
No title available
cherry valley forever

JBB: An Artblog!
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
No title available

titsay
$LAYYYTER
Show & Tell
No title available
Peter Solarz
I'd rather be in outer space šø
todays bird
Mike Driver
Xuebing Du

Janaina Medeiros

ā
Aqua Utopiaļ½ęµ·ć®åŗć§čØę¶ćē“”ć
sheepfilms

ā
Three Goblin Art
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States

seen from Australia
seen from France
seen from United States

seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
@archived-archivist
Jason and Danny vibing w/ each other on first contact is overrated I need them to be on each other's throat. Love at first sight? No. Enemies at first sightš§āāļø
Prompt 323
Yāknow what? Give me more of Danny getting found or half-raised by C or D ranked rogues and villains. Give me stories where Danny flees Amity or is on a trip or falls through dimensions, doesnāt matter, and meets some of these people that no one really talks about.Ā
Let him meet characters like Calendar Man or Magpie or Catman or Kiteman. Let him meet Gorilla Grodd, Trickster, any of the characters that people forget about or just ignore. Let him have fun with more than just the League or Batfam.Ā
you guys ever hear a character say something so gay you sitting there trying to figure out how you were supposed to interpret that platonically?!
The push and pull of ārelationships can be very affectionate and still be platonicā and āthose are the gayest motherfuckers Iāve ever seenā.
āthis ship isnāt canonā to YOU. I, however, am delusional
DP x DC Prompt
Danny was sent to the DC universe to save him from the GIW and the Fenton's by Clockwork
Doesn't know what to do here, but as an Experienced Vigilante:tm: he takes note of all the INexperienced vigilante's causing more danger than they realize.
Danny takes it upon himself to act as a low level villain so he can secretly train these vigilante's to be stronger. One day, a Bigger Villain decides to Fuck Around and Find Out.
All his "enemies" realize Danny could've folded them anytime he wanted when he effortlessly defeats the Big Bad.
When he first saw these so-called vigilantes, Danny was not impressed. Rampant property damage, people left in unsafe situations, bad prioritization, and easily getting distracted from immediate threats by smaller ones. It's honestly a miracle that no one has died yet, though plenty had gone to the hospital when they shouldn't have needed to.
Danny tried to talk to them, give them some pointers from someone who learned the hard way, but they very rudly told him to mind his own business. Danny knew when he wasn't wanted.
That didn't mean he would actually butt-out. It just meant a change in tactics
It was surprisingly fun to design his villian-sona. A dramatic cape and some bright green accents, and of course a mask. Danny looked pretty good, if he did say so himself. Now, the more important part was how to get them to be better at damage control without being obvious.
The first night Danny went out, he decided to work on people first rescuing. A quick run through the city, shutting down some minor crime and one other villian, left the night open for his heros to focus on their lesson.
Danny grabbed a man who was harassing a few ladies and hoisted him and his car up to the top of a building. Carefully, he set it so it looked as if he was the only thing keeping it from tipping over the edge of the roof and began a loud villain speech and monologs to the night. Nobody noticed.
Danny was starting to understand why his rouges had been so flashy and loud.
He asked the terrified man in the car if he had a cell phone. The man mutely nodded, and Danny told him to call 911 and gave him the address for the police to find them.
Soon, the police arrived with lights, sirens, and firetrucks. They tried to get in the building and onto the roof, but Danny had made sure there was no roof access. They tried to negotiate with him, but he wasn't interested in what they had to say. He was waiting for the heroes. 20 minutes later, they showed up. Danny heard the policemen on the ground groan in annoyance when the flashy bunch arrived. He added a mental note to have a stealth mission for them in the future.
They shouted and immediately attacked, with no regard to the man's safety or the fact that Danny was holding him onto the roof. The car started to teeter on the edge, and he had to break away for a second to "accidentally" bump the car back on the roof a bit. He heard the sigh on relief from the men and women on the ground.
The only thing these kids seemed to be able to do right was fight. They attacked well and didn't get in each other's way, and even had a few attacks that combined their skills. But they all attacked. Not one broke off to rescue the man.
How to get them to focus on the rescue..... Danny tried to feign an attack towards the car, but they simply kept fighting him as they had before, not even trying to redirect his attack. He declared that they would never be able to take back his hostage and they just yelled back that he would never take a hostage again once he was in jail. He even whispered a quick "the hostage is in danger!" To one of the teammates, but they just gave him a weird look and kept attacking. Honestly, nothing was getting through, and the longer they fought, the harder it was for Danny to keep the damage to a minimum. Finally, he decided to be as direct as he dared.
"Look at you, you pathetic losers! You can't even rescue a single hostage! To call yourself heroes when you chose violence over saving a civilian in danger. It's disgusts me! I am ExposƩ, and I am here to reveal all the failings in the hero system!"
Danny had planned this speech out before, but he felt kinda uncomfortable with how close to the truth it was. He sounded villainous. But as long as no one was hurt and the heroes learned to be better and safer, he would keep that image. But he sure hoped these kids were quick learners.
As soon as Danny finished speaking, one of the heroes darted off and carefully flew the car with the man inside down to the police waiting on the ground. Good, it was about time. He kept fighting a minute longer but then pretended to take a hit and run off in defeat. They chased after him, but Danny easily lost them.
Over the next few months, ExposƩ made many appearances. Each time, he would shout about whatever failing Danny was focusing on that night, and the heroes would be determined to prove him wrong and fix it. They started to remember previous lessons and became semi competent. They even began working with the police and not in spite of them. Danny was very proud of the progress they had made, especially since they were handling their other villians better, too!
But the day HE showed up, Danny knew he needed to step in. This wasn't the ordinary goon with powers and a gimmick. This was a serial killer with powers and a dangerously high IQ. At first, Danny tried to act as unseen support, letting the heroes do their thing. But each trap he found was more dangerous and more tailored to each hero. Each battle the kids got into ended with them running for their lives covered in scrapes and burns. The only reason they were still alive was because this villain was playing with them. And Danny wasn't sure how long that would last. He wasn't going to find out.
The next time HE showed up, Danny was waiting.
Upon finding Danny blocking his path, the villain began a speech.
"ExposƩ! I have heard of your efforts to bring heroes failing to light. Do you come to witness their biggest failing yet? To fail to save this city they claim to protect? Do you wish to join me in their downfall?"
Behind him, Danny heard the kids show up, still limping from the last battle.
"Don't listen to him, ExposƩ! He'll just betray you and kill you later! He's too strong, you'll just get hurt!"
Danny was touched that they were worried for him. But it was time for all this nonsense to end. Honestly, the Justice League should have been here to handle this, not leave someone on this level for kids! Maybe he will have to help them learn some hero manners next. But that was a future Danny problem, now it was time to take care of this trash.
Without speaking to either side, Danny flew up and smacked the villain out of the air. He proceeded to
W A I L
at him till HE passed out, and then neatly froze him. One mentally unstable criminal to-go. Danny even froze a little bow on top just because he could.
Behind Danny, there were whispers as the heros peeked over the edge of the building, looking down at the 2 of them. He grabbed the frozen villain and flew back up to them. The kids backed up to give him spaced, unsure of what to do.
"Thanks.... " the leader said, on guard in a way they hadn't been scince Danny's first week fighting them.
Danny nodded and just set the villain down. He gave them instructions to have him moved to the meta cell in jail and under the highest security, and that HE would thaw in an hour. The kids took the frozen person and eventually turned to go. Then one turned back and asked,
"Why haven't you beaten us? You obviously could, you took that guy out is seconds, and have obviously been hinding some of your powers. We are literally no match for you. Why?"
Danny just replied,
"How would you learn if I just beat you? And we are doing under water rescues next week, so if you haven't thought to prepare for that before now, you had best get on it."
And then Danny disappeared.
ExposƩ didn't have to stick to one city for long. While his public image was that of a villain on the run after being beat a few too many times, whispers started to travel through young heroes. Was he a villain, or the strangest anti-hero they'd ever seen? None of his hostages were ever hurt thanks to his careful planning, but in a way no one could notice until after he fled. Some heroes ignored and doubted the rumors making their way through the grapevine, and they were the hardest to teach, but ExposƩ did anyway. Even switching up his fighting styles on occasion to keep them on their toes.
He learned a lot about this new world this way, too. About the Meta gene and the acts that protected them, the public image of Meta's that rose and dipped dependant on if a new Meta hero showed up, or a villain.
He had no real reason to show up in places like Superman's city, where the hero was never more than a moment away. He did test some of the surrounding areas and was glad to find some minor heroes and vigilantes that used Super as a template, making sure to show up fast, and call in bigger guns as needed. He spent some time with them working with the natural tech-blackout properties his ghost half granted him, showing them they could take bigger fights than they thought.
Eventually, he made his way to Gotham, but he knew better than to go in bat swinging the hornets nest like usual. Or... bringing a flashlight to a cave? But some of them were birds, not bats....
Regardless of the anamalia kingdom the heroes hailed from, he realized after a few days of flying around undetected that there wasn't much these guys weren't good at. Most of them seemed older, which helped, but there was definitely one child on the team, and two or three he suspected were young enough to be in high school or college. And yet, it seemed like at least two of his three concerns were out in full force every day. Signal at least have a daytime shift most of the time, so Danny gave him a pass. Maybe he had online classes. But with how often all of them were on patrol, he had to do Something.
He couldn't go in as ExposƩ though, this city was protected by "The World's Greatest Detective" who probably already tracked his path to have Gotham next on his list. The only question was, did the whispers reach Gotham's protector, or was he unaware of ExposƩ's underlying goals?
A good excuse arose when one of the first teams he fought had a transition of power; a new leader stepped into the light as another moved on. Gotham could wait a moment as ExposƩ came back to exact his revenge on a team already struggling with new dynamics. It didn't take long to get them settled in, though, after more experienced teammates convinced their new leader of his intentions. Three weeks later, he got himself cornered on a building overlooking an outlet to sea, and baited a hero into sending him sailing over the side. He felt a bit bad at the look in the teens face at what they'd done, so he retracted his mask a bit, enough to give them a wink, before falling the rest of the way to his "doom" during an unfortunately inconvenient blackout, so it took time for anyone to try and dredge up his body. They never found anything, of course. Danny had given a nice dramatic death but not dead excuse for himself as he tucked away one villain persona for another. It was time to take on Gotham.
By the time he arrived, it was nearing finals in the local colleges and standardized testing time in school, and he trailed the heroes for a few more days as they became frantic, trying to study on patrol. This was ridiculous! Batman had the largest team of heroes of any one city, even if many rotated out to other areas. Surely he could let some of his team members take a few days off for school.
This would take more planning than just a different type of rescue every few days. He would have to hit hard, from as many angles as possible. It was at this point he realized he may be testing Batman more than any of the younger vigilantes. If the Bat was in charge, he had to take accountability for his team, in and out of patrol.
So he tossed his villain-sona to the side, temporarily. He had to throw the Bat off after all, and instead started recruiting some low-level street thugs to help cause some chaos, and start whispers of someone new gathering power. He hit targets and committed crimes relevant to what he could overhear them studying on patrols.
A regular break-in at the Gotham Museum? Gotham PD can handle it. Just kidding, have this riddle on how to diffuse the bomb based off your history flashcards.
City wakes up to gas tanks mounted outside of the police building set to release with no way to diffuse? What a coincidence they're clearly labeled with what chemical is inside, and the vigilante just learned that misting them with regular H2O upon release will render it harmless!
Sudden challenges like these kept appearing, the team theorizing who was behind them. Riddler? Baffler? Cluemaster?
(Danny was embarrassed by the naming conventions the rogues took on in this city, and he used to fight people called The Lunch Lady.)
All the while, regular crime ramped up. Non-violent, as per Danny's anonymous request, but it put stress and surpise on the team. Which mundane crime report over the scanners would be a cover for something more sinister?
He decided to bring everything together two nights before Finals started (he had to give them at least one good night's sleep before testing started). He left clues and crimes all over the city, eventually getting the smallest Robin separated from the rest, even for a moment. The kid was exhausted even if his snappy attitude argued otherwise, and he kept muttering historical facts about notable scientists. He was easy for Danny to take out, even with the sword. (Who gave this kid a sword!?) He removed any trackers from his suit and set his earpiece by the ledge where he had snagged him from.
He didn't physically hurt the kid, just used a trick he learned from Nocturn that could temporarily put him to sleep. The kid needed it anyway. By the time he woke up, Danny was back in his ExposƩ costume and patiently explained his plan to the stab-happy Robin. He had him tied up and hanging over a piece of live, evil looking machinery in a warehouse. This city was weird.
He had left an extra line of a the puzzle to each crime he caused that night that would lead the kid's team straight to them, but without trackers on the kid, it may take some time for them to realize they were clues. So after showing Robin his portals and explaining he was in no danger, he went over some flashcards with the kid, thinking up a few mnemonic devices to help him remember arbitrary dates and personal facts.
Eventually, Danny felt someone step on the property and hid himself away. Hell, even Robin played along, starting to writhe and fight at the ropes, which quickly started fraying. Red Robin was first to burst into the room and reassure the young Robin, followed by the Bat himself. He had placed a few grunts around the site to make this convincing, so he assumed that's where the others were. As soon as Red Robin rushed to the platform to save their smaller counterpart, Danny started speaking. Keeping himself hidden in the shadows, he barked orders from the catwalk above.
"Ah-Ah Ah. Careful. That's not how this game goes tonight." Their attention shifted to him. "You break the rules, he gets dropped. You've played my game enough to find this place, so you best behave."
"You kidnapped one of our own, and yet still hide in the shadows. This game is over." Batman challenged him, so he pushed back a little bit. A push of the button on the control panel next to him lowered Robin toward the machine. Even if he somehow swung out of the way of the moving parts, the drop was too far for someone with no grapple hook or place to grab onto, and they were still too far from him to catch him. Robin stayed stock still as his rope slipped just a bit more off the hook at the moment, and Red Robin spoke up.
"Okay, we get it. What is your puzzle? Or should we say Riddle?"
"Hm? I suppose you could call them riddles, sure." He turned on a spotlight that hid himself more against the contrast, and illuminated three vats of chemicals. Each had a valve on the bottom to open onto the rope Robin hung from.
"Two of these are filled with very real, very caustic chemicals, that will burn through that rope before you can say 'Hero'. The third is a chemical that can't exist, and therefore empty. You choose which vat to open, and whether Robin lives, or dies." He gestured to the second control panel before them.
Batman immediately tried to use his tech to solve the compound equation written on each lever, only to find it fizzle out thanks to Danny's natural EMP properties, chanelled directly at them.
"Ah-ah. Thats cheating~" he taunted, lowering Robin a tad more, who gasped just audibly. Nice touch.
Red Robin stepped up next, running his fingers across the compounds. "How long do we have?"
"Hm?" Danny actually hadn't thought of that. "Oh, I suppose until I get bored. Does that help?" He inched Robin a tad closer to death, and Red quickly grabbed a nearby abandonded pad of paper and pen, scribbling out which compound could actually exist as written.
Danny yawned dramatically; other vigilantes had made it to the warehouse, but not inside yet.
"There!" Danny glanced down at the young hero who had solved the compound.
"Are you sure?" The vigilante's lips tightened, doubting himself only a moment. "Then pull the lever." Danny taunted, and a look passed between the two vigilantes as Red Robin gripped the lever corresponding closest to Robin. They still had no outside comms, no backup had found them. It was just down to this choice.
Red Robin pulled the lever, and an alarm sounded as the machine whirred to life, opening the valve.
Which promptly flodded their vision in bright green.
They both raced to try and reach Robin, but his screams were drowned by the rushing liquid following his dissent toward the machine below.
Danny, of course, opened up a small portal last minute, and just like he was told, Robin righted himself and went board-straight to fit through it. That wasn't what Batman and Red Robin saw, though. Danny carefully caught Robin as he came through the other side of the portal, setting him down while they were still distracted.
"Kinda feel bad." Danny started, leaning on the railing with the littlest bird, who really just seemed to be his age. "I mean, the kid was technically right."
Robin turned to him, waiting for his word to be able to move back to his team. "You rigged it? That is not as honorable as you claim to be." Danny just shrugged, making sure his ExposƩ mask was in place.
"Tomato Tomato." ExposƩ ducked as a batarang flew over his head. They were after him now that they couldn't find Robin. "Shall we?" He handed back the boy's grapple hook, who quickly rushed down to them, and the others who had finally made it up to the platform.
"Robin!" Batman rushed to his youngest vigilante, who assured him he was fine.
"How did you escape!?" Red Robin exclaimed.
"He did not."
All eyes turned to Danny as he flew down to meet them, touching down on the metal and taking a few steps to catch himself. Their weapons were drawn, but it didn't bother him.
"Robin fell because of your mistake, I simply didn't let him suffer for your actions."
"Why." Batman's voice was so deep he practically growled the word.
"Wait, I know you. You're-" Danny cut off Signal with a theatrical bow.
"ExposƩ, at your service. And you all have failed terribly this past week."
"You set all those traps, those bombs!?" ExposƩ nodded ad Red Robin. "Why!?"
"Because you are all great vigilantes. But your mentor has let you down by giving you all the wrong priorities."
Batman growled again. "What priorities, exactly?"
Danny threw his hands in the air comically. "Three of your team members are in school!!! They have finals coming up and they're still out on patrol! The little one was so tired I almost put him down for a nap waiting for you all!" Robin tutted at this, but Danny just put his hands on his hips at him.
The team was rightfully thrown off by his explanation.
"I go around, testing and pushing young and inexperienced vigilantes to know their limits, learn to work as a team, and get more people saved than killed. There's nothing along those lines I can teach you.
Batman though, you should be ashamed. Red Robin has been studying compounds during patrol for the last week and couldn't-"
"You were following us on patrol?" Signal asked incredulously, and ExposƩ sorta shrugged his shoulder noncommittally. Focusing his attention back on Batman, he jabbed a finger his direction.
"You should be ashamed. These kids are in school, they should not be beating people up on a weekday! And why does that one have a sword!"
The group looked to each other awkwardly at his little rant, some obviously agreeing through body language.
"You put the lives of Gotham at risk because of this? Those gas tanks-" Batman started
"Had such a strangely coincidental timer corresponding to that shoddy sprinkler on the corner." Red Robin blinked, and Danny saw something click in his head.
"The bomb, the museum would have lost-"
"Yeah, that wasn't even a real bomb. Did you even notice that? They were saran wrapped bricks of cream cheese. All of the officers on site were hired goons who lost the evidence the moment you left. And yet you let Robin deactivate it based off a question from his upcoming history test." That got a snicker out of Spoiler, and more than a few shot her a look.
"Face it Batsy, you've gotten irresponsible with your team. I pushed you all harder and harder and instead of letting them take the back seat because they have their own lives to take care of, you let them keep fighting to the point of exhaustion, which was the only way I was able to get Robin in the first place."
Batman was silent, but Danny didn't really care. He didn't mind if he didn't get a confession or apology. He'd be watching for changes anyway. But it was getting kinda awkward.
"So, do better." He patted his chest and gave them a peace sign before walking away, quickly getting a rope tangled around his wrist.
"Where do you think you're going? We aren't just going to let you walk away without facing justice."
Danny sighed at the bat, turning around.
"You are, actually. For several reasons." He walked toward them. "One, because I didn't hurt anybody. Two, because you let Robin fall. Three, because you can't touch me." He lifted his wrist and made it intangible, watching Batman's face as the metal rope fell through him to the ground.
"If you think being a Meta makes you untouchable in Gotham, you're wrong." Danny admittedly stumbled a bit when a collar clamped onto his neck, shot from one of the other teammembers who were slowly closing in.
"That would be true, if I was a Meta." Once again, he turned on his intangibility, this time for his whole body, and kept it.
"Do you want to know why I do what I do? Why I go around, antagonizing children who run around in spandex and call themselves heroes?" Danny stepped toward Batman again, and the others raised weapons, ready to strike at his word. Raising his hands to his mask, he slowly, dramatically, removed it, showing his sickly green skin, litchenberg scars creeping up his neck to his left temple.
"I do this because I was a hero, once. A child. And. I. Died. Not even you can arrest a ghost, Batman."
The horrified looks in the room gave him confidence that the message would be heard. Putting the mask back on, he walked straight through Batman before dissapearing from sight.
Danny went right for the weak spot huh? Ooft, when the rest find out what went down? All of them will feel awful. Also, highly confused with why Damian isn't more angry about being grabbed. (He was impressed by the planning, also Expose was nice enough to explain himself.)
When Bruce eventually tells Clark and Diana about it. After he's sufficiently suppressed his emotional response. They are not going to be happy. To know a teen was out tere, somewhere, alone. Then died. This will likely prompt them to reach out to more teen heroes.
i was inspired
This is amazing.
But Danny, you forgot you're still a child too, same size as Damian.
When Bruce gets over his shock, grief, and his wounded ego, he's going to try to find ExposƩ and fuss broodily at him. He might be dead, but he's still here, and Bruce will want to make sure he's as ok as a ghost kid can be.
Probably try to convince ExposƩ to stop setting up crimes as training. And especially make sure he doesn't go real villain if pushed too far.
DP x DC Prompt
Danny was sent to the DC universe to save him from the GIW and the Fenton's by Clockwork
Doesn't know what to do here, but as an Experienced Vigilante:tm: he takes note of all the INexperienced vigilante's causing more danger than they realize.
Danny takes it upon himself to act as a low level villain so he can secretly train these vigilante's to be stronger. One day, a Bigger Villain decides to Fuck Around and Find Out.
All his "enemies" realize Danny could've folded them anytime he wanted when he effortlessly defeats the Big Bad.
When he first saw these so-called vigilantes, Danny was not impressed. Rampant property damage, people left in unsafe situations, bad prioritization, and easily getting distracted from immediate threats by smaller ones. It's honestly a miracle that no one has died yet, though plenty had gone to the hospital when they shouldn't have needed to.
Danny tried to talk to them, give them some pointers from someone who learned the hard way, but they very rudly told him to mind his own business. Danny knew when he wasn't wanted.
That didn't mean he would actually butt-out. It just meant a change in tactics
It was surprisingly fun to design his villian-sona. A dramatic cape and some bright green accents, and of course a mask. Danny looked pretty good, if he did say so himself. Now, the more important part was how to get them to be better at damage control without being obvious.
The first night Danny went out, he decided to work on people first rescuing. A quick run through the city, shutting down some minor crime and one other villian, left the night open for his heros to focus on their lesson.
Danny grabbed a man who was harassing a few ladies and hoisted him and his car up to the top of a building. Carefully, he set it so it looked as if he was the only thing keeping it from tipping over the edge of the roof and began a loud villain speech and monologs to the night. Nobody noticed.
Danny was starting to understand why his rouges had been so flashy and loud.
He asked the terrified man in the car if he had a cell phone. The man mutely nodded, and Danny told him to call 911 and gave him the address for the police to find them.
Soon, the police arrived with lights, sirens, and firetrucks. They tried to get in the building and onto the roof, but Danny had made sure there was no roof access. They tried to negotiate with him, but he wasn't interested in what they had to say. He was waiting for the heroes. 20 minutes later, they showed up. Danny heard the policemen on the ground groan in annoyance when the flashy bunch arrived. He added a mental note to have a stealth mission for them in the future.
They shouted and immediately attacked, with no regard to the man's safety or the fact that Danny was holding him onto the roof. The car started to teeter on the edge, and he had to break away for a second to "accidentally" bump the car back on the roof a bit. He heard the sigh on relief from the men and women on the ground.
The only thing these kids seemed to be able to do right was fight. They attacked well and didn't get in each other's way, and even had a few attacks that combined their skills. But they all attacked. Not one broke off to rescue the man.
How to get them to focus on the rescue..... Danny tried to feign an attack towards the car, but they simply kept fighting him as they had before, not even trying to redirect his attack. He declared that they would never be able to take back his hostage and they just yelled back that he would never take a hostage again once he was in jail. He even whispered a quick "the hostage is in danger!" To one of the teammates, but they just gave him a weird look and kept attacking. Honestly, nothing was getting through, and the longer they fought, the harder it was for Danny to keep the damage to a minimum. Finally, he decided to be as direct as he dared.
"Look at you, you pathetic losers! You can't even rescue a single hostage! To call yourself heroes when you chose violence over saving a civilian in danger. It's disgusts me! I am ExposƩ, and I am here to reveal all the failings in the hero system!"
Danny had planned this speech out before, but he felt kinda uncomfortable with how close to the truth it was. He sounded villainous. But as long as no one was hurt and the heroes learned to be better and safer, he would keep that image. But he sure hoped these kids were quick learners.
As soon as Danny finished speaking, one of the heroes darted off and carefully flew the car with the man inside down to the police waiting on the ground. Good, it was about time. He kept fighting a minute longer but then pretended to take a hit and run off in defeat. They chased after him, but Danny easily lost them.
Over the next few months, ExposƩ made many appearances. Each time, he would shout about whatever failing Danny was focusing on that night, and the heroes would be determined to prove him wrong and fix it. They started to remember previous lessons and became semi competent. They even began working with the police and not in spite of them. Danny was very proud of the progress they had made, especially since they were handling their other villians better, too!
But the day HE showed up, Danny knew he needed to step in. This wasn't the ordinary goon with powers and a gimmick. This was a serial killer with powers and a dangerously high IQ. At first, Danny tried to act as unseen support, letting the heroes do their thing. But each trap he found was more dangerous and more tailored to each hero. Each battle the kids got into ended with them running for their lives covered in scrapes and burns. The only reason they were still alive was because this villain was playing with them. And Danny wasn't sure how long that would last. He wasn't going to find out.
The next time HE showed up, Danny was waiting.
Upon finding Danny blocking his path, the villain began a speech.
"ExposƩ! I have heard of your efforts to bring heroes failing to light. Do you come to witness their biggest failing yet? To fail to save this city they claim to protect? Do you wish to join me in their downfall?"
Behind him, Danny heard the kids show up, still limping from the last battle.
"Don't listen to him, ExposƩ! He'll just betray you and kill you later! He's too strong, you'll just get hurt!"
Danny was touched that they were worried for him. But it was time for all this nonsense to end. Honestly, the Justice League should have been here to handle this, not leave someone on this level for kids! Maybe he will have to help them learn some hero manners next. But that was a future Danny problem, now it was time to take care of this trash.
Without speaking to either side, Danny flew up and smacked the villain out of the air. He proceeded to
W A I L
at him till HE passed out, and then neatly froze him. One mentally unstable criminal to-go. Danny even froze a little bow on top just because he could.
Behind Danny, there were whispers as the heros peeked over the edge of the building, looking down at the 2 of them. He grabbed the frozen villain and flew back up to them. The kids backed up to give him spaced, unsure of what to do.
"Thanks.... " the leader said, on guard in a way they hadn't been scince Danny's first week fighting them.
Danny nodded and just set the villain down. He gave them instructions to have him moved to the meta cell in jail and under the highest security, and that HE would thaw in an hour. The kids took the frozen person and eventually turned to go. Then one turned back and asked,
"Why haven't you beaten us? You obviously could, you took that guy out is seconds, and have obviously been hinding some of your powers. We are literally no match for you. Why?"
Danny just replied,
"How would you learn if I just beat you? And we are doing under water rescues next week, so if you haven't thought to prepare for that before now, you had best get on it."
And then Danny disappeared.
ExposƩ didn't have to stick to one city for long. While his public image was that of a villain on the run after being beat a few too many times, whispers started to travel through young heroes. Was he a villain, or the strangest anti-hero they'd ever seen? None of his hostages were ever hurt thanks to his careful planning, but in a way no one could notice until after he fled. Some heroes ignored and doubted the rumors making their way through the grapevine, and they were the hardest to teach, but ExposƩ did anyway. Even switching up his fighting styles on occasion to keep them on their toes.
He learned a lot about this new world this way, too. About the Meta gene and the acts that protected them, the public image of Meta's that rose and dipped dependant on if a new Meta hero showed up, or a villain.
He had no real reason to show up in places like Superman's city, where the hero was never more than a moment away. He did test some of the surrounding areas and was glad to find some minor heroes and vigilantes that used Super as a template, making sure to show up fast, and call in bigger guns as needed. He spent some time with them working with the natural tech-blackout properties his ghost half granted him, showing them they could take bigger fights than they thought.
Eventually, he made his way to Gotham, but he knew better than to go in bat swinging the hornets nest like usual. Or... bringing a flashlight to a cave? But some of them were birds, not bats....
Regardless of the anamalia kingdom the heroes hailed from, he realized after a few days of flying around undetected that there wasn't much these guys weren't good at. Most of them seemed older, which helped, but there was definitely one child on the team, and two or three he suspected were young enough to be in high school or college. And yet, it seemed like at least two of his three concerns were out in full force every day. Signal at least have a daytime shift most of the time, so Danny gave him a pass. Maybe he had online classes. But with how often all of them were on patrol, he had to do Something.
He couldn't go in as ExposƩ though, this city was protected by "The World's Greatest Detective" who probably already tracked his path to have Gotham next on his list. The only question was, did the whispers reach Gotham's protector, or was he unaware of ExposƩ's underlying goals?
A good excuse arose when one of the first teams he fought had a transition of power; a new leader stepped into the light as another moved on. Gotham could wait a moment as ExposƩ came back to exact his revenge on a team already struggling with new dynamics. It didn't take long to get them settled in, though, after more experienced teammates convinced their new leader of his intentions. Three weeks later, he got himself cornered on a building overlooking an outlet to sea, and baited a hero into sending him sailing over the side. He felt a bit bad at the look in the teens face at what they'd done, so he retracted his mask a bit, enough to give them a wink, before falling the rest of the way to his "doom" during an unfortunately inconvenient blackout, so it took time for anyone to try and dredge up his body. They never found anything, of course. Danny had given a nice dramatic death but not dead excuse for himself as he tucked away one villain persona for another. It was time to take on Gotham.
By the time he arrived, it was nearing finals in the local colleges and standardized testing time in school, and he trailed the heroes for a few more days as they became frantic, trying to study on patrol. This was ridiculous! Batman had the largest team of heroes of any one city, even if many rotated out to other areas. Surely he could let some of his team members take a few days off for school.
This would take more planning than just a different type of rescue every few days. He would have to hit hard, from as many angles as possible. It was at this point he realized he may be testing Batman more than any of the younger vigilantes. If the Bat was in charge, he had to take accountability for his team, in and out of patrol.
So he tossed his villain-sona to the side, temporarily. He had to throw the Bat off after all, and instead started recruiting some low-level street thugs to help cause some chaos, and start whispers of someone new gathering power. He hit targets and committed crimes relevant to what he could overhear them studying on patrols.
A regular break-in at the Gotham Museum? Gotham PD can handle it. Just kidding, have this riddle on how to diffuse the bomb based off your history flashcards.
City wakes up to gas tanks mounted outside of the police building set to release with no way to diffuse? What a coincidence they're clearly labeled with what chemical is inside, and the vigilante just learned that misting them with regular H2O upon release will render it harmless!
Sudden challenges like these kept appearing, the team theorizing who was behind them. Riddler? Baffler? Cluemaster?
(Danny was embarrassed by the naming conventions the rogues took on in this city, and he used to fight people called The Lunch Lady.)
All the while, regular crime ramped up. Non-violent, as per Danny's anonymous request, but it put stress and surpise on the team. Which mundane crime report over the scanners would be a cover for something more sinister?
He decided to bring everything together two nights before Finals started (he had to give them at least one good night's sleep before testing started). He left clues and crimes all over the city, eventually getting the smallest Robin separated from the rest, even for a moment. The kid was exhausted even if his snappy attitude argued otherwise, and he kept muttering historical facts about notable scientists. He was easy for Danny to take out, even with the sword. (Who gave this kid a sword!?) He removed any trackers from his suit and set his earpiece by the ledge where he had snagged him from.
He didn't physically hurt the kid, just used a trick he learned from Nocturn that could temporarily put him to sleep. The kid needed it anyway. By the time he woke up, Danny was back in his ExposƩ costume and patiently explained his plan to the stab-happy Robin. He had him tied up and hanging over a piece of live, evil looking machinery in a warehouse. This city was weird.
He had left an extra line of a the puzzle to each crime he caused that night that would lead the kid's team straight to them, but without trackers on the kid, it may take some time for them to realize they were clues. So after showing Robin his portals and explaining he was in no danger, he went over some flashcards with the kid, thinking up a few mnemonic devices to help him remember arbitrary dates and personal facts.
Eventually, Danny felt someone step on the property and hid himself away. Hell, even Robin played along, starting to writhe and fight at the ropes, which quickly started fraying. Red Robin was first to burst into the room and reassure the young Robin, followed by the Bat himself. He had placed a few grunts around the site to make this convincing, so he assumed that's where the others were. As soon as Red Robin rushed to the platform to save their smaller counterpart, Danny started speaking. Keeping himself hidden in the shadows, he barked orders from the catwalk above.
"Ah-Ah Ah. Careful. That's not how this game goes tonight." Their attention shifted to him. "You break the rules, he gets dropped. You've played my game enough to find this place, so you best behave."
"You kidnapped one of our own, and yet still hide in the shadows. This game is over." Batman challenged him, so he pushed back a little bit. A push of the button on the control panel next to him lowered Robin toward the machine. Even if he somehow swung out of the way of the moving parts, the drop was too far for someone with no grapple hook or place to grab onto, and they were still too far from him to catch him. Robin stayed stock still as his rope slipped just a bit more off the hook at the moment, and Red Robin spoke up.
"Okay, we get it. What is your puzzle? Or should we say Riddle?"
"Hm? I suppose you could call them riddles, sure." He turned on a spotlight that hid himself more against the contrast, and illuminated three vats of chemicals. Each had a valve on the bottom to open onto the rope Robin hung from.
"Two of these are filled with very real, very caustic chemicals, that will burn through that rope before you can say 'Hero'. The third is a chemical that can't exist, and therefore empty. You choose which vat to open, and whether Robin lives, or dies." He gestured to the second control panel before them.
Batman immediately tried to use his tech to solve the compound equation written on each lever, only to find it fizzle out thanks to Danny's natural EMP properties, chanelled directly at them.
"Ah-ah. Thats cheating~" he taunted, lowering Robin a tad more, who gasped just audibly. Nice touch.
Red Robin stepped up next, running his fingers across the compounds. "How long do we have?"
"Hm?" Danny actually hadn't thought of that. "Oh, I suppose until I get bored. Does that help?" He inched Robin a tad closer to death, and Red quickly grabbed a nearby abandonded pad of paper and pen, scribbling out which compound could actually exist as written.
Danny yawned dramatically; other vigilantes had made it to the warehouse, but not inside yet.
"There!" Danny glanced down at the young hero who had solved the compound.
"Are you sure?" The vigilante's lips tightened, doubting himself only a moment. "Then pull the lever." Danny taunted, and a look passed between the two vigilantes as Red Robin gripped the lever corresponding closest to Robin. They still had no outside comms, no backup had found them. It was just down to this choice.
Red Robin pulled the lever, and an alarm sounded as the machine whirred to life, opening the valve.
Which promptly flodded their vision in bright green.
They both raced to try and reach Robin, but his screams were drowned by the rushing liquid following his dissent toward the machine below.
Danny, of course, opened up a small portal last minute, and just like he was told, Robin righted himself and went board-straight to fit through it. That wasn't what Batman and Red Robin saw, though. Danny carefully caught Robin as he came through the other side of the portal, setting him down while they were still distracted.
"Kinda feel bad." Danny started, leaning on the railing with the littlest bird, who really just seemed to be his age. "I mean, the kid was technically right."
Robin turned to him, waiting for his word to be able to move back to his team. "You rigged it? That is not as honorable as you claim to be." Danny just shrugged, making sure his ExposƩ mask was in place.
"Tomato Tomato." ExposƩ ducked as a batarang flew over his head. They were after him now that they couldn't find Robin. "Shall we?" He handed back the boy's grapple hook, who quickly rushed down to them, and the others who had finally made it up to the platform.
"Robin!" Batman rushed to his youngest vigilante, who assured him he was fine.
"How did you escape!?" Red Robin exclaimed.
"He did not."
All eyes turned to Danny as he flew down to meet them, touching down on the metal and taking a few steps to catch himself. Their weapons were drawn, but it didn't bother him.
"Robin fell because of your mistake, I simply didn't let him suffer for your actions."
"Why." Batman's voice was so deep he practically growled the word.
"Wait, I know you. You're-" Danny cut off Signal with a theatrical bow.
"ExposƩ, at your service. And you all have failed terribly this past week."
"You set all those traps, those bombs!?" ExposƩ nodded ad Red Robin. "Why!?"
"Because you are all great vigilantes. But your mentor has let you down by giving you all the wrong priorities."
Batman growled again. "What priorities, exactly?"
Danny threw his hands in the air comically. "Three of your team members are in school!!! They have finals coming up and they're still out on patrol! The little one was so tired I almost put him down for a nap waiting for you all!" Robin tutted at this, but Danny just put his hands on his hips at him.
The team was rightfully thrown off by his explanation.
"I go around, testing and pushing young and inexperienced vigilantes to know their limits, learn to work as a team, and get more people saved than killed. There's nothing along those lines I can teach you.
Batman though, you should be ashamed. Red Robin has been studying compounds during patrol for the last week and couldn't-"
"You were following us on patrol?" Signal asked incredulously, and ExposƩ sorta shrugged his shoulder noncommittally. Focusing his attention back on Batman, he jabbed a finger his direction.
"You should be ashamed. These kids are in school, they should not be beating people up on a weekday! And why does that one have a sword!"
The group looked to each other awkwardly at his little rant, some obviously agreeing through body language.
"You put the lives of Gotham at risk because of this? Those gas tanks-" Batman started
"Had such a strangely coincidental timer corresponding to that shoddy sprinkler on the corner." Red Robin blinked, and Danny saw something click in his head.
"The bomb, the museum would have lost-"
"Yeah, that wasn't even a real bomb. Did you even notice that? They were saran wrapped bricks of cream cheese. All of the officers on site were hired goons who lost the evidence the moment you left. And yet you let Robin deactivate it based off a question from his upcoming history test." That got a snicker out of Spoiler, and more than a few shot her a look.
"Face it Batsy, you've gotten irresponsible with your team. I pushed you all harder and harder and instead of letting them take the back seat because they have their own lives to take care of, you let them keep fighting to the point of exhaustion, which was the only way I was able to get Robin in the first place."
Batman was silent, but Danny didn't really care. He didn't mind if he didn't get a confession or apology. He'd be watching for changes anyway. But it was getting kinda awkward.
"So, do better." He patted his chest and gave them a peace sign before walking away, quickly getting a rope tangled around his wrist.
"Where do you think you're going? We aren't just going to let you walk away without facing justice."
Danny sighed at the bat, turning around.
"You are, actually. For several reasons." He walked toward them. "One, because I didn't hurt anybody. Two, because you let Robin fall. Three, because you can't touch me." He lifted his wrist and made it intangible, watching Batman's face as the metal rope fell through him to the ground.
"If you think being a Meta makes you untouchable in Gotham, you're wrong." Danny admittedly stumbled a bit when a collar clamped onto his neck, shot from one of the other teammembers who were slowly closing in.
"That would be true, if I was a Meta." Once again, he turned on his intangibility, this time for his whole body, and kept it.
"Do you want to know why I do what I do? Why I go around, antagonizing children who run around in spandex and call themselves heroes?" Danny stepped toward Batman again, and the others raised weapons, ready to strike at his word. Raising his hands to his mask, he slowly, dramatically, removed it, showing his sickly green skin, litchenberg scars creeping up his neck to his left temple.
"I do this because I was a hero, once. A child. And. I. Died. Not even you can arrest a ghost, Batman."
The horrified looks in the room gave him confidence that the message would be heard. Putting the mask back on, he walked straight through Batman before dissapearing from sight.
Batman couldnāt get the boys face out of his head, the horrible chill that had creeped into his bones when the boy had walked through him, and he most certainly couldnāt get the dead faces of his children out of his head. Yes they all had come back, but the boyā¦the dead boy, was right. He pushed his children far too hard.
āI do this because I was a hero once. A child. And, I died. Not even you can arrest a ghost, Batman.ā
A pale face covered in glowing scars, eyes hollow and empty except for a glow in the sockets, skin that flickered and shoļæ¼wed bones. Bruce didnāt have to be a detective to know that however the boy died it wasnāt pretty. Add on to that fact that according to Constantine ghosts of ExposĆ©s caliber were extremely rare and only existed if enough pain, misery, or fear was feltā¦.however the kid died, was violent and most defiantly painful.
Which was why he was down on the bat computer far past patrol searching. Searching for a face that matched ExposĆ©. Heād run the boys face against all his databases starting with America branching to Europe, searching his world data base when nothing came up, and finally the League servers to see if he could find anything.
The bat computer had to be hooked up to several extra processors and outside computers in order to process the sheer amount of faces he was scanning against the boy, and yet there was still no matches. Not in the last fifty years. He could go further back but digital records got extremely sparse by that point and he doubted heād find anything. There were a few close matches but none with the exact same bone structure from the flickering almost unrecognizable photos heād managed to drag from the corrupted cowl footage.
A soft shuffling step interrupted his thoughts and he turned. It was Tim his third son was wraithlike in the dark, and he stared into Bruceās eyes with his eerie crystalline gaze. The harsh stare heād used for years before the others showed up. A reprimand and a firm accusation all in one. It was the expression Tim as Robin would give him when heād go too far.
He grunted and Tim sighed.
āDonāt you take that tone with me Bruce, you already have a contingency, several in fact. you already know his death wasnāt pleasant, and you already know his intentions and motives. Let dead dogs, or in this case, dead boys lie.ā
Bruce grunted again and Tim rolled his eyes, his posture sharpening becoming more there. When he next met Bruceās gaze there was something hard glittering in his eyes, something that Bruce had learned over the years to fear.
āDrop it dad. Iām all for investigating and even stalking heaven knows I do enough of it myself, but something tells me that looking into this without ExposĆ© ās explicit permission is going to end horribly. You told me once you trusted my instincts, is that still true or did you lie to me.ā
Something in Bruceās heart shattered, he knew only bits and pieces of what had happened during his unplanned trip into the time stream, but he knew enough to know Timās trust issues and paranoia, which had always been bad, had worsened into something near manic while he was gone.
Was his search into this broken ghost of a boy he didnāt even know, worth what remained of his tenuous relationship with his third son? The answer was no. For all that Bruce struggled to understand his children he knew that Tim had been passed over far too many times in favor of others. It was time he stood by his words to Tim all those years ago.
He closed the file marking it as complete, he shut down the search systems, then after a moment of hesitation. He deleted all his theories on ExposƩs death. Finally he locked the computer and turned to face Tim.
āYour right I do trust your instincts son. Now chum you up for some hot chocolate?ā
Tim snorted his gaze softened and something vulnerable was in his gaze.
āAs long as I get to make it, Iām not facing Alfredās wrath because I let you in the kitchen.ā
Bruce laughed, and then hesitantly he stretched out an arm. Tim stared at him for a long moment before hesitantly, slowly he slid into Bruceās side. Bruce wrapped his arms around Tim, gently slowly so as not to startle him, and was careful not to squeeze too tight, to not scare his boy away.
For a long horrible moment Tim was stiff and tense in his arms and then abruptly he melted into Bruceās arms, he clutched at Bruceās shirt and Bruce felt something well inside his chest at how small his boy was. He could feel boney ribs and shoulders pressed against him, thin twig like limbs and frame wrapped entirely in his grasp. He forgot sometimes just how small Tim was and every time he remembered something in him ached like a bruise that could never quite heal. His boy, his darling precious little boy.
Far above them in the distant most parts of the cave ceiling a boy with glowing green eyes smiled softly at the sight of the two of them, his teeth were sharp, and his eye sockets empty voids of anything but two bright pricks of green light. Step two of his plan: get the Bat to talk to his kids, was going nicely.
Oh... oh no it's all coming together ( o.o)
Ya'll remember my Danny haunts Space Games post?
That but MORE SO. Harder. Like... ZONE GAME DEVELOPER PASSION PROJECT harder. Because? Special Interest chemicals go brrrrr~ā
And you KNOW... you absolutely FUCKING KNOW! That Danny was minding his business, going about his life, hyped as FUCK for the new Space Game 5 (a niche game but so what? It has REALISTIC physics! It's set on THE MOON!).
Has NOT stopped rambling on about it.
Been driving everyone insane, because it won't be out for MONTHS.
When~?
Youngblood, probably, goes "So what? That sound BORING. There barely anything to DO in that! Not like one of OUR Super Cool ZONE Video Gamesā¢. OURS are way better! And we gave LOADS more options then THAT! Now can we get back to-"
Freeze frame, record scratch.
Wait. WHAT!?
Danny is violently answers out of that eternal child faster then you can say "Dude! Chill!" Got them manic Obsession Eyes. Oops. Youngblood forgot Danny is Space Obsessed. But also PROTECTION Obsessed. Meaning he can't LEAVE where he is protecting.
You know.... FOR SPACE.
He needs a work around to feed his Obsession. Video games do it. Since he can go INTO them, but leave at a moments notice, if trouble happens. It's like being both IN SPACE but also AT HIS POST! Double Obsession Feeding! Happy chemicals! Mmmmm, content ecto-goo~
But now? NOW?! He's learning there is BETTER Space?!
WHERE IS THE BETTER SPACE?! *kicks open the portal*
Random citizen, talking out loud (I don't know how you get his attention for non-attacks, I don't read the comics): "um, Superman? Doesn't look like an immediate issue, but I think the guy moving in near me is a mad scientist, and a lot of this stuff is krypto-green?"
Superman, arriving a few minutes later: "what was that, young man?"
Citizen: "Yeah, this guy pulled up to the house a few streets over, you can see the moving van. Some company I've never heard of, started with an F? Anyway, I was on my jog, and the back of that thing just glows green, which is usually bad? So I just decided to call you."
Superman: "Okay, I can take a look. Thank you."
Danny, after the local hero shows up and starts looking at the Fenton Hexagonal Container Transport ("prevents the Box Ghost from ruining moving day," according to Jack Fenton): "Oh? How can I help you today, Superman?"
Superman: "Don't mind me, just had someone concerned by the green glow from the back of the truck. Wanted to make sure you weren't smuggling kryptonite or anything like that."
Danny: "Oh, nah, that's just the coolant for my computer. I don't think that would affect you, but you can poke at it to make sure?"
Superman, suspicious: "...and what is the coolant?"
Danny "Forgot He's Not In Amity" Fenton: "It's just ecto, no big deal."
Superman, poking it (I assume he has some to fill the reservoir/consume off to the side): "Huh. Kinda tingly. And very cold, I see why you'd use it. What are you running that you need this cold?"
Danny: "Oh, my computer can run some things that are out of this world, heh. It's kind of a custom quantum computer? I run a lot of simulations relating to space, and those are always intensive."
Superman, subtly writing this down to look into later, possibly with Bruce: "Alright then, suppose I'll leave you to it. And hey, remember to eat, yeah? Moving makes you tired."
Danny: "...sure thing, man."
Oh... oh no it's all coming together ( o.o)
Ya'll remember my Danny haunts Space Games post?
That but MORE SO. Harder. Like... ZONE GAME DEVELOPER PASSION PROJECT harder. Because? Special Interest chemicals go brrrrr~ā
And you KNOW... you absolutely FUCKING KNOW! That Danny was minding his business, going about his life, hyped as FUCK for the new Space Game 5 (a niche game but so what? It has REALISTIC physics! It's set on THE MOON!).
Has NOT stopped rambling on about it.
Been driving everyone insane, because it won't be out for MONTHS.
When~?
Youngblood, probably, goes "So what? That sound BORING. There barely anything to DO in that! Not like one of OUR Super Cool ZONE Video Gamesā¢. OURS are way better! And we gave LOADS more options then THAT! Now can we get back to-"
Freeze frame, record scratch.
Wait. WHAT!?
Danny is violently answers out of that eternal child faster then you can say "Dude! Chill!" Got them manic Obsession Eyes. Oops. Youngblood forgot Danny is Space Obsessed. But also PROTECTION Obsessed. Meaning he can't LEAVE where he is protecting.
You know.... FOR SPACE.
He needs a work around to feed his Obsession. Video games do it. Since he can go INTO them, but leave at a moments notice, if trouble happens. It's like being both IN SPACE but also AT HIS POST! Double Obsession Feeding! Happy chemicals! Mmmmm, content ecto-goo~
But now? NOW?! He's learning there is BETTER Space?!
WHERE IS THE BETTER SPACE?! *kicks open the portal*
DP x DC: Wait... this isnāt a gay bar??
I was just thinking about Danny as a bartender at a rogues bar and then it struck meā¦
Danny thinks he works at a gay bar
Why? Well, have you looked at the clients? Bisexual queen Harley Quinn, lesbian icon Poison Ivy, Two Face is clearly bi(two)sexual and has a thing with Bruce Wayne, Scarecrow is probably ace or maybe aro, Riddler is at the very least homo romantic, hell, even if Red hood comes by heās bi/pan AND poly
What Iām saying is, based off the clientele, Danny would think he works at a gay barĀ
and based on the evidence they have a hard time disagreeing with him
Iām just imagining danny fighting tooth and nail whenever the cops or bats try to āraidā the bar. Danny knows the historyās of copās and societyās towards the gay bars and he knows the gcpd are corrupt!
Bats/cops āraidingā the bar:
Running afoul of Danny:
Thereās something very satisfying about Danny remembering Stonewall and being ready to throw hands with the cops
The bat would absolutely have pride flags of all kinds as well. Ivy and Harley added some. Riddler another. Two-Face put up two of course. Then there are the villain moments. But, Danny? Has been in riots with Sam to protest. And has broken into labs and stole shit.
Like, itās just such a none issue to him? Heās done the same with his partners ok. Sam and Tucker have done worse than anything shown here. Be gay do crime is in fact the way they spent their teens.
The rogues love him and his partners. They can share stories, and the three will match them. They absolutely think the three are hiding in Gotham from cops out of state. Some of their stories are wild.
Sam and Tucker know itās a villain bar. But itās funny to not tell him. One time theyād come to visit the cops tried a raid. Sam, Tucker and Danny took the trash out before Harley could get her hammer out.
The rogues took a photo of the three stood before a pile of knocked out cops and stuck it on the wall. Pride of place. Just under the bi and poly flags.
Danny throwing on live stage opportunityās for local queer acts
They have drag nights, burlesque nights, slam poetry, live music groups, karaoke nights, you name it he does it
Thereās local artists work for sale on the walls and you break it you buy it (the glass artists love this detail)
āā
Bruce Wayne becomes a regular in the bar but Batman is completely refused entry (except on leather/furry meet up events⦠if he behaves and pays entry fee -no one else has to pay entry fee-)
Not Danny becoming the most protected person in Gotham. They adore their himbo bartender. Not only does he make great drinks. He finds the best entertainment!
Bruce has to admit he is mildly charmed. The kid had a big heart. Heās just clearly blind to the obvious. But⦠The regulars there are calmer than they have been in years. The kids clearly doing something that helps.
Danny also runs an underground fight ring⦠for ghosts
He lets the ghosts let off steam by duking out in his basement (in a ghost proof cage so they canāt cheat by phasing out - to get out they have to press the āI forfeitā button which they never want to)
Itās like WWE but legit - cos the ghosts really like to add pageantry to their fights even when theyāre not being watched
ā
It starts as a way of helping the ghosts let off steam without damaging his living realm stuff (cos some ghosts like to throw down to let off steam)
They go in at all times of day/night (though heās out his foot down about 2am-12pm because he needs his sleep) So he keeps a cctv feed of the fights on at the bar so he can make sure nothing goes sideways and he can let them back to the ghost zone when the fight is done - except everyone at the bar thinks itās an actual channel and start making bets and giving the ghosts wrestler names (Danny doesnāt include sound to start with)
Then it gets popular and the regulars are looking forward to it so Danny asks for some friends to help make it more legit and informs the ghosts that their fights are being broadcast for entertainment (this brings in a whole host of new ghosts that want to flex their fighting skills)
Amorpho is brought in to be the host (he borrows the face of human sports commentators etc and enjoys the ability to stretch his impression skills)
Tucker makes them a YouTube/twitch stream account
Danny even goes in in various stupid costumes over his phantom look to play fight using one skill handicaps for the lols (heās āthe undead kingā and āJack frostā and ācoalmine canaryā etc) - even Tucker and Sam have had a go as their āghost alter egosā with Tucker nabbing his sceptre to use Egyptian pharaoh powers and Sam doing a deal with undergrowth for a seedling pay off)
Cue Bruce Wayne seeing what appears to be a meta underground fight ring and has a mild panic attack over it one evening on a not-date with Harvey dent
Cue Batman trying to get to Danny to figure out what heās doing with the metaās because he canāt find any broadcasts outside the bar before the twitch channel went live - and according to Harvey the matches have been going on for months intermittently)
Some of the bar regulars even want to join in cos it looks fun - or at least watch it live
Danny is still figuring out how to do that though (he canāt very well reveal whatās going on in the basement)
Liminal/Halfa Red Hood is mistaken for a new ghost fighter and has the time of his unlife. He invites the Outlaws to the next match and soon all the Justice League adjacent teams are involved. They don slightly different costumes and pretend to be impersonators and go hog wild.Ā
okay but we all know JasonĀ āborn theater kidā Todd would 10000% would be a wonder woman inspired drag queen on drag night
Jason would kill it!!! Bruce walks in and just, turns right the fuck around. No he DID NOT need to see his son, his baby boy in a slutty drag version of Dianaās hero outfit. Not today Satan!
The outlaws are of course involved. He probably has Roy up there as slutty Cheetah. So they can āfightā as part of their act. If the āfightingā looks a little bit more uh, flirty than usual? Well it IS a drag show.
And letās be real here, Dick would probably join in once he heard about it. Heās having a great time. The fact the pictures of him, Jason and their old teams in drag makes the older heroes groan? Just adds to their enjoyment of it.
Dick Grayson is denied entry if heās still in his cop era. Nightwing however? Danny has a pole reserved for when Nightwing visits.
Complete reversal of Bruce. Who is suffering. Why are his children like this???
Dick? Thinks itās great. He gets to show off his acrobatic skills!
It makes Dick consider a career change. Not like he wanted to be a cop long-term. And the best gay bar in town did a really good job of helping queer youth.
With Lunch Lady manning the kitchen
Jazz running the clinic
Technas providing some dance music
And Skulker teaching how to hunt⦠I mean proactive self defense courses.
And the whole thing sitting as a safe space for queers and metas.
Well Dick can do just as much good by joining and convincing Danny to open a second location in Bludhaven.
Danny gets Ellie and her partner to run it. Ellie has recently started dating Cassie Sandsmark. None of the Amity group know sheās a hero yet. She doesnāt know Danny was a hero and Ellie sometimes helped. But she does know they arenāt fully alive.
Ellie is down to run a safe space for queer people. Danny sets up a meeting between them and letās that play out. And of course the two chaos gremlin get on like a house on fire.
Come to think of it, wasnāt there a timeline where Kon and Cassie dated? If Kon/Cassie/Ellie isnāt a ship then we can sure as hell make it one
Ohh! I like! Konās girlfriends absolutely tease him by calling him their side piece. He is resigned to it.
Iād say Kon was the one to start it by being a sarcastic shit to a Karen who was āscandalizedā by the fact that Ellie had pecked Cassie on the cheek, Ellie just ran with it and Cassie followed.
I am not immune to magical animal transformation fics. Also, my cat!Danny agenda. So, like, Damian finding a magically transformed Danny, mistaking him for a regular cat, then sneaking him into the manor obviously tickles my fancy. But also, Cat!Danny winning Alfred over by being a complete narc every time one of the bats try to do something stupid while injured is just... *chef's kiss*
Bruce- *trying to sneak down to the batcave while injured* Danny- *looking for mischief, sees injured Bruce swaying in hallway* Mrow? Bruce- Shh. Danny- *slightly louder* Mrep?! Bruce- I will give you all the tuna in the world if you- Danny- *air raid level yowling*
Oh prompt for the community. Have Danny outing one of the bats until we have at least one for everyone.
First Suggestion Tim on day 3 no sleep.
Also at what point are each of them contemplating facing Damianās wrath if they ārehomedā the dang snitching cat.
@allineedisonedream @arzuera @azulhood @bianca-hooks123 @bloggerspam @bluerosefox @dcxdpdabbles @dragonsrequiem @evilminji @flamingpudding @fightmebissh @hypewinter @help-itrappedmyself @hdgnj @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @jedipirateking @kizzer55555 @ourrechte-blog @phantom-0-writer @puppetmaster13u @starlightcat04 @stormikitty @virgamsysxvolumes @zylev-blog
I need them to rehome Danny and have all of them being super relieved, only for them to get out of the car and enter the manor only to see Danny sitting there near the entrance before he flashes them the cat version of a cheeky grin.
He then snitches on them by yowling and hiding behind Damian when the boy gets home. Damian rightfully knows his family did something, but no one will tell him what.
Bonus points if he's hiding from something. I'm kinda bored of him running from GIW or his parents. I want a comedy of some ghost trying to catnap danny only to fail hilariously over and over as subplot. Maybe it's vlad, and the bats have to deal with a creepy old guy that this cat absolutely despises. Maybe it's some new ghost cause we definitely need some new blood in this Fandom. I look forward to someone pulling a Wes again ;)
Oh, and Batman cannonballs has sensors for ectoplasm (and I'm betting protection from spirits entering) so that could be another reason danny refuses to leave/ the Waynes agree to keep him
Danny looking at a sword wielding child: does he belong to anyone?
Bruce: y-
Danny: too late. Mine now.
Cats have a good sense of smell yes? So Danny will be able to smell any hidden blood. Which likely leads to more than one instance of him getting it wrong. He thinks he's snitching about a hidden injury. But nope. He's snitching about them beating a rogue bloody instead. This is of course, just as annoying.
Danny: *shrieking* I SMELL BLOOD
Red Hood: I-it's not *my* blood!
Danny: *shrieking louder* THAT'S WORSE!
Alfred makes him gourmet cat food. Danny is being spoiled rotten, in the most healthy way possible. He is going to have the best of the best supplies. None of them know who trained this cat. But whoever they are? They just wanna talk. Honest.
The cat has anxiety. Who gave this cat anxiety? Did that blue vampire give the cat anxiety?
Since he's a cat, I guess Cass wouldn't be able to 'read' him well? But...
Catwoman. My knowledge of Catwoman is a bit... conflicting... as some versions of her are Very Cat-like and some are just cat-themed sneaky thief. But imagine Catwoman learning about "Snitches"... by sneaking around Wayne Manor during one of the charity balls.
Danny: Merp?
Selina: Oh, what a handsome little tom with such bright eyes. Now where did Bruce get you?
Danny: RAAAAAAAAOUUUU!
Tim, hiding from the party: SNITCHES, SHUT UP! I'M NOT EVEN HUR- oh.
Selina, eyebrow raised: Your cat is named Snitches?
Bruce: He's rather vocal about certain things.
Tim, mutters: And weirdly smart even for a cat.
Selina: Bruce.
Bruce, hand raised: Kyle.
Selina, drops some mcguffin into his palm: You never let me have any fun.
Selina trying her best to win over Danny. But he isn't having it. Every time she sneaks in he screams for attention. Conversely, every time she shows up in civilian attire and through the door? Perfectly fine. This amuses her greatly. She knows 'Snitches' can tell she's the same person. The first time she visited as a civilian he stared her down until Alfred introduced them. She would also like a guard cat please. Where did you find him?
They try to rehome him again, this time into Selina's place while she's out. He sticks around long enough for her to see him then bolts. He leads her on a long chase around Gotham until he finds Robin, climbing his shoulder as Catwoman comes to a stop on the same rooftop.
Damian is furious that Selina attempted to steal his cat, until Selina explains that he was simply in her apartment along with an open carrier when she got home. She was simply trying to catch him to ensure he made it safely back to the manor. Damian takes Snitches' calm demeanor as Catwoman offers him a couple of scritches and compliments as his verifying her story. Of course, that begs the question of how he ended up at Kyle's place to begin with. Snitches' "hiding" and hissing when one of his siblings lands on the rooftop seems a decent clue.
Damian is going to be so damn petty for months. He's also telling Alfred. None of them deserve after patrol sweets! Only plain boiled healthy stuff! Bland! Flavourless! Alfred, make it so!! Danny of course is also being a menace. They thought he was bad before? He's teaching Titus and Alfred the cat to snitch as well.
Omg I love the name. Snitches.
Did Jason name him? Snitches get stitches? Seems like something a street kid would name him.
One of them probably complained, causing Danny to perk up and preen gleefully. Since he reacted to it the name stuck. It would be great if he's the most loving of cats. When he isn't telling on them for misbehaviour? He gives them all so much love. Cuddliest cat in the world. They can't escape affection from him. They love and despise him in equal measure.
Don't you see? Him being a snitch is a form of love! He loves you. He loves you and doesn't want you to hurt yourself [more] by pushing yourself past your limits. He wants you to take care of yourselves. Because he loves you.
Danny is trying his best! It's not HIS fault his humans are dumb and stubborn! He will impose self care by being a menace if need be! He is slowly training them into looking after themselves. And Alfred is living for it. The best moment was most definitely when Master Bruce answered a called from Miss Diana. And had to turn down a case due to Snitches sitting on him. Claws lightly dug into his skin in a threat of worse to come if he dared move. Miss Diana was highly amused. And had shared the news of Snitches with the rest of the Justice League.
Bruce just sighs as the call ends. He looks at the cat? (Evidence suggests this is no ordinary cat, perhaps not a cat at all, but certainly at least near human intelligence, if not on par.) He gives the animal a couple scritches behind the ears, no need to be unkind to the juvenile creature, which Snitches delights in.
"Wonder Woman will tell the others that I am being bullied by a kitten. They will all have a good laugh about it. I have allowed this. I trust you understand that this behavior is only tolerated among allies. Batman has an image to uphold to maintain efficacy, which would be undermined should the criminal underworld learn of this."
Snitches blinks slowly at him, staring for a long moment before bumping his head into Bruce's with a purr. Bruce elects to read the action as an agreement of understanding.
When Danny finally gets back to human form? He's going to be ecstatic. Finally! Fuck yes! Bruce will just be like, ah, of course. Of course it was a teen who shares my colouring. What else did I expect. Then Danny will pause. And just go on the longest rant about how awful they are at self care. Loudly. They thought it was bad before? They have another thing coming! Alfred is smirking in the corner, holding his phone to film it. For posterity.
Going back to the Vlad thing- in the interest of no loose ends, itās post burger boom, ready for Dan doom. Danny is depressed, but not STUPID, and refuses to stay with Vlad. Vlad, thinking it will be easier to control him, magically transforms him into a cat.
It is not easier to control him. Danny escapes, and by virtue of being smaller, manages to lose Vlad. Damian finds him after heās crossed multiple stars, poor baby is exhausted.
Damian brings Danny home, hidden under his cape which is very impressive bc heās Maine Coon Big Fluff. He nurses tired, sick, and depressed Danny back to health. After a little while, he confesses to Danny-the-cat that heās worried about his family.
Dannyās protector spirit instincts kick in. He refuses to lose another family. He refuses to let the kid who saved him lose family.
The origin story of Snitches the (probable) Cat
Also, Vlad tracks him down and tries claiming that Danny is his cat, but when Bruce tries to get Damian to hand Danny over, Danny starts screaming bloody murder. Damian promptly refuses to even consider giving Vlad the cat, because even if he was his, he clearly mistreated him.
The fam at first thinks Damian is being dramatic, tries to get Damian to give Danny up, only to slowly realize āhey, something is actually deeply wrong hereā right about the time a blue vampire tries to kidnap the cat.
Or when Danny full body tackles the blue vampire out of a āsleepwalkingā Timās body.
Nah, Danny doesn't scream. The Batfam are used to Snitches caterwaul. To them, he might as well be saying 'Where the hell have you been, Young Man?' if he screams.
No, the thing that immediately convinces Damian that Masters is not to be trusted is when Snitches mewls. Not a hiss or a growl or a snarl or a wail. Not a sound Snitches has ever made before around anyone; not even when the others tried to get rid of him. A tiny, quiet, pitiful cry. The single most, 'I'm baby, protect me' noise anyone has ever heard from any animal. And to hear it coming from the typically willful, defiant, fearless cat? Yeah, that is raising ever red flag known to man. Especially if they've already figured out Snitches is more intelligent than your average cat.
Every single Wayne in the room stiffens up and glares at Vlad. They might not always appreciate Snitches. But they are NOT giving him to someone who scares him. Oh hell no! The way he's shaking in Damian's arms? Trying to hide from Masters? Fuck that guy. Clearly time for an investigation. If for no other reason than blackmail if he tries to cause a drink over Snitches.
Logistically speaking, from having worked lost and found in an animal shelter, I can safely say Vlad would have a hell of a time proving that Snitches is his cat even before vigilante action is required.
Did Danny have any ID, like a tattoo, microchip, or even a collar and tag? I doubt it.
Did Vlad report Danny-the-cat missing to the appropriate animal control or shelters? Unlikely.
The only way, at that point, to prove Danny is his cat would be photo or video evidence of him with the cat. Considering all he'd likely have is security cam footage of what would most likely look like animal abuse... well.
Either he doesn't release it and destroys his reputation by trying to steal this child's cat, or he does and ruins his reputation with animal abuse charges. From the moment Vlad opens his mouth its a lose/lose for him.
For @shycorvid and their army of reblogs. I've been sucked into the notreallyacat-vortex and lost all my marbles.
Alley Chat (Dp x dc)
Danny leaned on the dirty alleyway walls, his head down, as he tried to stave off tears. Taking one more shaky breath, he did his best to let it out slowly.
āYouāre fine,ā he gasped.Ā
Then, one more gulp, āYouāre safe.ā
And then, āBreathe.ā
āCāmon just-ā he heaved in a breath, ābreathe goddammit.āĀ
Then he tilted his head backwards as his eyes slid shut. He inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, his heart-rate finally slowing down.
He brushed away the wet of his cheeks with the rag heād shoved in his barista apron earlier. Figuring it was already ruined as it was he blowed his nose in it as well. Now if he could just splash his face with cold water, heād be almost as new.
He reached for the stick of gum he knew heād left in the bigger pocket only to freeze as he felt something smoother under his fingers. The card from earlier.
āThis is for you,ā his father had said, looking more unsure of himself than Danny had ever seen him. āDanny-oā¦ā
āWeāre sorry, Danny,ā his mother had taken over, and there had been tears in her eyes. āWeāre so sorry, we didnāt know-ā
āYou canāt be here,ā Danny had said calmly enough, though his hand had been shaking.
āDanny-ā his mom had started, as she had reached towards him and Danny just couldnāt do this.
He had felt his pulse in his ear, his chest constricting and he hadnāt been able to think past the need to get out, out,Ā out.
Thereād been bright light, and then he had been away from the noise, and he had ran until he couldnāt breathe.Ā
And here he was getting pushed to the precipice by a fucking card.
āNo,ā he told himself but his eyes were already watering. āNo,ā he choked out, fruitlessly.
āGoddamit,ā he hiccuped as tears began to fall. And then it was as if the dam had broken. Every single tear heād managed to repress were now coming back twofold. His whole body was wrecked by big heaving sobs and he had a moment to be glad heād found himself a secluded place to have his fit in peace.
āOh, buddy,ā he heard from behind just as the thought registered.
He turned around to find a guy in a skintight red suit looking at him.
āAre you ok?ā The guy said before rallying. āThatās a dumb question, isn't it.ā
The halfa just looked at the man.
āDo you want to talk about it?ā
Danny shook his head. He was actively trying not to think about it.
āIs it ok if I stay here ?ā
Danny was too drained to care about a stranger witnessing this, so he raised his shoulders.
āI can talk if you donāt want to, Iāve been told Iām quite the motormouth.ā
The man let a bit of silence pass before apparently he decided that was an agreement and he started blathering on about- rainbows was it?ā
ā-sure if compared against the big fishes, Rainbow Raider is far from the worst but I just canāt get over how petty his reason to turn to crime is. Iām not saying being colour blind would make being an artist easy but it doesnāt make impossible. Beethoven was deaf and look at him now! Ok that was poorly phrased, but you get what I meant-ā
And on he went, talking about anything that was going through his head it seemed.
As it went on, Danny realized his hands had stopped shaking and there was a tugging at his lips that was ever so slight, but near miraculous so soon after his cry session.
ā-where does the iron even come from? Like do spinach plants just make it? What does a spinach plant look like for that matter? Iām picturing like a salad plant but where do the stalks come from then,ā the man hummed before there was a sound like a TVās white noise and the man straightened. After a moment, he turned towards Danny and gave him a smile.
āIām gonna have to run,ā he said. āIām not often in the neighborhood, so we might not meet again, so I wish you best of luck, bud.ā
Another brilliant smile and he turned away.
Danny jumped forward in time to stop the manās immediate departure. Said man turned to give Danny a quizzical look.
āThank you,ā said Danny painfully sincere.
The manās face softened in a smile for a moment and then he was gone.
The Nature of Reanimated Food
So! Jack and Maddie, parents of Danny and Jazz! Obsessed with their work and ever so slightly neglectful with lab safety and their kids. One side effect of this is ectoplasm exposure around their food, and its subsequent reanimation. Pretty neat! Why do we care?
Weeeeelll, Why is it reanimating? Ghosts are supposedly beings of emotions, giving form by ecoplasm produced upon a persons death. And emotions are just the chemical signals and hormones produced by the brain and larger endrocine system. Vegetables are noticably lacking in that compartment (kinda, plants do in fact "scream" when in danger to warn other plants, but actual pain is a bit beyond them). and even if they Did, looking at stuff like hotdogs its been Awhile since they were killed. And even then most food in America is Heavily processed, so any lingering hormones should be long degraded. So How? How are they reanimating?!
Souls
Souls, spirits, consciousness, whatever scientific or religious term you wanna use, the point is Something is staying with the corpse and That is the catalyst (we know it's not some sort of physical material because every major element in food can be found elsewhere as well, and those inanimate objects Aren't reanimating).
There are some fun side effects to this, like the fact souls not only exist and can materialize, but can apparently be split up and mixed like in the case of hot dogs, with no unique downsides (that we know of) aside for standard aggression. This also means that this reanimated food is more like a ghost than a food item (making reanimated veggies part of animal cruelty rather than properly non-sentient).
Also means that souls have an expiration date, as evidenced by the various items using limestone not suddenly sprouting ghost mollusks (it's in furniture, toothpaste, and who knows what else. It's got some ectoplasm exposure). That or souls "settle" for lack of a better term and require more ectoplasm to reanimate as opposed to recent dead food. This also means that while ghosts can be split up and mixed, there's a certain level of modification that renders that far more difficult, or even impossible (namely cardboard and paper being made of plant fiber, yet not reanimating. This could also play a role in why limestone doesn't reanimate).
Anyone have any thoughts?
Tagging @evilminji for this cause they're Far more knowledgeable about DP and have amazing ideas. Check them out if you haven't yet
Danny's Medical Complications
Or: I had an idea and it wonāt leave (and unfortunately I canāt do dialogue to save my life)
It started simple enough, a quick visit to Frostbite for a general checkup. And then it kept going. New machines, techniques, people, and an increasingly worried yeti was starting to freak Danny out a bit. Eventually it all went away and Frostbite set him down for A Talk.
See, Halfas are hella rare for a reason. The conditions needed to form them are really rare yes, but they arenāt the Main problem. No the main issue is the Disparity. Ghosts are beings of emotions, sufficient stress, emotional/mental harm, lack of ecto, and more can all lead to death. And Halfas crank that up to 11. They have a human side to take care of thatās constantly changing and growing, a higher ecto requirement to fuel their higher base strength, and a myriad of other minor complications that havenāt been properly studied cause Halfas are rarely found and usually donāt form ghosts on death
Say what
What do you mean ādonāt form a ghostā theyāre already half way there!
And there lies the problem, theyāre halfway there. Ghosts are pretty static. they might change yes, but itās usually due to major events or over the course of eons. And how do they decide on what theyāre gonna be? By dying of course! Once the body dies its ghost is formed based on the current life situation and they move on. Simple, quick, easy. No complications here no siree!
Enter Halfas
They already died, and while infant ghosts and experience some major changes as they settle itās nothing to the degree humans do. And as time passes the static ghost half and changing human half can drift, wobbling on that line between life and death. And once it gets to extreme? They fall. If the ghost half starves or dies the human half experiences Major health complications, leading to death shortly after. If the human side dies they try to form a ghost using all the ambient ecto the ghost side has been feeding on, leading to the ghosts death in most cases but if not theyāre practically two different beings and fusing them will kill both anyways.
Good news though! With all the combat and rediculously high ecto levels Danny was exposed to to form his other half, his ghost side has stayed pretty adaptable! The other ghosts didnāt realize they were fighting a literal infant thanks to the high ecto levels he had (and the knowledgeable ones that Did had other reasonings the meant a little smack down they totally wouldnāt lose was an acceptable trade off for them). Horrifying, he will spend the next century finding all sorts of animal pelts, boxes, music tracks, etc landing on him in the middle of the night. But it has a silver lining! Thanks to not being allowed to settle Danny can still shape his ghost form to a degree. And Clockwork, brilliant old man that he is, has an Idea on how to fix this.
Great! Lay it on him Clockwork! Whatās he gotta do? Get de-aged and die? Ha Ha! You sure know how to make a good joke old man-child, now whatās the real way?
Oh
Oh no
Danny Can form a ghost on death, but itāll require dying while as mentally and physically similar to how he was when the portal closed. Problem there, heās changed. Heās changed a Good Bit. Luckily Clockwork can handle the physical aspect but Desiree needs some extra time for her end. See, she Can change brain chemistry and whatnot, but it takes time to become permanent. A quick fix like her usual work is fragile (lies, itās still stupidly powerful but forming a ghost relies on the persons deepest core, and that takes time to settle in to Desireeās magic). So they just have to de-age Danny to an appropriate age where once he hits around the age he was when the portal closed Desireeās magic will have settled, molding his personality/core to as close as they can be.
And then he has to die.
Doesnāt have to be as extreme as the portal incident was (in fact new factors like major doses of ecto would be a Very bad idea, his malleable ghost side is already pushing the limits with the minor variation heāll already have) but it Does need to be in an area with high levels of ambient ecto, preferably his new hometown to match his current lifeās lack of geographic movement.
Heāll also need to have his ghost half locked away to a degree. Heāll still need to be liminal of course, that long term exposure to ecto is needed to fuel a ghosts transformation, but proper ghost powers are getting put away unless Clockwork thinks theyāre needed (and if it Does get to that point heās getting pulled out for a second try anyways).
So where to put him? Well Gotham of course!
Clockworkā¦. Why are you like this (itās all for the good of the timeline. And Lady Gotham owes him a favor he prepared just for this)
From there if he ends up in the Bats care (Nasty Burger explosion, Ghost Jazz, or simply not having anyone capable of properly raising him knowing heāll die at 14) it doesnāt take long for one John Constantine to notice the Heavy Infinite Realms influence on the small child and drag the big bat away for his own Talk (double angst if heās able to recognize the specific brand of Time Magic indicating a death prophecy). If he ends up under Jazzās care then it might take a bit longer, but sheāll likely end up tied up in Bat business and from there it wouldnāt take long for a Very stressed Jazz to accidentally reveal something (or a child Danny not realizing āI know when Iām going to Die in excruciating detail!ā is Not something you share with strangers, especially not ones as paranoid as the Bats).
Also for loose threads I imagine Ellie is unstable because her ecto is cloned off of Danny, while her human half is its own person. That large disparity usually leads to death (as seen in the other clones) but sheās able to force it off with sheer ecto strength, using the ecto shots as fuel to Force her body to stay together until they reach an inevitable conclusion or potentially meld together like Dan does).
As for Dan heās not Properly a Halfa. I never watched the show so I donāt have all the details but I understand heās some kinda mix of future Danny and Vlad gone evil and destroying the world. This mix Might be able to last longer than a regular Halfa would due to the insane amounts of ecto he has in his system. And as time passes the mixed ghost halves Could be unstable enough to sort of meld with his human parts, creating something of a Highly unstable ghost-human hybrid (seperate from Halfas since this is a blending of the two, not a distinct line between two halves).
That wouldnāt work with Danny cause it requires a second ghost mixing with him And the two somehow not destabilizing during the years it takes for the blend to settle. And the Ellie route is out since that requires So Much fine control and vigilance over a Very long period of time to slowly manually shape the ghost half to better fit the human half, rather than the other way around like Dannyās doing.