Alfred: Master Bruce, I'm afraid to ask this but are you aware of where you no limit credit card is?
Bruce: Yes its in my wallet
Alfred: Show me
Bruce: ....it's not in my wallet
Alfred: Hnhmmm. I thought as a much when the first delivery arrived
Bruce: Delivery? What delivery?
Alfred: Come see for yourself
Bruce: What the? Alfred why is the entire main entrance covered in bakery boxes!?
Alfred: It seems one of the children decided to order every available Valentine's Day dessert in Gotham. From heart-shaped mini cakes, to chocolate mouse, to red and pink macaroons, to crepes, and of course, the classical chocolate-covered strawberries.
Bruce: There are thousands of boxes in here!
Alfred: Actually based on my count there are nine hundred and forty-six-
Doorbell: *DING DONG*
Alfred: I may have spoken too soon.
Bruce: Who bought of these!?
Damian, opening the door: Oh, good, my orders got here.
Bruce: These are yours?!
Damian: Yes. I needed to do research
Bruce: Research on what?!
Damian: I must find the best valinetimes desert in all of Gotham. These are all the available options I can buy online. I called almost every restaurant and placed a order as well. Once I sample them, I will go on foot through the streets, least I miss the best one because it was sold from a stand.
Bruce: Damian! You can't just use my money without permission-
Damian: I did not use your money. I know you have very little of it. I used my mother's *holds up black card*. She gave me permission.
Bruce: I- I'm very rich
Damian: Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself.
Bruce: I'm telling you- ugh nevermind. What is all this for?
Damian: There is a transfer student in my school that I plan to conquer romantically. My previous attempts have not shown the favorable results I wanted, but Drake swears this overly commercialized holiday will be the perfect opportunity to make progress. I cannot allow myself to offer nothing but the best to him.
Alfred dazed: You....have a crush?
Bruce: Congratulations! You're well on your way to adulthood! What's the lad's name
Damian: His name is Daniel Fenton. He is fourteen years old like me. Likes NASA, takes his tea with honey, his coffee with three creams and two sugars, believes in the paranormal, not religious, plays no sports but adores video games, and has a talent for cooking.
Bruce: He sounds great-
Damian: He has five alarms to wake up since he's a night owl, his preferred toothpaste is mint white sparkle, He has a white machine noise that plays rain and he-
Alfred: And the boy is a stalker. Shoker.
Damian: I am not a stalker! I gain all this knowledge from social media! Richard said young people court by review eachother's page!
Bruce: Oh thank the stars. Still Damian this is too much! What do you plan on doing with all this left over food?
Damian: I thought of that. I am going to invite Daniel to help me deliver these to the nursing homes and women shelters. He love community service. Todd said taking interest in his interests are a sure fire way to romance him!
Bruce nodding: If Jay-bird said so then you know its going to work. He's well read in this
Alfred under his breath: And yet the lad is still a virgin.
Bruce: What was that Alfred?
Alfred: I said can I have the pumpkin.
Damian: The pumpkin rolls shaped into a heart?
Alfred: Yes
Damian: Go ahead.
Alfred: Thank you. You have no idea how wonderful it is to see ANOTHER Wayne in love. Truly a...experience.
Bruce: Did my dad do something as thoughtful as this before?
Alfred Thinking about the time Thomas stole a brick from every building in Gotham to compare them so he could build Martha a outdoor oven: He once took a interest in her baking
Clark: I need to ask for more hours. I have to pay Bruce back
Danny: Who's Bruce?
Clark: My-
Lois: His on-and-off boyfriend. Are you two currently off?
Clark: We-! We are not boyfriends! We never were!
Lois: That so? Then why did your interview with him, which should have been only one afternoon, last an entire weekend?
Clark: That is....it just got delayed.
Lois: And why did Wayne let you stay in his manor instead of you using the hotel room Perry was going to get you?
Clark: He felt guilty about delaying me, and the hotel room was approved for only one night. You know how the purchasing department can be!
Danny: How much do you owe him?
Clark: A lot....I crashed his car.
Danny: Why were you driving his car!?
Clark: He let me borrow it for some jobs in Gotham.
Danny: ....Are you sure you're not dating?
Clark: No!
Lois: Calm down Smallvile. Danny and I won't tell anyone. You don't have to worry about HR
Danny: Why would HR care?
Lois: Wayne owns the Daily Planet
Danny: He does!? *Turning to Clark* You were going to pay him back with his own money?
Clark defensively: You try finding somewhere that Bruce doesn't own!
Danny: That's fair. Hey, I thought Wayne was dating Batman?
Clark: He's not!
Lois: They're exes. Bad breakup. Lots of bad blood. Everyone in Gotham knows. People say that Batman still holds a torch for little old Brucie, but honestly, I talked to the guy. No chance of ever taking him back, not that Bats can take the hint. A bit sad if you ask me.
Danny: Wow. Clark, no offense, but I don't think you can take Batman in a fight. Small town to small town takes the loss.
Clark crying into his hands because he knows Bruce has a crush on Danny and can't say anything without exposing them as Batman and Superman: Do you know anywhere that's hiring part-time after 5?
Danny: I think they're hiring at the gift shop on weekends at the science museum.
Lois: No, Wayne owns that too.
Danny: Does the man own the entire East Coast!?
Step texting the Bat-Sib group chat: You won't believe what I am witnessing from the best seat in the house! I'm talking about the VIP seat of gossip!
Dick: OH! Gossip! Dish it out, girl~
Tim: I have a meeting in ten minutes. If the tea is good enough, I will delay it.
Jason: This better be good.
Duke: Yes! I was bored. Tell me everything~ .
Cass: What did you witness?
Damian: Stop texting me. I'm in school.
Steph: Put that degree on hold, Damian. You're going to love this. I'm at Thompikins Clinic with Bruce, who got hit by a car!
Damian: What!? Is Father alright!?
Steph: Yeah, I wasn't going that fast.
Jason: HA!
Dick: I thought we all agreed not to leave our keys out in the open for her to take?
Steph: As if lack of keys can stop me. Anyway, the real reason I texted was that there is a new nurse working at Thompikins Clinic. Bruce got tongue-tied when he walked in!
Tim: No way? Brucie Wayne, getting toungue-tied? Yeah I'm delaying this meeting.
Steph: I think there is a history there. Do any of you know this guy? *send photo*
Dick: Never seen him
Jason: No
Tim: Nope
Duke: Negitive
Cass: I have no knowlege of this man
Damian: That's Daniel Fenton. He was Father's first pregency scare back when the world didn't have enough information on ecto-beings. Thankfully, Fenton was not carrying Father's child, and he left Father about three years before Richard came to live at the Manor.
Steph: Why do you know this?
Damian: My Mother considers him the biggest challenger for Father's affections.
Tim: So Fenton is a ecto-being?
Damian: Half of one, yes.
Jason: Wait, is this the guy that Bruce has a shrine built for in the fifth floor? The one by the chocolate vault?
Cass: Yes. Bruce goes in there to cry and eat five pounds of chocolate every month on the full moon.
Duke: That's where he goes on full moons? I just thought he was a werewolf.
Damian: You thought father was a werewolf?
Duke: Yeah, I mean, most people think he's a vampire, but I thought that was too cliche.
Steph: GUYS! GUYS! Bruce kissed his knuckles. Just grabbed his hand and brought it up to his mouth! And the guy LIKED it! Look *Sends picture*
Dick: WE'RE GETTING A STEP DAD!
Jason: Not if Bruce messes it up like he always does.
Tim: You're right. We should help him. Can everyone go to the clinic now?
Cass: I was already on route.
Steph: HA! Cause Bruce is that bad at love?
Cass: No because you hit him with a car.
Steph: Yeah, that's fair.
Bruce Wayne is no stranger to medical recovery. Despite the rumors in the Justice League, he was nothing more than a mortal man. He could push his body to its very limits and sometimes pass them, but never without consequences.
This means that, after his latest fight, Bruce was unfortunately unable to go out and protect Gotham's civilians. When he did get too hurt to be out of the field, he could at least crawl into the cave and work on some cases or even support his family through the monitors.
That wasn't possible this time, seeing as Alfred all but threatened to cut Bruce's limbs- all four of them- if he attempted to move from his adjustable bed. Normally, Alfred only made displeased noises in the back of his throat, which was something Bruce could ignore, but when he made threats, then that's when he knew Alfred was not messing around.
Bruce was to not do any Batman work until he was fully healed. All because he got caught by surprise during a fight with Ivy, and his back paid the price. It was a bone bruise, which, in Bruce's opinion, was a minor injury, but Alfred had heard Dr. Leslie warn him that if he didn't rest, she wouldn't be surprised if it led to a broken bone.
She meant that he could get hurt worse in the field. But Alfred heard this leads to that and ran with it. Now Bruce was bored out of his mind, waiting for his family to let him move. Technically, he wasn't on strict bed rest, but since Dr. Leslie also found out the rest of his body was practically screaming from all the stress he put it through, she advised that he stay in bed for a while.
His kids gave him a TV remote, a couple of books, and his phone (with some programmed blocks to prevent him from accessing the systems he wanted to work on). They explained that in about three days, he would be allowed access to his laptop, not before then. He could get into his wheelchair and roll to different parts of the house, but not "on his own". He was pretty sure they put motion sensors around his room just in case he tried
He watched shows, read his books, and scrolled on social media. It's only been five hours, and he was already losing his mind. Maybe it was because he knew he couldn't work, but the hours dragged on so much that he didn't pay attention to the episodes, and the paragraphs in the books didn't register in his mind.
Social media had never really captured his attention, except for searching for signs that someone was getting close to his identity. He was so bored he started scrolling blindly, eyes glazed and unfocused on the screen. Even if he was focused, the screen moved too fast for him to see what the posts were about until his thumb accidentally tapped on a pop-up ad.
The ad was a link that sent him to a different website. The website looked plain overall, except for the kiss marks floating on the sides and the random posts encouraging people to call them for a good time with like-minded people. Bruce has never seen a website like that before.
Usually, such websites were subtle- and sometimes not subtle at all- images that showed it was more of a working girl or boy service. These posts had odd phrases like "Call me to talk about dinosaurs!" or "Call me if you love the following book series," and even "Call me if you want to vent about stupid siblings- only middle children!"
The website was called "Kitty's Connections," which sounded like a run-of-the-mill, adult service website, but the content was....different.
Bruce quickly ran a scan on the page with his phone. Barbara and Tim made sure everyone's phones had virus, malware, and phishing scanners installed so they could quickly verify that any app or webpage they visited was safe. Nothing was marked dangerous, so in a moment of utter boredom, Bruce scrolled through the different posts. Apparently, each user had a phone number linked to the webpage's app, and when someone found a topic they liked, they were supposed to tap the number to make a direct call.
No messaging because that wasn't "authentic" anymore. Bruce was pretty sure this was someone closer to his age who created the webpage. He scrolled for a good hour or so, with nothing catching his attention. Bruce was about to close the webpage and return to his social media when one post from the user DeadKingFenton caught his attention.
Call me if you want a platonic fun time : 1-800-XOXO
Underneath the odd message was an image of a burning crown that bore an alarming resemblance to a fictional legend that Bruce had personally been obsessed with as a child. In his favorite show, The Grey Ghost, the protagonist, despite being human, had been helped by his mysterious mentor and informant of the Underworld- The Ghost King.
He only appeared as a flaming crown floating over a figure that hid in the shadows and never showed thier face. Their voice was provided by multiple people speaking at once, and despite their importance, the Ghost King appears on screen only twice, with all other references to them delivered by the Grey Ghost reminiscing about his days in training.
The Ghost King haunted the narrative, but there were never many details about the character, and fans quickly realized the King was more of a plot hole than anything else, barely making sense in the context of the show. The king was more of a fantasy element in an otherwise modern (of its time) fiction show.
Only really devoted fans knew the King's symbol, which was something Bruce was. His eyes lingered on the message, the image, and after a moment, he said, "Well, what's the worst that could happen?" and pressed the call number.
At once, it encouraged him to install the app, and create a profile. Bruce quickly went through the necessary steps to create an account under the username ProudGreyGFan. Once that was done, the call started, and instead of the usual call tone, the Grey Ghost theme song was heard.
Bruce's lips lifted as he listened to the familiar and beloved music. It went on for a few seconds, just about to loop again, when someone answered.
Someone shockingly young. He was expecting someone his age, or even older, since Bruce knew the show was from his father's generation. He had been an awfully young fan back when Bruce was a child, and that was mostly because Thomas' favorite show was what he wanted to share with his son.
"Hello?" A male teenager, by the sound of his voice. Bruce blinks once, then twice, utterly frozen from surprise until the voice returns. "Anyone there?"
"Y-yes. Sorry, how old are you?" Bruce finds him asking.
"I'm fourteen."
"Well then, goodbye," Bruce hangs up the call, rubbing his eyes. In seconds, his phone starts ringing again. He answers without checking the caller- so used to only his family having his number- and much to his displeasure, the same teenage voice comes from the speakers.
"Hey, you called me. Do you not want to chat?"
"Not with a teenager."
The fourteen-year-old laughs. "It's not that kind of chat, old man."
"It's still not appropriate. I thought you were older because of the Crown of Fire picture in your post. Sorry."
There is a pause, heavy with something that snaps the attention vigilante part of my mind. Bruce finds himself pausing over the end call button, waiting as the boy finally replies, "How do you know the Crown of Fire?"
"I'm a fan of the show it's from." Are you not? is left unsaid, but heard all the same. There are a few moments of silence, though Bruce could hear the boy moving. It sounded like he was outside, somewhere crowded, based on the footsteps, and maybe even close to a road if those were cars driving by. It could be just wind, but it was too consistent and heavy for that.
A few minutes went by, and then the boy's voice returned, "What show are you talking about? I can't find it online."
"The Grey Ghost, from the early 50s," Bruce replies, even more confused. If this wasn't a reference to his favorite show, then how did the boy know the Crown of Fire? He could have just chosen it because he liked how the image looked- Dick has done that plenty of times- but to know it by name was an entirely different thing.
It implied that the Crown of Fire was more than just a fictional element in an old show.
Another pause goes by, and Bruce is now sure the boy is searching, before his surprise voice comes back. "Wait, the Ghost King is a character in this? No way!"
"Did you not watch the show?"
"No, this is the first time I'm hearing about it."
"Then how did you know about the Crown of Fire?" Bruce asks, pressing the phone to his ear and trying to get as many details of the boy from the background noise he could make out. Something in him told him to do so.
Bruce was never one to doubt his instincts- they saved his life more than once.
"Um, I-er, I saw it online and thought it was cool." The boy stumbles, which is the worst attempt at lying in his life. Too honest. He then asked how the boy knew about the Ghost King if he had never seen the show. "Er, what I saw was a picture of the Ghost King wearing the crown. I, ugh, thought he was someone's OC."
"Someone's OC?" Bruce questions, confusion coloring his words. What was with kids and making everything into an acronym?
"You're really old, aren't you?" The boy laughs a little more relaxed. "It means original character."
That explained nothing, but Bruce still hummed as if it explained everything. It sounded like the boy was moving underground. He was proven correct when he heard an announcement. This is Gotham Line L to Gotham Line W.
The kid was in Gotham? And on his way to Crime Alley? At this hour? It was the last train, and frankly, quite dangerous.
"I suppose I sound old to someone so young. I'm forty-seven." Bruce replies, typing a text to Jason- the one to be for sure near Crime Alley- a request to stop by the station and ensure the fourteen-year-old gets home safe.
A few seconds go by before his son's confirmation comes through, along with a suspicious " Why do you know there is a child walking so late on his own? But Bruce chose not to answer that part of the message.
"Ancient." The boy mocks in the same good nature, teasing his children, and Bruce's lips twitch into a smile against his will. " You're ancient. Why aren't you sleeping? Old people are asleep by this time, right?"
"I could ask you the same. Kids have bedtimes for a reason, you know."
The boy barks out a laugh, delighted. The sound is almost surprised, like he wasn't expecting to be brought to laughter, or that he was out of practice. Bruce adds one more mark to the list of worries this call was starting to make.
"I usually stay up late!" The boy said through giggles.
"Are your guardians aware of that? Better yet, are they aware you're taking calls from strangers?" Bruce probs as casually as he can. It doesn't seem to be done as delicately as he should have done it because the good humor vanishes, and the heavy silence from before returns.
After a moment, the boy speaks again. "They don't care."
Not a lie, but said with far too flatness that Bruce knows the boy means his guardians don't care about him, and not that they didn't mind what he was doing. If it were anyone else, they would have missed the difference in the way he spoke, but he's Batman. He could hear that bitterness loud and clear in the flatness of his tone.
"They should. My kids tell me beauty sleep is really important- especially since I don't believe in skin care routines," Bruce said instead of peaking at the obvious tension. He wants to know more, which is why he hadn't hung up again.
"You don't believe in skin care routines?!" The teenager yelps, sounding equally as horrified by that knowledge as Tim and Steph did when he walked in on them applying random products during a sleepover.
They had moved to the viewing room for a night of romantic comedies a few minutes before Bruce got the urge to go turn on the projector to watch a documentary. His son and (almost) daughter forced him to sit down while they smeared similar products on his skin, which he thought was pointless, but he did enjoy the face mask.
Bruce laughs. "I do wear lotion and sunscreen. I also drink plenty of water- that usually clears up any skin issues I have."
The teenager makes a noise that sounds like he's deeply offended, but doesn't comment on it further. Instead, he asks how much water is considered 'plenty'. In the same breath, the boy starts talking about the water bottles he makes and sells in his free time.
Bruce allows himself to get pulled into the conversation, asking questions when appropriate but mostly letting the kid lead. Eventually, the conversation moves to the Grey Ghost and other old shows the pair enjoys, with Bruce mentioning things from before his time, and the teenager mentioning old cartoons he enjoyed that Bruce only has faint knowledge of.
Out of all his kids, Dick and Jason were the ones most prone to cartoons, but the teenager considered shows from ten years ago old, so he recognized some names. The most recent was a loss to him, as Damian preferred anime to Western animation. Tim liked live action, Steph mostly watched dramas, and Duke went from horror to sitcoms.
It sounded like the teenager was one of the few who mostly watched animated things instead of anything else.
Eventually, the train arrived at its destination, twenty minutes later, and the boy paused in his summary of the most recent show that had a giant plot twist he had not been expecting.
"Oh, I have to go."
"Alright." Bruce accepted easily. "Have a good night."
"Um, you too. I'm Danny, by the way."
Bruce bites back a lecture on telling strangers his name, especially online, but only just. He tries to sound as casual and warm as he had been throughout this entire conversation. "Nice to meet you Danny. My name is Bruce."
"It was fun talking to you, Bruce," Danny says brightly, then in a much more obvious attempt to sound casual, he asks, "Can I call you again?"
Bruce's heart squeezes at the longing in the boy's tone as he laughs. "Of course."
Danny does a little cheer before he once again bids him goodbye, and the call drops. A few minutes go by, and he has half the mind to go down to Crime Alley to check if the boy got there safely or even open his chat with Jason to make sure he was around to get Danny home safely. He holds off, just because he knows his family would get angry, but just as the itch to do something starts to get unbearable, his phone rings.
This time, actually checking the screen, he finds Jason's burner phone number, the one he uses as Red Hood, flashing across his screen. He picks up, answering in a confused voice, just in case it's someone other than Jaylad.
He can pretend to never get a call from that number, as Brucie, if that's the case.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"It's your butler, who else?" Jason scoffs, answering the call in the code they agreed upon for the month. At once, Bruce relaxes even as his son carries on like nothing was amiss. The who else also let him know that his son was in a secure place, so he wasn't worried about being overheard.
Jason let that settle before his voice took on a more serious tone, dropping the mocking. "Listen, I'm calling about the teenager you mentioned on the last train of the W line. I followed him from the station, only to find out he was crashing in a broken-down camping store that had closed years ago. When I went inside, I saw his little setup in the far back of the building near the bathrooms. Kid's homeless but seems to be using the building's still functioning water system- and no, I don't know why it's active- to make himself look like he's not."
Bruce closed his eyes. I was afraid of this
"I figured as much," He settles on. "From the way he spoke, it sounded like he was lonely enough that his home situation was not right."
"You bringing him in?" Jason asks, with just the hint of tension in his voice that tells Bruce he means the cape life, and the Manor all at once. His son still doesn't approve of children in capes, along with Dick, and both act as if Bruce goes out of his way to turn children into soldiers, no matter who he talks to.
Sometimes it hurts that they forget how hard he worked to talk children out of it, and how hard he fought to get his sons to stay home in the very beginning.
"No. I just found out about him, but I don't think he will be willing to get help from CPS or me until I build a better relationship," Bruce replies. Jason lets out a huff of annoyance.
"No CPS," He grouches, the memories of what that particular system did to him, hidden in Jason's voice. "They never help. Not in Gotham."
"I know. I'm trying to make it better," Bruce acknowledges, but both know his efforts are not enough. For ever corrupted person Wayne Enterpirse had removed, three more took thier place. The system was broken in the country, but in Gotham, it was utterly shattered. "Until then, I want to keep an eye on Danny, and I'll keep talking to him-"
"Talk to him? How are you talking to him?"
"I got connected to him through a website. It's called Kitty's Connections, and apparently, it's to help people meet like-minded individuals, but through phone calls only." Bruce responds without hesitation.
Jason is silent for a long moment before he lets out a long breath. "If it were anyone else, I would be accusing them of being a perv, but I know you. So, we are investigating this website?"
"Yes. I want to make sure it's nothing harmful to children." Bruce had already sent a link to Barbara, along with an explanation. She replied with a thumbs up and a promise to give him a report on whatever she found. "O is on it. In the meantime, tell me about Danny. Does he look alright?"
"He's skinny, in the same way kids who've haven't eaten well for years are. But he's clean, like I said, seeming to keep up his laundry, and his washing well enough through the store's water supply. He also seems unaware of his surroundings. Either he's new to the streets or so used to them he doesn't look out of place." Jason reports, sounding like he was leaping onto the roofs, based on the change in voice and the slight thumps. Bruce wishes he could be leaping over rooftops right now, too. "features wise, he's small with black hair reaching his shoulders, blue eyes and limp in his left leg. Can't be older than twelve or so."
"He said he was fourteen," Bruce corrects, "Didn't sound like a lie. How bad was the limp?"
"Looks new. The kid steps wrong, for it it be a old issue."
"Did he seem ingured?"
"Not that I could tell, but I was observing at a distance. Didn't want him to run,"
Bruce sighs, "Alright. I'll call him again tomorrow. See if I can get more information out of him. Do you mind finding a way to give him food-"
"Already have that covered. Tomorrow, one of my contacts will offer him free food in exchange for some help taking out the garbage or something."
Bruce smiles, pride blooms in his chest. "Thank you, Jaylad. You always do good work for the street kids."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not a big deal." Despite the words, Bruce knew his son was blushing, attempting to brush off the praise as he had when he was twelve. His boy has never handled praise well. "That's all?"
"For tonight. Thank you"
"Alright, then I'm heading off. By the way, I'm going to call Alfred about this. You better be resting by the time he come up to check on you."
Bruce groans, "I wasn't even doing anything. Why do you have to call him?"
"You know why."
"Fine. I'll watch some cartoons or something while you call him."
Jason huffs out a surprise laugh. "Cartoons? Why cartoons?"
"Danny told me about some. He sounded so passionate, I felt like I should give them a chance." Bruce shrugs, clicking on the TV and typing in the search bar, the first one. It pulls up the streaming service it was on, and since Bruce had all the subscriptions, he was able to start the first episode right away. It was just as brightly colored and playful as he would expect from a show about imaginary friends living in a foster home.
"Alright, have fun." Jason laughs again, "Night, old man."
"Goodnight, Jaylad. I love you."
Jason sputters for a second before he grouses, "Yeah, love you too."
The line drops, and Bruce settles more comfortably to watch the show. He has about twenty seconds before Alfred is running up to ensure he's actually watching TV, but he makes a mental note to look more into Danny's situation and the Ghost King's Crown of Fire.
Something tells him that it's a very important connection with the boy in the broken-down camping store and the reason he wound up there. Bruce would ponder on it more, but he hears the loud stomping of his bulter, so he has to force himself to look utterly captivated with the cartoon and let his thoughts settle.
Just as he does so, Alfred throws up the door with a shout, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BOY!?"
"Watching cartoons."
Alfred narrows his eyes at him, rightfully suspicious. If Jason hadn't given him the warning, Bruce would have likely done something crazy, like limp to Tim's room to steal a tablet and look into the Ghost King. "Keep it that way."
"I will."
"I will, what?"
"I will, sir."
In Alfred's hand is his cellphone, which not only has Jason's laughter spilling out of it, but Bruce is half sure he can hear all his children cracking up. Bruce would have been offended, but it's Alfred. Of course, he had to use "sir" when his (almost) father put him on bed rest.
Exactly a year after Talia brought Damian to Bruce, she shows up again. With another child. That looks like a carbon copy of Damian. She introduces him as Danyal, Damian's twin that was in an undercover mission for the last few years.
Bruce's eye twitches, but he deals with it. At least it's not a clone - Damian proved his mother's words to be true, Danyal really is his twin brother. So the Bats are just kind of forced to accept the fact. And the kid.
Danyal is a literal fucking menace. Contrary to Damian, he doesn't stab or bite, but he is absolutely chaotic. And, in addition to that, he has zero self-preservation instincts. None of it. The only two people in the family he has a truce with are Cass and Steph. Cass, because he has yet to take her by surprise, and Steph, because she is his partner in crime. Tim, though, Tim is on the verge of going insane with two little assassin bats running around the manor.
A year later, on the anniversary of Damian and Danyal's arrival, Talia shows up again. With, you guessed it, another kid. This one is a bit older - sixteen or so - and he has an angry glare that can be compared only to Jason's on a warpath. Dante, he calls himself, and the Demon Twins narrow their eyes on him. Bruce knows this look intimately. Sibling rivalry at its finest.
The next year is full of said sibling rivalry, performed by three highly skilled assassins. Dick is constantly worried one day one of them will die, and not because of a Rogue attack. The kids are fucking wild, acting like rabid dogs on steroids. They destroyed a wall once by throwing Dante through it. Alfred gave them a lecture. It didn't help.
The next year, Bruce opens the door to Talia even before she rings the doorbell. He looks at the four-year-old girl that looks like a mirror image of Damian, Danyal and Dante, and asks, tired and defeated:
"How many more?"
Talia only smiles. The girl looks at him with big, innocent puppy eyes that don't fool Bruce anymore.
Tim, who watches the scene through the surveillance cameras in the Batcave, pulls up a file and starts drafting his last will.
My favorite flavor of Danny Phantom in the dpxdc universes is the ordinary on the first glance teenager who stands before an unimaginable, indestructible threat and throws his hands up to yell BITCH DO I LOOK LIKE I GOT TIME FOR THIS I GOT FINALS NEXT WEEK FUCK OFF and the threat retreats and crawls back where it came from
The sky outside the coffee shop had been darkening for the last few minutes. Tim hadn't paid much attention; a cloudy day in Gotham was more common than not, and rain was usually a safe prediction. Wrapping his hands around his hot chocolate, he smiled and listened to his boyfriend.
". . . and honestly, ghosts just don't like change. They're kind of frozen at their deaths. Not to say that they can't change! Dora took over from her brother and now everyone's pretty okay, with it, but . . . oh. Great."
Tim blinked as Danny's back straightened. Without transforming, Danny changed before his eyes; the smart, goofy guy with the chocolate mustache became a tall, hard-eyed man who'd just been pushed one inch too far.
(He still had a chocolate mustache.)
Sliding out of the booth, Danny waved absently for Tim to stay in place. Patrons scattered as Danny strode towards the door, yanking it open so hard that a woman's receipt fluttered out of her hand in the sudden gust.
"VORTEX!" Danny bellowed up at the darkening sky. "I HAVE FINALS THIS WEEK, AND IF I MISS AN EXAM BECAUSE OF YOU I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU TO CLOCKWORK IN EXCHANGE FOR A RE-DO!"
The boiling clouds somehow paused.
"DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"
People shouted at the sky all the time in Gotham for one reason on another, but it was rare that the weather actually listened.
This time, it worked.
The clouds skidded away so fast that Bruce Wayne, in a meeting in Wayne Tower, suspected acts of supervillainy and quietly notified Oracle. Back at the coffee shop, an apologetic beam of sunlight shone down on Danny.
Danny raised an eyebrow.
The sun, freed from its cloudy oppression, spread its light to cover the street and beyond. Danny nodded sharply, then walked back indoors. People still moved aside, but the look on their faces was more awe than fear.
(Three miles away, the Signal squinted against the sudden brightness.)
Settling in opposite Tim, Danny grinned at Tim and finally wiped the still-damp chocolate from his upper lip. "Sorry about that. Where were we?"
I decided I want some shimmer vials there as well, and here's how it went
First sketch way too big (why did I think making it the size of my arm was a good idea at all is a mystery) so making a smaller one
Transfer and base colors — doing good so far — but who would I be if I didn't make bad design decisions in the middle of work?
So, here goes The Bad Decision. I like how I colored it, but the shape and form of the drips were weird; they kinda remind me of goo? When shimmer is supposed to be liquid. And, at this point, I can't just erase it. Duh.
Instead of fixing it, though, I just decided to switch to outlining. Like, if I ignore the bad long enough, it would go away. Thankfully, while I was doing that, a great idea occurred!
Make it bigger! Works like a charm every time.
Anyway, it came out great; you likely can't see it in the picture, but it does shimmer a little — I mixed some silver paint into the top layer.
So, that was, what, about five hours of work? Feels about right.
Yeah so this was a rather eventful week for The Jacket, I've added:
• some weird lotus things that Victor fed to the big lizard (because they are, apparently, what shimmer is made of and I liked the color and shape)
• hextech gemstones
• the outline for the letters that I've specifically bought as a fabric sticker because I didn't want to write the words by hand, but then I applied it and didn't like the black outline so I had to, in fact, do even more work (that was also way more detailed) than I originally intended on, because as you can see, I like my life hard
• also, the word LIAR (that I might redo later) and the star below it
• a quick skull that took, like, twenty minutes
I think I'm about halfway done with this project? Maybe even ⅔ of it.
But good enough is never enough when one is striving for perfection!
These weekends I have succumbed to my hyperfixation entirely, which means none of the planned chores have been accomplished (laundry, grocery shopping, meal prep, nothing at all), but instead I've done Things.
First of all, I finally finished the back:
By gods, was this exhausting. Have you got any idea how tedious it is to draw those tiny ass pointy sharp lines with a brush? I deserve a fucking award for my patience.
Also, I finished the other sleeve:
And it was a nightmare of an entirely different kind because the top layer of it is not attached to the jacket itself, it's a separate piece. And that shimmering fabric did not comply with sewing it in any way and kept fraying like crazy and any attempt at setting the edges with a lighter just set the whole thing on fire. I ended up very, very carefully gluing it together to make it look nice and then decorating the hems with lace because there was literally no other way to put it together. Which is also why there are no pics of the process because I got frustrated multiple times and maybe even cried a little.
The original idea was supposed to be more, um, organic shaped? The edges were supposed to mimic the shape of the mutated hextech thing, but, alas, it was not possible.
Oh, also, when I painted the hextech gemstones before, I deliberately made them the same size as that black-and-white gemstone (the black-and-white part is a fabric sticker btw because not only the fabric refused to be sewn but it also refused to be painted in any way). So, when combined together, the bottom layer and the top layer are creating a complete picture, not two separate ones.
There's also the hood that I've actually made a few weeks ago but never posted for some reason:
It's got a zipper at the bottom, so it attaches to the jacket, I just couldn't bother to actually do that for a photo.
A few random details as well:
The design for a pocket that was done in spare time; the addition of that same shimmering fabric to the butterfly — gluing it together was another hard part, only the third attempt was successful — and the butterfly placement options (I ended up with the first, symmetrical one).
So, here's the overall look so far:
I really hope I'll finish it next week, there's only the front left. But I've just thought of adding braids there, not painted, but actually made of paracord and sewn on top, so who knows what else I'm gonna come up with in the span of one week.
No context or comments this time because I'm almost fucking there and everything hurts and dear good gods please give my fingers the strength to achieve the pretty
A list of things I've done that pissed my mother off, but as Batfam + Team Phantom edition
Bruce: got into a verbal fight and held a year-long grudge at my teacher for not giving me a fair grade at an annual competition, and proceeded to go out of my way to win said competition next year
Alfred: refused to eat her food, got told to cook for myself and did so, ending up with both my dad and sister saying my banana bread was the best thing they've eaten
Dick: swung on the bungee rope over the dry riverbed turned into junk yard, fell, miraculously did not die, went to that same bungee rope the next day
Babs: organized a stake out, found out which neighbor had been messing with trash bins when everyone blamed raccoons, called said neighbor a raccoon for the next three weeks
Jason: kept reading books at night with a flashlight, when said flashlight was taken away, lit a candle and accidentally almost set the house on fire
Tim: fled to a different country across the globe without telling anyone except my sister, who's been 7 at the time, and did not respond to any calls or messages for three months
Steph: picked a dress with glitter for a dinner with her relatives after specifically being told not to, was forced to change, but took my revenge by exploding a glitter bomb in the car when we have already arrived at the relatives' house
Cass: responded with 'sorry I didn't quite catch that could you repeat' to her very long rant, over text
Damian: successfully clawed and gnawed at a classmate's face after they destroyed my painting
Duke: was the leader of school rebellion over the 'no wigs allowed in school' rule in sixth grade, managed to convince two teachers to join, ended up with the rule taken down
Danny: accidentally shocked myself with a tazer I stole from her handbag, cried, when she came to ask what happened, showed her by repeating the accidental electrocution
Dan: pushed my maternal aunt into the pool and watched her flounder, knowing very well she is a bad swimmer, when confronted about it later argued it was the kiddie part of the pool and she could not have drowned
Jazz: told her I was in love with a girl she disliked, when she voiced her opinion on it, made a whole argument about how I'm supposed to learn from my own mistakes and not from her experiences
Dani: zoned out while she was yelling at me, came back to her saying 'you're no better than a pig', impulsively told her 'it's because of genetics' and started oinking
Sam: painted my nails and toes on my left hand and left foot black, dyed my hair purple, but only on the left side, as well as got a piercing on the left eyebrow, while the whole right side was left 'natural'
Tucker: learned to change the wi-fi password and held power over the internet every time she took my electronics away by asking a friend that lived nearby to come by my house and using their phone to change the password
Bonus:
Selina: repeatedly stolen antique jewelry from grandma because she, in turn, stole it from my other grandma
Valerie: turned rogue, teamed up with the opponent team in lasertag and helped them win over my own teammates
Talia: threatened a person I will carve their eyeballs out with a spoon if they ever as much as look at my sister funny again, a month later gave them a decorated silver teaspoon as a birthday gift
Jack Fenton: failed my driving license test seven times, three of which were on purpose
Maddie: ruined her plans of my picture-perfect marriage by friendzoning a son of her friend, claiming I'm saving my love only for the important things like mozzarella
Vlad: scared my sister shitless by telling her a scary story about ghosts under her bed and then hiding under her bed and making 'boo' noizes
Clockwork: purposefully made her experience deja vu by wearing the exact same clothes and greeting her the exact same way in the exact same place for three days in a row
Today was a terrible day. A Scarcrow attack on his University in second period. A Joker attack during fifth period. A Bane attack on his way to and from school. And now he was stuck as an unwilling contestant in the Riddler's latest game. The Riddler, who kept talking and talking and talking into the camera, broadcasting this to the entire city, and possibly the world if anyone outside of Gotham cared to tune in. Danny was kinda just... blankly staring at the ground, mentally calculating how many fucks he had to give at the present moment to decide if he should just phase out and fuck off to go back to his dorm and catch some Zs.
At least he had been, until the Riddler suddenly demanded his attention by stealing his lanyard with his school ID front and center, the grown ass man grinning to himself like a satisfied child who thought bullying made him cool(no that particular thought was not personal at all why would you even say that) Only to pause with a look of increduality that was shown even through the eye mask.
The Riddler turned his attention back to the young man with soulless eyes. His voice was low but clear, and so was the disbelief in his tone. "Is your middle name seriously Danger?" The young man, probably a college student, chuckled to himself. "Aren't my parents hilarious?"
He was staring blankly at the far wall. "I think they cursed me."
You see, as funny as this prompt is with Danny, I think it would be absolutely hilarious with Dante.
Picture this, our favorite time traveling doomsday scenario was filling out paperwork for his new legal identity and got to the portion with a blank for a middle name.
Sam doesn't get to vote because she is the one who suggested Dante in the first place, but everyone else throws out suggestions.
Jazz suggests Jordan again
Vlad, of course, offers his own name (still trying to one up Jack)
Tucker starts listing time travelers from various movies
Danny gets a wide grin on his face
"Danger"
"You can't be serious"
"Why not? It's not like it's inaccurate?"
Fast forward 6 years and 12 separate rogue attacks and Dante really regrets giving in to his younger self's sense of humor
Dante Danger Fenton-Masters is a bit of a mouthful, but it's honestly the most faithful name he could have. He's not Danny, but he is a Dan. He's a Fenton and a Master's, and he is, in fact, a Danger. It's perfect.
To be completely honest, I was thinking of Jazz being Jasmine Rebel Fenton and Dani as Danielle Mischief Fenton-Masters and Dan either not having a middle name or being Dan/Dante Catastrophe Fenton/Fenton-Masters, but this is even funnier.
The only way this could get better is if the rest of the Fenton(-Masters) sibs show up in Gotham, also get caught in a rogue attack via the Joker, and he decides, since this is the 'Danger is my middle name' kid, to check all their IDs. He freaking loses it when he sees that they're all like that.
if the goal is to give everyone a fun middle name then Mischief definitely fits for Danielle and I can totally picture her choosing it when its her turn to fill out the paperwork.
Danny should change his middle from James to Trouble in order to match, because he's always getting into trouble.
As for Jazz? I kinda want to switch her middle name to Danna just so they can all be Dannies, but if we have to stay on brand her new middle name name should be Sneaky.
I kinda like Jazz’s middle name being Rebel, because everyone else is on the lookout for her now, and they are all so confused by her seeming adherence to rules and order.
“What’s more rebellious than going against everyone else’s expectations?”
Meanwhile, At the Hall of Justice!
Booster Gold sat at the reception desk of the Hall of Justice. He managed to annoy some of the higher level heroes in the field and was demoted to desk duty. But that embarrassing story is irrelevant, because Booster was currently staring slack jawed down at the stack of legal documents he was just handed.
"Wait, wait, wait! You're SUING, the justice league!?" Booster demanded. The hero was looking back and forth between the stack of papers he was just served and the skinny younger man that just handed them over.
Danny adjusted his tie, glaring at the golden hero with a dead, emotionless expression. "More specifically? I am suing Batman as a member of your organization. As your Watchtower is in orbit, I was unable to serve papers there outside of the domain of American law. However, your organization of unlawful, colour-coded, thugs has this headquarters in Washington. So I am delivering these papers on behalf of my family, that I am representing in this case."
Booster Gold was flabbergasted, baffled, positively slobberknockered. Booster flipped through the legal documentation without a clue as to what any of it meant. "I-! But-!" Booster paused his stuttering and took a deep breath. "Whyyyyyyy though!?" Booster almost cried, drawing out the first word. Booster gold was prepared for almost any kind of attack. He could deal with bombs, gas attacks, giant robot dolphins, even a drunk supervillain throwing haymakers. But a LAWYER? What the fuck!?
Danny sneered at the confused man sitting before him. "I am suing Batman and at least three of his identified children for various crimes, that apparently law enforcement refuse to hold you all accountable for." Danny declared, reaching over to the stack of legal documentation in front of Booster Gold and flipping through it to point towards each grievance in writing as he spoke.
"Illegal surveillance, hacking, stalking, breaking and entering, destruction of private property, theft of intellectual and physical private property, destruction of private property, trespassing, assault and battery, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted kidnapping. All without any ACTUAL, law enforcement authority present and no warrant to excuse their actions." Danny's stone cold demeanor cracking with every charge he laid on the desk. By the end of his list he was angrily spitting out his words.
"As Batman and his 'Bat family' operate under the banner and employment of the justice league, I am holding your entire organization liable and am suing you to the tune of a hundred million dollars. I'll see you in court." Danny practically hissed out his last words before turning and storming out of the front doors of the hall of justice, the last thing he heard was Booster Gold activating his communicator and telling someone;
"Hey guys? I think Batman fucked up."
Danny Fenton, 23 years old and only just starting his career in law was beyond furious.
Everything had been going so good for so long.
Parents? Took the reveal of him being Phantom with a minimum of fuss.
Jazz? Working through her final thesis at Arkam Asylum.
Tucker and Sam? In university and in some witch school respectively.
Ghost attacks? Done with after Pariah. Nobody but Skulker wanted to fight with him anymore and he had helped the DECENT, members of his rogue's gallery get better outlets for their obsessions.
Vlad? The Fruitloop has been at the Far Frozen off and on for years now getting psychological therapy and treatment for the ectoplasmic rot that was driving him insane. Vlad's become downright tolerable in the past few years.
Dan? Also in therapy and running Vlad's company with slightly better morals than Vlad had.
Dani? Traveling the world and spending Vlad's money.
Everything had been going SO GOOD that Danny needed a new outlet for his obsession with protecting people. Danny's solution? Become a defense attorney. A shockingly easy task once his core latched onto law as a way to protect.
And now after all of his hard work? Studying, learning, passing the bar? His first case isn't going to be protecting someone as a defense counsel. He's suing the HELL, out of Batman.
Apparently Jazz was too good at Arkham. Her work with those lunatics and some offhand comments about home had her investigated by the Bat family. Digging into Jazz's history brought them to Amity and to Fentonworks.
Those costumed thugs instantly labeled his parents evil mad scientists. They hacked into Fentonworks and found his parents old blueprints for anti-ghost weaponry and worse, the ghost portal.
That alone would have been enough grounds for this lawsuit. But the guano goons decided to do worse. They deleted and stole schematics for the ghost portal and weapons. Then those idiots broke into Fentonworks. Thankfully Technus had upgraded the security systems... and made them less homicidal. The bat family couldn't destroy the video evidence from the security cameras.
Every time Danny watched those videos his fury grew. Batman, Batgirl, and Robin breaking into the lab. Smashing, stealing, sabotaging whatever they deemed 'dangerous'. Thank god his parents noticed before they could do anything to the ghost portal.
The Bats clearly were NOT, prepared for Jack Fenton to kool-ade manning his way through a steel reinforced wall. His parents instantly went on the offensive, always prepared to start blasting and beating down any threat. Danny has to be careful that he doesn't crush whatever he's holding when he watches the mother get slashed with a GOD-DAMN KATANA, and then knocked unconscious by Batgirl.
If it wasn't for his Dad taking a batarang to his shoulder and hurling most of a steel table at Batgirl and Robin, they were planning on kidnapping his mother. They already had her wrists bound behind her on the ground.
Danny's never been happier about his fathers ridiculous strength than in that moment. Because that was clearly the reason that Batman and his kids retreated, unprepared for Jack's willingness to destroy his own home if it meant keeping his family safe.
Danny TRIED, to get them arrested. But he couldn't even get warrants for their arrest put out. So suing them in civil court was the next best idea that Danny could do. Once that caped cock-head was in front of him across the court room, he could get SOME kind of justice.
On the Watchtower, Batman felt a migraine coming on.
On the Watchtower, Batman sat in the monitor room, staring at the alert on his screen. Booster Gold’s voice echoed over the comms, panicked and too loud as usual.
“Uh, Batman? We’ve got a situation. You’ve been served.”
The silence that followed was deep enough to make even the void of space jealous.
Batman pinched the bridge of his nose. “Booster. Clarify.”
“Some guy — Danny Fenton, young, lawyer, very angry, and uh... apparently he knows his legal stuff — just dropped off a mountain of papers. Said he’s suing the Justice League. Specifically you. And uh… your ‘children’? His words, not mine.”
The clattering sound of someone dropping their coffee came from behind him. Flash, naturally.
“Wait wait wait—someone’s suing Batman?” Barry laughed nervously. “Can they even do that? He’s… you know… technically not real.”
“They can,” Diana cut in, arms crossed, eyes narrowing in thought. “If he’s suing the alias that operates as part of the League, he’s targeting the entity Batman represents under the League’s operational charter. Not the man.”
Clark sighed. “Which means this isn’t a personal lawsuit. It’s institutional.”
“Correct,” Diana said. “And if the court allows it… the Justice League could be held liable as his employer.”
Batman’s silence was deafening.
“Booster,” he said finally, his voice low. “Send me the documents.”
Back on Earth, Danny sat in his apartment, shoulders tight and jaw clenched. The apartment was quiet except for the hum of his computer and the ticking of an old clock on the wall. His tie was off, sleeves rolled up, and he was halfway through marking up his own copy of the court filing with glowing green sticky notes.
Technus’ avatar flickered to life on his screen, popping up with far too much cheer for the situation.
“Daniel! I must say, your legal vengeance protocols are truly—”
“Technus,” Danny muttered warningly, rubbing at his temple. “Not. Helping.”
“—INSPIRING!” the ghost finished anyway, electricity crackling across the image. “You are doing the work of the ages! The meat-based judicial system will never recover from your wrath!”
Danny’s expression didn’t change, but his eye twitched. “You know what’s funny? That’s not helping either.”
He glanced back down at the footage still paused on his other monitor — Batman’s cape fluttering in the smoke of his parents’ ruined lab. His mother bleeding. His father holding a piece of broken metal like it was a lifeline.
Danny’s hands tightened into fists.
“This isn’t revenge,” he said quietly, mostly to himself. “It’s accountability.”
His reflection in the monitor looked back at him, eyes faintly glowing green in the dark.
“…Is this what Dan felt?” he muttered, voice low. “That bone-deep rage that makes you want to burn everything that hurt you down to the foundation?”
He let out a bitter laugh and leaned back in his chair. “Guess I’m lucky. I don’t need fire.”
He tapped the stack of legal documents beside him. “I’ve got paperwork.”
On the Watchtower, Bruce’s headache had evolved into something cosmic.
Clark was reading through the first few pages of the lawsuit and let out a low whistle. “He’s good. He’s really good. Batman, he’s got timestamps, footage, chain of custody evidence… and half of this is so well written I think he’s quoting League bylaws against you.”
“That’s impossible,” Batman growled.
“It’s hilarious,” Barry said from the corner.
“Shut up, Flash.”
“Just saying, man. He even mentioned that time you pulled evidence from the GCPD database without a warrant. You can’t do that!”
“I can when it saves lives.”
“And apparently,” Clark said with a sigh, “he’s arguing that your definition of saving lives doesn’t exempt you from destroying private property and assaulting civilians.”
Diana’s lips curved into something that might’ve been a smile. “You may want to consider settling out of court, Batman.”
Bruce glared at her. “Not happening.”
“Suit yourself,” she replied, almost amused. “But from what I’m reading, this Mr. Fenton won’t back down. And something tells me… you won’t intimidate him.”
Bruce’s jaw tightened. “We’ll see about that.”
Danny smiled humorlessly when he got the League’s acknowledgment email:
The Justice League has received your formal complaint. We will see you in court.
He closed the email, exhaled slowly, and muttered,
“Good. Let’s dance, Bats.”
And for the briefest second, the air around him chilled — like even his ghost half was smirking.
I just used ChatGPT to make it look more understandable
Ayo my idols! My writers! My amazing tumblr peeps! This dude using ai to make a story. How about we show them how it’s done? And tag a writer mutual while ur at it! The more that join in the better!
Part 3
Batman warned Batgirl and Robin of the upcoming lawsuit they were facing. It really wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle, with his being a billionaire and all. But this wasn’t about the money, no. Daniel Fenton wasn’t suing the Justice League for money, he was doing it for revenge.
This was a smear campaign. And the worst rumors were the ones with a bit of truth in them.
Daniel Fenton had no intention of backing down, that much was clear. But that didn’t mean Batman was about to back down either. If Daniel went through with this, it would damage the reputation of the Justice League, and thus the people’s trust in them. And if Daniel wasn’t willing to think about that, then he would just have to make him think about.
. . .
Danny had a feeling that Batman and his birds would be paying him a visit, so he had some security measures in place. Ecto-infused cameras and mics all over his apartment with impenetrable cyber-defenses courtesy of one very amused Technus. And at his side was his trusty Anti-Creep Stick, gifted to him by his parents before he moved out.
Worst case scenario, he gets more evidence to use in court.
Thankfully, all of his efforts paid off that very same night as one of the silent alarms went off, signaling all of his security systems to activate. Unlike his parents, these weren’t rigged with weapons, but with emergency services. The real authorities would be here in minutes and the Bats would have no argument to justify B&E, especially given their predictable intentions.
A window silently slid open, immediately followed by a very angry-looking Batman. Not long after, the newest Robin crawled through with his sheathed katana at the ready, and with him was Batgirl the second. Danny sat calmly at his desk with no care for their presence, as it did nothing to intimidate him. Though seeing Batman deliberately stalk to the darkest corner of the room was almost enough to smile at. Almost.
“So, to what do I owe the displeasure, Knights of Gotham? Could it be I’ve done something wrong? Something illegal? Something evil?” Danny looked up from his computer now, “Or have I simply offended you so badly that you felt the need to appear before me, hm?“ he continued with a sly smirk.
The Bats in the room squinted slightly, but were still able to control their expressions enough to mask their rage. Though, Robin wasn’t as good as his mentors it seemed, as he stomped up to Danny, a hand twitching towards his sheathed sword in anticipation. The boy was practically itching for a fight. Danny wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Are you insinuating our actions are incorrect? Your family of villains is not to be trusted, and your throwing accusations to ruin Father’s image-“ Robin began, but was interrupted by the larger Bat, “Robin that’s enough. We came here to talk, not threaten. Stand down.”
Danny barked out a dark and bitter laugh, for it was indeed a laughable statement. After all they did to him and his family, now they want to talk? But then again, this might be a fun excuse to dig their grave a little deeper. Danny looked into the white eye lenses of Batman’s cowl.
“You’re here to talk, huh? You stalk my sister, assault my parents, attempt to murder and then kidnap my mother, try to destroy all their hard work, and ruin our lives without so much as asking what it was they were even researching or how they were going about it? And now you come after me?” Danny growled out,
“Did you even know that what they are doing is completely legal? That they are innocent civilians? Of course not, why would you? You only care about a means to an end. But that’s why you’re really here isn’t it? A means to an end?” He grinned cruelly.
Danny knew he was getting under their skin. And sure it was a risk to instigate a violent vigilante, but he was only stating facts, so it’s not like he could be charged for defamation or heresy. Still, it at least garner a reaction out of them. Score.
Batman spoke up once more, walking closer and out of the shadows.
“I understand you’re frustrated, but what your parents are doing is dangerous and could hurt a lot of people. They have to be stopped. And trying to put them in a good light is only going to encourage that behavior in both them, and many others. Additionally, it endangers the trust innocent people have in us to protect them from criminals like your parents.” He explained, as if it justified anything.
“Please, try to understand the danger you are putting everyone in with what you’re doing and turn back while you have the chance.” He tried to reason.
Danny thought it was comical, the Good-Cop-Bad-Cop method they were using. It was downright pathetic. Frankly, the man was an idiot if he thought he had a chance in hell of walking out of this unscathed. Legally, at least. But he found it funny that there was no mention of the stalking and harassment toward his sister, which was yet another mark toward them collecting blackmail to push her out of a job.
Danny hummed in fake-thought, “That’s an interesting plea. You start off saying my parents are unstable and dangerous, but haven’t once pointed out anything they did that was actually wrong. Then you try to paint me as an accomplice to crimes they haven’t committed. Only to finish it off with you guilt tripping me into not blowing the whistle by saying it’ll essentially ruin your reputation should anyone find out what you did, which also implies that you know you are in the wrong but won’t admit to it,” Danny counted off with his fingers in a mocking gesture.
“Oh, and of course there was absolutely no mention of my sister and why you felt that she deserved the stalker treatment, much less an apology for any of your actions. Am I correct so far?” He said with a sickeningly sweet smile that didn’t match the malice in his eyes.
The vigilantes gritted their teeth but said nothing. Danny smiled wider. He leaned back a bit in his cushioned office chair and crossed his legs, his hands now folded in his lap. The air was tense as he waited for a response. Danny could taste the anxiety and annoyance rolling off them in waves. His ghost half grinned, baring its fangs as it poised to feast on the fruits of Danny’s labor. His Obsession was rearing its head and Danny was more than eager to satiate his hunger on someone so very deserving.
He was ready to Protect his family.
. . .
Ok that’s all from me tonight, so imma let someone else have a turn now.
Danny barged into the police station, slamming the door so loud the receptionist flinched.
“Where are they?” He growled.
“Excuse me?” The receptionist attempted to regain his posture. He was an older man with sideburns and decked out in the standard Elmerton police uniform (because of course only Elmerton police would be dumb enough to attempt an arrest on the Fentons. Batman probbaly tried Amity first and got rejected.)
“I’m looking for Jackson and Madeline Fenton. They were arrested from Amity park 26 hours ago and have been illegally held in your station for most of that duration.”
The desk officer’s face soured. “Young man, you cannot just barge into this station to demand to see criminals-“
“They are not criminals.” Danny snapped. Doing his best to rein in his temper. “Criminals are those arrested with evidence supporting they’ve committed a crime. What you’ve done is arrest them on probbaly cause. This means that they are suspect for a crime but have not been confirmed. They also have a right to a lawyer, which I am, so now you are either going to take me to them, or I’m going to use this and the surrounding station’s video as evidence for a new case in which a corrupt officer is obstructing the laws and 6th amendment of the United States.” Danny advanced to the desk, boring holes into the officer as if he could see every sin the man had ever committed. “Are. We. Clear.”
The officer gulped. “C-crystal.” He shakily got out the keys and scrambled around the desk to lead Danny to his parents.
Danny held his briefcase close and followed. He was glad he had used the extra tough dragon leather Dora got for him or his ghost strength would have already torn off the handle. It was already enough of a struggle not to let his claws out.
When they finally entered *cough* stormed *cough* into the iron walled interrogation room, Danny was greeted to the sight of his parents, lacking their preferred jumpsuits and cuffed. They sat patiently in front of a table with another officer.
“Danno!” Jack’s face instantly brightened as he spotted Danny.
Something in the halfa’s core relaxed at the sight of both his parents, safe (for the most part) and unharmed. He did a quick check of their persons to make sure the arrest wasn’t ‘forceful’. But besides the bandages wrapped around his mother’s arm from Robin’s assault (which still made him growl), they were unharmed.
The commotion caused the officer already in the room to turn around and suddenly, whatever calm Danny had managed to force on himself during the walk evaporated.
Because sitting right there in the interrogator’s chair, acting like he owned the place, was Dick f-ing Greyson.
Oh HO, Danny was hating the bats more and more.
He wasted no time marching up to the table and slamming down his briefcase, eying the bat in ‘disguise’ like he was a chunk of Pariah’s snot Danny had just scrapped off his shoe.
Nightwing stood up and held out his hand, a charming smile already spread across is face. “Hello, you must be the attorney. I’m officer Grey-“
“This interrogation is over and I am taking my clients back to their accommodations.” Danny didn’t care what the bat had to say. It was just a waste of his time.
The man laughed as if Danny had made a joke. “You can’t do that.” He looked at the officer who lead Danny there. Shrugging as if saying can you ‘believe’ this guy? The receptionist though was still properly cowed from their earlier encounter and just gave a strained grimace, not meeting anyone’s eyes. Greyson just kept smiling. It was really grinding Danny’s gears.
“Oh I assure you, I can. You have made an unlawful arrest and I intend to correct that.” The Halfa started riffling through his brief case. “The Fentons have been arrested on suspicion alone. Without proper evidence to support that arrest, the state of Elmerton can only hold them for at most 24 hours. You are 2 hours over that time and therefore, according to the law, you are holding two innocent civilians against their will with no probable cause.”
Finally, Nightwing’s smile started to dim. “Young man-” what was with all these people using ‘young man’ “-I can assure you that the charges against these two are very real. We have multiple video evidence of them attempting first degree murder on the hero known as Phantom, as well as assault.” Danny could see his parents flinch at that. “And we have multiple reports and photographic evidence of property damage caused during their ‘ghost hunts’. And from an anonymous source,” Danny scoffed at that, “We also have reason to believe they were in the process of illegally making weapons. I don’t know what you call that, but those are serious crimes. We have more than enough evidence to convict them. As their attorney, you can fight for their defense in court but you can’t just walk out of here with them.”
Danny barked out a laugh. “Oh, that’s where you’re wrong.” He finally found what he was looking for and shoved a file into Nightwing’s chest, using just a smidge of ghost strength to make the officer take a step back. “This is a copy of the Anti-Ecto acts. A former law by the United States declaring that it was perfectly legal to hunt those who classify as Ecto entities such as Phantom. If you had done your research, you would see that all the timestamps for those videos are before the acts were repealed. In fact, the Fentons had not only ceased their attacks on Phantom and other ecto-entities before the law was repealed, but they were also a major help in getting it repealed in the first place. Using money from their own personal coffers. There is not a single piece of evidence indicating an attack on ecto-entities afterwards that was not self defense.” Nightwing struggled to hold the file before it could fall. Skimming through the papers to determine if what Danny said was true or not.
Oh but Danny wasn’t done.
He grabbed the next file. “This is a record of their previous court case.” The bat’s head snapped up. “The officers at Amity are not incompetent, and I’m not saying they have not had a record of property damage in the past. However, unlike the Justice league, they were tried and made to pay reparations. This file contains the court case, verdict, and even the amount payed to cover the damages for all previous and recent property damage. And as an officer of the law, you should know that once a court has made a decision, you cannot arrest someone on the same charge again. And THIS-” he slammed down the next file, taking immense joy in how rapidly the vigilante’s face was paling as he tried to read through all the files. “Is a record of a previous contract with the US government. But again, the Fentons had ceased making weapons a while ago and have since transitioned into scientific inventions and even medicine. Of course, you will also find the patents for each of the inventions filed and approved with legal permits to use them. Naturally, this will all be available again when Batman answers for why he decided to steal government contracted property in the upcoming trial.”
Nightwing was drowning in papers now. A few slipping between his fingers and falling on the floor, likely causing an organization nightmare. It didn't matter, the vigilante could keep them. Danny had copies of each of these at his home, the Fenton home, on a private server, with Vlad, and even a set hidden in the Infinite Realms with Ghost Writer.
“Finally.” Danny pulled out a single sheet of paper. “This is the filled out release form stating that I can in fact ‘just walk out of here with them.’ Now of you don’t mind.” Danny held out his hand expectantly. “The keys.”
Nightwing looked like he really didn’t want to comply, but Danny was nothing is not patient, and after about 10 minutes of the ‘officer’ trying his best to delay by reading all the files ‘thoroughly’, he finally gave in and set the keys in Danny’s palm. Sure, Danny could have gotten the receptionist (who had been slowly trying to back out of the room) to give him a copy. But it was so much more satisfying to have Nightwing do it.
With his parents now released, Danny made for the door. But at the last moment, he stoped. “Oh, and by the way, I know exactly who you are officer Greyson. During my research I discovered you are often working cases involving the bats. What I find curious, is why an officer of Bludhaven is operating in a completely differnt state without proper authorization or a warrant granting you authority?” Nightwing froze. “Hmmm, I guess it doesn’t matter. You’ll have your chance to explain when I bring it up in court, along with this whole incident. Oh…you do remember that court is held in the state the crime was supposedly committed right?” Danny gave him a shark-like grin, no fangs needed. “See you in Amity Dick.”
With his parents now no longer in jail and free to upgrade their security with Technus as much as they pleased, Danny let himself relax a bit and think about a conundrum.
Namely, that Batman and friends were probably going to try to contact Phantom and get him to support their case.
He wouldn't. He would be honest and say that they didn't speak for him and he didn't consent to their attempt to get his parents arrested.
The question was how were they going to contact him? He hadn't appeared as Phantom with any regularity in years, and as far as he knew summoning wasn't a thing. So how—
His phone started ringing, and the caller ID was Valerie.
Oh, that was how.
He answered it. "Hey Val, how's it going?"
"It's been interesting. I have 50 missed calls from different members of Justice League Dark and several unknown phone numbers that I assume are Justice League members. When I answered they said they wanted to talk to Phantom."
"When did they start calling?"
"Yesterday."
"Huh, so they did try to talk to me before getting my parents arrested on my behalf but were too impatient to actually get my approval."
"They got your parents arrested?!"
"Yeah, didn't you see it in the group chat?"
"No. An ectopus colony got very lost during their seasonal migration, so I've been too busy with that."
"Oh, that's rough."
While Phantom had been able to mostly retire from ghost hunting, there was still some need for it when lost ghost animals or human ghosts with unfinished business showed up. Valerie had taken to that role very well once she realized ghosts, like other people, could sometimes be reasoned with.
She wasn't part of Justice League Dark and only worked with them as an independent consultant on rare occasions. She was contracted by the city to deal with ghost matters that other people couldn’t handle.
He got her caught up on what happened, and she laughed.
"Seriously? They tried to get them for that? I've done the same thing to you and they seem perfectly fine trying to use me to contact you."
"If you tell them that, they might break into your house too."
"I'd like to see them try," but her tone didn't quite match her words. After all, they broke into FentonWorks despite its security. Valerie could handle herself, but she wasn't naive enough to think the danger wasn't real.
"So what do you want me to tell them?"
"Stop trying to use Phantom against the Fentons. They don't get to press charges on my behalf."
"Can I get them a number so they don't blow up my call history again?"
Did he have a burner phone he could use for the Bats? He should get one. "Sorry. Maybe later when I have burner to spare. Thanks Val."
Ember held her stance as she caught her breath. The crowd screaming her name was so loud that her flames had engulfed the entire stage. A decade ago, she wouldn't have bothered containing it, but, well, maybe she was just a nicer person now.
"Amazing show. Your best yet." Her tour manager, Hector, commented as she skipped the steps in favor of jumping to the ground. "You got a call by the way. From the United States. They were asking if you know someone by the name Phantom."
That caught her attention. "Phantom?" She looked Hector straight in the eye. "Who's asking?"
"They didn't leave a name."
Ember reached out her hand and, without a word, Hector knew to give her her phone. She turned the screen on and touched it. Nothing happened. She touched it again. "Urgh."
"You have to swipe it."
Why does modern technology have to be so complicated? In the 70s everything had buttons. "You do it." She shoved the phone back into his hand.
Expertly, he navigated the device and pulled up her contacts. They were just in the phone itself, she didn't need to remember shit.
Ember pressed on Danny's logo and nothing happened.
Hector leaned over and pressed the green telephone symbol underneath the logo and suddenly she was calling him.
*click* "Hey."
"What did you do?" She asked, half accusing, half teasing.
"They called you, too? I guess I should have expected as much." He sounded tired. "Batman broke into FentonWorks, busted up the lab and one of his sidekicks injured my mom. I'm suing him."
Ember's eyes were almost as wide as her smile. "What?! Twerp! If I had known you were going to do this, I would have canceled the tour early to be a part of it."
"Is it really canceling early if it's already been 12 years?"
"Don't change the subject. Can I testify? I want to testify." She shook her fist in excitement. "I can practically taste the controversy."
"You weren't involved Ember, but you can come endorse the lawsuit if you want... make some public statements in favor of it, maybe?" He still sounded tired but slightly more alive.
Ember turned to Hector. "How many stops do we have booked?"
"Eight more this month, 12 the next, and 3 already booked two months from now. All sold out."
"I can be there in about two and a half months."
"The court date is in eight months, you have plenty of time." Danny nearly chuckled. "Oh, and if the league calls you again, you can let them know that "Phantom" says to "stop pressing charges on my behalf"."
Batman had a bad feeling about this. The situation with the Fentons had escalated in a way he had not predicted it would. When he had started the investigation on Jazmine Fenton and later Amity Park as a whole, he had not expected to find detailed plans to exterminate a whole plane of existence and a new level of discrimination by going after ghosts.
He had not thought he'd find that the small isolated town, previously considered a quiet tourist attraction, had its own set of teenage heroes who had been working by themselves against major threats with no external support. Not from the JL, not even aware of their existence. Not from the government, apparently more interested in catching and dissecting the clearly underage inexperienced hero struggling to keep his city safe than in helping his cause. Not from all the adults in town, so confident that every little problem in their lives was being caused by the same small boy trying so hard to protect them.
Even worse, after years of being hunted by other ghosts, the Fentons, and the government, Phantom had suddenly disappeared without a trace. Nobody knew where he was or how to contact him. No one had seen him in years. No one seemed to be looking for him at all. His previous rogue gallery was now living peacefully among the citizens and using their obsessions productively to add something to the community instead of destroying it.
The GIW, the government branch anti-ghost, had been dismantled after the sudden retraction of the anti-ecto acts. A retraction that had happened right after Madeline and Jack Fenton had decided to change their stance on the non-sentience status of ghosts. A decision that had not only gone against all their previous statements but also had come out of nowhere. No reason for the change. No evidence on why they had decided to redirect their efforts and start fighting against what they had believed so fiercely for years.
It made no sense. Batman was coming to conclusions that pained him immensely. He hoped against all odds that he was wrong but everything that had happened after the failed information gathering at FentonWorks was just reinforcing his theories and increasing the feeling of dread in his stomach.
It painted the picture of a young hero desperately trying to stay afloat and barely managing it. A kid with no support except that of other teenagers presumably in his age range. A boy that had already died once and was being hunted for sport by professionals on all sides and was despised by the civilians he was trying to protect. A scapegoat for everyone in the city trying to cope with all the ghost attacks.
And then the Fenton adults changed their views on ghosts. Suddenly, the anti-ecto acts were invalid, the ghosts stopped their attacks, and the Amity Park citizens radically changed their views on ghosts to accept them in their community. They even retroactively accepted Phantom to be a hero and started praising him. Through it all, Phantom had been nowhere to be seen. Not once. It all led Batman to believe that the thing that triggered the retraction of such deep rooted beliefs was directly connected to Phantom's continued absence.
Batman did not want to even consider that it had all been started by the capture and subsequent torture of Phantom until the Fentons had realized the error of their ways, a little too late to truly cause a difference for the young ghost. Batman did not want to consider that a child that had already died too soon had been tortured into extinction. He did not want to imagine the horrors phantom had suffered through until his total demise. He was just a child. Someone Batman should have helped. He had failed him.
His unwanted conclusions had only solidified the more he looked for a way to contact the hero and was instead given the run around with vague statements from everyone known to have been once connected to him.
Batman might have been too late to save Phantom but he'd be damned if he allowed the city-wide cover-up to continue. He would get justice for Phantom, one way or another.
Dani had been vibing in Syracuse when Wonder Woman had floated on down and asked for her help with a legal matter.
“Uh,” Dani hesitated, dubious. “I think you have the wrong Dan. You’re looking for Danny Fenton, with a ‘Y’.”
Wonder Woman winced. “We are looking for you, Danielle.”
“Okay. Weird. What for?”
Wonder Woman slid into the café chair across from her. “The Justice League would like your help in getting justice for Amity Park’s hero, Phantom.”
…huh? “What does he need justice for?” Dani asked, nose wrinkling. Had Danny mentioned anything lately? When was the last time they’d talked again? Hm. Maybe something happened between that.
“For what the Drs. Fenton did to him.”
Her brain had to reboot. “Jack and Maddie wouldn’t hurt Danny.”
“No; but they hurt Phantom.”
Her brain is still rebooting. Clearly. She squints, like that will make her vision clearer, or make her hear better, or something. Anything that will make this make sense will be a fantastic help. “I mean… yeah, they used to, but not anymore. They’d never hurt Danny.”
Thankfully, the Amazonian princess now seems just as confused as Dani.
“Are… we done?” She finally asks, pulling out her wallet. “‘Cause you’re freaking me out.”
———
“Sorry,” Sam drawled, eyes narrowed. “…What?”
“Help Phantom,” Zatanna asked her again. “Help us get him justice.”
“…Against… the Fentons.”
“Yes.”
“…Riiight…. Come back when you’ve done your homework, hack, and leave me to do mine.”
———
Tucker couldn’t stop laughing.
Flash opened his mouth.
Tucker laughed harder.
———
Dash and Paulie stared up at them like they weren’t speaking a language they could understand. Which was impressive, considering that Paulina Sanchez can understand and write Atlantean like a native. Her speaking skills in it were so renowned she’d been beating off translator jobs with sticks since she’d graduated.
“You want us to, like… testify? Against Danny’s parents? For Phantom?” Paulie sounds very doubtful.
“Yes,” Superman confirmed.
The look intensified.
Dash hefted his industrial Fenton Thermos up on his shoulder. “Paulie, I think it’s time to call our lawyer.”
She sighs, pulling a manicured hand off the ectorifle strapped to her chest to delicately brush her curtain bangs out of her face. “Yeah; call around. Something tells me we’re gonna be caught up a while.” She grabs her phone.
“You two aren’t in trouble,” Superman promised.
“Good to know,” Paulie deadpanned as she pressed the phone to her ear. “Danny, mira, can you come to Dash y yo? Yeah, Superman’s here. Something about testifying for Phantom??”
"No, We will not be stopping the protest." Paulina said with finality, staring Valerie down with a frosty glare.
"Paulina, please. All these people stomping around in front of an empty house doesn't help anyone. Do you think you'd be able to control this if they become a mob?" Valerie argued, trying to make her old friend see sense as she peered over the other woman's shoulder at the mass of people, at least a hundred townsfolk milling around chanting that 'Amity Doesn't want the Fentons!'
Paulina cocked her hip to the side and rolled her eyes with the most dismissive huff. "Nobody in town wants to enter that jenga tower of safety hazards, Val. We don't want the Fenton's hurt. We want them GONE."
"Really? You want to drive them out of town by angry mob? You can't be serious!" Val nearly shouted, having to stop herself from shaking Paulina. "I thought that we were all okay with the town crazies because they were useful!? We all would have been up a creek without a paddle if it wasn't for their shields and training!"
Paulina could only snort at that, her pretty features scrunching up into a sneer. "That was all before the town found out about their stupid portal in their basement! What? We're all supposed to be thankful for a band-aid from the people responsible for the wounds?" Paulina threw her hands up into the air.
"I thought you would be on our side Valerie! You used to hate ghosts more than anyone in town! The Fentons are the ones that caused all that! They opened a portal to the afterlife and our town was in danger because of them! Your Daddy lost his job because of ghosts! We had a meat golem try to kill us all over vegetarian food in freshman year!" Paulina argued.
"Because I was WRONG, about the ghosts! I was wrong about Phantom and my dad lost his job because a stupid dog had super powers. Heck! The Lunch Lady works at the high school now! We've integrated plenty of friendly and reasonable ghosts into the town! What? Are you going to protest in front of the ice cream parlor next to kick out Klemper?" Valerie hissed back.
"Of course not! We want the Fenton's and their lab out of the town though! They've endangered enough people with their shoddy experiments. The training and the shields were the LEAST, they could do!" Paulina growls, crossing her arms and looking away from Valerie, back towards Dash leading the chants as people shook homemade signs. "… Not all of the ghosts were just misunderstood. Some of the things that those people let into town were living nightmares Valerie. You know that I'm right. There was that weird living tornado thing that tried to destroy the whole town. That crazy robot that wanted to skin Danny alive. I know I lost a few days in freshman year because one of the ghosts was wearing me like a suit to stalk Danny! And now I know why! They had grudges and issues with the Fentons that we all had to suffer for! We just want them to move their stupid safety hazard of a lab out of the town! Preferably nowhere near other innocent people that they could get killed!" Paulina ranted, gesturing wildly towards the steampunk nightmare of the fentonworks building.
Paulina took in a breath and looked at Valerie once more. "We're perfectly within our rights to protest. I'm just shocked you're so on their side since they're responsible for ruining your life until you got that personal trainer job, I hope that's going good still by the way, and Danny dumped you." Paulina continued, losing a lot of her fire as she calmed herself down.
Valerie's eyes were wide and she took a step back at the reminder, her cheeks turning red as she stammered. "I- Hey! He didn't DUMP me! I- It was- is complicated!" Valerie defended, poorly. "I just didn't take the breakup well!"
"I am well aware of that, You were crying with a tub of ice cream on my couch." Paulina said, going to continue before Valerie's phone rang, interrupting.
Valerie pulled out her phone and frowned, looking at the screen before her eyes widened in mock panic and outrage. "Nuts, It's my boss. I gotta go. Do NOT, let this get out of control, Paulina!" Valerie demanded as she turned to jog off, leaving Paulina standing there.
But Valerie had more important things to do, especially with the message she was sent in code. Couldn't let civilians see her messages and let them find out she's Red Huntress. -Ghosts spotted in an altercation at the hospital.-
There was no way that Valerie was going to let Maddie get hurt again.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Valerie has kept up her job as Red Huntress over the years and became the de-facto go to for the Amity Police for any kind of issue that involved the ghosts. Most ghosts were easy enough to deal with. Criminal mischief or vandalism at worse or simply an altercation between a ghost and a human.
Valerie has gotten good at de-escalation when it came to ghosts, and for punching Johnny 13 in the jaw. But for the few ghosts that cause serious problems? Valerie has gotten even better at shooting and souping threats.
Technus, Vlad, and Dan have kept her suit and hoverboard upgraded while the Fenton's have made sure her weapons can take on any ectoplasmic threat. Her cover job being a personal trainer for the rich and stupid was an excellent explanation for her running off at any given time.
It took her five minutes to change into her suit and fly to the hospital. The first thing she did was fly by Maddie's room's window to see that the older woman was okay. She was just reading, so clearly the threat hadn't come to her. Yet.
Valerie zoomed down towards the front doors of the hospital, the doors opening automatically for her hoverboard, and letting her zoom through the lobby and towards the cafeteria. Slamming open the doors she stood up tall on her hoverboard and announced. "Whatever is going on here is a disturbance to the peace and I will- What?" She trailed off, confused as she saw Danny, as Phantom, sitting at a table and rhythmically slamming his head on the tabletop while an incredibly perturbed looking Robin paced nearby, angrily muttering.
"You absolute parus major! Uncurse me this instant you sula nebouxii! You do not get to dictate my vocabulary! Roseate spoonbill! Siamese fireback! Greater sage grouse! Marabou!" The pint sized belted out more bird names with such venom they could only have been intended as the gravest of insults.
"Uh… Phantom? What's going on-" Red Huntress started before Robin flung a cafeteria tray at Phantom, which was blocked by a sudden shield of ice Phantom erected without looking up.
"Hey! You little brat! That's assault, do you want a time out in the town jail!?" Red Huntress demanded angrily of the scowling Robin.
"He has cursed me! That is worse than assault! Magpie! Drat!" Robin shouted back, before going back to muttering and pacing.
"Hey, Huntress. The babysitters worst nightmare over there found out that you can't swear in town, and has decided that that's my fault." Phantom said without raising his head from the table, simply lifting a hand in greeting in her general direction.
"… So he got birds?" She asked, stifling a giggle at the child's frustration.
"He got birds." Phantom replied. "And now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the little wannabe bodyguard."
"Huh?!" Red Huntress asked, only to witness Robin hop up onto a table so that he could look down on the hoverboard riding heroine, drawing his sword and taking a stance that, despite being clearly effective, made Robin look even more like a child playing dress up.
"I will guard Doctor Fenton with my life from Phantom, you, or any other honorless cur that would seek to harm her while she's weakened!" Robin exclaimed, ready for a fight that wasn't going to happen.
Red Huntress could only stare at the sword wielding child, thinking: ~oh god, it's adorable… and stupid… like a puppy…~
"… Really? THIS, is what managed to stab Maddie?" Is what came out of her mouth instead, causing Robin's face to turn red and another tirade full of birds to come out of his mouth.
List compiling all my Danny Phantom x Batfam prompts. Will attempt to update as I add. :)
Dick Grayson is Danny's dad:
Mor-gue Room to Talk
Cartoons & Cereal pt. 1, pt. 2
Bat-dad prompts:
Taste of Home
Adopt a Bat-Dad
Grandpa Patrol
Fatherless Behavior
Manifesting Destiny
Don't be Suspicious, Don't be Suspicious
Dead Tired ship:
Like They Do in Vegas
Dead Tired College AU
Breaking Codes (and Hearts)
Dead Tired Stalker AU
Dead Serious ship:
Dead Serious Creature Comforts
Dead Serious Arranged Marriage
Dead Serious Oblivious Dating Trope
Dead on Main ship:
Single Dad Dead on Main
Co-Parenting Clones
Graveyard Favors
Dead on Main Sugar Daddy
Lost & Found
The Guy
Anger Management ship:
Bat-in-Law
It Takes a Village
Demon Twins AU:
Demon Twins AU
Phantom Pains
Eldritch!Danny prompts:
The Eldritch Being Effect
Batfam Eldritch Horror
Like Bandits Do
Villainous Woes
Danny gets isekai'd to DCU:
Detective Comics #27
Dead-icated Fan
Dead Silent ship: Updated 5/12/26
Mentor-Hunting
Reblogs:
Danny gets a grave
Red Hood owes Danny $25k
Danny pretends to be old when summoned
Misc:
Bad Driver
Deadman's Coin
Gotham Toothfairy
Gotham Ghost Shitposts
Coffee and Comfort at 2am
Google Searches To Put You on a Watchlist
Scary Dog Privileges
Skittles-Flavored Fear
Phantom of the Manor
Apprentice of the Butler
Henchmen for Hire
Gotham Tiktok
I need Joker to fear Captain Marvel so dam badly. Let me explain.
So we know how we, as a community, all accepted that Billy Batson / Captain Marvel is the most egregious Tax Evader of DC (for this who don’t know, there was a whole poll and our boy Billy won out of literally everyone, including supervillains).
And in the Batman Cartoon (and some comics), it’s stated that Joker is terrified of the IRS.
I think you see the picture.
Joker: I may be crazy enough to fight Batman, but I am NOT crazy enough to deal with the IRS
Captain Marvel: lol imagine doing your taxes
Everyone present: w h a t
*clip goes viral*
IRS Agent: So, Captain Marvel was it? According to this footage, you have no been paying your taxes
Marvel: prove it.
IRS Agent: What?
Marvel: to make me pay anything, you need to know who I am and what’s to pay. I got nothing to pay.
IRS Agent: that’s not-
Marvel: not even Batman knows who or what I am. For all you know, I could be living in a multidimensional rock situated in, quite literally, the middle of nowhere.
IRS Agent: …
IRS Agent: I- w h a t
*some time later*
IRS AGENT: YOU BORE A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE TO LATE CC BATSON. SOMEONE WHO HASNT PAID TAXES IN 70 YEARS! YOU OWE US TAXES
Marvel: no I’m not
IRS Agent: Don’t try-
Marvel, holding the lasso of truth: I am not CC Batson, I don’t owe you shit. Plus he’s totes dead so can’t be me.
IRS Agent: DAMMIT
Joker: This mofo is crazy! Crazy? I was crazy onc-
*later*
IRS Agent, in Fawcette: why is none telling me anything!!!! You, Child, what do you know of your local hero?
Itty Bitty Billy Batson: lmao aren’t you that Agent harassing Cap
IRS Agent: it’s not harassment if he owes the government taxes
Billy: good luck taxing anyone in Fawcette lmao, magic doesn’t give a shit about that. Also we have different currency’s that just switches on random basis. So unless the government takes Drachmas, you’re cooked
IRS Agent, on the verge of tears: this has never happened before
Lex Luthor: WRITE THAT DOWN WRTE THAT DOWN
Bonus:
Billy: you know, I know someone who has been commuting tax evasion, tax fraud and more charges. His name is Ebenezer Batson. That’s E B E N Z E R and he lives just outside of Fawcette. Can’t miss him.
IRS Agent, who has a fridge with ‘CC Batson’ and is more than happy to get old man prey: thanks kid
Bonus 2:
Billy: Sweet, the IRS put my uncle in jail and the police gave me back my inheritance. Now to convert this into Fawcette currency (they will not be taxing this money)
marvel, caught off guard: ducks? or birds in general?
reporter: no. i mean illegal immigrants
marvel, now thinking about ducks carrying drugs: hmmm define illegal immigrants
reporter: An "illegal immigrant" is a person who enters or resides in a country without the necessary documents or who violates the immigration laws of that country
marvel: oh... you should ask superman that one, it would be really funny
I kind of vibe with the idea of Tim and Ra's having a sort of grudging friendship built on mutual respect with one another. I know some people frame it romantically but I'm not about that life so I think it's more like that relationship you have with that grouchy old guy in your neighborhood that might be an asshole but is interesting to talk to. Just Tim and Ra's being mutals on Words with Friends, sending vaguely threatening but informative emails and texts with each other and occasionally meeting in person to like play chess or something.
Bruce: Tim, I know I said work on your resume but you can't pad it with false information.
Tim: How?
Bruce: You logged in time with the elderly as community service.
Damian: I told you he was false, Baba. He lies to enter the company, what should he do if left inside. We cannot trust his lies.
Tim: It's not lies.
Damian: More lies.
Tim: And what do you call whipping your granddad's ass at chess every Tuesday at 2?
Tim drake who spends the majority of his childhood in a house haunted only by himself and the hundreds of gems, priceless artifacts and ancient weapons brought back by his parents from all corners of the world. The other kids at school ask hom how he can stand being surrounded by creepy old junk all the time but to Tim, its as normal as breathing. What do you mean you dont have the Mongolian bow and arrow set that falls out of a closet and hits you in the head when you go to pull your coat out sometimes? What do you mean you dont have thousands of small, glittering rocks on display across your sitting room walls? What do you mean your parents 'collection' didn't get a dedicated article in architectural digest?
Tim drake who lives in the strangest variety of hoarded house: the kind owned by weird rich people with specific (possibly autistic because you cannot tell me that Jack and Janet drake were neurotypical) hyper fixations. Tim drake who gets more and more used to avoiding certain rooms after dark because the hall of masks creeps him out. Tim drake who starts quietly taking tiny objects to decorate his own space with. Tim drake who wakes up one night to a person in all black carefully pulling a diamond necklace from the era of the british Raj off his kitchen wall (he just wanted some cereal, damnit; why is there someone standing ON TOP OF HIS FRIDGE???)
Tim drake who, after pouring his bowl of cereal and making it clear that he isnt going to try and stop them at the ripe age of eight, asks the person in all black why they're after that particular necklace only to be told that they weren't the first burglar in his house and likely wouldnt be the last. Turns out that article in architectural digest that featured a massive mansion in Bristol with millions of dollars worth of 'collected' (often stolen and unrepatriated) artifacts, protected only by a minimal security system and a very small child was less of a flex and more of a Sirens call for Gothams thieves. This guy 'really isnt even that good' and 'not in it for the money, this necklace belonged to his family back in Punjab a century or two ago.' And he 'promises not to hurt him.'
Tim cant prove the first two originally (a Google about the necklace itself would later confirm the second.) but the third is at least true, as the man leaves without taking anything other than the necklace, but warns tim to be more careful.
Tim drake who tells his parents when they visit for Passover, only to be rebuffed because 'they probably just misplaced that necklace, it will turn up eventually.' And 'this is Bristol ,Timothy . Bristol. No one in their right mind is going to break into our house at night for some petty thievery.'
The night after Jack and Janet leave for Peru, someone.... less nice breaks in.
Tim drake who can hear whoever this is smashing glass and calling for him. Tim drake who thinks at first to hide, untill he realizes that unless he calls the cops, no one will even notice him missing for months, and the phone is on the kitchen wall, well past the person walking heavily down his hall.
Tim drake who doesn't know what else to do, so he runs to the scariest place in his house: the hall of masks. Tim drake who decides to try and scare the kidnapper off. Tim drake who puts on an Oni mask and pulls a halbird out of the hands of a suit of armor.
Tim drake who screams and runs straight for this would be kidnappers knees when the door creaks open. The kidnapper runs, not prepared for a small warrior/ghost/demon, and falls down 3 flights of stairs in the process.
Tim drake who calmly calls the police from the kitchen phone while the would be kidnapper deals with the fact that they broke their pelvis fleeing a nine year old with a very sharp stick,
Tim drake who spends the next couple years learning to use his parents extensive collection to his advantage. Putting creepy masks near mirrors so that intruders feel watched from every angle. Putting obscure weapons in his bedroom that he watches HEMA tutorials for online. Leaving artifacts that really probably should be repatriated near unlocked windows on the first floor after every article about his parents collection gets published.
Tim drake who resorts to booby trapping his house on the nights he chases Batman and Robin around the city, just enough that no one steals his personal favorites.
Tim drake who brings his small collection when he moves next door to Wayne manor.
Tim drake that gets recognized as " that kid that took home alone as an instructional video." By Selina Kyle the first time Bruce brings her home for a weekend. Catwoman had only bothered breaking into drake mansion once. She was after a rather large Australian opal, only to be met with an 18 foot taxedermied saltwater crocodile with eyes that gleamed a little too brightly in the moonlight. It moved (thanks to tim rebuilding a roomba into something capable of moving the hulking thing around on a set of carefully hidden caster wheels) when she got close and she climbed right back out the window she came in. Tim drake who laughs that it actually worked, as well as at the faces of his family when they realize that being a menace isnt new for him. He came that way, thank you very much.
Tim drake who still knows how to use a halbird and isnt afraid to break it out if Dick swaps his coffee for decaf again.
Just. Tim drake being a product of his environment in a weirder way than originally planned.
Headcanon that everyone expects Tim to be polite and well-mannered because of his upper-class background, but the reality is he spent several of his formative years trailing after Jason fucking Todd on patrol, and as a result learnt the full set of Crime-Alley-brand expletives by the age of 11.
But the thing is, he’d say it with an elite gotham accent, because his parents had trained one into him at a young age, and he spent a lot of his time surrounded by people with that very same accent.
So you’d hear the words, “Holy guacamole, Bruce, that rat-ass motherfucker sure did hit ‘ya good. Hold on a diddly-darn goddamn second, I’ll get the ice pack,” said in the most polished, refined, posh little accent you’ve ever heard.
