time for Tim to recognize one of the members of the Kord Industries team as the woman who might very well be his only living blood relative in the entire world. It’s doubly embarrassing because she’s not even wearing contacts or a wig–barring a change of clothes, she looks the exact same as when she came to the Manor.

Tim doesn’t quite stumble in his speech, but maybe the sentence he’s currently saying gets a little mangled on it’s way out, because the woman–his sister–gives a small, sideways smile. Amused, but fond.

Tim focuses on wrapping up his presentation as quickly as possible.

—

When the meeting is done–both sides having come to an agreement for their inter-company collaboration–the KI team begins to leave and Tim can’t just let her go without… He can’t.

“Mr. Kord,” he calls out, internally cringing at the volume of his voice.

The man turns around, bemused expression on his face, “You can call me Ted,” he says. Because… Tim’s been calling him Ted for years now. When he doesn’t call him Blue Beetle, of course.

“Right, yes, sorry about that,” and Tim does not blush. But it’s a very near thing.

“No harm done,” Ted waves off, before asking, “So what can I do for you, Tim?”

Tim wants to ask about her. He needs to know who she is. But when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out.

—

The problem is, it’s not just curiosity or a personal matter. She’s a security risk–she knows Batman and the Waynes are connected, she knows enough about Caroline Hill to make a not entirely phony claim–she knows something. Maybe not everything, but she knows enough.

And if Tim can’t resolve the situation, Bruce is going to take care of the perceived threat his way.

So, why can’t he just say anything?

“Sir,” and for the third time, the woman is the one to approach. She holds out a tablet for Ted’s perusal.

“Thank you, Esther,” he says absentmindedly, nearly completely lost to the screen before he remembers he was in the middle of a conversation. “Ah, Esther, you know Timothy Drake-Wayne. Tim, this is Esther Kelvin,”

“A pleasure to meet you,” she says, offering her hand out.

And Tim takes it, “Likewise.”

~

A/N2: Here’s a hint: Esther Kelvin is not her real name either.

Gotta be honest, I still have no idea wtf this is. I’m in a strange state of mind considering my sleep schedule is fucked to all hell, and I’ve been binge-reading DCU fic as well as the crossover!reincarnation ideas that have been cropping up in the Dreaming of Sunshine forum.

I’m not saying this is Shikako Nara reincarnated into the DC universe, but I got so many odd reluctantly fond sister vibes throughout each iteration of crossover!reincarnation that I guess it spilled over.

I should probably find a title for this series if I’m going to continue it, though…

Cross-Post: The Toss Up (1)

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original here. dated 2012-01-19

~

[[Based somewhat off #3 from this post by iesika. Basically, it’s a world where Tim is Ted Kord’s protégé, but Jaime still becomes the Blue Beetle. I don’t know that much about the Blue Beetle comics, though, so I’m kind of just making shit up.]]

When Jaime gets to this week’s hidden base after school Monday, Tim has already set up shop on the widest work table. Figures. Jaime’s hope to get there first was clearly futile.

“How was your day?” Tim asks without looking up from his sketch, which Jaime–in a completely indifferent and unsupportive manner–thinks might be something cool. But he doesn’t care at all. [it’s blueprints for hover shoes] Damn it, that’s kick ass.

“Fine.”

“I wasn’t asking you, I was asking Khaji Da,”

Jaime is really trying not to shoot a rocket (or twelve) at Tim’s serenely smug face. He may not actually be smirking, but Jaime knows he might as well be. It doesn’t help that Khaji Da is doing that not-laughing thing which feels like the something is vibrating in Jaime’s brain. And the damn scarab would never let Jaime hurt Tim anyway. [tim is an integral part of the Blue Beetle. as much as khaji da and jaime] “I thought you were going to be in a meeting until late,” by which Jaime really means, I wish you would just stay at work and never leave so that I don’t have to interact with you ever again. Please.

“The board of directors were far more compliant than I had anticipated. Probably because my tech won K.O.R.D a government contract that Wayne Industries was also gunning for. Hmm, gunning for. The contract was for a better armor.” Is Tim… smiling? [yes] Is that (an attempt at) a joke? [also yes] Well, he did seem less… bitchy. [tim is never ‘bitchy’ to khaji da]

“Oh, that’s… really… congratulations?” Less bitchy was definitely something Jaime wanted to encourage, “I’m sure Mr. Kord would be proud of you,”

That makes Tim look up at him. Blue eyes wide with shock for such a brief moment, Jaime thinks he imagines it. [jaime didn’t imagine it. tim’s eyelids were 2.174 millimeters more open than his default] Then he looks away, curls up on himself like Tim always does (but pretends he doesn’t) whenever Ted Kord is mentioned. But he’s still smiling.

“I hope so,”

And that’s all they say for the rest of the day. Until mutant armadillos start rampaging through the town and they get into an argument over the comms because Tim keeps backseat driving and Jaime keeps making the situation worse because he’s not listening and Khaji Da keeps flying in nauseating loop-de-loops.