A drag path, etched in the surface, as evidence I left there on purpose - DPXDC Au
i have an idea for a new batdad au.
i have an idea for a general oneshot but the gist is, after having a rough day--between school, getting another detention thanks to Dash, ghost fights, having an argument with his parents about his misbehavior that morning, and getting into a small argument with his friends-- Danny, after a ghost fight, picks a random direction and just flies. And he flies as fast as he can, burning off a bunch of ectoplasm and healing himself from his fight as a result.
But he eventually ends up in Gotham. Pretty standard premise. But he doesn't really do anything. He just picks a random rooftop to detransform and sit on. And he sits there, taking in the sights of the city and vaguely dissociating for a few hours before feeling like he's finally calmed down enough to return to Amity. He turns the location off on his phone before shutting it down, that way he doesn't have to deal with texts and calls from his parents about missing curfew. He's already going to be in trouble, so it doesn't matter how long he stays out for.
And at first he thinks it's just a one-and-done deal. He probably won't ever return to that rooftop ever again. Until he does,,,, about a month later. This time after a particularly nasty dealing with Vlad in his civilian life. He didn't feel like there was anywhere safe enough for him to go in Amity, so despite himself, he decided to dip after a few hours.
It becomes a pattern. Until eventually Danny's sitting on that rooftop at least once a week. Trying to find a slice of peace in America's most dangerous city. He has a lot of thoughts about Gotham, many of them reflective, and many of them comparative to Amity. He tries not to do it too often, especially once he catches himself feeling bitter once or twice.
And then he meets Batman.
Their first meeting is brief, inconsequential, and lasts no more than probably five minutes. Danny had never heard of the Batman prior to this, and so after meeting him,, he's kind of hyped. He leaves the man to his city, and doesn't really plan on seeking him out, but it doesn't stop him from feeling a sense of solidarity with him.
There are a few more run-ins with Batman after this. Sporadic and random, but they happen. Until eventually--Danny guesses that Batman figured out he had a pattern--Batman starts showing up often to this spot Danny's carved out for his own. Danny allows him. He knows he's encroaching on Bat's territory, and he views it as them existing in parallel to each other.
Danny's first proper conversation with Batman--the first one that lasts longer than a minute and consists more of short, awkward answers from Danny and curt responses from Batman--is when Danny, city-watching and lost in thought, tells him that he thinks Gotham is pretty.
Batman turns and looks at him, and goes: "...You do?"
Danny stumbles through an explanation after that, and somehow the conversation keeps going. And keeps going. And keeps going.
They don't always talk, and Batman doesn't always stick around for long, but Danny likes the little bouts of camaraderie they have. It reminds him of passing some of his classmates in the hallway, and they nod in greeting at each other. Sometimes, Batman lands on the roof, and then disappears a few seconds later. Danny thinks he might be checking on him.
Something interesting starts happening sometime after this. Usually, if Danny is flying to Gotham after a ghost fight, his injuries heal on the way there. Something about the rate he's burning ectoplasm that exacerbates his healing. Like cauterizing a wound.
That's been faltering lately. Danny doesn't know what's wrong. It started with a twinge in his shoulder that should've disappeared after a fight with Skulker, but lingered all the way to Gotham and up until Danny had to fly back to Amity. When he got back to his bedroom, it healed.
In any case, he didn't pay it too much to mind -- his little bumps and bruises were easy enough to hide from Batman. And they healed before he got home.
And then he shows up on their shared rooftop with a shiner that refused to heal, even when Danny tries to force it, nothing changes. It only forcibly reminds Danny that he doesn't have as much finesse over his powers as he wished he did.
He's frustrated and hurt, and on top of that, his ribs smart from a hit he took point blank. Deep breaths hurt. He pushes himself against the HVAC that's not up to code, throws up his hood, and curls into a ball.
This isn't something he can hide from Batman. A fleeting thought hits him to just leave so he doesn't have to explain himself if the man decides to stick around.
He doesn't.
And Batman, much to Danny's brief, insincere consternation, sticks around. He notices immediately that something is wrong. Danny keeps his head buried in his knees and tries to deflect.
It doesn't work.
Normally, Danny is very good at getting people to get off his back. Just be a bit prickly, a bit snappish, throw in some sarcasm, and they back off with a scoff, or they decide to scold him for that instead of pursuing their original reason for bothering him.
Unfortunately--Danny should've seen this coming, considering Batman's occupation--Batman sees right through him. He sticks around, verbally prodding at him, and when Danny snaps at him, he falls silent and just. waits. And perches patiently from a distance away. Which stings in a cathartic way.
Danny's resolve crumbles in minutes. Eventually, he silently turns his head and rests his cheek on his knee. He doesn't say anything, just hopes that maybe the light pollution in the city is bright enough to show off the bruise circling around his eye. Or it isn't bright enough, and hides it.
Batman is quiet for a beat. Then calmly and flatly asks who hit him. Danny stays stubbornly silent, and refuses to meet his eyes. When it becomes apparent he won't respond, Batman stares, and then reaches for a pocket on his utility belt.
He pulls out an icepack, and holds it out to Danny.
Danny is flabbergasted.
And then feels immediately fragile for reasons he can't articulate or understand.
Quietly, he takes it, and mutters "thank you". It's the kindest thing he's said all night.
Batman nods, and when he has to leave, it's with great reluctance.
This keeps happening. Danny shows up occasionally injured, mostly bruised and scratched up, thankfully. Batman appears, and notices, and quietly prods. Danny sometimes throws out an excuse--he fell, he tripped, he made some other clumsy mistake--and Batman doesn't believe him, but he doesn't pry. He quietly hands off to him something that could help. A bandaid or an icepack. Or just his quiet company.
The bruises increase; Batman gets just a little bit tenser each time. And then it plateaus.
And then it comes to a head after a nasty, ugly fight with Plasmius that included his favorite physical pastime: strangulation. Danny books it to Gotham the moment he thinks the coast is clear, and is furious upon landing to find that the bruising refuses to heal.
He's not fast enough to leave before Batman shows up, seemingly having pinpointed the time of Danny's arrivals by now. He whirls around on his foot when he hears him landing, and isn't fast enough to slam his hand over his throat and duck before Batman sees it.
And Batman sees it.
And Batman is very calm, and very furious when he says; "Who did that?"
Danny, despite his flawless deflections all the other times, falters and panics. Caught off guard by his arrival and already running on adrenaline, he stammers out an inconsistent slurry of excuses.
"Nobody. Nobody! It was nobody-- just my, just my uncle--" Danny's eye twitches in panic, "Just- nobody. Nobody important. Nobody did anything."
It's too late to take back anything.
"Your uncle?"
Danny refuses eye contact, staring off over the edge of the roof widely, "No! No-- nobody. Nothing. Nothing happened." His ruined voice says otherwise.
"Is he the one that's been hurting you?" Batman sounds very resolute as he says this.
Danny isn't quite sure how he managed to get out of that conversation-- it ends up being a total blur--but he does know that he gets out of it with his secret identity intact.
He doesn't return back to Gotham for almost a month; he regrets it every time he misses the days he goes and visits. The passing time presses down on him. He feels increasingly flighty and on edge; his temper shorter.
When he returns, Batman is waiting for him already. He doesn't say anything, and for a -- disappointing? -- moment, Danny thinks they're just not going to acknowledge Danny's freakout the last time he was there.
But.
Batman is waiting for him.
And with a burner phone for him.
There's only one number on it: his own.
He doesn't need to say anything for Danny to catch his meaning, or what his intentions are.
Danny stares at it dumbly for who knows how long, his eyes stinging suspiciously, before he looks up at Batman. He's gawking.
The first thing out of his mouth: "Are you sure?" it's croaky.
Batman grunts affirmatively at him. Holds it out closer to him: "For emergencies."
"You don't have to do this." Danny says, but he's reaching out for the phone anyways, snatching it out of Batman's hands, and cradling it preciously to himself. He's so cognizant of his hand and the weight of the phone against it.
Batman says nothing; it means everything to Danny.
"And you're sure?" He repeats, and sniffs conspicuously. He hates how fragile his voice sounds. He knows how monumental this is, not just to Danny, but to Batman as well. That solidarity in heroism coming back to bite him as Danny knows, intimately, how important it is to allow someone access to you personally. "You-- you're sure? You're sure." He sounds like a broken record.
Batman nods curtly.
Danny's vision wobbles. His next words come out in a broken, horrifically fragile, barely-there whisper: "What if- what if I just, just want to talk? Uh-- text. N' it's not an emergency."
Batman thinks for a moment. "…You can do that," he says after a beat, "Call if its an emergency."
"Really?" Danny doesn't know why it hurts so much to say that. He sounds pathetically squeaky.
"Yes."
Batman is a man of few words; Danny quite likes that about him. He's surprised by it himself.
The dam ends up breaking; Danny's tears spill over and his shoulders convulse. When he cries, it's entirely silent, he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. He makes short, choked-off breathing sounds, and begins to curl into himself. He's not sure why he's reacting this way; it's just a phone.
He still ends up tilting in towards Batman, and collapsing into him. Batman catches him, and sinks them both to the ground, and lets Danny smear tears into the armor plating of his suit.
-----
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path etched in the surface
Can you find me?
Ooh! I like where this is going. Kinda reminds me of another fic where Danny flies to Gotham to unwind and meets Bruce and then meets him again and then again. Except in that one, he meets Bruce. (I'll try to remember to hunt it down and link it later. It's a good one.)
Anyway, this one feels like it would be a good one for Bruce to be fairly well established. Of course, unless you want to cut them out entirely, or set this really far in the future when Damian is grown (making Bruce a much older man), it's hard to have a well established Batman that doesn't have a Robin with him. Perhaps while Dick is off establishing the Titans? Or even the space between Jason dying and Tim stepping in. Of course, both of these times are gonna have Bruce in a state of his own that might not fit for wherever you're trying to go here.
Also, I have to assume it's only a matter of time before Vlad manages to sneakily follow Danny to "where he goes to sulk." And/or gets his hands on that phone. And I can't imagine he's going to be happy about it, obsessive and possessive as he is.
I personally prefer the idea of Bruce meeting Danny before he adopts Dick.
Bruce Wayne, who has little to no experience so far at comforting kids because he is only a year into his career as Batman, has to deal with a young metahuman who he suspects is being abused.
He doesn't know how to handle this yet, and at the start he is mostly hands off with it. He checks up on the kid every time he shows up, only taking a few minutes or even a few seconds at a time to see him.
Then the kid starts talking to him more, and he finds himself responding, to the point where he had begun to look forward to their short talks.
Then came the night when the kid showed up with a black eye, and was so stubbornly trying to hide it from him. He almost seemed scared of his reaction.
And he didn't know how to handle this. He pressed the kid for answers, and got shut out even more for it, so he only offered an ice pack and resolved to get to the bottom of it on his own. But first he needs to get some books on dealing with abused teens.
After reading through the books, he is more patient with the kid. He doesn't press for answers, but still asks for them whenever it happens. He offers his help in subtle ways, like with ice packs or bandages, and in more open ways, like offering to call the cops. He seems to be opening up a bit more, and Bruce is hopeful that the kid will let him help more soon.
And the day the kid shows up with strangle marks on his neck, and he looses control of his emotions and presses for answers again. The kid accidentally drops the mention of his Uncle, and unfortunately his fury scares the kid off.
In the following momth where he doesn't show up, Bruce is terrified that something had happened, or that the kid no longer trusted him.
He prepares all he can to help the kid if he comes back. He keeps that burner phone on his utility belt for 3 weeks unused before the kid shows up again.
“Hello, thank you for calling the Justice League helpline. If you’re calling about an emergency, and you do not live in Gotham, please hang up and dial for our emergency services. If you do live in Gotham, I’ve been instructed to tell you to call the GCPD headquarters - they will inform your assigned vigilantes as soon as is possible. Seeing as you’re still on the line, how may I help you today?”
“Hello, my name is Sandra Smith, I’m an agent with Child Protective Services. I have a bit of an odd request, but I’m not quite sure where to direct that request. I figured my best bet would be through the JL, y’know?”
“Um, sure? I can’t promise anything, but I can certainly try to help you.”
“Thank you. See, a child was recently found wandering and they don’t seem to quite… exist? When asked whether he had parents, he stated that his father was Batman. I wanted to see about getting into touch with Batman to verify whether this was true and see about-“
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Batman? See, um, he’s kind of… preoccupied? In the sense that, for the foreseeable future, he cannot physically… uh… answer any summons?”
“What- not even for a possible-“
“Yeah, uh, between you and me, off the record? Batman is uh… gone so… someone else is acting as Batman in his stead, right now. They, like, inherited it or something. It was a bit of a big deal when it happened; I dunno, I’m not a Gothamite, but I heard there was a lot of drama around that time.”
“I… see. Um, thank you for your time. I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.” Sandra hung up the phone quickly, before looking down at her desk.
How was she going to break the news to Danyal?
Glancing across the files on her desk, she tilted her head at the green sticky note stuck to one of them - the Fenton’s? She supposed they had been on the waiting list for quite some time.
…
Tim slammed the transcript from several years ago on Bruce’s desk. “You get to explain this to the brat.”
All of your kids being injured was a nightmare to most moms, but for you it was just a regular Tuesday. It didn’t mean that you enjoyed seeing them hurt, but you had to live with it.
“Hey mom, you don’t gotta worry about us.” Your eldest, Dick said as he stitched his own gunshot wound. You immediately frowned after seeing how deep the wound was. The Manor was in chaos after Bruce rallied everyone in after a pretty hectic patrol, and basically everyone was hurt to some extent, and you were so gonna kill your husband… right after fussing over your babies.
You did a once-over on Dick before moving on to the next victim: Jason. His gash was more bloody than Dick’s, but you weren’t surprised at all. Jason has more of a tendency to get into trouble than his siblings. You murmured before taking out the gauze from Alfred’s hands. “Jason, baby, what the hell happened out there?”
Jason just frowned, letting you do your work. “S’nothing, ma. Just a bunch of Penguin’s goons ambushing us. It was unexpected, but we’re all alive.”
“Yeah, barely.” You scoffed, accidentally tightening the gauze.
Jason winced, “Hey, ma watch it! I’m hurtin’.”
“Sorry, baby.” You huffed. “I’m just a little stressed on how your dad could let this happen.”
You left Jason’s grumbling mess to check on Tim, Cass, and Stephanie who were all in discussion. These three had their own mothers, but their mothers weren’t really present at times, so you made sure that you would spoil them to death. You had helped Tim out on school projects when he was Robin, learned ASL just for Cass, and took Stephanie on a LOT of shopping dates.
“Okay, please tell me you’re better than your brothers,”
Cass was the first to reply, showing off a fresh new cut, which wasn’t too deep, and signing, It’s just one cut.
“Well, I’m glad it’s just that.” You pressed a kiss to her head before turning to Tim, who was jut a little bruised. “Timmy, are you—“
“Yeah, I am, mom. Just a little bruised up. But see, unlike those two idiots, I didn’t step headfirst into danger and was aware of my surroun—“
“Shut the fuck up, Replacement!” Jason yelled over his shoulder.
Tim scoffed, “Only saying the truth.”
“Boys!” You yelled, causing everyone in the room to shut up. “This isn’t a badassery contest of some sorts, these are your lives.”
Everyone seemed to understand that your worry wasn’t just something to brush off, and then they continued to patch themselves up and mutter. Oh, you were gonna have a talk with Bruce, alright.
Speak of the devil, the man had entered looking like absolute hell, with Duke supporting him on one side. Your jaw had dropped when your husband had a cut up face and what looked like several bruised ribs. “Oh, Bruce, I’m so gonna kill you!”
Bruce just muttered under his breath, “Hello to you too, darling.”
You frowned, softening your expression before gingerly pulling him in for a hug. ”You’re lucky you’re hurt, or else I would’ve hit you into oblivion. I came in from work to see all my children injured.”
Duke smiled, “Not me, momma. I came out fully unscathed.”
You smiled, then glared at Duke. “Baby, I’m not an idiot. I see the blood seeping through your suit.”
“It was Bruce’s fault.” He pointed to the man before leaving him to face the fury of an overprotective but loving momma bear. Boy, was this going to be a long night.
BONUS:
Later that night, after helping Alfred cook dinner, yoy had checked in on Damian, who was MIA the entire night. Bruce had told you he was the only one who didn’t get injured (just a few scrapes), and that gave you such a relief. You knocked on the door “Damian?”
“Enter,” the boy had said before you did. He was lying on the bed, a book next to him.
“I see you’ve taken a liking to Miss Austen.” You smirked , sitting on the bed
Damian rolled his eyes, “Tt. It’s not terrible. I don’t understand what Todd sees in this book. I do not trust this Wickham character.”
You snorted, “You got that right.”
“You’ve read it?” Damian asks.
“No. But I’ve seen the movie 6 times.”
“A waste of 12 hours,” He retorted, giving you a little smirk. Oh, you knew this kid was messing with you.
You frowned, “Don’t talk to me like that, I’m your mother.”
“You aren’t.” He simply said.
“Yeah good point.” You rolled your eyes, wanting to continue this little gossip session with your youngest. “Sooo, how was patrol?”
Damian sighed, beginning the whole story (plus the parts Bruce didn’t tell you. “It started when Todd and Drake were bickering…”
a/n: a little batfam blurb for today, i listened to the voices for once
Danny and Sam are on the run after rescuing Danielle from the GIW. They had forced her into her core, a testamentto how much damage was done. However, once they were safe and far away thanks to Tucker, she reformed as an infant.
They are now living new lives with new identities in a small aptly named Kansas town. They are just starting to make things work with Danny making money by fixing old farm equipment and Sam training to be a nurse.
Then a member of the Justice league knocks on their door in civvies, and they panic dash for their go bags.
Of all the possible ones the Justice League could have sent for them it was the one Danny probably wouldn't win against.
"Sam," he cried, forgetting their false names, "Take Dani and Run! It's Him!"
He was charging up his most powerful ectoblasts possible and launched them as he heard the backdoor slam open and Sam's footsteps growing distant.
They may take him down but he was gonna take some of them with him.
Superman dodged, dropping that oh so innocent looking pie.
"You won't get them, not on my watch!" Danny Wailed, taking out the side of the house and knocking Superman out of the air.
"I just--" Superman got back up.
Clark recognized the terror on the other man's face; this was a desperate attack, not a malicious one.
He had a choice and he made it; he raced forward and grabbed his once hidden metahuman neighbor before shooting up in the atmosphere, away from the humans of Smallville.
But David, and Clark was thinking that wasn't his real name, fought and density shifted like J'onn, out of his grasp.
He blasted Clark again with those Tamaranean like energy bolts and they hurt. David was screaming with everything he had, not unlike Black Canary's own cries.
Clark concentrated on where "Lisa" had run; the baby was crying, Lisa was terrified and running with everything she had.
Clark went away from Lisa and the baby, leading David away and hoping to calm him.
"Peace!" They were over a cornfield now so Clark stopped.
David stopped as well, "You won't take them. You or the Government."
"What? No, I don't...what are you talking about David? Are you three in trouble...?"
David searched Clark before realization creeped over him.
They had blown their cover for nothing.
David floated down, Clark followed, and landed in the cornfield.
"Please, please, let them run," David begged, "take me...take me instead."
"David?"
And it all spilled out; laws that trod dangerously close to violating the MPA, a town that had begged for help and received none, a hurt child.
And Superman, Kal-El was angry.
"Come to my parents'," he ordered David and the man nodded glumly.
"I'll round up Lisa and Ellie," Kal-El added gently, to David's horror, "we'll keep you three safe. We'll tear down these acts. Ellie will be safe. Do you have a codeword?"
David nodded and croaked, terrified but cornered and oh the hope in his eyes, "Clueless. Tell her that Wes is Clueless. She'll come with you. Please, don't hurt them. Please, Superman. Please. They're all I have left."
Clark nodded, gentling, as he led David to the Kents' homestead. David walked like he was going to the gallows.
Superman later found Lisa and Ellie hidden in a stand of trees; Lisa had a gun that hurt him but he was able to get out the code-phrase.
Once the young family was reunited and under the care of Ma and Pa Kent, Superman got to work.
This was a job for Superman yes, but also Clark and Lois Kent.
It was Martha's and John's worst nightmare playing out before them; young parents of a baby that didn't come along the normal way, on the run from the government.
It was clear that David and Lisa, whoever they were, whatever they were, loved their little girl.
They were also obviously terrified out of their minds that this all was a trap of some sort.
Clark made a call and Conner was soon landing out by the barn, Lois in his arms with her laptop bag slung over his shoulder.
As a show of good faith, Clark had given up his civilian name officially. Obviously the Krolls recognized him as a Kent and as Superman, some of the few to do so without being told.
Kon swaggered up to the scared couple, lowered his sunglasses, and said, "Hey, I'm Conner. Call me Kon. The clone-son of Clark over there."
David moved in front of Lisa and Ellie, a defensive move, "I heard Superboy was a clone but--"
"Yeah," Kon nodded, "we don't advertise it, you know, but we don't hide it either. May I see Ellie? Clone to clone, you understand. Never met another clone so young."
David was about to object but Lisa moved from behind him and offered Ellie.
"Oh, baby," Kon murmured as he took in the barely year old looking girl, "oh, oh, what's that thing in her chest? It looks...cracked?"
Lisa haltingly explained what a core was and the last resort defense mechanism ghosts had. How Ellie was only half ghost. So that when she was safe, she had reformed as a baby, practically a newborn.
Ghost.
Liminal.
Finally, names for their species.
Lois was taking furious notes as Lisa spoke, telling their tale, of their run. How they had to run from everything they had ever known. How there was a third, that they had a friend who had laid a false trail as he ran opposite of them. How he had risked his freedom, his very life to disable the enemy before they ran.
Ghosts weren't malicious, David argued, shifting forms, not all of them. They were people, dead people. And like people, there was always a few rotten bastards in the bunch and more ignorance than cruelty than that.
With each word, each choked sob of catharsis that someone was finally listening, the Kents grew angrier and angrier.
This was bigger than Superman could handle; it was time to call an emergency meeting.
These Guys in White only had authority in America after all.
"We're a private non-federally funded international organization," Clark was giving them the tour of the watchtower, "The Watchtower is the ultimate neutral ground, an embassy. All you have to do is ask for Sanctuary here and you have it until we get those Acts repealed."
"Sanctuary, Clark, please, give us Sanctuary," Lisa almost begged.
"Approved." Batman materialized from a dark corner of the hall, "Come. Your room has been set up; Queen and Wayne are paying your room and board."
"The billionaires?" David questioned warily.
"Yeah, both are appalled by these Acts," Clark said as Batman raised a gauntleted fist to reveal ID cards on lanyards. One for David and Lisa each. Also hanging from his closed fist was a tiny security bracelet for Ellie.
"Do not lose these," Batman grunted almost gently as they took the badges and donned them, "they are your lifeline aboard the Watchtower...may I?"
David inclined his head and held out Ellie. Batman fastened the bracelet around her little wrist.
The little family was led to a room; about the size of an average bedroom, maybe a little bigger. A crib had been shoehorned into a corner.
"The Flash is retrieving your things," Batman spoke blandly, "please do not hesitate to ask for anything you may need. You will be allowed in the staff lounge, staff library, the cafeteria, the gym, and this bedroom. An observation deck is being cleared for you. We are looking for your friend and secure communications will be established when we find him. There are showers and restrooms at the end of this hall, you will provided all necessities. A tub will provided for young Miss Kroll."
"Th-thank you," David stuttered, "thank you so much."
"You're welcome, David, Lisa," Clark said warmly and then he and Batman left them.
Lisa and David entered the room, waited for the door to slide shut, put Lisa in her crib, embraced each other, and cried.
Eli kept his head down, he had to; his best friends' lives depended on him staying hidden. So he did just as he was told at his middling job at a middling tech shop working as a middling computer repair technician.
Coast City was a tech city, not quite Silicon Valley but somewhere people loved technology and money and little common sense.
Eli kept his head down, ignoring the Green Lantern of the city even though he itched to offer help.
Eli was just a nobody and he liked it that way.
He slumped into his apartment, eyes on his shuffling feet as he opened the door.
"Tucker Foley."
His head snapped up, his heart hammering away in his chest.
There was Red Robin and the Green Lantern standing in his--
He bolted, dropping his bag as he ran.
But the Lantern caught him in a construct; still he struggled.
"Tucker!" Red Robin commanded as the Lantern brought the so named man back into the apartment and sealed the door and window with energy, "Ember brainwashed you!"
Tucker Foley stopped fighting; the codephrase.
They had the codephrase.
How?
Had the--the others...
"Danny and Sam are safe," Red said softly, "Dani is safe. Up in the Watchtower. Wes is Clueless and Ember brainwashed you...something about a de-brainwashing machine...some sort of school test? They were talking fast."
"You gonna run again, kid?" Green Lantern asked mildly.
Tucker stuttered a head shake; he was let go but almost dropped to his knees, "The GiW...they can't--"
"We're taking down those Acts, promise," Red Robin replied, "the three of them are on the ultimate neutral ground. You need flight capabilities or a zeta-tube to get up there. Your goddaughter and brother are safe."
Red Robin handed over a comm and, with shaking hands, he activated it, "This's TooFine, come in Clueless? Goth-girl?"
"We're here, TooFine," Danny's voice, sleep rough but relieved, came through, "location, Watchtower."
Tucker burst into tears of so many emotions that he must have looked nuts, "Oh my god..."
"You did a good job covering your tracks, Tucker," Red Robin praised, "only reason we found out was because Danny attacked Superman thinking he was there on government orders. Our techie, Oracle, is still having a hard time unraveling your tracks. You're safe now, alright. It's all going to be okay."
"Why...why are you here?" Tucker asked, clutching the comm, "Danny...why are they...? I'm..."
"Our brother," Sam's voice rang out, "you think we'll let you stay in danger? They're there to help you up to us. You can stay on the Watchtower too."
"Really?"
"Oracle and Cyborg wanna pick your brain," Red Robin added, "to hide like you did...impressive."
"Yes."
Tucker grabbed his go-bag and went with the heroes to the nearest zeta tube and up to the Watchtower.
He saw Superboy holding Ellie before he was slammed into, his friends hanging off him in an embrace so tight but that was okay because he was holding them just as tightly on the floor of the zeta-room and they were all crying together and...and...
Every other ghost and Liminal was still in danger.
Including heroes.
Like Greta Hayes, Secret, who was alive somehow but still Liminal, perhaps just short of being a halfa level of Liminal. She was sequestered to the Watchtower quickly.
Then it became triage; who had died and came back were the major worry, then their possible hostages.
A series of safehouses outside America were activated, burned, to get people out of the States. Every Bat for example gave up their international safehouses.
Robin--who was Liminal and young enough to gain a secure lodging on the Watchtower--sent a secure, secret message to his mother.
Reading this missive, Ra's al Ghul became furious to learn that he would have no rights in America and that his heir was endangered by the same laws. But he had to weigh his options as Damian was safe with the heroes. It wouldn't do to tip his hand completely.
Up on the Watchtower, because everyone possible was working on the problem of the Acts, Danny, Sam, and Tucker became the de-facto babysitters for the younger Liminals who were being kept out of the mess.
Younger Liminals like Lian Harper, daughter of Roy Harper aka Arsenal and also someone who has died and come back to life, who clung to Sam's skirt when her dad had to leave for recon missions.
In fact, there were so many Liminals, and one Revenant, that the three ran seminars on traits to look for and how to handle new instincts.
It explained some things for some heroes.
Down below, a woman stalked Bruce Wayne, who had been speaking out against the Anti-Ecto Acts.
Alfred opened the door to the insistent, almost rude, knocking to find a young woman.
"I need to speak with your employer," she bustled past him.
"Excuse me?"
"Your employer, Bruce Wayne--I know he has someway to contact the Bats...please. It's important. My name is Tara and I'm looking for my brother. He's--he's in danger."
Alfred closed the door, "Miss, this seems like a matter for the police?"
"Police have to follow the laws, even if they're unjust...Wayne's been acting against the--the law that sees my brother as nothing but an animal or less."
"You are, I will presume, speaking about the Anti-Ecto Acts," Alfred realized.
"Yes."
"Your brother, is he a Liminal or a ghost?" Alfred led her to a meeting lounge and offered refreshments and a handkerchief.
"He's...it's complicated," Tara admitted, taking the cloth but refusing anything else politely , "he...he ran away with a friend, his two friends. I don't know why, he was so committed to proving not all ghosts are bad. He...he went on a recon mission against the Ghost Investigation Ward and came running home, grabbed his bag, and left. Told me a code-phrase to prove who he was and gave me one if we ever met again."
"I see." Alfred had the beginnings of an idea who this young woman might be, "I shall fetch Master Bruce."
He left.
Bruce Wayne arrived, settling down in a chair across from Tara, "Tara, or should I say Jazz Fenton."
Jazz's head shot up, "You know, you know where he is."
Bruce looked at her impassively, "Yes, he gave us all a password to prove your identity.
"Us?"
"The Justice League who gave it to me and Oliver Queen; tell me, what is your code-phrase?"
"Jonny 13 and Kitty died for their love," she recited.
Bruce grinned, "Accepted. Your brother's okay, Jazz, him, his friends, and little Dani..."
"Little Dani--Danielle! What happened to--!?"
"I don't know the mechanics of it but those GiW caught her and she turned into a baby."
"That's why they ran," Jazz breathed out; a baby, a baby clone halfa. No wonder they ran . She would have too.
"Where're they?" she demanded, "how safe are they?"
"Completely and utterly, they are at JLA HQ."
"You mean the one in space?"
"Yes. That's the one--"
A snkkt sounded and Nightwing came in through a window, "Mister Wayne, your butler called in. Says you have another high Liminal civilian needing protection?"
"Yes, hello Nightwing," Bruce greeted jovially, "This here is Tara; she's David's sister and thus Ellie's aunt. She gave the passcode and everything. Tara, Nightwing, one of our protectors. I'm told you and yours did him and his a huge favor by accident."
Nightwing nodded, "Several of my siblings are Liminal and one is classified as a Revenant. Not to mention Big Blue himself came back to life."
"The laws would affect everyone who has died," Jazz exhaled before handing over the binder she had been holding, "Here's all the information I've gathered. Our parents still think ghosts are evil and....they're mad scientists. There's a doorway--a portal--to the Ghost Realms in our basement. Also it is a laboratory. Please be gentle when you arrest them. There's a map to our town, from the nearest city. GPS doesn't work and cars get unreliable the closer you get. But on foot or by flight... "
Nightwing took the binder gravely before calling it in.
Tara was quickly brought to the Watchtower and reunited with her family.
Diana took her aside though and questioned, "On your parents, would knowledge of your brother's status sway them?"
Jazz was quiet for a moment or two before admitting, "I want to say yes, but that's probably a self-soothing lie. They're blinded of all things ghost."
The first time the heroes knew they were trusted was unplanned and a surprise;
The small family--a 'fraid to use ghost jargon-- was separated; Sam and Jazz were shadowing Medical and Tucker was working with the more tech aligned heroes.
This left Danny and Dani to haunt the Watchtower as they pleased. Normally this would be fine but then Danny was dragged into an engineering argument (he was right, he knew it).
Without thought, he shoved Dani at a passing hero; Red Hood.
Hood was a good man though so he automatically caught the little girl and adjusted her to his lesser armed hip as Danny stole a pen and began drawing schematics on a wall.
The engineers, once he had drawn out what he was saying, oohed and ahhed and quickly sent a missive to Batman.
Batman appeared and looked over the schematics. spoke with the senior engineers, and unilaterally upgraded Danny's badge to allow him into the places where engineers worked.
Danny then realized his daughter was missing and, looking around, found the Red Hood on the floor, cross-legged with Dani in his lap, strings between his fingers.
"Thanks, man." Danny laughed nervously, gathering Dani.
"No problem," Hood shrugged, standing up, "not her fault you guys are stuck up here. You a STEM kid?"
"Parents. I can reverse engineer almost anything and find better ways to do stuff," Danny admitted with a flush.
"Mind looking over some gear?" Hood asked gently.
"You sure? I know you Bats--"
"I'll deal with DaddyBats. If you're as good as he thinks, he'll likely ask you anyways."
"I'll...take a look..." Danny agreed nervously, before saying, "after Dani goes down for a nap. Bring me what you want me to look at."
Sam was wringing her hands but replied, "Can you ask Wayne and Queen for an advance? It's just that Dani's outgrowing everything we have for her; clothes, toys, only thing she hasn't outgrown yet is the crib...we'll pay them back as soon as it's legal and I can contact my family again--"
Batman raised a hand as his other went to his utility belt and withdrew a credit card.
He handed it over with the instructions, "Buy whatever she needs but remember it all must fit in your rooms."
Sam took the card and looked it over; it looked legitimate and had the Bat symbol on it, "Really?"
"I too come from money," Batman admitted wryly, "and I cannot use my civilian cards for certain...purchases. That is attached to an off shore account under my hero name. There is several thousand dollars in it. Consider it yours. If you run out, tell me and I shall refill the account...though I trust you not to be frivolous with the funds."
"Batman, I--we can't."
"You're not going to win this argument," Superman joined them with a laugh, "he does this all the time. Found out the Daily Planet was going under and got Wayne to buy it."
Sam looked between the heroes, nodded firmly, and said, "I--thank you, Batman. If I ever get my inheritance I'll pay you back."
"No. Consider this reparations for not knowing about the Acts sooner," Batman shook his head, "order anything you need and we will have it moved up here with our usual supplies. If you can't get what you need online then we will contact Wayne and Queen."
The dog was wearing an honest to god domino mask as it walked calmly alongside Robin and the younger Superboy.
"Doggy!" Dani squealed but Tucker, who was in charge of her while the other two got some sleep, held her back from the Great Dane.
"Peace, Foley," Robin said calmly, "Bathound is excellent with children. I brought him up specifically to meet young Fenton."
"Dad says it ain't right for a kid to be cooped up, even in space," said the younger Superboy wisely, midwestern twang on full display, "we'd bring y'all down to the farm so she could meet the animals but those mean laws...luckily, Robin has a zoo of his own. Bathound is just one of his pets."
"Bathound is also the only pet cleared for fieldwork," Robin interjected just as calmly as before, "and thus my only pet with security clearance needed for the Watchtower."
"If you're sure?" Tucker turned to Dani, "What do we ask before we pet doggies?"
Dani wobbled up to Robin and asked, "I pet doggy?"
"You may." Robin allowed, ordering, "Bathound, lay down!"
The dog did as told and then Dani was all over him; he seemed to enjoy it even.
"Bathound is a registered therapy dog," Robin boasted, "Nightwing and Father often use him to calm the distressed after a major incident. He is quite found of children and will see that no harm comes to young Fenton."
"Thanks, dude," Tucker sighed, watching his niece, "She doesn't know what she's really missing, being up here. Danny would take her out--into space for exercise--but her transformations tend to fail at random."
Superboy turned to his friend, "Don't Mister Wayne and Mister Queen both have houses outside the US? With backyards and everything?"
Robin nodded, "I will look into it. Perhaps you can visit such a house, Foley, for an afternoon. I think it best if you remain living upon the Watchtower for now."
Tucker nodded gratefully.
He was thankful they were safe, that Dani was safe, but they all worried about what being in space full time was doing to her development.
Dani stayed glued to Bathound until he had to leave but a fuss was avoided with solemn promises that the dog would visit again.
"How old are you really?" Hood questioned casually as Danny looked over the Bats' spare equipment.
His forged papers said he was close to twenty but everyone had doubts.
Danny paused and did some math before declaring, "Sixteen. I missed my birthday this year I guess..."
And Hood could see that; the other man, for he was a man in deed if not age, had very little baby fat left, looking older than he was, ravaged by fear and worry.
He and Sam, and Tucker, had had to grow up fast, even before they ran, from what Jazz could tell them. And running couldn't've helped.
Nor the baby.
Danny must noticed his train of thought and laughed nervously, "I'm fine, Hood. We got through it in one piece."
"You know...Black Canary is a licensed therapist," Hood said.
Danny froze, "I'm fine....don't like therapists anyways. Ghosts again. One fed on misery and got herself hired as a school counselor....pretty sure she drove a couple kids to suicide. She'd find a weak point and...claw at it, making it worse..."
"Christ." and Hood filled in the details in his mind. He'd have to add this to the Amity Dossier.
"What's this about you dating a ghost and being possessed?" Diana asked Jazz gently.
The young adult rolled her eyes and stopped what she was doing, folding laundry for Medical, and explained, "One of our usual ghosts, a man guy going by Johnny 13, wanted to make his girl jealous but also prep her a new body. Don't know why. He thought I was acceptable. So we dated and he tried but Danny and I fended him off. Kitty never actually got ahold of me...not like when she possessed Paulina and dated Danny to make Johnny jealous...and I know how messed up that is but after an experience with another ghost, nobody who needs it likes therapy. Believe me Miss Prince, I've tried! I don't even want to be in the psyche field anymore because I've been all my teen years!"
Diana drew her into a careful hug, "You are as much of a warrior as your brother and his friend, young one. I would be proud to call you a sister..."
"I'm no--" Jazz said into the demigoddess' shoulder.
"Some people battle with physical prowess," Diana agreed, "but some fight with their mental prowess. Consider the Bats. They stand amongst gods and metahumans and rely on their wits more than their muscles. Yet, they are counted as the most competent of warriors. You, Jasmine, obviously favor your mind, for all your mother taught you. Your mind is your greatest gift. And I'm so sorry that you had to be counselor to your brother, no child should have to be so. No child should live as you, your brother, his lover, and their friend has. When we take down these so called agents of the Ghost Investigation Ward, I shall strike them in your honor."
And Jazz finally cried; cried for everything she had gone through, cried for everything she had lost to her parents' obsession. Cried for Danny and his friends and little Dani and what her life was and had been and the trauma she no doubt had gone through at the hands of the GiW.
She was tired of being strong, dammit. Tired of being the adult. She wanted to scream and cry and throw the world's biggest tantrum because it wasn't fair.
Wasn't fair for any of them.
And Diana held her, not quite like a mother would but something close, as she cried and muffled her screams in the heroine's shoulder.
She had wanted to be a psychologist or psychiatrist, someone that helped people but she was tired of that too.
Tired of helping, tired of needing to help. Tired of giving of herself until there was almost nothing left.
She didn't want to be a burden but she was so goddamn tired.
"Perhaps you should speak to Black Canary," Diana spoke gently when she had cried herself out, "you too have trauma; perhaps not like your brother or his comrades but trauma all the same. Canary is willing to help and what you say to her remains private as long as no harm is pending."
"Sorry," Jazz sniffled.
"Little warrior," Diana spoke firmly then, "even the greatest of warriors cry, even queens cry. To cry is to be alive and despite everything you have been dealt you have survived. Now you must live. Live for yourself."
"O-okay," Jazz said in a small voice, "I think I'd like to talk to Black Canary."
"Come, I shall introduce you."
And Diana led her from the room, making mental note to add to te Dossier.
They found the four young adults, because that is what they were, collapsed in one of the staff lounges as Dani played in her play area quietly.
It had been a rough day for all of them; a group session with Black Canary disguised as a mild interrogation about the situation in Amity.
The situation was worse than they feared and Tucker informed them there was most probably a firewall around the town to control communication with the outside world.
He wasn't sure, didn't get a chance to look; his focus, when they had to run, was to send every ghost hunter scrambling so they could use the chaos as cover to get Dani out.
So he set a little virus loose, one he had been building for bug-out if Danny had needed to run, that took down all none necessary electronics in the town. What it couldn't take down, say what you will about their stance on ghosts but the GiW had competent tech support, it spammed with calls and ghost sightings.
Oracle demanded a sample of the young man's coding ability; he refused, saying his code would damage her systems.
Oracle was steamed but patient.
But it would obviously have to wait.
"Superboy," Robin took charge, "take your father and brother and move them to their rooms. I shall mind the child."
Defaulting to following the Bat's orders, the Supers each took a sleeping person, Clark taking two, as Robin divested of most of his more dangerous weapons and joined Dani.
"Wahbin!" she greeted happily,
"Hello, Miss Fenton," Robin greeted, "may I join you in play?"
She nodded and so they whiled away time by building and then destroying block towers; the younger Superboy joined them eventually, reporting, "Everyone's in bed."
"Uperoy!" Dani greeted the young half-Kryptonian.
"Hi, Dani!" Superboy greeted back happily.
She then looked to Robin, "Wahbin, num-nums?"
"Are you, perhaps, hungry?" Robin asked.
"Yeah!"
"Then let us away to seek sustenance ," He stood up and let Superboy pick up the girl.
Together, the trio trekked to the cafeteria; Superboy put Dani in her highchair and moved it and her to a table as Robin got her food.
Once she was set, they went one by one to get their own lunches.
It was during lunch that Phantom appeared, frantic until he saw his daughter well.
He apologized and thanked the boys profusely.
"Nonsense," Robin dismissed the thanks, "it is quite enjoyable, Danielle's company. In fact, I must insist that if you need so, contact myself--"
"And me, her powers might show." Superboy interrupted.
"--or Superboy and we shall happily mind the girl," Robin said smoothly even as Phantom turned back to Fenton and collapsed onto the bench.
"We can't do that," Fenton said, shaking his head, "you're just kids."
"Legally old enough to babysit by New Jersey and Kansas laws," Superboy argued politely.
"We can't pay you," Fenton tried, yawning.
"Who cares. Grampa and Grandma have said you're family," Superboy explained, "and family helps family. Just like you watch Lian for free, we can watch Dani."
"....We'll talk about it, okay? The fraid, I mean."
"That's okay."
Robin stood up.
"Wahbin go bye-bye?" Dani asked.
"Yes, I must meet with my own Father; do not fear, we shall play again little one."
"Kay. Bye-bye, Wahbin."
"Goodbye, Miss Fenton."
The older Fenton watched this interaction closely, obviously thinking.
That night, the fraid would discuss the matter and agree; Robin and the younger Superboy would join the older one and Red Hood as acceptable babysitters.
Danyal is the younger between himself and Damian. Despite being younger, he was the "better" heir, something Ras couldn't stand. In his eyes, Danyal had only been incubated to be Damian's loyal pawn, and yet he had better instincts, a better connection to the Lazarus Pits, he was physically stronger, and learned things quickly. But, Ras couldn't make Danyal the heir in Damian's stead without bringing shame onto himself, but if Damian were to die, then Ras would have to name Danyal the Heir.
However, Ras made a mistake. He had made Danyal to be loyal to Damian, but while Danyal was raised to be loyal to Damian, he had no loyalty nor love towards the rest of the legue, only Damian. To protect Damian, he switched their clothing, put on green contacts, leaving a blue pair for Damian, and took the mission that Damian was supposed to be on.
The next morning when Damian woke to blue contacts next to him,news that "Damian" had died on mission, and a note in their secret language that just said 'one day', it didn't take him long to realise what happened, and assume "Danyal's" role.
Nobody in the League realized the switch, except Tailia. They were her son's after all, she could tell them apart even with the contacts. She helped Damian act like Danyal, but in private, she called him Damian, making sure he didn't loose himself before she could set him free.
--
Danyal didn't die, however. The assassins who were sent by Ras to kill Damian, were Danyal's own men, ones Danyal had gained the loyalty off. They staged his death, and Danyal ordered his men to be loyal to Damian in Danyal's stead, until Danyal could find a way to save Damian and get rid of Ras.
Through research, Danyal connected the dots between ectoplasm and the Lazarus Pits and got himself adopted by the Fenton's to learn more about Ectoplasm. Being "Danny" wasn't even a persona, it was who he really was when it was just him and Damian, now he just didn't have to hide it.
When he was turned into Phantom, his memories got scrambled. He knows hes suppose to save someone, but he hasn't yet remembered who.
--------
Notes:
-Damian would have super complicated feelings about Danyal: on one hand, Danyal gave his own "life/position" to save Damian, on the other, Danyal never asked what Damian wanted.
--------
-Having to take Danyal's name was both a comfort, and a hindrance. Using Danyal's name made Damian feel closer to his brother, but he couldn't help but also feel saddened by it, and slightly resentful he couldn't use his own name.
-Damian does call himself Damian when hes placed with Bruce, but he doesnt tell them about Danyal. He knows Danyal's still alive, and doesn't want the bats trying to find him lest they ruin whatever hes doing
-Danny is slowly remembering things but he lost a good chunk of memory when he died, so he has yet to remember Damian since he never told anyone about him.
If you don't know what "Servant of Evil" is; its this:
Keep in mind this was inspired, its not supposed to be a one to one retelling.
Also I know this is scrambled. I knew I wanted to do something with the switch but I just couldn't hammer out some of the details.
PLEASE! I need more of Danny the bus driver AU! I’ll take anything you’ll give lol!
First time meeting the rest of the batkids:
After the incident with Red Hood Danny definitely thought he had blown it as denying Batman to his face was the complete opposite of laying low. But after two weeks of nothing happening Danny felt more comfortable on his routes again. That was a mistake.
First, it was Red Robin and Spoiler who seemed to be almost eagerly waiting to get on. The two of course take a seat in the very front next to him. While Danny was planning to treat them as any other rider, the two vigilantes had other ideas.
Both immediately talk about how he was apparently Red Hood’s new favorite Gotham hero, and about how Batman has been extra broody as of late. A few stops later they got off with promises of returning.
Second, was Orphan. The silent vigilante steps on with a nod and small wave to Danny which he returns to her as well. While she doesn’t sit in the first she still sits near the front; keeping him well in her eye sight. She watches as Danny interacts with the other riders. Helping some of the older folks get off and on, and making friendly conversation with a few of regulars.
It’s near the end of Danny’s shift, no one else besides them is on at this point, when Orphan finally steps off. Before she does though she gently grabs his hand and places a small device in his palm.
“You’re a kind person. Press this in case of an emergency and we will come.” And just like that she was gone.
The next one almost caused him to have a heart attack, because standing at the bus stop was none other than Robin himself. To make matters even worse Batman was standing right next to him clearly trying to get the young vigilante into the Batmobile that was parked close by. As much as Danny wanted to just drive on by he would never purposely leave someone behind at a stop if they didn’t deserve it.
Once Danny opens the door Robin practically side steps around Batman and stomps his way inside with anger practically radiating off of him. Batman, this time, doesn’t make a move to get on, but Danny knows that he isn’t happy either.
This leads to Batman trailing behind the bus for the next hour while Danny lets Robin rant and vent about every perceived slight that happened tonight, and offer his advice here and there. Eventually, Robin seemed to have calmed down and got off. Danny makes sure that the kid vigilante gets into the Batmobile before continuing on his way.
Then came Signal, the day shift vigilante, who looked and sounded absolutely exhausted. He had climbed onto the bus with a tired groan before collapsing into a seat. Signal goes on a mini rant about how his motorbike is not working, and about how sore he feels.
The last thing he says before practically passing out is, “Batman knows we’re I am. He’ll be picking me up.” Which is both reassuring but concerning for Danny at the same time.
The other bus goers know to leave the sleeping vigilante alone, or face the consequences for doing so. Danny is glad that he was able to provide a safe space for him to rest.
It’s some time later that Danny finds Batman standing alone at a bus stop. Before opening the doors he gets up and gently wakes Signal. He also gives Danny a tired thanks for the ride as he steps off, and walks to the car waiting for him. Batman on the other hand stays standing where he is staring at Danny for moments before following Signal.
Last and most frightening was Nightwing. It was another slow night with no one else on board when it happened; he wasn’t even at a bus stop when it happened.
As Danny was driving along he saw Nightwing stagger out of an alleyway and towards the road. He was able to instantly recognize that something was wrong based on the way Nightwing held himself. Shoulders hunched and a palm pressed against his side; he was hurt.
Stopping the bus Danny runs out to help, that is when he notices the distinct smell of iron, and the growing wet patch covering Nightwing’s side. Danny helps him into the bus and grabs the first aid kit that rests above the door. When he opens it the first thing he sees is the panic button Orphan had given him weeks ago. If not now then when; he presses the button and hopes that it works.
Danny helps Nightwing as best as he can to help stop the bleeding when he hears the roar of a familiar vehicle approaching.
He manages to open the doors just in time for Batman to appear in front of them. Danny doesn’t waste a second before yelling, “Get on!”
With Batman now there they are able to get Nightwing into a much more stable condition. Enough so for them to transfer the injured vigilante from the bus to the car.
Before leaving though Batman turns to Danny and grunts out a simple “Thank you”.
Like my Bittersweet and Sweetheart Exes prompt I wrote out a while ago.
But lets add in core/babies Dan and Ellie... Is this mpreg? eh I guess?
So hear me out.
Danny is an adult in this BTW. (Maybe a few years younger than Bruce?)
Danny is in Gotham? (maybe a different place?) and he's with a redeemed Vlad (whose acting like a second father figure for Danny, OR maybe he is because he's now dating Maddie and Jack? Good Fenton parents? IDK) for some Gala event since Danny is his godson. Danny's been stressed out lately and everyone thought it would be best if he got out of Amity for a while, clear his head. He's only at the event because Vlad promised to buy out the neighboring space museum the next day if he went with Vlad for the night.
Anyways Danny is at this event because of normalish reasons.
Bruce/Batman and Talia are there for their own reasons, it just so happened that they were both at this event (Talia for a mission? Bruce for his own? Maybe it connects later?) Of course Talia flirts with her Beloved when she has chances and Bruce slowly caves to her because he still holds feelings for the woman.
During their interactions they stumble across Danny, maybe they run into him outside in the garden grounds? They went outside to talk about their 'missions' while Danny just wanted some air, Danny apologizes for interrupting them and goes to leave but Bruce decides its best to have a witness in case they need alibis later starts being Brucie (Talia rolls her eyes amused at the idiot mask) and says Danny doesn't have to go.
The three actually, somehow hit it off. Even Talia is a bit more charmed with Danny than she thought she would be. (Maybe because he didn't bat an eye when she mentioned she could fight, she's used to men thinking because she's beautiful/a woman she is a 'delicate flower', Danny knows she's deadly, can sense it, says so as much when she asks eventually and mentions how he grew up with a badass mother and his big sister could beat him into the ground in hand to hand, bad with guns though. He even says he has two female friends who could kick his butt as well, one scrappy (Sam, I headcanon Sam would be a scrappy fighter) while the other has training (Val))
AND because this mission they both were on is more for recon until later, the three are flirting for a while, drink a bit, and eventually find themselves in bed in someone's hotel room that night.
When Danny wakes up the next morning, he is alone, with a note from them (Bruce wrote it, Talia only signed it because Bruce convinced her to be polite at least) The room has been paid by one of them for the day, along with any food he could order for the day.
Meanwhile Batman and LOA Talia are dealing with each other/missions.
But here's the thing. A few months go by and Danny is now trying to figure out how to contact them both, Bruce is easy to find but he'll have to explain to him a few things to the himbo (who might not be as much as a himbo he thought he was? 'Brucie' seemed smarter by the end of the night before they fell into bed together), while Talia seemed like a ghost (Ha! He's still funny) and next to impossible to find (though Bruce might know where she is? They seemed very close, like they knew each other before hand)
The reason?
It turns out the two Danny fell in bed with MIGHT have been a bit more liminal than he first thought (Talia more than Bruce but both are very death touched) and the two cores of his once clones (Ellie and Dan) he had been storing inside himself might had decided that the two were liminal enough to use their DNA's/pieces of their spirit/souls and now Danny has two tiny cores incubating inside of himself and he really doesn't wanna be that person that hides this from the person(s) they had a one night stand with.
So yeah... Now Danny is making his way to Gotham to talk to Bruce (and maybe Talia is Bruce has her number?) about the whole half ghost thing, the cores inside of him, and the future kids they are having....
Danny : so a bit of a back story when I was 14 I died halfway so I became a halfa half alive half dead and it changed my biology
Bruce : okay I have a feeling this isn’t the end of the story
Danny : no anyway when we hooked up I was hosting the cores of two of my clones who destabilised so they wouldn’t die but what my doctor forgot to say was if I hook up with people who are death touched enough the cores would absorb the dna of said persons so congrats your a father and Talia is a mother oh yea could you call Talia
Bruce : so your half dead hosting the cores of your clones and me and Talia are the dna push they needed to grow
Danny : yea so they have my dna yours and talias
Bruce : and when are you due ?
Danny : any moment since the have my powers they literally could phase out of my belly anytime
Bruce : wait you have powers?
Danny : came with the half dying thing and since they were my clones they have powers too
Bruce : and do you know the gender of the babies ?
Danny : oh yea boy and girl
Bruce : okay alfred could you come here please
Alfred : yes master Bruce
Bruce : could you prepare a guest room for Danny please he will stay here for a while
Alfred : yes master Bruce
Danny : oh that’s nice of you I would have just gone to a hotel but thanks
2 weeks later
Danny walking in Bruce’s study to babies in hand
Danny : so they came out that’s Ellie and that’s Dan
Bruce : oh you literally meant they could come out anytime
I like to think that since they have Bruce and Talia's DNA now they no longer look 1 to 1 to Danny anymore btw. Oooh what if due to Talia being around the Pits for as long as she has and Danny being a halfa, either Dan or/and Ellie come out with heterochromia, one blue (Bruce colored eyes) and the other green (Talia).
I wonder if Bruce managed to get into contact with Talia to let her know she is a mother (again, if Damian is already born/created by then, maybe he's already living with Bruce or if we place it in a sooner timeline, Damian is a tiny bit older)
Oooh wait what would happen if Ra's finds out and takes Danny and the kids cause the kids have al Ghul blood but Danny decides to show his halfa abilities/eldritch form/(maybe Ghost King? or just very powerful idk) to let Ra's know that going after his babies is a bad idea.
So you know the story School Spirit where Danny has to be on the cheer team because he wants to avoid punishment and he’s actually good at it? (Awesome story, I’m loving how it’s been.)
The anti-creep stick is just a weaponised bat, right? One that both kids could probably use pretty well…
My profile picture comes from this very old Danny Phantom/Pokemon crossover fanart I made (I should probably redo it sometime) but I really liked how the little Phantump turned out, so I have used it as my icon ever since :)
This is just another shitpost, a copy and paste from what I spammed my friend at like 5pm- ish
Jason or Red-Hood who's known for having 'information from the dead/graves' but his boyfriend is Danny 'phantom' Fenton and will just yap to his boyfriend over ghost gossip and not even realize that he's sharing new/unheard of information to Jason over crimes and other things happening around Gotham or in crime alley
People gossip but the dead talk, and Danny is all too happy to have someone to listen to all the ghost drama with him that the man will yap to Jason for hours. (Jason has timed it before, it got to hour 5 before he called it a day)
No one can figure out how why or when Jason started becoming two or three steps ahead of every villain/gang/goon/whatever, calling 'anonymous' tips into the batfam/police/whoever tf, days or even weeks before anything happened.
Jason who somehow ends up scaring the shit out of the bad guys because they 'changed their plans three times already to lose Red-hood' but yet, somehow, he's waiting for them by the time they arrive to where ever they were meeting up to do their illegal business with a coffee in hand and the police already called and arriving in 5 minutes.
(Jason sat on the sofa with his head tilted back to look at Danny who is, yet again, sat on the ceiling with his phone. Danny looks down to grin at his boyfriend.)
Jason: What was it you were saying Alice told you about the Marone case?
(Danny's eyes light up. YES! Gossip time! He drops himself onto Jason's lap and settles in for cuddles and gossip.)
Danny: So!... (Every detail about their plan, the victims, and where the money is kept)
Jason: I love you so much.
Danny grins and blushes. The light green tinge makes him look slightly more dead than usual. But really makes his freckles pop. He looks bashful and pecks Jason on the lips before hiding his face ion Jason's neck. He's never had a partner this open to ghost gossip before.
---
Three days later, Red Hood is stood outside the already raided and cordoned off ware house. The Marone case was blown wide open. Victims saved. Money recovered. Goods and contraband seized. With almost no injuries! (Jane from forensics cut her finger on a rough corner, but that still counts as an on duty injury.)
Batman: How?
Red Hood: Guess my information network is just better than yours!
Red Robin: That's fighting talk! I WILL figure it out!
---
Jason gets back home to Danny chattering away to thin air happily.
Danny: Jay! Alice just came over to say bye! Now the Marone's have been caught she can pass on. Isn't that amazing!
Jason: Damn, guess you'll need another new gossip bud.
Danny: Well, it is Gotham! Someone will turn up!
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